Archive for the ‘Television’ Category

Where, Frankly, Thousands Have Gone Before…

Saturday, January 5th, 2008

The first thing I should probably note is that I am not a “trekkie”, although I have enjoyed watching Star Trek in almost every iteration. My fondest memories are of the original series, which I used to watch in reruns as a kid. Along with Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Robotech it was a show I would go out of the way to make sure I caught. That being said, I never went out of the way to obtain an encyclopedic knowledge of the Star Trek universe. In fact, for a long while I was much more of a partisan (as far as these things become divisive) of George Lucas’ Star Wars universe. But as I’ve grown older and watched more and more Star Trek, I’ve come to appreciate Roddenberry’s vision and those of his creative followers.

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Doctor Who Spins Off Again With The Sarah Jane Adventures

Tuesday, September 11th, 2007

Following the apparent success of Torchwood (which I’ve yet to see, despite it just having premiered on BBC America), the Doctor Who franchise ventures into more spin-off territory with The Sarah Jane Adventures — a series not about a plucky girl detective tracking down jewel thieves in her cozy little hometown, despite how the title makes it sound.

From scifinews.net:

The new series The Sarah Jane Adventures sees the return of some familiar alien enemies from Doctor Who as the Slitheen are back and out for revenge.

Coming to CBBC on BBC One and CBBC at the end of September 2007, The Sarah Jane Adventures stars one of Doctor Who’s most famous former companions — investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith.

The series is from the same people behind Doctor Who including multi-award winning writer Russell T Davies.

Russell T. Davies’s stint on the first season of Doctor Who was by far my favorite of the new series (he wrote Dalek, my new number one Doctor Who episode ever), so I’m excited to see this… or will be when The Sarah Jane Adventures comes to BBC America, probably sometime in 2010. Sigh.

Flash Gordon (Mike Hodges, 1980) and Flash Gordon (Sci-Fi Channel, 2007)

Thursday, August 16th, 2007

Well, let’s get it out of the way straight off. Flash! Ahh-ahhh! He’ll save every one of us! You have to do that when discussing Flash Gordon, you know. It’s like a drinking game without the booze. The deathless battle cry of this movie is well-known even to those who have never even seen it. Full of color, verve, and the rocking, operatic sounds of Queen, the 1980 Flash Gordon takes Eighties camp to a level matched by few of its big-haired contemporaries. It’s a damn shame the 2007 series can’t say the same thing. At least then, there would be a reason to recommend it.

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Hellboy Animated: Blood and Iron (2007)

Thursday, June 21st, 2007

Back in February, I reviewed the unexpectedly excellent Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms, the first in what promised to be an ongoing series of animated Hellboy offerings from Starz. To the good fortue of Hellboy fans everywhere, Sword of Storms received enough attention to warrant a sequel, Blood and Iron, with promises of still more on the way. On June 12, Blood and Iron was released on DVD… and here’s the review!

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Thursday News Roundup: Babylon 5, Galactica, Elric, LeBoeuf, etc.

Thursday, June 7th, 2007

Here we go with another Thursday news roundup, bringing you yesterday’s news tomorrow! It’s like Early Edition, except Gary’s always too late to save the little girl from getting hit by that freight train, or what have you. I don’t know, I never watched it.

First of all, if you have even the slightest enthusiasm for Babylon 5, feast your eyes on the trailer for the new Babylon 5 Lost Tales DVD. It features an ominous voice-over, some spectacular space battle footage, techno-mage Galen looking mysterious (and, as usual, slightly smug), and Tracy Scoggins bearing a more than passing resemblance to Brian Dennehy. Hopefully the writers have chosen to refrain from cramming her into neon pink Frederick’s of Hollywood lingerie (as they did in the deeply unfortunate River of Souls), lest our very souls be blasted into oblivion and forfeit to Yibb-Tstll. Well, anyway. The DVD comes out July 31.

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