Another Way to Avoid Writing: Pet Peeves On-Screen

[holdouttrout]

abyssinia4077 and I were talking about our on-screen pet peeves. Hers has to do with bad science. Mine is any time it calls for a character to "play" piano. Ninety-eight percent of the time (yes, I'm making that up), the hand movements aren't even in the right SECTION of the piano. Even when they don't show the hands, I can tell by body language whether or not the actor is even making an honest attempt.

And don't get me started on music syncing.

So what's your pet peeve? Something you know so well that any little thing wrong jumps out of you and takes you right out of the story?

Comments

[splash-the-cat.livejournal.com]

The misuse of carbon dating. Guaranteed to send me into a frothing apoplexy.

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

oh no kidding!

Daniel wanted to carbon date a rock statue once and I think my mom almost fell off the couch.

Between me-the-chemist and my-mom-the-archaeologist watching Stargate has, at times, been an interesting experience.

[splash-the-cat.livejournal.com]

At least he had the possible date ranges right. Not, "This was carbon dated to 4 million years!"

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

4 million years...
that's, um, some special carbon there...

Wow. Yeah.

[daisycm83.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't say I'm in any way an expert, but I obsess over bad hair. If someone has a hairstyle I find really, truly obnoxious, it will completely distract me from everything else. Take Kitty Pryde from X-Men 3, for example. I mean, I didn't like the rest of the movie anyway, but I would've had serious troubles even if I had because of that HAIR.

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

Hair can be quite distracting. Like if it's Just. Too. Straight. To. Be. Real.

Hmmm...Kitty's hair is awfully in her eyes.

[majorsamfan.livejournal.com]

I think Sam Carter's hair has prompted a LOT of discussion over the years, but especially during the "weed whacker" period...and it has distracted viewers, to a degree, from focus on Amanda's acting ability.

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

I have a weird science thing - a threshold where I'm okay with it not making sense (and I give more leeway to alien science and future science) but if a show crosses that threshold ("Red Sky" "Crystal Skull" anything out of phase) I FLAIL at the tv.

But it's the medic/first aid stuff that gets me quickest - they do CPR wrong or move someone wrong (or when they shouldn't) or splint something wrong or whatever and I lose it. Also when they're doing science-y stuff and wearing gloves and touch their face. I always yell at them for doing that.

[crazedturkey.livejournal.com]

OMG. I can't watch CPR on Tv at all.. because they always do it with bent arms because obviously the actor is still alive and they don't want to kill them...

But still, I'm usually shouting at the tv, "you're doing it wrong!!" Arrgghhh!

And when they come back to life after CPR I sit there going "hello? *flail* You need a defibrillator! CPR is just a stop-gap")

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

And when they come back to life after CPR I sit there going "hello? *flail* You need a defibrillator! CPR is just a stop-gap")

Oh, no kidding! There's a Farscape episode where John teaches Aeryn to give him CPR in case he temporarily dies and it's a great episode and a fantastic scene and the CPR is a lot better looking than most tv CPR but...just...NO!

I still remember the first time I watched Lost and I picked up halfway through an episode and the doctor character found another character strung up by his neck and...pretty much did everything as wrong as possible. From then on I failed to believe he was a doctor.

I mean, I don't have medical training - just Red Cross First Responder stuff but I'm catching all this. They must have someone on set who knows better!

[majorsamfan.livejournal.com]

All writers, directors, producers and actors should be required to take first aid and CPR to get their SAG (or equivalent) cards. *nods* Yes. Mm-hmm.

[crazedturkey.livejournal.com]

stethoscopes on backwards. Argh. drives me mad.

Then I tend to get slightly unhappy if there's some medical stuff that's beyond the bounds of the ridiculous. Like Hot Zone on Atlantis. That made me cry tears of laughter. :p

[katcorvi.livejournal.com]

I didn't want to see The Horse Whisperer and against my will I was dragged to see it. The injured horse was played by at least three different horses and they didn't even try to make them look alike. One had a star and snip, the other had a full blaze, and the third had only a star. Aaaaiiiieeee!!

The movie sucked on many levels (continuity issues galore and not just with the horse's ever changing face) and I kept getting jarred by them all. Once I found one issue, lots more jumped out. I hate that movie.

I pay close attention to horses and riders onscreen. RDA can ride. I appreciate that.

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't catch that level of detail, I think, but I'm always examining action sequences (especially riding) for discrepancies. It is truly annoying when it's done badly.

[majorsamfan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, those riding close-ups...eek!

I was visiting a friend this summer, and her 4yo is totally into this girls riding club show. We watched an episode together where some movie heart-throb is supposed to ride and really can't. The direct wants him on the horse when it rears up. The girls try to help him, but in the end one of them substitutes for him unbeknownst to anyone (yeah, right!).

[6beforelunch.livejournal.com]

Language in science fiction. Stargate is the worst offender with just about everyone speaking English for no apparent reason. Usually there's some sort of translator microbe/babel fish/universal translator explanation, but even that gets wonky. How can the universal translator instantaneously translate a language that it's never heard before? I don't care how good the program is, it needs some sort of reference sample. *headdesk*

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

I understand that it's a convention to make it easier to produce...but I always notice it. Like certain words not getting translated. Argh! It's so random!

[pepper-field.livejournal.com]

That's my pet peeve, too. It's just... no! Language isn't some kind of universal constant! And no one bothers to explain, with the universal translator, how come the lips sync with the English words.

Actually, dubbing: that I hate even more. It ruined the cabin scene in 2010, for me. I can't watch it without every single "Aschen" jumping out at me, and it totally takes me out of what is otherwise an utterly beautiful scene. I wish to god they'd stuck with one pronunciation, from the beginning - I don't care which.

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

Ack! Pronunciation is a biggie! Come on, people--Leia, not Leah. Ash-whatever. Goa'uld. Gould. Goold. Ugh.

[pepper-field.livejournal.com]

Well, actually, on further thinking about it, I don't really care if people screw up the pronunciation a little bit - people do that all the time in real life, so it's sort of natural. Give a roomful of people the word "Goa'uld" and you'd probably get a roomful of different versions. And I don't expect Jack, for example, to be especially good with that sort of thing (I've heard RDA's stab at an English accent *shudder*).

I'd rather have the different pronunciations than the overdubbing. Particularly if a scene was filmed outdoors and they can't hope to recreate the exact sound quality. *flails* Every time Sam says "Aschen" in that scene, I just hear AT in a studio.

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

Okay, okay. I'll give you the bad pronunciations of Goa'uld. It's a tricky word.

But not Leia. Come on, people. There's a line.

[pepper-field.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. It's two syllables, it really shouldn't be that tought.

[pepper-field.livejournal.com]

Tough! I meant tough.

[majorsamfan.livejournal.com]

Well, with Star Trek, it was supposed to be the universal translator, I think, but it only worked unless they wanted it NOT to - e.g., episode of ST:TNG where Picard and alien are on planet together and have to learn each other's language. (And they had a few other instances where they discussed language situations, like when Picard had to say a certain thing a certain way and where the deaf guy's 3 telepathic interpreters were killed and Data had to learn sign language.)

And like pepper_field said, looping - ZOMGosh! that episode (2010) of SG1 where Sam's pronunciation of Aschen was changed...and then later in the episode (or maybe in 2001) someone else said it the way Amanda had originally pronounced it - is another peeve. I guess it's hard for them to recapture the moment of acting, especially when it's days, weeks or even months later. Some are better at it than others.

[majorsamfan.livejournal.com]

Well, I agree about the piano. I love when they actually pan down from the face to the hands or zoom out from the hands so you can see they actually are playing.

Inconsistencies (discontinuity) and failure for show writers to follow their own canon is another biggie. For (bad) example, when SG-1 disobeyed direct orders and gated to the coordinates Daniel had acquired in "There but for the Grace of God"...and ended up on Klorel's ship, and Daniel got shot and stayed behind "to watch their six"...he crawled to the sarcophagus to get healed. When he emerged, the gaping hole in his jacket was also fixed. But in "The Abyss", when Jack was put in Ba'al's sarcophagus, his tunic still had holes. A good example of consistency was the scar across Jack's eyebrow that they kept as part of his character's make-up.

Another example is when they show an age or other character information and then later contradict it. (e.g., in 1997 Jack O'Neill says he's forty but later when we see his records, they say he was born earlier than the 1957 that forty would have meant in 1997)

I mean it's kind of fun to note things they didn't catch, and minor stuff (like prop or person placement, changes of clothes, or whatever) isn't a big deal. But the bigger things that come up over and over through ten years of a show...you'd think they'd work hard to make those consistent.

Maybe they *do* work hard and I'm just too hard to please...

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

I think it's really hard on the writers, because the fans' job is knowing the show, inside and out, and they really truly memorize the weirdest things. So I will cut them a lot of slack--it's very within the realm of possibility that they forget they even *mentioned* someone's birth date. Why would they remember? And part of the things that are inconsistent is because it just doesn't work, production-wise.

However, I agree on clothes repair/details like that. Maybe Apophis had the upgraded version of the sarcophagus? "New! With Insta!Robe Repair! Never Have to Change Your Clothes Again!!!"

[majorsamfan.livejournal.com]

Well, all shows tend to have a "bible" they use...and you'd think they'd settle on character's ages and such when they start a series. I mean, they had a 2-year commitment for SG-1 from the get-go from Showtime and quickly gained a second 2-year commitment. So yeah, as a writer myself, I'd expect them to plan for age references and the like. But that's me.

"New! With Insta!Robe Repair! Never Have to Change Your Clothes Again!!!"

ROFLMAnatomyO! That's apparently the case because the Goa'uld were *always* in the same get-ups. Well, maybe not the women - Nirrti and Osiris had different outfits, I believe.

Another good one was the reference in Threads - in the Jacob-Selmak's dying plotline - to Jacob having nearly died "four years ago", which in RL time it was about seven years...

I loved how they had Daniel say (in "1969") that he was 4yo in 1969, when Michael Shanks wasn't even born then. But the producers have commented how *young* Shanks was when he took on the role; in fact, it was a big concern for them as he was supposed to be a well-respected (then *not* respected) PhD. So I'm guessing they needed the character to be that old, even if he looked 18 when he came back from Abydos.

Anyway...it gives us fans something to talk about!

[supplyship.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think we have to cut them *some* slack with show-wide inconsistencies, especially with a show as long-lived as Stargate. We fans will always beat the writers in the Trivial Pursuit contest! :)

What really gets me is inconsistencies within a single episode. For example, Jack has 2 General's stars in Act 1, 1 star in Act 3, and back to 2 stars in Act 5. Or when a weapon/radio/other prop "magically" appears where there was no sign of it before. That kind of stuff makes me want to have a stern word with the Props Dept. or convince them to hire me as a continuity consultant.

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

I don't notice most magical props--but I know a lot of people do! (I'm so bad that I often don't notice entire wardrobe inconsistencies, but I know I'm special that way.)

Wouldn't it be fun to be in charge of something like that that you always noticed? I would love to consult on that kind of thing...

[stargazercmc.livejournal.com]

Chess games. It drives me nuts when anyone shows a chess match and a) none of the pieces' positions make sense, b) when they edit and the pieces are in suddenly different places where they could never get to, and c) when you actually see someone move a piece the way it can't be moved. I'm like WTF?

Incidentally, one of the reasons I love to watch the character of House play piano is because Hugh Laurie plays (really well, in fact) and it's always him they're showing.

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

I don't know chess well enough to play be concerned about it, but if I did, that would drive me batty.

House plays piano! Yet another reason I ought to love that show--and yet, somehow, I'm ridiculously hard to reach these days with television. Sigh. Still--just that news makes me very happy.

[majorsamfan.livejournal.com]

ZOMGosh! I so can't believe I didn't put Hugh Laurie in my top five I would have sex with without question! *flails*

[pepper-field.livejournal.com]

Historical stuff that I know is wrong, and that I feel anyone with a basic interest in history would also know is wrong. Grr. Either a) they don't care enough to look it up / have an expert around to point out the inaccuracies, or b) they think the audience won't notice.

The entirety of the 1997-98 New Adventures Of Robin Hood series, for example. OMFG, I want the head of their researcher on a pike!

[sg1danny.livejournal.com]

LOL!! Great minds an' all that

[sg1danny.livejournal.com]

Inaccurate historical data. I mean how hard is it to do some research???

Do...not...get...me...started...on...Braveheart!!!!

[pepper-field.livejournal.com]

Heh. I knew I wouldn't be alone in finding historical inaccuracy annoying. :D

I figure, if I can find the details out, then someone involved in making a movie - especially a big frickin' budget movie - should, too.

[majorsamfan.livejournal.com]

Have they not heard of the INTERNET FCOL?!?!?!

And your icon? (Sam/Dan) That scene just *bugged* me. I think I had already met them both at least once or twice when I saw that...and I thought...Oh, that's Michael and Amanda, not Daniel and Sam.
*sigh*

[nandamai]

Celtic anything. It's always wrong.

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

*needs to study up on her Celtic lore/mythology* Any recommendations?

Mythology on Stargate is the thing that annoys my roommate to long, winded rants. She started watching an episode with me, and I was explaining who the characters were:

Me: That's Osiris.
Her: But--Osiris is a man!
Me: Well, Osiris is actually a gender-neutral parasitic life form using her body. But she has great hair!
Her: But--Osiris is a man!
Me: And the Asguard are really little gray aliens.
Her: Aaaauuuuuuughh! I can't watch this anymore.

[majorsamfan.livejournal.com]

ROFLMAnatomyO!!!!

[nandamai]

It actually isn't the mythology so much -- I accept that they're going to bastardize mythology on SG (I have to, because I've studied most of the major mythologies of the world at some point or other). It's things like Daniel's "this is based on an ancient Celtic writing system" (WTF?). Costuming and sets that are supposed to represent somebody's romantic vision of the ancient British Isles. Anything, ever, about Druids, especially the faux-mystical stuff. And OMG Druids building Stonehenge, GAH. The Noble Savage in general. SG's Arthurian BS, OMG. AND. THE MISTS OF AVALON IS NOT A PRIMARY SOURCE, PEOPLE.

Er, yeah. I get a little worked up about this. Sorry.

Oh, and piano (or any musical instrument) bugs me, too. I don't even play piano, but I know enough about music to call bullshit on the shoulder thing especially.

I'm blanking on the name of the author of my favorite (respectable) book on Celtic Mythology, which is freaking ridiculous since I had to know the full citation to the letter for my MA exams, but when it comes to me I'll let you know.

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

The Mists of Avalon isn't a primary source?

*mind boggles*

;-)

[majorsamfan.livejournal.com]

I bet triciabyrne1978 would totally agree. She's very into that stuff, too.