Random randomness

[wiseheart]

Cos I'm on sick leave, although the sickness has passed, and feel like babbling a bit, yo!

The telly - or why I might end up spend my hard-earned cash on shows that I cannot watch, even though everyone says they're rubbish.

I heard really, really bad things about Starz' Camelot. So I googled a bit, and what I saw confirmed my worst fears. Come on, guys, WTF, Arthur a girl??? Okay, I know he technically isn't a girl, but he looks like one. Imagining him having sex with the actual girls on the show is... off-putting, to say the least. No offence against anyone, but if I wanna watch femslash, the least I could demand would be that both participants be real girls, right? At least Bradley James looks like a knight who would be capable of raising his sword without collapsing under its weight.

But... the show stars Eva Green as Morgan, and she looks absolutely stunning. I could never warm up to Katie McGrath's Morgana, so perhaps I should give "Camelot" a chance, after all. Plus, it has Sean Pertwee, with whom I've been in selfless love ever since I saw him as Hugh Beringar. And Clive Standen! *flails* Granted, I only saw him in Dr. Who, where he had a total of about three seconds of screen time, but I'm so totally fangirling him. Embarrassing, really, considering that I could be his mother. Ah, well. I might even buy some random Robin Hood episodes to watch him. I'm shallow that way. I like me some ruggedly handsome men from time to time.


Procrastinating - or the pain of too many choices after finishing a story.

Now that I've finally gotten "Eye Witness" out of my hair (not that anybody but artemis10002000 would give a rat's arse about my Torchwood fic), I've taken a good hard look of my unfinished WIPs - and blanched. There are too many, in too many different fandoms!

My best candidates to be finished in the foreseeable future would be "Vox Angelica" in the Cadfael fandom, "Brothers-in-Arms" (also in the Cadfael fandom) and "A Visitor from Avalon", my Merlin-Torchwood crossover. Consequently, what have I done all day? Background work on "Sea-Flower", a pre-Ring-War Tolkienfic taking place in Umbar.

Yeah, right. That's me, doing the least logical thing. But at least I've figured out how to include the bull games and cast some of the characters. Not surprisingly, Princess Ivriniel will be played by Eva Green and Lord Caliondo of Umbar will be played by Clive Standen. What? I told you I'm shallow! And I need my visuals. I'm seriously considering having Colin Morgan play the Dark Elf assassin, but I'm not sure I can pull that one out. Although he'd be creepy. Oh, and the malicious Haradric slave girl is played by Indira Varma.


Baking - yep, I did some of that, too!

Not much; we won't dare eating anything with cream in the next few days, so I made some Ischler and a small lamb out of almond biscuit. And I hung up the decorated eggshells in the living room. Mum is pleased with the results, so I'm pleased, too.


Other than that, I'm lazing around and wishing I had people I could discuss silly fannish things with. But you can't have everything.

Comments

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

I am a great fan of Spock and Uhura, though I find actually watching a lot of the original series episodes can be rather embarrassing. I do really like TNG, perhaps partly because Swedish television deigned to broadcast that series -- and re-run them quite frequently as well -- so that it is the series I know the best. Having watched DS9 on DVD it is fast becoming a favourite as well. I might have to rewatch some TNG to decide which I like better, though I suspect the answer might be it varies from episode to episode and between characters. There are certainly some great stand-alone episodes in TNG; one of the great things to me in DS9 is the story arcs. TNG has my favourite captain, but DS9 has my favourite medical officer. No, I really can't choose!

Yes, it is a problem with Whedon's work that the women are all beautiful. However, I am not sure it is just the women and not just Whedon. At least the actresses he picks to appear in his work tend to be able to act, and if you look at Firefly, I can't think of any of the characters being non good-looking.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I'm a die-hard fan of the original series, especially Spock and Uhura, too, but I basically like everyone of the main cast, with the marked exception of Kirk. I absolutely loathe him, and it led to me loathing all similar characters of other shows, like Riker, Sheridan of B5, Dylan Hunt of Andromeda and Sheppard of Atlantis.

Picard is definitely the best captain, although I must disagree with you about the CMO: for me, it's "Bones" McCoy, forever. But I'm biased. In any case, what I love in DS9 is the profoundly different concept: they don't just ride in on their shiny starship, mess the place up and then leave like the Doctor. They have to stay there and deal with the consequences. Voyager, IMO, was a huge step backwards, aside from other really big problems that it had. They tried to recreate the original series (or TNG) at a time when that concept was already outdated.

I must admit that I could never really get into Firefly. I find the whole western/sci-fi combination very stupid. Starting with the fact that using projectile weapons on a spaceship would be suicidal, because hey, accidental holes in the hull? Not such a good idea. I liked Nathan Fillion... sort of, which is why I started watching Castle, but my favourite was Simon. All the other charcters just got on my nerves. The idea of a different future would have been excellent, but the execution was just blah, IMO.

However, I read an interesting Torchwood/Firefly crossover, where the author came up with the idea that the species invading and destroying Jack's childhood home were actually the Reapers. Or Reavers? Or what the heck were they called again?

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

Oh Kirk gives me goose-bumps and not in a good way! I can't tell now how much of this is because the character and how much is because I can't stand the man after reading Nichelle Nichols wonderful 'Beyond Uhura' many years ago.

While I can definitely see your point about a Western in space being a bit silly, I just liked the characters -- all of them, to varying extents -- so much that I was willing to suspend my disbelief. While I definitely identify most with Kaylee, I can't decide who is my favourite character.

Torchwood on the other hand is one of those series I found really annoying: I am not a particular fan of Captain Jack Harkness, so I guess I the series was never aimed at me in the first place. However, there is something about each and every one of the other characters that I find annoying, so while I did watch Torchwood it wasn't something I really enjoyed and I don't miss it now that it is not on.

And yes, they are called Reavers.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

I adore Kaylee, Book & Wash, and find Mal interesting if a little annoying at times. Many of the minors were wonderful too. I did end up disliking the focus on the Tams' story. I don't know if you've seen the film, but I didn't like that nearly as much partly for that reason.

And I'm with you on Torchwood. I tried & tried, but just couldn't get into it. I did quite like what they showed of Owen in the early eps, but mainly because I think Burn Gorman is fantastic.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

I do love River, though what happened to her breaks my heart. I wish there had been more time to explore the other story lines that were started, but I was pleased to see River get to a point were she felt more able to deal with the world in the film. Some times I really hate Simon for the way he treats Kaylee, but what he sacrificed for his sister has earned him a place in my heart. That can't have been easy, but it is what I think good big brothers would do, and I think it was interesting to see that sacrifice-my-life-and-desires for my family from someone who was not a woman.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

I felt River in the film turned into a Buffy & Willow combo superhero in a way I just hated.

it was interesting to see that sacrifice-my-life-and-desires for my family from someone who was not a woman.

Good point, though Simon did get rather feminised in the process.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

For me, it was Gareth David-Lloyd. As I said above, I've never seen any of the actor before, nor did I know a thing about Dr. Who previously, but in the moment GDL appeared in that smart suit of his and told Barrowman "Careful, that's harrasment, sir!" - I was hooked. With the character and with the actor. Hell, I even suffered through that horrible Sherlock Holmes adaptation, just to watch GDL as Watson, and that was a really trying experience (on the side of complete boredom).

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

When I started watching Torchwood, I didn't know a thing about Dr. Who and never saw any of the actors in anything before. I strated watching it because it was (supposedly) sci-fi, and because it was something new.

But in the very first episode, I got hooked on Ianto and Tosh, and it was for them that I watched the entire series.

It's fairly trash, and the plot holes are bigger than the Mont Blanc tunnel, but it was fun and entertaining, and it had interesting charcters - with the marked exception of the one Russel T Davies was so obviously in love with. After he'd killed off those characters, I stopped watching the new seasons. I won't watch the upcoming one, either.

But I loved the first two seasons and will always love.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

mr_ea & I used to disagree over which was better, TNG or DS9, but we recently purchased some TNG boxsets and haven't been able to force ourselves to plough through them, so we're now both agreed that DS9 stands up better to rewatching, at least. I liked DS9 for boldly standing still, exploring the situation on Bajor and the clash between Federation & Bajoran values, especially over religion, and for exploring the Cardassian culture in detail. (Have you read altariel's wonderful Cardassian post-series novel, The Never-ending Sacrifice? Heavily recommended, and not just because she's my friend.) I was less keen on the war arc than many.

I'd agree there are a few interesting TNG standalone episodes, but many I'd liked on television on rewatch turned out to be a bit hammy in execution. And of course Picard is a superb character, and so well acted. (I've seen Patrick Stewart on the stage twice now and he's brilliant.) And I really didn't like Baccarin's work, though I gather she's less stilted in other things.

if you look at Firefly, I can't think of any of the characters being non good-looking.

This might just be my bias, because there are certainly plenty of people who did find them attractive, but Wash, Jayne and Book all appeared much more normal in looks to me.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

No, I have quite deliberately not read any of the post-series DS9 novels, since I hadn't finished watching it until this week. I do know of altariel's book though, and I am intrigued by it. There is only the small matter of finding time to read...

I haven't re-watched any TNG in the last few years so I can't say if I would find them badly executed now. I do think TNG will always have a special place in my heart though, because it was my Star Trek: the first Trek series I watched. And as you say, Patrick Stewart is brilliant! I have had the good fortune of seeing him in two plays at the RSC and I loved it.

This might just be my bias, because there are certainly plenty of people who did find them attractive, but Wash, Jayne and Book all appeared much more normal in looks to me.
I have seen the actor playing Jayne in other things and he definitely rates quite high on my good-looking scale. When it comes to Wash I am prepared to admit that he may just be attractive to me due to my inherent love of geeks; I wouldn't want to get in a fight with Zoe -- she would quite easily kick my butt, for one thing -- I think the character I fancy the most is Wash. As for Book, he is a bit too old for me (at the moment) to fancy but I think his looks are definitely striking. Something I meant to say, but realize I somehow left out, is that I don't think picking good-looking women to work for him is a problem inherent to Whedon. It seems to me that to actually get to the point were you would have a chance to be noticed by a guy like him you have to be good-locking if you are female. For male actors I think it also helps them succeed, but it doesn't seem to be such a strong requirement to get any role as it is for women.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

I don't think picking good-looking women to work for him is a problem inherent to Whedon.

True, but I find other US television shows that do it too overtly completely unwatchable, the more so the older & uglier I get myself.

For male actors I think it also helps them succeed, but it doesn't seem to be such a strong requirement to get any role as it is for women.

This is certainly true. Good actors such as, say, Timothy Spall don't find it difficult to get decent roles, in the UK at least. The Swedish television version of Wallander suggests the same is true in Sweden.