I can’t believe I never saw this before. It’s awesome. :)
“What-If?” opening from an alternate history where Lost was created and aired in 1967 as a campy sci-fi action series:
(via Tor.com)
Feb 152010
Last night, the NCIS episode “The Bone Yard” was on USA. I had it playing in the background and then I heard this conversation between Gibbs and a mob boss:
Napolitano: “And Gibbs, you hurt my boy, I’ll kill your brothers, your uncles, your father. And after their funerals I’ll kill you.”
Gibbs: “No brothers, no uncles, my father passed years ago. I do have three ex-wives, whose names and addresses I will gladly fax on to you.”
[Napolitano hangs up the phone]
Gibbs: “Booh. He hung up.”
Hee hee. It’s moments like this one that show why I love this show so damn much. Gibbs rocks! His father is actually alive and well and moments between the two in a later episode are amusing too. :P
You can see the Gibbs /Napolitano phone conversation at about 3:37 in:
Nov 112009
My last post on here was in September. And then…wow…things got a wee bit busy you could say. I moved. Woo-hoo! I still haven’t finished unpacking and have no idea when I’ll get to that. I’ll share some pics when I’m more settled. But here is Ruki, enjoying the new windows. They have a wider sill so she can really spread out.
And here she is with her head in the window. And yes, there is a screen there. She’s not about to jump out or go anywhere.
Moving all happened in the middle of a wee little book release ;), which happily unseated Dan Brown for the #1 spot on the NYT list last week. Woo-hoo! If you follow Tor’s Twitter, you’ve probably seen me posting lots about it. Things like how we made a throne out of the boxes stored in my office:
I mean really, what else do you do with boxes? If I had more it would have been a fort. :P Oh, my owl took his turn in the throne too.
I’ve also been working on tons of stuff that none of you (unless you work with me) will see until next year. I have plans. Ideas. Yep.
Hmm. What else. That’s pretty much absorbed my life as of late. I’ve watched (listened to) a lot of TV while I’ve been packing and unpacking though. On demand is so the way to go. Venture Brothers is back and kicking ass. Fringe happily fills that missing X-Files void for me. NCIS rocks, while I gave up on NCIS LA which was painful to watch. No idea what happened after that awesome cross-over. Maybe it was losing the leader. Callen is no leader. Stargate SGU and Sanctuary rock too. I’m surprised by how much I’m digging White Collar and The Good Wife. Doesn’t hurt White Collar that it has Jonesy in it! :) And ABC and Fox really need to become available on demand like the other channels are so I can watch shows like FlashForward. I’m no fan of watching TV on my computer after working on it all day.
For books though, I’ve really only had a chance to read on the commute. I read a bunch of Kitty Norville books and am on book 6. I like werewolf types. I’m also reading Outlander. I love the setting and side characters. However, the lead has the emotional range of a rock.
And that’s that. I’m still getting caught up on most things right now so I’m not sure yet how much I’ll be posting until things settle down. So for now, I’ll just leave you with this, the new Clash of the Titans trailer:
And this awesome Fringe preview with NIN’s “Zero Sum” that makes me super happy to rewatch. :)
Have an awesome day all!
Aug 262009
Looks like we’re getting a Batman Beyond mini-series next year! Yay! This is my second favorite animated Batman show, the first being Batman: The Animated Series, of course. (As much as I ♥ Justice League, I don’t count it since it’s not Bat-centric.) Seriously though, one can never have enough of the good Batman stuff. :)
Here is the post from Newsarama:
“There will be a Terry McGinnis mini-series early next year. We’ve heard the fans, we’ve heard everyone’s interest. And right now we’re planning to put out a Batman Beyond mini-series in 2010.”
- Dan DiDio, today, from Newsarama’s “20 Questions and 1 Answer”
Now, how cool is this? Growing up with Batman: The Animated Series (or B:TAS) and Batman Beyond and all the creations in the Timm/Diniverse, this is just great news. For those readers who aren’t familiar with Terry McGinnis, let me fill you in.
About ten years ago, Batman Beyond aired introducing us to the Gotham City of Tomorrow. We see a Gotham without a Batman and it’s not pretty. Terry is basically a juvenile delinquent whose father works for Wayne-Powers Industry. On the run from the Jokerz (a street gang that idolizes the Joker) he ends up at Wayne Manor where an old Bruce Wayne defends the gang off, but collapses. Terry takes care of Bruce and wanders around the mansion and discovers the Batcave. Bruce scares young Terry off, but when Terry gets home, he finds out his father has been murdered and later discovers that Bruce’s partner (Derek Powers) was behind it. When Terry asks for Bruce to help avenge his father (and is turned down), Terry takes matters in his own hands and steals the new exo-batsuit to go after Powers. Bruce is furious and actually shuts down the suit remotely, but Terry convinces him that he should don the cowl. Bruce takes the youth under his (bat) wing and hires him as his chauffer and personal assistant, which is just a facade and trains Terry to be the new Batman.
The series was fresh, fun and full of techgasms for people like myself. There were cameos as well, as Superman actually had a bit part in a few episodes and introduced the new Batman to the new Justice League. McGinnis was offically part of canon in Superman/Batman #22 and #23, though he was mistakenly called “Tim Drake”, but was later remedied. McGinnis also made appearances on Justice League Unlimited, which had ties to that show’s canon (namely John Stewart’s and Hawkgirls’s son, Warhawk). The series also paralleled some of Bat-mythos such as Terry falling in love with a criminal (Ten, from this generation’s Royal Flush Gang). Though, the REAL kicker here is what happens in the JLU episode “Epilogue”, which serves as a finale in ways to Batman Beyond. It’s so good, and so out there, I couldn’t spoil it on here for those of you who haven’t seen it.
I’m excited DC decided to re-ignite this franchise, even if it is a mini-series, but do you readers think?
(via Topless Robot)
Aug 232009
I’m re-watching some of The X-Files series over from the beginning and trying post a write-up about one episode a week.
In this episode, Mulder and Scully investigate a possible sabotage at NASA with their space shuttles. Mulder gets giddy over meeting a boyhood hero of his, Lt. Col. Marcus Aurelius Belt (Amusing name the character has there by the way. A little silly too.), and with getting to be in the Mission Control Room during a space shuttle launch. Scully, however, is less than thrilled to be there.
Belt is a former astronaut and as it turns out, had an encounter with an alien himself. The alien has pretty much been residing in him ever since.
Although I like the concept of this one, the episode fell short on the entertainment factor. Even the scenes that were meant to be tense felt drab. It may be because the previous episode, Ice, was just so damn good that this one had no chance. I’m not sure. I was bored watching it and than feeling has never subsided upon rewatches. Hmpf.
Fun Tidbits:
- The episode was inspired by the face on Mars photograph.
- This was the most expensive episode of season 1 produced.
Aug 082009
I’m re-watching some of The X-Files series over from the beginning and trying post a write-up about one episode a week.
Ice is one of those classic episodes that must be watched repeatedly. It’s the episode where the X-Files crew really showed how well they’d come together as a team. Everything from the opening scene, characters, tension building, and let’s not forget overall dose of paranoia throughout. Like I said, great stuff!
The episode begins in the lab of the Artic Ice Core project. One man is bloody and haggard looking. He records a video message, “We are not who we are.” Then he gets attacked by another man and the two end up with guns pointed at each other. It ends with them redirecting those guns in a joint suicide. And that right there is just the teaser.
Mulder and Scully get tapped for the case. They head up to the research station with three scientists and one crazy pilot, Bear. There they discover and infected dog and all the crewmen are dead. Upon further investigation, they learn of the parasitic worm and just how quickly infection of it takes hold and turns the host into a raging fiend. Thus begins the paranoia. Who can you trust? Which one is infected? Nice tension building throughout.
I liked the quirky scientists. The one that listened to old football games to help calm himself was amusing. Felicity Huffman was in this episode as another scientist and she played that one well indeed. They all did well with portraying different types of ways people panic and with testing alliances.
This episode also proved just how out of the loop Mulder and Scully are with government knowledge. They are the last to find out that the ice station was blown up at the end.
All in all, this is a fantastic episode, chock full of the stuff that makes this a damn fine show!
Fun Tidbits:
- The dog in this episode is the dad of Duchovny‘s dog, Blue.
- This episode was based on the movie, The Thing. And both were based on the short story, Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell
Jul 312009
I’m re-watching some of The X-Files series over from the beginning and trying post a write-up about one episode a week.
Episode seven wasn’t all that great and actually came across as a bit hokey. A machine comes to life and starts killing people. Mulder and Scully get called in on a favor by a former colleague of Mulder’s. And even though we know from the get go that it’s the machine killing people and not the programmer, it takes the death of Mulder’s former colleague for him to see the truth for what it is. That’s when he decides to confront the programmer and then to destroy the computer with a virus.
All in all kinda dull for a machine takes over scenario. The writer of the episode, Howard Gordon, even referred to the episode as “one of my biggest disappointments.” Yes, I think I’ll just have to agree with that statement. Let’s just move along to Ice where things start getting great again… :) It’s one of my favorites and I’m off to watch that one as soon as I can…
Fun Tidbits:
- Deep Throat was originally only supposed to appear in the one episode titled, “Deep Throat.”
- Scully uses her gun for the first time in this episode.
- The scene with Scully and the fan blade was originally supposed to be a more action packed scene in the elevator shaft. However, putting that scene together ended up being too expensive so they opted for the rotating fan scene instead.
Jul 212009
I’m re-watching some of The X-Files series over from the beginning and trying post a write-up about one episode a week.
Episode six was never all that interesting to me. Fox requested they write more episodes where Mulder and Scully help people and so Morgan and Wong penned this one to do just that.
Strange deaths lead Mulder and Scully to investigate. (I know, when are they not pulled into strange deaths scenario, eh? :P) What they find is a secretary with a ghost for a bodyguard. I like ghost stories, but entering into the life of the mousy secretary seemed dull to me. I really could care less that her boss saw her as a daughter and felt the need to protect her…even from the afterlife. Dum dum dum…eh…that didn’t seem like a big reveal. This is not all that original a ghost scenario.
Anyway, the blood in the bathtub scene was fun to see…disturbing as that sounds. And it’s through that scene that she learns that her boss was murdered. It all leads to a cover-up at work that the company worked with terrorists. I liked seeing the whirlwind of paper fill the office as the ghost lead the secretary and Mulder to the disk of evidence hidden in the wallpaper. Scully, of course, misses that scene. Hah! Typical…
I don’t consider this one of the better episodes, but still…it is X-files and that is always good.
Fun Tidbit:
- When they are covering Howard Grave’s name at his parking spot, the name they were placing over it was Tom Braidwood, who was an assistant director at the time. He’s better known to us as Melvin Frohike. :)
And I guess that’s that for rambling about this episode.
Until next time…
Jun 292009
I’m re-watching some of The X-Files series over from the beginning and trying post a write-up about one episode a week.
Episode five is the missing link, Bigfoot-esque kinda episode, where the “creature” in question has been killing homeless people in New Jersey. First, let me say that I hated this episode the first time I saw it. Coming off the first four, man, it just couldn’t compare. I found it dull. But now that I watch it again, I am drawn to certain elements of it that developed Mulder and Scully more as characters.
Mulder is a workaholic. Passionate about his work too. His zealous drive to find this Bigfoot type being has him camping out with the homeless in order to find her. And he thrives in this kind of environment. I daresay he’s giddy at the adventure of it all!
Meanwhile, they tried to give Scully a personal life in this episode. They wanted to show us what she’d be giving up by working on the X-Files. She goes to her godson’s birthday where conversations lead to talk of kids and dating. She ends up on an awkward date, donning very 80s attire that was somewhat scary to see. Hah!
I also found that I enjoyed the tale of this Bigfoot-like woman this time around. Perhaps I was just nostalgic for X-Files. Who knows?
Fun Tidbit:
Mulder makes a joke about Elvis faking his own death. Elvis jokes show up from time to time in the series. It’s fun to watch out for them. :)
Jun 122009
I’m re-watching some of The X-Files series over from the beginning and trying post a write-up about one episode a week.
Episode four is a classic alien abduction story. While camping near Lake Okobogee, A UFO hot spot, a teen named Ruby Morris disappears. Her mother seeks help by releasing the story of her daughter’s abduction to the tabloids.
Mulder snatches up the story because he identifies with her younger brother, Kevin, at having lost his own sister, Samantha. Through his investigation, we start to see the agony he experiences with his desperate hope of finding his sister again.
At first I enjoyed the earlier hintings of what could have happened to his sister. But here starts the chaos of the story that is to follow. It becomes the most inconsistent, splotchy mess of a story line that for many of us X-Files nuts, interest is eventually lost. But even with that, the show held its own as making it my favorite series to watch.
What I did like is that Scully is given Samantha’s case file to review and that sets up the moment for us where we first get to hear Mulder’s hypnosis regression session.
I also thought it was interesting to see Kevin acting as a “conduit” bringing in transmissions from above. He receives messages through the white static on the TV and transcribes them as scribblings of binary code. Pieced together, the pages of code create a memorable image of his sister.
Plus, I enjoyed the touching scene with Mulder trying to explain to Kevin that his sister isn’t coming back. Sure, it’s also Mulder trying to convince himself he won’t see Samantha again. It’s also harder for Mulder because in this case, Kevin got his sister back.
Not one of my favorite episodes, but enjoyable nonetheless.
Fun Tidbits:
- On X-Files Wiki, I found that the character of Tessa was played by Chris Owens sister. You’ll remember him from “Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man,” “The Post-Modern Prometheus,” and as Jeffrey Spender.
- The kid that played Kevin Morris showed up later in “The Calusari.”
