112 replies to this topic

[Bronson]

halO bendeR, on 27 September 2012 - 05:48 PM, said:

Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars, Stargate: Universe, Star Trek: TNG and DS9...




That was mostly a joke as I found both to be pretty bad.
Andromeda especially... I just couldn't understand why Kevin Sorbo gave up playing Hercules to be the captain on the lamest, low-budget, Canadian-made garbage show on TV.

Of the Show you listed  I find Str Wars Clone war to be not worth the effort because we already know the outcome , so there is really no suspense .

As for Star trek the Next Generation? a decent show  Had some terrific episodes but found to be disappointing.



Had they stuck with the original premise of Dylan's Quest to reunite the Commonwealth , which they abandoned after season 2 , then Andromeda would have ended up being a far better show then it turned out to be. Season 3 to 5 were pretty godawful.

Edited by Bronson, 27 September 2012 - 06:19 PM.

[haLobEnder]

Bronson, on 27 September 2012 - 06:03 PM, said:

Had they stuck with the original premise of Dylan's Quest to reunite the Commonwealth , which they abandoned after season 2 , then Andromeda would have ended up being a far better show then it turned out to be. Season 3 to 5 were pretty godawful.

To be honest, my main barrier to entry with Andromeda was trying to wrap my head around the fact that they had this HUGE freaking ship, yet the entire cast was only four or five people strong. Never did they say 'hey, we just made a bunch of allies, why don't we invite them on board the ship to beef up our ranks a bit? We are trying to restore the Commonwealth after all.'

Come to think of it, that's a bit of my problem with Farscape as well, though at least Farscape had the advantage of slightly more interesting characters.

Edited by halO bendeR, 27 September 2012 - 06:58 PM.

[karaddin]

Well Farscape is also a bunch of fugitives that a) can't really trust other people and why would people team up with them anyway?

Also I figure if you have come out as far as Farscape, you might as well double down on the crazy and go for Lexx as your next waste of money.

[haLobEnder]

karaddin, on 27 September 2012 - 07:06 PM, said:

Well Farscape is also a bunch of fugitives that a) can't really trust other people and why would people team up with them anyway?

Also I figure if you have come out as far as Farscape, you might as well double down on the crazy and go for Lexx as your next waste of money.

Actually I had to erase some of my last post where I did note that the small cast at least made sense in Farscape's case, but still, you either connect with the dynamics and relationships set up in a show like this or you don't, and for me it just didn't click.

I had a friend in high school who was obsessed with Lexx though I've always suspected it had more to do with the nudity than the quality of the storytelling. I checked it out once or twice, and had a similar level of indifference to it as I do to Farscape and Andromeda. I'd say that maybe I just don't like shows that take place on a space ships and feature small, mostly static casts, but my favourite show of all time is Firefly.

Edited by halO bendeR, 27 September 2012 - 07:29 PM.

[karaddin]

Maybe you just don't enjoy the crazy, which is definitely a dominant part of both Farscape and Lexx.  Whedon does quirky, but not really the full blown crazy of them.  I don't think you should chalk up the dislike for these two as necessarily the same reason for B5 - I tried that multiple times and just really couldn't get into it, for exactly what you said, the cast and the characters didn't click for me.  It just felt really dry and serious, the complete opposite of Farscape and Lexx.

[Bronson]

halO bendeR, on 27 September 2012 - 07:27 PM, said:

Actually I had to erase some of my last post where I did note that the small cast at least made sense in Farscape's case, but still, you either connect with the dynamics and relationships set up in a show like this or you don't, and for me it just didn't click.

I had a friend in high school who was obsessed with Lexx though I've always suspected it had more to do with the nudity than the quality of the storytelling. I checked it out once or twice, and had a similar level of indifference to it as I do to Farscape and Andromeda. I'd say that maybe I just don't like shows that take place on a space ships and feature small, mostly static casts, but my favourite show of all time is Firefly.

Lexx was intended to be comic but it turned out to be anything but. Lexx is easily one the darkest  nastiest tv shows of all time.  A terrific  tv show.

[Bronson]

karaddin, on 27 September 2012 - 07:55 PM, said:

Maybe you just don't enjoy the crazy, which is definitely a dominant part of both Farscape and Lexx.  Whedon does quirky, but not really the full blown crazy of them.  I don't think you should chalk up the dislike for these two as necessarily the same reason for B5 - I tried that multiple times and just really couldn't get into it, for exactly what you said, the cast and the characters didn't click for me.  It just felt really dry and serious, the complete opposite of Farscape and Lexx.

With B5 you have watch the show from the very beginning, Season 1  sets up everything.

[karaddin]

I did watch it from the very beginning.  Twice.  I barely got through the first season the first time, the second time I got to halfway through the 3rd.  It just doesn't work for me.

[felice]

Bronson, on 27 September 2012 - 07:56 PM, said:

Lexx was intended to be comic but it turned out to be anything but. Lexx is easily one the darkest  nastiest tv shows of all time.  A terrific  tv show.

Dark and nasty, sure, but not remotely serious; it just has a very black sense of humour. It had some great ideas, but not executed as well as it could have been; a lot of it felt padded and repetitive to me.

[haLobEnder]

I started B5 from the beginning and slogged my way through four seasons before giving up completely. I respect that they were trying to tell a multi-season spanning saga in an era where such a thing was far from the norm, I just wish they had done it with a cast of characters that didn't feel hokey or dull.

I felt a little guilty about only coming into this thread to post my negativity, so I decided to pop in one of my Farscape Season 2 DVDs and give it another shot. I was instantly reminded that I don't hate the show, and in fact, quite love the zany creature effects and puppetry. I still feel like the characters aren't all that strong, but certainly nothing as bad as a Garabaldi or an Ivanova.
I think my problem is that I tried to watch this series like I would Breaking Bad or Damages or the like -- namely, all at once. I just can't do that with episodic shows. I get quickly frustrated with the lack of plot progression and then I burn out.

[Jolene Brown]

I'm watching Lexx now, because of this thread.  It is insane.  I never thought there was a show in the world that could out-weird Farscape, but this is WAY weirder than Farscape.  I don't know what the hell is going on.

[karaddin]

halO bendeR, on 27 September 2012 - 09:05 PM, said:

I started B5 from the beginning and slogged my way through four seasons before giving up completely. I respect that they were trying to tell a multi-season spanning saga in an era where such a thing was far from the norm, I just wish they had done it with a cast of characters that didn't feel hokey or dull.

I felt a little guilty about only coming into this thread to post my negativity, so I decided to pop in one of my Farscape Season 2 DVDs and give it another shot. I was instantly reminded that I don't hate the show, and in fact, quite love the zany creature effects and puppetry. I still feel like the characters aren't all that strong, but certainly nothing as bad as a Garabaldi or an Ivanova.
I think my problem is that I tried to watch this series like I would Breaking Bad or Damages or the like -- namely, all at once. I just can't do that with episodic shows. I get quickly frustrated with the lack of plot progression and then I burn out.

Yeah we are pretty much in agreement on B5

I can understand your complaint about episodic, how far through S2 did you get? As the show progresses it moves away from episodic as the arc slowly gets stronger.  There are still lots of one off episodes sprinkled through but theres definitely a strong arc that's the primary drive of the show by the end of the second season.  If the characters don't work for you that will detract though, a lot of the arc is about the changes in the characters - specifically John.

ETA: Yeah Jolene, it's completely insane.  Has some really bad episodes, but also reaches some soaring heights.

Edited by karaddin, 28 September 2012 - 12:19 AM.

[williamjm]

felice, on 27 September 2012 - 08:33 PM, said:

Dark and nasty, sure, but not remotely serious; it just has a very black sense of humour. It had some great ideas, but not executed as well as it could have been; a lot of it felt padded and repetitive to me.

I felt they did have some interesting and reasonably original ideas to begin with but struggled to develop new ideas and it often felt a bit formulaic, there wasn't the same variety of episodes that Farscape had. I think maybe the pilot was about the best episode, although some of the episodes in the third seasons with the two planets were pretty good as well.