Love, Death & Robots - Season 4

 

Image Credit: Netflix

The fourth season of Netflix’s animated series Love, Death & Robots was released yesterday and while its lack of a truly stand-out episode means that it doesn’t hold up quite as well as previous seasons, I still found it entertaining. If you keep up with this blog you know I wrote about seasons one, two, and three in the past so continuing the tradition feels like a natural. Like previous seasons there are several big names involved in the writing, direction, and acting in these 10 episodes including David Fincher, John Scalzi, Tim Miller, and John Oliver, some more successful in their contributions than others. The episodes are short enough that watching all 10 in a single sitting is easy enough, but if you want to cherry pick, I’ve written brief descriptions of each episode below in my order of best to worst.

 

The Screaming of the Tyrannosaur

This episode seems to be catching some static based on the fact it features the voice talent of Mr. Beast, but I really enjoyed this one. The story itself isn’t all that original, but the setting, the characters, the animation, and the action make it my favorite 15 minutes of the season.

How Zeke Got Religion

This is one of those shorts that is so good, you wish it were longer. Watching the WWII aerial crew set out on a mission only to find themselves beset by flying demons bent on killing them all mid-flight, I loved the gory action. I just wish I had more time to get to know the crewmembers before the action kicked in.

For He Can Creep

This historic fantasy tale of a cat that is dead-set on protecting a poet locked up in an insane asylum from Satan himself is lots of fun. It’s the last episode of the season and ensures the season goes out on a high note. I hope to see more like this one if Netflix makes a Season 5.

400 Boys

I love the animation style in this short and it does a nice job of painting a set of unique characters in minimal time. The first two thirds of the story warrant consideration for being the best of the season. The let-down is its choice of villain. The ending falls short of the set-up.

Spider Rose

I loved the animation in this sci-fi horror short, but the story didn’t do much for me. Character motivation was odd and the ending left me unsatisfied. I rank it in the middle of the pack because it feels like it has plenty of potential. It just could have used a good rewrite.

Smart Appliances, Stupid Owners

Easily the funniest episode of the season, this 8-minute short provides the perspective of increasingly unfortunate appliances who have to deal with humans and their oblivious behavior. It features well known comedic voice talent including Kevin Hart, Melissa Villasenor, and Amy Sedaris.

The Other Large Thing

This amusing episode features the voice acting of Chris Parnell and has a satisfactory ending, but I’m not a fan of the over-the-top caricatures and animation style that represent the human bad guys that the feline and robot main characters must defeat.

Golgotha

This one is actually live action so it’s a departure from the series norm, but it’s one of the weaker episodes in this season. I liked the human characters and the alien villain well enough but the punchline of an ending felt too abrupt.

Close Encounters of the Mini Kind

I didn’t like the miniatures when they did it with zombies last season and this version with aliens isn’t any better. I know it’s supposed to be humorous, but it just feels lazy to me. This is an unoriginal story without any character development or even a unique gimmick.

Can’t Stop

David Fincher has directed some great films. Why he agreed to direct a marionette concert video of the band Red Hot Chili Peppers is anyone’s guess. This might have made a decent extra clip for a band documentary, but it’s the weakest episode this series has produced so far.

Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld

 

Image Credit: Disney

May the 4th Be With You! In celebration of Star Wars Day, Disney+ released a new six-episode animated show entitled Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld. While I haven’t jumped on the latest few Star Wars offerings, this one is right up my alley. My favorites in the Star Wars universe have always been the rogues, the criminals, and the bounty hunters and that’s what this mini-series is all about. In particular, the show splits three episodes each between former Sith apprentice and assassin Asajj Ventress after she leaves the employ of Count Dooku and an origin story for bounty hunter and crime boss Cad Bane. The episodes are short so binge-watching is easy and if you’re a Star Wars fan like me, I highly recommend them. The animation is excellent, as is the voice-acting, and I’d put the scripts above most of Star Wars’ recent streaming shows. Below are my brief descriptions of each episode.

 

A Way Forward

While trying to lie low from Imperial forces, Asajj Ventress runs across a young Jedi who she ends up protecting and then joining on a search for The Path for Jedi trying to escape Order 66.

Friends

Asajj Ventress decides her best option for obtaining information regarding The Path is to help an old acquaintance pull off a heist but things don’t go as planned.

One Warrior to Another

Following the information received at the end of the heist, Asajj Ventress ends up on a desert planet where she and her young friend get caught between a former Imperial officer and the locals in a battle for control of a dwindling water supply.

The Good Life

Cad Bane is just a young street rat who survives by stealing from unsuspecting citizens alongside his best friend when they get recruited to help a violent gangster named Lazlo.

A Good Turn

Years later, Lazlo gets killed and Cad Bane goes to even the score despite his female companion’s objections. When he arrives, he is surprised to meet up with his old street rat friend who is now a lawman.

One Good Deed

Cad Bane and his gang get revenge for Lazlo which leads to a standoff between Bane and his old friend. By the time the proverbial smoke clears Bane learns a secret that contributes to his notoriously bitter disposition.

The Next James Bond

 

Image Credit: IMDb

After waiting years to hear what’s next for the James Bond franchise after the end of Daniel Craig’s run as our favorite British spy in 2021’s No Time To Die, the news today is that Amazon has taken control of the franchise rights from longtime owners Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson for the cool figure of $8.5 billion. If you’ve read many of my posts over the years, you know I’m just a bit of a James Bond fan. I’ve ranked the films. I’ve ranked the theme songs. I’ve even suggested artists for the next theme song. Now I’m going to weigh in on who I think should be cast as the next James Bond. I don’t hold out much hope Mr. Bezos and his Amazon minions will heed this advice, after all this is the same corporation that delivered the tepid spy thriller All the Old Knives (2022) but cancelled The Peripheral (2022) after just one season, but a fanboy can dream, can’t he? Note, James Bond is typically cast in his mid to late 30s in order to give him both the proper amount of veteran presence while also enough time to do three to five films before he ages out of the role. This almost assuredly rules out favorites like Tom Hardy (48), Michael Fassbender (48), and Idris Elba (53). So, who’s left? Here are five top candidates:

Image Credit: Longines

Henry Cavill

Cavill is now 41 so the James Bond opportunity may have passed him by, but he’s definitely got tall, dark, handsome and British down pat. He’s also played Superman, the Witcher, Sherlock Holmes, and a host of other major roles. My guess is that he’s too obvious of a pick, but might he play England’s greatest spy next?

Image Credit: Shayan Asgharnia/For The Times

Theo James

At 40, James might also be a few years too old to get the nod, but if you’ve watched Guy Ritchie’s spinoff Netflix series The Gentlemen (2024), you probably know he can pull off the suave, dangerous Brit-type. He’s got plenty of experience, but he’s still enough of an unknown, he could be a good pick to follow in Craig’s footsteps.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Nicholas Hoult

Hoult is 35, English, and he’s been starring in films since he was a kid including About a Boy alongside Hugh Grant in 2002. More recently he’s starred in Nosferatu (2024), Renfield (2023), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) and several of the X-Men movies. He’s got the talent and the action chops to play the part, but he still strikes me as more of sidekick than a leading man.

Image Credit: Pascal Le Segretain for Getty Images

Jack Lowden

Lowden stars as River Cartwright in the excellent Apple TV+ series Slow Horses. The 34-year-old Scotsman has proven he can play a convincing (though much less intimidating) British spy in that series, but his resume might be a bit light for the part. Would Lowden put enough butts in seats to satisfy what will surely be a massive budget for the next film? I’m not convinced. 

Image Credit: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic

Aaron Taylor-Johnson

A year ago, I thought 34-year-old Taylor-Johnson was as close a thing to a shoe-in to be the next James Bond as we’re likely to find. Then he starred in Kraven the Hunter (2024), an absolute stinker of a comic book movie. Will that dud keep him from landing the part? We should find out soon. Based on his work in films like Bullet Train (2022) and Savages (2012) I still think he’s the top contender. 

All I Want for Christmas

 

Photo Credit: Matt Handle

Reflecting on the fact that the only contribution I made to this blog over the past year was an award eligibility post last week made me feel like a bit of a cad so here you go, one more post for 2024. Despite the fact that this year included more than the usual amount of terrible shit around the world, it did present some quality stuff worth recognizing and wishing for more in 2025. This post is about those good things – the stories, films, and shows I enjoyed and/or added to my wish list this holiday season.  

 

I read a baker’s dozen of books this year. Many of you probably read more than that, but with a rewarding, full-time career in software, a wife, three kids, a cat, and all the scribblings I jot down with whatever writing instrument is close at hand, 13 is all I managed. Of those, three stand out as exceptional though all were published before the year began. Caliban’s War is Book 2 in James S.A. Corey’s Expanse series. It’s just as good as the first and even better than the television series it spawned. Book 3 is at the top of my list this year and I highly recommend this series to any science fiction fans that haven’t discovered it yet. The Nighthouse Keeper is Book 2 in author Lora Senf’s Blight Harbor trilogy. While it might be geared toward middle-grade readers, this decidedly older-than-early-teen reader enjoyed it just as much as her debut The Clackity and you can bet her follow-up The Loneliest Place is on my list for 2025. Finally, after almost 20 years I got around to reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by the late Stieg Larsson. No wonder it became such as worldwide sensation. Great book.

I tend to be a pretty harsh critic of films and television shows. I’ve rated almost 2000 of them on IMDb and have given just six a perfect 10 of 10 and 23 a score of 9 of 10. Nothing released this year reached those lofty scores in my book, but I did rate three things an 8. Dune: Part Two is the type of movie that demands a cinema experience. I saw it in IMAX and it blew me away. I can nitpick about the script in places, but the cinematography is amazing. My Christmas List definitely includes director Denis Villeneuve’s planned follow-up Dune: Messiah. I also loved The Wild Robot. The book it’s based on is geared toward young readers, but the movie will pull at the heartstrings of every parent who sees it. I hope more animation studios strive to produce this level of storytelling in 2025. The Apple TV+ series Slow Horses released Season 4 this year and it was every bit as good as Seasons 1-3. For my money, it’s the best thing on the small screen right now. Two more seasons are planned and I can’t wait.

Other stuff slated for the end of this year and 2025 that you’ll find on my list include director Robert Eggers’ remake of Nosferatu, the upcoming final installment of the Tom Cruise film series Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, author Lora Senf’s upcoming young adult novel The Losting Fountain, and Thomas Ha’s first collection of short stories, Uncertain Sons and Other Stories.

All told, I’ve got plenty to be thankful for and more than enough to be excited about. I hope the gifts found under and the loved ones found sitting ‘round your tree this season bring you peace and happiness. I look forward to sharing more words and work with you in 2025!

2024 Awards Eligibility

 

Image Credit: Pixabay

I confess to ghosting this blog for over a year now, but I was busy banging away at a middle grade novel that’s about 80% complete as well as knocking out some shorter work. I had two awards-eligible short stories published in 2024 that are linked below. I hope you’ll find time over the holiday season to check them out. My steampunk/dinopunk story “Clockwork Dinosaurs” was published by Hyphen Punk and it’s now free to read. “Strange Rituals” was published in the latest Vanishing Point anthology and it can be purchased both on their website and on Amazon.

If you enjoy either story, I’d love to hear from you here or on my preferred social network, Bluesky @matthandle.bsky.social

 

Clockwork Dinosaurs Hyphen Punk, October 2024. 4920 words.

A steampunk airship pilot and her crew race against time and rivals to rescue a matriarch’s scepter from dinosaur-infested waters.

 

Strange Rituals Vanishing Point, October 2024. 3685 words.

An occult detective takes on the case of an ex-con who had his eyeballs stolen and finds the details of the theft are even stranger than the result.

 

5 Actors Who Could Be the Next Baylan Skoll

 

Baylan Skoll of Ahsoka

Season 1 of the latest Star Wars series Ahsoka is over and for my money, the best character of the show was antagonist Baylan Skoll. Sadly, the actor who portrayed Baylan, Ray Stevenson, died shortly before the series debuted. Far from being written off, his character is front and center in the biggest cliffhanger of the last episode, leaving a dilemma for Season 2. You can’t leave Skoll out of the upcoming storyline. So how do you recast such a well-acted and central character as Baylan Skoll? I don’t think anyone can replace the excellent work of Ray Stevenson, but there are some actors who might be able to step into his Jedi boots and do him justice. Here are my Top 5 picks for Disney and showrunner Dave Filoni to consider. 

Clive Owen

My favorite pick is English actor Clive Owen. He’s almost the same age, has a similar deep voice, similar stature, resembles Stevenson a bit, and most importantly, has proven himself to be a good actor in such films as Children of Men, Inside Man, The Bourne Identity, and Sin City. Rumor is he was once a front runner for James Bond before Daniel Craig won the part in 2005. He’s done some series work in the past few years. Perhaps a role in the Star Wars universe is in his future.

Eric Bana

Australian actor Eric Bana is almost the same age as Stevenson, nearly identical in height, and he has the deep, raspy voice the character of Baylan Skoll calls for. Bana could add Star Wars to an acting resume that already includes Black Hawk Down, Hulk, Munich, Star Trek, and my favorite of his performances, the doomed warrior Hector in Troy.

Pierce Brosnan

If Filoni wants to stick with a fellow Irishman to follow in Stevenson’s footsteps, 90s’James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan might be a good choice. He’s a couple inches shorter than Stevenson and over a decade older, but he’s still in remarkable shape. He’s starred in plenty of great projects. Besides four Bond films, he was also in Mrs. Doubtfire, The Thomas Crown Affair, The Tailor of Panama, and even played a bad guy in the recent Dwayne Johnson superhero film Black Adam.

Dolph Lundgren

This might be a bit of a stretch, but if Filoni wants a match for Stevenson’s stature and deep-set, menacing eyes, he could go with Dolph Lundgren. At 6’5” Lundgren is even taller than Stevenson and the Swede knows his way around playing violent men. He’s played one in plenty of films including The Expendables series, Johnny Mnemonic, Universal Soldier, and most famously, Rocky IV as the towering Russian boxer Ivan Drago.   

Götz Otto

If you want a choice completely out of left field, how about German actor Götz Otto? He’s been in a ton of movies and series, but given that most of them were overseas, the name might not ring a bell. What you probably WILL remember him for is his role as the towering henchman Stamper in the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. At 6’6”, he’s the tallest actor on this list and if Stamper was any indication, he knows how to quietly intimidate on screen.

 

Who is your pick to take over the role of Baylan Skoll? Have an actor in mind that isn’t on this list? Share it in the commentsavbe.

The Importance of a Good Villain

 

Image Credit: Disney+

There isn’t a whole lot on TV that I’m enjoying at the moment, but at least one exception is the latest Star Wars offering on Disney+, Ahsoka. This week’s fourth episode was the best so far and a large part of that success is the increased focus on the villains. Now I’m not suggesting that the collective girl power of the title character, her sidekick Sabine Wren, and her ally Hera Syndulla doesn’t have its own appeal, but the best thing about the show is the pair of villains, Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati. Recently deceased actor Ray Stevenson brings a menacing dignity to Skoll and actress Ivanna Sakhno delivers a ferocity to Skoll’s apprentice Hati that demands attention. It got me thinking about the importance of a good villain in just about any speculative story.

Stories, whether they’re short, novels, or screenplays tend to focus on a main character who serves as the hero. He or she may not start off as heroic, but over the course of their journey, they grow to become that way. They rise to the challenge. What often sets apart a good story and a great one is the quality of that challenge, the hero’s opponent. Who is Luke Skywalker without Darth Vader? Clarice Starling without Hannibal Lecter? John McClane without Hans Gruber?

I’ll go so far as to suggest we as an audience often root for the villain. Not because we really believe they’re going to win, or even should, but because they’re so fun to watch. I’ll freely admit that I much prefer Wile E. Coyote to the Road Runner or Tom to Jerry. I’m happy for the Fellowship of the Ring, but it bums me out that both Sauron and Gollum had to die in order for them to succeed.

An intriguing villain often makes or breaks a story. It doesn’t matter how much we love the hero, if that hero isn’t faced with an equally great bad guy, the tale just falls a bit flat. As a writer, I try to keep this in mind as I plan a story. Who is my hero up against? What is that villain’s motivation? What sets apart that villain from your standard thug with a gun or big muscles and a bad attitude? If I don’t spend as much time fleshing out that villain as I do my protagonist, the result often suffers.

Sadly, the fact that Ray Stevenson died shortly before Ahsoka premiered means we won’t see more of Baylan Skoll after Episode 8 next month no matter what series creator Dave Filoni planned. I’ll miss the character, but the fallen Jedi’s quality and his lasting impression is a fitting conclusion to the resume of an actor who stole more than a few shows with his ability and charm.