Entry tags:

day one, jms, red circle heroes, torchwood, what time is it

Late night-- er, early morning posting...

It's been quite a week with no letup in sight, and then half the internet disappears on me, including my own tenuous connection. Things seem to be stabilizing, but if there is, indeed, a government responsible for depriving the internet of 4chan (if you've never seen it, don't go looking), I wouldn't want to be said government's servers in the coming weeks.

Torchwood is back (at least, that's what I'd say if I were in the UK, which I'm not, so how could I have possibly seen it? Are we good? Cool) and it's better than ever. That's not to say it's perfect; it's still got that air of "how do these people manage to accomplish anything when their organization is run like a clubhouse for amorous nerds," but when you see the wringer Jack gets put through in the first two episodes (i09's spoiler-filled review of them is here...

Did I mention this is a 5-part tale over 5 consecutive days? How great is that? Well, that depends. Right now, the story makes sense for the most part (in that "Doctor Who" kind of way where you just accept a lot of stuff on faith), but I've seen this sort of thing before: Good setup, poor follow-through, especially if it involves a huge Deus Ex Machina with a nice big reset button. Its got two episodes left to disappoint, and it's got a pretty huge setup to explain.

As a side note, we do get a little insight into Jack's life in previous decades. Is official "Who" cannon (that big pile of papers and video cassettes in the corner, there) going with the idea that the time war changed everything, or can we look forward to a flashback where a CGI Jon Pertwee has a minor roll in the hay with Mr. Harkness?

And have you heard of NBC's show "Day One?" This page has a trailer for it, and while it starts out looking like the second cousin to "Deep Impact," it looks like things take a sharp turn at the weird pretty quickly. Aside from the groan-inducing tagline "every ending has a beginning," it looks like something that could wash the taste of "Jericho" out of my brain. Plus, it's from the same guy who gave us "The Middleman", so I'm on board for the pilot. Comparisons to "Lost" are a tad worrisome, not because I don't watch and enjoy "Lost," but I wish they hadn't said they were making it up as they went along. J. Michael Straczynski so spoiled me with his tightly-woven plots...

...and now he impresses me as a comic book writer who knows no fear. He's reviving the "Red Circle Heroes," a group of costumed do-gooders from the pages of old "Archie" comics. What amazes me is that they're being revived at all, given their histories (which are to be re-tooled, I'm sure). I only heard about them from the website, "Gone and Forgotten: The Worst Comics Ever," when they were featured in at least one unflattering review. The newly updated versions of the heroes can be seen here, and I think "The Web" got the best costume upgrade out of the deal. "The Web" did pen an open letter to JMS a while back, so since he made the cut, I can only presume that his nagging wife will meet a gruesome end.

The sun is coming up on me and I still have miles to go before I sleep, so here's a breakfast of distractions:

- Just because I dig Q.I.'s Stephen Fry, I thought I'd share the weirdness of seeing him on a quiz show when he was in his 20's.
- Roland Emmerich's "2012" may seem rather familiar to people of a certain age, or those who rented a lot of disaster films from the 70's."
- In the same vein as the incredibly entertaining blog, "Cakewrecks," we've got (slight NSFW warning, as some of the projects appear to have been inspired by naughty bits) "Craftastrophe," a blog devoted to the output from people who probably shouldn't ever be allowed in a JoAnn's ever again.
- You are an orc-looking thing. You have a slingshot. You live to break vases. Good thing for you the Vase Breaker game exists. And breaking stuff is good for your blood pressure.
- The Russians have gained a strategic edge on the rest of the world in the area of Fallout 3 cosplay. It also looks like a good way to repurpose any old suits of armor you might have lying around.
- Witch wanted, position to pay 50,000 pounds per year. Hogwart's diploma not necessary, but could be helpful.
- We only have the plans for the station thus far, but if it ever becomes operational, cookies will crumble. Many Bothans died to bring us these plans...
- Here's a stimulus idea for all you budding horror writers out there: They're burying Michael Jackson without his brain. If the ASIMO robot learns a lot of new dance moves all of a sudden, I think we'll know what they did with it...
- A halfway-decent Super Mario clone (with quite a lot of kwai) is to be had in Swordless Ninja. Jump, smush, and toss things while collecting coins and rescuing the princess.