HIGHLA-L Digest - 18 Mar 2006 to 19 Mar 2006 (#2006-63)
HIGHLA-L automatic digest system (LISTSERV@lists.psu.edu)
Sun, 19 Mar 2006 22:00:09 -0500
There are 14 messages totalling 642 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. HLWW, Carmel and Cons... (4)
2. HIGHLA-L Digest - 17 Mar 2006 to 18 Mar 2006 - Special issue (#2006-61)
(3)
3. Season Six DVDs - Indiscretions
4. Buffy, slash, non-HL topics ( was RE: Highlander DVD sets - which to
get?)
5. All Things not HLWW (2) (2)
6. All things not HLWW (3)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 18 Mar 2006 21:26:32 -0600
From: Ginny Gibbs <red57metoo@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: HLWW, Carmel and Cons...
MacWestie wrote:
> (best pretend Englishman--Ben Browder's Peacekeeper impersonation)
Actually, I kind of have a "thing" for the aristocratic upper-class
persona played by Michael Shanks in SG1's episode "Lifeboat."
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2006 08:20:21 +0200
From: TMar <tmar@polka.co.za>
Subject: Re: HIGHLA-L Digest - 17 Mar 2006 to 18 Mar 2006 - Special issue (#2006-61)
FKMel wrote:
>Same with Marina, what didn't you like about Fred?
>Just wondering because she's one of my favorites on
>Angel and I'm curious to hear.
It's not just one thing... her whole 'crazy' persona annoyed me
after, like, two minutes. And I dislike the way she treated Wesley.
If she knew that she wasn't going to want him, she shouldn't
have strung him along like that.
Because that's what she did. She should either have said, "I'm
with Gunn, you and I are never going to happen," or at the
very least stopped asking him for help, which in his mind kept
her as a romance possibility. But she didn't - I think she liked
it that two guys both wanted her.
And then she had the cheek to go and die. Which tore poor
Wesley's heart out and made it that he could never be happy.
(Did I say my reasons were *logical*? <g>)
- Marina.
\\ "I'm like every other kid in America. We all ||>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> //
// wanna be astronauts... 'to boldly go where || R I C H I E >> \\
\\ no man has gone before'." - Matt Sikes to ||>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> //
// Cathy Frankel; Green Eyes (Alien Nation) ||````````````````\\
\\===============tmar@polka.co.za===============||,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,//
//=============Chief Flag Waver and Defender of Richie============\\
"Nothing in the world is the way it ought to be. It's harsh and
it's cruel, but that's why there's us ... We live as though the
world were how it should be, to show it what it can be." - Angel
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2006 08:21:45 +0200
From: TMar <tmar@polka.co.za>
Subject: Re: HIGHLA-L Digest - 17 Mar 2006 to 18 Mar 2006 - Special issue (#2006-61)
Melinda Morgan wrote:
>I've even already wanted to write Mac into immortal-hood....lolol.
Well... he *may* be Immortal already... he survived the Plague AND
an atom bomb AND the flu and life in Boulder. :)
- Marina, who really wishes that mini-series would come out on DVD.
\\ "I'm like every other kid in America. We all ||>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> //
// wanna be astronauts... 'to boldly go where || R I C H I E >> \\
\\ no man has gone before'." - Matt Sikes to ||>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> //
// Cathy Frankel; Green Eyes (Alien Nation) ||````````````````\\
\\===============tmar@polka.co.za===============||,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,//
//=============Chief Flag Waver and Defender of Richie============\\
"Nothing in the world is the way it ought to be. It's harsh and
it's cruel, but that's why there's us ... We live as though the
world were how it should be, to show it what it can be." - Angel
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2006 08:28:00 +0200
From: TMar <tmar@polka.co.za>
Subject: Re: HLWW, Carmel and Cons...
Ginny Gibbs wrote:
>Actually, I kind of have a "thing" for the aristocratic upper-class
persona
>played by Michael Shanks in SG1's episode "Lifeboat."
Oooh, now you've done it. You brought up Michael Shanks with Nina.
I'd batten down the hatches and wait out the spew of vitriol that is
about to descend, if I were you!
Michael Shanks did a good job with all those accents in "Lifeboat", I
have to say. But I found that episode tedious, because it had all been
done before. They should have given that part to Teal'c or O'Neill -
I mean, I realise why they didn't, but it would have worked better for
me.
Ben Browder's Peacekeeper accent is always terrible. It's so obvious
that he has no idea how to do an English accent. I wonder, though, if
it's Ben Browder who can't do it, or if he was just playing John Crichton
that way. It's fun to watch, in any case.
- Marina (who dug up an old ep of CSI Miami just to see Ben Browder.)
(And hey, look - a newish ep with Michael Shanks! My life is complete!) ;)
\\ "I'm naming all the stars." ||>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> //
// "You can't see the stars, love. That's the || R I C H I E >> \\
\\ ceiling. Also, it's day." - Drusilla & Spike ||>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> //
//================tmar@polka.co.za==============||````````````````\\
\\==============Chief Flag Waver and Defender of Richie===========//
"I don't think that much mucous is ever a good sign." - Lorne;
"Rain of Fire/Apocalypse Nowish" (Angel)
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2006 01:38:13 -0600
From: Ginny Gibbs <red57metoo@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: HLWW, Carmel and Cons...
TMar wrote:
> Ginny Gibbs wrote:
> >Actually, I kind of have a "thing" for the aristocratic upper-class
> persona
> >played by Michael Shanks in SG1's episode "Lifeboat."
>
> Oooh, now you've done it. You brought up Michael Shanks with Nina.
> I'd batten down the hatches and wait out the spew of vitriol that is
> about to descend, if I were you!
>
Now, now. I honestly had no idea that might be anyone's trigger, because
I pay no attention to that sort of thing unless it's both funny and
impersonal. I can't work out who hates who, and who mustn't be invoked
anymore. And the alliances keep shifting, so I can't be bothered to keep
it straight. Surely, after more than 10 years, and abandonment by Her
Listlessness, it just doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter. It just
doesn't matter. ;)
Oh, by the way! We were watching... what was it??? Stan Kirsch was on
something new-ish tonight here. It was a rerun of an SF show called
"Shallow Ground." David yelped and paused it for a second so we could
verify it was Stan. He looked pretty good - plays a cop of some sort.
However, it wasn't grabbing our attention so we watched something else.
> Michael Shanks did a good job with all those accents in "Lifeboat", I
> have to say. But I found that episode tedious, because it had all been
> done before. They should have given that part to Teal'c or O'Neill -
> I mean, I realise why they didn't, but it would have worked better for
> me.
>
Hee! I just tried to imagine RDA doing all those accents, plus playing a
child. Somehow, I don't think he'd mess with it. He did fine when he had
to play O'Neill as an empty shell with all his knowledge replaced by
Ancient lore, but I can't see him wanting to do something as showy as
all that. Christopher Judge, now, would have been a really interesting
choice.
It's funny how SF shows keep recycling the same concepts. The "Lifeboat"
concept where an actor gets to show off doing a bunch of multiple
personalities. The use of episode titles - remember when X-Files and
Highlander were batting the same titles back and forth? I just ran
across something today where people have noticed the many odd
similarities between an old series, Earth 2, and a new series, Lost.
It's all in the IMDB discussion board for Earth 2 if you want to check
it out. Are there no new stories to tell, or is there really just one
big story they all keep retelling?
> Ben Browder's Peacekeeper accent is always terrible. It's so obvious
> that he has no idea how to do an English accent. I wonder, though, if
> it's Ben Browder who can't do it, or if he was just playing John Crichton
> that way. It's fun to watch, in any case.
>
He always sounds like he has a stick up his backside and a toffee up his
nose. I don't think Browder was trying for the effect deliberately - I
think he just can't do it that well. But then, I didn't think Cary
Elwes could do a very good Southern accent in... was it Top Gun? So that
cuts both ways.
> - Marina (who dug up an old ep of CSI Miami just to see Ben Browder.)
> (And hey, look - a newish ep with Michael Shanks! My life is
> complete!) ;)
>
I've been going through a horrible dusty old box of tapes for Her
Weaselness' sake, and I might have to dig out a VCR and try to figure
out how to hook it up just to watch some of this weird stuff I found.
Some of it is dated... more than 10 years ago. Suddenly, I feel old in
my bones.
One of my tapes includes an unnamed episode of Forever Knight... but it
is labeled "Julie Beamer, Dead Hooker." Good times.
> \\ "I'm naming all the stars." ||>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> //
> // "You can't see the stars, love. That's the || R I C H I E >> \\
> \\ ceiling. Also, it's day." - Drusilla & Spike ||>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> //
> //================tmar@polka.co.za==============||````````````````\\
> \\==============Chief Flag Waver and Defender of Richie===========//
>
> "I don't think that much mucous is ever a good sign." - Lorne; "Rain
> of Fire/Apocalypse Nowish" (Angel)
>
>
Ah, Lorne. He was one of my favorites. Loved the big green guy.
Actually, that .sig is particularly apt for me right now, because I've
got yer post-nasal drip of the Apocalypse right down heah.
ginny
Life. Short. Dessert now.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2006 11:55:22 -0000
From: ElaineN <Elainen@inguz.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Season Six DVDs - Indiscretions
>>(and I will NOT NOT NOT drive in Paris!!)<<
Even I won't drive there.
Elaine.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2006 12:05:33 -0000
From: ElaineN <Elainen@inguz.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Buffy, slash, non-HL topics ( was RE: Highlander DVD sets - which to get?)
>>I was surprised to find myself liking "Bones." We have TiVo and so
often
miss out on stuff when it first begins unless we make a point of
catching it. Thus the show slipped under the radar. Kept seeing postive
reviews, and one night we decided to watch just to see what Boreanaz was
up to.<<
Bones is a great show. All of the characters are well characters, with
bits you like and bits you don't. And it's nice to see David smile so
much. I love the way Bones herself is so totally on another planet
most of the time, and he keeps trying to teach her about people. I
thought the Christmas episode while mushy was still good, it trod that
fine line nicely.
Another new show (over here) I've been watching is Supernatural, which
is another of those under the radar shows, imagine my surpise and
delight to see Jim Byrnes in this weeks episode, it was a small part but
he looked good and it did brighten my night.
Elaine.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2006 11:31:24 -0500
From: Wendy <Immortals_Incorporated@cox.net>
Subject: All Things not HLWW (2)
Ginny says:
> I can't work out who
> hates who, and who mustn't be invoked anymore. And the
> alliances keep shifting, so I can't be bothered to keep it
> straight.
I'll send you a score card. Just don't use permanent marker.
> Stan
> Kirsch was on something new-ish tonight here. It was a rerun
> of an SF show called "Shallow Ground." David yelped and
> paused it for a second so we could verify it was Stan.<snip>
> However, it wasn't grabbing our attention so we watched
> something else.
Likewise. I was flipping channels...saw Stan...stopped for 30 seconds to
confirm his identity ... then flipped on up the line.
Ginny:
>The use of episode titles - remember
> when X-Files and Highlander were batting the same titles back
> and forth?
This always amuses me. There may only be 7 plots in the world but there
must be more than 20 titles- and yet they come up over and over again. I
liked "Le Femme Nikita's" trick of adding a word in length to each
season's titles.
> Are there no new stories to tell, or is
> there really just one big story they all keep retelling?
I think there are new stories to tell..or at least new adaptations of
old stories. However there are lots of lazy writers in the world and
lots of TV/movie executive who would obviously prefer to recycle old
plots than risk a new one. Granted, if two different series have a
group stranded on a desert island or distant planet, some plots seem
obvious and might show up in both. If two series are about private
investigators or time travelers or cops...some stories will duplicate.
But sometimes it's like they took an old script and just changed the
names. While most fanfic is crap, at least the fans *try* to come up
with new settings and events for their favorite characters to encounter.
Ginny:
> He (Browder) always sounds like he has a stick up his backside
It's possible that Peacekeeper officer uniforms have that feature<eg>
> But then, I didn't think Cary Elwes could do a very good
> Southern accent in... was it Top Gun? So that cuts both ways.
Just as few American actors truly master an English accent (any English
accent )(since there are more then one), few English actors truly master
an American accent (any one). In the cases where the accents are
perfected, it is usually because the actor lived for a long time in the
country he is mimicking.
> I've been going through a horrible dusty old box of tapes for
> Her Weaselness' sake,
And she thanks you. Publicly <eg>
> One of my tapes includes an unnamed episode of Forever
> Knight... but it is labeled "Julie Beamer, Dead Hooker." Good times.
One of the perks of knowing a TV writers is getting your name
immortalized as that of a dead hooker <g> Good times indeed.
Wendy ( I wonder what Gillian is writing theses days.)
Immortals Inc.
immortals_incorporated@cox.net
"Weasels for Eternity"
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2006 11:31:24 -0500
From: Wendy <Immortals_Incorporated@cox.net>
Subject: All things not HLWW
Ginny wrote:
>> Actually, I kind of have a "thing" for the aristocratic
>> upper-class persona played by Michael Shanks in SG1's
>> episode "Lifeboat."
Marina baits:
> Oooh, now you've done it. You brought up Michael Shanks with Nina.
> I'd batten down the hatches and wait out the spew of vitriol
> that is about to descend, if I were you!
I forget...does Nina dislike Michael Shanks or does she just dislike
Stargate SG1? I like Stargate this year but didn't watch much of
Season 8. (At least I didn't watch compulsively.)(By which I mean I
watched when I remembered it was on and if the tiny write-up in TV Guide
seemed interesting)(And by "interesting" I mean it didn't center on
Sam's love life.) I'm not a huge Michael Shanks fan. (By "not a huge
fan" I mean I can take or leave him.)(Unlike some people here who
apparently have MS's picture tattooed on body parts) He's an adequate
actor but he's not my type. (And by my "not my type" I mean I don't
fanaticize about shagging him.)
> Michael Shanks did a good job with all those accents in
> "Lifeboat", I have to say. But I found that episode tedious,
> because it had all been done before. They should have given
> that part to Teal'c or O'Neill -
Now Teal'c - or rather Christopher Judge - is an actor who does zero for
me. I thought his wooden approach to the character was great in the
early years when Teal'c was new to Earth and Earthlings. Nine years
later, I've decided that Judge simply is a wooden actor.
> Ben Browder's Peacekeeper accent is always terrible. It's so
> obvious that he has no idea how to do an English accent. I
> wonder, though, if it's Ben Browder who can't do it, or if he
> was just playing John Crichton that way. It's fun to watch,
> in any case.
Well, if we assume that Ben is an actor and *could* have learned a
decent accent if he needed to, we could assume that he played the part
that way because Crichton wouldn't have any reason to be good at
accents. Plus, half the Peacekeepers we met had some form of English
accent, some sounded Australian and some had no particular accent at
all. It always sounded to me as if Crichton had aimed for an
upper-crusty British accent after watching Monty Python for a few years.
...which is about right for most Americans.
Wendy ( Beau Bridges is growing on me as the new general but he'll never
be Hammond of Texas)
Immortals Inc.
immortals_incorporated@cox.net
"Weasels for Eternity"
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2006 11:31:24 -0500
From: Wendy <Immortals_Incorporated@cox.net>
Subject: Re: HIGHLA-L Digest - 17 Mar 2006 to 18 Mar 2006 - Special issue (#2006-61)
Of Fred (who was on Angel and not HL in case anyone was beginning to
lose track) Marina said:
> It's not just one thing... her whole 'crazy' persona annoyed
> me after, like, two minutes. And I dislike the way she treated Wesley.
> If she knew that she wasn't going to want him, she shouldn't
> have strung him along like that.
I happened to like her early crazy time. And I liked her as Illyria.
(There are so few blue characters on TV any more <eg>) I was less fond
of "normal" Fred in the middle. She knew Wes was in love with her and
she didn't *do* anything about it - shag him or dump him, lady!
Wendy (And what happened with Cordy was plain awful.)
Immortals Inc.
immortals_incorporated@cox.net
"Weasels for Eternity"
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2006 13:36:43 -0600
From: Ginny Gibbs <red57metoo@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: All things not HLWW
Wendy wrote:
>I thought his wooden approach to the character was great in the
>early years when Teal'c was new to Earth and Earthlings. Nine years
>later, I've decided that Judge simply is a wooden actor.
>
>
Ah, here's where we part company - you say tomato, I say tomahto. Your
wooden is my subtle, but I do like it when he has the opportunity to
play it completely differently, as when his mind created a whole
different life for him as an ordinary Tauri fireman. Every now and then
Teal'c drops the studied decorum and shows a little passion, a little
intensity, especially in his dealings with the Jaffa council. It's been
interesting watching him deal with the frustrations of politics.
Also, his obsession with all things corn-dog, and his preference for the
name "Murray" as an undercover name while on Earth, always amuses me.
That and the goofy hat he wears to cover his forehead doodad, which
makes him look like a complete dork (in a nice way). It always reminds
me of Spock and his Michael Nesmith watch cap in... City on the Edge of
Forever? Whatever. Heh.
>Wendy ( Beau Bridges is growing on me as the new general but he'll never
>be Hammond of Texas)
>
>
>
We'll always have Hammond of Texas, but I agree that Bridges is becoming
more acceptable - he can be a little wily, which is nice. And his tricky
relationship with the doctor-daughter is interesting.
>
>
>
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2006 22:27:53 +0200
From: TMar <tmar@polka.co.za>
Subject: Re: All things not HLWW
Wendy wrote:
>I forget...does Nina dislike Michael Shanks or does she just dislike
>Stargate SG1?
Nina hates everybody and everything (except, perhaps, Ben Browder) or
hadn't you noticed?
>I like Stargate this year but didn't watch much of Season 8. (At least
I didn't watch
>compulsively.)
I think I will always watch compulsively. Heck, I watched when Michael
Shanks wasn't even in it (sod off, Nina), that's now dedicated I am! And
back then I was avoiding spoilers and didn't know he'd be coming back.
>( Beau Bridges is growing on me as the new general but he'll never
>be Hammond of Texas)
There can be only one! :)
I miss O'Neill terribly. And I really miss General Hammond. There was a
true gentleman. Have you ever listened to any of the commentaries? (Since
you can take it or leave it, I'd think no.) Whenever Don S. Davis does a
commentary, he doesn't say much but it's always, "Wonderful actor",
"Lovely person," etc about his fellow actors. A true gentleman.
>Granted, if two different series have a group stranded on a desert island
>or distant planet, some plots seem obvious and might show up in both.
>If two series are about private investigators or time travelers or cops...
>some stories will duplicate. But sometimes it's like they took an old
>script and just changed the names.
We-eelll... yeah. There are some tropes that show up again and again in
SF shows. I actually had a nice list going with dozens of examples, until
someone pointed out to me that Wikipedia has a list. However, mine was
specific to SF shows. Things like... oh, body switching. Duplicates (do you
think Ben Browder is the only actor ever to talk to a duplicate of his
character on TWO TV shows?). Robots. Rapid ageing. Regressing.
Time loops. Alternate universes. Yadda (as O'Neill would say).
Old scripts and changed the names? All right, Wendy, you're a, you know...
(whispers)... lawyer. Cite me some examples! Not that I'm disagreeing,
I want to know precise details!
- Marina.
\\ "I think somewhere on the road to reality, ||>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> //
// you took a left turn." - Nowhere Man || R I C H I E >> \\
\\===============tmar@polka.co.za==============||>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> //
//===Chief Flag Waver and Defender of Richie===||````````````````\\
Wesley: What about the fact they thought we were gay?
Angel: Adds mystery.
"Expecting" (Angel)
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2006 22:32:26 +0200
From: TMar <tmar@polka.co.za>
Subject: Re: All Things not HLWW (2)
I think this was Ginny, but I haven't received her original message:
>One of my tapes includes an unnamed episode of Forever
>Knight... but it is labeled "Julie Beamer, Dead Hooker." Good times.
"A Fate Worse Than Death".
:)
Wendy:
>One of the perks of knowing a TV writers is getting your name
>immortalized as that of a dead hooker <g> Good times indeed.
And a researcher who gets pushed down some stairs (Linda Wyatt)
and a dippy psychiatrist who at least doesn't die (Lisa Kadlec).
- Marina (who tied Richie up in the basement.) (*Really* good times.)
\\ "I think somewhere on the road to reality, ||>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> //
// you took a left turn." - Nowhere Man || R I C H I E >> \\
\\===============tmar@polka.co.za==============||>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> //
//===Chief Flag Waver and Defender of Richie===||````````````````\\
Wesley: What about the fact they thought we were gay?
Angel: Adds mystery.
"Expecting" (Angel)
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2006 14:46:21 -1000
From: MacWestie <mac.westie@verizon.net>
Subject: Re: HLWW, Carmel and Cons...
Marina (who could use a different song)--
> Oooh, now you've done it. You brought up Michael Shanks with Nina.
> I'd batten down the hatches and wait out the spew of vitriol that is
> about to descend, if I were you!
I regret to inform you that I am all out of vitriol, due to recent
unforeseen demand. However, a vat IS on order, & I am assured of imminent
arrival. And, yes--the lackey in chargeof inventory HAS been canned. In
the meantime--here, have a nice cup of bile.
> Michael Shanks did a good job with all those accents in "Lifeboat", I
> have to say.
Yet another ep of SG-1 that afforded me a lovely nap.
>But I found that episode tedious, because it had all been
> done before.
Now, there's a statement applicable to 99% of SG-1's episodes.
> Ben Browder's Peacekeeper accent is always terrible. It's so obvious
> that he has no idea how to do an English accent. I wonder, though, if
> it's Ben Browder who can't do it, or if he was just playing John Crichton
> that way. It's fun to watch, in any case.
BB lived in the UK for several years while training to be an actor, & his
wife is British, so I suspect he is very familiar w/ the accent. Since he
was impersonating a Peacekeeper officer, _Crichton_ was going for "haughty
bastard" & I thought he nailed it, body language & all.
Nina (who was totally amazed on 1st hearing Jamie Bamber's native British
accent) (I guess he had to go American, as asking Olmos as his dad on BSG to
attempt a matching British accent likely was not an option)
mac.westie@verizon.net
------------------------------
End of HIGHLA-L Digest - 18 Mar 2006 to 19 Mar 2006 (#2006-63)
**************************************************************