Just for fun: a fannish question

[bookzombie]

I've noted in conversation many times in the past that there's a tendency to a sort of 'hive mind' about what you are supposed to like and not like in fandom (though this is maybe not as true as it used to be.) So, just for fun, what important/critically lauded/popular sf books, movies or tv series can you just not get what the fuss is about? Or understand the fuss but don't work for you?

Okay, so here's a starter from me:

I can understand why people consider 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner to be classics of sf cinema, but try as I might to like them I find them a bit...boring. I'd rather watch Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan or Back to the Future again than either of them.

*Prepares for brickbats...!*

Comments

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

I get the, "I don't get the appeal," reaction to television more than books and movies (although I don't get the appeal of a lot of books and movies). To that end:

Any Star Trek series other than the original. I don't think the original is fantastic either, but it's at least campy fun cheesiness some of the time. Everything beyond that, I recognize that a lot of people love it, but it just strikes me as Abysmal.

The new Dr. Who. I limit it to "the new," simply because I haven't watched any of the pre-new episodes since I was a kid, so I can't opine either way, but every episode of Dr. Who that I've watched recently has been terrible save for Blink. And then when I asked all my die-hard Dr. Who fan friends if Blink was indicative that the show had improved in quality in general, or if it was an anomaly, they all admitted to it being an anomaly. The cheesiness of it for me fails to become fun camp and instead just falls into "low quality", and I'm not sure what else there is to enjoy unless you're really into fandom and get a lot out of that end of things, which I'm not.

Torchwood. Again, I've watched a sampling of episodes, and just couldn't get any interest up at all.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I actually enjoyed the original movie, despite it being mostly terrible, but the show, as much as I've watched of it, just seemed boring. Likewise Angel. Likewise that other show Joss Whedon did. I think the only Whedon thing that I've liked has been Firefly, which I love.

Stargate. We own the movie primarily because my wife likes it. I don't mind elements of it, despite it being a huge dose of "what these people need is a white guy". But the television shows again just seem totally boring.

Farscape. I know a lot of people who LOVE this show, but the acting is awful, I find the whole "Muppets in Space," element impossible to get past.

There are some authors whose appeal I don't understand at all, but I feel weirder about posting that, especially since some of them actually do have journals and such and might theoretically come across it. :/

[bookzombie.livejournal.com]

I think the situation is different with TV series as there doesn't seem to be a (and I really hesitate to use the word) 'canon'. There is little feeling that you 'should' like any particular series. For everyone who loves, say, Star Trek, you'll get as many who hate it. Similarly for all the series you list here (which includes several of my absolute favourites!)

The only exception I can think of - certainly from the viewpoint of UK fandom, which is traditionally rather sniffy about non-book sf - is 'The Prisoner', which frankly I just don't get.