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Yay

*****SPOILER ALERT*****

These episodes kicked so much ass. They were fucking fantastic. I’d go so far as to say that they’re two of the best episodes of Battlestar that I have ever watched.

These episodes were marked by two elements. Outstanding character moments and truly awesome action. The greatest part about these episodes though was that these great bits often came within moments of each other.

I can really only just the list my favourite parts.

Starbuck going totally commando proving that she is not just a kick-ass pilot but also a totally kick-ass soldier. As Lee steps off the transport onto Galactica and gets taken prisoner by the mutineers Starbuck just walks onto the hanger deck and rescues him, gunning down a marine in the first of many frenetic action moments. Huge points go the editing on these episodes.

Adama staring down Gaeta on the command deck. Outrage is quickly replaced by cold, hard anger as Adama realises what Gaeta has done. The steely stare that the Admiral fixes his mutinous crew with would have scared the crap out of me.

Adama breaking away from his captors as they escort him and Tigh to the brig. Knowing just what to say to the marine to get into his head was done wonderfully and then disarming him expertly. Not only did we get to see Adama getting his fight on, we also got to see how well he and Tigh work together in a fight. They know just where the other guy is at every moment in a fight and together they were able to get the jump on two marines probably half their age. To top off this scene we see Adama ruthlessly putting a bullet into the other marine. Totally badass.

Starbuck getting turned on by the violence and making out with Lee. Brilliant that her character is like that. A total adrenaline junkie. Creepy though.

Roslin gets back in the game. Ever since they found the Earth she’s been hiding. Now this finally led to some great Adama/Roslin time but the fleet needed a President and she’s back, wig and all.

The parting of Roslin and Adama. These two have only just had time to get together and now they have to seperate because their jobs are bigger than they are. Adama is the one that makes this decision and you can see the soldier in him taking control. The farewell kiss went on a bit too long, both for me and probably for everyone standing in the room with them.

This next one I half jokingly predicted. When Tom goes into the cabinet room and tries to push himself onto the Quorum they totally shut him down. “Please leave Mr Vice President”. As he walked out of the room I turned to my girlfriend and said that he’ll just shoot them all now. I never thought he’d do it but outside the door are two marines and he gives the order. Holy fucking crap! I knew Tom was evil but this totally cemented his position.

I could do a whole post on Adama staring Gaeta down. I’ll need to go through the episodes again but I’m pretty sure Adama doesn’t talk to Tom once. All his venom is reserved for Gaeta. Every scene between these two is outstanding. Adama is all quiet rage while Gaeta moves between needing to be understood and raging against Adama. There are two scenes that really encapsulate this. Adama takes off his Admiral pips and throws them down at Gaeta, refusing to tell Roslin to come back. “You’re the Admiral now” Adama says. The second scene is when Gaeta tries to sell the ‘trial’ to Adama. Bill’s not having any of that and flat out refuses to even entertain the farce that is playing out in front of him.

Massive points in this episode from bringing back Romo Lampkin (that’s Baltar’s lawyer for those not following the names). He gets pulled in, by force, to act as Adama’s defence council. I love this character and was thrilled when he came back. His sarcasm and dry wit in every situation, no matter how dire, is brilliant. He also gets some action points when he helps Starbuck take down a marine. Gaeta really didn’t get the best marines on his side when he took over the ship.

Laura’s response to Tom’s demand that she surrender. Tom has gone behind Gaeta’s back and is trying to get Roslin to surrender. He tells her that Adama is dead and that she should just give up. He’s trying to break her spirit. It doesn’t work. For a second she is floored thinking that Bill is dead and almost gives in to grief but then she comes out all guns blazing. “I’m coming for all of you!” Gave me chills.

The break down of the coup. The Cylon prisoners have been freed. Adama has been saved from execution. The jump drives on Galactica have been stopped and the mutineers cannot escape with the fleet and leave Roslin behind. Adama doesn’t need to fight his way back to the command deck. He just marches on through his ship collecting more and more followers along the way. Flanked by Tigh and Lee he grabs a sidearm and walks right into the CIC and takes his ship back.

The final moment of episode 14 was actually quite sad. Gaeta and Tom are sitting in an airlock about to be shot for mutiny and treason (and murder in Tom’s case). They look at each other and smile in a manner suggesting that they were friends despite everything. Adama gives the order and then a single volley of shots rings out. Cut to black.

Brilliant.

*****MINOR DOCTOR WHO SPOILERS*****

They’ve always been the ultimate evil. They are the enemy that you cannot fight. They are beyond any technology you have ever seen and they are fuelled by nothing but hate.

But they’ve been getting a bit stale and wimpy lately. I mean three out of four season finales in the new Doctor Who have featured a massive armada of Daleks threatening the Earth/Universe only to be undone by the Doctor or his companion (see http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/cult/a120540/cult-spy-the-impotence-of-the-daleks.html for a greater analysis of that problem).

So maybe it is time for a new Dalek story.

Hang on though, we’ve already had some.

Season 1, Episode 6. Dalek. A lone Dalek is trapped and tortured by a wealthy industrialist/futurist for his own amusement. This was a great episode as it really showed what Rose was capable of without the Doctor to assist her. In the end she saved the day by helping the Dalek free itself from its own genetic programming. Even more surprising was that this was how Russel T Davies reintroduced the Daleks. Not as an all conquering invader but as a victim, albeit a murderous one. For the very first time the world saw a Dalek they could sympathise with. And that made for great television.

Season 3, Episodes 4 and 5. Daleks in Manhattan and Evolution of the Daleks. Four Daleks, having escaped the Doctor’s most recent total annihilation of their kind, find themselves in depression era New York where they begin hatching a plot to resurrect the Dalek race. After failing at breeding a cloned race of Daleks the leader of this group, Dalek Sek, decides that they should bond themselves with humans in order to create a new breed of Dalek that will combine the genetic superiority of the Daleks with the tenacity and capacity for survival of the Humans.

Dalek Sek takes it upon himself to be the first test subject of this new hybrid and soon emerges as a newly formed Human Dalek (pin-stripe suit and all). This is where the concept falls over because he starts to develop other, very non-Dalek emotions like compassion and curiosity. So rather than create a way for Daleks to start anew the show simply created a standard human character and put some tentacles on his head.

This was an interesting concept but ultimately untenable in the long term. You can’t change the Daleks like this because then they stop being Daleks and sure enough the status quo is re-established in the end when the other Daleks turn on the newly hybridised Sek.

So aside from these two instances we’ve had some fairly straight down the middle Dalek stories. Massive Dalek armada threatens Earth/reality as we know it but is thwarted by the Doctor and his companion(s).

Of the two stories I feel that Dalek in season one was by far the superior concept so maybe we should expand upon that a bit while at the same time exploring another theme that this new Doctor Who has flirted with: The Evils of Humanity.

Referenced most prominently in The Christmas Invasion (when Harriet Jones orders the destruction of the Sycorax Ship after the Doctor has saved Earth) and in the above mentioned episodes Daleks in Manhattan and Evolution of the Daleks, the main thrust of this idea is that humans have the most capacity for destruction and death than any other creature in the universe. Making this even more frightening is the idea of our free will. While Daleks and Cybermen seem to have no other purpose than to Exterminate and Delete respectively, humanity always has a choice and when the choice we make is evil that makes us all the more monstrous.

So here’s the pitch.

The TARDIS lands on Earth or an Earth colony in the distant future. As the Doctor and his companion walk around the clean streets and beautiful buildings they notice a lot of people walking briskly away from a small group of protestors. Naturally curious the Doctor runs over to see what the protest is about. After hearing some of the rhetoric about ending the oppression of slaves the protest is interrupted by a battalion of military looking police who quickly arrest everyone present, including the Doctor and his companion, and cart them off to a detention centre.

Here the Doctor, being naturally chatty and curious, learns a bit about the world he and his companion have come to. A vast utopian human empire stretches across the universe bringing enlightenment and happiness to all corners. But what is this empire built on? One day, years ago, a bright young scientist discovers a horrible secret. The great and bountiful human empire is built upon the backs (or domes if you prefer) of a conquered race, the Daleks. Harnessing the incredible power that fuels a Dalek has enabled the humans to expand and advance their empire beyond what any terrestrial power could.

After hearing this story the Doctor then learns that there is a resistance movement on the planet that intends to free one of the Daleks powering this world and then help it to free the rest of its people.

So now the Doctor has to decide if he helps his greatest enemy by liberating them from their oppressors or if he should stop the rebels and leave the universe safe from an inevitable Dalek resurgence.

*****SPOILER ALERT*****

This episode started out quite well with a fairly creepy/awesome opening sequence. It then went into a horridly dull Claire bit that I feel I’ve been seeing from her since the first season. We get it Claire, you wanna be a hero. No points given for picking the immediate Buffy reference in this scene.

This up and down pattern kept going throughout the whole episode. Brilliant bits followed by ordinary bits. I loved every scene that had Nathan and Peter in it. They’ve finally settled into a rhythm with these two characters and it is good. I can only hope they don’t start flip-flopping with these guys again.

Sylar had some great moments as well and not all of them involved him kicking ass in a villainous way. The first time we see him he actually shows restraint that I hope will signal a shift in how the character is handled.

Then there’s Matt and Daphne. Bored now. Didn’t care about them last season, don’t care about them now. I’m so happy that they’ve been split up. Hopefully this will give Matt a chance to grow a pair and stop being a nagging housewife. It is wrong when the turtle is the most exciting character in these scenes.

The inconsistent portrayal of Ando is bothering me. At least they’re giving everyone a chance to be flip-floppy and not just the Petrellis. Hiro wasn’t too bad and I’ll be interested to see where they take his powerless character this year.

Claire’s adopt-a-dad, HRG, has flown from one end of the villain/hero spectrum to the other so many times that I can honestly not understand how anyone would trust him. Presumably Nathan and HRG have some sort of “keep Claire out of this” agreement which is why they’re working together. I will be totally unsurprised when he ‘betrays’ Nathan and we learn that he’s been helping the heroes all along.

All in all a good start to the show but it needs to get better. If it keeps at this level (or gods help us gets worse) then there won’t be much keeping me from dropping this.

If you’re keen to see some preview pages for Neil Gaiman’s upcoming Batman two-parter “Whatever Happened To The Caped Crusader”, follow this link.

If you aren’t keen then what the fuck are you doing at my website?

Wow, been a while since I updated this thing. Many of you may have dropped me from your feeds (if ever you had me on your feed) and that’s cool. Hell, I’d have dropped me too.

Here’s the thing. 2008 started out really fucked for me. Fired/retrenched/made redundant/shunted from my job at the close of 2007 I pretty much came into 2008 with every possible negative feeling boiling my brain into a grey, oozy mush. As you would imagine that took some time (and a bit of therapy) to get over but recover I did and as 2008 came to a close I was really quite happy with where I was (mentally if not physically and financially, spiritually is a whole different topic).

Now 2009 rolls on and it might be time to jump back into a few old habits like blogging. We’re gonna go in a different direction this year and hopefully I’ll be updating a bit more often and more regularly.

Stay tuned for the exciting new format.

(Please Note: New format will in no way mean new website, I already roped the guys into that and then decided to blow them off for a pre-made WordPress theme. My bad.)

It seems I can’t read a single thing about Joss Whedon’s new show Dollhouse without someone giving it the tag “doomed” or “troubled”.

Stop people! For the love of all you hold dear please stop!

You’re condemning this show before it has even started.

Yes, there are rumours. There are always rumours. I heard the other day that comedian Ross Noble might be the new Doctor. That doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. It just means someone overheard someone else saying something.

Just let the show happen. If you go all doom and gloom about it before an episode is aired then you’re just gonna fulfill your own prophecy.

I don’t think club coaches should be given State of Origin or International coaching positions. It can create conflict with players under their charge (see Ricky Stuart v Cam Smith) and causes disruptions in club games.

I also think the NRL should return to the split round format where State of Origin runs on its own with no other club games running that week. The way it works right now is that clubs get punished for having great players. You lose them for at least a week (often more if you take into account injuries and fatigue) and in most cases you have to pay for the privilege.

Discuss.