Friday, March 21, 2008

5 Facts About Batman, TV’s Campiest Action Series

The production techniques used for Batman were far different than those used on the Superman series; bright colors, stilted dialog, and the POW! BAM! graphics used during the fight scenes all combined to make the series look like a comic book brought to life.

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Letterman: Top 10 reasons to watch Battlestar Galactica

The cast of BSG reads the "Top Ten Reasons to Watch the New Season of 'Battlestar Galactica'" in "The Late Show with David Letterman."... the #1 reason is PRICELESS! :)

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Monday, March 17, 2008

NCIS: Fictional Science Or Science Fiction?


Have you ever wondered how much of what Agent Gibbs and company do on NCIS is based on real science? While the producers do a superb job of pulling story lines from the headlines, and incorporating real world scenarios, anyone who knows anything about crime solving would call some of NCIS's crime solving techniques science fiction. Not the REAL NCIS, of course. The realities are much more harsh, and of course, crimes are rarely solved within 42 minutes of when they occurred.


So where did I get 42 minutes? If you've ever taped a one-hour show, and cut out the commercials, including the beginning and ending credits, there is about 42 minutes of actual air time. Agent Gibbs, my friends, is the master of solving a crime in 42 minutes. Right up there with Columbo, Kojak, Monk , and generations of one-hour crime dramas we know and love. NCIS silently blurs the lines between fact, fiction, science, and science fiction. OK, you won't hear any other TV critic call NCIS science fiction. Admittedly NCIS has no aliens (non-Earth people), no monsters, no space or time travel, no super secret government plots, No futuristic settings, no doomsday or apocalyptic scenarios. There are no story lines about super-human or unusual abilities.

In fact, each episode is your classic cop story. In the opening scene someone is usually killed. The other 40 minutes are spent investigating it. But it's how they go about solving the crimes and catching the bad guys that so far off but completely imaginable with just the right mix of science and fiction. For example, every piece of technology is right at their fingertips. The best any of them could hope for is they have a halfway decent computer of their desk and it doesn't crash just trying to get their email. And breaking into another network, especially another government agency's network, is a crime. Just to attempt a hack is a crime, the Navy would send their sorry butts to Leavenworth and let them rot.

Then they have the ability right at their fingertips to tap into any traffic camera, trace any phone call - even tell you what cell tower they are connected to. They can drive from the Washington Navy Yard to Quantico, VA in a few minutes, and they never once got on the Capital Beltway or Interstate 95! Also, as far as I can figure, Gibbs must live in the most crime infested neighborhood in Southeast DC. They can call him anytime at home and he's in the office in 5 minutes. (He could have a secret energy/matter transporter, wouldn't be that big a stretch). But that's not science fiction, that's episodic television being unrealistic.

In spite of it's super-scientific ways to solve crimes, NCIS is definitely a show worth watching, It recently went into syndication on The USA Network. NCIS is a spin-off of JAG, which was based stories about the U. S. Navy's Judge Advocate Generals Office.


Regards
John Crawford


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Monday, March 3, 2008

Do Networks Ignore Sci Fi Fans?

Neilsen Ratings are the measurement of selected "families" who actually sit down to watch television programs. This tells me that networks tend to rely on the black and white data, and not consider what the "unnoticed" audience watches.

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Sunday, March 2, 2008

Engadget: lovable and lame gadgets from the world of cinema

Previously on Movie Gadget Friday, we traveled across war-torn galaxies in the 1978 version of Battlestar Gallatica. Moving forward a few years to 1982, we'll take a look inside the computational arcade culture of TRON. Saturated with neon suits and Pac-Man blips and bleeps, the sci-fi cult Disney film has achieved pop culture status over the years

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William Shatner Announces Contest to Find Next Sci-Fi Star

William Shatner announced this week that he is holding an online contest to find the most talented sci-fi personality in the United States. To enter, contestants just have to create a short video clip that shows why they are the heir apparent to William Shatner, and upload it at http://shatner.blip.tv/ by September 30th.

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The Sci-fi Channel: A Review

The Sci-fi Channel review

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