Battlestar Galactica going into its final season

Check out this report from The Hollywood Reporter. I guess that means that by the end of 2008, anyone who wants a Galactica fix will either have to watch in reruns, get the DVD's, or for new story lines, pick up the comic book unless the Caprica spin-off actually moves forward.

For my money, this has been the best show on television since it first aired as a mini-series. Even the weak episodes have been pretty good.

As for resorting to the comic book for new story lines, personally, I've never been fond of comic book adaptations. For the most part I have found that the writing never lives up to the original source material (and sometimes it works the other way...League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Constantine, I'm looking at you).

I don't know if it's just that the writers don't have all the nuances down, or if it's something else, but the adaptations just never seem to work.

As for the four years of Galactica? I would like to express my gratitude to the producers, directors, writers, and actors who have given life to what was a cheesy sci-fi show from my youth. I still can't believe that the one begot the other, but thanks all, it's been one hell of a ride and I'm looking forward to the final season. Just please, please find a way to make that season three ending work without it coming off as ridiculous (I know that each of the characters were having trouble sleeping, but none of them seemed so far gone that they should have been channeling Bob Dylan).

Summer of the Sequel

More often than not, I am going to remain faithful to the idea of writing about comic books, the hobby of collecting, etc. Every now and then, however, I'm going to pop out on a little side trip to movie land...there's enough related between the genres (especially with the number of adaptations that have been spit out by Hollywood recently).

I did some research recently, and it appears that the movie mill is scheduled to spit out 42 sequels this year. Some will go direct to video (as I suspect Goonies 2 and an Arnold-less True Lies 2 are slated for that fate), others will hit the cinema, as some already have to great expectation and fanfare. There is a certain fan annoyance factor that comes with this sort of thing (the old question of "can Hollywood do anything original?"), but I have to admit that it's smart marketing on the part of the producers. By going sequel, you know there's a built in audience waiting to create an emotional connection with characters they connected with in the first film (28 Weeks Later notwithstanding).

In an effort to feed our unending appetites that demand more, bigger, louder, Hollywood and points abroad have given the fanboy in all of us the following seventeen films that the comic-book/fantasy/horror/sci-fi crowd is likely to take a gander at, some of which even have comic book or video game ties...

28 Weeks Later, the follow up to 28 Days Later
AVP 2, sequel to Aliens v. Predator, originally explored in Dark Horse comics
The Bourne Ultimatum, the third adaptation of the Robert Ludlum trilogy
Day Watch, the sequel to the Russian vampire film Night Watch
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, from the trailers, appears to be an adaptation of the Galactus story from the 1960's that first introduces the Surfer (however, there is no mention of Galactus on IMDB...so, who knows?)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Hostel: Part 2
Jeepers Creepers 3 (I'm guessing this one is going straight to video)
Live Free or Die Hard
National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets
Oceans 13, kind of impressive - two sequels out of a remake of a Sinatra film
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Resident Evil: Extinction
Saw IV
Shreck the Third
Spiderman 3
Wolverine (a prequel featuring the X-Men fav, true believers...sorry, had to get my Stan Lee reference in, also likely to spill into next year rather than this one).

This doesn't take into account other sequels slated to go into production, such as the next Harry Potter, the next Sin City, and even the Batman sequel that's currently being shot. For those of you looking for something original...don't look to Hollywood. Hell, even most of the comic books out there are derivative...and I still enjoy 'em.

Enjoy the cinema ladies and gents, looks like this summer it's gonna be a familiar place to be.