Starkville’s House of El Podcast

So here it is. Tim’s review of the second part of the Oliver Queen Chronicles.

Were they a total waste or was it an interesting and intriguing “Smallvillian” origin story for our friendly neighborhood Green Arrow?

Click here to read the review!!!

So the Chronicles continue!!!! This last half was an interesting half and told the story of what Oliver did when he was marooned on that island that we saw him marooned on at the end of the first half of the CHronicles. I thought this was a wonderful conclusion to this story, but I’ll get into that when I get into reviewing the Chronicles!!!

CHAPTER FOUR - ISLAND

This webisode takes place immediately after the first half of the Chronicles left off where Oliver Queen is left to fend for himself on a raft where he is atacked by sharks and various other animals on the way to an island.

Not much happened in this one and for most episodes in TV or even a movie, this would seem like a bad thing, and especially when you only have six four-minute episodes to tell the entire origin story of the Green Arrow, but I think this was one CHronicle that I think nothing manjor happening was all you needed. The one thing the websiode established was that Oliver Queen was on the island, and that’s all this episode needed to establish. It was also a good chapter in the webisodes to take a breather after everything that had happened in the first half of the Chronicles.

In most hero’s journey stories, there are points in the story where the hero has to be alone, and in solitude before becoming the great hero that we want to see him be. I think that was what this webisode accomplished. It was aptly-named the “island”.

It then lead in to the next chapter nicely by introducing the islander residents of this mysterious island that Oliver had landed in.

RATING: 3/5

CHAPTER FIVE - BOWHUNTERS

This is an episode was kind of a crucial episode with Oliver’s character in these CHronicles, whereas the last episode sisplayted the location and the background for where Oliver would begin his journey to become the crimefighter that he would become.

This is the part of where Smallville mythos and the origin story of the Green Arrow take their separate paths. Now I do not claim to be an expert on the character of the Green Arrow, but it is to my knowledge that Oliver Queen’s plane crashl;anded on an island , and he was forced to survive on his own and learn the skills that he would need to become the Green Arrow. But in the ” Smallvillean” origin story, he is assisted by native islanders. Now, I would’ve preferred that he would’ve learned the skills he needed to know on his own, but I think this version works too. It kind of gave it a more fantastical feel.

One of my favorite scenes in the episode is where Oliver is learning how to hone his bowhunting skills. It was a very nice scene. Reminded me of a scene in Star Wars where Obi-Wan Kenobi is teaching Luke Skywalker how to use a lightsaber. Especially with the whole “hone your skills with your eyes closed” part of it. It was cool.

Another touching scene in this Chronicle was where Oliver found the plane amidst the trees and leaves on the island. I think it was this moment that brought all of the Chronicles full-crcle. It also had a bit of foreshadowing to an event that would happen in Smallville. When Oliver removed the ring, from I think was his dad’s remains, it kind of touxched Oliver, and it showed the reason why he regarded the ring, that Lois would take in Arrow, so highly. The part where Oliver read the letter from his mother was truly touching. This was a scene that kind of had an element from one of my favorite episodes of Smallville, Memoria, where our hero was touched by his mother’s love from seemingly beyond the grave. It was a very touching scene, and probably the most powerful (for me anyways) of the whole Chronicles.

Then, at the end, we had Oliver finally deciding to leave the island to take on the villains that had caused the mess that had plagued all of the Chronicles.

So, overall, very good webisode. Quite possibly, my favorite of the Chronicles.

RATING:5/5

CHAPTER SIX - MENDED

Now, this was a good webisode, and had the potential to be one of the best, but it did not deliver for me. But I don’t think it was the writers’ fault or anyone helming the Chronicles’ fault at all. It’s just as a fan of the comics, I was waiting for an action scene with Oliver in the Green Arrow costume that we saw in Smallville.

One reason being because I was such a huge fan of the costume, as it was the first costume on Smallville, and I would;’ve loved to see more scenes of it animated other than that opening scene we always see before entering a new Chronicle. ANother reason I think this was because I was spoiled by Batman Begins and I wanted to see a huge action scene between Green Arrow (in costume, of course) against the main adversarty of the Chronicles.

I did like however the proto-costume for Green Arrow thy ended up using though, especially with the green war paint adorning Oliver’s chest and back and especially over his eyes, which I think was a nice homage to the comic book Green Arrow costume.

Another thing I liked in the sacene was the verbal confrontation between Oliver and the main bad guy (whose name I cannot remember). It really showed the darkness of Oliver Queen. Darkness we have seen in episodes such as Reunion and Rage. It’s one of the highlights of the Green Arrow, character. That darkness that he sometimes taps into when push comes to shove. Didn’t get to see too much iof that in Smallville, when he wa son, but it’s kind of nice when we do get to see it.

And I think the best scene in the whole webisode was the end-scene with the Green Arrow in costume, using his techno-vices and arrowsto stop a mugger. It was a total geek-out moment for me. I loved it!!!

OVERVIEW:

So this ssecond half wasn’t as strong as that first half was, but I still thought they were fun to watch. The Oliver Queen Chronicles was an enjoyable outlet for me as a SMallville fan as it was not only an origin story of the Green Arrow, but it also tied the SMallville mythology into the mix, which was neat-o.

There were some slow monets in the CHronicles, but I think all the slow momwnts were in Island. But other than that and my disappointment in not seeing enough Green Arrow in costume, it was very enjoyable. I hope you all enjoyed it.

OVERALL RATING: 4.5/5

This entry was posted on Monday, April 9th, 2007 at 4:10 pm and is filed under News, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.