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Feb. 29th, 2008 11:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
llywelaLandlord is convinced the security light is not on a timer. Me, I don't know what else to call it when the light comes on at a set time every day and goes off at a set time every night! He is having a different system installed, though, he assures me. So that's good.
Job hunting is very boring and depressing. I'd like to fast forward through the process, please.
Watched this week's Torchwood through a fog of migraine pills. That made for an interesting viewing experience. I'm going to assume, though, that any moments that made me go 'huh?' were as much to do with plot holes as my brain. It was Torchwood, after all. It was the one where Owen is freshly dead and then resurrected only not really - I'm watching at BBC2 pace, because I can't do two episodes a week with the BBC3 showing as well. My brain isn't wired that way. Especially when it's in a post-migraine haze.
I'm trying to remember if anything about the episode really leapt out at me, but coming up blank. Wow. I must have been even more brain dead than I thought I was. Oh yeah. I do remember thinking how derivative it is. I mean, yeah, there are no truly new ideas in fiction, and all shows borrow concepts from one another to re-work and make their own, but sometimes it is more blatant than others.
When Owen turned around with the black eyes? I started yelling 'Supernatural! Demon! Go for the holy water!' *G* And then later when he spewed out all that black smoke? I'm sitting there, all, 'I said it was a demon!' I don't think I was far off, either, from what little sense I could make of the plot. *G*
It made no sense to me at all that Martha would suddenly be okay again just because Death/the demon/whatever was defeated and banished back to the void, or whatever was meant to have happened. It drew life force out of her to sustain itself, yes? Same as with the people it killed. Defeating it didn't change the fact that that energy had been taken and expended - nothing to return to the original owner. But I can't dwell on that point, because trying to make sense of Torchwood plots is never a good idea. I did, though, kind of like the sense that they were delving into local mythology, even if it was a made up mythology, and even if I didn't understand how any of it fitted with their sci fi space credentials, and even if I was confused by the way they kept referring to churches, parishes and hospitals that don't exist.
I'm sure there was more I wanted to comment on, but that fog prevented me remembering any of it!
Ashes to Ashes is growing on me. It is never going to come anywhere near Life on Mars in terms of creativity and originality, depth and intensity, and all the rest of it, and has none of the psychological intricacy its predecessor did, but it is cleverly written, does have an intriguing arc running through it, and is a lot more fun now that Alex is lightening up and no longer annoying me as much as she did at the start.
I do appreciate that the writers have made a conscious effort to not imitate their own work too closely, because any attempt to make it too similar to Life on Mars would be doomed to failure. It has to stand on its own merits, and does so by taking the central concept of LoM and approaching it from a completely different angle. Alex came into her fantasy knowing all the detail's of Sam's, and in a sense that makes her all the more vulnerable than Sam, because she can't let go of what she knows and embrace the life she is now living. It makes her grasp on what's real and what isn't all the more brittle. She is making the most of the opportunity to lose a few of her inhibitions - the contrast between her appearance in 2008 and 1981 is immense - because she doesn't think she has anything to lose, can afford to let go and live it up a little, because none of this is real. But that's a dangerous approach to take in the 1981 world, in many ways - Gene said it in last week's episode, I think, that she's losing the respect of her colleagues and that to do her job effectively she needs to have their respect. She's caught in that cleft stick between treating her current existence as real or fantasy. To survive, Sam had to embrace his 1973 life. Alex is simply flirting with her 1981 existence.
She's a lot more fun to watch now that she's doing so, though, and has stopped being so prissy and superior. And the 80s credits do make me laugh every time because they are just sooo 80s. *G*
I'm still intrigued by the openness of the POV. We're getting a lot of scenes that Alex isn't present for, and some scenes that she's in are not told from her point of view. One of the central features of LoM was that every single scene was told from Sam's perspective, reinforcing the fact that this was all a fantasy, and it was Sam's fantasy, and that none of the characters had an existence outside of that fantasy. With A2A, though, the characters are being given an identity and existence of their own, separate from any fantasy Alex might be experiencing, and I am curious to see where that is leading and if it is at all relevant.
Plus, obviously, the main arc revolves around Alex's parents and their murder, with the plot thickening all the while as Alex builds up her body of evidence. It'll be interesting to see where that story goes, as well.
Job hunting is very boring and depressing. I'd like to fast forward through the process, please.
Watched this week's Torchwood through a fog of migraine pills. That made for an interesting viewing experience. I'm going to assume, though, that any moments that made me go 'huh?' were as much to do with plot holes as my brain. It was Torchwood, after all. It was the one where Owen is freshly dead and then resurrected only not really - I'm watching at BBC2 pace, because I can't do two episodes a week with the BBC3 showing as well. My brain isn't wired that way. Especially when it's in a post-migraine haze.
I'm trying to remember if anything about the episode really leapt out at me, but coming up blank. Wow. I must have been even more brain dead than I thought I was. Oh yeah. I do remember thinking how derivative it is. I mean, yeah, there are no truly new ideas in fiction, and all shows borrow concepts from one another to re-work and make their own, but sometimes it is more blatant than others.
When Owen turned around with the black eyes? I started yelling 'Supernatural! Demon! Go for the holy water!' *G* And then later when he spewed out all that black smoke? I'm sitting there, all, 'I said it was a demon!' I don't think I was far off, either, from what little sense I could make of the plot. *G*
It made no sense to me at all that Martha would suddenly be okay again just because Death/the demon/whatever was defeated and banished back to the void, or whatever was meant to have happened. It drew life force out of her to sustain itself, yes? Same as with the people it killed. Defeating it didn't change the fact that that energy had been taken and expended - nothing to return to the original owner. But I can't dwell on that point, because trying to make sense of Torchwood plots is never a good idea. I did, though, kind of like the sense that they were delving into local mythology, even if it was a made up mythology, and even if I didn't understand how any of it fitted with their sci fi space credentials, and even if I was confused by the way they kept referring to churches, parishes and hospitals that don't exist.
I'm sure there was more I wanted to comment on, but that fog prevented me remembering any of it!
Ashes to Ashes is growing on me. It is never going to come anywhere near Life on Mars in terms of creativity and originality, depth and intensity, and all the rest of it, and has none of the psychological intricacy its predecessor did, but it is cleverly written, does have an intriguing arc running through it, and is a lot more fun now that Alex is lightening up and no longer annoying me as much as she did at the start.
I do appreciate that the writers have made a conscious effort to not imitate their own work too closely, because any attempt to make it too similar to Life on Mars would be doomed to failure. It has to stand on its own merits, and does so by taking the central concept of LoM and approaching it from a completely different angle. Alex came into her fantasy knowing all the detail's of Sam's, and in a sense that makes her all the more vulnerable than Sam, because she can't let go of what she knows and embrace the life she is now living. It makes her grasp on what's real and what isn't all the more brittle. She is making the most of the opportunity to lose a few of her inhibitions - the contrast between her appearance in 2008 and 1981 is immense - because she doesn't think she has anything to lose, can afford to let go and live it up a little, because none of this is real. But that's a dangerous approach to take in the 1981 world, in many ways - Gene said it in last week's episode, I think, that she's losing the respect of her colleagues and that to do her job effectively she needs to have their respect. She's caught in that cleft stick between treating her current existence as real or fantasy. To survive, Sam had to embrace his 1973 life. Alex is simply flirting with her 1981 existence.
She's a lot more fun to watch now that she's doing so, though, and has stopped being so prissy and superior. And the 80s credits do make me laugh every time because they are just sooo 80s. *G*
I'm still intrigued by the openness of the POV. We're getting a lot of scenes that Alex isn't present for, and some scenes that she's in are not told from her point of view. One of the central features of LoM was that every single scene was told from Sam's perspective, reinforcing the fact that this was all a fantasy, and it was Sam's fantasy, and that none of the characters had an existence outside of that fantasy. With A2A, though, the characters are being given an identity and existence of their own, separate from any fantasy Alex might be experiencing, and I am curious to see where that is leading and if it is at all relevant.
Plus, obviously, the main arc revolves around Alex's parents and their murder, with the plot thickening all the while as Alex builds up her body of evidence. It'll be interesting to see where that story goes, as well.
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no subject
Date: 2008-02-29 01:51 pm (UTC)i figure it made a change for them to rip off Kripke, rather than Whedon
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Date: 2008-02-29 01:56 pm (UTC)Stewart is very wise. Supernatural did, indeed, do it better *G*
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Date: 2008-02-29 02:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-29 03:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-29 09:29 pm (UTC)2) Job hunting - sympathies.
3) Fog-o-pills and post migraine haze - even more sympathies. Oh I know that state only too well. Hope you soon feel more human and able to think in straight lines soon.
4)Torchwood - yes. Best not ask too many deep, searching questions about plot. Any questions at all really! The black eyes and billowing smoke seemed out of place - but does it mean the writers watch SPN!Don't know where they're going to take Owen now, but I'm glad he got his moment in the spotlight. Could've hit Jack for getting the other glove, but I did watch it punch-drunk with tiredness enough to enjoy him and Owen in the police cell. Martha's miraculous rejuvination - meh. Not going there.
5) A2A - interesting. I liked them exploring the protesters of the time - I remember Greenham Common and the like, so it was great to see the 'rise' of femiminism. Alex let me down though - fancy shutting the vault door! The idiot! Though it did lead to the wonderful rescue, and the theft from ... was it MI5? Hmm, can't remember. Really agree with what you said about Alex 'flirting' with 1981 - Sam had no clue what was going on, and so had to live the life. Alex is convinced it's a 'construct' and so is just playing with the time, and the people she meets. And I *knew* there was something shifty about Caroline and Alex's godfather... Alex didn't though, did she!
no subject
Date: 2008-03-01 08:12 am (UTC)My sentiments exactly!
Torchwood - yes. Best not ask too many deep, searching questions about plot.
Yes, and I always forget that self-imposed injunction. I have this terrible need to at least try to make sense of the plot of any show I watch, and it drives me mad when there is no logic there to pull together! I'll be interesting to see where they are going with Owen now - how long can they leave him like this before effecting a miracle cure? Or is he doomed forever to be yin to Jack's yang, the one eternally alive while the other is eternally dead?
Alex let me down though - fancy shutting the vault door! The idiot! Though it did lead to the wonderful rescue, and the theft from ... was it MI5?
Special Branch, wasn't it? Wonderful rescue, but kind of straining credulity that the backup would be able to sneak in unchallenged as well! Ah, security, eh.
I remember back in the early 80s my dad worked for...damn, what was it called? PSA. Or something. Did maintenance on government and army buildings. Always had to have the underside of the car checked for bombs when he went to work, just in case. The political climate of A2A brings all that flooding back!
no subject
Date: 2008-03-01 08:52 pm (UTC)Now that will be interesting! I'd like to see them play with that - how the difference in 'fates' changes their outlooks and actions.
And your poor Dad - that's a nasty thing to go through, just because of his work. We had the opposite problem, my dad was half Cornish, half Irish, with black hair & green eyes. He also drove a car with Irish number plates. Add that to the fact we lived near an Army base... and we got followed by the Army *and* the police regularly! We had to tell both whenever we were going past the base, or on long journeys. It was a relief when the car broke down, never to be driven again!
no subject
Date: 2008-03-02 07:45 am (UTC)I am interested to see where Torchwood is going with this Owen storyline.