SGU Review Spectacular!

As I tweeted recently (as I'm sure you are all avid followers of my twitter account @RealJacobQuinn) I finished watching the entire series of Stargate: SGU a week or so back and since I am attempting to word out a writers block on a script what better time to launch into my review of the series.

Let's talk about about Stargate, since I'm sure there are at least a couple of you that clicked into this without really knowing what you were getting into. Stargate started as a less-than-spectacularly received feature film staring Kurt Russel and James Spader with Rolland Emmerich directing. The plot of the film is simple enough; technology unlike any the world had ever seen was unearthed at a dig site in Egypt in the early 1920's. Of course it's an American archeological team and of course the government takes it and hides it away. After decades they get far enough to realize that it's a device that can potentially open a wormhole to another planet, solar system, galaxy, universe...dimension? The possibilities are endless.

James Spader's character is a down-on-his-luck scientist who has a valuable understanding of ancient Egypt. He's approached to work on the project to help them read and translate the symbols on the gate. It takes Spader's character to get them there. In the end they open a wormhole, go through to a planet that is reminiscent of our Egypt. They fight an alien creature who had possessed a native of that planet and end up destroying his ship; thus freeing the locals. Spader stays behind to live with the woman he's come to love. He buries the stargate on his end and the American program is "shut down".

We then move on to Stargate SG1 where we learn that there are stargates all over the galaxy and each can be "dialed" using various combinations of the 36 symbols on the stargate. It takes 7 symbols to dial another planet, 8 to dial another galaxy and 9 to dial an unknown address hidden in the gate by The Ancients.

Enter, Stargate SGU.

Much like the original Stargate film, SGU involves a young, brilliant (unwittingly and uselessly) slacker named Eli Wallave, who discovers the 9th symbol needed to dial Destiny, The Ancients vessel of discovery. In an obvious attempt to be hip the show uses gaming as the seed through which the 9th symbol is discovered. The villain turned hero (sortofnotreallykindabutstillnotreally) is Dr. Rush played by Robert Carlyle; by far the most accomplished and well known actor of the cast.

The inaugural episode is filled with frontwards and backwards jump cuts in time setting up the events that transpired to get them to the ship. Once there they are forced to deal with two facts: the ship, being incredibly ancient is on the verge of falling apart at any moment and is unable to truly support the amount of people currently residing within her and the fact that they are billions upon billions of light years from Earth. Now you're probably wondering, "how can this show be any good when none of the original cast of SG1 is involved and they're just stuck on this old ship with no possible help from earth?" Nifty trick...they have these stones which allow people to transfer their consciousness into someone else's body, regardless of distance (or the fact that they're traveling at Faster than Light speed).

Besides some of the obvious plot holes and "quick fix" writer's tricks to try and get around some of the potential pit-falls that exist in so many sci-fi series, Stargate Universe (SGU) is a pretty solid show. Once they got past the constant, "we're all going to die at any moment because we have no food or the ship is flying into a star" type story lines they really opened up the potential for what this show could really be. They dip into the idea of "seed ships" which were sent ahead of Destiny by The Ancients to plant stargates on any viable world to work as a stopping points to replenish stores of food, water, etc. along the way as Destiny made it's hundred thousand year journey.

I feel compelled at this point to say that, I really did enjoy this show. It's fun and engaging and overall very entertaining. Can't ask for much more than that in series, but there are a lot of short-comings that invariably distract from the enjoyment of the show. Such as; a plot line of several episodes involving aliens who kidnap a member of the crew and alter her. They play that part of the story out, but they end up just jumping galaxies as the ship leaves one for the next, leaving those aliens behind. One alien race is traded for another, this one is mechanized drones programed by a long-extinct race to destroy any technology foreign to their own.

There are several very cool time-travel related episodes. One, for instance, involves the entire crew being cast thousands of years into the past when they think they've discovered a way to dial home using the power of a star to amp-up the gate, but a solar flare sends them astray. Their "other selves" found a colony on the planet and that small colony thrives into a society that spans generations. Leaving behind an amazing history behind, which many of the crew watches and sees their "other selves" living full lives filled with pain, suffering, love, friendship, family and amazing accomplishments.

It's through this and many other episodes that you, as the viewer, really begin to like and connect with the characters; not something common for me. As the series wound down the crew was faced with an impossible situation: the drones were bent on Destiny's destruction and had staked a foothold in every solar system with a star that was viable for Destiny to use to recharge it's batteries. So they decide to go into a hypersleep state and make the long jump to the next galaxy. But they're desperately low on power and if they're calculations are off by even a decimal they will run out of power in the void between galaxies and drift for a thousand years.

The final episode is a touching memorial of the main cast preparing to to into their sleep chambers and await the future they may never see (much like the show itself which was cancelled after just two short seasons and a total of 40 episodes). Tragically leaving so much unknown and unexplored, but that's what fanfic is for...right?

Like almost any show SGU could have been better in certain ways. I didn't appreciate they annoyingly predictable situations where the ship was either going to blow up or they were all going to die from lack of food or air or flying into a star (all plot lines from various episodes). Because they were boring and predictable. It was a nice change of pace to see characters actually die (since it almost never really happens) though I don't want to give them too much credit, it's none of the real main characters.

I would have liked to see what the team could have done with a third season. The ship, itself, is never really explored due to a lack of hull integrity and sheer size. They uncover random pieces of ancient technology that never really gets any screen time. It's things like that that disappointment me. Potential, wasted either due to a lack of vision or time.

Overall I would grade Stargate Universe - SGU a solid B+ for interesting plots, solid stories and overall concept. It would have been an A if it didn't have so many of the small negative points against it.

I hope you all enjoyed this review of the SGU television series.

Tb

Published Comic!

Here is a look back at the first comic I've gotten published with Ape Entertainment's online U.F.O Anthology! It's a love-story set against the end of the world. Hope you like!

Thor...was an amazing movie!

A truism in movie-going is “cater to your audience” and Thor, from Marvel Studios, definitely did that.

Not to be outdone in their catering, so did the theatre itself. Anyone who has gone to the movies in the last decade can let out a collective groan at the memory of more-than-one occurrence of sitting down to enjoy the main feature you paid to see and being forced to sit through twenty-plus minutes of previews. Often times, several of the previews are clearly not for the expected audience attending the movie (example: preview for Winnie the Pooh before Scream).

Thor had no such disappointments or annoyances. My screening had just four previews and all of them came to play. The first was an extended preview for the much-anticipated Green Lantern movie, followed by a preview for the new X-men: First Class movie, which I’ve seen, but was no less impressive. Next was an extended preview for the new J.J. Abrams/Steven Spielberg collaboration, Super 8. The fourth was for Captain America which was clearly a shameless plug for the connection between Thor and the upcoming 2012 movie release of The Avengers, but it wouldn’t be Hollywood if there wasn’t at least one shameless plug involved.

Thor, staring Chris Hemsworth (Star Trek, Red Dawn-2011) and Natalie Portman (Star Wars, Beautiful Girls) does well what so many comic book movies do terribly: it gives you exactly what you walked in expecting and manages not to disappoint or trip over itself to cater to a broader audience than just comic book fans.

The main villain in Thor is Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Thor’s half-brother. The secondary villains are the Frost Giants of Jotunheim. Granted, this may seem like an almost too-obvious choice in adversaries for Thor but Kenneth Branagh (director) does an exemplary job of not letting the story get away from itself.

Asgard plays a significant role in Thor, which is a visual treat. From a special effects standpoint the realms of Asgard, Jotunheim and, to what extent you need special effects, Midgard (Earth) are all portrayed wonderfully.

The plot of Thor revolves around the envy Loki feels for his half-brother, Thor’s own bravado and, in the end, reconciliation and acceptance.

To quote the friend I went to see Thor with, “Marvel really has gotten their act together when it comes to movies.” The last part of that statement is telling, “when it comes to movies,” which is true but also portrays the belief many of us harbor that Marvel Comics is out of sorts in how they handle business. But in the many-year ramp up to the Avengers movie coming out next year, Marvel has regained much of the respect it threw away with producing horrible movies like Daredevil and Elektra. It shows the importance of Marvel taking control of their product and putting it under the umbrella of Marvel Studios.

Overall Thor is an epic movie with plenty of action, adventure, destruction and visual pleasures; everything a movie-goer could ask for. It gets a rating of (out of 4)

Enjoy your movie-going experience!

Tb (JQ)

Reality vs. Surreality

We truly live in a world where this line is blurred, what with 24-hour "reality" television networks that focus on anything and everything from the benign to outlandish and idiotic. I mean, when un-celeb, celebrities can regain some semblance of stardom through so-called reality television, what has the world come to?

I want to blame Facebook and Myspace, Friendster, Twitter and those that came before it whose names I cannot even be bothered to remember much less "Google" to find the names of. I want to blame them for making the world as it is, but I can't. The minds of today's youth were destroyed long before Myspace and the rest were even a million-dollar glimmer in the eyes of their obnoxious creators.

I harken back to "Basketball" (Trey Parker/Matt Stone/Carmen Electra, if you've not seen it I highly recommend) where there was a line of dialogue I will paraphrase here; kids today have an attention span that can only be measured in microseconds...and it was a truism all the way back in 1998 when that film was released, even moreso today. I am a product of this technological system, I cannot deny this.

When left to my own devices I will chose to use technology to keep my attention more often than I will a book or a comic. Granted, the things I can do on my iPhone are more immediately entertaining and take little to no time to get into. Instant gratification is one of my many vices.

Another thing that's changed a lot since the boom of the technological age is alone-ness. Is one truly alone if they are connected to the internet? And by that idea, if one has a cell phone of any kind that has internet access is that person ever truly alone? I would argue that they are not.

Dictionary.com defines alone as, "separate, apart, or isolated from others" and if one has access to the internet, to instant messaging, to facebook, to twitter...are they actually separate, apart or isolated from others? It would seem not, wouldn't it.

If reality is what we can see and touch, smell and taste and surreality is dreamlike, unreal and fantastic...does it not stand to reason that these two ideas are constantly blurred with the world as it is today?

Think about it.

Forever indebted to your gracious readership,

Tb (JQ)

Dirty little secrets...

So I was...suckered? Convinced? Intrigued? Something like that, into watching Glee.

Damn you Netflix and the convenience of Instant Viewing! *shakes fist*...ok not really mad at them...kinda sorta totally love Instant Viewing.

But I digress...Glee.

So it was decided over the past weekend that we'd watch Glee, because my lady hadn't seen it but was intrigued. My response, of course, was to quote Community, "I hate Glee...I don't see the appeal at all." - Jeff Winger. But, it turns out, it's more like "my so called life" with singing than anyone on the show would admit.

It has the same melodrama and teen pregnancy and awful high school jocks and all the rest of it that nearly every show that has come before it (including the likes of Parker Lewis Can't Lose) has had. With the added benefit of singing.

The real tragedy of watching Glee is not in the enjoyment, which is kinda...inevitable, if only for the superfluous frolicking of several hot "wannabe teens" (meaning they're playing teenagers but are actually in their mid-20's). But no, it's not that, it's this: watching it made me actually conjure the thought, "I wonder what High School Musical is like..." Please, god, no.


I quickly removed that thought from my mind, cruciatus curse style, and have not since been inspired to do anything quite as stupid.

The truly flawed part of the show is that they have to create drama. And I'm not talking about the natural drama that occurs when the boys and girls in the group jump from person to person as their hormones fly out of control. No. I'm talking about drama of, "we have to place at Regional's or the club is finished!" oh, no!

I'm going to spoil the ending for you...they don't place at Regional's. A panel of "celebrity" judges votes against them in the most insane way possible. But, wait...the club doesn't get canceled!

Now, the why's and how comes of this are far too in-depth for me to go into here. But sufficed to say that I saw it coming without even trying to figure it out.

It's a cute show. Are they really singing? probably not always. Do I know even half the songs? Nope. But can I enjoy it as an entertaining conjecture of reality versus surreality? Sure.

So if you have Netflix, check out the Pilot. Give it at least that chance, if you like it...thank me later. If you hate it, feel free to blame me.

That's all for now,

Tb (Jq)

Kung Fu Panda 2 - Review

Well folks, I realize I've been away from the blog-o-sphere for a little while...but only actually, not really. Confused? You should be.

The majority of you who read my blog (aside, I'm assuming from my apparent fans in Hungary, Mexico and Germany) also follow me on Twitter/Facebook so you're already well aware of where I spend much of my writing time, www.8daysageek.com where I mostly do reviews of comics and occasionally review movies as well, like Thor and upcoming I will review Green Lantern, Harry Potter and Captain America.

But some things don't really apply to the site, like what I'm going to be writing about here. Kung Fu Panda, though geeky isn't necessarily within the sphere of interest to that demographic, but I digress.

So, Kung Fu Panda 2. The villain is a peacock, that should tell you something about what Dreamworks was going for there. The first movie, as you'll remember, takes the viewer on an adventure right along with the main character Po the Panda as he discovers his destiny as he becomes The Dragon Warrior.

In the second installment of the series Po is feeling pretty good about his role as Dragon Warrior and is more than up the challenge when Master Shifu sends Po and the Five out on a new mission. Unbeknownst to either of them Po was about to encounter a familiar (but not) symbol on the armor of the villains. Seeing the symbol triggers a series of vivid memories in Po; this happens throughout the movie as he continues to see the symbol at random intervals.

Several things are discovered throughout the movie: Po's mysterious past, how he came to be the son of a goose and what happened to his family and why there aren't any other Pandas.

Shen, the Peacock villain, is an albino...so right from the start he's got issues. I mean...seriously, the dude has an inferiority complex the size of the Pacific Ocean. It's this inferiority complex that causes him to create the first cannon, presumably the first in the world. His goal is to use this technology to take over all of China and within that action to destroy Kung Fu. And as a movie for children certain holes in the plot are simply overlooked, thus I will not exploit them here...it's not Citizen Kane, people.

Overall, Kung Fu Panda 2 is a very enjoyable movie with several really touching moments. The pacing is excellent, with a run time of exactly 90 minutes it never feels rushed. The connection between the main characters continues to grow, despite the fact that the members of the Furious Five, aside from Tigress, play a much smaller role in the movie. But in every fight scene Po is constantly using tactics and fighting styles that incorporate each of the members, showing the value of the team as a whole.

It's a fun movie for child and adult a like. I definitely recommend checking it out!

For now, I shall leave you with this last notion: go check out my stuff on 8daysageek.com, you'll enjoy it, I promise!

TB (JQ)

Sucker Punch...kicked ass

So I went out with a couple buddies of mine on last night and caught a showing of Sucker Punch. I'll be the first to admit that the reason I wanted to see this was not because I'd heard the acting performances or the writing was spectacular; far from it to be straight with you. From several trusted (internet) sources I'd read that the movie lacked substance...well, duh. If you went in to Sucker Punch expecting a movie of substantive quality, then you deserve to feel cheated, because you're an idiot.

Sucker Punch did exactly what I wanted it to do. It delivered on two main components that one looks for in a movie of this type. First, have hot chicks dressed scantily for my enjoyment. CHECK. Second, have some kick-ass fight scenes with said scantily clad women performing unbelievable acts with guns, swords, mechs, etc. CHECK. Sucker Punch delivered on both fronts, big time. And on top of that was the added bonus of seriously amazing visuals, like this arbitrarily-set-in-space scene. It's fabulous!









The visuals are combined splendidly with the action scenes in several over-the-top epic battles. They jump right into it with the main character, Baby Doll, fighting these three giant Asian stone warriors (picture below) and then move on to fighting Dragons and Orcs, Nazi's and Robots. There's literally no stone left unturned in this movie when it comes to something to kill.











The story leaves something to be desired when it comes to cohesiveness, though. There are parts that make less-than perfect sense, but if you don't let that bug you, then overall the movie is quite good. I'd easily give it 3 1/2 stars out of 5.