(no subject)
Jul. 13th, 2006 11:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trinityvixenAnd a little less ranty entry, too.
I'm making good progress on my active plan of passively watching enough old TV and movies to finish everything I've not watched yet. I got through a full disc of Futurama, and another episode of Smallville. I have to say something about the latter.
Dude, does having Aquaman necessarily make a show suck, or is it just a coincidence?![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
darkling1 assures me that the animated Justice League Aquaman is pretty interesting, and I'll take his word for it (he is the insidious force that brought Firefly into my consciousness and viewing purvey, after all, and I wouldn't really have gone to see Superman Returns with any real interest without the encouragement of his enthusiasm). But still. TWoP's review of that episode was more interesting than the ep itself, which isn't saying much, I suppose.
How stupid was it? There were fish puns. Fish. PUNS. Nothing hurts like a pun, unless it's a fish pun and then it burns a hundred times worse. This is made more terrible for the much better done allusions to James Marsters' character's eventual future and the fact that his character had some killer dialogue and awesome mindviews to share from the second he entered frame. He was erudite, ascerbic, insightful, and, okay, James Marsters is finally showing his age, but he looked like a learned, truthful, if not always tactful guy that you could trust.
Aquaman looked like a neanderthal and spoke just about as eloquently. I'm surprised Clark--of all people, not the brightest--was the only one to find it strange that this college jock boy was out in the middle of Kansas fighting for an environmental cause (and even then only because he registered on the Smallville-brand powered-up freak-o-meter). That should have set off flags with everybody. I mean not even Al Gore would go to Kansas for that fight, so Flipper the swim jock should have stuck out like...you know what? I'm not making that pun. I'm just not.
You know a show has got to be fighting for its renewal pretty hard when they drag Aquaman in to do some leg work for them. On the flip side, I need to see the episode where the Flash showed up as I actually like that character, and Clark's mention of him makes it sound like he made a fairly canoniacal impression on Smallville--"A kid who runs too fast for his own good." Was it Wally? I bet it was.
I'm making good progress on my active plan of passively watching enough old TV and movies to finish everything I've not watched yet. I got through a full disc of Futurama, and another episode of Smallville. I have to say something about the latter.
Dude, does having Aquaman necessarily make a show suck, or is it just a coincidence?
darkling1 assures me that the animated Justice League Aquaman is pretty interesting, and I'll take his word for it (he is the insidious force that brought Firefly into my consciousness and viewing purvey, after all, and I wouldn't really have gone to see Superman Returns with any real interest without the encouragement of his enthusiasm). But still. TWoP's review of that episode was more interesting than the ep itself, which isn't saying much, I suppose.How stupid was it? There were fish puns. Fish. PUNS. Nothing hurts like a pun, unless it's a fish pun and then it burns a hundred times worse. This is made more terrible for the much better done allusions to James Marsters' character's eventual future and the fact that his character had some killer dialogue and awesome mindviews to share from the second he entered frame. He was erudite, ascerbic, insightful, and, okay, James Marsters is finally showing his age, but he looked like a learned, truthful, if not always tactful guy that you could trust.
Aquaman looked like a neanderthal and spoke just about as eloquently. I'm surprised Clark--of all people, not the brightest--was the only one to find it strange that this college jock boy was out in the middle of Kansas fighting for an environmental cause (and even then only because he registered on the Smallville-brand powered-up freak-o-meter). That should have set off flags with everybody. I mean not even Al Gore would go to Kansas for that fight, so Flipper the swim jock should have stuck out like...you know what? I'm not making that pun. I'm just not.
You know a show has got to be fighting for its renewal pretty hard when they drag Aquaman in to do some leg work for them. On the flip side, I need to see the episode where the Flash showed up as I actually like that character, and Clark's mention of him makes it sound like he made a fairly canoniacal impression on Smallville--"A kid who runs too fast for his own good." Was it Wally? I bet it was.
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when sex no longer sells
Date: 2006-07-13 03:58 pm (UTC)Well in their defense I think they ran out of reasons to have Lana strip again. Seriously take a look at the first few seasons. Lana's stripping seemed to be a grab to make sure the show had the ratings to keep going. Chloe and Lois in swimsuits wasn't really a draw since such things have become expected. Don't get me started on how bad the "Lois the stripper" eps was. And there is only so much "Chloe trying to bone Clark" the viewers can take before they just lose all hope for the show. So they reached out for another big name hero that won't upstage Superman and they pull out Aquaman. Sad, yes. But take a look at what they had to work with.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-13 04:01 pm (UTC)The Flash ep was decent. I don't remember which Flash it was, but he had passports with the names of all the others. But it was, like so many latter SV eps, a one-trick pony. They bring in a comic character so that all the interest in that episode is generated from fans saying, "Look! It's the Flash!" rather than actually generating interest with story writing. I think the only such episode that was well-written was "Perry" back in season 3.
Re: when sex no longer sells
Date: 2006-07-13 04:02 pm (UTC)Funny, though, as this season started with a depowered Clark giving perfect reason to have Lana strip--they could now actually have the sex without it killing her.
And if they were going for sex appeal? Couldn't they have found a cute dumb blonde? There was something Messed. Up about this guy's face. I give him credit for looking like Aquaman when he was grunting and screaming trying to get off the table at the end, but sheesh. Uuuuuuugly.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-13 04:05 pm (UTC)Yeah, the Superman animated series did the same thing--hey look! Flash! Supergirl! And, uh, Aquaman. I thought the Perry episode was fantastic, but Michael McKean is always great, and this was one episode that actually made the Superman-future-story that we all know and love possible. It explains, at least, why a guy with almost no reporter instinct as Clark is usually shown to be, gets a job at all with the Daily Planet.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-13 04:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-13 04:54 pm (UTC)Re: when sex no longer sells
Date: 2006-07-13 05:02 pm (UTC)Anyway, the show's ratings have been good enough (for the WB, anyway) that I doubt it's had to "fight" for renewal.
Re: when sex no longer sells
Date: 2006-07-13 05:18 pm (UTC)Since you brought it up... So Image Comics, through the quite amusing piece they put out called The Pro, threw out their opinion on what would likely happen were a being like Superman had a sexual encounter. Long story short, he tells the woman (who was an empowered, super-strength, type person) to move as his climax busts through the brick wall, up to about forty-thousand feet, and cleanly cleaves off the wing of a plane. Moral of this story: when dealing with an empowered being with human-like plumbing, anything is possible.
Re: when sex no longer sells
Date: 2006-07-13 05:37 pm (UTC)Re: when sex no longer sells
Date: 2006-07-13 06:20 pm (UTC)Re: when sex no longer sells
Date: 2006-07-13 07:34 pm (UTC)Re: when sex no longer sells
Date: 2006-07-13 07:35 pm (UTC)Re: when sex no longer sells
Date: 2006-07-13 07:50 pm (UTC)Mur? You mean, normal men are going around all the time doing stupid stuff in sex (which, granted, they are) and therefore we shouldn't take Supes to task or the other way around? Such that normal guys can figure out how to have sex without hurting their partners so Superman should be able to, too?
I dunno about that last part. Sometimes power can't be controlled... And to date I've not seen a Superman adaptation that posited the Man of Steel was able to have sex when he had his full powers, but then again, I don't read the comics, and he and Lois have been married for a while now, so I'm sure they've figured something out...
Re: when sex no longer sells
Date: 2006-07-13 07:55 pm (UTC)Yup that's the one. Though primarily a joke comic, it's surprisingly good and fairly well thought out. Though it does have some very strong "Jerry Springer" moments.
Re: when sex no longer sells
Date: 2006-07-13 08:03 pm (UTC)I think you haven't seen such a Superman adaption because those likely to be writing SuperPr0n in the first place are those who are more than happy to make it, no pun intended, fucked up.
Re: when sex no longer sells
Date: 2006-07-13 08:10 pm (UTC)Of course, there was also the Armageddon 2001 "possible future" in which Lois got pregnant with Superman's child, then died of internal hemmoraging the first time it kicked.
Re: when sex no longer sells
Date: 2006-07-13 08:54 pm (UTC)Honestly, I believe there are a lot of people who go to the emergency room for sex-related mishaps and just don't admit it. This is often dangerous for their health, as lying or omitting details can lead to misdiagnosis. Then again, when you've put something somewhere and you can't get it out again, well, that's a bit easier to discover the problem, wot?
Re: when sex no longer sells
Date: 2006-07-13 08:57 pm (UTC)He's Superman. If anyone will figure out how to reproduce, it's him. Plus, he's friends with Batman. If there was some time, some way that Superman couldn't make it happen, Batman would know three different ways to make it so.
And I sound like a slasher. Great.
Re: when sex no longer sells
Date: 2006-07-14 12:53 pm (UTC)...do you really want me to start listing sexual related injuries here? Just to warn you, many lead to male sexual dysfunction mostly in the physical sense. Plus with injuries of this sort, many don't seek medical attention right away. Usually it's in that final moment where they can't stand it anymore that they talk to their general practitioner about it.
Re: when sex no longer sells
Date: 2006-07-14 01:30 pm (UTC)This is all completely aside from the general idiocy of trying to apply real-world science to Superman. If anyone can explain to me his means of propulsion for flight, for example, I'd love to hear it.
Re: when sex no longer sells
Date: 2006-07-14 01:41 pm (UTC)Re: when sex no longer sells
Date: 2006-07-14 02:22 pm (UTC)You have to get energy from somewhere, right? I mean, it can't just be Supes' "dense cellular structure" constantly converting mass to energy, or he'd eventually run out...