Dearth ?

Quite right.
Just seen the last 2 on tape and very good they were too....
I should have said new material. Zathras is very sorry - much appologising for
confusion. But even then - there's a bit more than I though evben though it
doesn't appeal to me all of it...

Why arn't people talking about them - beyond so and so is on at such and such a
time ?
Is the age of critical comment gone ? I don't think anyone's ever mentioned
Stargate here....
Would not claim to them all being my cup of tea either. I have to admit for the
first time in many years - going back to me taking Who up years ago - I'm not
watching any new sci fi. Can't get into Buffy - I seem to be alone in being
amune to the charms of the cast.

Dr Who - why repeat a story - good though it is - that I've seen on Terrestrial
TV 3 times now ? Should have shown Inferno which IMHO is far better ! You are
watching arn't you ?

B7 - we cannot emphasise enough that you should watch this. So far Blake, Avon
and Jenna have escaped and had it away with the Liberator. This week you'll get
to meet Zen - probably the 2nd best sci fi computer of all time (the best occurs
10 weeks later - did anyone else think that Matthew Gideon's Apocalypse box was
inspired by Orac ?) and a guest appearance by the undisputed king of being loud
in a sci fi role - Lord Brian ("SORCERY !") of Blessed...

ST - Whenever I have seen it seems to be flogging a dead horse - like Kup
everything now reminds me of something I've seen somewhere before. DS9 is so
predictable that Sean was able to say what happened in the final ep several
months before it was on even to the pt of being able to name the names of those
who get CD'd in the episode. I think Trek could do with a rest for a while and
come back diffrent.

X-Files - too bogged down in it's own mythology ?

The best new stuff I've seen recently - beyond Crusade - has been Shadow Raiders
on sky. They've got Roughnecks on now - Starship Troopers the Cartoon (CGI) and
that looks rather nice. Can't say anything for the plot since all I saw was
gunfire when I watched it !

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Philip Ayres
payres@
www.netcomuk.co.uk/~payres/
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
<end>

Wow! Starship Troopers cartoon? When is it on and on which
channel?!?!?!?!

Charlotte

Sky 1, Saturday and Sunday mornings.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Philip Ayres
payres@
www.netcomuk.co.uk/~payres
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Avon
you'll get
occurs
box was
loud
I've got the first two eps recorded on video and I will be endeavouring to
record the rest (I expect I'll end up missing some, but I'm going to try
anyway...) so I can probably sort out a mini-viewing session at my place for
people who missed the start...

---

Adrian, etc...

Philip.Ayres@ wrote:
Critical mass I expect. There has to be a couple of mails on
a particular topic, before enough diversity exists for people
to add further meaningful comment. Once it gets going things
tend to snowball.
That's because the TV schedule is so pathetic. You really
have to scan the TV guide to be certain that you're going
to catch an episode. That means that you need to be interested
in the show, but without the continuity, you can't get that
interest.

Getting Sky one does make a massive difference. You know that
they aren't going to reschedule the show in order to show
highlights of the annual kitten cross country skiing olympics.

I've quite got into Earth Final Conflict recently, for example
because it's on at a convenient time and can catch the
episodes. Anyone else been watching it?
Whilst the cast add eye candy, it's the tight scripting that brings
you back to Buffy. The characters are gradually fleshed out, hints
are given to future episodes, references are constantly made to
previous eps, it's reminiscent of Bab 5 in the old days before JMS's
master plan was revealed for the utter pants that it was.

If you want to get into Buffy, I would suggest that you start by
dipping into random episodes from the first series, and then
watch the second series straight. Back fill the first series
once you are addicted!
For a first episode it was poor. It took the worst aspects of the
film and built on them.

The film was rescued largely by what's happening behind the scenes.
The glimpses of the society from which the characters come. The
way in which the society educates it's young adults to emphasis
the traits that it respects. The dubious nature of the threat of
the bugs etc. Whilst the characters are two dimensional, they
are deliberately so.

The cartoon makers appear to have completely missed the point.
Heinlein's book tried to show us how a fascist society could work.
Verhoeven kept the same surface image, but deliberately let
cracks show through. The whole thing parodies the W.W.II movies
fairly adequately. The cartoon seem to have tried to make
a W.W.II movie! (And they missed the opportunity to have proper
power armour, which is an unforgivable sin given the original
material...)

Anyway, I really ought to get on and do some work.

Laters,

Adam (of Bob)

On Tue, 22 Feb 2000 Philip.Ayres@ wrote:

[Stuff removed about how there isn't much (new) Sci-Fi around these days]
Well most of the current series (shown on BBC1 not Sky) hasn't been
plot-arc related at all - I think I've seen one so far - and they've been
really good. I really enjoyed the Xmas ghost story one, it had just the
right atmosphere without descending into violent gore (which is what I find
most "scary" films do).

In fact even the one plot-arc episode I've seen (the body switching one)
wasn't bogged down as much as usual.

Having not seen any of season 7 or the rest of season 6, I can't say whether
or not they're heading back to the good old days of M&S actually
investigating stuff and putting the conspiracry stuff more into the
background.

What really pisses me off about X-Files at the moment, is that the BBC
butchering it for non-digital viewers and not showing it in all its
widescreen glory. Roll on the DVD boxsets.

Chris

---

christ@ #include <stddisclaimer.h> http://www.instituteofcorrection.org.uk/

"So this is really me? A no-style gimbo with teeth druids could use as a
place of worship" - Duaine Dibley (Red Dwarf - "Back to Reality")