Snapshot Chronicles

Tricia Helfer as Six on Battlestar Galactica

—

Speed Racer. AS previously mentioned, I took my son and three of his friends to see Speed Racer at Jordan Furniture’s IMAX Theater on Saturday. The film wasn’t as bad as I expected from the reviews, but still, I wanted to like it more than I did. The story itself isn’t bad, as long as you understand going in that you are essentially watching a comic strip, just with living actors instead of pixels. The biggest problem — the film is just too damn long. Clocking in at well over two hours, they could have easily cut 30 minutes and had a better film with more appeal.

Initial reports have it falling far below initial box office estimates, with Iron Man in its second week beating it at the box office by far.

Which doesn’t surprise me in the least. I took Douglas to Iron Man, which is about as long, last weekend and he was captivated throughout. As were my brother, mother and I. At Speed Racer though, about 30-40 minutes before the film ended, he started pestering me with “how many more minutes?” When an eight-year old kid can’t wait for a film aimed at eight-year old kids to end, you know there’s a problem.

Bottom line: See Iron Man in the theater, save Speed Racer for DVD. It’ll be there soon enough.

—

Friday’s episode of Battlestar Galactica, Faith. One of the better episodes this year to-date. Still not enough Adama and zero Lee, but the two main stories, one featuring Roslin dealing with her cancer and the other Kara and her crew dealing with the Cylons, were far more gripping than the previous two eps, which felt more like story exposition than action.

As the title suggests, the episode dealt with Faith. In one arc, Roslin comes face to face with a terminally ill patient whose faith has been restored by Baltar’s preachings. How will Roslin reconcile this with her feelings about Baltar? The other arc was devoted to the prickly rapprochement of Kara’s crew and the rebel Cylons.

It was refreshing to see Starbuck, Helo and Athena acting as a team again, for whatever reason, but the best part of the episode, and one of the highlights of the season to date, is Tricia Helfer. She absolutely rocks, the way she can imbue each and every Six with a different personality. Certainly, the hairstyle and wardrobe changes help, a device not offered as extensively to the other Cylons, but it goes beyond that. She has developed into a superb actress who can hold her own with some of the best on this show, and I look forward to watching her every week. Especially when she portrays the Six leading the Cylon rebels.

Bottom line: A-. Full episode streaming on SciFi.com.

—

I’m sorry, friends, but as far as I am concerned, it isn’t Doctor Who. It’s Doctor Who Cares? I watched Friday while waiting for Battlestar, and the best part of the episode was the intimation that this version of the Doctor wasn’t long for this, or any other, world. Beccause literally that’s all I can remember about the episode two days later, and I have a pretty good memory. I am sure David Tennant is a wonderful actor, but he’s not my idea of Doctor Who. I adored Tom Baker in the 80s, and thought Christopher Eccleston was brilliant as Doctor Number 9. I still get goosebumps thinking of the episode The Doctor Dances. While I don’t want to rush him through his remaining incarnations, I long for a Doctor I can love. Especially since the future of Torchwood seems a bit unclear.

[tags] Speed Racer, Iron Man, Battlestar Galactica, Tricia Helfer, Doctor Who, science fiction [/tags]