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First, a link I've stolen from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
or_mabinogi for an article about The Big Bang Theory: "Must-Geek TV: Is the World Ready for an Asperger's Sitcom?" by Paul Collins at Slate.
Now, a movie Brilliant Husband and I recently saw thanks to Netflix: The Gamers: Dorkness Rising.
When BH told me that The Gamers: Dorkness Rising had arrived, I said, "What?" It took him a bit to convince me this was an actual movie. It's real (and in the IMDb). I thought I'd give it a shot, and when it got too bad, I'd just leave him to it and go do something else (like writing the incredible growing Primeval story--on which he just finished the pre-beta beta, by the way). It's obvious from the opening moments that this was not exactly a Major Motion Picture; how many movies actually have credits at the end for "Acting Coach"? It seems to be a sequel to a 2002 straight-to-video movie called The Gamers, which only has a couple of the same characters (and which I haven't seen).
I never got up and walked away. I couldn't, some of the time; I was laughing too hard. It's about some guys playing a campaign, and they are joined by the ex-girlfriend of one of them. We see them playing at a table, and then we get inside the game itself, where they're in costume, moving through landscapes and castles and such. It's funny, but it also has a heart--without getting mawkish, as I briefly feared it might. I'm not a gamer myself. I was a busy little high-schooler, working some evenings and most Saturdays, and while I was a geek, I didn't know a lot of gamers. I was too busy in college, when I actually knew people who gamed, and I think it's too late for me now.
I enjoyed the movie greatly. BH has played, and a few times I said, "Is it really like that?" and he said, "Yeah, sometimes" or "Some players are." It's goofy. It has better production values than you might expect considering that half the main cast have only this in their listings at IMDb; it has lower production values than new Doctor Who (although better than some of the older DW). Parts are predictable, but there were a few surprises, and a lot of snorfling. If you need a pick-me-up, see this movie.
Now the long awaited Stargate SG-1 s6 episode comments! (Well,aurora_novarum has been awaiting them long!) Yes, we're still watching s6: we started the show in s7 and began the DVDs with s1 while it was still on. We hit s6 a little before the show ended, and we lost any sense of urgency. I'll tell you straight up: season 6 doesn't, on the whole, do a lot for me. I like Jonas, but some of the plots seem pretty lame to me, and I often don't feel the team gelling (yes, that happens in other seasons sometimes too). We just saw "Paradise Lost," but I figured if I waited until we'd seen the whole season to post comments, I'd exceed the character length for one entry (and give up in despair).
I hope I'm late enough in posting that I'm not harshing anyone's squee. Indeed, at this point I'm having trouble remembering some of the early episodes of the season! These will be less reviews, I suppose, than collections of fairly random comments.
"Redemption" parts 1 & 2: Jonas redeems himself. Gee, I never would have guessed! I really liked seeing Rya'c again. I love Jack's mood: it seems entirely proper for Jack to be in a months-long sulk, because he has lost his best friend and doesn't know how to handle it. (Jack and Daniel are the heart of the series for me, though I did enjoy some of seasons 9 and 10.) I love how hard it was to replace Daniel, and the brush of air through Jack's hair at the end. I also enjoyed seeing Rodney again, and I loved Jack's solution with the X-302. I saw a lot of the plot coming, but I must confess, I didn't think of taking the Gate into space myself. I enjoyed the characters in this one more than the plot. Wait--that's a summary of most of my love for SG-1.
"Descent": this one occasioned a few too many giggles from me. Jonas can swim! Jonas can swim really well! "It's my first time on a spaceship!" I do like Jonas. I enjoyed seeing Jacob. I felt bad for poor ol' Thor. The plot? Well, that seemed a bit silly.
"Frozen": my favorite scene is the one where they greet each other: "Doctor." "Doctor." "Doctor." "Doctor." "Major." Hee hee! The fact that none of the characters seemed to have any idea how to handle a contagion bothered the heck out of me. They were very careless, at best. Of course, this episode seems to exist primarily to set up "Abyss," so we'll let it live.
"Nightwalkers": did I wander into The X-Files by mistake? Srsly? The only good bits were Teal'c and Jonas being aliens together and trying to figure out just how strange these townspeople really are--is there something wrong with them, or are they just Tau'ri? Jonas just wants to get along. I love the SG-1 aliens. Forget the plot.
"Abyss": what can I say? I think people had actually built this up and spoiled it for me just a little too much, because the only bits I didn't feel I already knew were at the very beginning! That's the trouble with coming to a fandom so late. I loved seeing Daniel again, and Jack and Daniel still related much as they had, except that Daniel seemed much more relaxed, happier even, than he had of late in corporeal form. RDA was on; this is one of his best eps. My heart ached for Jack.
On a side note, I was very glad that I could finally readredbyrd_sgfic's Abyss Series! (You can find it on her fic site.) Great stories!
“Shadow Play”: this episode felt strange to me, like not-quite-Stargate, and yet I thought it was really good. Dean Stockwell is good no matter what he’s in. I didn’t figure out what was going on for a while; I went through a number of different hypotheses before I began to suspect. Then my heart ached for Kieran--and for Jonas. Jonas is a good man. The Kelownans? They’re a mess. They clearly needed Jonas back. I know, they’ll get him eventually. (I’m still annoyed at the writers for their last mention of Jonas’s home on the show, and I’m glad people have written some good fics about what really happened on the planet.)
“The Other Guys”: I think this was ruined for me by having seen “Avenger 2.0” previously. I love John Billingsley. I can’t stand Felger: I can’t believe anyone that incompetent could work for the SGC. There are socially inept geeks (see The Big Bang Theory), and then there are geeks who can’t do their jobs. Felger can’t do his job. He’s a disaster, and I cringed whenever he was onscreen. Sorry--I know some of you enjoyed the ep. I wish I could have.
“Allegiance”: I felt like I’d seen this plot before, though I can’t for the life of me think where! I could see most of the developments coming. Knowing that Bra’tac will turn up alive in later seasons takes away the one bit of drama I might have found.
“Cure”: huh? What? I’m not sure how I feel about this one. We find the first Tok’ra only to lose her at once? Am I supposed to like the Pangarans? I know we haven’t seen the last of tretonin, but I’m not sure how we’ll get from point A to season 7 (although I know “The Changeling” has an important place in there). I couldn’t find much sympathy for anyone. I wanted the Tok’ra to do better, and they seem to have spent the series killing more and more of them off. I think it’ssg_fignewton who first said (in my hearing, anyway) that SG-1 ends up undoing almost all its victories: they save individuals, peoples, and planets only to lose them again; they free the galaxy only to bring a potentially worse threat on it; every bit of good feels like it’s ultimately lost again. (We will not speak of the Asgard and “Unending” here. We will just think of it and shake our fists and yell, “Khan!” Or “Mallozzi!”, but that hasn’t got the same ring to it.)
“Prometheus”: blah. Bloopholes right and left. I prefer to ignore it.
“Unnatural Selection”: now there’s an episode. Hey, it revealed I’d apparently made errors in my “Menace Duology” (my fics are here), but I’ll forgive it anyway. We get team interaction--but greatly stressed team interaction. We get moral dilemmas. We get Fifth, who wants to be a Real Boy! I had to write an epilogue to this episode (see my fic page again: "Not Enough Beer") because it was so rich, and they only had 42 minutes. I found these Replicators really chilling. Reese was a child: she was moody, didn’t realize her own power, and didn’t take responsibility (until the end; see my “Menace Duology”). Fifth is a child emotionally, looking for love and connection. The Others are not, and they have no excuse.
“Sight Unseen”: The X-Files as comedy. I couldn’t believe they doubted Jonas after poor Daniel’s experience in “Legacy”; there were so many things they ought to have done! The overall plot? Not great. Sam and Jonas pretending to be married, however, made it worth the price of admission. I don’t ship them (I don’t ship or slash anyone on this show!), but they’re just so cute together!
“Smoke and Mirrors”: I really enjoyed this one and thought it one of the best of the season. I knew that Kinsey returns later in the show, so he couldn’t be dead. It was a pretty effective set-up, though! I love that they brought back the tech from “Foothold.” I loved how the characters handled it. Didn’t Janet rock when she recognized that the autopsy results did not include the medications the victim was supposed to be on? Jonas and Teal’c did a little of their alien thing again, but with Jonas being taken aback at Teal’c. Jonas is so cute!
“Paradise Lost”: I still don’t like Harry Maybourne. This episode annoys me in three major ways: 1) bloophole: it requires the characters to act stupid. Hammond has four Marines walk Harry to the Gate, but then only Jack goes through with him? Keep the Marines on Harry! Keep the man trussed! Certainly Sam should never have gone within an arm's length of him! 2) Maybe I saw a spoiler somewhere and didn’t consciously remember it, but honestly, that huge moon up above? Guys, it’s obvious! How could the Tok’ra scan that planet and not check every other habitable body in that solar system? They knew the transporter wasn’t a gate, so they should have been looking for a solution nearby! 3) Okay, Harry has been drugged and shot--but it’s his own fault. Jack unilaterally decides he has suffered enough for a long-term program of treason and blackmailing the government with information that wasn’t what he said it was and knocking Sam out and stranding Jack on a not-very-friendly moon? I don’t think so! Jack doesn’t really strike me as that forgiving a guy, either! I’d rather have had Harry ask asylum from the Tok’ra, or find some way to sneak off. I could have lived with that.
I did like that the episode didn’t make Harry so much the lovable scamp he’s supposed to be later. He’s dangerous and selfish. Goodbye, Harry. Wish I didn’t see you again.
So that’s s6 so far! Still looking forward to “Changeling”....
or_mabinogi for an article about The Big Bang Theory: "Must-Geek TV: Is the World Ready for an Asperger's Sitcom?" by Paul Collins at Slate.Now, a movie Brilliant Husband and I recently saw thanks to Netflix: The Gamers: Dorkness Rising.
When BH told me that The Gamers: Dorkness Rising had arrived, I said, "What?" It took him a bit to convince me this was an actual movie. It's real (and in the IMDb). I thought I'd give it a shot, and when it got too bad, I'd just leave him to it and go do something else (like writing the incredible growing Primeval story--on which he just finished the pre-beta beta, by the way). It's obvious from the opening moments that this was not exactly a Major Motion Picture; how many movies actually have credits at the end for "Acting Coach"? It seems to be a sequel to a 2002 straight-to-video movie called The Gamers, which only has a couple of the same characters (and which I haven't seen).
I never got up and walked away. I couldn't, some of the time; I was laughing too hard. It's about some guys playing a campaign, and they are joined by the ex-girlfriend of one of them. We see them playing at a table, and then we get inside the game itself, where they're in costume, moving through landscapes and castles and such. It's funny, but it also has a heart--without getting mawkish, as I briefly feared it might. I'm not a gamer myself. I was a busy little high-schooler, working some evenings and most Saturdays, and while I was a geek, I didn't know a lot of gamers. I was too busy in college, when I actually knew people who gamed, and I think it's too late for me now.
I enjoyed the movie greatly. BH has played, and a few times I said, "Is it really like that?" and he said, "Yeah, sometimes" or "Some players are." It's goofy. It has better production values than you might expect considering that half the main cast have only this in their listings at IMDb; it has lower production values than new Doctor Who (although better than some of the older DW). Parts are predictable, but there were a few surprises, and a lot of snorfling. If you need a pick-me-up, see this movie.
Now the long awaited Stargate SG-1 s6 episode comments! (Well,
aurora_novarum has been awaiting them long!) Yes, we're still watching s6: we started the show in s7 and began the DVDs with s1 while it was still on. We hit s6 a little before the show ended, and we lost any sense of urgency. I'll tell you straight up: season 6 doesn't, on the whole, do a lot for me. I like Jonas, but some of the plots seem pretty lame to me, and I often don't feel the team gelling (yes, that happens in other seasons sometimes too). We just saw "Paradise Lost," but I figured if I waited until we'd seen the whole season to post comments, I'd exceed the character length for one entry (and give up in despair). I hope I'm late enough in posting that I'm not harshing anyone's squee. Indeed, at this point I'm having trouble remembering some of the early episodes of the season! These will be less reviews, I suppose, than collections of fairly random comments.
"Redemption" parts 1 & 2: Jonas redeems himself. Gee, I never would have guessed! I really liked seeing Rya'c again. I love Jack's mood: it seems entirely proper for Jack to be in a months-long sulk, because he has lost his best friend and doesn't know how to handle it. (Jack and Daniel are the heart of the series for me, though I did enjoy some of seasons 9 and 10.) I love how hard it was to replace Daniel, and the brush of air through Jack's hair at the end. I also enjoyed seeing Rodney again, and I loved Jack's solution with the X-302. I saw a lot of the plot coming, but I must confess, I didn't think of taking the Gate into space myself. I enjoyed the characters in this one more than the plot. Wait--that's a summary of most of my love for SG-1.
"Descent": this one occasioned a few too many giggles from me. Jonas can swim! Jonas can swim really well! "It's my first time on a spaceship!" I do like Jonas. I enjoyed seeing Jacob. I felt bad for poor ol' Thor. The plot? Well, that seemed a bit silly.
"Frozen": my favorite scene is the one where they greet each other: "Doctor." "Doctor." "Doctor." "Doctor." "Major." Hee hee! The fact that none of the characters seemed to have any idea how to handle a contagion bothered the heck out of me. They were very careless, at best. Of course, this episode seems to exist primarily to set up "Abyss," so we'll let it live.
"Nightwalkers": did I wander into The X-Files by mistake? Srsly? The only good bits were Teal'c and Jonas being aliens together and trying to figure out just how strange these townspeople really are--is there something wrong with them, or are they just Tau'ri? Jonas just wants to get along. I love the SG-1 aliens. Forget the plot.
"Abyss": what can I say? I think people had actually built this up and spoiled it for me just a little too much, because the only bits I didn't feel I already knew were at the very beginning! That's the trouble with coming to a fandom so late. I loved seeing Daniel again, and Jack and Daniel still related much as they had, except that Daniel seemed much more relaxed, happier even, than he had of late in corporeal form. RDA was on; this is one of his best eps. My heart ached for Jack.
On a side note, I was very glad that I could finally read
redbyrd_sgfic's Abyss Series! (You can find it on her fic site.) Great stories!“Shadow Play”: this episode felt strange to me, like not-quite-Stargate, and yet I thought it was really good. Dean Stockwell is good no matter what he’s in. I didn’t figure out what was going on for a while; I went through a number of different hypotheses before I began to suspect. Then my heart ached for Kieran--and for Jonas. Jonas is a good man. The Kelownans? They’re a mess. They clearly needed Jonas back. I know, they’ll get him eventually. (I’m still annoyed at the writers for their last mention of Jonas’s home on the show, and I’m glad people have written some good fics about what really happened on the planet.)
“The Other Guys”: I think this was ruined for me by having seen “Avenger 2.0” previously. I love John Billingsley. I can’t stand Felger: I can’t believe anyone that incompetent could work for the SGC. There are socially inept geeks (see The Big Bang Theory), and then there are geeks who can’t do their jobs. Felger can’t do his job. He’s a disaster, and I cringed whenever he was onscreen. Sorry--I know some of you enjoyed the ep. I wish I could have.
“Allegiance”: I felt like I’d seen this plot before, though I can’t for the life of me think where! I could see most of the developments coming. Knowing that Bra’tac will turn up alive in later seasons takes away the one bit of drama I might have found.
“Cure”: huh? What? I’m not sure how I feel about this one. We find the first Tok’ra only to lose her at once? Am I supposed to like the Pangarans? I know we haven’t seen the last of tretonin, but I’m not sure how we’ll get from point A to season 7 (although I know “The Changeling” has an important place in there). I couldn’t find much sympathy for anyone. I wanted the Tok’ra to do better, and they seem to have spent the series killing more and more of them off. I think it’s
sg_fignewton who first said (in my hearing, anyway) that SG-1 ends up undoing almost all its victories: they save individuals, peoples, and planets only to lose them again; they free the galaxy only to bring a potentially worse threat on it; every bit of good feels like it’s ultimately lost again. (We will not speak of the Asgard and “Unending” here. We will just think of it and shake our fists and yell, “Khan!” Or “Mallozzi!”, but that hasn’t got the same ring to it.)“Prometheus”: blah. Bloopholes right and left. I prefer to ignore it.
“Unnatural Selection”: now there’s an episode. Hey, it revealed I’d apparently made errors in my “Menace Duology” (my fics are here), but I’ll forgive it anyway. We get team interaction--but greatly stressed team interaction. We get moral dilemmas. We get Fifth, who wants to be a Real Boy! I had to write an epilogue to this episode (see my fic page again: "Not Enough Beer") because it was so rich, and they only had 42 minutes. I found these Replicators really chilling. Reese was a child: she was moody, didn’t realize her own power, and didn’t take responsibility (until the end; see my “Menace Duology”). Fifth is a child emotionally, looking for love and connection. The Others are not, and they have no excuse.
“Sight Unseen”: The X-Files as comedy. I couldn’t believe they doubted Jonas after poor Daniel’s experience in “Legacy”; there were so many things they ought to have done! The overall plot? Not great. Sam and Jonas pretending to be married, however, made it worth the price of admission. I don’t ship them (I don’t ship or slash anyone on this show!), but they’re just so cute together!
“Smoke and Mirrors”: I really enjoyed this one and thought it one of the best of the season. I knew that Kinsey returns later in the show, so he couldn’t be dead. It was a pretty effective set-up, though! I love that they brought back the tech from “Foothold.” I loved how the characters handled it. Didn’t Janet rock when she recognized that the autopsy results did not include the medications the victim was supposed to be on? Jonas and Teal’c did a little of their alien thing again, but with Jonas being taken aback at Teal’c. Jonas is so cute!
“Paradise Lost”: I still don’t like Harry Maybourne. This episode annoys me in three major ways: 1) bloophole: it requires the characters to act stupid. Hammond has four Marines walk Harry to the Gate, but then only Jack goes through with him? Keep the Marines on Harry! Keep the man trussed! Certainly Sam should never have gone within an arm's length of him! 2) Maybe I saw a spoiler somewhere and didn’t consciously remember it, but honestly, that huge moon up above? Guys, it’s obvious! How could the Tok’ra scan that planet and not check every other habitable body in that solar system? They knew the transporter wasn’t a gate, so they should have been looking for a solution nearby! 3) Okay, Harry has been drugged and shot--but it’s his own fault. Jack unilaterally decides he has suffered enough for a long-term program of treason and blackmailing the government with information that wasn’t what he said it was and knocking Sam out and stranding Jack on a not-very-friendly moon? I don’t think so! Jack doesn’t really strike me as that forgiving a guy, either! I’d rather have had Harry ask asylum from the Tok’ra, or find some way to sneak off. I could have lived with that.
I did like that the episode didn’t make Harry so much the lovable scamp he’s supposed to be later. He’s dangerous and selfish. Goodbye, Harry. Wish I didn’t see you again.
So that’s s6 so far! Still looking forward to “Changeling”....
