Review – Surrogates
September 30th, 2009
Imagine a world where you have no fear of getting hurt or sick, while still being able to fully participate in your daily life? Where a machine, called a surrogate, can do all of the heavy lifting while you command it from the safety of your home? This is the world of Surrogates, the new genre film based on a graphic novel by Robert Venditti. And while I’ll freely admit that the idea is fascinating, does the film itself work?
Fringe 2×2 “Night of Desirable Objects” review
September 25th, 2009
The following contains spoilers through the episode “Night of Desirable Objects,” originally broadcast 9/24/09.
The second episode of the new season proves to be either the one new fans were waiting for, or old ones. Last season I wrote a little in my reviews about the nature of ‘Fringe’ as a show that straddles the line between episodic and serialized drama, where viewers can watch from week to week either expecting to be thrilled only with that episode or catch a glimpse of an extended arc. As last season progressed, it seemed harder to escape that arc, something that to genre fans seemed like a good thing, unless you consider that genre fans have become the most critical of extended arcs, even as they have long championed them. Maybe ‘Fringe’ has found the best way to do such arcs, or maybe it hasn’t. Suffice to say, “Night of Desirable Objects” is an episode that does not need to be viewed to a certain extent if you are watching heavily for that arc.
FlashForward 1×1 – “No More Good Days”
September 25th, 2009
FlashForward is one of ABC’s biggest new shows. Loosely based on the novel by Robert J. Sawyer, it tells the story of a world where everyone, at the same time, blacks out for exactly 137 seconds. In that time, virtually everyone has an image of themselves six months in the future. It’s an interesting concept, but I’m here to answer one question. If we “flashforwarded” six months, what would this show’s future be?
HYGOTS No. 50
September 24th, 2009
At the start of the year I wrote about the state of Star Trek before the release of ‘Star Trek.’ Now that we all know how spectacularly successful the relaunch was at the box office, it’s a good time to reflect again, about what it now means to be a fan.
Fringe 2×1 “A New Day in the Old Town” review
September 19th, 2009
The following contains spoilers through the episode “A New Day in the Old Town,” originally broadcast 9/17/09.
Something that’s developed in recent years, which is ironic because everyone and everything seems to be going digital these days, is the annual tradition of the new TV season kicking off with mass releases of the previous season’s shows on DVD, as a kind of expensive advertisement for viewers, ostensibly to catch up with what a series has accomplished with its prior work. It can also serve as a permanent home record for fans, and I’ve got to admit, I’ve been doing it for roughly five years now. ‘Lost’ started it. The complete first season of ‘Fringe’ was released a few weeks ago, and I haven’t gotten it yet, and I only just realized last night that I’ve had a rather large incentive to anticipate this particular set: I still haven’t seen the entirety of the first episode. But it’s okay, last night, the second season premiered, and the show was in the mood to start things a little fresh. Well, like the title of the episode says.
HYGOTS No. 49
September 17th, 2009
I don’t know, you tell me: Is this the greatest time to be a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien or not? The reason I ask is, his son Christopher has recently released a second volume of recovered work, Peter Jackson finally made Lord of the Rings into an international blockbuster that won Best Picture at the Oscars, and ‘The Hobbit’ is now officially on its way for two more films. I know, I know, these modern volumes aren’t exactly the first time Tolkien’s old notes have been salvaged; in addition to a few miscellaneous collections, you’ve got ‘The Silmarillion,’ which has almost become as famous as the stories Hollywood has become so fascinated with, even if it doesn’t have such a distinctive tale to tell. Truth to tell, I’m not the first person who should be writing about any of this. I’m not the guy’s biggest fan, which isn’t to say I don’t admire and enjoy what he accomplished, but that I have no great devotion to it, either. Still, you can’t have a proper genre website without acknowledging this pillar of the modern canon.
HYGOTS No. 48
September 11th, 2009
I just spent about the last month reading three different books from Neil Gaiman. It helped that during that span, I was on vacation for two weeks of it, but it also helped that I was reading, well, Neil Gaiman. This has been a good year for the celebrated genre author. He got perhaps his most distinctive cinematic exposure in the spring when ‘Coraline’ was released to unsuspecting audiences, while his latest book for young readers, ‘The Graveyard Book,’ is still new enough where I can remember that it’s the first time I can really recall his being treated with RESPECT (reserved, of course, for those really special writers). He’s also writing the Metamorpho feature in DC’s ‘Wednesday Comics’ newsprint-sized adventures, which is a different kind of exposure altogether.
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