Category: Science Fiction

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Fantasy Science Fiction Television

Sanctuary Woes

I just watched the Sanctuary season finale today, Into the Black. I admit I got behind on the series, but I didn’t feel a lot of motivation to watch quickly. The whole Hollow Earth story line makes me feel tired and bored. I’m losing interest and I’m left wondering where all the excitement went?

Latest episode: Sanctuary – Into the Black

I have found myself less interested in the series by the episode, which is too bad because I really liked Sanctuary in the first two seasons, even after the death of Magnus’s daughter Ashley (Emilie Ullerup).

But lately, instead of filling the show with compelling drama between the established characters, the little bit of character drama we see happens between our guys and outside people, such as Henry’s girlfriend or Will’s girlfriend. I have nothing against giving these people richer lives, but diluting an already struggling group dynamic hasn’t helped the show in any way that I can see.

Sanctuary is tired. I won’t call for the end of the show, because I know there’s probably someone out there that still enjoys watching, but seriously, if things don’t improve, I’m not going to be one of them…

Categories
Science Fiction Television

Alphas So-So

Alphas Pilot Review

alphas

Watch Alphas at Amazon

Alphas premiered on Syfy Monday night. I recorded it to my DVR and started watching the pilot episode that night. About an hour into the one and a half hour  (including commercial time) episode I stopped watching and went to bed. The show was interesting but not enough to keep me from getting sleepy.

Unfortunately, I didn’t feel any particular anxiousness to finish the episode, but today I watched the rest.

Alphas tells the story of several people who have special abilities. The people aren’t that interesting, and the acting wasn’t that great. The action was okay, as was the dialogue, but there really wasn’t anything special about the show.

I will watch at least one more episode of Alphas, but I don’t hold out a lot of hope that the show is going to hold my interest. On the surface, so far, I don’t see how it’s really that different from Heroes (at least the beginning of the series – I never watched past season 1).

There are several great science fiction television shows airing these days, including Eureka, Warehouse 13, and Falling Skies, to name three. Alphas isn’t going to be one of them, unless something magical happens in the second episode.

Alphas Pilot Description

Dr. Lee Rosen (played by David Strathairn) and his team of Alphas, extraordinary individuals who can stretch the capabilities of the human mind, investigate an implausible murder at the behest of the Department of Defense.

Watch now at Amazon

About Alphas

Alphas Image Five ordinary people are brought together to form one extraordinary team of Alphas — people with the unique power to stretch the capabilities of the human mind giving them superhuman physical and mental abilities.

Operating within the Defense Criminal Investigation Service of the U.S. Department of Defense and led by preeminent neurologist and psychiatrist Dr. Lee Rosen, an expert in Alpha phenomena, the team investigates cases that point to others with Alpha abilities. As they work against the clock to solve this new brand of crime, they must prevent their own personality differences and disparate backgrounds from interfering with their ultimate mission to catch the enemy.

Categories
Science Fiction Television

10,000 Days Extended Trailer and Links

The premise is simple. 

Comet 23 knocked the earth out of its orbit and away from the sun. Then the freezing began. That was 10,000 days ago…

 

The extended trailer for 10,000 DAYS is here. It only matters because I heard about this project about a year ago and got my hopes up and then everything went quiet on it. I’m glad to see that things seem to be moving forward just fine. :) Can’t wait to see what they deliver.

10,000 Days stars John Schneider, Peter Wingfield, James Harvey Ward, Kim Myers, and is directed and written by Eric Small.

You can follow information about 10,000 DAYS on twitter, if you like: http://twitter.com/10kdaystv.

Here’s the facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/10kdaystv

And here, on this site: https://www.scififantasies.com/tag/10000-days/

Categories
Science Fiction Television

Chuck Season 3 DVD on Sale for Less Than $20 for the Entire Set

Chuck Season 3 DVD Set The list price for the Chuck Season 3 DVD set is $59.98 but right now, Amazon has the season 3 DVD set for less than $20.

Chuck: The Complete Third Season has plenty of great episodes to entertain and amuse, thrill and excite.

Click here to check the current price.

With the new intersect in Chuck’s head, season 3 gives Chuck Bartowski the skills to take his desire to be a spy to the next level. There are several interesting developments over the course of the season, making season 3 a great addition to the Chuck TV series.

Buy the Chuck Season 3 DVD set while you can get it cheap. This isn’t a deal you want to pass up if you’re a CHUCK fan.

Categories
Science Fiction Television

Catching Up on CHUCK

Chuck has always been one of my favorite television series but a few things happened during season 3 that interrupted my viewing so I got behind on the series. I’ve recently been using my Netflix subscription to watch the DVDs for the last half of season 3 I haven’t seen.

There’ve been grumblings that the show is going downhill, but from my perspective, here in season 3, the show is still going strong.

I spend most of my Netflix time watching instantly, but Chuck is one of those shows that isn’t available for instant viewing. I don’t watch that many movies, so the DVD portion of my subscription is underused anyway.

I’m excited to finally be catching up on Chuck. I’m on season 3 disk 4. I know when I have the funds I’ll buy the Chuck Season 3 DVDs for my collection but why wait to watch when I have the opportunity to catch up now?

Chuck Versus the Other Guy

I just want to say… I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! I can’t say I was sad to see the outcome that this episode delivered because it was exciting and twisty and just plain good. I do admit to feeling bittersweet about the entire thing. This was a great episode.

Chuck Versus the Honeymooners

Morgan’s contribution to the team turned out to be greater than I could have imagined and Casey and Morgan are fun to watch as they interact. Morgan cemented his place in the team; Casey returned to the team (as if there was any doubt he wouldn’t); and Sarah and Chuck took leaps and bounds in their relationship. All around, a fantastic and fun episode.

Chuck Versus the Role Models

A sign of things to come, and an enjoyable introduction to the newly changed relationship between Chuck and Sarah. Again, Casey and Morgan play off each other in a funny and exciting way that gives new life to the series. Now that the romantic tension between Chuck and Sarah is waning, having tension of another kind between some of the other characters is smart.

Chuck Versus the Tooth

The truth is in the tooth… Seriously. It’s obvious Chuck still has it, that something special that has always made me love the show.

This episode was full of great developments. I really like how the episode arcs are getting more complex and interconnected and how Ellie is being pulled into the story. I’ve missed the Buy More but the stories have been exciting and interesting enough to keep me from feeling too broken up about the decreased prominence of Buy More.

You can also buy the episodes to watch online or download to your computer. You can also find the DVDs on Netflix (but not to watch instantly).

Categories
Science Fiction Television

SGU the Complete Final Season DVD is Available

The final season of Stargate Universe is available on DVD. Amazon is offering the set for just over $30 at the moment. (Check the item’s price on Amazon for the current actual price. It might be even cheaper now!)

Stargate Universe Season 2 DVD box cover
Season 2 was the final season of Stargate Universe

Season two ended the run of Stargate Universe. Unfortunately, the series wasn’t drawing enough live viewers to warrant a renewal for another season, despite the marked increase in episode quality in season 2, most notably in the back half of the season.

I had begun to really enjoy the series this season, after having ambivalent feelings about it in season 1. There was even a point when I thought I was done watching SGU, but I ended up returning to the series because of my love for all things Stargate.

There are a lot of special feature and extras on the Season 2 set, including commentary for every episode. I found several of the special features humorous, including the “Pitches” special. It might be my favorite of the entire set, just because I found the spoof of the process for getting a script together and written to be especially funny.

Finally, if you’re a huge fan of Stargate, it’s going to be hard to pass up owning the final season of what might be the final Stargate series for a long while. So, buy the Stargate Universe Complete Final Season DVD set for your collection and get a good deal in the process.

Link: I reviewed the SGU Season 2 DVD set on Stargate Universe Fan.

Categories
Science Fiction Television

Stargate Universe Episodes to Date

Stargate Universe is in its final season. Although I had high hopes for the series, it took a little too long to take off with viewers and ended up being cancelled after only two seasons. Still, you don’t want to miss your chance to watch these final episodes of the long-lived, much-loved Stargate franchise.

This list of Stargate Universe episodes that have aired to date includes links to view the episodes at Amazon where you can watch a short preview and choose either the standard version or the HD video version. Catch up quickly, because the final episodes in the series will be airing over the next few weeks.

Categories
Fantasy Science Fiction Television

Sanctuary Returns

Tonight, Sanctuary returned after a long mid-season break with a resolution to the mid-season cliffhanger ending in which it appeared Magnus, Will, Kate, and Henry had been executed. [Oops, I orignally said Tesla, but when I watched to episode I realized I was getting confused…]

Sanctuary TV Series on Syfy

(Easiest way to watch missed episodes is at Amazon – Click here.)

I haven’t actually watched yet though, because I’ll be getting to that tomorrow. Gotta love that DVR. Tonight I watched DVR’d episodes of Merlin from the latest season that I hadn’t had a chance to catch up on yet.

Should I be in a hurry to catch up with the Sanctuary team? I hope so! As I’ve said before, the hollow Earth story hasn’t been that thrilling for me. I’m hoping the season gets a lot better in the back half.

Not to say I didn’t enjoy specific episodes or the show in general this season (season 3), just that I’m not sure the hollow Earth story is something that I find appealing. I’d rather it went away in favor of something better…

Support the shows you love. You can buy Sanctuary episodes cheap at Amazon. They cost around $2 each. You can watch 4 episodes for the price of a paperback these days. And you don’t have to sit through any commercials.

Categories
Science Fiction Television

Fringe Renewed for a Season Four

If you loved the show, why not buy it on DVD? Fringe: The Complete First Season and Fringe: The Complete Second Season.

The news is out that Fringe has been renewed for a set of 22 episodes, making it a full season renewal for the show. Many fans were worried Fox wouldn’t choose to renew the series for a half-season, so this full season pick up for Fringe is good news for lots of people.

TV by the Numbers asks if DVR viewing helped save Fringe from cancellation. In a nutshell, I think the post answers: very little.

I love DVR viewing. In fact, that’s how I watch almost every show I watch on TV, and I do mean EVERY. I even record the news and watch it later. So this is sad news to me. But unfortunately, I’m not willing to give up my time any more than I already do for any of the shows I watch (which frankly feels like too much time a lot of the time anyway!)

I’m a huge fan of television series. I prefer TV over movies hands down and would love to support these shows better, but like many people, the only reason I’m able to watch the television I do watch these days is because of DVDs, DVRs, and services like Netflix, where I’m able to condense an hour of television time down to about 40 minutes.

I wrote a bunch of stuff here that went off on a tangent about ads and television, and how I don’t think ads have to ruin a show. I made it into its own post though because it was quite off the subject of Fringe’s season renewal. I hope you take the time to read it here.

I haven’t watched Fringe for a while, after losing interest in this particular television series early on because of air time conflicts. However, I’ve heard good things about it from the fans who love it, so the day will probably come when I’ll catch up and watch, as long as the Fringe writers don’t do anything stupid and ruin Fringe in the end.

Some series that I loved but will not be buying on DVD or watching again EVER for that very reason: Syfy’s Battlestar Galactica, Quantum Leap, Farscape. Many people don’t find a television series ruined by a single bad episode or two at the end of a show–or a single bad wrap up movie. I’m not one of those people.

For all the fans who care, here’s hoping Fringe has a few more great seasons ahead of it.

Categories
Science Fiction Television

Eureka to Return in July

“EurekaWriters: Hear ye, hear ye! @Syfy has spoken: #Eureka is back with Season 4.5 in July, folks! http://bit.ly/fXcfwM” (link)

Eureka

Finally, a return date for Eureka. Everyone knows I have a real soft spot for this show. I run a Eureka fan site after all, and there’s not greater show of love for a series than to spend too many hours building a site just to showcase one’s appreciation for it.

Season 4.5 has been a long time coming, and I’m excited to know that it won’t be much longer before I can revisit my favorite weird little town of Eureka.

There’s also been news that Eureka has been renewed for a 5th season.

So, I’m marking my calendar for July and will be keeping an eye out for the return of one of my favorite television shows.

Long live Eureka.

You can catch the last 5 episodes aired on the Syfy website, or just go to Amazon and watch any that you’ve missed.

If you’re a fellow fan, check out the Eureka books too…

Sci-fi fantasies