SciFi Friday, SG-1, Atlantis and BSG

[gategrrl]

Stargate SG-1
Vala's back, and boy, has she gotten boring. Or is it simply that her character depends a lot more than expected on Daniel Jackson to liven her up? The baby idea is a really really bad one. The story she told made no sense on a basic story-logic level, again, with the baby, who seemed more or less an excuse to get her to marry an Ori Warrior. If she was carrying a Speshul Ori Baby, the Ori should have protected her better, or at least fessed up to Tomin, her husband so she would not have had to lie to him. And her story meandered, telling SG-1 completely unnecessary details *in order that they happened* as if every detail were important to the REAL story, which was that the Ori were sending a Jihad to the Milky Way Galaxy. I didn't see where her personal life was important to the long-winded warning. And simply because "Vala's BACK!" doesn't mean that her story has any relevance to what the SGC needed to hear at that moment in time. Maybe she was delaying the point of her story because, although Landry and Mitchell and Carter and TEal'c didn't seem to give a shit about her being "back", SHE wanted as much time as possible with people she knew before she was whisked off to that horrible Ori place.

Stargate Atlantis
Guest Star Blond Bimbo was ridiculous. She was distracting in how she bounced and flounced and pranced across the set, swinging her hair and flirting in such a campy obviously way with Rodney and John...hon, it's not Andromeda, and you're not on a porn shoot. I only found out who she was tonight, matter of fact. Didn't even know she was an Andromeda cast member. The Ancient warship was hard to see in that hangar - whoever did the CGI didn't make the background colors and the ship color different enough. Rodney was too much the Dr Smith Buffoon on this episode, and John should really either get a cockring or plaster it down with duct tape. His Kirk act is getting as tiresome as Blond Bimbo's "acting". The episode was more or less fluff the only reason for being written was to give this show yet another kick-butt ship that the Earth People could get to use, sans the Stargate. In another season, they won't even use that stupid ring, will they? What's its purpose again? "Stargate? Stargate? What is Stargate!!!"

Battlestar Galactica
Much as I love this show, and adored Dean Stockwell in this role as the hardhitting priest (the best part of the whole episode), I'm getting feelings of "Haven't I seen this before?" or "Wait, of COURSE this was going to happen". It's becoming more predictable. Oh, not in the sense that I can recite what will be said next (like the Guy did with various episodes of Lost before we gave up on it). But more in the they've run out of storytelling time and have to rush it sense. In vein of "Gee, Apollo is angsted, Starbuck is angsted, Helo is angsted, Dee is angsted (sort of) Baltar is psycho and everybody if so fucking angsted it puts Buffy to shame!" I'm not asking for a lame humor episode. Geez no. But a restful episode maybe? That said, depending on how this series ends and how the characters are treated, I might invest in the DVD sets.

Oh. One more thing. I keep getting the feeling that I'm missing story there that's between the lines - as if there's actually more that supposed to be there, but it's not there. And I've since heard that Moore, the producer, actually DOES go online and explains what's going on, what storylines were cut for time...and yet expects that many noninternet fans of the show will "know" this information about the characters by osmosis. Or something.

Comments

[whisper99.livejournal.com]

About SG1 - see, that's my point exactly. What was the point of dragging the story on and on like that? If we could have seen or gotten the idea that maybe Vala really didn't want to go back because she was scared, then I could accept it. They could have had her begging them to find her because she was scared. They could have had her refuse to leave Daniel or something, causing conflict. I mean, something. Heck, even if it was just as simple as her wanting somebody else, somebody(Daniel) who cared about her (more than anybody has before) know what happened to her, know her story, y'know? *sigh* I think I'll have to fanwank it as that - her desperatly wanting SG1 to know of her fate, because she really was all on her own - again - behind enemy lines and scared out of her mind.

[(Anonymous)]

That's right on target. I didn't get the sense that Vala was *upset* or *desperate* or even *scared* - mostly hungry for food she craved and even people who she knew didn't really like her that much. But they couldn't have her be "the bad girl" who doesn't want to *leave* Daniel's body. But there was no tension, no conflict, other than the meandering story she told. Weren't the people on the other side of that communication device wanting her to get back ASAP so that what happened wouldn't have happened?

There was no way for her to know or for the SGC to know that her pregnancy was important - EXCEPT for the fact that she overheard the Prior talking to Tomin about it, and her own flashback to the scary Face O'Flame over her on the bed. And even then - well...the SG-1 guys didn't exactly go cuckoo over that intelligence, or make it seem like it mattered.

Elsewhere, someone mentioned that you'd have thought that SG-1 would have ALREADY have visited that planet whose address Daniel found in the last episode. But if THIS episode took place just the day after, and they hadn't sent a MALP through to check it out yet, I could wank it. We have seen/heard evidence that the SGC does take its time looking for things or people (Sha're being one: they didn't exactly look in a systematic manner for her through addresses given to them by Teal'c, Apophis' First Prime at the time). They send the MALP, they check out the readings, they make sure it's safe enough on a planet that nothing there will directly kill them right off the bat... so it may have taken a few days for them to even get the mission okayed - 48 hours, maybe? They should have mentioned that the MALP showed it was clear and they were good to go.

Actually, Vala as acted by CB wasn't boring *herself*, exactly. Just very subdued. But even an uninteresting story that isn't getting to the point isn't going to help Vala spark up. She needs Daniel to do that, I think.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

Oh, and of course I forgot to sign in again...hey, 7am, I'm sleepy still!