Stargate: Universe = Stargate: Atlantis?
I’ve been a big fan of the original Stargate: SG-1 SciFi series that ran for 10 seasons and had two direct-to-DVD movies. Just like with any successful TV show, producers created a spinoff series titled, Stargate: Atlantis which I also watched on and off when I had spare time. I thought Atlantis was an ok show, but after 6 seasons it seemed to duplicate a lot of the storylines from the SG-1 series. Now, MGM has created a new series called Stargate: Universe which I watched the pilot episode last night. After watching this first episode, I really question whether this series is “new”.
Universe has a lot of similarities to the previous Atlantis series, which I’ve sumarized below:
- Universe is set on a newly discovered Ancient spaceship — Atlantis is set on a newly discovered Ancient city (actually, a spaceship also)
- The Universe crew sets out to explore their new surroundings — the Altantis crew sets out to explore their new surroundings
- The Universe crew are in dire straits with a dying ship and must figure out how to fix the life support — the same for the Altantis crew
- The Universe crew are really, really far away from Earth and can’t go back home — same for the Atlantis crew (at least for the first few seasons)
- The Rodney McKay (brilliant scientist) character on Atlantis has been replaced by Dr. Rush and a college-aged young man who figure out an Ancient problem by playing a video game
- Major Sheppard on Atlantis is equivalent to Lt. Scott on Universe
- etc.
A lot of similarities… maybe too many. The filming of Universe is a direct copy of Battlestar Galactica, where they use a lot of hand-held cameras (ala, the show 24). They even showed a steamy sex scene which seemed to be another direct copy of Battlestar Galactica. It was obvious the producers were trying to piggyback off the success of BSG– maybe too obvious.
So will Universe be a hit? I really don’t think so. I think the concept of the Stargate series has suffered “franchise fatigue”, a term quoted and used for the last Star Trek series, Enterprise. I’ll predict that Universe will recycle old stories from the past Stargate series, as well as from Star Trek and BSG. Whatever the case, I’ll probably watch the next few episodes and see if the writers and producers can really come up with a fresh new show, or just show the same old stuff.
My Terminator Salvation Review
I saw Terminator Salvation yesterday, and I have to say it wasn’t as good as I expected. It was ok, but it didn’t seem to have the impact as the first two Terminator movies. The special effects was cool, but the story line was a bit slow and uninteresting. The Marcus character was cool, as he was an unknown to the viewers. Also, having Arnold as the Terminator appearing at the end of the movie was great (who needs real live actors any more?).
This movie basically “jumped the shark” for me, so I hope they don’t come out with any more installments unless they have a really, really good and original story.
New Star Trek Movie Definitely a Fresh Start
I’m a closet “Trekkie”, having watched Star Trek since I was a small boy in the late 60’s. I also watched all the re-runs from the original series (TOS), all the various “Star Trek:” TV shows as well as all the theater movies. When Star Trek: Enterprise came out on UPN, I was hoping that a prequel show to TOS would bring a fresh perspective to the Star Trek anthology, however, Enterprise ended up being as formulaic as ST:Voyager, ST:DS9, and ST: The Next Generation.
I recently saw the new Star Trek Movie by JJ Abrams, and it certainly was entertaining, and very different from the past Star Trek incarnations. The movie uses familiar wording and phrases (Starfleet, phasers, hailing frequencies, etc.) as the previous Star Treks, and the same character names, but everything else seemed very different. It was definitely geared toward the younger crowd, with fast paced action and a very edgey feel with all the close up shots.
I have to say that my two favorite characters are Scotty and Dr. McCoy, as they were both pretty funny and quite the characters. I won’t give any more away for those who haven’t seend the movie, but the other characters are somewhat different than their TOS counterparts.
I’ll also say that the next Star Trek movie better be well written with a very good story, otherwise it will be a let down after seeing this exciting revival!
The File That Won’t Delete!
My wife’s Windows Vista PC was giving her lots of trouble over the past several weeks, with applications crashing, FireFox not saving cookies, general slowness, etc. With all my digging and Googling I couldn’t figure out the cause of the problems, so I decided to wipe the disk clean and do a fresh install. But instead of using the same disk drive, I bought a new 250 GB Western Digital SATA drive and was planning to use this new drive as the primary disk and the old drive as the 2nd (slave) disk. That way, my wife’s data files will still be available and I don’t need to worry about backing them up, reloading them, etc.
Fortunately, her HP Desktop PC came with the Vista OS install files loaded in a small partition on the original drive and I was able to use an HP program to burn a Windows Vista Install DVD (which will only work on her HP machine). Having the Vista Install DVD on hand, I plugged in her new SATA drive as the primary disk and switched the old drive as the secondary disk. I then reloaded the Vista OS onto the new primary disk, and went though all the Windows Online updates, etc. So, everything worked out just fine.
To make room on the 2nd disk, I decided to remove the old Vista OS files found in the “/Windows” folder (since my wife won’t be needing them). However, the files in the “/Windows” folder are not deleteable! After some Googling, I found a procedure for changing the ownership of all those files from the “TrustedInstaller” to my wife’s login account (using a DOS window and DOS commands), and also changed the permissions for those files. That did help me in deleting most of the “/Windows” files, all except two files found in the “C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash” folder, specifically the files named Flash9e.ocx and FlashUtil9e.exe. I tried absolutely everything to get rid of these files, but the Vista OS kept replying “Access Denied”.
Ultimately, I found a program called Unlocker which allowed me to unlock and delete those files. This freeware utility worked great, and was easy to use. So, if you’re in the same predicament I suggest you check out this fine utility.
Netbook: Not for Me
I haven’t posted much over the last few weeks because I’ve been busy with the notion of getting and using a Netbook. If you check out my other short-lived blog, you’ll see that I determined that the Dell Mini 9 Netbook was not sufficient for my needs. Specifically, the keyboard size and layout along with the 600 pixel screen height was a deal breaker. I was hoping to use the Netbook for web browsing, checking emails, web blogging, etc. but it just didn’t work out for me.
I did walk away learning a lot about online file storage and document management (Microsoft Live Mesh, Zoho, DropBox, SkyDrive) along with having a chance to work with Windows 7 Beta on the Dell Mini, so if you’re interested in those topics you can check out my blog postings for more details.
The Rise of The Netbooks
Since it seems we just can’t live without the Internet these days, it’s no wonder that consumers want to be “connected” while on the go. For most, that means having a smartphone device that can download email or browse the Internet. The bad thing, is that most smartphones have limited screen size so the Internet browsing experience just pretty bad. In addition, I’ve noticed that a lot of people in the local coffeeshops have their laptops out and connected browsing the Internet via a free WiFi connection. So, it certainly makes sense that computer manufacturers want to fill the niche between smartphones and traditional laptops by creating a new device that is very portable but can allow for Internet activities. Thus, the birth of the Netbook devices.
The Netbooks are basically small laptops that have a 7 to 10-inch screen. These devices are usually the size of a hardcopy book (about 1-inch thick), and have a touch-type keyboard (although small). The goal is to have the device last for more than 3 hours on a single charge, and to do so required the use of a low-power processor called the “Atom”. These devices also have built-in WiFi for Internet access, with some having Wireless Cellular cards.
Recently, I got caught up with these Netbooks, and decided to get one for use with daily activities. I purchased a Dell Mini 9, which has 1 GB RAM, WiFi, Webcam, and Bluetooth transceiver, and is running Windows XP. The main storage media is not a traditional hard drive, but rather a Solid State Device (SSD) which is similar to a Flash USB drive. The size of this drive on my Dell Mini is only 16 GB, so I need to be careful about what I install. I made my purchase through Costco.com online, so I won’t actually get the unit for 2 to 3 weeks (bummer). Read the rest of this entry »
Star Trek Fan?
If you’re a Star Trek fan and find it hard waiting for JJ Abrams’ Star Trek movie to come out next year, check out the fan-made computer animations on this web site. It is amazing what fans will do when they have time on their hands!
Happy Holidays, Everyone!
It’s been fun sharing my thoughts and tips for all you Zune users. Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year to all!
I’m Addicted to Reading Forums
I think I’m an addict. I just can’t stop reading the postings on discussion forums. Lately, I’ve been reading four different forums on the topic of the T-Mobile G1 (Google) phone, and I just can’t stop… someone please help me!!
Although these forums offer good tidbits of information, I’ve come to the realization that the majority of people who post forum messages are 12 to 17 year-olds. The biting, nasty comments, misspelled words and bad grammar, and sometimes childish responses is starting to be a real turn off. It seems that with the anonymity of the internet and hiding behind an avatar login name, most forum posters feel they can be as rude and nasty as they want. Would they actually say these comments directly to my face (or in front of their parents)? Probably not. Maybe I’m becoming an old fogey, but I just find this environment distasteful. If so, why do I still pursue these forums? Probably because I get intermittent reinforcement with the few gems of knowledge that I happen upon. Read the rest of this entry »
Black Friday is just around the corner!
The day after Thanksgiving in the US is “Black Friday”, the biggest shopping day of the year. But with the depressed economy and numerous people out of work, will stores have any good deals? And, is it worth the long pre-dawn lines for that discounted blackfriday laptop?
Speaking of laptops, check out this comment by a person who purchased a Best Buy extended warranty and tried to have is damaged laptop replaced. I don’t recommend getting an extended warranty for any electronics, but if you do make sure you carefully read the terms and conditions (don’t trust what the store or sales rep tell you). You might also considering making your purchase using a credit card that extends the manufacturer’s warranty or provides its own replacement warranty.
Of course, I’m staying far away from stores on Black Friday and will be taking it easy at home, recovering from a giant Thanksgiving Day feast! 
