Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: newman on June 28, 2011, 02:56:30 am
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So, another sci-fi series makes its way to the screens. The premise is interesting; the show starts about 6 months after aliens arrived and pretty much bombed humanity to the brink of extinction. In this post-apocaliptic world, survivors organize into small enough groups for the aliens not to be able to track them too well, and scavenge around for guns, ammo and food as they constantly retreat from the alien force, which mainly seems to consist of some sort of fliers that can scorch anything on the ground, and mechs.
Having watched the pilot (actually first two episodes stacked together) I'm not yet sure about this one. I'm not dismissing it because I believe there's foundation here for a great show. It's just not the type that wows you from the first minute, like Battlestar Galactica did for me with the mini series it opened up with. One thing's for sure; if I end up liking they're probably going to cancel it :P
Imdb page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1462059/
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They'll be better when TNT learns to not constantly annoy people with ads about the show they're ALREADY WATCHING.
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dunno seemes rather low budget to me :(
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Have seen a trailer for the show, and it doesn't look bad. Infact, it has potential. Looks to me like V, but grittier.
I'm sure gonna give this show a chance, and i hope, the execs will too.
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Looks to me like V, but grittier.
Actually, V was a complete cheese fest compared to this one. I was mildly annoyed when it got canned because I'm still a sci fi junkie and it was entertaining at times - but if I'm being honest with myself, I don't think the "V" remake was a good show. Haven't seen nearly enough of "Falling Skies" to make the call yet - it could go either way. Some series just take a while to become good - recently axed SG:U was a good example of that.
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The show acts like your supposed to care about characters you can't name yet from the first few minutes in. The acting's stiff at times too. Kinda left a bad taste in my mouth . I'm giving it a chance though.
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The show acts like your supposed to care about characters you can't name yet from the first few minutes in. The acting's stiff at times too. Kinda left a bad taste in my mouth . I'm giving it a chance though.
That was what my Dad said as well, he also got irked by the gratuitous american patriotism/flag-waving in it. (His example was that they're giving the kids lessons on the run, trying to teach them, yet their soap-box lectern thing has the American flag strapped to the front of them. That and them drawing their name from a regiment during the revolution.) He said despite the Alien mech-robot things in it, something which should have made it eminently watchable to him, he actually got bored and decided to watch something else.
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One thing's for sure; if I end up liking they're probably going to cancel it :P
I thought it was a miniseries....
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dunno seemes rather low budget to me :(
Wait. What? :wtf:
Have we really become so spoiled with special effects (if we can even call them that, anymore) that THAT (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHjMtzQcYRg&feature=relmfu) looks low-budget?
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Anywho, I feel like this could go either way, but there are three critical flaws (in my opinion, that is) that I've found, so far.
#1. The ratio of show to commercial is roughly 1:1 and it has commercial breaks quite frequently, which is unacceptable. It makes it damned near impossible to transition from one chunk of scenes to the next, because I've already stopped caring about the inconsequential factors that make it stick. I'm tempted to stop watching over this.
#2. They have too many viewpoints going on. This might be a fluke with the last episode, where I counted three (after I started counting), or they might continue it.
#3. That kid that does nothing gets way too much screen time. I get that they're trying to drive home some emotional BS, but it's getting ridiculous.
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He said despite the Alien mech-robot things in it, something which should have made it eminently watchable to him, he actually got bored and decided to watch something else.
That's a good point. I find myself watching to see more alien/human conflict resolution than anything else. ;7
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As for expecting us to care about characters we can't name yet, that's true.. but it's also the result of the way show starts. It just throws you in 6 months after the aliens actually invaded. I think this one might turn out to be an acquired taste, if they do it right.
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Looks to me like V, but grittier.
Actually, V was a complete cheese fest compared to this one. I was mildly annoyed when it got canned because I'm still a sci fi junkie and it was entertaining at times - but if I'm being honest with myself, I don't think the "V" remake was a good show. Haven't seen nearly enough of "Falling Skies" to make the call yet - it could go either way. Some series just take a while to become good - recently axed SG:U was a good example of that.
V is indeed a bit cheesy, even by the standards back then. The mini series was quite entertaining though.
I haven't seen the 2009 version yet.
Caprica is the other example, that got killed before it's time. The last few episodes were thoroughly enjoyable and the show was gaining drive.
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One thing's for sure; if I end up liking they're probably going to cancel it :P
I thought it was a miniseries....
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dunno seemes rather low budget to me :(
Wait. What? :wtf:
Have we really become so spoiled with special effects (if we can even call them that, anymore) that THAT (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHjMtzQcYRg&feature=relmfu) looks low-budget?
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Anywho, I feel like this could go either way, but there are three critical flaws (in my opinion, that is) that I've found, so far.
#1. The ratio of show to commercial is roughly 1:1 and it has commercial breaks quite frequently, which is unacceptable. It makes it damned near impossible to transition from one chunk of scenes to the next, because I've already stopped caring about the inconsequential factors that make it stick. I'm tempted to stop watching over this.
#2. They have too many viewpoints going on. This might be a fluke with the last episode, where I counted three (after I started counting), or they might continue it.
#3. That kid that does nothing gets way too much screen time. I get that they're trying to drive home some emotional BS, but it's getting ridiculous.
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He said despite the Alien mech-robot things in it, something which should have made it eminently watchable to him, he actually got bored and decided to watch something else.
That's a good point. I find myself watching to see more alien/human conflict resolution than anything else. ;7
i didnt mean special effects, i meant the god awful bad acting, and well a silly storyline tbh, if theyr willing to nuke a regiment then why not get about there whereabouts of camps and nuke those aswell, kind of silly :)
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i didnt mean special effects, i meant the god awful bad acting, and well a silly storyline tbh, if theyr willing to nuke a regiment then why not get about there whereabouts of camps and nuke those aswell, kind of silly :)
How does this relate to low budget? Low budget shows tend to have low end CGI/effects, but it doesn't necessarily mean they lack in the story or acting departments (though that is also sometimes the case). When you say a sci-fi show feels low budget everyone will assume you didn't like the CGI, unless you expand on it.
What I'm inclined to agree with and found rather silly was these people walking in broad daylight with the huge alien structure some distance in the background but still very large and visible with the unaided eye. Yet nobody's too worried they'll be spotted - heck from the distance and height the alien structure is at you could spot 300 people on an otherwise empty road with a cheap set of binoculars. Not to mention thermal imaging and god knows what tech the aliens have. What might have been a better choice was if they were only capable of moving smaller groups of people/squads at night.. But so far we know very little about the alien's motives, technology and physical abilities other than the fact they're technologically superior and turned most of the human civilization to rubble.
V is indeed a bit cheesy, even by the standards back then. The mini series was quite entertaining though.
I haven't seen the 2009 version yet.
Actually, I was talking about the 2009 version. The original V was in the "so cheesy it's cool" category. 2009 "V" was just cheesy in a bad way.
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But so far we know very little about the alien's motives, technology and physical abilities other than the fact they're technologically superior and turned most of the human civilization to rubble.
Which isn't that hard to do, if done via orbital bombardment. It's not like we have Starfleet, Earth Force or anything like that to keep us safe. :P
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We have shuttles! And these shuttles are formidable craft.. yea.. you bet :P
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After a little more thought I've decided this show is trying to be The Walking Dead with aliens, and it's not doing such a good job.
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After a little more thought I've decided this show is trying to be The Walking Dead with aliens, and it's not doing such a good job.
Actually one of the review articles I read made the point that while this was a likely opinion, Falling Skies has been in the works far longer the Walking Dead. Personally I watched the initial pilot, and while it had some interesting ideas and potential for growth my interest and available time for watching television is at such a low point right now it didn't have enough omph to hold my attention.
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so far ive only seen the pilot and a few minutes of the second episode. so far im less than impressed.
Looks to me like V, but grittier.
Actually, V was a complete cheese fest compared to this one. I was mildly annoyed when it got canned because I'm still a sci fi junkie and it was entertaining at times - but if I'm being honest with myself, I don't think the "V" remake was a good show. Haven't seen nearly enough of "Falling Skies" to make the call yet - it could go either way. Some series just take a while to become good - recently axed SG:U was a good example of that.
what ruined scifi was, belive it or not, battlestar galactica. just on the grounds that ever since the show ended, everyone has been trying to copy it and failed in the process. sgu, v (to a lesser degree or perhaps in a different way), and now this. im still trying to decide if i want to continue watching this show, knowing the fate of all the other bsg lookalikes. v will likely get bought up by syfy and played in random timeslots much like all the other reruns it buys the rights too (scc for example). falling skies has potential if only that its being run on a channel other than syfy who have proven time and time again that they dont give a **** about science fiction.
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Hm, i don't think it's a bad thing to take some elements of a successful show and apply it to another, as long it's well done.
Way better is, to create a own universe with unique elements, to distinguish the show from others.
Basically what BSG did, to avoid being "just another Star Trek ( ST was the dominant franchise back then)" show. And hell, they did it right.
I also don't think that BSG ruined Sci-fi, it is a masterpiece that gave Sci-fi a boost and lured in audiences that previously didn't care about Sci-fi.
What had a negaitive effect on Sci-fi, was the greed of execs to melk the cows of known franchises by trying to copy BSG and the inability of producers and writers to rip off BSG properly and to implement it in their universe.
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After a little more thought I've decided this show is trying to be The Walking Dead with aliens, and it's not doing such a good job.
While I have so far enjoyed both shows there is one thing that bugs me about both of them especially The Walking Dead. The fact that both shows elude to the entire military being whipped out from the very start just seems like a major cop out and a very unlikely scenario. The active US military alone is spread out all over the country with reserve and National Guard units to supplement them. Therefore it should be nearly impossible to completely eradicate them in the first few weeks or even months. Hell NORAD is built to survive a nuclear holocaust and yet our armed forces can't hold back a tide of mindless zombies or hold out a few weeks against an alien invasion just seems implausible to me. Both shows seem to pull heavily from the old 80's movie Red Dawn in that regard except replace the Soviets with Aliens and Zombies. I mean come on kids, civilians, and a handful of ex-military survivors are going to some how defeat a menace that whipped out one the most professional armed forces in history. If any thing the core of the resistance groups should be formed by surviving active military units and reserves supplemented by civilian volunteers.
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BrotherBryon, that's where suspension of disbelief is supposed to come in I believe.
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He does have a point. If every military base in the US was blown up, there'd still be a hell of a lot of surviving personnel
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I'm hoping that that gets explained in the (if they have them (and please let them have them (because I can't imagine this series gaining any headway if all they do is talk about what happened, in expository format))) pre-war(?) flashbacks.
Of course, they mention that one of their groups essentially got themselves nuked for using an AT4, of all things, and I would imagine that any surviving personnel would have attempted to grab gear like that, thus making themselves ripe targets.
As for the NORAD thing: There's no telling how advanced the aliens' weaponry is (though they seem to rely on kinetic force, for their ground troops), and the previously mentioned 'nuke' was declared in-show as 'not being their biggest'. I would imagine that they have some sort of ground penetrating bomb, similar to the Grand Slam.
Speaking about their capabilities, I can't help but feel a little underwhelmed at the lack of power their mechs display. :/
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They haven't been given a reason to really try either. I remain somewhat hopeful they will turn out to class with an angry Clan light.
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Again, the show starts 6 months after the initial attack. Those 6 months were likely used by the aliens to take out all significant surviving military personnel/equipment. This could explain why the smaller groups of civies can still move about if they keep their heads low; they just haven't been a priority target. What remains of the actual military is probably bunkered up somewhere..
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Hm, i don't think it's a bad thing to take some elements of a successful show and apply it to another, as long it's well done.
Way better is, to create a own universe with unique elements, to distinguish the show from others.
Basically what BSG did, to avoid being "just another Star Trek ( ST was the dominant franchise back then)" show. And hell, they did it right.
I also don't think that BSG ruined Sci-fi, it is a masterpiece that gave Sci-fi a boost and lured in audiences that previously didn't care about Sci-fi.
What had a negaitive effect on Sci-fi, was the greed of execs to melk the cows of known franchises by trying to copy BSG and the inability of producers and writers to rip off BSG properly and to implement it in their universe.
not trying to say bsg wasnt awesome, its the best thing i ever remember watching on tv. its just that it was so awesome that it completely changed the landscape of scifi. when bsg came around, people were blown away, it ditched geeky aspects of scifi and aimed for a more dramatic tone, which drew in other audiences. so when people who watched bsg didnt watch v, didnt watch sgu, didnt watch caprica, etc, the execs had assumed the shows failed and wrote them off to make room for cheap reality shows that people seem to watch despite the lack of interesting content. the excecs view bsg as the standard for a successful scifi series, dispite the fact that its not really just a scifi series, it crammed in elements of other genres. bsg made the scifi niche seem bigger than it actually was, and when the new shows failed to fill that niche, they were canned.
execs depend on ratings to decide what shows to air, ratings also determine the cost of ad slots during a particular show. profit will be the ad revenue gained during the show minus the cost of the show, and the execs want the remainder to be high. execs love reality shows because theyre cheap, so high ratings are less important, but are still a factor. so another problem is that people are too stupid to turn their tv off when nothing is on (especially those who fill out survey forms).
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I would think that once it was apparent that we couldn't stand toe to toe with an enemy that the regular army would resort to the kind of small unit tactics that the survivors are using. Bottom line is that both shows fail to address the shear number of soldiers and the even larger pool of recent ex-soldiers that would flourish in such situations. According to the writers the only surviving military types after 6 months would be guys nearing retirement age that left active duty decades ago and I just can't buy that. Especially with the walking dead series which is made by the same network. You can't tell me that a unit of even lightly armored solders wouldn't survive in that series when all they had to do was lock the hatches and run the damn zombies over if they were out of ammo. I'm sorry but no zombie horde is going to overrun a single M1A1 platoon unless they are taken completely off guard outside their vehicles with no fuel which is highly unlikely.
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We actually saw very little of that world so far, the plot is focused around the 2nd mas. It's entirely possible they'll run into some smaller units later on.
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One thing about M1A1's is that they need a ****load of fuel to operate, which means having a supply train with fuel tankers on hand, not to mention having an infrastructure that produces fuel. A Stryker platoon has better chances in that regard (better fuel economy, just as much Zombie-overrunning prowess, more room internally).
In the end, you can't operate modern military equipment on the move for any length of time without the logistics that make them run, and given that in a Zombie apocalypse, you do want to stay mobile as much as possible, that makes them a bit impractical, unless you can secure a safe base from which to operate. Preferably one that is actually an island.
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In the end, you can't operate modern military equipment on the move for any length of time without the logistics that make them run, and given that in a Zombie apocalypse, you do want to stay mobile as much as possible, that makes them a bit impractical, unless you can secure a safe base from which to operate. Preferably one that is actually an island.
Even if it was on an island it wouldn't make a difference, the aliens can probably drop troops from orbit if needed or go for another round of orbital bombardment. Since they rule the skies and space nowhere on Earth is safe.
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In the end, you can't operate modern military equipment on the move for any length of time without the logistics that make them run.
Depends. Anything running on a gas turbine or standard gasoline engine could make use of existing urban and suburban infrastructure for refueling. People forget that we have massive logistical redundancies for such things as fuel and food surrounding us every day. The zombie apocalypse has already removed the majority of the competing users; assuming this stuff will just disappear is part of the basic unreality of these stories.
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We don't know much about why the aliens are here in the first place. Once we find out (if we find out before the show is axed), this will determine whether or not the plot even makes sense. They could have just very easily taken us all out from orbit. Heck a large enough rock would have done the job. Instead they landed, destroyed most of our civilization, parked large ship things above each city, and used mechs and fighters to hunt down remaining humans while mind controlling some captured kids to collect scrap metal. This doesn't make much sense to me now, admittedly, but naive as I am, I'm still hoping for some awesome plot twist for it all to make sense. I'm what you'd call a receptive audience when it comes to sci fi; I want it to be good so much I'm always willing to give it the benefit of the doubt :P
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We don't know much about why the aliens are here in the first place. Once we find out (if we find out before the show is axed), this will determine whether or not the plot even makes sense. They could have just very easily taken us all out from orbit. Heck a large enough rock would have done the job. Instead they landed, destroyed most of our civilization, parked large ship things above each city, and used mechs and fighters to hunt down remaining humans while mind controlling some captured kids to collect scrap metal. This doesn't make much sense to me now, admittedly, but naive as I am, I'm still hoping for some awesome plot twist for it all to make sense. I'm what you'd call a receptive audience when it comes to sci fi; I want it to be good so much I'm always willing to give it the benefit of the doubt :P
No, not all. Even a nuclear strike on a city won't kill everyone.
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I think you might have quoted the wrong post, as my point had little to do with your (albeit) correct statement.
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I think you might have quoted the wrong post, as my point had little to do with your (albeit) correct statement.
I was pointing to your comment that they could kill us all from orbit, which would have similar effects to a nuclear attack. What limits their use of strategic weapons and why they had to get their hands dirty is ultimately what they want the Earth for. Personally I suspect outright colonization, in which case a nuked out Earth wouldn't do much good and a populace of enslaved Terrans is more useful.
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I think you might have quoted the wrong post, as my point had little to do with your (albeit) correct statement.
I was pointing to your comment that they could kill us all from orbit, which would have similar effects to a nuclear attack. What limits their use of strategic weapons and why they had to get their hands dirty is ultimately what they want the Earth for. Personally I suspect outright colonization, in which case a nuked out Earth wouldn't do much good and a populace of enslaved Terrans is more useful.
Um they get a big enough rock(s) and accelerate it along fast enough, yeah they could wipe out the planet.
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A large enough rock could easily kill us all. Yes, maybe not all of us at once but a large enough rock will cause severe climate and atmospheric changes essentially making the planet unsuitable for human life. I suppose you could still go hunt for survivors if you were in a hurry but really, after a large enough strike I'd be just a matter of patience. Of course if you want the planet as it was just without the humans then you'd probably want to consider options that don't severely change the climate. A biological attack, maybe. Or sharks with laser beams attached to their heads.
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A large enough rock could easily kill us all. Yes, maybe not all of us at once but a large enough rock will cause severe climate and atmospheric changes essentially making the planet unsuitable for human life. I suppose you could still go hunt for survivors if you were in a hurry but really, after a large enough strike I'd be just a matter of patience. Of course if you want the planet as it was just without the humans then you'd probably want to consider options that don't severely change the climate. A biological attack, maybe. Or sharks with laser beams attached to their heads.
Except that since their needs appear similar to ours making the planet unsuitable for us means making it unsuitable for them as well. I suppose they could launch a bio attack, but that would screw up their enslavement plans.
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:wtf: We've just gone round robin back to newman's original post, they could have just rock dropped us into oblivion but instead opted for a ground campaign so hopefully the show reveals a plausible reason for it, ie colonization/enslavement.
We don't know much about why the aliens are here in the first place. Once we find out (if we find out before the show is axed), this will determine whether or not the plot even makes sense. They could have just very easily taken us all out from orbit. Heck a large enough rock would have done the job. Instead they landed, destroyed most of our civilization, parked large ship things above each city, and used mechs and fighters to hunt down remaining humans while mind controlling some captured kids to collect scrap metal. This doesn't make much sense to me now, admittedly, but naive as I am, I'm still hoping for some awesome plot twist for it all to make sense. I'm what you'd call a receptive audience when it comes to sci fi; I want it to be good so much I'm always willing to give it the benefit of the doubt :P
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Yea, the point is if you control the orbit you've won 99% of the war. Hell you don't even have to drop anything. You can park a large rock in Earth's orbit and say "either you all surrender unconditionally or that nice Texas size boulder is coming down, wiping your civilization out". What option would we have? Certain end of our race vs. at least a possibility of survival through surrender.
They gave this advantage up and (I hope) they must have had a reason for it. It's this reason I'm wondering about. Whether or not they can wipe us out isn't in question, at least for me.
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As far as I can tell, they did won the war, just like america "won the war" in iraq back in 2003. 99% victory, that is. Now the show is all about whether if the resistance will prove itself to endure the hunt and for how long.
So it's kinda like an inverse Vietnam.
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I don't know how "hard" they are going to be in the show but, when you think about it, in that situation a resistance movement would probably want to do enough to survive, but probably not enough to drive the aliens off. Realistically any race that was capable of travelling to Earth and conventionally conquering it sure as shootin' should be able to rock drop or conduct an orbital bombardment that would render Earth into slag if they wanted to. That they are limiting themselves to a conventional "boots on ground" approach means they have a purpose for the planet that requires it intact. If a resistance renders those objectives untenable then reasons for limiting themselves becomes moot and exterminatus becomes a viable option.
Better hope there is an Eridani Edict that the aliens need to abide.
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Yea, the point is if you control the orbit you've won 99% of the war. Hell you don't even have to drop anything. You can park a large rock in Earth's orbit and say "either you all surrender unconditionally or that nice Texas size boulder is coming down, wiping your civilization out". What option would we have? Certain end of our race vs. at least a possibility of survival through surrender.
They gave this advantage up and (I hope) they must have had a reason for it. It's this reason I'm wondering about. Whether or not they can wipe us out isn't in question, at least for me.
In fairness their current strategy seems pretty effective. In 6 months the obliteration of 90% of the human race, evidently without too extensive a use of WMDs. That's a very impressive accomplishment.
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Oh no, look, the reason they are not flat earthing everything down is mostly because they do want this planet for something other than uranium resources, since that kind of thing is easier to get in a non-populated planet, wouldn't you say?
So if they are willingfully invading a living planet, the reason must be one that includes the ecossystem. So their plan will evidently exclude the leveling of the very thing they are trying to get, whatever it is.
IOW, they will try to be as environmentally friendly as possible, under the war circumstances.
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FFS do you guys even read each others' posts? You're actually repeating each other while framing it as an argument.
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FFS do you guys even read each others' posts? You're actually repeating each other while framing it as an argument.
:welcome:
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well they didnt come for our women
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well they didnt come for our women
The Alien Forces of the planet Nambla want our minors!
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Why would a bunch of Marlon Brando aliens want our younglings?
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Because they are a branch of the catholic church. That much is obvious to me anyways.
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I forgive your blasphemy! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq1rdnyE3Ko)
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This last episode left me with a rather distinct LOST/BSG/SGU vibe. I am disappointed, and no longer have any hope whatsoever that this series will be worth a damn.
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still haven't seen tonight's episode because they scheduled it in the same time slot as the new season of breaking bad, so il have to catch the late showing. but falling skies seems to be going in circles with its plot. every episode is almost exactly like the last. the plot seems to be going nowhere.
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I stopped watching after number two.
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Got to admit, at the moment the show doesn't seem to know where it's going. At least the latest ep wasn't exactly the same as the 4 before that, but I'm kind of losing hope of this finding it's way. There's so much you could do with a post-alien-invasion Earth and what they came up with was hanging around in an abandoned high school and NAMBLA aliens abducting kids. Trying to decide if the whole kids thing is an attempt to appeal to that target audience.. teenagers with guns, smaller kids what it's all about (apparently, for the aliens) and a high school building as the primary setting (so far). I'm giving it another episode or two, unless something really interesting happens I'm giving up hope on it.
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What's disappointing is that it could have been so much better, simply by changing the focus and/or narrative technique. It seems to me that they're going to go down the far-too-well-traveled social angst route that's overly populating so many different series, of late.
And if that BS NAMBLA Alien thing ties into the plot --which I can't imagine it won't, what with the focus being what it is--, I will be severely displeased.
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I think it's safe to say that the alien's plans with the kids will be one of the more important, if not the most important element of the plot.
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I'm liking this show so far. It has good production values, some drama, decent story.
I'm looking forward to the answers to two and a half questions: Why don't the Skitters carry weapons? Are the mechs autonomous or do they have pilots? If pilots, what species... are... they...
hmm
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the way it seems to be going id say the robots run their society.
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I'm pretty sure that the Pedophileus Araneus carries the stunner, sometimes.
And they blatantly set the Bipedeus GladOSeus as a Checkov's Gun, so I wouldn't count on the big reveal being impressive.
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i couldnt make it through the first episode all the way. i kept waiting for the flashback of when they first arrived... and waited and waited and waited..... by the time they were walking out of the city, and passed by that house that the the main guy and his love interest(?) reminisced about the past over, i thought "yeah, here it comes. YAAAY the FLASHBACK!.
nope, just more commercials. the adverts really are better than the show i think. :hopping:
***OK i have to break in here to let you know (warn you?) that my intent was to write like a few sentences, maybe a paragraph, about what i hoped to see from the flashback that NEVER FREAKING HAPPENED!!!! GGRRRRRR!!!!
well at any rate, if any of you know me then you are aware of my tendency to be very VERY Verbose. it just so happened that while i was describing a scene i imagined for the show, one of those dreaded writing bugs crawled up my butt, and infected me with Uber Descripticus Verbositus. its a horrid disease known to affect writers. while getting the urge to write more and more and more can be great, the problems with uber descripticus verbositus (from this point forward known as UDV) are twofold. for one, while spelling may take the usual hit or two, punctuation, capitalization and run on sentences become a problem. and what makes UDV so insidious is that once afflicted, the writing bug can possess you at any time, EXCEPT when working on things you WANT TO work on.
anyway, i have already posted WAAAAAAYYYY too much, so here's the gist. i think we all agree that we would like falling skies more if we got to see a pilot that was like independence day or something. its kinda a lame ass way to cut your effects budget, AND let the writers be lazy as hell. yeah, lets call it falling skies! its about alien invasion! mankinds last stand! WOOT! oh, but we dont have a lot of money, and the janitor is kinda moonlighting as our head writer (and our entire writing staff). its totally cool though, he can read at a 4th grade reading level! so like, i know we call it falling skies, but lets make the plot skip over the big spectacular event. who wants to take the time to make big battles, or let the viewers get to know the characters. lets just tease the hell out of it, making it look like an invasion, and then BAM! we start 6 months after the invasion, (and consequently the ACTION!) and we can just pay a few random people to put on hobo clothes, or camo and walk around the dilapidated parts of town complaining about how good things USED to be, and for sh*ts and giggles, lets make the aliens like pedophiles or something! NO, NO! not like stepdaddy spends too much alone time with you pedophiles, no! we will do like, pedophile LIGHT. yeah! all the creepiness of regular pedophiles, but only half the calories! you know, like ohhhhh! great idea! lets make the aliens have a uncomfortable burning need to hang out with kids. everyone liked michael jackson, right? maybe we should get the aliens some rhinestone gloves, and tight pants..... but i digress. we will tell everyone else the show is called falling skies, but really, we will produce a show called "Crap!: The Sky Done Fell. that way we can take the script from mtv's "16 and pregnant" and add aliens, and hobo's, and then no one will know! its genious! everyone knows people who watch TV are stupid, and fall for everything. well someone go get the janitor and tell him to get to working, i have his crayons and construction paper on his desk. and tell him no more glitter glue until i get 2 more episodes on my desk! now, im off to go watch my show! there's a real world marathon on!
yeah, im pretty sure thats what happened to the show.
now, here is my attempt at what the REAL proglogue should be. im warning you, it starts out as just a description of what is going on, then slowly starts turning into a damn near novella style writing. (minus the nice punctuation and capitalization. ) when you get an idea, if you stop to edit, you will lose it. the best time to write is when the feeling hits you, and dont stop or slow down for typos or you will lose your train of thought.
here is the episode the way i saw it happening. *until the halfway point. then it turns into some sort of end of all life on earth, whats the deeper meaning of life kind of stuff. be warned, its LONG. surely they gotta have some kinda pills for people like me..... :banghead:
***NOTE*** for the life of me, i cannot figure out how to get this to fit in the box. i didnt want to dump 3 pages of text in the post. if someone can tell me what im doing wrong, i would be grateful. im using the (code) box, which i never used to have problems with. i even tried using the (pre) tag to get it to show correctly. ive formatted it in word, notepad, and even wordpad. nothing works. and yes i know the tags use brackets, but im too lazy to use those bbcode exclusion tags so that the tags will show in message, etc.
for now, please copy and paste into notepad, or any other field. heck, even copy and hit reply, then you can load it there and read it.
im exhausted, got a lotta stuff to setup so i can begin VO work, and i just dont have the energy left to troubleshoot this anymore. if anyone can help, by all means, please :sigh:
amazing when you think about it. counting the hours i fell asleep in front of the computer, i have just spent almost 10 hours writing, just to make a point about a crappy show i only ever watched 30 minutes of.... man. im messed up! :shaking: lol.
so here is the culprit that stole my night away. right below here.
read it at your own risk. im not responsible for temporary, or probably permanent lapses of sanity.
Enjoy..... IF YOU DARE!!!!!!! muwahahahahahah! :drevil:
Main char in bed, scrumpin’ his wifey, while the TV is on low volume in the background. The two exchange playful banter in their post coital bliss. Screaming from the news channel is loud enough to catch their attention and she says ‘hey, hop off and turn that up! What’s going on? Another terrorist attack?” they sit and watch as the news coverage slowly switches from anchors holding their fingers to their ears while trying to hear the info coming into their earpieces. They blab over and over the typical “we are trying to find out exactly what is going on right now. As of this moment it’s a total myste.... hold on...... I’m getting word that we have a live feed from the white house. Our reporter Aaron McKenna is on scene. Aaron, can you tell us what is going on?” the camera pixelates in and out as the connection tries to focus. A very pale faced reporter breathlessly speaks “John, I ... I just don’t even know how... to ... this is ... is ... it’s incredible! In the sky.... just.... poof... and they were there!” The camera shakily swings upward, revealing a black sky, even though its just ten after one in the afternoon. The camera pans back out, revealing that the sky is in fact not dark, but rather bright, casting the sun’s warm rays onto an object whose size froze the two lovers cold. The giant disc blocks out the sun over the entirety of the capital, the edges of it seemed as distant as mountains, viewed from a flat plain, miles from their bases. the sheer enormity of the craft demanded the sum of every fear, every feeling of dread and trepidation, every worry of impending doom, and when your stomach churned as it twisted into knots, and your sweaty palms are brought up to your clammy, pale face in a vain attempt to comfort yourself and resist the urge to vomit. You try to blink but your eyes have become dry from long periods of not blinking. As you rub your eyes in vain attempt to get some moisture to refresh them, but all blood and color have drained away from your faces...
you and your lover look at each other, nearly trembling. You want to ask her, why? Why are they here? Why over DC? You stare into once fierce blue eyes, so vibrant and lovely, but find them to be brimming wide with terror, spilling down her cheeks in great rivers of fear. Her wide eyed, frantic gaze captures your full attention, and you hold still your own questions, as trembling lips, filled with fear, open to mouth words without sound. Stricken mute by fear she may be, but no words were needed, for her eyes, those beautiful windows to an even more beautiful soul, yes, those eyes spoke clearly in the language understood by all life on earth, sentient or not. “What’s going to happen to us?” those brilliant blue orbs asked. And just as he needed no words to hear her hearts question, neither did she need a spoken word to see his awful answer. The tears welling in his eyes, the look of helplessness and guilt...they spoke clearly “I don’t know, my love. Forgive me, but... I just don’t know.”
harsh static from the television released them from their inner dialogue.
”we seem to be getting some kind of interference with our signal in DC, bear with us, we have confirmed reports of at least 4 other craft over other US cities, and unsubstantiated claims of similar happenings in Europe and the middle east. We go now to Gregory Mitchums at our sister network HKYL channel 5 news in Orlando. “The signal blurs in and out, and the colored bars pop up intermittently. “Greg, this is John Deetle, channel 25 Foxhound nightly news, can you tell us what you see there? Have the objects moved, or made any attempt to commun---“ Excited and garbled speech breaks in through the distorted picture, interrupting the news anchor’s line of questioning. “...ome kin...f ...ight appearing nea....he center of t....aft....een going on.....bout 3 minu........” the anchor looks over to his side “cant we get that connection a little stronger? shut down the other feeds, so we can use the full bandwidth” the picture continues to fade in and out, then drops to a black screen, and reappears a moment later, the picture still blurry, but clear enough to make out, and the reporter’s voice can be heard more clearly. It seems as if he had not stopped talking throughout the technical difficulties. “...ople are scared here, and no one se.....o know what’s going on. the light has been pulsati.... n the center of the craft for the last fiv....utes or so, but nothing else seems to be happe...g, at the momen..”
the anchor butts in. “Greg, its John, please hold for a moment, we are getting word that the president is going to address the nation from camp David. I think we can count ourselves lucky that he was on a golf outing this day. We ask our viewers to stay tuned, and the police chief has asked us to entreat our viewers to NOT call emergency services unless you are injured, or are caring for an injured individual. Emergency calls only please. Your phones will ring distinctly to alert you of any emergency information, but please in the meantime, the 911 switchboards are jammed and real emergencies can’t get through. We here at channel 25, Fo—“
a loud gasp and people screaming come in through the live feed in Orlando.
”...y god, what’s gonna happ.. “ The light on the bottom of the craft begins to pulsate wildly and rotate in an ovular pattern. “People are ...um... they’re running in a panic, and I think we might need to get out of... what the hell, THE GROUND IS SHAKING!” the camera momentarily comes in clearly, as it bounces back and forth as if in an earthquake.” SCREW THIS, AIN’T NO JOB WORTH THIS SH*T!” the camera falls to its side and a loud “thwack” can be heard as the reporters mic hits the asphalt. The camera still tries to autofocus, and in the distance, Disney World can bee seen clearly, with Epcot center and its massive geodesic sphere sitting directly below the object. The reporter yells to his camera man to run, and they take off, getting smaller and smaller on the screen. Suddenly, the light flashed a few times, sending waves of static hiss through the airwaves. The reporter and cameraman stand transfixed on the object, rapt with fear and curiosity. Abruptly the ground stilled and the light flickered a few more times, sounding for all the world like a sputtering flame before the bright light shrank rather quickly to about the size of a streetlamp’s light, though as intense as a laser shining directly in your eye. As the ground settled people who were screaming and running like spooked cattle evading an unseen predator slowly stopped and looked skywards, their sense of doom giving way to a sliver of hope. The cameraman made his way over to the fallen camera’s tripod, and righted it, while the bewildered reporter scrambled back to his mic. “It seems that whatever was happening here ... has... has... stopped for the moment folks... please, we need everyone to remain calm”
the news anchor, looking extremely flustered and confused, ventured a question. “Greg, we have been... What? ... Look I’m sorry, guys, I can’t do my job with so much chatter on my feed...” he reached up and pulled out his earpiece, and let out a sigh. “Ahhh, much better. Now, Greg, are you and your team ok?”
Gregory nodded his head as he listened in on the feed, a noticeable delay in the signal resulted in a delayed response “Yes, John, we are ok at the moment, though I must admit, I doubted our chances there for a moment. “ the camera pans back over to the ship, and its tiny flickering light. A spider web of cracks radiated outward from the lens’ lower left corner, producing a kaleidoscopic effect on the pulsing light. “John, the fear here is definitely subsiding. The people here are Walt Disney world seem to be laughing and cheering. however whether that’s true belief that everything will work out for the best, or just a lot of nervous, scared people trying to hide it from each other, I can’t say.”
Back in the studio, a producer slips John a note. “Greg, hold for me if you would because... oh... ok... nevermind, the president’s speech is scheduled to start in the next minute or so. In the meantime, I would like to know what the people there think about all this. Is there anyone willing to speak with us?”
The reporter scanned the crowd with his eyes intently. An older lady met his eye, and pointed to herself. He nodded to her, and she walked over. “greetings, ma’am, could I ask your name?”
”Sure thing young man, you can call me Peggy”
”Alright Peggy, America wants to know, what are you feeling, what are your thinking right now? Given all that’s gone on in just this last hour, I can’t imagine what you must be thinking. Honestly ma’am I don’t even know what to think.”
The old woman smiled “well, dear, when you get to be my age, you accept that some things are inevitable. This here world could blossom or burn, but all you can do about it, is watch it bloom, or try not to get burned. The future is already written, but the dear lord penned it in invisible ink. But this here ink doesn’t reappear with acid or heat, or even time. It’s a paradox. If we read the future, then it would be the present, and that book of the future in your hand will always have the same amount of unread pages in it. There’s only one who can read it to the end, and KNOW whets in it, and that’s the one who wrote it, dear. “ She looked at him and smiled a knowing smile.
taken aback by the depth of the woman’s words, the reporter thought a moment, and replied “well ma’am not everyone believes that the future is written, personally, I think we write our own future as we go, its the choices we make that decide the future, and each of us gets to choose what we write in our book.”
The woman flashed a warm smile back at him “dearie, you are partly right about that, but I think you have proven my point with yours.” Greg’s eyebrow raised inquisitively “you see, Mr. Reporter, you said that you don’t believe the future is written, right? Well that’s just fine, not that long ago, no one believed that the world was anything other than a big flat table whose edge you could fall off of. And everyone on this whole earth believed that, and it didn’t matter, because the world IS round. tell me, if every man, woman, and child on this earth couldn’t change what IS, then how do you think you can, being only one soul?” the reporter opened his mouth to say something, but the elderly woman continued, in her bright and happy tone, that reminded him of a Sunday school teacher. “And if you don’t believe me, then believe yourself. You said that you write your own future as you go, right? Well sonny, if you write it as it happens, that’s a journal, not the future. “
The air seemed to begin humming and the smell of ozone wafted over the group gathered around the TV camera. People began looking around nervously, but no one wanted to look at what they all feared was the source of this strange feeling
the woman let out a sigh “dear reporter, if you have your reading glasses handy, then open your eyes wide, and pay attention. I think the dear lord is about to bring out that book of the future. And hope you are at peace, because I think he aims to end this chapter in the next few paragraphs.”
The light on the ship seemed to be rotating, and changing colors. The energy in the air was very noticeable, like grabbing something statically charged. The hairs on the back of many necks began to stand on end.
”What do you mean the end of the chapter?! “ Greg blurted out, panic creeping into his voice as he stared wide eyed at the object hovering over what used to be known as “the happiest place on earth’.
”Well my son, this chapter has ran long, and it’s coming to an end. You can refuse to read it if you wish, but ignorance is not a defense against the inevitable. All you can do is hope that our dear lord sees some characters he likes in this chapter, if so, maybe, just maybe, he might write another chapter with those characters in it. The book will never end, Greg Mitchums, characters come and go, and entire plots come and go. But the story endures for all time.”
the woman stood upright, and all frailty seemed to disappear from her. She placed a single hand on the reporter’s shoulder and gave a reassuring squeeze.
”Don’t fear the end of a chapter my child, for there are other stories, other books, and when one story ends, those characters stay with the reader, even if the reader and the writer happen to be the same person. “
The reporter looked into the old woman’s eyes, into eyes that defied age, defied classification. She seemed almost to be glowing, and her smile made him feel at ease, as debris whipped by and the light grew brighter than the sun. The wind whipped up so fiercely it finally drowned out the screams of panic and terror. And in the maelstrom of wind and light, there was only him and her.
He smiled back at her, a genuine warm smile.
”There you go, dearie! You understand.” she nodded in approval, then laughed “oh, it shore is gettin’ tingly, a’int it dearie?”
He laughed back.
The woman squeezed his shoulder one last time. “Gregory Marcus Mitchums, you have penned a good story. One to be proud of. I give you my word. I look forward to reading about you further, in your next book.” She smiled one last time. “I am glad we got to talk before I close this chapter, my son. Goodbye.”
The reporter blinked, and she was gone. He gripped tightly the lamp post in front of him as he was buffeted by the gale. Despite the destruction around him, he couldn’t stop smiling. He was at peace.
His fingers begin slipping, but he had read the book. His hands would hold. For once in his life he KNEW.
Suddenly, the massive pulsating ball of light seemed to freeze, as if someone had hit the pause button. The light became infinitely bright, and then like a miniature sun, held inside a soap bubble, it burst.
Everything became pure white light. As the chain reaction moved toward him, at the speed of the very light that was being unleashed, he could see it all as if in slow motion. He could hear each atom “pop” as it burst with the brilliance of a newborn sun. he could see the electrons, flying around in the mass of light, and watched as the light bonds holding even the subatomic broke free in a chaotic dance of infinite reactions, as quarks broke down into neutrinos, dark matter and dark energy, and hundreds of even smaller bits that man would never even discover. He watched it all breaking down into the very essence of destruction AND creation.
As the event horizon reached him, he felt he had lived 5 lifetimes in this one moment, and he smiled. Because for this one glorious moment, infinitely brief though it was, he KNEW.
With open arms he welcomed the chapter’s end.
And he was not afraid.
Back in the newsroom, john listened to the cooky old lady and her answers. “The president will be speaking momentarily, folks, so we are going to leave Greg and go now to camp da......” the monitor Greg was on flickered popped and then went blank. “Folks hold on, we are reviewing the feed to see what happened. “ The last few frames played back, and their answer drained all blood from their faces. John’s mouth suddenly felt as dry as the Sahara, and he could only manage to stammer a few “uh.... I....um’s”
the anchor’s narration was not needed, for the two lovers sat in bed, holding each other, paralyzed by the horror of it all.
As the man turned to his wife, mouth open, but words failing him, their attention drew back to the sound of screams on the television.
The anchor looked pale as a ghost, and it was obvious why. The studio cameras were shaking violently and that horrid crackling sound could be heard over the anchors own mic.
”f.f.f.ff.fff...fffollks, wwee hhave reports of .. s.s.satellites failing all over t..tht.t.th.e world..I ah... I .... AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHH!” the TV flared bright white as the anchor’s scream dissolved into the hiss of static as the snowy analog signal took the news channel’s place. The man’s wife pounded the remote, checking every channel, but the result was the same.
As she turned to look at her husband, the power went out. Somehow as they stared at each other, they both knew that the power had just went out forever.
He smiled at her. “I love you, with all my heart”
she took his hand, and touched her forehead and nose to his.
The bed began to vibrate and then shake violently; she closed her eyes tightly, to rid them of the tears that had welled up.
A light began flickering outside their window. They both turned and looked. He let out a deep half sobbing breath. The light was growing bigger, and brighter.
She reached out and grabbed her husband’s face, and turned his head to face her, head to head, nose to nose, she forced her eyes open despite the harsh light, and met his. And love and warmth were felt one last time.
”I love you too! With all my soul!” she sobbed.
Tears streaming down their faces, the lovers locked their lips for what was surely the final kiss on earth, and two incomplete beings became one whole person, and their tears mixed as they ran down their faces, intermingling into a single beautiful tribute to all of human emotion.
Anger. Regret. Happiness. Fear. Sadness. Hope.
All floating in the confines of a single tear, as it tumbles through the air, bound in singular purpose by the one perfect human creation, and the final emotion.
Love.
And as that sparkling droplet fell, the terrible heat engulfed its creators.
The little bead boiled and spat, evaporating into nothingness.
What fell from a lover’s embrace, never hit the ground.
And for all those emotions of human weakness and greatness, boiled away into the dark void left by that most terrible weapon, one could not be burned, nor melted, evaporated, or forgotten.
Love echoes in a vacuum, a wave form whose magnitude can only multiply, until the vast emptiness is filled again.
But this is a tale whose time is up. And so we move on, for...
This Chapter Has Ended.
[/pre]
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A-a-a-n-nd this episode proved all of my suspicions. Game over. Not watching anymore.
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A-a-a-n-nd this episode proved all of my suspicions. Game over. Not watching anymore.
Elaborate.
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It was a generic LOST/SG:U/Whatever episode that focused purely on human paranoia and backstabbing, serving nothing in the way of plot. Oh, and Mr. Prisoner is right back where he started, so we can forget pretty much everything that happened in the last six thousand episodes, yet still understand what's going on in the plot. Hell, there wasn't even any real character development (unless you count characters dying as development).