So, in the wake of the cancellation of Enterprise, I see they have given Braga one more shot at making a Star Trek show. And I thought Enterprise was a brutal punch in the fan gut! Once again, they leave the words "Star Trek" completely out of the title, but that's the least of it. This time, they don't even have a starship!
But OK. So apparently, according to this, before the Vulcans, Earth is contacted by a weird space probe thing (possibly connected to the probe from Star Trek IV, in the only nod to continuity I could see) which sends out a signal mutating some folks. Starfleet Command (which, in a ludicrous act of "hipping up the franchise," has been renamed "the Department of Homeland Security," as if that's a believable agency name) gathers together a team of what I guess are supposed to be their best and brightest, because Data is on it at least, but who are these other people? They don't bother to wear traditional color-coded uniforms, so I have no idea what they're supposed to be doing.
Anyway, a few more specific nitpicks:
Their linguist is much shorter than average. Does Braga expect us to just forget that the Federation has access to the perfect anti-shortness technology as seen in Star Trek V: hovershoes?
And Data is worried about being infected by the alien n-dimensional mutato-signal, but come on, that won't be able to crack his positronic network. Not even the Borg could do that! Not to mention that the episode seems to treat him almost as if he is another character altogether!
I can only shake my fists at the southern horizon and distant Los Angeles beyond.
((Oh man, have I been waiting a long time for that. I think the joke was funnier in my head, though. But, like, OK, for serious: Did anyone see this? I suspect most people were watching SG-1 and Battlestar, but for those of you with this Tivo thing I hear about on the radio, or who, like me, get east coast cable feeds and thus would have been done with those shows already when 9:00 PM rolled around. I didn't get to catch most of it, actually, for a few boring reasons, but I watched some snippets, and it seemed OK, from what I could see.))
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
So...through the haze of the crack you've been smoking, I'm guessing that you saw some horrible TV movie on the Sci Fi channel that "starred" one or more former Trek actors and it broke your mind.
Posted by Mighty Blogger Snay (Member # 411) on :
Um. No it's a new CBS series, if memory serves, starring Brent Spiner.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Yep, Brannon Braga, from his infinite well of superb creativity, came up with the idea of an independent sci-fi series about aliens creating some sort of wacky DNA-mutating disease that turns Humans into aliens. And he decided to call it "Threshold", in honor of the worst Star Trek episode he ever wrote. Me, I could easily see that it was a disturbing harbinger of things to come.
I'm a bit curious to read some of the reviews, but aside from the random snippets of raving critics quoted on the TV commercials, everything I've read suggests that this show has exactly the same kind of problems with it that plagued Voyager and Enterprise for the last eight years or so.
Also, I've got no interest in watching any TV show that airs opposite my beloved Stargate and Galactica. It just goes to show that network television still doesn't understand science fiction fans!
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
The show wasn't bad, but, so far, it seems pretty run-of-the-mill for prime-time network TV. Except, with aliens.
Jason : I recommend you research the concept of "satire".
Posted by Zefram (Member # 1568) on :
I watched it last night and thought it wasn't too bad, i.e. I'll watch it next week. My wife really liked it, but she's not familiar enough with sci-fi to notice how unoriginal most of the show's elements were.
To me it was like they took X-Files' paranoia and aliens, Star Trek's technobabble, Armageddon's team of socially maladjusted specialists, and every cliche ever used in an action movie and mixed them up in a blender.
It was nice to see Brent Spiner again, but I think the guy may have finally locked himself permanently into the role of the science fiction scientist.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
quote:Originally posted by TSN: The show wasn't bad, but, so far, it seems pretty run-of-the-mill for prime-time network TV. Except, with aliens.
Jason : I recommend you research the concept of "satire".
Except that ST: Threshold conjurs up that crappy Voyager episode and I've never heard of this "original" new series.
Taking in that context, the post is a crack haze of random thoughts....I just did not forsee that they would wawnt to (in any way) recall the Voyager episode.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
That's Matthew 7:6 for you, I guess.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
So you think of yourself as Holy nowadays, or just your rambling post? A pearl it aint. Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
Seeing as how I don't get Sci-Fi and have to rely on other means to watch Stargate and BSG, I had the time to watch this show. But, it was on at the same time as another new show premiering (Supernatural), so I watched it instead. I rather enjoyed Supernatural, and from what I hear I'm glad I didn't watch Threshold.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Supernatural WAS better. I have two brothers, and we did all sorts of crazy shit like that, so I totally sympathized with that show. With fewer special effects, mind. But still, it was fun.
Threshhold - meh. Good enough to follow up with what happened on the ship next week, but I doubt I'll be sticking to it. The acting and production values are up to snuff, but not too much of the story grabbed me. I thought I missed X-Files' in-its-primeness, and this made me wonder if that show was all that great either. It's vaguely Bruckheimer-esque, but I doubt that will last as we inevitably have the many stories in small-town breadbasket locales... Anyone rembember "Psi Factor"? It's pretty much the same thing, except only with aliens. This show is supposed to cash in on the "Lost" storytelling craze, and I hope that one SF show manages to do that when Lost becomes last season's flavor.
Mark
Posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim (Member # 646) on :
Sol, you amuse me. But only a little.
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
Arrrr, it did make me laugh, me mateys.
Posted by bX (Member # 419) on :
For some reason I watched all of Threshold today. It wasn't as bad as many had made it out to be. Braga bashing aside, it held promise. Obviously not, like, Firefly promise, but there was an arc and I was compelled by what happened next. And Ethan Rom was scary and extradimensional spookiness sort of fell away to invasion of the body-snatchers. Did we find out what the rest of the series would have been?
Sol is dead on about generic mercenary guy. At first I was hoping they'd have him be the kind of dumb guy who is really athletic and good with guns and kung-fu that all the smarties hide behind. But then they didn't learn the rule about interesting characters having shortcomings. Spiner was great, but Dinklage pretty much stole the show. When Charles S. Dutton looks serious, it's frickin' terrifying. Could have done with more of that. Also Carla Gugino is seriously smokin'.
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
Wait, this series had someone named Ethan Rom, too? So who had him first, Threshold or Lost?
B.J.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
I just watched an episode of Quantum Leap where Carla Gugino was a bubbly newlywed. Hot then, hot now.
Mark
Posted by WizArtist II (Member # 1425) on :
quote:Originally posted by TSN:
Jason : I recommend you research the concept of "satire".
You know Jason subscribes to the concept of Satyr.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mark Nguyen: I just watched an episode of Quantum Leap where Carla Gugino was a bubbly newlywed. Hot then, hot now.
Mark
I saw an oooold episode of the crappy cop show Hunter with Nana Visitor as the perp. She had patinum blonde hair and dressed like Madonna.
It's was 1980's craptackular.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Word on the street, and I believe this sort of came out after the show's future was in heavy doubt, so it could of course all be spin, but then I guess what couldn't?
But anyway, said word was that the show was intended to go through three stages, complete with an actual name change if CBS could be talked into it: Threshold, which we saw; Foothold, in which the aliens had developed into a serious presence and the main characters go from running a secret covert group to running I guess most of the government or something now the disturbing alien menace was public concern #1; and Stranglehold, in which the aliens would have essentially won, or almost, and the main characters would have gone from leading the fight to trying to survive in some freaky postcolonization world.
Which all sounds a lot more ambitious than the show managed to actually be.
(William Mapother, who played Ethan in Lost, also played a vaguely superpowered ((well, less vaguely in this show)) creepy bad guy on this show.)
[Speaking of this season's crop of mysterious science fiction TV shows, how awesome has Invasion become? Is it just me?]
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
[I wouldn't know. After the first episode, I felt no need to watch any others.]
Posted by bX (Member # 419) on :
[Invasion is next for me. Most likely followed by Surface. An associate producer for Invasion was interviewed on a podcast I listen to and she was really cool and smart, but then they started getting into plot for the show, so I had to buzz ahead. That's probably a silly reason to watch it, but then I keep hearing good things.]
Interesting about the escalation of titles. The show did seem to be heading in that direction. Is why I was curious as to whether there was ever any talk of where they were going. Evidently there were 14 scripts written and only 13 shot. Not that the last one, you know, tied everything up in a nice little package. Speaking of which, that Carla Gugino...mmm...
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon:
quote:Originally posted by Mark Nguyen: I just watched an episode of Quantum Leap where Carla Gugino was a bubbly newlywed. Hot then, hot now.
Mark
I saw an oooold episode of the crappy cop show Hunter with Nana Visitor as the perp. She had patinum blonde hair and dressed like Madonna.
It's was 1980's craptackular.
I saw this!! I think I also saw her in an episode of Jake and the Fatman - of course this was all on cable tv.
Posted by bX (Member # 419) on :
She was in an early episode of McGyver too. The one with the hellfighters footage. Nana was sporting the blonde.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
[For me, Invasion is all about William Fichtner.]
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
SHe was blonde when I "met" her- actually I was already an hour late for work and had to split the sci-fi con she was a guest at, I saw her in the lobby and managed the ol' "I loved your work on DS9".... Still, I managed to talk with casey Biggs for about half hour.
Man, I miss sci-fi cons- they've all but vanished from Florida.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Invasion was heavily trailed over here, and actually has a decent timeslot, Sunday 7pm or 8pm (I forget which, probably 8). And it has the Fichtner Factor. But when it came down to it I just couldn't be bothered to watch. I think my tastes are changing, once upon a time I'd at least have given it a chance. . .
It's not Amway, it's Consolidated Products!
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
What are the aliens like in Invasion?
I've made a resolution to never again watch a "the Aliens are already among us" Bodysnatchers rip-off ever again, so many of these shows are just unwatchable to me.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Well, one of the things I like about it is the nature of the titular invasion, but to describe why exactly would, I think, constitute an enjoyment-lessening spoiler. I guess I think it has an interesting implementation of the story.
Anyway, for Lee (and I suppose others), if you like Fichtner I would definitely give the first several episodes a shot. I can't quite recommend the show unequivocally, but I do like it.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
I think Jason's nailed it - I got fed up of the "alien bodysnatchers among us" thing. I was pissed off when Odyssey 5 turned out to be one of those shows, although I gave it a chance; First Wave I never got beyond the pilot episode (although I have been known to idly watch a repeat on occasion, especially if it's got a respectable amount of Roger Cross in it; was well chuffed when he turned up in 24). I'm not sure if Surface gets shown over here, maybe on Sky. . .
(I've a weakness for a good bit of character acting, which is why I should really get around to watching Lost one of these years, I even cheered when I saw Daniel Dae Kim in Hulk on the telly the other day)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)