Hmm. Ah. Yes. The Mother of All Awkward Moment Films!

1995 was a good year for film adaptations of Jane Austen. Most famously, we have the venerable 5-hour A&E production of Pride and Prejudice, starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. Slightly less famously, but no less venerable, we have a theatrical production of Sense and Sensibility, adapted by (and starring) Emma Thompson, with a great supporting cast that includes Hugh Grant, Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman, and Imelda Staunton, directed by Ang Lee. Reading Sense and Sensibility was my first foray into Austen in print, and, well, let's face it - writing's come a long way. Her dialogue is marvelous, but as a manuscript I found it quite difficult, full of awkward jumps and insufficient punctuation. Please excuse me while I duck under the desk as Austenites everywhere hurl assorted rotting food products at my head.

Anyways, back to the production at hand, which I watched for the first time last night. The story is simple enough: when the patriarch of a blended family dies, his estate is bestowed upon his son, the child of his first wife. He beseeches this son to look after his second wife and their three daughters, Eleanor, Marianne, and Margaret. Unfortunately, the son is a complete pushover and quickly allows his shrewish wife, Fanny, to convince him that the four women shouldn't have more than 400 pounds a year; and, furthermore, that they should no longer remain in their family home, as it is now legally the son's. Not that this puts the women into dire poverty or anything, but it does effectively eliminate all three daughter's chances of marrying well.

The eldest, Eleanor (a.k.a. Sense, played by Emma Thompson), is particularly hurt by the family's transition from a city manor to a country cottage, because Fanny's brother Edward (Hugh Grant) is a quiet, even-headed, gentleman (and gentle man) who wants nothing more in life than to become a vicar and have a wife, and who has formed a mutual attachment to Eleanor. The second daughter, Marianne (a.k.a. Sensibility, played by Kate Winslet) is rather high-strung and mostly concerned about nabbing a husband, while little Margaret is too young for those sorts of worries. Being an Austen story, the usual twists and misunderstandings horrible betrayals (both real and imagined) play themselves out until all is happily resolved.

Emma Thompson's skill as at adapted screenplays is unquestionable. She nails each character without any wasted time, perfectly captures the extreme awkwardness that surround Edward, and wrings out the best of the story. Her content which isn't in the book, such as a pair of scenes in the house library involving Edward and Fanny, and then Edward and Eleanor, serves to further establish both the characters and why they deserve either our sympathy or contempt, and does so beautifully. Paired with Ang Lee's thoughtful and interesting camera angles, it's one lovely film through and through.

And, of course, with a cast like this, the acting is superb. When Hugh Grant finally makes his profession of love, though he played his part marvelously, all I could think was, "how nice for you. I want Alan Rickman!". Rickman's Colonel Brandon is one of Austen's most tragic characters not only for his story, but for how Rickman plays him, as a man who is hardly a stoic, but who maintains and expresses his grief as befits a man of his age and rank.

Also, for those of you who watch Blackadder or House, Hugh Laurie makes a small appearance as tertiary character Mr. Palmer, in some stupendously funny scenes that are really little more than Emma Thompson giving a space for her old friend and classmate (and former beau) to show off his considerable skill at being cranky (though Mr. Palmer is not a nasty, evil character like House).

For a light story that is anchored by a smart script and a fabulous cast, I can't think of a better way to spend two hours than with this production. It sure cleared my head after another day of cleaning and packing.

They Can't Catch You If You're On FIRE!

He carries a katana.
He drives a Honda Accord.
He stays true to his roots.
He kicks ass.
He saves lives.
He high-fives animals.
He's a damn fine doctor.

Meet Dr. McNinja!

Corey introduced me to the secrets of the McNinja clan through his incessant giggling - I'm hooked. With a strong combination of self-aware and self-deprecating humour and a well-executed absurdity (his receptionist is a gorilla! His sidekick is a Mexican boy whose secret weapon is his extraordinary willpower! He's an Irish ninja doctor, for crying out loud!), Dr. McNinja is, for those of you who read webcomics, every bit as entertaining as the venerable Sluggy Freelance. Writer Chris does a good job of taking really old stories (McDonald's is evil! Pirates vs. ninjas! Dolph Lundgren! Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey?) and making them fresh and hilarious. The site archives are nicely accessible, and should give you 2-3 hours of fun before catching up to the current issue - you want to start at the beginning. So here's to Chris and Kent, may they have a good long run!

Note: if ludicrously gross violence played for laughs, mostly riffing on ludicrous ninja and 80's American ninja films, is offensive to you, lay off the good doctor. Personally, I think Dr. McNinja does both good satire and guilty pleasure - imagine an extremely toned-down (say, between PG and PG-13) comic version of Shaun of the Dead (my most guiltiest pleasure yet), without all the swearing, or perhaps a Steven Segal film that knows it's ridiculous, and you have a good idea of the flavour of Dr. McNinja.

Who Watches the Watchmen?

I do!!!

Another reason to go see The Dark Knight (as if you needed one)? The first Watchmen trailer. Sure, you could watch it online, but I'm glad my first glimpse was in the theatre. I got a little bit excited about the film when Jeffery Dean Morgan (Supernatural) was cast as Edward Blake/The Comedian. I got a little bit more excited when a sepia-tinged class photo of the Minutemen was released for promo. I got rather excited when the news broke that director Zack Snyder would be creating a short film of The Black Freighter and a live documentary of Under the Hood as a companion DVD to coincide with the film's release. Now that I've seen the trailer, I can't imagine how it could possibly not do the book proud. At the very least, it's visually perfect - the reason CGI was created was clearly to render Dr. Manhattan (and his Martian lair), we got a good view of Nite Owl's airship, and a second-clip of Eddie Blake in Vietnam had me wiggling with delight. Even if it turns out to be a travesty of all style and no substance, it'll still be a good watch, and most likely the highlight of next summer.

And you can bet the teenage posers won't be there. The philosophers behind us demonstrated this by outragedly pointed out that Nite Owl looks like a rip-off of Batman. A certain bit of apocryphal sarcasm directed at Sherlock Holmes comes to mind.

When an Unstoppable Force meets an Immovable Object: The Dark Knight

"Some men aren't looking for anything logical. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn."

- Alfred Pennyworth, The Dark Knight (2008)

Many people will be going to see The Dark Knight for the morbid novelty of witnessing a great actor's final curtain. Many others will be going due to a bad case of Lord of the Rings Syndrome, a condition with causes cool teenagers who have made a career out of mocking and bullying people who read comics to attempt to convey a sudden knowledge of them now that Christopher Nolan has made comics unbelievably hip. Both groups were amply and irritatingly represented at last night's packed house. Both reasons are bad reasons to go see the film. With all respect due the late Heath Ledger - and much is - I fear many people are flocking to The Dark Knight because of his legacy, and not simply because it is a truly great film in its own right.

There's not a whole lot to say about The Dark Knight that you haven't already heard, without spoiling anything. Rest assured that, overall, it is every bit as strong if not stronger than Nolan and Co.'s first outing in the Batman universe. The main cast - Bruce, Alfred, Gordon, Harvey, and the Joker - is uniformly excellent. Maggie Gyllenhal puts on a good show taking over Katie Holmes' role as non-comic character Rachel Dawes, but for the most part doesn't have a lot of good script to work with. The supporting cast is riddled with familiar faces - much of the GCPD that has any dialogue or notable presence in front of the camera, as well as the bank manager in the opening scene, are established television and film actors. Lost's Nestor Carbonell has a mid-sized role as the mayor of Gotham, and his aide, who has no dialogue, is the man who portrays Matthew Abbadon on the same show. As Scott pointed out, people were probably throwing themselves left right and center at Nolan for the chance to have any participation in this project. The ones Nolan picked up did not disappoint - rarely is every player in a large ensemble cast so able.

On the visual side of things, The Dark Knight is stunning. Some reviewer whose name escapes me described it as "the most architectural film of the summer", and I couldn't have put it better. As in Batman Begins, the city itself is (quite rightly) a character. Visually, the film hits every right note between dark and horrid and achingly lovely. Nolan's desire to eschew CGI in favour of good buildings, good locations, and a mechanical concept dream team resulted in one of the most normally mind-blowing productions since, well, his last film. And I don't want to give anything away, though you've all seen the Batpod in the trailers, but let's just say that the manner in which it's deployed is a concept beyond genius. One of the very few benefits of watching a big film in a packed house is witnessing the collective gasp when the Batpod appeared in a way no one could have predicted.

Christian Bale is a true master actor, as demonstrated not only by his huge talent and diversity but by the fact that he's willing to step back and make necessary room for his supporting colleagues. It's safe to say that Ledger's Joker outshone Bale's Batman every step of the way - which was probably how it should be in relation to the story being told. The Joker is such a large, overwhelming persona that he simply wouldn't be effective playing second fiddle to the hero. His casually gleeful and unhinged yet morose brand of anarchy sets him apart from the average on-screen psychopath. I've been long familiar with Ledger's body of work, and as such have always known that he was excellent, but...wow. I can't say I was prepared for this. He took all the best existing interpretations of the Joker and ran with them to a new level. Not "re-invented", as so many ignorant reviewers who's only experiences with the character are Cesar Romero and Jack Nicholson's interpretations are claiming - the Joker has been one of, if not the, most unsettling villain in the comic universe since before I was born. When I say "new level", I refer to depth and quality. Up 'til now, the general consensus for on-screen Jokers amongst Batman fans has been that Mark Hammill's voicing of him in Batman: The Animated Series / Batman: Mask of the Phantasm was the benchmark performance, capturing the rather whimsical insanity that makes the character so frightening. Ledger's performance is stunning, terrifying, profound. The CanWest News Service reviewer astutely noted that what makes the Joker so much more scary than other psychotic villains is the fact that he is the ultimate embodiment of anarchy. For as much as he likes to claim that he is pure chaos and makes no plans, he is as skilled a schemer as he is a liar, and his schemes are carefully crafted to provoke the most chaos possible. This film certainly gives V for Vendetta's ridiculous attempt to suggest anarchy as a healthy, viable, logical socio-political model a firm kick in the ass.

It must be noted that Ledger had a wonderful script to work from. Even the little non-verbal details of his literally insane sense of humour were present on-screen, like creating a roadblock by setting a fire truck on fire. The Joker was clearly intended to be brought back into Nolan's version of the franchise at a later date. I highly doubt he'll make any attempts to recast the role, not only out of respect for Ledger's memory, but simply because, who else would he find who wouldn't be a disappointment after this? I doubt anyone will make a live-action film featuring the Joker again until all the people who remember Ledger's performance are dead and gone. I think it's a safe bet that he'll be awarded a posthmous Oscar. The sad irony is that he probably wouldn't be recognized if he were still alive, because at the end of the day, The Dark Knight is still just a comic book movie in the Academy's eyes. Not even the superior technical excellence of Batman Begins turned any voter's heads.

The biggest and best surprise of this picture, even beyond the Batpod, was Aaron Eckhart's portrayal of Harvey Dent. Having been familiar with Eckhart, and less than impressed, I've spent a lot of time wondering what ever possessed Nolan to hire him. Well, now I know. With very little dialogue prior to becoming Two-Face, Eckhart beautifully captures Harvey's simultaneous inner/outer conflict of restraint versus passion. The only disappointment I had in this film was the material Eckhart had to work with. By confining the brunt of his dialogue to blanket statements of his ambitions for Gotham's future, by not giving sufficient space for his peculiar bonding with Batman and Jim Gordon, and by focusing his grief on his relationship with Rachel rather than on his destructive frustration at being unable to accomplish the sort of vigilante justice he needs to get things done, a line he can't even convince Batman to cross, Harvey's degeneration into Two-Face became rote rather than tragic. But what Eckhart did have to go on - especially a courtroom scene that was pure Long Halloween - he ran with beyond my wildest expectations. Harvey Dent, contrasted with Batman, is one of the most poignant contemporary critiques of our oxymoronic justice system, and seeing him brought to life by such an able actor was a real treat. And kudos to the makeup department for an unbelievably impressive and disgusting Two-Face that makes Tommy Lee Jones' version look like a bad children's Halloween mask...oh wait, it already did. Seriously, folks, it's the most impressive F/X makeup I've seen this side of Lord of the Rings and the late Stan Winston.

In the end, any other disappointments I had with the film - except for the sound editing - were of my own making, because I'd convinced myself that, due to Harvey's presence, it would take more material from The Long Halloween than it did - an unfair expectation, perhaps, as The Long Halloween is fantastic, you can never do more in a 2.5 hour picture than you can in a good book, and this is Nolan's picture, not Jeph Loeb's. Anyways, there were several nice nods to it, from a few small references in the Joker's dialogue, to the afore-mentioned courtroom scene, to the casting of an actor who bears a passing resemblance to Tim Sale's Sal Marioni.


An all-around great production anchored by a casually terrifying Joker, The Dark Knight will likely remain one of the best films of the year. Hopefully, people will recognize it for its own merits, and not for the tragedy surrounding its production.

Star Wars: Allegiance

The primary cause of my losing all respect for George Lucas has to be how, in his "anything you can do, I can do better" screenplays for episodes 1-3, he gave Timothy Zahn a big fat finger by ignoring Zahn's established (and officially sanctioned) additions to the Old Republic and clone wars portions of the SW canon by thinking he could make a better story...and, in the parlance of our times, resulting in a hot mess. Star Wars: Allegiance is Hugo-winner Zahn's seventh SW novel, this one set between the events of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back.

With a healthy time span to play with (how did the Rebels get from Yavin to Hoth, anyways?), Allegiance juggles three plots: the violent act of mutiny that leads a stormtrooper squad to defect and take on a superhero complex of defending the innocent, a Rebel diplomatic/trade mission starring Han, Luke, and Leia, and finding out just what the heck Mara Jade did anyways as the Emperor's Hand. If it sounds like a bit of a handful, that's because it is.

Zahn's greatest skill, as I see it, is in intimate character interactions. His famous (and great) "Hand of Thrawn" trilogy soars on the strength of weaving many plots by focusing on very few people within each plot: Leia, dealing with the stresses of bickering diplomats and submission to the whims of the New Republic while trying to prevent it from suffering a coup - all while being heavily pregnant - mostly interacts only with Han, Mon Mothma, and the councilor at the head of the potential coup. She spends her frantic flight in the second book almost solely in Chewie's company. In the smuggler plot, he focuses on the relationship between Talon Karrde and Mara, with other members of Karrde's crew making very minor appearances. On the villainous side, the tightly knit tensions between Captain Pellaeon, the Grand Admiral, and Joruus C'baoth quickly turn into a game of cat and mouse between Thrawn and C'baoth while Pellaeon helplessly watches from the sidelines. There's a lot going on in these books, but the glut of action is kept tempered and engaging by creating intimacy with very few characters mattering in each tale. Not only that, but by focusing on no more than three people per plot, he gave plenty of time for those characters to individually matter to the reader.

This crucial element of Zahn's storytelling is largely absent in Allegiance, which is why it was so disappointing to me. He's an excellent writer, and if I wasn't familiar with his work, I probably would have enjoyed the book at the literary version of a summer blockbuster that is most Star Wars novels. Allegiance is largely bogged down by the rogue stormtroopers - there are five of them, and since they're all new (read: unfamiliar) characters that's too many to deal with and still be engaged. Also to the poor trooper's detriment, the superhero/Robin Hood story that they follow is so overdone - I expect something not quite so tired from a brilliant mind like Zahn. And most of their noble dialogue comes off as awkward and contrived - also something I'd never have expected from this author. Han, Luke, and Leia's plot is the strongest of the lot, as Zahn covers Han's painfully hilarious road of getting sucked in to the Rebellion - after Yavin, he's still made no commitment to it, and doesn't intend to, but the problem is that the Rebel leadership starts assuming that he's part of The Cause, and giving him jobs that reflect that belief. Zahn treats us to watching Han's intense discomfort at this discovery, conflicted by the fact that he has a soft spot for young Luke as a friend, not to mention the hots for Her Worship. Speaking of Luke, Zahn does a great job of reminding us that, at this point in the story, he was still a fresh-faced, untrained, rather naive kid, not the significantly wiser and jaded Jedi Master of the future. I wouldn't have minded the whole book following these three. They're familiar characters to all SW fans, and yet Zahn takes old knowledge and sneakily makes it new. Very enjoyable.

Unfortunately, the bad continues to outweigh the good in Allegiance, as painfully emphasized by Mara's story - which is particularly bizarre, as she's Zahn's character, created for Heir to the Empire and continued in Spectre of the Past and Vision of the Future. It seems that even the best Star Wars writers - and Zahn is the best - fall prey to the trap of painting Imperial characters who will later be redeemed as having been not so bad, even whey they served the Emperor. This is especially strange in regards to Mara, as the Thrawn trilogy introduced her as a cold, calculating person boiling with rage. Granted, most of this rage was in regards to Palpatine's death, but in that case, shouldn't it stand to reason that, when he was alive, she agreed with his views? Zahn throws us that bone in the last two pages of the book, mentioning Mara's love and adoration for the Emperor, but that doesn't hide the fact that her plot in this book is built on a foundation of her seeking to prevent an injustice. This is almost, I'm scared to say it about a Tim Zahn book, inconsistent - Zahn established when he first introduced Mara that she was Palpatine's apprentice, that she worshiped him and hung on his every teaching...and justice was never Palpatine's concern, power was. That's why, even though she's Zahn's character, I couldn't buy the idea that this 18 year-old girl, apprenticed to the most evil man in the galaxy, spends her time doing good. Like in the other plots, Zahn shows us what this books could have been - in Mara's case, he takes a bits-and-pieces look at her feud with Darth Vader. Zahn reasons that Vader would have hated Mara, not only viewing her as a threat, but as a replacement, perhaps even as a betrayal, watching the master who had taken Vader under his wing when he (Vader) was the same age as Mara take on a new apprentice. Vader's anger, suspicion, and jealousy play perfectly not only to old canon about Vader, but to what we've seen of Anakin's character from Revenge of the Sith. I would likely have been quite content with a whole book on the subject - it would have made for a fascinating character study, which is what Zahn does best.

It seems to me that, with Allegiance, Zahn tried something different than his usual. And I can't fault him for that - with the number of books this man has under his belt, what author wouldn't want to give themselves the challenge of trying something they never had before? In that, then, perhaps I am being to hard on him, because it's not uncommon to fail a first attempt. But I just can't shake what I already know about Zahn's traits and abilities as a writer, both from Star Wars and some of his other work. For people unfamiliar with Zahn's work in general, and the Thrawn trilogy in particular, I can see this being a very satisfactory, light and fun popcorn read. For people who know what he's done and what he's capable of, I predict no small disappointment.

Reports of my ISP's demise have been greatly exaggerated?

Maybe the guy said "end of June" but actually meant "end of July." Either way, I'm not complaining!

Amidst the raft of insane news today is the good insane, being a developing story on how Colombian army black ops successfully infiltrated FARC leadership and tricked them into loading 15 hostages onto a helicopter FARC was convinced belonged to fellow rebels - now that's a shining example of what the black ops boys are for! - and the ludicrously bad insane, being Henry Morgentaler's induction into the Order of Canada. I won't expound too much here, as there are plenty of good arguments published today from both sides of the abortion debate as to why this is improper and undeserved (several were in The National Post, which maintains a website - I encourage you to check it out). One person interviewed by the Post hit the nail on the head when he compared Morgantaler receiving the Order to giving the Victoria Cross to a mercenary. The stated and self-defined purpose of The Order of Canada is to recognize people whom the majority of Canadians regard as a hero. With the country split almost evenly on whether or not abortion is ethical, and even the majority of pro-choicers supporting limits on things like abortions based on eugenics, and third-trimester abortions, Morgentaler's baffling induction proves that the selection committee was more concerned about their personal ideological and political biases than the purpose of the Order of Canada. I agree with the commentators who have gone so far as to say that his induction debases the award. And that bang-on mercenary comparison...here we have the Governor-General, honouring a man who forced the legalization of abortion not by bringing it to the legislature for debate and enactment - Morgentaler could never be bothered to do anything so pedestrian - but by opening an illegal clinic, and denying all concepts of medical ethics by railing against any attempts at creating acceptable limits, like the afore-mentioned eugenic and third-trimester abortions. When even a large segment of the pro-choice movement considers him to be irrational and dangerous, you have to wonder what the selection committee was thinking.

In better Order of Canada news, former BTO member and new jazz man Randy Bachman has also been inducted. I'm not a fan of BTO, but it was a very important band. And I love Bachman's gorgeous, sultry jazz work. He's made huge contributions to the Canadian music industry, and the people love him. Congratulations, Randy!

On a completely different note, Entertainment Weekly's Popwatch blog posted something today that made me laugh so hard (in a good way) that tears were streaming down my face. The blogger is petitioning folks to share their misheard lyrics experiences, and the slightly embarrassed bonding taking place in the comments section is absolutely priceless. One brave soul admitted to having always misheard Chumbawumba's "Tubthumping" as being about not being able to find a towel upon exiting the bath (as she noted, the song is called TUBthumping!); another brought me joy by revealing that he heard the opening lyrics of "Brown Eyed Girl" - 'Hey where did we go' - as "Hey Amigo", several people revealed that they'd always heard "Secret Agent Man" as "Secret Asian Man", and a mother shared her three year-old's take on that perpetually misheard childhood classic, the chorus of "Puff the Magic Dragon". I threw my hat into the ring by admitting that, for over a decade, I thought the chorus to the Crash Test Dummies' Tarzan/Superman song was "Superman never made any money saving the world from Sodom and Gundy" - I figured, just because I didn't know what a gundy was didn't mean it wasn't a plausible lyric. Thanks to The Long Halloween, I know about DC universe villain Solomon Grundy, and, for the first time in my life, know the right words to the song. Hooray! I also couldn't resist sharing with the world that, even after showing him the track list on the album cover, Corey still hears "She's got a ticket to ride" as "She's got a chicken to ride". I think that's priceless. You can read the comments in full here. I highly recommend it. It'll make your day.

...Surpriiiise!

"There must be some way out of here," said the joker to the thief,
"There's too much confusion, I can't get no relief.
Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth,
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth."

"No reason to get excited," the thief, he kindly spoke,
"There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.
But you and I, we've been through that, and this is not our fate,
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late."

All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too.

Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl,
Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl.


Should'a realized that a small Canadian business wouldn't do business on Canada Day, thus buying me one more day of blogging...very fortuitous, as I celebrated Confederation by finishing off season 3 of Battlestar.

J. Michael Stracynzki, creator and sole scriptwriter of Babylon 5, once famously answered a fan's question regarding the physics of projectile weapons in the B5 universe by saying that bullets travel at the speed of plot. On Battlestar, what moves at the speed of plot is intelligence, which can be very frustrating when we've been told (and shown) that our heroes can do better - as in the season finale, where the entire command staff notices that the Cylons have mysteriously stopped tailing the fleet, three jumps away from the huge ion nebula that will hopefully point the way to Earth...and thinks nothing of it, and jumps with both feet, with no one coming up with the idea that maybe, just maybe, the Cylons went for the nebula instead, as the fleet wouldn't detect them there because of all the radiation and interference? Boooooooooooo! I hate when the writers do that. I think it's very lazy. I also think they've repeatedly demonstrated that they can do much, much better.

That being said, I'm still very happy with this season, and content with where it's left off. It continued to emphasize that Roslin is a very realistic leader - brilliantly perceptive in some areas, yet completely blind in others, as demonstrated in the episode dealing with poor working conditions in the fleet that resulted in sabotage and striking. It continued to look Lee Adama in the face, with the proceedings of Baltar's trial confirming just what a firecracker of a man he is, and how easily that passion can be manipulated. The way Baltar's attorney so easily got Lee to join the defense team, with him being completely convinced that he was doing it on his own accord and not to get revenge/show his father that he's his own man? Priceless. Also priceless: the fact that Lee continues to believe he's his own man, and doesn't make all his important decisions based on his feelings towards Starbuck or the admiral. Jamie Bamber is doing a great job bringing these factors to life.

Fortunately, the folks behind the camera didn't get too straw man when getting into the issue of a "re-emerging" aristocracy and underclass - but they also ignored the fact that they clearly stated such a system was already in place when everyone was living on the Colonies, with the lower-class folks who "made it" being the exception rather than the rule. The problem with going into unnecessary issues - and, at this point in the show, everything not directly related to the skin Cylons, the final five, and Earth is unnecessary - is that if you're going to spend precious airtime on it, you have to do it really well to justify taking up the space. So I was very disappointed with the strike episode, especially as they'd already addressed the problem in the previous episode, which was really tight.

Where they did straw man the viewer was during Baltar's trial. Can anyone seriously believe that the prosecutor would be so rattled or whatever the writers intended by Lee's testimony masquerading as a closing statement that she wouldn't, um, give a closing statement? That being said, the trial in general wasn't nearly what I'd feared it to be, and I appreciated the commentary on the broken state of our justice system, that so often requires us to let the guilty walk so as not to risk punishing the innocent. I think they took a decent crack at the problem for 90 minutes of TV. I also appreciated just how skilled Baltar's attorney was. As well, Lee made some excellent points regarding who had received presidential pardons for heinous acts, some of them potentially just as heinous as the ones they can confirm Baltar was responsible for. It was an interesting look at the nature of forgiveness and blame.

Thanks to newspapers that like to print that sort of thing, I knew when the episode first aired that Starbuck would die near the end of the season. What baffles me is that so many people, at the time, actually believed she was dead for good, when the whole episode was spent discussing how she was being prepared to travel to the space in-between to fulfill her destiny. Is the DVD release completely different from what was aired? Is this proof that more media hasn't made us better at multitasking (no MSN messenger while the TV's on for you!)? Either way, it was a nice, strong episode. Other nice thing about this season: it didn't overdose on Starbuck-based episodes. There was just enough to keep her trials interesting and relevant.

One thing the newspapers didn't spoil flagrantly? That there were four Cylons revealed at the end of the season, not three. Maybe they figured people wouldn't care about Tori, because she's not a major character? She's the president's freakin' aide! Why wouldn't we care? The plus side: at least I had one surprise. Wish I'd had all four surprises, as the confirmation was stunning and nicely done. Second priceless moment of the evening: in the midst of flight-deck chaos, Callie spotting Tyrol and asking where he'd been, and him replying, in a manner suggesting absolutely nothing out of the ordinary, "I'll tell you later."

And I'm not sure why the producers/director re-imagined "All Along the Watchtower" as Indian music. Maybe it was an interesting exercise in arranging, but as a film score I found it unnecessarily confusing, as Indian sounds had no relation whatsoever to the story. When they used Arabic music during the Cylon occupation and human insurgency, it was heavy-handed, but the comparison made sense from a narrative point of view. This? not so much!

Something I noticed in the last few episodes was that I should really go back and watch the little black-and-white cartoon at the end of each episode, as they appear to be very relevant to the show's point of view. For example, they appeared to confirm, for all the show's focus on faith and destiny (and Starbuck's story of the person who least believes in destiny winding up having one she must submit to), that they don't actually respect religion or take it seriously with a little cartoon clip of The Exorcist ("we need more religion!"). Interesting. At the end of the season finale, the cartoon was another classic movie clip, this time referencing Ray Harryhausen's Jason and the Argonauts - extremely interesting in this context, because of the nature and purpose of Jason's voyage, and the fact that his guiding patron goddess is....Hera, for whom Helo and Sharon's daughter is named. So now I'm wondering what's in the rest of those cartoons...

Hopefully the first half of season 4 will be on DVD by the end of the summer. In the meantime, here are my predictions for where it's headed:

1) The skinjobs are not actually Cylons, but highly evolved humans from the 13th colony - the basestar Hybrid makes a good case for this being the next step in human evolution;

2) The skinjobs were made not by other Cylons, but by the 13th colony, or;

3) They'll take the pyramid way out; in other words, it will be revealed that the Cylons are not our misguided children - it's the other way around.

I'm betting on theory 3 myself, as a) the concept of the human race being created by or derived from aliens or "others" is a very popular sci-fi idea, and b) it'll satisfy the humanist audience, because then God didn't make humanity, he just enabled the Cylons to do so (or he's really just something the skinjobs made up to justify their own existence and actions); and it'll satisfy the religious audience, because it makes for the sort of good metaphor people love to make pop-culture devotional books out of (Finding God in Battlestar Galactica, coming soon to a bookstore near you!) - there is that persistent belief that co-opting (instead of discussing) popular media is a good evangelism tool. Also, it will provide a good reason for the Cylons launching the nuclear assault on the colonies, and their obsessive pursuit of the survivors - a version of the Flood story, if you will (their creation has become so horrible they want to start from scratch). This is especially plausible due to season 1, which focused largely on how disgusted the Cylons had become with humanity's view of, and response to, God - it's been established that they see the human race of having abandoned God, and erred so wrongly as to enslave their makers. It would also be the most effective one-two punch - what would be more shocking on this show than the revelation that the Cylons were right?

The downside to the concept being so popular is that it's become very tired and overdone but, let's face it, it's the easiest way out - something which, for all the high quality it offers on a regular basis, BSG has repeatedly proven itself to not be above. And if you do a tired idea well - very well - it can still make for engaging TV. And I believe the writers can do it very well - the question is, will they?

I may sound harsh, but I did in fact enjoy this season. It was a significant improvement from the second, it had a good flow of episodes, and was generally solid and compelling TV - and I am greatly looking forward to what comes next.