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by Rick Norwood
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Fall Preview Edition | |
The new seasons of Smallville and Heroes have
premiered. I enjoyed parts of Smallville, really liked Heroes.
SF on TV in October
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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. |
Smallville (**)
returns with only two of the original characters, Clark and
Chloe. On the other hand, Clark Kent is now working at the Daily Planet with Lois Lane and
Jimmy Olsen, Green Arrow is a regular, and the Injustice Society of America is forming. They
can't replace Lex, who has left the show. There are only a few things left to happen
before Clark dons the cape and flies off to the Superman theme music -- I sure hope
that happens at the end of this season. The pilot episode had some interesting moments,
as when Green Arrow kills Clark Kent, but the plot was contrived. The writers knew
how the episode had to end, and forced the characters and events to play out toward
that end, whether they wanted to or not. In particular, the "I can only bring you back
to life this once," bit is getting old.
Heroes (****)
had many nice surprises, non-stop action, and most of the characters we
love (as distinct from the Season Two characters we hate). As I mentioned last issue, the season
premiere of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles had great music over the
opening scenes. Chapter One of the new Heroes series has a voiceover of
Yeats "The Second Coming" over the closing scenes that is similarly effective. "The best lack
all conviction, while the worst are filled with passionate intensity." The title of the new
season of Heroes is "Villains", and we have some good ones. "What are you doing!" Peter
says, as one of the villains burns a woman alive. "Just having a little fun."
have not yet been announced by the network)
Thursday, October 2
Only one episode of Fringe has been announced for October, though other episodes may air. The
ratings were not good by Fox standards (they would have been great for CW), and Fringe may
be the first casualty of the season. On the other hand CW viewers are watching on the web instead of
on tv, which means the network could go out of business, taking Smallville
and Supernatural with it. Enjoy them while you can.
 
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