Movies and Television Shows – Page 15

Doctor Who Returns after Summer Break with ‘Let’s Kill Hitler’

"Let's Kill Hitler" aired on BBCA 08/27/2011

I suffered through some disappointing summer science fiction television recently (most notably “Falling Skies” on TNT). But all that is behind me now with the return of the Doctor and the best ‘bad girl’ in any time or space: River Song. Amy and Rory continue their quest to reunite with their daughter, Melody Pond, also known as River Song, although her parents are still coming to grips with their daughter’s incorrigibility, knack for mad-cap adventures and an obsession with the Doctor not of her own making.

And River, as Mels, Amy’s BFF from childhood, who coins the episodes title ‘Let’s Kill Hitler‘ when she finally meets the Doctor, after Amy and Rory destroy a wheat field with a crop-circle calling card. Holding the Doctor and the TARDIS at gunpoint, Mels corrals everyone into the TARDIS for a trip back to pre-war Berlin. Mels manages to shoot the TARDIS and forces a crash landing in Hitler’s office, interrupting a shape-shifting humanoid robot containing miniaturised humanoids has assumed the form of a Wehrmacht officer and attacked Hitler.

And it’s at this point where Hitler becomes a minor impediment to the ongoing conflict between the newly regenerated River Song and her immediate assassination attempt on the Doctor, Amy and Rory kidnapped by the miniaturized humans, and a dying Doctor. Hitler is locked in the cupboard by Rory. My husband and I laughed repeatedly on that dialogue.

The tiny robot-occupying humans reveal themselves as time-traveling Justice Department personnel who mete out punishment to infamous criminals by snatching them in the last seconds of their life and torturing them for thousands of years for their crimes. They switch gears from Hitler (they arrived too early anyway in 1938) to River Song, who has a criminal record including killing the Doctor. So now we spend the last thirty minutes of the Doctor’s life arguing whether River can be tortured for killing the Doctor when he is in fact still alive.

Best bit of lore gleaned this episode about the Silence (spoilers follow, obviously):

Robot Amy: Records Available

Doctor: Question. I’m dying. Who wants me dead?

Robot Amy: The Silence.

Doctor: What is the Silence? Why is it called that? What does it mean?

Robot Amy: The Silence is not a species. It is a religious order or movement. Their core belief is that Silence will fall when the question is asked.

Doctor: What question?

Robot Amy: The first question, the oldest question in the universe, hidden in plain sight.

Doctor: Yes, but what is the question?

Robot Amy: Unknown.

This episode did not have the impact of ‘A Good Man Goes to War‘ (but how could it with the big reveal of who River’s parents actually were). However, I loved it (as I do most Doctor Who episodes) for the great writing, story-telling and acting. I know where I’ll be every Saturday evening … wherever the TARDIS re-appears.

Falling Skies Finale Fizzle

Falling Skies, the TNT summer science-fiction (vaguely and loosely associated with that genre) summer series concluded it’s first ‘season’ last night and delivered hype, hype and more hype, together with more questions than answers. I restrained myself from reviewing any of the individual episodes in the series for the last few weeks, mostly in an effort to avoid spoilers, but also because I hoped for some movement in the plot and some growth from the main characters. I would say all of the characters grew, changed and learned from their experiences, but at a more gradual rate than I had hoped.

If humanity is on the brink of extinction, would we truly throw away the few lives left on a futile attack on supremely superior alien invaders who had already effortlessly wiped out billions of us? I guess if you’re a military gung-ho sort of guy, the obvious answer is “Yes!” or more likely “Sir! Yes, Sir!” At least the science bits, where the surviving civilians learn how the ‘skitters’ communicate, how to interfere in that communication, and begin to ascertain the origins of skitters, provided the most satisfactory story elements.

The boundaries of my belief stretched to near breaking when confronted with the sub-par special effects and off-screen encounters between our surviving military and the alien invaders. While that helps the ‘bottom-line’ and saves money in production, as a viewer I feel cheated. Case in point: the attack on the school (where the 2nd Mass volunteers, those not involved in throwing away their lives by attacking the local alien entrenched HQ, and civilians) by seven (yes, only seven) mechs underwhelmed. Nor was I convinced of the human victory (insert overly melodramatic human ingenuity here) that drove the mechs to retreat.

And to leave me, after ten hours (well, more like 420 minutes) of stringing me along, without answers, for at least another ten months, frustrates and angers me. I don’t expect happy endings, especially in the dystopian SF subgenre, but I do expect some respect for my intelligence.

I can’t wait for Doctor Who to commence again.

Review: Falling Skies Pilot (Summer 2011 SciFi Series on TNT)

Falling Skies (Summer 2011 on TNT)

My husband and I watched th3 much anticipated (translated: hyped) summer science fiction series premiere of Falling Skies last night via TNT. I must have missed something the first time around, because I did not pick up from the story (what was actually aired, not what was hyped in the pre-premiere ads) what happened to the Earth. Yes, some information was revealed through observation, like the lack of any electronics as a result of the alien EMP bombardment.

A discussion I’m following at the GoodReads Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Club likened this story to a cross between H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds and Pat Frank’s Alas, Babylon. I’ve read both of those books, but I’ve only posted a review on Alas, Babylon (click here to read my review). From what I can tell from the first two hours, there is some similarity to Frank’s vision, but so far not much to Wells (at least the aliens haven’t exhibited a penchant for succumbing to an Earth virus or bacteria).

I learned this morning, when I read the discussion thread mentioned above that the alien invasion occurred six months prior to what I watched in the first two episodes. That the aliens wiped out 90 percent of the human population and for some unknown reason needs to enslave the younger members of the remaining humans (but nukes or otherwise disposes of older ones). Basically, what’s left of humanity is in survival mode, on the run and severely out-gunned.

Most of the writing was predictable and the acting mediocre (and I expected a better performance from Noah Wyle). The special effects adequately portrayed the aliens and their technology, but failed to wow me. I enjoyed seeing Dale Dye in a cameo-like appearance in the first few minutes of the first episode and I loved Colin Cunningham‘s portrayal of a post apocalyptic leader of rogue criminal gang (although with a complete breakdown of civilization, what defines a ‘criminal’ except the memory of peace and freedom held by the survivors). Quite a change in roles for Colin, from his days as an Air Force officer in the Stargate program.

I’d rate these two episodes three stars and I do plan to continue watching the series. I will hold out hope for better acting and writing, since the prospects for either in the science fiction genre is slim at best. I’ll take what I can get to wile away the summer.

Dark of the Moon, Light of the City

After weeks of overcast, I couldn’t believe my eyes on the commute home yesterday. A clear blue sky with little to no haze and not a single cloud to be found. Waiting for the sun to set never seemed to take so long as it did last evening. I wasted some time with a quick grocery shopping run on my way home from the Hallmark parking lot. Terry made an awesome salad, which I ate as soon as I got home. He also planned to grill a couple of t-bones we’d purchased last month at the local farmers market in Leavenworth. Even though the charcoal fired up perfectly, the steaks disappointed. It’s been decades since either of us had such a grisly tough steak. We will NOT be purchasing any more meat from that particular local farmer.

I got caught up on Jeopardy and still had an hour to go before sunset. I fed the dogs, did some laundry and watched a rocket reality show hosted by Kari Byron on the Science channel. I ignored most of it (as I do most reality television) and Terry drifted off into his after-supper food coma. I started transferring telescope equipment from the basement to the backyard as soon as the sun set. I left the patio door open so Roxy and Apollo could come visit me if they wanted to. For the most part, they ran along the privacy fence, occasionally barking at evening strollers and/or their dogs.

Just as I attempted to do an easy alignment in the alt/az mounted mode for the ETX-90 and the Autostar, I realized I needed my cell phone for the time (because the Autostar asks for the date and time first when you turn it on). I ran back in the house and got my phone and saw my father had called while I was outside. I admit I was a bit distracted while talking (mostly listening) to him as I attempted to align the telescope. He asked me where Saturn was and I thought it was almost directly overhead. After I hung up, I realized that what I thought was Saturn was actually Arcturus (once I used the Big Dipper’s handle arc to find it among the constellations that I could barely see through the ambient Lansing light pollution). Once I confirmed via the telescope that bright fleck was indeed a star and not Saturn, I drove a ‘spike’ towards Spica and found Saturn in close proximity to another bright star in the constellation Virgo. Here’s what I saw last night facing south from my backyard (well, I saw some of this – except for the view blocked by my tall house, several very tall trees and an electric utility pole in the southwest corner of my yard).

South Horizon to Zenith on 31 May 2011 at 2215

: South Horizon to Zenith on 31 May 2011 at 2215

I attempted several times to align the telescope but failed repeatedly (even the Autostar kept telling me I failed). I could not use Arcturus as one of the two alignment stars because it was so high in the sky I could not use the finder scope. I know, I know, I should have installed my new red-dot finder scope before the first clear night in weeks arrived. Coulda, woulda, shoulda. 😛

I found Saturn and rejoiced in the clear view of it’s rings, using the 26mm and 16mm eyepieces. However, because I couldn’t get the telescope aligned properly, the slewing couldn’t keep up and Saturn drifted out of the field of view rapidly. Then, Saturn drifted behind the electric utility pole and I needed to wait five or ten minutes for the Earth to rotate enough for it to pop out on the other side. My night vision had begun to settle in (since I’d been outside for thirty minutes or so) when my neighbor to the north decided to turn on very bright lights in her second story south facing bedroom, leaving the blinds open. So much light emanated from that room that I could read my star atlas without using my night vision preserving red flashlight. I could have screamed in frustration. What I should have done was grab my camera and take photographs of her through her window and post them in this blog. For crying out loud! Don’t people realize that when you leave your blinds open and turn on every light in the room, it’s like a stage to those outside?!?!? She’s lucky I exercised restraint and left the camera inside.

With my night vision ruined, Saturn still behind the utility pole and the dew rapidly drenching all the sensitive optics, I elected to teach myself a couple of constellations and their primary bright stars, hoping my neighbor would turn off her bedroom lights. Using my new Sky & Telescope Pocket Sky Atlas, I found the charts for May and June evenings and studied the constellations Virgo and Leo. I also refreshed my memory of Bootes and Gemini (which I could barely see sinking into the western horizon, basically just the two dominant stars representing the twins’ heads – Pollux and Castor). Saturn was close enough to Porrima (also known as gamma Virginis) to see it through my telescope eyepiece’s field of view at the same time I watched the ringed planet.

The constellation I spent the most time studying lies just to the west of Virgo and contains several bright stars easily visible in from my light polluted back yard.

Denebola and Regulus are both visible soon after the sun sets. I studied Leo for several minutes, fixing the alignment of its stars into the pattern shown above. I returned to Virgo, since Saturn is traversing through that constellation at the moment. The configuration represented in my star atlas differs from those I have found represented on the internet this morning:

After waiting more than fifteen minutes for my neighbor to turn off her bedroom lights, I gave up, packed up the telescope and transferred it and all it’s accessories back down into my basement. Rain and clouds are predicted for the next few days (of course) during the darkest phase of the moon. I could just cry.

Doctor Who: The Doctor’s Wife

An amazing episode, written by none other than Neil Gaiman, a well known popular award winning science fiction author. Again, I’m too lazy to write my own synopsis, so please visit the Wikipedia article on The Doctor’s Wife episode if you need more info.

My favorite snippet of dialogue from this episode:

Idris: You ever wonder why I chose you all those years ago?
The Doctor: I chose you. You were unlocked.
Idris: Of course I was. I wanted to see the universe so I stole a Time Lord and I ran away. And you were the only one mad enough.

This episode is overflowing with revelations about the TARDIS (it’s female and likes being called both ‘old girl’ and ‘sexy’). We see more of the TARDIS (well, Amy and Rory running through endlessly similar corridors while the villain, House, terrorizes them). We see other dead TARDISes (or is it TARDI ??) and revisit the Tenth Doctor’s console (Tenant’s desktop so to speak). Definitely a four star rating.

Next Episode: Rebel Flesh

A Farewell to Stargate

I may never know what happens to Destiny, or Eli, or Young, or Rush, or any of the other marooned survivors of the Icarus Project and the lone Lucian Alliance member. And I think I can live with that. Given the circumstances (the cancellation of Stargate Universe during filming of the second half of the second season), the writers, producers, directors and cast managed to give us, if not complete closure, at least a stay of execution and a glimmer of hope with last night’s ‘Gauntlet‘ – the final episode of the entire Stargate legacy (transcript available here).

Ratings update posted Tuesday evening at Gateworld: Highest since November.

The drones were kept to a minimum, thank goodness. So I’m not entirely sure what the title of the episode represents. Is it a reference to running the Blockade? Or the proposed plan to skip this galaxy, without refueling (because of the Blockade) or resupplying (again because of the Blockade) on an extended FTL jump to the next galaxy?

Everyone got a chance to return to Earth and say goodbye (quite a fete to accomplish in just 24 hours). Young will finally get some rest (definitely the running gag of this episode). And the loser in the game of musical stasis pods remembered to turn off the lights. At least, the CGI guys didn’t beat us over the head with any more cliches, having Destiny fly off into the sunset (or the closest non-Blockaded star). Rather, Destiny just faded away.

I came to the Stargate series late, when my mother asked me to record the inaugural pilot episode of Stargate Atlantis. I had seen the movie in the mid 90s (what science fiction fan hadn’t?). I became intrigued by SGA, but felt a bit out of my depth, as I had not watched SG1. At the time, Syfy actually aired science fiction programming both during the day and during prime time viewing hours, something which becomes increasingly rare as noted by the founder of Gateworld in his recent article entitled ‘How Wrestling is Killing Science Fiction‘ and sparked a response via Twitter from an executive at the Syfy channel. Anyway, SG1 was still in production so I was able to watch current new episodes and catch-up on all the previous seasons in the matter of a few weeks or months.

I admit I didn’t care for the direction SGU took two years ago, compared to the other two series. I realized quickly someone somewhere at Syfy or NBC or Universal or MGM attempted to ride the coat tails of BSG. While I enjoyed that gritty re-imagining of the squeaky clean original Battlestar Galactica, I had a bad feeling that trying that with the Stargate universe (notice the un-capitalized version of that word) would fail. And for much of the first season of SGU I remained skeptical. But the second season, and the looming cancellation, seemed to spark better writing or better performances or both.

Thus I’m left with but one weekly avenue for my science fiction television fix: Doctor Who.

For a series finale, ‘Gauntlet’ of course falls well short of the ‘wrap-up’ bar, so in that light I’d only give it three stars out of five. However, given the circumstances and hurdles overcome by the hamstrung production, I’ll fondly remember this episode with perpetual hope, four stars and a heart-felt ‘well done’ to one and all.

Last Time to Dial a Stargate in Just A Few Hours

The final episode of Stargate Universe airs this evening (8 p.m. Central on SyFy). The end of an era in science fiction television sputters to its prematurely canceled end in the episode ‘Gauntlet.’

Don’t miss this important final installment not just of this series, but of modern-day Stargate as we know it. We believe with great certainty that the franchise will be back down the road. But for now, this is the final hour for Stargate fans to enjoy.

— Darren Sumner, founder of Gateworld, (writing in his final weekly ‘heads up’ article “Tonight on SGU Gauntlet“)

I am dreading this evening. The moment I watch the episode, all hope ends for any new Stargate material, at least in the foreseeable future. Perhaps I should pickup a bottle of wine on the way home to sooth my anticipated raw nerves?

Darren penned another op-ed piece today (Wed 11 May 2011) at Gateworld you might be interested in reading. Here’s a snippet from that article:

… what is clear from the swell of support that last week’s editorial received is that Syfy has an image problem on its hands. The network has succeeded in broadening its appeal through rebranding, airing wrestling, and developing scripted dramas that are more accessible to casual viewers than traditional science fiction fare — whimsical procedurals rather than, for example, the arc-based “space opera.” But that change of image comes at a cost.

GateWorld throws down gauntlet, Syfy Channel responds

Doctor Who: The Impossible Astronaut

Just a few quick words, thoughts and questions about last night’s Doctor Who Season Six premiere ‘The Impossible Astronaut‘ (if you’re looking for a synopsis or re-cap of the episode, click on the episode name link). The Doctor, Amy, Rory and River hop across the pond to late 1960s America, unraveling (without alerting the younger doctor) the mystery surrounding the two hundred year older Doctor’s demise (yes, a bit of a spoiler but it happens within the first few minutes of the episode).

I enjoyed the nostalgic references to the space program (go NASA! to the moon and beyond!) and Nixon (as Doctor Who states ‘so much more happened in 1969 than people remember), but Moffat’s latest aliens didn’t seem as creative as his extremely creepy weeping angels (see the Hugo and BAFTA award winning episode ‘Blink‘ for further creepiness).

And it begs that question, if these aliens have the ability to make you forget them completely after you are no longer looking at them, why would one of these aliens command Amy to tell Doctor Who something? Don’t they realize she’ll forget whatever they told her as soon as she turns her head? Here’s an excerpt from Amy’s conversation with one of the aliens in a White House restroom:

Alien: You will tell the Doctor.

Amy: Tell him what?

Alien: What he must know and what he must never know.

Amy: How do you know about that?

Alien: Tell him.

After which Amy runs gasping from the restroom and immediately forgets what just happened. She did snap a photo of the alien with her cell phone, after she determined that humans forget the aliens as soon as they look away (thanks to a poor woman caught in the conversational crossfire as collateral damage). And was I the only one who that thought the electrifying moaning alien consuming said woman reminded you of Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall‘? Ew.

An intriguing above-average episode of Doctor Who (more than three, probably close to four out of five stars). I’m still having David Tennant withdrawals as I just can’t relate to a Doctor Who played by an actor born just a year before I graduated from high school. I loved having Mark Sheppard, one of my current favorite British (or is that Irish) actors who pops up on many of the shows I watch. The preview for next week’s conclusion entitled ‘Day of the Moon‘ look suitably time-twisty and action packed.

Thank goodness BBC America saved science fiction television from complete extinction. Heaven knows, I can’t count on Syfy for anything except fantasy (because what else do you call WWE or reality TV)?

SGU: Un-Common Descent

With only four episodes left for the final season (canceled after only two years and movie prospects to wrap things up appear dead), Stargate Universe returns to some more interesting territory. A couple of story arcs converge within the first few minutes of this week’s ‘Common Descent‘ episode, harking back to the mid-season opener, ‘Deliverance‘ and ‘Twin Destinies.’ Ratings Update: And this doesn’t make any sense, but viewership drops by 16 percent over last week’s episode. And just in time, straight from the presses, the transcript.

Destiny is back to falling apart, the breathable air on board needs scrubbing and dodging drones is not nearly as fun as it used to be. Thinking the dead drone might be phoning home, they jetison it, during an ongoing drone attack, destroy it and attempt a feeble launch into FTL flight. Destiny finds a couple of planets, one with a working gate, and one blocked, and Young agrees to drop out of FTL to solve the scrubber situation before everyone suffocates.

The expedition to the planet surface encounter English speaking humans who recognize members of the Destiny party. And no surprise to myself (or Eli), these humans claim to be descendants sixty or so generations removed from the current members of Destiny. And you thought the ‘future’ Destiny crew went through that unstable wormhole into oblivion? Ha!

Everyone but Rush reacted with excitement and interest in the plight of the stranded settlers. A friend of mine at GoodReads connected the dots before me, observing that since Rush remained behind on the ‘future’ Destiny, he sired no offspring (but did foster a philosophic debate of near epic, even Biblical, proportions). This reminded me that the other Rush actually achieved his (or is that their) dream and ‘married’ Destiny … so who knows what kind of offspring might crop up for Rush?

This episode had a bit of everything: some science (time travel), some action (dodging drones and their command ships), some humor (Futura is a font!), some drama (‘ancient’ keno footage from the ‘future’ Destiny survivors original settlement), a bit of mystery (how are these drones finding Destiny?), and of course some political unrest (fostered two thousand years ago by the current uncomfortable philosophical disagreement between Rush and Young which results in a highly polarized schism developing among their descendants to the point where Rush is either worshiped as a near Messiah by one half or demonized, literally, by the other).

Even though this episode ended prematurely, I thoroughly enjoyed it and for the first time this spring I’m excited and anxious to watch next week’s ‘Epilogue‘ episode. I give ‘Common Descent’ a solid four star rating out of five stars.

As the Stargate Spins Counter-Universally

Last week’s episode of Stargate Universe, Twin Destinies, left me with some hope for progress towards a more scientific storyline. Thanks to last night’s episode, Alliances, that brief sparkle came crashing down in a soap-opera-like bombshell.

The IOC (or whatever world governing body currently attempts to control Earth’s Stargates) paid a visit to Destiny through a Senator and a scientist (the one who turned down heading the Icharus project before Rush came on board) who switch with Camile Wray and Greer (kick and screaming and griping about being ordered to take R&R). Basically, Camille needs a ‘fix’ for her political intrigue addiction and the Senator needs to assess Destiny’s mission and the progress on returning the crew to Earth.

Camile and Greer haven’t had thirty seconds to acclimate themselve to an increased terrorist threat level (Leutian Alliance) on Earth before the facility is attacked. We spend the rest of that storyline on Earth with Camile and Wray an an airman trapped in an unstable building trying to get out and eventually seeking the bomb left by the Leutian Alliance kamikaze pilot. Ample opportunity for Wray and Greer to endear themselves of each other through an unproductive but oh-so-dramatic shouting match.

On board Destiny, the Senator is stirring the pot and questioning everyone’s fitness to lead and their ability to survive. The scientist is appropriately awed by Destiny but not convince of Rush’s ‘discovery’ of an intelligent being(s) existing before the birth of the Universe. He also attempts to stir the pot among Rush’s underlings.

My biggest disappointment became the introduction of yet another cowardly scientist. Once he learns his body back on Earth has been exposed to lethal doses of radiation, he sabatoges the signal of the Ancient communication stones device so he can remain in Greer’s body rather than return to certain death. At least the Senator stepped up and accepted her sacrifice for the greater good and returned willingly to her body to complete the diffusion.

And the real icing on the cake, we end the episode with Camile and Greer on the observation deck, where his emotional armor cracks and he talks about his mommy with Camille. Yes, it had emotional impact. But spare me the psychobabble and get back to the mission … any mission. We can cry about characters’ flaws and humanity on a hundred other ‘normal’ television shows about ‘normal’ Earth scenarios. This is supposed to be science fiction.

No questions were answered about last week’s time travel mysteries. We basically spun some emotional wheels in “Alliances” and stirred up the nearly dead threat of the Leutian Alliance. For a Stargate episode, I’d give this somewhere between a two or a three on a five star scale. I think I would have been less disappointed had I watched Hawaii Five-O instead.

Update from Gateworld: Lowest Ratings Yet for SGU

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