Wizards vs Aliens Thoughts

Despite the tragic origin of the CBBC show Wizards vs Aliens, I tried to give it a fair try during its first season. While the first season had some shaky stories, I was willing to grant them the benefit of the doubt, especially with the amount of world-building necessary, but I'm starting to doubt them.  This show seems much more heavily pitched at a young audience, with few to none of the touches that made SJA such a cross-audience show. 

One of the main flaws of the season premiere was heavy use of the Idiot Ball. Why didn't Tom just show Chloe his magic instead of merely insisting she couldn't go on TV? Why is a TV special considered ultimate proof of  magic, instead of something most people will say "oh, special effects?" 

Likewise,  the secondary characters fail to develop. Chloe may be realistic, in that she welcomes fame as most teenagers do, but she has few traits beyond that. In contrast,  a similar character in the SJA episode "The Madwoman in the Attic" has a friendship with one of the protagonists before the story opens and with another character during the story itself. 

Finally, any characters taken by the Necross are prematurely aged and never mentioned again.  It would be really neat to see one of them again and learn more about how it affected them. I mean, are they now biologically 50, 60? It feels really callous to just leave them. My vote would be for Mark from the series premiere, since he's played by Elisabeth Sladen's husband, but I'd be fine with Chloe or anyone else.

What's your favorite season (of television)?

I love autumn. The leaves fall to the ground and die and that reminds of my favorite BBC characters.
--tumblr post

Yes, it's that time of the year again. Despite lacking a TV, I've been watching a few shows, just to see how they go.

Legend of Korra (Nickelodeon)
Season two is receiving mixed reviews online, mostly due to romantic entanglements. I really enjoyed the previous show Avatar: The Last Airbender, but if twelve to sixteen-year-olds can win a 100-yr-long war with minimal adult support, older teens should be able to cope with civil unrest, especially with the mentor figures they have. Tenzin and his children are cute, but my problems with Korra really go back to her first words onscreen
 (after she Earthbends  a wall across the room and bending three elements at once.) 

I'm the Avatar. You gotta DEAL WITH IT!

AT FOUR YEARS OLD.
Yeah, I'm not exactly a fan of that kind of attitude.

Agents of Shield (ABC)
 It's a sequel to the Avengers. With Agent Coulson. Enough said.

Once Upon a Time (ABC)
I quit season two after "Lacey," and a lot of the concerns I had are still there. But I'm willing to give it another try. The new villain has potential, though I hope all the family bickering comes to an end.

Waiting for:

Sherlock (BBC on PBS)
No air date known yet.

Wizards vs Aliens  (CBBC)
A spiritual successor to The Sarah Jane Adventures, this show struggled to find its feet, but there were some good characters and funny moments, so I have high hopes for season two.

Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (ABC)
Maybe the spinoff format will help keep the sprawling characters in check.

Watching on DVD

Warehouse 13
Kinda cool, acknowledges that people exist between California and DC.

Dresden Files
Didn't even finish one episode. Sorry, creepy monsters just work better as a book. The skinwalker just reminded me of the Slitheen.

Wizards vs Aliens: The Last Day

Well, the season finale is over, so it's time for some summery and overall opinions. As for the episode itself, I was really excited by the first half. We finally learn what happened to Tom's mother--disappeared while doing wizardly stuff several years ago. Which makes it very surprising when she shows up randomly one day.

Turns out, she was captured by the Necross and cloned multiple times. The Necross have been feeding off the  magic of the clones.  Stuff happens and they all manage to shut down the cloning factories, but the clones have a short life, and the one Tom found dies.

There were some serious logical fallacies in this episode. If the Necross have had these clones for a few years, why did they suddenly decide to invade Earth? Surely they've been able to sustain themselves without raising human suspicions, so why take the risk now? Also, mightn't the template break down after making multiple copies? I'm also surprised we haven't seen any more of Mark, the wizard boy the Necross aged in the first episode. One of the other episodes--I think last week's--showed a Japanese wizard drained and killed, but I'd like to know more about Mark, and not just because he's played by Brian Miller.

With a full season past, I'd like to summarize my thoughts on Wizards vs Aliens. It started out at a disadvantage, needing to establish a complete world from scratch. It seemed to cycle through several moods, trying to decide what kinds of stories the writers wanted to tell. The special effects were pretty good, as were the Necross costumes. But the characters didn't have much of a chance to develop their own personalities--at least, not the human characters. Lexi and her brother were decent, even if the male Necross were rather stock characters. Ursula shows some depth in "Friend or Foe," and Benny is quite amusing, but Tom and his dad need to be seen in more settings so we can understand them better. I'll keep my eyes open for season two next fall--the season two premiere will be a re-purposed SJA script--but it has a way to go before it reaches the quality of Sarah Jane Adventures.

Wizards vs Aliens: Fall of the Necross

Well, I’m not as impressed with this episode as “Friend or Foe,” but it does incorporate complex issues, so I have hopes it will continue to improve. When Benny’s attempt to knock out the aliens’ magic-harvester disables the whole ship, they have to chose whether to let the Necross die or try to help their enemies. Ursula shows a darker side, rejecting the Necrosses’ plea for help, while Benny and Tom try to help.

We have only two more episodes before the season finale—a pox on British brevity—but I’ll keep my eye on it next fall.

Wizards vs Aliens: Friend or Foe

I think Wizards vs Aliens hit a new high with last week’s episode, “Friend or Foe.” When Lexi decides to adapt a human disguise, she has only a few causal encounters with Tom before they are both kidnapped by (human) billionaire Stephanie Gaunt. Gaunt plans to use magic—and alien technology, once Lexi’s disguise is removed—to steal the crown jewels. I had to chuckle at that—Moriarty planned the same in Sherlock’s “The Reichenbach Fall.”  Meanwhile, Benny suggests teaming up with the Necross to get Lexi and Tom back.

By introducing another antagonist, we got to see a new side to both the wizards and aliens. It added complexity to the plot as well, in contrast to the monster-attack format of the second story or dangers-of-magic in the third story. I haven’t watched “The Fall of the Necross” yet, but I have hopes the show is finding its feet.

Wizards vs Aliens: Rebel Magic

After last week’s rather cutesy monsters, I was really impressed with the concept of “Rebel Magic,” even if some people thought the concept came off simplistically. Tom, still struggling with a desire to considered cool, comes across another wizard whose powers exceed his own.  The temptation to use this “grim” magic to finish off the Necross is strong—with no aliens to worry about, Tom could go back to using his spells for homework and soccer. 

Ursula is developing as a strong character, with certain similarities to Sarah Jane’s role in the Sarah Jane Adventures. Tom’s dad isn’t as well-rounded yet, but he’s got a tricky position, as the only “Unenchanted” in the family. He’s taking the reasonable position that Tom needs to learn to do things without shortcuts, but that view is hard to support in a children’s show. 

In my last review, I commented that it would be interesting to see further developments of the magical system. Well, in this episode, we see mind control—one character blocks 12 hours of memories—and a magic-generated pound note that dissolves. Are most of the enchantments in this system short-term or long-term? I would love to see more of these challenges at some point.

Wizards vs Aliens: Grazlax Attacks

I've been a bit behind on posting this review. I could blame in on NaNoWriMo, but I also didn't find this episode as good as the premiere. Tom tries to distract himself from the alien threat by hanging out at Benny's place. Benny's parents...well, they're the stereotypical green, cultured folks that embarrass their kids by just being alive. I hope they get some more character development.
The monsters are rather...cute. Fluffy blue things with very large teeth--the sort of thing you'd hug and walk away from sans arms. The solution to them was rather clever, almost sonic.
I was also amused by Tom's grandmother accidentally transforming Benny's house into a gingerbread mansion and bouncy house before efficiently cleaning all the alien gunk (yeah for alien gunk!) Maybe after NaNo, I'll analyze the magic system with some details.

Wizards vs Aliens: Dawn of the Nekross, part 2

Well, after a rather lengthy search for this episode—finally pulled it up on watchseries—I sat down for a lovely time with Tom, his friend Benny, and his grandmother Ursula. I do hope “Old Mark”—the prematurely aged boy played by Brian Miller—returns, and not just because he’s Elisabeth Sladen’s husband. There’s so much potential in that character, especially if the ring can’t heal him completely. The goblin Randell Moon is great comic relief with extra potential, and  Tom’s dad Micheal has definite depth already, beyond just the muggle-in-the-family role. He kind of reminds me of Alan in SJA. 

And the visuals—WOW! The sequence where Tom, Benny, Ursula and Micheal escape from the Necross ship was stunning, absolutely gorgeous. Maybe the CBBC put some of the money saved from less aliens and used it for other special effects. I also love Benny and Tom’s arguments about magic vs science…I’d love to see Benny meet up with Clyde Langer, or maybe swap places. That would be hilarious.

I’m definitely watching next week’s episodes “Grazlax Attack.”

Wizards vs Aliens: Dawn of the Nekross part 1

Since the untimely death of Elisabeth Sladen in 2011 and the finale of the Sarah Jane Adventures,  I've sorely missed my light-hearted sci-fi fix. As much as I love my other fandoms, SJA hit a sweet spot with the character relationships, lack of romance, and medium-level intensity. Episodes like “Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith,” had their place, but so did lower-stakes episodes like “Secrets of the Stars.” 

So I was really excited to hear about “Wizards vs Aliens,” a new Russell T Davies show combing sci-fi and magic. The opening scene is amazing—a wizard and his dad are enchanting a healing ring, but are interrupted by a glowing alien spaceship. 

In several ways, this show is intended as a “spiritual successor” to the Sarah Jane Adventures. The production staff shares several members, an episode in season two is adapted from a SJA script, and Elisabeth Sladen’s husband played a minor role in the pilot of Wizards vs Aliens.

One episode in, I’m happy to report that WvA continues several SJA traditions, including protagonists getting covered in gunge, arbitrary skepticism, a geeky boy, and a seriously protective grandma. And a quick look on the Wikipedia page suggests the Necross will become primary antagonists, instead of the monster-of-the week format of SJA. 

While nothing can replace the Sarah Jane Adventures, I’d definitely recommend giving this show a shot to anyone who misses that “tone” of adventures.