Dark Angel - Schmaltz or smarts??

POSTED BY: Zoot
UPDATED: Thursday, August 18, 2005 23:10
VIEWED: 15427
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ZOOT

Monday, June 20, 2005 1:51 PM

So, following numerous recommendations on this site and others, I, a UK resident with limited TV viewing, bought the first series of Dark Angel and have just watched it …. Rather enjoyed it, but can’t help but feel it goes a little too far with the whole sexual tensions shenanigans … Ok, so I realise that Logan is a little too clean cut and smooth and, heck, lets face it, just that little bit too prissy for those of us who prefer our heroes manly (and preferably packing), but surely?!??!

I mean they both appear to fancy each other like crazy and yet they manage to avoid yer basic shagging manoeuvre for a good 22 or so episodes – was anyone buying this?? ‘cos I certainly wasn’t …. And the lengths the writers had to go to in order to come up with obstacles was shocking – maguffins left right and bloody centre ….

Plus I kinda missed the witty repartee of Buffy – couldn’t help thinking if Joss had written it, it would a been a whole heap of better ….

‘Course all this wining didn’t stop me buying season 2 – if only to see what ridiculous plot twist they come up with this time to stop Logan and Max actually getting it on – oh, please tell me he gets both his arms removed following a freak boating accident, the drugs he’s on to keep him from topping himself in grief also make him spectacularly impotent and she shacks up with her incredibly ugly sort-of-brother and no one yells incest or even looks slightly askance …. Tell me that, please!!

Fundamentally, it seems to me, the trick with good sci-fi or any drama, is to make it character based but not relationship based, so that it appears more than two dimensional … I call to mind Moonlighting, Superman and others that all fall into this relationship “will they, won’t they”, “they appear to hate each other but, God Love ‘em, the love each other really” sentimental crud!!

***************************************

Okay, I'm lost, I'm angry, and I'm
armed.

FANTASTICLAUGHINGFAIRY

Monday, June 20, 2005 2:48 PM

I have to admit, that after catching a few eps on Channel 5 (yes I'm also a UK viewer) I loved it, saw it on offer (buy 1 get 1 free) in Woolworths and went for it. Loved every minute. To ickle tiny pieces.
It is (season 1 - season 2 went a bit weird, but still all-round OK) an amazing show, beaten only by Firefly, and possibly Buffy Season 2.
I'll admit they went a little overboard with the whole Max-Logan thing, but that didn't destroy the show for me, and can you honestly say it's worse than the Buffy-Angel thing - they can NEVER be together, and it took them a year and a half to get it on. Then she had to kill him.
I just wish DA had been given another chance to pull itself together for a third series, or a movie - maybe if James Cameron gets his act together.
Anyway, stop slating my show. It's great. And Logan's so sweet. And Alec's great.
Defninitely smarts (can you actually say that as a sentence?)
Defninte thumbs-up from me. Plus you can't say it wasn't funny.

...and we will call it...this land...

ZOOT

Monday, June 20, 2005 3:14 PM

Not really slating it ... heck – it’s just been the hottest weekend of the year and I have a hammock with my name on it and what did I do? Yes, you’ve guessed it, I stayed indoors in a darkened bedroom and watched TV – in fact, 20 episodes of DA – and managed to go to Bristol for a board meeting (all the way down the M4) – not much sleep though!!

Just thought the Logan/ Max thing was a bit laboured – felt like shouting “just do it already!” and to be fair – you kinda need a pay off for the shipper fans with that kind of thing and, although I don’t know, as still not finished first series (hurry UP! 5.30! darn it!) I’m sensing they never actually get it together – haven’t come across Alec yet ….

Have to say, I don’t find it all that funny –although the Jam Pony people are light relief – Logan’s just that bit too earnest and the writing creaks a bit …. Just miss the Buffy/ FF one-liners…Watched the one (last night at 2 a.m. see, I can be obsessed over stuff I’m not even that into!) where Logan and Max go to his cousin’s wedding and the whole “my mother’s locket was stolen by my horrid aunt” speech just stunk … plus the “bullet lodged too near the spine to remove, now migrated causing maximum danger and opportunities for lingering glances” has surely been done in every day time soap EVER! Just cos its sci-fi, my corniness radar does not get turned off ….

Now I really sound like I hate it adn I don't, I'm loving it - jsut can't help thinking with better writing it could be spectacular!!!

***************************************

Okay, I'm lost, I'm angry, and I'm
armed.

CHRISISALL

Monday, June 20, 2005 3:51 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Zoot:
I’m sensing they never actually get it together – haven’t come across Alec yet ….
Have to say, I don’t find it all that funny –although the Jam Pony people are light relief – Logan’s just that bit too earnest and the writing creaks a bit …. Just miss the Buffy/ FF one-liners…

I just came off a stint of watching buffy S1, S2, and S3 almost back to back, and I have to say most people in most situations just can't be as funny as they are in Buffy. The Buffyverse is a little more fanciful place than the Dark Angelverse, with more room for witty and amazing happenings. I love Dark Angel because it's not trying to be Buffy, a mistake that would've surely got it cancelled a good deal sooner.
And if you haven't got to season two yet, please refer to my list on the '2nd season eps that don't suck' thread, it will help you avoid the 'creature of the week' episodes that sorta diluted the season.
Max and Logans feelings for eachother are at the heart of the show, cornyness will, by definition, play a signifigant part in it. And that's a common thread in all James Cameron's works, isn't it? That's also why, with the exception of Titanic, I adore most of his stuff.

So hang in there, the finale of season 2 is worth it.

Feline DNA challenged Chrisisall

CHRISISALL

Monday, June 20, 2005 4:02 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by fantasticlaughingfairy:
Plus you can't say it wasn't funny.

I'd say it was funny in a smart way, not LOL HAHA kind of funny. Almost every time Xander opens his mouth in Buffy, I know I'm gonna LOL. But in DA the humour was more sly. "Hey, you're kinda cute." she says, just before she knocks out a guard/bad guy. It's a humour that's more grounded in reality than Buffy or say, Lois and Clark (another show I also love). Not better, but different.

Vive la differance Chrisisall

ZOOT

Monday, June 20, 2005 4:04 PM

Aha! Monsieur Chrisisall, was wondering when you'd show up ....

Yes, am very much hanging in there - cannot wait to leave work and get stuck in!! Can I just ask - since most people have already seen it ... do they get together EVER??? If I know, one way or the other, it will make it easier to watch ...

I know nothing is ever as funny as Buffy - just wish it was (although, of course, my life is a positive plethora of witty one-liners and saving the world a lot) ....

Its the romance/ corniness I'm finding hard - so maybe James C just isn't for me - what else has he done? (other than titanic, which I slept through)...

Back to DA - Can't really suspend disbelief enough not to wonder at the lack of jumping each other's bones going on - as they are clearly both so up for it!!

Yes, have seen your other thread and think I will have to watch all season two (ordered but not yet arrived) terrible episodes and all to get full DA experience!!

***************************************

Okay, I'm lost, I'm angry, and I'm
armed.

SICKDUDE

Monday, June 20, 2005 5:00 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Zoot:
oh, please tell me he gets both his arms removed following a freak boating accident, the drugs he’s on to keep him from topping himself in grief also make him spectacularly impotent and she shacks up with her incredibly ugly sort-of-brother and no one yells incest or even looks slightly askance ….

How'd you know???

Seriously, I'd say at least one of those is true, in a sense.

James Cameron will always be known in my mind for that masterpiece, Aliens.

"Don't say 'ka' until you've tried it." Daniel Jackson

CHRISISALL

Monday, June 20, 2005 6:06 PM

Okay, regarding consumation, if you really want to know....

Select to view spoiler:

They would have presumably jumped eachother's bones in season 3, but alas, other forces are at work to keep 'em apart through season 2. It ends on a hopeful note, though.

Cameron also did:
Aliens
The Abyss (but see the director's cut!!)
Terminator 1 + 2
True Lies (not so fond of that one)

After you watch DA season 2 finale, listen to the commentary for it. The first 15 min. will tell where they were gonna end it in season 3.

DA has best transfer I've ever seen for full-screen Chrisisall

ZOOT

Monday, June 20, 2005 7:56 PM

I think you're probably right in that it would make a damn fine movie ....

Good to know what happens - thanks - am just not one of those people where my enjoyment is ruined if I know what happens, hell, I prefer it that way .... Once forced a friend at knife point (plastic knife) over brunch to tell me the entire DETAILED plot of season 7 (6? - I forget where we are) of West Wing, just so I could enjoy watching it!! (Does Donna die?? Wail!!)

I have to confess I hate Alien - just too much of a girl I'm afraid - don't much (on the whole,with notable exceptions) care for science fiction and it scared the tiny lacy pants off of me!!

Once shared a flat with a really scary Russian girl whose favourite films were Termiantor II and I Jane (she had a thing for strong women) - again, I just get a bit bored ... I guess I'must more a Whedon girl and that's the way it'll stay ...

Incidentally just watched "Shorties in Love" - nice episode and warming to the slightly slimy one (by which I, of course, mean Logan) - he seems to be some strange woman's idea of perfect man (all sensitive and poetry writing, yet with surprising upper body strenght) which I just can't tap into ... Guess he's the Simon Tam of the series, give me Malcolm Reynolds (he at least has the decency to hide his tourtured soul with a great big lump a meanness) any day!!

***************************************

Okay, I'm lost, I'm angry, and I'm
armed.

CHRISISALL

Monday, June 20, 2005 9:13 PM

Logan gets less 'poetry'-like and more pro-active as the show progresses. You must have just seen 'Haven', one of my favourites, he was all- dude in that one, wasn't he? He's at his best, though, in the S2 finale.
Here's something; I watched DA when it was originally broadcast, and during the second season, when I had to wait one, two, sometimes three weeks for the next episode only to get 'Boo' or 'Gill Girl', I almost wrote the show off. I missed the finale (it was only shown once), and only got to see it on dvd!
In watching the whole series at my leisure, it was easier to poo-poo the dumb shows of S2, and concentrate on the worthy ones, so I didn't have that feeling of being betrayed for waiting weeks for another good one. I think you'll see what I mean when you get to them.
And since you're a girl and all, try 'The Abyss', I think it's Cameron's most female-friendly movie. No monsters, no robots, heck, not even any real 'bad' guy. Just a cool story.

And in DA S2 I think you'll really like Alec Chrisisall

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