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The Big Bang Theory, The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis

Andrei — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:03:55 +0000

Having just gotten into this show midway this season I can’t say whether or not they did a Christmas special last year, but this episode (season 2, episode 11) was just the right amount of Christmas cheer without inducing any vomit. There was also a bigger part by Howard and Raj, Penny and Leonard’s relationship was brought out again, and there was a lot of Sheldon in this episode but without making it Sheldon-centric.

We were able to see some more of Sheldon’s anti-social conformities again as we found out that he despises the act of gift giving. You see, when someone gives you a gift you are then obligated to return the favor and give them a gift of equal value. Penny didn’t know that Sheldon doesn’t do gifts for Christmas and got him something anyway. Sheldon then spends the rest of the episode hunting down the perfect sized basket of bath items. His reaction to her gift at the end is priceless — he even hugged her!

All I need is a healthy ovum and I can grow my own Leonard Nemoy!

You can watch a clip of this episode and all current episodes on Hulu by the way.

Legend of the Seeker

Andrei — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:47:47 +0000

I’m a huge fan of Terry Goodkind’s “Sword of Truth” series — I’ve finished all but the last book in the twelve book series in fact. So when I accidentally discovered that the book was being made into a TV series I was a little worried as I’m one of those jerks who adamantly believes that the book is better and simply can’t help himself to point out the flaws when watching the adaptation. I watched the first seven of twenty two this weekend of Legend of the Seeker and I was hugely disappointed, dispite my already low expectations. It borrows a lot from the Xena and Hercules series: bad acting, terrible script and cheesy wardrobe to name just a few. In reading so many of the books I was hoping that some of the awesomeness would spill over in the TV. Unfortunately, non of the awesomeness did as the same mistakes used in Xena were once again used.

The main plot of Richard trying to get to Lord Rahl is the overarching plot of the series so far. Each episode is made up of a small side adventure like saving a village or child, with the last five minutes progressing the overall plot and leading slightly to the next episode. I understand how when a book is made for television certain elements need to be edited but this version has taken the original story and twisted and mangled it nearly beyond recognition losing all of the glamor and charisma found in the book. Random people from different books are inserted into the storyline at random places which are way off. Representations of some of the characters are way off. Important details in which the entire world revolved upon are left out. Any adult concepts found in the book is completely removed including any traces of bood from the fighting scenes, clearly aiming the show at a younger audience.

It often seems like the show was written based of off an oral summary of the books, with the writers not even having picked up the book. The actor playing Richard is just a scrawny boy without any charm or allure. When watching him I couldn’t help but to think that there would be no way I would follow him into battle and beyond. He certainly didn’t seem like the type who could inspire tens of thousands of people.

I know that you have to keep an open mind when viewing book to TV adaptations and many times there is really no point in comparing, but this series doesn’t have any of the elements that make the book so compelling and will most surely not draw anywhere near as large of an audience as the book. This whole thing is my fault, really, for getting the books made into a TV series. Many years ago when I had started reading the books I said aloud that it has all of the elements to make a great movie. Someone must have heard; they obviously didn’t read the books though.

You can watch the series as it airs on Hulu for free.

The Big Bang Theory, The Vartabedian Conundrum

Andrei — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 01:46:43 +0000

I’m a fan of The Big Bang Theory which airs on Monday nights. It’s a show about four guys in their twenties who very geeky. Leonard and Sheldon, who are roommates, are each physicists who think and act on an entirely different realm than most people — that’s expected from PhDs. Across from their apartment lives a girl, Penny, who is as normal as can be and has no idea about the scientific world. The two physisists have two other friends who are scientists as well who drop by often. They’re all friends together and the show basically revolves around the socially inept scientists and the “girl next door” Penny.

What’s there not to like? Plenty of references to computers, Star Trek, action figures, video games, science, and other things from the nerd kingdom. Not every episode cracks me up but just about every one keeps me entertained and captivated.

Tonight’s episode (season 2, episode 10) focused on Leonard and his girlfriend Sara. I’m worried that the show is stearing towards a serious relationship for Leonard and that Sara will become a regular on the show. I like the characters without any emotional hangups as it leaves the door open and avoid any sappy melodrama. We’ll see what happens.

TV Shows Interrupt Commercials

Andrei — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:20:36 +0000

I typically can drag myself out of bed by about 7:30 and make my way to the kitchen to pour a bowl of cereal to watch TV with. By the time I sit on the couch with my breakfast it’s 7:45. 7:45 is a special time in the morning as nearly every channel will begin a fifteen minute break to play commercials. That’s right, fifteen minutes of commercials on the channels that I want to watch. By the time the break has ended, my breakfast has too and I feel ripped off. The show starts up again by 8 after I’ve put away my bowl and am walking past the TV to the bathroom.

What sort of commercials could be so bad while eating breakfast? Commercials about pharmaceutical drugs I don’t need (despite their saying I do), commercials about cars I’m not looking for, house products I don’t care about; and let’s not forget the local news channel butting in for a quick weather update with their dumbfounded weatherman who always appears as if they’ve been interrupted and couldn’t care less. It’s nice to watch something a little more engaging than commercials in the morning, though I’d argue that what I typically watch, Good Morning America, isn’t that much better than most commercials.

I’m forced to put up with this because it’s not cable or satellite so my choices are extremely limited — about seven channels to choose from. If I had the choice I would be watching news on CNBC, CNN or BBC. On the days that I get out of bed a little earlier I stream SBS News.

Firefly

Andrei — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:17:50 +0000

This TV series was released back in 2002 and even though everyone I knew said that it’s a must watch, I never got around to it. Until recently, when I sat down for an entire day and watched all fourteen episodes back-to-back. I really liked the series and while I was expecting a lot more sci-fi and aliens, I was pleasantly surprised to find that without all those things Firefly kept my attention by the acting and story quality.

Written by Josh Whedon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame, this space opera/western in the year 2517 follows the the adventures of the renegade crew Serentiy, a “Firefly-class” star ship. As it begins with each episode:

Earth-that-was got used up.

We moved out — terraformed and colonized hundreds of new earths; some, rich and flush with new technologies; some, not so much. The central planets — them as formed by the Alliance — decided all the planets had to join under their rule.

There was some disagreement on that point.

After the Unification War, many of the Independents who had fought and lost drifted to the edges of civilization, far from Alliance control. Out here, people struggle to get by with the most basic of technologies. A ship will bring you work; a gun will help you keep it.

That’s the basic plot of the series. Since it follows the Serenity crew, who are those which avoid the Alliance, a lot of time didn’t have to be spent on inventing strange and alien technologies for the show. Much of the lands they traveled to looked straight out of westerns in fact. They also didn’t touch on the subject of aliens at all, stating that even though they’ve traveled to many galaxies they had yet to encounter alien life. Instead, the show focused its attention on plot, acting and character development.

A really liked how in 2517 much of the galaxy uses Chinese, but was really left hanging with an explanation as to why it was. Signs in cities and even on other spaceships were written in Chinese. Even the characters used Chinese often when they get upset. While those of us who don’t speak Chinese are left in the cold, there are sites out there to help. My guess is that Chinese became the dominant language at some point and, as we all do when engrossed in another language, those that mainly spoke English adopted Chinese in only some manor — cursing, in this case.

From some of the first episodes Firefly tried to establish connections between each of the characters. Some of the move obvious dues were captain Malcolm and geisha-like Companion Inara, Dr. Simon and mechanic Keylee, Dr. Simon and younger sister River. What annoyed me was that none of them were taken as far as I would have hoped. I really wanted to learn more about River’s condition and what, if any, special abilities she had. The captain and Inara had a lot of sexual tension but both were too stubborn for different reasons to take a chance.

This didn’t take away from the storyline, as these relationships were only sides to each episode. While the entire series was an ongoing story, each episode was completely independent in itself. The crew had to undertake some mission or escape from some enemy and in the allotted forty-five minutes, following the melodrama approach (don’t get me started on crap melodramas!). This reminded me a lot of Cowboy Bebop.

Next on my watch list, Serenity. Apparently voted the best sci-fi movie of all time, even trouncing Star Wars.