George, Nina, Mitchell and Annie (Being Human) Photo credit - BBC
There was, it must be admitted, disappointingly little of any interest that was broadcast over the recent festive season. Aside from the Doctor Who Christmas Special (which you can read all about over here,) there was not a huge amount of TV really worth taking the time to watch.
But we are now in a new year, and with it there should come an influx of new things that are deserving of some attention. First off the starting block, and due to air very soon, is series three of supernatural flat-share drama, Being Human.
A vampire, a werewolf and a ghost share a flat in the middle of Bristol, try to blend in and ultimately cause substantial chaos when the rules governing the interaction of the supernatural with the rest of humanity get just a little bit bent. The end of the last series dropped us off on a monstrous cliff-hanger, with one character disappearing as another one dramatically returned, and the BBC have been taunting us since the beginning of December with promos airing direct from a rather sinister version of purgatory.
Admittedly, if you haven’t seen the previous two series you’re going to get a bit lost. But series three isn’t set to appear until later in the month, so you’ve still got time to catch up. Personally I’m not a big fan of the supernatural genre, and vampires tend to bring me out in a fit of serious eye-rolling, but I do make an absolute exception for Being Human. If you like your vampires to be non-sparkly recovering blood-aholics, your werewolves neurotic and the realms of the supernatural recognisably still very much populated by regular people even if they are a bit undead, then hunt it down and settle in. It’s by turns chilling, dramatic and all quite strangely believable, and it’s definitely worth a look.
Sherlock Holmes & Dr Watson (Sherlock) Photo credit - BBC
This should, of course, not be confused with the new American adaptation starting on SyFy this month as well. That is a show in its own right, despite being based on the UK original. They may share a central premise, but they’re shaping up to be rather different creatures and I think I’ll leave the direct comparisons up to somebody else.
Also coming up in 2011, we’ll be seeing a new series of Doctor Who and, towards the end of the year, a second series of the insanely brilliant Sherlock. I’m hard pressed to say which excites me more, and may have to declare it a tie. But as they both come from the same geeky Moffat/Gatiss -ish hybrid I’m sure they won’t mind sharing a place in my affections.
If you’re on the hunt for something a little more deliciously cynical, journalist, satirist and professional misanthrope, Charlie Brooker, has a new series coming out this year called How TV Ruined Your Life. It’s set to examine the point where the mad daydreams of TV and the sorry reality of real life collide. Probably using a great deal of suitably insane archive footage.
Christopher Isherwood (Christopher And His Kind) Photo credit - BBC
If you’re familiar with Brooker I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that the format is probably not going to differ wildly from his previous shows, Newswipe, Screenwipe or Gameswipe, all of which have given me great entertainment over the years. If you ever find yourself frothing at the mouth because of bad journalism, ridiculous TV banality or outright media stupidity, then relax. You no longer have to. Brooker will almost certainly do it all for you in his rather unique, long-suffering style.
If you’re after some drama, there’s a four-part adaptation of Michel Faber’s novel The Crimson petal & The White coming soon, starring Romola Garai (Atonement), Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) and Chris O’Dowd (The IT Crowd). There’s also the Christopher Isherwood biopic to look forward to, Christopher And His Kind, which stars Matt Smith in his first major role outside of Doctor Who.
So in the end, Christmas may have been a fairly dull TV non-event, but at least 2011 is shaping up to hold a certain amount of promise.
Lady T
Lady T is a great lover of British TV, which is helpful as that's mostly what she gets to watch. She strongly believes that tea can't be made using a microwave, that children's programming really was better when she was a kid, and that there's nothing in the world that can't be solved with a liberal application of common sense. She very much enjoys reading but like most of the rest of the world would some day like to write a book herself. If she ever succeeds in doing so there's a pretty good chance she'll never shut up about it. She can be contacted at lady_t_220 @ yahoo.co.uk.
Full disclosure: I hate Christmas specials. Most of them, anyway. They usually ignore and/or interrupt whatever story arc is happening at the moment, and they try to shove the idea that, just because it’s December, the world is supposed to be all shiny and happy and wonderful. So, yeah. I’m not a “Christmas miracle” kind of person. In fact, the only special I can think of that I didn’t totally hate was Supernatural‘s “A Very Supernatural Christmas”, which turned the whole “Christmas special” idea on its ear.
There is one very big exception, and it’s been a tradition since 2005 to gather the family on the couch once it stops downloading and watch with glee. (It’s also a tradition to bother the hell out of my English friends with “So? Left London yet? Huh? Did you? Something is going to BLOW UP, you know, and THAT’S NOT SNOW.”) It’s the Doctor Who Christmas special, and it never fails to be anything short of magical.
This is the first year with Matt Smith at the helm as Eleven for a Christmas special. Can he live up to it? (Why am I even asking that? Of course he can. It’s not like he’s unproven by now.)
LamoreVincera has been a geek chick since the third grade, when she discovered Star Wars, Luke Skywalker, and a penchant for blond-haired farm boys. She has a lifetime-long love of fantasy, sci-fi, history, and medicine, and is currently working on achieving her dream of becoming a midwife, as well as working on a novel. She can be contacted at LamoreVincera @ hotmail . com and followed on Twitter at the link below.
In keeping with my fanworks theme (and because I’m too lazy to come up with an actual post), I’d like to share one of my favorite fanvids. Enjoy :D
Amanda
Amanda has loved to read since she was 3 and was a fangirl from the start. She has a B.A. in French and studied in France. This fall she will start her MLIS program at Kent State. She hopes to work as an academic or reference librarian. She can be contacted at tarteamandine @ gmail.com and followed on Twitter at the link below.
Hey, it’s that time of year again! Have you made your resolutions for 2011? I have, but I thought I should review the ones I made for 2010 and fess up to where I failed (and maybe gloat a little about where I succeeded.) So let’s revisit 2010′s resolutions, shall we?
I’m going to watch all of the new Battlestar Galactica.
I’m giving up on the core X-Men titles.
I’m going to watch season 1 of Buffy: the Vampire Slayer.
I’m going to reread Lone Wolf & Cub.
I’m going to write more articles for TDF.
The new BSG. Yup, did that. Finished it by early February, if I recall. Yeah, I liked it, but not as much as maybe if I had been watching it from the get-go and had to wait months in between seasons like the people who watched it as it unfolded. I admit I was very interested in finding out all the backstory I could as I was going through, but the end result was that I spoiled the hell out of myself. I think that contributed to my lack of a sense of awe and being blown away like I would’ve if I had to wait a week between episodes and not been able to “read ahead” as I wound up doing. But don’t be fooled, while I liked all of the new BSG, I still love the cheesy/campy original and, as my signature says, Dirk Benedict will always be my Starbuck.
I did finally give up the two core X-titles, but it took until October to do it. The completist in me still hates the rest of me for doing it, but at some point, you have to cut the cord. I don’t think I’ve read either title for over a year and comics are mostly up around $4 now so to spend that much money on something I don’t even read is ridiculous. I could be spending that money on comics I’d actually read and enjoy. Not to mention I already have over 20 longboxes of comics that take up a LOT of space.
I watched season one of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You know what? I didn’t hate it, but I really couldn’t see spending any more time with it. I won’t be watching seasons 2-7. There are so many other shows I would enjoy more and are still on my “to watch” list that I can’t see wasting time on more Buffy. There, I said it. Wasting time. I’ll be expecting your hate mail any time. Please send to the usual address.
About my “easiest resolution to make” of rereading Lone Wolf & Cub…yeah. I didn’t get beyond book one this year. I got onto a Pratchett phase and wanted to start reading and rereading the Discworld books, so I sort of did that instead. I’m well known for being a ridiculously slow reader, and there just wasn’t room for both LW&C and Discworld.
And I did write more articles for TDF in 2010 than I did in 2009, though it’s not like I wrote much in 2009 anyway. But I also started a few new features like “Comedians You Should Know” (which will be starting up again in 2011), “Guilty Pleasures” and “Well I Never”. Expect more of those features and some new ones in 2011!
~*~
Now that that’s out of the way, out with the old and in with the new! It is New Year’s Day after all!
I’m going to catch up on the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. For as much as I love Discworld, I realized I haven’t actually read that many of the books. Odd, really. So this year, I’m going to finish what I started in 2010 and get current on all the books. I’m currently about 10 pages away from the end of FaustEric, which is number 9 in order of publication. Sir Terry’s up to 38 with 2010′s “I Shall Wear Midnight”, so I’ve got a fair way to go yet. It’ll probably take me all year.
I’m going to catalog my comics. No mean feat, this. As I mentioned, I have more than 20 longboxes of comics. If you figure that each holds about 300-350 comics (I don’t use boards, I use full boxes to keep them neat) then that’s roughly 6000-7000 comics. I currently have about two boxes input into the Comic Collector software from Collectorz.com and it works well…I just wish it would work with a barcode scanner.
I’m going to rewatch Lost from start to finish. I gave myself the blu-ray box set for Christmas and, aside from finding and watching the hidden disc, haven’t done much with it. But I have big plans! I’d like to do a feature for TDF called “Lost: By the Numbers”, but I haven’t decided yet exactly what it will be. I am open to suggestions. Lay ‘em on me!
I’m going to give the US remake of Being Human a fair chance. I won’t lie, this might be kind of hard. I was initially skeptical when I heard they were remaking BH in the US. I consider the British original to be nearly perfect in every way and I love, love, love it. And every time I see new information or trailers or character sketches for the American version, I am demoralized by its very…Americanness. They even changed the names of the characters to be more American! I will give it at least 6 episodes (the length of the first British series) or until Syfy cancels it, whichever comes first, to grab and hold my interest. That sounds fair, doesn’t it?
I am going to drop cable this year. This might be the hardest resolution to keep. There are only a few shows a week that I watch regularly, but I love having the TV on with just any old thing from the History Channel, History International, the Science Channel, NatGeo…basically my weekends are filled with the background noise of mummies, lost books of the Bible, the Crusades, UFOs, aliens, Stonehenge or space shows. That’s the kind of random, found stuff I will miss. It’s getting easier to get my usual weekly series online or elsewhere without having to fork out big money to Comcast, so why keep spending all that dough? Sure, I’ll keep my Internet (I’m not crazy) but I think it’s time to stop paying for cable.
Have you made any geeky resolutions for 2011? We’d love to hear them! And if you have any suggestions for what you’d like to see in the “Lost: By the Numbers” feature, please let us know!
WereGeek
WereGeek is reading 5-7 books at any given time, none of them very fast. These can range from alternative universe fiction to historical non-fiction and from theoretical physics to Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader. You can argue with her all you want, but Dirk Benedict will always be her Starbuck. Her ringtone is the theme from Airwolf and she believes that there's nothing that can't be improved by the judicious application of werewolves. Or bacon. Or werewolves with bacon. She can be contacted at werewolf17 @ gmail.com and followed on Twitter at the link below.
If you’re looking for an excuse to rewatch Firefly (or to introduce someone to the series), Ovation TV is going to air the series in a glorious, week-long run! Here’s their press release:
SANTA MONICA – December 15, 2010: Ovation, the only multi-platform network dedicated to art and contemporary culture, is bringing a cult classic back to television. Firefly, the Award-winning series from acclaimed writer/director Joss Whedon (creator of hits Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel), will kick off a week-long, limited run on Ovation beginning January 3.
Each night, three full episodes will air during primetime, beginning at 8.00 p.m. ET/5.00 p.m. PT with an encore presentation at 11.00 p.m. ET/8.00 p.m. PT. A Firefly marathon will run all day on Ovation on Saturday, January 8.
Starring Nathan Fillion (ABC’s Castle) and Summer Glau (The Cape, Dollhouse), Firefly has won numerous awards, including the 2003 Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Effects in a television series and SyFy Genre Award for Best Television Series. The series premiered in 2002 on FOX and quickly formed a cult following, which led Whedon and Universal Pictures to produce the feature film, Serenity. The franchise also developed into a comic series and role-playing video game.
Firefly is an American space western television series set in the year 2517 and follows the adventures of the renegade crew of Serenity, a “Firefly-class” spaceship. The series explores the lives of some people who fought on the losing side of a civil war and others who now make a living on the outskirts of the society, as part of the pioneer culture that exists on the fringes of their star system. (source)
Ovation TV can be found on DirecTV (channel 274), Dish Network (channel 157), and on various cable providers, so check your local listings to find out if you get Ovation. You can find out more about the network by visiting http://www.OvationTV.com.
TDF Pamela
The Discriminating Fangirl, who is more likely to answer to Pamela if you shout it at her, is the proud owner of an MA in English, focusing on children's/young adult literature and popular culture. Because of her ample free time thanks to being gainfully unemployed, she reads voraciously. She also loves geeky movies and tv shows, reads comic books as often as she can buy them, and when she's procrastinating, she enjoys playing video games. She can be contacted at t.d.fangirl @ gmail.com and followed on Twitter at the link below.
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Lady T
Full disclosure: I hate Christmas specials. Most of them, anyway. They usually ignore and/or interrupt whatever story arc is happening at the moment, and they try to shove the idea that, just because it’s December, the world is supposed to be all shiny and happy and wonderful. So, yeah. I’m not a “Christmas miracle” kind of person. In fact, the only special I can think of that I didn’t totally hate was Supernatural‘s “A Very Supernatural Christmas”, which turned the whole “Christmas special” idea on its ear.
LamoreVincera
Amanda
WereGeek
SANTA MONICA – December 15, 2010: Ovation, the only multi-platform network dedicated to art and contemporary culture, is bringing a cult classic back to television. Firefly, the Award-winning series from acclaimed writer/director Joss Whedon (creator of hits Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel), will kick off a week-long, limited run on Ovation beginning January 3.
TDF Pamela
