vilakins | New and shiny SF!

Current Mood: excited

Entry tags:

New and shiny SF!

I just heard that we're to get Battlestar Galactica, Carnivale, and Lost on TV here. I never saw the original Battlestar Galactica (except for an old TV film a friend made me watch at uni, memorable only for the line--as they were about to crash onto Earth--"Do you realise the gravity of the situation?" and a taxi driver who looked like Ronald Reagan) but I'm looking forward to it after all I've heard about it. I've also heard good things about Lost and Carnivale, but know nothing about them. I hope they treat them better than they did Farscape.

But yay!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I just watched the first half of the BSG miniseries, and I have kind of mixed feelings about it. It's kinda slow, there've been a few genuinely emotional moments, and the premise has definite potential. The original, from what I remember of it, was really just action-adventure space opera stuff, but the new version is definitely presenting itself as serious science fiction. I'm not sure if I'll stick with it or not, but more power to it, I say!

I keep hearing good things about Lost. I almost watched an episode of it once, when I was at my mother's house. She made a big deal out of me picking a TV show to watch with her, and then talked all the way through it, so I really didn't catch any of it at all. But the tiny glimpses I had looked really good. Alas, I fear if I came in now, I'd be, um, lost. I might have to wait for the DVDs. :)

Carnivale sounded interesting, too, but IIRC it's on HBO, which I don't get. You'll have to let me know how it is!

Hee. Your mother sounds like mine. Any idea what Carnivale and The Lost are about?

So BSG is a miniseries rather than a true series?

Not sure about Carnivale except that it's supposed to be very surreal and it, uh, involves a carnival. I think. :) Lost -- and I believe it is Lost and not The Lost, unless we're thinking of two different shows -- is about survivors of a plane crash on a deserted island. I gather it has some vaguely SFnal elements, but I'm not sure what they are. (Helpful, ain't I? But, y'know, I'd rather not be too spoiled...)

BSG premiered with a miniseries and is now airing as a regular series.

Ahah! Thanksl I wondered why people were talking about a miniseries and what seemed to be a series proper. And I shall edit my post re Lost.

I don't want to be spoiled either which is why I haven't looked either of them up on the web.

I'm enjoying Lost. The structure of it is that, after the first two-partner establishing the situation, each episode focuses on one of the strandees, with flashbacks to their previous life and how they wound up being on the plane. And the island is a very strange place. As the show goes on, more and more things start to interconnect.

My favorite characters are survivalist-type Locke (played by Terry O'Quinn; you've probably seen him in other things), rock star Charlie (played by Dominic Monaghan of LoTR fame), and Hurley (I think this fellow's a newcomer). Theyr'e not the top-billed characters, but it really is an ensemble show, which I like very much.

At this point the show has, IMO, a good balance of the mundane and the bizarre. It remains to be seen whether the writers can continue to balance mystery and revelation without the show collapsing under the weight of its own mythos, however.

I hope that's not too spoilery.

It sounds fascinating, thanks! I like mysteries, though most in SF turn out to be a little disappointing. Perhaps I like the journey better than getting there.

We have seen the first few eps of Battlestar Galactica, and will definitely be watching it here. And we're also looking forward to Carnivale and Lost (which I think starts very soon). Deadwood is also coming up, on Prime - that's another series that we want to see more than the start of, although the language and misogyny might not be to everyone's taste.

"Do you realise the gravity of the situation?"
grooooooooan...

And what was worse, it was meant perfectly seriously! Augh!

If there's misogyny, I certainly won't be watching Deadwood, whatever it is.

Lawless Wild West town, run by Ian McShane, who is extremely potty-mouthed. Calamity Jane isn't much better. Wild Bill Hickock and a couple of nice young newcomers inject some civilisation into the storyline.

It's actually remarkably compelling, and I can't put my finger on why. I don't ordinarily like Westerns.

I don't either. The western stuff in Firefly is abput all I can take, I think. I did like Ian McShane as Lovejoy but I won't bother, not with all these DVDs to watch.

Lost is great. Not that we have it here till July (curse you, Channel 4!), but I've been downloading it because, um, yeah, hobbit-boy action (see icon). But it's pretty good - and it gets better as it goes, as you get to know the characters.

Oh, and I should have added that I love the new BSG.

Everyone seems to! Can't wait to see it.

I'm looking forward to new TV. Is that icon from the show? Did you ever see him as the very young sidekick in Hetty Wainthrop? I enjoyed that: 60-year-old detective, real characters and situations, and believable mysteries instead of the usual convoluted murder of the week.

Yep, that's a publicity shot of Charlie (Dom's character in Lost). This icon is of another character, Claire, played by Aussie actor Emilie de Ravin. They're two of my favourites.

I didn't see Hetty when it was originally broadcast, but I've seen clips of it since. It was his first profesionnal acting job!

I'll shut up now.

I'm looking forward to it. It starts next week!

Dom was very good in Hetty. It was a great show with three very likeable and believable main characters. I was sorry when they stopped making it.

Hetty Wainthrop is where I'm used to seeing DM from, as I haven't seen LoTR yet. But the ads of course emphasized his LoTR role, and he's aged a bit since HW, and I'm not very good at faces, so I had to go back and forth with the tapes a few times to be sure. Finally I resorted to checking the credits. :)

I finally got to see the miniseries of BSG here *after* they'd finished airing the show. Dur. Anyway, I loved the miniseries. Astrogirl2's right, it is a bit slow, but that's what I loved about it - the quiet undercurrent of desperation and paranoia. According to everyone I know who's seen the series, it continues to be character driven, which I like the sound of.

And I just finished watching Peacekeeper Wars on Sunday, and now I want to go back over every ep of Farscape I have. Such a great show.

I watched another ep last night; I'm slowly getting there (I have to go at Greg's pace; he works over 12 hours a day). I only own S3, S4, and PKW though; must acquire the first 2.

The more I hear about BSG the more I'm looking forward to it.

I have the first 4 eps of Farscape season 1, the first half of season 3, and all of season 4. This is the way I ended up watching Buffy. Start half way through, watch to the end, then go back right to the start. For once, I'd like to catch on to a new series at the beginning. I think I might bit torrent the missing episodes, as I can't afford to buy them this year, and I'm getting fed up with waiting to see them.

Roll on the repeat of BSG!

Oh, you're missing so many good eps then! S1 had some brilliant ones in the second half (which is where the arcs really get going in pretty much all the seasons) and S2 was great. Not that I own either; I must get them sometime to watch again.

BSG has just finished its run on Sky here, and by the time everyone told me that it was must-see stuff it was halfway through, so I'm hoping it's shown again when I'm less busy.

nickeyb raves about Lost, so I'm hoping that will turn up in the UK eventually. And my nephew was telling me how much he liked Carnivale, which he described as a bit Twin Peaksish, but I'm afraid I skipped that one as the trailers didn't grab me.

I'm really looking forward to the next season of Deadwood. I'm not sure I'd describe it as misogynistic, exactly; the women (practically all whores) are treated brutally, but so are the men. And my favourite among them starts the first season looking very weak and downtrodden, but ends up looking mysteriously strong, despite making several choices which ought to have weakened her. Which makes me fear she will not end up with my favourite among the men, but you never know, I think she could do anything if she really wanted to.

Ooh, Twin Peaks! I loved that, except for the deliberate kick in the teeth at the end when Lynch was pissed off at being cancelled.

I don't know about Deadwood. Ian McShane is great but it would have to be something unusual to get me to watch a Western. I can barely handle that aspect of Firefly. But I did like Blazing Saddles. :-)

I can't remember anyone else mentioning that they'd seen Carnivale, and don't really know his tastes so I can't be sure how much weight to place on the rec.

Deadwood is probably much more my sort of thing than your sort of thing, given my penchant for gratuitous death.

I've seen enough remarks about Carnivale on my friend page to intrigue me, though I've resisted reading spoilers for any of the three shows.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

New and shiny SF!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject