Stuff I've Watched Lately

Space: Above and Beyond - The Complete Series - Though it's showing its age a bit, this sci-fi military series has a World War II flavor that noticably inspired follow-on projects such as Starship Troopers and the new Battlestar Galactica. It takes a while for the series to find its feet, swinging like Firefly does back and forth between villains, plot threads, and characterization til it finds a comfortable niche, but once it does, the show is worth the payoff. MVP episode: "Who Monitors the Birds?" - a episode with no dialogue at all, save in flashbacks.

Firefly: The Complete Series DVD - I had desperately been avoiding the "hype" as the series was all the rage with my friends, but I finally acquiesced when I could get the set at half-price when I bought the Space: Above and Beyond series set. It wasn't hype. Wonderful well-rounded characters, pretty solid scriptwriting (notable exceptions of "Safe" and "The Message"...zzzz), good dialogue (though sometimes there's a bit too much Mandarin swearing to follow), and an interesting and well-developed universe (though sometimes inconsistent with it's delicated balance of Western and Chinese culture). The show definately didn't get its fair shake, and TV is sadder for it.

Serenity - This was the first film I've felt compelled to see in first-run theaters since The Island. A great ending to a great series. "I am a leaf on the wind - watch me soar..."