Review: X Files Season 10 (Spoilers Maybe)

I honestly don't know where to start with this review.  I guess it'd be best to open with that I enjoyed the 6 episode mini series.  Were I forced to give it an arbitrary rating, I'd probably go with a 3.25 out of 5.

I wasn't the biggest X Files fan while it was on the air, picking up only in the last season (which featured the infamous John Doggett).  I got hooked on the show in spite of itself, and enjoyed the re-run episodes that Space would show every night at 10.  Wish they'd pick that up again - the classic episode marathon they had back in January was close enough I guess.

For the most part, this season actually felt like a regular season of the X Files.  Being a mini-series, I fully expected to be watching a 6-episode story, rather than 6 stand-alone episodes.  I think this was smart - it meant that they were better able to stay close to the X Files tone.  It was pretty much a "Monster of the Week" peppered with shows that serve to drive the overarching story.

I think the very best episode of the bunch was "Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster", which featured Rhys Darby as the titular Were-Monster.  I feel like this episode was written particularly to fit Darby's style.  Also funny to note that Darby played a werewolf in "What We Do In The Shadows", which is a must-see.  Werewolves, not Swear-wolves!

Unquestionably the worst episode was My Struggle II.  It didn't seem to fit with the rest of the episodes (even though it was a direct sequel to My Struggle).  Also, it featured a seemingly pointless re-appearance of Agent Reyes - that didn't really seem to serve any purpose other than to give us a familiar character to deliver plot exposition.

Here's how I'd rank the episodes:

1. Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster
2. Home Again
3. My Struggle
4. Babylon
5. Founder's Mutation
6. My Struggle II

I'd probably switch around Babylon and My Struggle, but Babylon takes a hit for "Agent Einstein".  Also, I just looked up Founder's Mutation and realized that the director of this one also directed "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man", an episode I watched recently and really liked.  Musings was the better episode.  

Other minor notes - both Aaron Douglas and Alessandro Juliani appeared in the season as guest stars, who both starred in Battlestar Galactica.

Titansgrave: Season 1 Short Review

Titansgrave: The Ashes of Valkana on YouTube

Season One of Titansgrave wrapped up (and hey, I learned after watching Episode 10 that there's at least another season planned) this week.  The final episode was pretty great, I think, and addressed some of the issues I had early on.  I definitely think you should watch this series - most of the episodes are under an hour in length and the story is pretty fun to follow - which makes the finale especially frustrating from a viewing standpoint (in a good way).

To expand on my point...one of my issues with the show originally was that I felt very disconnected during the battle sequences - they dragged on a little too long, at least from my perspective, because I didn't fully understand the game mechanisms.  At the end of the series, I still don't fully understand the system, but I think I've gained enough basic knowledge that I'd be able to pick up and play tomorrow if someone asked me.  And that's all from just watching the game being played, so job well done there.

But what specifically changed for the better for me in Episode 10 was the pacing of the final battle.  Granted, I think this was done specifically because it was the Epic Final Battle - but there was a noticeable change from the earlier episodes.  I hope Wil Wheaton has some behind the scenes material that will be released for the show, because I'd be willing to bet that there was a conscious decision behind the pacing change and it has to do with the gameplay mechanics & getting the viewer accustomed to how the game works.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the last episode except for the suckerpunch right at the end.  Thanks a lot, GM Wheaton.  I'm pretty sure I have spoiled 0% of the show for you, so if you haven't watched it - please go watch it now.

Vacation'd

I'm stealing this thread title from my podcast, because I can and who are you to stop me anyway??

Basically, as I start writing this, I have nothing productive to say; so I'm going to allow myself to just write what comes naturally.  Actually, I have some notes in a notebook that I could probably transcribe, but I think I'll do that on the weekend from the comfort of home.  So, bonus - you'll get some more stuff from me on the weekend.

Before I let my mind wander and forget to talk about it, the significance of the title is that for the last several weeks, I've been doing a combination of travelling up north to see Vanessa or her travelling to see me (if you don't know, she is working on a contract temporarily and is ~8 hours away).  As a result I haven't worried about sticking to any self-imposed schedules or doing anything creative.  I've sort of just...done things as I felt like it.  A little freeing!

Having said that, I think I'm going to not worry about my "schedule" I wrote about several weeks ago.  I think I've kind of reset my laziness and I'm not just sitting in front of the TV every night.  It doesn't feel as important to keep up with magazines, comic books, or TV shows right now.  I just want to have fun, and have fun creating things.  If there's something I want to do, and it doesn't get done...it's not a big deal (as long as it's not something actually important).

In my last podcast I released, I recorded it entirely from my cell phone.  It was pretty cool.  Which has led me to the notion of releasing a different podcast using just my cell phone.  I'm currently exploring methods of doing that; once I figure out a way that works to my satisfaction I will probably start doing that instead of writing here.  I just find it fun to do podcasts, and it comes easier than writing.

I think that's it for now.  Til the weekend!

ReBoot - Season 3 + Podcast Review

I binged through ReBoot season 3 last weekend to finish it off, and prepare for sitting through season 4 (which is actually two movies but was split into episodes for TV).  I probably would have taken longer to get through the season, but the third season is actually quite compelling.  I can't remember the last time I watched the season in full, from start to finish (let alone watching the series start to finish!); I feel like the last time this happened, I was 13 and watching it week-to-week when it was freshly released.

I remember that the third season was highly serialized, but I forgot how much it veered into this direction.  A few of the episodes could be watched on their own, but you'd lose out on so much of the story (which, I suppose, is a good reason to have the musical recap).  The season is broken down into three very well-defined arcs: Enzo's struggles to become a Guardian; Matrix and AndrAIa's search for Bob and Mainframe; and the final fight to save Mainframe.  Each arc is 4 episodes long, and are identified via the episode number (for example, 3.1.3 or 3.2.1 - Season 3, Arc 1, Episode 3, etc).

By far my favourite episode is "The Episode With No Name", mainly for the stand-off between AndrAIa and the female guardian.  A close second would be "Showdown", for the extended fight sequence between Matrix and Megabyte.  The whole season was very cinematic, and had parody-after-parody.  I mentioned that season 2 shed the cartoon quality of season 1, but season 3 takes that to another level entirely.

Lastly, I'm glad I stuck with the Mainframe Chronicle podcast and gave them a chance to get better.  The chemistry between the hosts improved a lot, and they both feel a little looser.  There is still a lot of recitation of wikipedia factoids, but the hosts actually bring some personality to the episodes and relate some of their own stories.  Their best episode was Episode 10 - The Visitor, where they had a guest from another podcast join them.  I think it helped to loosen up the regular hosts quite a bit and made an impact for the following episodes.

As I said, I've still got season 4 to watch, but I've started working my way through Beast Wars (or Beasties, as it's better known in Canada).  There's another podcast running that I'll be listening to as well - it's called the Transformers Beast Wars Podcast.   It looks like they're still releasing new episodes, as the latest was out June 2nd.  So far after listening to 1 episode, they're doing what I hoped a ReBoot podcast would have done.

A Few Reviews

In the last week, I got a lot of show watching done, plus some reading.  Read as for some reviews...

Specifically, I binged through two seasons of ReBoot, which sounds like a lot, but actually the first two seasons are each only 10 episodes long.  At roughly 22 minutes per episode, that's 3 hours and 40 minutes. It didn't feel that long though, and was quite enjoyable to watch through.  

It's amazing to note the vast differences between seasons 1 and 2; at the most basic, season 1 was purely a cartoon with some references for the older viewers.  Season 2 took on a more serial nature and expanded the universe, and did away with some of the more cartoon-y aspects (zany sound effects and the like).

After watching, I then listened to a podcast called Mainframe Chronicle. The podcast has long since ended so I don't feel too bad giving it a bad review; but still a little bad, because I could tell the hosts were trying hard to make something enjoyable.

I find it's very similar to Futurama Pedia in terms of basic structure - the hosts (Daniel and Joey) would watch episodes and talk about them.  Unfortunately, this is where the show fell flat.

While Joey sounds a little more loose and comfortable, host Daniel just sounds very boring and monotonous.  It also sounds like they're reading straight from the ReBoot wiki, which I will admit, I might not have noticed had I not gone in and read a few articles before hearing about the podcast.  They don't really offer anything new to the discussion (granted, I'm only 7 episodes in), though they did receive feedback at some point that asked them to do some more research.  I have noticed that they've loosened up quite a bit compared to their first episode, so it's possible they'll get better for season 3 and the movies.  There are points where I've found them hard to relate to but it could be because they're both at least 6 years younger than me and don't quite remember what the world was like in 1994-1995.

I'll give a final review when I finish the series, to be fair.

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I finally got some comic books read; first up is ChronoNauts #1, by Mark Millar and Sean Murphy.  I bought a re-issued edition that had a comic paying homage to the Back to the Future poster, thinking that there might be some sort of tie-in.  I was wrong, but definitely NOT disappointed.  The basic premise is a couple of scientists invent a time machine, and something goes horribly wrong at the end to kick off the story.  The art is beautiful, and although I found the pacing to be a little off, I really enjoyed it.  I'll probably give it another read, and try to track down more issues.  

I also re-read some old Star Trek comics, most of them missing their covers.  I had a TNG comic which featured Q turning the Enterprise D crew into Klingons, which was fun, ends on a "to be continued" note.  As I don't have the cover, I don't know if I'll ever be able to find the follow-up books to find out how it ends.

I then read two TOS era books, called The Modala Imperative.  These ones were fresh to me, because I never really got into them as a kid.  Another case where I'm missing the conclusion to these books, because I really enjoyed them and want to see the outcome.  Apparently the story line is continued in the TNG era, so there's another set of books to look for.  I guess I have some specific books to look out for at the next ComicCon!

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Lastly, I've been watching a lot more Dark Matter, setting Killjoys aside for the time being.  Initially I felt that Dark Matter was a little predictable - and it still is, in some ways - but in the last couple of episodes, I feel that its tone has changed to something a little more mature.  It's still trying very hard to be the next Firefly, but it is at least standing on its own.  The latest episode I watched - Episode Four - was set on a space station and it looked fantastic.  Without blatantly telegraphing everything, you get a good feel for how this universe operates.  Also, TIL that the episode names are given numbers, akin to how the crew refer to themselves by numbers.

A Round-Up

Not this kind of round-up.

I thought I'd check in based on my post last week, and make Thursdays my official day for posting here.  Or maybe Fridays.  I wrote all of this on Thursday but didn't finish editing (to add links).

I guess technically Im in my second weekdoing this new plan.  I think it's going petty well!  As I write this, Im watching some episodes of ReBoot (yes, I'm re-watching the show).  My schedule was thrown for a loop this week, but that's what happens when you get a day off work in the middle of the week.

I've found the hardest day to stay intrested is Magazine Monday.  I guess I'm just not that into magazines. But I did and some new TV Shows to follow!  On Thursdays only of course.

- Dark Matter - I first leared of this show via Wil Wheaton.  The basic premise of the show is 6 people wake up from stasis to discover they know basic skills but don't remember who they are. Already that's a great premise that hooked me. The series is created by the same people behind the Stargate TV shows.

It's interesting to think of them as "auteurs" because you can certainly pick up on the Stargate-like aspects. It's hard to define, but it's definitely noticeable and can make it easier to predict plot points. Overall, I like it.  The title text makes me think of the N64 game Perfect Dark.  TIL it's based on a comic book series!

- Killjoys - It's about bounty hunters, set in the future. A killjoy is a hunter with clearance to go after kill contracts. I don't want to give too much away, because it is a great show. It's visually stunning as well.  I actually like this show better than Dark Matter.

Other things going on? We got a new camera, and I'm photographing anything and everything.

I've been a lot more productive these last two weeks as well.  I released a podcast last weekend, the second in two weeks. That's really good for me! Usually I don't get more than one done in a month.

Good start for now!

I'm Back (not to be confused with Bach)

I haven't posted in a while.  In that last post, I mentioned a few things I had on the go in 2015.  I'll address those topics shortly; first though, I had to get an idea out of my head that was generated while on my lunch time walk (which is the worst time for ideas - I can't write them down, and they compete for my attention against podcasts.  Unfair to the podcasts, because then I don't listen to them).

I have an ever-growing list of media I wish to consume, coupled with an ever-growing list of media I wish to produce.  To that end, I think I need to structure my weeks.  You see, I'm on my own for the summer (inquire further in the comments if interested in the full story), and it's been that way since May 25th.  I had all these grandiose plans to catch up on PVR recordings (movies & TV shows), get podcasts recorded, etc. etc. to fill my time between softball games.

I've watched some TV, but mostly have sucked my time with playing video games and not being very productive, aside from some household chores.  This is why I need structure.  The last couple of days, I actually accomplished some to-do list items because I actually made a to-do list and followed it.  So obviously, I need to tighten my schedule.  Here it is.

• Magazine Mondays - Something I've been meaning to start for a while.  I subscribe digitally to a bunch of magazines from the Ottawa Public Library via Zinio, and I have a backlog.
• Book Tuesdays - The alliteration stops at Mondays.  I will find time to read books outside of Tuesdays, but some weeks I find I don't read at all.  So at least once a week my evenings will be spent behind the pages (digital or analog) of a book.
• Comic Book Wednesdays - I have some comic books backlogged, plus a few older ones I wouldn't mind re-visiting.  Also, there is a specific purpose to this day - will get to that.
• Television Thursdays - Yay, alliteration is back!  Thursdays are for catching up on recorded items on my PVR, YouTube series (think: TitansGrave, RCVR, other stuff)
• Free Music Fridays - Because I needed more alliteration; specifically though I need to stay on top of Creative Commons music for Alternative Airwaves.
• The Weekend - The weekend is multi-purpose.  Record a podcast (or two), listen to music, read, whatever.

What is all of this for?  Why give titles for everything?  I'll answer the second question first: because I can.  As to what it's all for - and why the title of this post is, "I'm Back" - because I want to flex my writing muscles a bit more, and get more use out of this silly blog.  I'm going to try to get back into the swing of weekly writing over here, using any one of those days as a starting block.  Which day I'll post I haven't decided yet - but that's not important.

The other purpose is for the media I wish to produce, as I alluded to above.  I already have Alternative Airwaves to work on - hence the music listening on Fridays - but I'm trying to finish working on Star Trek: The "X" Generation and turn that into a podcast.  I recorded an "Episode 0" for it to get feedback (ask for it in the comments, if you like!), but I need to do more writing first.  It's a project where I can easily record episodes ahead of time and keep up with a consistent schedule, but if I get too far ahead recording, I won't have any material to work with anymore!

That ties in to the whole comic book Wednesdays - the new podcast idea will involve comic books as well, and I want to release it when comic books are released - Wednesdays.  I guess that's the only tie-in.  Carry on.

Alright, back to my 2015 Update post - here's where I am as of today...

- Podcasts / 2015 comeback: I'm doing...OK with this.  I've got updates coming mostly monthly.  I missed the month of April only, so that means for 2015 I've released an episode in Jan/Feb/Mar/May/June - that's much better than I thought!  Working with my friend Mike for the Futurama Podcast...we at least released a mini episode in May!

- TV Shows: I have too many shows to "catch up" with.  I think I may binge watch a bunch of things. Or I may not.

- Project 365/52/26 - I started this...and then stopped.  Not my cup of tea.

- Weight Loss - I have not yet lost 38 pounds, and in fact missed my goal for May.  But since the end of May, I've gotten back on track with things and the weight's going down.  Work in progress.

That's it!  Sorry for the length of the post, but that's my fault for not writing anything in a billion years.*

* by "a billion years" I mean 6 months.

What's going on?

It's 2015 and also has been a long time since I updated anything on this blog. The short version for why I haven't: I haven't felt the urge to write / haven't thought of any topics. So you get this catch-all post for what's going on in 2015 so far.

- Serial Podcast - Yes I know, everyone and their mother has already consumed the first season. This is why I've started to listen, because it's so highly recommended. I've listened to the first 6 episodes and am enjoying it. However, I find that host Sarah Koenig seems to be very intent on proving Adnan's innocence. I've seen similar comments that say the same thing. It doesn't bother me too much, but I'd like to see a bit more objectivity while examining the facts of the case.

- Podcasts, you say? - I hope that 2015 will prove to be my "comeback" to podcasts. I've been very lax in updates and would like to get back to regular updates. So far I'm committing myself to monthly updates with the goal of returning to a bi-weekly show.

- TV Shows - Rogers introduced shomi late in 2014. It's basically a Netflix type service that offers movies and TV shows. The great thing is that they have The Next Generation in HD, but they also have some shows I missed like 30 Rock. There are others, most especially Black Mirror and The Booth At the End (online only) that I'd like to watch.

- Project 365/52/26 - sometime in January or February I will start a photo project wherein I will take either a daily/weekly/biweekly photo. I posted about this on my Google+ profile.

- Weight Loss - I'm trying to lose ~38 pounds by early May. It's going slowly so far, but that's why I'm aiming for early May. I'll largely be doing the same things I was doing before that worked.

Hmm, I think that's it for now. Obviously much more going on but that's all that I can force out of my head right now.

Deep Space Nine: The Adversary

Full disclosure: Deep Space Nine is probably my favourite TV series; while TNG might be the Trek I grew up on, DS9 has always been my favourite.  It's a shame that I never watched it during the original run (until the later seasons) and had to watch it as re-runs.  It's also a shame that no network carries them in syndication that I know of - they instead prefer to show TOS, TNG, and Voyager.  Weird.  I think DS9 is very underrated.  I'm currently re-watching DS9 with Vanessa, mainly as an excuse to watch my favourite TV series.

Episode: The Adversary (Season 3, Episode 26 - S3 finale)

Written by Ira Steven Behr, Robert Hewitt Wolfe

Directed by Alexander Singer

The season 2 finale of DS9 really kicked off the whole Dominion plot line, which continued into the third season; season 3 was still rather episodic when compared to the latter episodes though.  The Adversary really kicked the Dominion plot into high gear.  The short version of the episode is that a Changeling (one of Odo's species, if you don't know) infiltrates the Defiant and attempts to start a war with an alien species in order to take the Federation out of the picture to ease an Alpha Quadrant invasion.  Surprise!  It doesn't work, but Odo learns of a very important fact: it's too late, the Changelings (also called The Founders) are everywhere.

As an episode, it was fantastic: the writing was on, all the character notes were great - but I wanted to highlight the technical aspects of this one, because I thought they were above and beyond the rest of season three.

Very often in Star Trek (and especially DS9), we're presented with a giant ship (or station), where the characters have tons of room to move around.  The Defiant, though, is a tiny ship in contrast.  It's designed to be highly maneuverable, and highly efficient.  The bridge is nice and big, and by necessity so is the engine room, but the rest of the ship is small.  It's basically a submarine in space.

The Adversary does an excellent job in depicting the size of the ship.  Camera angles were very tight and close, and the characters were put in some claustrophobic situations.  Unfortunately I don't think many other episodes featuring the Defiant use these techniques as well as The Adversary; ironically I feel that these tight shots really showcased the Defiant more than wide shots otherwise would have.

The other thing that was really neat were the lack of cuts from the camera.  I think this is directly related to the director (Singer) choosing to film the characters up close, so that when the camera needed to move to another area in the scene, it pulled back in a fluid motion - as if the viewer is the camera, and has to back up ever-so-slightly in order to survey more of the scene.  It was really neat.  But this also helped to simulate the effect of the Changeling watching the crew and being careful not to be noticed.

I don't normally notice these things, but I thought I needed to highlight these sneaky-but-awesome camera tricks in a well-written episode.  If you haven't seen this one, track it down - you won't be disappointed.

A Short Post About Glee

Please allow this brief interlude from talking about weight loss (I think I need a break from talking about that anyway).  I'd like to talk about Glee.

I like the show; that apparently is not a popular opinion for guys to hold, and I'm not sure why.  I guess some guys don't like singing and dancing?  Anyway, having said that, I don't like the last two seasons of Glee as much as the first three.  I think we're at 5 seasons - it's hard to tell with the amount of hiatus periods this show has (which is something I definitely do not like).

I liked the first three seasons because of several reasons, chiefly that there was actual character growth.  The overall plot was also somewhat realistic - the Glee club didn't win it all the first go-around (or even the second time), and had to deal with true adversity.  It wasn't until the third season that they actually were able to pull it all together and win - and it felt like a truly well-deserved win.  I liken it to a professional sports team, who after learning how to lose, finally wins it all.

I felt that the writers/producers hit all of the right beats in those first three years, and that's where the last two seasons fell short.  I will grant that they tried to make me care about the new cast and give them original stories; but you could tell that they realized that avid fans still wanted more of the original cast - hence the split time between Lima and NYC.  However, I don't think it's a coincidence that the show changed focus to NYC and dropped the Lima stories.

Going back to character growth for a quick minute - it just seemed that the characters in the last two seasons were cardboard, and that the whole show became a parody of itself.  I like that it is self-aware (if it wasn't, I think I would have hated these seasons), and I'm glad that the high school kids didn't win Nationals in the end - I swear, everything I was watching felt like they were going to win it, even though they didn't deserve to.

The show is apparently going in another new direction (haha...get it??), so I'm not sure what to expect.  All I know is that if I were to want this show on DVD, I would stick with the first three seasons.  It was a solid show, but it's just faltered a little bit.  Who knows, maybe it will pick itself up again.

Deep Space Nine Re-Watch: Early Observations

Project 52: 6/52

I've been re-watching Deep Space Nine with Vanessa lately - partly because I really love the show and wanted to watch it again, and partly because I really love the show and want to introduce Vanessa to its greatness.  To be honest, as much as I love the show, I'm almost positive that there are episodes I either haven't seen at all, or just haven't seen very much.

So far, we've made our way through season 1 and the first four episodes of season 2.  I am legitimately impressed at the quality of season 1; my misconception has always been "Season 1 is terrible".  While that is the case with some episodes (ugh...I'm looking at you, "Move Along Home"), the first season is very solid and only slightly relies on previous series for stories (The Duras sisters, Q).  You can really see the seeds of what would grow and develop over seven seasons.

Season 2 is drastically different in tone.  For starters, it is more action-oriented.  It kicked off with a three-parter, which is a really strange decision, but the result was a great three-hour episode.  The writing is right up there as well, with the highlight being Kira's goodbye scene in "The Circle".  The dialogue is snappy and quick-witted and is actually funny.

I'm looking forward to more of season 2, which is already laying way more groundwork for seasons to come (and yes, I know, it ends with introducing The Dominion.  After seeing the first four episodes, I have to figure they were planning this from the start of S2).

My All-Time Movies List

For some reason, I found myself thinking about the movies I watched over and over as a kid; the movies that, no matter how many times I'd seen them, I could always pop in when I was bored.  These are the movies that I watched when I was sick; when I was home all summer; on weekends.  These are the movies that I want my kids (when I have them) to watch as they grow up.

The movies aren't in any particular order - I just listed them as they came to mind.  Most of these movies were recorded from TV, and were watched complete with glorious '80s commercials.

Back to the Future
What can I say about this movie?  What can I say about any of them?  As kids, we watched this from a VHS tape, recorded from some TV channel I can't remember.  I should point out that I'm referring primarily to the first movie, not the entire trilogy.  We never had Part II or III on tape, but we watched the hell out of the first one.  It's an easy plot for a kid to wrap his head around.

The Star Wars Trilogy (1977-1983)
The unfortunate thing about this trilogy is that I'm unlikely to ever find copies of the original, unedited versions (without going on eBay finding the DVD copies that were released a few years ago with the original theatrical versions) in high definition, because this is how I grew up watching them.  I think that I would definitely want to show my kids these versions, and I'll do my best to make sure that happens.  I think there's a lot to be said for using physical special effects instead of computer generated crap.

The Karate Kid Part I and II
This one's a funny one for me; I remember watching both of these movies quite a bit - mostly the first one - but I really prefer the second one.  The problem is, our copy of the second one got messed up in the recording.  Oh well!

Bigfoot
This is an obscure one, and I've never seen it available in any media ever, anywhere, except our one VHS tape that we recorded from TV.  There are probably a dozen movies by the same name, but in this case I'm talking about the 1987 made-for-TV film starring Candice Cameron Bure.  Yes, starring DJ from Full House.  I think the only other bigger stars in that movie were Colleen Dewhurst and Joseph Maher.  Have you even heard of them?  Yeah, exactly.  Okay, actually, the father, James Sloyan, appeared in a few Star Trek episodes (TNG, DS9, Voyager), so there's at least one "famous" character actor in it too.  Look, it's a great movie, and you should watch it.

The Great Muppet Caper + A Muppet Family Christmas
I think my favourite of these two is The Great Muppet Caper, but both are excellent films (the latter is made-for-TV I think) that showcase The Muppets at the height of their amazing-ness.  While last year's The Muppets was great, I don't think it can ever top The Great Muppet Caper - even though it may have matched  it in tone at least.

Ghostbusters
Another of the great '80s films, I probably watched this one just as much as the Star Wars movies.

I'm sure there are more that I'm forgetting, and likely will come to mind after I hit "Publish".  But if I only remember these movies, that's still one pretty great list to show my kids.  There's only one modern movie I can think of that I would add to this list - and it's Moneyball.  It seems like a strange choice, but I just finished watching it for the umpteenth time, and I'll likely watch it again and again.  It's become one of those movies, like those listed above.

I didn't really have much of a point to this post, just stuff I wanted to share.  Got any movies that you watched over and over in your childhood?  I'd be interested to see what any '90s kids watched too.

Review: Dexter Season 6 (Spoilers)

I recently caught up with season 6 of Dexter, which has been over and done with for quite a while now (I believe they're gearing up for season 7, the first of the final two seasons).  If you're not familiar with Dexter, here's the basic premise: Dexter is a serial killer who works for Miami Metro Homicide as a Blood Spatter Analyst.  Oh, he only kills those he deems to be "bad".  Season six deals largely with a couple of religious fanatics who believe they are bringing about the end of the world by re-enacting scenes from the Book of Revelation (and also killing people).  It also deals with some other things, but that's the spoiler-free version.

**** SPOILERS FOLLOW THIS POINT ****

More specifically, season six also explores Dexter's spirituality.  As in, does he have any beliefs beyond his Dark Passenger?  This is something with which he struggles for the first half of the season, until he comes to a decision and the matter is abruptly dropped.  This is where I was slightly disappointed with the season - but we'll get to that.

I suppose I should dive into some specifics.  The season starts with Dexter trying to get his son into some prestigious school that just happens to be Catholic.  This launches the question: What does Dexter believe in?  Dexter at first determines that it's not important for him - but he needs to let his son, Harrison, decide for himself.  Enter Brother Sam (played brilliantly by Mos).  Brother Sam is a formerly violent man, who did the time he was sentenced and came out a religious, reformed person.

Sam challenges Dexter to accept that there is a light within him, that it's not all about his Dark Passenger.  Dexter *almost* buys into this, until Sam is torn away from his life by someone he trusted, and Dexter reacts on impulse and kills in revenge.  He then goes on a trip to Nebraska, where he faces temptation - and gives in a couple of times - but ultimately returns to his own "light" and sticks to the Code that has always steered him in the right direction (well, right for Dexter at any rate).

I suppose this is what amounts to the highlight of the season for me - this attempt to figure out the balance between "Good" and "Evil".  No doubt, the writers present Dexter as "Good", and Gellar and Travis (okay...it's just Travis, in a reveal straight out of Psycho.  More on that later.) are "Evil".  But they go a little deeper and try to give Dexter some layers - and they were succeeding, right up until the moment Brother Sam dies.

I've never been a big fan of Dexter's interactions with his "Father", and Season 6 brought this to a whole new level.  When Dexter kills Nick (who murdered Sam) out of revenge, Dexter's brother returns and acts as temptation for him - and he goes through with some pretty impulse-based killings.  Dexter ends up realizing that he doesn't want to do that, and returns to familiar territory.  Where am I going with this?  Oh yes-  this was basically your standard Angel on one shoulder, and Devil on the other.  It was slightly silly, even if it did serve to illustrate the twist in the next episode.

What was that twist?  We're originally presented with the premise that there are two killers, played by Edward James Olmos and Colin Hanks.  It's revealed that Olmos has been dead for years, and all along it's been Hanks.  He was seeing visions of Olmos, just like Dexter sees his Father.  It's at this point in the reveal that everything goes downhill for the season.

Basically it's a race against the clock to find Travis (Hanks), and the final episode is Dexter's usual "Damsel in Distress" - except in this case it's Harrison in Distress.  I suppose the story has to be resolved somehow, but look at how they ended season 4 - I thought that was done quite well.  Instead we get this.  At least they did end with Deb witnessing Dexter kill...we're left to wonder what the heck is going to happen with that in the next two seasons (which are going to be one big arc, according to the producers).

I'm starting to ramble now, so I do want to get to a some observations before I forget.

Number one - I really am creeped out by the whole Debra being in love with Dexter thing.  While technically, it's okay - they're only adopted brother and sister - it's actually how she comes to realize it that makes it strange.  She sees a therapist, who plants the idea into her head (and can someone tell me why Deb can't just be a loving sister for having Dexter in her life, and not be in love with him?), and she just accepts it. To me, it feels like she was manipulated into feeling that way.  It's just creepy.

Number two - I always felt that in every season, Angel's character was sort of like Tyrol in Battlestar Galactica.  He's the character that always Does Something Stupid to mess everything up.  It seems like Angel made some better choices this season...except for once, and it was such a weird moment that seemed both in character and out of character at the same time.  He smokes up with Quinn in his car - and while that seems like something he would do in the past, his character's decisions so far in season 6 negate this.  But at the same time, Quinn is the one making Stupid Decisions this season.  It's easy to see how he might influence Batista.

Number three - Lewis (or is it Louis?).  This seems like a creepy guy - I'm not sure what his angle is, and I'm interested.  I'd like to see where his character is going to go, and why he mailed the prosthetic limb from season 1 to Dexter - and what the markings on the hand mean.

Overall, I thought season 6 was pretty good, but it had some low points.  There are only two more seasons left, so I'm already on board for those.  Hope it's a good ride!

Alcatraz

You may or may not have heard of this new show on Fox from producer J.J. Abrahms called "Alcatraz"; if not, here's the premise: in March 1963, 300+ inmates and guards disappeared without a trace; now, in 2012, they're coming back.  And committing their original crimes on top of doing some mysterious dirty work for some higher power.

I've watched three episodes now (well, technically four since the pilot episode was really the first two episodes back-to-back), and I think that's enough to form an initial opinion.  I think I need to wait until I've absorbed the entire first season before putting together any official "review" of some kind, but here are some brief thoughts about the show so far:

• It's essentially a police procedural show, except it's got paranormal overtones and is funny
• Sam Neill
• I like fiction that takes historical events and puts a new spin on them, and I am a little excited for something as cool as Alcatraz
• No really, Alcatraz was this prison on an island that was next to impossible to escape from.  Can you think of a cooler premise for a TV show of this nature?
• Sam Neill
• They're spending equal time in 1960 and 2012.  They're giving us a lot of backstory on the criminals that the team is chasing down, and there has to be a reason for that - but what's the reason?
• This show has paranormal overtones - or does it?  Maybe time travel is involved?  That's not paranormal in my books.
• Sam Neill

I highly recommend this show - and I never watched Lost, so I'm not saying that you should watch this show based on that last show.  I hear though that the guy who plays Doctor Soto played a guy named Hurley in Lost, and maybe some people might like that?

You can watch Alcatraz Monday nights at 9PM EST on Fox, or be like me and watch it on CITY TV in Canada.

Caprica S01E02 - "Rebirth"

It took me a long time to actually start writing this review; mostly, that's because I have no idea where to start - this episode didn't stick with me mentally like an episode of Battlestar Galactica might have in the past. I find myself needing to re-watch the episode in order to get a better grasp on what's going on in this series. However, I've also decided that I'm not going to do that, because I don't really have any interest in going back and re-watching it.

Brief Thoughts: "Caprica" Pilot, Doctor Who S06E09 "Night Terrors", + Cover Me Canada

I watched a bunch of things over the weekend and got a ton accomplished at home, so I'll condense it all into a few brief thoughts.  Word of warning, there are potentially some spoilers happening below. Here's a little jump in case anyone with spoilerphobia comes across this in a google search or something.

BSG S04E20 - Daybreak, Pt 2

The Opera House was a metaphor for the Galactica.  Of course!

Wow, what can I say other than this was a brilliant episode?  The siege on the Cylon colony was thrilling; honestly, with the way this series goes, it was impossible to tell who might survive.  Yes, we know there are top-billing cast members, but we've seen before that none of them are really safe.  And who knew Lee had such dreamy hair?

The scene where the Galactica jumped into the Cylon colony, with the Cylon guns pumping the old girl to bits.  It was a pretty powerful scene!  No pun intended.

And as I alluded to earlier, it's fitting that the Opera House was only a representation of Galactica itself.  And that it all ends up coming down to Baltar realizing his destiny that he's been struggling to discover since the beginning.  This episode is, basically, one giant catharsis.  I am satisfied.

And for the record, I haven't even finished watching the episode at this point.  I'm typing live.  There's still another 45 minutes or so to go; even without the answers, I'm happy with this ending.


Ugh!  Except for the frakking chief!  He always messes things up.  Although I understand, I mean, Tory (is that how you spell her name?) did blast his wife out of the airlock.  I never liked her character anyway.  Okay, going to stop typing until the episode is completely done.

Okay.  Still not quite over, but I'm pretty satisfied with the ending, still.  A little sad, actually.

Well, I don't know if I'm going to end up watching Caprica.  I want to, but we'll see if I get around to it.  I am looking forward to the new series, Blood and Chrome, however.  It should be a good one!

Cheers, Galactica; you had a good run.

BSG S04E19 - Daybreak, Pt 1

Battlestar Galactica has never failed to let me down.  And I even mean those times where I didn't like where the show was going, and the episodes were really preachy, or nothing happened in them (see: Islanded in a Stream of Stars).  BSG just goes and ramps things up another notch, and delivers a killer episode.

Caprica (Before the fall)

"Daybreak" is no exception.  While not much happened in this episode, it didn't happen in style.  If you know what I mean.  This was purely a character development episode - yes, that's right, the second last episode was developing characters.  We got to see some of the heroes (and the not-quite-heroes) in their original element as the episode opened with scenes from Caprica, likely only a few weeks (or months?) before the Cylons attacked.  We got to see what drove the characters before it was all about simply surviving.

Other than that, it was another pure setup episode.  No answers yet, but I am hoping we get those in the next episode (which is really sort of two episodes, as it's a two-hour long finale).  And it seems like BSG is ending the series on a strong note, going back to one of its core strengths from the early seasons: the impossible mission.

They have to go rescue Hera, in what is likely to be a suicide mission.  Galactica's last hurrah, I suppose.  Anyway, I really enjoyed this episode, even though it was just meant to set up the last part.  Like I said, it was really cool seeing the characters pre-war, worrying about things like Baltar's dad stabbing nurses (yes, this happened!).  Oh, and it was great to see Lee back in his Colonial uniform at the end.  'Bout time he ditched the suit, as good a story line as that is (or was).

Bring on part two...although bring it on when I have two hours to spare, please.

BSG S04E18 - Islanded in a Stream of Stars

Alas, poor Galactica. I knew her, Saul!

I know I'm almost at the end of the series, because this episode was pure set-up.  Nothing actually happened in the episode itself except to set the stage for the finale.  We learned a couple of things, but nothing of importance.  The episode was just filler, the show runners giving us just a taste of things but delaying the final answers.  If you haven't figured it out by now, I didn't really like the episode.

Well, I liked parts of it.  I liked that Kara finally came to terms with the fact that she really DID die and come back - and that it was confirmed in the same episode that she's not a Cylon.  Unfortunately, the best answer we get as to what she is was that she's an Angel - which I don't think is the case; there's a larger, better answer coming up in the finale, but again, this is just a tease to set it up.

I think that's why I didn't like the episode.  Everything was just so blatantly prepared for the finale.  We learn that Sam, while hooked up as a Hybrid, controls the Galactica's systems (AND its FTL drive) because of the Cylon technology.  So they unhook him; but then guess what!  Kara hooks him back up at the end; of course she doesn't know that it's possible he can make the Galactica jump into FTL.  She just wants answers.

And of course Adama just decided to evacuate the Galactica moments before Sam is reconnected.  It's all a little too perfect, at least for my liking.  I don't know what I would prefer though, because you do need to set things up somehow.  I think I would have preferred something a little more subtle, maybe?

Maybe something more like what Doctor Who manages: insert a tiny clue early, and then completely blow your mind when it becomes evident how important that clue really is.  Yeah, I think BSG is a little short on mind blowing than its earlier seasons.

Still, looking forward to the last two episodes.

You know what I miss?

I miss:
being a part of things like Mulder & Scully's Bogus Journey (thank-you very much Wayback Machine)
the long-defunct star wars rpg the Bounty Hunters' Guild

in short: being a part of a like-minded community.  Sure, I'm a member of a few forums here and there but they are largely non-specific beyond one common thing (i.e. Notebook in Hand's common theme is Creativity - but that is a very broad connecting theme.  Not complaining a lot, mind you, it's a fun community!).  However I don't think there's anything out there right now that I can jump into.  No fandom that I'd like to join.

Perhaps though, that might change if I can be on the ground floor of that Blood & Chrome series comes out, I can get into that.  Although to be honest, I'd rather it be something like a new Star Trek or Star Wars series, or something.  As much as I like the Battlestar Galactica franchise, it feels like something with a concrete end, rather than something open* like those other two franchises (or even Stargate - and I tried and horribly failed to get into THAT community when Universe was launching).

I really didn't have a grand point to make in this post, except that I think my lack of a community to participate in amongst peers is leading me to try and fill that void by becoming Internet-Famous; I'm constantly trying to think of cool ideas to pull off after seeing something particularly neat that someone else has done.  And then I remember I need actual artistic skills to become "Internet-Famous".  I'd much prefer being the second kind of "Internet-Famous":

Obscure around the globe, but at least well-liked by members of a like-minded community.  Is that so much to ask?


* Pardon my stealing of your trademark asterisks, Sarah, but you touched on this very topic a while ago so I thought it was fitting.  I can't find it, but I assure any outside readers that it exists in some form on http://srkriger.com/.