Films! good, bad, recomendations, and general film talk

[dave_mc]

quit now!   too many series where they clearly never had a plan and are making it up as they went along.  i think i kept watching it under the assumption they must be going somewhere with it.  I suppose in fairness some of it was enjoyable but i certainly wont ever watch it again now its all done.

i also find myself put off by any programmes advertised as 'from the makers of lost'

+1

i stupidly got into it, and by the time it became obvious they were just stringing you along it was too late :(

but yeah i'm getting sick of series where it's clear they're making it up as they go along (and they're obvious about it). Obviously most series are like that, to a certain extent, but some are worse than others.

[Philly Q]

quit now!   too many series where they clearly never had a plan and are making it up as they went along.  i think i kept watching it under the assumption they must be going somewhere with it.  I suppose in fairness some of it was enjoyable but i certainly wont ever watch it again now its all done.

i also find myself put off by any programmes advertised as 'from the makers of lost'

+1

i stupidly got into it, and by the time it became obvious they were just stringing you along it was too late :(

but yeah i'm getting sick of series where it's clear they're making it up as they go along (and they're obvious about it). Obviously most series are like that, to a certain extent, but some are worse than others.

Hear hear!

But then I tend to think nearly all recent American series are like that.  Including 24, incredibly.

So I don't watch 'em.

[MDV]

I liked babylon 5

Babylon 5 had a plan. And brought plans back to TV shows. Then lost threw them out again.

I dont really see how the main theme of a show can be 'it doesnt make sense'.

[nfe]

Babylon 5 was fantastic. Shame that doubts over renewal mean the final episodes of the 4th and 5th seasons feel odd, but overall the heavy plotting from start to finish was great and meant there was never a "they're just making it up" vibe.

The same was true of DS9 of course, but there's some argument over exactly why that is...

[MDV]

yeah the end half and especially last couple of episodes of season 4 felt really rushed. Obviously, because they were. Then 5 was a bit making it up as they go along, or seemed that way, but that was because everything meant to go in it was crammed into the end of 4.

All things considered though, one of my favourite programs ever.

There is no debate in my mind whatsoever on how DS9 suddenly developed story arcs. Why it really was, I'll never know, but what I think it was is pretty clear :lol:

[JacksonRR]

In my opinion, Babylon5 was excellent all around. Deep Space 9 never drew me in like The Next Generation did. Still, I don't exactly mourn the loss of any sci-fi show except Firefly. There were so many good seasons and stories ahead of that one, but they basically aired it in the coffin and how they chose to air it was nothing but stupid for the amount of money spent on production. Fringe is obviously getting buried soon, but at least it's going down somewhat properly.

[MDV]

TNG was the definitive star trek for me. TOS was a bit before my time. TNG was the trek of my childhood, and was more than good enough that it still holds interest if and when I get to see it now. Better characterisation and story telling. More pointed, and at the time less tired underlying messages as well. I like/d DS9 well enough, but it never caught me the same way. Voyager can suck my balls.

I agree completely on firefly. 13 episodes of that just wasnt enough. I love serenity, but in a way its worse to me than the end of season 4 of B5: it seems like they tried to cram everything they wanted to do with the rest of the show into one film. Still a damned fine film though.

[JacksonRR]

I thought Serenity was the best they could do with what they had to work with. It had too many holes, too much special effects and not enough folk songs about Jayne. Perhaps they should have chopped it up into 14 parts and rolled dice to determine the order they'd play on the DVD. $%&#in Fox. bar-stewards.

[WezV]

"Babylon 5s a big pile of shite"

That is what my wife quotes every time i try to put it on.   but its influence is undeniable

I was always happy BSG was 'only ever 4 series'.   ok, they stretched it out with a forth series and a final series, it lost its way occasionally and i am still not sure about the ending... but they had an idea where they were going and it was enjoyable getting there

firefly never really got chance to make the most of its bigger story arcs, but has 13 brilliant stand along episodes.

Then there are other shows like Carnivale or Jericho which are all about the massive story arc, but got canned too soon for it to work and have rushed endings which leave you unsatisfied

its a hard balance to get right!

[juansolo]

If got a lot of TV series and am a sci-fi nut so this is my territory totally...

B5 - Brilliant, shame they $%&#ed them about and made them finish it in S4 only to have to start over again in S5 leaving S5 a bit patchy. Good stuff none the less.

Firefly was magnificent and it was a travesty what Fox did to it. Serenity went some way to making it right but it just wasn't enough. Shame, one of the best sci-fi's ever killed due to studio bumbling incompetance.

Lost - S1 was awesome, but it became clear about halfway through S2 that they hadn't actually written any more plot and were just making it up as they went along to milk it for as long as possible (X Files anyone...). I gave in on that there and then.

Same goes for all the Lost-a-likes (Flash Forward et-al).

Really found myself enjoying Stargate Universe. Kinda a matured SG franchise. At least they got a chance to give it an acceptable ending.

Watched 3 seasons of BSG and loved it. Got the lot on a shelf and still haven't got around to finishing it... Must do that.

If you can deal with the muppets (grew up with the muppet show so no probs there) and the fact it never really took itself seriously, Farscape was bloody brilliant. They couldn't have killed that one at a worse place (the end of S4 was a bit errm shocking to say the least). That was a show with a very definite 5 year arc and at least again, fan pressure got some sort of closure. Though cramming an entire season worth of plot closure into a 4 hour mini series was a little uncomfortable pace wise (and it lost a lot of it's humour and appeal because of the rushed nature of it). At least it did finish.

There are others that I'm sure will come to me as I go along.

Oh and Wez's missus reminded me of this: Spaced

[Ian Price]

For me The Wire is still the high point of TV. I haven't seen anything that has bettered it just yet.

[juansolo]

Rome and Band of Brothers for me. I think two of the most stunning TV series ever made.

[nfe]

Farscape was great, yeah. Same goes for quite a number of the lesser sung weird and wonderful rascals like Lexx.

Rome was a masterwork. And has my favourite closing line of all time in "About your father..."

[Ian Price]

Of course, Band of Brothers is also up there. I did try watching The Pacific but to be honest found it a little boring after 4 or 5 episodes.

[juansolo]

Farscape was great, yeah. Same goes for quite a number of the lesser sung weird and wonderful rascals like Lexx.

Lexx was really for the hardcore sci-fi nerd.  An ultra-weird Canadian/German pervy sci-fi. The mini-season 1 and season 2 were awesome. I think it actually got too odd for it's own good in season 3 and I lost interest. F**ked up show though. Loved it up to that point.

Rome was a masterwork. And has my favourite closing line of all time in "About your father..."

Indeed, shame it was so expensive to make that it was cancelled as there was plenty of very interesting history left to wrap it all up in.