Bionic Woman

Speaking of TV show remakes... I just watched the Bionic Woman pilot again (they reran it on SciFi this evening). The following are my first and second impressions, and spoilers for the pilot... so if you haven't seen it yet, you may want to refrain from reading further.



The Bionic Woman pilot episode is available to view in full at it's NBC hosted website. Pretty good web video quality too!

So, I was just as grumbly and skeptical about the whole prospect of yet another remake, and especially of the Jamie Sommers story, as pretty much anybody else I heard who had an opinion about it. I was quite young when the original series aired, but thanks to my parents who were relatively sci-fi saavy, I was exposed to that and the $6000k Man. Frankly I didn't really care for either. Both freaked me out, especially whenever someone would remove a human face to reveal a cyborg skull. I guess I was too young.

But aside from all the traumatic memories, the idea of a Bionic Woman remake just seemed ridiculous. I was prepared to hate it, but I knew I had to watch since my new favorite actress/girl crush/uber idol - Katee Sackhoff of BSG, was to play the new incarnation of a fem-bot villainess.

In a sense I was torn, feeling like I just had to watch something I knew I wouldn't like.

I was very pleasantly surprised, and it wasn't just by Katee's performance. In fact, my own jury is still out on how I feel about Sarah Corvus (Sackhoff). On the one hand, I would almost say that performance was a little wooden and overconfident. But that's exactly what Sarah Corvus seems to be; a regenerated bionic with a grudge who doesn't even remember what it is to be human. When I remember that, Katee Sackhoff's performance fits to a tee, and she kicks some major ass too.

Sure it all gets a little cliche and predictable, but the story moves at a good pace and the drama is good. To me, sci-fi is working when even though you're conscious of the unbelievable, you still continue to watch with interest. Bionic Woman did that for me, although I'll admit I'm not counting the minutes of each day and week until the next episode as I do for Battlestar Galactica, or secondarily Heroes.

Kara... I mean Katee certainly turned out some memorable one-liners. Yep. Still love seeing Katee in action. It's kind of funny though... she's really starting to remind me of BSG's Number 6!


And then there was Jamie Sommers. I had never heard of Michelle Ryan before. At first glance she seemed a little Plain Jane, but now that I've seen it, she seems tailor made for the part. This is where I was very pleasantly surprised. I don't remember any story specifics from the original series, so perhaps starting with a relatively clean slate was to my advantage, save for my bias.

As for the rest of the characters, I'll wait on forming opinions until further episodes.

In general, the pilot formed all the necessary questions yet to be answered and certainly to be replaced with new questions - enough to get me coming back to follow the story. Well, of course one of the other laws of attraction in effect for me are the appearances of four-and-counting Battlestar actors: Aaron Douglas, Mark Sheppard, Katee Sackhoff, and one very brief cameo by Jammer (RIP) as a heli-vac EMT, who we probably won't ever see again.

Having David Eick producing must have something to do with it too (I had to wonder if Eick pulled some of his BSG cast right off the set for last minute Bionic fill-ins). Eick has added his modern TV drama touch, which not unlike BSG is dark and gritty, almost bordering on black and white film noir (it's certainly a stark opposite of the 80's version's blazing techno-color brightness) . The less than cheerful human element is similar too, and you can bet that in following the series you will be forced to continually evaluate your feelings on who is really "evil". Sarah Corvut has obviously been done wrong, and is even a helping hand in Jamie's coming to terms with her bionic-ness. Jamie's mad scientist boyfriend only wanted her to live, and now perhaps he has paid the ultimate price, for taking advantage of his powers as well as for his involvement in Sarah's assassination. Then there's Romo... or Will's father. He was obviously involved with the lab, but somehow ended up in uber-maximum security, only to be set free after holding Chief's wife hostage. Did he have a hand in bringing Sarah back? Does he want his own son dead?

I guess we'll see next week, and I usually have Wednesday nights free, so this show is a go for me... until I potentially get totally bored with it :)

Dang, I haven't even reviewed the Heroes season 2 premiere yet. That's coming as soon as I watch it one more time. Gotta love NBC shows and the full episodes being posted right after on the website. Sorry for all you folks who live outside the US since you probably won't be able to view the epsodes on the web.

And Kaylee is on Stargate Atlantis season 4 right now!!!!

Because we need more TV show remakes...

NBC is planning a late season pilot for that 80's fave Knight Rider. Why? Because we haven't done a remake of every show yet. Sorry though fangirls, I don't think The Hoff will be on this time around. They'll have to upgrade KITT too I would suppose. A Hum-V perhaps? Some of the Transformers masterminds are developing the show with an Autobot v Decepticon edge to it.



I just wanna know... once we've remade them all, then what do we do?



We'll have the Hoff-bot rescue us. That's what we'll do.

Comics News - JJ Miller does Indy IV and Vector

A few weeks ago I posted over at my starwars.com blog about the forthcoming new Star Wars title Vector, and that it was going to be developed by JJ Miller (of KOTOR) and John Ostrander.

Check out JJM's own blog for upcoming news on Vector, as well as over at Dark Horse.

Speaking of JJM, and Dark Horse, and Indy (okay we weren't speaking about Indy before)... Miller will also be developing the comic series for Indy IV. Very exciting. It's only in the agreement stage right now, so there isn't any info or details beyond that. Of course, it will be a Dark Horse publication.

And now really speaking of Indy... Dark Horse will be reprinting to omnibus all the rare out of print Indy comics from the days of yore! Volume 1 comes out next February, and since it's an omnibus edition.... hopefully we can expect the cover art to be included! *crosses fingers*

Great job JJM and Dark Horse!

Playstation 3 chronicles

"What have I done?"

Ahhh. I finally did it. I bit the bullet, got a little more in debt, and got the swanky Playstation 3. The 60G went down in price, and I finally decided that this was to be my high-def source for Blu-ray as well as an annoyingly sleek distraction from my already overloaded daily schedule. I needed something to pull me away from the internet tho. Rats. It's got internet connectivity. Ah, well. The PS3 web abilities suck anyway. It took about 2 hours to download a small Genji demo, and the frakking demo lasted all of 2 minutes of actual play time. X-Box still has the online/interactive thing nailed, way more than PS3. Now I'm watching the X-Box 360 Elite for a price drop. Maybe around the holidays? We'll see. For now, I'll be in my bunk... NOT playing Halo, but awaiting The Force Unleashed, and Lego Star Wars Saga Edition.

Then of course I'll need a Wii to get the awesome lightsaber motion action for TFU. I'm not sure though... if the lightsaber motion only works for two player mode when they are playing each other.

I get a fancy Blu-ray DVD rebate though. Trying to decide between: Corpse Bride or Blazing Saddles (CB should be well more worth it on Blu-ray, even if I only have 720p right now), Resident Evil 2 or Underworld Evolution (both equally cheesy in their own genre IMO), and Kiss of the Dragon or Transporter 2 (Big Jet Li fan here, but I already own KOTD on standard DVD. The Transporter flicks are fun and all, but not necessarily something that needs to be seen in high-def).

Hmmmm. Anyone have any opinions?

An elegant clock for a more civilized time

Star Wars clocks are now updated for the 21st century... check out the new Vader clock with all sorts of pretty lights and stuff. If you have a hard time rolling over to check the time, say because your body is charred from a dive into the lava pit after a long drawn out duel with your best friend... then the time is projected on the ceiling in Sithy red. For your convenience :D


Thanx Gizmodo

Double Star Wars whammy!

Sure, there's always something going on in Star Wars news, but a few recent news items are of particular interest... at least to me.


Interviews with George Lucas: Clone Wars and Star Wars TV

Posted on TV Guide.com yesterday, September 18, 2007, this interview with George has some Indy IV news tidbits, Fog City Mavericks stuff, and promises a continuing interview with the Maker for Thursday (yeay!):

George Lucas shares an in-depth update on the two upcoming Star Wars TV series and laments the loss of one of his favorite TV programs.

Details from the rest of the interview are already out (see video at end of this post). Due to air by the fall of 2008, The Clone Wars series already has 40 completed episodes, but because of its adult content and action the show still doesn't have a network behind it. Lucas says "Clone Wars has to air after 9pm and it can't be on a kids channel".

Script writing for the live action show will begin next month (still planned to air by fall 2009 supposedly). We'll be seeing stormtroopers but no Jedi, as well as little or no Vader and Sid.

BUT - Word has been scrambling around the web that Disney was picking up the Clone Wars scent: The Mouse Courts George Lucas - Looks like the adult content may not make the Disney cut though. *fans self*

The Force Unleashed

Remember the hype a few months ago about that nagging issue of when we were gonna get a lightsaber game for the Wii? Well, Lucasfilm teased us with word that they were thinking about it, and they themselves have already played it. Hmph! Turns out, it was for Force Unleashed! The PC gamers are a little miffed that there is no word on a release for that platform. Maybe with news of the new rumble PS3 remote, they'll make saber wand remotes just for this game! Pweeze? Either that, or I'll have to break down and try and get a Wii :(

Weird. At the time of writing this entry, I have G4's X-Play on in the background (way to multi-task!) and they just now came on with their special all Star Wars tribute episode featuring Morgan in Jedi robes and Adam as Lando with a battalion of stormies, and a talk with Hayden Blackman - project leader for TFU. Yep... KOTOR is still the best ever. That is, until TFU rears it's ugly head. If I find a video cast of this X-Play episode, I'll be posting it! It's a rerun from march '07, and you can see a lot of the video clips if you go to the site and surf for Star Wars video.

Ah - check out the G4 news from The Feed below for a report on most of the above mentioned news by the lovely Kristin Holt - includes word about the new Mass Effect game too (Star Wars relevance = Drew Karpyshyn of KOTOR and Darth Bane fame is a lead writer for BioWare and the Mass Effect game)



And speaking of Drew K, here's a nice little update from the man himself about progress on the Bane sequel, tentatively titled "Rule of Two", to be released this December... we hope :)

All ye talk like a pirate day it tis. ArrrrRRR

This is it. The one day when you're supposed to talk like a pirate. I don't know why it's just today, since in my ye olde scroll o piratology it's okay to talk like a pirate every day!

Supposedly, these guys started it all, and surely on that blimey site tells all ye wanna know about talking like a pirate mateys.

That's about all I got, except a good excuse to post a pic of Jack. Can we make a Jack Sparrow appreciation day too?


If that's not enough excitement for TLAPD, we could always go gaga about the Oct. 23rd pre-order date for Pirates of the Burning Sea.

Heroes gaga!

The trailers and previews are a flyin!

Newest season 2 preview:

And some other new-ish season 2 trailers(alotta this is a little repetitive):


From Canadian TV:


NBC Primetime Preview:


Yet another slightly different version:


Promo trailer:


Shaky footage of what was shown at Comic Con *cheers*


Generations preview (aired during season 1 finale):

Online Videos by Veoh.com

A pretty cool season 1 recap mixed with season 2 previews:


Aired during summer reruns of season 1:


... and an ET peek:


Heroes Unmasked

A series aired on BBC

Episode 1: A New Dawn:


For the remaining Heroes Unmasked video (up to Episode 7 so far), click here :D

Blade Runner, Blade Runner, Blade Runner, and sci-fi cinema is ded

This past weekend, the highly anticipated "Final Cut" of the 25 year old epic Blade Runner, made it's big screen debut at the Venice Film Festival. The reviews and chatter are still rolling in, but most of what I've found so far reports that Final Cut is even darker, and we're still not sure if Deckard dreams of electric sheep.

A hearty thank you to the UK Times Online for following Blade Runner in Venice, while most of the other mainstream news outlets seemed to brush it aside:

Blade Runner: The Final Cut - Sept. 3, 2007

At last, a Blade to run with: Ridley Scott is happy with Blade Runner: The Final Cut. So is our chief film critic - Sept. 6, 2007

Perhaps there was less Venician hyperbola about the new version of Blade Runner because it is not a brand new premiere, but maybe it has to do with something that Ridley Scott commented on during the festival: that "sci-fi cinema is dead":

Ridley Scott at the Venice Film Festival: "Sci-Fi Cinema is Dead" - Cinematical, Sept. 4, 2007

Maybe so, but with every death something new is born. What that is we will have to see. I don't think mini and mobil technology is necessarily "it", as Scott blames for filmmaking woes, but at least sci-fi can go back to the underground only to resurge a bigger and badder monster.

Here's the Venice announcement of BRTFC as the Midnight Surprise sceening.

"I've seen things"

... anyhew! I'm still eagerly awaiting any possible theatrical run of BRTFC, and of course the coming mega-DVD release this December. In honor of this Blade madness, I'm laying down some linkage...

First and foremost is the most important, although totally commersh. The new official Blade Runner: The Final Cut website. Its sleek and shiny and has some nice clippage, including from some of the documentary we'll be seeing on the DVD.

"A new life awaits you, in the off-world colonies. The chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure"

Although not an official site, The Blade Zone ought to at least be considered the official fan site. very cool info in there, so check it out and join the fandom! Make sure to link through to these instructions to build a cutout spinner - too awesome.

There's also BR.com :)

Wanna know everything there is to know about anything related to Blade Runner? Somehow, I found this archive list of articles online, some scholarly, some maybe not so much.

Bah - There's tons more out there. I better post this before Blogger pulls that outage on me mid-post.

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Looks like Steven and George are buffing up Castle Grayskull for Indy IV. It's official now - The title is Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I was impartial to "The Lost City of Gold", or perhaps they would have been willing to consider my own title - "Indiana Jones and the Squirrel that Regurgitated the City of Atlantis"...

Then again, maybe there's a reason I don't have that job.

And Shia was acting all sneaky like he spilled the beans at the VMAs today. Watching Brittany made me wanna spill the beans... that I had for dinner.

starwars.com blog reports

Yamagato Fellowship and the Legend of Takezo Kensei

Another fandom, another day...

Check out the Yamagato Fellowship site and it's video section where it is two chapters in on a mockumentary about Takezo Kensei. Chapter 3 airs on Sept. 10 (on the site). Don't forget to view the video message on the home page from YF founder Kaito Nakamura :p

The "legend" of Takezo Kensei unfolds to us just as the second season of Heroes arrives. So far we know that Takezo had long struggled against the warlord "White Beard" in a series of brutal battles. Hmmm... sounds just about like where Hiro landed at the very end of season 1 ;)

2007 Browncoat Ball

The Browncoats are coming! Well, to Philadelphia, which I am nowhere near.

Anyway, who ever said I never report on Firefly stuff, eh? Nobody I guess, but the fans of Firefly who call themselves Browncoats are keeping the spirit alive of both their fandom and the greater community. The third ever Browncoat Ball is brought to us by the Pennsylvania Browncoats, and it's lookin' to be something purty speshul. The event will take place September 28-30, 2007 and registration ends September 15th.

2007 Philly Browncoat Ball home page

The Browncoat Ball tradition started in 2004, thanks to the efforts of the Chicagoland Browncoats, who also helped spawn the more organized network of Firefly fans through an ever growing membership in Yahoo Groups (that old thing still exists?). These fans have raised thousands of dollars under the banner of Can't Stop the Signal by hosting local screenings of Serenity to raise money for charity. And they are all so very pretty to boot ;)

Now if that's not a cool fandom, I don't know what is. The Browncoat Ball sounds like a blast, but alas, it's a little too far from home... except I know a few people down there I wouldn't mind dragging along with me. :D

For now... I'll be in my bunk.


... with Vera :D

An hour with George and Charlie

Could there be anything better? This was pointed to by Club Jade, which was apparently pointed to by Stooge - so thanks guys! I seem to remember finding this when Charlie Rose episodes were on Google video, but with a fee for the full episode. So thanks to youtube too, and to Google for owning youtube, and to The Charlie Rose show for making these accessible for free :)