The Way Of The Spores Is On "This Side Of Paradise"

The Good: Fine concept, Good music, Interesting character work, Mostly good acting
The Bad: Ridiculous execution of concept, Supplemental characters and acting are terrible
The Basics: When the U.S.S. Enterprise finds a colony that should be dead very much alive, they fall victims to spores that take control of their minds and hearts.


One of the nice things about being a true original is that when you create something new that is enduring and genuinely unique, regardless of anything else, you can say you were the first. While the first execution of an idea may not always be the best, it becomes the concept that all of the subsequent ideas that use the same elements are based on, even if only unconsciously. The Star Trek episode "This Side of Paradise," which may not be perfect by any means, succeeds even until today as being relatively unique, completely clever and the first of its kind.

The U.S.S. Enterprise arrives at Omicron Ceti III, a planet where colonists were sent and where the crew expects to find a dead, abandoned colony because the planet was bombarded by deadly Berthold Rays and no ship could arrive in time to save the colony when the problem was eventually detected. Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy are thus shocked to find the colonists alive and well and completely happy on the planet with no signs of being dead. Intrigued, in part because a young blonde colonist named Leila Kalomi once knew Spock and is clearly attracted to him, the landing party soon falls victim to plants that emit spores. The spores rewire the nervous system to allow the host to survive the Berthold rays and also stimulate the pleasure centers in such a way that the hosts are put in a near-constant state of bliss. As a result, Kirk soon loses control of his crew and his ship and he must figure out a way to end the control of the spores as his crew becomes overwhelmed and abandons the Enterprise to certain destruction.

"This Side of Paradise" does a lot that is right on, executed perfectly. First, the spores are a great idea; they are a well-conceived adversary in that makes perfect sense. The spores are scientifically viable, controlling animal life to spread seeds that will create more plants, in exchange providing a valuable service to the host organism. It's clever and it works and it's an idea that has a sophistication to it that goes well above and beyond the normal operations of a television show.

Moreover, following on the heels of episodes like, "The Naked Time" which contain the same "loss of control and inhibition" elements, "This Side of Paradise" offers the chance to distinguish the actors involved by forcing them to reinterpret a state of joy. So, whereas Sulu was active and somewhat crazed in "The Naked Time," here he is laid back and easygoing without a care in the world. George Takei gives a wonderfully different performance to make the two afflictions completely different.

On a character level, this is explored wonderfully with Spock. Spock was deeply conflicted in "The Naked Time;" losing his barriers there meant that he was allowed to feel guilt over not expressing love for his human mother, it allowed him to collapse under the weight of the conflict between his Vulcan and human halves. In "This Side of Paradise," Spock is put in a state of bliss. There is no conflict, there are no questions, he simply is truly and unabashedly happy. Seeing him smile is almost unnerving and watching him mouth off to Captain Kirk is actually quite funny.

A great deal of the episode, then, is held up by the performance of Leonard Nimoy as Spock. Nimoy is able to illustrate some genuine acting depth as he takes Spock on an emotional journey from emotionless to blissful to furious and back. He makes the transitions seem effortless and always in character, making the episode flow wonderfully around him.

Sadly, the superficial characters in this episode are poorly acted. When one crewman mouths off to Kirk about the fact that he is part of the shipwide mutiny to abandon the Enterprise, his performance is stilted and somewhat silly. Instead of being dramatic, it comes across as melodramatic and obvious. Similarly, near the end of the episode, there are several fight scenes and they are almost all overly choreographed and disappointingly acted.

What continues to save "This Side of Paradise," then, is the essential conflict of the episode. The spores do very little harm, save to the militaristic structure of StarFleet, and provide any number of benefits for the colonists. Fighting the influence of the spores, then, becomes an argument between freedom and order with Captain Kirk ironically taking the stand for freedom by destroying order in the hopes of reasserting his own control over his crew. The idea here is not that the spores are even all that bad, it is instead that they are simply robbing people of the full range of the human experience to service their own needs. That, I feel, is smart and it is well-executed here.

Captain Kirk, performed by William Shatner, then becomes more a means to a plot end rather than a genuine character. However, his cunning and devotion make him downright heroic in this episode and his performance is quite good.

Notable as well about "This Side of Paradise" is the music. While the plants may not be the most convincing special effect ever, the music is distinctly different from most Star Trek episodes. Like the music in "Shore Leave," "This Side of Paradise" employs a lighter score that supports what is happening with the characters as they lose their inhibitions.

All in all, this is a solid episode that is enjoyable and continues to be enjoyable even years later. It is great for anyone who likes science fiction or a clever scientifically-based story. While it might not be for those who like high drama, it will certainly keep the attention of anyone who enjoys lighter television.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek - The Complete First Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the premiere season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

7/10

For other Star Trek reviews, please check out my index page!

© 2010, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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Just When I Thought I Couldn't Hate Toys More... The Gorn Wacky Wobbler!

The Good: It resembles the Gorn.
The Bad: Cheap, Tippable, Ridiculous Look, No posability.
The Basics: A disappointing pseudo-collectible, the Gorn Wacky Wobbler is not worth buying.


Just when I thought I couldn't hate cheap, shoddy merchandising more, I discovered Blammoids. Seriously. A few weekends ago, my wife and I were out at a local comic book shop we've been frequenting of late for Star Wars figures and we discovered the Blammoids toys and I came home ready to righteously pan them only to discover they weren't available for review on the site I used to write on. That stinks. It also left me with some perspective when I pulled the Wacky Wobbler Gorn bobblehead toy out of a box I was going through.

After all, Blammoids are ridiculous, terrible and utterly unworth buying for many reasons, including they bear no real resemblance to the characters they claim to. Funko's Gorn Wacky Wobbler does look like a Gorn. It even has more detail than the Gorn Mini-Mate. But as I sat mulling over how to rate this toy, I realized that's what Funko is hoping. They are hoping that their ridiculous looking toy might not seem quite as ridiculous by comparison and that fans will excuse all of the stuff it doesn't do in favor of a mild rating based upon the fact that it looks pretty much like what it claims. If Blammoids are an argument for a zero out of ten rating, Funko's Wacky Wobbler of the Gorn is still a crappy, low-rated toy.

Basics

For those unfamiliar with the concept and the execution, Funko Wacky Wobblers are a bobblehead style toy which is basically a statue figure that has an abnormally large head set atop a spring. The plastic toy has somewhat distorted features and does not do anything as much as it sits where it is put and reacts mildly to vibrations. The Gorn Wacky Wobbler is part of Funko's Star Trek line which has gone a long way to helping to prove that Trekkers will not just buy anything that says Star Trek on it!

The Gorn was seen in only one episode of Star Trek (the original Series) and it was the prime antagonist in the episode "Arena" (click here for my review of the episode!). Funko has replicated the green lizard creature in Wacky Wobbler form as a 7" tall inaction figure. The figure is a lighter green than the actual Gorn was in "Arena," though it does have the general form and appearance of the Gorn captain including the alien's tunic, clawed hands and the stone knife it used in the episode. The Gorn comes embedded on a pedestal stand which keeps it stable and from tipping over when one whacks the head.

This is a fair toy interpretation of the Gorn, mostly because there is nothing else from "Star Trek" that looks quite like this alien creature.

Accessories

The Gorn comes with no accessories.

Playability

Wacky Wobblers are, by their nature, pretty terrible on the playability front. They are not posable as the feet are molded to the stand they come on and the Gorn is no exception to that. The Gorn has articulation at the shoulders where the arms are on simple swivel joints, but the overall playability is still incredibly low. Sure, the Gorn comes with the stone knife in its left hand, but it is molded in there, so it cannot be removed. Peace never breaks out with the Gorn and the other "Star Trek" Wacky Wobblers!

But, the main function of a Wacky Wobbler is the spring under the head which allows it to move. The Gorn's spring - at least with mine - is surprisingly tight, so it reacts more when hit as opposed to bobbing around like a bobblehead. As such, this becomes a weird stress-reliever as opposed to an exciting, playable toy.

Collectibility

The Wacky Wobblers have sold generally poorly, which tends to point to the idea that they were overproduced in an already saturated collectibles market. It's always nice to know geeks won't buy just anything. Still, the Gorn Wacky Wobbler has done fairly well arguably because it is a recognizable alien and because Bobby Clark, who was the man stuck inside the Gorn costume, does conventions and is happy to autograph virtually any Gorn product, including the Wacky Wobbler.

Overview

Not fun to play with, more recognizable by default (and the nameplate on the base), the Gorn Wacky Wobbler is a novelty toy that quickly loses its novelty. "Star Trek" fans can do better with virtually any other Gorn toy.

For other toys which are quite a bit better, please check out my reviews of:
Dash Rendar's Outrider Shadows Of The Empire Vehicle toy
Wonder Woman Series 1 Circe action figure
Two-Face 1:6 Scale doll

2/10

For other toy reviews, please check out my index page!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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Almost Everything You Could Want For A Pop Single: Vertical Horizon's "Everything You Want."

The Good: A Worthy Single-of-the-year, 2 good tracks, Inexpensive
The Bad: Only 2 tracks, Not necessarily cost effective, Poor use of the medium (SHORT!)
The Basics: "Everything You Want" is a solid single worthy of the hype and many many many listens! The other track is fine.


First off, I was pleased that Vertical Horizon's "Everything You Want" was 2000s Single of the Year on the major charts. It deserved it. (I was similarly pleased that MatchBox Twenty's "Bent" scored higher on most year-end charts than Creed's awful "Higher," but that's irrelevant for this review.)

"Everything You Want," in case you were listening to a non-Top 40, non-pop, non-Adult Contemporary station for all of 2000, is the first hit from Vertical Horizon, a relative newcomer on the national scene. Their roots may have been in Alternative, but "Everything You Want" has a lot that makes it pop-rock. In this case, it's the high end qualitatively. Unfortunately, "Everything You Want" was pretty much the one mainstream hit for the band that got them pretty firmly branded a one-hit wonder.

The song "Everything You Want" begins with a string of high images coupled with bitter cliches and winds up to a pretty powerful chorus that is more than simply catchy; it asks the questions that preoccupy the populace today. That is, the lines explore the nature of desire, how one person does everything for the narrator on a rational level, yet emotionally the narrator is still unreceptive or unaroused. In our society today, it's a poignant coupling: so many of us see problems, yet we are disillusioned or desensitized to them. More than that, we're desensitized to people. "Everything You Want" captures perfectly how relationships today fail as a simple collection of matching lists of turn-ons and pet peeves.

Unsurprisingly, the single twists upon the last refrain when the generic narrator takes the first person form and becomes far more relevant. It goes from being the societal question to the scorching pain of a burned lover. And it works.

The single didn't deserve to be Single of the Year simply because it was better than all of the other crap out there, which it was, but because it was a truly great song. The lyrics are sharp, the vocals are competent and the music is nowhere near as simplistic as most music out today. And the defeatist attitude of the lyrics? Perfect! That it's not "alternative" is nitpicky and irrelevant. The label doesn't matter as much as the inherent quality of the piece.

The other track on the c.d. single is "The Man Who Would Be Santa." It's a fine track, done live on the single with all sorts of annoying yells and hoots and catcalls. I, personally, find it pretentious that the band would release its debut single with such an obnoxiously over-enthusiastic assertion of being "live." But the single isn't bad. It's catchy, it has a message.

The packaging of the single is simple, with only two tracks it's slightly disappointing, especially considering how good the video for "Everything You Want" is. I was hoping it would appear on the single. Despite how cheap the single is (most anywhere it can still be found, it is priced at $1.99), it is not necessarily cost effective: the two singles released since have both been of a high caliber. So much so, I'm still entertaining the idea of buying the album. For those who did not enjoy "You're a God" and "Gray Sky Morning," the single "Everything You Want" is a solid investment and the perfect solution for those people stuck in places that have gone back to playing standard pop garbage and left the vertical horizon.

For other c.d. singles, please check out my reviews of:
Don't Look Back In Anger - Oasis
New York City Boy - Pet Shop Boys
Right Beside You - Sophie B. Hawkins

5/10

For other music reviews, please consult my index page!

© 2010, 2001 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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"Candy Cane Lane:" A Celestial Seasonings Trip Into Sublime Peppermint Delight!

The Good: Excellent flavor, Nothing detrimental in the nutrition department, Good aroma
The Bad: Decaffeinated, Needs sugar for best effect
The Basics: For a wonderfully satisfying mint tea, Candy Cane Lane delivers . . . even if it is decaf!


Sometimes, when I write about a food, I do not know quite where the review is going. When I sat down to write this review of Candy Cane Lane tea, I did not know where I will go with it, except that I knew I was going to recommend it (it's a good tea!), I'll probably note that while it is labeled as a "Holiday Decaf Green Tea" it is available year round at the Celestial Seasonings plant's gift shop in Boulder, Colorado, and I'll either try to avoid mentioning (or find a clever way to let it slip in) that this tea turns one's urine green. Like bright freakin' green when you drink a pot of this tea. Man, I wish there were a dignified way to get THAT into my review!

Basics

Candy Cane Lane is a Holiday Decaf Green Tea from Celestial Seasonings. Green tea is made from mature tea leaves that are not dried on the tea plant (unlike your standard black tea). Celestial Seasonings releases this delightful flavor every year in winter, though it appears to be available year round in Boulder and on-line (HINT: Check out your supermarket's "clearance" aisle right after the holidays!). As a decaf tea, it is important to note that the tea leaves have been treated with chemicals to remove the caffeine, as opposed to a caffeine free tea which uses ingredients that possessed no caffeine in them. Personally, I could live with a mint tea that had caffeine but for the life of me, I can't seem to find one.

Candy Cane Lane comes in Celestial Seasoning's standard stringless tea bags, which are paired together with easy to separate perforations that allow one to separate the tea bags. When I make pots of tea, I tend to use two bags and leave them connected. A box of Candy Cane Lane comes with ten pairs (20 individual) of tea bags.

Ease Of Preparation

As a green tea, Candy Cane Lane requires a little more care to prepare than most teas. A single tea bag will make the standard 8 oz. coffee mug worth of tea and could be reused and make a second cup of Candy Cane Lane with little loss of flavor. Indeed, this is one of the best teas for those who like to reuse tea bags. The second cup often comes out at least as strong as the first, provided the first steeping was not over the recommended time. I tend to make my tea using a 32 oz. steeping tea pot and that works well, though in this method, the second brewing is - at best - about 5/8 strength.

To prepare Candy Cane Lane tea (isn't it just a great name for a tea? Extra points to the marketing department for that!), bring a pot of water to a near-boil and pour it over the tea bags. The water should not be boiling, but rather a few degrees below boiling when you pour the water over the tea bag(s) in your cup, mug or pot. This tea takes only three to five minutes to steep according to the directions. In my experience, it gets mildly stronger after five minutes but there is no significant benefit to letting it steep longer than ten minutes (in fact, this ends any chance of being able to reuse the bag for our miserly readers).

Taste

Bam! We have a winner, a tea that tastes like it is supposed to! Hot and without sugar, Candy Cane Lane has a vague, light minty flavor that brings that special numbness to the tongue that mint is known to do. With a single teaspoon of sugar in the mug, this is the precise flavor of a candy cane. Absolutely perfect. It tastes like a candy cane and that puts it pretty high on my list, a tea that lives up to its title!

One usually hopes to be able to elaborate on such things as taste when reviewing a tea (or any other food, for that matter), but the truth of it is this: if you've ever had a peppermint flavored candy cane, this tea tastes precisely like that when one adds a lump of sugar to it. That's the exact flavor!

Cold, the tea is good, though the flavor is more intriguing and minty. Indeed, without a temperature, Candy Cane Lane is more likely to clear out the sinuses than when it is hot. I'm not sure why the mint flavor overcomes everything else when it's cooled, but it certainly does. I never added milk to this tea, hot or cold, though milk may be able to be added to this tea without any adverse effects (at least in terms of chemical composition).

Nutrition

The ingredients to this tea, rather refreshingly, start with peppermint leaves, which is doubtless why that is the dominant flavor of the tea. There are various other leaves and natural flavors, nothing that cannot be pronounced. It is, however, the second ingredient, "decaffeinated green tea" that prevents this from being a 100% natural tea (for those for whom that is important). In general, though, there is nothing sinister hiding in this tea and that is refreshing for tea drinkers like me.

In terms of nutrition, this tea is devoid of it. One 8 oz. mug of this tea provides nothing of nutritional value to the drinker. There are no calories (save what one adds from sugar, which I recommend), no fat, sodium, or protein and no caffeine. This is not a tea where the tea will wake the drinker up, but the mint flavor just might!

Storage/Clean-up

Candy Cane Lane tea is very easy to clean up after - the tea bags may be disposed in the garbage, or composted if you have a good garden and/or compost pile. The tea itself might stain a mug a faint brown or green if it is left there for days on end, but otherwise may be cleaned up easily by rinsing out the vessel. Of note is that this tea will leave an aftertaste in the mouth or in a cup, so if you clean out a mug by simply swishing water through it, odds are your next cup of whatever will have a hint of mint to it.

Overall

Candy Cane Lane lives up to what I expect from a mint tea (though I wish it were caffeinated!). It's good, it will leave the person drinking it feeling warm and refreshed and it has a distinct aroma that will remind one of good memories of . . . candy canes, I guess. Or, you know, if you have good memories of the holidays and remember something you associate with candy canes, I suppose this will remind you of that, you know? See, this is why I usually start out knowing where I'm going before hand because otherwise I just end up here!

Don't let my idiot ending stop you from trying this tea. Anyone who likes mint tea will enjoy this one. And those still looking for a mint tea that lives up are likely to find it with Candy Cane Lane.

For other Celestial Seasonings tea reviews of mine, please check out:
Tropic Of Strawberry
Zingers To Go Wild Berry Chill
Zingers To Go Peach Delight

7.5/10

For other beverage reviews, please check out my index page!

© 2010, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Family Guy Volume 8 One Of The Best Episodes, One Of The Best DVD Sets!

The Good: Exceptionally funny, Great bonus features, Still innovative
The Bad: Gets in a rut with one too many incest jokes.
The Basics: An utterly hilarious collection of Family Guy episodes, “Volume 8” is a great investment for anyone who loves racy, cutting-edge humor.


There have been few DVD sets I have gotten excited about of late. After all, I have almost every DVD or Blu-Ray disc or collection I could want and if the Apocalypse came tomorrow and my wife and I managed to get safe to a bunker where we had reliable energy and our collection, I could watch what I have the rest of my life (and she would be thrilled because I wouldn't jump up when we were done watching to review each one!). The very latest Family Guy DVD, Family Guy Presents: Partial Terms Of Endearment (click here for my review of that!) left both of us a little disappointed. But right before that, we picked up “Volume 8” of Family Guy. That set was one of the few I was psyched about and there is a very simple reason for that. As a huge fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation, I have been waiting to see “Not All Dogs Go To Heaven” again. That episode was one of the top five episodes of Family Guy and my wife and I unexpectedly encountered it only once when it originally aired.

Until now.

With the release of Family Guy Volume 8 on DVD (and, supposedly Blu-Ray, though no store I have locally carries it in that format), I can watch “Not All Dogs Go To Heaven” as often as I want! With the latest fifteen episodes to be released on DVD, fans of the irreverent animated series have a lot to cheer about. This is the collection that has Meg becoming a Christian fundamentalist while Stewie takes around the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This is the collection that features Lois exposing FOX News and Brian helping to get marijuana legalized in Quahog. Lauren Conrad visits (not, apparently, realizing that some of the cruelest jokes of the episode are on her), a new history of Quahog is revealed and Stewie and Brian take a trip around the multiverse.

This is the boxed set that found Brian dating an older woman and the Evil Monkey finally being exposed. When Cleveland goes off (because The Cleveland Show began after a few of these episodes were done), Joe, Quagmire and Peter search for a replacement for him for their group. Stewie gets addicted to steroid and becomes a jerk while Brian works to learn why Quagmire doesn't like him. Family Guy continues to play well in the market that was once dominated by The Simpsons largely by continuing to be hilarious. Most episodes feature cutaway jokes, jokes that set up a completely different visual and involve non sequitor humor which upset the expectations of the viewers.

Family Guy also pushes the limits of good taste and with “Volume 8,” the only serious problem is that writer/executive producer Seth MacFarlane has become obsessed with jokes that aren't funny. The sheer number of incest references are just troubling. So, for example, when Brian meets Lauren Conrad (“We Love You Conrad”) she notes that he reminds her of her stepfather right before making out with him. This is more twisted and unsettling than actually funny and if it were an anomaly in the boxed set, it would be one thing, but MacFarlane continues to beat that humorless horse into the ground.

For a better understanding of what this boxed set actually entails, the episodes in it are:

“FOX-y Lady” in which Lois takes a job for FOX News and Brian, eager to dissuade her from that decision objects when she is set upon the assignment of proving Michael Moore is gay. But when she discovers his gay lover is Rush Limbaugh and FOX kills the story, Brian seems to be vindicated until the story takes an even more bizarre turn. Meanwhile, Peter, Chris and Meg try making an animated program of their own,

“Not All Dogs Go To Heaven” where the family goes to a “Star Trek” convention (absolutely hilarious) and Stewie gets annoyed by the lack of answers to his “Star Trek: The Next Generation” questions. So, he abducts the cast of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and drives them around, only to discover just how terrible the experience can be. At the convention, Meg gets the mumps and while bedridden, she becomes an Evangelical Christian and begins persecuting the atheist, Brian,

"Episode 420” where though a song and dance, Brian gets marijuana legalized in Quahog only to be offered publication of his book . . . if only he will help Carter Pewterschmidt get it re-illegalized,

“Stew-roids” has Stewie getting beaten up by Joe’s infant daughter and using steroids to compensate for it. Connie DiMico decides to make over Chris and she makes Chris into a jerk who cheats on her after she has made him popular. This inspires Meg to team up with Connie to ruin Chris,

In “We Love You Conrad,” Brian learns Jillian is getting married and he becomes jealous. In a drunken stupor, he sleeps with “The Hills” star Lauren Conrad, who turns out to be vastly smarter than him. Together, they try to break up Jillian’s wedding, where Peter is acting as the father-of-the-bride,

With “Three Kings,” parodies of three Stephen King movies – “Stand By Me,” “Misery” and “The Shawshank Redemption” – are presented, each with Joe getting his legs ruined. This is reminiscent of “The Simpsons” “Treehouse Of Horrors” where Willie got killed in each vignette, but it is remarkably funny,

“Peter’s Progress” explores the founding of Quahog as a Peter story. As it turns out, Peter’s ancestors were integral in founding the town and the story of Griffin Peterson and his love for Lady Redbush is told. Unfortunately, King Stewart has Peterson deported to the Colonies to take Lady Redbush as his own,

The “Road To” series is continued with “Road To The Multiverse,” an episode that finds Stewie and Brian lost in alternate universes thanks to Stewie’s latest device. Gut-wrenchingly funny for the Disney parody, the episode goes weird in a universe where dogs and people have reversed dominance,

In “Family Goy,” Lois learns her mother is a holocaust survivor and that she is Jewish. Peter immediately takes this overboard and tries to become the ultimate Jew, which angers the ghost of his dead (adoptive) father,

One of the weaker episodes of the set (at least upon replaying) is “Spies Reminiscent Of Us” which has Brian, Stewie, Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd hunting for a Russian spy who is threatening to start World War Three. While they do that, Peter tries to transform his John Wayne at Thanksgiving impression into an improv comedy group with Joe and Quagmire, with pretty pathetic results,

Nana Visitor provides a brilliant guest vocal performance for “Brian’s Got A New Bag” where Brian is stood up by a hot young woman, so he takes her mother out on a date. When he brings her home to dinner, she is mercilessly mocked by Lois, Peter and the others for her age. Upset and stupid, Brian falls to temptation when she breaks her hip,

“Hannah Banana” finds Stewie absolutely obsessed with Miley Cyrus, who turns out to be a robot. The b-plot has Chris capturing the Evil Monkey in his closet and learning the truth behind the bizarre animal’s behavior,

In “Quagmire’s Baby,” Quagmire discovers he has an illegitimate daughter and he struggles to raise her. Stewie makes a clone of himself to do menial chores and Brian has him make a dumb clone of him as well, the results of which are painful to watch,

Cleveland’s absence is once again explicitly addressed in “Jerome Is The New Black” when a new black guy named Jerome helps Quagmire, Joe and Peter compete in a darts competition. But when Peter brings Jerome back home, he learns that Lois was intimate with him before and he becomes insanely jealous. At the same time, Brian learns that Quagmire hates him and he tries a charm offensive to turn Peter’s friend around,

The set closes with “Dog Gone,” where Brian inadvertently drives over a dog and discovers no one cares if a dog is killed. He tries to raise awareness about the lack of animal rights and becomes targeted by a lynch mob. Consuela is hired by Lois and will not leave, making things very uncomfortable for the family.

This series of episodes of Family Guy is largely funny and the humor, outside the disgusting failed jokes, generally holds up exceptionally well. The bright colors and animation style have a great sense of movement and episodes like “Peter’s Progress” where the whole episode involves a completely new set of characters (mostly in terms of costuming and “sets”) make ambitious use of the animated medium.

The show is largely episodic, so the episodes lack a real sense of consequence and there is no real sense of character development. These fifteen episodes focus largely on Brian, Peter and Stewie. Meg is seriously neglected in the mix, though she gets a great part in “Not All Dogs Go To Heaven.”

What the viewer gets on DVD (and Blu-Ray) is the unedited version of each episode. What that means is a lot of swearing. Sure, it’s fun to hear Patrick Stewart and Seth MacFarlane swear in their animated guises and the DVD makes nice use out of the idea that humor can come from being crass. Bonus features include equally raunchy DVD commentary on each and every episode, a few deleted scenes which were inexplicably left out of the episodes (“inexplicable” because these episodes often include scenes that could not be shown on either network television or Cartoon Network already), and featurettes on the making of the “Road To The Multiverse” episode. Fans of the show are likely to fall in love with the series all over again.

And for those who are not yet Family Guy fanatics, this set offers a great way to become a fan. The pop culture references are fast, the humor is audacious and it holds up well over multiple viewings. If only Seth MacFarlane could stop writing the one joke that's not funny, this would have been perfect.

For other animated works, please check out my reviews of:
The Little Mermaid
Igor
Despicable Me

9/10

For other television reviews, please check out my index page!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.




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Before Ant Season Reaches Its Peak, TAT Ant Baits Kills Ant Colonies Amazingly Well!

The Good: Relatively inexpensive, Clean, Effective.
The Bad: Method of opening baits frequently makes a little mess.
The Basics: Despite minor spillage when opening the vents on them, the TAT Ant Baits are extraordinary at killing ants for months!


I loathe heat. I also loathe the way heat forces me, without an air conditioner or funds to afford running one, to open the windows to my home. Inevitably, opening windows means letting creatures into the home that I would rather not have there. While my cat Gollum takes care of flies and moths (he's a little hunter!), none of the animals seem to be keen on taking care of the ants. This year, the ants have come into the house to eat our dog, Mitzie’s, dog food and I've been grossed out by seeing the ants crawling over her food and I'm sure she's none to keen on it either. So, I went looking for ant baits. I recalled having a great experience with MaxAttrax ant baits and I went searching for them. I did not find any. Instead, with time being of the essence, my wife told me she had good experiences with TAT Ant Baits, so I went searching for them. I found them at the local hardware store and for $2.49 plus tax, this seemed like it could be a great solution to our ant problem.

So far, it has been.

TAT ant bait comes in a 4 pack (in a bright red box) for $2.49 locally, though so many places nearby me seem to only have the ineffective RAID baits. I purchased one pack and set the four baits in four rooms, actually close to where Mitzie’s dish is, where the ants are frequently seen coming in through the window, the kitchen and a nearby room. The actual traps are 1/6 oz. little metal tins.

The individual baits are white and red metal tins that are about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and ¼” tall. The metal sides have four tabs which need to be pressed in. This is easy to do with a key or a small, flathead screwdriver. The ants walk into the bait through those holes; that's where the bait/poison is.

Rather extraordinarily, the ants ran right for this when I set them down near the window and near Mitzie’s dish. Within half an hour, I found a pile with five dead ants clustered together. All of the rest of the ants were gone. Completely gone. Outside the one group of very dead ants, after using the TAT ant baits, I've not seen a single ant body anywhere in the areas where they frequented beforehand. In fact, I've never seen an ant in the house after setting out the ant baits. I don't know where they go, I presume they are all dead, but I know they're not here any longer.

Having seen these work, it is easy for me to enthusiastically recommend them. They are inexpensive, seem largely pet safe and more than anything else, the TAT any baits work. It is noted on the package that there is peanut butter in this and those with peanut allergies ought not to use these baits. The very best baits and insecticides work by the absence of proof and I have to say that this is especially convenient. If all of the ants died in plain view, that would just be another thing for me to clean up around here. That most of them are dead away from view works for me.

For those who have children or animals, for something that kills one form of life, these seem remarkably safe to use. The insecticide active ingredient is .25% propoxur and while some of the bait might fall out as the holes are punched in the bait, after that these seem very safe. The holes in the sides on the TAT ant baits are small enough to prevent children from sticking their fingers in it inadvertently. This seems very child friendly. I have two cats, a dog and a rabbit and they avoid these like the plague, which is interesting because Mitzie loves peanut butter and seemed happy to check the bait out when it was first set down next to her dish.

It's worth noting that the package recommends washing your hands after touching them and I've followed that pretty religiously. The bait emits no scent and they are fairly discrete for those who are worried about appearances.

Finally, the packaging advertises killing within 24 hours. Mine seemed to work within an hour.

I am quite impressed by the ant baits from TAT ant baits and while they offer a satisfaction guarantee, I've never had to exercise it; these have always worked. I am bound to keep using these because my wife was right: these work amazingly well!

For other pesticides, please check out my review of Safer Japanese Beetle traps by clicking here!

9/10

For other reviews of garden products, please check out my index page!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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Unsurprisingly Fun, The Little Mermaid Ages Well!

The Good: Decent music, Good animation, Generally good story, Interesting characters, Incredible DVD bonus features
The Bad: Disney conceits make it more a kid's movie.
The Basics: One of the most family-friendly Disney films, The Little Mermaid looks great in its 2-disc DVD format!



A few days ago, my wife fell ill and I did my best to tend to her. I'm not terribly good at that, but I tend to know what I like when I'm feeling ill. I tend to regress. My wife had a pretty strong love of Disney movies growing up, so it was no surprise to me that when she fell ill, she was thrilled when I brought home The Little Mermaid from the local library. As soon as she was able to sit up, she had me put the DVD in and I watched it with her.

What impressed me the most about The Little Mermaid, which – if I ever saw it – I had not seen since it was released in the late 1980s, was that in addition to having a truly timeless story, the film was actually surprisingly adult. Outside moments that are typically Disney, where characters exaggerate movements or look purposely ridiculous to garner a young laugh, The Little Mermaid tells a strong morality story and does it well. The dialogue is much more direct and less silly – the encounter between Ariel and Scuttle wherein the seagull informs the mermaid that items she found under the sea (a fork and pipe) are for entirely different things than what they are for (he says the fork is a hair styling device and the pipe is a musical instrument) notwithstanding – and the sense of menace is actually pretty impressive. I actually have a soft spot for The Little Mermaid: back after college, I played a game of Battle Of The Sexes on the radio and won tickets to my first concert by knowing that the mermaid's name was Ariel.

Ariel is the daughter of noble King Triton, living under the sea. When the conductor crab Sebastian attempts to have the greatest concert of his career, he is humiliated when Ariel's solo comes up and she is nowhere to be found. Ariel is, as is her want, exploring undersea wrecks and finding artifacts from humans with her friend Flounder. Realizing she has missed her concert, she is punished by Triton, who assigns Sebastian to keep her from getting into trouble. When a storm hits, the ship Prince Eric is on is destroyed and Ariel rescues him. Returning to land, Eric awakens and desires nothing more than to find Ariel and marry her, but she has returned to the undersea kingdom.

At that point, Ariel is approached by the sea witch Ursula, who offers Ariel a simple trade. In exchange for her voice, Ursula will grant Ariel a pair of legs and the ability to stay human if she can only get Eric to kiss her within three days. But if Ariel fails, Ursula will entrap Ariel in her garden of souls where she will wither. Ariel takes the deal and heads for land, leaving Triton to look frantically for her, and she struggles to get Eric to kiss her. But as the three days near their passing, Ursula becomes concerned that Ariel might actually pull it off and she takes human form to seduce Eric herself.

The Little Mermaid is a musical and it has memorable and catchy songs, many of which have translated into mass pop culture, like "Under The Sea." Fortunately, this Disney movie is not so laden with songs that they distract from the story or the flow of the film.

Ariel is a likable protagonist, though she is a very simple girl who wants nothing more than to challenge the authority of her father and live her own life. Her desire to learn and grow on her own is very real and makes her more than just a usual Disney princess walking around with a sense of entitlement. In fact, more than any other Disney princess that comes to mind, Ariel has a desire to learn, grow and develop beyond what she was born into. She does not perform for her father, instead she explores, asks questions and tries to learn.

Even so, like most Disney princesses, Ariel bats her lashes and flirts with Eric, in a very obvious way. The development of the relationship between Ariel and Eric is predictable and embodies the fairy tale more than an actual practical relationship. Even so, The Little Mermaid is fun and cleverly scripted to adapt the Hans Christian Andersen fable.

The Little Mermaid is performed with the vocal talents of Jodi Benson (Ariel), Pat Carroll (Ursula), Rene Auberjonois (for a song as Louis), Buddy Hackett (Scuttle) and Samuel E. Wright (Sebastian). Disney knows what it is doing and with The Little Mermaid all of the vocal talents are professional and emote wonderfully, making the animation work. The actors are all expressive and they sell each of their parts.

On DVD, The Little Mermaid comes with an impressive bevy of features. First, the movie is remastered so it looks better than it did in 1989. There is a second disc which includes deleted scenes (in the form of animatics), additional songs and a new music video. Featurettes explore the historical context of the film in Disney’s library and there are previews for the newer Little Mermaid spin-offs.

For other animated films, please check out my reviews of:
Igor
Despicable Me
The Nightmare Before Christmas

8.5/10

For other movie reviews, please check out my index page!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Cuisine At Home: Another Magazine That Ought To Be A Casualty Of The Internet.

The Good: No advertisements, Nice photography?
The Bad: Utterly impractical recipes, No issue-to-issue organization.
The Bottom Line: Another magazine that offers nothing that cannot be found easily on the world wide web, Cuisine At Home is an outdated, pointless magazine!


I suspect that the magazines that suffer most under my pen these days are ones which seem most unnecessary in the changing world of the internet, where information may often be found free, are cooking magazines. After all, there are scores of reputable free websites now which offer cooking lessons, demonstrations, answer questions and provide recipes. Those websites make Cuisine At Home and magazines like it utterly obsolete. Add to that, I've never understood the market which believes they must have these new recipes now (monthly, bimonthly) instead of waiting for an annual cookbook. After perusing through several issues at my local library, Cuisine At Home strikes me as an entirely unnecessary magazine.

Published every two months, Cuisine At Home Magazine is commonly found in good supermarket check-out aisles and it is the standard magazine size, though it has holes for a three ring binder on the binding. Cuisine At Home is a glossy, full-color magazine with an average of 50 pages per issue. Cuisine At Home Magazine has no advertisements, which gives it more of a cookbook look and feel than a magazine one. However, that one positive aspect does not make the magazine look or feel any more vital.

Inside the magazine are recipes and the average issue contains about fifteen recipes and each and every recipe features a full-color picture of how the food is supposed to look when it is done, as well as pictures of the ingredients at key steps. What is nice about the magazine is most of the recipes are actually presented in a larger typeface and having so few pages makes it easy to prop up or fold over while one is actually in the kitchen cooking. As a result, most of the magazine's recipes are physically easy-to-read.

However, the recipes are clearly intended for people who know what they are doing in the kitchen. Each recipe is laid out with the traditional ingredient list, a notation of what types of mixing and cooking dishes are needed, and then the steps needed to make the ingredients into a sumptuous dish. As a result, terms like parboiling and blanching are not described in detail for some of the recipes and readers are supposed to know what they are (fortunately, growing up with a chef for a father, I do).

As well as cooks who know their way around the kitchen, Cuisine At Home Magazine is clearly intended for people who have a lower-middle class or above income. Virtually all of the recipes I read about used obscure ingredients or cooking methods and seemed more conceptually fancy than actually edible. So, for example, a recent issue had the recipe for Oxnard Strawberry Pizza On Shortbread Crust, which looked more like a novelty food than something most cooks would love to eat.

Finally, Cuisine At Home does have about six pages each month with tips from readers, hints on how to cook and questions answered from professional chefs at the magazine. However, all of these may easily be found on-line or in well-established cookbooks. Cuisine At Home seems to be trading on the status of making gourmet food at home, but it is a lot of space taken up for little content, none of which is truly unique (I, for example, found three sites with similar Strawberry Pizza recipes online). Anyone with an internet connection can save the paper and get exactly what they need without Cuisine At Home.

For other magazines reviewed by me, please check out my take on Entertainment Weekly by clicking here!

4/10

For other magazine reviews, please check out my index page by clicking here!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Enter An Intriguing Villain With "Space Seed," Star Trek's Enshrined Slam Dunk (Sort Of).

The Good: Decent acting, Decent plot, Good pace
The Bad: Light on character development
The Basics: When the Enterprise is taken over by a genetically engineered villain, Star Trek creates a memorable episode . . . which has disturbing weaknesses.


There are a few elements that are taken as granted in the Star Trek fandom universe, but no idea is so enshrined in the fandom culture than the idea that the best villain in the franchise is Khan Noonien Singh, from the episode "Space Seed." Khan is a strong villain, no doubt, but I put my money with Gul Dukat from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine for the front-runner for best villain in the franchise. Khan is somewhat monolithic, whereas Dukat has facets. And as far as the cinematic endeavors go, Khan talks, Kruge kills. Kruge is the Klingon nemesis from Star Trek III: The Search For Spock. My point is, Khan is a decent villain, but he's not the clear front-runner when one looks objectively at the Star Trek franchise as a whole the way many would have one believe.

"Space Seed" introduces Khan Noonien Singh and the episode clearly establishes the tenants of the Star Trek universe's timeline, a problematic little bit that has buggered the writers of the modern Trek series. In the novels, writer Greg Cox was charged with explaining the Eugenics Wars (see below) in the context of history as it actually occurred as opposed to being imaginative and allowing the timeline to diverge from reality. In other words, as later series's in the Star Trek franchise have entered years referenced in Star Trek, most significantly in "Space Seed," the franchise has tried to make the series match reality as opposed to being creative. For some reason, I suppose they want fans to buy into the idea that Star Trek's universe will somehow truly come to pass. Go figure. But "Space Seed" had imagination in it and it casts the die for the franchise that commits it to a direction or a contradiction. Sadly, too often, it has been contradicted.

The U.S.S. Enterprise comes across a ship adrift in space, the S.S. Botany Bay, a sleeper ship from the mid-1990s. After centuries drifting in space, Kirk and a landing party beam over to discover the crew of the ship in suspended animation. Their presence awakens the leader of the ship, a man in weakened condition who is returned to the Enterprise to recuperate. Once his strength is back, he attacks Dr. McCoy and demands information. McCoy, now suspicious of the man's strength and speed, encourages Kirk, Spock and the ship's historian to figure out just who the man who goes simply by Khan actually is. Khan, as it turns out, is a genetically enhanced warlord who used his armies to rule over the majority of the world in the Eugenics Wars, a series of conflicts that seems to have engulfed the world prior to World War III. Khan and his followers escaped death and trial by leaving Earth and when Khan awakens his people, they set to taking over the Enterprise, a task they seem quite able to pull off!

"Space Seed" is a decent idea, which is probably why the basic concept is reused in every other series of the franchise in one form or another. And while "Space Seed" is a pretty solid hour of television, it's not the end all and be all flawless episode that many fans of "Star Trek" would have us believe (and for those who have not read my extensive collection of reviews on this entire franchise, I am one of them!). Khan Noonien Singh is portrayed as smart, sexy, strong, ambitious and somewhat ruthless. Khan is also abusive - he smacks Uhura full across the face with no real provocation - and cruel and it's hard to see why Lt. McGivers, the ship's historian, falls for him. I suppose for all the evolution Roddenberry wanted Star Trek to embody he was all right with women falling for guys for purely superficial reasons. To be fair to Roddenberry, he did not write "Space Seed," but as Executive Producer, one suspects he had some control in these matters.

The problem with Khan is that he is characterized as smart, strong and sexy almost entirely through exposition and appearance. Khan, we are told, is incredibly smart, as evidenced by him reading through the ship's library at an extraordinary speed. And yet, he is easily outwitted by Spock and . . . Lt. McGivers. There's no real brain trust here! We see no evidence that he actually is smart! And we are told that he is superstrong, yet Kirk is able to defeat him in hand to hand combat . . . after nearly being killed himself. My point with this is that the idea of Khan is more villainous than the execution of Khan.

And "Space Seed" is weakened by that. Heroes are made more heroic by the capabilities of the villains. The more powerful and incredible the villains are, the more heroic and decent the heroes must be to defeat them. By allowing Khan to be outwitted and overcome at the first opportunity, Khan is just a thug! Kirk wasn't able to defeat Kor, the first Klingon adversary, in the episode "Errand of Mercy," but few (if any) declare Kor the greatest villain of the franchise. Indeed, Kirk and his crew dispatch Khan and his followers with relative ease, whereas the far lamer first season villains like Charlie Evans, Trelane and Kor (who is not lame) are all only stopped by the intervention of even more powerful forces or beings. And the aliens in "The Galileo Seven" are not defeated! My point with this is that in this season alone, there are four villains who outmatched Kirk and his crew, Khan - in that context - is a relative lightweight.

That said, I like "Space Seed." Khan is interesting and the way everyone seems to recognize him for the despot he was once he "comes out" makes it disturbing that none of the characters figured it out beforehand. Sulu, for example, is known for being fascinated with Earth history, it would have been wonderful for his character to have a moment when . . . Sulu doesn't even appear in the episode. Hmmm . . . that makes it sound like I don't like it that much . . . Let's try again. Okay, Kirk, Spock and the ship's computer are a bit dense when it comes to identifying the Botany Bay and Khan's true identity. But once they do, they take all precautions to prevent . . . no, they lose the ship to the members of Khan's cadre.

Okay, the thing is, I LIKE this episode. It's fun to watch it. The episode moves along at a decent pace, develops well (so long as one doesn't really think about it) and has an exciting conclusion. And despite the characters being somewhat dense (I mean, if they had recovered Adolf Hitler from the ship, one suspects one of the command crew would have recognized him pretty much right away) the acting is good.

William Shatner gives a good performance when Kirk is weakened and beaten up and DeForest Kelley does great bringing strength and resolve to Dr. McCoy. Nimoy is actually great in this episode at creating Spock as a methodical, logical and unemotional character (most episodes find Spock having an "exception" to the Vulcan behavior rules!). Even guest actress Madlyn Rhue is decent as McGivers, quickly creating a memorable guest character with her brief role.

But it is Ricardo Montalban who steals the show as Khan Noonien Singh. Montalban has a great performance that takes him from weakened and vulnerable to commanding and ruthless. He's great and charismatic as Khan. It's easy to see why he is liked, he has the same magnetism that Shatner has when playing Kirk. Montalban is easily able to portray a natural leader and that brings him instant credibility. But the best moments with his acting are the first moments Khan is awake and he is weak and hoarse. Impressive, completely believable acting.

But Montalban's performance does not cover the weaknesses of Khan's character. The result of the character weaknesses and plot problems - this is a very simple plot and it does seem the obstacles are too easily overcome - make the episode better for escapist fun that actually holding up with meaning and significance. The movie falls closer to average than one might like as a result. "Space Seed" is good, it's enjoyable and it's suspenseful and worth watching multiple times so long as one doesn't think about it, but it's not the end all and be all most of us fans want it to be.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek - The Complete First Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the premiere season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

7.5/10

For other Star Trek episode reviews, please check out my index page!

© 2010, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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A Little Expensive, “Welcome To Christmastown” Will Satisfy Most A Nightmare Before Christmas Fans.

The Good: Decent balance, Generally cute
The Bad: Light effect is pretty minimal, Seems expensive for what it is.
The Basics: “Welcome To Christmastown” immortalizes Jack Skellington’s arrival in Christmastown in an average ornament.


Unlike most geeks, I am not blindly in love with the works of Tim Burton. For sure, there are works of his that I enjoy, but I am not head over heels about everything he has ever produced. To wit, The Nightmare Before Christmas. It was a clever concept, but honestly its execution was done in such a way that it does not surprise me at all that it became a cult classic; there is little else, in my estimation, it could have become. It has since been merchandised excessively and reissued as a 3-D film and the like, but the original is pretty mediocre as far as I’m concerned. Last year, though, fans of A Nightmare Before Christmas have the chance to add a little Tim Burton to their Christmas tree with the “Welcome To Christmastown” ornament.

For those unfamiliar with A Nightmare Before Christmas (click here for my full review of the movie!) Jack Skellington, a denizen of Halloweentown finds himself transported to Christmastown in a bizarre turn of events and there the spirit of Christmas (or, at least, an obsession with Santa Claus) reaches Jack and he tries to bring that back to Halloweentown. It is Jack at the gate to Christmastown, on the ground looking up at the gate that is the subject of "Welcome To Christmastown." To add extra value to this ornament, Hallmark provided the "Welcome To Christmastown" ornament with a simple blinking light effect.

Basics

The "Welcome To Christmastown" ornament recreates Jack Skellington in his perplexed pose, on his back looking up at the banner to Christmastown. The ornament includes the Jack, the archway to Christmastown and the little snow-covered knoll Jack is laying upon. The ornament, released in 2009, is as authentic as it can be considering it is based upon an animated work for the source material. Because everything in A Nightmare Before Christmas is colored in simple solid colors (without human shading or details), the ornament appropriately does not have any coloring depth or shading to it.

Still, Hallmark clearly made an effort on the "Welcome To Christmastown" ornament and almost everything about the ornament looks good and functions well. Jack Skellington has adequate detailing in his eyes and in his spindly legs and jacket. The snow even has glitter on it and below the banner is a wire and plastic wreath. Measuring eight centimeters long, seven centimeters wide and twelve centimeters tall, the "Welcome To Christmastown" ornament is one of the larger Hallmark ornaments this year, but even with the light feature, it seems a little pricier.

The Hallmark "Welcome To Christmastown" ornament is made of a durable plastic, but because it has very thin pieces, like Skellington’s legs and fingers, it seems a bit more brittle than other Hallmark ornaments. This ornament remains fairly easy to find at Hallmark stores, so there is no reason (yet) to look for it in the secondary market, despite the fact that A Nightmare Before Christmas is pretty popular. This ornament features a battery to power the light effect.

Features

As a Hallmark Keepsake ornament, "Welcome To Christmastown" has a light effect, but no sound effect. On the bottom of the snowmound with Jack Skellington, there is a well-concealed button. The button, when pressed, activates the light effect. The light effect is remarkably simple. There are green and red LEDs on the “Christmastown” sign and when one presses the button, they light up. The lights begin blinking in various patterns without any real sense of order for forty-two seconds. Then they blink off. That’s it. In a well-lit room, the effect is almost invisible, but on a Christmas tree, the effect is charming and lights up the snow well. Even so, this is a rather simplistic effect and because most fans of A Nightmare Before Christmas are younger, odds are they will want more from this ornament than just that.

Balance

As with all ornaments, the intent of the Hallmark Keepsake "Welcome To Christmastown" ornament is to be hung on a Christmas Tree. And for those creating the ultimate Christmas Tree for A Nightmare Before Christmas, the "Welcome To Christmastown" ornament is a necessary addition and arguably one of the most appropriately Christmas-themed ornaments from the line. The ornament has the standard brass hook loop embedded into the top center of the banner. This is fairly obvious and necessary for the ornament.

The placement of the loop makes this a perfectly balanced ornament, which is surprising given how tall it is and how complicated the figure on it looks.

Collectibility

Hallmark Keepsake began delving into the collectibles market in 1991 with Star Trek when it introduced the exceptionally limited edition original U.S.S. Enterprise ornament (click here for my review!). Within a few years, virtually every major studio with a marketable property jumped on the bandwagon and began merchandising Christmas ornaments, including A Nightmare Before Christmas. "Welcome To Christmastown" was the only A Nightmare Before Christmas ornament released in 2009 and fans seemed to like it, though it is quite common. Even so, this ornament appears to be more than adequately produced and is not likely to be a great investment piece. The only other option for fans of Tim Burton’s works from 2009 is a Corpse Bride ornament.

Overview

Despite my antipathy toward the source material, the “Welcome To Christmastown” ornament is cute and fairly well-made (though the wreath may be easily bent). Anyone who likes a diverse Christmas tree may enjoy this and fans of A Nightmare Before Christmas are bound to love it.

For other Christmas ornaments, please check out my reviews of:
"The Menagerie" Star Trek Ornament
"Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!" Peanuts Ornament
Limited Edition Lando Calrissian Star Wars Ornament

5/10

For other ornament reviews, please check out my index page!

© 2010, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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