Flashforward
- Thread starter Mistwell
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Darth Shoju
First Post
I just got back from a viewing of it at our local McNally Robinson. Rob Sawyer (the author of the original book) was there and was telling us about the making of the show beforehand and during the commercial breaks. It was really cool. And the show was amazing. Hopefully it gets picked up for the full season.
Crothian
First Post
Did he talk about differences between the show and the book?
EricNoah
Adventurer
It was ok. I saw some familiar faces, which was fun. I thought the mystery unfolded a little too quickly - I would have liked to have seen more confusion about the blackout event and about the visions. I do like the central conflict - is foreknowledge going to allow people to change their futures, or is it going to cause the future? - and I can see struggles between characters who either want or don't want the future to happen as shown being pretty entertaining. I am not sure I am ready to commit to another Lost-type show (I love Lost!) where you really have to follow it week after week to keep up with it.
Punnuendo
First Post
That kind of bothered me at first but after thinking about it for a few minutes I actually kind of like it. All these billions of people experienced the same thing. In a lot of shows they'd spend a whole season never talking to each other about what they saw and not figuring it out. Instead here people actually talked to each other and it was rather obvious they should figure it out. But that's just me.
Jack7
First Post
I went to a party today for my nephew who is on leave before being reassigned. My mother suggested I watch this, I did, and I liked it. If I can I'm gonna watch more of it.
Lost is the first thing I thought of. But the premise is reversed. Instead of a small population being geographically isolated with a series of small, interconnected mysteries, it is the population of an entire planet, with one huge mystery, and no single set of clues leading in any given direction (other than nebulously interconnected visions which may or may not be related as some seem to be initially assuming.) Plus the temporal element is skewed, but differently from Lost. Instead of skipping around in time, the show lays out the premise that people are supposedly recalling the future. Working from that premise this means that either they are all suffering the same basic mass hallucination (very unlikely), they are indeed recalling the future (which violates the normal progression methods of perceiving time, not to mention memory formation) or that the same basic (false) information was somehow implanted into everyone. there is one other possibility I can think of but I'm not gonna mention it yet in the case I think the plot starts to lean in that direction, and if it does then I'll mention it at that time.
I thought the underlying religious and psychological premise was an interesting one, as some assume it to be a good thing, even a blessing from God, others a bad thing, and a possible punishment.
I do though understand the discomfort with the idea that certain television shows nowadays require a real time investment. This, like the blackout itself is both a good and bad thing. It demonstrates that television is undergoing a new Renaissance, and that many shows are becoming so good that they demand real attention. On the other hand with work and family and other obligations (with so many other demands and so many other interesting things to do in modern society) it is difficult to devote the time to little more than entertainment. Though sometimes shows like Lost and possibly this one, to me have psychological and mental and religious and other values (beyond mere entertainment) that they are a possibly attractive use of your time. Even when really you could be doing something else far more important.
Personally, I concur with that assessment. It makes it interesting because instead of hiding information (as per Lost), here the situation is sorta symbolic of modern society as a whole. So much information is available that no-one is really sure exactly where or how to start (interpretively, to draw conclusions as to why or what it all means), and it is very unlikely that everyone will come to the same conclusions even if everyone has access to the same information. Again, I like that symbolism. Suppose for instance everyone alive suddenly had direct access to information regarding the modus operandi of God? Suppose there were all underlying meaning to it all and you and everyone else could suddenly know how it all worked? How many people do you think would agree, based on that information alone, on motives? Not what was going on, but what it actually implied or was leading towards? That to me is what will make this show interesting. Not what they uncover, but what they think it means, and the conclusions they draw, or fail to draw, about how it all fits together. Knowing how and what will be one thing, knowing why will be another. Of course that question can never really be answered, it can only be hinted at. Still, if the hints are good enough, it will be interesting.
(That to me was the real symbolism of the opening disaster scenes - as with all disasters someone sees meaning and a mystery underneath, something else behind it, some see a blessing in disguise, some see punishment, some see merely chaos and catastrophe. The opening scenes were very symbolic of the seeming disordered and scattered chaos of modern overload. Yet this overload, to the survivors anyway, all occurred "sub-consciously" rather than consciously, meaning that consciously they were unable to see any real pattern to events, but sub-consciously, having all experienced the same phenomena, but in different ways, they most all assume it must have some meaning or purpose. Both on a cosmic scale and on the level of the individual. The individual meaning of mass events, or the mass meaning of individual events. Or both.)
Anywho, overall, I liked it.
Lost is the first thing I thought of. But the premise is reversed. Instead of a small population being geographically isolated with a series of small, interconnected mysteries, it is the population of an entire planet, with one huge mystery, and no single set of clues leading in any given direction (other than nebulously interconnected visions which may or may not be related as some seem to be initially assuming.) Plus the temporal element is skewed, but differently from Lost. Instead of skipping around in time, the show lays out the premise that people are supposedly recalling the future. Working from that premise this means that either they are all suffering the same basic mass hallucination (very unlikely), they are indeed recalling the future (which violates the normal progression methods of perceiving time, not to mention memory formation) or that the same basic (false) information was somehow implanted into everyone. there is one other possibility I can think of but I'm not gonna mention it yet in the case I think the plot starts to lean in that direction, and if it does then I'll mention it at that time.
I thought the underlying religious and psychological premise was an interesting one, as some assume it to be a good thing, even a blessing from God, others a bad thing, and a possible punishment.
I do though understand the discomfort with the idea that certain television shows nowadays require a real time investment. This, like the blackout itself is both a good and bad thing. It demonstrates that television is undergoing a new Renaissance, and that many shows are becoming so good that they demand real attention. On the other hand with work and family and other obligations (with so many other demands and so many other interesting things to do in modern society) it is difficult to devote the time to little more than entertainment. Though sometimes shows like Lost and possibly this one, to me have psychological and mental and religious and other values (beyond mere entertainment) that they are a possibly attractive use of your time. Even when really you could be doing something else far more important.
Personally, I concur with that assessment. It makes it interesting because instead of hiding information (as per Lost), here the situation is sorta symbolic of modern society as a whole. So much information is available that no-one is really sure exactly where or how to start (interpretively, to draw conclusions as to why or what it all means), and it is very unlikely that everyone will come to the same conclusions even if everyone has access to the same information. Again, I like that symbolism. Suppose for instance everyone alive suddenly had direct access to information regarding the modus operandi of God? Suppose there were all underlying meaning to it all and you and everyone else could suddenly know how it all worked? How many people do you think would agree, based on that information alone, on motives? Not what was going on, but what it actually implied or was leading towards? That to me is what will make this show interesting. Not what they uncover, but what they think it means, and the conclusions they draw, or fail to draw, about how it all fits together. Knowing how and what will be one thing, knowing why will be another. Of course that question can never really be answered, it can only be hinted at. Still, if the hints are good enough, it will be interesting.
(That to me was the real symbolism of the opening disaster scenes - as with all disasters someone sees meaning and a mystery underneath, something else behind it, some see a blessing in disguise, some see punishment, some see merely chaos and catastrophe. The opening scenes were very symbolic of the seeming disordered and scattered chaos of modern overload. Yet this overload, to the survivors anyway, all occurred "sub-consciously" rather than consciously, meaning that consciously they were unable to see any real pattern to events, but sub-consciously, having all experienced the same phenomena, but in different ways, they most all assume it must have some meaning or purpose. Both on a cosmic scale and on the level of the individual. The individual meaning of mass events, or the mass meaning of individual events. Or both.)
Anywho, overall, I liked it.
Darth Shoju
First Post
No he steered away from that. I suspect he was trying to avoid spoiling things for anyone who hadn't read the book.
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