by Rick Norwood
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SF on TV | |
The ending of Jeremiah was satisfactory, the season premiere of Smallville outstanding. October
brings a Farscape mini-series and the start of a new season of a leaner, meaner Star Trek Enterprise. Berman
and Braga are no more. Manny Coto is at the helm. He couldn't afford Shatner, but he got
Brent Spiner. Both Stargates have gone into reruns.
SF on TV in October:
Wednesday, October 6
Friday, October 8
Wednesday, October 13
Friday, October 15
Sunday, October 17
Monday, October 18
Wednesday, October 20
Friday, October 22
Wednesday, October 27
Friday, October 29 | |
Reviews | |
The mystery of Mr. Smith, who says he talks to God, is not resolved. But a broad hint is given. If you want my theory,
read on. We know that Smith is a liar. For example, he tells people he meets that he is from their home town, and provides
convincing details. He lies in order to make friends. This talking to God business is just another of his lies, to attract
attention, to get people to listen to him. He clearly has powers: mind reading, farseeing, premonition, and healing among
them. But his powers are erratic. He can't summon them up at will. They just happen -- or not. The clue that Straczinski
provides is that Mr. Smith's daughter has powers, too.
There is some talk about a continuation of Jeremiah, but Showtime is not interested and Straczinski is not interested,
so it looks bad to Nlesine. And I'll send a free DVD to the first person who can identify that 50s SF reference.
Straczinski seems to have moved over to comic books, and while I'm sure he is making a good living at it, I wonder if he wakes
up every morning wondering how he can get back on television. I like what he is doing just fine. Read Super Powers,
The Amazing Spider-Man, and the new series, Strange, written by Straczinski and
his Jeremiah collaborator Sarah (Samm) Barnes.
And, of course, naked high school students in every episode, played by actors who are all over twenty-one.
The only bad part of Smallville is that there are three times as many in-screen commercials during the story than
there were last season. In a few years, there will be non-stop commercials across the bottom of the screen.
Coming in December, The Wizard of Earthsea and Battlestar Galactica.
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Rick Norwood is a mathematician and writer whose small press publishing house, Manuscript Press, has published books by Hal Clement, R.A. Lafferty, and Hal Foster. He is also the editor of Comics Revue Monthly, which publishes such classic comic strips as Flash Gordon, Sky Masters, Modesty Blaise, Tarzan, Odd Bodkins, Casey Ruggles, The Phantom, Gasoline Alley, Krazy Kat, Alley Oop, Little Orphan Annie, Barnaby, Buz Sawyer, and Steve Canyon. |
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