Axiom’s Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy

By John J. Joex

(THESE REVIEWS CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Lost (“The Little Prince”) – A lot happened on this episode, but then it didn’t seem like too much happened as it had a somewhat plodding pace.  Like they are moving forward with baby steps.  Most important though is that we find out the fate of Jin.  And yes I realized right away when the people on the raft were speaking French that we would see a younger Rousseau, which is good because maybe they will finally give us more about her.  A decent episode, but they could move things along at a swifter pace and I do miss the flash back/forward sequences.

Heroes (“Trust and Blood”) – Episode two of Volume 4 and still no time travel; that’s a good thing.  But one of the principals did die (Daphne/Speedster), so we will see how long she remains deceased.  They didn’t handle her death the way most shows deal with the final demise of a regular (dramatic/tender moments, final words, etc.).  In fact, we barely even saw any reaction from Parkman which suggests to me that she may not be dead yet.  But then they did promise to trim down the cast this year, so we will see.  We also find out in this episode that Nathan and HRG are not quite as sinister as they seemed in the prior week’s episode, just seriously misguided.  So far I am liking the direction of Volume 4, so I am hoping that it doesn’t start to go astray like Volume 3 did after about the fifth episode.

Life on Mars (“The Dark Side of the Moon”) – It had been so long since this show went on hiatus (before Thanksgiving), that I completely forgot that they left us on a cliffhanger and that the prior week’s episode basically ignored that (I’m guessing ABC aired it out of order).  This episode picked up where “The Man Who Sold the World” left off with Sam staring at the mysterious basement door.  Unfortunately, the episode didn’t do much more to clear up the cliffhanger ending as it took a left turn into an internal investigation involving Ray’s brother.  The clock is ticking on this one while it is entangling itself deeper and deeper into its mysteries.

Battlestar Galactica (“Blood on the Scales”) – They resolved the civil war with Adama and Roslin back in charge and Gaeta and Zarek facing a firing squad.  The episode wrapped up the crisis well enough, though it seemed to lack some of the more dramatic turns you might expect from this show.  Still, at least now they are set to start exploring the Cylons on Earth mystery which it appears the next episode will address.

Supernatural (“Sex and Violence”) – This episode was a bit of a stretch for me.  I didn’t enjoy it as much as some of the other Season 4 offerings, but it wasn’t terrible.  I have to admit that they slipped one by me with Nick as the Siren; that was a nice turn.  But I knew as soon as Dean couldn’t reach Bobby that he would show up at the last minute to save the day.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (“Trespass” and “The Hidden Enemy”) – I decided to check in on this one to see how it is progressing.  The two episodes that I watched seemed decent enough, if nothing spectacular.  I felt the series showed some promise early on, but it seems now to be skewing more toward the teen/pre-teen audience and less toward the general appeal of the movies (the first three at least).  Still, at least they are trying to inject some sort of story into the episodes and they are keeping Jar Jar Binks appearances to the minimum.

The Last Templar (1st Two Hours) – I accidentally left this one off from last week’s column, probably because I just wanted to get the bad taste out of my mouth.  Looks like NBC was trying to create a modern day female Indiana Jones with this outing.  I applaud the idea as it could have been worthwhile given a credible script and competent production.  But the first two hours of this mini-series had far more plot holes and leaps of logic than the weekly FDA recommended allowances.  And the attempts to inject humor in the script just fell flat.  This production had a lot of talent involved including Mira Sorvino and screen legend Omar Sharif, but mini-series moguls Robert Halmi Sr. and Robert Halmi Jr. managed to gloss over that and instead deliver an insipid Da Vinci Code knockoff (can’t somebody put a stop to these two?).  I didn’t even bother with tuning in for the second night (nor did many others who watched the first night, judging from the conclusion’s ratings).