So I'm on strike tonight. I ended up ahead with the school stuff, and I will probably just do nothing and recover, 'cause to pull the rest of them through their drama, I need to be at least kind of sane.
Meanwhile, a few weeks ago, Amazon was offering a free download of the new Bionic Woman. I was mildly intrigued, having watched reruns of the original on the Sci-Fi channel in the 90s -- back when they showed old sci-fi shows. Plus, I remembered that Katee Sackhoff (of Battlestar Galactica) was also in it as another bionic...woman.
Ahem.
Anyhow, let's get the basics out of the way. Bionic Woman is helmed by one of Battlestar Galactica's head honchos -- which suggests, of course, that it'll be more than a simplistic remake.
(Or, was. I seem to recall that one of the executive producers quit right before the season started to air.)
However, where BSG at least maintains much of the original story -- the Cylon attack, the flight through space, meeting with the Pegasus, and so forth -- while updating it into a gritty political drama that happens to happen in space (in the first season and a half) and a sci-fi with a distinct mythological bent (in the last season and a half), Bionic Woman has, as far as I can recall, two things in common with its namesake.
1. The main character's name is Jaime Somers.
2. She becomes bionic at the behest of her boyfriend after a devastating accident.
(Of course, in the original, it was 'cause whatever the Six Million Dollar Man's name was threatened to stop working if they didn't bionicify her, not 'cause he was in charge of Super Secret Military Stuff.)
Now, this isn't necessarily bad. While following the same essential story line -- including, it seems, eventually finding Earth -- BSG is, in its day to day operation, very different than the original.
(However, I've always missed Patrick Macnee's opening narration from the original, especially given the premise on the new BSG that all of this has happened before -- meaning that the colonies are likely the result of a prior exodus through space.)
In any event, it's not necessarily bad that Bionic Woman is so different from the original. The problem was -- I couldn't really decide where it was going. Visually, it reminded me of the WB's short-lived Birds of Prey. In some ways, it did remind me of BSG in that I'm not really sure who the good guys are -- except, of course, we're supposed to believe that Jaime is one of the good guys.
But it had another problem. I'm often critical of actors playing very different parts, unless they are very, very good at their craft.
(For instance, the notion that Pavel Chekov on Star Trek and Alfred Bester on Babylon 5 are the same actor is...at the least...a "wow." You could also say the same for Hikaru Sulu on Star Trek and whatever-his-name-is on Heroes (I've only seen one episode).)
Katee Sackhoff is a very good actress. She is especially got at nonverbal acting, in my opinion. There is a scene in a first season episode of BSG ("Act of Contrition") where she has to fess up to Adama (the one man she really seems to admire at that point, and the man who was almost her father-in-law) about something -- and you can see every ounce of despair that Kara feels as Adama reacts in anger.
It's an awesome scene and the scene that made me a Starbuck fan.
So I watched Bionic Woman worried that I'd see Kara Thrace (Starbuck) instead of whatever her name was.
I didn't.
Unfortunately, from the very beginning where she slithers across the screen and shortly meets her demise, only to (mysteriously) show up again...she was Number Six.
And I mean she was Number Six.
From her hair style to the clothes to the way she moved -- she was Number Six.
Oops.
I'll probably watch one or two more weeks. There's very little sci-fi on right now that I enjoy -- Stargate: Atlantis is...meh. I never got into Lost or Heroes (I know, I know). BSG doesn't return until January. Smallville...I watch occasionally, but it's not really a favorite either.
So we'll see.
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