OT: Beauty and the Beast - We are not alone!

[Distracted]

I hated that they killed off Catherine too, but they probably wanted to continue making money even after Linda left...

So put her in a coma, do five more seasons of Vincent emoting over why she doesn't wake up, then when she's a huge market draw after T1 do a feature length film. Presto. A couple million bucks. They missed a golden opportunity.

[WarpGirl]

Okay doing a quick google search why on earth kill her off and kidnap the baby? Why not kidnap them both and hold them hostage for a season or so. Like I said I watched the last season in NYU hospital, and 6 years old. At six you don't understand anything. Accept of course that Catherine shouldn't be dead and the Beast is sad. But quick question why isn't her name Belle? Belle is a nice name. And no I never watched the Disney movie.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

A lot of TV shows have bad endings, or non-endings, where the fans can come up with better closures. As I'm rewatching the new Battlestar Galactica at the moment, I'd mostly like to forget the last season and pretend it never happened. Gah!

Worst part is, for a while it seemed as if they were going to make a whole "sufficiently advanced technology"-version of the somewhat Mormon-inspired light-beings in the original show...

...and then they chickened out and used a frankly insulting Luddite ending in which rocks fall, everyone dies.

Gods yes, I agree! I actually wrote a sort of review of it here.

I find it ironic that the prophecy about Starbuck - she was the harbinger of death - turned out to be accurate.

But I personally find the worship of certain TV-show makers kind of annoying. JJ Abrams, for example, who has revealed that he was, in fact, just making it up as he went in both Alias and Lost. Say what you will about Joss Whedon, but at least he has his season arcs somewhat plotted out before he starts filming...

Yeah, I got bored with Lost as early as by the end of the first season, and Alias somewhat halfway through the show, ans stopped watching. Ron Moore also plainly made up nuBSG as he went along. The Cylons never had "a plan". The BSG TVMovie of that same name was something done in hindsight. (Hur säger man "efterhandskonstruktion" på engelska?)

I have tons more respect for the likes of Joss Whedon, and J. Michael Straczynski.

*****

OK, sorry for "hijacking" the thread.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

I hated that they killed off Catherine too, but they probably wanted to continue making money even after Linda left...

So put her in a coma, do five more seasons of Vincent emoting over why she doesn't wake up, then when she's a huge market draw after T1 do a feature length film. Presto. A couple million bucks. They missed a golden opportunity.

To be honest, I don't think that would have worked either. Linda Hamilton was such an integral part of the show that it couldn't survive without her, whether her character was killed off, put in a coma or whatever. They tried to pull it off with a new female character, but failed (predictably IMO). I know I watched the show for Linda.

[WarpGirl]

Ironically I read on Wikipedia they got rid of her to boost ratings among men. Of course being wikipedia I don't trust that.

[Distracted]

Yeah. I don't think the series would have lasted much longer with her in a coma, but at least it would have been slightly less emotionally traumatic for the viewers. And, I'm sorry if this isn't PC, but the only men who were more likely to watch that show without Linda in it were the ones who were more interested in Vincent to begin with. That show was a three year long chick flick. Linda was the only reason why straight males watched it. That or because their wives/girlfriends forced them to. Am I right, KTR?

All killing off Catherine did was alienate the show's most faithful demographic. GRR couldn't see that because he's a sadistic misogynist, but it's the truth. He was pissed off at Linda because she was leaving so he wrote her out in the cruelest way imaginable. Can you imagine having to act in a scene where you give birth, the child is taken from you before you ever have a chance to hold it, and then you die...all while you're really pregnant? GRR is evil and vindictive. That's the only conclusion I can reach. The rest of his work bears it out. Look at Game of Thrones. He kills off Eddard Stark...the good guy and one of the main characters the reader identifies with... by having him beheaded right in front of his 10 year old daughter. All I can conclude is that the man gets off on inflicting pain on his readers/viewers. He's on a power trip.

And Catherine is not Belle because it's not the same story.

[WarpGirl]

Why create a "women's show" if you hate women. That makes no sense. Truth be told I'm not a huge Linda Hamilton fan something about her voice. But I can't say I'm surprised. Lots of women in series TV are treated a bit shabbily. But I have to admit it's gotten a lot better in the last 10 years.

[Distracted]

Her voice? Linda's voice was incredible when she played Catherine. I could listen to it all day. It's so warm and soothing and loving. Makes me feel like I'm a kid again listening to my mommy. The only thing better is Ron Perlman's voice when he's playing Vincent. That one makes me melt into an oozy puddle of blissful goo.

And supposedly GRR's purpose in his work has often been to present situations which highlight the incompatibility of dreams and hopes with the "real world". A pair of lovers who are destined never to be together, tortured forever by their seperation, yet loving each other more than life itself was supposed to be an illustration of the inherent bleakness of existence, or some such garbage. Unrequited love is a common thread in his work. That and the pointlessness of believing in the goodness of man. Hence his tendency to kill off well-loved characters just to make his point.

[WarpGirl]

Hmm. I guess her voice changed over the years. I haven't actually seen the show in 21 years. The Linda Hamilton voice now just isn't my cup of tea.

[Distracted]

It's definitely changed. It may be just age and smoking, but I also think she deliberately changed it, made it softer for the series to make her character seem gentler and more appealing... and sexier. I know Ron Perlman did. He definitely doesn't talk like that in real life. It's still smokin' hot, though, the way Vincent half-whispers. It sounds like he's reciting poetry in bed even when he's just making conversation. Yum.

[WarpGirl]

Yeah I get that way over several people myself.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

And, I'm sorry if this isn't PC, but the only men who were more likely to watch that show without Linda in it were the ones who were more interested in Vincent to begin with. That show was a three year long chick flick. Linda was the only reason why straight males watched it. That or because their wives/girlfriends forced them to. Am I right, KTR?

Quite right! I had taken a liking to her when I saw The Terminator and that's the reason I watched B&B. And the underground dwellings were pretty cool.

All killing off Catherine did was alienate the show's most faithful demographic. GRR couldn't see that because he's a sadistic misogynist, but it's the truth. He was pissed off at Linda because she was leaving so he wrote her out in the cruelest way imaginable. Can you imagine having to act in a scene where you give birth, the child is taken from you before you ever have a chance to hold it, and then you die...all while you're really pregnant? GRR is evil and vindictive. That's the only conclusion I can reach. The rest of his work bears it out. Look at Game of Thrones. He kills off Eddard Stark...the good guy and one of the main characters the reader identifies with... by having him beheaded right in front of his 10 year old daughter. All I can conclude is that the man gets off on inflicting pain on his readers/viewers. He's on a power trip.

Well, I love Game of Thrones and thinks that's an entirely different animal, even if both were written by George RR Martin. The GoT-verse is supposed to be brutal, that's the point, and thus I'm no longer surprised when someone gets killed or maimed. I understand why that's not everyone's cup of tea, though.

But Beauty and the Beast was different though, which is why the demise of Catherine didn't feel right. It broke off the tone that had previously been established.

[Distracted]

I agree 100%. Sometimes I think GRR wasn't on the same planet as his viewers. I think he saw the series as a romantic tragedy on par with Romeo and Juliet. His viewers,on the other hand, were expecting/craving a happy ending. GRR doesn't understand the female mind set. We'll put up with a lot of crap to get to our happy ending, but God save the man who deliberately chooses NOT to give it to us.

[WarpGirl]

I don't know sometimes a "sad ending" is appropiate. A Walk To Remember is a good example. But that's just me.

[Distracted]

Well, maybe it's just my detestation of tragic endings. I've always hated Romeo and Juliet.