Tonight is Threshold

Crothian · Sep 17, 2005

You can tell its written by a Star Trek guy, the "bridge crew" does everything, gets in danger, and yet someohow survives.

Crothian · Sep 17, 2005

Hand of Evil said:
Not impressed and did they steal lines from other shows/movies, I swear I have heard seen some of this before somewhere..."triple helix, I can't imgine..." Oh, was from Epoch or such?

What was Epoch about anyone? I know they made two I think but frankly neither were interesting enough to actually watch.

Truth Seeker · Sep 17, 2005

Yupe...that clinches it.

Truth Seeker · Sep 17, 2005

Crothian said:
You can tell its written by a Star Trek guy, the "bridge crew" does everything, gets in danger, and yet someohow survives.

Wait, wasn't the writer of the Blade films, doing the script.?

Yupe, found it, David Goyer.

Crothian · Sep 17, 2005

It hasn't been terrible. There are some interesting things with visualls and sounds, but tthe usual stupid cliches like alien infected person is invincvibvle, and main characters do everything, and never enough red shirts

ya, predictible

mmu1 · Sep 17, 2005

Gah... Let's see, things I thought were just absolutely idiotic:

1. The triple-helix DNA nonsense. That one should be an insult to the intelligence of anyone who ever took a chemistry class, and that's even before you get into the biological implications of things. If you can change human cells enough to be able to process this "triple-helix" garbage, why bother changing the DNA? You should be able to just turn humans into aliens on the spot. (I work in a research lab that does genetic analysis, and everything in this show to do with DNA, sequencing and biology just made me retch. It makes the CSI shows look real.)

2. The NORTH KOREANS? I thought it was retarded that they were being presented as a threat to the US military when it wasn't clear where the ship was, but a North Korean submarine threatening American interests 80 miles from the Eastern coast of the US? That's Team America meterial.

3. The "team" composed of scientists who can miraculously do things that'd in reality be completely outside their area of expertise. (A linguist identifiying an equation corresponding to a fractal pattern by looking at it. A pathologist doing anything and everything involving the life sciences.)

4. A team leader who - as far as I can tell - does almost nothing aside from looking good in a thin shift. Things happen to her, but she doesn't seem to make much happen herself. What, no one at the NSA could figure out how to follow an emergency checklist? We're told over and over how special she is, but see nothing to prove it.

5. The clumsy way they were trying to stuff "chemistry" between Molly and Cavanaugh down the viewers' throats, and telegraphing other things - like the engineer's faith, and the missing father...

6. As has already been pointed out, the "away team" approach, with its absurdly illogical lack of security of any sort for these most important people on earth.

I think I'll be passing on the rest of this...

Rodrigo Istalindir · Sep 17, 2005

mmu1 said:
Gah... Let's see, things I thought were just absolutely idiotic:
...
I think I'll be passing on the rest of this...

What he said.

Crothian · Sep 17, 2005

I want to see where they go with it, plus it lkeads into Numb3rs a show I like. So, I'll watch it as long as there isn't anything better I have to do like wash my hair.

Fast Learner · Sep 17, 2005

Me, I didn't think it was too bad.

stevelabny · Sep 17, 2005

I thought it was pretty good.

I liked the characters individually, althought they didn't have a lot of chemistry together, but I'm willing to see if it develops, as this was the first episode of a new show.

Also, Ramsey needs a new dialogue writer. As his sarcasm andd quipiness leave a bit to be desired.

But if I can tackle mmu's hatchet job...

mmu1 said:
1. The triple-helix DNA nonsense. That one should be an insult to the intelligence of anyone who ever took a chemistry class, and that's even before you get into the biological implications of things. If you can change human cells enough to be able to process this "triple-helix" garbage, why bother changing the DNA? You should be able to just turn humans into aliens on the spot. (I work in a research lab that does genetic analysis, and everything in this show to do with DNA, sequencing and biology just made me retch. It makes the CSI shows look real.)

This is science-fiction. It means the science doesn't have to be perfect. I'm pretty sure that the reason they used triple-helix and fourth dimensions is to say "hey look, this stuff is so alien, we can do whatever we want with the science" I think the problem here is that you work in this field. To the average person, there's no way to know if this is possible or not and this is nowhere near as bad as uploding a virus into alien computers in Independence Day.

mmu1 said:
2. The NORTH KOREANS? I thought it was retarded that they were being presented as a threat to the US military when it wasn't clear where the ship was, but a North Korean submarine threatening American interests 80 miles from the Eastern coast of the US? That's Team America meterial.

Um, well yeah.. you're right on this one.

mmu1 said:
3. The "team" composed of scientists who can miraculously do things that'd in reality be completely outside their area of expertise. (A linguist identifiying an equation corresponding to a fractal pattern by looking at it. A pathologist doing anything and everything involving the life sciences.)

The linguist used the "math is a language" explanation. My gf is a nerd, and her two main interests are linguistics and stupid math. Having a nerd with a specific field of work also be smart in other areas seems to make sense. And while the government might want as many experts as possible, it isn't feasible to have a 100 member cast.

mmu1 said:
4. A team leader who - as far as I can tell - does almost nothing aside from looking good in a thin shift. Things happen to her, but she doesn't seem to make much happen herself. What, no one at the NSA could figure out how to follow an emergency checklist? We're told over and over how special she is, but see nothing to prove it.

She looks good? I didn't notice. They seemed to downplay sex on this show more than any show I've watched on TV in recent memory. I remember them calling her "the most important person on the planet" once, but in context, it never meant she was special.

mmu1 said:
5. The clumsy way they were trying to stuff "chemistry" between Molly and Cavanaugh down the viewers' throats, and telegraphing other things - like the engineer's faith, and the missing father...

I didn't see an attempt at chemistry between Molly and Cavanagh at all. Are you sure you weren't watching Bones? I'm sure these two will eventually be forced together as Hollywood seems convinced that we can only care about people if theyre in a relationship, but let's not make the situation worse than it is.
As for the engineer's faith and the missing father. These things got mentioned once or twice each. In a two-hour premiere that might have been written as two individual episodes. How is that telegraphing?

mmu1 said:
6. As has already been pointed out, the "away team" approach, with its absurdly illogical lack of security of any sort for these most important people on earth.

They're surrounded by guys with guns, and implanted with tracking devices. Plus, the show has already discussed why it isn't the best idea to chain these guys to their desks.

For the most part, these seem like real nitpicks.

My nitpick of the "alien" attacking Molly in her home and her dog not reacting at all, seems more severe than any of the ones listed.