Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Tag Archive: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Boo, Bitch–A surprisingly smart and funny coming of age series begins on Netflix

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July 23, 2022

Review by C.J. Bunce

Romeo and Juliet, Emma, American Graffiti, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Grease, Square Pegs, The Outsiders, Sixteen Candles, Say Anything, Heathers, Dazed and Confused, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Clueless (the best version of Emma), 10 Things I Hate About You, Veronica Mars, Orange County, Superbad, Riverdale. Writers have concocted several personal and entertaining coming of age movies and TV series over the years. Add to that list Netflix’s new series Boo, Bitch, a funny, clever, supernatural twist on the typical “last days of high school” story, full of snappy, witty dialogue that catches the genre up with the year 2022.

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Review–The next Firefly episode arrives this month in What Makes Us Mighty

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July 14, 2022

Review by C.J. Bunce

The seventh Firefly novel has arrived at last, this time from a newer voice in the sci-fi genre, M.K. England, author of the great Guardians of the Galaxy: No Guts, No Glory (reviewed here), one of the more humorous and faithful tie-ins we’ve covered lately. England’s latest is Firefly: What Makes Us Mighty, the latest episode in novel form of the short-lived Firefly series, which takes the crew of Serenity on another job, another cargo run, to another planet with quirky folk whose lifestyle mirrors something from Earth of the Past. As with some of the better novels in the series, this story revisits the best of what Browncoats loved about the show. It also does something much needed after all these years: It finally allows characters some room for expansion and growth. England delivers a steady, slower paced journey, but it has all that space Western charm of Joss Whedon’s series, with Whedon back as consulting editor.

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I’ll Be Home for Christmas Movies–A guide to 116 holiday films… with a twist

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November 30, 2021

Review by C.J. Bunce

When you think of your favorite Christmas movies, you probably think of Miracle on 34th Street, Elf, It’s a Wonderful Life, A Charlie Brown Christmas, or even Die Hard. But maybe you don’t. What about movies that aren’t big-budget blockbusters, that never made it to the big screen and in fact weren’t intended for a theater release? I’ll Be Home for Christmas Movies is a look at a subset of holiday films that might be thought of as the unsung heroes of Christmas: Hallmark Channel Christmas movies. The genre has a niche fandom, a fandom whose creations are about lost romance, conjuring a magical spirit, featuring locales of finely decked halls, strings of lights, and rafters of evergreen–and lots of happy people, at least by the end. They also feature some favorite actors from other genres.

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Morbius–Dig into the character with tie-in sequel novel in advance of the Marvel movie

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June 1, 2021

Review by C.J. Bunce

As each new superhero gets his showcase in Marvel movies, we’re getting more and more lesser known characters pulled from the history of Marvel Comics to meet on the big screen. As we stray away from the actual superhero headliners, the obscure come to the fore. Probably the best of the darker, horror comics can be found in DC Comics, members of Justice League Dark, in recent years including Constantine, Swamp Thing, Zatanna, Deadman, Madame Xanadu, and Shade. But it’s the feel of JLD you’ll find in Brendan Daneen’s Morbius, The Living Vampire: Blood Ties, a new novel in the Titan Books library of novel adaptations of Marvel Comics. Taking place after the origin story of Marvel’s take on a “bat-man,” to be adapted in the pandemic-delayed, big-screen debut of Marvel’s latest monstrosity Morbius starring Jared Leto, this story gives an accounting of that “living vampire” first created 50 years ago in the pages of Spider-Man comics by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane.

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Kung Fu kicks into high gear with action and fun in first episode

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April 8, 2021

Review by C.J. Bunce

Put away what you remember (if anything) about the 1970s Kung Fu television series. You didn’t really watch the series for David Carradine, did you? If you were like most of the viewers, you probably showed up for the martial arts. CW Network’s new reboot of Kung Fu is for that same audience, but it also casts a wider net. Wednesday night Olivia Liang showed up to take the new series, CW’s Kung Fu, by storm. You can compare it to the similar-vibed, live-action Mulan, some of your favorite recent martial arts series that have the same dramatic beats like Wu Assassins, or you can compare it to series like Charmed, Smallville, Stargirl, or Riverdale. Fans of all these shows will get a kick out of the ease at which the CW has brought a young Chinese-American hero into our must-watch DVR queue with college student-turned-Shaolin warrior Nicky Shen. She’s a completely modern, updated Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and she brings with her an interesting supporting cast while pulling some intrigue into the story via elements of classic Chinese mythology and history. It’s fantasy, and its supernatural, and there’s swinging kicks and swordplay you’re not going to want to miss.

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Chilling Adventures of Sabrina–Final season ends with a tour of the eldritch terrors

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January 8, 2021

Review by C.J. Bunce

It had a promising first and third season, twists and turns, clever story arcs, and a contender for the most faithful adaptation of a comic book series from the past decade. The creators of the fourth and final season of Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina gave 2020 a much-needed batch of two complete seasons, and we already gave the third season kudos in the 2020 Best of TV review here at borg. Kiernan Shipka proved to be one of TV’s best young actors, embodying a character that is next in line after Buffy Summers, Veronica Mars, and Liv Moore as young genre heroines who led series you can count on the first time and after re-watches. Already a contender for one of the best TV series of this century, and one of Netflix’s most creative efforts, how did the final season fare for our heroine Sabrina Spellman?

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A borg Thanksgiving tradition

Filed under: Con Culture, Retro Fix, TV — 1 Comment

November 26, 2020

Hopefully you’re at home and didn’t travel this year. Time to pull the TV dinner out of the oven. Throw some butter on those peas. It’s time again for your annual tryptophan coma. And another annual tradition.

Yes, it is time again for your annual viewing of the best Thanksgiving episode that ever graced the small screen. Ten years running and you didn’t think we’d forget our annual throwback, right? Finish this phrase: “As God is my witness, I thought…”

Then watch and enjoy our traditional viewing of the greatest Thanksgiving episode of TV ever (note: no actual turkeys were harmed in the making of the show):

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Tags: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, coronavirus, pandemic, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving 2020, WKRP in Cincinnati, WKRP turkey drop

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Stargirl’s first season rises to become the best superhero series and comic book adaptation on TV yet

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August 12, 2020

Review by C.J. Bunce

After what I viewed as the best superhero series pilot yet here at borg back in May, Stargirl never let up, never let us down, and with this week’s season finale rises to become the very best superhero series yet. We can slice and dice and compare series like The Flash and Arrow, Supergirl, and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but did any of them adapt the comic book mythos to the screen as written and drawn by years of comic book writers and artists? Or did they all twist the stories to cut away at what made the stories enduring in the first place? Even Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina–two fantastic comic book adaptations–were nudged aside by thirteen perfect episodes of comic books in TV form. Not since the heart in the original series The Flash, The Incredible Hulk, and the animated series Superfriends has a series full of superhero characters gotten so much so right. And one scene in the season finale was so good, so surprising, it may have you stand up and cheer.

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More SDCC 2020–Nathan Fillion talks Buffy, Castle, Firefly, and The Rookie with familiar faces

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August 1, 2020

Nathan Fillion–with a moustache? One of the more interesting panels from this year’s San Diego Comic-Con and one certainly not to miss for Browncoats everywhere is a panel devoted exclusively to the star of Firefly, Castle, and The Rookie. It’s definitely one of those atypical panels (even for 2020) like we saw Fillion host back in the days of Nerd HQ, this time with added wacky editing and Fillion stepping in to provide commentary along the way. That’s right, Fillion has enough pop culture street cred to get a panel to himself. But he also knows how to share the stage.

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Tags: Alan Tudyk, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Castle, Comic-Con at home, Firefly, Firefly Comic-Con, Firefly Comic-Con panel, Gina Torres, Jon Huertas, Joss Whedon, Mekia Cox, Molly C. Quinn, Nathan Fillion, Nerd HQ, San Diego Comic-Con, SDCC 2020, Seamus Dever, The Rookie, The Rookie season 3

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Stargirl review–New series begins with a powerful start tonight on the CW Network, first season now on digital

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May 19, 2020

Review by C.J. Bunce

Isn’t this a great time for a new superhero series to begin? If you agree then you’re in luck, because tonight’s premiere episode of Stargirl might be DC Comics’ best TV pilot yet. Prepare to meet the next superheroes from the corners of 30 years of DC Comics. Courtney Whitmore’s relationship with her new stepdad is like you’d expect at first–awkward. But it’s doubly awkward when he’s an over-eager good guy named Patrick played by Luke Wilson (known best for his roles in Wes Anderson movies and an unforgettable spot on The X-Files). Courtney (seen above sporting a rather timely mask) discovers there is more than meets the eye with Pat, and the series opener will propel viewers further ahead into his secrets and past–sooner than you might expect. The result is incredibly promising, a pilot mixing well-done special effects with a great story, a coming of age tale targeted at kids, a fun cast of familiar faces and a new young actress hitting the ground running (or soaring), a cool car and a 1950s vibe, and throwbacks for viewers who keep their eyes open. And the entire first season is now available on digital.

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