Heat Vision and Jack

Megan had told me about this wonderful pilot for a television series called Heat Vision and Jack. Once I had found it, I knew what brilliance was. AV Club has a great article up containing clips of the pilot. Read the article, find the pilot on the internet, be entertained.

The Eleventh Hour

The Eleventh Hour was the newest episode of the ever so classic television series Doctor Who. In this episode we were introduced to the newest Doctor, his new companion and a new TARDIS. In all honesty I was kind of expecting this to be a ho-hum episode, as the End of Time felt a little off the mark (especially after The Water of Mars). I was, however, glad to be wrong. David Tennant stepped into the role of the Tenth Doctor and did a great job of updating him for the new era we live in.

Matt Smith manages to take on the Doctor that David Tennant had created and bring him even further into the new digital age. He does a great job with the goofy traits the Doctor has without making him seem more comical than heroic. He also does a great job in not being too broody with the Doctor.

Amy Pond, the new companion, makes me want to marry a Scottish Woman. I know it sounds awfully misogynist, but really, her short skirts are a term I call 'hyperfoxy.' She's also a great companion, kind of reminds me of Romana from the Tom Baker days.

All in all, the episode was a little goofy; a little girl has a crack in her wall that she hears voices from, she prays to Santa to send someone to fix it, and at that same moment the TARDIS comes crashing into her backyard. I loved the idea of the Doctor telling this little girl he needed to fix the phase inhibitors in the TARDIS and he'd be back in 5 minutes, but due to the error of time travel comes back in 12 years. The Voices are a prison in an alternate dimension with a prisoner who's escaped through into Earth, the Doctor, of course, stops the Atarxi from vaporizing the Earth in order to stop the escaped prisoner. But really, how stupid would Doctor Who be if he lost and the world ended?

At the end of the day, I am excited to see more of Matt Smith as he gets more of a chance to grow into the Doctor. I am also excited to see where Steven Moffat takes the series after 5 years of Russell T Davies running things.

Moon

Moon was released on Blu Ray today. This is a great example of where a science fiction idea is turned into something that questions the nature of reality and existence. I won't spoil the twist for those of you who haven't seen it, with that I implore you to seek this movie out. I would put it up as one of the top movies of 2009.

This is Duncan Jones first film, and he nails it. With actual set pieces and miniatures, Moon is considered shoe string budget at five million dollars. Sam Rockwell delivers a spectacular performance as the lone worker on a Moon mining station, his only companion is a robot played by Kevin Spacey.

A surreal masterpiece, Moon is something I look forward to watching time and time again.

More Avatar

So I hear a lot of people complaining about the Story in Avatar; which is all well a good. Its not some new interesting and creative story, but it works. More importantly it brings you into this vast sprawling 3D world that James Cameron and Associates have created. Needless to say, I found this video to be quite hilarious.

Time Travel

So Zach has got me addicted to Lost, which is starting to delve into paradoxes involved with time travel. It got me thinking about some of my favorite moments in TV & Film involving Time Travel, and I think the final scene in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey does just about the right thing in the absurdity department.



Do you have any preferred moments involving time travel?

Happy Birthday Doctor Who!

Harlan Muir sent me a link to an article over at Wired.com about the 46th Anniversary of Doctor Who. Very interesting talking about the origins of the show. You can read the link here.

The Water of Mars

The Water of Mars is the latest in the last four specials to end David Tennant's run as The Doctor. This may have been the darkest episode of Doctor Who I've ever seen and by far one of the greatest episodes in the new series.

The episode begins with the Doctor setting down on the Red Planet, Mars, and venturing forth in search of fun and excitement. He soon discovers a base, in fact it is the first human base on another planet. It has been established in the series that there are certain rules within the structure of time that the Doctor simply can not interfere with. Referred to as 'fix points in time,' the viewer quickly learns that what happens on Bowie Base One is just such a point.

Now for those of you who are unfamiliar with Doctor Who, it began its run in 1963 and went until 1989. It was then brought back in 2005 and has been consistent since then. In the return you learn that there was a great war between the Doctor's people (The Time Lords) and their mortal enemies (The Daleks). The Doctor lead the final assault against the Daleks and watched both of their planets burn and be taken out of the whole of time.

In the end of Water of Mars the Doctor comes to the realization that he is not the lone survivor but the Time Lord Victorious. With this realization he knows that all of Time and Space is at his will, and both his hubris and compassion create such a chilling monster. Setting up for what promises to be an excellent end to Tennant's Doctor, the final special, which will air in two parts feels an eternity away.



I have fallen in love with Doctor Who since first watching the new series a few years ago. I find the Doctor to be one of the most interesting 'super' heroes out there. With the ability to manipulate both time and space, he uses this to seek out fun. He is also supposed to be the greatest mind in all the cosmos. He is an excellent character and extremely original in all aspects. As would be suggested, I highly recommend Doctor Who to anyone that is looking for something original, fun, and intelligent. Start with the new series and it is a lot easier work yourself into the older episodes.

The Prisoner

So last night I caught the first episode of AMC's new miniseries The Prisoner. Based off the classic BBC Series which aired in 1967. Both follow similar plots; An unnamed man resigns from a position (original he was a spy, remake he works for some security company) and wakes up to find himself in surreal village. Basically from this point on he is forced to question the nature of his reality and attempt to escape from The Village. The first episode was extremely bizarre, he delved into the surrealist dream sequences rather nicely and seemed to have the story moving in a direction. I also downloaded the original series with high anticipation to watch that as well.

The Prisoner 2009

2001: A Space Odyssey

By far, the greatest Science Fiction movie ever created is 2001: A Space Odyssey. The story of man kind finding tools from such advance species and trying to figure out their purpose. Its a reminder that we are only a small part of these ever expanding universe, that our roll is still not come into full definition. As we try to explore such a wondrous object as the Monolith we learn that our own tools are primitive in comparison.



Moments like Hal 9000's malfunction due to improper impute of data only shows the sharp mind of Arthur C Clarke. An AI designed to only serve humans and never distort data is told to lie and keep a secret from other crew members its solution to the problem is to eliminate the problem. Such an excellent scene where David Bowman sets down with Hal and they talk about rumors circulating about their mission. The scene where Bowman 'kills' HAL is maybe one of the most disturbing moments in cinema history, evoking a strong sense of sympathy for a computer is a powerful statement in story telling ability.




The final scene where David Bowman overcomes all odds and enters the Monolith is most amazing. To have such a man of intelligence, resolve and courage be the judging of all of our species is quite the trip. As the Monolith pulls him in, it shows him the history of the species who created it, brought it to earth and began the process of evolution that culminated in the moment David Bowman said "My God, its full of stars!"



The movie is a great example of the visual telling of a story. Combined with the book it becomes one of the greatest examples of speculative fiction to ever be conceived. To think, that in 1968 they would see the Computer take such a prominent roll in our lives, and how we would rapidly advance into the Space Age. Unfortunately Geopolitics stopped the Space Race in the late 70's.