Read or bust.

http://www.slipstreamnews.com/news/021102_01.shtml

See ya! Jon.E

Why does each epi have to 'stand alone'???? Is it too hard for the cast 'themselves' to remember their history??!! There are lots of other shows out there that have MEGA backstory (Stargate is one that comes to mind) How can you have a show and NOT have a backstory of why the shows current 'world' is like it is??? Maybe I'm just to simple to understand it?!?!?!


'Drea

Well, I don't really care if they stand alone or not.

I finally watched an Andromeda ep last weekend. I kept going in and out of the room, but I got the gist of it. It wasn't bad. It wasn't great either. It was an okay episode, maybe 6 out of 9. I liked that I didn't have to hear Harper harping constantly. That was a good thing. I liked seeing Tyr, but not having to hear him talking down to people, again. That was a good thing. I wonder if they'll keep any of those folks on board for crew. I've been saying for a long time that I thought they should. That would be a good thing.

POI -- I see the online community has had a definite effect on this episode. Anyone who doesn't think the writers kowtow to the online community should note the use of the name "Ogami" as the name for the alien life forms (Ogami is the name of a poster on Slipstream, if I remember correctly).

Shhh,
Whisper

QUOTE Sorbo:
snipped
"We’re trying to make each episode an individual one so that the casual viewer can tune in and still know what’s going on."

That would be me. And I have to say that it's working. I enjoy this show so much more knowing that I don't have to know all the backstory and history to know what is going on. That was one of the reasons that I stopped watching after season 1. It was to much effort to keep track of all that stuff. And not being the avid sci-fi fan it's nice not to have to worry about that.

And Whisper I think you are more right than you know about the writers, and whoever else, listening (reading) what the fans are saying over at slipstream. I've been reading some of the things that they're saying over there, and some of it is not very pretty! LOL! But it sounds like they (writers etc..) are listening. I've read things over at SS that say stuff about them "duming down" the show. And here's Sorbo saying something about that.......
And as for that whole "duming down" thing. I don't think they have. But then, I'm one of those "dumb" ones that they've hooked since then.

And on a personal side note; Sorbo may have foot-in-mouth-disease more often than not in his interviews, but I still think he looks as yummy as ever in that pic!

And I'll bet you're glad to hear that he won't be wearing that uniform very often anymore!

(Watch Wike drool!!!)

Shhh,
Whisper

'Nuff said.

I'm so disgusted with Kevin right now that I don't CARE how yummy he looks.

He appears to say whatever he thinks people want to hear. He contradicts himself at every turn. He's like some kind of smarmy politician.

QUOTE Whisper:
"And I'll bet you're glad to hear that he won't be wearing that uniform very often anymore!

(Watch Wike drool!!!)"

Yes! I'm soooooo glad to see that uniform go! I hated that thing since day one! I like what they've got him in now days way better!
And as for the drool, I'll try to control myself.....

QUOTE 'Drea:
"Why does each epi have to 'stand alone'???? Is it too hard for the cast 'themselves' to remember their history??!! There are lots of other shows out there that have MEGA backstory (Stargate is one that comes to mind) How can you have a show and NOT have a backstory of why the shows current 'world' is like it is??? Maybe I'm just to simple to understand it?!?!?!"

I don't think that each epi has to have backstory. Or at least not so much that the "causal" viewer can't figure out what is going on. I don't think that there is anything wrong with backstory, but why all the time? Or maybe the better question is why so heavy a backstory all the time?

Since my local station had switched Andromeda around till it settled at 4:00 pm I missed the first few eps. Was there any reason given why Tyr doesn't have his bone spurs any more?

Just curious.

Does he not have them? Huh. I didn't even notice.

Maybe they were lasered off so he could pass as a non-Nietz.

Maybe Dylan got tired of his patronizing manner and shot 'em off.

Maybe a Harper experiment went bad, and they were blown off.

Maybe he was cold.

Shhh,
Whisper

I'm so disgusted with Kevin right now that I don't CARE how yummy he looks.

He appears to say whatever he thinks people want to hear. He contradicts himself at every turn. He's like some kind of smarmy politician.

Now why do I get this weird sense of "Deja Vu"?

Long time ago, when I lurked in the Xena forum, I read many posts saying the same on Lucy Lawless, that her comments were like the wind: you didn't know what she was going to say next, dreaded "foot in mouth disease", inconsistent as her own show. And let's not forget about that "interesting" article about her comments towards those "fans" on the internet, that none of 'them' should have children, etc. if I remember correctly.

Sorbo's just a children's birthday party, compared to this.

Now I've been to the Slipstream place, and it's not so bad. All in all, it seems like a healthy bunch, on a healthy show. If any of you have been following the Xena forum like Lil and I have, these Andromeda posts are nothing.

In all my days of watching TV (and trust me, I've seen a lot of it. ) I don't think I've ever been so offended, so rubbed the wrong way, with "Xena"-- its mixed messages, the content, at times despicable, juvenile, and all those nasty debates held daily on the forum, concerning its ethics and at times twisted morals (Like from one Batrochides).

I was fed up with it. And like others on the forum, we expected it to get better...it did not. So I left.

I've been nothing short but entertained when I watch Andromeda...there is violence, a little shake sometimes, but nothing over the top, the good guys were good, and Tyr was...well, uh....Tyr. You knew who they were, no immoral messages sent, nothing ambiguous, all in all.........fun.

With shows like Xena (in its later seasons 3+), with its impregnation ("Rape" to others on the EX-forumjr) by demon gods, shock value gore, masturbation/southpark locker room humour, abuse, "blood on a baby", "Xena killing at the drop of a hat", et al. it's hard to find shows with cleaner entertainment.

Personally, I find nothing to hate Sorbo about, or to complain-- nothing in his show is offensive, he's experimenting...I don't see Tyr dragging Trance around the deck by her tail, finally breaking it, or Rommie throwing her Force Lance to drill into Harper's data port yelling "Magog" because he was trying to harm her "soulmate" Dylan, whose pregnant with her child because Tyr had stolen its soul and wants it back from the Magog's god with flashing eyes. Nope, just an ongoing storyline, and they're trying to tell others.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is we should be satisfied (somewhat) with what we have, content wise. Nothing is offensive, and if Sorbo's being a smarmy politician I say let him. The moment he's pulling a "Xena" I'll be the first to chime in with youse.

Ummmmm, IMHO, of course. Hope no one is offended, so I put in this disclamier.

See ya! Jon.E

"Why does each epi have to 'stand alone'????"

There's a precedent for this -- look back to the original Star Trek series with Shatner and Nimoy. There wasn't any sort of daily soap opera type continuity for the most part from episode to episode. The series revolved upon the interaction between the main characters, their guests, and the current adventure. And this treatment didn't detract from the success of the series one bit -- we've seen that in all the spinoffs it generated. And Andromeda appears to follow this formula too.

"He appears to say whatever he thinks people want to hear. He contradicts himself at every turn. He's like some kind of smarmy politician."

IMO I think people in general who want to keep getting a paycheck do so. He has a wife and child to support. And he wouldn't be the first one to say what he thinks the viewer wants to hear. Let's remember all the lies and promises that XWP fans were given by Tapert and Co. and the uproar it raised on the old SUSA forum. The bottom line is that the producers/stars will do or say anything to get viewers.

"I've been nothing short but entertained when I watch Andromeda...there is violence, a little shake sometimes, but nothing over the top, the good guys were good, and Tyr was...well, uh....Tyr. You knew who they were, no immoral messages sent, nothing ambiguous, all in all.........fun."

Unfortunately I haven't seen Andromeda except for last week's episode, but I agree that compared to what XWP became it is a wholesome, squeaky clean production as was HTLJ. And "Dylan" is "human", not some demi-godlike who is infallible, always right, can overcome anything, even the divine. While some might call this depiction as a "flat or comic book hero" and find it boring I don't miss simulated sex, jokes about masturbation, and excessive graphic violence.

Let's remember all the lies and promises that XWP fans were given by Tapert and Co. and the uproar it raised on the old SUSA forum. The bottom line is that the producers/stars will do or say anything to get viewers.

I remembered this line from an old whoosh article from Paddy Fitz (aka Burt Rudnyk) that I had read years ago...amazing it's still up there:

"There was a sidebar with references to the Internet. Rob said he never got involved with the Internet for the show because it was too hard a job. He also said the Internet was not a good source for things because it was too volatile. He had heard of other shows where there practically had to be an intervention between people who work on the show and Internet users. He said there was nothing to be gained from it."

What a thing to say.

How would he know it was volatile if he's never really visited? Unless.

Joss Whedon never felt this way either. And I know that people on the Slipstream forum interact on a good basis.

So it can't be that bad on Sorbo.

See ya! Jon.E

You KNEW I'd have to respond didn't ya?

Satisfied?

Nuts to that (as one of my fellow SSers says). Satisfied with a bunch of mindless gunfights, boobcams, and Dylan going about making sexual advances with obviously troubled women as his crew runs around like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off whilst the crazy lady's pals make nice with the engine room?

Satisfied with Kevin Sorbo talking about which one of his female cast mates his friends want to screw the most?

Satisfied with the idea that the star of this show thinks that Mel Brooks and Airplane style humor have any place within miles of this show?

Satisfied with the knowledge that good meaty character scenes are getting cut so that Tribune and Fireworks can get in their requisite ten minutes of the same three masked goons of the week getting blown away by the ever intrepid Captain Hunt?

Satisfied while the most interesting character on SF television since Londo Molari slowly gets turned into spineless woos who practically weeps at the thought that he might hurt poor Captain Terrific?

Um. NO, thank you I am NOT satisfied.

And I'm even less satisfied because I know what it was, what it could have been and dammit, what it SHOULD be.




p.s. Batrochides is a personal friend of mine. He's really a nice person albeit he can come accross quite critically on line.

Lil

You KNEW I'd have to respond didn't ya?

Oh, the Spidersense tingled a might.

Satisfied with a bunch of mindless gunfights, boobcams, and Dylan going about making sexual advances with obviously troubled women as his crew runs around like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off whilst the crazy lady's pals make nice with the engine room?

Hmmm...

I haven't missed an episode yet myself, and I saw nothing wrong with what's going on so far, but they've been kinda making goo-goo eyes all through the episode. . And well, he's made sexual advances, but so far he really hasn't acted upon them. See your point, though.

And who knows? They might continue on with that one...and Capn Kirk was no saint either. At least there's consistency.

There was one last year "Lava and Rockets" that was kinda touchy at the end, and that one with "Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee machine gunning everybody for sake of this Prince guy.

I don't mind the mindless gun fights...that kind of violence I can understand. But we both know Xena wasn't like that...like my friend theHandpuppet once wrote, "It's dangerous." For years we've had ongoing discussions about it...and I agree (for the most) of what had been said, and there was some I didn't agree with.

Satisfied with Kevin Sorbo talking about which one of his female cast mates his friends want to screw the most?

That's Sorbo, not Dylan Hunt. And as I recall, there's nothing like that on the show.

You should have seen what has been said about Sarah Michelle Gellar...that she was a conceited little snit off the set and was hard to get along with. Don't know if that was true, but as long as she did her job producing good episodes I don't care what's like in real life.

Satisfied with the idea that the star of this show thinks that Mel Brooks and Airplane style humor have any place within miles of this show?

What Sorbo thinks is irrelevant, IMHO. It's the final product we see on the screen that matters. And as long as I'm not offended by it, I'd say he should go for it.

Satisfied with the knowledge that good meaty character scenes are getting cut so that Tribune and Fireworks can get in their requisite ten minutes of the same three masked goons of the week getting blown away by the ever intrepid Captain Hunt?

I'm sorry to read that, but still that's not offensive (to me), show wise.

Satisfied while the most interesting character on SF television since Londo Molari slowly gets turned into spineless woos who practically weeps at the thought that he might hurt poor Captain Terrific?

At least "Captain Terrfic" isn't pulling a Xena. If he starts pulling a Xena every week, I'll be booing right along with ya.

And I'm even less satisfied because I know what it was, what it could have been and dammit, what it SHOULD be.

I understand what you're saying Lil, and I'm sorry things are going well as they should, but from my POV, everything seems all right with me. Like my bud Diana said, from what she saw, I agree that compared to what XWP became it is a wholesome, squeaky clean production as was HTLJ. That basically matters to me when I watch a show.

Granted, I might an episode strong or weak...but that's about it.

The show may be losing ratings big time, but I can't find any major fault with it...at least, with me.

p.s. Batrochides is a personal friend of mine. He's really a nice person albeit he can come accross quite critically on line.

My dear Batrochides knows me and likes me too, Killer Kitten Lil. But I happen to agree with much of what he says about the show, so I don't watch it.

See ya! Jon.E

Try this again...

***

I haven't missed an episode yet myself, and I saw nothing wrong with what's going on so far. And well, he's made sexual advances, but so far he really hasn't acted upon them. See your point, though.

There was one last year "Lava and Rockets" that was kinda touchy at the end (but they've been kinda making goo-goo eyes all through the episode. And who knows? They might continue on with that one...and Capn Kirk was no saint either. At least there's consistency.)...and that one with "Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee machine gunning everybody for sake of this Prince guy.

That's better...that last post made no sense.

Sorry for the other missing words in sentences throughout this post...but I'm in a hurry.

See ya! Jon.E

Hey Jon if Kevin were just an actor (reference to "For those of you just joining us" intentional) I wouldn't worry about what he says in terms of its effect on the show but he's not. He's an EP and he has say. In fact I heard Majel Roddenberry say that what Kevin says goes. And did I tell you about the time he talked about how he wanted to have Rommie and Dylan have a simultaneous sexually charged dream about eachother only Trance also knows about it? Yup, that's the show he's talking about there.:p And speaking of that, in his recent appearance on Conan he described the show succinctly as being about "hot babes and cleavage". That's the executive producer and star talking there.

Specific instances of boobcam off the top of my head: Margo (Bobby's henchman) in Be All My Sins Remembered. Trance almost falling out of her xena wear in Dance of the Mayflies. Almost all the shots of Rommie.:p


Has there been anything as offensive as Xena on the show? No WAY. Not even close. Thank the divine, but that doesn't mean there aren't problems.

Bottom line is reasonable minds can differ. I don't get cranky until people start telling me what I "should be satisfied" with because that decision is entirely my call.



Lil

Hey Jon if Kevin were just an actor (reference to "For those of you just joining us" intentional) I wouldn't worry about what he says in terms of its effect on the show but he's not. He's an EP and he has say. In fact I heard Majel Roddenberry say that what Kevin says goes.

As I recall, there are other producers...Adam Haight and Jay Firestone, I'm sure they all must reach some concensus before making up an entire epiosde.

But so far that's all we've been doing...just reading his say. Nothing's really concrete.

And did I tell you about the time he talked about how he wanted to have Rommie and Dylan have a simultaneous sexually charged dream about eachother only Trance also knows about it? Yup, that's the show he's talking about there.:p

Speaking as one that has written stories ideas are gotten all the time...doesn't necessarily mean they're good ones. But again, it's the final product we are concerned about, not about what pops in from thin air.

And speaking of that, in his recent appearance on Conan he described the show succinctly as being about "hot babes and cleavage". That's the executive producer and star talking there.

Whoa, baby! I gotta love that!

I mean. Well, what syndicated show doesn't have that T&A...but from what we've seen it's nothing like that.

Specific instances of boobcam off the top of my head: Margo (Bobby's henchman) in Be All My Sins Remembered. Trance almost falling out of her xena wear in Dance of the Mayflies. Almost all the shots of Rommie.:p

Never caught those...but eh, as long as no one's being dragged by their tail along the deck then I'm happy. :P

Has there been anything as offensive as Xena on the show? No WAY. Not even close. Thank the divine,

But that's my point all along. Then I'm happy.

but that doesn't mean there aren't problems.

I agree, but nothing really offensive or disconcerning to worry about. To date, I've really found nothing to say against any Andromeda episodes.

Bottom line is reasonable minds can differ. I don't get cranky until people start telling me what I "should be satisfied" with because that decision is entirely my call.

Agreed...but.

My entire sentence was this:

So I guess what I'm trying to say is we should be satisfied (somewhat) with what we have, content wise. Nothing is offensive, and if Sorbo's being a smarmy politician I say let him.

I meant satisfied, content wise only, limited to only what you see on the screen. I wasn't referring to things happening off the set, as some your post had stated. And I threw in the word "somewhat", meaning that point I had made was iffy, that you can find fault in that reasoning...and you do.

For more political correctness, perhaps I will amend:

So I guess what I'm trying to say is we could be satisfied (somewhat) with what we have, content wise.

Better?

See ya! Jon.E

QUOTE Lil:
"And speaking of that, in his recent appearance on Conan he described the show succinctly as being about "hot babes and cleavage". That's the executive producer and star talking there."

Ok, this makes me laugh.
Reason 1)
It's Conan ! The people that watch that show watch it for interviews like that! LOL!

Reason 2)
He said the same thing when he did interviews for H:TLJ. And I have to agree with Jon.E. about other shows having the same thing. There is not one show on any channel that doesn't have some kind of eye-candy. Some of it may be wrapped a little different, but it's there.

Reason 3)
Shock value. I'm convinced that he says what he says for nothing more than shock value. Sad as it is, people want to see T&A. Maybe not you, maybe not me, but there are people out there that watch for that very reason. In what ever form they can find it in. And personally, I don't see where Andromeda is anywhere close to Xena. I don't know that it could get as bad as Xena.....

**Disclaimer: I'm not laughing at Lil. I'm laughing at the comment about "hot babes and cleavage".
No throwing things and yelling.....

I don't care why he does it. That he does it at ALL proves that he doesn't get science fiction fandom or that he does get it and just doesn't care if he pisses fans off.

In either case it doesn't speak well of him.

If it were an isolated incident I might just wink and move on.

Unfortunately it's not.

That's just my view.

Lil

I can see your view. I guess I just don't understand it. But, I don't have the heart involved that you do. <<shrug>>
For me it's just another show that I watch and enjoy. I do like talking about it online, I just don't follow it as in-depth like you and other scifi fans.
As for his interviews, I chalk it up to an actor saying what his interviewer's target audience wants to hear. Or even knowing what that audience wants to hear and saying something that he knows will get them talking. Shock value. Nothing gets ratings and viewers as much as shock value. It may not keep said viewers, but it will draw them in when they're needed.

quote: "Shock value. Nothing gets ratings and viewers as much as shock value. It may not keep said viewers, but it will draw them in when they're needed"

And we all saw how well that worked with RenPic's XWP. Shock value, gore, and sleaze - that attracted viewers and merchandizing. And we've all seen which show Creation touted the most - it's name sure wasn't HTLJ. I've read posts by some of our buddies lamenting on the fact that the only place they can still continue to get Herc merchandise is from Panzer-Davis (or is it Davis-Panzer)?

I've read posts by some of our buddies lamenting on the fact that the only place they can still continue to get Herc merchandise is from Panzer-Davis (or is it Davis-Panzer)?

As warned in another post, they are unreliable. Order from them at your own risk.

See ya! Jon.E