An intriguing new trailer for DOCTOR WHO Series 6 has been released, and I cannot stop watching it! There is a lot of info packed into these scant frames, and lots of cool imagery, as well. And then there is a true spit-take-inducing moment!
Have a look and see what you think. I’ll be back with potentially spoilerific thoughts after the cut…
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The second half of the second season of ABC Family’s MAKE IT OR BREAK IT is off to a rollicking start, mixing a serious issue like eating disorders with lighter material like club rivalries – as well as a generous dollop of romantic complications.
No doubt you remember the unforgettable cliff-hangers from waaaaay back in August: Kaylie (Josie Loren) had collapsed as a consequence of her eating disorder; Emily (Chelsea Hobbs) was arrested after stealing medication for her brother; Lauren (Cassie Scerbo) discovered that her father Steve (Anthony Starke) had lied about keeping her late mother away from her meets; and Sasha (Neil Jackson) hauled his trailer outta town amid the scandal of Payson (Ayla Kell) kissing him. Oh, and there was some gymnastics, too: With the help of the legendary Bela Karolyi playing Sasha’s dad, Emily, Payson, Lauren and Kaylie all made the World team. Now, Emily and Kaylie must fight to keep their places on the team: Can Emily stay out of jail, and can Kaylie get sprung from rehab in time to get in shape for the Worlds?
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This episode of STARGATE UNIVERSE took that clichéd “character gets sick” plot and made something special out of it by showcasing the supporting characters that are so important to this series. This was a great episode for Volker, giving him his most significant story and most airtime ever, while affording Greer another chance to show why he’s such a great character. Oh, and Ginn and Dr. Perry came back from the dead. It happens.
Dr. Volker (Patrick Gilmore) was feeling a bit under the weather. Good thing T.J. (Alaina Huffman) has just gained access to Destiny’s diagnostic equipment, because tests reveal he is suffering from advanced kidney disease, and his only hope is a transplant. Meanwhile, Chloe (Elyse Levesque) fell asleep while awaiting a connection with the communication stones, enabling the consciousness of the late Ginn to enter her body. Since Ginn (Julie McNiven) was killed while swapping bodies with Dr. Amanda Perry (Kathleen Munroe), impressions of both of their minds were left in the ether, still linked to the stones. The personas were struggling for control of Chloe’s body. The consciousness-swapping was particularly hard on Eli (David Blue) and Rush (Robert Carlyle), who were at first elated to see the objects of their affections return, only to realize that they faced losing them all over again.
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Lots of exciting developments on the DOCTOR WHO front over the last week, and I have been lax in chronicling them… Where to begin? We have episode titles, a couple of teaser trailers and – the most fun – a mini-story that aired last Friday as part of Comic Relief’s charity campaign in the UK.
First, we now know the titles of the first two episodes of Series 6, which comprise a two-part story kicking off April 23: “The Impossible Astronaut” and “Day of the Moon.” And Episode 11 (that’s right, eleven) is called “The God Complex.” I love the names for the opening story, because they are very evocative; they fire the imagination. It’s no secret that Alex Kingston returns as River Song in these episodes, and they are both set in the good ol’ USA in the 1960s.
Speaking of evocative, the two ultra-brief teaser trailers show just enough to get you wondering – in other words, they are the very definition of teasers. One is 15 seconds long, and the other 24 seconds. Take a look at the short astronaut one:
And you thought it was difficult to get around in L.A. during rush hour! Try getting from Santa Monica to Camp Pendleton with an alien invasion force dogging your every step! That’s the premise of Battle Los Angeles, a reworking of Independence Day from the point of view of the ground troops, rather than the glamour-puss flyboys and the president of the United States.
Battle Los Angeles is all about house-to-house, street-level fighting, and it’s filmed with a tight, over-the-shoulder focus, which means there’s no widescreen epic here; nothing that begs for cinema-sized viewing. Lots of smoke and dust obscure the screen, so the enemy – or, more precisely, their firepower – comes out of the mists suddenly. This is probably as much a budget decision as a creative one; the major expense of this movie had to be fake rubble, because we see little else. The only vast-vista views of the war come at night, when most of the city is obscured by darkness.
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This is the first photo of Adrianne Palicki in costume for David E. Kelley’s WONDER WOMAN pilot. On the plus side, the costume doesn’t look like the terrible togs WW currently sports in her comic book incarnation, but on the other hand, it looks like it’s made of plastic or vinyl. Weird.
It’s not as bad as it could have been, but it certainly is not nearly as good as it could have been. The brightly colored, shiny costume appears to have been designed to look good in still photos, almost as if the intention were to bring individual panels of a comic book to life with static shots of live-action models. It’s difficult to imagine the costume in motion – if only because Palicki looks so very stiff and uncomfortable in this pose. It makes me think the uniform is very constrictive (She certainly appears to be…er, tightly packed into the bustier…)
To me, it looks calculated to appeal to non-comics fans who have certain expectations of what a “superhero costume” should look like in the 21st century – in other words, not as campy as the old ‘60s BATMAN or 1977’s THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN series, but still a little on the silly side. I don’t know who designed this, but judging by the uniform alone, I don’t think he/she is a comics fan. The hair is right – and it reportedly is not a wig; Palicki dyed and cut her own follicles. The costume appeals to the part of me that likes bright colors and shiny things, but it does not work for the comics fan in me.
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It was time once again for Regionals on GLEE. Recall that last year the plucky underdogs from McKinley High School lost at Regionals. But this year, New Directions were determined to take home that ridiculously oversized trophy.
GLEE’s big gimmick this week was to have New Directions perform original songs at Regionals. This was justified by having Sue conspire to get the band’s permission to use a song revoked. But instead of simply choosing another song, Will (Matthew Morrison) went with Rachel’s (Lea Michele) suggestion to write and perform original songs. Talk about taking the long way! But it proved worth it in the end.
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“Kids. I don’t know what’s wrong with these kids today.” At least, that was the problem in the song way back in the movie Bye Bye Birdie. But if you watched this week’s BEING HUMAN, you know the problem with one particular kid is vampirism. In other words, the kid ain’t alright.
Bernie (Jason Spevack) was a neighborhood urchin who attracted Aidan’s (Sam Witwer) attention (No, not like that, silly rabbit). When Bernie was pulverized in a traffic accident right outside Aidan’s home, the thought of the kid dying devastated the vampire. Rebecca (Sarah Allen), urged Aidan to turn Bernie as the child lingered at the hospital. When Aidan refused, she did the deed herself, apparently trying to create a cozy little vampire family for Aidan. However, instead of being greeted with thanks, Aidan was furious. He explained that it was verboten to turn children, because the tykes have little impulse-control on a good day, let alone when they are consumed with bloodlust and sporting amped-up vamp powers.
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This was one of those timey-wimey episodes that takes a little concentration to follow, but rewards the careful viewer. The story and its timeline absolutely do hold up, and the story works without relying on technobabble to justify/dismiss what happens. It’s just another example of how entertaining “hard” science fiction can be when leavened with a bit of time travel and vivid characters.
The story saw Eli (David Blue) figure out a new way to dial Earth while Destiny refuels inside a star. The decision was made to give his plan a try, but Rush (Robert Carlyle) was adamantly against it, because while the math worked, conditions in the heart of a star are inherently unstable, and there were too many ways it could have gone down twisted. Young (Louis Ferreira) decided to give it a try, before they can dial out, they are interrupted by the arrival of their shuttle – carrying Dr. Rush. The Rush in the shuttle explained that he had been bounced back some 12 hours in time after Destiny’s attempt to dial home went disastrously wrong. In fact, the attempt resulted in the deaths of almost everyone except himself, and the loss of Destiny. Young had to decide whether to go through with the potentially risky procedure (armed with foreknowledge of what happened/will happen). The discovery of the derelict time-jumped Destiny put the kibosh on attempting to dial Earth.
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Let me make one thing clear at the outset: The best thing about The Adjustment Bureau is the costume design, which will probably land Kasia Walicka Maimone an Oscar nomination next February for all the various men’s hats and Emily Blunt’s gravity-defying dress. What won’t win any Oscar nods? Anything else from the movie.
Don’t get me wrong, The Adjustment Bureau is an enjoyable enough thriller, with a unique premise, lots of running and chasing and a grand, forbidden love story for the attractive leads. It is a totally enjoyable and diverting movie.
But it could have been so much more. It should have been so much more…
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