Closet Sci-Fi Geek

Heath Ledger’s Sad, Untimely Death

I wouldn’t normally be talking about Heath Ledger here, but with his upcoming role as the Joker in the next Batman movie, The Dark Knight, this is sci-fi news. I have not been a fan of Heath Ledger; he has only been in my consciousness somewhat vaguely and I haven’t seen most of the films he’s been in. Still, I was really shocked to hear the news that he died yesterday. Absolutely shocked.

Today, speculations are arising over a rolled up $20 bill found in his apartment, which indicates possible cocaine use. What surprises me is how many fans are up in arms over this news, saying that the media is making “assumptions” that they shouldn’t be making. It’s an interesting look at how people relate to actors, and how they alternately vilify them (Tom Cruise) or make them into saints (Heath Ledger) when the middle ground is more likely true.

I have lived in Los Angeles for many, many years and I have seen a lot. And I can tell you that there is absolutely no reason to have a rolled up $20 in your home unless someone was doing some blow. Generally speaking, if you are not the type of person to do that sort of stuff yourself, you aren’t likely to sit quietly while your friends do it right in front of you, leaving their paraphernalia lying around in your living room.

Furthermore, if someone can’t get more than two hours of sleep on two hits of Ambien, that’s another indication that cocaine is a factor. Cocaine will easily keep you up all night.

Drug addiction does not make someone a bad person, but it does make them a sad person. Compassion can still be given to Ledger, not because he was drug-free, but precisely because he apparently wasn’t. I’ve known a few addicts in my time, and these folks aren’t evil - they are lost souls.

This will make watching The Dark Knight all the more poignant.

Bonnie Hammer is Outta There…Well, Sort Of…

Hallelujah! Bonnie Hammer is stepping back from the day-to-day operations of the SciFi channel, and Dave Howe will be replacing her. I’m not sure if this is great news, however. The crowing puff piece in Variety gushed about both of them, saying that they turned SciFi into a profitable enterprise by moving the channel towards a “non-geek” audience.

Meanwhile, no mention was made in the article of how universally hated Bonnie has been amongst sci-fi fans, nor how most of their new shows have tanked miserably in the ratings.

While we’re all breathing a sigh of relief that Bonnie is no longer in charge, it remains to be seen whether Howe will return SciFi back to its science fiction origins or continue to dangerously dilute the channel in search of that ever-elusive “non-geek” audience. Because heaven forbid, we certainly don’t want those horrible geeks as customers. Yeesh.

Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles

The new Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles is already a huge hit (though who knows if that’s just because there’s nothing else on what with the writer’s strike).

I thought the show was pretty good (especially after the painfully disappointing remake of the Bionic Woman). While I’m not certain if the Terminator concept is going to be enjoyable week after week (personally, I can take only so much of the constant running and fighting and shooting), it’s possible that they’ll be able to craft a decent story arc here, and for me that might make this one a keeper.

I’m concerned, however, that the show has already set up a typical scenario where a government agent is on the hunt for Connor. We’ve had enough of that in many shows, not to mention it’s a device that’s already being used with mixed results on Supernatural.

The best part of this show is by far Summer Glau. The former Firefly and 4400 star shows herself to be the queen of sci-fi with her unique and quirky roles. Here, her deadpan delivery and stony-faced machisma is perfect for the part. She manages to be funny too, in the best way possible.

I’m not totally sold on Lena Headey as Sarah Connor. She’s a little young and not as weary as she should be. She’s also missing a good deal of the intensity that Linda Hamilton brought to the role. And where are her fantastic arm muscles? (By the way, Headey is yet another Brit playing an American on American TV - I’m not sure why casting directors these days are so opposed to having Americans play Americans…not that I dislike Brits, but it’s getting to be an epidemic…) I like Headey enough and I think the casting could have been much, much worse…so I’m hoping that the actress can just grow into the part a little more.

A minor nitpick: One problem with the Sarah Connor Chronicles is that it messes up the timeline established in T3. That said, I’m so confused by the multiple timelines now that it really doesn’t matter much to me…except there is one glaring thing that Sarah Connor seems to miss: Judgment Day has to happen, otherwise John Connor would not exist. His father needs to be sent back to impregnate her back in 1980 or whenever it was.

A few things are missing from the show: I haven’t seen any of the fantastic liquid terminators that were amazing to watch in T2, and the fight scenes are pretty blase by today’s standards. (Summer is constantly getting thrown through walls. Ho hum.) If they could pick up the choreography or throw some better effects in there, the show might be that much better.

As it stands, I’ll give it a B+. Worth watching, but nothing I’d go out of my way to see with eagerness.

New Green Technology Blog

Hi everyone,

Please check out my new blog on green technology…all about anything intersecting the environment and technology, including e-waste, positive environmental trends in technology, alternative energy, etc.

http://www.greentechgirl.com

I am going to attempt to add a new entry every day for a month to get the blog going, so it’d be nice to have some comments over there. It is always lonely when you are just starting something up. Please stop by and say hello!

Finally, a First Look at Firefly, the TV Series

Well, what with nothing new on due to the writer’s strike, I might as well get caught up on some past sci-fi. So finally (ta-da) I am getting around to watching Firefly.

It’s a sticky thing to review Firefly after the fact; some fans can be a bit rabid about it and one took me to task for writing a negative review of the film Serenity and saying that it bombed in the box office. (It did bomb at the box office; see this thread on Whedonesque for a complete nitpicking of the issue and the etymology of “box office bomb.”)

But it’s hard to be objective sometimes when your beloved show comes back in film form. Much like Farscape’s finish by mini-series, Firefly’s resurrection in Serenity was just not as good as the original. But that’s easy to overlook when you are simply excited and relieved to see your show back.

Firefly’s premiere (also called Serenity) actually kicks the ass of the film in many ways. While it doesn’t necessarily have the epic feel of a major motion picture, it’s simply a better-paced, more interesting adventure.

It also became clear to me that, oh, this is meant to be a Western in space. I get it!

We have your usual rag-tag crew in a broken down old ship on the run from an oppressive regime (shades of Star Wars here), doing some smuggling and otherwise just trying to survive in a dog-eat-dog world. Along the way, they pick up a preacher and a man who is hiding his scientifically engineered (and valuable) little sister.

What makes this work is the gritty energy of the story. It’s a little dark, but has enough of that John Woo type of “wow” factor when it comes to gunslinging and action to make you sit up and yelp out an appreciative “hell yeah” at certain moments.

If I have a gripe with Firefly (and this was my issue with the movie as well), I’m not that crazy about the characters. The captain is a little too gruff; the women a bit too ditzy or hard-edged (with no in between). The other male characters are either bland and non-existent or arrogant assholes (with the exception of the preacher, who actually brings some good acting to the table).

The Women of Firefly
As for the women: As I stated in my earlier Firefly commentary, the marketing of Firefly in regards to women is what kept me from tuning in originally (the promos kept going on about a “prostitute” and a “girl in a box”).

The prostitute, aka companion, appears to be simply there for superfluous cheap titillation. If I were a straight guy or into women, I suppose I’d be all for the cheesecake. But for me personally, having the camera constantly lingering over her naked back and ass dimples is just annoying and beside the point. I also question whether in the future, they wouldn’t also need a male companion as well. (I mean, c’mon, how many senators and priests have been caught with their pants down around men or boys?)

This may sound like a petty gripe, but for me as a woman who watches sci-fi, it’s just another message to me that sci-fi is still very much a boys club.

Firefly’s Future
With my main gripes about Firefly being the likability of the main characters, I do feel that the show was otherwise well-written and executed. There’s also an interesting universe that has been created.

What truly boggles my mind is that SciFi never sought to pick this up. What on earth were they thinking?

While I feel it would be impossible, years later, to bring back the original cast and remake the show exactly as it was, that would be fine with me. (As I said, those characters weren’t that appealing to me personally.) There is so much more to explore however, with perhaps some of the old characters and some new ones.

Don’t plan on SciFi to have the smarts to do it anytime soon, as long as Bad Bonnie is at the helm. But you never know…