If you're one of the three subscribers to Scary-Crayon's tumblr, you've seen this already -- but I thought I'd post these thoughts here as well since they're also kinda in line with a personal blog entry (in that they're thoughts about things that I like). A cartoonist I know asked about shows people enjoy and why, and encouraged people to explain their reasons in detailed fashion. In response, I wrote about "Doctor Who" and "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" and why I like them so bloody much!
Why I like "Doctor Who":
The show's brilliant premise (it's about a dude who travels in a craft that can go anywhere in space and time) gives it basically unlimited potential and versatility. It's also fascinating how the show's various eras tend to reflect the times in which they were made, though sadly it's currently in the "derivative scifi action show" phase that I'm not especially enjoying. Still, I keep watching because I'm very invested in the universe, and because the premise means that standout episodes or a complete 180 in terms of the show's quality is entirely possible.
(And I didn't mention it in the SC tumblr, but also because Daleks are awesome and those companions are mostly right foxy and THE CLASSIC TV DOCTORS RULE. Except Six. He was pretty terrible.)
Why I like "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles":
Terminator 1 and T2 are films I enjoy very much (I didn't see I as a kid, but loved T2 -- and my old Kenner Arnold fig was one of my favorite childhood playthings), but T3 and Salvation (which admittedly came out while TSCC was already running, but still) were comparatively weak and didn't do much for me. So I love that TSCC essentially acknowledged where the story went wrong -- and that Sarah Connor was one of the most, if not THE most, compelling characters in the franchise -- and revisited the story before it started sucking. (I also love how they did it: they had the characters literally time-jump over the events of the third film.) It's a very good show, too, and ponders many of the tangential questions one might have asked and ideas one might have had while viewing the films or thinking about the premise in general. Among other things, terminators are shown to have (slightly) different personalities and missions beyond simple assassinations; the show suggests that characters can travel back from different future timelines; and even, owing to the terminators' role as thinking machines with the ability to solve problems and make decisions, the suggestion that some terminators might voluntarily choose to side with humanity, or at least to oppose Skynet. Even terminators who remain committed to Skynet are shown to oppose it at times, if doing so will increase their chances of completing their mission. It's very interesting.
And it doesn't hurt that Lena Headey is gorgeous.
