Tag Archives: Season One

FRONT, Netflix

Netflix’s Black Summer is your new Zombie Binge Watch

Courtesy of Netflix

A couple of weeks ago, Netflix quietly dropped a new ‘Netflix original’ series called Black Summer that has everything you need to fill that zombie void until The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead returns.

The series (apparently set within the same world as Z Nation – which I am yet to watch), all bleak and depressing in its stark blue wash, kicks off in the American suburbs only a few short weeks after the onset of a deadly outbreak where people are striving to make it to ‘the arena’, a military zoned rescue point. This is where we first meet our series heroine Rose (Jamie King) as she, her husband and daughter attempt to make it to the evacuation jeeps. But things don’t go to plan and it’s not long before Rose is flying solo, trying to get to her final destination.

The series introduces several other key figures along the way including *possible* criminal on the run Spears (Justin Chu Cary), Kyungsun (Christine Lee) a non-English speaking Korean woman and Lance (Kelsey Flower) who may possibly be the one character to offer a glaringly realistic view of just how an everyday Joe may go about trying to survive in a zombie apocalypse.

And this zombie apocalypse is different to the world in which we’re used to seeing. The zombie’s aren’t your slow-assed Sunday stroll zombies either. These buggers can run. Like fast. And turning them doesn’t take hours after death. It’s literally instantaneously as introduced in the opening episode.

While Black Summer makes for an engaging edge-of-your-seat show, there are a few misses scattered among the many hits that makes the show so great. The eight episodes are all scattered in length making some feel like they ended a little too quickly while others, a little too long. The pilot episode runs for just on 44 minutes allowing for character introduction and a decent look at the world they’re living in while the finale wraps up in a short 20 minute outing forcing the story line to jolt to a somewhat open ended finale.

And don’t be too worried if you feel like your’e missing an episode between 5 and 6. Episode five (Diner) is set entirely within an abandoned diner where the characters bicker and fight while Episode six (Heist) finds the same characters partaking in an extremely detailed heist on an underground warehouse. It’s a situation that is some cause of confusion considering the importance the heist plays on the rest of the season.

Black Summer series trailer

In the end, Black Summer is a series that is always on the go, even in the quietest of moments, there’s a sense of urgency, a sense of needing to keep moving as enemies both dead and alive are right around the corner. And its this constant tension that not only sets Black Summer apart from other zombie apocalypse shows but also makes for entertaining viewing.

Black Summer season one is not available to stream on Netflix.

FRONT, Netflix, Toys

The History Behind Iconic Toys in Netflix’s The Toys That Made Us.

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Star Wars toys remain a big draw card for kids and adult collectors.

Every year around early December, it becomes clear that there is that one ‘must have’ toy that needs to under the Christmas tree ready for opening on December 25th. From Furbies to Tamagotchi’s to last years ‘Hatchimals‘ and to this years current fad of ‘LOL Surprise Dolls‘ these toys bring in big money for the toy companies that make and sell them and while hugely popular they may be, they don’t hold the interest or the market nearly as long as some iconic toy lines did in the early 80’s to the mid to late 90’s.

The new Netflix documentary series The Toys That Made Us takes a long hard and sometimes dark look behind a collection of the most iconic toys that helped shape companies like Mattel and Hasbro to what they are today.

The eight episode season one (four episodes are currently live for streaming with the following four to come in early 2018) offers a look at the early stages of mega lines like Barbie, GI Joe, He-Man and Star Wars and the sometimes chaotic and spur of the moment thinking that brought about some of our childhood’s most beloved characters, designs and the brilliant marketing behind these that made these toys still as relevant today as they were when they started out.

Mattel - 2016 New York Toy Fair
Barbie’s origin is explored in depth and it’s quite racy!

Each episode (that runs at about the 45 minute mark) features vintage adverts, interviews with creators, designers and many many others involved with the creation of these toys with each episode (aired so far) showcasing the numerous minds behind these lines and the confusion (or difference of opinion) everyone seems to suffer from on just who should be credited with the creation of these toys.

The next four episodes are scheduled for early 2016 and feature Transformers, Hello Kitty, Star Trek, and LEGO with a second season already in the planning stages though what will be covered is still unknown.

Some suggestions though for season two:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Playmates / 1988 – present.

Original Playmates Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Originating as a comic book series, the action figure line by Playmates featuring four ninja trained turtles and their news reporter friend became a mega hit with kids and saw the company hit gold, releasing countless waves of variations of the four main characters and almost every single side character ever featured in the comics, animated series and live action movies.  Today, mint carded original figures sell for big dollars.

The X-Men: Toybiz / 1991 – 1998

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 After acquiring an exclusive license to Marvel Characters in 1993, toy company Toybiz set about releasing the first ever in-depth line of X-men and Marvel action figures that featured everything from 6″ figures to 10″ figures, vehicles, playsets and 12″ fashion dolls.  Characters like Wolverine saw 7 different variations, Storm featured a light up lightning bolt on her chest and so big was the line, lesser known characters like Kylun (who featured *barely* in the pages of X-Men side comic Excalibur) were even produced.

Value in original carded figures remains steady – pending the figure – at around the $20-$40 mark.

Celebrity Dolls: Mego / 1976 to 1978.

8861676521_e88590a1e7In 1976, Mego Corporation saw an opportunity to finally take on the massive Barbie market by producing a line of 12″ celebrity dolls with the first two off the ranks being Sonny and Cher dolls to coincide with their hugely popular Prime Time Variety Show.  The Cher doll featured an incredible 32 piece wardrobe designed by Bob Mackie and became the number one selling doll that year.  Off that success, other dolls including Captain and Tenille, Laverne and Shirley, Dianna Ross, Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith and Suzanne Somers were all released.  After shifting their focus to electronic toys in the late 70’s to early 80’s Mego filed for Bankruptcy and closed in 1983.

Original boxed Cher dolls, fashions and playsets can fetch anywhere between $60 to $400.

The Toys That Made Us is now streaming on Netflix Australia.

Comedy, FRONT, Netflix

Top Pick on Netflix Australia: The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

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Now that Netflix has officially launched in Australia, I need to note my top pick for new content that is a must watch for any subscriber.

Located in the US TV category is a sweet yet not so sweet comedy called The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.  Kimmy (Ellie Kemper) is discovering what modern life is like for the first time after being freed from a cult – a cult that lived in an underground bunker where Kimmy and 3 other women were being held hostage for 15 years (they had been told the world had pretty much blown up).  It’s a rather macabre premise for a show – especially a comedy.

Wanting to steer clear of the ‘Indiana mole women’ tag Kimmy and her fellow cult devotee’s have been so kindly given, Kimmy decides to make a break and start her life in New York City and in what seems like record time, Kimmy manages to find an apartment with a roommate in Titus (Tituss Burgess) and a job as a             co-dependent for wealthy socialite Jacqueline Voorhees (Jane Krakowski).

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Kimmy adjusts to modern terms….

Kimmy’s sudden burst into the modern world and her adjustment to this new life away from the bunker provide the base story point for the season and the comedy revolving around dated slang versus modern technology.

As Kimmy, Kemper is perfection.  The doe eyed, clueless optimist plays well with Kemper (the role was created with her in mind) who breathes innocence into a woman not wanting to be seen as a victim.  her incessant happiness should be annoying but in Kempers hands, her sweet temperament  comes off a somewhat adorable.  Krakowski on the hand is my favorite. As the perfect image at any desperate cost (foot surgery and all), Jacqueline could be considered to be an older version of Krakowski’s other alter ego (30 Rock’s Jenna Maroney) but it’s easy enough to over-look it with the amount of fantastic one liners she constantly spews out.  Jacqueline is the kind of woman you hope doesn’t exist yet you know she does.

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The brains trust behind Kimmy Schmidt is of course Tina Fey and 30 Rock producer Robert Carlock.  The two working together have created a show that has a familiar feel to it (30 Rock fans should be all over this) but is so separate from the creators roots, new viewers should stick around.

The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, complete season one is available on Netflix Australia.

Channel 10, Drama, TV

Gillian Anderson’s Crisis Comes to ONE on Wednesdays

Crisis stars Rachel Taylor and Gillian Anderson. Source: Provided
Crisis stars Rachel Taylor and Gillian Anderson. Source: Provided

The Gillian Anderson/Rachel Taylor led political drama Crisis, has been given an Australian premiere date and channel move with Network Ten opting to air the drama on it’s digital channel ONE right after the Commonwealth Games has finished.

Crisis, set in Washington D.C, follows the students at Ballard High School which educates the children of the powerful – International diplomats, Elite CEOs and even the President’s son but disaster strikes when, on a field trip, the bus, teachers and children are taken hostage leaving the powerful and influential at the mercy of the kidnappers.

Like most, I’m a sucker for a great plot twist and Crisis offers up quite a few in the first episode – don’t worry, no spoilers here – and add that with a barreling pace and a cast full of familiar faces (Aussie darling Rachel Taylor, Gillian Anderson, Dermot Mulroney – to name a few) and the handful of episodes available for preview to me, were enough to keep me somewhat intrigued to see more.

While Crisis’ take on the kidnapping/political genre is fresh, the ample amount of plot twists and and story pace seemed to negate any form of character development and character credibility that I found Crisis falling into the same trap that swallowed up similar shows such as Hostages – you find yourself at a point not being able to remember names, traits or even really care about them.  This could be why Crisis was pulled off air only half way through it’s premier season in America.

When it comes to the cast, while i’m still a fanboy from her X-Files days, as a corporate CEO negotiating a family crisis, Anderson’s ability to flawlessly elevate every single scene she’s in is still as strong as her days spent at Agent Dana Scully chasing little green men.  This doesn’t bode well for Rachel Taylor (playing an FBI Agent on the case to find the missing children) who is easily out-acted by the many scenes she shares with Anderson.

Who kidnapped these children?  What do they want with them? Will anyone die?  Catch the premiere episode of Crisis starting Wednesday, August 6th, 8:30pm on ONE.