Torchwood: Miracle Day, A New World, first thoughts

The first episode was amazing!  Torchwood is back!

If you haven't seen the first episode of this fourth season, you might not want to read this blog as there will be spoilers, and if you've only seen the first episode of the fourth season, meaning you haven't checked out the show previously (although you totally should, all three previous seasons are available on Netflix Instant) you might be a bit confused, because my thoughts will contain some information from the previous three seasons.

So, no one can die, except for the man that can't die.  Captain Jack's ability to immediately heal from any wound appears to be gone.  My immediate thought is that this is the reason for Miracle Day; somehow it is counteracting Captain Jack's ability (for more on Captain Jack's ability check out the first season of the new Doctor Who).  Whoever made Miracle Day happen did it in order to kill Captain Jack Harkness.  That's my first theory.

My second theory is that this has something to do with the resurrection glove.

The resurrection glove was first seen in the first episode of Torchwood.  It made another appearance in the eighth episode of season one.

Its pair appeared in the seventh episode of season two.

If you haven't watched the first three seasons of Torchwood and want to remain unspoiled, this might be a good time to stop reading.

One of the members of Torchwood, Owen Harper (and I loved Captain Jack using Owen's name as his FBI alias) was shot and killed.  Captain Jack uses the second resurrection glove to bring him back.  It brings him back to life, but it doesn't heal him.  He remains injured, and cannot heal.


Sounds a lot like what is going on here.

Owen is not the only one rumored to have had this glove used on them.  In the same episode we heard a story about a girl that was brought back to by the glove, a girl named Faith.  In the episode, Jack visits a tarot card reader who is a little girl.  In a later flashback episode, we see the girl again, this time a century earlier.  Perhaps she is the Faith that was saved by the glove.  If we see her again this season, then the likelihood of the glove being involved would seem to increase.

The other callback to previous seasons was the use of "456" which of course was the frequency the aliens used in season three "Children of Earth."

While it wasn't made clear in this episode, Torchwood takes place in the same universe as Doctor Who, and in that universe, Earth is very aware of the existence of extra terestrials, due to the Christmas Invasion and other alien attacks on London, as well as the events chronicled in Children of Earth (as that, like Miracle Day, took place worldwide, not just in London).  I wonder if there will be some concrete confirmation that the world is aware of the possibility of alien influence or if it will remain like it was this week, where if you know of the past three seasons (and/or the history of Doctor Who) then you're aware that they know about aliens, but if you don't it isn't a big deal and it isn't spelled out for you?

I suppose the second way will more easily allow people into the show who haven't seen it before.

Either way, I thought it was a great episode, and I can't wait to see Captain Jack and Gwen in action again!

Until Next Time, let me know what you think might be the reason and the cause for Miracle Day.

Summer Lovin': Lovin Me Some Summer Television

Tonight brings us the premiere of the fourth series of Torchwood.

Titled Miracle Day, the fourth season of Torchwood is about the earth having first one day where absolutely no one dies; then another; then another, until the fact that no one can die leads to a multitude of problems.

It is a co-production between the BBC (who solely produced the first three seasons) and the American cable network Starz.

Not to worry, however, Russell T. Davies, the creator of this Doctor Who spinoff (and former Doctor Who showrunner who rebooted the show so successfully six years ago), is still the man in charge of the new season.  The first three seasons are available on Netflix Instant, so do yourself a favor and get caught up quickly!

This season looks to be pretty fantastic, adding Mekhi Phifer, Bill Pullman, and Lauren Ambrose  to the surviving cast from the first three seasons.

Monday brings us the third season of Warehouse 13 and the long awaited second half of the fourth season of Eureka.

Warehouse 13 is a goofy little show that might be more fantasy than science fiction, but it grows on you quickly, and the characters are fantastic making the sometimes absurd storylines intriguing and well worth investing in.  Aaron Ashmore joins the cast this season as an agent who is a human lie detector.  Hopefully Mika will be back as well sooner rather than later and H.G. Wells as well (who by the way is a woman...)

Eureka is probably the finest sci-fi show currently on the air, and the second half of the fourth season brings back Wil Weaton as Dr. Parrish and introduces Felicia Day to the cast as well!  I can't wait to see some more repercussions from the altered timeline.  The first three seasons of Eureka are available on Netflix instant streaming and the first half of season 4 just came out on DVD and BluRay.

I'm very excited about each of these shows, as well as loving what Falling Skies has been giving us so far.  While the network television was certainly down this past year, the summer series seem to be delivering quite nicely.

Until Next Time, I hope you have a chance to catch some Summer television!  Enjoy it, I know I will.

Captain Jack, by which I mean Harkness

Move over Independence Day, the fireworks officially happen four days later when Miracle Day begins.

How are you doing?

That's right, Starz has announced the official premiere date for the fourth season of Torchwood (the first three being strictly BBC productions and all available on Netflix, go on, get watching, this post will still be here when you get back) and it is July 8th.

The season, titled Miracle Day, is an international affair.  One day, no one on Earth dies.  Then the next day, no one dies.  Sure, at first it sounds great, but it quickly becomes problematic, and only Torchwood can hope to figure it out, led by their tri-sexual (as in he'll try anything) and similarly immortal boss, Captain Jack Harkness.

Gwen Cooper returns as well.

Torchwood's first three seasons each got better, and I'm hoping that the trend continues despite the show having Starz aboard as co-producers.

It is still being run by Russell T. Davies, who created the show (as well as brought back the show this is a spin-off from Doctor Who and also created Queer as Folk), and added to the writing staff for this season is Jane Espenson (who has also written for Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse, Battlestar Galactica, and co-created Warehouse 13), so there is actually quite a lot of reasons to get excited about the new season.

Joining John Barrowman (Captain Jack) and Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper) and other familiar faces from the first three seasons are Mekhi Phifer (probably best known for his run on ER), Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under), and Bill Pullman (the President in Independence Day) as the villain of the series.

Torchwood is a spin-off of the fantastic sci-fi show Doctor Who, as Captain Jack was a former companion of the Doctor and the Torchwood institute he leads is the remnants of an organization started in order to protect earth from alien threats (such as the Doctor).

From the aftermath of Season 2 of the new Who, Torchwood began as a spin-off.  It took a little bit of time to find its own way, but once it did (towards the end of the first season) it took off running to a fantastic second season that seemed impossible to top.  The third season succeeded, however, as more of a mini-series telling one long story.  The fourth season looks to be a mixture of a full-season and the single story idea that worked so well in the shortened third season.

Either way, I'm on board and excited for the new adventures of Captain Jack and his team.

Until Next Time, here is the promotional poster for the new season.

Bad Movie Reviews: Spring Break Shark Week

It is Spring Break this week.  And there is only one way to make Spring Break better....

Spring Break Shark Week.

But not the good type of shark week, like one would see on Discovery, but bad movies featuring megalodons.  Prehistoric Sharks.

We first watched Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus.

Yes, that is a picture of a shark taking a bite out of the Golden Gate Bridge, and it can tell you pretty much what the movie is like.

For the most part the acting is terrible and the story has a few holes in it.

The real problem with the movie was the ridiculous editing techniques.  Everything on the entire screen would randomly go white, without really even cutting away.  I'm not sure what was going on there.

Overall, it could have been worse, and there is a scene where Mega Shark eats an airplane out of the air, so at least there is that.

The third movie we watched was the sequel to Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus, Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus.

It was worse in every way.  Even though it starred Jaleel "Urkel" White and Robert Picardo (the Doctor on Star Trek Voyager), it was literally unwatchable.

Could it have had to do with the fact that it was the third straight movie about megalodons that we watched?

I don't know.  We were pretty pumped for more megalogons, I feel like the movie was just flat terrible.

The plot made little to no sense, or at least didn't in the first fifteen or so minutes, because at that point we all pretty much stopped paying attention and Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus became just background noise.

And the only thing worse than a film that already makes no sense is a movie that makes no sense that you are barely paying attention to.

There wasn't even a fun shark attacking a plane scene to add anything to the terribleness.

The middle movie we watched was actually pretty good.

I know, the poster looks terrible, but it was actually very entertaining, and not just in a bad movie type way either.  If this movie had some money put into it, it probably would have been fantastic.

The special effects weren't great, and there is a pretty terrible line (but it gets the girl, so you can't knock it too much), but the story is actually pretty good.

There is some terrible acting, (like really, really terrible) but there is also some great acting.

Two of the main characters are Ryan Cutrona, who was grandpa Gene on Mad Men

and Captain Jack Harkness (aka John Barrowman).

From Doctor Who and Torchwood.

There is also a fantastic shot down a waterslide, far better than any shot that you would expect out of a movie called Shark Attack 3.

Until Next Time, beware of prehistoric sharks.