BurningbirdYule points to three short movies utilizing stop motion created by a family run production company, Painful Productions in Vancouver Island. These short-shorts are more than worth a view, as is Yule’s writeup of the company.
(Note, you can download a Mac-based player for Windows Media files.)
I did go see Serenity tonight. The movie theater is about 1/2 mile from us, and no one was out. We had the stadium seating theater; shared with approximately 20 other people. The seats were excellent and so was the sound, but the film developed a flaw in it for the last ten minutes. Didn’t impact on the overall movie, but was unfortunate.
I won’t talk about the movie–anything one can say is a spoiler. I think it was an excellent movie, but somewhat unexpected. It was a true Firefly show, though — no disappointments for fans. I didn’t see any hull number, but I’ll take a swing and guess at the hull number and ship soon to enter Serenity trivia as noted by Commander Rogers: the NC 1701, USS Enterprise.
Spoiler alert: This post discusses the last episode of Battlestar Galactica, aired Friday night, in detail.
Battlestar Galactica features several characters that are Cylons, though they look human. Most of the Cylon characters in re-occurring roles are women, specifically Boomer and Number Six. There are many duplications of each character, which can lead to some interesting story lines.
Boomer, in different incarnations, has fallen in love with two human males. She is now known to be Cylon and imprisoned. The crew refers to her as ‘toaster’ and ‘it’, but they also have become more sympathetic toward her, as she has joined forces with the humans because of her love for one of the men.
Number Six appears mainly as some form of mental image in the mind of the scientific genius, Dr. Baltar–though whether this is madness or mechanics, we’re never quite sure. It was his relationship with Number Six eventually led to the destruction of the human planets. In the show, dialogs occur between the two, though only he can see the woman. This can lead to some humourous scenes (sex plays a big role between the couple); but some tedius ones as well.
I was ambivalent about the casting of humans as Cylons in this new show, but the last four or five episodes have been absolutely riveting because of this decision. None more so than the show last Friday night when another battle ship, the Pegasus, found the Battlestar Galatica, and the actions of the military in the two ships can be compared side by side.
The Battlestar Galactica is led by Adama, a man who for all of his strict reliance on all things military, is able to adapt to situations. He’s a stubborn man, but an honorable one. He’s appealing because he makes mistakes, and even more so because he doesn’t always see them as mistakes. This has kept the show from being cheap and overly heroic.
The Battlestar Pegasus is led by a woman, Admiral Cain, following on a strong female presence in the show. Unlike Adama, though, Admiral Cain is a by the book military commander, with little interest in much other than a need to win, to triumph, to take the fight to the Cylons.
The meeting between the two started out smoothly, but it’s not long before problems started arising. Admiral Cain has little regard for Adama’s personal interactions with his crew, considering them a weakness. She demands a break up and mixing of crew members. More, we find out that she had killed her first XO in cold blood because he wouldn’t follow her orders. We also find out that the Pegasus also has a Cylon prisoner of its own–none other than one of the Number Six characters who haunt Baltar’s mind.
Number Six is beautiful, blonde, and devious. She is the ‘evil’ member of the Cylons, the one who helped bring about destruction of the planets. In the opening shows, she kills a baby in his crib and then walks away without once looking back. She is tough, strong, and not particularly likable–using sex to manipulate men such as Balthar. I’ve seen her referred to in sci-fi circles as ‘the Cylon Slut’.
When we see her on the Pegasus though, she is collapsed on the ground and chained about her neck, arms, and legs. She has been badly beaten and starved, and lays there staring vacantly ahead of her. From joking that male Pegasus crewmembers do with those on the Galactica, we find that the crew used that oldest expedient to break women: rape.
Cut away and the Pegasus officer that has beaten and raped Number Six is now on his way to do the same to Boomer.
From there we have a constant cut away between scenes where a selfish, self-centered Baltar is trying to help Number Six, crying, as she lies broken on the deck; while the Pegasus officer has his men straddle Boomer over a bed and prepares to rape her.
The two scenes, juxtaposed, are powerful, and made more so because Number Six is clearly ‘evil’, while Boomer is just as clearly ‘good’. And it is this that made all the difference.
I was curious and searched in Technorati for mention of Battlestar Galactica and rape. It was interesting to read the reactions; especially to see young men deal with something they’ve never faced in all their Lara Croft games; to hear science fiction fans talking about war and rape and genocide, and explore whether rape would be allowed on a ship commanded by a woman. One person wrote that he knew rape existed, but it wasn’t something he wanted to necessarily see on television, in such graphic detail. Disturbing, he called it.
Yes, it is.
An excellent review of this episode of Battlestar Galactica.
Recovered from the Wayback Machine.
Thanks to Slashdot for pointing out Boston.com’s top 50 Sci-Fi shows.
Starting from the, urh, bottom:
50. “Earth Final Conflict” — I’m not sure I even remember this one. However, it was on television when I was right in the middle of the hottest part of my consulting and writing business; had started at a dot-com; had watched the dot-com fail; moved from Portland, to Vermont, to Boston, to San Francisco; oh, and got divorced. I don’t think I watched a lot of TV.
49. “The Wild Wild West” — Loved it.
48. “Third Rock from the Sun” — Didn’t follow it strictly but did watch from time to time. Cute. Liked the daughter, she could kick butt.
47. “Buck Rogers in the 25th Centruy” — Now what is there about spandex that isn’t to love? This was disco sci-fi, and campy, as Batman was campy. Speaking of which, will probably show in the list later.
46. “That was Then” — Now, I did manage to catch this, and the premise was very interesting. They never give shows such as this enough time to find their audience. Speaking of Serenity, this will probably be showing up later, too.
45. “The Greatest American Hero” — The good thing, about the only good thing, about this show is that my cousin, Robert Culp, was in it.
44. “Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman” — Gag me.
43. “Nowhere Man” — Again, I saw this because I’ve always liked Bruce Greenwood. Blinked and it was over.
42. “Science Fiction Theater” — I was too young for this show. Yes, there is actually a television show that I would be too young to remember.
41. “Futurama” — Never saw it.
40. “The Thunderbirds” — Come on, folks! Puppets in rockets! How cool is that?
39. “The man from U.N.C.L.E” — I had a crush for the longest time, way into my adulthood, for Illya Kullyakin. And I prefer dark haired guys typically.
38. “Batman” — See? Told you! Two guys in tight spandex…Holy Butts, Batman!
37. “Space 1999″ — I really liked this show. I thought it had an odd feel to it that set it apart from other shows of the time. The only other program that came close in feel was The Prisoner — remember that one? And the bouncing ball?
36. “The Bionic Woman” — Okay, I confess: I liked this show. At least in the beginning; towards the end, it became bizarre.
35. “Battlestar Galactica” — A cut above, both the historical show and the modern one. Especially after last night’s show of the modern edition, which I consider to be one of the finest television shows dealing rape and the objectification of women I have seen.
34. “The Avengers” — Lovely show, wonderful actors, great accents, interesting stories. A classic.
33. “Lost in Space” — Never missed a show. Again, this seemed like a typical show of the time at first glance; family values and all. But it explored some very interesting concepts, and the writers demonstrated imagination with some of the story lines.
32. “My Favorite Martian” — It never really rang my bell.
31. “Alien Nation” — Wonderful show that matured in concept as it aged in time. How best to look at our own problems of racial fear and bigotry than by creating another species and using them as object lessons. Spoiled milk, anyone?
30. “Voyage to the Bottom of the Seas” — Another great show. Is it just me or could Sci-Fi channel dump their abysmal made for TV movies and replace them all with these wonderful old shows? And improve hugely?
29. “Six Million Dollar Man” — Never cared for Lee Majors, so didn’t like the show.
28. “Adventures of Superman” — Oh now, this is the old one and I do remember these. Loved it — strong female lead, wholesome man with bulgy muscles in tight…wait, we’ve been down this one before.
27. “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” — Loved the show, except for the last year or so when it started getting strange. Except that I did like it when Buffy and Spike, well, remember the carpet?
26. “Stargate Atlantis” — Watch it as part of the Friday night lineup. Not the best of sci-fi though.
25. “The Jetsons” — Cartoon, so just never got into it. I liked Marvin the Martian and Warner Brothers, but that was about it. Don’t like games either. I was not a fun child.
24. “Wonder Woman” — When I was younger and a little more gravity defiant I was told I looked like Wonder Woman. No, really. Some homeless guy on the street assured me it was so.
23. “Tales from the Crypt” — not my thing.
22. “Andromeda” — Lot’s of pretty people going nowhere. Didn’t care for it.
21. “Quantum Leap” — Some of the most imaginative scripting in television. Some amazing stories.
20. “The Hitchhiker” — The premise was good, but the execution was flawed.
19. “Dark Angel” — Haven’t seen it. Is it on now? Where?
18. “V” — I liked this show. I didn’t love it, and didn’t go out of my way to watch it, but I liked it.
17. “Firefly” — Just number 17? Idiots. Best show on TV. Ever.
16. “Flash Gordon” — I saw the movie, which was deliciously cheap and tinselly; but never the television show.
15. “Logan’s Run” — Take a great story line and really screw it up and you have Logan’s Run.
14. “Star Trek: Voyager” — I never got into this one. I think I was getting tired of Trek about then. No where near as good as many later in the list.
13. “Outer Limits” — I loved this show. Remember the one where the person from the future came back in time and seduced a woman to return with him, but then by doing so, changed history and he wasn’t there? Reminds me of weblogging.
12. Xena: Warrier Princess” — I like tough women who can kick butt, but this show left me cold. I guess I’d rather do than watch. Hee. Just joking.
11. “Lost” — I didn’t watch the first year, but I’m thinking of renting it. It seems to be intriguing.
10. “Sliders” — This was a good show. Again, not a great one, but good.
9. “Mystery Science Fiction Theater” — If you don’t like this, you lose your Sci-Fi good fandom badge. What better way to watch the old, bad movies?
8. “Dr. Who” — Don’t hit me, but I never watched Dr. Who. Why, I don’t know, except every time I would try to watch, there was so much that seemed to be assumed. I may try this again.
7. “The Twilight Zone” — Some of the finest, brightest, and most adult television of all time.
6. “Stargate SG-1″ — I like this show, and the humor that’s an implicit component. I’m not sure about the new cast, though. Other than I really enjoyed Vala as a character.
5. “Babylon 5″ — I liked Babylon 5. Another show with strong female leads. “Sooner or later, we all go boom!”
4. “X Files” — The most disturbing show I have seen on television was from the X Files. It was the one where the folks were heavily in-bred, and it was too much for me. I was sometimes a fan of the show.
3. “Star Trek the Next Generation” — Oh, of course I liked this show. How can I not like Woof? This show demonstrated that one can be older and sexy. In fact, it demonstrated that one can’t really be truly sexy until one is older. I like that in a show. (Oh you young, firm things — lighten up, your turn will come.)
2. “Battlestar Galactica” — Oh hey, it got a slot of its own. Well, after the recent shows, I agree with this. Very powerful, especially the one last night. How can a station that puts out the crap it does on Saturday night host this amazing series boggles. It really does.
-and I know what 1 will be, it will be-
1. “Star Trek, the original” Of course. If it weren’t for Star Trek, I don’t think we would have the sci-fi channel, or even the movies we’ve had. It kept the genre alive through a very dry period, and then re-sparked it again when we were ready.
Want to know what my router is named? “trekkie”
Watching Pirates of the Caribbean sounds like a wonderful idea tonight. I’m getting nothing else useful done — certainly nothing with you -know-what. Arrrr! DF!
Danny Ayers has a great talk like a pirate entry. He also has another good entry on the whole “RDF” discussion.