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10/27/2002: on Slipfighter the Dogs of War
Spoilers for Andromeda 3x06 Slipfighter the Dogs of War ahead...
I don't feel up to commenting on my annoyance with sci-fi tv episodes which come across as very unsubtle and sort of awkward propaganda statement on a current political situation (opposed to science fiction as an intelligent political comment on current issues, which is something I enjoy, I guess it's mostly a "done well" or "done badly" thing), though at least with the whole nova bomb/prevention of weapons of mass destruction plot Dylan comes across as rather hypocritical to the regular viewer, since he himself not only used them, but also rebuilt his own arsenal of nova bombs secretly. And in light of his constant strife with the New Commonwealth I doubt that he has disclosed his own. But I wondered that if Trance could somehow sense the production facility, wouldn't she also notice the Andromeda's nova bomb project?
But what bored me even more than the plot in this episode were the endless Slipfighter sequences. Someone within CGI/effects team seems to have had a lot of fun with creating the long sequences of Slipfighters in flight, but unfortunately they are not equally fun to watch for such a long time. It's not a video game, and especially in the space training sequence I was bored after what wasn't even a third of the whole scene, and the second time, when they did it for real to attack the planet, was little better. Almost the whole time I thought "surely it'll end soon, they can't expect me to watch spinning fighters that long, right?" and I actually like action and CGI sequences, but first something should actually happen in them, and second the pace should be moderately fast, i.e. if nothing or very little happens, the sequence shouldn't be drawn out that long.
