Stargate Atlantis - "Infection"

Good concept and decent characterization, but not carried through very well. I liked seeing how the overall arc progressed with Todd and the attempt to "cure" the Wraith, but I hate it when the characters don't see the obvious (see my previous Clone Wars review).

"Dr. Keller's gene therapy... disease... help us..."
Well, it seems immediately obvious to me that they tried the gene therapy and it resulted in a disease, so they're hoping you'll be able to cure it. Yet it takes our heroes 10 minutes to figure this out?

"Colonel, the wall in front of me is melting... ARRRGGGHHHH!!!!"
Well, gee, it seems immediately obvious to me that the ship is rearranging itself. Yet it takes our heroes about 5 minutes to figure this out...

"Why are all these malfunctions happening?!?"
Well, let's see, it seems immediately obvious to me that since Wraith ships are organic that maybe your ship has caught the disease?!? At least in this case they asked the question right before the commercial break and got the answer right after they came back. So I guess they're catching on quicker.

So all in all, a few good elements, but not a very good episode.

Star Trek: Destiny - Book III: Lost Souls by David Mack

Wow.

Big things indeed.

I really want to go spoiler-happy here, but I'm going to restrain myself.

David Mack has really constructed a brilliant trilogy here. Major changes for the Star Trek universe as we know it, and all the doom you'd expect from a major all-out offensive by the Borg, while still retaining that special Star Trek optimism and wonder for the universe.

This book brings what has turned into a six-book epic about the Borg to its fruition. Some people have been complaining that the books have used the Borg too much over the last two years, and I was starting to agree with them, but the Destiny trilogy puts it all in perspective. The Destiny trilogy, along with the Next Gen books Resistance, Before Dishonor, and Greater than the Sum, are Star Trek's equivalent of Star Wars' New Jedi Order series. Major deaths, new characters, and major ramifications not just for the heroes but for the entire Star Trek universe.

This book is not only why I read Trek books, it's why I can't stop reading all the new Trek books. The best Star Trek books of all time are being written right now, and this trilogy is at the top.

Heroes - "The Eclipse: Part 2"

At last, I have my answer about the 9th Wonder comics! They were drawn by Isaac Mendez and are being published posthumously. Which makes me wonder, if Mendez was able to make enough issues to cover everything that happened for a season and a half after he died, then that means that he knew that the future he originally saw was going to get changed, which meant none of this is actually changing the future, because the future was supposed to be changed, which means it's all a fixed timeline! THERE IS NO FREE WILL!!!! AAAAGGGGHHHH!!!!!!

Oh yeah... I should probably comment on the actual show itself, huh?

I enjoyed it enough, although I didn't think you needed to be a comic geek to say "Umm, wait and see what happens after the eclipse ends." Nathan's deciding to join up with his father based on what went down in Haiti seemed rational enough. But Sylar's deciding "No, I'm a bad guy at heart" felt forced to me, like they've been trying real hard to make me understand him and make him likeable, and now they've just decided to throw it away and go back to status quo. We'll see where it goes next week.

Star Trek: The Next Generation - "The Last Outpost"

When this episode first aired, I thought it was humorous. And I thought that was a bit of a mistake, to introduce the Big New Villain of the show in a humorous episode, because it made it hard to take them seriously in later episodes.

But watching this episode 20 years later, I think it's more of a case of William Shatner singing "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." I think they meant this episode to be completely serious at the time, and it just didn't come across that way they meant it to, so they said "Oh, yeah, that was what we meant. Hehe." And then Ira Behr rolled in and handled them as the supporting-level humorous characters they really were and they worked much better.

Macross Frontier #16: "Ranka Attack"

I may have to revise my theory on the last episode. I had assumed that Grace and Brera were part of the Vajra; now I get the feeling they're manipulating them just as much as the people of the Macross Frontier.

I love fanwank. Throw in lots of references to Minmei and Basara and I am one happy little fanboy. I loved seeing the bridge crew argue over which one of them was more outdated. And it's interesting to see poor trusting little Ranka wondering if using her voice in battle is really for the greater good.

Also, it looks like Brera is going to stretch our love triangle in new directions. And that VF-27 he flies is one sleek piece of mecha.

Also liked the new end titles a lot.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - "Duel of the Droids"

How stupid can Anakin and Ahsoka be?!? Stubby continues to sabotage their mission, does exactly the opposite of everything they tell him, and they need to actually see Stubby with Grievous to realize he's a Seperatist?!?

Man, Jedi are dumb.

On the plus side, Artoo kicked Stubby's butt. How often do you get to see two astromechs fight it out with each other? That's got to be one of the coolest fight scenes ever.

I also liked the design of the battlesphere. I may not care for this show's character designs much, but the ships and battle scenes are fantastic.

And I shall never forget that two clones died to save R2-D2.

Terminator : The Sarah Connor Chronicles - "Strange Things Happen at the One Two Point"

You gotta give Terminator points for having some great episode titles.

Interesting twist about Riley.

Not sure how I feel about John Henry's new look yet.

Oh look! I watched two different shows that both had "Sarah" in the title on the same day!

The Sarah Jane Adventures - "The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith"

Two things I've really liked about SJA this season-- a stronger Doctor Who connection, and getting to learn more about Sarah Jane. This story is very good at doing both. Now that Luke's met the Doctor (at least via videoscreen) she doesn't have to act all mysterious about him, and dialogue involving the Doctor or the TARDIS just flows more easily.

I especially liked how the Trickster's trap turned out to be a predestination paradox. We don't get much of those in Doctor Who related shows anymore, which is part of what made it work so well.

And man, the Graske is the most used Doctor Who villian who has yet to appear in an actual Doctor Who episode!

South Park - "The China Probrem"

I don't plan on commenting on South Park regularly in this blog, but having just watched this episode, I just want to say this to all of fandom subculture...

Can we please stop comparing movies we don't like to being raped?

Thank you.

Spamalot

I have to confess, I wasn't really excited about going to see Spamalot. The recent trend to take a movie, insert a bunch of songs, and then rerelease it as a musical just doesn't inspire me. I saw the film of the musical version of The Producers and while I enjoyed it, I felt the songs had just been shoe-horned in there and made the story feel like it ran too long.

Not so with Spamalot. This is remade in the same way The Hitchhikker's Guide to the Galaxy was remade over and over-- we see many of the same things happen and many of our favorite jokes are in there, but the story is completely reworked to better suit its new medium. Characters have new beginnings and new endings, events are tied together in completely different ways, and even the songs you think you know get a twist. And it really, really works. There were my favorite jokes that I knew to expect, and a whole bunch of fresh new laughs too. Great stuff.

And Mylene got herself a killer rabbit puppet, which Danielle should be sending me a picture of soon. :)