Episode 8 will be delayed one week.

Hey folks, episode 8 of The Flashbacks Podcast has been delayed one week due to illness of the podcaster.

That's a very kind way of saying that I feel like crap and the Podcast would be filled with me coughing and sneezing. It was going to be about Doctor Who so that can definitely wait. By next week we would have seen the next new episode. 

Sorry folks.

Eureka Episode 4x18 Review

Episode Title: This One Time at Space Camp...
Episode Rating: B+
Overall Season Rating: B

Firstly, this will be a very brief review. I've been feeling pretty under the weather lately, and it's tough to write review with a fever. Not complaining, I'll be fine in a couple days, but priorities people.

The last review I wrote for Eureka was positive, but I had a few issues with the way the relationships were being handled. It seemed like every week each of the several couples would get into a fight, and during the course of the episode would patch things up and be hugging by the end. I like the characters and wasn't against seeing them get together, but I long for the days when something crazy would happen and there wasn't all this shipper stuff.

We Apologize For the Lack of Posts

Very sorry there have been no posts for over a week. I got very busy, and then a little sick. I hope to start the posting again tonight with Eureka and Alphas, but both will probably be much more brief.

Sorry again.

Geek Moment of the Day - The Dark Knight Rises(Animated Style)

August 18, 2011.

Okay, this is one of the greatest things I've seen on YouTube. This dude took the teaser trailer for the The Dark Knight Rises and recut it with clips from Batman: The Animated Series. Not only are ALL the clips BRILLIANT and perfectly worked into the audio of the trailer, but this makes me even more excited for the movie. Since it's pretty much consensus that the the animated Batman series is one of the best animated shows of all time, and probably the best super hero based show of all time I love that it works so well with the movie.

Nothing else to say, just watch and adore the brilliance.

Via Youtube. Video created by xNick1718x

Alphas 1x06 Review

Episode Title: Bill and Gary's Excellent Adventure
Overall Season Rating: B+
Episode Rating: C+

The title of this episode literally caused me to laugh out loud and say something to the effect of "Genius". Sadly, that was the only part of this episode that I really liked at all. This review will be pretty short since I didn't like the episode much, and honestly even if I did, I don't know what I would say about it. No mention of Red Flag, no new Alpha, and the new information we got about the characters wasn't all that interesting.

Eureka Episode 4x16 Review

Episode Title: Of Mites and Men
Overall Season Rating: B+
Episode Rating: B

Last week we took a break from the Astraeus mission and had an episode all about Beverly and her evil minions trying to steal information from G.D. This week, we are back to the regular craziness of Eureka, but I also think they are moving away from what made the show so much fun in previous seasons. I love how the show is essentially a police procedural that never really seems like a police procedural. Whether that's because every week we are dealing with a new insane problem, or because there never is really any investigating we'll never know. I think we can all agree though that it works very well, and with the news that the show will only have one more season I was feeling somewhat nostalgic during this episode.

The guest stars were the highlight of the episode this week, with both Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day seeming like they've been there the whole time. A couple weeks ago I said that Holly reminds me of a brilliant Phoebe Buffet, and I stick by that. She loves what she does, and remains cheerful even when she has to go to the bathroom, but has to hold it for hours. Dr. Parish on the other hand is indeed the perfect nemesis for Fargo in that he's a genius, but is completely selfish and clearly hates everyone at G.D. With the exception of Holly of course.

Breaking Bad 4x05 Review

Episode Title: Shotgun
Overall Season Rating: A-
Episode Rating: A

FINALLY, far less time is spent talking about the car wash, and Jesse is the focus of the episode. This episode really went back to the things that made the show amazing during the past couple seasons. We have Jesse and Walt doing their thing, and Hank getting ever closer to figuring out his brother-in-law's secret. I loved seeing Jesse and Mike on the road, and was totally surprised about the true reason for the journey. I really think this was one of those moments of the show that will have an impact for a very long time.

There is some talk about the Car Wash, and yes, I was frustrated that they once again are having Skylar be all worried and talk about it like it's the most important moment in human history. You own a car wash, not a nuclear missile silo, calm down. She also knows that Walt has been in some pretty sticky and dangerous situations, he is not going to be phased by a car wash, sorry dear. Walt's "gambling" addiction was mentioned again, and I love that the two other guys in the family think it's cool, and Marie is all protective and worried. Maybe that's a little sexist, but I also think it's true. Hank seems like the kind of guy who would find it pretty bad ass to be a brilliant gambler, and Walt Jr. always has looked up to his dad so it makes sense that he thinks this is cool.

Geek Moment of the Day -- Curiosity

August 14, 2011


Curiosity is a new show on the Discovery Channel and it's GREAT! Each week a new host takes us on a journey to answer a question. Last week Stephen Hawking asked "Did God create the Universe?", and this week Michelle Rodriguez(Lost, Avatar) asked "Are we ready for an Alien invasion?". Both episodes are amazing, and they got a wide variety of people to help answer these questions. Included are physicists, engineers, government officials, military officials, doctors, etc. so you know that the information included in the show will be complete.

What I like the most about the show is that every week is not the same. Most shows like this pick a type of topic and go the full series with that. Mega Disasters, or The Universe for example. Next week is hosted by Maggie Gyllenhal, and the question is "Why is sex fun?". If that's not a change of pace then I don't know what is. I'm sure it'll focus on biology, and psychology a lot, but for someone who is interested in science, but is not interested in physics then this change of pace is a great thing.

Tune into this series if you get the chance. New episodes air every Sunday at 8/7c on the Discovery Channel, and then randomly throughout the week. And as they say, check local listings for more.

Falling Skies Season 1 Finale Review

Episode Title: Mutiny/Eight Hours
Overall Season Rating: B
Episode Rating: B+

First, I am aware of how late this review is. I wasn't able to watch it until yesterday, and while that is not very good from a review stand point I hope everyone understands that real life can make it difficult to sit down and watch a two hour show and take notes. Also, for a couple reasons this review will be somewhat brief. It's helpful that the story of the two episodes is pretty simple, and I'll be discussing them as if they were one episode even though they are two separate ones.

On to the review!

While I enjoyed this season finale, and was impressed by some of the things they did I didn't think the cliffhanger was as amazing as advertised. I know I can't blame them for that, but nothing that happened in those last few minutes was all that shocking. Unexpected maybe, but not shocking. I'll get to that a little later, but when it comes to season finales the ending really is important with a show like this, and I'm not sure they delivered. I also think the main story of the 1st half with Weaver being a little nuts was overblown. He went from a decent commander to an obsessive maniac in about a day and a half, and in actuality he wasn't being an obsessive manic. Tom was correct about the 4th and 5th Mass, but no matter how many people you sent on this mission, it was most likely going to be a suicide mission.

Geek Moment of the Day -- The Evil of the Daleks!

August 12, 2011

As everyone knows, I'm a huge fan of Doctor Who. I only started watching earlier this year, and fell in love with the new series. When I was done with the new stuff, I decided to go back and watch the old stuff. It's really GREAT! Cheesy yes, bad special effects yes, BUT as an Original Series Star Trek fan I'm the last person who should complain about special effects or camp.

So, why is this the Geek Moment of the Day? Well, earlier tonight I finished Season 4 which ran from 1966-67, and introduced the Second Doctor, Patrick Troughton. This episode didn't introduce him, it was the season final, but I really loved this serial. Only one of the 7 episodes are available, but some amazing people have reconstructed the other 6 parts and they are available on Youtube.

What I loved about this serial was it had my favorite aspects of Doctor Who. Great use of time travel, hugely important canon, THE DALEKS, the Doctor being a bit scared and not perfect all the time, great heroics by the Companion, and of course the brilliance of the Doctor being shown in the end. I won't give anything away about it, but I do think this is a serial that would be loved by all fans. The introduction to Troughton is a serial called "The Power of the Daleks" so don't get them confused, but I would suggest watching that one too. This serial also has several key events that while not directly connected to the new series, are clearly inspirations for many things Davies did with the Daleks during his tenure.

Oh, and don't forget...all who deny the DALEKS are SUPREME will be EXTERMINATED!!!

Torchwood Episode 4x06 Review

Episode Title: The Middle Men
Overall Season Rating: A-
Episode Rating: A-

Another very good episode. This week was different from the past few episodes since this one was very self-contained. It's not a stand alone episode to be sure, but very little outside of the simple continuation from last week occurred. Personally, I think that was a smart decision. Last week was a very heavy episode in terms of information, and character loss with the very gruesome death of Dr. Juarez. This week, as I said we get a much simpler, but equally exciting episode.

There was one huge information packed scene, and while I enjoyed the info, I wish it could have been delivered in a less expository way. I'll be getting to that a little later though since the majority of the episode was about our two teams trying to get out of the camps, and expose them for what they really are. One fascinating bit that keeps cropping up is the idea that these people "are just following orders". That phrase always brings Nazi Germany to mind, and I'm impressed that the show didn't go out of their way to say that. It's obvious, and doesn't need to be verbalized. With that said, the governments of the World ARE supporting this measure. Maloney himself says Congress approved it. That doesn't absolve him, or anyone else, but it adds another wrinkle. These are not just evil death camps being run by an evil corporation, or out of control dictator. These are death camps that have been approved by governments in nations that we like to think are to superior for that, and I love the fact that Torchwood is quietly saying that no nation is above this kind of action in times of crisis.

Geek Moment of the Day! The Return of Myspace

August 11, 2011


Hey everyone! This is the first geek moment of the day, and I think it's interesting. Do you all remember MySpace? No? Oh. Well, a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away Facebook was only a gleam in the eye of Mark Zuckerberg, and Friendster was kind of a piece of crap. So, Myspace did the job. One of the first big modern social networks it allowed users to create personal profile pages, and add friends and pictures. One thing that was pretty cool about it was you could put music tracks right on your home page, and they would play whenever someone visited it. Yes this became very annoying because some people liked to have friggin loud as hell music blast your ears off. You know who you are! Even Facebook doesn't allow that, or anything close to the personal profile pages Myspace did.

New features!

In the coming days I'll be starting two new features here on the site.

As you can see, the site has been almost totally TV and Film reviews. That is not what I planned, and not what I want the site to be solely about. The idea of the Podcast always has been to look back on things and discuss them, but we also had a lot of fun with random rants and rambles. With that in mind, I have decided to bring that to the blog.

The first of the new features will be "Geek Moment of the Day". This will be a daily post about something in the World of Geek that I saw, read, heard about, or simply occurred to me at random. The plan, is for me to then pick a Geek Moment of the Month at the end of each month. Know that your comments will be a huge factor in my decision so feel free to say anything about any of these many moments. Now, what do I do if I can't think of anything? Well, if there is nothing that I can think of, or nothing I would post I simply will skip a day. I feel no moment would be better than a lame one, or worse, a made up one. I'm pretty excited about this since I have many of these moments happen to me, and I love telling people about these so why not you guys too?

The second is a little different. I'm planning on a Rant Post. I haven't yet come up with a super clever heading, so any suggestions will be welcomed. These rants will range from things like, commercials that annoy me, to serious issues of the day. As I stated in one of the very first posts I will keep religion out of these, and I will try to do the same with politics. If a rant is more serious and I fear may offend I will put a disclaimer on. With that said, the serious rants will be few and far between. The rate of these posts will also be a bit random. I think weekly will be a good idea. That leaves a lot of time for me to find something good to rant about, and spreads them out enough so I don't become annoying. I might be annoying anyway so it's good to not be too annoying.

So yeah, I hope these sound cool!

Alphas 1x05 Review

Episode Title: Never Let Me Go
Overall Season Rating: A-
Episode Rating: A-

This week's episode is about love and loss. I think Alphas' greatest strength is that they connect enhanced human powers to emotions better than most shows, or even comic books have done. Sometimes I do get a little tired of all the emo stuff, but it is done well. Rachel has issues with her parents, Hicks has confidence issues, Gary can be a little selfish, and Nina has a past that gives her issues. In my opinion, this makes the show seem more real, which is a good thing but also can hurt it in the future if they keep focusing on it.

This week, we meet an Alpha who has the power to release a chemical called Oxytocin. This is what makes us feel very close attachments to people, and feel "love". The sudden removal of it is also what causes the very real physical pain we feel when we lose someone we love. I checked on Wikipedia and found that not only are they pretty much dead right in the show, the article also says that it makes 100% sense that she would gain this power, or at least become aware of it when Chris was born. During and after childbirth women have larger amounts of this chemical.

Eureka Episode 4x15 Review

Episode Title: Omega Girls
Overall Season Rating: B+
Episode Rating: B+

This week we get a conclusion to the Allison story. I want to apologize for my huge error last week. Instead of identifying the Beverly at the end, I said it was Allison. While I think it would have been very cool for the show to include replicants, that was not the case AT ALL. This was pointed out in the comments section. Please do feel free to comment on anything, especially if I'm dead wrong about something.

The main part of this episode was about Beverly trying to steal all of Global Dynamics' secrets. So there is no confusion, I'm going to refer to her as Beverly, even when she's in Allison's body. I loved how Jack figured it out pretty much right away. One conversation and he's like "something ain't right". The show always has done a great job of showing us just how good of a cop Jack really is. He may not be as smart as everyone else, but his instincts are perfect. They quickly identify that Beverly had lied about Allison being in a car accident, and then turn to Zane for help.

Breaking Bad 4x04 Review

Episode Title: Bullet Points
Overall Season Rating: A-
Episode Rating: A-

Sorry for the late review, but I simply wasn't able to get it done last night. This also is a new style review I'm trying out. This episode is an improvement from last week, but Skylar being involved remains a crutch. The absolute best moments of the episode were Walt and Hank talking, and Mike's run in with Jesse. I found myself bored with Skylar working out a whole story for Hank, and then forces Walt to go over it with her. I'm not sure where that story is going, but she simply seems in the way. The don't care about them owning the car wash, or how careful they have to be around Hank. With the latter, I mainly don't care because I've seen Walt do it brilliantly for 3 seasons. Skylar's little plan will be pointless if Hank ever discovers the truth. With that said, I did love her line to Walt, "maybe lying doesn't come as easy to me as it does to you". BURN.

Torchwood Episode 4x05 Review

Episode Title: The Categories of Life
Overall Season Rating: A-
Episode Rating: A

Firstly, I want to apologize for there being no review last week. I got pretty busy and actually wasn't able to watch the episode until tonight. This will only be a review of the most recent episode, but I loved Escape to L.A. This show is getting more and more disturbing. Episode 4x05 was no different, and went even more so in that direction. We learn the true lengths to which the governments of the world, and PhiCorp are willing to go. In all honesty there were parts of this episode that were had to watch. I think the most disturbing part is that, while horrible, I can understand why they do what they do. I don't know how I feel about that.

There also is a serious shock value to this episode. Years of watching television have made me think certain events just won't happen. Torchwood is one of the few shows where things like that DO happen. There is nothing most TV viewers like more than to be surprised and Torchwood is giving us that on a weekly basis. This week, more than ever since the beginning the season. Read on for the episode recap

Rise of the Planet of the Apes Review

Overall Rating: A

The original Planet of the Apes was released in 1968, and is one of the greatest science fiction movies of all time. It's not simply a movie about apes riding around on horses. It's an allegory for the battle between science and religion, for racism, for the treatment of animals, and for humanity's strange addiction to violence. Planet of the Apes is science fiction at its best, providing us with a mirror with a slightly shifted view. This is why the movie has survived, and become a true classic.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes may not have the same power in its message, but it's a perfect science fiction movie. As a huge fan of the original, I loved all the references, both obvious and subtle. As a movie fan though, I loved the story I was presented with. The genius of this movie exists in that it's both its own movie, separate from the original, and also a perfect prequel. The acting is excellent, the action is suspenseful and exciting, and the special effects are out of this world. I won't be getting into any spoilers for this movie, but I will assume knowledge of the original, and its ending(so if you haven't seen it, and don't want to be spoiled...GO WATCH IT)

Episode 6 - Captains, Cowboys and Aliens OH MY!

Check out the new episode of The Flashbacks Podcast.

I talk about the new Captain America movie, the new Cowboys and Aliens movie, and discuss the 1986 SciFi classic, ALIENS.

Enjoy.

Alphas 1x04 Review

Episode Title: Rosetta
Overall Season Rating: A-
Episode Rating: A-

This week on Alphas we get to explore Gary a lot more. Up until now he's mainly been comic relief. He listens to his signals, tells them what he knows and makes a joke about being annoying. This episode though he finally finds someone like him. I love how it forces him to realize that he can take care of himself, and that he wants to be more independent. I like his character a lot. He complains, but in a different way than the others. He clearly has a mental disorder to go along with his power, where as the others are just mentally unstable at times. At the end of the episode we see a major change in the way he sees himself, and Dr. Rosen. I really hope they build on this, and keep allowing him to expand his role.

The villains this week brings back Red Flag. The evil Alpha organization that tried to kill Rosen in the premiere. We learn a lot more about them, and the show smartly shows us that they aren't just crazy killers. They have something they stand for, and maybe they have a right to be a little upset. They go too far of course, but even Rosen can see their point of view by the end. Got to love a show that shows both point of views, and accepts that the villains' cause isn't one dimensional.

Read on for the episode recap.

Eureka Episode 4x14 Review

Episode Title: Up in the Air
Overall Season Rating: B+
Episode Rating B+

This week's episode gives us some more information about what's going on with Allison, and Astreaus Misson. We also get more Wil Wheaton, and more Felicia Day!  It's so great that the show took these guest roles and really made them more important, and long lasting. I'm loving Felicia Day's Holly. I like to think of her as a brilliant Phoebe Buffet. As for Wil Wheaton's Dr. Parish, well he's just the right kind of nemesis for Fargo. This also was a hilarious Jack episode. He's always great, but I think I love him the most when he sort of snaps. I'm actually surprised it doesn't happen much more often.

The tech in this episode just makes me smile. We get Anti-Matter, and the Higgs Field! Their explanation of the Higgs Field was wonderful, and I think most quantum physicists would be pleased. Check it all out in the episode recap

Falling Skies 1x08 Review

Episode Title: What Hides Beneath
Overall Season Rating: B
Episode Rating: B+

Another episode filled with reveals. In this episode we learn a ton about the Skitters, and about Captain Weaver. We've been getting clues that there was more going on with Weaver for a while now, and we got a good amount of those answers tonight. The reveals about the Skitters are both shocking, and mysterious. Falling Skies appears to be taking a page from Lost; answer a question, but ask many more. We also get a little more info about Rick. Last week ended on a great cliffhanger of Rick being super creepy, and seemingly controlled by a Skitter. This week, we learn not only why that might be, but also find it's having a big affect on those around him.

This episode also didn't have any of those scenes that just make me bored. Every conversation, and every scene has a purpose, and is clearly leading some place important. The fact that the new baby wasn't even mentioned makes me think I'm right that it served no purpose other than "hey look, a pregnant woman". I finally learned that the religious girl's name is Lourdes. While that name just makes me roll my eyes, she did actually have a role in this episode that was neither ridiculous, or pointless. As I said, everything is leading to next week, and the season finale. Read more in the episode recap