This Week On Battlestar Galactica

I've been laboring under a tight deadline, hence the light posting this week, but there's always time to remind the tens of people who check out this blog that this week's episode of Battlestar, "Collaborators", was written by yours truly and features yet another rather dark turn in the lives of our rag-tag fleet. No spoilers, I'm just sayin', I'm awfully proud of this one. Check it out!

Very Bad Nirvana

One of my guiltiest of guilty pleasures is a band called THE SHAGGS, three young girls who, back in the late sixties, we're dragged into a recording studio by their Dad about three weeks after they started playing their intruments. The resultant "album", which proud Poppa actually pressed to sell at shows, is a nightmarish and yet oddly compelling clatter of atonal singing, arythemic drumming and non-sequitur guitar strumming.

Well, the spirit of The Shaggs lives on. As the blurb at i-film says, it probably isn't right to laugh at High School students (or Junior High, it's hard to tell) as they give their all during what looks like a talent show... but this really IS the worst cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" that you're ever gonna hear/see.

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2753057

Battlestar-ing

Today's (10/20) edition of THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER had a special section on BATTLESTAR along with a nice ad placed by CAA congratuating their clients on reaching 100 episodes... a little premature (I think we're at about 53 regular eps, not counting the mini-series) but what the heck, let's start the party early!

Next week's show, COLLABORATORS, is "my" first show of the season, and if you thought things were already intense for our rag-tag fleet, just wait...

The Descent

Catching up on another horror movie that came and went last Summer, THE DESCENT is one of those rare beasts, a monster movie that actually develops some well-realized characters. After a personal calamity devastates Sara, her five Brit/Scottish girlfriends convince her to join them on a spelunking adventure in the wilds of the American South. As they head into the cave, things begin to go terribly wrong. They find themselves trapped and going progressively deeper into the previously uncharted cave system... and then things go REALLY bad. Since the ads don't exactly hide the fact, it's not a spoiler to reveal that something else is down there with our intrepid band...

I think the most interesting thing about DESCENT is that it is a riveting and harrowing adventure even before the "monster" part starts. Indeed, my one critique of the picture is that the creature stuff seems to go on a bit too long, and it's fairly one note (though the note is an interesting one). The sense of dread and hopelessness and desperation conveyed as the caving expedition itself goes haywire is extremely well done, and the relationship between Sara and the expedition's leader, Juno, has some great character-based twists and turns. And the basic uneasiness of the caving debacle is made even darker by the knowledge that something awful is still to come. Definitely worth checking out...

Extreme Cinema

So what movie was so offensive that even Showtime, the pay cable channel that provided funding for the project, refused to air it? Check out IMPRINT, a "Masters Of Horror" episode that's just been released on DVD by the good people at Anchor Bay. Directed by Takashi Miike, whose credits include the creepy AUDITION and the over-the-top ICHI THE KILLER, IMPRINT defies convention, good taste and just about everything else... and it's also pretty good. The "story" as such is simple; an American journalist (Billy Drago), looking for his missing Japanese lover in 18th century Japan, visits a brothel where a scarred prostitute tells a rather disturbing story...

So what troubled Showtime? I suspect it was the cumulative effect of taboo-bashing sequenses. Forget Miike's old standby, torture with needles, which he uses to distressing effect here... when you've got characters tossing dead fetuses around, we're definitely entering the world of transgressive cinema. That said, unlike a lot of horror that equates in-your-face gore with horror, Miike also creates a dismal, unsettling atmosphere of dread and tension around the bloody set pieces. IMPRINT isn't just another brainless gorefest, it really wants to disturb the viewer on a visceral level, and in that it succeeds. On a one to four scale, I give it three and a half needles through the gums...

Evil Dead - The Musical

Next thing you know, some dummy will write a expanded comic book version of the original EVIL DEAD movie...

http://www.scifi.com/sfw/screen/sfw13849.html

Battlestar Season Three Premiere RATINGS

Come get you some hot Battlestar Season Three premiere ratings...

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BATTLESTAR SEASON 3 PREMIERE LEADS SCI FI TO TRIPLE-DIGIT RATINGS GAINS

Number 1 Cable Series for the Night - SCI FI Friday Reasserts Dominance

New York, NY - October 9, 2006 - Building on the summer ratings heat that brought SCI FI more than 15 million new viewers via its original series Eureka, Who Wants to Be A Superhero? and ECW, the Channel kicked off the fall with the hotly-anticipated season 3 premiere of Battlestar Galactica (October 6, 9-11pm ET/PT). In the face of stiff competition, the two-hour opener was the #1 cable series of the night. And in combination with its lead-ins, Heroes (rebroadcast @ 7pm) and Doctor Who (new episode at 8pm), SCI FI reasserted its dominance on Friday nights, with triple-digit demo increases vs. 4Q05.

The Galactica season 3 premiere delivered a 1.8 HH rating with 2.2 million total viewers (P2+) - out-delivering its season 2.5 average in total viewers (+2%), P25-54 (+7%) and P18-49 (1.4 million, +4%).

SCI FI's 7pm-11pm SCI FI Friday lineup averaged a 1.4 HH rating, 1.7 million total viewers (P2+), 1.2 million P25-54s and 1.0 million P18-49s. Compared to the same time period last year (4Q05), this reflects increases of:

+93% in P2+
+75% in HH Ratings
+120% in P25-54
+134% in P18-49

Battlestar Season Three BEGINS...

The big premiere is still ahead as I write this, but I just had a chance to see the two hour premiere on the big screen, and I am, if possible, even MORE incredibly proud of this show than ever. The advance reviews have been wonderfully positive and the buzz seems to be growing, so -- please watch! Tell your friends! Tell the friends of your friends! If your friends don't have friends, stop talking to them, but not until they promise to watch Battlestar! Are we clear?

Countdown to Battlestar Galactica Season Three

Remember, the new season starts (here in the USA) Friday night at 9:00 PM, on the Sci-Fi Channel. The two hour premiere kicks us off in high style, as the Cylon occupation takes root and the human insurgency fights back. 9:00 PM will remain the new time, so everyone check their recorders, doublecheck the TiVo, or (dear God) just remember to watch!

Customer Service

I like to scan eBay from time to time for old comics, and it's always intriguing to see what some people consider appropriate advertising copy. I mean, you put something on eBay, you're trying to sell it, right? And yet there are any number of sellers who fill their ads with bellicose boiler plate seemingly designed to ward off virtually ALL potential bidders. Below is some of the copy from an eBay ad for a copy of CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS #61, which, in excellent condition, would go for four figures. Evidently the seller is cranky because the book he's offering is missing a page (!) and he doesn't understand why that prompts questions from potential bidders:

NOW LET ME TELL YOU BIDDERS SOMETHING ONCE THE HIGH BID HITS THE AMOUNT THAT I WISH TO HAVE FOR THIS BOOK I AM GOING TO END THE AUCTION AND AWARD IT TO THE HIGH BIDDER , AND THE EVENT THAT DOES NOT HAPPEN IT WILL GET THROWN IN TO THE COAL FURNACE, I CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE KRAP OVER THIS ANCIENT COMIC BOOK, THANK YOU

I only wish I could copy the 48pt red type...