Tag Archives: TV
Family Guy (Voices Behind The Scenes)
Posted on 22 Feb 2009 in Pop Culture
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Family Guy – Chicken Fight Two
Posted on 08 Feb 2009 in Pop Culture
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Family Guy – Chicken Fight Three
Posted on 08 Feb 2009 in Pop Culture
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Tim Minchin – Greed (Balsa Wood & Glue)
Posted on 07 Feb 2009 in Music
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Family Guy – Stewie Beats Brian
Posted on 06 Feb 2009 in Pop Culture
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The Top Ten Things You Need to Know
Posted on 09 Jan 2009 in Science Fiction
The final 10 episodes of Galactica kick-off 16th January. Can’t wait! Here’s some recaps of previous seasons and previews of the final eps:
New television Sci-Fi round-up for 2005 (part one)
Posted on 30 Sep 2005 in Pop Culture, Science Fiction
Warning, spoilers ahead. Really enjoying the new US TV season featuring a whole raft of new sci-fi shows and season two returns of other favourites. First, we can’t go past mentioning the excellent Battlestar Galactica, easily the best sci-fi in years. Season 2 is panning out very nicely with lots of political intrigue, plots and plenty of Cylon spies in the fleet. The most recent episode (2×10) was the first of a two parter where the colonial fleet comes across the previously thought to be destroyed Battlestar Pegasus where the Admiral seems to have gone a little screwy. I seem to recall a Pegasus related story in the original series, but I can’t remember how it panned out. Excellent show anyway, I can’t recommend BSG more highly, even if West Wing is more your thing to sci-fi, you’ll still like it.
I’ve been a little late getting into The 4400, the first season was only 5 episodes, but after rushing through it last week in time for Sky One starting into season 2, I’m well into it. The premise of The 4400 is good: 4,400 supposedly alien abductees return with a variety of special powers all aimed at a specific purpose, which turns out to be saving the human race from extinction in the future. It turns out they were taken into the future by humans not aliens and then seeded back into the time-line to perform various tasks with their powers, positions, destiny etc. This leaves room for lots of different stories with 4,400 characters to choose from. I did feel the underlying mystery of the show was revealed to early, but I guess they had to do that to get a second season through otherwise it just looks like another Lost or X-Files where you have to invest a lot of time to see where the multi-season story arcs are going (usually nowhere).
Bones is the new David Boreanz (Angel from Buffy and Angel) series, its basically a rip on CSI and Mulder and Scully, the premise, he an FBI agent and she a expert in analysing skeletons, will get tired very quickly, I couldn’t even make it through the pilot. Especially when they bought out the 3D holo imager and apparently reconstructed the person from the bones.. Just lame.
Supernatural is a sort of Buffy, but with two blokes, seems the story is going build around these two fighting evil with long arc of looking for their missing father who also fights evil. Certainly a slick show, it has potential although it could drag and is more aimed at your teen Smallville audience, definitely not for me.
Threshold has potential, although sometimes its a bit cheesy in execution. The premise looks to be an unseen extra terrestrial entity attempting to colonise Earth by rewriting human DNA in its own image. Basically an X-Files without the hidden conspiracies and the FBI replaced with Homeland Security, the new big bad powerful domestic agency appearing in all the US shows since the FBI dropped from prominence recently thanks to Bush driven security paranoia. Interestingly Brannon Bragga (ex Star Trek producer) is behind this and the cast includes Brent Spiner (Data) reprising his mad scientist role from ID4 or Dr Noonien Soong (take your pic).
Lost Season 2 kicked off nicely with them going down the hatch that dominated Locke for a lot of the last season. My theory is that Desmond, the bloke in the hatch is a victim of the numbers like the other bloke and locked himself down there to both study the numbers and also to protect others from circumming to their curse.
Is it wrong to be intrigued by the UK Buffy rip-off Hex? I’ve only seen one episode, weak script although I need sometime to get into the Hex universe I’d say, but a hot cast with lots of sexual undertones, just what you want in a Brit supernatural drama.
Still a few other genre shows to look at including Ghost Whisperer. Its quite amazing how many X-Filesish show have emerged this season, is the resurgence driven by the success of Lost? Or a sudden trend in trying to grab back the massive X-Files, Buffy and Trek audiences of years past.
Doctor Who is great!
Posted on 26 Mar 2005 in Science Fiction
Just watched the first episode of the new series on BBC1. It’s a little cheesy, but that’s part of fun right? Good stuff. Sure it might not be the next Buffy, but it’ll do. Christopher Eccleston was definitely the right choice as the Doctor. Good to see lots of London in the first episode too! 
Battlestar Galactica continues.. while the rest flounder
Posted on 25 Feb 2005 in Science Fiction
Good news from Ron Moore’s Blog: “So it’s official: we’re doing a second season.” BSG will have to make up for the disappointment of all the other genre shows, Enterprise has been cancelled unfortunately, Lost is getting bloody boring, Point Pleasant isn’t really pulling me in, and Sea of Souls is dull. Doctor Who is getting very close to release, I hope that’ll be good. For a while there it looked like the TV execs were really getting sci-fi, but things seem to be going bad again with poorly planned or rushed story arcs, and in the case of Lost, a fantastic build up in the first few episodes that has gone absolultely no where by episode 15.
http://blog.scifi.com/battlestar/archives/2005/02/index.html#a000020
The Apprentice (UK)
Posted on 21 Feb 2005 in Pop Culture
Started last week on BBC TWO, first episode was good:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/apprentice/
BBC Dragons’ Den
Posted on 31 Jan 2005 in Pop Culture
Really enjoying BBC Dragons’ Den. Budding entrepreneurs come in and pitch their business ideas to five investors in the hope of funding a startup. There’s a real mix of proposals, some crazy, some promising. It’s great to watch the pitch and the drilling afterwards. Time is limited, the entrepreneurs have to make both a personal impression on the investors to secure their trust as potential business partners, as well as having an idea that’ll fly. One, any or all of the investors can invest. As the investors have different backgrounds and business interests not all good ideas are picked up by all the investors. They must get the full amount they’re seeking for investment to get anything, if one investor only puts up half the cash and none of the others pitch-in, the entrepreneur gets nothing.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/
Galactica
Posted on 26 Nov 2004 in Science Fiction
Finally, some sci-fi worth watching. I love the new Battlestar Galactica series. I’ve been watching the Sky One episodes in the UK and finally got around to ordering the mini-series shot last year so I could catchup on the back story in this re-make. Okay, so I’m ten months behind there, but I’m kind of glad I was able to jump straight into the TV series without the nervous wait to see if the network decided to pickup the show.
The Cylons are much meaner, the situation for the species more desperate, and the re-jig of the plot where the humans were the actual creators of Cylons who then revolted against there masters is actually very good. The first episode of the TV series where the entire fleet have to make a faster than light (FTL) jump every 33 minutes to avoid getting destroyed by Cylons created a level of tension I haven’t felt in a sci-fi show for ages. Full marks, BSG rocks! I hope it goes well beyond the 13 episodes currently ordered.
http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/
Adverts jolt smokers into action
Posted on 02 Nov 2004 in General
That heart wrenching Anthony Hicks UK anti-smoking ad seems to be having a good effect. I wonder how the My House ad for road safety is going, not as shocking of course, but very well done.
The Amazing Race Season 5
Posted on 10 Aug 2004 in Pop Culture
Only a couple of episodes in so far, loving it already. The Amazing Race really is the ultimate reality show. They’ve got a good mix again too, with the requisite teams that you can’t help liking, and the others that you can’t help hating. Great stuff!
‘B5′ Creator Pitches ‘Trek’
Posted on 04 Jul 2004 in Science Fiction
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2004-06/21/10.00.tv
Berman Talks Enterprise Future
Posted on 12 May 2004 in Science Fiction
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2004-05/11/10.00.tv
Doctor Who exhibition closing down
Posted on 30 Sep 2003 in Science Fiction
Looks like I might need to squeeze a day into my busy study schedule in October to visit the Doctor Who exhibition at Longleat before it closes down on 2nd November. We should have gone weeks ago while we in the Wiltshire area visiting Stonehenge. There’s also another Doctor Who Exhibition in Llangollen, North Wales, apparently closing down at the end of the year as well. I doubt we’ll make it to North Wales before the end of the year. Pity.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/news/drwho/2003/09/24/6992.shtml
Grand Slam
Posted on 06 Sep 2003 in Pop Culture
Channel 4 has a great quiz show called Grand Slam. It’s considerably more watchable than many other quiz shows as the incredibly smart contestants and are placed under considerable pressure by several one minute rounds standing face-to-face with their opponent. One minute worth of questions on Grand Slam is equivalent to entire episode of Who Wants To be a Millionaire. Some of the contestants are just amazing, they’re extremely cool under pressure, able to recall obscure information repeatedly on a diverse range of subjects in seconds. Watching the maths rounds are the best though, with contestants performing reasonably tricky calculations that I’d have to do on paper, in their heads in under 2 seconds.
http://www.channel4.co.uk/entertainment/tv/microsites/G/grandslam/index.html
Dr Who returns for 40th
Posted on 08 Aug 2003 in Science Fiction
After years and years of lobbying by Australian fans, it looks like ABC is re-running all 700 episodes of Dr Who from September! I think I’ll have to move back to Australia! Perhaps it’s time to invest in a DVD recorder as BBC will never release all 700 episodes on DVD. Thanks for the heads up Graham.
http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,6864369,00.html
Dr Who tour of England
Posted on 07 Aug 2003 in Science Fiction
5 day tour taking in a number of locations of interest from various Dr Who episodes. Excellent!
http://www.discoverbritishislestravel.com/specials.htm#drwho
She saved the world, a lot
Posted on 01 Jun 2003 in Science Fiction
Few tidbits from this weekends SMH article on the passing of Buffy:
The Toronto Star lamented the end of a “multi-dimensional, deeply recessed and densely layered mythology … that could engage both supernatural escapism and earthly social constructs such as friendship, love, power, religion and free will”.
Jana Riess, the religion editor for the US-based Publishers Weekly, is writing a self-help book called What Would Buffy Do? A Vampire Slayer as Spiritual Guide. “Whedon may call himself an atheist,” she says, “but Buffy deals with profoundly religious themes. It serves as a strong moral example most of the time.”
There’s 487,000 Buffy and 373,000 Angel viewers in Australia with the dominant group being females aged 25-39.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/05/30/1054177723260.html
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