Mokka mit Schlag » TV

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.
(more…)

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.

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.
(more…)

Serenity is out on HD-DVD. That’s almost enough to convince me I want an HD-DVD player, though personally I suspect BlueRay is going to win in the end.

I recently subscribed to Cablevision HDTV because the install was free and DirectTV wanted to charge me $400 to get HD ($500 if I also wanted DVR capability). You get what you pay for. After two missed appointments, Cablevision finally installed a Scientific Atlanta 4200HD receiver and hooked it up to my Dell HDTV via the S-Video input. However, the installer did not check that the HD channels actually came in HD.
(more…)

Normally The Colbert Report comes on after my bedtime. I usually fall asleep either before or during The Daily Show. However apparently it’s repeated at various times the following day, and yesterday I happened to catch it on my JetBlue flight to San Jose.

This show is freaking hilarious!
(more…)