ANOTHER Geeky Convergence of Epic Proportions

The collaborations between the Whedon-verse and the BSG-galaxy just keep on coming.

The one time blonde haired bad boy, James Marsters, is guest starring in a minimum of three episodes on the BSG spin-off Caprica, which debuts on the newly-renamed Syfy on January 22nd, 2010. But in the meantime, check out the pretty awesome pilot/miniseries Caprica, out on DVD. I loved it a lot, and it's definitely got me pumped to see what Moore and crew cook up, despite my (increasingly major-seeming) qualms with the BSG finale.

Bloody great!

A Geeky Convergence of Semi-Epic Proportions

Dollhouse just got even geek-tastic-ier. Jamie Bamber, aka ab-tastic Captain/Major/Admiral Lee Adama, is joining the erst-while Helo, Tahmoh Penniket, on Dollhouse. Which means Whedon language coming out of the prettiest member of the awesome Adama family.

I'm trying to avoid the BSG-centered pun, but...

Oh frack it.

So say we all!

All of This Has Happened Before...

So it's finally over. The semi-epic ride that was Battlestar Galactica's 4 seasons is done; no more big cylon reveals, no more coming back from the dead, no more hallucinogens/angels, and especially no more gratuitous naked shots of Jaime Baumber. It's a sad state of affairs.

So how'd it go out? Well, I'm of two minds about this. I like to call them Optimist Rachael and Critical Rachael. (spoilers, obviously, ahead)

CRITICAL RACHAEL: The thing is, it was kind of stupid. They find a new planet (which they, in uber-cop-out mode rename Earth) which has the unlikely beginnings of a new mankind on it (which they write away as a miracle) and decide to stay there. Oh but wait. Even worse. They think, you know what sucks? Technology. Technology sucks. Especially medicines. So they decide to stay there and go full native. Also, apparently they decide that "going native" requires Adama to abandon Lee to go hang out alone with Roslin's grave. Starbuck, a character they spent episode upon episode building into a complex fascinating woman, disappears into the wind. We're left to believe Baltar's semi-crazy explanation that she's an angel. They basically undo all the cool psychologically fracked up awesomeness in favor of some cover-all religiosity. In fact, a lot of this episode can be seen as bad writing being covered up with religious angles (and angels). What's with all the coincidences? Oh it's God. Why is Starbuck back? God wanted her to be. Why did Caprica Six, Roslin, and Athena share visions of the Opera House? I'm still not sure why that was helpful to the Big Man's plan, especially since while it was all going down it either distracted our main characters or they did what they would have anyway, but either way, it's thanks to God. The religion stuff would work better if I was certain the writers were in control of it, but too often it comes across as a weak crutch. In a lot of ways, this episode embodied the reasons why BSG would have been better served if Ron Moore had an endgame in mind when he first thought about rehatching Battlestar Galactica as a strange, complex, allegorical world.

OPTIMIST RACHAEL:
But the thing is, you've got to be amazed by a finale that cares so deeply about it's characters, that despite the whizzes, booms, and explosions of its first hour, it devotes the majority of its finale to these characters. Not to new revelations, or new developments. It just gives us them, and provides the audience with a final goodbye to the characters they've fallen in love with. And with the (very important) exception of Starbuck's, these goodbyes feel real and moving. Watching Adama lovingly talk to Roslin's grave is a huge testament to what they've built together on the show. Sure, Baltar has done countless awful, selfish things, but it still feels so... fulfilling to see him and Caprica head off into the sunset. And Athena and Helo, despite Athena's protests last week that everything "is not going to be okay, Karl," wander off through the technology-less Eden with baby girl/cylon Hera in tow, who as we find out in a pretty cool flash forward 150,000 years, is the mitochondrial Eve for human civilization.

CRITICAL RACHAEL: Which is all well and good, except that it didn't make for particularly exciting television. The flashbacks started in last week's episode didn't prove anymore revelatory than they seemed (Lee was fighting that bird, and drunk, because him and Kara smooched while his bro was passed out on the couch. Lee and Kara are skanks, not exactly a big reveal). And the happy, science fictiony endings were completely out of touch with a show that was as grounded in realism as it was in mythology. The battle was cool and all, but ultimately it kind of invalidated the evil of Cavil and co. to have Cavil simply blow his own brains out and to have the whole Cylon/human peace thing by foiled by the fact that Tori killed Callie so many episodes ago. Maybe if this capriciousness of fate felt planned I wouldn't be quite so annoyed by the deus ex machina of it all, but it didn't. It felt like a strange plot twist that we weren't meant to see coming, but that seemed oppressively obvious when I looked at the time and saw that we still had over an hour left in the show. On top of that, why was Hera SO important if all the cylons (the good ones, anyway) and the humans were just going to go to earth, presumably intermate (I'd say Six and Baltar are bound for a few offspring, and Helo and Athena are probably up for it, not to mention the thousands of others out there) and on top of that sleep with the natives, eventually spawning mankind? I get the poetic justice of having all of humanity as we know it be part cylon (half cylon, in fact, if Hera really is our mitochondrial eve, although I'm not sure what that would entail, and seems kind of confusing if you think about it for too long), but it made the journey to getting us there seem less significant.

OPTIMIST RACHAEL: It's kind of like the show made the same huge switch on us as Head Six (angel Six?) made on Head Baltar (Angel Baltar?). At the very end of the episode, Head Six drylynotes the similarities between modern Earth society and Kobol, Caprica, the first Earth, etc., "All this has happened before. The question, then, is will it happen again?" Head Six decides she doesn't think so, and Head Baltar is surprised by her optimism. I was likewise surprised by the unrelenting optimism at the end of a show that was less about happy, shiny, space-age ideals than it was about the crushing nature of reality and often self-defeating nature of humanity. We can see this as a defeat of the very realistic principles that drew us to BSG in the first place. But you'll notice I put this under Optimist Rachael, because I like to think of it more as Ron Moore's unrelenting belief in a light at the end of the tunnel. He spent a whole series showing us how dark the human psyche can be, literally dragging us through mud and blood, but the ending was nothing sort of redeeming.

I'll let Optimist Rachael get in the last word, because I truly loved being a part of this series, and I think that this is a finale that may grow in my esteem once the pressures of hype and revelation are off it. Until next time, so say we all.

So Say We All!

It's things like this Battlestar Gallactica at The UN that make me wish I wasn't a college student by day, blogger by night, and was instead full-time pop culture obsessing. The United Nations (yes, that's right, the same group that sanctions human rights violations and ostensibly organizes the nations of the world together in peace) hosted a Battlestar Gallactica forum (chaired by none other than Whoopie Goldberg) this past Tuesday. Now, on the surface, this seems pretty ridiculous, but I think it speaks to popular culture's unique ability to shape, change and challenge the debate about the issues that define our times, and specifically BSG's continual determination to do just that. As much as I wish Ron Moore had a clear endgame in mind when he started BSG, I think that the show has actually benefitted a lot from its ability to accurately reflect back the turbulent and strange times in which we live. It started as a 9/11 allegory and has morphed into one of the most complex, frustrating, and honest portrayals of politics in the modern world. All while also providing us with creepy/sexy storylines involving robot love. It's amazing.

Check out the link up top to read a first hand account of the awesome power of Adama (Edward James Olmos) both on and off screen as he gets a room full of delegates to echo back "So say we all."

Humanity's Final Chapter Is About To Be Written

I was going to come on here and complain that the penultimate episode of BSG was all sorts of flashback-y nonsense (with a dose of machismo badassery built in) but I've decided not to. I'm hoping, sincerely, and mostly optimistic, that at the end of next week's two hour series finale, I'll feel like every drunken-bird-fighting moment of this week's episode "Daybreak" was necessary, and awesome.

Mostly, I just want to say how awesome it's been to have this show in my life. I'm sad I got into it so late, but I've spent a full year with the BSG crew, and I've been pretty enriched by it. Even when it's frustrating or slow, this is a show that's obsessed with the big ideas, that wants to expand on what we think a television show or a scifi show can do, and that has crafted some of the best characters (and especially some of the best female characters) ever.

For more BSG fever, check out the really interesting feature on EW.com: BSG: Why It Almost Didn't Fly

One Down, two more to go!

Sometimes I think my opinions of Battlestar Galactic episodes are as schizophrenic as Starbuck on her mission to Earth. For example, last week I complained that it focused on Starbuck's very messed up psyche at the expense of action scenes and big reveals. This week's episode was practically devoid of shooting and Last-Cylon-esque reveals, but I kind of loved it. Go figure.

Stray thoughts:

*If the big Starbuck secret really is just that she's an "angel" as Baltar so helpfully referred to her, I'm going to be peeved. I didn't buy that bull when it was the explanation for Head Six (who, by the by, if she is an angel, should probably stop encouraging Baltar to follow his worst instincts), and I certainly don't buy it for Starbuck.

*I really liked the call back to The Operahouse

*Oh Roslin, even without hair I'd still choose you over any ship

*Nice to see Lee and Starbuck look at each other for the first time since their carnage-inspired smooching.

*This was a night of fantastic acting, but a special shoutout has to go to Tahmoh Penniket. When he broke down, begging Adama to give hima raptor to go search for his daughter, it was one of the most heartbreaking things I've ever seen.

I can't believe there's only two more episodes. Ever. AHH!

Bucketload of Daddy Issues

One of my favorite things about BSG (or, really, any show I truly love) is its ability to mix together deep human drama with external badassery. But after episodes like last night's, I just wish they were better at doing ti within the same episode. I wish that we didn't have to go from episode to episode in order to see both sides of Starbuck, the daddy/mommy-issued semi-psychotic girl to the competent, talented pilot who would prefer shooting to frakking, but will settle for the second.

Not to say that last night's (fourth to last) BSG wasn't all sorts of geeky, scifi goodness. It was. I like the way the Boomer arch (once so central to the show) is coming to a climax, and the way Chief maintains his intensely flawed attempt at finding love, and I even like the fact that the ending of this universe isn't about cylon technology or raptor battles but love stories and daddy issues. But I wish that the writers were better at balancing their humongous cast of characters and desire to see them all fully fleshed out. For one, I didn't need to watch Kara babble with head-Daddy all episode just to get the tiny piece of information that Kara/(recently stolen) Hera/and Daddy (can we all just agree he's Daniel?) all know the chord progression for All Along the Watchtower (for the less geeky out there, the song that "activated" the final five). It was tiny piece of information, and with only three more episodes to go, I'm treasuring every second I spend in this universe, and it annoys me when the time feels squandered.

That all being said, next week's information-a-palooza looks fantastic.

Frak Yeah!

With a show that gives you as much emotional toil as Battlestar Galactica, that is the type of generation spanning epic space-and-morality drama that BSG is, it's occasionally hard to remember why you loved the show in the first place. BSG has had its fair share of boring episodes, and the first two episodes back of Season 4.5 have been no exceptions. Despite some supposedly "big" revelations and a mutiny brewing underneath the surface, the first two outings for Adama and Co had been remarkably... blah.

NOT SO FOR LAST NIGHT'S ACTION PACKED FORTY FIVE MINUTES. Last night's Battlestar was everything I've ever loved about the show and more. Starbuck was badass. Lee was daring and idealistic. Adama and Tigh were old war buddies struggling to do the right thing. Everyone from Helo to Athena to mother-frakking Baltar was at their show's best. On top of which, this week we finally had a plot worthy of the hype awarded to BSG.

But let's be honest, here. President Roslin is, has been, and always will be the best part about this show. Come for the sci-fi goodness and complicated political allegory, but stay for the way that Mary McDonnell has managed to make Laura Roslin the most complicated, brilliant, broken woman in the history of the whole universe (be they cylon or human).

This is the first episode I've watched thus far this season that has left me breathless for the next outing. The idea of waiting a whole week before I find out what happens to Adama and Tigh (and don't think for one second BSG'ers that I believe next week's teaser of "Colonel Tigh is dead" was anything other than a marketing trick), Roslin and Baltar, Lee and Kara, even (dare I say) that traitorous, wormy, one-legged bastard, Gaeta.

Here are a few episode highlights:

*The awesome incongruity of Roslin and Adama making out, and the visual joke of Lee and Kara staring away looking awkward, like any kid would when their dad starts macking it with his all time lady love.

*The return to funny Baltar ("I truly don't want to desert you..." while looking shiftily away towards his salvation) mixed with the legitimate arch that this character has had taking center-staged. Plus, dude, has Baltar ever looked better than he does right now?

*Starbucks gleeful bloodlust taking center stage again, rather than her whiny "am I human or am I not?" antics of previous weeks

*Tyrol proving to still be the solid, stand up guy (cylon?) he's been since season one


And looking at the preview for next week's old-school-cylon-centric episode, the only thing I'm hoping is for more badass sixery, cause Six has truly been one of my favorite characters throughout the series, and I can't wait to see all this amazingness explode.

This Week's Big Bang Theory and the Christmas Episode Hypothesis

Rachael here, with my second post, in a trying-to-avoid-finishing-finals glory!

This week's BBT featured a guest spot by none other than Michael Trucco. Don't know who he is? You clearly haven't been doing your nerdy homework. Trucco is none other than dream-worthy sometimes-Starbuck-love-interest Samuel Anders from Battlestar Galactica. And that's a big deal for a lot of nerds, from me to Dwight Schrute. Here he pops up in a cameo on the geekiest show currently on television NOT featuring aliens. And yet somehow his cameo felt forced and awkward, mainly because it was pretty hard to believe that Trucco spends time in between tequila shots and gym visits working on advanced particle physics.


Despite this, I've got to say I loved this week's BBT, mainly thanks to the Sheldon storyline. I never cease to find it funny how difficult Sheldon finds normal person tasks, and add to that the fact that it REALLY is difficult to gage what type of present to get for people on the cusp of friendship, and well, I thought the B-story this week was top notch. I really have enjoyed watching this season the relationship between Penny and Sheldon be explored more, especially since I never really adored last season's emphasis on Leonard and Penny. But even that relationship worked for me this episode, and I was genuinely touched by their near-end-of-episode commiserating gin drinking.

The end of episode kicker, with Sheldon so grateful for his Leonard Nimoy DNA/autograph that he risks physical contact, was like the culmination of all that I love about BBT this season. Penny's reaction is real, hilarious, and touched, Leonard is allowed a witty kicker line, and we get some fantastically awkward acting from Jim Parsons.

This episode also illustrates one of my television viewing theories: more than sweeps, more than season ending cliffhangers, holidays make for the best episodes. Think Thanksgiving on Friends, Fashion Week on Ugly Betty, or Chrismukkah for the Cohens. And I must say the Christmas special, since it's the most common, is probably my favorite. These episodes occasionally see fruition on a frustrating love story, but more often than not serve as mediums to amp up the drama on shows, or to allow the characters to interact in a new light (as was the case, within reason, here).

So without further ado, here are three of my all time favorite Christmas Episodes, all with varying degrees of sweetness, but all definitely turning points in their respective series in the relationships between the characters. And I invite you all to share your thoughts, too!

An Echolls Family Christmas, Veronica Mars, 2004: Aw, poker games and cheating husbands. Just like Christmas back home. Oh wait, no, this is Christmas Neptune-style, where no one is ever telling the truth, especially if their last name is Echolls. Still, this episode marks a major turning point for Neptune's own Resident Psychotic Jackass, Logan Echolls. Not only do we get a whole episode's worth of him and Veronica shooting verbal barbs at each other before either had any idea what a good kisser the other was (including one of my all time favorite lines, "Annoy tiny blond one, annoy like the wind!"), but we also get a well plotted mystery-of-the-week, and a healthy dose of foreshadowing that only seems more poignant once you've finished Season One. And like all good holiday episodes, it takes our usual characters out of their normal situations, and keeps them together for the episode. Weevil, Duncan, Logan and Veronica are forced together for the duration in the mystery of the disappearing $5 grand, and the final super awkward holiday party (in which Logan's parental dysfunction, Veronica's anger at the Kanes, and the socioeconomic issues that defined this show all come to a head) is one for the record books. Add to that the super ironic fake snow Christmas display provided by Lynne Echolls for her holiday revelers, and this is the Christmas episode by which all other Christmas episodes should be judged.

The Man in The Fallout Shelter, Bones, 2005: This episode of Bones was the first one in which we really got to know the supporting characters who would come to define the show, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. But it's the first time we really got to take a look inside the lives of Angela, Zach and Hodgins outside of their aptitudes for art, bones and bugs (respectively). Plus, it features a very high on medicine Booth tweaking out and half naked. The show takes what I just described as the Holiday-episode-formula (take the main characters, put them somewhere new, keep them there for uncomfortably long) to a literal extreme: all the main characters are forced away from their normal Christmas plans when an old set of bones causes them all to get quarantined in the lab. The result was enough pain, comedy and genuine affection to help bump Bones from a show I kind of enjoyed to one of my favorites. And it's the perfect example of all the TV show has going for it, from the witty writing, the engaging characters, to the fun to decipher mystery-of-the-week. Plus, as aforementioned, Seeley Booth (Boreanaz) half-naked.

Amends, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 1998: Season 3 of Buffy is my favorite season of (possibly) my favorite series of all time, but that's not why I love this Christmas episode. I love it because it's impossibly corny, and hope-filled and beautiful for an episode that also features scary eyeless henchmen that continue to give me nightmares to this day. Not only that, but it's a solid Buffy episode. It semi-answers the question of Angels miraculous return from hell, and (although it will take four more seasons for this to matter) introduces the hugest of huge baddies. Although I never went full throttle on the Angel/Buffy-shipping (being more of the mind that Buffy had yet to meet her soul mate, pun intended, by show's end) this episode alone could probably convince me of the epic awesomeness of their love. It features a haunted (even more so than usual) Angel being brought to the brink of suicide by a malevolent force called the First and his creepy eyeless henchmen who claim responsibility for his recent miraculous return to Earth. It's up to Buffy to defeat the First and stop Angel from killing himself. When all that fails, it ends with a miraculous snowfall in (sunny) Sunnydale that keeps the sun at bay long enough to save the flammable Angel and prove that there's some force out there, other than the First, that wants him back on Earth. On top of all that, it's a Joss Whedon episode, which is all fans of the show know, means it brings each and every character to a new high point in their character arc and features witty dialogue the likes of which not heard since, well, the last Whedon-written episode. Add in solid B-stories featuring Willow and Oz considering sleeping together, Xander dealing with breaking up with Cordy and his continued family problems, and Giles having to put away his animosity towards Angel, and stir to get a perfect holiday confection. And this also features a half naked David Boreanaz.

So what have we learned from all this, kids? Well, apparently David Boreanaz is various degrees of undress is the cure for all manner of Scroogey-ness.

My Tv Crushes (and my Triumphant Debut on My TV)

Howdy blogland! My name's Rachael, and I'm pretty obsessed with movies. I even have a whole blog about it (http://rn4-8-7.livejournal.com/). But I'm also pretty obsessed with it's small-screened cousin, television, and am incredibly excited to be invited by Kelly to start blogging here on My TV about all things TV-related.

I've decided to do my first blog post as an addendum to Kelly's earlier Crush list, because there's some tv-shows that even the great Ms. Kelly hasn't gotten into and I think there are certainly dream-worthy boys deserve some crushing-love.

So without further ado, my TV Crushes (in no particular order):



First and foremost, one of the most glaring and sad-making holes in Kelly's TV repertoire: Chuck. When Chuck started last year, it was a by the numbers tv action-comedy with a strange-sounding premise. But this season, it has advanced into full-fledged must see tv goodness. And most of the reason for that is the eponymous Chuck, Zachary Levi. Not only is he consistently funny, goofy, and noble, he manages all this while in Buy More uniform and without any notable demonstrations of physical dominance of any kind. He's an unrepentant geek who'd get along with the stunted boys over on Big Bang Theory better than he gets along with his hottie super-spy love interest, Sarah. And he's 100% dreamboat.


There's really no excuse for my love for Mac (Rob McElhenney), one of the four truly awful human beings that run Paddy's pub over on It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Here's a guy whose closest friends think that it's likely he's a serial killer, and who once banged his best friends Mom. But something about his earnest evilness wins me over every episode. Add in a real life romance with show costar Kaitlin Olson, and you'll have to forgive me for this truly deplorable TV crush. Plus, as my ongoing Logan Echolls fascination can attest, I have a bad boy problem.


Special Agent Seeley Booth is every girl's dream, whether or not she knows it. He's a devoted dad who thinks sex should be reserved for those you love, who's witty and sexy and reads comic books in the tub. He spends his days catching murderers and practicing chemistry with his sexy, in a nerdy brilliant kind of way, partner, Temperance Brennan. And he's got just enough of a dark past and troubled soul that he's got that extra spark without being an actual badboy. Plus, he's played by David Boreanaz.


Conrad Shephard (Romany Malco) is probably the closest thing to a good person on Weeds. And he's still a drug dealer who carries a gun and occasionally sleeps with married women. But his (somewhat undeserved) devotion to Nancy Botwin (Mary Louise Parker) and the fact that he is smoking hot earns him his place on this list.





Cappie (Scott Michael Foster, from Greek) is another guy in the bad boy mode, but what college girl doesn't dream of that elusive frat guy prankster who's basically a character from Animal House but who's also smart enough to pass, dare I say ace, all his classes while still hung over from last night's kegger AND have series of monogamous relationships with interesting and intelligent female protagonists? Sure he stole Zac Effron's haircut, and for the first couple episodes was little more than a one note cool guy, but as the show has progressed (as far as a TV-show about fraternity and sorority dealings on ABC Family can progress), Cappie is the rock, both morally and comically. And his kindness to uncool Rusty is as much as an advertisement for awesomeness as I've ever seen.


Captain, General, Attorney Lee Adama (Jaime Baumber, Battlestar Gallactica) on top of looking super dreamy is often the heart of the series constant moral dilemmas. He sticks by his guns, even when that means laying his guns down and going into politics. In his personal life, he's rarely so stalwart, but his romantic entanglements with Starbuck (only the all time coolest and most badassiest female in cable TV history) are probably the sexiest thing I've ever seen. Although in the past season we didn't get the intense privilege of seeing our boy in his flight suit as often, he rocked the suit and tie lawyer look just as hard as any of those boys over on the Practice.


My ultimate TV crush is also the only one I took from a show Kelly also gave crush'ed love to. But Malcolm Reynolds is the TV crush that defines all the others. Sure, I love me some Seth Cohen, but would I take him over Malcolm Reynolds? Not if you paid me. Malcolm Reynolds is and will remain my semi-silent, often-nude, pistol carrying space cowboy love, and the romantic saga (made only more romantic by the fact that it never comes to anything resembling fruition) between him and Inara will remain one of my favorite all time epic love sagas.


Looking forward to future blogging goodness, and for all things movie related, check out I Watch Movies and Then Talk About Them.