The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is a strange beast of a film. On its surface, it has everything I could ever want in a big holiday movie; battles, orcs, amazing special effects, and the best representation of a dragon onscreen ever.
And yet it left me flat.
Max Headroom was one of the best television shows of the Eighties. In fact, it’s fair to say that Edison Carter is one of the reasons I got into television, along with Doctor Who director Graeme Harper.
Well, Wired has a tribute to our pixelated forefather, and the article makes the very good point that with the rise of Youtube, video blogging and web series we have all become Max. Everyone is a digital sound-bite, but the difference is we aren’t in thrall to all powerful television networks as portrayed in the show. Instead the internet has made everyone into a network, for good and ill.
Well, no surprise there. But many a year has been pegged as “the year we (fill in the blank)” in the sci-fi realm, and as we reach those years we’re filled with a crashing sense of disappointment. Here’s some of the best sci-fi years and how they actually panned out.
In a stunning, nay flabbergasting turn of events, the Torchwood: Children of Earth miniseries turned out to be not only a fantastic five days of entertainment but possibly one of the best things on television thus far this year. A special 4 person quorum of the RFS council was called to deal with this turn of events, with special Torchwood representative Katrina joining the fun. But that’s not all! The Three Who Rule Plus One also threw in a “Bad Wolf” commentary…but of course such good fortune meant the beast Cracklor also paid a visit. Still, an epic-length RFS for an epic entry in the Doctor Who canon.
Things took a turn for both the obscene and obsequious and Pedantor proved he could crawl even lower into the gutter he calls home and Warren was bested by Cracklor, a skypeovore that feasts on distorted, craptacular VOIP. Oh, and somewhere in this menagerie of madness the sometimes forgotten but certainly notable “Boom Town” was commented on by the Three Who Rule.
It’s not often that the Three Who Rule spend more than a minute dismissing Torchwood out of hand, much less being interested in a new series of everyone’s tolerated younger, ganglier cousin to Doctor Who. But that strange event is precisely what happened (explained away with string theory and many a complicated equation, most likely), along with some pre Comic Con banter and oh yes, a commentary on The Empty Child.
Battlestar Galactica and Caprica creator Ron Moore took time out of his busy schedule to talk with me (in my capacity as a reporter at the Banff TV Festival for Techvibes) about technology, AI, webisodes, and the incoming awesomeness that is Caprica. Additional questions from Kris Krug, who also took some great pictures.
“The Unquiet Dead” was the episode next in line for commentary, but the intrepid investigations of the Three Who Rule have discovered a hidden message within this tale of Dickens, aliens, and reanimated corpses. Yes, it seems Russel T. Davies sees fit to force his sick preferences for matter in neither solid or liquid but gaseous(!) form down the throats of the public. Well, not on our watch, dear listener. What’s next, marriage between a glass of water and a pineapple? The mind boggles.
With a gulf of unrealistic (and unwelcome) lack of Doctor Who stretching far over the (event) horizon, The Three Who Rule took it upon themselves to deploy their deadliest weapon: the commentary. Specifically, a look at the first series of New Who, starting with Rose. Fantastic!
direct download: rfs137.mp3
With Steven currently roasting production codes out of his head under the fiery sun of Cuba, Chris and Warren decided mutiny was the appropriate response and welcomed Katrina (also known on Twitter as @xanister) to fill his gangly shoes. And not a moment too soon, as the Two Who Rule (and special guest) were inundated with a surfeit of news, both plausible and spoiler-diculous.
Direct download: rfs130.mp3