Text 13568, 84 rader
Skriven 2007-04-16 05:01:35 av Vorlonagent (17013.babylon5)
     Kommentar till en text av rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Ärende: Re: Attn JMS: The five stages of grief and  "FALLEN SON: THE     DEATH 
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"Josh Hill" <usereplyto@gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:nhsv139vobj3fkh0n0jf6tuqmvsv7eq15i@4ax.com...

> Sons and Lovers. Hell, anything by D. H. Lawrence. And Seinfeld. And
> Madonna.

I *liked* Madonna in her mid-80's heyday.  I didn't thnk she was "all that", 
but I liked her.  I thought and think she did some good stuff once she came 
out of her early "material girl" bubblegum stage (which itself was OK). 
Then she decided to go all "artiste" and, well, there you are.  She was 
already losing it with "Express yourself" and imitating Michael Jackson's 
crotch grab.  <rolls eyes>.

Seinfeld, agreed.  And all shows like it: Mad About You (a show I couldn't 
watch without thinking of "Aliens"), FRIENDS, and all the hyper-neurotic 
"shows about nothing" that spend their airtime making mountains out of 
molehills.

Ender's Game, which in turn left me ambivalent about Orson Scott Card in 
general.  I devoured the book in one sitting.  Could not put it down. I was 
more compelled to finish than entranced by a complelling story.  Came away 
feeling that the book shortchanged me with a weak, and aimless ending, 
though I has grievances all the way though, such as Ender's siblings plot to 
take over the world through what we would call "blogging" today.  It was a 
plotline that Card could have edited out entirely and I wouldn't have missed 
a thing.  The book more unraveled toward an ending than built to a climax. 
It was as if Card could not figure out how to end the thing properly.

B5: Crusade
Gideon was complaint #1.  Gideon looked to me like an attempt to retread 
Sinclair, whose first-season incarnation didn't do much for me.  He had 
Sinclair's self-righteousness, and his stiffness.  Though JMS tells me 
Gideon is a gambler, I don't "feel" it even when I'm seeing him at the poker 
table.

Complaint #2 was the other G, Galen, who also seemed very shallow and 
superficial.  As I think about him now, he had some tragic-poet elements I 
found distatseful in Byron, but I didn't realize it at the time.  JMS once 
said words to the effect of, "you don't show a technomage eating his 
breakfast."  And over time, I find I partly disagree with that.  I think a 
crucial modification to the idea is you don't show him *just* eating his 
breakfast.  Alan Moore, through the comic Promethea, made a very good case 
that the objects of everyday life can come alive with meaning or magic.  A 
technomage can't just pick up a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, and a cup of 
coffee unless he treats them differently, giving us a glimpse into the world 
he lives in.  There are also times when Galen demystified too much, in 
effect eating his breakfast in his manner of working with the world.  I'd 
have to rewatch the series to point to specifics.

The fact that JMS killed off Elric with a throwaway line did not endear me, 
either.  It was as if half the mystique of the Technomages came from Michael 
Ansara's portrayal of Elric and once he was gone, the technomages became 
smaller and less mythic in stature.

Complaint #3 (minor, but nagging): I was not happy with Netter Digital's 
effects for B5's 5th season and the changes they made to the universe with 
Crusade (which looked to be gratuitous to me) didn't help, though I did get 
used to them.

The Shadow Within.  Jeanne Cavelos romanced Mr. Morden by proxy through Anna 
Sheridan way too much and was way too happy to whitewash Mr Morden by 
explaining why he decided to work for the Shadows.  Won't touch her 
technomage trilogy.

Finally, Saving Private Ryan.  Spielberg hit us with a hyper-real D-Day 
landing then left realism on Omaha Beach, spending the rest of the film 
trying to turn Tom Hanks into John Wayne.


-- 
John Trauger,
Vorlonagent

"Methane martini.
Shaken, not stirred."

"Spirituality without science has no mind.

Science without spirituality has no heart."

-Methuselah Jones
--- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32
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