When we begged Fox for review copies of Dollhouse episodes, they sent us copies of the first two episodes... plus tonight's leather-clad imbroglio. It's clearly better than last week's stumble, and here are a few reasons why.

For one thing, Echo gets way better outfits than last night's WTF tube top and dancer gear. Most notably, the leather pants and spike-heel pumps. (Although, she says several times that she always wears comfortable shoes, while prancing around in those pinchy-looking stillettoes. As Blastaar would say, "Eh?")

For another, it's pleasingly twisty and turny. There are enough flips and swerves over the course of the episode to keep you pretty engaged, even allowing for the extra-long running time due to remote-free viewing. (Curse you, Fox! Who told you I wanted to be free of my remote?) A few times over the course of the episode, I thought I knew where it was going next, and then I guessed again.

Also, we get another huge piece of the puzzle about the show's ongoing mythos tonight, and some real answers to some questions that have been floating around about the Evil Naked Guy (TM) and just what his game is. Not all the answers, mind you, but a healthy serving. And we get to see the "programmable mind-puppet" concept applied in a new, and somewhat original, way.

And once again, Echo is more than just a funky robot. She's a funky person. With funky desires, and occasionally funky initiative.

Best of all, FBI agent Paul Ballard, Tahmoh Penikett's character, stops being quite such a pasty (patsy? Oooh, I suck at tough-guy talk.) He finally starts to seem like a bit of a badass, not just a cool kickboxer with a "kick me" sign glued to the seat of his pants. Oh, and the Boyd love continues to flow with tonight's episode.

Oh, and best of all, no singing. Or dancing. Or vogueing or vamping. Or sashaying. Anyway, I doubt "The Gray Hour" will be considered the best episode of the show's run once we have 100 other Dollhouse episodes to compare it to. But it's good fun, and well worth checking out if you're not going to see some movie about a guy with a Dalmatian mask tonight.

I got a review copy of the Kyle XY season two DVDs, and have been watching all the early episodes from the season that I missed the first time around. I really only got hooked on the show during the second half of the season — I had dismissed it as insipid warm'n'fuzzy entertainment with a wholesome lesson in every episode until then. The thing is, the show is warm and fuzzy, and it does have wholesome lessons about family and stuff, but it's also surprisingly real and smart.

Season two is when Kyle learned more of the truth of his origins — that he was a scientific experiment based, very loosely, on some theories of Einstein's. And he spent the first years of his life maturing in a tank, until he was found, wandering in the woods with no memory of who he was (and no bellybutton). Season two also sees the introduction of Jessi XX, Kyle's female counterpart, who's sort of the Faith to his Buffy. (She's a psycho who fell into the wrong hands, instead of the right hands, after she got out of her own incubation tank.) Kyle has to learn how to try and live a normal life and deal with relationships and stuff, while simultaneously developing his secret mental powers and dealing with a million confusing super-science conspiracies.

And that's the thing about Kyle XY: I actually like all the characters on this show, even the sometimes excessively wholesome mom. I love his stepbrother Josh, who's a sarcastic nerd — in season two Josh encounters a video-game-playing nerd girl and tries to turn her into his best friend and honorary wingman, before finally giving into the inevitable and dating her. It is the cutest storyline EVAR! And Lori, the queen bitch step-sister. I've never watched Gossip Girl, but I imagine Kyle XY's teens are more believable and a million times less annoying.

And the wholesome thing? Not as overwhelming as you'd think. In one episode, Kyle locks himself in his bedroom for the first time, and his host family spends five minutes joking about whether Kyle has finally learned to masturbate. In another, Jessi the freak girl spots some condoms in a guy's box o' stuff, and asks whose pleasure they're ribbed for. (I think they end up hooking up, too.) Lori the stepsister, and her best friend, spend a whole episode scheming to avoid winning on their high school's slut-of-the-year competition. The host parents get all freaked out when they realize their son Josh has been smoking weed — and then they realize he stole it from them.

Okay, sure, it's not dark and edgy like BSG, but Kyle XY has become something of a guilty pleasure for me. I really want to see if Lori and her new sarcastic DJ boytoy manage to hook up, and what happens with Josh's nerdy girlfriend. I don't really care about Kyle's love life, but that's because he's dating the show's only weak character — if he hooks up with his fellow test-tube baby Jessi, then I'll be glued to the screen.

Here are some clips from the new DVD box set. And it's on ABC Family tonight at 9.

Explanation:

Pushing Too Hard:

Homecoming:

Trapped:

Social Services:

Matt and Jamie featurette:

Josh featurette:

Based on Ry Hanmura's hugely successful novel, Time Slip (as it was known internationally) was Kadokawa Productions' attempt to stage a huge period film, but perhaps not even the largest budget could've captured some of the more epic scenes from the novel (such as an attack on a Japanese castle with anti-tank missles). Additionally, the Japanese Self Defense Force, which had considered supporting the production, declined after reading the script. (Which, considering one of the film's plot points is a group of mutinous soldiers who steal a PT Boat and go on a coastal rape-a-thon, probably isn't that surprising.) As a result, the filmmakers had to make do with surplus military hardware or, in the case of the troop's state-of-the-art tank, build it themselves.

Apart from Kadokawa Productions' pluck and non-inconsiderable resources, the production had another ace up its sleeve: Sonny Chiba, who not only starred in the film, but choreographed the sweeping action scenes with his Japan Action Club. Between Kadokawa's resources and Chiba's talent, the last half of Time Slip crackles with action scenes bolder and bigger than the first half of the film would lead you to expect: the soldiers of the 20th Century, confident in their superior firepower, find themselves outfoxed and outflanked by the strategy and the vast numbers of their 16th Century opponents.

Although it's these scenes that cause me to excitedly pass on copies of Time Slip (under its delightful U.S. re-release monicker, G.I. Samurai) to fellow action film fans, I'm always struck by this film's subtext: although Chiba's Second Lieutenant Yoshiaki Iba is an honorable man and an accomplished soldier, he's seduced by war leader Nagao Kagetora's overtures to overthrow the Shogun and rule Japan together. Japan's brutal history is too much of Iba's self-identity to resist, and he and his men pay the price.

While frequently cheesy (they production company spent all of three dollars on the special effects for the actual time slip, and I sometimes wonder if Japanese filmmakers of the '70s ever came across a hilariously inappropriate sappy ballad they didn't like), Time Slip is a great B movie. And while researching this article, I came across a recent two-disc DVD release on Amazon. While I can't vouch for what's on the second disc, this flick is a fine addition for anyone's collection of tank vs. samurai films—even if it doesn't have a narrator intoning "Time Slip—The Day of the A-Pocalypse" over it. [GI Samurai via IMDB]

The author is greatly indebted to Patrick Macias' insert notes from the Ventura Entertainment DVD release of G.I. Samurai for historical information and context.

In case you missed both of them, Torchwood and Sarah Jane each star a former Doctor Who companion. Torchwood has the queer rake from the future, Captain Jack. And Sarah Jane (duh) features Sarah Jane Smith, the reporter who followed the Doctor around and screamed a lot in the mid 1970s. Who would ever have thought that a middle-aged Sarah Jane would be more fun than the sexy adventures of Jack? But here's why:

Sarah Jane saves the world and squishes monsters. And she doesn't scream any more. Captain Jack and his team of scowling wankers deal with petty alien crimes, clean up their own messes, screw each other, and argue about it. And make dumb jokes. Here's Sarah Jane being menaced by evil nuns!

Captain Jack is a shitty boss. He's sassy and fun as the Doctor's sidekick, but when he's in charge he becomes an uptight middle manager. Sarah Jane is more like a den mom than a boss, but she's still a way better leader than the Cap. Most of all, she and her cast-mates actually care about each other, instead of just bickering.

Sarah Jane is dead sexy. She'll put on a welding mask and build a giant energy-detector from scraps, then blow you a kiss while exploding your alien spaceship. Captain Jack used to be sexy, when he was a rogue.

The Sarah Jane Adventures is more like Doctor Who. Yes, it's aimed at kids, but it has enough cleverness and subversiveness for adults. And it's fun and has a genuine emotional core to it. Torchwood, by contrast, seems like the show where Russell T. Davies and friends do all the queer innuendo and nastiness they couldn't get away with on Doctor Who. But it has none of the charm and dazzle that Davies puts into Who.

But don't take my word for it. Just ask this guy... or maybe not.