SUN 29 - Star Trek vs Battlestar Galactica vs Sanctuary

RoX here.

The 2007 SyFy Portal Genre Awards are on again and this year there is a category for Best Web Production. The four finalists are :

1. Episode 1, "Sanctuary"
2. To Serve All My Days, "Star Trek: New Voyages"
3. Webisode 9, "Battlestar Galactica"
4. Webisode 10, "Battlestar Galactica"

Now being a fan of Star Trek, Battlestar and Sanctuary I decided to take an in depth look at all four to determine how I was going to vote. At first glance it is difficult to judge them as they are all different productions aimed at different audiences.

Star Trek: New Voyages is a fan production and aims to continue the original voyages of the Enterprise that were curtailed way back in the 60's. It is still aimed at a traditional TV audience even though it utilises the web to distribute the episodes.

The Resistance was a set of short webisodes to fill the long break between seasons of Battlestar Galactica and was designed to give short glimpses and insights into the resistance movement on New Caprica as a precursor to the opening of Season 3 when 4 months had passed from the Cylon occupation at the end of Season 2.

Sanctuary is the only show that is designed for the web without links to the "normal" world of TV production. A two hour pilot was shot and it has been broken up into eight webisodes, each webisode telling part of a story and flowing into the next. It is the only show that is in an "establishing" phase and by that I mean We don't know what the Sanctuary story is yet, unlike the other two shows which already had established storylines and characters. So to me the only thing they have in common is that they were distributed on the web, so it is a tad difficult to compare them because they are essentially different in purpose.

Star Trek: New Voyages is styled as a continuation of the original Trek series and is a full length episode as we have become used to on TV. The storyline is decent, for a fan production. The visual effects are decent, for a fan production. The acting needs work as the actor performances are lopsided. On one hand you have several actors doing quite a decent job and then you have two of the lead characters, Kirk and Bones, being over acted. This disparity in performances definitely comes across as a fan production in the acting stakes. I'm ruling "To Serve All My Days" out because it simply is not of the same calibre (on any level) of the other two shows and therefore knocks itself out of the Best Web Production category.

I have no idea why Webisode 9 of The Resistance got nominated, absolutely nothing vital happens and it is extremely short. Jammer is released from detention and Duck grieves for his wife. It was definitely well acted, filmed and presented, a high class production but it has no real substance as a single episode.

Again Webisode 10 of The Resistance was definitely well acted, filmed and presented, and of the same high class as Webisode 9 but it too falls short as a single episode. I think the intention of this episode was to firmly establish Tigh's willingness to do anything and sacrifice anyone for the cause as well as establish why Jammer and Duck ended up in the NCP. It was not so much a story by itself but rather a background filler for some key emotions in the new Season of Battlestar.

Sanctuary is the first glimpse we have of a new series and it too is well acted, filmed and presented, definitely a high class production. It is comparable to the teaser and first act of a show we are used to seeing on TV. Sanctuary establishes a little history for two of the main characters and introduces two other guest characters and culminates in Dr Magnus making her first contact with Dr Zimmerman as a precursor to recruiting him (though we do not know that last part at the time). With some basic character groundwork established, Sanctuary piques your curiousity about where the story is going and what exactly is Sanctuary. It leaves the viewer anxiously awaiting the next webisode to continue the story.

My choice is definitely down to The Resistance Webisode 10 and Sanctuary Webisode 1. If The Resistance Webisodes had more substance to the story, it would really make the choice difficult because both The Resistance and Sanctuary are high class productions. I'd defintely choose say the equivalent teaser and first act of episode 1 of Season 3 Battlestar Galactica over Sanctuary Webisode 1 but Webisode 10 of The Resistance just doesn't quite measure up to that standard.

So it looks like it's a vote for Sanctuary for Best Web Production because it has all the elements of very good visuals and sound, presentation, acting and storyline whilst the other contenders fell short on one or more of those elements. That is not to say I liked Sanctuary better than the others because I didn't, I liked them all. They all appealed to me on different levels.

If anyone would like to cast their votes in the awards then please go to The 2007 SyFy Portal Genre Awards




I'll maybe see you again tomorrow as Trace was hoping to get all her computer problems resolved this weekend, though I haven't heard from her yet so that might not be a good sign.

SAT 28 - Gadget Geek - "Different" vehicles

RoX here.

Tonight's dinner is casserole, nice blade steak and chunky veges, definitely the go for a cold winter's night (but not as good as last night's pizza!).

Photos and con reports are starting to trickle through now from Comic Con 2007 and i'll see if I can roundup links to a bunch of stuff tomorrow.

In the mean time here's a few things that I came across whilst trawling through Gizmodo. (Yes I'm a lazy sod, one visit to Gizmodo and I have days of stuff to post :-) )



Handsfree transporter. I'd seen a Segway before and this is similar but the designer is a performance artist and you HAVE to check out some of the stuff he has done at his website click on Performance once you are on the website for the vids.







A stingray sub - one of the vehicles in the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition held recently.








Magic Wheel - a different kind of scooter. I'll let you make up your own minds after checking out the vid.









Jet Kayak - Mate! This thing moves!









Definitely a different style of golf cart, I wonder how it handles?







Jetpacks that are commercially available now. Great stuff but they still only fly for about 30 seconds :-(






I've heard of high altitude jumps before but this one takes the cake. Who needs a spaceship?






Everglide - I'm not sure that this ugly bike will catch on.





A lithium ion electric motorcycle, you be the judge.



Proposed dual blade helicopter expected to break speed records








Gotta go, Doctor Who starts soon! See you all tomorrow.

FRI 27 - Comic Con San Diego 2007

RoX here.

Tonight's star menu attraction is pizza, home made pizza! That means I get to put on it whatever I like :-) I've got a few friends coming over for movie night so there are lots of pizza toppings and pizza bases all ready just waiting for my guests and I to throw them together and into the oven. First up for me is double pepperoni with lashings of cheese!

Comic Con - Well, the first full day of Comic Con has passed and con reports and photos are beginning to surface on the net. On the Star Trek front those rumours have been confirmed by JJ Abrams himself. Zachary Quinto of "Heroes" has been cast as the new younger Mr. Spock for the 11th Star Trek film.

I've been glancing through all the photos of the Con that have been posted on Flickr so far and gee I wish I could go to a huge con like that. I love comics, sci-fi and model building and that would be so right up my alley. I did run across an LJ entry for some Sanctuary related stuff at the Con, there are pictures of Damian and the Sanctuary booth. Tomorrow (Friday in the US) there are the two Stargate panels so I expect more con reports to start appearing tomorrow night. If I had have been attending I know I would have been totally torn about which panels to sit in on as the Con program had lots of panels I would have dearly loved to attend. However the call of the booth halls would have been calling too. I simply love comics and model building so I'd be soooooo happy to run myself ragged checking out each and every booth and chatting to the people you run into. I'm generally shy when meeting new people but put a camera in my hand and a topic I love to talk about and suddenly it's "Who's shy?".

Gadget Geek - when I went searching through Gizmodo the other day for vehicles I found a whole bunch of environment saving "green" ones, so here are a few to go check out.

Eco One sports car races at 150Kmh and made from salad ;) Go and check out the naturally grown substances like potatoes and cashews that they made this car out of and it uses biofuel too. They say that they have some motor racing people interested in the design.







Greenbox turns Carbon Dioxide into Biodiesel








Tesla Electric Sports Car, apparently they are not sold out yet for this year






Fuelvapour Technologies car "ale" pulls 1.7g turns and reduces CO2 emissions by 30%






Steampunk does Batman. Not so much "green" rather steam and definitely in the alternate fuel category. Batman eat ya heart out ;)






Prototype electric engine for Sonex Sports Aircraft









OK, gotta go for now. I have a pizza with my name on it :-)

THU 26 - Sanctuary moving to one price policy

Rox here, I think I've started a trend here, pop dinner into the oven and then go blogging! On the menu tonight is baked chicken pieces in a spicy marinade, YUMMY. Oh and I've done some redecorating :-) I've moved the Sanctuary vids to their own pages with just a link on the sidebar because it was getting a wee bit crowded in here, I'll leave the current preview up on the front page though.

Sanctuary - Today Damian has update his blog with news on the contentious pricing policy. As of Webisode 6 everyone will pay the one flat price, no more of the regionalised pricing rip off models!! Thank you to everyone at Stage 3 Media for paying attention to the fans and hopefully (I'm sure going to do my fair share of pimping the webisodes) you'll get a lot more customers now with a fair price for all.

Both Trace and I are opposed to the regional market ripoffs that many companies persist in applying. Living in Australia we often get charged 40% to 50% more on books, DVDs and CD's just because we live in the fair land of Aus. It could be worse, I suppose, we could live in the UK where they are often hit with prices double of that seen in the US. Thanks again to the Sanctuary people for listening to the fans and doing something about it, especially when it meant a major revamp of their pricing methodology which is extremely difficult with a new venture like this.

Also Damian had some news about a new update for Sanctuaryforall.com :
"We are about to test a new version of Sanctuaryforall.com, designed to bring you some new and exciting ways to experience the world of Sanctuary. We are evolving the site to do some things you've asked us for in your feedback and suggestions, and also to pave the way for some of the many features we are working on. This is just the 'pilot' of Sanctuary after all, there are many great things to come."

I'm looking forward to it!!

Oh and here is the video with Amanda that I mentioned yesterday



Farscape - New info on those webisodes that they are planning has been posted on Slice of SciFi. The episodes will be 3 to 6 minutes long but no word yet on who will be starring in them. Hints have been made that John & Aeryn's son will be in it and Ben Browder is talking to Henson so keep tuned for more details.


Gadget Geek - There's been some advances made in prosthesis technology recently and these two items are a stand out.



an amazing mechanical ankle






iLimb bionic hand and for video of it in action see here







See you all tomorrow.

Sanctuary - View the Webisode Previews

Here are the previews for the Sanctuary webisodes. Please visit the SanctuaryForAll website to be the owner of these wonderful webisodes for a small fee.

Webisode 5 Preview

While investigating an ancient crypt on a remote island, Magnus and her team encounter deadly creatures and three women with a mysterious past. Ashley decides to address the issues of her father's existence head-on.

Webisode 6 Preview

The investigation into the three women found in the crypt continues, confirming Magnus's theory that they are much more than they appear. Ashley's hunt for contraband creatures yields mixed results.

Webisode 7 Preview

Will falls victim to the three women's growing powers, while Magnus seeks proof of their true identities via a former resident of the Sanctuary. Ashley's luck in her monster hunt begins to run out...

Sanctuary - See the Free Webisodes

You can get the high quality versions of these Webisodes and others from the SanctuaryForAll website for a small low fee. I think it is well worth the money for quality entertainment.

Webisode 1

While tracking a young boy with dangerous powers, Dr. Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping) encounters Will Zimmerman (Robin Dunne), a psychiatric resident who may have what it takes to become her new protege

Webisode 2

Will Zimmerman is drawn further into Magnus' mysterious world and finds himself confronting his oldest fear. Elsewhere, forces converge on the target of their hunt - including someone from Magnus' distant past.

Webisode 3

The origins of the mysterious mutant boy are revealed, as is the relationship between Magnus and her old flame, John Druitt. Meanwhile Ashley Magnus (Emilie Ullerup) seeks out Ernie Watts (Peter Deluise) a weapons dealer and fellow monster hunter - only to find herself in mortal danger.

Webisode 4

Magnus and Will confront John Druitt with deadly results for a member of the Sanctuary team. Ultimately, Will is forced to choose between his old life and the strange world of Dr. Helen Magnus!

WED 25 - Gadget Geek - Cool & Unusual Vehicles

Rox here, OK so I've got the lasagna in the oven for dinner so that means I've got about 40 mins to whack together today's blog. Ummmmmmmm


Sanctuary - Yes folks they will be at the San Diego Comic Con and their booth is apparently in some prime real estate just across from the SciFi booth so they should get a lot of people going past. Of course they'll all stop to get autographs from Amanda Tapping, Martin Wood and Robin Dunne and get the lowdown on Sanctuary. Damian Kindler will be there as well. To find out the details simply hop across to Sanctuaryfans.
Update : While you are at Sanctuaryfans check out the new video Amanda & The Fan :-)




Following on with something Trace started, I hit one of the gadget sites (yeah just one site I'm lazy!) and looked around for some cool vehicles and this is what I found.


A more environmentally friendly green plane. Find out more about it at Gizmodo







Got a function that you need to make an impression at? How about turning up in a Tank Limo! No seriously, this service is actually available in the UK and it will seat 8 people. Find out more about it at Gizmodo



Any Halo 3 fans out there? Check out the full size working Wathog they've put together in New Zealand. Find out more about it at Gizmodo






The M200G is a cool hover car that hovers 10 feet off the ground and cruises at a speed of 50mph. Go and see a demo video of it in action. You might also want to visit the Moller website and check out the M400, another way cool craft. Find out more about it at Gizmodo

The concept of a boatcar has been around for quite a while and the US Navy is wanting in on the action. Find out more about it at Gizmodo







OK well there goes the oven timer so my lasagna is ready. See you all tomorrow!

TUE 24 - I'm taking over!!

RoX here. Trace is having EXTREME technical difficulties at the moment, the Universe is indeed evil and is picking on her! As a consequence I'll be filling in for her for a little while (bwaaaaaahahaha).

OK a quick roundup of things over the past couple of weeks :

Sanctuary - is still AWESOME!! I really loved Webisode 5, I really liked the longer time (21 mins) and the new story line. Had to laugh at the hand signals - "I'm cutting off your allowance"!!! I'm looking forward to more on the Helen/Ashley front in regards to Druitt as there are lots of feelings there to be resolved.

The preview for Webisode 6 is up and it looks like we'll get to see a little of how Helen was introduced to Sanctuary by her father and lots of action (well I hope we do).


X-Files - The script for the second movie is done!! I can't wait to hear what it is about. I like that the second movie is a Monster of the Week style as I am a fan of both the Mythology eps and the MOTW eps. I'm keeping my ears tuned for any more details.


Babylon 5 - The 31st and The Lost Tales are almost here!! I think it's time that the distributors get over the freaking Region release BS - if it is going straight to DVD then bloody well release it everywhere at the same time!! I'm going to have to get my first look at this by downloading it - I wouldn't have to if you'd damn well let the rest of the world in on it's release!!


Comic-Con - In San Diego starts on Wednesday night with Preview Night and then there's 4 day's packed with lots of stuff. Stargate has 2 panels on Friday and I'm not sure if Damian Kindler managed to get anything organised for Sanctuary like he was hoping to. I really wish I could go to something like this, I love comics and sci-fi but unfortunately living in Australia means I don't get the opportunity to attend things on a scale like this. Oh well, it looks like I'll be living vicariously through my friends who kindly post pictures and accounts of their trips to various conventions.


Farscape - scifi.com has ordered a 10 part web series for Farscape. Few details have been released yet so we'll have to wait and see what they have planned.


Battlestar Galactica - I'm looking forward to the "Razor" movie premiering in the US on November 24. It will be good to see the battles that Battlestar Pegasus went through at the beginning of the Cylon attack and what pushed Admiral Cain into the stance that she took. There will also be an 8 part webisode series in the leadup to the premiere that was filmed at the same time as the movie. I thoroughly enjoyed the previous webisode series that Galactica did so I'm sure this series will be good too.



OK roundup is over, now I'm not sure what I'll have left over to talk about tomorrow :(

Hmmmm, I guess I'll just make it up as I go along.

RoX

FRI 06 - The Evil, EVIL Universe

Hi all. Yes, I am still alive and will be blogging again regularly once the evil universe has stopped conspiring to keep me off the internet!

First there was floods, then there was work and more work and more work AND then a power spike fried half my computer :-( Salvaging attempts are still ongoing with 1 hard drive recovered and one more to go. I should have a new videocard next week and I think I can repair the old soundcard. Well, that's 3 strikes so maybe the bad luck will go away for a while.

In the meantime Webisode 4 of Sanctuary was fantastic! I can't wait for the next episode to see the new story they come up with and if/how the Sanctuary crew deal with the emotional impact of the last webisode.

On a sad note :-( the next webisode has been delayed a week while Damian & the production crew move offices.

On a bright note when I looked in My Library of my Sanctuary account all the webisodes had the US pricing. Does this mean we will now all pay the one same price worldwide? Let's seriously hope so, I am an advocate against the BS pricing policy of the entertainment industry as a whole and the stupid region distributing BS as well. In today's world why should the majority of the world be penalised for not being an American?

If you haven't seen Sanctuary Webisode 4 yet I urge you to go ahead and do so, it is definitely worth it. I put my 4 weps onto DVD (before the Evuil Universe last attacked me) and watched an incredible 60 plus minutes of pure entertainment!


Catcha later,
Trace