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The Internets are buzzing with talk that the new remake of V is, in part, a jab at Barak Obama and his legion of supporters. One great example comes from the Chicago Tribune:

Imagine this. At a time of political turmoil, a charismatic, telegenic new leader arrives virtually out of nowhere. He offers a message of hope and reconciliation based on compromise and promises to marshal technology for a better future that will include universal health care.

The news media swoons in admiration — one simpering anchorman even shouts at a reporter who asks a tough question: “Why don’t you show some respect?!” The public is likewise smitten, except for a few nut cases who circulate batty rumors on the Internet about the leader’s origins and intentions. The leader, undismayed, offers assurances that are soothing, if also just a tiny bit condescending: “Embracing change is never easy.”

I know her hair is shorter now, but c'mon ... a man?

Other than confusing Morena Baccarin with a man (which frankly is not a mistake easily made) the above is a description of V. Also, as Glenn Garvin goes on to explain, Barak Obama.

Well, put in that light I guess it could apply to President Obama. However, this seems to me to be a case of seeing what we want to see. Let’s break down the points and show why they don’t really apply.

Point 1: In a time of trouble, a charismatic leader appears. Put that way, this certainly could apply to President Obama. Except for one thing: This is pulled directly from the original V series in 1983. In that there was also a time of trouble (massive recession that the country was only just leaving, a very scary Cold War and the rise of fundamentalist Islam). So basically the show is following the plot of the original.

Point 2: He offers a message of hope and reconciliation based on compromise and promises to marshal technology for a better future that will include universal health care. Again, the 1983 Original did just this as well. The aliens offered hope, new technologies and universal health care. They didn’t call it “Universal Health Care” in 1983, not sure the term had entered the zeitgeist by that point, but they did open clinics, cure cancer, etc. So the only real difference between the old and the new is that the new used the current terminology. How evil of them!

Point 3: The news media swoons in admiration — one simpering anchorman even shouts at a reporter who asks a tough question: “Why don’t you show some respect?!” I would argue that except for one guy, Chad Decker, most of the media was shouting tough questions. But whatever. Again, this is pulled directly from the 1983 original. There was even a “Chad Decker” role, though it was a female anchorwoman.

Point 4: The public is likewise smitten, except for a few nut cases who circulate batty rumors on the Internet about the leader’s origins and intentions. The leader, undismayed, offers assurances that are soothing, if also just a tiny bit condescending: “Embracing change is never easy.” Not to sound like a broken record here but … this was also in the 1983 original. The whole world embraced the aliens right away - giving up factory space, political power - everything - because they loved the aliens so much. There was only a small group that believed that the aliens were evil and they were widely disregarded.

So unless the writers of the original V traveled back in time to write the original show, V has nothing to do with President Obama.

So what is V about? Only one episode of the new V has aired so far (with another new one tonight), but if it follows the pattern of the original at

Connect the dots people ...

all (as it has done so far) it will be about the dangers of giving in to totalitarianism. Heck, the original didn’t dance around the issue at all, making the aliens Nazis. I mean, check out the original symbol for the 1983 V’s. Look familiar? Even the plot was about how the aliens were locking up all scientists and putting them into camps, and later storing them for snacking on. And just in case the audience *still* missed it, they had a Holocaust Survivor explaining how much like the Holocaust this was.

So why are people so willing to believe that a show about totalitarianism is about Obama? I mean, sure, there are nut cases out there that think he became president for that reason, or to destroy America, or whatever. But has it gone so far now that when we see anything on TV that deals in that area we think of our president?

On one side we have conservatives who love thinking this show is about president Obama - I mean, if it is than the show is painting him as someone who wants to take over the world and possibly eat its people.

On the other side we have liberals who think that this is the conservative view of Obama and are then offended by it.

Insanity. People please - stop comparing a show about giant lizards who (possibly) wish to eat us to President Obama. That is just crazy talk.

Instead, just enjoy what looks to be a very good Sci-Fi series.

Matthew TV Shows Morena Baccarin, Obama, V

I will freely admit it: I love Doctor Who. I am a recent convert, I will admit, but am now caught up on the most recent seasons of Doctor Who, from 2005 to present, with the 9th and 10th Doctors. I have even started checking out some of the older Dr. Who programs and have to admit, while the “effects” are pure, grade A cheese, the stories are quite good.

I say all this to lead up to this Dalek costume. It is awesome! The wearer is in a wheelchair that has been rigged up to look like the fearsome Dalek.

(via Make)

Matthew TV Shows costume, Dalek, Doctor Who

Dear Heroes writers, producers, etc:

The show stinks. I am sure you have heard this before. And perhaps you have even been told it is because of specific plot-lines or characters. But I am here to tell you the problem isn’t always with the story-line or even the characters: It is because you use the same plot device over and over again. I call this plot device “I must do this alone”.

See how they are all standing there - together? Yeah, this never actually happens in the show.

Let’s look at some quick examples from this season. Peter Patrelli won’t join forces with Noah or anyone else, because he feels that he alone must atone for the “sins” that they all committed.

Matt Parkman sees Sylar in his head (which is actually a cool plot-line that has been dropped the last 2 episodes). He knows he needs help, but he is going to do this alone.

Tracy Sanders also turned down Noah, because she wanted to go it alone. Now, in her case, she changed her mind. Decided to take Noah up on his offer. But by this time the “I must do this alone” syndrome had hit Noah too, so he turned her down.

Claire Bennet has almost always, to some degree, wanted to do it alone. That certainly hasn’t changed this season.

Even the new, rather lame, “hero” that can see sound as color wanted to just deal with everything alone.

The result is that the villains, this year in the form of carnies, are able to mess with each hero rather easily since they don’t even compare notes, let alone work together. This is lame. It is boring. I just keep wondering why NONE of these people have learned, in four years, that working together is what works best.

Toward the end of season 3 I even had a small hope that this would happen, as a lot of them sat down in a diner and discussed recreating The Company, but for good purposes. This could have been very cool. Heroes working together, finding other heroes and fighting villains - this would have made for some solid story-lines and episodes. So of course this didn’t happen - because everyone felt they needed to, you got it, do this alone.

Look - the lone hero thing can be awesome. Batman pulls it off. So does Spider-Man. Superman too. On your own show it is perfectly fine when Sylar is on his own. Because he is evil (and, when you give him a good story, awesome). But this is an ensemble cast - not a show about one hero. So having everyone just stay apart and act like snotty, overly dramatic teenagers is boring. It also leads to story-lines being dropped, since you have so many running around (like the Matt Parkman/Sylar story-line and the Tracy story-line, which have just gone away) I am not asking for the Justice League, or corny costumes - just a group that even loosely works together would be nice.

Please - I want to like this show. I love most of the characters - you have a top-notch cast. But you need to change things up a bit and make a new rule around the writing table: No more “I have to do this alone” story-lines.

Sincerely,

Me.

Matthew TV Shows Heroes