BSG prequel movie directed by Admiral Adama.

Coming in 2009, there's gonna be another Galactica movie along the lines of Razor. Here's the press release about it. It's going to be about some of the cylons before the show started - including some stuff about the resistance on Caprica with my favorite eye candy, Samuel T. Anders, and Chief Tyrol. Also, Brother Cavill will be in it too.

Actually here's what it says:

During the chaotic aftermath of the destruction, two powerful Cylon agents struggle with plots and priorities on the human ships that got away, and among the resistance fighters who were left behind.

This makes me wonder... two powerful cylon agents. And the two main characters from the show who were involved on the ships that got away and the resistance are... Anders and Tyrol. HMMM. Could they have accidentally told us a little bit about what cylon antics they might have been up to before the attack on the Colonies? That's my theory, anyway. Which does not necessarily void out my previous theory about the final five coming from Earth. But what happened to make them forget they were cylons? Were they programmed that way or what?

Honestly, I think I'm going to like this movie more than Razor. I like Anders and Tyrol and I like the prequel idea. I wasn't all that jazzed about watching Admiral Cain for two hours, since I completely hated her character when she was on the show. Granted, the movie did change my mind, and gave a lot more insight into her motivation, but still. Wasn't my favorite. Plus, the main main character of that movie was some new girl. I don't even remember her name. Kendra? Kendra Shaw? Okay, I do remember it. I just didn't remember it immediately. Whatever. The point is, a movie about Anders hanging out and playing Pyramid wins over a movie about Admiral Cain beating up her cylon lover and ordering her officers to kill innocent civilians. Okay? That is just how I feel.

Half Blood Prince trailer? Yes please.

FINALLY. Check this out:



Compared to all the other movies, this one looks beyond intense. I really love the direction the movies seem to be going... getting darker and more adult, just like the books. This movie looks slightly terrifying. And incredible. I can't wait.

Doctor Who: Music of the Spheres

Okay, this is really dorky, but really cute.



This was shown at the interval at the BBC proms. Because I'm not British I don't know for sure what that is, but that doesn't really matter. But apparently there was some real live interaction at the concert... I guess the Graske appeared on stage when the Doctor let it slip through the portal, and I guess he had the water gun with him. I love this stuff.

I'm all set to name this my new favorite (American) science fiction show.

AWESOME

Heroes Season Three

Starts on September 22. It looks great, too. I'm looking forward to another full season, with no interruptions from a strike. Hopefully with the full amount of episodes they'll be able to return to season one awesomeness.

In Which I Make Fun of SyFy Portal For Telling Me About Things I'm Actually Interested In

This article is just silly.

"Zachary Quinto, who plays a young Spock in J.J. Abrams' upcoming "Star Trek" movie, based his characterization as much on the film's script as on Leonard Nimoy's previous performance of the iconic character."

Whoa... hold on. You're blowing my mind, SyFy Portal. SERIOUSLY? He like, watched the old show and old movies to figure out what his character would be like? And then he based HIS performance off the only other actor to ever officially play the character?! I'm completely shocked. I never knew an actor would do something so obvious to prepare for a role like that.

Why is this news? I can see wanting to know about it if Quinto was like "eff Nimoy" and decided to do what he wanted, but hearing "Oh, yeah, so he's basing it off the original performance of the character" is not something I need to know about.

I do, however, enjoy knowing that the first time Quinto put the ears on was a moment he shared with his dog.

Also, look at the desktop thing:

I got it off the official website, in the downloads section. There's one with Kirk, Uhura, and I guess whoever's the bad guy. I don't know enough about the plot to have an idea of who he is (and I don't care to, no spoilers for me). But I picked Spock, because I'm talking about him, and also, Spock is the coolest.

In other news, the new Caprica TV show might be starting in the fall. They say they haven't decided if they're airing the telemovie as a telemovie or as the start of the full season. AWESOME. This is interesting because more or less it means we'll have a totally new show about Caprica to get excited about before the end of BSG even happens. Like weaning yourself off heroin with cocaine. Here's the article talking about that. It is also talking about the other BSG telemovie they're working on, saying that it's probably going to be about totally new characters, and apparently this is cause for speculation about another spinoff besides Caprica. ...I'll withhold judgment for now, but let's not get carried away, okay kids?

Last but not least, what the heck is this. Steven Spielberg called up Steven Moffat and was like "write this movie for me"? I don't know why I think this is weird, but I do. I do know Spielberg is a Who fan, which probably means he drooled all over "Blink" just like everyone else in the universe and then decided that he needed Moffat to come make something with him because was obviously teh awsome!!!1!. I don't know where I'm going with this. The gist of it is, Moffat said no because he wanted to do Doctor Who instead of some sequels to Spielberg's Tintin thing (I guess he already wrote the first one). Which I know nothing about other than it's another comic book adaptation. The article is funny though, because it has this huge headline saying Moffat turned down Spielberg, and he was turning down ALLLLL this money to not do it, and then it quotes Moffat as saying, "I hope you don't make what happened sound too dramatic." Ha. Well, he tried.

Doctor Who 4x11: "Turn Left"

First things first, I would like to make USA viewers aware of how much the Sci-Fi Channel sucks monkey butt for cutting out so many important parts of this episode. I highly recommend finding the full version of this episode online (surfthechannel.com), because you missed the following things (that I noticed, and there may be more):

-Rose telling Donna who the "little band of fighters" were on the Sontaran ship - specifically that they were Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones and freakin' Captain Jack Harkness. You know, no big loss not knowing that detail, right.
-The explanation of why the Indian guy the Nobles were living with was being taken away, and a very emotional moment between him and Wilf that really brought home the gravity of the entire situation.
-AlternateWorld!Donna's full reaction to seeing the inside of the TARDIS for the first time. She doesn't just walk in, say "no way" and then walk back out and ask for coffee. It was a great, great character moment that we never got the first time we met her because Donna saw the inside of the TARDIS before she saw the outside. She goes in, goes out, goes in again, goes out and walks all the way around it, completely disbelieving... it was great. And they didn't show ANY OF IT.

I'm so upset that Sci-Fi butchered this episode.

But anyway, as for my actual opinions on the whole episode...

Actually, hold on. Why, exactly, does the Sci-Fi Channel make its own trailers for the show? What's wrong with the ones that play at the end of the episode on the BBC? The ones without the stupid voiceover? I think that's what I have the most trouble with - the annoying Sci-Fi guy's voiceover on the previews.

Whatever.

I loved this episode. The first time I saw it, I was completely spazzing out at the end when the Doctor found out Rose was coming back. It was the weirdest thing I've ever experienced. No TV show has ever had me crying and shaking by the end of an episode. Thank you Doctor Who for accomplishing that.

When done well, "What If?" stories are my favorite things ever, and that's what this episode was. What if Donna had never met the Doctor? What would things be like? I love the speculation of that, and how the world would compensate - or not - in his absence.

The reason the Doctor is dead is completely devastating. The UNIT officer thought he drowned too fast to regenerate, but that isn't true. In The Runaway Bride, Donna tells him to stop - without her, he doesn't, and he lets himself die. Why? Because he's just gone through a horrific ordeal with losing Rose to the sealed off parallel world, and had no desire to live. This was displayed repeatedly in series 3. For example: in the Daleks in Manhattan episode, he basically screams at a Dalek to kill him because "it's his turn." This episode added an entirely new depth to that Christmas special and the Doctor's character and state of mind at that point in the show.

I would like to point out how absolutely splendid Catherine Tate and Billie Piper are. This was the Doctor Lite episode of the season, and it's not like you didn't notice he was gone (since the whole point of the episode was what the world would be like without him, of course you noticed), but the episode didn't suffer at all for not having David Tennant running around with his hair and his grin because of these two brilliant actresses. One day, I will be friends with them. Or I'll at least somehow get my picture taken with them and frame it and put it over my desk for the rest of my life.

One last thing - the music in this episode was so wonderful. Specifically, when Donna steps into the impromptu time machine that Rose and UNIT made with what was left of the TARDIS. It was beautiful and is another example of emotional music by Murray Gold that succeeded in making me teary eyed. (Previous examples of this include the songs "Doomsday" and "This is Gallifrey: Our Childhood, Our Home" which are arguably the best songs on the first two soundtracks.)

Next week: The Stolen Earth! And thanks to the uber-revealing trailer, there's a bit of a regeneration scare coming up. Thanks for spoiling the surprise, Sci-Fi!

Well, I'm speechless.

I saw this trailer before The Dark Knight last night (midnight showing, baby) and am now looking forward to this movie more than I have looked forward to anything in an extremely long time. (I almost wish they hadn't shown it, because then I was thinking about this during the entire movie and how I couldn't wait to tell my friends about it.)



That's right. The real, official Watchmen trailer, and it looks unbelievably amazing. (Of course, you should read the book first.)

In other news, The Dark Knight was a pretty good movie. You know. For a low budget indie flick. (Post coming soon, don't worry.)

regarding "turn left," "the stolen earth," and "journey's end"

Doctor Who posts will henceforth show up on here after the episode airs in the USA. That's how far behind I am. Plus, I still need time to process the last three episodes and it'll take me a while to form something cohesive about the three of them.

So... next week in the US is "Midnight," which I already wrote about (EVERYONE should watch it because the episode is ACE). Then will come the new posts.

Ok.

Just letting you know what the schedule is.

You can return to your lives now.

dear self: don't wait such a long time to see movies Daniel said were awesome.

I finally saw Hellboy. You know what? It was good. It was very good. It was funny and I liked the people in it. Even Selma Blair, for the most part. Now I'm all excited about Hellboy II: The Golden Army, which comes out next week.

Check these promos out, because they're hilarious.

Hellboy Meets the Ghost Hunters


Hellboy Hangs Out With Chuck Bartowski


Hellboy Creams an American Gladiator


Hellboy: The More You Know


According to the website I found these on, Hellboy is going to meet people from The Office, Heroes, and Law & Order. DUDE. I hope those clips hurry up and get on the internet.

Doctor Who 4x10: "Midnight"

Oh RTD. I wish you didn't know how to quit me. Seriously, this was such a breath of fresh air. No wonder RTD was so smiley on the commentary for Forest of the Dead... he knew THIS was coming up. "Oh Steven Moffat, let me show you how it's done."

Far and away, my favorite episode of the new series. I'm probably one of the very few people who didn't fall to pieces over "Blink," and the reason I didn't was because that episode, while being a very good one, could have been an episode of any science fiction series. It just so happened to be Doctor Who. It was a standalone that was good but didn't develop or explore any of the characters on the actual show. I liked Sally Sparrow, but this isn't her show. With "Midnight," we get a look at what the Doctor is like without a companion there to relate him to other people. That's an important question that hadn't ever been addressed. Without someone there, he's helpless - here, that's taken quite literally.

It was so simple, but still very scary and still very interesting. I loved how easily the characters on the plane (rocket? space bus?) were developed and how quickly you got to know them. The scene where they all turned on the Doctor, and he starts freaking out... that was the greatest thing. And Skye was BY FAR the scariest villain on Doctor Who this season. Or maybe even ever. She didn't look any different, which was the worst (and best) part. And the fact that the Doctor didn't know what it was, and didn't find out - there's no name for it. I know that "the fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself" and all, but what do you do when there's no name for it at all?

I was initially worried about Donna not being around so much in this episode, but I think that even contributed to the story. It wasn't just that Catherine Tate probably needed a little R&R away from the set. As I mentioned earlier, without a companion that knows him and trusts him there to back him up, the Doctor is pretty helpless. There's no go-between, no one there to explain that everything's going to be okay. As amazing and wonderful as the Doctor is, he's not actually the best at comforting people. He's too fascinated by everything going on to make everyone feel okay about it. He wanted to know about the new alien thing and everyone else wanted to kill it, because it frightened them. Without Donna, not only was there someone there to calm everyone else down, but there wasn't someone there to make him see it the human way. I think this episode really proved how important Donna is. I loved their hug at the end. He didn't even have to say anything, she just knew - something had gone wrong, and he was depressed about it, and he'd missed her because nobody there had understood him. Every time someone almost did, they went and changed their minds again. Not one of the Doctor's best days.

At the end, when the Doctor said "no, no... don't do that" after Donna repeated him speaking Italian. I LOVED that little touch. It took me a second to get it though, because I'm slow. I was like, "Doctor, why are you being such a jerk, she pronounced it fine and she's not embarrassing you in front of anyone famous - " and then I was like "Oh. Because he just spent the entire episode with this scary alien thing repeating him and stealing his voice. No wonder he's not going for it. Sorry I called you a jerk just now." This is just another way RTD schooled Moffat - it was self-referencing (the Doctor does the same thing to Rose in "Tooth and Claw" and then to Martha in "The Shakespeare Code"), yes, but it didn't reference ONLY episodes that he'd written, and it actually made sense and contributed to the story. Unlike when Moffat does it, and it's just gratuitous "remember how clever and funny I was then, well, laugh at it again."

Coming up: "Turn Left," with Donna and Rose (!!!) and not the Doctor so much.

Battlestar Galactica 4x12: "Revelations"

So... let's see. D'Anna came back to life and is the new cylon leader. The four cylons were outed, Tory went to be with the other cylons, Chief doesn't really care what happens to him, Tigh is loyal to the end and Anders is like a lost puppy and needs to come live in my closet. Roslin tells Lee that he'll have to be president after she's dead, and somehow they magically get to Earth in one jump after Starbuck's magical viper woke up and told them where it was. And they get here and nobody's around because we all killed each other with nuclear bombs. Or something.

Good thing the writer's strike ended because if it hadn't that would have been the series finale, with maybe a few minor edits (like telling us who the final cylon is). Which would have been extremely disappointing.

I don't know what's going to happen but here's my theory. It goes with the "all of this has happened before, all of this will happen again" motif. I think that the final five cylons are the cylon models that evolved from the cylons the people on Earth made. And they had a war with the humans just like the ones from the Colonies did, and they blew each other up. Towards the end of the war, maybe as a very last resort, the cylons, who in a reversal of roles are the ones who believe in the pantheon of gods from the colonies (because on Earth we believe in the one true God - you know how it is), sent off one of each of their models to try and find the Colonies. These models obviously succeeded, but their programming got messed up somehow and they forgot who they were. And the last cylon is someone who we've seen but has died. Possibilities my sister and I came up with: Elosha the priest, Admiral Cain, or that other girl from Razor, what's her face. Priest Lady has Roslin's head vision going for her, but I think the chances are decent that Admiral Cain is the last one. It wouldn't be any more surprising than Tigh being one. Although I guess we technically saw her as a teenager in Razor (extended version has those scenes), but Tigh even said in this last episode, "how do you know cylons don't age?" So it's possible.

I'll be honest - my caring what happens on this show is really waning, so it's a good thing there's only half a season left for me to be bothered with. It's similar to what happened with Grey's Anatomy (only not nearly as bad) - nobody is ever allowed to be happy and everything is just so downer all the time. Which makes sense because the human race almost got exterminated and stuff, and they were wandering around aimlessly through space trying to find Earth, but still. It really takes a toll on me to watch a show like this. It's well written and well acted and all around really well made, but it just makes me weary. Oh, and the fact that they never tell us anything. This last season moved along at a snail's pace. The rest of it probably won't be like that. They're on Earth now - supposedly - so things will get interesting. I hope.

Update

I'm really behind on my Doctor Who discussion posts and I still haven't written about the BSG midseason finale. I'll get around to it one of these days. Maybe over the next two, since I'm off work. But yeah. I haven't ditched this blog yet. I'm just lazy.

Here's a great article about Doctor Who and Russell T. Davies that was in the New York Times.

my shows are dwindling in numbers...

Lost ended. After this week, BSG isn't coming back until 2009. Doctor Who, you're my last hope, but even you only have four episodes left until the season is over. (And that hiatus is going to be even longer than the others... no new actual series episodes until 2010.)

I suppose... in the meantime, I'll catch up on Life on Mars, MI-5, and Robin Hood. There's plenty there to keep me occupied - I love my British shows. But sadly, don't expect much from this blog for a while there, with the exception of the odd sci-fi related movie.

Wyatt Cenac, I think I love you.

Doctor Who 4x09: "Forest of the Dead"

Also known as "The Matrix Meets The Time Traveler's Wife."

This episode was half amazing and half... not amazing.

The half I loved: everything with Donna. I just... I love her, so dearly. I was really sad for her, especially in that scene with the kids. I also loved the explanation of the "Forest." The Vashta Nerada (sp?) came from the forests used to make the books. That was very clever, in my opinion, but it seemed to take the Doctor a while to figure it out (I don't like it when I get it before he does).

The half I hated: Everything with River. It... wasn't as bad as it could have been, I guess, but I was still so annoyed at the timing of this storyline. I'm so tired of Steven Moffat doing whatever the hell he wants when it comes to the episodes he writes. The crappy part is, I bet he's going to bring a younger River back at some point during his turn as showrunner, and we're going to have to deal with his version of Doctor romance. Is it terrible that all I want at this point is for David Tennant to leave and not have to be the one dealing with that? I just want my Ten/Rose OTP to be intact for as long as possible. I can probably be just fine with Eleven/River. I won't be ecstatic about it or anything, but I can deal with that because it won't hurt my eyes.

(I will make an allowance for the scene where River sacrifices herself rather than lose the memories she had with the Doctor in the future. I couldn't help myself - I cried. It didn't make me like her, it just made me really, really sad for her. This exchange: "Time can be rewritten." "Not those times. Don't you dare." That's what did it for me. It made me see her as someone that really does love him, and even if it's going to be a while before he realizes it, that he loved her too. Even if I concede that someday they will love each other, that still doesn't make any sense as to why they don't travel together. Seriously, what is the deal. Maybe she just got sick of it and wanted to have a real job? She did say something about that...)

I really just need the Doctor/Rose story to be wrapped up in a way that makes sense. And preferably not in a way that involves Rose dying prematurely. I STILL think the only acceptable way for them to carry that story out is to have the Doctor go spend the rest of his tenth life with Rose, and then when she dies (of old age), he regenerates and moves on with his life. Now that I think about it, maybe it makes sense for him to have a wife like River at some point down the line... not immediately, but eventually. If he was with Rose when she died (of old age), and of course he would be, then she obviously knew he was going to keep on living after her, for a long long time. And she wants the Doctor to be happy and not lonely. So maybe she told him to go out and find someone else to be with and even love the way he had loved her, because she doesn't want him to be alone. After living a life like that with Rose, he would probably be more open to doing it again with someone else.

This explanation is all that currently makes sense to me, because Rose is coming back. The Doctor is going to see her again before this River Song stuff goes down. No matter what ends up happening with her, if Rose leaves in any other circumstances other than what I described above, the Doctor's going to have to get over the loss again. And as we saw in series three, that was kind of hard for him. He's still not over losing her. In "The Doctor's Daughter" he kept saying stuff about how he can't ever have a family again, because when his family died, the part of him that loves in that way died also. At this point in the show, he isn't interested in settling down. The only person I think he could consider doing that with is Rose, but he lost her too, which just reinforced his Issues.

In the process of writing this post, I've started liking this episode a little bit more. If River really is way, way in the future for the Doctor, after Rose has told him to go and live his life and not be afraid to love people, then I think I can probably get behind it because Rose would most likely approve of him not being lonely. And if Rose is okay with it... well, I can probably make myself be okay with it too.

OH! And I now have a new theory about what happens to Donna! She DOESN'T die at the end, she just goes to the future and lives with that guy who got saved from the library, that she was married to in the computer! Stutter Guy! I was so sad at the end when he tried to call out to her but couldn't because he stuttered... I hope they end up together. That would be a much better alternative than her dying at the end of the series. And I'd really like her to be able to come back in the future.

Also, I just read a rumor that Neil Gaiman will be writing an episode in the next full season. ROCK ON.

Slackers.

Torchwood S3 only five episodes.

I'm not sure I'm on board with this. Depends on how good it's going to be, which isn't something I'll be able to decide until after all the episodes have aired. Torchwood isn't my favorite show ever, but come on. Five? That's it? Granted, it does say they could option for some more, but at this point, series 3 is looking pretty dull. It's just a little miniseries. I was looking forward to having Torchwood to tide me over between the long Doctor Who breaks they're having in 2009, with only filming three specials. 2009 is going to be the Year of Whoniverse Withdrawal, apparently (because I refuse to watch the Sarah Jane Adventures.)

Battlestar Galactica 4x11: "The Hub"

I just want to say this before I go into anything else about this episode of BSG. In the trailer from last week, we saw D'Anna going "you know about the Final Five, but you don't know that you're one of them?" to Roslin. The first time I saw that, I was like, "yeah, and right after that she went 'JUST KIDDING.'" My parents were like "oh... I don't know, she might be telling the truth." But why would they give that away in the trailer? I kept insisting she was just kidding, and my dad conceded that maybe she was outright lying to her, but then the scene rolled around and what happened? A bunch of dramatic music while Roslin thinks about that statement, and then... OH HA HA. PSYCHE, ROSLIN, D'ANNA WAS JUST KIDDING.

I love when I'm right, even when it's about something stupid.

This episode was all right. Interesting... I like the interaction between the humans and cylons in this fashion as opposed to the constant warring and infiltration from previous seasons, which I was bored with. I kinda didn't care about the Helo/random 8 stuff, but I did feel bad for him when he stumbled upon the room full of Sharon bodies on the Resurrection Hub they were about to blow up.

What I loved most about this episode was the stuff with Roslin and Baltar. Especially the scene where they were trying to talk to the hybrid, and they both kept saying the other one was doing it wrong. And I thought the scene where Baltar confesses inadvertently to betraying the entire human race to the President of the Colonies was brutal, but extremely well played. I was *really* sick of seeing Baltar's sliced open side wound though. Ugh. Gross.

I love D'Anna and I'm glad she's back. I think she's really funny. My mom was like, "she woke up on the wrong side of the bed," which is a perfect description of what she was like this episode and probably what she'll be like for the rest of the time she's around. She's just pissed off at everybody. Even when Helo was "betraying" Random Curious Eight by taking D'Anna to the President instead of the other cylons, she was just like "Whatever. Can we just get a move on to wherever we're going." And I obviously loved her messing with Roslin. It's good to have her back.

Oh, and I thought Laura and Bill's reunion was sweet. Even if they do both frustrate me at times, I was so happy to see them finally together like that. I admit that I may have shed a tear. Probably because of Mary McDonnell's mad acting skillz.

I'm REALLY excited about next week's show. It looks like the four are revealed to everybody else... I bet the last one still won't come to light, though. I'm not sure how they'll explain not telling, though, since D'Anna obviously knows the identities of all of them. I'm sure she didn't just conveniently forget the one that we don't know yet... hopefully. That would be so annoying. But I'm sure that when we do find out who the last one is, it'll be completely out of left field, and NOT in the teaser trailer for the episode. Just a hunch.

Doctor Who 4x08: "Silence of the Library"

Ummm....

I don't like River Song.

That's all there is to that. I wasn't expecting to, and I was right. But now I'm worried about something - Steven Moffat is the new head honcho after this, and here's the Doctor's wife from the future, so um - does that mean she's going to be the companion when Moffat takes over? And of course keeping Jenny around was Moffat's idea so are the three of them going to make a new little family? Barf.

I'm waiting for some "time is in flux" thing to happen, where the spoiler book is only one possible future and it could get messed up and not happen because of something the Doctor does. *crosses fingers*

What will really be interesting is if David Tennant doesn't come back for series 5. Obviously River Song recognized him in that regeneration, so if he ends up regenerating at the end of RTD's run... well, there goes that idea right out the window. Is it sad that I'm almost hoping for this now.

Anyway, in regards to the actual episode, obviously it's a two-parter so I felt like this was kind of dragged out. I have no idea what's going on with the little girl but I have a theory: she's in Rose's parallel world, and she's dreaming about the library where the Doctor is. Dr. Moon works for Torchwood, and in the next episode Rose is going to show up and talk to the little girl (did they say her name? I forget) to get through to the Doctor. I'm looking forward to the moment when the Doctor finds out Rose is involved in his life again and gets all excited in front of River. Does that make me a terrible person? I don't care. But Rose is going to be involved somehow, her picture was between the pages in that countdown book on the official website. And unless I missed something obscure in this episode, she'll be showing up in the next one.

Introducing this River person at this point in the story does not make a single bit of sense. I've decided that what I like most about Steven Moffat episodes are the dialogue and the ideas behind the plot. I don't like the new characters he invents. (Except for Jack, although I'm not sure such an important character was made up by him seeing as how Jack stuck around quite a while after Moffat's episodes ended in S1. I don't know enough about the backstage writing drama of that series to know details like that. If Moffat did make up Jack, then he used up all his good character ideas on him. And okay so maybe I liked Sally Sparrow in Blink. But for the most part Moffat is hit or miss with me.)

I'm pretty sure Donna's going to die at the end of this series which is depressing. ALTHOUGH if my "time is in flux" idea pans out maybe Donna only dies in River's timeline and not in the new one. They mentioned the in-flux thing in the last episode with Agatha Christie - Donna said something about that being the night Agatha disappeared, and the Doctor said "time is in flux, Donna, for all we know this is the night Agatha Christie died" or something along those lines. So I don't think my theory is totally unfounded. I just think that bringing in a potential wife for the Doctor makes very little sense. This two-parter better have a good explanation.

Oh, and how was Donna saved? She's clearly not dead, just transported and stuck somewhere else... the little girl's head? I don't know. Probably not in the parallel universe, although if she were, that would open up a way to explain how Rose comes back. Hmm. The preview didn't really help that much. Although was that the Doctor flying through the Vortex without the TARDIS wielding only his sonic screwdriver there at the end?

Speaking of sonic screwdrivers, Doctor, are you blind, River's sonic screwdriver does NOT look "exactly" like yours. It looks totally different. But whatever.

(I guess one thing I know for sure about Moffat's episodes - they get me thinking, which is a good thing no matter what.)

Lost 4x13 and 14: "There's No Place Like Home pt. 1&2"

Lost continues to blow my mind.

Um... okay.

1. DESMOND AND PENNY ARE GOING TO LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER or at least for a while, until crazy Ben finds them and tries to ruin everything. But for right now, they're together and they're happy and that is all I need. I was extremely worried for Desmond in this episode (AND APPARENTLY FOR GOOD REASON - see video below) what with the bombs on the boat and everything, but Penny found him and I was so happy.

2. LOCKE is the dude in the coffin. Weird, but it probably makes sense. For whatever sinister reason the island has, Locke leaves to try and convince the Oceanic Six (and possibly Desmond, since he got off the Island and is now living happily ever after with Penny, YAY) to come back. And then, I guess the island didn't need him anymore, because he was allowed to die. So that's interesting. I'm guessing Locke probably spent a lot of time harassing the Oceanic Six because by this episode none of them were calling him by his real name. He was going by Jeremy Bentham instead, which after Googling is a guy I remembered hearing about in my Ethics class when we talked about utilitarianism. Bentham wasn't too big on natural rights, which is pretty fitting here.

2.5. All right, how many people saw that ad for the alternate endings here? I'm not sure what I expected, but it was just changing who it was in the coffin. They showed the endings on TV this morning and, well, frankly, both of these endings are UNSPEAKABLY HORRIBLE:



Horrible, and actually neither of them really makes any sense either. Sawyer, MAYBE. Desmond, NOT AT ALL. Why would he be hounding them and saying they need to go back to the island? Just... no. He just wants to be with Penny, screw the island's wishes. Sawyer could have happened because he was on the island still, and he was with Locke's camp for the majority of the season. It just would have sucked if he'd died because I just started to love him. But - UGH, Desmond and Sawyer both almost biting it? They're my favorites. STAY AWAY FROM THEM.

3. Benjamin Linus is awesome. I know he's crazy and he's trying to kill Penny (like Desmond would let him get away with that) but seriously, he's such a great character. I loved the time traveling bunnies line. He just keeps getting better.

4. So, I guess the island isn't a turtle. I'm a little bummed about that. But the reality of the situation is MUCH cooler - THE ISLAND TIME TRAVELS. YEAH TIME TRAVEL! I'm loving it. Because duh, the island can't really "move," although my sister pointed out that it would be really funny if the people in the helicopter turned and looked back and saw the island following behind them. But anyway - the island already does kind of exist outside of time somehow, what with the bearing being so important, Desmond getting unstuck in time, the doctor's body showing up on the beach before he's even dead on the boat, etc. So it makes sense that "moving" the island refers to moving it in time. I would like to point out that I figured this out before either my dad and my sister, neither of whom believed me at first. Probably because I wasn't explaining myself very well. But I did say, "the island moves in time!" Which was the point of talking about the bunny in the TARDIS booth Ben broke in the Orchid.

4.5. How lame is Jack's stupid "the island didn't move" stance? DUDE. It VANISHED right in front of your eyes. (That was a really cool effect, by the way.) What do you think happened?! Stop being so lame. Seriously, just suck it up and start believing in time travel like everybody else.

5. Jin's totally not dead. We didn't see his body, therefore he is probably still alive somehow. (How wrenching was Sun in that scene though? Man... I love her. And now she blames Jack for his death, because he was the one who said once and for all that Jin was dead and they weren't going back to check on the situation.) Michael, on the other hand, is very dead. "You can go now," said the island a.k.a. Christian Shepherd. That was because Michael kept trying to kill himself before, and the island wouldn't let him. But now, the island let him go. How gracious of it.

6. Keamy is finally dead. Ugh. Good riddance. He was terrifying.

7. What was with Hurley playing chess with Mr. Eko? And Sayid's total nonchalance about it made me laugh. He's just like, mm, whatever.

I can't believe we have to wait until January for the next season. I feel like we were just ON one of those dumb hiatuses. Oh well - such is life for a Lost fan.

Battlestar Galactica 4x10: "Sine Qua Non"

This episode airs today in the US, but it was already on this week in the UK because they didn't have a Memorial Weekend break... so guess what that means? I watched it yesterday. And it was really great. Again with the actual progression of events. I was pretty happy.

This is a momentous episode. Here's a short list of stuff that goes down:
1. Adama steps down as Admiral and promotes Tigh.
2. Caprica Six is pregnant with Tigh's baby.
3. Lee becomes president.

Huh. Yeah. All pretty pivotal.

Thoughts:
1. Adama, when everything goes badly and you find out Tigh's a cylon, don't ever say Tigh didn't tell you so, because he totally did. He said, "this is a bad idea." He said, "the last time I was in charge, it was a disaster." He said those things, and you should have listened. I understand why you did it though. When Laura disappeared, so did your objectivity. I don't have a better idea. I really loved when you said, "I can't live without her." Both of you are being frustrating this season but I really just want you two to get married. You practically are already.

2. Okay, WHAT?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! First of all, this is just gross. I think I get it, that Tigh was sleeping with her because he imagines that she looks like Ellen. But seriously, ICK. And second of all how is that even possible? They're both cylons. I thought the baby farms on Caprica were because cylons couldn't make babies with each other. Maybe it's because he's one of the Final Five, and that makes him special? I know the seven cylons were always going on about how it's one of God's commandments to procreate... maybe they got that idea from the Final Five before they were programmed to forget about them. Maybe it used to be possible, but something happened and the Final Five had to disappear, and so the seven cylons were left with this desire to proliferate the species without any means of doing so. Well, it's a theory at least. I still think Tigh is gross.

3. Yeah, like no one saw that coming. What else could be the motivation behind Lee becoming a member of the Quorum? Delegate Lee is boring. President Lee is clearly not. (By the way, Lee, just a note, but your red shirt was unspeakably hot and could you please wear it more often. I'm sick of the suit.) Lee, you are so much more interesting when you're giving passionate speeches. If you were real, and you ran for president here, I'd vote for you.

How awesome is Romo Lampkin? I love him even when he's crazy. Keeping a dead cat in a bag? Gross, dude. And talking to it like it was still alive...? Head Six, Head Gaius, and now Head Cat. I really loved the look on his face at the end when Lee gave him the dog from New Caprica. Kind of eying him warily.

Kara was great in this episode. She was in like two scenes but she was TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY NORMAL. I was so impressed.

One little gripe: do Lee and Kara even know each other's names anymore. I mean seriously. They were standing right next to each other when Adama, a.k.a. Husker (okay so I loved when he was in the ship at the end and was calling himself Husker, I don't know why) and they didn't even look at each other. I guess they couldn't have just started making out right then and there - he is the president after all - but come on. Give me something.

Battlestar Galactica 4x09: "Guess What's Coming to Dinner"

What even happened. I need to not wait so long to write this stuff. This is the one with the cylon truce, right? And the cylons and humans planning on double crossing each other? And then at the end, Athena shoots the Six in charge of the cylons and the Basestar jumps away with Gaius and Roslin and a bunch of other people.

Yeah. There we go.

Doctor Who 4x07: "The Unicorn and the Wasp"

This episode was... eh. I liked the charades scene, even if it did result in the Doctor/Donna kiss (it's okay, it was only to "shock" him enough to get the poison out, so, clearly, nothing behind it) (plus how many times are we going to hear them say they're not a couple - every episode apparently).

I heard that for the most part, you had to be British to really get this episode. So I have no qualms about saying, I didn't really "get" this episode. I mean, I just didn't particularly enjoy it. Probably because I know next to nothing about Agatha Christie, besides the fact that she once existed and wrote books.

The next episode, however, looks mighty interesting. But Steven Moffatt, if the rumors I've heard are true, I may or may not be burning down your house next week. (I'll let you know if I was right.)

FRiNGE

Uhh... I'm a little confused as to why I haven't heard of J.J. Abrams' new show Fringe until right now, but I'm definitely going to be watching it when it premieres in August. It seems kind of like "J.J. Abrams does The X-Files."

Here's the trailer:

RTD leaving Doctor Who in 2010.

In case you didn't know, now you do. Steven Moffatt will take over.

Here is an article about it.

I don't know how I feel about this, but I think I will withhold judgment until I see how it's going in series 5.

Dollhouse Trailer

Look at it. Helo's in there.



I'm going to write about the new Doctor Who and BSG eventually but I figured since there's two weeks until they come back, I can space those posts out.

Lost 4x12: "There's No Place Like Home: Part 1"

1. If that boat with Michael, Desmond, Jin, and a million explosives on it blows up, I don't even know what I'm going to do.

2. I am realizing that I love Sawyer pretty equally to how much I love Desmond. Mainly because he gets the greatest lines. "Cut yourself shaving?"

3. I am also realizing that I kind of love Ben a little bit. He's grown on me. "You know those are fifteen years old." I'm starting to lean towards agreeing that maybe he's the good guy after all.

All right, I have no idea how any of this is going to be pulled together. That is probably the point. At the end of this episode they showed where all the Oceanic Six people were, and they were all over the place. Somehow a magical force will bring them together, they will fly away from the island with Admiral Cain, and make up a story about how they were the only ones who lived. I'm not totally sure why they would be inclined to make up such a story, but I have a feeling it's to protect the people left on the island. From what, I don't have any idea.

So the story the Oceanic Six are telling is that there were eight survivors of the plane crash. Presumably, Aaron isn't being included in this number, because he wasn't born yet when the plane crashed. (Well, that's how I would count it, anyway - it's probably not the way they're doing it.) This means there are three people they're acknowledging died on the island. All we know about that is that Jin isn't one of them, because he "never made it off the plane." Also, regarding Jin: I used to be on the "he's not dead" boat, but now Jin is on an actual boat which happens to be carrying a bunch of bombs. So now I'm not sure if he's actually dead or not. I want him to be alive and well on the island still, but maybe the nature of his death was such that they couldn't tell anybody about it. Such as a boat that wasn't supposed to be there blowing up. Who knows.

I'm looking forward to the two hour finale but I am not looking forward to waiting two weeks for it.

If you go to Zahadum, you will... oh, wait.

Bruce Boxleitner, also known as Captain/President John Sheridan from Babylon 5, will be hanging out on Heroes next season.

Cool.

Battlestar Galactica 4x08: "Faith"

I've kind of forgotten what happens except for the end, when the hybrid tells Kara she's the harbringer of death... something about the three will lead you to the five, or was it the other way around? I don't remember... it was very confusing.

The scene where they shot that Six was really tough to watch. They put her down like an animal. Also, Tricia Helfer kissing herself...? What?

I thought Anders was great this episode. When he was tempted to stick his hand in the goo console, I kept going NO NO DON'T DO THAT but at the same time I kind of wanted to know what would happen. And I love that nobody even cared that he was doing that because they probably just saw it as a guy messing around with a new machine. And then at the end, when a Boomer gets shot, and Athena refuses to comfort her and Anders steps in... I just wanted to hug him. He's the best, and if everyone finds out he's a cylon and then freaks out about it, that will be the most ridiculous thing ever. Anders wouldn't hurt a bug you guys. He is just a big softie.

I really loved the lack of Tigh in this episode. That's a highlight right there.

Roslin's dream at the end almost made me cry. Sometimes I really hate her, but this episode I just loved her and felt bad for her, especially when she was talking to that lady about when her mom died and started sobbing. Oh, the hybrid said something about how the dying leader will know the meaning of the opera house... that was pretty blatantly about President Roslin. Like I even needed to explain that. I want to know more about that opera house thing so hopefully that will be revealed soon.

This new alliance between cylons and humans is really interesting to me. This was a good episode, because something actually happened. As opposed to the last few episodes where NOTHING HAPPENED AT ALL.

So the preview alleges that next week, "all will be revealed." Only, that's NEVER true with this show. For example, I seriously doubt we will find out who the last cylon is. I'm really interested in seeing what this story with Hera is - drawing pictures of Six in her coloring book? Very intriguing. I want to know just how much of her is cylon. Also, she seems a lot older than I was expecting, but that's just because I have no idea how much time passes between situations on this show.

Doctor Who 4x06: "The Doctor's Daughter"

I really loved this episode. Really. I thought I was going to hate it passionately. But I did not. I loved it passionately. Even if it was the corniest, most cliche episode Doctor Who has ever had.

First of all, I really liked Martha this episode. She was acting a lot more independent and intelligent, even. It was a nice change. It was sort of lame that they had her separated from the Doctor and Donna the whole time though - what's the point of a guest star if she only ever talks to a burbling fish person? By the way, why didn't the TARDIS translate the fish noises?

I think this is probably the DW episode that made me laugh the hardest. I was starting to miss jokes because I hadn't recovered from the last one. Here are just a few of the things I found hilarious:
-The Hath (a.k.a. burbling fish people) petting Martha, and the look on her face.
-The fact that in the preview, the clip they showed of Donna going "I'd like to see you try that" was placed right before the clip of Jenny doing all those neat looking gymnastics through the lasers, but that really happened after Jenny makes out with the guard on their cell to get them out.
-The Doctor to Donna: "Let's save your wiles for later. In case of an emergency."
-A freakin' wind up mouse.
-The look on the Doctor's face when he goes "Now... what were you saying about running?" right before he takes off.
-Martha's crying scene (okay, I take it back - I wanted to laugh, but then I just felt uncomfortable).

All right, I might be stupid because I didn't think this was coming, but Jenny regenerated... kind of. She more just came back to life, but I have no idea if that was her Time Lordiness or the terraforming thing being magical. I don't really care though, because I completely adored her. She was just the cutest thing. And I felt terrible for the Doctor when she took the bullet for him because COME ON, hasn't the man lost enough? I know he had only known her for one episode but still. He was willing to try being her dad, and then she just died. Fortunately, the ending leaves lots of room for her to come back.

The preview for next week is the episode with Agatha Christie and the giant alien wasp. I'm preparing myself for the nightmares to come.

Lost 4x11: "Cabin Fever"

First things first: Admiral Cain was definitely in the preview for next week. That was her voice going "They're calling you the Oceanic Six."

All right, so here's the thing. I have NO clue whatsoever what is going on on this island. None. So apparently it is portable? It's one of those turtle islands. You know, from myth or something. This thing. This is what I'm thinking of. My thinking is also probably influenced by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video game I watched some guys play before we watched Lost.

I'm pretty sure Claire is dead. There is no other explanation for her being in that cabin with Christian Shepherd a.k.a. her dad, smirking knowingly about what Locke was saying about the island. Since when does she care about that? And since when would she be okay with leaving Aaron out in the jungle or whatever? Well, since she died.

So Richard doesn't age and he has been stalking Locke since he was born. WEIRD. I reallllly wanted to go "Yer a wizard, 'arry" when he went to see the kid version of Locke and showed him that stuff and said he might be able to go to a special school. But I didn't. I saved it for the blog. But the way he was talking to him, saying "which of these things belong to you now" makes me think maybe Richard is time travelling or something and that's why it looks like he doesn't age. How else would he know about Locke in the hospital when he was born premature or whatever? It has to be time travel. And that's where he got the stuff he showed to the kid - he wanted to see if Locke could figure out what of those things belong to him somewhere along the strange timeline... or something like that. The whole time thing is screwy, but I love it. It has to be time travel. WOOO I LOVE TIME TRAVEL IT IS MY FAVORITE THING!

Um... I don't know what else. It seems like the Oceanic Six get off the island next week but I have no idea why they would, or where Admiral Cain came from. She's totally not on the boat so I don't know. Also, if Desmond dies, or gets caught in some kind of crossfire with the weird boat people, I will go on a rampage.

Two and a Half Problems: Iron Man Spoilers

The only beef I had with this otherwise flawless movie (in my humble opinion) are as follows:

1. When Tony makes his first iron suit in Afghanistan, and he escapes in it, and is using flamethrowers on everybody, and he blows up the entire camp of terrorists, and flies out of the explosion. Yes, it looked totally awesome, but I'm wondering how he didn't get roasted alive in there. He's wearing an oven.

2. What is the deal with the incredibly lax security on Tony's house? Come on. How many unauthorized people got in there when they probably shouldn't have been able to? At least three that I can think of. They showed that thing from far away and it looks like it needed to have about twelve different security systems on it. Plus, it's Tony Stark, it isn't like he can't afford it.

2.5. This is only half a problem because they sort of cleared it up, but the Iron Monger suit was WAY too big for Jeff Bridges to fit inside and control the way Tony Stark controlled his suit (i.e. by wearing it normally). I was having huge issues with this at first but then he opened up the top at the end so he could mock Tony before he killed him and you could sort of see how he was sitting in there. Still, I think it would require a lot of practice to be able to control that thing, which presumably Stane did not have before putting that on.

You should still go see this movie. I want to see it again and again and again (but I'm too poor so I'm not going to unless someone else pays for it).

If you never listen to me any other time, listen now.

Everyone, go see Iron Man. And sit through the credits because there's a scene at the end.

This is the coolest movie I have seen in a very long time.



And they showed a longer Indiana Jones trailer before it. Worth every penny, and then some.

Oh, and that reporter who looks like Maggie Grace, it's not her. It's some other chick.

Lost in the elevator.

SNL skit with Matthew Fox. Watch it and love it.

Doctor Who 4x05: "The Poison Sky"

Donna's mom annoyed the crap out of me until she came out with that axe and did what Donna and the Doctor should have done all along to rescue Wilf.

I really want Evil Martha to text the Sontarans on her little PDA thing.

So the Doctor is suspicious of Evil Martha. I don't know what would have tipped him off.

OH MY GOSH. ROSE WAS ON THE TV IN THE TARDIS. She's trying to talk to him! She looks kind of upset... Donna didn't see her. I wonder if Rose saw Donna?

I HATE THAT LUKE KID. UGH. What is it with Helen Raynor and creating the most annoying side characters? Okay, except for Ross. I like him. But he died apparently.

Okay, so the Brigadier is stranded in Peru...? What's he doing there?

I love this conversation the Doctor and Donna are having on the phone. It's a perfect demonstration of the dynamic between them - half serious and very intense and caring and the other half bickering and teasing and cheering each other on.

"Are you my mummy?" HAHAHA! OH MY GOSH. OH MY GOSH. THAT WAS THE BEST THING EVER. The Doctor wearing a gas mask and saying that. I love when shows have inside jokes with themselves. I think I can forgive Helen Raynor for everything she's ever done to me just for giving me that line. I rewound it and watched that over and over again.

Well, I hope the Doctor didn't blow up any airplanes with his little plan...

Wow, I am impressed with the Luke kid. That was some serious redemption right there.

I love the two different reactions from Martha and Donna when he comes back through the teleport. Martha goes to hug him... Donna hits him.

Awww... why can't Wilf come in the TARDIS? At least once? I hope he gets to sometime. He's so adorable.

The Doctor still has his old hand by the TARDIS console? Why...? And why do they keep showing it?

Yeah... the previews show the Doctor's "daughter." Must have something to do with the Doctor's hand because they showed it like seven times for no real apparent reason.

Battlestar Galactica 4x07: "The Road Less Travelled"

What I really don't understand about the final four cylons is why they need to constantly have meetings with each other. I think this is mainly Tigh's idea. But I mean, honestly, what is the point of these meetings? Like a support group thing? Tigh went to Tyrol and told him he was cutting him slack because of Cally but he needs to suck it up... but why? What does he need to suck it up for? It's not like the four of them have some mission they're planning... I don't get it.

I think Leoben is the absolute creepiest of the cylons. With the possible exception of Tigh.

Baltar is so ridiculous. Where did he get that jacket?

So now Kara is "an angel blazing in the sight of God"?

I think Athena is a filthy hypocrite. She's a cylon, and she seems to be extremely quick to condemn Starbuck. Actually, all of them seem to have forgotten that she is one, and that it is possible for cylons to turn good. So even though I personally do not think Starbuck is a cylon, these people who think she could be one should cut her some slack.

This whole entire situation with Starbuck is insanely frustrating. I don't know whether to care about it or not. It doesn't seem to me like any of the people on that ship are acting in character - except for Helo. But then at the very last second Helo listened to stupid Athena and he did a complete 180 in about five seconds.

Lost 4x10: "Something Nice Back Home"

I barely remember anything from this episode.

I like Jack and all but this episode was depressing, because the whole time you just know that it's not going to work out. Plus he's getting addicted to things he doesn't need to be addicted to.

I think he knows he's related to Aaron, based off the comment he made when he was yelling at Kate - she said something like "I don't want this around my son" and he goes "YOUR son? You're not even RELATED to him." I think that sounds like he knows.

The little kid playing Aaron is completely adorable.

Jack trying to watch his own surgery was disgusting and sad.

Tell me what you think about this. When it got to the part when Jack goes out to the hospital lobby and disables the smoke detector and subsequently sees his dad, I said, to a room full of people, "It was the smoke detector because it was the SMOKE MONSTER!" ...And no one said anything. And one of my friends just kind of laughed to herself. And I was like, "maybe?" And tried to turn it into a joke. Dumbest thing ever? I mean, it sounded good in my head. And I still kind of think it makes sense.

Anyway.

Oh yeah - what happened to Claire? The restraining order stuff from Sawyer was really funny although apparently now she's wandered off into the jungle.

Next week we're going back out to the boat finally.

"I might do something stupid like eat a pear."

As anyone who watches Doctor Who probably knows, the best episode in the history of the show is the Human Nature/Family of Blood two parter. This was written by one Paul Cornell, who also happened to have written a Doctor Who novel called Human Nature in 1995 about the seventh Doctor. I'm reading this book right now, and while it is very clearly about a different Doctor, it is entertaining for me to see the things that carried over to the television version of this story.

For example, here is the list the Doctor leaves for his companion Bernice in the book:
Things Not To Let Me Do
1: Commit suicide, if for some reason I want to.
2: Do physical harm to anyone, if you're aware of it.
3: Eat meat, if you can.
4: Eat pears. I hate pears, I don't want to wake up and taste that.
5: Leave the area, or you, behind.
6: Get involved in big sociopolitical events.
7: Hurt animals, especially owls.
8: Develop an addiction.
9: Anything impossible.


Compare that with the following amusing (albeit slightly out of character around the middle) video from the deleted scenes of the actual episode:


As you can see, they sadly left out the part about the owls, but the pears at least made it to the deleted scenes.

Paul Cornell, you are my hero. One of these days I'm going to read your original novels and your comic books. And I sincerely hope that you'll write more Doctor Who episodes.

Let's Talk About the Final Four

I've been thinking about the different ways these cylons are handling their newfound cylon-ness.

Tigh. In the beginning, he said he had always been the same man he was, and just because he knew he was a cylon now didn't change any of the things he did in the past and he wasn't going to change now - or something to that effect. So far this season, though, and especially in the last episode, he seems to be doubting his resolve. At the beginning of the episode, when they were leaving Cally's service, and he was walking with Tory, the Chief stopped them both, expecting some kind of remorse shown by either of these people, the only ones who know his secret and thus the people he is forced to trust. I thought Tigh's reaction was strange - worrying more about himself than anyone else. Tigh has never been that emotional of a guy anyway, but he understands what it's like to lose someone and I feel like it would have made more sense for his cover for him to say "sorry for your loss" than to just try to leave without saying anything. His speech later on kind of canceled this out, I think. As for the whole thing with him going to visit Ellen!Six? I have no idea what to think about that. I don't know what was going on there. But it was really messed up. (Also: what male on this show hasn't kissed Tricia Helfer at this point?)

Tyrol. At first, I thought he was going to deal with this whole cylon thing a lot better than the rest, simply because he had a family to ground him - someone to love and care for. But then he started distancing himself from them, and ultimately he lost Cally because of that. Now I don't know what he's going to do. I'm worried about Nicky though... just from rumors I've heard about what could be the direction they go concerning him. The kid they've got playing him is absolutely adorable, though.

Tory. This lady has gone off her rocker... I think she's the only one that is really embracing her new identity. Especially now that she is "perfect," according to Baltar. She's a nymphomaniac and a sociopath. I want to see her fight one of the Sixes. From what she's been saying about "what we can do" and so forth, it seems like she almost believes herself to be a superhero type of person. Or maybe more of a supervillain. She is using her powers for evil, not for good. With great power comes great responsibility, and she's not exactly owning up to that, what with her throwing people out of airlocks willy nilly. Out of everyone, my guess is that she's the one who'll reveal herself to be a cylon first.

Anders. Oh, Anders. I just love you. He's the only one who seems to really just not care that he's a cylon. Maybe this is because he has someone to love who is more messed up than he is, maybe this is because he has actual friends who care about him, maybe because he hasn't lost everything dear to him - who knows. He hasn't let anything change who he is. All four of them agreed not to let anything change, but he's the only one who seems to be living up to that agreement. I'm wondering now if this is going to change about him as the season continues, that he'll start unhinging like the rest of them. If he loses Starbuck again, or if he tells her he's a cylon and she rejects him (this scenario would require her not shooting him like she said she would), this would probably change. Right now he has something to lose, and he's too focused on her to worry about himself.

The reason Starbuck is not a cylon: She keeps saying things like "my body feels like a shell" and "I can't feel anything" and stuff. Tory was saying a lot of the same things about herself too, which seems to indicate that Starbuck would be a cylon as well. Here's what I think, and I think it's probably one of the main themes of the show. Kara came back and everyone thought she had come back from the dead a la cylon resurrection ship, and they all but told her they suspected her of being a cylon. This got into her head and made her start doubting herself, and now she thinks maybe she could be a cylon. Now, going back to the agreement the Final Four made about how they were still the same people they always were and being a cylon hasn't changed anything - they're all having these same doubts about themselves. Tigh going to Six and asking to get beaten up, Tory's encounters with Baltar... neither of them had these problems with wondering if what they felt was real before they knew they were cylons. My theory is that it is all completely psychological. The Sixes seem to have this under control - she knows she's a cylon, but she also knows that everything she feels is real, and that she isn't actually that different from humans. We know through her that cylons are completely capable of feeling emotions. Therefore, the doubts about being able to "feel" are all in their heads. The Final Four have always believed that cylons were unfeeling machines, and therefore they think they shouldn't be able to feel. Starbuck has always believed the same way, and now that she suspects herself of possibly being a cylon, she thinks she probably shouldn't be feeling anything either. Starbuck's journey is a yet another illustration of how cylons and humans are actually extremely alike - they can trick themselves into feeling the same things.

Greenpeace remembers that.

Haha... okay, um, wow. I don't really know what I think about this movie. I had never even heard of it until the other night when they showed a preview during Lost... and half the people I was watching with thought it looked amazing and the other half thought it looked stupid. I totally understand both perspectives. I'll probably see it though... Jason Bateman is in it, I like Will Smith, and the special effects at least look great.

The Infinite Quest

I am loving this.

Doctor Who 4x04: "The Sontaran Strategem"

How long has it been since Martha and the Doctor saw each other?

Okay, UNIT is cool, probably cooler than Torchwood because they seem like they actually know what they're doing.

"Donna, by the way, Donna Noble, since you didn't ask. I'll have a salute."

I'm glad Martha found someone. I heard about how she did on Torchwood, and how this guy had saved her life or whatever, but I thought it would just be some random guy at UNIT. Turns out it was that doctor guy she met during The Year That Never Was, and then looked him up afterwards, after his death had been reversed. So I'm now wondering whether he even remembers that he saved her life... not like it matters, because she knows he would do it again.

Martha: "That's why I thought we needed an expert."
The Doctor: "Really? Who'd you get? (long pause) Oh right! Me, yes."

I love when the Doctor puts his glasses on.

Whoa, the thing in the water is totally disturbing. Especially the mouth. I'm impressed with how actually intelligent these two random soldier guys are. Too bad they're about to bite it.

I like Martha standing up to the Doctor after he bitched at the guy holding a gun, I forget his name. The Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart of the new UNIT.

Martha still waxes eloquent on her "ex" for someone who's engaged to someone else. That's kind of annoying.

You know how British people get annoyed when movies get Americans to do British accents for stuff? Well, I get annoyed when they get British people to do American accents for stuff. Like with this Luke Rattigan kid. He's not really American, FYI. I looked the actor up on IMDB. Whine whine whine over something miniscule and unimportant.

Oh my gosh, please give the Doctor a car to drive. I want to see him drive a car. I think it would be so funny.

Donna, come on. Stop with the "I'm going home" psych outs. I know you're going to be here the whole season. OH - HAHAHA. Okay never mind. That was really funny. "...You're just popping home for a visit, that's what you mean. And then you're coming back." Donna did make it sound like she was leaving for real though. And she didn't stop him after he went off on his little speech.

OHHH... so in the taxi in Partners in Crime, the thing in the window was the Atmos sticker. Which is part of the Sontarans' little plan to take over the world, revealed in this episode.

I love Donna's grandpa.

The Doctor is like a kid in a candystore with this genius school place.

Sontaran: "We have an intruder!"
The Doctor: "How did he get in? In-tru da window?"
Okay, that was the worst pun ever.

EW. Those things ARE clones. I wanted to say that at the beginning because I thought of that movie The Sixth Day, the clones look like that. And now there's a MARTHA clone. Gross.

Oh please. Like the Doctor would ever die by drowning in a car that drove itself into a river. Anyone who thinks he'd be defeated so easily has never watched this show.

HAHA! I liked when the Doctor and Wilf met. Donna: "And you NEVER SAID?"

The Sontaran chant at the end disturbed me.

To be continued...

Battlestar Galactica 4x06: "Escape Velocity"

I'm really bored with Lee.

Tigh is is my least favorite character in anything I've ever seen or read.

Am I supposed to feel this much sympathy for Gaius Baltar at this point? His speech at the end kind of put me off a little, about the perfect stuff, and the crowd's reaction was weird, but still.

Tyrol better not kill his baby.

Starbuck does not look too great.

That's all I have to say about this episode.

Lost 4x09: "The Shape of Things to Come"

Open letter to Benjamin Linus: Don't you even THINK about laying a HAND on Penelope Whidmore. If you do... well, I would hunt you down myself if I didn't know Desmond wouldn't be way ahead of me.

Open letter to the Smoke Monster: Is there anything on American television more fantastic than you are? You... complete me.

I got sad when Claire woke up and called Sawyer Charlie. I thought she was dead for sure... I am still not totally sure how she survived that. How awesome was Sawyer this episode, though? Seriously awesome? Yes. I love how he actually cares about people now. Such a big change.

Most horrible thing ever: "She means nothing to me. She's a pawn, nothing more" - the last thing Alex heard her dad say before she died.

What was with Ben in the Sahara Desert with a coat on? He has some kind of way of transporting himself there. Like that polar bear they found.

I wanted to laugh when Jack started crying or whatever. I think I understand that the prescription meds (warning: addiction imminent) are messing with him, and obviously he's sick of being on the island, but still. That was a bit much.

Previews: Jack has a nervous breakdown. His appendix bursts. Everyone thinks he's gonna die. Unnecessary drama is caused because everyone watching already knows he makes it off the island. Here's a theory... maybe he caused his appendix to burst, so he could get them to take him back to the boat because of a medical emergency. He's a doctor, he might know how to do that. I wouldn't put it past him.

Doctor Who Ranting, Speculation, and Spoilers through "Planet of the Ood."

For the love of God. David Tennant is not going to regenerate at the end of this season. He's coming back for all of 2009, for three specials or whatever it is. He's said it like a million times, okay? When the Ood said "Your song will end soon," he is NOT talking about that. That is ridiculous. He is OBVIOUSLY talking about Rose. I wish I knew that someone was reading this who cared about the amount of thought I have put into this. Whatever, I'm writing it anyway.

Remember in series three, in the third episode, they ran into the Face of Boe, and he was like "you are not alone" to the Doctor? And it seemed like, oh, that's a good thing! He's not alone! Maybe there are more Time Lords or something! That would be a good thing right? Because now he won't be depressed that he's all by himself? Yeah! Good! But then at the end of the series - no. No, it was actually bad. It was the Master, and he took over the world, and everyone on Earth was oppressed, and Jack got killed every day, and Martha's family was forced to work as servants for the Master, and the Doctor was even more depressed after his "I was a Time Lord Dobby*" incident. And then the Master ended up getting killed which depressed the Doctor even more, because then he really was alone again - he lost everything all over again. But that is beside the point.

The point is - this was the third episode again, and we get this little warning like "oh, something might happen to you" only this time it sounds ominous and worrying but I'm pretty sure it's the exact opposite of that.

One of the things I love about this show is how thoroughly they (usually) tie things together. And one of the best ways they do that is with the music. Everything they do with the soundtrack is so intentional, and as a result it ends up being absolutely gorgeous and enhancing the show in ways soundtracks haven't done before, to my knowledge at least. The most obvious examples are the songs with words - Song For Ten, Love Don't Roam, and The Stowaway. Each of these songs were from the Christmas specials, and they carried some kind of meaning for the season that was to follow.

Song For Ten was obviously about the new Doctor, and it plays at the end while the Doctor is sitting with Rose and her family for Christmas dinner. The song says "I wish today was just like every other day, because today has been the best day" - he gets the domestic family time he never got to have before. It's very sweet and romantic, but then at the end of the song - something I didn't notice at first, because I was being unobservant - "well I woke up today, and you're on the other side. Our time will never come again" and then "but if you can still dream, close your eyes, it will seem that you can see me now and then." This is obviously a reference to what happens at the end of S2, when Rose gets trapped in the parallel universe.

Love Don't Roam doesn't have any obvious plot points in it, but it is a song about the Doctor not letting his love stray from Rose. This is exactly what happened, because even though Martha was a perfectly good companion (I'm being objective), and she loved him, he couldn't love her back, because his love had already been fixed. The song set the tone for S3, which was that the Doctor was still profoundly affected by losing Rose, and he got a lot more dangerous than he ever would have if Rose was there - she would never have let him get that far gone. If you've seen S3 you must have noticed how much darker he was in terms of how he dealt with the various villains - Human Nature/Family of Blood comes to mind. And at one point, he even asks to be killed, screaming "it's my turn" at a dalek. The song didn't allude to any of these things directly, but the overall idea of the Doctor's love not roaming from Rose in any respect was important. Here's my theory: because he had lost Rose, he couldn't really, truly love anything or anyone. He was ruthless because his love couldn't be spared for anyone but Rose.

The Stowaway is much more blatant than the other two songs. It's from Astrid's perspective, talking about finding a stowaway on her ship. The entire song is about how the Doctor more or less used Astrid as a substitute for Rose. Or, as the song puts it, "his love." And the chorus goes "Borrow or steal, I'll find a way to be with my lover upon Christmas day." And well, this is all speculation of course, but what with all the Rose Returning moments we've been getting so far in S4, I'm thinking this Christmas is going to be a lot better for the Doctor. Or so I hope.

Finally... I have to talk about the Doomsday song. Firstly, this is my favorite song on either of the soundtracks, rivaled only by "This is Gallifrey: Our Childhood, Our Home" on the S3 soundtrack. They have played this song twice so far in S4 - very briefly either time, but it was there. The first time, it was when Rose made her surprise appearance in "Partners in Crime." When she turned around after Donna leaves, the pulsing piano beat plays, the driving force of the song that plays through the entire thing, representing her heartbeat. The second time this song plays is in "Planet of the Ood," when the Doctor is talking to the Ood for the last time. The Doctor says he has "a song of his own," and the singing part of Doomsday plays, the part that I now believe represents the Doctor's song of sorrow and his desperate cry for his "shining star." And that's when the Ood says, "I think your song must end soon." My opinion (which is extremely widespread among people who care about this sort of thing) is that the two parts of the song are separate because they are separated. The Ood saying that this song will end soon is pretty obviously saying that Rose is coming back, and he won't have to be sad anymore. And I'm basically dying in anticipation of this finally happening.

*I stole that from someone on LiveJournal... I thought it was too hilarious to not use here.

hey look guys

It's another Chronicle of Narnia.

Here's a fun fact: there's going to be a Switchfoot song at the end of the movie, during the credits I guess. They just filmed the video for it, and the guy who directed it went to Baylor. Cool huh? Just say yes.

Guess what I found on Hulu?

The entire first season of Babylon 5. Wooo! Now I don't have to Netflix it!

Doctor Who 4x03: "Planet of the Ood"

Alternate post title: "Ood have thought it?"

I'll fill this in more later, once I've watched the episode. But I would like to draw everyone's attention to this non-spoilery blog post from my blog a year ago, and you should maybe keep it in mind when you watch this episode. It might be important.

By the way they also mentioned this in Partners in Crime.

ETA:

I like the Ood. When they aren't possessed, they're really sweet.

I think I've decided that I'm in favor of the new theme song because the strings get a more awesome part.

"Set the controls to random" - how is that different from every other time he lands the TARDIS somewhere.

Doctor: "I can always take you home..."
Donna: "Don't laugh at me."

"Now that's what I call a spaceship. You've got a box, he's got a ferrari."

I like how he actually started to repeat his little inspirational speech about Donna when she came back out of the TARDIS.

The Doctor can hear the soundtrack!

The Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire stretches out among three galaxies. That's cool.

Oh, there's the bees reference. They're disappearing. Doctor, if you increase the bee population more than necessary, you'll probably lose some points with me.

I have a really serious issue with the Ood slavery. I understand that they "live to serve" or whatever, but that doesn't mean they deserve to be bullied and abused and whipped if they fall down. Come on. They live to serve, but they should be treated much better than this. They aren't cattle, they're sentient. I'm getting worked up over fictional aliens being mistreated.

"Is that why you travel around with a human at your side? Not so you can show them the universe, but so you can take cheap shots? Well don't, spaceman." I love when Donna puts the Doctor in his place. Pretty sure he likes it too.

OMG, the Doctor is going to get picked up by the claw. That is hilarious but also extremely screwed up. The guy controlling it is kind of sadistic about it. He was the guy I was getting pissed at for whipping the Ood. Why is that claw thing there anyway? What is that even for? It doesn't look big enough to pick up the Ood containers.

I think this guy's hair loss is a little more than "stress."

The Doctor is slightly psychic apparently. He's going to mind meld with Donna. I read a fan fiction once where the Doctor said Gene Roddenberry traveled with him and stole a bunch of real things to put in his show, and Mr. Spock was based on him. It was funny. Yes, I read Doctor Who fan fiction. You're missing out.

Okay, let me explain to you the situation I'm in right now. I'm watching this episode in clips on youtube, and in the third part, the Doctor and Donna find some natural born Ood in a cage somewhere on this compound. And these Ood are enslaved against their will, so the Doctor is trying to befriend them. They're all holding something, and he asks them what it is. One of the Ood holds it out to him and just as he starts to open his hands... the clip was over.

Okay. So the Ood hold their brains? That's... interesting.

I'm assuming this episode happens after the Impossible Planet episodes. Because if it was before, the Doctor freeing the Ood (presumably that's the outcome of this whole thing) would screw up the timeline.

I love how the Doctor says "oh yes!" It's um... adorable. Okay, so maybe that's a David Tennant thing. Still. I love it. He did it several times in this episode.

The guy with the hair loss is turning into an Ood or something like that. Am I right...? HAHA! I AM. WOW. GROSSEST THING EVER.

The Ood music is really beautiful. Kudos to Murray Gold.

AHHH - WHAT?! "Your song must end soon" and then they played some of the Doomsday music. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!!!!!!

Oh great, Martha comes back next week. Fantastic. The Sontarans are also back though which should be interesting... another classic villain brought in for the upgrade. The cool factor of that might cancel out the Martha thing. I'm sorry, but I can't like her. It's not just the "she's not Rose" thing anymore. I just... I don't like her. I don't think she's a good actress and her character is annoying. She wasn't bad on Torchwood, but... the preview from this episode? Yeah, not promising. Maybe that should be blamed on the writing though, because the line was idiotic. "Doctor? It's Martha. And I'm bringing you back to Earth." What? I'm pretty sure he does what he wants. You're not bringing him anywhere. Whatever, maybe it won't be that bad. I will do my best to get over it.

Battlestar Galactica 4x05: "The Ties That Bind"

Here's my problem with Lee not being a pilot anymore: this was the end of the world. They don't have very many pilots anymore. You would think they need all they can get. You would NOT think they would just be all "oh, yeah, that's fine if you retire, you're only one of the best viper pilots we have... you go on and chase your little political dream."

Boomer is making out with Brother Cavill. That is slightly horrifying.

Why did Cally throw up? I'd be pissed if I caught my husband at a bar with some other chick in the middle of the night when he could be helping me raise our child but I don't think I would throw up because of it. So she must be sick or something.

I'm confused. I thought Kara was all by herself but apparently a bunch of viper pilots are with her. What's the point of that?

Anders is a freakin' saint for putting up with Kara. Seriously.

I'm pretty sure this thing with Lee is just an excuse to get more of the political aspect of the fleet into the storyline. And I've heard theories that he might become president eventually.

CALLY he isn't cheating on you, he's a cylon. It's much better. Also, you're an idiot for leaving your toddler alone in your quarters.

Torrey needs to brush her hair. She always looked nice before but ever since she found out she's a cylon she's been all frazzled. Why hasn't someone asked her what the deal is?

Is Cally seriously going to space herself and her baby? Good thing Torrey came and thwarted that little plan...

Okay, actually, maybe not. Torrey seems to be embracing her cylon-ness. She certainly didn't have a problem spacing Cally... probably because she knew about them being cylons. I'm just glad nothing happened to the baby. That would have been messed up, even for this show.

Nothing Worthier Than This For My 100th Post

OMG!

Retro Who Report

I love Doctor Who, don't get me wrong, but the classic show is the purest kind of science fiction crack that ever aired on television. I'm watching The Ark in Space. The first part was the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. Here is a basic rundown of what happened.

The Doctor, Sarah Jane, and Harry Sullivan land on a deserted space station. There's not very much air. The first five minutes are devoted to the Doctor using the sonic screwdriver to turn the air on. Then Sarah Jane gets trapped in another room that has the air vents turned off. She passes out. The Doctor and Harry come in and try to turn the air on in this room, but then they get trapped in there too. Just as the Doctor is about to pass out, he does some more sonic screwdriver magic and the air starts flowing into the room. Sarah Jane is extremely weak from this experience and has to lie down on this bed that is mysteriously in this control room. There's another five minutes.

Harry and the Doctor try to leave this room to go do... something, but they are thwarted when a robotic security system comes down from the ceiling and tries to zap them. They hide behind a conveniently placed 70s style endtable. Crawling underneath it, they manage move it around to the other side of the room to get to the control panel to turn off the security robot. In the process, the Doctor's hat, scarf, and both of Harry's shoes get fried.

Meanwhile, Sarah Jane has been magically transported elsewhere on the space station and gets cryogenically frozen. She hears soothing voices telling her about how she has been chosen and other stuff like that. It takes Harry and the Doctor kind of a while to notice she's missing. When they do, they start wandering around the station looking for her. In the hallway, they find some slimy green stuff that looks like wet saran wrap on the ground. It is leftover from a giant caterpillar that Harry saw briefly. They decide it is not worth discussing further and they move on.

They discover that this space station is where humanity has tried to preserve itself from some disaster that has befallen the earth. They go into a room with a bunch of people in plastic stasis pods. Harry starts opening them, and somehow this doesn't affect the people at all. Suddenly, Harry discovers Sarah Jane in one of these pod things. "We can't help her now!" he says. "No, she'll be like that for three thousand years at least. Even if we had a resuscitation unit, it's doubtful we could revive her now," says the Doctor. "There must be something we can do!" says Harry. "What would a resuscitation unit look like?" He starts opening cupboards, and then, SUDDENLY:

The Sarah John Adventures

HAHAHA! Oh man! I crack myself up!

Basically this post was an excuse to use that as the title. But to make it more substantial, here is a link to an article about The Sarah Jane Adventures. I have yet to watch any of this show... I'm not sure if I ever will, but, you know, just letting you know it exists.

Doctor Who 4x02: "The Fires of Pompeii"

I don't really think their clothes wouldn't attract weird looks. But whatever.

I like the music in this episode.

I feel smart because I know what Vestal Virgins are thanks to my Classical Mythology class.

I love Donna... I love their bickering.

"I am... Spartacus." "And so am I." AWESOME. Lots of great lines in this episode.

Whoa, this battle of the soothsayers is pretty crazy. I think the Doctor agrees... "She is returning." Hmm, I wonder who that might be referring to... WINK. Also, what was that about Donna having something on her back?

I always get nervous whenever the Doctor and his companion are separated. Judging from the previews for this episode, my fears are not unfounded.

Wasn't there a disease where people turned to stone in New Earth? I can't remember what it was called.

The only gun the Doctor would have on him WOULD be a water gun.... that's great.

This episode was pretty brutal at the end. I'm glad Donna is there for the Doctor now, and I'm glad he's glad about it too. I wasn't surprised at all to see who their new household gods were. I'm pretty much over the religious symbolism though. It wouldn't bother me so much here if they hadn't completely overdone it in Voyage of the Damned. It makes slightly more sense here because of the religious system of ancient Rome, but still. I knew they'd have some kind of shrine thing to them. I just knew it.

Battlestar Galactica 4x04: "Six of One"

Why didn't it occur to anyone earlier to send Kara out into space on a ship to see if she can find Earth again? I mean... this seems like a pretty simple solution, and they don't risk the whole fleet. I thought of this halfway through the episode and didn't understand why it took so long for anyone else to think of it.

Lee: "Besides, I never really could say no to anything."
Kara: "Except me."
Um... Kara, remember how Lee was like, "hey, let's just finally be together, you tell Anders and I'll tell Dee and everything will finally be right" and then as soon as you woke up you went and married Anders instead? I'm pretty sure you were the one saying no there. But - they kissed. That was wonderful.

Anders looks so nice in uniform.

This cylon civil war thing is going to get interesting.

My favorite thing this episode: "Oh my giddy aunt." Gaius has reached a new level of crazy. I love when he talks to "himself." Here are those clips for your viewing enjoyment.