A GALAXY OF EXCITEMENT. 'STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION' SEASON THREE - NOW IN HD TV AIRINGS IN THE UK

Keeping up the Starfleet mantra, the cast of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. Image: CBS PARAMOUNT. 

It hasn't had much fanfare from the channel, but UK SYFY's exclusive first digital TV transmission rights to screening the third and best season of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION in HD have begun this week. From the U.S.S. Enterprise infected with dangerous, out of control Nanites, to the time travel return of Tasha Yar, plus the dreaded Romulans, and then on to the epic, ground-breaking finale against the Borg and the capture of a now vulnerable Captain Jean Luc-Picard, this was the not-to-be-missed season that made Gene Roddenberry's second look at TREK a worthy, and now cool, successor to the original series.

For an overview of the season in its recent Blu-ray release head here: KOOL TV REVIEW: 'STAR TREK - THE NEXT GENERATION' SEASON THREE BLU-RAY SET

Get hold of the series in equally stunning Blu-ray: Amazon.co.uk: the next generation blu ray

KOOL TV REVIEW: 'BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - BLOOD & CHROME' BLU-RAY

Genuine Full Metal Jacket with the robot Cylons in BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: BLOOD & CHROME. All images: UNIVERSAL.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: BLOOD & CHROME

Starring Luke Pasqualino

Written by Michael Taylor

Directed by Jonas Pate

Available on Blu-ray and DVD from 5^thAugust, from UNIVERSAL HOME ENTERTAINMENT

Reviewed by Scott Weller

Out there amongst the heavens, the savage war between humanity and its now unleashed robot creations, the Cylons, wages on to its tenth year, and a bright, ambitious viper pilot, Lt. William Adama, keen to join the galaxy-spanning conflict, soon finds himself thrust into a premiere and complex top secret mission to a remote snowbound world, of which the consequences of his actions could prove paramount to the survival of all living beings. In the midst of intrigue, betrayal, and murder, failure is not an option, as BLOOD & CHROME, the epic feature-length continuance of the modern, re-imagined BATTLESTAR GALACTICA series, originally created by Glen A. Larson, arrives on UK DVD and stunning Blu-ray, courtesy of UNIVERSAL HOME ENTERTAINMENT.

Blood and Chrome trailer - YouTube

Written in an evolving group effort way by Michael Taylor (story by Taylor, David Eick and Bradley Thompson and David Weddle), BLOOD & CHROME has some surprises in store, where not everything is quite what it seems, linked to both Classic and Modern GALACTICA series (as well as showing firm middle grounding between the one season running CAPRICA and the Ronald D. Moore created re-imagining), that fans will greatly enjoy. It's setting opens up lots of potential story avenues, and its great to finally see a part of the epic often talked about great war that has been so integral to the history of both series incarnations, whilst also having a chance to play in and experience a bigger universe than the one previously seen in the re-imagined series, what with the fugitive Galactica and her fleet having to escape from everything they once known and loved by the end of their original pilot.

 

The mighty Battlestar Galactica and accompanying human fleet stand defiant.

With all of its four season duration production pieces for the weekly series sold off, the filmmakers continue their pioneering behind the scenes efforts in tackling such a big sci-fi project for the small screen by taking a leaf out of George Lucas and the Modern V series book- shooting the majority of the film against green screen, with virtual sets filling in the blanks in post production. It’s a bold move that works for the most part, resulting in 1,900 visual effects, a lot of which hold up very well in High Definition. There’s a bigger and bolder, meaner and more formidable version of our beloved Galacticawarship that stands out more than ever-armed and glistening like a true ship o’ war. Plus, there’s some nice hybrid design work with the series other key space ship icons.

 

Viper versus Cylon. Space warfare guaranteed!

The stunning trademark intergalactic battle work, done in the previous series documentary style, remains dizzyingly right in the middle of it all prescient and enjoyable, whilst updated CGI gives us more intriguing new environments to stage ambitious action/drama (like the human’s snowbound former resort world of Djerba, now a staging base for the enemy) and alien creatures (like the impressive Cylon/snake hybrid, the Cyloth).

 

A baptism of fire for pilot William Adama (Luke Pasqualino).

Away from the pioneering glitz and mechanics of the special effects, the very real human trio that comprise this adventure are an overall solid and likable bunch, even if they don’t yet have the allure of their previous series counterparts. Cocky and intuitive Adama, played by Luke Pasqualino, has the right looks and fiery attitude to be a future Edward James Olmos, whilst Ben Cotton and Lili Bordán provide satisfactory co-support as life-hardened Raptor flying pilot Coker (a kind of pre-Colonel Tigh figure for Adama to spar with) and Dr. Becca Kelly, the mysterious, all-important ‘cargo’ to be delivered to Djerba. Enjoyable support performances emerge from ALPHAS John Pyper Ferguson as Xander Toth, a solitary Colonial Marine who helps our trio on Djerba, and Brian Markinson, who looks good as the Galactica’s former commander, Silas Nash.

Adding subtle depth beyond the story’s visual fireworks, there’s also a nice book ending of Classic and Modern series themes by the latter's regular composer Bear McCreary.

Bonus features for the Blu-ray release are sadly a bit scarce, but there’s a worthy featurette looking at the shows genesis and its heavy effects realisation requirements from a very dedicated core group, plus thirteen nice-to-see deleted scenes from the original green screen filming.

 

Ready for battle. Adama boards his Viper.

Its roots as a planned interactive gaming experience may show through from time to time, but BLOOD & CHROME, with its preface storytelling format, is a very enjoyable, fast and furious thrill ride continuance of the critically acclaimed series. If you’ve missed your regular fix of gritty action/character, this breezes along in its mission statement as a fun one-off, or possible primer for a future series- its ultimate long-term fate so far undecided by UNIVERSAL/ THE SYFY CHANNEL.

KOOL TV RATING (overall film and extras): 3.5 out of 5

Get hold of Blood and Chrome here: Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome Blu-ray + UV Copy 2012 Region Free: Amazon.co.uk: Luke Pasqualino, Ben Cotton, Lili Bordán, Jill Teed, John Pyper-Ferguson, Brian Markinson, Karen LeBlanc, Sebastian Spence, Ty Olsson, Zak Santiago, Jonas Pate: Film & TV

IT'S ALL IN THE GENES! 'ALPHAS' SEASON TWO RETURNS TO UK HD

The Super Seven are back. ALPHAS Season Two. Image: SYFY CHANNEL.

Making a final farewell on the UK's SYFY Channel HD this week, from Thursday evenings, the second thirteen episode season of the supercharged, superhuman character drama ALPHAS, originally created by Zak Penn and Michael Karnow, proves a hit and miss affair after a previous, generally positive debut in 2011. Last season's well developed, escalating civil war between the our Alpha heroes (helped by their vulnerable human security back-up) against the wannabe world-changers, Red Flag, ended in tragedy, but critically saw in the emergence of a new enemy power player: Stanton Parish (a creepy but engaging performance from Jon Pyper-Ferguson), the mysterious, long living leader of a far more dangerous terror cell with a grudge against humanity. In the midst of this, kindly non-powered leader of the Alphas, Doctor Lee Rosen (the always excellent David Strathairn), breaks his silence about the existence of Alphas to a shocked world, and has suffer the consequences of his actions. So far so, so good, right? Follow on events in the second season opener prove interesting, as our broken up heroes have to reassemble, in not the best of personal circumstances, to rescue two of their own from a Guantanamo Bay-esque prison for people with unique skills. But from there, it strangely takes a while for the show to get back up to speed, slightly bogged down by several additional new characters and secondary plot developments that ultimately prove unnecessary (yes, Azita Ghanizada (playing senses charged Rachel, rapidly becoming less insecure about herself and her abilities) is lovely and looks terrific in lingerie, but her slightly comedic romance with non-Alpha security officer John Bennett (Steve Byers) is pretty time wasting), whilst other characters deserving of more screen time and development have little to do, like the intriguing "pusher" Nina (Laura Mennell) and weighty Bill (Malik Yoba), who, at the start of the season, has an addiction linked to a kind of underground fight club for Alphas- a clumsy plot strand that ultimately goes nowhere and soon disappears.

Trailer: Alphas season 2 New Trailer - YouTube

Emerging characters Danielle Rosen (Kathleen Munroe) and the vengeful Stanton Parish (Jon Pyper-Ferguson)

Behind the scenes, I think the loss/disappearance of Season One producer Ira Steven Behr and series co-creator Zak Penn, both of whom have a strong ability to write and fuse character drama and action, were keenly felt this year, and I think too many new behind the scenes cooks were trying to make their mark on an evolving series that really didn't need to have the rug pulled form under it just as it was finding its feet with audiences...

Fortunately, the antagonism between Rosen and Parish, with the latter's daughter Danielle (played by Kathleen Munroe) caught in the emotional crossfire, helps pick the the story and series up half way through, making it worth staying the course, backed up with some solid guest stars like Sean Astin and genre favourite Summer Glau. Events then lead to a genuinely enjoyable cliffhanger finale set in New York, now never to be resolved, which makes you wonder why the hell SYFY axed the damn show, and whether there are any real life Alphas out there capable of making them change their minds!

Season One of ALPHAS is now available on UK DVD: Alphas - Season 1 [DVD]: Amazon.co.uk: David Strathairn, Ryan Cartwright, Warren Christie, Azita Ghanizada, Laura Mennell, Malik Yoba, Erin Way: Film & TV

GAINING MOMENTUM. 'STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION' SEASON TWO HD ARRIVES ON UK TV

Firmly into the Final Frontier. The cast of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. Images: PARAMOUNT.

Those technology acquiring terrors, The Borg, make their stunning HD TV debut on the UK's SYFY Channel soon, as the exclusive first run transmissions of the painstakingly remastered STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION boldly go into their second exciting season from tonight at 7pm. As well as the Borg, there were many other firsts this year, namely the introduction of several new characters to the U.S.S. Enterprise under the stern command of Jean-Luc Picard: playing Doctor Beverly Crusher the previous season, actress Gates McFadden sadly departed the show after behind the scenes tussles with then stubborn Co-Executive Producer Maurice Hurley, who replaced her with Diana Muldaur, another talented actress who already had links with the original CLASSIC TREK series (with two episodic appearances), as the newly arrived Doctor Kate Pulaski: a dedicated and passionate physician just like Crusher but whose crusty personality and way of dealing with patients is very familiar to fans who loved DeForest Kelly's wonderful and iconic performance as Leonard McCoy, sparring with Data (Brent Spiner), whom she is at first wary of, in a way not unlike "that old country Doctor" did with his highly intelligent and honest Vulcan antagonist, Spock. Celebrated film actress Whoopi Goldberg, at the peak of her career, also joins TNG for welcome special appearances from Season Two onwards, playing the ships other counsellor in many ways, as barkeep of the new Ten Forward bar/recreation area of the Enterprise, where the crew can get to unwind and the writers can develop our heroes off-duty personalities a bit better-a clever idea added to the show by Roddenberry, who still had a firm producer-ship hand on his baby at that point in time, of which the revolving door of incoming and outgoing writers still gained momentum, though Maurice Hurley remained the creators most successful storytelling ally. A lifelong fan and admirer of the original landmark TREK, Goldberg subtly shines as Guinan, becoming an essential part of the new shows continuing success, of which her scenes with Patrick Stewart as Picard shine brightly, especially in this first batch. Further adding to the show, series regulars Michael Dorn and LeVar Burton get new and improved job positions (Lt. Worf now security officer, and Geordi La Forge in charge of Engineering-finally a trusted pair of hands with the ships dilithium crystals!) and costume changes. Plus some mild and deserved set re-designs here and there, too. Even a new shuttlecraft!

Star Trek: The Next Generation on Blu-Ray - Season 2 Trailer #01 - YouTube

Picard (Patrick Stewart) defends Data (Brent Spiner) as a sentient being in The Measure of a Man. 

Klingon couple: Worf (Michael Dorn) and K'Ehleyr (Suzie Plakson) are reunited in The Emissary.

Data and Geordi (LeVar Burton) are the new Holmes and Watson in Elementary, Dear Data.

Creative and character improvements are noticed quickly, but opening episodes do start off a little shaky, due to a crippling writers strikes in 1988, which forces the production team to adapt unused scripts from the aborted seventies TREK series: PHASE II. But things pick up near the mid-point, as the season finally launches into its delayed creative stride. Old villains the Romulans, re-introduced at the end of Year One, continue to make a mark, as do the Klingons, building on a fine return as a now bearded Riker (Jonathan Frakes) becomes one of their officers in A Matter of Honour. Data (and his real-life alter-ego, Brent Spiner, having a good run of stories to play with this time) is put on trial by Star Fleet for reasons of ownership in the award-winning and intelligent The Measure of a Man, Picard meets his future self in the chilling Time Squared, and looks into the death of an old friend, and the discovery of a long lost time travelling civilisation, in Contagion, whilst Worf (Michael Dorn) meets his old flame, the striking K'Ehleyr (memorably played by Suzie Plakson) in near season ender The Emissary. Oh, and then there's that aforementioned Borg episode, the stunning Q Who? , originally planned as the Season Two premiere but delayed due to the strike, as the insidious and craftily omnipotent alien Q (the always wicked John de Lancie) sends the Enterprise light years across the galaxy to their first unsettling encounter with the assimilating foes, and paving the way for an epic Season Three adventure that will send the series into the stratosphere of critical acclaim and viewing figures.

Season Two of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION was justifiably starting to prove itself as its own unique series, and was now, most definitely, here to stay...

Season Three of THE NEXT GENERATION in HD arrives on the UK SY FY CHANNEL sometime next year.

The first two seasons of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION are also available on Blu-ray. Get them here:

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 1 Blu-ray Region Free: Amazon.co.uk: Film & TV

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 2 Blu-ray 1988 Region Free: Amazon.co.uk: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Michael Dorn, LeVar Burton, Marina Sirtis, Diana Muldaur, Wil Wheaton: Film & TV

OUTER SPACE GRIT! 'BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: BLOOD & CHROME' BEGINS...

World War Cylon. The new BATTLESTAR GALACTICA saga BLOOD & CHROME begins. Image: SYFY CHANNEL.

The war between man and machine far out in the Twelve Colonies of Mankind is renewed, but it's back to the beginning for the modern re-imagined saga of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA with the fast paced launch of it's exciting prequel web series BLOOD & CHROME, overseen by series veterans David Eick and Michael Taylor, directed by Jonas Plate, and planned for US SYFY CHANNEL transmission as a likely one-off TV-movie in February 2013.

Airing in taster instalments on Youtube, BLOOD charts the career of the GALACTICA's legendary commander, William Adama (Luke Pasqualino), in his younger persona as a Viper pilot fighting the Cylon menace, years before becoming military custodian to the last remnants of the human race. Visually it looks terrific-mixing the worlds of GALACTICA and its one-off season successor CAPRICA- and full of gritty action/adventure adding to the series mythos with new characters and events, during a time when the mighty Galactica was a top of the line ship-of-war carrier, that will surely keep fans of the modern incarnation thoroughly entertained...

"Episode 1" - Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome - YouTube
"Episode 2" - Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome - YouTube
"Episodes 3 & 4" - Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome - YouTube
Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome episodes 5 and 6 | SciFiNow
"Episodes 7&8" Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome - YouTube

'STAR TREK:THE NEXT GENERATION's UK FIREWORKS DAY RETURN!

Back at warp speed: the Season One cast of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. Image: CBS PARAMOUNT.

For die-hard fans completely drained of their money (and probable life savings!) by last week's fun but ultimately rip-off DESTINATION: STAR TREK LONDON convention (so expensive I'm surprised attendees weren't charged for breathing air!), probably unable to buy the recent Blu-ray high definition release of Season One of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, there's some good news on the horizon, as the entire remastered first season of Gene Roddenberry's late eighties phenomenon will now be getting it's exclusive premiere on UK digital satellite TV, courtesy of the SYFY CHANNEL, from 7pm November 5th onwards-probably the finest home you could get for the show these days, and an actual sci-fi series for the channel to screen that it is actually pure 100 per cent genre! Additionally, SYFY have also purchased the other modern TREKs, strangely bar ENTERPRISE, for exclusive airtime, of which, despite their non re-mastering (at the present time), they'll also look the best you can get them in HD. For TREK rerun addicts who can never get enough, and for new generations of fans-to-be tuning in, the 24th Century has never looked brighter or more streamlined...

Season Two of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, with its super episodes like the Data on trial The Measure of a Man and the Borg introduction QWho?, makes it's debut on Blu-ray from CBS PARAMOUNT in December.

Star Trek: The Next Generation on Blu-Ray - Trailer Season 2 - YouTube

Get it here: Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 2 Blu-ray Region Free: Amazon.co.uk: Film & TV

IT'S IN THE GENES... 'ALPHAS' SEASON TWO

A brave new world continues for the ALPHAS. Images: SY FY CHANNEL.

The cat was spectacularly out of the bag in the closing moments of the premiere season finale of the popular SYFY channel's original superhuman/human drama series, ALPHAS, as our small band of diverse and complicated characters watched in shock and awe as their non-powered leader, Doctor Lee Rosen (the kindly looking character actor David Strathairn), revealed the once secret existence of the next stage of biological development to a surprised world of homo sapiens in a bid to try and stop a long gestating, quickly escalating war against humanity by their sworn ideologically opposite enemies, Red Flag, led by the mysterious long-lived Stanton Parish (John Pyper-Ferguson), of which a prior opening salvo between man and super-man had led to tragic consequences...

Dr. Rosen (David Strathairn), Bill (Malik Yorba) and Gary (Ryan Cartwright) are hostages in the opening episode Wake Up Call.

Now, as the 13 episode Season Two continues its run in the US (though no UK airdate yet-presumably September 2012 on the 5* channel), its a time of dangerous instability for our separated and fragile, emotionally pulled back team (comprising strength enhanced FBI agent Bill (Malik Yorba), voice controlling "pusher" Nina (Laura Mennell), agile hyperkenetic Cameron (Warren Christie), super senses linguist Rachel (Azita Ghanizada) and young autistic telecommunications tracker/transductor Gary (Ryan Cartwright), who quickly reform when two of their own are captured in the opening episode, and continue their on/off pursuit of Red Flag, along the way helping save the lives of innocent and incredibly powered Alphans whose latent talents are only just emerging, and whom soon prove themselves vulnerable to manipulation or exposure without their help. Upcoming episodes include the team discovering a FIGHT-CLUB like environment for young Alphans, an individual possessing incredible super-speed, and another capable of causing hallucinations. There's the discovery of an intriguing device capable of enhancing Alphan powers ever further, whilst, on a personal level, Rosen's complex relationship with his wayward but gifted, empathic daughter, Dani (Kathleen Munroe), takes a turn for the worse when she dates Cameron, whilst her allegiance to the new "vision" of Red Flag under the Svengali-like Stanton Parish grows. Meanwhile, Gary tries to shake the pain of guilt and loss felt by his friend Anna's death-and their once shared bond in unique power- from the end of Season One, in a mourning process ultimately leading him into discovering a new part of his humanity and individualism...

Season Two trailer: Alphas - Season 2 Trailer - YouTube

Spunky new heroine Kat (Erin Way).

A welcome addition to the group and the series comes in the fast and loose young form of partial amnesiac Kat, as played by Erin Way: a soon kick-ass and vital recruit possessing the ability to absorb any skills she can see or read, whilst other great guest stars for this season include THE LORD OF THE RINGS Sean Astin as an Alpha with incredible brain power, SOUTHLAND's C. Thomas Howell, and NCIS's Lauren Holly as a shady politician with ties to our heroes. Season One guest star, and cult TV and film favourite, pixie-like Summer Glau, also returns for three episodes as the quirky Alphan scientist/tech wizard on the run, Skylar Adams. In the critical behind the scenes area of the show, previous season producer Robert Hewitt Wolfe returns, working with new producer Ben Miller, to keep the series travelling the right road, along with co-creator Michael Kernow; the trio deepening the character relationships, spicing up the action and delivering an all-round better produced new run that forges its identity away from early Stateside criticisms that the show was just another version of HEROES.

Long may the super powered TV adventures continue for these particularly intriguing and likably developing heroes...

HIGH DEFINITION HEROISM! 'HUMAN TARGET' AND 'ALPHAS' RETURN!

Motorway madness! Mark Valley returns in HUMAN TARGET. Image: FOX

Good action heroes never go out of style, and especially not Christopher Chance, played with dependable charm and physicality by the likable Mark Valley in the popular US adventure/light comedy hybrid HUMAN TARGET. The shows unnecessary second season revamp may have ultimately killed it off with viewers, but this first season, back in HD reruns on the UK SYFY Channel from tonight, was a promising debut that's often great fun.

A new breed of heroes: Season One of ALPHAS. Image: SYFY.

Finally being shown in HD after some very iffy picture quality in its premiere digital run on the FIVE USA channel last year, tonight SYFY also welcomes its first season screening of the humans with superpowers series, ALPHAS, an intriguing new variant on the kind of ideas seen in the X-MEN films (if a little more realistic, and without the leathers), which will be a nice primer for the upcoming second season later in the year.

If anyone out there reading this hasn't seen either of these shows, they're well worth a look-in...