Rainy drippy Saturday
Oct. 30th, 2004 03:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatThe smell of cooking brownies fills my apt. Yep, I caved and made some more, (no, not from scratch, are you nuts! )and they are baking in my oven. Needed comfort food.
Hard week. Still sore from my tumble on Tuesday. Tired from work - or trying hard not to make any mistakes at work. Way I look at it? I survived my first month and a half. That's something. Healthcare benefits kicked in - ironic if they didn't considering I am working at a healthcare company. So saw some doctors for the requisite check-ups. Today's was the eye doc. Who requires a follow-up visit next week. (Dang it.) But outside of that, all is swell.
Finished my Farscape Marathon. That's right have now watched the entire series, including the four-hour miniseries. And what an interesting ride. I prefer the series to the mini-series by the way. Not that I didn't like the mini-series, I did, loved it. But, the series felt more character centric, less preachy/ideal driven. What is it about tv shows and their latter seasons? They all start getting preachy and "ideal" oriented towards the end, almost as if the writer has decided, wait I've established the characters, now it's "MESSAGE" time. I have a captive audience - time to tell them what I think, before I lose my chance! That said? I think Farscape was the most entertaining in this respect, not to mention most cohesive, and true to its characters. Can't say the same for other tv shows I'm afraid. BTVS? Sort of lost me in the second half of Season 7. Or rather it lost most of its characters. Never felt that way with Farscape, but then Farscape was only on for four years and wrapped up with a four-hour mini. Only other sci-fantasy show that comes close to this level plot-tight character centric - cohesive story-telling, may be Bablyon 5, which was meant to be a tele-novel. Both feel like watching novels for TV. At any rate, I recommend Farscape, with the following adivisories: 1)You have to get to episode 15 or 17 before it takes off. 2)The mini-series won't make much sense if you don't watch the series, trust me on this. It's not a movie you can watch separately from the series, the two are interconnected. 3)If you do not like alien makeup or puppetry and prefer straight, literal story-telling with few visual metaphors - you will probably hate this series. 4) It is morally dark in places and has graphic torture sequences - if you have issues with that or can't handle graphic violence or torture scenes? You may not be able to handle this show. These guys make Whedon and Minear look like wimps.
Hard week. Still sore from my tumble on Tuesday. Tired from work - or trying hard not to make any mistakes at work. Way I look at it? I survived my first month and a half. That's something. Healthcare benefits kicked in - ironic if they didn't considering I am working at a healthcare company. So saw some doctors for the requisite check-ups. Today's was the eye doc. Who requires a follow-up visit next week. (Dang it.) But outside of that, all is swell.
Finished my Farscape Marathon. That's right have now watched the entire series, including the four-hour miniseries. And what an interesting ride. I prefer the series to the mini-series by the way. Not that I didn't like the mini-series, I did, loved it. But, the series felt more character centric, less preachy/ideal driven. What is it about tv shows and their latter seasons? They all start getting preachy and "ideal" oriented towards the end, almost as if the writer has decided, wait I've established the characters, now it's "MESSAGE" time. I have a captive audience - time to tell them what I think, before I lose my chance! That said? I think Farscape was the most entertaining in this respect, not to mention most cohesive, and true to its characters. Can't say the same for other tv shows I'm afraid. BTVS? Sort of lost me in the second half of Season 7. Or rather it lost most of its characters. Never felt that way with Farscape, but then Farscape was only on for four years and wrapped up with a four-hour mini. Only other sci-fantasy show that comes close to this level plot-tight character centric - cohesive story-telling, may be Bablyon 5, which was meant to be a tele-novel. Both feel like watching novels for TV. At any rate, I recommend Farscape, with the following adivisories: 1)You have to get to episode 15 or 17 before it takes off. 2)The mini-series won't make much sense if you don't watch the series, trust me on this. It's not a movie you can watch separately from the series, the two are interconnected. 3)If you do not like alien makeup or puppetry and prefer straight, literal story-telling with few visual metaphors - you will probably hate this series. 4) It is morally dark in places and has graphic torture sequences - if you have issues with that or can't handle graphic violence or torture scenes? You may not be able to handle this show. These guys make Whedon and Minear look like wimps.
Re: "These guys make Whedon and Minear look like wimps"
Date: 2004-10-30 08:47 pm (UTC)According to the SFX interview I just read with Ben Browder,
they had enough material to go into a sixth season and everyone in the cast was right there with them. But it was cancelled. Now - Brian Hensen says he feels the next step after the mini-series is an actual film. The big screen. I hope so. I'd love to see this series on screen sans commericials. My main complaint about the mini was the commercials and the teasers they kept showing. I have it all on tape, but with millions of commericials I have to fast forward through.
Right with you there, really....B5 actually did end for all extents and purposes in S4 -- I remember reading online than JMS had wrapped up all the storylines so it wouldn't feel the show had come to an abrupt end, only then you get stuck at the beginning of S5 having to ramp everything up all over again, and I felt the season didn't really take off again til the Centauri war eps. I think JMS said both the Minbari and Earth wars wouldn't've been wrapped up so quickly and we would have ended on the cliffhanger of Sheridan being interrogated.
That was what I remember. They cancelled it. Claudia Christian moved on to something else. Then suddenly it got picked up and everyone came back but Claudia Christian (Ivanova - who happened to be on of my favorite characters).
She oddly shows up in the last episode, because he pulled that one when the show got picked up again and placed it at the end of S5. I think S5 would have worked better if it were shorter. They drug things out.
That said - I agree, the best bits were the Gnarn/Centauri
conflict. Actually that was my favorite part of the series -the conflict between Centauri and Gnarn and the flip-flop of who was the bad guy. In that regard B5 is memorable. Farscape didn't develope Rygel, Zhen or D'Argo quite as well as B5 did G'narn and Centauri. G'narn and Centauri were true works of art. They came close though.
Re: "These guys make Whedon and Minear look like wimps"
Date: 2004-10-31 06:46 am (UTC)No, sorry, wish I did. I'd send you the mag, but it isn't mine to send (borrowed from a friend who wants it back.) If you are looking for it - its the issue that has the tribute to Angel. The Farscape stuff is really brief. Most of the mag talks about the Spiderman movie and Angel finale. Browder spends most of his time discussing how he "does not" body wax, (I believe him - he had chest hair in those scenes), and how he wanted a new costume but they couldn't afford one after all the F/X. Hilarous interview. Browder is a funny guy.
Also, they could obviously do more on film than on a tv series, even though they did quite a lot (ha, during the mini when Rygel was puking up little bits of John and Aeryn everyone was like "Yup, yup, that's Farscape"). Also, now that they've tied up a lot of the previous plotlines and characters, maybe a movie wouldn't be as rushed as the mini felt.
Yup, that goes to answer Rah's question about is it fun? LOL! This show has such a clever whit. The whole bit with Rygel/Aeryn/Crichton in the mini reminded me of a similar bit in Out of Their Minds.
Hilarious.
Oh, yeah, the Londo/G'Kar relationship on B5 was really something extraordinary, and it just grew and kept growing over all five seasons. And those weren't even the human main lead parts! Just amazing. I think the closest Fscape came to that was with D'Argo and John, but yeah, no characters were as developed as Londo and G'Kar were.
I agree. Haven't seen anyone develop supporting characters as well as B5's Londo and G'Kar. The mere fact that G'Kar started out the villian and Londo the funny clown, and later G'Kar becomes heroic and Londo one of the most complex villians I've seen is amazing. Farscape came really close to this with Scorpius and Crais, who start out nasty villians and become oddly heroic and incredibly complex. Actually I think Scorpius may give Londo a run for his money on best complex villian.
Re: "These guys make Whedon and Minear look like wimps"
Date: 2004-10-31 05:32 pm (UTC)I agree, Londo truly was more of a tragic hero, a la Crais. I think I liked Scorpius because he was never redeemed, instead the series merely explained him.
Scorpius was what Crichton might have been if he allowed science to come first. There's a point in the series, in Into The Lion's Den, in which Cricton wonders if Scorpius might be right. He struggles with Scorpius' views throughout - because Scorpius solution seems at times the easiest way out. By the end of the series - I stopped seeing him as pure villian, and more a complex shadow self. (Don't get me wrong, I never found him attractive or sympathetic. Yet... he intrigued me. Everything time I thought I understood or knew the character, they revealed a new layer. In that regard - he gives Londo a run for his money.)