Mars Needs Thermians!
Feb. 2nd, 2006 03:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
calimacWhen one wants one's mind off things, a box of DVDs from the library is good to have. B. borrowed the first season of Veronica Mars just before I left, and since I returned I've been watching some of the later episodes with her, and some of the earlier ones by myself.
It's good to see Enrico Colantoni, even if he's not discussing "the historical documents" in an alien voice. (If I ever meet him, I'm afraid I'll make a fool of myself by saying, "Pleeease, talk like Mathesar!")
VM is supposed to be the show designed to fill the gap left in so many people's lives by the demise of BtVS and, well, I can see it. Smartly edited, complex plots, main character a smart-mouthed alienated teenage girl with a secret life outside of school, whose main relationship is with a father figure (this time her actual father): yeah, I can see it.
In fact I've seen some articles suggesting VM is a superior show due to not being burdened with a fantasy element. It can deal with life without being distracted by all these demons and vampires running around, yadda yadda.
Here I must disagree. While not a partisan of the you-can-do-anything-in-a-fantasy point of view - the realistic things in a fantasy story still have to be realistic; you can't dismiss implausibilities in Spike & Buffy's affair on the grounds that he's a vampire - I nevertheless see fantasy as a device to free the narrative rather than to burden it. VM, not being a fantasy, is tied down to reality in a way that makes its departures from plausibility more conspicuous.
In the episodes I've seen there seems to be a relentless luridness to the plots that's only partly explainable by the setting in a private eye's office. Too much of the investigation seems to consist of ultra-reliable bugging devices and brazen snooping into confidential records. Stealing people's cell phones out of their conveniently overlooked backpacks to check up on who they've been calling has been used at least three times in the half-dozen episodes I've seen. I don't really care for the characters; Veronica's friendship with the chief biker guy I don't believe for a minute; there are either 2 or 3 or 4 lookalike white male student characters I have trouble telling apart or else I'm dividing 1 or 2 or 3 of them into 2 or 3 or 4, I'm not sure which, possibly both; and I can't bring myself to care about who killed Lily Kane. (But don't tell me, I may get there on my own yet.)
What I like best is the dialogue. When the sheriff (a bad guy, very well acted) plops down next to Veronica in a restaurant booth to needle her and her dad about their current investigation, his departure is accompanied by Veronica cheerfully calling after him, "Smell you later!" Oooh, wicked.
Now, if only the Thermians would come to town it would be perfect. After all we do have two planet names on the show - Mars and Neptune. Easy for such trusting aliens to just get a little misdirected.
It's good to see Enrico Colantoni, even if he's not discussing "the historical documents" in an alien voice. (If I ever meet him, I'm afraid I'll make a fool of myself by saying, "Pleeease, talk like Mathesar!")
VM is supposed to be the show designed to fill the gap left in so many people's lives by the demise of BtVS and, well, I can see it. Smartly edited, complex plots, main character a smart-mouthed alienated teenage girl with a secret life outside of school, whose main relationship is with a father figure (this time her actual father): yeah, I can see it.
In fact I've seen some articles suggesting VM is a superior show due to not being burdened with a fantasy element. It can deal with life without being distracted by all these demons and vampires running around, yadda yadda.
Here I must disagree. While not a partisan of the you-can-do-anything-in-a-fantasy point of view - the realistic things in a fantasy story still have to be realistic; you can't dismiss implausibilities in Spike & Buffy's affair on the grounds that he's a vampire - I nevertheless see fantasy as a device to free the narrative rather than to burden it. VM, not being a fantasy, is tied down to reality in a way that makes its departures from plausibility more conspicuous.
In the episodes I've seen there seems to be a relentless luridness to the plots that's only partly explainable by the setting in a private eye's office. Too much of the investigation seems to consist of ultra-reliable bugging devices and brazen snooping into confidential records. Stealing people's cell phones out of their conveniently overlooked backpacks to check up on who they've been calling has been used at least three times in the half-dozen episodes I've seen. I don't really care for the characters; Veronica's friendship with the chief biker guy I don't believe for a minute; there are either 2 or 3 or 4 lookalike white male student characters I have trouble telling apart or else I'm dividing 1 or 2 or 3 of them into 2 or 3 or 4, I'm not sure which, possibly both; and I can't bring myself to care about who killed Lily Kane. (But don't tell me, I may get there on my own yet.)
What I like best is the dialogue. When the sheriff (a bad guy, very well acted) plops down next to Veronica in a restaurant booth to needle her and her dad about their current investigation, his departure is accompanied by Veronica cheerfully calling after him, "Smell you later!" Oooh, wicked.
Now, if only the Thermians would come to town it would be perfect. After all we do have two planet names on the show - Mars and Neptune. Easy for such trusting aliens to just get a little misdirected.
