18 November 2009: Convention and concert report

I’m sorry that I haven’t blogged much in the past week or so — I’ve been busy with the usual round of work (for which I went to a trade show), gaming, genre TV, and seasonal events. I’ve also raked numerous bags of autumn leaves. On Saturday, 7 November 2009, Janice and I went into Boston for the Christmas Craft Festival at the World Trade Center. We didn’t buy lots of arts and crafts, just foodstuffs.

We got turned around a few times while trying to get to the Compleat Strategist, but we managed to eventually visit that game store and Pandemonium Books and Games in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We enjoyed a late lunch at Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage, one of the best places for hamburgers in the area, and walked around the book shops of Harvard Square, which we try to get to quarterly.

On Saturday, Nov. 14, we returned downtown for the New England Fan Experience (NEFX) and Star Wars in Concert. Janice and I stayed overnight at the Courtyard by Marriott Tremont, which hosted the genre entertainment convention. The ballrooms at that venue were adequate in size, but the hallways and elevators were a bit crowded.

We caught the tail end of the session featuring Corin Nemec, star of Parker Lewis Can’t Lose and Stargate SG1, as well as the career retrospective of character James Hong, who has worked in movies for more than 50 years! Hong was funny, doing impressions and mentioning his numerous roles in films such as Blade Runner, Big Trouble in Little China, Mulan, and Kung Fu Panda.

Janice and I had lunch at the Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery before taking the
train to meet former co-worker Ken G. and his girlfriend Kahmmie at the Boston
Garden. Star Wars in Concert was excellent, featuring the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, a large screen showing clips from all six movies, and even lasers and pyrotechnics.

We had difficulty choosing whether to focus on the talented and precise musicians
or on the well-organized vignettes introduced by C3P0 himself, Anthony Daniels.
On the way into the arena, we gazed at some props and costumes from the two
trilogies, as well as people in costume. I was pleased to see many children (some waving toy lightsabers) in the audience and to see that George Lucas’ space opera lives on.

We then returned to the hotel, grabbing dinner at the International Burger Bar before attending more convention sessions. Unfortunately, because of the concert’s timing, we missed the guest of honor, Star Trek and Mission Impossible‘s Leonard Nimoy. Still, we did get to see Gareth David-Lloyd from Torchwood because his room was on our floor! In addition to the usual aging male fans of comic books and old television shows, there were younger, often female anime and horror enthusiasts, multiple generations of Star Trek fans, and people in outlandish costumes.

I was impressed by the number and variety of panels at the NEFX. That evening, Janice and I sat in on sessions about technology (and “technobabble“) in Star Trek, steampunk media (about which I hope to blog more soon), and archaeology in science fiction. The steampunk sessions were led by comic book author Everett Soares and the fun troupe “the Penny Dreadfuls.”

On Sunday, Nov. 15, we went to the knowledgeable Paul Gavins’ panel on “suitmation” vs. computer-generated imagery in kaiju (giant monster) movies. We also picked up a few elements of steampunk garb at the dealers’ room. I’m looking forward to visiting the Super MegaFest and the “Harry Potter” exhibit at the Boston Museum of Science in the coming weeks!

2 November 2009: Hungry for Halloween

Friends, I hope you had a Happy Halloween! Janice and I spent much of this past weekend raking leaves around our duplex. On Saturday, 31 October 2009, we drove down to the New England Comics in Norwood, Massachusetts, to participate in its costume contest. I dressed as Captain America, and Janice was Supergirl!

We were relatively early, so no other contestants were around. We were also
disappointed in how few trick-or-treaters came to our door that night. Perhaps
the area children were at events at local shopping malls and churches, or maybe
they were scared away by our boisterous neighbors. Our leftover candy will go to co-workers and gamers.

Speaking of food, now that it’s getting colder outside, everyone around me (and much of the TV I watch) seems to be focused on food. On Friday, Janice and I tried to go to dinner at Acapulco’s, but its parking lot was full, and we ended up at the Union Street pub in Newton, Mass. On Sunday, in between raking leaves, we went to Legacy Place in Dedham and had lunch at Four Burgers. Today, my boss Margie brought in a sushi lunch from Fuji. I’ll be at a work-related conference in Boston tomorrow.

Last week, we got into the spirit of the season by rewatching It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and The Nightmare Before Christmas. I’ve already mentioned the Scary Godmother television specials, and I’m caught up on recorded genre shows — just in time for the November ratings sweeps and midseason turnover!

Coming soon: Comics and conventions

29 October 2009: Space opera on TV

This is my fifth and last blog post (for now) looking at the new genre television season by subgenre. I’ve noted before that within speculative fiction — which starts with the question “What if?” — supernatural conspiracy shows, vampire romances, and metahuman melodramas have been more popular lately than space opera. That’s too bad, because my some of first loves in science fiction were the late-1970s TV heroes of Buck Rogers and Battlestar Galactica (see above and reruns), as well as the novels of Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, and many others.

The recent success of Star Trek‘s cinematic reboot could be an early sign of the pendulum swinging back to rockets and ray guns. Not surprisingly, the best space opera on the air right now is the computer-animated Star Wars: Clone Wars. Loosely based on the Tartakovsky shorts that took place between Episode 2: Attack of the Clones and Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith, the pilot movie turned off some fans by focusing on young Padawan (Jedi apprentice) Ashoka Tano.

However, since then, I think that Clone Wars has done an excellent job of exploring and expanding various corners of George Lucas’ universe. It has humanized the clone troopers, showed how the Jedi knights are outmaneuvered by the cunning Sith, and demonstrated what Yoda described as the futility of war. Plus, Clone Wars has the blazing space and lightsaber battles, kid-friendly humor, and strange aliens we’ve come to expect from the Star Wars franchise.

I’m still on the fence about Stargate Universe. On the one hand, it’s part of the franchise established by the retro action movie and long-running Stargate SG1. On the other hand, the large conflict-ridden ensemble, dark and shaky cinematography, and focus on survival over heroism are more in the style of Battlestar Galactica: the Plan or Flash Forwardthan I’d prefer.

We’ll see how the major cast and crew changes coming to Doctor Who will affect that British time-travel franchise. I’ve enjoyed its mix of space opera, pseudohistorical swashbuckling, and alien horrors from the Jon Pertwee incarnation through Tom Baker and David Tennant, and I’m willing to give Matt Smith, the eleventh eponymous Time Lord, a shot. Spin-offs include the more adult-themed Torchwood,
the adolescent-aimed Sarah Jane Adventures, and the dubious reboot of K-9
and Friends. Have a Happy Halloween!

Tuesday, 20 October 2009: Second takes on genre TV

Fringe wallpaper — The truth is still out there…

The most popular genres of fiction on television right now are the perennial
favorites of murder procedurals, ensemble dramas, situational comedies, and so-called
reality shows. This season, paranormal conspiracies, exemplified in the past by
shows such as Friday the 13th: the Series and The X-Files, are again all the rage.

So far, Fringe is arguably the best of the bunch, with a good balance of “monster of the week” episodes and an overall story arc. The actors and characters are quirky and sympathetic, the dialogue is clever, and the science fiction/horror aspects aren’t too
unbelievable, if frequently explicitly grotesque.

I’ve been watching Sanctuary, but I hope the SyFy’s cryptozoology show can successfully blend the steampunk tone, globe-hopping adventures (thanks to computer-generated backdrops), and a dysfunctional family-based team better than it did in its shaky first season. Over the summer, the artifact collectors of Warehouse
13 proved to be fun to watch because the writers didn’t taking themselves too seriously despite some heavy themes of betrayal and fate.

I may drop Flash Forward, in which people try to figure out how and why almost everyone on the planet blacked out at the same time, in the interest of time. The Lost wannabe isn’t bad, but with programs like Heroes, V, and the aforementioned shows, I’m already watching enough large casts pursuing numerous plot threads.

Eastwick is one of the few new shows that I’ll probably continue to follow. The frothy witchcraft soap opera is more like early Buffy: the Vampire Slayer, Reaper, or Pushing Daisies than later Charmed or Supernatural. Upcoming conspiracy shows in which I’m interested include the remakes of action decoy Human Target, alien invasion V, and espionage paranoiac The Prisoner.

In nonfiction, Janice’s and my DVR is filling up with the PBS documentary on Latin
music and this week’s IFC profile of the “Monty Python” British comedy troupe of the 1970s. More to come!

Monday, 19 October 2009: Fall and fantasy

On Saturday, 17 October 2009, Janice and I had considered going to a local pancake
breakfast or up to Salem, Massachusetts, for the pre-Halloween festivities. However, our plans were derailed when Janice noticed our water heater leaking, almost four years to the
day after the basement of our previous apartment flooded. Fortunately, only a few cardboard boxes were damaged this time, and our oil provider sent someone to repair the leak fairly quickly.

Instead of going down to Dedham and Norwood, Janice and I drove out to Framingham,
Mass., for a late lunch at Olive Garden. We then met Beruk A. and Thomas K.Y. to screen Where the Wild Things Are. The loose adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s classic book had convincing visual effects and good acting, but the movie probably had too much emotional depth for most children and wasn’t really marketed as being for adults. Of the previews we saw, only Roald Dahl’s The Fantastic Mr. Fox intrigued me.

Yesterday’s early snowfall enabled me to clean up my basement and catch up on recorded

genre television. Among other things, I watched The Quest for King Arthur, a good History Channel International documentary on one of my favorite sets of legends.

As I write up notes for last night’s Pathfinder: “Holy Steel” teleconferencing game and prepare for tonight’s D&D4e “Vanished Lands: the Faith-Based Initiative” role-playing session, it’s interesting to note that sword-and-sorcery fantasy isn’t well-represented on TV right now.

Despite cast changes and melodramatic rather than swashbuckling storylines, BBC
America’s Robin Hood has been good in its third (and presumably final) series. The addition of Friar Tuck, more focus on Robin’s political role as a Saxon rebel, and slightly fewer anachronisms have made this the lead historical fantasy on the air right now.

Fans of Hercules: the Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess can look
forward to Strarz’s sword-and-sandals Spartacus, coming later this autumn, as well as the return of the syndicated Legend of the Seeker, which Buffy/Angel alumna Charisma Carpenter will be joining.

Despite the latest wave of adolescent vampire romances, I’m still hoping that the relatively
cheap computer backdrops used in Sanctuary (which just returned) can enable high-quality literary adaptations or original heroic fantasy to be brought to TV. I’ll try to report more on my second takes of the current TV season later this week.