james_davis_nicoll (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2009-03-03 10:21 am
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2009-03-03 10:21 am
Entry tags:
As Promised: Starlost Reviews
One immediate problem I noticed is that The Starlost is bad but not funny bad like 24 or Heroes. It's just kind of dull and the set design is ugly.
Episode One: Voyage of Discovery
This is set in Cyprus Corners, home of the meanest Amish farmers you will ever meet (Their patriarch has a great beard, though).
Devon's unsanctioned passion for Rachel, promised to blacksmith Garth, gets Devon into trouble with the authorities. Devon is forced to flee his home habitat, which leads him to discover that he is on a giant space ship, that nobody is flying the ship and that the ship is aimed in what I assume is a violation of SOP directly at a star. Deven heads back home and thanks to Garth, narrowly escapes being stoned to death.Devon repays Garth by running off with Rachel. Garth pursues the couple but gives up on the idea of dragging Rachel back. The trio contemplate the stars, especially the one big bright one that seems to be under an AU away.
Comments:
The computer consistantly gives the impression that if it could mutter "you ignorant sack of tainted water" under its breath, it would.
Garth spends a lot of time hammering on the same small irregularly shaped bit of metal. Well, nobody said he was a good blacksmith. He doesn't seem to be particularly attracted to Rachel and his primary reason for being annoyed when she leaves isn't frustrated romance but simple possessiveness. In fact, annoyance at the way the universe keeps him from beating on his small piece of metal seems to be his primary emotion. Oh, Garth. Devon may have Rachel but you will always have that nifty cross bow (Unless cannibals steal it from you).
The sets are beyond ugly. Cyprus Corners looks as though it's experiencing nuclear winter and apparently there was a sale on extruded plastic forms when the tunnels connecting the domes were constructed. I found myself concerned that the strips of lighting on the ceilings were crooked, as though they were installed on the cheap by lazy workers.
The pad for the bounce tube appears to be made of some sort of sponge rubber.
Devon has an odd smug smirk that suggests he somehow senses that the writers are on his side. He and Rachel seem oddly passionless as well, and I don't think this is entirely because this is a Canadian show. Devon and the others switch into and out of archaic speech patterns but they are always very formal by our standards. No doubt their pillow talk would be hilarious from a modern viewer's point of view but somehow I doubt the couple ever bump uglies unless it's specifically to procreate. It's just a cultural thing.
Rachel is more of a prize than an active participant in the plot. For large sections of the story, she could be replaced with a potted palm without significantly affecting the plot.
The plot is pretty much what it has to be to get the show going. Devon can't be happy at home so something has to force him out, either curiousity or an intolerable situation at home (Or both). He needs at least one companion to talk to and since the woman can't be expected to talk intelligently, that means a trio, with a perpetually frustrated second male who is never, ever, going to get any. The Disaster hundreds of years ago gives the trio something to struggle towards without giving them the choice each week of just settling down in whatever dome they are in.
Episode One: Voyage of Discovery
This is set in Cyprus Corners, home of the meanest Amish farmers you will ever meet (Their patriarch has a great beard, though).
Devon's unsanctioned passion for Rachel, promised to blacksmith Garth, gets Devon into trouble with the authorities. Devon is forced to flee his home habitat, which leads him to discover that he is on a giant space ship, that nobody is flying the ship and that the ship is aimed in what I assume is a violation of SOP directly at a star. Deven heads back home and thanks to Garth, narrowly escapes being stoned to death.Devon repays Garth by running off with Rachel. Garth pursues the couple but gives up on the idea of dragging Rachel back. The trio contemplate the stars, especially the one big bright one that seems to be under an AU away.
Comments:
The computer consistantly gives the impression that if it could mutter "you ignorant sack of tainted water" under its breath, it would.
Garth spends a lot of time hammering on the same small irregularly shaped bit of metal. Well, nobody said he was a good blacksmith. He doesn't seem to be particularly attracted to Rachel and his primary reason for being annoyed when she leaves isn't frustrated romance but simple possessiveness. In fact, annoyance at the way the universe keeps him from beating on his small piece of metal seems to be his primary emotion. Oh, Garth. Devon may have Rachel but you will always have that nifty cross bow (Unless cannibals steal it from you).
The sets are beyond ugly. Cyprus Corners looks as though it's experiencing nuclear winter and apparently there was a sale on extruded plastic forms when the tunnels connecting the domes were constructed. I found myself concerned that the strips of lighting on the ceilings were crooked, as though they were installed on the cheap by lazy workers.
The pad for the bounce tube appears to be made of some sort of sponge rubber.
Devon has an odd smug smirk that suggests he somehow senses that the writers are on his side. He and Rachel seem oddly passionless as well, and I don't think this is entirely because this is a Canadian show. Devon and the others switch into and out of archaic speech patterns but they are always very formal by our standards. No doubt their pillow talk would be hilarious from a modern viewer's point of view but somehow I doubt the couple ever bump uglies unless it's specifically to procreate. It's just a cultural thing.
Rachel is more of a prize than an active participant in the plot. For large sections of the story, she could be replaced with a potted palm without significantly affecting the plot.
The plot is pretty much what it has to be to get the show going. Devon can't be happy at home so something has to force him out, either curiousity or an intolerable situation at home (Or both). He needs at least one companion to talk to and since the woman can't be expected to talk intelligently, that means a trio, with a perpetually frustrated second male who is never, ever, going to get any. The Disaster hundreds of years ago gives the trio something to struggle towards without giving them the choice each week of just settling down in whatever dome they are in.
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