So, I get to my moms this morning and she's got the DVR on. I tap the remote to see what's recording when I see this frozen on the giant, Toshiba flatscreen:
Of course, me being as special as I am, I thought it was a message from my long, lost Alien overlords. Or better yet, my real (superhero) parents! Alas, it was just a prank from ELLEN "smash my dreams of epicness to hell" DEGENERES. It was still pretty cool though. Imagine if I had seen this while stoned or drunk... or both!
This week TVSquad named Laura Roslin the second Most Memorable TV Character ever. Now, understand, I live and breathe Science Fiction and by 'live and breath' I mean I don't watch movies that lack spaceships, robots, time travel, superheroes or anything OTHER THAN sex, drugs and rock and roll and confused people doing ordinary stupid shit.
So, when it comes to heroines, you also have to understand that this girl (moi!) who grew up on the classics (Carol Burnett, Cagney and Lacey and Lucille Ball) understands the importance of groundbreaking female characters in an industry (and WORLD) that prides itself on male energy.
So imagine when I was in my mid-20's and Ronald D. Moore created a female hero who had no gun, no superpowers, no supersecret destiny that eluded to godlike parents or the like, who would basically save humanity. That is what happened when Mary McDonnell took on the task of portraying the great and powerful Laura Roslin.
I thought Xena kicked ass. Then Buffy. Then Dana Scully. But nothing, and I mean... NOTHING... prepared me for Laura Roslin. Here was a middle-aged, average (or so we are led to believe) woman, portrayed by, honestly one of the more beautiful actresses on TV... Mary McDonnell, who was cursed with the task of bringing humanity back from the brink of annihilation.
People who never watched BSG will never understand and that is their curse. Honestly, especially for the young women who are mad at the final decision TVsquad made to elect Laura Roslin to the 2nd tier of 100 other choices, because they fail to realize that a woman they can actually aspire to be and aspire to admire actually graced the small screen and saved the world.
She may not have been so and so's girlfriend... and maybe for them, she wasn't a SOAP OPERA-esque character guaranteed to give viewers nothing but fluff, candy-colored visuals and cheesy story lines, but for me, she saved the whole world. She saved it while she was dying. She did it selflessly and she did it with the soul of one of the best actresses of our generation.
If you've never seen BATMAN: MYSTERY OF THE BATWOMAN, you should. It's got an obvious twist at the end that is still great to watch. I've seen it more than a handful of times myself, mostly because of the Batwoman character, which I would elaborate on but I wouldn't want to spoil it.
It's an animated film and it shouldn't cause anyone to start waxing intellectual, but everytime I see it I wander just how brilliant a concept it is to have an alternate identity. Not for your average Joe or Jane per se, but for the crime fighter.
We all know Batman is Bruce Wayne and vice versa, but do we every really consider that some of the Superheroes have a far better approach to masked identities than most. I am a huge Wonder Woman fan. Always have been. But if I were to become a Superhero tomorrow I wouldn't be a flashy showcase of patriotism. Instead I'd opt for the black out effects of the Batwoman costume. In a dark room you couldn't see me coming.
The Green Lantern is too bright. So is the Flash. But that is what endears them to us all. Captain Marvel has a huge, flashy thunderbolt cut across his chest. Superman is as obvious as Wonder Woman. Old school Wolverine's YELLOW was a giant LOOK AT ME sign.
When it comes to costumes and comic books, the flashier the better because it draws the eye to the character. The appeal is just as much in the costume as it is in the powers. Sometimes the costume is the root of all powers. It's cool on the page, but on screen and in reality, if any one character had it aced, it'd be Batman and his ilk.
They roam in the dark, despite the fact that crime also happens in the day. The BATconglomerate blend in with the shadows. They are like ghosts almost. They are invisible until they want you to see them coming and most of the time, they don't.
While Robin is flashy in his yellow, green and red, it becomes obvious that Robin is a sidekick and young and colors play to that effect. Again... costumes as identifying the character is key here. When I imagine Superheroes I do think of a splash page drawn by George Perez or Alex Ross, where colors jump out at you--- crimson, gold, emerald green and flecks of sun yellow--- because Superheroes are meant to be seen.
When you are pinned under a car in a world inhabited by superhumans, you are looking out for the infamous colors that identify them. That is the brilliance of it all. Wonder Woman IS red, white, blue and gold. Superman IS red and blue. The flash IS red and gold.
It's no different than hearing sirens and spotting the Fire Department based on their colors. The same goes for the Police Department. The costume is the calling card.
Heroes (real or imagined) are identifiable in that familiar way by the obviousness of their identities, written across their chests. But in the real world where standing out and proclaiming your powers could be anything but awesome (because some people will always have a problem with authority), being invisible is the way to go. After all, if they can't see you... they can't see you coming.
Last nights Fringe was a revelation of sorts. Walternate IS evil. Our Walter is not. FauxLivia is just a babymama, OurLIVIA will save the world. Yeah, I am getting way ahead of myself here, but bare with me... in time, I shall make perfect sense.
So it seems that OurLivia has been trippin' the light fantastic for some time now. How she blacked out on the whole experience remains to be seen, considering Walter Bishop had a soft spot for her. He practically saved her from an abusive stepfather. Not to mention, Peter was there at a pivotal, developmental point in her life and she didn't remember him either?
What exactly happened that made all the other Cortexifan kids remember Walter and the tests, but caused Olivia to forget? I hope they address this soon, but for now, I am completely immersed in a few revelations, like Peter's mother from this Universe drinking herself into oblivion which is the exact opposite to the Alternaverse where Walternate was just about to do the same.
The way both parents, from opposite universes, tried to cope with the loss of their children was heartbreaking but also rendered them a humanity they wouldn't have gotten otherwise since Peter's FauxMother died a while ago and Walternate is the Big Bad.
We discovered that Peter was more aware of his place in the Universe than we first thought. He tried to find his home at the bottom of a frozen lake for heaven sakes. The fact that he was manipulated, however reluctantly to believe he was suffering with delusions do to his prolonged illness shows how far Walter would go to not so much as keep Peter to himself, but more so not to affect the delicate balance between the Universes any more than he already has.
The one truly intriguing aspect for me, every episode, is the Blimp. It comes and goes every time both Universes meet and I wonder who is piloting it... what purpose does it serve? Mostly, it reminds me of a story I started writing years ago, back in high school, and so I can't help but wonder if the blimp is the all seeing eye that will reveal all to those with the power to destroy the universes, in due time.
So far we know that Walternate saw Olivia and discovered where is son went. We know that Walter wasn't exactly a Dr. Frankenstein. We now know who the Lab Assistant fated to die in a fire in Walter's lab is, and dare I venture to speculate, the probable origins of the fire (because making emotional charged children jump between worlds apparently causes large dispersions of energy).
Finally, we discover that all though FauxLivia has wrapped her twin talons around Peter's heart and will eventual tip the scales regarding his fate, it was OurLivia all along that set him on his current path. So, who will he choose?
I cannot wait to find out. If you missed it, you can watch it below. Enjoy!
Prom season is not that far away. March is around the corner and before you know it, your kids, nieces and nephews and weird people you know who never had a prom and intend to crash someone else's will be looking for something to wear.
A Prom is like a Zombie Invasion in and of itself, if you think about it. Hordes of dumb teenagers trying to get drunk and laid. So my question is:
"If a Zombie Outbreak took place during your prom, how would you handle it? Would you hide until it blew over? Would you step up and start taking down Zombies (starting with the cheerleaders and football players)? Or... would you be the preemptive nerd with all the deets to FEMA, the CDC and the NATIONAL GUARD, breaking down what's happening and trying to get help? Or, would you do something I haven't thought about?"
Give me your best answers in the comments section.
