The Watercooler for Netflix

Sorry for the spam posts (now deleted). I know it must be Tumblr’s fault because I’ve...

spavis — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 14:01:25 -0500

Sorry for the spam posts (now deleted). I know it must be Tumblr’s fault because I’ve been busy diligently ignoring this blog so it couldn’t have been a mis-click on my part.

Ignoring may be harsh. I got burned out. Maintaining this blog took close to 20 hours per week.

I still make occasional recommendations on the Twitter feed @NWatercooler but not often. Unless people start knocking my door down wanting to discuss or have recommended stuff on Netflix, I don’t see that changing.

So, for now, I’ll keep this blog encased in amber in case I ever way to resurrect and clone it and build a doomed theme park around it.

Ta.

Parallel Universes In Which Netflix becoming Qwikster Makes Sense

spavis — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 10:55:23 -0500

Doing Two Things Is Confusing
The year is 2000, Amazon, the burgeoning internet book seller, splits off their new music department into a website called Nile.com. By 2011 every river has a .com address and is a commerce portal operated by Amazon.com. Over the next 10 years the internet is entirely dominated by single serving sites. Subdomains don’t exist and more than 8 characters after the .com is considered obscene. As Netflix’s streaming catalog threatens to overshadow it’s classic DVD by mail program a bewildered public and confused stock market force Netflix to spin off it’s flagship productline into a new company for clarity’s sake.

Netflix is Run By Sadists
Fuck you for using our service. No seriously, fuck you. Oh you were just about to finish that streaming movie? NOPE. Expired. Fuck off. Oh, you want another DVD? NOPE. Slow your roll, asshole. Oh hey, do you want to connect with friends and privately share ratings and recommendations? NOPE. Maybe try Facebook instead? OH NO WAIT FUCK THAT SHIT. And hey, our way of saying thanks for those years of thoughtful reviews you wrote: STRIPPING ATTRIBUTION. No one want to know your name, bitch. Hey at least our website is easy to use. Do a search and if it’s streaming watch it now, iif it’s on DVD add it to your queue. HAHA FUCK YOU SEARCH TWICE.

Netflix is Run By Masochists
What do you mean you like my variety? I hate that about myself. The future isn’t in discs and my present streaming selection sucks. My core business model is a joke. Spank me on the stock market, abuse me in my comment threads. I deserve it. I don’t know why you keep giving me money anyways. I know everyone is mocking me when they call things “the Netflix of whatever”. I know they just mean the new failure. I’m going to go cut myself.

Netflix Is Having An Identity Crisis
I’m chopping off my hair, kicking out my core business, and uprooting myself to a different domain. You can call me Starchild Qwikster. Netflix is my slave name.

All of These Domains Were Already Taken
Flix.com
Redenvelope.com
Netdiscs.com
Netdisx.com
Maildiscs.com
Quickflicks.com
Quickfliks.com
Quickflix.com
Qwikflix.com
Quickdiscs.com
Quickdisc.com
Netfix.com
Netster.com
Entertainmail.com
Playitbymail.com
Discter.com
Quickster.com
Qwickster.com
Quikster.com
Quixtar.com
NotNetflixForContractualReasons.com

Netflix: White Collar Squatter
Unhappy with their business model, Netflix decided to follow Google’s and go into web ads. The choose an impossible to remember company name then buy every spelling permutation to show ads against.

Qwikster: Pawn in Corporate Chess
Netflix puts Qwikster up for sale. Amazon buys Qwikster. Netflix buys Hulu. Apple files anti-duopoly lawsuit. Amazon merges with Netflix, hostilely takes over Apple. Government breaks up iFlixzon. Qwikster only viable model after internet razing war.

An Offer Netflix Can’t Refuse
In exchange for rights to stream high quality movies, the studios extracted certain measures from Netflix.

Reed Hastings’s must visit each of the studio heads personally and sing “I am a little teapot.”
The studios kidnapped Reed Hastings’s daughter and if he didn’t comply they’d sign her to a three picture deal with Eddie Murphy.
In a fit of Scrabble induced pique, the studios demanded that Netflix must spin off it’s DVD by mail service into a new website that uses a Q, W, and K, but only two vowels.
The new site cannot use any of Netflix’s APIs and must be coded by out of work humanities PhDs given an HTML For Dummies book.
Netflix is not allowed to blame or even mention the studios in its rationale for these changes.

Netflix Streaming Quick Picks 07/02/11

spavis — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 18:11:03 -0500

New To Streaming

Star Trek

Capt. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the crew of the starship USS Enterprise keep intergalactic danger at bay and delves deep into the exploration of space. Leonard Nimoy co-stars as Spock.

Sports Night

Aaron Sorkin’s critically acclaimed series follows the offbeat cast and crew of a sports news show as they deal with professional and personal challenges in their pressure-cooker work environment.

The Worst Week of My Life

Murphy’s Law is an ongoing theme in this quirky BBC comedy series that finds seemingly cursed couple Howard and Mel in the midst of premarital chaos — and, later on, in the throes of labor pains.

Ip Man 2

Centering on Ip Man’s migration to Hong Kong in 1949 as he attempts to propagate his discipline of Wing Chun martial arts.

Cinema Paradiso

A filmmaker recalls his childhood, when he fell in love with the movies at his village’s theater and formed a deep friendship with the theater’s projectionist.

Expiring Soon

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

A newly engaged couple have a breakdown in an isolated area and must pay a call to the bizarre residence of Dr. Frank-N-Furter.

Super Size Me

While examining the influence of the fast food industry, Morgan Spurlock personally explores the consequences on his health of a diet of solely McDonald’s food for one month.

Lady Chatterley

Joely Richardson is Lady Chatterley, who — at the urging of her paralyzed, impotent spouse (James Wilby) — finds a lover in the form of her husband’s handsome gamekeeper.

X-Men

Two mutants come to a private academy for their kind whose resident superhero team must oppose a terrorist organization with similar powers.

Doc Martin

Crippled by a sudden fear of blood, flashy surgeon Dr. Martin Ellingham (Martin Clunes) abandons his bustling London practice and sets up shop as a country doctor in this British sitcom.

Farscape - Throne For a Loss: Sometimes Growing Up Means Punching Your Friends and Shooting People

plumberduck — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 01:14:00 -0500

Or: The One Where Crichton Blows Up His Phallic Substitute, But D’Argo’s Shoots Lasers

In the first Farscape piece I wrote on here, I described John Chricton as a Star Trek hero forced to exist in a world with very little patience for that breed of non-violent idealism. There’s a narrative arc implied by that idea, a Gene Roddenberry story about one good man uplifting a fallen universe through sheer decency and rationality.

This isn’t that story.

This is a story about growing up. About realizing that there’s a point where idealism has to stop, because now you’re the liability who keeps blowing up your gun and everyone rolls their eyes when you say you have a plan. Because you’re so obsessed with impressing people that it gets you kidnapped and killed. Because you want to save people (and save them YOUR WAY) so badly you’re willing to kill them to do it. Because you keep pushing your brother or your sister away with words like “barbarian” or “coward” so you don’t have to look at how similar you are.

The great Jacob Clifton (whose sadly incomplete Farscape reviews on Television Without Pity are must-reads for any fan) has a saying: “The thing that makes you awesome is the thing that makes you suck.” And that’s this episode in a nutshell. Rygel gets kidnapped for trying to seem like he’s still the ruler of billions of subjects (and imperils Moya by stealing an important ship component because it’s shiny). He’s so pompous and imperious that it a) gets his throat crushed by his kidnapper, Bekesh, and b) gets him revived by a fellow captive, who thinks Rygel’s valuable enough to save.

Meanwhile, D’Argo, John, and Aeryn plot a rescue, alternatively hampered and helped by an energy-firing, stimulant-injecting gauntlet they take off one of the fallen attackers. Tellingly, D’Argo and Aeryn take to it immediately (before they go crazy from the ‘roid rage), but Crichton, hesitantly, asks “How does it work?” before he puts it on. “It just does,” is the response from his more martial colleagues. And even then, Crichton has to verbally contextualize it for himself (with one of many, many Crichton pop-culture references in this episode).

“Soft, yes. Weak, no.” - Pa’u Zotoh Zhaan.

And in the third story branch (I’m a big fan of episodes that give everyone something to do, and this episode delivers strongly in that regard), Zhaan tends to the injured attacker, treating him for his withdrawal from the gauntlet’s stimulant. It’s one of my favorite Zhaan plotlines, as she, gently at first but more stridently as the episode goes on, tries to save the young man from the culture that has left him addicted to the gauntlet’s violent lifestyle. It’s easy to pigeonhole Zhaan as “The Mystical One” or “The Nice One,” but this episode lays the character out in all her glory. At turns compassionate, violent, sexy, harsh, and, ultimately, wise, it’s a fantastic performance from Virginia Hey, portraying a woman dedicated to free will, but often angered by how the people she helps use it.

In my favorite Zhaan moment, the young prisoner attacks her, drawing “blood.” She casually throws him aside, drips her whitish blood into a vial of medicine, tells him he’s in no condition to refuse her help, wipes the medicine on her lips, and then applies it to him with a kiss. That’s…. kind of the whole character, in a single two-minute scene. Amazing.

“You can be more.” - John Crichton

Down on the planet, Aeryn the soldier and D’Argo the “barbarian” argue about tactics, but they’re just drawing lines in the sand. When it’s necessary, D’Argo’s seemingly archaic sword can work as a rifle, and Aeryn can strike like a barbarian. The real contrast is between the fighters and Crichton, who spends this episode acting like the fat kid picked last for gym class. He gets punched in the face, blows up his gun, makes incredibly lame threats, and, when talking inevitably fails, has to turn to his friends to fight for him.

It’s not until Crichton puts on the gauntlet that he does anything effective. Once it’s actually on, he doesn’t need to ask how it works. It just does. In the end, he does resolve the problem by talking - but only after he’s violently displayed his strength. Only by getting a little less “Crichton” and a little more “Aeryn” or “D’Argo” does he manage to save the day.

I say “less ‘Crichton’,’” but that’s bull. He’s only becoming more. They all are, even if, as the process changes them, evolves them, they’re not sure what shape that “more” will take.

Random Thoughts

Claudia Black is ridiculously funny in this one. Her deadpan is a comic weapon.

“Imagine, somewhere out there there’s a whole world full of Crichtons… How useless that must be.”

I especially love her increasing frustration with Crichton’s Tavloid/Tavlek confusion.

Zhaan Condescension Moment: When told Crichton has an idea: “Ugh, did you say Crichton?” followed by some Delvian prayer/swearing.

Crichton Pop Culture Watch: The whole riff to Aeryn about John Wayne. I can never tell if he expects people to suddenly understand him, or if he just likes being annoying. Oh, and I like that Aeryn wonders if John Wayne is a relative, since he shares a name with Crichton.

Crichton and Aeryn spend the first act of this episode pressed up against each other or lying on top of each other basically 100% of the time. Not complaining, just… pointing out.

The Consortiuum of Traal is one of my all-time favorite alien species names. I use it in improv sometimes.

Aeryn, on why Crichton walks in front: “Lots of reasons. Landmines, fire snakes, razorgrass. Night vision snipers, Morlian death spiders…”

Continuity glitch caused by airing order being different from production order: D’Argo’s Qualta Blade doubling as a rifle is a plot point in this episode, but passed without comment in Back and Back and Back to the Future.

From my notes: “Zhaan is so the wrong lady to try to shock with your dingus”

“No sermons.” *sigh*

Farscape - Back and Back and Back to the Future: What if Groundhog Day was Boring?

plumberduck — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 18:01:00 -0500

Or: The One Where We Learn the Farscape Euphemism for Testicles

This is basically Groundhog Day, except that Groundhog Day is fun, and this is boring. The whole POINT of a Groundhog Day scenario is to show a) the fun of consequence-free actions, and b) how a simple situation can turn out differently based on a few simple choices.

Instead, what we get is Shouty D’Argo (have I mentioned my distaste for Shouty D’Argo?), super-simple characterizations, and (ugh)… Matala.

Look, I have no problem with the idea of the femme fatale. And it’s actually pretty clever to have a character who combines D’Argo’s desire for a home with the fact that he hasn’t had sex in 8 years. But the whole subplot where Crichton wants to or does not want to have crazy alien finger sex or whatever with her feels like padding with no point except to get D’Argo jealous, and a red herring to make us think she might have sexy mind control powers or something.

The only upside to the whole tangent is the scene where Zhaan tells Matala to keep her hands off Crichton, because Zhaan is like the blue alien queen of sexual politics and the only person on the ship (except maybe Rygel) who has no hang-ups on the subject. That’s the one moment in the episode where it feels like Matala is actually being responded to on a natural level, instead of people doing things because the script told them to.

And the voice! Argh, and it’s not even one irritating voice, it’s two. Your choice of sonic displeasure, either breathy or gravelly. Hate, hate, hate.

And everyone else is in their most simple incarnations. Rygel’s greedy! D’Argo shouts! Zhaan’s nice! Aeryn likes to fight and is kind of repressed! Crichton’s confused! With the exception of D’Argo, there’s no nuance at all here. Worse than that, this is one of those episodes where everyone else just stands around and watches Crichton do stuff. For a show built on the great interactions between its cast, it turns this one into a chore.

There’s a neat idea at the center of this, that D’Argo is still so distant from the crew that it’s not hard for the Illanics to break him away from them. It reinforces the idea that these characters are individuals, with separate goals. That any loyalty that exists between them has to come, not from duty to a shared cause, but from their attachment to each other - attachment which hasn’t had time to form yet.

The climax, with John convincing D’Argo to believe him about the time skips, skirts close to this, but then backs away. John doesn’t convince him by using knowledge of how D’Argo reacts, gleaned from his experience of myriad bad futures. He doesn’t call on their (limited, admittedly) shared history. Instead, he uses a piece of info he learned via time travel-assisted eavesdropping to prove the truth. In essence, the episode is resolved by a victory of plot, instead of character. And in Farscape, putting plot before character is like putting the space-cart before the space-horse (that was a space joke.)

Random thoughts (Totally stolen from the A.V. Club):

From my notes: “I’m really in the mood for some physical activity.” - Fuck you, lady. I really cannot stand Matala’s simpering sexuality thing.

The Peacekeeper logo is basically an abstracted red penis thrusting into an empty circle. Keep it classy, Peacekeepers (and Aeryn, defeated by Matala, laying firmly in the phallic triangle, is just more weird sexual politics from this episode).

Zhaan Condescension Moment: “What’s the matter with him?” “He is Crichton.”

I totally dig the way D’Argo tries to fake jolliness when around the Illanics. His “Friend! Chricton!” busts me up.

I love how Aeryn headbutts Matala during their fight. 1000 times sexier than Matala’s “seductive” schtick.

There’s some good Crichton mocking in this one. My favorite is Aeryn’s “The future? He can barely function in the present.”

And maybe it’s earned, given the way Crichton gets zapped because he was curiously poking things in a clearly damaged ship.

Light on the pop culture stuff this week, so all I have to offer the John Crichton Reference Watch is “Psychic Spanish fly?”

The effects shot of Moya being imploded by the black hole is actually pretty cool.

And the testicular euphemism to add to your Word-a-Day-Nonsense Calender? Mivonks. Write it down!

Farscape S1E02: Exodus from Genesis

plumberduck — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 18:39:00 -0500

“Moya is invaded by spawning space bugs, which produce clones of the crew. To complicate matters, a Peacekeeper retrieval squad arrives and Aeryn begins to suffer heat delirium.”

I’m glad to see that Netflix is using the airdate order for Farscape instead of the production order, both because the second produced episode, “I, E.T.” works much better slightly later in the season, and because this one is such a good re-entry to the world of Moya and her crew. It introduces several important plot points, relationships, bits of mythology and themes that we’ll be making extensive use of as time goes on.

For instance, and most prominently, we have Sebacean Heat Death, one of the least believable but most plot-important bits of the show’s often plausibility-challenged approach to biology. While I find it hard to swallow that a race with such a huge, glaring weakness (it seems to reach fatal levels at, what, 100 Fahrenheit?) could be as dominant and widespread as Sebaceans and Peacekeepers are, it does have a certain lyricism to it - the ultra-repressed Peacekeepers being portrayed as literally cold-blooded. More importantly, it puts Aeryn in a position of weakness and vulnerability, something the character probably needs at this point in the series.

Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing Aeryn strong - she and Zhann are two of science fiction TV’s strongest, most nuanced females characters - but by putting her in fear of a fate worse than death, it lets her guard drop to the point that relationships with the other characters, and with the viewers, can be forged. It’s easy to see Aeryn as an invincible machine - or would be if Claudia Black wasn’t so amazing at hinting at the character’s inner turmoil from behind her steely resolve - and showing her as she is here, dying and terrified, helps us to not forget how isolated and scared she is, cut off from everything she’s ever known.

And certainly, without the Heat Delirium, we wouldn’t get D’Argo’s beautiful “The part of me that wants Aeryn to live is greater than the part of me that wants all Peacekeepers to die” - about as succinct an encapsulation of the D’Argo-Aeryn relationship as you could hope to get. Other than that scene, we mostly get Shouty D’Argo this week (I am not a big fan of Shouty D’Argo). Although he and Crichton do share their first laugh together (at poor Rygel’s expense).

So, Rygel. Out of all of the characters coming out of the pilot, Rygel seems like the least essential. He is, to use a derogatory slur, “the comic relief.” If he’s going to exist as a real character, and not just some farting nuisance, he’s going to need some rehabilitation. That process starts here (and continues in the next episode). Because, after all, it’s Rygel who saves the day. Sure, there are tricks and plots and science stuff, but the little gray guy is the one who climbs up the monster vagina and negotiates for peace through sheer imperial gravitas. (One of the reasons I love Farscape is that it lets me write that kind of sentence fairly regularly). Farscape is very, very good about keeping its characters from descending into caricature, and while the audience and the characters sometimes forget that His Eminence was Head of State for billions of people, he never does, and his actions - for ill, often, but here, for good - always reflect that.

And Zhaan doesn’t forget, either. Her scene with Rygel and his painting is very sweet (if a bit condescending) - her acknowledgment that the Dominar’s silliness doesn’t stop him from being impressive. And her scene with Crichton, advising him of how to connect with Aeryn and D’Argo, is also sweet, if a lot condescending (sweet and condescending is kind of Zhaan’s thing). Once the Drakh Monarch starts talking through her there’s not much more character stuff for her, but it’s worth noting that this is where it’s established that Zhaan is, for all intents and purposes, Moya’s science officer, which will be important in later episodes.

The Drakh make for an great “intro” Monster of the Week (in the first of the show’s many, MANY “Critter Loose on Moya” plots). Although the basic idea (“Scary monsters are people too”) is straight Star Trek, the focus on biology, what with all the dripping severed heads and eggs sliding out of tubes, is pure Farscape. This is an episode, and a series, about (as Zhaan hamfistedly reminds us at the end) symbiosis. Moya isn’t a tool, she’s a living being who must be communicated with, and treated well, if she and her crew are to survive (note the way D’Argo is reprimanded when he cuts into her bulkhead without permission). The episode opens with the teeth-cleaning dentics, which look like maggots but are apparently “minty.” You put the dentic in your mouth, it cleans, and then you let it go. You NEVER swallow the dentic, or things go badly for you both.

And we have the Drakh, the insectile Other, who cannot be communicated with until they copy us, use our DNA, become us. But the road goes both ways - true peace doesn’t come until Rygel goes in the other direction, climbs into the Matriarch, meets with her on her own terms. Only at that point can Moya’s crew and the Drakh work together to repel the outside threat of the Marauder and its crew.

Strife and discord get you killed, cooperation keeps you alive. It extends all the way to the Peacekeeper commandos and Crichton’s offering of mercy. It’s what binds Moya’s crew together, both to their ship and to each other. Not out of love or friendship (not yet, anyway), but survival. It means having someone who sees you as you truly are. Someone you can lean on when you’re tired. Someone who’ll keep a promise - even if the promise is for your death.

Random thoughts:
There’s a subtle bit of Peacekeeper racism when the commando team that boards Moya doesn’t notice that they’re killing the same Luxan over and over.

The little klaxon lights that pop out of the top of the DRDs are so cute!

Pilot and Aeryn have a really lovely scene together, when he tells her he’s never been so close to a Peacekeeper he’s not afraid of. Pilot’s one of the show’s least used regular characters, but his relationship with Aeryn is always a highlight of any episode where it’s featured.

Best condescending Zhaan lines: When John discusses the Zhaan doppelganger he fought with, “I was never in the passageway, John,” and, later, telling him to let Aeryn rest, “She needs to recover some strength before she’s aggravated again.”

John Crichton Pop Culture Reference Watch: “Next planet, I’ll rent ya a copy of Animal House.”

Ka D’Argo doesn’t fuck around with evil twin bullshit: “We will cut off the tip of our small finger for identification.”

The Commandos move forward in Advance Pattern “Durka.” Foreshadowing?

Veridian Dynamics: Evil. Funny.

spavis — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 23:31:00 -0500

Veronica: We want to weaponize a pumpkin.
Ted: Then so do I. (pause) Because?

The short version: Do you miss Arrested Development? Watch Better Off Ted.

The long version:
NBC Thursdays have a creeping nice-ification happening. In it’s first and second seasons, Parks & Rec used to have it’s character meet actual challenges of small town politics, now it’s twee. The Office, fresh from the BBC’s Xerox machine, was much rougher and ruder but has mellowed out over the years, into an equally feel good comedy. And Community and 30 Rock have always centered around the oddball but happy relationships of friends-of-circumstance becoming close.

So in Better Off Ted, it’s nice to see a sitcom with a bit of bite to it. Reminiscent of how Arrested Development made fun of the rich and backbiting families, Better Off Ted makes fun of evil corporations and the different ways its employees have to kowtow to its desires.

In the first 7 minutes of the pilot, each of the 5 main characters gets a solid introduction and a minor plot is developed and completed: the invention of an office chair so uncomfortable it prevents daydreaming or boredom (until the user snaps and does who knows what). The other 16 minutes of the episode deal with the personal choices each character must made when the company, Veridian Dynamics, asks of it’s employees ‘to cryogenically freeze or not to cryogenically freeze?’ The pilot is well plotted and enjoyable on both fronts.

And now for the critiques:
The pilot pushes the Linda/Veronica love triangle pretty hard for the outset. This could have bubbled up showly over the course of a few episodes, but instead Ted basically beats them both back with a stick. It’s just laid it on a bit thick for a pilot.

Also, for me the character of Ted, played by Jay Harrington, is too much of an unfunny straight guy. But I have the same gripe about Josh Radnor who plays the “I” in How I Met Your Mother. Is it a rule that the titular character has to be boring? Or just characters named Ted? Michael Bluth/Jason Bateman handles the straight man role well while still being a funny & an interesting character.

One glaring and, at times, annoying crutch is the show’s reliance on letting Ted talk straight to the camera as a way to push through exposition. It’s telling, not showing, which makes me feel like I’m being shortchanged by the series. It’s forgivable for the pilot but overuse later on will earn tsks. (Though AD & HIMYM have similar crutches so its not that unusual.)

But, bottom line, the series is incisively funny either standing on it’s own, or while watching it through the lens of someone fed up with greedy corporations.

(The full series of Better Off Ted is now streaming on Netflix.)

Look Upward and Share the Wonders I've Seen

spavis — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 22:30:00 -0500

“I’m on another planet.”

That’s how he gets me. That’s the moment I fall for John Chricton. Not his pop culture wisecracks. Not his bravery or his resourcefulness (which his vast ignorance of the situation he’s in never stops him from making use of). It’s that, on a squalid commerce planet covered in burning trash barrels and rejects from the Mos Eisley cantina, John Chricton’s first reaction is one of awe. He’s on another planet.

Chricton is a different kind of sci-fi hero, and Farscape a different kind of show, despite its shopworn “Lost in Space” premise. In another show, John would be the captain, the two-fisted action hero. But Moya doesn’t have a captain - the crew makes most of its decisions by yelling at each other until things get so bad there’s only one, insane choice left to make, and John Chricton’s not a warrior, not a leader. He’s a scientist. An explorer.

Pay attention, as you watch the first season. Count the number of times Chricton fires a weapon. He’s a guy raised on Next Generation, always favoring diplomatic, non-violent solutions. The difference is, he’s not traveling through the universe on a mission of peaceful exploration with a crew of Federation-raised utopianists. He’s sharing a ship with an anarchist priestess, a rage-filled warrior, a lifelong solider, a greedy-driven royal, all of them desperate to survive.

One of the (many) joys of Farscape is watching that idealism warp, change, evolve, mature under the pressures that are coming.

And to see whether, when it’s all over, John Chricton can still look at the universe with awe.

Farscape - Weird, Amazing, Psychotic Life

spavis — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 19:10:00 -0500

“Space. The final frontier.” That’s probably what astronaut John Crichton is thinking in the opening scene as he stares up at the NASA space shuttle at dawn. And he doesn’t have to wait long to go boldly where no man has gone before. Five minutes into the pilot, before the credits roll or the first commercial break, our hero is already thrust into a big alien space battle. Five minutes after that and he’s being accosted by weird, rude aliens on a freaky prison ship. And oh yeah the ship is alive. Welcome to Farscape!

Did you know all aliens have an Australian accent? Or maybe it’s a fault with the translator microbes John gets injected with.

As a sci-fi show made in 1999 it’d invariably be judged on it’s special effects, which happily still hold up today. But it’s the Jim Henson Production Company’s puppets and prosthetics that really sell Farscape’s aliens in a way not previously achieved in the Star Trek school of “mostly human with some forehead ridges” aliens.

Most sci-fi stories take place from the perspective of humans expanding out and discover/fighting The Other, but Farscape flips that on it’s ear. Our protagonist is a fish-out-of-water human in an unfamiliar galaxy full of aliens who’ve never ever heard of Earth.

There’s a deft two minute scene in that pilot that gives some nice exposition (and flirting) between two of the main alien characters. It’s a valuable chunk of time to spend in the pilot in a scene without our human protagonist, but that’s part of the point. That scene really humanizes the characters for the audience and shows it’s an ensemble show about aliens, with a human providing audience perspective.

It’s a well crafted pilot. Small seeds of character & plot bloom naturally later on in the episode and the season. In 44 minutes the show manages to get us up to speed on the universe, characters, their relationships, and desires. And it does so in a light-hearted, thoughtful way. And the show is funny! With all the unique characters comes a lot of grounded, relatable humor. Also fart jokes.

Of all the great scenes in the pilot my favoriate would probably be the reveal of Aeryn. A masked warrior jailed along with John, she takes off her helmet and proceeds to tackle and interrogate him about who he is and why he’s not in uniform like her. Zhann reveals that after doing some tests, while he may look like Aeryn, he’s definitely not the same species. So with even human-seeming characters not being able to be taken at face value, the pilot really leaves the door open for the series to ask a lot of interesting questions.

John: How do i know i can trust you?
Aeryn: That’s just another thing you don’t know.

(The full series of Farscape is available to stream on Netflix.)

Netflix Streaming Quick Picks 06/11/11

spavis — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 10:18:33 -0500

New To Streaming

Pulp Fiction (Trailer)

The lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster’s wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.

Killers (Trailer)

A vacationing woman meets her ideal man, leading to a swift marriage. Back at home, they discover their neighbors could be assassins who have been contracted to kill them.

Dark Shadows (Trailer)

The rich Collins family of Collinsport, Maine is tormented by strange occurrences in this ’60s classic series.

Expiring Soon

Zombieland (Trailer)

A shy student trying to reach his family in Ohio, a gun-toting tough guy trying and a pair of sisters trying to get to an amusement park join forces to travel across a zombie-filled America.

Company (Excerpt)

Raúl Esparza stars in this 2006 revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning musical comedy recorded live for PBS’s “Great Performances”

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (Trailer)

When two brothers organize the robbery of their parents’ jewelry store the job goes horribly wrong, and they, their father and one brother’s wife are sent hurtling towards a shattering climax.

If you like Sherlock

spavis — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 10:48:09 -0500

… you might like:

Wire In The Blood

This tense British crime series follows the work of Dr. Tony Hill (Robson Green), a psychologist with a peculiar talent for understanding how serial killers think.

Luther

A troubled yet brilliant English police detective, DCI John Luther (Idris Elba, The Wire) is separated from his wife and is torn between her and an unrelenting approach to solving serial killings.

Doctor Who (Season 5 in particular)

The epic sci-fi series follows the adventures of the a mysterious traveling alien adventurer and his human companions.

Sherlock: A True Character of a Procedural

spavis — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 10:40:00 -0500

This modern reimagining of Sherlock is absolutely brilliant. At a time when most TVs are choking on a glut of bluster-laden procedurals Sherlock is sharp, clear and captivating.

The show format is unusual even for the BBC: three episodes, each of which is 90 minutes. Most procedurals are hampered by their 44 minute run times which have to introduce and make you care about one-off characters and story lines in too little time. This cinematic breath Sherlock allows itself lets you be fully drawn in.

While I love Martin Freeman, who plays Watson, but it’s Benedict Cumberbatch’s bristly, mood-swinging, sociopathic Sherlock Holmes that really makes the show. Like the original, this modern Sherlock is driven by the purusit of puzzles, knowledge and, fundamentally, the pull of something new. But this modern Sherlock takes these traits and turns them up to a neurotic degree. Sherlock’s casual misogyny, which can almost certainly be attributed to Stephen Moffat, can be off-putting but as part of the character it works well as a way to define and aliente the character from those around him.

It’s a show well worth pursuing to enjoy that something new it has to offer.

Sherlock is available to stream now on Netflix.

New - TV Discussions on The Watercooler

spavis — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 07:33:28 -0500

I’ve tried to resist their siren song for months but I give in. Let’s talk TV.

I’ll be watching all three shows but you should watch any of the three that interest you:

Farscape - Season 1 - 22 eps, 50 mins each. (~4 episodes per week)

A sci-fi show with heart and Jim Henson puppets. (Trailer)

Better Off Ted - Season 1 - 13 eps, 22 mins each (~3 episodes per week)

A quirky and incisive office comedy. (Trailer)

Downton Abbey - Season 1 - 7 eps, 48 mins each (~2 episodes per week)

A British costume drama set pre-WWI. (Trailer)

Reviews of pilot episodes will go up this weekend. Please watch along and submit any thoughts you have on them!

Watching and discussions will happen throughout June. If people like this we’ll vote for new TV shows come July.

(Movie reviews will go on hiatus for the summer. Recommendations will crop back up when I have time to do a round-up. Sherlock review and related titles will be out later this week. Thoughts on anything? Comment or email me.)

If you like FLCL

spavis — Mon, 23 May 2011 19:20:55 -0500

… you might like:

Full Metal Panic Fumoffu (Trailer)

The high school is under siege, and not just from the usual teenage angst, but also from a bomber who’s hell-bent on making everyone’s life miserable.

Macross Plus (Trailer)

Two old friends/rivals find themselves rival test pilots in competing projects while a mutual old flame returns to them with her own secrets.

Gurren Lagann (Trailer)

Simon and Kamina venture beyond the borders of their world, reality and imagination. Venturing further and further into a hidden truth that has kept humanity prisoners for millennia.

I Love It, Its Weird, Now Watch It

spavis — Mon, 23 May 2011 19:06:44 -0500

Watching FLCL is the closest me, someone in her late 20s, will come to reliving puberty. There’s a lot going on! I don’t really understand everything that’s happening to my body or in my life! But it’s exciting and I’m seeing people in a way I didn’t before! I’ve got a horn on my head that’s a boner metaphor and now there’s a robot coming out of it but also now this robot is sort of like my maid and is playing baseball!

Yeah, I didn’t quite get everything that’s going on in FLCL. I sorta fell asleep the first time I watched most of the episodes. Not that that’s FLCL’s fault. It’s 6 half hour episodes each as zany and jam packed as the last. I did get more out of it the second time I watched the episodes through, but I’m sure I could get even more out of repeat viewings.

If that sounds like a cop out, it’s because it is. While I may not be a complete neophyte, I’m far from an anime auteur. So there’s probably a bunch I didn’t for a vareity of reasons. But even though I didn’t get fully it, possibly because i didn’t fully get it, I definetly recommend seeing it. I’ve said I like my anime weird and FLCL certainly fits the bill.

If you like Noriko's Dinner Table

spavis — Sat, 14 May 2011 19:03:00 -0500

… you might like:

Hindsight (Trailer)

Unexpectedly pregnant with no means to raise a child, Dina and Ronnie decide to sell their unborn baby over the Internet. Their plan begins to unravel when the couple they’ve chosen have an agenda of their own.

Vital (Trailer)

After a tragic car accident where his girlfriend died, Hiroshi Takagi suffers amnesia with his memories completely blanked. Becoming a medical student, he explores his grief and the incident.

Ab-Normal Beauty (Trailer)

When a young photography student witnesses a woman get hit by a car and bleed to death, she snaps a few shots of the scene, inadvertently discovering that she has a disturbing fascination with death.

Also: Me and You and Everyone We Know (Trailer)

Me and You and Everyone We Think We Know

spavis — Sat, 14 May 2011 18:43:00 -0500

Who am I? Do you know me? Have we met? In real life? In passing? Have we hung out together? Have you read things I’ve written? Do you know me? Am I the me that you thought I’d me? Am I the me that I think I am? Want to be?

There are no perfect circles in nature, but a thick outline will make it seem perfect.

Maybe because it’s spring but I’ve seen at least a half dozen people post online recently “I want to run away from it all.” I get angry when I read that. Who are you to abandon your responsibilities? Your friends? Me? Do you think I don’t want to run away too? Things would be easier if life had granular control. Running away from things that are dreary, shutting down on things that are hard, following along with things that mollify. Is life something that you can permit in piecemeal, instead of something that you have to live?

Everyone wants to be the flower but not the vase.

Noriko’s Dinner Table, the sequel/prequel to the buckets of blood flick Suicide Club, is billed as a horror but there’s really no more than 5 minutes of gore in this 2 hour and 40 minute movie. In many ways it’s a darker, externalistic version of the romantic, introspective Lost In Translation. Both movies ask “Who am I? What does my life mean?”

She came to Tokyo to be happy, but I knew she’d transcend it.

For a film made in 2004, it speaks to a modern alienation (technological or otherwise). The push/pull that comes with developing seemingly close but ultimately intangible connections with people either across the country or across the dinner table. It’s a stark movie that layers upon itself leaving you questioning the ephemeral nature inherent to all relationships. Talking doesn’t mean you’re communicating, staying doesn’t mean you’re content, and running doesn’t mean you’re blissful.

Your heart is a small glass, if you pour too much emotion into it tears will spill out.

Discuss This Week - Noriko’s Dinner Table Unhappy with...

spavis — Mon, 09 May 2011 07:32:00 -0500

Discuss This Week - Noriko’s Dinner Table

Unhappy with suburban life, 17-year-old Noriko spends more and more time on a Web site where she meets and chats with other teenage girls across Japan and eventually runs away from home. (Trailer)

Write a review, upload a related video or leave a comment below. What’d you think of Noriko’s Dinner Table?

Noriko's Dinner Table: disc, stream, or don't bother?

spavis — Mon, 09 May 2011 07:26:32 -0500

(click through for poll)

Watch This Week - FLCL A 12-year old boy named Naota one day...

spavis — Mon, 09 May 2011 07:21:36 -0500

Watch This Week - FLCL

A 12-year old boy named Naota one day meets a strange woman, riding a Vespa and wielding a big guitar. As soon as she appears, mysterious things start happening. (Trailer)

Watch it this week, share your thoughts about it for next week.