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May. 18th, 2009
Watching Babylon 5
May. 18th, 2009 01:08 pmI'm currently about six episodes into the first season. And I'm really glad that my flist reassured me that it got better, because ... wow, it's got room for improvement.
So far I have noted:
- HOLY EXPOSITORY DIALOGUE, CAPTAIN!
- AND DID I MENTION THE EXPOSITION?
- Some attempts at humour that miss their mark by, oh, miles.
- A whole bunch of dead womens, plus the first women we see who aren't diplomatic personnel or Earth military are exotic dancers.
And yet, something keeps me watching. I think it's the combination of Delenn and Ivanova. Not by coincidence, they're also the only characters whose acting hasn't made me cringe yet. I'm having a lot of trouble coping with the idea that Andrea Thompson was actually paid. To "act".
The best bit, though, is that poking around the internet has revealed that J. Michael Straczynski's interactions with the fandom make Russell T Davies look like ... I don't know, someone worth speaking to. I had read about his habit of hanging around on Usenet, clarifying things that weren't clear in scripts and throwing hissy fits of varying proportions if fans drew attention to genderfail* or compared something to Star Trek. But actually reading the archived posts is terribly ... entertaining? Frustrating? Not unlike finding a brick wall and hitting your head against it for a while?
Good times, guys. Good, good times.
* I'm sure there's going to be other kinds of fail, too, but hey, I'm only six episodes in.
So far I have noted:
- HOLY EXPOSITORY DIALOGUE, CAPTAIN!
- AND DID I MENTION THE EXPOSITION?
- Some attempts at humour that miss their mark by, oh, miles.
- A whole bunch of dead womens, plus the first women we see who aren't diplomatic personnel or Earth military are exotic dancers.
And yet, something keeps me watching. I think it's the combination of Delenn and Ivanova. Not by coincidence, they're also the only characters whose acting hasn't made me cringe yet. I'm having a lot of trouble coping with the idea that Andrea Thompson was actually paid. To "act".
The best bit, though, is that poking around the internet has revealed that J. Michael Straczynski's interactions with the fandom make Russell T Davies look like ... I don't know, someone worth speaking to. I had read about his habit of hanging around on Usenet, clarifying things that weren't clear in scripts and throwing hissy fits of varying proportions if fans drew attention to genderfail* or compared something to Star Trek. But actually reading the archived posts is terribly ... entertaining? Frustrating? Not unlike finding a brick wall and hitting your head against it for a while?
Good times, guys. Good, good times.
* I'm sure there's going to be other kinds of fail, too, but hey, I'm only six episodes in.