Last night's episode had fully compensated for 'Babes' sexual innuendo and then some, not to mention that it had revealed a significant chunk of the show's back story, but let's try and get it in order.
Now, the episode began with the dinosaur Pachycephalosaurus, and though it is a very interesting dinosaur in its own right, its job was just to be an engine for Evan revealing the truth, bits and pieces of it at least, and it just as easily could've been some other animal, prehistoric or futuristic, so we'll talk about it later.
Evan, now, he was the star of this episode and its main problem. Apparently (there was a lull in the action) after the dinosaur had sneezed on him, Evan began to break mentally down: he began to hallucinate, to see the dinosaur that killed his wife (Albertasaurus, the smaller, faster cousin of the T-Rex), his younger and married self alongside with his wife, and also Mac v.2 - roughly in this sequence. Some of the hallucinations, primarily those of the dinosaur, were auditory rather than visionary, so whatever the Pachy had spat on him, it was some potent sh*t!!
Pachy aside, in the episode Evan, or rather Niall Matter, released his inner badass - very impressive acting, you can honestly believe Evan's deteriorating mental condition, as he goes into a quasi-robocop mode, intent on blowing the entire Cross Photonics in order to change the time line and to save Brooke from certain death. This kind of ruthlessness was probably demonstrated only by Helen Cutter, when she intended to prevent humanity from evolving in S3 of the original series. Incidentally, this only reinforces my theory that Helen spent the rest of her screen time after Stephen's death in S2 growing more and more unbalanced - but for her, it took 10 episodes and she was always ambiguous; for Evan, who's the main hero of P:NW, it took about half an hour of screen time: guess the idea about women being tougher (more resilient) than men has some truth in it!
Evan, to make things even more tense, intended to change the future (and to kill himself and the rest of his field team) to make the world a better place, so it was really fortunate that Ange and Dylan managed to stop him before that. Otherwise, things would've changed in the future, but for the worse (or not).
Dylan, now, had less of a personality development than Evan or the rest of the CP team, not counting Lt. Leeds. Then again, considering that this case of personality development has opened new rifts in the CP team as well as re-activated old ones, this may not be so bad: one of the episode's final scenes is Evan admitting to Dylan that on this day he and his secrets have pissed every one of his friends, not counting Dylan herself. Toby, Mac and Ange may or may not jump ship of dinosaur hunters after 'Truth', but Evan will have to make it up to them somehow. A lot. And personal skills, unlike technical, are Evan's weak spot, as such episodes like 'Angry Birds' and 'Babes' have shown, so he and the others will be in a dark place for a while.
And in Mac's case it'll be particularly dark. I'm guessing that in the original time line where he didn't die fighting the dinosaur or at least managed to get back through the time anomaly, he ended up in the British army rather in Cross Photonics, and may've eventually replaced captain Becker as the head of the original ARC's security detail, or at least became a part of it. In this time line, Evan Cross intervened and Mac came to Canada, BC, and became a firearms expert instead. This, of course, probably caused more ripples in the timeline, but in Mac's case, he's most likely experiencing a case of 'what-might've-been', where he became a British dinosaur hunter and got killed at approximately the same age that he currently is. (It's kind of dicey, given that the mannequin stand-in for Mac v.2 looks exactly like what it's supposed to be - a mannequin.)
And why am I thinking this? Because the end of the very first episode of P:NW had Evan stare at the frozen corpse of who we now know to be Mac v.2 - and his uniform had an ARC logo on it. But that is something that will probably be developed more (or gotten rid off altogether) in the next episodes of P:NW.
Anyways, Mac now knows that Evan knew him before they met, sort of, and Mac isn't the sort of man to deal with unpleasant surprises easily: for him (and for many other people) springing this sort of a surprise is a definite breach of trust, and unlike Toby, he may quit CP, though it's anyone's idea where he'll go from there.
Toby, of course, will be with Mac all the way, seeing how she has rescued him from the freezer room. She may be gay or bisexual or whatever, but she now clearly counts Mac as important and close enough to save from a certain death. For a woman who's not the most trigger-happy or outdoors-savvy (that's Dylan), she can certainly think and act fast, especially if there's Evan losing his marbles and packing serious heat in the same room.
Basically, like Dylan, Toby didn't develop too much if compared to Evan or Mac in this episode. In this instance, she's the lesser half of the ship 'Moby", just as Dylan's the lesser half of ship 'Dyvan', now that the ship 'Evange' has sunk - Ange told Dylan when the gas dispersed and Evan was out cold, that she's leaving CP again.
Then again, though, even at the beginning of the episode Ange didn't appear all that keen to have a 'ship with Evan, nor did she go with him, Dylan and Mac to capture the latest time-displaced animal - guess that the woodland outing in 'Babes' provided her with enough field experience to decide that she doesn't like it. That said, she was clearly hurt (emotionally, not physically) to realize that Evan still cared for Brooke more than for her; maybe not as sharply as Emma Frost, when she realized that Scott will love Jean, first and foremost, when Jean 'the Phoenix' Grey disappeared (due to various Marvel comics time lines let's leave it at that), but still. No woman really likes to hear that she has a more favored rival, and to Ange Brooke was that rival, maybe even when she was alive (what was the relationship between the two women? Maybe we'll learn in the next episodes, who knows?).
Of course, if Ange really does leave CP, does that mean that she'll go and work for Sung (or whoever) instead? More importantly, will she stay on the show? I think that yes, she will, but I also think that this issue - will or will not Ange remain working for CP as a CFO - should be resolved quickly, rather than drag it for the rest of the S1.
Finally, there's Lt. Leeds, and I have to admit that in his case, his character appears to be developing into a more secondary character than the rest of the cast: he probably has the least amount of screen time, right alongside Ange and Toby, but even Ange and Toby had more screen time than Ken Leeds recently, and I don't really like it. Unlike 'Fear of Flying', 'Truth' showed that Leeds can stand up to Evan, at least from time to time, and to get him out of trouble too, especially legal-wise, as this episode has shown. So, maybe the good RCAF lieutenant will have his day...
Finally, the dinosaur. Well, the dinosaurs, but Albertosaurus appeared here only in flashbacks and hallucinations, so let's talk about the Pachy instead. It's a neat dinosaur, not quite belonging to any established group, save for that of its own, the Pachycephalosauria. It has several species, but at least two of them, Stygimoloch and Dracorex (featured on the original series from S3 onwards) may be Pachy's juvenile specimens, and the same situation may be with other species of pachycephalosaurids as well.
In addition, Pachycephalosaurus is a very unusual plant-eater - it may've been one of the biggest omnivorous dinosaurs (rather like the modern wild pigs than the deer or the antelopes) of its time. Considering that most of the dinosaurs can be classified as herbivores or carnivores easily enough, the Pachy's omnivory can be considered to be quite unusual.
Finally, in this episode of P:NW, the dinosaur's 'role' was strongly influenced by the 'Jurassic Park' movies franchise. It rammed the car - just as it did in 'Lost World', (where it appeared on screen for the first time) and its sneeze that launched the real conflict of the episode easily reminds of the even bigger sneeze in the first 'Jurassic Park' movie.
Thus, 'Truth' had a lot of tense, personal drama & action, had important character development in several, if not all, primary characters, and a very interesting dinosaur for a cameo, but no sexual innuendo and little humor. Ah well, you cannot have everything.
PS: This week's P:NW video featurette has plenty of humor, if you want it after watching the ep.
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
Friday, 14 December 2012
Moment of silence
Today (Dec 14, 2012) a terrible tragedy has occurred in the tiny town in Connecticut: around 26 people, most of whom were children around a kindergartener's age, were killed by some lone nutcase of a douche-bag. Let' honor their memory with a moment of silence.
Tuesday, 11 December 2012
P:NW 'Babes in the Woods' Dec 10
This episode introduced a new character: Natalie, one of Toby's friends from her modelling days. That's right, Toby the computer geek/girl genius used to be a burlesque model in her college days. She was, or is, also gay, a new character development, when compared to IP's previous shows.
When compared to Samantha, the deceased girlfriend of Mac, Natalie appears to be more intrigued by the time anomalies; where Sam, in "Fear of Flying", was okay in staying away from the big glowing time portal, Natalie was ready to touch the time anomaly and maybe even to go through. Considering that in the original show people that went through the time anomalies usually were the villains of the show, this does not promise anything good in regards to Natalie's moral character. (Of course, just like Sam, she may end up eaten by the next dinosaur, mammal-like reptile or some other creature that comes through the time anomaly, but still...)
Natalie is also one of the titular 'babes', and she is also quite eager to resume her relationship with Toby, at least at the end of the episode. Mac, who probably will end up Toby's boyfriend, doesn't mind, but I think that he has his own issues to worry about. In "Undone", as you remember, his own girlfriend got eaten by the Lycaenops (which is most definitely not a dinosaur, no more so than a monkey is), and he spent at least two-thirds of the next episode "Clean up..." getting over it; he was morose, taciturn, and clearly unhappy with the way Evan was handling the dinosaurs and co. Now, he is cracking jokes, is busy downloading model pics off the internet and is generally acting nonchalant. Just how much time has passed for him to get over Sam at last? Or is he going to another extreme of dealing with his loss - trying to overcompensate? Honestly, if the latter is the case, I'm not impressed with Mac's behavior at all - he should go and have therapy instead.
For Toby's part, she wasn't particularly happy with Mac's behavior either: meeting Natalie and the rest of the girls has clearly opened some old wounds and memories for her, her CP partner (they and Natalie got separated from the others in this episode) acted like a horny college student most of the time (when he didn't try to take on a brown bear with a taser), there was a sense of a love triangle in the air, and there were man-eating dinosaurs out and about. Oh, and Evan acted like a jerk, again.
Evan, for most of his part, is a good man and a good team leader, but occasionally he comes off too abrupt: he was so with Ange and Dylan in the beginning of "Angry Birds", and here with Toby. Yes, it's obviously good that Evan has no problems with Toby's modelling past, but did he have to be so direct and unemotional? "Yes, Toby, you were a model but we don't care. Now let's get going and deal with the time anomaly." Nice personal skills, Mr. Leader!
On the other hand, Evan appeared to have no problems in dealing with Ange: after the events in the last episode, she did decide to stay...and to actually see for herself, what was the excitement in catching dinosaurs and similar beasties. This, of course, put her into a confrontation path with Dylan, who sees herself as Evan's girl Friday in such outdoors outings and doesn't see what Ange is bringing along for such a ride? Plus Dylan's got the bigger taser of the two.
To make matters worse, Evan appears to be thinking about moving on from his wife's death - he left his wedding ring behind when they drove to this mission, and I doubt that he was worried about losing it in the great outdoors; he certainly didn't in "Sisiqutl". And since he had a history with Ange (well, a much longer history with Ange than with Dylan), I'm guessing that he's thinking about her first. He's thinking about Dylan too, he certainly helped her with the dislocated arm, but as a guy I doubt that he fully understands that he's setting himself up for a love triangle, and as Dylan's behavior indicates at the end of the ep, she doesn't really want to play Betty to Ange's Veronica (or Veronica to Ange's Betty? Who was the dominant girl in Archies?), so the next episode should be really awkward to her and Ange and Evan.
Ange, I should add, while she does hold her own against a dinosaur at the end, but somehow I doubt that she'll have the same enthusiasm for dinosaur hunting as Evan, Dylan or Ken Leeds have, so I am not quite sure if she'll go to the great outdoors next time, or any time soon. It is also interesting what Ken will think about the new shift in the relationship between Ange and Evan, especially since last time, on their not-a-date, he asked Ange if she wanted to be his instead. Sigh. The next episodes may have some manly posturings between Ken and Evan with Mac egging them on due to his new mindset (and he may be still angry with Evan).
Finally, the creatures from the episode. The dinosaurs were based on the Ornitholestes model from Walking with Dinosaurs (1999), just with a completely different coloration. It isn't fully established yet if they had feathers or protofeathers on their bodies, but they did lack nasal horns: the initial specimen that was used as a basis for the WWD model had broken nasal bones instead. Considering that over a decade had passed since the release of WWD, IP people could've gotten this straight and created hornless Ornitholestes instead. Of course, maybe it was some other dinosaur, Proceratosaurus, for example, but the model was certainly that of Ornitholestes from WWD.
And then there was the grizzly bear that Mac and the girls encountered in the woods. Got to admit that was a nice touch, but the bear wasn't CGI'd - it was image imposed. I don't have a problem with that, a fully grown grizzly can weigh 200 kg (males even more), be 2 m long, over 1 m tall in the shoulder and are armed with teeth and claws much bigger than those of a lion or a tiger - and it is not an animal that is easily trained to work with people either. Obviously the staff of P:NW had no intention of working with a live grizzly on the set... but did they have to superimpose its image so poorly. Last time I saw such a poor job was on a Disney show "Suite Life of Deck", but that was a children show, so it doesn't count.
So: interesting plot twists, an intriguing new character (if she doesn't get eaten by the next dinosaur that comes to Vancouver), amazing outdoor location, great acting (as always), and decent animals as well. A good episode, better than its predecessor too.
When compared to Samantha, the deceased girlfriend of Mac, Natalie appears to be more intrigued by the time anomalies; where Sam, in "Fear of Flying", was okay in staying away from the big glowing time portal, Natalie was ready to touch the time anomaly and maybe even to go through. Considering that in the original show people that went through the time anomalies usually were the villains of the show, this does not promise anything good in regards to Natalie's moral character. (Of course, just like Sam, she may end up eaten by the next dinosaur, mammal-like reptile or some other creature that comes through the time anomaly, but still...)
Natalie is also one of the titular 'babes', and she is also quite eager to resume her relationship with Toby, at least at the end of the episode. Mac, who probably will end up Toby's boyfriend, doesn't mind, but I think that he has his own issues to worry about. In "Undone", as you remember, his own girlfriend got eaten by the Lycaenops (which is most definitely not a dinosaur, no more so than a monkey is), and he spent at least two-thirds of the next episode "Clean up..." getting over it; he was morose, taciturn, and clearly unhappy with the way Evan was handling the dinosaurs and co. Now, he is cracking jokes, is busy downloading model pics off the internet and is generally acting nonchalant. Just how much time has passed for him to get over Sam at last? Or is he going to another extreme of dealing with his loss - trying to overcompensate? Honestly, if the latter is the case, I'm not impressed with Mac's behavior at all - he should go and have therapy instead.
For Toby's part, she wasn't particularly happy with Mac's behavior either: meeting Natalie and the rest of the girls has clearly opened some old wounds and memories for her, her CP partner (they and Natalie got separated from the others in this episode) acted like a horny college student most of the time (when he didn't try to take on a brown bear with a taser), there was a sense of a love triangle in the air, and there were man-eating dinosaurs out and about. Oh, and Evan acted like a jerk, again.
Evan, for most of his part, is a good man and a good team leader, but occasionally he comes off too abrupt: he was so with Ange and Dylan in the beginning of "Angry Birds", and here with Toby. Yes, it's obviously good that Evan has no problems with Toby's modelling past, but did he have to be so direct and unemotional? "Yes, Toby, you were a model but we don't care. Now let's get going and deal with the time anomaly." Nice personal skills, Mr. Leader!
On the other hand, Evan appeared to have no problems in dealing with Ange: after the events in the last episode, she did decide to stay...and to actually see for herself, what was the excitement in catching dinosaurs and similar beasties. This, of course, put her into a confrontation path with Dylan, who sees herself as Evan's girl Friday in such outdoors outings and doesn't see what Ange is bringing along for such a ride? Plus Dylan's got the bigger taser of the two.
To make matters worse, Evan appears to be thinking about moving on from his wife's death - he left his wedding ring behind when they drove to this mission, and I doubt that he was worried about losing it in the great outdoors; he certainly didn't in "Sisiqutl". And since he had a history with Ange (well, a much longer history with Ange than with Dylan), I'm guessing that he's thinking about her first. He's thinking about Dylan too, he certainly helped her with the dislocated arm, but as a guy I doubt that he fully understands that he's setting himself up for a love triangle, and as Dylan's behavior indicates at the end of the ep, she doesn't really want to play Betty to Ange's Veronica (or Veronica to Ange's Betty? Who was the dominant girl in Archies?), so the next episode should be really awkward to her and Ange and Evan.
Ange, I should add, while she does hold her own against a dinosaur at the end, but somehow I doubt that she'll have the same enthusiasm for dinosaur hunting as Evan, Dylan or Ken Leeds have, so I am not quite sure if she'll go to the great outdoors next time, or any time soon. It is also interesting what Ken will think about the new shift in the relationship between Ange and Evan, especially since last time, on their not-a-date, he asked Ange if she wanted to be his instead. Sigh. The next episodes may have some manly posturings between Ken and Evan with Mac egging them on due to his new mindset (and he may be still angry with Evan).
Finally, the creatures from the episode. The dinosaurs were based on the Ornitholestes model from Walking with Dinosaurs (1999), just with a completely different coloration. It isn't fully established yet if they had feathers or protofeathers on their bodies, but they did lack nasal horns: the initial specimen that was used as a basis for the WWD model had broken nasal bones instead. Considering that over a decade had passed since the release of WWD, IP people could've gotten this straight and created hornless Ornitholestes instead. Of course, maybe it was some other dinosaur, Proceratosaurus, for example, but the model was certainly that of Ornitholestes from WWD.
And then there was the grizzly bear that Mac and the girls encountered in the woods. Got to admit that was a nice touch, but the bear wasn't CGI'd - it was image imposed. I don't have a problem with that, a fully grown grizzly can weigh 200 kg (males even more), be 2 m long, over 1 m tall in the shoulder and are armed with teeth and claws much bigger than those of a lion or a tiger - and it is not an animal that is easily trained to work with people either. Obviously the staff of P:NW had no intention of working with a live grizzly on the set... but did they have to superimpose its image so poorly. Last time I saw such a poor job was on a Disney show "Suite Life of Deck", but that was a children show, so it doesn't count.
So: interesting plot twists, an intriguing new character (if she doesn't get eaten by the next dinosaur that comes to Vancouver), amazing outdoor location, great acting (as always), and decent animals as well. A good episode, better than its predecessor too.
Tuesday, 4 December 2012
Primeval New World "Clean up on Aisle Three" Dec 3
Last night's episode, "Clean up..." was a very good episode, but it just wasn't up to the standards of the previous episodes. Regrettably, it is the fault of the dinosaurs, but we get more about it later.
The actors, for their part, did a good job of following the script, which made a nice transaction from "Undone". As I said before, deaths of Samantha and her partner created a rift in the CP team, and by now it hasn't fully healed yet. Mac, in particular, has attitude problems towards Evan and his "do not kill dinosaurs" rule, but he manages to come through at the end of this episode by not killing the dinosaur he set out to capture. Sadly, because the dinosaur was rather ridiculous and unrealistic, this action was rather undercut, and the broken door to the dressing room didn't help matters either. Mac's big moment was diminished.
On the other hand, Evan and Dylan continue to develop their relationship, which is much smoother than any seen on the original "Primeval". Sure, they are taking it slow (Dylan even had a part-time boyfriend before the beginning of this episode), but considering that in the original series many relationships just went nowhere, this is quite acceptable. This is only the first season, the good ship D/E will have many opportunities to sink or swim in the future.
As will the good ship A/K. If Mac appears to have somewhat recovered after the gorgonopsian episode in "Undone", and will remain on the CP team, Ange has had enough. She never particularly cared about the dinosaurs and mammal-like reptiles and so on, and she isn't submissive enough to go with Evan's flow, so she's leaving CP. Of course, after a talk with Dylan, Evan is trying to salvage his relationship with Ange, friendly and professional, with some Chinese take-out, but this is an IP show we're talking about, so Ange just may up and leave in the next episode and we'll never see her again, and the show will continue with someone named officer Allison Merryweather in the future without being diminished at all: the original "Primeval" had replaced characters throughout its entire course, and "Sinbad" (2012) had replaced its leading lady from Nala (Estella Daniels) to Tiger (Tuppence Middleton) without any detriment to her script.
Character-wise, of course, Ange is unlikely to quit the show, as her "not-a-relationship" with Ken Leeds demonstrates in this episode. It also reveals more insights into Ken's darker side: just like Evan, he had been in a leadership position where people have died, and we still don't know what he did with the juvenile terror bird from "Angry Birds".
And this brings us to the dinosaurs. Officially they're daemonosaurus, basal meat-eating dinosaurs from the late Triassic. In reality, with their chimpanzee-like intelligence, wolf-like social organization and piranha-like teeth, they're just as unrealistic as the beetles from "Fear of Flying". Yes, there were probably intelligent, social, meat-eating dinosaurs in the Mesozoic, but they lived in the Cretaceous, not in the Triassic. The Triassic dinosaur carnivores (like Coelophysis) probably weren't social, they were cannibals. Social hunters generally aren't cannibals; sure, they kill each other and their young, but they do not eat them, just make a point. Solitary carnivores, - i.e. weasels, ferrets, stoats, tigers - do. As a last resort in lean times, but they do, and so did the Triassic carnivorous dinosaurs. Thus, I doubt that they were social.
And I also doubt that they were particularly intelligent. Until the end of the Triassic, the scene was dominated by dicynodonts (Lystrosaurus, Placerias) and by basal archosaurs, called raisuchians (Postosuchus, Saurosuchus) that were big, but much smaller than such dinosaurs as Plateosaurus. Daemonosaurus simply didn't need to be smarter than an average squirrel: it would probably survive anyways.
So: good script, good acting, but completely unrealistic dinosaurs. I seriously hope that the future episodes of P:NW will avoid this mistake.
The actors, for their part, did a good job of following the script, which made a nice transaction from "Undone". As I said before, deaths of Samantha and her partner created a rift in the CP team, and by now it hasn't fully healed yet. Mac, in particular, has attitude problems towards Evan and his "do not kill dinosaurs" rule, but he manages to come through at the end of this episode by not killing the dinosaur he set out to capture. Sadly, because the dinosaur was rather ridiculous and unrealistic, this action was rather undercut, and the broken door to the dressing room didn't help matters either. Mac's big moment was diminished.
On the other hand, Evan and Dylan continue to develop their relationship, which is much smoother than any seen on the original "Primeval". Sure, they are taking it slow (Dylan even had a part-time boyfriend before the beginning of this episode), but considering that in the original series many relationships just went nowhere, this is quite acceptable. This is only the first season, the good ship D/E will have many opportunities to sink or swim in the future.
As will the good ship A/K. If Mac appears to have somewhat recovered after the gorgonopsian episode in "Undone", and will remain on the CP team, Ange has had enough. She never particularly cared about the dinosaurs and mammal-like reptiles and so on, and she isn't submissive enough to go with Evan's flow, so she's leaving CP. Of course, after a talk with Dylan, Evan is trying to salvage his relationship with Ange, friendly and professional, with some Chinese take-out, but this is an IP show we're talking about, so Ange just may up and leave in the next episode and we'll never see her again, and the show will continue with someone named officer Allison Merryweather in the future without being diminished at all: the original "Primeval" had replaced characters throughout its entire course, and "Sinbad" (2012) had replaced its leading lady from Nala (Estella Daniels) to Tiger (Tuppence Middleton) without any detriment to her script.
Character-wise, of course, Ange is unlikely to quit the show, as her "not-a-relationship" with Ken Leeds demonstrates in this episode. It also reveals more insights into Ken's darker side: just like Evan, he had been in a leadership position where people have died, and we still don't know what he did with the juvenile terror bird from "Angry Birds".
And this brings us to the dinosaurs. Officially they're daemonosaurus, basal meat-eating dinosaurs from the late Triassic. In reality, with their chimpanzee-like intelligence, wolf-like social organization and piranha-like teeth, they're just as unrealistic as the beetles from "Fear of Flying". Yes, there were probably intelligent, social, meat-eating dinosaurs in the Mesozoic, but they lived in the Cretaceous, not in the Triassic. The Triassic dinosaur carnivores (like Coelophysis) probably weren't social, they were cannibals. Social hunters generally aren't cannibals; sure, they kill each other and their young, but they do not eat them, just make a point. Solitary carnivores, - i.e. weasels, ferrets, stoats, tigers - do. As a last resort in lean times, but they do, and so did the Triassic carnivorous dinosaurs. Thus, I doubt that they were social.
And I also doubt that they were particularly intelligent. Until the end of the Triassic, the scene was dominated by dicynodonts (Lystrosaurus, Placerias) and by basal archosaurs, called raisuchians (Postosuchus, Saurosuchus) that were big, but much smaller than such dinosaurs as Plateosaurus. Daemonosaurus simply didn't need to be smarter than an average squirrel: it would probably survive anyways.
So: good script, good acting, but completely unrealistic dinosaurs. I seriously hope that the future episodes of P:NW will avoid this mistake.
Tuesday, 27 November 2012
Primeval New World 'Undone' - Nov 26
Last night's episode of P:NW was very, very tragic, on an almost epic scale. This episode's chronologically-displaced creatures were Lycaenopses, the smaller cousins of the Gorgonops from the original series and WWM (2005). The Gorgonops was basically built like a tank, and as such it was powerful enough to fight anything, from a military truck to a future predator. The Lycaenops is a much smaller animal, roughly the size of a large dog, but here it behaved more like a cat, instigating ambushes from higher ground (tree- or rooftops) and then charging at its prey (i.e. people) with powerful, but short bursts of speed.
Scientifically, of course, this is all speculation; in reality Lycaenops was built more like a wolf than a leopard, and probably pursued its prey on the ground, rather than from the trees. As a matter of fact, that is reflected in Dylan's comments, when she compares that yet unidentified gorgonopsid to a coyote or a hyena, neither of which is an arboreal animal. Considering that this version of Lycaenops is arboreal, a hyena-based comparison is incorrect. But when it comes to prehistoric animals, Dylan often makes important-sounding, yet somehow incorrect statements, so it's all for the course.
And as far as we're nitpicking, what's with all the dinosaur statements? Lycaenops, Gorgonops and their relatives were actually mammal-like reptiles, close relatives to the direct ancestors of the mammals, cynodonts. Calling them "dinosaurs" is like calling monkeys parrots or vice versa - it's simply wrong.
That aside, however, "Undone" was a very good, but very tragic episode. Samantha, Mac's girlfriend that was introduced in the episode "Fear of Flying" made her appearance on screen once again, but this was for the last time (not counting the potential flashbacks): the Lycaenops killed her. Curiously, it didn't eat any of the people it killed, so it probably attacked in self-defense, finding itself (and its' mate) trapped in a strange time alongside strange creatures...
But Mac, and probably Dylan, have also killed the gorgonopsids in self-defense, for those creatures clearly weren't compatible with the 21st century Vancouver. Seriously. They have killed at least two people, and scared several more. As many dangerous or rogue (individual) animals they had to be put down, and so they were.
Leaving the CP team with a very bitter aftertaste in their mouths. Firstly, they failed to protect the people they planned to - the innocents, the passer-by. The CP people had tools and technology and by now also experience, but they still failed, and there's blood on their hands - blood of people, and blood of animals. Not a good thing!
Secondly, the CP team was split upon this issue: Mac and Dylan were ready to use lethal force on the Lycaenops, Evan (and probably Toby) were not. The fact that the Lycaenops died contrary to Evan's wishes has raised a question of Evan's capability as field leader and as a team leader too. And that question isn't raised just by Mac (and Dylan?), but by Evan himself: just like Tony Stark (hence the Chinese-related banter at the beginning of the ep), he does not take failure easily and failure so close to home? Doubly hard. And with the next episode only a week away, how will he manage to pull himself together by that time period?
Thirdly, Mac was clearly interested in his relationship with Sam(antha), and her loss took him. How will he deal with it? Will Toby be involved? Will this issue be resolved by the next week? I can't wait to find out!
Finally, who was that woman that Evan went to seek consolation from? It may be Ange, but I'm not sure. In either case, apparently the relationship between Evan and Dylan isn't that intimate yet - and with the new rift, it may be even longer in coming.
So: an interesting new depiction of an interesting new creature, some very tragic new developments for the CP team, and oh yes, Mac (Danny Rahim) appeared shirtless in the shower. Go P:NW!
Scientifically, of course, this is all speculation; in reality Lycaenops was built more like a wolf than a leopard, and probably pursued its prey on the ground, rather than from the trees. As a matter of fact, that is reflected in Dylan's comments, when she compares that yet unidentified gorgonopsid to a coyote or a hyena, neither of which is an arboreal animal. Considering that this version of Lycaenops is arboreal, a hyena-based comparison is incorrect. But when it comes to prehistoric animals, Dylan often makes important-sounding, yet somehow incorrect statements, so it's all for the course.
And as far as we're nitpicking, what's with all the dinosaur statements? Lycaenops, Gorgonops and their relatives were actually mammal-like reptiles, close relatives to the direct ancestors of the mammals, cynodonts. Calling them "dinosaurs" is like calling monkeys parrots or vice versa - it's simply wrong.
That aside, however, "Undone" was a very good, but very tragic episode. Samantha, Mac's girlfriend that was introduced in the episode "Fear of Flying" made her appearance on screen once again, but this was for the last time (not counting the potential flashbacks): the Lycaenops killed her. Curiously, it didn't eat any of the people it killed, so it probably attacked in self-defense, finding itself (and its' mate) trapped in a strange time alongside strange creatures...
But Mac, and probably Dylan, have also killed the gorgonopsids in self-defense, for those creatures clearly weren't compatible with the 21st century Vancouver. Seriously. They have killed at least two people, and scared several more. As many dangerous or rogue (individual) animals they had to be put down, and so they were.
Leaving the CP team with a very bitter aftertaste in their mouths. Firstly, they failed to protect the people they planned to - the innocents, the passer-by. The CP people had tools and technology and by now also experience, but they still failed, and there's blood on their hands - blood of people, and blood of animals. Not a good thing!
Secondly, the CP team was split upon this issue: Mac and Dylan were ready to use lethal force on the Lycaenops, Evan (and probably Toby) were not. The fact that the Lycaenops died contrary to Evan's wishes has raised a question of Evan's capability as field leader and as a team leader too. And that question isn't raised just by Mac (and Dylan?), but by Evan himself: just like Tony Stark (hence the Chinese-related banter at the beginning of the ep), he does not take failure easily and failure so close to home? Doubly hard. And with the next episode only a week away, how will he manage to pull himself together by that time period?
Thirdly, Mac was clearly interested in his relationship with Sam(antha), and her loss took him. How will he deal with it? Will Toby be involved? Will this issue be resolved by the next week? I can't wait to find out!
Finally, who was that woman that Evan went to seek consolation from? It may be Ange, but I'm not sure. In either case, apparently the relationship between Evan and Dylan isn't that intimate yet - and with the new rift, it may be even longer in coming.
So: an interesting new depiction of an interesting new creature, some very tragic new developments for the CP team, and oh yes, Mac (Danny Rahim) appeared shirtless in the shower. Go P:NW!
Tuesday, 20 November 2012
Primeval New World 'Angry Birds' - Nov 19
In the last night's episode, the Cross Photonics team had to deal with several marijuana cultivators as well as with a small flock of Titanis (terror birds) that came through a time anomaly.
First, the good. The episode's script was very impressive, the plot alternated between comic and deadly serious almost within a blink of an eye. The marijuana cultivators alternated between comic relief and very real obstacles almost within the same scene - that took some acting skills; but then again, P:NW got good actors, if anything.
And CGI, of course. The Titanis were very life-like, especially the juvenile, and here is a sticky point: the terror birds have appeared in IP productions starting with WWB back in 2001. That said, they were usually acknowledged Phororhacos, yet ever since the original "Primeval" had aired, IP's fans argued about this species.
More specifically, IP never appeared to be particularly interested in the species identity of the terror birds, whether or not we're talking about "Primeval" or "Prehistoric Park" (2006) or etc. Terror birds were terror birds, and that was that. But now, in this episode, we've got Dylan channeling her inner Twilight Sparkle by declaring this bird to be Titanis - based on a fluffy juvenile, as well. Seriously, P:NW isn't a documentary show, after all, so why the bon mot of scientific trivia? (And the meat-eating pteranodon from the pilot ep was bad enough.) Sara Canning (Dylan) should really complain to the script writers about her lines: such scenes rather diminish her character.
Conversely, Dylan's interactions with Evan, with Angelika and the cultivators, other characters, really bring out her character: a strong, caring woman that is trying to rein in Evan's potentially self-destructive obsession with time anomalies and the creatures that come through it. After all, not even Batman could fully pull off being a CEO of Wayne Tech and a masked crime fighter at the same time, and Tony Stark (Iron Man) solved this by becoming affiliated with the US government (even if just through SHIELD), and so has Evan Cross...only with the Canadian government, in the person of Ken Leeds. Considering, that the last shots of the episode had the self-same RCAF man stowing away a Titanis juvenile (whether the same from earlier in the ep or another one - the model looked different) this has potential to backfire.
From Leeds to Angelika. Any ideas why the first shots of her in the ep were upon her legs? Yes, Miranda Frigon has very nice legs, but seriously, her character is a CFO of a flourishing company, why the legs? Is Frigon a leg model or something and angles for some professional PR, I wonder?
That said, Angelika's interaction with Evan in the beginning of the ep was something else: it really did brought out the point that Evan had a company to run and couldn't afford to be a vigilante superhero all the time. Already his involvement with the time anomalies are bringing changes to his company beyond his control, and as Leeds' decision to keep a Titanis indicates, this may bite him in the ass eventually.
Dylan, I should point out, actually agreed with Angelika on this one, so I also cannot help but feel that since Evan rode so roughshod over their mutual objections, at least some of that bad karma that may be coming his way is deserved.
And speaking of coming, the character of Toby (Crystal Lowe) has experienced some major development. Unlike Jess Parker from the original series, who'd been happy to simply work in the labs, Toby is more of a Connor Temple sort of character (what is he up to, anyways, since the pilot?) who can work in the field as well - to Mac's worry. In part, I suspect, that's because the show's producers are Toby/Mac shippers, though I seriously hope that Mac's interaction with his current girlfriend (Susannah or Susan) will be resolved before then: unlike Connor's first girlfriend, who turned out to be sort of evil, Susannah appears to be a rather decent person, a good shot with a tranquilizer gun too. Toby, on the other hand, actually shot one of the marijuana cultivators in the butt, but that was Mac's fault too: all guns tend to have a recoil, something Mac was aware, but Toby (who is a computer expert, not a firearms one) was probably not.
(Speaking of guns and targets, at least one of the terror birds had a minor case of invincibility - it was shot at with a gun and a taser and shrugged of both? IP's terror birds were often tough, but this is ridiculous: sabre-tooth cats like Smilodon very quickly cut them down to size, BTW.)
So. In this episode we had some good acting and CGI, and script, to a lesser extent. All of the characters had their personalities developed further, and there were giant killer ostriches as well. All in all - a good episode.
First, the good. The episode's script was very impressive, the plot alternated between comic and deadly serious almost within a blink of an eye. The marijuana cultivators alternated between comic relief and very real obstacles almost within the same scene - that took some acting skills; but then again, P:NW got good actors, if anything.
And CGI, of course. The Titanis were very life-like, especially the juvenile, and here is a sticky point: the terror birds have appeared in IP productions starting with WWB back in 2001. That said, they were usually acknowledged Phororhacos, yet ever since the original "Primeval" had aired, IP's fans argued about this species.
More specifically, IP never appeared to be particularly interested in the species identity of the terror birds, whether or not we're talking about "Primeval" or "Prehistoric Park" (2006) or etc. Terror birds were terror birds, and that was that. But now, in this episode, we've got Dylan channeling her inner Twilight Sparkle by declaring this bird to be Titanis - based on a fluffy juvenile, as well. Seriously, P:NW isn't a documentary show, after all, so why the bon mot of scientific trivia? (And the meat-eating pteranodon from the pilot ep was bad enough.) Sara Canning (Dylan) should really complain to the script writers about her lines: such scenes rather diminish her character.
Conversely, Dylan's interactions with Evan, with Angelika and the cultivators, other characters, really bring out her character: a strong, caring woman that is trying to rein in Evan's potentially self-destructive obsession with time anomalies and the creatures that come through it. After all, not even Batman could fully pull off being a CEO of Wayne Tech and a masked crime fighter at the same time, and Tony Stark (Iron Man) solved this by becoming affiliated with the US government (even if just through SHIELD), and so has Evan Cross...only with the Canadian government, in the person of Ken Leeds. Considering, that the last shots of the episode had the self-same RCAF man stowing away a Titanis juvenile (whether the same from earlier in the ep or another one - the model looked different) this has potential to backfire.
From Leeds to Angelika. Any ideas why the first shots of her in the ep were upon her legs? Yes, Miranda Frigon has very nice legs, but seriously, her character is a CFO of a flourishing company, why the legs? Is Frigon a leg model or something and angles for some professional PR, I wonder?
That said, Angelika's interaction with Evan in the beginning of the ep was something else: it really did brought out the point that Evan had a company to run and couldn't afford to be a vigilante superhero all the time. Already his involvement with the time anomalies are bringing changes to his company beyond his control, and as Leeds' decision to keep a Titanis indicates, this may bite him in the ass eventually.
Dylan, I should point out, actually agreed with Angelika on this one, so I also cannot help but feel that since Evan rode so roughshod over their mutual objections, at least some of that bad karma that may be coming his way is deserved.
And speaking of coming, the character of Toby (Crystal Lowe) has experienced some major development. Unlike Jess Parker from the original series, who'd been happy to simply work in the labs, Toby is more of a Connor Temple sort of character (what is he up to, anyways, since the pilot?) who can work in the field as well - to Mac's worry. In part, I suspect, that's because the show's producers are Toby/Mac shippers, though I seriously hope that Mac's interaction with his current girlfriend (Susannah or Susan) will be resolved before then: unlike Connor's first girlfriend, who turned out to be sort of evil, Susannah appears to be a rather decent person, a good shot with a tranquilizer gun too. Toby, on the other hand, actually shot one of the marijuana cultivators in the butt, but that was Mac's fault too: all guns tend to have a recoil, something Mac was aware, but Toby (who is a computer expert, not a firearms one) was probably not.
(Speaking of guns and targets, at least one of the terror birds had a minor case of invincibility - it was shot at with a gun and a taser and shrugged of both? IP's terror birds were often tough, but this is ridiculous: sabre-tooth cats like Smilodon very quickly cut them down to size, BTW.)
So. In this episode we had some good acting and CGI, and script, to a lesser extent. All of the characters had their personalities developed further, and there were giant killer ostriches as well. All in all - a good episode.
Tuesday, 13 November 2012
Primeval New World 'Fear of Flying' - Nov 12
Last night's episode of P:NW was great, though I still liked "Sisiutl" better, and here is why.
It all began with the "beetles". When it came to insects, "Primeval" had the following:
- S3 had the "megaopteran", a giant insect from the future that laid its offspring into other creatures like the modern parasitic wasps do, but had supposedly descended from the tiger beetle.
- S5, on the other hand, had a giant burrowing blind insect that ate people and a much smaller species that looked vaguely like the modern rowe beetle, whose queen was larger than an average member of the swarm, and who also ate people.
- Now we have a beetle that lays its eggs into other creatures like the "megaopteran" did, who is blind and lives partially underground, as the giant burrowing insect did, and who lives in swarms and has a bigger than the average member queen as that other future insect did. In other words, this beetle is a mixture of the previous three insects, all of which were from the future, and only one of which was recognized as a beetle, actually.
This is the reason why I have problems with the last night's animal: it is not from the past, whatever the official page says, it is from the future. The Jurassic no longer had high enough oxygen levels to allow insects to reach almost 2.5 m in length as the queen beetle did and so, well, you get it? P:NW may not be a documentary, of course, but it is still realistic and scientifically accurate enough to know that insects of this size belong in the future, not in the past (not counting the Carboniferous, but the beetles didn't exist back then, actually).
Frankly, I don't know why P:NW had to claim that those were Jurassic beetles, when they could've as easily been from the future and their role in being this episode's antagonist wouldn't have changed one bit.
After the beetles come the people, and I got to confess the actors really carried this episode through. The plot itself, I confess, appeared to have suffered from a too-large 'red herring' - the plane. Evan and Dylan spent almost the entire episode 'cannibalizing' it in order to make it fliable again and in the end had to give it up, as the last of the pilots died. Got to admit - the demise of Joe and Caitlynn (the pilots) had been two of the most heart-rendering moments in the episode: the original series tended to rescue people outside of the main cast (for the moment) that went through a time anomaly; P:NW apparently decided to change all that - and I got to admit that that had worked. Whatever else, "Fear of Flying" had been a very tense, dramatic episode and the actual defeat of the characters by the prehistoric vermin made it even more poignant. (And the fact that the time anomaly remained open at the episode's end does not promise anything good, either.)
Speaking of the characters and the cast, this episode also introduced Susan, Mac's new girlfriend and a fellow action junkie. Got to admit, I'm not sure what to think of her. On one hand, judging by the "Primeval" experience, any girlfriends & boyfriends from "aside" usually proved to be evil, but on the other hand that may not be the case here, and she appears to be as competent as Mac is when it comes to hunting chronologically displaced animals and insects. So, I'm holding my judgement on her until the later episodes.
So: insect chimeras that never existed (and couldn't exist), many dramatic and drastic turns and twists of the plot, a major relationship development between Evan and Dylan (Niall and Sara), and we get to see Toby (Crystal) in her bra and knickers at the beginning of the episode. This makes this episode a definite success, as far I as can tell.
It all began with the "beetles". When it came to insects, "Primeval" had the following:
- S3 had the "megaopteran", a giant insect from the future that laid its offspring into other creatures like the modern parasitic wasps do, but had supposedly descended from the tiger beetle.
- S5, on the other hand, had a giant burrowing blind insect that ate people and a much smaller species that looked vaguely like the modern rowe beetle, whose queen was larger than an average member of the swarm, and who also ate people.
- Now we have a beetle that lays its eggs into other creatures like the "megaopteran" did, who is blind and lives partially underground, as the giant burrowing insect did, and who lives in swarms and has a bigger than the average member queen as that other future insect did. In other words, this beetle is a mixture of the previous three insects, all of which were from the future, and only one of which was recognized as a beetle, actually.
This is the reason why I have problems with the last night's animal: it is not from the past, whatever the official page says, it is from the future. The Jurassic no longer had high enough oxygen levels to allow insects to reach almost 2.5 m in length as the queen beetle did and so, well, you get it? P:NW may not be a documentary, of course, but it is still realistic and scientifically accurate enough to know that insects of this size belong in the future, not in the past (not counting the Carboniferous, but the beetles didn't exist back then, actually).
Frankly, I don't know why P:NW had to claim that those were Jurassic beetles, when they could've as easily been from the future and their role in being this episode's antagonist wouldn't have changed one bit.
After the beetles come the people, and I got to confess the actors really carried this episode through. The plot itself, I confess, appeared to have suffered from a too-large 'red herring' - the plane. Evan and Dylan spent almost the entire episode 'cannibalizing' it in order to make it fliable again and in the end had to give it up, as the last of the pilots died. Got to admit - the demise of Joe and Caitlynn (the pilots) had been two of the most heart-rendering moments in the episode: the original series tended to rescue people outside of the main cast (for the moment) that went through a time anomaly; P:NW apparently decided to change all that - and I got to admit that that had worked. Whatever else, "Fear of Flying" had been a very tense, dramatic episode and the actual defeat of the characters by the prehistoric vermin made it even more poignant. (And the fact that the time anomaly remained open at the episode's end does not promise anything good, either.)
Speaking of the characters and the cast, this episode also introduced Susan, Mac's new girlfriend and a fellow action junkie. Got to admit, I'm not sure what to think of her. On one hand, judging by the "Primeval" experience, any girlfriends & boyfriends from "aside" usually proved to be evil, but on the other hand that may not be the case here, and she appears to be as competent as Mac is when it comes to hunting chronologically displaced animals and insects. So, I'm holding my judgement on her until the later episodes.
So: insect chimeras that never existed (and couldn't exist), many dramatic and drastic turns and twists of the plot, a major relationship development between Evan and Dylan (Niall and Sara), and we get to see Toby (Crystal) in her bra and knickers at the beginning of the episode. This makes this episode a definite success, as far I as can tell.
Tuesday, 6 November 2012
Primeval New World 'Sisiutl' - Nov 5
The second episode of P:NW was aired on Space last night. Basically, though it surprises me to admit, this episode was simply great.
To recapitulate. The pilot episode of P:NW was already good: the CGI/technology side of the show was great, as it is always with IP shows, and the actors' acting was up to strength. The only flaw was the script: it was rather disjointed.
Now, however, in "Sisiutl" P:NW scriptwriters have picked up the slack, and the show's script finally caught up with the rest of the show's aspects. This is evident in the following.
Initially, this episode introduces two new conflicts/points of tension in the new TANK team: Evan Cross does not like Lt. Kenneth Leeds from the government's project Magnet, and the latter does his best to accidentally piss him off by his amateurish and nervous demeanor and utter lack of tact when it comes to Evan's personal space. Mark you, Evan and his lack of patience is equally at fault, so this is going to be a situation where both sides will have to compromise/adjust to each other (sooner or later).
The second conflict is only in the opening stage: Angelika "Ange" Finch is not enjoying the new development of Evan's dinosaur obsession and is trying to get Lt. Leeds to do something about it, even though Leeds is downright reluctant to do so, and clearly isn't the kind of "alpha male" that Evan is (by the show's standards). Undoubtedly, Ange has the best of intentions of going behind Evan's back with this, but everyone knows where good intentions lead and sooner or later Ange's meddling will backfire on her, and she and Evan will have to clear the air…eventually.
This brings us to this episode's conflict between Dylan and her Predator Control superior officer. Here the scriptwriters added the conflict between truth and conformity, as Dylan has to decide what matters more: the truth or her job. Naturally, in the end she chooses doing the right thing over keeping her job at Predator Control and helps Evan & co to send the giant snake (Titanoboa) back to the Eocene. Still, her superior had also encountered the reptile, so Dylan may yet keep her job at Predator Control for a while, just because she cannot right quit. (That just won't look right.)
As an off point, I want to bring out that it is interesting (and impressive) that P:NW, unlike the original show, seems okay with introducing "people of color" into the cast. The original UK "Primeval", not unlike the US "Friends", had mainly an all-white cast, but here we get the show's producers introduce a greater variety into the secondary cast, if not the main one.
This brings us to the episode's other conflict: between the oil company (unnamed) and the native locals. The latter are led by officer Davis from "Corner Gas", known in real life as Lorne Cardinal. As a consequence, this veteran of acting (CG ran for 6 seasons and 107 episodes) does a remarkable job as a hotheaded wildlife activist, who does his best to try and bring his nephew Leo into the fold. He fails at that, though Leo and he do make up, once the underwater time anomaly closes and the titular monster goes home.
And, of course, the giant snake deserves a separate mention. It was Earth's biggest snake of all times, and it was a constrictor, just like the python and the anaconda, though it is bigger than any other snake on the planet, reaching a length of 12-15 m long. The cryptozoologists (like Leo in this episode) may claim that such a snake (megaconda) still lives in the waterways of South America, so far there is no credible evidence to back up their claims, so officially Titanoboa is extinct.
(Note: no offense to Leo, but Ogopogo cannot be a Basilosaurus for several reasons that aren't important here, so let's move on.)
Being such a massive monster, the real life Titanoboa probably wasn't as spry on land as the show's version. However, since P:NW isn't a documentary show, this is still within acceptable reasons, especially when compared to the messed-up Pteranodon from the pilot. Also, animal fans should know that constrictor snakes have a second row of teeth on the roof of their upper jaw and they are hooked, so if a Titanoboa bit something like a rubber raft one or more of those teeth would be left behind, to be sure, and they wouldn't be confused for a tooth of a shark or a killer whale, believe it!..
That said, this is something not unlike nitpicking and is a matter of taste (and principle), not unlike those rather annoying (and pointless) wide angle shots of the cast during the presentation of the episode, so that is not relevant. Even with that in mind, "Sisiutl" proved to be a very good episode of P:NW, and I seriously hope that the upcoming episodes of this show will be just as good.
To recapitulate. The pilot episode of P:NW was already good: the CGI/technology side of the show was great, as it is always with IP shows, and the actors' acting was up to strength. The only flaw was the script: it was rather disjointed.
Now, however, in "Sisiutl" P:NW scriptwriters have picked up the slack, and the show's script finally caught up with the rest of the show's aspects. This is evident in the following.
Initially, this episode introduces two new conflicts/points of tension in the new TANK team: Evan Cross does not like Lt. Kenneth Leeds from the government's project Magnet, and the latter does his best to accidentally piss him off by his amateurish and nervous demeanor and utter lack of tact when it comes to Evan's personal space. Mark you, Evan and his lack of patience is equally at fault, so this is going to be a situation where both sides will have to compromise/adjust to each other (sooner or later).
The second conflict is only in the opening stage: Angelika "Ange" Finch is not enjoying the new development of Evan's dinosaur obsession and is trying to get Lt. Leeds to do something about it, even though Leeds is downright reluctant to do so, and clearly isn't the kind of "alpha male" that Evan is (by the show's standards). Undoubtedly, Ange has the best of intentions of going behind Evan's back with this, but everyone knows where good intentions lead and sooner or later Ange's meddling will backfire on her, and she and Evan will have to clear the air…eventually.
This brings us to this episode's conflict between Dylan and her Predator Control superior officer. Here the scriptwriters added the conflict between truth and conformity, as Dylan has to decide what matters more: the truth or her job. Naturally, in the end she chooses doing the right thing over keeping her job at Predator Control and helps Evan & co to send the giant snake (Titanoboa) back to the Eocene. Still, her superior had also encountered the reptile, so Dylan may yet keep her job at Predator Control for a while, just because she cannot right quit. (That just won't look right.)
As an off point, I want to bring out that it is interesting (and impressive) that P:NW, unlike the original show, seems okay with introducing "people of color" into the cast. The original UK "Primeval", not unlike the US "Friends", had mainly an all-white cast, but here we get the show's producers introduce a greater variety into the secondary cast, if not the main one.
This brings us to the episode's other conflict: between the oil company (unnamed) and the native locals. The latter are led by officer Davis from "Corner Gas", known in real life as Lorne Cardinal. As a consequence, this veteran of acting (CG ran for 6 seasons and 107 episodes) does a remarkable job as a hotheaded wildlife activist, who does his best to try and bring his nephew Leo into the fold. He fails at that, though Leo and he do make up, once the underwater time anomaly closes and the titular monster goes home.
And, of course, the giant snake deserves a separate mention. It was Earth's biggest snake of all times, and it was a constrictor, just like the python and the anaconda, though it is bigger than any other snake on the planet, reaching a length of 12-15 m long. The cryptozoologists (like Leo in this episode) may claim that such a snake (megaconda) still lives in the waterways of South America, so far there is no credible evidence to back up their claims, so officially Titanoboa is extinct.
(Note: no offense to Leo, but Ogopogo cannot be a Basilosaurus for several reasons that aren't important here, so let's move on.)
Being such a massive monster, the real life Titanoboa probably wasn't as spry on land as the show's version. However, since P:NW isn't a documentary show, this is still within acceptable reasons, especially when compared to the messed-up Pteranodon from the pilot. Also, animal fans should know that constrictor snakes have a second row of teeth on the roof of their upper jaw and they are hooked, so if a Titanoboa bit something like a rubber raft one or more of those teeth would be left behind, to be sure, and they wouldn't be confused for a tooth of a shark or a killer whale, believe it!..
That said, this is something not unlike nitpicking and is a matter of taste (and principle), not unlike those rather annoying (and pointless) wide angle shots of the cast during the presentation of the episode, so that is not relevant. Even with that in mind, "Sisiutl" proved to be a very good episode of P:NW, and I seriously hope that the upcoming episodes of this show will be just as good.
Tuesday, 30 October 2012
P:NW, ep 1x01 - Oct 29
Last night I watched the first episode of Primeval: New World and so far I am of a more or less ambiguous attitude towards it.
First, the good. The technology/CGI side of the show was done very well, as always. IP always knew how to create realistic images of prehistoric/imaginary beasts, etc. As computer creations, the dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and anything else that the new team will encounter will be top notch.
The team itself, however, is something else. Basically, P:NW scriptwriters took the concept of the last season of "Primeval" – a six-person team and run with it. Connor Temple, the only character of the previous show to appear on P:NW up-to-date may be taking the role of Lester, or perhaps a senior team member who'll keep all the youngsters in check. And speaking of Connor, I admit that he has grown noticeably more competent than before and also sneakier – I'm not so sure that I like it. He also may be the ARC agent who had saved Evan from a dinosaur attack in the past, dying in the process, but until there is more information about that event, I'm not drawing any specific conclusions.
What about the new characters? As I said before, they have begun to form a 6-person team, just as in the last season of "Primeval", and Evan Cross, in particular, appears to be a younger version of Philip from the last season of "Primeval" as well, or at least that's how Connor sees him. In reality, Evan is probably more like Tony Stark (aka the Iron Man of Marvel comics©), an eccentric millionaire/inventor, who is also a superhero and a man of action. Just like so many other comic heroes, he is driven by his past, when a carnivorous dinosaur ate his wife when Evan and her snuck into a building and found a time anomaly. (More about the dinosaur later.)
If Evan is Tony, then Angelika Finch is Pepper Potts: she's the CFO of Evan's company, and is somewhat of a big sister to him, too: she keeps Evan grounded when he appears to be carried away – just as Pepper did with Tony, though with a slightly higher level of success. When in the beginning of the premier Evan tries to use Mac Randall to get away from a meeting with Angelika (Ange) – that was definitely a sibling interaction, sort of.
Angelika is also something of a neat freak, I suspect, and that is why she's going to be paired up with Lt. Ken Leeds – a Mulder-like character, who may be great at researching, but also really likes his things messy: maybe it drives his creative urges or something like that. His character didn't have much screen time in the first episode: so far he appears to be a tie to the Canadian government for Ange and Evan, and nothing more. He also has a big file on Evan and his company, Cross Photonics, so he may end up being Nick Fury (or at least agent Coulson) to Evan's Stark.
If Angelika is being paired with Lt. Leeds, then Evan is paired with Dylan Weir, an environmental activist and a police officer of some sort. The scene when Dylan and Evan fall through the time anomaly into the Cretaceous, and Dylan ends up on top of Evan (Dylan is a woman, though her name is manly – couldn't they go with Sarah, or Tanya, or something like that?), is pretty straightforward: Dylan is going to help Evan get over the loss of his wife (killed in part by his recklessness, BTW), and probably end up the next Mrs. Cross, though IP shows aren't big on weddings, I should note.
I also note that Dylan appears to be more laid back and accepting than Claudia Brown/Jenny Lewis was: she just accepted that there are radiomagnetic time anomalies in their uni-verse/dimension and went with the flow. Well, I don't see why not.
The last two main characters are Toby Nance (another woman with a manly name) and Mac Rendell. Mac Rendell is a daredevil and Evan's right-hand man: sort of a cross between Stephen Hart and Matt Anderson, I suppose. Toby is more like Jess, save that she isn't anywhere as fashion-conscious: guess the show's scriptwriters did their best of trying to differentiate P:NW's characters from their predecessors.
Sadly, that is probably P:NW's weakest part – the script. The actors, let's say it now, did a good job of sounding out their characters and to make them look real. The characters themselves are flat, though: Evan was the only one who's got some sort of a personal story behind him so far – probably because he's the central character (Buffy to Connor's Angel, if you would), and a personal story for the central character is a must. The rest of the P:NW characters (the supporting cast) have to go without it.
The second script flaw is the lack of a villain. "Primeval" had plenty of villains: Oliver Leek, Christine Johnson, Ethan Dombrowski, Philip Burton, and, of course, Helen Cutter made formidable opponents to the original ARC team. Because, let's be fair, modern humans, especially on their home turf (the 21st century) can outthink and outmaneuver any dinosaur or other prehistoric reptile, if given enough time. P:NW cast really needs a human opponent to test their mettle; otherwise the show will remain inferior to its predecessor.
Finally, there's the scientific angle, or rather – the lack of it. Ever since IP parted from BBC, it was steadily moving away from pseudo-documentaries ("Walking with" series) to true drama ("Primeval", P:NW, "Sinbad"). That said, they can still create more documentary-like shows, like "March of the Dinosaurs" (2011) movie, but they clearly are moving into more fictive shows instead. Maybe BBC, Discovery Channel, etc., are squeezing them out of the documentary niche, who knows?
That said, the lack of paleontological knowledge in P:NW is glaring. Pteranodon is depicted as man-eating bird of prey, literally: it has killed at least one person before it died. There were carnivorous and semi-terrestrial pterosaurs by the end of the Cretaceous, the azhdarchids, like Quetzalcoatlus and Hatzegopteryx, but Pteranodon belongs to a different family, the pteradontids, and it behaved more like a gull or a pelican, hunting for fish in the inland seas. Considering that IP was working with Pteranodon for a long time, since 2002 in "Chased by the Dinosaurs", they clearly know this, so why did they make it into a monster? If they needed a killer bird, why not use a teratorn instead? (Basically, a giant condor from the Ice Age.) Now that would be a giant bird of prey – literally and figuratively.
Then, the raptors. Evan calls them Utahraptors, but IP had problems with their identity from the time of "Primeval": influenced by the Jurassic Park movie franchise, their raptors are just generic sickle-clawed dinosaurs without any allegiance to any specific dromaeosaurid species; here the problem is that Utahraptor lived and died out just before Pteranodon appears on Earth, so they couldn't co-exist. Either that, or P:NW is doing something new with the time anomalies, which is another possibility.
Finally, the big dinosaur that ate Evan's wife, Albertosaurus (as identified on the official site). A smaller, more gracile relative of the T-Rex, Albertosaurus appeared several times in IP productions, but this version is mostly based on the aforementioned "March of the Dinosaurs" movie, except that it lacks feathers ("March" therapods were all feathered instead), and has one of its front claws bitten off. Odds that it will be P:NW's "villain" for this season at least quite good, since Albertosaurus had plenty of strength and speed, a nasty disposition and a decent amount of intelligence. If so, then P:NW can quickly devolve to a "man vs. beast" kind of a plot, and its characters lack "Moby Dick's" complexity to accomplish that sufficiently well to keep P:NW afloat for consecutive seasons. (Most of IP series, not counting "Primeval", are one-season hits.)
So. Good CGI and technology, decent actors and a flawed script. Right now, P:NW can go anywhere, and I will eagerly look over its journey.
First, the good. The technology/CGI side of the show was done very well, as always. IP always knew how to create realistic images of prehistoric/imaginary beasts, etc. As computer creations, the dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and anything else that the new team will encounter will be top notch.
The team itself, however, is something else. Basically, P:NW scriptwriters took the concept of the last season of "Primeval" – a six-person team and run with it. Connor Temple, the only character of the previous show to appear on P:NW up-to-date may be taking the role of Lester, or perhaps a senior team member who'll keep all the youngsters in check. And speaking of Connor, I admit that he has grown noticeably more competent than before and also sneakier – I'm not so sure that I like it. He also may be the ARC agent who had saved Evan from a dinosaur attack in the past, dying in the process, but until there is more information about that event, I'm not drawing any specific conclusions.
What about the new characters? As I said before, they have begun to form a 6-person team, just as in the last season of "Primeval", and Evan Cross, in particular, appears to be a younger version of Philip from the last season of "Primeval" as well, or at least that's how Connor sees him. In reality, Evan is probably more like Tony Stark (aka the Iron Man of Marvel comics©), an eccentric millionaire/inventor, who is also a superhero and a man of action. Just like so many other comic heroes, he is driven by his past, when a carnivorous dinosaur ate his wife when Evan and her snuck into a building and found a time anomaly. (More about the dinosaur later.)
If Evan is Tony, then Angelika Finch is Pepper Potts: she's the CFO of Evan's company, and is somewhat of a big sister to him, too: she keeps Evan grounded when he appears to be carried away – just as Pepper did with Tony, though with a slightly higher level of success. When in the beginning of the premier Evan tries to use Mac Randall to get away from a meeting with Angelika (Ange) – that was definitely a sibling interaction, sort of.
Angelika is also something of a neat freak, I suspect, and that is why she's going to be paired up with Lt. Ken Leeds – a Mulder-like character, who may be great at researching, but also really likes his things messy: maybe it drives his creative urges or something like that. His character didn't have much screen time in the first episode: so far he appears to be a tie to the Canadian government for Ange and Evan, and nothing more. He also has a big file on Evan and his company, Cross Photonics, so he may end up being Nick Fury (or at least agent Coulson) to Evan's Stark.
If Angelika is being paired with Lt. Leeds, then Evan is paired with Dylan Weir, an environmental activist and a police officer of some sort. The scene when Dylan and Evan fall through the time anomaly into the Cretaceous, and Dylan ends up on top of Evan (Dylan is a woman, though her name is manly – couldn't they go with Sarah, or Tanya, or something like that?), is pretty straightforward: Dylan is going to help Evan get over the loss of his wife (killed in part by his recklessness, BTW), and probably end up the next Mrs. Cross, though IP shows aren't big on weddings, I should note.
I also note that Dylan appears to be more laid back and accepting than Claudia Brown/Jenny Lewis was: she just accepted that there are radiomagnetic time anomalies in their uni-verse/dimension and went with the flow. Well, I don't see why not.
The last two main characters are Toby Nance (another woman with a manly name) and Mac Rendell. Mac Rendell is a daredevil and Evan's right-hand man: sort of a cross between Stephen Hart and Matt Anderson, I suppose. Toby is more like Jess, save that she isn't anywhere as fashion-conscious: guess the show's scriptwriters did their best of trying to differentiate P:NW's characters from their predecessors.
Sadly, that is probably P:NW's weakest part – the script. The actors, let's say it now, did a good job of sounding out their characters and to make them look real. The characters themselves are flat, though: Evan was the only one who's got some sort of a personal story behind him so far – probably because he's the central character (Buffy to Connor's Angel, if you would), and a personal story for the central character is a must. The rest of the P:NW characters (the supporting cast) have to go without it.
The second script flaw is the lack of a villain. "Primeval" had plenty of villains: Oliver Leek, Christine Johnson, Ethan Dombrowski, Philip Burton, and, of course, Helen Cutter made formidable opponents to the original ARC team. Because, let's be fair, modern humans, especially on their home turf (the 21st century) can outthink and outmaneuver any dinosaur or other prehistoric reptile, if given enough time. P:NW cast really needs a human opponent to test their mettle; otherwise the show will remain inferior to its predecessor.
Finally, there's the scientific angle, or rather – the lack of it. Ever since IP parted from BBC, it was steadily moving away from pseudo-documentaries ("Walking with" series) to true drama ("Primeval", P:NW, "Sinbad"). That said, they can still create more documentary-like shows, like "March of the Dinosaurs" (2011) movie, but they clearly are moving into more fictive shows instead. Maybe BBC, Discovery Channel, etc., are squeezing them out of the documentary niche, who knows?
That said, the lack of paleontological knowledge in P:NW is glaring. Pteranodon is depicted as man-eating bird of prey, literally: it has killed at least one person before it died. There were carnivorous and semi-terrestrial pterosaurs by the end of the Cretaceous, the azhdarchids, like Quetzalcoatlus and Hatzegopteryx, but Pteranodon belongs to a different family, the pteradontids, and it behaved more like a gull or a pelican, hunting for fish in the inland seas. Considering that IP was working with Pteranodon for a long time, since 2002 in "Chased by the Dinosaurs", they clearly know this, so why did they make it into a monster? If they needed a killer bird, why not use a teratorn instead? (Basically, a giant condor from the Ice Age.) Now that would be a giant bird of prey – literally and figuratively.
Then, the raptors. Evan calls them Utahraptors, but IP had problems with their identity from the time of "Primeval": influenced by the Jurassic Park movie franchise, their raptors are just generic sickle-clawed dinosaurs without any allegiance to any specific dromaeosaurid species; here the problem is that Utahraptor lived and died out just before Pteranodon appears on Earth, so they couldn't co-exist. Either that, or P:NW is doing something new with the time anomalies, which is another possibility.
Finally, the big dinosaur that ate Evan's wife, Albertosaurus (as identified on the official site). A smaller, more gracile relative of the T-Rex, Albertosaurus appeared several times in IP productions, but this version is mostly based on the aforementioned "March of the Dinosaurs" movie, except that it lacks feathers ("March" therapods were all feathered instead), and has one of its front claws bitten off. Odds that it will be P:NW's "villain" for this season at least quite good, since Albertosaurus had plenty of strength and speed, a nasty disposition and a decent amount of intelligence. If so, then P:NW can quickly devolve to a "man vs. beast" kind of a plot, and its characters lack "Moby Dick's" complexity to accomplish that sufficiently well to keep P:NW afloat for consecutive seasons. (Most of IP series, not counting "Primeval", are one-season hits.)
So. Good CGI and technology, decent actors and a flawed script. Right now, P:NW can go anywhere, and I will eagerly look over its journey.
Friday, 26 October 2012
Beauty and the Beast, episodes 2 +3 - oct 18 + 25
Two weeks ago I started to watch Showcase's "Beauty and the Beast" series, and I found them wanting. Last night I watched the show again, and my opinion didn't change.
Here's the developed premise. Catherine is a police officer who seeks to uncover the truth behind her mother's murder 9 years ago. Vincent was a soldier in the US Army, who became a lab rat for an attempt to create a "super-soldier" and experienced an epic fail on one hand and is legally dead on the other. 9 years ago Vince saved Cat from some unknown assassins and Cat had had issues ever since – a fact that didn't prevent Cat from developing issues, or becoming a policewoman.
Sounds straightforward, almost cliché-like? That's because Catherine and Vincent are clichéd characters that… do not have any connection to the titular fairy tale.
Let me elaborate. In theory, I suppose, the show's scriptwriters and producers took the original fairy tale (or the Disney version of it) and adapted it to a more feminist outlook (i.e. Cat and Tess the police officers). They also modernized it, as opposed to a more historical setting used by the CBS show in the past.
But… you can borrow someone else's material and change it only so much before it becomes something else – original content, for example. In Showcase's case, this resulted in a show whose titular 'Beast', Vincent, has more in common with the Hulk of the Marvel comic- and movie-verse than with the original Beast.
Well, that may be unfair. One of the ideas behind the original fairy tale was that to a newly married woman (Belle) a husband is something of a beast or a monster that changes to a handsome fellow over time. In time that mated to a concept that there's a monster inside any man (the werewolf legend, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Hulk, etc.) so in a certain way Vincent the super-soldier is an heir to that tradition.
But… as the Hulk had shown, one does not need to be called a Beast to get in touch with their inner monster, and Vince, with his super-soldier situation is more closely connected to the Hulk than to the original Beast. Hence, the show's title actually impedes and restricts the character's development rather than helps.
The same goes for Catherine. The original/Disney beauty (Belle) may've been passive and old-fashioned girl by modern standards, but Disney at least made it work: Belle did indeed save the Beast by the power of her love and turned him back into the handsome prince (implying that love can make a man out of any monster) without being a sort of a warrior princess as Mulan or Rapunzel (from "Tangled") are.
In turn, this means that there was no reason for Catherine to have become a police officer to become a Belle-like character that keeps Vincent human (as shown by Showcase's latest episode). In fact, her occupation appears to be at odds with her character role, or rather – diminishes it, because Catherine and Belle are too different to be similar. Sounds stupid, I know, but still true. Two different characters act differently in the same situation and to create Catherine as an independent character and then expect her to be a stand-in for Belle just doesn't work – at least in my opinion.
In particular, that concerns Catherine's relationship with Joe Bishop, the police medic. Obviously, he's supposed to be a rival for Catherine's attention with Vincent and the more socially popular one Рsort of like Gaston in the Disney movie. And it's true that Disney's Gaston was a 2-D character, a braggart and a blowhard, but in case of Catherine and Vincent it's the same. Cat is a cop obsessed with justice and little to no social life; Vincent is a suffering vigilante without any social life. As I wrote before, BtVS's Angel and Buffy has done something very similar before much more successfully; and as for DC Comics' "Batman" series Рthey basically own those heroic types. Just like Disney's Gaston, Cat and Vince are clich̩s and Joe Bishop, on the other hand, is much more likeable character.
Of course, that is also because of acting: Kristin Kreuk (Cat) and Jay Ryan (Vince) simply are not very convincing actors, they appear stiff and wooden, pretending to like each other so obviously, that nobody believes them. Or, more precisely, Jay Ryan is stiff and wooden; Kristin Kreuk appears to be overacting instead. (So does J.T. Forbes – Austin Basis.) Either way, the end result is the same: total lack of acting credibility from the show's main characters at the very least, and as for the plot…
Yes, there supposed to be conflict not just between the show's protagonists and their opponents, but also between themselves. Sadly, coupled with Kristin and Jay's poor acting (not that Austin improves things any) this makes the conflict very glaring and obnoxious, making one wonder just how long can the two go on and why should Cat and Vince have the relationship? Maybe that is the show's intention, but I doubt that it intended to approach this situation from such a direction.
Case in point: the next episode, where, will Cat and Tess deal with the case of an abused boy left for dead, the villains approach Cat with an offer of exchanging information about the death of Cat's mother for Vincent. Cat will waver and Vincent will plan to give himself up in return for Cat's safety. How more clich̩d can you get? I have no idea, and am not sure that I want to find out Рi.e., I am not sure that will continue watching this show. Considering that the show's audience has already gone down by 0.78 million views between just the first two episodes, I'm not the only one either.
Comments? Critiques?
Here's the developed premise. Catherine is a police officer who seeks to uncover the truth behind her mother's murder 9 years ago. Vincent was a soldier in the US Army, who became a lab rat for an attempt to create a "super-soldier" and experienced an epic fail on one hand and is legally dead on the other. 9 years ago Vince saved Cat from some unknown assassins and Cat had had issues ever since – a fact that didn't prevent Cat from developing issues, or becoming a policewoman.
Sounds straightforward, almost cliché-like? That's because Catherine and Vincent are clichéd characters that… do not have any connection to the titular fairy tale.
Let me elaborate. In theory, I suppose, the show's scriptwriters and producers took the original fairy tale (or the Disney version of it) and adapted it to a more feminist outlook (i.e. Cat and Tess the police officers). They also modernized it, as opposed to a more historical setting used by the CBS show in the past.
But… you can borrow someone else's material and change it only so much before it becomes something else – original content, for example. In Showcase's case, this resulted in a show whose titular 'Beast', Vincent, has more in common with the Hulk of the Marvel comic- and movie-verse than with the original Beast.
Well, that may be unfair. One of the ideas behind the original fairy tale was that to a newly married woman (Belle) a husband is something of a beast or a monster that changes to a handsome fellow over time. In time that mated to a concept that there's a monster inside any man (the werewolf legend, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Hulk, etc.) so in a certain way Vincent the super-soldier is an heir to that tradition.
But… as the Hulk had shown, one does not need to be called a Beast to get in touch with their inner monster, and Vince, with his super-soldier situation is more closely connected to the Hulk than to the original Beast. Hence, the show's title actually impedes and restricts the character's development rather than helps.
The same goes for Catherine. The original/Disney beauty (Belle) may've been passive and old-fashioned girl by modern standards, but Disney at least made it work: Belle did indeed save the Beast by the power of her love and turned him back into the handsome prince (implying that love can make a man out of any monster) without being a sort of a warrior princess as Mulan or Rapunzel (from "Tangled") are.
In turn, this means that there was no reason for Catherine to have become a police officer to become a Belle-like character that keeps Vincent human (as shown by Showcase's latest episode). In fact, her occupation appears to be at odds with her character role, or rather – diminishes it, because Catherine and Belle are too different to be similar. Sounds stupid, I know, but still true. Two different characters act differently in the same situation and to create Catherine as an independent character and then expect her to be a stand-in for Belle just doesn't work – at least in my opinion.
In particular, that concerns Catherine's relationship with Joe Bishop, the police medic. Obviously, he's supposed to be a rival for Catherine's attention with Vincent and the more socially popular one Рsort of like Gaston in the Disney movie. And it's true that Disney's Gaston was a 2-D character, a braggart and a blowhard, but in case of Catherine and Vincent it's the same. Cat is a cop obsessed with justice and little to no social life; Vincent is a suffering vigilante without any social life. As I wrote before, BtVS's Angel and Buffy has done something very similar before much more successfully; and as for DC Comics' "Batman" series Рthey basically own those heroic types. Just like Disney's Gaston, Cat and Vince are clich̩s and Joe Bishop, on the other hand, is much more likeable character.
Of course, that is also because of acting: Kristin Kreuk (Cat) and Jay Ryan (Vince) simply are not very convincing actors, they appear stiff and wooden, pretending to like each other so obviously, that nobody believes them. Or, more precisely, Jay Ryan is stiff and wooden; Kristin Kreuk appears to be overacting instead. (So does J.T. Forbes – Austin Basis.) Either way, the end result is the same: total lack of acting credibility from the show's main characters at the very least, and as for the plot…
Yes, there supposed to be conflict not just between the show's protagonists and their opponents, but also between themselves. Sadly, coupled with Kristin and Jay's poor acting (not that Austin improves things any) this makes the conflict very glaring and obnoxious, making one wonder just how long can the two go on and why should Cat and Vince have the relationship? Maybe that is the show's intention, but I doubt that it intended to approach this situation from such a direction.
Case in point: the next episode, where, will Cat and Tess deal with the case of an abused boy left for dead, the villains approach Cat with an offer of exchanging information about the death of Cat's mother for Vincent. Cat will waver and Vincent will plan to give himself up in return for Cat's safety. How more clich̩d can you get? I have no idea, and am not sure that I want to find out Рi.e., I am not sure that will continue watching this show. Considering that the show's audience has already gone down by 0.78 million views between just the first two episodes, I'm not the only one either.
Comments? Critiques?
Friday, 12 October 2012
Beauty and the Beast, ep 1 - Oct 11
Yesterday I watched the pilot episode of Showcase's "Beauty and the Beast". What can be said about it?
For a start, confronted with such fantasy shows as "Grimm", "Once Upon a Time", their own "Lost Girl", etc, where fantasy and mystery genres collide, Showcase made B&B more Gothic, rather than fantasy and also more modern. The Beast, Vincent, is an ex-veteran of fighting in Afgan, where he apparently started mutating into a "monster", while Beauty is police officer Catherine, who seeks to find the criminals who killed her mother and almost killed her.
Does this sounds cliched? Certainly, for the plot of Vincent (Jay Ryan) and Catherine (Kristin Kreuk) is very much influenced by "Buffy's" relationship between the titular heroine (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Angel the vampire (David Boreanas) back in the 1990s. This means that Vincent and Catherine's relationship will have lots of angst, with Vincent's friend J.T. (Austin Bates) providing the occasional comic relief (and Austin isn't very good at it).
That's the more Gothic plotline. The second plotline, apparently is Catherine and her partner Vargas (Nina Lisandrello) go around solving crimes, as Rizzoli and Isles do, only without the lesbian subtext, since Catherine's "one true love" is Vincent. (Otherwise, the whole "Beauty and the Beast" idea is null and void.) That said, the detective portion of the show is good, showing very intense psychological work, similar to Disney's idea (in "Hunchback of Notre Dame") - "what makes a monster, what makes a man"? Guess B&B are going to show the audience, while the FBI appears to be the show's main bad guys, fighting Vincent for unknown reasons, and also possibly being connected to the death of Catherine's mom.
Sounds exciting? Perhaps, yet Ryan and Kreuk pull off the Gothic angle much more poorly than Boreanas and Geller did. When those two interact, it's the weakest part of the show, at least of the pilot. Guess they're just not a good couple, they lack the chemistry!
And speaking of what was lacking, DW came back today to Spike channel, at least from the first two seasons out of three. Its episodes were intermingled with episodes of other Spike series, like "1000 ways to die" and "Repo games". Coupled with the fact that throughout September DW's Facebook page was bombarded with links to the show's clips, all connected... to the upcoming Halloween makes me wonder if DW doesn't plan to return with a fourth season or something like that, or at least a holiday special. Got to admit, it was missed and its' return was appreciated.
So, a rather lopsided new show, and an old one coming back (at least temporarily). It could've been worse.
For a start, confronted with such fantasy shows as "Grimm", "Once Upon a Time", their own "Lost Girl", etc, where fantasy and mystery genres collide, Showcase made B&B more Gothic, rather than fantasy and also more modern. The Beast, Vincent, is an ex-veteran of fighting in Afgan, where he apparently started mutating into a "monster", while Beauty is police officer Catherine, who seeks to find the criminals who killed her mother and almost killed her.
Does this sounds cliched? Certainly, for the plot of Vincent (Jay Ryan) and Catherine (Kristin Kreuk) is very much influenced by "Buffy's" relationship between the titular heroine (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Angel the vampire (David Boreanas) back in the 1990s. This means that Vincent and Catherine's relationship will have lots of angst, with Vincent's friend J.T. (Austin Bates) providing the occasional comic relief (and Austin isn't very good at it).
That's the more Gothic plotline. The second plotline, apparently is Catherine and her partner Vargas (Nina Lisandrello) go around solving crimes, as Rizzoli and Isles do, only without the lesbian subtext, since Catherine's "one true love" is Vincent. (Otherwise, the whole "Beauty and the Beast" idea is null and void.) That said, the detective portion of the show is good, showing very intense psychological work, similar to Disney's idea (in "Hunchback of Notre Dame") - "what makes a monster, what makes a man"? Guess B&B are going to show the audience, while the FBI appears to be the show's main bad guys, fighting Vincent for unknown reasons, and also possibly being connected to the death of Catherine's mom.
Sounds exciting? Perhaps, yet Ryan and Kreuk pull off the Gothic angle much more poorly than Boreanas and Geller did. When those two interact, it's the weakest part of the show, at least of the pilot. Guess they're just not a good couple, they lack the chemistry!
And speaking of what was lacking, DW came back today to Spike channel, at least from the first two seasons out of three. Its episodes were intermingled with episodes of other Spike series, like "1000 ways to die" and "Repo games". Coupled with the fact that throughout September DW's Facebook page was bombarded with links to the show's clips, all connected... to the upcoming Halloween makes me wonder if DW doesn't plan to return with a fourth season or something like that, or at least a holiday special. Got to admit, it was missed and its' return was appreciated.
So, a rather lopsided new show, and an old one coming back (at least temporarily). It could've been worse.
Sunday, 23 September 2012
Sinbad, ep 12 - Sep 23
In the final episode of Sinbad ep 1, a lot of excitement occurs; in fact, there's such a great amount of excitement, that I am actually not sure where to start.
Well, let's start with the land of the dead. As I wrote about it previously, it was clearly taken out of Homer's "Odyssey" for the reasons I said above. However, in this case I should add that the city of Limbo that was featured here was influenced by Dante Aligheri's "Inferno" instead. That was to be expected; together with Virgil's "Aeneid", "Odyssey" and "The Divine Comedy" are the classical depictions of European afterlife (I call them the big three, lol).
If the land of the dead is rooted in European classical literature (for the Muslims the afterlife was completely different), then its monsters are something else. The hounds were basically Primeval's hyenadons from S4 (and Primeval is also owned by IP, so no copyright infringement there, I hope), while the Guardians... I don't know what they are - they were just shapeless masses each one armed with a single glowing eye that mentally traps you in an alternate dimension until you die. Or, since the inhabitants of the city of Limbo are already dead, you move on and get reincarnated instead. (Considering that "Sinbad's" afterlife is a mishmash of Christian and pagan worlds anything is possible, so until S2 I'm sticking with the reincarnation theory.) Who knows?
Right, after the setting and the monsters come the characters, the heroes. Sinbad is still an impulsive ass, though in this episode he learns new wisdom: some things even people, even heroes cannot defeat - and in this case it's fate, karma, kismet, whatever. Jamil was intended to die and he remained dead, sacrificing himself to the Guardian to let Sinbad and the others instead.
Conversely, Taryn has rescued her daughter with the help of Sinbad's crew. However, since the girl (Alehna) looked around as she has left, the final shots of the episode show some sort of darkness in her eyes - if she proves to be the ancestor of one Tom Marvolo Riddle (and of one Luna Lovegood, played by the same actress earlier in the real life), that's when "Sinbad" have jumped the shark, believe it!
Or maybe it already has, if the scriptwriters are positioning Taryn into the role of Vala from "StarGate". Remember? She's the morally ambiguous alien (Teal'C is the one who's loyal and honest, etc), whose daughter is one of the big bad's of the show. Vala herself, however, seems to be improving her character and is no a member of the StarGate's crew. Since Taryn (and her daughter) are already on Sinbad's ship, maybe this process has already begun?
Speaking of Sinbad's ship, notice how the cook was absent from this episode as well? Well, of course he was - he's a part of the ship (that's my theory) and such not only is he bound to it, he has no place in a human afterlife - he's version is probably quite a bit different and a lot more woody and inorganic, you know?
And the other members of the crew. Taryn was amazing as she got Sinbad out of the Guardian-induced mental funk, but so was Gunnar as he recognized Taryn as she possessed Tiger. He also was the one who figured out how to rescue Sinbad from that funk, so, seriously, if Taryn's Vala, he's something of a Jack O'Neal or Teal'C. He also mentioned Valhalla (indirectly) in this episode, but we all know that he doesn't believe in this pagan pageantry anymore, he's a Christian here, just in secret.
Sinbad, of course, is still impulsive (and he's probably going to remain impulsive until he dies), and now he has learned that there are some things that cannot be beat. Guess he's still maturing - just as Telemachus does in the "Odyssey", cough. Anwar, of course, is also maturing, since he's now confident enough in his abilities, and Rina is still Rina. She's the obligatory halfling of the group.
So, the final episode of "Sinbad" S1 has a hybridized afterlife, a couple of mismatched monsters, a new possible villian (Alehna), Taryn and Gunnar being awesome, and the rest still being themselves. Oh, and Nala is still absent, though her dad made in appearance in the Basra of the dead (little pun here). Guess she's still in Basra and Tiger is Sinbad's love interest... until for now.
End (of "Sinbad" S1)
Well, let's start with the land of the dead. As I wrote about it previously, it was clearly taken out of Homer's "Odyssey" for the reasons I said above. However, in this case I should add that the city of Limbo that was featured here was influenced by Dante Aligheri's "Inferno" instead. That was to be expected; together with Virgil's "Aeneid", "Odyssey" and "The Divine Comedy" are the classical depictions of European afterlife (I call them the big three, lol).
If the land of the dead is rooted in European classical literature (for the Muslims the afterlife was completely different), then its monsters are something else. The hounds were basically Primeval's hyenadons from S4 (and Primeval is also owned by IP, so no copyright infringement there, I hope), while the Guardians... I don't know what they are - they were just shapeless masses each one armed with a single glowing eye that mentally traps you in an alternate dimension until you die. Or, since the inhabitants of the city of Limbo are already dead, you move on and get reincarnated instead. (Considering that "Sinbad's" afterlife is a mishmash of Christian and pagan worlds anything is possible, so until S2 I'm sticking with the reincarnation theory.) Who knows?
Right, after the setting and the monsters come the characters, the heroes. Sinbad is still an impulsive ass, though in this episode he learns new wisdom: some things even people, even heroes cannot defeat - and in this case it's fate, karma, kismet, whatever. Jamil was intended to die and he remained dead, sacrificing himself to the Guardian to let Sinbad and the others instead.
Conversely, Taryn has rescued her daughter with the help of Sinbad's crew. However, since the girl (Alehna) looked around as she has left, the final shots of the episode show some sort of darkness in her eyes - if she proves to be the ancestor of one Tom Marvolo Riddle (and of one Luna Lovegood, played by the same actress earlier in the real life), that's when "Sinbad" have jumped the shark, believe it!
Or maybe it already has, if the scriptwriters are positioning Taryn into the role of Vala from "StarGate". Remember? She's the morally ambiguous alien (Teal'C is the one who's loyal and honest, etc), whose daughter is one of the big bad's of the show. Vala herself, however, seems to be improving her character and is no a member of the StarGate's crew. Since Taryn (and her daughter) are already on Sinbad's ship, maybe this process has already begun?
Speaking of Sinbad's ship, notice how the cook was absent from this episode as well? Well, of course he was - he's a part of the ship (that's my theory) and such not only is he bound to it, he has no place in a human afterlife - he's version is probably quite a bit different and a lot more woody and inorganic, you know?
And the other members of the crew. Taryn was amazing as she got Sinbad out of the Guardian-induced mental funk, but so was Gunnar as he recognized Taryn as she possessed Tiger. He also was the one who figured out how to rescue Sinbad from that funk, so, seriously, if Taryn's Vala, he's something of a Jack O'Neal or Teal'C. He also mentioned Valhalla (indirectly) in this episode, but we all know that he doesn't believe in this pagan pageantry anymore, he's a Christian here, just in secret.
Sinbad, of course, is still impulsive (and he's probably going to remain impulsive until he dies), and now he has learned that there are some things that cannot be beat. Guess he's still maturing - just as Telemachus does in the "Odyssey", cough. Anwar, of course, is also maturing, since he's now confident enough in his abilities, and Rina is still Rina. She's the obligatory halfling of the group.
So, the final episode of "Sinbad" S1 has a hybridized afterlife, a couple of mismatched monsters, a new possible villian (Alehna), Taryn and Gunnar being awesome, and the rest still being themselves. Oh, and Nala is still absent, though her dad made in appearance in the Basra of the dead (little pun here). Guess she's still in Basra and Tiger is Sinbad's love interest... until for now.
End (of "Sinbad" S1)
Sunday, 16 September 2012
Sinbad, ep 11 - Sep 16
In the penultimate episode of Sinbad, we get... a lot of things. Here are the most obvious ones.
The land of the dead & the entire religious question. I see that the plundering of Homer's "Odyssey" continues. The original "Sinbad" was a part of "1001 Nights" stories, which were Muslim fairy tales. Since Islam is a monotheistic religion, it had a Heaven and a Hell, rather than a Land of the Dead, as the one described by the pagan Homer in his "Odyssey". So, why is it in IP's version of "Sinbad"?
To elaborate: yes, all things Muslim-connected are not fashionable in the Western world once again, especially given the recent events in North Africa and Middle East, but "Sinbad" was shot way before they occurred, so - what gives? Was IP trying to be over politically correct, or something?
Secondly, it's bad to mention all things Muslim-related, but it's all right to bad-mouth (sort of) all things Christian-related? The main villian tonight was father La Stessa, a cardinal or a bishop or some other high-ranking member in the local Christian monastery. Honestly, since "Sinbad" was supposed to be Muslim-related (re: Basra), then what's with all the Christian associations, etc?
It wouldn't be that bad if there wasn't Basra. After all, Odysseus' travels occurred largely in Elfland where there weren't any religious or political connotations. But that wasn't good enough for Sinbad's scriptwriters (though they certainly enjoyed plundering the "Odyssey" for ideas, at least once or twice), they actually had to make-it quasireal with Basra. Dirtbags.
In regards to Basra, Taryn's back. She had infiltrated the monastery and when Tiger discovered the map to Land of the Dead, she had taken over her body or something. Helen Cutter, who used a similar method to infiltrate the ARC in "Primeval" (also released by IP - what a coincidence) would've been so proud.
Sadly, putting aside the fact that IP's female villains are awesome, there's the issue of Basra once more. When we left it in ep. 7, Akbari was dead, and Taryn was supposedly in charge of it. Consequently, Nala remained behind to help Basra's citizens against Taryn's tyranny. Only... Taryn is no longer on Basra, but rather on Malta, so... what's with Nala? Taryn could've captured, skinned her alive and used her organs to divine where to find Sinbad, for example, but she could've just as easily given over the keys to Basra (and the phallic-shaped hat) over to Nala, told her that she's now the amira (or whatever it's called) of Basra and left. Hopefully, the last episode will reveal what happened to Nala... but I wouldn't count on it.
And speaking of phallic-shaped things... this episode's monster was a werewolf of some sorts, whose public identity was Philip, the campiest pub owner I've ever seen. Make no mistake, his orientation wasn't the problem, it's the way he acted - so over the top that it was just wrong. At least the snake lady/professor from the previous episode was realistic (as a character from a fantasy show, of course).
And what about the rest of the cast? Tiger has been taken over by Taryn, so she's out of commission for now. The Cook wasn't seen for 95% of this episode at least. Anwar has gained enough confidence now to actually argue with Sinbad, and Rina's cloak still makes her look like a hobbit from LotR. Oh, and Sinbad is still an impulsive ass, though somewhat subdued by now.
Finally, there's Gunnar, who may've found his one true love in the guise of a tailor's widow, making him a rival for the villain of the episode (see above) and almost werewolf chow. Oh well. Of all the heroes (and male characters) he was just too cool to die, and if he lives through the Land of the Dead (yes, the pun's intended), he may actually have a place to return to - on Malta.
So, in recap: Taryn and Gunnar were awesome, the rest of the cast - not so much, the monster was sort of cliche (a veggie version of a werewolf, basically), and the religious ideology in this show that is attempting a semi-serious approach to matters of religion and spirituality is seriously messed up.
Next week - end of Sinbad S1!
The land of the dead & the entire religious question. I see that the plundering of Homer's "Odyssey" continues. The original "Sinbad" was a part of "1001 Nights" stories, which were Muslim fairy tales. Since Islam is a monotheistic religion, it had a Heaven and a Hell, rather than a Land of the Dead, as the one described by the pagan Homer in his "Odyssey". So, why is it in IP's version of "Sinbad"?
To elaborate: yes, all things Muslim-connected are not fashionable in the Western world once again, especially given the recent events in North Africa and Middle East, but "Sinbad" was shot way before they occurred, so - what gives? Was IP trying to be over politically correct, or something?
Secondly, it's bad to mention all things Muslim-related, but it's all right to bad-mouth (sort of) all things Christian-related? The main villian tonight was father La Stessa, a cardinal or a bishop or some other high-ranking member in the local Christian monastery. Honestly, since "Sinbad" was supposed to be Muslim-related (re: Basra), then what's with all the Christian associations, etc?
It wouldn't be that bad if there wasn't Basra. After all, Odysseus' travels occurred largely in Elfland where there weren't any religious or political connotations. But that wasn't good enough for Sinbad's scriptwriters (though they certainly enjoyed plundering the "Odyssey" for ideas, at least once or twice), they actually had to make-it quasireal with Basra. Dirtbags.
In regards to Basra, Taryn's back. She had infiltrated the monastery and when Tiger discovered the map to Land of the Dead, she had taken over her body or something. Helen Cutter, who used a similar method to infiltrate the ARC in "Primeval" (also released by IP - what a coincidence) would've been so proud.
Sadly, putting aside the fact that IP's female villains are awesome, there's the issue of Basra once more. When we left it in ep. 7, Akbari was dead, and Taryn was supposedly in charge of it. Consequently, Nala remained behind to help Basra's citizens against Taryn's tyranny. Only... Taryn is no longer on Basra, but rather on Malta, so... what's with Nala? Taryn could've captured, skinned her alive and used her organs to divine where to find Sinbad, for example, but she could've just as easily given over the keys to Basra (and the phallic-shaped hat) over to Nala, told her that she's now the amira (or whatever it's called) of Basra and left. Hopefully, the last episode will reveal what happened to Nala... but I wouldn't count on it.
And speaking of phallic-shaped things... this episode's monster was a werewolf of some sorts, whose public identity was Philip, the campiest pub owner I've ever seen. Make no mistake, his orientation wasn't the problem, it's the way he acted - so over the top that it was just wrong. At least the snake lady/professor from the previous episode was realistic (as a character from a fantasy show, of course).
And what about the rest of the cast? Tiger has been taken over by Taryn, so she's out of commission for now. The Cook wasn't seen for 95% of this episode at least. Anwar has gained enough confidence now to actually argue with Sinbad, and Rina's cloak still makes her look like a hobbit from LotR. Oh, and Sinbad is still an impulsive ass, though somewhat subdued by now.
Finally, there's Gunnar, who may've found his one true love in the guise of a tailor's widow, making him a rival for the villain of the episode (see above) and almost werewolf chow. Oh well. Of all the heroes (and male characters) he was just too cool to die, and if he lives through the Land of the Dead (yes, the pun's intended), he may actually have a place to return to - on Malta.
So, in recap: Taryn and Gunnar were awesome, the rest of the cast - not so much, the monster was sort of cliche (a veggie version of a werewolf, basically), and the religious ideology in this show that is attempting a semi-serious approach to matters of religion and spirituality is seriously messed up.
Next week - end of Sinbad S1!
Sunday, 9 September 2012
Sinbad, ep 10 - Sep 9
As the show moves into the final third of S1 of Sinbad, we get hit with a bizarre episode. Well, maybe not bizarre - just not well thought through. Sinbad and Tiger (who's been called so because her father abandoned her and she was raised by tigers instead) get hired by a professor (whose name is never given) to transport her and her cargo to some island or other. Fine.
That cargo then proves to be a giant egg that hatches into a giant snake - that's also fine. Giant snakes are par-du-course for any Eastern/Oriental fantasy, so so far so good. When, however, the professor merges with her creation into one ultimate predator - that's just too much.
Let's recapitulate. The professor is, well, a mad scientist, but she acts mainly like a big bitch to everyone, though she seems to tolerate Anwar... to the point when she tried to feed Anwar to her pet but the snake ripped off her arm instead. This started the merging of professor and snake, mad scientist and her creation. Fine. I'm sure that that the screenwriters team of Kurti and Doyle had it all figured out on paper at least - let's leave it on their consciousnesses, 'cause to me it was just all ridiculous.
Sinbad and his crew, of course, had their own input on ridiculousness - they planned to use the snake monster's peanut allergy to kill it. No, I kid you not - they used crossbow darts heavily weighted down with peanuts to bring the monster down... in theory. In reality, of course, the weight of the peanuts put the darts off balance, and only one of them hit the snake...on the outside, in the neck, where peanuts did diddly squat. The bolt, on the other hand, drew attention of the monster to Sinbad, giving Gunnar the window of opportunity to hit the snake in the head with his axe repeatedly, until it stopped moving. Go Gunnar, Thor the snake-slaying thunder-god would be so proud of you, you dirty Christian...
While Gunnar saved the day (and Sinbad), what about the others? Sinbad and Tiger continue to flirt... but what about Nala? Sinbad saved her from Mr. Invincible in ep. 4, for crying out loud! Out of sight out of mind? Sheesh - no wonder then that Sinbad was in such a rush to save her in ep. 4 - if he dawdled he would've forgotten all about her instead and wouldn't that opened up a plot hole!!
The Cook shows an extreme reluctant (to put it mildly) to leave the ship - he would rather get eaten by the snake monster. Well, of course he can't - he's the ship's spirit (that's my theory, mind) and wherever the ship goes he follows. Simple.
Finally, Rina and Anwar. What was up with them? Throughout the first two thirds or so of this ep. Anwar seemed to be forging a bond with the professor, she was acting as his foil to show how far the Anwar came in his path to becoming a respected, learner and wise man of knowledge, as indicated by ep. 8, I hope. And then she merged with her snake (no pun intended) and Gunnar ended saving the day instead of Anwar. Why? What gives?
Rina, for her part, was barely in the episode at all. Again, what gives? Is she being threatened by Tiger? Was there some problem with Marama Corlett's contract at this point? I have no idea, but the absence of Rina was dissappointing. Hope that the last two episodes will give her a bigger role than this one.
So - a monster and a mad scientist both merging and going over the top (not quite jumping the shark but close), Gunnar saving the day, more insights in the Cook's nature, and the other four heroes acting lackluster. Not the best episode of the series, I say.
PS: In the next episode the search for the Land of the Dead starts in earnest, as I understand it. Homer, who had invented that domain in his "Odyssey" should totally sue IP for the copyright infringement.
PPS: Judging by the dentition, the snake was a constrictor rather than a venomous species. Ah well, don't worry Gunnar - you may meet your own Midgard serpent in time...
That cargo then proves to be a giant egg that hatches into a giant snake - that's also fine. Giant snakes are par-du-course for any Eastern/Oriental fantasy, so so far so good. When, however, the professor merges with her creation into one ultimate predator - that's just too much.
Let's recapitulate. The professor is, well, a mad scientist, but she acts mainly like a big bitch to everyone, though she seems to tolerate Anwar... to the point when she tried to feed Anwar to her pet but the snake ripped off her arm instead. This started the merging of professor and snake, mad scientist and her creation. Fine. I'm sure that that the screenwriters team of Kurti and Doyle had it all figured out on paper at least - let's leave it on their consciousnesses, 'cause to me it was just all ridiculous.
Sinbad and his crew, of course, had their own input on ridiculousness - they planned to use the snake monster's peanut allergy to kill it. No, I kid you not - they used crossbow darts heavily weighted down with peanuts to bring the monster down... in theory. In reality, of course, the weight of the peanuts put the darts off balance, and only one of them hit the snake...on the outside, in the neck, where peanuts did diddly squat. The bolt, on the other hand, drew attention of the monster to Sinbad, giving Gunnar the window of opportunity to hit the snake in the head with his axe repeatedly, until it stopped moving. Go Gunnar, Thor the snake-slaying thunder-god would be so proud of you, you dirty Christian...
While Gunnar saved the day (and Sinbad), what about the others? Sinbad and Tiger continue to flirt... but what about Nala? Sinbad saved her from Mr. Invincible in ep. 4, for crying out loud! Out of sight out of mind? Sheesh - no wonder then that Sinbad was in such a rush to save her in ep. 4 - if he dawdled he would've forgotten all about her instead and wouldn't that opened up a plot hole!!
The Cook shows an extreme reluctant (to put it mildly) to leave the ship - he would rather get eaten by the snake monster. Well, of course he can't - he's the ship's spirit (that's my theory, mind) and wherever the ship goes he follows. Simple.
Finally, Rina and Anwar. What was up with them? Throughout the first two thirds or so of this ep. Anwar seemed to be forging a bond with the professor, she was acting as his foil to show how far the Anwar came in his path to becoming a respected, learner and wise man of knowledge, as indicated by ep. 8, I hope. And then she merged with her snake (no pun intended) and Gunnar ended saving the day instead of Anwar. Why? What gives?
Rina, for her part, was barely in the episode at all. Again, what gives? Is she being threatened by Tiger? Was there some problem with Marama Corlett's contract at this point? I have no idea, but the absence of Rina was dissappointing. Hope that the last two episodes will give her a bigger role than this one.
So - a monster and a mad scientist both merging and going over the top (not quite jumping the shark but close), Gunnar saving the day, more insights in the Cook's nature, and the other four heroes acting lackluster. Not the best episode of the series, I say.
PS: In the next episode the search for the Land of the Dead starts in earnest, as I understand it. Homer, who had invented that domain in his "Odyssey" should totally sue IP for the copyright infringement.
PPS: Judging by the dentition, the snake was a constrictor rather than a venomous species. Ah well, don't worry Gunnar - you may meet your own Midgard serpent in time...
Sunday, 2 September 2012
Sinbad, ep 9 - Sep 2
This was a very interesting episode of "Sinbad"; much better, than its' predecessor. For one thing - no Kuji (cripes, but she was annoying); for anything, we had Taryn, or rather - her protege, Tiger (Tuppence Middleton, no relations to the new Princess of England, I've been told). Just like Taryn, Tiger was awesome; basically, the next step in Rina's "evolution", if the little thief (height-wise) hadn't run across, Sinbad, Anwar and others.
The episode's plot wasn't that bad either. A high priest of some cult (dressed rather like the High Inquisitor of Dostoevsky) had a vision from his sacred stone (shaped like a heart, more or less) that Sinbad was going to kill him, so as soon as he had Sinbad in his clutches, he had him killed instead. Only, Tiger had a deal with the high priest's sniveling son (made purposefully immature, I suspect), who drugged Sinbad and left him to Tiger's tender clutches instead; since Sinbad is the main character of this series, he wins Tiger heart instead (sort of) and gets her to join her crew.
Meanwhile... Anwar and Rina's relationship has apparently stabled out for now. That's good. Anwar got a chance to solve the labyrinth's puzzle as well. That's even better. But what's with Gunnar's new weird accent? Is he trying to impress chicks now with it or something? That is just strange, and since we're nearing the season's end, also pointless.
Sinbad, of course, is trying to be shown mature and competent, but as the incident with the stone shown, he's still something of an impulsive ass. I blame Nala's absence for this - her influence did soothe Sinbad down just a bit. Of course, since this is an IP production we're talking about, maybe Ms. Daniels just couldn't be around for all 12 episodes, and left the series' production at the ep. 7 (when Akbari died) - who knows? Guess for now Middleton will have to do for Sinbad's romantic interesting, eh?
Finally, Sinbad's plans for the future. When he smashed the magic stone as the impulsive ass that he still is (though to a lesser degree than before) he saw many visions (including him in love with Tiger, maybe?), one of which was his brother Jamil alive and in his arms - guess we now know what the last few episodes will be about, eh?
PS: What Sinbad doesn't know (and the Cook, who told him about the stone in the first place doesn't know or doesn't want to tell him), is that the stone isn't quite a liar, but it's visions are flawed, sort of: the high priest saw himself dying at Sinbad's feet as the latter held a bloody dagger - and it came to be, but only because the priest's son had stabbed him. Ergo, the stone only tells what can be, but not how it can be, and that, in the upcoming episodes, can make all the difference.
The episode's plot wasn't that bad either. A high priest of some cult (dressed rather like the High Inquisitor of Dostoevsky) had a vision from his sacred stone (shaped like a heart, more or less) that Sinbad was going to kill him, so as soon as he had Sinbad in his clutches, he had him killed instead. Only, Tiger had a deal with the high priest's sniveling son (made purposefully immature, I suspect), who drugged Sinbad and left him to Tiger's tender clutches instead; since Sinbad is the main character of this series, he wins Tiger heart instead (sort of) and gets her to join her crew.
Meanwhile... Anwar and Rina's relationship has apparently stabled out for now. That's good. Anwar got a chance to solve the labyrinth's puzzle as well. That's even better. But what's with Gunnar's new weird accent? Is he trying to impress chicks now with it or something? That is just strange, and since we're nearing the season's end, also pointless.
Sinbad, of course, is trying to be shown mature and competent, but as the incident with the stone shown, he's still something of an impulsive ass. I blame Nala's absence for this - her influence did soothe Sinbad down just a bit. Of course, since this is an IP production we're talking about, maybe Ms. Daniels just couldn't be around for all 12 episodes, and left the series' production at the ep. 7 (when Akbari died) - who knows? Guess for now Middleton will have to do for Sinbad's romantic interesting, eh?
Finally, Sinbad's plans for the future. When he smashed the magic stone as the impulsive ass that he still is (though to a lesser degree than before) he saw many visions (including him in love with Tiger, maybe?), one of which was his brother Jamil alive and in his arms - guess we now know what the last few episodes will be about, eh?
PS: What Sinbad doesn't know (and the Cook, who told him about the stone in the first place doesn't know or doesn't want to tell him), is that the stone isn't quite a liar, but it's visions are flawed, sort of: the high priest saw himself dying at Sinbad's feet as the latter held a bloody dagger - and it came to be, but only because the priest's son had stabbed him. Ergo, the stone only tells what can be, but not how it can be, and that, in the upcoming episodes, can make all the difference.
Sunday, 26 August 2012
Sinbad, ep 8 - Aug 26
Today was one of the least inspired Sinbad episodes that mainly consisted of Anwar feeling good/self-important.
To recapitulate. The previous episode not only got rid of Akbari for good, it also exposes Anwar as a fraud, and not a real doctor, right before Rina. His attempt to rescue her too failed, though it was the thought that counted, as Rina told him. Either way, Anwar needed a confidence boost, and he got it in the person of a goddess, named Kuji. A deity of what she is, exactly, is another question, and one that is not answered in this episode. A goddess of intelligentsia, perhaps, or of second chances, or of boxes - the choices are limitless.
...However, if Kuji is a goddess of second chances (for the lack of a better word), then she does it in a strange way: she had her minions (or whatever) kill everyone except for Anwar, who proves his courage and loyalty to himself and everyone else is revealed to be alive. Way to go Kuji. (Sarcam).
Here, incidentally, lies the reason - well, one of the reasons - why the show's ratings have been falling. If "Sinbad" is an action show, like "Hercules" or "Xena" for example, then it shouldn't have so many twists in the end that aim at the audience's heart and brain. If "Sinbad" isn't an action show, then all of these oriental trappings are just pointless and distracting and the show could as well be occurring in Elfland, (as the travels of Odysseus took place) as in the Middle East. The show's calling card is its connection to Middle East, and here it is not shown, other than in the setting of Basra. Abdul Fahim (from ep. 3) didn't look anything like an Abdul Fahim, but rather some sort of a basketball player off the court with some weird eye shadow (WTF?). And the show's audience recognizes this, and responds by the dropping ratings. Very depressing. Still, this is an "Impossible Pictures" production, which means - outside of "Primeval" - the odds of this show being a one-season wonder are quite high. The odds that this season will end on an open note, but the show will not appear ever again - especially with "Primeval: New World" looming on the horizon - are also quite high. I would say that it's a pity, but after this episode... not so much. Oh well, to each his own.
PS: Kuji may claim to be a deity, but between the box and her trickster nature I still say that she's a djinn (in the Arabian folklore they were more like the demons and the fey than Disney's Alladin shows them to be), who has just decided that Anwar and co. are going to be her new best friends slash toys - not a good place to be, not exactly. There were bad djinn, and mischievous, and some pretty nasty ones. Still, after this episode, I say that Anwar and co. may deserve such a fate. At least the next episode may be bringing Taryn - and Nala - back. We'll see.
To recapitulate. The previous episode not only got rid of Akbari for good, it also exposes Anwar as a fraud, and not a real doctor, right before Rina. His attempt to rescue her too failed, though it was the thought that counted, as Rina told him. Either way, Anwar needed a confidence boost, and he got it in the person of a goddess, named Kuji. A deity of what she is, exactly, is another question, and one that is not answered in this episode. A goddess of intelligentsia, perhaps, or of second chances, or of boxes - the choices are limitless.
...However, if Kuji is a goddess of second chances (for the lack of a better word), then she does it in a strange way: she had her minions (or whatever) kill everyone except for Anwar, who proves his courage and loyalty to himself and everyone else is revealed to be alive. Way to go Kuji. (Sarcam).
Here, incidentally, lies the reason - well, one of the reasons - why the show's ratings have been falling. If "Sinbad" is an action show, like "Hercules" or "Xena" for example, then it shouldn't have so many twists in the end that aim at the audience's heart and brain. If "Sinbad" isn't an action show, then all of these oriental trappings are just pointless and distracting and the show could as well be occurring in Elfland, (as the travels of Odysseus took place) as in the Middle East. The show's calling card is its connection to Middle East, and here it is not shown, other than in the setting of Basra. Abdul Fahim (from ep. 3) didn't look anything like an Abdul Fahim, but rather some sort of a basketball player off the court with some weird eye shadow (WTF?). And the show's audience recognizes this, and responds by the dropping ratings. Very depressing. Still, this is an "Impossible Pictures" production, which means - outside of "Primeval" - the odds of this show being a one-season wonder are quite high. The odds that this season will end on an open note, but the show will not appear ever again - especially with "Primeval: New World" looming on the horizon - are also quite high. I would say that it's a pity, but after this episode... not so much. Oh well, to each his own.
PS: Kuji may claim to be a deity, but between the box and her trickster nature I still say that she's a djinn (in the Arabian folklore they were more like the demons and the fey than Disney's Alladin shows them to be), who has just decided that Anwar and co. are going to be her new best friends slash toys - not a good place to be, not exactly. There were bad djinn, and mischievous, and some pretty nasty ones. Still, after this episode, I say that Anwar and co. may deserve such a fate. At least the next episode may be bringing Taryn - and Nala - back. We'll see.
Sunday, 19 August 2012
Sinbad, ep 7 - Aug 19
So, in this episode Taryn and Akbari have taken over Basra, and the show made their regime look positively Nazi. Don't want to use this term in vain, but the way their new guards burned down the scrolls and what-not can remind one of the Nazis in "Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail" when the Nazis did burn books, and Hitler was present there. Here, of course, it's Taryn who's the chief villain, revealing herself in the last quarter of the episode, with Akbari being nothing but her puppet.
Since Taryn is the most awesome villain in Sinbad, and Akbari gets killed by her in this episode, let's talk about them and their villainy, first. Akbari redeems himself before he dies, revealing that revenge and despair are not exactly evil and that evil itself is mostly straying oneself from goodness. The darkness and light connotations here are obvious but they also bring back the parable of the sheep lost in the wilderness; oh Gunnar, when will you let your Christian faith come into light? After all, when in the beginning of the episode you kicked the guards' ass, you were so the warrior monk that friar Tuck would be so proud of you!
Speaking of the beginning of the episode, Sinbad still proved himself to be the impulsive jackass that he was in the previous ep - always rushing-in behind thinking. However, by the end of the episode he proved himself to be the master of his emotions and finally freed himself of his curse, by learning how to bind his impulsive nature and how to master his whims - not to be mastered by them.
Nala, for her part, realized what she wants to do in her life - run an underground railroad from Basra to help those who want to escape now-Taryn's oppressive regime. Well, also selfish since Taryn's flaw is that she's willing to do any villainy to get what she wants, regardless of who gets caught underfoot. And since Nala is more level-headed than Sinbad is (or was?) she won't get caught until the next-to-last/last episode when Sinbad and his crew will arrive to rescue her and Basra.
Speaking of Basra, yes, I understand, that from this episode on Taryn's rule is going to be contrasted with the late Emir's more benevolent rule, until Sinbad comes to return Basra to normal. But, I honestly cannot imagine the deceased as a good lord (i.e. baron, if you will) - that bald buffoon was so obsessed with his dream that he didn't see what was going on under his nose until it was too late. Ah well, it all just means that Sinbad will look all the better once he'll ascend to the throne.
Speaking of looking better, Anwar has finally gotten his big boy pants when he rescued Rina - well, not exactly. Rina has rescued herself, but in this case it was the thought that counted because Anwar could've stayed at home and went back to the university, and generally collaborated with the regime until he got arrested or whatever. But he didn't - even though the life he talked about on the ship was all a lie - and now he may actually be winning Rina's heart (and hand in marriage, eventually). All he now needs to do is to prove to himself (and maybe to others) that yes, he is a doctor and to do that he has to cure somebody, or to dress their wounds, or something that medically important.
Finally, we get another clue that the Cook is magically/mystically tied to the ship: as his head turns left and right, so does the ship's figurehead. Does that make him some sort of a djinn or a spirit? Maybe the future episodes will reveal that.
So, Akbari is dead and the season's plot is half-way done; Taryn is in charge; Sinbad finally grew-up, and so did Anwar, but Anwar also now is beginning to have a relationship with Rina; Nala realized who she wants to be and is living her dream; Gunnar kicked ass and will probably become a monk; and the Cook is in a relationship with the ship, or is the ship, take your choice. All in all, this was a good episode and I enjoyed it.
PS: The props used at Akbari's coronation, etc, were very impressive and authentic-looking.
PPS: The shadow tentacle monster(s) wasn't that bad either.
Since Taryn is the most awesome villain in Sinbad, and Akbari gets killed by her in this episode, let's talk about them and their villainy, first. Akbari redeems himself before he dies, revealing that revenge and despair are not exactly evil and that evil itself is mostly straying oneself from goodness. The darkness and light connotations here are obvious but they also bring back the parable of the sheep lost in the wilderness; oh Gunnar, when will you let your Christian faith come into light? After all, when in the beginning of the episode you kicked the guards' ass, you were so the warrior monk that friar Tuck would be so proud of you!
Speaking of the beginning of the episode, Sinbad still proved himself to be the impulsive jackass that he was in the previous ep - always rushing-in behind thinking. However, by the end of the episode he proved himself to be the master of his emotions and finally freed himself of his curse, by learning how to bind his impulsive nature and how to master his whims - not to be mastered by them.
Nala, for her part, realized what she wants to do in her life - run an underground railroad from Basra to help those who want to escape now-Taryn's oppressive regime. Well, also selfish since Taryn's flaw is that she's willing to do any villainy to get what she wants, regardless of who gets caught underfoot. And since Nala is more level-headed than Sinbad is (or was?) she won't get caught until the next-to-last/last episode when Sinbad and his crew will arrive to rescue her and Basra.
Speaking of Basra, yes, I understand, that from this episode on Taryn's rule is going to be contrasted with the late Emir's more benevolent rule, until Sinbad comes to return Basra to normal. But, I honestly cannot imagine the deceased as a good lord (i.e. baron, if you will) - that bald buffoon was so obsessed with his dream that he didn't see what was going on under his nose until it was too late. Ah well, it all just means that Sinbad will look all the better once he'll ascend to the throne.
Speaking of looking better, Anwar has finally gotten his big boy pants when he rescued Rina - well, not exactly. Rina has rescued herself, but in this case it was the thought that counted because Anwar could've stayed at home and went back to the university, and generally collaborated with the regime until he got arrested or whatever. But he didn't - even though the life he talked about on the ship was all a lie - and now he may actually be winning Rina's heart (and hand in marriage, eventually). All he now needs to do is to prove to himself (and maybe to others) that yes, he is a doctor and to do that he has to cure somebody, or to dress their wounds, or something that medically important.
Finally, we get another clue that the Cook is magically/mystically tied to the ship: as his head turns left and right, so does the ship's figurehead. Does that make him some sort of a djinn or a spirit? Maybe the future episodes will reveal that.
So, Akbari is dead and the season's plot is half-way done; Taryn is in charge; Sinbad finally grew-up, and so did Anwar, but Anwar also now is beginning to have a relationship with Rina; Nala realized who she wants to be and is living her dream; Gunnar kicked ass and will probably become a monk; and the Cook is in a relationship with the ship, or is the ship, take your choice. All in all, this was a good episode and I enjoyed it.
PS: The props used at Akbari's coronation, etc, were very impressive and authentic-looking.
PPS: The shadow tentacle monster(s) wasn't that bad either.
Sunday, 12 August 2012
Sinbad, ep 6 - Aug 12
In this exciting episode, Sinbad and his team have to deal with a siren called Roisin, but first about Taryn. No, she didn't sweep on her magical flying carpet (she's probably more of a broomstick-type anyways) to offer Roisin a place as her sidekick; instead, she finally finds Sinbad's grandmother and captures her in order to lure Sinbad.
...The only mistake that Taryn has made is that she didn't try to befriend Sinbad's granny; as Sinbad's curse can testify, ol' Sophia knows few magical tricks of her own! If they teamed up, they would solve everyone's problem twice as fast, i.e. teach Sinbad a lesson and give Akbari some much-needed therapy. Oh, and Roisin could be their sushi-girl slash sidekick too!
No, wait. Let's get back to Roisin a bit later, and talk about the Amir instead. In this episode, Akbari kills him because his brother exiled him for "keeping" Taryn (let's be honest who's "keeping" whom in this relationship, shall we?) alongside the groovy sorceress because she has kidnapped Sinbad's granny. The granny of the same man who has killed Amir's own nephew and for whom the Amir was supposed to have affection... as the Amir's actions show, apparently not.
Let's review. Ever since the end of the ep. 1, when the Amir promised his brother help, but failed to deliver it, Taryn has been helping Akbari; in her own way, but still, while the Amir didn't do anything, until now. What did he expect? That Akbari will just forget about his son's death and move on? Seriously? Admittedly, some people can, (usually with help), but Akbari cannot. In any case, the Amir, by doing nothing and ignoring his brother's affliction until it was too late was guilty of the sin of indifference, and in this episode, he paid the ultimate price: Akbari killed him. The only thing that he should've done instead was to stab Amir face to face and say something along the lines of: "You fat slob, you claimed to be my brother, and said that you help me, but you didn't; and now, that Taryn and I finally have a chance of success, you exile us? Take this!" - and then he would stab the Amir. Only... that would create sympathy for Akbari, and that is something the show is trying to avoid, making Akbari and Taryn into villians instead. Well, why cannot be sympathetic villians instead?
Speaking of villians, let's talk of Roisin and her run-in with Sinbad and his crew. Roisin is a siren... in this version, an evil mermaid, rather than a bird-woman as in the Odyssey, who charms people (primarily men), steals their memories and eats them. Only, in this case, Sinbad has very few good memories, but plenty of bad ones, and one of which is tied to his curse. I have talked that all Sinbad needs is a competent magician to get him rid of his curse, and this time it came true. Roisin did nullify Sinbad's curse...at the price of his memories...and eventually his life. But then Rina comes along and saves him! Hooray!
Several more general notes on the episode. First of all, Roisin must be a very physically emposing siren, if she's able to break through a ship's hull. However, her health must be really bad, since she broke a talon, and it hadn't regrown yet.
Secondly, what is the name of Rina's soup? I think it was goulash-something, making me wonder if Rina isn't party Gypsy/Romany/whatever. Well, if she is, why not? After all, Sinbad already got a (maybe Christian) Viking, a native African, a Chinese and a Greek. As a Gypsy, Rina has fit right in.
Thirdly, Nala got to feel annoyed, when Sinbad didn't pick her over Roisin. Well, that's normal - it is annoying when a man who has saved you from Death itself chooses a perky blonde over you as soon as the crisis is over.
Finally, the bones that Rina and Anwar found (Roisin's leftovers, no doubt). Yes, they're straight from the Odyssey too, where the Sirens sat in a green meadow, which was full of human bones and corpses. Roisin, with her island (and temple) fits right into this motive, though she's got a bit of Calypso (one of Odysseus' immortal girlfriends) in her as well. Of course, thanks to Sinbad's bad memories, her island also got (temporarily) a number of nasty ghosts, so frankly I cannot help but wonder if Roisin didn't come out the true loser in her and Sinbad's encounter overall.
So, in conclusion, this episode had a very good, very Homeric siren, a great opponent to Sinbad and his crew (Rina got to save the day for a change), and in Basra the Amir got what he deserved. That was a great episode, in other words.
...The only mistake that Taryn has made is that she didn't try to befriend Sinbad's granny; as Sinbad's curse can testify, ol' Sophia knows few magical tricks of her own! If they teamed up, they would solve everyone's problem twice as fast, i.e. teach Sinbad a lesson and give Akbari some much-needed therapy. Oh, and Roisin could be their sushi-girl slash sidekick too!
No, wait. Let's get back to Roisin a bit later, and talk about the Amir instead. In this episode, Akbari kills him because his brother exiled him for "keeping" Taryn (let's be honest who's "keeping" whom in this relationship, shall we?) alongside the groovy sorceress because she has kidnapped Sinbad's granny. The granny of the same man who has killed Amir's own nephew and for whom the Amir was supposed to have affection... as the Amir's actions show, apparently not.
Let's review. Ever since the end of the ep. 1, when the Amir promised his brother help, but failed to deliver it, Taryn has been helping Akbari; in her own way, but still, while the Amir didn't do anything, until now. What did he expect? That Akbari will just forget about his son's death and move on? Seriously? Admittedly, some people can, (usually with help), but Akbari cannot. In any case, the Amir, by doing nothing and ignoring his brother's affliction until it was too late was guilty of the sin of indifference, and in this episode, he paid the ultimate price: Akbari killed him. The only thing that he should've done instead was to stab Amir face to face and say something along the lines of: "You fat slob, you claimed to be my brother, and said that you help me, but you didn't; and now, that Taryn and I finally have a chance of success, you exile us? Take this!" - and then he would stab the Amir. Only... that would create sympathy for Akbari, and that is something the show is trying to avoid, making Akbari and Taryn into villians instead. Well, why cannot be sympathetic villians instead?
Speaking of villians, let's talk of Roisin and her run-in with Sinbad and his crew. Roisin is a siren... in this version, an evil mermaid, rather than a bird-woman as in the Odyssey, who charms people (primarily men), steals their memories and eats them. Only, in this case, Sinbad has very few good memories, but plenty of bad ones, and one of which is tied to his curse. I have talked that all Sinbad needs is a competent magician to get him rid of his curse, and this time it came true. Roisin did nullify Sinbad's curse...at the price of his memories...and eventually his life. But then Rina comes along and saves him! Hooray!
Several more general notes on the episode. First of all, Roisin must be a very physically emposing siren, if she's able to break through a ship's hull. However, her health must be really bad, since she broke a talon, and it hadn't regrown yet.
Secondly, what is the name of Rina's soup? I think it was goulash-something, making me wonder if Rina isn't party Gypsy/Romany/whatever. Well, if she is, why not? After all, Sinbad already got a (maybe Christian) Viking, a native African, a Chinese and a Greek. As a Gypsy, Rina has fit right in.
Thirdly, Nala got to feel annoyed, when Sinbad didn't pick her over Roisin. Well, that's normal - it is annoying when a man who has saved you from Death itself chooses a perky blonde over you as soon as the crisis is over.
Finally, the bones that Rina and Anwar found (Roisin's leftovers, no doubt). Yes, they're straight from the Odyssey too, where the Sirens sat in a green meadow, which was full of human bones and corpses. Roisin, with her island (and temple) fits right into this motive, though she's got a bit of Calypso (one of Odysseus' immortal girlfriends) in her as well. Of course, thanks to Sinbad's bad memories, her island also got (temporarily) a number of nasty ghosts, so frankly I cannot help but wonder if Roisin didn't come out the true loser in her and Sinbad's encounter overall.
So, in conclusion, this episode had a very good, very Homeric siren, a great opponent to Sinbad and his crew (Rina got to save the day for a change), and in Basra the Amir got what he deserved. That was a great episode, in other words.
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
Sinbad, ep 5 - Aug 6
Sorry about the delay on the latest Sinbad review, so let's get straight to business. As always, the script intended for Sinbad and his crew to be the heroes; in this particular instance it was Gunnar's turn to accept the flaws in his past and become a better person in his present.
Here's the thing: if Gunnar's a Viking, then how did he make it to Basra? Scandinavia is a fair distance away from the Middle East; my guess is Gunnar used to deal with Constantinople (before it became Istanbul), maybe as a member of a much-talked about Varangian guard... before he had a falling-out of some sort or another, and left to become a trader (ep 01). Maybe this career shift occurred because Gunnar became a Christian - vikings and Scandinavians in general remained pagan for a long time; longer than the rest of Europe, and as a formerly Viking berserker (or at least a raider) becoming a Christian meant a major shift not just in his career choices, but in his life philosophy, since the Christian morale may not have been an exact opposite to the Viking raiders' way of life, but it was very close.
Well, in any way, Gunnar may've repented in part before he joined Sinbad's crew and by the end of this ep he must've repented in full (more or less), but before he did that, he and the others had to deal with the Khaima, led by Obsedian. So, may I ask: WTF? Obsedian (well, Carsteen Norgaard) is Scandinavian (Danish), but the Khaima itself appears to be something rather like a cross between a secret knight order (distant influence of the Knights of Malta, maybe?) and the Ismailites (the real-life version of assassins of D&D). Ergo, how did a Dane become their member in the first place, let alone their leader? And secondly, Gunnar's fault is being a bloodthirsty Viking? What is this, kangaroo court? Or does Obsedian just have issues with his former pagan countrymen? In either option, the Khaima aren't coming out smelling like roses out of this whole mess.
Speaking of mess, what is going on in Basra? The Amir has promised Akbari to avenge Malik, but so far all of the work appears to have done by Taryn, who has actually created a "Familiar" to track Sinbad down and to kill him (or to deliver him to Akbari?). From Sinbad's POV that's bad, but on the other hand, Taryn seems to be so active, that she's almost a rocket (aside - kudos to those scientists and co. who managed to land Curiosity on Mard!): she is doing almost everything that's related to tracking down Sinbad almost by herself, with Akbari being more of her sidekick (he couldn't even get enough information from a harbor master) and the Amir just doing... nothing.
Seriously, look: Taryn is magically competent enough to create the "Familiar", she is competent enough to track Sinbad down, and she's clever enough to have Nala and Rina release her when she's captured by the Khaima. By contrast, the Amir couldn't even hire normal bounty hunters to bring Sinbad back to Basra (like the Khaima, or just some competent people). All he ever does is consoles his brother and bad-mouthes Taryn. Since Akbari isn't an utter retard, he judge for himself, which of the two is more helpful to him, and make corresponding conclusions.
Back to Taryn, or rather - her newest creation. The show called it a "Familiar", but in reality, a witch's (or a sorcerer's) familiar is their cat, toad, or raven that helps them do magic. (In some extreme cases this familiar is an infernal imp in the guise of an animal.) The witches in "Macbeth's" opening scene talk about their familiars, but Taryn's creation is something else. It appears to be a mix of a doppelganger and a homunculus.
A "doppelganger" is a body double of a man or a woman, often ghostly, usually forewarning them of their upcoming death. The Russian Empress Anna (reigned from 1730 to 1740) had encountered such a doppelganger, for example. A homunculus is an artificial creature, grown in a lab, created by magic. Neither of those creatures can be used as a familiar, whatever d20 Modern D&D setting may say. But that's okay, because obviously Taryn's familiar was inspired by the second terminator in the "Terminator II" movie, save that instead of nanobots (or whatever) it was made out of sand. And, oh, it apparently fed on anger, so when Sinbad mastered this emotion, the creature perished.
...Anger/wrath is one of 7 cardinal vices, defeated by patience/composure. This is the 5th episode out of 13 that compose the first season of "Sinbad". That gives the show just enough episode space to master all of the cardinal virtues and to arrive at the final, 13th, episode. Hopefully, that won't be the case, and Sinbad adventures won't be done through the lands of Christian theology, because if it does, then the Emir won't even be allowed into Hell, due to his hypocritical indifference (see above). After all, there only so many heartrendering speeches he can give to his brother without actualy doing anything, and not having Akbari (who is a violent madman) stab him in the back to become Amir in his place so that Basra's resources can be used to bring Sinbad to justice. If that happens, though, I'm rooting for Taryn: she has proved herself intelligent and competent enough to rule Basra if there's a coup.
PS: Apparently, in the "Providence's" future, they will arrive at an island run by a woman whom Taryn seems to recognize. Maybe Taryn is going to get her very own sidekick! That'd be awesome!
Here's the thing: if Gunnar's a Viking, then how did he make it to Basra? Scandinavia is a fair distance away from the Middle East; my guess is Gunnar used to deal with Constantinople (before it became Istanbul), maybe as a member of a much-talked about Varangian guard... before he had a falling-out of some sort or another, and left to become a trader (ep 01). Maybe this career shift occurred because Gunnar became a Christian - vikings and Scandinavians in general remained pagan for a long time; longer than the rest of Europe, and as a formerly Viking berserker (or at least a raider) becoming a Christian meant a major shift not just in his career choices, but in his life philosophy, since the Christian morale may not have been an exact opposite to the Viking raiders' way of life, but it was very close.
Well, in any way, Gunnar may've repented in part before he joined Sinbad's crew and by the end of this ep he must've repented in full (more or less), but before he did that, he and the others had to deal with the Khaima, led by Obsedian. So, may I ask: WTF? Obsedian (well, Carsteen Norgaard) is Scandinavian (Danish), but the Khaima itself appears to be something rather like a cross between a secret knight order (distant influence of the Knights of Malta, maybe?) and the Ismailites (the real-life version of assassins of D&D). Ergo, how did a Dane become their member in the first place, let alone their leader? And secondly, Gunnar's fault is being a bloodthirsty Viking? What is this, kangaroo court? Or does Obsedian just have issues with his former pagan countrymen? In either option, the Khaima aren't coming out smelling like roses out of this whole mess.
Speaking of mess, what is going on in Basra? The Amir has promised Akbari to avenge Malik, but so far all of the work appears to have done by Taryn, who has actually created a "Familiar" to track Sinbad down and to kill him (or to deliver him to Akbari?). From Sinbad's POV that's bad, but on the other hand, Taryn seems to be so active, that she's almost a rocket (aside - kudos to those scientists and co. who managed to land Curiosity on Mard!): she is doing almost everything that's related to tracking down Sinbad almost by herself, with Akbari being more of her sidekick (he couldn't even get enough information from a harbor master) and the Amir just doing... nothing.
Seriously, look: Taryn is magically competent enough to create the "Familiar", she is competent enough to track Sinbad down, and she's clever enough to have Nala and Rina release her when she's captured by the Khaima. By contrast, the Amir couldn't even hire normal bounty hunters to bring Sinbad back to Basra (like the Khaima, or just some competent people). All he ever does is consoles his brother and bad-mouthes Taryn. Since Akbari isn't an utter retard, he judge for himself, which of the two is more helpful to him, and make corresponding conclusions.
Back to Taryn, or rather - her newest creation. The show called it a "Familiar", but in reality, a witch's (or a sorcerer's) familiar is their cat, toad, or raven that helps them do magic. (In some extreme cases this familiar is an infernal imp in the guise of an animal.) The witches in "Macbeth's" opening scene talk about their familiars, but Taryn's creation is something else. It appears to be a mix of a doppelganger and a homunculus.
A "doppelganger" is a body double of a man or a woman, often ghostly, usually forewarning them of their upcoming death. The Russian Empress Anna (reigned from 1730 to 1740) had encountered such a doppelganger, for example. A homunculus is an artificial creature, grown in a lab, created by magic. Neither of those creatures can be used as a familiar, whatever d20 Modern D&D setting may say. But that's okay, because obviously Taryn's familiar was inspired by the second terminator in the "Terminator II" movie, save that instead of nanobots (or whatever) it was made out of sand. And, oh, it apparently fed on anger, so when Sinbad mastered this emotion, the creature perished.
...Anger/wrath is one of 7 cardinal vices, defeated by patience/composure. This is the 5th episode out of 13 that compose the first season of "Sinbad". That gives the show just enough episode space to master all of the cardinal virtues and to arrive at the final, 13th, episode. Hopefully, that won't be the case, and Sinbad adventures won't be done through the lands of Christian theology, because if it does, then the Emir won't even be allowed into Hell, due to his hypocritical indifference (see above). After all, there only so many heartrendering speeches he can give to his brother without actualy doing anything, and not having Akbari (who is a violent madman) stab him in the back to become Amir in his place so that Basra's resources can be used to bring Sinbad to justice. If that happens, though, I'm rooting for Taryn: she has proved herself intelligent and competent enough to rule Basra if there's a coup.
PS: Apparently, in the "Providence's" future, they will arrive at an island run by a woman whom Taryn seems to recognize. Maybe Taryn is going to get her very own sidekick! That'd be awesome!
Sunday, 29 July 2012
Sinbad, ep 4 - July 29
This episode centers around Nala (yes, as in "Lion King", BTW), as she has to confront Death, as in person. Maybe purposefully, maybe it was just luck, but Mr. Invincible (the Grim Reaper's latest pseudonym), played by Timothy Spall, was the most annoying - and disgusting - character on Sinbad so far, and that includes Razia's Water-thieves.
(BTW, does anyone know if she'll be coming back? Odds are in her favor, I feel.)
Okay, in this incarnation, Death is rot and deterioration, more like Pestilence than Death, if you want to go all Revelation. (Well, maybe they like to share or something.) Is that bad or not?
The answer, of course, lies within the audience. As the last quarter of this episode shows, Mr. Invincible ("Anicetus" in Greek) can be very stylish and a real ladies man, since he wants Nala to himself... personally. As in an a personal manifestation, an avatar if you will. Gives the whole "bride of death" thing a whole new meaning.
And Nala? What about her? Well, in this episode she let go of her dead father's memory and became a woman, rather than a girl. Seriously, if we're to go into deeper symbolism, a woman's marriage means her becoming a woman socially as opposed to biologically/chronologically, as she moves from her father's house to her husband's. In this case, of course, the groom was death and Nala's bridal house - the bottom of the sea (Davy Jones says "Hi" and reminds Mr. Invincible that his lease for the Flying Dutchman is X dinari by the hour), but Sinbad crashed the wedding and prevented Nala from marrying death, leaving the groom with just Nala's father (literally, because the man/zombie is already dead - the sea monster has eaten him back in ep 1, remember?), thus freeing Nala from her father's ghost (or zombie, whatever), making her a free woman in a modern sense instead. Gosh, I wonder what the connotations here can be and will we find anyone for Gunnar, by the end of the season as well? Maybe Razia, if she's alive (let's leave Mr. Invincible out of this), but she's probably too slutty for Gunnar's taste...but who knows? Maybe that's how he likes them.
After the (failed) wedding, of course, comes the rain - the sign of rebirth. It revitalizes everyone, even the prone cook, making one wonder once more - what's up with him? Is he the spirit of the ship - he specifically called the ship 'his' throughout the episode? If so... there's still the question of what did he do to the Water-thieves and the merchant's girl from the previous episodes - turned them into household items, maybe? Or maybe he's also a man-eater and has fed them to Sinbad and co. yet. Either way, the up-coming episodes may reveal more yet.
Finally, the Akbari subplot. Taryn is back in Akbari's good graces, winding him further and being wound by him in return. Yes, the Amir has good reasons to keep Taryn away from his brother - they just aren't good for each other. Of course, the Amir's own support for Akbari has yet to amount to anything, so Taryn, with her finally locating Sinbad and his ship, is actually one step up from the Amir.
...Of course, now that Sinbad is found, what will Akbari and Taryn do to him? He's quite out of Basra's jurisdiction, and the Amir may not sent his soldiers on a fool's quest on Taryn's - or even Akbari's - say-so. But again, this all will be revealed in the upcoming episodes - maybe.
In conclusion, then, I can safely say that this was a very dramatic and tense episode with some great acting done by all, especially Timothy Spall. The fact that the CGI were relatively minor in this episode amounts to it being great as well. Hopefully, the upcoming episodes won't disappoint us either.
(BTW, does anyone know if she'll be coming back? Odds are in her favor, I feel.)
Okay, in this incarnation, Death is rot and deterioration, more like Pestilence than Death, if you want to go all Revelation. (Well, maybe they like to share or something.) Is that bad or not?
The answer, of course, lies within the audience. As the last quarter of this episode shows, Mr. Invincible ("Anicetus" in Greek) can be very stylish and a real ladies man, since he wants Nala to himself... personally. As in an a personal manifestation, an avatar if you will. Gives the whole "bride of death" thing a whole new meaning.
And Nala? What about her? Well, in this episode she let go of her dead father's memory and became a woman, rather than a girl. Seriously, if we're to go into deeper symbolism, a woman's marriage means her becoming a woman socially as opposed to biologically/chronologically, as she moves from her father's house to her husband's. In this case, of course, the groom was death and Nala's bridal house - the bottom of the sea (Davy Jones says "Hi" and reminds Mr. Invincible that his lease for the Flying Dutchman is X dinari by the hour), but Sinbad crashed the wedding and prevented Nala from marrying death, leaving the groom with just Nala's father (literally, because the man/zombie is already dead - the sea monster has eaten him back in ep 1, remember?), thus freeing Nala from her father's ghost (or zombie, whatever), making her a free woman in a modern sense instead. Gosh, I wonder what the connotations here can be and will we find anyone for Gunnar, by the end of the season as well? Maybe Razia, if she's alive (let's leave Mr. Invincible out of this), but she's probably too slutty for Gunnar's taste...but who knows? Maybe that's how he likes them.
After the (failed) wedding, of course, comes the rain - the sign of rebirth. It revitalizes everyone, even the prone cook, making one wonder once more - what's up with him? Is he the spirit of the ship - he specifically called the ship 'his' throughout the episode? If so... there's still the question of what did he do to the Water-thieves and the merchant's girl from the previous episodes - turned them into household items, maybe? Or maybe he's also a man-eater and has fed them to Sinbad and co. yet. Either way, the up-coming episodes may reveal more yet.
Finally, the Akbari subplot. Taryn is back in Akbari's good graces, winding him further and being wound by him in return. Yes, the Amir has good reasons to keep Taryn away from his brother - they just aren't good for each other. Of course, the Amir's own support for Akbari has yet to amount to anything, so Taryn, with her finally locating Sinbad and his ship, is actually one step up from the Amir.
...Of course, now that Sinbad is found, what will Akbari and Taryn do to him? He's quite out of Basra's jurisdiction, and the Amir may not sent his soldiers on a fool's quest on Taryn's - or even Akbari's - say-so. But again, this all will be revealed in the upcoming episodes - maybe.
In conclusion, then, I can safely say that this was a very dramatic and tense episode with some great acting done by all, especially Timothy Spall. The fact that the CGI were relatively minor in this episode amounts to it being great as well. Hopefully, the upcoming episodes won't disappoint us either.
Sunday, 22 July 2012
Sinbad, ep 3 - July 22
This episode of "Sinbad" takes a dip into surreal, plot-wise.
Start with the main message: friends stick together, through thick and thin. It goes like this: Rina robs the others and runs away into the desert, leaving Anwar to gamble with their ship. The ship is lost, Sinbad and the others have to go into the magical casino and win it back. They do it - Sinbad rescuing his crew in the process again - and everything is fine and jolly again. Oh, and the ship's cook may be something of a cannibal and feeding the others human meat, but more about that later.
I do not particularly enjoy picking plot holes, but here... they're unavoidable, as always. Starting with the ship race to the middle of nowhere, the episode plot just grew too twisted for my tolerance.
Let's go to the "middle of nowhere". Apparently, it's actually between Basra and Beirut; Beirut is the capital city of the modern Lebanon, and on the other side of Middle East (well, the portion that's located between the Mediterrean and the Caspian seas). How exactly did Sinbad's vessel get there? There's no Suez channel in the Middle Ages. Sure, it makes perfect sense for the modern TV series, since it's was made on the island of Malta that's not that far from Beirut on ship, but in the Ottoman epoch, getting from from Basrah to Beirut on ship was months, far too longer than on land! What is the time frame for "Sinbad", anyways?
That brings us to the subplot, of the team of the Amir+Lard Akbari+Taryn. In the previous episode, both the Amir and Taryn promised Akbari help, and... the Amir sent his soldiers to arrest Sinbad's remaining family; these stalwart men took their time long enough for Sinbad's friend to warn the family, and they went into hiding or fled - and the Amir, who rules Basra, has apparently been unable to locate a pair of women (one is old, the other appears to be slightly crazy and incapable of fending for herself) at all.
Taryn, meanwhile, had promised Akbari her help, and it consists of a potion. That's right; she had plenty of time, and all she created was a potion that allowed Akbari to see Sinbad...only the casino's magician prevented Akbari from doing so - twice - and now Taryn has to flee Basra instead. Hate to be captain Obvious, but now what? The show's premise made Taryn sound like one of the main villians, and right now... she's not. And if she's not, then what is her game in all of this? Well, the following episodes will explain it, hopefully.
Back to the main plot. Make no mistake, as far as the plot went, the casino was wonderful, but the setting was positively surreal - it was more like the modern version of Mammon's domain from "The Pilgrim's Process" rather than anything out of "Arabian Nights"; the costumes, starting with the Abdul Fahid the rich merchant, were more like those of NYC's high society than anything out of the Ottoman era. Why? What's the point? A social critique or something? I just don't get it... but the plot more than just made up for the setting's bizarreness.
Rina's role in the plot, however, was something else. She actually infiltrated the casino to rescue somebody's husband, just as Sinbad had rescued Anwar and the others. Somehow, this failed to happen on-screen (and how was Rina to tackle the casino's formidable mage, undoubtedly given to the twins as a part of their deal with Cthulhu and other Elder Gods?), and all we ended was the rest of the S-team badmouthing "lady Samar" to her face (fully deserved), and for Marama Corlett ("Rina") to wear make-up that is really unflattering to her complexion (sorry, Marama).
Finally, we have the cook. Just what did he do to Fahim's servant girl? The same thing he did to the two Water-thieves from the previous episodes - apparently made them disappear with a trace. I'm reasonably sure that he isn't converting them into meals for the rest of the crew, but after the latest plot twists - who knows?
So. Several plot twists and inconsistencies vs. brilliant acting of the main cast in the "casino". Way to go, main cast!
Start with the main message: friends stick together, through thick and thin. It goes like this: Rina robs the others and runs away into the desert, leaving Anwar to gamble with their ship. The ship is lost, Sinbad and the others have to go into the magical casino and win it back. They do it - Sinbad rescuing his crew in the process again - and everything is fine and jolly again. Oh, and the ship's cook may be something of a cannibal and feeding the others human meat, but more about that later.
I do not particularly enjoy picking plot holes, but here... they're unavoidable, as always. Starting with the ship race to the middle of nowhere, the episode plot just grew too twisted for my tolerance.
Let's go to the "middle of nowhere". Apparently, it's actually between Basra and Beirut; Beirut is the capital city of the modern Lebanon, and on the other side of Middle East (well, the portion that's located between the Mediterrean and the Caspian seas). How exactly did Sinbad's vessel get there? There's no Suez channel in the Middle Ages. Sure, it makes perfect sense for the modern TV series, since it's was made on the island of Malta that's not that far from Beirut on ship, but in the Ottoman epoch, getting from from Basrah to Beirut on ship was months, far too longer than on land! What is the time frame for "Sinbad", anyways?
That brings us to the subplot, of the team of the Amir+Lard Akbari+Taryn. In the previous episode, both the Amir and Taryn promised Akbari help, and... the Amir sent his soldiers to arrest Sinbad's remaining family; these stalwart men took their time long enough for Sinbad's friend to warn the family, and they went into hiding or fled - and the Amir, who rules Basra, has apparently been unable to locate a pair of women (one is old, the other appears to be slightly crazy and incapable of fending for herself) at all.
Taryn, meanwhile, had promised Akbari her help, and it consists of a potion. That's right; she had plenty of time, and all she created was a potion that allowed Akbari to see Sinbad...only the casino's magician prevented Akbari from doing so - twice - and now Taryn has to flee Basra instead. Hate to be captain Obvious, but now what? The show's premise made Taryn sound like one of the main villians, and right now... she's not. And if she's not, then what is her game in all of this? Well, the following episodes will explain it, hopefully.
Back to the main plot. Make no mistake, as far as the plot went, the casino was wonderful, but the setting was positively surreal - it was more like the modern version of Mammon's domain from "The Pilgrim's Process" rather than anything out of "Arabian Nights"; the costumes, starting with the Abdul Fahid the rich merchant, were more like those of NYC's high society than anything out of the Ottoman era. Why? What's the point? A social critique or something? I just don't get it... but the plot more than just made up for the setting's bizarreness.
Rina's role in the plot, however, was something else. She actually infiltrated the casino to rescue somebody's husband, just as Sinbad had rescued Anwar and the others. Somehow, this failed to happen on-screen (and how was Rina to tackle the casino's formidable mage, undoubtedly given to the twins as a part of their deal with Cthulhu and other Elder Gods?), and all we ended was the rest of the S-team badmouthing "lady Samar" to her face (fully deserved), and for Marama Corlett ("Rina") to wear make-up that is really unflattering to her complexion (sorry, Marama).
Finally, we have the cook. Just what did he do to Fahim's servant girl? The same thing he did to the two Water-thieves from the previous episodes - apparently made them disappear with a trace. I'm reasonably sure that he isn't converting them into meals for the rest of the crew, but after the latest plot twists - who knows?
So. Several plot twists and inconsistencies vs. brilliant acting of the main cast in the "casino". Way to go, main cast!
Monday, 16 July 2012
Re: Roc (02)
And a bit more about Roc the giant bird. Basically, in the
canon of the “Arabian nights” it is nothing more than a giant eagle or a hawk,
whose wings overshadow the sun and who feeds on elephants, cattle, giant snakes
and so on. There is not much monstrous about the Roc, then, other than its
size. Roc is an uttermost – well, one of the uttermost – manifestation of humans’
ancestral primate fear of the diurnal birds of prey that hunted our ancestors
(fact that is supported by the fossils), nothing more. In Harryhausen’s Sinbad
movies the Roc was just a “random encounter”, a monster that Sinbad and his
crew had to defeat. In Sinbad 2012, the Roc is actually turning to be a helpful
and intelligent ally to Sinbad, after he frees the giant bird from Razia’s
chains. Score 1 for the new Sinbad show and for the new and improved (as hard
as it is to believe) Roc!
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