Stars in my eyes…

Over the holiday season the girlfriend and I watched all three and a half seasons of Battlestar Galactica and I’m pretty sure it’s the greatest sci-fi show of all time. The question is: why?

BSG is very well written but there have been many other well written sci-fi shows – Star Trek: The Next Generation, Babylon Five, etc. What sets BSG apart is the calabier of it’s acting. All of the acting in BSG is passable (the Cyclons), much of it good (Starbuck, Helio, Tigh), some of it is just plain great (the Adamas, the President, Baltar). Terrible acting is the exception not the rule. The same can absolutely not be said of most – pretty much all – of BSG predessors in sci-fi tv greatness.

In most great sci-fi shows the acting from most of the cast is just awful. It is the exception that there are good actors (for example Picard and Data) rather than the rule. So much good sci-fi writing and characterization has been almost ruined by utterly terrible acting. No great sci-fi show suffers more from this than Babylon Five. Every actor – minus maybe Londo and G’Kar – are utterly, utterly terrible. That show suceeded despite of it’s performances – one is left wondering after some episodes if B5 would have been better off as a novel series. Many great sci-fi shows are similar – though perhaps not as extreme – cases of those sort of problems (paging Buffy, care you hear me Angel?).

Basically other shows have been as well-written as BSG but few – if any – have been as well acted and produced. It’s what makes BSG so appealing to people who aren’t traditional sci-fi fans. You don’t need a love of the genre to overcome the show’s flaws because there are so few. The same can not be said of other great sci-fi shows of the past. It’s what makes BSG such a great accomplishment and one that it will be difficult to replace when it’s gone in just a few short months.

Interesting it’s also what makes BSG such a terrible “gateway” show more sci-fi greatness. Few sci-fi shows are as accessible as BSG to outsiders.

Invest your time – DVD style!

Hey all. This will be my first in a series of DVDs you should invest your time with if you haven’t seen the show the first time around or want to relive the shows you love. Some of these are not on the air anymore so DVD is your ticket to television bliss.

Ok, for my first series I highly recommend Six Feet Under. I don’t have HBO so I didn’t get to watch it when it was on (last year was its final season), but I’ve been watching it avidly with my girlfriend on DVD. We are starting season four right now and I believe it’s the final season.

SFU is the story of a dysfunctional family in LA who run a funeral home, Fisher and Sons, in the wake of the family patriarch and Fisher and Sons owner Nathaniel Fisher (Richard Jenkins). The Fisher’s consist of prodigal eldest son Nate (Peter Krause), uptight taskmaster David (Michael C. Hall), aspiring young artist Claire (Lauren Ambrose), and the insanely prim and reserved matriarch Ruth (Frances Conroy). Also in the cast is David’s on again off again cop boyfriend Keith (Matthew St. Patrick), Nate’s girlfriend Brenda (Rachael Griffiths), who’s a genius but emotionally incapable of keeping her life together, and Rico (Freddy Rodriguez), the funeral home’s restorative artist with aspirations of making partner.

Creator Alan Ball put this series together with the intention of talking about death without the bullshit; our culture is terrified of death and acts like it doesn’t happen. Death is sanitized and almost unreal in this society, and the show is a no-holds bar examination of the emotions, realities, and intricacies of death and life alike. The performances are top notch, with both powerhouse regulars and rotating characters that show up for story archs and disappear continually. Standouts include Frances Conroy’s ruth, who should win best actress even when she’s not in a project, Michael C. Hall’s David, as he navigates through a terrifically written personal journey of dealing with his sexuality, and Richard Jenkins’ Nathaniel, the Fishers’ late father who visits the family from beyond the grave from time to time to dispense wisdom or prod them to seek out a better self knowledge. And of course I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Lauren Ambrose’s Claire. She is incredible in the show, and if you are friends with me on Facebook you already know; I have an unhealthy obsession with Lauren Ambrose.

Aside from the suburb acting, the story lines are great, the writing is excelent, and the cinematography and filming is gorgeous. With only 13 episodes a season, you might feel jipped before you throw the first disc on, but what you’ll find is that each episode is like a 60 minute high budget film, and there is so much character development and so much story is packed into each episode that you will be amazed it all happened in 13 episodes each season. There is a perfect balance of humor and drama, and all else I can say is if you choose to invest your time with this underappreciated gem, get ready to be entertained, and yes, get ready to be moved.

I give seasons 1-3 four out of four stars, and I’ll check back in with you when I’m done with season four.

Six Feet Under (2001-2005) Created by Alan Ball. HBO.

Seasons 1-3 ****

You’ve been Gilmored…

This past Sunday I acquired the sixth season of the WB (now CW, I think?) show the Gilmore Girls. I have spent the spare hours of my week devouring each of the 22 episodes, for both my sake and yours.

My infatuation with Gilmore Girls supposedly comes from my tendency (according to Psycholarry ) to “love anything if I watch/read it enough.” I just think I love the show so much because it’s so well written and acted. Which is more truthful? YOU DECIDE!

DVD Reviews

I picked up my first (of many) disney afternoon dvd’s.

First up

Ducktales Vol. I – The Disney Afternoon! What an amazing time to be a kid. The first go around of the Disney Afternoon was perhaps the most memerable, with a strong line-up that wasn’t afraid of a little immature fun. Shortly after Gargoyles (a great show btw) was brought on air, many animated shows started going in a darker direction, while with Ducktales all one had to worry about was if the Beagle Boys were going to steal Scrooge’s money this time. The answer was always ‘no’. However that is not to minimize the greatness that was Ducktales. Few realize that many of these memerable episodes are taking almost from the source themselves, Carl Barks. Orignially created by Carl Barks, Scrooge McDuck traveled all around the world gathering his wealth. However his first apperance was in 1947, in a story called “Christmas on Bear Mountain”, and the details of his wealth and how he acquired was written later. Ducktales is essentially the continuation of that first story. In it he meets his nephews for the first time and they join him on his adventures all over the world.

The villians in the show are great, the Beagle Boys, Magica De Spell, Flintheart Glomgold and the occasional villian of the day. The locations of the show are exotic and original. The voice talents are impressive to. Perhaps the only complaint I can find for this, and it’s not the show, but rather the collection of episodes is that they don’t start in the chronological order of the show. It is frustrating because the very first episode is a great introduction and is sadly missing from this first volume. Truth be told, it’s hard to find anything wrong with this show, and that’s fine by me.