Ethan Sills talks to Matt Letscher, star of The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow, about playing the villain and what it’s really like to wear a superhero costume all day. Superhero shows are unavoidable these days. With basically every American network and streaming service trying to launch their own brand, and comic book adaptations continuing … Read more
A razor gang at the Auckland Council led to yesterday’s announcement that the city’s libraries are cutting 74 members of staff. Former Auckland librarian Ethan Sills reports. Libraries are magical institutions. It can feel unreal that they still exist, given how fantastical the idea of them seems. Buildings where you can go and borrow books … Read more
Wonder Woman is the latest and biggest star of Marvel and DC’s quest to appear as diverse as possible in an attempt at drawing in readers. But as Ethan Sills discusses, their superficial efforts leave a lot to be desired. We all know that, when it comes to comic books, no one really dies. People … Read more
TVNZ’s Terry Teo remake is a return to form for New Zealand family programming, says Ethan Sills, and a shining example of what our local television should be. What will it take for the rest of the industry to take note? When you’re a kid, nothing seems impossible. You have the whole world ahead of … Read more
Ethan Sills has a radical solution for NZ on Air’s long-running drama problem: letting the public be more involved in choosing which shows get funded. Public funding hasn’t had a great few years here in New Zealand. Since the end of Outrageous Fortune and the cast swap on Go Girls, many local dramas this decade have more-or-less failed, … Read more
A police drama set in a West Yorkshire village may not sound like a must-watch, but Ethan Sills finds that Happy Valley is a surprisingly tense and graphic thriller that packs an emotional punch. A police drama? Yawn! Happy Valley is not your regular British cop drama. This is more psychological than procedural, a cat-and-mouse chase met … Read more
In its annual tradition of blowing something up, Neighbours based a whole week around the destruction of their cursed hotel. Ethan Sills sat through five nights of deaths, shock returns and a whole lot of dust. For a show that is predominantly about middle-class white people arguing and sleeping with each other, Neighbours loves a … Read more
February 27 marks the 20th anniversary of Pokémon Red and Green, the first Pokémon games ever to be released. Mega-fan Ethan Sills looks back at how a collection of outlandish Japanese creatures became a worldwide phenomenon. March 2008. It’s late at night – well, late at night for a 13 year old, so probably around … Read more
Neighbours turned 30 this year with the same soapy melodrama and sense of humour that have been the show’s hallmarks since 1985. Ethan Sills wouldn’t have it any other way. Anniversaries are a big deal for soap operas. When Coronation Street turned 50, a tram crashed into the street. When Shortland Street turned 20, a … Read more