Dull and Dreary

[SadGeezer]

Pretty much sums up Starhunter. I’d like to say, at the outset, that I wanted to like this show and I really tried hard to like it. But it has successfully resisted my enthusiasm.

Starhunter is ****e. No two ways about it.
I’ve always thought that Michael Pare is a good actor, or can be a good actor when he’s got a real role. Tanya Allen is a pleasure to watch. Many Lexx production crew were involved with the show and it was shot in New Brunswick, my old home province. I’d even been a fan of the producers, D’Or and Jackson.

But despite all that, and despite a lot of dedication, the show never really hit a mark.

Part of this is probably just the structure.
It’s a Canadian production yes. But it’s also French, and British, and German and American. It’s one of these ten way international co-production deals, which means that some of the shooting had to be done in England (Caravaggio’s and the fat guys scenes), and the Germans did the CGI, and the actors and writers and directors are a mix of Eurotrash. But the big drawback is that it just seems like there’s too many cooks in the broth. Trying to create a product acceptable to multiple backers, they did something that really excells at nothing.

Some things are simply annoying. The five minute speech by the fat guy at the start has more to do with satisfying co-production requirements than it does with actually advancing a story.

Michael Pare underperforms horribly. His every line seems to whisper “I’m just cashing a cheque, okay, I don’t want any trouble.”

Pare’s been handed a thankless task. Dante Montana, even in the very premise, is a burn out. Here’s a guy who was a farmer, who had his life turned inside out, and who’s spent the last ten years searching for his son.

And what has he got. Zip. Nada. Butkus. Zero. Ten years of searching, no leads, no clues, no results. After ten years the fires have banked, the passion is worn out,
he’s in a rut.

Montana doesn’t care about his job. It’s just a tool for his mission. But he barely
cares about his mission.

The apathy which permeates his life shows up in the opening monologue. “There are signs all around that humanity is changing… but I don’t care, I just want to find my son.”

A little sign there, that there’s an unhealthy obsession at best, and a disturbing
case of apathy and tunnel vision.

Essentially, Dante Montana is not an interesting character, he doesn’t appeal, he doesn’t repel. He’s blah.

The character of Luke is similarly blah.
She’s got all this backstory, but its all paint by numbers stuff. She has no chemistry at all with the other characters. She might as well do her role on another continent, as some of the cast do.

The brit actors, sitting alone in England against greenscreen… what a waste.

The only bright spot is Tanya Allen, who’s a fresh presence, bright and chipper. She’s another of those ‘genius kids’ that stink up SF, like Wesley Crusher, Will Robinson, or Young Annakin. But despite the fact that
most of these characters are as obnoxious as spit, Percy is appealing. Is it because the rest of the show is so rancid, or because Percy’s robust burgeoning teen sexuality relieves her character from its potentially grating quality.

Despite its multinational budget, most of the series takes place inside a handful of cramped sets with a minimal cast. They bounce around the solar system, but mostly they’re on the ship. There’s a few exterior shots, but mostly its just the ship, and maybe some corridors or rooms someplace else.

All right, so you’re stuck with a lot of
‘ship in the bottle’ episodes. You have to compensate with plot, with dialogue, with characterization.

Doesn’t happen. The Dante/Percy/Luke/ Caravaggio relationships are profoundly static, going nowhere. Unfortunately, the guest cast seldom gels, the dialogue is mostly flat, the stories trite.

For the most part, from what I’ve seen, Starhunter has consistently failed to strike a chord.

Series like Lexx, Farscape, even SG-1 spawned cult followings literally from day one. But search the internet for Starhunter… good luck.

In the end, its a waste of time and money, a waste of talent and potential. It had it in it to be great. Instead, it’s merely bland,
forgotten literally as its being watched.

Sad

[Anonymous]

I have to agree with you on a few of these things (“YELP! The Starhunter mod actually agreeing with this trash?! ” -Fans)

I think you’ve got a point here, many points, in fact.Despite that, however, I find the show rather appealing (and this was during the time they were showing all the Babylon 5 movies on TV here, okay? Just so you understand the situation.) Hopefully, the second season rectifies all of this.

BTW, what’s wrong with Rudolpho’s (sp?) beginning speech?

[Anonymous]

Rodolpho is his name? Why do I despize his opening speech. Because its such a cheap and obvious bit of padding. He’s not a real character, he doesn’t interract. He just phones in and does his little speech. Its a good way to kill five minutes of screen time. It doesn’t add anything to the episode, its simply empty and pretentious.

As I’ve said, I really don’t want to dislike the show. The ‘universe’ it’s set in seems to be thought out. I like all the pieces and I’m really crushed that the whole thing reeks.

[Anonymous]

quote

Rodolpho is his name?

No… Rudolpho – with the ‘u’. During one of his opening speeches he says it was originally Rudolph but he changed it so he didn’t get bagged for it.
Useless opening speeches. No relevnace whatsoever. I hope they get rid of them in Series 2!

[Author]

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