FanBoyWonder Television Spotlight--Recount

FanBoyWonder would like to draw your attention to what looks to be a promising television motion picture—Election—a drama/satire/comedy about that little constitutional crisis we had a few years back—The Election of 2000.

Ripped from yesterday’s headlines, Recount seeks to tell the behind-the-scenes story of the fight for the Office of President of the United States between the Democratic Vice-President Al Gore and the Republican then Texas Governor Republican George W. Bush and both camps battle for Florida’s critical and disputed electoral votes.

Here’s The Upshot From HBO Films: “In 2000, the presidential election boiled down to a few precious votes in one state--Florida--and a mandatory recount that would add "hanging chad" to the American political lexicon. Haggling over every ballot, Republican and Democratic campaigners waged a 36-day street fight in the Sunshine State--with the presidency of the United States as the ultimate prize.

“Two-time Oscar®-winner Kevin Spacey stars in this gripping drama that examines the torturous process that culminated in the Supreme Court decision in Bush vs. Gore. The ensemble cast includes Tom Wilkinson, Denis Leary, Laura Dern, John Hurt, Bob Balaban, Ed Begley Jr. and Bruce McGill. Directed by Jay Roach; written by Danny Strong.”

With the exception of the Elections of 1800 and 1876, the Election of 2000 seems poised to go down in history as the most controversial presidential election in the history of the United States (let’s see if we can still claim this AFTER the first Tuesday of this coming November).

Mixing news footage and verbatim dialogue into fictionalized re-creations, Recount examines the torturous process that culminated in the Supreme Court decision in Bush vs. Gore, according to HBO.

The film’s plot, as described by HBO, has the Republicans, led by Former Secretary of State James Baker, seize the initiative as the case is tried in the judicial system and the court of public opinion. The Democrats play catch-up until Ron Klain, Gore's former chief of staff, takes over and starts matching Baker's political hardball with tough moves of his own. Mutual respect forms between the two as the fate of the presidency plays out among a colorful cast ranging from the impressive (appellate lawyer David Boies) to the maligned (Florida's Secretary of State Katherine Harris).

Recount recreates many of the movers and shakers in the Florida fight. Among the Democrats are Ron Klain (Spacey), soldiering on despite being demoted as Gore's Chief of Staff; Michael Whouley (Leary), Gore's Chief Field Operative; Warren Christopher (Hurt), the onetime Secretary of State whose passivity eventually yields to Klain's more forceful tactics; and David Boies (Begley), an appellate lawyer recruited to articulate the Democrats' message.

The Republicans include James Baker (Wilkinson), another former Secretary of State with a will to win to match Klain's; Ben Ginsberg (Balaban), the campaign's Lead Counsel; Katherine Harris (Dern), Florida's Secretary of State, and Mac Stipanovich (McGill), a lobbyist with the moniker "Mac the Knife," says HBO.

After eight years, enough time has passed that we can start to look back on the events in Florida through the historical prism but it’s still a recent enough event that we can still recall the passion and the confusion of the slow motion political train wreck.

This is a story worth taking the time to watch.

Recount premieres on HBO on Sunday at 9 p.m. EST. For more information and times of encore broadcasts go to the film’s Website http://www.hbo.com/films/recount.

FanBoyWonder Salutes Our Veterans This Memorial Day Weekend

As FanBoyWonder crawls to the respite that is the three-day Memorial Day holiday weekend, we wanted to pay our respects to the servicemen and women—past and present—for whom the holiday was designed to honor.

But first a quick shout out to FanBoyWonder’s Cousin Alice and to her hubby Paul as they recently welcomed a new baby boy Henry into the multiverse—8 lbs., 15 ounces. We’re looking forward to meeting our….second cousin or nephew or some such…that is if we can ever manage a family reunion sometime before the young man goes off to college.

Anyway last Saturday FanBoyWonder got up early and made our way to our local Mount Olivet Cemetery, http://www.mountolivetcemeteryinc.com/ to take part in an annual tradition—the placing of an American Flag at the grave of each of the cemetery’s armed service veterans in honor of Memorial Day.

We don’t take credit for doing all of it all by ourselves, far from it. Mt. Olivet’s Memorial Day veteran grave flagging is organized and supported by the good people at American Legion Post #11 in Frederick, MD, http://fskpost11md.tripod.com/. We’re just honored to be allowed to participate with them.

We were a solo act this year at the cemetery as Mrs. Lovey Wonder wasn’t quite out from under the weather and Brianna The Girl Wonder—our little flagging helper of years past—was down South with her “parents.” But in just a couple weeks we’ll be seeing the Girl Wonder again when she visits—the first time we’ve seen her since before Thanksgiving. We miss her terribly and she can’t get here fast enough.

Meanwhile, back at the cemetery it was a bit of a handful for us to carry hammer and flags while trying to navigate our assigned sector with the map board. Yet we managed and in the end it was well worth the effort.

We find that there is an odd serenity at a cemetery in the early morning hours before the sun gets to hot and too high in the sky. We picked two different—if less populated—sections of the cemetery and went to work tracking down the final resting place of the veterans on our list—while finding some others who weren’t on the list. They each got the Stars and Stripes.

It was one of those rare moments that morning where time slowed and we felt unrushed as we planted an American Flag and briefly paid our silent respects at each gravestone.

Along the way we cleared dirt and grass and debris off of grave markers of veteran and non-veteran alike out of respect.

We would like to think that someone would do the same for us but we decided long ago that we won’t need a gravestone. When our time comes to pay the check, we plan to have our ashes scattered in a favorite place of ours on high.

In nearly every instance, each grave we flagged was of a veteran who—to judge by their birth and death dates—long outlived their time in uniform and (hopefully) lived a long and happy life.

The True Meaning of Memorial Day

Between the VFW members and the local troop of Boy Scouts and the players from the local minor league baseball team, as well as a few unaffiliated individuals like ourselves who came out on their own, it was a good turn out for grave flagging. Two hours a year is NOT a big sacrifice and we’re proud to be a part of this small token of gratitude to the men and women who served our country.

Yet this coming weekend in-between the barbecues and the summer movie blockbusters, we’re afraid that the true meaning of the Memorial Day holiday might become lost.

FanBoyWonder isn’t the only one or the first one to feel this concern. It was 10 years ago during our newspaper reporting days for a Massachusetts North Shore newspaper http://salemnews.com/ that we were honored to spend time with some veterans who introduced us to the grave flagging tradition.

Mr. H, a World War II veteran and Commander of the local VFW chapter, expressed his dismay back then both at the dwindling attendance of town’s annual Memorial Day parade and his fear that most children (and even their parents??) don’t understand the significance or the origin of Memorial Day.

“My concern is that people aren’t taking the day off to remember the veterans anymore. What do car sales and barbecues have to do with the veterans,” we quoted Mr. H in our 1998 news article. “I don’t want to cry about it, but I do believe if it weren’t for (servicemen), we would be living under a Japanese flag or a German flag.”

By way of background—Memorial Day was originally celebrated as Decoration Day following the Civil War. Intended to honor the memory of soldiers in the War Between the States, wives and widows of soldiers—both Union and Confederate—spent the day decorating the graves of war veterans with flags.

The holiday was observed on different days in the North and South until after World War I, when “Memorial Day” became the one day across the nation to honor veterans of all American wars.

While Mr. H and his peers expressed their concern back then, all was not bleak as we had all met and FBW conducted our interview at the local middle school following a Memorial Day assembly put on by students.

Mr. H took that as a hopeful sign. “I just hope it won’t take another war for people to be mindful of those who served their country.”

A quick Internet search tells us that Mr. H passed away two years ago at the age of 78. We hope that someone has respectfully planted the Stars and Stripes at his final resting place. Rest in peace sir.

For our part, FanBoyWonder has a batch of American flags left over from last week and during Brianna’s visit we’re going to continue our family tradition, if a little late, while teaching her about honor and respect and love of country.

By no means are we seeking to lookdown from some moral high-horse as we fully intend to sleep late, clean house and maybe even some leisure activity during this three-day weekend.

We are NOT suggesting that you spend all of your weekend in mourning. Yet we don’t think it’s too much to ask that you spend just a little time—a single solitary moment on Monday—remembering those few who served to the benefit of all of us.

God Bless America!

Battlestar Galactica—Faith

The Upshot From The Sci-Fi Channel: The cancer stricken President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell) and the hot-headed pilot Kara Thrace/Starbuck(Katee Sackhoff) each must make difficult leaps of faith in order to accept an uneasy alliance with the Cylons.

Well when FanBoyWonder and the rest of the viewerhood left the happy crew of the Demetrious, Helo (Tahmoh Penikett) had just instigated a mutiny against Capt. Starbuck, who had seemed to do her level best to invite the crew to rebel against her.

It doesn’t take long for pandemonium to ensue on the bridge before Samuel T. Anders (Michael Trucco) defends his wife’s command and seeks to prevent Lt. Gaeta (Alessandro Juliani) from initiating a FTL jump back to the fleet by shooting him in the leg.

The situation that had spun out of control so quickly shocks everyone back to their senses as everyone rallies to give Gaeta first aid. In that moment, Starbuck finds her reason again and proposes to Helo to take a raptor to the Cylon baseship.

It’s a good plan—but hey Sunshine…too bad you couldn’t dream that one up BEFORE our boy Felix got knee-capped.

So Starbuck with Anders propose to take the Cylon Leoben/Number Two (Callum Keith Rennie)back to the baseship and Starbuck asks Athena, the reengage Cylon Number Eight (as well as Helo’s wife--Grace Park) to come along as resident Cylon expert.

There is an ugly moment where Sellix (Jennifer Halley) gladly agrees that Athena should go with Starbuck’s group into the Cylon’s den—“hell ya, let Cylon go” and in that moment we see that after everything Athena has done and for all of her unflinching loyalty, the rebel Cylon is still not fully seen as one of the fleet by everyone.

Also tagging along is Jean Barolay (Alisen Down) whom we honestly didn’t recognize—in part due to her shorter hair cut but now after having looked her up realizes she was a member of Sam Anders resistance cell both on Caprica and on New Caprica.

Yet as soon as we saw her board the Raptor, our Spider Sense/Star Trek Red Shirt detector went off.

With the jump clock started at 15 hours and 07 minutes, Starbuck’s away team has exactly that long to find the Cylons, find the clue to Earth and get back before Helo jumps the Demetrius back to their must NOT miss redhead with the fleet.

Starbuck’s raptor jumps to find the single surviving baseship adrift amid the wreckage of a terrible battle between the Cylons. The scene matches Kara's visions exactly. After a dangerous brush with leftover ordnance in the battlefield, Kara's team boards the baseship. There, the Eights/Sharons greet their rebel sister Athena while Anders (the secret Cylon who is one of the Final Five) conceals his secret fascination with being on-board the Cylon baseship.

The Cylon Number Six model called Natalie (Tricia Helfer) reluctantly accepts the conditions of the human-Cylon alliance that Leoben proposes: Kara will visit the ship's hybrid while the Cylons use the Raptor's systems to supplement their damaged F.T.L. drive. The deal is threatened but not destroyed when old hostilities flare up between Barolay and another Six in a confrontation.

Apparently Barolay killed this Six model on New Caprica in a particularly grisly way—drown her in a septic tank—and apparently she couldn’t get over being killed by Barolay even after she downloaded into a new body. So after a couple swift whacks to the head by Six, Barolay drops dead.

Secret Cylon or not, Barolay’s death at Six’s hands enrages Anders and he puts a gun to her head ready to exact vengeance. Starbuck for her part seems eager to let Barolay’s death slide so as to not endanger her chance to see the Cylon baseship hybrid and her chance for the answer she seeks.

Finally, Natalie pulls the Anders’ trigger finger, killing the other Six and without a Resurrection Ship near by, Six is dead forever. An eye for an eye—the truce is maintained.

Just as an aside, what the frak is it with the hot warrior chicks getting killed? This weak Barolay, last week Gunny Mathias????? And don’t get us started again on the death of Callie Tyrol. We say again….what the frak????

Kara finally visits the hybrid, but the words of the mysterious being sound like nonsense. Soon, the hybrid must be taken offline to complete the interface between the baseship and the Raptor, but when the Cylons attempt to do this, a Centurion, acting as if the hybrid is under attack, shoots an Eight/ Sharon.

As the Eight lies dying, the hybrid begins to prophesy, suggesting not only that the final five Cylons may know about Earth but also that Kara is "the harbinger of death." Time is running out to rendezvous with the Galactica, but no one in the room is thinking about that as the ramifications of the hybrid's prophecy hang in the air.

Of course, we heard this same prophesy during the BSG Razor movie and even with time to chew on it, we still can’t make sense with it.

In the end, just as Demetrius is about to jump back to the fleet, the Basestar, led by the Raptor’s jump navigation system, appears much to Helo’s relief. Wait until Admiral Adama (Edward James Olmos) sees the big fish they caught.

Meanwhile, back among the fleet, a fully bald Laura Roslin endures diloxin (their version of chemotherapy) in the Galactica's infirmary, she meets another patient, Emily Kowalski (Nana Visitor—Major/Col. Kira Nerys of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), who is near death. Roslin is dismayed that Emily relies on Gaius Baltar's (James Callis’) radio broadcasts of his sermons for comfort.

Emily reveals that she never liked Baltar before, but now wonders if he is divinely inspired because his sermons echo a visionary dream she experienced. In this dream, as she journeyed across a beautiful river to join the spirits of her lost family, she sensed a caring presence that she calls God. Emily is no mindless zealot, but rather a smart, compassionate woman who has found faith despite a terrible situation.

The chemistry between Visitor and McDonnell is amazing. These two veteran actors were truly in the zone with this scene.

Roslin opens up to Emily, confessing her own fears about dying. The women's budding friendship is cut short by Emily's death, but the encounter has clearly changed Roslin.

As she visits Admiral Adama in his quarters, she shares her experience with him and he confesses that he didn’t believe at all in Earth—that he had just used the legend of Earth as a carrot to keep the fleet going after the attacks but it was Roslin and her faith that in turn gave him the faith to believe in Earth.

We really love these two together. Even if they have never consummated their relationship (which we think they did on New Caprica), Adama and Roslin share an intimacy that was hard fought for and well earned and as deep as the ocean and it’s about the sweetest thing we’ve ever seen on television.

Aw Frak…Laura Roslin can’t die. Cancer be damned. So say we all.

FanBoyWonder Comic Book Spotlight—The Huntress: Year One

Greetings sports fans. FanBoyWonder finds ourself in our usual place of late—behind the eight-ball. We are behind with our review of last Friday’s Battlestar Galactica as well as our promised review of the Iron Man movie with our best pal Kemosabe.

The truth is we had a medical emergency in the family and have been occupied with that until now. Not to worry as we strive to return to “normalcy” and hope for the best as we deal with recovery in the long term.

Anyway, we wish to spotlight what we see as a promising new five-issue mini-series from DC Comics that’s hitting stores Wednesday—The Huntress: Year One.

Here’s the Upshot From DC Comics: As the last survivor of a family eliminated by bloody rivalries among the mobs of Gotham, young Helena Bertinelli was sent overseas for her own safety — but began a quest for vengeance instead. Breakout writer Ivory Madison teams with Cliff Richards for a continent-spanning story that reveals one woman's journey from hunted to Huntress!

The Huntress has always been a sentimental favorite to us but it was the Helena Wayne character, not Helena Bertinelli that captured our imagination all those years ago when FanBoyWonder was a wee-laddie.

Here’s the quick lowdown for the uniformed: The Huntress as we knew her was created and introduced by Justice Society of America writer Paul Levitz in the late 70s. Huntress was the daughter of Batman and Catwoman of Earth-2 and she was a product of both their legacies.

Along with Power Girl, Huntress was a fresh, female face among the old timers of the JSA and a fan favorite (at least among this fan) during the annual Justice Society/Justice League crossovers during the late 70s and mid-80s.

In 1985, the Helena Wayne’s Huntress was killed during the CRISIS on Infinite Earths then her entire existence as Batman’s daughter was retroactively erased from existence in the new post-CRISIS continuity.

Following the CRISIS, DC caught to reinvent the Huntress with an entirely new origin as orphaned mafia princess Helena Bertinelli ,but to us, her re-introduction was poorly handled and we never warmed to this new character with a familiar name whom we considered a pretender.

Even as we never warmed to her, we didn’t like how Huntress Bertinelli never seemed to get any respect—especially from Batman—as the “black sheep” of the Bat-family.

It wasn't until Gail Simone got hold of the character in Birds of Prey that the character really took hold with us.

Enter comics newcomer writer Ivory Madison who has assumed the ambitious task of giving Helena Bertinelli the proper (re)introduction that she was denied two decades ago.

"Helena has very strong moral values, believes in honor, and is a loner. She’s principled, smart, and truly—truly—independent. She carries the pain and loss of her family with her at all times, and wants to destroy the mob with an epic vengeance. She doesn’t fit in. That’s the problem. She doesn’t fit in with the mob, she doesn’t fit in with Batman, she doesn’t fit in with anyone,” Madison told Newsarama in a recent interview.

“I attempted to capture the essential nature of Helena’s personality by showing readers the crucial moments in her early life, the moments that made her who she is. We have all the exciting Year One stuff: how she got the name Huntress, how she got her costume, why she returned to Gotham from Italy, who really matters to her in her life, and how she realized she was capable of being a hero,” added Madison.

Madison’s enthusiasm has spread to us and we’re eager to give this mini-series chance.

The Huntress: Year One, $2.99, Issue #1 on sale Wednesday (May 14), Issue #2 on sale May 28.

FanBoyWonder Film Spotlight: The Return of Indiana Jones

FanBoyWonder had just graduated high school when we and our high school sweetie went to the local Cineplex to view the third of the Indiana Jones trilogy—Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, staring Harrison Ford in the title role and Sean Connery as the senior Jones.

While not quite as good as the original Raiders of the Lost Arc (what could be???) yet light years better than Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, we thoroughly enjoyed the adventure. Then we filed it away and we haven’t thought of Indiana Jones for many years.

So it was with a glancing interest that we had been following news that Stephen Spielberg, George Lucas and Harrison Ford were finally going to bring the world’s toughest archeologist back to the screen some two decades after the last installment.

That is until last summer when we viewed specially released teaser footage of upcoming fourth Indy film later to be named Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. In a word—Zowie!

Here’s the Upshot from Paramount Pictures: The newest Indiana Jones adventure begins in the desert Southwest in 1957 – the height of the Cold War. Indy (Ford) and his sidekick Mac (Ray Winstone) have barely escaped a close scrape with nefarious Soviet agents on a remote airfield.

Now, Professor Jones has returned home to Marshall College – only to find things have gone from bad to worse. His close friend and dean of the college (Jim Broadbent) explains that Indy's recent activities have made him the object of suspicion, and that the government has put pressure on the university to fire him. On his way out of town, Indiana meets rebellious young Mutt (Shia LaBeouf), who carries both a grudge and a proposition for the adventurous archaeologist: If he'll help Mutt on a mission with deeply personal stakes, Indy could very well make one of the most spectacular archaeological finds in history – the Crystal Skull of Akator, a legendary object of fascination, superstition and fear.

But as Indy and Mutt set out for the most remote corners of Peru – a land of ancient tombs, forgotten explorers and a rumored city of gold – they quickly realize they are not alone in their search. The Soviet agents are also hot on the trail of the Crystal Skull. Chief among them is icy cold, devastatingly beautiful Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett), whose elite military unit is scouring the globe for the eerie Crystal Skull, which they believe can help the Soviets dominate the world... if they can unlock its secrets.

Indy and Mutt must find a way to evade the ruthless Soviets, follow an impenetrable trail of mystery, grapple with enemies and friends of questionable motives, and, above all, stop the powerful Crystal Skull from falling into the deadliest of hands.

Regular FanBoyWonder readers have heard the story before but we so enjoy telling it in that by way of backgrounds, FBW first saw the original Raiders of the Lost Ark on our 11th birthday back in 1981.

As it turned out, we hadn’t wanted to see it as we thought it looked stupid but Mom and Dad FanBoyWonder dragged FBW and our brother Joe to the movies. Suffice to say we left thinking it was the coolest thing we had ever seen and grumbling that Mom and Dad were right about that one.

From what we have seen of the trailer, we like and think it looks promising. Indy is back and tougher than ever but he’s an aging adventurer as kicking bad guy arse is “not as easy as it used to be.”

While he looks great at 65 (we should look half as good when we hit his age) Harrison Ford was wise not to try to play it like the Indy of Raiders circa 1981.

Another Raiders flashback comes with the return of Karen Allen who played Indy’s love interest Marion Ravenwood from the original Raiders. Not only does the return of her character bring us all back full circle to the first film but quite simply, the other Indy films weren’t as good without her.

Why? Karen Allen’s Marion flawlessly played the damsel in distress who could also throw a punch and was every bit as tough as Indy. Ballsy and beautiful but not in an overt sex-pot kind of way—not unlike Margot Kidder’s Lois Lane from the Superman films. (Although pound for pound in a fair fight, we’re pretty sure that Marion could eat Lois’ lunch.)

Indy and Marion reportedly share a son together—that kid from Transformers Shia LaBeouf who will likely do a fair amount of the actiony stunt stuff to take the heat off of Papa Jones.

Since it takes place during the Cold War, it’s not the Nazis who are chasing Indy (Thank God….no more Nazis) but the Soviets—you know, the Godless Commies.

Assuming it is still in theatres come June—a safe bet as it has “blockbuster” written all over it—we plan to take Brianna The Girl Wonder to see it. She will be 7 years old when she comes home for a blessed summer visitation and we think she should experience the same wonder of seeing an Indy movie in the theatre as Grandpa FanBoyWonder did all those years ago.

Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull http://www.indianajones.com/ opens in time for the Memorial Day holiday weekend on Thursday, May 22..

See you at the movies.

Battlestar Galactica—The Road Less Traveled

Wake the kids and call the neighbors. FanBoyWonder has made yet another clean getaway from the confines of Boston, Taxachuetts following our five days in town for a business conference.

Before we flew out Wednesday, we managed to meet and enjoy lunch with Mom and Dad FBW and it was good to see them.

It’s been a hectic week for us working our day job here in Boston, leaving us little time for blogging but we did manage to slip away Sunday evening to catch Iron Man.

We were favorably impressed and we’ll be posting a FanBoyWonder film review (hopefully in tandem Siskel & Ebert-like with our best pal and all around Kemosabe) this coming weekend.

Also, just a quick note of special THANKS to our pal JR. Thank you SO MUCH ….for the company, for picking up the check (the next one is ours, no arguments!) for telling it like it is and for “the penny” & the good thought behind it. Peace be with you my friend.

Anyway, as we repatriotate back into fanboy nation, we realize that we are WAY behind—having yet to post our review of last week’s Battlestar Galactica—The Road Less Traveled—with the next episode—Faith— to air in a little more than 24 hours..

Given the closeness of the new upcoming episode, we are going to opt for the drive-by review and shoot from the hip with our most pressing thoughts.

And with that….on with the show.

The Upshot From Sci-Fi Channel: The prospect of a truce between humanity and a band of rebel Cylons encourages Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff) to trust her old enemy Leoben (Callum Keith Rennie).

Aboard the good ship Demetrius, Capt. Starbuck and her cheery crew of explorers (irony much???) have hit a snag in their search for Earth—58 days into their authorized 60 day mission.

Ship’s XO Helo (Tahmoh Penikett), Gods bless him, is doing his best to keep the ship and crew together while going out of his way to support and cover for an increasingly unreliable and worrisome Starbuck.

When the Cylon Leoben is taken aboard from his damaged raider, it just enflames a distrustful crew against Starbuck—especially as he seeks to “help” them find Earth and as he proposes an alliance between the human fleet and the splinter group of Cylons—who are in the midst of a civil war.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Battlestar Galactica this season if someone didn’t get killed during an episode. So R.I.P. Gunnery Sergeant Erin Mathias (Ellen Pedde) who cashed in her cubits by being on the wrong side of an exploding Cylon raider during a space walk.

We salute the toughest marine this side of R. Lee Emery (Full Metal Jacket) but hotter than Sigourney Weaver from Aliens in that she’ll beat you like a drum and you’ll like it mister kind of way.

In the end, Helo is forced to take a stand when Starbuck orders a jump to the Cylon baseship and not back to the fleet as her orders require. Helo relieves her of command and the crew is poised to back the XO.

As it’s to be continued this week, let’s hope that Starbuck doesn’t do an Admiral Cain on Helo—right between the eyes with a hollow point.

Meanwhile back on the fleet, Gaius Baltar (James Callis) continues to attract followers to his “movement” to the One True God” and newly demoted Specialist Tyrol (Aaron Douglas) has a shaved head, he still grieves over his death’s sudden death for which he blames himself—as well as still trying to deal with the revelation that he’s a secret Cylon.

The emotional torment Tyrol feels as he holds a pistol to his head, desperately seeking relief but unable to self-terminate, was especially haunting. We could almost physically feel his pain as come across the TV screen.

Tory Foster (Rekha Sharma), yet another secret Cylon, appears to have taken over the role of Imaginary Six (Tricia Helfer) for Gaius Baltar as her influence grows over this shepherd of a growing cult.

When Tory notes to Baltar that while he is gaining believers in numbers, they represent the dregs of fleet society—“no one of consequence”—so Baltar makes a public play to Tyrol, one time Galactica deck chief and former union leader of New Caprica.

Baltar provokes an unstable Tyrol to violence but Baltar later visits Tyrol in his quarters to offer an apology that is both authentic and insincere at once and to our surprise Tyrol takes Baltar’s hand.

If’ he’s not a follower, Tyrol appears to be at least along for the ride. So say we all!!

FanBoyWonder Spotlight: American Dream—A Fresh Female Face To ‘Old School’ (Marvel) Comics

Greetings everyone from Boston. FanBoyWonder flew into “The Hub” yesterday (Saturday), a day early before our business conference started so we could visit family. And so we did, all too briefly seeing our sis-in-law Suzanne but going out to dinner with our brother Joe and FBW’s nephew Jack, who is now 2 ½ yrs old. A good time was had by all.

But a funny thing happened to us on the hotel treadmill this morning—our mind totally wandered as it does during exercise and we realized how much we are looking forward to the upcoming mini-series American Dream.

Spun out of the pages of The Amazing Spider-Girl, the five-issue American Dream mini-series by writer Tom DeFalco and artist Todd Nauck debuts on Wednesday.

To be honest, we knew very little about the heroine who wore Captain America’s colors and we mistakenly thought was Cap’s daughter (in the same way that Miss Spidey is Spider-Man’s little girl).

It turns out (thanks to a quickie search on “The Internets”) that American Dream isn’t related to Cap by blood but to us she represents a fresh, female face to classic comic book storytelling that is nowadays considered “old school.”

Quickie definition of “old school” vs. “new school”: An old school comic story is something that we would allow Brianna the Girl Wonder (who turns 7 years old next month) to read without worry or hesitation, while new school comics—not so much.

Here’s the Upshot on American Dream from Marvel Comics: “As the star-spangled splendor struggles to find a balance between her personal and superhero lives, a hunt for a missing fiancée unexpectedly leads American Dream into a battle with an unstoppable new super-foe and terrifyingly new kind of terrorist.”

As we noted, we know very little about American Dream but we’re looking forward to getting to know this character and to become better acquainted with the world and the universe—the MC2 universe—where she and Spider-Girl reside.

More than anything, we have faith in writer Tom DeFalco as he again attempts to expand the MC2 universe beyond the pages of Spider-Girl, to prove that Spider-Girl’s success isn’t a fluke and that there is indeed a consumer appetite for a universe of Marvel characters where they are allowed to be heroes.

We’ve long ago been on record in noting that we don’t recognize the current Marvel Universe anymore. But worse, the DC Comics Universe is quickly becoming a place that we are enjoying less and less.

For FanBoyWonder, MC2 represents “old Marvel”—not just the Marvel Comics that we knew and loved growing up but a reader respected, kid-friendly place that both kid readers and not-kids-anymore readers can share space and enjoy together.

FanBoyWonder recommends that you join us in giving American Dream fan support and join us as we “Make Mine MC2” (with apologies to Stan Lee).

American Dream #1, a 5-issue, mini-series, is 32 pages, $2.99 and goes on sale Wednesday (May 7). Issue #2 is on sale May 21.