GAH! It's just... no... that's so wrong...

POSTED BY: Jacqui
UPDATED: Friday, October 21, 2005 13:35
VIEWED: 9277
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DREAMTROVE

Thursday, October 20, 2005 6:41 PM

[more trollish rant]

It's not that I hate it. That would at least be something. If I were so wrapped up in the characters that I was angry at the pairing.

Instead it has nothing to do with that, I'm bored silly by it. This is the tale of a hardened tragic war hero and a shallow whore. It's not interesting, but moreover, it's not science fiction. It's Aaron Spelling.

Spelling dishes out this stuff day in and day out. And sure, people love it. They post on these boards about how they love it. People just like them, having relationships just like theirs. This is not science fiction, people.

I don't hate it. It bores me to tears. Science fiction has plenty of room to explore relationships completely different from ones we are used to, and through those, show us things about ourselves we can't see in the relationships we know.

A Vampire in love with a Slayer, or a Slayer in love with a Vampire, this was new interesting and worthy of the speculative fiction it was in. Likewise a witch and a werewolf.

I want to jump ship for a second and slam a relationship in another series to let you know where I'm coming from:

John Crighton and Aeryn Sun. This was possibly the most boring development in a watchable science fiction show ever, excluding a lot of completely unwatchable scifi.

Here's why:

John Crighton is just like us, easy to identify with. He's written to be that way, because we are seeing the universe through his eyes. Aeryn is just like many people I've known. Two very human characters. Sure, Aeryn is raised to be a soldier, but that's a minor twist that plays out much like normal human relationships where one person has any sort of troubled past.

So, he's a fish out of water, she has a troubled past. It's still reading like a harlequin. Nothing interesting so far, and nothing remotely resembling science fiction.

Now this is not strictly a noromo rant here. There was a suggestion in the show that John and Chiana were going to hook up before it was decided on John and Aeryn. Many fans including me looked forward to this opportunity, exposing human preconceptions through the context of a relationship with a totally alien character. It was really interesting.

Chiana and Dargo, which happened, was two like aliens getting together, it was again boring, but not as boring as John and Aeryn.

Now here's where it gets worse.

Sci-fi read the blogs and told the makers of the show to supplant their existing story arch with on to develop this romance that I and everyone I know was already sick of.

It was tedious. Painful to watch. Gone was at least a third to well over half of every show. Much of a potentially fascinating alternate universe was stripped away and replaced with stock Spelling romance.

Aaron Spelling has already made lots of shows which are chock full of this stuff. Go watch those shows. Leave us real nerds with some actual science fiction to watch!

If you need both, get your boring romance dose from some Spelling show. If you don't like Spelling stylistically, there are many many other people making this stuff. In enormous quantity.

I'm personally dreading looking forward to a return of the show to find out that half of the series is made up of an extremely un-sci-fi bitchfest which sounds like my parents, and probably most of yours.

Simon and Kaylee are fine, as are Zoe and Wash, because they don't take over the story. Mal and Inara has that special bitchfest quality that will bring in the soap opera crowd, and they will make the ratings for the show to stay and the show will in no way resemble firefly. It'll be like smallville or something else I find just unwatchably bad.

It's just not what I signed up for. I signed up for heist jobs, bad guys, cannibals, psychic freaks, axes, guns, really bad guys, conspiracies, and the occassional really alien relationship. River and anyone is such a relationship. I like the suggestion River and Mal madeor River and Jayne, both of which were made by other people earlier.

CRUSADER

Thursday, October 20, 2005 6:56 PM

Oh! I see! It's the character you take issue with. My mistake. Well I can't argue that. A subjective artistic opinion neither right nor wrong. I understand. However, I respectfully disagree.

I see all the qualities in the character that you see, but I find her arrogance and snobbery appealing. She is, after all, a highly respectable member of society surrounded by a group of career criminals. Whose captain treats her with less than respect.

The irony of the hooker having the high moral ground is an interesting twist to conventional wisdom, IMO.

But your points are well taken.

DREAMTROVE

Thursday, October 20, 2005 7:02 PM

[final trollish post]

crusaer, btw. you did come across as full of yourself. the more people treat this like some exotic art, the more like the people inara hooks up with they sound.

I have done this as i imagine many people have. It's not a high art, or complicated. biochemistry is complicated, computer programming is complicated, nothing you stated here is at all complicated. All that it says to me that someone went to julliard is they're rich. It doesn't make layering a complex idea, or the virtue of selfishness any more of an art.

I'm not implying that morena is talentless. I'm implying that in particular, inara+mal is boring me to tears, and it would lose me as a viewer if it became the focus of the show.

The buffy+spike scenes were good. The buffy+angel scenes were terrible. I tend to say that therefore david can't act, but maybe it's the writing, or the coaching, whatever it is, it didn't work. They're unbearable to watch. the only reasons those scenes had fans is that david is a hottie, and soap opera fans were watching. spike and buffy made a much more convincing and interesting vampire/human twist.

I think Inara is also completely full of herself, if she wants to whine all the time, etc. fine. She can be a perfectly interesting character doing so. Stanley Tweedle is a whiny bitch, but it didn't bother me because his being a whiny bitch drove the story forward.

But please don't pretend there is some high art here that the laymen cannot understand. It's pretentious to the point of almost being offensive. I'm not saying I know everything involved, I'm saying everyone here does.

What else I'm saying is it's not Morena's job to make me like Inara. It's her job to make me care. care whether Inara lives or dies. See Inara as something other than a cardboard cutie who whines all the time. Give a damn whether Mal actually does chuck her out the airlock.

I care whether Zoe gets shoved out the airlock. I'm not Zoes biggest fan. I think she treats Wash like hell, and she's cold, frigid, and generally not someone I would want to date. I think Gina has made me care whether she lives or dies. I can see things from Zoe's point of view.

I don't know whether the reason I'm bored to tears with Inara and esp. her relationship with Mal is Morena, or whether it's the writers who like to focuse on Inara and wrote those episodes.

It probably didn't merit this much of a trollish rant, I don't know why I went on this long. Probably because there's so much talk about Bonnie Hammer getting the show and of Mal + Inara, and I know that Bonnie Hammer will love Mal+Inara because it's very Aaron Spelling. And Bonnie Hammer dreams of having her very own Aaron Spelling show. And then gone will be firefly, as a rough living on the edge scifi show, and in will come whiny endless John+Aeryn style bitchfest for an entire season. This is not an interesting development, it's what all of television does all of the time.

DREAMTROVE

Thursday, October 20, 2005 7:07 PM

Sorry I wrote that last post before seeing your latest one.

Hooker with high moral ground by itself is interesting, it's one of the interesting traits of the character.

But I'm only slightly annoyed at Inara, the character, and not at Morena, but as I said, it's possiible she could make me care. On the other hand, only if the writers are also trying to make me care.

But more my boredom is born of the relationship.

Because Inara is contentious, and Mal is tortured, it makes for a very boring stereotypical development I've seen in 100s of shows and 1000s of movies.

It's African Queen.

Which was okay to watch once.

Now it's old.

It's getting older with each telling.

How about African Insect Queen.

Or something.

This is science fiction.

Please Joss please, give us some science fiction.

Don't give us what Aaron Spelling gives us daily.

CRUSADER

Thursday, October 20, 2005 7:08 PM

By the way - I DETEST Aron Spelling and Soap Operas with a passion impossible to describe with mere text, lacking a small retinue of fuzzy animals to mutilate.

Every since he ruined Vampire: The Masquerade I've advocated his labotomization. I would recommend the same for his audience, but I fear nature has beaten me to the punch.

I simply don't see the correlation with Mal/Inara. In fact, I was convinced early on that they would never be an item and was surprised to see their feelings for one another develop.

Their coupling just has Shakespeare tragedy written all over it. If they engage in a Ross/Rachel relationship, one of them is doomed. (my prediction is Inara, so you may get your wish )

DREAMTROVE

Thursday, October 20, 2005 7:51 PM

I admit I'm overreacting.

I'm not really upset with the relationship. I'm bored with it. What I'm upset over is that if Bonnie Hammer picks up the show, which is the most likely possibility, she will take to this like a duck to water and threaten to cancel Joss if he doesn't devote half the show to it. This is what the previous program director did to Farscape, and Bonnie is far worse. I would have loved to see Fox, UPN or WB pick it up, and none of this would be an issue. 5 minutes of boredom for me in an otherwise awesome one hour drama is not too bad. I'll grab a donut or something. But I'm afraid that in Bonnie's hands it'll totally derail the show. Like farscape was totally derailed.

It's spellingesque in that it's human fraility incompatibility thats full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Joss is a better writer, but again he won't be writing every ep. or even most.

Also, while I was trolling I thought I'd throw in a plea to the writers or actors to if this is going to be a big part of the show please do something to make it interesting.

Saffron was impossible to deal with but interesting. If there has to be a non-science fiction element Mal romance taking up part of my hour of sci-fi, I'd much rather it was something entertaining like Mal-Saffron.

If the relationship itself was interesting, and not something I use to go get coffee, and yeah, I did watch all of these scenes on the first pass, and they are not as bad as the Buffy/Angel scenes, but still, I've ranted out on the subj. now.

CRUSADER

Thursday, October 20, 2005 7:58 PM

You seem to have information I lack. What is possibility of Bonnie Hammer picking up the show? (I agree, this would be BAD)

And what are the chances of the show actually being picked up?

A large number of shows weren't penned by Wheedon anyhow, but the results were still within his vision. Will Tim Minear still pen a number of episodes?

Thus far, I've seen no concrete evidence to give me hope that the show will be picked up.

Can you share what you know? Or point me to where you've gotten your info? I am excited to read more on the subject.

SMAUG

Thursday, October 20, 2005 8:03 PM

Quote:
For what silliness it's worth, Morena is now on my list of the "Seven (yeah, I know... "7"... it's wierd)... Most Beautiful Women Alive"... and part of what puts her there is All of That Lovely (Julliard) Talent.

I would say... um... that's actually putting it mildly. Morena is litterly painfully beautiful.. I always thought she was beautiful on the outside of course.. but it wasn't until a couple of interviews with her that I believe I saw a glimpse of what I hope is the real her.. which I hope gave me a look upon her true beauty.

LKike I have said before.. I would pay 10$ to watch a movie of Morena watching a movie..

Now Dreamtrove.. we all draw upon what it is about certain characters that strike a chord within us. Some may see nothing more than a sexual tension between Mal and Inara and nothing more.. other's may not even like one or the other character or their feelings for each other, like yourself. But their relationship and feelings for each other are born of pain, and it's not something that is easy to describe. I talk alot about that in the thread "Mal and religion", so I won't repeat it here.

But there is a LOT there.. at least to some of us that it does strike a very deep cord with. If not, and one just hates those character/s, and/or their relationship.. that's cool.. we all have our own opinions..

But I do agree with you that their relationship should never BECOME the show... it's only a part of it..

Smaug..

SMAUG

Thursday, October 20, 2005 8:16 PM

Quote:
Whose captain treats her with less than respect.

I agree wholeheartedly that her occupation as a companion giving her a high standing in society is an incredibe twist.. but I don't think Mal ever really disrepects HER.. I believe he respects her like no other man ever has.. he just doesn't repect her occupation.

Smaug..

DREAMTROVE

Thursday, October 20, 2005 8:17 PM

I read this on a blog somewhere. I guess she has bought the rights to show Serenity on TV when it's eligible for that, which is part of her pattern of behavior for "I'm going to buy this show." Witness how she did this with Critters, BSG and Dune, and a couple others that aren't coming to mind. That on top of the fact that Sci-fi has been running reruns of Firefly, another thing they tend to do before striking a predatory pounce.

On the plus for renewal there's lots of positive data on the shows popularity. IMDB has it ranked #3 for active shows, unheard of for a cancelled show; Amazon had it ranked #1, also unheard of; on google, firefly/serenity references outrank SG1, not to mention virually everything else actually on the air.

I think all of this is statistical data which points to the show being viable. In fact I think it's overwhelming statistical data, enough to possibly convince Fox, WB or UPN to pick it up. But it looks like Bonnie will beat them to the punch.

I'm glad we agree she's a nightmare. She does put on some decent programming, but she is a mainstream media whore. If some change will add two mindless jerry springer heads but lose one sfwa member, she'll say 2-1=+1 and do it. She killed Farscape and Lexx for being to geeky, and she thinks Crossing over with John Edward is science fiction. Whatever. Anyway, I'm close to resigning myself to this reality, because I can see little that I can do about it.

Here's something we can do, and it's the reason I rant sometimes. I know Sci-fi spends a lot of time reading board. Too much time actually. We need to convince them that what we want is whatever Joss wants, or the great hand of Bonnie will come down and squeeze Joss' balls until he does whatever they say, or until he just gives up on the show entirely.

For my point, I want stuff like we've seen, for the most part, and stuff like Serenity.

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