5 posts tagged “star trek”

Late night for me. Let's just say that I have had two cups of coffee so I am awake for the foreseeable future...

DVDs

• Caprica - BSG prequel that is sitting on the coffee table waiting on Alex being in the right mood to watch it. I am thinking it might be a good fit for the 4th of July long weekend. I mean we ain't going to be watching the fireworks
  
• Star Trek: TNG - Someone wont let me watch Deep Space Nine until we have re-watched all of TNG. Half way through season 5 and it is dragging somewhat
  

Television

• Virtuality - Ronald D. Moore did a pilot for Fox, and they have repackaged it as a tv movie. That probably means it is now a failed pilot but as ever the optimist I am hopeful for a resurrection, especially after seeing the 12 min preview and webisodes
  
• Stargate Universe - the trailer makes it look edgier than Atlantis or SG-1, and it has Robert Carlyle in it so nuff said
  
• Torchwood - The 'Children of Earth' mini-series airs in July and it feels a little bit like Midwitch Cuckoos (though spooky children always give off that vibe to be)
• Doctor Who - Finally getting the Christmas special that was aired AGES ago in the UK. It also looks like BBC America has wrangled the Doctor from Sci-Fi Channel
• Warehouse 13 - Cute but worth a watch given that there isn't that much on at the moment
  

Films
For whatever reason there tends to be a dearth of sci-fi movies opening in the summer, the powers that be obviously think that genre is better suited to fall which is why it made no sense to open last year's X-Files movie in the summer.

• Star Trek - So you've seen it once just keep watching it because it really is that good!
  
• Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince - Not strictly sci-fi but wizards are hardly mainstream
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - same as above but this time with robots in disguise
• The Time Traveler's Wife - Not another Sarah Connor Terminator spin-off I promise. The book is excellent, but the time travel is rather more a literary plot device than an actually exploration into time travel
  

In between work, fretting about revision, searching for cheap flights and waiting for the new Clive Owen film to open I've been distracting myself with:

• The Independent has a clip of Richard Curtis' new film about the pirate radio stations of the 60s -   The Boat that Rocked 
• The Guardian has a swearific clip from In The Loop (the feature film version of political satire The Thick of It) and I find myself coveting the Obama style teaser poster. Me want.  
• The new Star Trek trailer looks aces, but I am hoping Alex will be able to hold out till I get back from London
• Lex Luther bailout pitch featuring Jon Hamm (from Mad Men)
• BSG panel discussion at the UN next week. Screw the Emmys, Golden Globes, etc this is way better recognition and perhaps we have no podcast because Ronald D. Moore is prepping for this?
  

I should be reading about dining options in the Athenian agora but some how listing films that have piqued my interest
is more fun. Plus, January is something of a cinematic wasteland (unless you are into horror or dodgy comedies) which forces you to look ahead.  As far as I can see the only gem this month is Underworld: Rise of the Lycan, and after the disappointing suck-fest that was Underworld: Evolution I am really surprised at myself for acutally wanting to risk my sanity with another installment of Underworld. All those Lycan ads during BSG's webisodes brainwashed me into giving it another go, that and Michael Sheen and Bill Nighy, and no Wiseman.

Excited About
Duplicity - Such good chemistry between Owen and Roberts, and it reminds me of a good natured twisty-turny Carry Grant movie
Watchmen - If the legal wranglings are ever resolved
The International - More Clive Owen. Woo hoo!
Star Trek - Not too sure about re-booting a perfectly good franchise, however this chick can't get enough trek
Terminator: Salvation - Perfectly happy to have parallel worlds with different John Connors going about doing their respective things

Cute
He's Just Not That Into You - Nice ensemble cast but still the risk that it might make me want to tear my nails out
Confessions of a Shopaholic - Since we the people no longer have any money to shop we must watch others indulge in a retail habit, and live through them
The Proposal - The irony is that Ryan Reynolds is Canadian!

Juries Still Out (but I will probably crumble)
Push - Flashy Hong Kong action rip-off. Will it be another Jumpers? Is it worth the risk?
Fast & Furious - Vin Diesel and Paul Walker have not fared too well on their own so are forced to reunite (think Roberts and Gere in Runaway Bride but with more burning rubber)
State of Play - The BBC TV series was stellar, and I fear the good bits will have been watered down

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.
    

If you could make a magic wish for a futuristic gadget or high-tech innovation, what would your item do? 
Submitted by Red Pen.

Oh where to begin...

Early grey tea, hot. I do enjoying cooking but would LOVE a replicator. Living in NY is kinda like having a replicator as it is so easy to eat out or order in, and I really don't cook all that much (I guess things on toast doesn't really  count). But how great would it be to roll out of bed and mumble to a machine in the corner about wanting a coffee and some waffles and then having them magically appear. Bliss!

Next up would be a transporter of course. Get rid of the guilt about carbon emissions and be able to pop to my Mum's for a cuppa when ever I pleased.