Agents of SHIELD. Season 1 Discussion Thread

[AvBaur]

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

Yeah, should a hacker chick who lives in a van really look like a model who just spent two hours having her hair & make-up done?

Whedon's other shows have done a better job in the past of having "nerdy" characters who actually looked nerdy (or at least "tv-nerdy"). I mean, I'm not suggesting that all characters must fit these visual stereotypes, but when a character says she lives in her van, I wouldn't expect her to look like she's getting ready for a high-fashion photo shoot. That said, I did like the "Skye" actress and her character for the most part and I hope they can make the Fitz/Simmons characters more interesting in the future.

 

[DEWLine]

Helicarrier would've been expensive to animate on a week-in-week-out basis - at least for now...

 

[Corran Horn]

But some of the nods were not very well-handled. Like when Coulson saw the reconstruction of the guy blowing up, he just said "Extremis, it's new" and that was the only explanation we got. The script just assumed that we'd seen Iron Man 3 and thus didn't bother to provide exposition on its own. That's sloppy writing; a story should always be understandable on its own even if it does draw on ideas from other stories.

I was genuinely happy they did it that way as opposed to expositioning on something that 98% of their audience probably knew about already. Erskine's formula and gamma radiation were also mentioned - why do they get a pass?

 

[Scout101]

and obviously the entire plot of the Avengers...

 

[Alidar Jarok]

This show was just awful. Painfully low budget (piss-poor explosions and... a jet instead of the hellicarrier?)

Unless they're buying a helicarrier, I don't think the budget has much to do with it.

Helicarrier would've been expensive to animate on a week-in-week-out basis - at least for now...

You just have to animate it once. Every time they show it again, they just need to reuse the stock footage for an establishing shot anyway.

But some of the nods were not very well-handled. Like when Coulson saw the reconstruction of the guy blowing up, he just said "Extremis, it's new" and that was the only explanation we got. The script just assumed that we'd seen Iron Man 3 and thus didn't bother to provide exposition on its own. That's sloppy writing; a story should always be understandable on its own even if it does draw on ideas from other stories.

I was genuinely happy they did it that way as opposed to expositioning on something that 98% of their audience probably knew about already. Erskine's formula and gamma radiation were also mentioned - why do they get a pass?

Plus, I think they explained all that was really needed to explain - Extremis turns people in bombs.

 

[Booji]

it had its moments. don't really like the cast, especially the hacker. meh

 

[Vendikarr]

This show was just awful. Painfully low budget (piss-poor explosions and... a jet instead of the hellicarrier?)

Unless they're buying a helicarrier, I don't think the budget has much to do with it.

Helicarrier would've been expensive to animate on a week-in-week-out basis - at least for now...

You just have to animate it once. Every time they show it again, they just need to reuse the stock footage for an establishing shot anyway.

Let's add in the cost to make it look realistic, like all the extras they would need to have running around to staff the helicarrier. Using it would be too expensive.

Coulson's team looks to be an investigative unit/response team. They need to be mobile and move quickly. I doubt the helicarrier allows for either.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Why on Earth would Coulson's little team need an entire helicarrier anyway?

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Yeah, I don't think it does. I'm just saying that it's possible to have a helicarrier without it being dramatically more expensive. Most shots are interior shots anyway.

 

[Icemizer]

Middle of the road for me on this one. My biggest grumble would be the lack of reveal of the bad guys. Its the first show give us something big to look forward to instead of the slow, dribble it out reveal it looks like we will be getting.

 

[Tralfaz]

Not impressed at all with this show. Watched it to see how good it was going to be. Don't plan on watching any others.

 

[Chensams]

Very entertaining plus it made me laugh out loud a couple of times. I like what they are doing with Coulson.

 

[Tosk]

Huh. I enjoyed it a whole helluva lot. I'm surprised by the amount of lukewarm (and worse) reactions, but I also loved Iron Man 3, so what do I know?

 

[marillion]

Well, now that I've had a chance to let it sink in, I'm not hooked, but I'm interested enough to stick around for a few episodes to see how it develops... It needs to get out from under the Avengers' shadow and really become its own thing... And I think I see that happening.. Or at least the seeds of that happening... THere were plenty of Avengers call backs, which I expected, but I think there's enough there to build on.

I did, like others have said, find all the brunettes distracting, as I couldn't always tell them apart, but I'm sure that will figure itself out.

I give it a 7 out of 10...

 

[Borgminister]

Certainly splashier than Alphas, but not sure it's better...

 

[Professor Zoom]

A big meh for me.

 

[hadd001]

I am surprised by the many negative or so-so comments. It was an intro episode. And I think they did a great job. Lots of places they could go with it. But the way the networks seems to "listen in" on discussions like these, all that negativity may just spell doom for the show before it even finds its legs.

 

[Reverend]

Hmm...well it wasn't bad exactly, but it wasn't exactly what I'd call a strong pilot either. Maybe it's just me, but it felt like they were using an early draft of the script. Whedon's stuff is usually way more polished than this. Yeah, it had some funny moments, but some pretty awkward ones too.

I'm not quite buying the supermodel wannabe as a hacker. She did OK performance wise and I suppose they already have two geek characters on the team, but the character just didn't gel IMO. Any other show I'd probably let it slide, but memorable and diverse ensemble casts are something Whedon is known for and this one just felt oddly generic.

Honestly, Couson and Melinda May--now *there's* a Stan Lee name if ever I heard one --are the only characters that really worked for me.

I like the modified Hercules. I wonder what the odds are of it being VTOL capable? The line about these being what they had before the helicarrier was a nice touch.

Minor point, but is SHIELD supposed to be an American government agency, or a clandestine version of NATO? I ask because the two tech specialists are Brits. Then there's the fact it's precursor (SSR ?) was an Allied Forces operation and Fury in Avengers Fury appeared to be answerable to some kind of World Council.

Oh and I think clone is a little too obvious. I'm betting or "resurrected by alien technology." That or robot.

 

[Pavonis]

This show is worth watching just for Coulson, so I'll be tuning in. As for the strength of the pilot, well, I didn't like the Elementary pilot episode, but the rest of the season was great. We should always give a show more than a pilot to find its strengths.

 

[Mysterion]

I like the modified Hercules. I wonder what the odds are of it being VTOL capable? The line about these being what they had before the helicarrier was a nice touch.

C-17 Globemaster III, actually. Much larger than a C-130 Hercules. The helicarrier line was a nice touch.