The Walking Dead Marathon Begins: Today In Science And Science Fiction
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The Walking Dead (AMC, 7/8c) — “Days Gone Bye”
We’re only a week away from the return of AMC’s The Walking Dead, which kicks off its fourth season Sunday night with an episode called “30 Days Without an Accident.” We’re keeping our fingers crossed that it builds on the successes of the third season while jettisoning its failures. If nothing else, it should be interesting for fans of the comic series as it continues to diverge from its source material. If you have never given the show a chance and want to catch up in time for the season premiere, or if you’re just in the mood to rewatch the episodes and you don’t own them, AMC will be marathoning the entire run of the show beginning tonight with the very first episode, “Days Gone Bye,” followed by the rest of the first five. AMC will follow suit for the rest of the week, airing five per night through Friday. Saturday at noon they’ll begin a final push, where the third season episodes will air straight through until the fourth season premiere Sunday night.
Just remember: “DON’T OPEN. DEAD INSIDE.”
He’ll Be Back
On this day in 2003, murderous future cyborg Arnold Schwarzenegger, having altered the timeline to ensure his victory, won the governorship of California. While his election didn’t result in California becoming a bleak, skull-covered hellscape, it did provide plentiful material for comedians, guaranteeing that all of us would soon be oh-so-very tired of hearing the word “Governator.” He has since returned to acting, appearing in movies such as The Last Stand and the upcoming Escape Plan. Whatever the other effects of his political career, it certainly didn’t improve his acting…
Rock ’em, Sock ’em
The Hugh Jackman “boxing robots” flick Real Steel opened on this day in 2011. It wasn’t an instant classic, but it’s a nice little flick that pulled in around $293 million worldwide. In it, Hugh Jackman plays Charlie Kenton, a former boxer in a future when his sport has been taken over by robotic fighters. Deep in debt, Charlie and his young son scavenge and restore an outdated robot boxer…and it starts winning fights. What most people probably don’t know is that Real Steel is actually based on the short story 1956 “Steel,” penned by genre legend Richard Matheson. Long before Real Steel, it was first adapted into a 1963 Twilight Zone episode called simply “Steel.”
Ro, Ro, Ro Your Boat Starship
Star Trek: The Next Generation introduced the fan-favorite character Ensign Ro Laren on October 7, 1991, in the episode aptly titled “Ensign Ro.” Played by Michelle Forbes, Ro appeared in several more episodes over the years, and also helped establish her race, the Bajorans, as a major part of the Trek universe, one that would be explored in detail in Deep Space Nine. As for Forbes, she went on to put in appearances in several other noteworthy science fiction series, including Battlestar Galactica and Lost.
