Angel ends
I liked the last episode of "Angel" - but there was some oddness there as well. It had a rushed feeling to it - and it felt more like a season finale than a series finale. With the end of "Buffy", strings were tied up, loose ends dealt with, and a plausible explanation given as to why Buffy could take a break from the fight. With the end of Angel, there really wasn't any of that. Oh sure, with the effective decapitation of the Black Thorn, evil was disrupted - and I suppose it's more in tune with the leitmotif behind Angel - the fight is never over.
For me, the biggest loss here is that Joss Whedon is off TV next year - no Angel, no Buffy, no Firefly. The cheesy reality shows rule the airwaves - frankly, I'd rather surf the net than devote even a few minutes of my life to a "Survivor" style show. Ther may be some hope in the SciFi realm - SG-1 is still on (and it's still the best SciFi show out there). "Enterprise" is back, but the problems with that show are unlikely to go away - the writers haven't been fired en-masse yet. Last night's episode was the epitome of what's wrong with the series. Here's the weapon that will destroy the entire Earth - we have a team of marines who can infiltrate the ship carrying it. Do they bring any C4? No. Do they haul over a few nukes? No. They go off to rescue a captured crewman and return. Let's look at the stakes here:
- Fate of the entire planet
- One command crewman captured
Heck, the original Trek did better in those situations - Spock sacrificed himself to save the ship in "Wrath of Khan" (not that he stayed dead, but never mind that now). I can just imagine the SG-1 team given these options - nukes and/or C4 beamed aboard with short fuses, and the enemy ship disabled or destroyed - but in any case, the weapon no longer on the way to Earth. Someone contact UPN and beat the writers senseless, please.
I have some hopes for the SG-1 spinoff (Atlantis) - but a fair bit of spinoff wariness as well. We'll have to see if they can expand the universe of the show. After that, it's a vast wasteland. "24"? Jumped the shark eons ago - people have probably died trying to wrap their heads around the various improbabilities in that show. There's always "The Sopranos", I suppose...
Comments
Enterprise
[Dwarfland] May 20, 2004 10:58:11.429
You say "the original Star Trek did better in those situations". Very very true, and actually the reason i stopped watching Enterprise mid-Season 3 after the umpteenth dialog that went "i hate the Xindi as much as the next guy...".
Original Star Trek (as in, pre-Enterprise) tried to raise issues and bring balanced views on current political issues - Enterprise in comparison felt like a cheap and unquestioning advertisement for the american "War on Terror", including but not limited to a the token race we're being taught to hate unconditionally (whether Xindi on enterprise or Arabs/"Islamists" in the real world).
It used to be that Star Trek stood for enlightened views and a world without racism, not for propagating it. But it seems that just as the show is placed closer to the present time then previous Star Trek series, so have the creators and writers become stuck in the 20th century, far far behind Gene Roddenberry. Sad, but true. (Interestingly, the same tendencies tend to shimmer thru in selected episodes of the otherwise excellent The Dead Zone, which is also in the hands of Michael Pillar. Coincidence?)
Here's to hoping that the franchise will recover from the mistake that was Enterprise, and the future will treat us to more gems like TNG or DS9.
That said, i fully agree with you on being sad to see the Buffyverse leave the screen (though i have yet to see the final Angel episode; later tonight ;-). It will be dearly missed, and few (of any) worthy replacements seem to be on the horizon...
http://dwarfland.blogspot.com/
Defending Enterprise
[Mike Brazinski] May 20, 2004 17:39:00.947
Just to defend last night's show a little...
Hoshi was being held on a reptillian ship, not the weapon. The weapon was being remotely controlled from the ship. Could the ship be destroyed with antimatter or Corbamite or whatever? Yes, but it wouldn't have destroyed the weapon. Control of the weapon could easily have been sent over to another reptillian ship. And as for badmouthing Survivor, you haven't given it a chance. It's fun to see 16 people really screw up what ends up being a long game of Avalon Hill's Diplomacy. I enjoy seeing the one gamer in the group, like Richard Hatch, manipulate the others. I enjoy the show. But, then again, I still enjoy Enterprise....Re: Defending Enterprise
[James T. Savidge] May 21, 2004 17:40:39.539
In support of Mr. Brazinski statement: "Hoshi was being held on a reptillian ship, not the weapon..." see this review of the episode:
Countdown
James T. Savidge, Friday, May 21, 2004