No Ordinary Family

[Dannyalcatraz]

The pacing is uneven at times, and some of the characters' actions are a bit contrived, but after 2 episodes, I'd have to say it's an interesting take on a Fantastic Four-ish dynamic.

We have a Dad who is a classic low-power brick, Mom can run about 700mph, the daughter is a telepath and the son seems to be a math/science super-whiz. And we have also seen that there are others out there- a teleporting bank robber and a powerful Teke.

We even have a developing sinister conspiracy.

So far, so good enough to keep watching...

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I DVRed last night episode, so I haven't seen it yet, but after the pilot I'm willing to keep going. I realize pilots are often not that strong, but I do hope they manage to avoid being a predictible show full of the standard supers cliches.

 

[wolff96]

I liked the pilot and they toned down some of the really annoying (to me, YMMV) factors of the pilot in the second episode.

Namely, they ditched the narration and made the daughter less of a whiny "I'm so PURE!" stereotype, which made it more watchable to me.

Definitely agree on the pacing, though.

It amuses me that the powers are seemingly based on personality... except for dad. Mom needs more time, Daughter wants to know why people are laughing at her, Son is sick of being dumb... and Dad wants to keep the family together so he becomes a brick? Latent shades of wanting to be a hero or get bad guys off the street, I guess.

And I love that, just for once, when the powers are revealed the friends don't disbelieve -- they express how COOL it is! That would be my exact reaction (probably along with jealousy, if I'm honest) so I don't know why we don't see it more often in movies/comic books.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

It amuses me that the powers are seemingly based on personality... except for dad. Mom needs more time, Daughter wants to know why people are laughing at her, Son is sick of being dumb... and Dad wants to keep the family together so he becomes a brick? Latent shades of wanting to be a hero or get bad guys off the street, I guess.

Dad was also mentioned as moping around and he is the one sensitive to what is going on in his family, so another interpretation could be that he is "soft," in which case a brick could make sense.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

1) I love some of the more "realistic" physics things they're doing, as well as acknowledging issues about why certain things that SHOULD be happening aren't.

2) I would SO be the buddy w/the secret lair idea...

3) I like that there have already been developments that are not your typical rosy Hollywood style writing. The show has already shown a little grit...and light comedy.

4) I saw the brick thing as the wish-fulfillment of an emasculated man. His wife is the primary breadwinner; he works in a male-dominated environment with a female boss...and is told that he can't participate in the action because he's not a real cop. Heck, even his artistic skills get heckled.

You know, with that psychological element to the manifestation of powers, there may be as much Wild Cards in this series as FF.

 

[drothgery]

3) I like that there have already been developments that are not your typical rosy Hollywood style writing. The show has already shown a little grit...and light comedy.

I'm a little worried that they may forget that a little grit is useful, but a lot can kill a show that's supposed be fun (see: Heroes, one of many problems with), so when

Spoiler

the mom's employer seems to be a stereotypical shady megacorp who seems to be using the Powells as test subjects

and

Spoiler

the evil TK apparently killed the dad's boss, who seemed like an interesting character

, I'm concerned.

 

[John Crichton]

Really fun show so far.

Color me entertained and tuning in weekly.

 

[megamania]

I'm curious about it. Glad its not a live action Invisibles.

 

[dravot]

My six year old wanted to watch it, but the language and some of the content was highly inappropriate, and for no appreciable gain.

 

[Janx]

I think the brick is going to have a problem when Dexter finds out where Rita went...

It did seem abrupt that they killed his boss so soon. Maybe they'll use that as a catalyst for him to become a cop, but I doubt it.


It also seemed lame that the adults got physical powers (read need stunt doubles) and the kids got mental powers (read nothing visibly interesting about them to bring them into super-hero situations).

Not that they couldn't be used in a scene to thwart crime or something, but by making them have mental powers, they are basically non-combatants. Very PG.


It's also surprising that he doesn't have a disguise or mask. That should have been obvious from the beginning.

 

[Umbran]

1) I love some of the more "realistic" physics things they're doing, as well as acknowledging issues about why certain things that SHOULD be happening aren't.

Yes, but some of their other science is horrible. All the more horrible for begin so thoroughly avoidable!

When looking at a chromatograph, you aren't looking through a microscope at a slide!

"Glucosamine levels"? Um, folks, the word you want is glucose. You stuck the "amine" on there for show, and you figured nobody would wince at it? Come on!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I don't remember which bit of technobabble included it, and I'm not saying they didn't misuse it, but "glucosamine" is a real substance found within the systems of living beings.

 

[Umbran]

I don't remember which bit of technobabble included it, and I'm not saying they didn't misuse it, but "glucosamine" is a real substance found within the systems of living beings.

Yes, it is. It helps keep your joints in good shape. But the techobabble was about burning calories, not wearing away the cartilage in her knees, so they used the term inappropriately.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Yep- that's a fumble, all right.

Oh why do so few sci-fi scriptwriters pay attention to the technical advisors?

 

[Gog]

Look they are going to get the science/technobabble wrong on occasion, I'm ok with that mainly because it appears they are at least trying to do it right.

 

[Umbran]

Look they are going to get the science/technobabble wrong on occasion, I'm ok with that mainly because it appears they are at least trying to do it right.

Dude, we know they'll get the science wrong occasionally. It is a superhero show, for cryin' out loud. Most of what they do is wrong science. That I can swallow.

The issue is with science for which there is no good reason for it to be wrong! Chromatography is something they would do to that water, and if her running is at least partly fueled by her own metabolism, then yes, she'd have to watch her blood sugar when putting out major effort.

But then they go and use the wrong word and equipment? Completely avoidable!

 

[LightPhoenix]

The issue is with science for which there is no good reason for it to be wrong! Chromatography is something they would do to that water, and if her running is at least partly fueled by her own metabolism, then yes, she'd have to watch her blood sugar when putting out major effort.

I winced at that as well, more so because my specialty is (microbial) molecular biology techniques such as chromatography. Obviously they just thought it sounded like "color" and ran with it. That said, the microscope would be the first piece of equipment I would use; long-lasting phosphorescence in water would most likely be caused by a microbe of some kind.

I'm (kind of) okay on the hand-wave for her powers affecting her; I lump it in with magic. Realistically she'd need to stock up on calories before running/regenerating/whatever.

I think at this point it's relatively clear the company is the one who gave them powers, by accident or on purpose.

I'm enjoying the show well enough, and I hope that it gets picked up. I like the lighter tone, though I hope the rest of the family gets involved in the plot soon.

 

[Jdvn1]

So far, I'm enjoying the show. It's interesting to see the extent of the son's powers, so far.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'm an only child, so I'm not quite getting why the son seems to be preferring the pity of his parents due to their not knowing he has a power as opposed to their help & understanding about dealing with his power.

Or that his sister is keeping that secret.

 

[John Crichton]

I'm an only child, so I'm not quite getting why the son seems to be preferring the pity of his parents due to their not knowing he has a power as opposed to their help & understanding about dealing with his power.

Or that his sister is keeping that secret.

It's not pity, it's pride he wants them to feel for him.