Validus

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Posts posted by Validus

  2. Posted

    Why not? All those shows you listed are actually pretty good. I see no reason you can't have a good science fiction show with real adults with real adult needs- check out Babylon-5, LEXX, and even the new Doctor Who. I'm not saying that science fiction should be "Sex and the Space Station" -but I'm always annoyed by the idea that a hero should be chaste. That's one of the things I hated about the way the writers handled Janeway as well as Picard (who almost never got laid). Rick Berman would have had us believe that Picard spent the whole of his free time drinking tea, reading James Joyce, and listening to baroque music. Riker was far more realistic even if he was perhaps not as likable...no one could deny that Riker was at least more interesting.

  3. Posted

    Well- frankly I thought it was funny. Is it my fault that most people have a feeble sense of humor? Hell, you can't say I'm a sexist...I give money to women's shelters and vote Pro-Choice.

     

    Geez...suddenly I'm getting jumped on like I'm Borat. Gimmie a break, people. :blink:

  5. Posted · Edited by Validus

    For me in many ways Voyager was a long series of missed opportunities. There were so many things they could have done that would have made the series better, deeper, more enjoyable. Probably the biggest failing of Voyager for me was that in seven years out in deep space Janeway and Chakotay never admit their feelings or profess their love. Hell, in seven years they never even get it on -doesn't that seem highly improbable? I don't know that they could have made it last but given their situation I just found the shows coyness here unsupportable. It's almost as if the producers of the show were essentially denying Janeway's womanliness just because she had to Captain a starship, an odd attitude given Kirk. Even Sisko had a wife and then later a regular girlfriend. But Voyager seemed oddly puritan in many ways even down to denying Seven the chance for genuine happiness due to her programming (much like Angel in Buffy the Vampire Slayer).

     

    What do you all think?

  7. Posted

    Ya know...I was sure that this poll would be pointless, like most polls, but I'm pleasantly surprised to see that so many people consider Metropolis (1925) the greatest science fiction film of all time. What surprises me the most is that as many people have seen it as the poll suggests...after all this isn't a film that is (or will ever) be shown on regular television. Even TCM to the best of my knowledge never shows silent films, much less silent and foreign films.

     

    The Matrix seems to resonate with a lot of people even though it was diminished by two inferior sequels. Anyone care to speculate as to why?

  8. Posted · Edited by Validus

    I also liked the idea of the Borg Queen, she had a frighting sexuality that kind of made me think for some reason of Condolezza Rice. I only wish that they had introduced her in TNG when it was still on the air...she could have been to Picard what Khan was to Kirk...ya think?

     

    Occasionally in bee hives two queens will arise (its rare but it does happen). When this happens the two fight one another to the death...winner take all. Can you imagine if that had happened in the Borg Collective....???

  10. Posted

    I understand that the two times that Romulans were on TOS that they were quite different from those on TNG. Ronald D. Moore has been credited with bringing the richness of the Klingon culture to the screen and I read/heard that he "stole" many of the qualities of the TOS Romulans to give to the Klingons. We haven't see a lot of the Romulan culture but we have had glimpses into their pysche which showed a much different side to the sneaky, violent, power-hungry species that was shown often. TNG episodes like The Enemy, The Defector, Face of the Enemy, The Chase and Timescape showed us that different side. Unification Part 1 and 2 was our first chance to really see non-military Romulans.

     

    What do you think of the Romulans?

     

    I think that the Romulans are interesting. I liked that they replaced the Ferengi as they main villian on ST:TNG and who could deny that the War Bird is one of the coolest ship designs ever made? It kind of reminds me of something the Minbari would have built in Babylon-5.

  11. Posted · Edited by Validus

    The original BSG was not a failed show - it was a popular show - often in the top ten - at least the top twenty. But it was simply too expensive to produce (this was pre CGI and the special effects were prohibitive for a tv series).

     

    Off topic but do you remember the days before PC's and cell phones?

     

    As for getting in an insulting match over BSG - I can understand dissent over politics or religious views but this is a tv show - good grief people have different tastes.

     

    Like many I too loved the original series then I watched a few years ago and it was a bit hokey. It was obvious from the original series what religious denonimation Larson adhered to - but it is not so clear from the remake.

     

    In fact - like Kor and MJ I find the new BSG boring - I certainly don't find a compelling plot; the story isn't about the destruction of mankind - the destruction of mankind if merely a backdrop or afterthought to the pathetic, personal-demon haunted lives of the characters. These people are so miserable that they would be just as miserable on the Love Boat as they are on the last battlestar. Ultimately BSG is soap opera with high class special effects and a couple of high quality actors - I don't watch it for pretty much the same reasons I don't watch ER or other soap type series - I don't like them.

     

    The only tv series that IMO consistently delivers thought provoking, socially relevant plots is Law & Order - I dont' always watch it but I do consider it one of the best shows on tv. But Stargate doesn't need to be the best show on tv in other people's minds - it's not even the "best show on tv" in my mind - it's just my favorite.

     

    Why do I bother?

     

    1. Galactica was cancelled after its first season...therefore it failed. End of debate on that point, thank you.

     

    2. Taste only matters insofar as it is informed. Who would grant any credence to a person who said Beethoven sucked or that Hamlet is boring? Such opinions show a basic lack within the person to be able to see quality even when it is placed right there in front of them. If people talking in actual conversations isn't as interesting as plastic models being blown up...then I can only conclude that what we have here is a deep rooted cultural deficit.

     

    3. Law and Order strikes me as little more then another version of every other cop show that's ever been done with slicker production values. Adam 12...Dragnet...Police Woman...Cagney and Lacey...Hill Street Blues...Law and Order...CSI....etc etc. Networks favor police procedurals because they are cheap to produce, they pretty much write themselves and therefore require an absolute minimum of innovation or imagination.

     

    4. If by "soap opera" you mean character driven then so be it. I hope you don't think Great Expectations is a soap opera. By your criterion it would have to be...I can only imagine what you'd do to a truly great work like The Illiad or Moby Dick. :blink:

  12. Posted

    Actually, the original script (not the final version but when pen was first set to paper) was done 10 years before the series was produced. This would have been a full 7 years before the original Star Wars.

     

    Actually...Glen Larson said that...and you decided to believe him. I recommend that you adapt a healthy scepticism, especially when it is so ridiculously obvious that Larson pillaged Lucas and then later tried to claim otherwise. Larson even hired John Dykstra (who worked for Lucas) to do the effects work on both Galactica and his later failed show, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. :blink:

  13. Posted

    I don't buy the premise of the article. Kirk was a man that was, among other things, almost painfully sober- he had to be...he had 430 lives and often the future of the Federation on his shoulders. Besides...who needs liquer when you've seen things like V'Ger and survived the wrath of Khan? :blink:

  14. Posted · Edited by Validus

    I have only seen 3 of the movies and the Star Trek Voyager series, so I might be missing something out, but how did the Borg queen return after Picard defeated her in First Contact to come back into the Voyager series?

     

    Two words: Bad Writing.....

  15. Posted · Edited by Validus

    *sigh*

     

    -I swear, this board has the most thin-skinned people on the planet.

     

    Tell you what...if you decide to start a thread called "The most handsome man- for women and gay men" I promise not to be offended at all. Deal?

  16. Posted

    If you don't mind my saying so, I think your making the same mistake a lot of people make. I'm 39 years old and I once loved Battlestar Galactica, until I too bought the original on DVD and saw it for what it really was...a cheap knock off of Star Wars with none of the wit or charm that George Lucas put into the original (now "Episode 4").

     

    Let's not forget that the original Battlestar was also a failed television show that only lasted one season and also didn't really have the courage to follow its premise to its logical conclusion.

     

    The new Battlestar is far grimmer and more adult in content as it should be, after all it is about the end of the world(s). I'm also wondering if the themes in it make you uncomfortable, such as the humans being pagans and the cylons being monotheists (like yourself).

     

    If you put your feelings of nostalgia aside I think you will find that you've been missing the best science fiction show on television since Babylon-5...currently in its third season. They even gave Richard Hatch a role and have Glen Larson (the original series creator) as a producer on the show.

  22. Posted

    As much as I love Star Trek, for me Babylon-5 was probably the high point of science fiction on television in the 90's. It's really a 110-episode miniseries, like a great novel with many chapters. It ran from 1993-1998 with one season of Crusade in 1999 and several made-for-tv films. The writers on Deep Space-9 borrowed rather shamelessly from Babylon-5 (The Shadow War in B5 was turned into the inferior Dominion War on DS9).

     

    I never watched Babylon-5 when it aired originally. Instead I had the pleasure of watching it on DVD back in 2003 with no commercials and no waiting for years to find out how it would all end. I can't stress enough the quality of the writing and characterization on this show, which is only really equaled by the new Battlestar Galactica and (perhaps) the X-Files.

  23. Posted

    according to the audio commentary on FIRST CONTACT by Ronald Moore (current brain behind the new Battlestar Galactica) they asked for a more "muscular" design for the Enterprise-E, since the "D" just doesn't look very formidable.

     

    As for me...I'll take The LEXX. :blink:

  24. Posted

    I think so. Next Generation had too little conflict. DS9 had too much conflict and stole shamelessly from Babylon-5. Voyager was usually boring, except for 7's tight outfits. Enterprise proved (as is always the case) that prequels are always a waste of time.

     

    The original crew had it all...dynamism, charisma, humor, wit, and more then a little intelligence.