Friday, June 22, 2007

Reasons Earth 2 was brilliant

1) The utter disdain in Devon Adair's voice as she reproaches the interrupting O'Neill, "I'm putting my son to bed, Commander!"

2) They never do tell you who it was Bess thought about. Because that wasn't what was important. Here was a show where when there was trouble in a marriage, it didn't automatically end. Here was a show that dealt with choice and consequence. Here was a show with people with real feelings and real emotions who made real mistakes and then had to live with them--and who chose to fight instead of taking the easy road.

3) Terry O'Quinn.

4) Tim Curry.

5) Devon and Danziger. Especially the scene where they're tied up and Devon has to grab the canteen with her mouth.

6) Real children, and real parents. These aren't adorable, model children. These aren't scenery. These are kids with real personalities and motivations, who don't always know what's right, and who react extraordinarily realistically to being stranded on a planet with none of the luxuries they were used to. These are kids whose actions often drive the plot. These kids are characters!

7) Alonzo grinning when Danziger asks how old he is, and responding, "A hell of a lot older than you, kid."

8) Deadly viruses that come not from the new hostile environment, but from something that happened years ago and light years away.

9) The Grendlers. They could have just been boring, stupid, and ugly. But they're complex, motivated, friendly with a twist--their love for the taste of human blood. And then there's that episode where their "humanity" is incontrovertibly shown...

10) Danziger's apology to True. I cannot describe how attractive a good father is.

11) The amazing shot framing. I am constantly impressed by how plot elements will stay framed in the background, even when the action is in the foreground, or how receding action will remain framed by something related in the foreground. And then there are scenes that are just pretty.

12) The concept of a planet's life forms having direct symbiosis with it. Sure, it's an obvious environmentalist statement...but it's also rife with story possibilities. Especially when you throw in the human factor.

13) How a story that seems fairly simple continues to become more and more complex, yet retains the themes that make everything still seem simple.

14) Fantastic props and costumes and set pieces. And who knew New Mexico was that beautiful? (I've never been there--sorry New Mexico!)

15) Morgan Martin, one of the most interesting characters I've ever seen. He's not a hero in many ways, and yet in other ways he is. Most of all he's real. He's real and he makes all kinds of mistakes. But he's not comic relief--or if he is, that's not all he is. He's a main character. (Side note: the actor who plays him is named Gegenhuber...was the writer of Kyou Kara Maou a fan?)

16) Exploring what it means to be genetically designed for something and to have other, seemingly baser motivations. Exploring various ways of dealing with criminals--exile, mind wipe--that aren't really possible currently, but are just as rife with ethical dilemmas as the procedures we have now. Exploring so many science and social possibilities, all within the framework of real people stuck together on a mission gone sour.

17) Discovering things we take for granted about planetary life for the first time: wind, rain, snow.

18) The VR. I know, it seems to randomly appear after Julia uses it to contact Reilly...but it's just so cool!

19) Reilly: You must tell me where you are so we can come and collect the child. Who knows? When you do, maybe the Council will name an entire continent after your family.

Julia: Yeah. Maybe they'll call it Hell.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

On a whole other subject, I came to your blog today hoping that you may have published an opinion on the immigration bill debate. I was wondering what you, people in your area, job, family, whatever think about the subject. I was guessing on what you might think and thinking that we might share the same political views this time around. Care to share? Do people in your neck of the woods have much to say about it?

Heather Meadows said...

I don't think I know enough about the logistics of border control and the impact of undocumented workers on our economy to really draw an intelligent conclusion.

I do believe that we should make it easier to become Americans, because there are plenty of people who would really appreciate the freedoms we have here who I think ought to have a shot at living the American Dream. (That is, the dream of working hard towards one's own happiness, not getting some sort of financial windfall and living like a celebrity.)

From what I understand, there are a lot of people who would like to come here legally, but who get tied up in red tape for years and years, enough that it becomes cost-prohibitive.

Sean says he doesn't think it would be difficult to deal with the undocumented worker problem. He says first you secure the border, and then you start deporting people in small groups. It would take time, but if the border is already secured then nobody is getting back in, so it's just a matter of taking the time to deport people.

I consider my husband to be pretty intelligent, so I assume he has some idea about how the border would be secured. I personally have no clue how you would "secure" our borders without pulling a North Korea and building a huge wall. (Or, as our friend David from England jokingly said, a minefield.)

I guess I feel like there are a lot of people who would truly appreciate the system our founding fathers left for us (or what's left of that system, anyway), and they should get the chance to experience it, legally. I wouldn't want to encourage people to break the law, but I don't want it to be so hard to become a citizen that people feel like they have to, either.

Anonymous said...

What do you feel about the idea of amnesty idea and its recent defeat?