From BSG to Outcasts: A guide to ripping off your favorite TV show in 5 easy steps
“If you like Battlestar Galactica then you’ll love Outcasts!” At least that’s what the producers of Outcasts are probably hoping you’ll say. Unfortunately at only 8 episodes long, Outcasts is a mere shadow of the show it aspires to be. Steal The Plot Plots are hard! I know, it’s okay. The home planet of humans … Continue reading
Farscape: Soap in space
Farscape was why my spouse and I bought a TiVo. It was a show we discovered not long after we got married and that we were soon watching faithfully. But we discovered after our babe was born in 2001 that live television watching wasn’t compatible with baby minding, and we rediscovered the unreliabilty of taping … Continue reading
OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies
Volumes have been written about Jean Dujardin and his performance in The Artist (2011), and for good reason — the guy is hilarious. The Artist was not Dujardin’s first comedy, nor was it his first film with director Michel Hazanavicius or co-star Bérénice Bejo. The three worked together on the spy-film satire, OSS 117: Cairo, … Continue reading
If you liked
I have a confession. Sometimes I don’t know what to watch on Netflix. Sometimes I’ve just had enough of watching Doctor Who and Upstairs, Downstairs and even Paul Newman. Sometimes I just want to see something I haven’t seen before. So what do I do? I turn to Netflix to see what it can suggest … Continue reading
Spoilers, sweetie!
I’ve always firmly believed that, deep down, people like to be corrected when they are so wrong about something that it borders on embarrassment. Mind you, I say “people,” and not “friends,” for reasons that should be immediately self-evident. However, as one of the newest contributors to The Idler, I feel I have a responsibility … Continue reading
Kindness and fury
After nearly fifty years and eleven actors, we have some idea of what makes the Doctor: “He’s dangerous, he’s sardonic even when he’s sincere, he’s manic, you don’t quite trust him even when you do, and he needs his companion to keep him from going over to the dark side.” He’s a bit distant, and … Continue reading
DS9
Like most nerdy lads in the early ‘90s, I was a fan of Star Trek. While I enjoyed the original series, I had more exposure to Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. So, it warmed my heart to see that both of these series are on Netflix Watch Instant. As I began re-watching Deep Space … Continue reading
A tale of two Doctors
Having watched all of the modern Doctor Who series and some of the classic Doctor Who series I think I can confidently call myself an unimpeachable expert. My esteemed college and, more importantly, fellow Sarah, has asserted Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor is the best Doctor. While in every subjective way her opinion is … Continue reading
A noob watches Doctor Who
Last year I finally decided to start watching Doctor Who. I’m not sure why I hadn’t before. I think it always seemed too hardcore. Everyone I knew who watched the show was constantly making in-jokes with other Who fans. (One indication of how out of it I am: are fans of the show Who fans … Continue reading
The Phantom
Ah, the mid-to-late 1990s. It was a new Golden Age for the cinema, and 1996 was a banner year: it brought us Barb Wire, Dragonheart, and the Billy Zane superhero film, The Phantom. I have a soft-spot for The Phantom. Which should not come as a surprise, since my film collection runs the gamut from … Continue reading
