Dr. Who and SG-1

[bironic]

Having left the TV on the Sci Fi Channel after the end of the Dr. Who finale, I caught the beginning of Stargate: SG-1 and ended up watching an entire episode for the first time. It was hilarious -- the 200th episode, apparently, and all meta, all the time, both for SG-1 and for TV/fandom in general. The premise was that some alien-turned-Hollywood exec wanted to make a movie based on the Stargate characters, so he was running his script by the crew (do they call them a crew? a team?) around the boardroom table. And they kept shooting down the guy's ideas and suggesting their own possible storylines, each as ridiculous as the last, most of them parodies of their own show and other sci fi series(Star Trek, Star Wars and Farscape among them, as well as a demented version of The Wizard of Oz) -- scenarios and "flashbacks" which were then shown as if they were actually happening, and all the while they're cracking jokes about themselves and the genre and what makes for good TV/film. There were lines about how viewing audiences are intelligent people who don't want science that doesn't make sense, running gags in which the actual show reflected something the exec said (like short opening credits and lots of explosions and suddenly-ending acts), acknowledgement of just how often they've been in preposterously melodramatic and seemingly inescapable dilemmas, character mockery, discussion of how there'd be spoilers about Richard Dean Anderson's sudden appearance on the show, and nods to Jackson/O'Neill and Jack/Samantha and Jackson/the alien woman (sorry) and other pairings I'm sure I've forgotten. There was one iteration where everyone was a creepily accurate puppet and Samantha wouldn't shut up and O'Neill mooned over Teal'c's muscles and Jackson scribbled gibberish with his marker just like in the movie, and one where they were teenagers and it was all about the silliness of 'shipping and soap opera and pregnancy, and another where Jack and Samantha were getting married and the exec interrupted with "you don't want to nauseate the audience," and they did the end like a DVD commentary starring the actors playing the SG-1 characters in the exec's TV show, and... So it was a lot of fun to watch. Plus they closed with a serious quote from Isaac Asimov.

Yeah. TV writers aren't stupid.

Huh. I was feeling kind of sucky before, but that did the trick.

Oh, and Dr. Who almost made me cry. That was surprising. It's hard not to tear up when someone onscreen is bawling believably.

Comments

[theninth.livejournal.com]

Dr. Who did make me cry. Very little ever does that, but that episode just really hit me. I think it might have been because Billie Piper was crying so believably. Her face got all red and she just looked so heartbroken and wretched. I felt bad for her "family" too because they knew there was nothing they could do for her.

I couldn't even get through the first fifteen minutes of SG-1. I hate episodes like that.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

It was just so horribly sad when the breach sealed and they were stranded on opposite sides. It was predictable, and cheesy, and cliché, and it didn't matter, because as you say, she looked broken. You could feel the desolation, the grief, radiating off her. And then it stretched on into the beach scene. The breaking point for me, when I really thought I was going to lose it, was when Rose ran to her mother for comfort and the Doctor just stood there with tears running down his cheeks, with no one to turn to.

I hate episodes like that.

Do you? I can imagine how it could go horribly wrong. I usually can't stand the show, but the meta disarmed me. Maybe because it was the right outlet for the series' annoying sense of humor.

[theninth.livejournal.com]

I'm the sort of person that doesn't want to be reminded they're watching a television show. I'm fully aware that what I'm seeing isn't real. I don't like things that break the fourth wall. I also don't like it when a show gets a little too self-referential. Once in a while I don't mind. It's cute. It can be funny when it's done right (there's an episode of CSI where Grissom complains there are too many crime scene shows on tv, and House having Black Adder on his TiVo) but an entire episode is too much for me.

Although, I love the Bob Hope and Bing Crosby "Road to" movies, which routinely broke the fourth wall.

[alannablue.livejournal.com]

It's been 10 days, and I'm still incredibly sad about the Doctor and Rose. You're right, it was lame and cliche, but it still worked for me. I mean, I knew he was never going to say "I love you," but it's such a bitch that he was just able to. Damnit, damnit. And I swear to god if he hooks up with another blonde, I'll be so pissed I won't even watch it. Even though I lovelovelove David Tennant as the Doctor. I fully expect him to become "Evil Doctor" like "Evil Willow" on Buffy. If not, I will be very upset. I want him to rampage around time and space and fuck everything over(while still saving the day, somehow) because he feels so fucked over, after so much time and so many companions, that Rose still affected him. Hurrumph.