Short-ish reviews of stuff I’ve been a-watching:
Blade: The Series – Oh so much better than I thought it would be. It’s greatest strength has also ended up being it’s mightiest weakness; it’s virtually one 13-part story and if you missed the first few episodes then you have no chance at all in working out why he’s doing her and why he hates them and why Sticky Fingaz is Wesley Snipes. It’s currently jettisoning plot-points and characters in preparation for this week’s finale and I, for one, can’t wait to see how it ends.
It’s also remarkably well-written’ Blade himself isn’t an interesting character and so the stories really rely on the supporting cast. You’ve got all the (current) cliches; ex-military hardwoman, the asian sidekick, the eurotrash vampire villain and the Australian-playing-as-a-Brit sexpot but none of them are written as cliches; it’s almost as if they are using visual stereotypes against us. Charlotte, the two-hundred year old Pureblood (played by a 14-year old) was so well acted that at times I thought she had to be a midget actress of thirty. Pity that it looks as if season two is very much on the cusp.
Eureka – The pilot showed so much promise and the latter episodes have been dull, uninspired and incredibly predictable. It’s too family friendly and the promise of wacky science has not been borne out. At this stage I’m not inclined to watch the rest of it let alone hold out for the finale in which I am sure the Orb from Brisco County, Jr. will be playing a major role.
Prediction – the glowing ball in Section Five is from the future. It probably brings a message of love or the ability to resurrect the dead.
Supernatural – I’m a fourth of the way through season one and it’s okay but not great. The two brothers know too much about the monsters they face and so it lacks a little mystery to make the proceedings enticing. It’s also predictable and the brothers continually split up and get into trouble despite the fact that they know that splitting up gets them into unnecessary trouble. I probably will watch this one to the end of season one because there’s enough promise in it to think that a season two rejig with a few more cast members could make this a light-and-fluffy entree to more serious fodder.
Stargate – SG-1 – It looks as if season ten is the end of this show, which is a pity as it finally seems to be back on track with a huge heaping of the humour that made the early seasons so likeable. It helps that Claudia Black is in every episode now. It probably needs one more season to fill out the Ori plot (otherwise it’s going to have a very rushed ending) and this would also allow the new characters to finally settle in. Still nowhere near the glory of the first five seasons but few shows can make it to 215 episodes and stay completely fresh. Episode 200, entitled ‘200’ is probably the best fan-wank a show has ever had.
Stargate – Atlantis – Didn’t take to the first season of this show; thoroughly enjoyed season two and feel the same about this third season. Like it’s mother show it isn’t ground-breaking but it’s more than competent on every level. I still find it fascoinating that they are able to create consistent faux-physics; once a rule is set in the Stargate Universe then it always applies, which means the show can generate its own issues in a plausible way and not really rely on deus ex machinas.
And everyone loves Rodney.
Holding out for: Lost Season Three and Battlestar Galactica Season Three.
Hoping good things for: Torchwood.