Ian Watson Movies

Sin City author Frank Miller's sweeping take on the historic Battle of Thermopylae comes to the screen courtesy of Dawn of the Dead director Zack Snyder. Gerard Butler stars as Spartan King Leonidas and Lena Headey plays Queen Gorgo. The massive army of the Persian Empire is sweeping across the globe, crushing every force that dares stand in its path. When a Persian envoy arrives in Sparta offering King Leonidas power over all of Greece if he will only bow to the will of the all powerful Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), the strong-willed leader assembles a small army comprised of his empire's best fighters and marches off to battle. Though they have virtually no hope of defeating Xerxes' intimidating battalion, Leonidas' men soldier on, intent on letting it be known they will bow to no man but their king. Meanwhile, back in Sparta, the loyal Queen Gorgo attempts to convince both the skeptical council and the devious Theron (Dominic West) to send more troops despite the fact that many view Leonidas' unsanctioned war march as a serious transgression. As Xerxes' fearsome "immortals" draw near, a few noble Greeks vow to assist the Spartans on the battlefield. When King Leonidas and his 300 Spartan warriors fell to the overwhelming Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, the fearless actions of the noble fighters inspired all of Greece to stand up against their Persian enemy and wage the battle that would ultimately give birth to the modern concept of democracy. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Mathias Ledoux directs the straight-to-video crime thriller Three Blind Mice, an English-language co-production from France and the U.K. Edward Furlong stars as Thomas Cross, a computer programmer who witnesses the murder of his friend Cathy (Valérie Decobert) via her Web cam. When he tries to tell the police what happened, he realizes that he doesn't know her real name or address. He teams up with Internet specialist Detective Claire Bligh (Emilia Fox), who's been assigned to the case. They do an investigation of their own to find the identity of the killer. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Moya is guided to the planet Khurtanan for some desperately needed repairs, but none of the planet's mechanics will cooperate unless corrupt local doctor Tumii (Bruce Spence) gives Moya's crew a clean bill of health. Instead, Tumii poisons the crew with the deadly Qatal Mollusk, holding out the antidote unless he is given an enormous bribe. The "good" doctor also strongarms Crichton and Rygel (Jonathan Hardy) into stealing a huge cache of Qatals which are being stored as weapons by a group of resistance fighters. Somehow all this intrigue leads to an incredible sequence wherein the two most aggressively male members of Moya's crew dress up in female drag. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Entering a wormhole in space, Moya and her crew are trapped in a dank and dismal black hole. Worse still, Moya burns from within thanks to a parasite that threatens to devour the ship, but not before starting small and painful fires along the way. To top it off, the untrustworthy Rygel (Jonathan Hardy) is briefly appointed the captain of Moya -- and Aeryn (Claudia Black) announces that she's pregnant. "Natural Election" was initially telecast on July 19, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Seemingly returning from the dead, Scorpius (Wayne Pygram) takes Crichton's implanted neurochip on a "sentimental journey" to unlock an encrypted section of the chip. In another development, the Relgarian Linfer (Jo Kerrigan) offers to pass along some valuable wormhole travel secrets to the crew. But Linfer's price is steep indeed; she wants immediate possession of the living starship Moya. "Incubator" first aired on July 13, 2001. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this second episode of the two-part story "Infinite Possibilities," Cmdr. Crichton (Ben Browder) faces danger from three fronts: the mercurial Scorpius clone "Harvey" imbedded in his brain, the fearsome Charrid sentinels on planet Dam-Ba-Da, and the impending attack of a Scarran dreadnought. Crisis piles upon crisis as the crew members on Dam-Ba-Da face betrayal at the hands of someone within their ranks, while those crewpersons still on the living starship Talyn are unable to utilize the hardware necessary to prevent unwelcome visitors from "dropping in." "Icarus Abides" first aired on August 3, 2001. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This episode of Farscape was originally presented out of chronological sequence, the explanation being that too much had occurred elsewhere in the saga to permit any earlier telecast. It is now 15 days after the destruction of the PeaceKeeper Gammak Base where Crichton (Ben Browder) had been held prisoner. Zhaan (Virginia Hey) fills Crichton in as to what has happened to Moya and her crew during his absence, including a legal imbroglio on the planet Litigara, where, arrested for a minor jaywalking charge, Zhaan ended up being charged for murder. It was up to Rygel (Jonathan Hardy) and Chiana (Gigi Edgley) to save their fellow crew member before Moya was forced to leave Litigara's orbital field. Alternately known as "Dream a Little Dream" and "Re:Union," this episode first aired on June 23, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In exchange for safe conduct to his own world, blind scientist T'raltixx (Danny Adcock) offers to provide the living starship Moya with a cloaking shield. Unfortunately, during the modifications necessary to set up the shield, something goes wrong, and as result the crew's emotionalism is heightened to a ridiculous degree. The situation worsens when the crew declares an all-out war over possession of Moya's cracker supply! "Crackers Don't Matter" first aired on April 7, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Moya's erratic and unpredictable behavior can mean only one thing: The huge, living starship is pregnant. In her efforts to put the crew's mind at ease about her condition, Moya ends up stranding them in a nightmarish limbo. As Crichton (Ben Browder) attempts to repair the damage with some interdimensional surgery, his fellow crew members seem to evaporate before his eyes -- while Moya is multiplied by four. "Through the Looking Glass" originally aired on September 10, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe) manages to destroy one of the few remaining PeaceKeeper devices on the living starship Moya -- only to cause an inexplicable reaction which blows him into space. Rescued by Aeryn (Claudia Black), D'Argo returns to Moya in a highly agitated and extremely paranoid state, convinced that fellow crew member Crichton (Ben Browder) is a murderer. Adding to this burden, Moya begins to malfunction in a terrifying fashion. "They've Got a Secret" first aired on June 25, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide