Of Swords and Parasols

I watched the first couple episodes of the series when it was first airing and liked them, but got sidetracked until recently. I enjoyed it a lot, though it took its time to get going. (Basically, it was enjoyable and then had that really dull episode with Trucco and then got going right after that.) I'm not impressed at all with how all but two important characters played by POC actors was a V (and not sure what it says about the Vs or the show that the V's apparently choose what their appearance will be, or are assigned it), though there are a couple characters who may have become bigger if the series had continued, or that most of the women in the show are Vs, and the V's overall plot makes me raise my brows quite a bit, but I liked most of the characters a lot (I say most because...well, Elizabeth Mitchell must have thought she was trading WAY up when she got the script for Revolution and found herself with much better kids. Tyler started unbearably annoying and then got better and then regressed to even worse than he started out.) Also, while I haven't seen the original series yet (I probably will now. I was waiting until after I watched this.) the use of Diana's actress from the original was an excellent choice on a metanarrative level. (I know a character that shows up at the very end of the series is played by one of the main protagonists of the original series, but it's a less specific role, and the character has a whopping one scene.

Even though it ends on a cliffhanger, I can't help but think that the writers knew they were probably getting cancelled and decided they could get away with getting rid of as many male characters as they wanted. The show also seems very fond of the Queen/Champion dynamic in various forms, given how often it showed up (Lisa/Joshua, Erica/Hobbs, Erica/Ryan, Diana/Ryan, Anna/literal-revolving-door-of-disposable-men) And I'm very disappointed that we don't know why there are aliens named Anna, Joshua, Lisa, Marcus, Ryan, Thomas, Diana, John etc. with no indication that these are anything but their real names, as opposed to names they've adopted to make them more approachable to humans.

Side note: I find it hilarious in an "oh, writers..." way that so very very much of the plot relies on the Vs having terrible security. Like, they apparently have no (or at least few) security cameras and the only guards are at the entrances to the ships, so if you actually get on a ship, you're good for whatever you want to do. But then every once in a while, they'll whip out this super advanced something or other that causes Our Heroes trouble and it's like "But where was this technology when Erica/Ryan/Lisa/Joshua did xyz ON YOUR PERSONAL SHIP?"

Does anyone else read Christmas regencies? Because I went through my backlog yesterday and pulled all of mine out. Most tend to be terribly formulaic and feature cranky, scrooge-ish men having their hearts melted by Pure Women (of a lower class, of course) children and puppies and in short have plots I typically shun but devour when in the form of a Christmas Regency.

Though, in a story I was reading last night, I suddenly started picturing the guy as G’Kar and got terribly confused. Then I realized that he was describing his thoughts about someone similarly to how G’Kar does, and it made sense, but it provided a very interesting visual for the rest of the story.

Also, I am…irrationally annoyed by the fact that V is on hiatus until March, even though I'm not hugely into V yet as much as really hoping to be soon. I mean, I think the hiatus is a bad idea anyway (and at least I have 2 episodes to watch between now and then) but it’s made worse, I think, because I learned that about an hour after learning 2 episodes of Dollhouse aired in one night. Different stations, but I can’t quite suppress my initial reaction of “wow, I guess they were worried about showing too many episodes of a current genre show where women aren’t constantly getting raped and are able to act and/or defend themselves without men first beating them up, bashing their heads into desks or throwing them against cabinets*.”

OTOH, Alice comes out either tonight or tomorrow, and I am SO EXCITED for that. A reminder why:



It looks so fun! And I thought Tin Man was a blast. Though the trailer makes me worry a bit about a love triangle. But i will be so sad if I don't like it!

Dang. Even mentioning Dollhouse makes me want my Farscape DVDs and/or more Babylon 5. Even at their worst, they couldn't dream of being as bad as Dollhouse at it's best. (Buffy, Angel and Firefly are currently somewhat ruined for me, though at least I no longer want to remove anything with the taint of Whedon from my apartment like I did after 2.4.)


*No, not “women getting hurt in a fight,” which is another thing entirely and not a bad thing, as long as they’re hurt because they’re fighting and not because they’re women, but women literally being passive until physically assaulted or “fixed” by the assault. Like Ballard repeatedly punching Echo until she switches to the personality he wants to “fix” her.

Well, that may have been the dullest alien invasion ever. I wonder if Morena Baccarin’s voice has hypnotic qualities? It would explain a lot! I highly anticipate the inevitable rebellion, though.

So, aliens come to Earth, offer universal peace and healthcare, and everyone squees and loves on them except a select few who are “uhm…no.” Standard stuff, though I suspect less standard than when the original version aired.

Plotwise, it’s pretty standard stuff, and not done in an overly engaging way, but I like or am at least interested in seeing what happens with most of the characters. Whoever first decided that Morena Baccarin would make an excellent representative of an evil race of aliens who kills with charisma and prettiness should be rewarded, though I’m rather worried she’s being typecast. Elizabeth Mitchell’s FBI agent single mom would be way more fun if it weren’t for the cringingly stereotypical “angsty teen” scenes with her son (Also, what is it was Hollywood teens favoring the dad who ran off and whining about how mean the parent who takes care of them is? It kinda makes them impossible to like.) who is very annoying and rather fails even more due to the inevitable John Connor comparisons, and I’m not even fond of John. There’s also a religious figure whose portrayal actually does not make me want to strangle the writers, and a sleeper agent with the potential to be my favorite character.

( spoilers )

Note: I haven’t seen the original, so please don’t spoil it (or allude to spoilers) as (A) I plan to, (B) they could end up spoilers for this.

But you know, the only other US show I’ve tried watching as it aired in years is Dollhouse. I can’t help but admit that almost anything would be an improvement over that.