Some recent TV stuff...
Just a roundup of some recent-ish TV-related thoughts I've been saving up.
Walking Dead ended... it was pretty good, but (major spoilers ahoy if you haven't seen it)
I wish they either killed off or at least chopped off the arm or something of the Governor. And... WTF? Taking everybody still in Woodbury back to the Prison? I get that they paid a lot for the prison set, but it's just been attacked, guard towers blown up, gates smashed, and even at the best of times there's a huge hole in the wall, AND, on top of all of that, it's a PRISON.
Why not leave the town as it was, and have the prison people go live THERE considering the Governor's been outed as a madman. It's defended from Walkers, and homey, and has all sorts of supplies. The only explanation I'd buy is if they're holding off until the Governor and his team are dead, because he knows too many ways in and out and could sneak in and murder them or something.
But still, strikes me as a bad idea to just toss in at the end of the episode.
Game of Thrones started... not much to say on it, but still really enjoying it.
Supernatural's still in the hack writing mockworthy stage, but I have to especially mock something in the latest new episode (spoilers... it's the Sam's second "trial" one)
After long revealing a lack of imagination by having Purgatory as just a grey set of woods that monsters keep attacking you in, the writers one-up themselves as having Sam's trip into hell to rescue Bobby, a righteous soul condemned (and don't even get me started on that, they burned his bones that really kind of messes up canon)... be wandering through a medieval dungeon WHERE HE MANAGES TO RUN INTO BOBBY AFTER SEARCHING ONLY A FEW PRISON CELLS. I mean seriously? Not only does Hell have almost no security, it's apparently virtually uninhabited and startlingly organized, making it spectacularly easy to find whoever you want at any time. Sheesh, at least give him a magic item that lets him home in on who he wants or something. Just stupid, stupid, stupid!
Doctor Who... I don't know. I like Clara so far, although I wish we got one of the other versions we saw rather than the one we did. First episode was okay, second started great but they blew the ending (more later), and third episode I mostly liked.
My main problem right now is with the writing for the character itself. And it's not a new problem, it's been going for a long time, it's just starting to grate on me more and more the more they continue it.
1) The Doctor as know-it-all tour guide.
I love that he's a smart character.
But a thousand years old is not enough to see a whole universe, particularly when you've got not just all of time, but time and space. Which means that for him to know everything about every race he comes across... he's gotta be revisiting the places he knows well a lot. And that bears it up, I looked up past episodes, and was hard pressed to find one where the Doctor and his companions visit somewhere he's never been, just for the hell of it. There were a few times where circumstances, accidents or distress calls have dragged them to places they've never been before (but usually with a familiar threat), but most of the time, they're trying to get to places he knows. There might have been two-three cases in the entire New Who era where he's got a goal other than that. They're always visiting places he's either been at some other time, or heard a lot about, and so the Doctor can point out all the alien races and know their particular quirks. And of course, Earth, but that's part of the show and you're never going to get rid of that, but I'd like the episodes where they're away from Earth to break that mold. That's my problem, the doctor is no longer an EXPLORER. He's a tour guide.
I want a companion, when asked where they want to go, to say, "I want to go someplace you've never been, a place you've barely even heard of, where you don't already know everything about what's going on." But mostly I want the Doctor to WANT to go to new places. Because as it is, he doesn't so much have to rely on being clever, he has to rely on already knowing the right thing. He doesn't have to figure out what an alien creature's motives and desires are, he just has to know that particular alien race so he can point it out to the audience and companion and explain what they want. And that's easier to write, because it's the LAZY way to do it.
This attitude seems to creep into writing in other ways, a sort of laziness I noticed, which brings me to Episode 2 of the new half-series, the Rings of Akhenaten. It started out okay, except of course, Doctor was playing know-it-all tour guide AGAIN, but the ending combined two of my least favorite and laziest endings. Spoilers, ahoy, both for it and "The Cold War", which I use to contrast.
There are two endings that I generally do not like, and they seem to crop up a lot in Doctor Who. I call them different names but lately I've taken them to calling them "The Magic Wizard solution" and "The Magic Wizard Object solution.
This episode attempted to use a mixture of both of them.
First, they had the Doctor let the "God" feed on his own memories, hoping that, because he was a Time Lord with 1000 years of experience, unlike the Queen of Years, he'd be too much to take, give it indigestion. In other words, this solution only works because the Doctor happens to be a magic wizard. He has these magic properties that no other person has, and he was there. It's not about HIM at all, at least not about what he DOES, it's about what he IS.
Now, okay, it didn't exactly work, so I could have looked past it, except that it seemed that, with the threat weakened by the magic wizard attack, they then went on to use The Magic Wizard Object solution, by having Clara use an object hat, for no good reason other than the writer says so, has "magic" properties that solve the problem. A leaf that "contains all the lives that my mom never lived" Which is total BULL%!$%, because EVERY object has that kind of relevance if you examine it in that way... I get that they were trying to give Clara a triumph moment on her firt outing, but at least make it something that makes sense. There was no cleverness, there was no ingenuity, they didn't figure out a secret weakness or use some brilliant application of existing technology, they defeated a god with a magic wizard and a magic wizard object. That, to me, is really lazy writing and kills the entertainment factor. And it's a frequent problem with Doctor Who, where he knows just what to do because he's a magic wizard and/or has a magic wizard object (which is, as often as not, the Sonic screwdriver).
Now, The Cold War had its problems (and seriously, a 'attack one of us and we have the right to wipe out your whole race' is NOT a trait of a proud and noble race, it's a trait of a genocidal maniacs and should not be honored.. they should have made it so that the general, desperate and alone, extremified a policy of his race like "if you take the first shot, we will end the conflict no matter the cost"), but at its core the dilemma, and the solution, was a very human one... pointing out the need for mercy and convincing the Ice Warrior that we're not all so different.
I don't want to watch a Magic Wizard being magic again and again, I want to watch a really smart man use his wits.
And, since we're already talking spoilers... as an aside, I really wish this Clara didn't get computer skills uploaded in The Bells of St. John. I wish they were natural talents she's had in every incarnation, for one thing it makes her seem naturally a bit dull (living as a 20ish girl in the 21st century and not knowing a thing about computers... you could get away with it a decade or two ago, but not today, not without a really good backstory explaining it, she would have grown up with computers all over school and to not know a thing about them implies a disinterest incompatible with the curiosity and intelligence needed to be a companion), and it also makes any subsequent use of her hacking abilities sort of hollow, because they're not her own, she just happened to pick them up.
Anyway, that's enough of that, let's move on...
And the newest of the SF series to debut is "Defiance", created by Rockne S. O'Bannon, who was behind Farscape. And you can see some Farscape influences here... made-up swear words, a set of well-designed alien races, as humanoid ones go, anyway, (except the white haired ones look a little too much like bad costumes), a female heroine who isn't particularly "nice" and "approachable".. it's almost like they were trying to catch lightning in a bottle and create "Farscape set on a future Earth". And I do like the alien races (and the alien Doctor is kind of my favorite character so far, despite only having a handful of lines). But the whole thing feels a little... the word that keeps jumping to mind is "stilted". Awkward, artificial... it doesn't feel like a real world, like Farscape usually managed, it feel like... well, it feels like a video game world brought to life, which in some ways it is. Too many plot points I called in advance and dialogue that I too often cringed at. But, pilots are sometimes pretty weak, often the weakest outings of the series, and I'll give it a little time to find its legs. Right now, though, I'm not confident.
Syfy did announce recently a slate of new SF series, some of which sound like they have potential, but, with that channel, I don't have my expectations that high. (They also announced minis based on Ringworld and Childhood's End, which I'd love to see but have little confidence in)
Cartoons... now that Young Justice is cancelled, nothing really to look forward to until Korra S2 premieres, I guess. Are there any other good cartoons on that I'm missing?
Oh, and Continuum S2 starts this Sunday, so I guess that's worth a look.
Walking Dead ended... it was pretty good, but (major spoilers ahoy if you haven't seen it)
I wish they either killed off or at least chopped off the arm or something of the Governor. And... WTF? Taking everybody still in Woodbury back to the Prison? I get that they paid a lot for the prison set, but it's just been attacked, guard towers blown up, gates smashed, and even at the best of times there's a huge hole in the wall, AND, on top of all of that, it's a PRISON.
Why not leave the town as it was, and have the prison people go live THERE considering the Governor's been outed as a madman. It's defended from Walkers, and homey, and has all sorts of supplies. The only explanation I'd buy is if they're holding off until the Governor and his team are dead, because he knows too many ways in and out and could sneak in and murder them or something.
But still, strikes me as a bad idea to just toss in at the end of the episode.
Game of Thrones started... not much to say on it, but still really enjoying it.
Supernatural's still in the hack writing mockworthy stage, but I have to especially mock something in the latest new episode (spoilers... it's the Sam's second "trial" one)
After long revealing a lack of imagination by having Purgatory as just a grey set of woods that monsters keep attacking you in, the writers one-up themselves as having Sam's trip into hell to rescue Bobby, a righteous soul condemned (and don't even get me started on that, they burned his bones that really kind of messes up canon)... be wandering through a medieval dungeon WHERE HE MANAGES TO RUN INTO BOBBY AFTER SEARCHING ONLY A FEW PRISON CELLS. I mean seriously? Not only does Hell have almost no security, it's apparently virtually uninhabited and startlingly organized, making it spectacularly easy to find whoever you want at any time. Sheesh, at least give him a magic item that lets him home in on who he wants or something. Just stupid, stupid, stupid!
Doctor Who... I don't know. I like Clara so far, although I wish we got one of the other versions we saw rather than the one we did. First episode was okay, second started great but they blew the ending (more later), and third episode I mostly liked.
My main problem right now is with the writing for the character itself. And it's not a new problem, it's been going for a long time, it's just starting to grate on me more and more the more they continue it.
1) The Doctor as know-it-all tour guide.
I love that he's a smart character.
But a thousand years old is not enough to see a whole universe, particularly when you've got not just all of time, but time and space. Which means that for him to know everything about every race he comes across... he's gotta be revisiting the places he knows well a lot. And that bears it up, I looked up past episodes, and was hard pressed to find one where the Doctor and his companions visit somewhere he's never been, just for the hell of it. There were a few times where circumstances, accidents or distress calls have dragged them to places they've never been before (but usually with a familiar threat), but most of the time, they're trying to get to places he knows. There might have been two-three cases in the entire New Who era where he's got a goal other than that. They're always visiting places he's either been at some other time, or heard a lot about, and so the Doctor can point out all the alien races and know their particular quirks. And of course, Earth, but that's part of the show and you're never going to get rid of that, but I'd like the episodes where they're away from Earth to break that mold. That's my problem, the doctor is no longer an EXPLORER. He's a tour guide.
I want a companion, when asked where they want to go, to say, "I want to go someplace you've never been, a place you've barely even heard of, where you don't already know everything about what's going on." But mostly I want the Doctor to WANT to go to new places. Because as it is, he doesn't so much have to rely on being clever, he has to rely on already knowing the right thing. He doesn't have to figure out what an alien creature's motives and desires are, he just has to know that particular alien race so he can point it out to the audience and companion and explain what they want. And that's easier to write, because it's the LAZY way to do it.
This attitude seems to creep into writing in other ways, a sort of laziness I noticed, which brings me to Episode 2 of the new half-series, the Rings of Akhenaten. It started out okay, except of course, Doctor was playing know-it-all tour guide AGAIN, but the ending combined two of my least favorite and laziest endings. Spoilers, ahoy, both for it and "The Cold War", which I use to contrast.
There are two endings that I generally do not like, and they seem to crop up a lot in Doctor Who. I call them different names but lately I've taken them to calling them "The Magic Wizard solution" and "The Magic Wizard Object solution.
This episode attempted to use a mixture of both of them.
First, they had the Doctor let the "God" feed on his own memories, hoping that, because he was a Time Lord with 1000 years of experience, unlike the Queen of Years, he'd be too much to take, give it indigestion. In other words, this solution only works because the Doctor happens to be a magic wizard. He has these magic properties that no other person has, and he was there. It's not about HIM at all, at least not about what he DOES, it's about what he IS.
Now, okay, it didn't exactly work, so I could have looked past it, except that it seemed that, with the threat weakened by the magic wizard attack, they then went on to use The Magic Wizard Object solution, by having Clara use an object hat, for no good reason other than the writer says so, has "magic" properties that solve the problem. A leaf that "contains all the lives that my mom never lived" Which is total BULL%!$%, because EVERY object has that kind of relevance if you examine it in that way... I get that they were trying to give Clara a triumph moment on her firt outing, but at least make it something that makes sense. There was no cleverness, there was no ingenuity, they didn't figure out a secret weakness or use some brilliant application of existing technology, they defeated a god with a magic wizard and a magic wizard object. That, to me, is really lazy writing and kills the entertainment factor. And it's a frequent problem with Doctor Who, where he knows just what to do because he's a magic wizard and/or has a magic wizard object (which is, as often as not, the Sonic screwdriver).
Now, The Cold War had its problems (and seriously, a 'attack one of us and we have the right to wipe out your whole race' is NOT a trait of a proud and noble race, it's a trait of a genocidal maniacs and should not be honored.. they should have made it so that the general, desperate and alone, extremified a policy of his race like "if you take the first shot, we will end the conflict no matter the cost"), but at its core the dilemma, and the solution, was a very human one... pointing out the need for mercy and convincing the Ice Warrior that we're not all so different.
I don't want to watch a Magic Wizard being magic again and again, I want to watch a really smart man use his wits.
And, since we're already talking spoilers... as an aside, I really wish this Clara didn't get computer skills uploaded in The Bells of St. John. I wish they were natural talents she's had in every incarnation, for one thing it makes her seem naturally a bit dull (living as a 20ish girl in the 21st century and not knowing a thing about computers... you could get away with it a decade or two ago, but not today, not without a really good backstory explaining it, she would have grown up with computers all over school and to not know a thing about them implies a disinterest incompatible with the curiosity and intelligence needed to be a companion), and it also makes any subsequent use of her hacking abilities sort of hollow, because they're not her own, she just happened to pick them up.
Anyway, that's enough of that, let's move on...
And the newest of the SF series to debut is "Defiance", created by Rockne S. O'Bannon, who was behind Farscape. And you can see some Farscape influences here... made-up swear words, a set of well-designed alien races, as humanoid ones go, anyway, (except the white haired ones look a little too much like bad costumes), a female heroine who isn't particularly "nice" and "approachable".. it's almost like they were trying to catch lightning in a bottle and create "Farscape set on a future Earth". And I do like the alien races (and the alien Doctor is kind of my favorite character so far, despite only having a handful of lines). But the whole thing feels a little... the word that keeps jumping to mind is "stilted". Awkward, artificial... it doesn't feel like a real world, like Farscape usually managed, it feel like... well, it feels like a video game world brought to life, which in some ways it is. Too many plot points I called in advance and dialogue that I too often cringed at. But, pilots are sometimes pretty weak, often the weakest outings of the series, and I'll give it a little time to find its legs. Right now, though, I'm not confident.
Syfy did announce recently a slate of new SF series, some of which sound like they have potential, but, with that channel, I don't have my expectations that high. (They also announced minis based on Ringworld and Childhood's End, which I'd love to see but have little confidence in)
Cartoons... now that Young Justice is cancelled, nothing really to look forward to until Korra S2 premieres, I guess. Are there any other good cartoons on that I'm missing?
Oh, and Continuum S2 starts this Sunday, so I guess that's worth a look.