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Still not sure why the site feels the need to moderate or that solitary posts get placed in a queue for moderation though – perhaps that partially explains the lack of online activity.
I mean, members should feel like that they’re participating in real time – that participation ensures a communal feeling. Protracted delays merely add to the graveyard effect, and it doesn’t help that the only people who seem to post are the moderators.
Maybe, though, the site has simply died for no reason other than people have got on with their lives or found somewhere else (like Television Without Pity) to discuss sci fi.
All said and done, all good things come to an end I suppose, and this site enjoyed a vibrant life for many years. Either way, I’ll no longer post and simply maintain a death watch.
aquabloodstone wrote:I’m still here everyday, but I’m not the most vocal of posters in the first place. Pretty much any sci-fi I watched was cancelled or is waiting for a summer season to start here in the US. Not sure if I even know how to post a Futurama review if I got off my butt and wrote one!
Not even Sad appears to be around anymore – or could be bothered to comment either.
Maybe we should start writing the site’s obituary before it (presumably) goes offline.
Not even Sad appears to be around anymore – or could be bothered to comment either.
Maybe we should start writing the site’s obituary before it (presumably) goes offline.
thanks Tony
I’ve since found an illuminating link that makes sense of Herbert’s aims. It’s great stuff if anyone thinks they might be interested.
http://tim.oreilly.com/herbert/ch01.htmlsomeoldguy wrote:I’ll buy it, watch it and get back to you. 😀
Consider yourself warned….and try not to wake the neighbors. 😛
Yes, but is that a good thing or a bad thing, lexxrobotech ? 😆
If anyone is interested in being completely violated, torrents and youtube clips can be found under its german title of Traumschiff Surprise.
I hated the Stargate movie for that reason (jingoism and expansionism are built into the premise).
It was almost as if the American’s wanted to take back the chariots of gods premise for themselves (ancient Egypt might have been colonized by aliens, but the American military industrial complex were now going to be the centre of the universe ).
Take that Nancy boy, or whose crying now?!
The series simply took over the ball game and ran with it – no wonder its popular with people who don’t really like sci fi.
There there. 😛
What is it about Lexx – or Lexxians – that is so easy to ‘provoke’ ?
Suddenly the site is alive with posters again – until everyone goes back into their cryo chamber again.
Still, it must be hard to be literally trading on past glories.
and you have to admit that’s it odd (sad?) that even MM has to download episodes of Lexx to watch the show.
I dunno – maybe its time for a reunion. It would seem that most of the Lexx cast and crew have fallen silent or out of the public eye.
Even this site seems to have suffered a post Lexx fall out – I remember a time when (other) people would actually post here.
MM talks about the stigma of working in sci fi, comparing it to working in porn – nice work if you can get it, but potential employers are worried about the association.
He also talks about BD being another ”excellent actor” chronically ”unemployed or underemployed”.
I just wonder how they manage to make ends meet or get through the day without wanting to jumping off a cliff. In the video interview, he talks about acting on stage…to completely empty theatres and/or few performances. The theatre might be where his heart lies, but audiences seem completely disinterested.
No wonder his hair has gone grey.
Just listened to this great MM interview
http://scifitalk.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=50487&comments=onwhere he talks about having to download the show via p2p in order to watch a decent copy. It’s a great interview – he comes across as remarkably personable, despite complaining about the ‘total disaster’ of his post Lexx career. It also makes an interesting companion piece to the more recent video interview posted on the MM site – he seems demoralised (to me) by this stage.
Flamegrape wrote:The big problem for people in America is the lack of “first season” DVDs. You can buy them from Canada but you can’t buy or rent them in the United States. Netflix, an extremely popular mail-order rental service, has all of the other seasons available for rental. But not the first season.
It’s also nice to see that some people are ‘archiving’ the entire series online in the form of torrents
http://www.torrentman.com/download.php?id=397203
I remember a time when I had to track down the show via mail orders.
I hope not – I recently watched Mantrid and Norb, and hope to watch other favorites soon (like lafftrak and 791).
I can only assume that the copyright holders don’t know or haven’t complained. All it takes is one party popper of course. Hopefully the illicit postings will attract new fans before someone does a lexx on them. It would be shame to see the show fade into memory.
Nice to see that you can (illegally) watch entire episodes of Lexx online at Youtube. It provides an instant reminder of the show in all of its former glory.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=lexx&search=Search
Faldor wrote:oh and considering I wasnt even a twinkle in me parents eye during the 70s I dont buy the nostalgia argument
I was more talking about a cultural or shared memory. As the show’s title implies, it is difficult not to look back and experience something alien or otherwordly about the past. the way it is remembered is preserved in dress codes, genre tropes, stereotypes, and attitudes, etc. And i maintain that the show longs for the past by choosing to remember it as such, even if such memories tend to be revisionist or false. Just ask your parents how prevalent free love or the hippy movement really was 😛 Yet somehow these memories have come to define an entire era or group of people.
and for those looking for a legal (free) torrent of the recent Serenity documentary Done the Impossible, check here http://www.legaltorrents.com/index.htm
here’s recent review of the dvd version on scifi.com – it got an A
Done the Impossible: The Fans’ Tale of Firefly & Serenity
A fan-driven labor of love documents the rise and fall and rise again of Joss Whedon’s star-crossed space-opera western
Done the Impossible: The Fans’ Tale of Firefly & Serenity
Hosted by Adam Baldwin
Appearances by Jewel Staite, Alan Tudyk, Joss Whedon, Mary Parent, Morena Baccarin, Nathan Fillion, Orson Scott Card, Ron Glass and more
79 mins.
Creative Commons, 2006
Unrated
MSRP: $23.95
http://www.donetheimpossible.com
By Cristopher DeRose
On Sept. 20, 2002, the Joss Whedon western-in-space, Firefly, debuted on Fox. Its death Dec. 12 of that same year was messy and rather undignified. And while there was a burial, this was not the end.
This DVD is very much for fans by fans …Firefly suffered from changing timeslots by Fox, a network that was clearly at sea with a western/science-fiction show populated with heroes that leapt across gray areas of ethics (up to, but certainly not limited to, the captain of Serenity, Malcolm Reynolds, played by Nathan Fillion, kicking a villain’s henchman into a moving engine); had Chinese liberally sprinkled throughout the dialogue; and was not content to resolve itself every episode. It was canceled in a flurry of episodes aired out of sequence.
Despite the fact that the lid had been put on the show, and that not all of the episodes had actually been aired, let alone seen in their proper order, the fans would not stay quiet—and creator Joss Whedon credits them for resurrecting the show that nobody wanted.
And that is primarily what this documentary is about, the fans in all their various forms—creators of the role-playing game, writers of fan fiction and tribute bands. But it is also about how those behind the show appreciate them back. Done the Impossible documents how the group referred to as Browncoats are as rabid a fanbase as those of any other franchise.
Firsthand accounts of cancellation come not only from the cast and crew, but from the fans as well. The Browncoat Campaign, a case of guerilla marketing that many might learn from, was launched after Fox’s own attempt at promotion, which was nothing more than an online banner ad contest. The campaign included fans buying multiple Firefly DVD sets and putting them into the hands of unsuspecting soon-to-be fans. Even SF novelist Orson Scott Card received a set from his son, and declares Firefly “the greatest science-fiction television series ever created” during his interview. Another nice touch is the documentary’s attention to Universal vice chairman Mary Parent’s instrumental role in making the film Serenity a reality, proving that the good guys can indeed be on the other side of the board meeting, as well.
You can’t take the sky from them
Browncoats may be seen as taking things too seriously, and their numbers are relatively small, but this documentary shows that when unified, those who believe can help make the dead rise.Much like the work that inspired it, Done the Impossible is a labor of love. “Passion is what makes life worth living,” says member Emerald Rose. Passion does what it will, including drawing others into it. This DVD is very much for fans by fans, which is to say that there are more interviews with fans than there are with the cast, crew and creator.
Whedon is shown not only as someone who cares about others (touching on his charity work for such groups as equalitynow.org), but as someone who allows his fans their own corner of his playground—as convention and interview footage reveals enough fan-produced merchandise to make George Lucas froth at the mouth and collapse in convulsions.
There is a ton of music here, some of it nice, some distracting, especially when joined with lyrics and shown in what appears to be its entirety, which can be a little long if one isn’t in the mood to hear such tunes as “The Ballad of Joss.” Just isn’t my cup of tea. Then again, neither are Ren Faires, which seem to have their fair share of Browncoats represented here.
In fact, there is very little wrong at all with this little gem. The most serious drawback is in the menu screens for things like the interactive timeline and trivia section. The text is just too small to be practical for viewing across the room.
The bonus material and DVD-ROM features sport such wonderful things as a fully interactive viewing experience from the computer monitor and include a plethora of factoids, running dialogue captions and uncut interviews with all the participants. This feature looks and runs beautifully, and the features for the DVD-ROM alone have a running time of more than six hours.
The attention to detail in the timeline and the ‘Verse Dictionary may seem over the top for a show that barely lasted a season, but most Browncoats will find many a kindred spirit here. They’ll also get to play a Firefly trivia game, written from the point of view of hardcore Browncoats, that comes in no less than three difficulty settings and proves to be quite challenging without bugging the hell out of you. —Cristopher
Would he be surprised if you presented him with a 3some? 😀 Most men would be pleasantly surprised, and forever grateful. If he wasn’t taken by surprise, I’m sure he’d appreciate it as much as any man would – even if he got one every birthday. Its the kind of gift that just keeps on giving. Even the thought counts – just make sure its post natal. 😀
I’ve nothing to add other than Heroes is yet to complete its first season – we’re only halfway through so far. Like you, though, I’m not sure what else there is to say or do beyond this point – other than watch the pieces come together in progressively less interesting ways.
Heroes, for me, remains style over substance and doesn’t even begin to compare to (say) the genius of The Wire (not sci fi). Despite being very vocal about it from the outset, I readily concede that the real interest is in the way the story is told. I just hope that the writers have a few stylistic tricks up their sleeves, and that Hiro’s encounter with the dinosaur isn’t a let down.
I’ll continue to watch BG with interest whilst Doctor Who can kiss my ass.
I haven’t seen Monk, so I won’t presume to comment. I agree, though, that the production and visual look is surprisingly generic – the series certainly doesn’t distinguish itself in that regard.
My initial reaction also was: why is this crap getting good reviews for its ‘strangeness’ and ‘bizarreness’ – it looks as if it has come straight off the production line. The character’s motives don’t seem to get more complex than: find the objects/who has the objects/what do the objects do to those seeking/owning them, etc?
I’d argue, though, that looks can be deceiving and that its (lack of) style was an aesthetic choice by the producers. And the characterization’s provide an opportunity to explore religious themes in the (possible) weekly tv series…the objects (and characters) increasingly take on a religious significance. Many think they’re collecting pieces of God and find their faith put to the test, etc.
If you keep watching – and I’m not sure how much you’ve seen – the show’s style goes into increasingly leftfield and ingenious storytelling.
So yeah, I’d normally completely agree with you – until I watched it.
It’s an excellent show – one of the few American ‘comedies’ worth watching, especially when the brother in law joins the cast. The second season is arguably not as good as the first – the tone is a little erratic or misjudged in places. All said and done, though, Weeds is a trip worth taking.
But shouldn’t you be watching Venture Bros. and Lost Room first? 😛
Believe me Sad, I’d love to be a regular contributor. The time difference – or my sleeping patterns – appears to make it difficult. It’s a shame that I’m such a creature of the night, and that I’m (usually) sleeping when the show is taping – or that you and Mike are still getting pissed when I’m awake. 😀
btw, not sure why, but the ‘notify’ feature of threads doesn’t seem to be working anymore.
Yep, when the writing – and characterizations – hit their stride , the show is positively gravity defying.
Sad, I’d probably not watch the unscreened pilot (turtle bay) or episode 2 (careers in science) first. Consider watching episode 1 and 3 before any of the others – they’ll encourage you to investigate further. I’ve been watching two or three episodes a night – the show just improves in leaps and bounds (despite a few lame episodes scattered throughout). And oh – make sure you remain for the end credits.
Holly, the original appeal of Lost isn’t apparent in season 2. The introduction of the Hatch marks the decline of the series in my view – as evident by the fact that the writers have dispensed with the button pushing in season 3.
To be frank, I wouldn’t encourage you to watch it at all – the show is the longest con pulled on audiences in recent memory. Back when it was original or fresh – season 1, where the writers gave the impression they knew what they were doing – Lost was mesmerising. I wouldn’t have hesitated in recommending it at all. Now I would urge that you steer clear of it, and check out Carnivale instead (if you haven’t seen it yet). Now, *that* was a great show that managed to build interest and sustain momentum – a shame it was cancelled prematurely due to production costs. And it was certainly better than Heroes, which is becoming less impressive as the series progresses.
”mandara wrote:Ya geared up for Heroes, bonbon?
Definitely M, although I have to confess to being less impressed by it as the show progresses. Now that I’ve got used to its ‘style’, it seems less impressive. Still a great show of course, but I think I prefer BG all said and done – BG is at least preoccupied with real feelings and issues.
Speaking of – and to – nutters, you should check out Dexter on Showtime if you can. That’s a great show too.
I was more commenting on your rambling ‘thoughts’ Mandara…and a proctologist exam is always imminent.
ranthony wrote:It’s like being subjected to a daily rectal exam. It’s not fun, and it makes the experience of watching the show not fun.
-RAnthony
Please don’t knock rectal exams . My day is not complete without one….or two.
Hey I could be wrong – the rumor could be true and the denial damage control.
kind bring blood back to boil… at least simmer or stew in your own juices.
Regarding your spoiler Sad, I’m not sure its worth a hill of beans – it was a widely circulated rumour, but it has since been contested
Spoiler Alert
http://www.compleatseanbean.com/
You’ll have to scroll down the page to see the rumour challenged. The denial could be an attempt to protect sylar’s identity, but I still ask: Who’s on first base 🙂
Wikipedia provides a nice overview of the series and character
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroes_(TV_series)
And apparently we’ve entered our first arc – ‘save the cheerleader, save the world’!
It’s arguably the best show on tv in my view – three seasons in and its still interesting. Perhaps what prevents it from being the best show is that it seems a little too neat or tv-vy in places (like Adama’s recent ‘pass’ to a traitor).
But who is leaving the cast?
Edit: oh.
