Catching Up
Firstly, I finally managed to finish that First Doctor, Polly & Ben fic, The Rime On the Spray. (Which is something. I almost finished it May Day, but my housemate walked in when I was about to write the Exciting Ending (well, whatever) and I went and talked to her, and never quite got back into the moment.)
And, I think I'm so far behind on the TV Meme that I may as well answer the final days here and now, but I was not in the mood for waffling about TV much this week, so I left it.
Days of Telly Meme:
Day 01 - A show that should never have been cancelled: Blake's 7
Day 02 - A show that you wish more people were watching: Spooks
Day 03 - Your favorite new show (aired this TV season): The West Wing
Day 04 - Your favorite show ever: Doctor Who
Day 05 - A show you hate: Big Brother/ Who Wants to be a millionaire?
Day 06 - Favorite episode of your favorite TV show: Robots of Death / Ghostlight
Day 07 - Least favorite episode of your favorite TV show: 42.
Day 08 - A show everyone should watch: Life on Mars
Day 09 - Best scene ever: DW - Ghostlight "I can't stand burnt toast."
Day 10 - A show you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving: Star Trek Voyager
Day 11 - A show that disappointed you: Heroes
Day 12 - An episode you've watched more than 5 times: BtVS 'Once More With Feeling'
Day 13 - Favorite childhood show: Dungeons & Dragons cartoon.
Day 14 - Favorite male character: The Doctor (all 11 splendid chaps)
Day 15 - Favorite female character: Ruth Evershed (Spooks)
Day 16 - Your guilty pleasure show: Hotel Babylon
Day 17 - Favorite mini series: BBC North & South
Day 18 - Favorite title sequence: The X-Files
Day 19 - Best TV show cast: Spooks
Day 20 - Favorite Most Memorable kiss: Red Dwarf - Rimmer and Lister.
Day 21 - Favorite ship: Spooks - Ruth/Harry
Final Days:
Day 22 - Favorite series finale: Angel - 'Not fade Away'. I have issues with S5, but it was the way to go, it really was. Except for the sour note with Lorne, it was about as perfect as you get.
Day 23 - Most annoying character: Erm. There must be one, but I still haven't thought of them. I know there ARE some... *scratches head* But after 30 days, I still haven't been able to come up with one.
Day 24 - Best quote: Doctor Who - Survival's last words.
Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new): Well, belantana has sold me on the sound of Life, though I don't know how I mean to actually get my hands on it; I am still planning on watching pretty much all of The West Wing, and I would like to see Bones, too.
Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale: (I took this to mean as in the ones that leave you on !!??? cliffhangers... I see others saw it as disappointing/baffling endings. Qs are open to interpretation, I say). In which case: I'm torn between Spooks S2 (Tom has been framed! And shot Harry! And apparently killed himself...! ...And Spooks won't be back for how long? 18 months...? WHAT?) and B7 S2, in which, well - oh, my, what a finale. B7 is wonderful on the cliffhanger endings. (Also I was left gaping at Angel S3's ending. In lots of different ways.)
Day 27 - Best pilot episode: Doctor Who. (Not the Pilot episode that got scrapped, obviously. The one that was actually shown.) I showed 'An Unearthly Child' to my friend when she was visiting. She said she hadn't known TV that old could be that good and we had to watch the first 10 minutes of the next episode, too, although I spared her the cave people. Obviously, it would be hard to show something b&w and a bit shaky these days, but you could reshoot this now (and while no one could be as good as the original TARDIS crew), it would still work. It's brilliant. There is no telling what sort of show it's going to be - it could be a school drama, a murder mystery... until everyone steps into the TARDIS.
Runner up: X-Files pilot - it really does go straight out, sets the pattern, feels like a one-off semi-serious TV movie, is genuinely creepy, and the two leads just work together right off.
Runner Up 2: Have literally just rewatched Allo Allo's pilot 'The British Are Coming'. It's as funny and daft as you would expect, but it's a model in efficiency in setting up character and situation, given that in 30 minutes it introduces (and this is an ensemble cast, not a few major characters plus passing minors): Rene, Edith, the Colonel, the Captain, Michelle, Yvette, Maria, Madame Fanny, Le Clerc, Carstairs, Fairfax, Lt Gruber, Helga and Herr Flick, plus the eternal ongoing plot of stolen paintings and escaping British airmen.
Captain Geering's first line is a heartfelt: "I vish I could see my vife and children very soon!" (which tells us all we need to know about Hans's attitude to war, albeit, it's about the last time we ever hear of his family), while the Colonel is being childish, petty and threatening to have Rene shot.
Yvette to Rene: "There is a woman in the back room to see you. She has a gun!"
Rene (looking worried): "Does she also have a pram?"
Michelle: "I am Michelle Dubois. Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once."
Rene: "I beg your pardon?"
Rene (to Maria): I want you in the back room now!
Maria: But Rene, what about your wife?
The two airmen (disguised as onion-sellers, wondering why people are staring at them on their bicycles): "We're riding on the wrong side of the road!"
And best of all, Rene meeting Lt Gruber, having been told that the forger is going to arrive, order a cognac, Rene will ask if he wants a light, and when he says yes, will tell him he has no matches...and then Lt Gruber arrives and orders a cognac...:
Rene: I have no matches.
Gruber: Then why did you ask me if I wanted a light? ...Here, have mine.
Rene (winking): Are you one of Them?
Gruber (defensively): It was very lonely on the Russian Front!
(Sorry - I was going to make a post about that, I was so impressed with the combination of both jokes and economy of writing.)
Day 28 - First TV show obsession: Dungeons and Dragons
Day 29 - Current TV show obsession: Press Gang, thanks to a rewatch and 50ficlets. I have been neglecting both, but hopefully will return presently.
Day 30 - Saddest character death: SPOILERS - if you haven't seen Angel S5 and intend to, then
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Best Death scene would have to be the one that happens in Spooks S3 that I can't even mention because I would never, never want to spoiler that one for anyone.
For saddest, I may be biased, because I was so down when I bought the videos of Angel S5, but it's a tie between Cordelia Chase ('You're Welcome'), Fred Burkle ('A Hole in the World') and Wesley ('Not Fade Away'). I have huge problems with the fact that the first two were planned when the show was intended to continue, but, it didn't, and the two episodes concerned are outstanding and heart-breaking in different ways. Cordy's was one of those that was so obvious in retrospect, but I didn't see coming - Joss Whedon had apparently said he would never kill a Buffy original, and Cordy was at the heart of the show as much as Angel, and it suffered when she was gone (S5) or possessed, or both (S4), so I really didn't see it. To have her back, at her very best, and then... (Look, I was so down at the time! :lol:). And then Fred's. Again, if there had been a S6, I would have had serious, serious issues with the idea that the two human females had come to the end of their development while the males hadn't and doing this to Fred to get a 'cooler' character in Ilyria, but as it stands, there wasn't, and it's another amazing piece of script-writing. The use of the comedy argument of the cavemen vs the spacemen that runs through it and becomes the tragic conclusion that "The cavemen always win" is so well done. And then, Wesley dying in Fred's arms, as Fred died in his... "Shall I lie to you now?" (No wonder Ilyria wanted to hit something after.) And both deaths tie in to the finale, which is why I'm happy with it ending here. (What is it with writers who make characters you fall in love with - and then have to tear them apart and kill them? *cough* Yes, I was very down when I bought the video box set to cheer myself up.) But S5 definitely takes the biscuit in this category.
That's the last time I do a thirty day meme!
And, I think I'm so far behind on the TV Meme that I may as well answer the final days here and now, but I was not in the mood for waffling about TV much this week, so I left it.
Days of Telly Meme:
Day 01 - A show that should never have been cancelled: Blake's 7
Day 02 - A show that you wish more people were watching: Spooks
Day 03 - Your favorite new show (aired this TV season): The West Wing
Day 04 - Your favorite show ever: Doctor Who
Day 05 - A show you hate: Big Brother/ Who Wants to be a millionaire?
Day 06 - Favorite episode of your favorite TV show: Robots of Death / Ghostlight
Day 07 - Least favorite episode of your favorite TV show: 42.
Day 08 - A show everyone should watch: Life on Mars
Day 09 - Best scene ever: DW - Ghostlight "I can't stand burnt toast."
Day 10 - A show you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving: Star Trek Voyager
Day 11 - A show that disappointed you: Heroes
Day 12 - An episode you've watched more than 5 times: BtVS 'Once More With Feeling'
Day 13 - Favorite childhood show: Dungeons & Dragons cartoon.
Day 14 - Favorite male character: The Doctor (all 11 splendid chaps)
Day 15 - Favorite female character: Ruth Evershed (Spooks)
Day 16 - Your guilty pleasure show: Hotel Babylon
Day 17 - Favorite mini series: BBC North & South
Day 18 - Favorite title sequence: The X-Files
Day 19 - Best TV show cast: Spooks
Day 20 - Favorite Most Memorable kiss: Red Dwarf - Rimmer and Lister.
Day 21 - Favorite ship: Spooks - Ruth/Harry
Final Days:
Day 22 - Favorite series finale: Angel - 'Not fade Away'. I have issues with S5, but it was the way to go, it really was. Except for the sour note with Lorne, it was about as perfect as you get.
Day 23 - Most annoying character: Erm. There must be one, but I still haven't thought of them. I know there ARE some... *scratches head* But after 30 days, I still haven't been able to come up with one.
Day 24 - Best quote: Doctor Who - Survival's last words.
Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new): Well, belantana has sold me on the sound of Life, though I don't know how I mean to actually get my hands on it; I am still planning on watching pretty much all of The West Wing, and I would like to see Bones, too.
Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale: (I took this to mean as in the ones that leave you on !!??? cliffhangers... I see others saw it as disappointing/baffling endings. Qs are open to interpretation, I say). In which case: I'm torn between Spooks S2 (Tom has been framed! And shot Harry! And apparently killed himself...! ...And Spooks won't be back for how long? 18 months...? WHAT?) and B7 S2, in which, well - oh, my, what a finale. B7 is wonderful on the cliffhanger endings. (Also I was left gaping at Angel S3's ending. In lots of different ways.)
Day 27 - Best pilot episode: Doctor Who. (Not the Pilot episode that got scrapped, obviously. The one that was actually shown.) I showed 'An Unearthly Child' to my friend when she was visiting. She said she hadn't known TV that old could be that good and we had to watch the first 10 minutes of the next episode, too, although I spared her the cave people. Obviously, it would be hard to show something b&w and a bit shaky these days, but you could reshoot this now (and while no one could be as good as the original TARDIS crew), it would still work. It's brilliant. There is no telling what sort of show it's going to be - it could be a school drama, a murder mystery... until everyone steps into the TARDIS.
Runner up: X-Files pilot - it really does go straight out, sets the pattern, feels like a one-off semi-serious TV movie, is genuinely creepy, and the two leads just work together right off.
Runner Up 2: Have literally just rewatched Allo Allo's pilot 'The British Are Coming'. It's as funny and daft as you would expect, but it's a model in efficiency in setting up character and situation, given that in 30 minutes it introduces (and this is an ensemble cast, not a few major characters plus passing minors): Rene, Edith, the Colonel, the Captain, Michelle, Yvette, Maria, Madame Fanny, Le Clerc, Carstairs, Fairfax, Lt Gruber, Helga and Herr Flick, plus the eternal ongoing plot of stolen paintings and escaping British airmen.
Captain Geering's first line is a heartfelt: "I vish I could see my vife and children very soon!" (which tells us all we need to know about Hans's attitude to war, albeit, it's about the last time we ever hear of his family), while the Colonel is being childish, petty and threatening to have Rene shot.
Yvette to Rene: "There is a woman in the back room to see you. She has a gun!"
Rene (looking worried): "Does she also have a pram?"
Michelle: "I am Michelle Dubois. Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once."
Rene: "I beg your pardon?"
Rene (to Maria): I want you in the back room now!
Maria: But Rene, what about your wife?
The two airmen (disguised as onion-sellers, wondering why people are staring at them on their bicycles): "We're riding on the wrong side of the road!"
And best of all, Rene meeting Lt Gruber, having been told that the forger is going to arrive, order a cognac, Rene will ask if he wants a light, and when he says yes, will tell him he has no matches...and then Lt Gruber arrives and orders a cognac...:
Rene: I have no matches.
Gruber: Then why did you ask me if I wanted a light? ...Here, have mine.
Rene (winking): Are you one of Them?
Gruber (defensively): It was very lonely on the Russian Front!
(Sorry - I was going to make a post about that, I was so impressed with the combination of both jokes and economy of writing.)
Day 28 - First TV show obsession: Dungeons and Dragons
Day 29 - Current TV show obsession: Press Gang, thanks to a rewatch and 50ficlets. I have been neglecting both, but hopefully will return presently.
Day 30 - Saddest character death: SPOILERS - if you haven't seen Angel S5 and intend to, then
b
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g
s
p
o
i
l
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r
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,
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k
a
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Best Death scene would have to be the one that happens in Spooks S3 that I can't even mention because I would never, never want to spoiler that one for anyone.
For saddest, I may be biased, because I was so down when I bought the videos of Angel S5, but it's a tie between Cordelia Chase ('You're Welcome'), Fred Burkle ('A Hole in the World') and Wesley ('Not Fade Away'). I have huge problems with the fact that the first two were planned when the show was intended to continue, but, it didn't, and the two episodes concerned are outstanding and heart-breaking in different ways. Cordy's was one of those that was so obvious in retrospect, but I didn't see coming - Joss Whedon had apparently said he would never kill a Buffy original, and Cordy was at the heart of the show as much as Angel, and it suffered when she was gone (S5) or possessed, or both (S4), so I really didn't see it. To have her back, at her very best, and then... (Look, I was so down at the time! :lol:). And then Fred's. Again, if there had been a S6, I would have had serious, serious issues with the idea that the two human females had come to the end of their development while the males hadn't and doing this to Fred to get a 'cooler' character in Ilyria, but as it stands, there wasn't, and it's another amazing piece of script-writing. The use of the comedy argument of the cavemen vs the spacemen that runs through it and becomes the tragic conclusion that "The cavemen always win" is so well done. And then, Wesley dying in Fred's arms, as Fred died in his... "Shall I lie to you now?" (No wonder Ilyria wanted to hit something after.) And both deaths tie in to the finale, which is why I'm happy with it ending here. (What is it with writers who make characters you fall in love with - and then have to tear them apart and kill them? *cough* Yes, I was very down when I bought the video box set to cheer myself up.) But S5 definitely takes the biscuit in this category.
That's the last time I do a thirty day meme!