My Favorite Episodes of Lost - Season 4

Season 4 really picked things up.  Setting an end date was the best thing the producers could do because it increased the pace and gave the overall story arc a destination to work toward.  Unfortunately, this season was reduced in episode count because of the writers strike.  However, that may be a good thing for two reasons:  (1) We got extra hours in seasons 5 and 6 to compensate.  (2) Season 4 was ultimately a season about shuffling characters back and forth making us wonder the whole time how the Oceanic Six became the Oceanic Six.

Season 4 - Favorites

[4.05]  The Constant

[4.13]  There's No Place Like Home (Part 2)

[4.14]  There's No Place Like Home (Part 3)

Season 4 - Honorable Mentions

[4.03]  The Economist

[4.07]  Ji Yeon

[4.12]  There's No Place Like Home (Part 1)

"The Constant" is generally regarded as one of the best episodes of the series.  Instead of us seeing a flashback of Desmond's character, we actually follow his character as he bounces back & forth in time.  This serves as more proof that Desmond is special when it comes to properties of space, time, and consciousness.  And, it gives us one of the series' most emotional moments as Desmond reunites with his love Penny albeit over the phone.  Hearing Penny's voice helps ground Desmond such that he gets his memory back in the present and stops bouncing around in time.

The three-part / four-hour season finale is one of the most exciting story arcs of the whole series.  We see events that eventually lead to some of the characters getting off the island, though not in as easy a way as we might have expected.  I can't remember exactly why, but I count Part 1 as an honorable mention instead of a favorite probably because the action and intrigue was just ramping up at that point.

"The Economist" is definitely the best Sayid story.  In retrospect, it's a little depressing though.  When combined with what happens to Sayid in season six's sideways universe, it's pretty obvious that Sayid was perpetually screwed.  No matter how hard he tried to redeem himself, on the island, in 1977, off the island, or in the sidewaysverse, he was always meant to be a killer.  It reminds me of a line from the otherwise forgettable 1996 Michael Douglas film "The Ghost and the Darkness" in which his character, a famous hunter named Charles Remington, is hired to kill two lions reeking havoc on a railroad operation in Kenya.  Someone asks Remington if he enjoys killing and if not, why do it.  Remington responds, "Because I've got a gift."  It's the same with Sayid.  His gift, but also his curse, is his ability to torture and kill.

No surprise, but "Ji Yeon" is another honorable mention simply because it's a Sun-centric episode.  I love the part at the end when Hurley goes to visit Sun in Seoul.  She and Hurley take Ji Yeon to a grave that is reserved for Jin.  At that time, we still didn't know if Jin was really dead, on the island but pretending to be dead to the outside world, or assumed to be dead by the Oceanic 6 but actually alive.  Consequently, another tear-filled moment.

My Favorite Episodes of Lost - Season 3

Ahh, Season 3 of Lost.  Lost is one of my favorite shows, even at its worst it’s still better than most of the crap on TV, and the season ended pretty well.  But, let’s face it.  Season 3 was the worst season of Lost.  Or, I guess it’d be more appropriate to say it’s the “least good” season of Lost.

Season 3 started off with the lackluster six-episode mini-arc in which Jack, Kate, and Sawyer are stuck in love triangle hell while held captive by the Others.  Despite those six episodes not being that great, their saving grace is the introduction of the character of Juliet Burke, the sympathetic, blond Other (played by Elizabeth Mitchell) who became one of my favorite characters.  Also, the first few minutes of the season premiere episode are dedicated to her (one of the best character introductions ever) as well as the sight of the Oceanic plane breaking up in air from the viewpoint of the Others barracks, also introduced for the first time.

Season 3 also brought us “Stranger in a Strange Land,” the infamous Jack-centric episode dedicated to the origins of his tattoo in Thailand, generally considered to be one of the worst episodes of the series.  According to Lostpedia.com, that episode was the turning point in which the studio finally allowed the producers to set an end date for the series.

Season 3 - Favorite

[3.16]  One of Us

Season 3 - Honorable Mentions

[3.10]  Tricia Tanaka is Dead

[3.14]  Expose

[3.18]  D.O.C.

[3.21]  Greatest Hits

[3.22]  Through the Looking Glass (Part 1)

[3.23]  Through the Looking Glass (Part 2)

“One of Us” is my favorite episode of the season mostly because it focuses on Juliet.  I love how it shows her vulnerable side as we see her a normal doctor before her time on the island hardened her.  I think it’s a great image of Juliet climbing out of the hatch of the submarine and taking her first look at the island.  It’s such a polar opposite to her character’s fate in the season 5 finale.  When she comes to the island she climbs up out of a hole in the water (the submarine hatch), willingly, into the light (sunshine of the island).  In the season 5 finale, she falls into a hole in the earth (the 1977 Swan Station drill site), unwillingly, into darkness.  Her character goes full circle, and though this is the 2nd Juliet-centric episode of this season, the best part of her backstory begins here.

As if her character introduction in the season premiere weren’t already Emmy-worthy enough, Elizabeth Mitchell continues to deliver in the scene in which Ben shows Juliet on a TV monitor that her sister is now cancer free and has a son named Julian.  Juliet is overjoyed and grips the screen crying wishing she could hold her sister and nephew.  That’s heartbreaking enough, but when Ben radios to Mikhail to turn off the connection, and the monitor goes blank, Juliet begs for more time and for the opportunity to go home after being stuck on the island for three years.  Ben won’t let her until she finishes her work for which she adamantly claims she’s exhausted all possibilities.

“Tricia Tanaka is Dead” and “D.O.C.” are two of my honorable mentions simply because they focus on two of my other favorite characters, Hurley and Sun, respectively.  I also love the triumphant moment in “Tanaka” in which Hurley is able to get the old Dharma van running again.  And, “D.O.C.” also marks the beginning of the freighter storyline as Charlie, Desmond, Hurley, and Jin deal with the wounded Naomi Dorrit, the first member of the freighter crew to land on the island, which eventually leads to the Oceanic 6 getting off the island.

Most fans *hated* the way new characters Nikki and Paulo were written into the show in season 3.  They simply emerged out of the nameless, faceless extras littering the beach (as at that time, Oceanic 815 still had over three dozen survivors from the middle section of the plane) and started injecting themselves into the story, such as the mission to one of the underground Dharma stations.  Even the producers eventually admitted those characters were a mistake.  I didn’t mind them nearly as much as others did.  Regardless of how awkwardly Nikki and Paulo were introduced, “Expose” is one of my honorable mentions from the season because it was a brilliant way of writing them out of the show, sending them to a horrifying death deserving of such hated characters.

“Greatest Hits” and Parts 1 and 2 of “Through the Looking Glass” are all honorable mentions for basically forming one looong, exciting four-hour season finale (with part 2 of “Glass” being two hours).  They’re just short of being favorites because of a heavy centricity on Jack in the final three hours.  But, the Charlie-centric “Greatest Hits” was a great way of writing out an un-even, yet ultimately likable character who’s last sacrificial act served as a heroic warning that would drive much of the tension and mystery for the rest of seasons 3 and 4.

My Favorite Episodes of Lost - Season 2

While I really like Season 2 overall, because I like the Swan Station setting and the introductions of Desmond, Ben (a.k.a. Henry Gale), and The Others, not many episodes stand out as exceptional enough to be all-time favorites.

Season 2 - Favorite

[2.07]  The Other 48 Days

Season 2 - Honorable Mentions

[2.04]  Everybody Hates Hugo
[2.05]  ...And Found
[2.16]  The Whole Truth
[2.17]  Lockdown
[2.19]  S.O.S.

I like "The Other 48 Days" the best out of Season 2 because it shows us something completely different -- what happened to the people in the tail section.  We see that there were actually several survivors.  Some were abducted by The Others, including the kids.  We're introduced to whole new set of characters:  Ana Lucia, Libby, Mr. Eko, Rose's husband Bernard, and the flight attendant Cindy.  Considering that Ana Lucia, Libby, and Eko all get killed, Cindy joins the Others, and Bernard eventually "retires" with Rose, the tail section story doesn't really add much in the grand scheme of things, but it's an interesting diversion, especially considering how it's woven so intelligently into the main storyline with the Tailies finding Sawyer, Michael, and Jin after the raft explosion.

I like "Everybody Hates Hugo" because it focuses on one of my favorite characters, Hurley.  It begins with a dream sequence in which he's speaking Korean, and Jin, standing beside a guy in a chicken outfit, speaks perfect English.  Later, we see what happens when Hurley wins the lottery and how it affects his responsibility in rationing the Swan Station food stash.  Many of my favorite scenes in Lost are the "music montages" in which emotional music plays over a scene without dialogue.  They're occasionally done in slight slow motion and usually involve departures, reunions, mourning, celebration, etc.  The music montage in this episode is Hurley giving out *all* of the food to the entire group of survivors in one night, which brightens everyone's mood and basically turns a normal night on the island into a party.  It's one of Hurley's finest moments.

I like "...And Found" and "The Whole Truth" simply because they focus on Sun & Jin who are always interesting characters to learn more about, even when they're story doesn't seem that important in the grand scheme of things.  "Lockdown" is good because we get to see the map drawn in invisible ink on the Swan Station blast door and see some interesting interactions between Locke and Ben.  "S.O.S." is unique because it's the only Bernard & Rose -centric episode.

My Favorite Episodes of Lost - Season 1

After six seasons, the TV show Lost ends tomorrow night.  A lot of satisfaction in the series is riding on the climactic finale.  Even though unanswered questions & dangling plot threads are at this point a foregone conclusion, it’s still my hope that the final 2.5 hours will wrap up the mind-bending, time-twisting series in a way that surpasses expectations.  I simply don’t know how they can do it, but maybe Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse will pull off the seemingly impossible and deliver a finale packed full of drama, emotion, humor, clarification, cohesion, and closure.  (And, there better be a prominent guest appearance from Elizabeth Mitchell as the massively-missed Juliet.)

In preparation for Sunday’s finale event, as well as the replay of the pilot episode tonight, I thought I’d list out my favorite episodes from the series.  It’s too hard to rank them or to limit them to a top 10 list, so I’ll just go season by season...

Season 1

[1.01]  Pilot (Part 1)

[1.02]  Pilot (Part 2)

[1.04]  Walkabout

[1.05]  House of the Rising Sun

[1.06]  The Moth

[1.17]  ...In Translation

[1.18]  Numbers

[1.23]  Exodus (Part 1)

The two-part “Pilot” episode is more than just the pilot of a series; it’s virtually a movie.  I remember being pleasantly surprised at how action-packed it was.  I’m not sure I knew ahead of time that there’d be a sci-fi or fantasy element, so I was immediately intrigued by the unseen yet formidable-sounding monster in the jungle.  I didn’t know that character flashbacks would be a staple of the series’ early run, so Lost did a good job of concentrating on character development from the very beginning.

The other episodes are my favorites almost entirely because of one scene per episode...

• "Walkabout":  The shocking revelation that Locke was confined to a wheelchair before coming to the island, which apparently healed him and allowed him to walk again.
• “House of the Rising Sun”:  The Korean woman, Sun Kwon, revealing to Michael (and, consequently, the audience) that she knows how to speak English but hasn’t told her husband Jin.
• “The Moth”:  The redemption of drug-addicted Charlie where he chooses to throw the heroin in the fire and Locke says he’s proud of him.
• “...In Translation":  Sun unexpectedly revealing to the rest of the castaways, including her husband, that she could speak English.
• "Numbers":  Hurley being so desperate to have someone believe him that he confronts an armed & slightly insane Danielle Rousseau about the cursed numbers and then hugs her when she agrees that the numbers are cursed.

But, the single greatest scene of the season and still one of the greatest of the entire series, is not in the two-hour season finale, but in the season’s penultimate episode “Exodus (Part 1).”  In that episode, Michael’s well designed raft is ready to set sail so that he, Walt, Jin, and Sawyer can bring back help to the other survivors of Oceanic 815.

First, Sun gives Jin a list of English words spelled out phonetically to help him communicate on the raft.  Jin apologizes for all he’s done wrong, and they have a tearful goodbye.  As the awesome musical score starts up, the rest of the scene happens without words.  Charlie collects the last of the survivors’ notes for the messages in a bottle.  Claire kisses her baby.  Walt says goodbye to his dog Vincent.  Jin kisses the forehead of baby Aaron.  Michael & Sun, who have had a certain chemistry, have an awkward moment where they don’t know whether to shake hands or hug.  Jin & Charlie hug.  Walt gives Vincent to Shannon.  Charlie gives the bottle of messages to Sawyer.  Sawyer realizes that with Kate being in the group going to get dynamite from the Black Rock (revealed for the first time in this episode) there’s no one who likes him enough to hug him goodbye.  The survivors (still several dozen at this time) push the raft into the water and hoop & holler at it’s successful launching.  Vincent runs out into the water, and Walt has to tell him stay behind.  Sayid & Charlie have their arms around each other and holler when Sawyer raises the raft’s sail.  The camera focuses on Jin as he stares with love at his wife still on the beach, and she looks back at him.  And, the music becomes exceedingly bold & triumphant as we see the raft successfully sailing off into deeper water.

If there were a Top 10 list, maybe even Top 5 list, of best scenes of the series, that would *have* to be in there.

=====

So, that’s the best of Season 1.  This ended up being long enough, that I’ll do separate blog entries for each season...

Anticipated Movies of 2010

Here are lists of movies in 2010 that I'm certain, tempted, or iffy about seeing:

Must See

• *** Iron Man 2 *** (May 07)
• The A-Team (June 11)
• Toy Story 3 (June 18)
• Harry Potter and Deathly Hollows, Part 1 (November 19)
• Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader (December 10)
• Tron Legacy (December 17)

Curious / Tempted

• She's Out of My League (March 12)
• How to Train Your Dragon (March 26)
• Clash of the Titans (March 26)
• Kick-Ass (April 16)
• The Last Airbender (July 02)
• Inception (July 16)
• Red (October 22)

Iffy

• Hot Tub Time Machine (March 26)
• Date Night (April 09)
• The Losers (April 23)
• Robin Hood (May 14)
• The Karate Kid (June 11)
• The Sorcerer's Apprentice (July 16)
• Salt (July 23)

Hmm, so far, not a single movie in August or September and only one in October for which I've only read the cast list & a paragraph summary. Well, it's a little soon to know what's that far ahead anyway.

Pondering About Lost: Red, the Third Symbolic Color???

If you look up black & white at Lostpeida.wiki.com, there are a lot examples of the use of black & white. But, some examples introduce a third color... Red.

• There’s the joke Michael's nurse tells, “What’s white, black, and red all over?”
• There are three cars, one of each color, in Locke’s dad’s driveway.
• In a Desmond flashback, he & Eloise Hawking witness a man in red shoes getting killed. The man’s other clothing was black & white.
• I don’t remember this, but according to Lostpedia, Ben’s kitchen is red, white, and black.
• There are numerous examples of one character in a scene wearing black, another white, but sometimes a third character in the scene is wearing red.
• The creators of the show obviously make a big deal out of white & black, but as an homage & in-joke, they have also adopted the Star Trek tradition of “red shirts” being easily killed off.

So, what does the red mean? It could represent yet a third major entity, like Jacob & Smokey, that we still haven’t met yet. It could represent the blood that will be shed in the conflict between the two opposing sides. It could represent the survivors of Oceanic 815 being the variables in an equation that has constants on either side.

On another of my favorite shows, Babylon 5, “understanding” is one time described as a three-edged sword -- your side, their side, and the truth. I believe that’s what’s going on in Lost.

Smokey is angry, jaded, alone, single-minded, obsessed with getting home. He justifies his actions by advocating free-will. Jacob is entrenched in the island, paranoid about its protection (warranted or not), willing to observe & manipulate the lives of hundreds of innocent people and entrap & endanger them over his own beliefs. He’s set in his ways, and he’s brainwashed the Others with his philosophy. They’re the black & white, but I don’t think it makes either of them right.

I think our main characters represent the color red, the third edge of the sword, the truth. They represent a mix of good & evil, a mix of fate & free will, a mix of faith & rational thought. They are caught in the middle. And, either that means they will bring compromise & balance to the island, or they’ll be forced to choose sides in a battle that will end the conflict once & for all -- and only half will survive.

...Or, maybe, red in Lost doesn’t mean anything at all. :(

Pondering About Lost: Light & Dark May Not Equal Good vs. Evil

A common theme on the show has been black & white, dark & light. Here are just a few examples:

• the colors of backgammon pieces
• the white & black stones found beside the “Adam & Eve” skeletons in the caves
• the keys on a piano, played by several characters in the Lost universe (including Jack & his fiance, Daniel Faraday, and Jack’s alternate timeline son)
• the colors in the Dharma logo and the Lost title screen
• Rose & Bernard
• appearances of animals or stuffed animals that are black & white including: stuffed panda, stuffed whale, polar bears (which have black skin but appear white because of their translucent fur), white rabbits with black numbers on them, etc.
• the black & white rocks on the scale in Jacob’s seaside cave
• *numerous* examples of characters in the same scene wearing clothes of opposite colors -- one character in black & another in white or one character wearing something that has both white & black in it

One might automatically assume that this theme implies a conflict of good vs. evil. That is definitely a possibility. However, I have a hard time seeing any character in this show, even Jacob and the Smoke Monster, as being completely good or completely evil.

Some assume that Jacob is the good guy and that Smokey is the bad guy. But, Jacob has also encouraged the Others to do some awfully dark things through his cryptic lists. It’s still unclear whether he sanctioned the Others to commit kidnapping, torture, and murder, but he never stopped them either. When face-to-face with Ben, he totally dismissed Ben’s work & devotion, but if he didn’t approve of Ben’s leadership, why didn’t he ever intervene to expel Ben from power? I’ll agree that Jacob seems to have better intentions and is the lesser of two “evils,” but his hands are *not* clean.

Some assume that the opposite is true, Smokey could be good, Jacob could be bad. Smokey has killed a multitude of people. Even if you could argue that some of his kills were done in self defense or were acts of justice on behalf of others, I keep thinking about his ruthless slaughter of Mr. Eko. Had Mr. Eko committed some atrocities? Yes. But, he had turned his life around. He redeemed himself. So did Sawyer & Sayid, and Smokey hasn’t killed them -- yet. How could Smokey possibly justify killing Eko?

So, what’s the deal with white & black, light vs. dark? I think the theme implies two diametrically opposed philosophies. I don’t think it’s good vs. evil. I think order vs. chaos would be too much of a ripoff of another favorite show of mine. I think fate vs. free will is close but not quite it (I may speak to that in a separate blog entry). Regardless or what it is, I think the colors represent two sides that are equal & opposite, regardless of what their motivations are. But, I don’t think either side is completely good nor completely evil. The conflict is about something...else.

Pondering About Lost: How Can The Island Sink?

Regardless of whether Jughead really did explode and regardless of whether it directly caused the splitting of the timeline, I am *not* convinced that the detonation of Jughead is the reason the island is at the bottom of the sea in the season 6 premiere. Here are the two main reasons:

1. An island, like any other land mass, is still attached to the sea floor. It’s like a mountain in the ocean. Much of the mountain is underwater, and the part we think of as the island is just the dry land portion that is exposed above sea level. Sinking the island would be like sinking a mountain.
2. If a bomb was powerful enough to “sink” an island, it would also be powerful enough to damage (if not obliterate) the Dharma/Others barracks, the security fence, and the Tawaret statue foot, all of which are relatively intact when we see the island underwater.

So, how is the island underwater? My only guess is that the island was moved, as Eloise Hawking said it could be and as we saw in the season four finale when Ben turned the frozen donkey wheel. Only, in its last move in the new timeline, it landed in a location where the sea floor was deeper than usual so that none of the island could be exposed above sea level.

Some fans online have theorized that this is how the Black Rock shipwrecked in the middle of the island. It could be that the ship sunk over a submerged island, came to rest in the middle of it, and became landlocked the next time the island was moved to a higher elevation.

The only other way the island could move and/or sink is that the island is free-floating, not attached to the sea floor at all. I’m not sure that is geologically possible. Plus, if the boundaries of the island were finite, I would think all the sand would eventually erode off the edges.

So, why is the island underwater & intact at the same time? If my theory is wrong, I can’t wait to see how Damon & Carlton will explain this new mystery.

*Revised* 2009 Movie Rankings: 23, Not 22, Movies; I Forgot About "Taken"

I keep forgetting to include "Taken" among my movies that I saw in 2009. IMDb.com lists it as a 2008 movie because it was released in 2008 in a few dozen countries, but it didn't make it to the U.S. until 2009.

I admit, "Taken" is another 2009 movie I didn't see in theaters, though I always meant to. I saw it on DVD at a friend's house and then rented it via TiVo a few months later. But, I'm still counting it.

I'm glad to count it, as it was one of the best movies of 2009. It was a surprisingly well written action movie about a character, played with perfection by Liam Neeson, that is smart, capable, and fast on his feet but without seeming superhuman. It's relentless & fast paced but without feeling spastic or lacking a human element. It's like a Daniel Craig-era Bond movie or a Jason Bourne movie without the memory loss subplot.

So, here's my revised list of 23, not 22, movies I saw in 2009...

All 23 Movies I Saw In 2009

23. (F) Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen
22. (C-) Push
21. (C) The Soloist
20. (C+) G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
19. (C+) District 9
18. (B-) Monsters vs. Aliens
17. (B-) X-Men Origins: Wolverine
16. (B-) Terminator Salvation
15. (B) The Proposal
14. (B) Julie & Julia
13. (B) 2012
12. (B) Moon
11. (B) Sherlock Holmes
10. (B) Avatar
09. (B+) 500 Days of Summer
08. (B+) Gran Torino
07. (B+) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
06. (B+) The Time Traveler’s Wife
05. (B+) Watchmen

04. (B+) Taken
03. (A-) Up
02. (A-) The Blind Side
01. (A) Star Trek

Note: I just got back from seeing Avatar a 2nd time, this time in 3-D. I know I may be in the minority on this, but I still have to give it a B, not a B+. Despite how amazing it looked, I still got a little bored both times. Without a less predictable story and multidimensional characters, it's not much more than an exercise in amazing special effects. I'm not alone. I've read reviews where the writer has said you could turn the volume down on the movie or listen to an iPod while you watch, and it would still be amazing. Sorry, not good enough for me. I don't want *just* great visuals. I'd rather have lesser visuals if it means a greater story. In fact, even the story wouldn't be so bad if not for so many aspects of it feeling done before. Don't get me wrong, the movie overall was still good, just not great.

My Ranks for All Twenty-Two 2009 Movies I Saw This Year

This wasn't a great year for movies. Last summer's big three were The Dark Knight, Iron Man, and Wall-E -- and that was just the summer. This year didn't seem as big. Sure, the Star Trek franchise was resurrected with a shockingly good reboot/re-imagining, and The Blind Side was a surprising Thanksgiving success that continues to sell out and earned Sandra Bullock a Golden Globe nomination. But, the year also gave us one of the worst movies all time with Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen.

There weren't enough excellent movies to have a top 10 list of 2009, so I'll just rank all 22 that I saw, from worst to best. I admit, I saw Push, The Soloist, and The Proposal on DVD rather than the big screen, but as 2009 movies, I'm still counting them.

All 22 Movies I Saw In 2009

22. (F) Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen
21. (C-) Push
20. (C) The Soloist
19. (C+) G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
18. (C+) District 9
17. (B-) Monsters vs. Aliens
16. (B-) X-Men Origins: Wolverine
15. (B-) Terminator Salvation
14. (B) The Proposal
13. (B) Julie & Julia
12. (B) 2012
11. (B) Moon
10. (B) Sherlock Holmes
09. (B) Avatar
08. (B+) 500 Days of Summer
07. (B+) Gran Torino
06. (B+) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
05. (B+) The Time Traveler’s Wife
04. (B+) Watchmen
03. (A-) Up
02. (A-) The Blind Side
01. (A) Star Trek

My Favorite TV Shows of the Decade (Top 25 Long-Lived; Top 15 Short-Lived)

Well, I've already ranked my top 30 movies of the decade. I thought I'd try ranking my favorite TV shows of the decade. Ranking TV shows is more difficult because some are older, some are newer, some are brand new, some last a while, and some were short lived. So, I'm breaking my favorites into three categories...

I'm considering a Long-Lived Favorite to be a show that went past two complete seasons (or is about to, such as "Chuck" which will air season 3 in 2010). Short-Lived Favorites will be shows that lasted two complete seasons or less but have already finished their run. Current Honorable Mentions are shows that just started, are renewed for a forthcoming 2nd season, or are in the middle of their 2nd season.

And, to be on the list of long-lived favorites for the decade, at least half the run had to take place in & after the year 2000. "Ally McBeal" just barely squeaks by, riding the fence between the '90s & 2000s. And, it ranks in the middle with it's best season (4) and worst season (5) both taking place in the 2000s. "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer" ranks lower because its best season (5) but also two worst seasons (6 & 7) take place in the 2000s. The season 6 finale and almost all of season 7 of "Gilmore Girls" were a travesty too, but its first 5.75 excellent seasons take place all in the 2000s, so it still ranks very high. Had it not been for the very last scene of that season 6 finale and subsequent unevenness of season 7, "Gilmore Girls" could have been at least two ranks higher.

And, oh yeah, I don't get premium channels, so no Sopranos, True Blood, etc. Sorry, but it's my list.

Top 25 Favorite Long-Lived TV Shows from 2000 - 2009

25. Rescue Me (2004 - current)

24. Last Comic Standing (2003 - 2008)

22. (tie) Brothers & Sisters (2006 - current)

22. (tie) Prison Break (2005 - 2009)

20. (tie) Beauty & the Geek (2005 - 2008)

20. (tie) Mythbusters (2003 - current)

19. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart (1999 - current)

18. Survivor (2000 - current)

16. (tie) South Park (1997 - current)

16. (tie) Buffy: The Vampire Slayer (1997 - 2003)

15. The O.C. (2003 - 2007)

14. Scrubs (2001 - current)

13. Ally McBeal (1997 - 2002)

11. (tie) The 4400 (2004 - 2007)

11. (tie) Chuck (2007 - current)

10. The Shield (2002 - 2008)

09. Boston Legal (2004 - 2008)

08. Stargate: Atlantis (2004 - 2009)

07. Battlestar Galactica (2004 - 2009)

06. House (2004 - current)

05. Gilmore Girls (2000 - 2007)

04. Stargate: SG-1 (1997 - 2007)

03. The Practice (1997 - 2004)

02. The West Wing (1999 - 2006)

01. Lost (2004 - current)

Top 15 Favorite Short-Lived TV Shows from 2000 - 2009

15. Kid Nation (2007, 13 episodes)

14. The Jeff Dunham Show (2009, 6 episodes)

13. Who Wants to Be a Superhero (2006 - 2007, two seasons, 14 episodes)

12. New Amsterdam (2008, 8 episodes)

11. Women's Murder Club (2007 - 2008, 13 episodes)

10. Kings (2009, 13 episodes)

08. (tie) John Doe (2002 - 2003, 21 episodes)

08. (tie) Defying Gravity (2009, 13 episodes)

07. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008 - 2009, two seasons, 31 eps)

04. (tie) Standoff (2006 - 2007, 18 episodes)

04. (tie) Journeyman (2007, 13 episodes)

04. (tie) Moonlight (2007 - 2008, 16 episodes)

03. Men In Trees (2006 - 2008, two seasons, 36 episodes)

02. Jericho (2006 - 2008, two seasons, 29 episodes)

01. Firefly (2002, 14 episodes -- 3 of those never aired, found on DVD only)

Current Honorable Mentions

- Cougar Town

- FlashForward

- Glee

- Sanctuary

- Star Wars: The Clone Wars

- Stargate: Universe

- V

- Warehouse 13

So, what are your favorite TV shows of the decade???

My Top 30 Favorite Films of the Decade (2000 - 2009)

It's always so hard to rank movies (TV shows too). There are so many factors to consider, so many shades of grey.

Some movies are fresh on your mind. Some you're having to judge based on memories of when you saw them several years ago. For instance, I constantly wonder whether "Under the Tuscan Sun" should be one of only nine movie to which I give the ultimate A+ grade. At one time, I must have thought so. I haven't gotten around to watching it lately, so as odd as it feels to say it's better than "The Dark Knight" or even "Iron Man," I'm going to have to go on my opinion of it that is several years old.

Then there's the conflict between objective observation of quality and inexplicable personal appeal. In other words, the best movies and your favorite movies aren't always the same things. Sometimes a movie blows you away the first time, but you have little or no interest in seeing it again. "Memento" would be an excellent example of this. Other times, a flawed or less ambitious movie still has higher re-watch factor, such as "Love Actually" or "Frequency."

Anyway, here's my best attempt to rank the best -- uhm, I mean, my favorite -- movies of the 2000 - 2009 decade. I may change my mind on half of it later, but it'll do for now:

30. The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)
29. Akeelah and the Bee (2006)
28. X2: X-Men United (2003)
27. Watchmen (2009)
26. The Prestige (2006)
25. Children of Men (2006)
24. Monsters, Inc. (2001)
23. Ocean's 12 (2004)
22. The Queen (2006)
21. Up (2009)
20. Waitress (2007)
19. Serenity (2005)
18. The Lake House (2006)
17. Spider-Man (2002)
16. Cars (2006)
15. Wall-E (2008)
14. Love Actually (2003)
13. Batman Begins (2005)
12. The Blind Side (2009)
11. Ocean's 13 (2007)
10. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
09. Iron Man (2008)
08. Star Trek (2009)
07. Ocean's 11 (2001)
06. Finding Nemo (2003)
05. The Dark Knight (2008)
04. Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)
03. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
02. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
01. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003)

Honorable Mentions: The Bourne Trilogy (2002/2004/2007), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Gran Torino (2009), Casino Royale (2006), 500 Days of Summer (2009), United 93 (2006), The Bucket List (2008), The Terminal (2004), Slumdog Millionaire (2008), and Frequency (2000).

Yes, "Avatar" is intentionally left out. It's on the borderline. It looked good, but the story was a little weak & unoriginal. All the super-glowing reviews I've heard for it on blogs & podcasts -- even the ones from people who admitted the flaws in the story -- come from people who saw it in 3-D. When I went, it was sold out in 3-D. It looked great in 2-D, but I've heard it's just not the same. I'm tempted to see it again, this time in 3-D, to see if the increase in quality raises my opinion of it from B to B+. If so, then it will be an Honorable Mention of the decade too.

And, I'm sure my Facebook friends are tired of excuses I find to mention this, but I think it can't be said enough... The worst movie of 2009, one of the worst cinematic travesties of the decade, and yes, one of the worst movies of all time was, sadly & shamefully, "Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen." It joins the ranks of other Grade-F movies "Highlander 2: The Quickening," "Event Horizon," "Batman & Robin," "Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows," and "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier."

Analysis of Stargate Universe Series Premiere: "Air, Parts 1 & 2 (of 3)"

Spoiler Warning: This post contains mild to massive spoilers. Do not read if you haven't seen the premiere of SGU but plan to.

Friday night (October 2) was the premiere of the new Stargate Universe series on SyFy. I've been looking forward to more Stargate but was a little worried about the new show.

I was relieved that the 2-hour pilot didn't suck. In fact, I liked it. But, as I, unfortunately, just proved as a guest on a podcast (SciFiPartyLine), I have a little trouble explaining *why* I liked it. I watched the pilot for the 2nd time earlier today and typed out six pages of notes, including specific likes, specific dislikes, mysteries & unanswered questions, similarities to other shows, random observations, nitpicks, etc. I can easily dissect the show. And, I can overlook or forgive the negatives & nitpicks for now. I just can't quite verbalize why *overall* I really did like it.

Well, maybe I can now...
(1) I liked it because I simply liked the sum of its parts (see list below).
(2) I like the overall Stargate franchise, and the pilot episode did nothing that spit in the face of where it came from. It's different enough to feel fresh, but it still feels like Stargate. So, it'd be hard for me to not like it.

Here's my analysis of the episode in list form...

Things I Liked

• The premise.
• Most (but not all) of the characters.
• The performances.
• Everything about Chloe Armstrong, daughter/executive assistant to Calif. Senator Armstrong, and the performance of her by Elyse Levesque.
• How well a lieutenant, Matthew Scott, took command when Col. Young was injured. Stargate hasn't shown too many junior officers taking command of situations. Scott did well.
• The scene where Dr. Rush cries (I love it when characters cry).
• The all-too-brief battle scene.
• The cameos of SG-1 characters.
• The dangling of a few mysteries & unanswered questions (see that list below).

Things I Didn't Like

• Some of the transitions between scenes weren't that smooth.
• The Sergeant Ronald Greer character (but, I think it might be intentional that he's not that likable).
• Not enough space battle.
• Major "Half-Spoiler": As soon as someone said the airlock to the shuttle (which was leaking atmosphere from the whole ship) would have to be closed from the inside, it was totally predictable who would close it.
• With multiple locations, multiple flashbacks, a lot of characters, and a lot of premise to set up, I wondered how confusing it might be to those not already familiar with Stargate.

Questions & Observation About Technology & Equipment

• Why do people get flung out of the Destiny's stargate when they walked into the stargate on the Icarus base?
• Why does the Destiny's stargate vent steam after the wormhole closes?
• Dr. Rush says the ship travels faster than light but not in hyperspace. So, what kind of propulsion is it?
• Why does everything shimmer as the Destiny enters or exits FTL travel?
• They figured out how to make the stargate on the Icarus base outgoing only. That's neat. No more need for an iris like the Cheyenne Mountain gate or a force field like the Atlantis gate.
• After evacuating from Icarus base onto the starship Destiny, the survivors only have 23 guns & limited ammo. I wonder how long that will last.
• They have only the batteries they have in their walkie-talkies. How long will they last?
• The have limited food. I think they said they have little or no water. They do have seeds. Will they grow food onboard?
• They learned how to control the Ancient "communication stones" with a man-made base instead of the Ancient cone base "thingy." Plus, they figured out how to pass a visual signal through them too.

Mysteries & Unanswered Questions

• Does Dr. Rush know more than he's letting on?
• In Colonel Everett's flashback, why did he collapse? Does he have a health problem, and will that become a complication later on, since they only have an Air Force medic & probably little or no medical or surgical tools?
• Who in the photo is Dr. Rush crying over? Wife & daughter? Sister & niece?
• What are in the Ancient crates onboard the Destiny?
• Will they handle supply shortages & the searching for food & supplies better than Star Trek: Voyager did?
• Before being interrupted, was Dr. Rush about to imply that the ship is sentient? He already claimed the ship was aware of the needs of its inhabitants & making stops at habitable worlds accordingly.

Similarities to Other Shows

• Lost: The chaos of the first few minutes, people being flung out of the stargate & tripping over each other, felt like the first few minute of Lost's pilot episode (okay, granted not as cool as Lost did it).
• Lost: Will the flashbacks continue, or was that just for the pilot (to establish the characters).
• Lost: Could the civilians & minor non-coms be cannon fodder like background characters on Lost have been over the years?
• Star Trek - Voyager: A starship stranded in uncharted territory with potentially limited supplies.
• Sliders: A countdown clock before each subsequent FTL jump.

Nitpicks (I wouldn't be me, if I didn't have nitpicks)

• The Stargate program seems to give out non-disclosure agreements like candy. They gave one to Eli Wallace, but before he had a chance to read the first page, they already beamed him to the George Hammond (a Daedalus-class Earth starship named after General Hammond, a character from SG-1 that died off screen after the actor that played him passed away in June 2008).
• In a flashback, IOA representative Camille Wray is talking to Air Force medic Lt. Tamara Johansen, and she makes a reference to *Colonel* O'Neill. Jack O'Neill was promoted from Colonel to Brigadier General in SG-1 season 8 episode 2 and is already a Lt. General. So, by calling him a Colonel, either the actor slipped up, the script writer slipped up, or the flashback was from a whole *five* years ago, which is plausible but not likely.
• Colonel Telford (the barely seen Lou Diamond Phillips) is seen in an F-302 during an air battle. Would they really have someone as highly ranked as a full Colonel out in a little tiny fighter during an intense battle?
• Massive Spoiler: Woops!!! No one had to die. They found onboard the Destiny remote control floating cameras that they named Kinos. When going through the crates of supplies, they found a whole crate of something that looked like rolls of tape. Surely, somewhere on the ship, there is a pointy thing. They could have taped a pointy thing onto a Kino, remote controlled the Kino into the shuttle, and pressed the button for the airlock door remotely. The senator didn't have to sacrifice himself by going in and pushing the button. But, then, there would have been less drama. :)

Boston Globe - Top 50 Science Fiction TV Show List

I was surfing the web when I found the Boston Globe list of Top 50 Science Fiction Television Shows of All Time. I’m pretty sure it’s an old list considering the omission of Heroes (a currently flawed & frustrating series that would probably earn a spot in a more current list if only for its first season). Also, I can’t help but wonder if this list’s #1 spot would be different now, following that show’s controversial final season, especially the final episode. Anyway, here’s the full list:

50. Earth: Final Conflict
49. The Wild Wild West
48. 3rd Rock From the Sun
47. Buck Rogers
46. That Was Then
45. The Greatest American Hero
44. Lois & Clark
43. Nowhere Man
42. Science Fiction Theatre
41. Futurama
40. The Thunderbirds
39. The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
38. Batman (1960s)
37. Space 1999
36. The Bionic Woman
35. Battlestar Galactica (original)
34. The Avengers
33. Lost In Space
32. My Favorite Martian
31. Alien Nation
30. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
29. The Six Million Dollar Man
28. Adventures of Superman
27. Buffy: The Vampire Slayer
26. Stargate: Atlantis
25. The Jetsons
24. Wonder Woman
23. Tales From the Crypt
22. Andromeda
21. Quantum Leap
20. The Hitchhiker
19. Dark Angel
18. V
17. Firefly
16. Flash Gordon
15. Logan’s Run
14. Star Trek: Voyager
13. The Outer Limits
12. Xena: Warrior Princess
11. Lost
10. Sliders
09. Mystery Science Theater 3000
08. Dr. Who
07. The Twilight Zone
06. Stargate: SG-1
05. Babylon 5
04. X-Files
03. Star Trek: The Next Generation
02. Star Trek (The Original Series)
01. Battlestar Galactica (new)


My Random Observations:
First, I’m shocked Buffy is not in the top 10 list. On many other lists, it’s in the top 5. It’d be high on my list too if not for the disappointing final two seasons, but I’m usually in the minority in that opinion. I still think it should be a few spots higher if only for its first five seasons. I’m surprised Firefly isn’t higher as well, unless it’s short life span counted against it.

It makes no sense to me why three Star Trek series are on the list, but Deep Space Nine (my favorite) is not one of them. While I wasn’t the biggest fan myself, I can’t imagine why Farscape is missing as well.

To me, Battlestar Galactica is good (at times superb) but over-rated as a whole. It had excellent production quality and exciting action scenes. But, I was never as crazy about the characters as most people were, I feel the story arc went a little wayward, I have mixed feelings about how the series wrapped up at the end, and my biggest complaint is it’s unrelenting gloominess that sometimes made it depressing to watch.

Despite the exceptions mentioned, this is still a decent list. I like any list that doesn’t forget Alien Nation, gives the Stargate franchise some credit, and includes Babylon 5 in the top five.

Since this list might be a few years old, I’d like to think Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Moonlight, and Journeyman, could have earned spots on a more current list, despite all three shows being short-lived. The jury is still out on Dollhouse and Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Tragically missing from the list:
- Crusade
- Farscape
- Highlander: The Series
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
- The 4400

Should be higher on the list:
- Babylon 5
- Lost
- Firefly
- Quantum Leap
- Stargate: Atlantis
- Buffy: The Vampire Slayer
- Alien Nation

Should be lower on the list:
- Andromeda
- Dark Angel
- Star Trek: Voyager
- Xena: Warrior Princess
- Mystery Science Theater 3000
- X-Files
- Battlestar Galactica (new)

Note: MST3K was great, but I say it should be lower because it's more comedy than sci-fi.

Should not be on the list at all:
- Batman (1960s)

My Personal Top 12 List:
12. Crusade (short-lived sequel series to Babylon 5)
11. Quantum Leap
10. Battlestar Galactica
09. Alien Nation (1 season plus 5 TV movies)
08. The 4400
07. Firefly
06. Stargate: Atlantis
04. (tie) Star Trek: The Next Generation
04. (tie) Stargate: SG-1
03. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
02. Lost
01. Babylon 5

Honorable Mention:
- Chuck (more spy than sci-fi, but the Intersect technology is definitely a sci-fi element)

My Very Weird Dream About the TV Show "Lost" (with an even stranger sitcom crossover)

It's 4:43AM, and I just woke up from the weirdest Lost dream. The details are already starting to fade, but it had something to do with Locke having written a small book with illustrations.

He's found some way of binding the book with makeshift glue, and is in a hurry to give it to someone before he turns invisible or something. I think at the last minute, while the glue is still drying, he gives it to Charlie, and at that point in the dream, I think I'm Charlie, because it's from my POV that I receive the book.

Then there's a subplot with Hurley. I've already lost half of it, but right before I woke up, it ended with Hurley seeming to have not been on the island at all. Instead he's somewhere I didn't recognize surrounded by young people. It might have been a mental institution, but wherever it was, I only saw it from one angle and it felt like a TV set, as if that subplot was taking place in a sitcom. They were having some kind of party. Right before they give Hurley presents, they turn the lights out for a second. When the lights come back on, Hurley has vanished. Then, there's someone at the door, and that's when I woke up.

The two weirdest things about the dream are: (1) The dream actually felt like it was making total sense up until the moment Hurley vanished; (2) For some reason, half the cast of The Facts of Life were at Hurley's party. I definitely remember seeing Natalie & Mrs. Garrett. Blair might have been there, and I think Jo appeared at the last second. I don't remember seeing Tootie.

My subconscious mixing together Lost and The Facts of Life??? Seriously, what the #@!! is wrong with me?