Via the SciFi Wire: Third Eureka Season Ordered

SCI FI Channel has ordered a third season of its original series Eureka, giving a green light to production of 13 new episodes, the network announced.

Good news. It is light fare, to be sure, but also entertaining.

So reports iF Magazine.

As described it is it KITT becomes a Transformer.

Hmmm.

So things are best left dormant….

Via iF Magazine: CAPTAIN PICARD WANTS TO WORK WITH DOCTOR WHO

Patrick Stewart, who will be appearing with current Doctor Who actor David Tennant in a production of HAMLET next summer, says that he’s long been a fan of the fan of the show and is sad that he’s never been asked to appear in it. “I have been (a fan) actually yes,” Stewart says, “and deeply dismayed that I was never asked to be in it! I think it’s a terrific series.”

To which there is only one logic response: Russell T. Davies must make it so.

Too bad Gallifrey burned, as Stewart would make an excellent crusty old Time Lord.

My wife and I watched the TiVo’d premiere of Bionic Woman last night and I was impressed and my wife considered it “dark” but “interesting”. The general consensus was that it will remain in the Season Pass list. (And in regards to the “dark” comment, which was a correct description, I noted “It was made by one of the co-producers of BSG, not exactly the lightest show on TV”).

The beginning scene, with the hallway of bludgeoned and bloody bodies no doubt turned off anyone who tuned in to see a redux of the 1970s show. Indeed, in terms of capturing such viewers, the scene struck me as an odd choice, especially since it ends in a seeming spot execution. It was, however, quite effective in setting up the threat posed by the first bionic woman, as played (quite well, in fact) by Katee Sackoff of Starbuck fame.

Overall, the setup was intriguing, the characters interesting (although to this point, aside from Jaime, I am not sure if anyone qualifies as likable), and the writing, acting and presentation are all well done. In terms of characters, the boyfriend (Will) is sufficiently morally ambiguous as to be a tad creepy and the outfit he works for (whose mission sounds vaguely Torchwood-esque, btw) is similarly suspicious. The sister (Becca), who appears to be some sort of super hacker, is sympathetic, even given her limited role (that of the angry teenager) in the pilot.

The visual effects were well done and the fight scenes well choreographed, although one wonder how many times Jamie and Sarah Corvis can have that kind of fight. Along those lines: anthrocites or no anthrocites, it would seem that Jaime’s arm should have been broken or dislocated after that fight.

The changes to the Bionics technology (including the anthrocites and the microchips in the brain) make it more logical (than the original series) that a person could do what Jaime can do–especially go into a fight with bionic parts and non-bionic parts and come out without having the non-bionic parts out of commission for some time.

In looking at the cast list , the Mark Sheppard character (great to see him after his BSG stint as Romo Lampkin) is named Anthony Anthros and Will’s last name is also Anthros. Clearly, the Sheppard character is Will’s (apparently nasty, based on some of the dialog) father. I am not sure that those names were made clear in the pilot or not. I certainly missed them.

If you missed the premiere, I would recommend picking it up next week, as the show is still in set-up mode.

Via the NY Post: Secrets, Identities: ‘Heroes’ Cast and Crew Unmask Season 2:

“”We called Season 1 Volume 1 and it was entitled ‘Genesis.’ It just happened to be 23 episodes long,”" said Kring. “”Volume 2 is entitled ‘Generations’ and it by no means has to be an entire season long … In fact, we’re looking at that volume to end in the middle of the season, which allows us to wrap up certain stories and allows us to have new stories begin.”"

Producer Jeph Loeb, who’s also worked on Lost and written virtually every major comic book superhero in their monthly titles, said the first 11 episodes comprise the first story arc, airing through December. “”That is actually going to be the end of Volume 2 so that if you started watching the show, we’re not asking you to come on for 24. I mean we would love for you to do that, but you can just watch the first 11 and you’ll have a complete story with a beginning, middle and end.”"

Kring said viewers can expect Volumes 3 and 4 to round out the rest of the season.

Intriguing.

And any show that can pull off the following, and I have no doubt that Heroes can, in simply cool:

“”We start off with two parallel time lines,”" explained Oka. “”One is starting four months after the event and another timeline starts 400 years prior to the event in feudal Japan. And somehow that’s going to coincide and overlap and it’ll all make sense.”"

While the episode was a bit plodding insofar as it had a lot of setup to do, there was still a great deal of plot forwarding going on.

Some interesting new plot threads for this season:

• The anti-heroes plague.
• HRG and Suresh plotting to take down the Company (most cool).
• Irish dudes and Peter locked in a cargo container sans memory.
• Maya and Alejandro (not exactly Zan and Jana, now are they?)
• Hiro and the Gaijin in 17th Century Japan.
• Molly and Evil Eyes .

My only gripe (and it is a minor one) is that the Bennett (now Butler) family’s cover is inconsistent. Dad is working in a copy store (and you have to love the confrontation scene, even if was a bit unrealistic) yet his daughter can have a brand new SUV (maybe the product placement paid for it…) and they live in a house/apartment that many professional couldn’t afford in SoCal. Indeed, the fictitious Costa Verde is clearly too upscale for the cover to make any sense.

A question there: how much do Mrs. HRG and Lyle remember? Or, for that matter, Mr. Muggles?

In terms of who is trying to take out the older generation, a commenter at Unqualified Offerings has an intriguing theory:

Nathan is the guy threatening the older generation.

If you watch the sequence where Ando is bringing Mr. Takamura his paper, he is bumped into by Nathan Petrelli. Ando doesn’t recognize him because of the beard and disheveled appearance. But that’s when Nathan slipped the photo into the paper.

He also tacked the photo up for his mother outside Peter’s(?) apartment.

So, assumming it was Nathan seeking revenge for what the older generation put him and Peter through — he tackled Mr. Takamura over the side of the building and flew off.

I have the episode on TiVo, so will have to go back and give the Ando bump scene a looksee.

I am not sure about the idea that Nathan was the one who went to kill Hiro’s father (and I hope he isn’t dead, as George Takei plays a great supporting character), as the implication was clear that it was one of the older generation, but we shall see.

And speaking of Nathan, in addition to flying, he clearly has super-powerful follicles. That’s one mega-beard!

And yes, his Mom is evil.

The NYT looks into the new show that premieres this week: Bionic Woman.

Via Variety: George Miller to lead ‘Justice League’.

Jay (of Blogblivion fame, as well as other palces) reminded me yesterday that I had not yet commented on the death of fantasy authorRobert Jordan, known primarily for his Wheel of Time series.

Jordan was a pseudonym of James Oliver Rigney, Jr. who died less than a week ago at the all too young age of 58.

Via the AP:

He died at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston of complications from primary amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy, his personal assistant, Maria Simons, said Monday. The blood disease caused the walls of Rigney’s heart to thicken.

I found Rigney’s WoT series fairly recently, less than ten years ago, and quickly read all the available volumes. It was an impressive fictional world with engrossing characters and background. Sadly, the series was incomplete at his death. As Ross Douthat at the Atantic notes, it will likely be finished some day by another author, “it will be less than it could have been.” Indeed.

May he rest and peace.

Via Reuters: Third “Narnia” delayed until 2024:

“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” was originally set for release May 1, 2024; it is now scheduled for May 7, 2024. Production will begin next summer, instead of January.