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Geekdom shrouded in academia!

What’s not love about a new collection of essays entitled “Tolkien on Film: Essays on Peter Jackson

This collection of essays addresses various aspects of Peter Jackson’s film adaptations of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings including scriptwriting and the creative process, the place of the films in cinematic history, gender roles in the films and the books, wisdom and councils, hobbits and heroism, fan culture and fanfic, the use of Tolkien’s languages in the films, and other issues.

The essays on fan fiction and gender roles alone look worth the $20 (plus shipping and handling).

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Battlestar Galactica: decornified and cheese-free

I’ve been terribly lax in writing about the new Battlestar Galactica series. It’s excellent, and if you’re not watching it, I beg you to give it a try. Sci-Fi is playing the first 5 episodes of the series (all that’s aired in the US so far) Tuesday night, starting at 7, and the miniseries/pilot is available on DVD. New episodes air Friday night at ten and rerun Mondays at the same time.

The showrunner, Ron Moore, keeps a blog, and it’s well worth reading. I especially enjoy his entry on the first episode, 33. Down with fanboy technobabble!

I’ve seen a few episodes of the original, and heard of original fans going up in arm over the changes that were made, but almost everyone I’ve spoken to has embraced the new series. Give it a try. Please.

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Dark Nest hints

And in the sea of prequel news, we get a small peek at the EU future… Sue Rostoni posted a bit from the cover copy of The Swarm War, first book of Troy Denning’s Dark Nest Trilogy:

As for Luke, he will have to prove, in a lightning display of Force strength and swordsmanship, that he is — beyond a shadow of a doubt — the greatest Jedi Master in the galaxy.

See it straight from the source here. Rostoni also said we should be seeing the book’s cover (and presumably, the full blurb) within a month.

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Books and Mags

Um. Did anyone miss me, last week? Atlanta had an ice storm and I wasn’t about to go out with the crazy people to see if Labyrinth of Evil had officially hit the bookshelves. So, let’s get on with it…

Magazines
Next week is usually the big release week for magazines (and I suspect there’ll be a lot as we get closer to May 19th), but we did have one this week.
Sci Fi Magazine – April 2005 – This cover claims (in rather large letters) that it has major spoilers inside; mostly for Episode 3. Since I’ve been bitten one too many times for my level of spoilerdom, lately, I have declined to look to see if they’re just full of it. If someone else did so, please advise in the comments.

Books
Labyrinth of Evil – James Luceno – This story will take us up to the events of Clone Wars Cartoon, Volume 2. Then Clone Wars takes us right up to the opening crawl. In this one, Obi-Wan and Anakin go on yet another mission to rid the galaxy of all things Trade Federation when they get a lead on the infamous Darth Sidious. Will they figure it out? Will this just make it all the more annoying to wait for Episode 3 to be released?

Secrets of the Jedi – Jude Watson – Ah, yes. This is the one, Wantons. We always knew something was up between Obi-Wan and Siri. Now we be gettin’ us some confirmation! This is a hardcover in the Jedi Apprentice series featuring two generations of masters and apprentice (Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan and Obi-Wan/Anakin). Wackiness ensues when Anakin’s wife comes along on the mission. Much angst to ensue, as well, I’m sure.

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TV News: Lost, Alias, and… Degrassi??

Fantasy and sci-fi is now in demand on TV. Wasn’t it only yesterday that Angel and Firefly were canceled?

Naturally, Lost is on the forefront of the trend, and J.J. Abrams talks about the show’s future. Meanwhile, producers are thinking about releasing an ‘official album’ from Charlie’s band.

On Alias, Weiss gets some action.

And, last but not least, Kevin Smith drops by Degrassi: The Next Generation a show I totally do not watch (erm) to mack on his childhood crush. Jason Mewes (Jay) and Alanis Morissette also appear.

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Enterprise sent to spacedock

It was inevitable. After four shaky seasons, UPN is giving up on Star Trek: Enterprise.

The show never managed to maintain much of an audience after its initial strong debut. And in recent weeks, it apparently has been getting beaten in the ratings by Stargate SG-1. (Great show, but on SciFi Channel, not expected to outshine a broadcast network.)

No new TV series or movies have been announced. Perhaps a few years in spacedock will allow the fans to come back to Trek again.

Here’s hoping!