TV Time: Firefly (2002)

Alo Party Peoples.

No power in the 'Verse can stop us. Except Fox.

I'm doing more television.


Firefly was an American space-western drama television show created by Joss Whedon and Tim Minear that ran for four months on Fox in 2002.

I have been rolling the idea of an article on it around for a while. It seemed unfair to cover it because it was never finished. However, it's good stuff and it deserves a mention. Also, I plan to cover Serenity at some point and I thought it would be a good idea to explain Firefly first.

Firefly is a much beloved work, short lived as it was. It was well reviewed by critics, but it didn't do very well ratings wise, being 125th in Nielson ratings, but it did well in DVD sales. In 2005 it got a continuation in the form of Serenity*, a feature film that was also well received by critics, but had a mediocre box office take, which probably kills any chance of a sequel. The franchise has a vehement following that lasts to this day, and in 2014 a mobile game will be released.

Let's get to the "is this worth your time" aspect of my blog.

Setup: Earth was becoming overcrowded, so an allience between the US and China lead a mass exodus to a new star system, and terraformed it into the American Old West. The Central Planets wanted to bring everyone under their rule, there was a war over it, the independents lost.

This is the story of one of them, Malcom Reynolds, captain of the Firefly-class transport ship Serenity, and his crew, who now survive by doing odd jobs on the edges of the system, both literally in that he operates in the Outer Planets, and figuratively in that he works where the legal system can't quite reach him.

It is a unique piece. Combining westerns, science fiction, and a hint of the Orient to create an original world that could be its own post. Sure, the space-western isn't new, but this is a well done version of it.

Primary Cast: We have an ensemble cast of nine. Nathan Fillion as Malcom, Alan Tudyk as Wash, pilot of Serenity and wife of Gina Torres's Zoe, first mate. Ron Glass as Book, a passenger who is very probably a holy man. 

Adam Baldwin as Jayne, a simple and violent man working for Mal mostly because no one else has offered him more. Jewel Staite as Kaylee, Serenity's ever cheerful mechanic. Morena Baccarin as Inara, a Companion** that works out of one of Serenity's shuttles, and Sean Maher as Simon, ship medic who broke his sister River(Summer Glau) out of an Allience facility that drove her to madness.

Each of them is great in their part and interact well, it's remarkable how quickly you become attached to these characters, my personal best however, must go to Summer Glau as River, Her behavior eerily resembles autism and in that respect she has it down perfectly.

Joss Whedon intended for Firefly to last seven years. It got canclled after fourteen episodes, three of which were not aired, for low ratings that stemmed from various things, airing episodes out of order, misleading advertizing, friction between Whedon and Fox, and many others. The only real problem I can think of really wasn't Firefly's fault. Since it was canceled it didn't have a conclusion, not until Serenity anyway, and after the last episode you are just left wishing there was more.

Then again, if it's good enough that you want more, is that really a flaw?

In conclusion, Firefly was fantastic, and I reccomend it wholeheartedly. It can be found of DVD, Blu-Ray, and Netflix Instant Stream. Serenity is also worth your time and is avalible on VHS, DVD, UMD, Blu-Ray, and Netflix Instant Stream.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B



*According to Whedon Fox still owned the name Firefly.

**Combination private life coach, prostitute for rent, and philosopher.

TV Time: Agents of Shield

Alo Party Peoples.

I know that I said I would wait until the season finale, but since they are taking the week off, I decided to give a general opinion on Shield before my "Is this worth your money on Netflix/DVD?" opinion on the whole thing after the season finale.

Setup: Set one year after the Avengers, Shield Agent Phil Coulson, after coming back to life offscreen, leads an off the book team of agents around the world on various missions to investigate macguffins of the week. Sometimes that macguffin can be superpowered people. Other times it is an alien artifact.

Said setup is a good one for an action show and it works well here. Some episodes: in particular Eye Spy, F.Z.Z.T, and The Well, are standouts in quality, our weakest is the most recent episode, Repairs, which isn't bad, but is not particularly important except dealing out May's backstory.

Cast: Our cast consists of six primary crew members aboard Coulson's jet.

Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson, the proprietor of the team, Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May, the pilot with a troubled and mysterious past. Brett Dalton as Grant Ward, the teams black ops specialist with another troubled past, Chole Bennett as Skye, a orphan hacktivist that joins to find out about her parents, and Ian De Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge as FitzSimmons, our science people.

This cast works great, they have good chemistry, and prove that Marvel Studios is getting past their cited diversity problem by having a regular show with half the principal cast being women, one of whom is Asian.

In general I like the show, and I'll have a more detailed summary and review up when the season ends.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B

More Random Thoughts

Alo Party Peoples.


More thoughts from my mind.

The behavior of River on Firefly is eerily similar to autism. I recognize the wandering your home at night and the odd statements that don't make sense without the context of their thought process.

Speaking of Firefly, perhaps I should cover that, what do you think?

I've been rolling the idea of a Q&A post around in my head for a while, but I don't think my readership is large enough for that to be viable.

Inequality will always exist to some extent because we are not identical.

Pleasantville is an underrated gem and it's message is still relevant today. It still holds up fifteen years later.

Having now seen the video, What The Fox Say is clearly a comedy song. It's still a bit obnoxious, half of it feels like it was meant to teach small children animal noises, and the other half is jibberish, but I recognize what they were going for.

Lastly, an announcement. My film reviews are taking Thanksgiving weekend off. If it is any compromise, I hear Frozen is great.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B

Let's (Not) Go Out To The Movies: The Day Of The Doctor

SPOILER WARNING. IT WOULD BE RATHER DIFFICULT TO DISCUSS THIS WITHOUT DISCUSSING WHAT HAPPENS IN IT. NOTHING MAJOR BUT I WILL TALK ABOUT THE HURT DOCTOR.

SO IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHO JOHN HURT IS PLAYING, TURN BACK NOW.

Alo Party Peoples.

Today I am doing something different. I usually wouldn't cover television, but since this is a feature length episode of one of my favorite shows, I decided to try it out. In particular, the fiftieth anniversary episode of Doctor Who. However, since many of you are likely unfamiliar with Doctor Who, I will provide some background first.

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television series produced by the BBC. It is also the longest running science fiction television series ever, having first aired on November 23 1963. It is about an alien, the titular Doctor, that travels with his human companions all over time and space. Hijinks insue. He does this in a police call box, Which is actually a living and sentient time machine called the TARDIS that is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.

The classic series aired from 1963 to 1989 with a brief hiatus in 1985. In 1989 it was cancelled for various reasons that I don't have time to discuss here. There was an attempt to bring it back in 1996 with a TV movie that failed. It was then brought back sucessfully in 2005 and has been airing since.

How can a show about one person last for fifty years? When William Hartnell, the First Doctor, left the show due to his failing health they came up with the idea that when near death the Doctor's species, Time Lords, had the ability to "regenerate" healing any damage to the body with the trade off being a complete change in appearance and personality. 

This allowed them to change lead actors without having to worry about the audience thinking that this new guy wasn't the same guy. To date twelve actors have portrayed the Doctor in canon, with one being added in retroactively in between Eight and Nine. Occasionally he meets himself, usually on an anniversary.

It is rather niche in the US perhaps because the classic era was only ever imported on PBS stations, but in the UK it is much more mainstream, it's even a family show over there, and the revived series has a growing following in the US.

Overall it is a great show, and a favorite, and now I will answer some questions.

Classic Who or New Who: New Who,  I am aware of the classic series. I am working through Netflix's tiny selection.

Favorite Doctor: Out of those I've seen (2,3,6,9,10,11) Nine/Christopher Eccleston 

Favorite Episode: "Dalek" but I do have a soft spot for "The Fires of Pompeii" if for no other reason than I take a Latin class.

Least Favorite Episode: "Fear Her"

Favorite Companion: don't have one. I haven't seen enough of them to judge.

Favorite Villan: Weeping Angels

Favorite Moment: The Time Lord Victorious speech from "The Waters of Mars"

Before I begin I have something to say. Most of this will be from the perspective of a fan because, most of the people who watch it are fans of the show. Even then without the context of the last season you would be lost.

Enough talking about the show, let's talk about the show.

PREVIOUSLY ON DOCTOR WHO: Clara jumped into the Doctors timestream in order to save him at every point in his life. While there she discovered a hidden incarnation of the Doctor, played by John Hurt, in between his eighth and ninth lives.

Story: I apologize for this, but we have a very complicated story that I can't explain. Sorry, time travel stories tend to do that. I'll try anyway.

Rose/Bad Wolf(Billie Piper) opens fissures in time that bring together the War Doctor that is trying to end the Time War*, the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) who is stopping a race of shape shifting aliens from invading Elizabethan England, and the Eleventh Doctor(Matt Smith) plus companion Clara (Jenna Coleman) who are investigating a security breach in UNIT's** Under Gallery.

That's all I can say about it without spoilers, but for such a big hyped event, it's a little underwhelming.

Visuals: Sets great, costumes great, effects great for a TV budget, although for this show that is to be expected.

Acting: Matt Smith and David Tennant do their jobs well. Jenna Coleman is good. John Hurt is competent, the acting isn't bad, it's just not very notable 

In conclusion, I'm a little disappointed. It feels like a student project, everyone shows up and puts in the effort, but you can tell they weren't enthusiastic about it.

Which is odd, press concerning this thing has clearly shown that everybody was excited to be working on the anniversary of a British TV history touchstone, but the end result, it really embodies the remark "not bad" sorry Whovians.

Hats off to all and have a nice day.

Greg. B

Do you want me to cover the Christmas Special? Let me know on twitter.

I leave you now with my fanart.

Clockwise from One: William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker (no relation to Tom Baker), Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Matt Smith, Peter Cushing.

* The final conflict between the Time Lords and Daleks that wiped them both out.

**United Nations Intellegence Taskforce.

More Thoughts.

Alo Party Peoples.

Here are some more statements from my mind.

People need to beleive in something greater than themselves. Otherwise they will go insane. I don't care what you choose for that belief.

The fox dings incessantly. That is what it says.

Words have tremendous power, a good bomb can kill people, but a good speech can make them do what you wish.

On the subject of words, Justin Lookadoo's rederic had no buisness being in a public school. Students are already stressed without worrying about fitting into one guys idea of "datable" and I am proud of the students of Richardson High School for not buying it. You go Eagles! (:

That's all for today. 

Greg.B

Let's Go Out To The Movies: Thor The Dark World.

I APOLOGIZE THAT THIS IS LATE. MY FATHER HAD A BUISNESS TRIP TO CHINA AND I WASN'T ABLE TO SEE IT FOR A WHILE.

Alo Party Peoples.

You usually don't see superhero movies come out in November do you?

Anyway, Marvel Studios has by now proven to be a safe bet in terms of film quality. With good films steadily coming out, they have also been big hits, and have successfully brought comic book continuity to the big screen. They have also been able to bring the same quality and continuity to television with Agents of SHIELD*, and plan to bring it to Netflix in 2015.

They've also done this with variety. Sure they have all been action movies but think about it.

The Iron Man movies have been action-comedy, The Incredible Hulk was a high budgeted B-movie, Thor is cosmic fantasy, Captain America was a WWII pulp adventure,( and if that Winter Soldier trailer is to be trusted, the franchise is moving into all out action fare), Avengers was a scifi pyrotechnic visual ride, Agents of SHIELD is a Joss Whedon show, and the recently announced Netflix stuff might be the dark gritty and or serious wing of the MCU.

They might not be amazing, but they have yet to make a thing I have disliked. Let's see if Thor: The Dark World lives up to those standards.

Story: Here's our setup. The Dark Elves, a primordial race from before our universe, long ago attempted to destroy the Nine Realms with a super weapon called the Aether during an alignment of those realms. 

The Asgardians stopped them, but now they are aligning again and the Malekith, leader of the dark elves, wishes to try again. Thor must spring Loki from prison to both stop them and get the Aether out of his mortal girlfriend Jane.

That's a lot of plot, and the movie is paced rather quickly as a result. That's not a praise or critisim, just an observation. Other critics have sited the story's quickness as a problem, but I'm not feeling that.

Oh, and there is in fact a post credits bonus scene, for those who like that sort of thing.

Visuals: If these movies are good at one thing, it's looking pretty. It takes fantasy and seemlessly blends it with science fiction, in terms of visuals. From the ancient glyphs on the holographic displays, to the Asgardian Air Force of flying canoes, to having guys with laser guns and black hole grenades be held off by guys with shields and spears. It all looks great.

Acting: Chris Hemsworth is fun as Thor, Tom Hiddleston is, as usual entertaining as the ever scheming Loki, Idris Elba and Anthony Hopkins are fantastic as Heimdal and Odin respectively. 

Natalie Portman is good Jane Foster, and Christopher Eccleston is enjoyable as Malekith, there isn't much to play, but he does it well.

Conclusions: It's not a particularly deep or complex film, but it is very entertaining and I reccomend it.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B

*Still waiting for the season finale before tackling that. It just doesn't seem fair to review a thing that is not finished.It's been good so far

Archivis News Update.

Alo Party Peoples.

Ever since the Zimmerman post brought the wrath of God upon me from my mother I haven't blogged about things that could be seen as political. Instead I have a news thing next to the posts. But since something newsworthy happened at my school, I figure this is different.

So on November 13, one Justin Lookadoo spoke at Richardson High School about dating. The things he said proved to be controversial. Mostly supporting gender stereotypes. Here's a news article if you want to know more.

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/richardson-lake-highlands/headlines/20131113-motivational-speaker-at-richardson-school-criticized-for-gender-stereotyping.ece

I wasn't there that day, but I did research Mr. Lookadoo, and I found plenty to disagree with, but I'm mostly sad about the stereotype thing. 

In a perfect world this wouldn't be a problem, but it's not a perfect world, so it is.

You can't just fit people into little boxes labeled "datable" or "undatable". That's not how it works. People are complicated, they just don't fit into categories like that.

That's all I have to say on that.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B

Random Thoughts

Alo Party Peoples.

Money is tight again. To hold you over until the next movie, here are some musings.

Welcome To Night Vale is horror lite. I usually can't stand horror and I love it.

Did you know that Enders Game is required reading for US military personelle? Because it is.

The Davies Era of Doctor Who had a lot of campy villans. The only ones I can think of that weren't are the Empty Child, and the Weeping Angels. Both of which were created by Steven Moffat. Okay Satan and his Ood were intimidating. There is an exception to every rule.

The problem with recent DC movies is that they think gritty will work for everybody just because it worked for Batman. One Bob Chipman called it "Robin-phobia" that sums it up well.

If you don't move past your problems, you only crumble when they confront you again.

The mark of art is that it is open to interpretation. That it can spark discussion of more than just the superficial. 

Under that definition, anything can be art, like a speech, or a piece of legislation.

Law And Order is a perfect show to rerun. Each episode is a self contained story and there is little connection between episodes.

Other shows are better either rerun in a in order marathon, or watch it via Netflix and wait for the current seasons DVD release.

Internet Weirdness 5

Alo Party Peoples.


I planned to do Thor: The Dark World this week, but my father has a buisness trip to China, so I couldn't see it. If and when I do eventually see it, you will know. I have heard good things.

Instead you get more weird stuff on the web.

A website that constantly repeats the words "your'e the man now dog"

http://yourethemannowdog.ytmnd.com/

Last time was about foreign music videos, the US has made some weird stuff too. I mean, my god remember this?
WHO LET THE DOGS OUT  BY THE BAHA MENhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbt30UnzRWw
Or this perhaps my older readers remember.
WHIP IT BY DEVOhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbt30UnzRWw

Doctor Who is coming up on it's 50th anniversary (I will certainly be able to cover that) a fan made this a while back, it's hilarious. Unfortunatley it doesen't work on mobile devices.

Tenth Doctor: The Musical: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dHkbdMYpSA

What IS the difference between Trekker and Trekkie anyway?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCARADb9asE

If you don't watch Cartoon Hangover, do so. It's from the guys behind Adventure Time, they made this a while back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOG_UtLxh58

Hats off to all, and have a nice day. If something on the Internet is weird to you, share it with me, it might show up in a post.

Greg.B

Internet Weirdness 4: All The World Is Weird.

Alo Party Peoples.


If there is one thing that the Collective American Internet thinks it is this. Foreigners are funny, especailly when they dance.


For example, from India we got Tunak Tunak Tun. The first music viedo from Inida to use bluescreen.

Tunak Tunak Tun http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9qvCTdBLDs

South Korea's PSY did stuff other than Gangnam Style. Take a look.

Gentleman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASO_zypdnsQ

Right Now http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASO_zypdnsQ

From Germany, Remember Moskau from last time. Well they did another song.

Genghis Khan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAEUrp2V4ss

Here is another version of Moskau

Moskau New Years Day 2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhDHtKpfP0o

Hats off to all, and have a nice day. Let's keep the web weird. Shall we?
If there is something you think is weird. Show me on Twitter at @GregB00

Greg.B

Let's Go Out To The Movies: Enders Game

DISCLAIMER:FOR THE SAKE OF FAIRNESS I AM KEEPING MY OPINIONS ON ORSON SCOTT CARD'S HOMPHOBIC VIEWS SEPERATE FROM THIS.

FOR THE RECORD THOSE VIEWS ARE TERRIBLE BUT HE WROTE A GOOD BOOK.

ALSO SINCE BOTH THIS MOVIE, AND THE BOOK IT IS BASED ON ARE BUILT AROUND A TWIST ENDING, SPOILER WARNING. SHORT VERSION: IT IS QUITE GOOD

Enders Game the book is one of the most influential works of science fiction in recent memory, and also an incredible book. It is required reading, I decree it of you. Let's see how the new movie represents such a marvel.

Story: It's the future, fifty years ago mankind was nearly wiped out by a Formic hive mind. In the aftermath of this, we have decided to take the best and brightest of Earth's children and stick them in Battle School, where they constantly go through grueling war games to pick the best to defend mankind. 

The best ends up being Ender Wiggin, an incredibly gifted child that is soon singled out for Command School, where he and his class do simulation after simulation of a theoretical second war. After he leads them to victory on the Formic homeworld, the Stratagos has something to tell him. SPOILER WARNING, IF YOU WISH TO REMAIN UNSPOILED TURN BACK NOW. It was real, it has always been real and he has just commited genocide. 

I cannot begin to understand the burden that would place on someone's concience. The closest analog in the real world is likely being the one that had to drop the bomb on Hiroshima. That isn't even the worst part. That is the realization, it was probably the course of action that results in the least deaths by keeping the war from being dragged out.

It tells this story well, but it is also a beat for beat retelling of the book which you can probably find in a library for free. Make of that what you will.

Visuals:If anything can be said fo this movie it's that it looks great. Battle School and Command School look, approprietly, like one big video game. In fact, there are entire sections of the film that are essentaily gameplay footage. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a planned game. That might make the point hit home even harder. It all looks well organized, and shiny, and I can only assume that it looks better in 3D.

Acting: For our adult cast, Harrison Ford is quite great as Colenel Graff, Viola Davis plays a compassionate Major Anderson, and Ben Kingsley plays a wise and well executed Mazer Rackham, even if I don't quite accept the face paint. 

As for the child actors, Asa Butterfield is great as Ender, but aside from that I can't think of any standout performances. They aren't bad, but not great either. Moises Aries is not bad as Bonzo, but I can't get past the fact that he played Rico on Hannah Montana, which makes some scenes unintentionaly comical.

In conclusion, the Enders Game movie might not be as good as the book, but it is certainly a good film on it's own. 

Hats off to all, and have a nice day.

Greg.B

These people responded to my comment in one of their videos. Thanks Glove and Boots! http://youtu.be/o5desZLRuzQ