Sci Fi Alert

Sci Fi Wire has put together a list of all the many sci-fi/genre series airing over the summer; although, I’m not sure I would consider Saving Grace a genre series.  It’s more of a crime drama that happens to feature an angel.  Of those mentioned I’m most interested in seeing the second season of True Blood, the debut of Warehouse 13, and the return of Eureka. BBC America also has some good choices in Primeval, Torchwood: Children of Earth, and two Doctor Who movies. I’ll probablu check out NBC’s BBC import, Merlin, but since it’s being billed as an Arthurian Smallville I can’t say I’m expecting all that much.

I have to say I’m a little disappointed in the BBC’s choice of Matt Smith to be the new Doctor.  Paterson Joseph wpould have been a more original and outside-the-box choice.  Maybe Joseph was interested in the role, but if that’s not case it’s a shame the BBC and Who producers went with what could be considered the safe choice.

Of the two modern era Doctors I would David Tennant was the better of the two.  He embraced all the great qualities of past Doctors with a great ability to be funny one minute and emotionally dramatic the next.  That being said, I don’t think it’s such a bad thing that Tennant’s leaving the role after 2009.  Maybe it’s time.  Of course, it all depends on who they hire to replace him.

***SPOILERS***
Wow, and I thought last week’s episode was spectacular. This episode just blew me away with the sheer grandeur of it all. Not only do we have all three of the modern era companions, but for good measure we also have Sara Jane Smith, former companion; Harriet Jones, former prime minister (as if we didn’t already know that); Captain Jack and his friends of Torchwood; Martha and Rose’s moms; Mickey; and finally an extra, more human, Doctor.

This episode was more like a series finale and a season finale. Story lines that started before during the brief Christopher Eccelston run were tied up. It was nice, but it makes me wonder where the series will go next. From what I understand there will only be a few “special episodes” in the upcoming season since David Tennant wants to go off and play Hamlet with Captain Picard, but a lot has changed with this character and I wonder where the writers will take him next.

Not everything about this episode was perfect. First, the Doctor loses a companion for the third straight year. One of the things I liked about the previous incarnations of Doctor Who is that the companions stuck around for a while. My favorite companion of the “classis series” was Romana (the Lalla Ward incarnation), who was with the Doctor (Tom Baker) for nearly three years. A close second was Tegan, a fun and loud companion who stayed with the fifth Doctor (Peter Davison).

I’m not sure if it was story reason or the actors’ wishes, but the modern era Doctor hasn’t been able to maintain a companion for more than two seasons. With the season four finale the doctor now loses Donna, who had oddly become my favorite companion of the modern era series — even more so than Rose. Unfortunately, not only did the Doctor lose Donna as a companion, but he also had to erase all her memories of him to save her life. That action is the one aspect of this episode I hated the most. After all the growth the character of Donna had made over the course of this season, to see her step backwards to the annoying character she was in “The Runaway Bride” was sad. In fact, the ending of this episode was easily the saddest since Rose left.

Overall, this was a phenomenal episode. One of the best since Doctor Who returned to television.  It really was a journey’s end.

Wow!  When Doctor Who is great, it’s damn great.  What an episode “Stolen Earth” was.  Not just because we have Rose, Martha, Donna, Captain Jack and his Torchwood companions, Sarah Jane, and even Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister, but because it was just a rollicking good time.
***SPOILER***
One of the great things Doctor Who has always done, even throughout the years of hokey camp, is have some fine dramatic moments.  The scene where the Doctor and Rose finally see each other is easily the most emotional moment since Rose said goodbye at the end of season two.  Of course, it was a bittersweet reunion in the end.
This episode left off with the Doctor beginning a regeneration, but thanks to the brain trust at Sci Fi we know it’s not a full regeneration since David Tennant appears in them. 
Excellent episode.  A prime of example of what makes Doctor Who so great.

***SPOILERS***
What a stand out episode.  It had my favorite companions of the modern Doctor Who series and an excellent episode that feature strong emotions, interesting science fiction, and wonderful drama.  All the hallmarks of a great Doctor Who episode.
The basic premise of the episode has Donna “turning right” instead of left and what the consequences are of that choice.  What I’ve often found interesting about Donna is her lack of self awareness and self worth; not only to the Doctor, but to all those around her.  This episode really show what affect Donna has had on the people in her life and how one decision changed all of that for the worse.
Of course, this also marked the return of Rose Tyler — and how great was that!  All summer I’ve been watching Billie Piper in Secret Diary of a Call Girl, and she’s a lot of fun in a role that’s so different from Rose Tyler, but it was great to see her return to Doctor Who.  She touched all the right emotions as only she can.
Next week begins the two-part season finale.  Based on the previews it will not only include the return of Captain Jack, but also all of the modern companions.  Should be fun.

So, I’m watching an episode of The Graham Norton Show last night because he had Catherine Tate on as a guest.  I’m enjoying Tate on Doctor Who, so I decided to wade through an hour of Graham Norton — not an easy task.  During the discussion a word popped out of Tate’s mouth: regeneration.  According to Tate, the Doctor Who finale, which has already aired in the UK, will end with hte Doctor regenerating.  I know there’s been talk of David Tennant leaving the series so he can appear on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company, but most of what I’ve read said he would remain in the role, just in a limited capacity in the form of fewer episodes of the series.  Well, I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

When I first heard Freema Agyeman was being replaced after only one year as The Doctor’s companion I had to shake my head.  We only had one season to know her.  Unlike so many, I thought Agyeman was pretty good as a companion.  All the complaining, for the most part, was because viewers missed Rose and Billie Piper.  I don’t think they ever gave Agyeman a chance.  Now, as the season 3 came to an end I was just a little bored with the whole Martha loves the Doctor plot, but still I was kind of surprised to see her go so quickly.  Then, it was announced that Catherine Tate would be joining the Doctor this year as his new companion and they made me sit up.  I really enjoyed Tate’s performance in “The Runaway Bride.”  She was funny and a tiny bit obnoxious, but Tate and Tennant really seemed to click.
So far, with only two episodes airing, I have to to I’m as excited about Doctor Who as ever and Tate is simply fantastic.  The character of Martha really seemed to lack the reaction of wonderment that Rose had, which made the character a little stilted, although that did improve as season three progressed.  Tate’s Donna, on the other hand, not only had the sense of wonderment that Rose had, but also a maturity to stand toe-to-toe with the doctor.  Something that’s been lacking in the modern era companions.
***SPOILERS***
The first episode the season was simply hilarious.  (And I’m not including the BBC Christmas movie, “Voyage of the Damned,” as the first episode — didn’t really like that one anyway.)  Tennant can be very hilarious in the role of the Doctor, much more so than Christopher Eccelston was, and that was shining through in “Partners in Crime.”  It was a great introduction of Tate to the Who universe of companions; and, of course, we can’t forget that final scene, can we?
The second episode of the season, “The Fires of Pompeii,” did what Doctor Who always does best:  mixing sci-fi elements with comedy and deep emotion.  Once again Tennant and Tate (sounds like some 50s comedy team, doesn’t it?) were hilarious, but Tate show she was capable of some real and raw emotion as she realizes just what it means for the Doctor to be a time lord and what his many companions have had to deal with.  The F/X in this episode also deserve mention.  One thing I love about the modern Doctor Who is great special effects.  Sure, you can tell the series is made on the usual low BBC budget, but technology allows them to do so much more than in precious incarnations; and they don’t look cheap.
Catherine Tate has definitely upped the game for season four of Doctor Who.  Unfortunately, based on what I’ve been reading, she may end up being yet another one season companion.

I have always been a lazy fan of Doctor Who. I enjoy the series, but if I miss and episode I don’t get all worked up about it. Most of the episodes are self contained, so if you miss one you’re not missing all that much. Not a lot actually happens each season until it gets near the final episodes and that was certainly the case with “Utopia.”
***SPOILERS***
“Utopia” features the exciting return of Capt. Jack Harkness, played wonderfully by John Barrowman, and the unexpected return of an old enemy of the Doctor’s. Something that’s not quite explained hurls the Doctor, Martha, and hanging to the outside of the TARDIS Capt. Jack to the end of the universe where they meet a society of people trying to power a ship to a place called “Utopia.” There the Doctor and team meet a man named Professor Yana who is attempting to help these people fulfill their dream. Some adventure happens along the way and then Martha discovers that Professor Yana, whose name forms the initials for You Are Not Alone, is a time lord. When she tells the Doctor he doesn’t believe her at first, but when she explains about the watch he could never get open he has no choice but to believe another time lord exits, and he’s not along. Unfortunately, this time lord turns out to be the Doctor’s greatest and arch enemy, the renegade time Lord, the Master.
The great Derek Jacobi is superb as the befuddled time lord who’s been forced to live as a human as the doctor did in the episodes “Human Nature” and “The Family of Blood.” Just watching Jacobi’s face as he realizes just who he’s been all this time, realizing that he’s been living as a mortal human for decades, decades in which he could have been killed or died of natural causes, is just wonderful to behold. I wish the writers has chosen to keep Jacobi in the role, but instead chose to have him regenerate into a younger actor, John Sim, who will place the role in this season’s final two episodes.
When Doctor Who is good, it is really good. “Utopia” was great not because it was full of action or special effects, but because once again it features top notch acting and writing. Because it looks great and doesn’t seem cheesy like most of what Sci Fi offer its viewers, and I’m sure it does all this with a much smaller budget than crap like Flash Gordon and Painkiller Jane. I eagerly await the final two episodes.

According to SyFy Portal, Sci Fi has will renew its quirky and fun series, Eureka, for another season, its third.  That’s good news.  Eureka is not on my summer must-see list, but I do record it every week and watch when I have the time.  It’s a fun show with a really great cast and some good writing.  This one seems like a no-brainer for Sci Fi.
The same cannot be said for Flash Gordon.  It looks to be yet another one-season wonder from the network that brought us Painkiller Jane and destroyed The Dresden Files.  I actually think this will be a bad decision on the part of Sci Fi.  The show has so much potential and the network is just waisting all of it.  First, they make it on the cheap and it shows.  Second, they paired it with Doctor Who, which has a different kind of audience.  If the brain trust as Sci Fi had waited to air Flash Gordon with Stargate: Atlantis’ new season I think that might have helped the ratings.  As it stands now, it looks like Stargate: Atlantis is going to be stranded in the middle of the networks’ new fall season all by itself with only a few episodes of Who and Gordon to back it up.
I really think the biggest mistake Sci Fi made was to break up its solid block of Friday proramming that began in the summer, took a break around the time the networks started airing new episodes, and returned in the winter months.  Sci Fi Friday used to be a force on Friday nights, even beating out Star Trek: Enterprises, but since Sci Fi started this staggered system of premieres so they would have something running all year long, they’ve had one failure after another and seen their flagship series go bust in the ratings.
It’s certainly understandable that Sci Fi would want to be more advertiser-friendly and have original programming on more than one night, but they need to invest in these programs and they desperately need to stop wasting money on their crappy creature features.  When  Eureka premiered last year to phenomenal ratings you could tell the show was made on the cheap, but the great cast and writing made up for that.  The series was renewed, Sci Fi obviously invested some money into better sets and graphics, and the writing has only improved in the second season.  the network needs to do the same with Flash Gordon.
The first thing they need to do with Gordon is get the cast on Mongo and keep them there.  The contrived reasons the writers come up with each week to go back and forth between Earth and Mongo are already wearing thin.  The scenes on Mongo are so much better than the Earth-based scenes, and there is a lot of potential for the characters of Ming and Aura to be so much more than glorified  guest stars.
Second, embrace the science fiction!  That is what your network is named for!  I’m not asking for epic space battles every week, but what I don’t want is a poorly written drama with a smidge of laser gun fire and wormholes that look like they were made on old Commodore computer!  Both Battlestar Galactica and Stargate SG-1 know how to handle this.   Instead of trying to make Flash Gordon the anti-BSG they need to be hiring some of those great writers.
Third, give the series a little time!  Pair it up with an established show and see how things turn out.  If I were Sci Fi I would have put Flash Gordon on Tuesdays to follow Eureka.  You have a successful series (for Sci Fi and cable) with a similar style and tone, which creates a block of television to keep people watching.
Sometimes I wonder why Sci Fi even tries to create original programming anymore.  They do a piss poor job supporting and nurturing these new series and they refuse to spend any money.  They’d almost be better off shutting the damn network down and moving their few successful shows over to USA, a network that gets far more support from NBC Universal than Sci Fi ever will.

I really enjoyed the first season of the BBC’s latest incarnation of Doctor Who. I thought Christopher Eccleston was the perfect choice as the ninth Doctor and I was disappointed when he chose not to return for the second season. Of course, having watched the Doctor for many years you just have to get used to the revolving door of actors who played the titular role. When David Tennant stepped into the role I wasn’t all they thrilled. He played it less for the drama and more for the comedy. I actually skipped more episodes this season than I watched, but I had to catch the final two episodes to air in the US and I’m glad I did.
These episodes, as most known, marked the end of Billie Piper’s run as the Doctor’s companion, Rose Tyler. What an end it was. As companions go, Rose Tyler was not the best, but she brought something that is often missing in the Doctor’s companions: a sense of wonder at the places and events they witness travelling through space and time. I’m sure a lot of credit goes to Russell T. Davies and the other writers of the current Doctor Who, but one cannot discount Piper’s wide-eyed presentation of the character.
For me, Doctor Who has always been best when played for the drama and less for the campyness that is often found in some incarnations of the Doctor. While these final two episodes had their moments of comedy and special effects, they were at their heart a drama about the relationship of Rose and the Doctor. The emotional farewell was some truly wonderful acting on the part of Piper and Tennant, probably Tennant’s best work of the season. It was also fun to see the Cybermen and Daleks face off in a battle to end all battles.
I haven’t heard much about the third season of Doctor Who other than Freema Agyeman being cast as the new companion. Hopefully, Sci-Fi will bring the third season to America, as well.

Is anyone else out there dying to see the Dr. Who spin-off, Torchwood? I know I am. Every time I read an article about the show I get more interested. Problem is, with the adult nature of the show I doubt any basic cable network, let alone Sci-Fi, would air it in the United States without requiring massive edits that would ruin the whole experience. I guess I’ll have to wait for DVD.