Tag Archives: jessica

Q&A # 199: What are your media consumption habits? Netflix? Hardcover books? Digital comics? Tell us how you access the stories we all love.

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In Q & A, a weekly feature of Fantastic Fangirls, we ask our staff to tackle a simple question — then open the floor to comments.

What are your media consumption habits? Netflix? Hardcover books? Digital comics? Tell us how you access the stories we all love.

GABBY

If trade paperbacks were the only type of books one could buy, that would make me the happiest girl in the world. I love TPBs; how the art on the covers is usually prettier, how it folds every which way, how they fit on a shelf.

You can’t tell me that’s not pretty.

I limit the comics I purchase to the Whedonverse, and the other shows that I wish to follow in comic book format. The Silver Snail(https://www.facebook.com/SilverSnailComicsOttawa) in Ottawa is my preferred location for all things comics; they are quite friendly and there are many female employees that are super welcoming.

Recently, I bought a Nexus 7. I’ve been cutting back on paper-book purchases, and my student-on-a-budget wallet thanks me for it. It’s a great tablet; I mostly use the Kobo app to read e-books, and I love getting the achievements! They’re like virtual stickers and you can collect them depending on how many pages or what kinds of books you read. It really appeals to the overachiever in me.

JESSICA

My favorite way to consume media has always been (and will forever be) through reading – hardcovers and paperbacks, fantasy epics and cheesy time-travel historical romances, I love it all. Most of the fandoms I’m really passionate about originated with books (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Ender’s Game), and reading traditional books satisfies my craving for narrative in a way that no other media outlet does. I love the way that when you are reading a book, especially one that may not be commercially popular, the world inside becomes your own. You are granted a privileged access into the hearts and minds of the characters, and it’s yours to take advantage of whenever you have the time to delve into its pages. Books have the power to suck me into them emotionally. I’ve noticed that if terrible things are happening to the main character in a book I’m really invested in, I will be seriously depressed and sad. Sometimes I don’t even realize why until I notice that there is nothing terrible happening in my life–it’s all in the book! As much as I love television, movies, and comics, none of them have the power to stick with me in the way that books do. I rarely buy them new, although I do make exceptions for special occasions, like a new release by a favorite author. Just let me loose in a used bookstore (my favorite is McKay’s, back home in Knoxville) with $10 and I’ll be happy for at least a week.

SAM

Well, I play video games mostly on my XBox, with a few exceptions (Journey, the Uncharted series, and some older games I play on my PC, mobile gaming on my iPhone), which has also become something of a media center for me. I watch most of my TV via either Hulu or Netflix, and occasionally will watch stuff on the web if they don’t offer it anywhere else and I don’t want to wait for Netflix, like Pretty Little Liars, Lost Girl, and Elementary. I watch most movies via Netflix, unless I’m so excited for something that I absolutely have to see it in the theater. For newer releases, if I happened to miss it in the theater but really want to see it, I’ll probably rent it via Amazon Instant or Zune or something.

As far as reading goes, I read books mostly on my Kindle these days. I’m in love with my Kindle. I read so much more now that I have it. I used to be a huge reader; I’d read a book a week from age 10 through law school, but I haven’t read so much in recent years. Now I read all the time. I’ll read the occasional paper book, usually if someone’s lent it to me, but I’d much rather carry my Kindle around with me than a book. Comics I read almost exclusively on my phone. I love the guided view of Comixology, and actually think it adds a lot to the reading experience on some titles, like Hawkeye. I’m glad I went totally digital, because I’ve still got about ten boxes of comics from five or six years ago that I have no idea what to do with. I aspire to one day have an iPad or Kindle Fire, but I’m pretty happy with the tech I have right now.

SARA

So, what I really want someone to do for their college thesis one year (hopefully soon) is to look at the attention span / GPA changes of college students pre and post the invention of Netflix. Because hotdamn. If there was one thing (besides Glee) that tanked my GPA in college, it was Netflix.

What a wondrous thing. High quality, quick streaming, and thousands upon thousands of movies and TV shows ranging from Oscar Nominated Classics of the 1950s to C-grade Zombie Movies that You Have to be Drunk And Or High to Enjoy.

You can imagine why college might be the best place for Netflix subcription drones to set up shop.

Netflix is awesome. Netflix is the best. Netflix now has all of Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, and Batman Beyond on its Instant Streaming. Oh my God, am I glad that I no longer have a GPA to tank.

So what about you? What are your media consumption habits? NetFlix? Hardcover books? Digital comics? Tell us how you access the stories we all love.

Q&A # 194: Who is your favorite Disney Princess?

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In Q & A, a weekly feature of Fantastic Fangirls, we ask our staff to tackle a simple question — then open the floor to comments.

Who is your favorite Disney Princess?

ALI

“I’m a damsel, I’m in distress, I can handle this. Have a nice day.”

Meg from the highly under-rated Hercules is by far and away my favorite Disney Princess. She’s smart, independent and witty, but she’s also dark and twisty and literally soulless (no really! she sold her soul to Hades to save her boyfriend who then dumped her for a younger, hotter model.) Basically I love her because she’s one of those damaged and flawed characters that I love so much, which is not at all the typical Disney Princess. In fact, Meg is not included in the officially branded Disney Princesses. I think it’s partly because she’s dark and twisty and partly because I think Disney likes to kind of sweep Hercules under the rug.

So, if we’re talking the branded Disney Princesses, I have to pick Ariel.

Yes, she’s kind of a spoiled brat. But she proactively makes the changes she wants to see in her life, even though she makes some really poor choices in execution. And once when I was in fifth grade, someone told me I looked like Ariel and it was probably the best moment of my epically awkward tween life.

JESSICA

For me, it’s a tie between Belle and Pocahontas. Belle was made for me to fall in love with – her favorite pastime is reading, she’s a brunette (okay, so this probably mattered more to me when I was a kid than it does now, but even today she’s the only Disney princess with hair that even remotely resembles my own), and she’s totally brave. When she volunteers to take her father’s place? Damn girl. Plus that library, with the sliding ladders? That’s pretty much the only thing I want from my life.

But I’ve always had an affinity for Pocahontas too. She’s just…awesome. And so different from every other princess Disney has to offer. The songs she sings are beautiful, I love how her “palace,” so to speak, is the world around her, and, again, she’s just super brave and awesome. I’m not normally into it when historical-based narratives make big changes to, you know, history, but I’m completely on board with the way Disney chose to end Pocahontas. It’s completely atypical for them. She has the choice to leave with John Smith, and she doesn’t. She decides that there is something more important than following her boyfriend across the ocean to an unfamiliar land. As a character, she’s super strong. And breathtaking, also. Those lips? Those cheekbones? She’s completely gorgeous even though she looks nothing like any of the princesses who came before her.

MARIE

Although she isn’t technically a princess, I’ll always have a special place in my heart for Mulan. She’s a heroine that you can root for: she’s clever, funny, and she tries no matter how staggering the odds are. At the beginning of her journey, she starts out as a girl who isn’t quite sure who she is or knows where she belongs. It’s a pretty relatable and universal problem–especially among the young girls that belonged to the movie’s target demographic. I found her whole arc touching and fascinating because she goes through all the emotional ups and downs of coming to terms with not only she is, but who she wants to be.

I also like her because she can kick serious ass and knows how to use a sword.

SARA

This is, without a doubt, the most difficult question I’ve had to answer in a long time. Choose a favorite Disney princess? I’d no sooner be able to choose a favorite star from the heavens.

(Bonus points to those who picked up that quote!)

It comes down to two, really, and those two represent two facets of my being: who I am most like and who I most want to be.

As to the former, I am the most like Belle. Love of reading? Check. Stubborness? Check. Daddy’s girl? Check. Need to have more than a provincial life? Double check.

Belle is someone I never really considered as a favorite growing up. I looked more to Jasmine then, for both the Arab/Middle Eastern background and the insanely hot prince ;) Belle is someone I grew to appreciate as I grew older and my personality was much more defined by my interests. Plus, she has the most beautiful dress!

To the latter of my posed dichotomy is Tiana, a woman that I desperately want to be more like. She is strong, hard-working, dedicated. Honestly, to a procrastinator like myself, I cannot fathom a better role-model than Tiana.

Plus? She also has the most beautiful dress!

But, in all seriousness, Disney provided me with my first (and, in some cases, most influential) role-models. Disney women do not sit idly by. They take life by the reins and steer themselves to happiness. Tiana’s story is the most blatantly characteristic of that ideal and I love her for it.

So what about you? Who is your favorite Disney Princess?

Q&A #192: What canceled television series do you miss most?

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In Q & A, a weekly feature of Fantastic Fangirls, we ask our staff to tackle a simple question — then open the floor to comments.

What canceled television series do you miss most?

ANIKA

#SWAG

I know what you’re thinking. Law and Order was on for twenty years. Compared to House (8 seasons) or Fringe (4 1/2 seasons) or Firefly (14 episodes) or Wonderland (8 episodes; only 2 aired)…does it really count as a “canceled” series? But I honestly miss it daily. And specifically this team led by Thomas Wayne and the wonder that was Jack McCoy as DA.

The real issue (as I’ve mentioned) is that it didn’t have a series finale. It hurts me. But at least the series didn’t end on a cliffhanger, like Hellcats which I will NEVER GET OVER –

#crying forever

(And speaking of Aly Michalka, I also miss Phil of the Future)

aka Doctor Who Junior

– or Alien Nation.

I was the same age as Emily Francisco and I completely identified with her. I had a crush on her bad boy big brother. I obsessively shipped Matt and Cathy. I loved this show. I was thirteen years old and I wanted it to be real life.

I watched the post-series TV movies and I read the books (Passing Fancy is my favorite)…I got more closure here than I did with Law and Order. But when I suggested this question for Q&A, Alien Nation was why.

CAROLINE

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is not a show that I really expected to enjoy. I’m a huge fan of the original Terminator movie, but increasingly less so of the sequels. The first film is an elegant little time travel paradox (it might not seem that way because of all the explosions, but underneath it really is), and the more you try to add to that, the more you risk wrecking the whole thing. So I didn’t think the franchise was a great candidate for a TV show.

TSCC proved me wrong though. Partly, it did so through an amazing cast — Lena Headey before Game of Thrones, Summer Glau and Thomas Dekker and Brian Austin “When did he get that hot?” Green as her improvised family unit. Antagonists included Richard T. Jones, the super-creepy Garrett Dillahunt and Shirley Manson (?!!). What I enjoyed most about this show, though, were the week-to-week stories. The ongoing story arc of each season was interesting enough, but in a fascinating way, these characters who were so determined to fulfill their mission and ignore the world around them kept getting pulled into the world of people around them. The show never forgot that these other lives were just as real and important as the intrigues surrounding the heroes.

This show was cancelled way before its time, and it also happens to have one of the best cliffhanger endings I’ve ever seen. So much potential, so many stories we’ll never see. I miss this show!

GABBY

Sigh. Veronica Mars, how I love your quick-witted, bashful and seriously ass-kicking self.

I miss this show so much, especially since it did not get the ending it deserved. I remember reading somewhere that the creator had [SPOILER] purposefully ended the show as a season finale, with Veronica walking away in the rain (to this amazing song), so that it would sway the network in giving them an additional season.

Needless to say that never happened, and we never got closure about anything. What happened to Keith, Veronica’s dad? Did he get elected as sheriff, or did he get locked up for tampering with evidence? Who did the marshmallow herself end up with, Piz or Logan? What about Wallace? His last scene wasn’t worthy of the epic goodbye between friends that shouldv’e been.

Ultimately, I’m glad that this show existed. It’s the first show that made me love a bad boy (seriously, I pick Angel over Spike any day – actually, I just pick neither), that presented a loving and hilarious father-daughter duo and a that had a murder storyline that kept me guessing up until the very last scene (Lilly Kane was amazing, wasn’t she?).

I’m due for a re-watch.

(Oh, and in case you’d like to see what a fourth season would have looked like, check these out).

JESSICA

I have mixed feelings when it comes to canceled television shows–on the one hand, it’s annoying (and sometimes heartbreaking) to be deprived of a show that you have become really invested in, but on the other, if a good show ends up running for only one or two seasons, those seasons are usually pretty damn near perfect. After all, only the good die young. Sometimes it’s easier for me to think back wistfully of the one and only really terrific season of a show than to watch a series I love die a slow, painful, hokey, jumping the shark death (thinking about seasons eight and nine of The X-Files still stings).

With this in mind, some canceled television shows I love, like Freaks and Geeks and Firefly, belong in the first category of single breathtaking seasons. I was devastated to see them go, but these are two shows where every episode is great. There are no throw-aways, no “WHY DID THEY DO THAT”s. Their short runs are bittersweet, but beautiful.

Still, this doesn’t mean that some shows aren’t brutally murdered in the prime of their lives, hacked off of the air as fans release blood curdling screams of horror. In this category fall shows like Arrested Development (although I do have high hopes for the Netflix continuation later this year), Pushing Daises, Wonderfalls, and Dead Like Me (if you are a fan and haven’t already, don’t watch the made-for-television movie wrap-up. It’s painful.). These are shows that keep me wondering what happened to their quirky characters, and I will probably never get over any of them being cancelled. Topping this list might be the show Rome, the HBO drama that recreated Ancient Rome in an engaging and original way. I’m still sick over that one. I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS. I mean, technically I know what happens, because, you know, history, but still. I need to see it on HBO with scantily clad men running around engaging in political intrigue.

MARIE

I wouldn’t necessarily describe myself as a morbid person, but I definitely have a thing for shows that put a quirky spin on death. That’s why I feel great shows like Dead Like Me and Pushing Daisies did not deserve to be buried (see what I did there?) after only two seasons.

Yes, I know that they continued in some capacity with a direct-to-DVD film and a mini-series, but still… there was just so much potential!

SAM

I want to say Doctor Who, because I really wish that the Cartmel Plan had happened and Ace had become a Time Lord. But it’s a good time to be a Whovian, so I’m not going to whine about what could have been, when we’ve got a lot of awesome things that are still happening.

I loved The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Pushing Daisies, and Dead Like Me, which have been mentioned. I mourn the end of my favorite soap, All My Children (coming back soon in a new format!). But a show that still makes me sad everytime I see it scroll by on Netflix is Earth 2. Oh, Earth 2, you were ahead of your time.

It was Firefly meets the New Caprica arc from Battlestar Galactica. It had a surprisingly deep internal mythology, and a great ragtag cast of characters that built to a pretty strong ensemble led by a female character (pre-dating Star Trek: Voyager by a few months).

Earth-2 brought a lot to the table, from strong female characters, to crazy conspiracies, to cool aliens, it ticked off a lot of my boxes for what I look for in a science fiction show. It’s currently streaming on Netflix (hint hint).

SARA

So, my first answer was the same as Gabby’s. But, she did such a great job describing all my FEELS, I’ll leave it there. Thank you, Gabby. You spoke for all us Martians!

I guess the show I would say that I miss the most is Justice League Unlimited.

Can you look upon all these heros and not flail? I think not. Epic. Even the title sequence was epic. Chills down my spine.

What. A. Show. Funny, smart, heartbreaking. It was not just a cartoon. It was not just for children. It was not just anything but an amazing show.

Baby Justice Leaguers are offended at the implication that their show is for children.

It could have gone on forever, but the way it ended could not have been any more perfect. For me, JLU was an extension of my love of Batman: The Animated Series and of Batman Beyond. Bruce Timm is flaw free in my eyes. To have the most epic animated series in the history of DC end in a way that brought my childhood full circle? I cried. Cried a bunch and, when I rehydrated, cried some more. To see Bruce and Terry connected like that and all because of The Wall? Phenomenal doesn’t even begin to describe it.

Ugh. The Wall. She is so kickass!

(I’m being deliberately vague because I do not want to spoil those of you who have not watched this series and will obviously want to after reading my blurb about it…uh. Right.)

Also, I dare you to find a more terrifying villain than Joker in JLU. Freaking nuts doesn’t say enough.

So, as much as I would welcome (read: jump up and down screaming like a banshee) more JLU, it had the best send-off I could ever imagine a beloved show getting.

So what about you? What canceled television series do you miss most?

Skipping to Conclusions: “Doctor Who” 50th Anniversary Special

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In geekdom, we see a lot of teasers. Sometimes it’s just an image or the name of a creator, other times it’s a trailer or a simple tag line. Whatever it is, it’s meant to get a reaction from you and start a discussion. Inspired by the anticipation and buzz caused by these teasers, we at Fantastic Fangirls present Skipping to Conclusions in which we speculate about the comics, movies, TV shows, or whatever we’re excited about but hasn’t come out yet.

by Jessica

Recently there has been a lot of buzz about the upcoming 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. Personally, I’ve become a very conflicted Who viewer ever since Steven Moffat took over–I still watch every episode, but by the end of most of them I’m usually filled with a sense of at least disappointment, if not fuming anger. But here is not the place to discuss my qualms with Mr. Moffat! Rather, I thought it was important to give you an idea of where I’m coming from as I break down my expectations for the anniversary festivities beginning this Fall.

We’ll start with the big news: all surviving doctors to return for the special (hopefully). Even a curmudgeon like me can’t deny that this would be utterly amazing. One fun part of the Whovian community is the bickering over which Doctor is best. Everyone has a favorite, and I’d be excited to see how the fandom reacts to their Doctor being a part of an ensemble. I’m also looking forward to getting a glimpse of what Doctor Who was like before the 2005 relaunch. My exposure to early episodes has been limited, and I think a great starting off point for me and other fans who are looking to check out Who’s first forty years is to see which older Doctor strikes a chord with us. I’ll admit that I am most excited to salivate over David Tennant reprising his role as the 10th Doctor. That fix alone might be enough to get me through any amount of shenanigans Moffat might get up to.

Still, there are a couple of downsides to this news: one, that there is a possibility that the BBC might not be able to get all the actors to return (boooo) and two, that the new writers of the show won’t be able to capture the cadence of the former Doctors they haven’t written before. I sincerely hope that neither of these things occurs. As much as I want to strangle Moffat sometimes for some of the changes he’s made to Who, the man has always had style and grand vision. If he’s going to show it off anywhere, it’s going to be in this special, and it’s going to be awesome, especially if all former (living) Doctors are involved. The last time there were so many doctors on screen together was in 1983 for the twentieth anniversary special, so if you ask me, it’s about time for a reunion.

Now, on to the other speculations, rumors and otherwise!

The Special will be in 3D

Hmmm…this is an interesting one. I suppose as is the case with anything else that’s in 3D, I’m fine with it if it works. Of course, as is also the case with anything else in 3D, it almost always doesn’t. It won’t affect me too much since I have no capability to watch a television program in 3D, but it is notable that they have decided to tackle the challenge of filming a 3D episode. It seems to indicate a “go big or go home” attitude for the anniversary that I’m totally fine with.

The Special *might* be Live

The only place I’ve seen this around the internet are in some quotes from Matt Smith who, given, seems like a pretty credible source. I really have no comment on this, or much of a conception of what it would be like. I just thought you all should know! ;)

Matt Smith will regenerate into the 12th Doctor

It would seem timely, would it not? Nevertheless, I think I would be rather disappointed to see him go at this point. I feel like Matt Smith hasn’t had much time to stretch his legs without the Ponds, and if he leaves so soon after their exit, I don’t think I’ll be satisfied that I ever really got to know him at all. I hope this one’s just a rumor.

There are other things planned for the anniversary besides the special

In a recent interview, Moffat has said: “Doctor Who–the 50th–is approaching us with various different things–a lot of different things going on. Don’t believe the nonsense about one sixty-minute film, that’s complete nonsense.” WHAT DOES IT MEAN?!?! More geeking out for sure, but besides that, it seems rather up in the air. Is Moffat referencing things we already know about–like the biopic about the early days of Doctor Who or the new series of tie-in short stories written by prominent authors? Or is it something new? Some have speculated that it might be a series of webisodes bridging the gap between the end of season 7 and the special. I think it’s unlikely that we’ll get extra actual episodes, so I’ll be interested to find out what Moffat is actually talking about here. You can watch the interview, in which the show-runner discusses all manner of things Who, for yourself here, and make up your own mind.

Russel T. Davies (maybe) to pen some Season 8 episodes

Okay, so this isn’t directly related to the anniversary special, but horah! This news comes from the same interview in which Moffat gives his cryptic hint about what will happen with the 50th anniversary special. He says that he would like to have Davies back, but makes no comment as to whether or not Davies has actually been approached. I really want this one to end up being true.

All in all, I’m generally very excited about the direction the 50th Anniversary seems to be taking. In fact, I’m way more excited about the Special than I am about Who’s return at the end of March. Let’s hope it lives up to expectations.

“Warm Bodies” : A Zombie Movie With a Heart

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by Jessica

I am not a fan of zombies. I could never get into them—they’re gross and scary and have no redeeming qualities, as far as I’m concerned. So it was a little surprising for me when, after seeing the trailer for Warm Bodies, I immediately though, “That looks like a film I would like to see.” Probably a lot of that had to do with the fact that Nicholas Hoult, who I’ve loved since I saw him over a decade ago in About a Boy, plays the lead character R. It also looked funny, and so I defied my natural inclination to cringe at all things zombie related and go see the film when it was released earlier this month.

a promotional shot of the film Warm Bodies: Julie clutching her zombie love, R

In case you don’t know already, the plot of Warm Bodies is simple: zombie-boy R falls in love with human girl Julie after eating her boyfriend’s brain. He saves/kidnaps her, and during the time they spend together he finds himself changing, becoming more and more human as his love for her grows. They’ve found a cure for the zombie apocalypse! But how to convince Julie’s father, the head of the human resistance, that the cure really works? Shenanigans ensue!

You may have noticed that the names of the two title characters are a thinly-veiled Romeo and Juliet reference, but never fear—with the exception of one balcony scene, that’s pretty much where the resemblances end.

A big victory for this movie is the likability of it’s main character, R. It’s hard to get an audience to root for someone who looks dead and eats brains on screen more than once. I can only assume that most of the credit for R’s winning disposition is due to author Isaac Marion, who wrote the novel the film is based on, but Hoult’s commitment to the role doesn’t hurt either—he seriously deserves some props for how long he had to act dead for. I had assumed that his return to humanity would progress at a rather rapid rate, because, gross, dead person. But Warm Bodies shows a lot of integrity in this department, and R’s change from undead to living is very gradual. I can’t even imagine what it must have been like to have to keep your face so expressionless and shoulders so hunched. R only becomes really, truly alive-looking in the final scene of the film, and by then you’ve been waiting for it for so long that his rosy cheeks and tousled hair are even more adorable than they would be under normal circumstances (and that’s pretty adorable).

And R’s appearance isn’t his only charm. His internal dialogue as he faces the ups and downs…mostly downs…of life as a zombie is utterly charismatic, and often not too far off the mark from those many of us narrate ourselves: he feels he is different from those around him, he wants more from his life but he doesn’t know what to do about it, he likes a girl but is certain she will never return his feelings. In fact, my boyfriend loved this movie. He identified completely with R—“He epitomizes the plight of the socially awkward guy looking for love. I can get behind any movie that’s going to glorify that.” In addition, R is delightfully quirky. He likes records and collecting old things. You root for him, and that’s an important reason why this film works.

The film’s leading lady Julie, played by Teresa Palmer, also deserves praise. Although her performance wasn’t revolutionary, it was totally believable, which for a female character is saying something, in both the rom-com and horror industries. It’s always fun to see a bad-ass girl on the big screen, and Julie could shoot a semi-automatic and take down the undead with the best of them. She’s not complacent after finding herself stuck with a weird dead guy in a zombie-filled airport—she tries to escape multiple times, even though she inevitably gets trapped in some corner by people who want to eat her brains. At the same time, she hasn’t got a cliche tough-girl-I’ve been-hurt-before attitude. Julie has weathered horrific tragedies, but she still dreams of the day when life can return to normal, and is willing to put her trust in someone that for years she has been relentlessly assured is the enemy. She is nice, sweet, fun, strong, and pretty—it is not a stretch of the imagination to see why R likes her.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this film. I’m a sucker for romantic comedies, and this falls firmly into that category, even if it does involve zombies. Further, it’s a very good romantic comedy. I’d put it right next to Sweet Home Alabama on my DVD shelf. Warm Bodies has it all: action, romance, a killer soundtrack—with tunes by Bon Iver and Bob Dylan, among others–and a couple of truly sweet scenes (I loved the moment when R and Julie drive around an abandoned red convertible). Plus the stakes are higher—a more decomposed form of undead called Bonies are trying to kill R and Julie to prevent knowledge of the cure from spreading, not to mention that Julie’s dad isn’t too hot on his daughter dating a dead guy. Warm Bodies manages to be engaging and cute without becoming too saccharine. Plus, there was only a teensy bit of brain eating. It’s a win all around.

Q&A #189: What is a favorite sci-fi film?

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In Q & A, a weekly feature of Fantastic Fangirls, we ask our staff to tackle a simple question — then open the floor to comments.

What is a favorite sci-fi film?

GABBY

I’m not a movie person; I’m a TV person. If I do watch movies, they are most likely fantasy films or independent dramas/rom coms. However, I watched Super 8 a couple of months ago.

the movie poster of Super 8

Let’s back track. One of my biggest movie disappointment happened when, at 13 years of age, I went to see Dreamcatcher in the theaters. I remember feeling so cheated that I wandered into a sci fi film without knowing it (hey, I had little to no idea who Stephen King was; I still thought Our Lady Peace was a band I had “discovered”). Ever since, I have been wary of monster-like alien films posing as supernatural thrillers (like The Cave, for instance). This is all to say that I had no idea I was wandering into the exact same trap with Super 8:

a still from the film Super 8

And you know what? I LOVED this movie. From the kids, to the adults, to the big honking alien, everything about this film breathes of the little details that make us human. I was so surprised when, at the end of the movie, I felt water on my cheeks. The actors portraying those kids? Do they ever know how to do their jobs!

a still from the film Super 8

Also, I didn’t really care at the time because I hadn’t watched Friday Night Lights yet, but squee! Kyle Chandler!

(PS: To borrow Sam’s line: Watch. Friday. Night. Lights.)

JESSICA

If we’re being honest, I probably don’t necessarily have just one “favorite” Sci-Fi film…there are so many good ones! As a cop-out I will go with my most recent favorite is the 2009 incarnation of Star Trek. I watched The Next Generation with my parents in the nineties, and was mostly interested in the new movie out of nostalgia. When I saw it I was totally blown away. That film is pure awesome, plus Spock is terribly good looking (cue Nerfherder song). It brought all of the sci-fi elements that were interesting about the original Star Trek and combined them with 21st-century special effects. Beautiful.

Plus it kicked off a two-week period where I watched every single episode of the original series. Best TV binge ever.

MARIE

One of my absolute favorites is Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. It’s a silent era piece that tends to get a lot of attention from film buffs, but on it’s own I think it’s one of the few movies out there that deserves the compliment of being “ahead of its time.” Taking place in a futuristic dystopian society with broad-sweeping themes on class and human nature, this one will always be a winner for me.

the poster for Metropolis

If I’m in the mood for something fun and light-hearted, however, my go-to movie is Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element. Mostly because Milla Jovovich and Gary Oldman are awesome.

the poster for The Fifth Element

SAM

Well, scifi is my favorite genre of everything ever. And Tron is my favorite film of all time, so I guess it’s also my favorite scifi film of all time too, right? Right!

I have a huge list of scifi movies I love, from The Fifth Element to Blade Runner to The Matrix to eXistenZ to Moon to Star Wars to 2001: A Space Odyssey to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (one of my favorite subgenres is the “soft” scifi that relies on only a teeny scifi element, like a machine that can erase memories, but is otherwise a “standard” story). I love post apocalyptic fiction, which generally has some scifi aspect to it. I love outer space stories (I started watching Star Trek in the womb). I love the idea of evolving technology and the questions it poses to our inherent humanity. So yeah, scifi is my favorite genre.

But anyway, Tron. It’s hard for me to introduce people to Tron. It’s a long movie, and it’s really foreign to the sensibilities of the modern movie goer. It came out in 1982, it pioneered a lot of CGI, and it influenced (eventually) the creation of Pixar. It was so revolutionary that it wasn’t allowed to be nominated for an Oscar for special effects because computers were considered “cheating”.

It’s a movie about a guy (Jeff Bridges!) who’s really good at video games – making them and playing them – who gets sucked into the digital world of the computer at his old office. To get out he has to defeat the big scary Master Control Program. Generally by playing video games. There’s CGI, rotoscoping, cool chases (lightcycles!), a teeny bit of romance, Bruce Boxleitner, original songs by Journey, and an amazing original score by Wendy Carlos.

an image of the film Tron

If all you know about Tron is Tron: Legacy, the sort-of-sequel (IMO it’s more like what Abrams’ Star Trek was, a quasi-reboot with links to the original), or the pretty-decent cartoon Tron: Uprising, give the original a chance. Especially if you already like the world of the newer stories. Tron is a classic, and you can see how it influenced the last thirty years of science fiction.

And if you ever find yourself in an old school arcade, try out the tie-in arcade game.

So what about you? What is a favorite sci-fi film?

Review: “The Blinding Knife” by Brent Weeks

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The Blinding Knife, by Brent Weeks

by Jessica

If you haven’t read anything by Brent Weeks before, I suggest you stop reading this article and head out to your local library or bookstore and pick up his work. Weeks is part of a new echelon of fantasy writers that have burst onto the scene in the past few years, along with Patrick Rothfuss, Peter V. Brett, Brandon Sanderson, who are taking the genre of epic fantasy to a whole other dimension. Assassins, intrigue, romance—what’s not to love?

However, as much as I could gush about revitalizing the tropes of fantasy trilogies, I am here to talk about Weeks’ latest book, The Blinding Knife. Beware of spoilers from here on out!

the cover of the book The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks

The Blinding Knife is the much-anticipated sequel to The Black Prism and the second book in the Lightbringer series. The world of Lightbringer is one in which magic is inextricably linked to color—those who can work magic are those who are able to draft certain colors of light. Most drafters can only use one color, but some are born with the ability to draft two or three. One man, the Prism, is able to draft the entire spectrum. As such, he wields extreme power, responsible both for keeping the colors in balance and serving as a figurehead for the national religion, also based on the intricacies of color-magic.

Weeks drops you into a world rich with tension and political intrigue. Gavin Guile is the current Prism, having emerged victorious fifteen years ago from the False Prism’s War, which he waged against his own brother. Like most powerful leaders, Gavin keeps a secret—he is in fact not Gavin at all, but Dazen Guile, who has lived for over a decade disguised as his older brother. This alone seems fodder for some good reading based on Dazen-as-Gavin’s daily interactions—like with Karris, the woman he once loved (still does, as a matter of fact…) who later became engaged to Gavin and who thinks that Gavin jilted her after the war when really it was Dazen who didn’t want to have her love through false pretenses but only if she loved him for himself and of course he can’t tell her who he really is because then he would have to kill her and now she serves as one of his own elite bodyguards, and they deal with each other on a day-to-day basis and the sexual tension is maddening, and—

Whew. See what I mean?

The Black Prism begins when the Prism must go investigate reports of his (really Gavin’s) bastard son, Kip, in the land of Tyrea. By the end of the first book, the Prism has failed to defeat the king in Tyrea, ensuring that the war will spread to the rest of the Seven Satrapies. There is also an assassination attempt made upon his life with a very special kind of knife. Weeks’ employment of multiple perspectives throughout the narrative makes it clear to the reader that the gash the Prism receives from this knife has cost him the use of one of his colors, blue, but Dazen/Gavin takes the loss of blue to mean that he is dying.

That’s where The Blinding Knife opens. As the title hints, poor Prism Guile is due for further encounters with the blade that steals his magic before the 625-page installment has concluded. In the meantime, he goes about being dashing and heroic as always, though bending under the pressure of keeping his true identity and the loss of blue a secret. It seems he is constantly on the move, one chapter setting up a colony for the refugees he saved from Tyrea, then leading a political council, trying to convince everyone that there is, in fact, a war, and trying to defeat the Blue Wight, a type of monster-god that is forming in the middle of the ocean now that the Prism is no longer able to keep the color blue in Balance.

His compatriots from The Black Prism are equally busy. Karris, still serving as one of the Prism’s Blackguards, keeps Gavin company on his various mission, alternately saving his ass, thinking he’s a dick, and noticing that there is something familiar about the way he smiles (*cough* foreshadowing). Meanwhile, Kip is attempting to earn a spot in the next Blackguard training class, which taxes him physically and mentally. At the same time, he must deal with Andross Guile, Gavin’s father, who is less than pleased about the presence of a bastard besmirching his family line.

Liv Danavis, one-time ally of Kip and the Prism, has gone over to the dark side, serving in the army of The Color Prince. Liv’s story becomes a contemplation of ethics, tradition, and establishment, and a meditation on what can happen when people feel that the institutions they have put their faith in have failed them. Certainly Weeks intends for the reader to condemn her decisions—at one point Liv stands complacently by while women are hurled by catapult over the walls of the city—but she isn’t entirely unsympathetic either.

Oh, and the Prism’s brother Gavin is still wallowing in the prison his brother built for him.

The narrative is full of delightful twists, turns, and flights of fancy (a magical deck of cards that records moments in history is one of my favorites). After several years of reading fantasy, there are certain ways you expect things to go, and The Blinding Knife turns nearly all of them on their head.

I also appreciate that The Blinding Knife, besides just being a captivating story, is progressive in its depictions of women. Growing up reading the genre, I’ve had to sort of get used to the fact that women often take a backseat in fantasy novels, usually as pretty and scantily clad vehicles for emotional depth for the male characters if they are there at all. That’s not to say that there has been no progress at all—once women who read fantasy books when they were young grew up and started writing fantasy, the world gained many admirable heroines.

Still, even in these stories, the woman protagonist is usually the exception. She is exceptionally strong, gifted, or smart, indicating that the other women around her are not. I think this kind of world where women are the “exception” is in many ways a reflection of women writer’s own experiences. Fantasy and science fiction has long been a boy’s game, and consequently, the realm of epic fantasy writers has long been dominated by men. Women writers of epic fantasy are living in an exceptional world themselves.

However. Exceptional or not, I applaud everyone who has worked to create more heroic and realistic portrayals of women in their fantasy narratives. And Weeks does a particularly great job of it.

His women are everywhere, permeating every tier of the Lightbringer world. It’s like, I don’t know, real life. I’ve already mentioned Karris several times, so I’ll start with her. It’s true that she fulfills a traditional role as the unreachable love for the male protagonist, but I appreciate how much depth she’s got. For one thing, she’s not pining away in a tower somewhere, but instead is a member of the most elite fighting force in the world. She doesn’t simper or pander, but she can be kind and have true emotional depth as well. Karris can kill a man and cry about her brother being murdered fifteen years ago all in the same chapter. She’s awesome because she is a complete person who has motivations and passions that exist outside of the Prism’s desire for her.

But neither are women in Weeks’ world put on some pedestal of toughness and morality. Liv is certainly just as much of her own person as Karris is, but instead of using her strength for good we see her manipulated into fighting for the dark side. One of the most despicable characters in the novel is also a woman: Lady Aglaia Crassos, who violently whips her slaves because she gains sexual pleasure from watching them suffer. She is unbelievably cruel, but even Aglaia is a complete person rather than just a cardboard cutout of a wicked woman. There are others—including the White, who heads the government—but my favorite female character new to this installment is Teia, a girl who trains in the Blackguard class with Kip. She is smart, capable, brave, and there is no way that Kip could have made it through the training without her help. I really look forward to seeing what happens to her as the story moves ahead in the next two installments. Of course, Weeks’ world isn’t the perfect, but it seems like a very good start. A world where women are treated fairly and have equal opportunities—now that’s a delightful fantasy indeed. Too bad we’ll probably have to wait two more years for the sequel.

“Battlestar Galactica” Returns in Internet Prequel Series

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by Jessica

Three years after the end of Battlestar Galactica and two years after the ill-fated run of Caprica, fans can finally get their Cylon fix again with the new prequel series Blood and Chrome. The series consists of 10 webisodes and is being distributed on the web in conjunction with Machinima.com. The 10 installments will air as a film on the SyFy Channel in February of 2013. Beware—spoilers ahead! I’m not going to reveal too many plot points, but if you are planning on watching the series and want to know absolutely nothing, stop reading now!

Blood and Chrome follows the young William Adama after he is first assigned to serve as a pilot on the Galactica. Unsurprisingly, he’s a hot-shot rookie with a thirst to prove himself. Also unsurprisingly, he’s paired with a cantankerous older co-pilot who’s constantly berating Adama’s foolhardy nature and fierce belief in the righteousness of the Cylon War. The six episodes that have been released so far are also full of all of my favorite BSG traits: space fighting, mandatory hot, smart, bad-ass girl who is ethically ambiguous, death-defying flight stunts, surprise plot twists, and more space fighting.

I’m the type of person who gets very attached to characters in shows I watch, so I’m a big fan of getting to see things like Adama’s early years. Prequels are pure candy for me to watch—they don’t effect the outcome of the characters you know and love (there’s no risk—unlike in sequels, where one wrong turn can mar your view of a character forever), but you still get to have more of the fictional worlds and characters you love (since I don’t have enough TV eating up my free time already).

Thus, I’m enjoying B&C a lot, because much of the work of establishing the world and attachment to characters has already been accomplished in BSG. If I actually think about it, not that much has been done to create a real characterization of any of the figures on the show—just quick sketches of personality and hints of intriguing backgrounds—but this is a limitation of having such a short space to work with (the six-episodes out now still come in at under an hour of viewing time). Still, even somewhat weak characterization doesn’t take away from the show, I think because B&C does an excellent job of conveying a sense that even if the viewer doesn’t totally understand each character’s motives, the motives are definitely there, just outside the scope of what is actually being shown.

I was also surprised to find B&C managed to tug on my heartstrings in such a short amount of time. A major theme running through each episode is that of sacrifice and loss—what must be given up by individuals fighting in the war, whether it’s their lives, their families, or even just their happiness. There are moments woven throughout that manage to be very moving just on their own, and I found myself feeling furthered saddened because I knew the future held reams more terrible things for humans to go through in terms of Cylon interaction.

I’ll admit that I have yet to get around to watching Caprica, so I can’t speak to how B&C compares to it, but the mini-series seems right in line with the BSG I know and love. It immediately put me back into that world again, and I had no trouble engaging with the plot and new characters. Further, even though the show is airing on the web, production values are generally very high, and watching it on my laptop wasn’t significantly different from watching an episode of BSG, although the difference might be more noticeable on a higher definition screen. It’s a great way to re-immerse yourself in the world if you’re a fan—I got a little chill when Adama looked out the window and saw the Galactica hull for the first time—but is also totally accessible to newcomers (As my BSG-n00b boyfriend said: “I’d probably watch the rest of that.”).

What did you think, dear readers? Is Blood and Chrome a hit or miss? Do you wish there were more episodes? Let your dulcet tones be heard in the comments below!

Q&A #182: What is a television series you are currently enjoying?

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In Q & A, a weekly feature of Fantastic Fangirls, we ask our staff to tackle a simple question — then open the floor to comments.

Recurring Q&A: What is a television series you are currently enjoying?

GABBY

This is like asking me to choose a child, honestly.

Weirdly enough, the two shows I’m most enjoying right now could probably be picked out of my mom’s queue. They are Parenthood and Grey’s Anatomy, but I’ll mostly talk about the latter. For my thoughts on the former, here are some reviews I’m writing for Heroine TV.

I really don’t know what it is about Grey’s that is so compelling to me. That is the show I most look forward to every week. It’s not conscious; I just know that when I sit down and start an episode, and that Seattle skyline sweeps on my screen, I’m blissfully happy. Maybe it’s because they have always found a way to make things fresh with big, exciting dramas, the latest of which is a plane crash which killed two beloved characters. Maybe it’s because I’m really invested in the characters, since I’ve been watching this show for what seems like forever. What I do know, is that the writers are doing a phenomenal job this season, dealing with the aftermath of the plane crash. And that Mr. Feeny was on the show, so. Really, what’s there not to love.

JESSICA

I’ve gotten really into Nashville. I’m originally from Tennessee, so I figured I would put it on to show some state pride, and I was not expecting it to be as good as it was. I was completely taken in by the characters. By the end of the first episode I was already more invested in their lives than I ought to be. Some of the music is also really good, and the songs fit surprisingly well into the storyline far better than shows with a similar premise (like Smash or Glee). It doesn’t hurt that the two main leads are women, and strong ones too! I’m really excited to see where all of this goes.

MARIE

I just finished up watching the re-imagined series of Battlestar Galactica. Despite friends and co-workers telling me to brace myself for a vastly disappointing ending, I actually felt completely and utterly satisfied. Yes, the show wasn’t perfect. It obviously had its fair share of flaws. But regardless, I found it beautiful for what it was and believe that it set the bar high for everything that would come after in its genre. It actually hurt to say goodbye to the crew I grew to love over four seasons. Human or Cylon, each of them will always have a place in my heart.

a promotional image of the Battlestar Galactica cast enacting the Last Supper

So say we all.

SAM

I am one hundred and fifty percent on board with Gabby’s love of Grey’s Anatomy. Man I love that show. I marathoned the first seven and a half seasons last winter, and I’ve never looked back. And this season has been the best in years. Who knew season 9 of a show could be so damn good?

But my official answer is Chicago Fire. Anyone who follows me on tumblr (and also twitter, to a slightly lesser extent) knows my love for this show. It’s stupid drama, but it’s also compelling. Though I’m not really attached to the lead men (I like Severide, but his current drama is boring, and I have never been a fan of Jesse Spencer or his “acting”), the supporting crew is more than enough to make up for those guys’ predictable, not-terribly-engaging plotlines.

a promotional image of firefighters from the television show Chicago Fire

Some of the ensemble, because they should get more love.

So even though I tuned in for the lesbian (and there is one, Shay, and she is awesome), I find myself really attached to the other supporting characters. That’s a good thing, since Shay doesn’t get a ton of screen time at the moment. Ensemble shows live or die on the strength of their ensembles, and Chicago Fire has a pretty fantastic one. Combine that with some really good fire scenes (unrealistic, but great to watch), and a whole cast full of pretty people, and you have my favorite new show of 2012, and the show I currently talk about the most.

Also Sarah Shahi is going to start a recurring role soon. If that isn’t a reason to give the show a shot, I don’t know what is.

SARA

So, I completely blame my little sister, Lana, and my friend Mikayla for this, but my current obsession in terms of television shows right now is Teen Wolf.

a promotional image from the television show Teen Woolf

No, seriously. It’s amazing. It’s a phenomenal show with incredible characters, beautiful story arcs, and interesting mythology.

Three things that make Teen Wolf one of the best shows on TV in my opinion:

One: The relationships between the characters are real, poignant, and so, so, so uplifting.

a screencap from the television series Teen Wolf

Two: The humor is of the laugh out loud inducing variety. Smart, witty banter is the backbone of this show, brought on by Stiles’ one liners and Scooby-Doo-like flailing.

Three: The women are strong, dangerous, powerful, and beautiful. Whether they are evil to the core, Fields-Medal-winning sort of brilliant, or Gryffindor brave, you’re hard pressed to not find a female character to root for/identify with/lust after.

a photo collage of the female characters in Teen Wolf

Watch it! Both seasons are now on Netflix!

So what about you? Recurring Q&A: What is a television series you are currently enjoying?

Total Sell-Out?: The Hobbit/Denny’s Tie-In

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by Jessica

Almost ten years after the release of The Return of the King, Tolkien fans will finally be able to celebrate the release of The Hobbit in less than three weeks. Well, Part One of it, anyway. Director/Producer Peter Jackson’s decision to split the Lord of the Rings prequel first into two and then three films has caused much controversy among fans. An understandable concern is that Jackson is just selling out for a huge payoff—how could there possibly be enough material for three films from just one 320-page book? Personally, I’m withholding judgment until I actually see the movies. Although Warner Brothers undoubtedly had the billions of dollars the LOTR trilogy grossed in mind when they green-lit the third film, I really want to trust Peter Jackson, and I really want to believe that these three films are going to be incredible.

Alas, the splitting of the films is not the only thing that has fans running scared. In anticipation of the release of the first Hobbit film, An Unexpected Journey, there has been a string of seemingly questionable promotion deals, including the entire country of New Zealand and Microsoft. A lot of people are worried about some of these deals are compromising the integrity of Tolkien’s work, and I’m sure that the man himself would agree—I don’t even want to think about what his opinion would be of all this. Still, part of me is going, “THIS IS AWESOME.” And so in an attempt to resolve my mixed feelings about the marketing strategy for The Hobbit, I investigated another puzzling promotional partnership: a Denny’s Hobbit tie-in.

a photo of Jessica in front of Denny's Hobbit promotion sign

This promotion is designed for people like me: they have a colorful menu with graphics from the movie and dishes with names like “Bilbo’s Berry Smoothie” and “Shire Sausage Skillet” AND you get trading cards with your entrée. The concept is both painfully cheesy and devilishy clever—if I’m in the mood for quasi-diner food, I would probably choose the Waffle House over Denny’s if they didn’t have Hobbit-themed food. I went with a friend and we ordered “The Ring Burger” and “Gandalf’s Gobble Melt,” respectively. And the food was pretty much what you would expect from a Denny’s—greasy and mediocre.

a photograph of a turkey sandwich

Gandalf’s Gobble Melt:”Only a Wizard could dream up a sandwich this good.”

a photograph of a hamburger and onion rings

The Ring Burger: “Dwarves and Hobbits, dig in!”

a photograph of three packets of Hobbit trading cards

Will I ever get all 12 limited edition cards?!

Nevertheless, I still find myself greatly in favor of the whole Denny’s debacle, just because it’s so much fun. It’s fun because I love Tolkien and I get a kick out of seeing this menu printed up, it’s fun because I get to try and collect a set of trading cards, it’s fun because most of the diners neither know or care what a “Radagast” is, it’s fun because the manager clearly wishes he didn’t have people asking about trading cards as they pay their check, and it’s fun because you can sit with your friends and bask in the ridiculousness of it all. In my opinion, Warner Brothers definitely loses a lot of street-cred for allowing this deal to go through, but fans still come out winners. I mean, if you’re going to be going out for mid-grade restaurant food anyway, why not make the trip just a little more magical?

a photograph of Denny's Hobbit Tie-in Menu

You better believe I burgled this menu.