The Sci-Fi Cast

As mentioned in episode 52, an official Futurama app for iPhone has been released. Futurama Head In A Jar (free) does just what the name implies: it lets you created a Futurama-style, disembodied head.

It’s more of a toy than a game, with lots of options for both creation and curation of your Head Museum. Fans will definitely want to check it out, and join the list of notables whose heads have appeared on Futurama, like Lucy Liu, Richard Nixon (The President of Earth!) Pam Anderson and George Washington. All that’s missing is an explanation of how one actually eats and breathes in there.

In any case, here’s my look at Futurama Head In A Jar for iPhone.

User Interface

Good news, everyone! It looks great. The app adheres to the feel and general color palate of the show. When first launched, you’ll get a scene depicting a demo head and a subtitle that changes with each launch, just as it does on the show. From there you reach the main menu, which features four buttons: Videos, Head Museum, More and Get Started. Each button is clearly labeled and legible. Let’s jump right to Get Started and leave the others for now.

Building A Head

Tap the button and a “door” opens, revealing the construction area. Your head-in-progress is in the center, while the main options are listed on the left. Each option has several sub-options. For example, your decision is whether to choose a human (male or female), robot or alien head. Many of the options look familiar, from a certain bending unit we all know to the first mate on the Nimbus. To make your choice, use your finger to swipe from on to the other inside the jar.

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Star Trek: The Next Gen – Season 3, Ep 22
Data is abducted by a collector of rare and unusual items as the Enterprise crew struggles with his apparent death.

It is said that he who dies with the most toys wins. In the 24th century, where money doesn’t exist and all of one’s wants and desires are just a replicator away, what counts as toys? For space-faring trader Kivas Fajo (played by Warehouse 13‘s Saul Rubinek after some tragic, last minute re-casting) those toys include rare paintings by Vincent van Gogh and sentient Soong-type androids like Lt. Cmd. Data of the Starship Enterprise.

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Star Trek: The Next Gen – Season 2, Ep 16
Q hurls the Enterprise across the galaxy.

“They’re called the Borg. Protect yourself Captain, or they’ll destroy you.” There are origin stories and then there are origin stories, and Q Who? is among the best in Trek. The powerful alien Q, played masterfully by John de Lancie, hurls the Enterprise and her smug band of heroes clear across the galaxy into scifi equivalent of the heart of darkness.

Picard and his crew come face to face with what many fans (this one included) consider to be the best villains in the entire franchise, the Borg. Part man, part machine they assimilate and digest whatever appeals to them, including 3 whole decks of the Enterprise E. The entire episode is creepy from start to finish, keeps you on the edge of your seat and sets up all of the Borg related mythos that follows in Next Gen, Voyager, First Contact and beyond. Q Who? also contains one of the best lines in all of Star Trek. When Picard pleads with Q to tell them their deadly encounter is just one of his elaborate illusions, Q counters with the ice cold “Oh no. This is as real as your so-called life gets.”

Hands down one of the best episodes of Next Generation. Eighteen crew members killed, baby borg drones, and the birth of über-baddies. Don’t miss it!

Deep Space 9 – Season 5, Ep 18
Quark wants to pay off his debts, but it may end up costing him his life.

When Quark realizes his finances are in the space toilet, he takes up an offer to broker weapons for his cousin Gaila. The latinum flows like wine, but so does the ill-will of the rest of the crew when they realize what Quark’s doing. Dax disowns him and Sisko puts him one stolen, self-sealing stembolt away from the nearest airlock.

All in all, the plot is solid but even the inclusion of a funny O’Brien b-story and the super-sexy companion of arms dealer Hagath can’t rescue this one from being more than what it is – a filler episode. As Ferengi stories go, this is one of the weaker ones, but the scene where Kira, Sisko and Odo give Quark the good cop / bad cop / blob cop treatment is priceless. That said, the lack of any meaningful character development earns it the rank of lieutenant. Worth a watching, but don’t divert the fleet to do so.

It’s difficult to believe that in just a few short weeks, the Sci-Fi Cast will celebrate its one year anniversary. When we look back, it seems like we’ve been watching and discussing Battlestar Galactica in our podcasts forever. In reality we only started with the launch of season 4, not bad when you consider just how frakking long seasons of BSG really are.

In episode 25 we discussed how disappointed some of us had been with the quality of BSG in the run-up to the finale. Now that the series is finished, I decided to go back and check our ratings for the last half of season 4. You can see in the chart above how each of us rated the last 10 episodes. Dave and I gave the last half of the season an average of 7 out of 10. Jen scored slightly higher with an average of 8 out of 10. All three of us had trends for season 4.5 that were heading downward. In other words, we all thought the episodes, in general, were getting worse instead of better.

What does this all mean? Not a heck of a lot, really. I think it’s safe to say we all enjoyed the finale and overall the entire season. We just wish Brother Cavil had returned to stir things up right after “The Oath” instead of waiting until the final minutes of season 4. Oh well, you can’t win them all. There’s always “The Plan” coming this fall. Guess we’re back to waiting again…

Warning: This post contains spoilers for the series finale of Battlestar Galactica, ‘Daybreak’. If you don’t want to know what happens, then you should stop reading now.

With the airing of last night’s series finale, Battlestar Galactica has passed from the realm of “what is” into “what was”. Even though the show ran for only 4 short seasons, its run lasted almost 6 full years. Watching the end of BSG last night among my friends, I was reminded that as with the end of many great TV series, it’s not always about the destination, but rather the journey.

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After investing almost 4 years of my life in Battlestar Galactica, I can’t help but have high expectations for the series finale. I can say without hesitation the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica has been one of the best written, acted and produced shows in the history of TV, let alone science fiction. However, given the last 5 episodes, I’m wondering if it’s all about to come crashing down.

In order to understand what I mean, we must look at another sci-fi show – Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. DS9 lasted seven seasons and was often guided by the pen of writer, Ronald D. Moore. Today, we know him as the driving force behind BSG, but back in the late 90′s Ron was the lead writer in charge of Paramount’s dark sheep.

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Many years ago, I went into a movie theater with my father to see 2001: A Space Odyssey, and left utterly baffled by what I had seen; baffled and amazed. To young Dave, 2001 didn’t make a bit of sense but also grabbed my attention like nothing else.

Today, love it. In a recent episode of The Sci-Fi Cast it received a beating, and friend-of-the-show Louie Mantia also gave it a poor review earlier this week. With that in mind, I want to share why I love my favorite movie.

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WARNING: This post contains spoilers for season 4 of Battlestar Galactica.

One of the things we love about Battlestar Galactica is the show’s attention to detail. From the cut corners, to the colonial swear words, Ron Moore’s Galactica is a geek’s paradise. One of the ways the series illustrates this is its unwavering quest for continuity. Most fans of Battlestar Galactica know that the number of survivors listed in the opening credits changes from week to week depending on how many people in the fleet kick the bucket or are added due to births or discovering long lost colonials.

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Today we feel confused and depressed, which can only mean one thing … Battlestar Galactica is back!

What happens when you destroy the fondest, most desperate dream of thirteen thousand people? They spiral into an all-consuming despair. This episode, written by David Bradley, is fantastically dark. Consider a three act play: Act I, meet the characters. Act II, put them in the most desperate situation possible. Act III, get them out.

If the purpose of Act I was to get them to earth, then Act II — take away their hope on a radioactive wasteland — has begun.

Note: The rest of this post contains spoilers that will ruin this episode for anyone who hasn’t seen it, and possibly the season for anyone who isn’t caught up to this point. If you don’t want to know, stop reading right now! This means YOU!

The rest of you may click below to continue.

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