Marc and Lee are back to dish on all things geek (sci-fi, fantasy, etc.) on television in this special small-screen edition of the Angry Puppy. Curious about what's going on with Battlestar, Bionic Woman, Terminator, Heroes, Torchwood, and more? Allow the fellas to help. That's what they're here for.
Check it out below!
Embed this Puppy!
Mystery Geek Challenge
Not counting the shows you directly referred to (like Alias)
The Outer Limits, Millenium, First Wave, Greatest American Hero, Tru Calling, Land of the Lost,
All Sci-Fi and Fantasy tv shows.
Trivia is my bitch!It took repeated views of this week's vlog
...to make note of the sci-fi/fantasy tv series references, and I STILL missed The Outer Limits and Millennium, which Marc tossed off so casually right at the beginning. Grrrr....
Here are the tv series titles I DID pick up on:
X-Men (the 1992 animated series, not the more recent X-Men: Evolution series), Vice Versa (1981 UK series about father/son swapping bodies, 2004 French series about a guy who could transform into a girl), First Wave, The Greatest American Hero, Tru Calling, Supernatural, Land of the Lost.
Not sure if you can count the upcoming Doctor Who spin-off series K-9 from Australia that will be a mix of computer animation and live action. There was also the 1981 spin-off called K-9 and Company which only went as far as the pilot before being shelved.
You directly made reference to these series:
Bionic Woman, Alias, Battlestar Galactica, Heroes, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Doctor Who, The Sarah Jane Adventures (which I've seen several episodes of and is pretty good, btw), Torchwood, Lost, Max Headroom, Twin Peaks, Futurama, and The Simpsons (a series which frequently crosses over into outright sci-fi/fantasy).
If you want to broaden the scope of this week's list to include sci-fi/fantasy movies (which have all been broadcast on tv at some point), then you also happened to mention:
X-Men (the movie), Battlestar Galactica (the movie), Timeline, Terminator (of course), Vice Versa (1948 UK movie, 1988 movie with Judge Reinhold and Fred Savage, both about father/son swapping bodies), Sleeper (remember this classic Woody Allen movie?), and The Island.
Oh, and there's also Beyond, the title for both an animated short feature that's part of the Animatrix collection and a 2006 sci-fi series pilot. It's also the title used for a couple of documentary series about paranormal investigations.
We have a MYSTERY GEEK CHALLENGE winner!
A hearty geeky congratulations to RJ! He's the first person to identify ALL the items in a Mystery Geek Challenge, in this case the names of 19 Sci Fi Shows that were used in the vlog (some overtly and some snuck into our dialogue).
Extra credit for catching the unintended use of Vice Versa - that's a new one on me... I'm seriously impressed!
Here's the complete list of Sci Fi shows used in last week's vlog:
1 X-Men
2 The Outer Limits
3 Millennium
4 Bionic Woman
5 First Wave
6 Alias
7 Battlestar Galactica
8 Heroes
9 Sarah Connor Chronicles
10 The Greatest American Hero
11 Tru Calling
12 Doctor Who
13 The Sarah Jane Adventures
14 Torchwood
15 Supernatural
16 Land of The Lost
17 Lost
18 Max Headroom
19 Twin Peaks
Thanks RJ!
Heh, I'll have to share the no prize with Ben Weldon
Yah for both of you!
I missed that part and we thought you got them all - oh oh, Ben don't be mad when you see tomorrow's vlog! Okay you definitely share the no prize this time and we'll pay more attention next time... which by the way is going to be the hardest Mystery Geek Challenge yet.
Excelsior!
We're A Teem RJ!
Angry Puppies
When and where are these homoerotic hugs and pats on the butt taking place?
And who's inviting Jack and Ianto?
:)
Interesting what you said
Interesting what you said about Lost, and how it could be a possible future we see. I remember reading about that after last years season finale, but this year I had totally forgot that. But now when you say it it makes me think. I really love that show so much, and I love that it's so smart and that everyone can have their own theory about what is really going on. I also think Hurley is one of the most important characters, because of the fact that he can see things that are dead and that he was at a mental hospital and we don't really know what's real and what's not. Maybe the whole island is in is head? No, I don't really think so :) but he is interesting, and also fun to watch. New episode tonight!
Bionic Basket Case
The Bionic Woman was doomed from the beginning. Apparently, the head of the studio thought he was smarter than David Eick and started making changes about who the showrunner should be about 10 times. The Studio injected that black actor who was fired from "Grey's Anatomy" for being a bigotted homophobe into the Bionic Woman show for no reason. And David Eick was forced to make it a relationship show. All in all another management clusterfrak of potentially a really good show. Oh, and the Studio head was adamantly against Katee Sackhoff as the Bionic Woman lead = the coup de grace.
TERMINATOR: I actually think the last episode was OK, however, I agree with you guys that there is no overarching cohesiveness to the show. It seems the Fox executives are putting too much pressure for self contained shows which kind of ruins the whole thing since genre TV like this depends on season long arcs. I don't why they demand these kinds of crippling policies considering the success of shows like 24.
One thing that "Terminator" would benefit from are Flash Forward story subplots set in the future. But I suppose that Fox doesn't want to spend that kind of money. In the right hands, a Terminator comic book series would be fantastic, unfortunately the current stewards suck. In comic books the Special Effects budget is unlimited with the right artist and writer.
Most good sci fi series, if done right, are budget busters. This is the main reason that studio heads are wary of going ahead and producing them. However, if they try and do them only half way you get utter GARBAGE like the Bionic Basket Case or Stargate SG-1 or (sorry guys) Torchwood. Torchwood only holds my interest for the gay content otherwise it is terrible sci fi.
Echo, Echo, Echo
Hello... lo... lo...
Is anybody here... ere... ere...
I guess all the geeks have vanished... ished... ished...
Weird relation ... ?
To Lee (the guy on the right?), this is an odd question, but are you related to someone named Kirk Andrews? Sorry this is a bit random, but you look so much like the person I mentioned!
I'm Lee
Yes, that's me on the right. No, I don't know any Kirks. But if it's any consolation, I get that all the time. People on the street come up and say, "Hey, Bob, how have you been!" or "Aren't you Sally's cousin's boyfriend?".
Seriously. :)
Oh, good, I had thought I
Oh, good, I had thought I confused you!
I was looking for old photos and realized I didn't have any on this computer. This is a picture from his MySpace page; it's not in great detail, but maybe you could see a resemblance:
<img src="http://a338.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/15/m_54044695ef1fb2bb1cd2e58059f6b9b1.jpg">
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=124865779 (if the tag doesn't work)
Hopefully this will explain my initial reaction. But if you get it quite frequently, you're probably won't be surprised at all. :)
Random question.
Sci fi headache.
You had me bass ackwards confused when you were explaining Lost.I don't get into what I guess you could call heavy Sci fi.I watch The 4400, but i'm not into Star trek.Speaking of which, do you guys watch The 4400?If so, how do you like it?As for The Sarah Conner chronicles, yeah.The story kind of drags, but i'm the kind of person who forgets about that when the action starts.
I also watch Stargate:Atlantis, but only because Ronin is seriously one the hottest guys i've ever seen.Don't judge me.
Lost and Guilty Pleasures
Yeah Lost is kind of hard to talk about without getting crazy confusing. Strangely I've never watched a whole episode of 4400 - it's on that big list of things I've always meant to watch. I've seen a couple episodes but wasn't that drawn to it so keep not getting around to it. I did see the trailer for Shelter and it seems like nice eye candy but not sure it'll have that much to offer. Waiting on reviews to find out if it seems worth checking out.
I won't judge you on Stargate Atlantis - if it's any consolation I forced myself to sit through several episodes of Farscape, which I really don't like at all, because i had a huge crush on Ben Browder... who also was on Stargate at some point.
Heavy sci-fi
I certainly wouldn't consider Lost, The 4400 or even Stargate or Terminator (in all its incarnations) "heavy sci-fi". I wouldn't even classify Star Trek as heavy sci-fi, despite all the techno-babble - medium sci-fi, maybe.
For heavy sci-fi, I would look to some of the stuff based on the works of Philip K. Dick (Blade Runner, Total Recall - both film and tv series, Minority Report), Isaac Asimov (I, Robot was very loosely based on his books), Robert Heinlein (The Puppet Masters, Starship Troopers), and Arthur C. Clarke (2001: A Space Odyssey). Also, the original films A.I., Gattaca, and Twelve Monkeys.
Amongst tv series besides Total Recall 2070, I'd also consider as heavier sci-fi (in terms of the way the writers actually try to use science in a plausible fashion, rather than just window dressing) many episodes of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, SeaQuest DSV, Babylon 5, Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (also recently made into a movie), the new Battlestar Galactica series, Charlie Jade, and the recent 2005 revival of Doctor Who.