on recent TV-watching
May. 6th, 2010 01:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xparrotRegarding Xena (which we're watching now, my first time, minus a couple random mid-season eps way back when they first aired, and "Been There, Done That" which I've seen a dozen times because it is one of the funniest Groundhog's Day time-loop eps I know of), about halfway through s2, and, putting aside the delicious, delicious cheese and camp (honestly, I wish more TV was willing to sacrifice "quality" for the sake of sheer absurd fun):
1. I already knew Lucy Lawless was awesome, but seriously, awesome! Sexy and strong and sarcastic and silly, what more do you want? She could totally be a VA, too, with the number of different wacky voices she can do. So yeah, love Xena (and she's a redemption character, so +100 right there). Having only seen a couple eps before, what I didn't realize was that Gabrielle is just as awesome and funny and I adore her and her bluffing and spirit and loyalty and comic timing to little bits.
2. Girl-girl h/c indeed works for me every bit as well as guy-guy and guy-girl, and will more shows be giving it to me, please? Though I don't know if I'll be fic-seeking for this fandom because it's rather like early SPN was like, in that it already gives me everything I could want from fic (OTP friendship? Check! Presumed dead? Up the wazoo! Insane AUs? Gabrielle is Indiana Jones LOLOLOL!)
3. I <3 Bruce Campbell.
4. New Zealand is awful pretty. As I knew from LotR already but this confirms it in spades. The cinematography isn't much better than anything else of the show, but it doesn't have to be, because pretty much any direction they aim a camera is gorgeous. Definitely high on places I yearn to go to someday.
5. Joke credits FTW!!!
Then, regarding new New Who, ahh, okay, I'm finding it frustrating. Most of the ingredients I've loved are still there, the shiny and the silly and the spooky, but the show itself is falling flat for me, and I'm not even entirely sure why. I like Matt Smith okay, he looks like the Doctor and he's got spirit, but he's just so much like Ten, I can scarcely tell the difference. I don't think he's done anything that I couldn't as easily picture Ten doing. And then Amy Pond is almost the same - I like her actor, too, she's cute and charismatic, but I don't feel the character. I don't dislike her in the least, but I don't like her, either; she comes across as very generic to me, nothing distinguishing her from any other Companion. She's spunky; otherwise I don't have a real sense of what she loves or what she hates or what she wants, (except, apparently, the Doctor, and that was so completely out of left field that I don't know what to think, though I did appreciate the Doctor's reaction of OMGWTFRUNAWAY!) and I find myself not really caring about what happens to her.
And the episodes, too, I find myself not really caring what happens, and again, I'm not sure why. I don't think the plots have been particularly more ridiculous than any before, but it feels like something's missing. It's odd; for all my trepidations about Moffat taking the reins, I never feared that he was going to make it less interesting. But I do think he's largely the problem (whatever the heck the problem actually is). Character is part of it - RTD was a character-centered author; his plots were only there to create emotional scenarios for his characters to explore. What the chars do matters less than who is doing it; a char's actions are significant insofar as they show something about the character (this char will do that; that char won't), or will have consequences for the characters and their relationships. The actual acts aren't the point. And his plots often suffered for it, but he is damn fine at writing characters, at creating people that you quickly come to care about, however implausible or cliche the situations they end up in are. Moffat, on the other hand, seems to be a more plot-centered author; his characters exist and act to further the sequence of events and explore theoretical concepts and themes. Who is acting is less important than what they're doing. Which can make for really interesting ideas (I find the concept of River Song's reversed relationship with the Doctor absolutely fascinating) but the characters lose out (I don't find River Song herself that compelling.) And I watch TV for characters and their relationships. So when he was taking existing characters out for a spin for an ep or two, he did really nifty things with them; but when he's inventing them himself they're lacking a certain crucial depth.
I'm going to keep watching, there's still enough that I do love for me to stick around, and I'm curious where it's going. And I'm still hoping it might pick up for me, but for now, yeah, frustrated.
1. I already knew Lucy Lawless was awesome, but seriously, awesome! Sexy and strong and sarcastic and silly, what more do you want? She could totally be a VA, too, with the number of different wacky voices she can do. So yeah, love Xena (and she's a redemption character, so +100 right there). Having only seen a couple eps before, what I didn't realize was that Gabrielle is just as awesome and funny and I adore her and her bluffing and spirit and loyalty and comic timing to little bits.
2. Girl-girl h/c indeed works for me every bit as well as guy-guy and guy-girl, and will more shows be giving it to me, please? Though I don't know if I'll be fic-seeking for this fandom because it's rather like early SPN was like, in that it already gives me everything I could want from fic (OTP friendship? Check! Presumed dead? Up the wazoo! Insane AUs? Gabrielle is Indiana Jones LOLOLOL!)
3. I <3 Bruce Campbell.
4. New Zealand is awful pretty. As I knew from LotR already but this confirms it in spades. The cinematography isn't much better than anything else of the show, but it doesn't have to be, because pretty much any direction they aim a camera is gorgeous. Definitely high on places I yearn to go to someday.
5. Joke credits FTW!!!
Then, regarding new New Who, ahh, okay, I'm finding it frustrating. Most of the ingredients I've loved are still there, the shiny and the silly and the spooky, but the show itself is falling flat for me, and I'm not even entirely sure why. I like Matt Smith okay, he looks like the Doctor and he's got spirit, but he's just so much like Ten, I can scarcely tell the difference. I don't think he's done anything that I couldn't as easily picture Ten doing. And then Amy Pond is almost the same - I like her actor, too, she's cute and charismatic, but I don't feel the character. I don't dislike her in the least, but I don't like her, either; she comes across as very generic to me, nothing distinguishing her from any other Companion. She's spunky; otherwise I don't have a real sense of what she loves or what she hates or what she wants, (except, apparently, the Doctor, and that was so completely out of left field that I don't know what to think, though I did appreciate the Doctor's reaction of OMGWTFRUNAWAY!) and I find myself not really caring about what happens to her.
And the episodes, too, I find myself not really caring what happens, and again, I'm not sure why. I don't think the plots have been particularly more ridiculous than any before, but it feels like something's missing. It's odd; for all my trepidations about Moffat taking the reins, I never feared that he was going to make it less interesting. But I do think he's largely the problem (whatever the heck the problem actually is). Character is part of it - RTD was a character-centered author; his plots were only there to create emotional scenarios for his characters to explore. What the chars do matters less than who is doing it; a char's actions are significant insofar as they show something about the character (this char will do that; that char won't), or will have consequences for the characters and their relationships. The actual acts aren't the point. And his plots often suffered for it, but he is damn fine at writing characters, at creating people that you quickly come to care about, however implausible or cliche the situations they end up in are. Moffat, on the other hand, seems to be a more plot-centered author; his characters exist and act to further the sequence of events and explore theoretical concepts and themes. Who is acting is less important than what they're doing. Which can make for really interesting ideas (I find the concept of River Song's reversed relationship with the Doctor absolutely fascinating) but the characters lose out (I don't find River Song herself that compelling.) And I watch TV for characters and their relationships. So when he was taking existing characters out for a spin for an ep or two, he did really nifty things with them; but when he's inventing them himself they're lacking a certain crucial depth.
I'm going to keep watching, there's still enough that I do love for me to stick around, and I'm curious where it's going. And I'm still hoping it might pick up for me, but for now, yeah, frustrated.
