Favorite tv shows

['thul]

SGU will only get better as you get towards the end. They canceled it before it could truly become something. But at least the ending is not cut off the way some shows are.

[fool-ish]

'Dad's Army,' one of my favourite TV shows ever is on right now. It's old but it never ages. Timeless, classic comedy

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Just writing in to report that the new FiM episode is absolutely hilarious. I've already seen it twice.

[Albertosaurus Rex]

SGU will only get better as you get towards the end. They canceled it before it could truly become something. But at least the ending is not cut off the way some shows are.

I watched the final couple of episodes yesterday and I have to agree: the final batch of episodes is very good. Heartbreakingly good, in fact. This is a show that was cut down in its prime.

MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES

I don't know how far into the filming of the second season the crew was informed that the show had me cancelled, but what really surprised me was that the final episodes didn't attempt to answer any of the qiestions raised during the series, or wrap up any of the storylines.

I'm fine with some things never being answered. Like the origin of the drones - I feel they're more menacing when we're unsure of their exact origins. The biggest mistake Stargate SG-1 made regarding the replicators was eventually giving them a lame origin story. Likewise, while the writers of Star Trek Voyager have gotten a lot of criticism regarding how they handled the Borg, at least they never revealed the Borg's origin, and that keeps them a little mysterious and menacing.

Likewise, I'm fine with never seeing the creators of that artificial planet back in season one. I loved how they kept that mysterious - the thought that there are beings out there so advanced that they can create an entire planet is majestic. But when the people who stayed on the planet were suddenly resurrected and brought back to the Destiny to die all over again - that's the kind of thing that demands an answer, and we never got it. Also: what were the blue aliens after? What's going to happen with Chloe's mutations? (It might be that the blue aliens cured her, but I'm not sure anymore.) When is the Lucian alliance going to attack Earth? What actually happened with TJ's baby? What was the mysterious signal the Destiny was following? Did Eli ever manage to fix that final stasis pod? Is his plan going to work? When will these people come out of stasis? And of course there's also a huge loose end from Stargate Atlantis still dangling around: are the Wraith still preying on the people of the Pegasus galaxy? Are they still searching for Earth's location?

This is the kind of cliffhanger that begs for a resolution involving the crew awakening a hundred or a thousand years in the future. Instead, we will never know.

As for other series: Next month will see the DVD release of the tenth and final season of Smallville. While it's far from its prime, it's a series I have stuck with throughout all those years and I'm eager to watch this. (It's not airing in the Netherlands, so this will be my first legal chance too see it.)

Saturday's new episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was slightly disappointing after the excellence that was last week's episode. It was still enjoyable, though - so far, there's not been a single truly bad episode.

['thul]

They were roughly halfway through production (give or take a few episodes) when the cancelling was finalized, so they could have finished some parts off, but it would have been a poor finish. The story was designed to take 5 years or so. Rushing things to get it done in two would not have done the story any honors.

The one good thing about the cancel coming before the production was finished was that the story could be brought to an end. Not a final end, but an end nonetheless.

Hopefully someone will be allowed to pick up the show later and finish the story. But that would only be good if those people are able to do it right. With enough quality.

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Are you sure about the five-year span? I stumbled yesterday upon the blog of writer Joseph Mallozzi, where he talks about their plans for season 3, and it strikes me how vague those are. It sounds to me like they were making it all up as they went along, which is of course not uncommon in the tv industry.

More and more recently, it strikes me how unnatural the tv series is as a storytelling medium. For episodic series, fine. But for arc-heavy series? Unlike miniseries, most regular series just chug along as long as the ratings are good. Notable exceptions being Babylon 5 (Always planned as a five-season series, then canceled after the fourth season so they had to hastily wrap it up, which actually worked, but then the series was renewed after all and we got a lame fifth season), Lost (After the third season, the writers were able to strike a deal for the series to end after three more seasons, at which point the pace goes up considerably) and Avatar: The Last Airbender (which plays out as a classic fantasy trilogy).

Here's a thought experiment: plan out three years for each series, giving the story a beginning, middle and end structure. Then make a three-year sequel if the first three years are succesful. (And write the first season to have some sort of closure in case the show gets cancelled.) What do you think?

EDIT: This is my 666th post. Spooky!

[fool-ish]

The number of the beast...there's a song there somewhere

[Farseer]

EDIT: This is my 666th post. Spooky!

Careful...the last time someone pointed out their post count, I stole a heap...and '666' kind of suggests trouble as well as 'spooky'. Stay away from the keyboard, Farseer!!

Dad's Army? I loved that as a young whipper snapper! It was an ABC staple for years.

[joost]

You already stole AR's 666th post by removing the picture spamthread

['thul]

at this point, 12 posts to go.