This was a damn good episode. This really should have been on around Halloween instead of FZZT. This was a pretty good ghost story. The team is tapped to investigate a supposed telekinetic but things soon get #2spooky when it’s revealed that there’s another presence on the Bus. A nice little touch in the opening scene is the presence of a Roxxon gas station, a shady oil company from the comics.

The David Cage comparison comes from Hannah’s spectral protector acting much like Aiden in Beyond Two Souls, so that’s timely. When it’s revealed to be former co-worker Tobias teleporting around, the comparisons to Nightcrawler start stacking up. The teleport effect is very similar to Kurt’s BAMF and it’s even explained as Tobias phasing between two dimensions, much like the Brimstone dimension Kurt enters while teleporting. Because X-Men is owned by Fox, it’s explained to be an after effect of the portals opening up in Thor: the Dark World so presumably, it’s one of the nine realms.

Melinda May is in the character development spotlight this week as we hear about the circumstances that earned her the nickname “The Cavalry”. It’s great that it’s finally addressed and really emphasises her growth throughout the season as she’s warmed up to the rest of the team (and warmed up to Ward a little too much.) She even exhibits a little of her prank-loving personality Coulson alludes to when Fitz falls for the old sleeping shaving foam trick.

Coulson Watch! He talks a little more about his past with Melinda. No weird robot allusions this week, move along!

This episode was a really fun stand alone tale with great direction from Billy Gierhart (Torchwood, The Walking Dead) and plenty of drama, comedy and suspense to carry you through. We’re skipping a week so Agents of SHIELD will return in two weeks with the long awaited reappearance of J. August Richards!

When it was announced that 20th Century Fox were doing another X-Men film, I was saddened to say the least. Personally, I would like all of Marvel’s characters to revert to their full control. But, understandably, Fox didn’t want to give up on their cash cow. Even after the monstrosities that were X-Men 3 and the solo Wolverine film, Universal still understand that there is a demand to see these characters in action. But how do you keep making X-Men films without the connection to the critical flops?

Their answer is a dubious one. Prequel. Can anyone name a prequel that has been good? Scorpion King? Star Wars? Dumb And Dumberer? It just never works for several legitimate reasons.

Firstly, your connection to the original characters is a major stumbling block. When an actor (and usually a new production team) have to recreate someone else’s portrayal of a character and story it’s incredibly difficult to live up to that endearment. It can either come off as a lame imitation or just completely miss the mark. This is incredibly tough to break through when the original films were within the last ten years and everyone remembers them clearly.

Secondly, where do you go? We’ve usually already seen the origins of these characters, we’ve already found out what makes them tick. What are you going to offer story-wise that’s new? Where do you go from here that doesn’t completely remove what we already know to be true?

But, to give this films some hope, they have assembled a great cast of actors and Matthew Vaughan bought a lot of geek credit after doing such a good job with Kick-Ass. So can he make magic again?

Well, the first footage has been released and we can finally see what is in store.

So here are the things that grabbed my attention both positive and negative.

– “You’re Out Of Touch, I’m Out Of Time”

I can understand their need to tie this to the first films with the “Before he was…” stuff but it’s really cheesy. However, whether JFK’s speech is an important part of the film or not, I thought it was great to include it in the trailer here because not only does it set the timeline of the film but also it continues the “constant fear of the unknown” kind of thread that runs through pretty much every X-Men story ever.

– I Have The Mutant Ability Of Low Self-Esteem

Chris Rock once said that the first priority of every father is to keep their daughter off the stripper pole. And in that regard I believe the first priority of Charles Xavier is to keep the mutants out of the brothels. I don’t know the context of the image below, but from this trailer I get the impression that Pixie is about to be spit roasted by Magneto and Professor X.

Prove me wrong guys, prove me wrong.

– Beast

I really like Hank McCoy in the comics. He really is a fascinating character. Incredibly intelligent but trapped in a monster’s body. This body makes him able to help people physically in a way he couldn’t have before but it’s a constant reminder of his failures etc. I also like that he’s being played by Nicholas Holt too. Despite him being a weird physical casting, he’s a good actor and I’m glad to see him get a role in a big film like this. I’m fascinated to see just how big of a role he will be getting though. They’re introducing a lot of characters in this, and from the trailer I get the impression that James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are going to be taking up a lot of screen time themselves, so it will be interesting to see how much of Beast’s origin we’ll be getting.

– Not Nightcrawler

“So, guys, I want to use Nightcrawler in this film but I understand that we can’t really use him because this is set in the 60s and they don’t meet him until the present day so I figure I can use Azazel. He’s his dad in the comics and he is pretty much exactly the same character. We can probably even get him and Mystique to have some nookie for all those horny teenagers to watch. Yeah, you can see Nightcrawler being concieved and get someone going *BAMF* all over the place. The best of both worlds!”

Yup, it’s happening.

– “We need a money shot”

… yeah, that works. You have my attention.

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I have to admit, I was against this film from the start. I thought the premise was bad, the characters were such a miss match and scatter shot assortment. Nothing made me want to see this film. I don’t think the trailers has changed that much but it has made me interested in a few different things, so I guess that’s a job well done if they have even gotten my attention, considering.

What about you? Feel free to leave comments on what you make of the trailer. Am I being too harsh? Too forgiving? Let us know!