From Heather M. of TV Goodness:
Link: Tamsen McDonough talks Killjoys Season 5
“I think she goes through these ups and downs of understanding humans a little better and then they do something else that she doesn’t get. I like the waves she goes through, but she is always clear that Johnny is who she is crazy about and who she will do anything for while having to maintain the structures placed within her that she can’t break from.” Continue reading.Â
First, my apologies to those of you expected an Amazing Race Canada review last week. I took a week-long holiday and was, literally, off the grid. And second, after finally watching it, what’s with so many teams opting to take time penalties? To me, taking the penalty is a last-ditch decision, not gameplay.
Irina and Dave, Trish and Amy and Meaghan and Marie all skipped “Clamageddon,” which was a real shame. The fun of The Amazing Race Canada is watching teams compete … not sit on the sidelines. (Meanwhile, Aarthy and Thinesh and Anthony and James are showing what teamwork can do.) With Sarah and Sam landing in first place last week—and Meaghan and Marie eliminated—the remaining teams headed to Saskatoon.
It was nice to see a different team in the lead heading into this Leg and the athletes were hoping their “brave” mantra wound serve them well; Lauren and Joanne hoped their hometown would give them an advantage. Meanwhile, Dave and Irina continue to have targets on their backs and called a quick meeting at the Nanaimo airport for everyone to talk. It did not go well, however, and teams left even more fractured than before.
Teams headed to the Canadian Light Source with Anthony and James in the top spot. Once there, they were instructed to journey to the Nutrien Cory Potash Mine. At the mine, teams went a kilometre below the surface to hang and seal ventilation curtains. Anthony and James have had recent experience hanging plastic thanks to some home renovations, so they worked fairly quickly and completed the task first, followed by hometown girls Lauren and Joanne and Sarah and Sam. Aarthy and Thinesh, who had an Express Pass to use, were struggling.
Next up: a trip to the local Shell station to fill up and get those ever-important tear-inducing messages and clues from home. Then, teams travelled to Champêtre County Vacation Ranch for the Detour. Here, squads could either Dance in a Square (calling square dance moves and dancing) or Walk in Circles (find ornamental corn hidden in a massive barn board maze). Anthony and James entered maze (I would have chosen that too), as did Lauren and Joanne, Sarah and Sam and everyone else. Dave and Irina chose Dance in a Square … and then, rightly, switched to do the maze instead. Trish and Amy chose to dance/call too and stuck with it.
Anthony and James whipped through the maze fairly quickly—I wonder if Anthony’s height was an advantage?—and they moved on in first place.
At Victoria Park, teams participated in lacrosse with the Saskatchewan Rush, first passing the ball to each other and then hitting two of four targets. Again, Anthony and James completed the task quickly and departed while everyone else was still back at the ranch. Sam and Sarah exited in second place to look for Jon, with Dave and Irina in hot pursuit.
The Leg’s Pit Stop was located at the Remai Modern Art Museum, and with over 15 minutes of broadcast left, that meant teams were going to really struggle. That was proven correct by Lauren and Joanne, who kept heading back towards the entrance rather than finding the exit. Aarthy and Thinesh did the same thing, which kept them towards the back of the pack.
Anthony and James completed the Leg in pole position, scoring a trip to Costa Rica and free gas for a year. They were followed by Sarah and Sam and Irina and Dave. It came down to a footrace between Aarthy and Thinesh and Trish and Amy, with the former arriving just ahead of the latter, giving the moms … yet another chance because it a non-elimination Leg. The pair will have to complete an additional challenge next week.
Here’s how the teams finished this Leg of the Race:
The Amazing Race Canada airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CTV.
Images courtesy of Bell Media.
Parallax Film Productions Inc. is putting out some pretty amazing programming.
The Vancouver-based production company first jumped onto my radar with Battle Castle, an excellent series that recreated castles and showed how they were used for war. I’ve written about Hell Below, which documents the claustrophobic life for those working in U-boats during the Second World War. Now Parallax is back with Season 2 of Hitler’s Last Stand.
Currently broadcast Tuesday nights on Smithsonian Channel Canada, Hitler’s Last Stand tells the stories of Second World War battles post-D-Day, when German forces were being pushed back by the Allies but were still fighting.
“These aren’t the stories about the generals,” says Maija Leivo, executive producer. “These are the stories of these guys who had these unimaginable missions. They were the ones who had to take that hill, cross that river or build the bridge under fire.”
In the first hour-long episode of Season 2, “Lost Battalion,” (available to stream on Smithsonian’s website) an American regiment on D-Day plus 62 drives for the coast to liberate the French port city of Saint-Malo, and encounter Nazi resistance and every road blocked. Even when the 3rd Battalion does break through, within hours, they find the roadblock retaken by Nazi forces and the group surrounded. It’s a harrowing story brought to life not only by the fact it’s all true—and explained by historians, experts and stock footage—but because of the stellar wardrobe, makeup, filming and, yes, tanks.
“We try, as much as we can, to as much filming in-camera as possible,” says Ian Herring, Parallax’s founder. “We do a little CGI for some explosions, but for the most part those are real explosions.” Herring is constantly on the lookout for items from the Second World War that he can purchase and use for filming, scooping up clothing, vehicles and the aforementioned tank when he can. Having a bonafide tank roll through your shot gives immediate realism to the shoot, but it’s not without a glitch or two. Herring remembers a first-season tank its owner had trouble keeping running.
“We shot for 35 days in Season 1 and got his tank running on the last one,” he recalls with a laugh. When Herring needed a German tank, he found one in Plymouth, England. It was brought to Vancouver via the Panama Canal and landed in Seattle, where it was loaded onto a flatbed truck and driven up to Vancouver.
“We got to the Canadian border and the customs people there said, ‘Tank? What the heck? Carry on.’ And we shot the last week of production using a German tank.”
Hitler’s Last Stand airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Smithsonian Channel Canada. You can watch past episodes via Smithsonian Channel Canada’s website.
Images courtesy of Parallax Film Productions Inc.
From Heather M. of TV Goodness:
Link: Vivian Lin and Derek Robertson talk Killjoys “Three Killjoys and a Ladyâ€
“Two parallel things came together. The first idea was a homage of doing our version of The Thing and what that would be—being paranoid and not trusting each other and our team turning against each other. That was a floating idea for a while.” Continue reading.
From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:
Link: Derek Robertson and Vivian Lin talk Killjoys “Three Killjoys and a Ladyâ€
If you have some tears in your eyes as you come here to read our weekly Killjoys postmortem chat we can’t really blame you. Continue reading.Â
From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:
Link: Killjoys: Bringing The Lady to life
Over the course of four seasons, Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen) and Co. have been fighting some of the worst people and forces that the J had to throw at them. However, no one has quite measured up to the pure evil that is The Lady. Continue reading.Â
