Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
Instead of reviewing "The Day of the Doctor," and risking spoiling some of the fun, Rick has a word or two for those of you who
have not watched Doctor Who, or who have watched a few episodes and dismissed Doctor Who as low budget
trash. Some of Doctor Who is low budget trash, and even the recent big-budget New Doctor Who includes
some stinkers. On the other hand, Doctor Who has won six "best drama" Hugo Awards, so it must be doing something right.
Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
The Fall season is sputtering to a start, the first season in his life when Rick has chosen to give up the ability to watch tv shows
on, like, you know, television. He's glad he did. Not buying cable tv saves more than $80 per month. In most cases, he watches
using his WII, sometimes he use his Game Cube. He's l ooking forward to watching what's coming in September.
Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
Has there ever been a month with so little genre television? Did Rick miss some shows? If he did, please
let him know. Meanwhile, he plans to spend August playing Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, according to some
the hardest computer game ever.
Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
The current issue of Entertainment Weekly lists their pick of the 100 greatest tv shows of
all time. They do justice to genre
shows: #8 Buffy, the Vapire Slayer, #13 The Twilight Zone, #24 Lost,
#29 The X-Files, #41 Twin Peaks, #65 Doctor Who. Rick also
gives us a list of what SF is on TV in July.
Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
The big news for June is the return of Falling Skies, a summer-time series Rick has
enjoyed for the past two summers and he is looking forward to it again. Falling Skies,
like almost all sf on television, is not real science fiction, in the sense that Doctor Who
is real science fiction, but rather is an adventure series with one or two genre tropes, in this case
the old chestnut about human resistance fighters after aliens conquer of Earth. Rick also
gives those of us who will a list of what SF is on TV in June.
Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
Rick has decided never to watch television ever again. Cable is expensive, commercials are annoying,
and the ads inset into the picture during the story are intolerable. The last straw was Doctor Who
Season 6b premiere, when BBC America had a "countdown" to the next program throughout the entire show.
He also gives those of us who will a list of what SF is on TV in May.
Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
Revolution is back. There have been several comments about Revolution that miss the point.
They say, in effect, that they could make electricity. No. The premise of Revolution is that something inhibits
electricity. Solar panels don't work. Alternators don't work. Human brains don't work. Well, maybe
we have to give them a pass on that one. Natural electricity still works. Electric eels
still work. It is only man-made electricity that doesn't work.
Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
Something has changed on television -- programs are being renewed with far fewer viewers than
would have been possible even a few years ago. Supernatural
has been renewed for a ninth season with about 2.1 million viewers. The Vampire Diaries
has been renewed for a fifth season with about 2.9 million viewers. In contrast, Firefly
was cancelled for low ratings with 4.5 million viewers.
Rick also gives a list of what to watch in March.
Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
Every year about this time, Rick gives his picks of the upcoming sf and fantasy films, based on the writers. How did he do last
year? His picks were: The Hunger Games, The Avengers, Men in Black III, Prometheus, Brave,
Abraham Lincoln – Vampire Hunter, The Dark Knight Rises, The Amazing Spider-man, Skyfall, Gravity, The Hobbit,
Dark Shadows and Cloud Atlas.
This year his choices are...
Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
Rick watched the final episodes of Fringe and Last Resort in January. Both
will soon be forgotten. He enjoyed the action-packed ending of Last Resort. The characters and acting are excellent. But
it only lasted half a season, and will probably go the way of Defying Gravity.
Rick also gives a list of what to watch in February.
Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
The best tv Rick has watched in recent months, aside from his on-going one-episode-a-night rewatching
of Babylon 5, is the Doctor Who Christmas Special, "The Snowmen". His vote: not as
good as previous Christmas Specials. For one thing, Rick is getting tired of the repeated use of the two-word
phrase "Doctor who?" Once was great. More than once in every season runs the idea into the ground. Also,
in this episode, the Doctor is uncommonly stupid, so much so that viewer will want to yell at him.
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Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
When a new genre television series comes along, Rick usually watches a few episodes, though in some cases,
Arrow for example, a few minutes is enough. Then he either signs on or signs off. Sometimes
he tells us that he makes a mistake. He gave up too soon on Lost and Heroes, and went back to them
on Blu-ray. Sometimes the shows he likes are not to everyone's taste.
Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
How many fantasy, science fiction, or horror shows are there in the new Fall season? It
depends on how you count. If you include animated shows and comedies, at least
fifteen. If you only include live action shows with space travel, one.
Television science fiction has largely come to mean a show set in the near future
with one big idea not very well thought out: aliens land, aliens destroy civilization,
aliens move in next door, there's a nuclear war, everybody gets a glimpse of the future,
a parallel world is discovered.
Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
Before he created Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry created a tv series called The Lieutenant,
about the peacetime US Marine Corps. It is just out on DVD from Paramount, and it is pretty good.
Falling Skies has ended until next Summer. Rick thinks it was the best sf on tv this summer.
Rick also gives a list of what to watch in September.
Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
Rick has read several articles in the news condemning "binge tv viewing" watching an entire season or an entire series
non-stop. What impresses him the most is what busy-bodies people are, how much fun people have telling other people what
they should and should not do. He once watched the entire Batman movie serial, four and a half hours,
back to back. It's one of his happy memories, as watching the first four seasons of Breaking Bad back
to back will be a happy memory for the binge viewers.
Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
Falling Skies is the best sf on tv this Summer, with
likable characters and excellent special effects. Rick is disappointed that it,
like all of the other alien invasion tv shows before it, doesn't seem to be going
anywhere. He had high hopes, after the Season One Finale, that Season Two would up the
ante. Rick also gives a list of what to watch in July.
Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
The good news for June is the return of last Summer's Falling Skies. It
is the only sf series in years to hold Rick's interest.
There was a brief time, a few years ago, when there was intelligent sf on tv. But
Firefly and Defying Gravity were never given a chance
to find an audience, yanked from the schedule before all the episodes had
aired.
Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
Best bet for genre tv in May is the second season of Sherlock, which aired in
the UK in January. All three episodes come to PBS in May. On the other hand, if you are willing
to wait until May 22, you can get whole series on DVD and Blu-ray. It's not really science
fiction, but it feels like it is. Rick also gives a list of what to watch in May.
Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
Rick had high hopes for Touch, because he enjoyed Heroes and admires Tim Kring as a writer, but the pilot
episode was so farfetched he doesn't have much hope of it surviving past mid-season, despite an audience of more
than twelve million viewers for the premiere. There is an audience for really good science fiction television,
but nobody is giving it to them. Rick also gives us a list of what SF is on TV in April.
Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
Every year about this time, Rick gives his picks of the
upcoming sf and fantasy films, based on the writers. How did he do last year? His picks were:
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,
X-Men: First Class,
Captain America: The First Avenger,
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part Two and
The Adventures of Tin Tin: The Secret of the Unicorn. This year his choices are...
Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
No tv show in recent months has held Rick's interest, except for the Doctor Who Christmas Special, but he
decided to watch a couple of shows written by writers he admires, even though he doesn't particularly like the series.
Once Upon a Time, "Skin Deep" by Jane Espenson was much better than average, thanks to a great back
story for Mr. Gold, which combines two different fairy tales in a clever way. Rick also gives us a list of what SF is on TV in March.
Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
The Doctor Who Christmas Special was the best sf Rick has seen on tv
this year, and is a likely winner of the 2011 best sf drama Hugo, short form.
While he's waiting for something else good to show up on television, he as been
watching all the old good movies in chronological order, starting with Elmo Lincoln
in Tarzan of the Apes.
He also gives us a list of what SF is on TV in February.
Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
The big, blockbuster science fiction films of the Christmas season aren't science
fiction at all. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and The Adventures of Tin Tin
have the splashy special effects that suggest sf, without any sf story elements. They also
lack characters you care about and interesting ideas. They are entertaining. Rick also tells us
what's SF on TV in January.
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