THE LAST COWBOY! 'LONGMIRE' HITS THE TRAIL...

Protecting the West! LONGMIRE has arrived. Images: TCM and A&E TELEVISION.

Following hot on the heels of Timothy Olyphant’s starring vehicle in JUSTIFIED comes another intriguing entry into the contemporary western genre- LONGMIRE, inspired by the popular, best selling detective stories of the popular character Sheriff Walt Longmire, created by Craig Johnson, and arriving on the UK’s TCM HD channel from this Sunday, 17^thMarch.

Looking like he’s stepped out of a Marlboro Man cigarette ad from the seventies, respected Aussie actor Robert Taylor does a sterling job of bringing the weathered faced, grizzled lawman with a sly sense of grounded humour to life for the small screen, in this enjoyably low-key but well-made series with solid scripting and a modern visual spin from THE CLOSERs Hunt Baldwin and John Coveny. Think McCloud meets Fargo, with an old-style slice of historical Americana thrown in and you’ll get the picture…

Beauty and danger await Longmire (Robert Taylor) in equal measure...

Trying to regain some sense and purpose to his life and career after the death of his wife and a break-up with his estranged daughter, Longmire is very much one of the last remnants of the Old West: dry as the desert but a determined presence- old school, not good with technology and relying on his knowledge and experience of a place where everybody knows everybody, where love, hate and rivalries are amplified within its small town environs, and where the modern equivalents of saloons and seedy, dusty trailer parks and Indian reservation areas hide secrets and lies amidst their old time traditions and continuing conflicts. The law of the gun is also still very much alive and kicking here.

Katee Sackhoff brings some welcoming sparky sex appeal to the series as Deputy Vic Moretti.

Aiding Longmire in his crime fighting duties are a small but quirkily effective team of deputies, soon finding the outside modern world and its problems getting closer and closer to their back door, including spunky fish-out-of-water heroine Vic Moretti (Katee Sackhoff, eschewing the cramped environs of a colonial viper in sci-fi epic BATTLESTAR GALACTICA for something a lot more down to earth), and ambitious rival for his job, Branch (Bailey Chase). Giving advice mixed with hard-edged banter is Longmire’s childhood friend, American Indian bar owner Henry Standing Bear (Lou Diamond Philips)- sometimes helping, sometimes hindering him in his investigations…

A missing American Indian girl and a far away from home teacher found dead in the snowy wastes get the series off to a subtly effective start (handled by SOUTHLAND veteran Christopher Chulack), whilst episode two sees Longmire and his team unravel the mystery of a fiery suicide victim whose prized horse collection have been set ablaze with him…

UK Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjC1ksvf4Pk

UK clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKpbFXuZJSA

US trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO-ZrF2HJjY

About the series: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9NtHe0zCVI

With its striking rusty brown cinematography mixed with stunningly atmospheric location scenery, showing Wyoming at its most vividly beautiful and wildly dangerous, LONGMIRE, a big hit Stateside, is sure to win a similarly devoted following in the UK.

Best watched wearing a big Stetson, alongside a strong brewing black coffee…

Katee Sackhoff interview: http://www.virginmedia.com/what-to-watch/features/longmire-interview-katee-sackhoff.php

TCM FACEBOOK page: https://www.facebook.com/TCMUK?fref=ts

KOOL TV CLASSIC IMAGE: 'BATTLESTAR GALACTICA'

The enemy within. The Cylon menace lurks within the cast of the re-imagined BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. Image: NBC UNIVERSAL.

Surely the most highly regarded and critically acclaimed sci-fi series of the last ten years, the re-imagined version of the classic late seventies series BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, originally created by Glen A. Larson, despite early fan protestations and hostility over the series re-vamp (by new imaginator Ronald D. Moore) and certain character changes, would soon capture a loyal and totally devoted fan base worldwide with its high quality scripting, acting and overall series evolution over nearly five years, showing us a realistic, often very bleak, portrayal of a human society out there in the universe destroyed by a menace of their own creation: the evolved android Cylon race, having returned from a period of wilderness isolation and infiltrating the Twelve Colonies of Mankind so as to sneakily bring about its extinction: it's only survivors part of a rag-tag fugitive fleet searching for a fabled planet named Earth, and led by their last mighty Battlestar, Galactica, crewed with a brave, if imperfect group of battle-hardened Colonial Warriors, commanded by the military Moses that is Adama (portrayed with guts, authority and humanity by Edward James Olmos -a superb casting choice for the series).

Battlestar Galactica Openings - YouTube

Despite keeping a lot of the shows original seventies concept, here was something far removed from the lively and fun space opera of GALACTICA that we'd grown up with, but it was equally well made and intriguing in it's own right. This was a show about survival enjoyed by a modern audience that related to its events, frightened but having to get used to terrifying events happening in our own world: like 9/11, the terrorism that has followed, and the wartime occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and with all the consequences for the world that have followed, alongside intriguing and always developing character drama (both human and the evolutionary Cylons), sexual politics, and some kick-ass space battles and action sequences well utilising the CGI revolution.

If you haven't already watched the new BATTLESTAR GALACTICA on DVD or in re-runs (in the UK it's currently on the SKY ATLANTIC channel), it's well worth a look in. But don't forget the legendary and still terrific original series that inspired it, either...

KOOL TV BABE OF THE WEEK: "24"/ "GALACTICA"s KATEE SACKHOFF

Life beyond GALACTICA has never been better for the foxy Katee Sackhoff. Image: ULIKE.

Back in 2003 when popular ex-STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION writer Ronald D. Moore announced his bold plans for a darker, post 9/11 re-imagined version of the hit seventies sci-fi classic BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, originally created by Glen A. Larson, its loyal fans were already dubious about the way the show would be adapted for a new audience, and their fears were subsequently worsened when he announced that the popular lead character of the cigar smoking, crack shot pilot and womaniser Starbuck, previously immortalised by Dirk Benedict, would now be re-vamped and change gender to become a woman. This was shock horror news, and fans were not happy. Not happy at all! And their anger was soon certainly expressed worldwide by the fan communities, and even Benedict himself (who had turned down a cameo opportunity, presumably as a different role, to appear in the new show) thought the move to be a little bit too political correct. Fortunately, the re-imagined BATTLESTAR GALACTICA would go on to be a big success with many critics (who didn't like the original series but liked this one) and general audiences (many of whom had never actually seen the original show anyway), and won over many old fans by the end of the pilot and into its first year. As for the actress who would play the part of Starbuck, the name of her fighter pilot call-sign, when her real name in the series was Kara Thrace, that would be the lovely actress Katee Sackhoff who, in casting gold, soon blew pretty much all the naysayers away once she appeared on screen in the series pilot two parter. Even with Moore's re-working, this was still pretty much the same Starbuck we knew from before (there was the gambling, the cigar smoking, the cool, often fearless Viper fighter pilot with the occasional death wish!, and the sexual aspects to the role now reversed) but there was also a little bit more vulnerability and a lot more anger and hatred of senior command staff (especially the on-and off drunk Colonel Tigh (a great new take on the part as played by Michael Hogan), some of the rival pilots, and conflicts with Captain Apollo (Jamie Bamber) who, prior to their reunion on the Galactica post the destruction of their colony worlds, loved her despite her doomed relationship with his his late brother Zak, killed in a training error because she let him pass his flight exam when she knew he wasn't ready. Over four seasons, Starbuck would grow beyond those early episodes to become a very complex character and one you'd either love or hate by the revelations involving her in the shows final two years, but one thing was for certain, Katee Sackhoff, already a TV veteran with a starting film career, was a star in the making beyond GALACTICA, with her striking features and presence-full eyes, and would go on to an even more promising career playing in a variety of roles in hit shows like NIP/TUCK (as the wild and wonderful Dr. Theodora Rowe), Jamie Sommers rival, Sarah Corvus, in the short lived re-make of THE BIONIC WOMAN, as Dana Walsh, the CTU technician with a relationship problem and a secret past in the final season of 24, showing her comedic side in THE BIG BANG THEORY, and, more recently, making two appearances in the US icon show CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION playing the smart and fiery Detective Frankie Reed (her second episode is on the UK's FIVE channel tonight at 9pm). And, beyond all that, look out for her return to the sci-fi universe in an upcoming episode of the hit animated series STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (of which she has just recently recorded her voice role), playing what she promises will be a very cool character for the fans to enjoy!

Warrior woman! As Starbuck in the modern BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. Image: UNIVERSAL/SYFY

On the run! As CTU operative Dana Walsh in 24. Image: 20TH CENTURY FOX.

Ready for action. As Detective Frankie Reed in CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION. Image: CBS/PARAMOUNT.

Easily crossing all genres beyond playing Starbuck, it looks like the skies are certainly not the limit for this fine actress!