Posts Tagged with Science Fiction

Meta Supernatural episode

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The next Supernatural episode goes meta: the Winchester boys get swapped to another reality where they play actors playing themselves. An article in E online says:

The episode, called “The French Mistake,” is a smart, self-aware farce reminiscent of the episodes where Sam and Dean became production assistants on the set of a genuinely haunted horror movie and the installment where the boys blipped into TV show universes, including a Grey’s Anatomy parody and a Japanese game show (wherein Sam was literally punched in the nuts). In this outing, dueling angels dump Sam and Dean onto the set of a TV show called Supernatural, which stars two lightweight actors named Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, is shot in Vancouver (Dean, in a tone of the greatest aggravation: “Dude, we’re not even in America”) and is led by a grandfatherly figure named Bobby Singer. (Read more )

This sounds like a great episode, especially if the trailer is anything to judge by.

Doctor Who: End of Time, part 1

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I watched End of Time (part 1) with my parents on Saturday night after returning from watching Avatar in 3D. (If you haven’t seen that movie, it’s excellent.) We watched most of Waters of Mars before End of Time. Last time my parents saw any Doctor Who was when I lived at home and was watching Peter Davidson and Tom Baker in classic Who in reruns. I’ve been so involved in watching the series that it’s easy to forget how much back-story is left out if someone is just coming to the show.

Spoilers after the jump.

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Matt Smith as the Doctor? Who is that?

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Matt Smith was announced as the new Doctor today. Yup, I’ve never heard of him either. Even my British friends were scratching their heads and hitting the Internet to find out more information about him.

The new Doctor was announced during a special episode of Doctor Who Confidential, which can be viewed in the UK from the BBC web site but not in the US. YouTube has excerpts of the Doctor Who Confidential episode.

I’m not sure what to think. I guess I’ll just have to see what happens as Mr Smith takes on the mantle of the Doctor. I hate to see David Tennant leave, but he has had the role for a proper amount of time (four years, as opposed to Christopher Eccleston’s one year).

Sadness: Majel Roddenberry passes

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From a Yahoo news article:

The ever-present voice of the computer in Star Trek television series and films passes away just two weeks after completing her voice over work for J.J .Abrams upcoming Star Trek film.

Mrs Roddenberry may be remembered best for her role of Nurse Chapel in the original Star Trek series. She also gave voice to the computer on most of the Star Trek series and movies. She played Lwaxana Troi, Deanna Troi’s mother in Star Trek: Next Generation. She also appeared on Deep Space Nine.

Safe journey, Mrs Roddenberry.

Doctor Who: Turn Left (or Return of the Wolf)

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“Turn Left” (written by Russell T. Davies) shows just how important Doctor Who has been in Earth’s time line. We get to see just what would have happened if Donna never met the Doctor in Runaway Bride.

This episode also has the much anticipated return of Billie Piper as Rose.

If you haven’t seen the episode, fair warning: here be spoilers.

(Episode recap over on io9.com.)

Bad Wolf hasn’t been present that much in Doctor Who since Season 2. In the Season 1 finale, Rose scatters Bad Wolf references throughout throughout time — and not all of the instances would have been discovered. The Bad Wolf references appear only when Rose is in the series. In that respect, it makes sense that you could have the Bad Wolf references.

Some of the fanfiction stories assume that there is always a residual link to the Time Vortex inside Rose. It’s blocked because of the Doctor’s actions in the Season 1 finale. (Possibly supported by the werewolf character in Season 2 telling Rose that she has “a bit of the wolf” in her.)

The huge display of Bad Wolf at the end of the episode plus the Doctor saying cryptically that the phrase means the end of the world does make you wonder… There were rumours on some of the episode summaries (see Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor Who page) that the last episodes for this season would delve into the Time Wars. There were also rumours that the last episodes of this season would undo most of the cannon established by Russell Davies (which would mean the Time Wars would have to be undone to bring back Gallifrey).

Did you notice the footage of Davros in the DW Confidential footage? He isn’t named, but it’s hard to miss that critter’s chair and head-gear even in the shadows.