...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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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…

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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.

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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!)