Being Human — The BBC Experience Continues in America

BBC’s original series Being Human returned to BBC America on Saturday, February 19th.  I don’t know if you heard the chorus of relief echoed by American fans of the original Being Human series, but it was audible and loud.  Although SyFy‘s new imitation Being Human continues to disappoint, the season premiere (and the second episode of the season) of BBC’s Being Human was riveting, hilarious, and disturbing — all in all, excellent.  The British characters of Annie, Mitchell, Nina, and George are real, three-dimensional supernatural beings trying to fit into an often monstrous sea of humanity.  The BBC version of Being Human  is not to be missed!

Being Human on SyFy: Bites, Sucks and Boos

After Being Human‘s premiere last night on the SyFy channel, the biting, sucking and booing has nothing to do with the fact that Josh, Aidin and Sally are a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost.  For full disclosure, I religiously watched the UK version of Being Human over the last two years on BBC America (and I am very put out at the thought that the new contract with SyFy may prevent BBC America from continuing to air the current seasons of the UK version of Being Human to prevent competition with the SyFy’s new reduction of Being Human).  Yes, you heard me, reduction, not production, but reduction of an edgy, biting (dare I add, exsanguinating and haunting) UK original into “a whiny, melodramatic, simplification fit for a highschool audience.”  I am quoting from my sister who has never yet had the opportunity to view the original UK Being Human series, and who loves cheesy science fiction and fantasy, but who was wholly disappointed (as was I) with the premiere of SyFy’s “original” production (read, cut and paste or color by number) of Being Human. 

I am going to resist picking the show apart completely, since I think you, my lovely readers, already get the drift of this review.  However, a few of the most grating elements of the show include the fact that the storyline is almost the same except the dialogue, which lacks the cleverness and edge of the original.  Of all the things to change, what is up with the new names of the characters, Josh (the werewolf), Sally (the ghost), and Aidin (the vampire)?  What is the matter with George, Annie and Mitchell?  Ok, so George is old-fashioned, but so is Sally.  Annie is a perfectly American name from Annie Oakley to the little orphan Annie, and the UK Annie was so adorable and lovable (not like the new ghost, Sally).  Sally just doesn’t have the presence that Annie has and couldn’t draw me into real feelings for her situation.  Aidin (funny, that Aidin Turner is the real name of actor that plays Mitchell in the UK version) just doesn’t smolder like Mitchell (although I know he can find his inner darkness from his role on Smallville).  So, Josh isn’t quite as big a dork as the original George, but the dress was classic and did make me laugh out loud (yes, this is a compliment).  My last criticism for the moment is that if the point of the new version was to make it accessible to American audiences, the backdrop, the locations including the apartment, the hospital, the woods, the foreign car, the wedding crashing bloodbath, just don’t look American to me.  Aside from the witless dialogue, the only Americanization I can see is the reference to Suffolk County and the lack of English accents.

I will likely watch next week, but that will probably be the last time I can stomach the ghostly apparition of a beautiful fantasy drama that was sucked into purgatory (aka, the U.S.) to suffer a living death.  The third season of the BBC’s original Being Human is premiering in the UK on BBC Three on January 23, 2011, but it may be a long time coming to America.

Ringing in the New Year with Joss Whedon’s Firefly

Space-western- need I say more?  A space odyssey of epic proportions.  Science fiction, fantasy, and steampunk fans alike shiver in delight at the mention of Joss Whedon‘s (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel) short-lived television series Firefly that consists of 14 episodes of which only 11 premiered on television.   Due to the growing cult following, it was followed by a movie based on the series, Serenity, which brought the original cast back together (after they lost at least 10 lbs for the movie filming).  Each of the nine crew members of the spacecraft, Serenity, has a carefully chosen skill-set that helps the ship navigate the wild, wild west of pioneering space, and also is a carefully crafted personality that creates magic chemistry for the audience.  The cast includes (1) serious, yet charismatic and randomly daring captain, Nathan Fillion (Castle), (2) crazy, autistic genuis, Summer Glau (Dollhouse), (3) psychotic, but loveable, hired gun, Adam Baldwin (Chuck),  (4) elegant, yet deadly companion for hire, Morena Baccarin (V), (5)  self-taught, naive space mechanic, Jewel Staite (Stargate Atlantis), (6) steady, sure-fire second-in-command, Gina Torres (Xena, Hercules & Alias), (7) quirky, pilot-comedian, Alan Wray Tudy (Dollhouse), (8) the nervous doctor with shaky hands, Sean Maher, (9) the lost lamb, shepherd and camp counselor, Ron Glass.

In the movie, Serentity, star-power and serious acting skills are added by Chiwetel Ejiofore (Children of Men) as an assassin, antagonist and anti-hero pitted against the crew of Firefly.  This is not a spoiler, but a teaser, as the secrets of the ultimate space monster, the Reavers, are revealed.

The future of Firefly has more advanced technology, but otherwise has the same problems that the world of today faces.  The same crime, brutality and political maneuvering that leaves the larger population suffering deprivation of basic physical needs like medical care and basic human rights.  Despite his inner wish to leave the world behind and fly away, the captain of Serenity does his best to level the playing field and help the most vulnerable in society take control of their destiny.

I am ringing in the New Year of 2011 with Firefly.  What science fiction are you bringing in the new year with? 

Happy New Year!

Buckaroo Banzai: An Inspiration for Your New Year Resolutions

The ultimate overachiever, Buckaroo Banzai, a neurosurgeon/scientist/multi-dimensional traveler/adventurer/samurai/rock musician, teaches us many lessons that will aid us in our new year‘s quest to better ourselves.  In the 1984 cult classic, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, Buckaroo teaches us that (1) learning, whether its science or music, is even more fun and exciting when doing it with a rat pack comprised of your best buddies, (2) being a Renaissance man or a polymath never goes out of style and learning about a variety of different subjects can increase your creativity and ingenuity in all your fields of study, and (3) following your passions, such as making music, inspires great minds to achieve greater dimensions.  

I don’t know how I missed this classic movie, but it has a star-studded cast including Peter Weller, Robocop, Jeff Goldblum, Jurassic Park & Independence Day,  Christopher Lloyd, Back to the Future, and John Lithgow, Third Rock From the Sun.  Despite its cult following, fans are still waiting for a sequel or a television series.

Here’s to following your passions in 2011!

Being Human- Should Be Called Been Human, Done Human in the UK

The BBC original series Being Human is a heart-warming tale of a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost who just happen to be roommates trying to make it in the big bad world.  Now the recently renamed SyFy channel (personally, not digging the re-branding of the SciFi Channel although I do love a number of SyFy original series) is re-making Being Human in a U.S. friendly format.  It is not clear to me why the perfectly charming and at times dark and moody British version of the series needs to be translated into an American English version.  The SyFy original series premieres Monday, Jan. 17 at 9pm ET/PT on the SyFy Channel.  However, season three of the BBC’s Being Human will likely also premiere in January as well as a new spin-off online series Becoming Human commissioned by Sarah Clay, BBC Multiplatform Drama Commissioner. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/beinghuman/2010/10/new_series_becoming_human.html. I’m not clairvoyant, but I have a feeling that there is a ghost of a chance that the new SyFy version of Being Human is little more than an apparition of its UK version.  That aside, I am a fan of Sam Witwer (Smallville) and am glad to see him in a lead role as a hot-blooded vampire and lady-killer (in every sense of the word).

All Things Sci-Fi

So I always say that I only read and watch sci-fi.  However, I think that the brave new world of science fiction is much larger and closer to our lives than what folks normally typecast as sci-fi.  For instance, westerns are all about pioneers on exploring a new frontier.  And of course, a space western like Firefly/Serenity just proves how comfortable and familiar the genres of westerns and sci-fi are together.  I have also always said that mysteries like Sherlock Holmes are true science fiction territory, with mysteries of science and the universe explored with logic and cutting edge technology and knowledge.  The recent movie interpretation of Sherlock Holmes set in a steampunk era just proves that connection.  I intend to cover all things sci-fi in these pages, and that includes more than you or I can imagine!