brief notes to TV shows

[jwgh]

Battlestar Galactica: Some really bad episodes lately, which just accentuate the sad fact that you seem to have lost your way. It says something about my diminished expectations for the series that I'm not really disappointed that all the mystico-religious stuff appears to be actually true. Still, it would be nice if you could decide what, exactly, you're about, and even nicer if whatever that is doesn't suck. It is cute how the show opening still pretends that the Cylons have A PLAN.

All may be forgiven if the human survivors do find Earth again, and it is revealed that it's 1980.

Lost: The Others were a lot more interesting when we didn't know much about them, weren't they? More focus on the folks on the beach, please, and also please make Kate kickass again. (Hey, didn't there used to be some caves or something?) I almost hesitate to mention this, but consistent characterization would be nice, and if you could make people stop acting like idiots for plot purposes ... OK, OK, I know, start with little steps.

Heroes: Congratulations on making it through an episode without killing a female character! (Not counting the one that died at the end of the previous episode who we saw dead at the beginning of this one. Hmm, I appear to have reduced expectations here too.) Also, it was nice to see Mohinder do something almost useful.

I look forward to the next episode, but I've still got my eye on you -- please don't do anything too mean to Claire's mom.

Comments

[schwa242.livejournal.com]

Does the current Battlestar Galactica series on DVD? I'd love to start from the beginning.

The first two seasons are available as well as the original mini-series.

[jwgh]

Season 3 is available on iTunes, but is also kind of disappointing (in my opinion), so waiting to rent the DVDs is probably as good an option as any.

I gave up on Galactica

[vardissakheli.livejournal.com]

after just a couple episodes, not because it sucked, just because it Wasn't The Same. Have the Cylons now turned into body thetans or something?

Re: I gave up on Galactica

[jwgh]

They were mysterious plotters for the first couple of seasons, but now we've gotten to see them talking amongst themselves a lot and they just seem kind of lame. (This is similar to one of Lost's problems.)

lame aliens

[vardissakheli.livejournal.com]

This is what the Stargate franchise has really gotten right: Every time an alien enemy threatens to get lame, there's a bigger enemy right behind it, and the enlamened one either gets annihilated (replicators) or becomes an interesting bit player (Goa'uld). And they've successfully kept important friends way off on the horizon rather than loading the deus on the machina--we learn more about the Ancients' motives but their actions remain mysterious, and I'm guessing we still won't (knowingly) meet the Furlings before SG-1 ends.

Re: lame aliens

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Ah, the Doc Smith strategy.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

We've started protesting that while we fast-forward over it: "Oh, they DO NOT have a plan."

[paracelsvs.livejournal.com]

So this is basically why I'm mostly given up on US TV shows and don't watch much other than anime these days. It's not necessarily that the anime is better (although it better at satisifying my niche interests), or that I prefer animation over live-action (although it is easier to suspend disbelief when the fantastic is depicted in animation). It's that anime series, more often than not, actually end.

The way US TV series are sturcture to just keep going as long as they are profitable and then arbitarily be cancelled just doesn't cut it any longer. I don't want to read a book where the author just keeps writing until someone yells at him to stop, either.

I find that with anime, the standard 26-episode season is usually an upper limit on how long a story should be drawn out. Many series find it hard to fill that much without resorting to filler. Some of my favourite series are 13 episodes. A few extremely brilliant series can make it past 26 and up to 39 without dragging on, but any further than that is extremely hard.