In the last week I’ve watched the entire first season of Avatar: The Last Airbender and initially this post was going to be about why you should watch it (which I’ll cover in a future post). Strange enough though, thinking about this new show (for me at least it was new) has given me a major eye-opener about myself: I had totally lost faith in the creation of good great cartoons.

Looking back, I realized that I hadn’t seen a single animated tv show since high school (six years ago), casually dismissing all series without even trying them. During that time I did consider myself an animation lover, but just believed that nothing that was produced now could ever reach the standards of previous shows. I did keep watching animated films, but subconsciously just disregarded new animated tv series. I’m really only fully realizing that now and I’m still in shock by it; how could I not watch potentially addictive material?

I guess I do understand where this in part comes from. In the years before I stopped watching, you couldn’t exactly say that the quality of the then-new shows were any good. On the other hand, it could also have been that only bad ones were being shown on Dutch television (if that was the case, why the hell didn’t they broadcast any good stuff?). Or alternatively, that my standards were just way too high. No matter the reason, somewhere along the way I started believing that all new cartoons were bad and that from that moment on only bad cartoons would be created.

What was I thinking?! How could I ever be so halfwitted to even think there would never be a good animated tv show ever again? I’m still amazed, baffled, flabbergasted that my mind (no, scrap that, I shouldn’t be giving my mind the blame) that I could ever believe such a thing. And yet, it is true. I’ve lived under this weird illogical delusion. Me, someone that prizes herself for being a logical person. It’s as if never reading another book in your life again, just because you read a couple of bad books, even though you read hundreds of great books before that. It’s a fallacy, an utterly faulty reasoning, a down-to-the-core wrong deduction.

I’m still in shock. I just can’t believe it. It’s not about Avatar. It’s not about not watching cartoons. It’s about realizing that there’s this weird little part of my mind that’s been influencing my choices in life (even though it’s something as simple as tv-watching) based on a reason that is so out of sync with the rest of me. It just feels so very, very weird.

Maybe I’m overreacting, but then I’m writing this in the wake of my illumination. And very late at night, after 2 days of sleep deprivation. Yeah, not the perfect time to blog, I know. But I know that for me this has just been a revelation and my mind it still trying to cope with it. Hey, blogging is supposed to be therapeutic, right?

Episode 49: “We’re not in bloody Cardiff anymore, we’re in London”

What do you get when combine a group of sleep-deprived geeks, lots of sugar and the anticipation of the series finale of Torchwood? This video:

To find out more about this video, check out the Torchwood Swede Blog.

Episode 46: “It’s a deeply intense moment in our lives.”

I came across this video while searching for more info on the new Joss Whedon internet musical Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. To my surprise, there’s already a fan site up and running: Doctor Horrible (then again I shouldn’t really be surprised, should I? I’ve even fallen in love with series without having seen anything of it yet). On their site they had this little gem of a video. It’s a clip from the Megan Mullaly Show of an interview of the cast members of How I Met Your Mother, where Neil Patrick Harris and Jason Segal sing one of the songs from Les Mis.

Yesterday I finally took some time to hang up a couple of posters, some of which were lying around for months. The two big posters were both of Heroes, which I got from Cristiano for my birthday. One of them is the “main” poster of the show; the one with the faces on the bottom and the clouds and the skyscrapers. You know, this one:

I don’t think the image works that well when you see it like this “on screen”, but as an actual poster it looks pretty impressive. The second poster is (in my eyes) extremely cool and as far as I can tell it’s quite difficult to find. It’s the cover of the fourth 9th Wonders, the Heroes webcomic, featuring Claire coming out of the flames:

Next to those large posters, I got a couple of smaller ones. A few months ago I managed to get some promotional posters (Fearless, Aeon Flux, Ratatouille and Transformers ) for about $2 at the London Film and Comic Con. Now I finally put them up:

I love the design of these small ones and am hoping I can find more of these in the future. I’ve got a couple of awkward pieces of wall that desperately need to be covered. Here are some overall shots of how the posters are:

Yes, that’s a Spiderman 3 poster there. I bought it before the movie came out and haven’t got around to replacing it with something better (aka almost anything else). There are two particular sets of posters I’ve got my eye on, but I don’t have that much space in my room. Maybe someday later when I got a place that’s bigger than a single room. Anyhow, the first set contains Battlestar Galactica propaganda posters, including the cut-off edges:

The second set is of a similar vein, but this time they’re travel agency adds from Firefly:

I’ve fallen in love with these posters and every time I come across them I want them even more. Each of them is so different than the others, but still you can see that they form a set together. And don’t you just love the “Visit tranquil Miranda”? So Santa, Birthday Bunny, Tooth Fairy, could I please have these for my next Christmas/birthday/wisdom tooth removal?

It’s that time of the year again when networks are looking around and searching for new TV shows for next fall. And may I say that we’ve got quite an interesting bunch so far. If some of these projects turn out as great as I’m hoping they can be, I’m going to have trouble fitting it all in my schedule.

Dollhouse
Finally Joss Whedon is returning to TV! This news isn’t exactly new, but it’s one TV show I’m dying to see. Dollhouse is created/written/produced by Joss Whedon and has been picked up for 7 episodes by FOX. Yep, the same FOX that’s responsible for the deaths of countless innocent series. So don’t hold your breath (just warning). The TV show will feature Buffy-alum Eliza Dushku as Echo:

… a young woman who is literally everybody’s fantasy. She is one of a group of men and women who can be imprinted with personality packages, including memories, skills, language—even muscle memory—for different assignments. The assignments can be romantic, adventurous, outlandish, uplifting, sexual and/or very illegal. When not imprinted with a personality package, Echo and the others are basically mind-wiped, living like children in a futuristic dorm/lab dubbed the Dollhouse, with no memory of their assignments—or of much else. The show revolves around the childlike Echo’s burgeoning self-awareness, and her desire to know who she was before, a desire that begins to seep into her various imprinted personalities and puts her in danger both in the field and in the closely monitored confines of the Dollhouse.

Sounds interesting, right? For more info on the other characters, take a look at Ausiello’s report. They’re still busy with the casting of those characters, but I’m curious to see if we’ll get any more familiar faces. [Source]

Caprica
I’ve been waiting for ages for this TV show to be greenlighted and today it finally has. It was first announced way back in April 2006, only to get stuck in the fiery pits of Development Hell. The show will be a prequel to Battlestar Galactica, focusing on events 70 years before the current BSG series. It’s been described as television’s first science fiction family saga:

The series will revolve around two families: the Adamas and the Graystones. Joseph Adama, father of future Battlestar commander William Adama, is a renowned civil liberties lawyer who becomes an opponent of the artificial intelligence/Cylon experiments wrought by the Graystones, owners of a large computer corporation that builds the first Cylons.

We need more good scifi shows on TV and while I’m normally not a fan of spin-offs, in this case it could turn out really great. Especially because the “mother” series is wrapping up before production on Caprica starts and I’m guessing most of the production team will continue working on that. [Source]

Cupid
Ten years ago, before Veronica Mars, Rob Thomas had another little short-lived TV show called Cupid. Now the ABC has asked him to write a pilot for a new version of this show. I never watched the original show, but I’ve heard from various people that they used to love it. The old show starred Jeremy Piven as:

Trevor, a man who believes he’s Cupid and must fix the problems of couples on Earth so that he may gain access to Mount Olympus and begin sipping ambrosia and living the good life. The catch? He lost all his mythological abilities. The other catch? He may just be a normal guy who is missing a few screws.

It sounds like a great plot and if Rob Thomas stays on board for the entire series, I’m definitely going to tune into this one. [Source]

Beverly Hills, 90210
Rob Thomas is a busy, busy man. Besides being asked by ABC for a Cupid-remake, the CW has approached him to write and produce a re-envisioning of Beverly Hills, 90210. I would have skipped this, if Rob Thomas wasn’t involved, cuase come on do we really need this? Don’t get me wrong, I get that people like the drama/soap series about rich kids with problems (The O.C., Gossip Girl), I’ll admit I’m one of them, but why a remake of 90210? Why not something completely new? The list of characters came out today and so far I’m not seeing anything to get excited about. Ah well, I also didn’t get hooked on The O.C. until half-way season one, so I’ll just wait and see how it goes. [Source]

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog
For me, this sounds too good and way too weird to be true, but I’m completely geeking out on this small project. It’s a three part Web musical (with each episode only being 10 minutes) written by Joss Whedon and his brothers during the writer’s strike. The idea is this:

It’s the story of a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he’s too shy to talk to.

To make it even better, the role of the super villain Dr. Horrible will be played by Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) and the role of the hero Captain Hammer goes to Nathan Fillion (Serenity, Buffy). Can this project get any better than this? [Source]

Alice
I kind of liked Tin Man, the SciFi Channel re-imagination of The Wizard of Oz. It wasn’t as great as I thought it would be, but still was pretty entertaining. The same creative team responsible for Tin Man will be back with another re-imagination, this time of the classic Alice in Wonderland. I can see how this can work; it seems like the perfect story to adapt to a scifi setting. I’m surprised actually that no one has done it before (or am I just blanking here?). I wonder what type of adaption it will be though? Will it follow the path of Tin Man with other dimensions? Or virtual reality? Or maybe something less obvious like space travel? [Source]

Episode 41: “Even if nobody else sings along”

Tonight I finally finished watching the third season of Lost after starting it about a week ago. I had seen Season 2 in a similar manner back in the summer of 2006 and never got into Season 3 at the time. While I love the show, it’s somehow not one of those series that I’ll sit down for and watch every week. I have the exact same problem with 24 and it’s got to do with the timespan of both series. With each of them one season translates to a much lesser amount of time, as in: one season of 24 spans 24 hours and one season of Lost is about 30 days. When watching it once a week on TV over a period of 5-7 months, the story seems to move so slow and the full realization of the amount of time that passes in the show feels off. I find it’s way more fun to watch those type of series in one go.

My favourite scene of the series has to be the opening of Season 2 (with the opening of Season 3 a strong second). It’s a perfect blend of music, mystery and clues for those who can figure it out (you know what I mean if you’ve seen it). I love the rush/high you get when you realize something before the TV show or movie shows it to you (the reason why I love The Others and The Prestige so much; I “conquered” the movie). I had that with this scene:

Episode 35: “Gonna help him put asunder, Bad guys who like to loot and plunder”

One of my favourite cartoons from when I was a kid was Captain Planet and The Planeteers (I was 7 when it first aired). Besides a catchy theme song, the cartoon had some great easy-to-hate villains and lovable main characters, each with their own special magic ring. Theme Song! Villains! Magic powers! What more do you need from a tv show as a kid?

The show revolved around 5 kids, the Planeteers, with the task of defending Earth against disasters and pollution. They were chosen by Gaia, the spirit of the Earth, who gave them magic rings, with which they each can control an element. Kwame from Africa controls Earth, Wheeler from the US controls Fire, Linka from the Soviet Union controls Wind, Gi from Asia controls Water and Ma-Ti from South America controls Heart (telepathy). When needed, they can combine their powers and summon Captain Planet, a Green terrestrial Superman (Green as in environmentally friendly, not as in skin color).

I was always Linka when I was a kid, despite her being blonde and me brunette (if you don’t know what I mean here check out my next post). For some weird reason though, in my mind I remember her being from Sweden. Don’t ask me why, I just know that I have that memory “Linka is from Sweden”. Maybe I somehow made a faulty link as a kid that Sweden = Soviet Union, and, while I now know that that isn’t true, the memory of Linka was never updated.

Fun Facts: Most people know that Gaia was voiced by Whoopi Goldberg and Kuwame by LeVar Burton (the blind/visor guy in Star Trek: The Next Generation). But did you know most villains were voiced by well known actors?

Hoggish Greedly – Ed Asner
Dr. Blight – Meg Ryan (1990-1991)
Sly Sludge – Martin Sheen (1990-1993)
Duke Nukem – Dean Stockwell (1990-1992)
Verminous Skumm – Jeff Goldblum (1990)
Zarm – Sting (Season 1-2), David Warner (Season 3), Malcolm McDowell (Season 4)
Rigger (Hoggish Greedly’s henchman) – John Ratzenberger
MAL (Dr. Blight’s evil high-intellectual supercomputer) – Tim Curry

So as the video for today, here are the fantastic end credits of Captain Planet and The Planeteers:

I’ve even got the lyrics here for those of you who want to sing-a-long:

Captain Planet, he’s our hero
Gonna take pollution down to zero
He’s our powers magnified
And he’s fighting on the planet’s side

Captain Planet, he’s our hero
Gonna take pollution down to zero
Gonna help him put asunder
Bad guys who like to loot and plunder

“You’ll pay for this Captain Planet!”

We’re the Planeteers, You can be one too
‘Cause saving our planet is the thing to do!
Looting and polluting is not the way
Hear what Captain Planet has to say!
The Power is Yours!

Here’s also the opening sequence of Captain Planet and The Planeteers:

The Hollywood Reporter has just reported that Sam Raimi is producing a new TV show based on Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series. It’s going to be a live-action weekly series about (if you don’t know the books:) Richard Cypher, a woodsman, who teams up with the mysterious Kahlan on a quest into another realm (that’s all I can tell without giving too much of the plot away). The production of the first 22 episodes will start beginning of May.

This is great! I’ve been saying for years that they shouldn’t try to make movies of fantasy books. Most stories are way too complex for a movie from 3 hours long and they always get trimmed wrong. Did anybody here see The Golden Compass? The last scene of the book, which was what made the book so good, got completely left out of the movie. So, I’m glad that for once they’re going to take the time make to make a proper TV serie.

I’m only worried about the quality of the show:

Raimi is executive producing the hourlong series with Robert Tapert (“The Grudge”), Joshua Donen (“The Quick and the Dead”) and “Xena: Warrior Princess” production executive Ned Nalle. Disney-ABC Domestic TV is distributing, and ABC Studios is producing.

Okay, they’ve got one of the guys from Xena and Sam Raimi himself worked on Young Hercules. I’ve got my fingers crossed that they’re not going into the direction of those type of series. It could easily become too cheesy and for once I want a good grown-up fantasy series. Is that too hard too ask?

I’m also not sure how they’re exactly going to do the episodes. Most TV shows are episodic and studios really want stand-alone episodes. The article says:

In discussing these incredible story lines and rich characters with my friends and partners Robert Tapert and Josh Donen, we agreed that ‘Wizard’s First Rule’ would make an amazing television series — one that could be produced with compelling, self-contained episodes.

So do they mean that the events in the book can be correctly translated to self-contained episodes? Or does it mean that it leaves room over to create stand-alone episodes and thus doesn’t follow the book? I hope it’s the former, cause I’m not sure it would benefit the storyline to have the main character do “other” stuff.

Now, I’m most curious to see who they’re going to cast for Richard and Kahlan. I always pictured Richard as someone sturdy (does that make sense?), so not some pretty boy like Milo Ventigmilia (Peter in Heroes). More someone like a younger and brunette (is it still “ette” when you’re talking about a guy?) Kiefer Sutherland. For Kahlan, I picture someone like the Claire Danes‘s character in Stardust, only less chirpy and sweet. Kahlan is tough, regal and strict and they need someone who can pull that face off. I’m guessing they’ll go for completely unknown people, but still it’s great to speculate.

So what do you guys think? Psyched for the series or scared that it could completely flop?

After reading this post from the Empire Blog about TV show opening voiceovers, I got inspired to create my own Top 30 list. It surprised me how difficult it was to find a couple of these (a great source was Blackcatter’s World of Theme Song Lyrics). I have a feeling I’m forgetting very obvious intros, but anyhow here’s the list:

30. Seven Days

Ever wish you could live your last week over again? Well, my name’s Frank B. Parker and I get to all the time. I work for a secret government project experimenting in time travel. When things really get messed up, I’m the guinea pig they send back to fix everything. Catch is, I can only go back seven days. [Video]

29. Sliders

What if you can find brand new worlds, right here on Earth, where anything is possible: same planet, different dimensions? I found the gateway! [Video]

28. Day Break

My name is detective Brett Hopper and this is the day that changes everything. I will be framed for murder. My girlfriend Rita will be in danger. I know all this because I’m living the same day.. over and over again.

27. Earth: Final Conflict

They have come to Earth with the promise of peace. An alien race called the Taelons. But there are those who resist these alien companions. For the Taelon’s true mission, the secrets they hide, will forever alter our world. The fate of humanity now lies on those who dare challenge the future of Earth. [Video]

26. Dark Skies

My name is John Loengard. I’m recording this because we may not live through the night. They’re here, they’re hostile, and powerful people don’t want you to know. History as we know it is a lie. [Video]

25. Andromeda

The Universe is a dangerous place. But in our future, my crew and I fight to make it safe. I am Dylan Hunt, Captain of the Andromeda Ascendant, and these….. are our adventures [Video]

24. Law and Order

In the criminal justice system the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: the police, who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories. [Video]

23. Alien Nation

That was the scene in California’s Mojave Desert five years ago – our historic first view of the Newcomers’ ship. Theirs was a slave ship, carrying a quarter million beings bred to adapt and labour in any environment. But they’d washed ashore on Earth, with no way to get back to where they came from. And in the last five years, the Newcomers have become the latest addition to the population of Los Angeles

22. Viper

The day after tomorrow. A time when criminals rule the city. The only weapon that can stop them…needs a driver. The most wanted man on wheels is about to change sides. Now against a corrupt system, a lo fight for justice. Viper is taking back the streets. [Video]

21. Team Knight Rider

Ten years ago, all it took was one man and one car to get the job done. Now, the Foundation for Law and Government has assembled five highly skilled operatives, and paired them with the most advanced state-of-the-art vehicles, to take on a new breed of outlaw. They are Team Knight Rider. [Video]

20. Freedom

War broke out in the Middle East. Domestic terrorism got out of control. The president tirelessly toured the country, urging patience and calm. Then Air Force One went down and the president is presumed dead. Marshall law was declared and the United States of America was turned overnight into a police state. Curfews were enforced, identity papers were required for all. Penalties for unlawful behavior were harsh and certain. And it worked too for a time. The riots stopped. Everyone had food, water and power. Stability and peace returned to the country, but it was peace not Freedom. And that was a price some of us would not pay. [Video]

19. Threshold

My name is Molly Caffrey, and I work for the Federal Government. I deal in worst case scenarios, the unthinkable. On September 16th, 2005, the unthinkable happened. An extraterrestrial object appeared off the bow of a naval freighter. The entire crew was exposed to a high frequency signal. Some died instantly. Others began to change. They are now stronger, more resilient. They dream of alien landscapes. And they are driven by the impulse to infect others. Several of the crewmen are now loose in the United States. They will strike anytime, anyplace, anyone. Their goal: to turn us into them. But I have a plan to stop them. That plan is called “Threshold”. [Video]

18. Poltergeist: The Legacy

Since the beginning of time, Mankind has existed between the World of Light and the World of Darkness. This journal chronicles the work of our secret society, known as The Legacy, created to protect the innocent from those creatures that inhabit the Shadows and the Night. [Video]

17. Birds of Prey

Alfred Pennyworth: Legend tells of a caped crusader, Batman, guardian of New Gotham, and his one, true love, Catwoman, the queen of the criminal underworld. Their passion left behind something extraordinary: a daughter, Huntress. Half meta-human, she has taken up her father’s mantle and fights to protect the innocent and helpless. Joining her in this struggle, Oracle, once Batman’s protégé, Batgirl, she was caught in the crossfire of the war between Batman and Joker. Now she fights crime a different way, a master of the cyber-realms and trainer to heroes. Together, they have taken in Dinah, a meta-human herself, with powers that she is only beginning to explore. These three are the protectors of New Gotham: the Birds of Prey. My name is Alfred Pennyworth and this is their story. [Video]

16. Early Edition

What if you knew beyond a doubt what was going to happen tomorrow? Sure, I know it’s crazy… but what if you did? Whether you’d be rich, or poor; a hero, or a loser; lucky in love, unlucky in life. What would you do? What if, by some magic, you found the power to really change things? People, events, maybe even your life? Would you even know where to start? Maybe you can’t know. Until it happens. [Video]

15. Buck Rogers In the 25th Century

The year is 1987 and NASA launches the last of America’s deep space probes. In a freak mishap, Ranger 3 and its pilot, Captain William “Buck” Rogers are blown out of their trajectory – into an orbit which freezes his life-support systems and returns Buck Rogers to Earth five hundred years later. [Video]

14. Babylon 5 (Season 4)

Lennier: It was the year of fire…
Zack Allan: … the year of destruction…
G’Kar: … the year we took back what was ours.
Lyta Alexander: It was the year of rebirth…
Vir Cotto: … the year of great sadness…
Marcus Cole: … the year of pain…
Delenn: … and a year of joy.
Londo Mollari: It was a new age.
Stephen Franklin: It was the end of history.
Susan Ivanova: It was the year everything changed.
Michael Garibaldi: The year is 2261.
John Sheridan: The place, Babylon 5. [Video]

13. Knightrider

Knight Rider, a shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist. Michael Knight, a young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law. [Video]

12. Hercules

This is the story of a time long ago, A time of myth and legend, when the Earth was still young. The ancient gods were petty and cruel, and they plagued mankind with suffering and beseiged them with terrors. For centuries the people had nowhere to turn, no one to look to for help. Until he arrived. He was a man like no other. Born of a beautiful mortal woman, but fathered by Zeus, king of the gods. Hercules possessed a strength the world had never seen, a strength surpassed only by the power of his heart….No matter what obstacle, as long as there were people crying for help, there was one man who would never rest. [Video]

11. Xena

In the time of ancient gods, warlords, and kings a land in toil cried out for a hero. She was Xena – a mighty princess . . . forged in the heat of battle. The power, the passion, the danger. Her courage will change the world. [Video]

10. Highlander

He is immortal, born in the Highlands of Scotland, 400 years ago. He is not alone. There are others like him. Some good, some evil. For centuries, he has battled the forces of darkness, with holy ground his only refuge. He cannot die, unless you take his head and his power. In the end, there can be only one. He is Duncan MacLeod, the Highlander. [Video]

9. The Pretender

On screen: There are Pretenders among us. I was taken from my family. A child genius. Thirty-six hours and he’s already demonstrating more talent than any of our others. Exploited by the Centre. How many people died because of what I thought up? Since I broke out… Escaped …I’ve spent every moment searching for my past. He’s a Pretender, a genius who can become anyone that he wants to be. The Centre wants him alive. Preferably. He defends the weak and abused. Life’s a gift. Are you a doctor? I am today. [Video]

8. Quantum Leap

Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished …. He woke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. His only guide on this journey is Al, an observer from his own time, who appears in the form of a hologram that only Sam can see and hear. And so Dr. Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home. [Video]

7. SeaQuest DSV

The twenty first century mankind has colonized the last unexploded region on Earth, the ocean. As Captain of the Seaquest and its crew, we are its guardians. For beneath the surface lies the future. [Video]

6. The New Outer Limits

There is nothing wrong with your television. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are now controlling the transmission. We control the horizontal and the vertical. We can deluge you with a thousand channels or expand one single image to crystal clarity and beyond. We can shape your vision to anything our imagination can conceive. For the next hour we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the deepest inner mind to the outer limits. [Video]

5. Charlie’s Angels

Once upon a time there were three little girls who went to the police academy. And they were each assigned very hazardous duties. But I took them away from all that. And now they work for me. My name is Charlie. [Video]

4. The A-Team

Ten years ago a crack commando unit was send to prison by a military court for a crime they didn’t commit, these men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem – If no one else can help – and if you can find them – maybe you can hire the A-Team. [Video]

3. Farscape

John Crichton: My name is John Crichton… an astronaut. Three years ago I got shot through a wormhole. I’m in a distant part of the universe aboard this living ship of escaped prisoners, my friends. I’ve made enemies. Powerful. Dangerous. Now all I want is to find a way home, to warn Earth. Look upward, and share… the wonders I have seen. [Video]

2. Star Trek: The Next Generation

Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before. [Video]

1. Babylon 5 (Season 3)

Susan Ivanova: The Babylon Project was our last, best hope for peace. It failed. But in the year of the Shadow War, it became something greater: our last, best hope…for victory. The year is 2260. The place, Babylon 5. [Video]

I did a post on the Speechless campaign a couple of days ago, but that’s not even the most interesting of the campaigns supporting the writers strike. In my eyes the most interesting is the Why We Write blog, featuring essays from prominent (and not so prominent) writers. The idea is simple: why do writers write?

Since it’s launch on December 22nd, the blog has been quite a success and has featured essays from writers from TV shows like Lost, Scrubs, Buffy and movies like Letters From Iwo Jima and Groundhog Day. Because of it’s success they’ve also started posting essays by non-writers and struggling writers. It all gives a great insight into why writers do what they do and how they started doing it.

Even if you don’t go through all of them, there are a couple you can’t skip. Trust me, it’s worth reading.

Bill Lawrence (Scrubs): “The reason I told that badly constructed, melodramatic, fake story is to tell you this real one: I write because it is the only way to get paid for being full of shit.”

Damon Lindelof (Lost): a story about a ninety-year old woman named Rose who dies.

Mark Gaberman (Jeopardy): I completely forgot that the people who come up with game show questions are of course also writers.

Hart Hanson (Bones): “My number one job? Blimp driver! C’mon! Drifting over big cool events waving down at throngs of the earth-bound? Flying at about the same speed as a wobbly drunk crossing the street? How sweet would that be?”

Jane Espenson (Buffy): “I would fall asleep making up stories for those shows in my head. But I was a brutal audience. I couldn’t enjoy the made-up stories if I couldn’t make myself believe them. And I couldn’t believe them if the voices weren’t right.”

Given it’s success, I’m hoping this will continue on after the strike ends. There are great stories between them and who else to write those stories but the writers themselves?