Frakking Suits

 Pop Culture  No Responses »
Mar 232012
 

Even though a recent episode of Portlandia heaped a generous helping of hipster love on Battlestar Galactica, Syfy executives decided not to greenlight Blood and Chrome, a prequel series set during the Cylon wars. It may have some sort of future as a web series, but even that’s uncertain. I can’t blame the network for not wanting to pull the trigger on an expensive series, especially after the hot muddled mess that was Caprica, but it would be nice for actual science fiction to make a return to the channel. I still haven’t entirely forgiven them for canceling Stargate: Universe just as it was finding its groove. The network’s current stable of shows about vampires and mutants are passable late night entertainment, but I want me some space battles.

Doctor’s Assistant

 Pop Culture  No Responses »
Mar 222012
 

The BBC has revealed the identity of the good Doctor’s next companion. She’s certainly cute, but I’ll miss Karen Gillan’s Scottish brogue and charming presence. I’m sure the show’s writers will give her a right and proper sendoff and I have no doubt her replacement will do just fine. After all, Matt Smith is a terrific Doctor and I had big doubts about him.

Good Schlocky Fun

 Pop Culture  No Responses »
Mar 142012
 

The geek hivemind is telling me that I must go see Cabin in the Woods when it hits my local theater. The trailer makes it out to be a clever science fiction/horror/comedy confectionery blend containing several examples of witty ripostes that are positively Whedonesque, which makes since Joss Whedon wrote and produced the film. Even better, Drew Goddard (who earned his geek cred writing for Lost) directs. All of this is to say that I will almost certainly see this movie.

Here’s the trailer:

Imagining Tomorrow

 Geeking Out, Pop Culture  1 Response »
Mar 052012
 

A clever viral video clip for the forthcoming movie Prometheus (the kinda-sorta prequel to Alien) has been making the rounds. In the clip, fictional tech titan Peter Weyland (founder of what will become the Weyland-Yutani Corporation) delivers a rousing address to a futuristic TED conference in 2023. Here’s the video:

Alyssa Rosenberg, a smart blogger who blogs smart things at ThinkProgress, praises the clip:

I think what I like about this is not just that the clip gives me a sense of what the movie is going to be like, but that it’s a bit of connective tissue between this world and our own. For me, a lot of what’s fun about near-future science fiction is a sense of what will survive from one era into the next, whether it’s jazz on Mars in Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars trilogy, eighties pop culture in Ready Player One, or a version of TED that kind of looks like it got mashed up with the Old Republic’s Senate Chambers.

Hollywood is becoming quite adept at creating bits of viral marketing like this that are designed to get people talking about a movie or TV show. And Guy Pearce does a really great job of making Weyland a compelling character over the span of just a few minutes. It’s like he decided to channel the combined egos of Steve Jobs and Richard Branson and then thought to himself, “Hmm, needs more arrogance.” Let’s hope Weyland gets some screen time in the actual movie.

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