Tonight is Threshold

[haiiro]

I was worried after the first ten minutes, laughing at the wrong times after twenty minutes, and thoroughly bored after an hour. Compared to other recent premieres -- like HBO's Rome, and Prison Break -- this didn't measure up well. Bleh.

 

[Krafus]

I endured as long as I could, but in the end it what me turn off the tv was something unexpected: the lack of soldiers toward the end, at the refinery or whatever. Especially, the lack of soldiers to protect the van where the three important team members were. Gee, you already know one of those guys can take four bullets in the chest and keep going, and you're trying to lure over a half-dozen of them... and you don't have adequate protection for vital team members, and, from what I could tell, not enough soldiers to cover the facilty? They should have had a battalion of elite soldiers (like the Marines) in there at least.

 

[Nighthawk]

It was ok. I will watch more episodes to see how I might feel about it one way or the other.

 

[Hand of Evil]

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

Simple summary: Aliens that evaluated humans, made adjustment for evolution if they checked out or if not would start over. You did not miss anything, I don't think the lines were from it but I know they stand out from some movie, could have been anything.

 

[Mad Hatter]

I liked the show.

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.)

The triple helix complaint is not the point. These are super advanced aliens here, man. They can easily and logically say that they are beyond us. And like it was mentioned on the show, we're having to redefine a lot of things. Besides gene therapy can work, we do it all the time with bacteria and viruses and other organisms; so if you take the stance that we are now the lower organism and they are the higher then it is feasible that they can do complex and improbable manipulations such as these in this particular universe set up. I can tell you from experience that it takes time to manipulate a bacterium so that it can be used as a vector to express whatever it is that you want to express, and even then it might not work the first time you do it. And before you can change anything you have to set up the changes so it wouldn't be a bam! now you are alien type thing. It would make sense for it to be a progression.

12. 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.

You have a point, but just go with it. This is just being needlessly picky.

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.)

Many scientific fields can and do overlap. For example immunologists discovered and catergorized many interleukins, then the geneticists came in and categorized even more because they were able to sequence genes that would give rise to interleukins. The fields of pathology and microbiology and forensics go hand and hand. So Brent Spiner's character being able to do what he did is more than possible. I have training in genetics, microbiology (focusing on viruses and bacteria), molecular biology, and soon I'll be undergoing emergency response training; so I can say with some authority that the character of Brent Spiner wasn't outside his field. Besides the guy is old and supposedly a genius, why wouldn't he have his fingers in multiple fields? I've met some doctorates that can do what this guy is basically doing. A pathologist has to be able to look at cells and categorize them and why they'd be there. Forensics is just detective work in with your microbiology.

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.

This is just being mean. She developed the plan and is part of some big think tank. So from this, I'd go ahead and have the best and the person who designed the protocol than some other person. Besides since it is her plan, you'd figure she is better able to adapt and handle it when the need arises; and the government has used her before.

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...

You have a slight point here but it took a major back seat to the plot.

Why the heck would you have the team, who incidentally are best equipped to handle the crisis, back in the lab where they can't collect data? How do we know that their van wasn't being tailed? Besides all of them are lojacked and it stands to reason that they'd be protected at home. However, I think this is a moot point because I think they'll all be living in the compound.

I kinda think that you guys are being spiteful just because Braga is an executive producer and it's blinding you to the show, but that's your choice.

 

[mmu1]

1. The "triple helix" stuff was pure, unadulterated crap. DNA will not fold into a triple helix. It's right up there with movie "science" like claiming an alien element was found that's not the on the periodic table.

And the second problem with it is that, if you want human cells to be able to do anything with this triple-helix... stuff... you'll have to change virtually everything about the cell - on the spot. Otherwise you end up with a cell containing a lot of alien genetic material it can't do anything with. Enzymatic reactions involved in transcribing it won't work, there's no system set up to make messenger RNA and proteins out of the triple-stranded DNA, there are no structures available to recognize those protein products even if by some miracle they did get made in the first place...

It's awful, awful science - I'd have had no problem if they simply made what the aliens were doing ambiguous, but they decided to thrust it center stage, and it stinks.

2. Many scientifc fields do overlap, but the amount of cross-training scientists appear to magically have in most sci-fi shows is absurdly unrealistic, and in this show, it's worse than ever. And frankly, I think a larger cast would have been nice.

I'm also really unimpressed by the fact this group of geniuses has barely been able to articulate the implications of something being able to move in more than three dimensions, and continued to be surprised by things and people disappearing into thin air. I realize it's the writers trying to save it for a big plot point later on when they figure out more about the alien technology, but the idea that several people with advanced math background are so fuzzy about it is just funny. It's about as mysterious as one of us being able to step out of a chalk circle drawn on the ground.

3. Saying the team leader didn't do anything important isn't being mean... Most of her input amounted to having the deputy-director come to her and say "what do we do next" and having her reply "well, the list says we do X now". Oh, and I guess she did repeatedly go toe-to-toe with the alien-infested first mate after he managed to knock Cavanaugh (poor guy - what a miserable role so far) out of commission, but I'd have preferred it if the writers put more work into showing us why she's being billed as a genius.

4. Three team members were sitting in a van, alone, and the security was lax enough that the alien-infected guy showed up and pulled one of them out of a window and dragged him away. What good is lojack if someone has minutes to kill you before the security gets to you? And I guess bullet-proof glass and a couple of armed guys with them in the van would have been too much to ask for, right?

 

[Mad Hatter]

1. The "triple helix" stuff was pure, unadulterated crap. DNA will not fold into a triple helix. It's right up there with movie "science" like claiming an alien element was found that's not the on the periodic table.

And the second problem with it is that, if you want human cells to be able to do anything with this triple-helix... stuff... you'll have to change virtually everything about the cell - on the spot. Otherwise you end up with a cell containing a lot of alien genetic material it can't do anything with. Enzymatic reactions involved in transcribing it won't work, there's no system set up to make messenger RNA and proteins out of the triple-stranded DNA, there are no structures available to recognize those protein products even if by some miracle they did get made in the first place...

It's awful, awful science - I'd have had no problem if they simply made what the aliens were doing ambiguous, but they decided to thrust it center stage, and it stinks.

You're right it wouldn't work because the mechanism isn't there. You can't just change everything all at once. That's stupid, which is probably why a little less than half the crew died in painful ways. A mutation isn't a mutation until division occurs. So the alien download would have to encourage human cell propagation.

You first have to set up a mechanism. Human DNA wouldn't change immediately and they haven't said that it did. They've just shown overgrown roaches, odd rats, and super powerd humans, and a hybrid represented by the three who heard the sound. All those things don't say triple helix immediately because I beleive that would be mentioned immediately. Which implies that the download is creating mechanisms. This mechanism could be packaged in a fashion similar to what a virus will do that is dormant. The lytic and lysogenic occurrences in viral cells would be an appropriate model for this particular phenomenon. I'm going to assume that you know the intricate details of a virus, so if the alien DNA were to hijack cell processes i.e. translation and transcription or convert alien into human back to alien like how a retorvirus works (this isn't really a good example but it is somewhat close).

And in a biological system if the organism lives then obviously something worked and any other mutation kills and doesn't show. I'm assuming that a hybrid will be created that's close to what the aliens are, which would be their ultimate goal. Regardless they aren't going to get a pureblood.

 

[Mad Hatter]

Jeez, I forgot about the rest. Anywho, a larger cast would be far too unwieldy for this kind of thing. A small precision group is better than a larger one. Besides we are dealing with geniuses, it happens. It's the Principle of Conservation of Talent and Genius. Why call in five people when one can do the job of those five and do it well since he's recognized as a genius and leader of his field? This is top secret so the less who know the better. As for the van thing, I assume sniper and that Gunnison pulled a hat trick to get there. But regardless, those are just being nitpicky. I've seen more leniency in crappier tv shows (imho) . This is a pilot, presumably such oversights will no longer be prevalent. Besides, I like the fact that they are continuously underestimating the enemy. It's in our nature, especially in tv for some reason.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

I missed the first 10 minutes or so. I thought it was so-so. Later when I explained the show to my girlfriend and gave her broad strokes of the ideas it brought up, she thought it sounded much cooler than I was left feeling. Maybe I'm wrong, although she didn't have to sit through all the cliched dialogue. Bad dialogue bothers me much more than bad science.

Did it seem to anyone else like some geek-friendly writer's stab at Delta Green: The Series? Or maybe even X-Com: The Series?

 

[Fast Learner]

Almost none of that little stuff bothered me. The North Korean sub just off the coast of the US thing was annoying.

As was the use of the term "evolution" to describe what what happening to the nasty cockroach, since there clearly was no natural or unnatural selection going on. "Mutation" is a perfectly good word, and much more accurate. Generations of creatures have to die or not die and give birth in order for them to "evolve."

But a bit of hokey science doesn't bug me very much. Hokey geopolitics, yeah.

Oh, and I didn't think the team leader woman lookd particularly good in that nightgown, so I agree with the "surprisingly little sex" crowd.