Alias

[Christopher]

I'm wondering if the red ball and stuff from here is how JJ got that into Star Trek in the 2009 movie all I could think of was Alias when they showed us the big red ball.

I've read that red orbs of one sort or another are a recurring theme in Abrams's works.

My blog review of both Alias and Fringe:

https://christopherlbennett.wordpress.com/2014/12/16/reflections-on-alias-and-fringe-spoilers/

My summation on the former:

So all in all, Alias was a deeply inconsistent series with parts that were very entertaining and parts that were frustrating and disappointing. Jennifer Garner herself was one of its weakest links, not nearly as versatile an actress as was called for by her master-of-disguises role or the emotional roller coaster her character routinely went through. The frequent retools and absurd plot twists that justified them were hard to swallow as well. I’m glad I got to see (and hear) the good parts again, but I had to wade through a lot of bad parts.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Interesting points........ Liked reading that

 

[Forbin]

The craziest thing I remember from Alias (and I'm not going to remember this clearly, but...) Sydney is in Los Angeles, and gets an emergency call for help from someone in Eastern Europe. She hops on a plane and arrives there in time to help. It seems like mere moments have passed at the site of the emergency.

Um. Whut?

 

[Gary Mitchell]

Well, it wouldn't have been much fun watching her check her luggage, get the Kosher meal, watch 13 Going On 30, pick up her luggage and have Enterprise® come pick her up. Meanwhile the person that needs rescuing keeps looking at their watch and wondering why they didn't call someone local.

 

[Forbin]

Well, it wouldn't have been much fun watching her check her luggage, get the Kosher meal, watch 13 Going On 30, pick up her luggage and have Enterprise® come pick her up. Meanwhile the person that needs rescuing keeps looking at their watch and wondering why they didn't call someone local.

The point being that she got from LA to eastern Europe in, apparently, mere moments.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I can tolerate things like cutting time and storytelling conveniences like that far more than I can tolerate contradictory plot points or character motivation. Characters doing things that completely contradict things they've previously done is a much bigger deal than glazing over logistic details.

In Lost they may not have always had an end destination in mind, but it always seemed to me like whenever a person or thing is established in the universe they already know the story behind that thing.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Both shows seemed to make stuff up as they went. But I'll give Lost 10/10 for doing that the most. A lot of the time it just rambles along and in panels I think the writers pretty much said that themselves.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

If they really did that for Lost they did a much better job hiding it. There's a lot of stuff in Lost that when you go back and watch it again, makes more sense with things you learned later. For example,

Spoiler: Lost

everybody smokey physically impersonates outside of full on illusions is somebody who died off the island and whose body was brought there. Locke, Christian and Yemi. So either they knew those were the rules very early, or they noticed the pattern later and stuck with it.

In Alias things retroactively make less sense.

What happened to the actress from Firefly anyway? She was a great nemesis for Sydney and she just kind of vanished.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Sydney Bristow spent a lot of time crying on the show. There's even an Alias drinking game

http://www.ringthis.com/tv_drinking_games/alias.php

 

[$3DollarBillYall]

Just started this the other day on Disney+ and...I'm struggling. I want to love this show as I'm a fan of the genre, I even like some of Abrams' projects.

I'm up to episode 6, here's where I'm at:

- Everything is too smooth and quick. It might have been in the first episode during their operation in Tapei where their cover is blown and, suddenly, a brawl ensues. Then it cuts directly to the airport where they have returned. That's it. It does this on a few occasions. I find that some of the operations lack the pacing i'd like to see in a show like this, especially since the fight choreography is great.

- Soundtrack. Yuck. Unless it's some of the more triphop cuts, or some of the electronic stuff, I find it too distracting.

- Performances. I was surprised to find that some of the performances are mixed. Victor Garber is an amazing actor, but so far I'm just not feeling it. I get that he's meant to be reticent and that he has a lot of weight on his shoulder, but he's just flat. Same with Jennifer. I love the work she does but, for now, her performance feels uneven. Bradley Cooper was a heck of a surprise, however!


I'm going to keep going with Season 1, but am I currently in the rougher side of Season 1?

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Just started this the other day on Disney+ and...I'm struggling. I want to love this show as I'm a fan of the genre, I even like some of Abrams' projects.

I'm up to episode 6, here's where I'm at:

- Everything is too smooth and quick. It might have been in the first episode during their operation in Tapei where their cover is blown and, suddenly, a brawl ensues. Then it cuts directly to the airport where they have returned. That's it. It does this on a few occasions. I find that some of the operations lack the pacing i'd like to see in a show like this, especially since the fight choreography is great.

- Soundtrack. Yuck. Unless it's some of the more triphop cuts, or some of the electronic stuff, I find it too distracting.

- Performances. I was surprised to find that some of the performances are mixed. Victor Garber is an amazing actor, but so far I'm just not feeling it. I get that he's meant to be reticent and that he has a lot of weight on his shoulder, but he's just flat. Same with Jennifer. I love the work she does but, for now, her performance feels uneven. Bradley Cooper was a heck of a surprise, however!


I'm going to keep going with Season 1, but am I currently in the rougher side of Season 1?

There was an Alias video game too when the show came out. Not sure if you can get it anymore. One of the outfits is Sydney's goth look from season 1

 

[$3DollarBillYall]

There was an Alias video game too when the show came out. Not sure if you can get it anymore. One of the outfits is Sydney's goth look from season 1

Actually, that is one thing I love about Alias; the wardrobe. Her outfits are amazing.

I love the coat and boots look she had in the fifth episode!

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

All the weird Rambaldi stuff just was there but went nowhere. They even found a very old man that could have been him still alive?

 

[$3DollarBillYall]

I'm going to sit out Season 1 because I want to love this, but I think my love of spy shows will remain with Nikita, and 24.

 

[Tosk]

All the weird Rambaldi stuff just was there but went nowhere.

Wouldn't be a JJ joint without a mystery box that has just random crap inside.

 

[$3DollarBillYall]

Here's what's also bugging me: the show is about a double agent, who is the daughter of a double agent, both of whom are infiltrating a double agency.

We ended up with the name ALIAS.

 

[$3DollarBillYall]

Just finished Episode 6, Reckoning - not bad.

The cast seem to be coming into their characters more (except Sloane, he nailed it from the first episode), while they are giving Sydney more of a backstory. I've also realised my major issue with this show: waaaay to much personal B-plot when it comes to Sydney's personal life. All this show needs to be, per episode, is an operation/scenario, with a light arc running beneath it (in this case, her father).

I think that's why the pacing feels off - it's cramming way too much.

But her wardrobe looked amazing this ep:

 

[Christopher]

I've also realised my major issue with this show: waaaay to much personal B-plot when it comes to Sydney's personal life. All this show needs to be, per episode, is an operation/scenario, with a light arc running beneath it (in this case, her father).

The contrast between the college-drama stuff and the spy stuff was supposed to be the point, initially. Jennifer Garner had been a supporting cast member of Abrams's previous series Felicity, a drama about college students and their relationships, and the conceit of Alias was basically "What if Felicity led a double life as a spy?" So they deliberately played up the hybrid nature of the show, the dissonance between the very grounded, naturalistic personal drama on the one hand and the fanciful, over-the-top spy action and intrigue on the other. If anything, the drama side was the A-plot. But apparently enough of the audience, or ABC executives, shared your opinion, since the network pushed them to change the format and focus more fully on the spy stuff. The network forced a number of retools on the show, with mixed results.

 

[$3DollarBillYall]

Which tells me that I should give it a chance.

Yeah, it feels like two shows crammed together, and it's telling in the soundtrack choices.

On the one hand, you have this 90s-ish sounding jangle pop/rock, then you have Brosnan-era style electronica.

The marriage of the two is uneven; it doesn't work.

I'm not saying that it was, but if Spooks, was the model they were aiming for, then's all wrong.

Spooks shows that personal drama, and espionage, can work - but the nuances aren't there for it to work in Alias (at least with what I am currently seeing).

 

[Christopher]

Which tells me that I should give it a chance.

It's a rough ride. There's a lot of good stuff in the show, but a lot of bad writing and nonsensical story shifts that you have to wade through in order to get to the good stuff. The show was subject to numerous retools due to executive meddling or actors' personal lives forcing changes. (And it criminally underused Carl Lumbly.)