Confessions of a Liberal Puritan

[new Spike/Captain John icon courtesy of rahirah's fertile brain]

I really need to clear up some space on my DVR, in preparation for a bunch of stuff I've programmed it to record this week, but I can't quite bring myself to delete stuff without watching . . . even when it's Sci-Fi Channel movie fare that I only recorded in the first place because I happen to like some of the actors in it.

I could delete the last five episodes of Crusoe, I suppose, even though I haven't gotten around to watching them yet, since there won't be any more of that coming. But I'd really like to at least fast-forward through them, first, in order to watch the Sam-Neill-being-suavely-evil flashback scenes. So, save those for yet another day.

And then there's the seven last episodes of My Own Worst Enemy that I've been meaning to get around to, but never seemed to be in just the right mood for. No more of that coming, so perhaps I should delete them now, sight unseen, rather than risk getting emotionally involved in a hopeless cause? 'But,' my brain whines to me, 'there's Christian Slater! There's too little Christian Slater around to just waste any. Surely you'll want that some day when you're really bored and have watched everything else three times over?' Hmmm . . . Probably not. But let's see if there's anything else more expendable, first.

Oh, there's that Adrian Paul movie with the title that's such an obvious play on his Highlander fame: "The Immortal Voyage of Captain Drake". Yes, I should have watched it before this if it was REALLY important to me, but I did see enough of it while I was recording it to think there might be some good campy -- or at least good and cheesy -- fun to be had from that one. Besides: Adrian Paul! 'Nuff said. That one stays until I can watch it.

"Day Watch", then? Admittedly, I was somewhat bummed by the way "Night Watch" ended when I saw that in the theater some years ago, but I'd still sort of like to watch the sequel, or at least skim through it . . . some other time. That's one I can't just have on in the background while I'm doing other things, since I'll need to read the subtitles. But it's just over two hours, so maybe I can wait to delete it.

Deleting this year's Battlestar Galactica episodes is non-negotiable, even though I'm caught up on all the recent events on that series: have to keep them available for re-viewing until after I've seen the series finale this Friday, just in case. No help there.

I've also been watching Dollhouse right along, but I'm still going to keep all those episodes, at least until I can back them up on videotape, just because that's what I always DO do with Joss Whedon series. No hope for deletion material there, either.

And no, I'm not going to erase any of the Sarah Connor Chronicles, even though I'm about sixteen episodes behind, because I still want to believe that I'm going to get back into that one day. (Though surely I'd have been at least tempted to start catching up before now?) Still, not quite ready to write that off yet, . . . which is too bad, since it's taking up a lot of room.

I keep telling myself that I'm going to catch up on this season of Kyle XY as soon as I record the first episode (the one that I missed two months ago) during tomorrow's daytime marathon on ABC Family. I usually enjoy at least fast-forwarding through parts of that series, so we'll let it be for now.

I'm pretty much caught up on all the shows I really watch and enjoy without feeling the slightest desire to preserve for posterity, so there are no extraneous Bones or Numbers or Chuck or House (etc.) episodes lying around, just waiting to be cleaned up.

And the really primitive part of my mind won't let me erase the cheesy, probably really lousy, obvious rip-off of Edgar Rice Burroughs' The Lost World (or at least every movie and TV adapation of it), apparently laced with a bit of H. Rider Haggard (or at least movie versions thereof) that I recorded this afternoon off the Sci-Fi Channel, EVEN THOUGH it has Shannon Doherty in it (I found her tolerable on the first few seasons of Charmed, but only just).

My main reason for thinking I might actually want to watch (eventually) a 2008 cheese-fest titled The Lost Treasure of the Grand Canyon? The male leads are two Stargate: SG1 veterans with definition pretensions to hunkiness of the more cerebral variety (though they can't really compete with RDA/Jack O'Neill on that score -- but then, no one can, for me): Michael Shanks (Dr. Daniel Jackson, who was dead for all of season 6) and J. R. Bourne (the Tok'ra Martouf, who was permanently dead after season 4, except for an alternate-realities-collide episode in season 9).

Nope. Gotta hold onto that until I've had at least a week to get around to watching it, I fear.

(And speaking of hyper-cheesy made-for-Sci-Fi-Channel movies, here's a link to some on-the-set pics from James Marsters' foray into the genre in Alien Western, which is apparently actually being filmed.)

Okay, that settles it. I'm sorry, Christian Slater, but you have to go in order to make room for cheesier if not better beefcake than yourself. R.I.P., "My Own Worst Enemy".

*Sigh* Well, I feel almost virtuous now, for having made such a momentous decision.

Maybe I'll reward myself for all this hard work by indulging in some Michael Shanks/J.R. Bourne pseudo-Burroughs cheese before I go to sleep.