Distraction

[vanillafluffy]

Sat through a couple eps of The Burning Zone this evening as a palliative for the teeth (my lower left jaw is all kinds of unhappy). Figured squeeing might contribute a few useful endorphins to the cause.

In the first one I watched, a group called the Gethsemane Project was dispatching death row inmates with pseudo-lethal injections so they could bring back messages from "The Other Side". The Other Side was actually a Hellmouth and the resurrected inmates were possessed. (The deja vu was beyond ironic!) Marcase ended up temporarily dead, thereby giving JDM a perfect score, as far as I can tell.

The second ep was the one with Nicholas Lea as the leader of a healing cult who communed with serpents---eeevil, naturally.

When I originally watched TBZ at the time it first aired, I thought of it as an X-Files/Outbreak hybrid---disease of the week meets monster of the week. Having seen a half-dozen eps within the last couple of weeks, I'm noticing religious undertones that I was oblivious to the first time. Not surprising, given that executive producer Coleman Luck was also a coproducer on Six: the Mark Unleashed---quite possibly the ONLY entry in the genre "Christian Action movies". (Trust me, the ONLY reason to watch it is large doses of JDM, including a few tasty torture sequences. Yes, I am a twisted sister!) However, aside from the dated cheesiness of some of the f/x, Burning Zone works as entertainment.

Now if only they'd release it on DVD.

Comments

[starhawk2005.livejournal.com]

I find myself wondering how much of that was the character and how much was just plain Jeff.

Considering how turned-off I am about religion at the moment, I can't help hoping most of it

wasn't

him.

I have a thing for bears, so a good beard---yay! Much love.

*mmmm* *visualizes being in one of John/JDM's bear-hugs*

There were part of it that were painfully flashing MESSAGE! in neon, some of it was a little more subtle, but a lot of it was outright hysterical. It read like some hardcore Christian's nightmare of what would happen if the Humanists were in charge

*lol* Pretty much! I'm glad it wasn't just me, though. I'm pretty anti-religion (not Christian per se, pretty much ANY religion) so sometimes I wonder if I'm wincing because those scenes really ARE that bad, or because of my anti-ness. :)

Which is too bad. I love dystopian movies with a passion, and this could've been a MUCH better film (for me, anyways) if they'd had less or more subtle 'messages'.

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

I love dystopian movies with a passion, and this could've been a MUCH better film (for me, anyways) if they'd had less or more subtle 'messages'.

I know what you mean! It's the kind of thing that makes me want to do a massive dystopian crossover: Six, Equilibrium, Logan's Run, Aeon Flux...which I know I won't do, because I don't have enough time as it is, but it's tempting!

I wonder if I'm wincing because those scenes really ARE that bad, or because of my anti-ness.

Could be some of both. It's pretty bad! There was a time in my life when I probably would've started foaming at the mouth and growling "Oh, bullshit!" at the screen. What's ironic is, the Unitarian philosophy that's given me a more relaxed perspective is *exactly* the kind of thinking Six's creators were railing against.

[starhawk2005.livejournal.com]

which I know I won't do, because I don't have enough time as it is, but it's tempting!

*lol* It would certainly make for an interesting challenge.

What's ironic is, the Unitarian philosophy that's given me a more relaxed perspective is *exactly* the kind of thinking Six's creators were railing against.

*snort* And I'm not Christian of any stripe, so I'm sure they'd think I'm Hellbound already....even before I started with the smut!writing. ;)

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

I'm not Christian of any stripe, so I'm sure they'd think I'm Hellbound already

During the later half of my 20s, and the first half of my 30s, I professed to be an athiest, but somewhere in there I realized I *do* believe in a spiritual power, I just happen to think It is something so vast that limiting It to a gender-specific noun or one particular entity who plays favorites with a given group of people is just absurd. When I chose to anthropomorphize It, I tend to lean toward the pagan "Lord and Lady", but that's what works for me. Somebody's Buddhist? Cool. Christian? Whatever. Pastafarian? All rightey! As long as y'all don't ring my doorbell at OMG in the morning on my day off, I don't give a rat's ass. (Killing people in the name of religion?! Gets you reincarnated as a black chicken and sacrificed in a voodoo rite...for your next couple of lifetimes, clucker.) I have plenty of religious tolerance, but *not* a whole lot of patience with assholes.

[starhawk2005.livejournal.com]

I just happen to think It is something so vast that limiting It to a gender-specific noun or one particular entity who plays favorites with a given group of people is just absurd.

*nods* Exactly.

As long as y'all don't ring my doorbell at OMG in the morning on my day off, I don't give a rat's ass

*lol* I couldn't agree more!

I have plenty of religious tolerance, but *not* a whole lot of patience with assholes.

*nods some more* ITA. Worship your way, and I'll worship mine, and please lay off with the converting/suicide bombing/Crusading, mmmkay? It's like the old joke goes: Religion = arguing over who has the best imaginary friend. I'll drop religion in favour of spirituality and personal relevance, thanx.

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

Religion = arguing over who has the best imaginary friend.

Hee! Brilliant!

[starhawk2005.livejournal.com]

*grins* I wish I could take credit, but no. ;)

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

I can attribute it as "a learned sage once said"...although I don't *think* it was the philosopher Jagger....