Cathryn (formerly catslash) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
remindmeofthe) wrote2008-10-22 12:37 pm
remindmeofthe) wrote2008-10-22 12:37 pm
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The Sarah Jane Adventures!
. . . okay, first let's get the obligatory Les Mis geekery out of the way. Look, it's not my fault if it keeps popping up everywhere. (You should see me in English 245, where we are currently studying poetry. "This poem is about Valjean! This essay is about Marius being a tremendous dork!") Clyde's birthday is June fifth, which is the day the 1832 revolution began.
(Geeky real life birthday coincidence: My little brother was born on March twenty-fifth, which is the day Sauron fell. When he is old enough, I will explain this to him, and he will probably look at me funny.)
Anyway!
Astrology! I love how this series is making use of seemingly mundane things. Clowns and astrology. I'm not sure they'll ever top evil brainwashed nuns for sheer WTF, but evil astrology is pretty excellent. I like the explanation of it as being from a universe that existed before ours came into being, an echo of ancient memory that shows up in cultures through the universe. That is, along with the way they used clowns (in the first part of that story, anyway) genuinely cool and a pretty adept avoidance of camp with a topic that is, these days, inherently campy. Every episode of SJA has a certain element of camp, of course - you can't really get away from it in a scifi show for kids, where you can do stories that you couldn't necessarily pull off on an adult show b . . . oh, fuck it, who I am kidding, every single episode of SJA has been twelve hundred percent more believeable than the majority of Torchwood. Yes, including the one with the moon hurtling toward the Earth because of a supercomputer pulling it down. (I have always loved that "Armageddon virus" thing. Does Mr Smith run Windows? Maybe he and Alan were awkward at each other because Alan took it upon himself to install Linux instead when he was patching Mr Smith back together, and Mr Smith feels he should have been consulted, and Alan won't apologize for installing better, more reliable programming, and okay I'm stopping now.) But when SJA finds a way to play an idea straight, it nails it every time.
I still have no particular opinion one way or another on Rani, but god does her mother bug me. When is RTD going to go away? His mommy issues are not entertaining. Mrs Chandra is like an amalgamation of Chrissie at her most annoying and Jackie Tyler at her most clueless. Her persistent shortening of Sarah Jane's name would be mildly funny if they hadn't already done the wrong-name schtick all last series with Chrissie. There is nothing new or interesting about the character and there is everything wrong and boring with her. Actually, the entire Chandra family is the Jacksons mark two. Rani is virtually indistinguishable from Maria (except for having a less talented actress), Mrs Chandra is Chrissie plus maternal instincts, and Mr Chandra is obviously being set up to be similar to Alan and will probably be the parent who finds out the truth first. And then there's probably a whole set of British stereotypes about Indians that I don't even know about that's also at work here.
Bah, anyway, let's move on to Luke. I love how the show handles his origins; just when it seems he's fully come to terms with and accepted that he's different, some issue comes out of nowhere to slap him in the face. I think everyone who lives with something painful can recognize that. No matter how used to it you get, and how little you think about it, the tiniest and most random thing can just hit you and hurt you all over again. It probably didn't even occur to Luke until he had the registration card in his hand that this was going to be one of those things. I loved Sarah Jane trying to comfort him and knowing that she can only do so much, and that he has to handle it on his own.
And finally - man, this show totally ships Clyde/Luke, doesn't it? I've had my doubts about the subtext (SJA may be British and share a universe with Torchwood, but it is still a kids' show), but it's really hard to misinterpret a teenage boy hanging all over another teenage boy for no special reason for a solid minute. God, Clyde, just kiss him already.
. . . okay, first let's get the obligatory Les Mis geekery out of the way. Look, it's not my fault if it keeps popping up everywhere. (You should see me in English 245, where we are currently studying poetry. "This poem is about Valjean! This essay is about Marius being a tremendous dork!") Clyde's birthday is June fifth, which is the day the 1832 revolution began.
(Geeky real life birthday coincidence: My little brother was born on March twenty-fifth, which is the day Sauron fell. When he is old enough, I will explain this to him, and he will probably look at me funny.)
Anyway!
Astrology! I love how this series is making use of seemingly mundane things. Clowns and astrology. I'm not sure they'll ever top evil brainwashed nuns for sheer WTF, but evil astrology is pretty excellent. I like the explanation of it as being from a universe that existed before ours came into being, an echo of ancient memory that shows up in cultures through the universe. That is, along with the way they used clowns (in the first part of that story, anyway) genuinely cool and a pretty adept avoidance of camp with a topic that is, these days, inherently campy. Every episode of SJA has a certain element of camp, of course - you can't really get away from it in a scifi show for kids, where you can do stories that you couldn't necessarily pull off on an adult show b . . . oh, fuck it, who I am kidding, every single episode of SJA has been twelve hundred percent more believeable than the majority of Torchwood. Yes, including the one with the moon hurtling toward the Earth because of a supercomputer pulling it down. (I have always loved that "Armageddon virus" thing. Does Mr Smith run Windows? Maybe he and Alan were awkward at each other because Alan took it upon himself to install Linux instead when he was patching Mr Smith back together, and Mr Smith feels he should have been consulted, and Alan won't apologize for installing better, more reliable programming, and okay I'm stopping now.) But when SJA finds a way to play an idea straight, it nails it every time.
I still have no particular opinion one way or another on Rani, but god does her mother bug me. When is RTD going to go away? His mommy issues are not entertaining. Mrs Chandra is like an amalgamation of Chrissie at her most annoying and Jackie Tyler at her most clueless. Her persistent shortening of Sarah Jane's name would be mildly funny if they hadn't already done the wrong-name schtick all last series with Chrissie. There is nothing new or interesting about the character and there is everything wrong and boring with her. Actually, the entire Chandra family is the Jacksons mark two. Rani is virtually indistinguishable from Maria (except for having a less talented actress), Mrs Chandra is Chrissie plus maternal instincts, and Mr Chandra is obviously being set up to be similar to Alan and will probably be the parent who finds out the truth first. And then there's probably a whole set of British stereotypes about Indians that I don't even know about that's also at work here.
Bah, anyway, let's move on to Luke. I love how the show handles his origins; just when it seems he's fully come to terms with and accepted that he's different, some issue comes out of nowhere to slap him in the face. I think everyone who lives with something painful can recognize that. No matter how used to it you get, and how little you think about it, the tiniest and most random thing can just hit you and hurt you all over again. It probably didn't even occur to Luke until he had the registration card in his hand that this was going to be one of those things. I loved Sarah Jane trying to comfort him and knowing that she can only do so much, and that he has to handle it on his own.
And finally - man, this show totally ships Clyde/Luke, doesn't it? I've had my doubts about the subtext (SJA may be British and share a universe with Torchwood, but it is still a kids' show), but it's really hard to misinterpret a teenage boy hanging all over another teenage boy for no special reason for a solid minute. God, Clyde, just kiss him already.