Tuesday 10 June 2008

Rant - Superhero Movie (or why I stopped loving science fiction comedy and turned to drink instead)

Why oh why do they do it?

In the annals of science fiction there has been very little (almost none in fact) good comedy. I know the first reaction is going to be RED DWARF!!! shouted in a very loud voice and I'll grant you that and I'll give you Mork and Mindy and early seasons of Third Rock from the Sun and even Galaxy Quest, but that's it. Where's the rest?

Consider SUPERHERO MOVIE (consider it, but don't go and see it). It's not clever, it's not funny and it's the lowest form of cinematic wit, the spoof. This type of film hasn't been funny for a long time. Not through the Scary Movie franchise (which was so bad it really was scary), not through the Hot Shots and not through the Shriek if you remember the films that this movie is based on phase.

The truth is that science fiction does not make good comedy. Even the great Mel Brooks couldn't make it funny in Spaceballs!

On TV the recent examples Supernova and Hyperdrive were equally inept.

For me, possibly the three scariest words in the english language when put together are 'science', 'fiction' and 'comedy'.

So, until they learn to do it right let's all agree not to go and waste our cash, time or sanity on this stuff.

Tuesday 3 June 2008

A Whole Weekend of Primeval

This weekend ITV2 goes nuts and brings us a whole weekend of dinosaurs and prehistoric beasties as it runs the complete first two seasons of PRIMEVAL. This fun, if unlikely, show was first shown in primetime Saturday night slots and proved to be one of the biggest hits, certainly judging from the interest shown by visitors to our site at www.scififreak.me.uk

If you didn't catch it then, now's your chance as every episode roars large on the small screen this weekend.

Monday 2 June 2008

ITV try to pull a fast one with PUSHING DAISIES 'magic' episode

ITV.com is offering viewers the chance to view a 'bonus' episode of the surreal reincarnation series PUSHING DAISIES for all the fans of the show. This is, in fact, the second episode of the series that was originally cut by ITV because of a scheduling balls up that left them with fewer transmission slots than episodes. General annoyance on several forums dealing with the show seem to have borne fruit in getting this episode shown on the internet at least.

Go to ITV.com and search for PUSHING DAISIES. You may have to install the MSN silverlight player, but it's worth it because this is the episode with Kristin Chenoweth singing 'Totally Devoted to You' in a wonderfully funny sequence. The girl can sing as well.

It's just a bit disingenuous of ITV.com to term this as a 'magic' or 'bonus' episode instead of just owning up to their original cock up.

Brian Aldiss lectures in Oxford

On Friday 30th of May, renowned author of science fiction (and poetry and lots of other stuff) appeared on stage at the Playhouse Theatre in Oxford to give an hour's lecture on his personal view of science and literature.

Looking decidedly frail, he delivered the lecture in a fairly unexceptional manner, reading directly from his script, but when asked questions at the end, he came alive and showed some of the famed wit and intelligence that have peppered his works and made them so readable.

Good on him and we wish him well with the sales of his new collection of poetry.