Category Archives: Fandom

Are You Happy (Town) Now?

Wow. Though I had one person tell me via Twitter that Happy Town has a HUGE following, as expected, it was canceled. The last two episodes can be seen online only, and I have seen them. Wow. Um. Yeah. The risks in following new shows are A) The constant fear of cancellation when you love them (Legend of the Seeker), B) The realization that the show is terrible (The Gates), C) That a show won’t be able to find it’s way in time (Happy Town).

I’m not going to do any background checking to see if the last episode was re-edited as the finale, but I can only imagine that it was. We got most of the answers to the big questions (Who is the Magic Man? What’s the deal with Dan?), but the details that could have been fleshed out over time would have made the show so much better. For instance, I still have no idea what Henley’s deal was. Is she Chloe? If so, big deal. We don’t know the significance of “Chloe” at all. Her last phone call was a bit contradictory, but was is significant? And the Magic Man. Whoa. How did the Magic Man get away with everything when the identity wasn’t exactly secret at all? Magic, I guess. *pfft*

Regardless, I guess in the end, I don’t regret having watched the show, and that’s a lot more than I can say about most of them.

Check Your Records Again

River Song, you are amazing. I was lukewarm at best upon first meeting Prof. River Song, and even if I discount all the talk about, “Who is River Song?” her performance in “The Big Bang” was so compelling and completely badass, that I am now a fan. I think she’s going to disappoint me later on, and I’ll be watching her every move side-eyed, but for now? Yeah!!!!

My head is still spinning from all the greatness of S5. Matt Smith, I get teary eyed just thinking about how great your Doctor is. I’m just as thrilled to find that many of my friends, who are diehard fans of The Tenth Doctor, have come to love Eleven as well. There is a magic in the eyes that just sucks us in. This, combined with an utterly delightful companion or two has made this a great time to be a fan. This series was also significant to me because of the excellent writing. I’m on record as defending RTD, and I will continue to do so, but this series we got to see a poignancy that most sci-fi shows are too timid to allow. The Doctor’s concern for his companions, other races, and other worlds is a given, but seeing The Doctor’s interactions with young Pond was both inspiring and heartbreaking.

I always try to keep my posts (mostly) spoiler-free, so there’s not much more I can say. This is probably just an excuse though, because I’m still so ridiculously giddy that I can’t really find words anyway. I can’t wait for the next special, and thank you, Doctor Who, for making this the year of redemption.

Hello, Sweetie, Indeed!

The Doctor is in a lot of trouble now. The Pandorica actually does contain the greatest warrior the universe has ever known. Earlier in the week, I foolishly looked at some concept art for the episode and ruined my own surprise. Drats! Anyway, what can you do when you are confronted with nearly every adversary you’ve ever really humiliatingly defeated?!?

You can always attempt to call them out, right? I very much cheered for The Doctor as he made his last stand speech. His Jesus-pose > Ten’s. I’m just saying… I didn’t cringe once during the speech, which is rare for me. I normally roll my eyes at grandstanding, or maybe I’m just flashing back to the buffoonery of the last few years. Then again, I’m also one of those people who has weird nervous habits, for instance, in high pressure situations, I yawn. Constantly. It’s a wonder I’ve ever landed a job.

Without overspoiling anyone, I think it’s safe to say that I don’t think we’ve seen the end of our three-ish companions just yet. River Song, love her or hate her, is important. Furthermore, I think she’s important in way more than a deus ex machina way. I’m smiling punningly at myself right now, because I am in full support of THIS THEORY. As a matter of fact, if this doesn’t turn out to be mostly true, I’m going to be a little disappointed.

Since, like most series enders, we have no preview for next week, I’m going to just re-watch “The Pandorica Opens” a few more times and prepare for the worst, but hope for the best.

Justified Happy Persons

Since my entire site appears to be turning into a Doctor Who site (not that there’s anything wrong with that), I thought I needed to bust out some talk about some other shows I’m into.

First up is Justified. For people who don’t know me, I live in WV, which borders KY. If I thought for one minute that Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) could actually be found anywhere in the tri-state area, I would be in the Scionmobile in a heartbeat. I’m surrounded by people who think they’re as cool as Raylan, but they are so, so painfully wrong. I don’t know where the show is actually filmed (and not bothered enough to look it up), but it has the feel of backwoods country goings-on. Normally, I would have passed on premise, but my dad raved about it, as did AICN, so I gave it a chance. I think the best way I’ve rec’d it to someone was as “Dexter, but without the serial killings.” 😉 It’s definitely worth buying on DVD, as Hulu has already lost the first half of the (short) season. This is the first FX show I’ve ever made it a point to tune in to, and I’ll be tuning in to every.single.episode they give us.

Another show I was surprised to find I had in common with my father is Happy Town. Right off the bat, I’m going to admit that yes, it is choppy. The scenes don’t appear to flow properly. There are too many things going on that don’t really make much sense or seem to be a good use of screen time. Most of the storylines are implausible. HOWEVER, I’m still intrigued enough to keep watching for some reason, so it’s gotta be doing something right, yes? I like the cast very much. Surprisingly, the weak link is Amy Acker, who I really do like. Sam Neill’s character is a blatant homage to Leland Gaunt (of Stephen King’s Needful Things fame), and may or may not be (and probably is definitely not) connected to the central mystery surrounding the Magic Man, but it’s Sam Neill, so I’m there. The sheriff doubles as the main baddie on Justified (and was also on Lost for a bit), so there’s a connection to ponder. The show has already seen ratings deathsigns and was pulled from May sweeps, but I’m hoping that ABC will at least let us see what they’ve already filmed. BTW, I still curse ABC daily over the whole Defying Gravity thing.

The last show I’ve just started watching is Persons Unknown, which again, was a recommendation from my dad. As a matter of fact, I’m going to call this whole entry a tribute to Father’s Day (which is this Sunday). Ha! Persons Unknown is best described as Lost meets Harper’s Island. I was impressed to see that the writer of The Usual Suspects (one the the finest cinematic efforts ever made) was the creator/writer of the show. This means the potential for greatness is already here. The only cast member I recognized immediately was Alan Ruck (aka Ferris’ pal Cameron). Alan has also appeared on Justified, so maybe there’s more to my grouping of these three shows that I thought. Hmmm. Anyway, the show is actually pretty tightly produced. The premise seems far-fetched, but not to the point of annoyance. Until we find out a little bit more about why all this is happening, I can’t say much more. It’s not that the show is boring, but every scene feels deliberate. I prefer this format a bit to Happy Town’s, in which everything seems a little bit rushed. The show is only two episodes in, and you can still catch them on Hulu, or watch on NBC on Monday nights.

So there you have it. New fandoms. Happy Father’s Day. 🙂