Hmmm, a thought occurs... for once the fortunes of science fiction on either TV or the movies seems to be on a cautious upswing.
Consider:
The upside:
Star Trek : Enterprise seems to have a new producer and has both its episode count and budget reduced. (According to trektoday anyways) Thus, we've got a bit of a carrot and the stick situation going. Hopefully, we'll get some better writing and if we don't it gets cancelled freeing up a lot of room for other competitors. If it does both....well at least ST will end on a high note.
Battlestar Galactica: This is in production and hopefully it will avoid the traps and pitfalls that Andromeda walked into (and rolled around several times on). I'm at least mildly hopeful because the two pseudo-lead characters (Adama and Roslin) have actors with some sense of dignity ... plus Ron Moore seems to have a pretty good understanding about the pitfalls of ST: Voyager.
Stargate SG-1/Atlantis: Pretty remarkable story-telling and longevity, considering what I initially thought was a pretty limited premise.
Firefly BDM/Serenity: Now, I would have given up anything else on this list for Firefly to be on tv....but beggars can't be choosers. Getting a movie is pretty damn remarkable for a show that only had 14 episodes before it got cancelled and they have the whole cast back too....plus its in production
B5: The Memory of Shadows: While I'm pretty skeptical about Babylon 5 in theatres. Hell, I have to be amusied by the thought of my favorite TV show still kicking around. The problem is that B5s main advantage was its long and well-planned story...both which do not translate well to the big screen. Interestingly enough, TMoS seems to already have some adjunct in development... oh and Rising Stars (the comic) finally looks like its going to be finished.
Farscape: There's already a thread on this, and since I don't know much about it...blah. I only mention it because that makes three (!) dead shows (Firefly, B5, Farscape) that have been resurrected, seemlingly from sheer force of will.
HGT2G movie: Well, the writer seems like a pretty smart guy. We can always hope...
The downside:
The Matrix was pretty much a failiure and deservedly so. Jeremiah seems to have vanished from the face of the earth (and its a pity too, given the non-presence of post-apocalyptic shows....considering the number of movies that like to depict the end of the world)
We also have to survive the horror of SWIII and I, Robot (which looks like a damn big departure from the books)
In all, the current state doesn't look *too* bad considering how crummy it looked say 6 months ago. (No Firefly, B5, Farscape)
Finally, we have Sliders (1,2 seasons), Futurama (4th season), and even Harsh Realm coming out on DVD in August.
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
Isn't Jeremiah still being aired on TMN?
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
Mmmm... Kari Wuhrer. But, she didn't show up until Sliders season 3, did she?
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Kari and her breasts showed up in the middle of season 3.
I'd consider getting seasons 1 and 2... Those were the only good ones, really.
Mark
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
Where they seperate entities?
I've forgotten enough of Sliders to most likely find it amusing. If the price is low enough, I may just buy it.
Posted by JC Ultra Magnus (Member # 239) on :
I would much rather have My Secret Identity on DVD.
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
quote:We also have to survive the horror of SWIII and I, Robot (which looks like a damn big departure from the books)
Well at least we already have Bicentennial Man, which felt much more closer to Isaac Asimov's (ironic initials, no?) original material and was a pretty entertaining movie, despite being largly overlooked.
And who cares about Sliders? I lost interest in that after about 10 episodes, which says allot considering I gave Andromeda the benefit of the doubt all the way upto the end of the first season.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :
quote:Originally posted by Topher: Isn't Jeremiah still being aired on TMN?
AFAIK, Jeremiah was put on indefinite hiatus after second season. Its effectively cancelled.
Yeah.....I wouldn't suggest watching much of Sliders after Arturo dies and is replaced by Wuhrer. But I'm definitely going to get seasons 1,2 because the show did have a pretty interesting premise and out of sheer nostalgic value Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
I, Robot (which looks like a damn big departure from the books)
It is an abomination unto my sight. And the writer is doing Foundation, too. I'm just dying to see how he'll screw THAT up.
Posted by JC Ultra Magnus (Member # 239) on :
He totally used spray cans to fly.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
Actually, the Arturo that died wasn't even the "real" Arturo, was it? I thought that the Arturo from the same Earth as Quinn got left behind and switched with an alternate Arturo in one ep. None of the heros knew it and it was never discovered or brought up again, I don't think.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Yeah, the real Arturo found out he was terminally ill or something and stayed behind (in a reality that was pretty, uh, non-alternate for an alternate reality, at that). Which is where I quit watching the whole sorry mess, so I'm blissfully in the dark as to what happened after that.
Posted by JC Ultra Magnus (Member # 239) on :
And he hung out in that guy's garage.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
I thought that they never said which Arturo went with the gang in "Post Traumatic Slide Syndrome" (I can't believe I remember the episode title). Trome said that he was going to reveal it at some point, but he left the show...
Posted by JC Ultra Magnus (Member # 239) on :
Did he have a name? The scientist was named Dr. Benjamin Jeffcoat, I think. ULTRAMAN. That was it.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
In later episodes, I think the guy learned to fly without using the spraycans. Ahh, good Canadian TV, this was.
Mark
Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :
quote:Originally posted by PsyLiam: I thought that they never said which Arturo went with the gang in "Post Traumatic Slide Syndrome" (I can't believe I remember the episode title). Trome said that he was going to reveal it at some point, but he left the show...
That was my general impression as well. I've read speculation that it was the "wrong" Arturo that slide, which explained his increase in wanting to be left behind (that and the disease) ... but nothing conclusive.
Mark: My guest spot on Scrubs?
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
The only thing I remember that pointed to the wrong Arturo sliding with them was that the one that got left behind got knocked down or something, missed the slide, then looked up after the wormhole closed and said, "Oh no...". I always took that to mean that he was the real one and knew a complete stranger had just slid with the group.
Posted by Nim the Fanciful (Member # 205) on :
And they never resolved that or got him home? That's the worst "leaving a plot thread dangling" I've heard since the final episode of "The Pretender".
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Oh, the whole plotline was screwed up by the end. Maybe they'd have had increasingly obvious hints that 'their' Arturo didn't come from the same original universe as them. Maybe he'd have eventually been eliminated somehow - perhaps he even became a good guy at the end - paving the way for the recovery of the original.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Wasn't that kind of what happened? Didn't Arturo sacrifice himself to save Quinn?
Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :
Well
quote: As a final jab at John, the writer's offered to make a story by John named "Exodus" into his final episode. The problem was that the writers so radically changed it that you can barely recognize it. It was one final way to show John just who knew what they were doing. Also, it is often said that you can tell when production holds much animosity to an actor's departure...because the writers kill the character in a horrible way or give some other type of horrible fate. Well, Professor Arturo had his brains sucked out, was then shot, and lastly left on a planet that *blew up*. I believe it's easy to see I'm not exaggerating on the hate that led to this firing of John.
There's a lot more info about the behind the scenes goings on and why various writers left here http://www.dimensionofcontinuity.com/bts.htm Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
Yah, whichever Arturo it was, he ended up being a decent guy.
So... what happened at the end of Pretender? I don't think I ever saw the last episode. Ms. Parker was hot though.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Dimension of Continuity.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
Say what now?
Posted by Nim the Fanciful (Member # 205) on :
Aban Rune: "So... what happened at the end of Pretender? I don't think I ever saw the last episode. Ms. Parker was hot though."
Ms. Parker's wife-killing dad died at one point in the ep (I think), the building Ms. Parker and shaved oxygen-tube-guy worked in started exploding, and the whole episode ended with Ms. Parker, Jarod and autistic-irishman hijacking a subway-car and rolling out from the basement of the compund, when suddenly all explodes (building, tunnel, sides of subway-car) and Jarod exclaims "Jump!" to his companions, and all three manage to jump forwards and into the air as one (ugliest stuntwork I've seen) aaand cut!
They may have survived, they may not've, Fade to black. No more Pretender. Wieners.
Ah well, he was ugly and unsympathetic anyway. I prefer Michael T. Weiss as the meth-selling pedophile in "Freeway", one Witherspoon-flick I really enjoy. Kiefer was great, also.
*Bob (Kiefer Sutherland) is wheeled into the court-room, dribbling and fuming* -"Bob??? Is that you? Look who got beaten with the ugly-stick, lol!" -*snort-dribble-wheeze* Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
I'll have to pick up Freeway. I love all things Keifer.
Posted by Nim the Fanciful (Member # 205) on :
It's a dark comedy flick, based on Little Red Riding Hood, and Sutherland plays "Bob Wolverton". Go figure. He gets to talk through a voice-box in the latter part of the movie, making his low, gritty voice even more intolerable than in "Fone Boof".
Posted by MarianLH (Member # 1102) on :
Originally posted by Nim the Fanciful:
quote: He gets to talk through a voice-box in the latter part of the movie, making his low, gritty voice even more intolerable than in "Fone Boof".
But less so than his Peter Lorre-esque voice in Dark City?
I saw Tracy Torme at a con once, doing a Q&A around the second season or so. He was getting his butt grilled by an auditorium full of fans. His attitude makes a lot more sense now.
Is it just me, or are network executives the spawn of the devil?
Marian
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Didn't they make a couple of Pretender TV films after the show ended?
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
