Agents of SHIELD

[shapinglight]

Okay, 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.

Comments

[empresspatti.livejournal.com]

I haven't watched yet. Maybe if I'm cooking something boring, I'll pull it up on HULU. Doesn't look like 'must see' tv to me. Same with Sleepy Hollow - the trailer was enough for me to think: yawn.

For whatever reason (tons of company, really busy summer) I haven't had the tv on in ages for anything but my (extremely late) discovery of The Big Bang Theory on re-run at 10p.

I rediscovered this thing called 'books' and have gone in a whole new entertainment direction......

[elisi]

Same with Sleepy Hollow - the trailer was enough for me to think: yawn.
What I've gathered from my flist is that apparently Sleepy Hollow is deep fried crack with a sprinkling of awesome. Just entertaining all round. Mind you, I'm not saying a word against books. :)

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

What I've gathered from my flist is that apparently Sleepy Hollow is deep fried crack with a sprinkling of awesome

That about sums it up.

And yay! books.

And I haven't seen either Shield or Crazy Ones - yawn.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Pure crack. :)

[chasingdemons.livejournal.com]

Jeez. Not much love for Joss around LJ these days. I think I'm more grateful than ever that I haven't read the comics. But I wonder if everyone built him up too much In the first place and he was bound to disappoint. I dunno. All the shows that everyone is talking about sit on my DVR for weeks and then the weeks turn into months. I seem to enjoy working on Photoshop and doing other things more than watching most shows, But now I guess I will have to check it out. I TOTALLY get the comments about the slick corporate look and the plastic people. I absolutely hate that! But Joss is dealing with "Hollywood". I know you don't like Firefly, but I think he really tried to make a show that was out of the mainstream and I IMO the characters were very interesting. But he got burned on that.

The way I look at it - Joss gave me Buffy and Angel. (Also Firefly, which I really loved.) For that, I wish him well... you know?

[gillo]

I quite enjoyed it - enough to give it a few weeks to see how it beds down. I quite liked the Brit pair, and it was nice to see Ron Glass. I also rather approve of a lead actress who is pushing fifty and still kicks arse, even if the Kung Fu is a bit predictable.

Some nifty Joss lines, but the ensemble feeling isn't there yet. It may get there, who knows. I don't really get the Coulson love, but as an actor he's OK.

And I've spent a lot of time this week introducing a young Portuguese friend to BtVS. She loves Spike already, and we've only made it as far as Lie To Me. Now there's quality for you.

[lonelybrit]

I do wonder if we will see JAR's character again,as you say it was very open ended just what exactly had happened to him at the end. Do we know if the whole season has been given the green light, or could this be cancelled again mid-way through?

I will admit I was on the whole unimpressed by the new characters, bar the Coulson and Hill who I was already invested in due to the film. But as a team, I did like Fitzsimmons, they amused me and I always have a soft spot for the random Brits dropped into the middle of a very US show :)

[liliaeth]

that and an addition of a well developed female character and a plethora of main characters who are poc, rather than the usual type of whitebread.

Seriously, Abbie is awesome, she's the reason to watch this show. Ichabod's nice to look at and the actor really pulls off the sass, but Abbie's awesome. And I can't wait to see her sister in the third ep.

[paratti.livejournal.com]

I was bored stifff by 10 minutes in and by the end of it I still couldn't tell all the characters which weren't from the movie or the comics apart or remember their names. On top of the heard the jokes before even if they weren't over telegraphed ten minutes ahead of time and the grossly predictable 'plot twists's I was massively underimpressed.

I only gave it a chance in a moment of weakness and because [Unknown site tag] thought it was ok if still very much a pilot.

I should have been stronger with myself and stuck with the Avoid policy.

Artem's chest dancing to Ra Ra Rasputin afterwards was much more fun:)

[shapinglight]

I really enjoyed Big Bang when I first discovered it. But I've got a bit impatient with Sheldon now. I feel like the writers use him to say appalling things they want to say about women but don't quite dare say themselves.

As for SHIELD, it may well get better (only the pilot episode), but I don't see me ever liking that Mr Macho Agent Guy, no matter how much Joss pulls the rug from under him.

Then again, not the target audience, like I said.

[shapinglight]

Not much love for Joss around LJ these days. I think I'm more grateful than ever that I haven't read the comics. But I wonder if everyone built him up too much In the first place and he was bound to disappoint.

I'm sure there's an element of that. I think, for me, it was hard to take the way the comics just stomped all over so much I loved in the show. And in such a clumsy way. I mean, when Joss did interviews, I could sort of see what he was getting at (sometimes), but the execution was so terrible.

As for Firefly, I didn't like it, but I do know what you mean. Joss did the same in Dollhouse, casting people who were a little quirky and odd looking - not your stereotypical Hollywood plastic people.

I appreciate that he's at least cast a couple of older actors (didn't realise that Ming-Na Wen is 50, she looks great for her age) in SHIELD, but the look of it is far more mainstream than anything else he's done- which, I suppose, is the price you pay when you play with the big boys.

I don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. I'll always be grateful to Joss for BtVS, AtS and season 1 of Dollhouse (except for Epitaph 1), and I certainly don't begrudge him his success. Likewise, his current endeavours (including the wretched comics) are not for me.

[shapinglight]

Who is Ron Glass?

I found the Brit pair really annoying, have to say, though not because they were Brits. More because they just seem like other Joss characters recycled - Simon and River from Firefly (my favourite characters in that show - what I saw of it) and Topher and Bennett in Dollhouse.

Because I couldn't hear properly, I had trouble telling the female members of the cast apart, and I'm sure if I'd watched any other Joss show for the first time while being pretty much deaf in one ear that just wouldn't have been a problem.

I can't comment about Ming-Na Wen's character yet. We haven't seen enough of her. I do appreciate that casting an older woman as the one doing the kung-fu is fairly novel.

I have in just one episode, though, conceived a deep hatred of that block of plastic agent character. If Joss wants to do the usual and kill someone off, please let it be him.

[shapinglight]

Do we know if the whole season has been given the green light, or could this be cancelled again mid-way through?

I've no idea, I'm afraid. I don't see it being cancelled, though.

But as a team, I did like Fitzsimmons, they amused me and I always have a soft spot for the random Brits dropped into the middle of a very US show :)

I usually do too, but not this time. I think it's because they just seemed like recycled characters from other Joss shows. Plus, I couldn't tell the girl one apart from Sky (Skye?).

[shapinglight]

Ah, it wasn't awful. But it wasn't that great either. I had the same problems as you, though, in telling the younger characters apart. Doesn't help when they all look about 12.

Mind you, not the target demographic, like I said.

[gillo]

Ron Glass was one of the Firefly team, and a very experienced actor - he was the old guy in the white coat who seems to know more than Coulson does about how he's not dead.

I agree about the plastic agent - but I expect to see him taken down quite regularly. He's too smug to stay that way.

Skye is a clone of Eliza Dushku and Jewel Staite, but at least the latter has charm.

As for the Brit pair, I enjoyed some of the references, especially "I'm not Hermione!" and if they are the Topher Twins, as someone else on my flist has dubbed them, at least they are abrasive with each other.

I don't idolise Joss, but I'm willing to give this a chance. I wasn't bored, though I did feel the end was rushed, with the inexplicable parking of not-Gunn in a rural idyll.

[shapinglight]

Ron Glass was one of the Firefly team, and a very experienced actor - he was the old guy in the white coat who seems to know more than Coulson does about how he's not dead.

Ah. I think I was on the phone with Niece 4 during that bit.

They can take the plastic agent down a peg as often as they like. It won't stop him being plastic. :(

I was a bit bored, to be honest. Also, the ending threw me for a loop a bit. It just...happened. I thought I'd zoned out and missed something.

Maybe I'm just too much of an X-Men fan. The Avengers make me bristle.

Like I said, though, I'm not going to judge the show just on the pilot. Likewise, I won't say any more about it unless I think it's got better.

[rahirah]

I finally saw the pilot last night, and... meh. I never got the slavering love for Coulson either, and while I like J. August a lot, I haven't heard anything about him coming back. And we spent the whole show going "And that's the actress they hired to look like Amy Acker!" and the like. It's just... bland.

Also, I think it gives me Torchwood flashbacks, of all things, and while I was only a casual fan of TW, it left me icked out on secret government agencies.

[rahirah]

Deep-fried crack covered in chocolate! (Just... pack any actual historical facts you know about the American Revolutionary War period carefully away in bubble wrap before watching, because otherwise they'll get run over by a horse-drawn magic-powered tank.)

[rahirah]

Crazy Ones = also meh. It tries WAY too hard. And Williams and SMG don't have a lot of chemistry, alas.

[shapinglight]

I never got the slavering love for Coulson either, and while I like J. August a lot, I haven't heard anything about him coming back.

If they've de-powered the character there's no reason to bring him back. A pity. As for Coulson, he looked good next to the kiddie characters, but that's not saying much.

The dialogue sounded like a lot of comic book cliches to me. Which could have been intentional, I suppose.

Also, I think it gives me Torchwood flashbacks, of all things, and while I was only a casual fan of TW, it left me icked out on secret government agencies.

I know what you mean, though this lot have yet to prove themselves quite as incompetent as Torchwood.

I dunno. I keep expecting Joss to subvert it all somehow, but this is SHIELD, an established part of the Marvel Universe. I don't see how he can, even if he wants to. He'll just have to keep banging the 'if we don't have 24 hour surveillance of everything, we'll have 9/11s every other day' drum, I suppose.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Pack logic with the history.

::let's build a courthouse on top of two hundred year old catacombs filled with witches bones and straight gun powder. That'll be great fun for viewers while making no sense whatsoever :: :D

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Part of the problem with Marvel Agents of Shield is who the other co-executive producers are: Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics Joe Quesada and creator of Shield and Marvel - Stan Lee, and comic book writer at Marvel (plus former Heroes writer) - Jeff Loeb. Who all have huge fandoms in comic book land.

It's possible they'll let Jed Whedon and his wife play with the material and subvert it a little, but not enough to interfere with their franchise. They are already, from something I read in EW, planning another spin-off from the Avengers movie on an Agent who was a spy.

And yes, they de-powered J. August's character - it was the only way they could save his life was to remove the device and all of its effects. (IF you saw Iron Man 3? They do the same thing in it.)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

It's doing really really well in the ratings at the moment. 16 million - best in 4 years. They won't cancel it unless it drops off sharply in the next few weeks.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Maybe I'm just too much of an X-Men fan. The Avengers make me bristle.

Have the same problem. It comes from years of reading comics where the X-men are fighting the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and SHIELD - because the established groups keep thinking all mutants are bad. In the X-Men comics - the Avengers and Shield come across as wee bit fascist.

[yourlibrarian]

You're not spoiling it for me as I largely agree with you (the difference being that I loved The Avengers). I also found Grant boring & "the other two are a re-hash of Topher and Bennett from Dollhouse except without the charisma" is quite true.

Speaking of Dollhouse, were it not a Joss show, I'd never have watched it past its 3rd or 4th episode. I did warm to it and am glad I did see it but it's not a favorite of mine.

I agree that the Coulson love from the movie surprised me, but I kind of got it when watching this pilot. He wouldn't be enough on his own for me to watch but I could some potentially interesting things there.

I'll keep watching for a while. But I will say that the Angel pilot got me right away -- and that was coming in without having watched Buffy yet. Firefly was a slow burn (I did grow to love it) but I wasn't overwhelmed by The Train Job and I doubt I would have been by the actual pilot either (though I do think I might have been more interested).

[willowgreen.livejournal.com]

I couldn't figure out what "Crazy Ones" was going for until I realized that it was a David E. Kelley show. Then I felt like I had a better handle on what they were trying (but, sadly, failing) to achieve. And, yeah, SMG and Robin Williams don't make any more sense together onscreen than I thought they would when I first heard about this show. Too bad.

[willowgreen.livejournal.com]

I found "Agents" perfectly enjoyable, although it wasn't remotely challenging. Also, our teenaged son emerged from his lair and watched it with us, which was really nice. So, for me, a reasonable way to waste an hour, even if it's not outstanding. Also I'm always delighted to see (a) Ming-Na Wen in anything and (b) a 50-year-old badass female character -- so to have them combined was a nice surprise.

[shapinglight]

the Avengers and Shield come across as wee bit fascist.

Yes, and recent storylines in the X-Men books have made them look even more so.

[shapinglight]

I read that it was doing very well.

:shrug:

What do I know? I didn't get the appeal of the Avengers movie either, yet it was hugely successful.

[shapinglight]

(IF you saw Iron Man 3? They do the same thing in it.)

No. I'm afraid my interest in the Avengers franchise is so little that I've only seen the first Iron Man movie and the Thor one. Haven't seen any of the others and can't be bothered to.

I did quite like X-Men: First Class, but a different company owns the rights to the X-Men, I know.

If Whedon uses the Scarlet Witch in his next movie and makes out she's not a mutant and not Magneto's daughter, I'm going to be kind of miffed.

[shapinglight]

Speaking of Dollhouse, were it not a Joss show, I'd never have watched it past its 3rd or 4th episode. I did warm to it and am glad I did see it but it's not a favorite of mine.

I'm still not quite sure why I liked season 1 (minus Epitaph 1) of that show so much. There was something about it that resonated with me in a way that Firefly just...didn't. Strange.

Season 2 was dreadful, though.

He wouldn't be enough on his own for me to watch but I could some potentially interesting things there.

Me too, if only he had a better cast to bounce off of. I suppose his relationship with Melinda May might be interesting.

Likewise, if I were thirty years younger, maybe I'd think the central cast were just great. Not the target audience, like I keep saying (though that didn't seem to matter with Joss's other shows).

I know what you mean about pilot eps. I saw the original Firefly pilot ep first, and though I didn't hate it, I didn't love it at all. Unfortunately, the more episodes I watched, the less I liked it. The opposite is true of BtVS, where I thought the pilot was pretty terrible, but was sucked in by the third episode. And the AtS pilot was great.

[shapinglight]

I think I might have enjoyed it more if I'd had a teenage boy to watch it with.

Unfortunately, though, I only had my husband, who doesn't know who the characters are (he's never read any superhero comics and hasn't seen any of the movies, I've at least seen Avengers), and hasn't even watched BtVS.

It was probably never going to work.

[willowgreen.livejournal.com]

Having a teenage boy to watch it with definitely made it more fun, even though he's not a fan of the comics. Neither am I -- I watched the Avengers movie just because, but that's all I know about those characters (except for the Hulk in his Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno incarnation). I still haven't gotten over my disappointment that "Joss's big Avengers movie" was about the comic book characters, not John Steed and Emma Peel. In my secret heart of hearts, I'm still hoping he'll make that one someday. He'd knock it out of the park.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

If Whedon uses the Scarlet Witch in his next movie and makes out she's not a mutant and not Magneto's daughter, I'm going to be kind of miffed.

I can't see Whedon or Marvel doing that...because the fans would scream bloody murder for one thing, and for another, sort of goes against their own franchise and creation.

I think they'd kill to get rights to the X-Men.

Regarding the Iron Man movies? It's Robert Downey Jr and Don Cheadel.
I'd watch Downy Jr read the phone book. They are actually entertaining because of Robert Downy Jr.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Oh dear.

Well, to be fair, Marvel Agents of Sheild feels a wee bit on the fascist side of the fence. Not helped by the white cast, and token Asian ninja. Could they be any more racist in their casting choices? Seriously, this is the 21st Century, get with the program.

While I'm still watching - to see where it goes, and it was fun in places (the quippy humor), there are problems which may cause loss of interest soon:

1. I don't get the Agent Coulson love. He's sort of boring to me and the actor doesn't do much for me.
2. It's a wee bit on the fascist side of the fence
3. Blatant racist casting choices...
4. Bland cast that is hard to tell apart. (Can Skye and the Hermoine wannabe look anything more alike? Outside of their accents, they look like twins separated at birth.)
5. Dull as dirt and somewhat plastic leading man (what is it with Whedon series and dull square jawed Ken Doll types? He also has a thing for tiny women who look like Amy Acker and Eliza Dusku. While I don't think he was that involved in the casting here, I am beginning to see an odd pattern emerging. Each series has ken-doll type, and Amy Acker type.)

[shapinglight]

Could they be any more racist in their casting choices? Seriously, this is the 21st Century, get with the program.

Have to admit, I was quite thrown by it too. I wonder how much say Whedon had in the casting actually, because though I agree with you 100% that he always casts tiny skinny women, I don't think he does tend to cast Ken doll types. Up until this show, his male actors usually had more going for them.

[shapinglight]

Downy Jnr is very good. Iron Man's exchanges with Banner were the best things in that Avengers movie.

I have actually seen the first Iron Man film, but I didn't like it enough, Downey Jnr or not, to watch the other two. I haven't seen Captain America either. Or the latest Hulk movie.

[shapinglight]

Maybe. It's been done before, though, and was very unsuccessful. I just don't see Hollywood going for it again.