Public Blog of Skunque

Sarah Jane Adventures, Episodes 7 & 8

2009-11-07T20:16:00.002-05:00

It's pretty clear The Sarah Jane Adventures has an agenda.

It's safe to say, that given its target audience of 'tweens, that Davies/Gardner are intentionally making a show not just to entertain, but to encourage scientific reasoning and skepticism in its viewership. Doctor Who has been doing a similar thing for years, albeit with a touch more subtlety.

This is not a bad thing, and nowhere is it more clear as in The Eternity Trap, where the crew (minus Luke - perhaps the actor had a scheduling conflict?) go to investigate [recurring character] Professor Rivers' reports of paranormal activity. Yes, in a haunted house. Why was this ep shown the week after Halloween? Anyway, Sarah Jane (harking back to her otherworldly adventures) emphatically insists on a scientific explanation, to the point I cringed in anticipation that the writers were going to serve her for hubris. But not so - really, it's a kids show, they're just driving the point home for the less perceptive viewers.

But of course the "haunting" does turn out to be more than imagination or pranksters with sheets and a projection unit - that would be a Scooby Doo episode. This is sci-fi: the "ghost" is an alien (who doesn't like being called a ghost ;-) ), the "paranormal activity" are merely the effects of a damaged transdimensional portal. In the end Sarah Jane is vindicated as well as victorious, and Toby (young investigator, cheerleader of the paranormal) learns from the experience and adjusts his perspective.

Hard-core skeptics be forewarned - check your Myth Busters' membership card at the door. Be prepared for references to "psychic energy" and "life energy", as well as some business about granite rock being able to record and play back scenes from the ancient past - that is, stuff that most of us find indistinguishable from "woo". But recall that many other sci-fi shows have incorporated telepathy, telekinesis, etc. as part of the natural (and explainable) universe. For example, Babylon 5 had major arcs revolving around the telepaths, who were genetically engineered as pawns of the Vorlons. Just remember that sometimes sci-fi plays fast & loose with the rules of the universe. It's only when a story shies away from or flatly denies explanations that it (IMO) crosses over to fantasy.

One thing that surprised me about this show for kids was that for once, the ending wasn't wrapped up neat and tidy. In vanquishing Erasmus Darkening, the people he kidnapped and transdimensionally transferred are lost. It's not said that they are necessarily dead, but it also doesn't give much hope that they were restored in any form. This realtively unflinching resolution -could The Sarah Jane Adventures be making an allegory about the afterlife? I think there's good reason to think so.

Tags: doctor who
Mood: pleased

Dr. Who animated special dates

2009-11-07T20:15:00.001-05:00

We now have dates for the next animated Dr. Who webcast, Dreamland. It will be one of the last David Tennant appearances, and will show in 6 parts between 21-26 November.

Also, in case I haven't mentioned it earlier, the next Tennant special, The Waters of Mars, airs Sunday 15 November.

November should be a (relatively) good month for Who!

Tags: doctor who
Mood: optimistic

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan

2009-11-06T09:27:00.001-05:00

Well, that was two hours --which felt like four-- I'll never get back.

BSG: The Plan not only lacked any semblance of a plan, it lacked a plot.

The story is a disjointed mess spanning the first two seasons of BSG, where the writers backfill any number of pointless minutiae. I mean, who cares how Shelley Godfrey managed to elude the marines in the Season 1 episode Six Degrees of Separation? Or where Doral gets his dress sense? If anything, these "explanations" take all the mystery and creepiness away from some stellar 1^st and 2^nd season episodes.

Because, as anyone watching 4^th season Galactica would suspect, the Cylons are a pathologically disorganized, whiny race. Cavil spends the whole movie nagging and goading the other models to kill more humans, most of which attempts are too incompetant to succeed. I guess the Centurions must have been the strategic brilliance behind The Fall, huh?

Add to this a lower quality of CGI, laughable transtions betweem new and old BSG footage, horrible voice dubs, and the embarrassingly sloppy scenes involving Chief Tyrol gaining/losing about 30 pounds during the course of a day, and you have one monster trainwreck of a movie.

Now, I'd been hoping the plot was going to center more around the Final Five, as "creators", and not merely earlier points in their "human" lives. How they came to make the models, and how/why they were forced into being human. But the movie actually starts a couple of days before The Fall, so no such luck. Instead it's mostly about a couple of different Cavil and Six models, Anders, with bits of Tori, Ellen, Tigh, and Chief Tyrol thrown in.

And Simon, Cylon Model 4 - this is really the only new ground that's broken. We learn a little more about the previously under-utlized model. But as Chris pointed out, this subplot only seemed good because the rest of the movie was so incomprehenbibly bad. Simon's rocky relationship with his human wife leading to mental instability would be kind of predictable on its own. But his story did have a beginning, middle, and end, and the action (as it were) built to an identifiable climax.

Which is more than can be said for the rest of this wandering, rambling story.

There's more, much more, but delving deeper would mean I'd have to further relive this embarrassment.

Short answer: save your money and your time - give The Plan a pass.

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: embarrassed

reViewing V

2009-11-04T22:27:00.001-05:00

I think how you view ABC's new (remade? re-imagined?) series V probably depends on what expectations you came in with.

If you were expecting red & black jumpsuits, big hair, and people pretending to swallow rats, you were in for a disapointment. This isn't your father's V. Well, not your childhood's, anyway. ABC is making a stab at a more sophisticated take on the Visitors, at times succeeding, at times not. The converse of the "expectations" caveat is that, if you're hoping this will blow you away the way the BSG miniseries or Torchwood: Children of Earth did, you'll probably be left wanting. It's pretty clear they were hoping to have that kind of effect, but IMO didn't quite make the grade.

Still, when you consider how many wobbly pilots and first season shows have (dis)graced the airwaves, it's hard to get ultra-critical.

There is no attempt to resurrect any of the old 80's V characters explicitly, although the new series did borrow some ideas. We've got a "Willie"-equivalent character who's a lot more sophisticated (and better looking) than Robert Englund's. The "Donovan/Julie" pairing is apparently going to be a priest/FBI agent, and the annoying V-Hitler-youth kid is...well, an annoying kid. And of course we have Anna in the "Diana" position. I still think Morena Baccarin was a really good casting choice, as she has an otherworldly ability to maintain this creepy placid composure. We haven't seen her get angry yet, and I can't wait for that to happen.

As for plot, well - I saw a lot of it coming. I mean, it was really obvious that the Visitors had been to Earth in years prior, so the "revelation" was anything but. Also, did anyone not guess that ~~Wash~~ was the mole in the FBI operations? I bet Alan Tudyk is getting tired of getting impaled by sharp objects.

So I'm not sure what's going to happen now. They revealed the "terrorist" cell mystery a bit too soon, IMO - that was one of the more interesting subplots, and could easily have stretched out over a few stories. I suppose the next step is revealing exactly what the Visitors' nefarious plan is.

Also - the series does a lot of ephasizing that the human race is in a really crap sort of way, and are thus vulnerable to the Visitors' influence. Aside from the homeless at the church, I wasn't seeing any evidence of that. Everyone seems to be wearing nice suits, talking on cell phones, living in clean houses...

So, in summary: I was hoping V would've had a smidge more "Pow" to it, but am nore than willing to give it a chance. But then, I'm also less attached to canon than some of my contemporaries, since I was approximately 7 at the time of the original series, wasn't allowed to watch anything other than PBS at the time. It wasn't until adulthood that I watched the full series + movies.

I probably need to get an appropriate icon for my V posts...

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: okay

Sarah Jane Adventures, Episodes 5 & 6

2009-11-03T22:04:00.001-05:00

For 3 seasons running, any episode featuring "Sarah Jane Smith" as part of its title, has The Trickster as the featured adversary. This will be a hell of a spoiler if they keep up that tactic.

This was also the famed David Tennant appearance, although he really only figured prominently in the 2^nd half. And it's also not really his show. Sure, he's there to provide deus ex Tardis, and to babble his timey-wimey bits, but his primary function is as Sarah Jane's great unrequited love.

And it's here that we learn something that I was beginning to suspect - that this whole "call me Sarah Jane" business is so that the name "Sarah" is something special, reserved only for the Doctor. Since in the classic series, the Doctor rarely-to-never opted for "Sarah Jane". She protects that name they way she protects those memories.

So on to the main plot - Sarah Jane meets a nice man, has a disturbingly quick courtship, and decides to get married. Problem is, the guy is in the clutches of the Trickster. The Trickster made a deal with him during a tragic accident, and uses him as a pawn to apparantly marry Sarah Jane off so she won't cause him so much trouble. Kind of silly, but also sad because her beau has to decide to die back in the accident to save the world. Of course, it's also a bit of a ripoff of S1's story "Whatever happened to Sarah Jane Smith" where SJS's childhood buddy had to choose the same fate.

But on the upside, the episode is rife with continuity tidbits from new and classic series alike, from offhand references to Metebelis 3, the Judoon, and the Brigadier, to K-9 making his first full appearance. John Leeson can put food on the table once again!

Tags: doctor who

Defying Gravity: End Notes

2009-10-28T08:00:00.001-04:00

As we might have guessed, Defying Gravity has indeed been canceled, with its sets destroyed. So there's no chance of a Canada-only version or anything like that. Which is sad, because (also, as we might have guessed) the series picked up a bit at the end.

Once the alien figured in more centrally, the more whiny interpersonal dramas diminished, and the show started coming together. I still think there were some missteps (e.g., I found Rollie's drunk driving incident needlessly distracting from the main plot), but they started to find the "voice" of the show. And the voice is the mission - the training, the cover up of the object, etc. Sadly they wasted a lot of time in the beginning with hormonal high school antics, and so I'm not surprised viewership dropped off.

Ah well. I guess we'll have to live with the mysteries of how Zoe got back into the program, how Arnel* lost his leg, why the crew were being genetically altered, etc. This wasn't a show you have a relationship with, this was a one night stand.

* - shades of Gaeta anyone?

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: resigned

Sarah Jane Adventures, Season 3 Episodes 3 & 4

2009-10-25T18:01:00.000-04:00

Not a lot to say on this one. It was primarily a "good alien" story. That is, what looks like a sinister situation only turns out to be an alien in need of assistance. Then it's a lot of mush and cleaning up the timelines. And since it's a kid show, every loose end gets tied up very neatly and very "happily ever after".

The other purpose the story served was to give the audience a "heads up" about next time, when David Tennant will be putting in a full appearance in "The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith". Tennant fans take note, this will be like a bonus episode of Who.

Oh, and P.S. - K-9 is back, and has finally been written into the show for good, so hooray for that!

Tags: doctor who
Mood: busy

Sarah Jane Adventures, Season 3, Episode 1

2009-10-20T08:45:00.000-04:00

So Sarah Jane was renewed for yet another season - it seems RTD's strategy of marketing sci-fi to 'tween girls is paying off.

The feature alien for this story is one of my all-time favorite of the new series, the Judoon! Not so much a "baddie", but not protagonists either. They're dangerous, yes, but they're also the law, albeit kind of rigid about following rules (which was the source of much of the humour in this story).

Of course, beyond the Judoon-squee, don't expect too much meat on the story. It is marketed for ~11-15 age bracket, so it never gets too complex. It's the usual stuff - aliens pop up, Sarah Jane + kids investigate, keep the villains at bay and stave off questions from meddling parents. I do prefer the chemistry between Gita and Haresh to that of Maria's parents. The latter were just annoying, whereas the former are almost cute.

Anyway, not much to say on this. The SJA formula I've noticed to date is that the first episodes go heavy on camp and simplistic storylines, and by the time the season rounds out, the content becomess almost grownup-worthy. However it never really loses the family squish factor, so expect many declarations about how much people care about one another. Bleh.

Tags: doctor who
Mood: thirsty

Review of the re-animated Shada

2009-10-11T16:03:00.000-04:00

Since Shada was a story out of 1970's Classic Who, I don't seem much of a need to put this review behind a cut, as there's little outside of the intro that could be considered a "spoiler".

As many know, Shada was the Douglas Adams story that never aired due to a BBC strike occuring in the middle of shooting. The story has been novelized, and the filmed bits have been cobbled together with voice over by Tom Baker, but never before had the full production been actualized on screen.

In this story, Romana and K9 team up with a different Doctor (Paul McGann) to run through the same series of events as they were/had with Tom Baker. The only new material is a fairly brilliant explanation of the Doctor-swap, sewn in with the bits that were lifted for The Five Doctors. That, plus very minor amount of tweaked dialogue, to reflect Romana's new station. Everything else sticks to the Adams script as it was from the 70's.

I'd forgotten that this story was set to be a six-parter, so it did take a quite a while to watch. Each story is divided into 5-7 Flash animation segments. Which brings me to the animation - Don't have too high expectations. It's really more like cutouts from a graphic novel being slid about to simulate movement. But it's most definitely worth it to have Shada realized. The story is also quite complicated - I had been familiar with the overall plot, but still, some bits required close attention to understand what was going on.

Watching it made me a little sad, as I could really hear Douglas Adams' voice in some of the dialog. I'm guessing between the novel and the video, there were large parts of the script that hadn't been publically available. On the flip side, it became doubly hard for me to see McGann as his own Doctor, since the lines were so obviously written for Tom Baker. It was definitely a story that had its "ghosts".

Overall, I am really, really glad this was put together, and that Lalla Ward and John Leeson (K-9) got on board with it. I hope it eventually becomes available on DVD.

Tags: doctor who
Mood: nostalgic

But will they bring back the wedding chapel??

2009-10-06T07:58:00.001-04:00

Mall owner: 'Star Trek' attraction still on track for Vegas

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: hopeful

I actually like it better than the Eccleston/Tennant logo

2009-10-06T07:22:00.000-04:00

Tags: doctor who
Mood: pleasantly surprised

New Doctor Who Logo...tomorrow

2009-10-05T07:36:00.001-04:00

Note, another thing changing with Doctor Who: Tomorrow the new Dr. Who logo design will be unveiled. Stay tuned.

Tags: doctor who
Mood: cynical

Dinosaur! (eggs)

2009-10-03T19:00:00.000-04:00

"Treasure Trove" of dinosaur eggs found in southern India.

Tags: news
Mood: enthralled

Shada

2009-09-25T10:24:00.001-04:00

If you're looking for something to fill the sci-fi void, consider watching the (at long last) completed version of Douglas Adam's story Shada. As super-Whovians already know, this story was never completed due to a BBC strike that occurred in the middle of filming. Now it's been redone, bringing back Lalla Ward as Romana and John Leeson as K9. Tom Baker isn't in it (gee, I wonder why??), but a quick swap of Paul McGann will apparently do in a pinch.

I haven't watched it yet, but I plan to this weekend, maybe write a short review.

Tags: doctor who
Mood: optimistic

Defying Gravity update

2009-09-24T08:30:00.001-04:00

In case anyone cares...

ABC's apparent cancellation of Defying Gravity (it may come back, unknown as to when) doesn't mean the remaining episodes will never be shown. Ep #9 was aired on CTV on Friday, and 10-13 will be picked up on Canada's Space Channel starting 2 October. One way or the other, it seems all episodes will get out there.

P.S. - do NOT put Ep #9 spoilers here - I know there is supposed to be a big reveal, but I probably won't have time to watch the show until this weekend. Thank you!

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: cold

Evidence mounts for water in pockets on or under the Moon's surface, as well as formed via reactions with solar wind.

2009-09-24T08:08:00.001-04:00

Stream of Evidence from 3 Spacecraft Indicates That the Moon Has Water: Scientific American

Was going to post this yesterday but ran out of time

2009-09-23T09:27:00.000-04:00

Having seen the film, I can see why Nigerians might not like their countrymen's depiction in "District 9".

I never got why the Nigerians figured so prominently in the film - it's not like Nigeria is anywhere near South Africa. Maybe there's some sort of trans-continental corridor of immigration I'm not aware of, but we're talking thousands of miles.

Tags: sci-fi

Change in air date for "The Plan"

2009-09-19T10:07:00.002-04:00

"Siffy" bumps Battlestar Galactica: The Plan back to 2010, yet still maintain 27 Oct. DVD release.

Caprica begins 22 January.

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: cynical

FYI SJA update

2009-09-16T08:33:00.000-04:00

Okay! There are UK dates for The Sarah Jane Adventures posted on Wikipedia.

Seem this season will be a different format - although each story is still comprised of two 30-minute segments, they'll be airing them over the course of 6 weeks and not 12. The first half of a given story will air on Thursdays, with its conclusion broadcast the following day.

Season 3 will kick off with Prisoner of the Judoon (OMFG JUDOON HOORAY!!!) on October 15^th. Also be sure to tune in for the Oct 29^th/30^th story The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, co-starring David Tennant!

Season finale will air 20 November.

Tags: doctor who, sci-fi
Mood: excited

::Atheism:: Wow.

2009-09-11T11:18:00.001-04:00

Survey says one in 33 women who attend worship services regularly has been the target of sexual advances by a religious leader; one in 10 congregants aware of clergy abuse.

Although I'm sure they'll need many followup studies to make definitive conclusions, the prevalence seems to be higher than even I would've guessed. And this is just the women.

Tags: atheism, news
Mood: shocked

Slipped my mind...(Dreamland)

2009-09-09T15:41:00.001-04:00

I knew about this a month ago but forgot to put it in my "upcoming stuff" post.

One last animated special with David Tennant, to be broadcast in the UK in "Autumn". Looks like it'll be a bit different animation style, too.

Tags: doctor who
Mood: curious

On Defying Gravity

2009-09-06T15:40:00.001-04:00

I had some time to kill on a flight recently, so I watched the first 5 episodes of Defying Gravity and caught the 6^th this morning. I'd had my expectations sufficiently lowered ahead of time, which was good. Lowered expectations is definitely what you need to get through this show.

Maybe it's just me not watching anything ABC for the last decade and a half, but is this really a 2009 show? The plot lines, the relationship dynamics - I feel like it's a show straight out of the nineties. You can see the plot turns coming a mile away, and the characters...well, they are largely heckneyed TV stereotypes. The male and female leads have this kind of "Sam and Diane in space" dynamic, which I found annoying even when it was Cheers. The Wassenburger/Paula dynamic is even more grating, and it makes me wish Laura Rosslyn or Starbuck was onboard the Antares, because they'd send that dude out the airlock by ep 2.

The one thing not-so-'90s about the show is the flashbacks. They serve as a dual timeframe, linking events in the current 2052 with those of 5 years earlier. But they are so prevalent (almost half the airtime would be my guess), and the clues at being in "flashback mode" are not easy to follow. Many of the characters have identical appearance in 2052/2047; it would've been nice to have more hairstyle changes etc. to help parse through all the time-hopping. Oh, and although most time jumps go back 5 years, there are other time periods explored as well. All the more to juggle in the course of forty-some minutes - a recipe for confusion.

Oh yeah, and the sci-fi (such as it is): There's the big mystery about the "Beta" alien, but mostly it's about relationships of 8 really neurotic people (how did most of these people pass a psych test??) and those on the ground who love them or hate them. It's sort of on a sliding scale of "bad". I find myself drawn to some storylines over others, but not because they're compelling, just that they are a bit of relief from the parts that make me want to claw my eyes out (i.e., Wassenburger). OK, some of the plots are getting a little bit better by Ep #6, and I'm rooting for Rollie because he was on BSG, but mainly I'm sticking around to see where the Beta plotline goes.

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: cynical

sci-fi calendar items

2009-09-02T09:26:00.001-04:00

For my own reference, as well as yours:

Oct 27^th: Battlestar Galactica: The Plan is released on DVD, Blu-Ray, digital download. Premeires on the Sci Fi Channel (no, I'm not using that other name) sometime in November.
Nov 3^rd: V premeires on ABC.
No word on air dates for Sarah Jane Adventures S3 (with Judoon kickoff and later ep w/David Tennant), other than "Autumn".
Similarly vague about final Tennant episodes Waters of Mars (November) and 2-part finale The End of Time (Xmas).
Also! We have an unoffical report that BBC has picked up a 4^th series of Torchwood. "How?" is another question - as a sendoff, it would've been the best in TV's history (at least as far as I know). But to continue? I'm not opposed, but I do wonder how they can just "go back" to the old format...

Tags: doctor who, sci-fi
Mood: nerdy

Don't let this become another Prop 8

2009-08-25T10:16:00.000-04:00

Back in May, the Maine legislature legalized same-sex marriage. This November, voters in the state will have an opportunity to overturn that law. We can’t let that happen. Just as we saw with Proposition 8 in California in 2008, Maine voters will see Proposition 1 on their ballots this November. Hopefully, the majority will vote No on 1 and same-sex marriage will be protected.

Link here for donations, about, etc: Project Maine Equality

Tags: gay marriage
Mood: angry

Collected Sci-Fi Notes

2009-08-25T08:26:00.001-04:00

1. Saw District 9 last weekend. I was going to do a full review, but for a couple of reasons I won't. I'll just say that it was very very good...for a movie. Near-perfect CG, interesting storyline, a good characterization of the aliens, etc. But, as it was a movie, it had some "movie"-like aspects that I try to avoid. I tried to explain a bit when I reviewed the Star Trek movie. Suffice it to say I prefer the (modern!) TV format for a sci-fi fix. Nonetheless, it was money was well spent.

2. When there's been time, I've been watching the commentaries on BSG S 4.5, and have covered nearly all of the material in the first 3 (out of 4) discs. What's been learned:

Sometimes a Great Notion was written before the writer's strike, which could explain why it's still got some of the old BSG "pow" from before.
From the RDM podcasts, it sounds like the writers were in fact (as I suspected) overextended between BSG and The Plan and Caprica. It was admitted that they in fact made Adama throw one or two too many temper tantrums, but it was because they were so distracted that every time seemed like the first.
Islanded in a Stream of Stars makes a hell of a lot more sense in its extended version, both on its own and for developments in the finale.
Edward James Olmos is a man of few words. Unfortunately, this made his director's cut commentary for Islanded very boring indeed.

3. I am going to give Defying Gravity a try this week, as there's only 5 eps to spin up on. If I like it, I'll start reviewing it.

4. I've joked about it, but it's actually true: what I really want to go as for Halloween is The 456. But aside from the fact that its construction may lie a bit outside of my time and abilities, I don't think the organizers of the events I would be attending would appreciate my costume vomiting blood and mucus on the walls of their establishment.

Still, a girl can dream.

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: calm