tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post4825232134653381703..comments2024-02-24T03:34:18.060-05:00Comments on Stealing Commas: Premises that I feel were unfairly ignored (by their own shows)chris the cynichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06872875475212333027noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-45499767498751484562013-08-06T20:44:24.176-04:002013-08-06T20:44:24.176-04:00I always pictured, like, a ginormous fireplace wit...I always pictured, like, a ginormous fireplace with a big brick or stone hearth in front of it, raised off the floor... so not quite a chair, but not just sprawling on the ground either!<br /><br />(And I lubs Hestia, so as far as I'm concerned, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!)Kristycathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13321532023627519016noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-56258745402612596622013-08-05T12:11:24.181-04:002013-08-05T12:11:24.181-04:00Hestia originally got a throne. My memory is that...Hestia originally got a throne. My memory is that when she gave it up she sat on the floor but I couldn't cite a myth for that and even if that is correct and even if it is the definitive myth you know that if all the myths survived there would be 52 (thousand) versions of the story.chris the cynichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06872875475212333027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-29549391822668671852013-08-05T11:15:16.416-04:002013-08-05T11:15:16.416-04:00Lucas has already gone on record as looking toward...Lucas has already gone on record as looking toward the future, considering the relative lifespans of film vs. DVD as well as the mortality of human beings and saying that it's his belief that whatever he releases last will be the only thing that survives to posterity and this is, in his mind, a good thing.<br /><br />I think that's a big part of why people are so pissed off at him, he's not trying to release a "Lucas' Cut" of the films, he's trying to overwrite the original. Most people don't do that. I've got a director's cut of <i>Aliens</i> in this room, that doesn't mean that I can't go down to a store and get the original theatrical cut in high definition.<br /><br />Also Lucas' "No one will remember" plan is doomed to failure because scholia. Attached to ancient texts (say Homer or Apollodorus) are thousands of years worth of notes that other people have written about the text. These notes are not ignored. If Star Wars is still around two thousand years from now then "Han shot first" will be its scholia. (And I'm probably spelling that word wrong.)chris the cynichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06872875475212333027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-6626089411657278392013-08-05T11:07:59.682-04:002013-08-05T11:07:59.682-04:00Ohhh, I thought Hestia got a chair, or a stool at ...Ohhh, I thought Hestia got a chair, or a stool at least, just not a Super Special Shiny Throne cuz 12 is such an important number?<br /><br />Oh, Zodiac, hmmmm. And yeah, the personality test thing makes a lot of sense...<br /><br />Because Deep Magic, that's why.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-44238655374767713492013-08-05T10:35:46.781-04:002013-08-05T10:35:46.781-04:00That's one possibility. Another is that it wo...That's one possibility. Another is that it would tie in to the twelve signs of the Zodiac since each of the twelve colonies happened to be named after one.<br /><br />It also could have been something entirely new. Perhaps the Cylon version of the Myers-Briggs test involved two dichotomies and one trichotomy.<br /><br />The thrones on Olympus were somehow part of the deep magic even though Olympus wasn't chosen as a seat of the gods until the Olympian gods used it as a base for their war against the Titans so why they couldn't put in new thrones is somewhat lost on me.<br /><br />When they had a new god to add and no free thrones Hestia said,"It's ok, I'll sit on the floor. All I need is the hearth." (She was god of the hearth.)chris the cynichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06872875475212333027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-52009995377808838992013-08-05T04:49:08.086-04:002013-08-05T04:49:08.086-04:00I may have ranted about this before.
I think that...I may have ranted about this before.<br /><br />I think that part of the problem with the American television financing system is the uncertainty it generates. If you're producing a show, you don't know at the beginning of the season whether you're going to get another one. You may not even know by the end of the season. So you can't tell a coherent multi-season story. Even worse, broadly speaking a show will go on until people stop watching it, which usually means that the last season is one that people don't bother to watch, and it goes out on a bad note having been dragged on just that bit too long. (See also the last two seasons of Babylon 5.)<br /><br />I think it would be interesting to borrow the structure of the telenovela. 120 or so short episodes, shown one per weekday, all committed up-front -- and at the end, the story is over. So you don't need to worry about actors going off and getting other jobs through the years, you don't need to worry about early cancellation, and you can tell a story with an actual ending.<br /><br />New Galactica struck me as having some decent ideas up front, but they weren't worked out in detail, and (particularly in the back half of season 3) the writers often seemed to be flailing around, marking time, and making stuff up because it seemed cool at that moment. It's much easier, I think, to pose questions than to answer them in a satisfying manner. (This is also why two-episode stories on shows that normally tell a story in one episode often fall flat in the resolution. Part 1 builds up tension, part 2 unwinds it -- but some tension has unwound in the week between parts 1 and 2 anyway.)<br /><br />Yeah, Alias was a really pathological case. Any time it looked as though there might be some answers, whoops, double cross, there's yet another organisation running all the other conspiracies from behind the scenes. Just as with "They have a plan", the writers had no idea where they were going and were just making stuff up as they felt like it. For this reason I tend now to avoid shows that paint themselves as being about a Big Mystery (I didn't even start watching Lost). And yet, if a show were committed to only ever having one season, it could do a pretty good job of solving one!<br /><br />I think Sanctuary surprised its producers with its popularity; the original web videos struck me as more a technical exercise in doing big impressive virtual sets on the cheap and making a small profit than anything seriously intended to be picked up for mainstream production. I thought it drifted too far away from the basic premise with all the underground civilisation and steampunk stuff, but I agree that they never really explored the idea of sanctuary beyond "weird creatures are better off in here than out there, so we will bring them in here".<br /><br />I think that one of the points of what one might call the "stress show" -- many soap operas, many disaster films including zombies -- is to show people's true colours coming through. This is one of the reasons a disaster film spends such a long time introducing the audience to the characters before things go wrong: the enjoyment is gained from watching the transition between normal behaviour and stressed behaviour, and working out who's going to be a hero and who's going to be a liability.<br /><br />I remember when Voyager started, how cynical we all felt: yeah, right, they're not going to be counting down the light years every week, they're going to get a miracle high-speed transport home in the last season.Firedrakenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-25749258653378000542013-08-05T01:24:30.138-04:002013-08-05T01:24:30.138-04:00> But I assume if Lucas kept at it he would jus...> But I assume if Lucas kept at it he would just re-adjust and re-align the original trilogy as part of his endless cascade of retcons.<br /><br />I think that could actually be interesting to watch. Of course, if Lucas actually did that, he'd try to throw the original original trilogy down the memory hole. And copyright would let him do that, ugh.Evannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-17009101453791825122013-08-04T22:04:47.090-04:002013-08-04T22:04:47.090-04:00I was thinking the "12 models" Cylon thi...I was thinking the "12 models" Cylon thing must tie in somehow with the 12 Olympian gods (who get special chairs, or whatever...) Anyone?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-10254611258676003872013-08-04T22:02:41.407-04:002013-08-04T22:02:41.407-04:00YES. THESE THINGS.
(Even though BSG is the only ...YES. THESE THINGS.<br /><br />(Even though BSG is the only one I mostly know and my knowledge has holes.)<br /><br />(Oh, and Star Wars. But I assume if Lucas kept at it he would just re-adjust and re-align the original trilogy as part of his endless cascade of retcons. Ugh.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com