SGU Controversy
Since its debut, Stargate Universe has been up and down for me. The series started out very strong but with each episode the writers/producers seem lost and unsure what to do with the series they created. After an intense first three episodes the series has degenerated into a a bunch of disaster episodes in which the crew finds themselves running out of power, food, or water. But hey, they can still transfer their consciousness billions of light years away to Earth so they can rattle around in another person’s body doing whatever they want with it.
Don’t get me wrong, I actually like SGU but that I’m growing annoyed with it. This past episode, “Earth,” was particularly boring to the point that I found myself fast forwarding through the parts featuring the crew on Earth. That’s a problem and I don’t think I’m the only one who feels that way. Ratings have been decent for Syfy but I doubt if SGU is living up to the network’s expectations.
There has been a lot of negative fan reaction to the sex scenes. I for one don’t care. Going into this series we were lead to believe it was going to be more gritty and adult than SG-1 and Atlantis. People have sex, get over it. The scenes we’ve seen so far have been rather tame for most cable shows, and it’s not like we’re watching Nip/Tuck where every other scene is sexual in nature (gratuitously so). If people are turned off by adults having sex then they shouldn’t watch.
That being said, I have to admit that I’ve very disappointed in the sexism I see in this series. There has been much talk concerniung the recent, obviously gratuitous, scene focusing on the breasts of Lt. James. No matter how the producers attempt to justify that scene there really is no justification for it. It was blatantly sexist and completely undermined the character. In fact, the depiction of women in general has been rather diappointing. Ming-Na, an exceptional actress, has been pushed into the background more often than not. The other two women, Alaina Huffman and Elyse Levesque, are poorly used at best and badly developed. Beginning with Atlantis the Stargate franchise has shown a real problem in developing strong, fully realized female characters, and it’s only getting worse with SGU. Why have these great actresses if you’re not going to use them.
In general, character development is very lacking in the whole series. Personally, I wish they would kill of some of these people if they can properly develop them. If you’re going to waste a great actress like Ming-Na then get rid of her. While you’re at it, get rid of Col. Telford and Sgt. Greer; they are completely useless characters.
I haven’t given up on SGU yet, and quite frankly I’ll keep watching it as long as it’s on the air, but it’s lacking something. It’s too late to do much about the first season since it’s already in the can, but if they get a second season — and I think it will — I hope the writers/producers get that chip on their shoulders and do something to turn this series around.
The Wheel of Time: The Gathering Storm
Well, I finally finished The Gathering Storm, Book 12 of The Wheel of Time. I have to say it was excellent; easily one of the best WoT books to come along in years. When I first heard Brandon Sanderson was chosen to finish The Wheel of Time I was a little worried. I enjoyed his first novel, Elantris, quite a lot but found the Mistborn series to be dry and rather boring. Well, my worries were unwarranted. Sanderson has done an exceptional job of continuing Jordan’s work. In many ways he has captured Jordan’s writing style to the letter. So much so that at times I couldn’t tell I was reading a Wheel of Time novel written by someone other than Robert Jordan. If nothing else, Sanderson deserves kudos for pulling that off (with a little help, I’m sure, from the late author’s editor and widow).
The main story focuses on Rand has he struggles with the decisions he’s had to make, and will have to make, as he moves toward the Last Battle along with Egwene’s efforts to reunite the White Tower. I think it’s in the character of Rand that Sanderson really shines. Rand has, in my opinion, been rather boring in the last few books. Sanderson brings the character to the center, where he belongs, and writes him in a way that we haven’t seen since the earlier books. Sanderson simply does an excellent job of making us feel the pain Rand is going through, and that’s not easy for any author.
One the annoyances I had with the later Wheel of Time novels was the depiction of women. The series started out with strong female characters but as the books progressed they degenerated into a bunch of whiners who used degradation and humiliation to bring other women under their control, and don’t even get me started on their condescension towards men. As I read The Gathering
Storm I started to think Jordan did this on purpose because by the end of the book there is a significant change in the Aes Sedai that I think will go a long way towards redeeming the female characters of this series. I do have to admit there is one scene in this book in which a male character stares down an Aes Sedai that had me thinking, “Finally! Someone who can stand up for themselves.”
Overall, I found The Gathering Storm to be a worthy addition to the Wheel of Time series and one of the best books in the series. It’s been a long time since I put down a Wheel of Time novel being fully satisfied, but The Gathering Storm is simply an excellent book and I think James Rigney (aka Robert Jordon) is looking down with pride.
The Plan Disappoints
I was eagerly awaiting the release of Battlestar Galactica: The Plan. Unfortuantely, The Plan is a rather disapppointing film. What we were promised was a view of the attack on humanity from the Cylon point of view, which is a very interesting idea with potential for great storytelling. Unfortuately, all we really got was a glorified clip show that would be better suited for the deleted scenes section of a DVD. Hell, we don’t even get all the Cylon models; Number Three is absent from the film altogether. Maybe Lucy Lawless had better things to do or maybe Syfy was trying to save money. Regardless of the reason, the movie was lacking something without her presence.
Of course, The Plan does have some fine moments. In particular, the character of Cavil really shines through — even more so than he did during the series run. Dean Stockwell owns this character in every way. It was always odd for me to see the guy who played the comedic character of Al in Quantum Leap take on the role Number One. Stockwell was given a truly unrepentent charcter and made him a joy to watch for that very reason.
Overall, The Plan did not live up to my expectations. Maybe I’ve finally moved on from Battlestar Galactica.
Game of Thrones Full Cast
The Live Feed has posted a complete cast listing (so far) of HBO’s adaption of A Game of Thrones. Once again, I find myself not too thrilled with some of the casting choices.
Who works for me (and this is based solely on how I’ve pictured these characters while reading the books):
- Sean Bean as Ned Stark
- Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister (perfect casting)
- Kit Harrington as Jon Snow
- Mark Addy as Robert Baratheon
- Tamzin Merchant as Daenerys Targaryeon
- Rory McMann as Sandor Clegane
- Jason Momoa as Kal Drogo
Who doesn’t work for (at first glance):
- Jennifer Ehle as Catelyn Stark
- Lena Headey as Cersei
- Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Jaime
- Jack Gleeson as Joffrey Baratheron (seems too young)
As for the rest, I guess time will tell.
Hell, when it gets right down to it, I’m going to watch. HBO will have to butcher this story for me not to like it.
Sanctuary: “End of Nights, Part 2″
Wow, another excellent episode of Sanctuary. “End of Nights, Part 2″ was even better than the season premiere. In this episode, the Cabal is using their new abnormal creations to bring down the Sanctuary network, and doing a damn good job of it in the beginning. Of course, the Sanctuary crew comes through and figures out a way to deal with the Cabal’s abnormals (for the time being anyway). What really made this episode so great was Amanda Tapping.
During her time in the Stargate franchise, Tapping gave some wonderful performances, even some emotional performances, but nothing like what we saw in this episode. The character of Helen Magnus is in an untenable situation. She has to choose between saving the Sanctuary network and stopping a human versus abnormal war or saving her only child. Watching Tapping work through her character’s tortuous decision reminded just what a great actress she can be with the right material. The raw emotion she showed, especially in the final scene, was some of her best work.
The quality of these two episode has been the best of the entire series so far in its short existence. I only hope it can be maintained as the stories move beyond the Cabal arc and into the weekly monster episodes.
FlashForward So Far
I haven to admit, ABC’s FlashForward is really starting to grow on me. Even though the network and show producers are desperately trying to keep the sci-fi elements to a minimum, FlashForward is turning into a really great character drama. Joseph Fiennes, Sonya Walger, and John Cho are especially good in their roles. John Cho has really blown me away in this role because I most often associate him with the Harold and Kumar movies (not to mention a little sci-fi epic called Star Trek). Cho’s character of Demetri is one of many people who saw nothing during the blackout and recently received a phone stating he would be murdered about a month before the time period shown in the FlashForward. As the characters struggles with this is really gives Cho an opportunity to act like we’ve never seen before.
FlashForward is great in many way because of its great cast, but also some great writing that does a good job of developing the story behind the FlashForward in a way that keeps the viewer interested. I’m not sure where the writers are planning to go with it and that’s also what makes it so interesting for me.
If this can be maintained over the next 20 or so episodes, I’m definitely in it for the long haul.
Sanctuary Season Premiere
One of the quibbles I had with the first season of Sanctuary is that the stories were often not that interesting and the series didn’t feature an overarching villain that could drive the weekly episodes beyond creature-of-the-week stories. Well, if this first episode is any indication we’re in for a great second season. I only hope the writers can maintain the momentum.
The second season premiere, “End of Nights, Part 1,” starts off six weeks after the events of the season one finale. Helen Magnus is looking for her daughter, Ashley, with a little help from Ashley’s teleporting, Jack the Ripper father. This episode had a much darker quality to the writing and acting than the first season. Helen is being pushed her limits and is willing to do anything to locate and save Ashley. Unfortunately, Ashley has been captured and changed by The Cabal and doesn’t even recognize her mother. One good thing did come from Ashley’s capture by the Cabal, they got rid those annoyingly distracting bangs!
Whereas, last season there were times I found myself looking at the clock, that didn’t happen this time. The action starts from the beginning and never really lets up; hell, we even have a car chase! There were a couple of moments when the B-story took the viewer away from the actions, but it worked for the overall episode.
At the end, we finally learn what The Cabal’s plan is for Ashley and if the series can maintain this momentum over the next 12 episodes wecould be in for a great second season for Sanctuary.
Child of Fire by Harry Connolly
Child of Fire by debut author Harry Connolly is definiately the beginnings of an interesting, if flawed new urban fantasy series. The book features a character by the name of Ray Lilly who is the driver of a woman who’s part of group of sorcerer’s called the Twenty Palances Society. This group hunts down and execute othe rogue socerer’s and magical creatures who found a way into our world.
The book starts off at a fast pace and never really lets up. The world Connolly has created is dark and menacing. A few pages into this novel I had to stop because I found what had transpired so shocking. At that point I definitely understood what the title of the novel meant! Once I picked Child of Fire up again I found myself quickly reading through the pages. Even with the tried-and-true urban setting that features magical people/creatures living in our world, the story is interesting and featured flawed characters that were in part both interesting and annoying. This novel seems targeted to fans of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series and even features of blurb from Butcher himself about how good the novel is. While Child of Fire does not fully live up to that comparison it’s still a very good, very interesting novel.
I did have two quibbles. One, there were several times in the novel when scenes came up out of nowhere and seemed to exist for no other reason than to fill out a page count. Two, first novels usually give you a little more background detail so the reader can relate better to the main characters. Child of Fire is lacking in that area. Throughout the novel, events in the past are referred to but often never explained. This detracts from the overall enjoyment of the novel, at least for me.
Overall, Child of Fire is a promising beginning. Harry Connolly has given the reader just enough to make you eager for the second novel. What more can you ask?
Stargate Universe Series Premiere
I have to admit I enjoyed the premiere of Stargate Universe. I would even go so far as to say that it ranks up there with “Children of the Gods,” the pilot episode of Stargate: SG-1. (Almost, but not quite.)
As we’ve been told since the series was announced, SGU is definitely a darker, grittier series this its predecessors (complete with an unnecessary grunting sex scene). Gone from this series are many of funny moments we’ve come to expect with Stargate. Even the appearance of Jack O’Neill had none of RDA’s trademark humor in it. (On a side note, RDA is looking his age these days.) At first, I missed that, but then the story kicks up the dramatic action in a way we haven’t seen in a long time with the Stargate franchise.
In addition to a great story, SGU features of one stellar cast of actors. From Robert Carlyle and Ming-Na to great Canadian actors like Justin Louis to lesser known actors. Of the lesser known actors three really stand out for me: Brian J. Smith as Lieutenant Scott, David Blue as Eli Wallace and Elyse Levesque as Chloe Armstrong. All three gave fantastic performances in this first episode.
The premise of the show worries me just a little bit. The pilot episode certainly builds in some conflict between the characters that should make for interesting interactions, but the idea that the Ancient ship this group is travelling on will make periodic stops throughout the universe so the team can explore unknown worlds and civilizations sounds like it will grow old quickly. I hope the producers have thought through where they plan to take this series.
So far, I’m excited by what I’ve seen and look forward to watching this new series.
Syfy’s The Phantom
The first trailer for Syfy’s reimagined Phantom mini-series is up on YouTube. As with anything made these days they have to changes things up because God forbid anyone wears a traditional hero costume. It’s difficult to have an opinion based on this first trailer since it probably contains all the best scenes, but so far I’m unimpressed.
The Countdown Begins
One month. That’s all we have to wait for the first of three projected novels that will complete Robert Jordan’s classic fantasy series, The Wheel of Time. While it’s true I was greatly disappointed in the last two novels in this series and haven’t particularly enjoyed Brandon Sanderson’s novels (except for Elantris, which I thought was great) I have to admit I’m eagerly awaiting The Gathering Storm. Hell, I placed my order on Amazon within hours of it appearing on their website!
When you hear people talk about modern fantasy classics — and let’s be real, The Lord of the Rings is, and should always be considered, the classic fantasy — A Song of Ice and Fire comes up a lot. While I am a big, big fan of Ice and Fire, Jordan’s series is, in my opinion, a true modern fantasy classic. Martin gets a lot of credit for creating a gritty, violent world but Jordon was doing that long before Ice and Fire was published. Moreover, Jordon has created a true fantasy world; whereas, Martin has created what is really a series historical novels with snippets of magic and fantasy thrown in. Of course, that’s just fine, but in my mind Jordon’s novels are fantasy not “fantasy.”
Jordon left a lot threads for Sanderson to pull together, which explains why the publishers are breaking A Memory of Light into three novels. With A Gatherin Storm clocking in at more than 700 pages all on its own it just wouldn’t have been feasible to publish Light as one novel. My only hope is that Sanderson is capable of tying up all the loose ends, but considering Jordon’s widow and long time editor is overseeing the publication of these novels I’m holding out hope. However, at this point I’m just too invested in these novels and I want to find out how it will all end, so they could be complete crap and I would still buy and read every one of them.
FlashForward Season Premiere
Having been a huge fan of Robert J. Sawyer’s fantastic novel, Flashforward, I was eagerly waiting to see the new ABC series. I was little hesitant based on all that I had been reading. Both the network and the producers were continually trying to downplay the sci-fi element because apparently it’s considered bad luck to call any series sci-fi; and based on what I was reading about the plot changes they were really creating something different from the book. Based on what I saw in the first episode, I’m excited to keep watching this series.
Sure, they’ve really only kept the broad concept of the flashforward in the series, but what they’re doing with it looks very interesting. Anyone who’s read the book knows the main plot concerns an experiment at CERN with the Large Haron Collider, which causes everyone in the world to black out for 2 minutes. During that 2 minutes many people experience a “flashforward,” a peek at 21 years in the future. The rest of the book concerns how the world deals with those facts, and how those who saw nothing try to understand why. It’s a great story; science fiction with an emphasis on science.
FlashForward takes this concept and changes it up. Instead of focusing on the scientists performing the experiment it focuses on a group of people in the United States and the aftermath of the event. In the series, everyone only sees 6 months into the future to April 29, 2010, and I assume this first season will build up to that day. At this point, we don’t know what caused the flashforward, but the people behind the series have created a suspenseful plot that I can only hope lives up to what we’re expecting.
As for me, I will definitely be tuning in. This series may not be a faithful representation of the book but it looks to be an interesting ride.
Dollhouse Season Premiere
I think I may be over Dollhouse because as I watched the second season premiere I just wasn’t all that impressed. The only interesting part of that whole episode was the B-Plot with Amy Acker’s Dr. Saunders. I found it so much more interesting than the Echo story, which has been the real problem with this series from the beginning. Don’t get me wrong, I like Eliza Dushku as an actress but there just isn’t anything compelling to me about Echo. All the other characters around her are so much more interesting. and Acker is such a talented acress she can elevate pretty much anything.
Considering how the ratings were no better than last year I probably won’t have to worry about it much longer. Friday, once a night that included very successful programming, a night where The X-Files debuted and grew an audience, has become a wasteland for any network other than CBS and even their once successful line-up in starting to decline.
Eastwick Season Premiere
I’m a big John Updike fan, mostly his Rabbit series, but I’ve enjoyed reading several of his novels. One of those I really enjoyed was The Witches of Eastwick. It’s very Updike, but also something I would not have thought he’d write. I’m also a fan of the 1987 movie starring Jack Nicholson, Cher, Susan Sarandon, and Michelle Pfeiffer. I’m not a fan of Nicholson — I often find him rather disgusting to watch — but the film itself was very good even if it wasn’t a good representation of novel. For these reasons I found myself looking forward to the new series Eastwick. Yeah, it was definitely chick lit for the small screen, but I wanted to give it a chance. After viewing the pilot my mind is not completely made up.
The pilot centers on the characters of Roxie, Kat, and Joanna. Three women who are looking for something more out of their lives. One day they make a wish over a fountain and Darryl Van Horne enters their lives to shake things up. The premise set up in the pilot definitely has potential, especially if the women begin to develop their “witch” side; however, based on what I’ve read and what I saw in the pilot the network may be looking to downplay the witchy-ness of the series, and I think that would be a mistake. I certainly don’t want to see a New England version of Charmed, but if the network is going to downplay the witch side of things then I don’t think the series will work. Without the paranormal side, this series is just like many of the recent, failed series featuring a trio of women.
Is ABC Setting Up “V” For Failure?
Some time ago ABC announced production on their sci-fi remake of the 80’s classic, if campy, V would stop for a short period while the scripts were retooled. That was fine. Every series goes through some growing pains, but this usually means there are major problems.
Now, it looks like ABC is only going to air 4 episodes before putting the series on hiatus until March. They say it’s because they don’t their new series competing with the Winter Olympics, but that sounds like an excuse. My main problem with this is the damage that could be done to the series. ABC tried this with Lost a few seasons ago and the series has never fully recovered. CBS did the same with Jericho and half its audience never returned. I would hate to invest my time in this series, which I’m actually looking forward to based on the previews I’ve seen, and then not see it ever come back.
