I know it’s a day late. Still recovering from holiday festivities, I guess. Also I had a job interview that as it turned out, took up a sizable chunk of my day. It was for a company that I’ve been really wanting to work for. I think I did a great job selling myself, but that’s never a guarantee. Wishe me luck all the same!
There isn’t much in the way of movie releases. There are couple of TV shows that got released, though. But this week, it’s all about the blood…True Blood.
True Blood, Seasons 1-4 (Blu-Ray)- I started watching this show a couple months ago thanks to the HBO Go app on my Xbox 360, and I got hooked almost immediately! I had heard about this show for the last few years and about the following that had grown up around it. I never thought, however, that it would be the kind of show that would appeal to me. But the show is just really well-written. The characters are all richly-drawn and sympathetic, and the storylines are both intriguing and involving. And the way it’s written, you immediately want to watch the next episode after seeing the previous one. It’s that good!
In fact, I’ve gone as far as to call it “The Anti-Twilight” as the show is practically the antithesis of everything Twilight stands for: Where Bella has been criticized as being passive and placing herself secondary to the men in her life, Sookie Stackhouse is an intelligent, strong-willed and self-reliant heroine who more than once is shown taking matters into her own hands. And while Twilight carries a subtext of abstinence, the characters in True Blood are all unapologetically sexual (It’s an HBO show after all!)
And of course it needs to be said that the vampires in True Blood don’t freaking sparkle!
True Blood is based loosely on a book series known as The Southern Vampire Mysteries written by an author named Charlaine Harris. The TV version was created and produced by Alan Ball, whose other work has included the movie American Beauty and another HBO series, Six Feet Under. And while the books were mystery novels, the show seems to opt for a more drama-oriented and soap opera route. This was especially true in the first season, which had a subplot involving a series of murders, but for the most part it took a backseat to the building of the character relationships and really didn’t come to the forefront until the last few episodes.
True Blood takes place in a world where vampires have recently, “Come out of the coffin” (or as they refer to it, “The Great Revelation”), thanks to the invention of synthetic blood, which is sold and marketed as the beverage True Blood. Hence the title. And now vampires are finding themselves having to struggle against the fears and prejudices humans have had for them as they try to integrate into society. Needless to say, this creates many parallels and allusions to both the Civil Rights and LGBT movements.
The first season introduces Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), a young waitress working at the small restaurant Merlotte’s which is located in the fictional town of Bon Temps, Louisiana. Sookie is a telepath; able to hear the thoughts of those around her whether she wants to or not. And she sees this alternately as both a curse and a blessing.
One night, a vampire named Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) walks into Merlotte’s. Bill is the first vampire Sookie has ever met, and she’s fascinated by him because she is unable to read his thoughts. Bill is a 200-year-old vampire, who in his former life was Confederate soldier in the Civil War just prior to being turned. And he has returned to Bon Temps to move back into his ancestral home. Much of the show’s first season deals with Bill and Sookie as they build their relationship and she learns more about the vampire society.
Meanwhile, there is a series of murders occurring in Bon Temps, with the common denominator being that all the victims were women who have had sexual relations with vampires (termed “Fang-Bangers” in the show). Sookie’s brother, Jason (Ryan Kwanten), is soon believed to be the suspect, although all the evidence is purely circumstantial.
The rest of the season introduces the other main characters of the series, including Sookie’s boss and Merlotte’s owner, Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell); Sookie’s best friend, the abrasive Tara Thornton (Rutina Wesley); Tara’s openly gay cousin Lafayette Reynolds (Nelsan Ellis), who also works as Merlotte’s short-order cook; Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgard) a 1,000-year-old vampire who serves as Louisiana’s “sheriff” as well as the owner of the vampire bar, Fangtasia, and who has his own fascination with Sookie; and finally Jessica Hamby (Deborah Ann Woll), a young woman who is turned by Bill for a transgression he commits halfway through the first season.
In addition to vampires, as the series progresses we are eventually introduced to other supernatural creatures such as shape-shifters, werewolves, werepanthers, witches, maenads, and even fairies!
In the second season, another series of murders begins; this time with the victims found with their hearts removed. At the same time, a mysterious woman named Maryann Forrester (Michelle Forbes) arrives in Bon Temps. She has a strange effect on those around her, and she has a particular interest in Tara, as well as Sam whom she appears to have a history with. Jason decides to try and turn over a new leaf and joins a religious organization called the Fellowship of the Sun, which it turns out has a serious anti-vampire agenda. Meanwhile, Sookie and Bill are sent to Dallas at Eric’s request to investigate the disappearance of that city’s sheriff, Godric, who it turns out was Eric’s maker.
In the third season, Bill is kidnapped and taken to Mississippi, where is is brought before that state’s Vampire King, Russell Edgington (Denis O’Hare). Russell, it seems, has his own particular plans for humanity, and he wants Bill to be a part of it. Sookie, meanwhile, in an attempt to track down Bill’s whereabouts, enlists the aid of a werewolf named Alcide (Joe Manganiello). Tara falls under the spell of a vampire named Franklin Mott (James Frain), who turns out to be psychotic. Jason, while applying to be a sheriff’s deputy, finds himself getting romantically involved with a girl named Crystal, who is one of the residents of a shantytown/meth lab called Hot Shot. Sam goes in search of his biological parents, only to get more than he bargained for. And towards the end of the season, Sookie learns of her true heritage and the origin of her telepathic powers.
In the fourth season, Sookie returns to Bon Temps after an 18-month-long absence to find some things have changed; the biggest being that Bill has ascended to a new position of prominence in the vampire hierarchy. And the vampires soon find themselves threatened when a local witch named Marnie Stonebrook (Fiona Shaw) gets possessed by the spirit of another witch named Antonia who has a personal grudge against vampires; one that she intends to continue from beyond the grave. Sookie finds herself drawn to Eric after his memory is erased by Marnie/Antonia. Sam continues to have problems with his biological family. Alcide and his mate try to adjust after moving to Louisiana. Lafayatte and his boyfriend Jesus (Alejandro Velasquez) attempt to understand both of their burgeoning supernatural abilities. And Bon Temps’ sheriff, Andy Bellefleur (Chris Bauer), struggles with his addiction to vampire blood.
The first three seasons have been previously released on DVD, but this is the first time they’re being released on Blu-Ray along with season 4. With the fifth season set to premiere on June 10th, now might be a good time to start getting caught up!
Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker- This is a feature-length Anime based on Bioware’s Dragon Age series of games. Features a unique cel-shaded CGI look to it.
Wing Commander Academy- I’ve always been a fan of Wing Commander; a series of Space Combat Simulators from Origin that had their heyday in the 1990’s. This cartoon series based on it came out around that time, being a prequel that chronicled the early adventures of the game series’ protagonist, Colonel Blair. The show’s voice cast included Mark Hamill as Blair, Tom Wilson (Biff from the Back to the Future movies) as his rival Maniac, and Malcolm McDowell as Admiral Tolwyn; all of them reprising the roles they appeared in in the latter Wing Commander games. Apparently, it also had some crazy crossover with the Mortal Kombat cartoon that was on around the same time and produced by the same studio.
Personally, I never cared for the show, as the writing wasn’t all that great and some of it seemed to contradict what had been previously established in the games. Still, comparatively speaking, it was at least better than the live action movie that came out in 1999 with Freddie Prinze Jr. and Matthew Lillard. But that’s not really saying much.
Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp- Okay, this is an obscure one. And you probably wouldn’t remember it unless you were around in the 1970’s. Hell, I was around in the 1970’s and even I don’t remember this show! I’m guessing in some way, my childhood mind blocked it out. But apparently Ocelli still remembers it. And if I don’t mention it here, she’ll never let me live it down.
Anyway, Lancelot Link was a show that featured live chimpanzees acting out what amounted to a spoof of James Bond/Man From U.N.C.L.E. It was the ‘70s and chimps doing this sort of thing was considered both cute and funny. The chimps “talked” with dialogue supplied by voice actors (the effect of the chimps’ talking reportedly accomplished by sticking peanut butter to the roofs of their mouths). Like I said, this was all considered really, really funny at the time. Nowadays, though, the only time anyone remembers it is when it gets referenced on Mystery Science Theater 3000. But in the interest of nostalgia, it’s now officially on DVD.
Whew! Really long post there! But that’s all I’ve got this week!