BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: Razor Flashbacks

The news Battlestar Galactica's final season won't air until April 2008 in the US (likely to be June/July in the UK) isn't good. But I'm getting increasingly psyched for the prequel special Razor -- released late-November in the US (December in the UK, hopefully.)

Also, if you've been missing them, special mini-episodes ("Razor Flashbacks") have been circulating from the Sci-Fi Channel website onto YouTube recently. Now, I know -- usually such episodes play like deleted scenes and filler -- but the Razor Flashbacks are really high-quality stuff!

So good in fact, that I'm pretty sure they must be from the actual show itself -- the effects are amazing and very ambitious for TV.

So, if you've yet to see them:

Razor Flashback 1, Razor Flashback 2, Razor Flashback 3 and Razor Flashback 4.

Original Cylons and old-style Raiders :)

Day 27: Evil Dead II (1987)

The Evil Dead was a notorious film in the UK, often cited as an example of the "video nasties" that were supposedly infiltrating people's homes via home video cassette. It was a 1981 low-budget horror about a haunted cabin out in the woods, where a group of friends are terrorized by various demons, until Ash (Bruce Campbell) becomes the sole survivor...

The possibility of a sequel was discussed by director Sam Raimi during production of Evil Dead, with the idea being to send hero Ash back in time to the Middle Ages (an idea that eventually come to fruition for the next sequel Army Of Darkness.)

Post-Evil Dead, Raimi instead went on to make Crimewave and expected it to be a big hit. Irvin Shapiro, a publicist who is credited as being responsible for Evil Dead's mainstream success, asked Raimi to instead consider doing Evil Dead II, but Raimi refused. Despite that, Shapiro put out adverts to promote the as-yet-unmade sequel!

Crimewave was released in 1985 and failed dismally at the box-office. Raimi and his producing partner Rob Tapert, fearing another flop would end their careers, accepted Shapiro's offer to make a sequel to Evil Dead. At the same time, hotshot producer Dino De Laurentiis approached Raimi about making the film adaptation of Stephen King's short story Thinner. Raimi declined, but King himself heard about the discussions and persuaded De Laurentiis to fund Evil Dead II, as he'd been a vocal supporter/fan of the first film.

De Laurentiis stumped up $3.6 million, which wasn't enough for Raimi and Tapert to pursue their Middle Ages idea. Instead, they opted for a straight sequel -- although legal reasons prevented Evil Dead II using scenes from the first film as a recap. They were forced to re-shoot a prologue, only with Ash and girlfriend as the only characters depicted in the prior events.

It's this unusual step that has meant Evil Dead II is often confused as being a remake of the first film. While that's not strictly true, it's very understandable. Both films are essentially the same story, only with Evil Dead II more interested in ghoulish laughs than the original...

Raimi, working with old friend Scott Spiegel, wrote the script with influences of slapstick humour included. Both nen had particularly loved The Three Stooges as children, and Evil Dead II is full of similar gags, physical performance and sight gags.

Actual filming took place in Wadesboro, North Carolina, not far from De Laurentiis' production offices. The shoot was far easier than Evil Dead's, primarily because of Raimi's additional experience, but there were some frustrations along the way: Sam's brother, actor Ted Raimi, had a particularly awful costume to wear as a fake shemp, with litres of sweat collecting under the latex.

Evil Dead II was released on 13 March 1987 and has so far made $5.9 million. It has since become a favourite horror-comedy of many people, and is often used to best exemplify that particularly sub-genre (along with An American Werewolf In London).

A direct sequel, Army Of Darkness, was released in 1993 -- this time with a budget to bring Raimi's Middle Ages idea to life. The sequel was more silly and jokey, so it's not to everyone's taste, but it's still entertaining with memorable scenes and lines. Of the "trilogy", Evil Dead II is most peoples' favourite, as it's far easier to watch than Evil Dead and gets the gore-to-gags quotient just right...

Sam Raimi obviously went on to greater successes, culminating recently with the Spider-Man trilogy (which featured memorable comic cameo's from friend Bruce Campbell.) Along with Peter Jackson, he's another director of a blockbuster movie trilogy who started out in low-budget horror.

Bruce Campbell has become synonymous with the Evil Dead movies and is now a cult hero for horror fans. He never managed to break into the mainstream, despite numerous attempts in the 90s on TV shows like Xena: Warrior Princess and Brisco County Jr, so has since embraced his B-movie credentials to star in things like Bubba-Hotep and various cheesy sci-fi/horror flicks. He's currently taken a straight acting gig on TV show Burn Notice, playing a former spy -- perhaps as another stab at mainstream credibility.

The prospect of a Evil Dead IV is often rumoured, with Raimi constantly teasing fans about the possibility he'll helm a low-budget sequel in-between mainstream flicks. More recently, a musical based on the first film has appeared, as well as a surge in merchandise like video-games, T-shirts, board games, action figures, etc.

A big-budget remake of Evil Dead is also on the cards now, with Raimi's blessing -- although fans are disappointed Bruce Campbell is unlikely to reprise his role...

Trivia

1. After shooting, Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell sang The Byrds' "Eight Miles High".

2. The glove belonging to Freddy Kruger can be seen in the tool shed. This was a return in-joke, as A Nightmare On Elm Street had featured Evil Dead on a TV screen.

3. Sam Raimi cameo's as the first medieval knight to greet Ash when he arrives in the past.

4. The film features an Oldsmobile Delta 88, which is a trademark of Raimi's films -- as that particular make of car appears in nearly all his films.

5. Most of the film was actually shot inside a High School gymnasium!

Links

Deadites Online

TRAILER PARK: Rambo

"... killing's as easy as breathing..."

Background: 10 years after Rambo III and a staggering 26 years since First Blood, Sylvester Stallone will return as the Vietnam vet and super-soldier, who became an icon of 80s action cinema. Sly's hoping to achieve the same success he had with Rocky Balboa last year -- by going back-to-basics with the concept, refusing to dilute the content, and accepting the ravages of age on his character. Will it work again?

Review: The trailer is a sanitized version of the red-band trailer that stunned the internet community a few months back, with its graphic depictions of violence (throat rips, neck snaps, head exploding from gunfire, etc.) It all looks suitably grim, sweat and violent, with a no-nonsense attitude and tangible atmosphere. Of course, it had the whiff of straight-to-video about it, but it's commendably straight-forward about its intentions.

Prediction: I think it's very likely Rambo will succeed in a similar way to Rocky Balboa. In many ways, Balboa was the trickier film to get right -- as the original is a bonafide classic. Rambo just needs to blow shit up 80s-style and it'll please the old fans, and probably make some new fans along the way.

HD 480P (46MB)
HD 720P (122MB)
HD 1080P (174MB)

(Note: to play, download the file and rename it to "rambo.mov", or whatever.)

Box Office Charts: w/e 26 October 2007

Vampire chiller 30 Days Of Night has a good opening at #1... sporting comedy The Comebacks drops to #5... Ben Affleck's directorial debut gets great reviews, to take #6... Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas is re-released for Halloween and enters the chart at #8... while Rendition flops in at #9.

US TOP 10

1. 30 Days Of Night $16m
2. Why Did I Get Married? $12.2m
3. The Game Plan $8.18m
4. Michael Clayton $6.68m
5. The Comebacks $5.58m
6. Gone Baby Gone $5.5m
7. We Own The Night $5.42m
8. The Nightmare Before Christmas $5.33m
9. Rendition $4.06m
10. The Heartbreak Kid $3.81m

Ratatouille keeps the #1 spot, beating Stardust into #2... Rendition does well to take #3, particularly when you consider it has flopped in the US... The Seeker similarly flops in the UK with a debut at #7... Atonement begins to slip from the chart... and Nancy Drew failed to draw in the half-term school crowd, in at #10.

UK TOP 10

1. Ratatouille £3.05m
2. Stardust £2.2m
3. Rendition £5.83k
4. The Heartbreak Kid £458k
5. Resident Evil: Extinction £429k
6. Run, Fat Boy, Run £223k
7. The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising £214k
8. The Kingdom £210k
9. Atonement £136k
10. Nancy Drew £135k

UK RELEASES THIS WEEK

EASTERN PROMISES
A London midwife finds herself embroiled with the Russian mafia after investigating a dead girl's diary. Violent thriller starring Viggo Mortense and Naomi Watts, from director David Cronenberg.

SAW IV
Jigsaw and his young apprentice are dead, but detectives become involved in another twisted game. Horror sequel starring Tobin Bell.

Aliens Vs Predator: Predalien Revealed!

As a huge fan of Alien, my feelings about Alien Vs Predator were very mixed. On the one hand, the idea of pitting H.R Giger's Alien against Stan Winston's Predator, in an extended fight, spoke strongly to my inner-geek. But, while I enjoyed it in a disposable way, it was clearly a cynical cash-in and sullied the memory of the Alien franchise in particular (although you could argue the process began with Alien3...)

Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem is now on the horizon (Jan '08 in the UK), and it looks to be more of the same, if you've seen the trailer. Which is fine. I wish we could have a serious Alien 5 to complete the saga instead of these "versus" movies, but... both Alien and the Predator are such iconic monster designs, I can happily watch them tear each other apart with brainless glee. These films are the modern-day equivalent of 1962s King Kong Vs Godzilla -- and I treat them as such...

The above photo shows the "Predalien" creature -- the result of a Predator/Alien hybrid, that provided the climactic shock-ending of AVP. It makes no marketing sense to officially reveal your movie's "super-villain" in the press, but I don't think the makers care. A bit of mystery may have been taken away from AVP2, but I doubt the target audience will stay away because of that...

Still... Predator-style mandibles and dreadlocks on a Alien? Are hairstyles determined by DNA?

THE PETER SERAFINOWICZ SHOW 1.4 – "Episode 4"

Yes, I'm still watching. There's not much else on at 9.30 on a Thursday night and at least TPSS isn't relying on catchphrases and repeating sketches joke-for-joke. Well, not quite.

Interestingly, my blogs about Peter Serafinowicz are amongst the most popular according to my stats -- so there's clearly a lot of love out there...

The sketch-by-sketch review:

Buy It Channel: I like the style of these shopping channel sketches, with Catherine Shepherd a particular delight as the female co-host. This time, the presenters' too-honest selling technique is interrupted by an ant infestation... leading to spiders, and later snakes being released to tackle the escalating problem. A funny idea that's nicely developed and escalates.

BBN News: Quick and funny, this time embellished with a reporter only able to explain the news via a game of Pictionary.

Acting Masterclass... with Ralph Fiennes: Not the best use of this acting masterclass idea, although the idea to transform Fiennes into Rigsby from Rising Damp was fun.

Alcoholic Chat: A chat-line, with alcoholics.

Poirot Loves Miss Marple: Hercule Poirot basically interrupting his investigations to shag Miss Marple without his assistants realizing what's going on. Not bad, but did it justify recurence throughout the episode? No.

O! News: Always one of the show's highlights, but this week's was a little bland: Hugh Heffner is gay, Stallone doing another Rocky and Al Pacino performing in a one-man Godfather musical reprise.

Butterfield Diet: Well, the character's growing on me, and this was the best use of him so far – a painfully low-food diet program, with a 24-hour mass-binge on Saturdays.

Michael-6: A one-sketch joke, pointlessly returning every week.

Amnesia Magazine: Obvious, but an amusing idea.

Déjà Vu Magazine: Har-har.

Modern Life... Let's Get Fit: These 70s instructional films are usually the best thing on TPSS, but this one was the weakest yet. Mildly amusing at times.

Paranoia Magazine: Yeah, we get it...

License To Tell Jokes: James Bond's classic quips, used as stand-up material for Roger Moore on a new DVD release. Good stuff.

Ringo on "Imagine": Perfect impression, as Ringo remembers John Lennon's original lyrics to "Imagine" – which were boastful and self-obsessed. Worth a chuckle.

Duke Barrel Cheese: The cheese for liars. Odd and quite funny.

So yeah; below-average overall, and perhaps only better than Episode 2 because the characters/ideas have embedded themselves now.

I still think this series is disappointing and desperately in need of quality-control, but when the sketch show competition (beyond Catherine Tate and Little Britain) is dross like Tittybangbang, it's comparatively a work of genius.


25 October 2007
BBC2, 9.30 pm

CALIFORNICATION 1.3 – "The Whore Of Babylon"

Writer: Tom Kapinos

Director: Scott Winant

Cast: David Duchovny (Hank Moody), Natascha McElhone (Karen Van Der Beek), Madeleine Martin (Rebecca), Madeline Zima (Mia), Evan Handler (Charlie), Rachel Miner (Dani), Damian Young (William "Bill" Cross), Amy Price-Francis (Meredith), Kathy Christopherson (Nikki Mandel), Robert Merrill (Jonathan Mandel) & Chris Williams (Todd Carr)

Hank ends up in jail after brawling with the director of his book adaptation, and then finds a new connection to Meredith. Meanwhile, Charlie discovers a naughtier side to his assistant Dani...

Hank: You looking for a dick punch?

Bill: Do you want to punch me in the dick?

Hank: I kinda do, yeah. But standing here talking about it is beginning to sound pretty gay.

At the moment, Californication is one of those shows that I can't get terribly enthused about watching, despite its quality. That said, the moment I do watch, I'm very glad I did and it's very enjoyable. David Duchovny is a revelation for anyone who dismissed him as a mumbling pretty-boy chasing aliens, giving a charismatic performance as reckless lothario Hank Moody.

The Whore Of Babylon thankfully gets down to business, after two episodes of character moments drowning out much of a story. The short runtime doesn't allow Californication to become more than breezy incidents with a loose connection, but it's a style I'm finding easy to digest. Unlike many other shows, it doesn't outstay its welcome -- it's get in, have some fun with Hank, get out: just like how women treat the novel-writing Don Juan!

The opening scene has Hank brawling with Todd Carr (Chris Williams), the man who directed the crass film adaptation of his book, landing him in jail, only to be bailed out by his ex-wife's fiancé Bill (Damian Young) -- a character who finally grows a back-bone when Hank's belittles him once again.

This episode also involves a surprising return for Meredith (Amy Price-Francis), the woman Hank psychologically tore apart in the Pilot. After a chance meeting at a bar, it's not long before Meredith becomes another notch on the bedpost for Hank, and inspires him to steal back her beloved dog Cat Stevens – who was mistaken for a gift by her married lover's wife.

With Californication in grave danger of becoming The Hank Moody Show, it's nice to see Hank's agent Charlie (the great Evan Handler) given an interesting subplot. Here, he sacks his incompetent assistant Dani (Rachel Miner), only to retract her dismissal when he discovers provocative photos of her on the internet...

It's a funny and sexually quirky idea, but it becomes even more amusing when Charlie realizes Dani loves domination – and is later only too willing to become his naughty secretary in need of a good spanking...

Overall, I'm really enjoying Californication at the moment, mainly because of Duchovny's superb performance and the refreshing treatment of sex. But I'm yet to be totally enslaved by its cheeky/dirty charms – because, once you take away Hank and the sex scenes – it's a fairly standard relationship drama about a fractured family.

It's Sex & The City for straight men, but without all the pretentious twaddle and a character you believe might actually exist -- and appeals to both sexes.


25 October 2007
Five, 10.00 pm

Day 26: The Twilight Zone (1959)

The quintessential anthology series is The Twilight Zone; created, written and narrated by Rod Serling. Serling was hot property in the 1950s as a TV writer, having penned scripts for The Doctor, Fireside Theatre and Hallmark Hall Of Fame, before achieving massive acclaim with The Rack and Requiem For A Heavyweight.

But it was in 1957 that Serling wrote the pilot for a weekly anthology series, entitled The Time Element -- a time-travel yarn about a man visiting Pearl Harbor prior to the Japanese attack. Serling wanted to craft similar stories for a continuing series, called The Twilight Zone, but after CBS bought his script, the project was shelved.

Bert Granet discovered Serling's script soon after, and The Time Element was made and released in 1958. It received widespread acclaim from the public, who flooded the studio with 6000 letters of praise. CBS courted Serling to create the intended anthology series, and a formal Pilot episode was written, called Where Is Everybody?

Serling assembled a team of writers for The Twilight Zone, aiming to provide insightful social commentary through fantastical means. Many of the characters would also be used to operate around an episode's parable, or allegory, to reflect their psychology.

The Twilight Zone proved to be a tough sell for Serling, with many critics turning their nose up at the idea of science fiction appealing to adults. Nevertheless, the series went ahead and Serling himself became synonymous with the show, acting as the narrator who introduced every episode -- and occasionally even interrupted storylines.

After its premiere in 1959, the show became a huge hit with critics, although ratings were initially low. The third episode, Mr Denton On Doomsday, fared particularly poorly with a lowly 16.3 rating. A short hiatus could have spelled the end for the show, but it scraped through to complete its first season. Funnily enough, many of The Twilight Zone's classic episodes come from this poor start: Time Enough At Last, The After Hours and Walking Distance.

Season 2 improved matters with better, surreal opening titles and the addition of new writers to the staff. In an effort to keep costs low, the show was shot in videotape instead of film, and it went on to win a few Emmy's, including Best Dramatic Writing for Serling.


By the third season, Serling was feeling drained. He has thus far written 48 scripts, equaling 78% of the show's output! This dropped to 56% in season 3. Critics noticed a drop in quality, but many classic episodes were still being written. Noted author Ray Bradbury also contributed a story. The show reached 100 episodes and got 2 Emmy nominations (cinematography and art design.)

1962. Season 4 heralded a change in title (dropping "The" to become Twilight Zone) and was expanded to an hour. Serling still contributed many scripts, but his producing took a backseat.

The fifth season would prove to be Twilight Zone's last, as behind-the-scenes problems with the staff resulted in unpopular rewrites and mismanagement by producer William Frough. Despite the problems, some classic episodes were still aired, such as Nightmare At 20,000 Feet (starring William Shatner) and Living Doll.

But, in late-1964, CBS canceled the series -- supposedly because of its big budget and poor ratings. Rival network ABC expressed interesting in continuing the show, but Serling wasn't happy about their intention to change the title to Witches, Warlocks & Werewolves!

Serling sold his 40% in The Twilight Zone to CBS and left the show behind... although he would return to the genre in 1969s Night Gallery TV series.

The show left an indelible mark on the TV landscape that wasn't easy to forget. Steven Spielberg produced a homage to the show called Twilight Zone: The Movie in 1983 (which famously remade the Nightmare At 20,000 Feet episode as a vignette with John Lithgow), but the film faced a lukewarm response. CBS had considered reviving the show on TV for many years prior, but it only happened when the young fans of the 50s series grew into adult screenwriters in the 80s...

So, in 1984 an official revival took place and the show was reborn with 80s-era special effects and the writing talent of J. Michael Straczynski (who would go on to create Babylon 5 in the 90s). The new series, sometimes referred to as The New Twilight Zone, wasn't a big hit -- but it has retained a cult following and a few episodes are held in high esteem, such as Her Pilgrim Soul.

In 1994, Serling's widow discovered a Twilight Zone script called Where The Dead Are whilst rummaging through her late-husband's things. A project entitled Twilight Zone: Rod Serling's Lost Classics was produced, using Serling's unmade script and one by Richard Matheson. The resulting 2-hour special met with mixed feelings from audiences. The ratings weren't very good, so a proposed sequel (using 3 more Matheson scripts) wasn't pursued.

UPN created a second revival of the show in 2002, with Forest Whitaker narrating. The show was 1 hour long, but consisted of 2 standalone stories. Most episodes were brand new, although the series did remake some classic stories, such as The Monsters Are On Maple Street and Eye Of The Beholder. Just like its 50s progenitor, it tackled modern day issues through fantasy, but only lasted one season because of bad ratings.

Along the way, the series has also inspired a comic-book run, radio series, theme park ride and pinball game! Not to mention an affectionate parody in the cartoon series Futurama, where the show is known as The Scary Door.

Trivia

1. CBS originally wanted Orson Welles to narrate the series.

2. Rod Serling encouraged viewers to send in scripts for the show. He received 14,000 screenplays from eager fans... but could only manage to read 500... and found only 2 that he liked. Unfortunately, those 2 didn't really fit the show's format, so were never taken any further.

Day 25: Saw (2004)

How much blood would you shed to stay alive?

Saw started life as a 9-minute short film, directed by James Whan. It was essentially a scene taken from a film script Whan had written with Leigh Whannell, which the two filmmakers used as a "calling card" for studios/actors to back their intended feature-length film...

The short film starred Whannell as David, a hospital orderly being interviewed by police about his experience as an escaped victim of a psychotic killer. In flashback, we're shown David in a locked room with the infamous "reverse bear-trap" on his head, essentially reprising the scene from the subsequent film -- which starred actress Shawnee Smith as Amanda. The original short appeared on the Saw: Uncut Edition DVD and can also be viewed here.

Whan's short film worked and Twisted Pictures stepped in to give Whan and Whannell $1.2 million to create the whole film. Whannell himself co-starred as Adam, a man who wakes up in an empty bathroom, chained to a pipe. Cary Elwes played Dr Lawrence Gordon, a stranger chained in the same room. Both discover a dead body between them; an apparent suicide. The movie is essentially a mystery, with both men trying to work out who is detaining them and for what purpose...

Flashbacks slowly shed some light on the matter, and it becomes clear Adam and Lawrence are the latest victims of a man known as "Jigsaw" -- who's being tracked by Detective Tapp (Danny Glover.) Jigsaw's modus operandi is to force those he captures to "play a game" and earn their freedom by forcing them to perform acts of self-mutilation, or murder, often against the clock...

Saw was shot in 18 days, with just 5 days pre-production time! As a consequence, the actors didn't rehearse -- in fact, most of the film is made up of their unrehearsed first takes! After filming was completed and edited, positive screenings at the Sundance Film Festival ensured it a theatrical release -- despite initially being planned as a straight-to-video horror...

James Whan took a risk, but decided to be paid in a percentage of the film's takings, instead of a fixed wage. This proved to be a very wise business decision, as Saw eventually made over $55 million at the US box-office and over $100 million worldwide!

The success of Saw with audiences was such a surprise that a sequel was greenlit the weekend of its release. Saw II was directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, who co-wrote the script with Leigh Whannell. It was released for Halloween, just a year after Saw's release, and made character actor Tobin Bell's performance as villain Jigsaw more integral to events. Saw II had a $4 million budget and made $144 million, despite very disappointing reviews.

The studio were making huge profits, so Saw III was fast-tracked into production for the following Halloween, with a $12 million budget. Saw III was again directed by Bousman, but this time original director James Whan returned to co-write with Whannell. It made $164 million worldwide. Saw IV was put into quick production for this Halloween, but with a slightly reduced budget of $10 million. It is released in UK cinemas tomorrow...

At the moment, there is a plan to rest the Saw franchise in 2008, but Saw V and Saw VI are expected to be filmed back-to-back and released for Halloween 2009 and 2010.

While Saw has undoubtedly become a money-making franchise, with the sequels proving less effective than the original, it's unfortunate that the general consensus is to dismiss 2004's Saw as little more than "torture porn" (a tabloid phrase it's often credited for inspiring.) I didn't like Saw II and found Saw III only a mild improvement, but I still credit the original as being a very effective, low-budget horror idea.

Two people in a room, dialogue, flashbacks, $1.2 million to play with, no rehearsals -- everything basically relied on the concept, execution and script. And it worked brilliantly. I still think Saw's famous twist-ending is one of the most enjoyable such plot-devices since The Sixth Sense pulled the rug from under audiences in 1999.

Saw the franchise may have a bad reputation with critics, but audiences lap them up and, y'know what -- that first film is a great Western translation of Japanese shock cinema... and damn entertaining to boot. But yeah, Saw V and VI? Give it a rest, guys!

Trivia

1. Director James Whan's original cut was rated NC-17.

2. In the film, the detectives trace a fire alarm to a warehouse on Stygian Street. Stygian being the name of Whan's first film.

Links

Official Word Of Saw
Official Saw Website & Fan Club
Official Saw Website

24: Season 7 Trailer

It's here. The brand new trailer for 24's revamped seventh season. My thoughts:

1. I like that they're debating the show's use of torture -- although, the amount of times Jack Bauer's methods have saved the day, I'm right behind him in that courtroom scene!

2. Great to see the show's continuing its RoboCop love-fest -- with Kurtwood Smith now joining Paul McCrane, Peter Weller and Ray Wise as guest stars. They just need Nancy Allen, Miguel Ferrer and Ronny Cox to complete the set!

3. I already like the Washington D.C vibe and absence of C.T.U. A whole stack of new characters to get to know, too -- who will hopefully prove more exciting that Milo and Nadia!

4. It's nice to see Chloe and Bill Buchanan back, in blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearances.

5. The Die Hard 4.0-style plot is unfortunate, as I'd speculated they'd do the computer terrorism thing in season 4, but instead 24 looks like it's playing catch-up with Hollywood. Unfortunate, but I still like this brand of terrorism. If they keep the keyboard clattering technobabble to a minimum, it should be good fun.

6. Jack's new, casual clothing. More like season 1, so cool.

7. Some great action sequences -- but, then again, 24 always pulls out the stops for its first few episodes. So, that's a given!

8. And... yes, the much-trumpeted reappearance of Tony Almeida! I won't ruin that particular surprise... so just watch the trailer... and then we'll discuss. But it's... erm, interesting!

So yes, count me in for season 7. I still love this show. The trailer looks like more of the same 24 goings-on, but with a certain freshness and zip to it. I have hope now, and I'm psyched... roll on January 2008! Or, February 2008 all you legal UK viewers...

Please note: YouTube tend to delete copyrighted trailers like this, so sorry if the above embedded link doesn't work for you. I'll try to update this post with the latest trailer leak, but just scour YouTube, Google Video and Metacafe if you're minus the trailer at the moment.