h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

OH I'd rather the Borg versus the Dominion,that would be truly an epic battle.I'd like to see them try to assimilate the shapeshifters.

Hey Paladin, nice to see you again
The thing i found strange about the 300 years in stasis is that Lister on Red Dwarf was in stasis for 3billion years- see the relation?
Any way the suggestions for the wars would be very entertaining. The plots as they are, are running on the thin and pointless, although I still love the show (Star Trek that is) but any way I will have to see if we get Andromeda down here, but it sounds like every other new show of late!

Agreed. I've nearly given up all hope of an original, engaging, intelligently written show that will not--in fact, will refuse to--insult its viewers' intelligence. I may have to write it myself...

Go for it, Paladin!!!!!
That's a dangerous idea if ever I heard one!!!!

I second that AGB... go for it Paladin!!! Could i help? it would be good to get some new blood out there. Our imaginations have been stunten from all of this popular culture, with TV as it is and the non thinking activities like SOME computer games, and various things...the children of the future have no hope of thinking for themselves, and being creative. Even in my generation i have seen this degregation of imagination...the post-modern, and modern art movements for example... have minimal imagination "...any thing can be art, as long as an artist says it is." -Marchelle Du Champ. This mantality has caused the down fall of creativity and a new super breed of in-imaginative people has been created. So go it Paladin!!!!!

Not to change the subject, but I caught what appeared to be the first episode of Andromeda...at about 4am Sunday morning. Now, before I comment, let me say that, in order to inspire a solid viewership, does 4am, SUNDAY, make any sense at all? (btw, it's on NBC)
Beyond that, not bad. Not my cup of tea, but the one high mark I give it is that it appears to be setting up a continuing storyline. I give very high marks for that. I wasn't impressed with Sorbo, but he never impressed me, so no loss. Sorry, AGB, no torn uniform this episode, either. Senor (Ex-)Hercules (Capt. Dylan Hunt in this incarnation) was wrapped up (sorry again, AGB, not very tightly wrapped. ) in a leather uniform all episode long. Points for the fact that not everything on every ship and uniform was unicolor (gray, black, primary colors blended nicely with others in Andromeda to make NEW colors...maybe this was a ploy to grab the attention away from the acting...hm.). Acting: C- (Ah, who'll trust my review? I'm mixing grades and commentary!) Overall, the story was passable, continuity was (for one episode's worth) o.k. Unfortunate that the ship's computer had a visible form (Shape of comely human female!), I must presume to rook in the young (and not so young) male audience (I looked, I admit it).
Overall grade: B- (I might watch again. What else am I doing at 4am at work but looking at the tv in the studio?)

Just watched it at 8pm on a wet dull Monday evening-It helped to pass an hour but the dialogue had better improve in the next episode.

This is as much a reply to Paladin as the rest of you: I've been playing with a number of sf ideas for tv, all of which are viable, and all of which bang headlong into the usual curse that afflicts all television: the wants of people with money:

In a nutshell, the advertisers are terrified of doing anything to alienate the audience (stuff like 'making them think' doesn't alienate the audience, it alienates the advertisers). That means that a new show has to vaguely resemble an old show because these people want huge ratings numbers IMMEDIATELY (rarely are ANY shows given the time to build an audience, and when they are the scheduling people will have the airtimes in a mess so quickly that nobody can find the show anyway) and that means that the first audience must understand immediately what's going on, which usually means that everything has to either be blatantly obvious or telegraphed....neither of which makes for entertaining sf (unless you like Star Trek).

Almost twenty years ago, Harlan Ellison wrote a pilot called "Pheonix Without Ashes". The original text is available in a book called 'Faster than Light', an anthology. Every time I read the script, I both tear up and get very excited: he wanted to make this in the early seventies and the material is still smarter than most of what's on television today: he told a story visually and dramatically.

Both film studios and network executives are dedicated to drawing huge audiences. This gets in the way of intelligent storytelling because too few people want to think for their own amusement and fewer still have enough knowledge of science and technology to follow even simple instructions....therefore, the shows have to appeal to 10-year old intelligence levels to gain market share.

Reference point: If you're a wizard on a computer, think of how many times you've had to explain something computerese to someone who'se unfamiliar with the technology or not up to your level yet....then multiply that by the general population. I've come across too many people who are scared off by sf because they think they have to know something about science or technology to understand it, or who aren't interested in thinking that much to be entertained.

I think we've been conditioned really well by television: after forty years of watching, most have to be told what they're seeing before they can see it. This is the death knell for a visual medium, especially where sf is concerned because it deals with the unfamiliar, the unexpected, the new and the controversial.

Possibly HDTV will break this pattern.

Fruitbat

Well said.
I never knew anything about Guide ML until I joined h2g2.
Now people are asking me how to put pictures on their page, and they are not out of plain text....*headache pill time*
I am afraid apart from the special effects of Andromeda, I was brain-dead from the first 5 minutes.
However Kevin Sorbo in red leather appealed to the libido in me and kept me glued to the set....

AGB those 'people' who ask to put pics on their pages...were out of plain text...they just dont know much about Guide ML or the jargon used for the net!!
And you seem to be apt and up with the jargon!
So sorry for bothering you but you are a guru...of sorts

No, cheeze!
I'm not, honest!
I started off in plain text.
It was all I knew.
I had to be talked through setting up my page in Guide ML bit by agonizing bit.
It wasn't ~that~ long ago.
And ~you~ weren't the person who gave me the headache!
All I did was give you the link to the APOD site.
By the way, is it OK if I link to your homepage, I have a drop-down list now....

Okay listening to techno at the moment...kind of unable to think of two good things at the same time...please spell it out to me...in laymans terms...my home page? well it is not really up and running at the mo! all i have is the little optus thingy on start up and i dont think any one really wants to see that...so if you tell me what you mean by the 'homepage' link i'd be better for it and may be able to enjoy two things at once

Your "space".....
where you get taken when you click on "your space"
that's your homepage....

A little red faced and feeling a bit stupid.
Yes its fine if you link me to your page, but you better watch out for stupid questions and really dumb things!
Sorry i thought you meant my personal Homepage.

Sigh.... How terribly depressing. I just watched the latest episode and that final speech made me feel sick. I need to go and lie down...

Yes the writer needs shooting for such terrible dialogue.

*Happy with the eye-candy*

Eye candy... hmmm, while Wossis face Hercules man might be enough of a reason for you to watch, im afraid that not even the computer womans low cut top is enough for me. Its trash, PURE trash. Trashier than Sunset beach even.... OK, maybe not that bad.

Oh never as bad as Sunset Beach-that is so bad it has a fascination of a sorts.

True, sunset beach has to be watched just so you find out who gets the next evil twin and whether or not Kerry really did marry the wrong brother...

unfortunatly, andromeda hasnt got these charms and i think ill be giving it a miss. I see enough gung-ho "lets all 5 of us go save the universe" americans as it is....