By Your Command

I'm not sure if this makes me want to get a Roomba even more or not...

Revenge of the Jedi

Wil Wheaton's Star Wars Review focuses on one of the things that has been on my mind concerning how the first Star Wars Generation reacted to Episodes I to III. The original Star Wars films are, for the geekier among us -- more than just an enjoyable nostalgic movie from our childhood. They in a very real sense are our childhood -- they're every birthday and Christmas for a half a dozen years.

I'm not as anti-the prequels as many people I know are. They're not the original Star Wars -- and how could they be -- and I'm not sure I can separate my childhood nostalgia when I watch them. And that makes some things work, but also emphasizes every little flaw.

Of course, it is possible for that sort of nostalgic revisit to work in their own rights as well -- the new Doctor Who is still recognizably the series that I discovered as a kid, but is a complete modern upgrade as well. And while the nostalgic elements of Battlestar Galactica are less frequent, it's something that is very good for today, and stands on its one terms despite any distant nostalgic memories.

And tomorrow is another day where nostalgic franchises return, as we go to see the new James Bond movie Casino Royale. It is odd because it promises to be a back-to-basics Bond film, but there was a fair amount of controversy in the past about it.

Great Cliffhangers

Perhaps it's my wasted youth on Doctor Who, comic books, and The Empire Strikes Back, but one of my favorite things about the new series Heroes is that they've really mastered the cliffhanger very well.

I think the big thing is that they've set up a lot of mysteries and hooks -- but there is always the risk where the payoff isn't that good. I've got a reasonable about of faith that any series with Jeph Loeb's involvement understands the type of storytelling that Heroes is trying to do.

I think one of the interesting questions is how far along are they setting things up -- are they looking ahead to the (thankfully now confirmed) whole season, or even longer than that?

And I suspect that this is one series that will do very, very well on DVD when it comes out. Like Lost, 24, or Battlestar Galactica, I believe that many people will watch the entire season when it comes out even if they missed it on original broadcast.

I know that I've already seen enough that I'll certainly get the DVD...

Oh, October is going to be busy

Ok, the official Season 3 Lost Press Release is out, confirming all sorts of good stuff. (yeah, Henry Gale as a regular!)

Of course, combined with the likelyhood of October having Doctor Who and Battlestar Galactica running back to back on Sci Fi, it means that my three favorite shows are going to have new-to-the-US episodes all at the same time.

You might be a Cylon

Galacticacast asks the question: You might be a Cylon!

Intelliseek's BlogPulse

I wandered across BlogPulse, and it looks like a pretty interesting way to search what's going on in various blogs and the like.

For example, I think this should trend Doctor Who against Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant.

Or how about Doctor Who vs Battlestar Galactica?

(Actually, I don't think this is fair, because Doctor Who gets a lot of false positives as they're both words that are farely common, even if you specifically look for the phrase "Doctor Who", and not just those two words seperately. Though if you look at the data you know that it does spike when there's some sort of news event connected to the series, like when filming started or the last episode aired.]

Orbital Movements

One of the reasons why it's good to be excited about the new Doctor Who is that we've seen what Christopher Eccleston doing Russell T. Davies dialog is like. And in this review of Orbital's Blue Album the reviewer describes the sample from The Second Coming during the song "You Lot" as "the greatest sample of its kind".

There's good reason to be optimistic towards the new series -- and if the rumors that the Sci Fi channel is going to be the likely US home for the new series, it'll be a strong follow up to Battlestar Galactica, as yet another strong revival.

Litmus

Tonight's Galactica was perhaps an appropriate episode to air as we hear obituaries to the author of The Crucible, Arthur Miller. As anyone who has taken an English class over the last twenty or thirty years should probably know, The Crucible was written in reaction to the 1950s hunt for communists, and as such that play is as meaningful as ever with concerns about terrorism.

And this week's Galactica had a "witch hunt" as well.

Now, it's a little bit strange for Galactica to say that they also have "witch hunts", since the origin of that phrase would be particularly based in American history. But I take it as part of the conceit of the program that we're having those sorts of idioms translated from whatever sort of Kobolian language that they should "really" be speaking; our language is filled with phrases and expressions that have a historical context, frequently ones we don't even consciously know.

And I'm willing to forgive a lot since it's hardly a secret that this new Galactica is a classic example of the use of science fiction as a way to go through the issues of today.

And one of the things that's nice about the series is that it's not simple -- often times a series that has a social or political message is very obvious and simplistic. I don't really see that in the new Galactica -- yes, the Cylons are bad -- but also frequently, "good" people are guilty of errors in judgment; sometimes serious ones that can cost lives.

Battlest Galactica Renewed

The Sci Fi Channel has picked up Battlestar Galactica

This is great news -- especially as the series is apparently getting better ratings as the series goes on. I can tell that there are lots of people interested in the new series, since I've been getting a lot of hits from people searching on Battlestar Galactica ratings.

You Can't Go Home Again

This week's Galactica was, to some extent, something very retro. It's difficult, I don't think I really want to go into spoiling episodes to any great detail as I comment on any television episodes here. But this episode was, in many respects, an episode at the surface is the most like either the original Galactica, or for that matter, other space series. But the execution of the episode, as always, is one way that makes this series so particularly good. And the revelations about the Cylons were especially fascinating.

"Home" has been a bit of a theme in my weekend's entertainment. I went to see In Good Company over the weekend, the Dennis Quaid/Topher Grace/Scarlett Johansson movie. Obviously, any movie that contains a Peter Gabriel song will get my indulgence, and a movie that plays Solsbury Hill in the fashion that this movie does will especially get my indulgence. I was surprised that it wasn't as much of a romantic comedy as I had initally expected, and that made me a bit happier about the movie, even as the movie gave me other things to think a lot about.

Of course, to prove that there is no justice, I wasted a few moments of my life watching the Paris Hilton Saturday Night Live episode, and it wasn't during the sci-fi sketch where she's in a hat and scarf. [Outpost Gallifrey has it on their news page as I'm writing this, though it'll roll off eventually, I'm sure.]

And to return to Galactica, Ron Moore's blog has an interesting entry about the future of Star Trek. While I think Enterprise was in trouble long before the new Galactica started, I think that Galactica outperforming Enterprise was the final signal to the executives that the latest Trek wasn't capturing the imagination -- even of its core audience -- in the way that it used to.

It's been a long time...

TrekToday reports that 'Star Trek: Enterprise' is cancelled.

I'm unsurprised; when Battlestar Galactica scored higher ratings, I figured it was doomed. It's unfortunate, to some extent, as this was perhaps one of the better seasons of Star Trek, but at the same time, there have been 25 seasons of Star Trek over the last 18 or so years, and I think it has been clear for a while that there needs to be a rethink. I don't think the problem was Enterprise -- if anything, I think the problem started with the awful Voyager -- but I think the faith of many casual fans was lost, and that's difficult to regain.

It's exactly like what happened to Doctor Who in the 1980s -- it ran for so long, that really, the only way to refresh the franchise is to take a break. And the same thing happened with Galactica -- the revived series is fantastic. (And Galactica 1980 is one of the worst television series ever -- which destroyed any chance of a continuation, I feel.)

I don't believe that this is the end of Star Trek. Eventually, it'll be back. I've no doubt that Star Trek books will continue for a long time. But it should be a couple of years.

That said, I think this has been the best Star Trek season in a long time. But I think it was sadly too little, too late. And we've been able to take Star Trek for granted, so perhaps if it goes away for a while, we won't be able to.

Act of Contrition

I was digging around for a reasonable episode guide for the new Battlestar, and I found a reasonable one here. It possibly contains US spoilers -- basically, the page has what you would expect for TV Guide descriptions for all of the season.

Sadly, one of the things about the origins of this series is that you've got the segment of original Galactica fans that are anti-fans of the new series. One of the challenging things with any revival (or long running series generally) is that the series may take a different track than what originally drew you to the series; if you're a Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict fan, the new Galactica isn't the same sort of thing. You've got that as well when you're dealing with Star Trek -- tonight's episode of Enterprise harkened back to the original series Journey to Babel, but it's absent Kirk and Spock. Doctor Who sees it from the people that rejected the more adult content of The New Adventures; and we may see some people that have difficulty with the new series of that as well.

One of the interesting elements for me about franchise genre fiction is when, over time, you try to break down and identify what is really the most important pieces of a concept. You get the same sort of thing with music groups -- some bands are no longer the same band once you remove one member, and others can have almost the entire lineup change.

It's interesting to watch both Enterprise and Galactica on the same night. Because Enterprise is telling a prequel story in the same universe as the original series, you have all sorts of elements that start to struggle with the 1960s design. And it's not always entirely successful -- the future isn't what it used to be, after all.

Where Galactica has less of a relationship with its 1970s counterpart, while apparently the Cylons in the new series used to look like the ones of old, we're having Vipers move in the zero gravity environment of a computer simulation instead of the models of the 1970s, with battles that acknowledge inertia and the forces of gravity, enhanced graphics of the way we saw ships travel in Babylon 5.

In it's own way, this new Galactica then, isn't just a reimagining of Galactica, but follows along in almost all of the non-Trek space adventure series; as you can see the influence of Firefly in some of the space sequences as well, and the more "realistic" approach to space is very reminiscent of Space: Above and Beyond.

Television Without Pity has some recaps of the new Galactica as well. It's a site that I never quite check out as much as I should...

Bastille Day

I'm watching the latest episode of the new Battlestar Galactica at the moment. I think it's Richard Hatch's best performance in an episode of Galactica to date, taking advantage of a more complicated character than the straight-ahead hero that he played on the original series.

And while there is an element of "stunt casting" here, obviously playing Richard Hatch's Tom Zarek character against the new Apollo, it works. The behind-the-scenes knowledge adds a little bit of added weight, really.

I'm kind of curious about what the connections between the Colonial religions and the myths of Earth -- apparently Zeus and Apollo are among the "Lords of Kobol". Obviously, that makes some sense, as their are clearly connections between Earth and Caprica and the other colonies -- it's part of the series. Obviously this series tries to really make our society even more like theirs; this is supposed to be a very recognizable society and not that different from our own.

I also maintain that the new series Starbuck is more like the original series version than any of the other characters -- perhaps precisely because it is played by a woman instead of a man.

But really, this isn't a series to watch for nostalgic reasons -- it's addressing modern issues and the flawed societies that we live in, and the compromises that we have to make.

Battlestar Galactica Ratings

The Sci Fi channel has a story about Galactica's Ratings.

They're good -- which is hopeful for more of the series in the future. Perhaps even more interesting, they're better than Star Trek: Enterprise, which can't be good for the Star Trek franchise, as generally you don't expect cable to outdo a network show.

More about the status on Battlestar Galactica

I think the various interviews concerning how to "win over" old fans is pretty interesting. I watched the original Battlestar as a kid, because, well, I was a huge Star Wars fan an this looked like a weekly Star Wars TV series.

I'm hopeful that the new series continues beyond this initial batch. It's a bit nerve wracking that they'll make their decision after only a few episodes will air, but that's the way television goes.

MercuryNews.com | 01/17/2005 | The rebirth of `Galactica' wins respect and ratings

Good to see that the new series -- which is better than the mini-series -- got good ratings. Good for the future.

I'm also happy to see that A&E is willing to purchase more MI-5. Still, what about who is buying the new Doctor Who in the US? That's what I wanna know..

I'm really enjoying the first two episodes of the new Battlestar Galactica.

There's a scene between Adama (Edward James Olmos) and the President (Mary McDonnell) that goes into military and politics that's fantastic. This isn't an easy series --they make difficult choices and are in difficult places.

It's a bit disturbing that once again someone with a British accent is one of the enemies with Baltar (James Callis), as that's a bit of a genre cliche (especially when the actor playing Apollo -- who is also English -- does an American accent) but he's really quite good, especially one of the scenes with Starbuck.

Highly, highly recommended. Sci-Fi will be repeating the episodes during the week, check your schedules...

I said a year ago in some conversations with friends that I thought that the genre tv market was going to go down a bit, with the end of the various Joss Whedon series and the decline of Star Trek -- but with Lost, which almost certainly has some sort of SF/F twist, and now Battlestar Galactica, things are looking pretty good.

And that doesn't even include Doctor Who, which I have high expectations given what I know about the production and the creative staff.

Ain't It Cool News neatly summerizes all of the great reviews for the new Battlestar Galactica, which starts tonight!

I went ahead and watched the Battlestar Galactica mini-series, this time with the commentary track.

I wasn't sure if the commentary track would be interesting, but I was pleasantly surprised with it. It's one that touches on the production decisions behind this as well -- getting a series different from Star Trek or Farscape, the issues going into the changes from the original series and all of that sort of controversy related to it, and some hints towards what might be picked up in the series.

I think they overstate their originality at times -- while it's a quality miniseries, and they execute things well -- there are a lot of elements that are familiar to people that have seen shows like Space: Above and Beyond or Babylon 5 or Farscape. It's not completely derivative though -- and it's relevance to the modern political climate is more unique, and I think handles things a bit better than how Enterprise handled it.

I'm looking forward to the series starting tomorrow.

With the new Battlestar Galactica starting on the Sci-Fi Channel this weekend, I'm taking a look at things like the mini-series. Everything I've gathered from the people who have seen the series over in the UK says that this is really quite a good series -- and I suspect that people that really liked series like Space: Above and Beyond or Star Trek:Deep Space Nine will like this new series.

It's possible that if you were a hardcore fan of the original series you'll have problems enjoying the new series, but that series is available on DVD as well, and so can be enjoyed there. But to use a Marvel Comics comparison, this new series is Ultimate Battlestar Galactica; and I think it should be judged on its own merits.

Kung Fu Monkey: Fandamentalism
Extremists in the persuit of an interest have a lot in common.

Actually, I'd disagree with the "men dominate" generalization he makes though -- my experience is that the people who are bothered the most with the changes to the new Battlestar Galactica are women.

New Battlestar Galactica?

I see that Cinescape has somehow managed to regenerate after the death of fandom.com (and I'm not really upset with that loss, as they were being silly thinking they could "copyright" fandom.) We'll have to see how this new incarnation is.....

Though I can't believe that there is going to be a new Battlestar Galactica series.

I disagree a bit with the Unbreakable review -- I picked up the DVD last week, and saw the movie again and watched a bunch of the additional features. I think the movie is really good -- it's main weakness is that it isn't The Sixth Sense but clearly by the same director, but it's still fantastic. And I think the additional features on it are fantastic, and make it for an excellent package.

Google acquires Deja's Usenet Archive

And they've got the archive going back to 1995....so I'm looking through for old things I wrote....

---

Subject: GIG REVIEW: King Crimson in Milwaukee [6/16/95]
Newsgroups: rec.music.progressive
Date: 1995/06/16

I do remember one thing.

It is difficult to put a King Crimson live performance into words. I've
been listening to Crimson for seven years now, and it's my first chance to
see the entire band together live. One thing is for sure; the live
performance is unlike anything I've ever heard before, and is absolutely
miles away from what is on the album.

First of all, the California Guitar Trio was a wonderful opener. They
were clearly enjoying themselves, and it was an intense, unique
experience. I realized that I had talked to Paul Richards five or six
years ago after a Crafty concert in Madison, when one batch of new Crimson
rumors had just started. The sense of humor they have was quite evident;
and it's interesting to see how they have used the vocabularly they
learned from Fripp used to speak their own words.

As far as Crimson goes, what can be said that hasn't been?

The layout of the musicians were very interesting:

PM RF BB
TG AB TL

We had very good seats -- on the right aisle, about 10 rows or so back.
Close enough to get a very good view of everyone.

One thing I was interested in seeing was how the different "pairs" of the
double trio format worked. Bruford was clearly liberated by the chance to
not have as much of a responsibility as a time keeper, and it was also
very interesting seeing him send Mastelotto signals; at one point clearly
sending him a signal to quiet down. Mastelotto is *big*.

Fripp was very still, not moving for long periods of time. Not having the
spotlight on him has a very interesting effect, especially in the center.
I saw Fripp once with the Crafties years ago, and it was interesting to
see how he was in an electric context.

As far as the music goes....wow... The new material was much better live
then on the album, especially on songs like "One Time" and "People".
There was a thickness to the music that is difficult to describe. One
Time had a lot more going on in the background, Bruford filling in some
light percussive touches. The challenge of the band is to switch from the
vocal pieces to the long instrumentals. It's sometimes easy to ignore the
vocal pieces, but it's the contrast that makes it all the more rewarding.


Red was smoking, of course. Thrak was an immense pleasure, with a long
venture into musical exploration, unlike anything I have ever heard
before, and proved to be quite a free for all. I had hopes that this
would be a band that it would be often difficult to follow who was playing
what, and this was one place where that turned true. Talking Drum/Larks
Tongues PT II was a joy as well.

The absence of any Beat or Three of a Perfect Pair tracks was
interesting. I would be interested in seeing some other older tracks as
well; but then that may just be my tremendous desire to see "Starless"
live... :-)

Get the program. Very interesting thoughts from RF.

I like it!

---

Subject: A sign that it has been to long since a new episode
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5
Date: 1995/04/25

I'm not sure if I want to admit this; but I just woke up from the
strangest dream. I think it's a little disturbing; and probably a sign
that I can't wait for both the B5 episode and the soundtrack at the same
time. :-)

The primary image is a bizzare combination: Ivonova is flying one of the
Battlestar Galactica fighters, attacking a Star Destroyer (from Star
Wars).
Somehow I also knew the whole scene was CGI as well...don't ask me how.
There were some other scenes as well, but not as bizzare.

I think the most embarrassing part of the whole thing is that my
subconcious took a piece from Battlestar Galactica....

(confession ends)

Battlestar Galactica -- South of Heaven, North of Hell -- some fan fiction someone I know was involved in, which I'll read soon....

Bringing Back "Battlestar Galactica": I suppose it was inevitable.

But if they can bring back a low-rent Star Wars like Battlestar Galactica back (and I watched it too), when will they bring back Doctor Who to the TV or Movie screen?