You'll never give up, never give up, never give up that ship

[sovay]

Last night I dreamed I discovered a previously unknown and probably nonexistent biography of Ralph Richardson. I also dreamed my front teeth fell out like popsicle sticks. One of these dreams was better than the other.

This afternoon derspatchel and I met sairaali and M. at the A.R.T. for The Last Two People on Earth: An Apocalyptic Vaudeville, starring Mandy Patinkin and Taylor Mac. It was lovely. It's more or less what it sounds like: a relationship after the end of the world, described and explored strictly through gesture, mime, and music. Songs utilized include a post-apocalyptic update of Eddie Lawrence's "Old Philosopher," the best cover I have ever heard of the Pogues' "Fairytale of New York," and a subversively straight reading of "Another National Anthem" from Assassins. I grew up on Patinkin's singing (and Spanish accent), but I had never seen him in person before; he plays the older, dourer, more damaged of the pair, a tattered hermit who may or may not have been born in a trunk, but is living ferally in one when Mac's impish baggy-pantser rows a junk-cluttered lifeboat up to his shore. Mac turns out to remind me sharply of Donald O'Connor circa Singin' in the Rain, at least with a bowler hat on, a sprightly knack for physical comedy, and a mercurial talent for extracting everything from a picnic supper to a fifth of gin from the remote regions of judy's trousers. I have discovered that I am no longer the target audience for strobe lights—I didn't get a migraine, but I watched the storm sequences with one hand over my eyes. Eighty minutes with no intermission. If you can snag the tickets, it's worth your time.

So I have this relationship with the film of Stargate (1994), where I know it's a total brain-optional chariots-of-the-gods B-picture with almost certainly a white savior problem and in the days when I lived in a house with a television, I watched it every time it came around, because there are very few movies where a dork with a knowledge of dead languages saves the day. (To this day, even after Crash (1996), Secretary (2002), and Age of Ultron (2015), I am always faintly surprised when James Spader is not playing a sweet-natured nerd. Also, Jaye Davidson as Ra is ridiculously beautiful, even if the bass reverb voice processing is kind of unnecessary.) I knew about the television sequel and its multiple spinoffs; I never paid any attention to them because I couldn't see the point. People who watch more genre television than I do: are any of them any good? This question brought to you by vague curiosity upon realizing I lived through an entire sci-fi franchise without interacting with it almost at all. I mean, I've only seen the pilot of Farscape, but I've seen it.

Comments

[tam_nonlinear]

I loved the Stargate TV series, or at least the first one and most of it. I'm sure that if I watched it again, I'd have problems and issues, and a lot of it really was popcorn and lazy weekend viewing, BUT- in its defense, it had a sense of humor, the female characters are consistently smart and tough, and there are several people who Science at things a lot. It might be something hard to pick up now, but give it a shot. If I recall, it originally aired on Showtime (maybe?) and so the first few episodes have some silly nudity, but that got dropped once they realized their core audience was younger than they thought. It's a bit cheesy, but fun.

It goes on for many, many seasons, but I think I gave up somewhere around six or seven, but the early seasons had some great stuff. The spin-off shows were- well, I know people who loved Atlantis, but I hated one of the main characters a lot, so it didn't take for me, and Universe was trying to be Dark and Serious in a franchise that was mostly adventure of the week format. But the original was fun, and there were some good episodes in there. Plus there's always the thrill of the fact that every cheesy SF show from the time seemed to use the same pool of actors, so there's an lot of "Hey, it's that person!" in watching it.

[sovay]

in its defense, it had a sense of humor, the female characters are consistently smart and tough, and there are several people who Science at things a lot. It might be something hard to pick up now, but give it a shot.

So none of my usual sources for legitimately streaming television are currently carrying Stargate: SG-1, so it looks as though interlibrary loan is about to be in order, but I found a eclectic assortment of freely available (not terrible quality, not going to explode my computer; it looked like a site which had once hosted the entire series for free viewing before Showtime or Syfy pulled most of them, which is why I got the random distribution I did) episodes last night and watched two or three. The sense of humor stood out for me, most notably in that it's a science fiction show populated by people who read and/or are aware of the conventions of science fiction, so there's a plausible amount of yep, this is my life without it becoming self-reflexively undercutting. I liked also that it looks like military SF where the civilian characters are not automatically deadweight, naive, or wrong. I can probably hum my way through the silly nudity once I know it's not a recurring feature. (I am all for nudity, but not nudity for LOOK BOOBIES sake.)

I know people who loved Atlantis, but I hated one of the main characters a lot, so it didn't take for me

No, that sounds like a good reason not to watch! I will almost certainly give it a try because I have been informed that the SG-1 guest character I imprinted on (Robert Picardo's Richard Woolsey, paper-pusher with a conscience) becomes an Atlantis regular, but I won't feel bad if I bounce. Which one did you hate?

Plus there's always the thrill of the fact that every cheesy SF show from the time seemed to use the same pool of actors, so there's an lot of "Hey, it's that person!" in watching it.

That is always fun. Law & Order was like that for character actors. Hey, it's Brad Dourif! And that guy I saw play Alan Turing at the Central Square Theatre in 2011!

[tam_nonlinear]

Rodney McKay is the detested Atlantis character. He'll show up on SG-1 several times before the spin-off start. The sort of entitled, rude, 'I'm smart so I don't have to have manners' stereotype of a scientist. Which would be fine if it hadn't been for the fact that once he was a lead on his own show, the implication was that the viewer was supposed to find this quirky and endearing. I may be an outlier, as an awful lot of fandom did find him endearing, and he did get better, but the show did enough other things wrong that I watched it but never quite loved it.

Amanda Tapping talked about how when she was first cast as Carter, the show runners wanted to dress her up in something sexy. She's said that she knew it might cost her the job, but she refused to wear anything other than the most marginally altered-for-a-female-body version of the male character's costumes. She won the fight, and for the most part the show stuck to that for recurring female characters, which was such a relief. There are still a few groaner episodes here and there, but it's better than the average from the time.

[sovay]

The sort of entitled, rude, 'I'm smart so I don't have to have manners' stereotype of a scientist.

Hm. The socially misfit scientist is an archetype I can go either way on (see: how I feel about Jonathan Willoway), but entitled characters I tend to bounce off no matter their discipline. Nobody is so smart they don't have to have manners. As a smart person who had to learn most of my social skills consciously from the ground up, I feel very strongly about this, dammit.

She's said that she knew it might cost her the job, but she refused to wear anything other than the most marginally altered-for-a-female-body version of the male character's costumes. She won the fight, and for the most part the show stuck to that for recurring female characters, which was such a relief.

Good for her! That also makes me more inclined to watch the show.

[phi]

I will never ever understand the sheer quantity of excellently written McShep fic with thoroughly utterly completely unlikeable Rodney McKay. He's horrid, and yet, I kept watching because I liked the other characters and I especially liked watching the other characters take him down a peg.

I suspect a good portion of fic-writing fandom identifies with McKay and that's why they find him endearing?

I'd never heard that story about Amanda Tapping. That's awesome!

[phi]

FWIW Woolsey was an antagonist of sorts in SGA, and I violently disliked the character.

[sovay]

FWIW Woolsey was an antagonist of sorts in SGA, and I violently disliked the character.

Dammit! Well, I'll always have "Inauguration."