I knew you were up to something, though I'll confess I hadn't thought of necrophilia.

How could I have gone my entire life and not seen Flash Gordon? I have no idea but it sure cost me major geek points last night.

A bunch of friends gathered at my boyfriends house last night to watch a movie. There were a few things to choose from, Flash Gordon being one of them. We planned on watching it for a few minutes then putting on something else. Needless to say, everyone was mesmerized (some of us by hot pants, others by hawk men) and we wound up watching the whole thing. 

About halfway through my friend George said, "You've seen this before, right Jill?" Not thinking much of it I answered, "No". Little did I know I was about to unleash a flurry of geek criticisms the likes of which I'd never been on the receiving end of. "You call yourself a geek?!" "How is that possible?!" "Ohh man, you lose at least 50 geek points for this one." Well, I felt like crawling into a ball and hiding under the couch after that.

What can I say? It wasn't on purpose I never watched it. I guess it just wasn't one of those movies that crossed my path growing up. It's totally up my alley though. I mean, my god, will there ever be anything like the 80's again? Spandex was plentiful as was intercourse. Or at least the verbal and visual representations of it. I mean, hello? What do you think is on the front of his Rocket Cycle?

Yeesh. And don't even get me started on all of the bondage. Or how about Dale telling Flash to "Save it for our kids" after only knowing him for about a day? Talk about a fast woman.

It took me forever to figure out why Ming was reminding me of Ian McKellan. I finally looked him up and found where I knew him from as an old man. Max von Sydow played Lamar Burgess in Minority Report. I also looked into Flash Gordon himself Sam J. Jones. But how about this for odd? He starred in a 1987 TV movie called The Spirit. Yes, THAT Spirit! The one written by Will Eisner and being made into a major movie for next year. He played Denny Colt. And his co-star? Nana Visitor, Kira, from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. I also saw that she had a role on the new Battlestar Galactica, which (and don't ruin it for me) I don't even know if it's aired yet. And just to bring it all back around, Jones made a guest appearance on the Sci-Fi channels Flash Gordon series which, after seeing a clip of their hawk men, you couldn't pay me to watch.

Anyway, I loved it and I could go on and on about all the fantastic ridiculous dialogue or costumes but I won't. Though I will say, an entire soundtrack by Queen made it even better for me. I'm just hoping I can gain back at least some of the geek points I lost by writing about it. Now I must go fashion a brain drainer so I can reprogram myself to think I saw Flash Gordon when I was negative two-years-old.

My kind of weekend

What did I do this weekend you ask? Or maybe you don't, but I'm gonna tell you anyway. I watched all three Indiana Jones movies one day and the next I watched ten episodes of Battlestar Galactica in a row. Totally geeked-out? Never! If I didn't have work today I'd still be watching Battlestar.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (they could have made that title shorter) hits theaters May 22. My friend had the idea that we should have a marathon of the previous three. I was totally up for it because I love Indy and anyway it wouldn't be nearly as tough as when we decided to watch all three Lord of the Rings movies in one day. The extended editions no less. My mind has never fully recovered from that.

It was a lot of fun. We got loads of junkfood to pig out on and settled in for a long day. Raiders of the Lost Ark was great of course. I'm happy that Karen Allen is back in the new movie to play Marion. Temple of Doom, which has always been my least favorite of the three for almost nothing else but that bug scene, went by pretty quickly. We took a break before we started The Last Crusade (my favorite) because that's the longest of the bunch. But even that was over before we knew it. It was only 9 o'clock! I only wished that Lego Indiana Jones was already out so we could have kept it going that way.

It's amazing what DVD's have done to tv shows. Around the middle of my ten hour Battlestar viewing yesterday I realized how grateful I was that I could watch the next episode immediately. This was especially felt when I got to the end of the first half of season two. When it aired there was about a five month hiatus before the next episode. If you've watched the show regularly since it's aired I applaud you for making it through those months.

The thing I love about Battlestar Gallactica is that, for me anyway, you can never like one character for too long before a horrible personality trait comes forward and you start to realize what a terrible person they are. But then a few episodes later, sometimes even the next episode, you're back to loving them again. Such great things are happening, I can't wait to continue. If only I had eight hours a day I could devote to watching it all the time.

So long, Cylons

The fourth and final season of Battlestar Galactica begins tonight on the Sci-Fi channel. I guess you could say I'm a little behind. I just started watching season one two weeks ago. I know, shame on me, a huge sci-fi fan. What can I say? There's only so much television a person can watch and I don't stay in on Friday nights. But I'm making up for it now, I'm halfway through season one and having a blast. At the rate I'm going I'll be caught up before the final season finishes.

I wasn't born when the original Battlestar Galactica aired but I remember bits and pieces of repeats from when I was younger. For one thing, I definitely remember wondering how Faceman from The A-Team got into outer-space. We also had some toys from the original series floating around our basement. I think Starbuck's cape is on a Lego man now.

The cast of the new series is a good mix. Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell are two fantastic experienced actors who head both halves of the show, the military and the government. James Callis, who I previously adored in Bridget Jones's Diary, is already extraordinary as the paranoid Dr. Gaius Baltar. Regardless of the hot Cylon (Tricia Helfer) sitting on my lap every few minutes I probably would have thrown myself out of the nearest airlock by now if I was him. Bringing the old cast together with the new in the form of Richard Hatch, who played Captain Apollo on the original 1978 series, was a great idea. He takes up the role of terrorist/politician Tom Zarek in the new series. Of course the weirdest thing was seeing a chick playing Starbuck. Captain Kara Thrace, as played by Katee Sackhoff, is totally channeling Maverick from Top Gun, but she sure does have that Starbuck cigar thing down. Is she ever going to run out of those?

I'm thoroughly blown away by the action so far. The special effects and choreography for the space scenes look like they should be in a feature film rather than a series on the Sci-Fi channel. They're exhilarating to watch, not just because of that but because there's a sense anyone could die at any time. The last episode I watched they killed off 13 pilots and that was just in the hanger. I sometimes like a show where no character is safe, it keeps the tension high. I also enjoy the fact that technology is being used against the humans and that they have to take a step back in order to survive. Corded phones on a space battleship with faster-than-light capabilities is ingenious.

The worst part about the final season starting tonight is that there's been Battlestar Galactica marathons and specials on all week that I've had to avoid. I'm so invested in the show already that I want to watch it all right now. Unfortunately real life responsibilities prevent me from watching it 24 hours a day until I'm finished. I long for the day of direct download of television shows to the brain.