What wonders await us on Outland tonight, as we venture into Andy’s home?
Discuss them here!
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Hoyden About Town 
I think I like Fab.
This is the first episode I’ve managed to catch. Loved it. Definitely isn’t perfect, but hopefully it will grow into itself. I especially like the theme tune.
Interesting… the Max and Rae episodes were all about the eponymous character having some sort of personal crisis, but we didn’t get that with Andy. It strikes me that Andy is so utterly comfortable with who he is and what he wants from life that there is no crisis for him. He’s not even particularly bothered by his bondage predicament — it’s the others who are worried about it!
Beppie, agreed. Andy’s concerns are purely pragmatic regarding the survivability of his extrication from the extreme bondage situation. He’s not embarrassed/ shamed by his situation at all.
Mindy, Fab is wondabulous.
TAK, you should be able to (just) still catch the first two episodes on ABC iView, if your bandwidth can manage it.
Loved the who’s-on-first routine with Fab & Max. “oh, he dumped you for Toby. ” “no, I dumped him!” “You dumped Toby?”
Didn’t get the Ghost Whisperer=two-timing reference though, even after reading all the season summaries on wikipedia. I must not be enough of a geek, lol!
I wondered if it was simply that Ghost Whisperer is so bad that only someone in the deepest pit of despair would go there.
I find I’m getting awfully fond of Max, and want to wrap him in blankets and pet him.
orlando, that was my reading too. I was strongly reminded of the time one of my housemates started a Dawson’s creek marathon after a break-up.
As much as I like Max, I find his prudishness (for want of a better term) to be a little irksome. I get that it’s part of the character, but it seemed so silly that he would consider that saying that Toby’s partner (whose name escapes me) was a sex worker would be a non-awkward way of getting them to break up. I mean, obviously sex work stigma exists in the real world, but as someone who has dated sex workers the logic of that scene was very jarring.
I thought they could have made more of Andy really. He was almost a prop in his own episode, where we learned about him through his accoutrements and decor, more than his behaviour. Although I agree that his lack of concern about his situation was a nice touch – perhaps happiness just feels shallow!
I think the Ghost Whisperer joke was about how depressing it was, not that that stopped me watching every episode as it came out.
Maybe this? Sometimes watching Outland I feel like I’m not geeky enough.
I also wanted more Andy! @Feminist Avatar, “prop in his own episode” is perfect. But I agree it was also a potent statement about Andy’s life “problems” and how he approaches them.
@Mindy – that article was very helpful, thanks!
@Li – the whole point is that Max’s behaviour makes no sense. I just realised I used to know someone with a similar avoidance of confrontation who would come up with bizarre, complicated explanations because somehow the truth was just too hard, and the rest of us were all “was that really easier than the truth?” and in retrospect, no, it wasn’t, but in the heat of the moment that’s what panic would come out with. The more I think about it, the more Max is an alarmingly accurate portrayal of a particular type of anxious person.
Just happened on it showing here in Perth as I was channel-flicking. Like, like, like!! Lots of laughs. I’ll even grudgingly overlook the fact that that Anu’s character is the token-token-token everything rolled (snerk) into one, because she’s just great and unlike the disappointment that was Glee, she pushes her own damn wheelchair. And as a bossy wheelie myself, it’s the closest I’ve ever seen to someone like me on the telly. I do like the other characters as well, esp. Andy.
I enjoyed that episode, but I’m suspecting whoever did props it had a lot more fun. I imagine someone going into the Melbourne equivalent of a certain type of shop on Oxford street, looking around and saying “I’ll take one of everything”, or, ” hmm, yeah I really like that but have you got anything bigger? We are trying to make a real visual statement”.
@Book Girl — in the second episode, they actually address the issue of Rae having somehow ended up with the “trifecta” of being black, disabled and a lesbian, in a way that shows that those character traits were not chosen for tokenistic reasons. That ep should still be up on iView, if you have enough bandwidth for such things.
@Beppie, @Bookgirl: I agree Bookgirl should definitely watch episode two (Rae), but as I said on the other thread, I’m not convinced Rae is not tokenistic, yet. That doesn’t stop her from being an awesome character at the same time! I was also really pleased that she pushes her own chair, unlike Glee.
(from a totally self-centered ableist perspective, I like the fact that an actual wheelchair user had the same reaction relative to Glee I did. It’s sorta like getting a cookie, I must be getting some kinda clue about wheelchair users.)
Although not all wheelchair users can push their own wheelchairs, and/or not all the time. It takes quite a lot of physical strength and practice, which is easier for some people than others. Just like some people don’t have the stamina to walk constantly etc.
I also agree that Rae is still tokenistic; not because she is black, disabled and a woman – such people should be represented on tv just like everybody else. BUT because nobody else is anything but a white, able-bodied man (even all the firemen!)
Feminist Avatar, you are absolutely right on both points – thought of them after I posted, but too tired to elaborate. What’s always bugged me with Glee is, if he can’t push his own chair, then FFS put him in a power chair or one with power assist wheels – we aren’t in the 1950s. Have him be in control of his own mobility is the point. I use a mobility scooter and a quad cane, and when I graduate to a w/chair it will be power chair all the way baby! I know from previous experience that I’ll just go round and round in circles in a manual.
Kevin McHale’s character in Glee, however, is a vigorous teenage boy with a (as far as we can tell) low spinal injury, sustained some years before the show is set. It was very obvious from episode one that the actor (and directors/choreographers) had put little or not effort into presenting him as a credible wheelchair user – he had no idea how to handle the chair at all.
Yes, one of the things I like about Outland is that it looks to me like Christine Anu spent some time in the chair, getting used to it, before filming started, whereas Kevin McHale (and isn’t Glee up to season three now?) still looks like he’s just sat down in it. I never really thought of Anu as an actor before, but I have a lot of respect for how she approached this.