So...no consideration of the, what, 10000 odd people in the fleet who weren't on Galactica and were never consulted in the decision to first settle on Earth and then send all their advanced technology into the sun? That was never even an issue for the writers? Sure Adama and co. have had a rough go of it, but maybe the rest of the fleet wasn't ready to give up just yet?
Whatever. The show is finished. And I have ZERO desire to watch The Plan. Thanks, Season 4! #battlestargalactica
@MonkeyT: Skin and Bones had Doug Jones (aka the eyes-in-his-hands dude from Pan's Labyrinth, Abe Sapien from Hellboy, the Ice Cream Man from Legion, etc.) as the Wendigo and holy fuck was he terrifying at it. Seriously, the rest of the series is hit-or-miss but that episode is fantastic and horrifying. #moviemonsters
Moore's run on Marvelman (or Miracleman or whatever) was fantastic, so despite his hard-on for calling out Marvel and the "American comics industry" in the press, this is a seriously awesome development. Especially considering I saw issue #1 of Moore's run for a whopping $10 (for a single issue!) at a local con.
Also, Moore is an excellent author/creator but godDAMN are statements like this "I mean, they're probably are enough books out there with my name on them to keep the comics industry afloat for a little bit longer" ever indicative of how far his head is up his own ass.
@Mighty Bomb Jack: Speaking of rubbish...
#2: You're singling out SYLAR as the most egregious offender? Have we forgotten Arthur Petrelli and what a terrible, hackneyed plot device he was?
#6: I'm reminded of Simon Pegg's comic series in Spaced about the evil Doktor Mandrake who created some superhero formula except he forgot what it was.
#7: I'm a little tired of this one, actually. One of the best things about Heroes back in season 1 was that Hiro actually EMBRACED his mutation, whereas everyone else was so fucking mopey. Now the only thing that's changed is that Hiro's mopey too.
Actually, along these same lines Peter Milligan did an excellent run on X-Force (in the X-Men Marvel universe) where instead of being treated like pariahs, mutants on the X-Force team were international celebrities who were the subject of constant filming for reality-like television programs. It really flipped the whole genre on its head because suddenly being a mutant was desirable due to the fame and fortune that came with it. The downside, also brilliantly acknowledged by Milligan, was the insanely high death-rate most superhero teams have. Anyway, it's a great subversion of the "Humans must barely tolerate mutants" rule.
@Lightice: Well, there's always John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness. I guess this might not meet your criteria of "high-quality" or "high-budget" but it's a rollicking good Lovecraftian horror movie.
There was a fantastic short story by Kurt Vonnegut in Welcome to the Monkey House called All The King`s Men.
Summary from Wikipedia: The story takes place in the early years of the Cold War and centers on a U.S. Army Colonel, Bryan Kelly, whose plane has been shot down in the Asiatic mainland. With him are his two sons, his wife, the pilot and co-pilot, and ten enlisted men. The sixteen prisoners are held captive by the Chinese officer Pi Ying, who forces Kelly to play a game of chess — using his family and men as the pieces. If he can defeat Pi Ying in the battle of wits, then the sixteen captives are free to go, except there is one catch: every American piece who is captured will be executed immediately.
It`s a great story. Very chilling.
@TemporalSword: Heroes is not a relatively shitty show. It is an OBJECTIVELY shitty show, and it has earned that title by positively squandering every decent guest star: Zeljko Ivanek, Kristin Bell, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, Stephen Tobolowsky, Clea DuVall, David Anders...
In fact, I think the only one who didn't get screwed over was Christopher Eccleston, who had the good sense to appear (and disappear!) back in season 1 while the show was still totally badass.
@LittleDragon: She did...but then Hiro was shown to have a nice big office in Season 3. So I guess either he took it back from the sister (which would be stupid) or she gave him a cushy job (which would be even dumber because she was a brilliant business strategist while Hiro....is kind of a dumbass).
Either way, I think it's safe to say Hiro has absconded from whatever responsibilities he may have had, and has left other more competent individuals in his place.
The original Dollhouse pilot basically renders the first five episodes of the show unnecessary, so that's a huge point in its favour. You skip all the shit ("Oh I'm running in the forest! Oh, I'm dancing in a miniskirt! Oh, I have to save a pop singer from herself!") and just get the goods. Ballard still gets shot, we still get some nice teases about what's up with Adele, Topher and Dr. Saunders. Plus, it's really not hard to catch on to the complexities of the Dollhouse.
That being said, the one flaw is that Echo and Ballard MEET in the unaired pilot and the encounter just feels...unearned. It just sort of happens and there isn't much tension (aside from the fact that Echo actually turns out to be the one who shoots Ballard in the gut). In the aired episodes, the Ballard/Echo connection builds so that when they DO meet, it's pretty spectacular.
But that's ONE THING that the aired episodes did better. The unaired pilot is miles ahead of those first five episodes in terms of quality.
X placed higher than Y!? Z isn't on the list!?
I'm scandalized by this completely arbitrary arrangement of objects, and wish to register my completely pointless disapproval!!!!
I don't understand this "Sylar wants his body back" shit. He HAS his body back--it's his mind that's missing, or suppressed. Once he regains awareness of who he is, why can't he just use his shapeshifting ability to return to his normal form?
Also, really, Heroes? Giving Matt a head-character through which to express his guilt? What a terribly novel idea.
Wow, Heroes will never NOT sound like a total mess, will it?
Claire wants to fit in at college? Why? She's functionally immortal! Why study for a 9-to-5 job?
Mohinder is still on the show? Why? Haven't the writers realized how awful he is?
Nathan hasn't figured out he's Sylar? That should take all of one brain-cell to piece together.
Peter meets ANOTHER interesting new woman? Don't people remember Caitlin? She was so bad that the writers abandoned her in an aborted, post-apocalyptic future.
Matt is a family man? Wasn't he a "family man" back in season one, until the writers realized what a boring and terrible plotline that was?
Also, fuck Traci Strauss and all the characters Ali Larter plays. Larter's a decent actor, but the writers feed her table scraps compared to what the rest of the cast gets.
Oh, and when I was reading it, I saw "Carnivale" instead of "carnival" and mistakenly thought Robert Knepper was doing some kind of retro-active crossover. Then I realized, "nope, just another shitty-sounding story for the next volume of Heroes."
#9 is the Cat With Hands (www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq3EsyotORM) and therefore utterly terrifying.
@Gawktard_Snarkicon: I thought that at first, too. Like "She must be wearing some kind of thickly layered exosuit or something!" But nope, in the panel above that you can see it's a form-fitting trenchcoat. Still, I will most likely read this.
Oh, and her heels being in the shape of the Tyrell corp logo is a nice touch, too. Nonsensical, given the heel is entirely unsupported, but a nice nod to the fans.
This looks pretty fun (and I'm heartened by the inclusion of the Mercer box storyline, which was sadly absent in the film), but that very last panel where Rosen stretches out her hand just looks terrible. Her head looks incredibly small compared to the outstretched arm.
@Magicant: Yeah, seriously. This feels like a retread of season 1's Jackie plot, only I doubt the payoff will be anywhere near as spectacular. Also, wasn't there a similiar season 2 arc where Claire, who was trying to "blend in" in Costa Verde, was picked on by one of the popular cheerleaders?
Honestly, constantly casting Panettierre in the "outcast" role is really starting to strain credibility. I also feel like at this point, Claire should be a million times more mature than 99.9% of the kids in college with her (Remember that time she watched her dad shoot himself in the gut because he loved her so much?) and these outdated, teen-movie set-ups where she's menaced by a pretty popular girl just don't make sense. Why wouldn't Claire just walk away? Why wouldn't Claire just tell the girl to grow up and get a life?
Ok, those Blade Runner tees are awesome, and if I weren't a destitute grad student that Voight-Kampff tee would be mine.
@rabiera: I dunno, I'm inclined to give Caviezel the benefit of the doubt. He's playing a hero from a different era, and our heroes aren't really like McGoohan's 6 who was often unhinged and a little frightening.
Plus, the writers went in planning to do just that. There was a nice io9 article on Saturday about how the scene with the old man in the desert is a sort of "passing of the torch" scene from the old 6 to the new one. So I'm kind of pumped that we have a new 6 to watch because honestly? As great as McGoohan was, he could also be all over the place.
@alchemisto: Shows aren't liked they used to be. A lot of scifi/fantasy oriented shows nowadays (since Babylon 5, really) put a lot of thought and effort into where the show's going, where it will wind up, and what it will look like when it gets there. Shows like The Prisoner from the 60s were more like a series of musings on an idea, with no real end-point in mind. Doesn't mean the ride isn't fun.
