Nicholas L. Garvery

Steampunk Watch Movement Cuff Links

2012-03-26T20:29:00.000+01:00

Now I'm gainfully employed once more I can wear my Steampunk cuff links again. I bought these years ago when Steampunk to me was simply a description used on eBay when the seller was offering broken watch parts.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008 - 2009)

2012-03-19T20:22:00.000+00:00

Synopsis
I'm sure everyone heard of the Terminator movies, where Skynet, a computer from the future, attempts to exterminate all human life. A human resistance lead by John Connor fights back. In the first movie Skynet sends a cyborg to the past to kill John Connor's mother Sarah, before he is conceived. The resistance sends Kyle Reese, a resistance soldier to protect her.

In the second movie Skynet sends another Terminator to the past to kill a young John Connor, while future John sends a reprogrammed Terminator identical to the one in the first movie to protect young him. This TV series tells what happened after the events of the second movie. John and Sarah Connor with the help of another reprogrammed Terminator, Cameron Phillips, try to stay under the radar, as they attempt to destroy Skynet before it is created.

Final Verdict ★★★★☆
It took me a bit to get used to the Terminator being played by a former ballerina, and not by former bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger, but Summer Glau won me over as Cameron. John Connor was childish and hard headed at first, but matured as the series went on, it was all part of the story arc...

I hated the way Sarah Connor was written, so different from the one in the movies! If she likes somebody he'll die or have his life ruined... if she trusts someone he'll try to kill her, if she doesn't like someone he turns out to be a good guy. She gets everything wrong!

The series story arc was very strong, and few episodes felt episodic. It expands on the Terminator universe considerably, and introduces elements such as human traitors siding with the machines, Skynet sending many terminators to the past on missions that will help Skynet's war on humans, and an early Skynet employing human mercenaries to do it's work. I found the episodes where Cromartie, another Terminator, repairs himself and regrows his flesh to be very interesting.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles started out with a sizeable audience, but viewer numbers declined steadily and it was cancelled after Season 2. The final episode is full of twists, and reveals lots of interesting information which made me very curious and disappointed there was no third season.

Is it worth watching since the story is ended abruptly? I'd say yes, although you might need some explanations to understand the final episode (see below).

+++++++

De-Mystifying Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Season 2 Finale

Below I'll attempt to explain the Season 2 finale, and what might have happened if there was a Season 3. Keep in mind in this TV series there is a strong time travel element which may make some parts hard to follow.

☠ Spoiler Alert »
Derek Reese - He's shot dead in the present, but reappears in the future. Present Derek came from the future, but the future Derek we see is from a time before he travelled to the past.

Leadership revolt - Some members of the human resistance dislike John Connor because he spends less time with humans, and more time with machines. He also seems to trust machines more than humans, and uses machines to relay his orders to humans. It's implied there might be a revolt against John Connor's leadership in Season 3.

John and Cameron's relationship - They love each other, but in several occasions Cameron tells John she's a danger to him, and she might kill him one day. There are two possibilities: Cameron might have killed John by accident in the future she came from. She then started acting in John's place to finish what he started, and she might have travelled to the past to prevent herself from killing him.

The other possibility might be that members of the resistance revolted and killed John because of his close relationship with Cameron. She might feel responsible for that, and travelled through time to save him.

Summer Glau as Cameron Phillips

Catherine Weaver - she and the T-1001 on the submarine in the future are one and the same. On the sub she says her answer to John's question is 'No'. The question was 'Will you join us?' It's implied she's involved with a second faction of machines which are fighting against Skynet, but aren't siding with the humans.

John Henry and Cameron - John Henry is the the second machine faction's counterpart to Skynet. When Catherine Weaver's office block is attacked Cameron is damaged and John Henry is not mobile. He asks Cameron 'Will you join me?' and she answers yes. He takes Cameron's chip out of her body and into the Cromartie body, then moves himself out of The Turk onto Cameron's chip / Cromartie's body. It's not clarified if John Henry overwrote Cameron, or if they co-exist on the same chip.

Cameron and Allison Young - Cameron's chipless damaged body is in the present, and the girl seen in the future is Allison, the human Cameron's looks are based on.

Young John Connor in the future - When John travels to the future to look for Cameron / John Henry he meets Kyle and Derek Reese. They have no idea who he is, and he finds out he didn't become the resistance's leader in the future. This is because he time jumped Judgement Day and didn't rise to be the leader. It's in the future that he is trained to become The John Connor, and half way through Season 3 he was supposed to travel back to the present so he can live through Judgement Day and rise to be leader.
« Spoiler Alert ☠

They Live (1988)

2012-02-13T14:37:00.000+00:00

Synopsis
A drifter finds a pair of sunglasses which allow him to see subliminal messages behind advertisements. What's more he sees some people are actually aliens in disguise, and they're behind these messages. The aliens also control big business and the media.

Final Verdict ★★★☆☆
This is another 80's cult favourite from director John Carpenter. The movie title refers to a graffiti seen in the movie which reads "They Live, We Sleep". Some of the subliminal messages are: obey, marry and reproduce, no independent thought, consume, watch TV, buy, conform, sleep, submit, stay asleep, do not question authority, no imagination.

The sunglasses are a metaphor for having an open mind and seeing the establishment's real motivations. I found this coupled with the alien invasion to be an excellent premise. The surveillance drones and the alien transportation systems were nice touches.

The alien invasion part of the story was quite basic, the aliens transmit a signal which hides the subliminal messages and the alien physical appearance from humans. There is a resistance movement which manufactures the sunglasses which block the alien signal.

The main character is played by Roddy Piper, a professional wrestler, so the fight scenes are very good. However the acting in general was not good. The special effects were not great either. The dialogue was atrocious. Watch it for the unique premise.

The Thing (1982) vs The Thing (2011)

2012-02-10T16:56:00.000+00:00

Three movies were based on the short story Who Goes There? by American science fiction author John W. Campbell Jr. I reviewed the first one earlier, and since the other two are so similar narratively and visually I'll review them together.

Synopsis
1982 version - In the Antarctic a Norwegian helicopter chases and shoots at a sledge dog. They end up near an American science base. The Norwegians are killed before they can give an explanation, so the Americans take in the dog. The Americans go to investigate the Norwegian camp, and discover the Norwegians found something in a block of ice. A creature starts killing and taking on the form of the men at the American science base.

2011 version - The producers of this movie thought the '82 version directed by John Carpenter was perfect, so they decided to make a prequel instead of a remake. This movie tells the story of the Norwegians and how they came in contact with The Thing which assimilates and imitates it's victims.

Storyline 1982 version ★★★★★ - 2011 version ★★★☆☆
As I said above I'm reviewing these two movies together because they're so similar visually and narratively. However the synopsis shows they're two completely different stories. What gives? The synopsis actually highlights the main narrative differences between the movies! Once The Thing starts attacking people, pretty much the same things happen.

The 1982 version has The Thing imitating a human most of the time, and only attacking single isolated people. The men in the science base have no idea which of them are Things, and mutual suspicion and tension are sky high.

Kurt Russell as R.J. MacReady

The scene showing MacReady (Kurt Russell) playing chess against the computer is a nice touch, it shows us how he reacts when he can't win with cunning alone.

The 2011 version disappointed me, as it doesn't reveal anything about The Thing or the Norwegians that can't be deduced easily by watching the '82 movie. This movie even repeats key scenes from the '82 movie, such as the spider head scene and the blood testing scene, but at least with some twists.

The Thing in the '11 movie appears quite often, so the protagonists know who is who most of the time, making for a less tense atmosphere. On the positive side we finally get to see the inside of the space ship.

The opening scene from the '82 movie (Norwegian helicopter chase) could have given away the ending of the '11 movie, but instead the makers of this movie opted for a completely different ending (similar to the ending of the '82 movie!) The helicopter scene which leads to the '82 movie is instead shown as part of the closing credits of the '11 movie.

1982 version trailer

2011 version trailer

Visuals 1982 version ★★★★☆ - 2011 version ★★★★☆
At the time of it's release, the '82 movie had ground breaking special effects. The '11 movie's special effects are a tribute to the '82 effects as they are mostly animatronics, with few CGI bits added. Overall the atmosphere in the '82 movie is way creepier than the '11 movie.

The stories in these movies are supposed to have happened back to back in 1982. These movies show the stylistic difference between a genuine 80's movie, and a recent movie imitating the 80's style.

Final Verdict 1982 version ★★★★★ - 2011 version ★★★☆☆
The '82 movie is definitely better than the '11 one as it's creepier and tenser. The '82 movie is the original, while the '11 is the imitation / prequel.

On it's release the '82 movie was a box office and critical failure, and only later did it become a cult favourite. Notwithstanding my criticism, the '11 version is an above average monster movie, so who knows, in the future it could become a cult favourite too!

Part I of this article series - The Thing from Another World (1951)

The Thing from Another World (1951)

2012-02-06T13:54:00.000+00:00

John W. Campbell Jr's short story Who Goes There? has been made into a movie three times. This is the first version. I'll review the other versions from 1982 and 2011 later.

Synopsis
An Air Force captain and a journalist are sent to the North Pole to investigate an explosion and a magnetic disturbance. They find a crashed flying saucer under the ice and a frozen being a few meters away from it. The block of ice containing the creature is cut and taken to a nearby science base, however the creature escapes and starts killing people...

Final Verdict ★★★☆☆
This movie's storyline is quite different from the later versions as The Thing doesn't assimilate and imitate it's victims. Instead it's a humanoid shaped plant being which makes seeds and feeds on blood. It's proximity can be detected with a Geiger counter.

This movie has a lot of dialogue and is paced very differently from modern movies. It starts very slowly and gathers momentum steadily. If you can sit through the first half hour you'll be rewarded with an electrifying climax. Special effects include people fainting, fire, and electricity arcs!

There is also a scientist who doesn't recognise The Thing as a threat, but wants to befriend it. He thinks it's more important to preserve The Thing for scientific investigation than to save their own lives.

This movie plays on that era's paranoia and is taken to have an anti-Communist message. It warns viewers that an invasion has been narrowly avoided and to watch the skies.

Part II of this article series - The Thing (1982) vs The Thing (2011)

Flash Forward

2012-02-01T17:10:00.000+00:00

Synopsis
The whole world blacks out for exactly 2min 17sec, resulting in accidents and millions of deaths. During the blackout people have visions of their future. This global event is soon taken to be a terrorist attack, and the plot thickens when video footage is found showing a concious person talking on a mobile phone during the blackout.

The story centers around an FBI agent who's vision shows him to be central to the Flash Forward investigaion, and his family and friends.

Final Verdict ★★★★☆
At first I found the concept ridiculous, but I quickly warmed up to it and enjoyed the series a lot.

It's soon established the Flash Forward relates to a date a few months into the future, and some people start hoping for their visions to come true, while others dread what they saw. A few people had no visions, and soon it's speculated these will die before the date of the Flash Forward. A global debate ensues about destiny and if the future can be changed.

I found the characters and the FBI investigation to be very interesting. The episodes weren't episodic at all, everything that happened during the series pertained to the main story arc. I liked that.

The episodes were action packed and fast paced. The story takes you all over the USA, and as far as Germany, Africa, and Hong Kong.

The series was cancelled after Season 1, but I really enjoyed it and would have followed a Season 2 for sure. Although many questions remain unanswered after the season finale, enough is revealed to complete most of the story.

The Flash Forward concept is based on a book of same name by Canadian author Robert J. Sawyer.

Why I Dislike TV Series with Episodic Episodes

2012-01-31T22:11:00.000+00:00

Lately I've been watching several TV series, and when I tweet about them or review them I often comment that the episodes feel or don't feel episodic. Here I'll attempt to explain what I mean by this. A series by definition is made up of episodes, but the episodes can cover a series story arc, or they can be stand alone episodes.

I much prefer series which deal solely with a main story arc, where each episode continues the unfinished business from the previous episode. Most series don't have a story arc big enough to fill a whole series, so each episode is a stand alone story which somehow contributes to the main story arc. I quite like these too.

My gripe is with series with no story arc, or where most episodes don't contribute to a main story arc. I feel these work only in a few instances, where the subject itself dictates that the stories should be short stand alones, such as in the case of police investigations or court cases.

Too many series with stand alone episodes (or as I call them episodic episodes) end up using a Deus ex Machina. These are defined by Wikipedia as:

"Deus ex Machina (Latin: "god out of the machine") is a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly and abruptly solved with the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability, or object."

At best these episodes end up losing their suspense, because you know at the end something is always going to happen that will make the heroes win against all odds. At worse the episodes end up feeling contrived and full of illogical coincidences.

Take the ending of an episode of TV series Dark Angel as an example: Max, a genetically engineered super soldier argues with Zack, a genetically engineered super soldier with several cybernetic implants that he shouldn't kill Logan, a hacker. Zack cuffs Max to a pipe, and goes to Logan's penthouse.

Max frees herself, and phones Logan to warn him Zack is coming to kill him. Logan barely has time to get his things and call the elevator before Zack bursts through the skylight. The elevator takes Logan down to the car park, but Zack follows him and starts shooting. A guy with a bucket gets scared and falls, dropping soapy water on the floor.

Zack shoots Logan, but just as he's going to finish him off Max bursts in on her motorcycle and hits Zack who's gun falls on the spilt soapy water. Max and Zack fight, and in the end Zack throws Max onto the building's main electricity panel. He goes to pick his gun.

This scene feels contrived because everything happens exactly at the last second, like clockwork. When things look hopeless, by coincidence, we have Max on the floor near the building's main electricity panel and near but not in a pool of water, while Zack who has cybernetic implants is standing in the other end of the pool of water. You can imagine what happens...

Mini Reviews

2012-01-23T22:27:00.000+00:00

Lately I watched several TV series, and while I enjoyed them and wanted to share my thoughts about them, I didn't feel the need to give them full scale reviews. What I ended up doing was tweeting around 7 tweets about each. However tweets end up buried under newer ones, and lost in the vast twitter-verse.

Watching these TV series was not the only time I felt like commenting on something I watched or read, but didn't have enough motivation or material for a full scale review. What I've now decided to do is write Mini Reviews (which will be tagged as such) with just a synopsis, general thoughts, and rating.

Expect the first one soon!

Hugo (2011)

2011-12-17T14:01:00.000+00:00

Synopsis
In 1930's Paris, an orphan lives hidden in a train station's walls. He takes care of the station's clocks, and tries to fix an automaton left to him by his late father. Based on Brian Selznick's New York Times best-seller "The Invention of Hugo Cabret".

Storyline ★★★★★
Director Martin Scorsese is best known for his gangster movies, but here he gives us a touching family film. This is Scorsese's homage to movie magic and the power of imagination and dreams.

The first half of the movie introduces us to Hugo Cabret and the other characters. We find out how he came to live in the train station's walls, taking care of the clocks and stealing mechanical parts from a toymaker to attempt to fix an automaton left to him by his father. The automaton is complicated, and even when repaired, it doesn't do anything because it requires a key to unlock it's functionality.

Right in the middle of the movie, Hugo finally manages to get the automaton to perform it's magic, and while it isn't what he was expecting, it presents him with a new challenge, to discover the automaton's history and it's link to Isabelle, the girl who held the automaton's key. This is where the movie goes from good to great, as Hugo and Isabelle discover the automaton's story and it's link to a forgotten movie wizard.

I don't want to reveal too much about the story, so just let me tell you that it's really good, it's touching and magical for both children and adults. If you're a fan of movies you'll especially like the second part as it's one big homage to early cinema and forgotten heroes.

Most of the movie's humour, comes from the Station Inspector with the squeaky knee brace (Sacha Baron Cohen), but he is also a bad guy as seen through Hugo's eyes. There's also some humour coming from the character of Monsieur Frick and the dachshunds.

If pressed to find something I didn't like about this movie I'd say it's the repetition of the device of showing something as not working or going wrong, then showing the characters despair for a few seconds, then the problem fixes itself.

Visuals ★★★★★
While all the movie's visuals are detailed and spectacular, I found the old movie footage to be particularly enchanting. This is also a movie with 3D effects done right. Every room has depth, and even people's faces in close up have real depth.

The derailment scene was my favourite, and it's a reference to the famous 1895 derailment at Gare Montparnasse train station in Paris (the same one depicted in the movie).

Steampunk Factor ★★★★☆
This isn't your usual Steampunk setting since it's 1931 Paris, however most of the story occurs in a station with steam trains, and there are plenty of scenes with Hugo and Isabelle inside enormous clock machinery.

The best feature is the automaton, which I thought was complete fiction. However this automaton is inspired by the Jaquet-Droz automata, built between 1768 and 1774. These automata are still in working condition (and can be seen at the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire of Neuchâtel, in Switzerland) and are capable of drawing figures as complicated as the drawing depicted in the film. Many nuances such as the head following the pen as it was drawing and dipping the pen in ink are also present in the real life automata.

Final Verdict ★★★★★
A touching story that can be enjoyed by all the family, with enchanting visuals and 3D. You won't be disappointed!

Victorian Christmas: Games and Activities

2011-12-11T20:14:00.001+00:00

This is Part V of my Victorian Christmas article series. Enjoy!

Toy Theatre
Toy theatres were a popular form of entertainment in Victorian times. Once made you could buy plays to put on - hundreds of popular West End plays were reproduced for toy theatres. This Pollock’s Toy Theatre is a genuine Victorian theatre complete with stage, scenery and characters.

Nicholas L. Garvery

Steampunk Watch Movement Cuff Links

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008 - 2009)

They Live (1988)

The Thing (1982) vs The Thing (2011)

The Thing from Another World (1951)

Flash Forward

Why I Dislike TV Series with Episodic Episodes

Mini Reviews

Top 5 NLG Steampunk Articles 2011

Top 10 Steampunk Web Articles 2011

Hugo (2011)

Victorian Christmas: Games and Activities

Victorian Christmas: Food and Drink

Victorian Christmas: Crafts

Victorian Christmas: Gifts

Victorian Christmas: Decorations

Veteran Era Cars

Edwardian Era Cars

The British Museum

St James's Park and Green Park

Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens

The Three Musketeers (2011)

Doctor Fantastique's Kickstarter Campaign

Natural History Museum

Oxford Street