The past is the new future, and it's lost (ha-ha).
Alcatraz is JJ Abrams' latest foray into TV, and other than a clunky line from a guard hammering home the titular location ("This is Alcatraz. No one forgets."), it had a decently interesting setup about over 300 people vanishing from the prison in 1963 and them starting to reappear in the modern day. It could be considered "the next Lost," (there are flashbacks) but that coveted title hasn't had the greatest history. Anyway, deputy warden E.B. Tiller makes life tough for one Jack Sylvane, one of the first prisoners to appear in 2011. In the present day, Jack murders the 2011-aged Tiller, and an detective tries to figure out how the fingerprints of a long-dead prisoner can show up in a modern-day crime scene. Furthering the Lost parallels, Jorge "Hugo" Garcia shows up as a historical expert on Alcatraz. He also runs a comic shop and writes comic books, which I'm sure will make him a fan favorite. You can count how many times I typed Alcatraz and it's still not as many times as someone in the show said it within the first 20 minutes, often preceded as "this is." Sam Neil, it turns out, is in charge of some special division that hunts "special" fugitives (dun-dun-dunnnn) like Jack. The body count gets high rather quick, Sylvane seems awfully comfortable with the future, though it's strongly hinted that he has help. The setup reminds me a lot of the long-canceled show, Brimstone, though the protagonists will be hunting time-displaced ex-cons instead of former denizens of the infernal realms. We have good guys that aren't all good, those behind the time travel and use of the prisoners a mystery, and what looks like Alcatraz II by way of Aperture Science.
Turning to episode two, the comparison to Brimstone continues to be apt as each prisoner will probably have a specialty (a superpower, as it were) making them a bit easier to track down. Coupled with a historian specializing in Alcatraz for any other quirks or signs of someone from the 1960s, and that's where we'll probably get the detective work for most of the escaped convicts. There's also apparently a plot thread going on amongst the inmates back in the past, as events from episode 1 have had a bearing on episode 2. We're still no closer to knowing what's going on or who's behind it, which means a slow boil, which may mean viewers won't stick around until things start getting explained. It's also on Fox, which will put the theory that JJ Abrams is an alternate universe version of Joss Whedon (that doesn't get mercilessly canceled on a whim) to the test.
I predict that retro- or time-travel shows about the past are going to become more commonplace. For one, "the good ol' days" are looking more and more appealing to people who want a time before the economy went all higgledy-piggledy. The writers are more comfortable with the past as well, I think. In reading Stephen King's 11-22-63, I could almost hear King gleefully muttering "I know this stuff!" when writing about the 1950's and 60's, along with the occasional "and no $*!@-ing computers or other things around to mess things up!" As I've noted before, it's hard to write about the present day, much less the future, without being called out for being ignorant about technology or "simple solutions" to common plot tropes that things like cell phones circumvent. Set your show in the 70's or 80's, and it's a cakewalk to pretty much ignore being able to trace someone by their phone or how they can leave trails on the internet. I don't expect shows like CSI or Bones to go anywhere soon, even with their nearly Star Trek-esque ideas about how computers do and don't work; the core audience doesn't know or care if the shows are wrong, and others watch them because they're funny.
It would seem that Sherlock Holmes is becoming the open-source property of the decade, as CBS is ordering up a show that sounds an awful lot like the BBC version. In this version, Holmes is in New York. I couldn't find many details other than it's being called Elementary. Much like with C'thulhu, the field is wide open for anyone to play with the character, which means, in theory, every network could create their own Holmes, which would be made worthwhile (assuming they weren't terribly good) if they could all have some kind of crossover event where they all tried to prove that the other Holmeses were fictional.
It's never all fun and games when you find yourself in similar but new surroundings. I'm still getting used to Wordpress, and I apologize for any slowness in approving comments, as I've been learning how to migrate my DNS hosting. I almost wish that was a euphemism for something, but it's a bit of a lengthy process. This might mean that e-mails to anywhere other than my dogooderpress at gmail account might go astray over the next week or two until Drew & I can get everything sorted out and settled down. He was slightly worried that Nodwick.com was being DNS-hosted by Network Solutions, which apparently is an expensive and somewhat clingy place to host. Given they were pretty much the only game in town ten years(!) ago, I blame lack of choice followed by inertia. Still, it makes the whole affair seem even more like I'm gutting and remodeling a house. :)
Ah, I need to keep the wife and kid from seeing what's in that dust-covered box, so while I hide "the evidence," have a linkfest:
- Japan advances bathtime technology beyond the reach of most nations with a planetarium for your tub. If it does a Pink Floyd laser show, too, I may be willing to sell an organ (perhaps mine) to get one.
- With all the SOPA and other piracy news, it might remind one of the time when it was almost made illegal to tape TV shows.
- Here's some FX-doctored footage from a surfboard that would make me want to paddle farther out to sea.
- Gloomy Truck 2 is another in a series of "get the cargo in your truck and over the finish line" games with a post-apoc setting and the usual poor road conditions designed to make your cargo airborne as much as possible.
- Sony has released a synopsis for (spoiler warning) its Total Recall reboot. It doesn't sound much like the original short story.
- Here's some bicycle earrings made out of paper clips. Nifty!
- If this stuff is a trend, I'm not quite sure who finds it attractive, but I suspect popped collars and fake tans are involved.
- Paula Deen has announced she has type 2 diabetes. So does that make her show more akin to pornography, now that she (and presumably those who've been cooking along with her) can't safely partake of what she's producing?
- Boeing is developing a new missile of some kind, and it seems to breathe air. Given the shape... cyborg whale-bombs?
- If you remember the good ol' game, Syndicate, and would like to take a trip down memory lane, GOG will have it for sale on the 19th.
- Not that a certain pair of golden arches are the gateway to healthy eating in the first place nor that the one where I suspect my wife got food poisoning over the weekend is in this article (it isn't), but when an employee claims to have footage of a mouse running over the hamburger buns, it might be time to have a home cookout.
- All that's left of a cancelled video game about a Steampunk Batman is the concept art.
- Speaking of video games, I don't know which engine or console was used to render this CGI movie that apparently cost $65 million, but I'm guessing its use was part of the reason it's been in release-date limbo for a while. With Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan, too!
- Star Wars Lego minifigs are invading London, the Doctor remains unavailable to help due to the trademark lawyers being unable to stop having seizures.
- Some skill (and maybe a little enjoyment of internet memes) is required to Hit the Troll. Use a normal, exploding, and bouncy ball to rid yourself of the blocks who only want to watch you rage in frustration.
- We'll end with one that's not so puzzling. Angry Bees is a defense shooter where you're a king bee (it's a game, never mind) trying to defend his honey. You start with a rifle and upgrade from there.