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baleanopteraFive reasons I love the things I do:
Being a full and honest account wherein our heroine (?) lists the things she loves about the things she loves. + also a list which is possibly connected to her trying to finish a paper and being very clearly stuck + resulting in lists whose numbers should not be read as priorities, but mere ordering of facts :
Star Wars:
1.When things break in the Star Wars universe, they naturally need fixing. This is true of other ‘verses as well, but in for instance Star Trek the fixing is always high tech and techno-babbelish. In Star Wars its Han Solo crawling around the Millenium Falcon, its Anakin Skywalker assembling a droid out of spare parts. It may be a strange thing to love, but I really like how in Star Wars you need to tinker and toil, you need to slam your fist to make the spaceship work, and it’s always a very hands on approach. To me this makes the universe feel tangible and consequently believable and I just love it to bits.
2. As much as I adore the Skywalker clan, the person closest to my heart has always been Obi-Wan Kenobi. Amidst the Greek Tragedy of the Skywalkers, he is the morally complex and slightly unnerving figure operating with shady morals of gray. There is something unsettling about a person who excuses himself with the words "A certain point of view", and at the same time these same words are so true and insightful that you have to give him right.
3.Lightsabres – because they look cool damn it.
4.The whole range of different planets – from the mystic, twin suns of Tatooine to the icy planes ofNorway Hoth. Star Wars had a galaxy of such diversity and wonder that is was a pure joy. It also left you with the impression that beyond the scope of the films story where other stories and other adventures. In short it gave me a whole universe to imagine
5.Mandalorians. Yes, I’m one of those sad fans. Note that I don’t find them cute, but endlessly fascinating!
Rome:
1.How they manage to go beyond or practically deconstruct the long lines of history, and portray historical events as something very human and fallible. In Rome events do not happened because of some great master plan, the wheels of history turning or some such – it happens because people are people. People, who make mistakes, have misunderstandings and odd moments of brilliance. In short it makes history very, very human, and I love that.
2.Rome has sometimes, by me included, been nicknamed the Pullo and Vorenus show, and I think that is a very good description. I see them as the heart and soul of the show, and without them I think Rome would have been so much the poorer.
3.Dirty, PAINTED temples and buildings. Wall murals and garish colours! Truth is I started watching this show because here finally someone had read up on the fact that the ancients did not live in white, marble halls. They did not wear just white or rags– they wore colours! Yes, painted temples is a pet peeve – why do you ask?
4.The end of Testudo et Lepus when after much hardship, horrible quarrels and other awful things Pullo and Vorenus ride into the slave camp and frees Vorenus’ children. They kill the slave camp overseer and walk out of there with the music swelling. I have never been so relieved while watching television. I was actually screaming F**K YES! (And scaring the cats.)
5.Thirteen!!!
Deadwood:
1.The whole of Garret Dillahunt’s double performance. In series one he plays Jack McCall who kills Wild Bill Hickok, and in series two he plays Francis Wolcott who gets involved in a deal of buying Wild Bill’s last letter, and who becomes fascinated with this letter and reads it aloud to the woman he will soon kill. It all has this feeling of an eerie haunting, and there is something deeply unsettling about the same voice that killed Hickok, reading Hickok’s last letter.
2."Pain or damage don't end the world, or despair or fuckin' beatings. The world ends when you’re dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man and give some back." – Al and pretty much the whole of Ian McShane’s performance.
3.I adore the chiaroscuro like lighting and filming, which turns the series into something at times resembling a Caravaggio painting.
4.As much as I love the dialogue of Deadwood I have an even greater love for the big emotional moments in the show when the dialogue is absent, and music and stunning filming reigns. The group riding out to find the Squarehead girl surrounded by wolves, only accompanied by a spry banjo. Jack McCall’s run through the muddy streets after killing Hickok with a wild guitar dash. The show used the effect often, and yet it never failed to give me chills.
5.The women of Deadwood – perhaps not as hard hitting as the men, but never, never two- dimensional and prototypical. Instead they always felt so real it was painful.
Babylon 5:
1.One of my favourite characters of all sci-fi is G’Kar, but truth be told he wouldn’t be half as interesting without his relationship to Londo Mollari. The changing, twisting relationship between these two were, are, and quite possibly will remain one of my favourite things about the show.
2.The Minbari. They are more or less introduced as a religious, peaceful group – and then slowly but surely you are shown the full extent of the Minbari civilisation, and how they kick ass.
3. "Then I will tell you a great secret, Captain. Perhaps the greatest of all time. The molecules of your body are the same molecules that make up this station and the nebula outside, that burn inside the stars themselves. We are starstuff, we are the universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out. As we have both learned, sometimes the universe requires a change of perspective."
- Delenn to Sheridan in Babylon 5:"A Distant Star"
4. Despite dodgy CGI, odd 90’s fashion and hair there is something sweeping and epic about B5 that few other shows have managed to capture. It’s in the speeches, the gestures, the character arches. I think B5 manages to pull off epic, because they are consistently epic and that is no small feat.
5. Continuation and fleshed out seasons arcs. No other sci-fi show, in fact almost no other show, has managed to pull of 5 years of consistent continuation.(the exception here would be The Wire which I’m pretty sure can pull of the 5 years continuation thing, but will get back to that.) There were good and plausible build-ups and a believable narrative, all which resulted in B5 being a JOY to watch, re-watch and watch again. In fact I would claim it gets even better the second time around when you can fully enjoy the nuances.
Coming up will be "The Wire", "ASOIAF", "Tolkien" and other things that at the moment escape my articulation.
Being a full and honest account wherein our heroine (?) lists the things she loves about the things she loves. + also a list which is possibly connected to her trying to finish a paper and being very clearly stuck + resulting in lists whose numbers should not be read as priorities, but mere ordering of facts :
Star Wars:
1.When things break in the Star Wars universe, they naturally need fixing. This is true of other ‘verses as well, but in for instance Star Trek the fixing is always high tech and techno-babbelish. In Star Wars its Han Solo crawling around the Millenium Falcon, its Anakin Skywalker assembling a droid out of spare parts. It may be a strange thing to love, but I really like how in Star Wars you need to tinker and toil, you need to slam your fist to make the spaceship work, and it’s always a very hands on approach. To me this makes the universe feel tangible and consequently believable and I just love it to bits.
2. As much as I adore the Skywalker clan, the person closest to my heart has always been Obi-Wan Kenobi. Amidst the Greek Tragedy of the Skywalkers, he is the morally complex and slightly unnerving figure operating with shady morals of gray. There is something unsettling about a person who excuses himself with the words "A certain point of view", and at the same time these same words are so true and insightful that you have to give him right.
3.Lightsabres – because they look cool damn it.
4.The whole range of different planets – from the mystic, twin suns of Tatooine to the icy planes of
5.Mandalorians. Yes, I’m one of those sad fans. Note that I don’t find them cute, but endlessly fascinating!
Rome:
1.How they manage to go beyond or practically deconstruct the long lines of history, and portray historical events as something very human and fallible. In Rome events do not happened because of some great master plan, the wheels of history turning or some such – it happens because people are people. People, who make mistakes, have misunderstandings and odd moments of brilliance. In short it makes history very, very human, and I love that.
2.Rome has sometimes, by me included, been nicknamed the Pullo and Vorenus show, and I think that is a very good description. I see them as the heart and soul of the show, and without them I think Rome would have been so much the poorer.
3.Dirty, PAINTED temples and buildings. Wall murals and garish colours! Truth is I started watching this show because here finally someone had read up on the fact that the ancients did not live in white, marble halls. They did not wear just white or rags– they wore colours! Yes, painted temples is a pet peeve – why do you ask?
4.The end of Testudo et Lepus when after much hardship, horrible quarrels and other awful things Pullo and Vorenus ride into the slave camp and frees Vorenus’ children. They kill the slave camp overseer and walk out of there with the music swelling. I have never been so relieved while watching television. I was actually screaming F**K YES! (And scaring the cats.)
5.Thirteen!!!
Deadwood:
1.The whole of Garret Dillahunt’s double performance. In series one he plays Jack McCall who kills Wild Bill Hickok, and in series two he plays Francis Wolcott who gets involved in a deal of buying Wild Bill’s last letter, and who becomes fascinated with this letter and reads it aloud to the woman he will soon kill. It all has this feeling of an eerie haunting, and there is something deeply unsettling about the same voice that killed Hickok, reading Hickok’s last letter.
2."Pain or damage don't end the world, or despair or fuckin' beatings. The world ends when you’re dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man and give some back." – Al and pretty much the whole of Ian McShane’s performance.
3.I adore the chiaroscuro like lighting and filming, which turns the series into something at times resembling a Caravaggio painting.
4.As much as I love the dialogue of Deadwood I have an even greater love for the big emotional moments in the show when the dialogue is absent, and music and stunning filming reigns. The group riding out to find the Squarehead girl surrounded by wolves, only accompanied by a spry banjo. Jack McCall’s run through the muddy streets after killing Hickok with a wild guitar dash. The show used the effect often, and yet it never failed to give me chills.
5.The women of Deadwood – perhaps not as hard hitting as the men, but never, never two- dimensional and prototypical. Instead they always felt so real it was painful.
Babylon 5:
1.One of my favourite characters of all sci-fi is G’Kar, but truth be told he wouldn’t be half as interesting without his relationship to Londo Mollari. The changing, twisting relationship between these two were, are, and quite possibly will remain one of my favourite things about the show.
2.The Minbari. They are more or less introduced as a religious, peaceful group – and then slowly but surely you are shown the full extent of the Minbari civilisation, and how they kick ass.
3. "Then I will tell you a great secret, Captain. Perhaps the greatest of all time. The molecules of your body are the same molecules that make up this station and the nebula outside, that burn inside the stars themselves. We are starstuff, we are the universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out. As we have both learned, sometimes the universe requires a change of perspective."
- Delenn to Sheridan in Babylon 5:"A Distant Star"
4. Despite dodgy CGI, odd 90’s fashion and hair there is something sweeping and epic about B5 that few other shows have managed to capture. It’s in the speeches, the gestures, the character arches. I think B5 manages to pull off epic, because they are consistently epic and that is no small feat.
5. Continuation and fleshed out seasons arcs. No other sci-fi show, in fact almost no other show, has managed to pull of 5 years of consistent continuation.(the exception here would be The Wire which I’m pretty sure can pull of the 5 years continuation thing, but will get back to that.) There were good and plausible build-ups and a believable narrative, all which resulted in B5 being a JOY to watch, re-watch and watch again. In fact I would claim it gets even better the second time around when you can fully enjoy the nuances.
Coming up will be "The Wire", "ASOIAF", "Tolkien" and other things that at the moment escape my articulation.
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no subject
Date: 2007-06-29 01:42 pm (UTC)And yes to all of your 'Deadwood' reasons! I thought I was the only person totally taken with Garret Dillahunt's roles!
And Rome, sigh. I just loved the sense of depth to every single scene, visually.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-29 07:47 pm (UTC)It took me some time
and extensive therapybut I've come to peace with the prequels. Not to say that I love them, and like you I have to live with my love for the originals being just a little bit dented. But all in all I've accepted them. Still hate Jar-Jar thought. ;PAnd emo!Anakin
And the fact that the Emperor calls Yoda "My little green friend". It sounds like Kermit.
And the so called logic behind Chewbacca going from leader of the Wookies and friends with Yoda, to co-pilot on the Falcon...
but I'll stop now. ;)
I thought I was the only person totally taken with Garret Dillahunt's roles!
Heh! I wasn't so taken the first time around, but on the second viewing I found his performances and the echo that exist between his characters to be just amazingly good. I guess the first time his Wolcott just freaked me out, and it took a while to appreciate his performance.
As for "Rome" - it was a visually breathtaking show, with all its light and vibrant colours. But at the same time it was this great emotional roller-coaster ride. After watching an episode I always needed a little break. So while "Rome" cannot be said to have had the intellectual depth (and man, doesn't that sound presumptuous)of "Deadwood" or "The Wire" it packed a meaner emotional punch that any of those.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-29 09:06 pm (UTC)Also, does your ode to 'The Wire' contain spoilers? :D
no subject
Date: 2007-06-29 09:37 pm (UTC)*evil grin*
You just know the Emperor spent hours trying to think of a snappy comment, and then it hit him: "Little-green-friend! See this coming, Yoda will not." ;P
And no, The Wire is pretty spoiler free. I haven't seen S4 yet so that one is completely safe and most of the references are to season two.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-29 01:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-29 07:49 pm (UTC)And the list is great fun - give it at try?
no subject
Date: 2007-06-29 03:27 pm (UTC)That was one of the best scenes ever on television. I love how the music was the opening theme, and I'm getting total chills sitting here and thinking about that scene and the look on Vorenus' face and Vorena Major's blank look. What a great scene!
As for B5, I will admit I never finished the show. But I can't count the number of times I watched seasons 2 and 3. When the Narn-Centauri war started up, and that scene in the council room with Londo making his demands... best ever. G'Kar and Londo were always my favorites, too. I think I favored Londo.
Perhaps you will inspire me to make my own lists tonight. I'm staying in (lack of money and lack of desire to be around the people I normally socialize with) and it would be more productive than playing hour after hour of Civilization III.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-06 07:44 pm (UTC)Oh absolutely - it was this enormous emotional release that was perfectly executed! Even if I really liked the rest of the season as well, that scenes still stands as one of the emotional highlights.
G'Kar and Londo were always my favorites, too. I think I favored Londo.
hee. In my experience if you like these two you always end up favouring one over the other. I think my love for G'Kar stems from his sometimes manic glee to his absolutely wonderful speeches. Some of his monolouges are among my favourite of the series.
Also I find the Narns really interesting as a culture, where as I have bigger problems with the Centauri.
it would be more productive than playing hour after hour of Civilization III.
To be honest my current nemesis is Civ IV. I've fallen woefully behind on everything as I've strived for the goal of Mongols in Space. Civ IV also has the nifty religion feature, which makes cultural expansion twice as fun!
no subject
Date: 2007-06-29 08:03 pm (UTC)I am hoarding "Deadwood" DVDs, I have two seasons already. I confess a very embarrassing fact that I watched two episodes of the season 1 and found it very difficult to understand what everyone was saying. And because the story was complex I found it difficult to understand what is going on. I had to keep subtitles switched on. But one day I will watch them all, I'll get through the initial period!!. :D
no subject
Date: 2007-06-29 08:43 pm (UTC)As for watching "Deadwood" I always keep the subtitles on. It makes it easier. ;D I think "Deadwood" is a little hard to get into - at least it was for me. But once I had got used to it then things were better.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-01 05:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-01 08:34 pm (UTC)