A new blog for a new year...

Greetings all! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Mine was just what I needed, a nice quiet relaxing day.

Anyhoo, I came to a conclusion this morning that I wanted to share with you, dear readers. Over the last few months I have often found myself pondering topics for my blog posting and realizing that the show or topic I wanted to discuss didn't really fit into my "sci-fi" format that I've set up for myself. So, I've decided that, in honor of the fresh start we're all getting with the coming new year, I'm going to give myself a fresh start. I'm going to broaden the horizons of this blog a bit.

I won't be doing anything too terribly fancy, but instead of just limiting myself to science fiction television shows, I will now use this space to talk about all television shows I watch, regardless of genre, as well as the movies I see and the books I read. I really am a multi-media nerd. I'll still be the SciFiTVFanGirl though, because I am still a fangirl at heart.

I just wanted to give you fair warning. Television-wise, some of the shows you can expect to start hearing about include (but are certainly not limited to) How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, Bones, Boston Legal, Psych, Monk, and The Closer.

Going back to science fiction television for a moment though, I was pleasantly surprised last night that BBC America did air a new episode of Life on Mars. I found this one particularly enjoyable. Sam spends much of the episode trying to convince DCI Hunt of the virtues of a newfangled policing technique known as "surveillance," which Hunt dismisses for not sounding very "manly." But this plot point led to a scene that had me laughing loud enough so that my husband, in the office down the hall, had to come find out what was so funny. Apparently I get loud when I'm amused. In this scene, the detectives are placing a transmitter in a car dealership owned by their suspect so they can bug his business. They've gone at night and are placing the transmitter in ceiling when a car drives by and its lights sweep across the room. One of the officers shouts out "The law!" and to a man they all jump down and start hiding behind cars. Meanwhile, a very bemused Sam is left shaking his head and pointing out, "You idiots, we are the law!" Good stuff. My only real quarrel with the episode is that it eventually ended up involving a key party. Why is it that everything set in the seventies at some point has to bring up a key party? Did these things really happen that often? Does the very concept freak the bejeezus out of anyone else? I mean, seriously...ew. Although, I have to admit, a large part of the concept was to make the main character Sam (who is from good ol' 2006) as uncomfortable as possible while also making him realize the danger he was placing himself and his partner Annie in. If uncomfortable and creepy is what they were going for, they definitely hit their mark.

Anyhoo, that's about all I've got. I've now dithered on the computer for far too long tonight and need to go get some things wrapped up before bed. I wish you all a wonderful week, hopefully a quiet one!

Happy New Year to everyone!

TTFN,
C

Recent acquisition: The Flight of the Navigator (oh yeah...)

Gone baby gone...

Sigh...well, I was thinking today I'd write about how awesome Life on Mars is (and it truly is), but then I got distracted by SyFy Portal's breaking story that USA has announced the cancellation of The 4400. Those of you who are familiar with this blog know that I am a big fan of the show and that as of the season four finale I was left pondering all of the possibilities to come and eagerly awaiting more. Alas, it looks like I won't be getting any. Grr...this seriously depletes my level of Kavan Smith sightings. I can only hope he'll mange to pick up a gig on Eureka or that maybe this means that for Atlantis season five he'll be all over the place...

Seriously though, last spring when the networks started to reveal their new lineups for the current season, we were all agog with the overwhelming increase in genre shows--several of which still have yet to start their seasons, being held off as mid-season replacements by their networks (Fox, I'm looking at you and the Sarah Connor Chronicles). But now it seems as if they're dropping like flies. Did all of the sci-fi shows wander into a bowling alley and line themselves up on the lane for some determined bowler to knock down in a well-played strike? Let's take a look at the shows on their way out...

1. Journeyman: Okay, this one hasn't been officially canceled, but NBC has already announced the full season pickups of Chuck and Life, and no word has been mentioned about Journeyman getting the nod. They've produced all of the ordered episodes and the (I believe) last one airs tonight. Which just totally sucks because anyone who was watching Monday knows how good this show just got.

2. Bionic Woman: Hmm...this may be more wishful thinking than anything else. NBC hasn't picked up a full season, the ratings are terrible, and they hadn't even finished filming all of the ordered episodes when the strike shut down production...yet NBC is saying that as soon as things are back in motion finishing up this order is top on their list. They really want this show to work...they advertise the heck out of it and have thrown all kinds of talent at it. The problem is that it just doesn't. I am only still watching this out of grim determination to see it through to the end, but if they order any more episodes I may just give up. I so want this to be awesome and it is just lame. But if NBC starts paying attention to the ratings at all, or if the hiatus from the strike has any effect on this show, it will be gone the way of the dodos soon enough I'll wager.

3. Lost: I don't even watch this show but everyone is talking about it...the final number of episodes left has been determined. The producers are going to space it out and get the story told, but then it's over. At least they have the balls to do it right. Tell your story and take a bow. I applaud them.

4. Battlestar Galactica: This is another one that's announced its final number of episodes left. As disappointed as I am by Bionic Woman--which was given to us by much of the same talent as BSG--I still have absolute faith that they will come through with this last season. My only fear is that they'll do that pesky think Sci Fi is threatening to do and only air half of the last season when it premiers in March 2008 and then hiatus until sometime in 2009 to finish it off. Boo! This is very story and suspense driven drama and you have a loyal fan base. Don't piss them off by abusing their loyalty. Just air the season all at once like normal decent people, then reap the benefits when the DVDs come out and you rake in the cash from re-releasing the entire series collectors edition or whatnot.

5. Life on Mars: I am fully aware that the second season currently airing on BBC America is the final season. I have accepted this, and given the plot, I am actually okay with it and eager to see the end game. But still...that's one less happy hour of escape each week.

So yeah...dropping like flies. That's okay though I guess. I'd rather see a show go out early and be remembered well than to cringe each time it comes up because it's just been limping painfully along for the last several years. Besides, Moonlight is looking good to be renewed, and Eureka is definitely coming back. And most of these shows aren't gone yet...so catch them while you can folks.

That is all.

Probably no post next week as it will be Christmas...but who knows, maybe I'll be in a computery mood.

But peace to all. I hope the holidays are treating you well. 2008 is almost here...let's hope it's a little more gentle than 2007, eh?

I'm out,
C

Recent Acquisitions: Stardust (Neil Gaiman is the most awesome person ever)

Hmm...

Howdy folks. It somehow escaped my notice yesterday that it was Tuesday and as such I totally forgot to post. No time now as I'm headed out the door for work, but I will aim to have one up tonight.

Have a great day!

Full Circle

Happy Tuesday dear readers. I don't know about the weather where you are but here it is nasty and dark and rainy and cool, but not quite cold enough to be winter, but not quite warm enough to mitigate the nastiness. In other words, it's the kind of weather that it is hell to drive home in (especially since it gets dark so early now) and that makes you just want to curl up inside with a good book or a movie. If my hubby ever makes it home, we're planning to pop in the new Harry Potter movie (Order of the Phoenix) that just arrived today, so I won't keep you for too long.

You know what's a weird sensation? I have found that watching early episodes of a show that you fell into the middle of can be a bit disconcerting. Don't get me wrong--if I love the show I want to see all of it, but once you start watching a series, you form your own theories and opinions about what's going on that no one is actually saying or what is happening off screen. You have preconceived notions about why someone would or wouldn't do a particular thing or assumptions about why people relate to each other they way they do (and we all know what they say about assumptions, people). To some extent, you do this for every show you watch anyway, but if you start watching from the beginning, at least you're on even footing. You only know what everyone else knows. There's no earth-shaking back story that has already been revealed. But when you're backtracking from a certain point, seeing those earlier episodes can really throw you from time to time.

I know I've mentioned before that I totally watched the new incarnation of Doctor Who out of order--starting with the Christmas special leading into season three and then (while still watching season three) catching myself back up with season one, then picking up season two after three had finished its run on Skiffy. This is actually a rare gem where just popping in won't ruin the earlier shows for you. The Doctor doesn't progress in the normal linear fashion, so while each season and the series as a whole has an overall plot progression from point a to point b you're still pretty safe most of the time. Although watching season one, having seen season three, and having missed season two, I really wasn't getting what had happened to Rose. I knew it involved something with Canary Wharf and an alternate dimension/universe/what have you, but clearly there were some big emotional moments I had missed out on. Also, it totally skewed the way I experienced season two (which, admittedly, was also affected by the fact that I had started Torchwood at the time and a lot of season two of the Doctor was setting up that particular institution). I kept waiting for the ending, trying to figure out the explanation for why Rose really ended up in that other place. I think now that I've seen all of it, I will definitely have to go back and rewatch season two at some point, just to do it some justice.

Another show I have done this with is Stargate SG-1. I had seen the original Stargate movie (and Richard Dean Anderson is so much cooler than Kurt Russell, people) ages ago and dug it, but not having had Showtime in high school or college I didn't even know about the show until after it had moved over to Sci Fi Channel and the previews never really seemed to catch my attention. What did happen was that they decided to make a spin off series involving Atlantis. I am an Atlantis whore. I love anything about the mythology and mystery of that place. I even own not just the Disney movie, but its straight to video sequel. So of course I had to watch a new series called Stargate Atlantis. The creators did a decent job of setting it up so if you didn't watch SG-1 you could still follow Atlantis. Plus, in the first season they were pretty much completely cut off from Earth anyway, so they were just doing their own thing.

By halfway through season two though, I was hooked, and I wanted more Stargate, so I thought I'd give SG-1 a try. Okay, at this point, we are halfway through season 9 of SG-1. The first episode I ever saw of that was Ripple Effect. I'm not going to go into the plot because it is insanely complex. If you're a fan you know which ep I'm talking about, and if you're not, well, you aren't interested anyway. But, while I had no idea why so much was significant in that episode, I thought it was a really awesome concept, and I was from that point on hooked. I was so hooked that over the following summer I purchased the first eight seasons of SG-1 on DVD and proceeded to pretty much do nothing but watch Stargate when I wasn't at work.

Now, joining in season nine, our main characters are:

-General Landry (in charge of the SCG)
-Lieutenant Colonel Mitchell (head of SG-1)
-Lieutenant Colonel Carter (SG-1, scientist)
-Dr. Daniel Jackson (SG-1, scientist)
-Teal'c (SG-1, alien)
-Dr. Lam (SGC head of medicine)

Only three of these characters are anywhere to be seen in season one. SG-1 has a completely different team dynamic. Daniel has a wife. The main enemy as of season nine is a group of evil ascended beings called the Ori. For the first eight seasons our heroes struggled against the Goa'uld--alien parasites that like to take over people and pretend to be gods. Going back to the earlier seasons, especially from such a late starting point, is like watching an entirely different game. Plus, many of the secondary characters on Atlantis had previously had one-off or recurring roles as other people on SG-1, which is always a little bizarre. It's kind of like how Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones on Doctor Who season three) played a character who worked for Torchwood (and was killed by the Doctor) at the very end of season two (though they kind of explained that away in the first episode of season three a little, saying Martha had a cousin at Canary Wharf--whatever).

Anyhoo, it definitely made watching SG-1 from the beginning an interesting experience. Although, on the plus side, while I absolutely adore the character of Jack O'Neill, the last two seasons of SG-1 weren't ruined for me by his absence. I adore Mitchell. Plus, this got me to watch Farscape, because his on-screen interaction with Vala just always makes me laugh, and I was curious to see the two in the two actors' first endeavor together.

You may wonder why I bring this up. Well, to some lesser extent, I am doing this again with a newer show, one that I've mentioned before. I'm re-watching season one of Jericho. I completely missed this series during its original run but after hearing about its triumph over cancellation this summer, I decided to give it a shot when CBS re-aired it this summer. The only problem is, they showed the pilot then jumped ahead to the middle of the season. We got a little recap episode in the middle but that doesn't give you everything you need to know.

As of this weekend I have now seen all of the episodes I missed from the front of the season. Now I am really geared up to see the back half again, because some things I had thought I knew I'm now not so sure about. I thought Jake and Hawkins knew a lot more about each other by this point than they actually do--which makes their level of cooperation with each other even more amazing to me. I also thought Jake and Heather were more of a couple than it appears they actually are by this point. Those are two examples, but they have completely changed some motivations that I thought I understood for events that are to follow.

All I can say is thank goodness for the proliferation of television series released to DVD. I think without it I would still be wandering around completely in the dark about some of my favorite fictional people and events.

Well, I am off in search of dinner. I wish you all a warm, dry, happy evening. Have a great week!

Later,
-C

Recent Acquisition: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

...and I'm back in the game!

Did you miss me? Probably not, I know. I’m sure you all have fascinating lives that in no way revolve around this blog…but it’s nice to dream. Anyhoo, diving back in, I have a few topics for today’s post.

~*~

Last night brought us the mid-season finale of Heroes, and possibly the season finale if the writers’ strike keeps on. I found it pretty enjoyable. It definitely had me invested enough to be yelling at the people on the television as if they could hear me and would bother taking my advice in any event. I think for me the highlights revolved around the scene where Nathan and Matt arrived at the paper company to take down Kensei/Adam and Peter. First there was the opening shot of that scene, where all you see is the “paper” company but you start to hear Matt telling someone to slow down in an increasingly frenzied voice. Turns out Nathan flew the two of them there from New York once they realized where they needed to be to stop the release of the virus. Seeing Matt hop off of Nathan’s back with that slightly shaken look and hearing their quick agreement to “never talk about this again ever” had me almost fall out of my chair laughing. And then to top it all off, Hiro runs out of the building and upon seeing Nathan greets him with an exuberant “Flying man!” that only Hiro could pull off. I love that even in the midst of trying to avenge his father’s death and save the world from the Company’s virus, Hiro can be so enthusiastic to see his fellow gifted friend. Of course, Matt’s reaction to Hiro is just as priceless. I hadn’t realized those two characters had not yet crossed paths in the current timeline. Good stuff. As was to be expected they stopped one of the bad guys and averted the crisis at hand, so all’s well that ends well…until they gave us a preview of the next story arc. Sylar’s back folks. And now he’s really pissed because someone tried to take his powers. It will be very interesting to see how the new episodes play out whenever we finally do get them.

~*~

Next up is the awesomeness that is last Friday’s episode of Stargate Atlantis. “Miller’s Crossing” is our next to last episode before the winter hiatus (and thankfully all of season four has been filmed already and, being a Canadian production, SGA isn’t really subject to the writer’s strike, so Skiffy won’t be hoarding the back half of the season from us this time around). But back to the episode. Jeannie is back! Ronon on Earth! A frakkin’ WRAITH on Earth! This episode was all kinds of crazy. I keep watching the start of Atlantis episodes thinking, aw man, this is just a rehash of that SG-1 episode from season two, but then they go a whole different direction with it. So we find out in this episode that since the gate bridge has been up and running Rodney and Jeannie have been emailing back and forth and little sis has been helping out McKay when he gets stuck with some problems back on Atlantis. The bit where Radek is trying to convince Rodney to just email Jeannie already is beautiful. We also get to see some of Rodney’s much harried staff, and it’s nice to see they have a little bit of a backbone when it comes to the wrath of McKay these days.

So someone on Earth who is privy to the SGC’s research decides to kidnap Jeannie to get Rodney to come looking for her and get the wonder duo together to save his dying daughter. Now, she was sick and that is tragic, but then the doofus goes and gives her nanite therapy which is just making things worse. (If you’re not sure what a nanite is, think tiny little smaller than microscopic robots injected into someone with the purpose of repairing any “structural” damage, these also happen to be the building blocks for our multigalactic enemy, the Replicators.) After realizing what a horrible mistake he’s made the concerned but clearly unrealistic father resorts to kidnapping to get the McKay geniuses to fix her. This of course does not end well at all. But we get the beautiful onscreen chemistry of real life brother and sister David and Kate Hewlett and I’ll take almost any plot you want to give me if it means I get those two interacting on my television. I actually thought it was a pretty decent episode. The scene where Rodney tries to convince John to let him feed himself (Rodney) to the Wraith to save Jeannie (did I mention she also got zapped with nanites?) was pretty powerful. McKay isn’t exactly the selfless sort, but I love that they’ve actually let his character grow enough that he’s realized how important his sister (as well as his adopted family on Atlantis) really is to him. Though this episode definitely had its darker moments as well…seriously, you knew that kidnapper dad was the only candidate to feed to the Wraith, but John convincing him to sacrifice himself so Rodney didn’t have to…man… My only bone was that they had Ronon and John running around in suit jackets for half the episode. Why? Seriously, why? I mean, yeah, they needed to make Ronon as uncomfortable in Earth clothes as possible, but I’m pretty sure he would have been uncomfortable in whatever, and there was no need for John to be exuding uncomfortable awkwardness, now was there? But whatever. If that’s the worst thing in an episode then I would say the show is doing pretty good. Plus we got the added bonus of hearing Rodney frequently referred to as Meredith (which is actually his first name as we learned in season three) again. That just never gets old. I am glad that the writers didn’t just throw that in as a one off thing. If they ever let that just die off I am starting my own fan campaign to bring it back.

~*~

The first season of Torchwood wrapped up on BBC America this weekend. Sigh. But don’t lose hope! Someone at BBC America, who I now love forever, made the decision to go ahead and start airing season two in America only a few weeks after season two starts over in the UK. That means I only have to wait a month and a half for new episodes, huzzah! Now if only we could get Skiffy to do the same thing with Doctor Who…

I had previously stated that I thought the first season of Torchwood fell chronologically after the third season of the Doctor, but I’m going to have to recant that. As the season progressed, and as I got season three of Doctor Who on DVD and was able to re-watch that, I realized they are actually concurrent, with Torchwood ending just before Captain Jack meets up with the Doctor for their run in with the Master for the last few episodes of the parent series.

What I find most fascinating about these two shows is how different Captain Jack is when he’s around the Doctor as opposed to when he’s running the show in Cardiff. I have to think that part of that is just a desire on the part of the creators to keep the two shows as separate as they can be while occupying the same universe. But I also am starting to think, as we get further along the road of unraveling the truth behind Jack, that the only person he really trusts enough to turn over his responsibilities and burdens to is the Doctor. I think that’s kind of a spiffy bit of character development. It is especially significant given how much of the last few episodes of Torchwood’s first season centered around his staff realizing just how little they actually know about him.

I am super excited about season two of Torchwood. We’re going to have some appearances of Martha Jones (which will be interesting to see how she fits in with the Torchwood version of Jack) as well as a guest stint by James Marsters of Buffy fame. Sweet! Bless those wonderful people who decided to start running season two next month!

~*~

Has anyone else been watching Tin Man? It’s a miniseries on Sci Fi Channel that is a re-imagining of the Wizard of Oz. It kind of gives it a more modern spin without losing any of the magic of the original story. It also seems to be pulling in some elements from other books in the series, which I find pretty cool. So far I have only seen the first of three installments, but I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to curling up with my DVR and the next two episodes. We get Richard Dreyfuss as the great and terrible “Mystic Man” (translation = the wizard), which is pretty fun to see. I am not terribly certain how I feel about there being hookers in Emerald City though (called the Central City in this version). I would definitely say that the Outer Zone (or, the O.Z. = Oz) is probably not child safe. I do really dig how they’ve taken the characters of the Scarecrow, Lion, and Tin Man and fit them into a world that is closer to ours but just with magic. The Scarecrow used to be the queen’s advisor but when the evils sorceress rose to power, she had his brain removed. The Lion is a seer, and must hide from the sorceress because she tends to hook seers up to this machine and suck all of the foretelling out of them. Then we get the Tin Man, which is slang in the O.Z. for law enforcement. It’s really fascinating stuff. Plus, I love Zooey Deschanel. She is just awesome. Alan Cummings is even being less squidgy than I normally find him. I am sure Skiffy will be re-airing these soon, so if you missed out or are just looking for some fun escapism television, I highly recommend this one. It does make me want to go back and re-read all of the books though…

~*~

Let’s see…other than that I wanted to mention a few shows that I am looking forward to once we get past the initial holiday rerun phase on television. BBC America is starting back up with the second season of Life on Mars next Tuesday. I am very excited about that. This is one of those sci-fi shows that anyone can get into because it fits the broader definition of the genre that most people who steer clear of sci-fi on general principle don’t realize is actually sci-fi. The basic premise is you’ve got a cop, Sam, from 2006 that is chasing a serial killer that just took his partner/ex-girlfriend. En route he gets hit by a car and when he wakes up he’s in 1973. For some reason though, the 1973 police force thinks he is a transfer from another city, so he finds himself trying to be a cop in 1973 with the expectations and mentality of someone from 2006. All the while he’s trying to figure out if he’s in a coma back in his own time and dreaming this whole thing or if he’s actually been sent “back.” It’s just a really really cool show. I think season two is the last of it—because the Brits do seem to have grasped the concept that a series can exist with a specific arc that may only last a season or two, and it’s okay if the show ends once the story is told—so I am very much looking forward to the resolution of how/if Sam gets back and what the consequences of his time in the past turn out to be in the future. I have heard some disturbing rumors that there is an American adaptation of this in the works. I am not too sure how I feel about this news…but if they can take it the route The Office went as opposed to how Coupling was done maybe it will turn out alright. I just worry that if it does get done well, they might give in to that tendency to stretch out the story for years and years to give into our American greed, and this is definitely a story that I think needs to have a tight story arc from beginning to end. Oh well, we’ll just have to see I guess.

In the new year we will be getting the (short) second season of Jericho. I am excited about that, especially since I’ve started watching season one on DVD recently. I am still absolutely baffled that they tried to cancel this show. This is definitely one of those stories that can last for years because there are so many consequences to what has happened and so many possible ways for things to play out. I hope season two fares well so that we can maybe earn a third season and more. If you missed the first season and are looking for something to watch while we ride out the reruns and reality shows of the holiday season and strike, go pick this up (rent it or buy it or borrow it). We’ve still got a few months before they air season two, and I promise, just the pilot is gripping enough that you’ll be hooked once you start watching season one.

We’ll also soon be getting to see the new Terminator series, the Sarah Connor Chronicles. I am a total Terminator nerd, so I am definitely waiting on tenterhooks to see this one. It follows Sarah and her son John in the wake of the second movie (apparently completely disregarding movie three, which wasn’t great but wasn’t really that bad either) as Sarah trains her son to become the man who will be able to lead humanity against the machines. Also, we get Summer Glau (River of Firefly fame, or Tess from the 4400, if you prefer) as a Terminator. I think she’s serving to protect John and Sarah, but I don’t know if that’s what her initial purpose is. Ooh, this should be fun.

~*~

Well, that’s about it from me. I hope this missive finds everyone well and happy and warm as winter descends upon us. Take care and have a splendiferous week!

TTFN,

C

Recent acquisitions: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (yay!), Battlestar Galactica: Razor (extended DVD edition, sweet!)