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    MediaSharX: Love the One You're With

    From MediaSharX:

    http://www.mediasharx.com/index.php/...da7ac9352f271b

    or

    http://tinyurl.com/3famt

    Columns


    Emotional Resonance & Rocket Launchers:
    Love The One You're With

    by Scott Nance


    "And if you can't be with the one
    You love honey
    Love the one you're with"
    -- "Love The One You're With," Crosby, Stills & Nash

    Okay, so now I'm dating myself if I can sing along with this old hippie tune. But the song comes into my head these days whenever I sit down to watch TV. There's just no denying it anymore, I can no longer be with the ones I truly love. They're now all long gone: BUFFY, ANGEL, FIREFLY, and DEEP SPACE NINE.

    (I know, I do have the DVDs, but it's just not the same, knowing there will be never be any new episodes. Watching the old episodes once in a while is fun, but re-running them compulsively somehow feels a bit like obsessing over a girlfriend who's lost interest in you.)

    So that leaves loving the ones I'm with. But who, or in my case what, is that? It's a question that wasn't so easily answered. You see, my television viewing habits tend to run deep rather than broad. When I fall for a show, I fall hard. If I really like a series, I usually can't stay just a casual fan. If the stories and characters captivate me, I dive in headfirst and fixate on them. I can't miss a new episode, I go back and watch all the old episodes, I follow the series online on a daily basis, I go see the actors at conventions... well, you get the picture. Soon enough, whatever series it is begins to take up some serious space in my life. I can only get that devoted to a handful of series before even I have to come back to what my wife affectionately calls "the three-dimensional world."

    Since I really become a fan of only a small number of shows, I let a lot of good series pass me by. It's like having eyes only for your girlfriend or wife -- which is fine, as long as they're around. If she leaves, then in the meantime, you'll let a lot of other good ones slip away. And the key difference between TV shows and actual human relationships is that hopefully your love or marriage is forever. No reason it can't be. But no TV series is going to last forever. As sad as that is, it just ain't. If you get five to seven years, you've made out well, my friends. You've had yourself one successful, committed relationship.

    Then you're back to square one.

    Which is gets us back to where I was, televisionically speaking. And that was back to the TV show equivalent of the dating scene for me. I envisioned lots of "first dates," sitting through episode after episode of bad shows until I found one or two which, once again, I could call my own. But I got lucky -- I hit the jackpot on the first try.

    I surfed over to the SciFi Channel, and by golly, there she was: STARGATE SG-1.


    "STARGATE delivers the goods...."
    Now, my love of certain shows may have made me near-sighted, but I've never been totally blind to other series outside my field of vision. I'm fortunate to be a member of an active scifi club, and my fellow members have been devoted STARGATE fans for years, singing the praises of the show and its stars for ages. But up until now, the my friends talking about STARGATE was like a friend who keeps telling you about this great girl whom you really ought to meet, but you just can't get yourself interested in. Then, one day, you look at her and unexpectedly something has changed.

    Before this month, you could have counted on one hand the number of STARGATE episodes I'd sat through. Part of that was exposure. It started out on Showtime for many seasons before shifting over to SciFi Channel just a couple of years ago, and I don't spring for premium cable channels. Beyond that, I'm not sure what my reasons were for not having gotten into this show sooner. Maybe the overt military story put me off. And, in my admittedly cursory exposure, the leader of the SG-1 squad, crusty Col. Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson), appeared to me to be a little unnecessarily mean. But, deep down, I know it was, simply, that my heart already belonged to other shows.

    No more. I've become a sincerely devoted STARGATE fan. Because of my past feelings of vague aversion to the show, I began watching not expecting very much. To my surprise, those low expectations, however, very quickly gave way to genuine enjoyment. The SciFi Channel certainly made it easy to get to know the show. The network runs the series every weekday evening, including blocks of back-to-back episodes on Mondays and Fridays.

    The real test of my new devotion was being able to sit through these Monday and Friday long blocks. Instead of getting bored after an hour or two, the entire three- or four-hour set would sail by and I'd still be hungry for more. Now I can't wait for Mondays and Fridays to come around, just for the opportunity to immerse myself in my newfound favorite.

    With the notable exception of BABYLON 5, or as I call it, "Babbling On Past 5," most scifi series can pour on the fast-paced action, visually exciting laser shootouts, and the like. It's much more rare for a show to develop stories and characters a viewer really wants to care out. Yet, sure enough, STARGATE delivers the goods. Its stories involve compelling characters, who have to make real dramatic choices and therefore have to live with real consequences. That's what makes the show interesting.

    In other words, there is more than enough of both the emotional resonance and rocket launchers required to make this good scifi.

    Even the character of O'Neill, who I once found unlikable, I now find just grumpy in an appealing kind of way. I find he delivers a lot of the best lines of the show. One of my favorites is still O'Neill's wisecrack to Teal'c in the pilot episode when Teal'c turns on his Goa'uld masters and saves the human slaves. While escaping, O'Neill invites Teal'c to come with the humans. Teal'c responds that he has nowhere to go, but O'Neill shoots back to Teal'c, "For this [helping the humans], you can stay at my place."

    Priceless quippage there, folks, worthy of the prince of quips himself, Mr. Joss Whedon. I realized in that moment that I had indeed found my new love.

    STARGATE SG-1's eighth season begins July 9, at 9 p.m. EDT, on the SciFi Channel.



    |*|(*)|*|(*)|*|

    Morjana

    SG1-Spoilergate
    http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/SG1-Spoilergate/

    Richard Dean Anderson Fans
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rdandersonfans/

    SG1/SGA/SGU - Saving Earth/Atlantis/?, one mission at a time!
    SG1-Spoilergate Richard Dean Anderson Fans Abydos Gate Morjana
    Morjana's Blog Twitter

    #2
    It's true. Stargate rules.
    "When all else fails, there's always delusion." - Conan O'Brien

    Comment


      #3
      I swear, when I saw the title of this thread I thought it was going to be an article about Sam and Pete.

      Interesting article, I've noticed as I've wandered around the internet that some fans who've given up on Enterprise or who've lost Buffy or Angel are now trying to catch up on Stargate. Some people seem to like it right away but I've seen several mention that it took a long marathon of episodes for them to get addicted.
      Life is hard...and it's harder if you're stupid

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by Kes
        I swear, when I saw the title of this thread I thought it was going to be an article about Sam and Pete.
        Me, too.
        Slainte
        "There are many forms of power, my dear. Some more subtle than others." Linea to Captain Carter, Prisoners, S2.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by Kes
          I swear, when I saw the title of this thread I thought it was going to be an article about Sam and Pete.

          Interesting article, I've noticed as I've wandered around the internet that some fans who've given up on Enterprise or who've lost Buffy or Angel are now trying to catch up on Stargate. Some people seem to like it right away but I've seen several mention that it took a long marathon of episodes for them to get addicted.
          I've done all three Haha, but the difference is, i was a Stargate fan during Buffy or Angel, and have always been caught up
          Amanda, "Wallow Central."

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by Kes
            I swear, when I saw the title of this thread I thought it was going to be an article about Sam and Pete.
            LOL, Me Three!
            and i'm so glad it wasn't

            @->-4eva Sam and Jack!<3

            ^ My New Siggy!!! Made by SueKay! ^

            Comment

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