By now, you, my loyal readers, will know that I tend to despise/loathe/abominate reality TV – which is why I am surprised when I find myself liking a reality series like Cha$e, where the format is more game show than anything else, and relies on contestants being capable of utilizing their intelligence [and some spiffy effects work]. Then there are the shows that stress endurance of the loathsome in the service of greed – like Fear Factor. Estate of Panic [Sci-Fi, Wednesdays, 10/9C] is such a show; a mix of Fear Factor and a haunted house.

Seven contestants are gathered in a spooky mansion where host Steve Valentine [Jordan’s Crossing] explains the rules as a Karloff-wannabe butler looks on. The rules are these: the contestants will enter three rooms/areas of the estate where they will find lots of money; these rooms/areas will be booby-trapped in some way and thus present a challenge to the contestants; the person with the least money and the last person in the room/area will be eliminated.

In the premiere, the tests/challenges/tortures are: snakes and flooding; walls and ceilings that close in on the contestants, while crabs and worms are freed from their aquaria by the ceiling dropping, and a garden area looped with wires that give the contestants varying degrees of electrical shocks. But wait! There’s more!

Following each challenge, two contests are dropped from the game [for the reasons described above] and the last person standing gets all the money collected – if they can overcome one last test – a vault with two hundred safety deposit boxes. There’s a timer that will lock the vault in a specified time, so the finalist must work quickly. As an added incentive to hurry, the finalist is shackled to the floor of the vault and must also look for keys or implements that help free them. There are also some less friendly contents in some of the boxes.

The challenges will, naturally, vary from episode to episode.

Estate of Panic might have worked as a one-off for Hallowe’en, but as a series, it would seem to be the logical successor to Fear Factor. If you like watching real people willingly being scared and/or tortured, this show will appeal to you. In spite of Johnson’s suitably creepy presence as the host – and Rupert, the butler – Estate of Panic revolted me. Not as much as Fear Factor, but close.

Final Grade: D

Call it a hunch, but I suspect that NBC’s My Own Worst Enemy [Mondays, 10/9C] will be greeted by a lot of critics with cries of “It’s silly,” and “What the heck was that?” – which is kind of a shame. The series, which stars Christian Slater as super-spy/sociopath Edward Albright and nice guy husband/father/efficiency expert, Henry Spivey, is a hybrid of the Bourne movies and the latest British mini-series take on Jekyll & Hyde, Jekyll.

When Spivey begins to remember being in places like Paris – where’s he’s never been, it leads to a bleeding of two distinct identities into each other. He soon learns that other employees of his consultants firm also have two identities and that he has been manufactured to give espionage superstar Edward Albright a completely effective cover for his downtime between assignments.

This causes problems for both personalities – Spivey suddenly awakens during one of Albright’s assignments and Albright wakes up in Spivey’s life. The results cause havoc for their boss/handler, Mavis Heller [Alfre Woodard], who might have to erase Spivey – but the two personalities figure out how to communicate with each other [in the same way that Tom Jackman and Hyde communicated in the Jekyll mini-series] and things begin to take even stranger turns.

I’m not saying that My Own Worst Enemy isn’t far-fetched. I’m not even saying that it doesn’t get silly in spots. What I am saying is that, like the BBC with Jekyll, NBC is taking a risk with a series that tries to do something fresh and different. I’m saying that My Own Worst Enemy is an entertaining hour of dark and light; a series that combines family drama and spy show with some genuine imagination. It blends Robert Louis Stevenson and Robert Ludlum in a way that shoots for the fence – and might just pull it off, in time.

Slater does some decent work with both characters – and their lives. Besides Woodard, the excellent cast includes Madchen Amick [Mrs. Angelica Spivey], Saffron Burrows [Dr. Norah Skinner, the psychiatrist who monitors Spivey for problems associated with Edward], Mike O’Malley [Henry’s best friend, Tom/Edward’s fellow spy, Raymond], and Bella Thorne and Taylor Lautner [Henry’s children, Ruth and Jack].

The series creator, Jason Smilovic [Karen Sisco, Lucky Number Slevin, Kidnapped, Bionic Woman], may be onto something here. His pilot script, Breakdown, may be more than a little overstuffed, but director David Semel keeps it moving and hits some prime beats from the get-go. Simply put, there’s more here to like than not.

Final Grade: B-

When a movie begins with a narrator intoning, “The day the world ended…” you can be sure that there’s a caveat somewhere. With City of Ember that caveat is that a bunch of the best and brightest built an underground city so mankind could live on. An ingenious device was placed in a box that would open in two hundred years, giving instructions on how to return to the surface to find out if the upper world was once again inhabitable. Unfortunately, the device [which was to be inherited by each succeeding mayor] was lost when the seventh mayor had a heart attack and the box was put away in a closet.

Now, two hundred years later, Ember is falling apart. The city’s generator is cranky and blackouts are occurring – each longer than the last. Food supplies are getting low – and what food can be grown in the city’s greenhouse is looking less and less edible. The city is run by the corrupt Mayor Cole [Bill Murray] – the only person in town who is actually fat. Into this situation come Lina Mayfleet [Soairse Ronan] and Doon Harrow [Harry Treadaway] who swap assignments after graduating from whatever school exists there – she to become a messenger, he to become a pipeworks worker.

City of Ember is darkly gorgeous to look at. The actual city looks like a close-packed English village with a central meeting circle, but the machines that keep the city alive are oddly fascinating, clunky Rube Goldberg devices that actually have uses. Though the citizens of Ember are worried about what’s happening their fears are assuaged by the mayor and a group of religious singers [led by Mary Kay Place’s Mrs. Murdo – who takes in Lina and her sister, Poppy when their grandma dies].

Based on the novel by Jeanne Duprau, City of Ember starts slowly, like the city’s generator, and then [unlike the dying generator] picks up steam as it goes – and as Lina and Doon discover that there may be a way back to the surface – all tied into fragments of instruction in a weird little box Lina finds in her gran’s closet. Their characters aren’t all that well developed but both Treadaway and Ronan make us care about them. Other notable actors also make a lot of slenderly written, though pivotal characters like Tim Robbins [as Doon’s inventor father, Loris; Marianne Jean-Baptiste as greenhouse keeper, Clary, and Martin Landau, as pipeworks veteran, Sul].

With its touches of satire, fable-like storytelling and enthralling design, City of Ember manages to engage for its ninety-five minutes – though kids will likely find it vastly more engaging than adults [if Murray hadn’t sleepwalked through the role of Mayor Cole, that might have been different].

Final Grade: B-

It’s been a few weeks since I last posted something here. Frankly, I’ve been really busy playing an inordinate amount of Rock Band 2 and working on the upcoming EclipseMagazine.com book, “Tell Us Who You Are – The EclipseMagazine.com Interviews.” The book will be out in time for your Holiday shopping pleasure. Enough with the cheap plug, I was invited to attend Sci-Fi Channel’s 2^nd annual Digital Press Tour last weekend. At first, I was a bit skeptical and didn’t particularly want to attend. I mean the shows they were promoting were pretty much all reality programming and Amanda Tapping’s new sci-fi show Sanctuary. So it wasn’t like I was actually visiting a set and I’m not a particular fan of reality television; I generally avoid them like the plague. The only reality show I watch on a semi-regular basis is American Idol. But I must say after this weekend, I’m going to be logging some serious time with all of Sci-Fi’s fall lineup – starting with Ghost Hunters and Sci-Fi’s newest game show The Chase.

Last weekend’s event was held in Denver Colorado at the historic Stanley Hotel. This hotel is rumored to be haunted and is the place that provided the inspiration for Steven King’s The Shining. He spent a few months in Room 217 writing the book and staring at ghosts. The Jack Nicolas film wasn’t shot here, but King’s TV Mini-Series was. It’s a weirdly old world hotel where walking in you can almost imagine that ghosts actually do make this place home. The place has this weird otherworldly vibe to it. When I was outside taking pictures (see the Gallery) it did feel freaky.

Sci-Fi really rolled out the red carpet this year (this is where I say, this wasn’t a “junket,” I paid for the trip out of my own pocket). My carpool buddies were really cool Chris, his wife Tara and Derek were really cool. We had a fun 1 hour drive from the airport. It’s always really neat meeting other webmasters who have the same issues that I do, even at much more well known sites like the one Derek works at. I always thought the folks at his site hated me, but apparently they don’t. So that was nice to know.

The weekend started with an excellent dinner and soiree. The room was divided in half, apparently Sci-Fi used the weekend to also smooze with their advertisers and contest winners. They kept us press folks away from them most of the weekend. It is always interesting attending one of these things, I’m always reverted back to my childhood – “I don’t know these people, what am I going to say, will they like me,” blah, blah. All the folks that I knew were sitting at different tables, that actually had people sitting there. So I sauntered over and mingled a bit, when it was time for Dinner my table finally filled up.

Sci-Fi set up the seating so that the tables would feature the cast of one of their shows, a couple of Sci-Fi executives and a couple of press folks. It was a real intimate affair with everyone getting a chance to really mingle and get to know one another fairly well. Turns out I was sitting with the cast of Sci-Fi’s latest gamble, The Chase. The 4 hour dinner just flew by all of the guys and everyone else at the table were really cool. I was trying to get some dirt about this new mystery project but they wouldn’t spill the beans until the next day.

CHA$E is an action-packed, edge-of-your-seat reality competition show that pits a group of contestants against each other in the quest for cash prizes, while being stalked by relentless ”hunters.” The action takes place in real time over 60 minutes throughout various Los Angeles landmark locations including San Pedro Harbor, Universal Theme Park and Descanso Gardens. As the clock counts down, the competition gets harder as more “hunters” appear on the “game board,” the perimeter changes, and tasks are assigned that test fraying nerves. Contestants earn money for every second they “stay alive.” If they are overrun by a “hunter,” they lose everything. The last person standing can win up to $50k.

It was funny because Amanda Tapping was sitting in the table next to me and I was joking with the Chase guys all night that I was going to go over and talk to her, or ask them to go and bring her to our table. I discovered Stargate SG1 last year and went on a 6 month obsession watching all the shows and reading a lot of SG1 fan fiction. I was a giddy school girl. I met Amanda on Saturday and she was really cool people. I kept bumping into her all day and we “hung out” during our Ghost Hunt with Jason and Grant that night. And this was why the weekend was so cool for me.

Usually at an event like this, the actors are “air lifted” in. Do their Q and A and get the heck out of dodge. You never feel like you really get to know someone. This time everyone, The Ghost Hunters, the Destination Truth Guy, Amanda, The Chase Folks and the Scare Tactics Guys came in Friday morning and stayed the entire weekend. It was a really relaxing environment where everyone had drinks and just chilled. It was really interesting watching them interact with each other and everyone watched each other’s Q and A’s from the back of the room.

Jason and Grant – The Ghost Hunters (who, for some reason loved me and remembered me from when I met them at NY Comic Con a few months ago) took us on a midnight Ghost Hunt at the Stanley. It was just like being in an episode of their show, a very cool experience. We all met at around midnight and went into one of the rooms that was reportedly haunted. And there was definitely a sense that there was a ghost in the room. Jason had this meter that they called the K2. Supposedly it lights up if there’s a presence in the room. So every time we asked questions the light would respond. Really freaky stuff, we all started to believe we were talking to a Ghost. Later in the hunt Amanda and I started joking with each other about Ghost Farts.

Earlier in the day the boys from The Chase wanted to give us a taste of the show. So like an idiot I volunteered to participate. The game is Sci-Fi Channel’s version of The Amazing Race with a video game twist. They give you a backpack – which I never asked what went into it, compass and an iPhone. Every couple of minutes they sent a text message with instructions on what to do next. It was a calm experience until a major thunder storm came roaring through, at that point they released the Hunters who came after us. I thought I had a plan until I saw one of the hunters then my brain froze and I panicked when he took off after me. I was completely drenched and caught a cold. The game was interesting and will be fun to watch on television when they cut out the parts where you are just wondering around aimlessly. Once that rain started, I was staring at my iPhone wishing for a message or anything to happen other than getting soaked.

Sci-Fi development manager – Mark Stern (I don’t know his exact title) was air dropped in from an Argentina set to give us a peak at this weird new game show where it’s kind of like a real life version of the movie Saw, only it takes place in a castle. The object is to survive these “brutal” challenges like sticking your arm in a tank of crabs to grab cash, or survive a collapsing room, or run through a room where (I believe) glass is breaking. If you survive all of these challenges you end up in a vault where you are chained to the floor and the object is to find the key to unlock your chain. The catch is, each drawer contains something disgusting, like mice or snakes, or something else entirely. I’m curious to see how it works out. Mark is a really cool guy, I spent a lot of time with him at last year’s digital event, this year he was, like I said air dropped in and we didn’t see him for the rest of the weekend. If you want a show on the Sci-Fi Channel this is the man you talk to.

Overall a really good weekend and I’m looking forward to Sci-Fi’s fall lineup. Of course I can no longer be objective about the shows, which is why I have Sheldon around to do the TV Reviews. Later this week I’ll post the recordings from all the Q and As. And a full synopsis of all of their shows for this fall. If I had one concern it would be that it seems like other than Sanctuary it seems like Sci-Fi is abandoning scripted programming for the lucrative world of Reality TV. They have a strong line up, but it seems a bit like overkill.

The Sci Fi Channel’s new series, Sanctuary [Fridays, 9/8C] is adapted from the internet series of the same name. It revolves around Dr. Helen Magnus and her “sanctuary for all.”

Dr. Will Zimmerman [Robin Dunne] is a mess. A forensic psychologist, he’s lost his job with the FBI and now plies his trade with a police force that pays no attention to his theories and opinions. When he attempts to help the police investigate a triple homicide – including two police officers – he begins an adventure that will clear up mysteries that have tormented him since he was eight years old, even as he encounters new mysteries that will change the way he thinks, acts and maybe even dreams.

Who is Dr. Helen Magnus [Amanda Tapping]? Who is the blonde Valkyrie [Emilie Ullerup] on the motorcycle? And who is the tall, bald, sinister apparition [Christopher Heyerdahl] who can seemingly move faster than bullets? And what do they have to do with a scared ten-year old boy of Slavic ancestry? And what is Magnus’ semi-simian chauffeur, anyway?

Sanctuary’s two-hour premiere, Sanctuary For All, answers these questions and leads into a series that explores the concept that every creature from folklore and mythology is real. The physical Sanctuary is the place where Magnus and her team provide safety for those creatures who seek refuge, and confinement for those whose predatory natures threaten humanity.

Shot almost completely in CGI [only the cast and essential props are live action], Sanctuary has a unique look [think classic Universal horror mixed with urban cop show] and an equally unique feel. The premiere introduces the aforementioned characters plus a tall humanoid who might well be the so-called Missing Link. The ten-year old boy fits right in as a genetic mutation from Chechnya.

The script is solid, if not inspiring, and intriguing – especially since it gives us enough answers to make us wonder just how many more questions are out there waiting to be answered. The acting is, for the most part, adequate. Tapping’s English accent may wobble from time to time, but emotionally, she’s spot on. Dunne makes Zimmerman, who is almost a Daniel Jackson clone, seem fresh and different. There’s even a cameo from Battlestar Galactica alumnus Kandyse McClure as Zimmerman’s ex – just to emphasize how damaged he is.

The keyword here is potential. The premiere lays out an intriguing premise and gives us sufficient background to make us feel like we can relate that that specific world. It may be a bit stilted, but it manages to convey its concepts relatively clearly, and the cast of characters is an odd mix or near-immortal, exuberant youth, damaged professional and surly/quirky tech master. The mix of science and myth works, for the most part – and so does Sanctuary.

Final Grade: B-

In my review of Iron Man during its theatrical run, after noting that the film worked mainly because of its honouring the source material from the Marvel comics, I wrapped up with:

“While the action scenes aren’t as accomplished as something by Michael Bay, they come off better because director Jon Favreau understands that it’s the characters that make everything else in the film work. He keeps the pace high enough to prevent lessening of interest and knows how to make the film’s effects serve the story. This is a film with surprising wit and genuine intelligence.”

Repeated screenings [twice more in the theater and twice more on DVD] convince me that I was remiss in grading the film a mere A-. Considering that the film’s only real flaw is that the big fight scene between Iron Monger and Iron Man is a bit clunky [which, when you think about it, is appropriate for the big, clumsy looking Iron Monger], and considering that the film translates extremely well from big screen to small, I have to revise that upwards.

Then there are the multitudinous features. How many are there? Check this out: Disc One: Eleven Deleted and/or Extended Scenes; Iron Man Adventures Teaser; Disc Two: I Am Iron Man [Seven Featurettes Documenting the Making if Iron Man: The Journey Begins; The Suit That Makes The Iron Man; Walk of Destruction; Grounded In Reality; Beneath the Armor; It’s All In The Details; A Good Story Well Told]; The Invincible Iron Man [Six Featurettes Covering the History of Iron Man In Comics: Origins; Friends and Foes; The Definitive Iron Man; Demon In a Bottle; Extremis and Beyond; Ultimate Iron Man]; Robert Downey’s Screen Test; The Actor’s Process [Downey, Jeff Bridges and Jon Favreau figure out a scene]; The Onion: Wildly Popular Iron Man Trailer To Be Adapted Into full-Length Film; Galleries: Concept Art [Environments: Afghan Cave, Stark Estate, Stark Garage, Stark Industries; Characters: Iron Man, Iron Monger, Tony Stark]; Tech; Unit Photography, and Posters. There is no commentary track and that costs the Features grade.

The DVD’s menus are patterned after the 3D Hologram effects in the film and are both really cool and easy to navigate. The DVD comes in a standard box inside an embossed card stock slip cover.

Grade: Iron Man – A

Grade: Features – B+

Final Grade: A

In May, 1977, NBC premiered a [very] short-lived satirical science fiction series created by Buck Henry – one of the duo behind Get Smart. The series was called Quark and it ran for seven weeks before it was unceremoniously cancelled. The series was based around a United Galactic Sanitation Patrol vessel captained by Adam Quark [Richard Benjamin].

Most of the components of the series were based on Star Trek – particularly the relationship between Quark and his Vegeton science officer, Ficus [Vegetons, being plants have no emotions] – The Captain’s “Space Notes;” the transporter [or at least its sound effects], and even one episode, Goodbye Polumbus, which was a send up of the classic Trek ep, Shore Leave.

Henry took the Get Smart template [smart stories about less than brilliant characters in important positions] and transferred it to Quark. The crew of the USGP ship included Gene/Jean [Tim Thomerson], a “transmute” who exhibited both male and female behaviors; Ficus [Richard Kelton], the aforementioned Vegeton; Bettys I & II [Trish and Cybill Barnstable], a human and her clone, both of them second in command [and both of them crazy about their captain], and Andy [Bobby Porter], a cowardly android/robot that Quark built from spare parts. They received their missions from Otto Palindrome [Conrad Janis], commander of Perma Station 1 and The Head [Alan Caillou], a disembodied giant head seen only on a video screen.

Besides the show’s riffs on Star Trek, it also poked fun at all manner of SF and space opera conventions. The episode, May the Source Be With You, had a pretty obvious target [and skewered it pretty thoroughly] and set the tone for the series. But the show was just hitting it stride with the two-part Flash Gordon spoof, All The Emperor’s Quasi-Norms, when it was taken from NBC’s schedule.

Much of the series has held up pretty well, but there are instances where the silliness doesn’t quite make it. Overall, though, even some of the effects hold up – the transporter is more colorful than Trek’s and the series did show a fair number of actual alien lifeforms [some of which changed shapes disconcertingly – check out Captain Walker who is radically different in each of two eps].

Final Grade: B+

Eagle Eye marks the fourth time Shia LeBeouf has worked on a Steven Spielberg production, and the second time that he’s worked with both Spielberg and director D.J. Caruso – and the triple team may well be turning into one of modern cinema’s most potent.

Eagle Eye is a techno-thriller that comes across as a twisted tale that might make Tom Clancy duck for cover. It opens with a missile launch intended to take out a major terrorist – a launch that is undertaken with only a 51% chance of the target being correctly identified. From there we move into the life of Jerry Shaw [LaBeouf], who seems to be a typical, ambition-free slacker, watching him at work as a “copy associate” for Kinko’s-like copy shop; fleecing a few friends in a poker game, and attending the funeral of his identical twin brother.

The next part of the film is pretty much what we got in the trailer: Jerry finding a lot of money in his account and a lot of weapons components in his living room: the warning call and his being taken in by the FBI – introducing us to Special Agent Thomas Morgan [Billy Bob Thornton] – and his escape by incredible means and ultimately, his teaming up with Rachel Holliman [Monaghan], whose participation in what follows is coerced by threats to her son. From there, we do, eventually, learn the identity of the mysterious female voice that can call them even from pay phones, or a cell phone belonging to the napping guy across from Shaw on a train.

Part of the reason that Eagle Eye works is that a lot of it [but not all, as you’ll see when you learn the identity of the mystery woman] is technically feasible right now. The film hooks us with what’s possible then draws into the realms of the definitely not yet real. The transition is smooth and the shocking reveal of the source of the voice, and the over-the-top plot that follows, zip by quickly enough that we buy them in the context of the film. The way all the various parts of the film connect may be a bit of a stretch, but the sheer fun of the film supersedes that.

LaBeouf does a good job as slacker Jerry; Thornton keeps Agent Morgan from being just another federal grunt, and Rosario Dawson simmers as an Air force investigator looking into the death of Jerry’s brother – though Monaghan is barely adequate as Rachel.

Michael Chiklis gets the role of the Secretary of Defence Callister - a role that leads everyone to the key plot point of the film: the identity of the mysterious female voice that hounds Jerry and Rachel - and the voice’s grandiose plans.

The special effects are very good and the CGI have enough weight that we buy them even if they are used to create something that is way over the edge of the possible. There may be a nod to societal commentary in the way that various devices [security cameras, traffic cameras and cell phones among them] are used to shred the duo’s privacy, but it’s a surface thing that comes as the by-product of a thriller that aims more toward entertaining than saying stuff.

Final Grade: B

The original, Roger Corman production of Death Race 2000 was a high energy, in your face film that [sadly] predicted the reality TV thing. In its highly campy way, though, DR2K mixed in social commentary through the race’s rules [Hit a pedestrian? Add points. The pedestrian is an old lady? Bonus Points!]. The remake is a grittier, nastier piece of work that pits prison lifers against one another – and the last driver left alive wins [win five races and go free – in theory].

Jensen Ames [Jason Statham] is framed for the murder of his wife and finds himself on Terminal Island [think Alcatraz, 2015]. The warden [an exceptionally elegant Joan Allen] asks him if he will take over for a driver known only as Frankenstein. Poor Frankie died in the last race and she needs to keep the myth alive to keep up the ratings on the race’s internet subscription pay-per-view. Ames is given Frank’s pit crew, an oddball lot that includes Coach [Ian McShane], the pit chief who stayed on after his sentence was completed; Gunner [Jacob Vargas], a master mechanic, and Lists [Frederic Koehler], who seems to know more about everything than anyone else in the film.

Arrayed against Ames’ version of Frankenstein are nasties like Machine Gun Joe [Tyrese Gibson], Pachenko [Max Ryan] and Travis Colt [Justin Mader] – killers who treat their vehicles as weapons. Furthering the goonage is Jason Clarke as Warden Hennessy’s head guard, Ulrich. To balance the villains, Frank’s navigator is a gorgeous female convict named Case [Natalie Martinez], and she even gets to take part in the action a couple of times.

The big surprise about Death Race is that it is infinitely better than anything else director Paul W.S. Anderson has ever done. The writing [again by Anderson] is tight – though his attention to detail still needs a bit of work – and he stages some pretty impressive races. Even more impressive is that practically all the stunts and driving were done… well… practically.

True, the cast isn’t required to do much more than hit one or two notes apiece, but they hit those notes with the kind of enthusiasm that communicates itself onscreen. Although darker than the colorfully camp original, Anderson’s Death Race is not without its humor – some of it telegraphed but done with panache, and some of it sneakier than you might expect from the guy who gave us the Resident Evil and the Alien vs. Predator movies. And you won’t find many who can out cuss the elegant Warden Hennessy when things start to go wrong…

With a big budget and marketing plan, Death Race could, finally, vault Statham to actual action star status [and well past time]. It’s not the greatest action movie ever, but it does hit just the right spot in terms of vicious action, ham-fisted social commentary and general mayhem.

Final Grade: B-

Although technically not a superhero movie, Hellboy II: The Golden Army is one of the most beautifully visual films of this or any other year. It’s also a combination of a lot of genres: comic book movie, action flick, fairytale, horror story, eco-fable, romantic drama, pulpy noir, FX flick. The thing is, because of writer/director Guillermo Del Toro’s love of the characters, and his amazing visual sense, all of these genres fuse into a whole that is ever-so-slightly greater than the sum of its parts.

Hellboy [Ron Perlman] and Liz Sherman [Selma Blair are together in this film – a situation that is more a bit awkward. As Abe Sapien [Doug Jones] puts it, “They have their good days and their bad days… and their really bad days. Complicating matters are Hellboy’s longings to go public – FBI liaison Tom Manning [a woefully underused Jeffrey Tambor] is particularly put out by a photo which the big guy posed for… and autographed!

Into this chipper little situation comes an elvish prince named Nuada [Luke Goss], who wants to raise the legendary Golden Army to destroy mankind as mankind has been replacing nature with shopping malls and parking lots. His twin sister, Nuala [Anna Walton] is dead set against this and flees – encountering Abe in the Troll Market [think a fusion of the Star Wars Cantina and the Floating Market from Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere], where he helps save her from a troll. Everything escalates from there.

Perhaps The Golden Army’s greatest asset is Del Toro’s amazing visuals. All of the film’s creatures are beautiful [sometimes in very disturbing ways] and the sets are enthralling. The creatures are mostly practical and the prostheses and animatronics are absolutely state of the art. Of course, they wouldn’t mean anything if the story and the characters didn’t support them – but they do.

The film is probably hardest on Abe, who encounters romance for the first time in his life, but the Hellboy/Liz relationship takes some interesting and powerful turns as well. Then there’s the new kid on the block, Johann Strauss [voiced by Seth McFarlane], a Teutonic being of ectoplasm housed in an encounter suit that resembles the old spider-Man villain, Mysterio. Brought in to bring Hellboy to heal, Strauss shows some unique abilities, but can’t contain the curmudgeonly demon.

Del Toro shows that Pan’s Labyrinth was no fluke as he sets up action sequences and emotional situations that are simultaneously larger than life and as real as oxygen. He puts his characters through trials of epic proportion, while keeping their feet firmly on the metaphoric ground. The only real flaw of the film is that it may be too rich, too full. There’s so much going on – on every level – that it’s hard to get it all in one viewing. The cliché, “I laughed. I cried. It became part of me,” may actually apply here – Hellboy II: The Golden Army has an effect that lingers long after you’ve left the theater.

Final Grade: A

New Line’s Journey to the Center of the Earth is a flimsy plot – loosely based on Jules Verne’s novel of the same name – used to set up a string of wild [and at times gross and/or grotesque] 3D effects. The good news is that the combination of cast and CG effects make it – literally – a great ride.

Trevor Anderson’s [Brendan Fraser] work on seismic effects is threatened by a lack of results. When his nephew, Sean [Josh Hutcherson], comes to visit, a comment on his dad’s favorite book [guess...] leads to the discovery that seismic shifts lead to an unexpected location – and the figures match, precisely, those from the time when Trevor’s brother, Max, disappeared. The figures lead Trevor and Sean to Iceland and a mountain guide, Hannah Ásgeirsson [Anita Briem], whose father was a colleague of Max’s. Before you know it, the three are at the center of the planet!

Outside of encounters with luminescent birds, extinct dinosaurs, piranha the size of Great Danes and other odd occurrences, that’s all there is to it. What makes it work is that Fraser, Hutcherson and Briem give themselves over to the thrill ride completely. The screenplay, by Michael Weiss, Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin, gives our heroes plenty of exciting situations to deal with – and a number of good [if not terribly memorable] lines to keep us the edges of our seats. Eric Brevig’s direction is frenetic enough that, even with a few pauses for breath and a bit of emotional interplay, the film zips by in a compact ninety-three minutes – without feeling too short. The 3D is generally very good, though there are a few places where it is outstanding. My personal favorite [which is to say, the one that made me jump the highest] involves a piranha – and I guarantee you won’t see it coming [sorry...].

It’s a pity that Journey to the Center of the Earth opens the same weekend as Hellboy II and the new Eddie Murphy movie [which is likely not half as much fun]. It would be a shame to see it get lost in the box office shuffle. It’s far too much pure fun for that.

Final Grade: B

Today I participated in a call with Battlestar Galactica’s iconic Six (Tricia Helfer) to talk about her role in the July 10 premiere of USA’s new hit show Burn Notice. Of course Galactica came up as well and we got some great tidbits from her. The transcript from the call will be coming later this week. To wet your appetite. Here are some little tidbits.

• Tricia will be in 7 Episodes of Burn Notice playing a mysterious spy. She’ll be in the first two episodes of the season, the season finale and a couple in 2009.
• Her character is the public face of the organization that burned Michael.
• She really liked the being on the set and said it was a real welcoming environment.
• She talks a bit about the difference between Vancouver and Miami, Fl. Said she had to get use to it being sunny in Fla.
• She has a list of DVD Sets that she wants to watch since she doesn’t watch much television. She likes quirky shows like Madmen and Weeds. Is currently watching Dexter, 24, and Arrested Development.
• When asked if she uses the word Frak in her every day life she no. Primarily because her character on Galactica rarely says it. But Frak has become part of other cast and crew’s vocabulary.
• She didn’t have to audition for the Burn Notice part. Matt called her up and said he had a part for her.
• She’s shooting a pilot for a new Fox Television show called Inseparable. She’s playing a Psychologist to the lead. It’s about a cop who was shot and paralyzed. He develops a split personality one that’s crippled and the other one who isn’t. She’s not in the Pilot episode that much because they are establishing the main character.
• She was great to talk to, wasn’t at all squeamish about talking about BSG and what her post BSG life will be like.
• She will be at Comic-Con as part of a Cylon/Human couple. Doesn’t know if the Burn Notice folks will be doing anything.
• She hasn’t been following the looming strike.

EM Interview Highlights

By Michelle Alexandria
Originally Posted 7.2.2008

With an A-story that features the love story between WALL*E [Waste Allocation Load Lifter - Earth Class] and EVE [Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator], and a B-story that involves humanity’s possible return to a post-apocalyptic Earth, WALL*E is more than a bit of a gamble on PIXAR’s part.

Neither WALL*E nor EVE has a large vocabulary [at least, in terms of actual words - he has a number of R2D2-like sounds that clearly express what he's feeling, and she has her own electronic vocabulary as well] - and neither has what you could call a real face [he's a pair of binoculars on a box and she's a floating egg with occasional arms & hands] - and yet we always know exactly what they are thinking and feeling.

Their romance is a classic one - and simultaneously poignant and hilarious – even though the film goes almost twenty minutes before a word of English is spoken.

The B-story features humans who have, in 700 years in space, become obese figures on floating couches/chairs. They live on a gigantic starship called the Axiom, where they are waited on, hand & foot, by robots of all sizes, shapes and functions [there’s more than a bit of eco-satire here, and it’s quite sharp].

The appearance of EVE [and WALL*E] with a fragile little plant from Earth should signal a return to Earth, but there are problems…

WALL*E does pay homage to various classic SF films [he resembles ET more than Johnny 5, and the ship's autopilot, Otto, will certainly remind one of Hal from 2001], but homages are only cool if the film is worth seeing.

WALL*E is, quite frankly, dazzling. Purely from a cinematography perspective, almost every frame of the film is a perfect composition - and yet not predictable, or in any way sterile.

Some of the best moments include the realization that the deserted city we first see is only partly man-made [you'll see what I mean...]; the lovely moment from the trailer when WALL*E trails his hand through asteroid dust like a little boy trailing his fingers through the water as a motorboat zips across a lake [see photo]; the beautiful skyscapes that open the film, and so many more [including the fact that WALL*E is hooked on Hello, Dolly – and has a cockroach as his only friend!].

WALL*E is the best film of the year - let alone the summer - so far. Easily. It may be too intense or hard to follow for younger children [the lady and four kids, ages about three to six, who were sitting next to me got up and left well before WALL*E reached the Axiom], so you should be aware of that.

Grade: A+

When people ask me what my top 10 favorite films of all time are, I generally ignore the question because it only gives people a chance to try and come across as pretentious. Oh, they’ll say the usual, “The Godfather,” “Citizen Cane,” “Psycho,” “Gone With the Wind,” etc. Personally, I despise “Citizen Cane,” and think “The Godfather” is good, but overrated, “Wind” bores me to tears. My top 10 always changes but my favorite film has never changed – my answer has always been “V – The Original Mini-series.” Writer/Director Kenneth Johnson crafted a masterpiece with this movie. If it aired today, it probably wouldn’t have had the same impact on me as it did when I was a kid. I’m more jaded and the Internet would have ruined all of the surprises the movie had.

It was a perfect blend of marketing with an amazing story. The marketing was brilliant, for 60 days prior to its television debut, all they showed were these blood red “V” signs. The Television ads gave nothing away – no plot descriptions, no clips, just a blood red “V” dripping against a black screen with a countdown clock “30 days they’ll arrive.” Studios could never run a campaign like that today. Everyone in my school was like, "what is this, what does it mean?" It was true viral marketing at it’s finest.

When camera man Michael Donovan gets his first shot of the Mothership coming over the mountain, it took my breath away. It’s one of those indelible childhood moments I still remember to this very day and when we first see the Alien eyes, it gave me nightmares for years. But what makes “V” stand the test of time is all of the issues and subtext that Kenny throws into the film, issues that resonate today as much as it did back then. A classic line “You didn’t think it could happen here, but it did. One day we woke up in a fascist society. You are just as free as the leash they have you on.”

V was never about Lizards in space, it was about something deeper and more meaningful. It’s about taking our environment for granted, it’s about the struggle between social classes and what it would take to force people to work together, it’s about a fascist take over of the world, it’s about how one man’s “resistance” is another’s “terrorist.” It was about how tough it is to do the right thing. It’s about sacrificing yourself for the greater good.

Even after watching the movie and reading the book well over 40 times, I always find something new. What’s brilliant about the series is he forces you to think about the situation everyone finds themselves in and he makes you ask yourself “Would I be a collaborator or a member of the resistance?” The answer isn’t always an easy one. I’d like to think I would be a resistance leader like Juliet Parish, but the idea of taking the easy way out like Eleanor….

The series brings a cast of “thousands” together and it’s amazing how multi-cultural this movie is/was considering it was made in the early 80s. It continues to stand the test of time. All the weapons used on both sides – the advanced lasers (who Kenny J. says cost $1,000 a shot, so they limited their use). Yes, Independence Day and even The X-Files movie had brilliant CGI spaceships, but I loved the low-key element of the matte paintings. I hope they never remake this, while the CGI updates would be brilliant, they would completely water down all the elements that make “V” a true classic. Today’s Hollywood would certainly get rid of all the political, social and environmental subtext.

I know most people didn’t like the follow-up “V – The Final Battle,” but I always thought it was good and worthy of the "V" brand. It didn’t live up to the tone and brilliance of the original series. But as part of the V Universe I think it fits really well. Yeah, the Star Child stuff and the Preacher were incredibly stupid, but Michael Iron-side made a nice addition to the series. We’ll pretend the TV Series never happened.

While I may like “V – The Final Battle,” Kenny Johnson doesn’t. Something happened between he and NBC and he had little involvement with it, beyond writing the initial script that was radically changed. So now that he has a chance to end his baby the way he originally wanted, he ignores everything that happens in “The Final Battle,” and picks up his new novel “V The Second Generation,” 20 years after the end of the Original Series. We all remember young Juliet Parish telling Elias that it may take 20 years for someone to answer their distress signal.

Its 20 years later, Earth is firmly under the control of the Visitors and the Resistance is still fighting but barely holding on after one of their own betrayed them and there was a great purge. Juliet Parish is leading a small resistance group in the San Francisco area. But we don’t really meet up with Juliet again until later the book. This story is all about the new generation of resistance fighters, specifically a Visitor Youth leader named Nathan. Who becomes disillusioned with the Visitors when he finds out his mentor is a member of the fifth column and he is forced to re-evaluate everything he believes. This is Kenny at his best forcing you to place yourself in his characters shoes. Does he turn her in, or try and help her escape. Meanwhile several strangers appear on the scene and for some mysterious reason take an interest in Nathan. Who are these strangers? That would be telling.

We finally meet the other Alien race that the Visitors were so afraid of. These people don’t try to hide their alien-ness from the humans. Society under Visitor rule is broken up into a caste system where Collaborators and Youth Members are at the top of the food chain and at the bottom is a whole new race of alien/human hybrids. We meet several of them including Ruby a little girl that Juliet adopted; Willie and Harmony’s teenage son who desperately wants to be accepted by the Visitors and a teenage genius who is a Janitor aboard the Mothership. Through these three characters Johnson paints a grim portrait of people who are stuck between two worlds and accepted by neither.

Maybe it’s because I had high expectations for it and am so used to the original characters that this was a difficult novel to read. Johnson made the decision to completely ignore everything in Final Battle, so it took getting used to his retconing everything back to The Original. It starts off painfully slow and Johnson takes his time introducing all the new characters. At times it feels like he’s meandering and holding back on delivering the action. It takes a good ½ of the book before it starts to gel and take off.

There are some interesting twists and turns in the middle but what’s lacking are the original characters that we know and love. He doesn’t really explain what happened to them other than there was a Purge. And I hate to say it, but some of his descriptions are painful, like an old man (not that you’re old Kenny!) trying desperately to be hip. For instance he has a character named “Street – C,” who I suppose is this generation’s Elias. He describes him as, I kid you not, a “funky fresh kid with his hat turned backwards and a toothpick in his mouth.” I read that line 5 times and just shook my head. A couple of the characters didn’t get the comeuppance that I would have liked, nothing like the classic moment in Final Battle when Daniel finally gets what’s coming to him. There’s a similar character in the book that I desperately wanted to see get it and was disappointed when it didn’t happen.

Once I got used to the new characters and Juliet Parish finally makes her appearance the pace picks up and we have a strong, rousing close. It feels like it ends too quickly. I would have liked another 100 pages with the old and new resistance working together. “V – The Second Generation”, isn’t quite the book that I was hoping for, but the last half was a satisfying conclusion.

Final Grade B-

EM Book Review
by Michelle Alexandria
Originally posted 6.07.08

Civil unrest; civil war; a potential for mutiny and character death – this week’s Battlestar Galactica episode, The Ties That Bind, is picking up the pace. Outside of Cavil’s response to last week’s little fracas with the Centurions, did anyone see any of this happening? Spoilers follow.

Key events: President Roslin is helping Admiral Adama keep the nature of the Demetrius’ mission secret –but not without some rancor [though a later scene has Adama reading her a mystery as she has medical tests]; Lee Adama is now the Caprica representative on The Quorum of the Twelve; Tom Zarek [of all people] nominated Lee for the position; Tory came on to Chief Tyrol – and Cally saw it; Lee challenged the President on the matter of a proposed judicial system that put the fleet’s justice system, for all intents and purposes, solely in her hands – but only after she tried to shut him down on another matter; Cally found a note for her husband about a meeting and followed him – and discovered that he, Tory and Tigh were “skin jobs”; Cavil’s group surrounded the others’ base stars and opened fire – after pretending to concede to their wishes to resurrect the D’Anna model; Starbuck’s crew, bored and frustrated, demanded to know what the frak she was doing – and got shut down; Cally took Nicky to a Viper bay and prepared to open the airlock when Tory intercepted her; Tory talked her into giving her Nicky then knocked her out; Cally awoke to see Tory activate the airlock – and was spaced. The episode’s final scene, with the admiral informing him of his wife’s death [will it be chalked up to some kind of clinical depression, or will Tory tell Tyrol she did it to free him?]. The only thing missing from this ep was the Messiah Baltar and his harem!

Yup. Things are really ramping up on Battlestar Galactica. The episode title might well have read “Untying the Ties That Bind.”

Although Lee and his father seem to have gotten over their latest episode of friction, the Roslin/Adama relationship is definitely fraying; even before Callie saw Tory come on to Tyrol, their relationship wasn’t that great; Tory seems to experiencing everything more fully – sex, drinking, food – and has developed an appetite that leads to trouble – severely stressing whatever ties that bind The Four [and seriously ticking off Tigh]; whatever relationship existed between Roslin and Lee might have been destroyed when he defended Baltar [as Zarek noted], but it has almost certainly been destroyed by Lee’s questions in the Quorum meeting this week; Anders’ marriage to Starbuck has been exposed as being a sham and is reduced to the purely physical – earning Starbuck another potential enemy; and the tie between the six working models of Cylons has been shattered irrevocably with the ambush of Six’s group by Cavil’s.

Once again, there’s so much going on – and so much of it is important – that it’s hard to believe that the episode doesn’t feel rushed, or over crowded. Michael Taylor [Sine Qua Non, Taking a Break From All Your Worries] comes up with his best ep yet. He manages to work in small details – like Adama reading Roslin a book entitled Love and Bullets [“It started like it always did. With a body.”], or Zarek’s explanation to Lee for why he recommended him for appointment to the Quorum of the Twelve – and yet doesn’t lose that sense of intimacy during more spectacular moments – like Six’s realization that Cavil was about to ambush her group. One further thought: considering Zarek’s motives for bringing Lee into the Quorum, and Lee’s first few efforts there, is it possible that President roslin might be soon be facing a mutiny of her own?

Moments that stood out: Adam reading to Roslin; Cally’s visit to Doc Cottle; Tigh’s explosion at Tory and Tyrol; the frustrated look on Gaeta’s face on the Demetrius; Tory telling Cally, “We’re not evil” and then knocking her out and waiting for her to wake up before spacing her [and this was also the first time we got to see that The Four have that Cylon strength]; the silence of the final scene as Adama talks to Tyrol.

Director Michael Nankin [Scar, Maelstrom] does a marvelous job of making sure that all the ep’s quiet moments feel real and the big ones [like the ambush and Cally’s spacing] are given the appropriate gravitas. The Ties That Bind is the first ep of the season that really has no dead spots.

As of The Ties That Bind, it would appear that the ties that bind friends, families and even governments are beginning to disintegrate on Battlestar Galactica. The question is, will they continue to fray, or will they be reconfigured in some hitherto unexpected way?

Line of the week – Cavil: “We’re machines dear, remember? We don’t have souls.”

It looks like the BSG creative team has just shifted into high. Hang on!

Final Grade: A-

Wow, tonight/today is a big day for me. I get the new Call of Duty 4 maps today and tonight is the premiere of the Final (sort of) season of Battlestar Galactica. Luckily I don’t have to choose between playing COD or watching BSG because the kind folks over at Sci-Fi sent me a copy of the screener earlier this week. They made me sign away my life to get it, but it was sort of worth it.  Here’s the thing, I love all things BSG, but I thought last season sucked. After the amazing first six episodes of the season, it just spun it’s wheels until the big season ending reveal.  Watching tonight’s episode, I had that feeling again. Like come on, let’s get to the point and move the story along.  I have no doubt that once all 10 eps of this shortened season air, it’ll become clear how brilliant this show still is.  BSG opened with a bang, they obviously have a bigger budget for their final season and they spent it beefing up the show’s SFX.  There are lots of big sploshings in all it’s CGI glory. The ships make beautiful orange fireballs.

The writers clearly have a plan and now that they know the show has a definite end, I’m 100 percent sure it’s going to go out with a bang.  The question is, are they going to play coy with us fans and move everything at a snail’s pace until we get to the big moments. Again, I’m not saying tonight’s episode is bad, it’s really good, but it also felt kind of blah. The problem is, BSG is known for it’s drama and characters and that seemed to take a back seat to the new enhanced SFX. The crew’s reaction to Kara’s return from the dead was spot on. I’m kind of sick to death of the whole “Who is a Cylon?” theme as well. As usual the stuff with Gaius was terrible. It looks like this season he’s going to become some Jim Jones like cult leader - which is just stupid. The ending was definitely intriguing, but the way Sci-Fi built hyped it up, I was expecting a really huge reveal. Something that’s going to propel the story forward or fundamentally change everything. Instead what I got was, that’s it? I know I sound negative; tonight’s premiere is a good opening, just not as great as I wanted it to be.

Final Grade B

EM Review
by Michelle Alexandria
Originally posted 4.4.08

On Friday, I had the opportunity to take part in a teleconference with Starbuck, herself - Katee Sackhoff, of the Peabody Award-winning Battlestar Galactica. She talked about her reaction to the mind-bending prophecy that Starbuck was a harbinger of doom; which is tougher - love scenes, or fight scenes; who she thinks Starbuck should wind up with [if indeed she wainds up with anyone...]; how she’d like the series to end for Starbuck, and much more.

Battlestar Galactica returns to the Sci Fi Channel Friday at 10/9C.

Note: There were some reception problems, so there will be an occasional word or phrase missing [replaced with the word unintelligible].

Starbucks gets all kinds of action on the show. Which is tougher for you, a fight scene or a love scene? And is there anybody left among the cast that you really want to have one or the other with?

You’ve got to start out with a good one too. I’m sitting across the table from my boyfriend right now. I would say that the sex scenes are a lot harder than I think anything that I’ve ever had to do on the show. Because it’s not natural, it’s just odd, it’s very odd. It makes you kind of feel cheap. Like you’re being paid to or being allowed to in a sense cheat on your significant other. It’s very weird. It - so that definitely is weird. But the fight scenes are really easy and they come pretty naturally for me to be honest. But, so no I can’t - I mean, who would I want to fight on the show? Still thinking about not wanting to do the other thing with. I don’t know. I think I’ve fought everybody. I think, you know, I can’t think of anyone. I haven’t fought Sharon so I’ll go ahead and say that. I think that a fight between Eddie and I would be pretty interesting.

How cool and gratifying has it been that you won over those fans who were first skeptical and negative and on a larger scale how cool and gratifying has it been that this show, this version gained so many fans in general?

It is completely gratifying in a sense. I think for the full, you know, the full reason that it’s nice to have people identify with the character that you’re playing and appreciate the work you’re doing. I don’t think I went into this trying to win over the old fans because I think that you can’t ever please everyone… and I didn’t want to focus on people that were all ready in a sense, you know, spewing negative energy at me. So I just kind of, you know, did what I did and it’s nice to know that they’ve, you know, some of them have been converted but, you know, and I guess it is a little gratifying to know that, you know…

For all the people who said I couldn’t - you know, that it wouldn’t work with a woman. It’s kind of nice to know that it did work for sure.

When did you start realizing that people that - audiences that were reluctant to accept Starbuck as a woman, what of the character do you think helped turn that around to make people accept Starbuck as a woman?

I think what - honestly what made people accept Starbuck as a woman was that she was just such a interesting character. You know I think once people put their guard down as far as the preconceived notions of what the show was supposed to be and just allowed it to be really good science fiction, I think that’s also probably the same time when people accepted Starbuck for being a woman was when they stopped thinking of the old show. Which is, I don’t know, you know, it’d be hard to figure out when that probably happened but, you know, probably after the first season. That cliffhanger at the very end that probably got all the fans hooked.

What should we make of the positioning in that terrific Last Supper picture of the BSG cast? For instance, you’re with Anders and Lee is alone, Six is in the Messiah’s position. Are there any hints there you can tell us about?

No. You know it’s interesting that everyone thinks that there’s something hidden in that Last Supper photo like if you look hard enough you can find there’s hidden messages in it. To be honest I think we would have had to have been in on it to create a hidden message and we were all just there having a photo shoot. So, I don’t, I mean, it is interesting the way people are standing for sure, I mean, you know, the plastic sheath with Anders is interesting but - so I don’t know. And the fact that they made Tricia the messiah is pretty interesting too. But, you know, I wish I knew what they were thinking and I know - that would be a question for Lana Kim, she’s on the line.

I wanted to ask about (unintelligible) flashback to last season when Starbuck was temporarily killed off. It seemed like after that happened it was sort of confusingly handled in terms of your interviews, you know, hinting whether or not you were actually gone and the show’s reaction to it. Looking back do you sort of wish it would have been handled a little bit better and not mentioned it at all. Is there anything you would have played differently?

I’m trying to figure out what, like as far as…

In terms of the spoilers I guess more than anything else. It seemed like, it seemed like when Starbuck was killed, people were already expecting her to return already, it doesn’t seem like there was an element of surprise for various reasons. Do you think in a way it could have been handled better both either in the show in terms of the post show handling?

I don’t know. I mean, I know that you can only keep a secret a secret for so long. I know that as soon as I showed back up at work, it was going to be on the internet but back up at work and also, you know, I mean, I do think they should have left me out until the very end. I think bringing Starbuck back in episode 16 kind of like, what the hell was that, you know. Why not, you know, wait until 20. But, you know, I guess, in Ron’s mind he had a bigger cliffhanger and I guess, you know, to have a bigger cliffhanger than Starbuck coming back from the dead is, you know, only Battlestar Galactica could pull that off. So, you know, I don’t know. I mean, would definitely have told the main cast from the very beginning, you know, having to deal with all of that with the crew and the cast and you know, it was really - it’s not something that I’d like to do again. That’s for sure.

I wanted to talk to you about how you’re feeling now that the show is ending and how the rest of the cast is feeling.

Well, I can’t speak for the rest of the cast so I don’t know how they’re feeling. As far as how I’m feeling, like, it’s interesting. Like, you know, there’s a side to me that actually, you know, the selfish side of you that wants to go on and, you know, play different roles so there’s an excitement, that kind of, I think brewing for everyone in a sense, you know, we kind of, you know, get to go off and play these new characters or, you know, hopefully and, you know, that’s why you became an actor is to, you know, to not play the same character for ten years.

So it’s kind of nice, I think that it is sad just because I don’t think - the work environment on Battlestar Galactica is absolutely amazing and I don’t think it’s something that comes along a lot and, you know, I’ve done so many canceled television shows I can tell you that it’s not normal to enjoy going to work and to enjoy the people you work with. So I know that that - chances are I’m never going to find that again so that’s sad as well. But you know as far as moving on with the show, I don’t think that’s really - I’m really going to feel the pain of it until the very end.

What do you feel like the impact of the show has had maybe on the SciFi genre for the channel?

Well Battlestar Galactica did for SciFi was, you know, they treated it like a reality, you know, that what was so interesting about our show is that we never relied on the science fiction of the show to drive the show. We relied on the drama and the human condition and those really important questions. That’s what we depended on for the show and because the show, you know, could move it along and most science fiction shows rely way too much on the, you know, the bells and whistles. So I think that it kind of opened doors in science fiction to realize that, you know, regardless if it’s - science fiction is just a setting. It’s not a show, you know, it’s a setting. It’s where something takes place, it’s not, it should never have been what the show is. And I think that finally for the first time what the show has probably done is that it proved that that could be done.

Did you know that Starbuck would become such a popular and kind of an iconic character when you signed up to do this?

Oh of course. I didn’t even know the show, you know, would become as iconic as it is. It’s become - it’s taken on a life of its own and become something completely different than what I ever thought it would. I thought is was just going to be a paycheck. And so no, I didn’t know Starbucks would ever, you know, become what she’s become. I think that, you know, so many things had to come together to make that a reality. You know, I think that the writing was perfect and the way that, you know, they wrote Starbuck was perfect and so, you know, a lot of things had to - all the planets had to align to get this to be perfect. So, I don’t know. A very interesting question, yeah.

At the end of last season a couple of the actors playing the final five Cylons weren’t too happy at least initially to find out that they were Cylons. But if Starbuck turns out to be a Cylon or an agent of the Cylons, will you be pleased or displeased or indifferent?

Well I think the reason the four actors were upset about being Cylons is that I think, you know, you play for years making choices as a character and then to realize all those choices you made would have been different had you known. It’s interesting, it’s kind of like, you know, you get the wool pulled over your eyes for four years and then lo and behold, you know, your character’s something completely different. So that’s, you know - but I would be completely indifferent. I think, you know, I have love for this character and I think we all do as far as everyone for their character on the show, but I - they were pretty angry. I still think Michael Hogan hasn’t come to terms with it. I don’t think he’s ready to accept it yet. So…

I’ve got to say you really blew me away on Bionic Woman and I think you’re great on Galactica. How did you juggle these two great characters at the same time and what do you like about these sort of, you know, action heavy sci-fi roles?

I always had to remind myself of who I was, because I think that the two characters were so different but could have been played so similar. I always had to make sure that I knew where I was and let go of the other story line, even if I was working on both shows in the same day. So for that, you know, Starbuck comes so easily to me now that even the lines and the dialogue, I don’t even memorize the dialogue anymore. I show up to work, I (unintelligible) to the writers but now they know my way of speaking so well, or so much, that Starbucks dialogue is just so easy to memorize, and it’s - that’s the writing. But Bionic Woman, I always had to talk myself into it and make sure I was where I was supposed to be. And as far as the strong characters are concerned, I, you know, I have this deep affinity for these characters. They - I think that I’ve reluctantly turned into the go-to tough girl in this business and I’m ready to do a job that requires no blood and guts and ghosts or anything. So, a nice little romantic comedy with James Mcevoy would be fantastic.

Could you talk a little bit about how this season we’re going to handle the marriage between Starbuck and Anders?

If I knew, I would tell you. I have no idea. You know, we are at episode 14 right now in shooting - in our shooting schedule and I am no closer to being able to have any questions answered from last season than I am now. So - or, you know, then than I am now.

It’s not really being played up then?

You know I think that - without giving too much away here, I think that there are more important issues being dealt with right now on the show for these characters than what Starbuck is and how her marriage is. There’s a lot of really heavy things happening right now and I think that her marriage to Anders is the least of her concerns. But at the same time it would be interesting to ask those questions, you know, because we don’t identify this thing as a person. Is her marriage even legal? I don’t know. You’re asked all those questions that everyone would probably want answered and probably would never get an answer unless I did one of the webcasts. (Unintelligible) questions but yeah.

But as far as me handling it, if it ever gets broached, I, you know, I think Starbuck is starting to feel compassion for the things she hates the most, I think, because she as everyone on the show is starting to realize and these are the major questions of, you know, humanity and what the show, you know, has always kind of asked, is that if you found out tomorrow that, you know, your best friend or your mother or something was a Cylon, you know, say it that way, would it make your experiences that you had with that person or thing less important to you?

No, it’s the same emotion, the same feelings, the same thing that you had experiences with. They’re just different than you always thought they were, it doesn’t mean that it is less, it’s just different. And I think that that’s, you know, something that they’re starting to remember. And as far as Starbuck coming back (unintelligible) family or my boyfriend died, I would do anything to have them back. So, you know, I mean, do people care any more what you are as long as you’re there? That’s an interesting question, so…

Your boss, Ronald D. Moore, is directing I think his first episode now or just recently and have you worked with him and how was that?

I’ve got to say he’s the first director I’ve ever worked with that after every take he says thank you. And I noticed that because it’s not something - I think what the crew does, what an actor does, at times can be overlooked because it’s what we’re supposed to do and to have someone thank you after every take is very interesting. I found that, you know, after a take I stood a little taller, I was a little happier and I was like wow, that must have been really good. Even though I didn’t ask him because God forbid, he said no I was just saying thank you, but that was shit Katee. You’re going to have to go again. So he was a great director. Granted I only had one scene with him but one thing that I noticed that I’ve never had happen before and it goes to - speak to his character as a person. He’s a fantastic man.

I know that your character is one of the more rebellious, impulsive characters on the show. After, you know, playing Starbuck for four seasons, have you picked up any of her, you know, hard core habits or anything like that? Or her love of poker or anything?

No, I still have never played a game of poker. I still don’t smoke cigars. It’s - you know, I haven’t picked up anything from her I don’t think. You know, I mean, if I was to say that I picked up something it would be that, you know - I can’t think. I think that her strength and her conviction is something she believes in is pretty interesting.

I would like to be able to emulate that. And then just her belief in what she has to say is really impressive. I think so many times women in general, but, you know, people as well, apologize before they say things for fear, you know, like we give a disclaimer, like this is going to sound stupid or - and I know there’s women do that all the time, like forgive me for asking this question but like the question doesn’t have any merit, well every question does. And I think that that’s something that I’ve learned from Starbuck is that, you know, there really is and my mother used to say that as a teacher, like no question is stupid, there are no stupid questions, there’s only stupid answers. That’s what my mom used to always say so - so that’s something that I hope to take from Starbucks.

And as far as the fan base of the show goes, you know, are you surprised by the number of fans that the show has gotten or have you gotten any, you know, really surprising fan mail from someone that you wouldn’t expect to like the show?

No, not really. I think the most interesting thing is when I get mail from high school or their parents or something and they’re like, hi, Katee just wanted to say hi, we still live in the same house, you know, come on by. That’s interesting when a friend of mine doesn’t know how to get a hold of me and sends my mail to my publicist. I’m like, what are you doing, just call my parents, you idiot.

I’m wondering if you could speak a little bit about Starbuck’s sort of mental state going into season four and what finding Earth really means to her?

She’s very fragile, you know, she’s extremely lost. We’ve never seen Starbuck so alone and so lost. And she’s a little distressed, not only because of the way that people are treating her but because of the questions that her coming back has raised in her own mind. And as far as - what was the second part of the question?

Just what finding Earth and the sort of mission that she’s on.

Right. I think it’s her revolution. I think it’s her end. I think that she’s putting so much weight and so much weight on this one thing, this one task that she believes that is her destiny that I think she wouldn’t let anything stand in her way, anything, which I think when that is the case, you’ve got a very scary person on your hands when they’re unwilling - completely unwilling to sacrifice everything to accomplish something. That’s scary. So I think that we’re going to see a lot from her this season that isn’t - kind of like a shell of her former self, at the same time a lot of her doing things that you don’t necessarily don’t agree with. So…

And have the producers told you what exactly happened to Starbuck during her supposedly dead time?

No, we’re on episode 14 and I’ve read 15 and nope. I don’t think we’ll figure that out until the last second.

What I’d like to know is when you saw the script for Razor at the end where the Cylon Hybrid makes the prophecy that Starbuck is a harbinger of doom, what was your initial reaction and as the season has progressed, how has that reaction changed? Either strengthened, lessened or whatever?

I think that when I read that very end I went of course she is. Like, what else could happen to Starbuck, I’m like, come on, you know, lay it all on me. The worst possible thing and there you have it, fantastic, she’s going to kill everybody, great. I think that that is something that has been carried through the entire season so far. As far as whether or not anyone knows, you’re going to have to wait and find out on what it really means, you know. It could mean so many different things.

What is the best memory or experience that you’re going to take with you from your time on Battlestar and then also what one physical thing or prop or piece of the set would you take with you if you could to remember the show?

That’s easy. I’m getting in my flight suit with my helmet and my gun belt and driving home. I’m going to bronze that f-ing thing, I swear to God. I’m going to bronze it and put it in my bathtub so every time someone comes over and showers, they have to stand next to that flight suit. It was hell for so many years that it’s only appropriate that I get to take it with me. Granted I have to drive over a border so maybe I’ll put the guns in the trunk and write prop on them. But shop at the American Government, that’d be great. I think that - and the beginning part of that question?

Your best experience or memory.

You know, the cast and the crew. I have made so many friends on the show, you know, I mean, Steve McNutt our VP has been like my dad for five years and constantly telling me to be safe when I’m with Michael, constantly. So I think that, you know, and then also the friendships that you form that are through the show but you are able to maintain outside of the show. That’s really important because when you do a show you have these grand plans of staying in touch with these people and nine times out of ten it never happens.

You know I haven’t spoken to Richard Dreyfuss or Marcia Gay Harden, you know. I did a show with them for years so, it’s, you know, you never do. Unless you find a common ground outside of the show, those friendships don’t last. And so I think that what I’m really proud of is my friendship with (unintelligible). I’m very proud of that, it’s my first adult friendship I guess, like the first friendship I’ve developed as an adult that hasn’t been a friend since I was, you know, 17. And so I’m proud of that and I’m proud that we’ll be friends forever or for a long time at least. So…

When you and the cast are sitting around, do you ever theorize on who the final Cylon is going to be and also will we find out before the end of this first run of episodes?

I think that, you know, we’ve been told who it is. I personally don’t believe it. I think that that’s something that’s going to be kept to the very end, you know, and I don’t think that it would be smart to tell people because inevitably things always get out on the web and to have to have to keep that secret for a year, I think Chris maybe should shoot maybe like five different endings. And whichever character doesn’t get (death) they should just make that the final Cylon. You know, it’ll be like, you know, some random character from the first season that had one line. It’s fine, you know, that’s who it’ll be. No, so… I don’t know. We do talk about it sometimes but as far as who it is, I don’t think any of us will know for sure until we see it on television.

Okay, so it won’t be in the first run then?

No. I don’t think so. I haven’t seen the episodes though and I don’t pre-read scripts so I couldn’t tell you. I personally don’t know who it is, no.

How do you think your character’s journey or as well as the other characters’ journey of this drama parallels to the reality that people live that everyday and what things might people learn from watching it?

I mean that’s hard for me - in general or how her military life is…

How she’s progressed throughout the whole entire saga.

I don’t know, you know. People always ask me this question how she’s evolved and she has. I think that she’s finally someone you can depend on and I don’t think she was before. But I think what keeps her going — and if this is what people can take from her — is her desire to love and her desire to have people love her keeps her going. You know, her relationships with Adama and Lee has really kept, has really kept - probably kept her alive and I think that that’s something that’s very important. You know, I think that that’s extremely important. You know, I’ve talked to a lot of soldiers who say that, you know, what keeps them going is that they get to come home. So, you know, it’s that go to speak to any relationship that, you know, we’re happiest and most willing to accommodate I guess life and all its ups and downs when we have love in our lives.

Ron Moore has said that he’s not interested in doing a Battlestar feature film. Do you think you could change his mind and if so would you be interested in doing that film?

No, I wouldn’t want to change his mind. I think he’s right.

You know, he said it best at the (PCA), I don’t know if you were there but or got that but what he said was that what would end up happening is that you would have to focus on, you know, one or two characters and, you know, what’s so brilliant is that it’s been a four-year movie and the time to tell these stories about each person individually and really have you become invested in those characters and to do a two hour movie or a one and a half hour movie I think takes away from that what we’ve been able to do for so long, you know, it really does take away. I mean, I don’t, you know, how do you pick which two characters and when you pick those two characters are you going to flip off the other 17 main characters on the show, like how do you define, you know, what to do.

I think he’s right, you know, plus at the same time, you know, as a performer — excuse me, sorry, sorry, I’m downstairs in the lobby here — I think that, you know, I don’t know, plus like whatever I was going to say is that when I even actually am done with the show, I’m done with the show. I - you know, as much as I love the job or don’t love the job the last thing I want to do is come back and do it again, when I’ve already done it. Granted, you know, talk to me in five years if I haven’t worked. We’ll see. But, you know, as of right now I have no desire to do it - to do a movie.

Just think of sort of the tail end of season three it seems as though Starbuck was sort of moving more towards being a spiritual figure instead of, you know, a more action oriented figure. You were having visions, you were kind of, you know, having a more spiritual experience. How does that affect how you play the character and do you think that that’s something that’s going to be developed in the new season?

It doesn’t affect how I play the character to be honest. She’s always been religious and it’s not that she’s changed, it’s that she’s opened up her eyes and allowed something else to come into her life, you know, she’s the same person. It’s just another aspect of who she is, but she’s the same person. It really hasn’t changed the way I play her at all.

If you were in total control of how your character ended up toward the end of this last season, what would you have your character - how would you have your character go out if you don’t know…

Die.

You’d like to have her die? How would you like to have her die?

I don’t know. Maybe something will blow up again on the ship. I don’t know. I just, I don’t that there is anyway to end it with her being happy. You know, what I do wish for her is peace, you know, in whatever form that comes in I’ll be happy with it. But that’s what I want. I want for her to finally have a sense of calm in her life. That would be very interesting and whether it comes with death or, you know, some kind of transcendence of some sort, whatever happens that’s what I want for her.

Throughout your work on Galactica what maybe have you learned most as an actor would you say from your time on the show?

I don’t know, you know, I think every day is a learning experience. Every day you learn something new and I don’t really think I’ll know the gravity of that until I’ve stepped away and taken on another job and I’ll do something that will just come naturally and I’ll go oh wow, I learned that on Battlestar.

You know, what I learned from Marcia Gay Harden and Richard Dreyfuss and Peter O’Toole when I was working with them. I mean that was, you know, an amazing work environment when I did the show with them and I don’t think I realized what I had learned from them until years later. So I think that’s kind of what it’s going to be so…

I know that, you know, the Admiral has basis for like a father figure for Starbuck for a very long time and I wondered, you know, in the previews that we’ve seen, the official previews that have been released, you know it seems like the Admiral really doesn’t know what to believe of Starbuck upon her return and is initially very skeptical. How does that, from someone like him, affect Starbuck and her mental state?

I think that’s the worst thing that could ever happen, you know. Here’s the person that she - depending on his attitude towards her — I’m trying to figure out how to say this — she gets her validation and she gets everything from him. You know, he kind of sets the mood and the tone for how she feels about herself and to have that person doubt you is I think the worst thing that could happen to her. Because as far as she’s concerned, regardless of what she is, she’s the same person she was when she left. And I think the worst thing is she wants his trust so…

So, with no Bionic Woman, what’s next for you? Are you looking for another action role?

Oh, God. I don’t know what’s next. That’s the joy of it. Yeah, you know, do I want to play a character just like, you know, Sarah Corvus or Starbuck? No. You know, I’ve already done it. I’m, you know, looking for things that are complete opposite from those two characters. Whether or not if people give me the opportunity to do that, you know, I don’t know but what’s interesting is five years ago I couldn’t get anyone to think I was, you know, tough and now I can’t get anyone to think of me as the way they did five years ago.

I was recently on a call for The Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles and it was funny because it seemed like the Executive Producer and the cast, they were all like extensively following like what the online activity surrounding the show. Is that kind of the same thing with like Battlestar? Do you guys like kind of like follow the online kind of buzz and what the fans are talking about with the show?

No, Aaron Douglas does. I don’t think anyone else does. You know, I’ve learned a long time ago that you can’t hang out on the Web site or, you know, on the Web because you will inevitably need a hundred positive remarks to make one bad remark disappear. So it’s a never ending cycle of reading about yourself and it never goes away. It’s horrible. So I tend to just not pay attention to it anymore and occasionally my mom will call me and go you’ve got to read this… which I find very interesting.

Of all the Battlestar Galactica cast, who is it you most enjoy acting against? Do you have a particular favorite?

I love working with James and Trisha for sure. The two of them are so much fun so. James because you never know what he’s going to do.

What surprised you the most about Starbuck’s evolution throughout the last three seasons?

What surprised me the most, huh. I think what’s surprised me the most is - wow, I don’t know. That people consistently depend on her shocks the crap out of me. You know, that has always been very interesting to me is that people still ask her to like go save the world, like that. It’s constantly interesting for me so, that I think for sure.

In what ways can we expect her character to evolve this season?

Well, you know, I think that she will hopefully have a resolution of some sort. I think that that’s something we can finally depend on in a sense or, you know, that’s something she might actually finally get. But at the same time, I, you know, really have no idea. I would love for her — and I said this earlier — that, you know, I would love for her to find peace. And I think that if there’s any justice in the world that she will actually have that because she’s been through so much hell.

I think it’s only fair that she get a little peace toward the end.

I wanted to ask you if you could just give us some more teasers as to what we’re going to see in this final season.

Well I think if Battlestar’s any indication at all, in the last six - four - I think that, you know, everyone’s going to be very shocked for sure. I think that there is probably going to ruffle a few feathers very well and I don’t think that there’s any way to make everyone happy. You know, I’ve always - I said to Ron Moore from the very beginning please don’t wrap everyone up in a pretty little box, put a bow on it and say (unintelligible) and he would never do that because that’s not real, you know, and Battlestar has always been based on reality and so I think that he will give it an ending that is fitting of that, of Battlestar. And, you know, make it not pretty, which is hopefully what will happen.

In terms of the cast’s recent appearance on David Letterman, how did that come about and how did you feel about that?

Well, Lana Kim was the one that I think probably made that happen so that’s a tribute to her and her masterful skills at publicity. And I think with Letterman, I think my only concern was God dammit! The first time I’m on late night television and they’re going to make me wear my wardrobe. And I think Tricia… they just said wardrobe and Tricia and I kept thinking well what if we switched wardrobes? They didn’t say your own wardrobe. I thought that would have been pretty funny if I squeezed into a little red dress. So…

Is was there any aspect or experience or recurring theme of growing up in Scappoose [Washington] or around that area that in any way prepared you for playing Starbuck or really helped you in form your portrayal of Starbuck?

Wow, you know, I think the only thing that prepared me for this role, I don’t really know, but as far as - I’ve never thought about it that way. But as far as growing up in St. Helens and in and around that area and then ultimately high school in Portland, was that I spent all my time outdoors as a child. I was constantly running around with my brother and playing cops and robbers and like, you know, we grew up in a place and a time when your parents said be back by dinner and they let you go and, you know, you didn’t have to worry about your kids. You came back at dinnertime and it was fine and I think there was a freedom and a vulnerability and a sense of security that I had growing up.

I was very sheltered and so I think that I’m very naive. I think that I got all of that from growing up in St. Helens and I think that, you know, I moved to Los Angeles and I was like a fish out of water. I’m like, who are you people? So that, but also, you know, there’s a lot of stereotypes from growing up in a small town — which obviously I did — that I think directly relate to Starbuck. You know, I think, you know, she needed to get out and she became the best at something to get out of her home environment, to get out of the town, so to speak, that she was raised in and education was never in the fore - you know, in her forethought. She just kind of went okay, I’m going to be the best fighter pilot and that will get me out.

And I think that that was my thing growing up where I grew up was that I don’t care what I’ll have to do, I’m going to get out. So, you know, ultimately that’s how I became an actor was just wanting desperately to get out so that’s for sure.

I spoke to you before season three and at the time I had asked you what you thought about Lee and Kara’s relationship but it went through a lot of changes in season three. So I’m curious what you think about them now is this something that could ever work out or are they in a bad cycle of repeating mistakes?

I don’t know. You know, I don’t think that Lee and Kara will ever be happy together. I don’t think that - I don’t think they’re meant to be together, you know. I think that they’re meant to be best friends, they’re meant to push each other, they’re meant to have those arguments that drive you, you know, that’s the purpose that I feel that they serve in each other’s lives. I don’t think that they were ever meant to love each other. So, you know, with that being said, I don’t think they’ll ever end up together, I never did really, you know.

I think I said earlier, I think it was in an interview yesterday, where I said if anyone is fitting for her and if there’s anyone that she would actually allow herself to be happy with and be with, it’d probably be Leoben, you know. Anders is too weak for her emotionally. Lee is too much of a boy scout. He makes her feel guilty for her anger and her - who she is, you know, her faults. He makes her feel guilty just by being who he is. And so if there was any person that she could let her guard down with and be happy with, probably Leoben.

The show is far too mature in theme for little girls. But as far as big girls go, what do you think your character gives them?

You know, I think when this first started, I was 22 and I think Starbuck was comparable in age, maybe a couple years older than me. She was supposed to be 35 and then they cast me which was (a shame). But what I think it gave us a glimpse of was a young woman who didn’t depend on anyone and knew what her purpose was. And I think we don’t see that. You know, through the years we’ve learned that she’s got this vulnerability and she’s screwed up and she’s…

And you think she was a young woman who people could depend on?