This bit did it for me:

Off-screen, scary sounding alien: Fear me. I’ve killed hundreds of Time Lords.

The Doctor (not impressed): Fear me. I’ve killed them all.

Game; set; match. I’m in. Everything else is gravy. And there’s some marvelous gravy…

Soak it in:

Seriously, this is one of the most inventive things I’ve seen in action movies in a long time. Hats off to the creators. Total, unabashed cheese that somehow transcends itself and becomes a beacon of awesomeness. Even with out understanding anything they’re saying, . . . → Read More: The most awesome thing to come out of India – ever]]> Like The Matrix, you cannot be told what this is. Words cannot describe it. It must be experienced. You must immerse yourself in it to feel the awesomeness.

Soak it in:

Seriously, this is one of the most inventive things I’ve seen in action movies in a long time. Hats off to the creators. Total, unabashed cheese that somehow transcends itself and becomes a beacon of awesomeness. Even with out understanding anything they’re saying, I can actually follow what’s going on, too. With the visuals that’s completely unnecessary in order to appreciate it, but it is a nice bonus.

This is what the SyFy channel should be doing with its movie dollars.

Let’s be honest: I have no idea what question you guys/gals may have. Y’all need to speak up more for me to discern that.

So that leaves me with a choice – I can come up with some completely self-serving question like “what’s the best post you’ve written?” or I can make up something that allows . . . → Read More: How geeky are you, really? – 7 day challenge]]> In the 7 day challenge, today’s topic is: Answer one question I think people visiting my blog may have.

Let’s be honest: I have no idea what question you guys/gals may have. Y’all need to speak up more for me to discern that.

So that leaves me with a choice – I can come up with some completely self-serving question like “what’s the best post you’ve written?” or I can make up something that allows me to talk about something I want to talk about.

I don’t really feel like doing either of those, so let’s go with this: “how geeky are you, really?”

Well, let’s look at the evidence:

• I’ve never worn a costume while attending a Sci-fi convention.
• I have attended multiple sci-fi conventions.

For most of you, that’s probably all you need to know, isn’t it? It won’t matter what else I list. That second bullet puts me squarely in geek-dom. For the rest of you, though, let’s go on.

• I can quote from Babylon 5, Star Wars, Star Trek, and many other sci-fi properties.
• I listen to movie commentaries.
• I read comic books.
• I wanted to be in the A-V Club in high school (but I wasn’t – though I’m not sure if this is an argument for or against geekiness)
• I’ve done programming and scripting in the past.
• I understand the parts of a computer.
• I still wave my hand at motion sensitive doors to “open” them with The Force.
• I own some Star Wars technical manuals, and have read them cover to cover.
• I’ve slept out to buy tickets for The Phantom Menace. At 4 in the morning in that parking lot I played Star Wars Trivial Pursuit against the other gathered geeks and won.
• I momentarily considered changing our wedding date when I realized Attack of the Clones was premiering that week — and while that was only a fleeting thought, I did make her stop to watch it on the 10-hour drive home from our honeymoon.

For expansion on some of the above, go read my post on the Coalition of Awesomess about my geek obsession. (and there’s more evidence… I write on more than one blog.)

Now, I could go on but I think I’ve made my case. I consider myself a geek. But I recognize that there are some more hard-core geeks out there who may disagree and want to obsess (somewhat geekily) about the level of my geekiness. So I put it to you to vote:

Feel free to back up your vote with derision, praise, or general observation below in the comments.

For those who are a bit forgetful, I’ll remind you that this is the final “Next Generation” Star Trek film, starring Jean-Luc Picard and crew.

This is widely regarded as one of the worst Star Trek films. The intent was to create a villain to rival Picard the way that Khan rivaled Kirk. . . . → Read More: My marriage’s “Nemesis”]]> Last night, my wife and I watched Star Trek: Nemesis on Syfy (I can’t type that without thinking “dumbest name ever”).

For those who are a bit forgetful, I’ll remind you that this is the final “Next Generation” Star Trek film, starring Jean-Luc Picard and crew.

This is widely regarded as one of the worst Star Trek films. The intent was to create a villain to rival Picard the way that Khan rivaled Kirk. I still remember the buzz at the time this movie was released – “this is The Next Generation’s Wrath of Khan!” they said.

That’s a lot of expectation to place on a movie. Wrath of Khan is looked upon as one of the (if not THE) best Star Trek movies.

It didn’t measure up (not by a long shot, unfortunately), but that’s not the point of this post.

Below is the point.

I am on record (in fact, recorded – at the 37:50 mark) as recognizing my wife’s affinity for Star Trek. She watched all the original series episodes and created her own episodes on cassette tape as a kid (which I’m sure are *ahem* excellent). She is also recognized as having an almost eidetic memory of our dates – she remembers what CDs (and even specific songs) are playing on our way to and from the event, for example, and what date it was, and what we talked about, and what we wore. Crazy stuff.

So that’s what makes the conversations we had during this movie so surprising:

Pam: Have we seen this before?

Jeff: Yes. We saw it when it came out.

Pam: Are you sure? Nothing looks familiar.

Jeff: Yes.

… later …

Pam: Are you sure you went with me? You didn’t go with someone else?

Jeff: I wouldn’t have gone to a Star Trek movie without you!

… later (and this was the kicker) …

Jeff: this was supposed to be Picard’s “Wrath of Khan”.

Pam: Was that good?

Jeff (looking dumbfounded): What?

Pam: What…. was Khan good?

Jeff: Are you serious? Yes! It’s pretty much the best Star Trek movie!

Pam: Yeah, okay, but it’s still kind of silly, isn’t it?

Jeff: Wha..? No! You’ve seen it, right?

Pam: Yeah. That’s the one with Montalban, right?

Jeff (as if she just proved my point): Yep!

Pam: And Chekov with the thing in his ear…

Jeff: yeah…

Pam: and “KHAAAAAAAAN”…

Jeff: yeah, well sure people made fun of that, and rightly so, but it was still an awesome movie!

Pam: Oh. … Really?

Jeff (defeated): what happened to you?

So there it is.

My wife, the woman I thought I knew, doesn’t recognize the awesomeness of The Wrath of Khan. Now I have to question her entire sci-fi pedigree. Has she just been playing me all these years? I mean, I know she wasn’t big on TRON, and hadn’t seen The Last Starfighter, and Star Wars was only a passing interest, but we always had Star Trek.

Now? I just don’t know.

I just.

Don’t.

Know.

At least we have Babylon 5…

Don’t we?

There was also a TV show that premiered last night called The Event. I watched it. It intrigued me enough to keep watching, but I’m still annoyed about the failures of the . . . → Read More: The Event]]> The main “event” around here lately is that this website was down for two days while we switched servers. Apparently there were issues with the process. I’m not convinced everything is back to normal yet, so let me know if you experience problems.

There was also a TV show that premiered last night called The Event. I watched it. It intrigued me enough to keep watching, but I’m still annoyed about the failures of the last few sci-fi tinged shows that were cancelled … Heroes, Journeyman, FlashForward, etc. … and I’m wary about getting involved in another one only to have it pulled out from under me.

Minor spoilers and a major guess follow.

The gimmick in The Event is that it is told (at least in the pilot) by jumping around a character’s timeline. For example, we start in the present with Sean on a plane being chased by what appears to be the government, and then pulling a gun, apparently hijacking the plane. Right after he pulls the gun we jump back to 23 minutes earlier, and shortly thereafter to 11 or 13 days before that. Then it’s back to the present, but from a different character’s perspective, and we jump through his backstory as well.

We’re introduced to about 6 or 7 main characters in the episode ranging from “everyman” Sean to the President of the United States, some apparently covert military personnel, and military prisoners who have been held for years in Alaska. The prisoners seem to know about the coming “event” but don’t want anyone in power to know.

There is a sci-fi component to the show that isn’t obvious until the end of the episode. There is no evidence one way or the other at this point, but I’m going to guess that the element is time travel and that the prisoners are the travelers. It fits with the gimmick of telling the narrative by jumping around the timeline for each character, and it could explain how the prisoners seem to know something is coming. Frankly, I hope I’m right. I don’t think the show will be nearly as interesting if it turns out to be aliens or something like that. And if it is time travel, that still leaves the door open for plenty of surprises.

I do hope they cut back significantly on the narrative format of jumping around the timeline, though. It worked for the pilot, but I think jumping around as much as they did here would get seriously annoying week to week. I can take a couple of jumps per episode, but 8 or more in a half-hour is getting excessive.

Did you see the premiere? What did you think? Does it earn a spot in your viewing queue? What new or returning shows are you most looking forward to? (For me, it’s Smallville’s final season. I’m a bit of a junkie.)

Given the show’s premise of a family of superheroes, the pilot episode is predictably an origin story. And that’s a good word to use, too: predictable.

It was pleasant to watch, but there were very few surprises (though there were a couple – . . . → Read More: Review: No Ordinary Family – Pilot]]> I managed to see a limited release of ABC’s new show “No Ordinary Family” online yesterday. Not sure if it’s still available, but if it is these instructions will get you there.

Given the show’s premise of a family of superheroes, the pilot episode is predictably an origin story. And that’s a good word to use, too: predictable.

It was pleasant to watch, but there were very few surprises (though there were a couple – one major one). Their powers, for instance – with the possible exception of the daughter – were easy to guess well before they manifested. I do like the twist they took with the father’s power, though.

They spend a lot of time in the family dynamic, which I think will be good for the show long term. Here’s a really short synopsis: a dysfunctional, but basically good, family gains superpowers and begins to heal. There are some ‘after-school special’ moments and some cool superpower moments. It looks like they’re taking it a little to the lighter side, which is an interesting move when so much television (especially sci-fi/fantasy) is going down a darker route. Visually, as well, it’s a bright show: lots of color, very little dark and moody. Even the shadowy alleys have plenty of light.

One thing I like quite a bit is that the parents aren’t played as buffoons. Dads especially have gotten placed in the “well-meaning idiot” category a lot on TV in the last decade or two, and this show avoids that. Michael Chiklis’ character is a father who is struggling to keep his vision of his family together – almost against their own wills. The mother, as well, is doing what she thinks she has to in support of her family, even though it means she loses touch with their lives. They are presented as equals, and I really think we need more of this kind of family presentation in our media.

The twist at the end was interesting. I think that woman cop knows more than she’s saying.

I don’t think this will be winning any Emmy nods, but it’s interesting enough that I want to watch it and see where they take it.

This first one I’m pretty positive is false, but here it is: apparently some bookies in the UK are looking for something to bet on (World Cup and Wimbledon not enough for them?), so they’re saying that since the current season of Doctor Who didn’t pull in the same level of ratings as David Tennant’s seasons, the BBC is considering replacing Matt Smith. They’ve provided a list of . . . → Read More: Doctor Who rumors]]> First, two rumors I hope are false…

This first one I’m pretty positive is false, but here it is: apparently some bookies in the UK are looking for something to bet on (World Cup and Wimbledon not enough for them?), so they’re saying that since the current season of Doctor Who didn’t pull in the same level of ratings as David Tennant’s seasons, the BBC is considering replacing Matt Smith. They’ve provided a list of the odds for replacements (which, even if the rumor were true, would be a stupid list).

4/1 David Morrissey
5/1 Chiwetel Ejiofor
8/1 Next Doctor To Be Female
10/1 Patterson Joseph
12/1 James Nesbitt
14/1 Robert Carlyle
14/1 David Walliams
14/1 Richard Coyle
14/1 Tom Ellis
20/1 John Simm
20/1 Rhys Ifans
20/1 Anthony Head
20/1 Julian Walsh
20/1 Jason Statham
25/1 James Corden
25/1 Alan Davies
33/1 Nigel Harman
33/1 Bill Nighy
33/1 Chris Martin
50/1 Steven Fry
50/1 John Barrowman
66/1 Christopher Eccleston

John Barrowman? Christopher Eccleston? Given that Matt Smith has a 3 year contract, I’m thinking it’s just bookies looking to make a buck, and not reality.

The second rumor I hope is not true is that Johnny Depp is being considered to play The Doctor in a movie. This from Slice of Sci-Fi:

According to SciFi Wire, the original story came from Tor.com and discussed that producer Russell T. Davies left the show last year and moved to America to help bring the Doctor to the big-screen. And while the report has since been removed by Tor and could all just be a rumor, there were other Hollywood sources who said that it was true and that Depp could play our favorite Time Lord as early as 2012.

There’s a lot I don’t like about that idea. I know there are existing Doctor Who movies with Peter Cushing that are not in continuity, so there is a precedent, but to me Doctor Who is a TV show and should stay a TV show. The interconnected episodic nature of the story is part of what draws me in. I also don’t like the idea of an American playing The Doctor. I actually think Depp could do a good job, honestly, but this is a British property with British sensibilities, and it needs to stay that way. Part of it’s charm.

Finally, rumors about what we’ll see next season. These I believe (quoted from Slice of Sci-Fi):

Gallifrey Base confirms that location shooting for the special will begin July 12 and that the episode will be written by Steven Moffat. The special may or may not involve a storyline on the Orient Express and an Egyptian goddess as referenced in a phone call during the closing moments of “The Big Bang.” The line was hastily inserted into the episode at the last minute and may or may not hold a clue about the setting for the special.

What we do know is that the Silence will be mentioned and that the mysterious voice heard in the TARDIS during “The Pandorica Opens” will be back. There are also reports that the special could follow the tradition of “A Christmas Carol” and have ghosts of the Doctor’s past coming back. And yes, that means we could get a former Doctor back on-screen for the special as a ghost of Christmas past. Reports indicate that the series has put out feelers to Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, and David Tennant for the cameo.

As for series six, we will see Rory settle into a role as a regular companion and Amy has a “big secret” that she is keeping from both Rory and the Doctor.

And, of course, River Song will be back. It’s reported that her next appearance will be the first time she meets the Doctor.

Lots to like there. Not sure about that multiple Doctors thing, though. That’s been a rumor every year in one form or another. Looking forward to more on “the Silence” and seeing River’s first time meeting the Doctor, however.

That it has a sci-fi theme is just, well… icing on the cake.

There's really too much to take in here

You need to go to the creator’s site and check out the detail . . . → Read More: The best cake I’ve ever seen]]> I’m not even exaggerating. This blows my mind. There are certainly cakes that are unbelievably beautiful (and this is not one of them), but the level of detail on this cake, and the obvious love put into it, is staggering!

That it has a sci-fi theme is just, well… icing on the cake.

There's really too much to take in here

You need to go to the creator’s site and check out the detail on this thing. It’s just awesome. She even includes how she made some of it.

Here’s my favorite example…

Of course he did!

Star Trek, Star Wars, Babylon 5, Plan 9 from Outer Space, Spaceballs, Alien, Doctor Who, V, Predator, Futurama… it’s all there and way more. Simply awesome.

Go check out the rest of the cake.

Still, it’s kinda fun.

created by Kris Staub - click for larger version

You can even buy a print of this if you’re interested (I don’t see a penny… I assume this is to the artist’s benefit).

Eh… no big deal. That’s just relatively simple memorization (albeit a long list). I’ve got a friend who can name the title of every episode within 13 seconds of the start of the teaser – usually way faster – which is just about long enough for the planet to show . . . → Read More: Star Trek – title recitation record]]> So this guy named all the episodes of classic Star Trek in 1:39 at a World Record Appreciation Society event… apparently setting a record.

Eh… no big deal. That’s just relatively simple memorization (albeit a long list). I’ve got a friend who can name the title of every episode within 13 seconds of the start of the teaser – usually way faster – which is just about long enough for the planet to show up on screen and the Enterprise to begin it’s orbit.

Mike…. take this guy down!