Comments | danceswithwords: A giant block of tasty, dystopian Velveeta ate my brain and all I got was this lousy subject line

danceswithwords

A giant block of tasty, dystopian Velveeta ate my brain and all I got was this lousy subject line

Aug 08, 2006 18:08

So, um, yes. I was probably the only person in Alabama who cried when Max Headroom was cancelled, not because it was the greatest television ever, but because that sort of dystopian vision of the future, the decayed institutions and the seeds of complacency grown to blooming social rot and the little people surviving in the cracks and the scope of ( Read more... )

dark angel, family

Comments 13

asta77 August 9 2006, 01:30:00 UTC

If my mother could find her way around the internet and a computer that so sounds like something she would do. We have very cool parents. :)

Love 'Life on Mars', like 'Dead Like Me', and add me to the Blech column for 'Eureka'.

danceswithwords August 9 2006, 02:52:31 UTC

We have very cool parents.

They're just so frighteningly, frighteningly helpful.

I remember that you weren't impressed with Eureka. I'm hoping to get some time to check it out this weekend. We'll see.

thedeadlyhook August 9 2006, 02:18:59 UTC

Well, that was the first recommendation of Dark Angel that made me even faintly interested in the series. At the time I first aired, I was seriously turned off of even trying it from reading an interview with Cameron and his cronies boasting about how they made this show without knowing a damn thing about that sci-fi genre crap, like that was something to be proud of, and remember thinking the initial setup sounded kind of a lot like every other genre thing, but... ah, time mellows. Although I still find the doe-eyed puffy-lipped look they were pushing for Alba pretty stomach churning. Yikes, Lolita.

danceswithwords August 9 2006, 03:01:03 UTC

I was seriously turned off of even trying it from reading an interview with Cameron and his cronies boasting about how they made this show without knowing a damn thing about that sci-fi genre crap, like that was something to be proud of

That actually explains some things about the worldbuilding and the cliche factor. None of the pieces of the concept are terribly original, but they're put together in a way that's fairly compelling and, six years later, much less dated than I thought it would be. (It was also definitely put together during that brief six-month window when bike messengers were the coolest thing EVAR. Did I mention the cheese?)

I still find the doe-eyed puffy-lipped look they were pushing for Alba pretty stomach churning. Yikes, Lolita.I remember being vaguely icked by it too, and there are parts of the show where you can see that angle getting a workout, but it's counterbalanced by the fact that Max is capable of some really chilling ruthlessness, the way she doesn't quite make a natural connection between her and ( ... )

thedeadlyhook August 9 2006, 03:14:26 UTC

It was also definitely put together during that brief six-month window when bike messengers were the coolest thing EVAR.

BWAH. But that too, was a look for awhile in genre junk - I seem to remember all the major comics heroes undergoing big makeovers right around that time to make them look more "skate."

it's counterbalanced by the fact that Max is capable of some really chilling ruthlessness, the way she doesn't quite make a natural connection between her and other people without a big push.

Hmmm... interesting. And hey, what's there to lose - it's on the Sci-Fi Channel for free. I'll give her a try.

danceswithwords August 9 2006, 16:03:17 UTC

I seem to remember all the major comics heroes undergoing big makeovers right around that time to make them look more "skate."

Oh, the final pieces of the puzzle are coming into place. Like episode titles such as "411 on the DL" and "The Kidz Are Aiiight." And all of the Jam Pony subplots. Anyway, it's cheesy fun.

cofax7 August 9 2006, 02:26:07 UTC

I thought the first ep of Eureka was kinda dull, missed the second, but rather liked the third. Joe Morton makes everything better, as far as I'm concerned.

danceswithwords August 9 2006, 03:02:02 UTC

I'm hoping to have time to check it out this weekend. Is Morton another Vancouver regular? I'd never heard of him.

cofax7 August 9 2006, 03:09:13 UTC

Joe Morton. He was, among other things, Dyson on T3. Also the Brother From Another Planet.

zandra_x August 9 2006, 05:25:16 UTC

I've never been able to get over the Alba barrier to get involved in DA. About a minute of watching her and I can't stand it anymore.

I'm taking one of the Star Trek posters to send to a friend. The one where Shatner is AWESOME. I'm trying to get my friend to watch Boston Legal but the thought of Shatner makes her scream.

danceswithwords August 9 2006, 16:05:44 UTC

That seems to be a common reaction to Alba. She's not exactly oozing talent, but she doesn't bug me either, and I give her points for improving a lot since the pilot (which was certainly a low place to start from).

Isn't the Shatner one great? He's such a ham.

eva_mac August 9 2006, 09:29:44 UTC

Your analysis is, as always, very astute and makes me think much harder about a show that I've always been dismissive about because, well, see your #1 con. So pretty, yet so...robotic. I actually physically cringe when she's onscreen, and not even Michael Weatherly (adorable! love him!) and the admittedly smoking chemistry saves it for me. I'll have to watch again, with a closer eye to the gendered power dynamics you mention.

danceswithwords August 9 2006, 16:19:13 UTC

Older, wealthy man and teenage sex kitten is a relationship that would normally hit several of my anti-kinks, so I was very struck by the way they handled the power balance between Logan and Max--she's really young, and they do have a big gap in the way they see things, but so far it hasn't felt like Logan trying to dominate the situation at all, just that they have very different outlooks because of the age difference.

It's still cheesy as hell.