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

[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.