Movies/ Series that you are torn over- or- I'd love it if only....
POSTED BY: chrisisall
UPDATED: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 18:08
VIEWED: 13148
PAGE 4 of 7
Thrawn, based on your recommendation I'll give it another try with Farscape, as long as it has a satisfactory ending. That was the only thing missing at the end of Dark Angel, you have to imagine some stuff that it left hangin'.
And I bought the first season of Alias, 'cause reviews were favourable, and I couldn't STAND the endless cliffhangers!!! I watched a whole disc and still felt like I hadn't seen an episode, just one long , endless streaming family soap opera with gadgets and super-seriousness that didn't fit with the goofy nature of the plots. James Bond movies (recent ones, anyway) are'nt even that straight faced. I, however, could accept all the flaws if I could just sit down with it for 45 minutes, and feel like I watched something with a beginning, middle, and an end.
The segmented Chrisisall
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Quote:
Originally posted by Thrawn:Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
And what about Babylon 5, why couldn't I get into it? My friends said it was cool, but I couldn't see it.
Farscape either. I rented the dvd's and really tried.
The predictable Chrisisall
With me, the key was getting through the first season for both shows. The first 22 episodes of each are more or less supremely crap, but if you can make yourself sit through them, you're used to the universe and then they really start to play. Each show gets uniformly better over 4 years. (There, they split - Farscape ends in an absolutely fantastic miniseries while B5 ends in a dissappointing 5th season, but that doesn't diminish the show's earlier greatness. And for Farscape, the whole show is worth getting to the miniseries, which is some of the best TV ever.)
I respectfully disagree. Enjoyed Farscape a lot. However, one of the things that really bugged me was their continual tendency to 'lurch' the story. You started watching an episode, and something major would have happened that they barely spend three words describing. You might think you missed an episode, but you didn't. They just neglected to show occasional changes in situation. One example would be when Stark would leave to go his own way. Please don't ask me to think of another.
"Don't say 'ka' until you've tried it." Daniel Jackson
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Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Thrawn, based on your recommendation I'll give it another try with Farscape, as long as it has a satisfactory ending. That was the only thing missing at the end of Dark Angel, you have to imagine some stuff that it left hangin'.
And I bought the first season of Alias, 'cause reviews were favourable, and I couldn't STAND the endless cliffhangers!!! I watched a whole disc and still felt like I hadn't seen an episode, just one long , endless streaming family soap opera with gadgets and super-seriousness that didn't fit with the goofy nature of the plots. James Bond movies (recent ones, anyway) are'nt even that straight faced. I, however, could accept all the flaws if I could just sit down with it for 45 minutes, and feel like I watched something with a beginning, middle, and an end.
The segmented Chrisisall
They've realized that, and started doing episodes that don't cliffhanger, but the show is drowning in other problems now. It has X-Files syndrome - there's a Mysterious Conspiracy that they didn't decide on ahead of time and so just keeps getting more convoluted and contradictory, and it's not going anywhere.
And, back on Farscape, to clarify a bit - I'd tried it two or three times, too, never getting past the first few episodes, until a friend of mine MADE ME keep going, and I can't say as I can fault him. Towards the end of first season, there's a two-parter where a new villain is introduced (Scorpius - terrible name, but excellent character) and that's when the show starts to actually go somewhere. Get at least that far before you decide if you want to quit again.
And the ending is the best ending to a television show I've ever seen - it really is a satisfactory end to all the arcs, and the whole show almost literally builds to the final 20 minutes. I can't praise it enough.
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Originally posted by Sickdude:
I respectfully disagree. Enjoyed Farscape a lot. However, one of the things that really bugged me was their continual tendency to 'lurch' the story. You started watching an episode, and something major would have happened that they barely spend three words describing. You might think you missed an episode, but you didn't. They just neglected to show occasional changes in situation. One example would be when Stark would leave to go his own way. Please don't ask me to think of another.
"Don't say 'ka' until you've tried it." Daniel Jackson
Farscape is my favorite non-Whedon show ever, I was just saying that the first season was bad. And I thought the tendency to lurch the story was clever, it really felt like each episode was just an hour out of every week of their lives, that there was TONS going on in between episodes. I never had any difficulty figuring out what happened by context. (That said, it is a show you have to pay attention to - you leave the room for a minute and you can miss something important. Which, really, is something else I like - I hate it when shows continually beat you over the head with recaps and summaries, I sorta like having to think as I watch.)
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Quote:
Originally posted by Thrawn:
Farscape is my favorite non-Whedon show ever, I was just saying that the first season was bad. And I thought the tendency to lurch the story was clever, it really felt like each episode was just an hour out of every week of their lives, that there was TONS going on in between episodes. I never had any difficulty figuring out what happened by context. (That said, it is a show you have to pay attention to - you leave the room for a minute and you can miss something important. Which, really, is something else I like - I hate it when shows continually beat you over the head with recaps and summaries, I sorta like having to think as I watch.)
I'll agree with that. You're soooo right about the having to pay attention constantly.
"Don't say 'ka' until you've tried it." Daniel Jackson
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Well *takes deep breath*
I would love Battlestar Galactica if only Starbuck wasn't played the way she is.
I do not mean that I want Dirk Benedict back as Starbuck and in no way am I objecting to Starbuck being female.
It is just the way Starbuck is played. The character is just so annoying, so "overdone" (for a lack of better words) that I can not stand watching her.
I have to admit, I only watched the first three hours (guess it is kind of a two part pilot) of the show, but I know that I only will watch it when I happen to zap into it by accident.
This one char spoils the whole show for me.
I really wished I would have the abilities to explain in english and in written words what it exactly is that is so annoying about her.
Don't want to blame only that character for my torn feeling towards BSG though.
The "#6-in-the-head-trying-to-be-oh-so-seductive" thing is another thing that makes the show not enjoyable for me.
Just as annyoing in my eyes.
So if only Starbuck wouldn't have been so overdone "cocky", "smartassed", "I-wanna-play-the-character-oh-so-tough" and #6 wouldn't show up all the time, I actually could like the show.
I love the new Vipers, the new Cylons and the new spacebattle scenes. But they just aren't enough for me to enjoy the show.
See ya,
Gavida
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Gavida, I agree with what you said, the same things irritate me, too (understood you perfectly, by the way).
It ain't quite irritatin' enough to make me not buy season one when it comes out, however( I don't watch things with commercials anymore).
And the new vipers are THE best looking fighters ever designed!!
Apollo-like Chrisisall
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Originally posted by Spookyjesus:
Hang on while I pull the DVD from the library (why did I buy it when I hate it? It's great until the ending and I'm a massive Kubrick fan).
Ok - scene selection........frozen twin towers........alien lookin' things......
Hang on - they're acting very robotic all right..... yeah, I think you're right - fuck.
That kind of makes the movie a little better actually, maybe it's just misunderstood, I mean the bear is probably still the best thing in it but maybe the movie isn't as stupid as I thought it was.
I liked AI for the most part, even the 'highly advanced robots at the end' (and that was the take I had for it)... but there was one thing I hated, hated, hated, hated, and that was the cheesy, attempt to be manipulative (I say attempt because the only thing it did was make me angry and whoever added that bit), the "We'll bring her back, but only for ONE DAY! AND THEN NEVER AGAIN!" There's no good reason for it only be one day. It's just a meaningless roadblock added to try to give the ending one particular type of emotion. It's almost the opposite of Deus Ex Machina - in that, a god comes up at the end and saves everything. In this, a problem comes out of nowhere (completely made up science gunk) that prevents the main character from getting exactly what it was that he wanted, but gives him just enough of a taste of it to be sad. They should have either ended it in the ocean, given the damn kid what he wanted, or even leave on a bittersweet 'we made a robot copy of his mother. He'll never know.'
Star Pilot Grainger
"Remember, the enemy's gate is down."
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Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Here's another for me: Minority Report, another Speilby. I SO wanted to like(no, love) it and when I saw it I was so messed up by it! It had me goin' and when Tom confronted the (supposed) killer, tears were comin' outta me! What a perfomance!!
But then the end got tied in a nice Hollywood knot. The psychs escaped, Tom has new baby, memory of that other son or whatever happily gone...
And don't get me started on the 'eyeballs can't roll once there's no blood pressure to keep 'em round' thing.
And it was ALMOST a good flick.
The demanding Chrisisall
I like the alternative view: Everything after John was captured is a delusion. At some point they mentioned that when you're held in stasis by the Precrime things, "It's like all your dreams come true"... so, what happens after he's captured? His wife uncovers the conspiracy, and everything he wanted to have happened if he wasn't captured, happens, right down to a romantic happy ending. It's not a perfect explanation for everything that happens, but it's the one I prefer. :)
Total Recall has a similar 'secret alternative explanation' with the Rekall tech saying at the beginning 'Blue Sky on Mars, that's a new one...'.
Star Pilot Grainger
"Remember, the enemy's gate is down."
LJ: http://www.livejournal.com/users/newnumber6 (real)
http://www.livejournal.com/users/alternaljournal (fictional, travelling through another world)
Unreachable Star: http://www.unreachablestar.net - Comics & SF News/Reviews/Opinions
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Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Thrawn, based on your recommendation I'll give it another try with Farscape, as long as it has a satisfactory ending. That was the only thing missing at the end of Dark Angel, you have to imagine some stuff that it left hangin'.
And I bought the first season of Alias, 'cause reviews were favourable, and I couldn't STAND the endless cliffhangers!!! I watched a whole disc and still felt like I hadn't seen an episode, just one long , endless streaming family soap opera with gadgets and super-seriousness that didn't fit with the goofy nature of the plots. James Bond movies (recent ones, anyway) are'nt even that straight faced. I, however, could accept all the flaws if I could just sit down with it for 45 minutes, and feel like I watched something with a beginning, middle, and an end.
The segmented Chrisisall
That's something they have changed for this season of Alias (and maybe last season... I'm repressing).
Personally, I kind of liked it but after a while the 'wrap up last week's episode' teaser was annoying. Had I seen them when it originally aired I might have been more annoyed.
Oddly enough, 24 has also spent most of this season toning down its cliffhanger endings. Which is sad because they are mucking with the formula. I remember S1 when, at the end of an episode, they had 4 or 5 shots of their main characters, all in some sort of trouble. Now it's maybe Jack in a little bit of a problem and 4 or 5 guys sitting around CTU.
I blame execs who think that people aren't able to catch up if they miss an episode.
"Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government."
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