| Author | Message | ||
     Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.153.150.116 |
I know I've mentioned it before, but do many of you watch this? It's not got the finesse of Buffy but by golly is it improving as it goes along in a way that show didn't. Also, it's morphing from Scooby Doo into Paradise Lost, which makes you wonder where even the lightest os spook ideas lead... We're watching series four now and it's possibly the best one. Just watched one ep about school bullying that should be on the school curricullum, and another where we find out a little more of the nature of angels, and just how weak Dean Winchester feels himself to be. It's slight stuff on the surface and never realy scary, but it's really become very gripping and deep in its way. Add into the mix it's often very funny and sweet and you have a series with something for everyone, I think; just a shame it's so mucked about by the schedules... | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
I've never watched 'Supernatural' as I was put off by the look of it: super-cool beautiful young people versus assorted monsters and demons with no real sense of threat. I positively loathe shows like 'Buffy' for the same reason. However, am I right in thinking this is a Chris Carter production and possibly takes place in the same universe as The X Files/Millennium? If so, maybe I should have given it a go... or did I just imagine that? | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.182.209 |
Tony, I'm a fan (as you probably know by now!). The first half dozen or so episodes of the first series were wonky but the show eventually hit its stride and from the second series on it's been very good. I liked that episode you mentioned too (where it shows the brothers as schoolkids back at one of their old schools). Stephen, I could be wrong, but I don't remember any connection to Chris Carter or The X-Files. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 213.158.199.79 |
I should have hated this with a passion for all the things that Stephen mentioned...BUT...I bought the 1st season as there was nothing else I fancied...boredom really, and I ended up loving it. Yes, it's daft, silly, juvenile, but it's got something...I don't know what. It's as if somebody wanted to make a series that covers every childhood monster conceivable. | ||
| Seanmcd (Seanmcd) Username: Seanmcd Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 86.155.111.216 |
My 2 teenage boys love this show so i watch most episodes with them. However, I agree with Stephen in that it tries too hard to be cool rather than genuinely frightening in the way The X Files and Millenium were. Having said that it does have loads of stand out episodes which would not have been out of place on either of those older shows (Season One's Bloody Mary,Hook Man,Asylum and Scarecrow spring to mind). Some of the recent season 4 episodes have been extremely gruesome. But, as with X Files, I much prefer the stand alone monster of the week episodes without all that ongoing Angels vs demons malarky. Stephen, this show involved a lot of writers and producers who also worked on X Files (Kim Manners for one who sadly passed away recently). So maybe you've read about this connection somewhere ? | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
What struck me as a possible connection between X Files/Millennium and Supernatural was the look of the show from the marketing and any snippets I've seen plus this whole Angels vs Demons theme which played a large part in both Carter productions (Millennium in particular - an awesome and criminally neglected show imo). | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.23.233.247 |
Supernatural strips away the 'cool' thing by actively scrutinizing and deconstructing the concept of it. The more you watch the show, the lovelier it becomes because you have to get through the dumb stuff first, just let your hair down and enjoy it, then be rewarded by deeper things, stories that are in fact very considerate. Some of my favourite telly of recent years has been Supernatural; it's quite moving alone in that it has so hugely improved when so many others haven't. | ||
| Matt_cowan (Matt_cowan) Username: Matt_cowan Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 68.249.105.213 |
I love this series and own the first three seasons on DVD. They seem to research their monster legends and folklore pretty well. | ||
| Paul_finch (Paul_finch) Username: Paul_finch Registered: 11-2009 Posted From: 92.23.5.194 |
I think it has its moments, but TV shows do frustrate me when awesome powers of darkness coalesce into 20-something girls who are more like cheerleaders with attitude. Buffy did this an awful lot as well. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
TV shows do frustrate me when awesome powers of darkness coalesce into 20-something girls who are more like cheerleaders with attitude. Buffy did this an awful lot as well. I agree completely. This is why I never quite "got" Buffy. Yeah, it's okay if you're 12 but as an adult? Sorry, but it's just silly and often even annoying. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.56 |
Angel was a much better show. Especially seasons 2,3 and 4. there were some spectacularly good episodes - the one where they did a take on Night of the living dead crossed with Asault on Precinct 13 where they were trapped in a police station surrounded by zombie cops was really a scary episode. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.187.80 |
I wish that TV didn't cater so heavily to younger audiences sometimes, but it seems to be the rule for most shows nowadays. Doctor Who, Primeval, Supernatural, and many others all mainly feature characters in their twenties. It's hard to find a show in which the lead characters are over thirty these days. Age aside (and let's not forget Giles!), a big part of what makes shows like Buffy and Angel work so well is the interaction between the characters, the dialogue, and the humour. Several shows have done this so well that it's easy to forgive a premise that is, on the surface, pretty silly. The average monster of the week on these shows was never very scary (although a few of them were very disturbing - the Gentlemen, for example) but that was never the point of these shows. They were more about a sense of adventure, and the relationships between the characters. Buffy and Angel had some of the most ingeniously written episodes of any recent fantasy/horror television show. It's mainly down to the writing and chemistry between the actors, I think. A badly written show with bland, uninteresting characters will fall flat, no matter how young and attractive the leads are (e.g. most of Torchwood). Fringe is pretty good, I think - sort of a blend of The X-Files and Lost. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
I agree, Huw, but I also think it's got more to do with the fact that edgy horror/fantasy stuff doesn't sit well with being forced into a mainstream TV set-up. For example, undoubtadly Buffy had some well-written episodes, but for me the characters were bland and uninteresting - and totally unrealistic. I guess I just don't get the show. It's fluff. For once I'd love to see a genre show that isn't. The X Files and Millenium came closer to what I'd like to see. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.187.80 |
I grew to like Buffy despite the weak first series (the same thing happened with Supernatural). It's a completely different type of show to, say, The X-Files or Millenium, which are much darker and far more intense. I enjoy them on a different level. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Of course - we all enjoy different things on different levels. I just don't understand why something like Buffy is/was so popular. To me, it just doesn't compute. Then again, my tastes rarely coincide with the majority, so it's just one of those things. For example, I love Primeveal.  | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.153.150.116 |
We just watched the last series of Buffy; despite some great eps and some very moving moments it wasn't as good as the rest. Indeed, some of Buffy was as good as telly gets. | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.187.239 |
I really enjoyed Buffy. Offhand Seasons 2 & 3 had the best story-arcs while some of the later seasons, while weaker overall, had some of the best individual episodes. IMHO. >>edgy horror/fantasy stuff doesn't sit well with being forced into a mainstream TV set-up. I think one of the things that worked for me was similar to what Tony was saying about Supernatural in that Buffy starts out just being fun -- "You know the dumb blonde cheerleader character who's always the first one to die in horror flicks? Well, in this she's the hero" -- and then gradually becomes more sophisticated as it goes along. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.152.242.238 |
Ugh, I grew to loathe every character in Buffy. Indescribably smug. | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.0.106.15 |
Smug... yes, that's the word that strikes me when I think of shows like 'Buffy'. Awful nonsense imho. | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.184.176 |
Nowhere near as smug as RTD's Dr Who which ripped off so much from Buffy without even realising how inappropriate some of the steals were. E.g. Buffy was always supposed to be a kind of supernatural soap opera with the monsters reflecting different aspects of her adolesecent angst whereas RTD just shoehorned soap opera into Dr Who to try and court Eastenders viewers and to hell with whether it actually made sense within the context of the programme. Not to mention the godawful selfcongratulatory comments RTD would slip into the episodes. "You were fantastic. And you know what ... so was I!" Million times more smug than Buffy ever was. | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Have to agree... though, as I've said elsewhere, no one can take it away from the man for single-handedly resurrecting the show. Now it's time for him to move on and let others develop 'Doctor Who' into something that pleases ALL the fans. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.152.196.152 |
RTD's book about writing WHO is an excellent education for potential writers - he's candid in it, possibly even about his own self-congratulation. | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.180.113 |
He probably congratulated himself on being so candid about his self-congratulation. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.56 |
The smug twat | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.152.193.69 |
"He probably congratulated himself on being so candid about his self-congratulation." Actually, he does, but he's candid about that too! | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 213.158.199.83 |
No idea what any of you are on about. |