Interesting week. Spoilers throughout.
ALIAS: Syd's dad bends (okay, breaks) rules to protect his daughter. Very commendable. Very illegal. And you just *know* that he's not going to be able to keep a lid on it forever. Why do I have the feeling that it's going to be Sloane who is somehow going to blow the whistle on him? Or, worse, get wind of it and endeavor to blackmail Jack somehow. Meanwhile it was interesting watching Syd and Vaughn endeavoring to work as a team again with the heightened tension between them. But hey, maybe blowing stuff up is even better than sex. I am so along for the ride for this one.
SMALLVILLE: The Kryptonite bullet sequence was harrowing; it's shocking to see Clark that vulnerable and his poor parents freaking out. Interesting that we're now starting to see the beginnings of Lex's megalomania, and where it's coming from is *extremely* disturbing. Consider: Where it seems they're saying is that Lex's eventual sense of destiny, dominance, and power-sucking ego stems from the fact that Clark has saved him so many times. Clark is basically creating his own worst enemy simply by doing what comes naturally. In saving him, he's damning him. How stupendously twisted is *that*?
ANGEL: The second episode nicely reinforces that Angel is the lead of the show as Spike pulls a fast fade while Doctor Flox, out of his Enterprise make-up, betrays a werewolf. Okay, kids, here's a tip: NEVER betray a werewolf. It just always ends badly. It took some truly demented writing minds to come up with the notion of a gourmet club that eats supernatural beasts. It's like that movie "The Freshman" by way of "Twin Peaks." I sure didn't see it coming, so hats off. As for Spike, it's starting to look like the Casper act is only temporary. It'll be interesting to see if the rumors about Spike winding up human (and the first male slayer!) turn out to be right in the end after all.
WEST WING: I missed the first few minutes thanks to a VCR snafu. But it's pretty obvious that the show has completely lost its focus since Sorkin left. The characters are unrecognizable as themselves. Literally. I didn't know who any of them were. In fact, it looked like a totally different set of actors. Even the White House didn't look right. I guess the lighting has gotten just that bad. None of the characters sounded remotely right. And there was no intense political infighting or strategies. Instead the whole thing played like a crime show or something. Perhaps it wasn intended as a back-door pilot or something, but frankly, I just didn't get it at all. Sorkin's absence is sorely felt.
PAD
Posted by Peter David at October 17, 2003 01:20 AM | TrackBack | Other blogs commentingSMALLVILLE:
Really Good episode!
I remember how, in an episode from last season in which Clark asked Chloe and Lana separately how they’d react if they found out he was an alien, Chloe said it would be cool, and Lana said she might be uncomfortable, and how one or more of the posters at nitcentral, where I like to post, reacted by saying that Clark should be with the cool Chloe, and not Lana. I can imagine what their reaction is to the really meaty dialogue in this episode in which Lana talks about people affected by meteor rocks. Thing is, Clark reacted like she was condemning all such people, and tells her that she shouldn’t take it out on someone just because they were affected by meteors, even though she didn’t say she did. She made it clear early in the episode that her problem was with what some of the people she mentioned did with their powers once they got them. I can imagine, however, that some will take umbrage with her comment that life would be a lot better if the meteor shower never happened. Then again, I wonder how these people feel about Chloe initially deciding to inform on Clark for Lionel Luthor, even if she eventually changed her mind.
Speaking of which, I’m glad that Chloe gave a more detailed explanation to Lionel Luthor as to why she changed her mind about doing research on Clark than what we got in the last two episodes.
Lionel’s gambit with Chloe and the computers he donated to the school? NIIIIIIIIIIIICE!!
Miscellaneous Stuff:
When saving Lex from Van, Clark knows that the sniper is watching the area that he’s standing, yet he clearly holds the bullet he caught up for the sniper to see it, and even DROPS it at the crime scene, leaving evidence that it hit something. DUMB, CLARK, REALLY DUMB!
Melting rocks into bullets using just a campfire flame? I don’t think so. They did a much better job last season in Witness, in which the crooks used it as an inhalant, because in that episode, they correctly used a furnace to melt it.
So now the third episode of the third seasons of both Smallville and Enterprise is named Extinction. Aren’t there any original ideas left?
Did the kryptonite bullet fragment when it hit Clark? It was hard to tell from the shot of the bullet that Jonathan pulled out of Clark’s shoulder, but if it didn’t, Clark is lucky, or else he might’ve ended up with countless particles of kryptonite in his bloodstream and tissue, where it might’ve killed him.
Okay, first of all, you need a TiVo.
Secondly, I'm with you on Alias. GOD is that show great at reinventing itself! Although, wasn't Vaughn supposed to be confined to desk duty for a while? So much for that. And is it too early to start Sydney/Greg Grunberg 'shipping? Or have I already missed the boat?
Smallville -- at least the characters are acting significantly less like total idiots this week. Previously, on Smallville: Clark willfilly putting on the red ring, knowing he will rob and hurt innocent people? Pa Kent accepting superpowers from Jor-El in exchange for who-knows-what, instead of simply exposing Clark to green kryptonite long enough to remove the ring? Clark letting Rutger Hauer witness his biggest and only weakness? (Dude, it's RUTGER HAUER. You do NOT expose your weakness to RUTGER FRICKIN' HAUER.) Lex and his make believe twin??? Yikes, was that a horrible beginning to the season. This episode makes up for SOME of that. Some, not all.
Angel -- liking it, not loving it like I did last year. The Spike the Friendly Ghost business is getting boring real fast.
West Wing -- I'm about one week away from deleting this from my TiVo Season Pass list. Bring back John Goodman!
Luigi Novi: "I can imagine, however, that some will take umbrage with her comment that life would be a lot better if the meteor shower never happened."
Well, her parents did DIE in the meteor shower, so I imagine Clark (and the viewers) will cut her a hefty piece of slack for that statement.
What's up with NBC... Especially "West Wing"!?!
I know when Aaron Sorkin left and all the Supporting Actors got yet another per episode raise... That something else (other than Rob Lowe) would have to go... But bringing in Vincent D'Onofrio to play THREE different roles on the same show?!? Don't you think that's asking too much of even this talented actor?
It all seemed far too schizophrenic and over the top for me.
One minute Vincent's glaring and acting passive/aggressive (like President Bartlet)... and the next minute he's withdrawn and stammering incoherently before he says anything substantial (just like Tobey) and then he starts yelling off the hook for no apparent reason (just like Josh)!
I kept expecting him to jump on Air Force One and start shoving people off in mid-flight screaming, "Get off of my plane!"
Wow. I hope NBC comes to their senses and hires the old "West Wing" actors back again in time for next week's "all new" episode... Just like they did on "Friends" tonight!
I turned on the TV and saw all of my old favorites again... And amazingly-- they looked just like they did 2 or 3 or more years ago... When they were still young, cute, talented and not coasting!
But I've got to admit I'm glad they are ending "Friends" this year! That episode I saw tonight seemed like a carbon copy of an episode I saw just a few years ago!
I got so depressed, I couldn't bear to watch the All New "Will & Grace" and "ER" either. And that special new episode of "Whoopi" (where the George W. clone stops by to use her "can") reminded me of something I turned off just TWO days ago!!
What is TV coming to?!
Wait, when did they show "West Wing"? When I tuned in they were showing "Law and Order: Criminal Intent"??? Or is that why D'Onofrio is being mentioned??? (Who's know-it-all character annoys me btw, however rugged the man may be)
And while I'm at it,
Please tell me WHY we have so damn many different versions of "L & O" on TV anyway???
Oh and I for one am snickering at NBC over the entire much hyped, but horrendously hideous must see TV (rolling my eyes) newbie "Coupling". I mean, C'mon, give us a break! Yank it for good or let us see the british version!!!
Signed,
One Woman Longing For Something Original/and Or Innovative To Watch
Umm...yeah. I tuned into see this week's episode of the West Wing Wednesday, but merely saw a rerun of Law and Order: Criminal Intent.
Did I miss something?
As for ALIAS, I'm still trying to get my bearings. The show is entirely different, and I keep hoping for the writers to pick up on the threads of the past couple of seasons and begin to show signs that there is a plan.
Like, why did Syd's mom tell her she was "chosen"? Where does Rimbaldi fit in? Peace? That's it? Can't be.
D'oh!
I just figured it out.
Very clever review of "The West Wing," PAD. If only I'd been astute enough to get the joke.
Move along, people. Nothing to see here. :-)
Well, shoot, ya got me! dangit, OBVIOUSLY, I'm too DIM to appreciate Original and Innovative, anyway...
sigh
Smallville: Definitely getting the show back on track since they had to clean up last season's fallout. It's nice to that the show can both move on from the Green K Mutant of the week story and still acknowledge the idea. The idea that Luthor is starting to blelieve that he is indestructable is great. He's development into the villain he will one day become continues to be the most fascinating aspect of the show. Chloe has discovered that it's easy to make a deal with deal but never easy to get out of it. And Lana kicks butt again, but how come there's no mention of her killing that guy from last week? One thing that is getting tiresome: Ending the show with Lana trying to get Clark to open up, he stays quiet and she just walks/rides/drives away.
Angel: Werewolf tartar? Ewwwww! Bizarre twist. I really liked that way that Angel empathized with the idea of having a monster inside and this episode illustrated how useful the resources of W&H can be if put to good use. Since I don't watch Entercrap, my first thought when I saw the werewolf expert was "Hey everyone! He's got Koomes with him!" I'm glad the Spike the friendly ghost thing is only temporary, but they'll still need to come up with a reason for Spike to join team Angel. I hope it isn't any of that "male slayer nonsense."
The best part, though, was Lorne warning Angel not to forget about his friends and Angel actually heeding it. Angel always does need that occassional nudge to keep himself for slipping over the edge. One problem though: Last season, we saw a spell that neutralized Lorne's powers, now we see that there's a drug that can do it as well. How useful is Lorne going to be if his main contribution to TA is constantly being circumvented?
Smallville is not necessarily the DCU Superman. We know Clark will become the Big S, and there is a prediction from the first season of Lex bringing death and destruction. But S-ville Lex is at his core a noble guy who wants to do the right thing. Maybe he will become the "villianous arch foe - Lex Luthor" or maybe not.
Or maybe like GWB, his limited world view will cause him to make disasterous decisions for what he thinks are righteous reasons.
Actually, the werewolf entree in Angel reminded me of a Mark Millar Swamp Thing episode which used something of the same theme....
Angel...
Overall I liked the werewolf cutey story (a potential date for Angel?)
One thing bothered me though. With all the resources of W&G at their disposal, and with knowing the folks who kidnapped the werewolf were sort of para-military. Why did they go in with only the Angel gang, no back-up!
Also Angel gives them Floxx to eat and walks out? Angel doesn't just walk away from bad guys and yes, Gunn threw in a line at the end about the gourmet group being "taken care of". But it just seemed like sloppy writing to me.
SMALLVILLE: A decent episode. The nicest surprise: Lex Luthor thinking that HE might be Superman! (Or *a* superman, at any rate.) Reminded me a bit of UNBREAKABLE, with Lex realizing he'd never been sick. I wonder if Lionel's running the medical tests on Lex (the appointment with the doctor he made early in the show) to use Lex's apparent immunity to disease to help Lionel.
I liked seeing the look of surprise on Clark's face when catching the bullet -- something he's done dozens of times -- didn't work out nearly as well as he expected.
And Lionel Luthor's handling of Chloe was quite Machiavellian. While his threatening Chloe if she investigated any Luthor might seem paternal, that also protects Lionel: He's a Luthor, and if Lex is working for/with him, an investigation of Lex could come back to haunt Lionel.
Some downsides. It looks like they're back to having Clark and Lana exchanging pained looks of longing, Clark aaaaalmost telling her, and Lana wandering off again. I don't expect them to get married -- that'll happen with Lois -- but get them together for a little while at least!
Also, when Clark showed his bulletproof vest, I was reminded of the scene in DUMB & DUMBER where one character shows his vest, and the other asks "But what if they shot you in the head?" and the first one is quiet. Why was Lana a helpless kidnappee until Clark showed up, at which point she became a kickbozing expert again? Also, this is a continuing problem/issue with Clark/Superman: If he is really faster than a speeding bullet, can't he disarm or knock out most of these baddies before they can even blink?
Now I wonder when Lex will wear a green and purple outfit...
>Okay, kids, here's a tip: NEVER betray a werewolf. It just always ends badly.<
Like Willow betrayed Oz.
--your pal, Hoy
ANGEL: They ruined Lorne's character by making him a regular. I miss the amoral, mysterious Host (in fact, I think the problems began when we learned his name). As a regular, he's too powerful, so we wind up with constant hand-waving like the spell last season and the drug this season.
So, valium can help you pass a lie detector test? No wonder those things don't hold up in court.
Spike is a waste. It's a shame that they ruined the potential development from his gaining a soul in order to revert to the "leather" and "attitude" that female fans love so much.
SMALLVILLE: It's nice to see the friction in the Lana/Clark relationship. By that, I mean, Clark's blaming himself for the loss of Lana's parents and for the subsequent lunatics who popped up since.
I also liked his "not completely a lie" lie ("I wasn't infected by the meteor rocks").
Lionel and Lex continue to be the best things about the show. Just when I considered Lionel not completely evil (his not being involved in Lex's near death), he blackmails a *high school student.* That's low. Of course, later he reveals geniune concern for Lex. What a complicated character! Almost Shakespearan in a way.
What I like about Lex is that while we know he's going to turn evil, he's not played as a "bad guy waiting to happen." We really buy his relationship with Clark. Their reunion last episode was heartbreaking not just in how affecting it was (you could tell these two people really cared about each other) but in how it was going to turn out. If only the Star Wars prequels were this good.
On more thing:
Lionel Luthor reminds me more of the current DCU Luthor (especially the early John Byrne version). That Luthor was incapable of friendship with anyone -- even as a kid. SMALLVILLE's Luthor is very pre-Crisis, which Grant Morrison recalled in "Rock of Ages" ("I know there's good in you, Lex."). This seems a more fitting arch-foe for Superman. Batman can have the hopelessly insane and irredeemably evil. Superman represents all that's great about us, and I don't think he would have a Batman/Joker relationship with his greatest foe. No, I think he would be disappointed that someone with such talent and genius (Lex) had gone in the wrong direction. This is how I see the SMALLVILLE Superman and Luthor relationship developing.
Angel:
The only thing I didn't like about this issue was the "changed premises" with Werewolves. In order to make the whole Werewolves-as-a-delicacy thing more horific, (and to leave room for a more dramatic last-minute rescue) they made the comment that if a werewolf is killed, he reverts to human form. However, Werewoves were introduced in the BTVS episode with a hunter that collected the pelts by killin them with silver bullets. He didn't tranquilize them and then skin them alive. (Though, come to think of it, with a Werewolf's ability to heal, I wonder if this would be a possible way to collect up to a couple new pelts a month.)
"Also, when Clark showed his bulletproof vest, I was reminded of the scene in DUMB & DUMBER where one character shows his vest, and the other asks "But what if they shot you in the head?""
My take on that scene was that, even in front of Lana, Clark could have made very subtle moves at super-speed in order to ensure that the bullets struck the lead, or missed his head entirely if necessary.
One thing I found especially interesting about how Angel handled the whole werewolf thing was that he didn't pull the "hey, look at my vamp-face, I'm a monster too, it's OK" cliche. Nice to see the writer avoided that.
Spike is a waste. It's a shame that they ruined the potential development from his gaining a soul in order to revert to the "leather" and "attitude" that female fans love so much.
We've seen like 3 or 4 episodes thus far this season. Give Joss Whedon some time and a little credit. Relax and don't condemn the writers before the ride is over. There's like 18-19 episodes to turn everything around. The same goes for the bashers of any other show that has just begun its season.
I said get A TiVo because of your "VCR snafu" with West Wing. I hadn't watched my TiVoed West Wing, so I didn't even realize you were making a joke.
Never mind.
Still, you really SHOULD get a TiVO, if you don't have one.
re: Smallville. I had pushed the "next episode" teaser out of my mind, so the twist on the "Monster of the Week" motif caught me by total suprise. In a good way. Also in a good way, I loved how quickly Lionel turned the conversation around on Chloe at the end. She went from idignant to guilty to scared very quickly, but in a way that was totally believable. (On the detracting note, I blinked and missed the week's "Pete" scene. Anyone else notice (or care) that out of all the people in Clark's life, his reaction to Clark returning to Smallville was glossed over entirely?)
ok, Smallville first, I've been watching it more since it is on before Angel.
Am I the only one who caught the name of Chloe's browser on her computer?
Starrware Systems something or other.
This is yet another hint that there IS a DC universe out there in the Smallville universe with other heroes..but while the prospect of possibly seeing other heroes is interesting I find I'm oddly shocked in feeling that I'm not sure if I want the show to go in that direction.
Angel
Like Willow betrayed Oz.
--your pal, Hoy
um hold on a minute, I think that's the other way around. Oz bailed on her not knowing whether he'd ever come back. He wasn't all sympathetic with "wait for me I'll come back to you in "XX" months.
yes he did have major issues but it all boils down to he bailed on her first.
When she realized he wasn't coming back and later found Tara that wasn't betrayal, that was just bad timing or bad luck.
While I like having "Blondie Bear" around, the Casper thing is sort of fading on me (pun intended).
I do think part of Angel's problem is that he feels put out that he isn't unique "Vampire with a soul"
like when the wolf-girl (she seems too well laid out a character to be a one-shot I expect her to probably join the cast or be recurring the whole season) asked if he liked being a vampire, the hesitation itself leads one to believe that he's adjusted more than maybe even he realizes....and along comes Spike all Soul having...
Even in the flashbacks it was always a rivalry between Anjelus and Spike.
I think Spike feels it too, what about all that bluster about Angel living the high life in the penthouse, Angel's comments about how it only took Spike a few weeks in a basement rather than years on the streets to adjust (They both had to be "slapped" out of if you'll remember..who knows how long spike would have been like that if not for buffy and the scoobies? or if someone like whistler had come Angel years earlier?).
You could see it again in spikes eyes as he was describing the horrible fight he once had with a werewolf and was told Angel killed one with a pen.
Maybe Angel and Spike will come to terms during whatever ordeal they go through to "save" spike.
Maybe he'll stick around just because he has nowhere better to be?
The changed premises of the werewolf is more in keeping with conventional werewolf legend (the wolf reverts to his human form once he's been killed).
Also, a werewolf is practically unkillable in human form (he or she might appear dead but would just return as a wolf). He has to be killed while an animal, which makes things difficult.
Peter,
C'mon, why no Enterprise review?
Its getting better this season. Really. Well, kinda. That song is aweful.
um hold on a minute, I think that's the other way around. Oz bailed on her not knowing whether he'd ever come back. He wasn't all sympathetic with "wait for me I'll come back to you in "XX" months.
Yes, but before that, she betrayed him by getting all lip-locky with Xander when Spike had them locked up in the old factory. This was also the event that broke up Xander & Cordelia and set up the introduction of Anya.
Of course Oz eventually forgave her and they got back together, but they she did betray him first.
Smallville:
I think if the writers are determined to keep Lana and Clark apart they should focus less on the back and forth between them and more on what was said in this episode: "We'd all be better off if the meteor shower never happened." Never mind keeping his powers secret from the world (because of all his friends, Lana is the one person he SHOULD trust). How can Clark ever open up to her when his very existence caused the death of her parents?
Regarding Angel and werewolves: For continuity conscious folks concerning the Buffy werewolves, there was a throwaway line that this was a 'rare breed' of werewolf. Perhpas this breed has the instant reversion ability or something.
...and the dining club really reminded me of something. It seems like I've seen that before somewhere in a book or movie. Perhaps not dining on werewolves, but something very similar.
Den wrote: “how come there's no mention of [Lana] killing that guy from last week?”
Probably because she didn’t kill him; he fell back and was impaled on a pitchfork.
Sometimes they tie up loose ends in the Smallville Ledger. There's an article about it here:
http://www2.warnerbros.com/web/smallville/ledger/article.jsp?id=sv_vol66_iss03_4
As for Spike, it's starting to look like the Casper act is only temporary. It'll be interesting to see if the rumors about Spike winding up human (and the first male slayer!) turn out to be right in the end after all.
Nah. First male Slayer with be Andrew (if only to piss off Giles).
Speaking of which, PAD, you ever gonna do a Buffy novel?
On more thing:
Am I the only one who can't even go near that sentence without hearing it in the voice of Uncle (from Jackie Chan Adventures?
Oh, and thanks for the link, Steve.
Now, guess I'd better start collecting Angel Transcripts...
Probably because she didn’t kill him; he fell back and was impaled on a pitchfork.
But she did kill in him self defense, as it says in the Ledger. What I'm looking for is some sign that Lana was affected by this. Being responsible for another person's death, even justifiably, is a heavy experience and most people experience at least some emotional fallout from it. Here, Lana is acting like it never happened.
So Spike doesn't want Wesley to help Fred find out to make him tangible again. Could it be that their is something magical about him or his situation that he is afraid Wesley might find out about?
Next week involves Spike and an 18th century doctor who may or may not be Jack the Ripper. One of the latest Buffy novels has Spike, Angelus, and Dru set in the 1800s involving Jack the Ripper. I haven't read the book yet but I think they may have been claiming that Jack was a minion of The First similar to Caleb.
I'm still waiting for an explanation about THE WEST WING...I saw the same LAW & ORDER episode that others here have mentioned. Did the episode air on the East Coast? What gives?
There was no West Wing on Wednesday night. That might explain why PAD was so confused about the episode! :) (By the way, people, re-read what PAD wrote very carefully.)
ok quick question, why didnt clark hear the kid cocking the rifle, and if he sees things in slow motion when using his speed, didnt he notice the bright green glowof the meteor rock bullet? I think they should have shown the kid painting the bullets.....it whould have made more sense!
ok quick question, why didnt clark hear the kid cocking the rifle
Because his super-hearing power has not manifested yet. Rumor has it that they're going to introduce it in a future episode these season, much they way they did for X-ray vision and heat vision.
For those of you who are saying that last night's "All-New" Friends seemed like a copy of an episode done a few years ago, you're right. But only because it was a rerun. NBC has been showing reruns the past few days because of Baseball andd all the new episodes will start next week.
Smallville: Lex has never been sick a day in his life (since the meteor shower)? I guess in the delirium and all, he must have forgotten about just recently having malaria.
...and the dining club really reminded me of something. It seems like I've seen that before somewhere in a book or movie. Perhaps not dining on werewolves, but something very similar.
The Freshman, starring Marlin Brando and Mathew Broderick
The Spike the Friendly Ghost business is getting boring real fast.
The usual Buffy/Angel plotting has a sub-plot being resolved (or twisted) after about four episodes. I figure we've got about two more episodes of Spike the Not-So-Friendly Ghost before something else is done with him.
Will be interesting to see how they integrate him with the main cast. They jumped through hoops justifying his presense during Buffy Season Four, and it never did make complete sense. My theory is that Spike will be ready to run out the door when he becomes coporeal, but by then Angel will realize how useful it is to have someone around who *isn't* running a department, and will stammer his way through a job offer to Spike (sort of the reverse of Wesley hanging around waiting for Angel to offer him a job in Season One). Spike, which they've long ago established is looking for acceptance, will take the job, if only to make snide remarks at Angel... he'd be like a useful Cordelia.
As for the ending of the episode where Angel doesn't punish the werewolf diners. I would not be surprised if the master plan of the Senior Partners is to eat away at Angel's moral principals. He's constantly being put into situations where he has to allow a lesser evil to exist in order to defeat a greater evil. How long before he stops looking for the good, and taking the easy (and somewhat evil) way out?
So Spike doesn't want Wesley to help Fred find out to make him tangible again. Could it be that their is something magical about him or his situation that he is afraid Wesley might find out about?
I don't think Spike likes showing weakness in front of men. Whereas they've already established him to be a mama's boy, who looks to women for comfort and support.
Either that or they're trying to hook Fred up with every warm (or not-so-warm) body on the show. She started off with the crush on Angel, then Wes developed a thing for her, then Gunn went out with her. Now, they're throwing in the stuff with Knox, and having Spike hang around her all the time.
Lana's heartfelt - you can trust me, open up at the end left me thinking - "Why, exactly, doesn't he just tell her?"
The fun part of Smallville is watching the writers try to think up new ways to get Clark to take off his shirt. I swear I saw Synder feel him up, too. All the WB dramas seem to involve guys taking their shirts off all the time.
Well they do.
BTW, the British version of Coupling is HILARIOUS. I think it's the new actors.
Sorry if I caused anyone any consternation.
My entire post was meant as a joke... Riffing off PAD's idea!
It was also a commentary on the sorry state of TV nowadays.
Unfortunately, the idea that NBC would NOT air it's first run episodes against the baseball playoffs is NOT surprising.
But to do it with little or no advance warning is amateurish at best and extremely disrectful to the network's loyal audience.
Makes you wonder who is running the NBC Asylum nowadays... Obviously the spineless Programming Chief, Jeff Zucker (who spent all summer hyping "Coupling" to pull it after only 2 episodes), doesn't think his FIRST RUN programming has what it takes to compete against popular sports programming. Stating they wanted to "save" their first run shows for a less competitive time period just illustrates how weak they think their swiftly aging Thursday shows are.
Note to Jeff: That's why TIVO's and VCR's were invented... So we could watch more than one show airing in the same time period.
Kudos to the Programmers at CBS and ABC, et al... for having backbones and running their new programs and providing us West Coasters (and East Coasters with tapes) with something to watch after the games were over.
A little off subject --
I didn't know where to put this - wait until the next Star Trek post?? Didn't know when it would be so....
Stone and Anvil and No Limits arrived at my apt today...
I had ordered them them from Barnes and Noble (gift certficate usage) and to my surprise there was bonus CD-ROM with Stone and Anvil.
What makes this so important is that in Adobe Acrobat Reader Format are all the New Frontier books on this CD. What a wonderful surprise!
Mr. David - I am not sure who's idea this was - yours, Simon and Schuster and Pocket Books, John Ordover, Paramount...whomever - Thank You! I have all the other books (which you graciously signed for me at Dragon Con) but now I can stop wearing them out when I need something to read.
Re: Alias. Sorry to say, I'm not thrilled with how the two year gap is being handled from a "rational people wouldn't *do* this" angle.
Let's consider:
1) Vaughn, for some reason, left the Agency during these two years. For no apparent reason, he decides to return when Sydney comes back. There's no indication he didn't enjoy teaching, or had resolved whatever issues caused him to leave in the first place. So why'd he return, and why is the CIA letting him return so easily?
2) Lauren, his wife, is concerned about Vaughn's attachment to Syd. She's associated with the NSA. If I were the CIA, I'd be concerned about Vaughn's attachment to Syd potentially wrecking the careers of three government agents. So, why the heck, other than because the writers want it that way, are the Vaughns stationed in the non-central LA CIA office instead of the home offices in the D.C. area, New York City, Europe, South America, Chicago, etc.?
3) We need surveilence on Sark in Mexico. Hey, let's send an agent who *Sark has extensive experience with and can recognize on sight*. It's not even like he's in LA and Syd's the only agent in the office.
4) An NSA official can put a CIA agent in total solitary confinement for a year...but then said agent can get released and restored to full security clearance and status five seconds after he's released.
5) An agent disappears for two years with complete loss of memory. What the heck, let's trust her completely while we're at it. And put her out in the field.
6) By this point, given that Dixon's in charge, Vaughn had quit, Sydney was missing, and Jack was in jail, and there apparently are no other agents in the LA office (see Sark surveilence above), you have to wonder just how much field time Weiss clocked in the last year. Or whether there's a whole season's worth of the "Spy Field Agent Misadventures of Marshall and Carrie" to be told.
You guys saw West Wing this week?
In our neck o' the woods, new NBC & CBS programming was chucked due to the high ratings Fox was getting with baseball. Instead of West Wing on Wednesday night, we got Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
Phooey.
Never mind.
I get it now.
Better late than never.
:-)
Coupla thoughts:
Smallville:
Did anyone catch the look on Lionel's face when he embraced Lex in the second part of the season opener?
He is clearly not completly comfortable with an aliance with Lex. My suspect Lionel will set Lex up using
medical records to show he is mentally ill. Think about it, Lionel, as Lex's father could have him committed
and have him out of his hair for good.
Angel:
I don't think Spike is going to be the Friendly Ghost for very long. Next weeks trailor
looks like they are setting the stage to make him "solid" again. I dunno about Spike
becoming the first "Male Slayer" but I just hope they don't have that damn chip in his head again.
Now that Spike is a regular on the show, We should see some great Spike/Angelus flashbacks which hopefully
will inlcude Dru and Darla (or even the Master). It's a pity Darla was killed off (again). She and Dru could have
teamed up and been the perfect nemisis for Angel and Spike (who would make better foes than their ex-girlfriends!)
As I've said elsewhere, watching The West Wing this season is like someone writing in iambic pentameter and insisting that it's just like Shakespeare. It's painful, and I can't do it anymore, especially with Bravo showing the show at its peak at 11pm Monday to Thursday.
---KRAD
If you're of a certain age (old), then what happened with "The West Wing" this week has to have a certain nostalgia factor.
It brings me back to the days when you could open up a Marvel comic any week and find that the DDD had struck. (Bonus points for those who remember what that stands for...) The next thing you know, you were reading a reprint.
The funny thing is, it didn't strike me as odd at the time. Now it would seem odder than a hardcover edition of "Marville" with a foreward by Harvey Pekar.
A couple of corrections:
Coupling actually lasted three
episodes. TV Guide claims that
it's only being pulled for two
weeks and will then be back.
Not that anyone is likely to miss
it.
And CBS went spineless also and
ran reruns opposite the baseball
playoffs. At least that's what
I've heard.
Btw, the British Coupling (of which the first season is available in the US on DVD, the second season is due out shortly [6-8 episode seasons the norm in Britain], and all three seasons are shown regularly on BBC America) is *much* superior to the US version. BBC America showed the first British episode the same night the first American episode aired, and despite having the same plot for the most part and probably 80% of the same dialogue, the British version was funny and enjoyable while the American version was flat and dull.
And I strongly recommend The End Of The Line, the last episode of Season 2, as an amazing bit of writing that pulls together numerous seemingly unrelated bits into a wonderful whole. There are also some hysterical comics related bits from time to time, he said avoiding spoilers.
Well, PAD, the werewolf diner would have been a surprise if Tivo hadn't spoiled it for me in the synopsis. I agree with tomthedog; Tivo is my lifeblood. Sometimes they do stuff I don't especially care for, though.
So, get a Tivo, but try not to read the synopses, I guess.
Alias---So far the season has been good, not great. But I know this is all just set-up for what will definitly be a GREAT season. I was just on the edge on my seat though with Jack. I think Jack's storyline was the most interesting. You just wondered if he was going to be able to stop that picture or if he'd get caught. He stopped it but like PAD said, he won't be able to keep a lid on it forever...
Smallville--Good episode. The first two were great, this was good. I think though that the part with Clark getting shot was really powerful! What a sequence. Though I hope next episode Clark really does tell Lana. I mean come on: suspense is good, but it can only go on for so long. I think letting her in on the secret could be very interesting.
Angel-Really good episode. This show is also still setting the season up for what is going to be a great season! I think next weeks may be the best episode of the season yet. Looks really spooky!
I've stopped watching West Wing. I got Alias, Angel, Smallville, CSI, Without A Trace, Cold Case, The Handler, Taken, Joan of Arcadia, and 24 when it comes back! Thats enough shows....for now!
DF2506
Ah...the Dreaded Deadline Doom...I remember it well.
Ed
Is the guy on "Angel" playing Fred's underling, Knox, the same actor who was in last season's finale? At that time, the actor was the one who played the talkative vampire in "Conversations with Dead People," but I can't figure out if it's the same guy now or not. He doesn't look quite the same to me.
WEST WING---
My local ABC station has the syndication rights for this NBC show. The most recent episode had Martin Sheen (as Pres. Bartlett) making a long speech to a roomful of his friends, co-workers, and relatives. It was about three minutes long and was filmed as one take.
I doubt that this years writers could even write a three minute speech. The directing has been horrid, too.
NBC pulled the new episodes because they would have lost the entire New York and Boston viewership. If it had been a different pair of teams playing, say Detroit and Cleveland, they wouldn't have suffered any noticeable retings loss.
"Is the guy on "Angel" playing Fred's underling, Knox, the same actor who was . . .the talkative vampire in "Conversations with Dead People"
Yep. Great ep. Almost made up for "Him". Personally, I'm still hoping that Knox's charming demeanor hides something nasty and strange. He seems to have the acting chops for it.
Back to Coupling...
The British version *is* superior to the American one for two reasons. First, the British version has a more relaxed, casual acting style that makes it seem like friends hanging out than actors reading lines.
Second, THE AMERICAN VERSION COPIES IT ALMOST WORD FOR WORD!!! I don't know if the American version was going to make original stories eventually, but the U.S. one copied the plots and virtually all of the dialogue from the British episodes! The result is like watching a stand-up comedian whose whole routine has been ripped off from a better comic: Some lines may make you laugh, but it's better to hear it from the source.
(BTW, for those New York folks, I found out that the British "Coupling" is on WLIW, channel 21, Fridays at 10:30. Great show to watch on a date!)
And to digress further, is anyone else bugged by seeing the remake of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE plugged as "based on a true story"? Leatherface's human mask was loosely based on serial killer Ed Gein, who did keep and wear parts of his victims. But that's *it*. Gein didn't take out four kids in a van, he didn't operate from Texas, he didn't kill people with a chainsaw, and he didn't work with his family.
I swear, if STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE came out today, there'd be some ads describing it as "based on a true story." Makes me sad...
So, thanks to this week's Smallville, it's official: More superheroes now have healing factors than super-strength. I know Clark rebounds quickly from kryptonite once it's removed from his immediate "personal space" but his wound closing and healing instantly seemed to be a new one on me.
Off topic somewhat, who was the first comic book character stated to have a healing factor? Was there anyone character that was stated or shown to have one before Wolverine's first appearance? Manhunter maybe?
Hmmm... when was Wolvie showing up?
Manhunter was mid to late seventies... the original did not have a healing factor. Just a guy in a silly suit hunting people.
Paul Smith made him look better in the Golden Age, but Simonson/Goodwin's costume was a definite improvement.
So manhunter showed up in detective comics #437 (The Reintroduction) October-November 1973. Wolverine Showed up in the Incredible Hulk #181, November 1974. So Manhunter had a year on Wolvie, but, I'm not even sure that Wolvie was said to have a healing factor at that point in time.
Been awhile since I read that issue.
Interesting concept.
So far, Manhunter (Paul Kirk) is in the lead.
Travis
James Lynch - Well, truth is stranger than fiction.
Actually, by using the words "based on," a screenwriter or director is free to take whatever liberties he wants with the material. Look at USA's "The Dead Zone." It's "based on characters created by Steven King," even though the events in the book ("The Dead Zone," for those of you who didn't do the assignment) preclude the possibility of the events in the show taking place. Of course, it's not a bad show (the Osama bin Laden episode was laughable, though) and SK endorses it, plus we get to see Anthony Michael Hall actually acting, which is a treat in itself.
In the opposite direction, here's an example of a director taking the actual true story into consideration: Erin Brockovich.
If you watch the DVD's deleted scenes, there's one that upon watching, I was convinced should never have been cut. Erin is taking her kids somewhere and stops to get some more samples from a contaminated area, and is reading a report that says the badness gets in through the skin. Then she turns around and sees her kids playing in the contaminated dirt, and immediately ushers them back into the car and takes them to a gas station to wash their hands off. It was a very well-done scene and, for dramatic purposes, should never have been cut. Watching it again, though, with the director's commentary, I found out why it ended up on the cutting room floor -- it never happened. Steven Soderberg cut the scene because the real-life Erin told him that it didn't happen.
As for Star Wars being based on a true story, that's unlikely. Akira Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress might have been, but Star Wars was based almost directly on that. Of course, you were being facetious and probably didn't need me to tell you that.
Superman's been shown to heal rapidly upon occasion in the past couple years (if not consistently)...What about Spider-Man? While he doesn't exactly have a healing factor, he heals more quickly than normal, and been around longer than Wolverine.
"Actually, by using the words "based on," a screenwriter or director is free to take whatever liberties he wants with the material."
Too true. Unfortunately, the direction with TCSMNew is far too off from the truth. They took a serial killer who sometimes wore parts of his victims, and used those two SOLO parts to claim the whole TCSM is based on a true story. The IMDB mentions that Gein was also an inspiration for PSYCHO and THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS -- neither of which claim to be based on a true story. (If they did, that would make TCSM, PSYCHO, and SILENCE based on THE SAME true story. What a story that would be!)
As for my STAR WARS comparison, it's to say that by extending it, *anything* can be based on a true story. There have been plenty of rebels that fought against and overcame oppressive governments. If you say that's the basis for A NEW HOPE, than STAR WARS is indeed "based on a true story."
Unless, like most advertising executives, you care about truth and accuracy.
A couple of corrections:
Coupling actually lasted three
episodes. TV Guide claims that
it's only being pulled for two
weeks and will then be back.
Not that anyone is likely to miss
it.
And CBS went spineless also and
ran reruns opposite the baseball
playoffs. At least that's what
I've heard.
In response:
You heard wrong. L.A. got a brand new "Survivor" and "CSI" this past Thursday opposite Game 7 of the Yankees/Red Sox baseball playoff. I don't know if "Without a Trace"' was new because I don't watch that show.
So, in fact, I was correct and CBS was not spineless... and ran original programming opposite the Fox Baseball playoffs.
Second: you may very well be right that "Coupling" ran three episodes (rather than 2) but I would not know... as I only watched EIGHT MINUTES of the first episode... when I was driven off by the poor writing, the even poorer acting and direction and the unbearable SUPER HYPED UP artificial laugh track.
The producers desperately ordered that almost every two line exchange had to be punctuated with a hearty set of laughs. I immediately figured out that my life was far too short to sit and watch something that desperately bad...
... And this is coming from a guy who would watch RENA SOFER read a newspaper while shaving her armpits (after all, I started watching "Just Shoot Me" only after she joined the cast-- just before it was canceled.)
And yes, I know that "Coupling" is coming back... But you can bet the farm that it will not last much longer.
Witness the ratings:
"Will & Grace": 14.5 Million Households
"ER": 17.5 Million Households
"Coupling" (the show seen in between the two mentioned above) 10.2 Million Households.
That means "Coupling" loses over 4 million households from "Will & Grace" and then 7.5 million households switch back to NBC to watch "ER" after "Coupling is over!
And, for the record-- the ratings quoted above are approximate averages. Please refrain from posting they are not exactly accurate or don't jibe with whatever internet TV Ratings service you suscribe to or normally haunt.
Your cooperation would be much appreciated in this matter. :)
Okay, so who watches Smallville/
Angel and tapes Enterprise/Jake 2.0 and vice versa?
When this week's episode of Smallville opened, I had to groan. Not another girl in a darkened swimming pool at night, where the director does a couple of 360s to establish she's all alone, but suddenly, inexplicably, the villain or monster appears next to her! To my surprise though, the writers actually used that very same mind-set and put their villain at the bottom of the pool. Impressive. I was less impressed with the overall episode though. While there were lots of nods to the continuity-minded (included Lex's computer recreation of his accident on the bridge), things seem to have settled down awfully quickly for Clark, his family and his friends. This guy blew everybody off and went on a months-long crime spree in Metropolis, but other than a few passing references to that period, everybody seems to be happy to let sleeping dogs lie. It feels a bit too reset button-ish to me. But I like the idea that people are thinking maybe Clark is different because of the meteor shower, rather than because he arrived in the middle of it.
I'm enjoying Angel an awful lot, largely because of the razor-sharp dialogue, particularly in the last two episodes. Some of the dialogue is so good in fact, that I'm prepared to give the writers a pass on the fact that their villains seem to get mopped up off-camera in the final act. I'm also glad to see a werewolf back in the Buffy/Angel-verse again. There was a bit of a werewolf embargo for a while because the producers weren't happy with what they were getting from the makeup FX guys (in fairness, try to create a full werewolf suit in about a week for no money), but they seem to have largely overcome that problem. And I like the idea of a female werewolf that can be brought back from time to time. Nice to see Fred with something to do for a chance.
Enterprise continues to disappoint. I notice that Peter never ventures an opinion on this show, but I suspect it's because you've got to know what side your bread is buttered on when part of your income is derived from the Star Trek universe. Still, I'd be interested to know how he felt.
At any rate, if the producers of Enterprise are going to use the device of a running storyline, they should probably do a quick recap at the beginning of the ep just to help out new viewers. What's up with all those weird gravity anomolies? Oh yeah, that started three episodes ago, but you missed it. As Mia Wallace once said, 'Catch-up!'
So far, 'Exile' (the Enterprise episode, not Smallville) is the worst of the season. Did Hoshi bring all those changes of clothes with her on short notice to this alien planet, or were they left behind by the previous 'companions?' Dunno, never explained. How do you retrieve a shuttle that's drifting away from a larger mass by disabling its thruster? Wouldn't it just keep floating away? Dunno, never explained. I could keep going, but you get the idea.
But just to show that everything is relative, I suggest watching an episode or two of the current Andromeda. By comparison, Enterprise looks like the SF equivalent of War and Peace.
Any opinions from anyone on Tarzan? Carnivale? Jeremiah? Just curious.
Enterprise continues to disappoint. I notice that Peter never ventures an opinion on this show, but I suspect it's because you've got to know what side your bread is buttered on when part of your income is derived from the Star Trek universe. Still, I'd be interested to know how he felt.
PAD can speak for himself, but he comments on Smallville at the same time that he still does work for DC, so that may not be the issue.
On Smallville -- I notice Martha called the bullet "kryptonite". Has that word been uttered yet on the show, presumably during the big Jor-El/Chris Reeve revelation episodes? I don't remember that it was.
SMALLVILLE: When I saw the underwater stalker, I thought "Man, Aquaman's sunk to a new low." :-)
I agree with Joe Nazzaro about ENTERPRISE. The previous series always had a sense of wonder, of exploration. (Even VOYAGER, when they were trying to get home, had the crew making contact and new discoveries.) In an attempt to boost ratings, they've turned ENTERPRISE into "24" in space. There's no more exploration, or establishing ties with new aliens -- it's a race against time! They have to stop the bad guys before they strike Earth with warning again! (Makes me wonder if they're creating their own future 9/11 situation as well, with the Xindi as the Taliban and much of Florida as the World Trade Center.) And if you thought adding Jeri Ryan to VOYAGER was an obvious attempt to boost ratings with sex, you ain't seen nothing until ENTERPRISE season 3! T'Pal's new uniform clearly doesn't have a bra, and the semi-naked relaxation exercised with Tripp come close to softcore porn. ("There is nothing sexual about this, it is strictly to help you sleep. Now let me put your mouth around your...") Even a pervert like me has to say "That's just too much."
Plus, this show's veered WAY off from the ostensible purpose of showing the formative events that would lead to the creation of the Federation. And if you thought the Temporal Cold War and first Borg encounter were lapses in continuity, none of the other shows mentioned this Earth-threatening species before!
I miss Jean-Luc.
My cable system doesn't carry the WB, so I don't see those programs.
I do have HBO and have been enjoying both Carnivale and The Sopranos.
I don't know the genesis of Carnivale, but it seems very much like a Joe Landsdale story.
Regarding Enterprise, I have to agree with James Lynch's comments about the 'soft porn.' While I have no problem with sex, implied or otherwise, I really resent being pandered to, and that's what this whole insomnia story thread feels like. One can picture the pre-season story conferences where the producers are sitting around in a room, talking about what they can do to boost viewing figures (although I rather doubt the subject of bringing in new, good writers ever entered into them). Okay, how can we show more semi-nude shots of T'Pol? I know, we create this storyline where she teaches acupressure and has to take her top off...
While I don't have a problem with the new direction, i.e. tracking down the Xindi, it doesn't make sense to throw out the baby with the bath water so to speak. Having spent two seasons painting the Suliban as arch villains, how can you dispose of them so quickly? If there's time travel involved, surely they already know about the Xindi and what's going to happen, so the two storylines could dovetail at some point.
I guess the thing the really bothers me is that the show looks cheap. Why shell out for a bunch of cool-looking aliens when we can just have one instead? Let's go for a more claustrophobic tone, so we can save money on sets, alien planets, lots of extras and so on.
And don't get me started on characterization, or lack thereof. Does poor Anthony Montgomery get to do anything on this show? Do the main characters even hang out together? Do they like each other? After more than two seasons, I still don't know. The movie night idea, while a bit naff, was at least a step in the right direction. I miss the Next Gen poker games, where at least you got to see what the command staff would do when not on duty. I know the original Enterprise is supposed to be a smaller ship than the Enterprise-D, but c'mon, let's see a little bit of it.
Apologies for the rant, but I just watched 'Exile' again to put my finger on some of the things that were bothering me, so I guess they're still very fresh in my mind.
Regarding the current ads about "Texas Chainsaw" being based on a true story, while the Ed Gein case is the most Americana influence, there was the Sawney Beane family in Scotland, an incestuous cannibal family which preyed on unwary travelers. Whether Tobe Hooper was aware of this story when he developed TCM is uncertain (although the family's name in the original TCM was "Sawyer"--not far removed from "Sawney"). Hooper does claim his inspiration for the chainsaw came after he saw some chainsaws in the hardware section of a crowded store.
As for the case of Psycho, I know that film was a fair adaptation of the Bloch novel, but I was under the impression that Bloch used the Gein case as the basis for his novel.
My review on Smallville (since I don't watch the other shows...well Angel was good first season and Alias too hard to keep up with)
-I actually liked it better than last week's....think the writers giving a tongue in cheek humor to the viewers since so many people bitched about the first season becoming too redundant with the Kryptonite freak of the week and this week's episode dealt with a Punisher wannabe (well sorta...he dressed all Army-like since his dad, whom he admired, was in the Army) hunting down all these Kryptonite infected freaks......(i.e. this boy who has gills, Clark since he caught a bullet from hitting Lex)
-Classic scene was when Clark and Lana were talking about the kid shooting the freaks (oh and he saved Lana's life from gill boy) and she said "Life would be much simpler if the meteor shower never happened." Clark's reaction to that was FUCKING PRICELESS!
-Lionel such a badass and John Glover doing a GREAT job of portraying it...hard to believe someone so deceiving like that once played a weak, AIDS infected patient on An Early Frost (yes I know its acting but still).
-OH MY FUCKING GOD what a sequence that was of Clark getting shot by a kryptonite bullet! His parents freaked and I hated to see Clark in a vulnerable position...:(
-A little sick of the Clark and Lana angsty scenes and he should've just flat out tell her the truth...she even said she won't get freaked out by it!
-Heh one thing I noticed when Lex almost got assasinated by Punisher boy (well he thought Lex was a freak since Lex was on a database of meteor freaks...which Chloe made) the security men for Luthorcorp looked like Secret Service men..lol which of course is foreshadowing since Lex Luthor (in the current Action Comics) is President...I don't know someone I noticed)
RE: Enterprise. Lemme put it to you this way. Some years back I wrote in "But I Digress" that people criticized the presence of humor in my original series Trek comics, and that I felt this criticism missed the fact that a lot of STTOS was tremendously funny, by design. The Kirk/Spock/McCoy interplay, the one liners, and many situations were laugh-out-loud funny. And that more recent Trek,such as STTNG, was far more serious in tone and style and, therefore, fans had forgotten how funny STTOS could be.
And this got retranslated and repeated to Paramount as "Peter David says he can write Star Trek better than Gene Roddenberry."
And I got *tons* of grief over it.
I'll take the rap for stuff I say, but stuff I don't say? No. And when it comes to Trek commentary, on that occasion and on others, my statements tend to get twisted, distorted or misread and then relayed to the Powers That Be, whereupon hilarity ensues. At this point in my life, it's grief I simply don't need. So I just don't comment, good or ill, when it comes to Trek. Just ain't worth it.
PAD
Minor point of correction re: Texas Chainsaw Massacre ads
The ads actually say "Inspired by a true story" not "Based on a true story." This gives them infinite amount of play, whereas with "based on" I think there's a bit more expectation to be closer to the source than something like this is.
Smallville first-Loved it. Thought the Clark shooting was brilliant. My only complaint remains that poor Chloe seems in constant fear or sadness....especially when Allison Mack has (imo) the best smile in tv.
Angel- This show is great, the dialogue is sharp, the characters are all well defined....so what's wrong? Can we please get rid of Spike? They've managed to use him to ruin Buffy the last two seasons, why do it to Angel? I much preferred the early episodes. Particularly the fact that they no longer have someone to get the visions...And a male slayer? God I hope not....
Enterprise- I have to watch the rerun this Sunday because I love Hoshi. She's much prettier than T'Pol. The show isn't all bad, it has moments of goodness but it does need some focus.
West Wing-I'm not gonna watch the new season but I have found myself watching the reruns locally,now that it's in syndication.
I wanted to mention that the other new shows I'm loving are Joan of Arcadia,Navy NCIS(which is just fun crap really)and Karen Sisco(which is probably my favorite new show). I have watched Tarzan but the only thing that kept my interest is Jane who reminds me lots of Laura Linney.
Michael Norton
Anybody else notice that Gill-Boy was trying to strangle Lana underwater. I repeat... he was STRANGLING her UNDERWATER!
>>Clark is basically creating his own worst enemy simply by doing what comes naturally. In saving him, he's damning him. How stupendously twisted is *that*?<<
Mr. David is remarkably perceptive, he said, knowing what the future holds on SMALLVILLE. Poor Lex will be traveling down a very dark road, and soon... his journey sort of revs up in PERRY, an episode I wrote that introduces the Perry White character (played by Michael McKean of Spinal Tap and Mighty Wind) to the Smallville universe. We introduce another new character in the episode who will amplify on Lex's issues following his problems on that deserted island...
Someone asked if we'd used the word "kryptonite" on the show before "Extinction", and the answer is yes, but only Clark, his parents and Pete (and Chris Reeve's character Dr. Swan, I guess) know about Krypton. Everybody else still calls the green (and red) stuff meteor rock.
Anyhow, I enjoyed the comments on the show... next up is "Slumber", a kind of spooky effort, then "Perry", then "Relic", another change-up... glad you all found the show after the move to Wednesday!
Mark Verheiden
Co-Exec Producer, Smallville
Regarding Enterprise:
I happen to be enjoying this season, though I have to agree on the obvious "sexing-it-up". (Also agree on Hoshi's attire...my boyfriends comment? "Uh oh we're in trouble now, look at the "f--- me dress she's got on"
And, is it me or is T'Pol's boobs smaller? Her old uniform had them all up in your face now they're just unrestrained...deh, perhaps you guys think that's sexier, anyway. Wait a minute, why am I discussing how they look rather then their space exploits? Ya think the powers that be planned that...hmmmm?
Still I do tune in, cause I'm hooked. And I think the FX are great, especially the new aliens, brings to mind Star wars.
Hey they gotta go that way considering they had to go back before all those gitchy gizmos Kirk and the clan had. Can't make the phasers and computers any bigger then they were then!!!
Still I think it would be cool if Hoshi had an Uhura thingie sticking out of her ear at some point? And aren't they missing an obvious "sexing-up" point by not having her seat elevated behind the Captain's chair so she can cross her legs, wear an ultra-mini skirt, and show off her gams too? And you guys think "sexing-it-up" is a new ploy....
Thanks PAD for letting us know why no comments on "Enterprise" I was wondering about that myself!
Wondering if there'll be any flirting between Perry and Martha, given that the two actors are husband and wife. :-)
Mark, if you're able to, could I ask you to comment on Helen's character? The whole black widow all along bit seemed to come out of thin air, given what'd been established about her last season, and didn't seem to jibe with all her previous actions and history with Lex.
And as a complete side note, I really enjoyed your The American comics back in the 80s.
Any possibility, PAD, of your separating your analysis of the shows into separate entries on your web site?
Here in Australia I'm a couple of weeks behind Smallville and probably at least six months behind the others (once they start airing). I used to religiously save your comments on Buffy/Angel earlier in the year (while carefully placing the 'save file' window on top of your comments and squinting so I couldn't read any spoilers!) and finally perused them a couple of months ago as the seasons screened here.
I'd like to be able to view the Smallville comments of you and your visitors now while keeping those for Alias & Smallville for next year. With all the shows lumped together I can't do that (without reading the spoilers for the episodes I haven't seen).
Given that most of your blog audience are Americans it would probably be too much of a pain to separate the shows, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask ...
Brad
Speaking of The American comics that Mark Verheiden wrote, can anyone give me a brief synopsis as to what it is about? Been trying to look for it at the comic store I frequent to, etc. I'm interested in reading it so... :)
Smallville: I loved this episode. As others have said, Lex's path to darkness is great to watch, Lionel is an amazingly evil SOB, the scene where Clark was shot had me on the edge of my seat (Clark isn't used to pain, so dealing with it must be so much harder for him), and I'm tired of Clark not telling Lana.
The other thing I thought of while watching "Smallville" was, is Clark circumcised? I mean, he can't possibly be, just like Lex must not have *any* hair. (Sorry. Women have slightly different priorities when watching this show. :-) )
To Karen Williams:
Is Lex hairless? I don't know, but he was topless through most of the Season 3 opener, so that should give you an idea of whether or not he's fully bald. (Clearly his head will remain bald, though it was a nice touch that in the first episode, Lex was shown as a redhead before the meteor shower. In John Byrne's Superman mini-series, we see that Lex was a redhead who went bald naturally.)
Smallville - getting good again after that train wreck of a premier. Good to see Pete again, he's like Clark's sidekick -- Superboy-Lad :^) While it's cool that the WB wraps up / expands storylines on their website, they need to do so on the show IMHO.
Angel - Where is the energy on this show? -- everybody seems stressed out & tired - now that's reasonable considering the weight on their shoulders , but in previous seasons, no matter how bad things seemed, the Fang Gang still had drive... that seems sorely lacking so far this season.
Tarzan - PAD, you need to watch this show. I think you'd like it. It's very comicbooky (new word?) I'd love to hear your take on this show.
And Mark V., If you read this - I want the Legion! Pretty please with a cherry on top?
Lex has eyebrows and eyelashes, so he isn't completely hairless. Make of that what you will. :) (And making him red-haired wasn't a Byrne innovation; the Earth-2 version had red hair. I don't remember if the Earth-1 Lex had red hair before losing it, but I think he may have.)
Angel: As a Spike fan, I was wondering when he had gotten so irritating. Were the Angel writers just not paying attention to what was going on on Buffy? Season seven saw a lot of the more subdued and slightly sef-flagellating Spike, and suddenly he pops up in LA being an even more self-absorbent brat than he was in season four, which was both pre-soul and pre-Buffylove? I think there's too much effort going into making Angel seem the longsuffering hero, which is hard when Spike obviously has the higher moral ground. But kudos to Marsters for aptly protraying Spike's desperation and fear of what might be coming next for him.
However, that last scene in Angel's new apartment just underscored Cordelia's absence, and I'm very irritated that Angel seems to be completely unconcerned with the girl in the coma who just HAPPENS to be his best friend for four years.
Smallville: Lex hasn't had chest hair, but we haven't seen the rest of him (legs, armpits -- what did you think I meant?) and probably won't, so I guess I'll just have to leave it in the realm of speculation.
ANGEL:
They were going someplace interesting with Spike during the first episodes of Season 7. He was a subtly different character from the Spike we knew and I was excited about the acting challenge facing Marsters.
Then, with "Get It Done," Spike reverted to form (that damn leather jacket, which is rather abhorrent for him to wear anyway). I fear it's the pressure to make him the popular character the ladies love.
Smallville:
It was a throwaway line, I think, as no one seems to have caught it (or if they did, they didn't comment on it above) so I'll mention it now.
Chloe said that Van had come in and set up the database/mainframe for the majority of the school's computers.
Later on, Lionel revealed that he had donated the computers to the school.
Two and two makes four and sometimes five: Lionel and Van had some sort of connection (however slight). It makes no sense now that Lionel should want to continue that possible relationship, considering he now has the entire database locked to everyone but himself.
Yet, I have a feeling we'll be seeing Van at some point in the future. Maybe a certain bald-headed millionaire will pay him a visit and get a little info on his pal, Clark.
Sorry this is late, but what series of West Wing are you generally talking about - not "this weeks" episode?
In the UK the Inauguration Day part 1 from Series 4 has just aired.
Have I got the rest of series 4 to enjoy before the Sorkinless scripts?
Am I the only one who is noticing the parallels between Fade from DC's BLOOD SYNDICATE and Spike's current predicament?
It's probably just me, but I just thought of it the other day.
Call me crazy but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that it IS just you and you ARE the only one that noticed.
Call ME crazy, but am I the only one who thinks Alyson Hannigan should've gone over to Angel rather than James Marsters? I mean, come on, how could they have ruined such a perfect, noble death like that? I couldn't have come up with a better end to Spike than to have him die good, as a hero, to save the world, to use his soul that he ASKED FOR (which makes him better than Angel, so nyeah) to finally and irrevecobly redeem himself.
Go out on top, remember, kids?
*sigh* This is the first bad decision I've ever seen Joss & co. make. I hope they figure out what to do with Spike. Soon. Please.
It's not impossible for Clark to be circumsized. Remember he was not born on Earth. Clark is invincible here on earth, but can surely be cut by the materials available on his own planet. So while unlikely, if the custom on Krypton was circumcision it could easily have been done before he left krypton.