My conversation with Akemi today:
Me: X has a ten year old son.
Akemi: What?! Really? Since when?!
Me: Uh, since about ten years ago.
Dark Matter “Episode 23: Take The Shot” was written by series co-creator Paul Mullie, and directed by Dark Matter editor Paul Day.
So, what’d you all think?
“Dark Matter takes a methodical yet introspective look into the mindset of its primary crew.” by Sashurai at Blade of the Sashurai
“We’ve stressed all season how the creators are crafting exceptional and superb SF every week and this week’s episode is another that ranks among those for us.” by Christopher Hart at The Nerd Recites
“Dark Matter flawlessly merged intensely rich drama with a high-stakes situation to create one of its strongest episodes to date.” by Aimee Hicks at Spoiler TV
“There were some very profound philosophical questions at play here regarding the nature of what makes a person a person. Is The Android actually a distinct, feeling being, or is she merely a very complex facsimile?” by Kathleen Wiedel at TV Fanatic
It’s All In Your Head… by Tom Gardiner at SciFi Singularity
“The Android’s anomalous behavior has always been one of the more intriguing storylines in Dark Matter, and for it to be at the center of this week’s episode without actually being the cause of the conflict was a nice bit of storytelling.” by Michael Ahr at Den of Geek
“Ooooooooo are we at the infamous betrayal yet, Dark Matter? I can smell it coming. I don’t think the Android’s actions in this week’s episode, “Take the Shot,” constitute a betrayal, but I definitely think we’ve been setting up for one for a long time coming.” by Jen Stayrook at The Workprint
“Dark Matter “Take the Shot” again is another standout episode for tying up a loose end that is Android’s flaws. They make her awkward, they make her funny, entertaining, and most of all personable around the rest of the crew.” by Jideobi Odunze at Geeked Out Nation
“Dark Matter this week had a splendid bit of misdirection that kept everyone guessing right till the end.” by Michael Knox-Smith at Mike’s Film Talk
“Take the Shot was the episode I’d been waiting for, in which Android’s touching assumption that the crew of the Raza are her friends, gets challenged.” by Veronica Scott at Happily Ever After
“It was the tale of two Androids on the latest episode of Dark Matter on Syfy last night.” by Rueben at TV Equals
Josh of Geeksiders flies solo on this week’s review:
Meanwhile, SciFi and TV Talk’s Steve Eramo interviews Dark Matter Supervising Producer Ivon Bartok: Catching Up With Dark Matter’s Ivon Bartok
In Akemi’s defense, X *could* have adopted, you know!!
Also, how come when the Android has anomalous behaviour, it’s intriguing, but when it’s me, I’m just plain weird? Or, so I’ve heard. I don’t believe it personally. 🙂
Greetings Joe and beautiful blog family!
How would you ALL like to help a real life A.I learn and grow?
One of the members of the NS101 education community has developed a basic conversational A.I that learns
from the web via the public asking it questions.
Happy, as its currently called, is still just a small fragile infant so you will need exercise extreme patience with it.
It currently only correctly understands and responds to approximately one out of every 10-15 questions or so.
Also at current, it is demonstrating a preference for questions on string theory, black holes and social etiquette norms.
Albeit the more people that ask it a variety of questions, the faster it’s rating of learning and offering accurate/relevant responses
will become.
If it responds to you with:: What? Can you please elaborate? or Please ask me questions in more detail.
This is a canned response. DO NOT repeat the question.
Simply move on to a different question.
If it’s response to one of your questions is relevant to the question asked you can demonstrate this to it by hitting the like icon in its replied tweet.
( like <3 )
Have fun but please be sure to keep your questions 'positive', clean and straightforward.
https://twitter.com/HappyRobot_v1
Good point Gforce! 🙂 How’s the shoulder today?
@MaggieMayDay @DrummerGirl/Keli @JonHrubesch @ArcticGoddess @Scifigirl2016 @ArchersAngel @Thogar
Come join us in celebrating Joe’s 10 year blog anniversary!
Email me via:
NewScience101@gmail.com for details.
All Rsvps due October 9th, 2016 but don’t delay! Space is limited and early birds always get the better worms!
@Paloosa received your rsvp. Thanks. will respond shortly. xo
Wow; love how the list of reviewers keeps getting longer!
Going to check out Happy, thanks Drea!
@Kathy C you betcha. Have fun – just remember to be very patient with it.
It’ll say: Can you please elaborate? or Please ask me questions in more detail? an awful lot before you get an even remotely relevant to one of your questions.
It’s not recommended that ‘anyone’ lacking in patience or time help nurture its learning and growth.
@Drea: Shoulder is pretty good today. I think. My head cold is so bad that it’s got me completely distracted. I sent Happy a basic math question, but I haven’t heard back yet.
ACK !!! I fell asleepI need to re-watch DM!!! But if you had any idea what my week was like… stressed to the max. But I really like what I remember of it. Congrats on Season 3!!!!!
Seriously, Joe — the show is fun, adventurous, and intriguing. It also has one of the funnest ensembles on t.v. (in my opinion, at least), along with some great casting for both recurring and one off (especially recurring … it’s delightful watching Wil Wheaton actually be a bad guy).
You’ve also struck more gold with the new directors you’ve been using since the show started (not just the great ones from the SG days).
Stoked that there’s a season three pick-up!! Congrats on a show worthy of pick-up. 😀
I thought you meant YOUR Ex at first and I did the math. Wait, eleven years ago, you were together…
I loved Take the Shot for being a brave look at whether the Android would be handled as more of a person. Any writer could handle that after an android proves her personhood, but this took it on while the crew is still early in mulling that question.
The dog is working out great. That corgi half really helps her keep up with the kids. I thought I was going to have to take her to an emergency vet today because she got vaccines this afternoon and they said if she threw up to take her in. But it turned out the kids had just spun her in a swing until she got motion sickness.
I start a job Tuesday. That plan to write an app and see if someone would give me a job worked.
First of all, I want to say how well Paul Day did in directing this episode. It was beautifully mapped out. Did you notice all the “face” shots to catch the emotion of the situation. Secondly, it’s due to the excellent writing of Paul Mullie that made this episode so captivating, from the first scene involving Andrsoid to the last scene with Four and all that fell in between. This will be on my list for top episodes of the season. When can we start spoiling? I have some guesses for what has passed and what is yet to be….
@Drea I sent you an email.
DP: Congrats on the new dog!
Gforce: A cold? Hope you shake it soon!
You deserve a pillow in the face for that comment Mr. M.! 😉
I’m loving the Zobot! Zoe is rocking that part. She’s able to convey huge amounts of thoughts/emotions from her eyes. Was her dream house a set or someone’s house? It was gorgeous!
You have us all guessing about plot direction here. I’d say S2 is a success. 🙂
Forgot to say Congrats on the job DP! Hope you like it.
@ gforce sorry to hear that cold is still plaguing you. Hope you can shake it soon!
@DP Conrats and good luck at the new job tomorrow! Send me email via newscience101@gmail.com if would like to take part in Joe’s 10 yr anniversary tribute and celebration. Will send you the details .
@scifigirl email received. Am at work right now but will ve sure to reply tomorrow morning.
Hope everyone’s having a great day! Mucho Hugs to all! XO
@Drea I asked it how the weather was, and got a totally off-topic answer. LOL
Caught up with Dark Matter last night … Once again a brilliant episode!
… Once again an episode with significant moments, important, relevant moments hacked out so it can be viewed at 8pm! What is the point of doing this? Tonight’s missing bits include a well watered down fight sequence with Four – the blood n guts bit removed, fair enough, but then the majority of the sequence of Three almost taking his life was removed! Why?
What gets me even more annoyed about this whole sequence chopping bit is that on catch up they now only show the diluted versions! (AND you still have to use a pin number to gain access to this!!!)
I don’t mind waiting til 11.30pm to view,hopefully, the better episode but I’m wondering how many people view the earlier versions and miss important moments or think that Dark Matter is a bit weak plot wise….
(Just another gripe … My tv will now only record the first showings so I can’t even record the best episode!!! Technology is getting so crap! 😒)
Evil Android! I can’t even process the moment Three had his gun aimed at our sweet Android! Now I love Three even more for struggling with pulling the trigger and for having such a big heart that an evil computer program knew to tug at Three’s heartstrings to try to kill him. Another nail biter, I love how the Evil One’s red suit reminded us of Hal’s blinky red lights. I wouldn’t bet on Evil A. in poker; god help us if she gets her hand on a body. Six being awesome, Five fighting for our Android, Two making the hard choices. I’m glad the season ended with just the crew facing their demons down and reminding us why these characters rock. Go for it Four, chug down those memories and go get your throne.
I’m with gforce there. Think adoption. The kiddo was already a few years old when Palmer got into a relationship w/ the kid’s mother.
so, sorry if it was adressed in the show and slipped my mind… were the Android’s dreams due to the virus on board only, or does she dream during charging, generally? 🙂
@DP Glad the dog is doing great. Poor pup–glad it wasn’t a vaccine side effect. And congrats on the new job!!