Journey Through A Black Hole

This is what it would look like to fall into a black hole. (Quicktime Required.)

And here's the explanation of what's going on in the video.

So Say We All, Final Review of the Frakkin' Awesome Battlestar Galactica

Good science fiction, in my opinion, has an ability to tell stories or address issues that other genres simply cannot imitate. Battlestar Galactica (BSG) stands out as a prime example of how this can be done.

Overall the series follows the basic plot of the 1970s BSG, humans on the run from their robotic Cylon attackers trying to find the long lost planet Earth. But aside from basic similarities, that’s it. In this updated version I would call it “genocide,” not merely an attack. Also, on Galactica herself the survivors create a wall of remembrance with pictures of those who died in the nuclear strikes on the human planets. Every time I saw it I was reminded of the subway stations in NYC immediately after 9/11, with people trying to find any information on their loved ones that had gone missing during the attack.

The major plot point that allowed BSG to get into sundry issues was the introduction of the humanoid Cylon models. In the miniseries we are told the Cylons have evolved from the robots of the first war and there are twelve human-looking models. I originally thought it a cheap trick to have human actors instead of CGI centurions (especially Six, played by omni-hot Tricia Helfer), but they went interesting places with it. While the idea that the enemy can look just like us of course plays on post 9/11 fears of terrorist sleeper cells (President Roslin: “If you’re a Cylon, I’d like to know.” Admiral Adama (laughing): “If I’m a Cylon, you’re really screwed.”), they use it to explore the treatment of enemy prisoners, genocide, and racial loyalty.

I also liked how the series usually made me sympathetic to the positions of the Cylons. They’re monotheist. They’re the occupying force at the end of season 2. The humans even start a resistance movement that hide weapons in their holy sites, because they know the centurions won’t go in there. Iraq, anybody? But of course since they’re the humans, we’re supposed to be sympathetic to them. Except that we (Americans, specifically) in this case are the Cylons. Yes, I know it’s not a perfect analogy, but that’s not the point. Also, the main Cylon bad guy by the end, model number one who is collectively known as Brother Cavil, is one I sympathize with, even though he’s an agnostic, bitter, angry, SOB who makes up his own morality and is a borderline psychopath. At least he has reasons for being an agnostic, bitter, angry, SOB who makes up his own morality and is a borderline psychopath. In episode 4.17, “No Exit” when he argues with one of his creators I giggled with theological joy at his spot-on sci fi take on The Problem of Evil. Sadly, I cannot find that clip on youtube anymore to show you.

Anyway, Battlestar Galactica is a great show. Best I’ve seen in a very long time. It’s on the level of Babylon 5 with those interesting themes and tight scripting. The finale takes all the various threads, plots, symbols, and even music that have been hanging around since even the first season and wraps them up in ways that are amazing. The mixture of politics, theology, mythology, philosophy, all wrapped up with intriguing, believable characters and an awesome sci fi setting make it one I highly recommend.

So say we all.

Okay, maybe not all of us. Here are some other reviews of the wrap-up:

A Positive Review (And More Theological Than Mine!)

An Okay Review (Rather, a Review That Thinks It's Okay)

I Double Dog Dare You . . .

. . . to call me a nerd now. The relevant points begin at about 3:40. The best part for us who know of what they speak is at 4:45. But stick through to the end if you want to hear Vin Diesel on "Weapons Grade Helium."

Happy Pi Day!

Review: Watchmen Movie Or Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes, (Who Watches the Watchmen).

I was right. The best parts of the graphic novel didn’t translate. That’s not to say the entire thing didn’t translate reasonably well. Overall, I thought the director and screenwriters did a more than adequate job of translating the very dense work into a movie, and am mildly interested in perhaps seeing the 4+ hour director’s cut version. There will be minor spoilers in this review. Well, actually major ones. You’ve been warned.

So, to the things I liked first. I thought some of the action was especially good. When that first scene opens up and you watch the Comedian get completely owned and then tossed out a plate glass window, it is obvious the Comedian is not a man to be messed with. It was also obvious that his assassin was so much better that it was a clear case of murder. Same with when Rorschach and Nite Owl take on Ozymandias—they’re good. He’s better. I haven’t seen storytelling through action since the lightsaber duel at the end of The Empire Strikes Back.

The mood, music, and shooting style, were all superb. The opening sequence set to Bob Dylan's (R-Rated Link) “The Times They Are A-Changin’” (R-Rated Link) was the highlight of the movie. Except for the actors for Ozymandias and Silk Spectre II, the acting was quite good. Jackie Earl Haley is Rorshach. ‘Nuff said. I do feel that Ozymandias simply got the short end of the stick from the script and all the cuts from the novel, so not necessarily the actor’s fault there.

I also liked the ending. This was, I felt, an appropriate way to translate the end of the graphic novel into the movie medium. Without pages and pages to foreshadow the conclusion, director Zach Snyder went with a simpler end that could be foreshadowed more easily. Instead of forcing the world to ban together to fight off the enemy they have just encountered (the alien squid from the novel), Ozymandias gets them to ban together to fight off the God that they do know, Dr. Manhattan. It also leads to a very interesting line, that people will behave “as long as they think [Dr. Manhattan] is watching them.”

As to what I didn’t like, I felt that though some of the action was good all of the violence was very over the top. (Action doesn’t equal violence.) The graphic novel is no picnic, but the violence has an actual point to it. I feel that Snyder’s choices on which acts of violence and gore and mayhem to keep reflect badly on his reading of the novel. To keep the violence he does to the exclusion of showing the devastation at the end of the novel is to focus on violence for the sake of violence. At the end of the novel there are 7 full page panels of corpses showing the results of Ozymandias’s plot, giving you a lot of time while you soak in the amazing amount of detail to think “what has he done?!?” In the movie, 2 characters show up, see a hole in NYC, go “huh,” and then leave. Not the same at all.

Also, the graphic novel works well because in many ways each issue of the 12 has a different narrative voice. One is from Rorschach’s point-of-view, another from Dr. Manhattan’s, etc. The movie feels a bit incoherent without the additional material and actual chapter breaks. While adhering slavishly to the novel works in many ways, with regard to narrative voice it does not.

So in the end I liked it. What I hope is included in the director’s cut are the following:

The Tales of the Black Freighter. This will be in the director’s cut, but they need to tie it in to Ozymandias’s character as well. If they don’t, they fail, since in the novel it takes one panel. 5 seconds tying them together, that’s all I ask.

More Silk Spectre and Nite Owl development. With so much cut from this out of the novel the development of their relationship feels very clunky. They are also more sadistic—looking for fights for the fun of it. That is not present in the graphic novel.

More Ozymandias explaining things. We need more of Ozy’s background and motivations. Just a bit more here or there would really serve this well, but he doesn’t need to pontificate for 20 minutes like he does in the novel.

The Little Guys. Part of the reason the end of the graphic novel is so devastating is because we’ve watched this random street corner with its newspaper vendor, the kid reading The Tales of the Black Freighter, and a few others that come and go. And then they all die.

So, I think overall it’s a fair interpretation of the graphic novel. It’s too short, but that was to be expected for the theatrical run. I would want to see the director’s cut before passing final judgment, but I’m not breathlessly waiting in anticipation of that version either.

Overall Grade: 85/100.

Review: Watchmen Graphic Novel Or Quis Legabit Ipsos Custodes, (Who Reads the Watchmen).

This entry will be followed up in a few days by a review of the movie. I generally don’t watch R-rated movies as a rule of thumb, but this is too good an opportunity to pass up regarding one of my hobbies. I like stories. I like storytelling. I like to explore how different stories can be told well in different mediums. And with a graphic novel as involved as Watchmen, is it actually impossible to film it? For example, I thought 300 translated rather well from the graphic novel to the movie. Is there such a thing as a story that really cannot be translated well into another medium? Perhaps we’ll find out.

To set up the story briefly, in an alternate universe 1985 superheroes are among us, but they have been outlawed. One of them is murdered, and through a various series of events the investigation leads to a worldwide plot that ends in . . . world peace? Through the entire book we are led to flashbacks and shown the history of this alternate universe, in which the shape of the 20th century is changed by these superheroes (only one of which has actual super powers).

Watchmen is a comic book that critiques some of the conventions of comic books. It uses the genre to critique the genre. Further, it tries to stretch the genre. Each individual chapter has an addendum, whether an article by a character in the novel, or a chapter from a book about Dr. Manhattan’s affect on the Cold War, or some of the psychological evaluation papers of one of characters. While not strictly necessary to the novel, these addendums make a rather good addition to the medium, adding perhaps a bit of depth to a world otherwise limited by the medium.

I can kind of see where creator Alan Moore is coming from when he says that Watchmen is only supposed to be a graphic novel, that what they tried to do won’t work in another medium. The sheer amount of detail in the individual frames and the way the authors and illustrators pack the entire thing with symbolism, character development, and plotline all intertwined demonstrate a method of storytelling that only works in the graphic novel medium. In particular the chapter with Dr. Manhattan on Mars that demonstrates his ability to perceive past, present, and future is a work of masterful storytelling. The authors have outdone themselves here, and for these particular authors, that’s difficult to do.

My major complaint, and it is a personal one, is that I couldn’t relate, at all, to a single one of the characters. Rorschach asks “why are so few of us left active, healthy, and without personality disorders?” This, of course, is hilarious coming from the guy who wears an ever-changing mask that he considers his true face. The novel does a fantastic job of portraying different ways to view the world, from Rorschach’s unrelenting right and wrong morality to Dr. Manhattan’s utter uncaring attitude with regard to the human race (why wear clothes when you’re a God or go out for dinner with your girlfriend when you can spend your time looking for particles to complete supersymmetrical theory?). But I didn’t relate to any of them. Perhaps that was the point of the authors—they were attempting to show all the dark side versions of morality, social norms, etc. When confronted with the world, how do you react? (This is also the question the Joker poses in Moore’s The Killing Joke, the darkest graphic novel I have ever read, which is saying something considering how dark Watchmen is.) What kind of people would actually dress up and fight crime? Not your normal people. I suppose on that front I'm not supposed to relate to any of the characters, but I still find myself liking the novel less for it.

I also have to take into account the nihilism that seems to have been prevalent during the Cold War. This is something of course that I myself have never experienced. The conflict with Russia figures hugely into the overall storyline. Perhaps I would have been able to relate to the characters and their worldview more if I had grown up in the relevant time. In this respect I appreciate The Dark Knight Returns more, so it retains its place as my favorite graphic novel. It’s also very dark, but maintains an air of morality and hopefulness that I find completely absent in Watchmen.

So in the end Watchmen is a fantastic piece of storytelling, even if I didn’t appreciate it on a personal level as much. I do want to see how the chapter with Dr. Manhattan on Mars pans out in the movie. It, to me, seems to be the part that would be the most difficult to translate to the movie medium. We’ll see tomorrow when I go see it with some of my friends from CUA and a kid from my ward here in D.C.

Overall Score: 95/100.