Right, let the schedule sucking begin!

[trinityvixen]

I was updating my checklist of movies and television I'd watched and I found something fairly startling: until this past Sunday, I hadn't seen a new movie--in the theater, on DVD or on TV--in about a month and a half. Given that my family has a billion movie channels at home, I have Netflix, and I borrow stuff constantly from friends, this is amazing. I even went over my LJ posts and my Netflix history to be sure, and found that this was indeed the case. Netflix history might have explained it though: for about a month and a half, all I watched was Red Dwarf, so there you are. Now that I've got two discs at a time, I've even less space for movies because I'm trying to rape the account to get through TV shows I can't watch on actual TV (no access to HBO, shows are already on second seasons, etc).

If anyone has TV show rec, I'm all ears. Currently, I've got The 4400, Carnivale, Dr. Who, Rome, and I think Prison Break (I can't help it! TWoP really liked it, and I tend to agree with that reviewer, so I'm gonna give it a chance).

*****

House was terribly cute last night, especially as House was juggling an underage stalker (ugh, why do they make him do clinic when the guy who shot him is still on the loose!?) and trying to annoy Cuddy into replacing the new carpet for the old one (because it has the blood stains still on it from when he was shot, and House is morbid as all get out). I barely remember what happened that was unrelated to either of those two stories.

But, of course, the great rescheduling--ALL HAIL BASEBALL, FUCKERS--means there will be no new House episodes until after the World Series. This? This is why I hate sports. Well, not entirely, but it's a large fucking part of it. I hate hate hate that because some asswipes being paid millions need to mostly stand around scratching their asses for three-four hours, I have to wait an entire month for new House. I'll wither without more Laurie! Come on, Fox, don't do this to me!!

*****

I had a LOST dream about Jack, Kate and Sawyer (minds out of the gutter! I know viridian went there, and I'm reasonably sure deepredbelle might be in similar peril) being beat on by the Others. So, basically, since my brain can't care about Kate, and Jack, though hot, was supplanted by Sawyer a long time ago as my favorite LOST-wubby, it was all about Sawyer (the other two were just there for some reaction shots). Very happy me. He had some information that (SEE SPOILER) wanted, and they weren't satisfied with his being a smartass about not giving it up (hey, once you've been tortured by a professional, I'm sure there's nothing that SPOILER! can do to you to scare you a whole lot).

Oh yeah, I'm ready for the new season to begin. Especially as the last season had one of the hottest shots of why Sawyer is so badass: he, Jack, and Kate are gagged and bound, but only Sawyer is at all resisting this by standing on his knees rather than sitting on his legs. So fucking hot, his absolute refusal to submit. It makes one want to dominate him all the more.... ::drools::

*****

feiran and I finished the first three episodes of...okay, I have no idea what season this is really because in the USA we call it "the first season" but it's coming thirty years after they came up with the original concept, so I'm going to go with we watched the first three episodes of the Ninth Doctor Who. If not for the Doctor being fairly hilarious in his expressions (though if he finds everything either amusing or deadly tragic for the entire series, I'll be less forgiving) and Rose not being annoying, I'd be a little less enthused. So far, it's finding its footing, but it's doing a lot of weird "we don't have enough for a full episode, so have some filler" stuff. Not like extraneous scenes but really, really, really long pauses and rethinks in each scene. Balls to that.

I asked darkling1 if they were going to explain...well, everything, seeing as this is picking up from a long history of stuff, and he basically said they weren't gonna, which means that after I get through this season, I'm going to have to look it up (no spoilers! can't abide spoilers!)

Comments

[decidedly.livejournal.com]

Take out Jack and Kate, add Desmond and Sayid, and I'm wallowing in it! :P

Dude. I am having serious concerns about Mr. Eko in this upcoming season.

Okay, now I REALLY need to get in the shower.

[decidedly.livejournal.com]

BTW, did you ever watch Deadwood?

As for Rome, it has James Purefoy, so therefore is required watching for the world. And, as I told cupiscent, there's not a moment in the first half where he's not being smarmy, in uniform, naked, or fucking something, AND HE HAS A MIDGET.

Incidentally, Carnivale also has a midget, but he's much more intimidating. God, I love that show.

NO SERIOUSLY I'M GETTING IN THE SHOWER AND HOPPING OFF TO WORK RIGHT NOW.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I think I put Deadwood on the queue, too, as you and another acquaintance were raving about it. Then my friend goes "Ah, the show about MOTHERFUCKING," which will probably have ruined any drama I could get out of it.

James Purefoy...Eurotrash Hugh Jackman!? ::giggles:: I'm not all that fond, but it's nice to have a familiar face.

[arcane-the-sage.livejournal.com]

Something tells me you'd enjoy Deadwood. It's quite gritty and doesn't pull any punches (at least that I'm aware of). Perhaps one of the most realistic dramas based on the history of the west that I've seen in a good long while. Oh and it's not "MOTHERFUCKING" it's "COCKSUCKING". Trust me, after Deadwood you'd never forget that word.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

That's fine. I like the dramatization urge to show the past as not as gleaming as we'd like to remember. The teaching of history preferences the rise and the xenith of empires more than the expansion and the decline, with good reason, but there are plenty of strange transitional phases between empires that merit looks. The westward American expansion never particularly interested me, but I hear good things about Deadwood, and it has Timothy Olyphant in it, and that's enough.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

::giggles:: You made me go siiiiiiiiigh at work just now. I'm imagining myself lounging with three very beautiful men all attending to my needs. For shame. It'll only get worse, you know, when that cute Brazalian guy from Love, Actually joins the cast.

And your icon makes me go SQUEEEEE, as usual. Sawyer just needs to be hit. I don't like to support violence, but there's the facts, and that's what they be.

As for Mr. Eko, my Entertainment Weekly suspects he'll have gone deaf in the explosion, leading him further along the crazy religious nut-man path. I doubt it, as they did the semi-deafness with Charlie, but I think he'll be back. He was in the promotional stuff (as was Locke--remember when he was the baddest ass tracker on the Island? Meeeeeemorieeeeessss...)

[droidguy1119.livejournal.com]

Arrested Development. The Office (either). Scrubs. If you can download it or watch it on YouTube, Spaced.

Brick.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

You've bothered me enough about Brick that it's on the queue, somewhere down by the end of whenever you bugged me about it last time, so chiiiiiiill.

Scrubs, I dunno about. I just couldn't get into it, but I've never sat down and watched anything more than like 3/4s an episode, so maybe. Arrested Development *is* actually good, but it's one that I have to overcome inertia to get started on and finish (I've seen the first five-or-so episodes a few times). Spaced I have and have not yet watched. I'll get there.

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

I didn't know you wanted to watch Brick; I had it last week and watched it in feiran's room, but we could have shared it. It was pretty good, and I also recommend it.

You can also find older episodes of Doctor Who on DVD, especially via Netflix. I or a friend of mine could come up with a list of "must see" episodes to get you up to speed. I'd love to own a lot of them, but there are way too many, and they're way too expensive.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Oh, poop about Brick. My bad.

And as for Doctor Who: yeah, a lot of why I never investigated it was the fact that there were decades of history there. I'm hoping I can catch up. If you've got a list, let me have it, I'm willing to try. It's just that I feel like I'm the newbie who'll be the punchline of a lot of jokes with the questions I feel are pretty fair to ask at this point, such as:

-"The Doctor": Yes, I get that the title of the show clues me in that he's not about to have a name besides that, but is he a doctor of something; is he "doctor" and the rest of his kind would be similarly divided up in "the Lawyer," "the Taxman," or "the Crossing Guard"; does "doctor" imply something about his personality and no one on the planet wherever-the-Doctor-is-from gets a name relating to what they do or who they're descended from?

-Some bloke in the first episode found pictures of the Ninth Doctor from ages ago. Fine, he was just remade in the ninth image, but wouldn't this conspiracy nutter also have noted that there were plenty of other strange guys calling themselves "the Doctor" running around through history?

-Rose, I take it, isn't the first person to get a ride-along in the TARDIS. Bravo. Does he just grab people off the street like her or does he usually swing solo and drop in on times like a madman?

-If he can travel back and forth in time, why is he the last one of whatever he is? Aren't there others of him doing the same thing? Or, if they've all reached their own continuity's end, can't he just pop over to times they've been and see them again--warn them, maybe? It's not that he has a problem changing the future (or that the future can't be changed, because he told Rose it could), so why doesn't he?

-If he is changing the future, does he remember it differently or get it at all confused because what he'll have changed will make a future he doesn't recognize?

I guess a lot of my questions relate to the flaw of time-travel theories, whereby if you can't change the future by altering the past, why bother travelling; and, if you can, you create a paradox or at least a total lack of drama since no one has to end their continuity short of a heart attack (in which case you can shunt them forward to a place what can fix it). I'm looking for the dramatic push, really.

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

1) I don't think they ever address this in the older series either, though there is another guy (a villain) running around who calls himself "The Master." I think he just may be the Doctor because he fixes things, and he makes house calls. I dunno. Never ever call him "Doctor Who" though. That's just wrong.

2) Yeah, I wish he had shown other incarnations of the Doctor and he really should have. Weak, that.

3) He just sort of runs into people and they end up tagging along. He hasn't seriously flirted with any of the others as much as he and Rose do, though.

3) I think they must have removed them from all of time. That's none too clear.

4) Mmm...probably not. They have a few fun episodes when multiple Doctors meet each other, and they play with that a little. He also tends to forget things usually between regenerations, but not so much in the new show.

Also, another recommendation: The Prisoner. I can bring over the DVDs sometime.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU. Coming so late to this, I sorta expect the "ha ha, that's the point, stupid" sort of answer, but this is much more helpful (and not at all spoilery--well done!)

Really, I can accept: "No, that's not explained." It's like asking how FTL travel works--"It just does." "Okay." It's more clever, even, not explaining "the Doctor," because it calls to mind many things at once and doesn't really invalidate any of them. At the bare minimum, it grants him a modicum of respect and an assumption of intelligence he wouldn't get if he were "the President."

Aww, his and Rose's flirting is cute. I was reading the TWoP recaps, and Jacob's totally right: they just have a natural chemistry, regardless of romantic edge to it, that's very endearing and makes her tagging along as the viewer's self-insert point much less annoying. She's gonna end up with "human-ish" babies though, the rate she's going.

Are the things he forgets plot points (as in they need to tell a story and have something surprise him so he's forgotten whatever he needed to know for that not to happen) or just totally random? Or is it more an amalgam of the two--they are totally random and it just so happens that that's why there's situations about it? This is just natural consequence of the regenerations?

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

Aww, his and Rose's flirting is cute.

Honestly I found all but a few of the first season plots of middling to poor quality, BUT, the character interactions and development were superb, and ultimately that's what I care about most in a story. So I stuck with it, and there was some improvement in season two, though I think I just enjoyed it more because I liked David Tennant's Doctor so much (though I ended up liking Eccleston a lot too by the end). I think most of the chemistry is intact in season two. Rose is just a terrific character.

As far as the babies go, in the apocryphal Doctor Who movie on Fox in the nineties, they actually decided that the Doctor is half-human. I don't think that's carried through to the rest of canon, though Paul McGann did count as the 8th Doctor, despite only having been in that one film. I liked him.

Are the things he forgets plot points (as in they need to tell a story and have something surprise him so he's forgotten whatever he needed to know for that not to happen) or just totally random? Or is it more an amalgam of the two--they are totally random and it just so happens that that's why there's situations about it? This is just natural consequence of the regenerations?
It's mostly a personality thing. He remembers important things (eventually), but for all intents and purposes, he's an entirely different person. I don't think anyone's been tracking continuity so obsessively (at least officially) to avoid screwing anything up. Actors and producers of the series have felt free to reinvent the character as they saw fit, for good or for ill.

I should also point out that as much history as there is to the series, there are also a lot of episodes that are just lost. The BBC actually burned old episodes because they didn't think anyone would ever want to see them again and they needed the space. Fools.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Actors and producers of the series have felt free to reinvent the character as they saw fit, for good or for ill.
So, the Doctor isn't always goofy? That would be a shame. It's the only way to stomach his being so erratic; like, how much would we all love Baltar if he weren't out of his mind insane?

I should also point out that as much history as there is to the series, there are also a lot of episodes that are just lost. The BBC actually burned old episodes because they didn't think anyone would ever want to see them again and they needed the space. Fools.
Oh dear. THat's like Lucas supposedly taping over the originals of the Star Wars movies. I don't understand that behavior at all. Maybe someday someone will find a copy, but probably not. Doctor Who has been around long enough you'd think someone would have found them by now.

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

They're still looking, and every now and then some bits turned up...old film people recorded from television, audio only clips, etc. And we have some scripts and synopses and things. There's actually a restoration team in the UK responsible for this sort of thing. http://www.restoration-team.co.uk/

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

That's amazing. It's great that they've at least made an attempt to remedy the rotten judgment. I can't believe that there was ever this kind of mentality going on about art, but then again, I never set fire to a library (hail the conquering invaders) or tried to trash an inflammatory painting or sculpture. Never underestimate human ignorance when it sees expedience in destruction, even of that which is priceless. It all boils down to (thanks, Worth) boundless human stupidity...

[invisibledan.livejournal.com]

So.... Eugene pointed me to this thread with the hope that I'd make some Doctor Who suggestions for you. I was only too happy to oblige.

Who is one of those rare shows where the best place to start isn't with the first episode. The tone of the show changed radically during the first few seasons, so early Who isn't really representative of the style of the bulk of the show. Also, as Eugene pointed out, many 60s episodes are missing. (http://www.recons.com/recons/default.htm)

I've had many conversations with Who fans over the years about what story to start people on and most seem to agree on the 4th Doctors 2nd story, The Ark In Space. (http://www.gallifreyone.com/episode.php?id=4c) It's the begining of what many think is the best era of the show, the story and the stories following are generally good and I think sum up what Doctor Who is about, and it's out on DVD. The 4th Docs' first story has many holdovers from the previous era, but Ark In Space shouldn't be confusing to newcomers at all. I think it's a good jumping on point.

Eugene's favorite story, The Pyramids of Mars, (http://www.gallifreyone.com/episode.php?id=4g) has a pretty good discussion about the Doctor's role in changing history. It's also a good stand alone story.

A lot about the Doctor is deliberately kept mysterious, like his name. (http://www.dwwa.net/dr5/Kinda/Apple.wav) The Time Lords we see on their home planet have names, but the few who leave have titles. The better to impress primitive alien cultures, I imagine.

Time Lords don't usually leave their home planet of Gallifrey, they're content to observe and never interfere. That's why the Doctor left. He wanted to see the universe. It's probably the reason why he was the only one to survive.

The whole destruction of Gallifrey thing was invented by the new showrunner as something the happened between the old show and the current one. So don't feel bad, you know as much about what happened to the Time Lords as the rest of us. In the old show, their have been cases where the Time Lords erased dangerous criminals from the time stream, making it as though they never existed. It appears that's what happened to them, somehow.

Oh, and Eugene, The US Telemovie With the Pertwee Logo is canon. Much like the last season of Gilmore Girls, we may wish that it was all a dream, but it's a part of the show, for better or worse.

Hope this helps.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Hope this helps.

Wow, you have no idea. Thank you thank you, mysterious stranger-friend of E's. I'm going to see about queuing up some of these older ones after I finish the new series. Stupid show being shown in Britain, I'm paranoid about spoilers for the 10th Doctor, so I can't readily just look this up (though, I suppose, if the entries in wherever were chronological, I should be able to). Really, I just have to stop myself from ruining the show with the 9th because it seems like it'll get really good.

As an obvious fan-in-long-standing, how do you feel about the new creators making such a huge break with the old series? Does it play out well enough to forgive them basically destroying everything that the Doctor comes from? I mean, you can't spoil me, I'm not through the first season yet, but does it work?

[invisibledan.livejournal.com]

The site I linked to with the episode descriptions, Outpost Gallifrey, is filled with info on the old series, episode review/description, and even a heavily trafficed forum. If you ever want to look up info on the old show, I'm recommend it. As long as you stay away from the 'news' section or the new show section, you should be alright.

I think it's very likely that Who has the most websites devoted to it of any TV show ever. There's A LOT out there, so if you're looking info of any sort on the show, I'd be happy to send a few links your way.

How do I feel about the off screen destruction of Gallifrey? I think it was a waste of potential. There was a lot that could have been done with the Doctor's home that no future writer will ever be able to explore now. Having said that, it should be pointed out that the Time Lords were never really a major part of the series. We didn't see Doctor's home planet until a brief scene in the final episode of season 6. It wasn't even named until season 11. So removing it from The Doctor's life doesn't really change the series as radically as you might think.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Cheers and thanks again. When I get a chance, I'll definitely peruse the sites you linked.

I've also got to move the rest of the new series up the queue at Netflix, or I'll never get through it.

[droidguy1119.livejournal.com]

Heh. Sorry if I'm badgering you about Brick, but you know how it is when you love something so much...

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean. I'm still virtually beaning you on the head, nonetheless.

[dropdeadfred42.livejournal.com]

More good TV to rent from NetFlix....

The new BattleStar Galactica, start from the mini-series and just keep going.
Dead Like Me

I think that might cover it. Rome is awesome.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Ah, you must not have been reading my journal long, then. Hello! This is TrinityVixen, the cheeky monkey who won't even allow herself to watch the BSG webisodes because it will spiral her off into frantic anxiety and foster a desperation that she won't make it until next Friday when the third season premieres. It's a little late for her to just be joining the BSG gravy train--she's been riding the conductor hard since she found out she had to wait thirty billion years for the series to start up again!!!! ::points at icon of favorite character::

Ahem.

Dead Like Me was fairly cute, but I fell off right before the first season ended. Good, don't get me wrong, but George's drama and what not wore thin. I like Rube a lot, and I never got more into his background, which I regret.

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

Something about season two of Dead Like Me didn't draw me in either, but I should watch the rest of them sometime.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, eventually, but I'd probably have to start from the beginning, or at least end of season one.

[arcane-the-sage.livejournal.com]

You haven't seen season two of Dead Like Me? Forgive the shock, but you have had it in your apartment(s) for quite a while now =-þ

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Yes, but that was for my roommate. Does it belong to you? Our specifically designated "borrowed" shelf is rather full at present, and I'd love to get it back to whomever it belongs.

[arcane-the-sage.livejournal.com]

Yup it's mine. No rush on getting it back. It has become sort of a running gag with all the times your roommate has forgotten to bring it along when she knows she'll bump into me =-þ

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Gotcha. Well, claim it at the party, by all means. We're running out of DVD storage...again...and I don't think we'll get to it any time soon. I'm lighting the fire under her ass as is to get through Doctor Who when Netflix sends it to me.

[moonlightalice.livejournal.com]

Ugh, I couldn't get through the pilot of Rome. Part of it was because my Latin teacher at Barnard was their historical advisor and she would come into class ranting about how ridiculous it was to hire her if they wouldn't listen. Heh.

My favorite shows: Six Feet Under (I have the first season on DVD if you'd like to borrow it), The Larry Sanders Show (is this on DVD? Man this show was AWESOME), Arrested Development (which you should totally give another shot and I have it on my comp if you want it for free), Futurama (obviously), Home Movies (AWESOME--also on my comp), The Critic (if you haven't seen all of it, there isn't much), MST3K (of course), Millenium (the most ignored show ever... the first two seasons are amazing, the third one sucked), Now & Again (completely ignored and now very hard to find... I have some low-quality VHS tapes that Eugene got for me, though), Freaks & Geeks (which I haven't seen since it aired like a million years ago but I remember it fondly), um... I bet I'll think of more later. That should keep you busy, anyhow.

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I just finished Freaks and Geeks and it was terrific! I have The Critic on DVD so I can inflict it on trinityvixen if she's missed out.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I haven't. I can still recall the entire clip for Speed 2: Speed Reading. I haven't seen every episode, but nearly so, and I used to write down all the titles of the movies Jay reviewed (like I did with the ones that Troy McClure starred in, ::sniff sniff::). I do need to buy that set. I meant to get it last Christmas (DeepDiscount had a buy one, get one, and I just couldn't find something else to buy for someone else). But it's easily one of my favorite animated series, and that's saying a lot.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Six Feet Under intrigued me at first, but I'm not sure I can fall into that fandom. It might merit a re-look, we'll see. The Larry Sanders Show I don't recall being wowed by. AD, I'll get to, eventually. Futurama I own, The Critic I need to, Millenium bored me (I was so disappointed--I love me some Lance Henriksen!), and I have been meaning to see about Freaks and Geeks, so I'll hook that one up for sure.

Cheers!

another rec

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

Have you seen any of Monk? The first two seasons are great, but I stopped midway through Season 3. I hear it's still good/has gotten better again, so I plan to revisit again at some point. Tony Shalhoub is amazing.

Re: another rec

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I like that one as a procedural. I catch it at home sometimes (my mom has season one). It's like Law and Order, though--I don't need to go out of my way to rent it; I can usually find it on tv.