It's like if Felicity had a machine pistol. So at the behest of a friend, I started watching the DVDs of Alias. And I found, much to my surprise that I liked it. I certainly wouldn't consider it a great show. But it's fun in a lot of ways and the plots are convoluted and rife with twists and turns. I like that. The OpTech Guy, Marshall. I like him too. The first season, at least, is very good. Great final episode. There's some boring relationship stuff, but it fits and you sort of need the break to make the action-y bits more exciting. (I'm lookin' at you 24)
I'm wondering does/has anyone else watch(ed) Alias? What do/did you think?
Also, Victor Garber's pussy is the bomb, yo.
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :
I have all three seasons of Alias on DVD if that answers your question. I can't wait for season four to start in January.
Season 3 I think had some pretty bizarre plot twists. Then the whole Rambaldi thing, it seems as if for such a major element to the series they didn't nail down the details prior to the show then drop hints that would be at least consistant.
I like Jack Bristow, definately someone you wouldn't want to piss off.
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
I got dragged into watching the season 2 finale of Alias, and got hooked. I watched all of season 3, and now I've downloaded seasons 1 and 2 and have started watching. Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Alias has some certain odd. . . it seems like I've said this before, but anyway, they make some odd choices in tone. Like, here is a long scene featuring a song exquisitely targeted to the 18-30 demographic. But it is really well cast. (I borrowed the first two seasons from a friend, and should probably get around to borrowing the third before the new season starts, since it will be on after Lost, so I might as well stick around for it.
(I am a little surprised there is no Lost thread yet, but then, what would it be about, since I imagine anyone watching has already gone to other sources for their speculative purposes. "Dude, remember how all these people came up with elaborate theories elsewhere?")
I would probably rather have my TV blown up by terrorists than watch Felicity, though.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Oh, yeah, and I liked it better when she was a double agent, because Sloane is the best.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
I've watched an episode or two, but the big problem was that, when it started in the UK, Sky promoted it as Buffy The Secret Agent. I'd had enough of shows featuring American teenagers suffering even more angst than they would normally because they're also living a secret life where they're a vampire slayer/nascent superhero/double agent/personification of death/morgue attendant. So. . . it is too late for me, son.
Maybe I'll give it a go on DVD. But I'll take the financially safe path of trying Firefly first, based on you lot's recommendation, just to see if we're singing from the same hymn-book, taste-wise.
Posted by StarLord (Member # 1430) on :
It's a good show. I enjoy it, but have missed it since it wasn't on this fall. I'm currently buying the DVDs of the show.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Sometimes the show sounds a bit like the script says "Let's spy the spy, before spy can spy the spy spy spy in Uzbekhistan and spy spy."
Also, I take back what I said re: liking season one because of Sloane, because Sloane in season three (thus far) is where it's at.
But since when does the National Security Council consist of anything more than a bunch of advisors? I don't think there are actual NSC agents in the sense they appear in the show.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
And who's this now, Ricky Gervais? It is! Who casts this show, anyway?
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
Yeah that was unexpected. I still not sure I get it. Still... Cool? No, but, cool. Anyone who casts Angus Scrimm as a polygraph/interrogation expert must be given the benfit of the doubt. Also, Quentin? Quentin?
Lee: If I hadn't gotten it last Xmas, I'd put Firefly way before Alias on my Xmas list. I still couldn't say that Alias is great. But it's certainly entertaining and more watchable than, say, 24. Perhaps a rental. Try out some of the first season.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
While this thread is current. . .
Oh, and spoilers for season three.
One of several multipart quests in season three is the Quest to Find Out What's In That One Rambaldi Box Stolen From Area 51. (Sorry, Project Black Hole.) Stalin wanted it, but couldn't figure it out, we're told. So, after much running about and gunplay and diverse double crosses the Covenant finally open the box only to discover it contains. . . that artificial heart from season one, the one Sloane later used to power his mysterious machine in the season two finale. So, uh, presumably Sloane put it in the box after he was done with it. (And I'm not even going to start wondering how the Covenant got the rest of the machine.) So doesn't that also mean he was the one who hid all those discs used to open said box? But this isn't something the show even hints at.
(For that matter, what happened to the bioweapon everyone thought was in the box to start with? I guess it still might have something to do with Sydney's sister, around whom one imagines much of season four, at least at first, will revolve.)
Despite all this I enjoyed season three more than available reviews suggested I would. I liked (a whole lot) Sloane's various doings. I liked how they did far more justice to a Philip Dick idea than, say, John Woo.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
So, uh, anyone have any thoughts on the season four premiere? I thought the reboot here was kind of, well, obvious, and lots of things didn't make large amounts of sense, but I am cautiously enthusiastic.
I'm going to mention some things that happened in the episode, so, you know, beware.
I do not buy some of these people working for Sloane. Or, in fact, any of them. Like, Dixon wanted to get back into fieldwork? What about the two children whom he is presumably solely responsible for? In an effort to get back to what Abrams liked about season one it seems like they're repeating lots of things that have already happened. I can buy, for the sake of the story, one character willing to overlook Sloane's murders and various skullduggeries, but two?
And since when is Sydney's mother dead? Of all the things Sydney mentioned being in those secret files, no one seemed to bring up the only thing actually shown on screen, namely her being a subject of some secret program run by her father. (Which, OK, had already more or less been established, at least to some degree.) But what's the deal here?
I think one of the reasons I like Lost more is that the setting, limited as it is, seems like it might curtail some of storytelling quirks that otherwise kind of annoy me. For instance, the frequent dropping of shadowy bad guys in favor of new shadowy bad guys. I understand that the spy stuff is supposed to seem byzantine and complex, but I'd hope that someone knows more than I do about what's going on. (Especially since, on one of the DVD commentaries a writer/producer mentions the end of The X-Files as something they'd like to avoid.)
Every post I have made to this thread has been the nerdiest and worst post ever.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Despite looking in HMV and Virgin, I can't find the Firefly DVD anywhere. Although I did get B5 season 4 for only �29.
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