Skulls in the Stars

I just finished watching Terminator and Dollhouse and just felt compelled to write a short comment.  Both shows were really good tonight, in their own way.

Terminator resolved a number of huge plot threads and the same time it opened a number of intriguing new ones.   The coolest part, though, was that John Connor was finally given a moment to really shine and show the potential to be that “great leader of the future” he’s supposed to be.  The scene I’m talking about — and you’ll know it when you see it — completely captured my attention, and I pretty much never focus on one thing at a time.

Dollhouse was really good in a similar way.  Some big new aspects to the plot were introduced, and there were a number of really great twists that I didn’t see coming.  Perhaps best of all, I think I finally see how the show can work as a series.  As you may know, lots of people have expressed doubts that a show which focuses on a main character who is basically a blank slate can ever be compelling.  Though it is clear that the ‘heroine’ Echo is slowly retaining more of her past memories, this episode made it clear to me that the supporting characters may turn out to be the real focus of the show.  Echo serves as a mirror through which we can see reflections of what the other characters see themselves as, or what they want to see themselves as.  There’s a wonderful scene where a ‘villain’ looks sympathetic at the same time he calls the motives of the ‘hero’ into question.

I’ve been hooked on Terminator, and I’m glad to see that it has been living up to my expectations.  Dollhouse, I think, has finally snagged me.

I was going to joke and ask: is it a sweeps week?  But, it turns out, it is!

I’m currently mulling over my next science blog post, which will hopefully be out soon.  In the meantime, I had to point out this wonderful discovery via StumbleUpon:  an Apple II emulator which allows one to play the classic educational game The Oregon Trail!

I remember The Oregon Trail as one of the few computer games which high school students were allowed to play in school back in my day, due to its history/geography emphasis.  The game allows the player to guide a family of settlers across the western United States circa 1848, from Missouri to Oregon’s Willamette Valley.  One must stock up on supplies and prepare for various random misfortunes which await you, from bad weather to illness to friggin’ thieves stealing all of your oxen!

Even though it is a crude game, I still found it strangely compelling.  I struggled to get my family back on the trail after we lost all our oxen, but unfortunately all succumbed to disease, in spite of my excellent ability to shoot bison.  It was difficult, dangerous, and damned frustrating to travel west back in those days, and the game does a good job of simulating that aspect…