The sci-fi TV thread

Highlander 2: The Quickening. Highlander won the Academy Award for the greatest movie ever. The Quickening was just terrible.

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That’s because there can only be one.

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[Golf Clap]

There should have been only one.

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I wish that Kurgan had killed MacLeod. It would have made for better sequels. Kurgan rocked!

The problem with The Quickening is that not only was the plot preposterous, it also completely undermined the plot of the original film. When you saw how Vito Andolini came to the U.S. and started his criminal enterprise in the Godfather Part II, the original made more sense. When you’re told that MacLeod and Ramirez and Kurgan were alien criminals sentenced to a life of immortality on earth, well it just made you say “what the fuck?” and the entire original film now made no sense in its characters, plot or timeline. It made Caddyshack 2 look like Citizen Kane.

Hence why I refuse to acknowledge its material existence. I mean, if Ramirez really was an alien criminal then why did he ponder whether stars are just pinholes in the curtain of night?

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Breaking 2: Electric Boogaloo

One of my favorite movie lines of all time!

And why does he claim to be 1,000 years old, when he was exiled only 500 years prior? And why doesn’t MacLeod recognize Ramirez if they were part of the same group banished from the alien planet? And MacLeod isn’t really a highlander, he’s an alien? That’s just fucked up. So many convoluted and unanswered questions.

Plus the soundtrack on the original kicked ass and the sequel blew chunks.

Connery phoning it in with his Spanish accent was the best part: “moi name is Ramiresh”

Speaking of Highlander:

Hey Clancy, ease up on the octothorps. (I just learned that word)

I can’t hear the name Ramirez, without hearing it in the voice of the Kurgan.

For a guy who has never “starred” in a movie, Clancy Brown has carved out an amazing career.

Seems to be a pretty nice guy too. I saw him in an interview once talking about auditioning for the Shawshank Redemption. He was asked to read the scene where he first meets the prisoners telling them “YOU’LL EAT WHEN WE SAY YOU EAT, YOU’LL PISS WHEN WE SAY YOU PISS…YOU GOT THAT YOU MAGGOT!”, only he had to say it to the casting director, whom he described as a very sweet older lady. He said he couldn’t do it. He apologized over and over, but he just couldn’t be that mean to someone who looked so nice. He figured he’d completely blown the audition, and even after he’d been told he got the part, he figured it was a mistake, and wasn’t convinced until the first rehearsals and he wasn’t asked to leave.

A great character actor, as long as the character is a murderous sociopath.

I saw a piece on The Shawshank Redemption where they said that Brown himself urged them to remove the soft edges that originally existed with his character. The producers thought that he needed some moments of humanity to be credible, but Brown’s (correct) instinct was that such moments would confuse the audience as to his overarching motives.

Season 2 of FAM is, I hope, building to something. So far, save one - oft teased - new development, the first three episodes have been almost exclusively dedicated to the aftermath of Season 1. I understand that they have to catch us up after a time jump but, at the same time, they have to move forward.

Ep1 was decent, including an interesting montage of all the things that changed in this alternate timeline. What the point of the Cobb incident will be is yet to be even hinted at; it disappeared after the episode ended. Ep2 felt almost like a mid-season filler. Ep3 was a bit of bait ‘n’ switch, albeit with a moment crushing emotional catharsis.

Spoiler

Ep3 was promo’d heavily about the arming of the astronauts at Jamestown, but that plot line took up less than the first 1/4 of the episode, never went anywhere beyond the decision-making, and was never revisited. The looming conflict on the moon is, supposedly, the big arc of this season, and it’s been barely touched upon one third of the way in.

Also, I was hoping for a story about how they overcome the fact that conventional guns don’t work in a vacuum. Firefly dealt with this 20 years ago (in the “Our Mrs Reynolds” episode that was peak Firefly), so I hope they don’t just gloss over it. FAM isn’t up to “The Expanse” on being rooted in hard science, but it ain’t Star Wars either.

Gordo returning to the moon makes absolutely no sense. He doesn’t want to go and Baldwin wouldn’t make such a rash decision that could endanger a mission. The fact that he can’t fit into a flight suit was played for laughs, instead of being the beer-bellied elephant in the room.

FAM has shown a willingness to play the long game.

Spoiler

I don’t know what “oft-teased new development” you’re referring to, but the cosmonaut bugging Jamestown while Ed went back into orbit to save Ellen certainly qualifies. They foreshadow that in season 1 when you see the reflection of Jamestown in his helmet, and then nothing until this past episode. I feel like the show is always dropping hints here and there about what’s to come, like Ed’s gaze lingering on younger Shane wobbly riding his bike into the street.

They’ve earned the benefit of the doubt from me.

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Agreed. I just wish this season would get going, instead of re-engaging past issues.

I’m persevering with NBC’s “Debris”. So far though, as I watch it, I cannot help but think of “The Happening”, and this is not a good thing for the show.

It’s like they’re trying to be weird as shit just for the hell of it. They get one more episode from me, and if it’s still as totally implausible after that, well, I’ve got better things to do.