darkness and light

[rivendellrose]

Right now, I deserve some kind of prize for not burning through to the end of at least the current disaster on B5.

Stupid cut-tag doesn't like italics, apparently. :/


First off, let me say that I was spoiled on this arc before I even started watching the show. Purely my own fault - I should really know better than to say "don't worry, I probably won't ever get 'round to watching it," when the subject is a sci-fi series. Because inevitably, I will. And once I meet the characters and remember the spoiler, I'll be kicking myself because it's just not the same if you know. You prepare yourself, you coach yourself, you play the scene out in your head... and then, when it comes, you realize that yeah, it's actually worse than you'd imagined.

This is another case of "I grew up watching Star Trek." On Star Trek, when people are dying, it's really not very messy. The worst you might have is... oh, let's say a fruit roll-up slick of something on their cheek. (Oh Tasha Yar, how cruelly they fucked up your death.) There's a little wheezing, a dramatic speech, and then - done. Please, someone, correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't remember anyone on Star Trek being hooked into the kinds of disturbing and demoralizing apparatuses that we use in modern medecine. I don't remember any neck-braces, or those really frigging scary things with the pins in that hold your head still so you don't damage your own spinal cord.

Yup. This one struck a nerve or two. I'm pretty sure I had other things I was going to say, things about Garibaldi, and how I can never decide whether or not I like Lyta, or how I was really expecting Delenn to play a more important part in all of this rather than just sort of showing up at the last minute. About how happy I was to see Londo make a move for something good for a change, with G'Kar agreeing with him all the way, or maybe how surreal it is to see that one blue eye peeking out of G'Kar's makeup. Whatever it was, it got lost in being a lot more affected than I ever anticipated by what happened to Susan, and by what I know Marcus is going to to next. I like both of them, damn it. And I'm angry that Susan is never going to be the same after this. None of them are.

I really respect a writer who's willing to play with real consequences and changes in his/her characters. I don't think I'd have the heart to do it. It definitely upsets me as an audience member. When this is all over, I want to go back and watch Season 1 and 2, just so I can see everybody happy again. Maybe that's the best thing about Firefly - it's easy to ignore the movie. There's a clear break: series = mostly happy, nice things that don't really screw anybody over too badly. Yeah, there was the whole thing with Niska, and the end of Heart of Gold, but you recover from that kind of stuff. There wasn't anything that the characters couldn't bounce back from. And then the movie came 'round, and it's easy to just sort of... stay in the period before the movie. Nothing's come since, so it's easy to just ignore it. We don't have to live there. We don't have to see the fall-out. Thinking of that, maybe I'm glad the series didn't get its run - I don't think I could've stood to see this kind of thing happen over there, and I know it would've, because that's what a really good writer would do. Change everything, and take the characters to the point where they can't go back, where nothing is really a win. There's always hope, but sometimes it's a pretty damned cold hope.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go stare blankly at my fic.

Comments

[reve-lucide.livejournal.com]

I really respect a writer who's willing to play with real consequences and changes in his/her characters.

Heh. Just waits for you to get to Farscape, omg. :P

[razycrandomgirl.livejournal.com]

Farscape is shiny!

[reve-lucide.livejournal.com]

Totally shiny. XD

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, that's definitely impression that I've gotten from little bits I've overheard. And it should be especially interesting, given that just looking at... er... guy-who-wears-bondage-gear-on-his-face? You hopefully know who I mean?

He freaks me out, anyway. Which is by no means necessarily a bad thing, but... wow. Rarely do I find a character who just makes me go "geeaaggggh!" at the mere sight of a picture!

[reve-lucide.livejournal.com]

Scorpy! *uses icon*

Something else I really like about Farscape is the way different characters morality changes. The "heroes" and "villians" are both complex and flawed, and they all have redeeming qualities, even the "bad" characters. Such good writing.

And heh -- you'll find out about the "bondage gear" eventually. :P

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

*Twitches* Yup, that'd be him.

I know, I know... It's some kind of EV suit, from what I recall. I got scolded by another Farscape fan friend for calling it bondage gear. But seriously! I mean... just look at it. It so is. :P

Oh yes. Fluid morality and character structure... yup, I've been putting up with a lot of that, lately. One of my favorite characters on B5 beat the living crap out of one of his enemies (another main character) not too long ago... and another of them pretty much organized genocide before finally coming back around, only because all of a sudden it was his people who were in trouble. I loooove characters with flaws. They make me so happy. And upset, but that's part of why they make me happy.

[reve-lucide.livejournal.com]

Well, he is pretty kinky. LOL.

They make me so happy. And upset, but that's part of why they make me happy.

Oh, I think you've got a pretty good chance of "getting" Farscape, then. It's just chock full of things that make you happy and traumatized, in equal amounts. :P

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm sure. Moral ambiguity is one of my favorite things when it comes to a show. As long as at least some of the characters are still likeable, mind you. Which is the impression I get from everything you've said.

(Besides, from the pictures I've seen... Claudia Black's character looks hot.)

My only stipulation is that I think I'll need a break before I start it, after B5. Bad idea to watch too many really brain-breaky shows in short succession.

Besides, if I wait I might be able to convince one of the housemates to watch it with me, and that always makes a show more fun. XD

[reve-lucide.livejournal.com]

Still likeable -- yes. They're even pretty good at making characters likeable that shouldn't be.

And yes, oh god yes, Claudia Black is bloody hot, and Aeryn Sun is even hotter. Just wait til you hear her voice, lol.

And yeah, definitely take a break. From everything I've heard you say about B5, it sounds pretty "brain-breaky".

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Awesome, I love when that happens. There's nothing more fun than the characters you really want to hate, but can't help loving despite yourself.

Aeryn Sun... I can't bring her to mind, unfortunately. One of my former housemates had a poster of the cast, but I really only paid attention to a few of them. I love a good voice, though... can't wait to hear it!

Dear gods yes. It's kind of funny... there are still times when I get caught up in the fact that the acting sometimes verges on the melodramatic, or the dialogue is occasionally unrealistic, but the rest of the time I'm so enthralled that I just don't care. I'm aware of it, but it doesn't matter anymore. Very weird.

[reve-lucide.livejournal.com]

Aeryn Sun is the name of Claudia Black's character. I probably should have mentioned that. :P

See, that's exactly how Farscape is for me. At a certain point, you just accept that a lot of the special effects are laughable (particularly in the 1st season), and sometimes the makeup on the Alien Of The Week is a little, well ... distracting is a nice way to put it -- and you just keep enjoying it anyway.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Lol. Shows what I know. ;)

Yeeeeeah. Well, the good news is, by now I should be totally used to that. My first reaction to the CGI effects on B5 (it was the first show to do all the space shots completely by computer...) was "hey, wasn't (one of our housemates) playing this video game last week?" And not like a good video game, either. And a few episodes ago I got horribly distracted because I could see the edge of one of the character's latex applications, and that his makeup itself was fading, showing his real skintone. Oops. I love the really fancy makeup applications, but paying a lot of attention to how they work can really mess up the enjoyment level sometimes. :P

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

meep? what happened!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Oh... doom. Destruction. Death. Self-sacrifice. Horrible medical instruments. Me mourning the near-death, impending death, and impending death-of-hope of two of my favorite characters while still agonizing over the impending-total-dumbshit-idiocy of another.

The usual.

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

Ermmmm....yikes!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

And tonight I'll probably be finishing the season, so I expect there'll be even more doom. Doooooooooom.

...I'm gonna be so sad when I hit the end of this season. o_O

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's alot of DOOOOOOOOM. I'm so freaking curious now. Damn.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yes. Yes it is.

I can rant at you about it, if you'd like. Not now, though. Time to go home. XD

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

Yay, time to go home is always nice!
And yes, I'd love for you to rant at me about it sometime!

[windrose.livejournal.com]

*HUGS*

If it makes you feel better, I cried like a little girl over that particular sequence of events.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

*Hugs* I didn't cry, but I sat staring at my computer for a while, and then scurried upstairs and hid in one of my housemate's rooms until past my bedtime, freaking out to her about the whole thing even though she has only the vaguest notion of the show. And realized that that kind of medical equipment really freaks me the hell out, apparently.

I really thought knowing what was going to happen would make me okay with that bit. So much for that theory.

[windrose.livejournal.com]

I really thought knowing what was going to happen would make me okay with that bit. So much for that theory.

I didn't know what was going to happen, though I figured it out pretty damned fast. And yeah, that medical stuff is ... ::shudders::

More *hugs*

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I didn't know exactly, but I knew in general terms. And after their little conversation prior to the battle, I had a good sense that it was going to be in this episode. Maximum emotional impact and all that.

Poor Marcus. *Hugs him, and you, and pretty much everybody*