JJ I apologize: 2

Seriously, I have to give JJ Abrams so much respect after watching the season finale of Fringe this week I thought about how hard he's worked, and how much he's done to get to the point where he can really do what he wants to do, that is create a solid, tradition Science Fiction world, like the one he's doing with Fringe, if you look at the trajectory of his career, he's earned it.

His first series was Felicity. I love Felicity, I thought the show was fantastic. I was also an eleven year old girl. He bizarrely ended it with Felicity traveling back in time to warn his younger self of the troubles ahead. (In JJ's time travel rules you're allowed to do that)

Then came Alias...a show I dropped after its third season, but loved for those three seasons. More action than Sci-Fi, it still had the elements of good Sci-Fi, including conspiracies and all powerful infrastructures that couldn't be trusted but for the individuals in them.

Lost, oh Lost, its Sci-Fi that isn't really Sci-Fi, but it's accesible Sci-Fi, because the focus isn't as much on the bizarre, although its there always in the backfround, but instead the focus falls to the incredibly deep and well developed characters. With Lost's explosion, it gave him the chance to spread his wings and do some much more genre specific stuff.

Cloverfield and Star Trek are well formed fully flushed out sci-fi films. One an original creature destruction story, another a well tailored revamp of a classic space opera. Both are important to the genre and well executed by him.

Then came Fringe. I doubted the show's power many times. It was slow to get going, seemed burdened by its X-Files ripoff structure, and its strange runtime. After the return from the far too long hiatus I actually stopped watching for a while, and one slow Sunday watched four episodes in a row. I was stunned. The show had turned some kind of corner, and it took off and flew in this weeks' season finale.

[Spoiler Alert]

Walter and Peter resolved a great deal, when Peter made a speech about good memories and making pancakes (Lord, can Josh Jackson, give an agnst ridden speech. I personally feel like this traces back a while. To about here. Emilio taught him very well) which triggered something in Walter to remember the past, and what he and William Bell had always intended to do.

But it was the last five minutes that got me. Olivia heads to New York to meet with Nina Sharp and learn the location of William Bell. When Sharp stands her up she goes to return to her car. While in the car she receives a few flashes, indicating a switch to the paralell universe. The doors open and she is lead to an office my a woman in a black dress. She stands looking around trying to figure out what happened. Then out of the shadows comes...SPOCK...OK, no, its Leonard Nimoy, and they participate in this exchange.

Spock: Agent Dunham, I've been waiting for you.
Olivia: Where am I? Who are you?
Spock: The answer to your first question is (Shatneresque pause) complicated. As for your second question. I am William Bell.

Olivia stumbles back and turns looking out the window. There is a slow pull back and it is revealed that Olivia and Bell are in the World Trade Center. IN ALTERNATE REALITY THERE WAS NO SEPTEMBER 11!!!!! Or something.

Anyway, I said I apologized for my doubt last Friday, but Good God, if you orchestrate that kind of a twist, all is forgiven. And, is Nimoy the new Greg Grunberg? Just always in everything JJ does in some capacity? (BTW, he is in fact in Star Trek, he's the voice of Kirk's step father.) Anyway, JJ, I will burn the list of reasons why I hate JJ Abrams. I even forgive you for killing Charlie...and not telling us what the numbers mean yet.

JJ, I apologize

I've made no secret of my personal antagonism towards JJ Abrams (I mean as antagonistic as you can be to a writer director whose work you consistently enjoy and yet continues to frustrate the living hell out of you!) but all is forgiven.

I just got back from Star Trek, and I've gotta say, this was a really really good movie. Like I said, I'm not a big fan of Star Trek, I don't dislike it, I just came to it far too late for it to really take hold, but even I had high expectations, after all as a pop culture historian and a person who encourages others to embrace the cheese, I appreciate what Trek has to offer.

I went to the movie with two of my good friends who are big big Star Trek fans, they aren't quite Trekkies, especially since one of them only counts the first series as being real. (I don't know.) One of them is Jen, a frequent commenter and I'm sure she'll give her opinion.

I don't want to ruin the plot, since as it reveals itself its very very good and surprise is half of that. So I'll stick to the stuff that I enjoy analyzing anyway, performances and characters.

We'll start with Chris Pine as James Kirk. Pine's performance sort of takes Kirk back, a character that has become a bit of a charicature. Pine resists pregnant pauses and long lingering looks and yet is still Kirk, its very very good.

Then Zoe Saldana as Uhura...Uhura's a character that I really like, even in my limited Star Trek knowledge. For a woman who's job is basically to talk to a computer and wear a miniskirt she's pretty badass. Saldana brings just the right about of edge to her and definitely rocks the mini.

Karl Urban is perfect as McCoy...I regret that there was no "He's dead Jim" but that's not Urban's fault, its just something to add to my list of reasons why I hate JJ Abrams.

Simon Pegg, John Cho and Anton Yelchin are great as Scottie, Sulu and Chekov respectively, especially Yelchin, who I just wanted to hug everytime he was on screen.

And save the best for last...Zachary Quinto, now I'm a Heroes fan, so obviously I love Quinto, but this just cemented my admiration for this guy's acting ability. He was Spock without simply imitating Leonard Nimoy, who was also awesome, but like biiig shock there. There is a particularly fun scene where he basically tells the Vulcan council to go ef themselves with four little words, "Live long and prosper." Oh right, and you want to see Spock get pissed, insult his Mommy, go ahead, I dare you.

Oh right, and at the bar where Captain Pike convinces Kirk to join up with Star Fleet, Uhura orders a Slusho...SAWEET!

Interdimmensional whats-its?

Got caught up on Fringe this morning.

Turns out Olivia is a recruit for a special army of humans with superior powers that is meant to fight a coming onslaught of interdimensional beings...

Or aliens.

We all knew it would come to aliens, but why oh WHY did they have to call them interdimensional beings?

Just call 'em what they are...

Either way...Fringe has gotten absurdly good.

Too bad JJ had to steal from George Lucas and Steven Spielberg so very early in the series. But I guess as long as Olivia and Peter don't go off in search of the Crystal Skulls, everything will be OK!

Summer Movie Preview Part I: Sci-Fi Fantasy Edition

It's coming! It's almost movie season...yes, I refer to that blockbuster blitz period between memorial day and labor day as movie season...its like following a sport after all. Anyway, here's my summer movie preview...

Part I: Sci-Fi Fantasy Edition
Since the dawning of the new millenium we geeks have been brought out into the mainstream. God bless the comic book movie and the various publishing phenomenons that did it. As a result every summer the multiplexes are flooded with Sci-Fi/Fantasy offerings, and we eat it up.

X-Men: Origins: Wolverine

Now, let's prepare ourselves now, awesome Sci Fi/Action trilogy that peaked in its second part, and now a prequel, with two colons in it...let's remember what happened last time we got hyped up about this. It was called Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace. I happen to like that movie, but for some reason most people disagree with me, anyway, I really want to see Wolverine. If only because we finally get to see Gambit. Personally, I want to see how this whole Origins franchise pans out too. We know they're working on Magneto, but I'd really like to see Storm. But I can't wait to see Logan's story unwind. Apparently they take Wolverine back to his gritty roots. I'm not sure what that means, since as I remember it, Wolverine's roots involve yellow spandex, but I think it's an admirable goal.

Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince
Remember those publishing phenomenons I was talking about? This is one of them. I was among the less outraged when they bumped this movie's release from Christmas to summer, mostly because it then allowed for Twilight to be bumped from January to Christmas (Why they thought that they couldn't release them one after another I still don't know...but Hollywood execs are still baffled by the minds of teenage girls. Let me let you in on a little secret, you want to appeal to them, you give them cute boys, and lots of different ways for those cute boys to get together with average girls, so they can write fanfiction about it.) Anyway, the movie looks fantastic, and I really really can't wait to see the way it all is shown, especially *SPOILER ALERT*


Dumbledore's Murder.

*END SPOILERS*

Star Trek
I'm not a Trekkie, until I was in college I'd never even seen an episode of Star Trek. But quite a few of my friends are big fans and we have plans to see the movie, since we'll be at school. I've now seen maybe ten Star Trek episodes and I think I get the jist. Also, JJ Abrams directed it and he's admittedly not a Trekkie so that makes it much less intimidating, and I'm still hoping that maybe he'll give us a clue to what the numbers mean. And I really can't wait to see what Zachary Quinto does with Spock. I mean, will it just be Sylar with Spock ears? (Which I have been told by my Trekkie roommate would be a total travesty, me, I think it would be funny!) Oh, right and Simon Pegg is Scottie, and Harold from Harold and Kumar is Sulu...I still sort of wish it was Masi Oka...haha, get it? That would be worth the price of admission.

Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen
I'm not sure what the plot is. Not that it matters. The point is that they're robots in disguise, and I don't hate Michael Bay as much as most people in the blogosphere. I kind of like Michael Bay's movies. Pearl Harbor especially. So, yeah, it's going to be good. Or at least fun. Also Shia, I love Shia sooo much.

GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra
See: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Substitute: for Shia...Joseph Gordon Levitt.

JJ Abrams is a liar!!

So I just watched this week's episode of Fringe...aside from Josh in his underwear again...mmmm...there's something that's annoying me. In an interview JJ Abrams said what he was excited about with Fringe was that there wasn't going to be a lot of "WTF is going on here?" moments. There wouldn't be any numbers, or polar bears, or "Who are the bad guys?" and "Who are the good guys?" happening. No, it was going to be more straightforward, with your questions getting answers. Well JJ, I've got some questions for you.

1. If Walter and Peter can read each other's minds, why isn't Peter aware of it?
2. Who's the bald guy? And to make this clear not the bald black guy who's Olivia's boss, but the weird bald white guy we just met in this episode?
3. How is Olivia's dead partner standing in her kitchen at the end of the episode?
4. What does that strange company want with Olivia?
5. Who is Peter hiding from?
6. What did Walter do to make Peter hate him so much?
7. Who's side is the bald black guy on? The evil corporation.
   

So yeah...that's all I'm saying those are questions...JJ Abrams, you're a liar!