SciFi Weekend: The Doctor’s Wife; Canceled and Renewed Shows

Fans have been anxious to see a continuation of the storyline  started in the first two episodes of Doctor Who this season. Many were disappointed by The Curse of The Black Spot which repeated the ambiguity over Amy being pregnant and showed the woman with the eye patch, but did not really advance the storyline. There was far greater anticipation for this week’s episode, The Doctor’s Wife, written by Neil Gaiman. Instead of advancing this season’s arc, the story went back to the origins of the entire series.

The Doctor’s Wife is his constant companion and perhaps true love- the TARDIS.  The actual story was merely a device to have the TARDIS appear in the form of a woman. Karen Gillan had one of the best lines of the episode, asking the Doctor, “Did you wish really hard?” At the conclusion of the episode it was clear that the Doctor wanted her back.

Idris, also known as Sexy, revealed more about the origins of the Doctor, who “borrowed” a TARDIS which he found unlocked. From Idris’ account, it was she who picked the Doctor because she wanted to see the universe. While it might be the case that the TARDIS doesn’t always go where the Doctor wants, Idris pointed out that she always takes the Doctor where he needs to go. Most importantly, Idris finally got the opportunity to say “hello” to the Doctor.

As the story was primarily a mechanism to have the Doctor and Idris interact, it was necessary to work in an excuse to have Amy and Rory elsewhere. They spend most of the episode running through the corridors of the TARDIS, including yet another sequence in which Rory appeared to die and return.  It was also amusing to see Idris be unaware of which companion was which, ultimately identifying the pretty one, which she believed to be Rory.  It is a shame that the budget only allowed them to run through corridors as opposed to actual rooms during the bulk of the episode. Gaiman had wanted to have a view of the swimming pool but they didn’t have the budget for this. At least the old TARDIS set from the David Tennant era still exists, allowing them to say that the TARDIS has archives of all these old control rooms.

While this was primarily a stand-alone episode, there was on line which appears to pertain to the current story line. Idris told the Doctor, “The only water in the forest is the river.” Would this mean River Song, and does the forest refer to the forest in The Forest of The Dead?  That was part of the two part story in which the Doctor first met River, and the last time River saw the Doctor due to their crossed time lines.

Neil Gaiman will be taking questions about the story on Monday.

Also this week we received news on which shows were renewed or canceled. Cancellations include The Event, V, and No Ordinary Family. All of these were expected.  Cancellations of non-genre shows include Brother’s and Sisters, which ended the season with an episode which worked well as a series finale. Two of the female stars of Friday Night Lights, Minka Kelly and Adrianne Palicki appeared in pilots (Charlie’s Angels and Wonder Woman). The first was picked up but the second was not.  Parenthood, which Minka Kelly had a recurring role in, was also renewed.

There is speculation that Netflix might pick up The Event out of a desire to have their own shows with a following. In principle this does make sense as there are so many ways to watch movies. If not for their original shows, I probably would have dropped HBO, Showtime, and Starz by now. While it makes sense in principle, I’m not sure that The Event is the best choice for Netflix to go with. If it returns on Netflix I will probably watch it, but if I didn’t already have a Netflix account I doubt having The Event would be enough to sell me.

In addition to the announcements this week, The Cape, Dollhouse, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Files and FlashForward also failed to survive. While genre shows have generally done poorly on television the last couple of years, there have been multiple blockbuster genre movies, such as Thor this week. I wonder why genre titles are doing so much better at the movies than on television. Some of these genre shows suffered from mediocre writing, but an excellent show such as Fringe is also failing to do all that well in the ratings.  Perhaps it is partially the higher budgets for movies. Maybe there is a larger audience for intermittent blockbuster events as opposed to following a show weekly. Regardless of the reason, I still find the support for genre movies as reason to hope that a well-done genre television show can still be successful on network television.

SciFi Weekend: Supermoon; Doctor Who Mini-Episodes Time & Space; Anna Torv as William Bell; Girls of Dillon Texas In New Roles; V Season (Series?) Finale; Being Human Renewed

Just went outside to see supermoon. I am a little disappointed that nobody put a giant S and a cape on it.  This week we start with a mini installment of Doctor Who prepared for Comic Relief charity fund-raising, which explains the problem with Amy Pond’s short skirts,plus a lot of timey wimey stuff:

In other Doctor Who news, a fan is suing the BBC claiming he first came up with the character of Davros for a competition at age 13.

Anna Torv spent this week’s episode of Fringe with William Bell possessing her body. TV Line interviewed Torv about playing this third role on the show:

Make no mistake, Anna Torv herself was agog when she first learned of the twist – one that forced into her repertoire a third Fringe characterization. “This is not one I had been asking for!” the actress admits with a laugh. “I was in shock for the first day, and then I think I hyperventilated, and then I called John Noble to say, ‘Can you please help me?’”

Torv’s reasons for turning to Walter’s portrayer were twofold. “When you are about to do something you’re kind of freaked out about, you want to be able to look up and know there’s a safe place to go to – and it’s there in John’s eyes,” she explains. And because Noble was in most of Leonard Nimoy’s scenes as “Belly,” Torv says, “I wanted to know what that relationship was like.”

Because she is Australian and already affecting an American accent for her portrayal of Olivia/”Bolivia,” Torv studied tapes of Nimoy’s Fringe work as well as consulted with the show’s dialect coach. Ultimately, though, she had to just jump in with both feet. “I’m no good at doing voices, mimicking people, so once I realized, ‘S—t, I can’t do this,’ you just take a deep breath and go for it.”

Bell’s most unexpected and equally unorthodox “return” promises to have a significant impact on the “machine” storyline that has Peter fretting over his fate as well as that of this universe. As Torv notes, the late genius “has a lot of information that we don’t have, so he’s an awesome resource for the team. And for Walter to have someone to work with is another [advantage].” Or could it be a liability…?

And as one might imagine, Olivia’s “possession” puts a pin in her nascent romance with Peter. “Well, yeah,” Torv confirms with a laugh. “I don’t think Peter is going to want to go to bed with William Bell!”

In other words, it’s business as usual for that oft-interrupted relationship. “Every time they sort of get it together,” Torv says, “something gets in the way.”

The episode was also significant for first showing this universe’s version of Lincoln Lee. There are also plans to add a new female FBI agent. Next week returns to the alternate universe, and the hotter version of Olivia.

The first picture of Adrianne Palicki as Wonder Woman has been released. Another Friday Night Lights star, Minka Kelly, is seen below, with costars Annie Ilonzeh and Rachael Taylor, in the remake or Charlie’s Angels.

The final two episodes of V were among the best the show has aired. Of course there continued to be many holes in the plot, and they dragged some things out of nowhere to make it work. This included Anna having a new egg to quickly replace Lisa, suddenly finding out about project Aries, and Amy having the ability to bliss the entire earth. (Besides, wasn’t the Aries project from Life on Mars?)

If V returns for a third season there will be major differences after the season finale. Presumably the Aries project will replace the Fifth Column, which was never very believable as a force to fight the alien invaders, and at least three characters are dead. While it is not uncommon for characters to return for the dead, and the quick shots of characters post-death left open the possibility they might be saved by alien technology, I’ve seen a few interviews which make it clear they really are dead. V producer Scott Rosenbaum is also hoping for a chance to continue the storyline further:

That choice, to end V with a cliffhanger despite being very much on the bubble for a renewal, was made back in October. In the middle of production, ABC told Rosenbaum that the show’s order was being reduced to 10 episodes, leaving the writer-producer with little time to figure out how to finish up Season 2.

“We had been given an initial episode order of 13, so I had planned a 22-episode season,” Rosenbaum tells EW, referring to the usual “back 9″ pickup that most shows receive if they’re delivering strong ratings. “When they reduced the order, I had to make a decision. I didn’t feel like it was possible to wrap the show in that amount of time, so I said, ‘You know, I’m going to hope there’s another season, because I’ve pushed the story too far [and] it won’t make sense [to conclude it this soon]. I don’t feel like the audience will feel like we’ve earned those moments.’ So I’m going to keep my fingers crossed and leave it organically where I think the show should end after 10 episodes. I went with hope, and tried to make it feel like a satisfying conclusion.”

The result, Mother’s Day, features several character deaths and a guest appearance by Marc Singer, who starred in the 1980s original V mini-series.

Though some fans have been impatient for all-out war to break out between the Resistance and the Visitors, Rosenbaum says he’s always wanted at least one full season to properly set up the conflict — something the show never received (the first season was only 12 episodes). If he does get a third round, Rosenbaum promises to deliver fireworks. “What’s so interesting,” Rosenbaum says, “is I feel like the best of the show is ahead of itself.”

If  the show doesn’t return, this version of V will always be remembered for one line:  “Now that’s how you kill your mother.”

Syfy has renewed Being Human (US version) for a second season and the BBC has renewed Being Human for a fourth season. I haven’t watched either version yet. Anyone have any comments as to whether they are worth watching, and if so which is better?

SciFi Weekend: Fringe and the Alternate Universe; Charlie’s Angels and Other Casting News; More Matrix Sequels Theatened; The Science of Battlestar Galactica; And Kids With Daleks

I was ambivalent about Fringe during the first season when there were primarily stand-alone stories, but have grown to love the show as it got more into its mythology and a continuing story line. Friday’s episode brought about one major change as we saw in Reciprocity that Peter’s connection to the Doomsday Machine has also changed Peter. Finding that Peter was the one killing the shape shifters was a surprise. It was also amusing to see the effects of Walter injecting the chimpanzee DNA and I was happy to see some movement on Peter’s relationship with Olivia.Dumping a boyfriend because he had sex with your identical counterpart from an alternative universe is the lamest reason since Rachel dumping Ross for messing around when they were on a break.

While an excellent episode, I do miss the alternative universe. We’ve been promised that the show will return there, and there was some more news on this last week. John Noble has hinted about his roles:

In a recent conference call, the actor told reporters that the brain-damaged scientist will begin to “put his life back together”.

“He finally comes to face up to his limitations, but also his strength,” said Noble. “[That is] more than enough to deal with the problems. It’s a wonderful journey for Walter this season and he gets to go through all the stages.”

Noble also promised that viewers will begin to see a more human side to Walter’s doppelganger, the sinister Walternate.

“You will learn more of what made Walternate what he is, and you will see some humanisation of the man behind that steel exterior,” he explained. “He has to make some difficult decisions. We’ve done some terrific things that don’t soften him, but help to understand that he is man, not a machine.”

He added: “I hope that there is a resolution between Walter and Walternate, because I don’t see either of them as bad men.”

I am especially looking forward to the February 25 episode which goes back to Peter’s abduction:

“Peter,” the season two episode that brilliantly chronicled how Walter Bishop accidentally abducted the alternate universe’s Peter, was such a fan favorite that producers are headed back to 1985 in an upcoming episode of “Fringe.”

Slated to air February 25, the installment will serve as a companion piece to “Peter,” according to star Jasika Nicole. “It’s going to pick up right where ‘Peter’ left off and it’s better than the first one,” she told PopWrap.

But unlike the season two edition, “this flashback is going to take place in the alternate universe as well as this universe. That’s why it’s so good, you’ll see the repercussions stealing Peter has for Walter and Walternate,” she adds.

A huge part of the fallout will involve Elizabeth Bishop. “As we’ve seen, Walternate is still with his wife and there’s a reason for that. You see all these consequences that happened as a result of that [abduction] and what that means for his relationship with Elizabeth. It’s a really heartbreaking story.”

The biggest Fringe news is that Leonard Nimoy has tweeted that he might be returning as William Bell. The actual tweet states, “Plans developing for a William Bell return to Fringe. Stay Tuned. LLAP.” As long as Nimoy is willing to return, it is hard to believe that the producers of Fringe will not take advantage of this.

I wasn’t paying any attention to the prospect of an other remake of Charlie’s Angels until Minka Kelly of Friday Night Lights was cast in the movie last week.(Kelly also has a recurring role in Parenthood this season and played Autumn in 500 Days of Summer).

ABC’s Charlie’s Angels has its trio female leads: Former Friday Night Lights star Minka Kelly’s will play a former Marine and weapons expert and Transformers star Rachael Taylor will play a con artist.

The duo have been near-deals for the roles this week and are now official on the Sony Pictures TV project. Kelly and Taylor join the previously cast General Hospital star Annie Ilonzeh.

Friday Night Lights is down to only two more episodes. I won’t give any details as many are waiting until it airs on NBC this spring, but I think this was the best of the shorter, and lower-budget, seasons done jointly with Direct TV.

In other casting news, Henry Cavill of The Tudors will play Superman.

Colin Firth says he’d like to play a bad guy on Doctor Who or Torchwood, especially Doctor Who.

Keanu Reeves has created a stir in the blogosphere by stating two more sequels to The Matrix are in the works. Perhaps we could start a fund to pay them not to do this.  I’m not sure where they would go after the two terrible sequels to a great movie. Would it be feasible to just pretend the two sequels don’t exist and remake a good pair to replace them?

Luke Pasqualino will play William Odama on the upcoming Battlestar Galactica prequel, Blood and Chrome. IO9 has a larger version of the above map of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol.

Not only is this map a thing of great beauty, but it’s totally official — Grazier was science advisor for Battlestar Galactica from the very beginning, and helped to define a lot of the show’s concepts. And Espenson, as the original showrunner for the prequel series Caprica, had to do a lot of thinking about exactly how the Twelve Colonies were laid out. This info comes straight from the creators — and from the showrunner’s bible for BSG and Caprica. And Grazier, who works at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, verifies that the info in this map is “scientifically plausible.” It was created by Hollywood graphic designer Geoffrey Mandel, who made countless adjustments as the technical data underwent scrutiny…

We asked Espenson and Grazier some questions about the map, and they ended up telling us a lot more about the science and backstory of Battlestar Galactica:

I didn’t realize there were four different stars in the Cyrannus star system. I had always wondered if there were just 12 habitable planets clustered around a single sun. Where did the idea of four different stars come from? Was this in the show bible someplace? I’m especially curious about Leonis, the “heart of the colonies,” which I don’t think we ever heard about. Also, Scorpion, the “playground of the colonies.” Is that the colonial version of Risa?

Jane: Even back before Caprica the show existed, I believe Kevin and I had talked a bit about the configuration of the colonies. All the work on that is his. I instinctively loved the idea of a star cluster. The idea of 12 habitable planets all orbiting one star just seemed unworkable. And crowded. This group of stars makes so much sense. Kevin was at work on the configuration of stars and planets long before we shot a single frame.

More on the “science” of Battlestar Galactica in the full post.

One of the Fantastic Four has died. This link reveals which one.

David Frye has died age 77. He was best known for his impersonations of Richard Nixon.

Personally I think that Daleks are far too dangerous for human children to use as toys. Exterminate!