Sanctuary for All / I miss Rupert/Joyce/Ethan
Just watched part 1 of Sanctuary for All, and so far, I don't like him at all.
Helen is just lovely, lovely, she is indeed, The Persephone.
If Sanctuary is a more awesome Torchwood, then so far, Zimmerman is Gwen Cooper, with less fail for sure, but still, fail. He started annoying me by his dismissive attitude towards the cafe girl. Then, his absolutely racist reaction towards the Big Guy. There was no room for misunderstanding at all, the Big Guy came in slowly bearing a tray of tea, how is that scary? Then he persist on calling them monsters.
Rude: I really like Ashley in this, spunky is cliche but I like her, so why is it that Ashley haven't done anything to Will, but his first reaction to her was, "who the hell are you?", why the rudeness? I mean, how about a, "Hello?". In the words of Churchill, "it costs nothing to be polite". WHY would Helen pick this guy to be her successor when she's got Henry?
...because we need an "Everyman", the Gwen Cooper, the YOU blank but annoying character. Oh god, and once again, the 'Everyman' is white, and 'normal'. It's funny, they talk about diversity, but then they pick out another 'average' guy to represent us all, even when us all includes all manners of 'freaks'.
1: Stop with the Everyman BS, it's othering
2: If you have to have a viewer id character, aka, The Heart, could we make The Heart actually likable? As in, an example? I'll hate to think that everyone of us is this racist and rude.
Dude, it's not like the kid strapped down was completely not human looking, he has that freaky thing sticking out, but he's obviously a frightened child! What is Will's problem?
Okay, show over all has me a bit uncomfortable on the racial front, even though I still like this show cause Amanada Tapping! Unlike Stargates, which also have the only one black guy (and he's an alien) problem, this is set in Canada, where the racial make up is reallly diverse. So far, all the characters we see that can be identified with, are white and ango, excepting Will's ex-GF. Considering historical political propaganda context, suddenly having Big Foot as the servant is Unfortunate Implications, in a way that it would not have been at all, had not everyone been white. (They are in Vancouver eh? Why couldn't Will have been Chinese?)
ETA: 180, post viewing Part II:
Well done show! Will is NOT going to suck like Gwen Cooper, thank god, I was worried about having a character I hate being the Shrilled Wesley I'll have to put up with. Will IS racist and rude, but there are logical reasons why he's that way and his fail is addressed too. His mother was killed by an abnormal, so of course he's afraid, and rudeness is his defensiveness the way Extreme Politeness is mine I guess.
Considering the prevalence of prejudice as a part of human culture, all manners of prejudices, I can see now why Helen picks Will - she KNOWS about his prejudice, Will points it out too, what Helen wants to see, is Will overcoming that - because overcoming existing prejudice is difficult, and it's better to pick someone who can do that, then a seemingly not anything-ist person who suddenly turn out to have a problem with x after all.
Also, well done show, on averting the Black Guy Dies First, I thought they were going to go there, but they didn't.
On noting how Ashley shares the same archtype as Buffy, especialy movie!Buffy, I realise that Helen is Joyce Summer! Holy smokes! In canon, Joyce, Buffy's Mom, is a museum curator, who has a lot of sexual tension with Buffy's mentor, Rupert 'Ripper' Giles. Gile's nickname in his youth was Ripper because he was a black magic practicing thrill seeking brute, and when that side of him came out during "Band Candy" - he and Joyce did it on the roof of a police car! The pairing Giles/Joyce/Ethan is actually a fanon favourite, so Chaos!Ethan would be Dionysus!Nikola, where instead of mad science, Ethan is all about the mad magics. The threesome doesn't get any screentime, but it's one of those things that could work so well there is a shipper essay: Responsible Adults (since the site is gone, see BFA for Menageaverse.
So I do have preferences...
Ha, maybe it is because fandom overall has gotten older, or we like something different, but I think, increasingly, fandom prefers the older characters. The Five seem to be much more popular in Sanctuary than the regular The Children characters who are only in their 20s and 30s. Boring!
Henry and Ashley are cute together. I also like Helen and Will's relationship, as long as it NEVER go romantic - dude, she rescued him when he was a kid!
John Druitt is scary, and yet sexy, it's unfair, I blame the actor. Dude, the actress who played the hooker did a great job, I felt so bad that she was murdered, but I still find John appealing, what the hell?
Helen is just lovely, lovely, she is indeed, The Persephone.
If Sanctuary is a more awesome Torchwood, then so far, Zimmerman is Gwen Cooper, with less fail for sure, but still, fail. He started annoying me by his dismissive attitude towards the cafe girl. Then, his absolutely racist reaction towards the Big Guy. There was no room for misunderstanding at all, the Big Guy came in slowly bearing a tray of tea, how is that scary? Then he persist on calling them monsters.
Rude: I really like Ashley in this, spunky is cliche but I like her, so why is it that Ashley haven't done anything to Will, but his first reaction to her was, "who the hell are you?", why the rudeness? I mean, how about a, "Hello?". In the words of Churchill, "it costs nothing to be polite". WHY would Helen pick this guy to be her successor when she's got Henry?
...because we need an "Everyman", the Gwen Cooper, the YOU blank but annoying character. Oh god, and once again, the 'Everyman' is white, and 'normal'. It's funny, they talk about diversity, but then they pick out another 'average' guy to represent us all, even when us all includes all manners of 'freaks'.
1: Stop with the Everyman BS, it's othering
2: If you have to have a viewer id character, aka, The Heart, could we make The Heart actually likable? As in, an example? I'll hate to think that everyone of us is this racist and rude.
Dude, it's not like the kid strapped down was completely not human looking, he has that freaky thing sticking out, but he's obviously a frightened child! What is Will's problem?
Okay, show over all has me a bit uncomfortable on the racial front, even though I still like this show cause Amanada Tapping! Unlike Stargates, which also have the only one black guy (and he's an alien) problem, this is set in Canada, where the racial make up is reallly diverse. So far, all the characters we see that can be identified with, are white and ango, excepting Will's ex-GF. Considering historical political propaganda context, suddenly having Big Foot as the servant is Unfortunate Implications, in a way that it would not have been at all, had not everyone been white. (They are in Vancouver eh? Why couldn't Will have been Chinese?)
ETA: 180, post viewing Part II:
Well done show! Will is NOT going to suck like Gwen Cooper, thank god, I was worried about having a character I hate being the Shrilled Wesley I'll have to put up with. Will IS racist and rude, but there are logical reasons why he's that way and his fail is addressed too. His mother was killed by an abnormal, so of course he's afraid, and rudeness is his defensiveness the way Extreme Politeness is mine I guess.
Considering the prevalence of prejudice as a part of human culture, all manners of prejudices, I can see now why Helen picks Will - she KNOWS about his prejudice, Will points it out too, what Helen wants to see, is Will overcoming that - because overcoming existing prejudice is difficult, and it's better to pick someone who can do that, then a seemingly not anything-ist person who suddenly turn out to have a problem with x after all.
Also, well done show, on averting the Black Guy Dies First, I thought they were going to go there, but they didn't.
On noting how Ashley shares the same archtype as Buffy, especialy movie!Buffy, I realise that Helen is Joyce Summer! Holy smokes! In canon, Joyce, Buffy's Mom, is a museum curator, who has a lot of sexual tension with Buffy's mentor, Rupert 'Ripper' Giles. Gile's nickname in his youth was Ripper because he was a black magic practicing thrill seeking brute, and when that side of him came out during "Band Candy" - he and Joyce did it on the roof of a police car! The pairing Giles/Joyce/Ethan is actually a fanon favourite, so Chaos!Ethan would be Dionysus!Nikola, where instead of mad science, Ethan is all about the mad magics. The threesome doesn't get any screentime, but it's one of those things that could work so well there is a shipper essay: Responsible Adults (since the site is gone, see BFA for Menageaverse.
So I do have preferences...
Ha, maybe it is because fandom overall has gotten older, or we like something different, but I think, increasingly, fandom prefers the older characters. The Five seem to be much more popular in Sanctuary than the regular The Children characters who are only in their 20s and 30s. Boring!
Henry and Ashley are cute together. I also like Helen and Will's relationship, as long as it NEVER go romantic - dude, she rescued him when he was a kid!
John Druitt is scary, and yet sexy, it's unfair, I blame the actor. Dude, the actress who played the hooker did a great job, I felt so bad that she was murdered, but I still find John appealing, what the hell?