Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Uh oh...

So it just occurred to me that it is Tuesday (I beg for slack, I have been sick) and it is almost my bedtime, and I totally forgot about blogging. And yet...I am still here. It will have to be a short one though. Then again, maybe that makes you jump for joy...anyhoo, so, off the cuff topic = new shows! HERE BE SPOILERS!

It's premiere week! I was able to sneak in the season premiere of Heroes last night and I am already excited about the new season. I was extremely upset with Mohinder (I really may not be spelling that correctly) for signing on with the Company until it was revealed as part of a plot to bring them down from the inside. Sweet! Because really, what does this show need more of? Intrigue you say? No, really? Well...okay, we'll go with it. Other notable moments include Nathan Petrelli's drunk bearded funk--while I am not supportive of anyone drowning their sorrows in the bottle it certainly is nice to see that he's realizing what an ass he's been. I am not sure how I feel about Claire's new stalker-ish love interest, but maybe he's not as creepy as he seems...and HRG's takedown of his pansy ass manager was just brilliant. I am also loving Hiro stuck in the past. It seems almost terribly predictable where they are going with this, but hey, I've been wrong before, so I guess I'll just have to keep watching and see. But making Kensei a British mercenary--beautiful. And then...Peter's back! Yay! Hopefully his amnesia won't last forever and he and Claire can get back to being superheroes together. Their (strictly familial) chemistry just makes me giddy.

I also got to check out the Chuck and Journeyman series premieres tonight. I must say, Chuck had me laughing insanely (and freaking out the cats) and Journeyman has left me quite intrigued. It is nowhere near as Quantum Leapish as I feared/hoped it would be, but I am very much interested to see where it goes.

Well, that's it for now. I hope everyone has a great week!

TTFN,
C

recent acquisitions: Knocked Up, My Name Is Earl season 2 (alas, nothing scifi this week)

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

...of cabbages and kings...

Post 3

James Oliver Rigney, Jr., better known as the fantasy author Robert Jordan, passed away on Sunday. We knew it was coming, he hasn't been well for some time, but the world has still suffered a great loss. I know this blog is primarily focused on the world of scifi in television, but I wanted to take a few moments to remember Jordan. He has written several books but is perhaps best known for his series The Wheel of Time. So far, this series contains eleven books and a prequel--and the twelfth was to be the last in the series. I know that many in his fandom, while expressing condolences, are also left wondering what will happen to this world Jordan so lovingly created for us. What amazes me so much is that in the midst of his illness, Jordan never stopped taking the time out for his story. He spent his last weeks among us dictating everything that is left to happen and has entrusted his family to publish the final novel so that the world will know the fate of Rand al'Thor and his companions. That my friends is what it is to be a true writer--to have the drive and the dedication to tell the story, even if you won't be around to find out what people think of what you've had to say. I can think of no better memorial than the publication of that final piece of the story he's been telling for so long. My thoughts and prayers are with his family. If you haven't read him but find yourself looking for a new fantasy world to fall into, check out some of his work. As long as we keep reading, he'll be remembered.

Thank you for indulging me. Now, to dive into the world of television...

I had this whole rant prepared about how much I dislike the Sci Fi channel right now--mainly due to their scheduling tyranny and the fact that they air WRESTLING every Tuesday night (seriously--wrestling--what the frak is that about?), but I lost my steam somewhere between yesterday and today. You're probably better off. Just know that if they do officially announce to split Battlestar's fourth season to air half in January 2008 and half in January 2009 the rant will probably be back. Instead, I am going to talk about The 4400 season finale.

The big "event" in the episode was that a minor character had taken the Promicin shot and developed his new ability--which turned out to be exuding Promicin--meaning 50% of the people he came into contact with died while the other 50%--well...let's just say there are going to be a whole lot more abilities to explore next season. The final death toll mentioned at the end of the episode (because of course it acted as a plague until the character's ability was suppressed) was 9,000--meaning 9,000 new P-positives and 9,000 new abilities for the severely depleted NTAC and police of Seattle to deal with. Overall it was a pretty good episode, it had me going the whole time, there were a lot of loose ends to be tied up and I wondered where they were going with them, but the very best part was the end. NTAC headquarters was exposed to the Promicin outbreak, meaning everyone left standing (with the exceptions of Skouris, who is apparently immune to Promicin, and Baldwin, who wasn't there at the time) at NTAC now has an ability. Meghan, Marco, and Garrity (yay Kavan!). The end of the episode panned through NTAC (narrated by a speech being given by Jordan Collier) as each of our friends' new abilities began to manifest. I thought it was incredibly well done and a great way to leave people wanting more. It kind of reminded me of the final episode of Buffy--where we see girls all over the world with the potential actually become slayers. The two big differences here are 1) these were characters we already know and are invested in, and 2) we know there's going to be a next season (in theory, anyway) and that means we get to see what happens next. An absolute brilliant ending to an outstanding season. I really need to add this one to my collection.

So that's all I've got for now. It's movie night at Casa de Cori--we just got David Hewlett's film A Dog's Breakfast and I can't wait to watch. Dark humor + Hewlett siblings (I mean they're right up there with the Cusacks or the Deluises for me) + lots of Stargate peeps running around = great time. Plus...Atlantis starts back up next Friday and season three came today--so I've got to find some time to watch!

Enjoy your week!

Peace,
C

Recent acquisitions: Stargate Atlantis season three (sqee!), A Dog's Breakfast (huzzah!), and Smallville season 6 (not in my hands yet, but according to Amazon I should get it tomorrow).

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Blame Canada!

Post 2

Why hello there! I hope this evening finds everyone happy and well. I don't know how long tonight's post shall be, because it is fast approaching my bed time (darn that daily commute), but I wanted to put something up. Today's topic is a fun one for me, and I hope you will enjoy it as well dear reader.

If you are a fan of science fiction television shows, you may or may not be aware of the fact that many of today's shows are filmed in that great northern land of Canada, eh. (I couldn't resist, I mean, seriously, could you?) Such shows include and have included (my favorite) Stargate SG-1/Stargate Atlantis, Battlestar Galactica, Dresden Files, The 4400, and (I think, but am not 100% on this one) Smallville. I am guessing it's the wide open spaces and all. Also, part of it may just be because so many of the genre shows out there today (not all, but most) are from NBC Universal (NBCU)--NBC, USA, and SciFi.

Now, science fiction is a genre that calls for many extras. This leads to a fun little phenomenon that I like to call Canadian show-hopping. Basically, there's this pool of actors that are likely to pop up on any of the genre shows you might be watching. This actually extends outside of scifi television to pretty much any show filmed in that area, (I've noticed a lot of my peeps pop up on Monk and Psych, both NBCU shows, as well as other genre shows), but is really most noticeable if you tend to watch a) a whole heckka lot of scifi shows, or b) anywhere near as much tv as I watch in general.

So as a result of this show hopping I've got this group of little known actors I have grown to love (or love to hate) and it's a nice little easter egg for viewers like me to be sitting there watching one show and to suddenly realize red shirt number three is really Mr. Wozniak from some other show entirely. It's pretty awesome. It's also kind of cool to be able to "follow" these actors' careers just by tuning in. For example, there's this guy, who I still think of as "Mr. O" from his role as Mr. Oleander the student teacher on Degrassi the Next Generation (which is not a scifi show but is a Canadian show and is just plain awesome). His stint on DNG was a few years ago but recently he's started popping up all over the NBCU radar. First as a nugget on the second season of Battlestar Galactica, then recently as the bad guy (which made me so happy) on a season two episode of Pysch. Even better, he also seems to have picked up a recurring role as Larry the annoying sycophant on Eureka. I love it. I keep waiting for terrible things to happen to him (Mr. O was not my favorite character), and they keep on happening. I am happy for the actor and satisfied that the character he keeps playing keeps getting what's coming to him.

For another example, we have Kavan Smith, who just really rocks. My first introduction to him was as Major Lorne on Stargate Atlantis season two, though this was not his first foray into the world of Stargate. Lorne actually showed up in season eight of SG-1 in just one episode, (I started watching this series with the spinoff first and then got into the parent show, right before it ended, of course). The powers that be apparently loved Kavan and decided to bring him back to Atlantis, where he gets to be the XO and has become hugely popular with fans. I mean, even without a first name (which, he was finally given recently, is Evan) he became a huge driving force in the SGA fanfiction world. But good ol' Kavan isn't one to rest on his laurels, apparently. He's also done a stint on Battlestar Galactica, appeared in Smallville, and managed to pick up a very nice recurring role on The 4400 as Agent Garrity, the other NTAC agent. I mean, come on, Baldwin and Skouris can't do it all on their own, right?

These are just two of many examples. It's not really even limited to the Canadians. Former Dr. Who Christopher Eccleston did a multiple-episode stint on Heroes in its first season. Plus you've got all kinds of people from Buffy and Angel popping up on Smallville and Supernatural on a regular basis.

So, who cares that these people apparently feel the need to just hop around doing bit parts on genre shows? Well, I do. It makes the whole scifi television experience a little bit more enjoyable. To me these people seem to form a kind of family. They are having fun with what they're doing and they love working with each other, so they keep on doing it.

Okay, enough sap. It is definitely past my bed time now. I leave you all with happy thoughts of the new season and the multitude of genre shows headed our way in the coming weeks. I hear that a whole bunch of Battlestar people are going to be heading over to play in Bionic Woman's sandbox...I wonder who else we'll see pop up where?

Everyone enjoy your week. Peace. Try not to pay too much attention to the crazy woman with a blog.

C

Recent acquisitions: Bones Season Two, Grey's Anatomy Season Three

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Everybody Wants to Rule the World

Post 1

Hello gentle reader. I apologize for the delay in getting up my first post. My intention is to try and post every Tuesday (new DVD day, huzzah!) but I am in the process of moving so this week has been kind of hectic, to say the very least.

Anyhoo, onward and upward!

I've been kicking around today's topic in my brain for a while and it is a subject that just makes me giddy, so I thought it would be fun to share for my first post. I've been saying for years that us left-handed people are taking over the world, and a recent episode of The 4400 (episode #42 "One of Us," original air date 8-19-07) seems to agree with me, or at least that's what the show's creators seem to be suggesting as the future of their wonderfully entertaining universe.

In case you're not too familiar with the show, here's a basic introduction: Over the course of several decades starting in the mid-twentieth century, 4400 people disappeared without a trace. Then one night a few years ago, a big ball of light appeared just outside of Seattle, and with it, all 4400 of the missing people. None of them had aged and none of them remembered anything about where they had been. Throughout the course of the show we learn that they were taken by "the future" (we haven't to this point really gotten a clear idea of who in the future took them) and each 4400 was given a special ability before they were sent back in order to save all of mankind. There's a whole tricky time-line issue here that I won't address today, but when I think about it (and I really try not to) it makes my head hurt. So...each 4400 has an ability. One girl has visions of the future, a young man can heal almost anything but death, we've got telekinesis, mind control, etc. The driving factor behind these abilities is a chemical called Promicin. The future introduced this chemical into the body of each person they took and sent back, and it seems to remove inhibitors in the brain, allowing people to find these gifts within themselves.

There have been all kinds of issues with the Promicin. When the 4400 were first returned, someone in the government detected it and created an inhibitor for the chemical to prevent the returnees from being able to develop or use their abilities at full strength. Unfortunately, the inhibitor is pretty much deadly to the 4400 and when our two favorite NTAC (National Threat Assessment Command) agents Skouris and Baldwin figured out what their government was doing to these people, they got it put to a stop. So...no more Promicin inhibitor. But that's not enough, the self-proclaimed leader of the 4400 (Jordan Collier) has decided that since the future sent them back to change the world, that's what he's going to do. He and his cohorts study Promicin and figure out that if a normal person takes it, they can also develop an ability.

Sounds great, right? Haven't you always wanted a super power? Well here's the catch, 50% of the people who take the Promicin shot not only don't develop an ability, they die. So there you go. Take the shot and develop an ability or take the shot and die. Those are your options. Collier seems okay with this. He believes that those with and those without abilities cannot coexist peacefully, and that what the future sent him back to do is weed out all of the people who aren't Promicin-tolerant. Of course, the government does not agree and so there's all kinds of a power struggle going on there.

What's so interesting about the whole thing is that they have done a really good job of blurring the lines between good and evil here. There are some 4400s and Promicin-positive individuals who use their powers for good, and some who use them for personal gain or domination of others. But on the other hand, while we have Baldwin and Skouris at NTAC trying to fight the good fight, we've got people within the government and even other private citizens who have proven to be downright nasty when it comes to how to deal with the 4400 or the Promicin issue. Then add in the two factions from the future--those who created the 4400 and those who have sent back their own agents to stop them at all costs--and the fact that we've never been told what the 4400 were actually sent back to change or prevent. We have have no idea who is taking actions that will save the world and who is working to condemn it. I love it. I'm rooting for people on all sides and I honestly have no idea how this is going to turn out.

So, how does this all cycle around to left-handed people taking over the world? Well, in the episode "One of Us" the doctor who figured out Promicin in the first place--he wanted an ability, so he figured out how to get one--is working on a test to try to determine ahead of time who would survive the Promicin shot. He is working with a 4400 who wants to prevent that pesky 50% mortality rate. Well, it turns out there's a part of the brain that is slightly larger in us left-handed folks and that in turn allows pretty much any left-handed person to survive the shot. Sorry righties, I guess you're out of luck.

So there you have it, SciFi television has confirmed what I've been telling people all along. Can you imagine a world full of only lefties? I'm not really sure I can. But just in case, be sure to be extra nice to those left-handed individuals in your life, won't you? You don't want to be the first one against the wall when the revolution comes.

Have a great one!

C

Recent acquisitions: The Office Season 3, Robot Chicken Season 2