The LucasFilms portion of Disney’s Investor Day stream made the major headlines for Star Wars fans. After weeks of speculation, all of the questions were answered today as the vision path of the Star Wars franchise were revealed today. From Obi-Won Kenobi, to Ashoka, there is a ton to look forward to within the next few years. I will go over each announced project of LucasFilms and give brief details of what they are.
Rangers of the New Republic and Ashoka Series
Two spinoffs of The Mandalorian are coming to Disney+. Popular Star Wars character Ashoka Tano is getting her own spinoff on Disney+. This comes after she made her live action debut on the current season of The Mandalorian. And will also focus on Ashoka’s wherabouts after her appearence on The Mandalorian. Rangers of the New Republic is the second spinoff that was revealed. The two shows will be executive produced by Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau.
Andor
Andor will be a spy thriller. It will serve as the prequel of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story as Andor will be a 12 episode Disney+ series. On the teaser trailer, We got a glimpse of what everyone can expect from the prequel series. Diego Luna will return to reprise his role as Cassian Andor.
Obi-Wan Kenobi
The Obi-Wan Kenobi series has been in the talks within the year. The news of Hayden Christensen reprising his role as Darth Vader made this announcement great as he will be the co-star. Production of the series will begin in the spring of 2021. Obi-Wan Kenobi will take place 10 years after Revenge of the Sith. The big question, is if we will see Anakin Skywalker in his Darth Vader outfit.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch
Star Wars: The Bad Batch will follow characters on various missions in a rapidly changing galaxy. The crew of clone warriors, known as Clone Force 99, will be the central focus. The animated series will take place at the beginning of the Empire based on the teaser trailer.
LANDO and The Acolyte
LANDO will be produced and written by Justin Simien. Simien’s most notable work was producing Netflix’s Dear White People. Lando is about Lando Calrissian himself in the Star Wars universe. Casting announcements were not been made
A Droid Story
C3PO and R2D2 will have their own miniseries. Titled A Droid Story, is produced by Lucasfilm’s visual effects team, Industrial Light & Magic. A Droid Story will introduce a new droid to the Star Wars Universe, and feature an adventure with C3PO and R2D2.
Rogue Squadron
Rogue Squadron is what Star Wars fans wanted. Not only that this news confirmed the upcoming Star Wars film, Patty Jenkins will direct Rogue Squadron. Patty Jenkins most recent work, is Wonder Woman and Wonder Woman 1984. This is an interesting decision, and I am looking forward to see how she will shape Rogue Squadron in her vision.
Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content.
Every Monday morning, Disney reveals their new product line for The Mandalorian. The event is called Mando Mondays and today, there was a great reveal that nobody was expecting. That is, the Ambam Phase-Pulse Blaster, the signature weapon of The Mandalorian.
This replica blaster is produced by NERF and you can pre-order the awesome replica today. The blaster is over four feet long, and has the sound effects of the blaster that you see on The Mandalorian. It also comes with ten darts that you can load one at a time. The electric scope has a illuminated lense inside of the scope. Hasbro provided me with images for me to share.
The images that were provided, showcases the accuracy and attention to detail of the blaster that is seen on The Mandalorian. This will be a hot item to own next year during Comic Con season, or during the 2021 holiday season. The NERF brand has produced many Star Wars products and it is no surprise that The Mandalorian would be on the list. I also hope that there will be a variant color to match the colors of the actual one on the series so that way, anyone can have a accurate costume of The Mandalorian. NERF collectors and Star Wars fans will be happy to have this in their possesion.
You can pre-order the Amban Phase-Pulse Blaster via the link below. The price will be $119.99 and it will be expected to ship in July 2021. I suggest to order quick because it is now sold out on Amazon. Also to note, this blaster will hit the retail stores in the fall of 2021. Season 2 of The Mandalorian is on Disney+. New episodes of The Mandalorian airs each Friday morning.
The holiday season has been great to the gaming community for decades. This holiday gift guide for gaming will be beneficial for the parents that do not know what to buy for their children when it comes to gaming. It will also be great for the ones that can get someone they know something that they do not have. Since it is gaming related, the person receiving the gift will be happy.
What I will also add, is that this holiday gift guide will have reasonable prices that are under $100. There is no way I would have a $500 price tag for any of these gifts. All of the items that are featured, will have their respective links.
Nintendo had a successful run with the NES Classic and the SNES Classic Mini. There were others that tried to duplicate the same success, but none of them were at the level of Nintendo. Only one of the many retro-mini consoles outside of Nintendo was well received by fans and that is the SEGA Genesis Mini that was released in 2019. SEGA Genesis Mini remained faithful to the original and has a great lineup of classic SEGA Genesis titles.
There are tons of variations of airpod cases that are on the the market that are video game related. But none capture the feel of a GameBoy than this one. It is also reasonably priced and it also supports wireless charging.
The Lexma brand produced a number of great successful gaming keyboards. But this starter kit not only comes with the keyboard, as it also features the headphones and mouse. This is a great starter kit on a great budget level if you are getting this kit for someone that would like to break into PC Gaming.
A portable game player with over 200 games is a nice deal. Of those retro games, the most popular ones are Mega Man 2, Burger Time, and Tetris.It is essentially NES on the go!
Fortnite rised to become one of the most popular games in the world. It is also free to play and you can play on any device as possible. Gifting someone V-Bucks would save the person money and time grinding for the in-game currency. With the amount of events per season Epic Games has with Fortnite, the V-Bucks would be beneficial!
The carrying case for Nintendo Switch is expensive. But havig a two for one case that can also store controllers and accessories for the same price, is a steal right there. Nintendo always gets it right when it comes to cases for portable devices. You would not want to miss this on your shopping list.
PAC-MAN Arcade Alarm Clock($13.99 at Gamestop)
In today’s world, our phones can be our alarm clock. But having an arcade alarm clock that has PAC-Man sound effects is awesome and I would want to have it on my dresser next to my bed.
Gamer2go produces custom controllers for XBOX and Playstation. You can make one to whatever artwork you like for a little over $100. But their current sale, is all of their XBOX One and PS4 controllers that are Star Wars themed. All of the controllers are $39.99 so I would get this good sale if I were you.
Storage is important. Especially when it comes to gaming consoles. In today’s landscape of gaming, there are so many updates and DLC’s that one console can handle. Extra storage is up to 3TB is worth the investment. You would not have to worry about deleting a large amount of data just to download a game. And what is also great about this, is that it can expand the lifecycle of your own console. Compare this price to the others that has the same number of storage, this is the best option.
Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content.
Nicolas Cantu as Elton, Ted Sutherland as Percy – The Walking Dead: World Beyond _ Season 1, Episode 10 – Photo Credit: Macall Polay/AMC
The first season of World Beyond has come to an end. It has been a rocky road as there has been more bad episodes than good. Believe me when I say that I did not want to come in the series with a negative mindset. But when you have too many inconsistencies and terrible dialouge during the episodes, I cannot let it slip and not aknowledge them.
The seventh episode is their best episode. I was also on the set for that episode and was also happy with the finished product. Every episode before the seventh, has been either mediocre, or just straight up bad. One of those episodes, even featured a wolf that served no purpose, and a top-tier level of cringe during that dance scene. It is reasons like that where fans would look at this as a CW Network show. On this review, I will review the final two episodes of the season into one review. Those episodes are, “The Deepest Cut” and “In This Life.”
I will have to get this out the way right now. Felix’s Boyfriend Will should have been introduced earlier this season. I like the scenes that Will had with the family and Felix. But by the time they reunited, I did not feel that emotional attachment that these two had at the final scene. It works on the other two shows because the characters were seperated for a long stretch of episodes. But here, it did not work as he was introduced at the last minute. But outside of that, I am liking what I am seeing from Will so far.
Speaking about the ending, I am curious to how the second season of World Beyond will begin. Hope is the asset that Elizabeth wanted all along. When Hope solved that CRM cipher, I knew right away that she is what they were looking for. With Hope agreeing to go with CRM for them to transport her to her father, it can finally open more to what CRM is all about. However, The acting between Hope and Huck is passable.
When I watch actors or actresses like Melissa McBride or Alycia Debnam-Carey, they can both have those emotional scenes that I can suspend my disbelief in believeing that they are feeling that emotion. All throughout World Beyond and the final episode especially, Hope has been crying way too much. Alexa Mansour is a good actress, but those scenes do not make me believe what the character is feeling. You do not need to cry for a scene to be emotional. It comes off as trying too hard rather than organic.
While I was watching these two interract, I was eager to see how Hope will deal with the undead in this situation. And her inexperience is still showing on a grand scale. The way Elton handled the undead looked silly when he taped the two together at one point, but it made sense for him. I also believe that the ninth episode is Elton’s best episode. Those hallucination scenes with him and Percy really stood out to me. His own conscious was questioning him whether if he should leave Percy or not. But he believed in himself to do it. And I love how the reveal of Huck shooting Percy was filmed and acted too. Kudos for the production team to give me a jump scare because I totally did not see it coming when he sat back up.
Alexa Mansour as Hope; single – The Walking Dead: World Beyond _ Season 1, Episode 10 – Photo Credit: Macall Polay/AMC
The fight scene between Felix and Huck is great. It is one of the longest, uninterrupted fight scenes in the universe of The Walking Dead. They both were evenly matched at a few points. And the fight choreography enhanced the scene as I was really engaged with the fight. Hope had to stop the fight because she knew that she was leaving. But what will that mean for Iris on the second season? Especially since Huck does not know that CRM took out the Campus back on the first episode.
Of all the episodes, Iris also stood out on the finally as Alicia Royale did a great performance with the character. It was frustrating to even try to like Iris this season. But the last two episodes made up for it. Hope is not the only one that is with CRM. Silas given himself up to CRM in order for Percy and Elton to escape the area. Where he will be placed, is up in the air for the second season. I honestly wish that the entire group did not split up because I have seen it done on both shows. And now on World Beyond, it has happened again. I do not believe that they are all too far though.
I think there is room to fix several of the issues of World Beyond on season 2. There also needs to be more hints on how this will tie into the Rick Grimes movies. The A/B stuff is intriguing, but it did not add to anything after that scene. The Walking Dead World Beyond is a two-season show and things need to pick up fast on the second season. The finale is good. But I did not leave with the urgency of anticipating the second season. But I hope that it is better than the first season.
Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content.
Silas’ journey so far on The Walking Dead World Beyond is sad. Knowing that his father was abusive towards him and his mother really tramutized him. Anyone that suffers from that dark past, I would have sympathy for and I do for Silas. On this exclusive quick interview, Hal Cumpston breaks down the development of Silas on the most recent episode of The Walking Dead World Beyond.
How did you mentally prepare for your flashback scenes before the cameras started rolling?
Hal: I was very excited and ready to go for this episode for a while so there wasn’t too much trouble trying to get into character.
There is one thing that your character and Felix has in common and that is, that their fathers were not great role models to them when they were teenagers and young adults. Have you and Nico Tortorella talked about that behind the scenes?
Hal: We filmed such a long time ago I can’t remember discussing it exactly. We spent 6 months with each other so there isn’t really a topic we didn’t delve into.
How intense was it for Silas to know that the first walker that he killed, is his father? And will we find out if his mom forgave him?
Hal: Silas is still intensely haunted by his past in particular having to kill his father twice. And I cannot answer the second question for now.
The first season is going to conclude soon. What are your favorite memories being part of World Beyond’s first season?
Hal: My mind is a bit hazy about particular memories from set but it was definitely a lot of fun. I’d say the overall experience that I get to be so lucky to do this as a job is definitely what sticks with me the most. But to give a funny memory there was a hilarious shocker where a cake was arranged for Annet’s “Birthday” yet low and behold it wasn’t her birthday. Another time that was funny was a day on episode 3 where I couldn’t make eye contact with Nicolas Cantu in an emotion scene because Nick, Nico and I had the giggles.
How challenging was it for you at first when you were first introduced into this universe of The Walking Dead?
Hal: I was pretty all over the place emotionally as I didn’t have a point of reference, it being my first US audition. The overall feeling was more of a “I’m so lucky to be here” than being a challenging or daunting experience. I did feel pretty comfortable pretty quickly thankfully. The fact all I had to do was act and I had money for the first time in my life was an easier version of life than the previous years working non-stop for little moneys on my indie film.
If there are any two characters between the main show and Fear The Walking Dead that you would like to see Silas interact with, who would they be?
Hal: Rick and Daryl probably. Sorry boring answer but that’s who realistically would probably be the coolest.
Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content.
The Walking Dead World Beyond returns for another strong episode. Eight episodes in, and the plot is really picking up. “The Sky is a Graveyard” begins right where we left off as there are long hidden truths that finally came out. The seventh episode is my favorite of the season. And I can also say, that this episode is my second favorite as well.
Hal Cumpston’s acting is convincing and striking. The whole time I watched “The Sky is a Graveyard”, I was really sold on how the character Silas was tramutized. There is one major thing that is a common ground in the universe of TWD. And that is, there is a high percentage of bad fathers in this world. I felt really bad for Silas with the way his father treated him and his mother. But I did chuckle when they were both listening to rock music.
The first walker that Silas not only seen but killed, is his father. I could not imagine what his thought process was at the moment. That is also something to think about whenever Silas is on the screen. I had a feeling that there was more than what appeared with Silas. And my instincts were correct. But I am also not convinced that he killed Tony. I believe that Huck did it.
Alexa Mansour as Hope, Nicolas Cantu as Elton – The Walking Dead: World Beyond _ Season 1, Episode 8 – Photo Credit: Zach Dilgard/AMC
Huck had to do it because the end of the episode revealed why she was missing not too long ago. Tony and Percy had a CRM vehicle, and a map with different refueling locations. There was no way that Huck would let them stay alive. Add in to the fact that CRM knows that the group are coming. And Huck has to not let her cover be blown. Imagine if they all showed up there with Tony and Percy? Elizabeth would not allow that and I believe that she just wanted Hope, Iris, and the rest alone without anyone else on the way. Huck is also Elizabeth’s daughter and that is something I did not expect.
I also did not believe it when Silas revealed to Iris that he killed them both as well. My theory is, maybe he seen Huck do it and she told him not to tell them.
Speaking of secrets, Hope finally revealed to Elton that she killed his mother. I wish that this scene was more impactful than it should be. But I just did not feel the emotion that I thought that I would when the reveal happened. They should have not cut to footage of Elton leaving as the narration of Hope telling him was on. I wanted to see Elton’s reaction right there. That choice of editing should have not happened. And where are Silas and Elton are going to go? They are not ready to handle the outside world yet. That is based on what we seen of the both of them since World Beyond started airing.
With those minor issues aside, I still think that “The Sky is a Graveyard” is a strong episode. I can also say that I am glad that things are turning to the dark side of the apoclapse for the group.
Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content.
Alycia Debnam-Carey as Alicia Clark, Alexa Nisenson as Charlie – Fear the Walking Dead _ Season 6, Episode 7 – Photo Credit: Ryan Green/AMC
“Damage From the Inside” serves as the mid season finale of Fear The Walking Dead’s sixth season. That was not the original plan as AMC halted production of the actual mid season finale at the start of the pandemic. Even so, this episode has a ton of strong performances by Alicia Debnam-Carey and Lennie James.
The surprise reveal at the end made my jaw drop. I will have to admit that because Grace was not on my mind at the time. Grace seems like she is going to give birth at any moment now. Virginia is going to use her as leverage against Morgan. When this does happen, it can make Morgan’s uprising go to a bad turn. That also depends on how many people he can gather to go against Virginia.
Alycia really stood out on “Damage From the Inside.” Especially the scene when her and Charlie was talking about The Stadium from season 4. Timeline wise, it has been almost a year since they were last there. So going back there to look for Madison could be a longshot. The Stadium was overrun by walkers. And I still wonder if Madison is alive.
When we were first introduced to Ed, I thought for a second that it was the same Ed from the Althea Tapes. But it turns out that this Ed is a animal hunter. The collection of his trophies in his shed spooked me out. Ed also attached horns on the walkers to weaponize them. That came back to haunt him later in the episode as the walkers came in. Ed accepted to be eaten by the dead and Alycia, Charlie, and Dakota were saved by Morgan.
Alycia Debnam-Carey as Alicia Clark – Fear the Walking Dead _ Season 6, Episode 7 – Photo Credit: Ryan Green/AMC
Another scene I like, is the standoff between Strand, Alycia, and Morgan. I thought that Strand aligning with Virginia was just a plot for him to turn on her. But he is a full fledged member. It will be very interesting to see which side he is on once everyone is together against Virginia. All of which, could happen on the next episode.
How Morgan will react to seeing Grace will be something to look forward to. I also suspected that Morgan was the one who took out the rangers because of the way the tree was chopped down. Morgan is doing everything that he can to launch the revolt against Virginia. And so far, the pieces are coming together for his plan.
With Virginia having Grace, and Morgan having Dakota, this situation could be smooth, or deadly. I like this episode and episode 8 needs to arrive ASAP! Fear The Walking Dead’s current season is the best in years and it left me more satisfied and anxious than ever before.
Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content.
Impact Wrestling has been in business since 2002. The promotion (then TNA) proved to make upcoming stars that we see today. Stars such as AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, Homicide, and Jay Lethal all had their first big break over there. TNA also reinvented careers of former WWE and WCW superstars, and introduced us to their women’s division called the Knockouts Division. With that, along with unique match stipulations, TNA was something of an alternative at the time when they launched.
But over the years and to this day, there is at least one terrible match per year that gives Impact the “LOLTNA” reputation that the internet wrestling community coined. Today, I will list those very bad matches from that promotion in the order of when it happened that year.
Hair vs. Hair: Raven vs. Larry Zbyszko Victory Road 2006 Watch Raven try to carry a 54-year-old, broken old man for 4 minutes, and fail spectacularly. No one should be wrestling at this guy’s age. See also: Larry Z’s Loser Leaves match with Eric Young at BFG of the same year.
Jay Lethal vs. Petey Williams No Surrender 2006 Jay Lethal had been turned into a Jackass fanboy in one of the worst pieces of cross-promotion ever (see also: JWoww in TNA). But even with bad build, how could these two great workers produce such a terrible match? Hint: it involves laxatives.
Tuxedo Match: Christy Hemme vs. The Big Fat Oily Guy Against All Odds 2007 Yes, that’s right, Christy Hemme once feuded with a nameless Big Dick Johnson ripoff, which culminated in one of the regular worst match stipulations, a rip-off-the-clothes match.
Elevation X: AJ Styles vs. Rhino Destination X 2007
Wonder why no one does scaffold matches anymore? They’re ridiculously dangerous and impossible to have a good match on. But substituting the single scaffold for 2 scaffolds in an X-shape… yeah, no, it doesn’t make it any less unsafe or unwatchable.
Blindfold Cage Match: James Storm vs. Chris Harris Lockdown 2007
Thank heaven the “Eye for an Eye” fiasco didn’t include a blindfold match at some point. They’re almost always awful, good only for a couple of cold-warm-hot spots with the crowd. This didn’t even have that.
Electrified Cage Match for the Tag Team Titles: LAX (c) vs. Team 3D Lockdown 2007
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esCtfaL1aRY
Sure, it’s electrified. If by “electrified” you mean “completely normal, but the wrestlers convulse when they hit the cage while the lights flash and a joy buzzer sound effect plays”.
Reverse Battle Royal Bound for Glory 2007
Yes, REVERSE Battle Royal. Sixteen men fighting to get INSIDE the ring, at which they suddenly struggle immensely despite being okay with it the rest of their careers. This was on their biggest show of the year, somehow.
MMA Match: AJ Styles vs. Frank Trigg No Surrender 2008 Faux-shoot matches (e.g. the Mr. T/Piper boxing match) are never good. Styles can’t even pretend to play a legit fighter, and Trigg is a fish out of water in the scripted world of wrestling. Also, it ends in shenanigans.
Number 1 Contender for the Knockouts Title: ODB/Roxxi/Taylor Wilde vs. The Kongtourage Genesis 2009
Three actual good women’s wrestlers try to make sense of the hopeless Rhaka Khan and Sojo Bolt, as well as Cheerleader Melissa in a burqa. The “one who wins the pinfall gets a title shot” stipulation rears its ugly head, leading to obvious shenanigans.
Jenna Morasca vs. Sharmell Victory Road 2009
When wrestling fans think “bad TNA match”, all too often they’re thinking of this, and it’s not hard to see why. A valet against a no-name Survivor contestant – with ACTUAL WRESTLER Awesome Kong at ringside – produces a legendary piece of **** of a match.
Abyss vs. Mr. Anderson Genesis 2010 A hardcore wrestler working a four-sided ring for the first time in forever vs. a guy wrestling the “generic mid-2000s WWE” style. That clash of styles isn’t exactly going to result in anything good. The crowd, who weren’t exactly happy as it was, HATED this.
for the Global Title: Rob Terry vs. Orlando Jordan Sacrifice 2010
See Genesis 2010, but substitute Abyss’s description for “Rob Terry, a man who has never been able to wrestle at all”. Eight minutes that feel like eight years.
For the Knockouts Tag Team Titles: Winter/Angelina Love vs. Mexican America Victory Road 2011
Featuring a notable botch where the future Zelina Vega has to hold Winter down in a roll-up pinfall for a good 20 seconds because Velvet Sky missed her cue. If that sounds good to you, you’ll love this match! Sarita deserved better.
First Blood: Matt Morgan vs. Hernandez Victory Road 2011
A finish to a feud that had been on hold for years, featuring no end to end action, no good wrestling (because Matt Morgan) and a stupid, screwy finish. I could put all of Victory Road ’11 on here actually. They managed to make an Ultimate X match suck! How?!
No Disqualification Match for the World Title: Sting (c) vs. Jeff Hardy Victory Road 2011
There’s not much of a match here, as Hardy going out while completely off his face on drugs curtailed the action to 89 sad, sad seconds. Instead, admire the efforts of the referee, Sting, and Eric Bischoff to ensure that no one came out of this night hurt.
Crimson vs. Rob Van Dam Hardcore Justice 2011 I could put Crimson’s entire “winning streak” on here. Repeated DQ wins and generally looking like shit for an “undefeatable” wrestler will do that to you. This match’s ending is one of the dumbest you will ever see, especially considering what it’s meant to build to.
Robbie E vs. Robbie T Lockdown 2013 Robbie E was always best when he was outside of the right, whereas Rob Terry… wasn’t best anywhere. This was the peak of a feud based around “bro-offs”, featuring everyone trying to pretend this massive Welsh man can dance.
Knockouts Gauntlet Battle Royal One Night Only: Live! 1
This got -2.5 stars from Meltzer, which is somehow the third-worst rated TNA match ever. A slow and heatless mini-Rumble featuring a young Deonna Purrazzo, who will want to forget she was even at this show.
Monster’s Ball: Abyss vs. Grado One Night Only: Live! 1 A hardcore bout with barely any hardcore and Grado fucking about, described by one commentator on Cagematch as “XPW with higher production values”. If you want to see Grado actually work the stipulation, watch Bound for Glory 2017 instead.
Rebel vs. Shelly Martinez One Night Only: Knockouts Knockdown 4 Just when you thought Jenna/Sharmell was the worst women’s match ever, here is this disaster, featuring offense that targets the vagina. Not even kidding.
These 20 matches really stand out to me. It is because it pinpoints the worst time to be a fan of Impact Wrestling. I hope within the next decade, I will not have to do a top 40.
Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content.
The Walking Dead’s tenth season is not over yet. A few months ago, the unfortunate news of the final season went viral. What also came with that news, is the extended episodes for the tenth season. Today, AMC has revealed the episode titles of the extra six episodes and their release dates.
Those episodes will premiere on Feburary 28th, 2021. That is not too far as it will be only two and a half months away. The bonus episode’s descriptions are the following:
EPISODE 1017 – “Home Sweet Home”
Maggie (Lauren Cohan) has returned with a story she is not ready to share, even when her past catches up to her. Negan’s (Jeffrey Dean Morgan,) safety is at stake again. Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Maggie fight an unseen and unknown threat.
EPISODE 1018 – “Find Me”
An adventure for Daryl and Carol (Melissa McBride) turns sideways when they come across an old cabin. It takes Daryl back to the years when he left the group after Rick disappeared as he relives a time that only the apocalypse could manifest.
EPISODE 1019 – “One More”
Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) and Aaron (Ross Marquand) search for food and supplies to bring back to Alexandria. Small tragedies lead to bigger tragedies as faith is broken and optimism is fragmented when they are put to the ultimate test.
EPISODE 1020 – “Splinter”
Eugene (Josh McDermitt), Ezekiel (Khary Payton), Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura), and Princess (Paola Lázaro) are captured and separated. Princess struggles with memories of her traumatic past and tries to escape one way or another with the help of Ezekiel.
EPISODE 1021 – “Diverged”
Daryl and Carol come to a fork in the road and head their separate ways. Each going into their own type of survival mode, the easiest of challenges become much harder. Will their individual journeys be the tipping point needed to mend their friendship or is the distance between them permanent?
EPISODE 1022 – “Here’s Negan”
Carol takes Negan on a journey, hoping to minimize the increasing tension. Negan reflects on the events that led him to this point and comes to a conclusion about his future.
From the look of it, the 22nd episode will be Negan’s backstory from the comic of the same name. Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s wife Hilarie Burton Morgan will play as Lucille.
For overseas viewers, The Walking Dead will return on Monday March 1st!
Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content.
When I first heard that there will be a reboot of “Saved By The Bell”, I did not react to it that well. The general thought in my mind was that it was going to be another 90’s reboot that did not need to be revived. My curious mind opened up to the idea of the reboot. And I must say, it is one of the better reboots.
The original stars Mario Lopez, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, and Elizabeth Berkley Lauren are heavily featured on the first few episodes. But not to the point where they all have more screentime than the new cast. Even the Tiffani Thiessen cameo worked and told a brief story as Kelly and Zach Morris are now married. Zach is now the governor of California, and his son Mac (Mitchell Hoog) attends Bayside High School.
SAVED BY THE BELL — Pictured: (l-r) Mitchell Hoog as Mac Morris, Belmont Cameli as Jamie Spano, Dexter Darden as DeVante, Josie Totah as Lexi, Aisha Alycia Pascual-Pena as Aisha and Haskiri Velazquez as Daisy at The Max — (Photo by: Chris Haston/Peacock)
Mac is very similar to his father. In fact, Jamie Spano (Belmont Cameli) is similar to A.C Slater on the original show. When they appear on screen, the duo can be compared to the original characters. Whether if it is the dialouge, or their pranks, much of Zack Morris and A.C Slater’s personalities are passed down to these two. But the rest of the cast, are their own characters.
Haskiri Velazquez, the lead actress of Peacock’s Saved By The Bell, plays as Daisy. Daisy and her friends Aisha (Alycia Pascual-Pena) and Devante (Dexter Darden) were from a different school. The three were transferred to Bayside High and it is a surreal experience for them. What they were used to in their past high school, will not be the same anymore. This really hit hard for the three as they struggle to adjust to the new changes.
On the first episode, Daisy and Max’s chemistry is a highlight for the episode. Daisy’s bubbly and straight forward personality really stretched out the flow of “Saved By The Bell”. She actually became my favorite character during my time watching. There were really good moments that made me giggle and also feel for the character too.
There are also key features and easter eggs that pay homage to the original Saved By The Bell. Such as Daisy breaking the fourth wall, “time out”, the silly tricks and pranks, and even The Max. I found it quite amusing that the characters questioned why everyone eats at The Max every day since the food is expensive. It not only ads to the culture shock these characters go through, but it also addresses real world millennial problems not only in tyhat scene, but other scenes as well.
The characters are really enjoyable. Other than Mac and Jamie, the characters do not feel like they are copycats of the originals. There is a lot to know about them and it is surprising to know what their backstories are and what is in their minds.
Peacock’s “Saved By The Bell” is a nice way to revive the franchise. After the first episode, you will see that it is a completly different show than the original. The comparisons to the original is only by structure. But within that structure, there is a good balance of substance that will keep you engaged. I can easily say that Saved By The Bell is back and better than ever.
Peacock’s Saved By The Bell premieres on November 25th, 2020.
Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content.
