The Top Ten Sci Fi Movies

So, I posted a list like this for shows a while back, and I've made a list like this before, but I've laid down a few ground rules for this one. First, I'm not going to include any Star Wars or Star Trek movies. I love both franchises to death, but the last time I tried to make this list, 80% of it ended up being either Wars or Trek. Also, no comic book movies, and no fantasy, so you won't find Lord of the Rings or X Men here either. I'll be focusing on the other options in the genre. Let's get started:

10. Avatar
A select few will forever hate on James Cameron's sci fi epic. But the rest of us will always hold it in high esteem. So, God-knows-how-many years in the future, humans scientists and marines will journey to the planet Pandora to extract a precious metal and study the native population, tribes of ten foot cat people called Na'vi. Some of the humans can use some obscure technology to temporarily inhabit cloned Na'vi bodies called Avatars. A paraplegic marine, Jake, becomes an Avatar, and finds a new home in the tribes. After a series of elaborate complications, this leads to a huge epic showdown, marines vs Na'vi. The film is probably know for having an absurdly large budget and some of the best CGI special effects... ever, really. Jake himself is a believable character, and everyone in this movie does a great job, most notably by Stephen Lang and Sigourney Weaver. Add in an entertaining plot and some kick ass action, and you've got Avatar.

9. Super 8
If there are any haters reading this right now, they likely hate me. JJ Abrams, the creator of Alias, Lost, and Fringe, and the director of Star Trek and Cloverfield, brought us this instant classic about an alien and a bunch of kids in 1979 Ohio who catch a shot of it on camera while making a zombie movie. The protagonist is Joe, who recently lost his mother and his father keeps distancing himself. The alien is doing something very interesting indeed in their town, mainly involving missing persons and stolen car engines. At the same time, we have the kids making their movie and Joe dealing with his mothers death, which was more or less the movie's emotional backbone. Well written and directed, great story, great performances all around, some good special effects, and even a few chills all highlight this movie. A few people will always have a bone to pick with this movie, mainly because of the ending, which, I'll grant, was a bit cliched, but it was well done, and for the sane population, it won't degrade the quality of this pile of awesome.

8. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Just a bit more James Cameron for this list, thank you. The sequel to the original hit saw Cameron taking a huge risk: he took govenator Arnold, the bad guy of the first film, and made him a good guy. They did it well though. The reprogrammed Terminator goes back in time to protect thirteen year old John Connor, who is destined to lead the resistance against an army of machines, from Skynet's new robotic assassin. Sarah Connor is in a mental hospital, and John is a punk in foster care. Arnold steps in just as the other terminator is closing in on John, and thus begins a wild, action-packed ride to change the future. The action in this movie alone is amazing, thrown in with one of the better time travel plots and, surprisingly enough, some good deeper meaning and human messages, plus great performances by Linda Hamilton and... pretty much everyone else in the movie, actually.

7. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
What, you think I'm gonna put Super 8 in here but not Close Encounters? Of course not. Steven Spielberg's classic masterpiece centers around a man who becomes obsessed with aliens and a shape in the desert after seeing a UFO. At the same time, a woman has similar encounters that eventually cost her someone important. Also at the same time, the US government readies itself for the arrival of a UFO in the desert, which involves the famous rhythm that I can't replicate. The first movie involving aliens that actually didn't want us all dead for whatever reason has good special effects for the time, an engaging, phenomenal story line, excellent performances by the whole cast, and one of my favorite endings ever. Are you ready for your close encounter?

6. The Matrix
Why wouldn't this be here. Brothers Larry and Andy Wachowski brought us this action-packed classic that redid the entire humans vs machines genre. So, x-many years in the future, machines have more or less won a war against their human creators. They plug the humans into to a power plant and put them in suspended animation to provide themselves with electricity. The minds of the humans are inside a computer program called the matrix, in which they live lives as if it's 1999 and think it's reality. Computer hacker Neo has his mind set free by the resistance group to fight the machines, who think he is some sort of chosen one, meant to end the war. Probably one of the most intelligent sci fi thrillers in quite some time, this instant classic was action packed, vivid, had great effects, and bordered on mind blowing at times. Lawrence Fishbourne steals the show as Morpheus, and Keanu Reeves does a good job, but that's somehow degraded by the knowledge that this is the only good movie he's ever been in. And while we could've done without either of the sequels, this pile of awesome rightly deserves to be put in this spot.

5. Alien
The line between sci fi and horror becomes blurred in Ridley Scott's phenomenal piece of film making. After receiving a distress call from a planetoid, the crew of the cargo space ship Nostromo pick up an unwanted passenger: an alien that is born inside a human body, rips it's way out of the host's chest, and grows to a frighteningly large size in about thirty minutes. The alien begins stalking the crew, killing them one at a time in an unsettlingly violent fashion. The film has amazing special effects for the time, plus some genuine scares, awesome death scenes, one helluva plot twist, and a great performance by Sigourney Weaver. It will have a place in the hearts of nerds everywhere for years to come, especially with the prequel, Prometheus coming out in a few months.

4. Donnie Darko
Ah, here we are. First, let me establish that I am talking about the director's cut, no the theatrical version. The most controversial movie on this list is freaking amazing. So we have Donnie Darko, a suburban teenager in 1988. He deals with issues in his family, friends, teachers, and new girlfriend. He's in therapy. And a giant, demonic rabbit named Frank gives him warning of an apocalypse that will come in about a month. If that sounds stupid or ridiculous, I get where your coming from, but the way the director executed this was brilliant and more than a bit frightening. A large portion of the plot centers on time travel, which Frank, and apparently Donnie, are capable of. You go through most of the movie debating with yourself whether Frank is real or Donnie is just a high functioning schizophrenic, which is answered by the last 35 minutes of the film, mostly the ambiguous, kinda confusing twist ending. In all honesty, it's difficult to type up everything that happens here, let alone explain how much I love this movie. There is no weak performance in this movie, with everyone doing a great job, particularly Jake Gylenhaal (probably spelled that wrong) as Donnie. The plot is rich, engaging, and just great, with, like I said, an ending that takes several viewings and maybe a reading of the wikipedia synopsis to understand. A true cult classic.

3. Inception
I know what your thinking: "wait, you have this AND the matrix on here?!!? I hate you!!!!" Well, maybe you do, you trolls. Christopher Nolan, the director of The Dark Knight, Momento, and Prestige, brought us this thrilling masterpiece. Dom Cobb is a dream-raider. That is, people hire him and his crew to use technology to invade people's dreams and steal ideas. His job has cost him pretty much his entire personal life, until one last job presents him with the chance to finally go home. The catch? He's not stealing an idea, he's planting one in a sleeping mind, a process called inception. The plot is mind-bending, thrilling, and damn confusing right from the start, especially with all the dreams within dreams and when Cobb's past comes back to haunt him. Add in action and special effects that will blow you away and some great performances by Leo Dicaprio (granted, he has kinda played this role a million times before) and Ellen Page (don't tell Ray William Johnson about this) and you've got one of the best summer blockbusters and sci fi thrillers of the decade.

2. Blade Runner
No list is complete without it. Coming off his success with Alien, Ridley Scott took us to a dystopian Los Angeles in the future of... about 7 years from now, but this was made in the '80s, so, yeah, in this sci fi/ film noire masterpiece. In the not-so-distant future, cloned robots called Replicants will be made into slaves for Earth and it's off-world colonies. Replicants will sometimes gain emotions and escape, which is when special cops called Blade Runners are called into action to to hunt down and kill the replicants. Retired Blade Runner Rick Deckhardt reluctantly agrees to one last assignment in tracking down five escaped replicants in LA, a few of which are very violent and looking for a way to prolong their limited life span. Harrison Ford does a great job as Deckhardt, along with every other actor here. The movie could occasionally be very strange, but that made it all the more awesome, especially when coupled with some great action scenes. Throw in the ambiguous ending, and there you have it.

1. Serenity
Yes, I'm completely serious. I am that big of a Joss Whedon freak. Serenity was the big screen continuation of Whedon's short lived but absolutely amazing TV show Firefly, the innovative space opera/ western that followed Captain Malcolm Reynolds, veteran of a civil war in the star system between a totalitarian government called the Alliance and the outer planets, as he and his crew of space cowboys do jobs, legal or not, and dealt with their two fugitive passengers. The show only ran 14 episodes because FOX is run by trolls, and a lot of the questions the show posed went unanswered. And so, with quite a bit of fan protest, the movie was made, essentially meant to give the story some closure. So, Simon and River Tam (brother and sister) are on the run from the alliance, who have sent a new bounty hunter called the Operative after them. Maybe I'm biased because of how much I love the show, but this movie is amazing. It's an action-packed thrill ride, filled with both shoot outs, space battles, and sword/fist fight. That alone could make this awesome, but mixed with the unpredictably excellent plot, great special effects, and greater performances by Nathan Fillion as Captain Reynolds and Summer Glau as River. The movie also managed to kill a couple of characters and still has my all-time favorite movie ending. Once again, I'm probably biased, but this is awesome.

Episode Reviewed: Grimm Island of Dreams

I know there's still a few months left in this TV season, but I'd say Grimm is looking pretty likely for best new show. So this week, the Vessin tea ands spice shop guy from Organ Grinder is murdered by a couple of Vessin, addicted to something in the shop owners basement. As Nick investigates with the help of Monroe, the shop owner's sister, Rosalee, comes to town wanting to help, suggesting that the two might have a new ally. Eventually, the investigation leads them to an Island of Dreams, a sort Vessin crack house. At the same time, Adalin, the hot blond hexenbeast, is ordered by the Captain to cast a sort of love spell on Hank using some... very strange cookies. The spell works, but Wu gets caught in the crossfire and has a dangerous physical effect on him. Also, Juliette wants to learn to shoot, but that wasn't a huge part of the story. The episode itself was a very entertaining standalone story, as I've come to expect from Grimm, but there also may have been a couple of potential mini-arcs established this week:

1. Adalin's love spell worked on Hank. We've seen Adalin a few times, and now she has a hold on Hank, Nick's partner, which is obviously gonna have an effect on upcoming episodes. We know that Adalin works for the Captain in whatever it is he's planning for Nick. It could be that his goal is to turn everyone close to Nick against him, and Hank would be logical starting point for that.

2. Juliette learns to shoot. It's nothing huge, but this could lead to Juliet having her own story, whatever it may be.

3. Rosalee stays in town after her brothers murderers have been caught. She's keeping the tea shop open, too. She, Nick, and Monroe all worked together to catch this week's bad guys, and her staying, possibly for the rest of the season, suggests an alliance between the unlikely trio for future episodes. David Greenwalt is the show runner for Grimm, and if you're familiar with his work on Angel, the idea of the three of them coming together seems all the more likely. You'd also have to be blind not see that there's something between Monroe and Rosalee, so Grimm might get it's first relationship that wasn't either there to begin with or involve a love spell.

4. The spell had an after-effect on Wu. The physical aspect wore off, but it's pretty obvious given what he did at the end of the episode that it did something to him mentally, as well. I feel like this isn't the sort of thing that the writers would do at random and forget about.

So, with the season finale getting closer every week, it is entirely possible that all of these mini-arcs will converge for one big thing come episode 22. Final Rating: 92%

Episode Reviewed: Touch Safety in Numbers

Is it possible to have a love-hate relationship with a TV show. I know I have one with a couple of writers who shall not be named (sometimes I'm afraid that insert evil writer we love here will kill everyone I care about) but I think I might have one with Touch. On the one hand, it's starting to feel formulaic and repetitive, which I've not really a fan (why do you think I hate cop shows so much) but on the other hand, it always provides a few solid moments of human connection and character development that will make even the most cynical of us grin. Go figure. So, Jake, whose stuck at the board and care facility, sends Martin after a set of numbers that lead him to homeless man who has a thing with numbers that feels more than slightly familiar, which leads Martin to something involving the man's family and a strange financial sham. At the same time, we have the the B-plot that connects unlikely people we've had in every episode so far, with the third consecutive appearances by the Japanese girls and the magic phone we all love so much. Meanwhile, Teller pays a visit to the board and care facility and we get some further insight as to what's happening with Clare's mother. Overall some fairly entertaining story telling, but, since I'm me, I feel like there's a ton of potential for serialization that Tim Kring is purposely avoiding out of fear (granted, we probably shouldn't blame him for that.) There were, however, a few interesting moments that suggest where the story might be going involving something that happened to Jake, others like Jake, and a mysterious room at the board and care. Kiefer Sutherland, as expected, stole the show, and the ending was actually a bit touching, no pun intended. Final Rating: 87%

Doctor Who series 7: companion and trailer

So, we have info regarding the 7th season of doctor who, which arrives this fall. First off, Amy and Rory will be the companions until midseason, where they will depart in a "heartbreaking" manor. Then, the christmas special will introduce the companion to take us through the rest of the season, played by Jenna Louise Coleman. We don't yet know her name or backstory, but she's kinda hot, so that's promising. The first trailer has also been leaked as footage from some convention, taken on camera-phone. A few notes: the doctor, amy, and rory will be heading to the wild, wild, west, and there will in fact be at lest one Dalek somewhere in the mix of the season. Watch the trailer:

Donnie Darko

I just watched Donnie Darko, or the director's cut anyway. It was amazing, really. I don't know why, but I just felt like sharing this information. You should all go rent it. A warning, the ending is a tiny bit confusing, and some may find this film "upsetting." I guess I'm now part of yet another cult following.

Rant: Theme Songs

I'm trying something knew with this one: rants with videos mixed in to reinforce my points, however absurd they may be. So, you may be thinking "theme songs? what's there to rant about?!" Quite a bit, actually. The theme song can often define the tv show, stating what it's about, what the tone is, etc in under four minutes. We have seen many a good theme song, opening sequence, whatever the heck you wanna call it, in the last twenty years. My 5 favorites are:

That 70s Show

The Fresh Prince of Bel Air

The X Files

Angel

 

Smallville

 You get the idea, theme songs are awesome. They'll give you insight, or in the Fresh Prince's case, completely explain what the show is about. So why make this rant? Theme songs are a dying species, that's why! More and more shows are shortening or completely getting rid of theme songs so the networks can make an extra $35 off of ads! It's irritating! This year, the majority of new shows completely scrapped theme songs in place of ten second shot of the title with some music. This is Grimm's intro (disregard the first few seconds) take a look:

I'll grant, it's a relatively cool 10 seconds, but its still only 10 seconds! And there are countless others that have premiered in the last few seasons that have followed this pattern. Most returning shows have kept their full openings, notably The Office, The Big Bang Theory, and Chuck. Though there is something to be said for the fact that two of those shows are sitcoms, and the other was in it's garunteed final season this year, so it's not like the producers were risking too many dollars. Where was I? Oh yeah, so most returners kept there intros, but others drastically shortened theirs from 30 seconds to 10. Here's an example:
This is Warehouse 13's intro from season 2, which aired about year ago:

And this is the intro from season 3, which aired last summer:

First time I saw that, my response was "heh?"
You see my point.
So when did this horrible practice begin? Actually, it began with Seinfeld. Seinfeld technically never had an intro. Now before you say, "wait, what about Jerry's stand up, and the music?!" The standup was part of the show itself for the first few seasons. The even had it in the middle of episodes at first. Same thing with the music. And they completely got rid of the standup after season 4. So basically, Jerry started it. It didn't really become common until about six years ago, when all the major networks premiered shows without theme songs. It's become so common that almost no new shows this year had intros. Touch sort of has a theme song, but it's short and doesn't really count. I want to go further with this, but I know I'll start rambling. Overall, theme songs need to be brought back!

Episode Reviewed: Touch 1+1=3

My biggest fear with Touch wasn't that there would be no serialization. Between the great premise, the acting talent of Kiefer Sutherland (JACK FREAKING BAUER!!!!!!!) and the hopeful, slightly feel good overall messages, I figured that I'd be cool with no overall arc, and so far I'm right. No, my biggest fear was that it wouldn't ever produce anything as good as it's cinematically amazing pilot episode. Granted, this episode wasn't as good, but the pilot was hard to top and frankly, the second episode of a show is usually pretty weak. Either way, this week we saw connections made between a pawn shop owner, a flight attendant, an Indian man, a mobster, and few other people who i can't mention without spoilers. The connections were made by Jake and Martin, obviously, and it all adds up into one major story that's pretty hard to explain. Same formula as the pilot, but with the connections between the B-story and A-story being more obvious. I think that I have mixed feelings about this episode. On the one hand, the show can't use the same formula every episode without things feeling stale after awhile, and the human-experience-highlighting-B-story wasn't as compelling as the one in the last episode. On the other hand, I enjoyed most of the episode, and I couldn't help but smile when I pieced everything together. I guess I'll just see where the writers go from here. Final rating: 85%

Episode Reviewed: Awake Kate is Enough

Do you ever feel like something is purposely avoiding a good thing? Like Awake is avoiding serialization. Alcatraz most certainly did that. I feel like it's got such a good overarching story set up that they're just skating around. It may just be because I don't like cop shows much in general, especially because there are way too many spiked crime dramas on TV right now, and i was seriously hoping Awake wouldn't fall into that category. Either way, this week we saw Britten deal with two cases, one in each reality (shocking, isn't it) but both involved Kate, who babysat Rex when he was all tiny. The two realities displayed how her life went in two different directions following a traumatic event. They actually did a pretty good job with the premise, but, once again, where is the arc? I want arc! I'm probably being totally unfair, to, given how well executed some of the emotional moments were. I guess I just have mixed feelings here. Final rating: 84%

Movie Reviewed: John Carter

So, a week ago i thought this was basically just an Avatar rip off. And then i found out that it's based on a book written 30 years before James Cameron was even born. And then I felt like a total poop head. And then i saw this movie. And i was disappointed. So, former confederate soldier finds himself mysteriously transported to Mars, called Barsoom by the natives, and after a series of bizarre events, leads an army to help the little guys win a civil war. The movie itself was okay. The guy playing John Carter is putting way too much epicness into each of his lines, which was a good thing in a few scenes, but felt really corny the rest of the time. CGI was a bit corny too. And it's really not a good thing when the plot feels rushed and the movie itself feels dragged out. I'll admit, i do like the premise here, but frankly all that's telling me is that the book is significantly better and that this movie was ignoring what made the book good and is desperately trying to be Avatar. When you get down to it, John Carter is basically content with being a mediocre B-Movie with a couple of cool action scenes and some racial metaphors. Final Rating: 67%

The Top 5 Most Bizzare Movies

So, i've seen lots of movies. Some were good, some were bad, and some were just plain bizzare. I mean really weird. So weird that i've compiled this little list here. Obviously, the higher it is, the weirder it was. Now, there are cases on the list where weird doesn't automatically mean bad, and this isn't about how good they were, just how weird. I will try to avoid spoilers. So here we go: the top 5 most bizzare movies.

5. Blade Runner
Ridley Scott's classic sci fi noire masterpiece is set in the dystopian future of... 7 years from now, where robot slaves called Replicants do labor for humans. Some Replicants escape, and detectives called Blade Runners track them down and incapacitate them. This is actualy one of my favorite movies, and this is a case where weird meant good. Why weird? The genetically engineered dwarves in that guy's appartment alone could land this in a top 10 list, but when you also factor in some of the... behavior, lets call it, of the two main replicants and of course the infamous drunken haze of Deckhardt (played by Harrison Ford) you get a pretty bizzare result. If you've seen the movie, you know what i'm talking about.



4. Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
First off, this wasn't technically a movie. It was an internet musical that Joss Whedon (i find a way to work him into pretty much every list i make) made durring the writers strike to kill a little time. And it won an Emmy despite, once again, being released only online. You can actually watch the whole thing on Youtube. Anyway, this tragicomedy centers around Doctor Horrible (played by Neil Patrick Harris), a wannabe supervillain, as he tries to get into the Villainous League of Villainy (or something like that, it's been a while since i watched it) and deals with his nemesis Captain Hammer, a superheroe who's really a total jerk, and there shared love interest, Penny. It was absolutely hysterical. Why weird? The mere premise, for starters. It's a comedy that ends tragickly, and characters burst into song at random times. And don't even get me started on the dream sequence WHERE HE'S HUGE! Once again, bizzare was good here, but it was bizzare none the less.

3. Apocalypse Now Redux
We all know Charlie Sheen, the guy from 2.5 men who goes on talk show claiming to be warlock. But too few of us know of his father Martin Sheen, a much better actor who starred in Apocalypse Now. In Francis Ford Coppola's classic masterpiece of the Vietnam War, Sheen plays an army Captain who is dispatched to Vietnam to retrieve the rogue Colonel Kurtz, who is totally insane. The captain and his men keep going up river looking for Kurtz, and as they go further, the journey gets darker and more bizzare. The Redux part is that twenty years after the original film was released, the director re-released it with an hour of previously unseen footage, or another hour of weirdness. Once more, weird= very good here, because this movie is incredibly awesome, even though it is SO. DAMN. LONG. Why weird? The whole scene in the begining where he's drunk in his appartment, plus all the ridiculously surreal stuff involving surfing and playboy playmates in active war zone. I could go on, but then this section would be three pages long. Go figure. Bottom line: awesomely strange.

2. Monty Python and the Meaning of Life
It's not exactly a secret that Monty Python would tell some pretty weird jokes, but this is pinnacle of there weirdness. And yes, in this case, weird means bad. Don't get me wrong, for the most part I love Monty Python, but I was actually to weirded out or just insulted to enjoy this movie. To be honest, I actually hated it a little bit. The goal of the Pythons going into this was actually pretty much everyone, and this they accomplished. The movie was basically a series of bizzare sketches loosely tied together by an attempt to understand philosophy. Why weird? The most strange cold opening ever coupled with the fish scene, philosophical discussions, "biology class", nudity, religous rants, and of course an absurd amount of cross dressing (it may just be because i'm american, but i really don't get why british people see so much humor in a man dressed in women's clothing) My reccomendation: DON'T WATCH THIS! Also, there's no trailer below because all the trailers for this movie are incredibly innapropriate.

1. Romeo + Juliet
So, we just read Romeo and Juliet in English class, and my teacher decided to have us watch the 1996 remake of Shakespeare's classic play starring Leonardo Dicaprio. The overall story is the same: The Capulet and Montague families are engaged in a violent feud, which is defied by the two star crossed lovers Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet. The two try to have a relationship and they both end up dying, but you already knew that. The twist: it's set in modern times, in the fictional California city of Verona Beach. The two families own rival corporations, guns replace swords, and there are gang wars between the families. Why weird? Where do i even start?! First off, it's set in today-land, but the characters still talk like in the play, all 1600s iambic pentameter style. Plus you have all the weird subtitles, drug use, bizzare directing, campy action scenes, and altered characters, the best example of that is Mercutio, who, in the play was just kind of a clown, but here he was made into a black drag queen. Also, the play goes from weird, slightly physcadelic party/comedy scenes to dramatic romance scenes at a moments notice. I'm still debating with myself whether weird means bad or good here. It is the combination of all these things that make Romeo + Juliet the single most bizzare movie I have ever seen.

Grimm Renewed For Second Season

David Greenwalt's fairy tale horror crime drama Grimm has officially been renewed for a second season. When the show first started back in October, most people didn't expect it to go past twelve episodes. Why? Negative critical reaction to the pilot forced NBC to place it at nine PM on Fridays. In and of itself that is a death slot, but it got worse: it had to go up against nothing less than JJ Abrams and the Brothers Winchester themselves. That's right, Fringe, FOX's cult sci fi serial was moved to Fridays for season 4, which fox hyped up as Friday Night Reanimated. And then there's Supernatural, which, going into season 7, already had 3 seasons on friday night under it's belt, with a very dedicated fanbase. The bottom line, things weren't looking too good for Grimm. But then it got more and more popular. And then it got to do a full 22 episode season. And then it got renewed for season 2. And there was much rejoicing. My predictions for season 2: A. NBC will move it out of Friday nights. Grimm has already proved it can get more than substantial rating while in a terrible time slot and up against stiff competition, so i think the network is willing to risk it doing well in a great time slot, like say, Mondays at 8. B. More serialization. Most shows of the same genre did the same thing as Grimm: do a solid first season of procedural monster of the week stories so it can gather a devoted fanbase, then, from season 2 on, do more serialized story telling, usually a sort of monster of the season format. Fringe, Supernatural, Buffy, Angel, Warehouse 13, and Lost all did it. I suspect Grimm will follow suit. Either way, that's all for now.

Episode Reviewed: Awake Guilty

And here we have the high concept product of NBC attempting to reach a new demographic. And i'd say there doing a pretty good job with that to. This week, in Greenverse, Rex is kidnapped by an escaped convict Michael put away ten years earlier. The man claims he's innocent, and Michael is in a race against time to somehow find his son. In Redverse, Michael uses the version of the convict that's still in prison to help him find where Rex is stashed away. Now so far, the writers have done good job of spreading the mysteries across both... realities, worlds, dreams, mysteries, whatever the heck you wanna call them, in a way that actually does a good job of using the show's concept in each story, while at the same time throwing in some solid character development and emotional drama, or at least they do a better job then a high concept mystery over on FOX which shall not be named. This was a good episode overall, solid performances, directing, yada yada. The only thing it really lacked was a good story arc moment somewhere in there like last week, but i don't think we should be expecting a twist that big from every episode. In nutshell, I'm pleased with the first couple of episodes the show has cranked out and so far I like where they seem to be heading. Final Rating: 87%

The Top 5 Sci fi and Fantasy Show Seasons

Now, as many nerds and geeks (such as myself) will confirm, a sci fi or fantasy show is often defined by how good each of it's seasons were. One bad season among 5 great ones can really drag a show down in fandom, as can one good one among two lousy ones. So, i've decided to do something different: pick the top five best individual seasons of shows of the genre to set them apart from the rest of the show. If you're wondering why this isn't a top ten list like usual, that's because i realized it would get redundant pretty quickly. So, here we go: the top five sci fi and fantasy show seasons:

5. Supernatural: Season 1
Before any of you say anything, let me first establish that i am literally just now starting to watch this show. My friend is huge fan, and he tried and succeeded to get me hooked by loaning me his box set for the first season. I loved it, and now i'm on season 2, which so far i like, but i haven't seen it enough to put it ahead. Anyway, the show chronicles the demon hunting Winchester brothers Sam and Dean as they road trip cross country in there Chevy Impala hunting down demons, spirits, and anything else that happens to be evil. They find it, they kill it. Why do they do this? When they were little, a demon killed there mother. After that, there dad became obsessed with finding it and killing it. He didn't, but he found quite a lot of other evil stuff and killed that. He trained Sam and Dean to be hunters as well. The road trip aspect of this show alone is awesome, plus the often hilarious dynamic between Sam and Dean (they spent most of this season not liking each other very much) and, obviously, the kick-ass action when they shoot, impale, exorcise, or torch demons. Throw in an awesome classic rock sound track and some genuine scares and you've got the first season of Supernatural.

4. The X Files: Season 1
I do love this show. First off let me say that this was the best season of the show, hands down. I'm not saying seasons 2-7 were bad (but i will say that about seasons 8 and 9) but, as a whole, I like this season best. The iconic adventures of FBI Agents Mulder (the believer) and Scully (the skeptic) follows them assigned to the X Files, the FBI's unsolved, unexplained cases, which, naturally, resurface and involve what Mulder calls extreme possibility. Translation: they end up with cases involving mutants, physics, bizarre creatures, and, of course, the alien conspiracy theory that would be present throughout the show. The monster of the week with the occasional story arch episode made fans keep watching and just made it flat out GOOD. Add in the best pilot episode i've ever seen, great special effects, and of course Mulder and Scully desperately trying not to make out with each other, and you've got something truly excellent.

3. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3
I know what you're thinking: is this guy even capable of getting through an entire list WITHOUT talking about or even referencing a Joss Whedon show? Answer: Probably not. Season 1 launched the show, season 2 showed what it was capable of, but, at least in my opinion, season 3 is where it peaked. Once again, i'm not saying the following seasons were bad, just that, this one was probably the best. After returning to Sunnydale following some reflection in LA, and finally reconnecting with her mom and the scoobies, Buffy meets another slayer: Faith, as well as encounters something very interesting indeed involving the town mayor. There honestly weren't any episodes this season i disliked, not to mention so many classic episodes like The Wish, The Zeppo, Dopplegangland, Earshot, Bad Girls (i could on but i won't) that made it the most consistent. And other then maybe season 5's central story, the mayor arc was probably my favorite. Throw in every character we would ever come to love on this show except Tara (though fans of show acknowledge why having Tara and Oz around at the same time doesn't work) plus the usual hilarious comic relief and huge and kick ass action scenes and one of the best season finale's ever, and you've got season three in a nutshell.

2. Doctor Who: Season/Series 2
Any and every whovian knows that this was hands down the best season of new who (though i think season 5 came pretty close). The 9th doctor has regenerated into the 10th Doctor, who is the favorite of most fans. Plus, you've got Rose as the companion, also regarded as one of the best companions. The continue there adventures through time and space, dealing with old enemies like Cybermen and Daleks, plus new ones like, oh, i don't know, maybe a WEREWOLF! And SATAN! Plus new and old friends like Sarah Jane and Pete. From there, throw in an amazing central story involving the an alternate universe (before Fringe was even on, I might add, so don't go saying they ripped off JJ Abrams) and the mysterious Torchwood Institute. Once again, this season had so many classic episodes like Tooth and Claw, Rise of the Cybermen/ The Age of Steel, School Reunion, and the Christmas Invasion. Despite two total bombs (yes, i'm talking about Love and Monsters and Fear Her) the rest of the season, including it's amazing finale, was awesome enough that most fans are willing to forget that. Series 2: it was awesome.

1. Torchwood: Season/ Series 3 (AKA Children of Earth)
Now, in general, i prefer Doctor Who to any of it's spinoffs (and there are a lot of them) BUT, most fans of both shows will agree that this season was five of the finest hours of television ever produced. That's right, this season was a five episode long mini-series. So, it's no secret among Torchwood fans that season 1 was, at best, mediocre and, at worst, horrible. Season two was good, but not incredible either, save for A Day in the Death. Children of Earth, however was AWESOME! So, season 3 begins, Tosh and Owen are dead (spoilers) and Gwen finds out she's pregnant. Jack and Ianto are being Jack and Ianto, if you catch my drift. And then, one morning, every single child on earth stops. They literally stopped moving, talking, everything, right there, but it wears off after a few minutes. Then, a few hours later, it happens again, but this time they speak. What do they say? "WE ARE COMING." A group of aliens called the 456 are controlling them, just letting them know that they intend to stop by to take 10% of the earth's children, by force if necessary. The catch? They've been here before, and Jack's dealt with them once. This season was everything all at once: action packed, a political thriller, and full of comic relief and even further development and some closure from the characters we had gotten to know over the past two seasons. Granted, a lot of that closure and the bittersweet ending (i won's spoil that) are undone by the dreadful fourth season (we will not discuss that) but either way, this amazing, and that makes Torchwood: Children of Earth the best season of any sci fi and fantasy show.

Alright, guys, thanks for reading, be sure to comment and subscribe, and, oh wait, it's time for HONORABLE MENTIONS! The seasons that were good, but not good enough for the list:
Doctor Who season 5
Torchwood season 2
The X Files season 2
Buffy season's 2 and 5
Angel season 3
Firefly (only one season of the show was ever made, so yeah)
Warehouse 13 seasons 2 and 3
Smallville insert season here (and with that i give you all permission to hate me)
Star Trek Enterprise seasons 3 and 4

Rant: Alcatraz

I've stopped watching, and therefore reviewing, FOX's sci fi mystery series. Now, when i first heard about this series, i had high hopes. I mean seriously, JJ Abrams. I tend to associate him with awesome stuff. But, the simply put, this show was just too trivial. It was boring, and half of every episode was spent developing the villain of the week (who i really didn't care about all that much) instead of the main characters or the actual plot. The villains weren't interesting, the actual tracking of them down felt slow and tedious, and frankly they didn't do much with the story arch that drew fans in to begin with. This is a Bad Robot Production,  so fans want and expect a straight up serial drama like Lost or Fringe. But nothing along those lines. The funny thing is, this is the second new sci fi show on Fox that had a ton of potential but was completely botched, the first being Terra Nova (don't even get me started) To be fair, the network still has one more new sci fi show, Touch, which had an amazing pilot episode, and, therefore, i have high hopes for. Hopefully they'll do a better job with that. I would say it would help Fox redeem itself in my eyes, but it will never truly do that.  Why? Oh, maybe what they did to Firefly! And Dollhouse! And insert good sci fi show here! Anyway, that's all from this rant. But don't worry, this won't reduce the number of posts, because i am going to start reviewing Awake and Touch, plus, naturally, more rants and lists. Bye for now.

Episode Reviewed: Grimm Plumed Serpent

Dragons. That's right. Dragons. Dragon vessin. How awesome is that?! So, arson related death calls Nick and Hank into action, leading them to a suspect who is a dragon vessin, the actual name for which being, obviously, some obscure German word i can't spell. This leads them to his daughter, a stripper/fire dancer, played Danielle Panabaker (naughty girl) She attempts to seduce Nick, doesn't work, so, naturally, she kidnaps Juliette and brings her to her father's lair. That's right. A lair. This was kind of a homage to classic dragon stories, as Monroe points out, which, since he's Monroe, gives him a massive nerdgasm. The first of two in that episode, the other one brought on by something model train related. Overall, this was an entertaining story, not quite as good as last week, but still pretty good. The writers and directors on this show (DavidGreenwaltOhMyGod!) are clearly starting to pull out all the stops with every episode. It's a bit hard to explain, but if you watch this one and the last few, you'll see what i mean. With the finale inching closer every week, more and more hints are being dropped at this season's story involving the Reapers, and so far i like where they're going with it. Final Rating: 89%

Episode Reviewed: Awake The Little Guy

Intriguing strikes me as an apt word here. As Britten continues to deal with the dual realities, he finds another case of things crossing over from both sides in his investigations, especially when a witness in Red World says he saw a little guy kill a man whose death is also under investigation in Green World, so Britten pursues this. As with the pilot, you have Dr. Evans being awesome and Dr. Lee being kind of tool. We also meet the Captain, Played by Laura Innes (that's right, the alien lady from The Event) who there is something very strange indeed going on with, but i won't say due to the risk of spoilers. The writers are doing a good job so far of keeping us guessing as to which reality is which, plus the story arc bits at the end absolutely have me wanting more. Good performances all around, interesting directing, good episode overall. Final Rating: 89%

Episode Reviewed: Grimm 3 Coins in a Fuschbau

Warning: Spoilers, and yes, i am aware i probably spelled Fuschbau wrong. This was one of the major testaments to why i love this show. So, we have three Vessin robbing a jewelry store in Portland. What do they want? Three rare coins that ignite whoever possesses them with charisma, rage, and power. They go back to ancient times, empowering, corrupting, and destroying leaders up until Adolf Hitler. The Grimm family has been protecting the coins since the fall of the Third Reich. Until 1994, when the last Grimm protecting them was murdered and the coins went back into circulation. And the Grimm who was protecting them was Nick's mom. A Vessin with an unspellable (yes it's a word) classification is looking for the coins, a Vessin who claims to have been engaged to Nick's aunt Marie, but she left him to raise Nick. He also claims that one of the robbers was involved in the murder of Nick's parents, going against what we were told about them dying in a car crash. Who has the coins now? The captain, a character who both intrigues and creeps out fans. I won't speak of the ending, because it was awesome and i'd rather not ruin it. Great episode, giving us some great answers and tantalizing hints. The show still has nine episodes left this season, so David Greenwalt still has plenty of time for the season's story arc, but i'm glad they're starting to get around to it, because some the implications in this episode nearly made my head explode. Great writing, good performances all around, and the ending actually gave me some chills. I didn't think it could be done, but this may have been better then Organ Grinder. Final Rating: 93%

The Top 10 Doctor Who Episodes

What's happening folks?! So here we are at another top ten list, this one for my top ten episodes of my favorite show currently on tv: Doctor Who. The hit british sci fi series revolves around The Doctor, a human-looking alien who travels through time and space in a police box that's bigger on the inside than the outside. It's freaking awesome. The show was on the BBC from 1963-1989, got cancelled, and then, in 2005, got revived and is amazing. It's in it's sixth season since it's revival, with 114 episodes. Now, i know there's nothing Who-related going on right now, but i was bored and i couldn't think of another top ten list idea. A few rules: i'm only doing episodes from the revived series, mainly because i've never actually seen the classic series, and two-part episodes will be regarded as one episode. Heads up, this contains spoilers. Let's get started.

10. School Reunion
Season 2

New who meets old who in this instant classic. The doctor, rose, and mickey are looking into strange events at a high school, and they run into one of the doctor's old companions while doing so: Miss Sarah Jane Smith, one of the most iconic companions from the classic series. She even has K-9 with her. We finally get some closure regarding Sarah Jane's story, which many fans previously felt had a blah sort of ending. Also in the mix are the monsters lurking at the high school, the Krylitane, who are big bat things disguised as teachers, eating ones who get bad grades. There leader is played by Anthony Stewart Head (Oh my God it's Giles!) and they have a plan. just beautiful, it was.

9. The Stolen Earth/ The Journey's End
Season 4
This season finale was about as hollywood blockbuster as Who will probably ever get. As Davros, the creator of the Daleks, re-emerges, he pulls Earth and 25 other planets out of time and space to use in there plan to destroy the universe. At the same time, all of the doctor's former companions from the last 4 seasons (that is Rose, Mickey, Jackie, Martha, Jack, and Sarah Jane) team up to help the doctor stop davros, crossing over with the show's two major spinoffs , Torchwood and SJA in the process. The Doctor and Donna find them all there, and from there they deal with the ultimate Dalek invasion. One of the most epic episodes the show has ever produced, it was, as expected, action packed, entertaining, and funny, plus we got great closure for most of the recurring cast, and the saddest companion departure ever  when Donna's memory was wiped, and a tearjerking speech from Wilf as the Doctor marches off into the rain after losing Donna. If you didn't feel something when that happened, you have no soul.

8. The Time of Angels/ Flesh and Stone
Season 5
Matt Smith's debut season as the Doctor was impressive, and this episode confirmed that. The Doctor and Amy run into River Song, who brings them to a planet to help a group of priest recover a Weeping Angel from space ship trapped in a cave. The twist: the cave is filled with statues, and the statues are all weeping angles. I found that out and was just like "oh (expletive removed)" Some will bag on this episodes for making the angels do things they didn't do in Blink, but frankly, Steven Moffat created the weeping angels, he can make them do whatever the hell he wants. Any weeping angles story is good, especially one that was this exciting and a little bit eerie. Plus, River Song, and she's always a fun time.

7. The Pandorica Opens/ The Big Bang
Season 5
Season 5's finale was one of the most majestic, reaching the climax of the absolutely brilliant concept used throughout the season. The concept was that, after the TARDIS explodes sometime in the future, cracks were created in the skin of the universe, and anything that goes into a crack will have never existed. The crack's are getting bigger, and all of the Doctor's former enemies team up to trap him in hopes the cracks will never be created. That obviously doesn't work, so the cracks are getting bigger and literally wiping the entire universe from existence. Phenomenal performances from everyone, especially the Doctor, obviously, and River being River, plus Rory as a plastic Roman Centurion, and Amy bringing the Doctor back from non-existence. Excellent end to and excellent arc.

6. The Army of Ghosts/ Doomsday
Season 2
You've probably figured out by now i've got a bit of a thing for season finales. So, The Doctor and Rose arrive on Eartha, only to find that ghosts are everywhere. They're investigation of it leads them to Torchwood, the government agency that investigates alien phenomena that the doctor and rose had been running into over the course of the season. Eventually, they find out the ghosts are cybermen from the alternate universe, who then proceed to invade, while, naturally, a dalek invasion is also taking place. Yeah, that's right: Daleks vs Cybermen. With a little help with from the alternate universe Pete and company, the doctor traps the daleks and cybermen in the the void, but Rose ends up getting trapped in the alternate universe in the process, leading to one of the most heartbreaking scenes the show has ever seen.

5. The Doctor's Wife
Season 6
So, here we have famed author Neil Gaiman writing episode of Doctor Who; this can only lead to much fun. The Doctor, Amy, and Rory get a distress call from another Time Lord, leading the Doctor to believe there's still time lords out there. This leads them to a bizarre planet outside of the universe (never really explained how that one works) where they find the TARDIS's consciousness has been put in a human body, and an energy being called House has taken control of the TARDIS. Fun ensues. And there's and Ood! One of the most inventive episodes, with a great performance by the woman who played the TARDIS, and we finally see what it would be like if those bigger-on-the-inside-walls could talk.

4. The Waters of Mars
Specials Season
 Now, the number above this says four, but at this is actually tied for first. Ordering this was a pain in neck. Probably the darkest and most intense story the show has ever told, we find the Doctor, traveling alone, arrive on Mars, circa 2059. He runs into a base with where the first humans to colonize mars are living. The catch: the Doctor knows what happens on that day in that place, that everyone on the base will die. And it's a fixed point, so the Doctor can't interfere. Throughout the episode, you can tell it's killing him that he can't save these people, even though he knows it will actually help advance humanity. What's killing everyone? A parasite that lives in water and turns people into deformed slaves to do there bidding. There called the flood, and they're one of the show's scariest monsters. At the end, he goes a little bit nuts and tries and fails to break the rules, leading to one of the most controversial endings the show has ever had.

3. Blink
Season 3
You all knew this would be here. One of the most brilliant hours of television ever produced introduces the Weeping Angels, stone statues that can only move when you're not looking. The real twist in this episode: the doctor's barely in it. He and Martha are stuck in 1969, and he's using the help of a girl named Sally Sparrow (Carrey Muligan) to get the TARDIS back to him before the angels get it, there intention being to feed of it's energy, which would be very bad. Brilliantly written, brilliantly executed, just plain brilliant.

2. The Impossible Astronaut/ Day of Moon
Season 6
I may or may not get a lot of crap for putting this here. Season 6 was fairly polarizing for fans; there were those who embraced the heavy serialization and those who couldn't accept the idea, mainly because they just don't like either Smith or Moffat, or both (a group i refer to as imbeciles) I'm a fan of serialized TV, so i was pretty happy about this episode. So, season 6 premier, Amy, Rory, and River are called to Utah by the Doctor, only to watch him apparently killed by an astronaut who rose from a lake. While grieving, they find that the doctor invited a past version of himself, and, based on some information the future doctor gave them, they go to Washington DC, 1969, where they meet Richard Nixon, as well as deal with a conspiracy surrounding the moon landing involving a group of aliens called the Silence. When you see the silence, you remember them, but when you look away, you lose all memory of them, even that you saw them in the first place. Plus, if they tell you do something while you see them, when you forget them, you have to do it, sort of like post hypnotic suggestion. And they can control electricity. This serves both as an amazing stand alone story and as a great way of setting up the complex story arc of the season. A masterpiece.

1. The Empty Child/ The Doctor Dances
Season 1
While Christopher Eccleston's time as the Doctor was brief, this amazing two-parter was one of the major reasons we loved him anyway. Steven Moffat's first episode, The Doctor and Rose track a spaceship to London, 1941, the height of the Blitz. They meet Captain Jack Harkness (fist shakes, BARROWMAN!) and find that a child wearing a gas mask is actually a sort of zombie, turning other people into gas mask zombies upon touch, which they find out is the result of microscopic robots altering human DNA.. And it may have been Jack's fault. A very impressive debut for both Moffat and Jack, who would later go on to star in his own spinoff, Torchwood. The gas mask zombies were both compelling and a little bit frightening, and the story makes you keep wanting more. For the first time, everybody lived. Best episode ever.

So, that's it from the list. But wait, it's time for honorable mentions:
The Unquiet Dead
A Good Man Goes to War
Amy's Choice
The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit
Utopia
Tooth and Claw
The Doctor's Daughter
The Aliens of London/ World War Three
The Christmas Invasion
A Christmas Carol

NBC goes all high-concept on us

First off, let me say happy march to all of my four loyal readers. Second, i'll get to my point. For some time now, NBC has been beneath the other three major networks (Fox, ABC, and CBS) who have out done them time after time. And while some great shows have come out of the peackock network in the last few years (Chuck, Heroes, The Office, 30 Rock) they remained the little guys. The solution: by appealing to the nerd community. NBC is introducing quite a bit in the way of high concept, though provoking sci fi shows to bounce back. It's a risk, but when a sci fi show finds an audience, it sticks around for a while. Ask any fan of smallville or lost. It starts with Awake, which centers around a man who, after a car crash, finds himself living in 2 realitites: one where his son survived the crash and his wife died, and the other where it's the other way around. I've already seen the pilot (they put it up online) and it was really good, and i'm looking forward to seeing where they take it from here. I've got a review for it if you feel like scrolling down a bit. Then there's Beautiful People, set in a future where humans and robots live together, but robots are second class citizens. If it sounds familiar, that's because that's the premise of the movie Blade Runner. The show's producers, however, are claiming that while there are parallels between the two, they plan on doing something totally different. I'm interested to see what they do, or, if it turns out to be a rip off of one of my favorite movies, in watching Ridley Scott sue NBC to death. There's also Revolution, but i won't bother talking about it because, based on what i've read while trolling, it sounds like a falling skies rip off, and i hate falling skies so i've got a funny feeling i won't like it. Can NBC corner the nerd market? Time will tell.