HIGHLA-L Digest - 28 Apr 2004 to 29 Apr 2004 (#2004-81)
Automatic digest processor (LISTSERV@lists.psu.edu)
Thu, 29 Apr 2004 22:00:04 -0400
There are 5 messages totalling 241 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. (OT?) Tracker comes to the UK (4)
2. Season 5 and 6 DVD sets
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Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 22:27:55 -0700
From: FKMel <sgt_buck_frobisher@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: (OT?) Tracker comes to the UK
I thought it had made it over there before now...shows
what I know.
I think it had a lot of potential, but they never
should have focused so much on the bad guy of the week
like they did. I actually thought it was starting to
get good toward the end, and then just when it was
actually getting somewhere, it went off the air.
Shame, because if the writing hadn't been the way it
was all along and if they hadn't changed and took out
so much before it even hit the screens, it might have
had a better chance.
Mel, who's still writing Tracker fics, or trying to,
not much getting done lately, along with a few other
writers
--->
> I'm enjoying it. Sure, it's a cheesy sci-fi show. So
> what? There's
> room for cheese in amongst everything else. And
> Adrian looks like
> he's having fun. :)
>
> - Marina.
=====
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------------------------------
Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 10:16:07 -0400
From: Wendy Tillis <immortals_incorporated@cox.net>
Subject: Re: (OT?) Tracker comes to the UK
Of Tracker, Marina wrote:
>I'm enjoying it. Sure, it's a cheesy sci-fi show. So what? There's
>room for cheese in amongst everything else.
I have no trouble with cheesy sci-fi shows. They are not my preferred diet but I do occasionally enjoy them I do think, however, that if one is making a cheesy sci-fi show one should go all out and *do it*. Don't try to be deep or serious or meaningful. "Tracker" couldn't quite let go of the idea that it was a "serious" sci-fi show.
> And Adrian looks like he's having fun. :)
Now here I disagree. I thought Adrian looked self-conscious and up-tight the whole time...when he wasn't looking ridiculous.
Then Mel says:
>I think it had a lot of potential,
Famous last words :-) And in this case, I'm not sure it's even true. The ideas behind Tracker had already been done numerous times in recent memory. The "alien among us" story is as old as dirt and the bounty hunter with x number of criminals to retrieve has also been done and done. To have "potential" the series either had to have extremely great writing and acting or take the story off in dramatically new directions. From Day One it didn't have or do either. I think Tracker lived up to it's potential...it's just that it had so little potential to live up to.
> but they never should have focused so much on the bad guy of the week
>like they did.
In the first place, that *was* the premise of the series from the start. Alien Tracker comes to Earth to find the bad guys he "lost" in transit. Every week he finds another one. (See Time Trax) In the second place, what would you have preferred? Alien comes to Earth and blends into society? (See Alf, 3rd Rock, My Favorite Martian, Starman, Superman, Alien Nation, Mork&Mindy, Roswell, etc.) Earth societies are ridiculously easy to blend into- there are probably 3,000,000 aliens already living here. Aliens are always smarter and more adaptable than we are and they always pick up Earth culture (as if there was just *one*) in a few weeks- except when their fish-out-of-water experiences can be played for laughs. They always conveniently have the coolest gadgets with them - except when they are forced to build them out of old radios and model airplane parts. They are always sexy as hell. And they always manage to meet up with kind people who shelter them instead of xenophobes w!
ho want to drag them behind their pick-up.
>Shame, because if the writing hadn't been the way it was all along
Yes, if the writers had been different, the show would have been different (maybe better, maybe not). If the premise had been different, it might (or might not) have been better. If the acting had been better...again, the series would have been different. This is always true of every series. Further, I don't believe that writers somehow sabotage shows by writing things that weren't intended all along. TV writers write what they are told to write and they have their writing reviewed before the cameras start rolling. If the producers say "This show will have 22 stand-alone episodes with a new bad guy in each one", then that's what the writers write. They can't secretly decide to have a 5 part arc involving the hero's attempt to find his origins on a mountain top in Peru, get it filmed and air it before anyone at the home office notices. Likewise, if the producers want the show to be action-packed, dialog-lite, and easily picked up by new viewers, then that's what the writers w!
ill produce- not a dialog intense Talmudic discussion on the nature of man (alien).
I think Tracker was what the producers wanted....it just wasn't what the viewers wanted to see.
>and if they hadn't changed and took out
>so much before it even hit the screens, it might have
>had a better chance.
What did they take out? What did they change?
Wendy(I suppose a show about a below-average looking alien who had no special powers, no gadgets, mediocre intelligence, no sense of humor, and no particular mission on Earth wouldn't sell.)(We would, however, elect such a person President.)(If they came from Texas<eg>)
Immortals Inc.
immortals_incorporated@cox.net
"Weasels for Eternity"
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 21:08:42 +0200
From: T'Mar <tmar@sifl.iid.co.za>
Subject: Re: (OT?) Tracker comes to the UK
Wendy wrote:
>I have no trouble with cheesy sci-fi shows. They are not my preferred
diet but >I do occasionally enjoy them I do think, however, that if one
is making a
>cheesy sci-fi show one should go all out and *do it*. Don't try to be deep
or
>serious or meaningful. "Tracker" couldn't quite let go of the idea that it
>was a "serious" sci-fi show.
We've only seen - what, three episodes so far? It does look like it has
potential, but from comments here, it sounds like it actually doesn't
get better but actually worse. However, I will keep watching and decide
for myself.
>In the first place, that *was* the premise of the series from the start.
>Alien Tracker comes to Earth to find the bad guys he "lost" in transit.
>Every week he finds another one. (See Time Trax)
Heh. After watching the first episode, I thought that was exactly it:
Time Trax with aliens.
>They always conveniently have the coolest gadgets with them - except when
>they are forced to build them out of old radios and model airplane parts.
But that's half the fun! It makes one wonder, though: if an ordinary person
(like you or me :-P) went back in time, could *we* make a fridge, or a
cellphone, or a TV out of things that were available in say, the 19th
century? I couldn't build a TV *now*.
>I think Tracker was what the producers wanted....it just wasn't what the
>viewers wanted to see.
Why would the producers want a cheesy series with few redeeming qualities
(besides Adrian)? Or is it that they thought the audience was so low-brow
as to like that kind of thing?
The mysteries of Hollywood.
- Marina.
\\ "Good girls go to heaven. ||>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> //
// Bad girls go to Smallville." || R I C H I E >> \\
\\ - 'Sorority Boys' wallpaper ||>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> //
//=======tmar@sifl.iid.co.za========|| \\
\\=======Chief Flag Waver and Defender of Richie=======//
"You know, Kent, it's always been my policy to back my reporters one
thousand percent. I mean, if you went up there and opened those
windows and told me that you could fly, I'd back you up. I'd miss
you, but I'd back you up." - Perry White; Lois & Clark.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 15:08:58 -0400
From: SenseiRob@aol.com
Subject: Re: (OT?) Tracker comes to the UK
Marina:
> And Adrian looks like he's having fun. :)
Wowzers. (Mental note: cross Marina off the list to organize List parties). Maybe it's a cultural thing; I'm not quite sure what passes for fun in South Africa, but I definitely didn't get the same impression that you did. Comparative fun? More fun than being poked by a pointy stick? OK... maybe.
Mel:
> > but they never should have focused so much on the bad guy of the week
> >like they did.
Wendy:
> In the first place, that *was* the premise of the series from the start.
Agreed. It would be like a cop show with no crime, a detective show with no mystery, CSI without cases to solve, Monday Night Football without a football game. Urgh. This explanation would make no sense to kids who grew up watching MTV without the music videos, would it?
> Alien Tracker comes to Earth to find the bad guys he "lost" in transit.
See "Critters". Shape changing alien bounty hunters seeking the criminally voracious fur-and-teethballs that escaped. Random image of hot earthling selected from a rock video. In the second movie, from a Playboy centerfold... complete with a staple. Good examples of cheesy scifi that knew its place.
>Every week he finds another one. (See Time Trax)
Brimstone. Dead guy returned from damnation to track down other dead guys that escaped Hell.
>In the second place, what would you have preferred? Alien comes to Earth and blends into society? (See Alf, 3rd Rock, My Favorite Martian, Starman, Superman, Alien Nation, Mork&Mindy, Roswell, etc.) Earth societies are ridiculously easy to blend into- there are probably 3,000,000 aliens already living here.
Men in Black.
>Aliens are always smarter and more adaptable than we are
Well, if they have interstellar space travel, that's not a bad assumption. Unless, of course, they're just dumb teenagers out for a joyride in Dad's space yacht and trying to get lucky with the locals (the true basis of those alien abduction stories and other UFO reports, don't you know), or have stumbled on space travel artifacts from an ancient vanished race (StarGate: SG1).
> and they always pick up Earth culture (as if there was just *one*) in a few weeks- except when their fish-out-of-water experiences can be played for laughs.
The Last Starfighter. Perfect Strangers. (Oh, just outer space aliens?)
> They always conveniently have the coolest gadgets with them - except when they are forced to build them out of old radios and model airplane parts.
Star Trek. E.T. the Extra Tessestrial. Star Man. MacGuyver... oops, nevermind.
> They are always sexy as hell.
Not really. Predator? Invasion of the Body Snatchers? Spaced Invaders?
> And they always manage to meet up with kind people who shelter them instead of xenophobes who want to drag them behind their pick-up.
"I ain't sure what kinda alien he wuz, zackly, but I did stuff whut wuz left of him and mounted it over the fireplace." The shortest series ever.
The other range of "alien" shows is the "government or reporter or witness relentlessly pursues the alien for fame, revenge, wondrous secrets, obsession". This list is almost endless... but in this case, people might be confused as to who was the actual "Tracker". And adding another dollop of confusion is just overkill for this series.
> Wendy(I suppose a show about a below-average looking alien who had no special powers, no gadgets, mediocre intelligence, no sense of humor, and no particular mission on Earth wouldn't sell.)(We would, however, elect such a person
President.)(If they came from Texas<eg>)
No mission? You sure about that?
-Rob
SenseiRob@aol.com
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Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 18:21:32 -0400
From: Heidi <heidi@bronze.lcs.mit.edu>
Subject: Season 5 and 6 DVD sets
Out of curiosity I checked the Best Buy web site to see if they
had a release dated listed for the Season 5 DVD set. They actually
had dates for both S5 and S6. They say Season 5 will be out on
Aug. 10th and Season 6 on Nov. 9th. The prices are higher then
normal but for some reason they tend to initially list them high
and then drop them to the normal price once it gets closer to
the actual release date, so I expect they'll do the same for
these.
Btw, has anyone heard anything about if Season 2 of Forever Knight
is actually going to be released on DVD?
=}{=
(heidi@bronze.lcs.mit.edu)
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End of HIGHLA-L Digest - 28 Apr 2004 to 29 Apr 2004 (#2004-81)
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