Bugs, Mister Rico!

The Starship Troopers movie franchise finally gets the powered armors of the book. Only three movies too late, guys.

Macross Frontier, Continued

You can tell they spent a lot of money on episode 7 of Macross Frontier — episode 8 is very lean, animation-wise. But boy, what a raunchy episode! Fan service galore!

Macross Frontier, Continued

I just watched episode 7 of Macross Frontier, aptly titled “First Fight.” It’s a 20-minute long mecha battle with J-Pop, missiles, corkscrews, impossible flying… aaahhh. It’s been a while since an anime series has made my pulse rate go up, and I loved Gundam 00!

How good was that episode? Two words:

Macross Gerwalk o.0”

More G.I. Joe

Not entirely sold yet, but I’m willing to wait and see. We might yet be surprised. Check out more characters from the upcoming movie.

Macross Frontier

I briefly mentionned the series before, but Macross Frontier is exceeding all my already high expectations. It’s both a sequel and a remake of the original Macross, and it’s got all the right elements: love triangles, kickass music, planes that turn into giant robots, swarms of missiles, Kawamori mecha designs, ultra-high production values…

I’m up to episode 5 and I can’t wait for next weekend’s episode 6. Very highly recommended if you aren’t following it already.

Iron Man

Just came back from the movie. I need a cigarette, and I don’t even smoke. Yes, it was that good — if you’re into mecha, which I obviously am. It’s 126 minutes of robotics/gadgets porn, with tons of details and very good characters.

There’s really no reason we can’t get good powered armor or mecha movies anymore. Forget that old “but you can’t see the actor’s faaace!” whine, John Favreau found a way. So I want — nay, I demand! — movies or TV series of Starship Troopers (for real this time), Forever War, Armor and so on.

When (not if) you go see the movie, stay until the end of the credits. I mean it. It’s your… ultimate goal.

The Buried Cyborg Army

Of course, Cold Storage: East Germany’s Buried Cyborg Army will probably turn out to be a total B-movie. But the concept sounds pretty fun, if not extremely original. Bonus for using Commie Iron Ivans instead of the predictable (and overdone) Nazi Ubermench.

Yo Joe!

If you’re a child of the 80s, you might be interested in the G.I. Joe movie costumes.

Steampunk Star Wars

I know it’s already been linked to death, but just in case someone hasn’t seen it, here’s what Star Wars would have looked like if Georges Lucas was born in the nineteenth century.

HARO Figure

Now you can own your very own HARO robot, lately from Gundam OO, and a whole bunch of Gundam shows before that.

It’s not as smart or useful as the ones from the show, but at this price you can’t ask for much.

10 Most Prophetic Sci-Fi Movies

Here’s a good article over at Popular Mechanics.

"My God, It's Full of Star..."

Or at least I hope it is for him. Noted science-fiction author and scientist Arthur C. Clarke is dead at 90. Another one that I will never have the chance to meet, alas.

UPDATE: You can find a lot more coverage right here, including a review of his life and books, and yet more links.

Latest Iron Man Trailer

In one word, totally awesome.

(Okay, two words.)

Appleseed Trailer

Check out the trailer to Appleseed: Ex Machina. Try not to drool too much.

Gundam 00, Episode 16-18

Brutal. I think it’s an accurate summary of the latest episodes, especially #18. It’s not something we would see on North American TV, that’s for sure!

Nice way to do a cheap “recap” episode in #16. Though we all wonder who these “Observers” are, and why they seem to enjoy defacing priceless works of art with tiny cameras and LED lights.

Episode 17 finally showed some background to the whole plot. And it also hint at what a Jovian Chronicles anime could have been… [sigh]

I wonder if the attack on the wedding in #18 is a commentary on the bombings of various “weddings” in the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts. I use quotes because if I have to decide who’s telling the truth, Al Quaeda or the Air Force, I tend to side with the latter.

Graham Acre is now officially my favorite character in the new series (the Flag was already a favorite MS design to start with). The move with the twin sabers is the kind of thing that makes you go “whoooo” and “badaaasss!” when you pull them off in a video game. More please!

Wall-E

I don’t think Pixar needs any boost from me, but go see the trailer for this summer’s movie.

UPDATE: dangit, looks like they took the trailer down. Sorry about that. I imagine it will eventually be available here instead.

Gundam 00, Episode 15

I just watched episode 15, and boy, did Celestial Being bit off more than they could chew this time. 250-to-1 odds are not good, no matter what kind of wonder machine you’re sitting in.

High points: use of drones and networked communication by the combined forces. As usual, they spot the Gundams by the disruption in detection/communication signals, which is smart. Lots of teamwork by the enemy aces (and a neat showcase of what happens when you don’t wait for your wingmen). Intense combat action taking place over several hours.

Low points: teenager sideplot that has no connection with the main story (and seriously, dude, dump the material girl already). Gundam Virtue again generating more energy than a nuclear bomb — repeatedly. A ridiculous mobile armor that by all rights should not fly (it lacks either visible thrusters or GN particles) and looks completely out of place in what has been a fairly realistic* story so far. Deus Ex Machina (literally) at the end of the episode; got more kits to sell, eh Bandai?

—-
*Keeping in mind that we’re talking about mecha, here.

Io9

I’m already having a tough time keeping my Web browsing to an acceptable [cough] level, but then Gawker Media has to go and give us a new science fiction blog. I think I’m going to have to start keeping a timer near the computer…

The Ten Doctors

It’s a fan comic, but it’s good enough to be the real thing. A must-read for Doctor Who fans.

(And speaking of which, remember that Voyage of the Damned, the next Who special, is coming up this Christmas! W00t!)

Gundam 00, Episodes 9-10

I just watched episodes 9 and 10 of Gundam 00, and the series continues to improve. The Gundam team commits the ultimate sin on the battlefield — overconfidence — and dearly pays for it over this two-part story. While they don’t lose anyone, they are forced to prematurely reveal many of the cards in their hands, which is sure to wreck their carefully set planning. The League forces also commit a few blunders (hint: make sure you neutralize the enemy pilot before you haul the captured suit away) but overall give a very good performance with strong team work.

The series continues to impress from a realism standpoint. There are tiny but neat details like maneuver thrusters flaring in the right sequences and Sumeragi’s frustrated hit on the bulkhead sending her flying off. On the downside, they keep giving powerful war machines to obviously unstable people, but that’s on par with the rest of the Gundam franchise.

Oh yes, and we get some foreshadowing for future episodes. The plot appears to have many layers.

Gundam 00, Continued

Just watched Episode 8, and I’m a bit disappointed. Real world terrorists don’t hang out in conveniently isolated camps, they live in the city like everyone else. There also a little bit harder to find that just plodding through a database (alas).

That said, the episode had a few interesting things going for it. First, it’s pretty obvious that while they will not call them by the proper names (except for the Kurds), we’re dealing with Islamic child soldiers and Iran/Iraq. A combination of the latter makes the most sense if fighting a Kurdish Republic, since Turkey (the Kurds’ northern neighbors) doesn’t rely on oil as much and the rest of the Middle East countries aren’t close enough to the present day Kurds to recreate the fighting shown in the show.

Second, I found it interesting that the terror group was a bunch of radical environmentalists. Two years ago I read a short story where the antagonists were members of Gaia Jihad, an Islamist/Green radical group. Given how the Left and radical Islam are moving together these days – no doubt under a “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” mindset* – I found this quite believable.

Last, a friend of mine suggested that one of the messages of the series to young Japanese viewers was to pay attention: things are happening in the world, and even though you think you are not involved, events can change overnight. You may not be interested in politics, but politics are interested in you.

I’m intrigued and will keep watching. And the fan service has nothing to do with it.

*They’ve obviously never read the Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates, the poor saps.

Macross F

I’m probably behind the times (serve me right for not keeping up to date), but I just saw the TV trailer for the new Macross F (Frontier) series.

They seem to have all the required Macross elements in place: idol singer, transformable fighter planes, giant spaceships and lots and lots of corkscrewing missiles. We’ll just have to wait until 2008 to see if it’s any good.

There are more details here and you can see the new VF-25 fighter here.

Gundam 00, Continued

It took some time but I finally saw Episode 7. Yet more mecha carnage, including a somewhat cliché “more anger/angst from pilot = more power for the mecha” scene.

Story-wise, there’s also some new stuff, including character development for the pilots, hints that a greater plan is in the work (thankfully – the one they have so far isn’t that bright), and something about the mysterious “Veda” that seems to be the mastermind behind the group. There are more “ripped from the headlines” elements: child soldiers, media attention/manipulation, a side view at the collateral damage that all the stylish mechanical warfare is causing, and some street bombings.

The latter leads into an issue that I was hoping they’d tackle from the start, and I’m happy to see that they won’t shy from: how the heck do you fight amoral madmen who fight dirty?

More to the point, how do you fight an insurgency-style war… with a 20-meter tall giant robot?

Dr Who Meets Dr Who

Time Crash is this year’s annual eight-minute special that bridges the last episode of the previous series with the next Christmas special.

Of course, if you don’t follow Doctor Who it won’t mean a thing to you, but trust me, it’s a lot of fun.

Gundam 00, Continued

I watched the fifth episode of Gundam 00 yesterday, and it was pretty good. Nice to see that they’re making basic efforts to get the physics somewhat right. Suits don’t thrust all the time, maneuver jets are used, the solar array ring is not in orbit (it’s suspended from the elevators and thus is in a gravity field) and the civilians went to a micro-gravity environment the moment the habitat broke loose from the rest of the centrifuge. And I much prefer nanotech-based Newtypes than the mystical, “spaceborn” kind.

The pink Mobile Suit piloted by a 14-years-old “supersoldier” was a bit much, but it’s on par for a Gundam series. At least the suit, beyond the color, makes some amount of sense. The extra thrusters are mounted on the shoulders and legs, and the thrust seems somewhat distributed correctly, but why they insist on making their MS fly flat on their back I’ll never understand. You need to engineer for structural strength in two perpendicular directions, and you present a larger physical target to boot! (See Ender’s Game for more discussion of humanoid zero-gee combat.)

That said, it’s a 20-minute model kit advertisement, not a deep sci-fi epic. There are strange inconsistencies in timing, such as Halleluja going from the station’s passenger receiving area to flight in his Kyrios MS in less than ten minutes, or Sergei saying that they will run out of energy when they would run out of reaction mass, more properly. And, it’s funny how fast the civilians got into space suits, but maybe these are “quick fit” emergency suits? Nanotech memory plastic, perhaps?

P.S. Speaking of solar power arrays, Popular Mechanics has a short article on them today.

Tau Zero

Joy! Someone finally got around to reprinting the classic Poul Anderson story in a compilation book. I bought it during my lunch break, and will happily read it tonight, finally discovering what happens to the ramship Leonora Christine when her decelerators are destroyed in a freak interstellar collision.

It’s a bizarre thing – I know the story’s plot, setting and characters because it’s a classic, but I never got around to reading it because I couldn’t find it anywhere!

UPDATE: very nice story. It’s too bad we now know it’s not possible – the magnetic funnel field would act as a parachute against the interstellar medium, eventually bringing the ship to a “halt” (well, in respect to the medium at least).

Gundam 00

I just watched the first two episodes of the newest Gundam series, Mobile Suit Gundam 00. The premise — four Gundam pilots band together to end war by beating up everyone else — seemed dumb at first, but a friend insisted I give it a chance.

Well, whaddya know. It’s actually pretty good. Not only that, but it makes more sense when you actually watch it and realize that there’s a lot more here than meets the eye. The writers have put in links to a lot of current events (the main character is a Kurdish refugee), and this is also the first Gundam series to occur in “the real world” (it uses the A.D. calendar, not a made-up one).

Very nice production values, too. I’ll be keeping an eye out for that one when it officially comes to North America.

G-System

Good thing I lack the time, space and disposable cash: G-System Models.

Rage Against the Machine

I just came across a neat site about the technology of SKYNET from the Terminator stories. Visit it while it still evades the watchful gaze of the movie studios’ lawyers.

Iron Man Trailer

The trailer for the Iron Man movie is here.

Robotech Movie

A Robotech movie? With Toby “Spiderman” MacGuire as Rick Hunter? Hey, could be good. I would love to see a live VF-1 on the big screen.

And speaking of Robotech, here’s a cool Cyclone Ride Armor costume seen at DragonCon 2007. I don’t think it transforms into a motorcycle, though.

Steam Trek

Now that’s a fun (and well-detailed) mash-up: Steam Trek - Voyages of the HMAS Dauntless. It’s Star Trek for the 19th century!

Classic Dr. Who in 5 Minutes

If you need to catch up on the saga before seeing the new BBC series, check out this montage of all previous Who stories.

Advanced Iron

I just came across this cool Iron Man fan site. Great stuff, especially the Armory section.

Maelstrom II

A bunch of guys at ILM are using company equipment after hours to film a short movie based on a story by Arthur C. Clarke. Needless to say, this is “hard science” SF, made possible by bluescreens and CGI.

If we’re lucky, we’re going to start seeing more movies in this vein as the production costs for F/X drop down dramatically. I shudder to think what kind of film we could have taped back in my college days. We used primitive — well, at the time it was top of the line stuff — CGI for title cards and a few special effects. The things we could do now…

Anyway, here’s the movie’s official Web site.

Review: The Road to Damascus

While I was out in the countryside, I took the opportunity to catch up on my “unread” paperback pile. The Road to Damascus, by John Ringo & Linda Evans, published by Baen Books, was the first on top. I already knew Ringo for his Legacy of the Alldenata series, and this title was just as good. Beyond the usual high tech battlefield action that is expected from a book set in Keith Laumer’s Bolo universe, the story is also a cautionary tale on the possible excesses of utopian socialism. When you gradually give power to those who think they know how to live your life better than you do, you might not like the results, no matter how ideologically correct they might be. And if the bad guys are backed by a 13,000 tons combat robot (albeit a reluctant one), it won’t be easy to get your freedom back once it’s too late.

While left-aligned readers will surely decry the story as “fear mongering,” Ringo and Evans are careful to show all the steps along the way to tyranny, beginning with ever-encroaching bureaucratic rule and ending with death camps. It’s a frighteningly possible “frog in boiling water” scenario that spans nearly twenty years, from the early Deng invasion to the story’s ultimate resolution. The only downside to the book is the latter, as the writers end their tales once the good guys’ victory is no longer in any doubt, but never bothering to actually show it.

Overall, recommended if you like the Bolo stories or military fiction in general. Be aware that the middle part of the book (the rise of the Party) is somewhat hard to stomach — you’ll want to reach in and yell “wake up!” to the characters several times.

Mark XX/B (Tremendous) - Self-Aware Bolo: Introduced in 2796, the Mark XX was the first truly self-directing self-aware Bolo, made possible by breakthroughs in psychotronics. It was similar to the earlier Mark XIX but sported dual 30cm Hellbores instead of a single large one. These were backed by sixteen ion-bolt infinite repeaters, multiple 35mm gatling railguns and AP pods, and eight 30cm breech-loading mortars. Like the Mark XIX, the Mark XX was equipped with anti-kinetic battle screens, energy shields which acted as its first line of defense against projectiles and could also convert energy hits into power the Bolo could draw on. Underneath, its durachrome warhull was fitted with a “plasma-shedding” ceramic tile appliqué. The Mark XX weighed 13,000 metric tons, with a road speed of 90 km/h and a sprint speed of 120 km/h. Due to the great weight of the Bolo, a special anti-grav transport sled was designed especially for it.

Command Post Gamma

For an OGRE fan like me, it’s always fun to come across cool Web sites like Command Post Gamma. Check it out.

Update: when you start looking, you find more. See Tristan’s Ogre/GEV site for scenarios and other bits. There’s also DATAPULSE, which is cool not only for OGRE but military science-fiction in general.

Sunday Mecha Doodle

Sometimes the doodles on the placemat from the usual Sunday’s morning’s brunch can be turned into something useful. Case in point:

VK-4 Main Battle Craft, a.k.a. “Bone Dancer”

The VK-4 is the Solar Block’s main battle unit. Light, versatile and easy to transport, the VK-4 is found in virtually all of the Block’s regiments and expeditionary forces. Onlookers are often fooled at first by its appearance; despite its skinny construction, the presence of a large field generator provides this battlerider with more than adequate protection for a line unit. Alliance intelligence has code-named this vehicle “Bone Dancer,” a reference to both its appearance and strange, bounding stride.

Code Name: “Bone Dancer”
Official Code: VK-4 Main Battle Craft
Use: frontline battlerider
Height: 13 meters
Empty Mass: 17 tons
Full Combat Mass: varies with loadout
Generator: fusion
Thrusters: 4 x 10,000 kg
Apogee Motors: 14
Usual Armament: 1 x railgun rifle, 2 x missile pod, field generator

(Specs originally written as part of the design notes for Project 1.)

More Transmorphers

No, it’s not a typo. Remember this? Well, the trailer is out on YouTube.

Doesn’t look all that bad, actually. You need to ignore the usual B-Movie wooden acting and plodding script, but it’s seems to be a fun merge of Transformers and Terminator.

I’ll try to locate it once it comes out, who knows… might be worth a look.

New Gundam Series

Mechascientific has a short article on the new Gundam anime series, Mobile Suit Gundam OO. It’s apparently yet another new timeline — no wonder, as the original “Universal Century” timeline is getting mighty crowded (witness the recent Advance of Zeta prequel).

Come with Me if You Want to Live

Summer Glau (Firefly) as a Terminator? It could work, provided Fox doesn’t cancel the show after two episodes…

Yet Another Mecha Doodle

Not much to say about this one, except that my first (very) rough draft looked somewhat better before inking, in my opinion. I need to practice a lot more before I can get a polished render.

As for the design itself, nothing fancy, it’s very traditional. I don’t know why, but I seem stuck in the same general humanoid proportions. I need to break out of this rut if I’m to do truly original stuff.

The Science of Godzilla

Go on, admit it: this has got you curious.

Brain Bugs

No, not alien critters that devour your brain — but rather, sci-fi concepts that mutate until they are well past the point of believability, but are nonetheless kept in future works by tradition.

Just read it as a “what not to do” guide for science-fiction writers.

Relativistic Space-Empires

Here’s an interesting discussion on whether it’s possible to create a believable relativistic space-empire, that is, an interstellar civilization without Faster-than-Light drive.

Gundam Galore

1) I’m all for large scale, hyper-detailed models, but this is a little much. Even though I want one.

2) I’m sure that the rapid motion, combined with the shaking, is enough to ensure a stomach-churning experience, but I’d definitely go on Gundam: the Ride. I got in the right part of the world last year, but sadly we were on a tight timeline. Oh well.

Diamond Age

Neil Stephenson’s post-cyberpunk Diamond Age novel is coming to the SciFi Channel. I’m looking forward to it, but I also remember that Sci Fi was supposed to do Joe Haldeman’s Forever War, too…

A New Trek?

CBS is considering a new Star Trek series. It would be animated, not live-action, and be shown on the Web in chunks of six-minute episodes, similar to Star Wars’ own “Clone Wars” series.

The interesting thing is that they want to go back to the old Trek feeling, graphically, even though the series would take place 150 years after Next Generation. They would also, like the old Trek, use the series to comment on current events, with half the crew being proactive against the aliens attacking the Federation and the other half wanting to “get along.”

Could be interesting. It’s not confirmed whether they will move forward.

MechaScientific Wiki

MechaScientific Wiki is a new online fan encyclopedia about mecha. It only covers Advance of Zeta for now, plus some plastic model kits, but the owner has high hopes. Check it out.

REVs

Well-known game designer Matt Forbeck helped Playmate develop a Transformers-like line of robotic toys called REVs (Radically Engineered Vehicles). The gimmick here is that the robot doesn’t transform into a car — it hides inside the car, and can wear pieces of the later as armor.

(Isn’t the name “Six Gun” already in use in the Transformers line, though? Maybe the trademark elapsed…)

blast from the past

Ah, the Eighties. The genesis of cyberpunk.

Remember Max Headroom?

Neat show on a low budget. Wish they did more of that today.

Hard Science Ships

Check out these nice hard science spaceships from Ad Astra Games. They’re actually very similar to what I’m working on right now (though my engine bell design is different).

That’s to be expected. No matter what, unless you postulate some brand new technologies and the physics that go with them, such as the gravitic impellers of the Honor Harrington series, all “hard science” ships are going to look somewhat alike. This is doubly true if they are based on similar systems, be it chemical rockets or fusion drive.

The laws of physics work the same for everyone.

Goldorak, go!

A group of Italian fans called gtgroup are making a live action episode of Goldorak (UFO Robo Grendizer). Check out the trailer!

farewell mr. baen

SF publisher Jim Baen has died. It was expected — he just had a major stroke — but it’s a loss for the science-fiction field.

I own many Baen titles and will doubtless purchase many more in the coming years, thanks to his vision. Godspeed, Mr. Baen.

Doctor who medley

A cool montage of Doctor Who scenes set to rollicking music. Fun!

How do you know you're in an alternate universe?

Easy. They have Zeppelins.

Yes, we just finished watching Rise of the Cybermen, new Doctor Who, episode 5 of season 2. That series kicks serious ass. Love it!

Lunar science fiction reviews

Ken Murphy has been posting reviews of Moon-related science fiction stuff. If it has a lunar theme, it is open for review. Good fodder if you’re looking for something to read.

Battlestar Galactica: 2x17

We watched that Battlestar Galactica episode this weekend.

No wonder Lee had this scared looks in his eyes at the end — you saw what happened to the last three guys, right?

Battlestar Galactica: 2x16 Sacrifice

We actually watched that Galactica episode last weekend, but I didn’t have time to comment on it until now. It will be short.

(Don’t look further if you haven’t seen the episode.)

[South Park]
“Oh my God! You killed Billy! You bastard!”
[/South Park]

Firefly 2?

I’m not too sure about this — an online movement to bring back Firefly in a second, fan-financed, direct-to-DVD season.

I mean, I love the show (and my wife is a big fan as well), but the story is done, thanks to the Serenity movie. It’s wrapped up, concluded. Giving us more would be like bringing back a second helping of meat after dessert and cigars are done at the end of a great meal.

Let it go, gang. Be grateful for the time we got, and let’s move on to Whedon’s next thing.

Super Robot Gallery

My friend Ghislain will absolutely dig this page, even if it’s in Italian. Old giant robots from the 70s.

I Think I Swallowed a Bug

Best. Line. Ever.

The missus and I just went to see Serenity, since we finished the DVDs last night. Excellent movie, great texts, lots of action. Loved it.

I disagree with one of two dramatic choices that director Joss Whedon made, however. The spike thing was a bit gratuitous (I won’t spoil it — see the movie to understand). There were other (less permanent) ways to add fear and pain to the scene.

But I’m not the director, Joss is. That’s his story to tell.

(Oh, and regarding my previous entry: seeing the terraformation and those wounds, there’s got to be GNR involved! No one is that tough or fast-healing.)

Firefly

Every blogger on the block seems to have seen the Serenity movie already, but we haven’t. The wife and I are currently making our way through the Firefly DVD set before we go. I had to cap it at three episodes max per evening, or else we’re going to run out too soon.

The Speculist loved the setting but complained about the absence of GNR — Genetics, Nanotech and Robotics. All three look like they will be required for any plausible SF setting in the next few years. But I disagree with him here: considering the amount of terraformation that was done to the system, and the speed at which characters recover from serious wounds, there has to be at least some of the three involved. They just don’t push it in our faces (maybe the people tried AIs and humanoid robots, and it didn’t work out well with their society?).

Galactica is Good for Three!

It might be old news to some, but I just read that Battlestar Galactica has been renewed for a third season.

And… it’s Friday, so there’s a new episode tonight. Joy!

Battlestar Galactica, Season 2 Continued

I just watched three episodes in a row of the second season of Battlestar Galactica. The writing is absolutely brilliant, and I liked a lot of the imagery I saw. It was also great to hear the original theme again (at the end of episode 2×08).

If you’re not watching yet, you should.

TARDIS

I came across this on the Web. It’s the TARDIS operating manual from Doctor Who.

It even has a lengthy discussion on the nature of time and how the ship interfaces with it.

Battlestar Galactica, Season 2

I just watched the first episode of the second season of Battlestar Galactica. Still one of the best shows on TV right now* — you ought to check it out, if you’re not following it already.

(*The new Doctor Who series is brilliant as well.)

Starship Exeter

The teaser and opening credits of a new episode of Starship Exeter is online.

SE is a new Star Trek series set in the “Original” era (Kirk and al.), with similar production values but with a new ship and screw. It’s completely fan-made, yet the quality is pretty much the same as the 60s’ forerunner. (In fact, sometimes it’s better, since they have CGI to create the FX.)

Of course, the acting is a little wooden (less so than in the first episode, though). As I said, it’svery similar to the original.

New segments of the episode will be released every week or so. Check it out!

Farewell Star Trek

I just watched the series finale of Enterprise. With it, 28 years of Star Trek history come to a (perhaps momentary?) close (James Lileks gives a good overview here).

Strangely enough, I prefered the next-to-last episode (“Terra Prime”). The “Next Gen” bit in the finale were kind of cute, but I sorta wanted a wrap-up for this show. Everyone else got theirs, but Enterprise had to share. Doesn’t seem quite fair.

And the heroic death at the end, was, IMHO, tacky. It served no real purpose to the story. Sure, devotion, duty, sacrifice, blah blah. It felt cheap.

But hey, I’m only an armchair scriptwriter.

Farewell for now, Trek. It’s been fun.

More about Galactica

I just watched yet another episode of the revamped Battlestar Galactica. I can’t believe how awesome this series is.

It does everything good science-fiction should do: it’s an exciting adventure, it’s got complex, human characters (even the Cylons have interesting personalities!), it’s based on science (well, somewhat — at least they put attitude jets on the Vipers!), and it offers commentary on the present through the lens of a possible future.

(Parallels with 9/11, the War on Terror, the schism between socialists and individualists in the Western world, it’s all there! I love it!)

Now word just came down the pipe that a second season of 20 episodes starts shooting in March for a late Summer release. Joy!