Live Blogging "Flash Forward"

With all the new shows and new seasons of returning shows starting up, the Pop Wenches thought we'd try something new (for this blog anyway) and do a little live blogging commentary on a few shows.  First up, the new ABC show FlashForward!  Spoilers up the ying-yang, needless to say . . .

8:00PM - Clearly Joseph Fiennes and a whole lotta ppeople are having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. I think Dude Smushed in his Car and Flambeed Dude get to claim the top of that list.

8:02PM - Is anyone else thinking that it's weird hearing Joseph Fiennes speak without a British accent? Oh look!  It's Brannon Braga's name in the credits.  Hope this show is better than the last incarnation of Star Trek television series he worked on was. And what kind of jobs do JF and wife do to have a gorgeous house with a backyard with that view??!

8:05PM - More Star Trek adjacent goodness in the form of John Cho. And "Islands in the Stream" for a first dance at a wedding?  Oh hell no!  Love the Lost callout in the form of the Oceanic Airlines billboard in the background.

8:08PM - Here comes our glimpses of the flashbacks!

8:09PM - My theory after seeing JF's flashback?  An enemy country figured out how to aerosolize LSD and everyone just had an acid trip for the ages.  Ouch.  It sooooo sucks to be Flambeed Dude.  And that view of the 101 freeway in Downtown LA?  Trust me, that's not much different from how it looks in real life during peak commute hours . . . or Friday nights as everyone heads out to the Hollywood clubs.  Not liking the helicopter crashing into the building and shades of 9/11.

8:15PM - Wow.  They just had an Asian male character be assertive on television without him being a martial arts master or or an Asian mobster.  Don't see that happen very often.  Kudos to the writers already!  And a kangaroo in the street??  Talk about a Quantas WTF?

8:20PM - Desperate Housewives ad on the wrecked bus in the background. Real subtle cross-promotion ABC. *eyeroll*  And if Olivia (Sonya Walger) is a surgeon, I guess that explains the beautiful house.  And where's her surgeon's mask if she's operating?  Heck, none of them are wearing one.  Does blacking out make one forget about the danger of infectious diseases?

8:24PM - April 29, 2010.  So I wonder what kind of FlashForward promo stunts will be held on that date. Heck, ABC did candy bar giveaways a few years ago in cities around the country for a summertime Lost ARG . . .

8:29PM - The Walt Disney Concert Hall smoking in the background outside the window.  Not a Gehry-designed building! Don't mess up one with acoustics that amazing!

8:32PM - LOL at the poor FBI director(?) with the vision of himself on the crapper.  Will there be a new class sytem because of these visions?  Those who had cool visions and those who had lame ones?

8:38PM - And now we're getting into the whole issue of whether the future is already set in stone or whether following these visions is going to make that exact future a reality.  Always an interesting dilemma and one I'm sure they'll revisit many times during this show.  They've already put out just enough of a tease through Mark's (Joseph Fiennes) vision that I'm curious to see where this story goes.  Way to go with getting me hooked on another show!  Wonder how many Pop Wenches readers are feeling the same way?

8:41PM - And now the religious angle . . . from the character who was having decidedly premarital sex when the blackout hit. Interesting writer's choice/juxtaposition.  And from the character who was literally ready to commit suicide.  Very, very interesting.

8:48PM - V promo!  I still remember being totally creeped out by a very famous scene in the original V television mini-series.  *shudder*  Not crazy about Morena Bacarin with short hair.  She's a gorgeous woman, but much more so with long hair (see her as Adria in the last two seasons of SG1).

8:50PM - Etta James' "At Last" for Mark and Olivia's wedding song?  Either it's bad music or predictable music for weddings?  Oh, Olivia!  This would have been an excellent time to lie, lie, LIE about your flash forward!  She just confirmed (of course) Mark's worst nightmare.  Again, the question of self-fulfilling prophecies raises it's ugly head.

8:53PM - Well hello Jack Davenport!  You look much better here than you did in the last Pirates of the Caribbean movie.  And why do you get to keep your British accent when none of your fellow FlashForward cast members do?

8:54PM - Okay, I'm getting creepy, not-a-normal-kid vibes from Mark and Olivia's daughter.  Anyone else feel the same way?

8:56PM - Seeing the one person who didn't pass out gave me the creeps too.  Why isn't he(?) freaking out that everyone around him has passed out for 2:17 seconds?  I'd be running around doing Freaked Out Jazz Hands!

8:59PM - Dominic Monaghan!  Dominic Monaghan in a suit looking quite good.  Knew he was joining the show thanks to spoilers and his TCA appearance, of course, but still can't wait to see him.  I'll be tuning in to FlashForward again next week -- will you?

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TV News: Whedon Spills "Dollhouse" Spoilers, View 18 Mins of "FlashForward"

- SCI FI Wire has posted a list of nine spoilers for season two of Dollhouse as revealed by Joss Whedon himself.  If you want to find out juicy tidbits like when Ray Wise's character is joining the show and what role the lovely Summer Glau will be play, click here! [SCI FI Wire]

- ABC has posted some wicked video clips online in anticipation of the series premiere of FlashForward and the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy on September 24.

Check out the 18 minute clip from FlashForward, which boasts an impressive cast including Joseph Fiennes, John Cho, Dominic Monaghan, Sonya Walger and Jack Davenport.

This six minute clip from Grey's took my breath away, even though it's well known that T.R. Knight has left the show.  Afterall, Shonda Rimes is more than capable of giving the audience the ending they expect, while still turning everything we were assumed about the path to that ending on its head.  The video caption on ABC's site however, gives away a bit too much considering the shock value of the clip.  And how fantastic is Sara Ramirez ("Callie Torres") in the clip and on the show?

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TV News: Spielberg Pursuing Wylie, Exec Producer Talks Flash Forward, More Monaghan Rumors

- According to EW's Michael Ausiello, Steven Spielberg wants Librarian and ER alum Noah Wylie to star in his upcoming alien-invasion pilot, a project that was announced at the TNT upfronts. The show would be set six months after evil alien forces overwhelm Earth, and Wylie would be "the leader of a ragtag group of citizens who try to bring down the aggressors." [Entertainment Weekly]

- Marc Guggenheim, executive producer for the fall sci-fi drama Flash Forward wants fans to know that the new series won't drive them nuts for years the way Lost has. Flash Forward "begins when every person on Earth blacks out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds, during which time each as a vision of his or her future six months from now."  The ABC show boasts an impressive cast including Joseph Fiennes, John Cho, Jack Davenport (Pirates of the Caribbean) and Courtney B. Vance.  Click here to read the interview with Guggenheim. [SCI FI Wire]

- Speaking of Flash Forward and Lost, after the rampant speculation sparked by an ABC promo, the latest rumors have Dominic Monaghan joining the cast of Flash Forward a couple of eps into the show's first season and possibly making a return to Lost as the erstwhile Charlie Pace. [E! Online]

- A&E has officially cancelled The Beast, the gritty cop drama starring Patrick Swayze. Swayze has earned kudos throughout the industry for delivering a hard-nosed portrayal of the lead character while battling pancreatic cancer in real life. [Associated Press via Yahoo! News]

- The One Tree Hill role that was originally intended for Brian Austin Green has gone to Robert Buckley (Lipstick Jungle) after a deal with the 90210 alum couldn't be reached. [Hollywood Reporter]

- Primeval, a UK-produced show that airs on SciFi in States, has been cancelled after three seasons. [SCI FI Wire]

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Confessions of a Star Trek virgin

Warning: spoilers ahead.

The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Star Wars, and (more recently) Doctor Who — these are all the sci-fi TV and movie franchises I've been able to get into over the years. But for some reason, unlike my fellow bloggers here at Pop Wenches, I could never get into Star Trek. For one thing, I didn't know where to begin with all the spin-offs and movies. And frankly, I could never get into the random episodes I caught here and there. I knew enough about Star Trek to understand pop culture references, but I decided to leave it at that.

Then J.J. Abrams, who recently admitted he was never much of a Trekkie, came along and decided to give the series a bit of a reboot with a new movie. And suddenly, I found myself excited about the cast, especially Zachary Quinto, John Cho, Simon Pegg, Eric Bana, and Karl Urban. When I saw the trailer, I figured I didn't really need to know much more than I did about Star Trek, so I decided that I would check out the movie. And I actually wound up seeing it early this past Friday.

Readers, I have a confession to make: I loved every minute of it. Sure there were some plot holes here and there, and sure aspects of it were a little formulaic. But you know what else? It was fun, and not the crappy kind of fun movies like Wolverine and Constantine have been for me. (What? We all have our guilty pleasures). It was a classic space adventure with a lovely blend of wisecracks and serious moments, and a cast that made me wish I were onboard the Enterprise.[bxA]

Here are some of the things I enjoyed:

• The casting, which excited me the most, did not disappoint. I've been tired of seeing Sylar on Heroes, but I really enjoyed seeing Zachary Quinto play Spock. And I especially enjoyed the interaction between different characters, during both serious and slapstick moments. (I couldn't stop laughing at the "Stop it!" exchange between Kirk and McCoy when the latter kept following Kirk around to give him a shot in the neck every couple of minutes). John Cho's Sulu and Anton Yelchin's Chekov were also a ton of fun to watch. It was also a treat to see Simon Pegg as "Scotty" — you could tell he was enjoying playing the part.

• The action sequences were tons of fun, and the visuals were lovely (lens flares and all). These are just the sorts of things you need for a summertime action flick, and I felt all of this was done so much better than it was in last week's Wolverine. The scenery was lovely too — I really enjoyed what we got to see of Vulcan (until its demise).

• I actually did get emotional over certain aspects of the storyline. I found myself tearing up during Kirk's father's death (early in the film), and I also felt sad for Spock when he saw his mother die in front of his eyes. 

• Interestingly enough, the parts that had me feeling the most verklempt were those featuring Leonard Nimoy. Despite not being an actual Star Trek fan, I have to admit that so much of Star Trek has seeped into pop culture over the years, that it's hard to deny how iconic the original actors were. I actually gasped at Nimoy's first proper appearance, and I cheered on the inside when we finally got to see him stand face to face with Quinto's Spock. It was fun to see the metaphorical torch get passed along...

• ... and it was also fun to see Nimoy's Spock poke a little fun at the whole "rip in the space/time continuum" trope that is so rampant in the sci-fi/comics/fantasy genres. 

As previously mentioned, I will admit that there were some gaps in the plot, and Nero was a bit of an idiot at times. And maybe there were some elements that purists were not happy to see (I've seen some people complain about this alternate timeline even though I have gathered that Star Trek is one of those franchises that has always seemed to mess with different timelines). But as someone new to the franchise, I have to say that it was a successful reboot from my point of view. I actually find myself wanting to sit down and watch some of the original series, while checking out some of the spin-offs as well. In fact, after the movie was over, I found myself curious to learn more about Vulcans, Romulans and the Starfleet Academy.

I also had another thought, and I'm not sure if it's something that has occurred to everyone who watched and enjoyed the movie. But even though I was never a Trekker or a Trekkie to begin with, there was something truly comforting about seeing Star Trek on the big screen in today's world. It's no secret that the world is a mess right now. And in times of distress (such as during the Great Depression), people often find comfort in certain forms of entertainment. Star Trek has been around for decades, and seeing it brought back to life — revitalized with some twists added to an old formula featuring an iconic group of characters — was oddly comforting for someone like me. It was nice to sit in that theater, alongside longtime fans, and bond over a world where someone may bid you to "Live long and prosper."

At this point, I can honestly say that I'm looking forward to whatever may be next for Star Trek.

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