Category Television & Streaming

Nov 6 2012

Sci-Fi Heads Of State

 

Romney? Obama? Who’s your choice for president? Would you rather choose someone else? Well how about these presidents and heads of state that have appeared in science fiction? Love them or hate them, they were memorable leaders.

The Despotic

Science fiction is probably the best vehicle for showcasing villainous presidents. Look at it this way, few will get offended with these fictional tyrants that star in cautionary tales that take place in dystopian times.

Take President Erwin Rexall in the classic Frank Miller/David Gibbons mini-series Give Me Liberty. Though not the main character in the comic book, his presence in lieu of his harsh policies had an impact on Give Me Liberty’s heroine, Martha Washington. An exaggeration of Ronald Reagan, Rexall was a far-right, callous man who cared little for the average American. His successor, Howard Nissen was the complete opposite, a far left liberal who turned out to be a drunken incompetent. Eventually Rexall has his brain implanted into a robot’s body and continued his presidency after Nissen was assassinated.

A more infamous president was Lex Luthor as seen in the pages of Superman. Holding the highest office in the land, allowed Luthor to be an effective thorn on Superman’s side. Adding insult was Luthor’s early popularity, though he didn’t do anything to prevent aliens from destroying Topeka, Kansas. Eventually, he fell from grace and power thanks to the efforts of several superheroes.

But more well-known despotic heads of state have been seen on film. The most recent one was Mr. Thompson in Atlas Shrugged, Part II. Played by Ray Wise, Thompson, although never referred to as the president, is the socialist head of state in the U.S. who implements unpopular reforms and mandates that strip away citizens’ rights. Another recent tyrant was President Snow (Donald Sutherland) in The Hunger Games. He wasn’t a prominent character in the book but appears in the film. Seemingly laid back, Snow actually has a sadistic demeanor.

One truly despicable despot was Greg Stillson in The Dead Zone. Based on the Stephen King book of the same name, the hero Johnny Smith discovers with his psychic powers that a local politician (played by Martin Sheen) will become a crazed president who unleashes a nuclear holocaust. The future scenes where he defies everyone’s pleas and launches nukes were quite chilling. The character also showed up in The Dead Zone TV series.

While the U.S. has had youthful presidents (keeping in mind that presidents in their forties like Kennedy or Clinton or Obama are considered young), there was Max Frost (Christopher Jones) in the film Wild In The Streets. A socially conscious and ambitious rock star, Frost manipulates politicians to pass a constitutional amendment that lowers the voting age and when a person can run for president. This allows the youthful rocker, whose in his twenties, to ride a wave into the White House where he becomes a dictator that banishes old people into re-education camps.

The Incompetents

Not all future presidents are dictators, many are just not up to snuff. There was President Chet Roosevelt (John Ritter) in the comedy Americathon where a bankrupt U.S. has to hold a telethon to raise cash. Then there was President Dwayne Elizando Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho in Idiocracy who leads an illiterate nation and is all about style but no substance. By the end of Idiocracy, it falls on the modern-day hero who winds up in that future, Joe Bauers a.k.a. Not Sure, to begin the re-education and salvation of American citizens by becoming president himself. But the most ill-suited president has to be Peter Sellers’ indecisive President Merkin Muffley in Dr. Strangelove.

Leaders On Television

There have been notable presidents or leaders in several sci-fi TV shows. For instance Lisa Simpson in The Simpsons was shown to be president sometime in the future in the episode “Back To The Future”. The most recent world leader was President Elias Martinez in The Event. Skillfully played by Blair Underwood, the president seemed unsure of how to handle the alien refugees the government was holding captive, but by the series’ end, President Martinez became more determined and decisive in protecting the U.S. and the world. The show Jack & Bobby took place in modern times but was framed by bookending commentaries by people in the future. One of the boys featured in the show grows up to become president years into the future. In the anthology show The Outer Limits, one episode “Trial By Fire” featured a newly inaugurated President Charles Halsey (Robert Foxworth), who unexpectedly has to deal with a first contact situation. An alien armada is on its way to Earth and Halsey has to decide if they are friendly or not. President Halsey is wracked with the knowledge that his decisions will severely impact life on the planet.

But the best known fictional presidents in sci-fi TV have to be Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell) and Gaius Baltar (James Callis) seen in the remake of Battlestar Galactica. Roslin was the sole surviving member of the president’s cabinet following a surprise robotic Cylon attack on humanity. Although inexperienced, Roslin quickly grows into her role, becomes presidential and ultimately helps save humanity. Baltar on the other hand is more complex. Best seen as an enigmatic anti-hero, Baltar is responsible for the near extinction of humanity by the Cylons. There were broad hints that Baltar was insane but cunning and he aided the surviving humans. Eventually Baltar defeated Roslin in a presidential election and settled humanity on a habitable world. His presidency was unpopular especially after he surrenders humanity to an invading Cylon force.

Heroic Leaders

Not all presidents in sci-fi are evil or incompetent. Many were shown in a positive light and were even heroic. Roslin in Battlestar Galactica was heroic during her appearances in the show. Superman himself served as president of the United States in a fantasy “future” story in Action Comics Annual #3. Thanks to his diplomatic skills, Superman/Clark Kent has a successful presidency where he brings about world peace and lowers the deficit (thanks to some help from Aquaman, who dredges up sunken ships laden with treasure).

Another potential president was Steve Rogers. In the pages of Captain America # 250 he is approached to run for president of the U.S. but eventually declines. In the comic book What If Captain America Had Been Elected President? # 26, Rogers has a successful presidency, one of his major accomplishments being to make America energy independent. In the mini-series The Last Avengers Story, it’s stated that in the future Rogers becomes president of the U.S. but is apparently killed in his third term. Recently in The Ultimates # 16 the Steve Rogers in that universe is elected president of the U.S.

Other positive presidents seen in movies include Tom Beck (Morgan Freeman) in Deep Impact, who helps the U.S. and the world to recover from a comet strike, and the two Federation Presidents seen in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. It should be noted that Captain Jonathan Archer from Star Trek: Enterprise eventually becomes the first President of the Federation. But out of all these fictional sci-fi presidents probably the most heroic one  is President Thomas Whitmore from Independence Day. Patterned loosely on Bill Clinton, Whitmore is a young, beleaguered commander-in-chief who heroically leads the nation in fighting off an alien invasion. Although his military role in the final counterattack against the aliens is implausible it was heroic. Seriously, it is a stretch to believe that one of the few remaining world leaders will be allowed to fly a fighter jet to lead an attack on alien invaders. But he does give one heck of a rousing speech. So would any of these candidates earn your vote?

Lewis T. Grove

Nov 2 2012

Prison Life In The Walking Dead

To survive it is often necessary to fight and to fight you have to dirty yourself.

-George Orwell

 Do whatever you gotta do to keep this group safe…and do it with a clear conscience.

-Lori Grimes, to her husband Rick

The pre-credits scene of episode two of The Walking Dead, “Sick” opens where episode one left off; as Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and the survivors in the walker-infested prison are amputating Hershel’s (Scott Wilson) leg, the survivors are surprised by a group of five prisoners who emerge from a side room. Removing the barricades from the door, the survivors kill the approaching walkers and race against time, wheeling Hershel to safety.

Back in the survivors’ safe cell block, while the group struggles in providing Hershel with medical attention, the prisoners followed the survivors and arrive at the cell block’s entrance. In a tense, armed standoff, the two groups communicate for the first time. The dominant prisoner, Tomas (Nick Gomez) – a Latino gangster– demands rights to the survivors’ cell block (“C”); the survivors flatly refuse. Rick, although suspicious, tries to diffuse the tension but learns that the prisoners have been shut away for ten months, and while aware of walkers, they are unaware that society has collapsed (no phones, computers, police, etc.). To make his point, Rick leads the prisoners outside to the yard to view the walkers – both animated and dead. Emerging into the sunlight, the two groups strike an uneasy deal; Rick and the survivors will help the prisoners clear out the prisoners’ cell block from walkers in exchange for half the prisoners’ stored food; in return, the prisoners will stay to themselves and avoid all interactions with the survivors. As Rick, T-Dog (IronE Singleton), and Daryl (Norman Reedus) return with heaping boxes of canned goods, the women struggle without medical supplies in tending to the unconscious and barely alive Hershel. Rick wisely takes no chances; in the event that Hershel dies and is re-animated as a walker, he orders Glenn (Steven Yuen) to handcuff him to his bed.

Off to the side, in a chilling conversation, Rick updates his wife Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies). Admitting to her that the prisoners’ pose a possible threat, he calmly reveals he may need to kill them. Lori reacts with approval.

Later, Rick and the others return to the prisoners’ cell block as agreed upon. Rick briefly instructs them on battle tactics (maintain formation, head shots only), but when the action starts, the prisoners, armed with pipes and crowbars, break ranks and go berserk in what can only be described as “prison freestyle”. After Daryl corrects their wild techniques, they kill more efficiently; but one hulking prisoner, Big Tiny (Theodus Crane), edges to safety at a side room and is scratched by walkers. Afterwards, both groups consider what to do before Tomas suddenly bludgeons him to death. Continue reading →

Oct 31 2012

2012 Doomsday Scenarios: Month Ten

Among the many well-known apocalyptic worries, the idea of supernatural creatures rising up and destroying our world, while hardly unlikely, captivates many people.

Doomsday Scenario No. 3: Vampires, Zombies & Monsters, Oh My!

Supernatural monsters have been a mainstay in many cultures going back centuries. They were convenient scapegoats for things that went wrong and filled in the dark void of the shadows. These monsters either won so that a moral could be learned or were vanquished by the forces of good. Lately, stories have appeared where the monsters have triumphed and defeated humanity en masse. Certain monsters are more popular than others and fit into a doomsday scenario more easily than others. Of course, these supernatural monsters are impossible, right? Well science fiction has found ways to make them plausible.

Vampires In The Blood

The stylish and grotesque vampires have populated many blood curdling tales for centuries. As true creatures of the night, vampires arose from their coffins after sunset to prey on the living. The way to become a vampire isn’t to just die but to be bitten by one. That suggests that these creatures probably transmit a virus that transforms a living person into a vampire.

Richard Matheson’s classic novel I Am Legend has a vampiric virus decimating humanity and resurrecting them as vampires and taking over the world. The book and the films based on it (The Last Man On Earth, The Omega Man and most recently I Am Legend) presented us with an empty, decimated world with a sole human survivor and his desperate fight not just against countless vampires but to develop a cure.  There are other works about viruses that turns people into vampires and imperils the world. Two books that come to mind are The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan and The Passage by Justin Cronin. The Passage is set in the near future where a virus quickly transforms most of humanity into vampire-like creatures who take over the world. The anthology novel Under The Fang features several short stories about humanity conquered by vampires.

As for films about vampires ruling the world, in addition to I Am Legend, there was Daybreakers, which took place a few years after a virus turned most of humanity into bloodsucking creatures. Daybreakers showed a world literally turned upside down as the vampire denizens populated major cities, but lived underground away from the sun and basically carried on with their lives. They just needed to farm the few remaining humans for nourishment. A variant of the vampire virus is the sci-fi film Lifeforce, which was based on the book The Space Vampires by Colin Wilson. This time vampire-like aliens were brought back to Earth by astronauts and it wasn’t blood that the aliens fed on. It was the titular lifeforce of people. As an added bonus, many of their victims also became vampiric and hunted humans for their lifeforce.

Zombie Apocalypse

The undead flesh eaters are undeniably the most popular monsters to use for post-apocalyptic tales. Look no further than the hit AMC series The Walking Dead. It wasn’t always so, until the late 1960s zombies were relegated to stale horror yarns usually dealing with voodoo. Then George Romero came along and changed the sub-genre forever. His classic film Night Of The Living Dead gave us a world on the brink of a societal breakdown as undead corpses roamed the countryside and feasted on the living.

Romero directed sequels that were very popular but the zombie apocalypse genre didn’t reach maturation until around the millennium, which coincided nicely with all the jitters about the coming apocalypse. Video games like Resident Evil, comic books like The Walking Dead, books like World War Z and films like 28 Days Later (not technically about zombies but it follows the same route) reinvigorated and amped up the zombie genre. The zombie apocalypse is so prevalent in pop culture that even the CDC put out  a comic book detailing how they would deal with such an event. Zombies are perfect metaphors for the chaos and decay that will follow the fall of civilization as humans are displaced as the apex predators. Also these stories are useful for illustrating how we would behave during the downfall of society. Will we return to our savage ways? Will we use our pluck and ingenuity to survive? How much stress can we withstand before we break down completely? And how will we find that perfect Twinkie? (Note: see Zombieland for more on that last question.)

Monsters, Etc.

Humanity has always feared monsters as seen in various mythologies. This morbid fascination continued well into modern times with countless books, stories and movies about monsters both large and small terrorizing the world. An often used motif is that of an ancient, slumbering giant that is awoken by modern humans and then wrecks destruction across the world. Godzilla is an excellent example and best personifies the Japanese kaiju films. But Godzilla had predecessors that need to be mentioned. One of the earliest modern imprisoned monsters is the famous Cthulhu first written about in H.P. Lovecraft’s short story “The Call Of The Cthulhu”.  An ancient entity described as part human, part dragon and part octopus, the Cthulhu had a cult that wanted to unleash the giant monster onto our world. This entity has been alluded to in other works by Lovecraft.

In film, the very first giant monster to be unleashed was the fictional rhedosaurus in The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms. Loosely based on Ray Bradbury’s short story “The Fog Horn”, the rhedosaurus was a dinosaur woken up by a nuclear blast and thus threatened the world not just with its destructive path but by its radioactive emissions. Destructive monsters have since plagued the silver screen with the Japanese kaiju films and American works like Q, Gremlins, John Carpenter’s In The Mouth Of Madness, Reign Of Fire, Cloverfield, The Cabin In the Woods and the upcoming Pacific Rim. In these films, the giants were mysterious and awakened inadvertently by humanity. Once unleashed they outmatched our military might and upended civilization as they destroyed cities and killed many people. Often entire cities and famous landscapes are decimated as seen in Cloverfield. And sometimes it was shown that the monsters won as the misshapen horrors from In The Mouth Of Madness  or the dragons in Reign Of Fire overran the world.

Oct 21 2012

Seed Of The Walking Dead

AMC’s The Walking Dead, now in its third season, centers on Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), a former deputy sheriff from Georgia leading a small band of survivors to safety in the aftermath of devastating zombie apocalypse. Called walkers (they roam endlessly and never tire), the moaning, decaying, zombies are a deadly lot, as they shuffle in wandering herds, seeking live flesh. The first two seasons, a ratings and critical smash, showed Rick and a diverse band of survivors seeking safe refuge while fighting walkers, other survivors, and each other. The Walking Dead is loosely based on the comics of the same name, and uses it as a springboard rather than adhere to it faithfully; this approach enables plenty of twists, surprises, new characters, and red herrings.

Law-and-order man Rick Grimes has the heart of a lion, a classic good guy so pure in his outlook and valiant in his mission he’s more like a knight from a medieval tale or a hero from a Greek myth. Joining Rick are his pretty wife Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies), his pre-teen son Carl (Chandler Riggs); Daryl (Norman Reedus), a redneck archer/tracker/outdoorsman and Rick’s wingman; Glenn (Steven Yeun), a Korean delivery boy turned resourceful street rat; T-Dog (Irone Singleton), a tough, stocky black guy; Carol (Melissa McBride), a gentle widow, having lost her husband and daughter in seasons one and two; elderly Hershel (Scott Wilson), an upright, religious country vet in whose farm the survivors sought refuge; Hershel’s two daughters Maggie (Lauren Cohan), romantically linked with Glenn, and the emotionally-troubled Beth (Emily Kinney); Andrea (Laurie Holden), a former lawyer, whose character developed over the first two seasons from a jangled bundle of nerves to a straight shooter; and the newest addition, the mysterious katana-wielding Michonne (Danai Gurira).

In last season’s exciting finale, “Beside The Dying Fire”, the walkers overran Hershel’s farm, killing his daughter and son-in law, and exiling the hapless survivors. Separated from the group, Andrea is saved by the laconic Michonne, while Rick asserted his indisputable leadership (or “Rick-tatorship”, as fans are calling it).

In season three’s premiere, “Seed”, the slam-bang pre-credits sequence opens with a twisted mockup of Lost, where the camera spirals away from a walker’s eye – cold, reptilian, lifeless. Seeking refuge, Rick and the survivors burst into a simple country house. Fanning out like a well-oiled SWAT unit (including Carl), they secure the house by killing that walker and other undead inhabitants. Just as they settle in, T-Dog spots a herd of walkers converging on the house. The survivors grab their gear and flee…

Later on, while hunting food, Rick and Daryl spy the prison shown in last season’s “Besides The Dying Fire”. Realizing its potential for refuge, Rick devises a plan with the group to clear the yard of walkers and break into the prison (the second time this episode where we see the survivors work brilliantly as a team). Reveling in the safety of the prison yard, they whoop and holler with joy at the open space. In the morning, they clear out a ravaged, overturned cell block and settle in.

Meanwhile, we get our first glimpse of Michonne since her brief introduction last season. Entering a dilapidated pharmacy in a small town, she coolly beheads walkers while finding aspirin for Andrea, who is sick and resting safely in a nearby meat locker. Andrea urges Michonne to abandon her, but Michonne refuses. Then the two women along with Michonne’s two chained, pet-like, armless and jawless walkers set out.

Back in the prison, the survivors find an ammunition stash and prepare to clear out the rest of the prison, in hopes of finding the cafeteria and infirmary. Armed and ready, they light the way through the unlit, ghoulish cell block by flashlight, stepping over bloody and decaying corpses while Glenn marks their trail with spray paint. At the far end of the block, they stumble into walkers; in the ensuing chaos, Glenn and Maggie separate from the others; Hershel backs up to locate them and is bitten in the leg by a walker. Reuniting, the group quickly finds safety, where Rick, in an attempt to halt the spreading infection, unsheathes a hatchet and amputates Hershel’s leg below the knee. Hearing noises, they look up, and realize they are not alone; they are being watched by live prisoners… Continue reading →

Oct 15 2012

A Revolution Comes To TV

In the new NBC series Revolution, viewers are presented a world fifteen years from now that is in a new Dark Age. In the opening scenes of Revolution’s pilot, the electricity throughout the world abruptly fails. Moments before this event happened Ben Matheson (Tim Guinee) races to his home and warns  his wife Rachel (Elizabeth Mitchell) and their two children about what will happen. He also manages to phone his brother Miles (Billy Burke) about it just as the lights go out everywhere in the world. Viewers got a quick glimpse of the immediate impact of this blackout as airplanes fell out of the sky and cities plunged into darkness. Revolution jumps ahead fifteen years later to a radically changed world. Without electricity, governments collapsed and militias took over as everyone struggled to survive with the bare necessities. Ben is now living in a small, rustic community in Illinois with his teenage children Charlie (Tracy Spiridakos) and Danny (Graham Rogers) and a new lover Maggie Foster (Anna Lise Phillips).

Their humble existence is interrupted with a visit by militia men, led by Captain Tom Neville (Giancarlo Esposito), belonging to a local tyrannical power called the Monroe Republic. Neville was sent by the Republic’s despot General Sebastian Monroe (David Lyons) to conscript Ben. During a melee Ben is killed and Danny is taken prisoner by the militia. Before Ben died he entrusted an amulet to Maggie and his friend Aaron Pittman (Zak Orth), which is capable of generating small amounts of electricity. What this means has not been revealed nor what caused the blackout. On Ben’s dying advice Charlie, Maggie and Aaron travel by foot to the decaying city of Chicago and recruit Miles for help in liberating Danny.

As the series progresses, viewers learn bits and pieces about the world and the characters. It was revealed that Miles was once friends with Monroe and was, in fact, a founder of the Monroe Republic. Now Miles has broken ties with Monroe and exists as a cynical Han Solo type until dragged into the limelight by Charlie and company. Monroe wants to have the power restored to spread his reign and he knows that Ben had knowledge about what caused the blackout. A plot development revealed that Rachel is still alive and Monroe’s prisoner. He intends to use her captured son as leverage to get her to reveal what she knows about the blackout. Also in reference to the show’s title, it turns out that there is a revolutionary movement among some people the main characters encounter to restore the United States. Peppered throughout the episodes are interesting flashbacks that show the immediate aftermath of the blackout, taking place days, even months after the event. The most touching one featured Maggie, who is British. In her story it’s revealed that she is cut off from her children in England and she tried for years to get back to England before giving up. Despondent and suicidal, she was found by Ben and his children sometime after Rachel was taken prisoner and Maggie became part of the family. At times, these flashbacks are the most interesting scenes in an episode.

Admittedly, Revolution has constant plot developments but the show is not overwhelming and things are kept at a fast pace that moves the overall story along. Many character have intriguing backgrounds and developments such as the revelation that Miles helped form the Monroe Republic and is hated and feared by many. The show took a daring step by unexpectedly killing off one of the main characters, a victim of a knife wound. This showed that the greatest dangers in this new Dark Age can come from fairly mundane and presently treatable ailments. The production design is very excellent and illustrates a world where nature is reclaiming the land as vegetation engulfs cities and towns. The credit for Revolution’s well presentation should go to series creator Eric Kripke (who created Supernatural), who serves as executive producer along with Iron Man’s director Jon Favreau and J. J. Abrams.

However, Revolution does have flaws. Sometimes Charlie is annoying, and how is it that Aaron (formerly a Google executive) is still overweight and seems to have no clue on how to survive in a post-apocalyptic environment? One would think that in the years since the blackout the characters would’ve been hardened and learned some survival skills. Drinking games can be made to how many times the roguish Miles threatens to leave the group or Danny’s many failed escape attempts. Why not keep that teenager shackled up in chains? But these seem to be the typical growing pains that every series goes through and the show seems to be getting stronger with each passing episode.

At first glance Revolution seems to borrow heavily from popular post-apocalyptic yarns like The Postman and obviously S. M. Stirling’s Emberverse books. But the series is setting its own fascinating mythology that hopefully the network will allow to play out to a satisfactory conclusion.

José Soto