Another strong episode from The Moff with a rather interesting perspective on how democracy works and how people tend to vote to forget rather than stand up for what is right.
This episode had a lot of trademarked Moff humor and was again really dark and creepy. We also had a really interesting character in Liz Ten although with the shorter story length of post 2005 Who, perhaps a bit underdeveloped.
The story also developed the character of Amy further and continued some mysteries from The Eleventh Hour.
One nice touch of continuity to the Tom Baker era was a reference to the Earth being left uninhabitable in the 29th Century by solar flares which was referring to events first related in "The Ark in Space" and "The Sontaran Experiment".
My only real complaint is that I feel the Smilers and Winders were underused and lacked impact other than just being creepy. They looked like they had the potential to be really memorable villains but instead they were not really very effective other than being scary. If the story had been longer they probably would have had the opportunity to actually do something in the episode.
Oh, and I'm not sure how the Star Whale threw them up without ejecting them into space. But other than those two things, really very solid.
MATT SMITH IS THE DOCTOR! He is very natural in this role and I can see why The Moff chose him despite his reservations about his age. He is brilliant! I think he's similar in some ways to Tennant and has a few similarities to other Doctors as well. He doesn't have as many distinctly obvious characteristics as Tennant or Eccleston did so far but its still early days. I'm sure there will be things other than "Geronimo" which will feel distinctly Smith.
Speaking of which, I heard the "Geronimo" lines have been ad-libbed by Smith since "The End of Time" with him sneaking them in even though Moffat hasn't written them in as his catchphrase.
KAREN GILLAN IS AMY POND! Okay, she doesn't have anyone else to share that honor with except her cousin (and honestly Caitlin Blackwood probably could give her a run for her money given how good she is in The Eleventh Hour) but I really like Amy. I like the air of mystery about her and I like her spunk. Right now as far as post 2005 companions go, I think I like her better than Rose, Mickey, Adam, Martha and Wilf. Captain Jack and Donna still beat her for now but she's got the edge on both of them with the cuteness factor.
Here is the second of my series of lists comparing each Doctor's stories to each other. This one is a list of favorite second adventures for each Doctor from best to last. (The 8th Doctor is done already having only had one televised adventure.)
1. The End of the World by Russell T. Davies
2. Paradise Towers by Stephen Wyatt
3. The Silurians by Malcolm Hulke
4. The Daleks by Terry Nation
5. The Ark in Space by Robert Holmes
6. The Beast Below by Steven Moffat
7. Attack of the Cybermen by Paula Moore (Paula Woolsey and Eric Saward)
8. Four to Doomsday by Terence Dudley
9. New Earth by Russell T. Davies
10. The Highlanders by Elwyn Jones and Gerry Davis
Another interesting note is how The Moff seems to be continuing a pattern set up by RTD of where and when the stories take place. "Rose", "The Christmas Invasion" and "The Eleventh Hour" are all set on present day Earth. "The End of the World", "New Earth" and "The Beast Below" all set far in the future dealing with the relocation of humanity following an apocalyptic event. Its a trend that seems to be continuing this week as well with the Doctor taking his companion to Earth's past to meet an historical figure; "The Unquiet Dead" with Charles Dickens, "Tooth and Claw" with Queen Victoria and "Victory of the Daleks" with Winston Churchill. We'll see how long this pattern continues...(Cue end theme with swirly time vortex visuals)
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Doctor Who - The Eleventh Hour
This was a great beginning for The Moff's reign as new showrunner for Series Fnarg. Fast-paced but not so much so that there weren't nice character moments or that they forgot to resolve anything that wasn't intended to be part of the series story-arc. The dialog and characterization were great as always from The Moff.
Matt Smith is going to be a great Doctor. He captured the essence of the character immediately. I love all of the Doctors honestly but it nice to know we're 11 for 11.
Karen Gillan is going to be great. Its always nice to have an attractive companion but its even better to have one who is fun, spunky and an interesting character. I think she's going to be the big mystery as the series continues and we find out more about her character and the mysterious crack. Since I like her she's probably going to go all Dark Phoenix/Lyta Alexander at the end. Its what spunky redheads do.
Loved the TARDIS interior. A bit RTD era mixed with the grandeur and retro Earth tech of the McGann TARDIS. I love that it looks even bigger inside than the last one.
The crack and Prisoner Zero were really creepy which a signature of the Moff, knowing what creeps people out.
Loved the Atraxi ships. I thought they were a brilliant alien design.
I honestly can't think of a bad thing to say about it. I don't think I liked it quite as much as the other 4 Moff stories but they were some of the best Doctor Who stories of all time and its darn difficult to keep topping yourself.
Speaking of which, time for one of my favorite things, a list;
Debut stories of each Doctor in order of how much I enjoyed them:
1. Doctor Who (TV Movie) by Matthew Jacobs
2. Spearhead From Space by Robert Holmes
3. The Power of the Daleks by David Whitaker
4. The Eleventh Hour by Steven Moffat
5. Castrovalva by Christopher H. Bidmead
6. The Christmas Invasion by Russell T. Davies
7. Rose by Russell T. Davies
8. Time and the Rani by Pip Baker and Jane Baker
9. Robot by Terrance Dicks
10. An Unearthly Child by Anthony Coburn
11. The Twin Dilemma by Anthony Steven
Matt Smith is going to be a great Doctor. He captured the essence of the character immediately. I love all of the Doctors honestly but it nice to know we're 11 for 11.
Karen Gillan is going to be great. Its always nice to have an attractive companion but its even better to have one who is fun, spunky and an interesting character. I think she's going to be the big mystery as the series continues and we find out more about her character and the mysterious crack. Since I like her she's probably going to go all Dark Phoenix/Lyta Alexander at the end. Its what spunky redheads do.
Loved the TARDIS interior. A bit RTD era mixed with the grandeur and retro Earth tech of the McGann TARDIS. I love that it looks even bigger inside than the last one.
The crack and Prisoner Zero were really creepy which a signature of the Moff, knowing what creeps people out.
Loved the Atraxi ships. I thought they were a brilliant alien design.
I honestly can't think of a bad thing to say about it. I don't think I liked it quite as much as the other 4 Moff stories but they were some of the best Doctor Who stories of all time and its darn difficult to keep topping yourself.
Speaking of which, time for one of my favorite things, a list;
Debut stories of each Doctor in order of how much I enjoyed them:
1. Doctor Who (TV Movie) by Matthew Jacobs
2. Spearhead From Space by Robert Holmes
3. The Power of the Daleks by David Whitaker
4. The Eleventh Hour by Steven Moffat
5. Castrovalva by Christopher H. Bidmead
6. The Christmas Invasion by Russell T. Davies
7. Rose by Russell T. Davies
8. Time and the Rani by Pip Baker and Jane Baker
9. Robot by Terrance Dicks
10. An Unearthly Child by Anthony Coburn
11. The Twin Dilemma by Anthony Steven
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Babylon 5 - Episodes 1-4
MIDNIGHT ON THE FIRING LINE:
A big improvement on the pilot already with the addition of Claudia Christian to the cast as well as the addition of Andrea Thompson as Talia Winters. Its interesting to see how cold Ivanova is towards Talia considering where their relationship ends up and I have to think this was also planned by JMS because it works so well. Its also interesting to see the fun-loving Londo Mollari who does wish for greater glory for the Centauri Republic but in the meantime spends his time partying, gambling and drinking heavily and generally being friendly to everyone even if he's obnoxious about it. While in contrast G'Kar is shown to be bitter, driven for revenge at nearly any cost and anti-social to not only Londo but everyone non-Narn as well. Only when he is trying to be a slime-ball con man does G'Kar show any sense of friendliness to outsiders. And G'Kar is shown again as he was in The Gathering to be the villain of the episode which I actually didn't remember him being so villainous when he was introduced. Again, a great contrast to how they both end up at the end of the series. We are also Introduced to Stephen Furst as Vir Cotto who is obviously at this point just there for comic relief...for now.
The attack on Ragesh 3 is something that continues to referenced and used as motivation for the hatred between G'Kar and Londo and spurs further events in the series but honestly, I didn't remember that this was the attack that had such an effect on the series. At the time, I wasn't used to serialized storytelling in my television shows so I wasn't paying as close attention. I assumed most events were self-contained as they were on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Its great to watch these now and see the foundations being laid out.
SOUL HUNTER:
This was an episode I didn't care for the first time I saw it, but watching it now I'm not sure why I didn't like it. Perhaps it was the out and out religious implications of a soul that I wasn't used to seeing in Science Fiction television. I'm not sure.
We are introduced to Dr. Stephen Franklin in this episode and Richard Biggs gives an very good performance right from the get go. And we also get a great performance from W. Morgan Sheppard as the Soul Hunter who played Blank Reg in Max Headroom.
Already there are references to Delenn being a part of the Grey Council which I didn't remember being revealed this early on as well as Sinclair finding out about it. And also the Soul Hunter reveals to Sinclair that he shouldn't trust Delenn and that the Minbari are using him.
BORN TO THE PURPLE:
This is the first episode not written by JMS but by Larry DiTillio. I really can't tell the difference which is probably a credity to JMS and Harlan Ellison for keeping the show consistant.
Basically this is a Londo love story which is actually very refreshing in that a man who is not your traditional romantic male lead has an actual romance on a television show. Londo is older, a bit overweight and not really good looking at all and yet here he is being shown as falling in love. Usually if male characters like this have a significant other at all, they are usually part of an old married couple and there's no real romance. Granted we later find out that Londo does already have 3 wives but they are loveless marriages.
We also learn why Ivanova is so cold sometimes with the death of her father and the already revealed suicide of her mother and now they also reveal her brother was killed in the Earth-Minbari War which we got to see in In the Beginning.
INFECTION:
An old friend of Franklin played by David McCallum who played Steel in the British tv series Sapphire and Steel is part of the main plot of this episode. This is the beginning of the episodes that feel more like standard tv faire. Just filler really. The episode was a basic monster lose on the station epsiode and we had already seen Sinclair and Garibaldi in similar situations hunting somebody down on the station several times by this point. This story is basically a commentary on ethnic cleansing but honestly I've seen much better stories with this same subject matter. And this one was written by JMS surprisingly. It does give Franklin the spotlight and shows his tremendous moral fiber but its just not very good.
A big improvement on the pilot already with the addition of Claudia Christian to the cast as well as the addition of Andrea Thompson as Talia Winters. Its interesting to see how cold Ivanova is towards Talia considering where their relationship ends up and I have to think this was also planned by JMS because it works so well. Its also interesting to see the fun-loving Londo Mollari who does wish for greater glory for the Centauri Republic but in the meantime spends his time partying, gambling and drinking heavily and generally being friendly to everyone even if he's obnoxious about it. While in contrast G'Kar is shown to be bitter, driven for revenge at nearly any cost and anti-social to not only Londo but everyone non-Narn as well. Only when he is trying to be a slime-ball con man does G'Kar show any sense of friendliness to outsiders. And G'Kar is shown again as he was in The Gathering to be the villain of the episode which I actually didn't remember him being so villainous when he was introduced. Again, a great contrast to how they both end up at the end of the series. We are also Introduced to Stephen Furst as Vir Cotto who is obviously at this point just there for comic relief...for now.
The attack on Ragesh 3 is something that continues to referenced and used as motivation for the hatred between G'Kar and Londo and spurs further events in the series but honestly, I didn't remember that this was the attack that had such an effect on the series. At the time, I wasn't used to serialized storytelling in my television shows so I wasn't paying as close attention. I assumed most events were self-contained as they were on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Its great to watch these now and see the foundations being laid out.
SOUL HUNTER:
This was an episode I didn't care for the first time I saw it, but watching it now I'm not sure why I didn't like it. Perhaps it was the out and out religious implications of a soul that I wasn't used to seeing in Science Fiction television. I'm not sure.
We are introduced to Dr. Stephen Franklin in this episode and Richard Biggs gives an very good performance right from the get go. And we also get a great performance from W. Morgan Sheppard as the Soul Hunter who played Blank Reg in Max Headroom.
Already there are references to Delenn being a part of the Grey Council which I didn't remember being revealed this early on as well as Sinclair finding out about it. And also the Soul Hunter reveals to Sinclair that he shouldn't trust Delenn and that the Minbari are using him.
BORN TO THE PURPLE:
This is the first episode not written by JMS but by Larry DiTillio. I really can't tell the difference which is probably a credity to JMS and Harlan Ellison for keeping the show consistant.
Basically this is a Londo love story which is actually very refreshing in that a man who is not your traditional romantic male lead has an actual romance on a television show. Londo is older, a bit overweight and not really good looking at all and yet here he is being shown as falling in love. Usually if male characters like this have a significant other at all, they are usually part of an old married couple and there's no real romance. Granted we later find out that Londo does already have 3 wives but they are loveless marriages.
We also learn why Ivanova is so cold sometimes with the death of her father and the already revealed suicide of her mother and now they also reveal her brother was killed in the Earth-Minbari War which we got to see in In the Beginning.
INFECTION:
An old friend of Franklin played by David McCallum who played Steel in the British tv series Sapphire and Steel is part of the main plot of this episode. This is the beginning of the episodes that feel more like standard tv faire. Just filler really. The episode was a basic monster lose on the station epsiode and we had already seen Sinclair and Garibaldi in similar situations hunting somebody down on the station several times by this point. This story is basically a commentary on ethnic cleansing but honestly I've seen much better stories with this same subject matter. And this one was written by JMS surprisingly. It does give Franklin the spotlight and shows his tremendous moral fiber but its just not very good.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Babylon 5 In the Beginning & The Gathering
I've decided to rewatch all of Babylon 5 in chronological order since it had been a long time since I saw the episodes. And I figured I'd take a page from my friend Fer and review them here.
Spoiler Alert Warning!
IN THE BEGINNING:
You definitely only want to watch this first if you've already seen the series. It pretty much gives away all of the big reveals for the first 4 seasons which is the main story of Babylon 5. But having watched it already it was definitely interesting to see it from the beginning.
So many pieces of the puzzle that was the story of Babylon 5 were shown here in a very cohesive narrative. These were events that we found out about as the series went on but we actually got to see them in their entirety for the first time. Like Sheridan blowing up the Minabari ship Black Star and earning the nickname, "Starkiller" or the kidnapping and interrogation of Sinclair from the Minbari point of view.
It was a throughly enjoyable tv movie, its probably not essential to understand the series but as a fan its always nice to see these story flashbacks unfold and show that yes, JMS had planned the main story of Babylon 5 right from the get go.
THE GATHERING:
The good thing about this movie is that the foundation for what is to come is very evident upon a second viewing and again shows the plan that JMS had from the start.
The bad thing is that it still really is a bit weak in many ways and its not up to the quality of the series proper. There's a fair amount of bad acting and even cheesy dialog in this tv movie and that is even more evident after watching In the Beginning right before it. But pilot episodes are rarely the best a series has to offer which is ironic because its the basis for which a series gets picked up for more. It is actually a bit surprising it got picked up for a full series after this but tv Sci-Fi was in its heyday in the 90's and that may have had something to do with it.
That's not to say its bad exactly, just weak compared to what was to follow. And it does its job of introducing the characters and resolving its plot in the 90 minutes it was given and there are some open ended questions you want to see resolved.
Jerry Doyle, Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas are excellent right from the get go and are the high points of the movie. Mira Furlan does a good job also but unfortunately her makup was somewhat distracting to me because although her chin does look more alien than it does later on, it jutts out perhaps too much and doesn't look quite right.
Michael O' Hare is the real let down because he gives a mostly block of wood performance which is not good for the main character and hero.
Patricia Tallman is not as good as she was later in the series but she wasn't bad at all. I wonder sometimes if she was replaced because some executive wanted a hot blonde instead which is what we got with Andrea Thompson as Talia Winters. Tallman is gorgeous but she's not a traditional Barbie Doll type which Hollywood loves so much.
Tamlyn Tomita and Johnny Sekka are just not good in their performances. They just do not deliver the dialog convincingly at all and we can be thankful they were replaced by the wonderful Claudia Christian and Richard Biggs in the series proper.
I'll be back soon with my reviews of the first few episodes of the 1st season!
Spoiler Alert Warning!
IN THE BEGINNING:
You definitely only want to watch this first if you've already seen the series. It pretty much gives away all of the big reveals for the first 4 seasons which is the main story of Babylon 5. But having watched it already it was definitely interesting to see it from the beginning.
So many pieces of the puzzle that was the story of Babylon 5 were shown here in a very cohesive narrative. These were events that we found out about as the series went on but we actually got to see them in their entirety for the first time. Like Sheridan blowing up the Minabari ship Black Star and earning the nickname, "Starkiller" or the kidnapping and interrogation of Sinclair from the Minbari point of view.
It was a throughly enjoyable tv movie, its probably not essential to understand the series but as a fan its always nice to see these story flashbacks unfold and show that yes, JMS had planned the main story of Babylon 5 right from the get go.
THE GATHERING:
The good thing about this movie is that the foundation for what is to come is very evident upon a second viewing and again shows the plan that JMS had from the start.
The bad thing is that it still really is a bit weak in many ways and its not up to the quality of the series proper. There's a fair amount of bad acting and even cheesy dialog in this tv movie and that is even more evident after watching In the Beginning right before it. But pilot episodes are rarely the best a series has to offer which is ironic because its the basis for which a series gets picked up for more. It is actually a bit surprising it got picked up for a full series after this but tv Sci-Fi was in its heyday in the 90's and that may have had something to do with it.
That's not to say its bad exactly, just weak compared to what was to follow. And it does its job of introducing the characters and resolving its plot in the 90 minutes it was given and there are some open ended questions you want to see resolved.
Jerry Doyle, Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas are excellent right from the get go and are the high points of the movie. Mira Furlan does a good job also but unfortunately her makup was somewhat distracting to me because although her chin does look more alien than it does later on, it jutts out perhaps too much and doesn't look quite right.
Michael O' Hare is the real let down because he gives a mostly block of wood performance which is not good for the main character and hero.
Patricia Tallman is not as good as she was later in the series but she wasn't bad at all. I wonder sometimes if she was replaced because some executive wanted a hot blonde instead which is what we got with Andrea Thompson as Talia Winters. Tallman is gorgeous but she's not a traditional Barbie Doll type which Hollywood loves so much.
Tamlyn Tomita and Johnny Sekka are just not good in their performances. They just do not deliver the dialog convincingly at all and we can be thankful they were replaced by the wonderful Claudia Christian and Richard Biggs in the series proper.
I'll be back soon with my reviews of the first few episodes of the 1st season!
Friday, November 14, 2008
Who Watches the Trek Trailers?
There are three new previews/trailers up today.
The first two minutes of the Doctor Who Christmas Special 'The Next Doctor" which was broadcast on Children In Need.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O41cDzUYG98
I'm so freaking excited! Woooo-whoooooooo! I'm hoping David Morrissey is indeed the Eleventh Doctor but even if he isn't I hope they don't tell us before the special airs.
The new Star Trek trailer on the site I09.
http://io9.com/5088091/first-glimpse-of-the-star-trek-trailer
Ok. I'm not sure if Kirk is a collector of ancient cars and motorcycles but this is a little too retro for the 23rd century otherwise and a bit cheesey. It does look action-packed anyway. I really hope this film is good but this trailer honestly didn't grab me.
And the new Watchmen trailer which gave me a comicgasm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VLA0tg5yI0
The first two minutes of the Doctor Who Christmas Special 'The Next Doctor" which was broadcast on Children In Need.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O41cDzUYG98
I'm so freaking excited! Woooo-whoooooooo! I'm hoping David Morrissey is indeed the Eleventh Doctor but even if he isn't I hope they don't tell us before the special airs.
The new Star Trek trailer on the site I09.
http://io9.com/5088091/first-glimpse-of-the-star-trek-trailer
Ok. I'm not sure if Kirk is a collector of ancient cars and motorcycles but this is a little too retro for the 23rd century otherwise and a bit cheesey. It does look action-packed anyway. I really hope this film is good but this trailer honestly didn't grab me.
And the new Watchmen trailer which gave me a comicgasm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VLA0tg5yI0
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Ultimate Star Trek - The FINAL Frontier? - no spoilers inside
My good friend, Fer and I have coined the term "Ultimate Trek" in anticipation of the reimagining of the Star Trek by Alias and Lost creator J. J. Abrams in a film being released in theaters this May. Relating it to Marvel Comics' Ultimate Universe, we have tried to think of it that way and prepare ourselves for a reboot despite rumors that it would indeed respect the continuity of the original series. We figured if we prepared ourselves for the worst and kept an open mind that we just might be able to enjoy this film.
I'm not going to give anything away for anybody because I hate people who do that to me so no spoilers here I promise. But my worst fears are indeed all true it seems. All I can say is that from what I know there is very little retained from the original continuity at all. I saw a review of four scenes that were previewed for some British reporters which is how I've gathered this intel. Now, I'm not just talking about things established in print in stories or technical manuals or encyclopedias or widely accepted assumptions by fans, oh no, it does contradict all that and many things definitely established onscreen. All of that contradicted in just four scenes. What about the rest of the movie! Yikes!
Granted, the franchise does need a fresh start. I would have started with a completely new characters myself but then I'm obviously not in control. This may indeed appeal to a much broader audience and it may win over a bunch of converts from the old series. But it HAS to do that to succeed because I can't see any way they aren't going to alienate a huge portion of their fanbase with this film. I've already heard talk from Trek fans about banning the film. But then, considering the cost of the film is over $150 million dollars reportedly, even if all the fans loved it it won't be enough so maybe they are doing the right thing from a financial standpoint. Paramount seems to be immensely confident in it, almost overconfident. I hope that confidence is not misplaced because they are positioning the film's release date between two movies which are almost certainly going to make a lot of money, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is released the weekend prior and Angels and Demons the prequel to the DaVinci Code is released the following weekend. That's a lot of competition for a struggling franchise that is quite possibly going to nearly completely alienate its fanbase.
On the plus side, it is getting a lot of positive reviews so it may indeed appeal to a different audience. If you don't like Star Trek but if you are more of a fan of Star Wars, Alien or the Terminator movies this film seems to be more for you than it is for us old Trekkies. I do like those films a lot so maybe there is hope I'll enjoy this yet.
So, reprogram your brains and forget what you know, Trekkies, Trekkers and Trekites, we are in for a total and complete reboot. Fer and I have got to repeat "Ultimate Trek" to ourselves a lot more before it hits theaters.
I'm not going to give anything away for anybody because I hate people who do that to me so no spoilers here I promise. But my worst fears are indeed all true it seems. All I can say is that from what I know there is very little retained from the original continuity at all. I saw a review of four scenes that were previewed for some British reporters which is how I've gathered this intel. Now, I'm not just talking about things established in print in stories or technical manuals or encyclopedias or widely accepted assumptions by fans, oh no, it does contradict all that and many things definitely established onscreen. All of that contradicted in just four scenes. What about the rest of the movie! Yikes!
Granted, the franchise does need a fresh start. I would have started with a completely new characters myself but then I'm obviously not in control. This may indeed appeal to a much broader audience and it may win over a bunch of converts from the old series. But it HAS to do that to succeed because I can't see any way they aren't going to alienate a huge portion of their fanbase with this film. I've already heard talk from Trek fans about banning the film. But then, considering the cost of the film is over $150 million dollars reportedly, even if all the fans loved it it won't be enough so maybe they are doing the right thing from a financial standpoint. Paramount seems to be immensely confident in it, almost overconfident. I hope that confidence is not misplaced because they are positioning the film's release date between two movies which are almost certainly going to make a lot of money, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is released the weekend prior and Angels and Demons the prequel to the DaVinci Code is released the following weekend. That's a lot of competition for a struggling franchise that is quite possibly going to nearly completely alienate its fanbase.
On the plus side, it is getting a lot of positive reviews so it may indeed appeal to a different audience. If you don't like Star Trek but if you are more of a fan of Star Wars, Alien or the Terminator movies this film seems to be more for you than it is for us old Trekkies. I do like those films a lot so maybe there is hope I'll enjoy this yet.
So, reprogram your brains and forget what you know, Trekkies, Trekkers and Trekites, we are in for a total and complete reboot. Fer and I have got to repeat "Ultimate Trek" to ourselves a lot more before it hits theaters.
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