Terminator

Stardate 12-19-2007

I've got lots of exciting Terminator news. On Sunday, January 13, Fox will air the first half of the two hour pilot for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The second half will be shown the next night. For those who have not heard, the TV Series takes place between the the events of T2 and T3 and is about Sarah Connor and her son John Connor. From watching T3, we know that Sarah will eventually die of cancer, but before she dies, she prepares John to become a brilliant soldier and leader. It will be interesting to see how she does this. I'm also hoping that we learn more about the company Cyberdine Systems and its creation--Skynet. If you will recall, it was Cyberdine Systems who found parts of the smashed up Terminator from the first film. After much study, Cyberdine used this new technology to create Skynet, which is the super computer that eventually becomes self aware and sentient. In T2, Sarah Connor successfully destroys the Cyberdine Systems building and research. It is unclear what happened to Cyberdine after this happened. I'm also not sure how Cyberdine eventually dissapears. Somehow the US Air Force takes over and creates Skynet as a global defence network. They eventually give Skynet control over all military computerized hardware and systems, including the nuclear defence network. This is how Skynet is able to nuke everyone. Why it does so is a blog post for another day.

I am hopeful that some of these subjects will be examined in the new TV Series. I am also hopeful that they will have a good balance of action and science fiction. I'm doubtful that they will do so and am worried that it will be a bunch of fighting and explosions. The sci fi aspect is what makes the story so interesting and mind bodeling. I've attached a YouTube clip of a trailer for the series and some of the promo posters. Some of you may notice that the Terminator sent to protect young John Connor is played by the girl who was in Firefly and Serenity.

There is also an update in the upcoming Terminator Movie. Its called Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins. It takes place in the future and is about John Connor. Its the story of the human resistance against the machines. John Connor will be the center and main character. I'm excited about this movie, but again, there are some things that I am worried about. First the good. The story sounds cool and Batman himself, Christian Bale is in final negotiations with the studios to play the lead role. I think that Bale would be perfect for this role. Now the bad. This film is written by a duo who also wrote T3: Rise of the Machines. I liked T3, but it wasn't amazing. These guys were also the geniuses behind Catwoman. This worries me. On top of this, McG will be the director. McG directed both Charlie's Angels movies. Even worse he calls himself, McG. This is scary news for me. The only shred of hope that I'm holding onto is the fact that McG has been involved in the production of Chuck. He even directed the pilot. I've really enjoyed Chuck and I think its a great show. They are planning a new franchise behind this new story line. It should be interesting to see the future aspect of the Terminator story.

Decision 2008- Rudy

Stardate 12-08-2007

Its time for Darth Spencer to weight in on the 2008 Presidential race. I know my literally thousands of readers have been waiting for this type of post for a long time. As you know, my influence will be great. Look what people have been saying about me.

"Darth Spencer has a world wide audience. He has been a major influence in Germany, Singapore, Hungary, England, Canada, and other major nations. He has readers in key red and blue states. Obama should have thought twice before asking Oprah to join him on the campaign trail. Darth Spencer would have reached a much broader audience. Plus, Oprah may be powerful, but she is not a Dark Lord of the Sith."
-- Spencer Davis, Statistics courtesy of Google Analytics, et. all

I'm also a major influence with the Christian Right. As you can see below, I've made the list of Most Influential Christian Ministry Blogs.


The first candidate to be examined will be Rudy Guliliani. He claims to be tough on national security and also claims that he will solve the alien problem. I'm not sure sure. Take a look at how he handles, or should I say fumbles, this question about aliens.



Rudy seemed completely caught off guard while trying to answer this question. Its almost as if he'd never even thought what he really would do if aliens attacked. I've got news for you Gules, if you were President and aliens attacked, we'd all be dead. Your response to this child's question lacked creativity and I'm pretty sure your alien defense plan would also lack creativity and brains. I like living so you simply won't due. You've officially been taken off of Darth Spencer's list of possible Presidents.

I hope you are excited a I am to study and learn about all of the candidates over the next year or so leading up to the Race in '08.

Heroes Volume 2 Finale

Stardate 12-04-2007

I'll just jump straight to the point. Last nights finale was crappy. I'm a huge Heroes fan. It used to be one of my favorite shows on TV. It really still is, but I'm just sort of disappointed with this whole Volume. I know that a lot of people are going to try to blame the finale on the writers strike, and I'll agree with that to a very small degree, but the truth is that this season has just been full of garbage writing, characters and story lines.

Here is my first of many complaints. What was the deal with all of the new characters this season? None of them were interesting. None of them played a crucial role in any of the main story lines, except for maybe Midas and Veronica Mars. This season was called "Heroes: Generations." I thought we were going to learn about the company and its founders; the early Generation of Heroes. The company was of course involved in the main story line, but we hardly learned anything new about them. We still don't even know what Mr. Nakamura and Angela Patreli's powers are. The most interesting and exciting episodes from Volume 1 were the ones that flashed back to Mr. Bennet and his early days at the company. I'm bothered that they brought in so many new character when they already had a whole bunch of interesting side characters built in. The exploration of the company and its founders could have been amazing.

Back to the finale. The whole safe thing was really disappointing. First, it was way too easy for Adam and Peter to get to it. If the company is as powerful as we think it is, and this safe holds their most precious relics, then why was it not guarded by their own people? I was also let down by how easy it was for Peter to break into the safe. Angela Patreli told her son and Parkman that only a Hero with powers like Peters could get in. So Adam and Peter get there and all Peter has to do is use Telekinesis? All he has to do is bend bars with his mind? The most creative thing that the Company can use to protect their most precious and dangerous assets is an expensive safe? This alone shows how one dimensional these writers are.

So then we get into the safe and there is all this cool and mysterious stuff all around like floating brains, a deck of cards and a deadly super virus. And the Patreli boys and Parkman start talking about how creepy and messed up the company is and how they need to bring them down. At this point, I started to get excited. I started to think that they were going to steel a bunch of this stuff and through these items, we were going to start to piece together and learn who the company is, how they got started, and what the company has found out about past Heroes and how this all started. Things were looking up, but instead, all they can do is come up with the same idea that annoying Clair came up with. They decide to go public with their powers.

I was disappointed with this decision, but was willing to see where it was going to take the show. As we all know, Nathan is assassinated right as he is about to say that he can fly. Though the assassination was cool, I couldn't help but wonder why Peter or Parkman didn't get shot? I guess if they had shot Peter, everyone would have seen him heal and then the jig would have been up. This makes me wonder why Peter didn't fly, or use his new electric powers, or one of his many other powers to not only show everyone what Nathan was trying to tell them, but also go after the guy who just killed is brother.

Though the finale was pretty crumby, there were some things that I did enjoy. The fight sequence between Peter and Hiro was pretty good. Hiro used his ability disappear and appear and to attack from different angles. Peter also used multiple abilities to defend himself and eventually overpower Hiro.

I also enjoyed where Hiro left Adam, though it would have been cooler to see him laying next to a Hiro's decaying father.

The finale ends with Sylar getting his powers back. Hopefully Molly is his first victim. In the preview for the next Volume, we see that we are going to focus on the villains. Who knows, maybe we will get to see more about the history of the company and how bad they are. I'm a little worried though. Volume 1 ended with the writers giving us the idea that we were going to be introduced to a new villain who was even worse than Sylar. They dropped the ball big time with this. Hopefully the do a better job this time around.

What did you think of the finale?