SG-1: The Ark of Truth, etc.
I watched AoT last night and decided to sleep on it to see if I could find a more precise way to sum up my feelings aside from "hmmm." And I'm not there yet. Hmmm. Didn't love it, didn't hate it. Thought it was a perfectly respectable SG-1 season-ender, didn't think it was quite worth $20 or all the hype.
What I loved: Teal'c, Teal'c, Teal'c, Teal'c, Teal'c!!! Just when I think there's nothing that could make me love this character more, we get that scene with Teal'c and Tomin. Yes, that. Oh, Teal'c!
(Although aside from that scene most all Teal'c does is walk a lot, which...got a little old. All the music and the scenery and the beating us on the head with the fact that Teal'c is Strong and Determined and will Save His Team. I get irritated when film/television tries to manufacture emotion for me in the form of music and mountains. Pretty music, pretty mountains, yes, but pretty music and scenery is not an acceptable substitute for good writing.)
What made me grin: Sam/Cam!!!!!! Okay, Cam Mitchell is still my boyfriend, but if Sam wants him I'll share because they're adorable, and I'm magnanimous like that. She totally called Grandma Mitchell for the macaroon recipe, and someone (*glances in beanpot's general direction*) needs to write that fic.
What intrigued me: Daniel hasn't done much for me in the past couple of seasons, but I was intrigued by his scene with Morgan in which it seems he's really about to give up. I haven't much liked Daniel's recent character development, but it strikes me as among the most consistent and logical character development on the show, and this felt like a very logical next step. The man's been beaten down and beaten down; one of these days he's going to break.
Everything else: Otherwise, though, I was fairly lukewarm about the whole thing. In usual Stargate style, they raised some really fascinating questions and then backed away from them (some of these the same fascinating questions they've been raising and backing away from for 10 years). What is a god, anyway? What makes a god true or false? The Ark can only be programmed for truth, but who determines that, anyway? Could we pay a little more than just lip service to the potential problems inherent in the fact that Our Heroes just forcibly converted the Priors when they've spent the past two seasons standing up for people's right to choose whether or not to believe in a religion?
And okay, I've been watching this show for a long time now, and I'm pretty familiar with the drill. I think I'd have fallen out of my chair in shock if they actually had tried to deal with any of those questions in more than the most cursory of ways. Still, show, it's not too late to surprise me, y'know?
I think my biggest disappointment was that aside from Sam and Cam, and the obvious sense of helpless panic that Daniel and Vala feel when Teal'c gets shot, there just wasn't much team interaction. They were all doing their thing, working on their parts of the plot, but it didn't really feel like they were working together. After the poignancy of "Unending," no Sam and Teal'c interaction at all? No Cam and Teal'c? No Sam and Vala? (okay, I admit I wasn't placing bets on that one, sadly, but a girl can dream) There wasn't even much in the way of Daniel and Vala interaction on a personal level, despite them being in numerous scenes together. The whole thing felt like it had been so heavily plotted that there was no time for the characters to actually be together. These didn't feel like people who have worked together for years and know each other intimately; they felt like people who were standing on their marks and saying their lines and doing what they needed to do. (I think this is a writing and directing problem rather than an acting problem, though.) It was okay, but it was only okay.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed hanging out with these characters again. It never ceases to surprise me that such a mediocre show can inspire such affection in me. Somewhere along the way, these guys became my team, and I do love them.
***
For the "etc." have a BSG rec. What Takes the Edge Off" by Swooning is a great little snapshot of Laura Roslin with her cancer back. Adama/Roslin, 1500 words or so, PG-ish. The scene feels very in-character, and, well, we know that I'm always a sucker for in-character Laura/prophecy/cancer stuff. I hesitate to say this because it may be an odd way to describe someone else's fic, but it feels a bit like my "Signmakers" meets gabolange's "Truths Half Told"--except obviously different in the way that a different writer's take on such themes is bound to be.
I have to say, though, that I have gotten so fond of reading fic on LJ that I find archive reading a little frustrating in format. I left a somewhat thinky review. The site allows the writer to respond to reviews, and she did, also thinkily. And I want to comment back because how can you not respond to the delightfulness of a comment like "...indulging in introspection for its own sake, which Bill has kind of raised to the level of performance art." But the site won't let me. I like having conversations about interesting fics, not just leaving reviews for them. Ah well.
What I loved: Teal'c, Teal'c, Teal'c, Teal'c, Teal'c!!! Just when I think there's nothing that could make me love this character more, we get that scene with Teal'c and Tomin. Yes, that. Oh, Teal'c!
(Although aside from that scene most all Teal'c does is walk a lot, which...got a little old. All the music and the scenery and the beating us on the head with the fact that Teal'c is Strong and Determined and will Save His Team. I get irritated when film/television tries to manufacture emotion for me in the form of music and mountains. Pretty music, pretty mountains, yes, but pretty music and scenery is not an acceptable substitute for good writing.)
What made me grin: Sam/Cam!!!!!! Okay, Cam Mitchell is still my boyfriend, but if Sam wants him I'll share because they're adorable, and I'm magnanimous like that. She totally called Grandma Mitchell for the macaroon recipe, and someone (*glances in beanpot's general direction*) needs to write that fic.
What intrigued me: Daniel hasn't done much for me in the past couple of seasons, but I was intrigued by his scene with Morgan in which it seems he's really about to give up. I haven't much liked Daniel's recent character development, but it strikes me as among the most consistent and logical character development on the show, and this felt like a very logical next step. The man's been beaten down and beaten down; one of these days he's going to break.
Everything else: Otherwise, though, I was fairly lukewarm about the whole thing. In usual Stargate style, they raised some really fascinating questions and then backed away from them (some of these the same fascinating questions they've been raising and backing away from for 10 years). What is a god, anyway? What makes a god true or false? The Ark can only be programmed for truth, but who determines that, anyway? Could we pay a little more than just lip service to the potential problems inherent in the fact that Our Heroes just forcibly converted the Priors when they've spent the past two seasons standing up for people's right to choose whether or not to believe in a religion?
And okay, I've been watching this show for a long time now, and I'm pretty familiar with the drill. I think I'd have fallen out of my chair in shock if they actually had tried to deal with any of those questions in more than the most cursory of ways. Still, show, it's not too late to surprise me, y'know?
I think my biggest disappointment was that aside from Sam and Cam, and the obvious sense of helpless panic that Daniel and Vala feel when Teal'c gets shot, there just wasn't much team interaction. They were all doing their thing, working on their parts of the plot, but it didn't really feel like they were working together. After the poignancy of "Unending," no Sam and Teal'c interaction at all? No Cam and Teal'c? No Sam and Vala? (okay, I admit I wasn't placing bets on that one, sadly, but a girl can dream) There wasn't even much in the way of Daniel and Vala interaction on a personal level, despite them being in numerous scenes together. The whole thing felt like it had been so heavily plotted that there was no time for the characters to actually be together. These didn't feel like people who have worked together for years and know each other intimately; they felt like people who were standing on their marks and saying their lines and doing what they needed to do. (I think this is a writing and directing problem rather than an acting problem, though.) It was okay, but it was only okay.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed hanging out with these characters again. It never ceases to surprise me that such a mediocre show can inspire such affection in me. Somewhere along the way, these guys became my team, and I do love them.
***
For the "etc." have a BSG rec. What Takes the Edge Off" by Swooning is a great little snapshot of Laura Roslin with her cancer back. Adama/Roslin, 1500 words or so, PG-ish. The scene feels very in-character, and, well, we know that I'm always a sucker for in-character Laura/prophecy/cancer stuff. I hesitate to say this because it may be an odd way to describe someone else's fic, but it feels a bit like my "Signmakers" meets gabolange's "Truths Half Told"--except obviously different in the way that a different writer's take on such themes is bound to be.
I have to say, though, that I have gotten so fond of reading fic on LJ that I find archive reading a little frustrating in format. I left a somewhat thinky review. The site allows the writer to respond to reviews, and she did, also thinkily. And I want to comment back because how can you not respond to the delightfulness of a comment like "...indulging in introspection for its own sake, which Bill has kind of raised to the level of performance art." But the site won't let me. I like having conversations about interesting fics, not just leaving reviews for them. Ah well.