But does there really need to be a new “reimagined” comic series based on Galactica 1980? I didn’t even know this series — which begins next month — existed until a few minutes ago when I read a post at io9 about the current popularity of remakes and rehashes and reinterpretations and continuations on television, at the movie theater and in print. I’ll admit that I’m excited about the upcoming miniseries based on Jericho. And I’d pay any price for a comic book continuation of Earth 2.

But Galactica 1980?

Maybe that’s what prospective astronauts would really do, I don’t know. I do know that the episode didn’t need to waste twenty minutes introducing the patches, setting up the competition and carrying out the competition.

I’m much more interested in the main story line that takes place aboard the Antares (in the present) involving the mysterious Beta that may or may not be an alien from Venus. Unfortunately, last night’s episode didn’t move forward nearly enough for my liking. We’re getting glimpses of what could be a very interesting tale. But the soap opera elements of Defying Gravity overshadow everything. I’ve seen the show compared to both Lost and Grey’s Anatomy, two other ABC shows I watch and enjoy. The comparisons to both are more or less valid: the flashbacks and mysteries of Lost coupled with the sex and drama of Grey’s Anatomy.

The way I see it, Defying Gravity would work much better if it chose one of these shows to emulate rather than attempting to merge the two. Either make it a straight soap opera in space or a serious, complicated drama in space. I am interested in learning more about Beta and why “it” is changing the DNA of those aboard the Antares (and at least one person back on Earth). More importantly, I’d like to know why the ISO is going along with Beta’s demands.

I can’t see Defying Gravity running longer than its initial 13 episodes. Which means it will probably end on a cliffhanger given that it is supposed to take the Antares six years to get to Venus. Would the show have worked better as a self-contained miniseries? Maybe. But again, if it insisted on straddling Lost and Grey’s Anatomy, even a miniseries with a definitive end wouldn’t have been all that much better than what we’re seeing.

I haven’t actually watched a lot of fan productions. There was one Star Wars fan film involving a bounty hunter, I believe, that I enjoyed. And Sandy Collora Batman: Dead End was incredible. I’ve also watched an episode, or at least portions of an episode, of some of the Star Trek fan series: Starship Exeter, Star Trek: Hidden Frontier and Star Trek: New Voyages/Phase II. The acting in the videos I watched was amateurish but some of the sets were quite accurate. Many of the costumes, though, seemed a step below what you can buy in stores.

It has been years since I watched any of these, so for all I know they could have improved drastically. Still, I wonder why there haven’t been more animated fan films or fan series. How does the time and expense of putting together a half-hour animated episode compare to a half-hour live-action episode? I assume animation is quite time consuming but the expense I can’t even guess at. Aside from Starship Farragut: The Animated Episodes the only other animated fan production I’m aware of is Star Trek Aurora, a four-part computer-animated production. Three of the four parts are available online but, not surprisingly, I haven’t found the time to watch any of them.

So what are your thoughts on fan productions? Do you eagerly await each new episode/installment the way you would a traditional television show? Can you look past the production values and just sit back and enjoy the ride? Are there other animated fan films/series based on any property, not just Star Trek? Hit the comments.

Plus, IDW Publishing has a pair of comic miniseries planned that will continue the story of the movie. Are you interested?

Recall that IDW has already published one four-issue miniseries, Star Trek: Countdown, a prequel to Star Trek (2009) that was also connected to the universe of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Starting in July, the company will release Spock: Reflections, another four-issue miniseries that will follow up on Countdown and detail Spock’s life after the events in the two-part Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Unification.” TrekMovie has a preview online.

In August, IDW begins another miniseries, Star Trek: Nero, which is set during Star Trek (2009) and will explain what Nero was up to during the gaps in the movie. A subplot involving Nero being captured by Klingons was cut (it will be available on DVD/Blu-ray). TrekMovie reports in a preview that the miniseries will be based on the shooting script but will also expand on what was shown in those deleted scenes.

When Countdown was announced I planned on reading it but didn’t pick up the first issue. I then planned on buying the trade paperback collection before going to see Star Trek (2009). I still haven’t read the miniseries. And I don’t plan on reading either of the new IDW miniseries. I do hope to eventually see the deleted scenes from the movie but I don’t have interest in Star Trek: Nero. And I certainly don’t see any need to learn about what Spock was doing before he went back in time.

Hit the comments with your thoughts on these upcoming comics. Do you plan on running out and buying each issue as it is released?

Here’s a scene from last week’s episode. It’s a bit of a shocker at the end and will spoil the episode if you haven’t seen it.

Did you catch that? There’s. Someone. On. The. Roof. It’s almost as cliche as the phone call coming from inside the house.

I’m trying to remember which characters are alive without referring to an Internet source for fear of being spoiled. Abby (played by Elaine Cassidy) is still kicking as are the bride (played by Katie Cassidy) and groom (played by Christopher Gorham). And the bride’s sister and her daughter and the British guy and his girlfriend. And two of the groom’s friends. Oh, and Abby’s townie friend/bartender.

But the bride’s father is dead, as is her stepmother. So are the groom’s uncle, cousin and brother, plus two of his groomsmen. At least two bridesmaids bit the dust. Not to mention the poor sheriff. And the minister, the wedding planner, three deputies, the bride’s ex-boyfriend, one or more townies and probably a few more characters I’ve forgotten.

At first, when there were too many characters to keep track of, each new death wasn’t all that shocking. As the series progressed and the body count rose, I actually starting worrying about the remaining characters. I didn’t think the groom’s brother would be killed and I certainly expected the sheriff to survive. His death was perhaps the most gruesome in that he obviously knew he was going to die and knew there was nothing he could do about it.

I’m trying to keep my expectations low because it seems increasingly unlikely that the finale can deliver a compelling ending. I just don’t see how the killer can be revealed as one of the surviving characters. And if the killer is some random stranger, what’s the point? There’s supposed to be a mystery to Harper’s Island and it seems to me that the mystery aspect has been downplayed in favor of gore.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Sounds weird, right?

FOX decided against picking up the pilot but for some reason it is being broadcast as a standalone movie. Whether or not it will end with a cliffhanger remains to be seen. It’s possible the ending was altered to allow for a satisfactory conclusion. James Poniewozik has written a rather glowing review of the pilot for TIME.com, calling it “sweepingly ambitious, thought-provoking and visually well-imagined.” It is not without its flaws, however, and he suggests that the reality angle is unnecessary.

Like Poniewozik, I’m surprised that FOX deemed the pilot worthy of being broadcast but not being turned into a weekly series. It’s likely that the themes Moore attempted to address in Battlestar Galactica (with varying degrees of success, depending on who you ask) simply aren’t what FOX was looking for.

Although I was critical of Battlestar Galactica during its last two seasons, and felt that the finale was a huge disappointment, I’ll be watching Virtuality tonight. It’s only two hours out of my life, after all, and if I don’t like it I don’t ever have to think about it again. But who knows. Maybe it will be as brilliant as the first season of Battlestar Galactica.

These are real stories and real people with real concerns.

We get it, Lou, it’s going to be REAL. Perhaps the most telling comment comes from Brian J. Smith:

“It’s gonna have a different look, it’s gonna have a different feel, it’s gonna be written differently.

In other words, it won’t be anything like Stargate: SG-1 or Stargate: Atlantis.

Of course, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’ll admit that by the third season of Stargate: Atlantis I was sensing a little stagnation on the part of the writers. Shaking things up for Stargate: Universe may be just what the franchise needs. Except for the pesky fact that Stargate: Atlantis apparently wasn’t cancelled because of low ratings. SCI FI just didn’t want it anymore. The same could be said for Stargate: SG-1, though.

Apparently, what SCI FI (which will be going by the name SY FY by the time the new show gets on the air this fall) wants is a Battlestar Galactica clone. Having the Battlestar Galactica prequel — Caprica — on the air just won’t be enough. It needs, in the words of Lou Diamond Phillips, a “sexier, grittier” Stargate series. Judging from the various teasers that have been released so far, that’s just what Stargate: Universe will deliver.

Whether it will deliver viewers is a question that won’t be answered until sometime this fall when the series premieres. I’ll be watching the three-hour (!) premiere and there’s always the chance it will surprise me. But I’m not hopeful.

But the similarities between the two franchises don’t end with disgruntled fans.

Land of the Lost

Both Star Trek and Land of the Lost were originally broadcast on NBC; Star Trek ran from 1966 to 1969 in prime time and Land of the Lost from 1974 to 1977 on Saturday mornings. Several episodes of Land of the Lost were written by David Gerrold, who also wrote “The Trouble with Tribbles” for Star Trek. Other Star Trek alum involved with Land of the Lost include D.C. Fontana and Walter Koenig.

Like Star Trek, Land of the Lost would spawn a television spin-off decades after going off the air. From 1991 to 1992 a new version aired on ABC in which a new family (the Porters) found themselves stuck in the Land of the Lost. This might be hearsay to some, but I must confess that the 1990s version of Land of the Lost is my favorite.

I didn’t watch the 1990s Land of the Lost when it was first aired. I caught it in repeats during the mid-1990s on Nickelodeon. At the time I didn’t know about the original version. Several years later I read about it in People magazine. Soon I was reading everything I could find on the Internet about the 1970s version. When a sampler of four episodes was released on DVD I was excited to finally see this earlier incarnation of one of my favorite childhood shows.

Run! It's the Sleestak! Ssssss!

Unfortunately, I couldn’t sit through a single episode. It was painful to watch. The special effects were awful, the acting wooden and the dialogue corny and over-the-top. I put the DVD away and never looked at it again. That was in 2004. Last week, to help promote the new movie, SCI FI Channel aired a daylong marathon of Land of the Lost (on Monday, May 25th). I decided to give the show another shot. I was soon hooked. I watched eight episodes that day and and thirteen more during the next two days.

The special effects are still awful and much of the dialogue corny and over-the-top. But I now have a better appreciation for the acting. Admittedly, some of the episodes during the third season were pretty bad. I do still have the second half of the first season to watch and from what I’ve read the best episodes of the series are yet to come. It’s amazing the way the first six episodes of the first season flow together, with references to events in earlier episodes and even some foreshadowing (Holly’s fear of heights, for example). I can’t wait to watch the first season finale (“Circle”).

Kathy Coleman as Holly Marshall

I haven’t seen any episodes of the 1990s version of Land of the Lost since 1995 or 1996. The series has never been released on DVD. I’ve always been afraid to watch shows I loved as a kid through adult eyes. The one time I did it was a terrible experience (for the record, it was an episode of Fraggle Rock). I don’t want to ruin the fond memories of have of watching Land of the Lost as a kid.

But now, after giving the 1970s version a second chance I’m hopeful to one day be able to watch the 1990s version again and still appreciate and enjoy it. The way I understand it, fans of the 1970s version aren’t fond of the 1990s version. But there’s no reason I can’t like both. And who knows, maybe I’ll like the movie too if/when I see it.

As of today I’ve seen 29 of the 43 episodes and have the rest recorded to watch later. The entire first season is available at Hulu.com for people in the United States through November 25th. Plus, the complete series has just been re-released on DVD. For those who are disgusted at the way the new movie changes the premise of the original show, perhaps the advice I had for those disgusted at Star Trek (2009) can be of some use.

Grumpy and Big Alice bellow and battle

No matter how Will Ferrell and the new movie fare at the box office, whether the movie is a huge success or a dismal failure, your memories and the 43 episodes of the 1970s version of Land of the Lost still exist, untouched and untarnished (just like all the previous Star Trek movies and television shows). Think of the movie as a new take on the franchise, not a replacement or a remake.

And what an audience we found: passionate, intelligent, kind of nuts in a good way. My only complaint about the T:SCC fans is that there aren’t ten million of them. But I prefer to be happy for the ones we had instead of lamenting the ones we didn’t.

[...]

Thanks to a brave and talented cast, a feature crew working on a TV schedule, and everyone else who I could list but won’t because they know who they are. Mostly I’d like to thank those of you who’ve supported us and fought for us and given up hours of your life to watch our show. At the end of the day, that’s what it’s about. The watching.

Finally, the futon critic has some quotes from FOX entertainment chief Kevin Reilly about the cancellation:

“‘Terminator’ has completed its run,” FOX entertainment chief Kevin Reilly told reporters in a conference call this morning. “And I think it had a nice little run. It was a good show. It was not [a question of keeping either 'Dollhouse' or 'Terminator']. We did see it tailing off a bit. It had a nice creative core, but ultimately we made the bet on ‘Dollhouse’ for the night. We had some other shows we thought would make a better profile for the night. So that’s it for ‘Terminator.’”

Judging from the response we’ve had here at Lower Decks there are going to be a lot of unhappy people. Our poll asking if Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles should get a third season drew 111 responses (a record!) and 95 of them said yes. Unfortunately for them, it just wasn’t meant to be.

Still, the show is surprisingly entertaining if watching ditzy blondes fall into holes and be lit on fire is your kind of thing. Here’s a trailer courtesy of CBS.com:

The reason there wasn’t an open discussion for the latest episode, “Thwack,” is because I didn’t think CBS aired an episode this past weekend. It turns out I was off by a week. This coming Saturday, May 16th, Harper’s Island is being pre-empted in favor of a repeat of The Mentalist. But the following week, on May 23rd, it will be back with its sixth episode. If the ending of “Thwack” was any indication the show is going to be getting good and gory.

One of the complaints I’ve raised about the show thus far is that there are too many characters and many of them look the same. Especially the blonde bridesmaids, one of whom fell into a hole and was lit on fire. And nobody noticed. Other characters have been cut in half, decapitated, shot in the face, sliced apart by the propellers of a boat. Oh, and that one guy shot himself in the leg and bled to death. And presumably, Thomas Wellington (the bride’s father) had some sort of sharp metal thing fall on his head during the rehearsal ceremony. Ouch.

I’ll admit that many of the subplots aren’t very interesting. And it’s really a pity that Elaine Cassidy, who plays Abby Mills (and is not related to Katie Cassidy who plays Trish Wellington), can’t use her native Irish accent. What a shame. On a totally unrelated note, co-executive producer Karim Zreik has a wonderful blog at Television Without Pity where he discusses the production of each episode.

Finally, I defy anyone to watch the following scene and tell me you’re not the least bit intrigued to see more:

If you are interested in catching up on Harper’s Island you can watch full episodes here.