Mother Superior, you are our only hope
The writers of OUaT are still geeking out over getting their hands on Star Wars. In many ways that was the best part of the episode (well, the 2 last episodes). [Spoilers for Once Upon a Time]Since everybody had guessed the big reveal long, long time ago (Neal = Bae and even Bae = Peter Pan which almost got confirmed too) that felt like a relief not a surprise (good thing Neal
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You're from Poland, right? I'm from Germany, so hello there, neighbour. It's so strange that most of the fans of the show I've meet are not from Canada, and not even from the American continent. I think the show may even have sold better over here than on its home turf.
To be fair, Outerbridge has played something other than creepy henchmen since ReGenesis (and I should know, I run peterouterbridge.net), but they've just not been very high-profile, thus have not been noticed much. He only just won a Canadian Screen Award for his role in the TV movie John A.: Birth of a Country, which I thought was fantastic. He played George Brown in that movie, one of Canada's founding fathers in the 1860's. 90 minutes of Peter Outerbridge with a Scottish accent. I was in fangirl heaven. (I love Scotland and have been there multiple times.)
I also loved his guest role in season one of Sanctuary, where IMHO he gave one of his best performances ever. I don't get why it went completely unnoticed, because he received nominations for guest role awards before that couldn't hold a candle to that. Perhaps the stigma of fantasy and sci-fi, which are still widely undervalued in the entertainment industry.
It would be great if someone could cast him in a role that's both realistic and likeable. Perhaps a more mellow version of David Sandström. I guess it's that he doesn't have that typical "nice guy" face. But ReGenesis have proven that he can definitely pull it off.
As for Ari, I think they were setting his death up in those last three episodes. They made him more likeable so that he could die having redeemed himself. Or if we switched it around, he had to die because he was starting to act on his redeeming qualities. What would have happened if Amanda hadn't shot him? If he'd stayed with Division, they would simply have locked him up for a very long time (like Nikita told Stefan). If Amanda hadn't shot him right away, she would have eventually gotten rid of him, because she didn't need him anymore. She already had his money, and the key to the Black Box.
Well, I suppose if he'd stayed with Division, they possibly could have gotten one or two more stories out of it if they'd uncovered something from the past where Gogol was involved where Ari might have been able to help, but I guess the writers felt that Ari served no further purpose with where they are planning to go with the show. Who knows, maybe we'll see him again in Amanda-heavy flashback episodes, seeing how they were together for 20 years?
Oh, and if you like Canadian TV, there's a new show on CBC called Cracked, that stars Mayko Nguyen and Karen LeBlanc. Funnily enough, they use the same building for their police headquarters as they used for NorBAC (Hamilton City Hall). And I've spotted the occasional ReGenesis guest star, like Greg Bryk the other week. I really like the show, and I hope it sticks around.
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Hi :). I'm actually old enough that the first time I was in Germany it was East Germany. I still have a swimming card I got on that summer camp. My most precious souvenir - irreplaceable.
I think that, at least in Poland, ReGenesis benefited from being on AXN and AXN Scifi. It made sure it was targeted to the right audience. I knew a lot of people who watched it a liked it back home. I loved the fact that the science was sound (they had website explaining how it all worked even) and that they only wore labcoats when it was necessary and that they solutions came only little faster then they would in RL.
And, speaking of centrifuges, I was just too happy they didn't use "the magic centrifuge of miraculous cures" (my term for when all you need to do is just spin colourful liquids in the open centrifuges to get a cure for anything) to care about anything else. But my favourite part was when they said they needed more time or that something was incurable (like genetic disease) - no solving all threats in 5 minutes - and most of all the fact that it was always a joint effort of several specialists and a lot of labwork. It annoys me so much when you always get one doctor on TV show and they are expert on everything - from physics to medicine - and solve, and even build all the equipment, all by themselves.
I think that my perception of Peter's roles comes from the fact that I mostly see him in the recurring roles on TV series and ever since Happy Town they were all giving that creepy vibe. I'm sure there are other roles too but, as with Garret Dillahunt for a long time, this is the most recognisable version of him. Maybe Peter will find a wacky comedy too.
I was pretty sure Ari was going to die. I was frankly surprised they didn't kill him earlier. I'm also glad they made him badass again before killing him off. Still, I was kind of hoping he would run away and play both sides.
I was thinking about trying Cracked. Thanks.
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In Germany, ReGenesis apparently ran on Arte for a while (seasons 1 and 2 only), but I've never seen it on TV. I hate the German dubbing, so I stay away from it as far as possible. All my TV comes from the internet these days. :-)
I also loved that they not only made the lab set look incredibly realistic, they always made it a point to mention how science really worked. I always tend to compare CSI: and ReGenesis, as in:
Grissom: Greg, where are those DNA results that I asked you for half an hour ago?
Greg: *pushes button on fancy looking machine with a bogus screen* Give me two minutes.
David: Bob, where are the fucking DNA results?
Bob: David, I told you that the cultures need 24 hours to grow!
I mean, when you look closely at ReGenesis, it has its flaws too. They tend to overuse microarrays for things that you wouldn't look at with a microarray. Or, you know, overlay two different gel photos and they'd look exactly the same. But like I said, it's prime time TV, so we'll need to cut them a certain kind of slack. Overall, I still love the show to bits and could rewatch it at any time. I'm actually going on vacation to Toronto later this year, and I'm planning to do the geeky thing and try to look up the occasional ReGenesis location or two.
A wacky comedy for Peter would be awesome! And I know he can do comedy too, because there's this goofy little show called "Puppets Who Kill" where he did a guest stint a number of years ago. I had never seen him do comedy before, but holy moly, he really nailed it! It still put the most stupid grin on my face when I even think about that episode.
Yes, it was inevitable that Ari was going to meet his demise sooner or later. I don't know why it still hit me as a surprise, because I had really not expected it to happen this early in the season, especially how everyone of the Nikita cast and crew kept saying they loved him so much. Also looks like Monday's episode of Bomb Girls was the last one he'd be in (at least for the rest of the season). Wäääääh! How am I gonna get my Outerbridge fix now?!
By the way, I can also really recommend Bomb Girls overall, not just for Peter O. It's a fantastic show, and I keep saying it's the best new show to come out of 2012. It's completely different from the stuff I usually watch, but I fell in love with it anyway.
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So you had the sense to get out of academia. Sometimes, I wish I've done that too (especially when my experiments doesn't work). Other times, I love what I do :). I know there is a lot of clinical testing happening in Poland - I have few friends working in that - so I was actually thinking about it if I go back. Basic science in Poland isn't really as fun as it is here where I have access to all the newest toys.
I hope you liked what you've seen of Poland. What I remember of DDR are two cultural shocks - one - the only type of cars one saw on the streets were Trabants (mostly) and Wartburgs (rarely) unlike in Poland where, even then, one would see a lot of different kinds including western ones and - two - different view of modesty - on the beach naked people were mixed ones wearing swimsuits but even people wearing swimsuits would change without covering themselves. It was a little shocking to us kids.
In Poland we don't usually get dubbing. There is just a voiceover. People from other countries find it weird but if you watch TV like that your whole life you get used to it and stop noticing the person reading. And then you hear the actual voices of the actors (and the lip movement fits that). This is why people usually react badly to dubbing in Poland - voices and lip movement doesn't match what it should be. Dubbing on German TV always weirded me out. But I think most people in Europe got used to watching their favourite TV on internet in recent years. Almost everyone I know downloads their shows. That's the only way to stay current.
My expectation for science in TV series are so low that I didn't even notice the little blunders on ReGenesis. I was too busy being happy they got so much of it right. The TV/movie industry finally got the message about the sound in space but biology still gets the short stick. You get people mixing up proteins with DNA and biological viruses spreading through wifi. And CSI is horrible at showing lab work but at least it convinced people that forensic evidence (especially DNA evidence) should be believed. Unfortunately, it also is making everyone have unrealistic expectations.
After they destroyed Gogol there was nothing to do for Ari and he became a kind of whiny, irritating character that was only slowing Amanda down. I was sure they were going to kill him off in that episode when Amanda got Owen so he actually lived longer then I expected. I was still happy that it meant Peter was in the series longer then I expected.
Wäääääh!
Love the umlauts :P I learned German in high school (it's horrible because I had the worst luck with the teachers) but I remember how to read and write. I also understand more then I can speak mostly due to watching Start Trek on Sat1.
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Truth be told, at that point I actually wanted to stay in the research sector, but after about a year of hunting for a job, I realized that they either wanted to hire technical assistants (which I was kinda overqualified for) or people with a PhD, which I obviously didn't have. So then I started looking at what other alternatives were out there, and I discovered the world of clinical trials, so I became a Clinical Research Associate and worked my way up to be a project manager now.
Sometimes I miss the research part of the profession, and watching ReGenesis made me consider for a split second whether I wanted to go back, but I'm still pretty sure that it isn't for me. I was never that person to run excitedly into the incubation room in the morning to check if my E. coli had grown. Of course my job comes with its own challenges and frustrations, but considering the big picture, it's actually interesting, and, well, there are the perks of it paying quite well. :-)
So where do you live now? In the US?
Oh yes, the Trabbis. Very famous for the DDR. A Wartburg was more like the luxury version of the Trabbi. My relatives actually had one, but they had to wait for a long time to get it. That system over there was such a strange concept for us, but even today you sometimes hear people say that they thought things were better in those days. Although I think that's the minority of eastern Germans. Most welcomed the reunification.
I can't really say I've seen much of Poland. I liked Wroclaw a lot, especially the little dwarfs. I haven't really seen much of Poznan, because when I was there on business, we didn't have enough time to actually look at anything other than the immediate vicinity of the hotel and the doctor's office we stayed at.
I know all about Polish dubbing. At university, I shared a flat with a Ukrainian girl, and she would sometimes watch her Russian movies on my TV cause she didn't have one. Their dubbing was just like yours. I believe you when you say you can get used to anything. I think the German dubbing itself is actually quite good, it's just that it annoys me when I know I can understand what they're really saying, but can't hear it. Plus, the original voices are so much nicer most of the time. Just this weekend, I watched two foreign movies in languages I can't speak on DVD, and I chose original with subtitles over the German dubbing. I know that may be kinda weird, but it's just my personal preference.
The false, glossy glamour of science on CSI: and similar shows annoys me so much, but I've learned to overlook it in favour of the actual storylines. But it's kinda sad when you think about the fact that they're more or less tricking people into believing that that's how it works in the real world. Things like looking at a virus through a light microscope or producing enough vaccine for the whole world from one little rhesus monkey. Yeah, get outta here! Though if you want to see a halfway realistic epidemic infection movie, I can really recommend "Contagion". Just rewatched it the other day, and I liked it a lot.
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Star Trek on SAT1, huh? I still remember when it was on ZDF when I was a teen. That's where I grew to love TNG. I'm actually a bit of a hidden Trekkie, and I go to a monthly Trekdinner in the area. Though it's not one of those hardcore geek things where you dress up in uniform. We just meet in a pub and have dinner and talk about science fiction and fantasy and whatever else there is to discuss. It's a motley group, and a few members are really good friends now. See how TV can bring people together? :-)
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I enjoy what I do but sometimes I question my choices - I should've gone a had real job like normal people (and earn real money). Although I'm afraid that now I'm overqualified for most of the jobs anyway. This is why I love the phd comic so much - it's so true and makes me realise I'm not alone in my doubts.
I was to young when Communism ended to miss it but from what I hear from older people they miss the security (job safety, state sponsored vacations etc) and they were young then and one always looks with fondness at the times when one was young and remembers the good things not bad.
The thing about TV science is that people feel disappointed when they see real science. When we had TV crews coming to get a comment from our professors about some of the big breakthroughs they would make us dress in labcoats and pipette coloured water from one tube to another or spin an empty centrifuge. And that's pretty much exactly the TV science. So that's why I love ReGenesis (and movies like Contagion) so much. They at least add little substance to the mix.
There is always hope Peter Outerbridge will become like Mark Sheppard or John Pyper-Ferguson - a guy who shows up in every other show until everyone recognises him. He had a good start. I remember when Sam O'Neill was like that too before he got his big break in Jurassic Park.
I started watching ST:TNG when I was 12 and got hooked. Unfortunately, Polish TV was really bad at showing it - eg. they were showing DS9 episodes at noon on weekdays and then stopped on season 5. So I switched to Sky 1 but they coded it so Sat1 became my only option (it was in the dark times before downloading) to, at least, get some idea how it all ended. My best friend and I became best friends by bonding over our mutual love of SFF. I hooked my brother on it and then he courted his now-wife by borrowing her my books. SFF brings people together :)
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I also need to make sure I stay away from social media the day after my favourite shows have aired because I hate getting spoiled. I actually read Ari Tasarov was going to die in episode 3x14 before I saw it, because I couldn't stay away from my Twitter tracking lists the morning after. While I would have preferred it otherwise, it might actually not have been such a bad thing, cause I think it would have hit me so much harder if I hadn't already known by the time I got to watch the ep.
Don't get me started on coloured chemicals on TV! One of my pet peeves. It's so ironic to see that on most shows that include liquid chemicals, they're always bright red or green or blue, when probably 90% of all liquid chemicals are actually colourless, and hardly any are brightly coloured like that. Argh! LOL
Well, yes, of course there's still room for Peter O. to get that one role that's gonna put him on a wider radar. I think in Canada he's actually up there with the best of them, but not across Canada's borders. I watched Silent Hill: Revelation on Blu-ray last night, all for the 20 unimpressive seconds of Outerbridge at the end. Well, okay, maybe not just for that, I did enjoy most of the movie, but I don't think I'd have watched it in the first place if it hadn't been for that little Outerbridge cameo. Sheesh, the guy really owes me many hours of my life time that I'd like to redeem. :-P If only he knew.
Science fiction clearly brings people together. Well, fandoms in general. I've met many a friend in one fandom or the other, and we're still in touch, even though the show has long gone. Fandom can be a magical place.
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I don't usually care too much about spoilers so it wasn't that bad for me but I can understand how it can be a torture to others.
What I like the most about living here is the easy access to all the geeky merchandise, especially the t-shits (I admit I have way too many already) - threadless, thinkgeek, woot. I always wanted to get some (I admit that now I own too many) but the shipping cost and the fact that if you order too many together (too pay shipping just once) they will charge you customs tax in Poland stopped me before.
Tubes of water dyed with food colouring spun in those coverless centrifuges (so you can see them spin) is the worst. It's because it's so beloved by all the TV makers and it is a sure sign there will be no science here. For me it's like the infinite zoom of computer images.
Speaking of bringing people together - I hope you don't mind I friended you :)
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Yes, the spoiler avoiding the day after things air are a bit of a drag, but I actually consider myself lucky to have access to all the shows just the day after they air. It wasn't always like that, so I'll gladly take the "issues" that come with the spoiling. I'm not all that active in fandoms in general, there's just one or two where I need to worry about spoilers. Right now it's mostly Bomb Girls, which I follow very closely.
Geeky merchandise ftw! I was just looking at Monty Python merch the other day, and you're right that some things are hard to come by over here, especially stuff coming from the US. In Germany we also pay import tax and customs fees for anything that's more expensive than 22 EUR, which really sucks when you want to order DVD or Blu-ray boxes. I once did a very crazy thing where I ordered DVD boxes from Japan because they just weren't available anywhere else. Not only were the boxes themselves horribly expensive, they also charged me an extra 47 EUR in taxes and fees. But it was all worth it, and every now and then, one should have the freedom to do something slightly crazy as long as it doesn't do any harm.
Sure, you're happy to friend me, I'd be honoured. I don't really post that much on LJ anymore, cause I've taken my leave from most of the White Collar fandom, what with the show becoming continually worse since season 3. I used to post a lot of White Collar fanfic in my journal, with the occasional personal (f-locked) entry. It seems people have moved on to other social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, and it's just not as much fun anymore to conceive a long entry on stuff that affects you when you hardly get any comments on it. I'm just saying: Don't expect a lot of activity in my journal.
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Before downloading became an options I spent my days hunting for spoiler just to know what happens next, For a very long time that was my only way to learn what happens on Farscape as I got addicted to it when it was shown on TV but the whole channel got canceled in the satellite TV platform merger and I got stuck at the end of season 2 and that was a bad cliffhanger. I don't know what I would do without people posting reviews with recaps of what happened next.
I got my nice a chameleon nightlamp that changes colours depending on the background colour (you put it on red it glows red etc). She loves it. I love it. I wouldn't be able to get it in Poland. But the customs tax limits are ridiculously low. I learned to either bring stuff with me of keep the total value of package below $50 (this means that it's better for me to send it then for company, even though it's cheaper if they do it, as they put the real prices on the shipping manifest and I can write whatever I feel like).
It's better that way. I got rid of feeds before because of too frequent posting and one of the reason I have so little friends is that I try to keep my friendslist manageable. I find tumblr nice place to look for images but horrible for discussions about anything as finding replies among likes and reblogs is painful and facbook's privacy problems make me avoid connecting it to anything except most general information. I use this blog as a way to keep track of stuff and write down reactions and theories so I can copy them on other places that discuss similar things (I'm lazy so writing it even once is a lot of work :P) and I can go back and check if what I predicted actually happened. All posts are public but I restricted posting to lj users when the spambots got annoying.
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I don't know why I've never been a fan of spoilers. Guess it's a personal thing. I like going in blindly and then be surprised by what's to come, rather than already knowing how it's going to play out. Some stupid kid had to go and post the Bomb Girls season two press kit online before the season aired, and it was chock-full of spoilers. Even though I downloaded it for future reference, I won't be looking at it before the season is over.
You're absolutely right about Tumblr. While a lot of cool stuff is posted there, it's absolutely useless if you wish to have a conversation. I have a plugin installed there, called Disqus, where you can leave comments on my posts, but it only shows up if you look at my posts in the design of my theme, it doesn't work if you look at posts on the dashboard (the latter of which seems to be the way most people view posts). I just hate that if you want to respond to someone, you need to reblog their whole post. I see Tumblr more like a graphic-heavy version of Twitter. It's nice for posting things, but it's absolutely useless for interacting with people.
I do have a Facebook account, but I don't post much there, due to said privacy issues. There's really nothing of me on there that should be a problem if anyone other than my Facebook friends saw it.
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