My problems with sci-fi TV
Feb. 11th, 2007 01:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wiseheartI've meant to write someting about it for a long time - and essay, perhaps, for the Otherworlds board - but my thoughts never seemed to form a coherent whole for that. So I'll just write down my woes as they come to my mind.
Woe #1 - The Changing Profile of Doom (TM)
This is the phenomenon when a show starts out extemely well. You like the basic premise, you fall in love with the characters, you get emotionally engaged. Then the PTB come to the glorious idea to "shake things up a bit" and change your favourite show into something completely different. Characters are replaced or twisted out of their original shape. Stupid elements that doesn't match with solid sci-fi apperar. And after a while the show falls victim to incredible stupidity and boredom, and you cease to watch it entirely.
Shows that fell into this category for me are:
- Andromeda, after mid-season 2, when it turned into "Hercules in Space";
- Atlantis, after mid-season 2, when all the lovable supporting characters were killed off or just dropped like hot potatoes, and the main characters became morally ambigious to a degree where I couldn't indentify with them anymore (not that I could ever identify with Sheppard or Weir, but that's a matter of taste);
- Earth - Final Conflict, after season 1, when they killed off Boone, so that they could bring in the HOTT hybrid boy. Actually, I still kept watching it, until they turned hybrid boy into 100% human, where he wasn't interesting anymore, and replaced Ugly Brunette Female Marine (TM) with Blonde Bimbo of Doom (TM);
Enterprise - and I deliberately don't add the prefix "Star Trek". On its own, Enterprise could have been a good show, would Bermaga not pretend that it had anything to do with Star Trek. But they screwed even their own premise by bringing up new, epic story arcs (temporal cold war, Xinti, the third Evil Enemy Race (TM) whose name I forgot), just to drop them and come up with some incredibly stupid solution.
Voyager, from the very moment on - I think it was Episode #2 - when the Maquis miraculously became totally OK with the fact that they were now a Starfleet crew and Chakotay punched one of his fellow freedom fighters in the nose for not obeying Tuvok - the very Vulcan who used to be a spy on his ship. Adding insult to injure were the mystifying changes in Kes' outfit and mindset, and the enter of Seven of Nine - another Blonde Bimbo of Doom (TM). Andm of course, the Borg, who got out-smarted by Janeway every other week, after having nearly wiped out the entire Starfleet in TNG. Oh, please!
Woe #2 - Character Rape
This is the annoying result of crappy writing. The best example is Atlantis' Dr. Weir. Remember what a strong, confident, morally stable character she was in the Season 7 finale of Stargate? And what has become of her? Granted, the horrible acting did play a role - my Mum never watched Atlantis, she's not into sci-fi, but a few times she had to sit through the last few minutes, waiting for JAG reruns to start, and she was completely baffled by the wooden "presence" of that woman.
Then there is poor Tyr Anasazi from Andromeda. What an interesting, dubious, conflicted character he was - and what has become of him after Kevin Sorbo got the strings into his greedy hands? A whiny caricature, who had to kiss up to Sorbo's character and got killed off in the most undignified manner.
To stay with Andromeda, there were other totally f*cked-over charcters. Beka Valentine, who turned from a competent, protective, no-nonsense and sometimes a bit morally ambigious woman into a mindless space slut. Or Harper, their resident genius, whose characterization looked like sinus waves - sometimes he was wonderfully complex, sometimes a total caricature. Or Rev Bem, the "reformed" Magog, whose offspring came over time to mark poor Harper for breeding - I wonder what the Reverend might be doing after leaving the ship? Or Trance Gemini, who used to be a likeable character - albeit one with questionable motives - as long as she was purple, but turned into a bitter, scheming vengeance bitch with attack boobs as soon as she became golden.
Actually, I even feel sorry for Dylan Hunt. He wasn't such a bad bloke in Season 1. Yeah, he was annoying and stupid as hell, but generally a good guy - until Kevin Sorbo got to call the shots. We don't want to discuss the results, no, Preciousss, it would negatively influence our sleep.
Let's Bring in the Boobs
Meaning the strategically tragic moment when the PTB decide they aren't happy with the readings and thus need to "give" the male audience something to drool over. That's the moment when established characters get written out of the series and the busty blondes take over.
Prominent victims of this policy are:
- Captain Lily Marquette from Earth: Final Conflict - replaced by the super-annyoing Renée Palmer. Not that I liked Marquette - for the record: I hated her - ut this is a matter of principle.
- Rommie, the ship's android avatar from Andromeda - replaced by the ridiculously-named Doyle, played by a former porn starlet.
- Dr. Carson Beckett from Atlantis - replaced by Dr. Keller, who is a meek little girl rather than a failed porn star, but still. Besdies, for the part of the blonde bimbo we had Dr. Heightmeyer, even though he turned brunette later.
- Kes from Voyager, replaced by Seven of Nine. I know most people didn't like Kes, but I did, even if I'm clearly in the minority here. Well, at least Jeri Ryan isn't a bad actress.
The "Everybody is American" effect
American people perhaps didn't realize it, but we Europeans can be a bit sensitive about this topic sometimes. So, let me point out that the last time a starship - any starship - had a truly multinational crew, it was during the original Star Trek series.
Okay, so the captain had to be an American, it was a US-show, after all. But they had a Japanese helmsman (Sulu), and African (not black American but really African) communications officer (Uhura), a Russian navigator (Chekov), a Scottish cheef engineer (Scotty), an Italian Chief of Security (Giotto), and several other officers, like DeSalle, Kurt Jaeger, Lt. Gaetano, M'Benga, Imamura, Zara Jamal, Keiko Tamura, Personnel Chief Wong, that Hindu bloke in Engineering called Singh, and so on, who were of other nations. Spock doesn't count, as he's an alien. But the only other senior officer who was American was Dr. McCoy.
Battlestar Galactica (the original - the only one worthy that name in my eyes) was a somewhat different case, as people supposedly came from a different galaxy, and their names, while sometimes really bizarre or silly, weren't meant to have to do anything with Earth nations (that is, among other things, that Ron Moore killed off from his own series). So, everyone could identify with the good guys, which was part of the reason why the old show was so hugely popular.
And that's basically it, people. Sure, B5 had Ivanova, but that was it. Garibaldi already had an English given name. And they wrote off Takashima after the pilot. Crusade's telepathic first officer was played by Daniel Dae Kim, so he should have some Chinese or Korean origins, but the character was named John Matheson.
Star Trek - TNG had Picard. Period. The other human characters all had English names. (Remember, aliens don't count. They are, well, aliens.) Oh, they had a hindu engineer named Singh (how original - where might I have heard that name?) who lived about half an episode.
DS9 had Dr. Bashir. Granted, the Irish would probably point out that O'Brian didn't count as American, either. OK, they had O'Brien, too. And his Japanese wife. That's a tad better.
Voyager had Chakotay and Harry Kim, but honestly, how different was Harry Kim from the rest of the gang? We weren't even told whether he was Chinese, Korean or whatnot. And his fave holodeck program was Beowulf? WTF??? And frankly, Chakotay's Indian mojo seemed way too forced sometimes. Just an excuse to show some "ethnic" thing. Or what they thought would go as "ethnic". Really pathetic.
Enterprise had Hoshi. Other than that, everyone was American (or, in Malcolm Reed's case, English - sorry, British folks, I didn't want to insult anyone).
The all-American cast didn't bother me in Stargate - SG1 at all. I mean, it was supposed to take place in the Cheyenne Mountain complex, and just how likely it was that anyone but American military would be allowed there? So I was fine with that. We still got to see some Russians, even though they were portrayed in the worst cold war way, as if they all would have been idiots.
But Atlantis disappointed me greatly. I mean, it was an international expedition, right? And it actually started off rather well. McKay was Canadian, Grodin was supposedly English, Dr. Beckett was a Scotsman, and we even got the first ever important middle-european character in sci-fi: Dr. Zelenka, the pride and joy of the Czech Republic. And there were one-time extras like Miko Kusanagi, Dr. Dumais, Dr. Wagner (whom I like to believe was German or Austrian) and so on.
Well, what happened to them? Grodin got killed off at the end of Season . Dumais and Wagner killed off in mid-Season 1. We never saw again Miko. And even Beckett got killed off around the end of Season 3. Only McKay and Zelenka are still there. Every new character they bring in (and drop again, it seems to be a new trend) is American, or has, at least, and English name.
Now, I understand that they have to look at the local audience first. And in some shows (SG1) it's even logical and inevitable. But it pisses me off royally that in shows that take place 300-400 or more years in the future, or in the ones where the international nature of the ensemble is emphasized, so few other nations are represented.
Okay, babbled enough. I just wanted to add that I won't be watching Atlantis in Season 4. I've read spoliers and transcripts about how Season 3 will end, and it's not the show I've grown fond of after a rather bumpy start anymore.
Woe #1 - The Changing Profile of Doom (TM)
This is the phenomenon when a show starts out extemely well. You like the basic premise, you fall in love with the characters, you get emotionally engaged. Then the PTB come to the glorious idea to "shake things up a bit" and change your favourite show into something completely different. Characters are replaced or twisted out of their original shape. Stupid elements that doesn't match with solid sci-fi apperar. And after a while the show falls victim to incredible stupidity and boredom, and you cease to watch it entirely.
Shows that fell into this category for me are:
- Andromeda, after mid-season 2, when it turned into "Hercules in Space";
- Atlantis, after mid-season 2, when all the lovable supporting characters were killed off or just dropped like hot potatoes, and the main characters became morally ambigious to a degree where I couldn't indentify with them anymore (not that I could ever identify with Sheppard or Weir, but that's a matter of taste);
- Earth - Final Conflict, after season 1, when they killed off Boone, so that they could bring in the HOTT hybrid boy. Actually, I still kept watching it, until they turned hybrid boy into 100% human, where he wasn't interesting anymore, and replaced Ugly Brunette Female Marine (TM) with Blonde Bimbo of Doom (TM);
Enterprise - and I deliberately don't add the prefix "Star Trek". On its own, Enterprise could have been a good show, would Bermaga not pretend that it had anything to do with Star Trek. But they screwed even their own premise by bringing up new, epic story arcs (temporal cold war, Xinti, the third Evil Enemy Race (TM) whose name I forgot), just to drop them and come up with some incredibly stupid solution.
Voyager, from the very moment on - I think it was Episode #2 - when the Maquis miraculously became totally OK with the fact that they were now a Starfleet crew and Chakotay punched one of his fellow freedom fighters in the nose for not obeying Tuvok - the very Vulcan who used to be a spy on his ship. Adding insult to injure were the mystifying changes in Kes' outfit and mindset, and the enter of Seven of Nine - another Blonde Bimbo of Doom (TM). Andm of course, the Borg, who got out-smarted by Janeway every other week, after having nearly wiped out the entire Starfleet in TNG. Oh, please!
Woe #2 - Character Rape
This is the annoying result of crappy writing. The best example is Atlantis' Dr. Weir. Remember what a strong, confident, morally stable character she was in the Season 7 finale of Stargate? And what has become of her? Granted, the horrible acting did play a role - my Mum never watched Atlantis, she's not into sci-fi, but a few times she had to sit through the last few minutes, waiting for JAG reruns to start, and she was completely baffled by the wooden "presence" of that woman.
Then there is poor Tyr Anasazi from Andromeda. What an interesting, dubious, conflicted character he was - and what has become of him after Kevin Sorbo got the strings into his greedy hands? A whiny caricature, who had to kiss up to Sorbo's character and got killed off in the most undignified manner.
To stay with Andromeda, there were other totally f*cked-over charcters. Beka Valentine, who turned from a competent, protective, no-nonsense and sometimes a bit morally ambigious woman into a mindless space slut. Or Harper, their resident genius, whose characterization looked like sinus waves - sometimes he was wonderfully complex, sometimes a total caricature. Or Rev Bem, the "reformed" Magog, whose offspring came over time to mark poor Harper for breeding - I wonder what the Reverend might be doing after leaving the ship? Or Trance Gemini, who used to be a likeable character - albeit one with questionable motives - as long as she was purple, but turned into a bitter, scheming vengeance bitch with attack boobs as soon as she became golden.
Actually, I even feel sorry for Dylan Hunt. He wasn't such a bad bloke in Season 1. Yeah, he was annoying and stupid as hell, but generally a good guy - until Kevin Sorbo got to call the shots. We don't want to discuss the results, no, Preciousss, it would negatively influence our sleep.
Let's Bring in the Boobs
Meaning the strategically tragic moment when the PTB decide they aren't happy with the readings and thus need to "give" the male audience something to drool over. That's the moment when established characters get written out of the series and the busty blondes take over.
Prominent victims of this policy are:
- Captain Lily Marquette from Earth: Final Conflict - replaced by the super-annyoing Renée Palmer. Not that I liked Marquette - for the record: I hated her - ut this is a matter of principle.
- Rommie, the ship's android avatar from Andromeda - replaced by the ridiculously-named Doyle, played by a former porn starlet.
- Dr. Carson Beckett from Atlantis - replaced by Dr. Keller, who is a meek little girl rather than a failed porn star, but still. Besdies, for the part of the blonde bimbo we had Dr. Heightmeyer, even though he turned brunette later.
- Kes from Voyager, replaced by Seven of Nine. I know most people didn't like Kes, but I did, even if I'm clearly in the minority here. Well, at least Jeri Ryan isn't a bad actress.
The "Everybody is American" effect
American people perhaps didn't realize it, but we Europeans can be a bit sensitive about this topic sometimes. So, let me point out that the last time a starship - any starship - had a truly multinational crew, it was during the original Star Trek series.
Okay, so the captain had to be an American, it was a US-show, after all. But they had a Japanese helmsman (Sulu), and African (not black American but really African) communications officer (Uhura), a Russian navigator (Chekov), a Scottish cheef engineer (Scotty), an Italian Chief of Security (Giotto), and several other officers, like DeSalle, Kurt Jaeger, Lt. Gaetano, M'Benga, Imamura, Zara Jamal, Keiko Tamura, Personnel Chief Wong, that Hindu bloke in Engineering called Singh, and so on, who were of other nations. Spock doesn't count, as he's an alien. But the only other senior officer who was American was Dr. McCoy.
Battlestar Galactica (the original - the only one worthy that name in my eyes) was a somewhat different case, as people supposedly came from a different galaxy, and their names, while sometimes really bizarre or silly, weren't meant to have to do anything with Earth nations (that is, among other things, that Ron Moore killed off from his own series). So, everyone could identify with the good guys, which was part of the reason why the old show was so hugely popular.
And that's basically it, people. Sure, B5 had Ivanova, but that was it. Garibaldi already had an English given name. And they wrote off Takashima after the pilot. Crusade's telepathic first officer was played by Daniel Dae Kim, so he should have some Chinese or Korean origins, but the character was named John Matheson.
Star Trek - TNG had Picard. Period. The other human characters all had English names. (Remember, aliens don't count. They are, well, aliens.) Oh, they had a hindu engineer named Singh (how original - where might I have heard that name?) who lived about half an episode.
DS9 had Dr. Bashir. Granted, the Irish would probably point out that O'Brian didn't count as American, either. OK, they had O'Brien, too. And his Japanese wife. That's a tad better.
Voyager had Chakotay and Harry Kim, but honestly, how different was Harry Kim from the rest of the gang? We weren't even told whether he was Chinese, Korean or whatnot. And his fave holodeck program was Beowulf? WTF??? And frankly, Chakotay's Indian mojo seemed way too forced sometimes. Just an excuse to show some "ethnic" thing. Or what they thought would go as "ethnic". Really pathetic.
Enterprise had Hoshi. Other than that, everyone was American (or, in Malcolm Reed's case, English - sorry, British folks, I didn't want to insult anyone).
The all-American cast didn't bother me in Stargate - SG1 at all. I mean, it was supposed to take place in the Cheyenne Mountain complex, and just how likely it was that anyone but American military would be allowed there? So I was fine with that. We still got to see some Russians, even though they were portrayed in the worst cold war way, as if they all would have been idiots.
But Atlantis disappointed me greatly. I mean, it was an international expedition, right? And it actually started off rather well. McKay was Canadian, Grodin was supposedly English, Dr. Beckett was a Scotsman, and we even got the first ever important middle-european character in sci-fi: Dr. Zelenka, the pride and joy of the Czech Republic. And there were one-time extras like Miko Kusanagi, Dr. Dumais, Dr. Wagner (whom I like to believe was German or Austrian) and so on.
Well, what happened to them? Grodin got killed off at the end of Season . Dumais and Wagner killed off in mid-Season 1. We never saw again Miko. And even Beckett got killed off around the end of Season 3. Only McKay and Zelenka are still there. Every new character they bring in (and drop again, it seems to be a new trend) is American, or has, at least, and English name.
Now, I understand that they have to look at the local audience first. And in some shows (SG1) it's even logical and inevitable. But it pisses me off royally that in shows that take place 300-400 or more years in the future, or in the ones where the international nature of the ensemble is emphasized, so few other nations are represented.
Okay, babbled enough. I just wanted to add that I won't be watching Atlantis in Season 4. I've read spoliers and transcripts about how Season 3 will end, and it's not the show I've grown fond of after a rather bumpy start anymore.
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Date: 2007-02-16 05:16 am (UTC)