I watch a lot of British television–a lot for an American, that is–and not just on BBC America. I watch Masterpiece Theater, I subscribe to Acorn TV, and I even buy DVDs direct from the UK so I can see some shows not available any other way (“New Tricks” is a good example). But there’s one thing I hate about British television series: They’re too damned short.
Now that my beloved “Ripper Street” has completed its stingy 8-episode Season One, I was jonesing for a new series. I saw the ads for the new show called “Orphan Black,” but to be honest, I wasn’t going to watch. Then an advert for the opening 3-minutes popped up on my Facebook feed and I thought, why not?
In the first minutes, we meet Sara (Tatiana Maslany) at a train station somewhere near New York City. She’s a Brit, and she has serious problems. But whatever she’s up against, it’s nothing compared to the what’s bothering that woman over there, crying at the end of the train platform. Sara goes over to the woman, and discovers that the woman looks just like her…right before the woman steps in front of the oncoming train. Sara, distraught, has a moment of panic, then a moment of clarity; she grabs the dead woman’s purse and flees the scene.
That’s the three-minute setup, and it was pretty good. Good enough, in fact, to get me to plunk it on the DVR and watch the whole episode.
Is it as good as “Ripper Street”? No. Is it better than most things on American network television? Yes.
It’s one of those things I dreaded. A reader of the Fallen Cloud Saga has asked me what species of dinosaurs I used in the series. Don’t get me wrong, it’s terrific that readers want this kind of detail and “behind the scenes” info, and I’m more than happy to provide it, but I know this will only give ammunition to Paleozoic anoraks to shoot holes in my world-building techniques. The row that ensued over my leaving Quebec under French control was epic. I can only imagine what will happen with this.
The eye is an incredible organ, but it has its limits. We can’t see infrared or ultraviolet, much less anywhere else along the massive electromagnetic spectrum. We can’t see very well at night or when we’re surrounded by a lot of reflected sunshine. The eye is particularly susceptible to defects, from myopia and astigmatism to cataracts and floaters–not unexpected in what is essentially a high-precision organic instrument, but definitely a limitation. Aeons ago, for example, someone 
It’s a sad fact of life, but publishing is a business. Not only that, it’s a cutthroat business. So is bookselling.
It’s been a long, tough week. I’ve been on-call at work, and the emphasis has been on “call.” But my stint ends this afternoon, and I’ll have the weekend to rest, relax, maybe spend some time in the garden.
Fritz Lang’s 1931 film “
Kurt R.A. Giambastiani 