but last two episodes provided some interesting developments
There is a name missing from that list: Sheriff Tyson, played by Sam Neill, the only recognizable actor in the bunch. Neill featured prominently in the trailer, but in a rather maddening bait and switch, his character is killed at the end of the first episode. One gets the sense that after many of the episodes were filmed, Apple execs told the producers that they needed at least one recognizable actor in the cast to capture attention, so Neill was added in a storyline that goes nowhere and then abruptly ends. This also is rather symbolic of the rest of the series, which frequently heads down blind alleys and then stops, or promises things it fails to deliver: very little Sam Neill, very few aliens, almost no action.
Don’t have much to add except I stopped watching after 3 episodes…
What struck me about this series was that the writers (and directors, and producers) have created a work with a complete absence of any story. The characters all move around and emote, collated into a hot mess that is just a collection of barely-connected scenes.
Plus, why did they all have to be such depressing people?
QuotePlus, why did they all have to be such depressing people?As much as I loath Independance day (manichean and jingoistic past 11, meh) - I have to say that the scene where an angry, cigare-chomping Will Smith punch the Alien in the face, saying "Now THAT's a close encounter of the third kind" was funny as hell
And I'll admit that I had a bad taste in my mouth after the Sam Neill bait-and-switch where the commercials showed us a familiar, likeable actor in the show, and he was dead by the first episode.
Quote from: Blackstar on 08/26/2023 12:51 pmAnd I'll admit that I had a bad taste in my mouth after the Sam Neill bait-and-switch where the commercials showed us a familiar, likeable actor in the show, and he was dead by the first episode. Given it's common for series producers to spend a bit more effort on the pilot episode, perhaps he quit after hearing the direction the show was going? After all, unlike the rest of the cast, he does have a reputation to uphold.
I think it's become part of the formula/strategy to hire the big-name star to elevate the stature of the show and lure you in as a viewer, even while paying them a hefty pricetag. And then of course after they've served their purpose, they're deliberately killed off or sent away or whatever, to lighten the budgetary load.
Game of Thrones(Sean Bean)
I gave up watching season 1 after 3 episodes…it was soooo boring…but after reading that season 2 finally brings on the aliens, I watched S2 episode 1…or tried to…I gave up 3/4 of the way through.
Quote from: Jeff Lerner on 08/28/2023 12:45 pmI gave up watching season 1 after 3 episodes…it was soooo boring…but after reading that season 2 finally brings on the aliens, I watched S2 episode 1…or tried to…I gave up 3/4 of the way through.The aliens showed up late in season 1, but I think they are some of the worst alien designs I've seen in a long time. Clearly one of the themes for the show was to keep everything mysterious, and that included hiding the aliens for as long as possible, and then making it hard to see/understand them. So they look like black gooey shapes with spikes that come out of their central body. No clear face or even shape. And of course we don't know anything about their speech or motivations. But that's all part of what I think is so wrong with this show--the creators had a premise and themes, but they had no good way to execute them. In fact, it may not be possible to execute them in an interesting way. "They're mysterious!" Yeah, so? That only works for so long until we get bored with not knowing what they are doing.Did Apple TV+ make the whole series available at once, or are they rolling out one episode a week? I'm really only interested in seeing the ending, because based on season 1, it will be a long slog to get there.
Episodes seem to be released weekly …I find the actors are terrible, the plot is slow moving and the effects are …uugggg..
if you make it to the season end, let us know.
Quote from: Jeff Lerner on 08/28/2023 01:37 pmEpisodes seem to be released weekly …I find the actors are terrible, the plot is slow moving and the effects are …uugggg..Oh, that was definitely true for the first season. The only person I cared about in the show was the British kid, who is initially bullied but turns out to have more resilience than just about anybody else. And then he dies! (The more I think back to this show, the more annoyed I get with the writers.)I think I watched the first three episodes and then started skimming through the rest and only watched the last one. And it was just so disappointing on many levels--like we finally get to see an alien, and it looks like a spiky ball of tar. We got all the way through that first season, supposedly the aliens were defeated, and then in the very last scene it looks like a different group of aliens show up. This looked like taking a page from the "Lost" guidebook: rather than answer the big mystery you've created, just create another big mystery that eclipses it. Quote from: Jeff Lerner on 08/28/2023 01:37 pmif you make it to the season end, let us know. I would only watch the last episode and would not spend any time on the rest.
You made the right choice. I honestly have trouble imagining who the target audience is for this. I get that plenty of people don't care about accurate science and technology being presented in a work of fiction, but even so there is a lot of alien stuff cluttering up the Lifetime daytime soap opera they are trying to watch.
I wouldn't watch the second season if Sam Neill himself sat down with me and shared my popcorn.