barbara_hambly: Further meditations...

barbara_hambly (

barbara_hambly) wrote,
@ 2008-03-22 19:08:00

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Further meditations...

...upon those six guys with vacuum-cleaner hoses on their foreheads trying to take over the universe.

"Oh, for a muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention...
...pardon, gentles
The flat unraised spirit that hath dared
On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth
So great an object; can this cockpit hold
The vasty fields of France?....
Oh, pardon! since a crooked figure may
Attest in little place a million;
And let us, ciphers to this great accompt,
On your imaginary forces work...
Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts;
Into a thousand parts divide one man,
And make imaginary puissance;
Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them
Printing their proud hooves i' the receiving earth;
For tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings...."

Or Zygons, as the case may be. Although mind you, I do appreciate the computer technology of the current DW series. But, as far too many TV shows and movies attest, all the CGI in the world can't ignite the heart where there isn't good acting and good writing. (Can you spell, 'Jar-Jar Binks'?)

(Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586), on the other hand, was a great fan of CGI, or would have been had it existed in the sixteenth century: "...comes out a hideous monster with fire and smoke: and then the miserable beholders are bound to take it [the stage] for a cave. While in the meantime two armies fly in, represented with four swords and bucklers: and then what hard heart will not receive it for a pitched field?")

And, there's nothing like the opening credits of the new series seen on a very large flat-screen TV at close range with a home theater and sub-woofer. Sends my cat bolting out of the room in terror every time.

(Post a new comment)

	writergirlie 2008-03-23 03:55 am UTC (link)
	Good ol' Jar-Jar... Now there's a name I've tried to bury deep in my consciousness ;). Perhaps it's the SW purist in me, but I'm still horrified that they CGI'ed Jabba and Yoda. Give me the pre-SE original trilogy any day, cheesy special effects and all! (Reply to this)(Thread)

	barbara_hambly 2008-03-23 02:39 pm UTC (link)
	Absolutely! (Reply to this)(Parent)

themis1
2008-03-23 12:44 pm UTC (link)

The sad and depressing thing is that when DW had terrible CGI, only fans watched it. Now it has great CGI and has conquered the British viewing public, whilst those self-same fans sit quietly cringing over the terrible plotting and worse characterisation. If only they had a decent script editor to point out the worst sins, it could've been so much better.

And later episodes have totally destroyed the angst of the single dalek episode in season one!

Or perhaps it's just that I'm old and cynical :-)

(Reply to this)

	handworn 2008-03-23 02:24 pm UTC (link)
	Do you recommend home theaters & subwoofers? A large flatscreen, widescreen TV is in our future soon, but the rest of it I just don't know about. (Reply to this)(Thread)

barbara_hambly
2008-03-23 02:46 pm UTC (link)

I got a "Mini-home-theater" for about $200 because my original amp - through which I connected the DVD player to the speakers I had - died. But, when THAT system gave me trouble and for awhile I was simply running the DVDs through the new flatscreen's own speakers, the sound was fine. So no, I don't "recommend" them one way or the other; and often on movies I do find the ambient sound too loud for the dialog. The subwoofer is obnoxious and I wish I could disconnect it (I don't know if doing so would lose me a track of necessary sound).
But, it's what I've got now, and it's not annoying enough for me to want to take the time and energy to mess with it further.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	2ndsoprano 2008-03-23 03:21 pm UTC (link)
	Most subs have some sort of volume adjustment. If it's too loud, yes, it can be annoying. It's all gotta be in balance. And, just for the record, if you are a movie lover, yeah, a good 5 channel surround, set up correctly (which isn't as hard as it sounds!), can be truly amazing. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

barbara_hambly
2008-03-23 03:51 pm UTC (link)

This one's pretty much plug-n-play. I don't need to hear the silvery tinkle of every spent cartridge hitting the pavement behind me to my right, but that scene in the new Flight of the Phoenix where the plane goes overhead is pretty nifty.

It's more handy now that I've been pretty much run out of movie theaters by the volume to which they're cranked these days. I came out of Sweeney Todd with a pounding headache that wasn't 100% due to Sondheim's ... er, I cannot exactly call it 'music'... let us say, Sondheim's score; the volume was excrutiating. My friend Victoria says, 'It's karma catching up with the ear-bud generation - they all have hearing loss," which I suspect may be true.

But with a nice flat-screen and a little home-theater system, it's far less important.

I'm currently going through a binge of three of my four favorite TV doctors (Pierce, Who, and House - the fourth being Cochran)to unwind from the Civil War; I suspect, when I have a little more mental energy, I'll embark on the mini-series flatscreen experience of Lord of the Rings. (Avalanches of rubber skulls! The Battle of the Pellanor Fields!)

(Reply to this)(Parent)

iainjclark
2008-03-23 08:25 pm UTC (link)

The Zygons were one of the monsters that most convinced me, as a kid. I still think their design is rather less man-in-suit than normal. It almost makes up for the atrocious Loch Ness monster!

I caught part of that story recently (on an obscure UK channel) and the thing that had most stuck with me from childhood wasn't the monsters at all but the scene in a barn when fake Harry Sullivan attacks Sarah with a pitchfork. What I remember from the old Doctor Who are the images that scared me. As is only right and proper.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

barbara_hambly
2008-03-23 10:01 pm UTC (link)

Yes, that warty-fetal-baby design of the Zygons was certainly one of the better pre-CGI Who monsters (although the sight of the Loch Ness Monster - and an attempt to sit through the dialog of that particular adventure - make clear where the budget went on THAT occasion).

The writing varied widely - and of course it's difficult to judge the objective quality of Dr. Who if you're a fan.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	coerdelion 2008-03-23 10:56 pm UTC (link)
	As a fan ... I can say in all honesty ... that the writing is, um, less than ideal? But not as bad as Torchwood. Seen it yet? (Reply to this)(Parent)

	iainjclark 2008-03-24 09:57 am UTC (link)
	Absolutely. I find that after growing up watching Doctor Who, Blake's 7, Star Cops and their ilk I've become adept at squinting past the awkward bits, the cheap bits and the embarrassing bits and finding the nuggets of goodness. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	coerdelion 2008-03-25 12:46 am UTC (link)
	Agreed. Blakes 7 was too cool for words. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	iainjclark 2008-03-25 08:13 am UTC (link)
	I wouldn't go quite that far. :-) But it does have its moments. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	coerdelion 2008-03-23 09:10 pm UTC (link)
	Well, Dr Who isn't Shakespeare ... but the most recent incarnation visited Shakespeare last season! Lol! I do seem to remember the writing was much better when I was a child ... but having watched some reruns, perhaps you just had to be there... and maybe a child. Glad to see you're better. (Reply to this)

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