5 Things About The Black Ranger You May Not Know

From the colourful spandex to taunting villains, and even the deep life lessons that we have embedded into our minds, the Power Rangers continue to pave the way decades after their inception.

As the aftermath of the 2017 film finally settles, we launch ourselves into the 25th anniversary of the show this year.

To celebrate, Bandai America is releasing red and white legacy helmets later in the year and BOOM! Studios are bringing together a host of talented artists responsible for the Go Go Power Rangers comic series for an artist tribute.

But beyond the memorabilia, we welcome one of the original cast members to the 2018 Supanova line-up. Walter Jones, known for his portrayal of Zack Taylor aka the Black Power Ranger, will be joining fans to answer some of the burning questions they have suppressed for over two decades.

Before our Gold Coast and Melbourne conventions host the highly acclaimed actor, we have compiled a list of things you may not know about Walter Emanuel Jones.

Three is not always a crowd

When Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was in its early stages, a casting call was announced. It was reported that thousands of eager actors from around the country flooded into the building in order to become part of the team.

Actors recall the audition being stressful and slightly embarrassing, though that soon formed the foundations of the show. Due to the number of actors who auditioned, multiple callbacks were held to determine potential leads, pairing actors together to test chemistry. Walter Jones was paired with two other actors, Supa-Stars Austin St. John and David Yost, becoming close friends and later becoming part of the official Power Rangers team.

Walk the walk

If you’re going to talk the talk, you have to walk the walk. It’s no secret that being part of the Power Rangers was a very physically demanding job, which is why it comes as no surprise that producers wanted to hire actors who already had particular backgrounds.

As an experienced dancer in addition to his martial arts training, Walter Jones was able to translate his own persona into the character of Zack Taylor. Jones remains as one of the few members who choreographed his own fight scenes that were not only compelling but looked impressive on camera.

Age is no limit

Despite the overwhelming attraction that the MMPR auditions received, producers struggled to find actors who met the requirements of the role and were of an appropriate high school age. At the start of the series, Thuy Trang (the Yellow Ranger) was 19, Jason David Frank (the Green Ranger, who joined later) was 20, Amy Jo Johnson (the Pink Ranger) and Walter Jones (the Black Ranger) were 23 and David Yost (the Blue Ranger) was the oldest at 24. Portraying teenagers in crisis, the five actors joined Austin St. John, who was 18 at the time, the only one of high school age.

Reincarnation

Jones spent a season and a half playing Zack Taylor before he retired from the role. Jones is one of the few that has not returned in character, but instead lent his vocal talents to the villains of Nightmare and Gerrok in proceeding seasons.

Posted on 02/02/2018 on http://www.supanova.com.au/things-might-not-know-walter-jones-black-ranger/

Why Bill Potts Was Such An Important Doctor Who Companion

Through all his travels, the Doctor has been accompanied by a host of friends and foes. It goes to show that the Doctor is far more human than we initially thought, taking under his wing a range of interesting characters from school teachers to alien orphans.

The Doctor’s Companions have generally served one purpose, asking the questions that the audience wanted an answer to; after all, Doctor Who began as an educational television series exploring the world of history and science.

Older eras of Doctor Who emphasised the Doctor as the main character and the companion merely a plot device, rarely having a life outside of the Tardis. That all changed when the show returned in 2005 and introduced new Companions such as Rose Tyler, Amy Pond, and Clara Oswald. Companions finally had their own storylines and even theme music.

Bidding farewell to Oswald meant Doctor Who had lost a family member, but the show’s embrace of change plays a major role in its success. Bill Potts, played by Pearl Mackie, debuted in The Pilot, breathing new life into the show and forming a relationship similar to that of Donna Noble and David Tennant’s 10th Doctor. Not only was a romantic relationship off the cards, she pushed the boundaries of the show and gave an insight to what is yet to come.

Her time in the Tardis was short, but brought the story full circle and confronted heavier issues including sexual identity, overt racism and misogyny. Bill Potts, being the show’s first openly gay Companion, shone a light on the issue and brought to attention the fact that your sexual identity shouldn’t be a big deal in the 21st century.

She saw the future and was content with what it had to offer, which is why it came as no surprise that Jodie Whittaker will be wielding the sonic screwdriver in the 11th season of Doctor Who.

Mackie’s portrayal of Bill Potts was just a starting point for a new era of the Whoniverse.

You can catch Pearl Mackie and Peter Capaldi at Supanova Melbourne and Gold Coast this April.

Posted on 07/02/2018 on http://www.supanova.com.au/bill-potts-important-doctor-companion/

5 Local Comics That You Need To Check Out

Posted on 12/02/2018 on http://www.supanova.com.au/5-local-comics-need-check/

Australia’s vibrant comic book scene means we have the ability to discover a wealth of new stories by local artists at the click of a button, and at Supanova, you have the chance to meet the creators themselves.

Here are five local comics to check out while you’re waiting for this year’s events to roll around. 

Bipp And Trax: Intergalactic Real Estate by Dan Watts

Sleek, exciting and genuinely impressive. We’ve all had a horrible boss, probably a few too many, making this comic book all the more relatable whilst also thrusting you into a world that looks as if it were ripped straight from the concept art book of a Star Wars film.

Bipp And Trax: Intergalactic Real Estate revisits comic strips at their finest, presenting the comic itself in landscape format. Right at the point where we thought all concept of time and space had been covered in science fiction, creator Dan Watts offers something completely new. Throughout the first issue (of what we can expect to be a long running series) we follow two real estate agents as they are tricked into dirty jobs no one else would do. Combing several genres into one jam-packed 44-page comic, Bipp And Trax: Intergalactic Realestate thrives on the genius visual narrative sure to be a collector’s piece in coming years.

The Vagabond by Nathanael Hopkins-Smith

Initially setting his eyes on the cinema screen, Sydney based creator Nathanael Hopkins-Smith reimagined the story of a homeless vigilante into the form of a comic series. Rich playboy turned hero of the night seems all too familiar, but The Vagabond delves deep into a world of grit where the hero feels more than comfortable. Though bound in the pages of a comic book, it still manages to render that cinematic vibe with its use of powerful graphic imagery.

Wrestlers In Space, a colorful and galactic series also produced by Nathanael Hopkins-Smith, is another recommendation that you should keep an eye out for, particularly around Sydney conventions.

Short Ghost Stories: The Man With The Axe In His Back by Queenie Chan

Experienced as a Manga artist and graphic novelist, Queenie Chan can do no wrong. Short Ghost Stories: The Man with the Axe in his Back pays tribute to the classic Twilight Zone approach to storytelling, an ability that had since seemed lost in other avenues creators have taken. The book consists of four short stories, investigating the realm of everything strange and mysterious. A truly unique and alternate reading experience leads you on a quest of discovery through plot twists and goosebumps.

 The Demon by Matt Kyme

This is as much an artistic experiment than it is a comic book, but it pulls it off magnificently. The Demon guides you on a walk down memory lane to a time where comic books had a complex structure and ordering of sequence.

Writer and illustrator Matt Kyme pays homage to classic storytelling, looking towards the conceptual framework used by The Phantom for inspiration. The Princess Of Kerala, the first issue in the series, follows a plan to kidnap the daughter of a wealthy Indian Raja, but the plan is foiled after a series of superstitious events. But who is the masked vigilante at the center of the story? Pick up a copy and read carefully as it diverts your attention and introduces possibilities beyond comprehension.

5 Seconds by Stephen Kok

How often do we see stories about a misfit gain powers, but fall short of anything spectacular? Too many times, which is why this comic is a relief to the genre. With the aid of detailed graphics by Eric Gravel and P.R. Dedelis, Stephen Kok’s creation is brought to life and aptly illustrates the past, the present and the future.

Though having only 70 pages of its first issue, 5 Seconds achieves everything from a combination of genres, to easily relatable characters. Following in the footsteps of Jake, who has discovered he can see what happens five seconds into the future, he tests the limitations of his newfound ability. Instead of getting sidetracked, the comic accelerates full force into a world of possibilities.

 

Talking Daleks with Terry Molloy

Terry Molloy: Daleks, Dystopia and the Doctor

“It’s hard to believe, but I was 16 when Doctor Who started, so Hartnell and Troughton were my doctors. I grew up and went to university and lost track of it all, and since you couldn’t rewatch it due to the fact we didn’t have videos at the time, you either watched it on the night or didn’t see it at all”.

With the epic season finale of Doctor Who, we bid farewell to Peter Capaldi and gave Jodie Whitaker the keys to the Tardis. Though it’s hard to accept change, ‘Twice Upon A Time’ appropriately closed another chapter for the series, and welcomes Whitaker with open arms, despite claims of appearing political correctness.

In the second half of 2018, the doctor will return to our screens to save the galaxy one more time, embracing change in every way possible. It’s a long stretch until then, but instead of looking too far to the future, lets take a look back at one of the series more established and prominent roles.

We sat down with Terry Molloy earlier in the year to talk about the shows foundations and the path it has taken since his time on set. For those unfamiliar with the name, neither the mask nor the voice would go unnoticed, as Terry Molloy is the man and the myth behind the nightmare of Davros.

First introduced in ‘Genesis of the Daleks’, Davros soon became one of the Doctors major enemies, as it we he who created the Daleks, one of the series deadliest enemies. For Terry, the role was won in a game of chance, a lifetime offer most actors could only dream of. “I had been doing a television series down in the south playing a disc jockey that was doing a bunch silly voices at a radio station. The director, Matthew Robison, actually ended up becoming the director of Resurrection of the Daleks because there was a strike at the BBC pushing everything forwards a month. He rang me up because he knew that I was really good at doing impersonations, and asked if I knew anything about Daleks. Watching the show beforehand, of course I did, so that’s where I took on the role of Davros,” he said.

Molloy, known for his talented voice in a range of audio productions, has played the character numerous times on screen, stage and radio, working closely with Paul McGann, Sylvester McCoy, Colin Baker and Peter Davison. “I have found comfort in radio, because it is the one medium where the actor has the most control. It doesn’t matter what you look like or how old you are, it’s all in the voice. So I had a think about it and realised that the character of Davros was completely reliant on the voice. I had to get that voice through the mask and out onto the screen. That was my introduction into Doctor Who,” he said.

The transformation from a man in his mid 30’s to the hideous mutated creature you see on the screen was a lot different to tradition makeup methods of the industry. “They took me to the special effects place and did a mold of my head and then built the mask around that. It fitted like perfectly; it was like wearing a pair of very tight surgical gloves. You never really realised how hot it actually was until you took it off and were covered in sweat. It formed the character because as soon as you put that mask on, nobody would talk to you. You would put it on and all the people you know would move on, because you were terrifying, but it gave me a dynamic, a power behind the mask,” he said. The mask, which is still used on the show to this day, has been on display at the Doctor Who museum in Cardiff for a matter of years now, but it wasn’t until the restoration of iconic props and replicas from the show that the production crew stumbled across the original mold of Molly’s face from over 30 years ago. “Mike Tucker, the small model unit director, rang me up and told me that he had found my head in a cupboard. It was the strangest thing, because when they restored it, I was looking at my 34 year old death mask sitting there staring at me,” Molloy laughingly said.

Looking back to the children’s show that it initially was, Doctor Who has since broken boundaries for many things, including science, gender profiles and politics. Above all, one thing stands out, the invention of the Daleks. Having intentionally modeled the Daleks on the Nazis, the show began exploring the darker themes of time travelling and genocide. The metaphor was a clever concept designed by writers at the time, and has remained present ever since. “That’s where it all started, the whole idea of Nazi’s, but we eventually started moving away from that idea. The idea is still there, but we made it more of a case about Davros being a brilliant scientist that was fighting the Daleks that he had created because they had turned on him. When we started producing the Big Finish stuff, we saw the transition of a 15 year old boy into the scientist of Davros, the very first Dalek,” Molloy said. “In regards to Nazis, Skaro was a very Aryan race, it had all the attributes of a dictatorship,” he continued.

“Davros doesn’t see why the Doctor is so pissed off with him, because he is using dead bodies to create protein to feed the universe. So we had to find where he came from in order for that to be acceptable to him. He has a brilliant mind, and an inability to socially interact with people, he sees a problem, he sees the answer and whatever is in his way is flattened because his focus is entirely on that problem. That provided the dynamic of the transition from young boy to evil mastermind”.

Inevitably, the show was ought to embrace significant change eventually. With the introduction of a female lead and the farewell of Steven Moffat and Peter Capaldi, this does not mean the show will be stirring away from its ability to tell an amazing story anytime soon. The divide caused by the culture war of the fandom will soon subside, but for time being, we wait in anticipation.

Professor Marston and the Wonder Women

Pen meets paper and a comic book superhero is created, but with his secret life looming in the shadows, there is much more to Professor Marston’s story than meets the eye. This is the story about feminism and the women who inspired one of the most influential and empowered heroes of our time.

The immortal Amazonian princess and demigoddess, Wonder Woman, has an origin story solidified through the legacy of DC comics, becoming a strong role model for feminism and equality since her introduction in the 1940’s. Hitting the $400M mark at the domestic box office at the beginning of the year, Wonder Woman was an instant success, especially following the backhand that Batman Vs. Superman and Suicide Squad so graciously gave us.

Before the release of Justice League in November, Angela Robinson presents the untold story of Wonder Woman, with her newest film Professor Marston and the Wonder Women. Robinson follows the story of Dr. William Moulton Marston, a professor at Radcliffe College who taught philosophy, who later came to creator of the famous comic book character.

The Wonder Woman comic hides countless callbacks to Marston’s life, which forced him in front of a trial in its earliest publication stages due to the heavy sexual and perverse themes that it carried. The famous polyamorous relationship and obsession with S&M forced Maston to create a life hidden from the public eye, though elements from his professional discipline are also found in the pages of the comics. As the inventor of the polygraph machine (most commonly known as the lie detector) one could assume the significance in the creation of Wonder Woman’s Lasso of truth, and multiple references to his DISC theory involving concepts of personal will, sense of power and human behavior.

The biopic tells the fascinating story of Marston (Luke Evans) and the polyamorous relationship he forms with his wife Elizabeth (Rebecca Hall) and his mistress Olive (Bella Heathcote). In its earliest publication stages, the Wonder Woman comic book was highly criticized for it’s perversity, placing Marston in front of a trial to answer to the heavy sexual themes that it carried.

Professor Marston & the Wonder Women is in limited release from November 9, 2017.

Published: http://www.kapownews.net/single-post/2017/10/06/Professor-Marston-and-the-Wonder-Women

IT: The Curse of the Clown

Most film reboots feel like a rebound… cheap, unorganized, and most of the time leaves you cradling your sad naked body in the shower at 3am on a Sunday morning. Perhaps that analogy only applies to me, but looking back at the 2011 remake of John Carpenter’s The Thing, we can agree that some films should remain under the covers.

All jokes aside, 2017 breaks the curse of box office blunders introducing Andy Muschietti’s version of IT. In 1990, Tim Curry donned the costume of the evil Pennywise, a shape shifting entity that awakens every 27 years to terrify the population of Derry, Maine, but now it’s Swedish actor, Bill Skarsgard’s turn. With the modern adaptation of Stephen King’s famous novel following the storyline more religiously, it’s no wonder why it has been smashing box office records. One thing remains though, Pennywise returns to the screen 27 years after the original, and completely by accident.

With sex jokes and a horror film, you’re probably wondering why this is relevant to the comic book industry, but put your mind to ease as we stem back to the dangers of playing a tormented and twisted clown on screen.

The Joker, one of the most formidable and recognizable villains in comic book history has undergone many incarnations over the years, from Cesar Romero’s comedic take on the character in 60’s, to Jared Leto’s god awful and dismissible version in Suicide Squad.

Above the wreckage of the live action attempts stand two individuals. Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger. Their role as the joker undeniably shaped the way we think of them today, but unfortunately they had a different recollection.

Nicholson, who played The Joker in Tim Burton’s Batman in 1989, brought to the screen a very similar character to that of his in The Shining, a menacing smile and a psychotic mind. It’s understandable that Nicholson was emotionally drained whilst filming, but after many years reveals that he warned Heath Ledger before becoming the Clown Prince of Crime.

When Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight crept into theatres in 2008, audiences were eager to see the new Joker, a much grittier version portrayed by Ledger before his untimely death. The critically acclaimed film went on to be awarded some of the highest accolades, but the question on everyone’s mind was about how this character had forced Ledger down such a dark path.

That was before reports started to roll in, and it was revealed that the role was maybe a bit too ambitious. Ledger told reporters that he slept an average of two hours a night, and that he could not stop thinking though his body and mind were completely exhausted. Now it becomes obvious that playing a psychotic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy could be detrimental to the actor who takes it on board.

Going full circle, that brings us to 2017 with Pennywise the Clown. Bill Skarsgard, who has pushed himself to the limit in this rather challenging role, brings the process of transitioning from a young Swede, to a nightmare-fuelled clown from the darkest depths of Stephen King’s imagination. Skarsgard touches on the relationship he bears with Pennywise, defining it as destructive and torturing. Aside from the mentally draining exercises that he underwent in order to get into character, Skarsgard also mentions his exorcism of nightmares, where he embodied the form of Pennywise in his dreams, almost as if there was no subconscious detachment from reality and the set. We will have to wait and see what the real damage is when part two is released in a few years time.

Black Panther: The Mystical World Of Wakanda

The forthcoming installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe introduces a diverse cast including Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong’o, Martin Freeman, and Michael B. Jordan, who managed to score his second chance at Marvel victory following the devastation of the Fantastic 4 reboot.

Ironically, the film has been in talks for longer than we initially thought, with Wesley Snipes expressing interest in producing the film back in the early 1990’s. When Stan Lee joined the project, he confirmed that production would no longer commence due to the quality of the script. When the MCU finally started to gain traction Black Panther was announced as one of the ten films to be developed by Marvel Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Over a decade later, it is complete and set for an early 2018 release.

Why did it take so long do you ask? It’s not because of equality or whitewashing, but because of the script, the costume design, dialect training, and of course, the conceptualization of Wakanda. Cast members have discussed what it was like working on set of the film, and to be entirely honest with you, it’s a step in the right direction for the future of the MCU.

Martin Freeman, one of the few white actors credited on the film, reprises his role as Everett Ross, one of the lead agents in the Joint Counter Terrorist Centre. He arrives in Wakanda as an assistant to T’Challa, in an attempt to counteract the actions of the films main antagonist. Freeman describes Wakanda as, “…an incredibly technologically advanced first world country, which no one knows about because it has shut itself off for its own safety and its own existence sake”. From his characters perspective he continues, “…like a CIA guy would assume, there wouldn’t be much in this central African country that would surprise him, and then he realizes that it resembles something 70 years in the future. Its kind of amazing”.

The director of the film, Ryan Coogler, would often assign homework to the cast members, usually in the form of a close study analysis of different African tribes. Through training and research, each member of the cast gained an insight to how his or her character would act, talk and dress.

Danai Gurira, most famously known for her role as Michonne on The Walking Dead, joins a large cast of African and African American actors. She says, “Wakanda is very exclusive and insulated, it doesn’t have foreigners come into the country ever. It does present very rich complexity that he is there, and definitely for the security of the nation, we don’t want any one to know that we had brought this man into the country, other than those who are present”. Gurira portrays the leader of the Dora Milaje, the personal bodyguards of the Black Panther recruited from every tribe of Wakanda.

Black Panther is gearing up for its release February 16 Next Year, and by the looks of the trailers and coverage thus far, it is no doubt a step in the right direction for the future of the MCU.

Published on http://www.kapownews.net/single-post/2017/11/17/Constructing-Wakanda-The-World-of-the-Black-Panther

An Interview with Imbi The Girl

An Interview with Holy Holy

“It’s both a noun and a verb, it’s very visual and colorful and creative and expressive. It felt like the right title for where we wanted to take the record,” said vocalist Tim Carroll about the second album.

With the release of PAINT earlier in the year, Tim and Oscar Dawson have received praise for their authentic approach to their musical direction. PAINT holds a sentimental value beyond the music itself, recruiting Newcastle artist James Drinkwater for the design of the album cover.

After their set at FOTSUN 2017, Chris Daniel sat down with Tim and Oscar to talk about their 2018 tour, and what we can expect from the band as they enter a new stage in their career.

CD: You just got off stage, and I have to say it was an amazing performance. How are you enjoying FOTSUN at the moment?

Oscar: Well it’s ironically named, because it has been entirely rainy the whole time, but that set was nice. It was a summer shower on the entire crowd, and they seemed to have enjoyed it.

Tim: It was the first show we have played in a long time, but lots of fun. As soon as we got out there, the crowd was on board so that was easy. An hour-long set is a bit longer than your average festival set, but it gave us time to settle in and enjoy what we were doing.

CD: You released your album PAINT earlier in the year, how was the overall reception from it?

Oscar: I was happy with the reception, it seems like people liked it. I’m happy with the record. It’s been almost a year since we released it, so I have psychologically moved on now. It’s hard to assess how an album is received because we are so biased in our own right, but I am ready to do another one now.

CD: As a Novocastrian, I see that you guys are coming to Newcastle to play in February. Of all the bands for support acts, you chose the Moving Stills. Tell me a bit about that choice…

Tim: A lot of different things stuck out, but I have a bit of history with the band. We did a competition that allowed people to get in touch with us if they had any good suggestions, and the band actually got in touch with us themselves. A friend of ours who runs a label in Canada told us to check them out when we played Mountain Sounds, so that’s where I discovered them. I them sold my 70’s Stratocaster to the singer from that band, so I have been keeping in touch. I had a look at a bunch of other bands from Newcastle, about 20 different bands, there were lots of great bands, but since that history with the boys, it felt right. Not only that, I just think the integrity of what they are doing and the quality of their music led me to make that choice.

CD: On the note of Newcastle, you had James Drinkwater design your cover art for the album. What was the connection there?

Oscar: I first met James when he was living in Melbourne and we got to know each other because we were both playing in bands. We kept in touch, but long story short he moved to Berlin, and I also moved to Berlin and that was actually also where I had caught up with Tim, because he was living in Stockholm. So the band was young, and we developed that connection because we had a number of days where we were together. When we were all back in Australia, we had the album ready to be released and we tossed up a few artists, but eventually reached out to James. He sent through a bunch of options, and I think it fits the approach to the album.

Tim: As our second album, I think it was fitting to look back at those days in Berlin where we were just starting out as a band, so bringing him into the equation really worked.

CD: There’s so much context behind that story, it almost sounds like a film. Coming the end of 2017, what do you have in stall for us in 2018?

Oscar: We have a tour announced in Australia, so we are doing that. Anyone in Adelaide should be happy to know that we haven’t forgotten about you, because this time we will be stopping by. And aside from that we will be writing some new music.

CD: Now that we know a bit about the band, I want to know a bit of what happens behind the scenes. I want to hear from Holy Holy, do you have any embarrassing fan girl experiences?

Tim: I don’t really know where to start because there are so many different ones. The band Big Scary, whenever they would walk into a room I would be completely speechless because I admire them. When the lead singer told me some of the members would go to gigs because we were playing them, I was rendered kind of speechless. We did a gig with Vance Joy recently, and they had Paul Kelly come as a guest. We were downstairs in the green room, and for some reason, because he was a guest, Paul Kelly didn’t have any beer in his room. So he finished up and walked into our green room and told us he had no beer, so we just embraced him. Again I was rendered speechless.

Oscar: We played a show in London, and Liam Gallagher showed up. We knew he was there, so the show was already semi ruined for us. I got way more hammered than I usually would have, but we met him after the show, and we soon discovered that it was a situation where we didn’t know what to say. Sometimes you meet someone like that and you don’t stand a chance.

CD: As such amazing artists, you would have a record that changed your life. Does anything come to mind? 

Tim: A lot of people come to mind including Miles Davis, Jeff Buckley, Bright Eyes. But maybe a Grizzly Bear record ‘Veckatimest’ I would say changed me. Their whole approach to music is one of the biggest influences of my musical life. Now that I get to this point in my career, I seem to be heading in a different direction with the aid of different albums.

Oscar: Similarly to Tim, I could mention a bunch of older records.
After the Goldrush by Neil young, Queens greatest hits, and even the second one… Queens Greatest Hits volume 2. I guess there are some that I didn’t like at first, but every time I listened to it, it just kept giving.

CD: I’d probably go with Queen’s greatest hits, I dig it. Anyway, as much as I would like to sit and talk to you guys for hours, it has been an honour talking and I wish you the best of luck for the year ahead.

You can catch Holy Holy on February 24^th at the Small Ballroom, supported by local band The Moving Stills

An Interview with RAAVE Tapes