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hsapiens
hsapiens
30 January 2007 @ 01:47 pm
Recent TV Adventures  
Lost, Heroes, QaF, Battlestar Galactica, Dresden Files, and Torchwood

I've finally picked up Lost on DVD since plenty of people I know and respect say it's a cool show. I've made it through the first season and am starting on the next. Does it make me less female that all the emo backstory for each of the characters just annoys me? Maybe I wouldn't hate it so much if it weren't specifically designed to stop the forward momentum of the story? No, actually, it's that I have little patience for people making the same stupid mistakes over and over and over and... Besides, the mystery of what's up with the island is far more interesting. Better storytelling would bring that forward without the need for jarring flashbacks meant to stop the action on a cliffhanger.

Speaking of annoying emo, next week looks to be a good time to sit down and finally watch Season 5 of QaF since Joe'll be out of town. Well, to fast forward through large chunks that I know will annoy me. I've seen large parts of the last 1/2 of the season but I haven't seen the first half. Actually, I'm having a hard time working up any enthusiasm for watching it because I know where it's headed. :|

I've been catching up on Heroes; I'm enjoying that quite a bit. I think it's probably because a show like that really does have to map out what's going to happen in future episodes and build its way there. I loved Bab5 for that very reason. I love complex story lines and I want what happens in episode 5 to have an effect on what happens in episode 15 and episode 105. The characters are wonderful and seeing Christopher Ecclestein AND George Takei last night was nice. The promise of their being in another few eps at least have me very happy. :)

Finished Torchwood, in which I'm enjoying John Barrowman. Can't say at this point that I like any of the other characters. I fear they've fallen from flawed humans into irretrievably stupid and gullible -- and rather callous towards others. I hope there's some feedback to the writers on this because Owen in particular is repulsive at this point. Gwen, around whom so much of the show revolves, really isn't winning any points with me. I know they can write some good stuff - the penultimate episode was wonderful not only for the Harkness Snogging Harkness bits but the team stuff. Jack and Tosh were wonderful and even the Ianto / Owen scenes were good as they argued over what Jack would want them to do, what was the right thing, yadda. Then, of course, they buggered it up in the very next episode. *sigh*

Dresden Files -- I've only seen the pilot but I gotta say it didn't grab me. I'm very disappointed because this is one show I've been eagerly awaiting since I saw the first promo months ago. It felt as if it should be longer so that I could meet the characters more and get a little more feel for them. Why is the cop calling him to help if she isn't aware of his powers, for instance? I meant to watch it again this week but forgot it was on, even though it was right before BSG. That's really not a good sign. :(

Battlestar Galactica is starting to lose me. I don't really like what they're doing with Baltar, Starbuck, or Apollo. Again, it's going all emo and weepy on me and I can't say that I have much patience for it. The apparent exit of Lucy Lawless removes one of the things I was enjoying in the series. BSG really needs a multi-year story plan; without one it's wandering the same way the survivors theoretically are, all over known space.

I quite enjoyed the "what makes humans worth saving" philosophical questions. I quite enjoyed the military/civilian tensions. I love trying to figure out what the hell the Cyclons are about. The artificial sexual tension between Starbuck and Apollo would have worked for me if they didn't each decide to marry someone else but they did and really? That makes this all seem like an exercise to up the ratings via sex and throwing pretty people at each other. It all just leaves me completely turned off. Again, I think the tragic emo-ness of it all is meant to appeal to women but I just find it tedious and off-putting.

Also? The move from Friday to Sunday really doesn't work for me. Friday was all about kicking back, relaxing, and being irresponsible while Sunday is a lead-in to another week of responsibility. Maybe I'll record it and just wait until Friday to watch it. :)


I've decided to wait to watch SG-1 until the freezing over of hell whenever SciFi decides to air it. April? May? November? I guess I'm putting off the inevitable end of SG-1, which is really rather silly since it's not as if I've been a happy fan of the new stuff. But there it is. It's an old friend and a fandom where I've met a lot of good people so I'm reticent to rush to its conclusion.
 
 
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Mish: John Barrowman -- THUD[identity profile] hsapiens.livejournal.com on January 30th, 2007 09:36 pm (UTC)
Torchwood feels as if it revolves around Gwen, which wouldn't have been my first choice. But as long as it does, then I have to like Gwen. With her snotty thoughts about Tosh, her affair with Owen, and her constant appeals to the others to just care she isn't winning a lot of points with me. The dead boy falling in love with her like that was also too many shades of any number of Stargate episodes other shows in which people fall in love with each other on first sight. *shudder*

I'm VERY glad to know that my difficulties with the Dresden Files is due to SciFi's stupidity. I'll give the show a much longer time to engage me but I gotta say that whoever made that decision should be fired. And tarred. Because I really, really want to like the show.

I can totally understand wanting to see the episodes in a vacuum. I'm not a spoiler-phobe but I've taken to avoiding most spoilers because I want to make up my own mind about how bad an episode is (or isn't). I was afraid the DVD movies would take the place of an honest ending for the show. Oh well, another opportunity to screw things up has been grabbed by TPTB and I can't say that I'm surprised.
nialla: Doctor Who - Captain Jack[personal profile] nialla on January 31st, 2007 01:26 am (UTC)
Gwen was supposed to be the POV of the audience -- new to all this alien stuff and asking dumb questions to enlighten the audience. But she's a bit too "holier than thou" combined with "do as I say, not as I do" for me to care about her.

There were way too many times in which someone did something stupid or totally out of character just to set up a plot. Such as I never saw Owen's "grand love affair" with the time traveler, it just didn't fit with his character as we knew him and was out of left field that he'd fall in love at first sight, but they had to have that in order to set up a reason why he'd be willing to do anything to open the rift.

I really want to like the Dresden series too. I've known Jim since before the books were published and I want to like the series because it's based on his work. I can handle most of the changes they've made due to the restrictions of tv budgets and the like, but others bug me. Such as the first time we see the adult Harry, he's in bed with some random chick.

First of all, I'm really tired of "lead male must shag every available female" stereotype anyway, but part of Harry's charm, to me anyway, is he's kind of a loser with women. It's partly because he doesn't want to risk a relationship that could get someone else hurt (and not "heart hurt" but more like "dead"), but he's also a bit of a romantic with a strong streak of chivalry. He doesn't strike me as a casual sex type of guy at all.

I don't mind spoilers of the general type, such as who'll be guest starring and what the TV Guide-quality description is, but I try to avoid opinions until I've seen it myself. One person's trash is another's treasure, so there's often times when someone else raves about an episode, but it's because they like what I loathe and vice versa.

It's one reason I no longer frequent online forums for Stargate. Everything is via LJ now, which makes it a lot easier to not only avoid spoilers, but I can pick and choose which communities and people are on my flist, so I don't get my blood pressure up over someone raving over whatever they liked when it's something they hate. *g*

I'm not surprised by anything TPTB do now. Such as dropping a few bombs regarding the fourth season of Atlantis, then acting like it's the fault of the fans who're upset because they don't know the whole story. Gee, could that be because they haven't told us anything?
Mish: Harkness -- Profile in Color[identity profile] hsapiens.livejournal.com on January 31st, 2007 03:52 am (UTC)
Yeah, I could tell Gwen was our Mary Sue but sadly she really seems to be a Mary Sue. Rather than being a nice bridge to facilitate exposition, she turned into a real Mary Sue: judging, cajoling, and "changing" the existing characters to make them act the way "we" expect. Thankfully, she doesn't have violet eyes. ;-)

I haven't read the books -- and purposefully avoided them once I knew the upcoming series that looked cool was based on real books. I never, ever like how things get adapted if the source text is fresh in my mind. It's easier for me to enjoy the movie/show for what it is and then go back and read the books for the fuller and more wonderful experience that books usually are.

I agree with you on the online forum vs. LJ thing. LJ has lowered my stress level and made fandom fun again. :) Even when it's to bitch about things that annoy me.

And you're right -- the Boyz of Bridge almost can't surprise me. Mallozzi in particular seems determined to foment trouble. I don't actually care what the full story is because the net effect of whatever's happening behind the scenes results in loss of fan favorites and that's always just plain old stupid.
nialla: SGA - McKay[personal profile] nialla on January 31st, 2007 04:46 pm (UTC)
Are you sure Gwen didn't have violet eyes? Or at least some other unusual color? If not, she was falling down on the Mary Sue job. ;)

There's a saying about never judging a book by its movie (or tv series), and there's definitely some truth to that. At least you know you've got a book series to consider reading after the tv series is over, no matter if the tv series ends up sucking.

I think everyone needs a place to vent and bitch sometimes, and being in "mixed company" in a forum makes it hard to do in some cases, especially when there's something that makes fandom diverge. Those who like what you don't often go into the "If you don't like it, don't watch! Let those who do have our fun!" mode, which is pretty self defeating, IMO. How do I know I'm not going to like something until I've watched it? And even the most dire episode often has a gem of a scene, but that doesn't mean I should only squee about a one minute scene and forget the rest of it was crap.

Mallozzi is just... words fail me. I might think some of my customers are being silly, stupid or whatever, but you don't tell them that to their (virtual) faces. Not if you want to stay in business. This man is going to be the showrunner for SGA next season, and I have to say that's filling me with dread the more he opens his mouth online. The rest of TPTB seem to be focusing on the DVD movies, so I think Atlantis will be left to Mallozzi's "tender mercies."
Mish: Rodney -- St. Rodney of Atlantis[identity profile] hsapiens.livejournal.com on January 31st, 2007 11:43 pm (UTC)
Now that you mention it, I think she does have violet eyes. :) Someone should totally make a sparkly Gwen icon and color her eyes violet.

I would never hold the series against the books - and for now, I can't even hold it against the writers because Sci FI is yet again screwing something up. :(

Forums tended, for me, to become too isolationist; a sort of echo chamber. I can find intelligent people who disagree with me on LJ and friend them personally. I like that aspect because I'm perfectly happy to debate, discuss, and even bicker a bit but I prefer to do it on my own terms. Forums are invariably owned by someone else (because there is no way I'm willing to mod one of those behemoths) and it inevitably comes down to being their show. There's nothing wrong with that but somehow or another I ended up dissatisfied. So...LJ solved my problems.

So I guess the pendulum has swung so that it is no longer SGA getting all of the creative energy and SG-1 getting stuck as the red-headed step-child run by Mallozzi. That sucks for SGA; I am very sorry for those fans. I'm so glad they never managed to interest me in SGA. For now, I'm happy-ish with Heroes and my collections of DVDs.
nialla: SGA - McKay[personal profile] nialla on February 1st, 2007 07:29 pm (UTC)
I think LJ is a little more "one to one" than forums. Forums do tend to gravitate towards one end of a spectrum, and I greatly appreciate those who have both "free for all" threads as well as protected ones for various POVs. But in LJ I find myself freer to discuss with who I want, when I want, and like you say, people I'd probably not meet up with in forums who have differing opinions than mine seem more open to discussion in LJ. I think maybe it takes away some of the "hive mind" mentality some lists and forums sometimes have.

For whatever reason Wright and Cooper seem fixated with making a movie, any movie, even straight to DVD ones. I guess they think it's going to improve their resume or something, possibly helping them to get future movie deals. SG-1 is just the only way they could get their foot in the door, so I don't really think it's going to be taking all their creative energy, since they haven't really done all that much creative on either show in recent years. SG-1 is just a means to an end now, with the end having nothing to do with Stargate, but the furtherance of careers.

The only reason I watch SGA is David Hewlett, and it sounds like he's going to have a lot of other projects in the works soon, so if I do ditch the show, I'll still be able to show my support for him elsewhere.