Deutsche Version | CW 05-06 | CW 08-09

LOST 6×04 The Substitute
This episode was much better. It didn’t give us many answers (if you consider the association of numbers and names an answer at all) but it’s a start and the off-island story was much more interesting (especially with seeing Katey Sagal again). It’s funny to see how they all still manage to run into each other even though they never met.
Locke and Smokey-Locke were both great and I long to find out what this is all about.

Life Unexpected 1×05 Turtle Undefeated
Ended well again. What a surprise. Since this season has only 13 episodes I’m probably going to watch it completely – one has to give a show a chance after all – but so far I still don’t think this is a show I’m going to watch for years.

Human Target 1×06 Lockdown
It was nice too see Alias’s Marshall Flinkman again – and again in a role as tech-savvy developer. I also liked it that Chance’s back story is slowly becoming a part of the show. I suspect it will be a background-arc that pops up once in a while just like Beckett’s mum’s murder in Castle. We’ll see.

Leverage 2×15 The Maltese Falcon Job
Too bad the season is already over again. I liked Jeri/Tara on the team very much but now Gina/Sophie is back and that’s good too. At least I hope she is since I have no clue how the ratings were this year and whether the show will return. I certainly hope so. But I also hope they don’t pull this trick at the end of every year – the team falling apart I mean.

Burn Notice 3×14 Partners in Crime
It was nice to see the gang reconcile after the events from last week. It was also interesting because I can’t remember the last time Michael actually “lost” a client.
While Fi played her role as kidnapped girlfriend very good it was nothing against Sam’s “CSI: Caruso” impersonation and one-liners.

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Categories: Comic, TV Season 2009/10 Diary
Tags: Alias · Angel · Burn Notice · Castle · CSI: Miami · Human Target · Leverage · Life Unexpected · LOST · Smallville · Spartacus: Blood and Sand
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Deutsche Version | CW 04 | CW 05-06

Chuck 3×06 Chuck vs Nacho Sampler
Interesting choice of conspiracy partners. I don’t think both will found out but just one of them and he/she will help Chuck cover it up for the other one. On the one hand if it would be his sister, Awesome could finally relax before he breaks. If it would be Morgan it would certainly be fun because he would be a sure candidate for interfering in the wrong moments.
It was also an interesting use of flashbacks to show how much Chuck and Chuck has changed over the past few years. On some level I’m sad that the show has lost its more lighter tone on the other hand I do like it.

Heroes 4×18 Chapter Seventeen ‘The Wall’
So I was right, it will go out in a fight of Specials vs Specials vs. Normals. I liked this episode because this “compressed time” gave Sylar and Peter the chance to deal with their issues. But it’ll only work if the writers don’t come up with yet another Face Heel Turn for Sylar – it’s already hardly believable how often Sylar switched sides…
Now I am keen to see the fight between Samuel’s ma/en and Sylar/Peter. I don’t see him having the slightest chance against them, especially if Peter copies Sylars abilities.

How I Met Your Mother 5×14 Perfect Week
It was OK, but since I knew neither the moderator nor the Yankees baseballer I assume some of the    punchlines got lost on me.

House M.D. 6×12 Moving the Chains
House is doing nice things and still remains a scheming mastermind. I liked both side-stories about Foreman’s brother and the condo pranks. The case was also mildly interesting but pretty routine…

Life Unexpected 1×03 Rent Uncollected
Huh. They pretend to have problems, but they actually don’t. This time Baze had a big row with his parents but in the end his daughter who has known him for merely a week fixes things and the episode ends with a roof-top party.
I had hoped for a more realistic portrayal but this episode was too much 7th Heaven for my taste. If this continues, I’ll drop it again.

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Categories: TV Season 2009/10 Diary
Tags: 7th Heaven · Angel · Bones · Burn Notice · Chuck · Cougar Town · Heroes · House M.D. · How I Met Your Mother · Human Target · Leverage · Life Unexpected · LOST · Smallville · Supernatural · The Big Bang Theory · The Good Wife · The Vampire Diaries · Two and a Half Men · White Collar
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Deutsche Version

Since everybody seems to be starting to count at zero instead of one the first decade of this century and millennium is now over. So it’s time to recap these past ten years and take a look at the TV Shows it has given us.

Let me give my résumé at the beginning: Of the four decades I know TV Shows from (70s – 00s) this was without question the best decade for us TV junkies. When you read my review you might say in the end “Hey what about <insert your favourite here>?” (e.g. The Sopranos, Dexter, The Wire, Six Feet Under, …) but that’s exactly my point. This decade has given us so many outstanding shows that it was impossible to watch them all. Also, everybody has a different set of favourite genres but I’d say that every genre got their fair share of excellent series in the last years.

But let’s face it: There’s rarely any series (if there’s one at all) that could keep up the quality and it’s appeal for its entire run. Some had a bad year in between, some fell short at the end. But even in these “bad years” they had more quality episodes in it than entire shows from previous decades. So all the shows I am going to name have of course aspects that can be criticized and I invite you to do so.

For me the most outstanding characteristic of this past decade’s shows is that they are more often than not more about the “journey” of the character(s) than the actual events. It’s not the character who shines a light upon the unfolding events but it’s the events that shine a light upon the character and his development. I have to say that shows (hereby excluding comedy shows that work with stereo- and archetypes) that don’t have a real character development don’t interest me at all. But if the character development is interesting I might even watch shows from genres that usually don’t interest me at all.

If the character development is interesting enough I might even set the fact aside that my second favourite characteristic is missing: A real story-arc. The first TV Show in my TV universe that had a real story-arc, was Babylon 5. Later Star Trek: DS9 did the same albeit not in that quality and complexity. But these shows were two of the rare exception in the 90s (another famous exception would be Twin Peaks, but I never watched it). It seemed that viewers weren’t interested in either developing characters or story-arcs.

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Categories: Short Review, Thought Storm
Tags: 24 · Alias · Angel · Babylon 5 · Battlestar Galactica · Being Human · Bones · Buffy the Vampire Slayer · Burn Notice · Chuck · Dexter · Doctor Who · Farscape · Firefly · Friends · Heroes · House M.D. · How I Met Your Mother · James Bond · Knight Rider · LOST · MacGyver · Six Feet Under · Smallville · Star Trek DS9 · Superman · Supernatural · The A-Team · The Big Bang Theory · The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy · The Sopranos · The Wire · Thursday Next · True Blood · Twin Peaks · Two and a Half Men · Veronica Mars
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Deutsche Version | CW 45-48 | CW 46-50

Paradox 1×01 Episode #1.1
A scientist has a satellite in orbit to observe the activities of the sun (like flares and stuff). But when he downloads the new images from it there are eight images that come from Earth. And they weren’t taken by the satellite. The timestamp of the pictures seems to indicate that they were taken in the future. And they seem to show an attack or an accident. The institute involves the police and now a race against time begins.

When I read the description of this new British series, it sounded like a variant of Early Edition or Tru Calling so I gave it a try. But unfortunately the pilot was a bit disappointing. The scientist behaved like he was behind all it. I assume he did it to force the police to investigate but it didn’t really work out for me. And the police didn’t even take the most obvious precaution. They simply could have blocked that seemingly unimportant road but they didn’t.

Paradox 1×02 Episode #1.2
Now they’ve got their first possible paradox. If they hadn’t got the pictures the guy most likely hadn’t died. But if he hadn’t died the boy most likely wouldn’t have died either. So their investigation caused the boy to die but their knowledge helped save him.
Still the scientist is too underused; I believe for the show to really take off, he has to be more involved, otherwise it’s just another ordinary cop show.

Cougar Town 1×08 Two Gunslingers
Alan Ruck was cool in this episode but Travis was awesome; it was so cool to see how he first messed with Grayson’s head and then conned him.

Cougar Town 1×09 Here Comes My Girl
Huh, that was awkward and uncomfortable at the same time, thus funny to watch…

Bones 5×09 The Gamer in the Grease
That was one huge trailer / viral marketing advertisement for a certain Cameron movie that is about to be released. But I still liked it how Hodgins and Fisher danced around Camille in order to save their spot in the line.

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Categories: TV Season 2009/10 Diary
Tags: Angel · Bones · Cougar Town · Early Edition · Gossip Girl · Heroes · House M.D. · Paradox · Stargate Universe · The Good Wife · Tru Calling
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Deutsche Version | Season 3: Disc 1 | Season 3: Disc 3

Homecoming

Synopsis: Buffy has decided to run for Homecoming Queen in order to prove that “she’s still got it”. But she runs against Cordy and it won’t be easy since both Willow and Xander are helping Cordy out of a feeling of guilt for kissing one another. But Mr. Trick has also something planned: He creates “SlayerFest ‘98″, a hunt where both Humans and demons are the hunters and the Slayers are the hunted.

My Opinion: I liked the assortment of hunters because everyone hunted in his own way (but naturally they all lost), especially the mix of the types “Daniel Boone” and the german high-tech hunters. And I loved it when the “second Slayer” (Cordy) scared the Vampire off just by threatening him. It’s a talent she will use in Angel again.

Band Candy

Synopsis: Principal Snyder forces everyone to sell candy bars to finance new uniforms for the school band. But suddenly all the adults start to behave like teenagers and don’t acknowledge their proper age. As it turns out, Ethan Rayne is the producer of the bars – but he’s only a subcontractor for Mr. Trick who works for the mayor now.

My Opinion: Ethan is back and the episode is fun. Snyder reminded me a lot of Quark (Star Trek DS9) when he tried to chase after the women and couldn’t be discouraged in any way. And Giles and Joyce were also great in reliving their youth. What we’ve learned so far about the mayor also explains some of the put-it-under-the-rug events of the second season.

Revelations

Synopsis: Faith has gotten a new Watcher, a stiff english woman who expects nothing less than the best. And Buffy is still hiding the fact that Angel has returned. And a new demon is in town and he wants the Glove of Myhnegon, a very powerful artefact. In the end, all their paths will cross in Angel’s hideout place. And Xander and Willow have a hard time denying their feelings or refrain from showing affection to each other.

My Opinion: Xander has never really liked Angel, even before he knew that he was a Vampire. But in episodes like this he shows pure hatred towards the guy and except for the Angel-Buffy thing I never understood why his emotions towards Angel are that strong. But it was great to once again see a real Slayer vs. Slayer fight. They both kicked ass!

Lovers Walk

Synopsis: Spike is back in town, but he’s a wreck. Dru has left him for a chaos demon and he wants her back. Buy chance he runs into Willow who is just buying ingredients for an anti-love spell for Xander and her and he considers the general idea of a love spell a good one. So he kidnaps her and Xander and forces her to make one for him and Dru. Meanwhile the rest of the Scooby gang is looking for them.

My Opinion: Spike – Phase II has just begun. First he was the villain, now he will be the comic relief for quite some time. But in the end, he will take his rightful place as one of the heroes. Too bad this will be his only appearance in this season. And from a retrospective POV I liked Xander’s and Willow’s little affair. First of all because it didn’t feel forced, there have been hints towards this since the pilot. And second of all it ultimately leads to the introduction of Anyanka in the next episode. I also liked how Spike could look right through Angel’s and Buffy’s we-are-only-friends charade.

Season 3: Disc 3

Categories: Buffy Marathon, DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon
Tags: Angel · Buffy the Vampire Slayer · Daniel Boone · Star Trek DS9
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Deutsche Version | Part 5 | Part 7

Since I’ve purchased quite a number of new TV shows, I thought to resurrect this marathon.

V

(1983)

What’s the show about?
A group of underground rebels fights against an alien race who have invaded Earth without making it appear as such. The resistance cell is a motley crew with all kinds of backgrounds and their goal is it to expel the aliens again. And their sign is the “V” – for “Victory!”.

“V”
One day a number of huge space ships appear all over the world. But they don’t come as enemies, but as friends. In exchange for a certain chemical the aliens give us cures for all kinds of diseases and improve our technology. But the aliens and their intentions are not what they appear to be.

My Opinion
The show comprises of the two mini-series V (1983), V: The Final Battle (1984) and the one-season-show V (1984). It has aged quite well, the storytelling stands out for a show of its time and the special effects don’t look that bad, either. It’s still very watchable and that the subject is still interesting is proven by the fact that a remake of the show will come to television land this fall.

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Categories: DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon, Pilot Marathon
Tags: Alias · Angel · Beverly Hills 90210 · Buffy the Vampire Slayer · Chuck · Doctor Who · Early Edition · Friday Night Lights · Friends · Gossip Girl · Hackers · House M.D. · M*A*S*H · Scrubs · Smallville · Supernatural · The O.C. · V · Veronica Mars
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Deutsche Version | Season 1 | Season 3: Disc 1

Disc 1

When She Was Bad

Synopsis: Summer break is nearly over and Buffy has returned from L.A.. But she seems to to have changed. She is closed up and snubs virtually everyone. And it gets worse: The Anointed One wants to get the Master back from the really dead. And for this he needs the people who were close to him when he died.

My Opinion: This behaviour will develop into a habit. Everytime Buffy goes through a shocking or traumatizing event she will try to shut everyone out and keep the world at bay. She will do it again at the beginning of the third season and during the sixth season. It may not be a good character trait but it’s definitively a defining one for the character. Just as the one that she will do what’s right when it matters.
The episode was also a portent for the season. When she claims that Angel has thought about fighting her and that he should try it. When Snyder states that he would love to expel her. When she was lured away from the library and that’s the place she was needed most.
I think it was a good start of the season.

Some Assembly Required

Synopsis: During her patrol in one of Sunnydale’s graveyards she discovers that a grave is empty that shouldn’t be empty. But it’s not another Vampire who has risen. The body is simply gone. So it’s either the work of flesh-eating demons or a group that wants to build an army of Zombies. But when Cordelia finds a lot of body parts in the dumpster they can safely dismiss both theories. But who needs only some parts from several young women?

My Opinion: I never liked these frankenstein-y stories, neither here nor in the fourth season. But once again I liked it that good and bad weren’t clear cut, that our Dr. Frankenstein in the form of Chris didn’t go as far as killing someone just to build a bride for his brother. But I haven’t understood what the other guy was hoping for. Why was he helping in the first place and why would he have killed Cordelia? I simply couldn’t see his motive to act the way he did.

School Hard

Synopsis: Buffy and another “rebel” is ordered to organize and host the annual parent-teacher-night. And Buffy has to keep her mother far away from principle Snyder. And some special Vampire holiday is coming up. And the Vampire Spike has come to town to have some fun around here. And he will kill Buffy on Saint Whatshisname’s day. Fortunately those two events don’t fall on the same day…

My Opinion: …Unfortunately Spike isn’t the most patient guy. I loved it how he single-handedly decluttered all the Vampire rituals and my prejudice about them. James Marsters once stated that he played Spike “with a bit more soul than he was supposed to”. I knew him from Smallville and he was one of the reasons to give Buffy a chance and I couldn’t wait to finally see him here. He will develop into one of the most interesting characters on the show even though he just lost his first battle against the Slayer.
But they also made two statements about him that they will “correct” later: Giles states that he’s barely two hundred. I would assume “barely 200″ means something like 190 or 180. Later they will make him just 150 years old (born around 1850). Spike also says that Angel was “his Sire, his Yoda”. But as it will turn out, Spike was sired by Drusilla who was sired by Angel. But maybe Spike meant it in some figurative way. After all, Angel is his Grand-Sire and Yoda was Luke’s second Jedi teacher after Obi-Wan.

Inca Mummy Girl

Synopsis: During a visit of the local museum one of the student tries to steal a mummy seal and accidentally breaks it. The young, female Inka mummy re-awakes, kills the student and disappears from the museum. Shortly after she takes the place of an exchange student (whom she also killed) and moves in with Buffy for the next two weeks. And naturally Xander falls for her the minute he sees her. But then there’s a mysterious knife guy who seems to be connected to the mummy and the body count is increasing. The gang has to find out what’s going on.

My Opinion: I have to say, I liked this episode. As most creatures do this young woman tried to ensure her own survival. But in the end she couldn’t kill the person she fell in love with. I also liked the comparison between her and Buffy’s fate: The be the Chosen One and not being able to have a say in it. And in opposition to Teacher’s Pet Xander could be Xander without being influenced from the outside.
In this episode we’ve also seen Oz and Jonathan for the first time but I think one notices Jonathan only if one knows him already – ironically that is exactly what this character will be about.
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Categories: Buffy Marathon, DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon
Tags: Angel · Buffy the Vampire Slayer · Harry Potter · Scooby Doo · Smallville · Star Trek TNG · Underworld · Xena: Warrior Princess
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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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Categories: Book, Comic
Tags: 300 · Angel · Batman · Buffy the Vampire Slayer · Heroes · Sin City · Star Trek
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Deutsche Version | Buffy Marathon | Season 2

Disc 1

Welcome to the Hellmouth

Synopsis: Buffy and her mom have just moved to Sunnydale, California. She was thrown out of her old school in Los Angeles because she burned down the gym (it was full of Vampires). But she hopes that this part of her life lays behind her – how wrong she was. A very old Vampire – the Master – tries to free himself from the Hellmouth that is directly under the town. And she can’t even keep it a secret that she is the Slayer. Everyone seems to know: The librarian Giles, her classmate Xander and even some mysterious guy in the dark alleys.

My Opinion: I’ve seen this pilot for the first time on DVD on November 22th, 2007. And I have watched it 10 times in the past 16 months. I know all the lines by heart by now. “It’s dated?” – “It’s carbon-dated!” I have to say I liked it that the whole gang knew from the beginning. It separates it from other superhero shows (*cough* Smallville *cough*). That makes for a great foundation of their friendship even though each and every one will have secrets of their own over the years.

Shortly before Buffy killed her first Vampire on the show she made a remark that rang a bell – I had heard a similar remark spoken in a similar tone elsewhere.

Buffy: Now, we can do this the hard way, or … well, actually, there’s just the hard way.
Darla: That’s fine with me.
Buffy: Are you sure? Now this is not gonna be pretty. We’re talking violence, strong language, adult content …

Jack O’Neill: Assuming – of course – you are the Tok’ra.
Cordesh: And if we’re not?
Jack O’Neill: Well, I guess we all start shooting. There’s blood, death, hard feelings. It’d suck.

The Harvest

Synopsis: She may have saved Willow and Xander, but she has lost trace of Jesse. But she won’t give up that easily and she has help: Giles is her new Watcher and Willow is a computer nerd who can find anything as long as it’s on the net. And she will need that help because the time of the Harvest is close and then the Master will rise if she can’t prevent it. Unfortunately there’s nothing they can do for Jesse: He’s already worse than dead: A Vampire.

My Opinion: I know that life had to go on, but I found the end a little bit cheap. All these victims at the Bronze should have been in terror and should be screaming instead of simply getting slaughtered one by one. And then the aftermath where everyone chose to ignore what had happened. But I don’t know a better solution either. And I loved how she outwitted Luke / the Vessel and then dusted him.

Witch

Synopsis: Buffy decides to try out for the cheerleading team. She has been a cheerleader back in LA and she wants to live a normal life here, too – as far as this is possible. But mysterious accidents seem to happen to the cheerleaders of this school and soon there’s no doubt that witchcraft is behind it.

My Opinion: The story of that episode wasn’t that interesting, but I liked certain aspects of it. For example Buffy singing “Macho Man” or her cheerleading tryouts. I also liked that they made their first magic potion with bio and chem class equipment (scalpel, test tube, …).

Teacher’s Pet

Synopsis: After their biology teacher had been found dead in a refrigerator, Buffy, Xander and Willow get a new substitute teacher – and she’s hot. Xander and all other guys totally fall for her and she obviously likes it. But what kind of woman is she really when even a Vampire is scared by her?

My Opinion: This is one of these episodes with the obvious storylines. There’s a new teacher when the old one was killed onscreen. You automatically know that she’s somehow involved. She’s insulted when someone calls an insect “ugly”. You automatically know she’s one, too. All the guys instantly fall for her? You automatically know pheromones or some other stuff is involved. Didn’t like it very much.
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Categories: Buffy Marathon, DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon
Tags: Angel · Buffy the Vampire Slayer · Heroes · Smallville · Spider-Man · Star Trek DS9
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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 year I bought 109 items which resulted in 455 profiles. The total costs for this were 1,628.60€ (I transform foreign currencies at once to see what I’ve actually paid).

The average price was 15.66€ per item which is pretty amazing since there are quite a number of season boxes and even full series boxes among them.

My first item this year was the “Angel” complete box which costed 82.19€.

My last item was “The Dark Knight” which costed 9.85€.

My most expensive item was the “Stargate SG-1″ complete box which costed 137.05€.

Categories: DVD / Blu-ray
Tags: Angel · Batman · Stargate SG-1 · Statistics
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