There's only been once episode (that crappy dance club, people milking episode) that truly sucked ass.
That would be Scratch And Sniff. Not my favorite episode. But, I will say this in its favor. Yes, it does have a weird 60's beach-party meets 90's rave vibe, but this is because the story is being told by Crichton to Pilot, who expresses more than a little incredulity. It's not clear how much of the story has been affected by Crichton's, uh, recontextualizing.
From this perspective, it does give an interesting insight into how Crichton relates these "strange alien creatures" to his more familiar Earth culture.
Oh FFS. It's a softcore sci-fi porn show; it's not Stalin's death squads. I like the fact that the characters are morally ambiguous. I also like that they're not bound by a Prime Directive.
I liked Lexx at first because I thought it was one of the most original sci fi universes on TV. It had a sense of humor about modern society and reminded me, in many ways, of Max Headroom.
Now it's just bad porn (see Fluffdaddy). Not that I'm knocking porn, but Lexx used to be something else.
Last season was better, but the whole "Fire and Water, get it? It's Heaven and Hell! Get it? Get it?" thing wore thin after about three episodes and then we had to sit through nine more, which basically consisted of "Okay, Xev and Stan are on the Lexx...Where's Kai? Okay, rescue Kai, but now Stan is stranded...Okay, rescue Stan, but now Xev is stranded...oh, wait, that's not Xev, that's Prince, or is it Kai...or is Prince Kai?" ENOUGH!
Still, the Brunnen-G fight song is pretty cool. I guess that counts for something.
I got into FS starting with Nerve and have been pretty impressed since then.
As an all around TV SF fan, I dug ST:TNG, lived for B5 and put up with Voyager. I even watch Lexx, but only for ten minutes at a time:)
What's impressive is not how many episodes of FS are good. What's impressive is how many of them are not dreadful. Even the most die-hard ST:TNG fan has to admit that there were too many Counselor Troi's Mother Gets Married - Worf's Son Gets In Trouble - Wesley Crusher Almost Gets Laid episodes. The best of ST:TNG was great, but the worst was unwatchable.
Same goes for B5. Seasons 1 and 5 were simply not good. Season 5 was watchable only because by then you were hooked. Season 1 is watchable now because you know what's coming. Only Seasons 2-4 were truly great.
There are a number of ho-hum episodes of FS (Back and Back and Back to the Future, The Flax, Jeremiah Crichton, Taking The Stone, Scratch And Sniff). But there hasn't been one yet, for me, that has been downright painful. Compare these against Picard Turns Into A Marmoset, Mua'Dib Wesley, I Left Data's Head In San Francisco, My Pet Borg and anything *anything* with Lwaxana Troi.
Even compared against the the best of TNG (A Matter Of Honor, Yesterday's Enterprise, The Best of Both Worlds, Unification, All Good Things...) the best of FS holds its own (Nerve, Crackers Don't Matter, The Way We Weren't, Liars Guns and Money, Icarus Abides, The Choice).
Someone else mentioned this, but it bears repeating. What makes FS good is the relatively light touch when it comes to invoking technobabble. Yes, the DRDs and the translator microbes do come in handy from time to time. But you rarely get the old TNG "If I realign the deflector to emit the Particle Of The Week, we might just be able to get out of this!" Thanks Geordi, here's your cookie.
Oh, and here's a little something other sci-fi shows could pick up on. Notice how they actually move the camera from time to time and choose creative shot compositions? Again, I liked TNG, but sometimes it felt like it was being filmed by a set of surveillance cameras.
None of this is to say that FS is perfect. For my taste, they're a little self-conscious with the made-up time and distance units (what's Moya's top speed, in metras per arn?) I understand the need for bogus expletives, but if Rygel says "yotz" one more time I'm gonna kick the frelling hezmona out of him. Also, these translator microbes must really be something. No one seems to notice that Crichton's not actually speaking Sebacean when he passes himself off as a Peacekeeper.
But why quibble? If the Trek techs could rig the transporter to cure Dr. Polaski, why would anyone ever die of anything? On balance, FS is a decent show.
Slashdot Mirror
There's only been once episode (that crappy dance club, people milking episode) that truly sucked ass. That would be Scratch And Sniff. Not my favorite episode. But, I will say this in its favor. Yes, it does have a weird 60's beach-party meets 90's rave vibe, but this is because the story is being told by Crichton to Pilot, who expresses more than a little incredulity. It's not clear how much of the story has been affected by Crichton's, uh, recontextualizing. From this perspective, it does give an interesting insight into how Crichton relates these "strange alien creatures" to his more familiar Earth culture.
Oh FFS. It's a softcore sci-fi porn show; it's not Stalin's death squads. I like the fact that the characters are morally ambiguous. I also like that they're not bound by a Prime Directive.
I liked Lexx at first because I thought it was one of the most original sci fi universes on TV. It had a sense of humor about modern society and reminded me, in many ways, of Max Headroom.
Now it's just bad porn (see Fluffdaddy). Not that I'm knocking porn, but Lexx used to be something else.
Last season was better, but the whole "Fire and Water, get it? It's Heaven and Hell! Get it? Get it?" thing wore thin after about three episodes and then we had to sit through nine more, which basically consisted of "Okay, Xev and Stan are on the Lexx...Where's Kai? Okay, rescue Kai, but now Stan is stranded...Okay, rescue Stan, but now Xev is stranded...oh, wait, that's not Xev, that's Prince, or is it Kai...or is Prince Kai?" ENOUGH!
Still, the Brunnen-G fight song is pretty cool. I guess that counts for something.
I got into FS starting with Nerve and have been pretty impressed since then.
:)
As an all around TV SF fan, I dug ST:TNG, lived for B5 and put up with Voyager. I even watch Lexx, but only for ten minutes at a time
What's impressive is not how many episodes of FS are good. What's impressive is how many of them are not dreadful. Even the most die-hard ST:TNG fan has to admit that there were too many Counselor Troi's Mother Gets Married - Worf's Son Gets In Trouble - Wesley Crusher Almost Gets Laid episodes. The best of ST:TNG was great, but the worst was unwatchable.
Same goes for B5. Seasons 1 and 5 were simply not good. Season 5 was watchable only because by then you were hooked. Season 1 is watchable now because you know what's coming. Only Seasons 2-4 were truly great.
There are a number of ho-hum episodes of FS (Back and Back and Back to the Future, The Flax, Jeremiah Crichton, Taking The Stone, Scratch And Sniff). But there hasn't been one yet, for me, that has been downright painful. Compare these against Picard Turns Into A Marmoset, Mua'Dib Wesley, I Left Data's Head In San Francisco, My Pet Borg and anything *anything* with Lwaxana Troi.
Even compared against the the best of TNG (A Matter Of Honor, Yesterday's Enterprise, The Best of Both Worlds, Unification, All Good Things...) the best of FS holds its own (Nerve, Crackers Don't Matter, The Way We Weren't, Liars Guns and Money, Icarus Abides, The Choice).
Someone else mentioned this, but it bears repeating. What makes FS good is the relatively light touch when it comes to invoking technobabble. Yes, the DRDs and the translator microbes do come in handy from time to time. But you rarely get the old TNG "If I realign the deflector to emit the Particle Of The Week, we might just be able to get out of this!" Thanks Geordi, here's your cookie.
Oh, and here's a little something other sci-fi shows could pick up on. Notice how they actually move the camera from time to time and choose creative shot compositions? Again, I liked TNG, but sometimes it felt like it was being filmed by a set of surveillance cameras.
None of this is to say that FS is perfect. For my taste, they're a little self-conscious with the made-up time and distance units (what's Moya's top speed, in metras per arn?) I understand the need for bogus expletives, but if Rygel says "yotz" one more time I'm gonna kick the frelling hezmona out of him. Also, these translator microbes must really be something. No one seems to notice that Crichton's not actually speaking Sebacean when he passes himself off as a Peacekeeper.
But why quibble? If the Trek techs could rig the transporter to cure Dr. Polaski, why would anyone ever die of anything? On balance, FS is a decent show.