HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
Well then.
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Alcatraz |OT| The Island is Over There
- Thread starter Keyser Soze
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Hmm on one hand I liked the concept and story of Kyle XY, on the other hand I hated most of execution, but stuck with it through the cliffhanger never coming back ending :/. Enjoyed the show, will stick with it for a few more episodes but there's so many shows on Monday nights and Fox's stupid wait 8 days to post new episodes may end up killing my interest.
Had someone just played the music for me, I would've said it was straight out of Lost. Is Giacchino doing the music for this?
Edit: Nevermind he is!
haah oh god. Alcatraz is going to start flying through dimensions and shit.
Mengy
wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
Hate to say it, but thats pretty much how I felt too. You would think that if Sam Neil had been waiting a long, long time for this to start happening, and he is part of some secret government operation, he would have had some kind of special ops squad or something ready to respond when these killers from the past start murdering. But nope, he is totally unprepared even with his BatCave of computers and stuff, and if not for Starbuck and Hurley showing up where they weren't supposed to be, he would have had no way to track these convicts down, let alone catch them or stop them.
Seems like lazy storytelling to me. Maybe I'm just nitpicking, but those kinds of things take me out of the show. Sure, LOST had it's fair share of stuff like this (bad writing), but they were hidden better by atmosphere and mystery and character interactions. LOST had a lot of strong qualities that overcame the plot holes. From the very start that was the case. This show didn't start with the same qualities, so the holes appeared larger to me. It just didn't grab me (yet?).
That being said, I did like the cast, and the premise is interesting enough. I'll watch a few more weeks to see if it improves, but it was not as good as I'd hoped.
rockman zx
Member
Entertaining, can't wait for the blonde girl and Jorge Garcia to be teleported to the past.
JetBlackPanda
Member
Me and the wife enjoyed it but the entire thing just seems like its on auto pilot.
I will give it a few more episodes because I do enjoy procedural shows / monster of the week.
I will give it a few more episodes because I do enjoy procedural shows / monster of the week.
D
Deleted member 22576
Unconfirmed Member
So I've been thinking a little more about the premiere. I really liked it, it was a great two hours of TV. Production was great, music was great, acting was great.. blah blah.. but the premise is just too hokey. Its just silly, and not in the way Fringe or LOST were silly. Alcatraz seems like an idea that was hatched in the late 80s/early 90s era of television.
The premiere was leagues better than anything in the first few weeks of Fringe. But the idea just isn't compelling enough for me. Fringe was the opposite, I kept thinking "Wow! What a fantastic idea for a show, this is insane!" but was continually let down by the execution. This (at least the premiere) was executed very very well, top quality SciFi- but the core premise just isn't all that great.
Unless there are some hard left turns coming up I don't really expect to love this show all that much.
The premiere was leagues better than anything in the first few weeks of Fringe. But the idea just isn't compelling enough for me. Fringe was the opposite, I kept thinking "Wow! What a fantastic idea for a show, this is insane!" but was continually let down by the execution. This (at least the premiere) was executed very very well, top quality SciFi- but the core premise just isn't all that great.
Unless there are some hard left turns coming up I don't really expect to love this show all that much.
Tokubetsu
Member
I think this is what has me "eh" on it as well. The core idea isn't all that great but it's well executed.
I liked this quite a bit, and loved Giacchino's music.. it felt like it was straight out of LOST.. in fact, he sort-of reused a theme from LOST.
The scene where Detective Starbuck is sitting in the snipers cell, looking through photos and stuff, the music that plays is pretty much a sped up version of season 6's "Coffin Calamity" and Season 2's "Eko Blaster" from LOST.
I've made a quick youtube vid to compare.
http://youtu.be/dtMTepo262A
The scene where Detective Starbuck is sitting in the snipers cell, looking through photos and stuff, the music that plays is pretty much a sped up version of season 6's "Coffin Calamity" and Season 2's "Eko Blaster" from LOST.
I've made a quick youtube vid to compare.
http://youtu.be/dtMTepo262A
SpeedingUptoStop
will totally Facebook friend you! *giggle* *LOL*
Should be noted that while Giacchino did the pilot, his wife is scoring the rest of the series. Weird.
BoboBrazil
Member
Nice, hope ratings stay steady or grow. This is the type of show that I can definitely see getting better and better in multiple seasons.
Dang this is exactly how I feel... execution is there but whole premise feels dated. It's like unless there are some major deviations from the original premise, I don't see myself sticking to it long term.
The premise is mostly irrelevant to me if it can be executed well. Execution is key for everything, a bad story can be made good with quality storytelling; but a good story can be made bad by bad storytellling.
Pretty cool. John Williams did the same thing for the finale of The Phantom menace, which was a sped up version of the Emperor theme from Return of the Jedi.
That is disappointing, it would have been nice to have a whole show scored by Giacchino like with Lost, but I'm guessing those days are long gone, with production costs wanting to be kept low (due to how expensive Lost was), and with Giacchino having a movie career now.
Pretty cool. John Williams did the same thing for the finale of The Phantom menace, which was a sped up version of the Emperor theme from Return of the Jedi.
That is disappointing, it would have been nice to have a whole show scored by Giacchino like with Lost, but I'm guessing those days are long gone, with production costs wanting to be kept low (due to how expensive Lost was), and with Giacchino having a movie career now.
bigboss370
Member
it was pretty interesting. i'm going to keep watching, love the cast. can't wait for Hurley to get with blondie.
that being said, there should be no illusions..this ain't Lost ;_;
that being said, there should be no illusions..this ain't Lost ;_;
I kind of have a hard time thinking about it that way. The hook to the show involves the mysterious disappearance of the inmates and the supposedly-nefarious purpose that they're being used for, but I think the show is going to struggle to leave enough compelling bread-crumbs to follow up that premise through multiple seasons. Too long without peeling the curtain back on the overall mystery and the thing just devolves into your typical crime procedural, but if they actually satisfy curiosities in a timely manner, there won't be enough meat left to that plot to sustain it for that long. Shows like Fringe and Heroesran into the same problem, I personally think: An intriguing premise to start with that was forcibly-elongated once they realized they'd be receiving more season orders, and it felt to me like the storylines suffered for it. I have a feeling that Fox is going to have trouble keeping interest piqued, but perhaps that's just my pessimism.
Chris Tilton (who does Fringe) is also involved in the music.
krameriffic
Member
My biggest problem with these shows trying to do what Lost did is that they don't understand the subtlety with which Lost did it (at least at first). Lost let you fall into a show that seemed like a character drama about people lost on an island fighting for survival. In their pilot and early episodes, they vaguely hinted at some weird stuff happening on the island (some monster uprooting trees, a weird French lady repeating an iterative SOS broadcast, the polar bears).
Fringe and Alcatraz come right out and say it: this is a show about weird fucking shit happening. It's not a show about people to whom weird shit is happening or people in a weird situation, it's a show about weird shit. There's no subtlety or buildup to it like there was on Lost, and it makes it less special and intriguing when they put it right up front every single day in such heavy doses.
Lost tantalized its viewers with intrigue mixed in with interesting characters in a cool setting that hadn't been totally done to death (though it was hardly original). Alcatraz is a procedural crime drama, and procedural crime dramas can fuck right off. I've seen it a hundred bazillion times. It's not the right vehicle in which to couch the weird shit ploy that made Lost such a phenomenon. Lost was serialized in the extreme. No two episodes were the same, which is a much better way to handle this. I don't like shows with formulaic structures anymore.
Overall, it was decent, but nothing like the effect Lost had on me, which is clearly what they and Fringe before it tried to accomplish. Fringe got better as time went on and they filtered out the pointless bullshit I don't care anything about, so we'll see if Alcatraz can do the same.
Fringe and Alcatraz come right out and say it: this is a show about weird fucking shit happening. It's not a show about people to whom weird shit is happening or people in a weird situation, it's a show about weird shit. There's no subtlety or buildup to it like there was on Lost, and it makes it less special and intriguing when they put it right up front every single day in such heavy doses.
Lost tantalized its viewers with intrigue mixed in with interesting characters in a cool setting that hadn't been totally done to death (though it was hardly original). Alcatraz is a procedural crime drama, and procedural crime dramas can fuck right off. I've seen it a hundred bazillion times. It's not the right vehicle in which to couch the weird shit ploy that made Lost such a phenomenon. Lost was serialized in the extreme. No two episodes were the same, which is a much better way to handle this. I don't like shows with formulaic structures anymore.
Overall, it was decent, but nothing like the effect Lost had on me, which is clearly what they and Fringe before it tried to accomplish. Fringe got better as time went on and they filtered out the pointless bullshit I don't care anything about, so we'll see if Alcatraz can do the same.
Dominican Power
Member
Madsen is fucking beautiful, and I'll keep watching it just to see her. I just realized she was Brynn on Big Love.
D
Deleted member 22576
Unconfirmed Member
trust me, I've been chasing the lost dragon since the beginning of time. the next lost is not going to have Abrams name attached or really any similarities with lost at all.
JetBlackPanda
Member
it seems like the general public is dying for a show that we can all get behind.
This is extremely true.
I agree completely. When I think about what I liked about Lost the most, it's that it blind-sided me. Someone sat me down and said "watch the first 4 episodes" and I did. I knew nothing but when Locke got up I realized that this show was unlike anything else before it. The setting didn't interest me as much as that idea. Now that there are shows trying to copy Lost it doesn't work. It was more about the trailblazing than the wilderness they walked through.
SpeedingUptoStop
will totally Facebook friend you! *giggle* *LOL*
yea, I don't get where people trying to get similarities to Lost out of this when this is so much more like a Fringe follower that Lost shouldn't even be in the convo. I guess it's because way less people watch Fringe.
Also, people will be immediately disappointed when something is described as "the next Lost" (which is also marketing's fault).
If it's too procedural, it's not Lost.
If the pacing is too fast, it's not Lost.
If there doesn't seem to be a lot of mythology in the first few episodes, it's not Lost.
If there is too much mythology in the first few episodes, it's not Lost.
Basically, stop looking for "the next Lost." There will be a scripted, serialized show that becomes a smash hit in the way that Lost was. But it probably won't resemble the structure of Lost as is. Hell, I think that Fringe is the best show that JJ Abrams has produced and it premiered after Lost. Even as its gotten more serialized, it's still nothing like Lost. And that's completely okay.
aparisi2274
Member
I am curious to know what is up with Dr. Lucy.
How the fuck is she still the same age as she was in the 60's
bigboss370
Member
i thought it was pretty clear that not only inmates disappeared, but prison personnel did too. so she was probably there when the vanishing act happened.
aparisi2274
Member
Well I assumed that much.
I just meant, did she come back first, and somehow meet up with Hauser? I assume we'll get some sort of backstory.
Formula-wise, it's Fringe; but it feels like Lost, due to factors that don't involve it's formula.
EleventhDoctor
Banned
Nice rack.
BoboBrazil
Member
I'm pretty sure my theory that they are clones is correct. Either that or they were testing out cryogenics on them for the government. I think the doctor taking blood from Jack is going to end up being significant though, which lends evidence to the cloning idea.
SpeedingUptoStop
will totally Facebook friend you! *giggle* *LOL*
But does the doc in the past being in on it fit all that well with this? I mean it could, but it's existence seems to throw a bit of a curveball to look elsewhere.
The greatness of this execution on Lost, going from plane crash and survival in season 1 to Desmond's time flashes in season 4, will never be duplicated or equaled.
BoboBrazil
Member
Maybe they allowed certain others involved with the project to volunteer into it as well? The main mysteries right now are
1. Why were they taking blood?
2. How are they the same age?
3. What was the key Jack stole for?
4. Who was helping Jack and put that stuff in the locker for him?
Jack seemingly came back with a purpose, but the shooter really had no goal when coming back except to kill more people. This show really reminds me of the beginnings of Fringe alot. It started off with a slower monster of the week pace, but went all in with mythology starting later in the second season. So far none of the characters have the likeability of a Walter or Peter from Fringe, so that seems to be the biggest weakness of the show so far.
We're two episodes in. Peter and Walter were still stereotypes and relationships hadn't even been defined by the end the second episode.
BoboBrazil
Member
Yeah definitely I think they will grow on me more as the show goes by and we find out more about their lives and backgrounds. I actually liked the Jack character up until he just started killing everyone for no reason. I thought he was going to be the "good" criminal.
Marty Chinn
Member
I'm sure I'm probably in the minority here, but the music was a low point for me in these two eps. It sounded like it was literally ripped right out of Lost. I know the same guy did it, but it felt like I was watching Lost in some of the scenes. I'd rather have the series have it's own unique identity in the music rather than every mysterious or intense moment loading up the Lost soundtrack.
5. How did everyone disappear and then come back?
6. Why did everyone come back?
bigboss370
Member
he was clearly on a mission. the first kill was revenge, then going after the guy with the key was the mission. he had to shoot the police because he couldn't afford to get caught. i'm sure we'll find out more later.
also, if they were just clones, whats the point of all the inmates' original bodies disappearing, as well as the guards/personnel?
Escape Goat
Member
So much canon fodder in this show. People get blown away all the time. San Francisco's homicide rate is going to go through the roof.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
They are taking blood because they never resolved that one in Lost.
bigboss370
Member
not every mystery on Lost was meant to be solved, or rather, not meant to be answered clearly to the audience. that's part of why its so awesome.
for Alcatraz, I hope they reveal the reason or the method behind the mass disappearance and reappearance by the end of this season, which will no doubt lead to more questions for following seasons. i really hope its not a inmate of the week thing though. why not two or even five inmates at once? it needs a more immediate overarching plot, not just questions/mysteries that you keep in the back of your head until the finale.
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