The last movie you saw...

[dinky]

hard to recall...didn't babylon 5 come before ds9?

and I'm pretty sure farscape came before lexx. that said, they are both awfully gimmicky, and typical of the shit sci-fi started shoveling with First Wave, Lexx, Farscape...there were a couple others. the idea being to throw something stereo-typically sci-fi and hope something sticks. one good thing about those shows though is that they tended to be more action-oriented and less obviously soap operas, like you get with sci-fi on broadcast channels (quantum leap, sliders, ds9, etc.).

anyway, there's nothing wrong with the plot template of ST/Voyager/Galactica - lost in space (oo! that's one too). enterprise is one of those ST shows too, but I (only having watched the first season) thought it was very different and a lot better than the next gen tripe (especially ST, NG and Voyager). ST I can kinda excuse cuz it was what it was. but the NG fodder was just so fecking pretentious. and the action was so incredibly bad.

at least your average, retarded sci-fi channel movie/series can do action...at least better than the ST series.

[spudthedestroyer]

oh course, yeah B5 was before Ds9, DS9 was a 'ripoff' venture, concept only. You use the star trek in defining because everyones seen them/knows them, but those are the two scifi classifications imo.

Lexx came before Farscape, natively (I think its Canadian in origin right?) it was released first anyway. The movies were in about 1996-7, went on till 2002 according to imdb, and farscape came out in 1999 and went on till 2004. I wouldn't really say farscape is gimmicky in anyway though (unless its the muppet angle again) but its not for the exact same audience as traditional scifi viewing, but its definitely action oriented thats for damn sure , which gives way for the larger half season long story arcs in comparison to the couple of episodes for contrasting scifi shows.

anyway, there's nothing wrong with the plot template of ST/Voyager/Galactica - lost in space (oo! that's one too).

Well imo, there kind of really is a major problem with it. I hate disposable/filler TV with a passion, and the vast host of these shows is just that. They often perhaps justify their existance as something singular, but making an entire series often goes too far and its so samey by the end. There are exceptions, but they were only through force of character. For example Sliders was a pretty good one. Totally disposable viewing but they seemed to hit accord with the audience, it did run into the samey barrier and then when it was picked up by Scifi it was deadmeat. Quantum Leap was novel then got tired pretty damn quickly, Galactica was a star wars rip off attempt (the new version is action/story oriented thus far, if it goes into adventure of the week mode i'll be dissapointed and probably be deterred and tune out... i don't think it will sell out though). Lexx is disposable tv but its so shit and f*cked up its awesome (barring series 4 which was really tripe).

When i mentioned the two camps, its really ST, TNG, Voyager and Enterprise vs. DS9, and then i was meaning place of the week vs. people in space.

at least your average, retarded sci-fi channel movie/series can do action...at least better than the ST series.

DinKhaaaaaaann!!

[maxpayne2409]

LOL you think im ds9? you couldnt be more wrong, i find it the lamest of all the treks (enterprise not included as its so crap its not even star trek to me) saying that tho im not really a big trek fan in general, i definately agree about st tng to me it felt like one long drama/soap opera and way more political but not in a clever way, more in a sort of really long drawn out death kind of way

did like sliders though but that jumped the shark (as it were) for me in season 3 and 4 when teh kromaggs started featuring way too much that it became samey and season 5 puh just forget it, battlestar galactica (both versions) is a star wars rip off but i would say the original series is more then the remake

one show i liked though was space 1999, first season anyway but in season 2 it headed down the star trek path of doom


finally got round to watching the starsky & hutch movie, cant be bothered picking out the errors from the series so i wont, i guess it had its moments, but not exactly a film i would physically sit down to watch again specifically unless nothing better was on

[spudthedestroyer]

battlestar galactica (both versions) is a star wars rip off but i would say the original series is more then the remake

The original is was junk, i don't think the remake is very much like the original at all. I don't think the new one is anything like star wars at all really, you watched it then?

[maxpayne2409]

ive watched bits, i keep meaning to sit down and watch them all but havent fully got round to it yet, maybe i just saw the star warsy bits

[spudthedestroyer]

thats pretty hard actually, so well done on that one :hehe

It steals the CGI camera thing from B5 so the space bits look more like those only not as lightwavey-crappy (and firefly which also stole this too). Framegrabs from the rest of the movie look like a cross between Space Above and Beyond and B5 again.

Those are the nearest quick viewing links i thought of, not too much like those shows, but it has more in common with B5 especially with the political thing going on.

[maxpayne2409]

i never got into space above & beyond personally, what was that thing set in the 50s with a man and woman aswell? dark skies was it? (dont know what made me mention that)

B5 is great though

[spudthedestroyer]

i never got into space above & beyond personally,

1am/3am on sky ones on weekdays... they didn't make it easy. I never liked it much nor remember it beyond, well anything... was in my insomniac days.

Wasn't like Channel 4 used to be, that used to rule, what with B5, bits and all that crap... and if you were lucky you could catch a lexx show or two after channel 4 finished its run.

what was that thing set in the 50s with a man and woman aswell? dark skies was it? (dont know what made me mention that)

Didn't follow this one, but it sounds like it:
http://www.tv.com/dark-skies/show/1594/summary.html

Don't think i even saw an episode of it, but i remember an advert or two for it

[maxpayne2409]

yeah thats the one, i remember watching the pilot on channel 4, didnt space above & beyond use to be on bbc2 though on a friday night? i know what you mean about channel 4, now its all jsut hollyoaks omnibuses or omnibusi (as alan partridge might say) and reality tv shows, same as bbc2 used to be great but is now mostly cack same as everything else on terrestrial unfortunately

i had the misfortune earlier of catching some of Ghost dad with bill cosby on channel 5, everytime i see or hear bill cosby it just makes me think of the sketch eddie murphy did pretending to be him bill and richard pryor

god terrestrial tv really sucks these days, unfortunately theres not really that much stuff on sky to warrant that either, mainly why i got rid of it, was paying £30 a month and only watching about 3 or 4 channels, unfortunately back then u couldnt get the channels i liked in the same pick n mix selection , anyway whats tv got that i cant get on the net
incidently do you remember that 6 part mini series that was a colaboration between the bbc and scifi channel in 96 i think it was called Invasion earth? used to air 9:30 fri on bbc1 about aliens invading earth via the scottish highlands

[dinky]

battlestar galactica (both versions) is a star wars rip off but i would say the original series is more then the remake

The original is was junk, i don't think the remake is very much like the original at all. I don't think the new one is anything like star wars at all really, you watched it then?

I'm not sure if this is what max meant, but that's the usual (and justified) criticism. it's not so much a criticism as a statement of fact. and the relationship is really about sfx and the fact that they're sci-fi than actual plot relationship. SW was the shakespeare of the sci-fi sfx renaissance and galactica was like its marlowe or johnson. dreaded, masked enemies with endless supply of cylons/stormtroopers. galaxy-spanning battles. that's what I think the comparison is about. similar in the spectacle dept.

[dinky]

i never got into space above & beyond personally,

1am/3am on sky ones on weekdays... they didn't make it easy. I never liked it much nor remember it beyond, well anything... was in my insomniac days.

I liked it, but thought it was too technologically inferrior. too close to the present. that, and now comparing it to the new BG makes it look really bad.

[spudthedestroyer]

I'm not sure if this is what max meant, but that's the usual (and justified) criticism. it's not so much a criticism as a statement of fact. and the relationship is really about sfx and the fact that they're sci-fi than actual plot relationship. SW was the shakespeare of the sci-fi sfx renaissance and galactica was like its marlowe or johnson. dreaded, masked enemies with endless supply of cylons/stormtroopers. galaxy-spanning battles. that's what I think the comparison is about. similar in the spectacle dept.

That's a fair summary of the first one, which was just a cashin from all i remember of it, but I don't see how its applicable to the new one in any great abundance, especially since there's no dreaded, masked enemies infact its guerilla warfare and so full of its terrorist motif atm, its neither particularly epic in a star wars way, and it tries to be more like B5 than star wars. Personally, I don't think B5 is very much like star wars at all. Star Wars has never touched that, might have worked well on the prequels actually, but lets not account writing qualities to anything but incidental to George these days

It doesn't seem epic either, I wouldn't claim its at the right level of abstraction to be a space opera. Its focused too closely in on the convoy style approach of the show that the epic space battles are a run away feeling, rather than mounting up the forces to attack/defend as is the Star Wars way in one monumental incident.

There's the odd trait, but it seems more like a chalk and cheese affair. The original though; that's a studio counteraction to star wars obviously, I don't think there's any hiding the motives behind that show. I find it hard to believe that the studios were launching anything to cashin on star wars here, and comparisons only seem to be in terms of popularity imo.

i never got into space above & beyond personally,

1am/3am on sky ones on weekdays... they didn't make it easy. I never liked it much nor remember it beyond, well anything... was in my insomniac days.

I liked it, but thought it was too technologically inferrior. too close to the present. that, and now comparing it to the new BG makes it look really bad.

Am i fair in comparing them, I don't remember above and beyond much, but i do remember it was all about army pilots in the hanger a lot of the time right? That's largely a concept exploited in the new Battlestar, same army airbase hanger feel.

Maybe I don't remember it right otherwise, as far as actually content goes they weren't much alike though.

[dinky]

That's a fair summary of the first one, which was just a cashin from all i remember of it, but I don't see how its applicable to the new one in any great abundance

hmm...guess I shoulda read max more closely. I was only speaking about SW and the first BG.

i never got into space above & beyond personally,

1am/3am on sky ones on weekdays... they didn't make it easy. I never liked it much nor remember it beyond, well anything... was in my insomniac days.

I liked it, but thought it was too technologically inferrior. too close to the present. that, and now comparing it to the new BG makes it look really bad.

Am i fair in comparing them, I don't remember above and beyond much, but i do remember it was all about army pilots in the hanger a lot of the time right? That's largely a concept exploited in the new Battlestar, same army airbase hanger feel.

Maybe I don't remember it right otherwise, as far as actually content goes they weren't much alike though.

no. it's very much like the new BG. actually, it's the new BG with a little more Starship Troopers. And I'm pretty sure there was one ep where pilots were stranded and ran into robots that looked human on some planet. but even if not, the look of the aliens and the situations with the hangar and such...Space Above and Beyond was basically a reinvention of BG, which I liked at the time, but I think the new BG series blows it outta the water. I was always somewhat disappointed by SAaB. I guess it's like watching the SW prequels and not liking the execution but still fascinated with some of the possibilities.

/me shrugs

[dinky]

Bewitched</i>. it was alright I guess. slightly more entertaining than War of the Worlds</i>. should have seen madagascar</i> but still can't get in the mood for it.

last hour or so of neverending story</i>. love the theme song. movie was bleah. much better when I was...8. a wolfgang peterson film. go figure. Troy. Perfect Storm. Neverending Story.

last hour or so of harry potter 3</i>. quite good. the first of the HP movies that actually stands on its own merit as a movie.

[maxpayne2409]

just watched Saw, pretty good film, disturbing and very twisted but really good film, first thing ive seen Cary Elwes in since Robin Hood: Men In Tights

[Jim123]

I agree with you maxpayne2409, Space 1999 was a great series. I think it was even better than Star Trek, more real and better acting. I'm getting into the new BG now, I hope they can keep up the great work they have done so far.

I watched Batman last night and I thought is was rather good, much better than the first two.

[maxpayne2409]

liked it so much u added it to your sig

[Jim123]

I was watching the first set of Space 1999 last night and decided to do some surfing. It was ironic how after I attached it to my signiture I read your post on Space 1999. I have just started to collect the series slowly on DVD.

I watched Dick Tracey last night and have to say that it was terrible. I could not even see it to the end. How they can make such a bad movie with such a famous cast. Then again Warren Beatty produced it, I guess it's the only way he can star in a movie.

[spudthedestroyer]

lol @ dick tracey, yeah that one sucks big time

How they can make such a bad movie with such a famous cast

Very easily quite evidently
/me point at the last decade of cinema

[maxpayne2409]

last night i watched the burbs uncut (got it cheap on dvd during the day) like that film hadnt seen it in a while but cool film

and i also decided to see saw (sorry couldnt resist that joke) rather enjoyed it, its good to see cary elwes in something other then robin hood men in tights, it was a good film if slightly twisted... perfect for me then lol

edit, it occurs to me ive already mentioned saw but nevermind