Gundam Wing and other TV

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I vaguely remember seeing a few episodes of Gundam Wing on TV many years ago. Not too many years ago, because I think I did read some fanfic, but very little. Then a few days ago I found a rec for a Stargate/GW crossover fic and I decided to watch it again. Great decision! I didn't remember it being this good.


It has so many things I love! Very competent people, fierce loyalty, the enemy of my enemy is my ally, allies growing closer to almost-friends, shifting fronts - fantastic! I love the interactions between the Gundam Pilots, how they're constantly almost killing each other and themselves (all the time!) and yet they are the only ones who share what they're going through. I love Noin and her loyalty to Zechs, and I cheered when she took Relena under her wings for a short while. And Relena, she has the potential to be amazing, so much fire and stubbornness waiting to unfold and become something great. And Sally, Sally's the best! Treize and Zechs and Une are also interesting. I still have half of the series to watch, I can barely wait to see what happens.

Other TV shows I'm currently watching (or not):

Borgen: I decided to watch this show on an enthusiastic recommendation by jae despite the fact that I didn't think Danish politics would make a great show. But it totally does! I haven't gotten very far, I'm currently stuck in the middle of season 1. The "problem" is that the show made me care so much about the characters so quickly that it became very hard to watch the first 30 minutes of each episode before the plot gets more or less resolved. It's a great show, but not very suitable for casual comfort TV.


The Lizzie Bennett Diaries: I'm too tired to list all the reasons why this Pride & Prejudice adaption in form of videoblogs (!) is so great. It's funny and heart-warming and the actors are fantastic and the modern translation is very well done. I haven't read P&P in years and I still enjoy it very much.


Elementary: I watched the first two episodes and I agree with the opinion I've seen most often: the actual crime-solving was boring, but the dynamic is great. And that aspect is not that hard to fix in future episodes, I hope.


Farscape: I'm still in the middle of season 2 of Farscape, I don't even know for sure why... I'm just not very interested in what happens next, for some reason? I loved the first season, and people told me the second and third one were better, but so far I found the second season mostly alternately strange and boring overall. Okay, not all episodes - "The Way We Weren't" was great, and episodes like "Crackers Don't Matter" were fun, most of them were on their own, but the sense of "going somewhere" or at least fleeing something from the first season is lacking. And I'm still not over what they did to Zhaan. I keep thinking I should give it another try, but something else always gets in the way.


SGA: I rewatched a few SGA episodes and it was a lot of fun. But then I decided to watch "Sanctuary" next because I thought that competent!Chaya would make a nice subplot in an AU, and apparently I underestimated how much I don't want to watch that episode. I heard so many terrible things about it! There's a few SGA episodes I haven't watched yet - Sanctuary, Irresistible, Michael, Misbegotten... Hopefully I'll be more motivated when I get my sga_santa assignment.

Of course right when I finally decide to go to bed atlantisbigbang goes live. To sleep or not to sleep...

Comments

[whizzy]

Oh MAN, Gundam Wing. I still have fansubs somewhere. On VHS. And a certain person is trying to get me to re-watch, but I dunno. Right now it's kind of a pleasant hazy memory of mecha and jackboots.

Elementary: like the characters and the dynamic, but the crime bits will never live up to the Holmes legend. I'm not sure even ACD could have come up with more than a few decent mysteries in a year. (I have no idea how many episodes they intend to do each season, but looks like 6+ is a given.)

[schneefink]

The boots are indeed memorable *g*

Yes, coming up with good mysteries is hard, but I'm satisfied if they're not too stupid. And I'm not very invested in the show anyway (except maybe if we get more bees...)

[cesare]

Does it help to know that they really didn't want to lose Zhaan, but the body makeup was too much for the actress so they had to write her off the show for her health?

[schneefink]

That's not my issue, I didn't even get to that point yet. But Zhaan in season 2 is a different character than we got in season 1. I was disappointed by her "losing it" at the beginning of the season, and overall it feels like she took a step back. She also plays a more minor role in the plots than she did before. I miss season1!Zhaan :(

[cesare]

Ahhh, gotcha. Sorry!

[acari]

For what it's worth, I never thought Sanctuary was one of the bad episodes. I always liked Chaya and later Larrin, too. Irresistible is a bad episode, though.

I wish I liked Elementary but I couldn't even finish the second episode. The crime stuff bores me and this Sherlock rubs me the wrong way.

Would it help with Farscape if I told you the final S2 episodes are epic? I was super glad when Zhaan left, though, she got on my last nerve.

[schneefink]

Good to know, thanks :)

The best part about Elementary is clearly Joan Watson. Everything else is either to be ignored (stupid crimes) or a bonus (bees!) For now at least that's enough to keep me watching.

I'll definitely get back to Farscape one day, probably to finish season 2 and see if I'm still interested. The s1 finale was great, so maybe they're good at those. I loved Zhaan in season 1, but in season 2 I also found her annoying occasionally.

[jae]

Oops. I should have warned you that I pretty much don't do comfort teevee, shouldn't I have? :) Sorry about that!

-J

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I should have guessed that a show about politics that isn't a comedy wouldn't be comforting. A lot of it reminds me of real politics, except without Birgitte.

[kristen999.livejournal.com]

Season Two of Farscape is one of the most intense seasons of any TV show I've ever watched. They bend and break many boundaries and turning most tropes on their head.

What happened to Zhaan was heart-breaking, but unlike most shows who fire people for the sake of drama, the actress could not take the heavy make-up sessions needed for the part anymore and wanted to leave.

[schneefink.livejournal.com]

Playing with tropes sounds good :)

My 'problem' with Zhaan isn't that she left, but that I found her a very different character in season 2 than she was in season 1, and I loved her much more in s1.

[amnisias.livejournal.com]

I'm enjoying Elementary, like you, mainly for the relationshippy and character stuff rather than the crime solving, but then that's true of pretty much all procedurals I watch (an exeption that comes to mind is Criminal Minds). Though I really don't know why they bothered to sell this as a Sherlock re-make (other than cashing in on a hype). I would have been just as happy watching this if they were called Smith and Wallace and given him a piano to play.

I think you're missing out a lot of really great stuff with Farscape if you give up in season 2. I never liked those crazy AU/dreamsequenze snippets, but on the dramatic side it had my heart and guts in a tight squeeze several times. The pain of the end of season 4 was really bad, but at least you won't have to go through that agony.

[schneefink.livejournal.com]

My guess is publicity. They never would have got as much attention if it were a random crime procedural of a private detective and his assistant. Plus it can be fun to think about how to adapt a particular canon to a particular setting - that's why I love AUs so much!

I'll most likely go back to watching Farscape one day. Maybe not right now - friends suggested that we watch Babylon 5 next, which will take some time - but enough people told me that I should at least finish season 2.

[tari-roo.livejournal.com]

I think I love you. Thanks for reminding me about Gundam Wing - I've decided to download it as well and do a better job of watching just the handfull of episodes :) *is excited*

I'm holding back on Lizzie, as I want to get a slew of episodes again and watch them all at once. This one by one is killing me.

I liked Farscape season 2, def, but I think I like 3 more. I'm kinda stalled in four at the moment (on the first time watching)

As for SGA - I kinda like Irresistible, but I know a few folk don't :)

[schneefink.livejournal.com]

Yay! I hope you'll enjoy it :D I'm currently watching the episodes streaming, and I thought about getting the DVDs if I find them. I didn't do anything today except watch GW...

I'm much too impatient not to watch them all immediately ;)