Alan K. Henderson's Weblog

Rest in peace.

Besides his iconic role as Mr. Spock, Nimoy played Paris on 49 episodes of Mission: Impossible. One of the "cover of the Rolling Stone" moments for TV celebrities back in the show's heyday was playing the guest villain in an episode of Columbo; Nimoy played a surgeon in the episode A Stitch in Crime. The non-Spock I'm most familiar with is his narration in the computer game Civilization IV.

In an uncredited early role, Nimoy played an Army sergeant in Them! The voice doesn't sound like him at all, but that's him. I'm guessing the film director wanted him to speak with a more average-Joe-American accent.



Nimoy's IMDb page is here. His Wikipedia page is here.

Labels: Movies, Obituaries, Television

Rest in peace.

Labels: Obituaries, Television

Rest in peace.

Labels: Obituaries, Television

The Hogan's Heroes alum and Family Feud host passed away. Rest in peace.

Labels: Obituaries, Television

New TV Show: Full Metal Jousting.

Hey, it's not as bad as hurricane-alley windmill farms.

Labels: Sports, Television

The star known best for his role as Lieutenant Columbo passed away last Thursday.

Ann Althouse has videos of scenes scenes from two of his films.

Here's one from Murder by Death (1976) - Falk played Sam Spade knockoff Sam Diamond. I saw this when it came out in the theater.



And here he is in The Princess Bride (1987).

Labels: Movies, Obituaries, Television

Okay, whose bright idea was to get Ashton Kutcher to replace Charlie Sheen on Two and a Half Men?

Labels: Television

When after all, it was Caroline and Maria.

(hat tip to Mick and the boys for the musical reference)

Labels: Television

Sharktopus!

Labels: Television

(Episode: The End. Spoilers ahead. Lostpedia synopsis here.)

It was a satisfying ending, relative to what the show had become.

The flash-sideways eventa are actually a future situation: the "Lost" universe's afterlife, where people exist in a sort of limbo vaguely resembling their former lives, mixed with their hopes and frustrations. When they realize that they're dead and remember their previous lives - something triggered by contact with people with whom they shared their most intense moments in life - they are ready to move on to the undisclosed next phase. (Maybe they're each given their own hatch-riddled island to rule.) Desmond has been arranging for many of the Losties to gather in one spot - Jack being the last to come around - before moving to Phase 2.

In the earthly timeline...

Richard and Miles are on their way to Hydra Island to blow up the plane, but plans change as they discover Frank Lapidus alive in the sub flotsam. Instead of blowing up the plane, they now plan to fly it.

Desmond had been rescued from the well by the Nadlers. They had been avoiding all other human contact, but broke their Prime Directive for this one occasion. MIB and Desmond arrive to collect Desmond upon threat of MIB-inflicted knifely death; Des complies.

They meet up with Jack and his party. Ben secretly lets Jack's people know he's been in radio contact with Richard and his pals, and that they're fixing the plane for flight. They go to the cave. Jack, MIB and Des go in.

Desmond is the only one who can approach the "cork" in the Cave of Light and survive. He does MIB's bidding. The light goes away, the island slowly begins to crumble, and MIB is mortal again.

Jack battles it out with MIB at the cliff and is critically wounded by a knife to the abdomen. MIB struggles to finish the task, but Kate shoots him with a single rifle shot. Jack invokes captain Kirk in Star Trek III and kicks MIB down the cliff.

Sawyer and Kate take the sailboat MIB planned to board and head out to Hydra Island, in radio contact with Miles, Richard and Frank. They catch their departing flight just in the nick of time.

Meanwhile, Jack passes the Guardian torch to Hurley. He has to go in the cave and restore the light, invoking Spock from Star Trek II. He drags unconscious Desmond to the rope, restores the "cork," and Hurley and Linus pull up what they think is Jack but is Desmond. Hurley offers Ben the job as his Number Two.

Jack survives his knifely and electromagnetic injuries long enough to leave the cave, either at a different exit point or some time after Ben and Hurley have left. He collapses among the bamboo, sees the Ajira plane flying safely overhead. Trusty Vincent the Dog comes to be with him at his last moments. Jack dies in joy, accomplishing something that really mattered.

Labels: Lost, Television

(Episode: What The Died For. Spoilers ahead. Lostpedia synopsis here.)

On the island, Jacob leads Hurley to a campfire, and are joined by Sawyer, Jack and Kate. It's time for Jacob's replacement to step in. The job was forced on Jacob, Jacob is asking for a volunteer. Jack takes the job. Jack figures out that he has to find a way to kill MIB; Jacob doesn't know if there's a way, but he concurs.

Miles, Ben and Richard go to the Barracks to get plastic explosive from Ben's secret room. Widmore and Zoe find them. Words are exchange, and they discover that MIB is about to happen on the scene. Miles runs for it, Widmore and Zoe hide in the room, Richard goes to talk to MIB, and is promptly attacked by the Smoke Monster (we do not know if he was killed or not).

Ben approaches MIB expecting to be killed. MIB asks Ben to lead him to Widmore, Ben complies. MIB kills Zoe, demands to know what Widmore's up to. He won't say in front of ben. MIB had Widmore whisper in his ear. Ben shoots Widmore in cold blood, but not before MIB gets his info.

They go to the well where Desmond was left, and he's gone; someone had dangled a rope for him to get out. My bet's that Claire did it; I doubt Richard (if he survived) or Miles could have gotten there that early. MIB plans to use Desmond's unique resistance to electromagnetism to destroy the island.

In the flash-sideways, Desmond is at work. He goes to the school to beat up Ben (the latter sees flashes of the other timeline when Des beat up Ben as Ben was plotting to shoot Penny), and delivers a message for Ben to relay to Locke: "He [Desmond] said he was trying to get you to let go, not to hurt you, and for some reason I believed him." Locke had heard Jack say somethign nearly identical, and takes it as a sign to go through with the operation that might restore his ability to walk.

Des gets himself arrested, and is located in a holding pen between Sayid's and Kate's. The three are released to be transferred to another facility - but they go to the waterfront instead. Somehow, Des had arranged for Hurley to bribe the paddy wagon driver - Ana-Lucia Cortez, no less - to release the prisoners. Cortez takes her bribe, Sayid leaves with Hurley in a Hummer, and Des hands Kate a formal gown and says they're going to a concert.

Seems that Desmond is gathering the final seven Candidates (plus Kate) into one spot. He's got three in direct cahoots: Kate, Sayid, Hurley. That leaves the Kwons, Sawyer, Jack and Locke. Is Mrs. Hawking (Mrs. Widmore in this timeline) in on all this?

We still don't freakin know why Charles Widmore returned to the island. What in the hecking heckity heck was he after there?

Do those sonic pylons offer a clue as to how to kill MIB? How did Widmore - or DHARMA - find out about their effectiveness as a barrier against Smokey?

Ben seems willing to do Smokey's bidding. Is he really, or does he have something up his sleeve?

The big 2.5-hour finale is next week.

Labels: Lost, Television

(Episode: Across The Sea. Spoilers ahead. Lostpedia synopsis here.)

So, Jacob and his twin brother were originally mere mortals, their mother killed by the island's then-guardian to keep humanity from discovering what Lostpedia calls The Source. Twin Brother discovers others (Romans, apparently - their mom and the Guardian speak Latin) who discovered the electromagnetism and have been digging to find its source.

MIB's entry into the cavern of lights either transformed him into the Smoke Monster, or released Smokey from imprisonment. I buy the latter theory, because MIB's vision of his birth mom is consistent with Smokey's well-known masquerades.

Why can't Smokey kill off candidates? Why does Jacob lure people to the island when the previous guardian tried to keep outsiders from discovering it? My head hurts.

The Thinklings have live-bloggage of the episode.

Labels: Lost, Television

(Episode: The Candidate. Spoilers ahead.)

See Wikipedia and Lostpedia for synopsis.

MIB has been maneuvering to have all the Candidates killed off, and that appears to be a priority over his other desire, escape from the island. Perhaps he has considered the possibility that his imminent avenues of escape might be cut off in the process, and is willing for the next band of hapless island crashers to get him off. Which means his freedom can't be complete unless he ensures that Jacob doesn't have a successor.

Sayid's cryptic message from Desmond "It's going to be you" suggests that the successor will be Jack.

The death toll in this series is maddening and depressing.

Four more episodes to go.

Labels: Lost, Television

The Simpsons reacts to the South Park Mohammed kerfuffle.

Labels: Religion, Television, War on Terror

(Episode: The Last Recruit. Spoilers ahead.)

I'm not in the mood for a lengthy synopsis tonight - check out the Wikipedia link or Lostpedia for the rundown.

In one scene Hurley suggests that Sayid and Claire could be turned from the "Dark Side," their sell-out to Fake Locke. Looks like he's right; Kate is gaining Claire's trust, and Desmond may have given Sayid some cause for second thoughts.

MIB wants off the island. Widmore wants to stop him, and take control of the island for himself for some purpose. Sawyer wants to leave those two to duke it out and flee the island. Jack has decided to stay, and to seek some way to keep MIB from leaving. Richard and Ben have the same intention - but what are they up to? And Desmond? If he's still alive (I'm confident of that), what's his next move?

In the flash-sideways storyline, will all the Losties show up at the hospital? Looks like that's Desmond's goal.

Only five more episodes to go.

Labels: Lost, Television

(Episode: Everybody Loves Hugo. Spoilers ahead.)

In the flash-sideways, Hurley won the lottery (with the same numbers?), bought Mr. Clucks, made it an international franchise, became a philanthropist - and to his mother's chagrin, he never married.

Mom sets up a blind date that never shows. Instead Hurley is approached by Libby; she has faint memories of the two on the island. Her chaperon Dr. Brooks breaks up the meeting - she and several patients from the Santa Rosa sanitarium are at the restaurant on a day trip.

Hurley drowns his sorrows in a bucket of chicken. Desmond finds him. Hurley tells him about Libby; Des says go after her. Hurley does just that; he visits Santa Rosa, bribes Dr. brooks with a generous donation for the rec room to arrange a visit with Libby. They chat, Hurley sets up a date, a beach picnic.

On the beach, she kisses him, and he has memory flashes on the island. And Desmond watches from a distance - you can just see the "Mission Accomplished" banner lighting up in his mind.

Des has another mission. He parks in front of the school where Ben works. Ben questions him, Des gives a story about moving into the area and checking out schools for his son Charlie. Ben walks away, Des sees wheelchair-bound Locke crossing the street - and he runs Locke down.

Back on the island, Hurley is met by the ghost of Michael, the man who shot Libby. Michael tells him that blowing the plane will get a lot of people killed. Hurley tries to stop Ilana (who has retrieved dynamite from the Black Rock) and Richard, who are adamant in their plans.

In a later meeting Michael tells Hurley the island whispers are all ghosts like himself, people who died on the island and are trapped there.

Ilana accidentally blows herself up, in an accident similar to Leslie Arzt's in Season One. Richard doesn't take that as a sign of being on the wrong path. They head to the ship for more dynamite. Richard will handle it himself, because he knows Jacob's gift of immortality will protect him.

But Hurley gets to the Black Rock first - and he blows up the ship. He confronts Richard, bluffing that he's in direct communication with Jacob at that moment, and that Jacob wants the group to meet with Fake Locke. Richard calls his hand, asking Hurley to ask Jacob what the island is. Hurley says he doesn't have to prove anything.

Ben and Miles continue to follow Richard;Jack, Lapidus and Sun join Hurley. Hurley confesses his bluff, Jack says he knew Hurley was lying, but trusts him somehow.

Meanwhile, Sayid returns to MIB's camp, and leads him away in private to meet Desmond. MIB instructs Sayid to return to camp, and takes Desmond to an ancient well. The well sits on top of one of the island's unique magnetic pockets. Some ancient saw the effect on his compass, and dug to find the source of the power. Others throughout history have made the same discovery - and Charles Widmore is the latest.

MIB senses that Desmond exhibits no fear, and asks why. Desmond says he sees no point in it. MIB pushes him down the well. Back at the camp, he tells Sayid they don't have to worry about Desmond anymore. And then Hurley and company arrive!

I am confident that Desmond is not dead. He is in tune with the island, in much the way the real Locke was. The island will heal Des' injuries as it healed Locke's.

Labels: Lost, Television

(Episode: Happily Ever After. Spoilers ahead.)

In the normal timeline, Widmore has brought Desmond Hume to the island because for some undisclosed purpose. He needs someone who can survive an intense electromagnetic field normally lethal to humans. Hume had survived such an event before - the Swan Hatch implosion.

Widmore tests his theory without telling Desmond what's going on. Unfortunately a technician gets fried when the generator assembly is turned on prematurely. Des is strapped to a chair, the generator is turned on, he loses unconsciousness momentarily, and all of a sudden he's cooperative with Widmore.

Zoe and a Widmore flunky escort him through the jungle afterward, where Sayid, armed with pistol, knocks out the flunky, tells Zoe to run, and tells Desmond to follow him. Desmond clamly and cheerfully complies.

What happened?

The alternate 2004 timeline folks are sensing the present-day timeline. Jack seemed to be showing signs of deja vu on Flight 815 at the beginning of the season. Sawyer might have gotten a whiff when he saw Kate after the flight and after her escape from her Fed escort Agent Mars.

Alternate Desmond works for Widmore, who is based in LA, married to Eloise, and happy to share his prized MacCutcheon scotch whiskey with Des. George Minkowski, who we know as the communications officer of Widmore's freighter, is Des' limo driver.

Des is tasked with babysitting a self-destructive rock musician, Charlie Pace, whose band is scheduled to perform at an event hosted by the Widmores. They chat in a bar, where Charlie tells of his near-death experience in the plane (he had swallowed his stash of heroin to prevent its discovery, only to have it lodge in his windpipe when the plane hit turbulence). Charlie caught a glimpse of a blonde woman who he had loved dearly - the real-timeline Claire, evidently.

They leave the bar in Desmond's sports car, with Des driving. Charlie grabs the wheel and forces the car into the marina. Des gets glimpses of Penny and the "Not Penny's Boat" message that the regular-timeline Charlie had written on his hand when they were at the underwater DHARMA hatch. At the hospital, Des prepares for an MRI. The visions return, more vividly. He tries to get answers from Charlie, who will only say that he needs to find Penny.

Des goes to Eloise Widmore and tells her Driveshaft won't be able to make the gig. She takes rock band recklessness for granted and is quite unperturbed. But Des overhears some of her servants mention a Penny who's on the guest list. He asks about Penny, and Eloise is quite mad. She tells him he's not ready - this Eloise knows something.

And so does her son Daniel - who in this timeline carries his birthname Widmore and not the alias (or stepdad's name?) Faraday. Overhearing the confrontation, Daniel privately approaches Des and confides a couple of things. First, Penny's identity. Second...after experiencing a deja vu moment over a cute redhead (Charlotte Lewis, obviously), Daniel had subconsciously drawn up a bunch of equations in his journal. This Daniel is a musician, not a scientist. He had shown a college friend the notes; friend says that they're the product of someone who'd devoted a lifetime to quantum physics. Daniel says that a nuclear explosion has altered the reality that everyone is experiencing, and is somehow aware that he set it off.

On a tip from Daniel, Des goes to meet Penny - she's jogging at night at a stadium. They meet, shake hands, and Des passes out. He asks her out for coffee. They agree to meet in an hour. He goes to his limo, tells about the coffee destination, and requests George to acquire the Flight 815 manifest.

There seems to be a connection between the electromagnetic experiment and Alternate Desmond's passing out at the stadium. Did the two Desmonds make contact?

Labels: Lost, Television

(Episode: The Package. Spoilers ahead.)

In the flash-sideways storyline, Jin had not declared his suitcase full of $25 grand, so Customs is seizing it. That puts him in hot water with Keamy, the man Mr. Paik had told him to deliver it to.

Keamy and his goons take Sun and Jin to separate locations - her to the bank, where she has a bank account with the sum promised, and him to the restaurant. The goon accompanying her is multilingual Mikhail Bakunin. They learn that her account was drained by Mr. Paik - he had evidently surmised her scheme to "run away" from her dad's influence.

At the restaurant, Keamy tells Jin what the money was for: a payoff for Keamy to rub out Jin. Keamy leaves him the freezer, and he and his goons have a meeting with Sayid with unpleasant results. Sayid finds Jin and decides to leave him there, with a razor in his hand to give him a chance to cut himself free. Jin accomplishes this when Bakhunin and Sun arrive. He gets the drop on Bakhunin, shoots him dead, and finds Sun bleeding. She tells him she's pregnant.

On the island, FakeLocke tells Jin about the cave with the names on the wall - and that one is Kwon. He has to take the remaining names with him. It seems obvious that the purpose is to make sure none of the Candidates take Jacob's place. Sayid remarks to FakeLocke that all his emotions have vanished. MIB says that's not necessarily a bad thing.

While MIB takes off on an errand, Widmore's commandos attack the camp with tranquilizer dart guns - and grab Jin.

FakeLocke tries talking Sun into joining his camp. She refuses, despite the fact of Jin's presence. She runs away, hits her head and suffers from aphasia, which scrambles her ability to speak English but not her knowledge of the language.

On Hydra Island, Widmore tells geophysicist gal Zoe they carried out the order prematurely. He gives Jin a digital camera found on the Ajira plane - it's Sun's, with pics of their daughter. Widmore says that if MIB gets off the island, everyone's futures come to an end - something to that effect. He's also got a surprise - a package...

When MIB returns, he and Sayid prepare to go to Widmore's camp. Before they leave, Claire asks about the conversation with Jin. She wants to know if her name is on the wall - it isn't. He also says Kate's name is not on the wall, but he needs both her and Claire for unstated purposes. (Kate's is probably to pry Jack's complicity, and to secure Sawyer's.) He implies that he will not interfere with anyone's plans once they get off the island, which sounds like a hint that she's free to dish out all the revenge she wants against Kate once they escape.

MIB arrives on the island. Sonic pylons are set up; Widmore knows more about MIB than he lets on. The two meet on opposite sides. Widmore denies having Jin present.

Meanwhile, Hurley and Richard return. Richard intends to blow up the Ajira plane to prevent MIB's escape. Sun objects; she finally consents when Jack breaks the temporary language barrier with a writing tablet and assures her that he will reunite the Kwons. So the beach gang plans to head out to Hydra Island.

MIB returns to his camp without Sayid, who has stayed behind to lurk in the water to discover what Widmore's "package" is. He sees Widmore's gang lead a drugged Desmond Hume from the sub. Well now, Mrs. hawking was right that the island wasn't done with ol' Des...

Labels: Lost, Television

(Episode: Ab Aeterno. Spoilers ahead.)

The title is Latin for the phrase "from eternity." The Lostpedia article on this episode notes that the phrase begins the Latin Vulgate translation of Proverbs 8:23 (double Hurley Number reference!) - "I have been established from everlasting, From the beginning, before there was ever an earth" (NKJV).

Proverbs is the 20th book of the Bible - no Hurley number there - but get this: the first Hurley number is 4, the fourth book of the Bible is...Numbers.

Indeed, as predicted we see Richard Alpert - Ricardo - in a previous century. He is a Spaniard, from the Canary Islands circa 1867. He rode a long journey to get a doctor for his critically ill wife Isabella. The doctor refused his services due to insufficient co-pay; Ricardo struggles with him and accidentally kills him.

He's imprisoned. The priest denies absolution on the basis of insufficient time for penance; Ricardo is told he's going to be hanged the next day, and he is destined for Hell.

(If any Catholics are reading this, drop me an email and tell me if the producers got the Catholic theology right. I haven't gotten around to dealing with the comments issue. My comments provider Haloscan was assimilated by was acquired by JS-Kit when I was too busy dealing with probate issues to know what was happening. I don't know if comments work at all; all I know is I have to pay a subscription fee if I want to be able to manage comments, and I didn't sign on for that. I'd like to be able to migrate everything to Blogger's newfangled comments machinery. This is a mess.)

An English-speaking fellow shows up at the prison; he's heard from the priest, who learned of Ricardo's self-study, that one of the inmates speaks English. Ricardo is freed, sold into slavery to Magnus Hanso, captain of the Black Rock. We see that all the other slaves are Spaniards; I figure Hanso thought a bilingual fellow would be worth more. That the slaves are chained means they're strictly merchandise and not coerced crew.

The Black Rock is caught up in a lightning storm and rough seas - perhaps also in a tsunami, unless Jacob has the power to move the island several stories underwater (which isn't so weird for this show). The ship collides with the statue and goes well inland to its final resting place.

An officer kills off the surviving slaves one by one, rationalizing that provisions are slim and captives would eventually turn on captors. As he threatens the last slave, Ricardo, Smokey attacks. Richard Alpert is the sole survivor.

While working at his chains, he is visited by his dead wife (actually the Man in Black in disguise). "She" convinces him that they're dead and in Hell. Smokey interrupts, she flees and is attacked. Later as Ricardo sleeps (was he dreaming the encounter?) MIB wakes him up, unshackles him with keys he found. He tells Ricardo they're in Hell, the Devil has captured Isabella, and Ricardo must stab Ricardo to free her. He is warned not to allow the "Devil" to speak - just as Sayid was warned not to allow "Locke" to speak when Dogen sent him to stab MIB.

Ricardo is ambushed by Jacob and disarmed. Jacob explains the island and MIB - it's a cross between Pandora's Box and Job 1:6-12 (my observation). MIB is a malevolent force who would vastly multiply the world's evil; the island keeps him bottled up. Jacob and MIB have an ongoing argument; MIB says all humans are corruptible, Jacob supplies an occasional Job to prove him wrong.

Ricardo goes back to MIB, says he's joined Jacob. MIB says he'll welcome him if he changes his mind. He also gives Richard Isabella's cross necklace, found in the wreck. Ricardo buries it, a sort of proxy funeral for her, I guess.

A brief Ilana flashback, set in the crude hospital where they met before, shows Jacob gaining her promise to protect the Candidates.

In the present, Ilana tells her campmates that Jacob told her Richard would know their next move. He's shocked to learn this. He takes off in the jungle, ready to defect to MIB. Before he leaves, Hurley speaks in Spanish with someone unseen. He tells Jack it has "nothing to do with you."

Richard arrives at the place where he buried the cross. He calls out for MIB. Hurley arrives - he was sent by Isabella's ghost. He convinced Richard that they must stop MIB from leaaving the island, or "we all go to Hell." At a distance, MIB watches.

Next week's episode focuses on the Kwons. Will Sun and Jin finally be reunited?

Update: Forgot to mention a critical plot development. At their initial meeting, Jacob offers to grant Ricardo a wish.His first two wishes Jacob cannot grant: the return of dead Isabella, absolution for his sins. The next thing he thinks of: he doesn't ever want to die. Jacob can arrange that.

Update: A question concerning last week's episode just crossed my mind - how did DHARMA discover the sonic-fence defense against the Smoke Monster?

Labels: Lost, Television