Alan Harris, the actor responsible for multiple minor (but no less significant) Star Wars roles, including the lizard-headed bounty hunter Bossk in The Empire Strikes Back, has died.
SYFY Wire obtained a comment from Harris’ appearance manager, stating that the actor had been dealing with undisclosed health problems but “loved and lived every moment to the fullest.”
Cathy Munroe, who similarly played the bounty hunter Zuckuss in Empire Strikes Back, issued a statement, saying Harris was “an incredible courageous man” whose “legacy will live on and he will always be fondly remembered.”
Harris is most widely known for playing Bossk, the Trandoshan bounty hunter who joined Boba Fett and several others (including the robotic IG-88) in the hunt for Han Solo. That was far from Harris’ only Star Wars role, though. According to the actor’s IMDB page, the man also portrayed a member of Leia’s Rebel escort, as well as a Bespin security guard who can be briefly seen helping transport a frozen Han Solo. He also played an uncredited role as a stormtrooper in Return of the Jedi. Harris also doubled for Anthony Daniels as C-3PO. All this would make him one of the few actors outside of the core cast to appear in all three of the original trilogy movies.
Bossk, the Trandoshan bounty hunter, from The Empire Strikes Back. As played by Alan Harris.
Harris also got to play the role of a vervoid, a plant-like humanoid alien, over the course of several Doctor Who episodes. When the Star Wars prequel trilogy finally rolled around, Harris returned to double as the actor Terence Stamp, who played Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum.
Though his acting career mainly comprised of playing an extra, Harris managed to do it in some of the biggest franchises and films in Hollywood. His IMDB page also lists minor credits for Flash Gordon, The Shining, Superman, and A Clockwork Orange.
Harris spent much of his retirement on the convention circuit, where he proved popular among diehard Star Wars fans, sharing stories of his time on Empire Strikes Back.
Original Boba Fett actor Jeremy Bulloch shared a statement on Facebook reflecting on his friendship with Harris, according to the Boba Fett Fan Club Twitter page.
“We were so sorry to hear about Alan Harris – he was one of the nicest guys we have met – and he was so modest and so very good with all the fans – he will be greatly missed,” a statement from Jeremy and wife Maureen Bulloch read.
Sometimes nostalgia clips are just too good, and too hilarious, not to share, so here’s a slice of viral-ness from this past week.
With the internet in its infancy, the ’90s were flooded with movies about hacking and the untapped potential of cyberspace – like Sneakers, Disclosure, The Net, Johnny Mnemonic, and – naturally, 1995’s Hackers (“Hack the Planet!”).
Enter Julia Stiles’ recurring character on PBS’ Ghostwriter, Erica Dansby – a no-nonsense hardcore hacker all about that cyber life. In this clip from the four-part story, “Who Is Max Mouse?,” a hacker disrupts the school’s computer system, causing our heroes to get a “crash course in the internet in its cruder and more basic form, including chat rooms and bulletin boards.”
Julia Stiles as the school newspaper’s cyberpunk editor-in-chief on a 1994 episode of ‘Ghostwriter.’ I will never get tired of this clip. pic.twitter.com/Nzb8q0gwRq
“Can you jam with the console cowboys in cyberspace?”
Suffice to say, the moment when Erica looks longingly at her desktop monitor and says “It’s a world where you’re judged by what you say and think, not what you look like. A world where curiosity and imagination equals power” is everything. If only we viewed the internet with such awe and glowing admiration these days.
Ghostwriter was a mid-90s children’s mystery that ran on PBS, about a team of young detectives who solve crimes with the help of an invisible ghost named Ghostwriter. This past fall it was announced that a Ghostwriter reboot series was in the works at Apple TV+.
Anyhow, back to your regularly scheduled internet. Thank you for indulging in this detour.
Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.
The DCEU’s Harley Quinn, played by Margot Robbie in 2017’s Suicide Squad and the upcoming Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), has a history with the Joker played by Jared Leto…but would she gel well with Phoenix’s Fleck? During an interview with the U.K.’s Capital FM, Robbie gave her thoughts on this hypothetical pairing.
“I think they exist in two very different worlds,” she said. “Todd Phillips’s Gotham and this Gotham [are] very different. I don’t know how you’d bridge that gap.”
“She’d drive him insane,” Robbie continued. “She’d be on the other side of the fridge, like ‘here.’ ‘J-puddin, whatcha doin?’ And he’s like ‘’I just need a minute, I’m going through a lot of s***.’”
Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.
A fews days ago, producer Dan Lin (EP on the Lethal Weapon TV series) revealed that a fifth and “final” Lethal Weapon movie is close to happening, with original stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover on board to reunite with series director Richard Donner.
Following the news, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Rob McElhenney saw IGN’s Twitter post about the news and use it to write the perfect comment…
As Sunny fans know, back in 2010, in Always Sunny’s sixth season, The Gang made their own Lethal Weapon 5 and screened it for a high school class in “Dee Reynolds: Shaping America’s Youth.” Then, in Season nine, the Lethal-ness continued in “The Gang Makes Lethal Weapon 6,” as Dennis and Mac’s production of a sixth Lethal Weapon movie was halted when Frank stopped paying for the production.
The first rumors about Lethal Weapon 5 surfaced in 2008, when Shane Black had planned to direct Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh’s next adventure. However, after several rumoured changes, the project was squashed in 2012 when Donner revealed that Gibson turned down a reprisal of his role.
Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.
The Locke and Key comics aren’t exactly old enough yet to be considered “classics,” but they’re certainly among the best to come out in the last decade or so. Fans have been awaiting the series’ live-action adaptation since the very beginning, and various versions have started up and then sputtered out over the years. Now, thanks to Netflix, we finally get to watch the action, horror, friendships, romances, and mysteries that make the Locke and Key comics impossible to put down play out on the screen–although enough has been changed in this adaptation that some fans won’t be happy.
Locke and Key follows the Locke siblings Tyler, Kinsey, and Bode (Connor Jessup, Emilia Jones, and Jackson Robert Scott, respectively) after their father Rendell (Bill Heck) is murdered by one of Tyler’s classmates. With their mother Nina (Darby Stanchfield), the Lockes move across the country to Matheson, Massachusetts (named after horror author Richard Matheson, a change from the comics, where the town was called “Lovecraft”). In Matheson, they take up residence in Keyhouse, the ancestral mansion where previous generations of Lockes, including their father, resided for centuries. They soon discover that Keyhouse is full of magical, reality-bending keys that give the siblings fantastical powers–and the responsibility to protect those keys from threats who would abuse those powers.
In the comics, it wasn’t quite as “magical” a journey as that synopsis might suggest. Rendell’s murder haunts the Lockes, particularly Tyler, who takes his father’s death extra hard, and Bode, who’s young enough to have trouble making sense of concepts like death and grief. The show chooses a lighter path–Tyler adjusts more easily to life in their new town, Kinsey makes friends quickly, Bode is older and better-equipped to cope, and Nina’s personal problems are way more under control than in the books. The adaptation spends more time at school with Tyler and Kinsey, where there are more characters, which leads to a greater focus on high school shenanigans than fans might be expecting–although that’s not inherently a bad thing, just different.
These and many other changes from the source material may indeed succeed in making Locke and Key more accessible for a wider audience, but they also take the edge off the series’ formerly Lovecraftian horror. The comics are dark, but while the show pays lip service with a conspicuously copious number of references to horror filmmaking pioneer Tom Savini, it rarely throws wide the doors into actual horror. Instead of getting half his face blown off in disturbing detail and haunting his childrens’ nightmares, Rendell gets cleanly shot in the abdomen and simply collapses. Fights with furious fear-demons result in cat-like scratches instead of gruesome, torn flesh. And when a certain door gets opened, there are no eyeball-shaped horrors to inspire wanton slaughter on the other side–just sparkly lights and some teenagers’ silly drama. New fans might enjoy the show’s playful tone, but those expecting the comics’ darker side will be disappointed.
And that was a deliberate choice for the show. Speaking to GameSpot, executive producer Carlton Cuse said he and Locke and Key’s other adapters tried to strike a ratio of “three cups fantasy to one cup horror.”
“It’s sort of an intuitive process,” Cuse continued. “[Showrunner] Meredith [Averill], we worked on Haunting of Hill House, and I had done Bates Motel before this, and I think that for both of us, we loved the kind of inviting, warm, heartfelt undertones to Joe [Hill]’s comic. And we wanted to have that be reflected in the story, in our adaptation of it. And I think that we felt like horror was an element, but we were much more interested in structuring the show on the fantasy axis.”
It definitely shows. When one character uses the Ghost Key, which causes the user’s body to drop dead while their spirit flies loose around Keyhouse’s grounds, there’s no terror or danger to the discovery; instead, he flies to the ancestral Locke cemetery and encounters the friendly ghost of his grandfather. They have a nice chat, underscored by heartwarming, adventurous music. It feels like a scene from a Disney movie, not a horror series. Meanwhile, the Head Key doesn’t cause its user’s skull to open like a tin can–instead, it spawns a door that leads inside their mind. The body horror from the series’ pages is pretty much totally absent here.
That said, not all the changes are unwelcome. The Netflix version uses some of the keys more effectively for the TV format. For example, the aforementioned Head Key lets users view memories inside their own minds like browsing videos on Netflix itself (or at Blockbuster, for a less contemporary metaphor)–a smart change that gives the show an effective tool for diving into backstory and exposition that the comics didn’t have. There are some new additions to Keyhouse’s magic as well, like a key that creates fire and another that remixes a couple of keys from the books and combines them into something more versatile, with some really fun ripple effects on the larger plot.
Unfortunately, the show falls short again when it comes to the characters. Beyond just the Lockes themselves, many of the other characters have been significantly watered down compared with the source material. For example, Scot Kavanaugh (Cavendish in the show, for some reason) has been transformed from a brash, British invasion-style punk covered head-to-toe in tattoos, to a shy, ineffectual, heartbreakingly boring drama club stereotype (played to the best of his ability by Petrice Jones). He and a handful of new characters invented for the show make up the “Savini Squad,” a clique of misfits who are supposedly obsessed with horror films but appear to know very little about them (the honest-to-goodness dialogue “Final girls don’t hide!” will make any actual slasher fans want to open up their heads and throw the memory of it off a windy cliff). That’s the kind of sloppy writing and characterization that plagues the show.
Of course, those shortcomings aren’t the fault of Locke and Key’s mostly adequate cast. Stanchfield, Jessup, and Jones do a decent job as the core family members at the center of it, although poor Jackson Robert Scott–who horror fans may recognize as Georgie from the recent It movies–has been woefully miscast as a version of Bode who’s more precocious (and thus, annoying) than the mischievous, rambunctious kid from the books. Similarly, the murderous Sam Lesser (Thomas Mitchell Barnet), who was a disfigured force of nature in the comics, is way too sympathetic and not nearly threatening enough; he even gets characterized as the class clown at one point, which just feels wrong.
Luckily, more than one scene is stolen and subsequently saved over the series’ first 10 episodes by Laysla De Oliveira’s performance as Dodge (or “Well Lady,” as the Lockes often refer to her). Dodge plagues the Lockes throughout this season, popping up again and again to threaten and cajole them into giving her the keys she wants, providing a credible threat and a villainous throughline that keeps the show exciting. De Oliveira is forced to deal with just as much confused writing as the rest of the cast, like when she murders random people for no reason or stumbles on important discoveries by total coincidence, but the actress manages to hit the right balance of threatening and playful anyway, especially in scenes with Bode, with whom she has a fun but dangerous dynamic.
Dodge also demonstrates what the show does best for existing fans of the series: It effectively explores a new version of this beloved story. If you think you already know everything that’s going to happen on Locke and Key because you’ve read the comics 30 times, you’re guaranteed to be pleasantly surprised by some of the directions the show goes–even as you’re inevitably disappointed by the blunted horror and watered-down characters.
And if the Netflix version is your first introduction to Locke and Key and you don’t mind some cheesy writing, congratulations–you’ll probably enjoy the show just fine, without all the baggage of the high expectations that fans have been lugging around for the decade-plus since Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez’s masterful horror comics series debuted.
Note: This is an advanced, spoiler-free review for Netflix’s Locke & Key, which is set to premiere on Friday, February 7. If you would like to jump straight to our verdict, check out our condensed Season 1 review in the video above. While we touch upon certain basic plot points that have already been established in the trailers and marketing, we are avoiding discussing any major revelations here.
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After nearly a decade of failed attempts to bring a live-action version of Locke & Key to life, Netflix has finally delivered the goods, but was it worth the wait? Based on the graphic novel of the same name written by Joe Hill and illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez, the series centers on the Locke children, Tyler (Connor Jessup), Kinsey (Emilia Jones), and Bode (Jackson Robert Scott), and their mother Nina (Darby Stanchfield), who move to their ancestral home of “Keyhouse” after the family’s patriarch, Rendell (Bill Heck), is murdered.
Fans of the comic book’s graphic violence and creepy visuals may be a bit disappointed that Netflix’s version leans more into the whimsical aspects of Hill’s narrative and less on the terror and bloodshed. Having read the comics myself, it is difficult to ignore the changes in tone and lack of adult content, however, if the streaming giant’s goal is to appeal to a larger audience, then I think the series succeeds with some terrific set-pieces, aesthetics, and performances from the leading cast that make Season 1’s 10-episode arc a worthy binge.
One of the standout characters in Locke & Key is not an actual person, but the house itself. Big props to the production designers (Rory Cheyne and David Blass) for creating a location that truly feels alive. Every room is meticulously detailed with fascinating little trinkets and decor that add a layer of mystery to the story, and may even cause you to pause on particular scenes just take in all of the details. Keyhouse is home to several magical keys, each with their own unique abilities.
For a better look at Locke & Key, check out the trailer below:
While siblings Tyler and Kinsey do have their own adventures with the keys, it’s their younger brother Bode who has the most fascinating encounters with their magic in Season 1. Since this version of Locke & Key is a little more family-friendly than the comics, Bode’s youthful exuberance after discovering each key is palpable and honestly infectious. Scott portrays Bode with just the right amount of innocence and wonder without ever making him too precocious.
Tyler and Kinsey’s adventures in the first half of the season (when they’re not teaming up with Bode) are less pivotal to the overall story and are usually relegated to high school dramaaaa like using the keys to get revenge on “mean girls” or trying to impress a potential love interest. These high school hijinks occasionally make the show feel more like a CW teen drama than an ambitious mystery, and Locke & Key feels far more engaging when it leans into its fantastical elements.
One particular standout on that front is the “Head Key,” which enables the series to get creative with its visuals, while also playing with body horror. The key is inserted into the back of someone’s neck to literally open the door to their mind, which then allows a person to relive important memories, or add bits of information they might want to remember at a later date. Everyone’s mind palace looks different depending on their life experiences; Bode’s is like a large playground/arcade, while Kinsey’s is a giant shopping mall. Even better, the Head Key gives the viewer insightful glimpses into the history of the Locke family.
One of the most emotionally stirring aspects of the series is its effective use of flashbacks, which allows the audience to see the kids interacting with their father, adding believable weight and grief to those relationships. These scenes are great character-building moments for the kids and are so well-realized, it’s easy to forget this is all happening because of a magical key. This confident blend of fantasy and real-world drama is Locke & Key’s greatest strength. Where the series gets into trouble is when it tries to tackle too many narratives at once.
The series is simultaneously attempting to be a compelling family drama, supernatural thriller, murder mystery, and high school dramedy throughout Season 1, and by attempting to serve several masters, it never completely feels like a cohesive whole. While the family storyline and the fantasy elements involving the keys work well, other aspects of the plot aren’t quite as memorable. One example of this is Season 1’s villain, Laysla De Oliveira’s Dodge, a mysterious figure who torments the Locke family in the hopes of taking possession of their keys. The Canadian-born actress has an incredible on-screen presence that can be alternately charming or menacing, and Oliveira can flip that switch in an instant, giving the character a welcome sense of unpredictability. Her performance isn’t the problem, but the character’s progression suffers from the way the story has been changed from the graphic novel to appeal to a broader audience.
As the central villain, you’d expect Dodge to be a truly terrifying figure, but even when she kills someone in a way that should be shocking in any other situation, the show often leans into the absurd humor of her actions rather than ramping up the tension, undercutting some of the show’s biggest scares. As much trouble as the Locke kids get into, it’s difficult to imagine something horrible happening to them, even with an antagonist like Dodge lurking in the shadows.
