Babylon 5 - Thirdspace

I've now watched another of the Babylon 5 television movies, and I'm really not sure what to think of this one. I enjoyed it as I was watching it, or at least I think I did. It was an hour and a half long, but it didn't seem that long as I was watching it because I was quite into what was going on. It moved at a decent pace and the story seemed interesting enough. The problem is when you get to the end, and realise that in that feature length story, not a lot really happened.

I'm glad it was set in a time where all the main characters new each other, and I always like to see both Sheridan and Delenn being involved. It was also good that Zack Allen finally got a chance to shine in a starring role. He had been listed as an "also starring", ie main character, since season 2, and yet had never quite been developed as much as many of the others in the sense that he didn't really have close relationships with many of the other main characters. He was friends with (and actually in love with) Lyta, and he was friends with Garibaldi, but other than that he was almost like a recurring guest star rather than someone who should be on the credits. In the absence of Garibaldi, Thirdspace gave him a chance to really be the chief of security and really be a main character.

Speaking of Garibaldi, he was really missed here. His absence did make sense, since at this point in the story he had fallen out with Sheridan and didn't trust him anymore, so he would be unlikely to be involved. It was still strange to have him gone though, since he was there from the beginning. The last human character to be there from the beginning, actually. Londo and G'Kar were also missed. True, they weren't in every episode anyway, and the timing of the story does mean that it makes sense that they weren't there. The story didn't need them much either. They were still missed though. Perhaps it was because this "movie" felt more like an extended episode, and so you'd expect the usual cast to all be there.

As I said at the beginning, the actual story was alright. I like how it fit into the already established mythology of the Vorlons, and made a lot of references to the Shadow War and things that have already happened. There were good action scenes, and there was a lot of good mystery. Still, it reminds me of the weaker Doctor Who specials. It's called a special, but really it's just like a long episode. It worked well enough though. I enjoyed what we got to see of the characters who were involved, particularly Zack Allen, and Sheridan and his obsession with mysteries. I think the story was interesting enough. All in all, worth watching, but not quite matching up to the series.

What I watched on Christmas Day

I didn't watch a great deal of TV on Christmas day, but there were a few things worth a mention, so here they are.

The Royle Family

This felt like a return to form for The Royle Family. Last year's Christmas special was good, but this one was as good as the series used to be. The gold eggcup argument was hilarious, as was the constant referring to The One Show. It was nice to see Anthony back as well, and Twiggy's reasons for not being there were funny. I wasn't too keen at first on the idea of a holiday, since the appeal of the series was that they were always just sat around talking in front of the TV at home, but it worked anyway.

There was good reason this was the most watched show on British TV on Christmas day, and I hope they make a tradition of these Christmas specials. As I said, this was better than last year, but there's no reason they can't keep this up.

Gavin and Stacey

I love Gavin and Stacey. It's similar to The Royle Family in that they do seem like really normal families. Well, obviously there are eccentric family members and weird things going on, but what family isn't like that? This final series has been brilliant. Really funny, as it always has been, and at the same time serious and even sad stories like Gavin and Stacey's attempts to get pregnant. It mixes humour and real life issues, with a cast of really likeable characters, and it really is the best British comedy going at the moment. I can't wait for the New Year concluding episode. I really hope Smithy and Nessa work something out!

Doctor Who

I'm not going to go into great detail here, because I think I'll want to do a dedicated post to David Tennant's finale at some point, but part one of The End of Time was really exciting. Lots of questions going into the final part. Why were Wilf and Donna not affected by The Master's plan? How can The Doctor beat a whole world of Masters? Why on Earth does all this mean that the Time Lords are back? Is that even a good thing? What will happen to Donna now she's remembering? Honestly, I'm incredibly excited about part two, and I also can't wait to see where Doctor Who is going in the future next season with Matt Smith.

Other than those three things, there didn't seem to be a lot good on in the evening. I missed Strictly Come Dancing because we were playing shot glass chess (that's a different story!), but other than that there was nothing else I wanted to watch. Three great shows though!

Babylon 5 - In The Beginning

After watching the first of the Babylon 5 television movies, I'm not sure what I think of it. Having more back story and more of the characters I love is a good thing, but exactly what they did with it wasn't exactly perfect.

So what did I like? I liked seeing more of Londo as the Emperor, especially as it was tied in to War Without End and the bit where Sheridan and Delenn are his prisoners. I like how the story was being told by him to the two Centauri kids. Seeing more of the fallen Centauri empire was great. I also liked seeing the younger Sheridan, and seeing more of Delenn as a full Minbari getting in with the Grey Council. Duhkat was also a great character to see more of, and it was interesting to see that the Vorlons were involved even back then, before the Earth-Minbari War. And one of them was Kosh! I really missed Kosh in the later series. Also enjoyed seeing what stage the Rangers were at 10 years before the main story begins.

And what didn't I like? It didn't feel like it was planned with the rest of the series. It felt like there was a lot of retconning going on. There was no indication whatsoever that Sheridan had met Franklin and G'Kar before he got to Babylon 5, let alone gone on a top secret mission to meet a Ranger with them. We knew that Sheridan had served with Ivanova before, which was a decent way of letting the audience know that we could trust the character when he first arrived, but there was nothing between him and Franklin. There was no indication at all that G'Kar had had much to do with Earth and the humans, let alone Sheridan. None of that seemed quite believable. I was even less keen on Sheridan and Delenn's first meeting though. I understand why he wouldn't have remembered here, because she was covered by her cloak and didn't look at him directly. I cannot understand at all why she wouldn't have remembered the encounter though. She must have known that the guy they had on the ship was Sheridan Starkiller, the only human commander to defeat a Minbari warship. Why didn't she ever mention that they'd met before, if she did remember? It was just a bit too strange to be believable.

Back to Sheridan again, and his defeat of the Black Star wasn't as cool as it'd been told. I assumed he'd been the captain at the time, not a first officer taking a long shot in order to escape. It was still cool and still fits in with the story, but I'm not sure I needed to see it.

And on to Sinclair. Michael O'Hare didn't film any new scenes because it wasn't cost effective to fly him over for the few short scenes they wanted. I think they should have splashed out and made him a bit more central. I got the feeling that he would have been more important during the Earth-Minbari war than Sheridan was, and yet because Bruce Boxleitner was the lead role in the main series at that time, Sheridan got all the focus.

Overall I enjoyed the film, but I just feel like it could have been so much better if it didn't feel like the retconned in bits of story so all the main players could be involved. I like backstory, and I very much like the way it was told by Londo at the very end of his life, but I just wanted it to be...better.

So I decided to try Babylon 5

I'm a massive DS9 fan, and I've always seen Babylon 5 as a lame alternative to Star Trek. It always looked too cheesy to me. I am so glad that I decided to give it a go anyway. I've rarely watched a series so obsessively. Just so we know where I'm coming from with this post, I started it soon after starting season 5. I'm finishing it the day after finishing season 5, before I've watched any of the TV films. A few days off work sick gave me enough time to finish the lot!

So starting at the beginning, The Gathering definitely got me interested enough to keep going. In fact, I liked all the main characters so much that I was disappointed that two of them were gone by the first episode of season 1. I didn't warm to Ivanova straight away, and it took me a very long time to like Franklin. I'm still not all that keen on him, and he's my least favourite main character. Well, other than Lochley, but we've not got that far yet.

Season 1 was, as someone had described it to me before hand, epically cheesy. Cheesy in a good way mind. Michael O'Hare isn't a bad actor, but he is definitely cheesy in the way he delivers the serious lines. He was a great commander though. I liked how he always found ways to make things work for him and do the right thing, while technically not breaking any rules. His way around the Rush Act in the episode By Any Means Necessary was brilliant, and definitely a Crowning Moment of Awesome, if you'll forgive me for using TV Trope name.

Commander Sinclair wasn't the only cheesy or over the top character in season 1. Ivanova probably had a few too many "because I'm Russian" comments, and Londo...well, he was just Londo. None of it was bad though. These characters were at the start of their arcs. Ivanova grew over the course of the four seasons she was in, and the fifth season really missed her. Londo was always supposed to be like that early on. I'll talk more about him later.

The quality of the stories in season 1 was as good as anything to come. Signs and Portents was an apt title, because that was exactly the way the whole thing felt. Mr Morden's mysterious introduction, and willingness to aid the Centauri, made everything a lot more interesting. From then on, it really felt like a great story arc was coming. The season 1 finale was even more exciting. As Sinclair said, nothing would be the same again.

When season 2 started, I was incredibly disappointed that this commander I'd grown attached to had been replaced by someone who seemed a bit of a nice guy, who wasn't so rough around the edges, and wasn't like by the Minbari, and who wasn't Sinclair. It didn't take me long at all to warm to John Sheridan though. After this season was over, I much prefered Sheridan as Captain. Sinclair's departure still bothers me slightly, however. He came back in seasons 2 and 3 to conclude his story arc. That season 3 two part time travel episode was truly brilliant, with visions into Sheridan and Delenn's future, Londo and G'Kar's fates, and answers from that season 1 time travel episode. However, it felt kind of sudden. Apparently JMS had escape doors for every actor in every season, so the story would carry on and not suffer without them. It didn't suffer without Sinclair, but it was a shame that he was out of the door so suddenly. The reassignment made sense, yes, but he was there one minute and gone the next. When he comes back, he's head of the Rangers and a well respected person on Minbar. It just needed a little more build up.

Anyway, that's skipping ahead to season 3 a little there. Season 2 improves a lot on season 1. This is a more serious and more emotional series. The Narn-Centauri war has terrible consequences, as do Londo's dealings with the Shadows. The image of Londo Mollari on the Centauri ship headed for the Narn homeworld during the invasion is one of the most memorable of the series.

Season 2 also sees everyone else finding out about the Shadows. We find out a lot more about Kosh and what he is, and about Sheridan's wife (his second wife, apparently), and about Za'ha'dum. The Army of Light idea is introduced, and Sheridan and Delenn start working more closely. And then follows what I think has become one of my favourite science fiction relationships. Sheridan and Delenn. Season 3 sees this develope properly, and then it's season 4 before they're actually engaged and married, and season 5 before they live together...but it starts subtely in season 2. This is why I like the relationship so much. It's not like a typical will they won't they. It's not something they ever keep secret and it's never like an affair. They grow naturally closer, fall in love, and slowly build on that. It really is a beautiful story.

Season 3 is possibly the best of the five seasons. It's hard to say that exactly because it's essentially a five season long miniseries with one evolving story arc. The action is amazing. The Shadows are a fantastic enemy, because they don't seem beatable. Earth is a fantastic enemy, because you never would have expected it. Well, obviously you would in Babylon 5 because of the build up, but the Earth government being the bad guys is not a usual thing. Babylon 5 becoming an independant state was certainly unexpected, for me, and a great twist. Very sad though, seeing what Earth had become. Very un-Star Trek is what I thought. DS9 nearly got there, showing that the Federation was flawed with Section 31, and through what Eddington of the Marquis had to say, but it would have never have gone all out and had Earth being the enemy in the way that Babylon 5 did.

Those final few episodes of season 3 were great. The build up to Za'ha'dum. Who would have guessed that the woman in Delenn's vision in War Without End would be Anna Sheridan? I didn't even guess that the vision would be so recent. Since she was in the same room as a sleeping John Sheridan in the vision, I assumed it'd be way in the future. Guess I didn't know Minbari rituals well enough at the time! The Za'ha'dum episode was amazing. John Sheridan, by this point, is easily my favourite station commander, and also a legendary character.

Season 4 is equally amazing. I think I perhaps prefered the conclusion of the Shadow War to the later Earth Civil War plot, but it was still exciting throughout. The Summoning, the episode where Sheridan returns, probably has his best Crowning Moments of Awesome. "We thought you were dead" "I was. I'm better now". Classic. And then tragic in the next episode when we learn that he only has 20 years. Only? Yes I know it's a long time, and better than nothing, but we all want Sheridan and Delenn to last forever!

I think one of my major problems with season 4 was that I couldn't get used to Garibaldi being a jerk. I've not mentioned him so far in this post, but he was a great character from the word go. He was a good guy, a good friend, and although he was ultra suspicious and trusted no one, he was loyal. He had changed since season 1 anyway, when he was shot in the back by his number 2, but being taken by the Shadows had changed him more. When we learned it was Bester all along though! It was obviously Psi Corps, but making it Bester made sure that he'd be angrier, and he took his anger into season 5. It was really good and believable character development for Garibaldi, but it was a great shame.

Talking of character developement, I've not mentioned much about G'Kar. At the start he was almost a villain. The bad guy of the advisory council who couldn't quite be trusted and who was mostly motivated by hatred of the Centauri and his desire for revenge. He changed after Narn fell, and he changed much more dramatically after Kosh had words during his Dust induced vision. G'Kar became one of the wisest characters on the show and someone others turned to. That was certainly not expected from the start. Well, hinted on in episodes like the one where Sekai goes to Sigma 957, but he still grew a lot as a character. I think they all did, which is another reason I love this show so much.

Season 4 had a slightly rushed end because they thought it'd be cancelled, and so squashed in some of what could have been season 5 material. Did it suffer? No, not really. I think the formation of the Interstella Alliance and Sheridan's election as president was maybe a little fast, yes, and it would have been cool to finish it on the interoggation episode as intended, but I still don't think it greatly sufferred. I'm not 100% sure what I think of that finale, Deconstruction of Falling Stars, but it was a good idea to fill the gap left by the real finale, which was pushed to the end of season 5. I feel like the penultimate season 4 episode, Rising Star, lead into the real finale though, but it still worked out.

Season 5, however, did suffer slightly from the uncancellation. The fact that the early season 5 stuff that was meant to finish the civil war actually went into season 4 meant that season 5 had far more non-arc filler episodes than the rest. Most of these episodes were pretty good, but they weren't quite what I was after at this stage. I'm still not sure about the whole Telepath colony story really, because although it was more than understandable, I didn't like to see Lyta on the opposite side to everyone else. I didn't like seeing Bester on the same side either.

Season 5 also had a few cast changes, which always makes things difficult. Ivanova was gone. Real shame that, although her reasons and her escape door made sense. Marcus (who I've forgotten to mention!) was dead, and he was really missed. Captain Lochley, or the tarty bird from Lois and Clarke, was brought in. She wasn't a bad character really. More hard-ass than Sheridan and Sinclair maybe, but she did a good job. Not keen on her being Sheridan's ex wife though. For me, when I first found out, it took something away from John and Delenn. This was the third time he'd fallen for someone enough to marry them?! I got over that though. There wasn't even much friendship between the two. The thing I did like about what they did with Lochley was that she was never made into an Ezri Dax. There was no need to give her loads and loads of back story. We'd pick up what we needed and see how she relates to everyone else. No need for long episodes just about her and her issues.

The big story of season 5 was the war with the Centauri. The real tragedy behind all of this was that it was the conclusion of Londo Mollari's story. JMS said that if Babylon 5 was about one person, it was about Londo. He started off as a bit of a joke. A drunken gambler who dreamed of a time long gone when the Centauri Republic was a great galactic empire. His ambitions for himself and his people led him to Mr Morden, and then to Refa, and the terrible things they did shaped the course of the Shadow War. When he tried to put things right and get rid of the Shadows and Morden from Centauri Prime, he was warned that his world would be punished by the allies of the Shadows. Absolutely all of the prophecies related to Londo came true. The eye that doesn't see (G'Kar), the man who is already dead (obvious answer maybe Sheridan, but could have meant Morden. Things may have been different if he hadn't killed Morden) and then surrendering to his greatest fear. That could mean either his death at the hands of G'Kar, or in my opinion more likely that it was allowing the Keeper to control him. Either way, Londo sacrificed himself for his people to live. He did terrible things, but I don't believe Londo was a bad person. He did a lot of awful things for what he believed were the right reasons, and he came to regret all of them.

Londo's demise was the first thing that brought me to tears in the final few episodes. The departures of G'Kar, Lyta, Franklin (yes, I liked him by this point) and Garibaldi all had an effect too. Lennier's tragic betrayel and departure too (I forgive him!). When John and Delenn left Babylon 5 for the last time for Minbar, and then John recorded that message to their unborn son, that definitely brought a tear to my eyes.

Nothing compared to Sleeping in the Light though. Twenty years is almost a lifetime to me, since I'm only 23, but John and Delenn should have been forever! They truly loved each other, and she had to go on without him. Part of me thinks he should have stayed with her until the end, but the bigger part of me knows that his path was the one Kosh and Lorien laid out for him. Sheridan went back to Babylon 5, and then went back to the end of the beginning. It was beautiful. A very moving and low key ending, without epic space battles and dramatic stories. Just a winding down and a saying goodbye.

This post is very jumbled and unstructured and has a lot of what I wanted to say missing. I wish I'd posted during the watching rather than leaving it all until the end. I'm sure I'll have more to say about individual episodes and characters and themes later on, but this is my jumbled train of thought at the moment.

In conclusion, Babylon 5 is now officially one of my favourite television series.

Cancelled?!

I'm sure all sci-fi fans now know about the tragic cancellation of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse. This got me thinking about other cancelled series, and made me want to go blog about them. Here we go:

Firefly

Starting with the cancellation that made the least sense. Firefly is probably one of the greatest science fiction tv series ever made, and yet only 14 episodes were ever made. I also heard that only 11 were actually aired by FOX in the US, and that they weren't even shown in order. I really don't get it. This was a series with humour, drama, real characters, exciting stories, mystery, Joss Whedon's genius and a whole load of potential.

Sure, thanks to the persistance of the cast and crew and the militant fans, Firefly got it's conclusion in the form of the film Serenity. It wasn't enough though. This was a series that could have gone on for several seasons. So many stories were left unresolved. What was the Shepherd's story? The Hands of Blue guys? Mal and Inara? I know there are comics, but it's not the same.

I'm not sure what went wrong with Firefly. Lack of support by FOX can't have helped. Maybe sci-fi snobbery stopped people from tuning in too. I've recently watched season 1 of Joss Whedon's other great work, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and it's really no better than Firefly. No spaceships though, so maybe that's why it was more popular. I still think Buffy is probably the better series overall, but that's because it had seven seasons to keep getting better. Firefly was killed long before it should have been. It's turned into something of a cult hit though, which is some consolation I guess.

Star Trek: Enterprise

I'm sure many people think this deserved it's cancellation. To be honest, before I watched any of it, I didn't like the concept of a prequel Star Trek series at all. The first couple of seasons were actually quite good though. Kind of TNG like in the idea of mostly random, not story arc adventure episodes. They were a decent insight into the early Star Trek universe. I get why people thought it was a little slow though. It couldn't have gone on much longer without some major twists to add some excitement. What they came up with was the season 3 Xindi story arc, with several characters becoming a lot darker, and T'Pol being naked a lot more often. Don't get me wrong, I did thing the Xindi arc was exciting and definitely a decent story, but the changes to the format of the series were too radical in my opinion. I can see that they might have alienated a lot of fans.

However daft the changes were, and however lame that season 4 opener was as a conclusion to the Temporal Cold War (lame story in itself), season 4 of Enterprise showed a series that should not have been cancelled for a long time. Season 4 was one of the best seasons of any Star Trek I've seen. The Vulcan stories, the Augments, and the beginnings of the Federation. This really was something special, and it just kept getting better. And then...cancelled. A stupid ending with a needless death, totally ruined by the fact that it wasn't even from the Enterprise character's point of view. If they'd cancelled it after season 2, or season 3, I could have understood. To cancel it when they did was just cruel.

Stargate Atlantis

As much as I love Stargate and loved Atlantis especially, I will accept that it was definitely on the decline when we found out it was about to be cancelled. I think a lot of mistakes were made in the last two seasons. The team wasn't together as often as they used to be, the Michael story was resolved in a rather disappointing way, Amanda Tapping was seriously underused...and I'm sure there were other problems. Atlantis did seem to peak in season 3. However, there were some truly great episodes in the last couple of seasons. Great Replicator stores, introduction of evil Asgard as bad guys, and that fantastic finale.

Even if you can argue that Atlantis was on it's way out, the real tragedy is that this was cancelled with the promise that it wasn't over. There would be movies to carry it on, but the tv series was being sacrificed for the sake of Stargate Universe. The films haven't happened, and are on hold indefinitely. Stargate Universe is not like Stargate SG1 or Atlantis at all. It's not nearly as good and I doubt it will be. I went into it with an open mind, hoping that it might actually be the best of the franchise, and it's not delivered. I'd much rather have seen Atlantis go a few more seasons.

Stargate SG1

I guess you can hardly say it was tragic for a series to finally be cut after ten good seasons, but it was still a shame. The biggest shame was, again, the time they decided to do it. It was announced during the first half of season 10, which was some of the best SG1 ever aired. I know some think it should have finished after season 8, and I do agree that the change between 8 and 9 was a bit too big, but it was still a damn good show. I think if there had been more transition rather than just a load of huge changes all at once, it would have been better, but it was still worth watching for those last two seasons. I won't dwell because SG1 obviously had a great run and is still the longest running sci-fi show in history, but it was still a bit of a shame.

Angel

I think a lot of things went wrong in Angel and could have been handled better. Joss Whedon rarely messes up, but the last two seasons of Angel weren't what they could have been. Cordelia's demise didn't seem worthy of the character she'd become. It took three seasons to get to the point where she was a Champion like Angel. She was on his level. And then she wasn't herself for season 4 (even though it was a cracking story with some excellent twists, it was still harsh on Cordy) and then she appeared once in season 5, just to die. I wasn't so keen on that. Also wasn't keen on how owning Wolfram and Hart was handled. Another great twist, but it could have been better.

Angel was definitely on the decline when it got cancelled, but I feel like it could have been so much better with more time. The cancellation lead to the final story arc being rushed through, and that ruined it. I would have liked that final season a lot more if I'd known it was going to continue. Mind you, never liked Spike being in it. He got his heroes death in Buffy. He didn't need to come back. Whatever the faults though, it should have got another season.

Invasion

This was a slow one. Didn't grip a lot of people from the start, and that was it's major problem. It got more and more interesting as it got going, but it was still a little too slow. That final episode was really exciting though, and from the sounds of it season 2 would have been a big improvement. Unfortunately it never got that far though. It really should have done. This was a show with a lot of potential.

Farscape

Tragedy doesn't even begin to cover the magnitude of this criminal cancellation. Probably one of the greatest sci-fi series ever made, and that ever will be made. Farscape was not on the decline. Every season was different with new and unexpected twists, and it always threw out something exciting. The season 4 finale was such a massive cliffhanger. I really cannot believe it got cancelled there. Season 4 was brilliant! With Scorpy on board, Grayza as baddie, Scarrans vs Peacekeepers...it was amazing.

I will really never understand it. The good thing about Farscape though is that it did get four seasons, unlike Firefly. The concluding mini-series did manage to conclude nearly everything. There were a few jumps and unexplained things that would have benefitted from a season 5, but it worked anyway. Farscape was probably a season away from a good conclusion anyway, and the mini-series did a damn good job. Still would have prefered another season and it was a stupid thing to cancel, but it was enough.

Dollhouse

And this is the reason I thought of this post. WHY FOX, WHY?! I understand it's had poor ratings, but I really can't understand why. Sci-fi snobbery again? Lack of advertising? I can't imagine it's because the show isn't up to it, because it really was turning into something brilliant. Perhaps it had a bit of a slow start, since there was a lot of explaining to do and a lot of getting into the characters. Took a while not to see them as Faith and Helo. Still, it really came into it's own towards the end of season 1. Alpha made a huge difference. Season 2 so far has been brilliant. Loads of new twists, and loads of links to that fantastic season 1 episode 13, Epitaph One.

I really feel for Joss Whedon. This was a very different show, and it had the potential to be something special. I don't believe that season 1 matched up to seaon 1 of Buffy or Firefly, but it would have got there. Definitely tragedy.

(this post will be added to when I have more time/ideas)

Dr Who - The Waters of Mars

Thank you Russell T Davies for giving us the first Dr Who special since The Christmas Invasion that really was special. Don't get me wrong, the others have been good (or just alright in the case of The Next Doctor) but they've not quite matched up to the epic season finales we've had. Army of Ghosts/Doomsday, Utopia/Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords and Stolen Earth/Journey's End were all fantastic, whereas most of the specials were more like normal episodes.

The Waters of Mars was different though. A darker Doctor and a darker story, similar in that respect to The Family of Blood. The Doctor is sick of the rules, and so he decides to change them. He was almost Master-like in the way he decided that he was the one with the power. Bit of a sudden change, but you could see what drove him to it.

The story itself was good because it didn't need too much detail and backstory. We could see that the characters had a lot of background, but what mattered was what was happening now. It didn't matter what the Martian water monster was, just how it affected the crew.

Those last few minutes where Adelaide kills herself to right the timeline, and the Doctor realises what he's done, were some of the best I've seen in Dr Who. The Doctor realises he's gone too far. He used his power to try and change a fixed point in time because he was arrogant enough to believe he could rewrite the law. Because of that, he was responsible for a suicide. Adelaide showed more bravery than he did, because she was prepared to die, whereas he wasn't prepared to do the right thing. Fantastic lead into the final story for the Tenth Doctor, and interesting that he saw Ood Sigma just before the end.

I've seen the trailer for The End of Time, and I'm incredibly excited.

Battlestar Galactica - The Plan

And They Have a Plan. That was written in the opening sequence of Battlestar Galactica for a long time, and over the course of four seasons we found out more or less what the plan was. Well, moreso in season 4 really, the the episode where Ellen makes her reappearance. The purpose of The Plan was to show us what it actually was and how it was carried out up until the point where the Cylons withdrew from the Colonies and the Cavill's got spaced.

I'll start by saying that this is most definitely not for people who haven't seen the series. Razor could possibly (just possibly, wouldn't recommend) be enjoyed as a stand-alone TV movie. The Plan requires detailed knowledge of everything that has happened so far. I wouldn't even recommend it to a casual viewer, and if you don't remember the events of season 1 very well because you haven't seen it for a long time, I'd recommend refreshing your memory first. If you do remember it well, then The Plan does a good job of tying everything together. We get to see the attack on the Colonies from the Cylon point of view, and in a lot more detail than we did from the human point of view in the miniseries. We get to see how Ellen Tigh survives, how Anders survives, the Cylons on Galactica and their plans, how Boomer was controlled. All definitely interesting to see.

This film expands on what we saw in late season 4 about Cavil where he's coming from. He wants to be a machine, but he also craves approval from his creators. He wants to be loved for being a perfect machine. Everything he did was because of his revulsion of humanity and his belief that they should be punished. The Plan showed that there truly was no humanity in him at all, no conscience. I thought he'd probably kill the boy at some point, but it was still pretty chilling to see how casual he was about killing a young child and then pushing the body to the floor.

The film in itself was a little strange, I thought. I know the whole idea was to put the extra bits in with the original footage, but sometimes it was a little too obvious that that was what was happening. It didn't help that there was no footage included of some of the major players. I'm guessing that maybe Mary McDonnell refused to appear even in archive footage, because I can't think of any other sane reason to not show such a major character. Sure, she wasn't a major part of the Cylon's plans in the way that some others were, but she was still present at some major events. Leoben's airlocking for example? Cavil got it into his head that Adama had to die, so he had to be in it. Starbuck was always important, both to Leoben and to Anders on Caprica, so she had to be in it. Apollo wasn't really so important, but he got to be there, just because it makes sense to show the main players. Why no Roslin, or even Billy?

Another person conspicuous by their absence was obviously Number 3. Mentioned once, and early on some archive footage was spliced in with some new stuff, but it really wasn't much. Okay so maybe Lucy Lawless wasn't interested, and nothing can be done about that, but I'm sure that someone who was so vocal and at some points even seemed to lead the Cylons would have been more involved in the plan. To barely even be mentioned was strange. D'Anna Biers was in the fleet, and yet no explanation was given as to why she wasn't at the Cylon meetings.

I think I have just one more complain about it, and it's not really a very big one. I found the Simon who was with the previously unmentioned and never heard from again knuckle-dragger a little bit strange. I don't know whether they were trying to make a point that John Cavil was so different from the others and so much more of a machine, by giving Simon a more human story where he actually fell in love. If that's the case, then why just Simon and not Aaron Doral? The Doral's and the Simon's were always the most emotionless, and they all seemed pretty much the same. It was just strange to change one now. I guess it shows that they can't all be the same though, which was more obvious in the sixes and eights. I did actually like the new Simon, even if it was a slightly unecessary story. Again, puzzled by the new woman, who was probably in it because she's Edward James Olmos' wife.


All in all, I did enjoy The Plan. I'm a Battlestar addict who will always want more. I do agree with some things I've read about it being unnecessary, and do see how some might consider it to be dragging BSG on for too long. Not saying I agree though. For me, this is like The Silmarillian. Of course it's not needed to enjoy the rest of the series, and once you've seen the series you don't need to see this. It's something extra for people who want to know everything about the world. People who watch Daybreak and are left desperate to know more, even if it's just going back to see a season and a half from the Cylon point of view. For the Battlestar addicts, The Plan is worth adding to your collection.

Now I've spoken about the actual film, I have to mention the music. Bear McCreary truly is amazing, and it either shows my love of his soundtracks or my absolute geekiness that I spent a lot of the film picking out which themes I knew and being able to name them. The Final Five theme makes any moment in Battlestar Galactica exciting for me, so I was pleased to hear that so early on. Nice to hear the Earth theme too, used as it originally was as a Caprica flashback theme. Something Dark Is Coming was included too, and I've not heard that for a while. That one reminds me a lot of season 2. The final credits song, apparently called Apocalypse, was great. I like all the tracks with Raya Yarborough's vocals. I'm definitely looking forward to adding another soundtrack to the collection.

Last comment, based on something I saw on Bear McCreary's blog. I think my geek level just hit maximum, because I recognised that the planet in the universal logo was Caprica and not Earth before I even read and confirmed it in that blog. I think I go above maximum by actually being proud of that I did.

Sanctuary wins this week

This is what I've been watching this week. I'll start with what I think was the best thing on:

Sanctuary

This is fast becoming one of my favourite series. End of Nights was a really exciting two part episode. Part two was especially dramatic, and really really sad. I kind of expected invisible girl to die though. Would have been nice if they'd waited a while, until we'd got to know her more and it made more impact, but it still worked. Of course the most upsetting death was Ashley. That really was unexpected! I thought they might keep her evil for a while, to make things interesting, but I wasn't expecting her to die so soon into season 2. Amanda Tapping was great in how she played Magnus dealing with the whole situation.

This really is a fantastic TV show. It mixes humour, drama, cheesiness, ridiculous monster stories and a load more into one show. Hey, doesn't Farscape do that too?! Okay so it's not on that level of awesome yet, but it's still great.

Stargate Universe

Eh, it's getting better. I wish Rush wasn't quite so much of an arse. It's like they've got McKay and taken away all the humour and the hidden caring side he has, and what they're left with is a character who isn't at all likeable. Eli continues to be a good character though, and Young is growing on me. One thing that struck me about this episode (Darkness) is that it's kind of like the first episode of Atlantis, only really dragged out. In Rising, when they first got there, everything was going wrong. One problem after another. Universe is like that, only the problems take longer to fix, and there's lots of non-Stargatey angst and arguments along the way. Like I said though, I did like Darkness better than Air part 3.

Dollhouse

So excited that this is back! Lots of direction changes here. Ballard is working for the Dollhouse, Echo remembers stuff, Saunders knows she's an active. That last point is quite interesting, if only for Whisky/Saunders and her confrontations with Topher. Seeing his human side for the first time outside of that future episode was interesting. I'm not sure how this'll go with Echo knowing she's an active and Ballard secretly trying to bring down the Dollhouse, but I'm sure Joss Whedon will make it awesome.

Weird thing about that first episode was seeing Jamie Bamber be English, and Alexis Denisof (I like that he's in it now) being American. Both of their voices sound really different in their real accents. Denisof sounds like he's putting on the American, but since he is American, it's just weird. It looks like they'll be some good guest stars this time around though.

Heroes

What can I say? It's alright. I think Heroes will probably only ever be alright. I mean, it is interesting, and I'll always stick with it, but it's never going to be the greatest thing on TV. It gets exciting sometimes, and they it's not again. I like the Nathan/Sylar story. I'm not really all that bothered about the new story yet though, with the carnival guy. I guess we'll see how it goes.

Modern Family

Just a brief mention for this. It's a new comedy by the Frasier people. I watched the first episode, and it looks well worth watching. It's series linked on Sky+ based on episode one anyway, since I had a good laugh at it. This is on the Sky+, and Eastbound and Down is off.

Warehouse 13

Still impressed with this series. I don't have much to say about it this week, other than that the idea that there's a dark side to it has made it even more intriguing.

FlashForward

Is Merry the Hobbit going to be D Gibbons?! Or was it Commander Norrington all along?! That was certainly a shocker at the end of that last episode. This series continues to be one of the most exciting on TV, and probably comes second to Sanctuary right now in my eyes. How were people responsibly for the flashforward?! I suspect aliens.

Sanctuary Season 1

Stargate Universe left me just slightly disappointed, but Sanctuary really has impressed me. It's a lot better than I ever thought it'd be. It got more exciting throughout the first season, and ended in a way that really sets up a great season 2.

I think "Nubbins" has to be one of my favourite episodes. I thought it'd be another Tribbles rip off, and even though it sort of was in the idea, it was original enough to be really good. Sanctuary manages to be both serious and funny (are you listening Stargate Universe?!) and episodes like this coming before something as serious as "The Five" are exactly why.

I wasn't sure I liked the idea of Magnus' power coming from her own choice to make herself better by injecting vampire blood at first, but it's grown on me. It's certainly original, and another refreshing take on the vampire stories. Druitt's really sudden cure was odd though. I did want him to end up on the good side, but it was just...sudden. Still, the idea of The Five is clever.

Some good guest starts in season 1 too, particularly members of The Five. Peter Wingfield is always cool. SG1 link too, which is always cool. The guy who plays Tesla is a great sort-of-villain too. Rekha Sharma from BSG in there too, and another appearance from Kavan Smith was good to see.

The finale was really exciting, and having recently watched the first episode of season 2, I really think this is a series to keep an eye on. When I first watched the web series and heard it was going to be on TV, I gave it a series. It already has a second, and possibly a longer future.

Stargate Universe - Air

Stargate Universe is going to be the darker, grittier Stargate series. This is what we were all told before it started. I thought this would be a good thing. The Deep Space Nine of Stargate. So far though, I'm not sure it's working well at all.

It seems to me as though they've set out to do something darker and more drama based, and in doing so, forgotten a lot of what Stargate is. SG1 managed to have great serious story arcs and still be pretty hilarious and light hearter. Atlantis was definitely a little darker and a little more serious, but you always had the witty humour to go with it. If they want to go even darker and even more serious, that doesn't mean they have to lose 100% of the light hearted nature of the show, and 100% of the humour. To me, it looks as though they've tried to go in a similar direction to Battlestar Galactica, and I know they've mentioned Firefly as in inspiration. That just doesn't work with Stargate. Well, Firefly maybe, but not BSG. It's not the same kind of drama, and if they were intending it to be, I think they're aiming it at the wrong audience. It's not what people expect of Stargate. I'm not saying that going off in that direction is bad, and it would certainly make a lot of sense given the situation that the characters find themselves in, but to start off with a load of dark/flawed characters and a general dark feeling....I'm not sure how well it's working.

I also think it suffers from lack of background/build up. Atlantis was talked about for an entire season of SG1 before they found it, and sent an expedition through to have their own series. Universe got nothing. I thought that Shepherd and Caldwell's discussion about what the Odyssey was up in Atlantis was related, but turns out it wasn't at all. That means that they started off totally from scratch. I know that's what they wanted, for this to be a seperate series, but I'm not sure it helps the story. The connections to the other Stargates was made with the involvement of three members of SG1 plus Walter. Walter did his usual job of giving the continuity some credibiltiy. Same guy at the SGC for all series! I like Daniel's video thing. Good way to include him. Carter...underused. Again. She was commanding the Hammond, like she said she'd be, but she was barely in it. I'm surprised that Amanda Tapping agreed to show up. The worst cameo has to be O'Neill though. Richard Dean Anderson is funny. He's funny during the most series and life threatening events of both SG1 and Atlantis. It's what he brings to Stargate and the O'Neill character. Why oh why have him in it and not have him be funny at all? He provided a good link to SG1, but other than that, he was disappointing.

The actual Universe characters aren't that bad. Rush is a bastard, which is interesting, although maybe having your central character being like that so early on is a little off putting. Young looks like he'll be a likable leader, but he's not been in it enough yet, and he's been kind of out of the spotlight with Robert Carlyle around. Scott seems like a bit of a stereotype. I hope he doesn't end up being just another Ford. Chloe doesn't stand out much yet either. Eli is definitely my favourite character so far. The idea of completing an online game (Stargate Worlds!) to get involved is awesome, and the only Stargatey bit of this new Stargate. I think he's taken it in a little bit too easily, and maybe they should have had weeks of him knowing about stargates rather than a day before he's whisked off to the Destiny, but he's still a good character. He's funny, and he's the everyman character. I can imagine him always being my favourite.

The actual plot is pretty good, mostly. Air part 3 was a bit dull, because not all that much happened, but it still looks promising. I just hope it does get better. Air was no Children of the Gods or Rising. I do like the idea of this being more character based than alien bad guys based, but I just feel that it's rushed into being different rather than evolving. Deep Space Nine evolved into the darkest Star Trek. It didn't just start that way. I still think SGU is worth sticking with though, if only because the ideas behind it are so good. I was watching some making of programme the other day, and Brad Wright really does make it sound awesome.

You know what disappoints me the most? I loved Atlantis. Atlantis was the highlight of my viewing week for most of the time it was on. I wanted SGU to be the best thing on television this year by a long way, and it's not...by a long way. I look forward to Sanctuary, Dollhouse, and Flashforward a lot more. Maybe that'll change, maybe it won't, but SGU is good enough to stick with. Well, as if I wouldn't stick with new Stargate, whatever the premiere had been like!

Sanctuary - 4 episodes in

Thank you Sci Fi channel for showing the entire first series over one weekend, and thank you Sky+ for allowing me to record it so I don't have to marathon too much.

Four episodes into the first season and I'm quite enjoying it. I saw the first lot of webisodes, 1-4 I think, that the first two parter was based on, and I sort of saw the episode when it was on ITV4 too, but I had a really bad tv signal then and I missed most of it. I do remember preferring the webisodes though. For a start, David Hewlett was in them, and secondly they didn't have that weird zooming in on clues thing. Not keen on that. Now I'm properly watching it, I'm appreciating the TV format a lot more. I think more was revealed about John Druit in the web series, but clearly you can't give too much away at the beginning in the real series.

The idea of monster hunting almost puts it in the list of the other recent X Files inspired series; Warehouse 13 and Fringe. Obviously the idea of the Sanctuary itself is very different though. Well, kind of like Warehouse 13, only living creatures instead of stuff. It is a good idea, although I think sometimes the idea of being out to help them all is kind of lost when they're just locking creatures up. I guess it'll develope further as it goes on though.

John Druitt is definitely the best character to be introduced so far. Christopher Heyerdahl is always great to watch, and he has an awesome voice. Zimmerman is a bit of a stereotype. Overwhelmed new guy. Enthusiastic, always wants to do the right thing, but obvious newbie. There's nothing wrong with him, but he's not really exciting yet. Ashley is a decent character, but again maybe a bit predictable. She's about kicking ass and doing the muscle work. Usually a male role, but she plays it the same anyway. Science and morals is someone else's job. She bags and her mum tags. She'll probably be something more later on though. The "Big Guy" monster man is interesting, because he rarely talks. You feel like he'll say something really interesting one day. Also, he sounds like Todd the Wraith, because he's Christopher Heyerdahl doing almost the same voice as he does for Todd the Wraith. Only reason I recognised it was him in the suit.

And Dr Magnus...I can't decide what I think of Amanda Tapping in this. I've said in other blog posts that bad accents annoy me. Hers isn't that bad really. Few slip ups. Maybe the same subtle slip ups as James Marsters as Spike in Buffy. It just doesn't suit her. It's like doing the accent is really unnatural to her, which doesn't make sense because I believe she has an English background and was either born here or lived here or something. It just seems like a strain, and it's almost as though her acting suffers slightly because it does seem so unnatural to her. All her speech sounds more formal than even a posh received pronunciation accent should be. The character is alright though, but she'll be a lot more interesting when the story gets going a bit more. You can see that she's a bit distant and mysterious, but that'll all change if John Druitt comes back.

Yep, John Druitt still the best character to be in it. Heyerdahl's accent is flawless, and doesn't seem unnatural at all. He plays a half crazed killer pretty darn well, and you just know he'll influence loads of stories in the future.

I'm sure it won't be long until I have more to say on Sanctuary, since I have several more season 1 episodes to go and I intend to get them watched in the next week or so. Good show.

TV is good right now.

Lots of good new series, and thanks to the miracle of Sky+, lots of old things to watch again.

Warehouse 13

I'm enjoying this series. Fringe was billed to be the new X Files, but although I won't deny that it's pretty good, I couldn't get into it. Warehouse 13 has also been compared to The X Files, but I'm finding it much more enjoyable than Fringe. I think it's the humour. Two agents after supernatural artifacts, kinds of X Filesy, with more Stargatey type light heartedness, mixed in with serious story. Jane Espenson has been involved in lots of my favourite shows, so it's not surprising that I'm liking this. The only thing I'm hoping for is a bit more of a continuous story arc for the series kicking in at some point. I know it's still early, so I won't blame them for not having a solid one yet. I'm only 4 episodes in so far, but I think I'll stick with this.

FlashForward

This is a great idea for a TV show. Interested to see that Brannon Braga is involved. Instincts tell me to shout "but he killed Star Trek", but I know that isn't true...he took it to some bad places, but one day it'll be recognised that Enterprise saved it. Aaanyway, the pilot was definitely good. Since I've only seen one episode, there's not a lot I can say about it yet, other than that I'm excited to see where this one goes.

One annoyance, and something I find an annoyance in any series, is the bad accents. Well, the one bad accent. If you want a person of a certain nationality, employ someone of that nationality, or someone who can do a flawless immitation of the required accent. I'm talking of course about the main bloke's wife, Olivia I think it is. Penelope from Lost. She's English, and she's being American, and it bloody sounds like it. Sort it out.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I can't explain how much I'm loving Buffy all over again. It's like I'd forgotten that it was one of my favourite series. Forgotten why I originally loved Joss Whedon, before Firefly and Dr Horrible convinced me of his genius. Fx are currently showing the final season. I've been watching since the end of season 5, and it's a lot darker than I remembered. Well, I remembered, but maybe it didn't strike me at the time just how dark Buffy always was. No one gets to be happy!

Anyway, I have a slight dilemma coming up. Sci Fi are about to start showing Buffy from the start. Do I quit season 7 on Fx and start again, or finish 7 and attempt to record as much of season 1 as I can on Sky+ and start that when I've done? I think I've decided to try the latter, although it'll be weird to watch from the beginning after seeing the end. It's just so good!

Eastbound and Down

Yep, this has Will Ferrell written all over it. Enjoyable comedy. It's nothing groundbreaking, but it's a TV series that's vaguely like Anchorman, so it's worth a go.

Coming soon...

If you include the many awesome repeats being shown across Sky channels at the moment too, there are a load of great shows coming up this season, so here's what I'll be posting about in the coming weeks:

Dollhouse season 2 - starts on Sci Fi in the UK on the 20th of October.
Stargate Universe - starts on Tuesday on Sky1 (I'm amazingly excited about this)
Heroes - not sure when, but apparently "coming soon" to BBC 2
Buffy season 1 onwards - yay! Starts Monday at 7pm on Sci Fi
Santuary - unless I've misunderstood, Sci Fi are repeating this from the start. Good opportunity to catch up, since I never got going.
Dexter season 4 - as soon as my new PC arrives I'll catch up.

A new blog

I've had a personal blog for a long time now, and a lot (and I mean a lot) of posts on there end up being about what I watch on TV. This blog is a new place for that kind of posting. Some of my television related posts have attracted interest from outside site, so I thought that maybe a specific blog like this might attract even more interest. For my old posts, I've had a few that someone requested be reposted as reviews on a much bigger site, and also a response from a member of the BBC production team behind Big Cat Week last year. Always nice to think people read your blogs!

Anyway, regardless of who else reads it, this blog is because I enjoy talking about what I watch on TV. I might transfer some posts from the other blog over, or at least link to them. I hope to make this at least a bit successful anyway.

So here it is. Welcome to my new blog :)

Torchwood - Children of Earth

*reposted from my personal blog*

Torchwood series 1 was a bit hit and miss. To be honest, I never saw all of it, because what I did see and read about it made me think it was just about being a "darker and edgier" Dr Who, maybe crossed with something like The X Files. It was all stuff that couldn't go in Dr Who. Sex and swearing. Some bits of it did show a lot of promise though. The last couple of episodes were definitely worth watching.

Series 2 was such a massive improvement. Having James Marsters involved was great, and Owen's shock death mid season, only to be brought back as a zombie-ish living dead man was genius. This series is definitely a lot more emotional too. Adrift is a brilliant episode, and the finale was amazing. Very sad though. Tosh and Owen gone in one episode?!

Children of Earth. Well if series 2 was an improvement, series 3 was the giant improvement that makes Torchwood a truly fantastic sci fi series, able to contend with all the big American shows. Very dark overall, but that's what's good about Torchwood sometimes. They aren't afraid to go for the unhappy ending. There were a lot of good twists too. Jack has a daughter who looks around his age. Jack was involved the first time the 456 came. The 456 wanted kids to use as drugs. So much more.

I actually did cry at a few points. Ianto. Ianto is dead! That was horrible. Again, brave of them to kill off another main character. They really do fit the "Anyone Can Die" trope. I was also upset at Frobisher's actions. I really empathised with his character. He wasn't a bad guy. He was just doing what he thought he had to, and he was the government's fall guy. Of course the saddest moment was Jack having to sacrifice his own grandson. Would the Doctor have done the same?! That's what I kept thinking. Jack makes ruthless decisions for the greater good, but would the Doctor actually end someone's life to save the rest. Truly was heartbreaking to watch.

All in all, Children of Earth really was something special. Apparently a fourth series depended on ratings for this. No worries then, and I really can't wait for it.

Battlestar Galactica - Daybreak

*reposted from personal blog*

Battlestar Galactica truly is one of the best things to ever be shown on a television. The final episode was just perfect. It's great that it was still able to be unpredictable and surprising right up to the end.

Starting off, we always knew that Adama, who always makes the right call, would go after Hera. Was never sure they'd get through it though! I also suspected that Boomer might do the right thing in the end, and she did. Wasn't sad when Athena killed her though. Some things were more shocking though. The moment when you realised that Baltar and Caprica Six could see each other's Head Cylon and Head Baltar. Angels! They really were. Nothing more sinister than that. Baltar was never evil and I knew that, but it was good to see him doing the right thing in the finale. He got it. The man of science who never believed in religion was the man with the faith at the end.

And Starbuck! She died after Maelstrom, on Earth. The Starbuck who came back was like an angel too. She wasn't really there. Well, she was, but...she was something different. All the mythology and spiritual stuff was great. The Opera House scene was just brilliant. That had been there since season one. Roslin, Athena, Caprica, Baltar and Hera, all playing out the parts from the vision that we'd seen for four years. I'm not into religion and would have been kind of disappointed if it'd all been about the Christian God, but it wasn't really. God, or a god, or the gods of Kobol, or some other divine force. Something bigger than us, and that was all that mattered. Perfect.

Of course the biggest twist was that our Earth and the Earth of their own mythology were not the same place. I was seriously confused when they landed in Africa, and there was grass and animals and primitive humanoids. They just chose to call it Earth because Earth was the dream! Our Earth was just named after the real Earth! And they were our anscestors! Perfect.

I didn't really cry because I didn't watch it alone, but I probably will next time. Roslin's death, and the Admiral leaving forever, and Starbuck's departure, and Sam going into the Sun with Galactica...all beautifully done. The happy bits too were worth a tear in places. Tigh and Ellen together again, Baltar going back to his roots with Caprica, Helo surviving, finding this new planet to start with. The flashbacks worked well to make it all that more emotional too.

I loved how it finally ended. In our time, the angel Caprica and angel Baltar with Ron D. Moore in the scene, discussing whether it will all happen again, to Jimi Hendrix's All Along the Watchtower. I really can't wait for both the DVD release, and after Bear McCreary's brilliant season as far as the music goes, the soundtrack too.

I'd also like to add that Ronald D. Moore is a complete legend. Battlestar Galactica + many of my favourite DS9 episdes...can't get much better than that.

Stargate Atlantis

*reposted from personal blog*


Stargate Atlantis has been one of my favourite TV series for a long time now, and I'm gutted that it's finally over. I'd even say more gutted than when SG1 finished, although more satisfied since Atlantis had a much better ending.

So, because I feel like it, I'll start from the beginning. Atlantis had a great pilot episode. The Wraith were a scary new enemy, but it had all the old familiar Stargate stuff too. O'Neill and Daniel, for a start, and then Weir and McKay who we'd seen in SG1 too. Also Robert Patrick, which was funny, since I knew I'd know if he was a main character. I knew he wasn't, so I knew he'd die. Good idea though, getting in a known actor to come and be killed off in the pilot.

Season 1 just continued to get better after that. The main Atlantis team was pretty good. Humorous airforce man, sarcastic scientist, interesting alien...and Ford. Ford was the weak link in that team. He was nothing. Just a guy with nothing about him. Anyway, the stories got better, peaking in the last few. The build up to the Wraith attack was great. One highlight was Groden dying. If you want a British character, cast a British actor, or a foreign actor who can do a FLAWLESS British accent. If you want to cast a Canadian who can't, have a Canadian character. Anyway, great finale.

Season 2 started off really well, and just got better. Ford was suddenly really interesting. Skinner from X Files was playing a guy you started off not liking but knew would end up on your side in the end...a familiar role for him maybe! Ronon was introduced to the cast, and unlike Ford, was the perfect fourth member of the team. Kind of like Teal'c, but just enough not like him to be a great character in his own right. Season 2 also saw Michael, one of the best bad guys in sci fi, introduced. Stupid Atlantis people...they sort of deserved everything they got from him. Interesting moral stories there. Low point of this series was Grace Under Pressure. Lame excuse to include Amanda Tapping, and nothing like as good as the SG1 episode called Grace.

Season 3 was where Atlantis really peaked. Great conclusion to the season 2 finale, replicators, Richard Dean Anderson, Michael, some great Rodney episodes, "Sunday" and an amazing finale. Picking on individual episodes, the mid season one was really good. In fact, all the replicator ones were. The Asurans being replicators was totally unexpected at the time. Vengence was a great Michael episode, and actually a bit freaky. Sunday...what can I say. One of the best episodes. This is just about the Atlantis lot getting on with their lives on a day off, and then something bad happening. And Carson dies :( I feel something is taken away from this by his clone returning, because everyone forgets that the clone isn't the same guy. I still love that episode though.

The Season 3 finale was probably the best, if you also count it's season 4 conclusion. The Replicator stories were great, and what happened to Weir was really unexpected. Season 4 itself I've talked about in more detail in other posts here. Basically, Carter was a disappointment, and the team weren't always a team anymore. Great series with some great episodes, particularly the mid season one and the last few. Midway was also a highlight...who didn't want to see Ronon vs Teal'c?! It could only have ended in a draw. That was one I really enjoyed though.

Season 5 had some of the same problems as series 4, in that the team weren't consistantly together, and the Atlantis leader wasn't always present. Still, Richard Woolsey was a great character to bring in. I've liked him since his first SG1 appearance. A good guy who's too concerned with the rules, but he comes to understand how things really work while he's on Atlantis. It's a shame Robert Picardo wasn't used more, although he definitely did a better job than Carter.

The fifth season, despite it's flaws, was still great. McKay and Keller was nice to see, for a start, and McKay had a great episode in The Shrine. The mid season episodes were fantastic. Daniel was put to good use rather than just being "hey look SG1 guest star", and the Asgard being the bad guys was a fantastic twist, and one I didn't see coming in a million years. That's surely something to be built upon in a film.

Anyway, I've mentioned many of the season 5 episodes in previous blog entries, but not the finale. Wow. I've complained before about SG1 never having the conclusive ending it needed. Atlantis did. In a single part 42 minute episode, it did everything it needed to do. Everyone important was involved in some small way, including Carter, Zelenka, Beckett, Major Davis (random, but good to see old characters), Caldwell, Ellis...and other secondary characters who needed inclusion in a finale. The idea of Wraith going to Earth was the perfect final story, and beating them by taking Atlantis to Earth was genius, and totally unexpected. I actually shed a tear when I thought Ronon was dead, but I didn't feel cheated out of an emotional story when he was brought back. I was glad Todd actually helped, since he's a great character. It was also great that they mentioned General Hammond's death, and the dedication of the new ship. To top it all off, it was cool that they landed pretty much near Starfleet Headquarters. Obviously irrelevant but hey, I'm a sci fi nerd. If I had one complaint? Wormhole drive...that all seemed a bit too random and convenient. Never mentioned before, but let's invent it anyway. Still, that's just Stargate isn't it. SG1 seasons 5, Full Circle, knocking on a wall of a giant room 3 times in random places, and hey! There's the Eye of Ra. Stargate doesn't have to be sensible.

So Atlantis ended extremely well. If the films never get made for whatever reason, I'll still be satisfied. Bring on Universe!