This year I made a list what I paid for DVDs for the first time – it would have been better if I hadn’t… This…
I am back – and still alive ;-)
I started from Berlin yesterday morning at 9.45 am. The travel went very well, it was very few traffic as I had hoped. I had…
Science-Fiction Mini Marathon
It wasn’t planned as such, but in the last few weeks I have watched quite a number of Science-Fiction movies and a good part of them were “Doomsday” movies, so I might as well write a few words about them. Most of these movies are very, very US-patriotic but when you can accept that and when you can ignore the scientific “inaccuracies” you can have a lot of fun with them.
Will Smith … Captain Steven Hiller
Bill Pullman … President Thomas J. Whitmore
Jeff Goldblum … David Levinson
Mary McDonnell … First Lady Marilyn Whitmore
Judd Hirsch … Julius Levinson
Robert Loggia … General William Grey
Randy Quaid … Russell Casse
Margaret Colin … Constance Spano
Vivica A. Fox … Jasmine Dubrow
Adam Baldwin … Major Mitchell
Brent Spiner … Dr. Brackish Okun
Synopsis: July, 2nd. Some aliens come in a huge ship. They place their UFOs all over the world and blow everything apart. July, 3rd. We try to strike back and fail miserably. July, 4th. We give them a cold and blow them apart.
My Opinion: Great movie. Love it. It’s so cheesy that falls out of the bottom of the scale and comes back from the top of it. The characters are so overdrawn that you can’t take them seriously and that saves the movie. Imagine you would have to look at this movie with a serious eye. The president that fights in the final battle, the drunken pilot that saves the day, the scientist that writes a computer virus for an alien computer and Will Smith in the middle of it.
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Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock
Here’s Sheldon’s official rulebook for episode 2×08 The Lizard-Spock Expansion‘s “Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock” Download (PDF) I made it myself. 😀 [youtube iapcKVn7DdY] PS:…
Tribute to John Williams
The story of Star Wars sung to the tunes of John William’s music: [youtube lk5_OSsawz4]
Deep Space Nine: Season 3
Deutsche Version | Season 2 | Season 4
Disc 1
The Search, Part I
Synopsis: During his stay at the Utopia Planitia ship yards (prior to his assignment to DS9), Sisko has helped designing and building a ship whose sole purpose was to fight the Borg: The Defiant. It’s over-powered and over-gunned for a ship this size but now DS9 needs it. And the feature list has been updated. In the hope to find the Founders of the Dominion without having to engage in battle the Defiant has got a cloaking system – sponsored by the Romulan Empire. Sisko hopes to contact the Founders and show them that the Federation is no enemy of them.
My Opinion: From a diplomatic and tactical POV this was a stupid idea. If you’d want to negotiate with the leaders of an enemy force, would you take your biggest gunship and try to sneak into enemy territory? It would be like taking a B-2 Spirit, landing it on the Red Square and trying to talk to Khrushchev. But I liked the general idea of the Defiant from the beginning. The Star Trekian universe has never been a very peaceful one and the Federation is surrounded mostly by hostile forces. I wonder how many Starfleet ships have been destroyed in the cardassian border wars because they weren’t really equipped to fight in a war.
The Search, Part II
Synopsis: Unfortunately the cloaking system didn’t help in the end and when the crew returns to DS9, the Vorta are already there and they negotiate with Starfleet. But Sisko and the others become more and more uneasy because of where these negotiations are going. Meanwhile Kira and Odo are still in the GQ because Odo has finally found his people.
My Opinion: I remember that – when I watched it for the first time – I didn’t see it coming that the changelings are the Founders. But this episode also made clear that the Dominion isn’t interested in being left alone. Now that they know of the wormhole they want to impose their idea of ‘order’ in the AQ and there isn’t much Sisko or Starfleet could do about it, short of actually blowing up the wormhole. Or as Aragorn said to Théoden: “Open war is upon you, whether you would risk it or not.” 🙁
The House of Quark
Synopsis: A drunken Klingon attacks Quark in his bar but accidentally kills himself. But Quark tells a story how he heroically killed the warrior in a battle of life and death. And ironically, some Klingons actually want that he sticks to that story, although for different reasons. And suddenly Quark finds himself as the head of a klingon house.
My Opinion: I loved this episode. Quark and Grillka were great together and the clashing of ferengi and klingon culture was also fun to watch. But divorce seems to be painful. 😉 And it was nice to see chancellor Gowron again although I have to admit the more klingon episodes I watch the less I can wait for Martok to make his appearance.
Equilibrium
Synopsis: Dax begins to behave irrationally and aggressively. Additionally she has hallucinations. Bashir fears that the symbiosis is breaking apart and that they may lose Jadzia. Sisko and Bashir return with her to Trill but the mystery is getting bigger instead of being solved. Something isn’t right with one of Dax’s previous hosts.
My Opinion: This was an average episode. The ‘revelation’ wasn’t that interesting and the episode hadn’t much plot at all.
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Deep Space Nine: Season 2
Deutsche Version | Season 1 | Season 3
Disc 1
The Homecoming
Synopsis: A new movement is growing on Bajor. They call themselves “The Circle” and they want “Bajor to the Bajorans”, i.e. all out-worlders should leave the bajoran system. Meanwhile Kira learns that Li Nalas – a hero of the resistance – is still alive and he’s being held prisoner on a cardassian planet. She and O’Brien disguise themselves as traders and try to rescue him.
My Opinion: I remembered this three-part season opener to be somewhat uninteresting but I really enjoyed it this time. It’s “funny” to see how something that happened almost only by accident can develop into a legend and how the protagonist becomes a hero. Although they are nothing alike the story of Li Nalas becoming a hero reminded me of the Firefly episode Jaynestown.
The Circle
Synopsis: Li Nalas has become the new liasion officer aboard DS9 and Kira has been recalled to Bajor. But there fights have broken out. The Circle has acquired a lot of weapons and is now openly moving against the provisional government. What they don’t know: The weapons were delivered by the Cardassians (although not directly) who are hoping that The Circle drives the Federation away and thus opening the system for another cardassian invasion.
My Opinion: That was an interesting turn of events with Frank Langella (Skeletor in Masters of the Universe) once again in the role of the bad guy. But I like him in these roles. 🙂 Interesting thing – especially in comparison to later seasons and later shows – is that you only had to hear the distant rumbling of war to believe that there is one, without seeing it. I don’t condemn special effects scenes, I really like them, but if a movie or series relies to heavy on them the actual storytelling moves into the background or is forgotten at all. That’s the reason the Star Wars Episodes I – III didn’t work for me.
The Siege
Synopsis: All non-bajoran civilians have been evacuated with the help of the runabouts Ganges, Orinoco and Rio Grande. But Sisko and his Starfleet crew remains in the hope that he can delay the surrender of the station until Kira presents the evidence of the cardassian involvement in the Chamber of Ministers.
My Opinion: A good conclusion but I hated to see Vedek Winn squirm herself out again. As I said I like good bad characters. I’Ve always liked Gul Dukat or (later) Weyoun, but I never liked Winn (Louise Fletcher; Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest). But at least life is going back to normal on the station – for now.
Invasive Procedures
Synopsis: During a plasma storm the station is running only with a skeleton crew when a nearby ship declares an emergency and has to be pulled in. But the mayday was a fake, the ship’s crew takes control over DS9. Why? To get the Dax symbiont and transplant it into the group’s leader who feels that he deserves to be blended with a Trill symbiont. But that will kill Jadzia and Sisko won’t let that happen.
My Opinion:I didn’t pay attention to the credits but when I saw Verad (Dax) I instantly knew I knew him. But it took me a while to figure it out. I assumed that – since he had not much of a mask – he usually wears one. But then it came to me. The beard and the long hair was missing: John Glover a.k.a. Lionel Luthor from Smallville. 
I liked this episode because here we saw how a person can change when he/she is blending with a symbiont. This is one of the rare before/after moments since we’ve never known Jadzia without Dax.
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The Big Bang Theory: Season 1
Season 1
Disc 1
Pilot
Synopsis: The two theoretical physicists Leonard and Sheldon get a new Neighbour: Penny, a waitress in The Cheesecake Factory. And suddenly two galaxies begin to crash into each other.
My Opinion: I liked the series from the beginning, all these cultural references gave me a happy. But I also liked the small details like Howards’ belt buckle (this time a Nintendo gamepad –> look out for it, it changes from episode to episode!) and the “table of elements” shower curtain.
The Big Bran Hypothesis
Synopsis: After he’s seen the chaos that is Penny’s appartment, Sheldon cleans it (and Leonard helps him) during the night while Penny’s sleeping. Naturally she freaks out when she realizes what they’ve done.
My Opinion: I think every episode of the first season is funny as hell, so no point repeating it over and over again. The best scenes of this episode were the discussion about Lois Lane’s fall and the re-design of the IKEA media center.
The Fuzzy Boots Corollary
Synopsis: After having no luck with Leslie, Leonard tries to ask Penny out to a date. But she totally misinterprets the invitation, thus not considering it a date.
My Opinion: I recognized Sarah Gilbert (Leslie; Darlene in Roseanne) at once but I needed a friend to really open my eyes. I didn’t think I knew Johnny Galecki (Leonard) from anywhere until my friend pointed out that he played Darlene’s friend David on Roseanne.
The Luminous Fish Effect
Synopsis: Sheldon gets canned after he’s insulted his new boss in his very own – and typical – way. But he uses his time off to invent new things the world was waiting for, e.g. a luminous fish as a night light.
My Opinion: First Sarah and now Laurie Metcalf (Jackie in Roseanne). It’s like family reunion. 
I am wondering where the authors get all these ideas, e.g. to make a physicists weaving his own poncho. It’s hilarious. I also find it terribly funny when Sheldons asks things or answers to questions with no regard to the appropriateness.
The Hamburger Postulate
Synopsis: After they been practicing with their classical instruments, Leonard sleeps with Leslie and is now torn between his fantasy about Penny and the prospect of having a real relatuonship with Leslie.
My Opinion: And again it’s Sheldon and his not having a clue about social conventions that makes me laugh the most (“Message received!”). But the entire banana scene was also really great.
The Middle Earth Paradigm
Synopsis: Penny invites the four – Leonard, Sheldon, Howard and Raj – over to a Halloween party and Leonard hopes that he can present himself in another light during that party.
My Opinion: Nerds. All the costumes were great and also the commentaries about them (Flashs walk in row; hobbit vs. elf; Robin Hood vs. Peter Pan) and I also really liked the closing scene.
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Deep Space Nine: Season 1
Deutsche Version | Preamble | Season 2
Disc 1
Emissary
Synopsis: Deep Space Nine is a former cardassian space station orbiting the formerly occupied planet Bajor. The Bajorans have lived for 60 years under cardassian rule but now they are free. The provisional government has asked the Federation for support and Starfleet takes over the management of DS9. It’s commander is Benjamin Sisko, who has lost his wife three years ago in the battle against the Borg and now he must raise his son alone in the middle of nowhere. His second in command is Major Kira, a former bajoran resistance fighter. The rest of the crew are both Starfleet officers of all kind of races and Bajorans. Chief of security is Odo, a shape-shifter with unknown origins.
The spiritual leader of the Bajorans asks Cmdr. Sisko to study the “Tears of the Prophets”, mythical orbs that have come to Bajor of the last ten thousand years. With their help Cmdr. Sisko discovers the only known stable wormhole in our galaxy and it leads to the Gamma Quadrant, to a point 70,000 light years away from DS9, on the other side of the galaxy. And suddenly the bajoran system has been put onto the map and the Cardassians will accept any excuse to re-take it.
My Opinion: It’s very clear from the beginning that DS9 will be different than its predecessor Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG). TNG played on a all-Federation-personnel Starfleet spaceship, while on DS9 uncounted cultures clash: Starfleet personnel, Bajorans and the civilians aboard the station – for example Quark, the Ferengi bar owner. And most of the characters have a background story and their lives haven’t been straight-forward. I really like that. Unfortunately I can’t really remember what I thought about them, when I saw them for the first time back in the mid-90s, but DS9 is now my favourite Star Trek show and one of my favourite Sci-Fi shows.
I also liked the idea of the “handshake” when the Enterprise made an appearance in the pilot episode, something they will do again when the Voyager departs from DS9 in their pilot episode. But the meeting between Captain Picard and Cmdr. Sisko also showed that these shows will be different.
Past Prologue
Synopsis: A bajoran scout ship is being attacked by a cardassian warship but the pilot can be beamed out shortly before his ship is destroyed. He seeks asylum aboard DS9 because he was a member of the Khon-Ma, a “terrorist cell” during the occupation. Kira knows him from these days and she pleads to Sisko to grant asylum. But not all Cardassians have left the station. The local tailor Garak – who is suspected to be a spy – contacts Dr. Bashir in a rather unorthodox way and informs him about a meeting between two klingon renegades and the former terrorist.
My Opinion: The first episodes of the season will be used to introduce the viewers to the characters. While the pilot was mostly about Sisko and the loss of his wife at Wolf 359, this episode is about Kira and her past in the resistance. It was an OK episode, but I really liked the introduction of Garak, who will become an interesting guest character over the years.
A Man Alone
Synopsis: Odo tries to throw a Bajoran out of Quark’s casino/bar and wants him off the station. A few hours later that man is dead and there are no traces that could explain how the murder had left the crime scene. As chief of security Odo investigates but soon becomes a prime suspects and thus having a conflict of interest. Meanwhile Chief O’Brien’s wife Keiko – who was a botanist aboard the Enterprise – has nothing to do on DS9 and becomes frustrated. When Sisko’s son Jake befriends Quark’s nephew Nog and subsequently gets into trouble, she decides that the station needs a school.
My Opinion: This episode introduces Odo who has also been security chief during the last years of the occupation. I really like that he’s a man of principles who has his own codex and who values justice above all else. It was only consequent that it was he who pointed out that only a shape-shifter could have left the crime scene without leaving a trace. The story’s hole was that the doctor couldn’t figure out what these DNA particles were until it grown into a whole body. After all he was second-best in his year at medical school…
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4000 Hours of DVD Material
With the acquisition of I have now officially more than 4000 hours of main feature (i.e. bonus material not included) material! (167d 6h 29m or…