A bunch of the regular shows are taking a break, but “Alias” was new, and a new series entitled “Wonderfalls” had a promising debut last night. Kinda spoilers follow…
“ALIAS”–What could have been a fairly standard episode was greatly elevated by the simple-yet-clever storytelling conceit of, halfway through the episode, starting it over again. The first half was Syd’s POV, the second was Lauren’s (is that her name?) Like the 7th season “Buffy” episode in which an invisible Willow resulted in an episode that will benefit from subsequent repeat viewings, little bits of business which seemed oddly throwaway in the first half took on entire new meanings in the second. And with all that, it almost pales in comparison to revelation made by Sloan to Patricia Wettig that he might be Syd’s dad. Is it yet another Sloan psych job, or does it go a long way to explaining the occasionally paternal air he’s had toward her (paternal in the same sense that, say, Darth Vader was when he hacked off Luke’s hand before saying he wanted to be best buds). A series that continues to evolve and keep the viewers off guard.
“WONDERFALLS”–We’re one episode into this delightfully twisted series in which a slacker-type works in a typically tacky Niagara Falls gift shop until an odd series of happenstances results in her being able to talk to the animals. But not just any animals: Only images or lifeless representations of them. As opposed to the charming but occasionally pretentious “Joan of Arcadia,” there is no sense that Jay (I think that’s the heroine’s name) is laboring at the behest of the almighty and learning deep life lessons. In “Wonderfalls,” Jay describes herself as a pinball, and that’s about right. It’s as if some Indian animal trickster god (Coyote, perhaps?) is screwing with her, using her as the little marble that sets off an elaborate game of “Mousetrap.” There’s no element of free will here. God doesn’t come to her and say, “Here’s what I want you to do, but the rest is up to you.” Here, Jay is badgered relentlessly (a la Patrick Swayze singing “Henry the Eighth” to a harried Whoopi Goldberg in “Ghost”) by the animals until she agrees to serve her reluctant part in an eventual outcome that seems designed more by Rube Goldberg than the Almighty. I have to admit, I think it’s a kick that unlike Tru who does her thing because she can’t let people die, or Joan because her conscience is prodded by in-person miraculous incarnations of God, Jay is helping people because not to do so means perpetual torture…which is probably the most believable.
I’ll be very interested to see where this promising new series goes. Of course, it’s basically SF/Fantasy on Fox on Friday, so if Fox runs true to form, it’ll go in the dumper at the earliest possible opportunity. Hopefully not.
PAD
• 
I almost woulnd’t call Sloane’s “revelation” that, since loads of people (including myself) have expected it (either real or as a red herring) for most of the series.
I hope it’s not true though.
On “Alias”, I wasn’t sure whether to consider it an unique excerise on P.O.V.s, or a creative way to pad an episode.
Whichever it was, it was interesting.
Wonderfalls made me laugh out loud a number of times, and I don’t laugh easily. It’s enjoyable – here’s hoping it catches on.
–jay dickerson
Wonderfalls was incredibly fun, if the rest of the episodes are just as good I’ll be very happy.
Shame that it’s on Fox on Fridays & even the critics seem to be saying it’s good but doomed.
Every review I’ve seen so far seems to say enjoy it while you can.
Liked Wonderfalls a great deal. It had a kind of Buffy vibe to it. It’s probably doomed but I thought the same thing about Smallville and Firefly, making my precognitive abilities potentially half as useful as a stopped clock.
Anyone reminded of the French film Amelie?
I missed Wonderfalls because I was watching Touching Evil, which I thought was pretty good. I caught snippets of Wonderfalls during the commercials, and it struck me as a little shrill…not that it’s fair to judge a show from snippets seen during commercial breaks.
ALIAS:
I didn’t find this particular episode thrilling, inventive or enlightening.
I found the mid-episode “do-over” mind numbing– as none of the repeated material was either mind blowing or worth a second look.
It’s UTTERLY ABSURD that Vaughn did not know that was he was holding a gun on his wife. She’s given him that same wide-eyed look (when she was acting as if she was in peril) before. Ski mask or no… Given her distinctive “full” eyes, short height, weight distribution, etc… I think ANY trained CIA agent would have realized he was looking at his wife in a SECOND… No matter how much he didn’t want to believe it.
As far as Sloan’s “revelation” was concerned– that was no big whoop in my book either. (Was I the only viewer EXTREMELY irritated when ABC allowed “Sloan’s Revelation” to be shown in full, in advance in the upcoming teaser for this week’s episode?) Far from having an “occasionally paternal air”– Sloan’s been acting like Syd’s father from DAY ONE. (Go check your DVD box sets to confirm.)
Which leads me to believe Sloan has known (or correctly suspected) ALL along just how Syd fits into Rambaldi’s “prophecies”. (Building the Rambaldi device and having it spit out the as yet undisclosed info probably just confirmed and filled in the blanks for him.) It’s almost as if Sloan knows EXACTLY what the future holds– for both Sydney and the rest of the world.
With all that– I am becoming increasingly more frustrated and upset with the pacing of this series. Every new season seems to bring a MAJOR SERIES REVAMP. Like most, I thought this was genius at first.
Now, I just feel as if it is a way to tell the SAME story OVER and OVER– from a slightly different viewpoint with a few new twists or characters thrown in here or there.
Nothing ever seems to really get resolved. No BIG questions ever really get answered.
In other words, I think they only have ONE story to tell.
I’m just hoping it all turns out to have a grand resolution.
Re: Wonderfalls’ Buffy vibe. Note that Tim Minear, formerly of Mutant Enemy and Angel show runner, is a producer.
Best in-joke in Wonderfalls; whenever one of the animals started singing “Hello my baby, hello my darling…” ala Michigan J. Frog in One Froggy Evening. I’d bet if he were still alive, the folk behind this show, should they ever show a human shaped person behind all this, would’ve tried to cast Chuck Jones (both for One Froggy Evening and Duck Amuck).
The lead actress also managed to do an excellent job of making what by all rights should be a thoroughly unlikeable character at the start of the episode interesting and while not necessarily likable giving the sense that it might be worth the effort to get to know her beyond her surface attitude.
I give it 8 weeks until sweeps starts. (Fox, time slot, actually a good and interesting show).
ALIAS — My main problem was the offensive product placement. They do that a couple more times, and I’ll bail on the show.
RIGHT ON, Steven!
I could not BELIEVE they had Jennifer yell “Take the F-150!”
Who in the hëll would choose a Pickup Truck to drive in a multi-level garage chase?
(ANSWER: Someone who was being paid 50K to 100K to do so!)
I bet the Mustang designers (the car Sark was driving) were having a fit when the writers had Lauren say, “They’re right behind us!”
Yeah, right.
Like they say in the South: “That dog just don’t hunt.”
ALIAS — My main problem was the offensive product placement. They do that a couple more times, and I’ll bail on the show.
Okay, I have to ask. What was the product and why was it so offensive?
Wonderfalls:
Saw it. Liked it, but couldn’t get past the “Joan of Arcadia” similarities. Networks copy each other all the time. This is another one.
BTW, she’s a slacker. The only way to get her to do anything is to torture her. What I don’t understand is why didn’t she just throw the monkey and lion away?
They can hock anything from F-150’s to sugar-free pudding as long as it keeps them on the air.
Wonderfalls was a delight: “She’d come unspooled!”
I am afraid that it can’t last. Dark and twisted funny, even more than f/sf, is a death knell.
I still like Joan of Arcadia, because the acting by the entire ensemble is top-notch, and the stories, while saccharine, are very strong. There’s room for three shows about women who have supernatural communications, sure.
One thing I noted about Wonderfalls: Although it’s ostensibly set on the US side (US quarters and bills are my main reason to suppose that), they’re definitely shooting from the Canadian side (or you’d be seeing the other side of the falls), and I’m almost certain that they’re shooting outside the main tour center over there.
Okay, I have to ask. What was the product and why was it so offensive?
The product was the Ford F-150, which Syd mentioned by name when she and Vaughn were looking for a vehicle in which to chase down Sark & Lauren. This was immediately followed by a commercial for the Ford F-150.
This isn’t really new for Alias, of course. The first episode was aired commercial-free, and sponsored by Nokia phones. As a result, pretty much everyone in Aliasworld uses Nokia phones, and at least once an episode you hear the distinctive Nokia ringtones. Of course, it’s not like you have Syd saying “Excuse me, my Nokia phone is ringing.” Little more subtle than that.
I admit my work schedule leaves me out of touch for a lot the primetime stuff, but I’m still trying to figure out how I’d never even heard about this “Wonderfalls” thing until I read the site here. Odd. But as for the main character helping because she’d get bugged to death otherwise, didn’t that show “Dead Last” do something similar?
This isn’t really new for Alias, of course. The first episode was aired commercial-free, and sponsored by Nokia phones. As a result, pretty much everyone in Aliasworld uses Nokia phones, and at least once an episode you hear the distinctive Nokia ringtones. Of course, it’s not like you have Syd saying “Excuse me, my Nokia phone is ringing.” Little more subtle than that.
I don’t see a problem. Have you ever noticed that almost everybody in TVland uses an Apple laptop? or drink Pepsi? I just look at it as a convention, just like everybody’s phone number begins with “555…”
[i]BTW, she’s a slacker. The only way to get her to do anything is to torture her. What I don’t understand is why didn’t she just throw the monkey and lion away?[/i]
Word. it was funny but the story completely falls apart if you look at at it too closely.
Why did the bartender have his cellphone on if he had no intention of answering it? did he want to count how many times his wife called?
Why wouldn’t the EPS guy’s wife tell him she was gay? If she cared enough about him to come to the hospital thensurely she would have respected him enough to at least explain what happened. and why is she keeping the animals around or you know taking them home.
I can buy the premise without a problem but once you do that people have to behave realisticaly in that premise and they’re not. people keep saying Tim minear Tim minear like he’s god or something. I didn’t see his name anywhere in that pilot episode with the exception of the exec producer the show was written by and created by the guy who did Dead like me and the guy who did Malcolm in the middle.
I think the show would better if they toned down the ‘wacky’ I’m getting a Joan of Arcadia meets Ally McBeal vibe from this show and the Ally McBeal negative is outweighing the Joan of Arcadia positive. (which I think is the best written show on TV today.)
[i]it’s a kick that unlike Tru who does her thing because she can’t let people die, or Joan because her conscience is prodded by in-person miraculous incarnations of God[/i]
I don’t know if you’ve seen JoA from the beginning PAD, but they very quickly establish in the first few eps that when Joan finally does start doing what God asks her to do she starts seeing immediate benefits to herself and/or her family. As the show’s progressed the tasks have been much more obscure and on a semi regular basis don’t put Joan in a better situation than she was in before, but on occasion worse, but she contnues to follow these instructions on faith. And I’ll be honest I’ve never caught a hint of pretention from the show.
(I’ve heard that some footage from Wonderfalls has been reshot since the original pilot I wonder if they tried to play up the Anti Joan wackyness to try and distinguish it)
“Wonderfalls” will be an excellent show, if the rest of the episodes are anything like the first.
Not only is there “Buffy” influence, but there are similarities to “Dead Like Me.” Apparently creative talent from both shows went to this one.
ABout Alias: They’re currently showing a marathon of the first season here spread out over three saturdays (third part was today. I taped it and havent watched more thant he first episode) because they’re going to start showing season 2 Wednesdays (I think another network is in season 3 already, but it’s dubbed. *gah*), so I’ve just been watching Alais for the first time and ahve a new-comers perspective.
I was shocked to see that the Sloan as Syd’s father thing is just NOW being explicitly addressed,a s I was sure, that was already resolved (it’s THAT obvious). Not to mention that the Rimbaldi thing is STILL going on!
Meanwhile, I think Joan of Arcadia (which was mentioned several times) is one of the best shows to come along in quite a while. And this coming from someone who usually gets uneaasy whenever God is even mentioned in TV (growing up with a ver anti-religion family will do that to you).
I wish Peter would add it to his round-up.
I really, really wanted to like Wonderfalls, but even despite the winning performance of the lead actress, something didn’t quite work. The ending was too over the top, the whole of the tale a just so relentlessly odd and exaggerated that I found it as offputting as I did funny. I also found the supporting cast unconvincing (even Willaim Sadler). And I have no idea if this will remain at all interesting.
That said, since we haven’t seen an episode scripted by Tim Minear, so I’m willing to give this that chance. However, as I am already watching one show with a vaguely similar premise that I really like – Tru Calling – I don’t feel the huge urge to watch another.
Not that I expect either to be on in six months.
That said, Wonderfalls sure runs cirlces around the sadly dull series that is Kingdom Hospital.
Wonderfalls didn’t really do it for me. The premise didn’t wasn’t very original, overall it wasn’t that interesting, the character was totally unlikeable, particularly since she’s always frowning, and I wanted to see that purse snatch victim get thrown in prison for being such a bìŧçh.
EClark1849: BTW, she’s a slacker. The only way to get her to do anything is to torture her. What I don’t understand is why didn’t she just throw the monkey and lion away?
Luigi Novi: Duuuuhhhhh!!! Even worse, the monkey wasn’t even hers! It was her shrink’s, and she took it with her, instead of just letting it go once her session was over. This made no sense. Why the hëll did she steal one and take it home with her? And if the lion was made out of wax, why not just melt the dámņ thing? When he told her to make him a match, she should’ve taken out a real match from a book of matches, and just turned him into a candle.
ALIAS: As others have alluded to, I’ve long expected this particular plot twist regarding Sloane and Sydney. He’s always come across as a creepy father figure, and I distinctly recall a first-season episode in which Syd is going through newspaper clippings about her mother’s “death” and it was revealed she died in a collision with a CIA agent, and the picture in the clipping looked like a young Sloane. I’ve long thought that they might eventually reveal Sloane as Syd’s father, but I hope not, because Victor Garber as Jack Bristow is probably my favorite character on the series, and his relationship with Sydney is phenomenal.
As to the product placement, you know, it wouldn’t have bothered me so much that Syd shouted “The F-150!” if the show didn’t take a moment at the very end to say “ALIAS is sponsored by Ford…Ford Trucks, built Ford tough.” That just points it all out. I don’t really mind all that much, though. I love the show too much, as long as some sponsor is willing to foot the bill to keep it going, I can take the occasional product placement. (Unless it gets really blatant, a la, “Hey, Marshall, I’m running to the vending machine? Do you want a Coke?” “Sure, I’d love a Coke? Always Refreshing. Always Coca-Cola.”)
I’m just glad ALIAS is back, and that they’re supposedly going to be running new episodes every week until the season finale.
WONDERFALLS: You know, I was intrigued by this show (moreso than “Joan of Arcadia” to be honest), but I only managed to catch the last twenty minutes or so. What I caught was a moment where the lead character’s sister, I think it was, had some ink on her mouth and another female character licked her thumb and wiped it. It all culminated in a scene where the lead character and the sister were talking about relationships or somesuch, and I saw the monkey statue move. That’s not much of a substantial comment, except to say that I didn’t see much of the show, but I might make a point to watch it next week. What little bit I saw was, to put it mildly, bizarre. 😉
I enjoyed the Alias episode. I did noticenthe F150 ad right after the chase, but it didn’t annoy me as it did some others. Also, the revelation that Syd might be SLoan’s daughter has been hinted at since episode 1. It wasn’t much of a shock, but it was nice to hear him finally say it.
Off topic a little, did anyone catch the new show Touching Evil on USA Friday night? It was quite good, I thought.
Bobby
Bobby Nash
Writer @ Large
About those comparisons of Wonderfalls to Joan Of Arcadia- Can’t quite call WF a JoA knock off as both shows’ pilots were produced at roughly the same time. WF had been sitting on a shelf at the network since the begining of the season.
I enjoyed but WF myself, and I’ll be taping the series, brcause I don’t trust the network to let it last long enough to make it to a DVD release…
I want to put another nod to Garber’s Jack Bristow. For one of the “good guys” on the show, he’s a cold, emotionless frightening man. This last episode, when Marshall was offering to show him baby pictures, he paused with a puzzled look on his face that evoked one of my favorite scenes from the Terminator, where Ahnuld’s asked if there’s a dead cat in his apartment, and the OS comes up in his vision with the choices of response:
YES
NO
FÙÇK YOU ÃSSHØLÊ
I was waiting for one of those to come out of Jack Bristow’s mouth.
Posted by Luigi Novi at March 14, 2004 08:25 AM
Wonderfalls didn’t really do it for me. The premise didn’t wasn’t very original, overall it wasn’t that interesting, the character was totally unlikeable, particularly since she’s always frowning, and I wanted to see that purse snatch victim get thrown in prison for being such a bìŧçh.
EClark1849: BTW, she’s a slacker. The only way to get her to do anything is to torture her. What I don’t understand is why didn’t she just throw the monkey and lion away?
Luigi Novi: Duuuuhhhhh!!! Even worse, the monkey wasn’t even hers! It was her shrink’s, and she took it with her, instead of just letting it go once her session was over. This made no sense. Why the hëll did she steal one and take it home with her? And if the lion was made out of wax, why not just melt the dámņ thing? When he told her to make him a match, she should’ve taken out a real match from a book of matches, and just turned him into a candle.
The general bìŧçhìņëšš of the characters did make it hard for me to warm to the series. (I stopped watching Seinfeld when I realized the people were never going to get any nicer.) But the cleverness of the writing won me over, at least for this episode. The dialogue was just so much wittier and funnier than…almost anything else on television that I actually sat in my apartment and applauded at one or two scenes. (So I’m strange. You gotta problem with that?)
I think Jaye’s personality is going to be part of her “character arc.” Even within the course of the first episode, she’d become a kinder, more loving person. I hope she doesn’t become too sweet, though, and the show doesn’t get overly sentimental. I like characters who are flawed and sometimes snarky, as long as they’re somewhat sympathetic and engaging. In the meantime, we can imagine that Jaye is played by Alastair Sim.
I didn’t have a problem with the not-throwing-the-tchotchkes-away thing. I think Jaye realized that, whether she was having a nervous breakdown or not, if she got rid of the talking lion, she’d be visited by a talking camel or a talking badger. By the time she stole the monkey, she’d started to accept that the animals were giving her really good advice.
–Daniel
Alias question: I have a question about Lauren’s marriage. If she worked for the Covenant all along, then why? And then there was this line (at the end of the last/beginning of this episode) to her about getting her husband’s extramarital affairs under control. Are they married, just to keep Sydney apart from her love so they don’t have kids and fulfill the prophecy? Did I miss something?
KIP
I’ve always viewed Alias as a rebirth of the ’60s
spy-craze and Sydney as a modern day incarnation
of Emma Peel. (the amount of bondage and violence
towards women on this show is going to raise a
whole new generation of BDSM fans) It’s espionage
and action/adventure,but it’s over-the-top enough
to verge past self-parody. (And here’s a clue,
her CIA handler/boyfriend Vaughn is named after
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.) The nods towards Bond
are equally obvious (I love Marshall as a nerdy
“Q”). And all the best Bond films were full of
Fords, so the product placement doesn’t bother me.
(The ’64 &1/2 Mustang guest-starred in Goldfinger
even before it was available on the market.)
Alias is one of my favorite shows, Joan of Arcadia
is another. I hope there’ll be more discussions
of both series here.
Daniel M. mentioned, about Wonderfalls: “The
general bìŧçhìņëšš of the characters did make it
hard for me to warm to the series. (I stopped
watching Seinfeld when I realized the people were
never going to get any nicer)”. I missed
Wonderfalls, but have heard a LOT of good things
about it from a variety of sources and plan to
check it out. But as for “evil” characters such
as the Seinfeld cast, I enjoyed the first few
seasons of “Will & Grace” but became uncomfortable
when I realized the show’s producers were
bending over backwards to NOT make the shows cast
into positive role models. They are self absorbed,
selfish, amoral verging on actively evil.
Something they actually self-parodied (or openly
embraced) last week when Will made a toast “To
Evil!”, and Grace drank to it and then they
laughed diabolically. That’s way over the top and
not in a “good” way, if’n yuh knows what I means.
Speaking of product placement, yes, I would enjoy
a crisp cold refreshing Diet Coke with Lime,
thank you for asking.
– Poppaspank –
ALIAS and the F-150:
I have no problem with ALIAS hawking Ford F-150’s or Nokia phones or Cokes or Apple laptops… as long as their use is in the PROPER CONTEXT.
My problem is the ABSURDITY of having Syd choose the Ford pickup as her vehicle of choice in a multi-level twisting garage chase.
Had she come driving up to Vaughn in a F-150 to go on some cross terrain archaeological dig/rescue I would have had no problem. I wouldn’t have had any problem with dialogue discussing the truck either– as long as it made sense.
In my opinion, it helps ground a story in reality if characters use products that we– as viewers– are used to using ourselves.
Like other poster’s have mentioned: If someone’s thirsty– hand ’em a Coke. I don’t care. If someone calls a cell phone and it rings distinctively Nokia– four stars for the subtle, yet seductive, product placement. If someone opens a laptop with a big silver Apple logo– excellent upscale choice. Again, I don’t care.
Just don’t have spys choose trucks to chase sport cars. That’s stupid.
What’s NEVER stupid is the VICTORIA’S SECRET product placement… A product whose placement has been WOEFULLY LACKING on ALIAS this season.
I really do miss those 3 inch high heel, thong panty, lace bra spying gigs.
I say: LESS pickup trucks and MORE push up bras!
Posted by Randall Hugh Crawford at March 14, 2004 06:55 PM
But as for “evil” characters such
as the Seinfeld cast, I enjoyed the first few
seasons of “Will & Grace” but became uncomfortable
when I realized the show’s producers were
bending over backwards to NOT make the shows cast
into positive role models. They are self absorbed,
selfish, amoral verging on actively evil.
Something they actually self-parodied (or openly
embraced) last week when Will made a toast “To
Evil!”, and Grace drank to it and then they
laughed diabolically. That’s way over the top and
not in a “good” way, if’n yuh knows what I means.
Oh dear, you got me started on Will and Grace.
I’ve tried, on and off, to watch Will and Grace, but every time I have, I’ve found myself saying, “Nope, it’s still awful.” The acting–at least by the supporting cast–is consistently “over the top and not in a ‘good’ way,” to use your phrase. (Some people like that, I guess. The Hours got a lot of Oscar nominations.) The jokes are generally dumb, with a few genuinely clever lines here and there. The plots are traditional sitcom. They make no sense if you expect them to resemble actual human behavior. You can feel your brain cells dying if you think about them.
I won’t say that the show is offensive to homosexuals–that slights the producers’ admirable and very real accomplishment: increasing gay visibility on mainstream television. But the show plays it really safe. The gay characters are all, to some degree, stereotypes. They like antiques and break into show tunes at the drop of a hat. And Will, the “normal, everyman” gay character hardly ever has sex, in contrast to the other characters. Presumably, if a prime time sitcom showed a gay character who enjoyed football and had a steady sex life, middle America would fidget uncomfortably and change the channel. People would worry that their gay neighbors and friends were, stealthily, disguised as typical Americans, trying to lure them into some sort of debauched lifestyle.
But, as I said, I’m not offended because of the stereotypes. I’m offended because it’s a terrible, terrible show.
But to get back to your point, if the producers are turning Will and Grace, who used to be such nice people, into selfish, amoral characters, that’s also a shame–though maybe a bit less stereotypical.
–Daniel
Wonderfalls:
Perhaps she didn’t throw the lion and monkey away because, to her, they’d become alive. She doesn’t seem the type to hurt anyone unless they hurt her (Like the interesting lady at the hotel!), so perhaps it was just a case of, “Okay, I think you’re alive. If you stop talking, I’ll feel justified in getting rid of you!”
Either that, or it was like a train wreck. To quote Weird Al, “Don’t wanna stare, but you can’t look away.”
All in all, I liked the show. I can’t wait to see it again next Friday… Though I’m almost scared to expect this one to carry through for another season… Or even finish this one. Did anyone notice that it has Firefly’s timeslot?
I was the storyboard artist for Wonderfalls(not the pilot, except for one scene of reshoot, where the quarter bounces off the statue and then her head), and I have to say, I was very impressed with the quality of the scripts for season one. And Todd Holland, the executive producer was just a hugely creative, energetic man. I hope the Friday night timeslot serves it well, until they can find a better place for it.
Re: Jaye on Wonderfalls being a totally unlikeable character. What? I really liked her and thought the character was pretty funny. I guess I just have a think for snarky, sarcastic slacker girls.
“My problem is the ABSURDITY of having Syd choose the Ford pickup as her vehicle of choice in a multi-level twisting garage chase.”
Silly, she told him to take it because she knew that (a) taking a Ford from someone is really doing them a favor and (2) it’s the easiest car to break into and hotwire.
See, product placement is so much less irksome if you put a little effort into getting the correct subtext from it…
“My problem is the ABSURDITY of having Syd
choose the Ford pickup as her vehicle of choice
in a multi-level twisting garage chase.”
said insideman.
==================================================
At the risk of making a pres out of u and me,
I will presume that we are all familiar with
over-ground parking facilities. At best they are
difficult to drive and negotiate in, and the ones
that allow two direction traffic are not the best
of them. On a roll, I will also presume that
agent Bristow was hoping to apprehend the fleeing
suspect before the vehicle being pursued could
leave the facility. Therefore the ability of the
vehicle to drive over 70 miles per hour was not
of primary concern. She needed a vehicle capable
of negotiating tight corners and sturdy and heavy
enough to withstand minor scrapes and sideswipes
and heavy enough, and with a sturdy enough bumper,
to be able to stop or disable the car being
pursued by ramming it, forcing it to collide
with another vehicle, pillar or wall, or to
simply block its path. And hopefully one with
sufficient impact absorbtion and air bags so that
she would remain unharmed in the event of a
collision. She therefore chose a pick-up truck.
I don’t have the episode on tape or remember it
clearly, but if there were several pick-up trucks
to chose from at the time she commandeered the
vehicle, that would explain why she specified it
by name (or model number).
So both the choice of vehicle and the fact that
she specified it my make can be explained
plausibly.
Of course the fact that she did so in a scene
that was imediately followed by a commercial for
the same vehicle was rather sloppy and awkward.
Can you really imagine anyone would actually buy
a truck because they saw Sidney Bristow chase a
bad guy in one on Alias, especially considering
the bad guy got away?
I drive my pick-up truck and feel the six-cylinder love!
CJA
Randall, points well taken… But…
I just hope that if I am ever the subject a multi-level garage chase– you get to choose the chase car.
Conceding that Sydney Bristow’s choice of a
pick-up truck to use as a combination battering
ram and barricade for a parking garage chase was
plausible, insideman added:
“Randall, points well taken… But…
I just hope that if I am ever the subject a
multi-level garage chase– you get to choose
the chase car.”
Well, i-man, my first car was a ’72 Fiat 128.
Very maneuverable, with a turning radius that
could spin dough-nuts inside a parking facility.
No stopping power, though; it would crumple like
a wet cardboard accordian when rammed into the
rear of an Olds Toronado. It’s not enough to
catch someone if you can’t stop them. (Of course
personally I don’t think it’s a good idea to get
within shooting range of someone who’s shooting
back at you, but then that’s why I’m not a
super-spy.
i really wanted to like Wonderfalls but I did not really enjoy it so much. However it has a good pedigree with tim m. and bryan fuller (i think that’s his name) who did some voyager and ds9 so i will stick to it for the time being….not that i expect fox to (says the disgruntled firefly fan).
“Off topic a little, did anyone catch the new show Touching Evil on USA Friday night? It was quite good, I thought.”
I saw it and thought it was pretty good also. I think it has a lot of potential, and I’ve read in more than one place that it’s as good as or beter than the original (which I haven’t see).
As mentioned above, I hadn’t heard anything about “Wonderfalls” until reading about it here. Thanks to the comments here, I’m in the midst of their ‘encore’ of the premiere and I’m cracking up. Thanks, folks.
Having finally gotten around to watching “Wonderfalls” this evening…
A few rough spots (the bartender is far too obvious a love interest, IMO, and I personally wanted to see the obnoxious customer get her comeuppance somehow), but amusing and bizarre enough that it’s definitely getting another few weeks’ worth of looks.
(How very bizarre it was to hear William Sadler use the word “orgasm”. Not that I think he’s unfamiliar with it, but it just seems so alien to most of the characters I’ve seen him play…)
And like Tom, I loved the “hello my baby” references. As long as we don’t find out they were really just aping “Spaceballs”.
TWL
And off topic yet again: Anyone see CENTURY CITY? Thoughts?
Hey, Peter, are you doing TV roundup any more?
No comments on the few remaining episodes of Angel?