I'm just glad Senator John Kerry showed up, his swift boat experience will really come in handy fighting aquatic skidders.
Anyone catch the season finale? I didn't think it was too bad. Really not enough "shocking" relevations
Not yet. Still on the DVR. But in the ep before that, I thought they had a nice little plot twist... [spoilers] with the Doc dissecting a Skitter to find a Harness underneath the exoskeleton, implying that the Skitter wasn't always a Skitter. [/spoilers] Also liked the appearance of the tall, two-legged Aliens. So presumably THEY are the bad guys, and the Skitters are just their labor force. Explains why the Mechs operate on 2 legs, at least. Also appreciated the little bit of exposition on the construction techniques the aliens are using for the large structure downtown. Marginally explains why the harnessed kids have been collecting scrap metal, etc.... Maybe the writing is getting a little bit better...? One can hope!
Didn't see the twist at the end coming. Won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but the last few minutes go from a bit anti-climactic to really interesting quite quickly.
pretty much agree with all this, and with actormike's comment. One thing I will add - and maybe I'm biased given my own interests - but one of the saving graces of this show is the whole "history professor" motif. It's a refreshing change of pace from your typical "action hero" (a cop, usually) and the little corny inspirational speeches where he cites the revolution are a good touch. Also, the character of Polk seems to be maybe going somewhere interesting after all. That little exchange with Maggie was intriguing.
Yep. I finished the last hour on fast forward, if there was no alien on screen I was hitting the >>. When it rolls around next year I might recall the series, then again I might not. Which annoys me because I like both Wylie and Patton.
To me the show is cursed with their obsession with showing squabbles and infighting among the surviving humans and not with blasting the aliens. That was one of my complaints about Battlestar: Galactica. Way too much "routine" stuff and not enough epicness.
I agree that this is a common problem on modern shows. The desire to show the 'human angle' results in a show that devolves into teenage angst and emo bullshit when there is epic sci-fi alien warfare waiting in the wings falling by the wayside. These shows need a little more "Star Wars" and a little less "Dr. Drew."
I'm not gonna lie, I really enjoyed this show for the whole season. But I don't try and pick shows/movies apart, I just view them as pure entertainment -- and I definitely was entertained this season. The last two episodes had me on the edge of chair, especially the last 10 minutes of the finale. I can't wait for the next season, it just sucks that it won't be until Summer next year. D:
Finally caught up on the show. Still at "meh". This show might get a second season but I can't see it getting a third. All the emo shit.... Not to mention the lack of any real security. Yeah lets discuss battle plans in front of the formerly harnessed kid who keeps acting weird. Oh and we've got all this fancy ammo to take out the mechs so let's all fire it at the same time on one mech!! (the ammo demostration earlier must have been +p+ loaded because it sure left one with the impression that one bullet could take out a mech) Not to mention a whole bunch of other stuff.....
The thing is I believe is that most writers of television science fiction are not truly familar with "science fiction". They're familar with family drama, sexual tension, and office politics. But they are virtually clueless about science fiction. So the "science fiction" they write is chock full of family drama, sexual tension, and office politics. I don't think Gene Roddenberry was that great a writer, but one thing he did in the original Star Trek was make a serious effort to make the show FEEL like science fiction. David Gerrold in his book "The Making of Star Trek" details some of Roddenberry's battles with various people from makeup artists to prop guys to writers as he wanted to make the show "feel different".
Finally watched it. Meh, I wasn't impressed too much. On top of that, the long wait till next season.
Same here. There are a few things I like, but a lot that I don't. I'm generally a continuity/detail nitpicker no matter the genre, but this show really has me noticing the "wrong" things when it should have me caught up in the plot.
You know what we need? We need a alien invasion story that is like Band of Brothers / Saving Private Ryan in intensity and ferocity right out of the gate. Episode one can be the aliens landing and attacking, their version of D-Day Saving Private Ryan, and even though we humans are the heroes we take it on the chin like the Germans did. And the rest of the episodes is us fighting back. None of this emo shit. Just straight up killing motherfucking aliens, them killing us, experimenting on us in gruesome ways, and of course our highly implausible victory over the sons of bitches. Do it on cable so we can have to look good.
I like the idea of using a "Band of Brothers" or "Platoon" feel - real grunt stuff. Maybe you could do a parallel track thing, where you featured both military type response and a guerrilla force...maybe a pair of brothers, one in each? You could contrast the things the "irregulars" could do that the military wouldn't and so forth. But then - you could probably do that as "Starship Troopers" if you picked your spots right. Other than the degree to which you might have to squint to get a "homefront" setting - what does it lack? I would swoon to see AMC or Showtime pick up and execute a hard-core (not bullshit like the movies) version of the book.
no not for emo purposes - just as a rational - a justification - for telling stories about both sorts of warfare. there was, after all, emotional gravity even in BoB and SPR and Platoon. Hell, the whole justification for the story in SPR was "emo"
Here's my alien invasion story, some big fucking crop dusters fly around dropping pesticide. We die. The end. Is that gritty and realistic enough?
