Site Columns

By Caillan
April 18, 2004 - 8:52 AM

Hello World!

Welcome to the first edition of Caillan's "Alias (and Gilmore Girls) Sunday"! Spoilers abound for Alias season three and Gilmore Girls season four. If you don't want to be spoiled, or you just think I'm totally wrong about "Phase One", fly like the wind.

Alias season three has been a mixed bag, with only one stand-out episode out of the first eight: "Prelude". Sloane and Sydney on a mission together. Lauren having a gun held to her head. Jack going back to his morally ambivalent ways. Vaughn facing off with Jack. The following episode, "Breaking Point", was really just filler, despite the stunt-casting of Richard Roundtree, but did have one plus: Lauren once again being held hostage.

Lauren, like the show, has been wishy-washy. Melissa George's acting has a tendency to look very unconvincing at times, a matter made worse by her inderterimate accent. Is she British? Australian? An alien from the planet Zork? Her break-out into a strong Aussie accent during her car park confrontation with Vaughn in "Prelude" caused much mirth in my household. My bias against her character is clear though, since I shout "Nasty Evil Woman" at the TV every time she comes into the room. Not that I'm desperate to see Sydney and Vaughn back together after the sickening love fest that was the second half of season two. Television love is so much more exciting when it's not smooth sailing.

Until "Prelude", Victor Garber, one of the show's top assets, has been woefully underused so far this season. Instead we've had terrible scenes of Marshall playing the drums. And when Sloane used to do the mission briefings, Ron Rifkin made them sound exciting, and dangerous...with Carl Lumbly it sounds like a trip to the shopping mall. The show is still trying to find itself in its new incarnation, and unfortunately it's paling in comparison to the glory days of season one, and to some extent, season two.

Another show that is going through adjustments this season is Gilmore Girls. However, I'm finding that the transition is being handled better than it is on Alias. The show seems to be accepting its new incarnation with grace and sensibility, with different plotlines for Lorelai and Rory that occasionally intersect. And with Kelly Bishop, Edward Herrmann and Liza Weil still around, you can't go wrong. I was in stitches when Paris ditched her new "I want to be popular" persona and ordered all the beer-swilling students out of their dorm room. (In other news, American Idol is on TV now, and Jon Peter Lewis is murdering "Jailhouse Rock"...it isn't pretty. Edit: Arrrghhh..."My Heart Will Go On"...kill me now).

Until next week!

Trek BBS Today

Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:

- When did you make the jump from casual viewer to Trekker/Trekkie?

- Have you been watching William Shatner on The Practice?

- How fast do Klingons mature?

More topics can be found at the Trek BBS!

Trek Two Years Ago

These were some of the major news items in mid-April, 2002:

DS9 Coming To DVD In 2003?
It was reported that Deep Space Nine would be the next series to follow The Next Generation in receiving the DVD boxed set treatment. Also in DVD news, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was in the works as a two-disc special edition set.
Temporal War Could Have Been Separate Show
Brannon Braga, executive producer of Enterprise, revealed the Temporal Cold War storyline could have served as the basis for a whole series. "It would be great to do a show that takes place in a different time period every week, and you have these sleeper agents in all different time periods," he said.
DS9 Future Lies In Books, Says Behr
Deep Space Nine's guiding light, Ira Steven Behr said he would sign up for a movie based on the series without hesitation, but added that was unlikely to happen.
"I believe that the future lies in these books that I hear they are doing to continue it. I just think it's much easier to have the Enterprise back. To have a ship back. It's a lot safer. Deep Space Nine was a bold experiment. It did not have the ratings."

More news can be found in the April 2002 news archives.

Poll Results

Below are the results of the most recent TrekToday poll:

Do you think the Xindi story arc has re-energised 'Enterprise'?
Yes, the show's much better than it was in the first two seasons!	57.5% - (860 Votes)
I don't think 'Enterprise' has changed at all	14.3% - (214 Votes)
Re-energised? The show didn't need re-energising!	10.8% - (162 Votes)
No, it's gone downhill this season	8.6% - (130 Votes)
Xindi? Season Three? Enterprise?	8.6% - (129 Votes)
Total Votes: 1495