CANCELATION ALERT - Sarah Connor May be Close to Termination!!!

According to an article on Sy Fy Portal, FOX is not pleased with the sagging ratings performance of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and they could pull the plug on it soon. According to our Network Ratings Tracker, the series has only averaged about a 2.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic across its first four Season 2 episodes and it is well down from its average rating last season. Its lead-out series, Prison Break has also suffered in the ratings and FOX executives are looking to blame Sarah Connor's poor performance. Monday night's airing lost 13% of viewers from the prior week, and FOX's patience may be wearing thin. One positive note for the series is that the report for the week of September 7th has come in and Sarah Connor was the third most DVR'ed show of the week. The overnight ratings do not include these numbers, so it helps boost the overall viewer count. Still, this may not provide enough of a lift to sway the decision of the FOX execs. Check back with us on a regular basis for any updates on the status of the series.

First Thoughts on Week 3 of the Fall Season

We’ve now made it through eight of the Fall Season Science Fiction and Fantasy premieres, and for the most part it has been hit or miss with the debuts so far.

The much anticipated return of Heroes kicked off last Monday with a two-hour Season 3 premiere. It continued the momentum from the end of Season 2 showing an improvement in quality over what we saw at the beginning of its sophomore season, but it still had a few moments that really annoyed me. The way Hiro bungled the situation with the formula and set future events in motion for yet another end-of-the-world scenario seemed too familiar and contrived. And the scene with Sylar and Clair was simply revolting although his response to her “are you going to eat my brain question” was hilarious. Still, overall I like what I saw and hope that the series continues to improve in the coming weeks.

I expected to not like CBS’s The Mentalist, but I actually rather enjoyed the first episode. It seemed to rely rather heavily on many of the standard procedural series formulas and the ending revelation of the murderer’s motive was a bit of a let-down, but the central character has the potential to spark some interesting stories. A faux-psychic with exceptional intuition, his internal struggles and lack of faith in a world beyond could provide some interesting territory to explore. Still, I consider its relevance to the Science Fiction and Fantasy genre at this point to be extremely minimal.

I also did not expect the like NBC’s Knight Rider, but after the first ten minutes I thought this might be one of those campy “it’s so bad it’s good” type of shows. The remainder of the episode quickly dispelled that, though, as it descended into farce while taking itself entirely too serious. The original series may not have demanded much brain matter from its viewers, but it least it had some semblance of a plot, no matter how formulaic. That version almost approaches high art in comparison to this horrendous remake. Based on the reboot’s initial ratings, it will likely follow the path of NBC’s other ill-advised remake from last season, Bionic Woman, into television oblivion (hopefully soon).

FOX’s Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles rebounded from a near disastrous second episode to return to about its usual quality. It does seem to be meandering a bit in its second season, though, and FOX can’t like the numbers it is currently pulling, so it better get back on course quickly. The network’s other genre offering, Fringe, is shaping up nicely, though I don’t know that it will remain on my must-watch list. It seems like one that you can check in on from time to time and still keep up with the ongoing story arc. With so many other offerings this season, I will probably bump this one down to the frequently watched list.

My DVR messed up and did not record the Season 4 premiere of Supernatural, so I hope to get caught up with the new season of that show this week online. As far as ratings, only The Mentalist has pulled in high numbers among the first round of premieres. Fringe and Heroes have respectable numbers and probably do not need to worry at this point, but The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Knight Rider are almost certainly on the early season cancellation radar. You can keep track of the ratings each week with our Network Ratings Tracker.

Five more shows will bow this week (see below) so check back at the beginning of next week for my thoughts on the next batch of premieres.

-John J. Joex

Premiering the week of September 28th:
Chuck - September 29th
Pushing Daisies - October 1st
Ghost Whisperer - October 3rd
Sanctuary - October 3rd
Star Wars: The Clone Wars - October 3rd

Premiering the week of October 5th or Later:
Valentine - October 5th
Life on Mars - October 9th
The Eleventh Hour - October 9th
My Own Worst Enemy - October 13th
Eli Stone - October 14th
The Legend of the Seeker - November 1st
Batman: The Brave and the Bold - November 14th

Weekly Update – Pushing Daisies Gets Emmy; Ratings not so Hot for Fall Premieres

Pushing Daisies received an Emmy for outstanding directing for a comedy series in this year’s awards. We thought that Chi McBride should have also received an award for best supporting actor for his portrayal of acid-tongued private investigator Emerson Cod, but he got snubbed in the nominations. Battlestar Galactica, Lost, Smallville, and Tin Man took home some technical awards, but other than that Science Fiction and Fantasy television received little accommodation . . . Through the first three weeks of the Fall Season, the new and returning Science Fiction and Fantasy shows have mostly achieved moderate to low ratings success. Fringe and The Sarah Connor Chronicles opened to less than spectacular numbers and the return of Heroes netted twenty five percent less viewers than the Season 2 premiere. So far, only CBS’s procedural The Mentalist (of moderate genre interest at best) has performed well in the ratings. We will continue to monitor the ratings performance of all the network shows, and estimate their chances of getting axed, each week with our Network Ratings Tracker.

Sam Christopher's Quick Hits

Comics:
In Marvel’s Age of the Sentry #1, Jeff Parker (Agents of Atlas, Solitaire) and Nick Dragotta (The Losers, X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl) bring us “The Secret Origin of the Sentry”, a funny tale written and drawn in the style of a ‘50s-ish Superman/Captain Marvel tale, complete with Lois Lane (under the name Lindy Lee, a nod to Supergirl as well perhaps), Captain Marvel Jr. (Scout), and Krypto the Superdog (Watchdog). Also, “Public Service Renouncement”, by Paul Tobin (various Marvel Adventures titles) and newcomer Ramon Rosanas, is a ‘70s style story that reminded me of nothing so much as an old Hyperion story from Thor or, closer, Alan Moore’s First American from his Tomorrow Stories title. All in all, a fun issue to read.

DC Universe Decisions #1—I’m not a big fan of celebrities telling me how to vote, imagine how I feel about superheroes doing it. That said, this first ish wasn’t bad. They don’t use real candidates and the story centers on an assassination plot that seems to threaten all the candidates equally. We do find out that Green Arrow is a Democrat, which is only surprising to people who’ve never read the character or just thought he was a full blown Communist, and Lois Lane is implied to be a Republican. Superman won’t talk about his vote, even with Lois, and Batman seems too consumed with his work to care. I’ll check the next one out.

Greatest Hits #1—A Vertigo comic in which, basically, The Beatles are superheroes. We’ll see. It’s a six ish mini and I’m intrigued enough to look at the next one.

Television:
HBO’s True Blood has kind of grown on me. I still think her brother should either grow up or at least yell “Flame On!” on occasion (_this_ guy is far closer to the comics Johnny Storm than Chris Evans) but her best friend doesn’t annoy me as much and I’m—well, a full review is coming in the next week or so. This can wait til then.

Look for a full review of Fringe and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles coming up, as well as anything else I read or watch in the meantime.

Comic Book Review - Skaar: Son of the Hulk

Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

I never read the Planet Hulk storyline. I hadn’t collected Hulk in awhile and it just didn’t interest me enough to get me to start again. I guess that’s a common problem with having collected comics as long as I have. Certain titles are interesting for awhile, usually so long as a certain writer or artist I particularly enjoy is on the book, and then the comic either dies out completely and is cancelled or just fades into the background as something new takes its place. Also, I’m not a big fan of trade mags like Wizard (I usually figure that’s seven bucks I could’ve spent on comics), so I sometimes don’t notice new trends in old titles I no longer collect. This can put me behind the curve on occasion but it probably leads to my paying bills in a timely fashion (I have gone without eating for a day so I could buy comics before). Point is, I don’t know very much about the Planet Hulk storyline but the hook for Skaar: Son of the Hulk interested me— perhaps because it parallels, however obliquely, Angel’s son, Connor, with his banishment to the hell dimension Quar’Toth and the X-Men character Magik and her sojourn in Limbo—so I decided to try it.

Skarr lives on Sakaar, the savage world Hulk went to and conquered in Planet Hulk. The Jade Giant defeated The Red King (who was apparently of a race called the Fillians), freed The Red King’s slaves, took his throne and married the shadow warrior Caiera the Oldstrong. Caiera apparently had the ability to turn to stone—as do all the shadow people and Skaar—and to cause the couple’s unborn child to mature enough to survive even as she and all their followers died in a literal rain of fire. The Hulk, thinking this the end of all he had loved on this world, went back to Earth, ostensibly in search of those he believed to be the architects of his unhappiness. Skaar, who named himself based on an imperfect understanding of his world’s name, emerged from a river of fire not long after Hulk left and began his journey to become the savior of the Imperian slaves.

The first issue, titled “Cradle of Fire”, starts with an intro to Skaar and a brief couple of scenes bringing us through the first year of his life, after which he looks like a pre-teen. This brings us to the coming of Axeman Bone, once a general under The Red King who has now gone into business for himself. He kills a young shadow warrior everyone believes to be Skaar, breaking the spirit of all the slaves present save one, a “priest” we later learn has taken Skaar under his wing. Skaar appears at the end of the issue and a battle between he and Axeman Bone is teased for issue #2.

In “Blood of the Dragon”, Skaar meets axemen, dragons and fire (oh, my). We also get to meet Princess Omaka, said to be the rightful heir to the Throne of Sakaar, a woman whose arms were apparently burned off (I’m guessing in some battle involving dragons, since the ones depicted here are basically the classic flying firebreathers) and replaced with big bionic mantis pincers. And, there’s a second story introed in the back of the comic called Shadow Tales, which this ish gives us a contemporary story from a little ways off the main action of the lead story which serves to both fill out the world we’re viewing and give us a little more history. This is a “story behind the story” type thing that is very welcome in this kind of unfamiliar (for most readers) territory.

“The Princess and the Beast” shows us the treacherous mores of political intrigue on the hardscrabble world of Sakaar. A power hungry general, wounded in battle with Skaar, uses force of will and instilled fear to fend off challenges and not-so-veiled threats from the men under his command. A bloodthirsty princess, who seems to genuinely care for the people she wishes to rule, uses guile and bionic weaponry to test the mettle of the so-called Son of the Hulk, whom her would-be subjects look upon as their savior. Both storylines yield interesting results. Shadow Tales Part Two gives us Axeman Bone’s backstory and leaves us with something to think about as to Princess Omaka as well.

Skaar: Son of the Hulk delivers well-written, well-drawn action in the time honored sword and sorcery genre. Greg Pak (Incredible Hercules, Battlestar Galactica) and Ron Garney (JLA, Captain America) make a very effective writer-artist tandem on this book, with Butch Guice (Sliders, Birds of Prey) handling the art on Shadow Tales. Together, these men have created a complex yet simple character in a strange yet somewhat familiar world.

Johnny Jay's Summer Wrap Up

The September 23rd episode of Eureka was the last new episode of that series until 2009 so I figure that it is worth a few minutes to revisit the handful of shows that aired over the summer months.

NBC’s Fear Itself kicked things off early in June and actually gave us a decent horror/supernatural anthology series. Like its sister series, Masters of Horror, it brought in well-known genre talents such as John Landis, Ronny Yu, and by Daniel Knauf to write and/or direct each week’s mini-movie. As in any anthology the episodes were hit or miss, but from what I saw (which was a fair sampling of the aired episodes) it delivered more often than not. However, the ratings started out mediocre, then took a steep dive after the series had a one week hiatus and it disappeared from the air after its July 31st broadcast, leaving five episodes unaired. To my knowledge, NBC never officially announced its cancellation, but I think it’s safe to assume it won’t be coming back. Hopefully at some point though, they will at least release the last five episodes for online viewing (Hulu.com did have the broadcasted episodes available, but now only the pilot is left). (See my full review of Fear Itself)

Bucking the current trend of dark, brooding series with long story arcs, ABC Family’s The Middleman gave us an irreverent, sharp-witted, and fun series that did not require a weekly viewing commitment. Based on Javier Grillo-Marxuach’s comic book series of the same name about the one true hero staving off hordes of evil, this clever series never took itself too seriously and just focused on making its viewers smile (or maybe smirk is the better word). Unfortunately it was a bit out of place on ABC Family and pulled only mediocre ratings and its future is currently in doubt. Still, Grillo-Marxuach said that the cable network let him do the series the way he wanted and he would much rather only do twelve episodes this way than have a longer run of a series watered down by network tinkering. (See my full review of The Middleman)


The Sci Fi Channel had the only other Science Fiction and Fantasy shows running new episodes this Summer with its staples Stargate: Atlantis and Eureka. The former kicked off its fifth and last season and seemed to maintain the quality from its previous seasons from the episodes I tuned in for. However, I did hear some grumblings on some of the forums from fans that they felt the series had slipped a bit in quality. Eureka got off to a rough start, but quickly corrected course to deliver its usual witty dose of fun. Because of the writer’s strike, only eight Summer episodes of the series were completed. The good news though is that Season 3 will continue in 2009 with thirteen more episodes. Perhaps this means that Eureka will now go on the same rotation as series like Stargate: Atlantis and Battlestar Galactica and deliver twenty plus episodes per season. (See my full review of Eureka Season 3)


Admittedly this past Summer was pretty light on new programming, in part because of the writer’s strike, but the Fall Season will more than make up for that with an unprecedented twenty-plus Science Fiction and Fantasy shows, not to mention the ones waiting in the wings and the others waiting for a Spring 2009 start. So clear your schedule and get your DVRs warmed up because the Fall Season is just beginning.

-John J. Joex

Buy the Previous Seasons of the Returning Fall Science Fiction and Fantasy Shows at the Axiom's edge Webstore

DVD Review - The Silent Star

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Did science fiction film exist behind the Iron Curtain? With the opening title sequence of The Silent Star (Der Schweigende Stern, 1960) running over pitted, blue-tinted concrete one might wonder whether Khrushchev’s regime was responsible for completely stifling the Soviet sci-fi film genre. But once past the title credits The Silent Star manages both to delight and intrigue its audience with rather impressive visuals for its day, as well as offer some surprisingly interesting plot points to carry its story forward.

Adapted from Stanislaw Lem’s novel, The Astronauts (though admittedly I have not read it), the film seems to draw from its literary source in supporting some of its propositions with the speculative science of its time. Far from the utterly non-scientific contemporary Hollywood monster movies (Giant Gila Monster, 1959) and ultra-heroic adventures (Atomic Submarine, 1959), The Silent Star offers a plausible discovery of an extraterrestrial artifact in 1970 containing a partially decipherable message off a crashed spaceship from Venus (the so-called morning star). Radio contact with Venus is attempted but as the planet remains silent an intrepid crew of eight is assembled and they rocket off to learn more of that otherworld place and its people. On board the crew learns the alien message contains plans of an imminent attack on Earth from our apparently not-so-friendly neighbor. Despite not being able to contact Earth, the crew decides to continue their journey in hopes they can somehow make peace. They’re in for a big surprise.

Why Venus? In the 1950’s and early 1960’s there was as much evidence to suggest possible life on Venus as there was for there to be life on Mars. Where the West went down the wrong path on flights to and invasions from Mars (Rocketship X-M, 1950, War of the Worlds, 1953), the great Russian bear had its eyes on cloud-covered Venus (Russian science led the exploration of Venus landing Venera probes in the 1960s, and even photographed its lead-boiling oven temperature surface back then).

The Silent Star was originally screened in brilliant Agfacolor on 70mm Totalvision (a competing widescreen format to Kodak and Cinemascope); that we have a quality reproduction of a science fiction motion picture from the Soviets that’s nearly fifty years old is amazing by itself. But considering the world events happening in its day, the plot of joining nations, through representative astronauts (before the word “cosmonaut”), to travel through space and mitigate an offworld threat definitely seems to be a story ahead of its time.

In the same year when The Silent Star was released, Hollywood’s major 1960 sci-fi picture The Time Machine depicted H.G. Well’s farmed-human Eloi as all Caucasian white in contrast to the monstrous mottled subterranean Morlocks who herded and consumed them. I guess the other human races were just smarter than the Eloi?

Six years later, in 1966, Star Trek launched its series with an ethnically and sexually mixed bridge crew of the starship Enterprise that then was considered as groundbreaking as it was risky.

But here, in The Silent Star, a full half-dozen years before Star Trek, the crew of the Cosmoskrator I (a truly beautiful designed movie spaceship) consisted of a Russian mathematician, German pilot, American physicist, Japanese doctor (a woman, no less), Chinese biologist/linguist, African communications technician, Indian mathematician, and a Polish engineer.

When asked, “Why not just a team of Soviet scientists? It’s their rocket!”

Arsenyev, the Soviet Russian mission leader answered, “Landing on Venus cannot concern only one nation. We are not only internationalists in politics. In a peaceful world we don’t keep our successes to ourselves. Take Luna 3 for example, the socialist lunar station. We don’t use it as a military base. Engineers and physicists from all nations work there.”

A plug for Soviet communism? A subliminal cover of the Soviet’s true intentions in the space race? In the real world of the 50s and 60s it’s clear the Americans were publicly open about their successes and failures, whereas the Soviets kept their space programs highly secret – news of Yuri Gagarin’s orbital flight wasn’t released to the world until after its actual launch on April 12, 1961.

But politics aside, the movie is fascinating for its depiction of Venus, truly an attempt to convey a mysterious place filled with unknown and otherworld technologies. We don’t see the clunky climbing up and down of ladders, and constant slogging across the surface, our futuristic explorers have their own self-contained truck, rocket and “elasticopter” for jaunts across the terrain.

The plot stretches science a bit with its energy speculations, but that’s what sci-fi is supposed to do. In all it’s a commentary on the misuse of atomic weaponry, with numerous references of Hiroshima, with both the Japanese and American crew members having their own direct experiences linked to that event.

Though much can be accepted, given a wide margin for a film of its time, there are a few facets that might strain one’s suspension of disbelief. To be sure, the events and pacing all flow in a rather contrived manner. Of course, non-documentary film is contrived by definition (the script is written and then filmed, right?), but the continuity at times becomes rather stilted, and the build up of tension is often predictable.

The acting is better than the directing, for the most part. Perhaps the censored writing is what limited the directing to show only what was allowed by the bureau. Imagine an environment where the writers and directors are already micromanaged by the studio heads who are beholden to the political powers above them.

History shows the crew to be a little extreme. NASA sent astronauts to the moon; they didn’t send the NASA engineers and scientists along with them. On a much longer interplanetary trip to Venus (or Mars) maybe the crew would be larger. Even so, there was no hint of training for the crew, and the Cosmoskrator I carried a massive computer along with them as well as a heavy operating table and a few vehicles to boot. Weight (mass) obviously wasn’t a problem for its power plant unlike earlier rocketship movies, (The Woman in the Moon, 1929 Destination Moon, 1950, When Worlds Collide, 1951), where weight was everything and part of the plot.

One humorous challenge they face is the possibility of meteors changing course and crashing into them – what? How is it possible for a meteor to change course without some force to act on it?

But the film does have a prediction of a tracked robot down pretty well. Omega looks somewhat like the US Army’s PakBot first used in Afghanistan in 2002. He’s a bit more advanced than a simple bomb-sniffer, though. Having the ability to forecast the weather and play chess at a master’s level to rival Deep Thought.

In all, for the chance to peer behind the old Iron Curtain nearly fifty years later and watch an East German/Polish sci-fi movie at their highest production capability makes for great entertainment for we nostalgic sci-fi film buffs. Don’t compare the original version to its cut and dubbed First Spaceship on Venus release – they’re not the same.

The format is NTSC DVD (region 1), German with English subtitles.

-Marshal James Segrey

Buy The Silent Star now on DVD from the Axiom's edge Webstore

Fall Season Premieres Kick into High Gear

We have already seen five early season premieres in the last two weeks with True Blood, Fringe, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Smallville, and Supernatural. But starting on Monday, September 22nd, the Fall Season really kicks into high gear. Over the next three-plus weeks, twelve series will have their premieres including Heroes, Pushing Daisies, and Sci Fi Channel freshman Sanctuary. Following is the list of upcoming premieres:

Heroes - September 22nd
The Mentalist - September 23rd
Knight Rider - September 24th
Chuck - September 29th
Pushing Daisies - October 1st
Ghost Whisperer - October 3rd
Sanctuary - October 3rd
Star Wars: The Clone Wars - October 3rd
Life on Mars - October 9th
The Eleventh Hour - October 9th
My Own Worst Enemy - October 13th
Eli Stone - October 14th

The Legend of the Seeker and Batman: The Brave and the Bold will have late premieres in November. Check out our Fall 2008 Schedule for networks, days, and times. Also check out Johnny Jay’s Fall Season Viewing Guide and Predictions.

Weekly Update – More News of Troubles on the set of Dollhouse; Warehouse 13 Gets Picked Up; True Blood Gets 2nd Season

According to TelevisionWeek, the production halt on Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse that we mentioned here last week may be more than just a slight delay to tweak some scripts. Rumors have surfaced that FOX executives may have concerns about the basic premise of the show. They may feel that viewers will have trouble connecting with the central character, played by Eliza Dushku, because she has no free will and just does as she is told. Whedon has already shot a new pilot for the series which provides more background to set up the show’s premise. None of this bode well for the series especially if FOX executives start pressuring Whedon for more changes. Fortunately there is still time to iron out the kinks as Dollhouse will not bow until 2009. But let’s hope the finished product stays close to Whedon’s original vision . . . The Sci Fi Channel has announced that it will pick up Warehouse 13 as a weekly series to begin airing in Summer 2009. The two hour pilot for the show has been completed and will most likely air sometime this fall (no date has been announced yet). Sci Fi Channel executive Mark Stern has said that the new show will make a “perfect companion series to Eureka” (an observation we previously made on this site) . . . HBO apparently likes what it sees so far with the vampire drama True Blood as they have already given the greenlight for a second season which will begin production in 2009. While the first episode of the first season debuted to modest numbers, the second showed a 24 percent increase over the premiere . . . David S. Goyer (Threshold, The Dark Knight) and Brannon Braga (Star Trek, Threshold) are close to a deal with ABC on a new series titled Flash Forward. The series will explore the events after everyone on the planet blacks out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds during which they have visions of the future.

Sam Christopher’s Quick Hits

Television:
HBO’s True Blood: Anna Paquin trades playing Rogue for being Professor X (X-Men) in this novel adaptation of the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris. I haven’t read the books so I can’t speak to them at all. But the gist of our story on HBO is that Sookie can read minds and is in lust with a vampire she meets in the first episode. The story of the vampires being able to show their presence to the world at large due to the invention of synthetic blood which allows them to forego their predatory impulses is interesting but… I tried to like this, I really did. Watching this, this… whatever it was supposed to be really only served to make me miss Buffy. And to make me wonder why HBO didn’t just pick up Moonlight when it was cancelled. I do have HBO so I’ll watch the next few episodes to see if anything changes but I already don’t care what happens to Sookie’s brother Jason (Ryan Kwanten) and find her best friend Tara (Rutina Wesley) a grating presence at best. Not a good sign.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Lena Headey and Thomas Dekker return for another season of fighting the future as Sarah and John Connor, with the dry ice presence Summer Glau and the earnest Brian Austin Green as their time-displaced partners Cameron Phillips and Derek Reese, respectively. This season we have a new villain added to the mix as Shirley Manson has come on to play Catherine Weaver, the classic villain of all teen dramas of late: rich, powerful, ruthless, evil. Did I mention she was evil? And we all know what that says about her in the Terminator storyline. Or do we? This first episode is every bit as good as last season had led us to hope. I, like Johnny Jay, have my worries about the Weaver character in this storyline but I always figure as long as the writers keep things interesting we’ll stay interested.

Comics:
True Blood: The comic True Blood, also produced by HBO, is an evident one-shot in print and continues each week at HBO.com/TrueBlood. This was an interesting story about a centuries-old vampire we know only as Lamar and his quest to find out both the real story behind the Japanese invention and marketing of Trublood, the synthetic blood-drink that has allowed the “fanged fiends” of the True Blood-verseto “come out” and live alongside their prey as equals, and a way he can cash in on the product. Jason Badower’s artwork is serviceable—oddly, although I am no fan of his work, I kept thinking as I read this how much better the photo-realism of Alex Ross, which I hate so much on most superhero books, would have fit this book—and David Wohl’s script is fine. I have to say I found the comic far more compelling at first blush than the show.

Fringe #1: I have a strange schedule. I recorded the first episode of the teleseries Fringe but haven’t had the chance to watch it yet. I have read the accompanying comic produced by DC’s Wildstorm imprint, though. This first issue is split into two stories, the first set in the ‘70s and following a young genius Professor Walter Bishop and his younger genius student assistant William Bell attempting to induce thought transference by brain networking in mice. The second story concerns a prison inmate who wakes up and thinks he’s someone else and an astronaut who knows he is. I liked the first story better than the second, although the ending of the second was better. This is the first of a six-issue mini-series and it made me want to see what’s coming next. It did it’s work.

Epilogue #1: Written by Steven Niles, Drawn by Kyle Hotz: This first issue is an excellent beginning to what appears to be a great new series from IDW. Someone—or something—is making crime on the streets a business which only pays in the blood of the guilty. The fantastic opening scene of our story shows the first meeting between the racketeers, druglords, pimps—the assorted vicekings—and their un-human nemesis. And the story only gets better from there. While I’ve never been a fan of Niles—beyond the very first 30 Days of Night tale I’ve never been impressed—this first issue has a verve to it which overcomes his often mundane style and leads the reader to wish next month’s issue would hurry up and get here.

Marvel Apes #1: I won’t embarrass anyone by mentioning who wrote this. I subjected myself to this because of Marvel’s phenomenal Marvel Zombies series. The greatness does not cross over to the simian world. I’ve kept this first issue in case I need toilet paper or fire kindling at some later date. Simply the worst comic I’ve read in quite awhile.

Book Review - Star Trek Mirror Universe: Obsidian Alliances

Overall rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
The Mirror Scaled Serpent: 3.5
Cutting Ties: 4.5
Saturn’s Children: 5

The second in the two book series of stories set in Star Trek’s Mirror Universe, this volume gives us three more glimpses into the world beyond the mirror, a place where evil rules through twisted, darker versions of the characters we have come to know and love. Told in a time-frame roughly contemporary with each other, our storylines are inverted from the first volume. Whereas Glass Empires gave us two continuations and a parallel, this one has two parallels and a continuation.

This book begins with “The Mirror Scaled Serpent”, written by Keith R. A. Candido (many genre-verse titles from BtVS to Resident Evil to Star Trek: TNG Q&A, among many others), a ST: Voyager-centric tale. We begin with Kes held captive by the Kazon in the Delta Quadrant and weave through her “rescue” by Neelix and their ship being sent by the Caretaker to the Badlands of the Alpha Quadrant. The two become separated— an exploding ship will do that—and Neelix is found by Chakotay and his rebel crew who are running from a Cardassian warship (some things, it seems, remain consistent between the two universes, as this isn’t all that different from Chakotay’s early days in the Maquis), The Cardassians capture Kes, who becomes the focus of an “arms race” of sorts. Chakotay’s crew consists of: Seska, the Cardassian officer who sees her government’s alliance with Klingon’s as a betrayal to their people, and escaped slaves Tuvok, Kathryn Janeway, Harry Kim, and Annika Hansen. All character names mentioned above will be instantly recognizable to Voyager fans but you don’t really need that backdrop to enjoy the story. It is a classic tale in many ways, a tale of twists and turns, loyalty and betrayal. B’Elanna Torres and Tom Paris, the happy couple from Voyager, have an… interesting… relationship in the Mirror U.

The second story is “Cutting Ties” by fan-favorite Peter David (dozens of books and comics, among them St:Tng Imzadi, and Beam Me Up, Scotty, the James Doohan biography I highly recommend). This is a parallel of sorts to the ST: New Frontiers series David himself originated. It tells the story of a Xenetian named M’K’Nzy who is taken as a political prisoner by the Romulan Praetor Hiren to ensure the rebellion M’K’Nzy’s father had led would end. Nicknamed “Muck” by Hiren, the Xenexian is eventually sent to the dilithium mines of Remus where, through the machinations of circumstance and his own choice, Muck comes to be favored by a Romulan woman named Soleta and she takes him to her home as a personal slave. He has a seemingly bottomless well of rage that fascinates her. The story sees the two follow Soleta’s father, Rojan, into a trap set for Rojan by the Praetor, a trap which allows Muck to grasp at virtually unlimited power and leads to a decision he must make as to his ultimate destiny. I’ve never read any of the New Frontier novels but this story makes me want to.

And our book ender, “Saturn’s Children” by newcomer Sarah Shaw (who has apparently written across that well-traveled genre-verse under several pseudonyms), bridges the events of the ST: DS9 episode "The Emperor’s New Cloak" and the DS9 novel Warpath. In “Saturn’s Children”, the Mirror Kira Nerys, who had lost a powerful political ally when the Klingon Regent Worf was captured by rebel forces in the aforementioned episode of DS9, has been made slave to the new Klingon Regent, Martok. The story moves when Martok sends Kira to serve the woman who replaced Kira as Intendant, Ro Laren. In the course of Kira’s menial labors she happens upon some reports which, when examined closely, show a pattern leading to a conclusion she believes she can turn to her political advantage if she can only find an ally. Meanwhile, the Terran Rebellion, led by Miles “Smiley” O’Brien, is threatening to rend itself from the inside due to a power struggle between O’Brien and a faction led by Julian Bashir and the Ferengi Zek. Bashir and Zek have hatched a bold plan that could take the rebellion to new heights in its struggle with the Alliance, but O’brien believes them to be too reckless. Who is right? Which side wins? Read and find out.

Obsidian Alliances is the complete package. While the first story is a trifle formulaic and sometimes seems just an excuse to cram as many Voyager doppelgangers as possible into the same story, it is still a very enjoyable twist on those characters. The second and third tales are just excellent, old hat for the nearly always stellar David (excepting the simply awful Q Squared), an excellent introduction to newcomer Shaw. This last story, I might add, is my favorite from the two books, rivaled only in my mind by “The Sorrows of Empire” from the first volume.

-Sam Christopher

Also see Sam's review of Star Trek: Mirror Universe Part 1: Glass Empires

Buy the Star Trek: Mirror Universe books at the Axiom's edge Webstore

Weekly Update – Whedon Suspends Production on Dollhouse; Early Premieres Pull Modest Ratings; Dr. Who Movie Possible

Joss Whedon has suspended production on his upcoming series Dollhouse citing sub par scripts. The series creator has been focusing on directing the initial episodes and felt that the upcoming scripts needed work so he decided to call for the stoppage to focus more attention on the stories. The halt is only temporary and the series does not bow until early 2009, so this minor set-back should not delay its premiere . . . Three of the Fall Season Science Fiction and Fantasy entries got an early start this week but pulled only modest ratings numbers. HBO’s True Blood received a 1.4 rating for its premiere which is decent for HBO, but they probably hoped for better. On FOX, The Sarah Connor Chronicles came in second in its timeslot and pulled a 4.1 rating on Monday night. I believe that is higher than what series pulled toward the end of its first season, but its still nothing spectacular. And the heavily promoted premiere of J. J. Abrams’ Fringe delivered probably the most underwhelming numbers on Tuesday with a 5.9 rating, ceding first place in its timeslot to NBC’s America’s Got Talent. It did win the timeslot with the most coveted 18 – 49 demographic, though. I would say that if Sarah Connor and Fringe can hold on to these numbers they will be okay, but may still fall below FOX’s expectations. Any downward trend, though, could bode poorly for either show. Keep track of the ratings for all your favorite shows with our Fall Season Ratings Tracker . . . David Tennant, who is currently only contracted for five more episodes of Dr. Who, is considering returning for a fifth season if a film version of the series continues to move forward. The BBC is currently seeking funding for the film and series producer Russell T. Davies has said that he would like Catherine Zeta Jones to play the Doctor’s companion . . . With all the success superhero movies have seen on the big screen lately, it probably only makes sense that the 1980’s series The Greatest American Hero will get its chance as well. Series creator Stephen J. Cannell has confirmed that a script has been completed and a director assigned to the project. He has also said that original series stars William Katt, Robert Culp, and Connie Sellecca will make appearances in the movie in some capacity.

Book Review - Star Trek: Mirror Universe Part 1: Glass Empires

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
Age of Empress: 3.5
Sorrows of Empire: 4
The Worst of Both Worlds: 2

The first of a two book set of stories set in the alternate universe introduced in the Star Trek Original Series episode, "Mirror, Mirror"-- in which Kirk, Uhura, McCoy, and Scotty are transposed with their doubles from an alternate universe where evil is ascendant and the Federation is a merciless Terran Empire—this book gives us three tales of people and places familiar but… not. Told in chronological order, the first two stories in this volume pick up directly from events depicted in two of Trek’s various teleseries, giving the reader “the rest of the story”, so to speak. The third is a parallel, a Trek tale from The Next Generation told from the mirror side.

The first tale, "Age of the Empress", written by Dayton Ward (A Time to Sow, The Genesis Protocol) and Kevin Dilmore (A Time to Sow, Star Trek SCE: Foundations) from a treatment by Mike Sussman (writer of various Star Trek teleplays, including "In a Mirror, Darkly" from Enterprise), is a continuation of the ST: Enterprise two-parter "In a Mirror, Darkly". Newly crowned Empress Hoshi Sato consolidates her power by making the loyal Travis Mayweather captain of the captured ship from the future, USS Defiant, and entering into a political marriage with Genereal Shran of Andoria. Mirror U versions of T’Pau and Dr. Arik Soong are important players to the story as Sato loses her empire through her sly husband’s machinations and must make heretofore unthinkable alliances and compromises in order to regain it. These moves will set the stage for the Empire we see in "Mirror, Mirror", which leads us to the second story…

"Sorrows of Empire", written by David Mack (Star Trek: Destiny, ST: SCE: Creative Couplings), picks up the story of Spock’s rise to power after the events in the seminal "Mirror, Mirror". We see him first taking the captaincy of the ISS Enterprise from the Mirror Kirk through assassination, then watch as he accumulates power and influence until he rises to become emperor. We then follow his ambitious plan to both precipitate the fall of the Terran Empire and, in so doing, sow the seeds for its later return to prominence, hopefully with a better, more peaceful vision of its own future. Dr. Carol Marcus, Saavik and Valeris all make appearances.

Finally, we have "The Worst of Both Worlds" by Greg Cox (many works in various genre-verses, such as Alias, CSI, Underworld, Star Trek), in which we meet the canon-acceptable Mirror U Jean-Luc Picard (the novel Dark Mirror by Diane Duane showed a Mirror version of TNG in which the Enterprise-D was intact and part of a still functioning Terran Empire). This Picard is an archaeologist/thief in the mold of TNG guest character Vash, whose Mirror version we also meet and find she isn’t much different from “our” Vash. Picard works for Gul Madred of the Cardassian/Klingon Alliance that overthrew the Terran Empire and rules the Alpha Quadrant of this time period. As the title of the story suggests, Picard finds the Mirror U version of the Borg in this story.

Glass Empires is two-thirds of an excellent book for Trek-fans, as well as anyone else who enjoys well-written sf. The first two stories give us excellent background as well as being great stand-alone stories in their own right, with the first ending in a mini cliffhanger, making the reader want to see another installment. The third story is good, but just doesn’t rise to the level of the first two. While Cox does a good job of placing the reader in the story, and Picard is a well-fleshed out character, the rest of the people in the story just don’t seem “real”. Worse, the Borg are no different from the Borg we have seen and Picard’s solution to their attack is simply ridiculous. I think we would have been better served to have seen a Mirror U version of "The Inner Light", or "The Nth Degree", or even "Clues".

The second book in this set, Obsidian Alliances, will be the subject of an upcoming review. Stay tuned…

-Sam Christopher

Also see Sam's review of Star Trek: Mirror Universe: Obsidian Alliances

Buy Star Trek: Mirror Universe Part 1: Glass Empires now from the Axiom's edge Webstore

First Thoughts on Week 1 of the Fall Season

True Blood (HBO Sundays 9 PM) – DirecTV had a free preview of HBO this weekend so I had the opportunity to tune in for the premiere of their new vampire series. I liked it for the most part, though it was a bit uneven at times. Still, more than anything else, it made me realize how much I missed Moonlight. When two rather pathetic druggies managed to easily incapacitate Alexander Skarsgard’s vampire character, it just made me long for the days when Mick St. John would kick butt on anybody who messed with him. The first episode of True Blood was rather slow paced and dense, but I would say it shows some promise, and I can see it developing into a keeper. Still, it didn’t to convince me to shell out the money for HBO so that I could tune in on a weekly basis.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (FOX Mondays 8 PM) – Believe it or not, the second season premiere raised the intensity from the already heightened level of season one, starting off with a driving (and excellent) song sung by new cast member Shirley Manson of Garbage as one surprise after the next unfolds onscreen. I worry that this series risks burn out because of its high intensity level (a driving factor, I believe, in Battlestar Galactica’s declining ratings). Also, I felt that Manson’s vampy performance as the show’s new villain seemed a bit out of place with the general tone of the series. Still, I’m hooked and the pilot delivered plenty of promise for the upcoming season.

Fringe (FOX Mondays 9 PM) – I have to admit that I was a bit underwhelmed by the pilot. While it had some really interesting and engaging parts, it also had too many contrived and familiar elements (agent tries desperately to save her true love who is at death’s bed, agent is at odds with the lead investigator who she has a history with, distant father/estranged son relationship, car chases, rooftop chases, etc.). Still this is not an uncommon misstep for series pilots. They have to cram a lot into a short time span to set up the premise, and I can think of a few other notable series that overcame weak introductory episodes (X-Files, Babylon 5, and Jeremiah to name a few). Also, I felt like there was a lack of chemistry between the lead actors early on during the premiere, but they finally started to gel before it wrapped up. And I do admit that by the end I was hooked and definitely plan to tune in for the upcoming weeks.

Stay tuned for our full reviews on these and other Fall shows in the upcoming weeks.

-John J. Joex

Johnny Jay’s Fall Season Viewing Guide and Predictions

Science Fiction and Fantasy viewing for the Fall Season got an early start on Sunday, September 7th with the premiere of HBO's vampire series True Blood and followed shortly after by The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Fringe. Currently there are twenty new and returning genre series on the schedule this Fall (that's if you include such marginal entries as The Mentalist, The Eleventh Hour, and Eli Stone) with three waiting in the wings and another seven series scheduled to bow in Spring (including Lost and Battlestar Galactica). Along with that, there are four series pilots set to air sometime this Fall which could carry over into weekly episodes shortly after. All in all, that's a pretty serious commitment if you plan on catching all of the Science Fiction and Fantasy offerings each week (that just might burn out your DVR).

Help sort it all out with Johnny Jay's Viewing Guide and Predictions and the Axiom's edge Fall Preview Site.

Get caught up on your favorite returning shows. Buy the DVDs with last season's episodes at the Axiom's edge Webstore.

Comic Book Review: Ambush Bug Year None

Five Issue Mini-Series
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars (Highest Rating)

Issue #1 “Hey, You Sank my Battle Ax!”
In which we find the answers to the burning questions: Who raided the icebox in the Justice League’s satellite headquarters? Who, completely by accident, precipitated the catastrophic events of the Identity Crisis miniseries? And whatever happened to the master villain, Argh!Ylle!!?

Plotted and drawn by character creator Keith Giffen (Justice League International, Reign in Hell) with Robert Loren Fleming (Ambush Bug, Valor) handling the dialogue, this first issue is a wacky harbinger of things to come in this new series. Ambush Bug (Irwin Schwab… well, maybe—it’s complicated) returns and proves again that his only true superpowers are teleportation and being deliriously funny, also bringing along his “youthful ward”, Cheeks the Toy Wonder. The mystery begins with the murder of DC’s “continuity cop”, Jonni DC, and leads through an array of backups and forgotten characters from DC’s past. Ace the Bathound, Sugar of Sugar and Spike fame, and ‘Mazing Man-- who explains why we didn’t see Spike-- all are interviewed, along with others, by our detective and each offers a clue that keeps the story going and usually elicits laughter from the reader. Ambush Bug, the comics character who knows he’s fictional, first complains that his thought balloons are “blue and rectangular” when they “used to be all white and fluffy”, then later wonders where the omniscient narrator (the Fourth World’s Sourcewall) came from since no one in today’s comics uses the device. And then we have the shocking revelation about The Phantom Stranger and the over-arching mystery of Go-Go Chex.

Issue #2 “Five Million Elvis Impersonators can’t be Wrong!”
In which we learn that precipitating catastrophic events, even through innocent stupidity, can lead to memory loss.
The Sourcewall starts us off, explaining Ambush Bug’s last meeting with the JLA as a lead-in to our hero’s trek to Nanda Parbat, home of Deadman deity, Rama Kushna. AB has forgotten how to teleport and RK, we find, has resigned Her position in “The Heavenly Host”, having decided She’d rather be Groucho Marx (complete with Groucho Nose-and-Glasses). That’s the first four pages. In the course of this ish, Cheeks becomes an Omac and AB is whisked away to planet Savoth to rescue them from the Mauve Lantern and his master, Mr. Nebula, the latter appearing to be a metro-sexual genie-in-the-bottle version of Marvel’s Galactus. There is more: sight gags, a Blue Beetle appearance, a Jack Kirby’s Omac appearance, and we get to “meet” the one person truly responsible for this mess, series editor Jann Jones, who fought for the resurrection of the Ambush Bug character.

The upshot? Giffen’s Ambush Bug Year None is a funny, irreverent romp through the DC Universe. It is a story which has thus far sat very well with earlier mini-series of the character and I look for it to add to Giffen’s reputation as both writer and artist. More, with the current trend to ever more serious, ever darker storylines in comics—usually, we’re told, in the interest of garnering a more “sophisticated” audience—an Ambush Bug can be a buffer for those of us who also enjoy a good laugh on occasion told in an adult manner. With Final Crisis, subtitled “The Day Evil Won”, and everything leading up to it, as with Marvel’s Civil War and current Secret Invasion storylines, I believe it is essential for us as readers to have something to step back to, something which we don’t have to buy ten different titles to understand, or even the next issue of this title. And I also believe there is a positive value in a comic book that reminds us it is just a comic book, and that our lives will go on even if it doesn’t.

-Sam Christopher

Weekly Update – Fall Season gets early start; Two NBC shows will bow on the web

The 2008 Fall Season will get an early start next week with the debut of two new and one returning Science Fiction and Fantasy series. On HBO, the vampire series True Blood premieres at 9 PM EST on Sunday, September 7th. On FOX, The Sarah Connor Chronicles returns at 8 PM on Monday, September 8th, and one of the most anticipated new shows of the season, Fringe, bows with a two hour premier at 9 PM on Tuesday, September 9th. Read our full coverage of these and other shows at our Fall Preview site . . . Two NBC series will get an early debut on the internet at the Hulu.com site. The Knight Rider premiere will be available for viewing on the site starting September 17th, and first episode of Chuck’s second season will be available starting September 22nd. Each of the web premieres occurs one week prior to shows’ television debut . . . The Sci Fi Channel has claimed that rumors of a delay on the second half of Season 4 of Battlestar Galactica are false. Several websites have claimed that the series would not return until later in 2009, but Sci Fi has confirmed that the final ten episodes will begin airing in January 2009.