The Geek Trifecta
Jul 25, 2008 | Filed under Movies, TV
Caution: nerdiness levels approaching critical
A recent trip to Blockbuster resulted in my obtaining the above pictured DVDs: Serenity, Futurama: Bender’s Big Score, and Battlestar Galactica: Razor. If there were a Geiger-counter-like device that could detect levels of geektitude, the table where I took this photo would break the needle.
I’ve actually seen Serenity a few times before — even more than once when it was in theaters. I am quite sad to admit, however, that I hadn’t seen Firefly, the TV show upon which it was based, at the time. When the show originally aired on Fox, the previews made it look interesting, but they kept advertising it as “From the creator of Buffy and Angel,” and since Vampires were never really my thing, that wasn’t exactly a selling point. I’m just making excuses now, probably out of nerd shame. Firefly is assuredly one of the best pieces of fiction ever created for TV, and I’m sad that it took me so long to figure that out. My Darling and I recently finished watching Universal HD’s run of the show, the first time either of us had been able to watch the whole series in order and in its entirety. Serenity is a perfect coda to the closing of the series. so the timing was right to watch it again. Since you’re on the internet, chances are high that you already own the box set on DVD and are eagerly anticipating the re-release to Blu-Ray. If you haven’t seen either the show or the movie yet, though, rent/buy/queue-up Firefly first. The movie was made to stand on its own, but it’s a much richer experience to watch the show first. Meantime: lesson learned — I will most definitely be watching Dollhouse this fall.
Futurama was another of my favorite shows, and yet another nerd paragon that was cut down in its prime (coincidentally, also by Fox). The perfect combination of Matt Groening comedy, sci-fi and nerd culture, and unabashed sweetness, fan loyalty again resurrected the franchise and brought about the creation of four direct-to-DVD movies. Bender’s Big Score is the first of the four, and it’s another repeat for me. I watched it shortly after it came out, but My Darling fell asleep. Since the second movie, The Beast with a Billion Backs has just been released, we had to get her all caught-up before tackling that one.
Finally, Battlestar Galactica. I was introduced to BSG by my friend The Queen of the Universe when we were first bonding over our mutual love of Star Trek: TNG. I hopped aboard at the beginning of the third season, and again, should probably have my nerd card revoked for missing out for so long. The idea was to catch up on the first two seasons before season four started, but we got a late start. So, while TiVo safely kept the new episodes that started in April, we pressed on through the entirety of the show, avoiding the internet at all costs for fear of spoilers. Razor was cooked up to bridge the (horrifically long) gap between seasons three and four, but it’s actually a flashback of sorts. The bulk of the episode takes place in the middle of season two, and it’s pretty much a stand-alone affair. The one tiny tidbit that actually did have relevance to season four was repeated in the middle of season four anyway, so it was mostly just throwaway backstory. Not to say that it wasn’t good — BSG on its worst day is still one of the best shows around. Well, except for that one really crappy episode where Lee shoots a pimp. With Razor out of the way, we were finally free to watch the ten aired episodes of season four, and we get to sit around and wait like everyone else for Sci-Fi to air the last ten. Now that we’re finally caught-up, perhaps the nightmares will stop.
In closing, I leave you with a clip of the most successful sitcom of all time, Everyone Loves Hypnotoad.
July 29th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
aaaawww…::wipes away a tear::
I am so happy we get to know each other and raise more nerdlets…:)