I Am An Evil Alien

Life on Mars: Episode 1 (1x01)

2010-07-03T19:54:00.005+01:00

♫ Take a look at the law man beating up the wrong guy,
Oh man, wonder if he'll ever know, who's in the best selling show?
Is there Life on Mars? ♫

Basic Premise: In 2006, DCI Sam Tyler is chasing a murderer. The murderer kidnaps his partner, leaving him in an emotional mess. Driving between crime scenes, he stops, and is promptly hit by a passing car which sends him into a coma. His mind creates a world circa 1972, where he is DI in a force where policing methods are very different, but where the same murderer is on the loose. Can Sam wake up by finding the murderer?

Comments: Where do we even begin? Life on Mars was a brilliant season, and is a cult classic for a reason. In some ways, it's a typical good cop/bad cop police drama, but as it pulls on nostalgic strings, it also keeps asking a few simple questions which the audience has to unravel. The immediate one is quite simply "how does Sam wake up"? In a world that's practically prehistoric for Sam, he's a fish out of water; none of his modern techniques are yet in use. Yet he is as alien to this world as it is to him, and his determination to wake up makes him seem insane to those in this world. By the end, the other recurring question is being asked; "which world is real"? The writers have managed to create a series which is both familiar and unusual, an intriguing situation which hooks the viewer from this first episode and has them needing to watch more to find out how the situations resolve...

Classic Scenes: Sam waking up in 1972. Annie & Sam's "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" scene outside the record shop. Gene & Sam knocking on doors. Sam's ethical dilemma over the Doctor's note. The roof.

Memorable Quotes: "I wanna hump Britt Ekland, what are we gonna do?" - Gene to Dora Keets after she asks for a lawyer.
"Anything happens to this motor, and I come over your houses and stamp on all your toys! Got it? Good kids..." - Gene.

Classic Moments: Sam's first run in with Gene. Sam opening the door to find Annie hasn't vanished into thin air. Gene's response to Sam declaring he needs a drink. Sam's realisation about what the synthetic fibres are. Sam & Gene jumping over the desk.

Rating: 8/10

DS9: "The Search, Part 1" (3x01)

2010-07-03T12:00:00.003+01:00

Basic Premise: There's a new threat on the other side of the wormhole; the Dominion. Determined to be ready to deal with them, DS9 gets a new ship with a cloaking device, which the crew use to find the Founders homeworld.

Comments: The first scene unveils the Defiant in startling style, and given that it has a claoking device, it's to be expected for a Romulan to turn up. Seska's almost a perfect Romulan anyway given her scheming, so it's pretty fitting that it's the same actress. Eddington picks up on a thread from the first season regarding tensions over management of station security, with a nearly identical reaction from Odo. Eddington will of course stay around a while longer than his Starfleet predecessor, and will have a fair few plot twists of his own. Sisko knows exactly how to force Quark to help him, and his sudden introduction of the Grand Nagus' Staff to their argument is a brilliant touch. The use of the Karemara is good as well; the episode develops several plot points that had seemed innocuous in the past, builds on foundations of the previous 2 seasons and does a good job of adding momentum to the wheels that had been set in motion by the Season 2 finale...

Memorable Quote: "We'd all feel a bit better with someone here to watch over Quark."
"I take that as a personal insult, Doctor!"
"You should." - Bashir talking to Odo, and Quark's reaction.

Classic Moments: The Defiant reveal. Sisko realises he now sees DS9 as home. Odo finds "home".

Rating: 7/10

Red Dwarf: "Future Echoes" (1x02)

2010-07-03T03:09:00.008+01:00

Basic Premise: The ship accelerates to light speed as it tries to get to Earth sooner. As they pass light speed, the crew start to see echoes of the future.

Comments: Sitcom does Sci-Fi, exploring the implications of travelling really fast, and looking at temporal mechanics. The episode ending sets up for the end of the 2nd season; a rare case of continuity in Red Dwarf. Comedy-wise, Rimmer has a great running spat going with Holly, while the implications of Rimmer being dead are explored, including Lister's suggestion that Earth may have developed a cure in their absence.

Holly's Opening Joke: "I am Holly, the ship's computer with an IQ of 6,000; the same IQ as 6,000 PE teachers."

Classic Scene: Rimmer has the same conversation with Lister twice. Lister only takes part in the second one...

Memorable Quote: "You are how you look, and I look... like a complete and total tit!" - Rimmer, looking in the mirror and realising Holly's given him a Helen Shapiro beehive haircut.

Remarkable Dialogue: "Hey, it hasn't happened has it? It has will have going to have happened happened, but it hasn't actually happened happened yet, actually."
"Poppycock. It will be happened, it shall be going to be happening, it will be was an event that could will have been taking place in the future. Simple as that. Your bucket's been kicked, baby." - Lister and Rimmer, discussing if Lister can change his future.

Classic Moments: The broken food slot, which has a lisp and drops a bucket on Lister's foot. Rimmer's haircuts. The first appearance of the Talkie Toaster. Lister gets his shaving foam and deoderant cans mixed up.

Rating: 7/10

Red Dwarf: "The End" (1x01)

2010-07-03T02:09:00.001+01:00

Basic Premise: In three words, "Everybody's dead Dave." The entire crew is wiped out by an accident, leaving just one survivor; Dave Lister who was locked in stasis for 3 million years. Oh, and also a humanoid who's evolved from his pet cat. There's also the senile ship's computer Holly, and the hologram of Lister's dead bunkmate Rimmer, whom Holly has generated to try and keep Lister sane.

Comments: Does exactly what you'd want from a pilot; sets the scene with a decent plot. Does the job with plenty of jokes. The opening scene sets the Rimmer-Lister dynamic perfectly, and the classic insult "smeghead" appears barely 5 minutes into the pilot episode. The idea of a hologram is laid down in the pre-accident scenes, while the seeds of the Lister-Kochanski dynamic are also sown.

Holly's Opening Joke: None.

Memorable Quote: "Everybody's dead, Dave" - Holly

Remarkable Quote: "Ah, you don't feel a thing. The stasis room creates a static field of time, so just as x-rays can't pass through lead, time cannot penetrate the stasis field. So although you exist, you no longer exist in time, and for you time itself does not exist. You see, although you're still a mass, you are no longer an event in space time; you are a non event mass with a quantaum probability of zero." - Todhunter trying to explain the Stasis Booth.

Classic Moments: Rimmer's suggestion of cross-breeding sheep with dolphins to create leaping mutton. Rimmer fails his engineering exam for the umpteenth time. The Cat spots a crease in his sleeve and tends to it with a mini-Iron.

Rating: 6/10