The Flash
Season 3 Episode 14: “Attack on Central City”
Directed by Todd Helbing
Written by Benjamin Raab & Deric A. Hughes
Starring Grant Gustin, Jesse L. Martin, Danielle Panabaker, Candice Patton, Carlos Valdes, Tom Cavanagh, Keiynan Lonsdale, Tom Felton
Created by Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, Geoff Johns
The CW
Air Date: Tuesday, February 28th, 2017, 8:00pm

Last week on The Flash, the team sans Wally, Jesse, Iris, and Joe (Keiynan Lonsdale, Violett Beane, Candice Patton, Jesse L. Martin) rolled to Earth-2 to save Harry from Grodd (David Sobolov). It’s a trap! Grodd told Barry (Grant Gustin) he had to kill the Gorilla City leader, Solovar (Keith David), because of a plan to attack Earth-1. Barry fought and defeated (but didn’t kill) Solovar, and then Grodd revealed the real reason… Solovar was the one preventing Grodd from attacking Earth-1’s Central City. They all got locked up again, but Barry played dead via “frost.” When Grodd threw his body onto the trash heap, Barry warmed back up, and they all escaped back to Earth-1. Wally and Jesse grew closer, while Caitlin warned Julian (Danielle Panabaker, Tom Felton) away (he didn’t listen).

Spoilers below.

The Flash
Season 3 Episode 13: “Attack on Gorilla City”
Directed by Dermott Downs
Written by Aaron Helbing & David Kob
Starring Grant Gustin, Jesse L. Martin, Danielle Panabaker, Candice Patton, Carlos Valdes, Tom Cavanagh, Keiynan Lonsdale, Tom Felton
Created by Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, Geoff Johns
The CW
Air Date: Tuesday, February 21st, 2017, 8:00pm

Two weeks ago on The Flash, the meta of the day was one that Alchemy aka Julian (Tom Felton) had awakened. His touch had the ability to cause matter to disintegrate, and people to decompose to ash. That meta, Clive Yorkin (Matthew Kevin Anderson), went after cops that collared him in Flashpoint. He touched Iris (Candice Patton) to hurt Joe West (Jesse L. Martin). Barry (Grant Gustin) figured that out, so Cisco (Carlos Valdes) vibed there to find the next target. Yorkin caused a train full of people to be in danger, so Barry vibed the whole train safely through, leaving Kid Flash (Keiynan Lonsdale) to vibe (for the first time) through Yorkin with a neutralizer.

Spoilers below.

The Flash
Season 3 Episode 3: “Magenta”
Directed by Armen V. Kevorkian
Written by Judalina Neira & David Kob
Starring Grant Gustin, Jesse L. Martin, Danielle Panabaker, Candice Patton, Carlos Valdes, Tom Cavanagh, Keiynan Lonsdale, Violett Beane
Created by Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, Geoff Johns
The CW
Air Date: Tuesday, October 18th, 2016, 8:00pm

Last week on The Flash, Barry told Felicity (Grant Gustin, Emily Bett Rickards) the whole convoluted tale of his flashpoint paradox, with masterful storytelling editing. The enjoyment of this season thus far are the subtle changes wrought by the unfixed fix (Diggle’s son?), with the exception of Cisco (Carlos Valdes) being morose. Earth-2 Flash (John Wesley Shipp) grabbed him to give him a dad lecture about moving on. Barry came clean to his friends, who took it with varying degrees of grace and anger. Alchemy woke up Rival who tried to kill him, but Barry beat him. Barry’s new lab mate, Julian (Tom Felton), hates him.

Spoilers below.

The digital movie rental of the day over at Amazon today is Rise of the Planet of the Apes for only $.99.

This deal is valid through today, Tuesday, April 3, 2012, until 11:59pm PST. Once you activate the rental through Amazon’s Instant Video on demand service, you’ll have access to the movie for 48 hours. If you’re interested in purchasing the digital version, the cost is $14.99.

Also, if you’d like to own a physical copy of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the Blu-ray/DVD Combo Edition is available for $19.99 while the DVD is $15.49. The Blu-ray edition is part of Amazon’s “Buy This DVD and Watch it Instantly” program “” you get the film as a FREE digital rental you can watch immediately when your purchase the physical copy.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Directed by Rupert Wyatt
Starring James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Andy Serkis, David Oyelowo, Brian Cox, Tom Felton
Release Date: August 5, 2011

Next to Star Trek the Planet of the Apes series is my favorite science-fiction and adventure film franchise by far. I can watch each one of the films, even the lesser sequels like Beneath the Planet of the Apes and Battle for the Planet of the Apes, and come away with something new to think of every time. Each film was a bold and heady Molotov cocktail of intriguing ideas, complex characters, pitch-black satire, and rousing adventure. With the exception of Battle, none of the films ever reached a fully optimistic conclusion, and despite some last-minute tinkering not even the ending of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes was all sunshine and relaxed laughter. The movies were all about the downfall of the human race, brought down by their own imperial arrogance and replaced in the pecking order by the highly evolved apes once treated as pets and slave labor by the ruling elite. It’s certainly one of the most influential series of films in the history of the medium, the original genre franchise, and a merchandising powerhouse years before Star Wars and Harry Potter even existed.

Even though the series reached its end in 1973 with Battle, the Apes franchise endured for decades to come; there was an ill-advised attempt to relaunch the Apes film series in 2001 with the Tim Burton-directed “reimagining” of the original Planet of the Apes and attempts to keep the Planet of the Apes thriving in live-action and animated television that never had achieved the impact of the films. Now the series is getting another shot in the arm with the long-awaited prequel Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which approaches the legend of the Planet of the Apes from an interesting new direction.