SciFi Weekend: Doctor Who, Canceled Series, The Fringe Alternative Universe, New Star Wars Rides, & RIP Frank Frazetta

BBC America concluded the two part Doctor Who story The Time of Angels and Flesh and Stone. This post will include major spoilers for the episodes which have now aired in the United States with some limited information on future episodes.

Steven Moffat used major components of two of his top stories from past years along with the crack in time from this season. The story began with River Song using an ingenious method to summon The Doctor to rescue her. The two episodes teased us with both the possibilities that River will wind up marrying The Doctor and/or that she winds up being imprisoned for killing him. At least this is the speculation after we found that she was in prison for killing “the best man she ever knew.” As the time lines of the two are crossing in different orders The Doctor does not know what to expect from her.

The episode also had the return of the Weeping Angels from Blink but they were quite different from the Angels in that story. The crack in time is shown to be able to rewrite time, most likely explaining why Amy did not recall the Daleks in Victory of the Daleks. The Angels suggest that The Doctor should know more about the crack in time, and it appears we might learn more when River Song next meets The Doctor when the Pandorica opens–which Prisoner Zero also mentioned earlier this season. This is presumably related to June 26–the wedding date on the alarm clock in Amy’s room and the date the episode is scheduled to air in the U.K.

It appears that the episode will be a major event with the climax of the crack in time story arc from this season. It is also possible that The Doctor goes back in time to the events of Flesh and Stone. At one point in the episode The Doctor is dressed and acts a little differently, raising suspicion it is a future version of him. Playing with time travel in such a manner would be the type of thing Steven Moffat is likely to come up with. There’s also been rumors that the episode will include the return of the younger version of Amelia Pond.

The episode ends with Amy having The Doctor return to earth where she makes a pass at him. This leads into the following two episodes which have aired on the BBC which both lead to Amy choosing between Rory and The Doctor.

There was a lot of news this week regarding the upcoming television season. V and Chuck were both renewed. FlashForward, as expected, was canceled. The show began strong and has been excellent in its closing episodes but did go through a weak mid-season stage when it turned into an overly complex FBI investigation instead of concentrating on the characters involved. Reportedly the final episode was edited so it won’t end with a cliff hanger but the story is not likely to be satisfactorily wrapped up. Originally the producers suggested that it would take two seasons to complete the story behind why the flash forward occurred.

Heroes was also canceled, also coming as no surprise. The show started out strong  first season but in subsequent seasons fell in both quality and ratings. There continues to be talk of a two hour show to conclude the series, which I think is a good idea. The last season ended with Claire revealing the existence of the heroes. Concluding this would provide a different story from past seasons (and hopefully one different from the X Men). I also suspect that many viewers who have abandoned the show after the first season would watch a two or four hour event to definitively conclude the story.

Added to Dollhouse , 24, and Lost this means a large number of genre shows are not returning.  However there are many new ones planned. IO9 presents a run down of seven new genre shows including The Cape staring Summer Glau.

During my reviews of Fringe last year I had mixed feelings about the show. I am certainly happy I stuck with it. An excellent season is ending extremely strong with a two part episode in the alternative universe. This will also probably be the last we see of Leonard Nimoy who says he is retiring and will not return to Fringe or the Star Trek movies. Of course we’ve seen many actors say this but get lured back. Nimoy has also said that when J.J. Abrams calls he does answer the phone.

We know that disastrous things may happen as a result of contact between the two universes but I cannot help but be intrigued by the alternative universe. So far we learned earlier in the season that they had digital cell phones years before us. This week we found that the alternative Olivia is hotter than ours, Peter’s parents appear more sane, and that The West Wing remains on television. On the other hand, the Fringe unit seems paramilitary and I fear we will find other unpleasant things about that universe.

Also this week we learned much more about Jacob and his brother on Lost but the island still feels like a big mystery regardless of how many answers we receive.

TrekMovie.com has pictures of this years Star Trek themed ornaments from Hallmark, including the above which is the first based upon the 2009 movie. Other ornaments include a scene of Kirk and Spock fighting from Amok Time.

Walt Disney World and Disneyland will be having their last trips to the planet Endor as the Star Wars rides are reimagined. The new Star Tours will be a 3-D ride with a  high-speed pod race on Tatooine. It is expected to re-open at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland in May 2011.

The sad news of the week is that legendary comic and pulp fiction artist Frank Frazetta died at age 82.

Caring For Pets After The Rapture

Last August I had a post on Eternal Earth-Bound Pets which promised to care for the pets who are left behind after the rapture. In case anyone was wondering if this outfit is still around, BusinessWeek has a profile on them:

Many people in the U.S.—perhaps 20 million to 40 million—believe there will be a Second Coming in their lifetimes, followed by the Rapture . In this event, they say, the righteous will be spirited away to a better place while the godless remain on Earth. But what will become of all the pets?

Bart Centre, 61, a retired retail executive in New Hampshire, says many people are troubled by this question, and he wants to help. He started a service called Eternal Earth-Bound Pets that promises to rescue and care for animals left behind by the saved.

Promoted on the Web as “the next best thing to pet salvation in a Post Rapture World,” the service has attracted more than 100 clients, who pay $110 for a 10-year contract ($15 for each additional pet.) If the Rapture happens in that time, the pets left behind will have homes—with atheists. Centre has set up a national network of godless humans to carry out the mission. “If you love your pets, I can’t understand how you could not consider this,” he says.

Centre came up with the idea while working on his book, The Atheist Camel Chronicles, written under the pseudonym Dromedary Hump. In it, he says many unkind things about the devout and confesses that “I’m trying to figure out how to cash in on this hysteria to supplement my income.”

Personally I think that if there is a Heaven I can bring my dogs. I also think it will be kind of like living in a concierge suite at a premium Disney World  resort, except everything is free, the lines are much shorter, and nothing is ever closed for refurbishment.

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SciFi Weekend: Dollhouse, Doctor Who, Lost; Star Trek; Dexter

Getting Closer, this week’s episode of Dollhouse, moved the story of the future forward while filling in major information as to the past. The last few episodes have been as if The X-Files was canceled during the second season and the entire mythology story was told in the final few episodes before it got hopelessly convoluted. (Warning: Major spoilers ahead.)

In The Attic we learned that two partners were behind Rossum, with one taking control and sending Clyde to the Attic.  Caroline knew the identity of the second partner and much of this week’s episode centered around an attempt to restore her memory. There were also many flash backs which filled in more of Caroline and Bennett’s (Summer Glau) back stories. The attempts to restore Caroline’s memory were disrupted by Caroline’s wedge being missing and by a doll who was programmed to kill one of the people who could recover the memory.

In the end viewers saw what Caroline saw three years ago and Clyde’s partner was  revealed to be Boyd. In retrospect it is clear that Boyd was responsible for both of the complications above.

The big question here is whether there is a satisfactory answer for Boyd being behind Rossum or if this is a shocker added at the last minute without good reason. Boyd has  been trying to prevent Caroline from recovering her memory while encouraging Echo’s development. Presumably next week’s episode will reveal exactly why Boyd wanted Echo challenging Rossum, while the series finale will be a follow up to Epitaph One.

The latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine (via Den of Geek) provides information on the writers for the upcoming season of Doctor Who. Steven Moffat reportedly will be writing six of the thirteen episodes including one story with the return of the Weeping Angels from Blink.  River Song (Alex Kingston from Silence In The Library) will also be in an episode. I previously posted a picture of Alex Kingston being filmed in an episode here. There is also information on the other writers:

Joining The Moff on the roster are some familiar Who names and also some new faces to the fold. Returnees include Mark Gatiss (The Unquiet Dead), Gareth Roberts (The Unicorn & The Wasp) and Toby Whithouse (School Reunion) who will take care of one episode each whilst Chris Chibnall (42) will pen a two-parter.

Whilst news that Richard Curtis had written an episode featuring Van Gogh ‘leaked’ some time ago (by Curtis himself), the last name may seem like a surprise to some. Simon Nye, best known for the sitcom Men Behaving Badly, has been brought on board for an installment of the series.

Slice of SciFi has some rumors on villains appearing next season. This includes the Daleks (in an episode with Winston  Churchill–I’ll have to search through his writings to see if their is any mention of this meeting). Others include the Cybermen (those from our own universe, not the ones from the alternative universe of season two), and the Silurians and/or Sea Devils from the Jon Pertwee era).

The White House has decided against a February 2 date for State of Union as the  final season of Lost is scheduled to begin that date: “I don’t foresee a scenario in which millions of people that would hope to finally get some conclusion in ‘Lost’ are preempted by the president,” Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Friday.

Executives at Disney/ABC see Lost as too big a money-maker to give up and are now talking about a sequel to Lost after it finishes its run this year. Didn’t Disney learn their lesson from those dreadful Cinderella sequels? While maybe not the same, I fear that any attempts to continue Lost beyond the story’s conclusion would be a huge mistake.

The Star Trek sequel is tentatively set for release on May 29, 2012. I’m relieved that we have a chance to see it before the world comes to an end (per the Mayan calendar).

What happens after you are killed and go to the after life? If you are Julie Benz you wind up on Wisteria Lane. Dexter’s murdered wife has started filming on Desperate Housewives. Does that make Wisteria Lane Heaven or Hell?

SciFi Weekend: Disney Buys Marvel; Fantastic Four Reboot; Jack Bauer on Health Care Reform

Iron Man Mickey

Will the next blockbuster movie be Iron Man versus Cinderella? Will Spider-Man dump Mary Jane to date Hanna Montana? Is the next High School Musical to be preformed at Dr. Xavier’s school for mutants?

The big news of the week is that Disney has acquired Marvel. I know some Marvel fans are upset  but there is no reason to worry that the Marvel characters will become Disneized. Disney is far more than Mickey Mouse and the Disney princesses. Disney owns ABC, meaning that Lost is part of Disney. Disney owns Pixar which has produced films such as Wall-E. Disney also owns Mirimax, which has put out movies such as Pulp Fiction.

Disney’s strengths are in marketing and cross promotion of its properties, between television, movies, books, merchandise, and the theme parks. Disney can help Marvel continue to take advantage of its characters in ways beyond comic books. Current licensing arrangements will leave some of movies in the hands of other studios for some time, but ultimately there will be no need to compromise with other studios to develop movie versions of Marvel characters.

Disney might be able to market some aspects of Marvel to girls, the market where it is weak, but the more important aspect of the deal is to increase interest in Disney’s characters among boys. Disney does well with young children and girls, but Marvel characters would be far more attractive to older boys than Cinderella and Snow White.

The Disney theme parks have added some thrill rides, but Disney’s strength has been with the more elaborately themed rides which lack the thrills which teenage boys might prefer. I can imagine adding some superhero themed rides at some of the existing parks. There has been speculation for years over a possible fifth park at Walt Disney World. I wonder if the Marvel characters might even provide the theme for a new park.

Currently many Marvel characters reside at competing Universal and reportedly that arrangement will continue as long as Universal desires to continue its current contract. I wouldn’t be surprised if Disney either finds a way to bring over their own group of Marvel superheroes, or if Disney simply continues to profit from Universal paying for the rights to the characters.

Fantastic_Four_Promo

The other Marvel news of the week involves 20th Century Fox rather than Disney. They are planning to reboot the Fantastic Four movies with a script by Michael Green, who has worked on Lost and Green Lantern. There is no word as to whether they will use the cast of the previous movies or whether they will start with a new origins movie. There is also talk of rebooting the Spider-Man movie series.

Conservatives often cite Jack Bauer and 24 as if they were real sources to justify terrorism. It is a shame that instead they don’t quote Jack Bauer’s views on health care as seen in the above video. It even turns out that Keifer Sutherland has a real connection to health care.

Obama Animatronic Prepared For Disney World Hall of Presidents

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Election day often means that Wald Disney World must update the Hall of Presidents with an animatronic of the newly elected president. The animatronic of Barack Obama has been completed and will first be displayed on July 4. In recent years I have seen Abraham Lincoln speak along with Bill Clinton and later George Bush. The new exhibit will also include speaking by George Washington for the first time and includes a new film narrated by Morgan Freeman.

The previous show, where the George Bush animatronic spoke, shut down after election day. The animatronic turned out to be more intelligent than the original. In light of  recent gaffes by Vice President Joe Biden, along with the experience of a previous vice president who had turned to the dark side, perhaps we should amend the  Constitution to make the Disney animatronic next in line to succeed the president.

Somewhat Related Post on The Hall of Presidents: Bush/Nixon Secret Meeting Revealed

Bobby Jindal’s Train to Fantasy Land

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Bobby Jindal not only is dishonest, but he is also a hypocrite. During his rebuttal to Barack Obama’s speech on Tuesday Jindal attacked spending which he described as “a ‘magnetic levitation’ line from Las Vegas to Disneyland.” Factcheck.org pointed out that this widely repeated claim by Republicans, along with many of their other claims, is simply untrue:

A widely repeated claim that $8 billion is set aside for a “levitating train” to Disneyland is untrue. That total is for unspecified high-speed rail projects, and some of it may or may not end up going to a proposed 300-mph “maglev” train connecting Anaheim, Calif., with Las Vegas.

There was already some irony in seeing how Jindal used a fictitious example of Disneyland to mock the stimulus bill and then immediately took off for a vacation at Walt Disney World. While I might overlook this, being a tremendous fan of Walt Disney World and having gone there often, I’m afraid this just doesn’t make a good commercial:

Bobby Jindal, you have just dramatically reduced your chances for national office following an embarrassing speech. What are you gong to do?

I’m going to Disney World.

I hope Jindal enjoyed his visit to Fantasy Land. I wonder if he took the (slow) train around the Magic Kingdom, or perhaps tried to learn about (non-levitating) high-speed rail at Big Thunder Mountain.

It gets much worse. Perhaps Jindal thought that the Disney monorail was an effective form of mass transportation. His administration is now going after the money which he made a point of attacking:

Louisiana’s transportation department plans to request federal dollars for a New Orleans to Baton Rouge passenger rail service from the same pot of railroad money in the president’s economic stimulus package that Gov. Bobby Jindal criticized as unnecessary pork on national television Tuesday night.

The high-speed rail line, a topic of discussion for years, would require $110 million to upgrade existing freight lines and terminals to handle a passenger train operation, said Mark Lambert, spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development…

Jindal oversees the state transportation department and appointed its secretary…

I’m afraid that Jindal’s response to this comes off as sounding more like an evasion we’d get from Goofy:

Asked for comment Friday about the Jindal stance on the federal rail money, the governor’s Chief of Staff Timmy Teepell said he does not think the Las Vegas to Anaheim line is a good use of taxpayer money. He did not address the Louisiana proposal.

Kenneth the Page, despite all the comparisons to Jindal, would never be so dishonest.

More Studios Releasing Blu-ray/DVD Combination Packs

At the end of 2008 I noted that, although Blu-ray emerged as the winner in the war for high definition recording format, it was far from becoming the dominant format. Among the reasons many are reluctant to pay the higher cost for both players and disks is that DVD’s, especially on up-scaling players, already are excellent quality and high definition is available from other sources such as cable and digital downloads.

I  pointed out that the move to Blue-ray presents another problem for many of us. DVD players are ubiquitous. I currently have DVD players hooked up to high definition televisions in four rooms, plus we have four  notebooks and portable DVD players. A DVD purchased can be played on any of these (along with the desktops if ever desired). There is little point in replacing every DVD player with a Blu-ray player. The DVD players do a fine enough job and we would notice little if any difference on the HD televisions which are under 50 inches. It is worthwhile to use a Blue-ray player in the main television watching room, but it is not worth the money to replace all the DVD players. Under this circumstance, I’d rather buy a DVD which can be played on any player as opposed to a Blu-ray disk which looks better in one room but cannot be played anywhere else.

In a follow up post the following week I noted that Disney was responding to this problem with the obvious solution–packaging regular DVD’s along with Blu-ray disks. Today Engadget is reporting that additional studies are doing the same:

Reportedly, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment along with Lionsgate and MGM Home Entertainment are all prepping rather large releases in the Blu-ray / DVD 2-disc form, with Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment — who is credited with pioneering the practice last fall — hoping to release about seven of the bundles throughout 2009. Fox is even taking things a step further by tossing in Digital Copy on top of a BD and a DVD with Marley & Me. Mary Daily, the studio’s executive VP of marketing for North America, noted that it’s simply looking to become “flexible to adapt to the changing [habits]” of the consumer.

This is a move in the right direction. The studios need to focus on selling the movie for home viewing as opposed to selling a particular format, with purchasers able to watch the movie on any device they desire.

More Blu-Ray Movies Available in Combo Packs

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At the end of 2008 I wrote that Blu-ray taking off was one expected story of the year which did not happen. One suggestion I made was that Blu-ray discs include a standard DVD version so that people who have Blu-ray players in part of the house but only standard DVD players elsewhere could have the flexibility of viewing purchased movies anywhere. I figure that it makes sense to have a Blu-ray player for the rooms where I have a large screen television, while upscaled DVD looks pretty much as good in the rooms where I have smaller 26″ and 32″ HD televisions.

It looks like some studios are taking my advice. Disney is releasing their movies in Combo Packs this year. Besides helping in the situation I mention above, this also benefits people who are waiting for Blu-ray players to get even cheaper. They can buy the Combo Pack and watch the DVD now, and won’t have to repurchase the movies when they do get a Blu-ray player.

Come to think of it, this is amazingly generous for Disney, which generally does not help consumers save money. After all, at Walt Disney World instead of having Dollar Stores they have Ten Dollar Stores.

This isn’t the only way in which the movie industry is starting to make it easier to purchase Blu-ray discs. Some discs are now being sold with digital copies which can be viewed on portable media players and PC’s.

In follow up of the previous post, as far as I know Girls Gone Wild movies are not available in either Combo Packs or with digital copies.

Obama Rejects Wearing Mickey Ears

Regular readers know I’m a huge Disney fan, and I have traveled to Walt Disney World many times. I still do not feel at all slighted by Obama’s decision to pose with the Mouse ears but not put them on. As The Swamp points out, this might have created a situation comparable to Michael Dukakis in the tank. (Besides, for me Disney World means having a steak at California Grill or the Potato-Wrapped Red Snapper at Flying Fish just as much as, or perhaps even more so, than seeing Mickey.)

Keeping potential gaffes to a minimum has been one of many reasons for Obama’s success this year, forcing the wing nuts to dwell on trivial matters such as a washed up terrorist who, along with Republicans, was on some of the same committees with Obama. There’s good reason why the late night comics have been making fun of the Repubican ticket seven times as often as the Democratic.

John McCain’s Speech At the Al Smith Dinner

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Following is the transcript of John McCain’s comedy routine at the Al Smith Dinner in New York, October 16, 2008:

Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Your Excellency and Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Paterson, Senators Schumer and Clinton, Senator Obama, Al and Nan Smith, thank you all for the warm welcome.

It’s a privilege to be with all of you for the 63rd anniversary dinner of the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation.

And this is a very distinguished and influential audience and as good a place as any to make a major announcement.

Events are moving fast in my campaign. And, yes, it’s true that this morning I dismissed my entire team of senior advisers. All of their positions will now be held by a man named “Joe the Plumber.”

Already — and already, my friends, my opponents have been subjecting Joe to their vicious attack machines. His veracity has been questioned by Barack Obama’s running mate Joe the six term senator.

He claims that this honest, hardworking small businessman could not possibly have enough income to face a tax increase under the Obama plan. What they don’t know — what they don’t know is “Joe the Plumber” recently signed a very lucrative contract with a wealthy couple to handle all the work on all seven of their houses.

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