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Earl Allison
Minister of the Sacraments of Jabootu
31 Posts |
 Posted - 10/19/2005 : 06:57:13 AM
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This is old news, since the fifth episode of this series aired Monday on NBC (and will rerun sometime on Sci-Fi), but I caught on late.
The gist of the story is, there are ginormous seas-monsters that have near-invulnerable hide (they apparently used to live in the lava miles beneath the sea, somehow), discharge EMP, and can swallow whole boats. The government knows about them (one tried to eat a sub, fried the electronics, and the entire crew is missing -- except for one we saw washed up onshore in 5), some other people are catching on, and a young boy has a baby monster as a pet ...
I've only seen episodes 3-5, and the teaser from the end of 2 with a MASSIVE sea monster snapping up an entire boat (I mean, it swallowed it WHOLE) from below -- which is the visual that got me interested.
So far, it has promise, but I'm getting weighed down with the teen subplot and the interpersonal drama. I want to know more about the sea monsters -- are they aliens, lost dinosaurs, sea dragons, or something else? I don't know if it can keep the suspense and momentum for a whole season.
What do others think of this?
Take it and run. |
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Paul LoJ
Supreme Potentate
USA
420 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2005 : 08:39:14 AM
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I like the show so far, but I agree that the teen subplot's a bit tedious at times. This is probably just me, but I can't watch the whole Nimrod thing without thinking "Trumpy."
I guess we'll see if "Surface" -- and "Invasion" and "Threshold" for that matter -- succumb to X-Files-itis. IMO, they're all decent shows so far, but none of them have quite the exquisite character development that, say, "Lost" does, and as such, they're probably always just a few substandard episodes away from viewer fatigue.
Even "Lost" is frustrating me from time to time with what seems like an extreme tendency to care for its newest viewers with excessive "previously on..." -type flashbacks, and an attendant reduction in plot advancement per episode. In that case, though, the richness of the characters keeps me hooked. I don't know if the new crop of shows have that same advantage.
"...You know perfectly well what is the matter with you. You have known it for years, though you have fought against the knowledge. You are mentally deranged." |
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Zev
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
USA
182 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2005 : 11:04:10 AM
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Surface seems like the most underwhelming of the Lost-wannabes. I gave it two episodes and it just didn't catch my fancy. It's cheesy, but not cheesy enough to be entertaining. Just kind of dull and listless.
Kinda like Invasion. That took an entire episode to get to the point of "aliens are taking over people's bodies!" Not exactly the most fantastic concept, can't see why they wasted three acts getting to that instead of just one.
Threshold I like though. Probably simply because the concept is really fresh and sci-fi (extradimensional aliens bioforming the planet! The heroes are the big guv'mint conspiracy!), and the writing is pretty good. Plus you have nice touches like one character remarking to another how the discovery of alien life will affect religion ("On the eighth day God created Klingons?") and genre vets like Peter Dutton and Brent Spiner in supporting roles.
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quote:
Originally posted by TheFoywonder
Now they need to make a movie where soldiers in Iraq actually find one of Saddam Hussein's secret underground chemical weapons facilities only to find it overrrun with big mutant sand spiders. And the the film will be called IRAQNID!
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Ken HPoJ
Supreme Potentate
USA
1530 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2005 : 11:47:23 AM
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Surface is still on my roster of shows I'm watching, but it's starting to list, in that appropriate nautical sense. (Supernatural is already off; it's a decent show, but I'm out of the habit of regular TV--except for Arrested Development--and bascially a show has to really grab me to get me to invest that amount of effort.)
Surface has the advantage of sea monsters--obviousy a favorite element of mine--but the characters are all obnoxious. The feisty heroine is one-dimensional TV righteous in a way that has me wanting to see her really slapped down; the obsesssed guy and his family is directly out of Close Encounters; and that obnoxious kid...we're *supposed* to hate him, right? Right? Is it supposed to be 'neat' that he's lying to his parents and keeping a potentially deadly animal as a pet, even after several demonstrations of how dangerous it is?
Meanwhile, it's the invasion show most susceptible to the stupids. This week featured the kids covertly chasing their escaped little monster through a crowded grocery store, and the amount of time the thing ran around without being seen was just ludicrous.
PEGGY: I don't see how having a girl on the team would ruin it. Did a woman judge ruin the Supreme Court?
HANK: Yes, and that woman's name was Earl Warren.
--King of the Hill |
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tam1MI
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
558 Posts |
Posted - 10/22/2005 : 12:06:24 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Zev
Threshold I like though. Probably simply because the concept is really fresh and sci-fi (extradimensional aliens bioforming the planet! The heroes are the big guv'mint conspiracy!), and the writing is pretty good. Plus you have nice touches like one character remarking to another how the discovery of alien life will affect religion ("On the eighth day God created Klingons?") and genre vets like Peter Dutton and Brent Spiner in supporting roles.
My problem with Threshold is that the Executive Producer on the thing is Brannon Braga, one half of the team that left the once sure-fire-hit Star Trek franchise upside down in a ditch, wheels spinning slowly in the air. I just can't allow myself to get invested in the show because of the near-certainty that it will reward my devotion with a one-way ticket to Sucksville. Even now, I see good episodes of it and I think, "Well, yeah, but Voyager started out good too, and look how it ended up." |
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Flangepart
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
2329 Posts |
Posted - 10/26/2005 : 10:42:31 AM
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Surface : So long as the monsters don't show up as humans, or use humans as puppets. Keep it a damp TREMORS, and maby...
Ken's right. The chick is TOO obsessed with getting credit, and missing the big picture.
And the kid....can you say KENNY!?
"Reality is arguable...lunch time is not." H. Flangepart.
"One Weekend a month my ass!" Crow- The Beginning of the End.
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