Current Reading: Alien

Alien [1979] easily ranks as my favourite horror movie, and one of my favourite scifi flicks. No matter how many times I've seen it, it continues to scare the shit out of me. So I thought, "Hey, if I liked the movie, I should love the book!" While the novelization, by Alan Dean Foster, lacks the impact of many of the movie images, it does convey some of the more subtle emotional moments of a tense and frightening story.

To sum up, if you haven't seen Alien in awhile, the crew of a commercial starship, the Nostromo, are woken from deep sleep to investigate an apparent distress signal. Unbeknownst to the rest of the crew, Science Officer Ash [who, it turns out, is an android] and the ship's computer, Mother, are bound by a directive from the Company, to encounter and if possible retrieve, an alien life form. That plan goes to shit pretty quickly, after one of the crew discovers a form of the alien that attaches itself to his face and turns his body into an incubator. After a small, nasty creature hatches out of his torso in a thoroughly bloody fashion, it hides in the ship growing, while five of the remaining six crewmembers try to figure out how to get rid of it, and Ash & Mother try to protect it. Slowly but inexorably, the alien disposes of all but Ash [who's taken out by ship's engineer Parker] and Warrant Officer Ripley, who ultimately blows the alien into space.

The novelization is pretty much the movie in text form, though there are occasional minor changes. I'm enjoying Foster's writing well enough, though given the impact of the movie, I'm finding it not entirely satisfying. He paints a decent enough picture of the environs of the Nostromo, though he doesn't spend a lot of time on detail. His handling of the crews' internal states and their interractions is concise, illustrating the characters' distinct personalities with minimal verbiage. I love the succession of hints that are dropped early on about Ash's identity and his deception. The confrontations about Ash's loyalty, between Ash & Nostromo captain Dallas, then Ash & Ripley, contain an emotional depth that is not really explored in the movie. This is definitely a case where knowing what's coming does not diminish my reaction.

Among the most powerful images in the movie are the designs of the derelict alien ship and the alien creature itself, in its multiple creepy-as-fuck incarnations. I think Swiss artist H.R. Giger's designs would challenge the most adept writer and, unfortunately, I don't think Foster was quite up to it. As he describes the derelict & creature, they are truly alien, but lack the nightmarish grotesquery of Giger's images.

Though it's enjoyable enough for some tense, quick reading, I'm leaning towards "don't bother" with this one. At least as engaging is the movie novel, released the same year as the movie, and is made up of a shitload of images along with just enough text to fill in necessary story.

More evil Katee = happy geeks

Fans of Katee Sackhoff will be pleased to know she's likely to stick around on Bionic Woman, as long as the show doesn't get canned. Sackhoff plays the pissed off first bionic woman, Sarah Corvus. A helpful reader [thanks, Jason!] pointed me to this, which pulled the news from an interview with Sackhoff earlier this week. Sackhoff will appear in seven eps this season, and could become a series regular if the show is picked up for a second season.

The interview is about 20 minutes long, with lots of silliness and some interesting info. She talks some about both Bionic Woman & BSG, but doesn't give away any spoilers. She was asked about, and Aaron Douglas mentioned at DragonCon, the rumour that the SciFi Channel plans to stretch the fourth & final season of BSG over two years, with the first ten eps starting in January '08 and holding off the remaining ten 'til 2009. If that's true, it's very lame.

Did I say Craplantis?

As I mentioned a little while ago, I decided to give Stargate Atlantis another try, this time from the beginning. I'm at the end of season one and I've definitely replaced some of my previous impressions with more positive notions. All right, fine, I like it. I'm a big fan of Maj. John Sheppard and I don't find Joe Flanigan's acting nearly as unpalatable as I did when I gave this a shot some time ago. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for Torri Higginson, who plays Atlantis commander Elizabeth Weir.

The Wraith aren't the best bad guys ever, but they're cool to look at and I like the design of their ships [which struck me as quite Giger-esque, but that could be because I'm reading Alien right now].

Atlantis does have a darker atmosphere than SG-1 had, though it also features some of the humour that often highlighted its predecessor. Much of that humour comes in the form of one-liners, usually served up by Sheppard or astrophysicist Rodney McKay, played by David Hewlett, who's great with a delivery. I still think the sarcastic, socially inept geek is a little too much of a stereotype sometimes, but it's not intolerable.

Well, I won't be caught up by tonight when s4 starts, but I do feel like I've got a better handle on the characters and the conditions. And, I don't feel as though it's been a waste of time [at least, no more so than any other tv watching I do...].

She'll never buy batteries again

After catching the premiere of Bionic Woman, I'm interested enough to want to watch it next week. While the hotties alone would make it worthwhile, I also like the style of the show and I'm feeling open-minded about where they'll be taking this schtick.

The new Jamie Sommers is a bartender instead of a teacher, and her boyfriend is a surgeon of the mad scientist variety, who replaces both her legs, one arm, an ear and an eye with super improved parts, following a devastating car accident. At the end of the pilot, she's left deciding whether or not to work for the organization that funded her overhaul, though we're not given the impression she'll have much choice.

Katee Sackhoff is definitely hot as Starbuck on BSG, but as the evil bionic woman, she's totally fuckin' smokin'. Holy shit. Unfortunately, she's not destined to stick around.

So, it looks like there's some potential here. It takes place in a dark, dirty & complex world where people do things that aren't always beneficial or wise. Sounds like a fine place to start some good tv. Perhaps it's just wishful thinking, but I'm hoping this show is more scifi and less primetime drama than the original incarnation. As always, we'll see.

Greedy genius vultures

After several episodes with a lot of light & fluffy, Eureka made up for it this week as it took a surefooted step toward something much grittier. Stark just keeps winning me over, and the execution of Beverly's return only reinforces that feeling. He & Allison are keeping some dirty secrets, but the situation has just gotten a lot messier. Holy crap, what a way to end the episode.

So, Kevin is mutating? Hunh. Wonder where they'll go with that. I'm guessing that Beverly will be instrumental in finding a way to reverse Kevin's changes. I have a little problem with the artifact and the "collective knowledge of the universe" business, but I'm willing to play along.

Of course, it was nice to see Michael Shanks. Too small a part, but mmm, good arm porn.

Oh no, I broke history!

It's no wonder Hiro is my favourite hero. The season two opener of Heroes pleased me. While we got some big surprises, this was a good establishing episode. Considering the number of stories to follow and the huge cast, this ep could have been overwhelming, but I don't think it tried to cram in too much. Of course, it could easily turn into a tangled behemoth as the season progresses, though I'm hopeful that won't be much of an issue.

I got very happy when Kensei removed his mask. I sure do like David Anders [Sark, on Alias], and I had forgotten that he was joining the show. As for the great Kensei being a slimy English coward, well, if anyone can turn him into a hero, it's Hiro. I sure hope Hiro doesn't become Kensei; that would just be kind of unsatisfying.

I have a blind spot when it comes to Mr. Bennet, so even though the bits with his paper store manager were irritatingly overdone, he was nice to watch. I wonder how long it'll be before he notices something strange about the guy floating outside his daughter's bedroom window....

The Petrelli family has certainly embraced upheaval. Peter's alive, cuffed inside a storage crate on the other side of the Atlantic, flaunting his latest power: super amnesia. It seems that Nathan might be growing a set as far as his mother is concerned. Conveniently, it appears she won't be much of an issue anymore. So, who's taking out the 'rents, and why now?

So far, I like the new characters, Maya & Alejandro. I'm curious about what exactly her ability is, but it's pretty clear it's plenty messy. There's a long list of other things I'm curious about, but I'm guessing much will be answered in time. I think I'm most interested in what Sylar's up to these days. It makes me very happy that he's not dead.

A week of worship at the glowing altar

Next week oughta be some kind of holy week in fandom. Monday, the new season of Heroes begins and I'm itchin' for it to get started. Though the last episode of season one left me unimpressed and even a little disappointed, I'm plenty ready to get sucked into another adventure.

Two days later, on Wednesday, Bionic Woman premieres. I don't know much about it and I wasn't the biggest fan of the original series. However, it sure looks slick, and I'm eager to see more from Executive Producer David Eick [BSG].

Finally, Friday is the start of Stargate Atlantis season four. I'm not caught up and I only know bits & pieces of what's going on in the story, but I'm okay with that. Over time, I'll watch the previous three seasons & hopefully come to the conclusion that it was indeed worth my time.

As a little bonus on top of all that, Michael Shanks [Daniel Jackson on SG-1] is guest starring on Tuesday's Eureka.

Flash Gordon improving, a bit

So far, I'm glad I've given Flash Gordon a chance. I want it to be really good and I want to like it. These first several eps have had me invoking other first seasons, reflecting on how much better some shows managed to get over time. Friday's ep, "Ascension," went a long way towards helping me believe this too will improve. It wasn't great, but it definitely didn't suck as hard as previous eps. I'm getting a little more interested in the characters and finding the stories a little more engaging, as we get a fuller picture of things.

The Hawkmen made me laugh. In fact, even the most rank eps have made me laugh at least a few times, which scores pretty high in my book. Of course, I'd prefer a darker show, but I always do. A little bit of the grim, however, comes in the form of Rankol [Ming's human/Segway pal], who's quickly becoming my favourite character.

Also, Flash's mom is totally hot.

I lied in my last post

Lost is starting its fourth season, sometime early next year. For further discussion, see my previous post's comments.

Surprised I even noticed this

Okay, so I think awards shows are mockable shit, and Lost is a crapfest, but for some reason I'm still a little pleased that Terry O'Quinn won an Emmy for his role as John Locke on said crapfest.

Lost caught my interest from the very first episode and pretty much kept it through season one. Sure, many of the characters were annoying and most were impressively stupid, but some of them stood out and made the show worth watching. S1 also had a sense of direction, as though the writers had a story to tell. S2 saw what appeared to be writers flailing wildly for a hook, anything to keep watchers interested in these insipid people and their awful choices. What kept me watching after the start of s2 was O'Quinn, and my certainty that I wouldn't mind one bit being stuck on an island with Locke. As a bonus, his story got a lot more interesting as the season came to a close.

For those playing along at home, Lost begins its third season early next February and moves from Wednesdays to Mondays. With any luck, a lot more of the story will focus on Locke.

Straggling post-con thoughts

As silly as it sounds after four days of intensive geekery, it was comforting to come home and watch some SG-1, in the quiet of my own livingroom with my cats around me. That's been a nice little part of my decompression process. After seeing so many SG panels, I was a little bit thrown by watching the actors in an episode. It was suddenly strange to see them playing these characters that seemed so unlike the personalities I saw at the con. Teal'c was especially interesting because of how different he is from Christopher Judge. That feeling didn't last very long, though, and I quickly stopped thinking of the actors as other than their characters.

One of the fan-run panels convinced me to give Stargate Atlantis another shot, but this time from the beginning. What encouraged me was the consensus that Atlantis is a darker show than SG-1 and explores more difficult themes & ideas. Perhaps I will find that satisfying enough to overlook the aspects of the show that turned me off in the first place. It won't hurt to get myself caught up to the new season [which starts later this month], now that I plan on watching anyway with the addition of Amanda Tapping [Carter on SG-1] to the show.

News of the upcoming Farscape webisodes didn't sound good. As yet, the actors who played Crais & the voice of Pilot, Chiana and Braca have not been contacted, though apparently the Pilot & Rygel puppets are being recreated after the originals started to fall apart in storage. On a more up note, there is fan speculation that the SciFi Channel would not go to the expense of making webisodes for a series that's been over for some years if they weren't planning something bigger for the future. Perhaps "speculation" is a strong word...let's say "wishful thinking."

So, I haven't said much about costumes, but there were definitely some really amazing ones. I especially get a kick out of groups of people who get all done up in the same theme. The most notable were a bunch of Spartans from the comic & movie 300, and some Quiddich teams from the Harry Potter franchise. In fact, Harry Potter was huge this year, with Hogworts students running around everywhere. Though I got some pretty good pictures, there was a lot of time when I was prowling the con without my camera and missed capturing many excellent costumes. There were more Colonial Fleet [BSG] uniforms than I recall seeing last year, and a crazy number of Storm Troopers.

Thanks for the memories

I've put up my pictures from DragonCon here. Again, I make the usual disclaimers about the quality of the photos. Some turned out great [especially those I took after figuring out some of the camera's settings], and some not so great. However, I'm pleased with a lot of the photos I got this year and I hope you enjoy them, too.

They're arranged in three sets - DragonCon '07, DC '07 Parade and DC '07 Guests.

Eureka catch-up

I'm finally caught up on Eureka, having missed two eps while I was gone. Both of them had some laugh-out-loud moments and I enjoyed them well enough all around. However, the constant emphasis on how terribly dumb Jack Carter is got old awhile ago, yet the writers can't resist trotting it out over & over again. That's made especially frustrating by the fact that he is otherwise an excellently written character and the writers have to reach to make him look dumb [which, of course, he isn't].

So, I'm starting to enjoy the fact that the tease of an Allison/Jack relationship looks like a red herring. Stark continues to grow on me and I'm actually liking that he & Allison are reviving their relationship. Of course, I'd probably feel different if Jack wasn't being distracted by his dry cleaner.

Apparently, there's a fair sized contingent of fans who like the bright & shiny nature of Eureka; it's their happy show. During the con panel on the dark side of Eureka, quite a few people expressed disappointment in what's going on with Henry's story in particular. For my own taste, darker is definitely better and I'm hoping they ramp it up as the season continues.

When stick figures go geek

If you've never checked out xkcd.com, you're missing some serious geek humour. Star Wars fans will hoot at this one. But don't expect just scifi geekery; xkcd kicks out the laughs for gamers, computer geeks, comics fans, and awkward humans of all ilk.

Go laugh, ya geeks!

Geek-A-Thon, Day 4

Well damn, it's already over :( So, I got up this morning stupid early in order to stand in line for yet another SG panel. I'm glad I did, though, because it was well worth it. Four of the six panelists came on stage clutching beers, which pretty much set the tone. I had a little squee moment when I was kneeling down in front of the stage to get photos and Alexis Cruz [Skaara] smiled right at me while I took his picture. *squeeee*! Btw, the new Show & Tell picture is from this morning's panel.

Then there was another BSG panel. Aaron Douglas is really terrifically funny and is happy to talk about how much fun he's having at the con. He also talked a little about the final five cylons, which I appreciated. He made it very clear that they are not like the seven we'd met previously, and that there is only one version of each; if they die, they stay dead. He told a great little anecdote about the last ep of season 3 - apparently my favourite line, Tigh's "whoaaaa" when he walks into the room with Tyrol, Anders & Tory, was ad libbed and Ron Moore liked it enough to leave it in.

I finished up the con with another run through the dealer room, though thankfully I managed to avoid spending any more money. Yesterday I got cool little horns that I'm excited to wear to a party. Then I hung out outside my hotel awaiting my ride and watching the departure of the geeks. It was nice to get back to my friends after the con. Spending time with them is, of course, great, but it's also been helpful to talk to them about the weekend, to reinforce the stories & the memories.

Now I am left with a slew of after-con thoughts, from the uber-geeky to the creative to the mundane. Next year, I'm going to remember that it's summer, therefore I need to bring a few extra long-sleeved shirts. I know, it doesn't make any sense to me either, but the fact is every building I go into has its A/C set at a balmy 56 degrees.

As with most events of this kind [indulgent fringe festivals], I'm already thinking about things I want to do next year, like different costumes and maybe even some involvement in a couple of my favourite tracks. I took a small step this year by following the planning on the American Scifi track, but I did not take the plunge and actually contribute anything. So, maybe next year.

More than any other con I've ever been to, this year's DragonCon hit me over the head time & time again that geeks and fans [and geeky fans] are really great. While waiting to be let into a panel, someone I was in line with referred to this event as LineCon, which is unfortunately too close to accurate. However, that said, I was pretty damn lucky to spend most of my time in lines next to interesting people, and I had several good conversations. And this morning, a wonderful man brought me a coffee from the consuite. Yay wonderful man! Meeting new people is a pretty cool thing, and I think it's a direct result of attending the con by myself. Instead of my attention being mostly on my significantly awesome other, I was much more likely to interract with the people around me, which it turns out I enjoyed a lot. I have friends who dabble in the scifi geekery, but I'm really the only one who gets into it quite so much, so this weekend was a supremely satisfying indulgence.

I'm sure I'll have more to say in the next few days, as I process the weekend and memories prowl around inside my head. I'll also be getting some more pictures online soon. For now, enjoy these --

A totally hot Phoenix
A totally happy Aaron Douglas

Geek-A-Thon, Day 3

This was my take-it-easy morning, so I slept in, then got ready in a liesurely fashion before heading to the art show. Clearly, I cannot say I like fantasy art as much as the next guy, because I get pretty damn sick of that shit after about the 42nd dragon/fairy/unicorn. However, there are some pretty impressive artists represented, with a broad range of styles & creativity. One awesome installation was a huge Tatooine diorama depicting a fight amongst Stormtroopers, Sand people & Jawas. Very cool. I also prowled the dealer room some more, then spent a good long while in a line for another SG megapanel. This one included Claudia Black [who I had no idea is something like eight months pregnant], so that was a bonus. And did I mention that Chris Judge is a pervert? Yeah, his mind is firmly entrenched in the gutter.

On a lark, I took a short cruise through the Walk of Fame again, just to ask Lexa Doig [Dr. Lam on SG-1] how awesome it was to play Beau Bridges' daughter on that show, only because of my lifelong crush on Beau Bridges. She laughed when I said that watching her play that character tweaked my Electra complex big time, and she confirmed that he was indeed awesome to work with :) And, since I don't have a thing for Lexa Doig, I was able to talk with her sans giggling, which was a pleasant relief.

Next up was a panel on the dark side of Eureka. Returning this year is JPL rocket scientist & very cool guy, Kevin Grazier, who is the science adviser for Eureka & BSG. He's great to listen to, not only because he really knows his shit, but also because of his enthusiasm for the show & his appreciation for the fans.

That brought me up to dinnertime, so I had a little nosh and rested up in anticipation of a late night. When I ventured out later in the evening, it was to attend another "mature themes" panel, this time talking about adult content in scifi shows [of which there isn't enough, if you ask me]. It was fondly called the "You got your scifi in my smut! You got your smut in my scifi!" panel. I followed that up with a little bit of tv in the Stargate track room, but had to flee before they started Mega Snake.

Finally, this is the costume I've been working on for so long --

Geek-A-Thon, Day 2

Thankfully, the raging headache and nausea that started my morning didn't stick around too long, and I was able to catch most of the parade from the balcony of my room. There were no floats, but there were some pretty cool cars, including a few tricked out hearses. A highlight was Nichelle Nichols, who totally qualifies for hero status in scifi culture.

Following the parade, I caught a panel with BSG stars Aaron Douglas [Chief Tyrol], Richard Hatch [Tom Zarak] & Jamie Bamber [Apollo]. They're richly entertaining men who gleefully mock each other, joke with the fans and generally have a good time doing their thing.

Then I tried to get into a panel with Claudia Black, but was foiled - just as I finally found the correct line, the room was closed because it had reached capacity. Bah, screw their "fire code."

So, instead of listening to Claudia talk for an hour, I went to see Farscape stars Gigi Edgley [Chiana], Lani Tupu [Crais & the voice of Pilot] & David Franklin [Braca]. They were clearly having a good time and were fun to listen to. I wanted to ask a question [about Gigi's experience making a particularly disturbing episode], but as soon as I thought about standing up & having the attention of a huge room of people, if only for a few moments, I started getting uncomfortable. Man, sometimes even a hint of public speaking makes me feel a little ill.

I followed up that panel with a quick run through the Walk of Fame [a big room where the stars hold court]. I caught a glimpse of lots of people I'm happy to see, but was unwilling to wait in line to meet them, if only because I don't know what to say to any of them without sounding like a giggling fangirl.

After taking a short nap, I kicked off the evening's festivities by waiting in a ridiculously long line to see a Stargate megapanel, which featured ten of the stars from SG-1 & Atlantis. The line could have been worse, but I scored a spot next to a hot chick who I got to chat with while we waited, so that was nice. I can't say enough about how fun the panel was. It's clear these people really like each other and really enjoy what they do, as well as genuinely appreciate the fans. They're also not shy about adult humour, which scratches one of my favourite itches. It's especially nice to see Chris Judge out of character, because he's so entirely unlike Teal'c. Not only is he animated and lively, he's got a wicked sense of humour, tells a good story and has a dirty mind. Yay!

Finally, I wrapped up the night with a couple of Stargate fan-run panels, which covered "mature themes" in the SG universe. While I could have done with less of the panelists talking over each other and more dark side SG discussion, it wasn't entirely about egos. The second half of the panel, in fact, was all about my most recent addiction - SG slash. What's to say about that? Fans love to put their favourite characters into some seriously pervy situations.

Well, it is again late and I am tired, so here's a little something from the parade. There's just something cool about Klingons doing un-Klingony things...

And, I'll end this with a couple shots of what I wore today. I was going to wear my genie costume tonight, but realized I'd forgotten a vital component, so it'll wait 'til tomorrow instead.