Category: Film and TV

Or soon, anyway.

As folks may know, Babylon 5: The Lost Tales is now being produced as a series of direct-to-DVD mini-movies. The footage for the first pair is in the can. JMS writes:

As I write this, we have finished principal photography on "Babylon 5: The Lost Tales," coming in under budget and finishing a full day ahead of schedule.

This first DVD, entitled "Voices in the Dark," covers the same 72 hour period of time as Sheridan travels on board a Presidential Cruiser en route to Babylon 5 from Minbar for a celebration marking the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Interstellar Alliance. One part of the story follows Sheridan as he picks up an unexpected visitor on the edge of Centauri space, Prince Regent Dius Vintari, and a warning about what will come afterward delivered by the techno-mage, Galen. The other part of the story is set aboard Babylon 5, as Colonel Lochley summons a priest from Earth space to deal with a problem that may have dark supernatural overtones. The two parts of the greater story intersect at certain key plot and thematic points, so that they overlap and complement each other while telling separate, but simultaneous, stories.

READ MORE ABOUT WHAT’S GOING ON AND LOOK AT THE FIRST-RELEASED PRODUCTION PHOTOS.

It was a sad day, seven years ago now, when Sci-Fi cancelled Mystery Science Theater 3000.

I was watching when Mike and the bots signed off for the last time, the credits rolled, and the haunting Love Theme From MST3K played.

Sniff.

What a great show that was. I and my college buddies had been doing the same thing in our living rooms for years (in fact, I can still annoy people riffing movies we’re watching on DVD), but this show did all the comedy work for you–so you don’t have to!

The show is too cool an idea to remain forever dormant, and it may someday make a return to the airwaves (or at least the coaxial cables).

And now the digital millennium has brought the show back! . . . almost.

In an age when TV show producers are producing podcast commentaries that you can download and listen to as you watch their shows, Mike Nelson and his pals got the idea of cutting out that expensive middleman–the TV network–and bringing their mstings straight to you!

The result is RiffTrax, a service where Mike–together with Kevin Murphy (Tom Servo) and Bill Corbett (Sci-Fi’s Crow "I’m Different!" T. Robot)–produce mp3 riff-laden commentaries that you can download and watch along with the corresponding DVD (sold separately).

They even have a few DVDs that contain the riff-track ON the DVD, including a version of one of the most-requested movies that they never got around to doing on the show: Plan 9 From Outer Space! I know I’m going to get that one.

I’m pleased as punch to see these guys (a) bringing back their hilarious movie commentaries and (b) finding a way to make some money again after all these years, so

CHECK IT OUT.
(CHT: Catholic Whiteboy)

Don’t know what we’re talking about? Missed out on all the fun?

GET EDJUMACATED.

Incidentally, Mike Nelson is an Evangelical who has a special interest in apologetics. I’ve exchanged e-mail with him before, and he seems like a real nice guy. Some of the other regulars from the show, such as Kevin Murphy and Mary Jo Pehl (Pearl Forrester) were Catholic, and Christian and Catholic themes often showed up in the commentaries (along with other, less mentionable material on occasion, but you know what Ludwig Wittgenstein said about things we can’t talk about).

I just received a review copy of the DVD release of the A & E reality series "God or the Girl," which aired a piece back.

I didn’t see it when it aired, but it got very good reviews and was widely perceived as a thoughtful, responsible look at the issue of vocations discernment (despite its rather sensationalistic title), as exemplified by the experiences of several young men trying to discern whether they might be called to the priesthood.

A lot of folks in the Catholic community praised it, and now A & E Home Video has it out on DVD, along with new bonus features that were not part of the original broadcast.

If you’re interested but haven’t seen it, or if you have seen it and would like to again, or if you’d like to give it as a present to a young man discerning his own vocation, be sure to

GET
THE SERIES.

Well, the long wait is finally over. Season 3 of Battlestar Galactica begins tonight on Sci-Fi.

Galactica’s at a new time (an hour earlier), so the lineup is as follows (Eastern & Pacific; your timezone may vary):

7:00 Heroes (a show I’ve only just discovered and don’t know much about yet, but it’s supposed to be good from what I hear)

8:00 Dr. Who (the 2nd ep of the 2nd season)

9:00 Galactica (2 hour season premier)

Events at the end of last season found the Colonials of Battlestar Galactica settled on a new homeworld, only to have the situation spoiled by the arrival of their evil robot enemies, the Cylons.

This sets up the beginning of season 3 as a "jumping-on point" for new viewers, so if you haven’t tried the series yet, you might want to.

In the gap between seasons we had the webisodes about the resistance that forms between seasons 2 and 3, all of which are now online. (Minor bad language warning.)

There’s also a recap of the story so far.

And after the end of season 2, I made a number of predictions about what would be coming up on the show.

LET’S SEE HOW WELL I DID.

I just hope that they stick with having backed off the sex, as they have of late.

The longest-running science fiction television series is–it seems hard to question—the BBC "programme" Dr. Who.

Fans of the series have followed The Doctor through all ten of his incarnations thus far, and tonight a new one begins for his American fans.

Yes, tonight on Sci-Fi the Doctor returns for another season and another incarnation of the famous time-travelling timelord.

The season debuts at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, from what I have been able to tell.

MORE DETAILS.

When Season 2 of Battlestar Galactica ended, it was announced that the new season wouldn’t be starting until October, which seemed a long way away.

Well, the time is almost upon us, and SciFi is now ramping up to the new season by releasing a set of ten webisodes that advance the story by bridging Seasons 2 and 3. (CHT to the reader who e-mailed!)

The webisodes are being released twice a week, one on Tuesday and one on Thursday at noon Eastern, and they tell the story of the developing resistance movement, chafing under Cylon rule on New Caprica. In fact, the title of the webisode series seems to be "The Resistance."

Thus far, three webisodes have been released, so there are seven more to go.

YOU CAN VIEW THEM HERE.
(minor bad language warning.)

If you need a refresher on what’s happened in the story so far or haven’t yet watched BSG,

YOU CAN GET A 3-MINUTE VIDEO RECAP HERE (WHICH ALSO HAS A PREVIEW OF SEASON 3).

Incidentally, when Season 2 finished, I made some predictions about what would happen in Season 3.

LET’S SEE HOW ACCURATE I WAS.

This post of JimmyAkin.Org is brought to you by the letter "R," the number "5," and the word "webisode."

I recently discovered that iTunes has this season’s episodes of Stargate SG1 available for download, so when I realized that I’d missed the TV airing of the 200th episode, I thought, "Man, I don’t want to wait for the DVDs on that one; I ought to download it!"

So I did.

WOW!

That has to be the most . . . what’s the term? . . . psychedelic? . . . parody-filled? . . . loony? . . . oh, heck, I don’t know. But it was the most SOMETHING episode ever.

The 200th episode–titled "200" (a number they give a meaning to within the episode itself)–is a sequel to the show’s 100th episode, which was not titled "100" but "Wormhole X-Treme!", which hilariously parodied not only Stargate SG1 itself but also the way the cable TV industry works.

This time, they go beyond that, doing parodies of, well . . .

1) Stargate SG1 itself,

2) Stargate SG1 parodying itself as Wormhole X-Treme,

3) The TV industry,

4) The movie industry,

5) Detective shows

6) Stupid efforts to revamp shows to make them younger and hipper

7) Star Wars,

8) Star Trek,

9) Farscape,

10) The Wizard of Oz, and . . . and . . .

11) a parody of something that is so BIZARRE that I’m not even going to tell you what it is so that it won’t spoil the surprise.

The last of these involves a re-envisioning of SG1’s origin that, once again, has a tongue-in-cheek return of the absolute WORST, MOST HORRIBLE, OVER-THE-TOP line EVER written in Stargate history. It originally appeared in the pilot episode and was delivered by (then) Capt. Samantha Carter. The actress who plays her–Amanda Tapping–complained so much about the line that now whenever we see an alternate version of the team’s origin (whether in another timeline or whatever) they bring back the line to mock how horrible it was.

They also (sorta) fulfill the promise to let us finally see the missing "Fifth Race," the Furlings–who we learned existed back in Season 1 and have never seen even though we’re now in Season 10. (Personally, I’m disappointed with what they did on this one, though it was funny, and I hope they fix it before the end of the current–and last–season.)

This episode, for fans of the series, is simply amazing. The amount of parody crammed into it is stunning, and they even managed to pull off a thoughtful ending (pictured, believe it or not, above).

Now, for those of you who missed the episode and don’t have iTunes . . . YouTube to the rescue!

This has to be one of the most heavily YouTubed TV episodes of a show ever, and–in fact–it seems you can watch the whole thing via YouTube:

PART ONE / PART TWO / PART THREE / PART FOUR / PART FIVE

FROM SCI-FI WIRE:

SG-1 Ends Run; Atlantis Back

SCI FI Channel confirmed that it will not renew its record-breaking original series Stargate SG-1 for another season, but will pick up its spinoff series Stargate Atlantis for a fourth year. SG-1 aired its 200th episode on Aug. 18, and the SF series is the longest-running SF show on American television.

SCI FI issued the following statement on Aug. 21: "SCI FI Channel is proud to be the network that brought Stargate SG-1 to its record-breaking 10th season. Ten seasons and 215 episodes is an astounding, Guinness World Record-setting accomplishment. Stargate is a worldwide phenomenon. Having achieved so much over the course of the past 10 years, SCI FI believes that the time is right to make this season their last on the channel. SCI FI is honored to have been part of the Stargate legacy for five years, and we look forward to continuing to explore the Stargate universe with our partners at MGM through a new season of Stargate Atlantis."

Stargate SG-1, developed for television by executive producers Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, is based on the 1994 feature film Stargate. SG-1, which originally starred Richard Dean Anderson, Michael Shanks, Amanda Tapping and Christopher Judge, began on Showtime, then moved to SCI FI after five seasons. The current cast includes Tapping, Shanks and Judge and newcomers Ben Browder, Claudia Black and Beau Bridges. It airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT [SOURCE].

CHT to the reader who e-mailed.

I’m sorry to see SG1 go, but it’s quality hasn’t been as high the last few years. I’m impressed with how well they did after Richard Dean Anderson MacGuyvered his way out of the program. The introduction this season of Vala (sp?) as a regular character was a breath of fresh air, but SG1 hasn’t been able to motivate me to tune in each week for some time (couldn’t compete with square dancing), so I’ve been catching reruns and plan on watching the last couple of seasons complete on DVD.

I’m glad that they’re keeping Atlantis around, though I don’t think that show has ever equalled SG1 when the latter was at its peak. The writing has always seemed muted, somehow, though I love the character Rodney MacKay (sp?). Perhaps with SG1 off the air, Atlantis will take off and grow the way DS9 did once TNG and B5 were off the air. The departure of the latter two shows gave DS9 the ability to cut loose and spread its wings without cramping other series, and perhaps with the whole Stargate universe to itself now, Atlantis will be able to tell stories without having to worry about stepping on SG1’s toes.

I’d be interested to see what the ratings have been for SG1 vs. Atlantis. I suspect that SG1’s are higher, but this wasn’t purely a ratings-based situation. The SG1 writers have been having a hard time making do, between franchise aging and the departure of major cast members. It does make creative sense to end the series before its scraping the bottom of the barrel (which I personally don’t think it’s at; I can imagine sci-fi a LOT worse than the current season of SG1).

There’s also something that the above press-release doesn’t mention:

This is a repositioning of where the network is putting its money. A cable network only has so much money to devote to developing new proramming, and there are only so many serieses that Sci-Fi can produce at a given time. So a major reason SG1 is being put out to pasture is to make way for a new series: Caprica. The Battlestar Galactica franchise has been so successful (it WAS able to get me to tune in weekly last season) that the network is wanting more in that mold. So what we’re watching is a pirouette between the two franchises, with the young, dynamic Galactica series taking the lead over the still-watchable but somewhat-worn-around-the-edges Stargate franchise.

It would be impolitic to say such things in a press release announcing the end of SG1, though.

Wouldn’t sit well with Stargate fans to say "We can’t produce an extra new series each week, so SG1 is going away to allow us to do Caprica."

That wasn’t the only reason for the decision, of course. The ones mentioned above were, too, and ratings decline certainly was as well. But Caprica’s arrival no doubt played a role.

Why?

Because he walked out of a disgusting Kevin Smith film in protest.

EXCERPTS:

DON’T joke about women, donkeys and bestiality if you expect Joel Siegel to watch your movie. That’s what director Kevin Smith found out when the pun-loving "Good Morning America" film critic stormed out of a press screening of Smith’s "Clerks II," which opens Friday – an act that’s sparked a vicious war of words between the two.

"Time to go!" roared Siegel to his fellow critics. "First movie I’ve walked out of in 30 [bleeping] years!" His tirade came 40 minutes into the long-awaited Weinstein Company sequel to Smith’s 1994 cult classic about two foul-mouthed Long Island convenience store clerks who razz customers and goof off.

GET THE STORY (WARNING: Disgusting subject matter clinically discussed.)

Shame on Kevin Smith, too, for his disgraceful and BLEEP-filled response to Mr. Siegel.

And for making such disgusting trash to begin with.

Just got these in the mail, and I can’t wait to watch them (though at the moment I’m still making my way through the new Doctor Who season that was just released).

For those of you who missed it, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. was a 1993 TV series that blended two of my favorite things . . . the Old West and science-fiction. Two great things that go great together (sometimes . . . like this time . . . or Firefly).

(It also blended in some of my other favorite things, like humor and action and romance and whiskers on kittens and brown paper packages tied up with string . . . well, maybe not the last couple.)

I didn’t see the series when it was on the air (because Fox’s advertisements for it make it look a lot more salacious than it actually is), but I discovered it in reruns on TNT and really enjoyed it.

Unlike many of the series on the air back then, it had a definite story arc spanning the entire season (I just love big story arcs) with significant character evolution a surprises as the story evolves. In fact, the main character, Brisco County Jr. (played by Bruce Campbell) starts the series as an ex-Harvard law professor turned bounty hunter to being the agent of 19th century robber barons who want him to track down the gang that killed his father to being a secret agent for the government.

Along the way we run across mysterious orbs from the future that give people superpowers (or kill them), evil robots, neurotic outlaws, a 19th century version of Elvis, Comet the Wonder Horse, and a bunch of anachronistic humor (before Hercules and Xena made it popular)–all of it fitting into a single, overarching Wild West saga.

And then there’s the show’s great theme music, which just makes you feel like it’s a warm, hopeful new day on the range, where anything can happen . . . and will.

Unfortunately, Fox aired the show in the Friday Night Death Slot and it didn’t get picked up for a second season.

Fortunately, the show’s creators did a rousing two-part season finale that tied up all the outstanding plot threads, so it works well as a season-long miniseries.

It took Warner Brothers FOREVER (13 years!) to release it on DVD, but now that it’s out you can

GET THE ADVENTURE!