So just to make this clear. We had.
GIANT INFLATABLE BEAVERS.
WILLIAM SHATNER.
And… you cut away for some random Jerry Seinfeld ‘reality’ show?
NBC, this is why your ratings suck.
When you have a HIGH KICK LINE OF MOUNTIES you leave them ON.
I hate it. Hate hate hate it.
Not the concept, exactly, but the implementation leaves much to be desired.
Here is the deal. We live in one of the most densely populated areas in the country. And yet it doesn’t matter: broadband here is just as much of a near monopoly as it is elsewhere. The choice is cable (Comcast), which has hidden quotas and throttles connections randomly if it doesn’t like your downloading patterns, or DSL, which is never as fast as advertised and is administered by a company of imbeciles that thought it could quadruple in size with no problem and is now on the verge of bankruptcy and is being investigated by three states. Fiber is available in other parts of town, but not ours. Satellite wi-fi is a joke.
So the lesser of two evils is the DSL (we really hate Comcast). But it’s spluttery and slow. Stream? Ha ha ha. And here’s where the problem comes in. On some sites, such as YouTube, I can start the video, pause it, and then let the buffer fill with the entire video, allowing me to watch it all without stutters and pauses every one second. On most sites, this does not happen; the amount allowed to be buffered is so miniscule that the video is thus rendered completely unwatchable.
Now, I can see the logic: they don’t want people caching the whole file and then saving it. Except, psst, video people? I don’t WANT your crappy lo-res flash files. I want to watch them and then move on. But you make that impossible for me! So I have to go and find a place where I can download it instead, often in HD archival quality.
The Plot
For many shows, the first season is a season of finding the right voice and settling in; of characters who are still in development and premises that are still undergoing revision. This was the case for Star Trek: The Next Generation. Wil Wheaton, a cast member, revisits his memories of the making of the first half of the first season, evaluating the episodes from the perspective of 20 years.
My Thoughts
When I was very small, I had an irrational prejudice against certain shows and movies. I quite liked Star Wars, but I was anti-Indiana Jones, anti-TOS, anti-Doctor Who and anti-Battlestar Galactica for reasons I can’t now remember.
All the same, I don’t remember protesting at all when my dad took myself and my brother to see ST4 at the movie theatre. The rarity of such an outing cannot be overstated: I can’t remember a time before or after (until we became near adults) that my dad willingly took both of us to the movies by himself. I assume my mother had flatly refused to see this movie and my dad, not willing to appear so very selfish as to head out and see it on his own, decided we would be reasonable camoflage. And really, if you had to pick a Trek movie to which you should take two elementary school kids, ST4 is the one. By osmosis, I knew enough about the characters to identify them by name, but very little more than that (the significance of the end of the movie, where the Enterprise-A is revealed, was lost on me.)
Somehow, in between viewing ST4 and the arrival of TNG on television, I became a fan. Not of TOS (that came later still), but of the idea of Star Trek. I was SO EXCITED there was going to be a new one. I was worried (and cynically sure, even at age 11) that it would soon be cancelled. There were girls! Three of them! and a kid! (A boy, sadly, but I will rant about that later) and the guy from Reading Rainbow! By the time TNG ended, 7 years later, I was about to leave for college, I was an unabashed fan of all things Star Trek, Doctor Who, and I’d found a few sci-fi authors to follow as well.
Star Trek, and especially TNG, was a big part of my life for a lot of years. I watched it faithfully: new episodes, which were in first-run syndication, could be viewed at four different times during the week on a couple of different channels (five, if you count the station that only came in with much squinting and tinkering with the antenna). Older episodes were rerun at 6pm and at 7pm every weekday night. And I tuned in about 99% of the time.
Wheaton, who, as people (everybody?) know, played Wesley Crusher on the series, divides his thoughts on each episode into two or three sections. The bulk is found in the synopsis, which will be familiar for anyone who frequented Television Without Pity back before it went all to hell. Wheaton does not spare the snark in evaluating the success of these early episodes, and with his insider knowledge is often able to put his finger on the exact problem, be it the writers, the director, or the powers that be.
At times, I think he was a little hard on both himself and the writers in his reaction to Wesley in these episodes. It’s a fact that Wes annoyed a lot of people, but his presence also served a purpose — he gave kids watching an entry point, a character with which to identify, and helped to create a new generation of Star Trek fans. As an 11 year old, I didn’t find him annoying, and I found his behavior perfectly reasonable. The show lost something when Wheaton made his departure, and even though the later seasons were far stronger than the first two, I still wish there had been a better resolution for the Wesley character before Trek went off the air. (With all the time travel that was going on, he could totally have showed up on Enterprise…)
I also liked his insider’s view of the episodes, the bits he remembered from production and encounters with the guest stars. This is the kind of stuff that you don’t usually hear about (Wheaton has written several production diaries in the past couple of years when he’s guest starred on other shows, and this is the same sort of thing.) It also helps to drive home the work that’s involved in the creation of these shows that appear magically on our televisions. I know I can’t be the only one who has a difficult time thinking of acting as hard work requiring lots of training and effort, and as he’s done before, Wheaton really brings that side of things to life.
In Short
The whole idea for this book was brilliantly conceived, and I really hope that rather than stop at season one, Wheaton continues through and does the rest of the seasons in which he was involved (plus the handful of episodes where he was a guest after he stopped being a regular). I’m a sucker for snarky show recaps, especially ones as well done as these. Could have spared a bit of the OMG the writers! It was all the writers! [who made Wes obnoxious!] but overall this was great and I can’t wait for the next one.
Everythyng ys cooler wyth more ys.
A conversational snippet that amused me:
Me: “Hey, new property ladder supposedly started.”
Me: “Oh, no wonder I didn’t see it. They renamed it.”
J: “Property Snake?”
Me: “Yeah.”
J: “What do you mean yea?”
J: “That was supposed to be a joke. Was I actually right?”
Me: “Yeah, that’s what they renamed it to. Property Snakes and Ladders.”
J snerks.
Me: “Apparently you have the sense of humor of a British tv producer”
J: “Hey, no need to insult me!”
A lot of people have been working on watching through all of the old Who serials. And as it turns out, I’m one of them. It’ll probably be slow going.
An Unearthly Child
So here we meet Susan, who is supposedly 15, and her teachers, who are probably supposed to be in their late 20s or early 30s. We also meet the Doctor, who is actually a dick. Through a combination of dickishness and idiocy, the whole group ends up somewhere in the middle of a caveman ice age. The action plot is really not all that interesting. The characters are moreso. As it turns out, I hadn’t ever seen this episode so it was a first viewing for me — as will be a lot of One, Two and Three episodes. From fan speculation I had been privy to, I thought it wasn’t clear that Susan and the Doctor really are relatives, but that is not the case. The Doctor in this episode isn’t likeable at all, and seems to have very little interest in or experience with Earth and Earthlings. Susan’s presentation was interesting; an intelligent, adventurous grandson might have taken over focus eventually but the fact that she is a girl seems to put her on the same level as him as an older man.
I didn’t think it had been quite so long since I updated here. Guess it’s time for another round-up.
Work
The new library is almost done being built. It’s really exciting, but a bit worrying at the same time. Organization for the move does not feel very organized — we’ll see how smoothly it manages to go off.
I’m getting to work some extra hours until the move is over, which has been lovely and done much to improve my morale.
The Economy
So far we haven’t been hugely impacted by this, thank god. Knock wood we won’t be, but it’s really frigging scary. Especially considering the economy wasn’t exactly going gangbusters for us non-rich folk in the first place.
Republicans
Asshats.
Democrats
Not doing so hot either.
The Restaurant
I got copies of the first two seasons of this UK reality series. As with many reality shows, the first season is much better than what came after, when they tweaked the format and got slicker production values. The premise is that pairs (they constantly refer to them as couples, but it is more two people with a pre-existing relationship ala Amazing Race, not all romantically involved couples) will be given a small restaurant to run. Each week Raymond Blanc and his sidekick judges pick out three pairs whose restaurant did not perform to the standard they would prefer and those people perform an additional food business related challenge to see which team will be eliminated. I found it hard to get into the show for the first few weeks, mostly because there were too many people still and it was hard to get a sense of what was really going on. By the second half of the series, though, things had improved a great deal. With fewer restaurants to cover, there was more information given about the individuals and we could really see what was going wrong and going right. The second season seems to have less interesting restaurant concepts (to me) and the people are duller. Plus, the format changes (the contestants do not all live together in a communal house, for instance) are not for the better.
Victorian Farm
The description for this series made it sound like 1900 House/Frontier House/Colonial House/etc., documentary style reality shows that were all over PBS a couple of years back. But as it turns out, it had a different aim entirely. The former series focused on taking average families and plunking them down in the past. They were forced to use the tools and wear the clothes of the age, but generally they attempted to use these things to recreate their usual lifestyle in terms of food and entertainment. The participants in Victorian Farm, on the other hand, were archaeologists and historians, who were excited and eager to really try to do things the way the Victorians had and quite revelled in being history dorks. They did not whine or freak out trying new things. They were also allowed to consult experts in the various tasks they were trying to do, giving the series a feel far less like Survivor and more like a documentary. After the series was over, I discovered that the same presenters had been involved in a similar series a few years ago about a Tudor-era farm. I am still looking for copies.
Law and Order: UK
I never thought this would ever come to anything. I’m so happy it did. I’ve read enough detective novels based in the UK that I feel semi-comfortable with their police system, but I’m completely at sea with their courts. Watching shows like this (the rare remake where the US version is the original) really brings home how much essential cultural information most series rely on their audience just knowing without even thinking about it. Information that won’t be and shouldn’t be explained because to do so would be stupid.
Vesper Holly
Did I talk about her yet? How did I not read these books 20 years ago? I was reading Lloyd Alexander; I got all the Prydain books in 5th or 6th grade, and I know I saw the Westmark books in the school library (I couldn’t get into them). But I don’t remember seeing these AT ALL. Why not?! A smart, fearless female character who travels and has adventures in the manner of Indiana Jones — all written by an author who won a Newbery medal. You’d think this would have been recommended all over the place. What happened and why are most of them already out of print now?
Nintendo DS
We gave in and bought another one, and I think it was the right decision. We still don’t end up playing at the same time very often, but it was annoying to have to keep remembering to swap the games out, and I was always afraid the little games were going to get lost somewhere.
I had heard about Torchwood, but this one is news to me. Interesting.
I mentioned a few days ago the brief summary for a movie currently making the rounds on Lifetime. (Of course it’s in Lifetime. If you’re not being battered, raped or stalked, you’re definitely bearing Satan’s IVF baby!)
And I just had to see this thing. Mainly because James Purefoy and Andy Serkis were both in it. So I set Tivo to grab it when it reran on Friday night, and I’ve just finished watching it. Totally worth it. It was so ridiculous.
The ending was the best part. After being told she was about to bear the spawn of the devil, our Heroine pluckily manages to escape the burning building where the Priest has trapped her to try and rid the world of evil. She promptly gives birth to adorable twins who, in an epilogue as we skip to 4 years later, sit and watch angelically as they slowly reduce one of their little friends to dust. Our Heroine brings her hands to her mouth as she is illuminated. The End.