Look I’ll level with you: I didn’t get my previous articles finished and will be done at a later date because I spent playing Star Wars: Battlefront the 2015 version (also I had a lot of other work to finish up or planned also) but I’m back on track. Second of all the Star Wars phase has begun to arose again with the upcoming releases of Star Wars: The Last Jedi and the hotly on topic of Star Wars: Battlefront II for later this year. I’ll keep this short but playing this game felt, well feels like playing the 2004 version of Battlefront now I’ll save this for the thought later but I want to talk about the main character for the upcoming single-player campaign of Battlefront II.
(ABOVE: Iden Versio)
Now a female character lead in Star Wars is no secret a good move to bring female audiences into the franchise like Rey in the main Star Wars films or in Rogue One with Jyn Erza now with Iden Versio, in the trailer released sometime ago she is a special forces member of the Empire and took part of the Battle of Endor (and witnessed the destruction of the Death Star) and now the main game storyline is taking vengeance on the Rebels, and then something took notice that some of the major planets from “The Force Awakens” will be playable maps in game so my assumption is towards another character: Is Iden Versio the person behind another character who had 20% dialogue: Captain Phasma.
(ABOVE: Captain Phasma)
Now this character showed up briefly on “The Force Awakens” and is planned to have a bigger part in “The Last Jedi” (I’ll believe it when I see it) and at first really didn’t much have of an impact even though she is performed by Gwendolyn Christie from Game of Thrones and felt lackluster, but let’s hope the next film in December that happens what is said to happen could possibly dip into the “Empire Strikes Back” territory of dark and the title alone feels ominous.
Now why I think this theory could be a possibility, because both characters arrive sooner after the fall of the Empire and rise of the New Order, both are Imperial commanders, both are female, but the one thing is one girl has an American accent and another is British so that could be a flaw in my theory but these films are in secrecy mode so who knows, but it will be fun to speculate like Gravity Falls. And for Battlefront II we all hope for an improvement towards the game from battlefront I like the 2005 edition of Battlefront II how it was memorable with many Jedi’s, space battles, different characters, a story-line and inter galaxy war like Rebels vs Droids or clones vs Stormtroopers, and so many land vehicles and control points. So let’s all hope that my theory can become valid and Battlefront II becomes fun while the movie in December becomes epic and not depressing.
Also RIP Carrie Fisher, you were gone way too soon.
Welcome to the seventh annual Scare Your Pants off month and this entire month of Halloween is everything spooky, horror and mysterious. I know I haven’t written in a long time so I’m going to make this up right now and focus on this month of Halloween before turning to focus on the year end month of review. 2023 has been a real struggle but for now let’s get into our first subject which is a Lost Media file on the first and last voyage of the HMS Albion.
How rare does a ship launch then go into immediate disaster? Not often but let’s turn the calendar back to 1896 where the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company on December 3rd released six battleships into the British navy and one of them is the HMS Albion. Their task was to guard British occupied territory within east Asia but would eventually see action within the first conflicts of the First World War. Let’s focus on 1898 the HMS Albion was ready and fully completed, as at the time she was the biggest battleship fully assembled. Many gathered to witness this launch including the Mary of Teck, the Duchess of York and the future King George V, even schoolchildren were able to witness this grand battleship be christened. Also alongside were four filmmakers E.P. Prestwick who owned the Prestwich Manufacturing Company, Phillip Wolf, Robert F. Paul and Birt Acres. All four men had separate film companies on ground to record with cameras now remember early filmmaking was still in its infancy, so they still had those old age cameras compared to now.
On June 21st, 1898 the ship was christened by the Duchess of York and would set sail from the Thames and guess what would happen next: did a) did the ship stop entirely working with no fuel, did b) did the ship cause a giant wave that broke a gangway that spectators watched when they were warned not to be on fell into the Thames or c) doing the hokey pokey? If you said B then yes. The gangway was suffering some stress, and the public was warned by police to not stand on because the ship caused massive waves to hit but also deteriorated the wood they stood on. Even they ignored the literal danger signs that it was not up to task to hold many people, so it was ignored and those fears were unsurprisingly came into horrifying fruition as when the wave hit the entire gangway collapsed sending what said to be 100 people falling into the river and what made it worse the sounds of the ship’s horn being heard were louder then the pleas of rescue and the among the people who fell it was women and children. Many people rushed to help as over 70 people were rescued. However up to 39 people drowned the oldest drowning victim was 64 years of age while the youngest was three months old. And to make it worse when women were being rescued it proved difficult when lifting women who wore heavy clothing and sadly succumbed.
An investigation was then started into what went wrong, was this poor safety of this gangway not up to task or the crowd massing the problem? Ultimately, I would say the public not noticing the warning signs is problematic because you think they would notice or know that could hold less than a few people at best. So, the finger pointed at the police and Ironworks workers not doing enough to prevent that many people to arrive. The four men who I mentioned whose had on camera people recording the whole thing including the people falling into the water was summoned to testify to the courts. Wolff’s footage was 120 minutes long of archival recordings, while Paul’s was split to two 40 minute recordings. While Wolff’s and Prestwich had little coverage, Paul got the largest eyes, however it was not what he expected. He released said footage under the title called “Disaster” and unsurprisingly this caused a uproar including Acres who hated it so he released his own footage but was with people rescuing the ones who fell within the water. While Paul’s footage didn’t show the entirely of the collapse of the gangway, it did reveal the idea of film reporting so think of this the earliest of what modern news networks would report on the news.
Now the main thing of our story and to lost media enthusiasts. Have they been found in some capacity? They have to an extent. Prestwich’s own footage has been shown and preserved currently within the National Film Archive, so was Paul’s the one was considered missing for years was Acres’ own footage of the incident even by the British Film Institute. And the one that was even considered obscure was Phillip Wolff’s own footage the most obscure and mostly lost. Prestwich and Paul’s own footage have been restored and then colorized and is available to watch on YouTube but what is the main takeaway for this entire story? Always pay attention to the danger signs no matter where you are.
And this covers the first week of Scare Your Pants Off month as next week, I look into the top 10 horror films and this will be interesting to see who would ontop and for November this time I truly intend to talk about John K’s Cans without Labels.
June has arrived so in this annual tradition which I have dug myself into way back in 2017: it’s time we deep dive back into lost and cancelled video games, and unlike E3 it won’t be canned unless I get bored with these so as tradition these are the 15 entries of lost or cancelled video games.
15. Panel de Pon (NES)
Let’s start off with a very obscure game title with a fascinating piece of history. “Panel de Pon” was a game set to be released on the Super Famicon in Japan and the Super Nintendo in 1995 with a different title called “Tetris Attack”. The interesting part of this game that no build was ever released nor any info not even a screenshot as its existence has been heavily debated for years. Some say it could be a tech demo for the future Nintendo 64 which could be a possibility.
The game however would be reworked to become the future Pokemon Puzzle Game released on the N64 in 2001 at the end of the life cycle for the system, now whatever happened with “Panel de Pon”? The game was said to have a prototype build that remained unrealeased for almost 30 years. In 2020 Youtuber Gamers Manual found a prototype cartridge that has the game then uploaded the footage to YouTube. The gameplay resembled a Nintendo GameCube exclusive game released in 2003 called “Nintendo Puzzle Collection” though the game has yet to be released online even though “Gamers” said he’ll release it soon.
14. ECW Anarchy Rulz (PS1)
I seem to have picked up wrestling games in this list haven’t I? Oh well here goes again.
“ECW Anarchy Rulz” was set to be released on the PlayStation and Dreamcast in mid-2000, Acclaim the game company has had a history of releasing WWE games in the past for the Super Nintendo, this was to the sequel to “ECW Homecoming Revolution” that was received positively selling for 600,000 copies. “Anarchy Rulz” for the PlayStation and Dreamcast had a least about of success mostly negative as this would be the last game ever released before the company folded in April of 2001.
There was a planned Nintendo 64 release which wouldn’t be a surprise. Nintendo Power from a 2000 April issue revealed the game was to be released on the N64 in September to co-align with the PlayStation and DreamCast releases though to confirm the rumor from the issue the heads of Acclaim would give no answer. In E3’s Acclaim presentation only the PlayStation version was released than the N64 with very little info. The game would go unreleased for the platform the only piece of evidence was this lone issue from the magazine which often would give it some eyes.
13. Epic Mickey 3 (Wii U)
Oh Epic Mickey, why aren’t you more well known.
The Epic Mickey franchise has had three well received titles, “Epic Mickey”, “Epic Mickey 2” both for the Nintendo WiiU and “Epic Mickey: Power of the Illusion” for the Nintendo 3DS as these games focused on the adventures of Mickey and using not so well known Disney characters into the limelight including well known for bringing back Oswald the Lucky Rabbit back into the fold for Disney after a exchange trade from Universal to the company for ESPN’s Al Michaels.
Warren Spector the creator of the game was very open for a trilogy and the second “Epic Mickey” game did leave off on a little tidbit from Pete planning something big for Mickey Mouse. In an interview Warren said:
“I don’t do anything that isn’t extensible. And I will certainly feel that I have not done my job if we can’t make other games in this world with these characters. In my head, I’ve got two more planned.”
Warren also mentioned that musical numbers would be a vocal point as the second game introduced them. Sadly this ambitious third game would be cancelled because of Disney shutting down Junction Point Studios the game developer for the games in January of 2013 as Warren in a 2015 interview would state:
“In Mickey 3 I wanted to really up the multiplayer action. What we did in Mickey 2 was pretty simple. I also wanted to make a truly interactive musical game. I have some weird ideas about how to use music and how to make music in the context of a game that no music-game has done yet.”
Such a shame this game was cancelled but I have seen better titles cancelled before reaching their climax. Still waiting on that Half-Life game Valve.
12. Dynamic Trial 7
Classic arcade games from the Mortal Kombat era goes unnoticed.
This arcade racing game was early planed by developer Toaplan in late 1993 and it was heavily promoted, though early testing of the game wasn’t received well as said by Twitter user @GoldWing1992 posted on a tweet so it seems whoever this person was part of Toaplan. He introduced this to Tomonobu Kagawa who was graphic designer for “Truxton II”.
The began the long trek of this game in question throughout the years starting in 2010 “Dynamic Trial 7” was playable in Japan however this game would disappear, then in 2016 an avid arcade collector acquired “Dynamic Trial 7” as he posted photos of it but unable to upload it online, then in 2018 another Twitter by the name of “7144GMI” upload a proper emulated version of the game. Then in 2022 a developer by the name of David “MameHaze” Haywood built a proper driver for “Dynamic Trial 7” ran on a special module of the hardware as it still unable to be released.
11. Madness: House of Fun (SEGA Genesis)
One of the games that would bump off Guitar Hero off its pedestal.
“Madness: House of Fun” was a title based of the band and off of their #1 hit from the 80’s “House of Fun” from their album “Change of Direction” though none of the band members appeared. The game starred a character named Mr. Smash who was based off one of the members of the group Carl Smyth to search inside a funhouse for goodies, but the entire place is overrun by specters and the only way of defense is throwing discs at the ghouls.
This game had 14 levels designed as it was going to be a remake of another game called “Harlequin” but was cancelled close to completion as by the 17th issues of “Mean Machines Sega” and “Mega Force”. In November of 2016 a source code was released by Piko Interactive founder Eleazar Galindo Navarro and in January of 2017 the game or a completed build was uploaded by Unseen 64. So even though it’s completely lost the game lives on by screenshots and footage we have.
10. Taxi Driver (XBOX 360)
Not going to lie alongside “Goodfellas” and the “Godfather” I never seen “Taxi Driver”. Guess that should be on my bucket list to watch.
This in-game movie tie in to one of the most acclaimed films of Martin Scorsese was planned to be a video game and it was highly anticipated. The game’s plot loosely followed on the same events on the film as the developing studios of the game Mejesco and Papaya were looking for a Grand Theft Auto type of game and they approached Robert De Niro to be involved with the game as then on E3 of 2005 the game was hyped up and it was given positive press. So how did this game not get released?
Simple: Martin Scorsese, Paul Schrader was at odds also adding on Majesco had some financial issues were at a point that the planned innovated game was cancelled and Papaya sued Majesco for a lawsuit they would eventually win alongside the rights to this game. Such a shame this game had some promise, but money and differences are always the deciding factor. There are many videos to this game that show the development like a trailer and several screenshots of “Taxi Driver”.
9. Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kirathi (Super NES)
Not much is known from this space title other than screenshots from a magazine issue.
“Wing Commander 2” was a sequel planned to be released on the Super NES by studio Origin Systems. Unlike the first game was released in something called MS-DOS and Amiga both for the PC, this Nintendo version would be a arcade-like gameplay elements within the cockpit of better view so its sounds like that one second level of the StarFox and a different script for the game’s plot. The game was finished and presented at the Electronics Game Monthly and GamePro issues would reveal the screenshots of the game however what made this game unreleased and cancelled was financial issues. Again. Isn’t that nice that money issues often the bad indicator of games that dooms it in the end?
8. Sukiya (PC)
Translating this to English means: “House contains a tearoom”. Neat.
This point and click game was made by developer: Lankhor studios a French gaming company, the main designer Jerome Lange also created two other point and click titles like “Mortville Manor” and “Maupiti Island” as Mortville Manor was innovative for the first ever speech synthesis which is like the first ever game of speech with voice overs. Unfortunately, poor sales of one title called “Black Sect” would hinder the development of “Sukiya” saw it as an indicator to not make anymore click and point adventures games. Which is disappointing because outside of King’s Quest as a notable PC game none has been made. “Sukiya” was later cancelled as Lankhor shut down in 2001. Outside of screenshots it is unknown if this was ever released or how much was completed.
7. The Venture Bros: Shop and Destroy (Flash)
So, nobody thought that Venture Bros had a game eh?
I’m not going to beat around this bush to say what is the Venture Bros. Muscle bound venturer with two teens and a very wimpy villain. I think were clear on that. The game was planned to be released on the Adult Swim website as the plot was to be based of the first season episode “Tag Sale – You’re It!” which the plot is Thaddeus Venture is having a tag sale but it doesn’t go well as villains and heroes want his items so does his archrival The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend.
Judging by the screenshot of the gameplay because that’s as far of better info there is, the game was to be a collect ‘em all flash game, however this game would disappear due to Adobe Flash Player’s discontinued in 2021. Andre Moore’s blog has posted artwork of this game and screenshots was eventually released online. I guess the yard sale wasn’t the only thing that was cleaned up.
6. Star Wars Battlefront III
One of the most famous titles all of gaming Pandemic’s Star Wars Battlefront has held a great reputation as an innovated shooter title. This was before of EA’s version of the game and say what you will of EA’s Battlefront at least in the second Battlefront installment after the microtrans and lootbox controversies the game finally became what players wanted it to be with different maps, modes and heroes and villains to play. Also RIP to the 500 credit lootbox. Yes!
Now, as to Battlefront III the game was developed not by Pandemic but by Free Radical Design the makers of famous titles like Timesplitters and some of the people involved were former Rare employees. Now this game is too long in itself but here’s the short version. Battlefront III has sadly garnered a reputation that was in development hell and Free Radical Design was crunched due to pressure and their parent company Ubisoft wanting some of their own games finished not to mention our good friend: financial issues. Though Crytek would jump in to acquire the floundering company others would be let go on Christmas. Ouch. The game was cancelled altogether but the only piece of evidence was a screenshot of a video recording in 2008 to show gameplay like different planets and spaceship flying in Coruscant. If you guys want to know further there is a documentary of the doomed game here in this video.
5. StarBlade: Operation Blue Planet (Arcade)
Oh, hi Namco. Nice to see you here.
“Starblade” was to be a passion project for Higashiyama Asahi ever since the original Starblade was released in 1991 made by Namco. This long-awaited sequel was aiming for a 2002 release to respond to the declining Arcade market because home consoles were more exclusive than ever. The game was presented in the 2001 Amusement Machine Show and was the highlight as it was given high praise for the game. Unfortunately, the game was never fully tested and another reason of issues was the lack of coin operation arcade machines, putting cease of the game and then cancellation. Bandai would upload a complete gameplay video online in November of 2007. Judging by the gameplay of this one it did have some improvements and quality. No full ROM was ever leaked as of 2023.
4. Shin Nihon Wrestling Gekitou Densetsu (Virtual Boy)
It has been six years since I covered the Virtual Boy as this cancelled game is a fascinating one and yes wrestling creeps its away into the limelight again.
This cancelled Virtual Boy title with the long absurd name, was to feature eight New Japan superstars as one of them would feature future WWE Hall of Famer Jushin “Thunder” Liger, the game in development was to feature title match mode alongside another mode called Time Attack. Another interesting addition was to be the G1 Climax which is a tournament that has 10 competitors in two separate blocks for a title shot. This game was cancelled due to the poor sales of the Virtual Boy’s sales being poor because Nintendo hasn’t fully utilized 3D or what the PlayStation Vita or Oculus Rift would fully utilize years later. Some say that someone has bought the prototype of the game, but whoever that is remains unknown.
3. Saints Row: Part Four (XBOX 360/PS3)
I never played the reboot of Saints Row and judging by it, I rather not with so many bugs and bad glitches.
“Saints Row 4” was under development after the sequel of “Saints Row 3” that featured Hulk Hogan, Rob Van Dam. For some reason. Although the game would be released, this would feature a different plot as the original idea would feature Johnny Gat who died in the third game brought back to life as a clone alongside bringing back most infamous people of history: Genghis Khan, Cleopatra and Joseph Stalin? Cleopatra in this feels out of place given her history of a very upstanding ruler of Ancient Egypt.
Now why this game never went further? THQ the parent developer was under say it with me financial issues that would they eventually shut their doors years later, they wanted a game that would keep them alive. The actual Saints Row would prove somewhat successful; however, the cancelled game would be recycled later.
2. Mini Poocha (Nokia Series)
A Phone game not from an IPhone? What is this world coming through.
“Mimi Poocha” was a game planned to be released as a mobile phone title for the Nokia, kind of like how the one Kingdom Hearts game for the Nokia phone. The developers were 5th Cell Media behind Scribblenauts and Drawn to Life, as the focus of the game was Tetris. So, you know same colors in their place the stuff. The Nokia Series phone would be discontinued. Emulating the game would give the person a blank screen past the title card. Thanks for nothing Nokia.
1. Sabreman Stampede (XBOX/XBOX 360)
Time to close this out with a title that has some extensive history and a Microsoft buyout.
This game was originally to be a sequel to “Diddy Kong Racing Adventure” as it was almost fully completed, however a snag would play into the role. Microsoft acquired Rare and all its library titles in September of 2002 cancelling several games including “Diddy Kong Racing Adventure.” So now with this game in the can, what was Rare to do? Simple, from a Rare magazine in 2002, Sabre Wulf revealed a future in development title for the original XBOX that would become known as “Sabreman Stampede”.
It seems while in development the “Diddy Kong” sequel was repurposed and reworked into “Sabreman Stampede” as the idea gameplay was to be Grand Theft Auto with animals. In 2005 and 2006 Rare featured some interesting titles like “Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts” and “Viva Pinata” for the future so where was “Sabreaman?” Simple, it was cancelled due to lack of progress. It is a shame because the game in development had great promise and here we close out another month and year of cancelled titles and video games.
And that concludes this entry of the top 15 Lost and Cancelled video games as for the sixth anniversary I’ll rather keep that as a surprise at the moment, so I won’t tell you what it is because it is something I wanted to talk about more with a certain Can with Label. Oh yeah, I’m going to cover that and a certain controversial animator.
Welcome to the closing May edition of the Lost Media Files and in this subject, I will cover one of the most infamous Tornadoes with a haunting image that has plagued people and questioned where it came from: this is the Jarrell, Texas Tornado.
On May 27th of 1997 in the city of Jarrell Texas which is northeast of Waco and north of San Antonio the area of central Texas alone would witness one of the most devastating Tornadoes in the state’s history while it is one of few that would be deadly this one would plague the minds of Texans until today. How this Tornado formed was a surprise to many scientists. The winds were surprisingly weak but even the weakest it didn’t mean it was packing a punch. The atmosphere alone was primed for a serious storm and winds from the Gulf of Mexico would even add into the intensifying winds.
At around 12:30 PM a cold front overlapped Waco, Texas while another would over take and merge with a dry line and then a tornado one of 20 would emerge and while this storm is on the level of more powerful storms as to that of Joplin, Missouri in 2011 this storm produced a 7.6 mile long and 0.75 mile wide as this tornado would head southwest as at first was extra long and snake like before churning into a more powerful storm and throughout the afternoon would become a devastating F5 Tornado with the death toll climbing up to 27 and 12 people injured and the damage was so devastating it left not a trace of anything even human or animal remains which is terrifying to think about a storm on this scale.
Now let’s talk about where this photo came from. Where did this infamous photo appear or who took it? We don’t know. Now I’d end it off there but there is some evidence on this one with countless tornado videos that is online including one from a documentary that aired on TLC. It freezes on a walking set of legs of Tornado and in true native American legends that if this tornado appears, your dead. Now there are countless forum posts that explained where did this come from but one led to a interesting discovery it led to a TIME magazine article dating back to June 9th of 1997 in a article of the very photo and the person who took the photograph a man named Scott Beckwith that was submitted to publish.
Now footage of this Tornado is close to nothing which is interesting because there is countless Tornado footages on this date online like Angel Escobales Jr. a channel that was taking the time piecing together the information of videos as this was the perfect time to capture videos. Now these Dead Man Walking Tornadoes you’d be shocked to hear that it is more common then you think: like the Joplin Tornado of 2011 or the El Rino Tornado that I covered years ago about the tragedy of the Twistex Tornado or the infamous Xenia Tornado. In the future I do plan on covering the more fascinating Tornados so while this case is technically closed the footage is something that should be seen.
So that covers this edition of the Lost Media Files, its June and you know what that means as a staple tradition: video games. AT least this will stick around unlike E3. So top 15 cancelled and lost video games next week.
Welcome to the finale of the Revenge of the Lost Media as last week I covered a Shin Megami Tenzai series of a spinoff from a video game, now for the finale (and hopefully I don’t have to bring this back again) the finale will be about another anime but a well known series that I never seen but seem to have a following: this is the “Rose of the Versailles”.
The “Rose of Versailles” is a anime that takes place at a time for France that is going through another revolution the same revolution that would ascend Napoleon Bonaparte into status as famous general of history and if you know your French history: its not going to go well for a certain French figure: Marie Antoinette but this shows main focus is a woman named Oscar Francois de Jarjayes who was raised to be a boy and succeed her father to be a royal guard of the Palace of the Versailles, but this show is not about the violent revolution but a complex love story between her and her servant: Andre Grandier. I never seen the anime but this show has developed a grown underground cult following by anime fans and the setting in France serves as a great detail in this conflicted love story during a prolific event in French history, surprised this never had a crossover with Les Misérables (unless it did I don’t know, I never saw the series in full). It debuted on September of 1979 till September of 1980 as the animation studio behind was TMS to add to their long list of resume. Now what is this all about for this show?
During its runtime the show had its own issues like sudden cancellations because of multiple broadcasting conflicts an episode called “Portrait of a Burning Rose” that was aired frequently but never aired again nor in any public syndication or any home media release and streaming. Multiple blog posts dedicated to the series had many questions for this lost episode that was suddenly pulled from airing. Some say that was old drawings from previous episodes reused but that was widely disproven. What was the main plot for this mysterious episode, it was a about a necklace stolen which was a retelling of the Diamond Necklace that belonged to the Queen of France which long story short some say that she defrauded the crown jewelers that she refused to pay for but then her own signature was forged that continued the downward spiral of the French monarchy that lasted since the middle ages ended. But this episode would jump skip four years later as Andre would confess his live to Oscar. Now this sounds like a very interesting episode but some call into question if this one existed. Unlike my long previous entry about a lost Japanese commercial “Hitogata” this did have some evidence to support its airing. In August of 2020, Twitter user “@nakky16” uploaded screenshots of this lost episode like scenes like a young girl being pushed with a burning ‘V’ shaped iron, yikes. Or a scene of the confession of Oscar and Andre after a brief battle of the father of Oscar and last month of this year in March more screenshots of this episode surfaced. Now with this said you think someone would air the episode in full online. Your answer is Japan, they have a very strict and grounded prohibiting any airings whatsoever just look what happened with Suede and his Pokemon videos for an indicator that was taken down in full and threats of lawsuit. Fair used be damned. So, its very unlikely that an episode would air elsewhere, but we do know that it exists so its not a total loss.
(from user @Nakky16 the VHS tape that contains the Rose of the Versailles episode)
And that covers the entire Revenge of the Lost Media for this month, let’s pray I don’t do this again and in May we will get back into the saddle of regular lost media schedule and talk about a one of America’s well-known Tornadoes, a ominous photo and a lost documentary. The walking man has arrived in Texas.
Welcome to another edition of the Revenge of the Lost Media: last time I covered a very short brief entry on a Adult Swim spinoff called “Soul Quest Overdrive” as for this week I’ll cover anime series that some may or may not have heard from a obscure video game series: Shin Megami Tenzai.
I have never played a Shin Megami Tenzai game. So first of all, going in what was the franchise plot? Think of it as another Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest game. Final Fantasy seems like a innovator, anyway the main game plot from the first is high school students battling the devil summoned by a programmer. As for its gameplay mechanic it is your table top RPG game standard. Now for this anime series where did this take place? Let’s time travel back to 2002.
In 2002 of this year an anime adaptation of Shin Megemi Tenzai would be announced as for the plot as three children because yes it’s a kids a show all then another child shows up and show her to do a devil worship and summons said demon, that child tells the two other kids they are the “Devil Children” and decide the world by their hands. Now if this was 2020, I’d be like “Alright whatever” couldn’t get any worse what we got; as the main antagonist in this series was a character named Imperius to prevent his plan for taking over the world. Now as plots go this is interesting especially in an anime series in a scale like this sounds intriguing and this was based off the spinoff game called “Shin Megemi Tenzai: Devil Children” released to the Game Boy Color two years prior. As for this one is from what I gather based from another spinoff title called “Light and Dark” which sounds similar to Megaman’s Light and Dark movie for the NT Warrior series.
This anime never had a full home media release after its initial airing, the only piece of footage there is was two separate anime intros of this series and I highly doubt a dub was made. I don’t want this gutted for 4Kids standards like most was these days. Eventually the series was found uploaded to the internet archive including its sequel series however the episodes to this sequel series has twelve episodes missing out of 38 episodes not fully found. As for the franchise it sounds too Final Fantasy like however it sounds like it has its own identity formed to separate then the others to which I applaud.
And that covers this entry as for the finale for this coming Friday will be about another anime franchise but this time a lost episode from one of anime’s hit series from France.
This will be a two-parter entry today I’ll be covering the lost spinoff to one of Adult Swim’s highly rated and successful shows and tomorrow will be an entry I will reveal later so let’s get on with today’s entry about Soul Quest Overdrive.
I don’t need to even make an introduction to “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” do I? Misadventures with Master Shake, Frylock, Meatwad and Carl and both encountering villains along the way and other locations, but I would like to talk about four characters who had a minor introduction as they appeared in the season five finale “Bible Fruit” the characters were Bert a talking Bowling Pin voiced by David Cross, Mortimer a talking baseball glove voiced by H. Jon Benjamin, Tammy a talking basketball voiced by Kirsten Schaal and Mick a soccer ball. I want to name the actor here, but I don’t want to. You’ll have to look him up, he’s not worth the mention nor credit here but back to the main topic, they appeared as friends of Frylock as they are invited to join him to party though it ends by them being blown up as the house explodes after Master Shake dies by accidental beheading by Bert.
So after this initial episode, there was plans for a spinoff between these characters, which in 2010 more fuel to the fire would be stoked as during an interview with Collider.com Hunter Daniels interviewed to the creators of Aqua Teen about the spinoff rumor and acknowledged plus six episodes were made for it. One of their episodes was revealed called “Meals and Wheels” as in this episode as Bert runs over a man while he is on a wild car chase and was uploaded for a online contest hosted by Adult Swim, though this show lost out to another pilot from another show made by the Aqua Teen crew which was “Cheyanne Cinamon” the show would eventually air in 2011 in a block part of Adult Swim called “DVR Theatre” on May 4th as four of the six episodes would air on the block. As for the other two episodes remained unaired. Maybe being placed on a 4:00 AM block didn’t help matters for this show to be quietly cancelled. As for “Cheyanne Cinnamon” that never got picked up for a series either. But Aqua Teen will go down as one of the best original programming of Adult Swim.
Now you’re wondering if this was too short? Don’t worry I made up for that as for tomorrow the next entry for this two parter will be about a lost anime about one of Nintendo’s oldest anime series.
Hmmm… I missed it again alright time for something I’ve always wanted to do presenting for this month of April the Revenge of Lost Media. In these four weeks I will cover four fascinating pieces of lost media before going back to business on May. So starting off these entries is this one from January which is covering the missing Brazilian artwork and cargo of flight Varig 967.
Throughout history there has been infamous disappearances of aircraft vanishing without a trace most notably Amelia Earhart or Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 however another airlines flight holds a mysterious disappearance. On January 30th, 1979 a Boeing 707-323C was flying from Tokyo Japan heading to Rio De Janeiro with a planned stop to Los Angeles, California and Peru. The crew contained six seasoned pilots and the cargo on this plane was famous pieces of artwork from Japanese-Brazilian painter Manabu Mabe that was in a previous Tokyo art exhibition and each worth up to $1.24 million dollars at estimate.
On leaving Tokyo both the aircraft were exchanging radio contact with Narita control tower in Tokyo Airport while at 8:45 PM local and away from the coast as this would be among several that the airliner made. The next one was scheduled to take place at 9:23 PM just several minutes later but little did air control knew that the 8:45 call would be the last. After attempts to make contact with the plane failed a rescue mission would be declared to find this missing plane, its pilots and crew members, but nothing would come about of this search, and they would be declared dead six months later and the valuable paintings would be considered also lost leaving a mystery several decades later still unanswered on what happened to this crew.
Now let’s go with many theories.
Theory #1: Depressurization. This theory was proposed by a college of one of the pilots: Oswald prophet. He thinks the plane between the hours of 20:45 (8:45) to 21:23 (9:23) PM the plane may have suffered some depressurization and the pilots would been unconscious leaving the airline flight to run on auto pilot however the plane would eventually run low of fuel then crash into the sea carrying its plane and contents aboard.
Theory #2: Foul Play in hand. One suggestion that says the plane contained paintings that maybe cost $1.24 million so the plane could’ve been hijacked and between the hours of maintenance and having to contact the airport control maybe the hijackers had enough time for a lengthy escape however with this theory is a snag: between the years since then none of the artwork has shown up in any black-market site. Another theory suggests foul play that the plane could’ve been shot down or forced to land. This did take place during the heighted tensions between the Soviet Union and the U.S. where nuclear war could break any moment. The theory of the plan shot down could be likely tie into the Soviet supersonic missile: the Miyokan-Gurevich MiG-25 supersonic missile as it was highly advanced to use for the Soviet government so maybe this happened shooting the plane down and also previously a Soviet Union jet pilot would switch sides to the west. However, It was proven to be too big to even guide a missile as both nations not sure how to even operate and even if the Soviets and Japan had past tensions it would be an idiotic move to pull.
Theory #3: the most outlandish of all – Aliens. I sense a disturbance a Shane Medea as shuddering of the suggestions of aliens. It’s possible, I mean the flight going missing, its crew members gone, maybe aliens have an interest in artwork. But without concreate evidence the paintings, aircraft and pilots have remained missing. What is my personal opinion on which theory could be possible: I’d say theory #1 depressurization, something might have happened between these hours of no communication between the two so something like this could be possible. The only thing we could get evidence is the black box that contained the audio but that has remained missing ever since. So we may never know what happened to this doomed flight but all I can say is: be careful on flights, you may never know that trouble could brew in or out.
That concludes our first lost media entry for this week: tune in next week as we look into what could’ve been February is a animated series that featured a one-off set of characters that appeared on one of Adult Swim’s hit shows. See ya next time.
Last time we did the top 10 Best Wrestling moments of 2022 and to close out and this 2022 retrospective is the WORST wrestling moments and I was eagerly excited to do this list because I knew a lot of bad happened but this did not disappoint: from Sunny’s hit and run which lead to a death to Vince McMahon stepping down due to serious allegations from one AEW controversy to another leading into a scrum fight these are no holds barred for this entry and I have been savoring this for long time: let’s juice and jam time.
10. Liv Morgan
Let’s start off something that was disappointing.
Liv Morgan won Money in the Bank and then immediately cashed that in against Rhonda Rousey on the same PPV to win the SmackDown Women’s Championship. Then how come momentum stalled the minute she won it?
A great moment like this turned into one of the worst reigns of the year which wasn’t her fault to begin with and it started with a botchy roll-up and it didn’t get any more better for Liv, she was very green for her first title run and her performance is a poster to define how green she was. Was she ready for this, probably not if anything this would’ve been waited later then immediately pull the trigger now. I feel like Liv needs some massive improvement in ring and her promo work needs better structure before she gets another title tun.
9. Wardlow
Here we go with the AEW entrees. I feel like I have to bring this up: do I hate AEW? No. I just don’t like how they have managed or mismanaged their business in 2022.
Let’s start with Wardlow the muscle of MJF, or formally this year felt like a coronation of him to finally be the guy until MJF left and it all went downhill for him. Was this sabotage? It certainly felt like sabotage when MJF disappeared but not only that this guy felt hindered even if he became TNT Champion like he felt less special or being overshadowed and it still feels very so all because of one guy decided to take a break then shoot on Tony Khan that felt like a massive snub and hindrance for a big push. Thanks for nothing Max.
8. Hit Row
Of all the people to return why did you come back?
Who remember’s Hit Row the group who was in NXT then appear on SmackDown before they were cut late last year? They returned in September of this year but uhh you guys have three members don’t you have another, oh right he is in AEW then again Swerve’s chances ain’t looking so great either, but I’d say its better than this group.
It’s very noticeable that without a leader Hit Row just exists and I don’t know who is going to be there that fills that void and as for a certain Top Dolla why don’t keep your ego in check online maybe that’s what got you canned last year? Trust me Bruan Strowman and Lacey Evens have their own questionable things to say that should be challenge but you ranked high up there for online chatter to say some outlandish stuff.
7. AEW Women’s Division II: Electric Boogaloo
So, what is going on with this AEW Women’s Division?
This year it was primed to be Thunder Rosa as a dominant champion however she faced some noticeable setbacks in this year like one: injuries that hindered her but also a second issue: backstage trouble with Charlotte clone Britt Baker, which seems to sound like Britt has more leeway then anyone believes that resulted to cause a further rift between both women that led to a random interview that Britt said no one likes Thunder Rosa to which I don’t believe at all so what is going on where is this women’s locker room leadership falling at the beck and call for Britt?
Let’s go for another issue and its Jade Cargill now last year I praised her, this year that notion waived and this girl is green in ring as it has been more prevalent. Not as green as Liv but it shows and has been propped up to be undefeated, now is this Goldberg levels of dominance? No and this girl has belt everyone there is so what is there left? Unifying both her TNT Women’s Title to the AEW Women’s Championship? Also again why have the women’s matches have less meaning on Dynamite and NXT has more?
6. Matt Riddle
This was a recent entry and for something else totally different, but this is troubling.
Matt Riddle started this year as a tag team champion then a feud with Seth Rollins again I’m not saying his moniker bite me. Then something happened Matt Riddle was written off TV by Solo Sikoa that led to a drug violation and Matt’s suspension. But also there was also something else that has been revealed and getting more traction.
Matt Riddle has had an alleged history of abuse of spouses and even though it’s been alleged it has been growing more recent which is not great. Personally, Matt should work on his serious issues a lot more his drug habits and his personal life on his exes. Because these things hardly have a third chance they merely strike out when it gets into a boiling point.
5. Sunny
Does Sunny have regrets in her life? Maybe her downward spiral is one.
This year Sunny again found herself on controversy way again but this time for a heinous act: on March 25th of this year Sammy has been involved in a three-person car crash that resulted in the death of 72 year old Julien Lasseter Jr driving in a Kia Sorento that resulted in another crash to a GMC Yukon but the people in this car suffered non-life threatening injuries. Tammy’s blood alcohol levels was three times more the legal limit as she was eventually charged in May and pleaded not guilty in June as both are still in this legal case as it will start in January of the new year.
My personal opinion Sunny is a mess and should be nowhere near anything and locked up not even to her OnlyFans, this girl has some serious issues and I’ll say this again: she hasn’t gotten over the death of Chris Candido and for a woman that is like what near 20 years elder then me? Here’s some serious advice Sunny: stop being like this. Downward spirals don’t have a good ending.
4. All Out Scrum
This got bounced from #3 but this felt like it was a culmination towards trouble, and it was made double.
All Out was a very mixed reaction PPV but this would have a different meaning at the end of the show, CM Punk was at the end of the PPV media scrum and then he decided to go nuclear on AEW and shoot about The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega and then Hangman Page before going to Colt Cabana and it would further escalate the Young Bucks was alleged to storm Punk’s doorway to kick it open and Frankie the dog was literal caught in the middle which was Ace Steel’s pet and then a fight broke down and the repercussions followed: CM Punk took a leave of absence and Ace Steel gone from AEW as also the EVP’s was suspended although that didn’t felt long since they all wormed their way back.
Now this beef started way back after the verbal exchange of Hangman and Punk towards each other I would argue the wheels falling off the rails for Hangman is at the feet of Tony Khan and the Elite but that this spat was trouble was the understatement and working with children which doesn’t seem farfetch’d given that the Bucks and Omega are insecure guys who don’t like having their noses thumbed. Will Punk return? There has been rumblings of a buyout of Punk’s contract which is a disappointing end to Punk’s return in wrestling.
3. Tyrus….
Billy, we need a serious talk. What is going on in NWA?
This year was mixed: it started off with Trevor Murdock Champion, then Matt Cardona, then after injury it bounces to Trevor again only to be on the waist of Tyrus. A guy a decade ago was the Funkasaurus in a goofy gimmick dancing in WWE and is your poster boy as champion. Was it because of that little spat between you and Nick Aldis? This year before NWA 74 it was announced that Nick Aldis was suspended without pay only to lead to his upcoming release at the start of 2023.
Now I’m not the biggest fan of Nick, him being NWA World Champion or putting the title on him that many times felt unnecessary but when you see wrestlers like Mercurio or a magician gimmick appear I don’t dislike these guys at all they are fine but feels like a throwback at 95 WWE, also Question Mark gimmick with Rodney Mack? why? Maybe that is why he left. So back to Tyrus nobody is gravitating to become World Champion because he is very limited and gassed so early on. His move is just a punch, a Lucario performing Counter was more of a devastating move then this and who is suddenly going to watch him? The 50 or 60-year-old seniors watching Fox News? My interest in this company has wained a lot, Billy you maybe a great musician but I don’t understand your vision of the NWA.
2. Tony Khan
Alright Tony wasn’t this a year ago you opened your mouth about a women’s wrestler not living up to your potential? I feel like that was the start of your drop.
Let’s rundown Tony Khan of 2022 let’s start with the buyout of Ring of Honor a company that feels like a ghost hovering behind the back of a shadow and everyone unsure where they go some got signed to AEW and some to WWE or IMPACT but you haven’t done squat with the company then just some of your signed guys winning titles and Chris Jericho ain’t helping your favors. Its on the level of Dolph Ziggler winning the NXT Title of why did you need to do that?
Oh speaking of which Tony you sat through the whole media scrum at All Out just nodding to every whim of CM Punk’s rant like a bobblehead and you’re going to tell me you are serious? Triple H I would buy as a serious person then you, so for my suggestion for 2023? Stop being a softie and take your job seirous. I would argue that is cycle happening with Cody Rhodes leaving snowballed into problems for this company.
Dishonorable Mentions
Adam Cole – This guy suffered a serious injury that feels like a concern that he may or may not wrestle again. Who knew this Owen Hart tournament was a bad omen from the start even though it was a good gesture.
Damage CRTL – Miscasted from the start of Dakota Kai, Io Sky and Bayley’s return and they are just mingling.
Nash Carter – Between that photo of him and his ex-wife, I don’t know what to believe.
Eddie Kingston – A tough guy who loses when he really needs to win, whoop te doo…
Scrypts – What a disappointing reveal, sorry Shawn you can block me but you know this stinks.
Ruby Soho – Why are you here in AEW? Seriously? What are you doing than just taking pinfalls and injuries?
AEW Rampage – Is anyone really watching Thunder Jr?
Ezekiel – Good thing Elias is back because this one stunk the joint the minute he was introduced.
1. Vince McMahon
And here we are with #1 and the shockwave of what happened.
In mid-Summer of this year, Vince McMahon stepped down with any involvement of WWE leading in for Triple H to take charge but what happened? Vince McMahon was hit by a lawsuit from serious allegations of sexual assault dating way back in the 80’s with a referee in the name of Rita Chatterton that happened in Vince’s limo but these are a long line of controversies that is no stranger to Vince as he was hit by countless sexual assault claims as who knew these were enough to have him sit down and retire.
Now you think that be enough but no apparently there has been recent rumblings of Vince planning a return to WWE much to the dismay of everyone involved and treating like this as like he did no wrong, personally as a PR thing I don’t want him around or near the company especially to potentially underdoing the things Triple H has done or planning to do for the future. Vince McMahon’s accomplishment as a promoter and businessman not to mention online character will be remembered but the person behind it, I don’t want him back at all.
That ends the year end retrospective od the year that was 2022, see ya next time folks because I ain’t saying anything for the new year they seem to blow up in everyone’s faces.
The year of 2022 for the pro wrestling world has been interesting, to say the least from surprising debuts, from superstars stepping up to the plate, with a departure then surprise return that set the tone to a shocking moment no one saw coming these are the top 10 best Wrestling moments of 2022.
10. Brawling Brutes
Let’s start off this entry with a pairing that made no sense at first but paid of well.
Sheamus and Ridge Holland formed a group together calling themselves the Brawling Brutes and they introduced a new member: Butch or Pete Dunne. Now the name change was sudden so with another future entry why would you name change someone after being associated by their original name? Turns out now this group has been entertaining.
The Bawling Brutes managed to turn that name change and that unfortunate injury to Big E into something great as a group that seems to have great matches in this year like against Imperium, The Bloodline with the Usos and New Day. Let’s hope for next year the Brawling Brutes will continue to brawl through 2023.
9. Steve Austin
I think this one saved Kevin Owens’ career.
Kevin Owens leading up to WrestleMania was demanding to be put in a match for WrestleMania, and then he decided to do the one thing or the person he wanted: Stone Cold Steve Austin. Leading up to this Kevin was taunting Texas and Austin to come out and have a match against him by any means so much so he would setup a live KO show for night 1 of WrestleMania.
On the show Kevin Owens began to continue dunking the state until Steve Austin showing up to confront him like he said so began this match between the two as the concern was could Austin still go in the ring after his last match since WrestleMania 19. Answer: yes, he can as I think this match saved Kevin Owens career good thing to because what was he going to do: go to AEW and sit at catering? I’ll get to them next week.
8. Bray Wyatt
WWE at the summer has had a recent up tick rehiring people that was let: Karrion Kross, Johnny Gargano, Dexter Lumis, Bronson Reed, Dakota Kai, Candice LeRae but the one question plagued the year: where was Bray Wyatt?
Then a serious of clues via QR codes from the late summer to fall began to sprout up of something big coming to WWE: who could that be out of the people that was let go that was returning to WWE? Then that very answer was given at the Extreme Rules PPV when at the end where the old Firefly Funhouse characters appeared and then out comes Bray Wyatt saying he is back what a sight after being let go from last year. Now where we are currently is the Uncle Howdy stuff, LA Knight and waiting for him to wrestle… how long I dunno, but at that point what a great return.
7. Jon Moxley
Might as well get this out of the way because next week the worst list is going to be partially AEW dominant.
Jon Moxley has been a work horse of AEW. Of all the wrestlers that should’ve and could’ve been I’ll give Tony his due Moxley has been their workhorse. Jon definitely deserves picking up the mantle with the situation that AEW dug themselves into what has happened and he has had some good matches even though Deathmatches are like above me I’ll take into his wrestling ability and can accel and move forward. That’s one the positive I’ll give AEW this.
6. Matt Cardona
With the rumblings of his wife Chelsea Greene likely to debut in WWE who would make a big splash in 2023 and a return.
Matt Cardona was released in 2020 from WWE and since then Cardona have been making a name for himself in the indie scene becoming the most scathing heel out there but also doing the belt collector a lot better then Kenny Omega. Matt also made his impact every where with matches around like in IMPACT Wrestling or GCW or even NWA even though losing against Rush Freeman twice by flukes was lame other then that rumblings have sprouted that he maybe coming to WWE with his wife Chelsea Green likely returning so where else he could go and make an impact is at the Rumble?
5. Triple H
Well, the main man himself certainly made his impact.
Vince McMahon stepped down of WWE and Triple H is the new head honcho with Nick Khan and Stephanie McMahon and what I previously stated that he brought back some of the people that was released from last year and more is likely to come but also some actual signings of future talents like Kylie Rae, KC Navarro, NWA’s Colby Corino and ROH’s Dutch, Vincent so maybe we can have more of that in the horizon.
Another thing Triple H ash done for this year of 2022 that RAW and SmackDown feels like shows that can be watched again SmackDown at least RAW still feels like a slog to sit through, but I enjoy it. Also, NXT has had a real resurgence as of late which is good also to add the IC and United States Titles feels like titles again that is taken seriously because for so long it was just there. let’s hope for 2023 Triple H pumps out the positives.
4. Logan Paul
This feels wrong two years on a positive list resulting Logan Paul, 2020 broke me so hard that reality seems impossible.
Like him or hate him mostly hate of his past reputation but Logan Paul made an impact of 2022 let’s start with his mini saga with The Miz he was his partner to face The Mysterio’s at WrestleMania which was victorious then The Miz blindsiding Logan after the match which began his feud against him which was after signing a WWE contract him and the Miz were set to face off against each other at SummerSlam to which Logan would win.
Another test and a scare was Logan Paul vs Roman Reigns to be Undisputed Champion now this match was set to take place in Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia and this match did have a big fight feel and there was some concern that Logan would win the title. It was a good match between the two but Logan would not win it. What will 2023 be in store for Logan Paul? Who knows I rather not test fate to find out.
3. Gunther
Boy what a year this guy had.
WALTER or Gunther appeared on SmackDown set to take it by the throat and choke it alongside Ludwig Kaiser and a impact he made. WALTER would become the emperor to the Intercontinental Championship and have great matches with Ricochet, Sheamus, Shinsuke Nakamura also reforming Imperium with a Giovanni Vichi to join their ranks as one of the best groups on SmackDown.
There has been recently rumblings with Vince McMahon uttering to send him back down to NXT as a burial. Thank goodness Trple H saved this guy’s direction because that would be a terrible move yet on brand for Vince McMahon to do. To add on this there are recent rumblings of a big match for Gunther to face Brock Lesnar. Not a bad match to have for him for the new year I’m psyched to see that and who steps up to face Gunther.
2. Sami Zayn
Who is getting Ucey in here?
Sami Zayn was a wildcard for 2022 and another that could’ve went to AEW if only he resigned to WWE. Who knew that was a great decision as then Sami would bounce around then only until he would try to appeal to the big dog: Roman Reigns to join The Bloodline and he did everything to get the attention. Roman would finally accept him as an honorary Uce.
Now what also was going around was the animosity between Sami Zayn and Jey Uso because Sami could not be trusted and they both constantly argued. Not to mention he was not born a member of the Samoan family which always drove tension between the two men. That would change towards the fall leading up to the first ever WarGames at the Survivor Series between team Bloodline and team Brawling Brutes with Kevin Owens as a member which also drove a wedge for the group. It was near on the end that Sami would cement himself as a member of the group by low blowing Kevin Owens.
So where are we going for 2023 for Sami and the Bloodline, the end point has to be coming but even I know it’s a bad idea given that a lot can drop on him again back to midcard but we’ll see. Who knew that match with the Jackass crew would jumpstart this guy’s 2022.
Honorable mentions
The Acclaimed – Great they are tag champs, I’m pretty sure they won’t get screwed over by a slapnuts.
Roxanne Perez – She started the year champ but also ending the year champ.
Iron Survivor Challenge – a match people were all mixed with making sense and became good let’s do more.
Carmelo Hayes – He is one of the must-see guys on NXT that people are sleeping on but has great matches on the top.
Jamie Hayter – Great she is AEW’s Women’s Champion. I’m sure she won’t get screwed over by a Dr. in some way.
The Fixers – I like these guys in the NWA they are entertaining.
The Schism – Joe Gacy’s group has had a rocky start but with nowadays seems to be on the retread with the addition of Ava Raine.
Kitana Chance and Kayden Carter – Finally winning the tag titles, good show.
The Judgment Day – It had a shaky start with Edge then booting him with Finn Balor but with Dominic Mysterio in it, this group turned a corner.
1. Cody Rhodes
And this one is quite fitting to be #1 huh out of all this year.
February 15th Cody Rhodes announced his release from AEW now that was a shock no one saw coming now weather or not if this has anything to do with either the fans of AEW being a nuisance, disagreements with Tony Khan or the Elite but it didn’t matter Cody Rhodes is free and where does he go? At the same time Seth Rollins also was mingling to try to find an opponent for WrestleMania. Who would answer that call?
Then at Night 1 of WrestleMania Seth Rollins was set to face off against a mystery opponent and the weeks leading up to it was buzzing with whose who then with the one line of royalty out appeared Cody Rhodes in a return to WWE after his release from 2016. He had a great return with three good matches against Seth Rollins however during his training to Hell in a Cell he had a serious injury with a muscle tear and he revealed it yet competed. What will 2023 be for Cody? Will he win the one title he has been grasping at for so long and finally unseat the Tribal Chief. Yes.
And that is the list of the top 10 best wrestling moments of 2022, to close the year out it’ll be the WORST list of wrestling from this very year. I’m coming with the gloves off, so Vince and Tony Khan I’ll see you next week. Sound off what was the worst wrestling moments in the year of 2022.
Last time we ran down the best films of 2022 and it was a list that had some surprises, here it’s time to showcase the absolute bad films of this year had to offer and some did not disappoint while others very much disappointed so in no particular order it’s the top 10 WORST films of 2022. Buckle up this is going to be a lot.
10. Paws of Fury: the Legend of Hank
Let’s start off with a movie given a second chance.
Pas of Fury is an animated film that had a troubled production history of people not being paid and suddenly let go for no reason, also it had an alternate title of “Blazing Samurai” if you want to know about this movie go watch Rebeltaxi’s video about it, that’s like years old but he deep dives on it.
Let’s talk about the film as a young dog wants to be a Samurai warrior who is voiced by Michael Cera and speaking of which it has a good cast of celebrities like Samuel L. Jackson, Mel Brooks, George Takei nice, Gabriel Iglesias and walking transphobe #24 Ricky Gervais. Yikes. And the plot is just an animalized version of Blazing Saddles and its not good also I never seen Mel Brooks’ classic film from the seventies up till now, wow. So my thoughts of this movie its not great it meanders a lot from point a to point b and drags its feet.
9. Texas Chainsaw Massacre #10 or something…
Between this and the one I watched a decade ago I don’t know what the worst is.
You know the phrase “beating a dead dog?” Its basically beating the dead ground of the dog that died and that sums up the franchise. “Texas Chainsaw Masssacre” has been a franchise that has been redone countless times from the Michael Bay produced movies that more grasped for the people who liked Saw the gore hounds to the one-offs that appeared almost or a decade ago which is scary to think about but this just feels pointless.
You know the drill the plot takes place 50 years after the sequel, which was 1973, as Leatherface continues to stalk victims into his playing field which is an abandoned Texas town. This movie is soullessly boring and unfun. I knew the 2013 or rather 2012 Texas Chainsaw movie was bad, but this is just a long, long, long decline of a horror icon. But he isn’t another one…. Not by a long shot.
8. Marmaduke
What is this…?
I never knew this existed until I saw it “Marmaduke” is an animated film based of the comic newspaper and its plot is Marmaduke competing in a contest. That’s the high stakes here and competes with an Afghan hound voice by JK Simmons? Oh dear…
This movie starting from here while in the last entry was my personal opinion, this one is just very lazy plot wise and the animation quality of this film is like Playstation era esque. Like pre Playstation era. Also, not to rub it in there was a 2010 live action adaptation that was bad, and there are more worthy animated films from last week’s entry more worthy of one’s time than this and two others in this list including the Bad Guys I forgot to mention, that is pretty good.
7. Jurassic World: Dominion
What a disappointing end to a franchise…
Jurassic World: Dominion is the final entry of this Jurassic Park/World saga and luckily for everyone its not the only finale that is going to be a disappointment. Here it picks up where “Fallen Kingdom” left off Dinosaurs have been let loose upon the world as the new crew of Owen Grady meeting the original crew of Alan Grant, Ian Malcolm and Ellie Sadler to join forces and rescue Dinosaurs from another greedy corporation.
You ever felt that something ran its course yet its unaware? That’s this movie and it is nice to see them together all again but this felt weak for a send-off from the franchise also the Camp Cretaceous show that ties into the main movies I noticed was pretty good and some say more entertaining. My personal opinion that is disappointment for the end of the franchise because of its weak plot.
6. Morbius
Its as boring and unfunny as that stupid meme.
I never saw Morbius I just ignored it but eventually I caved as after seeing it, I hated this movie for being boring. Morbius follows the character and his brother from the comics try to cure their blood disease for being vampires and I blame the writing for being so dull and interested. Is that another movie Jared Leto drags down another boring and uninspiring performance?
As you would aspect this bombed but this movie had a new lease on life for the memes because the internet is sometimes the worst thing can have for a movie. There was a fake scene of the movie of a line referenced Power Rangers but I ain’t going to say it because internet culture is obnoxious. With this new trend it gave it a second chance only to bomb again in the box office. Memes are truly the worst thing ever created.
5. Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformania
I’m sorry Hotel Transylvania 3 you ain’t the worst one: this one is.
Remember when people clamored for another movie and this time it focused more than the daughter then the main cast? Hilarious. This one focused on Mavis’ husband and Drac splitting personalities. For a final send off this literally sucked and it shouldn’t have with no Adan Sandler around which is a positive but the only one there is. Also Ninja? Really? A Twitch washup? If Mr. Beast was in this one it be the like the Mega Powers forming but for a bad reason.
The movie I begrudgingly watched for this review after putting it off and its very dry even though the characters turn into humans as for Frankie turning into a human which should be an interesting take and people not liking the Invisible man’s human form. So, is he related to the Invisible Stan? All in all, for a final entry of this franchise and Genndy doing better works like Primal and a potential Powerpuff Girls rebirth this should not have been made at all. So goodbye Drac and friends.
4. Ice Age: Adventures of Buck
How dare this one be the last film done from Blue Sky.
20 years ago Ice Age was released and I love this movie, screw you Doug Walker however the franchise jumped the shark after that, while the second one I get people don’t like but I like it as the third was okay, the fourth and fifth adaptations felt unnecessary. This one, why? I hardly found any interest to this film other than it is a spinoff with Buck and the two Possum brothers as the main leads… I hated those two possums with a burning passion because they are annoying.
Overall that little short Blue Sky did with Scrat finally eating the nut was a more worthy sendoff to a animation studio that got canned. The reasons why was a movie called Nimona which has been given second life to Netflix it focused on LGBTQIA- themes that Disney executives the shrug. Good riddance for Bob Chepek for being gone, if Zaslav can go we can end 2022 on a high note. Don’t waste your time with this Ice Age entry.
3. Moonfall
This movie makes no sense.
The plot of the movie is Astronauts team up with a conspiracy theorist and discover about the moon and what secrets it hold and aliens because we need more reminding that Independence Day was a thing and its sequel which was not good. I noticed this is the third film or forth that Roland Emmerich seems to dip his hands into conspiracies for plots. 10,000 BC was a bungled mess and 2012 was waaaay off. This one was on par with said bad movies and not the so bad its fun type.
Moonfall is that just a movie existing for Wal-Mart’s DVD bin, it’s not fun nor entertaining its just a two-hour long filler. “Moonfall” is dumb and mindless so skip this one post haste.
2. Halloween Ends
Halloween ended alright…
“Halloween Ends” is the final movie of the franchise and it’s a disappointing end. The plot is that Laurie Strode who was the sole survivor of Michael Meyer’s killing spree plans to confront him for a final showdown to settle the score although even though she had two previous attempts to do so but he seems to avoid it also along is her granddaughter caught in the middle so its time to stand up and fight.
“Halloween Ends” is fitting given that why it ends so bad is because it’s a lacklustre build to the finale fight, not as bad as Texas Chainsaw but that is not saying much at all it is treated like a very low brow average slasher film and even when the fight is settled which it was uninspiring.
1. Disney’s Pinocchio
This movie is trash, watch Guillermo Del Toro’s adapt. End of review.
That is it for the top 10 worst films of the year as for this week is the top 10 best wrestling moments of 2022 and this year was a powder keg of good moments in wrestling a lot of surprises which sums up the year. So countdown the best wrestling moments of 2022.
The Maurice Bear Times 