Tuesday, July 22, 2008

I love The Middleman. Unfortunately, so far it's one of those cult television shows that gets great reviews from critics and has a small but enthusiastic fan base rather than a ratings success. Creator/showrunner Javier Grillo-Marxuach and the ABC Family network have mutually agreed to limit the first season to twelve episodes and then see what the future holds. The network is very supportive of Grillo-Marxuach's vision, but it needs to see that there's a large enough audience to justify a second season.

Labels:

Monday, July 21, 2008

Caprica Trailer

Here's the promotional trailer for Caprica, the upcoming Battlestar Galactica prequel telefilm (it starts with a brief promo for the Stargate: Continuum direct-to-DVD film, so just keep watching).

Labels: ,

As a follow-up to yesterday's post about how some feminists have criticized Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, here's Joss Whedon's response from an online Q&A session:

But, yeah, Penny is not the feminist icon of our age. And yes, she does exist in the narrative as part of Doc's fate -- but everyone in the story is there to move the story. Is she less real than Hammer? (Is ANYTHING?) We gave her a cause so she wouldn't JUST be the Pretty Girl but the fact is, neither Doc nor Hammer gives her the attention she deserves -- Doc's crush comes before he has the slightest idea what she cares about. Which is not uncommon. It reminds me of "Sweeney Todd," the Judge and Sweeney singing "Pretty Women" -- a beautiful duet with no insight whatsoever. Just images.

Labels: ,

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Wow. Joss Whedon seems to have angered some feminists with Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog because of how they perceive the treatment of Penny within the story. As a feminist, I think that Dr. Horrible is a satire of the superhero/supervillain conflict as male power fantasy, and the characters are largely stock figures who exist to further that concept. Viewed within that context, the characterization of Penny makes sense. Of course, I've been reading superhero comics for three decades, so what might seem obvious to me might seem less obvious, or be invisible, to other viewers.

Labels: ,