MeTV's SuperSci-Fi Saturday Night

[Skipper]

Not established, but as you say, reasonable. Banner & Marks never performed a thorough assessment of the damage to the chamber, so for all anyone knew,, the Hulk might have created a "time bomb" of sorts with any of the damaged power lines running from the chamber to other systems in the lab.



Remember, at the time of the pilot's events, Banner retained no memory of his actions as the Hulk, so he does not know if he had any direct responsibility in the death of Elaina Marks. In fact, in episodes to follow, David says he cannot prove he was not responsible for her death. That places him in a dangerous position; if he "returns from the dead," with no evidence conclusively proving the cause of the explosion, he likely fears he could face charges (whether or not that happened did not matter--he felt that was a serious problem).

Moreover, there's the McGee problem: as you say, he's successfully convinced the world that the Hulk is responsible for the deaths, but if Banner returned--a man McGee suspected was responsible for the Hulk's existence, he could add fuel to the fire with his other eyewitness account, as he explained to Banner & Marks' colleague Ben:

McGee: "Look..doctor. I saw what that creature did to a steel chamber. And I heard your friends talking--they were scared to death it was coming back."

So, McGee was not just suspicious of Banner's involvement, but he overheard the two key people discussing the unwelcome possibility of the Hulk returning. The same Hulk that ended up "murdering" at least one person. No one has to believe McGee (considering his "unreliable source by association" of being a National Register reporter), and with Banner himself being a living witness, Jack's account may not go anywhere. Who knows, but we do know Banner was concerned about his actions as the Hulk that night, and for that reason, he feels he cannot "return from the dead."

This is...reasonable

Not to mention that if David had revealed himself to be alive, he would've been questioned about the circumstances of the explosion and wouldn't have been able to give an answer without revealing the whole story. And then, not only would he potentially have been deemed culpable for Elaina's death as TREK_GOD_1 says, but he probably would've been whisked off to the kind of black-ops government lab that's the bugaboo of any fictional character with unusual abilities.

This could become an interesting development. Remember when in The Powers of Matthew Star the main characters became government agents?

Errr... strike that. Never mind.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Remember when in The Powers of Matthew Star the main characters became government agents?

Unfortunately, yes.

 

[Christopher]

Remember when in The Powers of Matthew Star the main characters became government agents?

I never got into that show. Must be because it was on opposite The Dukes of Hazzard.

 

[Skipper]

I never got into that show. Must be because it was on opposite The Dukes of Hazzard.

Consider yourself lucky. Extremely lucky.

 

[The Old Mixer]

During the first half of the season, my dad would joke that something threatened to blow up the high school gym every week. Clearly some sort of change was in order.

 

[Skipper]

I believe this is the best explanation of what went wrong.

It was like the first few episodes had the show trying to determine what it was going to be. Was it a coming of age story? A teen fluff story? Aliens as government agents? A prince trying to find his destiny and hope to free his people? As people tried to find out what ‘Matthew Star’ was supposed to be ratings were going down.

And when they decided what that answer would be for the second half of the season it turned out to be the wrong decision.

For the second half of the season the producers decided to have Matthew and Walt go down the path of being government agents. When General Tucker is mysteriously reassigned to Greenland, Major General Wendell Wymore (played by James Karen) takes their case and uses them to the fullest potential possible. Pam was gone from the second half, and with the exception of two episodes, Matthew’s high school life is all but forgotten as well as the mission to one day free Quadris.

But if ratings for the first half of the season were bad, they hit rock bottom in the second. The premise of aliens working for the government seemed ridiculous to some. And James Karen’s character did not come off as endearing. Despite all his powers Matthew couldn’t save himself from cancellation. The show ended ironically with the first pilot with Barton as ‘David Star’ being the final episode.

Like many Sci-Fi shows, Matthew Star had the potential to be greater than it was. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Perhaps if it took another path it would have been.

 

[Skipper]

But, dang, the intro was so promising...

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[The Old Mixer]

IIRC, the really odd thing about the change was that it just happened...they came back from hiatus and the premise was different. It felt like you'd missed a key episode.

 

[Skipper]

Are you sure about that? I vaguely remember an episode where a new character (a general?) blackmailed them to do the dirty work for government and from that moment the show just became a generic spy/action/police one (but with superpowers!).

Searching...
Can it be the episode MATTHEW STAR, DOA?

 

[The Old Mixer]

That synopsis confirms what I vaguely remember...we rejoin the series with Matt and Shep (as I recall, that's what he was typically called in the show, not Walt) already working for the government. There's a bit of exposition about their new situation, but we don't see them actually getting found by the government and recruited as agents. One episode they're in hiding...the show comes back after Christmas, and it's "Gee, things sure are different now that we're working for the government, aren't they?"

 

[Skipper]

Reading the other episodes synopsis, it seems the the duo sometimes did some errand for the government, like in the episode Italian Caper. The big difference is that now is a full time job.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Ah...I was vaguely thinking that there had been at least one episode in the first half that involved them doing the odd job for the government, but I couldn't be sure. My memory is so bad that I would have sworn this was on Sundays, until @Christopher mentioned it being on against Dukes. But the premise switch still happened confusingly during hiatus.

 

[Skipper]

I find the premise of the show pretty ridiculous. You have the representatives of an alien race, the living proof of the existence of other life forms. And the concret danger of invasion by another alien race. And what is your best idea? "There's this Vegas' crime boss. Can you take care of it?"

 

[The Old Mixer]

Well, when you put it that way....

 

[Skipper]

^

Well, a lot of sci-fi/fantasy 80's tv shows are guilty of similar crimes. You invented an real Artificial Intelligence and an armor that can protect you from everything short of a nuclear explosion. And the best use of them? Let's help some midwest single mom! You created a sentient hologram that can materialize cars and helicopters out of thin air? Obviously you have to send him undercover as an erotic dancer in a ladies-only strip club.

At least the modern tv shows (like IZombie) try sometimes to explore the wider implications of their premise. Probably TPTB once believed that the viewers couldn't grasp a plot that deviates too much from the standard police procedural...

 

[The Old Mixer]

Well, at least Matthew Star brought in the government angle, which could have given TIH a little more antagonist oomph while bringing it a bit closer to its comics roots.

 

[Christopher]

Well, a lot of sci-fi/fantasy 80's tv shows are guilty of similar crimes. You invented an real Artificial Intelligence and an armor that can protect you from everything short of a nuclear explosion. And the best use of them? Let's help some midwest single mom!

On the other hand, there's something appealing about the idea of such extraordinary technologies being used to help ordinary people instead of being monopolized by the powerful elites. That was the core idea behind Person of Interest -- which originally started out as the same kind of show where an extraordinary, secret technology was used to help save individual lives that the government would've ignored, but evolved into an epic struggle between the powerful elites who wanted to use the technique to gain global control and the renegade do-gooders who wanted to use it to protect individual life and liberty.

Really, it's the basis of most superhero stories, too. Superman is the most powerful person in the world. He could easily take over the world's governments and enforce global change. Instead, he hides out as a mild-mannered reporter and helps protect individual people. Because, to him, saving a single life is just as important as saving the world.

 

[Skipper]

On the other hand, there's something appealing about the idea of such extraordinary technologies being used to help ordinary people instead of being monopolized by the powerful elites. That was the core idea behind Person of Interest -- which originally started out as the same kind of show where an extraordinary, secret technology was used to help save individual lives that the government would've ignored, but evolved into an epic struggle between the powerful elites who wanted to use the technique to gain global control and the renegade do-gooders who wanted to use it to protect individual life and liberty.

I was just thinking about Person of Interest and how it could be your average 80's tv show (and if you try reaaaaally hard, its premise isn't so different from Knight Rider ) But, like you said, it evolved and became one of the most wonderful example of fiction about A.I.

Instead, the problem about all that old tv shows is that they took great sci-fi/fantasy ideas and used them just as some plot devices to fight the weekly bad guy. I knew that it was just some light entertainment, but you know, sometimes I wished so hard that they tried something different. The sci-fi shows that in reality were crime/police procedural with a little twist were the norm, not the exception. It seemed to me that I could have a science fiction show without enduring with the umpteenth episode about some criminal that used a beauty contest to smuggle jewels or similar.

 

[Skipper]

"It seemed to me that I couldn't have a science fiction show without enduring with the umpteenth "
I'm sorry but as a newbie I can't edit my posts...

 

[Christopher]

I was just thinking about Person of Interest and how it could be your average 80's tv show (and if you try reaaaaally hard, its premise isn't so different from Knight Rider ) But, like you said, it evolved and became one of the most wonderful example of fiction about A.I.

And that was basically due to the tension between the creators, who wanted to explore the larger sci-fi concepts and philosophical ramifications, and CBS, who wanted to keep it in case-of-the-week procedural mode. Although I feel that CBS's insistence actually worked to the show's advantage, because the team's conviction that helping save individual lives was still important even in the midst of all their epic battles was the thematic heart of the show. The heroes were the ones who rejected the villains' belief that individual lives and liberties could be disregarded for the sake of the greater good. So whenever the show drifted away from that emphasis on protecting individuals in trouble, I felt it lost something. Although, on the other hand, it lacked something in the first couple of seasons, where it was too much just a case-of-the-week show and took forever to begin developing its larger themes. As with so many things in life, the key was finding the right balance, rather than embracing an extreme.

Instead, the problem about all that old tv shows is that they took great sci-fi/fantasy ideas and used them just as some plot devices to fight the weekly bad guy. I knew that it was just some light entertainment, but you know, sometimes I wished so hard that they tried something different. The sci-fi shows that in reality were crime/police procedural with a little twist were the norm, not the exception. It seemed to me that I could have a science fiction show without enduring with the umpteenth episode about some criminal that used a beauty contest to smuggle jewels or similar.

That's true. Shows back then did tend too far toward the episodic extreme, and toward fitting into standard formulas. As I've noted before, I've heard that some TV writers in the '60s-'80s would come up with generic plots that they could pitch to just about any show and tailor to its specific premise and characters, and there were even instances where the same story was done on two different shows (for instance, the second regular episode of The Six Million Dollar Man, "Survival of the Fittest," was remade as the Bionic Woman episode "Fly Jaime").

Although I feel shows today tend to err too much toward the serialized extreme, to the point that there aren't as many individual episodes that really stand out in their own right as opposed to being just chapters in a larger whole. (We saw this with Supergirl's "For the Girl Who Has Everything," which had so many ongoing, parallel subplots to advance that it hardly had time to do justice to the classic comics story it was adapting.) I think the sweet spot was something like DS9 or Babylon 5, or even something more like TNG or Stargate, where you had continuity in the sense that events were remembered and had lasting ramifications, and characters went through growth and sometimes permanent change, but the focus was still on making each episode a complete experience in its own right rather than just a fragment.