Agents of SHIELD. Season 1 Discussion Thread

[Set Harth]

Besides, they did "lead character finds out he's a robot" on Power Rangers Operation Overdrive, which was not one of their best seasons.

It worked well enough in Blade Runner.

 

[Timby]

And with one thread, it'll balloon up in no time if the commentary continues.

If it gets out of hand/too long (and the series lasts) I'll make a second thread for the second part of the season after the Winter Hiatus. But I doubt we'll get too much active discussion unless the series takes off/really reveals something and takes off and if it does episode-specific threads may be called for.

Right now I see no reason to do episode threads.

Please keep using the season thread and do not make individual "gameday" episode threads. It's not like there's a ton of traffic, so let's keep everything in one house.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Besides, they did "lead character finds out he's a robot" on Power Rangers Operation Overdrive, which was not one of their best seasons.

Whether or not it's a good idea, I can't say. But it certainly doesn't rise or fall on Power Rangers

I did notice that he seemed to reflexively say "It's a magical place" about Tahiti every time it was mentioned. That suggests some kind of conditioned response.

I thought that was just a running gag.

 

[Mr Light]

Excellent start. Favorite moment was Coulson's dramatic entrance then his apology for the light bulb being out Classic Whedon!

 

[sojourner]

Good start. I had trouble telling some of the female cast apart at times. Too many brunettes. Very Whedon in the scripting.

Wonder if the plane is called Serenity?

 

[Greg Cox]

There were a lot of Marvel Universe nods, including one that puzzled me -- did they say the guy Ward took the Chitauri tech from in Paris was called Longshot? Isn't that the X-Men member from Mojoworld?

It wasn't Longshot. I had the closed-captioning on, and it was some European-sounding name. "Rachant" or something like that.

 

[Skywalker]

Nice touch having the flying car be a vintage one. For those not in the know, those are straight out of the '60s Nick Fury comics, not a BTTF rip-off.

Perhaps, but it was hard to not watch that ending and not think Back to the Future.

Though we know flying cars in the MCU, in theory, are "possible" since Howard Stark was experimenting with them during the World's Fair in the 1940s.

I would imagine flying cars are very possible in a world with flying aircraft carriers.

 

[Greg Cox]

Nice touch having the flying car be a vintage one. For those not in the know, those are straight out of the '60s Nick Fury comics, not a BTTF rip-off.

Perhaps, but it was hard to not watch that ending and not think Back to the Future.

Though we know flying cars in the MCU, in theory, are "possible" since Howard Stark was experimenting with them during the World's Fair in the 1940s.

I would imagine flying cars are very possible in a world with flying aircraft carriers.

Indeed, the flying cars with the flipped-up wheels appeared in the very first SHIELD comic way back in Dec 1963.

 

[DEWLine]

Interesting, that theory about "LMD as remote-control prosthetic device".

That would do nicely as an explanation.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Liked it quite a bit. Will be watching.

 

[bigdaddy]

Perhaps, but it was hard to not watch that ending and not think Back to the Future.

Though we know flying cars in the MCU, in theory, are "possible" since Howard Stark was experimenting with them during the World's Fair in the 1940s.

I would imagine flying cars are very possible in a world with flying aircraft carriers.

Indeed, the flying cars with the flipped-up wheels appeared in the very first SHIELD comic way back in Dec 1963.

And appear in a LEGO set.

http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Spider-Man-Spider-Cycle-Chase-76004

 

[sojourner]

Now that I've had time to let it percolate, the Sleepy Hollow pilot was better and is the show I think I am looking forward to more next week.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Note how Coulson bends over backwards/Neos on his heels to avoid the explosion.

Coulson was actually shown to be quite fast and agile in "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Thor's Hammer".

A good start. With the exception of May, I haven't really gotten a feel for any of the new characters yet, but I trust in Whedon to not make any of the characters cyphers.

I love the irony of a "Mutant Enemy" show not being allowed to use the word "mutant".

 

[Agent Richard07]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGrIAf1LUSg[/yt]

 

[Venardhi]

Surprisingly light-weight but I suppose that does give them room to maneuver the story darker in the future, like Buffy.

A little social commentary much not much of a clear message.

still enjoyed it quite a bit and will keep tuning in.

I'm betting that whatever kind of robot/clone/LMD/whatever Coulson is now, he was even before Loki "killed" him and the real/original Phil Coulson was part of some kind of SHIELD project back in the 60s.

 

[tomalak301]

It was enjoyable, but I was a little distracted by how "hot" all the actresses were. It's one of the more annoyances I've been having lately, but with this show I'll learn to get past it. It will take a few more weeks, but it was fun and agreed with the upbeat point someone made upthread.

 

[TimmyWl]

I thought it was great. I did like the snarky remarks. The remarks worked well during the commercial breaks. Each section in the pilot seemed to be a small little story unto itself and it worked.

Tomalak301:

It was enjoyable, but I was a little distracted by how "hot" all the actresses were

Maybe that was on purpose in order to have it appeal to a general audience. The cheeriness was opposed by Agent May's weariness to the whole thing.

 

[davejames]

Hmm, I'm a huge Whedon fan, but I'm not really sure WHAT to make of what I just watched. The episode was so damn fast and chaotic, and so much was thrown at us at once, that I just never had time to really appreciate anything. It was just like a blur of action, wisecracks, and technobabble. Lol

Hopefully future episodes will slow down a bit and let us actually get to know these characters. Because right now they remind me more of the bland agents and techno geeks from an NCIS or Bones than from a Whedon show.

I'm also really hoping we don't get just a succession of genetically enhanced, Extremis-style mutants-of-the-week on this show. Because I was frankly already getting bored with that idea in this episode. Especially after years of the same types of villains on Fringe, Heroes, X-Files, Smallville and a dozen other shows.

I realize they can't afford a Hulk or Iron Man on this show, but if you're going to have a bunch of superpowered threats, at least put them in some cool costumes or something. To at least make it feel a little bit special and unique.

 

[A beaker full of death]

This show was just awful. Painfully low budget (piss-poor explosions and... a jet instead of the hellicarrier?) and, much worse, totally predictable writing. Only Fitz/Simmons added any life at all; the rest was so pathetically by-the-numbers. It was a crashing bore.
Oh, and $20 says "clone."

 

[tomalak301]

I thought it was great. I did like the snarky remarks. The remarks worked well during the commercial breaks. Each section in the pilot seemed to be a small little story unto itself and it worked.

Tomalak301:

It was enjoyable, but I was a little distracted by how "hot" all the actresses were

Maybe that was on purpose in order to have it appeal to a general audience. The cheeriness was opposed by Agent May's weariness to the whole thing.

Well yeah, you got to have Sex appeal. Still, it can get distracting if the actress in question can't act. The jury is still out on that one, even though I did like the Skye character as the episode went on.