Archive for the ‘Television’ Category

Taken: “Beyond the Sky”

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My mother always talked to me a lot about the sky. She liked to watch the clouds in the day, and the stars at night. Especially the stars. We would play a game sometimes, a game called “What’s beyond the sky?” We would imagine darkness, or a blinding light, or something else that we didn’t know how to name.

John (Eric Close) shows that magic is all about misdirection. Misdirection and telekinesis.

John (Eric Close) shows that magic is all about misdirection. Misdirection and telekinesis.

In 1947, a military balloon, part of the top secret “Project Mogul”, crashed in Roswell, New Mexico. Out of this single incident grew an entire mythos of alien crash landings and abductions. And it’s around this incident that writer Leslie Bohem builds his generation spanning alien contact saga, Taken.

Stargate SG-1: “Children of the Gods”

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Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) admires a visual effect.

Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) admires a visual effect.

One year after the mission in Stargate (1994), the Abydos stargate is believed destroyed and the Earth stargate is inactive. However, when a group of aliens, lead by a man with glowing eyes, appear from the Earth stargate, Jack O’Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) is called back from retirement. He leads a team to Abydos, where he finds Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks) alive and well, and with a new theory — the stargate can go to other places than just Abydos. In fact, says Jackson, there’s a network of stargates all over the galaxy. Just like in the feature, the only other scientist present, Captain Doctor Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping), initially scoffs at Jackson’s theory, but he’s of course soon proved right, Abydos is attacked, and the stargate program is reactivated. SG-1 (Jack, Daniel, Samantha) heads to Chulak to rescue Daniel’s wife, Sha’re (Vaitiare Bandera), and Skaara (Alexis Cruz, the only actor reprising his role from the feature) and meet up with the “First Prime of Apophis”, Teal’c (Christopher Judge).

The Inside – three episodes

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101: New Girl in Town

Rebecca Locke (Rachel Nichols): New girl in town.

Rebecca Locke (Rachel Nichols): New girl in town.

Special Agent Alvarez is found murdered, apparently the work of a serial killer she and the rest of the violent crimes unit (VCU) had been hunting. Her replacement is Rebecca Locke (Rachel Nichols), fresh from a stint as an analyst in Washington, DC. Locke was abducted when she was 10 years old and escaped after several months of captivity. It’s later revealed that the head of the VCU, Virgil “Web” Webster, was instrumental in getting her accepted to the FBI, because he thinks her childhood experience will be useful in catching serial offenders.

Inspector Morse

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The comedy stylings of Lewis and Morse.

The comedy stylings of Lewis and Morse.

Series 1

The Dead of Jericho (6 January 1987)

Written by Anthony Minghella (based on Colin Dexter’s novel). Directed by Alastair Reid.

Morse (John Thaw) meets a woman, Ann Staveley (Gemma Jones), in his choir. When she’s found dead of an apparent suicide, Morse suspects murder and, with the help of Sergeant Lewis (Kevin Whately), sets out to prove it.

Like most Morses, the plot in this début tends toward meandering a bit and, really, that’s the way it should be. Thaw is fantastic, as usual, and Minghella’s script captures the melancholy of Dexter’s novels well. Reid’s directing does the job just fine, though the 16mm grain does grate a bit. It’s amazing they got their eye in so quick.