Painting gratuitous tattoos onto pretty naked boyflesh is the sort of job, like shaving Michael Rosenbaum's head, that one would wake up in the morning and weep tears of gratitude to have been given. Or, you know, pay to do, rather than be paid for.

If I don't finish reading that sentance because I'm in my bunk, you'll understand, right?

Charisma's sexy sun tattoo is, I believe, hidden by makeup (or perhaps is simply didn't exist) in some episodes of Angel, but it's visible in others.

Yup. Jane Espenson talks about the tattoo a bit in the commentary for "Room with a Vu" because there is one scene where you can see it briefly. In later seasons they just stopped trying to cover it up.

I'm not sure, but I have a distinct impression that Angel's tattoo is the character's only, and not DB's.

Right, but that's a plot point. Or, I don't know, a conversation starter. A symbol of the Vast Angst Of That Strangely Sexy Dude. (Also it helped us know quickly whose bareass we were looking at, when he fell naked at our feet in Buffy S3. Okay, that was mostly Mike Massa, right?)

I have a secret thing for tattoos -- it is probably the equivalent to seeing girls in their underwear. You know that thing, where they're not wearing it for display, only for themselves, so it feels like an intimacy that it actually isn't? Yeah, the guy who plays Vaughn on Alias has a tattoo also, and they showed him shirtless (only once or twice).

I think Tracy's big problem was that he never thought things through, as evidenced by his war scenes. No plan, just blunder through life,(I empathize with that) but never thinking through what the outcome means.

This is true about selling the organs to the highest bidder. He just assumed he'd deal with the replacemnt organs when the issue came up. And in the "just run" attitude on the planet.

This is also evident in his relationships with Mal and Zoe. Mal was Sarge, world without end. Zoe was Zoe, who would marry her?

It shocked his world that these people had moved on, even if Mal is only starting to. In the end his lack of planning cost him his life.

Just re-watched The Message.

God DAMN, I do love this show. Which is becoming something of a tedious refrain by now, I realise, but -- God DAMN, I do love this show.

Adam Baldwin's Jayne -- absobloodylutely priceless. Really. A constant delight. Funny as hell, but more than that too. The whole parcel-opening and letter-reading and delighted reception of the hat -- God, he's adorable. And his glee at the possibility of Tracey's body being full of gold -- man, I did laugh like a drain. But I was also a hair's breadth away from crying several times in this episode -- particularly, on rewatching, because you get to appreciate the full whammy of the irony at the time, with the message itself, and the flashback sequence. River, for all that she has so little to do in this episode, is also wonderfully good -- Summer just inhabits the role beautifully. She's utterly convincing.

I already gushed about the station itself, didn't I? Well, consider me gushing again. It's all so well judged and detailed. Wonderful stuff.

The snow chase scene -- it struck me this time that part of the reason this blew me away is because the effects are excellent, really excellent, but they aren't allowed to showcase themselves. It's a matter of fact inclusion -- had it been a car chase, or a horse chase it would have had the same amount of screen time. What's important is Wash and Mal and co inside the ship, and TraHoldKnox making coweyes at Kaylee. That's class. Moreover, the cinematography (and I guess this isn't the appropriate term for CGI, but I'm buggered if I know what the correct word would be, so we'll leave it at cinematography) is wonderfully naturalistic - the faint wobbliness and the shift of focus lending a near-documentary flavour to the whole spaceship chase sequence, rather than the too-perfect camerawork we're most accustomed to on screen. (In the UK this kind of fauxrealism gave This Life a very distinctive character, and I know I've seen it on US shows before then - this is more delicately managed than that, but it's bloody effective.)

I love Zoe. Did I mention that lately? I love Zoe. But I also love Inara, for entirely different but equally valid reasons. And Book is cool as fuck. And Wash is worthy of Zoe.

And Simon's attempt to show a girl a good time -- too endearing for words.

Plus, nekkid TraHoldKnox! Which was nice. Go Team Nekkid Boyflesh.

(Let it be noted that my failure to sing Mal's praises simply reflects my attempt not to overpraise my husband-to-be in public. Wouldn't want to be accused of favouritism wrt my tightly bepanted Canadian)

Fay, have you read Shack's recap at TwoP now that you've seen the show? He has a hilarious riff about the moment that Tracey wakes up during the autopsy.

No, I haven't read any of the TwoP recaps. I guess I probably need to -- my relationship with Smallville was very much in relation to the TwoP recaps. I've not read the recaps for AtS or BtVS -- partly, I think, because the fun of watching SV is precisely because one is mocking it (affectionately), whereas I take my ME stuff a leetle too seriously.

(still sore from the stupid fucking Skittles Sours indent ads we've had on Sky for a couple of years, which ripped the shit out of the show. Because the Skittles are sour, you see. So they make sarcastic remarks. Watching an animated Skittle voiced by Tony Hawks being snide about how cliched and stupid Buffy was, and then watching the various uncliched and thoroughly depressing plotlines of Season 6, was very angry-making. Mocking something which is acutely aware of its own cliches and plays with them, and mocks itself? Not so funny. Especially since it was more the Cordy-like character from the movie that was being mocked. And especially since Season 6 is about as far removed from the perky fun of Season 1 as it's humanly possible to be. And...I need to calm down about this, don't I? But it was a feature of every sodding episode of BtVS for two years, until they finally finally finally came up with a funny, subtle, clever, appropriate campaign using visual gags that tapped into the show's sensibility, rather than ripped the shit out of the show. ....er, right. Calming down.)

I appear to have some unresolved anger here. Ahem. Sorry 'bout that. Where was I? Right - TwoP. Yeah, I should go and check that out, actually -- if you liked it, I'll give 'em the benefit of the doubt.

ion, SciFi is continuing to promote the show with its lovely adverts. Go them. And the trailers for this week's show have me squinting at the screen excitedly, trying to decide whether it really is Julie Benz with dark hair or just a lass who sounds and looks like her.

Fay: Those Skittle adverts needed to die, just fucking dragged out the bag and shot, for all the reasons you stated.

Still new Firefly in an hour.

Smallville wears TWOP recaps quite well. I read one Angel one, and my blood pressure hit the ceiling.

Will not touch Firefly ones with a barge pole.

(still sore from the stupid fucking Skittles Sours indent ads we've had on Sky for a couple of years, which ripped the shit of the show. Because the Skittles are sour, you see. So they make sarcastic remarks. Watching an animated Skittle voiced by Tony Hawks being snide about how cliched and stupid Buffy was, and then watching the various bloody depressing plotlines of Season 6, was very angry-making. Mocking something which is acutely aware of its own cliches and plays with them, and mocks itself? Not so funny. Especially since it was more the Cordy-like character from the movie that was being mocked. And especially since Season 6 is about as far removed from the perky fun of Season 1 as it's humanly possible to be. And...I need to calm down about this, don't I? But it was a feature of every sodding episode of BtVS for two years, until they finally finally finally came up with a funny, subtle, clever, appropriate campaign using visual gags that tapped into the sensibility, rather than ripped the shit out of the show. ....er, right. Calming down.)

Wrod. They were awful-- and I normally like Tony Hawkes. When he's on the radio. But mocking Buffy? Not happy making.

And wrod to excitment re. tonight's show.

In fact, I think I should give up writing posts, and change my tag to "Wrod. What Fay said." It would save me typing time.

Oh, how I anxiously await the UK reaction to this one. So much revealed, so much left unsaid, somuch... Well, just so much.

And only one week until the first ever viewing of the original Objects In Space!