Friday, August 14, 2009

The Young Lords

Now they've got Bellisario directing episodes too!

There were several things of note about this episode. Primarily, it was great to see a different environment for a change. Every planet has been basically rocks and canyons (even Ice Planet Zero was rocks and canyons, just with snow). It was very good to see swampy, foresty land, especially on location. It lends a reality to the scenes.

Doesn't that Kyle kid look kinda like a young Harry Anderson?

The episode was all right. Nothing fantastic about it, but it was pleasant enough. But it leaves me wondering just who the audience for this series is. This episode works well for a children's series, but adult drama it lacks. The little poem bits that narrate the seige of the castle were nice, but at times grasped for rhymes. Some poor guy must have had a doozy of a time trying to write each of those.

It's unfortunate that so many of Atilla's elements are basic fantasy cliches. The half-naked beauty, the seige of an enemy castle, the unicorns... And since the unicorns never appeared again, I think it was a MAJOR mistake to include them. They just call attention to themselves. Kyle's silly winged hat is also right out of Tolkien (and seeing it, makes me glad PJ went a different route in the films). 

At this point, the series is falling over itself to make Starbuck the focus of every episode. There have been just too many Starbuck-centric stories. Poor Richard Hatch! It seems like they don't know how to write Apollo. He's just that good guy who does what he's told and loves his family. I'd like a story that focuses on him. I do like Starbuck, but it's like when every TNG episode is about Data; it feels strained after awhile.

Yet another SF character named Miri. For those who might not know, this is name of the character in a Star Trek episode called "Miri". I've come to really like that name. I was even hoping that Kevin Smith would let this be the reason behind the name in Zack and Miri, but sadly that ended up being short for Miriam. Even so, if ever I had a daughter, Miri is a strong contender for her name.

"The Young Lords" is pleasant enough, but doesn't do much to help the series.

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