Category — Science Fiction

“Dollhouse” is the new Joss Whedon show he’s producing for Fox. It stars Eliza Dushku, who played Faith on “Buffy”. It seems the show stopped production for awhile, has re-cut the pilot (rarely a good sign), and now has been scheduled for the Friday night time slot of death! I like Whedon and Dushku but will remain skeptical of the show before giving it a season pass on my DVR.

Find the latest promo trailer for “Dollhouse” below:

Hmmm, kinda cheesy but it is a Fox show after all…

Source: /Film and Pajiba

BBC’s new show, “Primeval”,  can be a bit cheesy from time to time (especially with some of the special f/x). But after about episode 4, I really started to like the whole gang, even the flying lizard, Rex.

And the whole entering the anomaly can seriously f&*K with reality theme made me give the tv show a full season pass on my DVR. I think I like Jenny Lewis better than her Claudia Brown counterpart (both characters played by Lucy Brown). Claudia was too much of a pushover while Jenny is manipulative PR woman who gets the job done. Plus, Nick Cutter’s character has better motivation now that his relationship with Claudia cannot move forward (i.e. because she no longer exists). The show needs him to be a tortured soul, sort of man on a quest who has nothing to live for but to discover the truth behind the anomalies.

Missed out on Primeval series 1 and 2? No worries. BBC releases their television dvd sets of their tv shows in a more timely fashion than most networks. Both series are available in one box set for around $34.99 on November 4th (i.e. tomorrow!).

Source: TV on DVD releases list on TVsquad

No more David Tennant on “Doctor Who”…can I just go cry in the corner?

His portrayal of the Doctor finally made me give the series a chance. How can I go on with out him! I feared that he would be leaving at the end of season four, but when he regenerated without changing his face I felt relieved that he would be staying on the show. Wrong! They just pushed the changover to the Christmas special to coincide with the showrunner changeover from Russell T. Davies to Steven Moffat.

I can’t even fathom a new actor taking his place that can keep up that level of charisma and good looks…*sob*

Source: TV Squad via BBC

After finishing up the second episode of “Heroes” last night, I decided that this season may be worth the dvr space after all. It seems that Tim Kring & Co. are weaving an intriguing season.  This season seems to be focusing on the idea of giving powers to ordinary people and the subsequent fallout. And they’re bringing back old characters and putting them in the lion’s den with people that hate them (i.e. Sylar and HRG, Claire’s biological mom and adoptive mom, Linderman and Nathan). The show is posing this main question: Can one still be a hero, if you have to make a deal with the devil to win? Or do you become a villain?

Things I liked so far on this season of “Heroes”:

1. The African future painter guy and Parkman’s spirit walk storyline. Their story is a good compliment to future Peter’s actions to change the future.

2. Sylar and HRG being paired up. Talk about opposites attract! I can’t wait for them to stop playing nice.

3.  Angela Petrilli (Peter and Nathan’s mom) running the show at the Primatech Paper (aka The Company). That lady has ambition and will kill anyone who stands in her way.

Things that still annoy me on “Heroes”:

1. Bringing back Ali Larter’s as a new character without explanation. Yeah, it blows my mind that she was made by Dr. Zimmerman, but did she really have to bond with Micah before getting to the bottoms of things?

2. I wish Linderman would go away, along with the God and politics metaphors. I love Mr. McDowell but his character as the devil on Nathan’s shoulders was played out last season.

3. Rebellious Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere). I suppose they do need to lay the foundations for evil future Claire (the one that shoots at her own uncle, future Peter). But could they find some original and non-predictable dialogue and situations to tell that story? We get it, she’s a teenager who can’t die and can do whatever she wants. Sheesh already.

Samantha Tapping (”Stargate SG-1″) has a new gig on “Sanctuary”, a sci-fi web series that SciFi Channel has picked up for this fall tv season.

The show is about Dr. Helen Magnus (Samantha Tapping), a brilliant scientist who discovers a group of unusual beings have been living among humans for ages. Thus, she tries to track them down with her team and offer them sanctuary. Get it? Oh, and by some miracle of science she’s 157 years old!

Her daughter, Ashley (Emilie Ullerup), is also part of the team. She’s in it for the action of the chase. In the pilot episode, they recruit a forensic psychiatrist named Dr. Will Zimmerman (Robin Dunne) who isn’t as good as Ashley in the field. He seems to have a few problems adjusting to the idea of a world where monsters and supernatural beings exist. Ryan Robbins plays the requisite tech guy, Henry, and Christopher Heyerdahl plays Helen’s arch enemy, John Druitt.

“Sanctuary” was created by Damian Kindler and is produced by Tapping herself (along with a few of the “Stargate” producers like Martin Wood and N. John Smith). The show depends almost exclusively on green screen technology, which I feel can be great for science fiction, but I’m not sure if every building needs to be a cgi creation. I’ll guess I’ll just have to wait for the October 3rd (9/8c) premiere before making up my mind.

Watch the video preview on SciFi.com

I finally watched the premiere of “Fringe” and I will admit it’s piqued my interest.

SPOILER ALERT!
At first I wasn’t into Anna Torv’s performance, but by the end of the episode she grew on me. She was a little too wooden in those love scenes. And how obvious was it that her FBI secret boyfriend was gonna die?! The moment he said “I love you”, I knew that spelled J.J. Abrams style doom. Pacey Peter (Joshua Jackson) was a tad whiny at times, but overall he made the ‘Creek’ proud. I totally understand the TV Whore’s concerns though about whether Jackson can pull off scientific smarts, but I’m willing to let that one pass. They hired Lance Reddick who was awesome on “The Wire” and thus will continue to be that way on “Fringe”. When the man speaks, I can’t help but shut up and take him seriously! =)

And since I’m an avid “Alias” fan (Sydney and Vaughn forever!), the scene with the shared memory/dream was totally stolen from season 3 of “Alias”! Remember when David Cronenberg played that hippie scientist who uses LSD on Sydney to retrieve her lost memories of when she was bad? Dr. Walter Bishop (played excellently by John Noble) used to work in secret for a university just like Cronenberg’s character. And Bishop even jokes about LSD in the same way as the “Alias” doc character. “Let’s make some LSD”. I guess that line makes it all okay. Still, I swear that lab (which so conveniently was up in running in a few hours) was constructed out of the same set used in those “Alias” episodes. Nevertheless, on both shows, said dream sequences were very intriguing, especially since the information learned in this fluid state was pivotal to each character. Sydney’s freedom and Olivia’s boyfriend’s life are hanging in the balance!

I have to say what is gonna keep me watching are the awesome special effects! How scary was that plane crash with all the passenger’s skins melting. And then building upon that scene later when they pan over the coma-induced, Agent Scott, really wow-ed me. His translucent skin and decaying organs were displayed quite crisply on my plasma television set. Uber-creepy to say the least!

So yeah, some the plots aren’t the most original but I suppose I’ll keep tuning in so I can figure out what this crazy “pattern” is all about.

Do you remember “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” on Nickelodeon? I remember watching that show when it premiered in 1991.

“The Tale of the Thirteenth Floor” episode clip:

It was like a wonderful jumble of tv serial theatrics reminiscent of “The Twilight Zone” and themes from the Goosebumps book series. Didn’t you just get chills when they threw that dust onto the fire?! Granted, as an adult re-watching these episodes, some of the thrills have gone. Still, I think “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” was a pretty decent original kids series.

Each week they had new characters and stories to tell, sometimes with a twist of horror, other times more science fiction based. This serial format helped keep this tv show on air for 5 seasons! That’s a pretty big feat for a darkly themed kids show. Definitely longer than what most primetime sci-fi shows get these days! Look at “Moonlight” for example. Mick St. John’s dashing looks and vampire charisma couldn’t keep it on air past one season.

Pop Candy reports that Seth Green (Oz in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) will have a guest stint on the third season of “Heroes”!

I actually love Seth Green* (even tho “Robot Chicken” is very hit or miss!), especially his guest appearances on television shows. He was hilarious on “Entourage” as the wannabe it guy who tries to out-cool Vince. He even was a breath of fresh air on “Grey’s Anatomy” this past season, even tho they totally killed his character off! Guess that’s the chance you take when you take a guest role on a hospital drama. Hopefully, Seth Green’s addition will be lengthy, which can only help liven things up on the newly subtitled season, “Heroes: Villains”.

Not caught up? Check out G4 TV for re-runs or buy the extras filled “Heroes” season two dvd on August 26th.

*Airborne and Can’t Hardly Wait gave him a pass from me for life!

When Lindsay Wagner hit the (then) little screen back in the 1970s with “The Bionic Woman”, she gave a whole new meaning to the term “bi.” The series was an instant hit and its title became a brand name. So it was somewhat inevitable we would one day have a sequel. And like so many recycled TV series, this one is no big deal. But then I’d have to think a long and hard—or have a bionic brain–before I could come up with any re-make that is better or even as good as the original.

Michelle Ryan is okay as Jamie Sommers in the new version, but she plays a supporting role. The special effects take the lead. If you’re 16, you won’t be bored. Otherwise, the overdose of gratuitous action sequences may not be enough to keep you from dozing ff in your vintage Lazy Boy. You have to care about the characters to give a damn if they survive their near death experiences. Iron Man does a better job at characterization.

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Before Jessica Alba was in big budget movies like The Love Guru, she starred in James Cameron’s “Dark Angel”, a sci-fi action television series on Fox.

During the two seasons of the show, Max Guevera (Alba) was a bike messenger by day and rogue special agent by night. The tv show was set in a near future post-apocalyptic America where Alba’s character was engineered by the government to be a super soldier that had cat dna enhancements. One minute her character would be delivering a package, and the next she’d be fighting off agents with her super strength and flexibility. All the while never losing track of any of her bike gear and important packages.

She had an on and off again relationship with Logan (Michael Wetherly), a sometimes wheelchair ridden political activist. Together, they would fight to take down the militaristic post-apocalyptic government that loves to experiment on humans and then throw them to the wind. Jensen Ackles (CW’s “Supernatural) played Alec, a selfish rogue agent who helped out Max only when it was profitable. I enjoyed his character way more than Logan’s or Max’s, especially in the second season, when he brought some much needed comic relief to this heavy sci-fi melodrama.

Ultimately, the show ended with a giant cliffhanger where Max was supposedly the messiah that would rescue the world from its post-apocalyptic condition. Unfortunately, James Cameron never got to flesh out that character development, since Fox decided not to renew the show in 2002 for a third season.