Thank the Gods of Kobol

Stardate 11-22-2007

Today, being Thanksgiving and all, has given me a chance to sit back and think about what I'm most grateful for.  Many things came to mind, but the one thing that I am most grateful for is the fact that robots have not yet become self-aware.

After watching T3: Rise of the Machines, it was TJ who most intuitively pointed out that robots and machines becoming self-aware is the most obvious reason that we will have to walk to Adam-ondi-Ahmen one day.

That day may not be so far off.  Sarcos, a Utah based company, received a military contract from the US Government to continue production of robot exoskeleton that when worn by a soldier will enhance the soldier's strength, agility, jumping distance and running speed.  The Military should start testing the exoskeleton as early as 2008.  Sounds like Cyberdine to me. Take a look at the T100 below.

Whether you are excited or terrified of the robot vs. human war, you should tune in this Saturday night for the Sci-Fi Channel movie, Battlestar Galactica: Razor.  This two hour movie flashes back in time.  We get a look at the first Human/Cylon war.  We get to see a young William Adama in action.  We also get to see more details of the second Human/Cylon war.  We will get to see how the Pegasus, the only other Battlestar that survived that second attack, survived.  This would be a good opportunity for those who have never watched Battlestar Galactica to tune in and watch what Mr. Rumble and I agree is one of the best shows on TV.  

Happy Thanksgiving.

Wednesday Night Jericho

Stardate 11-11-2007

Ever since Allison and I watched and absolutely loved the Hallmark Hall of Fame TV movie The Magic of Ordinary Days, I have been craving more magic from Skeet Ulrich. I most definitely satisfied that craving as I have just finished watching the first season of Jericho. Jericho started its run in the fall 2006 line-up for CBS. I never gave it a chance because I was put off by the name. I knew that it was a post-apocalyptic drama and that combined with the name Jericho made me think that it was full of weird religious undertones. I was very wrong.


While reviewing the updates from Comic Con I came across an article about Jericho. I found out that Jericho was actually canceled by CBS after it finished its full season back in the spring of 2007. The article went on to say that a large group of fans banned together and created a campaign to save the show. The campaign worked and CBS officially announced in June of 2007 that they were going to give the green light for 7 more episodes. These episodes are set to start some time in January of 2008. Depending on the ratings, the show will get either more episodes to finish out the second season, it will get canceled, or they may give it a green light for a full 3rd season. I was impressed that so many people would fight for a shows survival, so I decided to check it out. I'm really glad that I did. The show is awesome. I would never put it in the same category as Lost, Freaks and Geeks, Heroes, or Battlestar Galactica, but I would for sure put it next to Prison Break or The OC.

Jericho is about a small town in Kansas and how it deals with the aftermath of an attack on the United States. In the show, 23 major US cities get nuked. The show works well because there is sufficient mystery to keep the viewer coming back from week to week. Some of the characters have shady and messed up pasts. Was one of them involved in the bombings? What has happened to the United States now that almost all of its major cities have been destroyed? And most importantly, who was behind the bombings? Was it foreign or internal? Is the United States being invaded? Who can you trust?

Some of these answers are revealed and some are not. Some are hinted upon and could be future story lines. For example. In one of the episodes, a few of the residents of Jericho go a trading post called Black Jack. While there they find out that six different surviving Senators have all claimed the Presidency and that the United States has essentially been divided into six separate nations.

Its not too late to save Jericho. It is a show that deserves to be saved. Rent the series and watch it. The first episode is great and then it gets slow for a few of the episodes. By the 6th or 7th you'll be hooked. The rest of the season is amazing and action packed. Watch season one so that you can tune in and watch Season 2.

Heroes Gets Good Again, Or Does It?

Stardate 11-08-2007

Darth Spencer must start out this post by declaring that Darth Spencer is brilliant. Back in May of 2006 I made a prediction on my blog that a future storyline for Heroes would involve the disease that Molly was suffering from and that Mohinder's little sister died from. In this weeks episode, we found out that in the future, this disease kills 94% of the population and though it is not as effective as Captain Trips, 94% is pretty deadly. I also predicted that we would find out that Claire also suffered from this disease but was able to fight it off because of her ability to heal. It turns out that the company has told Mohinder to bring Claire in to poke her with needles and do experiments on her in order to use her body to cure the mutating disease. That said...

This volume didn't exactly start out with a bang. We've had to deal with new story lines and uninteresting new characters, minus Takezo Kensei. Finally things appear to be moving again. Claire's dad, HRG, is evil and scary again. There is some new and exciting mystery surrounding Peter, Takezo Kensei, and Hiro, and we know what evils the Heroes are facing and what will happen if it isn't stopped.

I am really excited about these things, but there are a few things that I am not happy about. Heroes has been too inconsistent in their story line. Here is what I'm bugged about-- Molly. At the end of last season we go to know the most annoying little girl in the world a little better. It was stated that she was the only one who could defeat Sylar. Did the writers forget that both the Haitian and Eve, the chick with the power of persuasion, were able to capture Sylar without any problem? At that point, the company could have killed Sylar, but for some reason, decided not to. That aside, we are supposed to believe that Molly can somehow bring Sylar down just because she can point to where is he is on a map? I don't buy it.

Then, while she is searching for Sylar, they ask her if she can find anyone. She replies that she can find anyone, except for "him." "Who is he Molly?" "The Boogieman." So the writers make us believe that there is someone out there who is much scarier and more dangerous than Sylar. This season we found out that the boogieman was Parkman's dad and that his ability was the same as Parkman's, but more refined and dangerous. Then we found out this week that the boogieman was not the scariest bad guy after all, but just the hit man for the scariest bad guy.

So who is this scary bad guy? There was very little said about him. We know that it was he who formed the Company and that Linderman was his protege. It sounds like he is the Magneto of the Heroes. He wants to wipe out the world and its inhabitants, but spare those with special abilities? Come on writers. Lets stop stealing ideas from the X-Men.

I still love Heroes and believe that it is one of the best shows on TV. I'm excited to see where this season goes. Hopefully the writers can keep it original.