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Statute of limitations on spoilers only applies to well-known past shows, not obscure things noone's heard about until they're doing a remake. Just because there's an old version of a show done 30-40 years ago doesn't mean everyone should be aware of the details of it.
I assume you are joking. the original had 80 million viewers and was one of the biggest TV events of the 80's
Disclaimer: In America. 30 years ago. My siblings that are 27/28 won't have heard of it and I'm only 19 with no interest in the 80's at all. As far as I'm concerned scifi without cool effects is well.. crap.
I'm 29, and I remember watching it as it aired. 25 years ago, to be exact.
Same. We should form a support group.
Deebaser on
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Deebaseron my way to work in a suit and a tieAhhhh...come on fucking guyRegistered Userregular
Sci fi without cool effects means that the story has to actually, you know, be good.
Story is less important if there is sufficient Cool and Explosions to keep me happy.
Also I'm just gonna drop this whole spoiler thing. I guess not hearing about 30 year old shows that nobody in popular media ever references to (unless the whole OMG LIZARD PEOPLE ALIENS is from V) is my fault.
Or hell, is it spoiling the new BSG miniseries to say "Cylons wipe out all of humanity, except for a small fleet of survivors that are running for their lives."? That spoils the entire miniseries, yet is nothing but setup for the actual series.
"The Visitors are actually lizard-people, and humanity must fight them!" spoils the first episode, but it's the whole fucking premise of the show.
Sci fi without cool effects means that the story has to actually, you know, be good.
Story is less important if there is sufficient Cool and Explosions to keep me happy.
Also I'm just gonna drop this whole spoiler thing. I guess not hearing about 30 year old shows that nobody in popular media ever references to (unless the whole OMG LIZARD PEOPLE ALIENS is from V) is my fault.
I hope you take some righteous spoiler indignation over to the PRISONER thread at some point - that's a remake of an even older show that some of us have only viewed via the magic of the digital video disc!
Sci fi without cool effects means that the story has to actually, you know, be good.
Story is less important if there is sufficient Cool and Explosions to keep me happy.
Also I'm just gonna drop this whole spoiler thing. I guess not hearing about 30 year old shows that nobody in popular media ever references to (unless the whole OMG LIZARD PEOPLE ALIENS is from V) is my fault.
Once again, 25 years old, not 30, and fucking Robot Chicken made a parody of it.
Sci fi without cool effects means that the story has to actually, you know, be good.
Story is less important if there is sufficient Cool and Explosions to keep me happy.
Also I'm just gonna drop this whole spoiler thing. I guess not hearing about 30 year old shows that nobody in popular media ever references to (unless the whole OMG LIZARD PEOPLE ALIENS is from V) is my fault.
Basically every time you've seen a joke on Simpsons/South Park/Family Guy/Seinfeld/whatever about someone secretly being a lizard person, it's a joke about V. So...yeah.
Also...who else is waiting breathlessly for this scene to be recreated? The good stuff starts around 1:30.
Sci fi without cool effects means that the story has to actually, you know, be good.
Story is less important if there is sufficient Cool and Explosions to keep me happy.
Also I'm just gonna drop this whole spoiler thing. I guess not hearing about 30 year old shows that nobody in popular media ever references to (unless the whole OMG LIZARD PEOPLE ALIENS is from V) is my fault.
Once again, 25 years old, not 30, and fucking Robot Chicken made a parody of it.
To be fair, Robot Chicken is almost entirely obscure 80's pop culture references.
There's a significant part of the population (especially on this forum) that was born after this show aired, and it definitely didn't have the cultural traction that a lot of people here think it did. I don't know if there was ever a thread here about the original (if there was, I didn't read it), and it's not something I would have made an appointment to watch the reruns of on Sci-Fi (which I tend to avoid since most of their shows are really, really bad (not ALL, but most)).
That said, the lizard thing isn't really a spoiler since you kind of figured something was up from the way Inara blinked funny in the commercials. :P
a5ehren on
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AegisFear My DanceOvershot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered Userregular
edited November 2009
I've been inundated with the Inara commercials and never saw any blinking.
I've been inundated with the Inara commercials and never saw any blinking.
At the very end, she does this weird double-blink. I noticed it after I saw the ad a few times (it took me way longer to figure out it was Inara :winky:), and I was like "Well, that's weird. I bet they aren't really that hot!"
a5ehren on
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AegisFear My DanceOvershot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered Userregular
I've been inundated with the Inara commercials and never saw any blinking.
At the very end, she does this weird double-blink. I noticed it after I saw the ad a few times (it took me way longer to figure out it was Inara :winky:), and I was like "Well, that's weird. I bet they aren't really that hot!"
I was too busy cringing at the "We'll bring you healthcare!" and "We'll bring you renewable energy!" lines. At least the "You will know love again. We are of Peace." versions didn't sound cheesy.
I've been inundated with the Inara commercials and never saw any blinking.
At the very end, she does this weird double-blink. I noticed it after I saw the ad a few times (it took me way longer to figure out it was Inara :winky:), and I was like "Well, that's weird. I bet they aren't really that hot!"
I was too busy cringing at the "We'll bring you healthcare!" and "We'll bring you renewable energy!" lines. At least the "You will know love again. We are of Peace." versions didn't sound cheesy.
I saw a trailer for this yesterday and it is revealed they're lizards in that trailer. One of the aliens go down, and a human starts to peel of the aliens "human" shell.
Honk on
PSN: Honkalot
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AegisFear My DanceOvershot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered Userregular
I've been inundated with the Inara commercials and never saw any blinking.
At the very end, she does this weird double-blink. I noticed it after I saw the ad a few times (it took me way longer to figure out it was Inara :winky:), and I was like "Well, that's weird. I bet they aren't really that hot!"
I was too busy cringing at the "We'll bring you healthcare!" and "We'll bring you renewable energy!" lines. At least the "You will know love again. We are of Peace." versions didn't sound cheesy.
I saw a trailer for this yesterday and it is revealed they're lizards in that trailer. One of the aliens go down, and a human starts to peel of the aliens "human" shell.
Never got the trailer. Only got the short Inara commercials.
The pacing in the first episode could have been deliberate instead of simply bad production, though that was definitely there.
Maybe they wanted to get it out of the way so they could play up other themes?
I believe so. I think the show is going to tackle mainly the personal stories of (A) le resistance (B) people tapped as favorites by the V's and (C) horny teens that don;t know what they're in to. Even if the spoiler issue were legitimate, and they hadn't revealed the lizard factor in the first episode, everyone would have flocked to the internets, discovered it's a remake and then read up on the old miniseries. They just got that out of the way early to set up the longer arcs. They have no interest in the macro story of "how the world reacts."
Backstop on
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HonkHonk is this poster.Registered User, __BANNED USERSregular
edited November 2009
Now we all know anyway.
Was the pilot good? I haven't seen it. I want it to be excellent because the original makes me nostalgiagasm.
Sci fi without cool effects means that the story has to actually, you know, be good.
Not in 1983.
The original Mini series was VERY good and for the time it's special effects were also good.
It was a decent facsist/Nazi allegory with some rubber-face alien shit added in.
And then they ironed the fun out of it with V: The (Not So) Final Battle and the series by putting in magic babies and making Diana look go from being a femme fatale to being a cartoonish Snidely Whiplash in the vein of Cobra Commander.
Sci fi without cool effects means that the story has to actually, you know, be good.
Story is less important if there is sufficient Cool and Explosions to keep me happy.
Also I'm just gonna drop this whole spoiler thing. I guess not hearing about 30 year old shows that nobody in popular media ever references to (unless the whole OMG LIZARD PEOPLE ALIENS is from V) is my fault.
Basically every time you've seen a joke on Simpsons/South Park/Family Guy/Seinfeld/whatever about someone secretly being a lizard person, it's a joke about V. So...yeah.
Also...who else is waiting breathlessly for this scene to be recreated? The good stuff starts around 1:30.
Basically every time you've seen a joke on Simpsons/South Park/Family Guy/Seinfeld/whatever about someone secretly being a lizard person, it's a joke about V. So...yeah.
Also...who else is waiting breathlessly for this scene to be recreated? The good stuff starts around 1:30.
Woah, that's weird with the baby having that weird tongue... :?
OH GOD WHAT THE HELL IS THAT LIZARD THING
Haha, this is hilarious 80's sci fi.
An interesting thought occurs to me regarding this point:
Since it's a human male who's going to get romanced by a lady alien this time around, maybe the Visitors will be of the type that implant their fertilized embryos in the males?
Sci fi without cool effects means that the story has to actually, you know, be good.
Story is less important if there is sufficient Cool and Explosions to keep me happy.
Also I'm just gonna drop this whole spoiler thing. I guess not hearing about 30 year old shows that nobody in popular media ever references to (unless the whole OMG LIZARD PEOPLE ALIENS is from V) is my fault.
Basically every time you've seen a joke on Simpsons/South Park/Family Guy/Seinfeld/whatever about someone secretly being a lizard person, it's a joke about V. So...yeah.
]
Wrongity wrong wrong wrongity wrong wrong wrongity wrong wrong wrong. They are either referring to V or someone who actually believes that the plotline to V is real.
Sci fi without cool effects means that the story has to actually, you know, be good.
Story is less important if there is sufficient Cool and Explosions to keep me happy.
Also I'm just gonna drop this whole spoiler thing. I guess not hearing about 30 year old shows that nobody in popular media ever references to (unless the whole OMG LIZARD PEOPLE ALIENS is from V) is my fault.
Basically every time you've seen a joke on Simpsons/South Park/Family Guy/Seinfeld/whatever about someone secretly being a lizard person, it's a joke about V. So...yeah.
Also...who else is waiting breathlessly for this scene to be recreated? The good stuff starts around 1:30.
Ditto for the guy on the left. He's like a bad xerox of a stereotype that the writer of said character has never actually encountered. And what's Tyler supposed to be? Fem emo-biker who is obviously thirty despite playing a 16 year old?
As far as the writing, while it did get better the further it got from the first act expositorama, the scene at the jeweler nearly made me turn it off just two minutes in:
Guy: I'm here to buy an engagement ring.
Jeweler: How about about this one?
Guy: Will she like it?
Jeweler: Yes.
Guy: I'll take it.
*loud vibration shakes the whole fucking world*
Guy: What was that!?
Jeweler: I don't know.
Why would you ask the jeweler about the earthquake you both experienced simultaneously? Is this a lapidary/seismology boutique?
You just made me laugh out loud. I wish they had the balls to just make the scene go like this.
Guy: I'm here to buy an engagement ring.
Jeweler: How about about this one?
Guy: Will she like it?
Jeweler: Yes.
Guy: I'll take it.
*loud vibration shakes the whole fucking world*
Guy: What was that!? Jeweler: ...lizard people.
Another rewrite I'd like to see:
Mom: Is this about your father? Is it because he left us?
Son: What the fuck are you talking about? Who said anything about Dad?
Mom: You father left me!
Son: That was, like, years ago! Get over it! I just think the aliens are pretty cool!
I also had a problem with how the world continued as normal with the presence of aliens overhead. Yeah, just goin' to my bank job with the aliens in the sky. Normal day, except for protests and a few mothership shuttles.
Aliens setting up websites? Handing out pamphlets and application forms? It's so mundane and unimaginative it would have to make people suspicious.
Lux on
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
edited November 2009
After some further reflection, I think one of the things that bugs me about this show is that it reads like a bad Kevin J. Anderson book, in that at anytime you'll have fifteen completely separate plots going on, none dependent on the other, and a swath of characters that rarely interact outside of their circle. I'm sure as the season winds down (if it gets that far), the plots will start to converge, but it's honestly just the same piss-poor template that bad sci-fi has been using for years and years.
If you want tight stories and cohesive plots, you have to reduce your plotlines and characters, or devote entire episodes to only a few plot points. You think about a show like BSG, and they kind of stuck to the latter method, typically staying on-topic until a subplot resolved itself. They had a ton of characters, but very few actual divergent plotlines, and several ancillary characters went four seasons with little or no primary focus. And that's one of the problems I'm seeing so far with V: everyone is a main character. Of course, the BSG mini introduced a lot of characters and dynamics, but did so over 3 hours instead of 44 minutes.
Whatever the case, V still shows some promise, but I do hope that the remaining three episodes slow things down a bit. I can't hope to care for a character if I have no clue who they are or what their motivation is, and so far everyone is just coming off as paper-thin stereotypes, mostly I suspect because that's all you can really do to explain a character when you only have two minutes to introduce them before you move on.
Ditto for the guy on the left. He's like a bad xerox of a stereotype that the writer of said character has never actually encountered. And what's Tyler supposed to be? Fem emo-biker who is obviously thirty despite playing a 16 year old?
As far as the writing, while it did get better the further it got from the first act expositorama, the scene at the jeweler nearly made me turn it off just two minutes in:
Guy: I'm here to buy an engagement ring.
Jeweler: How about about this one?
Guy: Will she like it?
Jeweler: Yes.
Guy: I'll take it.
*loud vibration shakes the whole fucking world*
Guy: What was that!?
Jeweler: I don't know.
Why would you ask the jeweler about the earthquake you both experienced simultaneously? Is this a lapidary/seismology boutique?
You just made me laugh out loud. I wish they had the balls to just make the scene go like this.
Guy: I'm here to buy an engagement ring.
Jeweler: How about about this one?
Guy: Will she like it?
Jeweler: Yes.
Guy: I'll take it.
*loud vibration shakes the whole fucking world*
Guy: What was that!? Jeweler: ...lizard people.
Another rewrite I'd like to see:
Mom: Is this about your father? Is it because he left us?
Son: What the fuck are you talking about? Who said anything about Dad?
Mom: You father left me!
Son: That was, like, years ago! Get over it! I just think the aliens are pretty cool!
I just kinda figured she was a shitty mother. That's how the scenes felt to me. She was terrible at communicating with her son.
I also had a problem with how the world continued as normal with the presence of aliens overhead. Yeah, just goin' to my bank job with the aliens in the sky. Normal day, except for protests and a few mothership shuttles.
Aliens setting up websites? Handing out pamphlets and application forms? It's so mundane and unimaginative it would have to make people suspicious.
What did you expect? Sure, Aliens have landed, but someone's still gotta cook dinner tommorow. Life goes on.
And setting up websites works really well. Why shouldn't the aliens go with what works?
shryke on
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
I just kinda figured she was a shitty mother. That's how the scenes felt to me. She was terrible at communicating with her son.
I know this is going to sound pedantic this early into the series, but I have to think this has to be one of the least interesting things that can go on in a series about alien invasion.
One of the negative press reviews I read touched on this, and it felt right when they said that, strip away any of the scenes with actual aliens or spaceships in them, it's almost impossible to tell that this is a series about an alien invasion. So much of the pilot is devoted to small-potatoes interpersonal dynamics written in a bland boilerplate fashion, omit the extraterrestrials and the scenes between don't feel like they're even part of the same show.
I just kinda figured she was a shitty mother. That's how the scenes felt to me. She was terrible at communicating with her son.
I know this is going to sound pedantic this early into the series, but I have to think this has to be one of the least interesting things that can go on in a series about alien invasion.
One of the negative press reviews I read touched on this, and it felt right when they said that, strip away any of the scenes with actual aliens or spaceships in them, it's almost impossible to tell that this is a series about an alien invasion. So much of the pilot is devoted to small-potatoes interpersonal dynamics written in a bland boilerplate fashion, omit the extraterrestrials and the scenes between don't feel like they're even part of the same show.
Well, I assume her shittiness as a mother will tie in to her own rise within the resistance and her son's within the V-lovers.
shryke on
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KageraImitating the worst people. Since 2004Registered Userregular
edited November 2009
She's a shitty mom for being a good FBI agent???
Goddamn teenagers. Also, nowhere nearly as awesomely dense as the brown shirt teen from the original.
Kagera on
My neck, my back, my FUPA and my crack.
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
I just kinda figured she was a shitty mother. That's how the scenes felt to me. She was terrible at communicating with her son.
I know this is going to sound pedantic this early into the series, but I have to think this has to be one of the least interesting things that can go on in a series about alien invasion.
One of the negative press reviews I read touched on this, and it felt right when they said that, strip away any of the scenes with actual aliens or spaceships in them, it's almost impossible to tell that this is a series about an alien invasion. So much of the pilot is devoted to small-potatoes interpersonal dynamics written in a bland boilerplate fashion, omit the extraterrestrials and the scenes between don't feel like they're even part of the same show.
Well, I assume her shittiness as a mother will tie in to her own rise within the resistance and her son's within the V-lovers.
I imagine it will, but I'm just not feeling it the way its been written. What I've seen is a very dutiful mom trying to raise an asshole of a kid, and who lets said asshole kid ride a motorcycle and doesn't get all that mad when he elopes from their impossibly nice Manhattan home.
Poor characterization is what gets a lot of shows put down. The Black Donnelys spring first to mind.
I don't remember the scene word for word (it was fairly unmemorable, like alot of the scenes in the premiere), but I remember alot of what she said made it clear she was terrible at communicating with her kid. She was one "Yo, what's up?" away from embarrassing herself. The way she brings up "Is it cause your dad left us?" screams of having read too many parenting psychology books.
Frankly though, this whole thing felt too rushed to set up it's premise for me to get any sense of the show. The only person that jumped out at me as interesting was the reporter guy. He's got potential.
So I never saw the original show/mini-series/movies whatever.
I enjoyed this. It could've shown a lot more stuff that it skipped over, but you know what? I have Independence Day and tons of other movies/shows/mini-series that explore "OMFG ALIENS!" I was actually quite thankful they cut to the chase, and setup the main premise of the show in a timely manner.
For a one hour premiere, alot of shit happened, and while it was a bit rushed, they at least explained jumping ahead in time by including sound bites from news broadcasts ("It's been 3 weeks since the Visitors appearred...") and blatantly having a caption ("Three Weeks Later").
I could probably nitpick, but I was too busy enjoying the show to notice too much. Things like "holy crap, humanity really started trusting them quickly" and "I bet the FDA wasn't happy about the aliens opening up medical centres", but nothing major.
I liked it. Those two kids suck, though. They need to die in a fire, quickly. Although I realize the show has set them up to be a major source of conflict for Juliette... err... the main character.
saint2e on
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
Frankly though, this whole thing felt too rushed to set up it's premise for me to get any sense of the show. The only person that jumped out at me as interesting was the reporter guy. He's got potential.
I'm with you on that, but I'm eager to see where his character is going. He initial, "Hey, be nice to the pretty aliens!" reaction gave me a negative vibe to him already, so I'm wondering if he's being crafty and insidious or just a suck-up to bolster his career. So far, the pilot didn't do much beyond set him up as the latter.
But yeah, in a show with like 20 primaries, it kinda blows to only be interested in one or two.
Frankly though, this whole thing felt too rushed to set up it's premise for me to get any sense of the show. The only person that jumped out at me as interesting was the reporter guy. He's got potential.
I'm with you on that, but I'm eager to see where his character is going. He initial, "Hey, be nice to the pretty aliens!" reaction gave me a negative vibe to him already, so I'm wondering if he's being crafty and insidious or just a suck-up to bolster his career. So far, the pilot didn't do much beyond set him up as the latter.
But yeah, in a show with like 20 primaries, it kinda blows to only be interested in one or two.
See, I thought they played it more interesting then you seem to think.
He's a suck up and clearly interested in furthering his career. But at the same time, he's clearly very disturbed by the implication that Anna demands that he not portray them in a negative light.
If they'd gone with just "Greedy Reporter who cares nothing for the truth" or "Principled Reporter who will throw away his job to tell the truth" it would have been boring and cliched. But they went with something between the 2 and that, to me, felt interesting and real.
He doesn't WANT to be their propaganda bitch, but the fame is so tempting...
But yeah, the rest of the characters are pretty stock boring. The priest or the black traitor might have potential, but we know so little about most of these people it's hard to tell.
I don't remember the scene word for word (it was fairly unmemorable, like alot of the scenes in the premiere), but I remember alot of what she said made it clear she was terrible at communicating with her kid. She was one "Yo, what's up?" away from embarrassing herself. The way she brings up "Is it cause your dad left us?" screams of having read too many parenting psychology books.
See, if that were the case, that might be more interesting/sympathetic. If her character was built up as trying too hard to be a good parent, or studying parenting psychology books, maybe it wouldn't have been so awkward/ham fisted. But that's not how the scene played. When she asks if it's because of the absent father, the son basically says, "Yeah it is!" and we're all just left to wonder if this is more than a second draft.
Lux on
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
But yeah, the rest of the characters are pretty stock boring. The priest or the black traitor might have potential, but we know so little about most of these people it's hard to tell.
I though the priest/clergy storyline was the most pointless and hamfisted so far, and that seems to be saying a lot for this show. There isn't an entire point he serves as of yet, other than just wringing his hands and being horribly miscast.
Posts
Same. We should form a support group.
Put the keyboard down and no one gets hurt.
Story is less important if there is sufficient Cool and Explosions to keep me happy.
Also I'm just gonna drop this whole spoiler thing. I guess not hearing about 30 year old shows that nobody in popular media ever references to (unless the whole OMG LIZARD PEOPLE ALIENS is from V) is my fault.
This.
Premise/setup of a show - not a spoiler.
I hope you take some righteous spoiler indignation over to the PRISONER thread at some point - that's a remake of an even older show that some of us have only viewed via the magic of the digital video disc!
Once again, 25 years old, not 30, and fucking Robot Chicken made a parody of it.
Basically every time you've seen a joke on Simpsons/South Park/Family Guy/Seinfeld/whatever about someone secretly being a lizard person, it's a joke about V. So...yeah.
Also...who else is waiting breathlessly for this scene to be recreated? The good stuff starts around 1:30.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TufUH1T-F18
The original Mini series was VERY good and for the time it's special effects were also good.
To be fair, Robot Chicken is almost entirely obscure 80's pop culture references.
There's a significant part of the population (especially on this forum) that was born after this show aired, and it definitely didn't have the cultural traction that a lot of people here think it did. I don't know if there was ever a thread here about the original (if there was, I didn't read it), and it's not something I would have made an appointment to watch the reruns of on Sci-Fi (which I tend to avoid since most of their shows are really, really bad (not ALL, but most)).
That said, the lizard thing isn't really a spoiler since you kind of figured something was up from the way Inara blinked funny in the commercials. :P
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
At the very end, she does this weird double-blink. I noticed it after I saw the ad a few times (it took me way longer to figure out it was Inara :winky:), and I was like "Well, that's weird. I bet they aren't really that hot!"
I was too busy cringing at the "We'll bring you healthcare!" and "We'll bring you renewable energy!" lines. At least the "You will know love again. We are of Peace." versions didn't sound cheesy.
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
I saw a trailer for this yesterday and it is revealed they're lizards in that trailer. One of the aliens go down, and a human starts to peel of the aliens "human" shell.
Never got the trailer. Only got the short Inara commercials.
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[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
I believe so. I think the show is going to tackle mainly the personal stories of (A) le resistance (B) people tapped as favorites by the V's and (C) horny teens that don;t know what they're in to. Even if the spoiler issue were legitimate, and they hadn't revealed the lizard factor in the first episode, everyone would have flocked to the internets, discovered it's a remake and then read up on the old miniseries. They just got that out of the way early to set up the longer arcs. They have no interest in the macro story of "how the world reacts."
Was the pilot good? I haven't seen it. I want it to be excellent because the original makes me nostalgiagasm.
And then they ironed the fun out of it with V: The (Not So) Final Battle and the series by putting in magic babies and making Diana look go from being a femme fatale to being a cartoonish Snidely Whiplash in the vein of Cobra Commander.
HAHAHAHAHA.
Oh my god.
My facial expressions went something like this:
An interesting thought occurs to me regarding this point:
Not nearly as much as I'm looking forward to this scene being recreated.
Another rewrite I'd like to see:
Mom: Is this about your father? Is it because he left us?
Son: What the fuck are you talking about? Who said anything about Dad?
Mom: You father left me!
Son: That was, like, years ago! Get over it! I just think the aliens are pretty cool!
I also had a problem with how the world continued as normal with the presence of aliens overhead. Yeah, just goin' to my bank job with the aliens in the sky. Normal day, except for protests and a few mothership shuttles.
Aliens setting up websites? Handing out pamphlets and application forms? It's so mundane and unimaginative it would have to make people suspicious.
If you want tight stories and cohesive plots, you have to reduce your plotlines and characters, or devote entire episodes to only a few plot points. You think about a show like BSG, and they kind of stuck to the latter method, typically staying on-topic until a subplot resolved itself. They had a ton of characters, but very few actual divergent plotlines, and several ancillary characters went four seasons with little or no primary focus. And that's one of the problems I'm seeing so far with V: everyone is a main character. Of course, the BSG mini introduced a lot of characters and dynamics, but did so over 3 hours instead of 44 minutes.
Whatever the case, V still shows some promise, but I do hope that the remaining three episodes slow things down a bit. I can't hope to care for a character if I have no clue who they are or what their motivation is, and so far everyone is just coming off as paper-thin stereotypes, mostly I suspect because that's all you can really do to explain a character when you only have two minutes to introduce them before you move on.
I just kinda figured she was a shitty mother. That's how the scenes felt to me. She was terrible at communicating with her son.
What did you expect? Sure, Aliens have landed, but someone's still gotta cook dinner tommorow. Life goes on.
And setting up websites works really well. Why shouldn't the aliens go with what works?
I know this is going to sound pedantic this early into the series, but I have to think this has to be one of the least interesting things that can go on in a series about alien invasion.
One of the negative press reviews I read touched on this, and it felt right when they said that, strip away any of the scenes with actual aliens or spaceships in them, it's almost impossible to tell that this is a series about an alien invasion. So much of the pilot is devoted to small-potatoes interpersonal dynamics written in a bland boilerplate fashion, omit the extraterrestrials and the scenes between don't feel like they're even part of the same show.
Well, I assume her shittiness as a mother will tie in to her own rise within the resistance and her son's within the V-lovers.
Goddamn teenagers. Also, nowhere nearly as awesomely dense as the brown shirt teen from the original.
I imagine it will, but I'm just not feeling it the way its been written. What I've seen is a very dutiful mom trying to raise an asshole of a kid, and who lets said asshole kid ride a motorcycle and doesn't get all that mad when he elopes from their impossibly nice Manhattan home.
Poor characterization is what gets a lot of shows put down. The Black Donnelys spring first to mind.
Frankly though, this whole thing felt too rushed to set up it's premise for me to get any sense of the show. The only person that jumped out at me as interesting was the reporter guy. He's got potential.
I enjoyed this. It could've shown a lot more stuff that it skipped over, but you know what? I have Independence Day and tons of other movies/shows/mini-series that explore "OMFG ALIENS!" I was actually quite thankful they cut to the chase, and setup the main premise of the show in a timely manner.
For a one hour premiere, alot of shit happened, and while it was a bit rushed, they at least explained jumping ahead in time by including sound bites from news broadcasts ("It's been 3 weeks since the Visitors appearred...") and blatantly having a caption ("Three Weeks Later").
I could probably nitpick, but I was too busy enjoying the show to notice too much. Things like "holy crap, humanity really started trusting them quickly" and "I bet the FDA wasn't happy about the aliens opening up medical centres", but nothing major.
I liked it. Those two kids suck, though. They need to die in a fire, quickly. Although I realize the show has set them up to be a major source of conflict for Juliette... err... the main character.
I'm with you on that, but I'm eager to see where his character is going. He initial, "Hey, be nice to the pretty aliens!" reaction gave me a negative vibe to him already, so I'm wondering if he's being crafty and insidious or just a suck-up to bolster his career. So far, the pilot didn't do much beyond set him up as the latter.
But yeah, in a show with like 20 primaries, it kinda blows to only be interested in one or two.
See, I thought they played it more interesting then you seem to think.
He's a suck up and clearly interested in furthering his career. But at the same time, he's clearly very disturbed by the implication that Anna demands that he not portray them in a negative light.
If they'd gone with just "Greedy Reporter who cares nothing for the truth" or "Principled Reporter who will throw away his job to tell the truth" it would have been boring and cliched. But they went with something between the 2 and that, to me, felt interesting and real.
He doesn't WANT to be their propaganda bitch, but the fame is so tempting...
But yeah, the rest of the characters are pretty stock boring. The priest or the black traitor might have potential, but we know so little about most of these people it's hard to tell.
See, if that were the case, that might be more interesting/sympathetic. If her character was built up as trying too hard to be a good parent, or studying parenting psychology books, maybe it wouldn't have been so awkward/ham fisted. But that's not how the scene played. When she asks if it's because of the absent father, the son basically says, "Yeah it is!" and we're all just left to wonder if this is more than a second draft.
I though the priest/clergy storyline was the most pointless and hamfisted so far, and that seems to be saying a lot for this show. There isn't an entire point he serves as of yet, other than just wringing his hands and being horribly miscast.
The pilot had crappy dialouge and only a few decent actors.
I'd rather they bring back reaper or kings.