Ok, following on from my old threads...
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Just finished Battlestar Galactica... my life now feels empty http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17787432&highlight=finished+battlestar+galactica
Just finished Babylon 5 Series 1-5... my life now feels empty. http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=10901587#post10901587
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...I have just finished watching possibly the most mesmerisingly awesome piece of Science/Fiction television I have ever seen. The best thing is, I can't compare it to anything else. There's no "well, it was better than BSG" at this or "better than Bab 5 at that" because it is simply in a league of it's own.
Each and every series, barring half of one (which I will explain later) is awesome viewing. The premise is wholly original, the script and dialogue genuinely funny, and there is an emotional connection between and to the characters that I have rarely ever felt before when watching a show. In fact come to think of it, it is the biggest attachment i've ever felt to character in a show, barring a couple of useless ones.
Effects
The effects, namely the animatronics are brilliant. Rigel, possibly my favourite charater, was brimming with expression and personality. Pilot, was also similarly impressive... managing to convey more emotion through brilliant voice-acting and a few facial expressions than Keanu Reeves has ever managed in his entire career. The make-up was all well done, barring one or two ropey aliens, and the CGI was also more than adequate. No matter where the crew you were, you were immersed in the environment.
Characters
The characters were all what this show was about... and the castings were for the most part perfect. For a full list see here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/farscape/profiles/
My main favourites were:
John Kryton. This guy is a powerhouse of an actor, and no-one would have done a better job of going from bewildred terror to skizophrenic lunacy, to cocky arrogance as well as he ever could. John Kryton did a difficult and wholly convincing job of portraying a normal guy lost in the hellish depts of an alien-infested outer-space. He got a bit too whacky and cocksure at times, but this was due to writing and direction, not to his own fault. An American that was rarely irritating, he pulled it off.
Claudia Black a.k.a Aeryn Sun... ahh she is now my favourite EVER Sci-Fi babe. Yes, ever. Not only is she so stunningly beautiful in that imperfect way only the most beautiful women truly are, with a stunning figure, but her progression from cold killer to er... warm and emotional killer was truly emotive to watch. Her and Kryton had such moments of frustrating opposition, and then warm tenderness, that I really really got involved. She is an awesome actor, and so unbelievably cute and quirky (without trying to be, like when she was learning English) that I am now a BIG fan.
Scorpius. I'm not going to go into too much detail except that he is one of the most chillingly convincing super bad-guys i've ever seen. You get a true sense of intelligence and iron will, even the sense that is is an honourable gentleman... yet never truly evil. He was acted to perfection and is probably one of the most likeable bad guys i've ever seen.
Pilot & Rigel... I adored thee two. Not only because never have I seen such convincing animatronics in a Sci-Fi, but because they were two of the most lovable characters in the whole show. Pilot, for his mournful past and undying loyalty to his friends... and Rigel as the double-crossing rogue, cowardly yet with hidden strengths even he doesnt't realise.
D'Argo and Chiana were also highly likeable... D'argo was a bit one-dimensional to start but the more attached he grew to the crew the mosre they started to explore each side of him. Chiana similarly so, and while I found her irritating to start with, gradually you got to see that she was just a girl who had been through a really traumatic time.
Xan was ok, a bit "meh" for me. Same with Stark, he got a bit silly at the end and I think was written into the story too much.
Crais also a bit of a back-burner character, but he did definately improve at the end.
Grandma was a ridiculous addition, only getting even remotely sensible near the end, but I feel she was introduced in completely the wrong way, without any explanation, and just left the user thinking "wtf" and wanting her out of the show. Jools was similarly useless, a bad addition to the cast... and Sikoze would have made a much better early addition (and she was hot).
Story
The story, without wanting to ruin it, was for the large part excellent... and revolved around a hapless human ending up in the wilds of space having passed through a wormhole by mistake... to becoming a guy on the run with a hapless bunch of misfits... to getting involved in an interstellar war of epic proportions.
S1 and S2 kept up a frenetic pace of wootness, with S3 really starting to give a mavity which kept you hooked. Then... S4 began. I was so devestatingly gutted with the first half of this series that I actually nearly game up watching it... after the sheer sublime quality that was the first three, how could anything be this drenn? I don't mean bad, I mean cringingly appalling... episodes that lost all of the feel of the ones before it and that generated into "wacky" off-shoots that bore no relevance to the zany humour of Farscape, and instead shot it into another dimension... a frelling crap one. However, all was to be forgiven as they reached a certain world, and then all of a sudden, like nothing had ever happened, it snapped back to its old self with a string of episodes that were born of epic win.
Finishing that season highly satisfied to the point where I could forget I ever saw the first 12 or so episodes, I then ploughed through The Peacekeeper Wars, and while that was not up to the best standards the first four seasons had to offer, it did the job of wrapping things up in a nice enough way to leave me sated, though with the feeling I would never be fully satisfied now it was finished.
The End
So... I now find myself once more at the end of an epic journey, and one that has left me feeling that I have seen true Sci-Fi greatness, just as I did when I finished B5 and BSG. I have the usual feeling of emptiness that follows the last episode, but I can deal with it.
Now, what to start next...
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Just finished Battlestar Galactica... my life now feels empty http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17787432&highlight=finished+battlestar+galactica
Just finished Babylon 5 Series 1-5... my life now feels empty. http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=10901587#post10901587
--------------------------------------
...I have just finished watching possibly the most mesmerisingly awesome piece of Science/Fiction television I have ever seen. The best thing is, I can't compare it to anything else. There's no "well, it was better than BSG" at this or "better than Bab 5 at that" because it is simply in a league of it's own.
Each and every series, barring half of one (which I will explain later) is awesome viewing. The premise is wholly original, the script and dialogue genuinely funny, and there is an emotional connection between and to the characters that I have rarely ever felt before when watching a show. In fact come to think of it, it is the biggest attachment i've ever felt to character in a show, barring a couple of useless ones.
Effects
The effects, namely the animatronics are brilliant. Rigel, possibly my favourite charater, was brimming with expression and personality. Pilot, was also similarly impressive... managing to convey more emotion through brilliant voice-acting and a few facial expressions than Keanu Reeves has ever managed in his entire career. The make-up was all well done, barring one or two ropey aliens, and the CGI was also more than adequate. No matter where the crew you were, you were immersed in the environment.
Characters
The characters were all what this show was about... and the castings were for the most part perfect. For a full list see here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/farscape/profiles/
My main favourites were:
John Kryton. This guy is a powerhouse of an actor, and no-one would have done a better job of going from bewildred terror to skizophrenic lunacy, to cocky arrogance as well as he ever could. John Kryton did a difficult and wholly convincing job of portraying a normal guy lost in the hellish depts of an alien-infested outer-space. He got a bit too whacky and cocksure at times, but this was due to writing and direction, not to his own fault. An American that was rarely irritating, he pulled it off.
Claudia Black a.k.a Aeryn Sun... ahh she is now my favourite EVER Sci-Fi babe. Yes, ever. Not only is she so stunningly beautiful in that imperfect way only the most beautiful women truly are, with a stunning figure, but her progression from cold killer to er... warm and emotional killer was truly emotive to watch. Her and Kryton had such moments of frustrating opposition, and then warm tenderness, that I really really got involved. She is an awesome actor, and so unbelievably cute and quirky (without trying to be, like when she was learning English) that I am now a BIG fan.
Scorpius. I'm not going to go into too much detail except that he is one of the most chillingly convincing super bad-guys i've ever seen. You get a true sense of intelligence and iron will, even the sense that is is an honourable gentleman... yet never truly evil. He was acted to perfection and is probably one of the most likeable bad guys i've ever seen.
Pilot & Rigel... I adored thee two. Not only because never have I seen such convincing animatronics in a Sci-Fi, but because they were two of the most lovable characters in the whole show. Pilot, for his mournful past and undying loyalty to his friends... and Rigel as the double-crossing rogue, cowardly yet with hidden strengths even he doesnt't realise.
D'Argo and Chiana were also highly likeable... D'argo was a bit one-dimensional to start but the more attached he grew to the crew the mosre they started to explore each side of him. Chiana similarly so, and while I found her irritating to start with, gradually you got to see that she was just a girl who had been through a really traumatic time.
Xan was ok, a bit "meh" for me. Same with Stark, he got a bit silly at the end and I think was written into the story too much.
Crais also a bit of a back-burner character, but he did definately improve at the end.
Grandma was a ridiculous addition, only getting even remotely sensible near the end, but I feel she was introduced in completely the wrong way, without any explanation, and just left the user thinking "wtf" and wanting her out of the show. Jools was similarly useless, a bad addition to the cast... and Sikoze would have made a much better early addition (and she was hot).
Story
The story, without wanting to ruin it, was for the large part excellent... and revolved around a hapless human ending up in the wilds of space having passed through a wormhole by mistake... to becoming a guy on the run with a hapless bunch of misfits... to getting involved in an interstellar war of epic proportions.
S1 and S2 kept up a frenetic pace of wootness, with S3 really starting to give a mavity which kept you hooked. Then... S4 began. I was so devestatingly gutted with the first half of this series that I actually nearly game up watching it... after the sheer sublime quality that was the first three, how could anything be this drenn? I don't mean bad, I mean cringingly appalling... episodes that lost all of the feel of the ones before it and that generated into "wacky" off-shoots that bore no relevance to the zany humour of Farscape, and instead shot it into another dimension... a frelling crap one. However, all was to be forgiven as they reached a certain world, and then all of a sudden, like nothing had ever happened, it snapped back to its old self with a string of episodes that were born of epic win.
Finishing that season highly satisfied to the point where I could forget I ever saw the first 12 or so episodes, I then ploughed through The Peacekeeper Wars, and while that was not up to the best standards the first four seasons had to offer, it did the job of wrapping things up in a nice enough way to leave me sated, though with the feeling I would never be fully satisfied now it was finished.
The End
So... I now find myself once more at the end of an epic journey, and one that has left me feeling that I have seen true Sci-Fi greatness, just as I did when I finished B5 and BSG. I have the usual feeling of emptiness that follows the last episode, but I can deal with it.
Now, what to start next...
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