Angry Puppy

In this week’s abbreviated episode, Marc and Lee bring you a report on the Queer Media and Entertainment Conference, updates to the latest episodes of Lost, Doctor Who and Battlestar Galactica and details on voting for the Angry Puppy Hot Geek 10.

Oh, and there’s a painting dog.

There are no headlines this week, but watch this space. I’ll post what we would have talked about over the weekend to make it up to you.

Despite crippling (OK, irritating) sickness, our latest episode is up at AfterElton. If you’re in the New York area, you know that the pollen count is outrageous, but I drugged myself up enough to join Marc in bringing you:

• Headlines: (NewNowNext Awards highlights; X-Men: OC Edition?; Gayest Grand Theft Auto ever?; Matt Damon’s quaint ideas on gaming; Whip-Snap’s comeback; Words you never wanted to hear John Barrowman say)
• John Constantine, Hellblazer: Where to begin?
• Battlestar Galactica: “The Road Less Traveled”
• Lost: “Something Nice Back Home”
• Doctor Who: “The Fires of Pompeii”
• Reaper: “Coming to Grips”
• Blacula: Pioneers in cinematic gay vampirism
• List: The Hot Geek 10
• Shameless plug: Lee’s new LGBT music vlog Homophonic
• And the return of MYSTERY GEEK CHALLENGE

Oh, and here’s a sample of Planet Unicorn which we mention in the headlines:

In this week’s Compound-Raiding Edition (or “compund” if you like typos):

• Takashi Murakami
• Speed Racer
• I Am Legend
• Doctor Who: “Partners in Crime”
• Battlestar Galactica: “Escape Velocity”
• Lost: “The Shape of Things to Come”
• Stuff We Read: DMZ

We mentioned a couple of videos in this episode.

Inochi:

It’s Not a Compound:

We know, we know. The Angry Puppy vlog has the best opening of anything you’ve seen online or off, but we thought we’d open up the race for some lesser known works.

#10 - The Sarah Silverman Program
OK, so it’s not sci-fi, horror or any of those other things in our tagline. But it has everyone’s favorite gay geeks Brian and Steve. What really makes it special is Sarah Silverman’s unique brand of ego-centrism. “People call me on the phone, my parents are dead, I like cookies, why are we doing this?”

#9 - Firefly
This also makes the future list of Ten Shows That Didn’t Have Soundtracks But Really Should Have. The open beautifully sets the tone for the curious half-western/half-science-fiction series. And I can’t get that damned song out of my head.

#8 - The Simpsons
I like the one with the dancing elephants! And the one with the Flintstones! And the bizarre 1930’s one! The fax machine open! The whack-a-mole open! The Monty Python open! The Time Bandits one! The Powers of Ten one! The one with the AOL slow screen load! The awesome monster couches eating the neighborhood! Remember the one where Homer peels off the FOX network bug and stomps on it? The one where Homer evolves from a single-cell organism? And, of course, the staggering genius of the live-action recreation!

#7 - Tales from the Darkside
“Man lives in the sunlit world of what he believes to be reality. But… there is, unseen by most, an underworld, a place that is just as real, but not as brightly lit… a Darkside.” I always wanted the announcer to replace the last two words with “Delaware” for comedic value, but then that would have ruined the moment. Granted, nobody was impressed with either the cheap title graphic or the stock footage flipping to a negative before spinning off the screen in a cheesy wipe. Look, creepy announcer dude with his scary words made for excellent TV in 1985. Just think about what it was up against. Anyone remember the theme song to Misfits of Science? (Yes, with Courtney Cox as telekinesis girl). Nope.

#6 - Doctor Who
If nothing else the Doctor Who show open wins the prize for consistency. The show launched in 1963 with an awesome jaunty theme song and a psychedelic background interrupted only by the show title, and has pretty much remained unchanged in the four or five decades since. Both the theme song and the background have evolved through various iterations, with the modern version taking the most orchestral approach to the track, while the title emerges on a nifty surfboard-like graphic. Long-time fans of the series get the added bonus of feeling like they’re really traveling through time as they sit down today to re-experience the series they grew up on.

#5 - The Tick (the animated series)
Dub dwee, dub dub dub dwee dow! We love The Tick because it’s a spot-on parody of the superhero genre. Sometimes subtle and sometimes… well, not so much. The show open nails it from the beginning with a mix of overstated sequences demonstrating action scenes and The Tick’s general ineptitude, all overlaid with a fast-paced theme song sung through with nonsense lyrics.

#4 - Dexter
This feels more like a work of art than a show open. It’s a gorgeous cinematic sequence of our anti-hero waking up on a typical morning and getting ready for a long day of examining blood splatters, hangin’ with sis and carrying out vigilante justice. We’re especially fond of any show open that can pack in so many direct and indirect references to blood. Yay blood!

#3 - Lost
Anything we write here will be longer than the Lost intro. Click to see how easily it could have gone wrong.

#2 - Battlestar Galactica
In the face of shrinking attention spans, a lot of shows these days are forgoing opening credits and theme songs altogether. Battlestar Galactica, however, has two!

You don’t care that they have a plan? OK, here’s some pretty music, awesome space fight scenes and that ever-decreasing count of the entire human population.

#1 - Cowboy Bebop
Three, two, one, let’s jam! What’s not to love about the fantastic open to this super-cool anime series that celebrates modern music against a background fusion of western and sci fi genres. The intro looks like what Roy Lichtenstein might see if he dropped acid while reading pulp novels in a really excellent jazz club. The art is incredible, the action, guns, and dancing chicks rival the best Bond opens, and that bit at the end where the trumpet freaks out is pure genius. See you space cowboy…

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What more can we say, really? Inspired by the sexy dad on the new series The Sarah Jane Adventures, here’s our list.

For the record we left out a couple of the perhaps more obvious choices on account of weird political stuff mixed up in either the actors or the characters or works themselves (e.g., Tom Cruise’s Ray Ferrier from War of the Worlds, or a couple of the guys from 300). As always we want to know whether you agree, disagree, and especially want to know if we missed anyone!

#10 - Jonathan Kent from Smallville (John Schneider)

Some of us still haven’t quite worked that Dukes of Hazzard crush out of our system, but we have to say this: the guy really ages well.

#9 - Mike Donovan from V (Marc Singer)

Oh, Beastmaster, save us from the evil lizard people and their not at all fun dinner plans!

#8 - D.L. Hawkins from Heroes (Leonard Roberts)

Oh, no, there’s someone in our room, but how can that be when we left the door locked? Oh, it’s you. Well, hello.

#7 - Jack Bauer from 24 (Kiefer Sutherland)

Now for the first time we finally understand the purpose of Kim Bauer’s character… so Jack could qualify for this list!

#6 - Alan Jackson from The Sarah Jane Adventures (Joseph Millson)

And why exactly is he divorced? Is it really about his babbling, self-centered ex-wife, or could it be…? (Please let him be gay, please let him be gay, please let him be gay.)

#5 - Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel (David Boreanaz)

We love our dark, brooding anti-heroes. And when Hamlet’s not available we turn to our favorite vampire with the cool coat and the occasional brogue.

#4 - Wolverine from The Uncanny X-Men

Snikt.

#3 - George Lutz from The Amityville Horror (James Brolin - 1979 & Ryan Reynolds - 2005)

Curiously the character of Lutz lands on the number three spot due to the two guys who played him most memorably, and not at all because of the real George Lutz. Sorry, dude.

#2 - Jin-Soo Kwon from Lost (Daniel Dae Kim)

Now that he’s a soon-to-be dad (and finally treating Sun right) we proudly crown Jin with the number two spot. Does anyone know how to say “come down to the bunker for a minute” in Korean?

#1 - Karl “Helo” Agathon from Battlestar Galactica (Tahmoh Penikett)

This show has a number of attractive guys but we like Agathon’s offbeat good looks the best, and eagerly await the chance to see more of him in Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse.

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