25 posts tagged “battlestar galactica”

I tend to do quite a bit of navel gazing during yoga classes, and by navel gazing I mean putting my introspective head on though I do literally spend time gazing at my actual navel as well. I find yoga quite mindless, especially when you filter out the mediation and the new age rhetoric, as all you are doing is breathing and following instructions for a series of poses. I like to think I do my best thinking on the mat, and today I was mulling over why I have been feeling so out of sorts. I managed to identify key ingredients that had been missing this week - escapism and thinking.

Escapism comes in many forms.  My favs are studying ancient civilisations and watching genre tv shows based on cool futuristic stuff (hello science fiction and fantasy).  I find that both of those things lead to thinking and that in turn leads to a happy me. Does this makes me an uber nerd? Because I really hope so. Last week was primarily about the day job, and in the evening I only had time to watch the Daily Show and Colbert. As much as I love Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert they are very much based in reality, and given that most of my favourite shows are on break for the summer there are slim pick-in's for programs that transport you to a galaxy far far away. 

Is it odd that a lack of Fringe, Supernatural, Battlestar Galactica, Chuck and Doll House disrupt my reality so much? Not really when you think about the Obama-BSG article the Onion ran a few months back. Dude, I am totally on the same page as I have an entire summer to fill before school and the new tv seasons begin in earnest. What am I meant to do till then?

Next up will be my summer sci-fi survival guide.

Woo hoo

• Very satisfying end to Battlestar Galactica
  
• Looking forward to Caprica and The Plan
  
• Bookmooch.com
• Saw Dooce give a book reading tonight (will probably read her memoir in the summer and will try to mooch it)
• Five weeks till exam leave
• Going to have date night on Friday
• Getting lighter in the morning and lighter in the evening
• Reading the latest Brunetti mystery
• Tim Roth in Lie To Me
  

Meh

• No more Ronald D. Moore BSG podcasts
• Random periods of grumpiness
• Roots
• Eye line pencil has gone smushie. Should I stick it in the fridge to harden?
• Lack of transparency
• General incidents of arsey-ness
• Didn't manage to see Duplicity at the weekend
• Finding it really hard to get up in the morning
• Not enough time to see everyone in London and have good chunks of time to study
  

I hate to admit it but this Friday's episode, Man on the Street, was better than the previous five. Joss Whedon was right it was worth hanging on to see where he is taking this series. I still don't think the premise is sustainable, but the plot  didn't have me tearing my hair out. I still feel it is my duty to support Helo so I will be hanging on in their a little longer.

Things I liked about Man on the Street:

• Topher "the annoying geek" screen time was minimal
• Dr. Claire's (Amy Acker) facial scars are less melodramatic (it's good that they are fading as it was too much Frankenstein's monster earlier)
• The toned down Topher's assistant Ivy's look, and dropped the ill advised nose stud. They were trying too hard to make her like Abby from NCIS, and it so was not working (the powers that be need to lift the look of Anna from Chuck)
  
• Starting to tolerate the clique of Victor, Echo and Sierra
• Two pretty good fight scenes
• The abuse of Sierra by her handler (Boone from Earth: Final Conflict) wasn't BSG dark but highlighted how vulnerable the actives are in their weak state, and allowed Boyd to throw the evil handler through a plate glass window
• Helo (aka the FBI agent trying to shut down the dollhouse) is pretty much screwed: suspended, being pounded by Echo and the girl next door he has just started shagging is a sleeper active
• Adele de Witt (Olivia Williams) got to show her teeth as a savy opperator
• Hinted that the Dollhouse is more than just fulfiling fantasies of the rich (I smell a conspiracy!)

 I can't quite believe there were this many things that I liked about it, and the episode left me pondering if there really someone on the inside who is trying to help Helo, or was that part of the scenario that was programmed into Echo? If there is a mole then my money is on Ivy as she keeps dropping hints that she knows more about Topher's work so might be able alter programs or may be it is one of the doll's or perhaps Dr. Claire. Either way Dollhouse gets a pass for another week.  

I just burst into tears on the escalator at the PATH station because I realized that I had left the hot cross buns I bought for breakfast tomorrow at yoga. The combination of a roller coaster of a week and really not wanting to have to have bagel for breakfast again tomorrow led to the minor melt down at Exchange Place.  It's not as if it was best hot cross bun - no sticky glaze and just fruit not spicy-fruity.  But, given that hot cross buns are not as wide spread in the US than they are in the UK I consume them whatever I can find them. This week sucked and I am glad tomorrow is Friday even if that means I have to confront not getting a fraction of my school work done during the week. Tomorrow after work I will head to Wholefoods, and stock up on all the good stuff that will keep me through a weekend of essays and index cards, and Alex through a weekend of scrum training (not rugby) and HALO.  Then we'll settle down to watch the final two hours of Battlestar Galactica; an emotional end to an over emotional week.

Why have the networks deemed Friday night to be sci-fi night? Do they think we geeks and nerds have nothing better to do than await the untangling of the human cylon conflict? Oh okay, they might be right. An evening of Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles, Dollhouse and Battlestar Galactica is boss. Well T:SCC and BSG are, Dollhouse is lame. I know I wanted to like Joss Whedon's latest creation has much as the next Buffy aficionado but it sucks. And what is worse is when you watch BSG after it it really sucks. The pilot episode comes off as a hybrid of The Island and The Pretender. 

The premise of Dollhouse is that a "shadowy" corporation has a gaggle of placid but pretty boys and girls at their disposal, and they plant them with memories in order to create the perfect date, negotiator, bad ass or whatever the client wants. An FBI agent is doggedly trying to uncover the Dollhouse, and rescue the 'Dolls'.  This is meant to be an opportunity for Eliza Dushku to showcase her range, but Echo is no Sydney Bristow and Dushku is no Jennifer Garner. (I am not quite sure why she is Whedon's muse other than Fox cancelled Tru Calling and they had to do something with her.)

It's just so mediocre, annoying and it should have been made in 90s. The concept of the protagonist having a spanking new persona every week ain't new, and has been done better (hello Quantum Leap). Is it meant to be dramatic irony when the client who paid for Echo to be reborn as a hostage negotiator laughs when she reels off her resume because we all know she was quite literally born yesterday? (Why did he hire her?) Why are the Dolls better than regular people? Have they had any bionic enhancements? Isn't this show basically about pimping? Shouldn't we be offending? Is Whedon doing Nora and Ibsen a disservice?

I think that Wheldon's strength is in his appreciation of pop culture. Buffy was the perfect meta-pop-cultural mash-up. There is no room for pop culture in Dollhouse.  The Dolls live in a vacuum, and I don't think I want to be sucked in any more.

I know that I will be distracted my two main things this week - finishing up my essays and waiting on Friday's episode of Battlestar Galactica. This evening we caught up with last Friday's episode, and OH MY GODS it was good! It took me about an hour to calm down. Ronald D. Moore is taking BSG on a very interesting ride for the final few episodes. Way more satisfying than if they were solely focused on Earth and final Cylon. I don't want to give too much away but this week's episode was pretty much focused on Gaeta's crossing the Rubicon.

Some random things have beenclocking up my brain this week, and I thought I'd unload them so I have lots of space for all the new random stuff that will be beating at my door.  Firstly, Secret Diary of a Call Girl. I really don't want to beat on Billie Piper because I absolutely adore her, but the powers that be really should have pushed back the filming of the second season when she found out she was pregnant. Belle is meant to be an alluring high class call girl, but because of Piper's pregnancy she looks frumpy. I spend most of my time trying to guess the size of the handbag they will use, and anaysing the use of body double. The body double is way thinner than Piper so there is something of a disconnect. I think they should have benched her with an STD, and then could have stayed home watching Lost and eating chocolate. Secondly, the woman who had the eight babies. I found the whole story mind boggling to begin with but when the "news" broke that she already had 6 kids I had to take a step back.  It was then that I realized that it wasn't just the number of kids that she had decided to have but that she put hersef at risk when she decided to go carry all 8 babies to term.

I use to think it weird that in December all my favorite shows would go into hibernation until the new year. In the UK Christmas is when the BBC et al come out all guns blazing to wow a nation but now I cherish the respite.  The heart grows a little fonder for some shows and forgets others.  I thought that we were on the cusp of welcoming 24 back onto our DVR but Alex just veto it (sorry Jack). Let's be honest when you peek the list below we have more than enough shows to be going on with, and 24 is no Battlestar Galactic. Five days until BSG's season 4.5 kicks off - woo hoo!

• Battlestar Galactica (1/16/09)  - Who is the fifth cyclon and what happened to Earth?
  
• Burn Notice (1/22/09) - Highly addictive, and the Miami setting eases winter blues
  
• Chuck (2/2/09) - It has more than the touch of the Walter Mittys about it and a definitely a guilty pleasure
  
• Dollhouse (2/13/09) - Josh Wheldon's new show so will give it a whirl but I get Ibsen flashbacks every time I think of the title
  
• Fringe (1/20/09) - MASSIVE DYNAMIC and the wonderfully inappropriate Walter
  
• House (1/19/09) - Duh!
  
• Lie to Me (1/21/09) - Mr. Orange reads people
  
• Life (2/4/09) - Quirky crime drama with Band of Brother's Captain Winters
  
• The Mentalist - Simon Baker reads people
  
• NCIS
  
• Psych - fake psychic reads people
  
• Supernatural (1/15/09) - Mythology, monsters and classic rock
  
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2/13/09) - The end is neigh and John might meet his dad
  
• United States of Tara (1/18/09) - quirky comedy about a suburban mum suffering from spilt personality
  

Thank the gods for staggered start times otherwise I'd never have anytime for anything else! Quite an alarming list and only time will tell which shows get left on the DVR.

Aaahhhh

• 3 days till my mum arrives and I go on vacation for 2 weeks
• Battlestar Galactica webisodes (always had a soft spot for Gaeta)
• Still giggling from David Sedaris
• Mince pies and cocktail sausages
  

Aarrgghhh

• 3 days left in the office to get everything wrapped up
• It's too wet for the snow to stick around
• My mum hurt her back and I hope it is better by Friday because we have lots of adventures planned
• I have nothing to wear for the office Christmas party (except something from the vintage Missus H collection)
  
• Behind in school work but plan on catching up over Christmas break
  

The second half of the fourth and final season of Battlestar Galactica will kick off on January 16th. For some reason I thought it wasn't going to air until much later next year, so praise the gods that I was mistaken. To start getting us in the mood check out the promo. It looks so frakking good! Can't wait to find out who the final cylon is, and how Ronald D. Moore et al tie everything up!

Once again, Alex and I have started to try and work our way through Star Trek: The Next Generation because someone says that we can't re-watch Deep Space Nine until we have finished TNG. It's a bit like having to eat your greens before tackling some really tasty deep fried chicken. The last time we tackled this project we managed to get through the first two seasons, and I want to know at exactly what point did TNG get good? Was the tipping point Picard going Borg? The gem from the last few episodes we've watched is Whoopi Goldberg. It was genius to cast her as Guinan and I started to get excited about seeing her. So that got me thinking about which guest stars really bring it. The ones who shake things up, are a nod to the genre or just are just plain annoying (in a good way). In no particular order here are my favourites (and I think they really show my age):

1. Whoopi Goldberg - Guinan in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Goldberg appeared in 28 episodes of TNG, she is  the landlord of the Enterprise's bar '10 Forward' whose planet had been devastated by the Borg. Not only is Goldberg an outstanding actress, her characters back story was a great segue into Star Trek's newest villains - the Borg. 
2. Marlee Matlin - Joey Lucas in The West Wing. IMDB is trying to tell me that Matlin appeared in 17 episodes - was it really that many? Over the years that The West Wing has sustained us through the Bush administration there were many great guest stars - Mary-Lousie Parker, Janeane Garofalo, Oliver Platt, Steven Culp, Jorja Fox, Adam Arkin, etc - but if I had to pick just one it would be Matlin's turn as political pollster Joey Lucas.  Her character is bright, and ballsy. She butts heads with Josh, and the pair tip toe around their mutual attraction. I can forgive Matlin for putting on her tap shoes to appear in Dancing With The Stars because I can always dust off my West Wing box sets.
   
3. Maggie Wheeler - Janice in Friends.  The character of Janice was a tour de force. The "real" New Yorker that rubbed the bridge and tunnel crowd the wrong way.  Her laugh shattered glass, she took being annoying to a whole new level and she is the Achilles heel to our Friends. There is no escaping her, and that's what we loved about her most. She was brash, and she irked the hell out the smug set. 
4. Bebe Neuwirth - Lilith in Fraser.  Lilith is like an iceberg. Icy cool, and the most dangerous part of her is hidden beneath the surface.  Her power was in how everyone reacted to her. She doesn't need to lift a finger to keep those Crane boys in check.
   
5. Richard Hatch - Tom Zarek in Battlestar Galactica. Okay, this guest star role isn't perfect but it is pretty fraking cool to have the original Apollo cast as a terrorist. A nod to the BSG's heritage that shakes things up, just like Starbuck being a girl.   
   
6. Stephen Fry - Dr. Gordon Wyatt on Bones. I am still holding out hope that Fry will guest star on House but his three episode on Fox network's sister show tided me over for a bit (and sustained my interest in this procedural drama). Fry was, as ever, a joy to behold as the psychiatrist assigned to help Booth open up after an incident, and truthfully I'd pay to watch Fry pottering about in any TV show bar the truly dreadful Kingdom.
7. Bruce Harwood, Tom Braidwood & Dean Haglun - The Lone Gunmen in The X-Files.  These guys are the epitome of conspiracy theorists, and brought some colour to Scully & Mulders FBI grey.
   
8. John Barrowman - Captain Jack Harkness on Doctor Who.  Before Captain Jack took over Cardiff he appeared as the bi-sexual alien with a predilection for vintage clothing and flirted shamelessly with the Doctor. 
9. Supernatural. Okay, this is a total cop out but one of the things that I *love* about this show (other than Jensen Ackles) is that they embraced the genre and incorporate lots of "genre specific" guest stars. Callum Keith Rennie, Amy Acker, and Linda Blair to name a few.
   
10. Dean Stockwell - Brother Cavil in Battlestar Galactica. It's Dean Stockwell as a Cylon. It doesn't get any better than that.