SpaceGypsies

Casey, Chuck & Sarah

After 5 years as one of the best shows on television, “Chuck” said goodbye with style, on January 27, 2012. Chuck will be missed, but not forgotten. I was introduced to Chuck by my husband, and was quickly hooked just as most of the geek world was. What’s not to like? It’s the story of a geek working as a techie at the local Buy More when, by accident, he is exposed to the Intersect, a database containing the identities of operatives from the worlds spy networks. It also gives the recipient superhuman abilities.

So what happens when a typical geek accidentally has this information downloaded to his brain? A whole lot of fun, comedy, awkwardness, and of course he is recruited to become a spy!  That is only after the NSA & CIA place him under protective custody. Chuck went from the awkward guy in love with the beautiful spy to a somewhat confident, skilled operative and the geek who got the girl! A true class act of a show, with fantastic writers and excellent actors. It’s only been a week, and already I miss Chuck, just as other fans.

Chuck & Sarah's Wedding

I’m not going to recap the episode because you can watch it on NBC.com, and get a full recap there that is more detailed.  However, Morgan moves in with Alex; Ellie & Awesome move to Chicago, and Sarah has lost her memory after using the intersect to help Chuck.  And finally we see Jeff & Lester helping the gang rather than causing trouble for them.   The last few episodes including the two hour finale take us in a 180 degree turn, giving us a look into Sarah’s life.  Up until now the focus was on Chuck & Ellie’s past, with a few episodes focusing on Casey.  Sarah has always been an enigma throughout the past five seasons, I was glad to see the final focus being on her life.

Although I wish that Sarah had been able to get the intersect glasses that would have given her her memories back. But that is not how it happened, and Sarah still does not remember her life with Chuck. Now Chuck must find her, and it is Morgan who tells him “Follow you heart.”

Chuck finds Sarah sitting on the beach.  He sits down next to her, then explains his feelings.  Sarah wants to find the memories she’s lost and to return to the life she had with Chuck, but first she must find those memories. She looks at Chuck and asks him to tell her everything about how they met to the present.  She leans her head on his shoulder as Chuck begins the story of their life, the scene fades as he begins recalling those memories, and this is how the series concludes.

The conclusion is short and sweet, so that’s how I am keeping this review.  Please go to nbc.com/chuck for the full video, recaps and Mosaic photos you can download as wallpaper, because you will be glad you did!

Happy Chuck Watching,

Ceramicat

Paul Spragg, Big Finish’s Stargate Producer, was kind enough to answer a few questions for the SpaceGypsies.

Visit Big Finish on Twitter:  @bigfinish Online and where you can pre-order the Stargate Series: bigfinish.com 

How long have you been a Producer for Big Finish?

Not very long; a couple of years. My first producing credit was Highlander season two, which I enjoyed putting together immensely. The rest of the time I’m employed in the Big Finish offices as Producers’ Assistant to do all manner of bits and pieces ranging from appearing in podcasts to posting out competition prizes and scripts and putting together CD inlays.

Besides Stargate, what are you involved in producing for Big Finish?

At the moment, nothing. I’d love to do more Highlander, but sales weren’t really strong enough to warrant pursuing it.

You’ve mentioned that your dream would be to do a Farscape audio drama. What are some of the roadblocks to doing that?  Any possibilities on the horizon?

We looked into it a while ago but nothing came of it. Licensing shows is expensive, but licensing American shows is very expensive, so we have to establish if it’s worth pursuing or not. I’d still love to do it; it was one of my favourite shows and I’ve met most of the cast, who were a joy, but it seems unlikely at the moment. The comic books that continued the show were superb, though. I recommend those…

Is there some personal or professional story in your history with Big Finish that makes you laugh or cringe when you think about it?

I can’t think of anything cringeworthy from the last three years. There are a lot of laughs here though; most of them you can probably hear on the podcasts. It does amuse me that I’ve somehow acquired a small degree of fame just by talking rubbish on those.

 What’s the one thing you’d like to see happen in an audio drama that hasn’t happened yet?

I would love to see a full cast Stargate audio with all of SG-1. But I suspect we would bankrupt ourselves trying to finance it!

 Here at Spacegypsies.com we are very excited about the upcoming Stargate SG1, Daniel and Vala two-part audio dramas being released in May and August. Is there a snippet, line, or scene you can share with us?

Hmmm… well, I enjoy Daniel and Vala’s faltering attempts to go undercover in one story, there are some powerful emotional moments for Daniel that sounded incredible in the studio, and we do a lot of playing with the ‘will they won’t they’ nature of Daniel and Vala’s relationship; they have some tough times together. Plus: Ba’al and the Asgard! Who doesn’t want to hear those guys again?

Will there be an actual audio trailer on the Big Finish site? And if so, when?

There will; the first story is being sound designed at the moment, so once we have some nifty sound effects, we’ll be able to bring you something. I’m hoping sometime in March there will be a trailer.

Can you share some story from Claudia Black’s sessions?

I’m afraid I can’t as I wasn’t there! It was all directed in Los Angeles and I couldn’t convince the head of the company to fly me out just to sit and enjoy listening to it all…

We’ve read that Michael Shanks had good chemistry with John Schwab who read Vala’s part while Michael was doing Daniel’s. Would you mind giving us some more details on this?

Ah, slight misunderstanding there. It was John Banks. John’s my go-to actor for a variety of voices, and he plays several roles in the upcoming series. He’s great to have on hand as a ‘read-in’ actor as his range enables him to play multiple parts. His Vala was surprisingly good, and by the time of the third day of recording with Michael, their rapport was oddly convincing. He picked up on the flirtatious and cheeky nature of their relationship and was really playing up to it!

Do you have any plans for U.S. conventions?  (We’d love to see you at Dragon*Con this year).

At the moment, no. It all depends on costs and availability. I’d love to come out and do more, though. I’ve been Stateside before for Big Finish, so I’m sure we’ll be back at some stage soon with the new box sets.

Xena vs. Magnus, who would win in a fight?

Hmmm, tricky. Magnus has got the smarts and centuries of knowledge to help her, but Xena’s fought the God of War to a standstill, so I’d choose her. Unless, of course, you’re talking about Ultra Magnus the Transformer, in which case him. He’s much bigger than Xena and could just squash her.

The bad part about getting older is that all your fandoms shrink while the young people support those fandoms that they love and I find b o r i n g.  I know, I know, I know the producer has to go where the money is, and young people are spending the money, but I don’t have to be happy about it.  I feel as though I’ve been jettisoned out of the spaceship to float totally alone in the silence of space with unanswered questions.

So… where’s my Claudia Black on a spaceship or going through a wormhole?  She’s a fabulous actor!  She makes me laugh and cry at the appropriate moments.  She makes a charming if disarming alien.  She can be human too. She flies spaceships, wears leather, is awesome with a honking spacegun! 

Where are those early 40 something hunky space men? Hmmm?

 Why are there only 20 somethings in unappealing un-science fictionie SciFi which is actually fantasy/horror?  I like fantasy.  I see the value of horror.  It is not science fiction!

Why is there wrestling on the SyFy channel?

 Why is it called SyFy? Is it for Shaft you and frack/frell you? 

Where’s my ensemble casted outer-space-wormhole-stargate-spacewestern-alien-abduction-spaceship-mystery-comedy-drama? I need space ships! Space battles! Wormholes! Alien/human romance!

 I thump my head on the desk, or chair, or pillow and cry in vain!       

At least there’s Dragon*Con!  where I can see all my favorite characters walking around as cos play as well as the actors on panels. As awesome as it is, that’s only once a year! I don’t want to go to my grave… okay my energy vacating my body, without seeing more awesome Sci-Fi characters.

 I do not begrudge the younger generation their fandoms.  I just want my piece of the happiness! I want Science Fiction!  I want some outer-space action!  I want some Firefly, Farscape, Star Trek and ST the Next Generation, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis.

Defying Gravity, short lived in 2009, had a good start but was cancelled too.  There were people on a spaceship, there was mystery, romance, action… spaceships! 

 I love Sanctuary.  I watch Fringe, Eureka, Warehouse 13, and True Blood sometimes.

 But those are NOT my Science Fiction go to planets and interact with space-people shows.

The most Science Fiction on TV is what’s mentioned on The Big Bang Theory…which I do love.

The bottom line here is that Character Driven Ensemble Cast Outer Space Alien Science Fiction is not popular and therefore not going to show up anytime soon… unless it shows up in the form of some dark, sexed up (only good thing about it) over acted, under written reality show wanna be.

Getting old sucks…unless there IS hope: Space 2099 ? 

Finally after far too long, Michael Shanks has landed a leading role on a new television series!

I should probably preface this post by reminding those who know and informing those that don’t know that Michael Shanks is my #1 favorite actor. Not only did he play my favorite character on my favorite franchise for over ten years, but I’ve seen him in person more than a few times. Though I certainly don’t know everything – that would be creepy – I like to think I know him as well as any fan can hope to know their favorite celebrity. Not only is he a fantastic actor but he’s a great person. He single handedly made a number of the worst SyFy movies ever made into something worth watching. If you doubt his talent, or worse, you are unfamiliar with his work, all you have to do is watch one episode of Stargate SG-1, “Lifeboat”, with the knowledge that Michael largely developed all those characters himself, creating and practicing at least three different accents with only a week or two weeks of notice before filming.

A regular starring role in a new series is long overdue for Michael. He has been bouncing from one guest role and TV movie to another, with the exception of Red Riding Hood (read my review here), since before the Stargate franchise stalled out. I can’t say how thrilled I am that at last he may have a starring role, and on a show that will hopefully air on a major network so everyone will finally see his talent.

Now for what we know about Michael’s show! Sometimes trailers don’t explain what’s going on very well, but this one kind of does. Check it out!

So to sum it up, Michael plays Chief of Surgery Charlie Harris. His fiancé, played by Erica Durance, is also a doctor. While Erica is known for Smallville, it’s fun to note that she had a guest role on Stargate SG-1 in the seventh season’s “Affinity”, and Erica and Michael did have a couple scenes! In Saving Hope the couple gets in a car accident and Charlie goes into a coma. Suddenly he starts to have an out-of-body experience and discovers that he can wander the hospital unseen. Thankfully we can see him, which is wonderful because that tux? WOW.

After reading comments on GateWorld.net, I have to agree with a few fans who commented that it has a kind of soapy Grey’s Anatomy feel to it. Personally I don’t go for that type of show. Yet to me it reminds me more of CBS’s A Gifted Man, which I would have watched if I could have just found the time. Unfortunately word is that A Gifted Man isn’t going to survive for another season. At the same time, perhaps a more diverse group of viewers have been leaving lots of positive and excited comments about Saving Hope‘s trailer on YouTube. Hopefully this means that there is an eager audience waiting to embrace the show.

To me this plot is interesting, and it does peak my curiosity. One of the things that has me curious though is how long can a show can keep one star in a coma? They are centering the show around the idea that Charlie is a free spirit in the hospital, watching and commenting on the goings on, unseen and unheard, while his body lies in a coma. At some point Charlie either has to wake up and get on with his life, or else his family would eventually have to consider making a hard decision. Either way, your plot has to change, and fast. By the way, if Michael has to die again . . .  I shudder to think!

No matter how things turn out, I for one will be watching Saving Hope because I can’t pass up the chance to support my favorite actor. I hope that more fans of Michael’s work will be willing to step out of their usual genres to give the show a fair chance. After all, how long have we been saying that Michael deserves this? This role definitely suits him. Tune in with me, because no matter what the show is like, you know Michael will make it worth your time!

At last word NBC is interested in Saving Hope. Keep it glued right here for developments!

Back in November, Doctor Who fans were struck by the news that Harry Potter director David Yates wants to do a movie. While that in itself is not bad news, his opinion of how this movie needs to go – “[Doctor Who] needs quite a radical transformation to take it into the bigger arena.” – has gotten fans pretty worked up, and rightly so.

As I previously reported, the first rumors indicated that the current Doctor Who series cast would not be invited to participate. Instead they would be attacking the franchise from a different angle with a new Doctor at the helm. Historically, this has not necessarily worked as planned.

Today I was idly skimming some entertainment magazine headlines at my local bookstore when I saw that Total Film Magazine had something about the movie plans. I grabbed it and searched until I found the article that was so small they didn’t even bother to include it in the table of contents. Once home I found a slightly more comprehensive report on their website. Total Film reports that renowned series writer Steven Moffat has finally spoken out about Yates’ idea via his Twitter feed.

“To clarify: any Doctor Who movie would be made by the BBC team, star the current TV Doctor and certainly NOT be a Hollywood reboot,” said Moffat on his Twitter feed. He went on to put Yates’ comments into context, explaining: “David Yates, great director, was speaking off the cuff, on a red carpet.”

So all this hoopla was over a slip of the tongue? Hmm. Something seems fishy. Yates has said quite a bit about his plans, and from what has been reported thus far he seemed quite bent on disregarding the series canon to date. There may be a more deep-seated creative difference in play here. Moffat continued on to say:

“[Doctor Who] is a vitally important BBC brand with a huge international audience [that] not even Hollywood can start from scratch,” he says. “There simply are no developed plans for a Doctor Who movie at the moment. If and when the movie happens it will need to star television’s Doctor Who – and there’s only ever one of those at a time.”

“Whatever happens,” he continues, “the BBC and BBC Worldwide will work together to ensure that we don’t just get a movie, we get the movie that everyone wants.”

From this I think it’s fair to say that whatever happens with this movie plan, fans can trust Moffat to represent our best interests, and that we should put any fears that we will have a repeat of the Peter Cushing fiasco to rest. Yates’ movie will only happen if he can condescend to give Doctor Who respect the successful franchise deserves and honor its history.