BlackGeekdom Science-Fiction from a Different Perspective

I was not going to watch this because I’m not really into horror but I decided to give it a look.   Four episodes later, I’m still watching.  Something about the show is compelling.  Watching the characters deal with what’s going on in the house draws me in.  The show follows the Harmons as they have made their move from Boston to the Los Angeles to get a fresh start after a miscarriage and Dr. Ben Harmon’s extramarital affair with a student.  The house they purchased is known locally as the “Murder House” because of all the murders that have occurred there since it has been standing.

As the weeks go by, you start to figure out who is real and who isn’t really there.  It’s interesting that the maid Moira looks like an old lady to women, but to men she’s a hot young number who can’t keep her hands off Dr. Harmon.  Dr. Harmon is treating a young man who seems to be a part of the house, but Dr. Harmon thinks he’s an actual patient.  Ben and Vivien’s daughter Violet has bonded with the young man, Tate Langdon who isn’t all that nice a person.

If you like horror stories you’ll like this show.  The subject matter in the show creeps me out just a bit.  That’s why I watch it during the day time.  Not that I’m scared, I just hate having bad dreams.

Posted under Reviews, Television

“Once Upon a Time” is a new show that premiered on ABC on Sunday night.  The show follows bail bondsman Emma Swan as she comes to a town called Storybrooke to bring the son, Henry,  that she gave up for adoption back to his adoptive family.  According to Henry, the book of fairytales that he’s carrying around actually happend and the evil Queen cursed them all to forever live in Storybrooke as regular people.  We learn that Emma Swan is the daughter of Snow White, now a teacher Mary Margaret Blanchard, played by Ginnifer Goodwin, is the only hope from freeing the characters from Storybrooke.

I thought the show was fairly entertaining and thought that some of the performances are great.  Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin and Tony Amendola as Gepetto are the highlights of the cast.  The writers would do well to keep them as involved in the story as possible.  The effects were good and I like how they flashback to before the curse and to the present time.  The only problem I think this show will have is that I don’t think it’s going to garner the ratings numbers that it will need to survive on ABC.  It’s a shame because on a channel like Syfy or USA or even a comparable show on the BBC would do well.  But a big network like ABC is going to demand to big a number.  Sunday night is a good night for the show especially since it might be able to pull some of the Desperate Housewives viewers.

I think the show is worth a look even if you aren’t into fantasy.

Posted under Reviews, Television

Last night, Fox premiered yet another science fiction show, Terra Nova.  The show has a lot going for it; the main thing is that it’s produced by Stephen Spielberg. (side note: Brannon Braga is also a producer and show runner, and I won’t count this against it)  The show starts out in 2149.  Earth is dying due to pollution and overpopulation.  Fortunately, scientist discover a rift in time leading to an alternate Earth timeline 85 million years in the past.  So, we decided to save humanity by sending qualifying humans through the rift to resettle in Terra Nova.

I can tell the producers put emphasis on the production value of the show.  There aren’t any standout stars so you know salaries are low.  Stephen Lang might be the biggest star, but he is basically reprising his fantastic character from Avatar, with a few tweaks.  I’m not going to compare the show to Avatar, because that’s not what this show is.  The set is gorgeous and the effects are nice.  What bothers me most is that they decided not to use well known dinosaurs.  Apparently, they thought it’d be more interesting to create dinosaurs “that might have existed” as opposed to ones that we know, especially due to Mr. Spielberg’s Jurassic Park movies.  I know I wasn’t the only one thinking, “I’ve never heard of that dinosaur.”  It took a little will power to not get on the internet to look up these “new” dinosaurs.

For a premiere show, I thought the story was well done.  Luckily, they did explain that it was a separate reality from the future they left, which easily dismissed the complaints that people like me who overly criticize time travel in movies and T.V. shows in a couple of lines.  A couple of the reveals in the show, which I’m not going to spoil here, were obvious and I wish that they weren’t.   My hope is that this show doesn’t turn into Lost where more questions are raised than answered, or The Event where questions are asked and answered every episode, but the story never gets developed beyond the first episode.

All in all, the show was good and worth tuning in next week.  We’ll see if it has longevity.

 

Posted under Reviews, Television

Alphas, a new show from Syfy, premieres on July 11.  For those of you who haven’t been following, like me, here’s a explanation of what Alphas are.

Alphas stars Malik Yoba, David Strathairn, Ryan Cartwright, and Azita Ghanizada.

Azita Ghanizada

Posted under Television

A set image and brief promo of Alphas, a new show from Syfy about a group of people with extraordinary powers who fight crime….Malik Yoba headlines the cast.  Hopefully this will turn out better than his previous series on ABC, Defying Gravity.

Posted under Television, Trailers

If you haven’t seen Game of Thrones, don’t read my review because it will have SPOILERS. 

Sunday night, the highly anticipated fantasy series Game of Thrones premiered on HBO.  I thought the show was great.  The acting was excellent as were  the sets.  The actors all played their roles close to the characterizations of the novels.  The ages may be off a bit.  For example, Eddard Stark, played by Sean Bean, should be in his mid-thirties.  All is forgiven because Sean Bean is fantastic as Eddard Stark.  Peter Dinklage as Tyrion was cast brilliantly. 

The little bit of CGI didn’t bother me because there probably aren’t that many walls covered in ice that they could have used for the film.  I was concerned that the incest scenes would make me uncomfortable.  However, I didn’t feel anymore uncomfortable than when I read the book.  Indeed, this is one of the few fantasy series that I’ve actually read and had hoped would get the Lord of the Rings treatment, but a television series is just as good.  The story elements they used for this first episode were so well done that I didn’t notice any of the elements that they left out.

All in all, I thought the show was fantastic and it pleases me that HBO has already decided to do a second season.  If you aren’t watching, I suggest you do so.

Posted under Books, Reviews, Television

Every week I subject myself to the mental and psychological torture that is Stargate Universe. How is it torture you might ask? Well, for one, I’m still waiting on the writers to do something original. I know that from the beginning that there were going to be comparisons to other shows, but our hope was that they would give us at least a fresh take. I’m still waiting. The show is now a mash up of Star Trek 5 The Final Frontier, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: DS9, and various other space faring television shows. Sci-fi fans are used to shows and movies borrowing, sometimes heavily, from other shows and movies. However, SGU seems to have taken this to a whole new level. Every week’s show echoes some other plot from another show or movie. My issue as far as this goes is that the writers don’t seem to take the care to at least change it up a little or add their own take on an story idea. But this isn’t a rant article. I’m going to explain why I’m still watching it despite all it’s problems.

1. I am a huge Stargate Fan. I’ve watched every episode of every series including the movies since SG1 started on Showtime before it was picked up by the then Si-Fi Channel. I love the mythology of the franchise and how they worked in Earth’s mythology. Since I have all that time invested in the franchise, I can’t find any reason to stop now no matter how redundant or bad it gets.

2. There aren’t any new shows taking place in space currently airing on television. I really like sci-fi and I’m not going to avoid the show, since it is a story about a group of people on a ship in space going somewhere. They give us aliens, space battles, and exotic planets, everything you expect from a show like this one.

3. The characters are interesting in one way or another. Col. Young is the guy you hate to hate. He seems to have every good intention, but just seems to bungle along the way. He has the air of a person who knows he doesn’t know what he’s doing and is relying on the chain of command and military might to maintain so semblance of order. Dr. Rush is the guy you hate to love. He is the only one who has common sense, but is sometimes blinded or misguided, by his own agenda. Eli….I can do without. One recent episode has Dr. Rush trying to get Eli to get it together and live up to his potential, but Eli still looks and acts like he should be somewhere playing first person shooters. How else would you explain his infatuation with the kinos? A way for him to participate in the action, without actually being there. Master Sergeant Greer is the best character. To me he is the one character who has true reactions to every situation. And it’s always good to have a character that states the obvious whether it’s good or bad.

4. The set design and effects are pretty. There is a lot of production quality put

into this show. Having the majority of show filmed on one set is probably why the production quality on the effects is so high. I really enjoy watching the show every week.  There are all the little details in the set that are quite appealing.  The effects are definitely first rate for a weekly sci-fi show.

I am not under any illusion that this show may not be cancelled. There is a possibility. I would hope not cause that would be the end of space shows on television. I do hope that the story line moves forward, right now the writers seem to be content to be stuck in regurgitating old story ideas. Let’s move the show forward and make some progress.

Posted under Articles, Television

About a week ago, HBO released a pretty awesome one minute trailer from the new series.  But this behind the scenes look makes me think HBO might have a hit on their hand.  I think the success of The Tudors contributed to HBO taking a chance on this series.  I really hope people check it out.  And again, if Sean Bean, Lena Headey and Jason Momoa  aren’t enough to get you interested, then I don’t know what is.

Posted under Interview, Television, Trailers

Last night ABC aired the first episode of the highly anticipated No Ordinary Family. The show stars Michael Chiklis (The Commish, The Shield, Fantastic Four) and Julie Benz (Angel, Dexter). The Powell family take a trip to Brazil and the plane crashes into a river filled with luminous "stuff" that wasn’t fuel, since it didn’t float on the surface. When the family returns home, they have developed powers. Here’s a summary of their powers: Jim Powell is Mr. Incredible. Stephanie Powell is Dash, JJ is a genius, and Daphne is a telepath.

As far as origin stories go for superheroes, it was pretty straight forward. Weird lights in water caused random mutations in family. Sounds an awful lot like the Fantastic Four. A family on a space ship zapped with weird lights which caused random mutations. The writers get no points for originality. I’m sure the source of the mutations, yes I’m calling them mutations (what else could they be), will be a source for future story lines and is probably going to be explained at some point.
I didn’t care for the therapy like session as an introduction to the story. It would have been better as just voice overs. Voice overs are tried and true, and couple’s therapy as a story telling device is a gimmick.

They choose five of the basic superheroes/villains to showcase: the Superman (minus the flying), the Speedster, The Mindreader, The Genius, and The Teleporter. And the obvious Master Villain is, of course, the boss of one of our heroes. When the bank robber was revealed to also have a power and saying, "you don’t think you’re the only one" to Jim Powell, I was surprised. I guess I wasn’t expecting super villains so soon. As we all know, a great superhero is defined by his or her nemesis, so I hope that whoever becomes the main antagonist, which will probably be Stephen Collins, will be a bad ass.

I liked that ABC spared no expense with the effects. Also, I’m glad a network is doing a light hearted drama. Shows with dark themes are getting old and tired.  It has been a while since there has been a good show that has action, drama and some family fun.  I enjoyed the episode.  The dialogue could be better, but that’s to be expected as the writers begin to explore the characters and the actors grow into their roles. 

Despite the obvious comparisons to other superheroes and shows of that ilk, I think this show has potential. The writers have a lot of angles they can work, the main one being how the powers affect family dynamics. I hope this show stays around.

I’ll reserve my rating for a couple of more episodes; if the show lasts that long.

Posted under Reviews, Television

Undercovers premiered with solid ratings numbers. However, solid ratings numbers for a season premiere of a new show doesn’t mean much. A writer’s strike isn’t going to kill this show like Bionic Woman, which premiered with a high ratings number as well.  Let me get the bad things out of the way.

The plot line was thin for a J.J. Abrams show.  It is hard to believe that this show came from the same person who brought us Lost, Alias, and Fringe.  He somehow managed to pull the things that people liked about the soapy Felicity and tried to insert it into Alias.  Those episodes of Alias were the worts ones where he had Sydney channeling Felicity.  Here, he takes it to another level creating a Felicity styled Alias..  He tries to capture us with an opening action sequence, but it doesn’t even involve the lead characters.  If I remember correctly, Alias began with an action sequence and a ragged Sydney Bristow walking into C.I.A. headquarters.  That may not be how it began exactly, but it was a sequence that stuck with you and hooked me into the show.  Our introduction to the lead characters in Undercovers was a catering discussion.  The setup action sequence was wasted.

Action sequences abound, but it doesn’t make up for the weak plot.  So, the C.I.A. needs to bring them back into the fold by finding a missing agent, who may or may not be selling secrets.  And we follow the Blooms, as they globe trot (but yet still manage their catering business) tracking down leads.  They went through each “locale” at a dizzying pace.  I barely had time register what was happening.  Only in the end did I realize that not only had the agent they were looking for had been undercover for 5 years, but that he somehow stole some DOD (Department of Defense) documents and was planning to kill the main bad guy by setting up a sale of those documents.  I don’t even know why he wanted the guy dead and why the agent went rogue.

What did I like about the show?  The production value was high.  I am sure they didn’t actually film in all the foreign locations, but they tried really hard to make it look like it.  I think Boris and Gugu have great chemistry and they look good together.  I like the little moments they have when you are reminded that they are married.  They were believable as a couple who had never worked together as spies before, so the viewer got an insight into the growing pains they are going to have as they explore this new aspect of their relationship.  Finally, there isn’t anything that I haven’t like Gerald McRaney in.

To sum it all up: I like the show and it’s potential.  There are some kinks that the writers need to work out.  I think the second episode will tell us a lot more about how the show is going to play.  NBC isn’t known for sticking with shows that underperform, so let’s hope the ratings stay solid.

Posted under Reviews, Television