First, let’s consider Grimm, which is the story of Nick, the last descendant in a long line of Grimms that have been charged with protecting humanity from the very real monsters of fairy tales. His aunt comes to tell him of his destiny in the first episode. She has been trying to keep him safe by keeping this news from him, but she is dying of cancer, so she can no longer hide it from him, especially since the group that exterminates Grimms will be coming for him now. Why didn’t they come for him before? No clue.There seem to be a lot of plot points they gloss over a bit in this show–like, why would his aunt tell him that he needs to get rid of his girlfriend if their family is the only one that can protect humanity, and he is the last descendant? But, if she really thinks he shouldn’t marry, why didn’t she discourage the relationship well before the night he planned to propose? She had to know she would die some day, if not early from cancer. I mean, one of the villians could have overpowered her at any time, and then she would not have been able to pass anything on to Nick.

Nick is a homicide detective, so the show is basically a crime drama with storybook elements. There is no fairy tale as the arc of the series, it is just Nick interacting with various fairy tale villians, who for some reason all seem to live and work around Portland, Oregon, where Nick works. There are some interesting explorations of what it means to fit into a human world, and whether the various species (big bad wolves, bears, etc.) should supress their evil past and learn to get along with the humans who have populated the world, but for the most part, it isn’t terribly different from a show like Criminal Minds. Not that that is a bad thing, just not as much a retelling of fairy tales as I was expecting.

In contrast, the premise of Once Upon a Time is completely mythic: the evil queen has banished Snow White and her prince to live in a terrible place where there are no happy endings, except for her own. The fairy tale characters do not remember their true identities, and time has been frozen for them. They cannot leave the town of Storybrooke, Maine, but they do not get any older. However, Rumpelstiltskin told Snow White before the curse took effect that her daughter with the Prince, Emma, would return to save them when she turned 28, and they were able to construct a magical wardrobe that allowed Emma to escape the curse. This is a very cool way to create a fairy tale arc while still bringing the story into our modern world.

But even more importantly, I like the characters better. I mean like in the sense that they are more fully formed, interesting characters, not always that I actually like them. The biggest, most obvious difference between the shows is the much stronger female characters in Once Upon A Time. Snow White wields a sword in the fairy tale world and maintains a tough disbelief in the idea of soul mates in both worlds, despite the fact that her true love with Prince Charming is the center of the story. The prince, meanwhile, has his own interesting inner life, starting with his insistence that he has a name, not just the attribute of being charming. Emma is street smart and resourceful, and seems believably someone who could precipitate the final battle with an evil queen. In Grimm, Nick’s aunt does seem pretty impressive, but she is killed off quickly. Nick’s girlfriend isn’t fleshed out as a serious character, at least not in the first few episodes that I saw–she is just a source of angst for Nick–should he propose or get rid of her to save her from the danger? He doesn’t tell her about this problem, though, he just looks sadly at the engagement ring he bought for her when she is not around, hiding it quickly if she comes in the room.

Of course, both shows have been accused of being a rip-off of Bill Willingham’s Fables series, especially Once Upon a Time, which matches more closely with the idea of fairy tale characters in a modern setting, and has a history with ABC having purchased the rights to the series back in 2008. There are certainly many similarities in the overall concept, but that seems to be somewhat unavoidable when you have concepts set in the same general worldview. There also seem to be some big differences in the plot and ideas that make it seem like good sense to have this as a separate show, so that it isn’t changing the Fables storyline unrecognizably.

If you have missed Once Upon a Time so far, ABC is airing most of them in a marathon on New Year’s Day. If you have other things going on for the day itself, it is an excellent chance to TiVo just about everything and catch up before the season resumes on January 8th.

Who’s going to be watching with me?

Last night TLC premiered Geek Love a tv show featuring geeks trying to find love at a comic book convention center. The show occurs at New York Comic Con at a speed dating session.

Ryan Glitch, is the founder of Sci-Fi Speed Dating. He helps other geeks looking for love and explains how it’s the best place to find a mate because they understand. I’ve always encouraged my single geek friends to attend conventions to meet people. It makes perfect sense. While I’m geeking out over that cute chocobo plushie, a guy would have the perfect opportunity to come over and chat Final Fantasy with me. It’s an obvious lead in for a conversation. Which is the toughest part in meeting others to date.

Glitch says, “Everybody is looking for that special someone. And here are people who happen to be extreme fans. Step into our world for a little bit… The thing these people all have in common is that they’re really passionate about the thing they’re into. Even if they don’t like the same stuff, they’ve got a huge passion they can build from. It’s what makes my speed dating work a little better than the average.”

Currently Glitch does not make money from the speed dating, but hopes the series could take off. The show follows three particular geeks and their speed dating experience. In the first show we follow Sal who is dressed as Iron Man. He works at GameStop, has his own place and can’t seem to find a girl who understands him. We follow a girl who loves Harry Potter and bonds with a guy over his Tardis t-shirt and a guy that only talks in Wookie. The second episode featured a Boba Fett looking for Star Wars true love which happened to have with the other featured girl. The third girl made her own Robin suit and found a nice guy to talk with. The show follows a few of the speed dates and then an after date if they have one.

I have to say that I approached the show with a feeling of negativity. Last thing I want to see is TLC making fun of cosplaying nerds at a convention trying to find love. But this show surprised me. I found myself cheering my fellow geeks on in their quest for true love. There were moments that were so cute I had to squee. I didn’t care for Glitch and his narrations, but the show overall has promise.

With or without the show, the message is that conventions are the best place to meet people that have the same interests as you.

Cartoon Network is consistently on geeks radar with their friday night programming which has consisted of shows like Star Wars Clone Wars, Ben 10, Generator Rex, and, most recently, the 2011 Thundercats.

And Young Justice.

But new episodes of YJ have been absent. Fans grow frustrated and have waited patiently for new episodes of what was a great series. That wait is now over as Cartoon Network has announced that new episodes will begin airing on September 16th at 6:30 PM ET/PT.

The episode, called “Targets”, focuses on Red Arrow:

“Red Arrow’s battle to prevent the League of Shadows from inciting a war pits him against the world’s most dangerous assassins – and allies him with someone more dangerous still. Too bad Aqualad couldn’t convince him to ask the Team for help.” -www.superherohomepage.com

Help us celebrate the launch of the Fickle Fangirl blog and podcast with our first ever live event. Join us on Sunday, September 18 from 8-11 PM Eastern at www.ficklefangirl.com for a 2011 Primetime Emmys watch party. We will be there to chat, gossip about outfits and cheer on all of our favorite shows. For a full list of nominees and more info check out the official Emmys website.

Sign up to show that you are attending the event at our Facebook page.

And if you join us that night in the chat room you will get a chance to win a $10 gift certificate to the HBO store. Details on how to win will be revealed during the event. The fangirls look forward to seeing you there!

We are back this week to discuss Season 4, episode 12 of True Blood, the season finale. We discuss ghosts, ghosts and more ghosts, great Halloween costumes, Sookie’s choice, poor Pam and the absolutely massive body count this episode. We also share our thoughts on the biggest surprise of the season, the saddest death of the season, our favorite and least favorite moments and our hopes and dreams for season 5.

Question of the week: what has been your favorite moment this season?  Let us know in the comments section.

Contact us with any questions or comments below and follow us on Twitter at @FickleFangirl.

Make sure to follow us at our new website FickleFangirl.com and subscribe to our new iTunes Feed.

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Over the last few days, tweets from the cast and crew of Syfy’s show Eureka have regaled us with tales and emotions from their final experiences making the hit show. It is a bittersweet time because while they should all be proud of the work that they have done over the past four seasons, the way the show cancellation came about made a lot of fans, myself included, very upset. Yes, we get one more season with a bonus extra episode and a Christmas special before we reach the end of our time on the show, but the original expectation was that they would at least get half of a sixth season. Admittedly, to those of us who love the show, that still sucked, but at least it was something more. Then, within a couple of days, word leaked out on the Internet (as it does) that SyFy had actually decided that the fifth season would be the last.

Inevitably, social media sites and the geek world in particular went to work, letting everyone and anyone know just how they felt about the cancellation. What really killed me was when Erica Cerra, who plays the kick ass Jo Lupo, tweeted, “What news?” in response to Colin Ferguson (Sheriff Jack Carter), who seemed to have heard about the cancellation first. If that is not the wrong way to find out that you will soon be out of a job, I do not know what is.

Over the next couple of weeks and couple of episodes, I found myself wondering why I was so upset about this cancellation. After all, every show eventually comes to an end (except maybe Doctor Who), and this ending was not my first nor my most painful (I am looking at you, Firefly). But I admit, I was filled with much rage and disgust toward the executives at SyFy for not only the way they handled it, but just for the simple fact that they canceled the show at all! Why would you cancel a hit show right at its peak? Money, of course. It always comes down to money.

But frankly, I do not care why they did it. What mattered to me is that the show was smart. And it was not just smartly written (although it very much was), it was about smart people doing amazing things with their amazingly smart brains. It was a show for nerds. How many of us have wished to find a place where we could let our intellect run wild, creating and experimenting, without people staring at us in either confusion or patronizing bemusement as we explain how things work? We congregate together at cons and in schools and, if we are lucky, at workplaces, trying desperately to find friends that Get Us. And it is not just about the smart stuff, it is about the passions we develop along with the smart stuff.

I am a physics major. Up until the end of June, I worked at a bank. I was not miserable but I was not myself, either. I spent my days essentially giving in to gossip and the side of pop culture that involves people named Kardashian and Snooki and Speidi. And once, when we were talking about other shows we watch (besides Idol – which I love, BTW), I could only bring myself to admit to watching CSI because I knew if I brought up Stargate: Atlantis, Eureka, or even Star Trek, those guys would simply stare in confusion and patronizing bemusement because they had not even heard of them, let alone seen an episode. No, really.

Okay, they had heard of Star Trek, but to most of them, it meant Chris Pine, not William Shatner. Which is fine, but I am sure you all understand the difficulty I had relating to my coworkers.

Back to Eureka and its pending lack of new episodes — why was I so upset? As a nerd, a geek, a woman, and a science major, it was so refreshing to see women on television portraying characters I could look up to and respect. From Dr. Allison Blake (played with grace and elegance by Salli Richardson-Whitfield) who was not only a published doctor with an expertise is space medicine but also the head of GD (for the first 3 seasons at least) to the burgeoning brilliance of Zoe Carter, former juvenile delinquent turned high school genius, played by the very talented and funny Jordan Hinson. From the afore-mentioned Jo Lupo, wise ass cop who is smarter than she gives herself credit to Dr. Grace Monroe (Tembi Locke), equally brilliant yin to the Henry Deacon’s (Joe Morton) yang. And most recently, we have had the pleasure of the addition of Felicia Day, all around geek girl extraordinaire, in the role of Dr. Holly Marten, a bonafied rocket scientist.

Add the cast of characters to the sharp writing, good science, and entertaining plot lines, and you have the perfect show for SyFy and the geek collective, the perfect show for a physics student interested in astronomy and space travel, the perfect show for smart men AND women interested in science and humor. And SyFy CANCELLED IT.

Maybe they will find another good science fiction/fantasy show to take its place in a couple of seasons.

Or maybe they will just subject us to some more wrestling and ghost hunting.

Either way, I am still really pissed off.

We are back this week to discuss Season 4, episode 11 of True Blood. We discuss vamps with big guns, say hello/goodbye to Antonia, Jason trying to play hero again, Sam’s revenge, Debbie’s horrible decisions, Andy’s run in with a fairy, the bubble of sun, Jesus’s crazy juju, brutal Eric and the burial of more characters.

Question of the week: do you think Eric acted out of character? Let us know in the comments section.

The podcast is now available in iTunes. Just click the link below to subscribe.

Contact us with any questions or comments below and follow us on Twitter at @BloodAngelsCast.

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We are back this week to discuss Season 4, episode 10 of True Blood. We discuss the festival fight, Eric’s memories, Jason and Jess and the scene from Hell, poor Tommy, arguing vampires, the plan to stop the witches, Andy and Terry’s confrontation, evil Marnie, Jesus the hero, Alcide carrying people and our thoughts for the rest of the season.

Question of the week: what are you predictions for the rest of the season? Let us know in the comments section.

The podcast is now available in iTunes. Just click the link below to subscribe.

Contact us with any questions or comments below and follow us on Twitter at @BloodAngelsCast.

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We are back this week to discuss Season 4, episode 9 we discuss Sookie’s life or death situation and subsequent soft lens film dream, pet vampire Eric, Luna and Sam’s camping trip, sweet Debbie Pelt, the worst police force ever, ghost lady’s sad story, Sookie’s Eric/Bill dream, Jesus to the rescue and Antonia’s rally crashing.

Question of the week: do you believe in the new sweet Debbie or is she up to something? Let us know in the comments section.

The podcast is now available in iTunes. Just click the link below to subscribe.

Contact us with any questions or comments below and follow us on Twitter at @BloodAngelsCast.

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We are back this week to discuss Season 4, episode 8 of True Blood. Leala is joined this time by her husband Beau while Dana is out of town on vacation. We discuss Jeeeesssiiiicccaaaa/Jason, Antonio and Bill’s truce, the wimpy wolf pack, Sam & Luna’s troubles, THE shower/snow/forest scene, a big breakup, Tommy’s continued treachery, some more info on Lala and the ghost lady and the big vampires vs. witches showdown.

Big congrats to our contest winner GeekGoddess!

Question of the week: what do you think of the direction Eric/Sookie is taking? Let us know in the comments section.

This week’s episode is sponsored by Geek Chic Cosmetics. Also use the promo code “gamedames” at checkout any time during the month of August to get 20% off your order.

The podcast is now available in iTunes. Just click the link below to subscribe.

Contact us with any questions or comments below and follow us on Twitter at @BloodAngelsCast.

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