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selenakFirstly, American readers, if the ramblings on these humble pages or anything else has made you interested into the new Battlestar Galactica, the Sci-Fi Channel is running a marathon on Tuesday of the first five episodes starting at 7 p.m. EST, so you should have a chance to catch up. A fan of the old show – proving that loving both is far from mutually exclusive - lists eleven reasons why.
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thassalia, while reviewing episode 5, mentioned having an argument with her significant other. Quote:
This mostly ends up being an argument because of his issues with Starbuck being a girl. He somehow feels like it's a betrayal of his childhood memories and white men everywhere (don't expect sense of M. that late on a Friday night). He finally asked how I'd feel if they remade Star Wars and made Han Solo a girl. I sort of shrugged, and was backed up by Sab on Saturday as we both agreed it would probably be kind of hot.
Which reminds me that almost a year ago, inspired by a post of Andraste’s I think, I went on a bit about genderflipping, where it’s possible and where I could see difficulties. (I.e. for example in the Babylon 5 universe, you could genderswitch all the humans – though possibly not at the same time – without that changing their storylines, and you could do it with the Narn characters (i.e. female G’Kar and male Na’Toth) but it’s far more difficult with the Centauri, especially Londo, because of the way Centauri society, patterned as it is after the Romans, has been characterized. You can have influential women, but they’d have to work through men, they couldn’t be ambassadors on B5. Now with Star Wars, I think a remake, twenty or thirty years hence, with genderswitches could be fascinating. Actually Han Solo would be the easiest candidate to genderflip without taking away any of the Solo characteristics, or changing his storyline. (Assuming the audience at large will then finally be ready to buy a textual samesex romance in a blockbuster.) Smuggler Jenna Solo – Jenna in honour of that other smuggler and pilot of the 70s, Jenna in B7, of course – could still take them to the Death Star, get close to Luke and Leia, get frozen and get rescued. The only thing that would change a bit, in this hypothetical scenario, would be Luke’s reaction to Solo the Smuggler, if you maintain Luke as male and inexperienced farmboy. He might be somewhat attracted as well.
The Jedi, otoh, would require some deeper changes in the storylines, depending on whom you genderswitch. The most problematical might be Obi-Wan Kenobi, not because of himself but because of Anakin/Vader (if you keep Anakin as male), because the prequels offer some reason to believe that young Anakin responds far better to female authority than he does to male. If, otoh, you genderswitch Anakin in the prequels and Vader in the OT but keep the rest of the Jedi (Obi-Wan, Yoda, Qui-Gon, later Luke) as male, you can keep the storyline as it is but might aquire a possibly misogynistic subtext. (Gender-switching one or two of the unfallen Jedi along with Anakin should take care of that, though.) Still, I’m fascinated by the idea of a female Vader. But then, I’m firmly withalara_r and andrastewhite on that one (i.e. the idea of genderswitchs in old favourites of mine being intriguing instead of provoking holy outrage).
Going back to certain characters or archetypes and changing/flipping something doesn’t have to be gender, of course.deborah_judge has now started the final run of episodes on DS9 and, as I expected, loves the Kai Winn storyline. As she also started to watch the new BSG, she intriguingly suggested that Laura Roslin might in part be inspired by Ron Moore wanting to write about Winn – or the Winn prototype – from a Winn-friendly pov. I.e. the female mature politician in charge of things, in a somewhat competitive relationship with the male commander, ready to sacrifice lives if she has to, as a sympathetic character we’re supposed to root for, not against. Meanwhile, Andraste mentioned that Justin in Carnivale’s first season is the reason she forgives Moore for Waltz and Eeeeevil!Dukat. (I forgave him before because while he might have written the actual episode, the decision to make Dukat uniformly evil from Waltz onwards was made by the executive producer and headwriter of the show, Ira Behr, who was quite vocal in interviews about his disgust with Dukat fans. (Think David Fury/Spike fans in season 5.) Moore was one of the more influential writers on DS9, and contributed a lot, but so far nothing indicates the Dukat thing had been his idea.) And I can see the similarities. A character who after a horrible tragedy involving the loss of a child/children – and as it turns out at the hand of someone near and dear to him – has a mental breakdown from which he reemerges believing being an antichrist kind of figure is his lot in life and becomes a cult leader? Check. Only in the case of Justin, as opposed to Dukat, we’re encouraged to see this as a tragedy and something he struggled (struggles?) against. And apparently in Daniel Knauf’s original version of the pilot, Justin was already evil ™ , with his own radio show and cult; his season 1 arc was Moore’s specific change in the concept and contribution to the show.
Which brings me to the season 1 finale of Carnivale, The Day that was the Day, which now has arrived at my virtual doorstep as well. (Thanks, smashc). Looking at the writing credits of the season, I can see that Ron Moore – who was executive producer along with series creator Daniel Kauf but is not anymore in the second season, due to being busy on BSG - penned this one and Pick a Number (aka the creepiest episode ever) – and they’re easily among the most powerful of the season. Some of what happened in the finale I had guessed by the season 2 opening ep, but not all.
Management manipulating Ben into killing Lodz was among the guessable things, but I still felt strongly for him. Justin asking Norman to kill him, otoh, was a surprise. And there is no reason not to believe he’s not sincere at that moment. At this point, it’s interesting to take a closer look at the powers each othe supernaturally gifted have:
Ben: can heal and resurrect from the dead, but only by taking the lives of others. Which well and truly sucks for him. It’s a power that requires a strong ethical code because obviously, there is the danger of setting yourself up as God. (Which is what Management seems to encourage him to do, or is it?)
Justin: hypnosis. Even the neck twist as a child can be explained by him sending a powerful order to the man to break his own neck, I suppose, because otherwise that would be the only instant where Justin uses telekinesis. The hypnosis he uses often, but not always, comes coupled with some cognisance of crimes the person in question has committed. I’d call this telepathy except Justin himself does seem to be surprised by some of the results when they are shown. It can’t be feelings of guilt he picks up, though because while in the case of the migrant lady stealing coins, or the councillor abusing children, there have been wrongs of various degrees committed, Norman saving little Justin and Iris was a purely altruistic act and evil only in regards to the consequences, and only if you believe, as Justin does a moment later, that Justin becoming evil is inevitable and pre-ordained. In any case, hypnosis is of course a power just as easily able to corrupt its user. (Which is one of the reason why Charles Xavier really needs that strong code of ethics he clings to. The daily temptation just to fix the world to his liking, and to hell with free will, must be horrible.)
Appollonia: Telepathy. While she communicates only with her daughter – and with the somewhat similarly gifted Lodz – she obviously can read other people’s thoughts as well. Pre-cognisance. Telekinesis.
Management: Healing like Ben, hypnosis like Justin (I’m assuming that when Jonesy entered, Management hypnotized him into seeing nothing), and telekinesis like Appollonia. Now isn’t that interesting?
Lodz: can enter dreams and communicate with Appollonia. There seems to be some limited telepathy with waking people as well, or perhaps he’s just really good at reading them. I’m favouring the limited telepathy option, though. His blindness makes me think that he came to this gift by sacrificing his eyesight, like Odin sacrificed one of his eyes for wisdom. Not in a “born with it” way Ben and Justin. (Whether Appollonia had her gifts before she got raped and immobile, we don’t know.)
Sofie: that’s the question. Another thing the season 2 opener hadn’t prepared me for was the Lodz-Appollonia conversation, and the fascinating “it can’t be her!” obviously referring to Sofie. Or that Appollonia actually actively tried to kill Sofie. Which ties her with Ben’s mother rejecting and cursing her son at the beginning, and possibly the Russian Soldier in light of the season 2 opener. It does tie her, in a contrast kind of way, with Norman. Norman is asked by Justin to kill his adopted son because they’re both convinced Justin is on the path of damnation, and possibly the Antichrist, but can’t bring himself to do it due to the love he has for his “son”. Appollonia tries to kill her natural daughter – and herself – because she, too, appears to believe Sofie is destined for… what? Another antichrist position? Does Sofie have gifts, possibly inherited from her father, which Appollonia has kept back so far but doesn’t think she can keep back any longer, hence the attempted murder? Hmmmmm.
Now I had gathered that Jonesy had caught Sofie and Libby in the act, but hadn’t guessed that Sofie had engineered the situation deliberately to punish them both. Which makes it more layered at once. It’s ruthless and somewhat out of proportion to the wrong they did her, at least as far as Libby (and Libby not telling Sofie about the Jonesy/Rita Sue tryst) is concerned. It’s the most malicious thing we’ve seen Sofie do, and explains her behaviour in 2.01 and 2.02 (until watching 1.12, I thought she overreacted). And it manages to ruin not one but two of her relationships in one stroke. Ouch.
Meanwhile, our Edward Albee couple make up, which fits with the Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf template. You know, Rita Sue and Felix “Stumpy” Dreyfus might be the Garibaldis of Carnivale, i.e. the characters least likely to get a happy ending but who actually get one. I’d wish it for them.
Andraste, look away again, as I get to episode 2.02 now….
…yikes. Justin getting the tree tattoo on himself made for another powerful creepy final image. And this episode features the second instance – after the man in the asylum banging his head agains the wall – of Justin using his powers maliciously in a deliberate and calculated way. (Unless the sublimal messages via radio were generated by his suconscious desire to an instrument to track down Scudder rather than him creating them knowlingly. I suppose we’re to think that he knew what he was doing, though, in which case I have to add wide-range telepathy to his powers, though.)
Using the Asian prostitute (at first I thought she was supposed to be Chinese, but “gomen nasai” is Japanese) from early season 1 was clever on the part of the writers. One assumes he’s going to her to channel his taboo desire for Iris, and even when we see her using an instrument instead of having actual sex, it looks like a variation of the self flaggelation, so the tattoo really comes as a surprise shocker. I suppose he found it in the gospel of Matthias? In which case I’m starting to wonder whether Scudder is identical with the tattood man who raped Appollonia and thus is Sofie’s father as well.
Celeste the new housemaid will inevitably end up being the person Justin actually does have sex with, methinks. No strong will, no back-up, and not his sister. It’s interesting, though, that Justin even after deciding on the left-hand-of-God path still doesn’t permit himself to consumate his feelings for Iris. I wonder whether it’s to punish her (and himself) for the fate of the children; he certainly hasn’t forgotten or forgiven, judging by him looking directly at her when listing their names in the church dedication.
Management/The Russian Soldier says it would be “an abomination” to let himself be healed by Justin and resists the temptation, barely, but he resists. Why an abomination? Because he’s a champion of the previous generation who failed in his task? And while I’m on the subject, the voice sounds female to me. Were it not for Ben’s dreams in which the Russian Soldier is distinctly male, I’d suppose Management is female. Otoh we only have Management’s words about being identical with the Russian Soldier, so, who knows?
thassalia, while reviewing episode 5, mentioned having an argument with her significant other. Quote:This mostly ends up being an argument because of his issues with Starbuck being a girl. He somehow feels like it's a betrayal of his childhood memories and white men everywhere (don't expect sense of M. that late on a Friday night). He finally asked how I'd feel if they remade Star Wars and made Han Solo a girl. I sort of shrugged, and was backed up by Sab on Saturday as we both agreed it would probably be kind of hot.
Which reminds me that almost a year ago, inspired by a post of Andraste’s I think, I went on a bit about genderflipping, where it’s possible and where I could see difficulties. (I.e. for example in the Babylon 5 universe, you could genderswitch all the humans – though possibly not at the same time – without that changing their storylines, and you could do it with the Narn characters (i.e. female G’Kar and male Na’Toth) but it’s far more difficult with the Centauri, especially Londo, because of the way Centauri society, patterned as it is after the Romans, has been characterized. You can have influential women, but they’d have to work through men, they couldn’t be ambassadors on B5. Now with Star Wars, I think a remake, twenty or thirty years hence, with genderswitches could be fascinating. Actually Han Solo would be the easiest candidate to genderflip without taking away any of the Solo characteristics, or changing his storyline. (Assuming the audience at large will then finally be ready to buy a textual samesex romance in a blockbuster.) Smuggler Jenna Solo – Jenna in honour of that other smuggler and pilot of the 70s, Jenna in B7, of course – could still take them to the Death Star, get close to Luke and Leia, get frozen and get rescued. The only thing that would change a bit, in this hypothetical scenario, would be Luke’s reaction to Solo the Smuggler, if you maintain Luke as male and inexperienced farmboy. He might be somewhat attracted as well.
The Jedi, otoh, would require some deeper changes in the storylines, depending on whom you genderswitch. The most problematical might be Obi-Wan Kenobi, not because of himself but because of Anakin/Vader (if you keep Anakin as male), because the prequels offer some reason to believe that young Anakin responds far better to female authority than he does to male. If, otoh, you genderswitch Anakin in the prequels and Vader in the OT but keep the rest of the Jedi (Obi-Wan, Yoda, Qui-Gon, later Luke) as male, you can keep the storyline as it is but might aquire a possibly misogynistic subtext. (Gender-switching one or two of the unfallen Jedi along with Anakin should take care of that, though.) Still, I’m fascinated by the idea of a female Vader. But then, I’m firmly with
alara_r and andrastewhite on that one (i.e. the idea of genderswitchs in old favourites of mine being intriguing instead of provoking holy outrage). Going back to certain characters or archetypes and changing/flipping something doesn’t have to be gender, of course.
deborah_judge has now started the final run of episodes on DS9 and, as I expected, loves the Kai Winn storyline. As she also started to watch the new BSG, she intriguingly suggested that Laura Roslin might in part be inspired by Ron Moore wanting to write about Winn – or the Winn prototype – from a Winn-friendly pov. I.e. the female mature politician in charge of things, in a somewhat competitive relationship with the male commander, ready to sacrifice lives if she has to, as a sympathetic character we’re supposed to root for, not against. Meanwhile, Andraste mentioned that Justin in Carnivale’s first season is the reason she forgives Moore for Waltz and Eeeeevil!Dukat. (I forgave him before because while he might have written the actual episode, the decision to make Dukat uniformly evil from Waltz onwards was made by the executive producer and headwriter of the show, Ira Behr, who was quite vocal in interviews about his disgust with Dukat fans. (Think David Fury/Spike fans in season 5.) Moore was one of the more influential writers on DS9, and contributed a lot, but so far nothing indicates the Dukat thing had been his idea.) And I can see the similarities. A character who after a horrible tragedy involving the loss of a child/children – and as it turns out at the hand of someone near and dear to him – has a mental breakdown from which he reemerges believing being an antichrist kind of figure is his lot in life and becomes a cult leader? Check. Only in the case of Justin, as opposed to Dukat, we’re encouraged to see this as a tragedy and something he struggled (struggles?) against. And apparently in Daniel Knauf’s original version of the pilot, Justin was already evil ™ , with his own radio show and cult; his season 1 arc was Moore’s specific change in the concept and contribution to the show. Which brings me to the season 1 finale of Carnivale, The Day that was the Day, which now has arrived at my virtual doorstep as well. (Thanks, smashc). Looking at the writing credits of the season, I can see that Ron Moore – who was executive producer along with series creator Daniel Kauf but is not anymore in the second season, due to being busy on BSG - penned this one and Pick a Number (aka the creepiest episode ever) – and they’re easily among the most powerful of the season. Some of what happened in the finale I had guessed by the season 2 opening ep, but not all.
Management manipulating Ben into killing Lodz was among the guessable things, but I still felt strongly for him. Justin asking Norman to kill him, otoh, was a surprise. And there is no reason not to believe he’s not sincere at that moment. At this point, it’s interesting to take a closer look at the powers each othe supernaturally gifted have:
Ben: can heal and resurrect from the dead, but only by taking the lives of others. Which well and truly sucks for him. It’s a power that requires a strong ethical code because obviously, there is the danger of setting yourself up as God. (Which is what Management seems to encourage him to do, or is it?)
Justin: hypnosis. Even the neck twist as a child can be explained by him sending a powerful order to the man to break his own neck, I suppose, because otherwise that would be the only instant where Justin uses telekinesis. The hypnosis he uses often, but not always, comes coupled with some cognisance of crimes the person in question has committed. I’d call this telepathy except Justin himself does seem to be surprised by some of the results when they are shown. It can’t be feelings of guilt he picks up, though because while in the case of the migrant lady stealing coins, or the councillor abusing children, there have been wrongs of various degrees committed, Norman saving little Justin and Iris was a purely altruistic act and evil only in regards to the consequences, and only if you believe, as Justin does a moment later, that Justin becoming evil is inevitable and pre-ordained. In any case, hypnosis is of course a power just as easily able to corrupt its user. (Which is one of the reason why Charles Xavier really needs that strong code of ethics he clings to. The daily temptation just to fix the world to his liking, and to hell with free will, must be horrible.)
Appollonia: Telepathy. While she communicates only with her daughter – and with the somewhat similarly gifted Lodz – she obviously can read other people’s thoughts as well. Pre-cognisance. Telekinesis.
Management: Healing like Ben, hypnosis like Justin (I’m assuming that when Jonesy entered, Management hypnotized him into seeing nothing), and telekinesis like Appollonia. Now isn’t that interesting?
Lodz: can enter dreams and communicate with Appollonia. There seems to be some limited telepathy with waking people as well, or perhaps he’s just really good at reading them. I’m favouring the limited telepathy option, though. His blindness makes me think that he came to this gift by sacrificing his eyesight, like Odin sacrificed one of his eyes for wisdom. Not in a “born with it” way Ben and Justin. (Whether Appollonia had her gifts before she got raped and immobile, we don’t know.)
Sofie: that’s the question. Another thing the season 2 opener hadn’t prepared me for was the Lodz-Appollonia conversation, and the fascinating “it can’t be her!” obviously referring to Sofie. Or that Appollonia actually actively tried to kill Sofie. Which ties her with Ben’s mother rejecting and cursing her son at the beginning, and possibly the Russian Soldier in light of the season 2 opener. It does tie her, in a contrast kind of way, with Norman. Norman is asked by Justin to kill his adopted son because they’re both convinced Justin is on the path of damnation, and possibly the Antichrist, but can’t bring himself to do it due to the love he has for his “son”. Appollonia tries to kill her natural daughter – and herself – because she, too, appears to believe Sofie is destined for… what? Another antichrist position? Does Sofie have gifts, possibly inherited from her father, which Appollonia has kept back so far but doesn’t think she can keep back any longer, hence the attempted murder? Hmmmmm.
Now I had gathered that Jonesy had caught Sofie and Libby in the act, but hadn’t guessed that Sofie had engineered the situation deliberately to punish them both. Which makes it more layered at once. It’s ruthless and somewhat out of proportion to the wrong they did her, at least as far as Libby (and Libby not telling Sofie about the Jonesy/Rita Sue tryst) is concerned. It’s the most malicious thing we’ve seen Sofie do, and explains her behaviour in 2.01 and 2.02 (until watching 1.12, I thought she overreacted). And it manages to ruin not one but two of her relationships in one stroke. Ouch.
Meanwhile, our Edward Albee couple make up, which fits with the Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf template. You know, Rita Sue and Felix “Stumpy” Dreyfus might be the Garibaldis of Carnivale, i.e. the characters least likely to get a happy ending but who actually get one. I’d wish it for them.
Andraste, look away again, as I get to episode 2.02 now….
…yikes. Justin getting the tree tattoo on himself made for another powerful creepy final image. And this episode features the second instance – after the man in the asylum banging his head agains the wall – of Justin using his powers maliciously in a deliberate and calculated way. (Unless the sublimal messages via radio were generated by his suconscious desire to an instrument to track down Scudder rather than him creating them knowlingly. I suppose we’re to think that he knew what he was doing, though, in which case I have to add wide-range telepathy to his powers, though.)
Using the Asian prostitute (at first I thought she was supposed to be Chinese, but “gomen nasai” is Japanese) from early season 1 was clever on the part of the writers. One assumes he’s going to her to channel his taboo desire for Iris, and even when we see her using an instrument instead of having actual sex, it looks like a variation of the self flaggelation, so the tattoo really comes as a surprise shocker. I suppose he found it in the gospel of Matthias? In which case I’m starting to wonder whether Scudder is identical with the tattood man who raped Appollonia and thus is Sofie’s father as well.
Celeste the new housemaid will inevitably end up being the person Justin actually does have sex with, methinks. No strong will, no back-up, and not his sister. It’s interesting, though, that Justin even after deciding on the left-hand-of-God path still doesn’t permit himself to consumate his feelings for Iris. I wonder whether it’s to punish her (and himself) for the fate of the children; he certainly hasn’t forgotten or forgiven, judging by him looking directly at her when listing their names in the church dedication.
Management/The Russian Soldier says it would be “an abomination” to let himself be healed by Justin and resists the temptation, barely, but he resists. Why an abomination? Because he’s a champion of the previous generation who failed in his task? And while I’m on the subject, the voice sounds female to me. Were it not for Ben’s dreams in which the Russian Soldier is distinctly male, I’d suppose Management is female. Otoh we only have Management’s words about being identical with the Russian Soldier, so, who knows?
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no subject
Date: 2005-02-08 01:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-08 01:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-08 02:28 pm (UTC)* I think because I associated it with effects to turn a slash relationship into a het one, or vice versa.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-08 03:08 pm (UTC)There is a famous precedent - silent movie star Asta Nielsen played Hamlet, but Hamlet as a woman disguised as a man. (With a prologue explaining that due to not wanting the throne to go to brother Claudius, Hamlet Senior had his newborn daughter announced as a son.) The relationships with Laertes and Ophelia stayed, and especially the one with Ophelia suddenly gained a whole new twisted subtext.
I am your mother certainly would have a different impact, though just as powerful. Darth Vader as Irina?
no subject
Date: 2005-02-08 03:16 pm (UTC)I've never thought the Tattooed Man might be Scudder. Hmmmmm. Interesting....
no subject
Date: 2005-02-08 03:24 pm (UTC)J: The bible tells us we're all doomed.
I: But the bible also says that we can be redeemed. Through God's grace.
J: Maybe God has other plans for some of us.
seems to indicate the key might be that Sofie does not believe herself to be doomed, as opposed to Justin who does.
I've never thought the Tattooed Man might be Scudder. Hmmmmm. Interesting....
no subject
Date: 2005-02-08 04:46 pm (UTC)That's an aspect I've found very interesting about the show: both the "hero" and the "villain" both believe themselves to be doomed, or inherently wicked in some way, even though they were both raised in diametrically opposed situations--the hero was raised by his mother to believe he came from the Devil, and the villain was raised by a priest to believe he was a child of God.
As S2 progresses, I'm thinking more and more that Sofie will play a huge role in the upcoming battle (maybe Ben and her are brother and sister), and Ruthie, as well, in some capacity, who had an affair with Scudder. What I find really fascinating is that it is so hard to tell whose side the previous generation is on. Is Management "good" and Scudder "evil," or is Management manipulating Ben to bring a "good" man to him that he will destroy? Or is Management still "good" but a greyer shade who believes the ends justify any means? Was Management working with Lodz, or was he just using hiim? And where does Apollonia fit into all of this? At the present, it's almost impossible to definitely answer these questions, which makes it even more interesting.
And a bit random, but I love everything you've been saying about Stumpy, Rita Sue, and Libby. I love their entire family dynamic. It's so fascinating to watch.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-08 05:18 pm (UTC)The 2.04 knowledge (which
no subject
Date: 2005-02-08 05:22 pm (UTC)hisher house" dream, too.no subject
Date: 2005-02-08 05:55 pm (UTC)I'm a big fan of genderswapping, and although I never met the original Starbuck, it does make me wonder how being genderswapped changed her character. At the moment (having seen just 2 episodes) she doesn't seem all that unusual - the crackerjack female fighter with deep emotional wounds is something we've seen before, with Kira and Susan Ivanova. It makes me want to back and watch the original, just so I can see how the characters compare.
My favorite genderswap: a production of Othello in which *all* the characters were female. Truly mind-bending. I also saw a Twelfth Night with a female (and queer) Orsinio, and The Tempest with a female Prospero. These were all with different troupes, so I guess genderbending Shakespeare is socially acceptable.
And now I'm wondering about genderbending female characters. The Merry Husbands of Windsor would be decidedly unfunny. A genderswapped Pride and Prejudice would have to be set in a vastly different society. But a male Arwen could work, if you made Aragorn female (or made canonical MPREG, since they do need to reproduce). Male!Arwen would be in the Elven tradition of artisans, and probably get a lot more respect than female!Arwen does, but could be substantially the same character.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-08 06:17 pm (UTC)And who now sees dead people, thanks to Ben resurrecting her. I wonder if she can communicate with them? Sofie's storyline is intriguing, and I find what happened to Ruthie captivating. Otoh, I do have some issues with a lack of subtlety in the depiction of several aspects of the show this season (the Scudder clan and Justin, alas, come to mind), but I'll expand on this in the next entry. (Have just watched eps 3 and 4.)
Was Management working with Lodz, or was he just using him?
Definitely just using him. Which doesn't tell us about Management being good, evil or shades of grey, but I think Lodz was always a means to an end and to be disposed of as soon as Management had direct access to Ben and didn't need him anymore.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-08 06:23 pm (UTC)Just saw the episode. Yes, the Klan connection and the fact Grandma Scudder killed everyone upon Henry's birth definitely does not sound like a family of metaphorical white knights, even if we didn't know about Scudder's own more questionable deeds (i.e. Babylon, and possibly raping Apollonia).
Management wants the battle to continue. And maybe Apollonia didn't which is why she tried to kill Sofie. Both sides are doomed to continue the fight no matter which side they fall on.
Now that is a fascinating interpretation, and I love it. It would also explain why Apollonia tried to kill Sofie now, as opposed to the many times she could have done so previously. (I mean, the woman was great with telekinesis. Sofie could have gotten her neck twisted at any point.) What was different about the present time was that now Ben was there, and had made contact with Management, meaning the next step on the fight was to begin. Yes - I like it!
no subject
Date: 2005-02-08 06:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-08 06:31 pm (UTC)Judging by the pilot of the original and the two or so episodes I saw way back when, the emotional wounds are what's new. Male Starbuck was just a swashbuckler. But then the adding of emotional trauma is not confined to Starbuck. In the original, Zack was killed by Cylons, there was no guilt for anyone, and Apollo and Adama got along along just fine. (Whereas in the new series, they start out barely on talking terms and are now tentatively becoming closer again.) The other genderswapped character is Boomer, who was a man but then also wasn't a Cylon sleeper agent unaware of her nature because the Cylons weren't able to look like humans in the original (they were just dumb robots).
Shakespeare genderswapping can be galvanizing, yes. Love it.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-08 08:30 pm (UTC)I see what you mean re: lack of subtlety, although I am liking this season a great deal, maybe more than the first so far, because the more prominent tone of the bizarre in this season really ratchets up the tension, as the meeting between Ben and Justin grows closer. It feels like things are coming to a head.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-08 09:23 pm (UTC)Now if they had met last season? Complete unpredictability. Both not sure about their roles, both struggling to understand, both morally ambiguous. Alas.
Now I do understand the loss of subtlety comes with the approach of the grand good vs evil battle, but as I said to
no subject
Date: 2005-02-08 10:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-08 10:40 pm (UTC)LOTR genderflips
Date: 2005-02-08 11:13 pm (UTC)And of course, how would that affect Eowyn? Leaving aside even her romantic crush on Aragorn, would it affect her any differently to see a woman coming as the great hero to save the day? If, say, she were still straight and so didn't sexually crush on female!Aragorn (but still fangirl Aragorn as a hero), would she feel as rejected when she couldn't go on the Paths of the Dead? And would that influence her decision to ride off to Minas Tirith as Dernhelm?
And if we're going to do LOTR genderswapping--what would a female Gandalf look like?
--Nenya, surprised to find this interesting her as more than just a bad-slash cliche
Minor point--
Date: 2005-02-08 11:20 pm (UTC)I liked "Covenant" the first time I saw it, because of various contacts with cults I've had myself, but that story (evil cult leader) has been told before. *sigh*
Fun with genderswaps!
Date: 2005-02-09 02:16 am (UTC)Vader as a woman is a *fan-fucking-tastic* idea. In fact it's a sufficiently good idea that I may steal it and adapt it for something original (original in the sense of "I did a pretty good job of filing off the serial numbers so I could publish professionally", not actually original-- the Vader archetype, the evil villain who is actually the lost parent and is redeemable in the end, resonates even more strongly as a woman for some reason.
I think you cannot swap John Crichton for the same reason you can't swap Londo Mollari. It would be hard enough for a twentieth-century human woman, even the daughter of a great astronaut, to be *either* a top-notch physicist *or* a test pilot; making her both would stretch disbelief until it snaps. (Frankly, making Crichton both was a stretch in itself.) Which is unfortunate, because it could be really cool to swap Crichton, but it's just not plausible. Other Farscape characters, there's little point to swapping (though actually, a male Chiana who behaves the same way as female Chiana does? totally cool) because one doesn't imagine a woman would be necessarily different from a man in most of the alien species. Aeryn particularly is uninteresting (except, perhaps, if the romance with John stayed the same :-)).
What is this Carnivale thing you and Andraste keep talking about?
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Date: 2005-02-09 02:35 am (UTC)Gah, I haven't nearly the analytical bent that you do, but oh, do I want to talk.
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Date: 2005-02-09 05:16 am (UTC)Anyway: yes, it is. I'm curious whether they'll go anywhere with this...
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Date: 2005-02-09 05:18 am (UTC)Re: Fun with genderswaps!
Date: 2005-02-09 06:15 am (UTC)Based on Alias, I agree with you. The heroine starts out believing her mother was a saint who was killed a car accident, then finds out that she was actually a KGB agent and is still alive. Cue angst all around. I think it's because there's a strong taboo in most cultures against women who abandon their children.
Aeryn particularly is uninteresting (except, perhaps, if the romance with John stayed the same :-)).
I think it would be interesting to see if the audience and/or Chrichton would react differently to some characters based on their gender being different, but the characters themselves would probably be similar. And yes, I can't see any point to Male!Aeryn unless the point was to show the Great Romance as m/m for a change. Maybe when they do a remake in twenty years, they could do that ...
Because of the way the cultures in B5 work, outside the Centauri example mostly what genderswapping the characters changes is who they hook up with. (I have thought about this a lot, because I'm genderswapping my way through the entire cast. It seems likely to me, for example, that Stephanie Franklin gets together with Michael Garabaldi.)
What is this Carnivale thing you and Andraste keep talking about?
It's a show on American cable (HBO) set in 1930s America, about 0 surprise - a carnival. Well, mainly about a carnival.
Ben Hawkins is an escaped convict with mysterious magic powers (I won't spoil the details). After his mother dies and the bank repossesses the farm, he falls in with a bunch of carnival people who saved him from being squashed by a bulldozer. It turns out that several of these people knew Ben's long-lost father, and that some of them have odd abilities of their own.
Meanwhile, in California, there's a Methodist priest called Justin Crowe who also has powers. Both Ben and Justin have strange apocalyptic dreams, starring one another. The whole thing is gearing up for a giant battle between Good and Evil, but working out who's Good and who's Evil is challenging at times ...