OUAT vs. Other Fairy Tales: Compare & Contrast

[Shanna Marie]

1 minute ago, Souris said:

Another thing I like to recommend, if one likes historical fiction, is "Cranford," based on Elizabeth Gaskell stories about a British village in the mid-1800s.

Oh, yes, that one's nice. Another good historical piece is "Lark Rise to Candleford," about a young woman in the late 1800s who moves from a tiny hamlet to the nearby town where her mother's cousin is postmistress to become an assistant in the post office. It's not what you'd normally think of as the kind of thing to have "strong female characters," but it really does. There's the postmistress, a single woman with a business and career. There are the single sisters who run the dress shop. There are the women in the hamlet who have to do hard work to survive. There's the older woman who never had children of her own but who took in an abandoned child and who works making lace and raising bees for honey. There are familiar faces from all the usual British suspects -- Downton Abbey, Call the Midwife, Pride and Prejudice, Poldark, Game of Thrones, etc. Half the fun is playing "hey, where have I seen that actor before?"

Oh, Poldark is another one, and the new season should be coming up soon in the US. Pause to contemplate the beauty of Aidan Turner. Scything. Shirtless. Sigh. Though it does get about as dreary and oppressive as the last couple of seasons of Once. These people are never allowed to be happy.

[tennisgurl]

I'm a really big fan of science fiction AND fantasy AND period pieces, so those sound like awesome options! My problem is that I've already seen so much TV, its hard to find new stuff worth my time. Plus, I'm a little gun shy about shows lately. Every new show I fall in love with turns to crap or gets cancelled :(

[jhlipton]

On the sci-fi front (I like Dark Matter, but wasn't able to get into Killjoys), The Expanse is a wonderful sociological-political-adventure IN SPAAAAACE! 

[Camera One]

May I suggest a great series called "Dead of Summer"?  

Seriously speaking, though, I'm definitely going to try a lot of the suggestions given above!  

[Shanna Marie]

12 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

Plus, I'm a little gun shy about shows lately. Every new show I fall in love with turns to crap or gets cancelled

That's the joy of the old stuff -- you know how long it will last.

Haven did get a definitive ending. When it was canceled, some of the people involved were trying to get a #SaveHaven campaign going, but after seeing the finale, I don't know how they could have done more. They could maybe have fit more stuff in before the ending, and there were a few questions that went unanswered, but the ending seemed to me like a firm ending.

Cranford probably went on a bit longer than it should have because there was the usual British TV problem of actors leaving, but it was always good, and the cast was amazing. Plus, you get to see Judi Dench playing a slightly fragile ditz, something you don't see too often, since she usually plays women of steel. But you watch this woman who's been very sheltered grow stronger and bolder, and it's lovely.

I understand that some people think Lark Rise ended prematurely, and there were efforts to get more, but while it didn't have a definitive ending, it wasn't a throw things at the TV and shout "you're leaving me like that?" kind of thing. It was a "life will continue to go on" kind of show, so I don't think the last episode would have really felt like a finale, no matter when it ended.

1 minute ago, jhlipton said:

The Expanse is a wonderful sociological-political-adventure IN SPAAAAACE! 

I have this weird opinion on The Expanse, where I recognize that it was good and very high quality, but I just didn't enjoy it very much, so I gave myself permission not to watch it midway through the second season. I was curious about what happened, but I can satisfy that by reading recaps. I found that I didn't really like any of the characters, so I didn't care enough to be emotionally involved. They were interesting, complex people, but I didn't bond with anyone. I am considering reading the books to see if that changes the way I feel. I had episodes piling up on my DVR but kept putting off watching them and read recaps to find out what happened instead, then realized that was okay and I wasn't obligated to watch it. Dark Matter is not nearly as good, the writing is sometimes pretty awful, and there's not much complexity, but it's so much more fun to watch and I enjoy it a lot more.

I think in general I'm not up for much that's really heavy right now. I want fun and adventure. That's why Timeless was my favorite new show this season. Adventures in time, meeting historical figures and geeking out over them, team bonding. Yeah, there was that conspiracy plot, but that was mostly in the background and the episodes were about the team and their adventures with people they've read books about.

Oh, and if you haven't tried Person of Interest, that's worth watching. The final season is a bit rushed, but they did at least get a chance to wrap things up, and the ending is definitive. It's stealth science fiction. The first season or so seems like your usual procedural, with only the slight science fiction twist of an AI that can predict people who are going to be victims of -- or perpetrators of -- crimes and a team of vigilantes who get this information (usually little more than a Social Security number) and have to figure out how to stop the crime. But then it gets into this whole analysis of government surveillance and warring AIs, morality, etc. I guess it was pretty heavy, but I loved the characters, and there was a lot of lightness and wit. Plus an awesome dog. And we finally got to see Amy Acker playing something other than the Manic Nerdy Dream Girl.

[jhlipton]

5 minutes ago, Shanna Marie said:

Oh, and if you haven't tried Person of Interest, that's worth watching. The final season is a bit rushed, but they did at least get a chance to wrap things up, and the ending is definitive.

I only watched the final season of PoI, but it was a lot of fun, and very suspenseful.  I hated the way they treated Taraji P. Henson, but at least that got us Empire (talk about cheesy but fun shows!) so it's all good!

[Camera One]

I liked "Person of Interest" and it was very well done, but I never found it too fun to discuss.

I also watch "Timeless", and that show is much more flawed, but again, I don't find it that interesting to discuss.

There is certainly *something* about "Once"... I'm not sure why it really gets me raring to write.

[KingOfHearts]

Quote

There is certainly *something* about "Once"... I'm not sure why it really gets me raring to write.

OUAT is like Emma's darkness. It's not simply bad, but it has the potential to be both the best and the worst. It's much more fascinating for something to fall from grace than to be horrible to begin with. OUAT has a lot going for it. The screw-up is of gigantic proportions. It's interesting to discuss because it has many dimensions, though not in the same sense as the writers think. There are not many instances where the characters are both compelling and robotic.

Edited June 3, 2017 by KingOfHearts

[Rumsy4]

Person of Interest was one of my favorite shows. It lost its way a bit after they killed off a key character and then focused too much attention on the "enemy", but it mostly recovered its footing in the final season, and wrapped things up pretty well. 

Same with Fringe. Season 1 was a straight-up procedural. Season 2 & 3 delved into the mythology and was very interesting. Season 4 was awful, but Season 5 sort-of fixed the mess. I will always have fond memories of the Show. 

Westworld is a new HBO sci-fi series. It's a bit graphic and there's lots of nudity, but most of the nudity is non-sexual. Only one season so far. It's part of the same creative team as PoI, so it features a lot of similar moral themes about aritificial intelligence, and the nature of humanity. I just hope the quality remains steady.

I also recommend Avatar: The Last Airbender. It's an animated series for kids, but people of all ages enjoy it. I donno where it can be seen now, though.

BBC North and South is great, but the main character is very little like her book counterpart. That pissed me off when I read the novel after I'd watched the adaptation (I know!).

I actually enjoyed the Patrick Swayze N&S as well, but only watched the first two seasons, as I didn't like the plot for season 3. ;-)

The Emma miniseries with Romola Garai was pretty good. 

I also recommend Stranger Things and Jessica Jones. 

Edited June 3, 2017 by Rumsy4

[Souris]

Ooh, let me also highly recommend "The Musketeers." Three complete seasons (only 10 eps each) with a very satisfying ending. Hot, hot men sword-fighting, strong women and tons of costume porn. It's about the most fun I've ever had watching a TV show. It's just damn entertaining. (I'm still mad Dr. Who stole Richelieu/Peter Capaldi after S1, though.)

I also second Poldark! Aidan Turner is beyond hot, and I love me some Demelza.

For something different, "Man in the High Castle" on Amazon is the bingiest thing I've ever watched. After each ep ended, I was desperate for the next. It's alt history where the Axis won WWII, and the U.S. is split between Germany and Japan. There have been two seasons so far, and it was renewed for a third.

Edited June 3, 2017 by Souris

[KingOfHearts]

Quote

I also recommend Avatar: The Last Airbender. It's an animated series for kids, but people of all ages enjoy it. I donno where it can be seen now, though.

OUAT surprisingly reminds me of some animes aimed at younger audiences. It's probably the "emotions = magic power" concept and other fantasy tropes.

[pezgirl7]

1 hour ago, tennisgurl said:

I'm a really big fan of science fiction AND fantasy AND period pieces, so those sound like awesome options! My problem is that I've already seen so much TV, its hard to find new stuff worth my time. Plus, I'm a little gun shy about shows lately. Every new show I fall in love with turns to crap or gets cancelled :(

Have you watched The Exorcist on FOX? It was one of my favorite shows, and I was ecstatic to find out it was renewed for a second season, despite it's ratings being super low. Another one I would recommend is the Leftovers on HBO. It's in its 3rd and final season, which I haven't started yet. And for a period piece, I would say Ripper Street (it's not really about Jack the Ripper), but stop watching after season 3 unless you want to pull your hair out. :)

Thought of another one... Preacher, which is just a wacky, supernatural comedy/drama based on a graphic novel. The second season is starting soon, I think.

Edited June 3, 2017 by pezgirl7

[daxx]

Man I loved Wonder Woman. It was amazing. Lovely little scenes that don't move the plot but humanize the characters and show the chemistry between actors.  I love the mostly slower first half. 

 

Spoiler

They even had a sex talk and bed sharing trope at the same time. lol

Edited June 4, 2017 by daxx

[Shanna Marie]

Something else in the "shows to try" category: I noticed that my cable company has Carnivale available on HBO on demand, and I'm sure it's out on DVD and streaming somewhere. It can get kind of dark, and it got canceled, so you can look at the ending as either a cliffhanger or something kind of like the end of a horror movie when a hand rises from the villain's grave, and smash cut to credits. But the reason I thought about it was that it does very well the things Once fails at. The worldbuilding is excellent in the sense that it creates a whole society, and we see how these people interact. It feels like a real, fully fleshed-out world, not just the main cast standing around in an empty Main Street. And there are very definite rules and limits for the magical system. If Rumple cackled something about magic coming at a price to these people, they'd be like, "Bitch, please."

It's set during the Dust Bowl in the 30s and centers on a young man who falls in with a traveling carnival. He has an amazing power to heal, but it comes at a great cost -- if he heals someone, some other living thing nearby will die. The greater the healing, the more death. So he has to make some hard choices or come up with workarounds, like making sure he's nowhere near people. It's all very atmospheric, but also grounded. I watched it when it was on, back in 2003 or so, and I think I may give it a rewatch. The cast is stellar, and Ronald D. Moore, who came from Deep Space Nine and went on from this to do Battlestar Galactica and Outlander, is the executive producer.

[daxx]

Ron does great work. The characters are the thing with him but he also pays attention to details.

I decided to try Haven since I'm still healing from a minor surgery and can't really do a lot at the moment. So frustrating, I keep seeing things I want to do then have to stop myself since I shouldn't lift or stretch (open wound on my upper back).

Not really connecting with the characters yet but I love the scenery. I may keep watching just for that!

Edited June 4, 2017 by daxx

[KingOfHearts]

The actress playing Sansa in GoT reminds me so much of Young Zelena. It's weirding me out.

Edited June 5, 2017 by KingOfHearts
Fixed name. Got correct characters this time.

[Guest]

On ‎6‎/‎4‎/‎2017 at 5:33 PM, daxx said:

Ron does great work. The characters are the thing with him but he also pays attention to details.

Its like someone walked over my grave.  I'm having flashbacks to intense moments of terror and dread. 

My first introduction to Ron D. Moore was Roswell.  Let's just say two things about Roswell.  He joined as a co-EP/showrunner to help Katims (Friday Night Lights) "fix" the show.  During season 2, fandom rallied to get the show to join BTVS on UPN and then once success was announced the final episodes of season 2 aired and fandom collectively wanted to apologize to UPN for the efforts to save the show. 

During his reign, the previously on Roswell basically degenerated to a character explaining in a class room on a chalkboard every episode what previously happened on the show.  I believe I coined a thread once that was titled something like... things that happened, things that happened that didn't happen, things that happened that didn't happen the way I saw them happen, and things that never happened but did happen.  It was like if Adam were forced to communicate to the audience about OUAT  without the benefit of twitter or entertainment media.

Basically, it was OUAT boot camp and where I learned all my favorite show has turned to crap coping skills.  Although the BTS gossip was much better (in a what the hell has happened way) given a lot of the actors were young and completely unprofessional and the EPs had zero control over them.

Then I didn't make the Ron Moore connection before I was hooked on BSG.   I'm glad I didn't because BSG was overall very good and frankly I wouldn't have watched had I known. But Ron did podcasts and they taught me about his penchant for wouldn't it be cool if.... Dirk Benedict (original Starbuck) was revealed as God which is the only one I can comment on without spoilers because a SyFy executive talked him out of it.  He made me abjectly grateful to a SyFy executive which I resent on general principle because of the way that network cancels shows.

So I agree, Ron does great work.  BSG and Outlander are overall great shows.  But he has all those same impulses that make OUAT hard to watch.  Its just that he has the talent to offset those impulses to make a strong show overall even if he indulges in them from time to time (which is what made the BSG finale kind of sucky) whereas A&E don't have the talent to offset their poor  impulse control.

Edited June 6, 2017 by ParadoxLost

[daxx]

Yes, Ron likes his twists, I watched BSG, but he lets his characters talk with each other and breath. I appreciate that a lot more now after ouat.

[Rumsy4]

I found the political subplots in BSG a bit boring. I lost steam a couple of seasons in. However, I ended up watching the season openers and finales and some episodes in between to keep up with the story. 

[tennisgurl]

I've been watching Haven on Netflix (although after what they did to my beloved Sense8, watching Netflix seems...dirty) and while its not connecting with me like the start of Once, I am enjoying it and I'm interested enough to keep watching. I seriously need to book a trip to Maine sometime, its so pretty! I've only been once, and it was too foggy to really enjoy it.

[Shanna Marie]

30 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

I seriously need to book a trip to Maine sometime, its so pretty! I've only been once, and it was too foggy to really enjoy it.

It was filmed in Nova Scotia, and the towns they used to create "Haven" look absolutely lovely. I actually bought this series on Blu Ray just for the scenery porn. But people from Maine who watched the series said it doesn't look too different from real Maine. It's funny how different Storybrooke and Haven seem, when really they shouldn't be that far from each other. They look like they're filmed on opposite coasts. In fact, I keep forgetting that Storybrooke is supposed to be in Maine (I think the writers do, too, given that the go-to place for people leaving town is New York and not, like, Bangor).

But between Haven and the Bangor, Maine, police department Facebook posts (if you haven't read those, look them up because whoever does their social media deserves a raise, and there's a TV series just waiting to be made from that), I've been thinking that I really need to see Maine.

[KingOfHearts]

Quote

In fact, I keep forgetting that Storybrooke is supposed to be in Maine (I think the writers do, too, given that the go-to place for people leaving town is New York and not, like, Bangor).

Same here. They only chose Maine because that's the state you think of when you hear, "New England coastal town". Outside of the town's location, there's been no other references to it. None of the characters are from there. It's funny how Boston used to be their home-away-home city, then later it turned into New York. I don't have anything against New York, but there's no point in going somewhere 5-6~ hours away for all the outside action. At least, within the context of the story. How did Emma and Neal even afford to live there separately? New York is interesting, marketable, and a great place to send fairy tale characters because it's so alien to them. Enchanted did that. But the show never utilized that, other than that horse chase scene with Robin.*

In other news, I'm still treading through the first season of GoT. It's interesting and has a high production value. I don't find the characters all that compelling yet, but I'm sucker for plot-oriented fantasy shows. The worldbuilding is refreshing but not as overwhelming as something like LoTR. It's more about the politics and character relations than the local vegetation. I'm cautiously optimistic. It sure beats the crap out of Emerald City, that's all I have to say.

* Haha, I was just thinking about Zarian's line saying, "If this is New York, I'd hate to see what the old one is like." I can imagine Zelena thinking, "What's something corny this insipid peasant would say? Oh, I know." It gets a whole new meaning.

Edited June 6, 2017 by KingOfHearts

[daxx]

1 hour ago, Shanna Marie said:

It's funny how different Storybrooke and Haven seem, when really they shouldn't be that far from each other. They look like they're filmed on opposite coasts

They are filmed on opposite coasts, Nova Scotia (Haven) borders Maine and Steveston (Once) is on the west coast of Canada near Vancouver.

[Shanna Marie]

2 minutes ago, daxx said:

They are filmed on opposite coasts, Nova Scotia (Haven) borders Maine and Steveston (Once) is on the west coast of Canada near Vancouver.

I know, that's what I was saying, and as a result, they look it.

17 minutes ago, KingOfHearts said:

They only chose Maine because that's the state you think of when you hear, "New England coastal town". Outside of the town's location, there's been no other references to it. None of the characters are from there. It's funny how Boston used to be their home-away-home city, then later it turned into New York.

I suspect we're dealing with writers who haven't really been to the east coast, so they picked random names -- New England coastal town, uh, don't all those spooky Stephen King stories take place in Maine? Yeah, that'll work. And what's a big city on the east coast? New York! Everyone wants to go there!

[daxx]

I just started watching Haven this weekend and love the scenery. It's so gorgeous.

[KingOfHearts]

Quote

I suspect we're dealing with writers who haven't really been to the east coast, so they picked random names -- New England coastal town, uh, don't all those spooky Stephen King stories take place in Maine? Yeah, that'll work. And what's a big city on the east coast? New York! Everyone wants to go there!

I can see the characters visiting Stephen King World.

Regina: "Wait... this looks like Storybrooke!"
Henry: "I'm going to follow this balloon..."

Dick Hallorann: "Belle. Your son Gideon has the shining."
Rumple (breaking into Belle's room with his cane): "Heeeere's Rumpie!"

Edited June 6, 2017 by KingOfHearts

[daxx]

My TiVo started recording Remington Steele's, damn I forgot how much I loved this show. An OTP before the phrase existed and my original tall, dark and Irish heartthrob. lol I just watched 5 episodes in a row, I have a problem...

[Shanna Marie]

Pierce Brosnan was my teen celebrity crush. I was recently going through a file of things from that era and found a whole folder of magazine clippings of pictures of him. He would make great casting to play Colin's father in something -- same coloring, same body type, and I believe they're from the same part of Ireland, so there's a similar accent.

[tvshowpilot]

On 2017.06.2. at 10:35 PM, tennisgurl said:

Does anyone have any shows to recommend to me, now that my favorite show has been cruelly cancelled, and my former favorite show turned to utter ridiculousness and has decided to come back for a pointless reboot that I cant make myself care about? I need something to fill the hole in my heart!

I just got into Wynonna Earp. Definitely recommend you to check it out!

Timeless, Killjoys and the DC comic shows on The CW also are great, as others have already suggested.

[Shanna Marie]

I saw a line in a review of The Mummy that sounds a lot like this show, something to the effect of "it's almost like it's allergic to being interesting." So, these aren't the only writers who consistently choose the least interesting path.

Back to the discussion of Haven ... I think one area where that particular freaky small town in Maine wins over Storybrooke is that it felt more like a "real" place, one where you can almost imagine you might actually stumble across it while traveling in Maine, and less like a stage set. Part of it may be due to location, and not just the fact that Haven was actually filmed on the East Coast. Vancouver is a major film/TV filming area, so Once has access to sound stages, and they only used Steveston for exterior shots. Haven was filmed entirely on location in an area that doesn't get a lot of filming. They didn't have a soundstage. Their few standing sets were set up in the town's hockey rink. Just about everything else was filmed on location, and that gave it an authenticity. There was also a sense of the whole town getting together to help put on a TV show, so the town was well populated with extras. The police station was a hub of activity, bars and restaurants were full of customers (unless it was after hours and the main characters were hanging out alone at the bar one of them ran), and there was traffic in the streets. They even managed to fill an entire ballpark with a crowd for a Little League baseball game. With Once having likely a bigger budget (since Haven was apparently filmed using the coins the production company found under the couch cushions), I wonder why they can't manage to populate the town with extras. Even just five or ten people walking down the street and a car or two driving by would make things look better. The town is supposed to contain at least two kingdoms (Snow's and George's), plus more, and yet it's strangely unpopulated.

But I think what really helped flesh out the town was the fact that the townspeople were given a point of view. We knew what the people in the town thought about all the weird goings on. We knew that there were people who were in total denial that there was weirdness, that there were people who were violently opposed to the Troubled people, there were people who were open and accepting, there were people who were neutral, and there were people who were militant defenders of the Troubled, some going so far as to consider themselves superior. It did help that the stories were structured to get these perspectives, since there was a very small regular cast and a few other recurring regulars, so that meant the regulars had to interact with people outside that main character circle more often, and each episode usually required the main characters to meet and talk to people around the town. It's not like Once, where the main characters exist in a vacuum. We never really hear from the regular folks in town other than sometimes Grumpy and Granny. We don't know how the Three Bears feel about events, what Cinderella and her husband do when there's a crisis. The sheriff's office is empty most of the time. Granny's lucky there are so many main characters who apparently eat all their meals in her diner because otherwise it would be vacant. Nobody ever goes to the library just to check out a book or to Gold's shop just to buy something or to pawn something. Have we ever seen a regular customer in there? Have they ever had to put a conversation on hold because a customer who wasn't a main character came in?

[daxx]

I'm enjoying Haven, as no shock to anyone I really like the smuggler on the redemption arc, Duke.

[jhlipton]

On 6/4/2017 at 5:28 PM, Shanna Marie said:

He has an amazing power to heal, but it comes at a great cost -- if he heals someone, some other living thing nearby will die. The greater the healing, the more death.

This sounds like the wonderful Pushing Daisies.  The hero can bring back the dead, but at the cost of replacing them with someone else.  Great stories and great cast.

[Camera One]

I was watching deleted scenes from the live action "Beauty and the Beast", and that "Enchantress" woman is seriously shady.  She continues living in the town where she mind-wiped everyone, and begs for food even though she had magic (even asking Belle for jam after she was given bread).  Why, so she could judge people more?  It's a bit warped that she's basically playing with people's lives.  What a psycho.

Edited June 10, 2017 by Camera One

[KingOfHearts]

23 minutes ago, Camera One said:

I was watching deleted scenes from the live action "Beauty and the Beast", and that "Enchantress" woman is seriously shady.  She continues living in the town where she mind-wiped everyone, and begs for food even though she had magic (even asking Belle for jam after she was given bread).  Why, so she could judge people more?  It's a bit warped that she's basically playing with people's lives.  What a psycho.

It's just Blue making a cameo appearance with a shapeshifting spell.

Edited June 10, 2017 by KingOfHearts

[Shanna Marie]

3 hours ago, jhlipton said:

This sounds like the wonderful Pushing Daisies.  The hero can bring back the dead, but at the cost of replacing them with someone else.  Great stories and great cast.

It does sound similar, and I loved Pushing Daisies, but Carnivale is very different in tone. If you're looking for quirky and whimsical romantic comedy with a dash of magic in a world that's not quite entirely real, Pushing Daisies is highly recommended. I loved the design of that world, where it's sort of mid-century, but still our modern world, and very candy-colored.

[jhlipton]

2 hours ago, Shanna Marie said:

It does sound similar, and I loved Pushing Daisies, but Carnivale is very different in tone. If you're looking for quirky and whimsical romantic comedy with a dash of magic in a world that's not quite entirely real, Pushing Daisies is highly recommended. I loved the design of that world, where it's sort of mid-century, but still our modern world, and very candy-colored.

I never watched Carnivale but I could tell the tone was completely different.  I just thought it was interesting that the "power" of the protagonists was so similar.

[Guest]

Ways in which BSG is like OUAT

Quote

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-hc-battlestar-galactica-reunion-atx-fest-20170611-story.html

The show’s opening pre-credit sequence describing the Cylon revolution stated that the humanoid robots had a “plan.” Moore said this was, essentially, just something co-executive producer David Eick thought sounded cool, that audiences would love and that they could figure out later. They never did and, said Moore, “For the next 14 years of my life people have asked me ‘What was the plan?’” In short, “There was no … plan.”

Edited June 14, 2017 by ParadoxLost

[Spartan Girl]

On June 10, 2017 at 4:20 PM, Camera One said:

I was watching deleted scenes from the live action "Beauty and the Beast", and that "Enchantress" woman is seriously shady.  She continues living in the town where she mind-wiped everyone, and begs for food even though she had magic (even asking Belle for jam after she was given bread).  Why, so she could judge people more?  It's a bit warped that she's basically playing with people's lives.  What a psycho.

Reminds me a lot of the gods in Greek mythology. They went around in disguise so that they could judge people and either reward or punish them. They were seriously petty when it came to insults, and their punishments were pretty harsh.

[jhlipton]

1 hour ago, Spartan Girl said:

Reminds me a lot of the gods in Greek mythology. They went around in disguise so that they could judge people and either reward or punish them. They were seriously petty when it came to insults, and their punishments were pretty harsh.

Echo didn't even do anything wrong, just fell for the wrong dude.

[Spartan Girl]

Arachne got turned into a spider just for being a better weaver than Athena. Bragging about it was stupid, in retrospect, but still.

Don't even get me started on the wrath Hera unleashed on Zeus's paramours and illegitimate children...

[jhlipton]

On 6/14/2017 at 7:54 PM, Spartan Girl said:

Arachne got turned into a spider just for being a better weaver than Athena. Bragging about it was stupid, in retrospect, but still.

Don't even get me started on the wrath Hera unleashed on Zeus's paramours and illegitimate children...

Being better than the gods was problematic, but wouldn't necessarily get you in too much trouble.  Bragging about it, though, was a REALLY dumb idea.  Just ask Marsyas!

[Camera One]

It was so awesome how they really dove into Greek mythology in 5B, eh?  

[Writing Wrongs]

I've been taking a break from sci-fi/fantasy and just watched all of The Mentalist and have started Medium.

Although, I am re-watching OUaT on the weekends. :)

[KingOfHearts]

I've been rewatching Star Trek: Voyager. I actually really like the series, despite its unpopularity among fellow trekkies. It's seriously flawed in many ways, but to me, it's a guilty pleasure. It throws logic and the dignity of Starfleet out the window, which gives me some tongue-in-cheek enjoyment. It's not hate-watching, but more like "bad but redeemable for having its own groove". I get in frequent debates with my brother about it, because it's his least favorite series. I totally understand where all the hate comes from (and in some of the episodes I join that bandwagon), but I find a good chunk of it endearing.

Anyway, not long into season one, I started drawing OUAT parallels. The plot holes. The continuity errors. The characters doing stupid things because plot. The inconsistent morality.  The whole "heroes don't kill" spiel is similar to the "Prime Directive". (For those who don't know, the prime directive means you don't interfere with the affairs of other civilizations, especially with those who don't have Warp Drive invented yet.) Janeway will break the prime directive, but then tell other people it's wrong three episodes later. There are always exceptions to her thinking, just like there are with Snow. 

[Camera One]

Danish actor Pilou Asbæk dishes on his character, Euron Grayjoy, saying he is even worse than sadistic, flesh-flaying maniac Ramsay Bolton.

I just read the above in the headline for an article.  I don't know anything about "Games of Thrones", but it made me laugh since "Once" has its own "flesh-flaying maniac" but he is married to a hero and gets to have family dinner with all the "good guys".

[tennisgurl]

I swear, every time I'm on these boards talking about any other show, and people start complaining about the slow pace, and how the show is spending too much time building up characters, relationships, or atmosphere, and the plot isn't moving fast enough, I just want to be like "You like super breakneck speed plots that go by so quickly that characters and relationships and any kind of mood or tone is left by the side of the road? Have I got the show for you!"*

*Not that I'm trying to diss peoples opinions, and there is certainly such a thing as a show going too slow, but after Once, I will put up with a LOT of slow plotting to get extra character stuff.

Edited June 22, 2017 by tennisgurl

[kitticup]

On 6/19/2017 at 2:53 PM, KingOfHearts said:

I've been rewatching Star Trek: Voyager. I actually really like the series, despite its unpopularity among fellow trekkies. It's seriously flawed in many ways, but to me, it's a guilty pleasure. It throws logic and the dignity of Starfleet out the window, which gives me some tongue-in-cheek enjoyment. It's not hate-watching, but more like "bad but redeemable for having its own groove". I get in frequent debates with my brother about it, because it's his least favorite series. I totally understand where all the hate comes from (and in some of the episodes I join that bandwagon), but I find a good chunk of it endearing.

Anyway, not long into season one, I started drawing OUAT parallels. The plot holes. The continuity errors. The characters doing stupid things because plot. The inconsistent morality.  The whole "heroes don't kill" spiel is similar to the "Prime Directive". (For those who don't know, the prime directive means you don't interfere with the affairs of other civilizations, especially with those who don't have Warp Drive invented yet.) Janeway will break the prime directive, but then tell other people it's wrong three episodes later. There are always exceptions to her thinking, just like there are with Snow. 

I always think of Voyager when I think of OUAT too.  Both had the potential to be stellar.  The cast was great, although OUAT is better.  The premise awesome, but the writing ream and show runners of the shows Bergman and braga (killer b's) and  A&E, threw everything away.  Technobabble was answer in Voyager, like magical macgruffin in OUAT.  Seven of nine dominated the show like Regina and the other characters suffered for it.   At least, Lana wasn't sleeping with A or E, unlike Jeri Ryan with Braga.  

 

I have loved Star Trek since I was a little girl.  Voyager killed a lot of my enthusiasm for all things Trek.  I refuse to watch anything Braga is a producer of (like Salem), even when he is working with DS9 producer, Ron Moore, whom I love.  Fortunately, there only collaboration since/during Voyager was a Mission Impossible movie. Braga was so thin skinned that he and Moore had a major falling out when Moore joined Voyager to help make it better after DS9 ended.  I believe they patched things up.  Regardless, I don't bother to go watch the Trek reboot on screen unless I am with a friend who wants to go.  

 

It's sad because I did love Star Trek.  I will watch TOS repeats on TV, support most Trek actors by watching their shows, and went to Comic Con last year because they had a few Trek panels for the anniversary.  I ended up liking the other panels better.  I go to the smaller panels, not the big ones that you see on youtube.

 

Maybe because I went in with a whole history of loving Trek and watched it destroyed by B&B, that I don't feel as strongly about A&E.  it is unlikely I will watch anything they produced, but not out of the question, unlike with B&B.  I also refuse to watch anything in which Ryan stars, while I can see myself watching Lana in another series.  

[Shanna Marie]

I've been listening to a BBC radio audio drama of The Count of Monte Cristo (with Iain Glen from Game of Thrones as the count -- yummy voice to have streamed into your ears), and it's increasingly apparent that the Once writers had maybe read the cable guide's description of a movie adaptation and went no further when they wrote that story into this world. For one thing, it was 25 years between the time Dantes was wronged and him coming back as the Count. With this guy, that would have had to mean that someone ratted him out in nursery school and got him put in the time-out corner. For another, his revenge was sly and subtle, letting his enemies bring themselves down as he capitalized on their weaknesses. No striding into a ballroom and being obvious enough about it that Regina would have known what he was up to.

It's a pity they made that character more about Regina/Evil Queen and the Charmings and didn't put him together with Hook, at least in the present, since that theme of being wronged and unable to get conventional justice because of the person(s) who wronged him being too powerful is a pretty good fit. Hook, who had sworn off revenge, might have been able to intervene to keep him from the book ending. Or Hook might have picked up some ideas for letting Rumple form his own downfall. There really was a lot of potential for them to have interacted in the past -- like, say, Hook being the captain who gave him a lift when he was escaping and encouraging him to seek revenge, or them working together on revenge until the count's revenge interferes with Hook's revenge, and we get the Standard Issue Hook Plot of him now feeling bad about putting revenge first in the past.

[Camera One]

I was rewatching "Love Doesn't Stand A Chance" and I realized what The Evil Queen's dance moves reminded me of... "The Nanny".  

[tennisgurl]

Everyone! Everyone! Dreams DO come true! After much fan demanding, Netflix is giving us a Sense8 movie to tie up the lose ends! Jump on that bandwagon now!!!! It's a great show, now with an actual ending!