Thoughts on "Runner"
May. 4th, 2006 11:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
liresiusI've seen all of S2, so the following comments should be read in that context. Behind the cut are my thoughts (and spoilers) on
Opening: I hate to start out negative, but I found Major Lorne's concern ("Let's get you back") for Dr. Parrish's safety rather irritating. Normally, I'd be squeeing at slashy care in this way, but I think there's something of a double standard operating, in the general lack of concern for a certain other Doctor's safety, with the characters in the show. OK, yeah we know Rodney's a hero and OK, the goons do too, because they often behave towards him in ways that show they expect him to be soldierly AND save the day science-wise, but the expectations they have of him have never been worked through in the relationships to my satisfaction. *sigh* Roll on S3 and all those relationship moments!! *g*
I'm not a great Ronon fan as there's not a lot to engage with, on an intellectual level. But he's certainly very sultry in this ep. There are some great cinematographic shots of him. Some interesting angles camera-wise, in combination with an artistic use of light and colour in some of the cave shots. I often find SGA to be quite dark in terms of lighting, so I enjoyed the bright aboriginal colours - the tans and browns of his wardrobe and accessories, and the splashes of ochre on the cave walls lit with bright yellow sunlight,as well as the red skin tones of his exposure to the sun of the planet - all relief from the night scenes, the cave in shadow and the horribly unrelenting grey-blues of the BDU jackets (not to mention their sartorial inelegance!) LOL!. Not that I mind the "arse-hugging pants" half of the ensemble on certain bottoms *g*. I also liked Ronon's independence in this one. I find his passivity in later eps a bit of a let down, even though it's quite natural to be cautious when sussing out a new culture. More character depth in S3, please. Right now, I see see him very easily as subbing to Teyla, which is not a bad thing in itself*g*!
The forest daylight sets - the yellow backgrounds and dark bent over bamboo-like plants in the scenes of Rodney and Ford's trudging round the forest were nice viewing, especially with poor, overheated Rodney's red, rubber suit thrown into the mix! There are some very adorable face shots of Rodney in those scenes. Lovely skin tones and just the right shade of bristle. Lips slightly parted. Guh! He looks so genuinely concerned about Ford at times. Rodney was so brave and true, to stay with Ford after Ford let him go and I actually thought irradiated, enzyme-whacked Ford did a good job in the role. It was nice to see more emotional depth to him.
One quibble on scripting. Near the end when Caldwell takes Sheppard to task on Ford's escape ... Sheppard says, "I don't think he'll give us away." Caldwell replies, "I'll be sure to include your FEELINGS in my report." I thought this was terribly weak from a linguistic point of view. "Think" as a mental process, doesn't necessarily involve "feelings". It can, but it doesn't have to and Caldwell's authority and character as antagonist is weakened by this imprecision. I don't know whether it's intentional scripting or not, but from either an intuitive or analytic perspective, it was irritating. I don't want Caldwell to be the bad guy, but if he's going to be, then get it right!
Opening: I hate to start out negative, but I found Major Lorne's concern ("Let's get you back") for Dr. Parrish's safety rather irritating. Normally, I'd be squeeing at slashy care in this way, but I think there's something of a double standard operating, in the general lack of concern for a certain other Doctor's safety, with the characters in the show. OK, yeah we know Rodney's a hero and OK, the goons do too, because they often behave towards him in ways that show they expect him to be soldierly AND save the day science-wise, but the expectations they have of him have never been worked through in the relationships to my satisfaction. *sigh* Roll on S3 and all those relationship moments!! *g*
I'm not a great Ronon fan as there's not a lot to engage with, on an intellectual level. But he's certainly very sultry in this ep. There are some great cinematographic shots of him. Some interesting angles camera-wise, in combination with an artistic use of light and colour in some of the cave shots. I often find SGA to be quite dark in terms of lighting, so I enjoyed the bright aboriginal colours - the tans and browns of his wardrobe and accessories, and the splashes of ochre on the cave walls lit with bright yellow sunlight,as well as the red skin tones of his exposure to the sun of the planet - all relief from the night scenes, the cave in shadow and the horribly unrelenting grey-blues of the BDU jackets (not to mention their sartorial inelegance!) LOL!. Not that I mind the "arse-hugging pants" half of the ensemble on certain bottoms *g*. I also liked Ronon's independence in this one. I find his passivity in later eps a bit of a let down, even though it's quite natural to be cautious when sussing out a new culture. More character depth in S3, please. Right now, I see see him very easily as subbing to Teyla, which is not a bad thing in itself*g*!
The forest daylight sets - the yellow backgrounds and dark bent over bamboo-like plants in the scenes of Rodney and Ford's trudging round the forest were nice viewing, especially with poor, overheated Rodney's red, rubber suit thrown into the mix! There are some very adorable face shots of Rodney in those scenes. Lovely skin tones and just the right shade of bristle. Lips slightly parted. Guh! He looks so genuinely concerned about Ford at times. Rodney was so brave and true, to stay with Ford after Ford let him go and I actually thought irradiated, enzyme-whacked Ford did a good job in the role. It was nice to see more emotional depth to him.
One quibble on scripting. Near the end when Caldwell takes Sheppard to task on Ford's escape ... Sheppard says, "I don't think he'll give us away." Caldwell replies, "I'll be sure to include your FEELINGS in my report." I thought this was terribly weak from a linguistic point of view. "Think" as a mental process, doesn't necessarily involve "feelings". It can, but it doesn't have to and Caldwell's authority and character as antagonist is weakened by this imprecision. I don't know whether it's intentional scripting or not, but from either an intuitive or analytic perspective, it was irritating. I don't want Caldwell to be the bad guy, but if he's going to be, then get it right!
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Date: 2006-05-06 08:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-07 04:57 am (UTC)The "review" post coming so late is a weird hybrid genre mix, I thought ~ to write impressions about an earlier ep after having seen all of them. I'm not sure I should call it a review *g* as I find myself skipping from "portrait" specifics of the ep to writing thoughts that draw on the broader landscape beyond it (chronologically). Hard too, to know what to write that people haven't already discussed to death in light of that! uh ... like maybe us! *ggg*
I enjoyed thinking about it though, and I'm looking forward to doing more up to date things with S3 eps.