(no subject)

[shadowkat]

[ETA: found a new icon of Ayra from Game that I really like.]


Okay, my brain hurts...is it time to go home yet? ;-)

LJ brainless question of the day:

What is your favorite cult film, and why?

At the moment? Buckaroo Bonzai - Adventures Across the 8th Dimension.
Although Tremors comes in close second. Not sure Blade Runner counts as a cult film - if it does, then definitely that - since I actually own it on DVD.

I don't feel like explaining why. Figure it out for yourselves.

Speaking of taste issues? The whole Buffy S5-7 vs. Buffy 1-3 debate arises again.

Easy - if you are obsessed with high school stories and tween romance - you probably loved 1-3, if you are obsessed with stories about 20something angst, depression, abusive relationships, post and current college angst,
job frustration, and are either a frustrated psychology major or philosophy major at heart? You probably loved 5-7 and think S4 is the ultimate season. Although 3's stand-alone and Mayor/Faith arc had its appeal.

Hopeless romantic into Twilight novels? 1-3 only. (1-2 - I doubt they stuck around much after that.)Or casual fan into watching something not too deep. (there are exceptions of course, aren't there always?)

Cynics into Supernatural, BSG, Doctor Who, and tv shows like Game of Thrones and True Blood? 4-7 OR scholarly fan wanting to analyze the thing to death.
(also exceptions...ETA: some of these people love Doctor Who for example, which is far from cnynical.)

Then of course there are the weird people like myself who liked everything but the last 10 issues of the comics. We don't fit in any category and just look in bewilderment at the rest of you. ;-)

[ETA: Also should include people who liked all the tv series seasons but hated all the comics even though they masochistically read them anyway. And then there's the people who ignored the comics completely and loved all the seasons ...ETAA: Alright, I'm bound to have forgotten someone - so create your own little special category.]

And finally the folks who well liked all the seasons including all the comics...

Okay, not finally, there's also the people who think the show was about a cheerleader slaying vampires directed towards tween girls and just don't get the appeal. (Uh, no, that was the movie. But I can understand the confusion.)

In short try figuring out why people like what they like at your own risk.
Personally, I think it's impossible, without pissing everyone off and being proven to be an ass.

back to figuring out this change order request...then home again home again jiggedty jig.

Comments

[atpo-onm.livejournal.com]

All seasons of BtVS were good. I go in not expecting perfection, so not that disappointed when they occasionally did something dimwitted. Even then, that would be dimwitted IMO, not necessarily someone else's.

Favorite seasons for me would be 2,3,4,6. I know many viewers place 6 at the bottom of their list, but I really thought what they did was daring and challenged the viewers. Had the weakest finale, though, but even then only by comparison. Whatever else one might say, Whedon could wrap things like crazy.

The main problem I have with Season 8 is not the story-- even the wacky space-sex-new-universe-as-the-baby parts-- but the medium itself. I think many fans went into it thinking it would be the next Watchmen or Promethea (which, BTW, it borrows heavily from thematically) and-- it wasn't.

All I have to do is watch any classic episode of the TV series, any season, and you have great writing and live actors that make it real, make you forget it's fantasy. Last week I happened to rewatch The Prom. Watched Gellar's face as they give out the "Class Protector" award. I've seen this ep maybe 10-12 times by now. I always choke up, and tears start to run down my face. No graphic novel, even the best, has ever done that to me. Great live acting does that.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Oh, S8 did not suffer from unsatisfiable fan expectations. Have you read Global Frequency, which is the SF/fantasy series I thought S8 should have been?

[atpo-onm.livejournal.com]

No, but if you recommend it, I'll try to check it out. Is this a graphic novel, or conventional book?

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Two graphic novels written by Warren Ellis. They're both out of print at the moment, but I didn't have any trouble getting copies.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I think Whedon bit off more than he could chew in regards to S8.
Which is a criticism - I'd launch at both S7 and Dollhouse, to be honest. The writer didn't know what story he wanted to tell so instead of picking and sticking to one tale, tried to tell bits and pieces of several, and ended up with in incoherent and times incredibly disturbing mess. There was little communication in S8 between Whedon and the other writers, except briefly by email, no one knew the arc (I'm not even sure Whedon did) and it felt very much like his tv writing - fly by the seat of my pants.

He actually did a better job, believe it or not, with Astonishing X-men, which I'm starting to think may have more to do with the Marvel editors and less with Whedon. Whedon is a writer who needs a really good editor/co-writer or producer who is going to reign him in. His most successful projects had that.
Also - his most successful projects were "simple" not complex.
With not that many characters, just a small core cast.

I didn't expect all that much from the S8 comics, I certainly didn't expect Alan Moore. All I wanted was a fun, coherent, and interesting story that wrapped up hanging sub-plots - in a coherent manner - much like Whedon did with Astonishing X-men. (So we know he can do it.) And suffice it to say? I didn't get even that.