SpockSoc

Week 11: Sanctuary + AGM

Hey all!

Only one more week of session after this, aww. But on the plus side, this week’s our AGM, yay! Come and hear how the club is going, and maybe even run for a position on the exec. All positions are up for grabs, but remember you have to be a student and arc member to be president, secretary or treasurer.

Oh, and we’ll be showing Sanctuary. Starting from episode eight (since we showed up to episode seven at our last screening). The series stars Amanda Tapping (Sam Carter in Stargate) as Doctor Helen Magnus, a woman who became immortal as a result of experiments with vampire blood. Now, she runs a sanctuary for all sorts of creatures who need her help – werewolves, lizard men, creepy worm-paratise things from Chernobyl. Et cetera.

We’ll be starting at 5pm in Goldstein G06 – come at 7:30 for just the AGM. Pizza run as normal during the night. I’m also bringing a tasty oreo cheesecake as incentive for people to come to the AGM. Don’t take it as bribing for votes. =)

Week 10: Supernatural

This week at SpockSoc, we’re showing classic episodes of Supernatural. We’ll decide on the night which episodes we want to watch, but we’ll probably just start from the very start and see how things go from there. It’s in Goldstein G06 as usual, starting from 5pm. Pizza run during the night.

Also, remember: AGM next week. I’ll be bringing a home-made oreo cheesecake as incentive. =) It’ll be in the room during the screening – if you can’t make it to the whole screening, we’ll aim to have it around 7:30 or so, so you can just try to turn up then. Be there. =)

Week 9: Legend of the Seeker

This week at SpockSoc, we’ll be continuing showing Legend of the Seeker. It’s based on the Sword of Truth novels by Terry Goodkind. The series follows the epic journey of a young woods guide named Richard Cypher (played by Craig Horner), a mysterious woman named Kahlan Amnell (Bridget Regan), and a wizard named Zeddicus Zu’l Zorander (Bruce Spence) to stop Darken Rahl (Craig Parker) from unleashing an ancient and terrifying power.

In our first screening last session, we showed roughly the first third of the season, and we’ll probably manage another third at this screening. We’ll start at 5pm in Golstein G06, as ever. Pizza run during the night.

Also, our AGM is coming up in two weeks, in week eleven. Be there, or be… without a club. Cause, you know, we can’t get reafilliated if people don’t show up to the AGM. And that’d be a Bad Thing. Yup. So… please? All exec positions are open for the taking, but we’ll only allow nominations of people who are present at the meeting. Also, president, treasurer and secretary must be UNSW students, and should also be Arc members.

Week 8: Dollhouse

Hope you enjoyed the mid-session break. This week at SpockSoc, we’re showing Dollhouse, right from the very start. Dollhouse is the new series by Joss Whedon (of Buffy and Firefly fame). I haven’t seen any of it before, but it’s apparently good.

Eliza Dushku plays a young woman called Echo, a member of a group of people known as “Actives” or “Dolls”. The Dolls are people whose personalities and existence in the world have been wiped clean to be imprinted with any number of new personas. Contents of an imprint may include semantic memory, muscle memory, skills, and language, as appropriate for different assignments (referred to as “engagements”).
A new persona can be an amalgam of several real people, and the end result necessarily incorporates both strengths and flaws from the template personalities. The Actives are then hired out for particular jobs, which can be anything from committing a crime to enacting a fantasy to performing the occasional good deed. On engagements, Actives are monitored internally (and remotely) by Handlers. In between engagements they are mind-wiped into a child-like state and live in a futuristic dorm/laboratory, a hidden facility nicknamed “The Dollhouse”.
The Dollhouse is located somewhere in Los Angeles and is a subsidiary of a mysterious research group known as the Rossum Corporation. The story follows Echo, who begins, in her mind-wiped state, to become self-aware.

I’ll be away this week, so James will be running the screening. 5pm in Goldstein G06, pizza run as usual.

On a side note, our AGM will be coming up in the next few weeks – we’d really like people to turn up to that so we can be re-affiliated, so some indication of a Friday that most people have free would be helpful.

Mid-Session: Crusoe

Hope you’re enjoying your mid-session break. We will be having a screening this week, and hopefully things have been sorted out with security so that the alarm won’t be going off.

This week, we’re showing the second half of Crusoe. It’s a thirteen-episode series vaguely based on Daniel Defoe’s novel Robinson Crusoe. Robinson Crusoe (played by Philip Winchester) is stranded on an island – for six years, his only companion has been Friday (Tongayi Chirisa), a man he rescued from being eaten by cannibals. When last we saw our heroes, a possible rescue had come, in the form of a ship damaged when it drew near the island. Unfortunately, the ship is lead by mutineers, who keep the crew in line with fear, and keep the captain imprisoned.

Over the course of the series, it’s been revealed in flashbacks that Crusoe is married to Susannah (Anna Walton, who looks exactly like Lalla Ward, but isn’t) with two children. Since his father was executed for rebellion against the British throne, he himself falls under suspicion of joining the new rebellion against James II, lead by the Duke of Monmouth. Finanically ruined by his unscrupulous brother-in-law and wanted by the law, he is forced to turn to long-time family friend and godfather to his children, Jeremiah Blackthorn (Sam Neill), who smuggles him onto a ship bound for the New World… though some signifcant glances were going on between Jeremiah and the ship’s captain. It’s this ship that was wrecked, stranding Crusoe on the island. Now, unaware of what has happened to those he loves, Crusoe is desperate to return home…

Which brings us all up-to-date for the first episode we’ll be showing on Friday. We’ll have time enough to finish the whole series. We’ll be starting at 5pm in Goldstein G06 as ever, pizza run as normal.

Week 7: Mystery Atlts

This week at SpockSoc, Mystery Atlts – the final third of season five. I don’t know how much you need to know from previous episodes, but I’d be surprised if it’s more than can be explained with recaps at the start of episodes, so come along even if you’re not completely up to where we are.

Due to assorted availability restrictions, the originally-scheduled screening for this week, Doll house, has been moved to week eight in place of this Atlts screening, and the AGM will be postponed until a later screening.

As usual, it’s 6pm in Goldstein G06. Pizza run as normal.

Week 6: Eureka

This week at SpockSoc, we’re showing Eureka. It got cancelled shortly before our last screening of it, leaving us with only one episode left to show, but has since gotten de-canceled, giving us more episodes to show, yay. By some coincidence, the episode immediately prior to the last one we showed will be on TV at Midnight on Friday, if people have been watching.

Since it’s been a while since we last saw any, here’s a brief recap. Eureka is a town where America’s best scientists have been gathered together since Einstein created it during World War II. Essentially, the whole town is full of geniuses, who, when things go wrong (as they inevitably do) tend to wreak havoc with the very laws of time and space.

Meet Jack Carter, formally a US Marshall, now town Sheriff. An average Joe who found himself being transferred to Eureka. He’s the only man in town stupid enough to actually solve the assorted things that happen. Figures. Other characters include his daughter Zoe, sister Lexi, love interest and boss Allison, deputy Jo, town mayor/mechanic/forensic/rocket scientist Henry, and general gofer guy Fargo.

In any case, the first half of season three introduced Eva Thorne, also known as The Fixer – sent to Eureka to restructure Global Dynamics (the company that oversees the town) after a spot of espionage from a rival company almost resulted in secret technologies being stolen. However, Ms Thorne, unbeknownst to the other characters, has a history with the town. Something happened there right back in the thirties, before the town was built, and secrets still lie buried in the tunnels beneath.

Which brings us to the first episode we’ll watch on Friday. Don’t worry if you didn’t get any of what I’ve said, as there’s a rather extensive recap at the start of the episode. Screening starts at 5pm in Goldstein G06 – pizza run as normal. (That’s $5 per half pizza.)

Movie: District 9

Hey all!

SpockSoc is going to see District 9 tomorrow night at the Randwick Ritz. The movie starts at 9:20pm, so we’ll meet up outside at 8:50 and head in together if people so desire. Yeah, I know that’s late, but the prior screening is 4pm, which is too early. We won’t pre-buy tickets, but SpockSoc will reimburse $2 to any member that asks. Remember, Ritz Tuesday tickets are now $8 each.

An extraterrestrial race forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth suddenly find a kindred spirit in a government agent that is exposed to their biotechnology. It’s produced by Peter Jackson (who did Lord of the Rings) and directed by some poor schmuck (Neill Blomkamp) who has been completely overshadowed the producer.

Hope to see you there.

You can also see the short film that became the basis for District 9:

Alive in Joberg

Week 4: Torchwood & Caprica

This week, we’ve showing two things. Firstly, Torchwood: Children of Earth – the five-episode story which comprises the entirety of season three. As per usual for Torchwood, it’s dark and disturbing, but really quite good. As an extra bonus, it’s fancy-schmancy HD, unlike most other episodes we’ve been showing, but if you can tell the difference on the uni projection screen, then best of luck to you.

Secondly, the pilot for Caprica, the Battlestar Galactica spinoff series. Essentially Caprica is to BSG as Torchwood is to Doctor Who, but without Captain Jack. A small warning, Caprica contains gratuitous. Just gratuitous. You name it, and Caprica has it, gratuitously.

I won’t be there, so Vice President James will be running the screening. Normal time, normal place – 5pm in Goldstein G06 – and pizza run as usual.

Week 3: The Lost World

This week we’re showing an oldish series called The Lost World, based on the Arthur Conan Doyle novel of the same name (not the Jurassic Park sequel by Michael Crichton =P)

At the dawn of the 20th century, a band of adventurers are part of an expedition to prove the existence of a lost world isolated from the modern world. Disaster happens and the band find themselves trapped and isolated in this dangerous land with only the help of a young wild woman who was stranded in the land herself as a child. Together, the band fight to survive against the fearsome dinosaurs and other dangers that the land has as they search for a way to escape.

We’ll decide what episodes to watch on the night, but we’ll probably just start from the start and see what happens. It’s on from 5pm in Goldstein G06 – pizza run as usual.

Hope to see you there.