I said this wouldn't always be about comics. Today I keep my word as we shift gears to television. Specifically, the almost completed 2005-06 sci-fi offerings by the three big networks. At the beginning of the fall 2005, each of the three had its own sci-fi "aliens are among us" series for public consumption. I'll try to keep spoilers to a minimum, but I imagine most anyone reading this has already watched at least some of these programs.
CBS gave us Threshold -- my early favorite of the bunch. The premise was an alien object appeared in the sky over the ocean and "infected" those within sight and hearing range. Most people, being "incompatible" with the alien signal quickly died rather gruesome deaths, but a few were changed into alien agents whose main objective now became to infect others. The title refers to one of many government-sanctioned contingency plans. The government taps the author of the Threshold protocols -- Molly Caffrey, if memory serves -- and she assembles a small team of experts to covertly track down the "infectees" and stop the before they can spread the alien virus.
Threshold had a number of things going for it. Not least of which was a premise that lends itself well to continuing episodic television. We don't know the exact agenda, or even the true nature, of the aliens involved; that's the longer running mystery that keeps audiences coming back week after week as secrets are slowly revealed over two or three seasons. Meanwhile, each week, our heroes on the Threshold team track the infectees, stop massive plots to spread the alien virus through videos, the Internet or television, bicker and squabble among themselves, etc. The show had some very intelligent writing, some thought-provoking ideas, a good cast of actors, and a sustainable, TV-friendly premise. naturally, it died very quickly, first suffering from a floating schedule, then being absent for almost a month, and then finally, just never coming back.
NBC's take doesn't actually deal with aliens at all, although viewers couldn't be sure of that when Surface premiered. I wasn't sure about this series initially, but it has grown on me quite rapidly. This one involves the "discovery" of a new amphibious, vertebrate animal, living mostly under the sea. But these creatures can be very deadly. And very quickly after stumbling upon them, Laura Daughtrey, a young marine biologist and single mother has her life turned upside down by mysterious men trying to keep her quiet. Daughtrey is joined by Ridge, a good-ol' boy from down south, who has lost his brother to the creatures in a diving accident. And there's also Miles, a teenager who finds one of the creatures and takes it as a pet.
The animation on the creatures is very good. Again, a very good cast and good, consistent writing are present on this series. Especially the scenes between Miles and his creature, Nimrod, can be very engaging. My biggest fear for this show is whether or not it can be sustained for multiple seasons. Throughout the course of the show, we have learned quite a bit about the creatures and their origins. There are still mysteries unsolved, but it almost seems as if a future season would have to explore other aspects of the company or group of scientists who have genetically engineered these creatures. To be sure, we have seen hints that other creations of this conglomerate exist. But the show might lose some cohesion by switching to a new creature, and possibly even new investigators, in a new season. The attachments viewers have for Miles, Ridge and Daughtrey would be lost that way. But I'm not sure there will be anywhere left to go with these amphibians' story once this season is over. Things right now seem aimed at coming to a very large impasse. And, in fact, the future of this show beyond this season is still up in the air according to NBC.
The last of these shows is ABC's Invasion. Twinkling lights from the sky descend on a Florida community during a hurricane, and quite a few of the townsfolk just aren't quite the same afterwards in this series written, directed, produced, etc. by Shaun Cassidy.
I admit I watch this show every week. Apparently a lot of people do as this one has the strongest ratings of the three, and is the only one, so far, to definitely make it to a season two. I am afraid, however, that Invasion's status is due more to the fact that it follows ABC's blockbuster Lost each week and enjoys a large carry-over audience than anything else.
When I first heard that Shaun Cassidy had such a large hand in creating this show, I wanted it to be good. I'm old enough to have grown up with Shaun Cassidy singing on the radio and playing Joe Hardy on the Hardy Boys Mysteries. Good for him. I hope his show does well. But the writing isn't good or consistent. I want to like the characters in this show, and the premise is sound, but every week the writing seems to flounder, giving the actors nothing to hold onto. One of the primaries is Larkin, a journalist and pregnant mother-to-be, who has been shown as a dedicated person who will do what is necessary to get a story out to the public. And when she starts to suspect something strange going on, and finds signs of a military cover-up, she is willing to risk her own life to snoop around. A few weeks later, she seems to have forgotten all about investigating, even going so far as to get upset with her husband when he is trying to dig around and find out what is going on. hey, anybody can change his or her mind, right? I can roll with that once, maybe. Until a couple weeks later, when she is willing to risk her marriage to dig some more and expose secrets she only half understands herself. That's just one example. The dialogue often seems unnatural. People who seem to know all about what is going on may suddenly be in the dark themselves.
Lost is a good example of a show that keeps a viewer guessing with twists and turns, but still maintains that sense that the writers know exactly where they are ultimately going with everything. Invasion is the opposite, meandering at times as if the creator is trying to figure it all out as much as we are. That's not good.
It may not look like it, but I welcome comments from anyone who cares to offer them. Just click on the "#" after each post to leave comments until I (or most likely my wife) can figure out why the word "comment" isn't showing.
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