Location: A simple man leading a complicated life....
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Originally Posted by Eastern Girl
Jerzee still has time before being Ak'd, but I am hitting the hay early tonight and won't be online tommorow, so I forwarded my pick to Girly in the interest of keeping everything moving along and to keep Windom off my ass.
Ha! I'm back after being out all day and at the Flames game tonight. That, and the post game event giving me something to post in the Confessional thread
My pick will be up very soon.
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Eberle said, "It was one of the more special ones I've had. You don't score your first NHL goal too many times."
The pilot film premiered on February 22, 1993. The regular series aired from January 26, 1994 and ran for five full seasons, winning two Hugos for Best Dramatic Presentation[3] and two Emmy awards - for makeup and visual effects.[4] The show spawned six television films and a spin-off series, Crusade, which aired in 1999 and ran for thirteen episodes. On July 31, 2007, a DVD was released containing two short films about selected characters from the series.
Straczynski set five goals for Babylon 5. He said that the show "would have to be good science fiction" as well as good television ("rarely are [sci-fi] shows both good [sci-fi] and good TV; [they're] generally one or the other"); it would have to do for science fiction television what Hill Street Blues had done for police dramas, by taking an adult approach to the subject; it would have to be reasonably budgeted, and "it would have to look unlike anything ever seen before on TV, presenting individual stories against a much broader canvas."[7] He further stressed that his approach was "to take [sci-fi] seriously, to build characters for grown-ups (not a Wesley in the bunch), to incorporate real science but keep the characters at the center of the story."[7] Some of the staples of television science fiction were also out of the question (the show would have "no kids or cute robots"[8]). The idea was not to present a perfect utopian future, but one with greed and homelessness; one where characters grow, develop, live, and die; one where not everything was the same at the end of the day's events. Citing Mark Twain as an influence, Straczynski said he wanted the show to be a mirror to the real world and to covertly teach.[5]
Creator and showrunner J. Michael Straczynski wrote 92 of the 110 episodes of Babylon 5. He also scripted all 44 episodes in the third and fourth seasons;[13] according to Straczynski, a feat never before accomplished in American television.[14] Other writers to have contributed scripts to the show include Peter David, Neil Gaiman, Kathryn M. Drennan, Lawrence G. DiTillio, D.C. Fontana, and David Gerrold. Harlan Ellison, a creative consultant on the show, received story credits for two episodes.[15] Each writer was informed of the over-arching storyline, enabling the show to be produced consistently under-budget. The rules of production were strict; scripts were written six episodes in advance, and changes could not be made once production had started.[16]
My favorite Sci-fi series on the small screen and even surpassing theatrical sci-fi in many respects. What stands out for me is the triumph of planning and continuity that no other screen Sci-Fi has achieved (with the possible exception of Doctor Who).
Five seasons of 22 episodes almost completely planned in advance resulted in an epic story that didn't lose its direction and continuity like so many other TV or movie series. *coughX-Files* *coughStarWars*
The acting of Andreas Katsulas as "G'Kar" and Peter Jurasik as "Londo Mollari" in particular is as good as it gets on television.
Sorry no youtube clips for now. My Flash plug-in is broken so I'll have to add them later.
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Eberle said, "It was one of the more special ones I've had. You don't score your first NHL goal too many times."
In the this round the Infomercial Kings are proud to select one of our favorite current shows and the first show that we ever bought a box set for, in the category of Sci-Fi, Smallville.
In October 1989, a huge meteor shower destroyed most of the town of Smallville, Kansas. This event brought Jonathan and Martha Kent what they have always wanted, a son they named Clark. In 2001, their son is becoming a man, who has two best friends, Pete Ross and Chloe Sullivan, and a crush on the hottest girl in school, Lana Lang, not to mention a budding friendship with future nemesis Lex Luthor. But his parents have been hiding a secret from him: they found him inside a spaceship when the meteor shower came. As he begins to develop his powers and discover more abilities that will soon transform him into Superman, Clark begins to take on his mantle as the Man of Steel.
For my next pick, Frozen TV Dinner is proud to select in the Action/Adventure category, a show that aired from 1989 to 1993 on NBC: Quantum Leap.
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Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Doctor Sam Beckett led an elite group of scientists into the desert to develop a top secret project, known as QUANTUM LEAP.
Pressured to prove his theories or lose funding, Doctor Beckett, prematurely stepped into the Project Accelerator and vanished.
He awoke to find himself in the past, suffering from partial amnesia and facing a mirror image that was not his own. Fortunately, contact with his own time was made through brainwave transmissions, with Al, the Project Observer, who appeared in the form of a hologram that only Doctor Beckett could see and hear.
Trapped in the past, Doctor Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, putting things right, that once went wrong and hoping each time, that his next leap will be the leap home.
With only two regular cast members, Scott Bakula as Dr. Sam Beckett, and Dean Stockwell as Al, Quantum Leap survived because of the strength of its premise, and the chemistry between its lead actors.
Each episode started with Sam "leaping" into the life of a different person who lived sometime during Sam's lifetime (which was sometime in the mid-50s through the present). Sam would struggle trying to figure out whose life he was inhabiting and what he needed to do to make the next leap. Eventually, Al would appear to Sam to give him some background on who he was and what it was believed he needed to do to "right the wrong".
Unfortunately, low ratings led to network tinkering, which in turn led to the show changing from its initial premise of Sam leaping into the lives of normal people and helping them get their lives back on track. Eventually, Sam started to leap into the lives of people surrounding well-known historical events (such as leaping into Lee Harvey Oswald and "saving" Jackie Kennedy from being shot), or into the lives of celebrities, such as Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe.
The show also eventually introduced the concept of the "Evil Leaper". If Sam was doing God's work (which was implied throughout the show's run) by putting people's lives back on track, the Evil Leaper was working for the devil to put them off track. The concept of a character going back in time and being able to correct events in people's lives has been tackled by other shows since Quantum Leap, and eventually, they all introduce an "Evil Leaper", and it almost always means that the show will soon be canceled.
When it was good, Quantum Leap was one of my favourite shows on the air at the time. I wish my mind could be "swiss cheesed" to forget the bad episodes.
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Turn up the good, turn down the suck!
__________________ I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love." - John Steinbeck
Sorry guys. With the extended family in town, barely touched the computer.
In the EDUCATION category, I'm going with a slightly unknown here...
Ryan Stock and his partner AmberLynn Walker do things in their everyday lives most people would never consider doing on even the most outrageous dare. For Stock - an extreme circus performer -sword swallowing, nasal drilling and fire eating are all in a day's work. Gifted with an incredible resilience to pain, this time Stock is pushing his body to the limits of human endurance - all in the name of science. Guinea Pig follows Stock - aided by his partner Walker - as a human scientific guinea pig exploring the effects of various tests on the human body. Extremely dangerous and executed by professionals in a controlled environment - do not try this at home! - Stock's Guinea Pig experiences present a new way of interacting with the world and its various effects on the human body. AmberLynn Walker works with leading experts to explain the science behind the challenges Stock undertakes. From bumps and bruises to blackouts and breaks, Stock endures it all - and lives to tell the tale!
Location: A simple man leading a complicated life....
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The proudly select from the Education/Information category........
"REAL BIKES. REAL FIGHTS. REAL MAN HUGS"
This cult series tracks the daily tension, tirades and triumphs of a father and son team, as they run a business creating custom motorbike masterpieces in their Orange County workshop, eighty miles north of New York.
I chose this for the info category for the bike building process. I love watching these guys assemble a bike from the design process to the actual putting all the pieces together. What they build are some amazing bikes.
No one can deny having a bit of chrome-envy when they see tricked-out super bikes whiz by at high speeds. Whether it's Ghost Rider's demon bike or a brand spanking-new Harley Davidson, who can't marvel at a choice custom bike?
In American Chopper, our unorthodox family business team chases the American dream by building the American vehicle. This bike building father and son pair made the world-famous, black-plated, chrome-webbed, Black Widow bike.
You'll be treated to the hottest bikes and heated arguments as you peer into the Teutul family shop in Rock Tavern, New York. But you'll also venture with the team as they travel to photo shoots and bike shows - always on a motorcycle, of course.
Just watch them assemble one of these high-octane, ultra-stylized motorcycles to get a whole new appreciation for the passion that fuels tech-savvy Chopper heads around the world.
I like seeing the bikes they build - amazing, but the last season or two I kind of stopped watching because I got tired of seeing them doing their stupid junk not related to bike building. Jousting on mini-bikes, yanking a sled bike off the roof, and so on. It just seemed like they have had an awful lot of filler.
And I think Vinnie is probably technically the best builder there. Paul Jr is probably better at imagining up the concepts, but Vinnie sure does seem to be the one who can put everything together.
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"The problem with any ideology is that it gives the answer before you look at the evidence."
—Bill Clinton
"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance--it is the illusion of knowledge."
—Daniel J. Boorstin, historian, former Librarian of Congress
"But the Senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity"
—WKRP in Cincinatti
I see the info\ed category is pretty wide open, at first I was thinking that it had to be a show where it was all about learning and such, not a show where you pick up the occasional thing.
This helps with my choice now as it opens it up a lot more to me.
Location: A simple man leading a complicated life....
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Originally Posted by Superflyer
I see the info\ed category is pretty wide open, at first I was thinking that it had to be a show where it was all about learning and such, not a show where you pick up the occasional thing.
This helps with my choice now as it opens it up a lot more to me.
Would you not agree that bike building is a learning/education process?
I'm not trying to knock Dion's pick, but I don't know any more about building a bike from watching OCC/American Chopper, so I don't know the educational value. I like to watch them do it, and it's educational to a point that it's a process that you'd normally not see if you walked into Kane's or what-have-you. But I don't learn much about the bike, or how to build one if I ever wanted to try.
Picking Guinea Pig, they actually explain what happens to the human body when put in the situations Ryan Stock is placed in, and usually give tips on how not to get into those situations.
I'm cool if both are in the right spots, I could always move GP into Canadian if I need to. Just stating my expectation of the EDUCATION category.
Location: A simple man leading a complicated life....
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Originally Posted by Prototype
I'm not trying to knock Dion's pick, but I don't know any more about building a bike from watching OCC/American Chopper, so I don't know the educational value. I like to watch them do it, and it's educational to a point that it's a process that you'd normally not see if you walked into Kane's or what-have-you. But I don't learn much about the bike, or how to build one if I ever wanted to try.
I've learned a lot about the whole process of buliding a bike. From the design process to the fabrication of parts. It's something i didn't know and it's an area that fascinates me. I may never want to build a bike but that doesn't mean it's not educational.
That being said i also support your choice for the education/information category. IMO we all have different views as what constitutes as a learning process.
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Last edited by Dion; 12-01-2008 at 01:11 PM.
Reason: more added
Would you not agree that bike building is a learning/education process?
No I am not saying that I don't agree I am just saying that before I was looking at this category as a straight forward learning show, not a show that has a story behind it where you can learn as well.
Location: A simple man leading a complicated life....
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Originally Posted by Superflyer
No I am not saying that I don't agree I am just saying that before I was looking at this category as a straight forward learning show, not a show that has a story behind it where you can learn as well.
Ahhhh ok. Fair enough - i see where you are coming from
With my next pick team Jumped the Shark please to select in the category of Reality (Elimination):
The Ultimate Fighter is a reality television series and mixed martial arts (MMA) competition, originating from United States, and produced by Spike TV and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). On this show, professional MMA fighters that have yet to make a big name for themselves are situated in a house outside of Las Vegas, Nevada and compete against each other for the title of The Ultimate Fighter, winning a six-figure, multi-fight contract with the UFC.
Bonnar VS Griffin as the Season 1 finale is reason alone to pick this show! Google Video Link
proudly select from the Education/Information category........ 
