(no subject)

[nny]

I've got back onto my Atlantis watching schedule now I'm passed the Trinity hump, and it's interesting watching the whole thing in order, knowing how it turns out. There was actually a lot of potential for an intriguing moral decline sort of storyline, (Lord of the Flies in space?) but they pretty much muffed that one; the writers of Atlantis frankly didn't have the courage to do anything so interesting and grey-shaded. Although every now and again very dubious choices were made, they tended to be proved Right in the end. It's why as much as I love the show, the fanfic is far more interesting. It's also why I don't really have all that much interest in following Stargate: Universe. I don't imagine, when it comes right down to it, that there will be anything that will surprise me, and without that I'm not willing to forgive their disregard of my favourite characters.

What's become even more clear with regular watching is the way they'd occasionally rewrite history to suit themselves, pushing the characters where they wanted them to go rather than watching the evolution and working from there. Watching episodes like Duet, The Hive, Epiphany shows that when you look at the relationship between 'best friends' Rodney and Carson; all they do is complain about one another, cast suspicious looks, outright state the lack of trust (Rodney) and roll their eyes and cast apologetic looks at others nearby (Carson). Faking a close relationship between them for the sake of a moment's additional pathos in Sunday just undermines my faith in their story-writing abilities even further.

(And yeah, I do realise that I'm not saying anything new here, I'm just feeling annoyed. I blame the episode I just watched.)

Don't get me wrong, of course I'm loving the rewatching process, I'm just far more able to spot the flaws when I know what's gonna happen next.

Critical Mass, by the way, which I've just finished watching, has to be the most pointless episode in the entire canon. Too much exposition, pretty darn pointless SG:1 cameos, stupid plot devices. Mostly I continued watching it for the pretty ladies. Not sure if it's the worst of all episodes, but it comes pretty close. Which is the worst in your opinion?

By the way, I'm going home for the weekend tomorrow, straight after work. Plans include going to see Mr Scruff and starting to rebuild a friendship that's wasted away through absence, visiting the grandparents and the sea, celebrating my munchkin sister's 18th. I'm also taking Love, Ire and Song by Frank Turner, which has very quickly become necessary listening, and Arthur and George by Julian Barnes, so I don't expect to have much time for the internet. Take care of yourselves, aye?

(ETA: everything is made better by the fact that Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost spent the weekend writing Hot Fuzz slash on twitter.)

Comments

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Regarding your ETA, a compendium of same (http://edgarwrighthere.com/2009/10/the-steamy-hot-fuzz-slash-fiction-tweets-october-19th-2009/) which is so much love.

I suppose SGA's flawedness is why the fandom's so vibrant, eh? Looks like that won't salvage SGU's chances though.

[villainny.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad I'm not watching SGU, it sounds like I'd already be punching walls.

[neevebrody.livejournal.com]

RE: the Rodney/Carson relationship, word. I think maybe the only genuine relationship we saw Rodney develop (other than with John, Teyla and Ronon) was with Katie. At least it had a beginning, middle and end. Unless Carson and Rodney had more going on in Antarctica prior to the pilot, I always thought the 'best buds' relationship was on the same level as the "I've loved you for some time now' relationship with Keller. The first just left me scratching my head, the latter actually gave me whiplash.

Taken as a whole... how could anyone not come away with the certainty that the 'best buds' were Rodney and John (notwithstanding any other aspect of the relationship). To that end, I agree that the fanfic is more interesting and satisfying.

Oh, and have a lovely trip!

[villainny.livejournal.com]

HA yes, whiplash with Keller. It just seems to illustrate that Rodney's working by conventions of love rather than realities, more than anything. He doesn't seem to understand what love really is, outside of a package deal that involves families and female shapes and Jeannie's expectations of him, which explains how he ignores the MASSIVE OBVIOUS LOVE he has with John.

(Oh, I'm sorry. Is my 'ship showing? XD)

Reminds me of something my friend said to me the other day - that children of divorced parents often fall into one of two categories: they either want to prove their parents wrong by forming a cohesive family unit, meaning they can consider things deeper than they are or move more quickly than they should, or they flee from commitment entirely. Considering what Rodney revealed about his family didn't exactly point to happiness among the McKays, it makes me think he falls into the former group.

Thanks, also! I totally intend to. :D

[torakowalski.livejournal.com]

I'm a bad fangirl because it took me a while to remember which one Critical Mass was. :/ The Tower was also a pretty pointless ep, I think.

[villainny.livejournal.com]

See, at least the Tower was memorable! And had Pendrell! I think I've watched Critical Mass at least three times, and I still don't care never remember which one it is.

[sabinetzin]

Aw, I really like Critical Mass! But admittedly, it's just because it's got lots of Caldwell in it; it'd have been better as an episode of SG-1 than as an episode of SGA.

I hated the whole This Mortal Coil-Be All My Sins Remember'd-Spoils of War arc. God, it went on forever and nothing interesting happened except Fran. Whispers is probably the worst episode though. Ugh, and fucking Missing was an hour of my life I'll never get back.

[ariadne83]

I really didn't like Midway. Pretty much all the characters suffered from a case of terminal stupids.

I *loved* Critical Mass, but then I'm a huge SG-1 fan. Also, I like the sub-plot with Charin. It makes me cry every time, partly because end-of-life, dying-with-dignity stories hit so close to home for me since my aunt died.

[chkc.livejournal.com]

Have fun enjoying your visit home/long weekend! :)

I don't really remember which episode critical mass is, haha. *terrible memory* But I think an unmemorable episode is significantly better than an episode that is memorable in a "AHHhh! My eyes!" sort of way.

SGA fanfic = so much more awesome than canon. I sort of miss the way SGA was more desperate and morally ambiguous at the earlier seasons, when they were cut off from Earth and stuff.

[patk.livejournal.com]

>>Faking a close relationship between them for the sake of a moment's additional pathos in Sunday just undermines my faith in their story-writing abilities even further. <<

Aside from the harsh reality facts (of the writers half of their time not having a clue what they're doing) the only other explanation I have for Rodney's "best friend"-comment would be that the process of grieving and shock has him in hindsight misjudging the real closeness (or lack thereof) of the relationship between him and Carson.

And even that's a stretch.

Granted, he knows Carson from way back when they were in Antarctica but having been co-workers for a long time and being best friends isn't exactly the same.

>>Which is the worst in your opinion?

You *have* seen S5, right? I mean, I'm not spoiling you here, right?

Brainstorm. Hands down. The only part viewable are the first few minutes with John and Ronon watching Rodney and Jennifer and each one of them so obviously feeling jealous in their own way. The rest is just annoying, from Jennifer fluctuating between griping at Rodney, being a doctor but not doing what a doctor is supposed to do when confronted with the victim of a medical emergency and finally giving the damsel in distress for Rodney to rescue and resuscitate her right over that very sudden kiss after *just* haven come back from the brink of death and then the oh-so-believable make out (if not more) session in the plane while still being wet as a cat and clutching on a blanket instead of having gotten into dry clothes ASAP.

Followed by Tracker. Same thing. After the initial scene of John being so obviously hurt and leaving Rodney's room more or less in a huff and Rodney looking caught there's a whole list of things feeling wrong to me with the rest of the ep.