My Top 3 TV Shows

I know I just wrote about season finales, but now seems like a good time to share my favorite TV shows.  Why? Because I can, ok? And they’re really fun ones.  Also, my character can probably be best described by them: Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) – my sarcasm, Saturday Night Live (SNL) – my episodic randomness with hills and valleys of popularity, and Doctor Who – a scifi-loving Anglophile with a dash of silliness.

Mystery Science Theater 3000: (1989-1999) Now, MST3K, you ask? Haven’t heard of it? Well, please take a watch, the movie is streaming on Netflix and there are full episodes on YouTube to check out – or check out the latest project of theirs RiffTrax which is also loads of fun.  The premise is fairly simple, which is watch a bad (a very very bad) movie and ‘riff’ on what you’re seeing – which has hilarious results.  The show’s ‘story’ is – a man (first Joel, then Mike) is shot into space where he’s forced to watch bad movies with two robots (Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo).  They are guinea pigs in an experiment to find the worst film of all time, this way an evil scientist can take over the world with a bad film! Sound silly? Still with me? Good.  Now I started watching this when I was in middle school, the second guy, Mike Nelson, had just become the ‘subject’ (Nelson had previously been a writer and head writer on the show).  My brother and I would watch it together, and to this day, we will riff on things – as mentioned before when I wrote about Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Not sure about riffing? Well have you made a sarcastic comment about something you’re watching? Bam.  You’ve riffed. You can thank me later. The main complaints I’ve heard from people about the show is that the movies aren’t that good, which is kinda the point, and that the characters are talking over the movie.  I mean, these movies are really rubbish, the riffing definitely improves things.  My favorite episodes for your perusal: Jack Frost, Over Drawn at the Memory Bank, Werewolf, Soultaker, and Time Chasers.

Saturday Night Live: (1975 – present) I suppose you could say I’m going from youngest to oldest show.  Love it or hate it, I have always loved it.  And since it predates me, I can honestly say I can’t remember a time it wasn’t on. Each cast brings something different to the table, and has inspired a lot of pop culture.  I mean, come on! Land shark, Coneheads, “Jane you ignorant slut”, the Blues Brothers, Mr. Robinson, Gumbi, Church Lady, Wayne’s World, Dieter, Pat, Stuart Smalley, Daily Affirmations, The Cheerleaders, Night at the Roxbury guys, Mary Catherine Gallagher, Ladies Man, to the modern digital shorts, Target Lady, and Macgruber. There’s also the celebrity impersonations, which seem endless.  And all the comedians that have come out of there! I really recommend Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live as Told by its Stars, Writers, and Guests. It’s a fantastic read about the behind the scenes to a lot of those iconic sketches and times.  With all it’s history, it’s hard to encompass everything in this short little blog, I feel I need to be writing more of a dissertation, and I definitely don’t have time for that.  But do know, I watch avidly every week it’s on, and like any show it has its hills and valleys.  I do have to say I am a big fan of that Every Nerd Girl Tina Fey, so her years as Head Writer definitely stick out to me.  And I don’t mind Seth Meyers too much. 

Doctor Who: (1963-1989, 1996, 2005-present) Yes, that’s accurate for the time, or the official timeline for the show. I feel I mentioned a lot of why this one was important to me before (the whole named after a companion thing).  Ever been curious and not sure where to start? I have come up with a list for those willing to try: (Don’t start with the old ones just yet, wait until you’ve watched the entirety of the new ones before venturing out) –  “Blink”, “Girl in the Fireplace”, “The Doctor’s Wife”, “Vincent and the Doctor” (Have hankies ready for this one), and then start at the beginning of the new series with Eccleston.  You’ll get a taste of what’s to come, what the Doctor’s about, and then take the journey with the new series.  Then, if you’ve indoctrinated yourself enough (puns!), you can always try the old series.  I’m very fond of the Fourth (Tom Baker) and Fifth (Peter Davison) Doctors, including “The Key to Time” which spanned a whole season for the Fourth Doctor and I just read the Fifth Doctor’s episode in which he regenerates into the Sixth Doctor “The Caves of Androzani” is considered the best episode of Doctor Who of all time. Of course, any episodes with everyone’s favorite companion, Sarah Jane Smith, is also good, and I have a soft spot for the Eighth Doctor, who might have only gotten a movie, but I read his adventures in some old BBC Doctor Who Novels.  I even wrote a piece about Paul McGann, who plays the Eighth Doctor, on my Tumblr.

I hope you enjoyed this installment.  And who knows, I might elaborate on episodes later.  Plus I have other favorites, such as dead like me, Black Books, Coupling, Game of Thrones, and Downton Abbey. So maybe I’ll sit down and write on some of those sometime.

Cheers!

Life or death – Season Finale time!

That’s true, the traditional season of TV has come upon us.  While some might think it is a little late to be posting this, I disagree because four shows that I watch have just had their finales.  Two a couple weeks ago, one last week, and one next week. Let’s look at these, shall we? Also this is a SPOILER ZONE, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

First is Community. This season felt like it was struggling a little bit with Dan Harmon’s absence, less cultural references it was parodying, which really was the whole reason I loved this show.  I mean where else am I going to get a My Dinner with Andre parody in the same episode as a Pulp Fiction parody? Can I say the “Remedial Chaos Theory” is one of the best episodes of TV I’ve seen in a long time? Where’s that magic? Maybe now that the show will be under his helm again, we’ll get that back. I’ll still watch it either way.  It take a lot to alienate a loyal viewer like me.  The finale, though, was a fun affair, bringing back the dark timeline from “Remedial Chaos Theory” and mixing it with Jeff’s ‘graduation’ which was styled more like a wedding.  The gang triumphed over the evil thems, with the help of strange paint-ball like guns, which might have been much more fun like in finales past.  Six Seasons and a Movie guys, six seasons and a movie.

Second is Doctor Who. Like Community, it seemed lacking in this second section.  I really want to like Clara, but I feel I don’t know anything about her, and I’ve just spent, what eight episodes with her? I thought ‘the Rings of Akhaten’ was a good start, but after that, the Clara character development fell flat.  Don’t get me wrong, I really liked a lot of these episodes, “Hide” was fun, “Journey to the Center of the TARDIS” felt like it was written for a die-hard whovian, “The Crimson Horror” felt like it got some of that Pond/Doctor fun back, “Nightmare in Silver” because I love both Warwick Davis and Neil Gaiman, and “The Name of the Doctor” finale I really liked as well. The most satisfying moments in the finale were between the Doctor and River, but – as someone has already pointed out – that’s only because we’ve spent so much time on the Doctor/River story from the time we met her back in “Silence in the Library” in 2008 (I know, I couldn’t believe it was that long ago either!) Even with the lack of Clara closure in the finale, there was still the John Hurt mystery we get to look forward to in the 50th Anniversary special in November.  Honestly it can’t get here soon enough!

Third is the new kid, Orphan Black. I was skeptical about this show, as I am about most new shows – “A new scifi show? Who do they think they are!” Is really my reaction.  The first two episodes were slow to me, and I’m not entirely sure what hooked me, but it might be what always hooks me – the melodrama of interesting characters.  In the case of Orphan Black, it might just be watching Tatiana Maslany work. She played at least seven different characters: Sarah, Beth, Alison, Cosima, Helena, Katya, and Rachel.  Half the time she was playing off herself, and in some scenes she was playing the only three people in them.  And it was convincing.  As Patton Oswalt tweeted “Technically couldn’t Tatiana Maslany be nominated in 4 best Actress/Drama Emmy slots and 1 guest star slot?”.  But to speak of the finale – it was crazy town.  The clones have a patent coded in their DNA, Alison watched Ainsley get her scarf caught in her garbage disposal and did nothing about it, Dr. Leekie gave them contracts that Alison unwittingly signed, Sarah killed her twin clone Helena, Paul helped her escape from power-suit clone Rachel only to find that Mrs. S abducted Kira! Now I have to wait until Spring next year? Whaaaaat!

Fourth, will be Game of Thrones.  As an avid book reader, I know what’s going to happen on Sunday (or maybe they’ll hold it over to next season, who knows at this point?) But as last night’s episode proves, a good story can cause quite the reaction.  The scifi website i09 posted the 100 best tweets from last night’s episode, and they are amazing.  I’ve heard people canceling and threatening to cancel their HBO service, people screaming, people crying in showers, and others desperately needing hugs. Having read the book ten years ago, I can’t really remember my reaction, besides that of shock and disbelief, and I imagine I re-read it a few times to be sure. The outrage was this – Robb Stark, who slighted Walder Frey by not marrying one of his daughters and marrying Talisa instead, was murdered by Walder Frey and Roose Bolton’s people at a wedding of Walder Frey’s daughter Rosalind and Robb’s uncle Edmure.  The wedding was supposed to mend their differences, but instead the Freys murdered the lot of the Starks, including a brutal murder of pregnant Talisa, Robb’s mother Catelyn, and Robb’s direwolf Grey Wind 😦  I know. I’ll give you a minute.

So what’s the finale going to hold next Sunday? Well, let’s just say I can’t wait for the reactions if they’re going to do what I think they are.

Cheers.

The Power Four: The Doc, The Stars, and a firefly

Or really: Doctor Who, Star Trek, Star Wars, and Firefly.  Those are what I like to call my Power Four, my favorite fandoms in the scifi universe.

I know you’re thinking it’s against nerd rules for some of these to cross-pollinate. Growing up though, the two stars were permanent fixtures in my house. Almost as if they were the foundation for all fandoms I would come across in my life.  The Next Generation ended it’s seven-year run when I was ten, and the first remastered Star Wars films returned to theatres when I was in middle school.  I didn’t bat an eye this year when I was wishing everyone a Happy Star Wars day on May the fourth (be with you) and talking about how excited I was about the new Star Trek film in theatres for my birthday weekend two weeks later.

You might also think that Firefly is relatively new to be included in a Power four that includes such heavy weights as Star Trek and Star Wars. But it’s amazing.  It is quoted regularly in my family, and I love recruiting Browncoats.

Last is Doctor Who. One thing you definitely are thinking is, ‘oh, here we go, another Doctor Who fan, probably a hipster too’, but really I’ve been a die-hard fan since I was fifteen, which is six years before Eccleston even stepped into that TARDIS ( I don’t care if you do the math). Doctor Who has also shaped my whole life – which is not melodramatic by any means. I was named after a character from the show – yes, my parents are those nerds.  I used to tell people I was named after a British Science Fiction character, but now, with the success of the new incarnation, I can easily tell Americans I was named after a Doctor Who character, and staggering amount know what I’m talking about. It’s nice, sometimes even surreal – that people actually like this mad man in a blue box just as much as I do.

So I wanted to start a section of this page about the fandoms I love. I’ll probably go into depth with each another time. Not ‘primer’s by any means, but my favorite episodes, characters, etc. I’ll also talk about other fandoms I like too, such as fantasy ones- Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter. There’s Also MST3k, Farscape, Highlander (mostly because my favorite band is Queen), and others.

Cheers for now, ❤ ❤ Romana