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Apr. 9th, 2011 12:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatEh..there are things I should be doing today, did manage to get the laundry in to the mat, and do my delicate items (such as the cashmere/cotton blend sweaters which cannot be put in the dryer). Got up at 7.
Watched Merlin S3 Finale, and the series finally progressed. It's no longer this episodic series that ends the same way each time. It actually pulled all its errant plot threads together. My quibble? Same as the last two seasons, we have one nice female character and two evil ones, or a series of evil female guest-starring characters..aka witches, and all the true heroes are guys. Campbell's Heroes Journey at it's shiny best. Watching it I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to switch all the gender roles. To be fair, this has always been my quibble with the Arthurian Legends. So it really isn't Merlin's fault - the legend the show is based on - is sexist. Also what's with all the Arthurian reboots? Makes me want to rent Mists of Avalon.
That said? The finale was rather enjoyable. And I agree Bradley James is quite good as Arthur. He manages to get across a great deal with his eyes.
While at the mat, doing the delicates, I was reading about the making of Scream 4 in EW, and realized once again that being a writer in Hollywood must really suck at times. Even if you are a fairly well-known and highly paid one. No wonder so many of them go do comic books as a sideline or high-tail it to tv. Poor Kevin Williamson (you know him as the scribe of Dawson's Creek and Vamp Diaries, along with the original Scream film). He comes up with this brilliant idea for Scream 4, so brilliant he's penned Scream 5 and 6 off of it in quick outlines. Calls up the producer - Weinstein, who also thinks it is brilliant, and manages to get all the original stars of the series to sign on plus horror auteur Wes Craven - because they see it as brilliant. BUT. Somewhere along the line the producer, Weinstein, decides the writer's vision isn't good enough and tinkers with it. He doesn't trust his writer to deliver a good script on time. The film is slated to go in less than two years. They fight constantly, the producer decides to hire another writer to punch up the dialogue (the writer who had written Scream 3), the producer forces Williamson to rewrite portions of the script, change whole sections, at one point the director is rewriting sections. And to date? The original script-writer, Williamson has not seen a finished version of the film and is not talking to his former friend, the Producer (Weinstein). Unfortunately, this happens all the time, apparently. It's standard operating practice.
Watched Merlin S3 Finale, and the series finally progressed. It's no longer this episodic series that ends the same way each time. It actually pulled all its errant plot threads together. My quibble? Same as the last two seasons, we have one nice female character and two evil ones, or a series of evil female guest-starring characters..aka witches, and all the true heroes are guys. Campbell's Heroes Journey at it's shiny best. Watching it I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to switch all the gender roles. To be fair, this has always been my quibble with the Arthurian Legends. So it really isn't Merlin's fault - the legend the show is based on - is sexist. Also what's with all the Arthurian reboots? Makes me want to rent Mists of Avalon.
That said? The finale was rather enjoyable. And I agree Bradley James is quite good as Arthur. He manages to get across a great deal with his eyes.
While at the mat, doing the delicates, I was reading about the making of Scream 4 in EW, and realized once again that being a writer in Hollywood must really suck at times. Even if you are a fairly well-known and highly paid one. No wonder so many of them go do comic books as a sideline or high-tail it to tv. Poor Kevin Williamson (you know him as the scribe of Dawson's Creek and Vamp Diaries, along with the original Scream film). He comes up with this brilliant idea for Scream 4, so brilliant he's penned Scream 5 and 6 off of it in quick outlines. Calls up the producer - Weinstein, who also thinks it is brilliant, and manages to get all the original stars of the series to sign on plus horror auteur Wes Craven - because they see it as brilliant. BUT. Somewhere along the line the producer, Weinstein, decides the writer's vision isn't good enough and tinkers with it. He doesn't trust his writer to deliver a good script on time. The film is slated to go in less than two years. They fight constantly, the producer decides to hire another writer to punch up the dialogue (the writer who had written Scream 3), the producer forces Williamson to rewrite portions of the script, change whole sections, at one point the director is rewriting sections. And to date? The original script-writer, Williamson has not seen a finished version of the film and is not talking to his former friend, the Producer (Weinstein). Unfortunately, this happens all the time, apparently. It's standard operating practice.
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Date: 2011-04-10 07:03 am (UTC)I really hope Starz does a better job with Torchwood.
I have not seen all of merlin yet, but I do like the Morgana/Morgause duo. Having two female characters (even villains) that are good friends and clearly loyal to each other, it's very rare.
I keep hearing good things about Justified but it's so no my cuppa thematically...but we'll see, maybe someday.
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Date: 2011-04-10 06:59 pm (UTC)Justified...I don't know if you'd like it or not? It's a modern western that focuses on the hills of Kentucky and Applachia. It's not really cop procedural, which may be what is turning you off? If it was, I wouldn't be watching it. I can't watch the Sheild and it's one of the reasons I haven't been able to get into either The Wire or Chicago Code. I got burned out on cop shows in the 1990s. It's really not a cop show any more than the Good Wife is a legal procedural or for that matter Breaking Bad is a cop show. Just happens to have a main character who is a US Marshal - but the focus is more on his interaction with his hometown environment which he fled years before. Think Western as the genre, not cop. Now, if you aren't a fan of Westerns or quirky Elmore Leonard style dramas such as Terriers or Get Shorty or Out of Sight (film with George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez)...than probably not your cup of tea. First three episodes will most likely tell you one way or the other.
That appears to be the general consensus on Camelot - that it is not a good show. No one on my flist who has seen it - likes it.
Regarding Torchwood? It's getting very good reviews - apparently Doris Egan and Jane Espenson are writing for it. And RTD is structuring it the same way he structured Children of the Earth as a mini-series or novel for television. Also has a good cast.
Will have to rent on DVD - not worth it to subscribe to Starz just for Torchwood.