igp-scifi

Absolutely loved the Dollhouse this week. There was a lot of reveals which adds to the mystery of the Dollhouse. What i really liked though was that there wasn’t the “what the frak?” moments like on BSG or Lost. The reveals, while surprsing, felt organic to the story rather than put in there specifically as a twsit. I’m definitely enjoying Joss Whedon’s latest vehicle. For those interested in getting a recap of this and other past Dollhouse episodes, check out IGP

Meanwhile in other news, the magazine that was Starlog is no more, at least not in magazine form. Apparently the magazine has chosen to become web only to keep up with competition from the internet and i’m sure in part due to the failing economy. I’m a little sad. Though it wasn’t one of my favourite scifi magazines, I prefer SFX, it was one of the first science fiction magazine that I read as a kid. Of course, with Starlog “bringing it” to the web, we at IGP will have to be working extra hard to get people over to our little site.

Dave Arneson passed away today after losing his battle with cancer. Arneson co-created the gaming hit Dungeons & Dragons and was also heavily involved with computer gaming.

Those of you who are Inter-Galaxy Portal readers will know that Webmonkey Rob spent 20 years in the military and I love Honor Harrington books. It is because of that that we get increasingly frustrated with each and every new (or repeated) military infractions on this show. Needing a way to channel our energies we came up with the idea of a hotlist of infractions the show has made. Shoving a gun in somebody’s face (this happens every other episode), frakking a prisoner… you name it, this show’s dubious military seems to have done it. Also while you’re at the website, check out our reviews for both Dollhouse and BSG. Dollhouse i’m reserving judgement on until next week when we have a promised return to regular Whedon programming… meanwhile Galactica’s indulgent 3-part finale is playing out more like Peter Jackson’s multiple part farewell scene that seemed to take up the last quarter of Return of the King.  Given that Dollhouse’s episode 6 is next week, along with the two parts of Galactica’s finale, next week should be an interesting one for fans.

We’re baaaaccckkk… Our apologies for not being around of late. That ahs more to do with being busy working on the Inter-Galaxy Portal website and trying to keep track of all the exciting things going on in science fiction these days. If you haven’t been to IGP of late, you will find that we have our third part in our top 100 science fiction and fantasy novels series, “Dystopic Novels” for you to peruse.

In addition of late, we’ve been gearing up to put out some wonderful Battlestar Galactica pieces before that show finishes. And speaking of Battlestar Galactica, we are now 3 episodes away from the end. Last Friday’s episode titled Islanded in a Stream of Stars was somewhat disappointing though. With so much having gone on in the previous episode I really had hoped for more, especially for being so close to the end. My feeling it that this episode is supposed to gear us up for the three-part finale, but with all the loose ends they’ve left, well, loose, the writers are going to have their work cut out for them, trying to keep tie everything up.

Friday’s episode of Dollhouse titled Grey Hour was relatively interesting, but I’m ready to see a change in the way the stories are told. It had a good twist, but it’s about time the show start laying some real groundwork. I still have no idea why I should care for Agent Ballard. What drives him? How did he get involved in this case? And Echo as a midwife in the mountains? Why would you want a doll for that? According to Dushku herself, things will start ratcheting up come episode 6, which I really can’t wait for. I love Joss Whedon but its hard  knowing that the show could be so much better than it is!

And finally, our scifi weekend was rounded out by a trip to the movies to see Watchmen. You can read the full review here over at IGP. Personally, i’m not sure what the critics are talking about, This movie is excellent! And i’m not a big Snyder/300 fan. I’m not a big Watchmen fan either. I read it this week and though interesting, I find it to be a very bloated work (not unlike Moby Dick or LOTR). But it translates to the screen extremely well. Did I have my problems with it? Of course (not so much the controversial ending, but how it reflects on Veidt- he comes across as more of a villain) but if you’re gonna see it, see in the theatre!

Okay, so yesterday I called out the creators of Lost on some of the absurdities we’re seeing this season (namely the young Rousseu). Today I want to call out J.J. Abrams regarding Star Trek. I guess I’ve been re-reading my Honor Harrington books, and its caused me to wonder about the upcoming movie. My biggest problem is the whole rank thing. Yep, it’s been pretty screwy from the beginning. I mean seriously, just how many commands did Riker turn down? But what rank are they supposed to be? I understand that Kirk isn’t Captain, and he sneaks aboard the
Enterprise and Pike is commanding. But what about the others? Spock’s a science officer, and McCoy’s the chief medical officer. Are they that rank in the movie? Because Honor Harrington had at least 6 different posts before she even became Executive Officer, much less Commander. So are they all lowly ensigns, which would make sense since they just got out of the academy? And if so, then what exactly are they doing in the movie? Because we all know that in Star Trek, the command crew is the ones that do everything. Unless of course the movie goes all Space Camp and they have to take control of the
Enterprise. Just wondering is all…

I’m assuming that most of my Inter-Galaxy Portal readers have been following Lost lately. Have any of you guys noticed just how absurd Sayid’s fight scenes are getting? In one episode he had the dishwasher with knives stacked point up (who does that?!) so that his aggressor could conveniently fall down on the knives and be taken out. So either he normally sticks knives that way, which isn’t very safe, or he prepared that in advance, just in case an aggressor would conveniently land in his dishwasher. Then in the last episode, the nurse spins around with a gun and doesn’t see Sayid who’s crouching just a couple of feet to the right. Seriously? There’s no way he would’ve not seen Sayid hiding there unless he had a serious case of tunnel vision. I’m also very perplexed about this whole Rousseu business. If she’s pregnant, Jin can’t have travelled more than 16 years back in time. I think most science fiction fans are more than familiar with what Mira Furlan looked like 16 years ago since she was starring in Babylon 5 16 years ago. (This pic is Furlan just 13 years ago). And she didn’t look like the baby-faced actress they used in that scene. For that matter, the actress didn’t even have the same facial shape as Furlan. So…. Either these Rousseau’s aren’t really the same person, or this was a hopeless attempt at the Lost writers trying to keep audiences in the dark… again.

V is coming back on the air. Normally, I’d rejoice for this. I’ve been a V fan since the first time it aired in
Britain, when I was just a little kid hiding behind the couch when the visitors lizard-face is revealed. However, this isn’t the V of old. In fact, V creator Kenneth Johnson will have nothing to do with this show. Instead, V has been reinvented by 4400 creator Scott Peters, and the results, from what little I’ve heard about it… sounds a little like a cross between V and The 4400. A few months ago, I reported on IGP when I first heard inklings about this new version of V. Now the Hollywood Reporter claims that V is one of two pilots ABC has picked up. By the way, for those keeping up… ABC are the ones making the awful
US version of Life on Mars. Could this get any worse? Well, luckily, Kenneth Johnson still retains motion picture rights to V and states on his website that “This does not affect Kenny’s ongoing effort to remake his original classic as a motion picture.” That’s good news at least. On a side note, I’ve worked as an extra for ABC before, would it be hypocritical of me to get excited if I got to wear a visitor uniform?

The list of nominations for the upcoming Academy Awards has been released and Dark Knight fans will be thrilled to see that Heath ledger was nominated for a best supporting actor oscar for his role as The Joker. Unless I’m mistaken, Dark Knight is nominated in eight different categories, although sadly, none but Ledger’s is the “top” awards. I was also amused to see Robert Downy Jr. nominated for his role as the white guy playing a black guy in the comedy Tropic Thunder. Not a sci-fi movie, but definitely an enjoyable movie, especially for action buffs. WALL-E seems to be doing pretty well with the oscar buzz too.

Last year it seemed like we were losing a bunch of the great sci-fi authors. Now it feels like a whole lot of iconic sci-fi actors are passing away too. Last week we lost both Patrick McGoohan and Ricardo Montalban, then yesterday the genre lost actor Bob May. May was of course well known as the actor that did the physical characterization for The Robot in Lost in Space. May was a supportive of the fan community and could be found at local conventions signing autographs. He will be missed. For more information, check out IGP’s Bob May: The Man behind the Curtain

Battlestar Galactica fans may have been quite shocked about halfway through yesterday’s episode. I know I was! For all those fans, you should go check out Scifi Wire, they have an interview with Kandyse McClure AKA Dualla which is definitely worth checking out. Also, be sure to visit youtube and check out the worst timing for a commercial clip. Suddenly, I’m not so keen on tomato soup. I should, however, add that if you have not already seen yesterday’s episode but intend on watching it, wait until you’ve seen it, to watch the clip. Just trust me on this one!