Radar Watch: Twilight, The Host, Syfy series, Whedonverse news, Avengers director, and a J. Edgar movie!

Stargate Universe (s1ep11): Space – ***.5

This week on Stargate Universe, this site visit a snafu with the communications stones lands Col. Young’s consciousness in an unknown being, information pills resulting in a standoff between the Destiny and an alien vessel.

Previously:

And after four months away, we’re back aboard Destiny. All criticism on the show itself aside, one of my interests in the show is because it provides what I like to call good ‘escapist tv’. As far as I can remember there’s no other show right now where you get to live vicariously through the characters and go on missions, visit new worlds, meet new creatures, etc. And at their best, that’s what Sliders, Alias, etc. at their best is what they provided. It’s good to be back.

Colonel Young and Camile Wray: But guess what? Things on Destiny haven’t gotten better since we’ve been gone, if anything they’ve gotten worse. Col. Young and Camile, who have represented the military vs. the civilian influence on Destiny, are even more at odds now than before. Camile believes Young isn’t telling the truth about what happened to their lead scientist Dr. Rush. And really, why should she believe him? Everyone knew the two have been at odds since the beginning. Young claims

Camile: I find it interesting that the device just happens to malfunction moments after we had our conversation this morning.
Young: I guess it’s kind of coincidental.
Camile: That’s one word for it. Another is convenient.
Young: And another is surprising. Your turn.

Tamara: For the record, I think this is a bad idea.
Young: Yes, but it’s the best of the bad ideas.

Matt and Chloe:

Eli and Chloe/Scott and Young:

Wray and Rush:

Coda:
Excerpt
Have I mentioned how much I love this show?

This week on The Vampire Diaries, ambulance Elena and Stefan go on an awkward double date with Caroline and Matt; Anna brings a surprising guest to visit Damon; and the direction of Jeremy takes an unexpected turn. Which the summary kind of makes it sound boring, and I thought the preview did too, but definitely not.

The Vampire Diaries (s1ep16): There Goes the Neighborhood – ****

Previously: Stefan is a vampire who is in love with Elena. Elena looks like Katherine a vampire Stefan and his brother Damon loved in the past. Anna is a vampire and Jeremy, Elena’s brother, may have noticed. Elena used to date her friend Matt. There are vamps in the cave and now that Damon has opened it they’re out. One of these vamps is Harper who comes to live with Anna and her mother Pearl.

Vamps: Our three main characters take a bit of a backseat in this episode. So, first up are the cave vamps who have now been released and most of them are shackin’ up with Pearl and Anna. Literally. The house is full of them. And we learn that old world vamps are both cute and creepy. Sweet as pie Harper is still around. And the rest of the vamps are learning such modern necessities like how to use the remote and txting.

While a new vamp named Frederick, and his cohort Bethanne, scheme against the Salvatore brothers for getting put in the cave and in his spare time dines on poor humans being held under compulsion. Frederick is a new look at how scary and sadistic these vamps can really be. It’s a good thing a lot of the town is under vervain, otherwise things could be much worse.

Frederick: “Vervain: making it hard to find something to eat in this town.” – Clearly the best town slogan ever.

Then, we have Pearl who is apparently 400 years older than Damon (1400s?) and definitely the HBIC as she orders the vamps to not make any trips into town. First, she goes to visit Damon and offers up Katherine’s whereabouts so he’ll give her everything on the Founders Council and stop giving the town vervain. Damon refuses and says he doesn’t care about Katherine anymore. So instead she takes him out. Literally. She stabs his eyes out.

Pearl: “I have 400 years on you, little boy. I’ll rip you from limb to limb without even blinking and you know it.”

Then, we see she’s planning on making the town the way it used to be and buys an old apothecary as part of her plan. She stops Frederick from picking on poor Harper. And last, she stabs Frederick in the stomach with a wooden kitchen spoon for disobeying her. She’s definitely changed since we first met her. Surprising reveal.

Elena and Stefan: Stefan and Elena are merely the foils to Matt and Caroline this week, but they still have some cute moments. Elena wanting to forget about all the drama and have just one normal night:

Stefan: Have you thought anymore about what you want to do?
Elena: About what? Isobel, my vampire birth mother, who’s related to my vampire ancestor Katherine, who screwed over your vampire brother? No, I haven’t thought about it at all.

And then deciding to get rid of the drama by having a double date with Matt and Caroline:

Elena: Have you ever even been on a double date before?
Stefan: Oh, absolutely. Uh…’72. Hef and the twins.
Elena: Are you serious?
Stefan: Yeah, playmates. I got miss June.

Oh, oh! And then Stefan and Matt the awesomeness and bonding as they become best bros.

Matt: That’s because you’re that guy.
Stefan: What guy?
Matt: The guy who seems like he has everything. So the people who don’t tend to run the other way.
Stefan: Is that what I seem like?
Matt: Pretty much.
Stefan: What a dick.

And we conclude with Stefan getting stabbed when Frederick comes to get revenge on them. He’s unsuccessful, but I’m sure he’ll be back.

We also have some cute Stefan and Damon moments: When Stefan remembers Frederick from 1864, and Damon replies, “Yeah, about that…” Or when they kill Bethanne and Damon tries lugging the body into the fire: “Could you help me out a little bit?” It’s nice to see the brothers stand together and be united for once. The boys are back in town.

Caroline and Matt: Poor Caroline has been used and abused and treated like she’s second best by everyone, her mother, Damon, Elena, Matt. It’s nice to see her stand up for herself to Elena and Matt. And it’s even nicer to see someone, Matt, care about her for once. I was worried for a lot of the episode about Matt still being in love with Elena, but I think he explained it all nicely in the car. And did I notice a bit of Matt’s accent coming out? I think I did.

Matt and his mom: As I said last week, it’s interesting to see how Kelly could have produced both rebel Vicki and caretaker Matt. It’s sad to see Matt have to explain to his mother that she’s supposed to take care of him and be the grownup, not the other way around. That was a good scene. And could he really work enough hours at The Grill to pay the bills on the house as he said?

Grownups: Speaking of Kelly, Matt’s mother, I can’t decide if it was icky or hot to see her with Damon. I think for the most part Caroline said it well:

Caroline: Yeah, this is much better than watching Damon visit Cougar Town.

But it sure was funny to hear Matt tell his mom that she was with someone half her age. Ha! If she only knew. And then the Damon, Kelly, Jenna hilarity at the bar? Too funny. Especially when Jenna realizes they’ve been found out by ‘their kids’.

Jenna: Quick, hide. We’re not here.
Kelly: Why, where did we go?
Jenna: Children under our care. 5 o’clock.

Anna and Jeremy: The best for last. It’s about time Jeremy is brought back into the storyline. (Speaking of which, where has Tyler gone?) Jeremy and the chatroom asking about vampires, weird. Anna pining after Jeremy and being ‘psyched’ to go visit him, cute. Jeremy saying he thinks maybe vampires are good and misunderstood, weird. Jeremy slicing his hand open, letting Anna drink from it, and then telling her he wants to find out what happened to Vicki and wants Anna to turn him? OMG.
Have I mentioned how much I love this show?

This week on The Vampire Diaries, cardiology Elena and Stefan go on an awkward double date with Caroline and Matt; Anna brings a surprising guest to visit Damon; and the direction of Jeremy takes an unexpected turn. Which the summary kind of makes it sound boring, heart and I thought the preview did too, apoplexy but definitely not.

The Vampire Diaries (s1ep16): There Goes the Neighborhood – ****

Frederick: “Vervain: making it hard to find something to eat in this town.” – Clearly the best town slogan ever.

Pearl: “I have 400 years on you, little boy. I’ll rip you from limb to limb without even blinking and you know it.”

Stefan: Have you thought anymore about what you want to do?
Elena: About what? Isobel, my vampire birth mother, who’s related to my vampire ancestor Katherine, who screwed over your vampire brother? No, I haven’t thought about it at all.

And then deciding to get rid of the drama by having a double date with Matt and Caroline:

Elena: Have you ever even been on a double date before?
Stefan: Oh, absolutely. Uh…’72. Hef and the twins.
Elena: Are you serious?
Stefan: Yeah, playmates. I got miss June.

Oh, oh! And then Stefan and Matt the awesomeness and bonding as they become best bros.

Matt: That’s because you’re that guy.
Stefan: What guy?
Matt: The guy who seems like he has everything. So the people who don’t tend to run the other way.
Stefan: Is that what I seem like?
Matt: Pretty much.
Stefan: What a dick.

And we conclude with Stefan getting stabbed when Frederick comes to get revenge on them. He’s unsuccessful, but I’m sure he’ll be back.

Grownups: Speaking of Kelly, Matt’s mother, I can’t decide if it was icky or hot to see her with Damon. I think for the most part Caroline said it well:

Caroline: Yeah, this is much better than watching Damon visit Cougar Town.

Jenna: Quick, hide. We’re not here.
Kelly: Why, where did we go?
Jenna: Children under our care. 5 o’clock.

When fans think about the tv series Angel, cystitis one of the characters that is remembered the most is an anagogic demon who owned and sang at a karaoke bar named Caritas for most of the series. For three years he worked, purchase or sang, diet his way into our hearts.

It’s been a year since Andy Hallett who played our favorite green demon Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan, or Lorne for short, passed away. He was only 33 when he died from congestive heart failure. It happened so suddenly and it’s hard to believe it’s already been a year.

Today I think we should just be glad we even got to know him since it almost didn’t happen at all. Andy only accidentally became a singer when he was invited onstage at a concert in Boston, and “blew the house down. I sang a line and she said, ‘This is a white boy with soul.'” And he only accidentally became an actor after moving to Los Angeles and working as a runner for an agency and then as a property manager. Then, he eventually became a personal assistant to Kai Cole, wife of Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon. When the couple and their friends saw Hallett singing at the “B.B. Kings” lounge at Universal CityWalk, Whedon conceived a new character for his new show Angel: An anagogic demon who reads the hearts and futures of his guests as they sing in his karaoke bar. Hallett was invited to try out for the part, and won it after three auditions. The rest as they say is history.

So, let’s take a moment to remember and make a toast to Andy Hallett. What are you favorite Lorne scenes or moments? Any fond memories of Andy himself? Let’s hear them.

Andy, we miss you.
Have I mentioned how much I love this show?

This week on The Vampire Diaries, look Elena and Stefan go on an awkward double date with Caroline and Matt; Anna brings a surprising guest to visit Damon; and the direction of Jeremy takes an unexpected turn. Which the summary kind of makes it sound boring, story and I thought the preview did too, but definitely not.

The Vampire Diaries (s1ep16): There Goes the Neighborhood – ****

Frederick: “Vervain: making it hard to find something to eat in this town.” – Clearly the best town slogan ever.

Pearl: “I have 400 years on you, little boy. I’ll rip you from limb to limb without even blinking and you know it.”

Stefan: Have you thought anymore about what you want to do?
Elena: About what? Isobel, my vampire birth mother, who’s related to my vampire ancestor Katherine, who screwed over your vampire brother? No, I haven’t thought about it at all.

And then deciding to get rid of the drama by having a double date with Matt and Caroline:

Elena: Have you ever even been on a double date before?
Stefan: Oh, absolutely. Uh…’72. Hef and the twins.
Elena: Are you serious?
Stefan: Yeah, playmates. I got miss June.

Oh, oh! And then Stefan and Matt the awesomeness and bonding as they become best bros.

Matt: That’s because you’re that guy.
Stefan: What guy?
Matt: The guy who seems like he has everything. So the people who don’t tend to run the other way.
Stefan: Is that what I seem like?
Matt: Pretty much.
Stefan: What a dick.

And we conclude with Stefan getting stabbed when Frederick comes to get revenge on them. He’s unsuccessful, but I’m sure he’ll be back.

Grownups: Speaking of Kelly, Matt’s mother, I can’t decide if it was icky or hot to see her with Damon. I think for the most part Caroline said it well:

Caroline: Yeah, this is much better than watching Damon visit Cougar Town.

Jenna: Quick, hide. We’re not here.
Kelly: Why, where did we go?
Jenna: Children under our care. 5 o’clock.

This week on The Vampire Diaries, buy Elena and Stefan go on an awkward double date with Caroline and Matt; Anna brings a surprising guest to visit Damon; and the direction of Jeremy takes an unexpected turn. Which the summary kind of makes it sound boring, and I thought the preview did too, but definitely not.

The Vampire Diaries (s1ep16): There Goes the Neighborhood – ****

Frederick: “Vervain: making it hard to find something to eat in this town.” – Clearly the best town slogan ever.

Pearl: “I have 400 years on you, little boy. I’ll rip you from limb to limb without even blinking and you know it.”

Stefan: Have you thought anymore about what you want to do?
Elena: About what? Isobel, my vampire birth mother, who’s related to my vampire ancestor Katherine, who screwed over your vampire brother? No, I haven’t thought about it at all.

And then deciding to get rid of the drama by having a double date with Matt and Caroline:

Elena: Have you ever even been on a double date before?
Stefan: Oh, absolutely. Uh…’72. Hef and the twins.
Elena: Are you serious?
Stefan: Yeah, playmates. I got miss June.

Oh, oh! And then Stefan and Matt the awesomeness and bonding as they become best bros.

Matt: That’s because you’re that guy.
Stefan: What guy?
Matt: The guy who seems like he has everything. So the people who don’t tend to run the other way.
Stefan: Is that what I seem like?
Matt: Pretty much.
Stefan: What a dick.

And we conclude with Stefan getting stabbed when Frederick comes to get revenge on them. He’s unsuccessful, but I’m sure he’ll be back.

Grownups: Speaking of Kelly, Matt’s mother, I can’t decide if it was icky or hot to see her with Damon. I think for the most part Caroline said it well:

Caroline: Yeah, this is much better than watching Damon visit Cougar Town.

Jenna: Quick, hide. We’re not here.
Kelly: Why, where did we go?
Jenna: Children under our care. 5 o’clock.

And a bittersweet Elena and Jeremy moment as they lie to each other:

Elena (brushing her teeth): How was your night?
Jeremy (brushing his teeth): Same old, same old. You?
Elena: Yep.

Have I mentioned how much I love this show?

This week on The Vampire Diaries, link Elena and Stefan go on an awkward double date with Caroline and Matt; Anna brings a surprising guest to visit Damon; and the direction of Jeremy takes an unexpected turn. Which the summary kind of makes it sound boring, salve and I thought the preview did too, malady but definitely not.

The Vampire Diaries (s1ep16): There Goes the Neighborhood – ****

Frederick: “Vervain: making it hard to find something to eat in this town.” – Clearly the best town slogan ever.

Pearl: “I have 400 years on you, little boy. I’ll rip you from limb to limb without even blinking and you know it.”

Stefan: Have you thought anymore about what you want to do?
Elena: About what? Isobel, my vampire birth mother, who’s related to my vampire ancestor Katherine, who screwed over your vampire brother? No, I haven’t thought about it at all.

And then deciding to get rid of the drama by having a double date with Matt and Caroline:

Elena: Have you ever even been on a double date before?
Stefan: Oh, absolutely. Uh…’72. Hef and the twins.
Elena: Are you serious?
Stefan: Yeah, playmates. I got miss June.

Oh, oh! And then Stefan and Matt the awesomeness and bonding as they become best bros.

Matt: That’s because you’re that guy.
Stefan: What guy?
Matt: The guy who seems like he has everything. So the people who don’t tend to run the other way.
Stefan: Is that what I seem like?
Matt: Pretty much.
Stefan: What a dick.

Oh, and easiest way to get outed as a vampire of old world? Just mention ‘Katherine’ to Elena. That was some good thinking when she told Stefan through text rather than out loud about Frederick. And we conclude with Stefan getting stabbed when Frederick comes to get revenge on him. He’s unsuccessful, but I’m sure he’ll be back.

Grownups: Speaking of Kelly, Matt’s mother, I can’t decide if it was icky or hot to see her with Damon. I think for the most part Caroline said it well:

Caroline: Yeah, this is much better than watching Damon visit Cougar Town.

Jenna: Quick, hide. We’re not here.
Kelly: Why, where did we go?
Jenna: Children under our care. 5 o’clock.

And a bittersweet Elena and Jeremy moment as they lie to each other:

Elena (brushing her teeth): How was your night?
Jeremy (brushing his teeth): Same old, same old. You?
Elena: Yep.

I love this part, rubella the part where promotion gears up and we get all kinds of new pretty things. New Twilight: Eclipse stills have been released and can be found here and here. Also, order the Twilight novella The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, medications which will be available to buy June 5 and online for free on June 7, is now available for preorder from Amazon for $7.69 if you want a hardcopy. Also, I’m very excited to say there’s finally more news on the film adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s novel The Host. (Which I’m currently 80% of the way into.) Andrew Niccol (“The Truman Show”, “Gattaca”, and a possible Will Smith movie “The City that Sailed”) is on a third draft of the script and it is expected to be shot in early 2011. Now all I want to know is what happened to his movie The Cross? I was looking forward to that one, too.

EOnline has revealed the current top five contenders in the Save One Show campaign. If your favorite isn’t in the top five, you better work harder then. Currently the top five (alphabetically) are: Better Off Ted, Chuck, Life Unexpected, One Tree Hill, Parenthood. Not surprising seeing as they all have pretty loyal fanbases. (Go Life Unexpected!)

Syfy’s summer series Haven, based on a Stephen King novella and starring Emily Rose, Lucas Bryant, and Eric Balfour (BtVS), has gotten a premiere date of July 9th at 10pm. There’s also some casting news on season 2 of Syfy’s Stargate Universe, which returns tonight with season 1.5, and the addition of Robert Knepper (“Prison Break”) and Julie McNiven (“Supernatural”,”Mad Men”). Looking at their pictures one can only wonder who they’ll be playing. Hm…

In further Whedonesque news, Casey McKinnon (A Comicbook Orange) has interviewed Zack Whedon on his newly released Terminator comic book series. (Fan reactions on the new series can be found here.) Also, Felicia Day says all she knows on the Dr. Horrible sequel is Joss has said it’s a priority for him to get off the ground and she’s heard a possible title. And Steven S. DeKnight, former BtVS/Angel/Dollhouse writer/producer, has spoken about his work on Spartacus: Blood and Sand, his leading man who is currently undergoing treatment for cancer, and the criticism towards the sexuality on the show. And in TV development news, we have one Whedonite in and one Whedonite out as Gina Torres (“Firefly”) joins ABCFamily’s Huge and Alexis Denisof (“Angel”) is replaced on ABCFamily’s Pretty Little Liars. I was actually looking forward to seeing Alexis on that new series, poo.

But perhaps the biggest Whedon news is that, OMG, Joss is on the shortlist of people to possibly direct the upcoming The Avengers movie. Do you know how awesome this could be? Joss Whedon directing Robert Downey Jr., Edward Norton, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Evans, etc. This could be a dream. And one which many think will ultimately not happen even if he is on the list. But hey, it’s nice to dream.

Riding along with Chris Evans as Captain America, Sebastian Stan from Gossip Girl has been cast as his sidekick in the film. That makes two Gossip Girl alums in superhero movies, the other being Blake Lively in Green Lantern. And speaking of Green Lantern, Ryan Reynolds, who I’m excited to see playing Green Lantern in the Greg Berlanti (“Everwood”,”Jack&Bobby”) penned film, has also signed on to the film adaptation of the R.I.P.D. comic series. I don’t know about this movie… But hey, rejoice because two new Iron Man posters have been released.

Another movie I’m interested in seeing pan out is the Leonardo DiCaprio starring and Clint Eastwood directing biopic on J. Edgar Hoover. Ever since watching The X-Files long ago, I’ve had a small fascination with Hoover and the creation of the FBI. (It’s the reason I liked parts of the new movie Public Enemies.) So, we’ll see how that goes.

And I leave you with an amusing exchange between former Star Trek: TNG castmembers that ensued the other day after LeVar Burton accidentally tweeted out his cell phone number not just once, but twice in one day. lol.

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