Liberal Values Defending Liberty and Enlightened Thought

Last season there was a miniseries instead of a full season of Torchwood but with its success it was widely assumed that the show would be returning. The big question was who would return. Going into last season only the three in  the picture above were still alive. By the end of the mini-series Londo was dead, Gwen was pregnant, and Jack was leaving earth. John Borrowman has now confirmed that he has signed for a fourth season of Torchwood, returning to his role of Captain Jack Harkness.

There is no word as to whether Gwen will be returning, but either way it will be necessary to rebuild.There is also no word as to whether there will be further cross over episodes between The Doctor and Torchwood. Now that Russell T. Davies is leaving Doctor Who I would guess that the chances for cross overs would be reduced but might still be possible.

There will also be a full thirteen episode season. While the miniseries format worked out well last season, a regular season would be preferable to re-invent the series with new cast members.

Movieweb has interviewed J.J. Abrams about his Star Trek movie and the upcoming sequel:

“I think that the challenge, the advantage and the opportunity of this world is just how unlimited it is in terms of what we can do,” continued Abrams. “Having said that, I think the first movie was very much just about the characters meeting, so you can only go so far in terms of the depth of experience and it’s all pretty urgent. Now that they’ve gotten to be together for a period of time, whether it be a day, weeks, months, or years, that next chapter feels sort of like there are some roots that have grown. So it won’t be meeting new people as you go it will be going on this adventure with this pre-established family. So that just means a different set of challenges. So I’m very excited to play that out,” he concluded

One aspect of the film that surprised new and old fans alike was the love triangle between Kirk, Spock and Uhura, something that had never been explored before in any of the previous films or TV series. “I think it was that Kirk was so clearly the romantic lead and the fun of it was to play with the expectations of where it was going to go,” said Abrams. “I think now that we’ve done that you can’t play that same joke again so it’s got to be about what is their relationship and who are these people? That’s why I think the next one, hopefully while still having the sense of fun and adventure, can go a little deeper in terms of the story,” he added regarding the love triangle appearing in future films.

The Blu-ray version of the Abrams Star Trek movie was released. SciFi Squad offers a review, including a listing of the special features included.

The BBC has released the synopsis of the two part Doctor Who special, The End of Time which will air on Christmas and New Year’s.

Part Two:

The Doctor faces the end of his life as the Master’s plans hurtle out of control. With the sound of drums growing louder, and an ancient trap closing around the Earth, the Doctor and Wilf must fight alone. But sacrifices must be made, and the deadly prophecy warns: “He will knock four times.”

J. Michael Straczynski, creator of Babylon 5, discussed his upcoming rebooting of Forbidden Planet with Sci Fi Wire:

The 1956 original, which was loosely based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest, is famous for its Oscar-nominated and groundbreaking visual effects, as well as for the introduction of Robby the Robot, and told the story of a shuttle crew (led by a then-serious Leslie Nielsen) that lands on the planet Altair IV to investigate a missing colony that landed there decades earlier.

“We’ve actually decided to show more of the first ship when it first arrived 20 years earlier to sort of counterpoint what’s happening in the present story,” Straczynski said in a group interview Saturday in Hollywood. “If you’re a fan of the original, as I am, and have always been, I think it’s very faithful to that.” Warner Brothers owns the rights.

The biggest worry about the Forbidden Planet remake could be that the studio would turn it into a straight-up action movie. The original was carried by dialogue as Dr. Edward Morbius (Walter Pidgeon), one of the planet’s two survivors, explained scientific theory to the visiting astronauts. Tension between the astronauts and Dr. Morbius’ daughter, Altaira (Anne Francis), filled in the rest.

Straczynski says not to worry. “There’s a little more action, but it’s still a strong character piece, because it’s based on The Tempest and the idea of a father whose daughter is being courted by, in the original play, sailors that are washed up on shore,” Straczynski said. “You need to have that dynamic still in place to respect the original and the source material. So there’s a fair amount of talking, but there’s some really cool action pieces in it as well.”

It is possible Warner has eyes for more Forbidden Planet adventures beyond one remake, said Straczynski. “Warners is very excited about it, thinks it’s a big franchise for them and a huge budget, so they’re very much oriented toward getting it done.”

TV Guide has interviewed Simon Helberg, who plays Howard Wolowitz on The Big Bang Theory, following his bath tub scene with Kattee Sackhoff:

TVGuide.com: Katee is your dream sci-fi woman and she gives you some relationship advice in your fantasy.
Simon Helberg: Yeah, she’s almost like my conscience. She’s much prettier than Jiminy Crickett. She just basically says, “C’mon, you’re not going to get me! You have this great girl and you’re dropping her for a fantasy.” I get disillusioned and I know what’s the wrong thing to do.

TVGuide.com: Since Katee is your conscience, that means she can come back, right?
Helberg: There’s definitely a possibility that she could continue to be his conscience. I don’t know how much they plan for, say, the entire arc of the season. Who knows? Maybe next time they’ll be in a Jacuzzi, maybe even the shower. I don’t know if I have to be wet and naked. Maybe he always has to be in a compromising position. It is his fantasy!

What a relief. The remake of The Prisoner is over. Now I can catch up on Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars, Monday’s episode of Heroes, and then later watch Glee.

Update: The Waters of Mars was fantastic. Sadly it leads us towards The End of Time and the end of David Tennant’s run as The Doctor, but I also anticipate great things from Matt Smith with Steven Moffatt becoming show runner after The Doctor’s next regeneration.

Update II: In the past twenty-four hours I have watched Doctor Who and The Prisoner. I also bought a copy of the Star Trek movie. Ignoring the fact that there was no Blu-ray back then, I feel like I’m back in the 1960’s. I never would have guessed around 40 years ago that I’d be watching the same shows now which were showing back then. While more recent, in the past day I’ve also watched V.

Warner Troyer interviewed Patrick McGoohan in 1977, discussing the meaning of The Prisoner. After watching the dreadful remake on AMC, this is a good reminder of the brilliance of the original:

Well, I’ve now made it through all six hours of the remake of The Prisoner. It wasn’t easy. As a huge fan of the original I had to see this, but it was a real bore. I’ll probably write a more detailed review later, but the main problem is that it totally missed the meaning of the original. A lot was thrown in which simply made no sense. In the end the Village revealed to be helping people but besides being a radical change from the original this did not even seem consistent with the prior episodes.

Some remakes make sense but this did not. It didn’t matter that Ron Moore totally changed the concept of Battlestar Galactica in his remake since the original was such a weak show, but there’s no point in re-imagining a show as great as The Prisoner and minimizing what made it great. This included aspects such as the attempt to discover why Six resigned and, more importantly, the underlying theme of fighting for the right of the individual to be individual.

The remake took as much from The Matrix as from Patrick McGoohan’s original version of The Prisoner. The two actual sequels to The Matrix were already pretty bad.  This was worse. Besides similarities from the pills to the Village existing in the mind , this remake and the sequels to The Matrix have something else in common: they should never have been made.

We’re two-thirds through the remake of The Prisoner on AMC and Patrick McGowan is undoubtedly rolling over in his grave. I’ll wait until the mini-series concludes to give my final judgment on it. At this point it is clear that it has not maintained the underlying meaning of the original and it is no where as entertaining to watch. At least it does have me curious enough to see where it is going to make sure I watch the final two hours tonight.  If it was planned as a series going over several weeks, as the original was, I doubt it would hold on to an audience.

It is going to be a busy week for science fiction. The Doctor Who special, The Waters of Mars, aired today on the BBC  and I’ll be reviewing this soon. The remake of The Prisoner starts a three day run on AMC tonight. I have my doubts as to how good a remake of such an excellent show will be, fearing that any attempts to answer the questions it left will be a disappointment. There is no doubt I’ll watch, but some early reviews, such as at IO9 have been disappointing.

The big event of the week for movies will be the release of the J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie on DVD and Blu-ray, with lots of extras. The Blu-ray release of the third season of the original show might be disappointing due to the deterioration in quality that season. There will be an unexpected extra–a recently discovered alternate version of the pilot episode, Where No Man Has Gone Before. This second pilot was written after NBC found the original pilot episode, The Cage, to be too cerebral. It is believed that this lost version is the one actually watched by NBC executives deciding upon whether to pick up the show, with some changes having been made by the time the episode actually aired to fit into the reworked series. A clip, including the original opening for the show, is above.

It comes as no surprise that Dollhouse was officially canceled. The series finale will air January 22, with the final two episodes still be be filmed, giving a chance at some degree of closure. Joss Whedon states he plans on starting new internet ventures and binge drinking in response to the cancellation. He also teases, ” By the time the last episode airs, you’ll know what my next project is. But for now there’s a lot of work still to be done, and disappointment to bear.”

It is looking likely that there will be a fourth season for Torchwood with Captain Jack returning. Via Airlock Alpha:

“The recession has hit British television,” he explained to TV Guide magazine. “But fingers crossed, it will be a go. We expect things to start to move in January.”

Davies has always insisted that he has a plan for the future of the show, and even when the miniseries concluded, he revealed that he even had an idea for the fourth season ready to present to the BBC should they give him a call. Of course, it comes as no surprise that the Beeb is very much interested in an additional season of the show thanks to some stellar ratings which grew as the five-part adventure unfolded earlier this year.

“We’ve got great ideas for the show,” Davies said. “I think there’s a further lease on life for many years to come, but certainly for a [fourth season].”

While some might be questioning whether or not star John Barrowman will return to reprise his role as Capt. Jack Harkness, Davies made it clear that this is the star of the show.

If 2010 is too long to wait for a Capt. Jack fix, however, fans have no further to look than “Doctor Who.” Barrowman has a role in the final episodes of David Tennant’s tenure and will help smooth over the transition of introducing a new Doctor.

Caprica begins January 22 on SyFy. Cylon sex was always a big part of Battlestar Galactica, and nudity was included in the DVD release of the pilot for Caprica. They are continuing to try to use sex to sell the series, as can be seen in the promotional poster above featuring a nude Zoe Graystone.