DISCLAIMER: Right up front, I’m going to confess that I’ve never been much of a Marvel guy.  Although I grew up on a steady diet of comic books, the heroes like Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Thor just never much kept my attention nor tickled my fancy.  When it comes to their movies, I’ve surprisingly felt much the same … but I always hold out hope for enough entertainment to make it worth my buck.  So there you are.  You’ve been warned.

Ah, Thor, what a wicked spell you weave!

For all intents and purposes, your first cinematic adventure was quite grand, balancing just the right mix of wit and weight for even casual superhero fans to go along for the ride.  Thor: The Dark World tried really hard to recapture some of what made the original a winning feature, but I’d be hard pressed to tell you much of what came down the pike in that theatrical outing.  (If memory serves, your mom died, no?)  Here we are already with your third picture – Thor: Ragnarok – and I find myself where I usually am with most Marvel experiences: I’m not quite interested in all you have to do, but it does make the popcorn go down easily.

The truth is Ragnarok is looking and performing most likely exactly the way the MouseHouse wanted.  It’s keeping butts in the seats, clocking up solid box office numbers week after week, and it’s far too soon to say whether or not it’ll be as forgettable as The Dark World was.  I suspect it won’t, as its writers coopted some of the bigger elements of Marvel’s epic “Planet Hulk” storyline – now there’s a tale that deserved a big budget telling!

But I digress …
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Yes, Ragnarok is here, and this installment finds the Asgardian God of Thunder (Chris Hemsworth) chasing down a bit of a mystery regarding his absent father.  As one could’ve/should’ve/would’ve predicted, the dreaded Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is yet again behind it all; but before the two of them can fully reconcile they’re torn apart by the sister they never knew they had – Hela (the always interesting Cate Blanchett).  As Fate would have it, she is the true firstborn, and she has her sights set on the throne of Asgard, meaning Thor and Loki will have to go, one way or another.  Thrown out of the space-traveling vortex, both men find themselves in different circumstances on the planet Sakarr, where an unlikely ally emerges in the form of the Incredible Hulk.  Eventually, they’ll team up, but will that be enough to stop Hela?

Rather than run the risk of nitpicking the film to death (as some online critics tend to do these days), I’m content with saying that Ragnarok – much like the other chapters in the ongoing Thor saga – is about as solid a popcorn film as one would expect from Marvel Entertainment.  It’s been put together with about as much love and affection as it could, and all involved (mostly) turn in acceptable work, showing just how comfortable they’ve become in these grand disguises.  The pace is practically nonstop, and – unlike Thors I and II – III has an appreciable amount of comedy added into the tale.  Not all of it works perfectly – the God of Thunder has suddenly become as ‘quippy’ as Deadpool, if I don’t say so myself – but it’s as harmless as can be when you’re pretty much assured everyone is getting out alive come the big finish even though the script occasionally implies they won’t.
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For all of his efforts, however, Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner really seems out of place with the shtick here.  Some of his “disorientation” is owed to a plot point I won’t spoil, but he spends far too much time playing bug-eyed with confusion for my tastes.  Ruffalo has always prided himself as a serious actor – both onscreen and off – and perhaps he’s been worn down by the Marvel concoctions over several appearances.  (I say this as one who like him quite a bit in the first Avengers flick but less so ever since.)  He hits his marks, true, though he never seems all that comfortable with the material.

The balance, nonetheless, is provided by saga newcomer Tessa Thompson, a big debut for Valkyrie, a fallen Asgardian warrioress who must reconcile her past with the present in order to secure her own destiny.  Though her predicament is a bit formulaic, she’s a breath of fresh air against the usual testosterone, and it’d be terrific to see where she can take the part as Marvel expands their titles in the cineplexes throughout its next phase.  Could she get a standalone flick?  Don’t count her out just yet.

Otherwise, Jeff Goldblum shows up playing Jeff Goldblum – has there ever been a greater career theft in the history of film – as an all-too-Goldblumesque kinda/sorta dictator with a taste for violence.

In the final estimation, Ragnarok is good theatrical entertainment, though there’s an increasing reliance on CGI worlds almost to the point of the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy (never a great thing, in my book).  It’s less substance than Thor I but vastly more entertaining than II.  Still, I couldn’t help feeling like this was more ‘Asgardians of the Galaxy’ than was truly necessary.

Growing up in very rural US heartland wherein didn’t have a major TV station in the area, I grew used to adjusting the ‘rabbit ears’ in order to get a handful of small channels from the nearby cities; and on a few occasions, I was fortunate enough to stumble across the various works of the late Gerry Anderson.  When I could, I cherished the adventures of the Thunderbirds.  If the inevitable static and white noise held off, I marveled at Stingray.  When the planets aligned, the adventures of Space:1999 came into view.  For those who are unaware, not all of Anderson’s properties involved marionettes, but most did require a healthy suspension of disbelief in order to be transported from here into a world of action with some of the finest special effects one could expect from the 1960’s and 1970’s.  His ‘Space Precinct’ came much latter for me – a mid-1990’s SciFi entry with live action paired with puppeteers to make for a somewhat zany futuristic look at law enforcement – but I still am discovered it via DVD … and loving most of what I’ve found.

​Friends and family whom I’ve introduced to Gerry’s projects have often been mildly disappointed.  I spoke of these programs with such affection that they perhaps were expecting something more, if not something different.  I think the central disconnect between them and me is that – like I explained – these were largely inspirations from an era wherein effects and storytelling were accomplished with more in-camera trickery than modern sensibilities require; that and the marionettes’ inability to convey much emotion tend to lead ‘older folks’ to discover more unintended laughs than anything else, so I’ve since stopped trying to argue Anderson’s greatness in favor of – ahem – sparing me the embarrassment.

Still, I’m thrilled to sound off on THE LOST WORLDS OF GERRY ANDERSON, a DVD collection of assorted ‘other programs’ that either never found greater exposure or were never quite meant to.  A few of what’s collected here are nothing more than commercials shilling for products (hey, a guy’s gotta eat!), but that’s not to imply they’re subpar in any way.  They’re simply another look at Anderson’s unique storytelling talent, something which I’m happy to celebrate.
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The highpoints?

Arguably, the pilot films for “The Investigator” and “The Day After Tomorrow” are worth the price alone.

“The Investigator” – while a bit nebulous in its logic – explores the world of two teens reduced in size to dolls by a mysterious entity known only by the show’s title; this overlord them provides them with an assortment of high-tech vehicles and gadgetry to help fight crime.  I’ll admit that the concept doesn’t quite work – the marionettes are far too lifeless, capturing in scenes lying around talking about do-gooding more than they are every engaged in it – but there’s still that Anderson spark at work that made so many other puppet shows exciting.

“The Day After Tomorrow” is a family space drama very much in the vein of Irwin Allen’s Lost In Space and Anderson’s own Space:1999: the Bowen family have been sent into the stars to gather the secrets of science for relaying back to Earth but find themselves racing against time to repair their engines before a nearby star goes supernova.  They do, but they find themselves thrust inside the resulting black hole into a whole new galaxy with no hope of return.  It’s a grand set-up – think of Walt Disney’s theatrical The Black Hole but accomplished more of a television scale – but the lack of a series pick-up meant that the continuing trips with the Bowen family were not meant to be.  The great Alan Tate and equally impressive Brian Blessed headline the telefilm, with the late Joanna Dunham along for the ride.  It could’ve been a contender.

Also worthy of a mention is Anderson’s original pilot “Space Police,” an obvious earlier incarnation of what evolved to eventually become the 1990’s Space Precinct.  This version gave Anderson regular Shane Rimmer a chance to play a somewhat emotionally-grizzled cop for an unspecified planetary jurisdiction wherein the baddies concoct a very Thunderbirds-esque scenario to kidnap a galactic President on a high-tech train; naturally, this requires the police concoct an equally elaborate rescue attempt.  It’s all well and good, though the narrative never quite hammers down a singular focus and clearly needed some retooling in order to be usable as a series foundation.  (Interestingly enough, the DVD set includes an alternate version recast with new actors as a second attempt; and the set also includes a wealth of unused footage with alternate takes for those who like to explore such extras.)

As these are ‘lost worlds,’ not each is a glistening gem … but each does remind Anderson fans of what drew us to his unique storytelling in the first place: the inventiveness is present always, and that alone makes it worth the time.

​HIGHLY Recommended for purists of Gerry Anderson’s work as there are some worthwhile moments in here, but only MODESTLY Recommended for casual junkies as there’s probably not enough to make this a dream come true.  I grew up on the stuff of Supermarionation when I could find it (stateside) in TV syndication, and a few of these had some terrific nostalgic quality to them; the stories are what they are – good or bad – with only a few creative sparks in between to make them worth a second watch.

In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at MPI Home Video provided me with a DVD of THE LOST WORLDS OF GERRY ANDERSON by request for the expressed purposes of completing this review; and their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.