An odd thing happened last weekend. I was flipping channels, trying to find something Mom would like to watch, and I stumbled across the opening credits of Stargate: Atlantis. I stopped on it because 1) I adore Atlantis, and 2) I’ve been watching it on DVD and had never actually seen it on broadcast television before. And that’s when it happened. Mom turned around, looked at the screen, and said, “I saw that once. I like that show.”
Come again?
My mom likes nature shows, Travels in Europe with Rick Steves, and Jane Austen movies. How can she like a program that involves aliens and spaceships?
She must have sensed my disbelief, because she continued and told me about a scene from the episode she’d watched, describing two characters who sounded like Ronon and Tayla being faced down by an ugly monster that Mom thought was going to eat Tayla.
Alrighty, then.
We ended up watching something else after I determined that it was an episode I hadn’t seen yet; I wasn’t sure what season it was and I didn’t want to ruin any surprises by watching out of sequence. Mom was disappointed, but I held firm.
Last night, I was watching my DVD and saw the scene that Mom had described: Ronon and Tayla in a cell on a Wraith ship, and a grinning Wraith having a staring contest with Tayla before leaving. Yep, Mom really did watch Atlantis, and liked it enough that she wanted to watch it again.
I guess I know where I inherited my sci-fi genes from.
Now, if only we could get Grandma to watch…
(Photo source: the Sci-Fi Channel website)
