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.

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.

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.

While the Obama family wind down their vacation in
Kailua, the news have picked up on the latest hot item regarding president-elect Obama: Is he a geek? According to an Associated Press article he may not only be a geek but also a Trekker.  Being a Brit, this matters little to me. After all, when Tony Blair was elected Prime Minister the newspapers touted reports that he was a Trekker, and, well, he didn’t exactly do such a bang up job with New Labour as we had all hoped. So I’m not exactly rejoicing at the fact that he’s a geek as much as other fan-boy and girls are doing. But still, it’s a funny article, particularly regarding the very clear differences between geeks, nerds and dorks.

For those tired of the same old Christmas specials on television right now (not to mention 24 hours of A Christmas Story. Do we really need 24 hours of it?), I have two recommendations for you. You can watch the Star Wars Holiday Special online, or, spare yourself those two hours and read Team Portal’s rundown of the train wreck that was the Holiday Special. Or, zip on over to MSN video to watch The Guild’s Christmas special featuring a very interesting reinterpretation of Twas the Night before Christmas. It’s very fun! While you’re there, be sure to check out the latest episode of The Guild season 2, plus a gag reel.

I am IGPNicki, editor of the Inter-Galaxy Portal. For those of you that don’t know, IGP is a science fiction and fantasy news site. We feature all the latest news and reviews from the other side of the ‘verse. Speaking of news, for those wanting to make their New Year’s resolution to go to mroe conventions, please check out our recently updated January 2009 Conventions list for the latest convention news. Some major conventions coming up are Chattacon 34 which features one of my favourite authors, Honor Harrington creator David Weber. Or, if you happen to be on the west coast, be sure to check out Phoenic Comicon whose guests include artist Jo Chen and TNG actor Brent Spiner. And of course, if you do happen to check out any of these conventions, please drop me a line to let me know how it went!