Exiled on the Tube – Highlights

What happened on TV this week….

Well the word from Michael Ausiello is that ‘Dollhouse is axed“… And word elsewhere says Fringe may not be too far behind

also Ausiello is reporting a Smallville movie event… Actually it just sounds like they are just gonna air two related episodes back to back,  the bonus is its the SOCIETY and  LEGENDS episodes penned by comic book scribe Geoff Johns.

V, ABC’s alien invasion remake ratings were of 29% from their 14million premiere, but as the press release says V  still beat Fox and NBC

BBC America announced it will air Doctor Who, the Waters of Mars, the 2nd of the 4 2009 Doctor Who specials on Saturday December 19th.  (It airs this weekend on th BBC in the UK)… on a side note, I was  geeked to see BBC America advertising Doctor Who on Saturdays this  December in major comic books released this week.

Chicago Tribune TV critic Maureen Ryan slammed  Stargate:Universe – the dark, moody (and in my opinion better than SG:Atlantis. ) in her positive review of  V.

In slightly older, but Chuck-tastic news,  NBC has already order an additional 6 episodes for season 3, (bringing the total to 19 so far for 2010)  Also it is rumored that NBC will move up the series return to TV to January (instead of March)

Chuck is also pretty famous for it’s use of Geek friendly guest star casting, and this season certainly aims to keep the tradition alive,  as both Superman (Brandon Routh, from Superman Returns)  and Lana Lang (Kristen Kruek of Smallville fame) have signed on for multiple episodes.  A Batman also pops in (Diedrich Bader, from Cartoon Network’s Batman, the Brave and the Bold, and the Drew Carey show). Also an X-Man (Vinnie Jones, the Juggernaut from  X-Men: The Last Stand) and a Terminator, (Robert Patrick also of X-Files fame) will be visiting the Buy More.

Who Watches the Watchmen

For nearly 3 hours I sat, in the dark, with this beautiful woman, a woman I waited years to be with… and then she proceeded to give me a hand job, a hand job that, while technically proficient failed utterly at its true purpose, and failed in giving the intended conclusion.

No Happy Ending

I just described my experience with the film “WATCHMEN”. It was gorgeous to look at, and in the end had little heart in what it was doing. That is not to say there weren’t moments I enjoyed, it just didn’t truly fulfill on its intentions or promises.

What did I like…

James Earl Ray as Roarshach – given the most to act in this movie, he did really embrace the character. He was quite convincing as the hero turned psychopath – and his story, more than anyone else’s survived the transition to the screen with minimal disruption, though I missed the details of his origin and his connection to the true story of Kitty Genovese. More importantly also missing was his discovery of his “face”, finding the fabric…

Jeffery Dean Morgan – as the Comedian – I think his task was far more daunting, to play this truly despicable person, and make him someone we have to care about. It was uneven at times, which I actually blame on David Hayter’s screenplay, which almost slavishly followed the letter of the graphic novel on which it based, but some how missing the heart.

Visual/Art Direction… Much like his previous comic adaption (300) Zack Snyder again took his cues directly from the source material, recreating several key images from David Gibbons original artwork. The fight choreography, particularly in the brutal
prison riot, was a ballet in carnage,p and the final showdown was a sublime as it was savage. But what Mr. Snyder has in technical skill, he lacks in subtly. The images in the original graphic novel had to be so striking, because they didn’t move. Each frame has to do the job of hundreds of individual movie frames. But when moving, and 60 feet wide on the screen, the come off over the top and cartoony.

What I didn’t like..

Pretty much the rest of the movie. This is not to say I thought the actors were bad, just poorly cast, and not given all the colors their characters had in the comic. (well except maybe Matthew Good as Ozymandias, he just seemed so blah, but then his back story was the one least explored, who knows what may lie on the cutting room floor and that we will see in the directors cut DVD someday)

The screenplay, was clearly written by someone with a great admiration for the book, only changing what had to be for time constraints and clarifiction, even the major plot change in the final act works, and makes sense, and I didn’t have any great sense of “how could they have changed..” this or that, even the alteration of the ending didn’t bother me, I almost wished that he had taken a little more liberty. Cause I think more of the heart of the story could have been served. But this movie was beng made by people who were well aware of Alan Moore’s (the writer of the original comic) feeling about adaptation of his work, and Hollywood’s poor track record. (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, anyone?)

Some stories are just intended for their medium. Alan Moore created a dense, complex world in an alternate reality, he used parallel story telling, and supplemented his story with additional character pieces, news reports, all done in different styles reflect the 40+ years of history and these segments do not necessarily translate all translate well (though the tv interview Wally Weaver was successful, and I enjoyed the inclusion of stories from Hollis’ book “Under the Hood”.

Was anyone else bothered by the vamped up attention given to the Silhoutte lesbian story, but complete ignoring the gay relationship between Captain Metropolis and Hooded Justice?

The thing is, there was plenty in this movie to like, but sadly it was not greater than the sum of its parts, which is something that a great story is. After all that, I do recommend seeing this movie, if only to see how great it could have been. Also to deliver to the studios the message that we want movies that take these kind of chances, and hopefully someone who has never picked up a comic book in their lives went to see this movie, and was intrigued enough by it to go and track down a copy of the graphic novel, and see what it really was all about.

Geeksville! – Spring Arrivals – Doctor Who! Battlestar Galactica!

So the Geek has been gone – read the blog for the story – I don’t want to get into that now – Lets talk about the Arrival of Spring and what it brings with it, warm weather, baseball, women in central park wearing sun dresses and the new seasons of Doctor Who and Battlestar Galactica!

First up- DOCTOR WHO – SERIES 4 He’s back again, the Last of the Time Lords, and his new season begins with a rip roaring extended adventure. once again on Christmas Day, though this time most of the story takes place above Earth, and not on it, on the Max Capricon Cruise Lines, Space Luxury Liner Titanic visiting Earth to observe primitive culture. What comes about tho – is more Posiden Adventure than Titanic, as the ship is damaged in a meteor shower and is hurtling towards London. The Doctor must lead a motley group of survivors through the ship and restart the ships Nuclear Storm drive before it hits the planet below and the resulting wiping out all life on Earth. What I love most about Doctor Who is its a show that never takes its self too seriously. It knows its fun, and David Tennant as the Doctor is the epitome of fun. Never have I seen an actor just happy to be part of something.

Doctor Who is a show that has had to continually re-invent itself over its 45 years. Sometimes its a action adventure, sometimes its science fiction, sometimes its camp fantasy, but it is always true to its internal nature. It is the story every little boy wants to be – Peter Pan and his adventures in Neverland, with his Wendy in tow. This time the role of companion is filled by cruise ship waitress Astrid Pith, played by the vivacious Kylie Minogue. Her performance will not replace the memory of Rose for those Whoshippers out there, but she does give some great moments. Those of you who are fans of the Britcoms you see on PBS, you will see some familiar faces as well. Douglas Adams’ fans will also see nods to various works by the late brillant writer.

This episode airs tonight on SCIFI, as the Doctor Who Season Premeire, but it actually was a holiday special airring on Christmas Day last year, while the 4th season proper just began on April 5th on the BBC, and will begin next week on SCIFI. When the Doctor says “Allons-y!” you will gladly follow where he leads. One thing we did not get to see in America is DOCTOR WHO:TIME CRASH – A 8 minute special that appeared on the “Children in Need” a full day telethon on the BBC that helps raise money for, well, children in need, sick kids in hopsital. This short is shoehorned in between last years final moments and before the Titanic actually hits the TARDIS – and it does something I never thought I would see in this new series, but something I was very excited to see – I found it on youtube, and put here below for you.

On the other end of the SCIFI universe we finally rejoin the rag tag fugitive fleet of Battlestar Galactica as they begin their 4th and final season and continue their search for Earth. Its been a while since BSG has had a new episode, not quite sure what was going on at the end of season 3 – then take the next 8 minutes to remind yourself “What the frak is going on?”

All caught up? Good. Season 4 began on April 4, and after 2 epsiodes I realized I love this show for the exact opposite reason I love Doctor Who. This is a show that takes itself very seriously, but does so with out being preachy, It just tells a good story, and does it very well on every level, writing, directing, acting, this show has been consistantly one of the most challenging dramas on TV. Morally ambiguous, real people inhabit the Galactica. Even the artifical lifeform Cylons are more real than 85% of the characters on network drama. The talented actors who play the 7 models of Cylon often find themselves having to play multiple versions of themselves – In particular, the number 8’s Sharons and the especially the number 6’s make you believe they are really different people. And we now have met 4 of the final 5 (have we? have we really?) What do they have to do with the Temple of the 5 of ancient Colonial religion? What is going on with Baltar? Has he found his calling, becoming the prophet of the Cylon God? Given healing abilities? I don’t know. But I can’t wait to find out!

The Secret Diary of a Call Girl – a review

No, I have not started a a new career. Nor is it the story of my search for a social life either, wise guys

It’s a new show from England that I have found online. It chronicles the story of Belle, a young escort working in London. From the ITV website,

It’s the sexually explicit story of a beautiful prostitute who leads the ultimate double life.

To her parents she’s Hannah, the legal secretary. Hannah has a responsible job that involves working lots of unsocial hours in the evening. Hannah has her own set of clothes and her own friends. Even her closest pal has no idea about her working life.

To her clients Belle is…whatever they want her to be. She can be the quiet girl-next-door. Or she can be the high-heeled dominatrix who whips them into submission. Her mission is to make money by satisfying male fantasies.

As she tells us in the first episode: “Work out what the client wants as fast as you can and give it to him.”

The show is based a memoir of a real London call girl. I have seen the first three episodes so far, and its a fun, sexy, dangerous look at the life of sex for a £1500 a night “working woman” in the city. She is no ordinary “pretty woman” working the street corner – she is a consuminate professional. If she is to be believed, she does what she does, simply because she can.

Belle/Hannah narrates her own story directly to audience, breaking the forth wall in scene to inform the viewer of her thoughts or of some important piece of information they need to know. She explains why she does what she does while getting ready for a new client. She tells us she could do anything if she wanted to, but she does what she does because she’s “lazy”, and she loves sex.

The real appeal of the show is Billie Piper, the former Birtish Pop Star who’s become famous for her role as Rose, in the first two seasons of the new Doctor Who series, opposite both Christopher Eccelston, and David Tennant. Billie plays Belle/Hannah, living her double life. She is the proverbial girl next door, blonde, sweet and sexy, everything that made Rose such a fan favorite to millions of kids and their fathers watchin Doctor Who. Only here she gets naked and performs oral sex while putting a condom on her client.

The sex scenes are very frank but it is by no means sordid. There is no romatinizing that part, but neither is Belle apologetic for it. Its all business. As she is working a an all night GFE for one of her oldest customers (the man who was her first, professionally anyway, actually she informs us) she sneaks off for a drink while he sleeps post coitally. While in the bar she manages to find another John. She admits, to herself as well as to the audience, that she was always a horrible girlfriend, its all exciting at first, but she eventually gets bored and sleeps with someone else.

The show is not for the timid, but if you enjoy the HBO or Showtime originals, you may enjoy the Secret Diary of a Call Girl. Either network should jump at the chance to air the series in America soon.