Author Topic: Agents of Shield  (Read 36881 times)

Lothic

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Re: Agents of Shield
« Reply #80 on: October 23, 2013, 06:18:50 PM »
Hey, Joss did it to Buffy...

Speaking of Buffy I can't really stop equating these new characters with old ones from Joss' past...

Agent Coulson = Giles (for obvious reasons as the key acerbic "leader" guy with a possible mysterious origin)
Skye = Buffy (at least as far as the quippy, scarastic personality goes that the show is nominally centered around)
Melinda May = Faith and/or Zoe (as the semi-distant, kick-ass no-nonsense female fighter type)
Grant Ward = Angel (as the fighter guy who akwardly doesn't mesh with everyone else socially)
Leo Fitz = Topher (main boffin from Dollhouse)
Jemma Simmons = Willow and/or Kaylee (basically a tech-based boffin version of Willow)

Not sure I really like this show yet.  It seems like a watered-down version of Joss' previous shows - that's probably why I'm spending too much time trying to "equate" these new characters to older (argueably better) ones.  I'll probably give it at least the rest of the season to see if it finally "takes off" or not for me.
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Yoru-hime

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Re: Agents of Shield
« Reply #81 on: October 23, 2013, 07:23:26 PM »
I'm still hanging in there on this one, but the longer I go, the more generic it all feels.

Episode starts, Ward's sad excuse for a tough-guy act (the guy probably sleeps with a teddy bear), plot device identified (person or actual device), plot device chased, first action scene, Skye's questionable loyalty hinted at and/or brought into play, moral ambiguity of SHIELD hinted at, Coulson's "death" in Avengers referenced, team geeks given a moment to shine, final action scene, plot device brought under control/destroyed/killed, perhaps move forward the Skye story arc just a bit. Roll credits.

Skye's good guy/bad guy story feels clunky and awkward. I'm vaguely curious as to the actual story behind it, but the end result has really never felt in doubt. (Hint: It probably doesn't involve writing out the nubile young target demographic pleaser.)

You can tell the writers are hand-cuffed, making sure that they never get in the way of the movies. I do admit, there are plenty of good one-liners, but it's getting harder to justify blocking out an hour of time just for that.

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Re: Agents of Shield
« Reply #82 on: October 24, 2013, 06:21:48 PM »
I for one am thoroughly enjoying this show, and that says a lot for one that isn't space opera (e.g. Star Trek, BSG, Farscape).  There are numerous shows that I don't follow because while I may enjoy them early on I lose interest, including many popular with geeks everywhere.

Arnabas

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Re: Agents of Shield
« Reply #83 on: October 25, 2013, 03:52:53 AM »
See, that's the problem. that idea starts to run thin pretty quickly. It's also why a lot of people, myself included, gave up on Alphas. When you have a show which is ostensibly about superheroes and the people that surround them, you expect to see them doing super things.

It's akin to tuning in to a show about the Navy SEALS, and watching them do nothing but paperwork and laundry all day long while talking about the cool stuff they do when you're not looking. pretty soon the joke wears thin.

As others have said, this show needs a consistent antagonist if it's going to keep going along, because they're not really executing "crisis of the week" very well at this point. at least IMhO.

I will disagree here a bit. I never expected this to be a superhero show. I expected SHIELD. I assumed they would mainly be dealing with HYDRA and other such organisations. I expected spy stuff, with reference to the Marvel universe.

The show started off a bit weak for me, but it is slowly building momentum.

CG

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Re: Agents of Shield
« Reply #84 on: October 25, 2013, 01:27:59 PM »
Of course.  Joss has said many times in many interviews that the show is about "ordinary" people living in a super hero/villain world.  Of course "ordinary" is a little redefined with "The Cavalry", an agent with scores 2nd to the Black Widow, a pair of science nerds that are two halves of a very big brain, a super hacker and a man that's been to Tahiti (it's a magical place).

Don't forget Mr. "Seal Team 6" :)

for instance, it was rather strongly alluded that the geegaw from episode 2 was nazi/hydra technology which had somehow been sent back in time 1500 years.
Actually, I think they said that was brought over by Nazis who hid in that country after WW2 and the experiment went awry and they lost the device for 60 years.  No time travel there.

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Re: Agents of Shield
« Reply #85 on: October 25, 2013, 06:34:23 PM »
Don't forget Mr. "Seal Team 6" :)
Actually, I think they said that was brought over by Nazis who hid in that country after WW2 and the experiment went awry and they lost the device for 60 years.  No time travel there.

Mr. "Seal Team 6" was agent with scores 2nd to Black Widow in my little breakdown of "ordinary".

And yes I think the object in Ep 2 simply ended up blasted into the 1500 year old ruins (one heck of a recoil).
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Re: Agents of Shield
« Reply #86 on: November 20, 2013, 06:47:45 PM »
Episodes 4, 6, and 7 were so bad I didn't even care about the show anymore.  I watched 8 mostly to see how badly they would mishandle the tie-in.  Instead, I saw Coulson vs. the freakin' Wrecking Crew!  I haven't been this positive since episode 3.  If they can keep things this connected with the MCU, it would save the series.

eabrace

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Re: Agents of Shield
« Reply #87 on: November 20, 2013, 07:24:06 PM »
There's something I hadn't noticed until just now.  Episode 8 was directed by Jonathan Frakes.

I also chuckled a bit at the final scene.

"Did I fall asleep?"

"For a little while..."
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Night-Hawk07

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Re: Agents of Shield
« Reply #88 on: November 20, 2013, 11:59:58 PM »
Episode 8 was directed by Jonathan Frakes.

And here I thought I'd misread something. That was definitely a much better episode than the last 2 or 3.

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Re: Agents of Shield
« Reply #89 on: November 21, 2013, 04:54:25 AM »
There's something I hadn't noticed until just now.  Episode 8 was directed by Jonathan Frakes.

I also chuckled a bit at the final scene.

"Did I fall asleep?"

"For a little while..."

It took someone else to remind me where I heard that quote before (kicks self).  Talk about an in joke.
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ryuplaneswalker

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Re: Agents of Shield
« Reply #90 on: November 30, 2013, 05:06:01 AM »
I am mixed on the show, I like the concept, I am enjoying the plots, however it is really lacking in one thing.

I care not one bit about these characters beyond Coulson and maybe the Calvary, we have

Hoora! Marine Dude

Da Goverment* is EBIL sexy hacker

and most annoyingly of all

Nerdy hacker person with no social skills, who very arbitrarily has disbelief in Thor because they put their fingers in their ears and go "LALALALALA" when he is brought up.

I still think this series would have been much better served as "Hawkeye and Blackwidow investigate weird crap X-files style"

* Question, is SHEILD even really a part of the american government? in Iron man it seemed to be, however...in Avengers they seemed to answer to "vague council of dumb ass decisions" instead of like you know, The President who is usually the person in charge of the Nuclear weapons.

eabrace

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Re: Agents of Shield
« Reply #91 on: November 30, 2013, 05:40:30 AM »
* Question, is SHEILD even really a part of the american government? in Iron man it seemed to be, however...in Avengers they seemed to answer to "vague council of dumb ass decisions" instead of like you know, The President who is usually the person in charge of the Nuclear weapons.
True story:  The Pentagon was initially cooperating on the Avengers - providing things like digital models of the F-35s you see in the movie - but withdrew their cooperation because the command structure of SHIELD was "unrealistic".

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/05/avengers-military/

Never mind super powers, an alien invasion, and "gods".

So, you aren't the only one asking that question.
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Kaos Arcanna

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Re: Agents of Shield
« Reply #92 on: December 11, 2013, 02:16:57 AM »
Tonight's episode wasn't bad.

It had J August Richards in it. :D


FatherXmas

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Re: Agents of Shield
« Reply #93 on: December 11, 2013, 04:35:30 PM »
Of course, it had a superpower "hero" so EVERYONE who didn't listen to the Joss about how this show WASN'T going to be about superpowered heroes just bad ass humans got excited.
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Night-Hawk07

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Re: Agents of Shield
« Reply #94 on: December 11, 2013, 05:47:18 PM »
True story:  The Pentagon was initially cooperating on the Avengers - providing things like digital models of the F-35s you see in the movie - but withdrew their cooperation because the command structure of SHIELD was "unrealistic".

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/05/avengers-military/

Never mind super powers, an alien invasion, and "gods".

So, you aren't the only one asking that question.

Isn't that what they did to Transformers 3 as well? I doubt they actually pulled out for that reason though. That may be the stated reason, but if I were a betting man, I'd say it had more to do with the draw-downs, sequesters, etc.

eabrace

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Re: Agents of Shield
« Reply #95 on: December 11, 2013, 06:43:15 PM »
That may be the stated reason, but if I were a betting man, I'd say it had more to do with the draw-downs, sequesters, etc.
Nah.  The Pentagon has a pretty long lasting relationship with Hollywood.  Cooperating with production companies allows them to have a little leverage in how the military is portrayed in films and gets them some high-exposure PR for relatively low cost.  When they withdrew support of the Avengers, all of the expensive parts of the process (i.e. lending out an Army Reserve MP batallion for filming in Cleveland) were complete.  Meanwhile, they were hip deep in Zero Dark Thirty.
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Lycantropus

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Re: Agents of Shield
« Reply #96 on: December 11, 2013, 09:12:45 PM »
Well I'm enjoying the series at any rate :)

So far it's a fun espisodic show taking place in the Marvel universe, which is about what I expected it would be.

As for depth, I'm willing to give it time. I have the feeling this one's going to build up over time.

Particularly if Skye is who I think she may be.

 :-X

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JaguarX

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Re: Agents of Shield
« Reply #97 on: December 12, 2013, 12:23:19 AM »
Nah.  The Pentagon has a pretty long lasting relationship with Hollywood.  Cooperating with production companies allows them to have a little leverage in how the military is portrayed in films and gets them some high-exposure PR for relatively low cost.  When they withdrew support of the Avengers, all of the expensive parts of the process (i.e. lending out an Army Reserve MP batallion for filming in Cleveland) were complete.  Meanwhile, they were hip deep in Zero Dark Thirty.
Indeed.

I remember when they Transformers crew came out here to White Sands to do some filming. It was interesting stuff.

They had a model of Optimus Prime Peterbilt form for display. It looks good on film but awesome when seeing it in person.

Arnabas

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Re: Agents of Shield
« Reply #98 on: December 12, 2013, 01:46:22 AM »
Particularly if Skye is who I think she may be.

 :-X

Lyc~

And that would be?

Lycantropus

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Re: Agents of Shield
« Reply #99 on: December 12, 2013, 05:05:42 AM »
Even a search of every miniseries Wikipedia has turns up nothing, and I can't get to my back issues at this time to pull them up.

There was a limited run series around/after Civil War that had a group of hackers running a conspiracy theory website. The main female lead was looking into the death of her father, which she was sure SHIELD had something to do with... I picked it up on a lark and found it a good read (I like miniseries as a general rule). The ending was... interesting, though it's been a few years since I've read it so don't remember all the details (like the name, dangitall!)

Sound familiar? May be totally a red herring, but such a short story about a side group seems like just the thing Joss would latch on to, and build on.

Lyc~