Blog Update 04

This is just a quick update of the shape of things to come, (BSG - link to the left), I'm going to finish up with the reviews of the Castle and Fringe season premieres then we're going to put up a review of the podcast "We're Alive" at www.thezombiepodcast.com

Book Update - Countdown

You readers might not know, but I am actually working on writing a thriller/action-adventure novel titled COUNTDOWN. Here's a little teaser photo of it. There is a possibility of the book being put out as a podcast sometime in the future, but that is of course all hinging on my my budget which is pretty low.

Yes, there is several pieces of symbolism within this photo, right now I am currently working on part 2 of the novel, and am planning out the sequel. I will be posting updates on this site, and possibly launching a second site solely about COUNTDOWN.

The only question is... what happens when the countdown hits zero?

Blog Update 03

Huh, sorry about that last update, looks like one big post each weekend idea won't be working. Will be trying to write reviews more often in the future...

Fall Season Post 01 - The Event

Hi guys, this is the first official fall season post. This will contain spoilers, but as The Event aired almost a whole week ago, you should have had enough time to see it, considering it aired on NBC on monday and 9/8 C and is also on Hulu and iTunes.

What can I say, The Event was certainly a big Event! This is a high octane show that is well, incredible. The ending was one of the best endings on tv since the ending of the Flashforward pilot. When the plane is coming down on the Presidential Retreat and then is suddenly sucked into a flash of light, your left there thinking "Uh... what just happened?" Then as Sophia, (the woman in the clip), says,

"They saved us..."

The President looks to her with confusion,

"Who, who saved us?"

She looks to him with a slight smile on his face and answers,

"I haven't told you everything..."

Fade out! Wanna know what happens next? So do about 12 million other people, not to mention others around the world. We'll find out this monday... you can find the number one fan podcast about The Event (The Event Cast) at www.theeventcast.net, check them out and continue to watch.

Day - 09 30 Rock

“I’m Jack Daunaghy, the VP of development for NBC, GE Universal Kmart.”

“Oh we own Kmart now…?”

“No. So why are you two dressed like we do?”

            30 Rock is one of the best comedies on TV right now, starring Liz Lemon, (Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live), and Jack, (Alec Baldwin, The Hunt for the Red October) along with Tracy Jordon (Tracy Morgan, Death at a Funeral), it carries great humor, characters and an interesting story. Here is the trailer for 30 Rock:

You can find 30 Rock on Twitter at:

http://twitter.com/nbc30rock

30 Rock is beginning its 5^th Season this week on NBC. Seasons 1-3 on Netflix Instant streaming, and Seasons 1-4 are available on Amazon (Link to the left). Go watch the season premiering guest starring Matt Damon! 

Day 08 - Castle

Okay, this is actually the first time that I’m actually reviewing a series while watching the pilot of it… on a three inch by two inch iPod screen. Castle is a little of our beaten path, being a police/drama, but because it stars Nathan Fillion, it pares perfectly with Firefly and Serenity. Castle is about a novelist Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion, Firefly) who gets roped into a serial murder case that is eerily similar to the murders that took place in his novels. After solving the main murder, he decides on coming up with a new series, based on NYPD Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic), that will become a national best seller.

            So this isn’t your average Nathan Fillion project, at least nothing like Firefly. Richard Castle is a free-willed ego filled guy who enjoys a good party and bends the rules, every chance he gets. Only once Detective Beckett, a hard nosed control fanatic, steps in and flips his whole world over. Nathan Fillion continues to work his incredible acting skills, and Stana Katic shines as Beckett. Castle is a must see series, with Season 3 premiering in just a couple hours at 10 p.m. on ABC, this is a must see! The ABC trailer gives a bit of a recap and introduction into the series:

Watch the Season 3 premiere tonight, get the show’s ratings up and keep this 5/5 show going! You can find Nathan Fillion (Castle) on twitter at:

Twitter

Along with Stana Katic (Dect. Beckett):

Twitter

You can also find Castle himself on twitter (This is actually the writers of the show) at:

Twitter

Castle Season 1 is out on DVD on Amazon (Link to the left), and Season 2 is coming soon. Check this one out!

Blog Update 02

Hey Readers, quick update on where this website is going and what is coming in the reviews department.

• First up, our review of Nathan Fillion in "Castle" is coming this Monday, along with our review of 30 Rock!
• The website's address will officially drop the .blogspot.com and become a full .com fairly soon.
• We will start having weekly reviews of our picks, (The Event, Castle, Stargate Universe, Fringe, and 30 Rock) and will occasionally add in other movies through the week.
• We are looking for a co-host of this website, since there are already two people running this site, it would be great to have another reviewer.

Day 07 - Flashforward - The Complete Series

At ComiCon 2008 in San Diego, a trailer was shown, one that appeared to be the beginning of the next great show that would revolutionized television. Here is that trailer



Huh, pretty darn amazing right? Well guess what... ABC didn't renew it for a second season after only 22 episodes. However, despite that, it's a great series, with an amazing premise, and an incredible story with interesting characters and breathtaking visuals.

"No More Good Days" takes place on October 6th, 2009.

The pilot "No more good days" starts out  FBI Agent Mark Benford,(Joseph Fiennes, The Red Baron), waking up in the middle of a car wreck, and climbing out to find the entire overpass in complete chaos, peolple bleeding out on the street, cars overturned, and bodies everywhere. He stumbles around trying to find his partner Demitri Noh, (John Cho, Star Trek 2009). Then, it jumps back to just several hours earlier, where Mark Benford and Demitri are running an operation on watching a known group of terrorists, they are made and a car chase ensues, and as they follow the SUV turns onto an over pass, everyone blacks out.

Mark finds himself back in his office as the FBI, he tosses a file across the room, and takes a drink from a flask, (which is strange since he is in AA and has been sober for 7 years), he looks down at a date card and sees the date: April 29th, 2010, he writes "Who else knows?" on the paper and then suddenly wakes up in the car wreck. After stubling around, he finds Demitri and the two look out over LA, and see that the devastation is everywhere. Benford finds a news stand and finds out that everyone on the planet seem to have blacked out at the same time for 2 minutes and 17 seconds. And in those two mintues and seventeen seconds, they all jumped 6 months into their own future, to April 29th 2010.

Want to find out what happens next? You can find Flashforward in HD and Sid-Res on iTunes or on Amazon to buy the DVD's at the link on the right. This is a must see series! Very, very, good!

Day 06 - Burn Notice

When you’re a website runner, the best thing to do is not go on monologues especially when talking about shows that they really love. That is usually the style of the openings to every Burn Notice episode, where former spy Michael Weston explains little pieces of how the art of espionage is done.  

Okay so the pilot of Burn Notice starts in Nigeria, with Michael Weston (Jeffery Donovan) standing on a street corner waiting, he gets picked up and is taken to meet a, “Wannabe Warlord”, to try and stop oilfields from being attacked. He is about to finish the deal, when he is told over the phone that there was a burn notice put out on him and he was blacklisted. He then must make it out of the building after the Warlord realizes that he’s not going to follow through. Weston then gets the crap beaten out of him and has to get to the airport and make it out of the country before the Warlord can catch him. After making it, he gets on a flight out of the country and passes out on the plane.

This is the premise of Burn Notice, which is a high speed show filled with humor, serious stories, and a huge, huge amount of suspense. It also stars Fionna Glen Ann (Gabrielle Anwar, John Doe) and Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell, Spider-man). The show is currently on mid-season hiatus, in the middle of its 4^th Season. Sitting on an incredible cliffhanger that rivals all the other cliffhangers on any currently running show.

You can find the creator of the show on Twitter at:

www.twitter.com/mattnix

And Jeffery Donovan (Michael Weston) on Twitter at:

www.twitter.com/jefferydonovan

This is a show that is well worth watching, and you have a little over a month to get caught up for when Season 4 returns and concludes the back half of it’s season this November.

Our Rating: 4/5 Stars

Day 05 - The Leviathan Chronicles

Imagine a world… that contains immortals that have lived for hundreds and hundreds of years, and they’re planning something, something big. And it’s going down soon, very soon. Only, the BlackDoor group, a branch of the CIA, has discovered what they are doing, and has decided that they are a threat to the human race that needs to be taken out. Pretty darn crazy right? That is the premise of The Leviathan Chronicles, a full cast audio drama created and written by Christof Laputka. This independent media project is one of the most ambitious in the past two years, and it’s growing. They just finished their first season, which is 25 episodes long and chock full of incredible writing, acting, and production work. Here is the trailer for The Leviathan Chronicles that was also featured at New York ComiCon.

You can find the creator of The Leviathan Chronicles Christof Laputka on twitter at:

www.twitter.com/leviathanchrons

www.twitter.com/claputka

Leviathan’s first season is available at their website at:

www.theleviathanchronicles.com

Or on iTunes at:

iTunes Leviathan page

Their first season is completed with season two in production and will most likely be coming out at the beginning of 2011. Leviathan is also the first podcast to begin to release several side episodes that will be charged at $1:99 and are about 2 hours long. This is a very innovative idea so, please, get caught up on Leviathan season 1, and help support independent media by purchasing the special edition episodes. Also, Leviathan has a Zazzle store with shirts and other merchandise. Listen to this amazing podcast, a must listen, support them, and we will be returning to Leviathan with a special guest, fairly soon. So to coin a well used, but changed, phrase, we’ll be back…

Day 04 - Firefly

    

 Oh boy… Firefly! This show is probably one of the top 5 best Sci Fi/Action Adventure/Comedy/Drama series’ of all time. Starring Captain Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion, Serenity, Castle, and Lost), Jayne (Adam Baldwin, Chuck, Stargate SG-1), Wash (Alan Tudyk, A Knight’s Tale, Serenity). The pilot seems like it opens in the typical FOX TV show opening, with the explosions, gunfire, and a huge battle going on in a closed off valley. As the camera moves through the battle, a figure runs towards the camera, and takes cover. It’s Nathan Fillion! He runs into a cavern base and meets up with several other soldiers and we find out that they are part of the “Independence” fighting the “Alliance”, after several explosions he teams up with another soldier (Gina Torres) and takes down one of the enemy fighters. After finding the rest of his team dead, he gets a transmission from their ship, and find out that their commanders are bugging out and leaving them behind… Reynolds then watches the alliance tear his allies apart.

The rest of the series takes place six years after the Battle of Serenity Valley, and we find out that Reynolds has set up a crew of salvagers and traders onboard a firefly-class transport vessel named Serenity, his own tribute to the one event that changed his life forever. The series is 15 episodes long, canceled unfortunately, no one knows why. But this series is a winner, a huge winner, Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk with Adam Baldwin in the same series, is so incredible that totally baffles me how it could have gotten canceled.

            

You can find Firefly the complete series for very good prices on DVD and Blue Ray on Amazon, as well as the spin off movie Serenity, which is also on DVD and Blue Ray. Serenity is most likely available for rent at most rental places, and is also a must see. Go out, buy Firefly and Serenity, they make a great marathon run through and the series is simply amazing.

Day 04 - Fringe "Pilot"

Fringe, is incredible, there is no denying that. The show is currently starting its third season, with the most jaw dropping cliffhanger yet. Okay, so the Fringe pilot starts just as almost all of the JJ Abrams projects do, with the most creepy, disturbing opening possible a.k.a. (The first ten minutes of Star Trek 2009). It starts with a large 747 flying through a lightning storm, hitting some turbulence. A man then begins to have a panic attack, and tries to use his Eppy Pen, only to discover that his skin becomes translucent and falls off. Then, as the rest of the crew and passengers freak out, they suffer the same fate. Um, wow JJ, you out did you with this one, crazy, crazy opening teaser. Then of course, we then hear the signature Fringe theme:

Okay, so from this point on out, I won’t have any details about the plot, but this pilot is amazing. Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci along with JJ Abrams wrote themselves out of the universe, considering after that opening, you just can’t turn the episode off. This episode features FBI Agent Olivia Dunham, (Anna Torv), FBI Agent John Scott, (Mark Valley, Human Target), with Peter Bishop, (Joshua Jackson) and Doctor Walter Bishop, (John Noble, The Lord of the Rings). This is a must see 4/5 Stars.

You can find Fringe Seasons 1 & 2 on DVD and Blue Ray on Amazon, (Link on the sidebar), or you can download the pilot episode for free, (Limited time offer), at iTunes. Go out there, get Fringe, get caught up, and catch the Season 3 premiere on September 23^rd on FOX and WB 13!

SIDE NOTE:

            John Noble will be appearing at Emerald City ComiCon in Seattle on March 6^th & 7^th. I will be there, and giving a report on how it went, along with the other guest there, Jasika Nichole, FBI Agent Farnsworth. William Shatner will also be there… only on Saturday, the one day I can’t go! 

Day 03 - QED Podcast

For the first time, we're moving into reviewing a podcast. Washed up from the last remnants of the once great hurricane that was Flashforward (Review pending), David Vox Mullen (The Man of Many talents), Eric Olsen (A writer and musician). We the fans of their podcast "Flashforcast" contacted them telling them that we didn't want to go, so they decided to come up with a new podcast, one that wouldn't be in danger of being canceled. So, in the light of LOST and Flashforward being shows that contained very deep subjects, they teamed up with Quinton Peeples from Flashforward and came up with Q.E.D. a podcast that would delve into the unknown, the known, and the theological. Oh and the metaphysical, here is the trailer for QED:

QED Twitter: www.twitter.com/qedpodcast

Q: Quinton Peeples www.twitter.com/qpeeples

E: Eric Olsen www.twitter.com/eolsencreative

D: David Vox Mullen www.twitter.com/davidvoxmullen

QED is a great podcast, that as much as possible looks at the different viewpoints on every subject, and even bring in a specialist on the subject. So far they have covered, "Fate Debate", "OCD", "Psychics", "Aliens", "Time Travel", and "Magic". QED is rated as a must see podcast by it's listeners on iTunes considering it currently has a 5 Star rating.

This is a must listen podcast! Give it a chance and listen to the first episode, it can be found on iTunes:

QED Podcast iTunes

Or at their awesome website:

http://www.flashforcast.com/qed

QED is highly recommended. All three of them have a great chemistry together, and they always have good humor, differing viewpoints, and most of all, interesting topics. Go check out the QED podcast today!

Stargate Universe Season 2.0 Trailer Comic Con 2010

Who's excited?

Day 02 - Stargate Universe Incursion

Alright, now I know that I said that we won’t be super spoiler centric, but, the season finale of SGU is just too amazing to pass up. So, if you haven’t seen the season finale of SGU, don’t read this post, scroll down, buy the SGU complete season DVD or Blue Ray, and get caught up! IT’S WORTH IT!

STARGATE UNIVERSE: INCURSION

So, Incursion picks up right after the previous espionage centered episode, Subversion. In Incursion, Young revives Colonel Telford, who had died in the previous episode, (Which takes place literally seconds earlier), and Telford reveals in gasps that the Lucian Alliance, and old enemy of Earth’s is coming to take the Destiny for themselves. Meanwhile, as showed in Subversion, Rush had been kidnapped by the Alliance, and taken to a planet similar to the planet that Icarus Base had been on in the pilot (See the Day 01 Review). The Alliance forces him to write new coding for their Stargate in order to dial the 9^th chevron address in order to get to the Destiny. Wow, chills running down my spin… some very, very good writing and acting in this 2-parter episode.

Colonel Young uses the communications stone to contact General O’Neil on Earth at the Pentagon, and warns him about what is going on. O’Neil then puts a strike force together and dispatches the battle cruiser General Hammond to stop the Alliance from dialing Destiny. The Hammond reaches the planet and launches it’s fighters as the Alliance realizes what is going on and dials the Stargate before the fighters can reach the base. The Alliance then sends several groups of soldiers through the gate to the Destiny before the planet’s core goes critical and the planet is consumed in itself.

Onboard the Destiny, we find that the crew is prepared, they emptied the gate room, set cameras up, and sealed the doors. Young’s plan is to remove the air the moment the Alliance comes through. After the soldiers come through, they realize that they can’t carry the plan out when Young see’s Telford/Rush coming through the Stargate, then suddenly, two soldiers are thrown out of the gate and the shuttering shutdown, similar to the explosive beginning to the pilot (See Day 01 post). The Alliance soldiers discover that Rush is now switched back to Telford, and nearly kill him before he can convince them that he is back. The Alliance commander executes a plan to open the doors, and the assault begins.

Are you still on the edge of your seat? I still am, this episode is crazy intense, with very good music from Joel Goldsmith, and very good acting from everyone. Moving on, as the fight continues, Eli and Chloe are on the run through the fight before they reach an elevator, not before Chloe gets shot. As the fight continues, Riley also gets shot, now the question is raised, WHO IS GOING TO SURVIVE? Don’t worry, they cliffhanger you and leave every single main character in danger.

The two factions are now at a stalemate, and Young must figure out how to retake the ship and save everyone’s lives. As Young attempts to stall the Alliance commander, Keva, she becomes angry and shoots one of the Marines out of spite. Throughout the fight, the power on the ship continues to fluctuate every 40 minutes, one of the Doctors figures out that the ship is actually being bombarded with a strange and deadly form of radiation, and the shields are failing. Young devises a plan where the Alliance will allow Scott and Greer to head to the FTL drive control on the hull of the ship, and repair it before their time runs out. Rush also devises a side plan where he and two other Doctors will move to another portion of the ship, give the Alliance command, but still control what they can do. Meanwhile, Eli and Chloe are stuck at the very front of the ship, when they get a message from Rush, and Eli must choose between staying with Chloe, or saving Scott and Greer.

Once they instigate the plan, Telford heads to the gate room and starts the program that will return control of the ship to Rush, but is confronted by Keva, the both draw their weapons and fire. Is it the end? Nope, there’s more! Now we really don’t know… who will survive? AMAZING! Not that many shows can do this well, and SGU has done it.

With time running out to the next burst of radiation, the Alliance discovers Keva and Telford shot in the gate room and believes that Young was the one who instigated this. While Scott and Greer reach the place to re-enter the ship, a soldier from the Alliance takes over and orders the military soldiers to be round up and shot, along with the civilians. Rush sends Eli a message to Eli and Scott and Greer, telling them about another entrance to the ship near Eli. Now, it’s really intense, as Scott and Greer are on the run, the civilians are round up, and a beaten and battered Young joins a group of soldiers in front of a firing squad. Then, one of the Doctors says the infamous line, “They’re not going to make it.” Then, the music stars, Oh my god! That music is incredible. MUSIC:

Now is the final question of who will survive as the camera follows Eli running through a hall, headed to the airlock, as Scott and Greer are also on the run, trying to get back in the ship before the next burst of radiation hits. The camera slowly comes up at Colonel Young as the firing squad motions for the soldiers to get down, then, he looks up, and the lights flicker and die.

This episode is incredibly amazing, the most jaw dropping cliffhanger in the entire Stargate franchise. Very good acting on all the actors parts, very good! This episode should win an Emmy, and I’m serious. Who will survive?

SEASON TWO PREMIERES SEPTEMBER 28^TH

Stargate Universe Incursion Trailer

This is the Trailer for our next review, who ever made this video was very good. But then again, it's coming from a really awesome source! SGU!!!

Fringe Season 3 Commercial #3

WOW, CAN'T WAIT!

Fringe Season 1 Trailer

Okay, so here is the trailer for the first season of the incredibly awesome FOX/WB show, FRINGE, which is our next review. As stated in the previous post, we will just be reviewing the pilot. You really don't want to be spoiled with this one.

SEASON THREE STARTS SEPTEMBER 23RD

Blog Update

Okay so this is the scoop, when reviewing a tv show, at least with the first season of a tv show, we will just  review the pilot. In order to tease you with this new series, and not give anything away.

Stargate Universe Trailer

Day 01 - Stargate Universe "Air"

Okay, here is the first review of this website. Now, I know that most Stargate fans will think I am beyond insane, but SGU is a really awesome show. It keeps you on the edge of you seat the entire time, and cliffhangers you at the end of every single episode. But, what TV show today doesn't?

If you were wondering what exactly SGU is about here is the official overview:

• A group of soldiers, scientists and civilians fleeing an attack, is stranded billions of miles from Earth on an Ancient ship known as the Destiny. Locked on an unknown course, they must fight to survive and find a way home. The danger, adventure and hope they find on board the Destiny will reveal the heroes and villains among them.
• Starring Robert Carlyle, Ming Na and Lou Diamond Phillips, as well as returning Stargate favorites.

So the pilot, "Air Parts 1&2", starts out with the opening theme, which is really good composing on Joel Goldsmith's part,

As a ship drops out of some kind of burst of light. As we get closer to it, the camera moves into the actual ship itself:

The camera moves in on the Stargate Itself, suddenly, the gate opens and a man gets shot out of it, and hits the floor. 

The suddenly, more and more people come flying out of it. The cinematography of this pilot was really good. 

It's a bit of a visceral sight, watching person after person comes flying into the pile. Then, after everyone comes through, the head of the group arrives in a more interesting way:

That's going to hurt. 

Okay, so that is the opening of the pilot, which is one of the best pilots to a stargate series. Like I said, it keeps you on the edge of you seat and then goes farther by making you fall off. The plot of the pilot is that the survivors are from a R&D base on another planet from Earth working to dial the 9th chevron of the Stargate. After three months, they are attacked and the planet is destroyed, forcing them to dial the 9th chevron anyway, opening a path right to the ship in the beginning. 

After exploring parts of the ship, they find that it is in fact, really old, and is for the most part, falling to pieces. 

Soon after, they discover that the ship's life support systems are shutting down since they have been running for the last several million years. It takes the death of a US Senator, who was stranded with them, to stop the air being sucked out from many hull breaches all over the ship. Only, the problem is still not fixed, because now that the air isn't leaving, the ship is being filled with C02 from their breathing. Doctor Rush finds that the C02 scrubbers have actually burned out, and they need to find a replacement material.

Suddenly, the ship drops out from Faster Than Light travel, and the gate begins to dial. 

Doctor Rush (Robert Carlyle) reveals that he searched their problem in the ships AI system and that the ship must have planned this. The gate opens, and they sent a camera through to find out what exactly is on the other side, a desert planet, with what they need to fix the C02 scrubbers. 

The survivors put a team together and decide that they have to head to the planet, or they will not survive the next 24 hours.

Rush and a team of soldiers head through the gate.

Then, in "Air Part 3", the team moves across the planet, until they find the C02 scrubber replacement. 

Until Lieutenant Scott, discovers an old lake bed, containing exactly what they need.

The team then must get back to the ship (Destiny) before the ship automatically jumps back into FTL. 

The team, reaches the ship and recovers as rest of the crew replaces the C02 scrubbers, for now, they are safe.

Okay, so that was the pilot of Stargate Universe, I wanted to do this three parter separate just because it's so darn long. In my opinion, this was one of the best TV pilots in a long time, apart from Flashforward, which is coming later. It had good characters, suspense, and of course, running and gunning, as well as really good music. This pilot receives a 4/5 Stars.

The rest of season 1 is coming soon. 

Introduction

Well hello everyone, welcome to the Sci Fi review blog. This website, as said in the description, is a place where people can come and comment on new and old sci fi/action/thriller movies and tv shows. I think that we will also mention some audio productions that are really good, and worth listening to.

Our first review with be Stargate Universe Season 1.0, and the next post after that, Season 1.5, to get caught up on it before Season 2.0 airs on September 28th.