Lots of fannish impulses and nothing to spend it on
I'm not feeling a whole lot of new fannishness right now. Which in a way is good, because it keeps me from getting distracted from my DS9 story. Let's face it, that's what usually happens - I get engaged in something else and the stuff I'm doing seems not so important anymore. (It certainly explains why the Supernatural/Joan of Arcadia never gets finished, even though I've got the whole thing plotted out. One show was cancelled in anno dazumal, and the other I stopped watching because I want to finish my story first, and because at least in my version, some women and minorities stay alive.)
But in another way it's not so good, because I like that buzz of fannish happiness I get from new stuff. And what's new right now? More eps of Leverage, which unfortunately is doing the same thing it's been doing forever, so that even the adorableness of the cast can't get me excited anymore. It's like watching 97 pictures of kittens - no matter how cute they are, after a while you start wishing for a bunny, or even a flesh-eating soldier ant, just to break the monotony.
Covert Affairs? I can't even pretend to watch for the plot anymore. As for watching for something else... They did really well when they gave me Annie/Reva bonding that could make a nice ground for femslash (which, this is the first potential femslash in a year and a half, are you KIDDING me? This is PIPER PERABO) and Sendhil Ramamurthy on the motorcycle. The ep after that should have been a no-brainer; hey, it's Auggie backstory! An entire episode devoted to Christopher Gorham, and... did you just say "Very Special Episode"? You did. You unironically used the term "Very Special Episode" and made a video about veterans and goddamnit, if you want to make a point, make a point, but don't do it by getting all morally preaching about the fact that this ep exists at all. Auggie deserves better than that. So now I'm all meh about the whole thing and can't muster up any enthusiasm for the random spy stuff they throw at me.
Then there's Torchwood, which definitely isn't making me happy, although I'm more invested in it than in the other stuff. At first, I couldn't quite explain my meh. I thought to myself "Nothing happens," but it sort of does by now, and I'm still not happy. Then I thought, "It's no longer even remotely a Doctor Who world." Which is true - even in Children of Earth, you could kind of sort of imagine David Tennant walking into the episode. I can't imagine that now, and of course Matt Smith even less so. If there was a Dalek anywhere near this plot you'd consider it a complete breach of narrative sense.
But that's not it either, because there are, after all, shows that are not Doctor Who, that don't have that undertone of being absolutely bonkers, and that are very satisfying to me anyway.
Last ep made me realize why, even as I get involved, I can't enjoy Miracle Day. It's that suicide bomber. Ever since episode 1, his charred remains are alive, and conscious, and presumably in absolute agony. And that brings to mind all the others - the "plague ship" was pretty sanitized, what with everyone being in one piece and not writhing in pain. (The baby was screaming, of course, but babies always do.) There are people who, upon not dying, could be cured, or whose pain could be managed. But there are also the ones who were caught in house fires, or beheaded in car crashes, or mauled by bears, and oh God, if we assume that the situation in Somalia is much like it is in the real world... If we hadn't seen that suicide bomber, I might have been able to conveniently forget that. But we did see him, and I can't.
When I watch Miracle Day, my head is going makeitstopmakeitstopmakeitstop. I think "This is ep 4, there are 6 eps left, one every week, we're not even halfway through, MAKE IT STOP." I can't care about Jack getting laid, or Esther calling Social Services about her sister, or Rex trying to reconcile with his father. It's like having the girl tied up on the railroad track, and the cowboy stops for a hotdog. And then they're out of mustard, and he has to decide whether to have fried onions or pickled cucumber, and ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
I can see how, for others, Miracle Day might have just the right level of suspense, but for me, the reason I keep watching is because it brings me closer to the blessed moment when it STOPS. (If I don't watch, it will never stop.)
So that's it for my fannish impulses right now. Two mehs and an ARGH. I patch it up with even more time spent on Memory Alpha, and rewatching the dream song from Tangled a bunch of times, and Little Mosque on the Prairie, which is cute but not much of a meal.
I want proper, solid eps of... something. From what I understand, Babylon 5 won't fill that desire until 20-something eps down the road. I want something immediately satisfying. The age of the Internet, turning fans into instant-satisfaction monsters going FEEEED MEEEE.
This entry was originally posted at http://katta.dreamwidth.org/552562.html and has
comments there.
But in another way it's not so good, because I like that buzz of fannish happiness I get from new stuff. And what's new right now? More eps of Leverage, which unfortunately is doing the same thing it's been doing forever, so that even the adorableness of the cast can't get me excited anymore. It's like watching 97 pictures of kittens - no matter how cute they are, after a while you start wishing for a bunny, or even a flesh-eating soldier ant, just to break the monotony.
Covert Affairs? I can't even pretend to watch for the plot anymore. As for watching for something else... They did really well when they gave me Annie/Reva bonding that could make a nice ground for femslash (which, this is the first potential femslash in a year and a half, are you KIDDING me? This is PIPER PERABO) and Sendhil Ramamurthy on the motorcycle. The ep after that should have been a no-brainer; hey, it's Auggie backstory! An entire episode devoted to Christopher Gorham, and... did you just say "Very Special Episode"? You did. You unironically used the term "Very Special Episode" and made a video about veterans and goddamnit, if you want to make a point, make a point, but don't do it by getting all morally preaching about the fact that this ep exists at all. Auggie deserves better than that. So now I'm all meh about the whole thing and can't muster up any enthusiasm for the random spy stuff they throw at me.
Then there's Torchwood, which definitely isn't making me happy, although I'm more invested in it than in the other stuff. At first, I couldn't quite explain my meh. I thought to myself "Nothing happens," but it sort of does by now, and I'm still not happy. Then I thought, "It's no longer even remotely a Doctor Who world." Which is true - even in Children of Earth, you could kind of sort of imagine David Tennant walking into the episode. I can't imagine that now, and of course Matt Smith even less so. If there was a Dalek anywhere near this plot you'd consider it a complete breach of narrative sense.
But that's not it either, because there are, after all, shows that are not Doctor Who, that don't have that undertone of being absolutely bonkers, and that are very satisfying to me anyway.
Last ep made me realize why, even as I get involved, I can't enjoy Miracle Day. It's that suicide bomber. Ever since episode 1, his charred remains are alive, and conscious, and presumably in absolute agony. And that brings to mind all the others - the "plague ship" was pretty sanitized, what with everyone being in one piece and not writhing in pain. (The baby was screaming, of course, but babies always do.) There are people who, upon not dying, could be cured, or whose pain could be managed. But there are also the ones who were caught in house fires, or beheaded in car crashes, or mauled by bears, and oh God, if we assume that the situation in Somalia is much like it is in the real world... If we hadn't seen that suicide bomber, I might have been able to conveniently forget that. But we did see him, and I can't.
When I watch Miracle Day, my head is going makeitstopmakeitstopmakeitstop. I think "This is ep 4, there are 6 eps left, one every week, we're not even halfway through, MAKE IT STOP." I can't care about Jack getting laid, or Esther calling Social Services about her sister, or Rex trying to reconcile with his father. It's like having the girl tied up on the railroad track, and the cowboy stops for a hotdog. And then they're out of mustard, and he has to decide whether to have fried onions or pickled cucumber, and ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
I can see how, for others, Miracle Day might have just the right level of suspense, but for me, the reason I keep watching is because it brings me closer to the blessed moment when it STOPS. (If I don't watch, it will never stop.)
So that's it for my fannish impulses right now. Two mehs and an ARGH. I patch it up with even more time spent on Memory Alpha, and rewatching the dream song from Tangled a bunch of times, and Little Mosque on the Prairie, which is cute but not much of a meal.
I want proper, solid eps of... something. From what I understand, Babylon 5 won't fill that desire until 20-something eps down the road. I want something immediately satisfying. The age of the Internet, turning fans into instant-satisfaction monsters going FEEEED MEEEE.
This entry was originally posted at http://katta.dreamwidth.org/552562.html and has
comments there.