Voder-Vocoder

Saw today that Battlestar Galactica “Razor” was nominated for the 2008 Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. I wouldn’t call a 104 minute film “short,” even if the abridged version premired on TV before it was released on DVD. I also noticed that I still hadn’t watched it, even though the Netflix DVD was sitting on my desk.

So I watched it. Four nested flashbacks. Yeah, I’d vote for it, were I a voter. Although I did like “Blink.”

What I’m watching on TV these days:

Lost
ABC / Wednesdays 9ET/8CT

I started watching this in the third season, after watching the first two seasons on DVD via Netflix. I’m not sure if the third season is going to be good or not. My favorite episodes is still the pilot.

My biggest issue with this type of series is that the writers set up mysteries that are so curious that a reasonable explanation is almost impossible. So they either remain unresolved or are resolved in an unsatisfying way.

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Battlestar Galactica
SciFi / Fridays 9ET/8CT

Going into the third season, a lot has changed in the show, preventing the writers from writing the sort of formulaic episodes that are the norm in most space operas. Maybe they’ve jumped the shark, but probably they’ve succeeded in sustaining the feeling of hopelessness and defeat that has defined the series since the Cylons launched a nuclear attack on the Twelve Colonies.

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The Venture Bros.
Adult Swim / Sundays 10:30ET/9:30CT

Adult Swim cartoons range from mind-numbing to somewhat entertaining, with a few exceptions. The Venture Bros is one that I consistently download if I miss an episode. As I’ve mentioned before, this is a show that I should dislike, since there isn’t a single character I admire. The shows main theme, failure, does tend to resonate:

Perhaps more telling, however, is the sense of societal failure. All around the Venture Compound one sees the artifacts of the Jet / Space Age — supersonic nuclear-powered jets, fantastic inventions and gleaming science. But, forty years later, those Jet Age relics are breaking down, and their promises (as well as the paradise that science and technology were to have ushered in) have all been broken. There is perhaps no better symbol of this than Gargantua One, a gigantic space station built by Doctor Jonas Venture, who dubbed it “the ninth wonder of the world”. Intended to be a beacon of scientific advancement and hope for the future, by the present day the station has become completely abandoned except for two astronauts, a sex-starved Romanian woman with a disfigured face and an emasculated, middle-aged virgin. The station has fallen into disrepair, breaking down from only minor complications, and eventually crashes into Earth and explodes (ironically killing numerous members of Al Qaeda; the station’s only success was a result of its being a failure). [source]

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Dean: THEY’RE HERE!!

Hank: Dude, sit down! We have to play it cool. Observe how I scope out my mystery date whilst I pretend to look at my watch- Holy moley, look at my date! She’s a super villain! Possibly a medusa. Dean, I am not kidding. She has rope for hair and a shiny costume! Aw, not fair, she’s wearing goggles! Told ya she would dig my Batman suit, but no!

“No, Dean, this is Guild business, your father isn’t in any harm. Guild work is clean, professional. It’s surgical with them. In a way they’re the only organization I still respect.”

I watched through all of The Venture Brothers this week. It was possibly better the second time. I’m not sure why I like it so much; it’s kinda like The Tick, but more adult.

Aquired and watched the complete Sealab 2021 this week. <<Vs nalbar jnagf n pbcl yrg zr xabj.>> Not sure why I bother, the show’s humor is not laugh-out-loud quality. But it puts a smile on my face; is better than 90% of what’s on TV.

Is better than 99% of what’s on broadcast TV, anyways.

Young man, you speak so well!

I enjoyed the show.

Recently, I’ve noticed a trend in TV scifi. Helmets on pressure suits don’t have headlamps on the outside, they have lamps on the inside of the helmet, illuminating the face.

This makes sense from a TV point of view: You can tell who is in the suit. But in reality, a bright light inside the suit would turn the faceplate into a mirror. The actors can’t see a thing.

I found torrents of new Doctor Who episodes here.

Awsome! I just looked at the TV schedule for tominght. The episode of Nova that is just starting about Archimedes’ Methods. Forget leaving the house tonight.

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For the third time in two years, Jonathan Woodward has been killed. He plays the characters that you really love to hate. I no longer feel sad when he dies, because I know that he’ll show up somewhere again and die again.