The Mosher Pit » TV

OMG BSG Top 10 FTW

Helen — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:37:19 +0000

Random Fairfax Fridays

Helen — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 01:42:00 +0000

I really hope they make the Book of Daniel available on DVD, because I always forget to watch it when it’s on. Tonight, I’ve remembered in time, but the television is already booked for a showing of “About a Boy” for son and future-stepfather bonding. And then they will likely overdose on Firefly episodes (sound of me mock complaining, Whedon-addict that I am).

It’s ok, I am making pie and knitting furiously. Son is listening to an audio version of one of the Redwall books. Why is just about every fantasy book read by a densely-accented Brit?

My irony…

Helen — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 03:48:00 +0000

…was explaining to my mother that it’s perfectly normal for teenagers to be curious about sexuality this morning, only to realize in mid-SCENE tonight that we had the unrated version of team america in the DVD player.

Irony times eight billion–I was frantically running for the “forward to next scene button” after having been playing with the apple pie.

Blog of Daniel

Helen — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 15:35:00 +0000

Related to the previous post and sent along by one of my EDoVa friends, we have:

The Blog of Daniel.

CNN.com – Two NBC affiliates dump ‘Daniel’ – Jan 5, 2006

Helen — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 15:10:00 +0000

CNN.com – Two NBC affiliates dump ‘Daniel’ – Jan 5, 2006

NBC affiliates in Arkansas and Indiana are turning the page on upcoming series “The Book of Daniel,” which has been drawing criticism for its portrayal of Christianity.

The series depicts an Episcopalian minister, played by Aidan Quinn, struggling with an addiction to Vicodin, among other problems in his diocese. Jesus is actually a character on the series, depicted in imagined conversations with the minister.

Last month, the conservative American Family Assn. began calling on affiliates and advertisers to bail out of “Daniel.” Many stations have been flooded with e-mails and calls from viewers objecting to the series.

You would think they could object to something objectionable, such as reality TV.

Ursula LeGuin minces no words…

Helen — Thu, 16 Dec 2004 14:24:00 +0000

“On Tuesday night, the Sci Fi Channel aired its final installment of Legend of Earthsea, the miniseries based—loosely, as it turns out—on my Earthsea books. The books, A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan, which were published more than 30 years ago, are about two young people finding out what their power, their freedom, and their responsibilities are. I don’t know what the film is about. It’s full of scenes from the story, arranged differently, in an entirely different plot, so that they make no sense. My protagonist is Ged, a boy with red-brown skin. In the film, he’s a petulant white kid. Readers who’ve been wondering why I “let them change the story” may find some answers here.“

When it comes to financial security, every author hopes one of their works will be deemed fit for the screen, be it large or small. When it comes to artistic integrity, every author lives in complete terror of what will happen to it once it is.

And on that note, one of the biggest complaints about the Tolkien epic is its epic Caucasian-ness, whether that was intended or no being moot. With Earthsea, the Sci Fi Channel had a chance to show off something much wider, more real. And it didn’t.

What I do know, even though I didn’t watch the series, is that Earthsea has been moved up my must-read list. I’m ashamed to admit that I haven’t read any of LeGuin’s works, but now I have to. Yes, I’m criticizing something I didn’t read or watch. I’m a dork.

talk of TV shows

Helen — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 05:29:00 +0000

We were babbling about old episodes of Land of the Lost that freaked me out when I remembered an SF movie I saw part of at some point in my youth. I recall it being black and white, and involved a man and a woman stuck in a city where everything was stopped. But while they were trying to figure out what’s going on, they realized that time hadn’t really stopped: it had just slowed down to a barely perceptible crawl, and the reason they noticed that was that a boy on a tricycle was in a different position than he was the last time they walked past him.

I want to say that being stuck in time like this they were able to prevent some crisis involving a nearby car and the tricycle by tying something to the brake pedal of the car, but I don’t remember if that’s it. But I definitely remember the tricycle and the time thing.

Does anyone with longer memories or deeper familiarity in SF remember this film? It’s sortof a memory bug for me; I’ve been trying to find out what that was for years. The tricycle detail only came back to me recently.

(Update: Found it! It’s an Outer Limits Episode.)