Truth, Justice, and the American Way

So we’ve set out to bring the old boy back to life and give him a new look and a new outlook on life. And we’re going to ask him to tell his stories again, from the beginning. Tell them again, but this time go deeper. See, we were young once and when the old guy spun his tales of Apollo and Starbuck, we were satisfied with clear-cut heroes and nakedly evil villains. But we’re older now. We’ve eaten a lot of popcorn over the years. We’re ready for a bigger meal. Make the story more complicated. Make the people less black-and-white. Challenge us, provoke us, grab us by the throat with those massive hands and dare us to invest ourselves in flawed characters who face ambiguous choices in an imperfect world. Dare us to root for heroes with all-too-human weaknesses. See if we’ll still embrace them if they fall prey to their imperfections. See if I still care to watch the show. Incidentally, that seems to be the theme of all the original movies and many shows the SciFi channel makes: empty, plotless and nihilistic shoot-em-ups where there are no good or bad guys, just hormone and violence crazed lunatics running around and bitching about how pathetic and primitive human beings are. (There is some good stuff in the mix: Stargate SG1 is a great show, and Tremors isn’t bad either. SG1 and Law and Order is pretty much the extent of the shows I watch on a regular basis.)