Coming Back To Life

“I took a heavenly ride through our silence
“I knew the moment had arrived
“For killing the past and coming back to life”
—Coming Back To Life from Pink Floyd’s The Division Bell (1994)

The recent death of Pink Floyd’s Richard Wright has found FanBoyWonder in a contemplative mood.

Even as we we’ve been taking a break from the blog with the intent of beating back the heat of creative burnout, the world has gone and kept spinning on its axis and events have proceeded whether we were ready or not to deal with them.

Reading Rick Wright’s obit, we did the math and realize that he was our father’s age. Wright had cancer—a killer at any age—and Dad FBW remains as healthy as ever but it made us realize that the sun is the same in a relative way but our parents ARE getting older and consequently that we’re an aging (Fan)BoyWonder.

In other words—“Shorter of breath, and one day closer to death.”

What’s the point? Simple. Rest time is over. We’ll have plenty of time NOT to write when we’re dead.

So let’s get back up on the horse with a couple random thoughts.

--“Obscenity,” Frank Miller and the God***n Batman’s publisher DC Comics.

Okay…we don’t like it but we can understand Miller being Miller but what’s DC’s excuse?

Miller never so much as sold out as “went Hollywood.” He’s the quintessential kid in high school who—once he got to hang with the “cool kids”—promptly forgot his former friends among the freaks and geeks caste of losers.

Thus whenever Miller wants to slum and write Batman again, it should be a foregone conclusion that ANYTHING Miller writes is gold so DC should just gratefully lap up whatever stories Miller pens.

Yeah, whatever. To each is own. We’re not a fan of Miller’s All Star Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder but some are. That’s fine….UNTIL Miller’s “vision” starts to damage the brand. Those not in the know see Miller’s GD Batman and thing that it is THE definitive (read: mainstream) Batman being published today and they would be right to be appalled.

“Batman” and “obscenity” should NEVER appear in the same headline together but that’s just what happened.

From the New York Post to the Los Angeles Times to all of the blogs and indy weeklies in-between, Dan DiDio’s DC Comics was revealed outside of the trade press to be at best incompetent or at worst to be deeply bent.

Does this mean that Grandpa FanBoyWonder needs to screen for the “C-word” before allowing Brianna the Girl Wonder to read her issues of Super Friends and Tiny Titans?

Got editors???

--Torri Higginson’s revenge—Stargate Atlantis Canceled.

Somewhere, Torri Higginson is smiling.

About a year or so after Higginson was summarily demoted from her starting role as Dr. Elizabeth Weir, leader of the Atlantis expedition to occasional guest star and was written off the show, Sci-Fi Channel has pulled the plug on Stargate Atlantis after January.

Higginson subsequently did a couple guests appearances last season, including a major teaser that featured Weir as leader of a faction of Replicators. But when she later told producers she was not interested in coming back to show that s**tcanned her (i.e. Fire me? Screw you!) they had to scramble and cut out a major story arc for this season.

Just last month, Sci-Fi Channel and Atlantis producers announced that this 5th season would be the show’s last. They spun it as ending the show so they could make direct-to-DVD movies like SG-1 but canceled is canceled.

Higginson was cashiered to make room for SG-1’s Amanda Tapping, who had another year on her contract. Tapping’s Col. Carter and never fit in as Weir’s replacement and she was gone after a year.

Robert Picardo (formerly The Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager) has done an able job this season as Weir’s replacement’s replacement but the bottom line is that here was nothing wrong with the Elizabeth Weir character other than that the writer’s didn’t want to do anything with her.

It’s undeniable that as soon as Team Atlantis “fixed” things, it was a self-inflicted would from which the show would never fully recover. Stargate Atlantis always had the potential to reach Battlestar Galactica levels of greatness but there was a consistent vibe that the Atlantis show-runners didn’t want to challenge the viewers or themselves all that much.

Best of luck Torri. Living well is the best revenge. Don’t look back.

--Twenty Years Ago

Our sense of history and an overwhelming sense of sentimentality compel us to acknowledge an anniversary of sorts today.

“L,” it’s hard to believe it’s been 20 years since CVS & BK and everything that followed. The years have taught me that while I don’t yearn to go back and do it over again I also wouldn’t change a thing—that is except for “the how” at the end. Harsh words were spoken and bridges burned. That’s on me. Coulda, Woulda, Shouda.

Some years back, I heard about you and “A.” Good for you! Best wishes to you both. Be well.—“C.”