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Hercules Groks ABC’s MASTERS OF SCIENCE FICTION!!
SPOILER ALERT !!
I am – Hercules!!
A surprising network series full of big ideas and unafraid to get dark and weird, ABC’s new “Masters of Science Fiction” anthology is considerably more fun than most of those color “Outer Limits” and “Twilight Zone” episodes produced subsequent to Rod Serling’s demise.
The first episode, airing tonight, stars the great Judy Davis and Sam Waterston but stands as the least satisfying of the series. Based on a story by John Kessel, “A Clean Escape” was directed by Mark Rydell (“On Golden Pond”) from a teleplay by Sam Egan (“Northern Exposure”) and depicts a man whose brain has not been able to create new memories in years. A highly accessible story, it is ultimately undone by an anticlimactic denouement but fascinates nonetheless as its hour of twists unspool.
Next week’s “The Awakening” was adapted and directed by Michael Petroni (“Till Human Voices Wake Us”) from Howard Fast’s short story “The General Zapped …” The only episode not set decades in the future, it’s about what happens after something extraterrestrial smacks into the Iraqi desert. Terry O’Quinn (“Lost”) is typically compelling as a retired military UFO expert; gorgeous Elizabeth Rohm (Kate the cop on “Angel”) plays the Air Force officer sent to pull him out of retirement. William B. Davis (“The X-Files”) plays a too-paranoid U.S. president and a “Crimson Tide”/”2010”/”Day The Earth Stood Still” vibe comes to manifest. It’s all a bit familiar and the president’s impulsiveness is hard to swallow, but it’s well-paced and I can’t say my interest flagged.
“Jerry Was A Man,” the third episode, is easily the best of the lot, a black and occasionally moving comedy based on the Robert Heinlein short story about an intellect-enhanced animal. (In the episode it’s the tale of a replicant’s bid for human rights.) It was adapted and directed by Michael Tolkin, who in 1991 wrote and directed a brilliant Mimi Rogers movie titled “The Rapture.” Anne Heche and Malcolm McDowell play out some spectacularly witty moments in “Jerry,” and they’re backed by a boatload of admirably restrained (Canadian?) supporting players I mostly fail to recognize. I love the guy who plays the title role, love the guys who play the lawyers, love the girl who plays the lead judge. It saddens now that Tolkin hasn’t directed more over the last couple of decades. Be warned though that some critics didn’t seem to care so much for “Jerry,” so you might not either.
The final episode, “The Discarded,” was directed by Jonathan Frakes (“Star Trek: Insurrection,” “Clockstoppers”) from a teleplay co-written by Harlan Ellison (“The City on the Edge of Forever”) and Josh Olson (“A History of Violence”), based on Ellison’s 1959 short story. It’s perhaps too eccentric in detail for many tastes, but solid and sophisticated entertainment at its core. It’s also the most Ellison-y thing I’ve seen on film to date, which means – among other things – some of its many gags feel a little moldy and it telegraphs some of its points too aggressively. Brian Dennehy is so good here he manages to upstage even the amazing John Hurt.
Every episode is narrated by Stephen Hawking’s voice machine!
But what matters Herc’s opinion?
Entertainment Weekly gives it a “B” and says:
… There's real juice in this …
The Associated Press says:
… In some ways, this is pretty amazing stuff … This is just the kind of thing that charges the imaginations of 14-year-old boys, or of older boys who sit at home on Saturday nights, phasars [sic] at the ready.
The New York Daily News says:
For the next four weeks, ABC presents its best new series in more than a year: an ambitious, artistic, refreshingly intelligent anthology series … Tonight's opener, "A Clean Escape," is a brilliant duel of wits between an Army psychiatrist (Judy Davis) and a forgetful patient (Sam Waterston), set 24 years in the future. …
The Los Angeles Times says:
… "Uneven" is not wrong. They are all over the place. The worst are undone by their own earnestness and the explicitness with which the dialogue presents the issues that the action should embody. Least successful is tonight's opener …
Variety says:
… uneven … in this collection of adapted short stories, one is quite good, another's better than OK, and two are fairly lousy … Saving the best for last … is the quite good "The Discarded," telling the story of a group of misfits banished into space aboard what amounts to a huge floating prison. The ever-mercurial Harlan Ellison adapted his short story along with Josh Olson, and it showcases the kind of rich, detailed material that packs a surprising amount of character development into an hour, buoyed by John Hurt and Brian Dennehy …
The Hollywood Reporter says:
… an anthology project of genuine artistic vision. … a provocative, rich, lavishly produced, sharply performed quartet …
10 p.m. Saturday. ABC.
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I want it
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and it gets dumped in the TV cesspool.
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could be interesting
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Senior Citizens of Science Fiction? Just kidding. I'll be checking it out.
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Since when is the director of On Golden Pond a master of science fiction? Unless, of course, ABC is merely trying to piggyback on the name of the Masters of Horror series and thus any hack unable to land a feature directing gig can be one. Oh, and The Rapture sucked.
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Heinlein!
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late night writing in effect
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...surely? One would hope anyway. Certainly has stronger casts and writers attached. I'll be checking it out anyway.
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you owe it to yourself to check out "The New Age". Really brilliant way to cap off an informal trilogy that includes "The Rapture" and "The Player" (the ending is similar to the beginning of "Rapture"). Peter Weller is brilliant in it, as he usually is.
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Too bad Showtime didn't run with this idea themselves.Hard sci-fi is easier without the FCC breathing down your neck.
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But apart from J.Carpenters cig' burns episode , theyve all been well disapointing.30 mins of actual story , padded without!!! mercy to fit the running time.
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...Judy Davis, Patrick Bauchau and even Adam West were all great in it, and Weller owned, too bad almost nobody saw it. Probably too quirky and bent for easy mass consumption anyway.
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I think maybe 2 episodes of that show were any good
my gut feeling says masters of sci-fi is gonna be a suck fest -
this is all there will be of the series. abc pulled the plug during development. 6 episodes made, 4 get aired. then its done.
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From what's written above I'm sure we will be in for a real horror show of suckiness.
And I had hopes for decent scifi tv.
Oh well. -
I love that gal.
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I've been looking forward to this,too bad they've buried it on saturday nights. My impression is it's already cancelled.
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but after the disappointing "Masters of Horror" series, i doubt that this will actually impress anyone as masterful. Jonathan Frakes? lmao...
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These modern anthology shows always start out the same way, promising top grade talent which lasts for a few episodes then they get a producer from a random early 90's horror movie.
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Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Tina Fey, etc.?
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Only on the Playboy Channel! ;)
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That's a show I wanna see! :)
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the reviews sound generally positive. too bad ABC is dumping it in the middle of the summer.
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now that might actually be interesting....
So is it true that the plug on masters of sci-fi was pulled already? if so, that's fraking hilarious -
Is he going to be a regular on this show? What does that mean for Locke on Lost?
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Sounds like I better make sure the recorder is working! Even if Jeckle isn't very good, 3 hours of at least interesting tv on one night is a rarity these days.
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Forest Gump called, he wants his brain back...
they are all stand alone episodes, and furthermore there are only going to be 4 episodes out of 6 that will even air. This ship sank before it ever even sailed..... -
... instead of those endless mutant animal movies.
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And it's most of the same producers that made MOH.
I worked on the show last summer. ABC didn't really pull the plug, as there were only 6 eps planned, but if it caught on, more would have been made.
(Still to address Rokur, it WAS fraking hilarious that I was out of a job. So funny, you couldn't believe it. Honestly, my sides split not having a job. It was AWESOME!)
If the show had caught on, it would have been pretty decent, as I saw some of the stories they were going to adapt.
I'm glad to see it's finally airing. -
Dude, that sucks!!! I feel for you man, I've been there, I hope things work out for you.
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and about as subtle as being hit in the face with a hammer. "what did you do to me?" oh, sammy. i like the idea to do this series , and having some actual stars is cool. if i enjoy tonight's episode i'll try my damndest to watch next week.
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Channels with niches like History, CourtTV, G4, the Weather Channel and such are showing crap that has nothing to do with the reason the channel was created and networks are cutting interesting shows in favor of cheap reality, game, and talent shows. And then they wonder why overall ratings keep sinking and sinking. I wonder if there's any connection...?
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but who really gives a fuck
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Getting better.Makes me kinda miss the outer limits though.
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would be a helluva lot easier to take (I'm a San Diego fan) if our retarded TV announcers would SHUT THE HELL UP ABOUT IT! Yeah, he hit it, whoop de fuckin do. Stop sucking the guy's dick and cover the rest of the game. For the record, Hensley's pitch wasn't a bad one: outside corner, just up a bit too much. Personally, I hope they intentionally walk Bonds the rest of the season.
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That was great, so naturally it's already canceled. Anthologies like "The Twilight Zone" would never have even made it on air in this day and age. I'm sure the got cold feet because there are no familiar characters that will make a viewer want to turn in week to week. Like good Sci-Fi it had big ideas. It wasn't afraid to be political. It played on our fears, even if it was a little more cold war than war on terror. I'll be watching or recording each episode, and hoping they dump the last 2 on DVD. Maybe Showtime or Starz will pick it up.
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or maybe the sci fi channel will pick it up. I think the painkiller Jane season is almost over, I hope it gets shit canned, it is such a painfully terrible show. Doctor Who just started back up. Flash Gordon starts next week. That is the Friday night line-up. On Tuesdays, Eureka just started season two about 3 weeks ago. With SG-1 finished. BSG doesn't come back till the end of the year. I think the sci-fi channel desperately needs 3-4 more shows. Did Dresden Files get canceled? I REALLY liked that show. oh and please kill that who wants to be a super hero crap....
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Missed the first episode, but I'll give next week's a try.
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Everything from thery way pitchers walk to the way they dress screams CLOSET QUEEN!
The only thing duller than Baseball is GOLF!
The only thing duller than GOLF is watching snot dry.
Wake me up when any of these overpaid steroid freaks pulls a Heddy Lamar and invents something useful to the rest of society. -
I read on the scfy portal website that is it officially cancelled.I liked it to damn't.
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Damn.
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I'll watch the next three.
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But still it was somewhat okay for the subject matter.
While it is a bit disappointing for it not to be available on a network that would respect its full season at least with ABC we can get it in Canada. Show the few networks up here that there would be interest in series like this. Its odd that you guys down there like Stargate, but are unable to send up a few tapes of the really cool stuff.
How long till Flash Gordon? -
It’s a great concept. I really hope the network isn’t short sighted here – yes; placing it in the Summer doesn’t bode well but packaged correctly an anthology series could work. The story will survive. I’m setting the Tivo – I don’t want to miss the Harlan Ellison episode.
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it was canceled months ago before it ever aired. there are 6 episodes, 4 are being shown. thats all.
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they are too busy canceling shows like dresden files, clearing more room on the schedule for reality tv, wrestling, and D movies. http://tinyurl.com/2wjgbm
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but there is a bruise on my skull from where this episode smashed me over the head with heavy handed Bush bashing, and I hate Bush. I think that episode could have gained a half star if they cut out the "mission accomplished" line. I hope the Stepfather is good next week.
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Weren't both of these authors' works supposed to be involved somewhere along the line? And if they wer eheld back... why, given the ones they did greenlight?
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I had high hopes but is it just me or has JMS's writing really gotten shitty? CGI was nice, but that's not much of a complement.
Will be DVRing this for sure. -
Well, say goodbye to this. It's only going to last for four episodes. It's too friggin' bad, 'A Clean Escape' was great. I was hoping since ABC was doing Lost that this show would for a whole season. But alas, no. Damn it! The first intelligent sci-fi to come in ages.
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I've thought he was cool from way back in the orinial FX movie. Looks like cool stuff coming up. Too bad it's only four episodes.
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And i really liked the premier. There's too little intellegent scifi out there. i'll be disssapointed if those four episodes are all we get.
Maybe it will inspire the scifi channel to do a similar anthology series. -
will it be?
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could hear only the music soundtrack and foley stuff--commercials were fine, of course. So no dialog for the first half--took em that long to even notice and fix it.kept FFWDing the dvr to see how long it would take.So no verdict on the first episode. lame start, that's for sure
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about once a minute for a few seconds. The said they couldn't fix it until the next day.
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so far both episodes were none too kind to modern U.S. policies. I'm glad they're at least burning them off, even though it seems to be a really preachy show.
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