Michael G. Munz

The official website of Seattle sci-fi/fantasy author and geek Michael G. Munz

Have a watch: New Knight Rider

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Okay, I am NOT going to do a full blog on this one, but in the interest of keeping people informed, the new Knight Rider series has released its first post-pilot movie episode on Hulu, a week before it actually premieres. If you’re entertained by things that are so bad they’re good, you should check it out.

This show is gleefully terrible. That’s the best way I can think of to describe it. As someone commented on Hulu, “It looks like KITT can now turn into a train and a wreck.”


I’m thinking there’s definitely a reason Val Kilmer, who voices KITT, doesn’t let his name show up in the credits. I honestly hope this show makes it. It’s so awful that it’s hilarious.

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

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Stargate: Atlantis Cancelled, Universe on Its Way…

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Here’s a bit of two-for-one geek-news: The Sci-Fi Channel continues its tradition of cancelling shows that people like. This time on the chopping block, Stargate: Atlantis. At the same time, it’s green lit a third Stargate series, Stargate: Universe, to air in early 2009.

Okay, so I was miffed when they cancelled SG-1, severely irritated when they cancelled Farscape way back when, and continually bothered to find out that the new Battlestar Galactica was still on the air. (It’s going to be gone after this season, fortunately, and I’ll have to rely on possible reruns or episodes on Hulu.com to remind me just why I disliked it so much. At this point I can’t remember specifics, and I suppose I’m not likely to bother re-watching to let myself be reminded. Darn.)

I seem to have lost my train of thought here. Oh! (Yes, revel, revel in the concise blogging style!) My point is that I find I honestly couldn’t care less about Atlantis getting the axe. Sure, I watched some episodes–some were quite good, some not so great–but I never really got deeply into the story or anything. I couldn’t tell you much about the Wraith (aside from my finding them rather dull) or the various characters, few of whom really got me to care. (Okay, so McKay’s always fun, and it was nice to see Jewel Staite working after Firefly, but that’s about it.) My impression, admittedly fragmented, was that the show seemed to be in search of a purpose but often failed to do anything unique or better than what SG-1 had done before it.

And, really, enough with the Replicators, huh?

As for Universe, Sci-Fi describes it as follows:

After unlocking the mystery of the Stargate’s ninth chevron, a team of explorers travels to an unmanned starship called the Destiny, launched by The Ancients at the height of their civilization as a grand experiment set in motion, but never completed.

What starts as a simple reconnaissance turns into a never ending mission, as the Stargate Universe crew discovers the ship is unable to return to Earth, and they must now fend for themselves aboard the Destiny.

The crew will travel to the far reaches of the universe, connecting with each of the previously launched Stargates, thus fulfilling the Destiny’s original mission.

Challenges will arise though as the ship comes into range of Stargates placed centuries ahead of the Destiny, but only for a brief period of time before carrying on with its pre-programmed navigational schedule. If someone is left behind, there is no way to go back for them, adding to the drama of encountering new races, enemies and adventures.

“A grand experiment set in motion but never completed.” Hey, good trick. They’ve created a plot device that doesn’t need to ever be explained because it was never finished! 😀 There’s a mystery of the ninth chevron? That’s a new one on me, but maybe I’m just not up on my lore.

As for the rest of it…I guess we’ll see. I’ll give it a shot, but the description isn’t wowing me. Maybe it’s just that I miss the SGC and O’Neill. It sounds somewhat like Star Trek meets Sliders, which is…workable. If they can come up with some engaging characterization, it could be decent, though I’m leery of the statement that Universe will have “a cast that gives it a younger vibe.” Something about that just smells a little too much of executive tampering. Perhaps they took an O’Neill template, made him an experienced twenty-two, gave him some “attitude,” and then Rasta-fied him “by about…ten-percent or so.” [End Simpsons reference.]

So I’m not holding my breath. What with professional wrestling, Ghost Hunters, and constant monster-of-the-week movies penned by monkeys at best (at worst, by the folks who bring us Epic Movie, Disaster Movie, Lousy Movie, and Meet the Spartans), Sci-Fi seems, like Atlantis, organizationally confused and in search of a purpose. Or maybe some Replicators.

But that’s another blog.

Speaking of other blogs, click here for the full story in The Hollywood Reporter by James Hibberd.

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

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Stargate Continuum DVD Review

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So Stargate Continuum, the last (for now, anyway) made-for-DVD Stargate SG-1 movie came out a couple of days ago. I originally started watching the show about midway through its ten-season run and caught up on the episodes I’d missed in reruns on Sci-Fi. Though it wasn’t the same show by the time the final season rolled around, I was still sorry to see it go, so I gladly picked up the DVD. Without further ado, here’s a brief review. (Rhyme not intended.) This ought to be as spoiler-free as any of the ads are, so feel free to read on mostly safely…

An initial summation for those of you with no patience: I’d have to say it’s above average. It’s not great, but good, and enjoyable enough for the time it asks of us. With the Goa’uld once again as the main antagonists it’s actually quite reminiscent of the earlier seasons, especially when a number of familiar faces start showing up. I won’t say just who here–and there are a number of them–except to mention that it’s good to see (spoiler-text follows) the late Don S. Davis again.

But what’s that you say? Didn’t the Replicators utterly wipe out, put in a box, and stick a fork in the Goa’uld? (Yes, I can hear you; it’s the magic of the Interwebs!) Well, let’s just say that Baal’s a jerk, and he’s got a time machine.

Yes, it’s a time travel movie, which will likely turn some of you off, but even so it’s decently done. One thing I liked was how they came at it in part from an angle that’s not seen quite so much–that of the point of view of those people who’ve lived their lives in an alternate (and screwed up, from SG-1’s point of view) timeline. To them, it’s SG-1’s timeline that’s the alternate; they like their own just fine, thank you very much, and why the hell should they bother to help and mess up THEIR billions of lives? (As an alternate-Landry put it, “The arrogance of what you’re asking us to help you do is mind-boggling!”) Who’s to say which is more correct? This question leads to a middle of the film that’s really rather poignant and interesting in terms of the characters themselves.

I’m not sure if SG-1 virgins or casual viewers would find that section quite as interesting, however, as they’re not nearly so familiar with these characters. As a fan of the show it’s hard for me to judge. I will say that the writers did do a decent job of catching up the new viewers to the Stargate setting without getting bogged down with it.

The plot as a whole is pretty well done, at least until you get to the end, but I’ll talk about that in a moment. There was one genuinely unexpected twist that I was quite happy to see. I only wish they’d had more time to develop the ramifications of it. That’s perhaps why the ending is where I had the most problem. It’s just…missing something. (Jack O’Neill maybe? He’s in much of the first half before fading away.) It all wraps up too quickly, and I found myself wondering what they could’ve done if this were a four-episode arc of the show. One thing I will say: Character death shouldn’t be milked for tragedy points when you’re operating around time machines–or at the very least, not when you’re standing IN time machines. Going to slow-mo just gives the viewer more time to realize that, oh, hey, they can fix that fairly easily right now.

One more thing I did find interesting: Baal’s a jerk, yes, but oddly he’s NOT quite up to his old tricks. He seems to have learned from his mistakes…or at least most of them, which leads into part of that twist I mentioned.

As for the DVD extras, along with the usual DVD previews there’s a commentary by the writer and director as well as three featurettes. I haven’t yet had time to listen to the commentary, but I did take a look at the featurettes.

First, The Layman’s Guide to Time Travel. Being a speculative fiction writer, I have a weakness for scientific theories like time travel, alternate dimensions and such explained in layman’s terms so those of us who don’t have the benefit of a PhD in mathematics can see the wonder in them. My only complaint here is that at nine minutes, it’s too short. It would’ve been great to see them explore the two theories of how time travel might work a little bit more, for instance. Still, what we do get is interesting and fun, at least for us geek-types.

The twenty-minute Making of Stargate Continuum featurette is fun to watch, too. (Anyone who’s seen any of the SG-1 making-of specials that have aired on the Sci-Fi Channel knows what they’re in for here, style-wise if not content-wise, so I won’t go into detail.)

The best of the three would have to be the Stargate Goes to the Arctic featurette, which documents the experience of actually traveling to the Arctic Circle to film on a sheet of ice in negative twenty-degree temperatures. With all of the to-do about the cast and crew filming on-location (seen online and on the preview for Continuum on the Ark of Truth DVD) I was expecting more of the movie to take place there than we see on-screen. Don’t get me wrong, the Arctic is certainly in the movie, but I suspect that going there was a much bigger deal for the actors and crew than it is for us viewers who sit down to watch in our warm living rooms. Indeed, the twenty-two minutes of the featurette certainly show a more interesting (real) adventure. In fact it may be my favorite part of the entire DVD, and I say that with no slight to the movie itself.

So, bottom line, if you’re a fan, it’s worth picking up. (And that means YOU, Denise.) If you’ve never seen the show, well, at least give it a rental so you can help support the show, ’cause I want another DVD, dangit! 🙂

…And I really did mean for this to be a BRIEF review when I started. Ah, well.

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

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Terminator 4: The Teaser

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The first teaser trailer for Terminator 4 (or Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins for you sticklers who like long titles) is out. Teasers in general don’t really do much more than let the public know a movie’s coming, so it’s not really fair to judge the film on it–not that it won’t stop lots of people from doing so. It doesn’t show us much, and I’m still hoping that it doesn’t turn out as bad as I’m fearing.

Anyway, here’s a link!

-Michael
www.michaelgmunz.com

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Why Hyperion: The Movie Worries Me

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Hyperion: The Movie.

Yes, that’s what I’ve recently heard (or, more accurately, heard a while back, forgot when the news bore no fruit, and then heard again recently with renewed momentum). As someone who counts Dan Simmons’s Hyperion Cantos among his favorite books, I meet this news with a mix of excitement and dread…but frankly a lot more of the latter.

Let me step back a moment. I first read Hyperion in college when a friend passed it on to me, mentioning his awe of the story (and also, frankly, just how damned cool the concept of the Shrike was). I was soon reading this Hugo Award-winning sci-fi novel, eagerly sifting through the pages and searching for not only what would happen next, but also what had happened previously and what the hell was happening NOW. (It’s quite an impressive feat when a writer can give you just enough to fuel your hunger for more information without making you feel completely lost.) What the heck IS the Shrike? Who sent the Time Tombs back? What is the TechnoCore up to? Where in the bloody @#%&*@! did Het Masteen go?! Pausing only to beat my book-recommending friend over the head with same upon reaching the abrupt-yet-tantalizing ending of Hyperion (How DARE he not warn me?!), I was swiftly continuing to devour the sequel (more continuation, really), The Fall of Hyperion.

A great deal of what amazed me about the book (and the thing that still inspires me as a writer to this day) is the masterful way Simmons weaves the myriad of plot and character threads together so cohesively. The story is epic, and keeping it all straight as a reader–and I say this in the best way possible–requires a fair bit of focus. Keeping it all straight as the author must have been an intense task. I would later recommend the book to friends and then, as they related to me their own reading experience, I’d find myself frustrated for not being able to completely recall the part of the book they were experiencing at the time due to its complexity and the years that had past since I had read it myself.

It’s this complexity that fills me with dread. They’re supposed to be making a SINGLE movie out of both Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion, and I just don’t see how that’s going to be possible without straining a good deal of the complexity out. Obviously this is the problem with translating any book to the screen. It’s not impossible, if done correctly, but the likelihood that it WILL be done correctly is not (to my admittedly cynical thinking), a large one.

The usual perils a film–especially a science fiction film–must go through in the process of production as executives attempt to dumb it down (“viewers are morons”) are bad enough. (Apparently the humans-in-vats idea of The Matrix was originally conceived of as a big neural network for the computers on which to exist rather than to just use the human body as a battery, but this was changed because execs didn’t think people would get the idea. Unfortunately the battery thing makes no sense. …Then again, a number of other things about those movies made no sense, but that’s a topic for another day.) Hyperion’s labyrinthine (pun intended) complexity necessitates pouring a gallon jug into a drinking glass. How much can be cut for time without making a mere skeleton of what remains? The idea of those with no exposure to the book seeing the movie and going either “I don’t get it” or “This is supposed to be a masterpiece?” frankly bothers me. Remind me to elaborate on that general concept in another blog.

Even splitting it into two films doesn’t seem workable. Granted, this would certainly give the story more room, but I just don’t see a studio signing off on two films when the first one, really, doesn’t end so much as it stops. Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter had the benefit of having such a gigantic audience already familiar with those books that it’s less of a risk. Hyperion, while spectacular, just doesn’t have quite the built-in audience (at least that’s my impression; I’ve done absolutely zero research in making that assertion). Two films would be great, but exceedingly unlikely, especially as they’ve already announced it as one.

Now like I said, it’s not that it CAN’T be done, but it would seem to be a daunting task. Just ask David Lynch why his name isn’t on the theatrical print of Dune. Now there’s another epic sci-fi novel that was done MUCH better in a mini-series format. (Yes, I know, there are those of you who think the mini-series has its problems, but the general consensus seems to be that it’s quite well done, and certainly an improvement over what was released in theaters in 1984…even if Sting is sorely missing.) 😉 I would love to see Hyperion/The Fall of Hyperion done as a mini-series and given enough time to develop. Even the mini-series format isn’t without it’s development dangers (just ask Ursula K. Le Guin), but it’s better than a feature film, at least from a storyteller’s point of view. On the other hand, I suppose I can’t pine for a mini-series when they’ve already announced it as a feature film, so I suppose all this is moot anyway.

So that’s what’s got me skeptical about the whole idea. Of course, it’s entirely possible it’ll be sunk into Development Hell anyway and will never see the light of day. I suppose in Hyperion’s case I’d rather see no film than a poorly done film, but there’s little I can do about it but sit and wait…and possibly reread the books again.

“And that’s all I have to say about that.”

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com