Battlestar Brain

I'm not sure when my brain entered Battlestar mode, but I just can't seem to get out of it. For some reason, despite the fact that I want to believe that my greatest interest lies in Heroes, the last few weeks my brain was entirely devoted to Bones. I was reading all of the gossip, and the message boards, and the fanfiction about Bones and I was perfectly content to do so. Then, at some point a few days ago, my brain just switched gears and I've been able to think of nothing but Battlestar Galactica since. I'm really not sure why it just happened now instead of two and a half weeks ago when I saw Razor. And I really really liked Razor. Maybe it took a while for it to sink in. The Battlestar Wiki certainly isn't helping any. Anyway, the new report is that the season is starting in March. My Gods, that's still over three months from now. Damn SciFi network. Damn WGA strike.

HIMYM Math

After last night's How I Met Your Mother I had to do some math. In the episode Barney says that it was 1998 and he was 23. That means he's supposed to be 32 in the present day.

At the gym, Marshall says he's 29. Since Ted, Lily and Marshall were college freshmen together, we can probably assume that they're both in the 28-30 range as well.

That just leaves Robin. I'm not sure if any concrete ages have been attached to specific years. For some reason I feel like she was supposed to be 16 during her 'Let's Go to the Mall' mall tour, and if that happened around 1993, when the '80s got to Canada, that should make her 30 at this point. Granted I could be wrong about her having been 16 and about her mall tour taking place in '93.

Maybe at some point next year one of them will turn 30 and they'll have the Friends episode where they all flashback to their 30th birthdays. Or maybe not. It just seemed weird that Barney would be several years older than them. Weird in TVland, I guess. Not so much in real life.

Maylar!

Hmm, Elle seems a good ways on her way to turning against the Company. Not necessarily being good, but at least helping the "heroes" at a pivotal point. Like Spike at the end of season 2 of Buffy. Also, that trying to move the cup from her good arm to her sling arm was hilarious. Kristen Bell has amazing comic timing.

Adam's world saving agenda doesn't seem to line up quite right with his taking revenge on Hiro agenda. Maybe he's forgotten about Hiro after all these years. Ah, I see. Adam's definition of "saving the world" is quite different than Peter's is. Peter needs to be putting his mind reading skills to better use. Now I'm looking forward to three face offs: Adam vs. Sylar, Peter vs. Sylar, and Peter vs. Adam. And really, Peter should pretty much be able to best anyone at this point.

Sylar and Maya are by far the creepiest and simultaneously most idiotic couple possible. And for some reason, weirdly cute. Except that Maya is the most easily manipulated person ever. Oh yeah, there goes Alejandro. Finally.

Is Ando ever going to have a job other than watching Hiro time travel away?

Wow, Mohinder has really become a wild card. He's kind of like Nathan from season 1. Speaking of, where the hell is Nathan? I really miss him.

Stings like a bitch....

So, this episode appears to be the one where everyone who previously had a really strong sense of morality lets their power go to their head and turn them into a potentially dangerous crazy person. And by everyone I apparently just mean Matt, Hiro, Mohinder, and possibly Noah. Good thing Peter's not in this episode.

Good Lord Matt's power is creepy. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel about him at this point. I guess the idea of using his power to get all kinds of information was supposed to have been scared out of him with the idea that he would become his father. Unless he got that woman's name by forcing it out of Angela despite her warnings. That's not a good sign for him.

It does look like the investigation into the "Old Ones" and "The Company" are happening from several sides right now: Peter and Adam, Matt and Nathan, Mohinder, Noah. It's always good when there's a definite plot that's bringing everyone together. It's just weird that the plot of this volume is technically supposed to be the Shanti virus when they all spend all their time worrying about The Company.

Okay, I hope that finally, after all of that, once the Bennet family is together again, they can trust each other, be honest with each other, and work together. All of this working against each other obviously led to a very bad place. Also, I am so overjoyed that Noah isn't dead.

I'm starting to fear for Mohinder's sanity a little bit. And was that a spark (bad pun intended, as usual) of reason and rationale crossing Elle's face towards the end of the episode? Can she be fixed and become a good person? A good enough person for Peter to love?

And once again, I miss Nathan...and Adam. Weirdly I also kind of missed Niki in this one. What's wrong with me?

Watching like a Fan.

I've recently realized that I watch TV in two different modes depending on what I'm watching. One is kind of a passive mode and the other is "Fan" mode. I'm not sure exactly what makes me watch a show in fan mode versus average viewer mode. I assume part of it is my level of engagement in the show.

Fan mode involves being keyed in to every detail of what's going on. I also have a much better memory of shows I watch in fan mode. I don't know if it's because I'm paying more attention while I'm watching them, or because I think about them more after I've watched them so the details are remembered more readily. Not sure. I just know that there's a big difference between the way I watch Heroes and the way I watch Reaper. I can remember facial expressions and intonations of certain lines of dialog from an episode of Heroes from several weeks ago. I could maybe tell you the plot of a weeks old episode of Reaper, but not a lot more.

So this watching mode thing didn't occur to me until I started reading some Bones fanfiction. As I read a number of stories I realized that there were certain ideas, themes, character traits, etc. that were repeated over and over again by different authors in all different genres. These ideas were represented so often that I understood that they must be apparent in the show, I had just never noticed them. In reading Buffy, BSG, Heroes, or other fanfiction based on shows I was really familiar with, I'd never had the experience of not remembering or not being familiar with a certain commonly repeated idea. Having watched those shows intensely and with an eye for detail, I was just as familiar with the minute details as the fanfiction writers.

Of course now I've become more engrossed in Bones than I had previously ever been and I'm sure I'll start watching it in fan mode from now on. It does make me wonder though, whether I'm unconsciously selecting what I do and don't watch in fan mode, or whether it's based on something inherent in the shows themselves. This will require more study.

Joss Whedon's Equality Now speech

Somehow, even though this is from a long time ago, I never got around to watching it until recently. He makes goods points. I knew there was a reason I liked this guy. Too bad the Wonder Woman reference isn't accurate anymore.

All hail Adam and Elle!

Adam and Elle. Making Heroes fun again.

Seriously, Ventimiglia is looking awesome. And the kiss between Peter and Elle, hot...electrifying even. Paire what? I think it's pretty clearly all about Pelle (?) from here on out. Caitlin is just not going to catch a break. Maybe Adalleter? Pedamle? Pelldam? Eladter? Yeah, that's not going to work. Regardless, Adam/Peter/Elle is probably one of the hottest threesomes I can think of (...after about 30 seconds of thinking. If I dwell on it I'm sure I'll come up with others...Lee/Kara/Sam, maybe...and certainly Buffy/Angel/Spike...I'll move on).

Adam seems so wonderful, and not at all a diabolical genocidist. Maybe I just don't get his plan. Regardless, then next face off between Hiro and Adam is going to be awesome.

I think I read a spoiler that Noah Bennet is going to die. I will be very, very upset by this. I mean, I know there's the painting, but they've gotten around the paintings before. And I know he's been kind of shady lately and making poor choices, but still, he doesn't deserve it. If they really need to get rid of characters they should be getting rid of people less interesting. Killing HRG off now would be like Lost killing Locke halfway through season 2. Instead Heroes should be killing the Boone and Shannon of the show. I guess D.L. was the Boone...Niki should be the Shannon. Then, if they need to kill more people, they can kill the Ana Lucia, Libby, and Ecko...so, that'd probably be Elle, Monica and the Haitian. Although I don't want Elle to go (maybe Bob can go in her place). Then they can kill Maya and Alejandro, the Nikki and Paolo, and then they can move on. Basically the characters I want to see stay are Peter, Nathan, Claire (kind of), Elle, HRG, Mohinder, Hiro, and Ted (yeah, I know he's dead...just wishful thinking).

Okay, I think I'm going to move on past that. As I mentioned last week, I cannot wait to see some sort of throw down between Adam and Sylar. And Elle. Elle versus Sylar, maybe.

Anyway, I hope Volume 2 ends with the Shanti Virus actually killing huge numbers of people and leaving the rest of the series to carry on in the post-apocalyptic world. Except not killing Nathan.

I'll follow this Angel of Death anywhere

Wow. Razor. Wow. I'm dazed. And kind of upset.

So, BSG: Razor is kind of the story of Lt./Capt./Maj. Kendra Shaw of the Battlestar Pegasus. She served under Admiral Cain after the Cylon attack. Upon Cdr. (Lee) Adama's assuming command of Pegasus, he appoints Kendra as his XO. During a mission to recover a missing Galactica raptor crew from some obsolete model Cylons, Kendra repeatedly flashes back to her first days aboard Pegasus after the Cylon attack.

The other related plot going on deals with the webisodes and the idea of the hybrid introduced in Season 3. In the webisodes, Husker (now Adm. Adama) crash lands on a planet where the Cylons were experimenting on humans to create their humanoid versions. In Razor, he flashes back to this after Pegasus gets into a dogfight with old school Cylon raiders and Sharon (not yet Athena) shares the Cylon record of the hybrid guarded by antiquated models.

The culmination is that Pegasus sends a team, which includes Kendra and Starbuck, to rescue the missing crew and set a nuke on the Cylon basestar. Kendra ultimately sacrifices herself to complete the mission and nuke the basestar and to make amends for the sins she committed under Cain's orders (shooting civilians to threaten them into compliance). Just before blowing up the basestar the hybrid tells her that Kara Thrace is the "angel of death" of the human race and that if they follow her, they'll die. Then he repeats his "This has all happened before and it will happen again" mantra.

So, awesome (sarcasm). I'm kind of upset that we really have to be calling Kara out like this. I guess maybe this makes sense though. If there weren't incredibly strong forces working directly against her then she'd save them all immediately and there'd be no more show. All of this evidence stacking up against her, though, does seem to make a really strong case against her being the final Cylon. Either that or they're making it really, really obvious as some sort of misdirection, and she really is the last one. I'm still kind of leaning towards the idea that everyone is though.

On other notes, it always feels weird when little people are trying to order Starbuck around. It's even weirder when she listens to them. And Kendra Shaw was certainly a little bitty woman. But it was nice to see Lee and Kara getting along without all the married-to-other-people-angst. I miss that. Also, Adama's line about not thinking it was possible to find an XO meaner than Saul Tigh was probably the funniest thing ever said on that show.

Wait, or has the sheriff always been there?

It wasn't until about two hours after finishing watching last nights Heroes that it occurred to me that I wasn't entirely sure what was going on. There seem to be two options regarding Adam Munroe.

The first, that everyone else on the internet seems to have assumed, is that due to his regeneration, he's also immortal, and did not die in White Beard's camp and has been living a linear timeline since then, spending 350 years exacting his plan of revenge on Hiro Nakamura. I guess this does make sense.

The other option I see, though, is that Adam really has more power than just regeneration/immortality and that he went back in time to pose as Kensei and mess with Hiro just like he's apparently been messing with Peter, all in pursuit of some grand goal of world destruction, or domination, or something.

Or a third, entirely unlikely, option: Adam exists outside of time. Anyway, I'm kind of leaning slightly more towards option two, because the obliteration of most of the human race seems a little bit extreme as revenge on someone who stole your girlfriend. Unless he's trying to punish Hiro with crippling guilt, I guess.

See ya, Sylar. There's a new sheriff in town.

Hooray! My 100th Post! With no one watching! Awesome! (I'm not even going to bother to edit.)

Anyway, Heroes. So, I miss Nathan every moment that he's not around. And every moment that he is around reminds me of how much I'll miss him the moment he's gone. I've tried not to give in to the negative emotions, but people are kind of right. This season is struggling. And Nathan is the bright, shiny glimmer of hope. He rocks. He can bust this conspiracy wide open with nothing but the strength of his jaw.

I hate to say this, but Peter has become annoying. If it weren't for all of the shirtless hotness, he'd be damn near intolerable. Where has the empathetic (empathic) Peter Petrelli gone? Oh, there he is. Kind of. And Caitlin's out of the picture for a while. Nice! I wish she'd leave for good.

Archival boxes! Woohoo! Seriously though, Nathan, the box is right there. Just open the damned box.

Yeah, so it's pretty clear to me at this point that Niki has needed to die all along. There is nothing about her that is worthwhile and now she's going to start the virus outbreak to destroy the world. Although the quarantine future is kind of cool. But Nathan's dead in that future, so nevermind. Niki must die. Wait, no, I didn't mean it. This is sad. Sad.

Oh, Kensei! No. Why? He was so darling. Wait a second. He can heal. Sweet. Or perhaps not. Damn. I really think Hiro should have brought Yaeko back to the present with him. She really had no problem at all adjusting to the idea that he was a time traveler, she would have done just fine in the present day.

Okay, Matt's super mind control is actually a little bit awesome (I can't wait until Peter can do that). But really, that was the entire defeat of Nightmare Man? That was kind of lame.

And there was the last we'll ever see of happy-go-lucky Hiro. That was the third (Charlie, Yaeko, dad) and undoubtedly final blow to his seemingly undying optimism.

What the hell? So now it's Claire as a guinea pig or the death of 93% of the world? Those are our choices? Actually, to be honest, Claire's kind of annoying me these days. When Peter and Nathan don't care about her, I kind of lose interest. And really, everyone she knows is in the company these days, so it probably wouldn't be as bad as she and her dad think it would.

OH MY GOD! THIS IS AMAZING! LONG LIVE ADAM, THE FREAKING DESTROYER OF ALL HEROES! (Is it wrong that I'm rooting for the bad guy?) Also, this guy is going to eat Sylar for breakfast. Sweet!

Worst possible scenario

I just watched the latest webisode for Battlestar Galactica. It seems like Husker has crash landed on some weird planet where the Cylons were experimenting with humans in the attempt to breed their humanoid forms. That ideas is pretty cool. What was bad, though, was the deep voice that told him (and us) "All this has happened before and will happen again". As soon as I heard those words, I was immediately reminded of Matrix Revolutions. And there is absolutely no reason that anything should ever do that! Granted, I know that the prophecies have always involved the idea of everything being circular, but it's never come off feeling so much like the words of "the Architect" as it did this time. Needless to say, I'm now pretty concerned with where this last season will go.

80s Fabulous

For some reason I decided I needed to watch another episode of Moonlight, for good measure, or something. It's remained pretty much unchanged since the pilot.

One thing that I noticed in the pilot and definitely remains true is the bizarre 80s aesthetic the show has going for it. And it's really not in a good way. The lead girl, Beth, wears some really 80s clothes and rocks some 80s hair. Mick's apartment is pretty 80s in its lavish glass and leather look. The bizarre editing where things go in jerky slomo to bizarre "rock" songs feels very 80s. I just can't figure it out. The 80s thing is so overwhelming that it must be completely intentional, but I don't understand why anyone would choose to make things look that way.

Other than that, the show does kind of manage to alternate between cute and funny and intolerably annoying on a moment to moment basis. It makes you kind of both enjoy and hate that you're watching it. I have to say, there is nothing about the vampire mythology of the show that is interesting me. I don't care at all about Mick's sire or any of the other old ones.

I just don't know. This might be one to watch once every one or two months to see if anything interesting is going on, and to catch the occasionally pointed vampire joke. Definitely not one for a TiVo Season Pass though.

Hollywood Apocalypse

So, for anyone who doesn't already know, the WGA is about to strike. I realize no one reads this blog, but I'm recording this information for my own memory...or something. Anyway, here's a link to the Variety article giving a detailed account of the who, what, when, where, why and how:
WGA Strike - per Variety

For more information on how this will directly affect TV, see the top two links in my Stuff I Like box, one from Zap2It and the other from E!Online. Both give a pretty good picture of what the timeline of TV drop-off will be like. The E!Online post also discusses how this will affect the rest of the industry.

I'm wondering how this will affect certain people's work in other media, specifically, will people like Joss Whedon, Brian K. Vaughn, and Allan Heinberg get a lot more comics writing done while they have no TV to write? And how does this type of thing affect WGA residuals? The ones that are already earned based on their previous contracts, I mean. Will they still get their residual checks for old work during the strike? Or does everything stop? Maybe I need to be consulting the WGA page.