Summer Talking Meme #5

[lost_spook]

From evelyn_b: Recommend something with one of your favorite actors in it for an old-TV newbie (me).

Well, I gave this matter about two seconds of consideration before I knew there was only one answer. I know that evelyn_b has been enjoying everything she's seen of Doctor Who so far - and also likes I, Claudius (and Julius Caesar?), so what else could I say

Comments

[evelyn_b]

This is a beautiful post. Never apologize for reccing too strongly! Love is the wheel of the universe (except when it's snark), and anyway, these shows sound AMAZING IN THE EXTREME.

I am at the library now so I cannot watch any fanvids, but I will be home later! and I will read your non-spoilery intro post, too!

(I tried to watch some Torchwood and I wanted to like it but it was just a bit too douchey for me; maybe I'll try again in the future)

(also, I do love Julius Caesar A LOT) (the tragedy, not the guy).

[lost_spook]

This is a beautiful post. Never apologize for reccing too strongly! Love is the wheel of the universe (except when it's snark), and anyway, these shows sound AMAZING IN THE EXTREME.

♥

I am not the person to ask about Torchwood, as I have an allergy to the script writer, so I had to break up with it before I broke my TV. I hear Children of Earth (S3) is very good, but I had already loudly noped out by then. So, you know, I think you should just watch The Sarah Jane Adventures (so much better) and B7 and pretty much anything else first. :lol:

[mab_browne]

A remake? I had enough trouble accepting that different actors did the Big Finish audios, even if those actors were David Warner and Susannah Harker. A new telly version? Nah, mate.

[lost_spook]

The details are here. The proposed writer is Neil Cross who wrote Hide for DW, and I did love that & it certainly had a S&S spookiness to it, but even so... it is really hard to imagine anyone having the nerve to make it as uncompromising as it needs to be to work.

[doreyg]

I love both of these shows (not shoes, bad brain) and this post just reminded me why. They really are the best of 70s-80s Sci-Fi, and I tend to end up shaking them at people whenever I have to explain why I like that era so much. They're just so unapologetically weird and lovely!

And now I also sort of want to write more weird elements fic, oh dear.

[lost_spook]

The world can ALWAYS use more weird Element fic! That is not a bad thing! (I fell into S&S so bad at the time. I worked my way through nearly half of 100 Element prompts. It was so beautifully weird, the Elements we knew, the hints of the ones we didn't... *dies a little again*)

They really are the best of 70s-80s Sci-Fi,

*nods*

[lost_spook]

Oh, oh! And did you notice the couple of times B5 quotes B7? Because JMS really loved it & it was an influence on it. (I can't remember which lines they were or when they come, so it's possible neither have happened to you yet, but I think there were two moments in particular when it riffed on it. And knowing that, I always look rather askance at the similarity between early Shadows and the Transient Beings, too...)

[john_amend_all]

Apparently Crusade, if it had continued, was going to turn into B7 about halfway through the second season, with the protagonists going on the run from Earthforce in their one-of-a-kind starship.

[aralias]

The thought is scarier than an evil pillow :D

i lolled.

and... so, i enjoyed the MUNCLE remake, but it was pretty shiny and non-confrontational. it doesn't do anything interesting at all, really. and that's not a good place for sapphire and steel to go, when it's all weird.

[lost_spook]

:-D

I think a film of a TV series is less worrying, though, in general, because it's a shiny extra thing (or a terrible travesty, depending) but if you want whole series, you need the original. Whereas a new TV series is seen so widely as being Obviously Better, even if they really, really aren't. And they almost never are.

(Not that I'm grumpy and, well, not old, but old for Tumblr, right?)

And, despite my opinions and no doubt eternal grumpiness if either of these remakes ever surface, nobody should have to feel bad about enjoying a thing, old or new.

[swordznsorcery]

Yes yes yes to all of this. Take lost_spook's advice, for she is wise. And Tarrant and Dayna are best. Obviously she's not entirely wise, because "Torchwood" is wonderful, but we can all get things wrong occasionally. ;)

*considers mentioning Ben Steed*

*rapidly decides against it*

And S&S is terrific too, but in a completely different way, so they're a great set of recs. One's loud and shooty, but smart in its own way, and the other is slow and considered. And a bit less obviously cardboard. ;) Although yes, evil pillow. Still, it's not a wobbly, cardboard evil pillow, so there is that. And it does manage to be effective, for all that it sounds so gloriously naff on paper.

[lost_spook]

I mentioned Ben Steed in the Non-Spoilery Guide. I don't think he deserves mentioning twice at this point. (Oh, Ben Steed. How did you get into our show??) /o\

I'm sorry about Torchwood, but it wasn't for me. Also I have an incurable Chris Chibnall allergy and we had to break up before I did my telly an injury. (I'm not allowed to watch Broadchurch for similar reasons. I don't think it would go well. Chris Chibnall works really well when he's being funny/lighter; when he's being bleak and Adult, which he seems to want to be a lot, I disagree with him so hard, I go into an instant rage. So, I'm just never going back there again, not even for Captain Jack. He's so much more fun in DW anyway. We should have him back!)

[swordznsorcery]

Oh, I quite understand. We all have things that we have little or no tolerance of. I have a weak spot for TW though. That first series made me ridiculously happy. It was never quite as good again, although series two was fun as well. Series three (the "Children Of Earth" mini series) is actually really, properly good telly. It's like a completely different series. Not for the faint-hearted though - it punches you in the guts, repeatedly. Entirely Chibnall free, mind, should you ever decide to spend five episodes being put through the wringer! But yeah, Jack has never been as good as he was in series one of New Who. Not sure I want him back though. After the Face of Boe debacle, I don't trust them with him.

[lost_spook]

Everyone says that about Children of Earth, so maybe one day! I know a lot of people love TW, but I, er, didn't!

Oh, Jack could come back and they'd rewrite that now. Probably. ;-)