Falling Skies

I watched episode 1 of this ‘sci-fi’ show tonight and was almost instantly disappointed. I suppose it could get better, but so far it is no BSG and doesn’t look like it will be capable of being one.

I could be wrong. It could improve, but for now I don’t think it will. I’m sure I’ll still watch it, but I’m not hopeful of that being a worthwhile experience.

Caprica

I watched what I assume was the final episode of Caprica the other night. I shan’t spoil the story for you if it is something that you might watch at some point, but the series has been on my mind for a while now so I thought I’d jot down a few notes about it.

I was really pleased that there was going to be a BSG prequel. I really enjoyed BSG and the thought of something that would run right up to the start of the series was a great idea.

Although I found Caprica slow and at times overly complex, it was in many ways very similar in structure to BSG and so there was a common theme within it, That worked, and worked well I thought, but I could understand people finding it too slow and intricate to stick with. Taken together, then entire BSG stories form an amazing re-telling of the original 80’s series. If you put them side by side I think it could be hard to recognise one as the start point for the other even though they share many of the same characters.

Caprica, even though it is a prequel almost defined the point at which BSG diverged from the original, which is a strange way to tell a story, but for me it worked.

I think at some point I’d like to watch the whole thing again, but perhaps that might be too big an undertaking, and perhaps it would damage my memory of BSG as can often happen when you re-watch something.

I’m glad I stuck with Caprica. I wish there was something else that could come from the BSG universe, but I can’t see how. Maybe the franchise has run it’s course, but then again, money talks and with the following it has perhaps someone will want to squeeze more out of it. If they do I’ll give it a go, but I hope it isn’t at the expense of quality.

The Last of the Current Series: Sarah Jane Adventures

It was the last episode in the current series tonight and it was brilliant!

I really think that this show has been one of the best children’s shows in a long time, and in many ways it is better than Dr Who, certainly better than many of the David Tenant series, Matt Smith has been a big improvement in my book.

But The Sarah Jane Adventures has always delivered as far as I’m concerned, and not just for children. Each story has been well thought through and superbly executed. For a spin off series it has done really well and I’m looking forward to the next series in 2011.

More SJA! Keep up the good work BBC!