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Catching up on the TV meme
Catching up on the TV meme...
( The Days )
Day 19 - Best t.v show cast
I thought about this for a long time. Actors are mostly interchangeable for me. While the whole of SG-1 fandom was falling apart over Michael Shanks wanting to leave the show, I was wondering why they didn't just re-cast the role if he wanted to go so badly. If it works for The Doctor...*shrug*. But occasionally, there's an actor who is just so perfect for a role it's impossible to imagine anyone else filling those shoes. Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard, Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester, Lucy Lawless as Xena...for me it's a short list. But that's usually individual actors: in an ensemble cast, I can usually pick out two or three characters I think have been...well, not mis-cast, but imperfectly cast.
I almost went for Supernatural - certainly the leads are the best casting I can think of. But then I think of Genevive Cortese as Ruby and...that's got to be one of the TV world's biggest casting gaffes. She was utterly unsuitable for that role. So...no.
So for my best TV show cast, I'm going to give the award to True Blood. So many current shows have improbable casts: jam-packed with the young and beautiful with no regard for realism. True Blood emphatically doesn't do that. There are young and beautiful characters, but there are also young and average characters. There are characters of all ages, and they look like real people, not plastic people.
Not everyone in the cast turns in an Emmy-worthy performance, but every single actor on that show has made their role their own. It's hard for me to imagine anyone else in most of the lead roles. The only potential blip in the casting (IMHO) is Alexander Skarsgård as Eric. Now, don't get me wrong - he's a fine actor and he does great in the role. He can be scary as hell, which is such a relief: vampires are supposed to be scary. He just looks all wrong. Eric's supposed to be a Viking warrior: the role needs a big guy, a real body builder. Viking weapons were super-heavy; a man had to train for years to fight and that kind of training builds a bulky physique, which Alexander Skarsgård simply doesn't have. I just don't buy him as a Viking. As a vampire, sure. But he doesn't work for me with the background they've given him.
But everyone else! I would never have picked Anna Paquin for Sookie - knowing her mostly as Rogue in the X-Men movies - but she really captures the character. Sure she's annoying sometimes: Sookie should be annoying. Stephen Moyer as Bill - he has the perfect look for the role and he really seems other than human. Nelsan Ellis as Lafayette - just sparkles off the screen. Even the minor characters: the Queen, Jane Boathouse, Arlene...they're all great actors who really inhabit their roles. I could list most of the cast here, but I'll restrain myself. I must mention one other, though: Tara's mother, Lettie Mae. I've never seen the actress in any other role, but she's amazing. I hate that woman so very much...she's that convincing.
Day 20 - Favorite kiss
This was an easy one. I wanted to show you all a clip of it, but I couldn't find it on YouTube and I didn't have time to rip a copy myself. So you'll have to make do with my description :)
My favourite kiss on TV is one that isn't technically even a kiss at all: it's Xena's kiss with Lao Ma in The Debt. I adore Lao Ma and her relationship with Xena: Xena is such a dominant personality but with Lao Ma she's completely, willingly submissive. And she's no less strong for it; indeed it's that relationship (or the memory of it) which kicked off Xena's transformation from villain to hero.
The kiss - Xena is hiding from Ming Tsu in Lao Ma's pool. Lao Ma sits on the edge of the pool, trying to convince Ming that she isn't hiding anyone. The conversation goes on for too long: Ming won't leave and Xena can only hold her breath for so long. Lao Ma plunges her head into the water, giving Xena breath, mouth to mouth, enabling Xena to stay under and not reveal her presence. The gesture convinces Ming she's about to strip for her bath, so he gracefully leaves.
That moment - so unexpected when it originally aired - hits a whole bunch of my kinks. It's underwater and water is a huge kink for me. It's effectively forced on Xena - she has little choice but to accept it - and yet it doesn't come across as non-consensual in any way. And it's done in the context of being a big "screw you" to the watching (and oblivious) man. I love it.
Day 21 - Favorite ship
Another easy one. My favourite TV ship is Serenity*. A lot of SF shows have ships, but they're usually just how the characters get from place to place. Rarely, the ship has some kind of consciousness (e.g. Moya in Farscape) but I can't think of a conscious ship in a show I've loved that's much more than just a means of transport. Even Moya really only 'speaks' through Pilot: we're told she's alive, but she doesn't "live" for me (YMMV, of course).
Serenity is truly a character in her own right, with no suggestion that she's literally a conscious being. She's a character because she means so much to everyone, she's one of the family. More, she's the glue that holds this odd family together. One episode showed us how Mal, Zoe, Wash, Kaylee, Inara and Jayne came to be aboard her: it's notable that of those, arguably only Jayne didn't join the crew because of the ship. Of the other major characters, Sheppard Book also came aboard because he was attracted to Serenity, and River, while she didn't choose to come aboard for that reason, comes to love Serenity as much as, if not more than Mal by the end of the series. This battered old transport ship named for a horrific memory brings them together and keeps them together (and saves their collective asses more than once). She's what keeps them in the sky. What's not to love?
*Sure, I know that's not what the question means. My misinterpretation is intentional: this is what "ship" means to me, now and forever.
( The Days )
Day 19 - Best t.v show cast
I thought about this for a long time. Actors are mostly interchangeable for me. While the whole of SG-1 fandom was falling apart over Michael Shanks wanting to leave the show, I was wondering why they didn't just re-cast the role if he wanted to go so badly. If it works for The Doctor...*shrug*. But occasionally, there's an actor who is just so perfect for a role it's impossible to imagine anyone else filling those shoes. Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard, Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester, Lucy Lawless as Xena...for me it's a short list. But that's usually individual actors: in an ensemble cast, I can usually pick out two or three characters I think have been...well, not mis-cast, but imperfectly cast.
I almost went for Supernatural - certainly the leads are the best casting I can think of. But then I think of Genevive Cortese as Ruby and...that's got to be one of the TV world's biggest casting gaffes. She was utterly unsuitable for that role. So...no.
So for my best TV show cast, I'm going to give the award to True Blood. So many current shows have improbable casts: jam-packed with the young and beautiful with no regard for realism. True Blood emphatically doesn't do that. There are young and beautiful characters, but there are also young and average characters. There are characters of all ages, and they look like real people, not plastic people.
Not everyone in the cast turns in an Emmy-worthy performance, but every single actor on that show has made their role their own. It's hard for me to imagine anyone else in most of the lead roles. The only potential blip in the casting (IMHO) is Alexander Skarsgård as Eric. Now, don't get me wrong - he's a fine actor and he does great in the role. He can be scary as hell, which is such a relief: vampires are supposed to be scary. He just looks all wrong. Eric's supposed to be a Viking warrior: the role needs a big guy, a real body builder. Viking weapons were super-heavy; a man had to train for years to fight and that kind of training builds a bulky physique, which Alexander Skarsgård simply doesn't have. I just don't buy him as a Viking. As a vampire, sure. But he doesn't work for me with the background they've given him.
But everyone else! I would never have picked Anna Paquin for Sookie - knowing her mostly as Rogue in the X-Men movies - but she really captures the character. Sure she's annoying sometimes: Sookie should be annoying. Stephen Moyer as Bill - he has the perfect look for the role and he really seems other than human. Nelsan Ellis as Lafayette - just sparkles off the screen. Even the minor characters: the Queen, Jane Boathouse, Arlene...they're all great actors who really inhabit their roles. I could list most of the cast here, but I'll restrain myself. I must mention one other, though: Tara's mother, Lettie Mae. I've never seen the actress in any other role, but she's amazing. I hate that woman so very much...she's that convincing.
Day 20 - Favorite kiss
This was an easy one. I wanted to show you all a clip of it, but I couldn't find it on YouTube and I didn't have time to rip a copy myself. So you'll have to make do with my description :)
My favourite kiss on TV is one that isn't technically even a kiss at all: it's Xena's kiss with Lao Ma in The Debt. I adore Lao Ma and her relationship with Xena: Xena is such a dominant personality but with Lao Ma she's completely, willingly submissive. And she's no less strong for it; indeed it's that relationship (or the memory of it) which kicked off Xena's transformation from villain to hero.
The kiss - Xena is hiding from Ming Tsu in Lao Ma's pool. Lao Ma sits on the edge of the pool, trying to convince Ming that she isn't hiding anyone. The conversation goes on for too long: Ming won't leave and Xena can only hold her breath for so long. Lao Ma plunges her head into the water, giving Xena breath, mouth to mouth, enabling Xena to stay under and not reveal her presence. The gesture convinces Ming she's about to strip for her bath, so he gracefully leaves.
That moment - so unexpected when it originally aired - hits a whole bunch of my kinks. It's underwater and water is a huge kink for me. It's effectively forced on Xena - she has little choice but to accept it - and yet it doesn't come across as non-consensual in any way. And it's done in the context of being a big "screw you" to the watching (and oblivious) man. I love it.
Day 21 - Favorite ship
Another easy one. My favourite TV ship is Serenity*. A lot of SF shows have ships, but they're usually just how the characters get from place to place. Rarely, the ship has some kind of consciousness (e.g. Moya in Farscape) but I can't think of a conscious ship in a show I've loved that's much more than just a means of transport. Even Moya really only 'speaks' through Pilot: we're told she's alive, but she doesn't "live" for me (YMMV, of course).
Serenity is truly a character in her own right, with no suggestion that she's literally a conscious being. She's a character because she means so much to everyone, she's one of the family. More, she's the glue that holds this odd family together. One episode showed us how Mal, Zoe, Wash, Kaylee, Inara and Jayne came to be aboard her: it's notable that of those, arguably only Jayne didn't join the crew because of the ship. Of the other major characters, Sheppard Book also came aboard because he was attracted to Serenity, and River, while she didn't choose to come aboard for that reason, comes to love Serenity as much as, if not more than Mal by the end of the series. This battered old transport ship named for a horrific memory brings them together and keeps them together (and saves their collective asses more than once). She's what keeps them in the sky. What's not to love?
*Sure, I know that's not what the question means. My misinterpretation is intentional: this is what "ship" means to me, now and forever.