Angry Puppy video blog 29: The Hot Geek Ten, XXtreme taste tests, and ... a "Plan 9" remake?

 

Hopefully you got some sleep a week later, Marc.

Yeah, Sine Qua Non sucked, unless there is a cut-scene on the DVD of Apollo and Helo making out. (Wishful thinking).

On the next Vlog BSG's "The Hub" should be interesting. I was actually mixed on this episode. Although it is a vast improvement over "Sine Qua Non" it is flawed.

Flaw #1: No Imaginary Six in Baltar's head; there wasn't even Imaginary Baltar in Baltar's head; the fact we haven't seen Imaginary Six and Imaginary Baltar in a long time is poor storytelling. Wouldn't Imaginary Six have instructed Baltar how to communicate with the Cylon Hybrid?

Flaw #2: Elosha (The Dead Pagan Priestess) comes out of nowhere in a vision to save Baltar's life AND ROSLIN IS STUPID ENOUGH TO BE INFLUENCED BY HER; this is not the Laura "airlock" Roslin we've all grown to love.

Flaw #3: Very muddy and nonsensical concepts of Cylon technologies: If the Cylons could build one Hub they can easily build another and would have back up copies to begin with; Hubs apparently also act as Resurrection Ships (D'anna's resurrection & the multitudes of 8's  bodies) except their transmission receiving range is vastly larger than ordinary Resurrection Ships: which begs the question "Why don't they just use the Hubs instead of the ordinary Resurrection Ships?"; Why did they claim that the D'anna in possession of President Roslin IS THE ONLY ONE LEFT IN THE UNIVERSE? Are Not there D'anna's on the occupied Caprica? What about the Cylon Homeworld where they settled for 40 years? Finally, the ALL of the Cylons' ability to Resurrect has NOT been destroyed because there must be Resurrection Techology on Occupied Caprica and the Cylon Homeworld. Only the Cylons in pursuit of the Colonialists cannot resurrect all the other Cylons are fine.

These flaws notwithstanding it was a very entertaining episode. The action was interesting if not a bit incoherent and the anticipation of D'anna's interaction with the known final five in hiding will be interesting for the next show. The Omniscience of the Cylon Hybrid is interesting because it seems to indicate a real-time Faster than Light communications connection with ALL Cylons. Baltar's attempted manipulation of the Cylon Centurion was amusing. D'anna's verbal sparring with Cavil(1) was excellent. D'anna also continues to have a healthy skepticism of human nature even though she's met the final five.

Baltar was visited by Imaginary Six on a Cylon Basestar in Season 3 episode "Torn". So he has had these visitations before in Cylon custody and there is no reason they should just stop in "The Hub".

What are you guy's views on having a Battlestar Galactica TV Movie between Season 4 halves? I'm in favor if they're as good as RAZOR. Perhaps they'll be about the antiquated Cylons. If anything they should focus on the Cylons and their natures.

 

When I saw him in only a towel in that BSG episode I made the same sound Homer Simpson makes when he sees a box of fresh donuts.

I should have put Jamie Bamber at the top of my Top Ten Hot Geeks list.

Another good moment in Battlestar Galactica Season 3 was when Helo got Apollo back into shape in just 15 minutes. There was probably a scene they cut that didn't even make it to the DVD where Apollo and Helo are sparring and Helo pins Apollo and they have a moment like when Apollo and Dualla were sparring. Some FanFic cannot be ignored.

Well, OK, thanks to your blog you weren't really gone, but you know what I mean.

Fun vlog, as always, but the giggling? How much Mountain Dew did you have? Adorable though :)

Nice review of Jumper, which I thought was completely fair, although I felt Lee was a little scathing of The Andromeda Strain, given that he criticized almost everything that was loyal to the book while lauding the technology (bacterial bacteriophages? That scares me, although I want some :P). Also, its not just the TV labs that have dodgy lighting, some of the labs I've seen IRL are like that too.

Just a couple more things: Marc, you pronounce Latin better than most of the people I know who've studied Latin, so don't worry, also it's Whoniverse not Doctor Whoniverse, at least around here (Britain) it is.

Stay cute :)

P.S. you may wanna ignore everything I said here, I'm slightly drunk on gin and GnR at the moment X)

I bet they're actually just testing their packaging.

Too bad about the Torchwood news. I hope this doesn't mean the series is coming to an end.

Apparently season three of Torchwood is going to be just one story told over the five hour long episodes and will be shown, like you said, in just one week!? According to Julie Gardner, producer, fans will be really pleased with the casting, so with any luck Martha will be in it.

Marc should love the last episode of this series of Doctor Who 'Journey's End', because Martha,Captain Jack, Rose, Sarah Jane and others from the past, are all supposed to be in it. Yippee.

I love your vlogs.

 

 

 

Apparently season three of Torchwood is going to be just one story told over the five hour long episodes and will be shown, like you said, in just one week!? According to Julie Gardner, producer, fans will be really pleased with the casting, so with any luck Martha will be in it.

Marc should love the last episode of this series of Doctor Who 'Journey's End', because Martha,Captain Jack, Rose, Sarah Jane and others from the past, are all supposed to be in it. Yippee.

I love your vlogs.

 

 

 

I loved it so much I posted it twice.

Sorry about that. 

I don't watch Lost, so I can't tell you whether they apply to the character, but they both had ideas about individual and collective rights and actions. Bentham was (sort of) the founder of Utilitarianism (acting in a way that produces the greatest good for the greatest number of people), and Locke was all about the Social Contract (the rights and responsibilities of the indivisual towards the stare, and vice-versa) The founding fathers were big fans of Locke.

Lots of similarities, though Locke was a bigger fan of 'no one has the right to damage you or your property', and Bentham was more 'unless by doing so they stop damage happening to more people'.

 

Ginsing is used in lots of Energy drinks/supplements because it gives boost to alertness without most of the negatives of caffeine, but there's not usually enough of it to have effect, so it's more of a buzzword then an actual active ingredient. Its also used in Native American/Traditional Chinese medicine to treat male sexual disfunction.

Glad to see Jamie wasn't forgotten.

I have to admit, I like the show better when there are multiple companions.  It adds an extra element in to it all.  What is really wierding me out is the Rose appearances.  Can anyone explain what is going on with this?  Or at least fathom a theory? 

 I saw a commercial for Dew and there was a three way tug of war going on for the flavor, I guess we know now it's just Grape :-)

Can't wait for the next vlog

People keep forgetting that this is a UK show; most British series run for six episodes at a time. Torchwood and Doctor Who were exceptional at 13 episodes per series, and it's not really surprising that when a budget crunch occurred, the extra long runs would get shortened. Even if they do the four or five Doctor Who special as were originally planned (and there have been rumors that the budget cuts have reduced those numbers as well), Torchwood would end up about even. None of my UK-based friends are worried about the show, they're just glad it's back on the schedule. And it's still possible that we could see a second short run later in the year.

I'm actually excited about a single story mini series, because it would allow the writers to pace the story differently, and we might get to see more Jack and Ianto, outside the office at last! (I just got the book Trace Memory, and Jack calls Ianto 'Tiger Pants'!)

I'm amused and a bit confused that you keep referring to the "fanboy" invasion, when I know for a fact that most of the army was comprised of straight girls. Which would have irked me less if fansites for all the shows represented had been tipped off, and not just the Doctor Who/Torchwood and Supernatural fanbases.

You're back! My neighbours can sleep easy at night, no frantic pacing around at night waiting for your new Vlog from me.....until I start getting impatient again.

I agree about Sine Qua Non. I aired early on Sky One, but really wasn't that much of a gain. I did like all the twists but it felt all....disjointed, like they were just going through the motions of setting everything up instead of trying to do it in a cool narrative way.

I dodn't see why you think Sun blames Ben for Jin's death. Where are you getting that from? I thought it was clear it was Jack, because he told Frank not to go back for him.

Heh. Now I'm curious about Mountain Dew....

Hey guys great to have you back.

Hey I just got an email from Scifi.com, they are going to be streaming the BSG Finale before it airs, from 9am to 4 ET. So anyone who can might want to check it out. Bummed, Im gonna have to wait though.

Wow... have we finally stumped you guys?

[SPOILER ALERT] Here's a hint if anybody wants, but don't read this if you want to try Extreme Mystery Geek Challenge without the hint.

1. The actual items on the list, though unrelated to anything in this week's vlog, are definitely not too obscure for you; it's that they're harder to catch than usual because of a slight twist.

2. We really won't be PO'd if anyone figures it out.

 

I got nothin'.

Ectasy?

 

I can't wait for you guy's next two Vlogs.

I liked the episode. However, I also read Entertainment Weekly's rundown of the special screening Ron Moore did of this episode. I don't like what I'm hearing. I have a feeling that Season 4 part 2 may devolve into a "Sopranos" series finale which would be a VERY VERY VERY VERY BAD thing. Yes, "it's about the characters", HOWEVER, the Science Fiction aspects of the show MUST BE RESOLVED TO OUR SATISFACTION. If the Sci-Fi-y parts of the show are summarily ignored because Ron Moore really has no idea what's he doing, then I'm affraid that BSG will go down as a sublime failure but a failure nonetheless.