|
Well, I didn't see this coming. I just saw a commercial on BBC America and my mind, it was blown: 12 Monkeys is a SyFy Original series. Sync your house lights to the airing of the show? Ok. Sure. Trailer clicky. quote:Syfy's 12 Monkeys Immediately Distinguishes Itself from the 1995 Film As a fan of the movie, I can think of many reasons why this is a bad idea. Then again, I may be too pessimistic. I wonder what people who like the movie think of this adaptation. Terry Gilliam's works are very difficult for me to parse. They seem to barely fit into the film genre to me. How could this translate to television? I remember the Cassandra complex from the film. So now the character is actually named Cassandra? What, it was too subtle? Some or all episodes and also webisodes will be up at SyFy.com. Dr. Faustus fucked around with this message at 10:15 on Jan 17, 2015 |
#
?
Jan 11, 2015 08:58
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 19, 2024 00:33 |
|
|
I've seen the first 9mins, it works.
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2015 09:11
|
|
|
In the last year SyFy has knocked it out of the loving park with their original shows. Dominion was odd at first but was carried by some insanely good actors, Ascension was a great clusterfuck mess but still fun to watch, Helix turned more into a unintentional comedy by the end but was still quite entertaining, and Z Nation was the absolute best zombie show of the last 5 years by far.
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2015 15:03
|
|
|
Just saw another trailer. Gonna put stuff in spoiler tags in case you haven't seen the movie: This could obviously be a bait-and-switch. Some people thought the point of 12 Monkeys was preventing the plague. It was not. It was just a strategy of time-travel to get a sample of the virus that would allow mankind to beat the virus and move back to the surface of Earth after the worst was over. The trailer I just watched stressed the goal being preventing the plague. I think that was a call-back to the original story. As I post this, The Exorcist in on BBC America again. Gonna watch that.
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2015 08:43
|
|
|
Can Aaron Stanford do menace?
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2015 10:47
|
|
|
The part of the disembodied voice that may or may not be part of Cole's imagination will be played by Katee Sackhoff.
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2015 13:45
|
|
|
MrSlam posted:The part of the disembodied voice that may or may not be part of Cole's imagination will be played by Katee Sackhoff.  MrSlam lives up to his name!
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2015 18:21
|
|
|
This seems like a strange movie to make into a TV show, but I am always down for more Birkhoff.
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2015 02:09
|
|
|
Just a reminder that tonight's the night. I won't be home so I'm setting the DVR.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2015 00:33
|
|
|
I guess that's one way to prove you're from the future.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2015 03:13
|
|
|
Quite enjoyed it. Acting was good, special effects were good, sufficiently dark vision of the future. If you didn't catch it, it's worth a watch
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2015 06:33
|
|
|
1st impressions: Ok, lots of changes and not necessarily bad ones. I'm obviously going to have to jettison a lot of my baggage with the movie. They did actually pull a Katee Sakhoff move in there, recasting a certain main character. Doesn't seem like a bad idea since we're not remaking the movie and there's no point rehashing what was done there. IMDB has this episode list that shows Season One having 13 Episodes. I'm not sure how trustworthy IMDB is in this, but some of the episode titles make me want to see how they're handled. You can apparently watch Episode 2 now on SyFy.com and OnDemand, as of midnight EST. I think I'll wait until tomorrow and decide if I want to go an episode ahead. I will get into more thoughts later but the main one I had when watching this tonight was, "Are people going to be willing to watch this show?" Hard to judge something like that based on the pilot but when the time travel device and its origin is revealed, I definitely pictured a lot of people giving up on the show right then. So for now all I can say for sure is that it wasn't all horrible. I've watched the film a ton of times and it's one of my favorite Terry Gilliam movies (mostly for the very neat and very convoluted time travel reveals, and it did eventually cause me to also watch the inspiration of the film, La Jete, which I liked very much.) At this point I wonder if there's an audience for this. Here's AV Club's first review, and Maureen Ryan's review from Huffington Post.. There's plenty more where this came from via Google. One little trick I liked that the AV Club person seemed to be unable to figure out: Cole is described by Leland's genius scientist as some kind of human computer. The implication is that Cole has mental and physical capabilities that are unknown. Shortly after, Cole puts future watch and present watch together on a table and allows them to touch. In the ensuing paradox Cole goes into a sort of Max Payne-esque bullet-time, which he uses to rescue Cassie while everyone is blinking in slow motion (just watch Leland's eyes, it looks like a very deliberate clue as to what's going on) and the gunmen are unable to keep up with his movements with their weapons. While everyone else is probably moving in this weird paradox-time, Cole is unaffected (as the scientist foreshadows when she says, "Not even the paradox can hold you now,") and he carries her out of the room into a hallway. It's not a moment too soon because the watches create some big off-screen explosion, from which only Leland emerges; and he's pretty hosed up. I thought that was kinda neat and would like to see that explored more, as long as it's not overused. Also, it was a neat parallel to the movie's reveal that Leland wasn't the direct cause of the plague after all, as his death in the show does not cause Cole to cease to exist as Cole and Cassie expected. EDITS: Some more detail in the spoiler, and (hopefully accurate) Episode information. Dr. Faustus fucked around with this message at 10:17 on Jan 17, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2015 06:46
|
|
|
Enjoyed this, solid start for the series. Probably helps that a writer and producer of the Sarah Connor Chronicles, which had a really good handle on time travel shenanigans, is a writer and executive on this show as well.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2015 06:51
|
|
|
Yeah this was good. Always up for some time travel shenanigans and yay Kirk Acevedo!
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2015 07:16
|
|
|
I'm a huge fan of the movie, and i rewatched it not a couple of months ago. I loved this. I'm down for a retelling that retells something from a different direction. Birkoff was great, your man was great, your woman was great. Paradox Grenade that's new. That Kicker! Ground floor.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2015 09:06
|
|
|
Well, it was a good start, but then Helix started off really good then completely blew it. 12 Monkeys has a lot more room to move around in whereas Helix was confined to the research facility and ~corporate mysteries~. As long the 12 Monkeys staff have a clear idea of how to work out the constant back and forth timeline jumps I can see it being a decent show at the minimum.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2015 11:25
|
|
|
I watched episode 2. This is a rad show that is cool and neat.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2015 14:55
|
|
|
Where's episode 2 at? edit: i found it Rocksicles fucked around with this message at 15:00 on Jan 17, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2015 14:57
|
|
|
Two minutes in and already this show has at least 2 Nikita alumni 
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2015 15:34
|
|
|
WarLocke posted:Two minutes in and already this show has at least 2 Nikita alumni
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2015 19:37
|
|
I meant to record this show and forgot.  Dr. Faustus posted:Should I be watching Nikita? The first two seasons are great then it goes way downhill.
|
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2015 22:26
|
|
|
Reverse Centaur posted:I meant to record this show and forgot. quote:The first two seasons are great then it goes way downhill.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2015 22:32
|
|
Dr. Faustus posted:Stream the first two episodes at SyFy.com, or watch them OnDemand! I'm Canadian but it's actually on showcase.ca, to my shock. Or at least one episode anyway. edit: watched it - really intrigued. I gobble up any good time travel stuff and this will hopefully fill a hole left by Continuum. UnfortunateSexFart fucked around with this message at 01:34 on Jan 18, 2015 |
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2015 22:38
|
|
|
Dr. Faustus posted:Good to know, thank you. The good news is that the first two seasons are a perfectly self-contained story, and the third season - what I saw of it - sucked because of how extraneous it was. Just pretend they didn't make any more.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2015 01:52
|
|
|
Yeah, they thought Nikita was cancelled and wrote the real ending for the end of season 2. Then the CW CEO (or something) said "no I like this show keep doing it" and they went "oh poo poo."
|
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2015 02:21
|
|
|
So far I'm sold. My expectations were on the floor after Helix but this was really solid. Glad to see some Nikita alumn and to hear theres some TSCC staffers bts as well.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2015 02:28
|
|
|
Ya looking forward to see how this goes. Love me some time travel shenanigans.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2015 02:52
|
|
|
The show seems like it diverges way from the movie, but I liked the first episode. Birkhoff does a credible job as Cole without trying to outright BE Bruce Willis. Also was the girl at the end from the movie somewhere? She seemed familiar I should re-watch the movie since it's been years. I remember the final twist being that (spoiled in case someone hasn't seen the movie I guess?) that the Army of the Twelve Monkeys wasn't actually responsible for the plague, they just wanted to free lab animals. And Cole ends up finding the actual plague starter (the creepy redhead guy in the airport concourse) only to be shot to death by cops in front of his younger self in this really grim closed loop paradox.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2015 03:09
|
|
|
The girl at the end was a gender swapped version of Brad Pitt's character from the movie.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2015 03:15
|
|
|
WarLocke posted:I should re-watch the movie since it's been years. I remember the final twist being that (spoiled in case someone hasn't seen the movie I guess?) that the Army of the Twelve Monkeys wasn't actually responsible for the plague, they just wanted to free lab animals. And Cole ends up finding the actual plague starter (the creepy redhead guy in the airport concourse) only to be shot to death by cops in front of his younger self in this really grim closed loop paradox.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2015 07:37
|
|
|
WarLocke posted:The show seems like it diverges way from the movie, but I liked the first episode. Birkhoff does a credible job as Cole without trying to outright BE Bruce Willis. Also was the girl at the end from the movie somewhere? She seemed familiar I thought the big twist at the end was that the scientists are a bunch of dicks and either were never able or never wanted to stop the plague. Cole himself was never going to succeed due to the time paradox but the scientists sent him and who knows how many other convicted criminals back to slowly track the real mastermind in order to steal a sample of the virus. The people that have died to the plague stay dead and while humanity in the future is saved, it's just a matter of time before humanity finally succumbs to another virus.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2015 08:18
|
|
|
Yes, at least some of that is explained at the end as well. At this point let's remember that the series could go just about anywhere.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2015 08:36
|
|
|
Kegslayer posted:I thought the big twist at the end was that the scientists are a bunch of dicks and either were never able or never wanted to stop the plague. Cole himself was never going to succeed due to the time paradox but the scientists sent him and who knows how many other convicted criminals back to slowly track the real mastermind in order to steal a sample of the virus. The people that have died to the plague stay dead and while humanity in the future is saved, it's just a matter of time before humanity finally succumbs to another virus. Sort of. It's explained right from the start that Cole can't change the past. The mission was always to obtain a sample of the original strain so they can cure the virus in the future.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2015 10:25
|
|
|
The first episode was ok. It's obvious that they are trying different things from the movie (which is one of my favorite movies) and I am not sure I like all that I see. Most of the paradox stuff in particular is what worries me. They don't introduce multiple timelines (thank god), but then again it's just the first episode and I am not a fan of the cheat tactic "we mentioned paradoxes are a thing, so anything goes". But for now I am interested enough to see where they go with it, especially since this is airing at a period where there are few stuff on TV that I watch. They also seem to have removed the main flashback which was centric to the movie. Goddamn, now I want to rewatch the movie again. By the way, is this supposed to be a multiple seasons series or just a single standalone one like in the case of Fargo (well, the original plan for the Fargo TV series, anyway, before the renewal; although Fargo second season will have a new story).
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2015 11:25
|
|
|
AbstractNapper posted:The first episode was ok. It's obvious that they are trying different things from the movie (which is one of my favorite movies) and I am not sure I like all that I see. Most of the paradox stuff in particular is what worries me. They don't introduce multiple timelines (thank god), but then again it's just the first episode and I am not a fan of the cheat tactic "we mentioned paradoxes are a thing, so anything goes". I doubt it will be a single season. It will probably run as long as the ratings are good. Also I heard that (season 1 plot spoiler) they will get the cure or stop the plague before the season ends. That plot point may have changed though.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2015 12:09
|
|
|
Kegslayer posted:I thought the big twist at the end was that the scientists are a bunch of dicks and either were never able or never wanted to stop the plague. Cole himself was never going to succeed due to the time paradox but the scientists sent him and who knows how many other convicted criminals back to slowly track the real mastermind in order to steal a sample of the virus. The people that have died to the plague stay dead and while humanity in the future is saved, it's just a matter of time before humanity finally succumbs to another virus. The movie is pretty clear about it not being considered possible to fix the past. It was more about a desperate, but ultimately futile, need to feel in control (or maybe that was just Brazil). The show appears to be heading more down a road of regret and atoning/redemption. The movie twist was really limited to him seeing himself die.  This is one of the scientists (who does not appear to be a younger version). My understanding was that she was sent back to collect a sample of the original virus by being infected (sits right next to him, goes out of her way to make physical contact and goes on to say she is in "insurance"). Maybe steal one of those vials to be extra sure but still infected and going to die. If it is the credits list her as "astrophysicist"; a skill no longer required. Less dicks who just use "volunteer" prisoners to conduct dangerous experiments but more just extremely pragmatic. Although they might have been dicks with the gun at the end; never understood that. I'm not really please that the show has gone with a few being immune (although they toss in that it is mutating so I guess that they won't always be?). Yes, I'm perfectly willing to accept time travel but a rapidly mutating virulent virus becoming more deadly; that is just too far fetched. And shut up about non-human reservoirs. Or I'm disappointed it will not be a future of bubble suits with christmas tree lights. edit: CAPTAIN CAPSLOCK posted:Also I heard that (season 1 plot spoiler) they will get the cure or stop the plague before the season ends. That plot point may have changed though. prak fucked around with this message at 12:22 on Jan 18, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2015 12:13
|
|
|
I haven't seen the movie for years but I was under the impression that the scientists, or at least Cole in the original future initially wasn't aware that the past could not have been changed which is why they hand the gun to Cole to kill the rogue scientist and stop the plague from happening. The scientist from the future at the end of the movie was there either to ensure the rogue scientist was able to complete the mission or had Cole successfully killed him, would have then taken his place and spread the virus herself which is why she's the 'insurance'. It doesn't make sense if you think she's making a big sacrifice to get infected since they could have always just got another criminal guinea pig to go through. By the time you see her, its obviously the very last step of the program. They can now reliably send someone back to a specific time and place and have all the resources to place the scientist right next to the target. They presumably have the initial sample and cure so all that's left is to clean up the time line.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2015 14:03
|
|
|
^^^ That is more or less how I perceived it too. And I am a fan of the fact that they (or at least Cole from one point on) seemed to be working under the assumption that the past could be altered and made efforts towards that, only to find out that everything played out exactly as it *always* did (going by the theory of a unique timeline with a time machine invented at some point in it; or if you prefer what later LOST tried to do arguably inconsistenly as "whatever happened happened")
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2015 14:46
|
|
|
The thing the movie included about getting a sample of the virus so they could create a cure seems to be an important element the series has dropped. The idea of changing the past runs into the very basic paradox that Leland points out, and they haven't (yet) presented an idea of how that can be resolved. Still the pilot was fun enough that I'll watch for a while. It's already way better than the Strain. e: I was a little perplexed as to why Cole didn't want to tell Leland why he had been sent back. Obviously even from limited exposure it seemed like Leland was a pretty black-hearted guy but you'd think that even the most amoral person would balk at a course of events leading to a worldwide pandemic that wipes out civilization. Why not say 'yeah if you continue bioresearch you'll create this real bad disease'? Leland was already a believer in time travel and everything! Giant Tourtiere fucked around with this message at 17:55 on Jan 18, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2015 17:52
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 19, 2024 00:33 |
|
|
evenworse username posted:Why not say 'yeah if you continue bioresearch you'll create this real bad disease'? Leland was already a believer in time travel and everything! I think Cole in the pilot was just dead-set on completing the mission and hopefully saving 7+ Billion people. He's already had to psych himself up to committing cold-blooded murder with the expected result being he would cease to have ever existed. In order to cope with all of that he's got tunnel-vision and probably feels like he has to achieve this objective while he has the opportunity and can't really allow himself to consider any other course of action. Now he has a lot more to think about.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2015 21:07
|
|