Tags: tv

Phantom Monkey

BSG squee

I was somewhat late watching this week's Battlestar Galactica - what with being forgetful, then out shopping, then getting rather engrossed in my latest Tamora Pierce novel (mmm, favourite author fix), it wasn't until the middle of the evening that I remembered to grab the torrent file and kick it off. Still, it was an episode which was very much worth the wait. Great chunks of plot, some seriously heavy-duty action sequences, and plenty of heavy-duty character development - and all that in 42 minutes.

One of the things I love about sci-fi is the way it can throw you a curveball - because you don't know the "rules" of the universe in the same way you do those of our current reality, you can be caught off-guard by an unexpected "That is so cool - I had no idea they could do that!" moment, even (and perhaps especially) if in hindsight you can see the hints. My favourite instance of this is the resolution of one of the cliffhangers between The Neutronium Alchemist and The Naked God (those of you who've read those books will know what I mean, and those of you who haven't, and have any interest in space opera, should go out and read The Reality Dysfunction at once), but this week's BSG had a nifty little one too.

Going off in a completely different direction: many of you may recall the Sony advert with all the balls bouncing down a street. I remeber seeing it in the cinema and thinking "that's rather nifty. Obviously done with computer graphics, but still nifty." Fast forward to yesterday, when I came across an article about the follow-up advert (a rather sillier affair featuring exploding paint, but again extremely nifty) explaining how it was all done for real. And how contrary to what many people that, last year's ad was indeed done by sending a quarter of a million bouncy balls down a San Francisco street. Alas, none of this will make me buy a Sony TV if they cost rather more than a comparable competitor...
I think I need a hug

The Psi Corps is your Friend. Trust the Corps.

Once again I ventured forth into Oxford in search of jeans. After a long and arduous quest upon which I tried on what seemed like every pair of appropriately sized jeans in the centre of town, I finally settled on something "good enough". That goal achieved, I did potter around the shops a little more, but in the end I decided that I really wasn't feeling up to anything more and beat a hasty retreat in the direction of home.

I am, you see, suffering from some sort of a lurgy- swollen glands and a sore throat, and generally not feeling on top form. Still, one has to soldier on, and it is more of a painful annoyance than a "can't face leaving bed" sort of a thing. I was dosing myself with a lemon and honey concoction suggested by sophie10, until I cleverly ran out of honey. More shopping tomorrow, methinks. Meanwhile, I really need to pop some more vicodin ibuprofen...

Ah, that's better. Anyway, on to the next, and something that probably won't mean anything to those of you who haven't watched Babylon 5. Earlier today, frayer sent me a picture message containing proof that the Psi Corps is, in fact, real. Yes, they're undergoing a re-branding exercise, but they can't hide the truth - I even managed to locate the web page for their assessment centre. Sinister stuff, indeed.

Anyway, back in TVland, I got a bit of a late start with Heroes - not X-Men, the TV show, honest - which definately shows promise, and I'll be eagerly awaiting the next episode (and if the cheerleader's mother turns out not to be Calista Flockhart, I'll be most disappointed). Next up was the season premiere of Lost, to which I say OMGWTFBBQFISHBISCUIT (oops, minor spoiler there) - stay tuned for my comment on next week's episode. After that, came my very late start on Rome - although, to be fair, I was waiting until I finished my way through Colleen McCullough's Roman novels - and I suspect that I'll be romping through the DVDs at high speed. Finally, there was the two-part opener for Battlestar Galactica - why is it that the second half always downloads faster? - which continues the high standard, and certainly gets the third season of to an interesting start.

Right, that's enough for one evening. I'm off to take a happy pill - or, at least, drop one into a nice, hot bath...
tube

Televisual addictions

I've always been one for media addictions - whether it's desperation for a Favourite Author Fix, eagerness to see the latest movie, or rampaging through a TV show to the exclusion of all else. It's the latter that's been hitting me lately - first sophie10 got me hooked on The 4400 (which at least is still on the weekly drip - the only one, now that Doctor Who has finished) and Alias (all five seasons in around three weeks), and now frayer has cunningly introduced me to House (yes, I'm posting this to take a break between the first two seasons). Once that's done, I've got Space: Above and Beyond which I picked up on a whim, and seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation to work my way through (although that's more of a "maybe one episode a day" show than a "one more episode or sleep?" one). Hopefully that's enough to keep me going until new seasons of some of the above, plus 24, Battlestar Galactica and Lost...

This post was brought to you by the LiveJournal Anti-Nudge Campaign.
dinosoar

*stabs BBC*

GAH! WHY DO THEY HAVE TO KEEP MESSING WITH THE START TIME OF DOCTOR WHO?!?

Honestly, is it too much to have it start at the same time every week. Or maybe even approximately the same time. Especially when it's the second half of a two-parter. I bet I'm not the only person who's been caught out by the 6:35 start this evening; I imagine that there are a fair number of people tuning in around now expecting the closing stages of Strictly Dance Fever before Doctor Who starts some time just after seven. I do at least have a Sky box so I can get BBC3 for the repeat - except that there's no chance of me being home from London by seven tomorrow, so that's something of a moot point. Raaaaa!

Thank God for BitTorrent...
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Something Wicked This Way Comes

MySpace and Blakes 7

I'm fairly sure that I've only stumbled onto MySpace once, and the horrible mishmash of text, images, sound and video sent me running for the hills, but apparently some people do use it. According to El Reg, since the lovely and benevolent Mr. Murdoch took over, the terms and conditions and conditions have been tweaked just a little. The synopsis seems to be "News Corporation pwns j00" - anything you put on MySpace, they get to keep forever and use however they like. Yup, when the MySpacer grows up and becomes famous, all those skeletons in the MySpace closet can pop up in the Sun or on Fox News. Lovely.

The last couple of days I've been working through my newly-arrived DVDs of the final season of Blakes 7. Yes, the wobbly sets and dodgy special effects are still there, but considering the tiny budget, one can hardly complain - and it's the story and characters that you watch it for (yes, I still want to be Avon when I grow up, why do you ask?) The influence on later shows like Babylon 5 (league of non-aligned planets, anyone?) and Firefly (a bunch of renegades on a spaceship fighting an evil federation which uses pacification drugs...) is clearer than ever. Plus you get one of the greatest endings to a TV series ever...
yikes

YWKP, YWKF, ATYWD. HAPF!

Today I've been mostly watching a new sci-fi show - new to me at least. I watched the first three or four episodes last night and was sufficiently hooked to spend today watching through the remaining eleven. Right now, I'm just managing to restrain myself from hunting down the Fox execs who cancelled Firefly and cutting their hearts out with a rusty spork.

Yes, all shows end sooner or later - indeed, another Joss Whedon show reaches its conclusion later this week - but for something that was already so good and with such great promise... It's more than a little annoying. But, apparently what the studio execs think we want is a constant diet of "reality TV". Heaven forbid they produce some quality genre drama.

For now, I'll just have to hope that the theatrical movie does make it all the way to the big screen, and is enough of a success to get the show back on the road...