My dad was a big fan of cheesy 70s shows… Wonder Woman, Emergency, CHiPs, The Six Million Dollar Man… Maybe that’s where I got my geekiness. There was no way we could miss Lindsay Wagner’s “Bionic Woman”, where a woman also got both her legs, an arm, an eye and an ear replaced with bionic implants.
That wasn’t that much of a coincidence – lots of hospitals had “Leg, Arm, Eye and Ear” wards back then. Happened all the time! These days, though, Kaiser Permanente gets charged $50 million for the whole bionic refitting.
Take that, Michael Moore!
Done by the same people who brought you the updated “Battlestar Galactica”, this show is full of nods to geekdom – refs to “Blade Runner”, subtle connections to BG (from a cameo by Aaron “Chief Tyrol” Douglas to the whole “bionic = Cylon” thing), and a long lingering shot of the Moon – our Moon – that squelches speculation that this is a BG prequel.
It’s an action show, no better or worse than others. Katee Sackhoff is gleefully over the top as the villainous “first bionic woman. Tada.”, Sarah Corvis. Michelle Ryan’s Jamie Sommers goes from shrieking hysterics to trading one-liners with Sackhoff. Jamie’s bartending gig and rebellious deaf younger sister (who hates her) should make for a good crop of characters to be put in danger each episode.
Â
Â
Â
“Hyperdrive”, a comedy science fiction show from Britain in the vein of “Red Dwarf” now finishing its second series, was a shock. I’d never heard of it until now, but wish I had. The proud crew of the “H.M.S. Camden Lock” (modeled after the British Telecom tower) goes boldly forth to protect Britain’s interests in a changing galaxy, and save Earth from the evil Shiny Red Robots (who enslave planets and force people to work for minimum wage).
Nick Frost’s Commander Henderson tries take the Lock’s change of mission from a ship of the line in the war against the Shiny Red Robots to a trade mission trying to find alien civilizations who might be willing to open a branch in an industrial park outside Peterborough (“it’s a sideways move!”). Psycopathic first officer York (Kevin Eldon), lovelorn but tidy second officer Teal (Miranda Hart), bewildered ship’s navigator Vine (Stephen Evans) and rebellious science officer Jeffers (Dan Antopolski) round out the cast.
Absolutely hilarious. If you liked Red Dwarf (or British comedy in general)Â at all, you’ll love this.
From Amazon came finally the DVD version of 1996’s “Hamlet” with Kenneth Branagh playing the title role. I’m a huge Hamlet fan, but this is the first time I have ever seen it complete. Every word in the play is on the screen… and yet it doesn’t feel long. The pacing is good, the visuals fantastic, and the language as beautiful and rich as ever. Branagh’s performance tosses away the subtlety of Olivier’s famous rendition, but on the other hand, it’s more approachable for those new to the story of the Danish prince who feigns madness in order to prove his uncle killed his father, the previous King Hamlet, married his mother and claimed the throne the same day his father was buried.
Worth the wait, but make sure you have the four hours free to watch it in one sitting.