Meme responses (sex, sex and more sex)
!! Leonard's expression is what makes it art. :)
(Srsly, I was briefly worried about the skeezy stalkery implications of RPS for Shatner and Nimoy, and then I see things like this. And, clearly, any judge in the country would rule that they are entirely complicit in this.)
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Meme responses #1:
God, you're a pervy lot. Aherm.
For leyenn: Delenn's 3 bits of sexual trivia
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For amatara: G'Kar's 3 bits of sexual trivia
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Top Five clichés used or reinvented successfully by a show and/or fandom.
1. It was all a dream! - "Normal Again", BtVS S6
Even as a kid, I knew that 'it was all a dream!' is a bit of a cop-out. There's no drama, there's no consequences. So imagine my delight when we saw "Normal Again" and it depressed the fuck out of me. For those who haven't seen it, this is a stand-alone episode where Buffy is infected by a demon, and abruptly wakes up a mental institution, having dreamed the last six years. Her parents are there - and Dawn isn't. What I love about this episode is that you're never quite sure which is the 'dream', the mental institution or her life in Sunnydale. I also really, really love how her need to protect Dawn is what makes Buffy choose Sunnydale - and how that means she gives up all hope of recovery in the 'real' world.
2. Let's show the superstitious natives how great science is! - "Believers", B5 S1
I'm not sure if this qualifies as a cliché, but it certainly appears to be a mainstay of sci-fi shows. The plot: a young boy has a terminal condition that can be cured by a simple surgery. His parents forbid it, saying that cutting the body means the soul escapes. The doctor goes ahead and performs the surgery anyway, and the parents see their child saved and whole, and wholeheartedly embrace atheism... oh, wait. They don't. They kill the boy instead, because he is no longer their child, but a soul-less shell.
What I love about this episode is that it really doesn't pull its punches. I especially love Sinclair berating Dr Franklin for his presumption, saying - how do you know that they're not right? And that what you want to do won't kill their child's soul? And his slow, horrified realisation afterwards of what has happened.
3. Time Travel - "All Good Things" - ST:TNG S7
The Next Gen finale has everything I could have asked for: humour, drama, Q... and time travel. OK, that last one has now been abused half to death, and it was old when the Next Gen did it as well. But they did it so well! Picard is put through another series of tests by Q, and will be responsible for the extermination of humanity should he fail. What wins here is the attention to detail: Troi's outfit, Tasha Yar, the settings, the make-up. Wonderful.
Runner-up: "Trials and Tribbleations" - ST:DSN S5: Sisko and crew go back in time... and run into the original Enterprise. Complete with Dax having shagged McCoy, which made me burst out laughing.
4. Torture only makes us stronger - "Chain of Command Pt II" - ST:TNG S6
The Next Gen was pretty good in its use of clichés. Here, it does what even B5 failed to do - it depicts torture in a realistic way. As in, our hero doesn't just leap up and fight his way free, or magically resist through superior will power. He is saved by his crew... and broke, just the same.
5. "Last-second rescue" - "The Way Back" - B7 S1
I suppose that it would have made for a pretty short show if Blake gets freed in the first episode of Blake's 7. But I was still astonished when the camera pans down and see our two protagonists - who have diligently been gathering info in Blake's innocence and preparing to launch an appeal against his exile - lying face-down in the mud, very, very dead. Lesson: the Federation doesn't fuck about.
(Srsly, I was briefly worried about the skeezy stalkery implications of RPS for Shatner and Nimoy, and then I see things like this. And, clearly, any judge in the country would rule that they are entirely complicit in this.)
*
Meme responses #1:
God, you're a pervy lot. Aherm.
For leyenn: Delenn's 3 bits of sexual trivia
*
For amatara: G'Kar's 3 bits of sexual trivia
*
Top Five clichés used or reinvented successfully by a show and/or fandom.
1. It was all a dream! - "Normal Again", BtVS S6
Even as a kid, I knew that 'it was all a dream!' is a bit of a cop-out. There's no drama, there's no consequences. So imagine my delight when we saw "Normal Again" and it depressed the fuck out of me. For those who haven't seen it, this is a stand-alone episode where Buffy is infected by a demon, and abruptly wakes up a mental institution, having dreamed the last six years. Her parents are there - and Dawn isn't. What I love about this episode is that you're never quite sure which is the 'dream', the mental institution or her life in Sunnydale. I also really, really love how her need to protect Dawn is what makes Buffy choose Sunnydale - and how that means she gives up all hope of recovery in the 'real' world.
2. Let's show the superstitious natives how great science is! - "Believers", B5 S1
I'm not sure if this qualifies as a cliché, but it certainly appears to be a mainstay of sci-fi shows. The plot: a young boy has a terminal condition that can be cured by a simple surgery. His parents forbid it, saying that cutting the body means the soul escapes. The doctor goes ahead and performs the surgery anyway, and the parents see their child saved and whole, and wholeheartedly embrace atheism... oh, wait. They don't. They kill the boy instead, because he is no longer their child, but a soul-less shell.
What I love about this episode is that it really doesn't pull its punches. I especially love Sinclair berating Dr Franklin for his presumption, saying - how do you know that they're not right? And that what you want to do won't kill their child's soul? And his slow, horrified realisation afterwards of what has happened.
3. Time Travel - "All Good Things" - ST:TNG S7
The Next Gen finale has everything I could have asked for: humour, drama, Q... and time travel. OK, that last one has now been abused half to death, and it was old when the Next Gen did it as well. But they did it so well! Picard is put through another series of tests by Q, and will be responsible for the extermination of humanity should he fail. What wins here is the attention to detail: Troi's outfit, Tasha Yar, the settings, the make-up. Wonderful.
Runner-up: "Trials and Tribbleations" - ST:DSN S5: Sisko and crew go back in time... and run into the original Enterprise. Complete with Dax having shagged McCoy, which made me burst out laughing.
4. Torture only makes us stronger - "Chain of Command Pt II" - ST:TNG S6
The Next Gen was pretty good in its use of clichés. Here, it does what even B5 failed to do - it depicts torture in a realistic way. As in, our hero doesn't just leap up and fight his way free, or magically resist through superior will power. He is saved by his crew... and broke, just the same.
5. "Last-second rescue" - "The Way Back" - B7 S1
I suppose that it would have made for a pretty short show if Blake gets freed in the first episode of Blake's 7. But I was still astonished when the camera pans down and see our two protagonists - who have diligently been gathering info in Blake's innocence and preparing to launch an appeal against his exile - lying face-down in the mud, very, very dead. Lesson: the Federation doesn't fuck about.