TV thoughts or You Who! Spoilers!!

[tenaya]

First off, check out today's Brewster Rockit:
http://www.comicspage.com/brewster/brewster.html

Most enjoyable: Doctor Who

I'd been behind in DW after being culled in the mass unsubbings. I had to four eps this weekend before I could get to the Utopia. 42 was classic Who and was enjoyable even though they do a knock off of this plot often. The two parter was very poignant and it was sad to see the Doctor desperate for a life he can never have. Him human, and a sweetly dizzy one at that. I am *so* glad it was Martha with him in this case and not Rose. I know everyone likes Rose but I don't. I do love Martha, though. I also love how creepy DW can make the ordinary or silly seem. Those scarecrows were fun. Latimer is a terribly grave child, isn't he? I'm sure we'll see him in a lot of stuff in the future.

And Blink! I loved Blink. What a creepy, original show. I enjoyed the Sally character and didn't mind at all that the Doctor and Martha were hardly in it. Is there a reason why they put in a main cast lite episode? Anyway, I will never be able to turn my back on a Weeping Angel statue ever again!

And finally, Utopia. What a delight! Jack is back and has issues. I expected that. And I had forgotten what a delightful flirt he is. I really missed that in Torchwood. What I didn't expect is that the Doctor was running from Jack and thinks he is "wrong." That's *so* intriguing. Also, I've always adored Derek Jacobi and loved his character, and marveled with awe as he changed. From the teaser it looks like we're in for a wild ride with John Simm next week. I can't wait!


Most WTF!!! And not in a good way, either: The Dead Zone

Doncha just hate it when TPTB of a show turn rabid and rip their show to shreds right before your eyes?


Most Cute 'n Icky: SGA

The beginning was priceless with Ronan teaching Rodney to spar. It made me vote Ronan/McKay for my fav slash pairing at the MGM site. *seg* And this may be considered a ripoff, er, homage to Alien, but this is how it's done in a good way. Whenever Mallozzi does this, it's obviously pure laziness and baniality, especially since he doesn't bother reworking the storyline to fit the SG characters, he just throws characterization out the window. This one was pretty darn cool. I especially like not ever really seeing the monsters, and John and Ronan's exchange about what they should do with Michael's dart. Yes, and Michael is out there to come back some time in the future.


Most MustBeBrave: SG1 Dominion

I liked it. It had some plot holes, but I was willing to go there for Vala flirting with herself on the tape (btw, what expression would you call that on Carter's face when Vala mentioned Daniel has always been a little bit wonko? That's not the fond look of a friend watching another friend being teased. Didn't she look a little pissed? Kinda hard? Boy, the scientist sibling twins vib is long gone.) It takes someone of CB's chops to say that Dancing with the Stars is disturbing with such gravity that she can actually sell that line.

And didn't Adria come alive in her scenes with Ba'al? It was such a kick see Adria later imitate Ba'al's mannerisms while delivery her lines as a goa'uld. A dozen dead Ba'al's...that shouldn't be funny, but it is. And I'm glad there are still more Ba'als out there.

I do like that here at the end of show, the Goa'uld threat is back. They have such over the top villainy and were so much more interesting than the Ori. I miss them. :::sniff:::

I also appreciate the delicate way they've handled Vala's conflicted feelings towards Adria throughout this arc. She's hard enough to know what has to be done eventually but you can tell it's hard on her.

Daniel fired a staff weapon! Have we seen that before?

Can I just say I'd rather leave Ba'al in Adria before I put a Tok'ra in there? I disliked that the Tok'ra told Vala he recognised her from when she was Katesh; that seems pretty rude. Vala isn't responsible for her actions at that time and I'm sure she'd rather it not be brought up. The Tok'ra are just creepy.

It would have been nice if we could see Adria interact with Daniel and reference his whole Priortiation, but really, Ba'al was in charge at that point.

Oh god, Carter is helping with the surgery. Spare me.

Oh god, they're cutting though 6 inch thick metal with a cutting torch. Yeah, right.

I rather think Adria would have been able to ascend even if they had succeeded in euthanizing her before she awoken. She has a lot of Ori knowledge, I'm sure they passed that along, too.
We didn't get to see her go glowy. Must be saving some of that SFX money for something else.

Still hating the glasses on Daniel. I'd rather he went back or got contacts. They might be right for the shape of his face, but they are wrong for his eyes.


Most Passed its prime date: Hex

This Romeo and Juliet bull crap isn't cutting it for me. The only decent thing about this show is Thelma. Thelma and Maya are interesting. (btw, I've been reading a fantastic Dead Like Me AU with the SGA and SG1 characters. I thought if Thelma and Maya had been reaped first, they wouldn't have to hang about being miserable and getting into trouble.) Anyway, the show is beautifully shot and the acting is good, but good golly miss molly! The plot is embarrassing!

Comments

[6beforelunch.livejournal.com]

Daniel fired a staff weapon! Have we seen that before?

Yep. Waaaaay back in the movie, when he turns the staff weapon on Ra to save Jack and the rest of the team. I loved all of the little homages to things past in this one.

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

Ooooh! You are so right! Good call.

Homages? Oh dear. What did I miss? Help?

[6beforelunch.livejournal.com]

Um...in the scene when they're trying to break Adria out and Sam is shooting the Jaffa, I don't know if they just stole the clip from Serpent's Lair or if they just filmed it to look eerily similar, but the moment with the two Jaffa coming down the hall looks exactly like the moment in Serpent's Lair when Daniel is having the shootout with the Jaffa.

Plus just having the Tok'ra show up (we haven't seen them in ages), and the Goa'uld acting all Goa'uldy again. Actually seeing a symbiote. Having the Goa'uld be an actual threat again. And, um...I think there might have been others, but I'm blanking on it right now.

I didn't see what they were doing until someone else pointed it out to me either, though.

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

I get you. I must admit to a thrill when Ba'al's eyes flashed as we hadn't seen that in forever it seems. And it's been years it seems since the team has skulked about those gold covered walls. It was a nice reminder of how things were. :)

[margec01.livejournal.com]

I haven't yet seen Dr. Who or Dead Zone (recorded, just no time yet), so I didn't read your full review, but I'm sorry to see that it doesn't look good. *sigh* I'm afraid Michael Pillar was the idea man behind this show, and I've been worried it wouldn't recover from his loss. Well, I won't rush to watch this before I leave town for a week, then.

I appreciated your cuts and skipped right down to the SGA and SG-1 reviews. I have to agree with you that first scene with Rodney and Ronon is great. I'm looking forward to some fics which tell us just WHY Rodney is putting himself through this. And he looked like he was going to stick with it, too. (g)

I was sort of skimming along on your SG-1 review, thinking that wow I really have blanked this episode out, from seeing it a few months ago. And then I got more and more puzzed--I REALLY don't remember this. *head slap of realization* OMG! I forgot to watch this episode back when I got it and Unending at the same time. Impatient person that I am, I went straight for Unending and then decided to watch Dominion later. Well, I guess it's later! (g)

Whee! Something to look forward to. One more SG-1! And I'm glad you liked it, which means I'll probably enjoy it, too. Thank you for the memory-jogging review.

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

Well, my work here is done. :)

Yeah, it seemed that Rodney was highly motivated, and the higher ups that might have ordered him to do the training were looking on a little dubiously, so I'm thinking they didn't order him to do that.

It was a good ep. :)

[leviathanmuse.livejournal.com]

Doncha just hate it when TPTB of a show turn rabid and rip their show to shreds right before your eyes?

Yeah, haven't seen shredding like that since Stargate S4.

However, all I can figure is that they want to go into the squick zone of having Johnny and Sarah get together. Yuck. I like her with Walt much better. All I can figure is that they lost 90% of their budget, so they had to drop most of the cast.

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

I agree with the loss of budget theory. They sure wasted no time in cleaning house.

So you think they'll try to get Johnny and Sarah together? I must admit when Walt did die I thought, "oh, they could be together." And then immediately thought, "no, that boat has sailed."

I think the biggest change for me besides losing Walt was making Stillson a good guy. Granted, they had kinda painted themselves into a corner there, but that was just too much of a reversal for me to swallow.

Well, I'll watch a few more as there isn't much on in the summertime.

The Dead Zone

[never-at-home.livejournal.com]

Hi. I found you via aurora_novarum - she noticed that I ranted about The Dead Zone and no one replied and remembered that you had posted (but she hasn't watched her recording yet). I needed to rant a little about what they did to Walt!

I haven't watched TDZ since Johnny and Sarah "did it" and betrayed Walt like that. I heard that he found out and forgave them, but still, I just couldn't take it. I like the idea of the show and thoroughly enjoyed many of the first season's episodes.

But, this episode certainly did clean the slate. I was wondering if the move to Montreal from Vancouver had something to do with the major cast changes. I went to the USA's website for the show and read about the change in show-runners.

Walt was my favorite of the bunch. I'll miss him and wish I hadn't watched the ep -- I was channel surfing while folding clothes and thought I'd see what was going on (still liked Walt too much to really let it go) and the first scene I see is how much of friends Walt and Johnny still were.

The hardest scene in the whole ep was Walt dying alone, calling out to Sarah, but then he seemed to believe that Johnny would see his death somehow and told him to pass on his last words. That totally killed me and it was kind of creepy and sweet all at the same time. He had been such a supporter of Johnny on so many incredible levels.

Wonder if Purdie is gone for good? David Ogden Stiers is such a fine actor that any show could pick him up -- even Stargate Atlantis! ;)

Since I haven't watched TDZ regularly since about Season Two (was it in that season that they betrayed Walt?) I really thought I wouldn't know much about what was going on - but I think I must have caught a few more eps somewhere inbetween and knew about that guy manipulating Stillson and Purdie. I didn't know that Stillson had become VP, but I don't see how he could be made the "good guy" with his role in other people's deaths (his father's death especially).

Oh, well. I won't be buying any DVDs or watching the new season knowing what they did to Walt. :(

Normally, I'm a pure SG-1 fan, mostly for Daniel, and I watch Atlantis. I don't do much TV watching and when I finally sit down on a non-SG night, this is what I saw! :(

Re: The Dead Zone

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

I liked Walt a lot. I guess I thought they needed to explore and have closure on the Sarah/Johnny thing, but by then I really did like Walt and Sarah and Johnny's betrayal to Walt left a bad taste in my mouth. He was a great guy; how could they do that to him? At least they tried to ignore it and I was more than willing to, too.

They went to Montreal? Well, maybe they asked who wanted to still be in it before they started to write people out. But if they got a new showrunner, too, well, this is just the sort of shennigans those meglamanics like to pull. The cute chick in next week previews was just as disheartening as losing Walt.

I thought that, too, about Walt's end. He was counting on Johnny to give his last words to his family. I really disliked that they had Sarah thinking Walt was cheating on her. And they could always bring Purdie back for an ep if they needed him.

They made Stillson a sociopath and guilty of multiple acts of cruelty and murder. He is an ultimate villain. It's inconceivable that he can be a good guy now.

I'll still watch for a few eps because there's just nothing else on, but I think it will be a very different show now. TDZ, the sequel.

I was a bit distracted at one point. Is Bruce staying or leaving?

Thanks for chatting.

Re: The Dead Zone

[never-at-home.livejournal.com]

Here's part of the pre-premiere blog entry by Lloyd Segan about the new producer (http://www.usanetwork.com/series/thedeadzone/behindthescenes/fromls/lsentry061507.html):

In "Heritage" and in all of the upcoming season, our characters will grow together and apart, struggle and succeed, and rise and fall like never before. We're closer to them now than we've ever been.

That's a credit to Executive Producer Scott Shepherd, whom we tried for years to bring into The Dead Zone family. He was always too busy producing shows like Tru Calling, Reunion, and Angela's Eyes. But with Season Six on the horizon this past fall, kismet was kind, and after a long courtship we finally got hitched. He's a masterful storyteller, writer, and showrunner who infuses heart into everything he does, and he's galvanized The Dead Zone, bringing out a wonderful freshness. What's more, he's done so with great respect and love for the show's roots, laid down by Michael Piller.

Under Scott's direction, this season harkens back to the early years of The Dead Zone – by drawing on the emotional underpinnings that first made the series a standout, and by getting at the heart of the show. Not since Michael Piller has the series enjoyed this kind of emotional rawness and realism. From now on you'll be hearing from Scott as well; since we insisted on talking about him this time, he decided to hold off.

I think that Johnny encouraged Bruce to take the new job, so I think he's gone too. :(

Re: The Dead Zone

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

So, Piller was only around for a while and someone else has been showrunner?

I've not seen any show this new guy has done. Have you? I wonder why they pursued him so much?

I really liked the original music in the opening credits; do you know why they changed that?

Yeah, I thought Bruce decided not to take the job, but then Johnny was trying to change his mind. I wasn't sure if I'd missed something. Thanks.

[leviathanmuse.livejournal.com]

Am I the only one or did Flannery look so bad that he didn't look like himself?

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

The first shot of him gave me pause. It wasn't towards the end of the scene that I was certain. Heck, I wasn't sure if Sarah was the same actress and went back to look at the credits. I'm still not sure about J.J., but I figure it doesn't really matter.

[leviathanmuse.livejournal.com]

So, I wasn't imagining it. I asked my SO if it was the same person (I hadn't watched the credits, so I hadn't seen if her name was there or not). If DeBoer is actually pregnant (I don't keep up on the actor news, so I don't know if she is or isn't), then she's not one of those women who "glow" when they're pregnant.

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

That was my conclusion, either she was pregnant or ill. Or both. Maybe it's not an entirely pleasant pregnancy.

[leviathanmuse.livejournal.com]

Could be. But I kept wondering if they'd gotten new (read: cheap) actors for those parts. They didn't look like themselves. They all looked pretty bad, except, maybe Hall.

[margec01.livejournal.com]

I just watched the Dead Zone premiere. Okay, either the producers decided they're doing only one more season, so the hell with everything....OR it's just all one big setup for something really interesting in a couple episodes.

I see that they're bringing in a new sheriff next week--a woman yet--so it doesn't look too good for a setup. And perhaps they thought the Walt, Johnny, Sara dynamic had gotten too complacent. But to me, it's just going to be more garbage like seasons 4&5. If I watch it, it will only be because there's nothing much else on this summer.

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

I saw the fiery woman in the teaser and thought, "Oh lord. I don't have the strength to go through all this again." The show is NOT about Johnny getting laid...or is that just my sad and pathetic preconception?

[karitawyr.livejournal.com]

Other than the movie, I think the only other time we see Daniel fire a staff weapon is way back in The Nox.

IMO, this is the best Morena B. has been all season. She looked genuinely disturbed by Ba'al and then was quite creepy once she was channelling him herself.

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'd forgotten that one. Daniel picked up the staff after Jack got shot, didn't he?

I totally agree about Morena. When Ba'al held up that snake, she was totally unprepared for that and did look frightened.

Seeing what she could do in immitating Cliff Simon just demonstrates the if Adria was a bit stiff, it was because it was the character, not the because of the actress.

Do you know if she will be in the first SG1 movie?