So I gather that the new official policy over at the Sci Fi Channel is that the online streams of Battlestar Galactica now are delayed for a full week.
Which means that those of us without cable television have the choice either to remain a week behind on a show which has one of the largest online followings and for which it is nearly impossible to avoid spoilers even when one deliberately tries to avoid them (on the one hand), or turn to illegal means of keeping current (on the other hand).
I have always been perfectly willing to avail myself of legally-sanctioned means of watching television online. But the reality is that culture is not merely property.
The experience of culture is a collectively shared thing, and any company which disdains the cultural aspect of its property — especially when we’re talking about a show such as this one, whose value in no small part results from that collective and shared cultural experience of it — to the point of alienating half of its prospective audience for no rational reason?
That company doesn’t deserve my legally-sanctioned loyalty. I’ll watch their show in some form which doesn’t include the advertisements they sell during commercial breaks or in ad banners. I was willing to subject myself to those necessary obstacles, but not if it means having to wait a week, and thereby be denied my participation in the cultural experience of the show — from which it derives its value in the first place.
“Take Southlandlabs.com offline for now,” read the email from Adelle DeWitt (a character in Dollhouse, the forthcoming new series from Joss Whedon) which hit my inbox earlier today, “whilst we redesign.” That referenced website indeed currently is offline. However, the website of the domain from which the email came is up (sort of). The question now: Is this part of official viral marketing for Dollhouse, or just some fan-run effort getting a head start on the hype?
I won’t even try to link to everything. Trust that all the relevant bits will be linked off WHEDONesque. But the two I’ll mention now: The official trailer is up (also via YouTube). And FOX will be airing the show with half the commercials typically shown during an hour-long show. Around five minutes of them instead of the usual ten or more. That’s a seriously big deal.
It was bad enough last year, the overwhelmingly-stupid rise of certain houseguests on Big Brother believing that God was deeply and keenly interested in their success on the show.
But now? Several houseguests — led by the new Head of Household, Natalie, the “bikini barista” from Oregon who has a new numerological theory about the game every week, each one somehow and mysteriously favoring her, even if it then turns out to be complete bullshit — have dubbed themselves Team Christ. Because, as a group, they fervently believe that God has been giving them signs and moving the game along in their favor.
As one of their opponents said on tonight’s show: “One of those idiots is going to win half a million dollars.”
The first bit of casting news is out for Dollhouse, and it includes Tahmoh Penikett. That would be Helo from Battlestar Galactica, whose final season begins in a little over a week. The three other actors whose casting is known so far as near-unknowns.
The website of the SCI FI Channel has posted Battlestar Galactica: The Phenomenon, one of the specials to air on the network at the end of this month. It includes (amongst others) Joss Whedon and Seth Green discussing the show.
They’ve also posted Revealed, which I believe is the other special being paired with the one above.
Meanwhile, the premier of the fourth and final season will be streamed online during a one-hour window on April 4, ten hours before it’s broadcast on the SCI FI Channel. (This is good for people who can’t afford cable television, like me.) Watch the latest preview clip, which gives all the impression of a season ramped up beyond all expectation.
Finally, of the forthcoming back-door pilot for the planned prequel series, Ron Moore says this: “If Battlestar Galactica is Black Hawk Down, I would say that Caprica is American Beauty.”
“It’s also great to have a chance at doing a completely different kind of science fiction series,” says Ron Moore (of the announcement that Caprica, long in limbo, will get its back door pilot), “one that’s even more character-oriented and doesn’t rely on pyrotechnics to carry the story.”
If you’re not up to date on Lost, don’t read the rest of this, because I’m going to work through some the stuff that’s come up so far in the course of Season Four. In order words, if you don’t want to be spoiled for what’s already aired, this is your spoiler warning. What follows does not contain any spoilers for what’s still to come, although it does contain speculation on that point based upon what we’ve seen thus far.
Continue reading ‘Thoughts On The Oceanic Six’
I’m not really sure whether or not The Return of Jezebel James is any good. But that’s mainly because I’m too busy watching Parker Posey, who I went to college with, being awesome.
So the viewers get to decide which evicted houseguest will return to the Big Brother house. And because this show is my guilt-free pleasure every year, I must vote. But I’m stuck.
On the one hand, if one were to vote based upon who deserves to re-enter the house, one should vote for Parker, since the only reason he’s gone is because everyone wanted Jen out of the house.
On the other hand, if one were to vote based upon fucking with the remaining houseguests, one should vote for Allison, who was only just evicted (and unanimously, no less).
So speak up, Big Brother people. I know you’re out there. Should I vote based upon who deserves to return, or based upon whose return would fuck with the house as much as possible?