Mokka mit Schlag » TV

I was fairly impressed with last night’s season finale of Battlestar Galactica. Spoilers after the fold.
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Friday night the Sci Fi channel reran The Girl in the Fireplace, a Doctor Who story in which some alien robots punch a hole through time and space to steal the brain of Madame Pompadour from pre-revolutionary France. This plot makes about as much sense as it sounds. In fact, it makes so little sense that the Doctor repeatedly comments on this fact during the episode. He does save Madame Pompadour of course, and he figures out why the robots needed a human brain, but he never figures out why they wanted Madame Pompadour’s. The audience does get a big clue, though, at the end of the episode that the Doctor never sees; but on reflection I think there’s another meta-reason.
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Was that a spectacular episode of Battlestar Galactica Friday night or what? I was on the edge of my seat the entire hour. And the scene where the Galactica “arrives” at New Caprica? I know it’s just special effects, but it was amazing. I’ve never seen anything like that, and it totally surprised me. The whole episode just set new standards for what a sci-fi show can look like. If not for the Cylons and laser beams, you’d think you were watching the nightly news from Iraq, not fiction. If you aren’t watching this show, start now. There hasn’t been anything this good on TV in years.

Yesterday while shopping for my wife’s anniversary present, I noticed that season 2 of the new Doctor Who (i.e. season 1 of the tenth doctor) is already available on DVD in the UK, even though the BBC hasn’t finished broadcasting it yet!. The unbroadcast episodes aren’t available yet, but apparently every three episodes or so, they release a new disc. No more waiting six months to catch up, or hoping they’re some decent seeds on BitTorrent.
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I avoided the first few episodes of Big Love because the basic premise (polygamy) just seemed too creepy, but my wife started watching it after I went to sleep, and now I’ve gotten hooked on it too. HBO is replaying the first four episodes tonight starting at 8:00 P.M. If you haven’t seen it yet, you might want to check it out.
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I’ve never been convinced by the hypotheses that the Lost survivors are either in the future, on another planet, in another dimension, or on some sort of Holodeck. After last night’s season finale, I am more convinced than ever that they are on Earth, in the present, probably on an island in the South Pacific. Minor spoilers follow.
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