So, I missed out on the discussion for Season Four for various reasons, so to avoid that I decided to start the Season Five thread. Tonight's the night it begins. Who's looking forward? Who's apathetic? Who completely has no idea what this show is? All comers are welcome.
I loved the first 3 seasons of the show. Last season was a bit of a let down, so I'm more apathetic about it now. Frankly I wish it aired in June/July instead of now; I know they had production delays due to Dane's health, but this is much more of a summer popcorn munching show.
Thanks for the reminder. I knew it was coming up but had forgotten the date. The last season was the weakest and most meandering so far for me, but still enjoyable. I'm looking forward to this season, even though I know nothing about it (haven't seen any trailers).
I don't think there have been a lot of trailers. TNT's kind of been quiet about this season. Maybe everybody's seeing the writing on the wall and expect this last go round to be a let down. Hopefully it's not.
Ah, yes. Once more onto the breach. Sadly, due to reasons I'll need to DVR the show and watch it later in the week, but yeah, looking forward to it. Actually, the production delay caused by Dane's health wouldn't be much of an issue in season 5's airdate, since seasons 4 and 5 were filmed together. Ironically, the shutdown for Dane happened not long after they finished 4 and began 5, thereby creating a break sort of between seasons anyway. But yeah, the show belonged in June through to August. Damn, those were fine summers. Season 4 airing in the fall last year just wasn't the same. Although I will say season 4 worked a lot better binge-watching it on Blu-ray, I will agree the season probably was the show's weakest. It still get me, they spent half the season milking Master Chief's punctured lung or whatever it was giving him chest pains and making him cough up blood, which ultimately meant nothing to the season's story at all.
One thing I'll say about season four is that we finally got some of that NAVAL KOM-BAAAT I'm always calling for. That much was enough for me to consider it a win.
Just a couple of thoughts: -you'd think, after everything they've been through, these guys would realize the show is called The Last Ship and not "Thank god! We finally got a bunch of ships!" They just Murphy'd themselves into that. -still, it was nice to see a bunch of ships for a while... -I like how Nathan James is being passed down through the officers like they're a royal family. Seems appropriate. I'm all in too.
I've been watching on hulu, and they didn't seem to get S4 until it was all over, so I may have to wait till the end and binge S5. I'm actually rewatching S1-S4 now, and S1-S2 definitely holds up the best on a rewatch, while S3 is also pretty interesting with the Asia plot (domestic B story is not quite as interesting). The first time around, I didn't think S4 served the characters well at all, particularly sad-sack Chandler and the neglected supporting cast. The story felt like a panicked, "oh crap, we cured the red flu too soon, NOW what can they fight?" I know they can do better, but will they in S5 is the question. I'd like a S6 and S7 if they could manage to up the writing, but it sounds like Eric Dane is tuckered out and depressed, and the network has written them off. I'll settle for a good ending (S2 had a great finale, other than the 'sic semper tyranus' bit). Does anyone know where I can find a Nathan James or Arleigh Burke class desk model in the 5" range (along the lines of the eaglemoss trek models)?
Nothing specifically for Nathan James, but there are plenty of Arlegih Burke model kits. You might have to get one of those and customize it.
Well, I managed to watch it sooner than expected. Damn, that was amazing. I was worried when I heard the premise was going to be Latin America attacking the US through Cyber Warfare that this was going to be typical fifth and final season completely change the premise and feel like a completely different show from the previous four. But I will say that despite the changes, it feels completely like an organic continuation to the other four seasons. It does feel kind of BSG-ish, what with the US military being compromised by a computer virus which leads to utter defeat with only the Nathan James surviving. Bringing Garnett back after being completely absent in season 4 just to kill her off in the premiere felt a bit like Joe Carey's death on Voyager, but then we get the shocking death of Doc Rios to serve as the profound moment of losing someone who carried weight with the audience. I noticed one of the other Navy ships was named Howard Oliver, the replacement President after Michener was killed in season 3. Does having a ship named after him mean he is now dead himself?
Not necessarily. Both George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter are living former presidents with ships named after them, and the USS John S. McCain, an Arleigh Burke, was commissioned while the senator was still alive.
Yeah, I'm not really into making models. I just want a nice one out of the box, like those Eaglemoss Trek ship models.
Decent intro, Pearl Harbor 2. Not how the networks on Navy ships work, as a lot of the hacked systems are airgapped and not normal/compatible with things anyway, but ignoring that for TV reasons... Also, argued about this a few seasons ago, but shouldn't the SAILORS be the problem? Making a big deal out of the ships, but since most of the population just quickly died of plague, should be tons of military hardware laying around, just need trained crew to sail them. Also kinda funny with what they used in the shots they had, probably partly what was moored up at the time, but if they have that few ships crewed, kinda funny that a LPD featured so prominently (the one with the funny pyramid-shaped thing covering her antennas and whatnot). looks fancy and modern, but is really kinda a floating hospital/base/mechanic shop. Probably not high on the priority list if they're restoring ships to make a fleet. And the carrier makes a nice platform for Jayne to be Commodore/ranking Captain/Admiral or whatever they made him (missed it and wasn't paying attention to his rank) but that ought to take WAY too many crew to be efficient or worth it. Could add 10 more DDGs (which they have laying around) for the crew cost of one carrier. With crew at a premium, probably too much to allocate to one ship, and devastating if it is sunk. Smaller ships that spread the personnel around more makes a lot more operational sense. Less risk in one spot, and can cover more areas... otherwise, fun, let's see how they wrap this show up. Better as a mindless summer show, but the DVR will make sure i stay up to date.
Until you remember that the thing also carries Marines, and can therefore land troops from the sea, which has always been a huge priority for the Navy, and especially useful if they don't want to keep using sailing crews as infantry. And all of them together wouldn't be able to project power the way a carrier can, even a baby carrier, which is why American Naval strategy is centered on them. Plus, it's a lot harder to sink a carrier (and it wasn't sunk in this episode) because it's bigger and better armored. Your way just gives the bad guys a whole bunch of thinly armored targets to hunt down and sink, without truly increasing the fleet's overall striking power.
I got to admit, it seemed a bit silly to have Evil Hacker carrying around a flash drive that displayed a skull and crossbones. I mean, I guess they needed a visual shorthand to convey to the audience what is going on here, but I still find it hard to believe someone about to launch a world-devastating cyber attack would waltz into a cyber café and plug a flash drive into a computer with a skull and crossbones on it in full view of the public. He's damn lucky everyone there respects the privacy of others and don't go nosing into what the guy at the computer next to them is plugging into it.
Don't need an aircraft carrier for Marine transports. Tons of smaller ships that can do the job. It's just a scale thing; crew complement of an aircraft carrier is what, like 6000 people? I guess if you just want giant armored transport and zero flight crew/support, you can trim it down somewhat, but the numbers are just way out of whack. A DDG usually has about 150, so that's 40 DDGs you could have crewed at the expense of sailing a single carrier. Even if you take half the crew away, still 20-1. If the carrier is tougher and better armored (although having subs, destroyers, and air support is a big part of the carrier's defense), 20 DDGs probably still have better force projection than a single carrier. If you want to load up on marines, fill that LPD that was hanging out in the background, that only usually crews shy of 400 and has tons of room for marines and supplies, medical facilities, etc. Or load up some Expeditionary Fast Transports full of Marines and make it rain, that's just nothing but a giant jetski with room for landing craft and marines with a TINY crew (about 40). It's not a combat vessel itself, but if it's landing after the DDGs clear a path, you're good. The Wasp class is also nothing but Marines and landing craft, plus plenty of helicopters, which is right up the production crew's alley. LPD is probably the best bet, though, and there was one on-screen, so they've had the same thought (or that's what was available for filming and it looks neat) Carrier is kinda wasted if you don't have the full flight crew; the aircraft are kinda the point. Probably just got permission to film a battle group in formation, and got what they got, though. They showed some with some hits up on the bridge area, not sure how many destroyers actually sink from that. it't not GOOD, and out of action, but they didn't show any ships sinking. Most were tied up at the pier anyway, so doubt they were in deep enough water to sink much anyway. Nathan James didn't want to get sunk in the harbor (per the dialog), but that was the extent of it. Looked like fairly small aircraft missiles anyway, I'd have expected that they would need to do more damage near the waterline (torpedoes) or be dropping some heavy bombs directly on them to really kill them. Not an expert on what it takes to sink a destroyer, but what they showed seemed on the light side. Again, out of the battle for sure, but sunk? Dunno.