A Summer Sci Fi Summary

Aha!  I bet you thought I’d forgotten about this site.  Fooled ya!

It’s been a restful summer, sci fi-wise.  There are a few sci fi shows currently airing, but they’ve not grabbed me.  Then there was the demise of Believe, the show that could have and should have been so much more.  I started draft after draft discussing its final episodes, but it seems rather silly to say anything now.

So let’s move on.

First up:  Defiance

Have these two hooked up yet?

This summer has brought us the second season of Defiance.  My best friend and her husband love Defiance.  But they also loved Battlestar Galactica, a show I never cared for.  I watched a few episodes of Defiance last year but quickly lost interest.  I like Julie Benz; it’s great to see her in a strong female role.  I like Graham Greene, but his character wasn’t (isn’t?) very likeable.  The show killer for me, however, is Jaime Murray.  I first saw her (and her breasts) on Dexter, where she played a despicable, often naked character.  It formed a hatred of her that seems to have left a permanent mark.  Not even her turn as H.G. Wells in Warehouse 13 softened my feelings.

Next up:  Dominion

Ugh. Just, ugh.

Oh my God, this show is horrible.  Perhaps my long-time association with Supernatural has jaded me; I’ve already watched several seasons of warring, fractious angels who couldn’t be kept in line once God disappeared.  At least on Supernatural, the acting was excellent.  On Dominion it’s absolutely awful.  Even Anthony (Stewart) Head can’t save the show because he’s so busy chewing the scenery as the smarmy villain.  Then add the trope of the lowly man wooing the pretty princess (How come it’s never the other way around, huh?  Sorry, it’s a pet peeve of mine.) and it’s a turn-off the tv moment for me.

Recent discovery:  The Leftovers

I had no intention of watching this HBO entry, yet for some reason I recently checked it out OnDemand.  Oh no, there’s another actress I dislike, Amy Brenneman.  I don’t even know why I dislike her, I just do.  Maybe the characters she’s played aren’t particularly likeable.  Whatever it is, she’s the personification of fingernails on chalkboard for me.

That’s not creepy at all.

The show feels a little bit like Resurrection, but with nudity and the word “fuck.”  Instead of the dead suddenly reappearing, though, here random people (2% of the world’s population) have simply disappeared.  Like Resurrection, the show usually focuses on individuals rather than events, but so far it hasn’t felt soap opera-ish (one of Resurrection‘s downfalls.)

Plus, it has Scott Glenn!  (You can tell one’s a baby boomer when Scott Glenn is a bigger draw than Justin Theroux.)  However, if the series ends as the book did, I will highly disappointed.

Anything Else?

Oh yeah:  Falling Skies

I actually watched the first couple of seasons a couple years ago.  But I stopped around season 3, when Noah Wyle’s older son turned evil—or whatever the worm-in-the-eye thing represented. I’ve heard it’s gotten a little crazier since then with new aliens and new allies against new foes.

Have I missed anything?  I feel like I have, but can’t think of what it’d be.  If there is, it must not be very memorable, since I can’t remember it.

Upcoming:  Doctor Who

Hey, who’s the guy on the right?

Doctor Who gets a larger subtitle just because it’s Doctor Who.  Will the show continue to capture my attention with an older Doctor?  I fear I may be just shallow enough to let that matter.  I’d probably be less on the fence about the new Doctor if he had a more interesting companion.  Clara just doesn’t do it for me.  But wait!  It looks like Steven Moffet has given us women some eye candy after all, in the form of Danny Pink (whoever he is).

Either way, I’ll likely not cover it, because so many others do it so much better.  How about you, Suzanne?  Or are you still stuck on David Tennant’s 10th Doctor?