The Cylons are watching...

I waited on purpose.

This way I wouldn’t have to wait for the series of cliffhangers and long periods of time before any televised new shows. I waited for the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica to take its full course before watching them. It's that simple.

It’s a good thing I did.

Now I have nearly four years of episodes to be catching up with... and discover the story arcs that moves through the series. And watch how the character development shapes the number of people on board the mighty ship.

But here’s the kicker. There are no aliens in this series. Just people and robots.

The heart of the story: the fight between the robots and their masters. In some ways, the series owes very much to another bleak future vision of Phillip K. Dick whose stories dealt with robots who looked like people. Same concept we find in the Battlestar series. This series moves through poetry. The writers know how to craft their stories.

It’s actually better than the original run of the series that was popular in the late seventies. The new version of Battlestar Galactica strips down to the barest and rawest stories to deal with human emotions at the very center. And what makes the robots tick with their ideas and feelings. The series becomes an exploratory tool of who are the bad guys and the good guys. And what is really the worth of a war that seems endless.

The series begins with the devastation of the twelve human colonies as the robot Cylons rebel against their human masters. Several of the planets are bombed and the fewest numbers of the human race is on the run. Humanity has been reduced to dust. The command falls to the military commander Adama and the president Laura Roslin, splitting the most difficult decisions between them.

I like this series.

It’s a beautiful show. With some fantastic surprises.

Certainly an improvment over the old series. The stories are tighter, the plot more condensed. Characters and dialogue are better written. It’s deeply textured. Like a running novel being brought to the television screen. The stories are more densely layers to bring in more thought-provoking questions: the most asked question is, "What is God?"

There are some really good performances in the series made by the lead actor Edward James Olmos who personifies the series with his strong presence. And you need someone with a very powerful screen aura. (Much like Lorne Green who gave the old series a much needed presence). And now Olmos takes over this role… as a mentor, father figure, military strategist.

There are times when I thought he would simply blow up in frantic anger, yet he sighs, remains calm… like a storm brewing inside him. His acting remains remarkable. I’ve only seen him lose his cool a couple of times throughout the series so far.

I like the fact that he gives the series a family triangle of relationships… his suffocating relationship with his surviving son is matched by his greater ease in fathering his adopted daughter Starbuck. This is really good writing.

I am subjective when it comes to oriental actresses and I do like the character Boomer portrayed by Grace Park. I like her a lot. She’s a very lovely girl and also has very good acting skills to match. I find it more interesting that she is given a lot to do in the series… by playing several different parts. She’s obviously a robot in the midst of the human race. Yet she is becoming more human because of her constant exposure to them. It is confusing her.

The writing is a constant in the series. They are regaining some sense of beautiful science fiction by exploring the human agenda and the robots’ intent in stamping out mankind in the cosmos. Their war has stretched throughout the stars. It’s great to see that writers are becoming more important to this series rather than the eye candy of special effects.

Too many series have made that mistake. They didn’t care about the emotional crux of the story. They wanted the “boom” in their stories.

We’re still getting the “boom” or “bang” in space, that’s to be expected even though sound can’t travel through space. But the series has heart.

But don’t worry this series has not forgotten its old history. As they have a reoccurring character played by Richard Hatch throughout. A sort of knowing nod.

There are only a few problems going along with the series. The use of “frak” as a kind of expletive swear word… it’s true that you can’t use certain words on television. But it’s getting too frakkin’ much. I would have preferred them to find another way of swearing on television much in the same way the stars did on the show Firefly by cussing in Chinese. That’s good. It’s very imaginative way of dealing with this problem.

I don’t care much for the documentary styled camera work on the series. It bounces and jerks around and rarely stays still. I got to the point where I wanted to beat the camera man as I shout, “Hold still!” But these are really minor occurrences.

For the money, Battlestar Galactica is going in the right direction with its ideas. They know that story is about people. And they revolve all the action around the dilemma of the characters. The writing remains very much a flowering prose that challenges the viewer to dare. To dare them into thinking about the consequences of playing god when building machines. And how it will turn around and bite you in the ass.

I’ve got a whole mythological lore to explore. Four years worth. And I’ll be able to watch the characters transform over a long period of time. And the legends are in the making with the lonely starship drifting lost in space with false hopes. But they keep going because that’s what mankind does: it survives.

Happy Easter, Doctor...

Not a bad Easter special.

Though some might have thought the story would be more cosmic in its design with far more reaching science fiction elements seemingly like a grand illusion of beauty. But we'll have to settle for a bus, a desert and a flock of flying beasts that plagues the skies in the Doctor Who special “Planet of the Dead.”

It's a good idea for Russell T. Davies to join collaboration with another writer such as Gareth Roberts who knows his science fiction physics better than he does. Davies is a good writer, brings a lot of dramatic elements that remain important to the series. He makes the series accessible to people. But for science fiction ideas, he's falls a little short.

I do like the episode very much. It's interesting to see they use a character who is an international thief. This idea was almost used in the fourth season of Sylvester McCoy when his new companion would have been a reputable thief. That never happened. Until now.

It's a good move on their part to use Michelle Ryan who's really easy on the eyes. Her stunning beauty gives a new, refreshed feeling for the series. She's already well known to fans in her lead roles in the Jekyll series and also the American revamped Bionic Woman. Her “ladyship” makes for very spoiled elements, like a rich girl who wants to leave her castle looking for adventure.

And she found in it all in the Doctor's hectic life.

Though I didn't care much for only one brief moment when she whines about getting mud or sand in her eye, which I felt was a little out of character. But still she comes across as a very worthwhile companion in Lady Christina.

They're both more than a match for each other and they tend to raise the stakes in each other throughout the show: it seems like they like to dare each other into tackling dangers. As the Doctor said when she narrowly escapes an assailant, “She's good.”

I would have liked to see more of her in the ensuing episodes. Ryan mentioned in her interview that it is only for a one off show. But she could be wrong. I hope so. I liked her character very much.

For the money, however, it is Lee Evans as Malcolm who is a sheer delight. It's nice to see the army ranking officials in UNIT actually doing something to take care of alien attacks. His character is a sheer delight, filled with wit. A human being who might very well be almost a genius on the Doctor's level. Almost is still a long way. “He called me a genius, isn't that great?” Malcolm said at one point.

He's almost like a child, spoiled with expensive toys and gadgets. It reminded me the one guy Osgood from the episode “The Daemons” where Jon Pertwee's Doctor tried to explain to him putting together an invention. There's plenty of quips and funny moments. Only Malcolm is much more useful. Even if he is a little bit of an odd duck.

However, there is one thing.

Bug eyed monsters.

I don't like them. Neither should you. And no matter how much money you put into them, they're still going to come across as a little fake. The original creator of Doctor Who was Sidney Newman, who professed his dislike for bug eyed monsters. He didn't want to see any in his shows.

That's a lesson there for all of us. No more bug eyed monsters please. We should listen to the forefathers of the greatest in Doctor Who. Newman would be rolling in his grave at the very thought of it. I didn't feel they added anything to the series. Nothing but an annoyance.

However, the rest of the episode was pretty good right down to the Harry Potter-esque flight of the bus during one small portion of the show. You can see the money is well spent using it here. And they use it wisely. There's a definite feeling of Britishness with the bus taking off like an airplane.

Though I might be putting spoilers here. If you haven't seen it, many apologies. Though you should've watched the episode before reading any kind of review. Trend carefully.

But we are certainly winding down our time with David Tennant's portrayal as the tenth Doctor. Everything he's put into the role you can see here, the charm, the wit, the handsome qualities of his pencil thin frame framed with the recognizable trench-coat and pin-striped sports jacket.

But there's a darkness coming to him. You can see it easily here, the overtones of shadows flitting across his eyes, the angry flush of feelings lifting in him. His desire to cut himself off from people. These are qualities, images that we have seen before in the ninth Doctor, a wounded soldier leaving the battleground. You can see it in Tennant's eyes that he doesn't want to be hurt again.

It is a horrible feeling.

And you hear the black woman's comments, the vision seer, telling him that his time is coming. What a wonderful setup for the next special, with the uneasiness of a funeral mood... how the darkness would be surrounding this tenth Doctor.

For a moment, I really thought Tennant would leave Ryan's character in the hands of the cops, letting them bring her to face characters. I thought to myself, “What a jerk.” Thankfully he didn't do that. He's not the dark Doctor yet, not for a while.

In fact, when you see the trailer for the next show coming in November, you can hear the ringing of the cloister bell from the time machine, impending doom coming. That hasn't been heard for a long time since the 1980s. It brings elements from Tom Baker's final show as well. The cloister bell is a spell for death that is coming.

The next episode “Waters of Mars” looks pretty good as we continue to see the downfall of the tenth Doctor who is becoming more like a rage of the storm. His spirit is becoming more lonely, desperate. His journey has become a very personal one that he did not want to share with anyone else.

It's a nice little story arc that would fit into the next three and final chapters of Tennant's tenure for the series, and most likely the most important event for this year. The writing is fast and fierce, stopping at nothing to keep pushing the envelope for the Doctor Who series which has seen its very highly regarded period.

But it'll be sad to see him go. But life on Doctor Who always goes on. Hopefully.

Hidden Influences

Akira Kurosawa is a name you should be familiar with.

Study it. Know it.

Then look for it in the local video stores where you live. Not all rental places will have his movies, the vast majority of stores will not carry his movies due to being older, Japanese films made in black and white. Not a big audience for that stuff.

But it’s a worthy effort if you dig deeper into the video vaults if you can find it and check out these simple masterpieces that stretches with great imagination.

One film I am going to talk about in detail is “Hidden Fortress” which was made in 1958 during the height of Kurosawa’s directorial powers. You don’t see guys like this around anymore, having been swept away like the old memories of how movies should be made. But his films live on like treasure troves waiting to be discovered.

However, as you will later say, what does “Hidden Fortress” have to do with science fiction?

There’s a story about a Feudal Japan going through a heart-wrenching civil war and a task is put forth to a loyal general and princess, along with a couple of cowardly peasants, who must carry the gold back to their homeland to resurrect their army. A hostile territory filled with soldiers wait for them as it is a story about Samurai tradition, and there are plenty of scenes with spiraling mountains shifting across the landscape.

But you might say: I don’t see any robots, spaceships or even a tiny Twinkie lookalike running about. What does it have to do with science fiction, you might ask again?

Everything.

This is the one film that director George Lucas has confirmed in his interviews that he was inspired by when creating his legacy of Star Wars that would spill into cinematic triumph in 1977. His acknowledgements of this film “Hidden Fortress” is well-known as he has stated from time to time that it created the structure and props for him to do his Star Wars film.

The framework of the story is told through the comic duo of the two farmers, bumbling and complaining their way through the entire film, insulting one another. Rarely getting along with each other, or anyone else. Sounds a little familiar? They have become the inspiration for the two droids R2-D2 and C3PO in which the film Star Wars is told through their own point of view. The droids are also the source of comic relief that is much needed in a film about a sagging revolution against a darkening reign.

There’s plenty of comparisons you can make. But it’s a very clear and shared element that is seen in “Hidden Fortress” and later in “Star Wars.” Both of them make great use of lowly characters to tell their story. With a sense of humor to get through it.

Now, there’s a lovely princess Yukihime in “Hidden Fortress,”, young, energetic, a very exceptionally beautiful girl who is also royalty. She’s a feisty animal too. Lucas said in his interview that it was merely a coincidence that his film also had a princess in it. I think not.

Both princesses are far too similar in their spirits and personality. Though I do admit I liked the Japanese princess very much, very beautiful in stature, slender like a lotus flower blooming. In a lot of ways, I almost wished Princess Leia was also oriental in the Star Wars film. But then the rest of the Skywalker family would have to be oriental and that might have given away their family ties too easily.

There are other interesting points to raise in the in the military general played by the wonderfully charismatic Toshiro Mifune who was in more than a hundred and seventy films in his career. You might have seen him before with his booming voice. He played the lead in the other Kurosawa film “The Seven Samurai.” Can you guess which movie this one inspired? Yeah, you guessed it. “The Magnificent Seven.”

Lucas might argue this too. But I feel the military general has a lot of qualities that would be later transformed into the Obi-Wan character… lonely, a striking figure, wearing a beard. He is a very patient and thinking man especially when Mifune’s character tries to use reverse psychology on the princess. The man is a brilliant military strategist just like Obi-Wan is in the Star Wars films. Both actors in their roles have a very good presence.

So if Lucas says that’s also a coincidence, then I know he is living in his fantasy world hiding in a rabbit hole somewhere. The similarities are too much. Then I know Lucas has fallen off his rocker. And that the cheese has slipped off his cracker a long time ago, in a galaxy far away.

Kurosawa likes to use sweeping scenes that cuts across the landscape as we witness the far stretching anchors of the Japanese regions. Lucas does this again when using the first scene of his Star Wars film to show the sprawling landscape of the star destroyer cutting through space across an alien planet. A magnificent scene.

The film “Hidden Fortress” is a solid work with many threads of heartfelt scenes and beautiful landscapes that fuels the strongest quality of Japan. There’s a sense of pride in his works and you can tell that he has a lot of fun with his work as his film has a clever sense of humor. The one scene where the five refugees are trapped inside a circle of hundreds of enemy soldiers, many of them armed with guns, is a fantastic scene. The director Kurosawa knows how to make wonderful use of countless extras in his film… and you have a real feeling of a war going on in the country of Japan. And that there are so many people used in this film giving it a grandeur, a sense of cosmic beauty to his works.

There’s a really nice scene when they escape the military hundreds in that field, that the princess—playing mute to cover her real identity—tells the cowardly farmers good luck. It’s a very touching scene. Which the film has plenty of.

But it is, at the very best, the heart of the story that matters most. You can feel the sadness of the princess when she cries for her people when she is left by herself. Or the pride of the Japanese when there is a lifting of hope in the end of the story. And that shows the good humanitarian in the director Kurosawa who knows how to tell simple stories. With very large set pieces.

And who would have know that the familiar story would soon appear again in the 1977 blockbuster film starring a pair of comical droids?