C'mon Felix, you can do better

The second of the 10 BSG "Face of the Enemy" webisodes aired yesterday. Has anyone else been watching them? I find myself wanting to not be drawn in by them simply because Felix Gaeta is by far my least favorite character on the show, but damn those good writers, they've snagged me anyway.

The story so far has Gaeta going away for a little R&R because he and everyone else in the fleet has had a nutty over that bummer called Earth. Gaeta gets caught in a rather unfortunate incident involving a Raptor. (Which is a space ship, not a dinosaur, for those who don't watch the show. But really, how cool would it be if the ship was shaped like a dinosaur? Oh yeah.) In the meantime, Gaeta's magical new boyfriend that we never, ever even caught a hint of except for that long-ish hug in "Revelations" is pining for him back aboard Galactica and trying to take a Raptor out to find him. Meanwhile, back aboard Gaeta's ship, Felix also seems to have forgotten that he's newly gay as he shares some very uncomfortable yet intimate looks with Boomer. (Or is it another Eight? Swear to God, I can't keep these cylons apart.)

My description is making these mini-episodes, which take place during the upcoming first episode of season 4.5, sound mawkish and crappy and they're not at all. The acting, as with any BSG episode, is very good and the writing is tight. There's a tension building nicely aboard the distressed Raptor (not shaped like a dinosaur) and there's just enough minor WTF moments to keep me enticed -- like what is Cylon Saul Tigh doing still in command in CIC? Did they all just have a group hug and decide to be sad together? If so, awesome. I love space emo. So overall, the quality of these little mini-movies is terrific and it has me counting not just the days, but the minutes until BSG's January 16 premiere.

My only problem is the whole Gaeta/Hoshi storyline. I mean, yes, okay, they hinted at some stuff between Felix and Baltar but who hasn't slept with Baltar? I think Lampkin's dog slept with the guy. It's just to be expected. But this Gaeta/Hoshi thing just came out of left field. Actually, it came out of the parking lot that's a ten-minute walk away from left field. I'm confuzzled.

And really, they choose Hoshi as the love interest? There wasn't some hot fighter pilot we haven't seen before? Felix chooses Middle Management Comb-Over Guy? Felix, I've seen your pecs and you have a lovely singing voice. You're totally shortselling yourself. Seriously, though, BSG has always been really good at telegraphing character traits well in advance of their full fruition. It's one of the things I've always loved about the writing and storytelling on this truly magnificent series. I sort of expected the same standard with these webisodes. I'm a-ok loving it if Felix is gay, but throw me some substantial clues over the last five years, please, so it doesn't just feel like a stunt. A stunt is not something I would wish on even my least favorite character.

If you haven't seen the webisodes (in which case, thank you for reading this far), here they are:

Episode One


Episode Two

Odds and Ends

Hello everyone! For the Americans, hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! For everyone else, hope you had a lovely Wednesday through Tuesday. Personally, I'm just now recovering from having eaten enough pumpkin pie to choke a very chunky horse -- and it was spectacular! And now on to the news at hand:

+ Not to suggest that "House" is formulaic or anything*, but Cracked had a great item on "How to Write Your Own 'House' Episode" and yes, it does include the always-popular furrowed-brow moment.

+ Speaking of formulas that are good in spite of themselves, there's a new preview of "24" out which includes a glimpse of an old friend and also moments of Jack Bauer neither whispering nor shouting but instead making a grammatical error. It's pretty much everything you'd expect from "24." The new season debuts on Jan. 12...and I really, really want to make a cougar joke right now but will show maturity and restrain myself. Or maybe not: Cougar!

+ The DVD of "The X-Files: I Want to Believe" comes out today and features more than three hours of extras including deleted scenes, gag reel, full-length documentary and audio commentary by Frank Spotnitz and Chris Carter, which better include a personal apology for disappointing the hell out of me with this movie. A movie which I will nonetheless buy because X-Files owns me and I am a sad, sad person.

+ "Battlestar Galactica" webisodes debut on Dec. 12 and I'm giddy as a school girl! Two episodes will be posted per week for five weeks, leading up to BSG's Jan. 16 season premiere. Even more awesome, the webisodes were written by Jane Espenson and Seamus Kevin Fahey, staffers who penned some of last year's best episodes. And in other way awesome BSG news, "Caprica" has finally been greenlit as a series for Sci-Fi. Now I'm beyond giddy and verging on delirious. I need pie to celebrate!

+ Have I mentioned I love the internets? Today on Twitter I was following the back and forth between Wil Wheaton and Greg Grunberg of "Heroes" as they exchanged compliments and eventually concocted the idea of Wheaton appearing in an upcoming episode of the NBC series. And now io9 has to go and be dicks about the whole thing and semi-mock Wheaton with a poll on what sort of superpower he should have when he joins the superhero league. I don't see how you can run a site like io9 and mock Wil Wheaton. It seems positively unpatriotic. (However, if he were to have a superpower, I would vote for gills. How cool would that be?)

+ Park Bench reader Crone51 sent in this great musical tribute to smart women by singer-songwriter Richard Thompson. "I want a woman from Mensa with a furrowed brow..." It's wonderful. Enjoy:



+ I got an e-mail recently announcing the debut of a new website called Book View Cafe (www.bookviewcafe.com) that offers new and unpublished literature by authors such as Ursula K. Le Guin, Vonda McIntyre and Laura Ann Gilman, all for free. Writers also will be offering extended versions of their work and other goodies for a small fee. Looks like an interesting experiment in publishing....

* But it is.

Odds and Ends

+ Looks like "Pushing Daisies" is a goner. When it worked, this was one of the most wonderfully original and sweet shows ever to air, but recently, it just seemed to be trying too hard. Still, though, I'm sorry to see it go.

+ Good news! "Battlestar Galactica" webisodes are set to start airing in the middle of December. Something to hold onto until the January 16 premiere finally, finally rolls around. ETA: I just found out Sci-Fi is going to air the preview for season 4.5 during their day-long Bond marathon on Thanksgiving. Thanks, Sci-Fi, that's hugely convenient for everyone, I'm sure.

+ $10 million seems like a fair price to pay to regenerate a mastodon, don't you think? I can't wait until they start selling these things at the Petco. I'm totally going to dress mine up as a Bantha.

+ Speaking of bones, the remains of Nicolaus "Sunshine" Copernicus were found orbiting the Earth! Hahaha, just kidding. They were in a box.

+ People Magazine announced their Sexiest Man Alive this week, and the winner is Hugh Jackman. And there's pictures of at least 15 of the runners-up. Pretty, pretty!

+ And, um, this is the blogging equivalent of asking someone if they can come out and play but is anyone interested in chit-chatting with me about "Doctor Who"? I set up a page here for anyone who has some time and might be willing to indulge me in conversation on my new mania. (This is what happens when BSG is off the air for 9 months.) Thank you!