Outcasts =/= FNL
On Tuesday, I finished (re)watching Smallville season 2 on DVDs. Perhaps I mentioned that I was rewatching season 2...a few months ago. It’s dragged on and on - I normally zip through boxsets. I remembered not thinking much of season 2, and rewatching it hasn’t changed my opinion. (Why did I buy it? Because it was cheap.) On the bright (pink) side, I don’t hate Lana as much as I did the first time around. She seemed to be stalked less and Kreuk did less of the breathy voice, although every time I started respecting the character, the writing sabotaged her all over again. And I did not appreciate what was done to Chloe by the end of the season, but then this show is about Clark (and maybe Lex). Female characters get short shrift. And it wallows in the cheese and the obvious. Of course, there were moments - Lex and Lionel’s relationship is deliciously, fascinatingly wrong, CHLOE! moments, moments between Clark and Martha and so on.
Although it struck me as !!!??? in the featurettes/commentaries when the producers of a show on a youth channel seemed to assume that the Superman movies would be the audience’s starting point to the Superman mythos. Um, no. I was older than the target audience when this season first aired (and probably the wrong gender) and I don’t think I’ve seen any of the movies all the way through. Cartoons, the ether, that Superboy/Young Superman show that I sometimes think I dreamed that I saw and The New Adventures were my introduction to Superman. Anyway, there were tornadoes, superpowers, cliches and old in-jokes to enjoy.
It’s going to be a while before I start rewatching season 3. I’ve got a pile of other boxsets to watch that will be less of a chore, and that’s not to mention that I keep thinking I should rewatch all of Farscape and Alias. I have actually stopped buying TV boxsets until I get through a few more. Well, you know, unless if they're cheap.
I won't be buying the boxset of Outcasts. I watched Monday’s episode on iPlayer just before watching Tuesday’s episode live (see below).
In short, I only like two characters. I’ve seen a lot of this done before better. CAPS LOCK.
At this point, Fleur and Cass are about all I care about - she should be in charge and he can have Stella’s job.
One of the show's problems, four episodes in, is that there’s too much going on, much of it familiar, like President Tait’s ‘ghosts’ - I slumbered though the Solaris remake, and if George Clooney can’t hold my attention, then Liam Cunningham won’t. Said 'ghosts' were more fun when I thought they were Julius mucking about or the President’s guilt becoming manifest. Speaking of, er hello people of Forthaven!? Stop being so cowed, what this man did was DEEPLY DUBIOUS and his use of the word 'we' is disingenuous. The Forthaven set up is shonky. Why did they put a NEUROLOGIST in charge of security and the science stuff? Why not a generalist or an expert in security matters? Why is the only mathematician in the villagearound Pretty Boy? Why are there not more military experts? Why is it not a democracy and how does the council work? (I know we haven’t seen them because the budget is too tight.) But it's a virtual dictatorship with no good explanation. Why am I meant to care about the survival of STUPID PEOPLE who congratulate themselves on their emotional maturity (does this mean the ACs will have a shorter lifespan if they’re all growed up?) when I just see STUPIDITY? (Stella got points for removing Lily but lost them for not seeing how much Julius-without-portfolio was playing her.)
Aisling(?) seems to have disappeared, because we can only have one skinny teenager on this show! It was hard to care for Trix and Leon, let alone Anderson, because they were such stock characters, plus Leon and Anderson’s definition of ‘very quickly’ seemed to involve walking in slow mo and sandwich breaks, so I didn’t care that Anderson was DOOMED! I also couldn’t see most of what was going on in that night sequence, so I wasn’t very invested (apart from Cass and his many torches.)
I was spoiled for Cass/Fleur so that skews my take on the build-up. (I’m tempted to ask ‘What build up?’.) We had the anvil that neither of them having someone special in their life, Fleur turned Jack down (snerk) and Cass going through his ex getting married and not wanting him at the wedding, blah, blah, blah. I liked their working relationship fine. I don’t mind about it becoming a romance, although during the hug my mind wanders to things like WHY WAS SHE HOLDING A CAN when they brew their own beer? I have enough issues with DJ Pretty Boy and his vinyl, but there’s a symbolic aspect to that. So, obviously I'm gripped. Not. I basically want to chortle at them running and her getting a head start and being the best of them all.
I do wonder whether Tait indulged in some behavioural modification or other messing about where Cass is concerned? Although he can’t have meddled in Cass’s genes. Anyway, Cass does like to be told what to do (up to a point). I did like that Elijah had some agency, although I hated the plotline and everyone was stupid about taking care of him (I cannot even respect Rudi because WHERE WAS HIS PARANOIA?) although I have seen this done a billion times before, and done better, and casting a black man for this part seemed a bit iffy to me.
Perhaps because it’s courting a non-sci fi audience (see below about the fail) may be why the show goes for the obvious, meaning the interesting is dropped for the next new thing. And there are too many new things, so there are inconsistencies. Basically I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE SKULL.
This is the below I was talking about: After next Monday, it’s being shifted to a late Sunday night slot, which means I’ll be watching it on iPlayer: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/feb/16/outcasts-bbc1
Furthermore,
come off it, Ben Richards. I saw the first season of Friday Night Lights. Outcasts is not FNL. (It's not even Paradox. It's Voyager or Enterprise without Star Trek, and it was sold as being a bit like BSG and Lost for people who don't like scifi). It is not the town of Dillon with nothing but the game of football, not when it’s trying to appeal to the broadest possible audience (and failed). Cultdom does not call, not when you haven’t been tending to the sci fi geeks.
Ahem.
Last night, I watched Center Stage and it made me smile, and tonight, I hope to go see True Grit.
Although it struck me as !!!??? in the featurettes/commentaries when the producers of a show on a youth channel seemed to assume that the Superman movies would be the audience’s starting point to the Superman mythos. Um, no. I was older than the target audience when this season first aired (and probably the wrong gender) and I don’t think I’ve seen any of the movies all the way through. Cartoons, the ether, that Superboy/Young Superman show that I sometimes think I dreamed that I saw and The New Adventures were my introduction to Superman. Anyway, there were tornadoes, superpowers, cliches and old in-jokes to enjoy.
It’s going to be a while before I start rewatching season 3. I’ve got a pile of other boxsets to watch that will be less of a chore, and that’s not to mention that I keep thinking I should rewatch all of Farscape and Alias. I have actually stopped buying TV boxsets until I get through a few more. Well, you know, unless if they're cheap.
I won't be buying the boxset of Outcasts. I watched Monday’s episode on iPlayer just before watching Tuesday’s episode live (see below).
In short, I only like two characters. I’ve seen a lot of this done before better. CAPS LOCK.
At this point, Fleur and Cass are about all I care about - she should be in charge and he can have Stella’s job.
One of the show's problems, four episodes in, is that there’s too much going on, much of it familiar, like President Tait’s ‘ghosts’ - I slumbered though the Solaris remake, and if George Clooney can’t hold my attention, then Liam Cunningham won’t. Said 'ghosts' were more fun when I thought they were Julius mucking about or the President’s guilt becoming manifest. Speaking of, er hello people of Forthaven!? Stop being so cowed, what this man did was DEEPLY DUBIOUS and his use of the word 'we' is disingenuous. The Forthaven set up is shonky. Why did they put a NEUROLOGIST in charge of security and the science stuff? Why not a generalist or an expert in security matters? Why is the only mathematician in the villagearound Pretty Boy? Why are there not more military experts? Why is it not a democracy and how does the council work? (I know we haven’t seen them because the budget is too tight.) But it's a virtual dictatorship with no good explanation. Why am I meant to care about the survival of STUPID PEOPLE who congratulate themselves on their emotional maturity (does this mean the ACs will have a shorter lifespan if they’re all growed up?) when I just see STUPIDITY? (Stella got points for removing Lily but lost them for not seeing how much Julius-without-portfolio was playing her.)
Aisling(?) seems to have disappeared, because we can only have one skinny teenager on this show! It was hard to care for Trix and Leon, let alone Anderson, because they were such stock characters, plus Leon and Anderson’s definition of ‘very quickly’ seemed to involve walking in slow mo and sandwich breaks, so I didn’t care that Anderson was DOOMED! I also couldn’t see most of what was going on in that night sequence, so I wasn’t very invested (apart from Cass and his many torches.)
I was spoiled for Cass/Fleur so that skews my take on the build-up. (I’m tempted to ask ‘What build up?’.) We had the anvil that neither of them having someone special in their life, Fleur turned Jack down (snerk) and Cass going through his ex getting married and not wanting him at the wedding, blah, blah, blah. I liked their working relationship fine. I don’t mind about it becoming a romance, although during the hug my mind wanders to things like WHY WAS SHE HOLDING A CAN when they brew their own beer? I have enough issues with DJ Pretty Boy and his vinyl, but there’s a symbolic aspect to that. So, obviously I'm gripped. Not. I basically want to chortle at them running and her getting a head start and being the best of them all.
I do wonder whether Tait indulged in some behavioural modification or other messing about where Cass is concerned? Although he can’t have meddled in Cass’s genes. Anyway, Cass does like to be told what to do (up to a point). I did like that Elijah had some agency, although I hated the plotline and everyone was stupid about taking care of him (I cannot even respect Rudi because WHERE WAS HIS PARANOIA?) although I have seen this done a billion times before, and done better, and casting a black man for this part seemed a bit iffy to me.
Perhaps because it’s courting a non-sci fi audience (see below about the fail) may be why the show goes for the obvious, meaning the interesting is dropped for the next new thing. And there are too many new things, so there are inconsistencies. Basically I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE SKULL.
This is the below I was talking about: After next Monday, it’s being shifted to a late Sunday night slot, which means I’ll be watching it on iPlayer: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/feb/16/outcasts-bbc1
Furthermore,
come off it, Ben Richards. I saw the first season of Friday Night Lights. Outcasts is not FNL. (It's not even Paradox. It's Voyager or Enterprise without Star Trek, and it was sold as being a bit like BSG and Lost for people who don't like scifi). It is not the town of Dillon with nothing but the game of football, not when it’s trying to appeal to the broadest possible audience (and failed). Cultdom does not call, not when you haven’t been tending to the sci fi geeks.
Ahem.
Last night, I watched Center Stage and it made me smile, and tonight, I hope to go see True Grit.