Five reasons to watch more TV: vid recs

[hazelk]

Lately I've been broadening my horizons, downloading vids about shows I hardly know or only vaguely remember. It's a little like watching football - turn the sound down and it's just a bunch of men with strange hair running around on a field. But with a good commentator the seemingly random action magically gels into a pattern and it's suddenly more important than anything in the world that Man U are about to score (apologies to supporters of other teams).

Due South
I loved this show back in the day but that day is long over. Coupled with the Beeb’s annoying habit of pulling episodes to show random snooker tournaments, I feel like I know the characters but not what they did.

Icebound Stream by sisabet:
Little Miss Pretentious wrote a wacked out analysis of this truly amazing vid over at Tea at the Ford. But it (the analysis) does include numerous screenshots so even if the words make no sense the pictures can speak for themselves.

Zebra by astolat:
This one I originally downloaded after reading it provided a great example of internal jump cuts. Which remain inimitable but the vid is so much more. It's Ray K the human jump cut, the song is perfect and the whole thing simply enormous fun to watch.

Lord I have made you a place by laurashapiro:
Where the previous vid was all jittering staccato movement in this one the focus is on stillness and control. It's a Frasier character study, never quite connecting until the final verse. That verse begins with a beautiful moment as Ray K arrives on the scene, open armed. Ironically the context is duplicitous he's an undercover agent trying to get Frasier to accept him as a replacement for the previous Ray. But it works out in the end. Sometimes you can be saved by a lie.


Battlestar Galactica
More human than human by luminosity:
I’d been interested in BSG from reading people's reviews, but watching this vid precipitated the actual purchase of S1 discs. It’s a study of a universe rather than a character, a universe engaged in a war that seems to be focussed on the right to reproduce. Sex and violence in equal measure. Star fighter hordes twist through space like spermatozoa heat-seeking the egg. What makes us human, what machine?

The Perfect Drug bydualbunny:
Having watched the first episodes the character that fascinates but doesn't quite add up is the scientist/magician Gaius Baltar. he's supposed to have betrayed the human race but why and how does he live with that knowledge. This short vid gives me some understanding of Baltar and the perversely symbiotic relationship he has with Six.

Comments

[yourlibrarian]

Just went to check out the BSG videos. Glad to hear you've been inspired to view S1. It's an interesting show. And this

It's a little like watching football - turn the sound down and it's just a bunch of men with strange hair running around on a field

also makes me realize how much of the pleasure I derive from most videos comes from my understanding the context.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

I do that more with fanfic, read it for the meta and get frustrated with not being able to argue back. Most of the vids I've seen in other fandoms have been by vidders I know the Jossverse work of so there's a certain amount of being able to follow the style if not the content. But it works best with single character/universe vids.