The Doena Journal

I’ve been reading the Buffy and Angel comics that represent the eighth / sixth season for a while now. And I have read good critics about the works of Frank Miller - he wrote the graphic novels Sin City and 300 which were made into movies and Christian Bale’s Batman is also based on his interpretation of the hero.

So I decided to order a batch of new stuff.

These are the Buffy / Angel comics that I already have:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No Future For You

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wolves at the Gate

Angel: After the Fall

Angel: After the Fall: First Night
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Deutsche Version | March | May

April, 10th

They Call Me Trinity

Terence Hill … Trinità
Bud Spencer … Bambino
Farley Granger … Maj. Harriman
Elena Pedemonte … Judith
Steffen Zacharias … Jonathan
Dan Sturkie … Tobias
Gisela Hahn … Sarah

Synopsis: Trinity comes into a small town where he meets his brother Bambino again. Bambino is the Sheriff there after he accidentally shot the real Sheriff (i.e. he thought the Sheriff was pursuing him, but he wasn’t). Trinity takes the role of the Deputy Sheriff and together they help a group of Mormon settlers who have trouble with a man who wants their land for his horses.

My Opinion: Except for the early movies, Bud Spencer & Terrence Hill movies are always harmless fun. They are childhood favourites of mine and have a certain cult status here in Germany. This is mostly due to a very unique dubbing of these movies but I still enjoy them very much and I own pretty much all of them.

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Party Down - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
“Party Down” (2009)

This show is about six actors or writers who are catering to make a living. In every episode they cater at a different party with everything that follows.

I just watched the first six episodes and it’s decently funny. It’s not funny in the classical “sitcom funny” way but more because it portrays reality quite realistic. My favourite episodes so far were the Republican Party congress and the Porn Oscar party.
There are quite a few series regulars from Veronica Mars on this show and Enrico Colantoni (Keith Mars) and Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars) made a guest appearance in the first episode.

This must be a cable Pay TV show because there’s nudity and swearing in it.

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Deutsche Version | Stargate: The Arc of Truth

Synopsis: SG-1 takes part in the ceremony where the last Ba’al clone gets his symbiont removed. The last of the System Lords is defeated. But something is happening. First Vala disappears, then Teal’c and then more and more people. Cameron, Sam and Daniel manage to get through the Stargate home but when they arrive on Earth everything has changed. The gate is somewhere in the arctic and Earth’s history of the last 60 years seems to have changed. Another Ba’al clone has changed the past to win in the future.

My Opinion: The elements of this story aren’t new, not even to Stargate SG-1. A time travel after which the Stargate program doesn’t exist also happened in Moebius. And the way the “ripple effect” changed the future didn’t make much sense either. But I still liked this movie, it was nice to see them all again (Don S. Davis in his last appearance) and I liked how Daniel tried to speak to Daniel and how they once again joined forces with the First Prime Teal’c. Also this movie didn’t have any lengths, it felt like a slightly longer regular episode even though it was twice as long.

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Deutsche Version | Galactica 1980 | Season 1: Disc 1

Synopsis: Many years ago the Humans in the Twelve Colonies of Kobol build themselves advanced machines that would work for them. But these machines developed and one day they began a war against their masters.
40 years has it been since the war has ended and the Cylons disappeared. Now they are back and they want the total annihilation of mankind. They have hacked into colonial defences and disabled it. The attack comes swift and deadly. Only a handful of ships under the lead of the Battlestar Galactica survives this holocaust. Now they want to find the mystical thirteenth colony of Kobol: Earth.

My Opinion: When I heard that there would be a new Battlestar Galactica series, I was excited. This series is nothing like the old one except for the basic story. Some of the characters have changed gender and/or skin colour, their names have become call signs and Adama is no longer the lone leader of the fleet. He’s now a military commander who was about to retire. The role of the civilian leader was taken by President Laura Roslin who is a counterpoise to Adama. Also, the characters aren’t so upright anymore: Lee “Apollo” Adama dislikes his father because of what happened to his brother, Kara “Starbuck” Thrace hits “superior assholes” once in a while, Colonel Tigh is a drunk, Baltar is the egocentric scientist who inadvertently let the Cylons into the defence mainframe and Sharon “Boomer” Valerii is a Cylon sleeper agent. Ah yes: And some Cylons look like Humans now. Of these 12 human models we know 4 so far.
What I like about this mini-series and the following series was that they didn’t overdo the Sci-Fi elements. When they use FX it looks great but they decided to don’t make everything futuristic. The interior and the normal stuff looks pretty much normal. No fancy laser pistols, no communicators, no spacy music instruments.

Season 1: Disc 1

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Deutsche Version | Battlestar Galactica (1978) | Battlestar Galactica (2003)

Disc 1

Galactica Discovers Earth

Synopsis: After many yahren, the Galactica has finally discovered Earth. But Earth isn’t the save heaven they had hoped for. They are technologically inferior and wouldn’t survive a Cylon attack. Adama decides to send small teams down there to speed up Earth’s development while he leads the fleet away from Earth since they are still followed by the Cylons. Troy (who was called Boxey when he was a child) and Dillon are being send to a country called “United States of America” where they want to meet with a leading nuclear scientist. And the local TV reporter Jamie Hamilton becomes their “tour guide”.

My Opinion: And once again Los Angeles was destroyed by aliens - even though it was only a simulation. I liked this first episode of the series, it showed promise. To bad the bridge sets seemed to be destroyed. The new bridge looked far inferior to the old one, but I liked to see Colonel Boomer again. I had forgotten that another recurring character (besides Adama) from the old show reappeared in this show. I also like the new two-seated Vipers because I like Jamie and that gives her the chance to ride along.

Galactica Discovers Earth, Part II

Synopsis: Troy and Dillon have been ordered back to the Galactica and they brought Jamie along (they didn’t have much choice). Dr. Xaviar has travelled back in time to advance Earth’s development in th past. He’s gone into the year 1944 and to Peenemünde in Nazi-Germany. He’s helping to develop the V2 and must be stopped. Troy, Dillon and Jamie follow him there.

My Opinion: The whole plot doesn’t make much sense. Even if he could change the past, 36 years are clearly not enough to catapult Earth’s technology forward in a way that it would be of any use in 1980. And even though the Nazis were the most advanced in regards to rocket science at this point in time I think it’s very unlikely that the “Master Race” would be very open-minded towards a truly superior alien race.

Galactica Discovers Earth, Part III

Synopsis: Troy and Dillon can successfully sabotage the start of the V2 and it explodes shortly after launch. Xaviar is accused of being a spy and gets arrested but can escape, returns to his Viper and travels back to his own time. Jamie, Dillon and Troy follow him but lose his trail. After they successfully returned Jamie to California a new problem arises: The cloaking field has deactivated and made the Vipers visible. They are now in the hand of the US military and they need to get them back.

My Opinion: Even if the V2 test had worked (btw: the V2 tests started in 1942, in 1944 they were already mass-produced in slave labour), one year later a nuclear bomb over Europe would have still ended the war.
Also: They won’t kill german soldiers because that would change the future but they free an entire train of Jews who were about to be brought to Auschwitz. Don’t get me wrong: I don’t critizise the break-out but then they might as well shoot the Germans.

The Super Scouts

Synopsis: After the Cylons have attacked and destroyed the fleet’s school ship, Dillon and Troy have to evacuate 12 of the children down to Earth. There they disguise themselves as boy (and girl) scouts. Due to the higher gravity and the denser atmosphere in the fleet the children are stronger and faster as normal children of Earth. But that doesn’t protect them from Earth’s diseases and especially not from water that is poisoned by a chemical plant.

My Opinion: C’mon, gimme a break! Kids that jump 30 foot high? How high can Troy and Dillon jump? The Empire States Building? It’s always a good idea to critizise how we treat our environment, but to shift the focus in a Sci-Fi show from their main protagonists to a bunch of kids who (of course) do childish things isn’t a good idea.

The Super Scouts, Part II

Synopsis: Troy and Dillon have to care for three of their children who are very ill. But that’s not their only problem. The military is after them because they detected the landing of the shuttle. The police is after them because they are accused of bank robbery. And the local workers are after them because they threaten the chemical plant.

My Opinion: And now a real “flying saucer”, too. This ship looks nothing like a ship from the colonies. Why would they use such a design? No, these two episodes didn’t work for me at all.
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Deutsche Version | “Battlestar Galactica” Marathon (1978-2009) | Galactica 1980

Disc 1

Saga of a Star World

Synopsis: For a thousand yahren the war with the Cylons has lasted. The Cylons are machines and their creators - the original race called “Cylons” - have died out long ago. But now an armistice was negotiated by Baltar and the fleet of the Twelve Colonies of Man meets with the Cylons to sign a peace treaty. But Baltar has betrayed his own species to seize power and the Cylons launch a large-scale attack on the colonial fleets and the colonies. Only one Battlestar - the Galactica - and a few refugees survive that holocaust. But there’s a myth about a thirteenth colony of Kobol. Commander Adama and his fleet of 220 ships leave the colonies behind to find that legendary colony: Earth. But it won’t be an easy journey and there are still those who believe that mankind should lay down its weapons and seek peace with the Cylons.

My Opinion: The show begins with an epic three-parter which was re-cut and re-published as a movie. The designs of that show are still great. The Galactica, the Cylons (”walking chrome toasters”), the Cylon Raiders, the Basestars. Although the deception of mankind and the destruction of the fleet was a bit too easy, it was a decent start for the story and it showed that Adama is an astute commander and that he has the best pilots in the fleet. I also liked their sense of humour: One of the ships had an advertisement printed on the side: “Colonial Movers - We Move Anywhere”. The characters are also good. They may not have the depth of nowadays’s characters, but they have charm: Adama, Apollo, Starbuck, Athena, Cassiopeia, Serina, … and of course the diabolical Baltar.

Lost Planet of the Gods

Synopsis: Starbuck and Apollo detect a vast electromagnetic void on one of their patrols. Once inside it, there are no more stars, no more anything. But Galactica hasn’t much choice because Jolly and Boomer have detected a cylon outpost on their patrol. And there’s another problem: Jolly and Boomer have brought some kind of disease with them and they have infected most of the fighter pilots during Apollo’s bachelor party. Now the shuttle pilots have to learn how to fly a Viper. Amongst them: Athena and Serina, Apollo’s fiancé.

My Opinion: It sounds a bit harsh but it would have been more realistic if they had killed at least one of the cadets. They’re sitting in a Viper for the first time and yet they destroy an antire squadron of Cylon Raiders. But I really liked it that they made no (verbal) issue about them being woman, just rookies. But one could see that Starbuck and Apollo felt a bit uncomfortable because “things had changed”.
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I don’t know. I’ve always been a fan of the show but for the last 1.75 seasons I don’t know where the show is heading anymore.

In the begin of season seven they brought Kara in but never made anything interesting out of this character. After the writers strike they brought up this rather ridiculous Veritas arc which contradicted basically everything we’ve learned in the last seven years. Then they decided to show Lex Clark’s secret full knowing that Michael Rosenbaum wouldn’t return in an eighth season.

Then we start with the eighth season. Lana is gone, Lex is gone. But the cliffhanger isn’t really continued, it’s simply broken off and the story continues elsewhere. They don’t even mention Kara, as if nothing had happened. And from where I am standing this whole eight season is devoted to destroy the character of Chloe. She’s been less and less the Chloe I’ve known and loved for seven years with every episode that gets aired. And maybe that’s the purpose. Maybe they want to kill her off at some point because she doesn’t exist in the original Superman universe.

But how is this ever going to work in this Smallville universe? Lana is gone and Clark finally begins to develop some feelings for Lois but suddenly they bring Lana back and Clark forgets all about Lois. And even worse: Chloe forgets all about her husband lying heavily injured in a hospital in Star City. She helps Clark and lets Lois take care of her husband! And then Lana is gone again and this time it will be permanent. And Lois will be rebound girl. And how can Clark ever become Superman in the original maskless costume when he already works glassless in the Daily Planet alongside Lois and Jimmy?

I always thought that Superman’s costume was a bit lame, but now it’s logically impossible to not be recognized by at least the DP people.

We may have a Big Bad this season and Clark will eventually defeat him in the end but I am get less interested with every episode. They have already ordered a ninth season. But I am quite sure they haven’t even a clue yet what it will be about.

Sorry, but that’s how I feel.

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