Archive for the 'Chuck' category

No Yvonne, But Lots of Fun

For those keeping up, Starfury’s T2 Convention was this weekend in London.  It’s a sci-fi convention that brought together actors from a few different series, most noticeably for us — Chuck.

Originally, T2 was the hot topic of European fans of Yvonne Strahovski.  She was scheduled to appear and a few people from our forums banded together to buy some Strahotski.com gear and make an appearance.

Sani1    sarah-fan    kroblues

Unfortunately, Yvonne’s off filming The Killer Elite and had to cancel.  No ill will towards her, of course.  I think we all can’t wait for her to become the movie star that she should be!

The lack of Yvonne Strahovski did not deter her fans, however.  They still showed up in their Strahovski best and made a splash at the show.  Many of the actors commented on their shirts, and I’m told that Adam Baldwin even mentioned Strahotski.com in a Q&A.

Julia Ling was asked to step in for Yvonne Strahovski at the last minute and I’m told that she didn’t disappoint.  Our own Strahotski Crew was lucky enough to win some raffle tickets for a meet’n'greet with Ms. Ling.  Though it comes as no surprise, Julia is apparently awesome and won the hearts of all manner of convention goer.

Since kroblues from our forums was wearing one of our “Got Strahovski?” shirts, Ms. Ling signed an autograph for him, etched with “Got Ling?”.  Inspired by her suggestion, I added a shirt to the store just for her and I’m told she thinks it was a great change to the shirt design.

Adam Baldwin is also said to have been great fun, and everyone seemed pleasantly surprised at how funny Bonita Friedericy and her husband, Phlox… I mean John Billingsley… was.  Apparently, some convention goers even got to watch a soccer game at the same pub as Mark Sheppard.

All in all, it sounds like it was an amazing time.  Though we all wish Yvonne Strahovski could have been there, her fans were not deterred and showed up in force to show both their love for Chuck and their love for Ms. Strahovski herself.

I am also told there was much squeeing to be had.  If you want more stories and pictures directly from the convention goers, check out the forum topic on the subject.

Episode 3.19 Captures

I apologize for the delay; I had a family emergency to tend to.  Your patience shall be rewarded, however, because there are 61 new screen captures in the gallery for Episode 3.19 — Chuck Versus the the Ring: Part II.

Yvonne was really beautiful in this episode.  We get to see her in distress, in love, and as a brunette.  It just doesn’t seem fair someone could be so beautiful with any hair color, does it?

Sadly, these are the last Chuck screen captures until Season 4 (yay, Season 4!), but I’m sure we’ll dig up some news for you throughout the summer.  Keep an eye out for posts about her upcoming movie roles in particular!

Versus the the Ring Part II: Review | Gallery | Music | Forum Discussion

Drop by the forums and weigh in on what your favorite screen cap of the bunch is!  And don’t forget to download some music.  Each purchase helps defray the costs of running the site and keeping it in tip-top shape.

Enjoy!

Episode 3.18 Captures

It was a great lead-up to an even better episode with not nearly enough Yvonne, but still a respectable 50 new screen captures in the gallery for Episode 3.18 — Chuck Versus the Subway.

In lieu of putting 3 more thumbnails up here that you guys can just see in the gallery, I’m going to throw up a little bar of quick links so that you can see all there is to see about the episode.

Chuck Versus the Subway: Review | Gallery | Music | Forum Discussion

Drop by the forums and weigh in on what your favorite screen cap of the bunch is!  And don’t forget to download some music.  Each purchase helps defray the costs of running the site and keeping it in tip-top shape.

Enjoy!

Yvonne and Rings: Part II

I wasn’t quite sure what to call this post. What exactly is the plural of ‘Ring: Part II’? I decided to use the same rule that makes the plural of passerby into passersby.

We just got done watching one episode and now it’s already time to review another!  It’s rough work keeping up with all of this, but I press on for fans of Yvonne Strahovski everywhere.

I can’t wait to see what sort of changes we will see as we review Episode 3.19 — Chuck Versus the Ring: Part II.

“Two Bartowskis.  Double the fun.”

I know I usually line my reviews with quotes, but I’m going to forego that this time.  Taking quotes makes it to where I can’t pay as much attention as I’d like and this episode is too awesome to miss.  I apologize to all the quote lovers out there.

I don’t even know where to begin!  Though I would have preferred the arc brought to conclusion with these two episodes stretched out over the entire back 6, it was still a pretty momentous episode.

It’s sad to leave Stephen Bartowski go but wow — what a way to go.  So Chuck has now inherited a spy legacy.  Can Ellie stop him from pursuing it?  Who is this even more evil organization out to get the Bartowski family?

I love how this episode ended with opening up a ton of lore.  It allows the show to continue with an entirely different angle next year while still keeping the spy/action/comedy bit together.  It’ll be interesting to see how some of the fringe characters like Lester, Jeff, Mike and Beckman play into all this.

I really love the addition of Casey’s daughter.  It was a bit out of the blue (like the entire arc), but it opens up a great thing for Adam Baldwin.  His begrudging respect for Morgan is sure to be put to the test with the budding relationship with Alex on the horizon.

Now that everyone knows everyone else’s real name, you’d think they’d start calling each other by their real names, wouldn’t you?  Oh well, I guess calling Casey Alex and Sarah Sam would just a bit much to take.  I don’t know if I could adjust.

I’m not entirely surprised they blew up the Buy More.  It was a great epic thing to do and it allows them to finally break free of the shackles it has provided.  It has been such an identity for the show, though, I’ll give the writers a lot of credit if they can really leave it behind forever.

I was pretty satisfied with the way Shaw died the first time and I think I would have preferred that it be left at that.  I think a new villain could have stepped in for this arc and been acceptable.  Although Chuck did finally get to beat the ever loving heck out of Shaw, it was a bit forced with the weird memory of Chuck getting an Intersect Alpha in his head from his childhood.

I’m not entirely clear how that Intersect affected Chuck.  It clearly did not give him flashes in the way the current Intersect does, but could it possibly explain his above average intelligence?  Perhaps his whole life was inadvertently engineered by that fateful exposure to his father’s work.

I’m interested to see where the governor goes as a plot device.  It can be used as Chuck’s kryptonite now, but it could just as easily fade into the background as though it never existed.  I say they should get Awesome to implant the governor in his body.  Sure would make it a lot harder to steal.

I’m excited about where the show is going next year, but they left it open enough to give them complete creative freedom on what to do.  Chuck could start a new lie to Ellie and they can effectively “reset” the show.  I expect to see only Sarah and Casey in on Chuck’s legacy.  It was a pretty clever way to pull all of that off and I think it only suffered because they didn’t get started on it until too late in the season.

As for our girl, Yvonne Strahovski; these episodes really weren’t about her character.  She brought the best to her role as she always does but I really hope the writers can find a better place for her next season.  Since Chuck is now awesome and dating Sarah, they need to find a niche for her and not forget that she is also totally awesome in her own right.

So what do you guys think?  Are you stoked about what Season 4 may bring?  Screen caps should trickle up over the next few days (I don’t know if I can do both hours in one sitting).  Until then, let’s talk it out.

Yvonne and Subways

Season 3 has finally come to an end, but it is considerably less bittersweet with the news that a fourth season will bring us at least 13 new episodes.

Through the hard work of fans last season and the generous sponsorship of Subway, Chuck was able to get a 4th season on its own merits.

Perhaps it is fitting that this next to last episode pays homage to the sponsor that kept Chuck alive when it was all but surely dead.  Let’s get to the review of Episode 3.18 — Chuck Versus the Subway.

“Way to talk me down, Dad.”

This review is going to be quick.  I have another episode to watch!

To start, I still love Papa Bartowski but it’s sad to see him so quick to run away.  That didn’t even work for him so I don’t know why thought it’d work for Chuck.  At least he came around at the end, though.

Chuck’s Intersect glitching out is an interesting macguffin to explain why Shaw might want to go after him.  He needs the governor, afterall.  What’s better than some Intersect on Intersect action?

“Ellie is exactly like Chuck but with lady parts.”

So now Ellie knows too!  It’s gone from Mr. and Mrs. Smith to a new sort of setup — The Waltons as spies?  It’s like a spy family now.  Casey’s even there to be the kooky next door neighbor.  Every family comedy needs a kooky neighbor.

Awesome does a great job in this episode, as he always does when he has to act flustered.  I love that his answer to Ellie potentially cheating on him is to double up his workouts in the gym.

I also love his reaction when he realizes that he’s told Ellie Chuck’s secret; and Morgan’s calm collected manner upon finding out that Ellie knows.

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