After seeing it, I wasn't that fond of the Message, myself. You're right, probably the weakest of the bunch. Tho that guy who played Tracy looked awfully familiar. Had he been on Buffy or Angel at some point? Like Star Trek casting, Joss Wheden seems to recycle his actors!
Yup, he calls 'em his "hat tricks", those actors who have done all three of his shows. Tracy is one; dunno what he was on Angel, but on Buffy, he played the vampire Buff spills her guts to in season 7's Conversations with Dead People. To me, the problem with The Message is that the strength of the show lies with its main characters and focusing so much on a guest character, it didn't do it for me. Nandi in Heart of Gold was more, I dunno, interactive.
Woo, someone who agrees with me! ;) I guess I couldn't quite decide what about Jaina was driving me nuts, but the putting down of her mom probably added to that. Overall I thought she was a lot of whiny/bitchy.
Whooo hooo, someone who agrees with me! LOL! Yeah, she's a frakin' pain in the ass. I remember author Elaine Cunningham saying that she didn't "get her," didn't understand why, when she should be so much like her mother, she turned out to be a brat. Unfortunately, her book did nothing to remedy the situation. As a matter of fact, the NJO kind of killed a lot of good characters who had a lot of potential. I don't much care for the male characters either, the other Solo children.
And to be fair to Mara, I think a lot of the writers tended to use Mara wrongly. I think she was good in some books and not so good in others, depending on who was writing her.
Very true. It also depends on NJO or not. She's unfortunately become quite the authors' Mary Sue (I'm lookin' at you, Tyers!) and, IMO, has broken down the relationships Luke should be having with Leia and Han. It seems that the authors by and large are more comfortable with the "original" characters and focus waaay too heavily on them instead of the OT3.
And to be fair to Padme fans, I also wonder if part of my problem with Padme is that Natalie Portman looks like a 12-year-old boy. She's so young! Pretty, but so skinny and YOUNG. And even when holding a blaster, it was never steady; no decisive movements. She looked weak.
And, alas, the acting doesn't help. Okay, Anakin just confessed his soul to you, that he committed genocide because of an uncomtrolled temper and you look at him like he's done a mildly noxious fart?! C'mon! She's wooden and it's not just the dialogue because Hayden's trying his damned hardest and, for the most part, succeeding!
I know I'm about the only fan out there, but I think Keira would have done so much better, even looking younger as she does, because she has life, she has vitality. The other choice would have been to replace her; I know may_child would have loved to have seen Rose Byrne take over the role for AotC; she's an adult and a good actress.
Padme does also suffer from Lucas rather throwing her aside. Chopping the scenes about the beginnings of the Rebellion... Not only were those scenes I personally felt were important to the saga as a whole but they made some of Padme's actions a little more understandable and gave her something to do. When she's not the Queen, if you think about it, all she really has to do is make doe-eyes at Ani; not exactly the greatest role to work with but I can see why people love her because what is there is strong despite spotty acting.
Leia was always someone I could relate to, from childhood on, because though young herself she never looked or acted like a little girl who was out of her element (as you say, thanks to Carrie Fisher!).
Most definitely!
I've heard good things from others about Shatterpoint as well. I guess I'll just have to check it out! And after writing Mace I'm more interested in him. :)
It really is pretty fantastic. I like PT EU better on the whole; The Approaching Storm is noteworthy too, and I did like the MedStar duology, and not just cos I pictured Jos as Jamie Bamber... ;-)
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Date: 2005-11-02 08:25 pm (UTC)Yup, he calls 'em his "hat tricks", those actors who have done all three of his shows. Tracy is one; dunno what he was on Angel, but on Buffy, he played the vampire Buff spills her guts to in season 7's Conversations with Dead People. To me, the problem with The Message is that the strength of the show lies with its main characters and focusing so much on a guest character, it didn't do it for me. Nandi in Heart of Gold was more, I dunno, interactive.
Woo, someone who agrees with me! ;) I guess I couldn't quite decide what about Jaina was driving me nuts, but the putting down of her mom probably added to that. Overall I thought she was a lot of whiny/bitchy.
Whooo hooo, someone who agrees with me! LOL! Yeah, she's a frakin' pain in the ass. I remember author Elaine Cunningham saying that she didn't "get her," didn't understand why, when she should be so much like her mother, she turned out to be a brat. Unfortunately, her book did nothing to remedy the situation. As a matter of fact, the NJO kind of killed a lot of good characters who had a lot of potential. I don't much care for the male characters either, the other Solo children.
And to be fair to Mara, I think a lot of the writers tended to use Mara wrongly. I think she was good in some books and not so good in others, depending on who was writing her.
Very true. It also depends on NJO or not. She's unfortunately become quite the authors' Mary Sue (I'm lookin' at you, Tyers!) and, IMO, has broken down the relationships Luke should be having with Leia and Han. It seems that the authors by and large are more comfortable with the "original" characters and focus waaay too heavily on them instead of the OT3.
And to be fair to Padme fans, I also wonder if part of my problem with Padme is that Natalie Portman looks like a 12-year-old boy. She's so young! Pretty, but so skinny and YOUNG. And even when holding a blaster, it was never steady; no decisive movements. She looked weak.
And, alas, the acting doesn't help. Okay, Anakin just confessed his soul to you, that he committed genocide because of an uncomtrolled temper and you look at him like he's done a mildly noxious fart?! C'mon! She's wooden and it's not just the dialogue because Hayden's trying his damned hardest and, for the most part, succeeding!
I know I'm about the only fan out there, but I think Keira would have done so much better, even looking younger as she does, because she has life, she has vitality. The other choice would have been to replace her; I know
Padme does also suffer from Lucas rather throwing her aside. Chopping the scenes about the beginnings of the Rebellion... Not only were those scenes I personally felt were important to the saga as a whole but they made some of Padme's actions a little more understandable and gave her something to do. When she's not the Queen, if you think about it, all she really has to do is make doe-eyes at Ani; not exactly the greatest role to work with but I can see why people love her because what is there is strong despite spotty acting.
Leia was always someone I could relate to, from childhood on, because though young herself she never looked or acted like a little girl who was out of her element (as you say, thanks to Carrie Fisher!).
Most definitely!
I've heard good things from others about Shatterpoint as well. I guess I'll just have to check it out! And after writing Mace I'm more interested in him. :)
It really is pretty fantastic. I like PT EU better on the whole; The Approaching Storm is noteworthy too, and I did like the MedStar duology, and not just cos I pictured Jos as Jamie Bamber... ;-)
Peace, Ghani