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DEAD LIKE ME!! LAND OF LOST!! PERRIN!! QUEST!! MARY!! LEGAL!! IMPOSSIBLE!! BULLSHIT!! HercVault!!
I am – Hercules!!
I’d love to see a new “Dead Like Me” movie written by series creator Bryan Fuller (“Wonderfalls,” “Pushing Daisies”), but producers foolishly failed to invite him to participate (even though I understand they may have been contractually obligated to!).
“Kelvington” says of Dead Like Me: Life After Death
, made without the participation of Fuller or former regulars Mandy Patinkin and Laura Harris:
First I was a HUGE fan of the original series, “Dead Like Me”. It was well written, well done and most of all intelligent. The TV Movie does well to try and follow in the footsteps of the series. But it does fall a tad short. While I by no means hated this adaptation of the show. It just didn’t feel the same. Here are a few reasons why, some spoilers contained within.
The dead don’t age, they stay frozen in time, but since the show started several years ago, when Ellen Muth was several years younger, she has aged. They did a nice job trying to down play it, but she got older, nothing can be done about that. However, her voice matured, or fell victim to some heavy smoking and got a little raspy. That could have easily been fixed in post. Did you see the Dark Knight? They can do things with voices.
The movie begins with a comic book style explanation was very well done and fit right in with the feel of the old show. However, the loss of Rube the leader of the reapers played by Mandy Patinkin was probably a loss they couldn’t afford. I don’t know if he didn’t want to come back to the part, or they didn’t want to offer it to him. Either way, the film suffers a bit from him not being there.
After a short recap of things past, and how death works, we see George, played by Ellen Muth reap a soul and send it off to it’s lights. After that we meet the new boss played by Henry Ian Cusick, you know Des from “Lost”. And when I first saw him, I said, “Hey, it’s Desmond from Lost”. Even though this casting was a bit off he fit into the role nicely. We also see the new Daisy, played by Sarah Wynter, you might remember her from “24”. She did a great job filling the gap left by Laura Harris who was not available to reprise the role. Fortunately, we got both Jasmine Guy and Callum Blue to come back to play Roxy and Mason, which helped the film a immensely.
The film could easily have been called “Dead Like Me – Reapers Gone Wild”, because we get to see what happens when the reapers break the rules, and yes even Roxy breaks the number one rule. She keeps someone alive. It’s been a while since I saw the very first “Dead Like Me”, but I clearly remember what Rube said about keeping someone past their expiration date. When George didn’t want to reap a little girl, and said she would have eighty more years left, Rube told her that’s eighty years she wouldn’t want, that souls rot and decay if left in the body. We get to see what happens when the reapers figure out that apparently there are no consequences for reaps gone wrong. George spends a great deal of the movie trying to figure out why she can’t reap a soul, while Daisy will actually break a leg to get back into acting, even if it’s not her own.
The acting is top notch, Ellen seems to play the role in a much more thoughtful way, and it really shows. I had forgotten how much I loved this character and Muth’s portrayal of her. Jasmine Guy, hits everything so perfectly you never think for a moment she’s been doing anything but playing Roxy everyday since the series ended.
We see that the reapers haven’t changed much in the past five years and that things are pretty much normal, except their new boss is more hi-tech than Rube, and uses Trio’s instead of post-it notes. I’m sure 3M was sorry to see the loss of that endorsement deal, but what are you going to do.
Finally, the tone of the movie is very different than the tone of the series, while the series had a more light touch, the movie is much more dark in feeling and it’s one of it’s few faults. I think what made the series really work was the feel, the “Wonder Falls” meets death. It isn’t until late in the film do we get a sense of the old series. And while this is not as magical as “Pushing Daisies” it is still worth renting or buying, and it really pisses me off that Showtime ever canceled this show. I hope to see many more “Dead Like Me” movies.
Sarah Wynter, who played Laura Harris’ big sister on “24,” succeeds her in the role of Daisy. I liked Wynter plenty in “24” but thought she was completely miscast here.
Britt McKillip, who reprises the role of kid sister Reggie, is now barely recognizable as a blonde, spectacle-free cheerleader-type. (I thought she was playing a new character at first.)
“Kelvington” liked this movie a good deal more that I. “Life After Death” brings to mind the sixth season of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” (minus the musical): all the great comedy vanished, replaced by the kind of mediocre drama that wouldn’t look out of place in a Lifetime cable telefilm. I wasn’t tempted to laugh even once; this is not the “Dead Like Me” I remember.
The set comes with commentary by lead actress Ellen Muth and director Stephen Herek, as well as a 14-minute making-of documentary “Back From The Dead: Resurrecting Dead Like Me.” Learn that Herek was in contention to direct the series’ pilot five years earlier. Learn that the creators are hopeful there will be more “Dead Like Me” movies.
I’m hopeful for more too, but only if they bring Fuller back to make the franchise funny again.
Dead Like Me: Complete Series Gift Set packages both seasons of the Showtime series with the new direct-to-DVD movie.
Herc’s Popular Pricing Pantry
The arrival of “Dollhouse” presumably precipitated this week the momentary reduction of each season of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” “Angel” and “Firefly”from more than $30 to $21.99!! (I feel obliged to warn readers that Whedon had nothing to do with “Tru Calling,” though “Buffy”/”Angel”/”Firefly” writer Jane Espenson did work on its second season.)
Amazon’s Blu-ray TV Sale Has A Season Of HD Terminator For $23.99!!
Amazon’s Blu-ray TV Sale Has A Season Of HD Chuck For $24.99!!
Last week every episode of “Wonderfalls” was $29.98. At the moment the complete series is $15.99!! (47% Off!!)
Last year a season of “Alias” cost $45.99. Last month a season cost $37.49. At the moment all seasons are $29.99!!
A season of “Weeds” in HD is $15.99!! (50% Off!!)
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The dead don’t age, they stay frozen in time, but since the show started several years ago, when Ellen Muth was several years younger, she has aged. They did a nice job trying to down play it, but she got older, nothing can be done about that. However, her voice matured, or fell victim to some heavy smoking and got a little raspy. That could have easily been fixed in post. Did you see the Dark Knight? They can do things with voices.
The movie begins with a comic book style explanation was very well done and fit right in with the feel of the old show. However, the loss of Rube the leader of the reapers played by Mandy Patinkin was probably a loss they couldn’t afford. I don’t know if he didn’t want to come back to the part, or they didn’t want to offer it to him. Either way, the film suffers a bit from him not being there.
After a short recap of things past, and how death works, we see George, played by Ellen Muth reap a soul and send it off to it’s lights. After that we meet the new boss played by Henry Ian Cusick, you know Des from “Lost”. And when I first saw him, I said, “Hey, it’s Desmond from Lost”. Even though this casting was a bit off he fit into the role nicely. We also see the new Daisy, played by Sarah Wynter, you might remember her from “24”. She did a great job filling the gap left by Laura Harris who was not available to reprise the role. Fortunately, we got both Jasmine Guy and Callum Blue to come back to play Roxy and Mason, which helped the film a immensely.
The film could easily have been called “Dead Like Me – Reapers Gone Wild”, because we get to see what happens when the reapers break the rules, and yes even Roxy breaks the number one rule. She keeps someone alive. It’s been a while since I saw the very first “Dead Like Me”, but I clearly remember what Rube said about keeping someone past their expiration date. When George didn’t want to reap a little girl, and said she would have eighty more years left, Rube told her that’s eighty years she wouldn’t want, that souls rot and decay if left in the body. We get to see what happens when the reapers figure out that apparently there are no consequences for reaps gone wrong. George spends a great deal of the movie trying to figure out why she can’t reap a soul, while Daisy will actually break a leg to get back into acting, even if it’s not her own.
The acting is top notch, Ellen seems to play the role in a much more thoughtful way, and it really shows. I had forgotten how much I loved this character and Muth’s portrayal of her. Jasmine Guy, hits everything so perfectly you never think for a moment she’s been doing anything but playing Roxy everyday since the series ended.
We see that the reapers haven’t changed much in the past five years and that things are pretty much normal, except their new boss is more hi-tech than Rube, and uses Trio’s instead of post-it notes. I’m sure 3M was sorry to see the loss of that endorsement deal, but what are you going to do.
Finally, the tone of the movie is very different than the tone of the series, while the series had a more light touch, the movie is much more dark in feeling and it’s one of it’s few faults. I think what made the series really work was the feel, the “Wonder Falls” meets death. It isn’t until late in the film do we get a sense of the old series. And while this is not as magical as “Pushing Daisies” it is still worth renting or buying, and it really pisses me off that Showtime ever canceled this show. I hope to see many more “Dead Like Me” movies.
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+ Expand All
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yeah
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But you know it.
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Feb 17, 2009 2:58:45 AM CST
But seriously, loved Dead Like Me. And the younger sister...
by iron-kong
grew up to be a MAJOR hottie!!
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Happened to guest-star on Chuck, tonight. Got a chuckle as they did a quick flash of Andy in military garb.
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Wish Fuller was involved with DLM but I will still buy it to support the cast. I hope they make more of these and take some of these criticisms from the reviewers to heart.
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as for the DLM movie, not great, not bad. needed fuller.
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Synchronize Swatches!
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Parker-Lewis-Lose-Season-1/11330
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for getting me excited about Johnny Quest. I thought it would be the '60s originals, not the retread.
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Now Disney, release The Incredibles, and I'll be a happy man.
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For the love of humanity people! And thanks for the Quick Draw McGraw tease on those 1960's cartoon sets, assholes!
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Like it isn't so.
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I bet they win.
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Super.
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DEAD LIKE ME did nothing for me. From the opening bit which literally telegraphed the punch line from orbit, to the annoying lead who consistently acted as though she was smarter than everyone else - this works only if, like Dr. House you ARE smarter - it just irritated me. Not to mention that it made no sense. The afterlife on a budget?
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Just a few days ago I wondered what happened to him.
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Made sense to me. Do you expect them to have a mansion in which the reapers can live? And you have to remember that they haven't quite gotten to the "afterlife" part yet.
The main character died as a teenager... she's playing the part. It was irritating at first, but I think it was supposed to be. She wasn't intended to be endearing. She was meant to be sort of unworthy of sympathy, until you "got to know her". I thought they did a wonderful job with her character... it was like getting to know someone in real life, a little bit at a time, and suddenly realizing that this person you didn't really get along with was just trying to get by like everyone else, and was, deep down, pretty good, and not really too different from you after all. -
Good work there!
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i could totally hear that music that always played during the "speeches" at the end of shows like Full House, playing as i read what you said. :P
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looking forward to the second season
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is OUTSTANDING. Mulberry? That was an excellent warthog.
"That's bleedin' diabolical." -
Has any one of the critics rewatched the 6th season since it originally aired?
When I first saw it, I thought it was dark and depressing and a little monotonous. Then I watched it on DVD. It's so much funnier and more complex and definitely one of the best seasons. It wasn't nearly as turgid as the 7th season. When I rewatched it, I couldn't believe how it didn't seem nearly as depressing as the first time through on the air. -
The Daily Record calls it a "hit drama"
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Bingo. I loved that
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Feb 17, 2009 3:00:23 PM CST
Why are we getting a new Harry animation every day now?
by nasty in the pasty
I mean, it's better than the once-every-two-months norm, but at least give us a week or two to appreciate the LAST one.
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What happened to that guy? I don't think I've seen him in anything since Buffy. I always thought he was a good enough actor to at the very least get on a shitty sitcom.
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because you are not waiting a week, or 6, for the next episode. That feeling of "that episode was a downer" does not linger if you don't have to wait at least 7 days to see what happens next.
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The guy who played Xander (Brandon something?) has a recurring role on 'Criminal Minds' as a computer geek.
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Woo Hoo!! Its about damn time thats going to be released on dvd!!
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was in the sitcom kitchen confidential, which was on fox, so lasted all of 3 epsiodes. however, about 13 or so were relased ( available on torrent. wtach them if you can. really funny show and again shows what a bunch of cunts fox are
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I remember watching a couple of episodes of this thinking the lead guy was pretty funny. whatever happened to him and the show?
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I never understood why they didn't make a second season in the 80's or 90's using the same art & style as the original series. Johnny Quest still deserves a REAL kick ass adult-themed season 2 like the original with deaths, Nazi fugitives and badass shootouts. That 90's Real Adventures show was a lame excuse to play with bad CGI animation.
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Feb 17, 2009 6:33:43 PM CST
where are the Ally McBeal, The Practice, & Boston Public dvd's??
by boomers_lips
well, where are they?
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I'd start buying them if they were at least $15 or 20.00 a set.
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Not sure about the Practice.
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quite possibly one of the greatest sitcoms to emerge from britain in the 70s.
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God help me, that still makes me laugh.
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I'll admit, he created a great series and wrote a couple good episodes. And most of the time he makes great shows. But most of the DLM series that we saw was NOT directed or written by him, so why is it such a big deal if he wasn't involved with the movie? I would say if the movie has problems, it's not because of his absence, but someone *else* who was involved with the series who kept writing and directing great episodes.
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Because the discs are encoded on Caprica before traveling 2 years by shuttle to finally reach a warehouse on Earth where they are distributed by a gold-plated cargo plane flown by Harrison Ford. You didn't think they were just .25 cent DVD's thrown into a box with a few deleted scenes and a commentary track tagged on, did you? Be glad they don't offer full season sets because retail on those would be around 89.00!
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unless i totally missed it, you never noted the passing of bob wilkens, the creator and host of creature features the man premiered night of the living dead and hardware wars on broadcast tv while other horror hosts played dress up, he played it straight, using his wit and writing ability to create a chararacter even more chilling and humerous than elvira, zacherle, vampira, or any of the other hosts bob introduced uncle forry to thousands of bay area viewers....and he was his own little scifi/horror and film convention, bringing on luminaries from star trek and every film genre for us geeks who were either to young or too geeky to get dates for saturday nites, he was always there, making us feel normal woulda been nice had there been an rip thread for him
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I want all of the Beatles back, or none of them. Stupid move on somebody's part. It may have been Patinkin himself. He's notoriously fickle. Either way, I ain't getting this.
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Pertwee - Agree. THE FALL & RISE OF REGINALD PERRIN was one of the best comedies ever. Especially since one can't help but empathize with the poor shmuck who'se stuck in a mind-numbingly dull job day after day after day with an idiot for a boss. Even the premise of his accidentally succeeding beyond his wildest dreams when he's actually trying to fail isn't that far out - pet rocks anyone? As for MULBERRY, far better than DEAD LIKE ME. The bit where he has an accident and his father - Death - shows up at the hospital complaining about how that makes him look, having such an incompetent for a son was hysterically funny.
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Finally. Now my wasted child hood is complete!
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