PTG Episode 16, Hour 1 is brought to you by this clip, courtesy of MTV, from the upcoming Star Trek film directed by J.J. Abrams. The audio of the clip starts off the podcast, and you can listen AND watch the clip in its entirety below. In it, well, little Jimmy Kirk (no, he’s not quite James T. Kirk, not to me, not yet) succeeds in impressing Cadet Uhura with his knowledge of xenolinguistics, but makes much less of a favorable impression upon her would-be Starfleet Academy chaperones. Certainly explains why later we see him with a bloody nose and a split lip. Hour 2 will feature another released clip from the new Trek, so be sure to check back here at primetimegeek.com for that.

Hour 1 gets in gear by presenting all the rumors and stories surrounding Joss Whedon’s slow-to-catch-on new series on FOX, Dollhouse, and the question of whether or not it will actually return for a second season or instead become the latest chapter in the ongoing saga entitled, “Joss Whedon: The Broadcast Networks Hate You.” Now seriously, the stories behind Dollhouse and the other ill-fated Whedon-crafted TV series that met their ends before their times, Angel and Firefly, could not be more different, but when the end results are the same, does it matter? The man is a gifted craftsman of character drama with a talent for quippy, pop-culture aware dialogue that is a perfect fit with today’s 19-39 demographic, yet FOX continually shows nothing but ineptitude in terms of handling and marketing his work. Friday night, running after the terminally-ill Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, THAT’S the best time slot idea they could come up with, really? The web was abuzz with negative premonitions once that was announced, and that was weeks before the series even debuted! Here at PTG we humbly submit that Whedon would be best served by the folks over at NBC/Universal, specifically their cable networks: Sci-Fi Channel (soon to be SyFy), USA Network, hell, even Oxygen at this point, would treat a Whedon property with a whole lot more respect, and in today’s television landscape, probably bring in better Nielsen numbers, to boot.

The DC Comics Spotlight falls on Batman: Battle for the Cowl #2, and boy, is this book turning out to be a letdown. Yes, the writing is at fault–Tony Daniel, for all this ability to draw great scenes, is no master of dialogue or characterization–but one must look to the editorial leadership at DC and the decision to put a first time writer in charge of a heavily-hyped series that will at its end produce a replacement for one of the company’s most popular and well-known characters. The issue itself isn’t bad, and the pretty art helps make it passable, but it’s simply not GREAT, and this series, above all the other Battle for the Cowl tie-ins, needed to be a home-run for fans to even consider embracing the “next” Batman, who we all know will only be filling the bat-cowl for a short time, anyway.

And finally, we wrap with the first installment of the new segment on PTG, “Felix is Fuming” (sound byte intro to come), where I rant and rave about something in the comic book world that truly pissed me off in that particular week. Wait, me ranting and raving about something? How is that any different than any other segment, you ask? Apparently, not much, but hey, you might hear in these segments a few “colorful metaphors” get bleeped out from week to week.

(and yes, this entry might be record-setting in terms of the number of hypenated words used in the text …)

Hour 2 of Prime Time Geek’s 13th Episode kicks off with the taiko drums that us BSG fans have come to know and love, the music that’s been part of the lead-in for arguably the best show on television these past six years. I could think of no better lead-in for this hour of PTG than that music, since a big part of the hour is taken up by discussing Parts II and III of “Daybreak,” the series finale of Battlestar Galactica.

Riveting, thrilling, heartbreaking, triumphant, and yes, flawed, Galactica’s final episode does not, by any means, answer all of our questions, and that’s been a source of frustration for many among the legion of fans across the country that have reacted since the episode aired last Friday night. I find it amazing and a little depressing that there would be so much outcry, so many complaints, about the show and its handlers not tying up every one of the show’s loose ends into a neat little bow, not handing up explanation after explanation for the mysteries that have vexed us, for not dumbing the show down in its final hours into something less than stellar just so that absolutely everyone can say, “I get it now.” The number of complaints and criticisms saddens me because its seems clear to me that had Ronald D. Moore, David Eick, and the show writers actually done just that, come up with clean, neat answers to ALL of the show’s conceits, that there would STILL be complaints, but instead those complaints would sound more like, “Oh, it’s too neatly packaged up.” Galactica never pandered to our sensibilities by giving us easy answers. It always, ALWAYS left us with ambiguity, and so I feel that leaving a few things for us to make up our own minds about is fitting. There’s also a complaint out there that the end was too predictable, and to that charge I ask, “do we really need shock and surprise simply for the sake of shock and surprise?” Have we been so spoiled by all the times this show has taken a turn we did not expect over the last six years that when something actually goes in a way that’s less than surprising, we feel cheated? That’s simply insane. No, the finale was not perfect, and there were decisions made that left me wishing for something different, certainly. But the brilliance of that 2 hours and 11 minutes far outshined its shortcomings, and I, for one, will argue its merits to anyone who feels as though the whole effort should be written off as poor or lazy writing simply because it didn’t spell everything out for us in black and white.

Hour 1 of Prime Time Geek Episode 13 starts off with a drop we’ve used before, from the 90’s action classic Tango & Cash. Warner Bros. really could have spruced up the cover box for this one by, you know, adding Teri Hatcher to the cover. Ahhh Teri Hatcher in 1989 … no, scratch that. Twenty years later and she’s STILL smokin’ hot.

What’s with the title, you ask? Well, as of July 7th, Sci-Fi Channel will become simply ‘SyFy’, a true triumph for creative phonetic spellers everywhere. The first block of Hour 1 was spent on all the ‘benefits’ NBC/Universal can reap by making this change to a name they can actually trademark and then license. Live long and prosper, Capitalism. Or, if you feel the change is silly, as I do, join the ever growing chorus of voices saying to NBC/Universal, “SyFy? SyF YOU!”

In comics, the Supergirl “Who is Superwoman” mystery rolled through its 3rd issue, growing more tiresome by the moment, despite the best efforts of writer Sterling Gates. It’s dragged on long enough, just tell us who she is, for goodness sakes, so that we can all collectively go “Who?” and move on. On TV, meanwhile, Smallville improved immensely by simply bringing back Cassidy Freeman as Tess Mercer … and losing Tori Spelling.

Hour 2 of Prime Time Geek Episode 12 is ALL about Marvel Comics!

Actually, no, that’s a lie. Two-thirds of this hour of Episode 12 is all about Marvel, specifically:

• Invincible Iron Man #11, written by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larocca;
• Marvel Studio’s revised schedule of films being produced and released through 2012, including Iron Man 2, Thor, Spider-Man 4, The First Avenger: Captain America, and The Avengers
• Prime Time Geek’s casting recommendation for the role of Thor in Kenneth Branagh’s upcoming Thor epic: Karl Urban!

What about that last third of the hour, you ask? Well, it’s devoted to a little, tiny event going on called the SERIES FINALE OF BATTLESTAR GALACTICA!!! I could write a ton about Part 1 of the finale, “Daybreak”, (and actually, I already did, but I deleted it accidentally. Doh!) but it would really just repeat a lot of what’s covered in the podcast, and why should I do that if you’re going to listen anyway? (yeah, I just don’t want to retype it all. ‘Nuff said.) Anyway, enjoy!

Here’s to poetic license and creative spelling in television production.

NBC/Universal announced this morning in a press release that starting July 7th, the Sci-Fi Channel will change its name to ‘SyFy’ (phonetically pronounced the same way as before). The name change allows NBC/Universal to, among other things, trademark the name of the network, which they could not do previously considering the widespread public domain use of the term “sci-fi”. At the same time as the name change for the main cable network, they will also introduce a number of sub-brands, including SyFy Games, SyFy Films, and SyFy Kids. See below for an excerpt from the official press release. Thanks to our good friend Jon Lachonis from www.tvovermind.com for reporting the story on his site and posting that report on Facebook!

Building upon sixteen years of water cooler programming and soaring ratings growth following its most-watched year ever, SCI FI Channel is evolving into Syfy on air and on-line beginning July 7th, it was announced today by Dave Howe, President, SCI FI. By changing the name to Syfy, which remains phonetically identical, the new brand broadens perceptions and embraces a wider and more diverse range of imagination-based entertainment including fantasy, paranormal, reality, mystery, action and adventure, as well as science fiction. It also positions the brand for future growth by creating an ownable trademark that can travel easily with consumers across new media and non-linear digital platforms, new international channels and extend into new business ventures.

“While continuing to embrace our legacy and our core audience, we needed to cultivate a distinct point of view with a name that we could own that invites more people in and reflects our broader range of programming,” said Mr. Howe in making the announcement. “Syfy allows us to build on our 16 year heritage of success with a new brand built on the power that fuels our genre: the Imagination. Syfy ushers in a new era of unlimited imagination, exceptional experiences and greater entertainment that paves the way for us to truly become a global lifestyle brand.”

Syfy — unlike the generic entertainment category “sci-fi” – firmly establishes a uniquely ownable trademark that is portable across all non-linear digital platforms and beyond, from Hulu to iTunes. Syfy also creates an umbrella brand name that can extend into new adjacent businesses under the Syfy Ventures banner, such as Syfy Games, Syfy Films and Syfy Kids. Additionally, as the Channel’s footprint expands rapidly around the globe, aiming to reach more than 50 international channels by the end of next year, Syfy meets the need of a globally relevant, trademarkable brand that stands for something unique to the brand in each territory.

The new brand evolution will launch on air and on-line July 7th, in tandem with the premiere of the new scripted drama, Warehouse 13, and the return of breakout summer series Eureka. An aggressive trade marketing campaign will kick off this spring. Scifi.com will assume the URL Syfy.com at that time.

Find the full text for the press release HERE.

In Hour 1 of Prime Time Geek Episode 3: Revenge of the Movie Segment, I talk about DC Comics’ latest weekly comic book, “Trinity”, Warner Bros. “The Dark Knight” sweeping up awards in the lead-up to the Golden Globe Awards and the Oscars, the courtroom drama surrounding “Watchmen” getting close to resolution, and “Battlestar Galactica” Season 4.0, just out on DVD this past Tuesday. Enjoy the show, and come on back midweek for Hour 2!