TV – Movies

AVATAR and Midworld

I just watched Avatar for the first time today and thought it was a good movie. However, as I watched it I immediately began to see similarities to Alan Dean Foster’s classic Midworld. So many similarities in fact that I was surprised there was no mention of Midworld as an inspiration for this movie. Sure the plots are not the same, but the environment and parts of the story are way too similar for this to be a coincidence. A quick Google search confirmed my feelings as I found several sites saying the same thing (and including Poul Anderson’s “Call Me Joe” as another inspiration). At the blog site Preserving Privacy, Sanity and the Individual, I read comments by people saying the movie was a total ripoff, the movie was nothing like Midworld, and opinions in between. There are some good arguments outlining the similarities between the movie and the book so I won’t repeat them here, but I do agree with the sentiments of some of the comments which say Cameron should acknowledge that he drew inspiration for Avatar from these two classic sci-fi stories.

Heroes – Season 4

I was a big fan of Heroes after watching Season 1 and stayed interested into Season 2, but after Season 3 I didn’t know what else they could do with the characters after exploring much of the back story of the company and the Petrellis. The ending of Season 3 left Nathan as someone to watch, but after Sylar came back so many times, you kind of new what was going to happen. So they added the Sullivan Brothers Carnival, some new specials, and connected it to some of the existing characters. I just finished watching Season 4 on Netflix (the best way to watch it – no commercials), and I was satisfied with the way they wrapped things up.

**Spoilers ahead**

Unlike Alias, which definitely should have ended after Season 4 (Season 5 was pretty so-so, with Jennifer Garner out of action for half of the season because she was pregnant), Tim Kring and co. made the right choice to end things while people were still into the show. Season 4 of Heroes had a lot of good cameos by characters who had appeared in previous seasons. The season left some unanswered questions like what happened to the invisible girl whose father Noah killed? Also, we didn’t get an end shot of what the heroes did after the battle at the carnival. Claire stirred things up with her on camera actions, but we can assume Hiro  and Ando went back to Japan where Ando married Kimiko; Noah and Lauren probably stayed together; Matt seemed content to be a stay at home dad; Peter and Emma may have gotten together; and Claire and Gretchen may have stayed together as well. I guess Tracy decided not to go to the carnival and go back to what she was doing since she was pretty dressed up when Lauren called for help. But Sylar, who is now a hero, who knows if he stays good or not. And what happened to the carnival people? Also, hopefully Suresh and his wife(?) made up (his presence was pretty contrived in this season – he watches a film from 1961, somehow builds a compass to the carnival, which hadn’t started yet, goes looking for Samuel, then gets killed for doing it (also Joseph gets killed as a result of Suresh’s visit, although Suresh is saved later by Hiro). It kind of reminds me of Matt’s role after Sylar left his brain – not much of a purpose left in the show except to trap Sylar so he and Peter can be friends. And how did Matt get cleared of being in police custody after getting shot outside of the diner in Texas? Maybe he changed some minds about prosecuting him.

All in all, it was a nice way to wrap things up for the show. Better to go out on top then keep going and killing your fan base with crappy writing just to make more money like so many shows have done.

firefly and Serenity

I just finished watching this show and movie on Netflix and was amazed that only 14 episodes of this show were ever made. This is some of the best science fiction I have ever watched! Great chracters, great stories that make sense, good effects that don’t get in the way, and plenty of mystery to keep things interesting.

The show revolves around a man who fought in a war against an evil empire (the Alliance) which wanted to control the new system that humankind has gone to after Earth could no longer sustain humans. The man, Malcolm Reynolds, bought a small transport ship, and with the help of a fellow soldier (Zoe), her husband Wash (the pilot), Kaylee (the engineer), and Jayne (the muscle), the crew does jobs for whoever pays them. They took on a preacher (Book) in the first episode, as well as Simon (a doctor) and River (his sister, a genius who the Alliance has experimented on). The setting of stable inner worlds with backwater, dangerous outer planets plus the six shooters that are often used give the show a great western feel to it. Their is so much untapped potential here; it is too bad Fox didn’t give this show the chance that it deserved. I am shocked the Sci-Fi channel never picked it up, although it is owned by Universal now (Universal produced Serenity).

I definitely recommend watching firefly first them the movie Serenity. Serenity takes place shortly after the show ends and things are much clearer if you’ve already enjoyed these characters in the TV series. Joss Whedon did a great job wrapping things up in the movie, but I wonder if he didn’t have a different direction originally planned for River. There were also some mysteries about the preacher that never came to light, but I still enjoyed the movie very much.

You can watch the show instantly from Netflix or get the DVDs. Highly recommended.