feeling listless

Watching with Wharfdale
My So-Called Life DVD boxset
There used be a TV programme on Sunday nights on BBC One called ‘When the boat comes in’. I was very young, so the only thing a remember was the theme song, which was something along the lines of ‘You shall have a fishy, on a little dishy, dah dah dah dah dah, when the boat comes in.’ I suspect there was a fishing subject matter somewhere in there, but whenever our family had the tv conversation at Christmas my Dad will look off into the distance and get misty eyed. When I’m his age and I’m talking to my kids there’ll be on programme I’ll bring up and bore them rigid about. The difference is I’ll be able to get it down off the shelf and pop it into the DVD player.

The magic of the internet means that I don’t actually have to go on at great length about what the show is, or why it means so much and which my favourite moment is. It’s all been covered already by myself and others. So instead I’ll be keep with everything I’ve noticed rewatching the series over the past few days. I refer you to this FAQ as a pretty good way of finding what I’m on about because I’m going to be shockingly insular and only talk about it for people who already love the series and are thinking about shelling out for the boxset. I’ll also demonstrate time and again why it’s better than ‘Dawson’s Creek’ in every respect …

Angela I’d actually forgetten how vindictive she could be. Apart from the incident in which she sells the ‘Dead’ tickets her Dad gave her, there are all the times she entirely unsympathetic to Brian, Sharon and her sister. But staggeringly everyone is like that. Showing a depth of characterization not seen elsewhere, all of the characters are portrayed as been as mean, nasty, helpful, good as we all are. Even Brian, who for much of the series is portayed as wounded puppy is entirely hateful towards Delia Fisher, and completely fails to relate during the substitute teacher episode. Better than DC? In DC the characters never mean to … in MSCL they do time and again … which is the more realistic?

Story-arcs I hadn’t realized how MSCL doesn’t do story arcs, or at least not in the traditional way. What arcs do exist are more developments within a given situation. For example, Angela slowly getting closer to Jordan; Angela and Sharon making up; Angela and Rayanne falling out; Brian falling for Angela. Whenever a major event does occur (Sharon’s Dad’s heart attack), it lasts an episode and the developments are more about the character than the thing. They aren’t allowed to rule their lives – in that same episode although Patty and Graham are cut up about the heart attack, they never lose focus on the running of the business. Also some things slow burn – Rayanne’s drinking problem is in there from the start but it’s pretty subliminal, we don’t really notice it, just like real life. Better than DC? Recently Dawson’s Dad died. Most other plotlines stopped for about three episodes while all of the fall out worked its way through as though nothing else was happening in the character’s lives. In MSCL when Rayanne slept with Jordan, although it had magnitude, only those directly involved were effected. Everything else just carried on regardless.

The Adults I hadn’t noticed before how integral Angela’s parents are. Every episode features a plotline about them and unlike other teen shows it’s not from the kids point of view. There are even a couple of episodes were their story has more significance (‘Father Figure’). You can see why ABC had issues with finding a slot … Better than DC? When Dawson’s Mom had an affair it was more about how it effected Dawson. When Angela’s Dad was thinking about it, it was about his marriage instead – Angela wasn’t in much of the equation.

Parody Oddly MSCL doesn’t seem to afraid of parodying itself. One of the zeniths of this is the moment in ‘Halloween’ when Angela’s younger sister Danielle does a pitch perfect impression of her big sister playing on the mad angst of earlier episodes (toned down a but by then). Better than DC? Ripe for parody, DC runs away and hides from it. DC’s stock in trade is echoes – visual or textual references to previous storylines and moments, such as Dawson and Joey’s first kiss.

Visual I forgotten how visual many of the shows are. From the view from under Angela’s cardigan in the first episode; through the montage about kissing via the scene were Brian glimpses Rayanne shaving her legs there are hundred are memorable moments. Better than DC? To be honest, I watched two new episodes on Sunday and I can’t remember their being a single shot which made my mouth fall open. That happens time and again on MSCL.

DVD So what do you get for your sixty odd quid? It’s a weird one actually. Unlike the origami adventures of the Buffy boxsets (all folded card board) here we have each disk in a separate standard plastic dvd box wrapped into a card board traditional of VHS boxsets. Each box has the same picture of Angela on the front and episode descriptions on the back with little pictures which might be from the series. It’s all very uniform. And cheap looking, but to be honest it doesn’t matter. This is one of the situations were the product is more important than the packaging. There are no special features. No commentaries, no trailers. But again it doesn’t matter because of the quality of the product. I’d rather have nothing than something half-hearted like some onscreen essay. Especially if it kept costs down. I do have a gripe with the annoying menus. I would have preferred something silent with the black and white MSCL logo and the options. Instead we get the annoying rock version of the theme from the closing credits of the pilot, over a mess of pinks and a far to red shot of Angela looking like she’s got piles. No really. It’s a nightmare. Better than DC? So far only four episodes of DC are available. Nyer, nyer nee nyer neyer.

But one we can live with. It somehow feels wrong that I’ve got access to this in *this* condition. Go. Go buy now … and that's all I have to say about that ... for now ...