Agents of SHIELD
Sep. 28th, 2013 12:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapinglightOkay, I know the icon is all wrong, but I don't have an Avengers one (I really, really don't like the Avengers), and since Magneto is a Marvel character too (and yes, I really, really like the X-Men, in case anyone hadn't realised), this is the closest I have.
Spoilers for the pilot behind cut, should anyone care.
First of all, I should state that I appreciate I'm not the target audience of this show. Also, my viewing conditions were far from ideal, in that I'm more or less deaf in my right ear at the moment and had to watch it with subtitles (which do Jossian dialogue no favours, believe me). Not to mention, I was talking on the phone during the intro as well and missed all that stuff to do with the aliens from the Avengers movie (which I also didn't like, as you may not be surprised to hear), who I thought were lame villains anyway (basically a skinny girly in a catsuit and a bloke with a bow and arrows had no problem whupping their alien asses).
Finally, I know you should never make a definitive judgement on a show based on a pilot episode. Especially not on a Joss show. If I'd done that with BtVS, I would never have watched episode 3, The Witch and realised that this show had a lot more going for it than the cheesy and at times frankly embarrassing pilot ep would lead you to believe (some good bits, but mostly? :cringe:).
So, taking all the above into account, the best I can say so far is that it was okay -a popcorn show to go with Joss's popcorn movie. The bloke playing Coulson (never got the love for that character, but whatever) is very good and carries the show, J August was very good too and should be a regular or a recurring character, not a one-off guest star.
Maybe he will be, in fact? It's been left somewhat open-ended (I think, I actually didn't understand the bit where they stopped him blowing himself up and don't know whether he's now de-powered or not. If he is, I can see the character doesn't really have any longevity. If not, they could bring him back).
As for the rest of the cast - yawn! basically. Ming-Na Wen's character might be interesting, if only because, unlike the others, she doesn't look like she was born yesterday. But so far, her character is just a cliche. The Asian chick can do kung-fu? Who'd have thought it?
The three kiddies - Skye (Sky?) and the two Brits - are boring. The Sky (Skye?) actress is just a younger version of Eliza Dushku (who will probably turn up at some point playing her mum) and the other two are a re-hash of Topher and Bennett from Dollhouse except without the charisma. I just can't see myself warming to any of them.
Worst of all, though, is the big lump of plastic (a lump of wood would be marginally more interesting, or at least organic) playing the 'strong man.' Who the hell cast this guy? He's so boring I almost fell asleep during his scenes, and the Jossian dialogue (thinking principally of that scene at the beginning where that woman whose identity I didn't catch asked him what the acronym SHIELD stood for) just comes out all flat and wrong, both in terms of character and in terms of the actor being horribly dull.
I dunno. Maybe one of them will grow on me, but I honestly can't see any of them being the revelation that Enver Gjokai and Dichen Lachman were in Dollhouse.
We'll see, I suppose.
Also, it's all very glossy and corporate, isn't it? I can't get my head around that in a Joss show yet.
Okay, I won't say any more about the show unless I think it's improved. I'm sure some of you are enjoying it and don't want my curmudgeonly and disillusioned (with Whedon, that is, post Buffy comics) opinion spoiling it for you.
Spoilers for the pilot behind cut, should anyone care.
First of all, I should state that I appreciate I'm not the target audience of this show. Also, my viewing conditions were far from ideal, in that I'm more or less deaf in my right ear at the moment and had to watch it with subtitles (which do Jossian dialogue no favours, believe me). Not to mention, I was talking on the phone during the intro as well and missed all that stuff to do with the aliens from the Avengers movie (which I also didn't like, as you may not be surprised to hear), who I thought were lame villains anyway (basically a skinny girly in a catsuit and a bloke with a bow and arrows had no problem whupping their alien asses).
Finally, I know you should never make a definitive judgement on a show based on a pilot episode. Especially not on a Joss show. If I'd done that with BtVS, I would never have watched episode 3, The Witch and realised that this show had a lot more going for it than the cheesy and at times frankly embarrassing pilot ep would lead you to believe (some good bits, but mostly? :cringe:).
So, taking all the above into account, the best I can say so far is that it was okay -a popcorn show to go with Joss's popcorn movie. The bloke playing Coulson (never got the love for that character, but whatever) is very good and carries the show, J August was very good too and should be a regular or a recurring character, not a one-off guest star.
Maybe he will be, in fact? It's been left somewhat open-ended (I think, I actually didn't understand the bit where they stopped him blowing himself up and don't know whether he's now de-powered or not. If he is, I can see the character doesn't really have any longevity. If not, they could bring him back).
As for the rest of the cast - yawn! basically. Ming-Na Wen's character might be interesting, if only because, unlike the others, she doesn't look like she was born yesterday. But so far, her character is just a cliche. The Asian chick can do kung-fu? Who'd have thought it?
The three kiddies - Skye (Sky?) and the two Brits - are boring. The Sky (Skye?) actress is just a younger version of Eliza Dushku (who will probably turn up at some point playing her mum) and the other two are a re-hash of Topher and Bennett from Dollhouse except without the charisma. I just can't see myself warming to any of them.
Worst of all, though, is the big lump of plastic (a lump of wood would be marginally more interesting, or at least organic) playing the 'strong man.' Who the hell cast this guy? He's so boring I almost fell asleep during his scenes, and the Jossian dialogue (thinking principally of that scene at the beginning where that woman whose identity I didn't catch asked him what the acronym SHIELD stood for) just comes out all flat and wrong, both in terms of character and in terms of the actor being horribly dull.
I dunno. Maybe one of them will grow on me, but I honestly can't see any of them being the revelation that Enver Gjokai and Dichen Lachman were in Dollhouse.
We'll see, I suppose.
Also, it's all very glossy and corporate, isn't it? I can't get my head around that in a Joss show yet.
Okay, I won't say any more about the show unless I think it's improved. I'm sure some of you are enjoying it and don't want my curmudgeonly and disillusioned (with Whedon, that is, post Buffy comics) opinion spoiling it for you.