Category Archives: Television

Longmire – The Cold Dish

For three seasons on A&E Walt Longmire (Robert Taylor) has been the determined Sheriff of Absaroka County Wyoming. His friend Henry Standing Bear (Lou Diamond Phillips) has shown audiences what a true friend is, being the man who will stand by Walt when his world feels as though it is falling apart, because his wife has passed away, and having his back in all situations.

Vic Moretti (Katee Sackhoff) if a no nonsense deputy (undersheriff?) with the skills the county needs in the Sheriff’s department to help solve crimes and uphold the laws, but also to support their Sheriff and balance his skill set. She may not be a local girl, but she brings city cop training, knowledge of ballistics and Crime Scene solving into the mix.

These are all characters that Craig Johnson brought to life in his series of novels that began with The Cold Dish. With nearly a dozen Longmire novels, seven of which were in print before the series began airing, the characters had taken form and the relationships were clearly defined… and many aspects translated directly to the show beautifully. Yet there are aspects that were clearly changed, noticeably and yet not in a negative way, just in a way that as I read I stopped and said, “hmm, I see what you did there,” and took a moment to wonder why.

In the Longmire from Book To Screen Deluxe Teaser, which predominantly contains sample chapters from the books, there is a foreward by Craig Johnson which talks about some of the changes that took place, and the process of going from his original books to the Television series. He specifically addresses the age change of the title Character Longmire, who is older in the novels than on the TV show. The change was made, quite simply, to afford the show more seasons, and while they did make him younger, they did not do it so dramatically or drastically that I found it distracting. And I felt that while they shaved some years off of his age, they did not shave off so many that negated the possibility of his back story, they simply changed the details of it, and it still works, because he is old enough to have still had time to have had a job before he was Sheriff, to have lived a complex life, etc.

I felt they also changed aspects of the relationship between Longmire and Lucian Connally… and as so often happens when I have the opportunity to read source material I want to go back and rewatch the entire series from start to finish and get a better idea of how close the two works are to one another.

I started reading The Cold Dish, the first Longmire novel, days after I watched the season 3 season finale. I was in awe of how the season ended, knew I had the Longmire novel at hand, and wanted to spend more time with the Longmire characters, so the timing, in that respect, felt perfect.

Throughout the novel I was aware I had seen this basic plot on the show, and yet it felt… different… there was a familiarity to it, without a full on sense of deja-vu, which I appreciated. I felt like I was along for a ride with old friends, without feeling like I knew what was coming around every turn, and there were no surprises in store for me. By the time I got to the end, I was certain I had encountered the crime before, and yet, while I have a fairly good memory for the who-done-its, Craig Johnson had surprised me, and I wanted to know what I had forgotten.

After a little digging around I found that I was correctly recalling similar plot points were in the tenth episode of the first season, and yet, I do not feel it would be fair to say that the episode was pulled directly from this novel — so while each might give you hints and things to think about while enjoying the other, I’m not convinced either will help you solve the who-done-it in the other. And yes, to me, that makes each twice as powerful.

I for one am grateful there are nearly a dozen more books for me to read in this Penguin Mystery series. While I cross my fingers, and join the multitudes hoping for a fourth season, at least I’ll have some reading material to keep me from missing Longmire and his pals too much.

For more info, you may want to visit: Craig Johnson’s Website

Longmire, A&E’s contemporary crime thriller set in Big Sky country, is based on the Walt Longmire mystery novels by bestselling author Craig Johnson. The series stars Australian actor Robert Taylor (The Matrix) as Walt Longmire, the charismatic, dedicated and unflappable sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming, along with Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Gallactica) as his right-hand deputy Vic Moretti, Lou Diamond Phillips (Numb3rs), Bailey Chase (Damages), and Cassidy Freeman (Smallville)

Outlander – The Way Out

Outlander – The Way Out, the third episode of Season 1, is a particularly interesting episode. One of the subplots of the episode is directly from the book, and the entire episode feels like it could have been pulled directly from the book (and some scenes appear to have been shuffled into this episode out of earlier chapters of the book) but if you are reading along in the novel Outlander you need only finish chapter 9.

Chapter 10, approximately page 178 of the novel, is where The Gathering begins in earnest, and as it happens, the title of episode 4 is slated to be… The Gathering.

Episode three might be one of the best episodes for those wanting to get a feel for how the book is being translated to the screen. The plot-point that was taken as a subplot directly to the screen was the one that, as a reader, struck me as significant, and telling about multiple characters. In an earlier article I remarked that it can be interesting to see what scenes in the book are so significant that every person in the collaborative process that it takes to make it a tv show is struck by that scene and agrees it needs to be on the screen. As a reader this was one of those scenes I hoped they felt the weight and impact of.

The subplot they added, the character they created, to me made perfect sense, and again spoke volumes about every character that interacted with him.

Episode three had a nice balance to it, some moments that spun on the intonation with which lines were delivered, and the body language that characters made sure only one or two others saw… it was this deliberateness in some cases, and subtlety in others that kept my eyes on the screen, and kept me interested from start to finish… and had me wanting to re-read the book yet again, wondering if there were things I had missed, things I should have noticed, things I might now understand differently because I could quite literally see them differently having just seen them on screen.

It is quite safe to say Diana Gabaldon’s series of Outlander novels stand alone quite successfully. And the STARZ Outlander television series likewise stands alone, and can be viewed independently of the books and a compelling drama unfolds before your eyes. But the two, in combination, create this extraordinary experience, where one sets you up with questions to ponder and ask as you experience the other… whichever you experience first keeps you guessing during the other even though you are pretty darn sure you know the journey you are being taken on.

Orphan Black – Podcast Coming

We (John Mayo of ComicBookPage, Kay Kellam of PopArtsPlace, the lovely Erica / TV Heartbeat of MikeTheFanBoy and Linda Chan) have recorded an Orphan Black podcast, which will be going up in the not too distant future. For those who have not yet tuned in to Orphan Black — take some time and check out the first two seasons, which are currently available to be viewed in a variety of ways, including free video-on-demand on Time Warner Cable Boxes.

For those attending Fan Expo Canada in Toronto next week, we have tried to figure out a list of Orphan Black filming locations that fans have identified that are within striking distance of the convention center. My original purpose was to give John Mayo and myself something fun to do between the time we arrived and the convention began Thursday, but the more I found and began plotting, the more I thought others might be interested. (And I should mention it was the Lovely Erica who first mentioned to me that we might be able to see some of the Orphan Black filming locations while in Toronto! Great call Erica!)

At this point I have come up with a 6 mile tour of down town that takes you in a giant loop ending at the convention center. Several of the locations are in the general vicinity of the convention center and I am trying to whittle this list down to a much shorter selection that could be a walking tour done Thursday morning before the convention begins.

For those who have not watched the series, there are some spoilers below as I give rough descriptions to identify locations. You may want to stop reading at this point!

The following link should take you to the 6 mile route: https://goo.gl/maps/3Cp3R

The first 6 addresses make up a shorter ( 3.5 mile ) route

Union Station Rail Station — half a mile from the convention center, is where Beth is seen in her attention grabbing appearance in the pilot episode.

35 Mariner Terrace, Toronto, ON M5V 3V9 — Beth’s Condo (approximately half a mile’s walk from the convention center)

17 Iceboat Terrace, Toronto, ON M5V — Paul stands on the Puente de Luz footbridge while talking on the cell phone given to him by Sarah, via the skateboarder

28 Bathurst St, Toronto, ON M5V 2P1 — After the decoy skateboarder girl fools Daniel Rosen and his thugs, Sarah runs to the steel bridge at Front St. W and Bathurst St

1812 Lounge – Thompson Hotel, 550 Wellington St W, Toronto, ON M5V — Sara goes in with hat and sunglasses

483 Queen St W, Toronto, ON M5V 2A9 – Felix’s Loft (Exterior)

59 St George St, Toronto, ON M5S 3H4 — Helena’s second hideout, Knox College (looks like a church)

83 St Joseph St, Toronto, ON M5S — House that was supposed to be in Minneapolis

University of Toronto – Saint Michaels College, 81 St Mary St, Toronto, ON M5S 1J4 – Cosima spends a lot of time at the U of T.

130 Elizabeth St, Toronto, ON M5G 1C3 — Leekie meets Cosima at the Toronto Coach Terminal

19 Toronto St, Toronto, ON M5C 2R1 — The restaurant where Cosima and Delphine have dinner, and are joined by Dr. Leekie, is the Rosewater Supper Club

Metro Toronto Convention Centre North, Front Street West, Toronto, ON — Fan Expo Canada

To create this list of locations I relied on two lists I found online put together by very attentive and resourceful fans at orphanblack.wikia and Torontoist.com I am indebted to them for sharing their findings with other fans, and any mistakes are entirely my own. I am in no way attempting to take credit for their efforts or hard work, I merely attempted to arrange for myself and those I will be attending Fan Expo with a Orphan Black sightseeing tour, and realized others might be interested in seeing the maps and having a chance to do the same if they had the time. I can not thank the fans enough for sharing their discoveries, and helping out tourists like us.

You may want to look at the link to google maps that shows all of the locations, and see if any of them are near the hotel you are staying in, or convenient in some other way, or break up the sight-seeing into more than one jaunt.

Additionally fans of the TV show Flashpoint should be sure to take a moment to go into the Royal York Hotel, and check out both the lobby and mezzanine which were used nicely, and obviously. in the episode Broken Peace, the first episode of Season five. Aside from the filming that has taken place at the Royal York Hotel, the hotel has a fantastic history, and is well worth taking some time to see while in Toronto.

Another site we are hoping to fit into our time in Toronto is Casa Loma. Like the Royal York Hotel, Casa Loma has a rich history, and has been used in the filming of many projects, including as Xavier’s Institute for gifted children in the 2000 X-men movie. (Yes, that would be the Patrick Stewart Xavier.)

ABC’s Forever

ABC’s Forever, poster from the ABC.com Site

One of the great joys of San Diego’s Comic Con International is discovering new television shows, new books, new… things you simply did not know were out there, or were coming out, but catch your eye, spark your imagination, and capture some part of your mind and make you wonder just what the creative forces behind it have in store for you.

While I waited for my turn to get an autograph from the cast of Resurrection I saw a trailer for the show Forever and I had one of those moments. The discovery of a show I knew nothing about, and yet suddenly I was curious. In thirty seconds, perhaps 60, they told me just enough to want to know more, to want to tune in for an hour and find out just who are these characters and what kind of trouble are they going to get into — and back out of!