Agents of SHIELD: Season 3 - Discussion (SPOILERS LIKELY)

[Turtletrekker]

The Fantastic Four has already been updated successfully. It was called "The Incredibles", which is a movie that with todays FX could easily be done live-action.

Ultimately, that's what they need to nail-- the dynamic of the super-hero family of explorers and adventurers.

 

[Christopher]

The Fantastic Four has already been updated successfully. It was called "The Incredibles", which is a movie that with todays FX could easily be done live-action.

I'm not sure about "updated," though, since it was a period piece set in a '60s-ish world (albeit with comic-book superscience).

 

[Admiral2]

I'm not sure about "updated," though, since it was a period piece set in a '60s-ish world (albeit with comic-book superscience).

Right. And you can't adapt any other books written by Tom Clancy because he "only" wrote about the Cold War.

I would love to go on a thread-hijacking rant right now, but it would indeed be thread hijacking. I'll save it for a "How can we save the FF franchise" thread.

So... (centers self, deep breath)

How many episodes do you think we'll have to wait before we see Bobbie in a wedding gown instead of a lab coat or fighting togs?

 

[Reverend]

I'm probably in the minority, but I think that even if Marvel got back the rights to the 'Fantastic Four', I'd rather not see them integrated the way Spider-man is going to be.
As a concept, it just seems...too silly and cute for my tastes, at least without some drastic re-imagining.

How about this: 30 years ago they travelled to the Negative Zone. They came back a day or week later, but found that decades had passed in the real world. Or 4 long-lost astronauts that the whole world thought were dead. (The only problem there is that there might be a super similar approach if Hank rescues Jan in the Ant-Man sequel.) Though now that I think about it, Reed may not be much of a modern day super scientist if all of his technology was 30-40 years out of date.

If Reed really is the super-genius the comics make him out to be, he'd only need a few days, weeks or months to read up on all the advances he missed to get up-to speed. So that part at least could work with a little hand-waving.
However, the real problem with that whole idea is that they've already done the "person(s) out of time" bit with Steve Rogers. It's pretty much been his thing since they brought him back in the 60's.

Which in a sense sums up the main issue with adapting TFF: at this point, everything that's unique or novel about them has already been done elsewhere and mostly for the better. They're redundant.

Ultimately, that's what they need to nail-- the dynamic of the super-hero family of explorers and adventurers.

I don't disagree, but I feel this would be at odds with the whole Baxter Building, flying around in a bunch of detachable flying shoe-boxes, fighting foreign dignitaries with skin conditions and weird fashion tastes side of things.
I gather the recent film all but ditched most of this and the result was a very dull mess of a sci-fi movie.

Again, between 'The Incredibles', 'Guardians of the Galaxy' and 'Ant-Man' it's all been done better elsewhere.

 

[The Old Mixer]

First rule of Ward'sLittleHYDRA: Do not talk about Ward'sLittleHYDRA.

 

[sojourner]

Ugh, I almost shut the episode off during that double-cross deal-o-rama-palooza. Bleagh.

 

[kitik]

Can't say I'm super interested in the ATCU storyline, we'll see how it unfolds though. Looks like the expected Secret Warriors team is a non-entity for now. She can't even get Lincoln to sign up, who we all assumed was an automatic shoe-in, let alone anyone else. Maybe it'll finally be approved and formed and rostered in the midseason finale or something.

At least Coulson is thinking logically along the lines of "it's better to have friends than enemies".

Also, that kiss, uh, didn't really feel appropriate. Bad timing or something.

For a show that has had something like 46 little "post-commercial" surprises at the very end of each episode now, tonight's blew me away. That one simple line blew me away. Now we're getting somewhere. Who does she need to go save? There is someone she needs to go save, right? It's not some physiological "I need to get back there or I'll die" thing, right? Did she fall in love? Is Fitz about to get dumped for an alien? Did she join some alien crew like the Starjammers, and does she just want to go back and save her friends on Planet Hulk? (Okay, it won't be the Starjammers or Planet Hulk.)(For one thing, Starjammers would be Fox, not MCU.)

 

[sojourner]

Oh, and is Coulson showing some interest in the ATCU director? There seemed to be something twinkling in his eye in the scene at the beach with her.

 

[kitik]

I would imagine that it's nothing more than playing her for information and cooperation.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Spies are prostitutes paid by patriotism (and dollars).

Love is a nice lever to make your enemies betray their principles.

Wouldn't James Bond be a very different franchise, if none of those women fell in love with Bond and betrayed their own countries to save him from certain death?

But here, in this case, they're both too old/wise to fall for that ####.

 

[kitik]

The first 2 episodes were great, so it's not too much of an insult to say this was the weakest ep of the season so far. But I'll give them a bonus point for drunken british subtitles. ("Eyes up here" was great too, though.)

 

[RJDiogenes]

Oh, and is Coulson showing some interest in the ATCU director? There seemed to be something twinkling in his eye in the scene at the beach with her.

They had a good flirt on the train.

 

[Mr Light]

301 and 302 were really thrilling, but 303 was very by the numbers. I didn't care about Lincoln being hunted by the ATCU and I really, really didn't care about Hunter joining a fight club.

I went on IMDB for this episode and it listed Lash, but he didn't appear in the episode...

 

[Marsden]

It's firmly established that Simmons was gone months, so what did she eat and drink? She must have survived some way and at least one on screen person was shown through that same portal with others heavily implied. She could have met them, fallen in love and is married for all we actually know. I have a bad feeling for Fitz, again.

I wish Lincoln would get over himself already, why doesn't he want to help? Still loyal to Jaiying? That doesn't make sense. It's frustrating because it seems like he's just going to end up with them anyway. Maybe some time in the hotel ATCU will make him more agreeable. It's too bad about that man John. It reminded me of that man in New York that died when they arrested him. It's too bad when Lincoln tried to resuscitate him it would have disrupted the enzymes that allow the medical examiner to determine that he died of a heart attack and not other violence. I'm assuming because of his obviously agitated state that he died of a heart attack due to advanced heart disease and high stress. Let's see what, if anything, the coroner's report says.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I suspect that the betrayal of Lincoln is going to come back to bite them in the ass. He'll hook up with other Inhumans, get the word out, etc.

 

[Reverend]

Have to say, the 'Secret Warriors' thing already feels like a false start at this point. Like that they gave Lincoln some depth by implying the version we saw of him in Sanctuary was only *after* he'd been a mess who only barely managed to keep his sh*t together.

Also nice to see Mac discovering he has the capacity for empathy after all.

Not sure what to make of Simmons needing to get back, but it's probably the most interesting part of the whole episode.
Did she leave someone behind? Did she find something there of (literally?) earth shattering importance? Did she leave the oven on?

But I'll give them a bonus point for drunken british subtitles.

That felt a little weird since I understood just about every word. Was it really that hard for the non-Brits here to understand without subtitles?

 

[sojourner]

No, the dialog was pretty clear to me too. I was hoping they were going to go into cockney rhyming slang mode when the "hard to understand" part was brought up.

 

[Admiral2]

Okay, not the best episode so far, but it still had its high points. Melinda May back in action, Bobbie burning through rehab, Fitz finally taking the love of his life to freaking dinner...I name these all "good things."

I don't care how trite it was, I thought the "hard to understand brit" bit was funny.

I think any evidence of a Coulson/ATCU director is a red herring, or at least I'm hoping, cause they're trying too hard, even giving her her own "Lola." (Louis?)

 

[Kirby]

No, the dialog was pretty clear to me too.

Me too, but it was a clever bit.

 

[kitik]

That felt a little weird since I understood just about every word.

Yeah, it was mostly clear, but it did get worse towards the end after they had more beers in them.

One other funny angle with that gag was that I could hear them and clearly read them, but I still didn't know what half of it meant.