Sun, 18 Sep 2005
Stargate Atlantis Series 2 - Flat McKay
I've been a Stargate fan since the first series (the ninth series is a
'little' flat but that's a different post) and I dutifully watched Atlantis
when it started, and was pretty much disappointed. The plots are mostly from
the early Stargate episodes and the characters are too similar to the
old SG1 team. Except McKay, who I really liked.
Arrogant, cowardly, selfish, brilliant and with a dry, sarcastic wit he was the reason I managed to hang on for half a series. But then I got bored. I recently had a chance to watch the second series, up to about a week ago, and saw a couple of brilliant McKay episodes. In one he gets "bonded" with a sharp female military operative, in another his arrogance kills one co-worker and almost kills himself and in a third he's completely understood by a brutal prisoner. What do they have in common? They all explore and challenge the way McKay is and functions. And the long term effect on the character? It seems like none.
While the other leads are all changing and growing, except Shepherd who seems destined to be O'Neil light, McKay doesn't seem to be adapting, growing or even responding to be handed pretty blatant life changing events. And that's a damn waste.
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Posted: 2005/09/18 22:08 | /geekstuff | Permanent link to this entry | This entry and same date
House - My C.S.I Replacement
I used to be a big fan of C.S.I, the original, not the spin-offs, but as
the series continued to come it moved away from the science and quirks
and more in to the weekly "soap opera" I lost my interest in it. Fortunately
there's now a new contender for it's place in my very limited TV schedule.
House, M.D.
The title character, Dr. Gregory House, is played damn well by Hugh Laurie, a British actor best known in the UK for his comedy work. House is an anti-social doctor who specialises in both infectious diseases and annoying the people around him with his smugness and attitude. The character reminds me of Grissom but a lot more extroverted and willing to get involved. The whole series seems to be C.S.I inspired, but in a good way, and is a worthwhile waste of 45 minutes.
Channel 5 is currently about 15 episodes in and it's turning in to great escapism. Now when can we get a cross-over with C.S.I? ;)
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Posted: 2005/09/18 22:08 | /geekstuff | Permanent link to this entry | This entry and same date
The Butterfly Effect -- Surprisingly Watchable.
I've just watched The
Butterfly Effect - Directors Cut and I have to say it's not as bad as I
was expecting. The plot outline, from IMDB, is pretty snappy: "A
young man (Ashton Kutcher) blacks out harmful memories of significant
events of his life. As he grows up he finds a way to remember these lost
memories and a supernatural way to alter his life."
What made the film interesting was its pretty bleak view of changing the past. Each time he tried to be smart and have another go it got worse; the idea of leaving things well alone is pretty well advocated. What made watching it strange is that the directors cut, the version I saw, is a lot nastier than the ending from the cinema. Allegedly. And this is where it gets weird as the DVD I've got has the directors ending, an alternate happyish ending, a second alternate ending - this one happy - and no sign of the ending that pretty much everyone who saw the film got... very odd.
Still, even with the multiple endings it's not a bad film, it's got some genuinely nasty scenes (the prison ones are cringe-worthy) and the idea isn't a bad one. Worth a couple of hours: 6/10.
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Posted: 2005/09/18 00:35 | /geekstuff | Permanent link to this entry | This entry and same date
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