Pluto not a planet, Battlestar Galactica Series 2 and 3, and Blades Of Glory

by Parsley on Mon, 2009/01/12 - 1:22am Post to Twitter

PARSLEY'S COMMLOCK Interplanetary News: Pluto no longer a planet I failed a recent general knowledge quiz because I wrongly said that there were 9 planets in the solar system, not knowing that an international committee declassified Pluto as a planet in 2006. Bastards. I only recently realised that this would have a bearing on 'Astronomy Domine', the opening track of Syd Barrett/Pink Floyd's masterwork first album 'The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn' where Syd can be heard saying 'Pluto discovered 1930'. Now someone suitable (Arthur Brown perhaps?) will have to add 'declassified 2006'. DVD review: Battlestar Galactica Seasons 2 and 3 My friend Mario has been on a crusade to get me to watch this very excellent show, which has been cancelled more recently. Battlestar Galactica subverts the remake genre, and uses the format of the old show to tell stories that bring the issues of war, terrorism, religion and politics alive. Bizarrely it's making me fascinated to go back and look at the much-criticised original to see what kind of stories it told. I began watching season 2 of the new version some time ago. It was absolutely compulsive viewing despite covering subjects like torture and some pretty grim ground war moments. However I was starting to get worried that I was going to run out of episodes and so managed to stop watching. Now that series 3 is out on DVD Mario convinced me to start watching again and then came the compulsion to keep watching a further episode each time one ends. It almost feels like a computer game in the way you are drawn in. The Cylons (bad guys, or at least it seems like) take human form and display more and more human characteristics, although they are rather more cavalier because when killed they are able to get 'resurrected' into new bodies with their consciousness intact. A lot of the action concerns humans' behaviour with each other under pressure. In one episode some humans take others hostage, demanding the execution of a captured Cylon. In another episode the President risks rigging an election because she is so concerned that her opponent will be a disaster. I think the show capitalises on the aspects of the Borg that made them such a compelling bunch of baddies in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Like the Borg, the Cylon machines learn from their mistakes and immediately know how to avoid them. They are unflinchingly relentless in their all-consuming behaviour once determined. Humans, on the other hand, are in a mad scramble to try and escape, survive and think of some stray crumb of information that might give them a hope in hell. Like The Borg, this fear of Cylons breaks down, or is at least confused, when they start to develop a human face or motivation. The Borg Queen was like the Wicked Witch of The West, and consequently not really scary. Over time in the series heroes and villains trade places, and I for one have been drawn in to where it will all lead. Apparently it leads to the cancelling of the series, but not until it has held a powerful sci-fi mirror up to the world's face, and won several awards along the way. Film Review : Blades of Glory Caught up with this on DVD the other day. It echoes the spirit of Zoolander, the fashion parody film starring Ben Stiller, who gets a production credit here. Will Ferrell and Jon Heder star as figure skating champions who get disqualified for bad behaviour and then team up to make a comeback. The idea of ice figure skating being a sport borders on the surreal and may have been an inspiration for the 1968 TV play 'The Year Of The Sex Olympics'. The normal sporting measures of speed, strength, fitness and ability are combined to bizarre purpose as ballet movements, costumes & co-ordination with a themed piece of music attempt to earn points from judges who I personally find it difficult to think of as objective. The comedy suggests that this surrealism spills out beyond the competition itself to the characters of the participants and those around them. These include the billionaire adopting Heder's character with the express purpose of winning Olympic gold, and an obsessed stalking nerd who helps Heder whilst believing he will ultimately murder him. Heder has a credible lightness for the role, whereas Ferrell tends to remind me more of Jack Black's Nacho Libre when he's in Lycra suits. There are also echoes of Kingpin in the 'riches to rags and back to possible riches' narrative, and the whole thing is brought to a suitable tumultuous climax in the scramble to win the competition at the end against contrived but entertaining odds. Overall review: thumbs mildly up. Good hearted comedy with some sharp one-liners and accomplished set pieces. parsley@gardenrecords.com [www.gardenrecords.com]