Movie[Crack]House

I came to the realization recently that I am, in fact, a 100% sci-fi nerd. And I pondered whether or not it bothered me, and decided it didn’t. Life has enough drama. Why would I waste my time watching shows that just take stories from the [bad] news of the day and package it up in a neat 42 minute bundle? Eh… no thanks. If I’m going to use my boob tube for true escapism, I want to be taken away to places I will never go. But… I do have my limits. 

1) It has to have amazing characters – and a few very good looking ones. I’m shallow and make no apologies. I’m also very visual, so if it isn’t pretty, I’m not going to want to watch for any extended period of time. 

2) It has to have great writing and dialogue that reflects reality – great conflict and emotion without getting too suckwad sappy.

3) It can’t have too many dumb aliens in it with bad makeup. I enjoy the idea of humans being “pioneers” in space, but too much alien stuff and I lose interest fast.

4) There has to be some decent sexual tension between characters – but they can NEVER give in to it unless it’s indirect or can be taken back easily because of circumstance. If you watch a lot of sci-fi, you know what I mean… 

5) No matter how serious the show is, if there isn’t any sort of comic relief – even if it’s indirect, I’ll lose interest… the only thing that can be substituted for obvious comic relief is some measure of irony – because I will always laugh at irony. 

6) Decent effects – if a show tries to do more than it can afford with computer generated [CG] effects I get angry. I would rather they hint at what’s going on than try to show us using substandard CGI. Nothing brings on disbelief like cartoonish graphics. The only exception is if characters, plot and dialog are outstanding – then a little cheese can be ironic [see rule 5]. 

7) If the story doesn’t have anything to do with outer space, or traveling in space, etc. then it needs to either have a decent dose of really cool technology we don’t have, or super powers that aren’t stupid, or some sort of cool monster component – ie: Vampires. Sexy vampires [as in the show Moonlight, which should never have been cancelled. Brilliant CBS... thanks. Knuckle heads...], not ugly, stupid vampires. Okay, I admit, I have a vampire problem… let’s move on…

8) It needs action and suspense and a plot twist now and then – even main characters being offed, as long as the character isn’t too handsome or beautiful. Then I get angry because it’s wasteful… lol

9) Some really cool robots never hurt, ala Battlestar Galactica’s Centurian Guards [a.k.a. 'bulletheads' or 'toasters'].

I enjoyed the first Star Trek series because it’s something I associate with being really little, watching with my mother as she made pottery in our basement. And I thought Captain Kurk was handsome – even at 4 years old when I first remember watching it. I also loved Mr. Spock because he didn’t yell – EVER. Like my parents did. lol… I enjoyed Next Generation because of Patrick Stewart, but they lost me after that. Too many aliens and annoying characters [no offense to fans... but this is just my tastes]. 

Ironically, I do love a story that revolves around good and evil and has a heavy religious aspect to it. The reason this is ironic is because I didn’t grow up with religion, wasn’t baptized, don’t care. I respect people’s right to believe in whatever they want – we’re all entitled to whatever floats our boat when it comes to believing in a higher power [or not], but I guess for me, shows or movies with that sort of mystical religous component is, well, science fiction because it’s not what I know or believe in [case in point: Constantine]. It’s in the same realm as ghosts, superpowers and monsters for me, and therefore, sci-fi. 

It’s funny how we develop our own set of rules for likes and dislikes as we get older. They’re there even if we’ve never really thought about it before… And that’s all I have to say about that. 

~ HELENA