Agents of SHIELD. Season 1 Discussion Thread

I hate these guys.

 

Everybody hates Illinois Nazis.

 

Has anyone seen this article yet?

http://marvel.com/news/story/21453/declassifying_marvels_agents_of_shield_the_well

An episode that will tie into Thor 2 as well as being directed by "Number One" himself, Jonathan Frakes!

 

You beat me to it. Sweet.

 

Yeah, sounds good. Be interesting to see how the work Thor 2 in without spoiling it too much. Will work nicely in really forming this larger universe.

 

The other cute thing about doing an aftermath episode is it forces the viewers of the tv show to see the movie in theater rather than waiting for DVD

 

"Forced" is a strong word. I think "encourages" might even be overstating it. Unless they advertise the fact that it is a tie-in/follow-up episode for the preceding few weeks then even most fans will have no idea.

 

Very cool. I hadn't about it until now, but I think it's a cool idea. With it's heavy SHEILD focus, it'll be interesting to see exactly what they do around the release of The Winter Soldier.

 

And there you have it what everyone expected.. Shield is also a marketing tool for the main movies. Who is shocked and surprised?

It feels a bit redundant as people who watch Shield are highly likely to see the movies too but it's got a nice sideeffect too namely that Shield is a bit more cancellation proof than most other shows because it's also designed as a marketing tool.

I don't have a problem with it as long as these episodes don't feel forced and have a good story instead of just going "Hey.. see the new movie!"

 

I bet they do something similar after Captain America 2 comes out.

 

It'll be interesting to see how it works for people who haven't seen the movie compared with those who have.

 

They've already said the later episodes of Season One will lead into the situation that SHIELD is in in "Winter Soldier".

 

What's the betting the stinger for that episode will be the Winter Soldier trailer?
I had a feeling they'd be doing something like this. I mean what's the point of having an ongoing show take place in the same continuity as a series of movies you're putting out at a rate of about two or three a year if you're not going to cross-promote?

 

I don't think anyone has ever claimed that it would never tie into the films. Obviously what defines the MCU is its interconnectivity. The only thing I objected to was a claim that without the film promotion, the show would have no "point." I felt that was an oversimplification -- that, while it was obvious and axiomatic that the show would tie into the films, that didn't mean it was the only reason the show existed. As you say, the stories need to have merit on their own rather than existing exclusively as promotions.

Except that "people" are not a monolithic mass. A nationwide TV audience is a diverse thing. Yes, naturally the show is aimed at the people who are fans of the movies, but it's also aimed at bringing in a larger audience beyond that, people who are mainly TV viewers and haven't been interested in the movies, but who might be drawn into the MCU by the show -- say, people who like procedurals, or who watch their ABC affiliate's 7:30 programming and are too lazy to change the channel, or who are drawn in because they want to look at the extremely pretty people. It's a given that parts of a franchise in different media are going to attract different audiences; that's the whole point of doing them, so that you can expand the total reach of your franchise.

 

I don't LIKE going to the theater, so I always wait for the DVDs. What this may "encourage" me to do is stop watching SHIELD to avoid spoilers!

 

^I expect the episode will avoid any huge spoilers for the movie, since it's a given that not everyone will be able or willing to see the movie before the episode.

 

Doing this is a no-brainer. They'd be nuts not to do it.