Tag: tv

The Best of All Cliffhangers

/ Gary Hilson

“I am Locutus of Borg. Resistance is futile. Your life, as it has been, is over. From this time forward you will service us.”

“Mr. Worf: Fire.”

bobwSeason-ending cliffhangers are now standard practice on both network and cable TV series, but in 1990, they weren’t so common, and the season finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation made jaws drop.

The first part of “The Best of Both Worlds” had Star Trek fans and casual viewers wondering all summer if Captain Jean-Luc Picard would survive his assimilation by the relentless Borg, while TV critics were comparing the cliffhanger to the infamous season ender of Dallas in 1980: the mystery of “Who shot J.R.” was the most watched program in television history for its day.

TNG’s “Best of Both Worlds” remains one of the most effective season finales of any Star Trek series – arguably of any series – because it looks like there is no way out: Picard is lost; Riker will soldier on as captain of the Enterprise with ambitious newcomer Commander Shelby as his first officer.

I spent that summer wondering if Picard would return in season four. It was hard to contemplate Star Trek: The Next Generation without Patrick Stewart, especially since the series had found its creative footing in season three. The return of Gates McFadden as Dr. Crusher coupled with some great storytelling begged the question: If it ain’t broke, why fix it?

Even without the ubiquitous Internet and social media, there was chatter that Patrick Stewart was leaving the show, apparently unhappy with the series’ scripts – these rumors could be traced back to an uneven second season that was cut short by a writer’s strike. I vaguely recall reading a brief news item in Starlog magazine that fueled the fire; it also reported Wil Wheaton was leaving the series, something that did come to pass.

The late Michael Piller, who scripted the episode, made use of his own inner turmoil to drive the story as he debated whether to continue on as head of the show’s writing team; the episode became a Riker-centric story that reflected Piller’s own dilemma. (He would ultimately stay on through the end of the series, co-create Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager and write the screenplay for Star Trek: Insurrection).

Riker’s struggle with the prospect of promotion rings true given that he’s already turned down command twice, and it adds to the overall sense that things will inevitably change aboard the Enterprise, especially since Shelby is convinced she’s going to land the first officer’s gig.

But what really made “The Best of Both Worlds” cliffhanger so compelling was that Piller had in fact painted himself into a corner. He didn’t think he’d have to worry about solving a seemingly unsolvable problem: how to save Picard and defeat the Borg. When “To Be Continued” appears on the screen backed up by Ron Jones’ chilling music, it’s hard to imagine how the rest of the story will unfold.

Nearly 23 years later, it’s still an amazing hour of television. A feeling of foreboding hangs over the scene where Picard and Guinan discuss the tradition of a captain touring his ship on the eve of a hopeless battle and how Nelson never returned from Trafalgar, even though the battle was won.

And it even holds up well on the big screen. Last week the combined two-part “Best of Both Worlds” was shown in theatres across North America, and while the second half struggles to live up to the first (most second parts in the Star Trek universe do), as a feature film it compares well to the actual Star Trek movies. The special effects are still convincing, especially considering they were produced on a television budget with older technology, and the story slowly builds tension throughout the first half with a seamless transition into a faster paced second half.

The big screen debut of “The Best of Both Worlds” serves as a reminder that Star Trek works better on television when the characters are allowed to develop and the story lines are allowed to evolve over time. Viewed on television it is Star Trek at its finest and holds its own against big screen lens flare.

Gary Hilson is a Toronto-based freelance writer, editor and content strategist storyteller. “The Best of Both Worlds” Parts I & II is available today on BluRay as a feature-length film as is the entire third season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Fallen Angel: Why Season Four Fails [TV Review]

/ Gary Hilson

By Wednesday evening, there’s little on network television that’s of interest to me, so instead of watching the implausible Criminal Minds or the tired CSI, I turned to my TV on DVD shelf and started alphabetically.

When Angel debuted in the fall 1999 I was skeptical. Certainly, the character had run its course on Buffy The Vampire Slayer, but I never thought David Boreanaz was all that great an actor or could carry his own show.

I was pleasantly surprised; in fact, I thought Angel’s first season was stronger than the concurrent fourth season of Buffy. Season two was also really strong and while season three started out rather well, it’s weaker than its predecessors for some of the same reasons that make Angel’s penultimate season the most disappointing, despite being ambitious.

Angel’s fourth season starts out promising, picking up several months after the third season ended, with Cordelia now a higher being and Angel locked in a box at the bottom of the ocean. With Lorne now in Vegas performing, Fred and Gunn hold the fort while keeping an eye on Angel’s son Connor. The season premiere is a solid start to the year, resolving cliff hangers and most importantly to me, kick-starting Wesley’s gradual return to the group. The next few episodes are all entertaining as standalone episodes too, while moving the year’s big arc along at the same time and giving each of our main characters their own stories.

But then we hit the seventh episode of season four, “Apocalypse, Nowish”, and that’s when things start to fall apart:

It’s all arc: From here on in, every episode is tied to this year’s big storyline, with the debut of the Beast, the revelation that Cordelia is not what she seems, and her subsequent pregnancy. The only real exception is episode 16 with the final onscreen appearance of Gwen Raiden, who enlists Gunn’s help on one of her heists.

It’s all dark: Angel is a dark series and the drama is based on our heroes enduring horrible ordeals, but the usual Whedonesque humor seems absent here and the one-liners that are written in to undercut the drama are weak for the most part.

Cordelia isn’t Cordelia: I didn’t think having Charisma Carpenter’s character move to Angel was a great idea when I first heard about it, but seasons one and two proved me wrong, and up until season three’s “Birthday” I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed her journey from selfish and shallow to hard-edged hero. But from there on in, it was apparent that the writers didn’t know what to do with her and season four essentially invalidates her journey into nothing more than a manipulation by unseen forces, which I think is insulting to the character and her fans. Cordelia spends the last five episodes of the season unconscious. It’s not until season five that we see a proper send off for Carpenter’s character.

It drags: The middle of the season is slow and full of filler. The scenes between Cordelia and Connor are tedious for the most part. I found myself fast-forwarding through a lot of episodes.

The return of Angelus: It was inevitable that Angel’s evil alter-ego would return and wreak havoc. Aside from flashbacks, he’s not been seen since season two of Buffy. However, the reasons for bringing him back are weak story-wise and for the most part, the episodes are rather dull until his showdown with Faith.

Connor: The problem with this character from the beginning is that he’s not really a character so much as a plot device (you could make the same argument for Dawn on Buffy). His birth and presence on the series as a baby slowed down season three. The biggest problem with Connor is that he’s not very bright, which sticks out like a sore thumb because characters in the Angel / Buffy universe all tend to be reasonably intelligent in their own way, even when they’re evil, such as the lawyers at Wolfram & Hart. Yes, Holtz had nearly 20 years to make Connor hate Angel and as a hormonal 18-year-old it makes sense that he might fall for Cordelia, but considering he was raised in a hell dimension, you’d think he be a little more cunning and not just a great fighter. He hates his father because he perceives Angel as evil, but by the end of the season he’s complicit in the deaths of many innocent people, whether it’s the virgin sacrificed by evil Cordy or the folks on Jasmine’s dinner plate. Speaking of which…

Jasmine: It’s not that the Jasmine storyline doesn’t work, but it also drags, and I’ve always got the feeling that it was tacked on because the original Big Bad storyline wasn’t long enough. The pace of the series does pick up again once she arrives but by this point the whole year has become rather tiring.

This my fourth full re-watch of the series since it was first run. When it aired, I defended Connor and various storylines to friends who were losing interest in the series, but this latest viewing made it impossible to ignore the faults in Angel’s fourth season.

It wasn’t all bad, however. The return of Faith was welcome. She fits in better with the greyness of the Angel universe compared to the black and white, good or evil world of Buffy. Seeing her paired with the now battle-hardened Wesley was a treat, considering their history together, and her final appearance in “Orpheus” was one the best episodes of the series. Meanwhile, Wesley is the most compelling character in the Buffy-verse. It’s hard to believe he wasn’t supposed to live very long after he was first introduced. Many of the non-arc episodes early in the year are well-paced and plotted and there are some good episodes following the debut of the Beast.

When Angel (and Buffy) really work well as a TV series, however, is when each episode stands by itself as a story, whether it’s part of a big arc or not. In this regard, season four of Angel fails and is the victim of its own ambition.

Gary Hilson is a writer, editor and digital media specialist for hire. He lives in Toronto.

 

Classic SF Series Foresees Reality TV [DVD Review]

/ Gary Hilson

The Doctor has promised Jo a holiday on Metebelis 3, but the TARDIS materializes not on the famous blue planet, but in the cargo hold of the SS Bernice, sailing to India in 1926. Despite all appearances, the Doctor insists that they are no longer on Earth, but Jo’s not convinced, at least not until a sea dinosaur attacks the ship…

One has to wonder if writer Robert Holmes was clairvoyant enough to see the dawn of reality television when he scripted Carnival of Monsters.

Even though it’s been 30 years since this Doctor Who adventure was conceived, it almost seems as though it was written as a commentary on the exploitation of people as entertainment.

In this 1973 four-parter, the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) attempts to take his companion Jo Grant (Katy Manning) to Metebelis 3 for a vacation, but instead the TARDIS finds itself on a sailing ship in 1926 on Earth. Of course, as it always happens in Doctor Who, nothing is as it seems, providing an entertaining adventure and some social commentary (albeit unintentional, perhaps) along the way.

“Haven’t you ever been to the zoo? Haven’t you ever kept goldfish in a bowl?” The Doctor asks Jo when he realizes they’ve got trapped in a “minascope” run by the traveling entertainer Vorg.

The Doctor, of course, is outraged that he and other creatures have been pulled from their native environment, miniaturized and obliviously held captive for the entertainment of others.

Carnival of Monsters is constrained by the technology of the era, but it’s still a lot of fun. The guest cast, including Ian Marter (who would go on to play Harry Sullivan) and Michael Wisher (the original Davros), all give fine performances, and the creativity despite the constraints put into the overall production is evident in every scene.

The Doctor Who DVD releases are always chock full of extras, and Carnival of Monsters is no different. The release includes a commentary by Katy Manning and director/producer Barry Letts, both of whom have very vivid and fond memories of the production.

There are also extended, deleted and alternate scenes as well as behind-the-scenes footage with the only disappointments being there are no introductions to provide context.

One particularly good extra feature is the explanation of CSO – color separation overlay – which was no doubt the precursor to blue screen (now green screen) technology now employed by special effects houses such as Industrial Light & Magic.

Ultimately, Carnival of Monsters endures because of its universal themes. Beyond the reality TV parallels, there is also a hint of anti-corporate sentiment, something echoed daily in Dilbert strips and found in the conversations of the alien Minorian officials:

“The latest thinking is that the latest outbreak of violence of the functionaries is caused through lack of amusement.”

“More anti-productive legislation.”

“Where will it end?”

This review originally appeared in the online publications Sci Fi Dimensions and Outpost Gallifrey. Gary Hilson is a writer, editor and digital media specialist for hire. He lives in Toronto.

Normal Again [TV Review]

/ Gary Hilson

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a lot more complex than the title of the show suggests, and after six years, the heroine of this series has collected a lot of baggage, emotional and otherwise.

No wonder she’s hallucinating.

But while many of us create fantasies to deal with stress in our day to day lives, Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) has been living in a fantasy world with some harsh realities – a soul mate who can’t be with her for fear of losing his soul and becoming an evil demon; the death of her mother at the hands of an aneurism, not monsters she can fight; and a destiny that will see her never have a normal life because she’s The Chosen One and lives on a hellmouth.

Or could she have a normal life? And what is normal?

In “Normal Again,” a run-in with a demon has Buffy jumping from two frames of mind thanks to the creature’s nasty venom. In her hallucination, she’s in a mental institution, and she’s been there for six years. Her parents are still together, and Buffy’s having a moment of lucidity, according to the Doctor. There is a chance, he says, that she could make a full recovery from her multi-layered schizophrenia.

Meanwhile, back in Sunnydale, Buffy’s in and out and her friends take it upon themselves to capture the demon in question and harness the antidote. All in all, it turns out to be a simple task, even if Willow can’t make use of magic do cook up the cure.

The question is, does Buffy really want to get well?

Her moments of lucidity at the institution are becoming more prolonged, and in Sunnydale, Buffy dumps the antidote in the garbage, and no one’s the wiser.

The Doctor tells Buffy that she must take apart the traps that keep her in imaginary world. Those traps are her friends, which she thinks are sacred, says the Doctor, but she must give them up.

Buffy wants to be healthy, she tells her parents. What does she have to do?

Back in Sunnydale, Buffy is systematically dealing with Willow, Xander and her sister Dawn. She captures and assembles them in the basement with the nasty monster that started this mental roller coaster in the first place.

At this point, all bets are off – Buffy’s parents are encouraging her to shut down her imaginary world, and that means setting the demon loose on her friends, who are still tied up. Buffy’s almost catatonic as the monster pummels them.

In the institution, it’s clear Buffy’s struggling to destroy her life in Sunnydale, despite the desperate pleas of her friends, and by now, it starts to become conceivable that Buffy’s life for the past six years could very well be a sham, but as the episode counts down to its closing moments, Tara rushes in and turns the tide in favour of the Sunnydale Scooby gang.

It’s also enough to snap Buffy back to reality and kick some demon ass, albeit after a tearful goodbye to her parents at the institution. All’s well that ends well, right?

Nope.

As much as Buffy has chosen to stay in Sunnydale and admitted to her friends that she did not take the antidote, it’s unclear why she made the choice she did.

Did Buffy choose Sunnydale because she knew it was reality? Or is she giving into the fantasy? Was she willing to believe that the institution would better than her life as the Slayer?

The final scene of the episode does nothing to clarify this, and one could dismiss it as being hoaky, or take it for a telling sign of things to come. Utlimately, Buffy’s life is one big irony: While many of us yearn to live in a world of black and white where heroes triumph over villains, there’s part of her that would rather deal with the cold hard reality of medicinal drugs and rubber walls at the institution, even if it means giving up the wonderful things in her dangerous world, including her friends.

Given the ambiguity of the ending of “Normal Again,” one could wonder if anyone really has a solid grip on reality, or just thinks they do.

Gary Hilson is a writer, editor and digital media specialist for hire. He lives in Toronto.

TV Review: Tracker (Series Premiere)

/ Gary Hilson

T is for Tracker. T is also for tedious.

And unfortunately, that’s the verdict on the syndicated series starring Adrian Paul in the title role.

After Highlander, I was expecting a lot more from Mr. Paul, especially since he was also filling the role of executive producer, but Tracker comes off as more as grade B fare in the vein of Highlander ripoff The Immortal than anything else.

Paul plays an alien who arrives on Earth to track down some bad guy, but is a mumbling idiot throughout the whole episode because unlike his enemy (played by wrestler chick Chyna), he didn’t co-opt an existing human body. He’s aided in his transition by woman who’s recently inherited a bar where she’s employed her cousin, which isn’t really relevant to the story.

Eventually Paul’s character and Chyna come to blows, but the fight sequences are horrible. Again, it’s impossible not to compare this series to Highlander, and the intended dramatic ending is somewhat eclipsed by the indelible impression of Chyna’s humongous jiggling breasts.

Even though the series has an interesting premise and a more than capable lead actor, Tracker was so annoying the first time around I probably won’t give it another chance.

Originally published in the online magazine The Leisure Hive as part of its fall 2001 science fiction television preview.

The Emmy’s definitely due [TV Review]

/ Gary Hilson

It’s been several weeks since “The Body” aired, and I’m still trying to digest the viewing experience. Suffice it to say, if this brilliant hour of television doesn’t earn Buffy The Vampire Slayer an Emmy nod, I don’t know what will.

I was prepared to get weepy a week before “The Body” actually aired, since Joss Whedon and company have this habit of pulling out the rug in the last five minutes of an episode just to keep you thinking about the series for the coming week, but I wasn’t prepared for how poignant the episode would be on so many fronts. First off, there’s Sarah Michelle Gellar’s performance. While she’s had plenty of opportunities before to show her acting chops and act grief stricken, the situation Buffy faces in this episode leaves her particularly vulnerable and powerless to act. It’s something new for the character and is the foundation of “The Body.” For the first time, Buffy doesn’t have a demon or monster she can fight. The enemy here is much more mundane.

The supporting cast does just as much to make this episode emotionally powerful. The tears were welling up quite a bit as Willow (Alyson Hannigan) frets over what wear to the hospital. There’s a very touching moment as Tara (Amber Benson) comforts Willow with a long tender kiss. Kudos to Whedon and co. for writing that scene into an episode that was about something much bigger and more important, rather than making a big deal about with an an episode specifically based on the couple’s first on-screen kiss.

But the real scene stealer came from an unexpected source: Anya (Emma Caulfield). A character that normally has grated on me for the last year or so managed to basically deliver the most heart wrenching lines in the entire episode.

“The Body” deals with death in a very raw, realistic manner, capturing the awkwardness people feel as they try to figure out what they should do or say when faced with the loss of a loved one. Whedon’s direction deserves much of the credit for the episode’s realism and the decision to forgo a musical score was definitely the right one.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer has been skirted the edges of conventional critical acclaim for a while now. “The Body” is absolute proof that a television show doesn’t have to be about cops or doctors to be a legitimate drama. When watching it for the second and even the third time, it still reaches right into my soul, which is something I don’t say lightly. The third season episode “Amends” is right up there, but I’m inclined to go further back to Homicide: Life on the Street’s “Crosetti” for comparison, and that’s high praise.

Unfortunately, I’m far too jaded to believe that the Emmys would ever recognize a genre show such as Buffy, even if it is long overdue.

Gary Hilson is a writer, editor and digital media specialist for hire. He lives in Toronto.

Something Wicca This Way Comes [TV Review]

/ Gary Hilson

I never thought I’d ever enjoy a television show with Aaron Spelling’s name attached to it, but I decided to give Charmed a chance.

Produced by Spelling and airing on the WB Network in the U.S., the series revolves around three women played by Shannen Doherty, Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano, who discover they are witches – good witches, but witches nonetheless. Each has her own special powers: Prue (Doherty) can move objects through telekinesis, Piper (Combs) can freeze time, and Phoebe (Milano) can see into the future. In addition, they have other spells at their disposable, thanks to a book Phoebe digs up in the attic of the family house the sisters inherited.

Prue and Piper also have Phoebe to thank for the magical powers. By reading a passage from the book, she activates their powers. They soon discover their grandmother, who recently passed away, was a witch. When she died, her powers her came up for grabs. Unfortunately, an evil warlock, who has been stalking and killing other witches in San Francisco to take their powers, has been waiting for the sisters to realize these powers.

The first episode has a very simple plot, as the sisters have to use their combined talents to defeat the warlock. In the midst of all this they face job woes and sibling infighting, while one of the detectives investigating the murders, an old acquaintance of Prue’s, knows not everything is what it seems.

With some good writers, Charmed could be more than just a ‘evil creature that must be defeated by the sisters’ show. Buffy The Vampire Slayer has proven it is about more than just a teenage girl killing vampires every week.

Charmed has all the right ingredients to become another cult hit for the WB.

Gary Hilson is a writer, editor and digital media specialist for hire. He lives in Toronto.

Once More Unto the Breach [TV Review]

/ Gary Hilson

Since its debut, I’ve always tried to like Star Trek: Voyager. It’s not as if I don’t like the show, but for the most part, I’ve been disappointed in it.

Every year I sit down to watch the season premiere and hope that the show will improve. I usually start the season optimistic, depending on the season finale from the year before. Last season, Voyager finished with a ho hum episode, so I wasn’t overly excited about year five.

I have mixed feelings about “‘Night”, the season premiere. It had an interesting premise and some good character development, but still lacked many elements, elements that have made Deep Space Nine my preferred Star Trek sequel series.

While the writers finally to a leap and made Paris and Torres a couple, the relationship has simply gone nowhere. In ‘Night’, they’re reduced to unconvincing squabbling to further demonstrate the frustration the crew is feeling while traveling an expanse of lifeless, starless space.

Admittedly, the story wasn’t horrible and there were some nifty special effects, but it is an obvious example of what is wrong with Voyager: In the Delta Quadrant, everything seems to happen in a bottle. Yes, there have been sequels to previous episodes, but rarely are the consequences of actions carried over from one episode to another. “Year of Hell” was a great episode until it turns out it never happened at all.

It’s not that I’m unwilling to give Voyager a chance. I’ve given it plenty of chances. But after fours seasons, I don’t feel this crew has developed much in terms of characterization and I’ve yet to see an episode that truly wowed or surprised.

Deep Space Nine has given me a reason to come back every episode because of its continuing storyline. Right now, I can take or leave Voyager.

Gary Hilson is a writer, editor and digital media specialist for hire. He lives in Toronto.