Nothing to report...

Well, I really don't have too much to say today.

I'm finishing up Saved By the Bell today (just watched the last episode of The College Years and now all I have left is the Wedding in Vegas).  

Man, these people exist in a magical universe where time does not proceed in a linear fashion, and that's really all I've got to say about that.  And the people who put together the DVD sets weren't any better, you think they would have at least tried to give some sort of order to the stories...but oh well.

Still, worth a watch.  One day in the future I look foward to forcing this series on my offspring.  Mostly just because I can.  And because for the most part I am still pretty convinced that the kids' programming from when I was a youngun is leaps and bounds better than the crap out today. 

I haven't really gotten any new TV series on DVD lately, but the movies have been piling up, so once I finish SBTB I will start working on those before I dive into season 2 of Heroes.  Here are the movies I have to watch in the next week or so:

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Wanted

The Dark Knight

The Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

Shaun the Sheep (more a collection of shorts, but still awesome)

The Jane Austen Book Club

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Big Business

Most television shows have gone on hiatus for the next week or two, so that should give me plenty of time for movie-viewing at least.  

As I said in an earlier post, if you're not watching Leverage on TNT, I totally recommend it.  It's a fun show and the cast plays phenomenally well together.  I wouldn't mind getting to run around in that sandbox for a while.

That's about all I've got for you folks.

I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

Stay safe,

C

Are you watching?

If you like heist movies (think Ocean's 11 and The Italian Job)--you should be watching Leverage on TNT.  

Aside from the absolutely stellar cast as well as some super groovy guest stars so far, the show itself is extremely engaging and entertaining.  

So yeah, Leverage.  Tuesday nights on TNT.  

Check it out, it's great stuff.

Laters,

C

Definitely not a Pokemon...

Not a bad wrap-up to this "chapter" of Heroes.  

In what may be totally my most favorite Heroes moment ever, we learn that Hiro does not like to be called Pikachu.  

Dude.  

I'm lovin' it.

Also, I think they gave it a pretty decent set-up for the Fugitives arc.  Now I am actually looking forward to seeing how that plays out.

Otay, that is all.  

Just let us get to the good stuff already...

Okay, so today I want to tell you about one of my pet peeves when it comes to television shows on DVDs.

That would be the opening credits.  I absolutely can NOT stand it when the chapters are cut so that the opening credits land in the middle of a chapter.  Once those credits start rolling you should be able hit that "skip" button on your remote and jump right in to the episode.  I am honestly not entirely sure why the DVDs include the opening credits at all, because seriously, it's not like you don't know what show you're watching...

Okay, okay, I know that they need to have the credits on there, I get that.  But if you're the kind of person who is going to sit down and watch a whole disc of the series at once, you don't really need to see the credits over and over again.  

The only two shows I don't fast forward through the credits for are Psych and Scrubs...and that is because I like their theme songs as actual songs not opening credits.  

Sigh, anyhoo.  I know I can just suck it up and use the fast forward rather than the skip, but then you risk the whole, "oh darn I went too far, now I have to go back" situation.  Ergh.  

If you're wondering what brought this on, I've been working my way through the Saved By the Bell DVDs and, as you can guess, they don't give me the option to just skip over the credits.  

Other than that though, I am really enjoying rewatching this show.  Sometimes reliving your childhood is just the thing to get you through a crazy month.

I hope all is well with everyone!

Have a super week, and whatever you're watching, enjoy!

C

This is exactly what I was talking about.

Did you watch Heroes last night?  Remember what I was saying about how it's really just ripping off The 4400?  Last night was a prime example.

We've now got "enhanced" soldiers being created by a corporation with ties to a dubious government official.  The soldiers are being given powers/abilities so they can "protect" the "normal" population from other people with powers/abilities.  

Hmm...

Also, they totally stole Chad Faust to be one of the soldiers.  Chad was Kyle Baldwin on The 4400.  Not that I am complaining about that particular piece of theft or anything.  I do not begrudge the guy work and I am perfectly happy to watch him on my screen.  

Of course, his arrival is timmed with the exit of Seth Green's character, to which I say boo.  Sigh.  

Hey, even io9 is pointing out the similarities between the two shows now, kinda.  

Seriously though, I have no idea where Heroes is going now.  I am truly wondering if it is going to make it to season four.  I'm kinda not sure if I want it to or not.  I guess we'll just have to see how things play out.

Well, that's all I've got for you. 

Have a great one,

C

Jack Davenport, Joseph Fiennes, AND John Cho?

Yeah, I will be watching this show.  I have no idea if it will be any good or not, but at the moment, don't even care.

Flash Forward update on i09.

Dude.

I know it's wrong but...

I am two discs in to the final season of The 4400 and already planning on what to start watching next. 

(Quick digression:  The more I watch The 4400, the more I feel like Heroes totally ripped it off, and in a pretty inferior copy to boot.  And I like Heroes, so what does that say about how much I love The 4400?)

Even though I have an embarrassingly huge pile of TV shows on DVD waiting to be watched, I really think I am going to dive into my most recent arrival next.  That would be the entire series of Saved By The Bell.  Yes, roll your eyes at me, it's okay.  I still love the show.  At least it's only in half-hour format so it shouldn't take me too long to blaze through.  

In personal news, I am hoping to be able to post much more often come 2009.  My husband and I made the difficult decision that for my emotional sanity it has come time for me and my employer to part ways.  So December 31 is officially my last day at the place of evil.  I have been promised I can take the month of January off, and then I will probably start looking for some new work.  While it is going to mean some sacrifices on both our parts (sigh, no more new DVDs for me after the January crop I've preordered, to say the least), we are both really happy about this decision.  

Here is what I am hoping to spend my upcoming "vacation" doing:

-Catch up on my DVDs

-Crochet

-Play video games

-Catch up on my reading pile (it's as embarrassing as my DVD pile, scarily enough)

-WRITE (I've got at least two stories that I have started and stalled out on that I want to dive back in to)

-Exercise (yes, I know, not really a vacation-y type thing, but I am sorely in need of it, and I will have the time so plan to use it at least a little for good)

So there you go.  The new year can't get here fast enough for me. 

I hope you all are having a great one, much love.  

Until next time,

C

Jam-packed.

So I was out of town all week.  Most of my shows didn't air but enough did that my DVR is nice and full.  I was able to knock out a few shows tonight but I know what I am doing tomorrow for sure.  

Plus I've got oodles of movies coming out on DVD this week...oiy.  That pile just keeps getting bigger.  

Anyhoo, I had a fantastic Thanksgiving vacation.  Got to visit with some family I don't get to see very often, dote on my adorable, insanely energetic (and unfortunatetly sick) nephew.  My step-mom also treated me, my sis, and my step-sis to a wonderful day at the spa for part of our Christmas presents.  Wow.  That was a super nice surprise.

So that fifteen hour drive by myself (each way)....totally worth it.

Also, after listening to the audio plays of about 95% of the Chronicles of Narnia, I am totally stoked for Prince Caspian on DVD!

I hope you all had a wonderful week as well!

Until next time, 

C

You can't have any, you're too young.

If you know what that is from, then you my friend, have pretty decent taste in bad movies.  

If you don't, well, totally your loss.

Also, I am having a bit of a face-palm moment here.  I have to confess I am currently watching Legally Blonde.  Don't look at me like that.  I was flipping through the channels looking for something background to watch while I finished playing around on the internet and I just kind of stopped on it...I totally didn't mean to get sucked in, and yet I did.

This is a stupendous piece of fluff.  Also, there is an insane amount of tremendously talented people in it.  

Aside from Reese Witherspoon and Luke Wilson (you know, Owen Wilson's much more attractive and talented brother), you have:

Selma Blair

Jennifer Coolidge

Victor Garber

Ali Larter

Alanna Ubach

Linda Cardellini

Oh, and of course, Raquel Welch.

Crazy times people, crazy times.  But I think we are approaching the time of year for viewing fluff, so I make no apologies.

Anyhoo, really I am about to dive back into The 4400, so there is some more intellectual viewing on the horizon at least.

It looks like a bunch of my shows just went on hiatus this week until next year.  So I should be getting some good quality DVD time in soon.  Probably watch Wall-E a few more times as well...

Anyhoo, I hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving week and holiday.  I am looking forward to having most of the week off, even though I'll be in Tennessee and it's much colder there than here in Texas.  Family is worth it.  

Take care y'all!

P.S.  Also, huzzah for the return of Kavan Smith (not Kevin Smith or even The Other Kevin Smith, may he rest in peace) on Sanctuary Friday night!  I love it!

How much do I love this guy?

I have to say I am really loving Sanctuary.  It was fun as a web series and all, but now that they have a (presumably) bigger budget and are a SciFi Channel staple, it seems the show has really been able to find its stride.  And while my hopes of seeing more Kavan Smith have come to naught, I have been pleasantly surprised by Ryan Robbins' turn as geeky tech guy Henry.  

For fans of genre television, Ryan Robbins is hardly a newcomer.  On the SciFi Channel alone you may recognize him as Ladon Radim from Stargate Atlantis:

Or you might recognize him as Charlie Connor from Battlestar Galactica:

He's also appeared on Smallville and on Psych.  So clearly, this guy keeps popping up in shows that I watch.  But I have to say, he's never really played terribly sympathetic characters in his previous roles.  

On Atlantis Ladon first appears with Kolya's strike team to take over Atlantis during the storm in the first season.  Then he pops back up as Cowan's lackey in a scheme to steal some puddle jumpers and do research into the ATA gene on Lorne & team.  Eventually he overthrows Cowan and takes over the Genii and becomes a tentative ally of Atlantis, but now the Genii are starting to pop up as the potential bad guys again...so, ambigous at best.

While on Battlestar he eventually ends up the friendly neighborhood bartender, after New Caprica he is one of the most fervent of the circle throwing "Cylon collaborators" out of the airlock of the Galactica.  I mean he tries to space Gaeta, not exactly something designed to put a character in my good graces.  

But Henry in Sanctuary is something else entirely.

My favorite line from all of the episodes so far is when it looks like the team might have to evacuate the Sanctuary in the episode "Nubbins."  Henry turns to Dr. Magnus and states "Women and nerds first.  Oh wait...that's all of us."  Absolutely beautiful.  I have to admit, I've got a soft spot for the nerdy tech guys.  It's just in my nature.  Plus, in this week's episode they revealed that he's some kind of abnormal--a very werewolf like abnormal, in fact.  We all know I love super smart nerdy werewolves (see Oz in Buffy).  

So all in all I have to say that Henry is definitely my favorite character on Sanctuary so far.  And that's saying something, because I really like all of the main characters.  Despite their apparently atrocious accents that keep driving the writers at i09 crazy.  

And it's not like I'm not getting my Kavan Smith fix elsewhere.  I hadn't realized the first time around how many episodes of The 4400 he was actually in.  It makes an awesome viewing experience even better...

Alrighty then, that's all I've got for now.  Take care!

C

Really, it's about time.

I don't know how many Whedonites I've got out there, but if you've been following the coverage of the upcoming Joss Whedon show Dollhouse, then you know that the nay-sayers have been out in full force.  It seems like every time I log in someone is saying something somewhere about how the show is just doomed before it has even begun.  

Even Joss Whedon's own assurances that, really, things are going pretty groovy, seem to have been largely ignored or taken as a harbinger of death for the show.  

So I have to say I was very pleased to see this article on i09 yesterday.  It's nice to know that there are still people out there who are actually looking forward to this show with anticipation and who haven't given up on it before it has even aired just because they are afraid it might be cancelled early.

Two pieces of advice people:

-If you don't watch because you think it's going to be cancelled, it will be cancelled.

-Just be frakkin' patient.  Wait and see folks, wait and see.  

I have all the faith in the world that Joss can pull this off if we let him.  He is, after all, a genius.  That's why we love him.

Laters,

C

And cue the lightbulb over my head...

So, I just saw this article about the new pilot HBO has greenlit for their mini-series based on the George R. R. Martin series "A Song of Fire and Ice."  This led to a cartoon type moment of illumination.  I mentioned I've been watching the Legend of the Seeker series.  The reason I started watching it was because for some reason I was thinking it was the Fire and Ice series which I had heard rumors of a while back.  I have read a few short stories set in that universe (in the wonderful anthologies "Legends" that Robert Silverberg puts together).  I really felt like this was a universe I could fall right into.  But I could never remember the name and for some reason the Legend of the Seeker synopsis sounded familiar to me.  

Of course about five minutes in I realized the series was based on a different set of novels than the ones I was thinking about, but I figured maybe I had just imagined the wrong series was getting a television shot.  Silly me.  Oh well.  Anyhoo.  Huzzah for the Fire and Ice pilot, and the fact that it is HBO that optioned it.  This could bode well.  Fingers crossed that it actually gets picked up.  Of course that means I might have to make sure I keep HBO around...but maybe it will be available on iTunes...  They are planning to follow the same story arc that my husband and I keep hoping someone will do with the Wheel of Time series--a novel a season.  If this works out maybe WOT is only a few years behind!

Other random musings from this week:

I realized last night I have no idea why I actually watch Boston Legal, only that now that I've started, I can't seem to stop.  I mean, I enjoy it and all, but I really am only watching it out of habit.

I also realized that my favorite two procedural shows are hands down Bones (for the tracking down the bad guys/forensics aspect) and Eli Stone (for the "law" aspect, though that show maybe applies the term loosely).  These are both excellent shows that are so far managing to fly pretty much under the radar but are maybe better off for that fact.

Also, Fringe is freaking incredible.  

That is all.

I think I will go watch some Young Hercules and try to untangle a skein of yarn before bed.  Ooh, don't I live large?

Peace y'all,

C

Nostalgia, I have it...

Alrighty, have any of you found the new series Legend of the Seeker yet?  It's airing on the CW on Saturdays here, and came just in time to fill the void left by Primeval's season finale.  

It is based (apparently very loosely) on the Terry Goodkind series "The Sword of Truth."  I haven't really read this series, but it falls right in to my niche of fantasy, so I thought I'd give the television series a shot.  

I actually enjoyed it quite a bit.  It was fun and silly and, to me, just a piece of entertaining fluff with awesome costumes and kickass swordfights.  Sometimes you can't ask for more than that, really.  It's something you can eat popcorn to.  Every once in a while we need that kind of mindless fun I think.  I was not the least little bit surprised to see that Sam Raimi had served as the executive producer for the first episode, either.  This totally has the feel of Hercules and Xena to it.  It is exactly that genre.

So after watching the show I of course had to go look it up on IMDB to figure out where I knew half of the actors from.  Turns out several of them were in the new Star Wars movies, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Young Hercules.  In finding this information I also made the delightful discovery that the entire series of Young Hercules is available to watch on Hulu.  Dude.  

This show came out the first semester of my freshman year of college and by sheer providence I somehow stumbled across it and instantly fell in love.  For one thing, it was set in Ancient Greece and deeply steeped in Greek mythology, and at that point I was totally planning for the emphasis of my history major to be Western Civilization, primarily Ancient Greece and Egypt (though as fate would have it my emphasis ended up being British Empire, but hey, I still love Western Civ).  For another, it starred Ryan Gosling.  He hadn't been in a whole lot by that point but what he had been in was the Mickey Mouse Club revamp MMC, which I had of course been somewhat obsessed with throughout high school.  Hey, I was a teenage girl, it was my thing.  

So while last week at this time I would have expected that today I would be completely embroiled in The 4400, I actually got somewhat sidetracked and have been watching Young Hercules most of the week...I have to say I am really enjoying the blast from the past.  It may be pure cheese, but that makes it no less entertaining.  So if you feel like watching a young leather-clad Ryan Gosling galivanting around fighting mischevious gods, head on over to Hulu.  Two caveats though--the episodes are listed all out of order on Hulu, but IMDB has them listed by air date, so you can use that as a reference if seeing things in a linear fashion is your preference.  Also, Hulu claims that the first season of this show is available on DVD and it totally isn't (or I would own it already).  What is available is the backdoor pilot for the series which was worked into the original Hercules series and stars some completely different actor as the young hero.  It may make the rest of the series make more sense, but it's not Ryan Gosling, so my interest is limited.  

Anyhoo.  I'll probably get back on track with The 4400 this week though, since I am about to start a big crochet project, and I can't really work on that while sitting in front of the laptop...

Also, saw the new Kevin Smith flick Zack and Miri Make a Porno as well as Madagascar:  Escape 2 Africa last night.  I enjoyed both very much.  November is kind of a crazy movie month.  I am also looking forward to Twilight and Bolt.  

Hey, I never actually claimed to have good taste...

You guys take care,

C

There might just be some life there yet...

So, I think I like the American version of Life on Mars so far.  I know, I am as surprised as anyone about that.  

Watching it is kind of like watching the Dresden Files television series after reading the books.  The core elements are the same, but everything is just shifted a bit.  The concept for an episode may have the same original origin, but the actual story that gets told is quite a bit different.  The characters you expect are there--but they don't necessarily look or act quite like you expect them to.  It's a little unsettling, but if you can just accept it, both can be enjoyed as completely separate entities.  Other than the same name and premise, one really doesn't have anything to do with the other.

The American producers have often said they plan to go in a completely different direction than the British series, and I wasn't too sure what they meant by that, but now it's a little more clear.  We do know that Sam isn't in the past for the same reasons in the new series as in the original, that much has been flat out stated.  So, not a coma.  American Sam is also reacting very differently, in my mind, to his situation than British Sam did, as far as figuring out what's going on and such.  Also, he is kind of strong-arming the others about his futureness in a very different way.  Whereas British Sam mostly just said, okay, let's try this type of police technique, because really, I swear it works (i.e., surveillance), American Sam tells his nemesis that Soylent Green is really people before said nemesis can see the movie and implores televised Nixon to just resign already.  

I am a little worried that because, so far, we have had many of the same origins for the episode plots there might still end up being a key party episode.  Oh dear God, please not.  Grr.  Sigh.  Though the honey-trap scene was so much better executed in the new version--at least if you discount the incongruity of that scene in the first place (with both versions--it just doesn't work with Sam Tyler--with who he is).  

I would agree with a lot of the critics' complaints that the show is spending way too much time pointing out what the producers feel like were the problems with America in the 70's (and using Sam's unique position to compare those issues with current-day events and ideaologies).  That's gonna get old.  But maybe the producers can get that out of their systems sooner rather than later and we'll all be better off.

My other big complaint about the show (and here I really differ with the critics) is how much they are playing up Lisa Bonet's role in the show.  Okay, yes, I know people are excited that she is back in television.  Great for her.  Here's the problem.  She is the modern day girlfriend of someone who is stuck in the past.  There's not going to be any place for her in this series except for in flashbacks unless they somehow decide to get her to time-travel back to Sam.  While I might be curious to see how that plot device would play out, I really don't think that's what's going to happen.  And you have to be very careful with flashbacks--I can't see where in this story Sam's relationship with Maya could be crucial to his current situation.  But then again, maybe I just lack vision.  I honestly just feel that if the producers wanted to make this Bonet's big return to television they should have either cast her in a bigger role or decided to make Maya some kind of spirit guide for Sam in his journey to the past (maybe in the vein of Al from Quantum Leap, perhaps), rather than using those nifty little robot toys to presage Sam's weird moments of import/clarity/realization with regards to his circumstances.  I'm just sayin.

However, for me, the "pros" column is definitely longer than the "cons" for sure.  My three favorite aspects, in no particular order, are:

-The complete and total lack of that creepy little girl in the television.  Good riddance!  

-Windy, the hippy neighbor who has just invited herself into Sam's life and is serving as his sounding board.  I am still not sure if she's real or just a hallucination of Sam's, but she rocks either way.

-The soundtrack.  They are really making excellent use of the wealth of good music that did manage to come about in that era.  I continue to be extremely impressed in that regard.

All in all, I am definitely along for the ride.  I don't think I'll be heartbroken if the show doesn't make it past the first season, but if it does, I will definitely be watching.  I am just crossing my fingers that the show runners understand that, differences or not, this is still a story that needs to have a pre-planned story arc and a definite ending in sight.  This show can not be good if they try to stretch it out for as many seasons as possible, it just can't.  It is a very story driven idea and the story has to have an ending.

That's my two cents.  Until next time, folks, 

C

Not much of anything...

I don't have a whole lot to say today.  Maybe it's just because I am in dire need of lunch, but my writing muse seems to have buggered off.

I had the day off from work on Thursday and I finally got to do my Star Wars marathon that I have been meaning to have since August.  I watched Episodes I, II, and III all in a row.  It was wonderful.  

I know most people didn't like them, but really there was no way that they were going to be able to live up to the originals because there were 20 + years in between the sets for people to build up their expectations.  

For my money, I just love them because I still think they're fun, even though I will admit they are much darker in tone than the original trilogy.  But anyone watching them is watching from a point of knowing that these three are leading us into the bad times that start off the original films, and things do get better from there.  So the darkness, in my mind, is necessary.  There are still plenty of spaceships and light saber fights and cool droids.  Plus you've got R2-D2 being awesome as always and Ewan MacGregor managing to make Obi-Wan Kenobi sexy.  Shouldn't be possible, totally is.

  My marathon did have one random side effect though.  It made watching the new Clone Wars episode last night a little odd.  The voices seemed more off to me than they normally do because I had so recently seen the actors they are trying to sound like.  Also it was just bizarre watching the clones be so essential to the fighting and so depended on, and liked, by the Jedi and the Republic.  I know that they are the foundation of the Storm Troopers, but still...I really was digging the clones.   It's a little harder to do though so fresh off of the "Execute Order 66" scene.  Oh well.  Probably by next week it will be okay again.  I hope so, cuz it looks like the next episode is very clone-centric.

Let's see, what else?  Oh, saw The Duchess Friday night.  I really enjoyed it.  Even though, as is usually the case with the very long and beautiful Kiera Knightly period pieces, I realized I had to pee a third of the way through, but being stubborn, waited until the film was over to go.  Ergh.  

Seriously though, it was a very good movie.  If you enjoy films like Gosford Park or Atonement, I highly recommend it.  Not necessarily if you're taking your friend out the night before she's getting married though...not a good "happy marriage" thoughts movie.  It definitely made me glad we no longer live in the era of arranged marriages, or of pre-20th century undergarments, come to think of it.

Anyway, lunch is calling my name.  I wish you all a spectacular week!

C

Wow...

So it has been a very long time since a television show has actually given me a jaw-dropping moment, but I had one this past Friday while watching Stargate Atlantis.  

(Major spoiler coming up if you haven't seen the episode and don't want to know what happened before you do).

The episode was the conclusion of a two-parter that involved Dr. Daniel Jackson coming to Atlantis (yay!) in search of Janus the Ancient's secret lab.  He enlists Rodney's help and they find the lab, only to accidentally alert some mysterious race on some far off planet to this fact when Rodney's ATA gene wakes up every device in the lab.

We join this episode with Rodney having realized what nasty side-effect is caused by the Ancient Wraith-destroying device he is forced to turn on by the mysterious aliens.   That side-effect is that all of the Stargates in the Pegasus galaxy will blow up when turned on while the device is running--as we found out in Atlantis.  Thankfully Sheppard and Zelenka were the only ones in the control room when the gate blew and they were able to take cover before that happened.  Meanwhile on the Daedalus Todd the Wraith has taken over the ship because he thinks the Lanteans lured his people into a trap in order to use this Ancient device on them, even though no one on the crew has any idea what is going on.  Keller and Ronon managed to avoid capture and are working to take back the ship.

So, really, a lot going on.  In the course of things everyone ends up at the planet that Rodney and Daniel were abducted to and it becomes a race to turn off the device/destroy the facility without killing the missing scientists in the process.  We even get to see the Travellers again, and not just Laren, but apparently another hot female ship captain.  Sheppard must really have it bad for Laren though because he doesn't even flirt with the new chick, just asks if Laren ever talks about him.  But Rodney and Daniel manage to turn off the device, while getting Daniel  pretty much electrocuted, Sheppard and the Travellers (with their very Kaylee-esque engineer) manage to save the Daedalus from its collision course with the planet, which it was put in by Todd as he and the other Wraith escaped in the 302's, leaving the humans to fend for themselves.  Then Woosley, in a particularly bad-ass moment (though maybe in a bit of overkill) has the facility bombed anyway once Daniel and Rodney are safely aboard the ship.  

Before escaping and doing their part to save the day however, Daniel and Rodney make the discovery that was the cause of my previously mentioned jaw-dropping.  Turns out the bad guys were Asgard.  Yeah, the little grey aliens are back, only these guys are much more evil than their now extinct counterparts that we in the Milky Way knew and loved.  I don't even know if evil is the right word.  Just selfish bastards really.  They wanted to turn on the Wraith destructo beam so they could move freely about the galaxy, even though they knew about the exploding Stargate side-effect of the device.  They don't use the Stargates, and what do a few million human lives matter if they can fly around without worrying about defending themselves from Wraith.  Seriously, did not see that coming.  Even Loki wasn't that bad.  He at least returned his victims back home with nothing more than a few disturbing memories.  

All in all this was a truly excellent episode.  It wasn't as predictable as it can be (not that I have a problem with that as long as it is entertaining), and Jackson makes an excellent addition to the Atlantis crew.  He and Rodney have a wonderful bit of screen chemistry going.  Sigh.  I know Shanks wants to move on past the role of Daniel Jackson but he's just so good at it.  Logically, in the world of these stories, Daniel Jackson ends up in Atlantis.  I just wish real life would let it work out that way too, but alas.  But I digress.  Seriously, it saddens me that this is the last season of Atlantis, because they seem to be finding a really awesome stride.  Of course, that could be only because it is the last season and they figure they don't have anything to lose.  

My other Friday night viewing was pretty enjoyable as well.  I felt like this episode of Sanctuary was maybe a little too full of information (seriously, ten minutes until the end of the episode I thought it would be a "to be continued" but then they managed to wrap everything up in those ten minutes), but it was still fun.  Next week begins brand new territory though and I am really looking foward to that.  I am also totally digging Clone Wars.  It is everything a Star Wars cartoon should be, IMO.  There are lots of space ship battles, lots of light-saber fights, lots and lots of expositional dialog that could be so much better written...plus there's R2-D2.  I love R2-D2.  

I was setting my DVR for this week and I see that a large chunk of my shows will not be coming on due to MLB on Fox.  But we do get a new Fringe at least.  Guess I'll be working through some DVDs this week maybe.  

I hope everyone is doing dandy.  Until next time!

C

Tentative "Hurrah!"

So, I actually kind of dug the first episode of American Life On Mars.  I am still withholding judgement though, because the first episode had to be pretty damn near spot on the original series' first episode just to set up the story.  I'll have to wait and see if I still like it once they've really started deviating from the original series.  Although at this point that is possibly a good thing, maybe it will be like BSG, take the idea but go your own direction with it...

At any rate, we'll see, won't we?  Fingers crossed that the deviation from the original series means excluding that whole key party episode entirely.  One can hope.

Happy Friday y'all.

Peace,

C

Sanctuary, Star Wars, and Geeks, oh my!

I have been so worthless this weekend.  I spent most of yesterday watching Birds of Prey and finished up the series.  Good stuff.  Sigh.  I would have been very curious to see how the series ended up progressing if it had been picked up for a second season.  I think that it would have been quite interesting to have Batman make a brief reappearance in New Gotham and have a showdown of sorts with Huntress.  I wonder if that ever happened in the comic?  Hmm...now I have a new comic series to think about getting into.  As if the forthcoming Farscape comics weren't enough.  

Did you catch the premiere of Clone Wars on Cartoon Network this weekend?  I really enjoyed it.  Like the movie, I felt it was just a nice bit of fun in the way that the original trilogy was.  There's nothing groundbreaking and no shocking new information, but it's characters we know (and sometimes love) just doing their thing.  It's pure entertainment with no higher value or deeper meaning.  Frankly, that's all I want out of a Star Wars cartoon.  Well, that and Yoda completely kicking droid butt.  Good stuff.  I will be continuing to watch this one.  Perfect weekend fodder.  

Also caught the premiere of Sanctuary on SciFi.  I loved it.  I don't know how many of you watched the web series when it was online a year and a half back, but I was really into it.  The television premiere was a much expanded and reworked version of the first eight webisodes--the central origin point of the story.  It was fascinating to see what they changed and what they kept the same, plus getting to see it on my big screen as opposed to my laptop was just wonderful.  

I have heard so many people complaining about Amanda Tapping's British accent on the show, and I have to say, I don't feel these people are actually watching the show.  I am no judge on how good or bad her accent may be, but honestly, I find it difficult to believe that such a trivial detail is what people are focusing on.  I mean, there is some really incredible special effects work going on (something like 90% + of the show is shot on green screen) and I think the story is very engaging.  But that could just be me.  Although apparently enough people felt the same way to get the web series promoted to a full-on television series.  

A few differences of note:  Kavan Smith's cop character was promoted to an actual detective, and from the way they were setting him up, I have hopes that he might make more appearances down the road.  Huzzah!  With Atlantis going away, I have to get my Lorne fix somewhere after all.  They did completely write out David Hewlett's psycho killer character, but I am hoping that means they may bring him back in a different role at a later date.  Much as I am hoping that the fact that the arms dealer, originally played by Peter Deluise, being recast means that said Deluise might be back later on in a different capacity as well.  Of course I am fully aware that most of the recasting probably had as much to do with who was available now as it does with changes to the story arcs and such.  I really am excited to see where it goes.  

One thing they kept the same that I have to say I am very happy about is Ryan Robbins' character of Henry.  He plays exactly the kind of tech guy/nerd/smartass that I just want to hug.  I love it.  You may know him better as Ladon Radim on Stargate Atlantis or from his appareances as the bartender on Battlestar Galactica.  I am happy to see him whenever he pops up, but I think his role on Sanctuary is my favorite.  I like him much more when he's not throwing Cylon collaborators out of an airlock or faking Lorne & team's deaths so he can do genetic research on them...

Also, looks like Christopher Heyerdahl's character of Jack the Ripper is going to be playing a much bigger part in the series than I originally would have guessed.  You've got to love a present day monster-series that includes Jack the Ripper.  From what I understand, they might even be bringing Sherlock Holmes in at some point.  Excellent.  Besides, Heyerdahl is just kind of an incredible actor.  I think he's probably good to have around.  Stargate fans know him as both Halling and Todd the Wraith from Atlantis.  He also did a stint on Smallville as Clark's crazy Kryptonian uncle Zor-El.  

That may be one of my favorite things about this series, honestly.  Aside from Amanda Tapping, the main roles are pretty much unknowns to me, but all of the guest and recurring characters are a veritable who's who of sci-fi actors.  It means more chances for me to get to play my little trivia game.  

Anyhoo, as you can tell, I was very pleased with the new product.  Looks like next week's episode wraps up the last of the stories told on the original online run, and after that we'll start to get into brand new territory.  I can't wait!

In other news, I did give The IT Crowd a shot and loved it.  It was a perfect combination of nerd and British humor.  So I will be adding that to my lineup.  Good thing Tuesday's aren't that crowded for me.  Also, it reminded me to be nicer to the IT guys at my office.  Seriously, it's a bad idea to get on the wrong foot with the people who make your computers function.  

And last but not least, my hubby and I have been making our way through Freaks and Geeks whenever we get the chance to watch some DVDs together.  We're up to episode six I think.  It baffles my mind how many brilliant shows just get killed before their time because they don't appeal to the Deal or No Deal crowd.  I think the networks have lost sight of the actual purpose that should be served by television and are just aiming to make money these days, apparently at the cost of their souls.  Sigh.  Okay, will end rant before it can get a full head of steam.  

It is a little weird (in a fun way) watching this show now that John Francis Daley is a regular on Bones.  In some ways I kind of feel like his character of Sam Weir on F&G could totally have grown up to be his character of Dr. Sweets on Bones.  I want to give them both a hug either way.  

Well, that's all I've got for you.  Methinks I will start watching season two of Eureka today.  I can get my Fargo fix so I'll last until the show comes back next year.

Take care all.

C

Digging myself out...

Well, a week of vacation during fall premiere season means I came back to a mountain of DVR'd programs waiting for me.  I have been wading my way through those, and will hopefully finish up tonight.  

I found out the Britcom "The IT Crowd" is premiering on IFC tonight, so I am going to give that one a try.  It sounds like it might be right up my alley and was recommended by a friend to boot.

I did catch a few movies while I was out of town.  

Burn After Reading:  

Loved it!  Brad Pitt may have some issues in his personal life, but the dude can act.  I love that he is equally at home being the suave action star, the sexy chick-flick hero, and the affable doofus.  Obviously he opted for doofus in this one, and man it worked.  This is a great story about how things can spiral out of control so easily, as well as how you never really realize just how connected everyone you know is to everyone else you know.  It takes a fairly dark turn about 2/3 of the way through but still manages not to lose any of its humor.  Also, J.K. Simmons may just be one of my heroes.  He can be Skoda or Pope on the serious procedureal shows, but he has no problem turning around doing something off the cuff like Juno or Burn After Reading.  If you like the Big Lebowski, you'll love Burn After Reading.  It's that kind of awesome.

Sex and the City the movie:

Liked it okay.  I am starting to get jaded by the contrivances television and movies come up with to keep couples apart, because apparently they think that's the only interesting type of story for the audiences.  But other than that I did enjoy this film.  It was basically just a long episode of the series.  We got to catch up with our favorite characters, find out what they've been up to, and see where they're going now.  Good stuff.  Probably if you enjoyed the series, you'll like the movie.

Everything Is Illuminated:

Wow.  This is a quirky story about a young Jewish man (played by Elijah Wood, who is incredible in the role) who travels to the Ukraine to try to find the woman that helped his grandfather get to America during WWII.  The plot itself draws from rather serious material, and the events that unfold are also in that vein, but the film manages to still retain a very light and enjoyable tone.  There is so much heart in this movie.  It also gives a very interesting perspective on how the Jews who stayed in Eastern Europe coped (or didn't) with what happened during the war.  It's based on a novel, and I think it's a true story, so I would be curious to read the source material.  History buffs and people who enjoy movies that make them think will probably dig this one.

That's about all I've got for you this week.  

Is anyone else digging the new season of Heroes?  I have now seen the first two (technically 3) episodes and I have to say I kind of feel like it's back.  I know that not everyone is sharing my opinion though, because Looking For Group's creator was expressing his disappointment in a post today.  But I honestly have been pretty pleasantly surprised so far.  Of course, I've also been enjoying Smallville, so I am not entirely sure what that says about me....

'Til next time folks,

C

Maybe it's a little derivative...

I read an interesting article over on SyFyPortal the other day.  The writer was discussing the fact that he makes it a personal mission to watch everything even remotely genre related that comes out in order to support the continuation of sci-fi on television.  He was discussing the new season and laying out which shows he will watch live and which ones he will watch later that night on his DVR and which ones he'll just hold off until he's got a few he can watch in a block, et cetera.  

I was highly amused by this article, not the least because one of my first thoughts was, "Oh yay, I'm not the only one that has this problem!"  Or not even problem per se, but more just the fact that I'm glad I'm not the only person around who is so methodical about how they approach their television viewing.  I was actually doing something similar not too long ago when I realized all of the new television shows were coming back.  Of course, I don't solely watch genre shows, and I don't watch every genre show, so my list definitely looks a bit different than his does.  Really my only crazy night is Monday, although Thursday is kind of full as well.  

So I thought I'd throw my two cents on the table and give a rundown of what my viewing schedule looks like this season.  

Sunday:  

Family Guy on Fox, and that's it.  I like this show, but for some reason I always need to psych myself up to watch it.  Also, this is one I prefer to watch with my husband if possible.  So this is one I'll probably watch live sometimes, if I am thinking about it and not otherwise engaged when it comes on, otherwise I'll just DVR it and catch it later.

Monday: 

7 PM--Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother on CBS, Sarah Connor Chronicles on Fox, and Chuck on NBC.  As you can see, that's three things at once for a whole hour, and I still have the DVR that will only record two.  So, conundrum.  I had to think about whether it would be SCC or Chuck that gets watched online, as I learned last season that on Monday nights I am going to be most likely to want to watch the CBS comedies live.  Eventually I had to relegate Chuck to internet viewing because SCC is just a show that needs to be watched on a big screen.  

8 PM--Heroes on NBC and Boston Legal on ABC.  I'll probably watch Heroes live and catch Boston Legal on the DVR.  I wasn't 100 % impressed by Heroes season two, but I didn't think it was nearly the disaster everyone else seemed to believe it was, so I think I am sticking with this one live for now.

Tuesday:  

7 PM--Coupling on BBC America.  This show is in reruns (of course, as it is no longer airing) but sometime over the summer it has become pretty much my favorite sitcom ever, so I will be watching this live if I can, though it is just as good recorded.  

8 PM--Fringe on Fox.  Loving.  This.  Show.  Will, of course, be watching live.  

9 PM--Eli Stone on ABC.  This is a cute quirky show and I can't wait to see where the second season goes.  I will probably end up watching live, but as my self-imposed bedtime on work nights is 10 PM, I may end up catching this one later some weeks.

Wednesday:

7 PM--Bones on Fox.  Will be watching this one live, of course.  I will probably use Wednesday as my mid-week catch up night to watch all of my DVR'd shows around this one.

Thursday:

7 PM--My Name is Earl on NBC and Smallville on the CW.  Wow, this is a toughie.  Unless season four of earl is way better than season three was, I probably don't want to watch this one live, and I really don't like 30 Rock, so if I do watch live, I've got nothing to do until 8.  I was surprisingly not completely nonplussed by Smallville's season opener this week though, so probably I will watch this one live until it just gets too stupid to bear and I don't watch anything live in the 7 o'clock hour.  

8 PM--The Office on NBC and Grey's Anatomy on ABC.  Okay, yeah, The Office may be one of my favorite shows, but GA, as soapy as it is, just makes me happy, so probably I'll watch that one live.  Also, I love watching The Office with my hubby, so that may become a Sunday afternoon view.  

9 PM--Life on Mars on ABC.  I am going to try it.  We'll see.  May or may not watch live, depending on if it's any good at all as well as how pooped I am.  

Friday:

8 PM--Sanctuary on SciFi.  Oh, huzzah!  It looks like they're airing the reworking of the two original online episodes as the opener, and then everything after that will be all new.  I am truly excited about this show, both to get to see it on a bigger screen, and to get to see more of it.  

9 PM--Stargate Atlantis on SciFi.  Sigh, it's the last season, but they're running it all the way through, most likely to be replaced by the concluding chapters of Battlestar Galactica in January.  But yeah, unless I'm out actually having a life, I'll be there watching it.  

Saturday:

8 PM--Primeval on BBC America.  This show is just fun.  I think they're just running seasons one and two all the way through and then I don't know what.  Hopefully either new episodes of the shortened Torchwood season three or new episodes of Primeval season three if there is one, or perhaps they'll run Merlin for us.  Because, man am I excited about that and I sure hope it comes to BBCA.  

So there you go.  Wow, don't you think I need to get a life now?  I mean, obviously, I do have the DVR so should I wish to go out and do stuff or actually be social, I can just record and watch later.  Though weekends are usually catch-up and DVD territory.  

I can say things will definitely get interesting in January when Burn Notice, Psych, Monk, the Closer, Eureka, and maybe In Plain Sight all come back from hiatus.  Ooh boy.  Then will the juggling begin.  Plus Dollhouse and Scrubs.  Of course, I am sure some shows will get put on a break, moved around, or even canceled by then, so maybe there will be room for everyone.  

Anyhoo, there's not a whole lot else going on.  I have been blazing through DVDs this week (watched all of Jericho and Psych's second seasons and started on Birds of Prey).  At this point I am just procrastinating packing for my trip.  Mostly because I know the cats are all laying on top of the clothes I laid out, maliciously making sure we remember them while we're gone via cat hair.  Sigh.  

I guess I am off to do that.  Hope you guys have a fantastic week!

Ciao,

C

Fire up the DVR...

Because fall premiere season is here.  

Mostly just on Fox, but the other networks are starting to wake up too. 

Monday saw the return of The Terminator:  Sarah Connor Chronicles.  I really enjoyed it.  They are doing a good job of setting up where the new season will go.  We also had some interesting character pair ups in this venture--Derek and Charlie working together to find the Connors, the FBI agent whose name I have forgotten with Cromartie.  I think the thing that I love about this series (and about the Terminator franchise in general) is that there is so much wriggle room because at heart it is a time-travel story.  The characters and the audience have been told "this is what the future is, now we have to try to change it."  But there is no way to know if the actions they take will be able to prevent the cataclysm or if it is those very events that actually bring the apocalypse on.  Trippy.  Gotta love it.  I can't see how anyone who isn't a fan of the Terminator movies could possibly get into this show, but other than that, I think it has real promise.  I don't know where it's going, but I'm in the car and I'm willing to enjoy the ride for now.

Tuesday we got the series premiere of Fringe.  I have to say, I wasn't honestly expecting too much, but I really dug it.  If you missed it and are at all interested, Fox is reairing it tonight.  I really enjoyed the set up of bringing the cast together.  I already find myself interested in getting to know these characters better.  Plus, there' s a cow.  The show has gotten some flak about the cow, but I for one think it's a nice little dose of humor, and I am all for running jokes.  Besides, I think a lab cow makes for a much better visual element than lab mice, and monkeys fling their poo.  Most of the reviews I have read in the aftermath of the episode haven't been too big on the show, but everyone I've talked to that watched it loved it, so take that as you will.  I haven't seen any of Lost, but a friend who is a big fan reacted to the first episode by saying "J. J.'s back!"  So there you go.

This week Smallville returns.  Sigh.  I will be watching, but my hopes, they are not up.  Still, they are going to have Clark and Lois working together at the planet, and I believe they are adding the Green Arrow to the full cast, so maybe there is some hope.  At least one hot guy who's not whiny.  

On the DVD side, I wrapped up watching Degrassi The Next Generation season six last night.  About halfway through the season, I felt like the show had to be coming to an end, so imagine my surprise when a quick IMDB search revealed that not only was there a season seven, but that season eight is scheduled to air this fall.  What?  Sigh.  Season seven made a little more sense after I finished this one, because it only ran for half of a school year, but I am a little dubious of where they are going to go with season eight.  We are fast approaching "Saved by the Bell the College Years" or 90210 after everyone "grew up" (yeah, that's in quotes, if you watched the show, you know why).  Please, Canada, don't let this become your Smallville!

Sigh, well, that's about all I got for you today.  

Have a good one!

C

You know, culture.

I haven't done too much television watching this weekend.  My husband treated me to a special surprise on Friday night that turned out to be a local stage performance of West Side Story, which is my favorite musical ever.

I was really impressed with the show.  If you're in the DFW area and you love a good musical, go check it out if you get the chance.  It's showing at the Lyric Stage in Irving and runs through September 14.  

They are using the original choreography, which is pretty spiffy.  Man, every time I watch West Side Story, be it on stage or the film adaptation, I am always a little surprised with how balletic it is.  It actually usually drives me crazy for the first fifteen minutes or so until I get completely wrapped up in the story and forget to be annoyed that street thugs are dancing like Baryshnikov.  

This crew had it together though.  I was very impressed by the entire cast (even though it took me a little bit to get won over by Tony), and the minimalist set designs were used to perfection.  Good stuff.

As if that wasn't enough, last night we got to go to the Maroon 5/Counting Crows concert out at the Coca-ColaSmirnoffStarSuperPagesPlex.com Center (if you're not from DFW, don't ask).  The concert was phenomenal, I have to say.  We caught Maroon 5 on the side stage at Edgefest several years back and they put on such an outstanding show.  I am pleased to say that blowing up into huge superstardom has not detracted from that at all.  In fact, now we have the added bonus of cool laser effects.  And then Counting Crows...wow.  There are many reasons I love this band, let me tell you.  Every show is so completely different.  They went pretty mellow for this set.  We got an incredible rendition of Anna Begins, a gorgeous Long December, and a very pretty Mr. Jones.  Then they ramped it up a little bit for the end, and they had the opening act, August Ana (who I was also very impressed by) come out and help them for the encore, which was Rain King.  Man, that was freaking incredible.  I was hoping someone would have it up on YouTube by now so I could link to it, but I don't see anything.  The show just flew by.  I couldn't believe it was over when the lights came on.  

So as you can tell, I've had a pretty darn good weekend, entertainment-wise.  In the DVD world, I've got one disc left of Crossing Jordan's freshman season, which I am hoping to finish up today.  I have got to say, I am finding it pretty surprising.  I started watching the show about halfway through season three, I think.  So going back and watching it from the beginning is truly an interesting experience.  It amazes me how overplayed some of the characters seem at the beginning--for example Jordan really needs to be smacked on several occasions she is so rebellious, and Woody is just so sweet and innocent hometown boy I am not sure what to think.  Knowing that the characters, and the show itself, do eventually find their groove and are able to settle down a bit has been reasurring to me though.  Once I was able to get over that element I have been able to enjoy the season for what it is.  I wish that Mahershalalhashbaz Ali's character had stuck around, because I am really digging him, but I guess I can't begrudge him leaving, since it meant he was off to be in The 4400.  It's nice to see some stuff from later seasons getting set up (such as Bug and Lily), and freaky to see some of the places that they tried to go at the beginning (such as Macy and Lily--ew).  You never know what you're going to get when you go back to the beginning of a show that you stumbled into the middle of, but in this case, I'd say it's not too shabby.  

The fall season has started to kick in, most notably on Fox.  I guess they are getting their shows started early to make room for all of the American Idol interruptions to come (boo).  Bones started up this past Wednesday.  It was an interesting episode, but it defintely was the stand alone it was intended to be.  Nothing terribly exciting happened.  I did enjoy the guest stint by Indira Varma though.  It will be interesting to see what kind of seasonal story arc gets set up in this week's episode.  

Sarah Connor Chronicles start back up tomorrow, yay!  And Tuesday I think I am going to give Fringe a try.

I hope you all enjoy your week and wish you good viewing.

Laters, 

C

I mean, really, who needs narcotics?

Not me, not when there are shows like Twin Peaks out there.

Agent Dale Cooper:
"Harry, I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange."

I just finished watching this brilliant epic last night. Wow, what a strange and bizarre ride.

From the series finale, it seems pretty clear to me that the creators didn't know that they weren't going to get renewed for a third season, and so I wasn't entirely satisfied with the ending, but other than that, I have to say that I enjoyed this series a whole lot more than I expected to.

The whole story revolves around this strange small town of Twin Peaks, Washington and how it is forever changed by the murder of beloved high school student Laura Palmer. Season one and the first half of season two focus mainly on the investigation of Laura's murder. I addition to the local law enforcement, FBI Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) has been sent to the town to work on the case, as it bears strong resemblance to another murder the FBI had previously investigated (and clearly not solved). It seems like everyone in town has some sort of involvement in the case, and at the very least, everyone knows something about Laura Palmer that they aren't telling. In addition to the central storyline, there are enough affairs, devious plots, shady business deals, and teen angst moments to keep any soap opera busy for a decade. If that wasn't enough, there are also then the giants, homicidal spirits, possible aliens, bizarre shared dreams, and mythical Native American entrances to the next world(s). And every freaking thing seems to be somehow connected to every other freaking thing. Plus, the police sheriff's name is Harry S. Truman, and there's a lady with a log.

Seriously, I could probably watch this series two more times through and still not be clear on everything that's going on. I'll confess I never watched the X-Files, but I am convinced this show paved the way for that one to have any chance on the air. I am equally convinced that if someone had tried to pitch this show to a network today, they would have been shot down cold. It is just plain weird. But weird doesn't mean bad. I'll admit to approaching this show with a skeptical outlook, but while it took me most of the first season, I did find myself utterly hooked by the end. I can totally understand why people still talk about trying to revive this show (though I honestly don't think it will ever happen).

Story aside, this series had an absolutely phenomenal cast. I've never really cared for Kyle MacLachlan, my previous exposure to him had mostly consisted of his role as Charlotte's first husband on Sex and the City. But his stint as Dale Cooper has given me a newfound appreciation for the actor. As strange as I found the character, he was played with such an affable quirky honesty that I couldn't help but like him, and respect the actor for playing him.

Other series regulars included the likes of Piper Laurie, a disturbingly healthy looking Lara Flynn Boyle, Don S. Davis (playing an Air Force Major engaged in "deep space telemmetry"--i.e., looking for aliens, beautiful), Mary Jo Deschanel (mother to Emily and Zooey), Ray Wise, Russ Tamblyn, and Kimmy Robertson.

Then we have the guest stars--Billy Zane, Heather Graham, Miguel Ferrer, Robyn Lively (Teen Witch!), Royce D. Applegate, Ted Raimi, Willie Garson, and of course David Duchovny. And these lists are just people I recognized from things.

With all of the people running around Twin Peaks, there was truly a character for everyone. I think my two favorite regular characters were Deputies Andy and Hawk. They just really seemed to flesh things out for me. My favorite guest character, was, of course, David Duchovny's cross-dressing DEA agent. That guy has done some weird stuff, but this was perhaps the most awesome, IMHO. I also enjoyed Miguel Ferrer's condescending FBI agent as well.

As weird as it was, I am truly glad that I watched this series. I am definitely going to have to watch it again, though not any time soon. I need some time away from the oddness. Next up, Crossinng Jordan season one. Hey...more Miguel Ferrer!

Keep on trucking y'all. See you next week,
C

Dude...

Oh, huzzah and happy day. I09 just posted the best little story blurb.

Go check it out here.

Sweet!

In other news, totally hooked on Twin Peaks. David Duchovny in a dress makes me happy for no explainable reason.

Okay, when even I think someone needs to get a life...

That's a pretty bad sign. Sigh.

So, as I mentioned earlier this week, Sci-Fi/MGM has announced that the current season of Stargate Atlantis will be its final season. It will wrap up in January (just in time for the second half of the final season of BSG to air) and we've been promised a two hour television movie sometime later in 2009 to wrap up the cliff-hanger ending (I'm going with the majority of the reports on this one, though one interview I've read did hint that the telemovie won't really do much in the way of wrapping up story lines). There's also the chance that if the telemovie does well we'll get at least one, and maybe more, direct to DVD movies. In conjunction with/on the heels of this announcement, Sci-Fi/MGM has given the green light to the third Stargate television series, Stargate Universe, planned to premiere in 2009.

Yes, I wish that they would keep Atlantis going forever, it's my favorite show. I'm kind of bummed to think that I won't get to tune in every Friday to find out what McKay and Sheppard are getting up to anymore. Frankly, it sucks. But am I jumping on the bandwagon to join the "Save Our Show" campaign? Am I throwing a fit and stating that I am going to stop watching Sci-Fi once the series' run is completed? Will you hear me damning Stargate Universe before it even airs just because it's probable a big reason SGA wasn't renewed is to give this show a chance to air? Do I think that the heads of Sci-Fi/MGM are the most evil people in existence and in need of verbal castration on every message board I can find?

The answer, my friends, to all of the above questions, is a resounding NO. Geez. It. Is. Just. Television. And this is me saying that, for Pete's sake. Television shows end. And as much as I hate to see this particular one go, I would much rather see it do so while it is still popular enough that we have the chance for the telemovies and direct to DVD films. As long as the actors are still in, we've still got a shot at continuing the story. The show runners aren't going to go the Battlestar route and kill everyone on the way out, they're leaving the door open so we can always return to the story. Plus, we are getting a new chapter in the Stargate world, and though Universe's premise might mostly preclude this, we still have the possibility of finding out what our favorite characters are up to from time to time on the new show. Atlantis certainly didn't have a ban on mentioning SG-1 people and events.

It didn't even take me two days worth of emails before I had to unsubscribe from my Stargate email group. I figure with my feed subscriptions to SyFy Portal, I09, and Gateworld I can get all the news about Atlantis' remaining run and Universe's upcoming reign without the commentary. I just have to avoid the comments on the stories I read, which shouldn't be too hard. (Knock on wood.) I guess what it comes down to is that I am just so freaking disappointed by the vitriol I am seeing in the wake of this announcement. It's not just that people are upset, it's that they are throwing hissy fits, and inappropriate ones at that. Blame is being leveled at Sci-Fi channel, which is just a distributor, and has no control over whether or not MGM wants to continue making the show. Blame is being thrown on the new show, when I don't see how we can fault the show runners and MGM for a) wanting to keep the franchise "fresh," and b) keeping costs down and quality up by only producing one show at a time. And most of the things people are saying are just plain mean. It's not as if we're entitled to anything from these guys. We're kind of lucky that they are still willing to give us anything Stargate after 12 years of this stuff. Fans get so possessive of their shows, and it is rather scary, and again, for perspective on how bad it is out there, this is me being scared by the level of show obsession.

Even many of the people who are organizing efforts to "save" the show are in need of some serious anger management training. And they are darn militant about the whole thing. Clearly they've never heard about catching more flies with honey. Sigh, not that honey will do much good in this case. Yeah, the cancellation was a surprise to the fans, but apparently not to anyone else. The studio clearly has been thinking that this would likely be Atlantis' last season and that Universe would take the stage next year. That's the only explanation behind how organized and efficient the whole process has been. It's not like we haven't been hearing about Universe for a while, and it's also not like it hasn't been mentioned that it probably wouldn't start airing until Atlantis had finished its run. We probably should have seen this coming, honestly. I know I optimistically ignored those tidbits when I came across them.

Also, there's a huge bright side here that people seem to be missing. Knowing that the series isn't coming back gives us a chance at a much more satisfying ending. I know that the season finished filming before the announcement was made (though as I've indicated, I would guess most of the people producing/writing the show had an inkling the end was near), but they haven't started on the telemovie yet, so they are getting the chance to go out on their own terms. This isn't going to be another Smallville, folks, and that is a GOOD thing. Do we really want Atlantis to keep going until we can't stand it anymore? I sure don't. There are plenty of people out there who think SG-1 should have ended after season 8 (I'm not one of them, but I didn't start watching until season 9, so that shades my view a bit). I would much rather have a show end thinking it went out too early than that it went on too long, wouldn't you?

So yeah, I am going to miss Atlantis. A LOT. But I will have every season (and any of the following movies) on DVD to watch whenever I want. I also have no doubt that the good people over at Stargate Novels will keep writing Atlantis stories for at least a few years to come. I highly recommend their books. They've got a good crew of writers, and each novel is like a new episode that you've never seen before, with the ability to do a little bit more than the television show can because they don't have any pesky special effects budgets to worry about. Also, we're getting the game soon too. I know for a lot of people that doesn't mean anything, but for some of us, that will be a good way to stay in the 'gate, so to speak. I'm definitely going to give Stargate Universe a try. I think that TPTB behind SG-1 and Atlantis have more than earned my loyalty for at least that much effort.

And so ends the rant.

Have a good one folks,
C

Well, damn.

Man, I had a wonderful few days out of town and I get back and decide to check my email and one of the first things I find in my inbox is an announcement that Sci-Fi has declined to pick up Stargate Atlantis past the current fifth season. Grr. Argh. They are stating that there will definitely be one telemovie and promising even further straight to DVD movies a la SG-1's recent route. My fingers are crossed that these movies will actually happen. It won't be the same as getting to tune in every Friday with my favorite characters though.

I am enjoying the current season immensely, and I guess I'll just have to make the most of what I get. I hope the show-runners do the same!

Geez, add that to the announcement about the new Harry Potter movie getting bumped from this November to next July and it's kind of been a disappointing week on the entertainment front.

I think I need to go watch The Closer to cheer myself up...

Laters,
C

The summer show you should be watching...

Is totally Burn Notice.

USA has episodes online. Go check it out.

If you like heist movies or spy movies, or are just interested in seeing a lot of explosions and hot chicks with guns, or Bruce Campbell with guns...you know, whatever floats your boat...this show has got it for you.

Also, I have to say, I am absolutely LOVING Michael Shanks as an evil ex-spy. I want him to be in many more episodes.

I'm out,
C

I really couldn't have said it better myself...

So if you read this blog on at least a semi-regular basis, you'll know my love-hate conundrum with Smallville. I09 just posted a phenomenal article suggesting how to make the show good again.

Give it a gander here. At the very least, it will make you laugh. I can only hope the new show runners are I09 readers.

~*~

In unrelated news, I just finished reading Breaking Dawn, the final book in the Twilight Saga. It. Was. Absolutely. Phenomenal. If you love vampire lore and aren't put off by teen angst, seriously, go check it out. You can definitely bet I'll be reviewing the film when it comes out this winter.

Peace y'all,
C

Primeval

Okay, so I just finished watching the premiere episode of Primeval, and I have to say I'm pretty impressed.

Here's my recap (spoilers abound):

We start out with a lady being chased through a grocery store parking lot by a dinosaur and then we flash to "eight years later" where we meet a professor of paleontology trying to brush off one of his fanatic students who is convinced that there is some kind of beasty running around in the Forest of Dean that the professor should investigate. Of course, as soon as he mentions that particular location, the prof's ears perk up. Turns out that lady we saw at the beginning was his wife, and she disappeared eight years ago after investigating something near the Forest of Dean. Hmm...

Next we meet a zoo keeper, specialty lizards, who has just been laid off. On her way out, she sees a letter to the zoo complete with picture of a boy with an exotic looking lizard and decides to go check it out. Guess where the boy lives? You got it, right next to the Forest of Dean. So Abby (the lizard lady) goes to meet Ben (the boy) and his flying lizard, Rex. Abby gets very excited and tells Ben she thinks he may have stumbled across a new species. She asks Ben to take her to the place in the forest where he found Rex, and off we go.

Meanwhile the professor (Cutter) and his assistant and student are checking out the claims of a "monster" attack near the forest. The cynical professor starts to believe some kind of predator may really be out there once all of the evidence starts to pile up. His crew is joined by Claudia, a rep from the Home Office sent to confirm that the monster sighting was actually a hoax.

In the forest, both groups stumble upon some dead cows that have been flung up into the branches of some trees, and they all are more than a little concerned by this. Ben freaks out and runs for home when he and Abby come across the dead cows (with their tongues hanging out of their mouths, I love it). Abby quickly loses him in the forest.

On his way home Ben stumbles across some glowy lights and promptly sticks his face inside them. Ahh, the impetuousness of youth. In the lights he sees a different world, complete with a whole flock of lizards just like Rex. He is startled by some noises in the brush when he comes back to the forest and continues running on home, managing to cut his hand on a thorn just as he is leaving the forest.

Abby meanwhile has realized there is something large in the forest and that Rex is able to sense it and run from it. While avoiding the big scary, she encounters a not-quite-Triceratops as well as Professor Cutter's group. While they're all oohing and ahhing over the dinosaur they've found (and while Claudia is getting the government involved), the other dinosaur (a cross between a Tyrannosaur and a saber-tooth tiger) tracks Ben's blood and tries to snatch him right out of his bedroom. Ben manages to keep out of the dino's claws. Despite all of the noise and the huge mess, Ben's parents are inclined to believe that it's all Abby's fault that he trashed his room and is blaming it on a dinosaur. Now that the government is involved, Cutter and Abby can't admit that Ben is probably telling the truth, so they have to act like he's just imagining things. Poor kid.

Ben does mention that while in the forest he "saw into the past," leading Cutter and his group to discover the light show in the forest. They actually end up chasing the Triceratops back through the lights and quickly determine that they are in fact a portal to the past, to the Permian era, to be exact. The good old government is inclined to think that since they chased the dino back through the portal, as long as they keep it contained there is no more problem. The scientists of course disagree. Clearly the dino they chased back was a herbivore, and herbivores don't exactly go around attacking semis or tossing cows into trees (or attacking little boys in their bedrooms). General consensus is that there's another dinosaur on the loose, and a dangerous one at that.

Here our party splits up again. Cutter, Abby, and Claudia head back to Home Office with Rex to discuss the situation and see what they can find about the prehistoric lizard. Cutter's assistant (I think his name is Steven, but don't hold me to that) and student (I totally never caught his name) remain in the forest to try to track the other dino. After finding a footprint they are able to figure out what they're dealing with, thanks to the student's comprehensive dino database that he has compiled with his lack of life leading up to the show. Steven manages to track the creature, who has been continuing to hunt poor Ben while managing not to be seen by anyone but the poor kid. So Ben's in detention for telling lies and a dinosaur comes to get him, and of course the teacher doesn't believe him, until the dinosaur makes his attack, that is. Steven is able to distract the creature, saving Ben and his teacher, but gets himself knocked out in the process and our big bad runs off again.

Back at Home Office, Abby and Cutter have managed to convince the government agents that they don't know how to deal with Rex (with some help from the lizard himself). Cutter also has come to believe that the portal has everything to do with the disappearance of his wife eight years ago and says he's going in, no matter what. So they agree to let him go through and take Rex back to where he belongs.

On the other side, Cutter finds his missing wife's camera along with evidence that other humans have been through the portal--and have, in fact, been camping there, though the pile of human remains show that they weren't terribly successful at that part. The remains are all male, so Cutter knows they're not his wife's and has hope that she may still be alive. He is resolved to stay in the past until he finds her but the very practical soldier they sent along convinces him to go back through, especially once they realize the portal is starting to disappear. They make it back through just in time for the portal to disappear. Of course right at that moment, the big bad comes racing through the forest trying to attack everyone--and Steven comes roaring in and hits it with an SUV. We also learn that Rex came back through the portal on his own, so he is stranded in our time now.

The show wraps up with Cutter stating that even though the portal has closed, there is evidence that there may have been other portals and they need to find out what is causing them to happen. He doesn't think it's over. And he's right. Back in his office, someone stealthily creeps in to leave him some creature in a shell. He gives chase and catches a fleeting glimpse of a woman who looks eerily like his wife before she disappears into the darkness.

My initial reaction is one of enjoyment. The first episode had an excellent balance of action, humor, effects, and science. If it can keep that up, then there is real potential. The formula is pretty basic--looks like we've got a monster of the week type scenario, along with an over-arching conspiracy/mystery story line. But there's nothing wrong with a basic formula if the story itself is original and entertaining enough, and this one looks like it just may be. They have set the stage for some pretty decent character interaction and development. I am quite curious to see where this goes.

I do hope they keep Ben around, he certainly earned it with all of the crap he put up with in the episode. But I kind of get the feeling he may have just been the victim of the week, so to speak. Also, I see some dangerous creature-hunting ahead, so I am not too sure what there would be for him to actually do. Sigh.

My favorite moment of the episode:
While Rex is loose in the Home Office, he ducks into an elevator to avoid recapture and during the ride he is just sitting there bobbing his head along with the muzak. Priceless.

Primeval airs on BBC America on Saturdays at 8 p.m. (Central Time). If you missed the first episode, they are airing it again before the new episode this coming Saturday, so just tune in an hour earlier.

Until next time, keep watching, and take care,
C

For Pony!

Okay, so I didn't watch a whole lot of television this week because I went to a baseball game and a rock show and have gotten completely sucked into the Twilight saga books. Imagine that, I kind of have a life sometimes. Wow.

Anyhoo, anything I would write about has been completely overshadowed by the Jimmy Neutron/Fairly Oddparents crossover episode my husband is currently watching. This is the most bizarre thing I have ever seen.

Though a villain named Shirley who whats to be your arch-friend is an amusing concept.

I did record the premier of Primeval on BBC America and plan to watch that this afternoon. If I remember I'll put a review of that up tonight or tomorrow to make it up to you for this lack of post.

Until then, I leave you with this thought:

FOR PONY!

Laters,
C

Well, darn...

Man, I could not feel less motivated to write my blogs today. I suck.

I will say this, I saw The Dark Knight on Tuesday and it was fantastic. I really enjoy Christopher Nolan's take on Batman. It's the right level of dark and contains a good dose of realism without losing sight of the fact that it is still a comic book story. This version goes nowhere near the level of ridiculous that we got with 90's string of Batman movies. My favorite element I think is still how they do such a good job of showing that each of Batman's gadgets is rooted in real (or possible) technology/contraptions.

Stargate Continuum also made my view list this week. I thought it was phenomenal. I think people who don't enjoy or get the Stargate universe in general probably would have thought it was silly, but I feel like fans of the show were definitely given something they could truly love. I am the first to admit I'm a sucker for stories involving alternate realities and timelines, so this was honestly built to appeal to me anyway. Despite that I really felt that it was an excellent story and a great addition to the franchise. If you enjoy Stargate in any of its flavors, go check it out, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

The new episode of Eureka was pretty fun. We got a nifty little Cylon reference that made me smile, and Dr. Parrish from Stargate Atlantis popped up--I hope we see more of his character, I think he could be a good addition to the world of Eureka, seems like he had the right kind of heart to fit in. Also, there was a good dose of Larry bashing, so I am always on board with that (though I admit was a bit freaked out for a second when I thought they'd killed him--I don't want it to go that far), especially because he totally deserved it this time. I am a bit nervous about how they are shoehorning Degree deodorant into the story as part of some new sponsorship deal. I am hearing some disturbing rumors on that front, but I guess I will just have to wait and see and cross my fingers (and possibly my toes) that it won't be as bad as it sounds.

Other than that I've spent the week being pretty much immersed in either reading the Twilight books (I just finished New Moon and am probably going to start Eclipse today) or in playing the Star Wars RPG Knights of the Old Republic. In fact, as soon as I finish this post and do one other chore, I am off to play the game...

So that's what's going on in my world. I did watch bits and pieces of the Robin Hood season finale last night. I was hanging out with my friends so we didn't have our attention completely tuned in until the big twist at the end. After seeing that I am kind of hoping it was the series finale because the heart of the show is kind of gone for me now. I recorded it so I'll probably have to watch while actually paying attention later today and see what the heezy was actually going on. I do definitely think I am going to give Primeval a try next week when it takes over Robin Hood's time slot, it looks interesting to say the least.

Well, I am off to try to level up my scoundrel some more. My husband says I get a very R2-D2 like droid to join my party soon, huzzah!

Take care all,
C

Not a whole lot going on...

I don't know that I have a whole lot to say this week. Let's see...

Saw Hellboy II Thursday night and enjoyed it immensely. The SFX were just incredible and the humor was just perfect for me. I missed the voice talents of David Hyde Pierce as Abe, but I totally get why he stepped back from the film, and Doug Jones really didn't do a bad job. So that was fun.

I'm going to see The Dark Knight on Tuesday and I'm pretty stoked about that. Also on Tuesday Stargate Continuum comes out, so that's sweetness. We ALSO get new episodes of Eureka on Tuesday. Man, should be a good day all around I guess.

Excellent episodes of Stargate Atlantis, Pysch, and Monk on Friday. I was slightly ticked that for an episode based on a 1995 class reunion they kept playing remixes of 80's songs and making Breakfast Club references on Psych. Mostly because I don't know what was up with that, but oh well.

Doctor Who was frakking PHENOMENAL this week. It was the first of the two part season finale, so I really can't wait to see how that wraps up. Everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE was in it. We were just missing River Song. I guess they decided that if we aren't going to get another new full season until 2010, they wanted to go out with a bang.

I was hit with the compulsion to buy a buttload of musicals from Amazon this week. I got West Side Story, The Sound of Music, Hello Dolly, Guys and Dolls, the Music Man, and My Fair Lady. Yeah. I realized yesterday though that I should have grabbed Calamity Jane while I was at it, but there's always the next time I go insane...

So that's what I've been up to, television and movie-wise.

I hope you've all had a great week and have another one on the way.

Peace out,
C

Great, now it's stuck in my head...

Well, I went and saw Mamma Mia! last night. It was completely ridiculous, but man I laughed my bum off the entire dang time. So, it was the amusing kind of ridiculous.

The casting was just excellent, and I think that is really what saved this movie from making me wish I had money back. I think something like 99.999% of the humor was more physical or in the way the actor delivered the line than in anything else. I mean seriously, you've got Meryl Streep playing opposite Colin Firth, AND Pierce Brosnan, AND Stellan Skarsgard. Plus, even though I couldn't get past the fact that the actress playing the daughter did not look a day over 17 to me (though she's apparently only five years younger than I am), she really did quite an impressive job. Then there's Christine Baranski. She is a freaking genius. Even the supporting cast pulled their weight quite well. Also, as my friend K pointed out, there was the added bonus that the Greek Chorus was a chorus made up of actual Greeks. Nice little touch, that.

As far as the story goes, it was kind of lackluster and simple, but it worked I guess. There was enough going on to keep me entertained, which is really all I can ask for in a movie that I otherwise have no expectations of whatsoever. I had a hard time figuring out who, if anyone, was actually doing their own singing. I am pretty sure Amanda Seyfried was and Colin Firth wasn't. Pierce definitely was because he was AWFUL, but clearly having fun with it, so I am willing to let it go. The songs themselves in most places seemed just kind of crammed in, but what can you expect from a musical built completely around one group's body of work. The shocking thing is how many of the songs actually did work with the story.

So anyhoo, if you like musicals, and the music of Abba doesn't make you want to gouge your eyes out, go ahead and give this a try. As long as you're not someone who takes themselves too seriously and can endure a movie that will just merely make you laugh and that isn't really shooting for any achievements in quality.

Other tidbits:

After I watched the movie, I came home to view the final installment of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. I was fairly amused by realizing how vastly better the quality of the music, the singing, and the overall performances were in my little low-budget one-off web series than in the big budget theatrical event, but you know, whatever. I don't want to give any spoilers away for the last act of this wonderful little web series for those who haven't seen it yet (and don't dawdle too long! It's only available for free online until midnight tonight, though still available for purchase on iTunes at least), but I will say this--Joss Whedon has created one hell of a supervillain origin story. I have already seen pleas online for Joss to give us more in some format, preferably as more blogs--though I can also see it continuing on in comic book format as well. Of course, that would eighty-six the musical aspect of it, and we don't want that if we can avoid it.

At the theater last night, during the pre-preview commercials, I got to have a little geekgasm moment when there was a commercial for Stargate: Continuum. Man, how cool is it to see that on the big big screen? Pretty darn cool I've got to say. I am so excited! Alternate universe/timeline stories have always fascinated me, and Stargate usually does a pretty decent job of pulling them off, so it should be good stuff.

Other than that, I am working my way through season one of Heroes on DVD and my hubby and I are going to try to catch Hellboy II this week if we can. Then I just have to figure out a time to coordinate seeing The Dark Knight with other interested parties. Lots to watch...

Until next time folks, take care,
C