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Near-miss on fame: was interviewed for ABC Nightly News segment on violent video games; interview was not aired. I'm somewhat sad, but I was afraid I came off as a jerk because the interviewer kept prodding me to say the pro-regulation side was full of idiots (and he kept suggesting that parents were generally lazy and stupid, which I didn't really want to endorse).
A very funny Stargate primer -- which is only appropriate if you (a) know the Spoiler or (b) don't care, but have some mild interest in funny show comparisons.
I can't match![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sisabet for hilarity, but I thought I'd take a cue from her Invisible Man posts to promote my own unjustly neglected fandom. (If you have similar recommendations of your own, tell me in comments or post a link -- I'll consider yours if you'll consider mine!)
That would be The Dead Zone, a USA show that was recently renewed for its fourth season; the first three were not full 22-episode network seasons, but apparently season 4 will give us 22 opportunities to enjoy Johnny Smith and his visions.
Why you should like it: If you ever wondered why nobody ever believed Mulder, even after five-plus years in which he was always right about what was going on, then The Dead Zone has something for you. The people around Johnny Smith, the ones who've seen his psychic visions proved accurate again and again – they believe him. Strangers generally don't, not until he's proved himself to them specifically, so there's a nice mix of belief and disbelief, both of which are used to good effect in various plots.
The visuals are amazing; Johnny's visions are often filmed in Matrix-style frozen motion with Johnny wandering through the scene, but there are plenty of other visual tricks in store as well. Perhaps the most stunning one involves Johnny and a pillar of black smoke, whose presence signals the broader story arc (though most of the episodes are standalones). The pillar resolves into something – well, I don't want to spoil it, but it's a brilliant idea. The broader arc borrows from the plot of the original Stephen King novel and focuses on political candidate Greg Stillson, whose ambitions might be enough to destroy the world.
I won't promise that all the episodes are good, but enough are to justify your time. The visions are varied – sometimes he sees the past, other times the future – and Johnny's tactics for avoiding the disasters he sees have to change from episode to episode. One time, he nearly gets burned as a witch – there's a courtroom scene when he's charged with witchcraft that I want to say is ludicrous, except nothing is unimaginable when it comes to a state trial court.
I don't have a big 'ship thing for the show, but there's a classic Eve Sedgwick triangle – Johnny's ex-fiancee is now married to town sheriff Walt Bannerman, and Johnny and Walt have to work together on many of his visions despite their continuing tension over Sarah and little Johnny Bannerman, Johnny's biological son who's been raised as Walt's. If enemies slash isn't your bag, Johnny's good friend Bruce will also work: in the witchcraft episode, Johnny sends Bruce away because, he says, he can't concentrate on anything else while Bruce is in danger. And the season 2 episode "Zion," in which Bruce has a vision of what his life could have been like, is not only a great narrative in its own right, but also a pretty damn slashy Bruce/Johnny tale.
As a side note, the official website is really good. It is spoiler-intensive, but once you've seen the episodes, there are nice extras, including shooting scripts for basically every episode, some of which have missing scenes. There are even links from the official site to fan and fanfiction sites; these folks are trying to make the people who watch the show happy.
The Dead Zone's first two seasons are out on DVD, and the third should be rerun (and soon available on DVD) before the fourth season starts. By all rights, this should be an amazing fandom.cesperanza told me she'd write DZ, and astolat has already done so -- so what are you waiting for?
A very funny Stargate primer -- which is only appropriate if you (a) know the Spoiler or (b) don't care, but have some mild interest in funny show comparisons.
I can't match
sisabet for hilarity, but I thought I'd take a cue from her Invisible Man posts to promote my own unjustly neglected fandom. (If you have similar recommendations of your own, tell me in comments or post a link -- I'll consider yours if you'll consider mine!)That would be The Dead Zone, a USA show that was recently renewed for its fourth season; the first three were not full 22-episode network seasons, but apparently season 4 will give us 22 opportunities to enjoy Johnny Smith and his visions.
Why you should like it: If you ever wondered why nobody ever believed Mulder, even after five-plus years in which he was always right about what was going on, then The Dead Zone has something for you. The people around Johnny Smith, the ones who've seen his psychic visions proved accurate again and again – they believe him. Strangers generally don't, not until he's proved himself to them specifically, so there's a nice mix of belief and disbelief, both of which are used to good effect in various plots.
The visuals are amazing; Johnny's visions are often filmed in Matrix-style frozen motion with Johnny wandering through the scene, but there are plenty of other visual tricks in store as well. Perhaps the most stunning one involves Johnny and a pillar of black smoke, whose presence signals the broader story arc (though most of the episodes are standalones). The pillar resolves into something – well, I don't want to spoil it, but it's a brilliant idea. The broader arc borrows from the plot of the original Stephen King novel and focuses on political candidate Greg Stillson, whose ambitions might be enough to destroy the world.
I won't promise that all the episodes are good, but enough are to justify your time. The visions are varied – sometimes he sees the past, other times the future – and Johnny's tactics for avoiding the disasters he sees have to change from episode to episode. One time, he nearly gets burned as a witch – there's a courtroom scene when he's charged with witchcraft that I want to say is ludicrous, except nothing is unimaginable when it comes to a state trial court.
I don't have a big 'ship thing for the show, but there's a classic Eve Sedgwick triangle – Johnny's ex-fiancee is now married to town sheriff Walt Bannerman, and Johnny and Walt have to work together on many of his visions despite their continuing tension over Sarah and little Johnny Bannerman, Johnny's biological son who's been raised as Walt's. If enemies slash isn't your bag, Johnny's good friend Bruce will also work: in the witchcraft episode, Johnny sends Bruce away because, he says, he can't concentrate on anything else while Bruce is in danger. And the season 2 episode "Zion," in which Bruce has a vision of what his life could have been like, is not only a great narrative in its own right, but also a pretty damn slashy Bruce/Johnny tale.
As a side note, the official website is really good. It is spoiler-intensive, but once you've seen the episodes, there are nice extras, including shooting scripts for basically every episode, some of which have missing scenes. There are even links from the official site to fan and fanfiction sites; these folks are trying to make the people who watch the show happy.
The Dead Zone's first two seasons are out on DVD, and the third should be rerun (and soon available on DVD) before the fourth season starts. By all rights, this should be an amazing fandom.
cesperanza told me she'd write DZ, and astolat has already done so -- so what are you waiting for?![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Hey, how was last night? Sorry I had to miss! But I have this thing tonight, you're welcome to come with if you want. Think, wine and cheese-ish party, hosted by starving artists.
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And yes, The Dead Zone is underappreciated. I mostly watch for Anthony Michael Hall, who's very intense and charismatic as the lead, and I actually like the romantic triangle between Johnny, Walt and Sarah. I've loved Nicole DeBoer since I sorta watched DS9 back in the day. It's one of the few shows that make me root for heterosexual romance, which is quite strange as I'm usually partial to slash. The slash pairings don't quite work for me, while Johnny/Sarah hints make me giddy. Possibly because Walt is the Riley-equivalent of DZ, if Riley were played by a graying-but-still-handsome ex-soap actor.
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Can't wait to read J/B or J/W *G*
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Seconded re that website. Also, it's nice to see Anthony Michael Hall get a showcase series, after some years of sort of stumbling around. He's quite a good actor.