Bryant Dillon (330)
Favorite TV Show: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
For those who don’t know yet, acclaimed director Ridley Scott is currently working on two prequels to his sci-fi classic, Alien. Scott has expressed disappointment with the path that was taken with the Alien series after the second film, which was directed by James Cameron. While both Cameron and Scott have spoken about the urge to revisit the Alien universe, ultimately, it was Scott who made the first move. Scott has stated in the past that he felt that any sequels should experiment more with the evolution of the physical form of the alien xenomorphs in order to keep the mystery and suspense of the creature from the original film. Scott has also mentioned that he felt the story of the Space Jockey, the fossilized body and apparent victim of a chestburster that the doomed crew of the Nostromo discovered before their fateful encounter with the deadly xenomorphs, would be the proper story to tell in a sequel. According to all reports, this is the story Scott intends to tell with Prometheus, his Alien prequel which currently includes Charlize Theron and Michael Fassbender in its still-forming cast.
As some may already know, the Alien series was my bread and butter as a child. As other boys in my elementary school became obsessed with football or video games or even the fairer sex, my young mind was deeply entrenched in acid blood, secreted resin, and gloriously gory chestbursters. It wasn’t long before I was known as that slightly creepy kid who spent his time drawing the disturbing creatures from a ‘70s sci-fi/horror film and managed to find a way to work the alien xenomorphs into almost every school lesson, despite many teachers’ resistance and confusion.
IDW’s Angel books have been giving me a buzz lately. That kind of shimmering excitement you’d feel as a kid when there were only two weeks left in school. The anticipation of IDW’s wrap-up is enormous and rides on three story lines (the flagship Angel series, Brian Lynch’s brilliant Spike mini-series, and the Illyria: Haunted mini-series) that will bridge the gap between IDW’s Angel timeline and Dark Horse Comics’ Buffy Season Eight. The final issue of Illyria: Haunted has arrived, and, while the mini-series itself has both moments of greatness and weakness, IDW has done a solid job of advancing the story of an interesting and difficult character.
SPOILERS BELOW
Greetings, Frakkers!!!
Being the lucky, little Cylon that I am, I managed to nab a seat at the Return of the Cylons: Caprica Season 1.5 Premiere Fan Event at the Globe Theater in Universal Studios - Hollywood last weekend. It was quite the event, what with the red carpet rolled out and a number of the cast and crew attending, including actors Esai Morales (Joseph Adama), Sasha Roiz (Sam Adama), and Alessandra Torresani (Zoe Graystone). Executive producers David Eick, Ronald D. Moore, Jane Espenson, and Kevin Murphy were also in attendance and brought an extra dose of excitement to the event.
It’s not often that fans can so easily mingle with cast and crew, especially given the “geek celebrity” status that Ronald D. Moore and David Eick acquired with the Battlestar Galactica series. Everyone was approachable at the event, and, when we entered the screening room, a bar was set up allowing a more relaxed place to converse with each other. Once the ice was broken, it was a geek’s paradise! Actor Esai Morales was especially friendly, excited, and passionate about the event and the series, encouraging everyone to implore their friends to watch the show and make a second season possible. Morales’ dedication to the project was also very clear when he stopped to show us pictures on his cell phone of his newborn baby girl. His first child having been born just days ago, Morales was understandably eager to be with wife and child; yet, he spent the next few hours fully committed to creating a fun and exciting environment for the fans of Caprica. He’s truly a stand up guy in addition to being an excellent actor! Sasha Roiz soon joined Morales in schmoozing with the fans and turned out to be a delight.
The fifth season of Dexter came to a close last week. While I was excited by many things this season, the end result was fairly predictable, leaving some fans worried whether the writers still have more ways to explore our favorite serial killer. While watching Dexter struggle with Rita’s death was painful and compelling, it also felt disjointed. Lumen was an excellent addition to the cast and provided a twisted Batman and Robin relationship to explore, but they barely scratched the surface with the storytelling possibilities that a young protege provided before writing the character’s exit. Now, this season wasn’t a complete loss! Along with the interesting story elements that I just mentioned, there was also the excellent and frightening performance of Johnny Lee Miller as Jordan Chase, the self-help villain of the season. Leading a group of men who were successful in their public lives but who, in private, would sexually brutalize and kill young women, Jordan Chase and his partners were the kind of bad guys one loved to see in Dexter’s slide collection. As great as it was to watch Dexter and Lumen cut their bloody path through this despicable group, the story is starting to be old hat after five seasons.
Since we know that the show has been given another season by Showtime, here are my five recommendations to pump some new blood into Dexter and keep the show going strong!
Earlier this month the final five episodes of Caprica were finally released and devoured by the remaining small, yet rabid, fan base. Initially available only on the Caprica Season 1.5 DVD set, SyFy aired all five episodes, back-to-back, a few weeks after. It was an unceremonious ending for such a poignant and intellectual series that got stronger with every passing episode, even till the bitter end.
SPOILERS BELOW
Hey Fanboys & Fangirls,
Here is a quick look back at one of my favorite blogs from the past. For those of you who haven’t already had it beaten into their skulls, I have a pretty heavy and unapologetic Buffy addiction. Over the years, many individuals have voiced their dissent against all things Buffy, which makes what happened even better. Happy reading, Scoobies!
PS: Fanboy Comics is holding a Faith print giveaway, so read on for more information!!!
Black Swan doesn’t really need my help. It’s a film that has been flooded with gushing reviews, is nominated for a number of Academy Awards, and has a brilliant, visionary director at the helm. Still, in a culture full of overhyped and prepackaged Oscar films, Black Swan deserves to be recognized for the stand out original that it is! Below, I outline my reasons for why this film deserves the best picture award and why it should be considered a herald of glorious things to come by every proud, comic-sniffing geek out there!
After a great issue last month and the excitement of the coming ties to Dark Horse's Buffy Season Eight, I want to say good things about issue #42 of Angel. Sadly, this issue seems to slow the pace of the story. In addition, it contains writing that feels off for certain characters, leaving this reader feeling as if IDW has given us a filler issue when they should be making the best use of their time left with Angel. Still, there are some interesting things going on and a fairly surprising cliffhanger, so, perhaps, this issue will end up being the wind up for IDW's final punch.
SPOILERS BELOW