Full Circle

Happy Tuesday dear readers. I don't know about the weather where you are but here it is nasty and dark and rainy and cool, but not quite cold enough to be winter, but not quite warm enough to mitigate the nastiness. In other words, it's the kind of weather that it is hell to drive home in (especially since it gets dark so early now) and that makes you just want to curl up inside with a good book or a movie. If my hubby ever makes it home, we're planning to pop in the new Harry Potter movie (Order of the Phoenix) that just arrived today, so I won't keep you for too long.

You know what's a weird sensation? I have found that watching early episodes of a show that you fell into the middle of can be a bit disconcerting. Don't get me wrong--if I love the show I want to see all of it, but once you start watching a series, you form your own theories and opinions about what's going on that no one is actually saying or what is happening off screen. You have preconceived notions about why someone would or wouldn't do a particular thing or assumptions about why people relate to each other they way they do (and we all know what they say about assumptions, people). To some extent, you do this for every show you watch anyway, but if you start watching from the beginning, at least you're on even footing. You only know what everyone else knows. There's no earth-shaking back story that has already been revealed. But when you're backtracking from a certain point, seeing those earlier episodes can really throw you from time to time.

I know I've mentioned before that I totally watched the new incarnation of Doctor Who out of order--starting with the Christmas special leading into season three and then (while still watching season three) catching myself back up with season one, then picking up season two after three had finished its run on Skiffy. This is actually a rare gem where just popping in won't ruin the earlier shows for you. The Doctor doesn't progress in the normal linear fashion, so while each season and the series as a whole has an overall plot progression from point a to point b you're still pretty safe most of the time. Although watching season one, having seen season three, and having missed season two, I really wasn't getting what had happened to Rose. I knew it involved something with Canary Wharf and an alternate dimension/universe/what have you, but clearly there were some big emotional moments I had missed out on. Also, it totally skewed the way I experienced season two (which, admittedly, was also affected by the fact that I had started Torchwood at the time and a lot of season two of the Doctor was setting up that particular institution). I kept waiting for the ending, trying to figure out the explanation for why Rose really ended up in that other place. I think now that I've seen all of it, I will definitely have to go back and rewatch season two at some point, just to do it some justice.

Another show I have done this with is Stargate SG-1. I had seen the original Stargate movie (and Richard Dean Anderson is so much cooler than Kurt Russell, people) ages ago and dug it, but not having had Showtime in high school or college I didn't even know about the show until after it had moved over to Sci Fi Channel and the previews never really seemed to catch my attention. What did happen was that they decided to make a spin off series involving Atlantis. I am an Atlantis whore. I love anything about the mythology and mystery of that place. I even own not just the Disney movie, but its straight to video sequel. So of course I had to watch a new series called Stargate Atlantis. The creators did a decent job of setting it up so if you didn't watch SG-1 you could still follow Atlantis. Plus, in the first season they were pretty much completely cut off from Earth anyway, so they were just doing their own thing.

By halfway through season two though, I was hooked, and I wanted more Stargate, so I thought I'd give SG-1 a try. Okay, at this point, we are halfway through season 9 of SG-1. The first episode I ever saw of that was Ripple Effect. I'm not going to go into the plot because it is insanely complex. If you're a fan you know which ep I'm talking about, and if you're not, well, you aren't interested anyway. But, while I had no idea why so much was significant in that episode, I thought it was a really awesome concept, and I was from that point on hooked. I was so hooked that over the following summer I purchased the first eight seasons of SG-1 on DVD and proceeded to pretty much do nothing but watch Stargate when I wasn't at work.

Now, joining in season nine, our main characters are:

-General Landry (in charge of the SCG)
-Lieutenant Colonel Mitchell (head of SG-1)
-Lieutenant Colonel Carter (SG-1, scientist)
-Dr. Daniel Jackson (SG-1, scientist)
-Teal'c (SG-1, alien)
-Dr. Lam (SGC head of medicine)

Only three of these characters are anywhere to be seen in season one. SG-1 has a completely different team dynamic. Daniel has a wife. The main enemy as of season nine is a group of evil ascended beings called the Ori. For the first eight seasons our heroes struggled against the Goa'uld--alien parasites that like to take over people and pretend to be gods. Going back to the earlier seasons, especially from such a late starting point, is like watching an entirely different game. Plus, many of the secondary characters on Atlantis had previously had one-off or recurring roles as other people on SG-1, which is always a little bizarre. It's kind of like how Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones on Doctor Who season three) played a character who worked for Torchwood (and was killed by the Doctor) at the very end of season two (though they kind of explained that away in the first episode of season three a little, saying Martha had a cousin at Canary Wharf--whatever).

Anyhoo, it definitely made watching SG-1 from the beginning an interesting experience. Although, on the plus side, while I absolutely adore the character of Jack O'Neill, the last two seasons of SG-1 weren't ruined for me by his absence. I adore Mitchell. Plus, this got me to watch Farscape, because his on-screen interaction with Vala just always makes me laugh, and I was curious to see the two in the two actors' first endeavor together.

You may wonder why I bring this up. Well, to some lesser extent, I am doing this again with a newer show, one that I've mentioned before. I'm re-watching season one of Jericho. I completely missed this series during its original run but after hearing about its triumph over cancellation this summer, I decided to give it a shot when CBS re-aired it this summer. The only problem is, they showed the pilot then jumped ahead to the middle of the season. We got a little recap episode in the middle but that doesn't give you everything you need to know.

As of this weekend I have now seen all of the episodes I missed from the front of the season. Now I am really geared up to see the back half again, because some things I had thought I knew I'm now not so sure about. I thought Jake and Hawkins knew a lot more about each other by this point than they actually do--which makes their level of cooperation with each other even more amazing to me. I also thought Jake and Heather were more of a couple than it appears they actually are by this point. Those are two examples, but they have completely changed some motivations that I thought I understood for events that are to follow.

All I can say is thank goodness for the proliferation of television series released to DVD. I think without it I would still be wandering around completely in the dark about some of my favorite fictional people and events.

Well, I am off in search of dinner. I wish you all a warm, dry, happy evening. Have a great week!

Later,
-C

Recent Acquisition: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix