Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008 - 2009)

Synopsis
I'm sure everyone heard of the Terminator movies, where Skynet, a computer from the future, attempts to exterminate all human life. A human resistance lead by John Connor fights back. In the first movie Skynet sends a cyborg to the past to kill John Connor's mother Sarah, before he is conceived. The resistance sends Kyle Reese, a resistance soldier to protect her.

In the second movie Skynet sends another Terminator to the past to kill a young John Connor, while future John sends a reprogrammed Terminator identical to the one in the first movie to protect young him. This TV series tells what happened after the events of the second movie. John and Sarah Connor with the help of another reprogrammed Terminator, Cameron Phillips, try to stay under the radar, as they attempt to destroy Skynet before it is created.

They Live (1988)

Synopsis
A drifter finds a pair of sunglasses which allow him to see subliminal messages behind advertisements. What's more he sees some people are actually aliens in disguise, and they're behind these messages. The aliens also control big business and the media.

The Thing (1982) vs The Thing (2011)

Three movies were based on the short story Who Goes There? by American science fiction author John W. Campbell Jr. I reviewed the first one earlier, and since the other two are so similar narratively and visually I'll review them together.

Synopsis
1982 version - In the Antarctic a Norwegian helicopter chases and shoots at a sledge dog. They end up near an American science base. The Norwegians are killed before they can give an explanation, so the Americans take in the dog. The Americans go to investigate the Norwegian camp, and discover the Norwegians found something in a block of ice. A creature starts killing and taking on the form of the men at the American science base.

2011 version - The producers of this movie thought the '82 version directed by John Carpenter was perfect, so they decided to make a prequel instead of a remake. This movie tells the story of the Norwegians and how they came in contact with The Thing which assimilates and imitates it's victims.

The Thing from Another World (1951)

John W. Campbell Jr's short story Who Goes There? has been made into a movie three times. This is the first version. I'll review the other versions from 1982 and 2011 later.

Synopsis
An Air Force captain and a journalist are sent to the North Pole to investigate an explosion and a magnetic disturbance. They find a crashed flying saucer under the ice and a frozen being a few meters away from it. The block of ice containing the creature is cut and taken to a nearby science base, however the creature escapes and starts killing people...

Flash Forward

Synopsis
The whole world blacks out for exactly 2min 17sec, resulting in accidents and millions of deaths. During the blackout people have visions of their future. This global event is soon taken to be a terrorist attack, and the plot thickens when video footage is found showing a concious person talking on a mobile phone during the blackout.

The story centers around an FBI agent who's vision shows him to be central to the Flash Forward investigaion, and his family and friends.

Why I Dislike TV Series with Episodic Episodes

Lately I've been watching several TV series, and when I tweet about them or review them I often comment that the episodes feel or don't feel episodic. Here I'll attempt to explain what I mean by this. A series by definition is made up of episodes, but the episodes can cover a series story arc, or they can be stand alone episodes.

Mini Reviews

Lately I watched several TV series, and while I enjoyed them and wanted to share my thoughts about them, I didn't feel the need to give them full scale reviews. What I ended up doing was tweeting around 7 tweets about each. However tweets end up buried under newer ones, and lost in the vast twitter-verse.

Top 5 NLG Steampunk Articles 2011

Choosing my blog's Top 5 articles for 2011 wasn't easy. If I ranked them by pageview, recent articles would be at a disadvantage against those that have been published for some time.

In the end I decided to rank them by calculating the average monthly pageviews [(actual pageviews / days published) * 30 days]. As a last step I removed seasonal posts as with my formula they skewed the result. Seasonal posts are articles that might be very popular at the end of the year, but will probably be ignored during the rest of the year. The results in reverse order:

Hugo (2011)

Synopsis
In 1930's Paris, an orphan lives hidden in a train station's walls. He takes care of the station's clocks, and tries to fix an automaton left to him by his late father. Based on Brian Selznick's New York Times best-seller "The Invention of Hugo Cabret".

The Three Musketeers (2011)

Synopsis
The three Musketeers go to Venice to steal Leonardo da Vinci's Airship blueprints, but are double crossed by Milady who gives the plans to the Duke of Buckingham. On their return to Paris they are disbanded by Cardinal Richelieu for their failure.

A year later a young D'Artagnan moves to Paris and befriends the three former Musketeers. They unite and attempt to stop Cardinal Richelieu's plans to engulf Europe in war and seize the French throne.

Aurora (2011)

Synopsis
Emerson Marks is the captain of the airship Aurora. His wife has been kidnapped by ruthless slave traders, and he goes on a daring rescue together with his crew.

Peyton Place (1957)

Peyton Place inspired David Lynch and Mark Frost when they were creating the look and atmosphere of the town of Twin Peaks, including the fact there would be a lumber mill.

Synopsis
Allison MacKenzie narrates the story of Peyton Place, her home town in rural New Hampshire around the time of WW2. At first the town seems tranquil and idyllic, but soon it is shown to be rife with moral hypocrisy, social inequities, and class privilege.

Teeth (2007)

Synopsis
Dawn grew up next to a nuclear plant. She is the local chastity group's most active participant, and being a stranger to her own body, she doesn't know she has a mutation. She a living example of the vagina dentata myth. Add teenage hormones, suppressed sexuality, and a few perverts, and you have an explosive mix!

The World of Twin Peaks: By Design or by Chance?

As an aspiring author, I often think about how a story should be planned. Some authors write a very detailed outline and follow it; others begin with a basic idea then start writing to see where it leads; while others use a combination of both. Usually it's very difficult to research these approaches to see what results they yield, but when I was writing my review of the Twin Peaks series I was surprised by the amount of information I found relating to each storyline and character.

The creators planned the storyline and feel of the show thoroughly, but most of the iconic characters and scenes were unscripted. If you're familiar with the series, after reading this article you should be able to see how the original design blended with the improvised to create a cultural phenomenon.

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)

Synopsis
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me is both a prologue and coda to the Twin Peaks series. It tells of the investigation into the murder of Teresa Banks, the first victim of Laura Palmer's killer. Then it jumps to the last seven days of Laura's life.

Twin Peaks (1990 - 1991)

I was a pre-teen when I watched Twin Peaks on TV. I watched each episode although I was confused and scared by the paranormal scenes. 20 years later I read an article about the series and decided to re-discover it!

Synopsis
The small town of Twin Peaks, Washington is shaken when the dead body of a popular high school girl, Laura Palmer, is discovered on a riverbank, wrapped in plastic. FBI agent Cooper is called by Sheriff Truman to help with the investigation. Laura's death sets off a chain reaction of events, and Cooper soon discovers that in Twin Peaks, nothing is at it seems, and nobody is innocent.

Cowboys & Aliens (2011)

I know I'm late to the party, but this movie was only released last weekend at the local cinema...

Synopsis
1875, New Mexico. A stranger wakes up in the desert with no memory and a strange bracelet on his wrist. He goes to the nearest town, Absolution, but that night the town is attacked by aliens who kidnap some of the townsfolk. A disparate group of survivors decide to track down the aliens and rescue their loved ones.

On Reviews and Spoilers: My Policy

Up till now my policy on spoilers was not to have them at all; to review and encourage people to watch a movie without giving anything away. I know first hand how spoilers can ruin your enjoyment when watching a movie or reading a book.

Once I was trying to decide which movie to watch at the cinema, so I went on IMDb to research. By mistake I clicked on Synopsis instead of Summary for the Spanish movie Timecrimes (2007). There was no spoiler alert. I still enjoyed the movie, however I didn't gasp at the plot twists, like everyone else in the cinema. I felt I missed on something, my viewing experience was diminished. By the way Hollywood is remaking this movie for 2012.

Frankenstein (1910)

This is the very first motion picture adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, made by Thomas Edison's film company in 1910. It was written and directed by J. Searle Dawley, and filmed in three days at the Edison Studios in New York City.

Synopsis
Frankenstein goes to college to study medicine. He discovers the secret of life, and tries to create a perfect human being, however he ends up creating a monster. He runs away in horror, and the monster starts following him and becomes jealous of Frankenstein's bride.

Stardust (2007)

Synopsis
Tristan lives in a 19th century countryside town which borders on the magical kingdom of Stormhold. He promises the village beauty that he'll venture to the magical kingdom to retrieve a fallen star to prove his love for her. Once he gets to the star he discovers it's not a lump of rock, but a young maiden called Yvaine. Tristan is not the only one who wants the star, three evil witches want to eat her heart because it will give them back their youth, and the sons of the dead king of Stormhold want the ruby Yvaine holds, because that will enable one of them to claim the throne.