Anna S. (eliade) wrote,
Anna S.
eliade

buffy dreams, battlestar galactica

I woke from a Buffy dream this morning--I dreamed that a spell, sort of like the one in "Superstar," created this situation where there was suddenly a BtVS TV show *within* the BtVS universe. For several years its episodes paralleled all of the Scooby gang's major cases, though the cast and fans weren't aware there was any "real-life" inspiration, except for the weird town of Sunnydale itself. In the dream, they were now filming a special episode on location in Sunnydale. Buffy and Willow are running around trying to figure out what's going on. They go to the high school, which is like fan central--in the lobby there are these tables set up like for a bake sale, with rows of candy boxes, some of them huge Godiva boxes, and fans of the show can buy these and their gifts will be sent to the actors. Fans are inexplicably sitting in folding chairs just outside the school, perhaps waiting for the cast to make an appearance. When they see Buffy and Willow, they squeal and wave, taking them for the actors in the fake BtVS. Buffy waves back, then they duck into some bushes clutching memoribilia from the show, like episode guides--this is when they figure out that all their major cases haved been aired--and they're moving at a fast clip through the grounds, ducking through bushes and Buffy is saying things like, "Jump!" All these fans who are touring the place think that Buffy and Willow are filming or rehearsing.

In the dream, Buffy actually talks about the phenomenon of old, twentysomething actors playing teenagers. Heh. Buffy runs into the Oz who stars in the fake BtVS and is traumatized by his mustache--this freakily plastic-looking thing. She tells him to shave it off. But then for a moment the fake Oz is the real Oz and he asks her to admit it looks okay, and she has to confess that on him it does. (Except it doesn't; it's huge and hairy and terrifying.)

At some point Buffy and Willow get split up and Buffy returns to the high school and wanders into a small auditorium, where fans are packed in, listening to a musical performance from the fake Giles. He's sitting up in front of his audience, not even facing them, utterly bored in attitude, surrounded by amps and all sorts of other big, electronic musical equipment like you'd see in a studio; he's just playing pre-recorded stuff. Buffy, passing through the auditorium, pauses when she nears him, and he turns and she sees that he's this horribly cheesey version of Giles, wearing retro seventies stylin' clothes and bad hair. On the fake show, this is apparently his shtick--he's like this comical old guy who refuses to let go of his glory days back in the hippie seventies.

For some reason he also has a huge, square embossed label on his forehead that's part of his hairdo. He looks ridiculous and Buffy squeaks with trauma and laughter and runs on. During all this, people are assuming she's one of the stars of the show, but treating her very politely and not mobbing her. Weird.




I watched the new Battlestar Galactica miniseries last night, which I'd taped. (It's on again tonight.) It kicked ass. I loved the new Starbuck, who was just lushly muscled and butch and gorgeous. And how hysterical is it that they decided Starbuck and Apollo had a little thing going on? If you haven't read Destina's post with the quote of Jamie Bamber (the new Apollo) talking about the homoeroticism of the original series and how it influenced their creative decisions, you must.

Mary McDonnell, James Callis, and Edward James Olmos really stood out in this--great acting. James Callis I remember from Bridget Jones's Diary as Bridget's gay friend; he is brilliantly British here, playing a genius scientist and skirt-chaser and self-serving weasel.

There was some dark shit in this; I barely remember the first TV series, but as with so many remakes these days, this attempts to take old cheesey fluff and make it not only more plausible, but also edgier and kinkier. I mean, they killed off most of the human race! Boom boom boom. I just hadn't recalled that as the premise of the original, but the way they set it up here was amazing. But I also hadn't anticipated the ending spiel about Earth; it had been kind of vaguely bugging me as I watched--trying to figure out if this was us in the future or what. But then it all snapped together and I was like, ahhhhh, now it makes sense.

Couldn't believe it when the Cylon woman killed the baby right there in public no more than, what, five minutes into the show? My god, she was creepy. The stuff with the AI Cylons was amazing--Callum Keith Rennie! The fake-out on the "falsely" accused guy! That ending! And the way Number 6 (as IMDb calls her) haunted Gaius. Great ambiguity there; it seems likely she was a chip in his head, but that touch of "Well, maybe he's insane" kept it intriguing. He was wonderfully craven.

Good stuff. I hope they make it into a new series. I heard that SciFi was surprised by the popularity and ratings of the miniseries, because it was just some toss-off to them. Every time I receive more evidence of that channel's mind-boggling lack of insight into their viewership, I shudder. I used to assume that a channel devoted to a genre that so many people loved would have to be run by people who understood and loved the genre too. But no.

One thing I was confused by--I could have sworn that the promos for BG had shown Starbuck passionately kissing someone who always looked to me like a woman. I know that a lot of times they'll stick titillating stuff in promos that got cut from a show, but I just wanted to know if anyone else had seen this too. I'm pretty sure I didn't miss any hot lesbian action, or even girl-on-boy action, when I was watching, but I was distracted now and then by my laptop, so who knows. Er, actually, maybe you know, which is why I'm asking. *g*
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  • (no subject)

    Just posting to wave hello, I'm alive, I'm maintaining. I haven't been online; mostly, I've been pacing out daily routines, or holding onto the rope…

  • (no subject)

    The week to two-week placement I'm currently in has turned into a potentially long-term month-to-month opportunity, and I accepted the offer this…

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    LiveJournal is branding itself as "A global community of friends who share your unique passions and interests." My unique passions; those which I…