Archive for the “TV” category
How Small is the Universe?
by Matt Wharton on September 15, 2012
Fascinating episode of Horizon. Breaking electrons down into quasiparticles. The creation of micro-black holes. Using the entire universe as a lens to look down into the realm of the Planck length.
Warner Brothers acquire the rights to Otherland
by Matt Wharton on January 21, 2012
The rights to the Otherland tetralogy by Tad Williams have been acquired by Warner Brothers. The fact that they have purchased the rights however doesn’t mean that we will see them actually adapt the books into movies and in any case I think that a television series would be a better format.
It is a science fiction story told on an epic scale as each of the four books is several hundred pages long and they follow on directly from one another. Set towards the end of this century the eponymous Otherland is a virtual world made of many different realms many of which are based upon works such as Through the Looking-Glass, The Odyssey and The Iliad, The War of the Worlds, and The Wizard of Oz.
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American Gods Headed To HBO
by Matt Wharton on April 15, 2011
Neil Gaiman’s fantastic novel American Gods is to be adapted for television for HBO and Neil will apparently be co-writing it.
I’m very glad of this because although it could have worked as a film I think it would benefit from a slower pace and length afforded by a small screen adaptation.
The Walking Dead opening titles – fan art
by Matt Wharton on October 1, 2010
THE WALKING DEAD “Opening Titles” from Daniel Kanemoto on Vimeo.
Daniel M. Kanemoto a fan of “The Walking Dead” comic book series has created an animated opening titles sequence for the upcoming television series. Using as a source the original comic book artwork by Charlie Adlard & Tony Moore he has produced a piece of work that rivals the best of that produced by professionals.
I cannot wait for the series to start and look forward to seeing the real opening titles and how they compare to this.
Lost: The End
by Matt Wharton on May 25, 2010
Yet another brilliant television series has come to an end and I’m left without a single bit of must-see television now that Lost has gone the way of The Wire, The Shield and Six Feet Under.
However unlike those three series which had really satisfying finales I was left feeling slightly unsatisfied with how Lost ended. But then on reflection I’m not sure I could have ever been entirely satisfied however many loose ends the producers tied up and in fact if they explained every single thing I would be dissatisfied that they’d chosen to do that.
I was emotionally satisfied by the ending and there were some extremely moving moments in it, especially for me when Sawyer and Juliet were reunited. The bit with Hurley and Ben at the church was quite touching as well.
It seems to me that the idea of the flash-sideways as a way for the characters to learn to let go was brought to another level with the finale which became about us the viewers learning to let go and move on with our lives too.
Lost 6.15: What They Died For
by Matt Wharton on May 19, 2010
The Man in Black has changed his plan and now intends to destroy the island using Desmond’s unique gift. Perhaps he succeeds and the result is the parallel timeline where the Island was on the ocean floor seemingly sunken.
The proverb “Be careful what you wish for, it might just come true” occurs to me and the Man in Black causes his own destruction when he destroys the Island because their natures are intertwined. He is part of the Island.
Everyone seems better off in the parallel universe. They might not be perfectly happy in their lives, but they are on the whole happier and not suffering as they have in the primary universe. The only exception I can think of is Bernard and Rose, perhaps Desmond and Penny too, but there seems to be some hope for happiness for them in the parallel universe.
Playboy TV content played on children’s television
by Matt Wharton on March 17, 2010
BBC News reports that adult content from Playboy was accidentally played out on children’s TV.
TV bosses in the US have apologised after preview clips of the Playboy channel were accidentally played out on two children’s channels.
“We’re very, very sorry it happened – we know parents are concerned,” spokesman Keith Poston told local news station WRAL.
“It took about an hour or so once we were notified of the problem to actually get it fixed.
“It was a technical glitch and unfortunately it hit at the worst possible time on the worst possible channels,” he added.
The error occurred on the Kids On Demand and Kids Preschool On Demand channels where clips from Playboy TV appeared in the top right hand corner.
I suppose it could have been a glitch, but if it was then it was by accident the worst possible mix up of TV programming possible.
Also it seems to have taken quite a while for it to have been fixed once they had been notified. Could they not have simply taken the entire channel off the air?
It seems more likely to me that this was a deliberate and malicious act by somebody, perhaps a disgruntled former employee, that has access to the computer system used to automate the process of putting content on air.
Lost: Which dead people are really the man in black
by Matt Wharton on March 10, 2010
It has been established that the Man in Black is the Smoke Monster and has now taken the form of Locke.
Illana says that since Jacob is now dead that the Smoke Monster cannot taken any other form other than that of Locke. http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/The_Substitute
Back in episode http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/The_Man_Behind_the_Curtain Ben follows his mother into the jungle and then has a meeting with Richard who asks whether his mum died on the island?
We now know that the Man in Black can take the form of dead people whose corpses are on the island
But what about people who died elsewhere?
Can Jacob perform that feat but the Man in Black cannot? Was the vision of Emily Linus a manifestation of Jacob?
How did Hurley get out of his car?
by Matt Wharton on March 2, 2010
With all the mysteries that are confounding people in Lost it seems that for many people that THE most important question of Season 6 is:
How did Hurley get out of his car after parking so close to Locke’s van?!
To my mind that’s an easy one, he got out on the passenger side.
In this parallel timeline his best friend Johnny instead of deserting Hurley when he found out about the lottery win and running off with Starla, the girl Hurley was in love with, instead remains his best friend and becomes his driver.
Hurley is such a nice bloke that he gave his arsehole former boss Randy a job – of course he’s going to have given Johnny a job too. And what better job than getting to hang out with your best friend and drive him around all day. Johnny is Turtle to Hurley’s Vincent Chase. And Johnny is a pretty skinny guy so would easily be able to get out of the driver side after having parked so close to Locke’s car.
When Hurley meets Locke in the car park Johnny had probably just gone off to get some fried chicken or something so the scene looks a little incongruous.
A Timeline of the ‘Lost’ Universe
by Matt Wharton on February 2, 2010
The New York Times have produced an interactive Timeline of the ‘Lost’ Universe to help us Lost addicts keep straight in our heads the non-linear flow of the events of the previous five seasons.