ABC is trying once again to form a weekly TV series based on the popular Jack Nicholson/Cher film “Eastwick”, about a trio of witches that are drawn together around a mysterious, dark figure of a man as their powers are unleashed.  The film premise was about the witches finally coming around to undo his evil, which lends itself to the series in a more protracted way.

The casting in this show is stupendous. The trio of witches are Rebecca Romijin, Lindsay Price and Jaime Ray Newman.  The three are perfectly cast- they fit well together as well as stand apart as memorable.

The powers they have just begun to unlock of unqiue to themselves- Rebecca’s Roxie (Roxanne) is a hippy-like, Earth loving free spirit that was peddling inferior new-age crafts at local markets before being swept into the mysterious Daryl’s (Paul Gross) irresistable force upon having her powers unlocked.  A self-proclaimed psychic, suddenly Roxie’s visions actually become a reality- she develops into a true psychic, able to see glimpses of the near future.

Lindsay’s Joanna is a struggling journalist who is in dire love with a photographer at the newspaper, seeking a promotion to write more meaningful articles with a sleazy boss who gives her no respect.  After Daryl’s arrival, Joanna suddenly has the power to charm men by staring into their eyes and speaking commands- even forcing a kiss out of her crush before she realizes that it’s the wrong thing to do.  However, flush on the realization of her new power, she has no qualms about “telling” her boss to give her the promotion, a raise and all the money in his wallet (a scene that hints at the humor that will be layered in the show.)

And my favorite, Kat- the adorable Jaime Ray Newman- is a mentally abused, hard working mother of five with a sleeze-ball lazy deadbeat of a husband who blames her for being a failure when she has the audacity to suggest he get a job.  Kat’s powers unlock as those of the greatest mother of all- Mother Nature- and she ends up thrusting a small earthquake upon her husband before later hitting him with a lightning bolt- all unaware of the dangerous powers she possesses.

The pilot establishes the characters quite well, leaves some great room for growth, and already points to the dark side of Daryl- he threatens to kill a young man who was trying to rape Roxie’s daughter, and Joanna’s friend provides her evidence that Daryl is supposed to be dead, per an autopsy report.  There is plenty of room for the show to grow and continue to expand while keeping a central theme going.

Layering the drama with light-hearted comedy should be a winning formula- the previews for next week show Roxie encountering a man who she had a vision of murdering her.  As the three witches look out Roxie’s store window, the attractive young man approches the store front, and Kat and Joanna begin waving at him, finding him cute.  Roxie’s retort? “Don’t wave at my murderer!”

I think that given a chance, Eastwick could be television magic.

Eastwick
ABC
Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m.

Dream Analysis: A remake of the old Jack Nicholson/Cher film (actually the second remake, if I recall) but with a killer cast.  The beautiful (and I do mean it) witches are Rebecca Romijn, Lindsay Price, and the delicious, adorable, beautiful, heart-thumping Jaime Ray Newman.
Dream Value: Eastwick presents the possibility of an “adult” version of Charmed-  plenty of possibility to mix drama, sex, magic and humor all into the cauldron and come out with plenty of quality entertainment.  This isn’t going to be on the quality level of Lost, going down in TV history, but it’s going to be a quality weekly watch for those of us seeking something other than yet another medical/lawyer/crime drama.  Minimum DVR taping, but most will be fans enough to watch it that night- live or within a few hours of airing.
Dream Length: The show just premiered, and hopefully will be given a fair shake to run for five seasons, at least.  You simply never know with the TV executives nowadays, who still seem to think shows can pull in 17 million viewers regularly.  Eastwick is an hour long show.
Nightmares: It’s too early to see if anything is really missing here, or if the plots become cliche, etc.  But the initial pilot was highly promising, establishing the Witches’ first powers and their exposure to each other, the dark force they become centered around, and the means by which they fall in together.  The only nightmare potential here is going to be plot-based- the cast is too good to have a failing on that end.

Everyone’s least-favorite rebranded network, the Syfy Channel (formerly the more appropriate and less offensive Sci-Fi Channel) has run a number of episodes of it’s latest Sci-Fi original work- Warehouse 13.

The premise of the show is quite simple- two Secret Service agents are reassigned to work at a mysterious Warehouse in the middle of … South Dakota. One agent, Pete (Eddie McClintock) is a known trouble-maker with a laid back, open-minded and playful attitude. Pete acts on “vibes” he gets (that always turn out true, but have no scientific basis- a sixth sense, if you will). The other agent, Myka (Joanne Kelly) is serious, practical and emotional. She was on the fast-track to the top of her career before a busted operation derailed her rise to power.

Familiar with each other, yet not friendly, they are thrust together into a world they never knew existed within (and without) the Warehouse.  They are suddenly under the terse, gruff command of Artie (Saul Rubinek, who so far steals the show) who has straightforward jobs for them.  Out there in the wide world are countless “artifacts” that exist, and they are to be “snagged, tagged and bagged”.

What type of artifacts?  Louis Carroll’s mirror- which holds Alice’s evil spirit within it.  A chair, that sits in a Priest’s office in a church, that causes anyone to sit in it to act upon their deepest desires.  A sword, that when held by the wielder, deflects light around them- resulting in invisibility.  All of the artificats are tied into historical events, people, places and concepts- normally with a “twist” to the legend as we know them.

Pete and Myka are therefore sent to investigate, find and retrieve these items from whoever holds them in order to return to the Warehouse, where they are “neutralized” (via use of a purple goo that Artie admits he doesn’t even know how it works) and added to the ever-growing list of items in their database.

Clever touches, such as Pete and Myka using an old-fashioned video-communication device to communicate with Artie (high quality webcam on the go!), as well as their wielding a Tesla gun- capable of shocking an opponent into submission and causing short-term memory loss (created by Tesla, of course) make use of some of the show’s magical gizmos.

A late addition to the cast is Claudia (the adorable Allison Scagliotti) who has important history with Artie, and ends up joining the team as a type of aide for him- however, Claudia is a true genius whiz-kid of the highest degree, and often when Artie’s close-minded stubbornness gets in his own way,Claudia builds a new gizmo out of Warehouse artifacts and saves the day.

To date, most of the episodes have revolved around Pete and Myka going out to retrieve artifacts, but a recent one revolved around things going awry inside the Warehouse with it’s infinite rows of magical items just waiting to be “explored”.  Hopefully as the show progresses, they’ll split between snagging outside artifacts with stories involving the artifacts already on their shelves.  There’s got to be some great things laying in wait on the shelves to create havoc.

The show does play somewhat like the X-Files, there’s no avoiding that comparison.  Male / female government agents, he’s open-minded and fun, she’s serious and emotional- I mean, this is Mulder and Scully 2.0.  Though, the actors are doing a great job making these characters their own, so over time they should distance themselves from the comparison.  Another major difference is that the show is more light-hearted.  Even when the artifacts are dangerous and/or deadly, there’s no hint of the darkness that the X-Files enjoyed layering it’s shows with- Warehouse 13 is not out to scare anyone, and Pete and Myka’s relationship- while having the same sexual tension as Mulder and Scully, is far more playful with each other.  They strike the viewer as brother/sister more than will they/won’t they on a sexual vibe.

Overall the show is quite fun now that it’s getting into its stride, and the Syfy Channel is doing a great job bringing guest stars from its other shows to draw viewers-  recently having actors from Eureka and Stargate: Atlantis on.  Television first seasons are notorious for being the weakest- there’s a lot of character building to do, and the actors need to establish their roles, but Warehouse 13 is already well along this path.

Considering the death of so many other Sci-Fi shows in the last year, Warehouse 13 is a solid bet for simple, straightfoward Sci-Fi fun.  It’s not a magical artifact in need of preserving on a shelf in a Warehouse, but it’s worth a slot on your weekly DVR schedule for certain.

Dream Value: This is a fun show that you’ll likely set for DVR viewing at your preferred time- it’s not necessarily must-see-live TV.  The premise is fun and the show is worthy of a solid run, 4-6 seasons.
Dream Analysis: Partly X-Files: The Next Generation, instead of dealing with supernatural “events”, the show is dealing with supernatural “artifacts” of historical legend (or at least derived from historical concepts). The lead characters are definitely Mulder and Scully template-clones, but should develop enough of a different feel by the second season.
Nightmares: None to be had.  The show is not dark and scary, there’s plenty of humor, and there are no technical complaints.  In fact, the special effects are extremely well done- nothing hokey has appeared on the show to this point.  This is fun viewing, though I wouldn’t go so far as to proclaim it kid-friendly.  There are sexual innuendos and violence, including death.  But for adults- nothing complaint worthy!

Warehouse 13

Syfy Channel, Tuesdays at 9:00 EST
Starring: Eddie McClintock, Joanne Kelly, Saul Rubinek, Allison Scagliotta

Unless you don’t keep up to date on the movie industry very well, you should be quite aware of the upcoming December release of legendary filmmaker James Cameron (Titanic, Dark Angel) and his over-10-years-in-the-making Sci-Fi epic “Avatar”.

The word on the film is that Avatar will do for 3D films what the Wizard of Oz did for color television.  We’re talking revolutionary, enter-the-next-phase  filmmaking here, people.  Remember how movies changed after the first Matrix?  Meet Avatar- this is the next movie to take film making into the future another step.

Without further ado, here is the first trailer released that has movie fans climbing the walls with excitement!

Now that a few dozen Sci-Fi fanboys have hurled themselves off bridges or into oncoming traffic, I’ll point out that was obviously a joke.

The real first trailer (honest!) is located here: James Cameron’s Avatar

Avatar arrives in theatres December 18th to change moviemaking forever.

I feel sad for a large segment of our society.  Oh, no, I’m not talking about those whose rights are trampled upon by others for petty reasons such as racism, bigotry or other illnesses of the soul.  No, I’m feeling sad for the part of our society that simply refuses to participate in any form of entertainment that has a Sci-Fi setting.

You see, these people are under the deluded mentality that Sci-Fi is about actors in rubber suits with “laser guns” and “flying saucers” either being attacked by or attacking humans, and that it is entirely “uncool” to be associated with the genre in our society.  After all, only “nerds” go watch those silly Sci-Fi shows.

I sincerely hope you are not in that mistaken crowd, because if you are you’re going to miss out on what is the best film of 2009 to date- The Oscar-worthy “District 9″.

You see, District 9 (based on an original short movie called “Alive in Jo’Burg”) is in fact a Sci-Fi movie- but the fact that it is Science Fiction really has little bearing on the message at the heart of the story.  Just like the brilliant Syfy Channel’s “Battlestar Galactica” that just ended- the setting of space (or the use of aliens, in the case of District 9) does not turn it into campy stereotyped fiction fare but instead still focuses on the issues we face as humanity and our complex and convoluted politics we wage against each other.

This movie is an apartheid allegory.  It could have been modified ever so slightly and been set in “reality” without one ounce of Sci-Fi to its name.  However, the brilliant Peter Jackson (producer) and his friend/protege Neill Blomkamp have deftly merged Sci-Fi into a meaningful message about the darkest elements at the heart of humanity.

The film is shot in a vérité style, showing us a faux-documentary of the events of the situation.  Aliens have arrived at Earth, but unlike every traditional film dealing with this subject matter, the story is not about the events of their arrival.  Instead it is established right away that the alien ship has been there for over 20 years- pushing the story to a point in the future where dealing with the shock of the arrival of aliens- the suspense of what they look like, etc. all of the cliches in this genre of alien-meets-Earth, are bypassed.

We instead find that upon arriving, they park their Independance-Day-like mega-spaceship not over Washington, or New York, or London, but… Johannesburg.  This is a brilliant move on the part of the creators, as Jo’Burg is already known to face a daily harsh reality.  Once the aliens do absolutely nothing upon arrival, humans do what humans do best- go on the offensive.  They cut into the ship, and find over a million aliens in an aimless confusion, seemingly leaderless, malnourished and at the mercy of the humans. The humans do the only thing they figure is the “right” thing to do- they enlist a major organization (think “Blackwater”) called MNU to transport the Aliens to an area on the outskirts of Johannesburg, which quickly devolves into a slum.  An alien slum known as District 9.

The film never discusses why they came to Earth, what their race is about, background about the aliens- no, none of these things are relevant.  The aliens (known as Prawns for their large, walking-shrimp-like appearance) are not fleshed out to any major degree, because unlike other alien-based movies, this is not the message of the movie.

Instead, the message is the darkness within humanity.  After years of “caring” for the Prawns in District 9- tensions rise, and small human/Alien skirmishes flare up.  The populace of the city has had it, and wants them out of town.  Therefore, the military-political entity of MNU is enlisted to “evict” the Prawns to “District 10″- a new settlement camp many miles away from the city, that will be heavily policed.  In other words- the humans decide to move the aliens from one containment camp to an even worse containment camp- but out of eyesight… and therefore out of mind.

The story is presented through various recordings, interviews, security feeds, and other “recreations” as though to reinforce that, “Hey, this is documentary footage- this is what happened here.”  The story does focus on one particular hero/victim, Wikus Van Der Merwe, who at first comes off as a harmless nerd-lite who is thrilled when given his chance to lead the eviction proceedings.

From this point, the story follows the events that transpire upon Wikus’s attempt to evict the aliens and … well, needless to say- things go downhill.  But don’t think it denegrates into traditional Sci-Fi stereotypes- no, at the core, this remains a movie about the audacity of the more militant-minded, conservative members in our society who would rather shoot first, ask questions later and rule through force, rather than take a diplomatic and compassionate approach to issues. (I could almost imagine former President George W. Bush as one of the more enthusiastic MNU members, disgusted at the concept of the aliens, unwilling to meet them on their level, and quite happy to shoot first without regard to consequences.)

While everyone has their own particular niche that they associate with the best, it can be a good idea for a fantasy fan to read a science fiction story, or the mystery lover to check out a political thriller. Reaching beyond your normal reading habits provides you with a greater appreciation the nuances others face within each genre, as well as an appreciation for the elements within a tale that cross the line into other territory that makes a good read a great read.   After all, a fantasy story with a mystery mixed in is immensely more interesting than a straight-forward fantasy story that’s been done countless times over.

How about throwing some politics into your science fiction? Well I just happen to have a recommendation for you along these lines. This is the outstanding five book effort known as “The Gap” series by Stephen R. Donaldson. Please note this is not a new series, and has been around for a bit of time now. (All the better- you can grab the entire series without the agonizing wait for the finale!) Mr. Donaldson is perhaps best known for his (soon to be) ten book fantasy series “The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant”. Normally, when an author dips from his normal genre into something else, the result can be a disaster. In this case, it makes me wonder what other amazing science fiction we’ve missed out on while Mr. Donaldson was working on his fantasy!

The Gap starts remarkably, in a book simply entitled “The Real Story”. It will take those used to science fiction a bit of time to adjust to, as it is as unique a science fiction read as you’ll find in the way it is told. The story revolves around three key figures as you try to piece together events that have just transpired- and of course, everyone always has a different take on what occurred in any given situation. You’ll start with one perspective of the tale, with massive amounts of details and important knowledge left out- and just as you begin to scratch your head wondering what is going on, you’ll begin to be told the story again, from another perspective, with a few more details filling in the blanks.  By the end, you’ll hardly be able to put the book down waiting to find out what truly is the “real” story.

Just when you think you’ve finished an amazing one-book effort, however, you realize there are four more entries in the series. Suddenly the story releases itself from a limited environment with a handful of characters,  into an epic tale of hardship and political conflict that never once gets confusing or loaded down with “Sci-Fi jargon”. This is one reason the books hold so much appeal for non science-fiction readers… the true quality within this story is with the characters and their development. Much like the recent version of  “Battlestar Galactica” on the Syfy network, the setting is not relevant to understand the machinations at work- the fact it is set in space is simply a matter of happenstance… you don’t have to appreciate aliens and fancy Sci-fi staples to fall in love with the politics occurring within.  But don’t be scared off if you hate real-life politics… we’re not talking about the politics of elections, but rather the politics within groups- those that reach to the core of humanity and make it its very best, and very worst.

So if you normally roll your eyes at science fiction and think of nothing but Star Wars knock offs, I suggest you pick this series up and see what can be done when you really take control of your characters- and let them loose on the universe you’ve created.

The Real Story
Forbidden Knowledge
A Dark and Hungry God Arises
Chaos and Order
This Day All Gods Die

Dream Analysis: A truly epic space tale of intense and detailed political workings, that never becomes bogged down or confusing in its competing factions or numerous characters. A real, vital, living universe is created and you will simply be pulled further in to the story the more that happens, and the more that is revealed. You won’t know who to cheer for- as that will change often, and stunningly.
Dream Value: You’ll read this series as fast as possible, soaking up the details as if you were sliding down a mountain in an avalanche until you reach the very last stunning pages of the final book.
Dream Length: This series is a major keeper, and will stay in your library-  you’ll probably want to give this a re-read every three to  five years.
Nightmares: The content is quite startling in some places- this is NOT a kid friendly read.  Lots of violence, lots and lots and LOTS (and lots) of abuse, rape, even slavery (at its core concept).  It’s all very realistic and highly believable, which makes some of the scenes all the more stomach-turning for those easily squeamish.  However, these scenes all play such pivotal roles in defining the characters- none are unnecessary.