TV Tyrant

Sci-Fi Cred: Restored!

February 8th, 2011 | by | battlestar galactica, doctor who, science fiction, torchwood, tv shows

Feb
08

I have been living a bit of a lie, and I am ready to admit to it. As much as a sci-fi nerd I cop to being, I always had to just smile and nod along whenever the subject of Doctor Who and Torchwood came up.  Nervous that my cover would be blown, I employed the usual tactics: smiling; ‘uh-huh-ing’; laughing when every one else did. Well no more, my friends. No more. How about a nice big HOORAY! for Netflix.

Yes, as usual, I am late to the party. People have been raving about Netflix for ages now. My old roommate used to have it and we watched all kinds of stuff because of their wonderful DVDs being delivered right into our hot little hands. But now. Now! I have Netflix with the streaming, instant play option, and I am so very, very happy.

Once I finish up with Doctor Who (I am speeding through season three as we speak), I will make my way over to Babylon 5. That is if I get the idea of a BSG rewatch outta my head. :)

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Hawaii Five-0: The New Wave (Guest blog)

September 22nd, 2010 | by | battlestar galactica, cbs, hawaii five-o, lost, series premiere, tv shows

Sep
22

[Cue the drumbeat. Roll the surfing video. Bring on the horn section!]

The brassiest TV theme song ever returned to CBS Monday night as the network premiered its update of Hawaii Five-O.WAIKIKI - SEPTEMBER 13: Actress Grace Park at Sunset on the Beach at Waikiki Beach for a screening of the highly-anticipated series premiere of the CBS show 'Hawaii 5-0' on September 13, 2010 in Waikiki, Hawaii. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

The original series ran from 1968-1980, which surprises me; I thought it ended much earlier. About all I remember – besides the boffo theme music – is Jack Lord’s hair, boxy cars and the signature tag line: “Book ‘em Danno.” I bet I’m not alone in that – and that CBS is banking on it. I’ll order some DVDs of the original from Netflix in the coming weeks, but for now that theme song leads to a blank canvas for me and, undoubtedly, many other viewers.

The pilot episode began, like a James Bond movie, with an action sequence that offered some plot background for what was to come. It was one of four gunfights in the roughly 44-minute pilot. The action was so fast and loud that I found them hard to follow the first time through. It wasn’t until I watched again on DVR that I was able to recognize exactly what happened and absorb the relevant plot points.

I understand that the writers had to pack a lot of exposition into the premiere episode, so for now I’ll let them slide on some of the logistical leaps of faith – an impromptu swearing-in by phone; Honolulu Police personnel instantly reassigned without any paperwork or institutional resistance; a city detective coming up with the latest high-tech gadgetry requested by his ex-Navy Seal boss.

It’s a lot easier to go with the flow when one is following a likable cast spouting snappy dialogue. The new Hawaii Five-O is off to a good start with that.

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Revamping the Tyrant

June 29th, 2010 | by | 24, battlestar galactica, canceled, eureka, jack bauer, lost, science fiction, season finale, series finale, supernatural, warehouse 13

Jun
29

You probably noticed the site looks a little different today. I just upgraded to WordPress 3.0 and upgraded my theme and decided I wanted to get away from the old snow in the background I used to have, as it was rather harsh on the eyes anyway. I haven’t decided what background to go with yet, but it made no sense to reinstall that old background.

I’m not fond of this neon orange, so don’t worry – it’s not here to stay. :-)

I’ve been rather lax in updating the blog in the past month, as you’ve likely noticed.

The end of two of my all-time favorite shows – Lost and 24 – left me unsure about what I wanted to blog on next. June is a pretty crappy month for TV anymore and though I love Burn Notice and In Plain Sight, I just don’t have a lot to talk about. I’d gotten so used to the analysis of Lost and Battlestar and the mocking of or cheering on for 24 that I don’t really want to go back to the recap route.

Fortunately, Warehouse 13 and Eureka start up soon, and I think both will provide plenty of fodder for good TVT posts.

Erika is hiding in a corner, crying out of sheer joy that there will be more Jensen Ackles next season. Seriously, though, I didn’t think they could get another decent season out of Supernatural after the apocalypse this season, but that final scene last month convinced me otherwise.

I’m also watching some stuff via Netflix, so I might start blogging about that. And I still have Season 2 of Torchwood to plow through. But I don’t want TVT to become an archival TV blog. Or, wait – that might be kinda cool.

Anyway, as you can see, I’m trying to figure out the direction to go in. I love TV (well, certain TV shows anyhow) and I do enjoy writing about it. I appreciate all the discussions and comments and everything we’ve had here, and they will continue, I promise.

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Caprica: In Which Joseph Adama Becomes Badass

February 17th, 2010 | by | battlestar galactica, caprica

Feb
17

The most interesting thing, to me, about Reins of a Waterfall, is that we started, finally, to see the Joseph Adama who was hinted at in Battlestar Galactica.

Up to this point, the Joseph Adams/Adama we’ve seen in Caprica is a family man. Sure, he’s related to a major crime family, but he’s the legit one. Sure, he works long hours, but he loves his family and is trying to do right by his son.

We saw snatches of a more domestic Joseph before the bombing, talking with his daughter and wife on the cell. We see it in his attempts to bond with Willie. We see it in his tears for his daughter, whom he now believes to be gone forever.

But the Joseph Adama we heard about on Battlestar was different. He was badass enough to have produced Bill Adama, who joined the military – about as big a rebellion as he could find, it appeared.

The Joseph Adama we heard about seemed mythical, almost. Larger than life.

And in the final moments of “Waterfall,” we saw that man begin to emerge.

His admonition to his brother to “balance things out,” was downright chilling.

For the Graystones, the hurt is only just beginning.

For the viewer, things are really starting to get good.

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Caprica: Rebirth

February 7th, 2010 | by | battlestar galactica, caprica

Feb
07

The fascinating thing about a prequel is that it can answer so many questions.

In the case of Caprica, there were many questions never answered by Battlestar Galactica, and it appears we are getting those explanations. Starting to, at least.

For one, why did the Cylons believe in one god rather than many?

Well, Zoe Graystone, who is both Adam and Eve for the Cylons, was a member of the Soldiers of the One, a monotheistic group who believed terror was the means to an end. And she was more than just an enthusiastic foot soldier, I believe.

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Battlestar Galactica: The Plan

November 1st, 2009 | by | battlestar galactica

Nov
01

Before I share my thoughts about the telemovie, I have to say this: If you haven’t seen it yet and don’t want to be spoiled, click away NOW. Consider yourself warned.

So the idea behind “The Plan,” ostensibly, was to tell the untold story of the Cylons. The plan they had when they attacked the Colonies in the miniseries.

Problem is, The Plan itself boiled down to, “First thing we do, let’s kill all the humans.” (With apologies to Shakespeare.)

We knew that already. What this telemovie did – and did quite well – was to explain what happened with many little plot points, such as:
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Boycotting the Emmys

September 20th, 2009 | by | 30 rock, battlestar galactica, bored to death, curb your enthusiasm, emmys, fringe, hbo, intervention, jericho, kings, the wire

Sep
20

I went back and forth on whether I’d live-blog the Emmys tonight, mainly because, after all, this is a TV blog.

But then I thought about it.

Picture 1

Where’s Battlestar Galactica? Kings? Did Jericho ever get any love?

Sure, critical darlings 30 Rock and The Office, though relatively low-rated (compared with the CSI juggernaut, anyway) get lots of Emmy love – as they well should. But most of the best shows on television rarely get any attention from the academy, unless they’re on HBO. And even there, The Wire never got recognition and it was, bar none, the best show on television during its run.

And if nothing else, this blog is about quality television (OK, and sometimes Charles in Charge, but I was young, sue me). And the Emmy broadcast itself is not quality television. How does the Oscar ceremony win a freakin’ Emmy every year? (Though I have to admit, choosing Intervention for Best Reality Series is a teensy bit redemptive.)

So tonight, I’ll be watching the Curb Your Enthusiasm season premiere and the series premiere of Bored to Death. We’ll probably catch up with the season premiere of Fringe, which I was waiting for my husband’s return to watch.

The Emmys? I’ll probably glance on Twitter every now and again. Or maybe I’ll just wait ’til morning.

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More thoughts on Battlestar

August 14th, 2009 | by | battlestar galactica, science fiction, telemovie

Aug
14

A friend of mine finally finished watching Battlestar Galactica, thanks to his Netflix membership and wrote me to tell me how much he and his wife loved the ending – and asking me a couple of questions about the finale.

I think about the finale often, I’ll admit, and I haven’t erased it off my DVR yet, though I haven’t watched it more than twice. I’ve gone back and forth from loving it to being disappointed in the last few minutes of it.

Battlestar Galactica

But as I wrote back to my friend, whom I’ll call S., I realized it really was the perfect ending. It is what the show was about all along. Fate. Destiny. Faith. Whatever the personal belief of the viewers, this is what the show was about.

The belief in the one true god was a dividing line between human and cylon from the miniseries itself. Not the only thing that separated them, but it wouldn’t be the first time religion exacerbated a rift between two cultures.

As I wrote, I realized I was putting an awful lot of thought into my answers, so  I thought I’d share his questions and my answers here, too. I’d love to hear what others think.

• First, S. wondered why Cavil killed himself. His wife thought it was because he believed he’d be resurrected on the base ship, but he disagreed. “I thought there was no further opportunity for resurrection. That’s why he agreed to let Hera go, after he was promised that the Cylons would re-create resurrection.”

He’s right, in fact. There was no further opportunity for resurrection, at least not until the Cylons figured it out again, and that seemed highly unlikely.

Cavil killed himself, I believe, because he saw that his time was at an end. I think he killed himself almost BECAUSE there was no resurrection, rather than it spite of there being no resurrection.

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