Motion to strike

OK, so those guys are on strike (photography by Albert Ching, by the way).

But guess who's back! That's right! Me! To celebrate the occasion, here's a clip of Angel returning in season three of "Buffy."

Cast in Amber

"Buffy" alert! Amber Benson, who played Willow's gunned-down witch girlfriend Tara in Buffy seasons 4-6, is guesting on "Supernatural" tonight. Here's some evidence for why she's cool:

1) She's cute
2) She's written comic books
3) She was one of the better singers on "Once More, with Feeling"
4) She doesn't get too freaked out when I take spy pictures of her at Comic-Con.

All in all, the perfect woman.

Nerd alert

In a move sure to inspire geekgasms worldwide, Nathan Fillion is going to be on a few episodes of "Lost." That's the same Nathan Fillion that was Mal Reynolds on "Firefly" and Caleb on "Buffy" - well, I guess there are some people out there that love him best for his role on "Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place" (I just called it 'the place') but probably not that many. It looks like a couple of episodes, and he'll have some sort of connection to Kate. Cool. I remember going to the "Serenity" panel at the San Diego con in 2005, and it was a little upsetting that none of the cast seemed to have too many projects lined up, so it's encouraging to see ol' Nate Fill get something so high-profile.

I've been reading some discussion about how the season premiere of "Battlestar Galactica" was "too dark" and "too real" for something that should be pure escapism - did I somehow miss when "BSG" was ever escapism? It's always had rather potent real world parallels - and isn't that the point of science fiction? And literature in general, really? Not everything has to be a direct parable, but there's no story that's just a story because it's entertaining. There's always some sort of point there. As a friend astutely said, "Entertainment for the sake of mindless escapism is called pornography." Or something like that. He's right, though. If sci-fi - or any genre - doesn't make at least some sort of statement, it's really a waste of time, and without any relevance it's hard to justify spending any time with it.

I can see some people thinking the show's getting a little heavy-handed, but they probably didn't really think too deeply about what was going on or is seeing things that aren't really there - it's not that the Cylons are America and the humans are Iraqis, it's trying to get us to contemplate the idea that nothing is that simple. Both sides are commiting acts that are indefensible - and it only gets worse in the next few episodes. It's a relatively complex show, and as such they're exploring some complex issues. Good for them, I guess. But hey, Michael Hogan is for sure stealing the show at this point.

But for those worried about it being too depressing right now, there is at least a little bit of a light at the end of the tunnel.

One thing that is funny is the screener copies Sci Fi sent didn't have all of the special effects done quite yet - so there's a lot of pilots in front of green screens, and in scenes like the end of the premiere where the Cylons form a firing squad in front of the detainees, words on the screen reading: "VFX: Cylons form firing squad" and the actors recoiling in horror while looking at an empty field. It's actually kind of interesting, though, and motivation to re-watch.

I caught some of "Heroes." Promising so far! Always nice to see one of the only Asians on prime time TV portrayed as completely stereotypical and a bumbling idiot.