Category Television & Streaming

Nov 5 2011

Alternate History In Film and TV

Time travel films and TV shows are popular and well known to audiences. However one will find a lack of films and shows about alternate history and universes. Based on this inequality viewers  would think that alternate history is some minor niche sub-genre in science fiction. But sci-fi fans who actually read books and stories know that’s not the case. Just scroll through the Amazon or Barnes and Noble sites and one can find a multitude of books and story collections concerning alternate history. Many are very popular with readers such as the many multi-book series by Harry Turtledove (ex. the Worldwar books, the Great War trilogy, etc.), S.M. Stirling’s works and so on. Even comic books have notable alternate history works. These include Captain Confederacy, Storming Paradise, Marvel Comics’ What If? one shots, DC’s Elseworlds comic and most famously Alan Moore’s Watchmen. Then why so little films and TV shows?

The genre has been so poorly represented that one can easily count the amount of films and shows about this subject. Some of the best examples aren’t obvious alternate history but are well known. In fact, one film is considered one of the best films ever made. Which one? It’s A Wonderful Life. Many say it’s a fantasy but it’s also about alternate history. George Bailey wishes he was never born and is then shown a world where he never existed, one that is nightmarish. Viewers only see the butterfly effect on George’s hometown Bedford Falls (renamed Pottersville) but one can’t assume there weren’t other butterfly effects. Notably when his guardian angel points out to George Bailey that he never saved his brother and thus George’s brother never saved his fellow soldiers in World War II. Who knows what effect that would’ve done to the timestream? Also evil Mr. Potter became more powerful and corrupt without George Bailey to keep him check. There’s no telling what kind of influence Potter would’ve had in the darker world shown in It’s A Wonderful Life.

Other examples of alternate universes usually show a world that has been altered by time travel (and perhaps giving the impression that the genre is tied to time travel, which it isn’t). A good example of that is Back To The Future, Part II where Biff Tannen steals the time-traveling DeLorean and alters his past making him a rich and influential figure in history. Aside from the changes to his and Marty McFly’s hometown, viewers with good eyes will see that the world had been altered. Look at a newspaper that Doc Brown shows to Marty McFly. The altered timeline in Back To The Future, Part II takes place in 1985 and a feature article in that paper is one that shows that Richard Nixon is still president of the United States and that the country is still involved in the Vietnam War.

There have been other films that are more clearly about alternate history. Unfortunately many of them aren’t any good, and came and went in theaters without much notice. This could be why studios don’t greenlight more films in this genre. Such films include Jet Li’s action piece The One (which shows several alternate worlds including one with a President Gore), Southland Tales, C.S.A.: The Confederate States Of America, the 1995 version of Richard III (which takes place in a 1930s fascist Britain and stars Ian McKellan), Never Let Me Go, HBO’s adaptation of Fatherland (with the oft-used premise of Nazis winning World War II), It Happened Here, and White Man’s Burden (which has a world where racial roles are reversed between whites and blacks). Add to that list Zack Snyder’s Watchmen adaptation where frankly the best part of the film was the opening credits which showed how history was altered when superheroes came into existence in the 1940s and 1960s. A more recent film that has to be labeled alternate history is Inglourious Basterds. It’s more of a World War II action picture but the ending, without giving away spoilers, demonstrates that the film is about alternate history. Another recent example is District 9 wherein an alien craft becomes stranded in South Africa in the 1980s although it takes place in modern times.

Regarding the TV medium, the best examples of alternate history are Fringe (which has a major storyline about crossing over into a world where the World Trade Center is still intact, technology is about ten years advanced of ours, and where Bono isn’t a famous singer), an awful ’80s show called Otherworld about a family trapped in a parallel world and Sliders, of course. Despite its wildly varying quality, Sliders best exemplified the exploration of alternate worlds. Oftentimes, the creators went wild in presenting worlds that had living dinosaurs, an America ruled by Communists and other powers and different world threats. Sadly this also meant that Sliders had some truly dumb episodes that ripped off the plotlines of several sci-fi stories. Regardless, Sliders is probably the best TV example of alternate universes. Believe it or not The West Wing can also be considered to be about an alternate universe since it clearly shows that recent history has had a few fictional presidents (without a mention of the Bushes and Clinton) and events. Spike TV recently aired a half-hour program called Alternate History that examined what if the Nazis conquered America. It was blasted by fans of the genre for glossing over many repurcusions and it’s unknown at this time if more episodes will follow. Other genre shows like Star Trek and Doctor Who have had episodes dealing with alternate universes as well.

Some shows and films (and books too) are now considered alternate history because at the time they came out predictions were made that never came to be. They clearly point out that they took place in a certain time period and events happened that would radically change our history up to now. Look at Alien Nation (both the film and series). The storyline claims that the alien Newcomers came to Earth sometime in the late ’80s or early ’90s. Then there’s Strange Days (which takes place in late 1999 and has a world with advanced VR tech) and Red Dawn, where the U.S. is invaded by Soviet forces. One has to lump in 2001: A Space Odyssey and its sequel 2010 since we don’t have A.I.s or regular lunar transports (with Pan Am still in existence!) to bustling space stations. Some films will soon become alternate history presentations as dates stated in the films come to pass. That includes Blade Runner (L.A. has about eight years to keep from looking like that hellhole shown in that classic film) and Back To The Future, Part II. We’re about four years away from the film’s look at 2015 and there still aren’t any hoverboards, cool flying cars and self-lacing sneakers. There’s still time for the Cubs to win the World Series by then. 😀 With TV shows, the mini-series Amerika and The Day After have to be thrown into this lot (thankfully neither events depicted in them have come to pass).

 

Aside from poor reception by viewers one reason why there alternate history doesn’t have more of a presence in film and TV could be that they require extensive exposition to explain themselves. Look at Southland Tales; in that film several minutes in the beginning was used up to show that the U.S. diverged from our history when terrorists detonated two nukes in Texas. It was clumsily presented and frankly one didn’t care about how this impacted the dull characters.

Another reason for the lack of such films and shows is that alternate history can be complex, showcasing a broad range of characters affected by altered events. Aside from expensive production values, to really get audiences involved the productions  need to have well-developed characters like in many books. This logic of caring only about characters could be why some films are only about the altered lives of the characters such as It’s A Wonderful Life, Sliding Doors and The Family Man. It would help if people took more interest in history to better appreciate this genre. That is because alternate history offers us a way to reflect on how things might’ve been different and to enjoy what we have or strive for something that we don’t have yet.

José Soto

Oct 18 2011

Nice Werewolves Finish Last

This time of year, all you see are countless shows and movies featuring vampires and zombies. True Blood, The Vampire Diaries, Twilight, Dawn of the Dead and The Walking Dead for example. They’re very popular so why isn’t there a craving for werewolves?

Sure they pop up as supporting characters or villains in vampire productions (see True Blood, Being Human, Underworld and Twilight) but it seems like any attempt to have werewolves as the main draw falls flat.

The most recent example was last year’s film The Wolfman that came and went without much notice. In fact, I believe the last breakout films about them were The Howling and An American Werewolf in London (and their sequels were awful). That was back in the ’80s when their makeup was revolutionary. Maybe it has to do with the way they are usually shown nowadays. Often they use obvious CGI or actual wolves whereas vamps and zombies are done with makeup that still carries the day. Filmmakers need to perfect a new way of presenting werewolves that doesn’t look like CGI.

The Undead Reach New Heights

Some may argue that since the ’90s vampires have been portrayed as very sexual and alluring hence their popularity. That take on vampires actually began with Bela Lugosi’s portrayal of Dracula back in the ’30s. But it wasn’t until Anne Rice’s vampire books that the concept of sensual, tortured vampires truly took off then went to an entire different level of popularity when the Twilight phenomenon started. The result was that the vampire became the superstar of the monster world leaving werewolves and others biting the dust. In terms of novels, there are many werewolf romance novel but they have yet to capture the public’s eye like Twilight has.

For zombies, they appealed to those wanting pure horror soaked with blood and guts and a dash of the apocalypse. When it comes to gore, werewolves can’t compete with cannibalistic zombies in the ick factor. As everyone knows the modern zombie genre started with George Romero’s classic Night of the Living Dead film and its sequels. Zombies also gained a strong presence with other media like Max Brooks’ World War Z novel, Robert Kirkman’s comic book The Walking Dead and numerous video games such as Resident Evil and House of the Dead. How can a poor werewolf compete with hordes of the undead rampaging through the streets? It’s gotten so bad that a recent episode of Spike TV’s show Deadliest Warrior featured a matchup of vampires against zombies with hardly a mention of lycanthropes.

Sign Of The Times

Many say that the public’s fascination with creatures of the underworld has to do with the times. Modern zombies are seen as a statement about modern materialistic society. IOW we are the undead; mindless drones who only consume. They’re also the great equalizer in the so-called social class struggle. As they feed on the rich and poor alike without regard, zombies have shown that we are all equal when it comes to food. Werewolves aren’t associated with the end of civilization and the one thing they had over zombies, being fast and savage, has been co-opted by recent zombie films.

Vampires not only explore themes of forbidden sexuality but of adapting to the new age while lamenting the old world and its more dignified culture. But the werewolf theme of man losing his humanity and giving in to his bestial nature is a compelling subject. Being Human explored this very well to the point that the werewolf protagonist is a well developed and sympathetic character. Other examples include The Wolfman, Marvel Comics’ Werewolf By Night and the American Werewolf films. There have been attempts to explore the sexual aspects of werewolves, most notably Neil Jordan’s film In The Company Of Wolves and Mike Nichols’ Wolf with mixed results. The gist of werewolf sexuality is the attraction to the rough, bestial nature of someone cursed as a werewolf. The ultimate good girl likes bad boy concept.

Nice Werewolves Finish Last?

Sookie Stackhouse in True Blood has a fascination with the werewolf Alcide that goes beyond her love for Bill and Eric. The attraction could be because Alcide comes off as more human and kinder than the vampires in the show and books. In many of these incarnations, the main character is shown to be a really nice, meek middle class person who uncontrollably releases the primal side. The film Wolf embraces this theme as Jack Nicholson’s character succeeds in life when he embraces his bestial side and stops letting others step all over him. Or take David Naughton’s character in An American Werewolf In London who is a comical, everyday kind of guy who transforms into a murderous lycanthrope with tragic results. The entire concept can be interpreted as an examination of how humanity is cut off from their true bestial selves that need expression.

It’s difficult to pinpoint why werewolves haven’t quite captured the general public’s eye like all the apocalyptic zombies and emo vampires. Perhaps it’s because werewolves aren’t the undead just specialized shape-shifters. Everyone is fascinated with death and the afterlife and zombies and vamps give us a glimpse of this in a way that werewolves cannot. Maybe it has to do with timing and frankly I wonder how much longer the vampire and zombie fascination will continue. To me it seems we’re oversaturated and the public’s attention will eventually shift to something else.

But the real reason for the lack of popularity probably has to do with the story itself. Recently there isn’t a truly captivating character or storyline that grabs the current zeitgeist. It can happen out of the blue; times and taste will change and the lycanthropes will capture the public eye with a crossover novel, game or film. They’ll get their moment in the moon before long.

Waldermann Rivera

Oct 8 2011

Dinosaurs On The Small Screen

When I saw the new series Terra Nova on Fox I couldn’t help wondering about how many dinosaur-based TV shows there have been. It turns out there aren’t many, which isn’t surprising for the obvious budgetary reason. Here’s a brief rundown of such shows but for brevity’s sake cartoons, documentaries and shows that only had an episode or two featuring the extinct reptiles won’t be included.

Terra Nova — Currently airing on Fox after numerous delays. The show follows the adventures of a 22nd century family who time travel 85 million years into an alternate past to escape a dying future. They are part of a human colony called Terra Nova and contend with predatory dinosaurs, dumb teenage drama and renegade humans.

Primeval–A BBC program that first aired in 2007 and was recently resurrected. Taking place in Britain, time portals called anomalies appear more and more often throughout the land and deposit confused and rampaging dinosaurs, prehistoric animals and even future animals. The Arc, a research and security facility, is set up with misfits and soldiers who deal with temporal incursions. It was recently announced that a spinoff taking place in Vancouver called Primeval: New World will go into production.

Prehistoric Park–This was a six-part series that aired in 2007 on ITV and Animal Planet was more of a mockumentary that starred Nigel Marvin who played himself. The premise is that a prehistoric wildlife preserve has been set up on an island. Think of it as a successful Jurassic Park. In the show, Nigel time travels to prehistoric periods and rescues animals about to perish and brings them to the present. More often than not he wound bringing unexpected animals.

Dinotopia–Based on the series of books, it was originally a four-hour mini-series that became a show and aired on ABC in 2002. The network pulled the plug after six episodes, which was a mercy killing. In this show, two brothers crash their plane in an uncharted continent where humans and dinosaurs (some are sentient and able to speak) live in harmony.

 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World–This syndicated show ran for three seasons from 1999 to 2002. Loosely based on Doyle’s classic, it featured Professor Challenger and a group of people who are stranded on a South America plateau that is inhabited by dinosaurs, natives and people in latex makeup. It ended with an unresolved cliffhanger.

Dinosaurs–ABC aired this comedy, produced by Jim Henson Television, from 1991 to 1994. Coming off as a knock off of The Simpsons and The Flintstones, it was your standard nuclear family sitcom complete with the goofball dad, patient mom, wise children and a precocious little baby that kept screaming “Not the momma!” Only these were talking dinosaurs wearing clothes and complaining about humdrum problems. The series ended on a downer as a global catastrophe dooms the dinosaurs.

Land of the Lost—A personal favorite that first aired on NBC Saturday mornings from 1974 to 1976 and it set the standard. Rick, Will and Holly Marshall are out whitewater rafting and fall through a portal that transports them into an alternate dimension populated by stop-motion and puppet dinosaurs, hairy hominids called Pakuni and evil reptilian Sleestaks. Despite its juvenile trappings and budget the show really shone thanks to high-concept scripts penned by the likes of David Gerrold, Norman Spinrad, Larry Niven and D.C. Fontana. A remake aired in 1991 in syndication for two seasons but it had a lighter tone and wasn’t as memorable. And let’s not get into that Will Ferrell movie.

José Soto

Oct 5 2011

Requiem For An Angel

Alas, poor Castiel. Everyone’s favorite Angel from the CW’s Supernatural apparently (click away quick if you don’t want to be spoiled!) bit the dust, consumed by the Leviathans that he inadvertently absorbed at the end of season six.

Such a waste really. Sure Castiel had to pay the price for taking over as God (who regular viewers know has left the building in the show’s mythos) and carrying on a destructive path in this season’s premier episode. But he was arguably the best character on the show, he took it to a whole new level when he made his debut back in season four. Castiel was so popular he even became a regular.

Played in a deadpan manner by Misha Collins Castiel almost seemed like a character from Star Trek. We could easily see him as a stoic alien who is fascinated by humanity and becomes a champion of sorts. How many times did he pull Sam and Dean Winchester’s butt out of the fire? The guy was a literal deus ex machina, but most of all he was quite a badass with liberal doses of modesty and naivete.

According to Sera Gamble, the show’s executive producer,  Collins is due to return later this season but is ambiguous as to what role he’ll play. But please don’t make him out to be the Big Bad that is being mentioned by the Leviathans. Only if some part of Castiel’s good nature comes out at the eleventh hour and conquers this season’s enemies. However cool that sounds remember folks, that is basically how season five ended when Sam took brief control of his body for Lucifer to be defeated.

What should’ve happened is that spinoff show should have been created. Starring Collins as Castiel it would’ve taken place sometime after the apocalypse was averted. That way the entire War in Heaven could’ve been explored more fully instead of being given to us piecemeal last season. Think about it, there could’ve been crossover episodes with Supernatural. Special guest stars, the works. But this is the CW wannabe network we’re talking about. Cas, we know you’re coming back somehow but for now, we already miss you and that rumpled trenchcoat.

Lewis T. Grove

Sep 30 2011

Top Ten Modern Doctor Who Episodes

For us Yanks across the pond the season finale of Doctor Who will air this weekend with “The Wedding of River Song.” That said, let’s look at the ten best episodes from the modern era which started with Christopher Eccleston in 2005 and is running currently with Matt Smith. This list will only include regular episodes, not the Christmas specials and other shows that have popped up over the years.

10. “The Girl in the Fireplace” The Doctor has a brush with romance (aside from the tension between him and Companion Rose Tyler) when he meets Madame de Pompadour via time portals on a derelict spaceship.

9. “The Eleventh Hour” Our first introduction to Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Karen Gillan as Amelia “Amy” Pond showed the kismet the two had as partners across time and space.

8. “School Reunion” Old-time companion Sarah Jane Smith (the late Elizabeth Sladen) returns to the Who-verse and it’s a joy to see her holding up quite well; the scenes where she and Rose (Billie Piper) exchange Companion stories were great.

7. “Bad Wolf/The Parting of The Ways” The Ninth Doctor’s swan song is epic without being too overblown and bittersweet while giving us one of the best modern Dalek storylines and radically changes the dynamic of the show.

6. “The Girl Who Waited” This one illustrates the danger of time traveling with the Doctor when Amy enters the wrong door in a planet and winds up trapped for over thirty years waiting for rescue while time passes by normally for her husband Rory (Arthur Darvill) and the Doctor.

5. “Human Nature/The Family of Blood” An amnesiac Doctor hides from predatory aliens out to feed on him by transforming into a human that falls in love; then we are given a glimpse as to how coldly vengeful the Doctor can be when he regains his memories and dispatches them.

4. “The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances” When the Ninth Doctor first appeared he was an angry, morose person but here he starts to lighten up in the second part of this creepy World-War-II era episode, which features great visual sights, frights and introduces Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman).

3. “The Doctor’s Wife” This Neil Gaiman-written episode has the TARDIS’ core matrix is transferred by an evil sentient asteroid into Idris (Suranne Jones) an enchanting, attractive woman who is dying. The asteroid transfers its mind into the TARDIS and tortures Amy and Rory as the Doctor and Idris (showing us a rare examination of their relationship) try to recapture the Time Lord’s ship.

2. “Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords” A three-part epic that brings back Jack Harkness from Torchwood and re-introduces the classic Who villain The Master (played first by Derek Jacobi and then with devilish glee by John Simm) who is found literally at the end of time by the Doctor and Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman). Then he is reincarnated into a Tony Blair type of politician who infiltrates modern-day British politics and becomes Prime Minister, instituting a reign of terror.

1. “Blink” Any fan can see that guest star Carey Mulligan’s Sally Sparrow  is a prototype for Amy Pond. She’s pretty, smart, young and quite resourceful when dealing with the best of the new Who villains, the Weeping Angels. They appeared as angelic statues that steal a person’s temporal energy by sending them back in time, which they did to the Doctor and Martha. Trapped in the 1960s, the Doctor communicates to Sally via DVD Easter eggs, and the entire episode is a brilliant use of time travel and genuinely frightening villains. The last few seconds with the Doctor warning viewers not to blink are unforgettable.

José Soto