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!
Tuesday, 27 November 2012
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)