Nathan Fillion Week: If you save someone's life, you are responsible for it.

It's worth noting that I never did see the first White Noise. I've never considered that an impediment to watching the sequel though. I mean, it's a strategy that has served me well in the past. I never did see Octopus, I skipped right ahead to Octopus 2. And, hell, I went right for the good stuff and straight to Shark Attack 3.

Besides, it's Nathan Fillion week, and he was in White Noise 2, not the first one.

Actually, how can I go wrong with this one? It has a link to not just one, but TWO of my favorite science fiction shows. That's right, not only does it star Firefly's Nathan Fillion*, it also features Battlestar Galactica's Katee Sackhoff, aka Starbuck**.


Nate's living the good life, until his wife and kid are murdered in a diner one fun day. In his sadness, Nate tries to join them on the flip side by downing a ton of pills. But he's got a friend. A friend who checks in on him and calls an ambulance. Its off to the hospital where Nate gets pulled back away from the light. That his first words to the doctor aren't 'Fuck You' is simply amazing. Actually, maybe they were. That part is never shown. Nope, he just wakes up with Starbuck hovering over him. She's his cheery nurse with purple hair. He must be in California. His doctor wears a Hawaiian shirt and a gold earring. What the fuck kind of hospital did they take him to?

According to the doc, Nate had an NDE, a near death experience. And now he's seeing weird shit. "Auras' and...electrical interference. It turns out that the 'auras' only surround people who are going to die soon. And, well, he starts to think that he should try to save them...I mean, who wouldn't? But...there are...consequences. After 3 days, those he saved will be compelled to kill. What ever will Nate do?

It's weird seeing Starbuck so...cheerful. Obviously, in BSG she's kind of looney tunes..on a good days. I mean, as often as anything she's completely batshit. And in The Last Sentinel she was...a fighter, a warrior...whatever. Here though, she's...happy...and fun to be around. It's a nice character for her to play.

And Nate...you know, after the pilot episode of Firefly, I always wondered what Mal would have been like if Fox hadn't wanted him to be 'lightened up'. If he had stayed that dour character. The less humorous Mal, the less sarcastic Captain. I imagine he'd have been a lot like Abe Dale, our hero here.

If I were ever going to use hella good to describe a movie, now wouldn't be the time. It's a good movie, to be sure. There's a lot of..out there elements to it though. The story is kind of ridiculous, but there is a children's choir doing Rush's The Spirit of Radio, so, you know it has that going for it. Which is nice. The acting is good, the story is surprisingly interesting, despite it's goofiness. What can I say, overall...ding ding! We have a winner.

*There's even a Captain Tightpants reference in the movie.

**It's only fair that if I'm going to refer to Jamie Bamber as Apollo in anything he does, I should do the same for Starbuck.

This happens a lot actually

It's a strange thing, people talk about things. TV shows, movies, that sort of thing. They talk, endlessly. This blog is an example of that phenomenon, if it can be called such a thing. I suppose we've been doing this forever. Can you imagine, living in a cave, and your neighbor Crag comes over and says 'Grog argg greeef froot ooorrrggg'? And you say 'No, Crag my good sir, I've not seen that particular cave painting. I'll have to check it out some time'

This is the sort of thing that happens, I believe that some would refer to it as 'word of mouth'. Normally though, I try to ignore it. Enough people say to me 'Hey, you should see this. You'd like it.' I usually say, uh-huh sure whatever dude. I'm just not always too interested. Call it independence.  Call it stubbornness. Call it stupidity. Call it whatever the hell you want, it doesn't change the fact that I tend to miss out on things that I would likely enjoy because I don't like people telling me how great things are.

For example, I've been hearing about Firefly for years. Never watched it though. 'Oh, you should watch Firefly, its so great, you'd really like it!' Sure, whatever. So, I never watched it. For years, I never watched. I always figured that if it was on, I would, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it. Then, I was talking to someone about Hulu. And then, I was talking to someone else about It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Start seeing how all this word of mouth stuff comes together?

I'm at Hulu, and, they have all the episodes of Firefly. And I watched the first episode. And...it was...it was good. I'm not surprised, but I am disappointed. I was really hoping that I wouldn't like it. Of course, that wasn't the case. It's a good show. Not the best ever made like some people would claim, but it's certainly fun. And, when it comes to television shows, isn't that more than most of them can say? I watched the first episode online, then I got the first disc used from Netflix. Then I found it used on DVD.

I'm halfway through it now and I'm really enjoying it a lot. I like Mal a bit more in the pilot when he was a little more dour, when he wasn't as jokey. It's not to say that I don't like the character the way he is, but I really would have been interested to see how the show would have gone with him as a much more serious person. It would have made for a much more interesting dynamic. At the very least, it would have made him more unique.

What is this all leading to? I don't know. What's next? Don't know that either. What movie or tv show have I been avoiding will I watch next? I have no idea. I'm...I can't believe I'm saying this, but...I'm currently taking suggestions...