Month: February 2011

Question of the week: is there a point to prequels?

2 February 2011 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

Prequels are seemingly all the rage right now. The Hobbit‘s about to be filmed, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena is on Starz and Caprica has been and gone. And, of course, prequels have a long history on TV, in books, in theatre and the cinema: Star Wars infamously acquired itself three prequels and even a movie such as Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion (starring Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino, two of my favourite actresses) managed to get itself a prequel (starring Katherine Heigl and Alex Breckenridge, two more of my favourite actresses*):

But – cue today’s question:

Is there a point to prequels?

While it can be fun to see how things came to pass and how characters came to be the way they are, you largely know how everything turns out. You know who survives, who ends up bad, who ends up good, etc. There are no real surprises. And usually, prequels are pretty awful.

So are prequels largely just writers’ background material stretched out into an actual story or do they have worth? And are there, in fact, any good prequels that you can think of?

As always, leave a comment with your answer or a link to your answer on your own blog

* Although I should point out that while KH and AB do do quite excellent impressions of Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino respectively, they’re actually supposed to respectively be playing Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow’s parts. Huh. Now there’s a scriptwriter and a director who weren’t paying attention.

The CarusometerA Carusometer rating of 3

Third-episode verdict: Being Human (US)

2 February 2011 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

In the US: Mondays, 9/8c, SyFy
In Canada: Mondays, 10E/P, Space

So we’re three episodes into the Canadian/US version of Being Human and things have started to get quite a bit better. Episode one was largely a retread of the original UK pilot, but diluted, made more obvious and more cliched, with largely poorer acting. Episode two continued in the same vein, being a mix of pilot and the original first episode.

However, episode three saw a first blow for true originality in the show. While its b-plot was largely a retread of the "Mitchell invites everyone to meet the neighbours" episode, we got a new a-plot about an adult who had seen vampire Aidan kill his father when he was a child and is now a cop. Aidan, who is largely the focus of the show, then has to decide how to deal with the situation – does he sort it out himself or leave vampire boss Bishop to sort it out for him? Suffice it to say, there is an unhappy ending to this.

Where Being Human (US) differentiates itself here is by tapping into far more vampire lore than the British original. Unlike the British blood addicts, these vampires have super speed, super strength and they can influence people’s minds – even wiping their memories if necessary. Which does at least make the whole "being human" thing a little harder than "where am I going to get my blood fix today?"

Werewolf Josh also gets to man up in this episode, something I thought had gone missing from the pilot episode, and ghost Sally gets to have some fun with an 80s ghost (yes, another thread from the original). The actress who plays Sally is by far the weakest link here and it’s hard to actually like her character she’s so charisma-free.

The show suffers from a few other problems as well: Bishop (Mark Pellegrino)’s strange hair colour; a general blanding of things; and a lack of depth. However, provided Being Human (US) continues to plot its own path while steering away from the standard vampire cliches, it should actually prove a watchable series in its own right. It might never be as good as the original, but it’ll still be better than the average SyFy series.

Carusometer rating: 3
Rob’s prediction: Should run for at least a couple of seasons

Wednesday’s “Fletch lives” news

2 February 2011 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Film

British TV

  • Grandma’s House set to return [subscription required]
  • Glee down to 1.3m
  • C4HD coming to Freesat in April [from press release]

US TV

Sitting Tennant

Sitting Tennant (week 4, 2011)

1 February 2011 Rob Buckley 10 Comments

Hebbie's Sitting Tennant

I think Hebbie’s in it to win it, this year, don’t you?

  1. Hebbie: 30
  2. Rullsenberg: 20
  3. Toby, Sister Chastity, Janice: 10

In caption competition land, it was all hustle and bustle but it Marie and SK who jointly provided the most entertaining captions of the week. That leaves the leaderboard as follows:

  1. SK: 25
  2. Rullsenberg: 20
  3. Marie: 15
  4. Toby, Electric Dragon, theriverlady: 10
  5. Joe B, Lisa G, Jane Henry: 5

Good luck this week everyone!

Got a picture of David Tennant sitting, lying down or in some indeterminate state in between? Then leave a link to it below or email me and if it’s judged suitable, it will appear in the “Sitting Tennant” gallery. Don’t forget to include your name in the filename so I don’t get mixed up about who sent it to me.

The best pic in the stash each week will appear on Tuesday and get ten points.

You can also enter the witty and amusing captions league table by commenting on the photo, the best caption getting 10 points, everyone who contributes getting five points.