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.