hackthis_archive (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hackthis_archive) wrote2007-10-30 07:57 am
hackthis_archive) wrote2007-10-30 07:57 am
Somebody call an exterminator!
Because I am never afraid to mince words I'm just going to say that IMO, Heroes is sucking the big sophomore ass this year. It's slow and monotonous and they are stretching themselves entirely too thin.
If you already have an ensemble cast, adding to that without utilizing what is already there is sloppy and wasteful. And also? Hella convoluted. Last night, I got up and walked away from Heroes, because there was nothing happening.* It pains me to see such a talented cast just picking the lint from their navels.
*I'm having shades of Smallville S2 here, people. Just saying.
a) Kill the boring twins already. When even People magazine is telling you that your casting choices need to be 86'd, you have problems, Tim. I can see how you wanted to go all international and show the human condition. That's great, that's good, that's awesomecakes with sauce. HOWEVER. Maya and Alejandro are good for nothing. NOT-HING. They are getting Sylar home, lovely. How about he kills them, and then kills everybody else and oh, wait, we did that already. Not all recycling is bad, however...
b) Are you really pulling the save the world card, again? Wow, Tim. I didn't know you'd used up all your good shit already and were being forced to recycle so soon. Sad, baby, v sad. Whatever the case, bring Peter home, this shit is tired. So is his beard. This Irish storyline would be the worst one you'd ever made if it weren't for the No-Wonder Twins.
c) Stop murdering the rest of the world's languages and accents! Jaysis. You want to go to Ireland, rock out. Get me a pint. You want to go to Japan, it's all gravy. But do not think that cheap backlot scenery and people who wouldn't know a proper Irish accent if it jumped them outside a pub are sufficient ambassadors. Stop spending all your cash on special FX and get yourself some quality actors and locations. And stop trying to conquer the whole world at once! You have to do it one continent at a time. Any dictator will tell you that.
d) I think the impending Writer's Strike is the best possible thing that can happen to this show (as I've been saying for the last week or two). They need to burn this current story arc, pretend is never happen, i.e. PULL A DALLAS, and make this crap be Peter in a coma.
Start the whole season over again. NOW.
e) For the love of god, streamline your cast. Have a month of killing. Just kill people off every episode. Not random ass periphery characters, but people who are actually on the show for longer than three seconds. You have TOO MANY COOKS IN THE KITCHEN. They're spoiling the meal.
f) If West is another Petrelli, just tell us already. We know you can only have chemistry with people you are related to on this show. We get that. I have seen Firefly finally, I know how this all works.
I believe you should do one thing and do it well, and then, once you speak that language, you can learn another. One good year does not a whole series make. At this rate I'd be shocked if they made it to syndication, which is very sad making.*
*Oh, I know NBC will drag the Golden Goose out, but it's going to be painful as hell to see it done at the rate they are going.
I am not completely out of sorts today. Here watch David Anders singing. Oh, and Greg Grunberg too. Adrian, ilu.
Also, I finally watched Firefly the series. I know I am late, whatever. I only watched it b/c I'd watched Serenity six times. Hey, Firefly didn't have Chiwetel Ejiofor, Serenity did. I love everyone. I want a Mal. And a Jayne. And a Zoe. And now I see who made too-close siblings all the rage. Anybody want to recommend their favorite Firefly story to me? Hit me up. I am equal-opportunity anything and everything, except Inara who annoyed me to near-death.
If you already have an ensemble cast, adding to that without utilizing what is already there is sloppy and wasteful. And also? Hella convoluted. Last night, I got up and walked away from Heroes, because there was nothing happening.* It pains me to see such a talented cast just picking the lint from their navels.
*I'm having shades of Smallville S2 here, people. Just saying.
a) Kill the boring twins already. When even People magazine is telling you that your casting choices need to be 86'd, you have problems, Tim. I can see how you wanted to go all international and show the human condition. That's great, that's good, that's awesomecakes with sauce. HOWEVER. Maya and Alejandro are good for nothing. NOT-HING. They are getting Sylar home, lovely. How about he kills them, and then kills everybody else and oh, wait, we did that already. Not all recycling is bad, however...
b) Are you really pulling the save the world card, again? Wow, Tim. I didn't know you'd used up all your good shit already and were being forced to recycle so soon. Sad, baby, v sad. Whatever the case, bring Peter home, this shit is tired. So is his beard. This Irish storyline would be the worst one you'd ever made if it weren't for the No-Wonder Twins.
c) Stop murdering the rest of the world's languages and accents! Jaysis. You want to go to Ireland, rock out. Get me a pint. You want to go to Japan, it's all gravy. But do not think that cheap backlot scenery and people who wouldn't know a proper Irish accent if it jumped them outside a pub are sufficient ambassadors. Stop spending all your cash on special FX and get yourself some quality actors and locations. And stop trying to conquer the whole world at once! You have to do it one continent at a time. Any dictator will tell you that.
d) I think the impending Writer's Strike is the best possible thing that can happen to this show (as I've been saying for the last week or two). They need to burn this current story arc, pretend is never happen, i.e. PULL A DALLAS, and make this crap be Peter in a coma.
Start the whole season over again. NOW.
e) For the love of god, streamline your cast. Have a month of killing. Just kill people off every episode. Not random ass periphery characters, but people who are actually on the show for longer than three seconds. You have TOO MANY COOKS IN THE KITCHEN. They're spoiling the meal.
f) If West is another Petrelli, just tell us already. We know you can only have chemistry with people you are related to on this show. We get that. I have seen Firefly finally, I know how this all works.
I believe you should do one thing and do it well, and then, once you speak that language, you can learn another. One good year does not a whole series make. At this rate I'd be shocked if they made it to syndication, which is very sad making.*
*Oh, I know NBC will drag the Golden Goose out, but it's going to be painful as hell to see it done at the rate they are going.
I am not completely out of sorts today. Here watch David Anders singing. Oh, and Greg Grunberg too. Adrian, ilu.
Also, I finally watched Firefly the series. I know I am late, whatever. I only watched it b/c I'd watched Serenity six times. Hey, Firefly didn't have Chiwetel Ejiofor, Serenity did. I love everyone. I want a Mal. And a Jayne. And a Zoe. And now I see who made too-close siblings all the rage. Anybody want to recommend their favorite Firefly story to me? Hit me up. I am equal-opportunity anything and everything, except Inara who annoyed me to near-death.
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That story didn't make much sense to me until I read Killer Angels (which is a pretty good book, btw)... Jubal Early in that book shares some major character traits with his namesake in Firefly; ruthlessness, calculated violence, acting on his own.
HOWEVER AND STILL, the scene with Kaylee made my skin crawl, too. I get how it plays into the whole "objects" theme, how Jubal sees people as objects, but the skanky race issues definitely come into play. For me, having the Operative be black, too, didn't help.
I feel like a character using or threatening sexual violence is frequently a shortcut tactic to show just how EEEEEEVVVILLLL he or she is, and I'm tired of it as a trope. For a long long long list of reasons in addition to the aforementioned skanky race issues.
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For me, that scene with Kaylee was more about showing how Early was, as you say, utterly ruthless. I think he threatened her with that in particular because it was the easiest and fastest way to scare her witless and get her to do what he wanted, not so much because he was actually interested in raping her--he was a sociopath, not a sexual predator. Unfortunately, as I think we're all agreeing, it backfired for a bunch of reasons having nothing to do with the text itself.
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it backfired for a bunch of reasons having nothing to do with the text itself.
One more example of why "color-blind" casting doesn't exactly work...
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I feel like a character using or threatening sexual violence is frequently a shortcut tactic to show just how EEEEEEVVVILLLL he or she is, and I'm tired of it as a trope. For a long long long list of reasons in addition to the aforementioned skanky race issues.
WORD. And also? WORD. I read Killer Angels a very long time ago (read: it was for school, so I didn't read it as much as I, err, glanced at it) but don't really remember much about it. I think what got to me was that *that* was the very last episode in the boxed set. I'd been in so much love (Trash was AWESOME as was the one with the Mal & Wash bondage) and then to end with that left a sour taste in my mouth.
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It was an odd and unfortunate way to end the series (thanks, FUX, as usual). Have you listened to Joss' commentary? It probably won't do much to change the taste in your mouth but I found it pretty interesting, and I don't usually do commentary (I find myself being annoyed that I can't hear the dialogue).
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