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Oddly one of the little things that bothered me was the way he completely over-played the setting and effects in the moon runes sequence. I don't know why but that is the thing that keeps niggling at me.]]> Sunday, December 23, 2012 05:26 PM
I guess it was a little weird to do the moon runes sequence at a crystal plinth on a cliffside by a waterfall - it could have just happened in Elrond's living room or whatever - but that didn't really bother me very much.]]> Sunday, December 23, 2012 05:40 PM Tuesday, July 17, 2012 10:18 PM Wednesday, July 18, 2012 02:40 PM Monday, June 11, 2012 10:53 AM Sunday, June 10, 2012 08:07 PM
I feel like he has to show up again, as a harbinger of that future possibly coming true again, if for no other purpose.]]> Monday, May 16, 2011 08:49 AM Saturday, May 14, 2011 10:28 PM Thursday, April 28, 2011 09:16 AM Wednesday, April 27, 2011 09:33 PM Friday, April 15, 2011 10:57 AM Monday, March 21, 2011 09:15 AM Saturday, March 19, 2011 06:56 PM Monday, December 13, 2010 01:22 PM Monday, December 13, 2010 11:52 AM Monday, October 18, 2010 10:49 AM Monday, October 11, 2010 04:31 PM Tuesday, October 12, 2010 01:18 PM Monday, September 13, 2010 03:19 PM Monday, September 13, 2010 03:50 PM Monday, September 13, 2010 04:34 PM Friday, August 20, 2010 02:15 PM "We saw The Expendables yesterday"
"How was it?"
"I laughed all the way through it"
"It's a comedy?"
"Not intentionally"
]]> Friday, August 20, 2010 06:58 AM Friday, August 20, 2010 09:39 AM Tuesday, July 27, 2010 09:57 PM
But yeah, one does get the feeling sometimes that Miyazaki isn't very interested in endings. The ending of Howl's Moving Castle is so abrupt it's ridiculous. All the conflicts are suddenly resolved and the credits pop up almost before the last scene is over.]]> Wednesday, July 28, 2010 08:33 AM
The lab geek (Brandon) did know about parallel universes.
There is a diff. in how Bell, Walter and Newton crossed over. It has been explained properly.

]]> Monday, May 17, 2010 12:04 PM Monday, May 17, 2010 12:08 PM
And okay, there's a difference between the way different people have crossed over, but why are there so many different ways to cross over, and how are they different? It seems like every time somebody does it, it's different. I don't think that's been very well explained.

@joe: Yeah, that's what bothered me. It's not like they haven't had time to build up to this. It's all they've been doing all season! But for some reason they never took the time in previous episodes to build up this stuff. If there'd been even one scene in a previous episode in the basement of Massive Dynamic where they showed lab techs waking up the other Cortexiphan subjects, I would have been more willing to swallow that whole subplot.]]> Monday, May 17, 2010 12:22 PM Monday, April 26, 2010 03:52 PM
You are exactly right...sure it's kind of silly what they are able to do. (But maybe did you think it's just because they are so bad ass??) But once you can get past that stuff, the stories are always interesting and inventive, and the character development is probably the best there ever was for a police procedural type show. I feel like I know all of these people.]]> Thursday, March 25, 2010 09:52 AM Thursday, March 25, 2010 11:49 AM Thursday, March 11, 2010 08:00 AM Wednesday, March 10, 2010 03:54 PM Thursday, February 18, 2010 02:01 PM Thursday, February 18, 2010 03:41 PM Sunday, January 31, 2010 04:13 PM Sunday, January 31, 2010 09:31 PM
I think what the show probably needed to do was either have a strong through-line that can tie in the major characters (a la "33") or focus on a few of the characters (like the Adamas, or the Graystones) and really establish that dynamic for the audience (a la any number of Lost episodes). As it was, I felt like there were a lot of interesting parts to the episode, but I never really got a handle for what these different parts of the world were like.

(Graystone's a good example of that; it would be nice to have an episode that established the guy's worldview and where he's coming from, because you're right that he seems to have two sharply different sides to him, and it's not clear where the boundaries are there.)

The one aspect of the show that I'm really into right now is the Tauron mafia stuff; it's more familiar than the combination of grief and mad science or the heady AI stuff, and I thought that the scenes between little Bill Adama and his uncle really sold their relationship pretty well. I don't know about the child actor, but the potential pull between Joseph Adama and his brother with Bill in the middle is something that I'd like to see more of.]]> Sunday, January 31, 2010 02:15 PM Sunday, January 31, 2010 03:49 PM Wednesday, January 27, 2010 01:45 PM Wednesday, January 27, 2010 12:16 PM for Fringe. Like, it was X-Files plausible.]]> Wednesday, January 27, 2010 12:17 PM Fringe.]]> Wednesday, January 27, 2010 12:28 PM Tuesday, January 26, 2010 10:50 PM Wednesday, January 27, 2010 08:41 AM Tuesday, January 26, 2010 07:59 PM
I'm not sure what you mean by Fido. I just know that Peter Jackson produced this film, and I believe the director, Neill Blomkamp, is sort of his protege.]]> Tuesday, January 26, 2010 09:10 PM Tuesday, December 22, 2009 02:45 PM Tuesday, December 22, 2009 02:50 PM Monday, December 7, 2009 09:44 PM Friday, December 4, 2009 04:28 PM Ninja III: The Domination, but I'm definitely looking forward to this.]]> Wednesday, November 25, 2009 11:55 AM
Yeah, I'm not sure I've ever been to Suburban Station, but that did look surprisingly clean and bright...]]> Saturday, October 10, 2009 11:41 AM
BTW, I was catching up on last week's episode as well, and it seemed to me that if I were an unassuming and enigmatic mystical healer, it would be very hard to resist the urge to get my patients to do shit for me under the guise of healing. ("You must do my laundry. And then fold it. Only THEN will you understand the fullness of things.")

Also, the eeriest thing about season two is the scene in "Suburban Station" that looks absolutely nothing like the real Suburban Station.]]> Saturday, October 10, 2009 12:51 AM
I LOVED the ending to the series. I was so impressed how along the way they kept bringing people back and referencing things that had happened before. The Fire-Island Players was the perfect capstone to that. :)

I talked to Neil right after I saw the end and said that I was so amazed a "kid's series" had dealt with such a 'big' issue at the end. He asked what I meant and I said the final question of the series was: "If you don't believe in killing, in violence — what do you do when it seems it's become necessary to kill/harm to save what you love?" He kind of blinked at that and said — "Yeah, that's kind of big."

I think they kind of skipped out on actually trying to ANSWER it, but hey — it's a kid's series. :)

I didn't think too much about Zuko's "missing" mother at the end. It might have been a lie, really, or not. I didn't think the series suffered for not answering it.

Glad you ended up liking it as much as I did. :)

-d-]]> Monday, October 5, 2009 04:41 PM
But yes, it was very smart and really quite complex and powerful for a kids' cartoon, and I really, really enjoyed it.]]> Monday, October 5, 2009 06:51 PM Monday, October 5, 2009 09:40 PM Thursday, October 1, 2009 10:06 PM Saturday, September 26, 2009 04:09 PM Friday, September 18, 2009 06:11 AM Thursday, September 17, 2009 11:14 PM
p.s. I few days ago I wrote a long comment on your "Random Thoughts" post with my thoughts on each of the bullet points. After completing it I hit "preview" instead of "speak"...it wouldn't let me get any further to go ahead and actually post it and it got lost. I forget exactly what I wrote but I'm sure it was full of gems of wisdom. ]]> Friday, August 21, 2009 10:19 AM Friday, August 21, 2009 10:22 AM Friday, August 21, 2009 10:29 AM Friday, August 21, 2009 10:35 AM Monday, August 3, 2009 04:56 PM Monday, August 3, 2009 08:27 PM
:)

I just watched the ending of Season 3 recently and I can tell you the darn thing is Good To the Last Episode — unlike some recent things I've seen BSG!.

The last set of stories present a really interesting question to the characters — very grown-up stuff, really. I was telling Neil about it and he was surprised stuff like that was showing up in a "kid's show".

All in all I was incredibly impressed with Avatar. :) I can't wait to hear what you think of it when it's over.

-d-]]> Wednesday, August 5, 2009 11:02 AM
In other news, it's good to hear from you! Seems like it's been forever. We should get together again soon!]]> Wednesday, August 5, 2009 12:41 PM Friday, July 17, 2009 09:25 AM ]]> Thursday, July 16, 2009 10:05 PM Monday, June 29, 2009 04:02 PM Tuesday, June 30, 2009 11:25 AM Monday, May 11, 2009 11:06 PM Monday, May 11, 2009 11:41 PM Tuesday, May 12, 2009 01:25 AM Tuesday, May 12, 2009 01:32 PM
I was also caught unawares that Dr. Saunders was actually Whiskey! Crazytown! And, didn't see it coming that Ballard chose to let Mellie/November go early; even when he was with "Mellie" he was too focused on Caroline to really enjoy "Mellie."

Hmm. I wonder how they'd recycle Victor? Perhaps as a handler? Or maybe DeWitt would want the lonelyhearts profile resurrected? And, are there other prisoners acting as Dolls? If so, they better send those dolls to the attic; Alpha's underlying craziness aggravated by the whole composite effect & some dolls (Victor, Sierra, Echo, & that other dude) needing "closure" for the remnants of their original selves should reinforce for the Dollhouse staff that the Ballard's notion of "soul" never really leaves completely. If they don't purge the potentially dangerous dolls, they're going to wind up with an army of Alphas.]]> Tuesday, May 12, 2009 08:58 AM
V: I was wondering about what would happen to Victor now, too. It was heartbreaking to see him so unhappy about no longer being his best. They should probably make him an active devoted entirely to helping Ballard hunt down Alpha.

Also, good point: they definitely need to do some serious background checking when bringing in new actives!]]> Tuesday, May 12, 2009 09:30 AM Tuesday, May 12, 2009 10:20 AM
BTW, isn't it interesting that it was Whiskey's idea to give the actives closure in "Needs"? Makes me think that she probably understood instinctively that she needed closure as well.]]> Tuesday, May 12, 2009 10:46 AM
Anyway, I'd bet that they wrote the season finale as if it were a series finale, just in case it didn't get picked up again. I bet they'll resolve all the immediate conflict & set the stage for a return to "normalcy" within the LA Dollhouse, which would serve equally well for a second season (new chaos! new drama!) or an end.]]> Monday, May 4, 2009 05:01 PM Monday, May 4, 2009 10:20 AM
I love Alan Tudyk. I'm so pleased he's back on TV being crazy. For at least two episodes of a show, anyway.]]> Monday, May 4, 2009 11:02 AM Monday, May 4, 2009 11:05 AM
Here's hoping the show somehow gets renewed and we get to see that second season!]]> Tuesday, May 5, 2009 09:03 AM Saturday, April 25, 2009 12:11 PM
Also I think they should explore more the possibility of life after death at the Dollhouse. Boyd may not like it, but a _lot_ of clients would, and Rossum would have a hard time saying no.]]> Tuesday, April 28, 2009 01:30 PM Tuesday, April 28, 2009 02:36 PM Friday, April 17, 2009 07:01 AM Friday, April 17, 2009 08:52 AM
ST: Hmm... you could be right. Good point.]]> Thursday, April 16, 2009 08:57 PM Thursday, April 16, 2009 10:06 AM Thursday, April 16, 2009 10:53 AM Thursday, April 16, 2009 10:11 AM Thursday, April 16, 2009 12:07 AM Woman: "Good morning. We're having banana pancakes for breakfast today."
Doll: "I like pancakes."
Victor: "We're all gonna die."

That's probably my favorite exchange in Dollhouse so far.]]> Wednesday, April 15, 2009 09:53 PM
Hurry up!! :P~]]> Tuesday, April 14, 2009 01:45 PM Wednesday, April 15, 2009 11:52 AM Wednesday, April 15, 2009 12:02 PM
But I like the Ellyn-Sol thing; I think it was the separation that originally put all the strain on their relationship. As you said, putting them together only means they claw at each other - and not just in a sexual way - but that's the way they are. They're dysfunctional.]]> Friday, April 3, 2009 03:31 PM Saturday, April 4, 2009 03:40 PM
I think DeWitt's duplicitous.

Also, I'm still loving this show.]]> Tuesday, March 24, 2009 01:24 PM
But yeah, I still don't quite follow why they're keeping Ballard alive. Maybe it will make more sense in time.]]> Tuesday, March 24, 2009 01:59 PM
That drunken Irish lawyer guy's been on a lot of stuff recently; he was also leader of a group of bank robbers in an episode of Burn Notice, and a whole bunch of episodes of Leverage, and an episode of NCIS.

And I think that Echo's personality actually was tampered with like she says to Ballard. (Specifically, I think it's Topher's intern, the Asian lady with the line, "I live to serve lunch.") I read an interview with Joss Whedon recently, and while he didn't speak directly to this point, he did say that the premise would theoretically allow them to pull the rug out of the audience pretty much constantly, and that they wanted to keep that to a minimum to keep the audience from becoming frustrated and allow them to take a lot of things on face value.]]> Tuesday, March 24, 2009 08:18 AM
I also suspected Topher's intern of being the one who did the tampering, if tampering was done.

That's interesting about Joss' comments. Hmm...]]> Tuesday, March 24, 2009 09:10 AM
http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/telefile/2009/03/whedon-need-no-stinkin-dollhou.php]]> Tuesday, March 24, 2009 09:49 AM Tuesday, March 24, 2009 09:57 AM Tuesday, March 24, 2009 11:27 AM Monday, March 16, 2009 08:40 AM Monday, March 16, 2009 10:08 AM Monday, March 16, 2009 11:48 AM Sunday, March 15, 2009 09:21 PM
Never occurred to me that Ballard's neighbor might be an active. Clever idea!]]> Thursday, March 12, 2009 03:16 PM Buffy, and it's not Firefly.

And thanks, but I'd actually be slightly disappointed if my idea turned out to be true. We'd have to start wondering who isn't an active!]]> Thursday, March 12, 2009 06:37 PM
I like how the space ship was reminiscent of the ships that worked the Skynet camps in the future. very surreal. ]]> Saturday, February 21, 2009 01:44 PM
I was also noticing how the spaceship looks like sort of a primitive hunter-killer! It always pleases me when I see the people who make this show taking the time to be true to the continuity like that.]]> Saturday, February 21, 2009 03:21 PM Terminator! I really hope the show can stay alive somehow, because it's so excellent.]]> Saturday, February 21, 2009 03:24 PM Saturday, February 21, 2009 08:11 PM Saturday, February 21, 2009 01:01 PM
In any case, well spotted!]]> Saturday, February 21, 2009 01:05 PM Saturday, February 21, 2009 01:38 PM Saturday, February 21, 2009 03:22 PM Saturday, February 21, 2009 11:50 AM
One thing I disagree with you on: I don't think the Beldam is a demon. If you spell it "Belle Dame" it might give you a better clue of who/what she might really be... :)

Thanks for the review!

-d-]]> Monday, February 23, 2009 09:38 AM
You're totally right about Wybie, btw. I saw a behind-the-scenes video wherein it was explained that he was added to give Coraline someone to say all the things she had just thought about in the book.]]> Monday, February 23, 2009 10:53 AM
2) Oh, wow. Yeah, I can definitely see that happening.]]> Saturday, February 14, 2009 03:33 PM
2) Val and I agree that they've got to eventually do the episode where the client wants to spend a few days with the personalities of his dead wife (or son, or husband, or whatever), and Echo takes on that personality.]]> Saturday, February 14, 2009 12:28 PM
Wow...not even death can get them away from each other. THAT'S hell.]]> Tuesday, January 20, 2009 04:17 PM Hancock, oddly enough.]]> Wednesday, January 21, 2009 08:21 AM A Chorus of Stones has a brilliant assessment of Himmler that is just as discomfiting, and just as important in thinking about the Nazis.

That being said, don't know that I could watch a whole two hours of Nazis, even if they were in tutus doing the can-can pre-Holocaust.]]> Tuesday, January 13, 2009 11:13 AM Tuesday, January 13, 2009 11:26 AM Thursday, December 18, 2008 10:32 PM Friday, December 12, 2008 01:48 PM
I'm 3/4 of the way through Season 2 (there are 2 1/2 seasons — the third is only like 10 episodes) and it just gets better and better. Incredible writing for a "kid's" show, really. :)

I'll be curious to see what you think of it as it goes on.

-d-]]> Thursday, December 11, 2008 08:52 PM But Mom is so exhausted she keeps nodding off and the daughter has to wake her up (which is kind of weird. Is she high or what?).

Yeah, this is not uncommon in our house. Four years of not sleeping through the night, and I regularly nod off anytime I sit down for more than five minutes. So, no, it's not weird, and she is probably not high.

And now I am going to become one of "those" parents and tell my friend with a fair amount of glee- just wait and see when you have kids:)
]]> Saturday, November 22, 2008 10:52 PM Sunday, November 23, 2008 09:27 AM Tuesday, September 23, 2008 12:47 PM Monday, September 15, 2008 02:56 PM Monday, September 15, 2008 10:44 AM Kung Fu Panda as well; my experience in trying to sell others on it is that generally people have not really paid attention to the previews or reviews and thus tend to be skeptical of the "cartoon animals use kung fu to boost their self-esteem" movie even though it's really good.]]> Monday, June 16, 2008 02:37 PM Tuesday, June 17, 2008 08:19 PM Thursday, May 29, 2008 02:41 PM Thursday, May 29, 2008 07:03 PM Friday, May 9, 2008 01:06 PM Thursday, May 8, 2008 03:17 PM Friday, April 4, 2008 09:48 AM Tuesday, January 29, 2008 11:03 AM The Road is the one they're turning into a movie with Viggo Mortensen in it.]]> Tuesday, January 29, 2008 03:10 PM Now I need to see this movie, since it'll probably win Best Pic.]]> Tuesday, January 29, 2008 11:06 AM Friday, December 28, 2007 06:41 PM Saturday, December 29, 2007 03:42 PM