Stargate SG1: tonight's episode"It's possible she was pulled into the singularity and is now on the other side."
"So she could be alive, somewhere in the Ori galaxy."
Ben Browder just made a
been there, done that, oh no not again face!
Heeehehheeehheeeheee.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2005-08-20 05:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-20 05:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-20 05:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-20 05:39 am (UTC)I would send you episodes in order if I had them, so that you might get into it.
Did you try in order? There's an inherent weakness in Farscape-- it's first season is the weakest, but without it it's very difficult to get into the others. I loved the first season a lot, and I consider it the difference between a B and an A in quality comparison to the other seasons, but it sometimes make people who watch the first few episodes wonder why this series gets so much love.
Then again, if you can watch the first few episodes and not find something to love, I must only conclude that person to have no color in their soul. Or they hate puppets. My mom is of the latter category. When I told her they had cancelled the show, she made mock cheering gestures, because then she wouldn't have to watch it when I did.
I was crushed by her response. Utterly mortified and crushed to my soul.
Except the corner of my soul that is sure, absolutely sure, that if I made her watch enough episodes from the beginning in order, that given enough time even she would fall under the spell of its crackdom and love.
Then there was the conversation with my dad where he said he got frustrated with the fact that so and so's relationship never went anywhere, after which I gawked at him and tried to explain as best I could that yes, it went somewhere, in fact it went to the very best and worst places and was one of the most outright romantic and wonderfully developed love stories I've ever seen on tv, especially for the fact that it's in the middle of an action adventure show that's main theme is family and companionship.
But, you know, 'rents. Getting them into fandom is a difficult thing. Lucky for me, they got themselves addicted to Firefly without me doing anymore than saying "There's a show on Friday nights, and we're all going to watch it. Because I said so."
Anyway I've babbled enough. I'm sure you don't need to be told yet again that another person loves Farscape and is sure you'd love it too.
Except... I *am* sure. I think given a proper viewing introduction, there's no science fiction action/adventure fan that WOULDN'T love this show.
But then, I feel the same way about Full Metal Alchemist the anime, and a few sad souls have claimed to not like it, so I guess there's always exceptions to the rule.
...
Nah!
They just haven't been given a proper viewing, that's all.
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Date: 2005-08-20 05:57 am (UTC)I wanted to like it. seaQuest was a great series (the first season, the other two were a bad acid trip), so I figured it'd have that same hook. I usually like space shows, too. I'm always getting, "How can you NOT like Farscape?!?!?!" Well, these are mostly the same people who kept saying, "Watch the new BSG, YOU WILL LOVE IT." Um, yeah, no.
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Date: 2005-08-20 06:32 am (UTC)And then I really really did. And then there was worship.
I sympathize with your lack of BSG wuv. I keep trying to get into it late, and I am unable to, it seems. I usually like sci fic drama stuff... but deep in my soul I have to admit that, while I *like* drama... I love it when my drama is laced with comedy. It's why I loved Buffy, why I loved The X Files, and why I loved Farscape-- although Farscape was both MORE dramatic and MORE comedic than either of those other two series, at certain points. Farscape was... very appropriately named, for reasons other than the general assumption that it refers to adventures far away. Rather... it's far out in the literal meaning of the phrase. Once the show finds its feet (about halfway through season 1), its identity is established. And what Farscape is and does is extremity. Wacky unbelievable things happen, and are solved in wonderfully wacky and unbelievable ways. When there's comedy it can be subtle or it can be absurd to the extreme. When there's drama, there's Drama with a capital D... they want to do nothing short of rip your guts out and pull no punches in doing so.
Compare that to the Stargate shows, which I also like... Stargate is whimsically amusing, full of adventure and space battles and fun explosions, and mild drama, but... it's safe. I know the good guys will win in the end and that no one really important will die, or that if they do they'll be brought back by alien technology somehow, and that no matter what everything will be wrapped up by the end of this episode or next if it's a two parter, so no need to worry.
Farscape is not safe. In the same way that FMA is not safe.
There's no sex on Stargate, and few characters die, and never the important ones. There's battles and drama but if there's a betrayal there's always a REASON by which you can excuse that character's actions, and the good guys are never REALLY turning bad of their own poor judgement because it's always outside influence forcing or tricking them into it. If anyone went insane, it was always resolved in an episode or two.
Have you ever watched Babylon 5? Many of the plotty and character development reasons I loved Babylon 5 also apply to Farscape, though Farscape was funny and weird and delightfully willing to take you wacky places, whereas Babylon 5 was more a traditional literature-like space drama.
The episode you watched, about the false return to Earth... that's a good episode, but a bad one to come into. A lot of the stuff in that episode depends heavily on John's character development and how he has changed in the year or two (I don't remember which season that episode was in-- my Farscape episode memory sucks despite my love), as compared to how he was when he left, and if you haven't seen the shite he's already been through before getting to that point, it'd be hard to appreciate the full context of his behavior in the episode.
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Date: 2005-08-20 06:37 am (UTC)(I'll respond to the rest later, but I have to say this now.)
My dad loved B5. I sat down with him several times, trying to get into it, but I never liked it. It was in the same way that I didn't like Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - space station drama never sat well with me. My dad and I were usually on the same wavelength with shows, so he explained what I'd missed with characters ... still, I didn't like it. I feel weird when I say I don't like these shows, because so many of my friends worship them. I wonder if I'm not mentally damaged or something ...
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Date: 2005-08-20 06:47 am (UTC)Farscape isn't a space station drama, though. Definitely not. It's more like... a pirate ship in space, than a space station. Except they don't really rob people, or pillage. Mostly. But they do blow up a lot of property.
I don't think you're mentally damaged. ::glomp hug:: People are very particular about their tastes.
I am just a bona fied gushing fan when it comes to Farscape and I talk about it this way to everyone. Because I love it.
And now I'm having a small moral dillema:
Do I tell my friend yet again how much I love this show because I do and I'm certain the whole WORLD could love it if given the proper circumstances....
... or do I stop there because I know she's not into it and going on would be annoying of me...
...but is it worth it to be annoying about something I love?
...yes!
...but I dun wanna make anyone feel left out...
...but I love my show and EVERYONE MUST LOVE MY SHOW AND...
...shutting up now.
Actually, there's very few tv shows I gust about the way I gush about Farscape. Three, actually:
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Doctor Who 2005
The X Files
I watch a lot of other shows like Lost, Veronica Mars, Stargate(s), and stuff, but those are my popcorn tv that I occasionally squee over, not my great tv sci fi loves.
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Date: 2005-08-20 06:52 am (UTC)BTVS, I was into, but I'd been BURNED by XF, so I kept my distance. It didn't hurt so much when Whedon screwed the pooch there.
I need sleeps now.
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Date: 2005-08-20 06:56 am (UTC)Actually, Farscape had one interesting side effect on me that's made it unique for me as far as tv shows:
I love it so much I don't feel any desire to read or write fanfic for it.
The only other show I loved that I've had that reaction to was The Vision of Escaflowne.
edit to add:
Date: 2005-08-20 06:39 am (UTC)Even the colors of the show are far out. Everything is bright, colorful, loud and rainbowed and full of wonder. Some of the aliens look human and some look alien. Really, really alien.
Also, if you like hot people in black leather, it doesn't GET any better than farscape. I think the last 3 of 4 seasons involved entire wordrobes of black leather worn by hot people. Carrying guns. And making things explode.
Rule #1 of Farscape: Whatever can explode, will explode.
And sometimes things that shouldn't be able to explode also.
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Date: 2005-08-21 05:47 am (UTC)I've rather fallen out of the SG-1 fandom (I never did cotton to Atlantis, since it felt like SG-1 redux to me) and it's mostly because the series refuses to change. Not characters, but everything else. I enjoyed the show very much until the middle of season five. Things felt repititive, though, and after taking season six off because Daniel wasn't there, that didn't help much either. Then they started pushing Sam/Jack in season seven, another reason for me to back away.
and the good guys are never REALLY turning bad of their own poor judgement because it's always outside influence forcing or tricking them into it.
There was an entire episode about the consequences of Daniel's poor judgement in dealing with the people on another planet. Yes, they are few and far between, but the show has detailed the bias and flaws in all of the major characters at some point. Decisions have brought about consequences, albeit they were rectified in an episode or two or by the end of the season for the most part, and very few have never been addressed again.
I could give FS another shot, but it won't be anytime soon, though.
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Date: 2005-08-21 06:17 am (UTC)I've seen that episode, in fact that's one of the ones I was thinking of when writing the comment. Because it wasn't real. Sure, it was potentially real because Daniel has that potential-- but in the sense of events in the show, it didn't happen. It was an exploration of his psyche... but it wasn't real. It didn't have any effects. He didn't kill anyone for real because of it, he didn't have a permanent personality change because of it... that's why Stargate is "safe" viewing to me. Sure he might do those things... but he won't. And the audience knows that.
I used to spend time wishing someone on Stargate would go evil, really willfully go evil, just because it'd be a change of pace. I'd like to see Daniel try to raise a hell temple and destroy the planet in the name of vengeance... or maybe contemplate giving evil tyrants the secret to controlling the galaxy just because it might save the life of one person that he loves, knowing the worlds he's dooming to death and slavery, because he's so far off the deep end that he thinks its a worthy trade.
Decisions have brought about consequences, albeit they were rectified in an episode or two or by the end of the season for the most part, and very few have never been addressed again.
The continuity aspect of Stargate has always seemed pretty good to me-- they do X and Y in this galaxy, maybe later Z occurs in that galaxy as a result. I just wish that it'd be less...safe. Although there's reassurrance in knowing that it'll all be okay in the end, sometimes you want a show that will happily tell you "All okay? You only wish you could be so lucky!"
As it is, this is why Stargate is my popcorn tv. I watch it, I enjoy it, I occasionally squee, but it rarely or never evokes particularly strong emotions from me.
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Date: 2005-08-21 06:22 am (UTC)I agree with you about wanting it to be less safe. This is the series based on a movie where one of the main characters was prepared to nuke an entire planet to protect Earth. If Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin had a say in how the TV show went, I'm sure it'd be more intense, take more risks and still have my viewership. Roland and Dean aren't afraid to frickin' kill people off.