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retro futurism
heroes
drama good, has never struck us as the most introspective show. But that could be about to change — this new promo for next fall's Heroes Volume 3: Villains hints that every hero could have a villain inside. Could Hiro be about to discover his dark side? The promo also gives some hints about who lived and who died after the end of season two. Meanwhile, there are new spoilers about a new arch-nemesis for Hiro on the show.
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New Heroes Promo Aims To Keep Us Guessing
Heroes, NBC's show about mutants who mostly use their superpowers for
doctor who
Who Cares About Doctor's Daughter When We've Already Met His Grandchild?
While many of the Doctor Who faithful are very concerned about this week's discovery of "The Doctor's Daughter," geeks at British site Digital Spy isn't phased at all. After all, they remember that the very first episode of the series way back in 1963 featured the Doctor's granddaughter, Susan... More »
battlestar galactica recap
For those of us who have gotten sick of scientist-cum-messiah Baltar's sermonizing, Friday's episode of Battlestar Galactica, "Faith," was a welcome relief. Instead of watching a sweaty dude in a shiny robe preach to a room full of Lilith Fair lady ninjas, we got to watch an asskicking Starbuck court danger and cylons. Plus there were views of the cylon Base Ships that we've never seen before — and that looked seriously awesome. For BSG fans who like the whole character development thing, there was plenty of that too. A lot of the humans (and cylons) are having to face their mortality for the first time. And it's not always pretty.
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Cylon Deathfest on Battlestar Galactica
For those of us who have gotten sick of scientist-cum-messiah Baltar's sermonizing, Friday's episode of Battlestar Galactica, "Faith," was a welcome relief. Instead of watching a sweaty dude in a shiny robe preach to a room full of Lilith Fair lady ninjas, we got to watch an asskicking Starbuck court danger and cylons. Plus there were views of the cylon Base Ships that we've never seen before — and that looked seriously awesome. For BSG fans who like the whole character development thing, there was plenty of that too. A lot of the humans (and cylons) are having to face their mortality for the first time. And it's not always pretty.
More »
battlestar galactica
Bring Back the Old Starbuck Please
As we anticipate tonight's episode of humans vs. robots show Battlestar Galactica with this preview clip, I have one hope. And that is that we'll get our old Starbuck back, the one who was a total badass and fought blonde amazon cylon Six on Caprica with her bare hands and repeatedly killed the cylon Leoben who imprisoned her. Remember that Starbuck? The one you thought Rambo could learn something from? (Light spoilers ahead.) More »
smallville
Clark May Be Talking To Himself A Lot On Smallville
Looks like cast members of Smallville are starting to jump ship after the exit of Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum). Allison Mack, who plays sassy Chloe Sullivan, is hinting she may be leaving the show as well. Combined with the fact that Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk's) has only signed on to do a few episodes next season, this spells trouble for Smallville. More »
Eureka Avoids Dark Depression Trap of Shows Like "Full House"
Apparently fluffy Sci-Fi channel show Eureka, about a town of zany geniuses who do silly things, is just too dark. Even though every episode is packed with sappiness worthy of Full House, its creators have vowed to make it even "lighter" this season, packed with ultralite parodies of movies like Groundhog Day, according to Sci-Fi Wire (how do you parody a movie that is already a comedy?). Let this be a lesson to other scifi shows, such as Jericho, which could really have used a little lightening up. And how about 4400? Why not turn each episode of that into a "funny" parody of a movie like X-Men? That could have been both shows' tickets to renewal if only they'd known about this whole lightness thing. [Sci-Fi Wire]
Apparently fluffy Sci-Fi channel show Eureka, about a town of zany geniuses who do silly things, is just too dark. Even though every episode is packed with sappiness worthy of Full House, its creators have vowed to make it even "lighter" this season, packed with ultralite parodies of movies like Groundhog Day, according to Sci-Fi Wire (how do you parody a movie that is already a comedy?). Let this be a lesson to other scifi shows, such as Jericho, which could really have used a little lightening up. And how about 4400? Why not turn each episode of that into a "funny" parody of a movie like X-Men? That could have been both shows' tickets to renewal if only they'd known about this whole lightness thing. [Sci-Fi Wire]
babylon 5
Here's an amazing image from the pre-history of 1990s political space opera Babylon 5, when the set for the space station's main corridor had first been built and the techs were testing out stage lighting in it. This just got posted by Mojo, a visual effects artist who works on Battlestar Galactica and used to work on B5. He says he has a lot more where these came from and will be posting them on his new blog.
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The Earliest Days of Babylon 5 in Pictures
Here's an amazing image from the pre-history of 1990s political space opera Babylon 5, when the set for the space station's main corridor had first been built and the techs were testing out stage lighting in it. This just got posted by Mojo, a visual effects artist who works on Battlestar Galactica and used to work on B5. He says he has a lot more where these came from and will be posting them on his new blog.
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star trek
Captain Wesley Crusher, Starfleet Investigative Services
The Star Trek franchise has always been about "big picture" stories, but the next Trek series should take the opposite approach, narrow the scope and focus on a few well-developed characters - primarily Wesley Crusher. Yes, the much maligned ensign should be brought back as the captain of a Starfleet science vessel that warps around the Alpha Quadrant solving mysteries for the Federation. Think of it as CSI . . . in space! Here's how it would work.More »
battlestar galactica recap
Hugh Hefner vs. Robert DeNiro on Battlestar Galactica
Hope you enjoyed yet another "everybody is more psycho" episode of Battlestar Galactica on Friday, complete with ten percent more nervous breakdowns and a bit of sartorial madness. "The Road Less Traveled" also brings us the return of a certain creepy Cylon, who makes all the weirdness even weirder. And then there's the ongoing mystery of why everybody is so sweaty on the poop ship Demetrius. Wouldn't it be cheaper to keep them cold in space rather than cranking up the heat? Spoilers ahead. More »
lost recap
Lost: Just Who Is This Aaron Kid Anyway?
Appendectomies! Everybody's getting them — a major character in last night's episode of Lost ("Something Nice Back Home") and my brother-in-law last week. Of course, BIL had fancy-pants arthroscopic surgery in a hospital, not on a piece of airplane wreckage with Dharma-brand instruments—and I'm pretty sure he didn't want to stay conscious through the procedure. (Maybe they're both lucky the little devil wasn't pulled out through the closest possible orifice.) Lucky for me—and the rest of you who prefer action Lost to melodrama, Lost—"Something Nice Back Home" didn't turn out to be the Jack/Kate/Juliet soap opera I feared. Oh, there were some soapy/sappy moments to be sure, but on the whole it was a solid episode. More about the show, and nothing about my in-laws, after the jump. More »
doctor who
Rose's Return Rumors Unknown To Who Producer
Now that the episode has been (legally) viewed by both British and American audiences, Doctor Who producer Russell T. Davies has taken the time to explain just what was behind that last minute cameo from an unexpected but familiar face in the first episode. Unsurprisingly, said explanation suggests that Mr. Davies is entirely unfamiliar with the concept of "rumor" versus "fact". More »
sci fashion
The Four Styles You'll Wear in the Future, According to Science Fiction
One of the most terrifying parts of any science fiction movie or TV show are the inevitable Future Jumpsuits that everyone seems to wear because somehow every aspect of civilization has advanced except clothing technology. Whether you're in Battlestar Galactica's space fatigues, Star Trek's onesie uniforms, or whatever the hell you call that crap Jean-Paul Gaultier forced upon the hapless actors in The Fifth Element, it still boils down to one thing: The many moods of the jumpsuit. Below, we explore four of the most popular jumpsuits in science fiction for your sartorial edification. More »
international space station
On the International Space Station, You Can Watch Star Wars But Not Star Trek
In a stroke of weird genius, the people at GovernmentAttic.org issued a FOIA (freedom of information act) request to the US government to reveal the contents of the multimedia library on the International Space Station. Probably happy that they weren't being asked about the Patriot Act, the government happily complied, supplying us with a 13-page document containing the titles of every book, movie, and TV show in the ISS library. Not surprisingly there's a lot of science fiction in the mix, plus (of course) The Right Stuff. But there are some shocking choices in terms of what got put in — and what got left out. More »
horrorhead
Welcome back to Horrorhead, a column all about the connections between horror and scifi. On Battlestar Galactica, there's an ongoing theme of torture: humans gang-rape an imprisoned Cylon; the Cylons beat a man so badly he loses his eye (not to mention all the humans they kill outright); and there's even a little human-on-Cylon washboarding early in the series. These are not scenes that take place entirely offscreen. We see beatings; we see the bloody, freaked-out face of Six the Cylon after she's been raped so many times she can't stand up and has lost the will to eat. The question is, do we need to see these scenes? Would this series be as powerful without them? And by extension, would any torture-laced scifi flick like The Hills Have Eyes or Cube be as enticing if it lost the mutilations or the razor net that falls from the ceiling and reduces living humans to little cubes of flesh? (Spoilers ahead.)
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Do We Need Graphic Torture in Our Dystopias?
Welcome back to Horrorhead, a column all about the connections between horror and scifi. On Battlestar Galactica, there's an ongoing theme of torture: humans gang-rape an imprisoned Cylon; the Cylons beat a man so badly he loses his eye (not to mention all the humans they kill outright); and there's even a little human-on-Cylon washboarding early in the series. These are not scenes that take place entirely offscreen. We see beatings; we see the bloody, freaked-out face of Six the Cylon after she's been raped so many times she can't stand up and has lost the will to eat. The question is, do we need to see these scenes? Would this series be as powerful without them? And by extension, would any torture-laced scifi flick like The Hills Have Eyes or Cube be as enticing if it lost the mutilations or the razor net that falls from the ceiling and reduces living humans to little cubes of flesh? (Spoilers ahead.)
More »
10:43 AM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Annalee Newitz
2,973 views,
58 comments
Latest by thephotoman: Does BSG need torture? Well, to answer this question, I ask what it would look like without the torture. Then I point out two shows that have similar overarching plots (in one case, the same exact overarching plot) more »
battlestar galactica
Could Gaius Baltar Be . . . a Mormon?
Despite the creators of Battlestar Galactica doing their best to suggest that Gaius Baltar may be the colonial version of the son of God - especially with his turning-the-other-cheek-so-they-can-punch-that-one-too act from last Friday's episode - fans at the Battlestar Galactica Blog feel the need to point out that, although he may look like Jesus, so they say, Mr. Jesus is very far away. In fact, the religious figure he more closely resembles may be a friend from the Beehive State. More »
battlestar galactica recap
A Giant Bag of "What the Hell" on Battlestar Galactica
I like watching sexy ladies torture sweaty men as much as the next person, but Friday night's Battlestar Galactica took that scenario way too far. Called "Escape Velocity," the episode delved deeply into Baltar's religious beliefs and Tyrol's post-Cally bitterness, but was also packed with enough randomly-generated sadomasochism to fill a bag of holding. Is there a way to wash your eyes out with soap? You'll want to know after enduring several scenes with lines like, "Pain is pleasure," and "I want the pain." Spoilers ahead, if you can bear it. More »
new york comic-con
