BBC America got off to a fine start when they created their very first original series with Copper, and it looks like they are upping the ante with Orphan Black. A chance encounter of an apparent pair of twins separated at birth begins to look more like a cloning experiment run amok in fairly short order. This one will be rolling out in March, I have no intention of missing it.
In movies, Atlas Shrugged: Part II is the concluding part of the epic Ayn Rand story. I missed this one in the theaters, so I am looking forward to watch both parts back to back. With The Complete Adventures of Flash Gordon the three original Flash Gordon serials are being released in a single package. Originally released in 1936, 1938, and 1940, they starred Buster Crabbe as Flash. I already have all 3 serials bought separately, but I am tempted to pick up this package for the included original comic strips and cartoons from the 1930s.
Game of Thrones: The Complete Second Season is out this week, and it is every bit as adventurous, sexy, and violent as the first season. It also grew the characters well, which I didn’t realize was happening until I noticed who I was rooting for kept changing. Also this week, Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome takes place in the middle of the First Cylon War, with a young Adama piloting a fighter and coming to the Galactica for the first time.
Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee comes out with the second half of season one. This series has heavily armed letter carriers combating giant insects and rival organizations, as well as the occasional mad scientist. It takes place in a land of perpetual twilight, with a unique and beautiful art style that reminds me of certain tarot decks. The manga it comes from is also beautifully drawn. Also new, Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts is an OVA special collection of only two episodes. Finally, Tiger & Bunny Set 1 brings the first 12 episodes of the first story, which totals 25 episodes in all. Giant Robot pilot/heroes with sponsors logos painted on their metal hides, it brings an interesting view of how the future might be.
This trailer looks pretty good for the new movie The Host. Yes, this is from the same author who inflicted Twilight on the world, but this one could be worth watching. It will be on the big screen on the 29th of March.
While I would love to share the trailer for the next live episode of Primeval New World, episode #7 or #11, depending on where you live I believe, it is not available in the US yet, so that’s not an option. What I can share is some compiled footage put together for/by Miranda Frigon, who’s character is central to the story so far. As is appropriate to a story about time travel, I do not believe these outtakes are anything like in correct temporal sequence, but at least they give us a teaser into the worldview of this story.
There are actually two release dates this week, and they both have some serious winners. On Valentines Day we get the box office monster A Good Day to Die Hard, because I am sure some movie executive somewhere said to themselves “Yeah, that is such a romantic chick flick, but there are 2 other films worth noting. The romantic fantasy Beautiful Creatures (based on the book of the same name) takes place in a small southern town where a newly met couple must uncover some very dark supernatural secrets. Unfortunately, Love & Teleportation is in such limited release that you have to be attending the Boston Science Fiction Film Festival if you want to see it.
When we get to Friday proper, Escape from Planet Earth brings all the animated silliness anyone could wish for. Meanwhile, The Power of Few runs multiple story lines in parallel, and one of them involves the Shroud of Turin being stolen so someone can clone Jesus. All in all, quite a good weekend for movies.
Most of us never get picked for astronaut training (in fact a few like me never get picked to play on a team of any kind), but for those who don’t, astronaut Jerry Carr got together with TED and produced this great little animation on the topic. This will introduce you to some of the details that NASA usually doesn’t mention, like the fact that being an Astronaut is something you only get to do after doing a whole lot of support stuff in the background, to help the current astronauts get their job done. I do love the excellent job that Sharon Colman did on the animation; it is classic 50s Disney line drawings, just like they did for the whole Mission to Mars program and all the other wonderful Disney space shows they did over the years.