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Teek
Aug 7, 2006

I can't wait to entertain you.


What is this? The Strain is new series on FX based on a horror trilogy by Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth, Pacific Rim, Blade II) and Chuck Hogan (Prince of Thieves, which became the movie The Town). Initially developed as a TV series, when del Toro couldn't get any buyers he went to Hogan to develop his ideas into a series of novels. Once those became a hit, FX decided to pick it up to series. Current discussion among the producers is for the series to span 35-70 episodes, with season one covering the first book, season two the second and seasons three and four covering book three. However, they've noted they might expand on things when new concepts and ideas hit them as the series develops.

What's it about? A plane lands at John F. Kennedy International Airport with the lights off and doors sealed. Epidemiologist Dr. Ephraim Goodweather and his team are sent to investigate. On board they find two hundred corpses and four survivors. The situation deteriorates when the bodies begin disappearing from morgues. Goodweather and a small group of helpers find themselves battling to protect not only their own loved ones, but the entire city, from an ancient threat to humanity. Elsewhere in a pawnshop in Spanish Harlem, a former professor and survivor of the Holocaust named Abraham Setrakian knows something is happening. And he knows the time has come, that a war is brewing.

Spoiler alert, they're vampires caused by a gross parasitic infection. Ever seen the del Toro directed Blade II? Imagine the political and vampire gene ideas from Blade II, except instead of Blade, it's Whistler as one of the leads.

The cast features Corey Stoll, David Bradley and Sean Astin.

Why should I watch? Good question, reaction to the pilot has been mixed but I've heard good things about the novels. The series is filmed in Toronto (filling in for New York) and it gave me a similar gothic vibe to the Blade series.

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CVagts
Oct 19, 2009
I watched the pilot, and it was intriguing enough that I kinda want to track down the books. The show seems filled with cliches though, cliches that seem like they wouldn't be in the book version.

a Loving Dog
May 12, 2001

more like a Barking Dog, woof!

CVagts posted:

I watched the pilot, and it was intriguing enough that I kinda want to track down the books. The show seems filled with cliches though, cliches that seem like they wouldn't be in the book version.

It's basically the same as the book so far. The only good part of the books is maybe the first half of the first one anyway.

banned from Starbucks
Jul 18, 2004




Is this gonna have a buncha corporate vampire poo poo like Blade or Underworld or whatever the gently caress? First episode was interesting except for every time they cut to the highrise vampire guy pulling the plot strings with his minions or whatever. That part was crap

Mu Zeta
Oct 17, 2002

Me crush ass to dust

They are main cast members so yes it will.

Johnny Longtorso
Nov 24, 2007
The Man Who Comes In Pieces!
I also watched the pilot; I think the show would have more promise if it were focused on Walder Frey, Vampire Hunter, and not Dr. Douchebag. Also, having everything being guided by a big evil conspiracy is kind of cliche. I don't think I'm going to be watching any more. (Also, I looked up the plots for the books and they get pretty cracked out.)

hepscat
Jan 16, 2005

Avenging Nun
Yeah, I admit the thought of an underground Vampire Conspiracy sounds trite and boring, but I did like the way certain moments were filmed in the pilot so I'm giving it a try. It has to be better than, say, Falling Skies.

muscles like this!
Jan 17, 2005


zVxTeflon posted:

Is this gonna have a buncha corporate vampire poo poo like Blade or Underworld or whatever the gently caress? First episode was interesting except for every time they cut to the highrise vampire guy pulling the plot strings with his minions or whatever. That part was crap

The majority of vampires are like the ones in the morgue scene.

...of SCIENCE!
Apr 26, 2008

by Fluffdaddy

CVagts posted:

I watched the pilot, and it was intriguing enough that I kinda want to track down the books. The show seems filled with cliches though, cliches that seem like they wouldn't be in the book version.

Everything in the pilot is directly from the book, and the book is jam-packed with cliches.

zVxTeflon posted:

Is this gonna have a buncha corporate vampire poo poo like Blade or Underworld or whatever the gently caress? First episode was interesting except for every time they cut to the highrise vampire guy pulling the plot strings with his minions or whatever. That part was crap

The vampires in The Strain are just the super vampires from Blade 2 with the serial numbers filed off. All the shadowy corporate stuff happening with Richie Rich's dad is him collaborating with the super vampire in exchange for immortality, which as any reader of genre fiction will tell you is something that totally works out 100% of the time and never ends with the person being killed when they have outlived their usefulness.

Nick Rivers
Nov 23, 2004
I was really excited to see Andrew Divoff was in this and then sad when he was killed and his head smashed in, which makes me assume that is all for him on the show.

verdigris murder
Jul 10, 2011

by FactsAreUseless
I read the first book when it first came out, I was on holiday in the UK's Southern Ireland equivalent (Cornwall). I spent most of the time teaching my dog to surf, which was actually hugely successful. The book however was cheesy and brain dead as gently caress, and yet I still finished it. Due in part to the first name pairing of Guillermo and Chuck on the expensive looking HB's cover.

Also 'expanding on developing ideas' or something is business talk? Are they talking to the shareholders or the passionate fans?

Factor Mystic
Mar 20, 2006

Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction
The dialog in this show is so, so bad and everyone's kind of an idiot. I guess I'll keep watching.

Iseeyouseemeseeyou
Jan 3, 2011
watching it now and walder frey is too intense

Creamed Cormp
Jan 8, 2011

by LITERALLY AN ADMIN
You know what, I know this show is kinda dumb and cliché'd, but it's fun and I want to see how things go inevitably terribly wrong for everyone. Also there is this level of self awareness that can make shows really fun. I mean, first episode and we already have vampire virus maggots, zombies, nazi vampires, a "dead" plane, vampires that can't cross water, a huge ominous carved coffin and a deliciously evil corporation.


Also corporate vampire remind me of Vampires : The Masquerade (barely tried the pen&paper RPG but loved Bloodlines) so that's always a plus.

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

muscles like this? posted:

The majority of vampires are like the ones in the morgue scene.

My assumption from the pilot was that the infection has one of two affects on you. The majority go all zombified like the 200+ who "died" but a small percentage of people adapt better like the 4 "survivors." The high rise vampires could just be the lucky minority.

etalian
Mar 20, 2006

Iseeyouseemeseeyou posted:

watching it now and walder frey is too intense

One the few good things about the show


Not to mention it's hard not to enjoy Toro's barf bag worthy designs



The vampire premise is somewhat eclectic too since they seem familiar to Stroker vampire such as having the special coffin/soil from the home land but the actual biology is due to scientific reasons not supernatural ones.

etalian fucked around with this message at 02:01 on Jul 16, 2014

sector_corrector
Jan 18, 2012

by Nyc_Tattoo
It's a self aware horror genre piece. I think the sloppy writing fits that perfectly.

etalian
Mar 20, 2006

sector_corrector posted:

It's a self aware horror genre piece. I think the sloppy writing fits that perfectly.

Yeah it has some strange tone changes going from lame divorce fight drama over to body horror worm busting goodness.

Sucrose
Dec 9, 2009
I'll give it a few more episodes, why not?

General Dog
Apr 26, 2008

Everybody's working for the weekend
The protagonists shrugging off the gigantic coffin engraved with skulls and filled with dirt was a pretty good tone setter for the series I think. If the show can consistently deliver stuff like the autopsy scene, then I'm in.

etalian
Mar 20, 2006

Frackie Robinson posted:

The protagonists shrugging off the gigantic coffin engraved with skulls and filled with dirt was a pretty good tone setter for the series I think. If the show can consistently deliver stuff like the autopsy scene, then I'm in.

Cpt. Spring Types
Feb 19, 2004

Wait, what?
It probably helps that (1) I'm a Del Toro fanboy, and (2) I watched this immediately following the absolute shitheap that is Under The Dome, but I thought the pilot was excellent. Not the best ever, but I like the leads, and it's got plenty of spooky weird poo poo going on. I think it's got promise. I'm in.

Andrew_1985
Sep 18, 2007
Hay hay hay!


STAC Goat posted:

My assumption from the pilot was that the infection has one of two affects on you. The majority go all zombified like the 200+ who "died" but a small percentage of people adapt better like the 4 "survivors." The high rise vampires could just be the lucky minority.

That was what I thought too. They're still super gross.

Also that divorce crap was insufferable. Plus the main guy is kinda annoying

I'll still watch for a whole, but I'll avoid eating while watching

ufarn
May 30, 2009
Hey man, Corey Stoll was great in House of Cards. :smith:

DirtyRobot
Dec 15, 2003

it was a normally happy sunny day... but Dirty Robot was dirty
There's a difference between Corey Stoll and Corey Stoll in a hairpiece. He's more hairpiece now than man. (No, but seriously, that thing is distracting as hell. And I'm usually the one rolling my eyes at people who are just so proud of being able to identify when some random actor's hair happens to be a piece, even though it's not an issue unless you're looking for it.)

Other than that though, I like the clichés. The show is embracing its genre. Good. It hits the beats you kinda see coming, but then gives it an enjoyable twist and/or it just works. Like that guy getting his face bashed in when he comes across the vampire/monster. You know he's hosed, but the show takes it a step further. Not-Van-Helsing shows he's a badass then goes to his secret lair to do something weird, except the weirdness is still pretty cool, so hey, I'll go with it.

Scissorfighter
Oct 7, 2007

With all rocks and papers vanquished, they turn on eachother...

Nick Rivers posted:

I was really excited to see Andrew Divoff was in this and then sad when he was killed and his head smashed in, which makes me assume that is all for him on the show.

Aw man, I thought he looked familiar. He made the first 2 wishmaster movies extremely watchable.

Junior G-man
Sep 15, 2004

Wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma


The pilot is solid, but the toupee on our dead congressman is just too ridiculous for words.

ufarn
May 30, 2009
To be fair, I don't find it implausible that the character is going through a mid-life crisis and is actually using a hairpiece.

Hopefully a vampire will rip it off in the next episode.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

etalian posted:


The vampire premise is somewhat eclectic too since they seem familiar to Stroker vampire such as having the special coffin/soil from the home land but the actual biology is due to scientific reasons not supernatural ones.

As someone who's read the books I can tell you that the vampire mythology aspect is one of the coolest things about it. There's tons of references to traditional vampire stories all throughout but it always stays unique due to the scientific aspect of the "disease". There's also a major character that hasn't been introduced yet that should be awesome.

Basebf555 fucked around with this message at 14:24 on Jul 16, 2014

CODChimera
Jan 29, 2009

So what sort of scale are we looking at here? It seems like it's already far, far to late to keep this contained.

I enjoyed it. A few questionable things but this probably isn't a show that you try to think about too much or the whole thing unravels.

LesterGroans
Jun 9, 2009

It's funny...

You were so scary at night.

ufarn posted:

Hey man, Corey Stoll was great in House of Cards. :smith:

I love Corey Stoll, but I dunno... maybe he was as distracted by his ridiculous hairpiece as I was.

Tide
Mar 27, 2010

by FactsAreUseless
Welp I was going to make a thread about The Strain this morning (yay slow work day!) because I couldn't find one a few days ago. So, yay thread!

Anyway, I really quite enjoyed it. Sufficiently spooky and gross and the female CDC chick is easy on the eyes. As long as the vampires don't get all sparkly and start wearing Victorian era clothing, I'm in.

The little girl showing up outside her fathers door saying she was cold was creeeeeeeeeepy

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

Tide posted:

Welp I was going to make a thread about The Strain this morning (yay slow work day!) because I couldn't find one a few days ago. So, yay thread!

Anyway, I really quite enjoyed it. Sufficiently spooky and gross and the female CDC chick is easy on the eyes. As long as the vampires don't get all sparkly and start wearing Victorian era clothing, I'm in.

The little girl showing up outside her fathers door saying she was cold was creeeeeeeeeepy

It sounds like I'm the only one in here that read the books, and of course I won't spoil anything, but yea the story stays plenty dark and the vampires stay pretty scary and never veer into Twilight/Anne Rice territory.

The books had a ton of great ideas in them, but the quality of the writing wasn't great, so I expect it will make a drat good T.V. show. In fact at the time the book covers featured Del Toro's name on them very prominently, so I remember thinking that he probably got involved with the project because he knew it was a great premise for a movie or t.v. show.

DarklyDreaming
Apr 4, 2009

Fun scary

Basebf555 posted:

It sounds like I'm the only one in here that read the books, and of course I won't spoil anything, but yea the story stays plenty dark and the vampires stay pretty scary and never veer into Twilight/Anne Rice territory.

The books had a ton of great ideas in them, but the quality of the writing wasn't great, so I expect it will make a drat good T.V. show. In fact at the time the book covers featured Del Toro's name on them very prominently, so I remember thinking that he probably got involved with the project because he knew it was a great premise for a movie or t.v. show.

It was originally written as a TV series but Del Toro and Chuck Hogan couldn't find a network that would pay for it, so they did some rewrites to make it work as a book series and after getting on a few bestseller lists it became a safer bet to make into a TV show.

Noirex
May 30, 2006

I wish they would rethink the awful hairpiece for Corey Stoll. He was was awesome in House of Cards but he looks so ridiculous here. What's wrong with having a balding leading man? He has a stressful job in the middle of a stressful divorce, it's not impossible.

Anyway, I read the book and I know how cheesy and pulpy the story can be, so I'm enjoying the show. I mean it's FX, not HBO....lower your expectations a little and you'll have a good time :v:

Mu Zeta
Oct 17, 2002

Me crush ass to dust

Americans only want bald leading men when they are bad guys like Tony Soprano or Walter White.

Corey Stoll wore a piece in Midnight in Paris and it looked ok. It's just a bad wig on this show.

Pyzza Rouge
Jun 25, 2011

La Mano de Dios

Noirex posted:

Anyway, I read the book and I know how cheesy and pulpy the story can be, so I'm enjoying the show. I mean it's FX, not HBO....lower your expectations a little and you'll have a good time :v:

Yeah, haven't read the books but I think I've found my Goldilocks level trash television for the summer.

Skyl3lazer
Aug 27, 2007

[Dooting Stealthily]



I'll probably keep watching it along with The Last Ship and Dominion as time fillers till something worth watching comes back on air v:shobon:v

Cpt. Spring Types
Feb 19, 2004

Wait, what?
I think Corey Stoll's wig is loving awesome, personally. It is as much of a character as Ephraim is. I dunno, I think it works perfectly for the type of character he's playing. The cocky CDC agent who drinks milk has to have obnoxious looking hair.

Cpt. Spring Types fucked around with this message at 22:52 on Jul 16, 2014

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etalian
Mar 20, 2006

Cpt. Spring Types posted:

I think Corey Stoll's wig is loving awesome, personally. It is as much of a character as Ephraim is. I dunno, I think it works perfectly for the type of character he's playing. The cocky CDC agent who drinks milk has to have obnoxious looking hair.

the best mass media big wig since Trump's

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