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Reflections on Viewing
Sep. 21st, 2008 02:14 am1. The sponsor on Hulu of many of the Bab5 episodes (and "Burn Notice" as well) is the US Army. As I listened to the propaganda and once again became disgusted with how much of George Orwell's 1984 the current administration has taken as a playbook, I realized that I'm old enough to remember something different. My formative years were spent in a time of relative peace and at a time when the fruits of the Civil Rights Movement were beginning to come to ripeness. I have something to compare all this to. Kids born in 1980 don't. How many of them just swallow it all hook, line and sinker? Well, my brother B. was born in 1980 and I have to say that one thing that opened his eyes was serving in the Navy. He's been sent to Iraq twice and Afghanistan once (or was it twice?). He was apolitical before going and probably as easy to gull as most Americans today seem to be. Not every service member who's been sent to Iraq automatically becomes a foe of this administration. But my brother did, thank god.
2. I still like the costume work on Bab5. The costumer for that show did a better job than any SF show costumer I've seen before or since in creating really interesting future fashion. Yeah, a lot of it has to do with lapels or absence thereof. But it really succeeds in seeming fresh, not just a Time Bandits mish mosh of existing historical fashion. Honestly, I'd duplicate some of the designs on that show and wear them as everyday wear if I had the pattern drafting talent needed. Not all of it works. The Earth uniforms prior to the alliance with the Minbari are very unflattering. Not that it isn't realistic to have badly-designed uniforms. I think I've seen at least a couple countries that have those... In fact, I was looking at one particularly unflattering outfit worn by Catherine Sakai in "Mind War" and thought that it's really interesting and looks futuristic or heretofore unknown despite the fact that I thought it was ugly. And, really, some people wear ugly things. In every era there have been unflattering nasty fashions. So even having something ugly in there is more realistic than having every single character, regardless of class/species/culture, wearing extremely flattering runway wear. Anyway, props to <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0115835/">Ann Bruice</a>.
3. I wonder if it will ever stop being highly risky for an actor to take a regular role in an SF/Fantasy/Geek series? While some of the acting on Bab5 was wooden, there were some very fine actors on that show. Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas in particular come to mind. Yet when you look at IMDB, you see that many of these actors didn't go on to bigger and better things after Bab5. Shit, how often have you seen James Marsters post-Buffy? It always seems weird to me that I can see actors I think really have chops (aren't merely cast well) and then they disappear after the series ends, presumably because they were looked down upon for doing SF. With the rise and re-rise of comic book movies, the reinvention of Battlestar Galactica and more, I hope the "George Reeves" syndrome stops.
2. I still like the costume work on Bab5. The costumer for that show did a better job than any SF show costumer I've seen before or since in creating really interesting future fashion. Yeah, a lot of it has to do with lapels or absence thereof. But it really succeeds in seeming fresh, not just a Time Bandits mish mosh of existing historical fashion. Honestly, I'd duplicate some of the designs on that show and wear them as everyday wear if I had the pattern drafting talent needed. Not all of it works. The Earth uniforms prior to the alliance with the Minbari are very unflattering. Not that it isn't realistic to have badly-designed uniforms. I think I've seen at least a couple countries that have those... In fact, I was looking at one particularly unflattering outfit worn by Catherine Sakai in "Mind War" and thought that it's really interesting and looks futuristic or heretofore unknown despite the fact that I thought it was ugly. And, really, some people wear ugly things. In every era there have been unflattering nasty fashions. So even having something ugly in there is more realistic than having every single character, regardless of class/species/culture, wearing extremely flattering runway wear. Anyway, props to <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0115835/">Ann Bruice</a>.
3. I wonder if it will ever stop being highly risky for an actor to take a regular role in an SF/Fantasy/Geek series? While some of the acting on Bab5 was wooden, there were some very fine actors on that show. Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas in particular come to mind. Yet when you look at IMDB, you see that many of these actors didn't go on to bigger and better things after Bab5. Shit, how often have you seen James Marsters post-Buffy? It always seems weird to me that I can see actors I think really have chops (aren't merely cast well) and then they disappear after the series ends, presumably because they were looked down upon for doing SF. With the rise and re-rise of comic book movies, the reinvention of Battlestar Galactica and more, I hope the "George Reeves" syndrome stops.
