Obviously there are *SPOILERS* in here for the premiere.

So, I've been very critical of this show. It's never established what it wants to be and relies on typical pretentious Cameron garbage too often. Still, I watched every episode last season and gave it a fair chance.

After being bumped to Friday, the producers decided to take the show in a completely new direction, and I really like it. They've shaken things up and moved away from a stale storyline. It looks like they've also finally abandoned the foolish idea of presenting some grand intellectual drama (which wasn't working) and have moved on to the more appropriate adventure show with a little heart thrown in.

I enjoyed it. Friday night is meant for shows like this: enjoyable adventure/drama that doesn't make you think too much. I don't know if it will stay like this or revert to the show that was grating on my nerves last season, but I like it for now.

das

Story schmory. I'd watch the show every week if it consisted of nothing more than Jessica Alba doing her laundry and shopping for groceries.

Why do you think I stuck with it through last season?

das

I couldn't believe how much stuff the writers were able to cram into the Dark Angel 1 hour season premiere. It sets up plenty of storylines, while giving us a serviceable way to break Max out of Manticore. And they got rid of Nana Visitor (who I think just can't act at all).

Any guesses as to what makes Max the "special" X5 (enough for whatsherface to take a bullet for her)?

And the writer found a way to create a platonic relationship between Max and Logan (for now). It could have become way too mushy otherwise.

I'm not too crazy about the Manticore ani-men experiment running wild in the northwest though... (Did anyone start to look at Joshua as "The Beast" from "Beauty and the Beast" TV show?)

As I understand it, Nana asked to be released. She did the premiere to help finish off the character, but she didn't want to be typecast as the Intendent from DS9 for too long, plus she wants to do more theater. She said she really enjoyed working with Dark Angel ... just didn't want to stay for the long haul

Like I said, I haven't really found this show to either inventive or intelligent from the beginning. This Beauty and the Beast thing was a little too much for me, but I'll roll with it and see where it goes.

das

Great show. Jessica Alba looks hotter every episode.

Did anyone else notice that John Savage (Liedecker) was removed from the opening credits and added as a Guest Star?

Yeah ... hopefully he'll be a recurring character and not a dead man walking.

das

Well, das, here we are again. Didn't know you watched this too. I liked it last year. I was able to overlook a lot of stuff because, well, I liked it. I like Jessica and I like the character. I LOVE Original Cindy.

There was something in her genetic make up that made her special. Who knows? Maybe it's a way that her body deals with an illness? Could it be a Wolverine-like ability to heal quickly and deal with foreign substances in the body?

I'm eagerly awaiting this next season. With Nana gone, I wonder if that means they will need Lydecker to get all of the X's back. There are some X-5's, and X-7's; not to mention the Dr. Moreau crowd that's running loose.

I liked the Joshua character, but feel that the did make him a bit like Vincent.

I was talking to a friend yesterday who watched this with his 12 and 10 year old sons... he kinda uphauled with some of the language they used.

Which made me remember that the writers could have a lot more stuff, but instead they chose to choose terms like:

"Successful copulation with ###... twice" instead of "### got my freak on... all night long!"

and...

"Unsuccessful copulation with ###, because he could meet the minimum requirements" instead of "I'm unsatisfied with ###, he couldn't get up."

He agreed...

Great writing!

... one last comment...

X-5s, X-7s and animal creatures... oh my!

can someone summaraize the show? I had tivo set to record at 9 instead of 8

Come on ... you're a Tech student ... I saw it on al.binaries.multimedia earlier today, so you should be able to grab it.

I'm running out the door right now, and there was a LOT that happened. If no one else posts a good synopsis, I'll drop back by and type something up.

das

try mightybigtv.com. they have a short recap right now but a longer one should be coming up.

http://www.mightybigtv.com/story.cgi...5&limit=&sort=

btw, i just wanted to add that i just saw idle hands on the usa network this weekend. wow. jessica alba in her panties is just a vision in that movie and is probably the only reason to watch. well, except for some one-liners from seth green.

didn't even think of people putting it up on the net....dont have alt.* newsgroup access...so ill trying looking around in other places...thanks

Here's my recap, there was just so much packed into this 1st episode that I fear my memory will fail me:

But here are some of the major "events":

Max digs underneath her bed's wall, and escapes into another part of the Manticore project, where she encounters Joshua, one of the "Ani-men" experiments from Manticore. There's a barred window that Max is intent on cutting through night after night. Joshua and Max have a little of the "Beauty and the Beast" relationship going on (not much, just enough to work to gain Max's freedom). Joshua tells Max of a guy named "Sandman" who created him and the rest of the ani-men.

Meanwhile, she's been selected to copulate with Ben's "twin" brother, but she puts him in his place, and he seems to be "wired" into the underground network of "prison" favors". Both of them misrepresent their copulation sessions (he says he was able to get it up twice one night, and is commended).

(Note added after my recap: Max gave Ben's Twin the name of "Alec" as in 'smart Alec' but her first choice was "Dick")

Nana Visitor's character learned through Max's bloodwork that she's the one with some special gene make-up, and it makes her more valuable alive than dead.

Logan is still doing his Streaming Freedom fighting, vowing to uncover Manticore's whereabouts. He and his Freedom fighters get the VA to give out the benefits for the veteran ration cards so they can get them food.

Lydecker calls one of his buds within Manticore, and tells him that he wants back in, and the Manticore buddy tells him that Lydecker has to give up the Streaming Freedom Fighter head guy (Logan). Lydecker agrees, and calls Logan to meet at a deserted warehouse, and the Manticore guy and 2 soldiers show up, Logan is seemed to have been set up, but Lydecker has a change of heart (he seems to think that the X5s are all his children and doesn't like how Manticore is handling them). After taking care of the 2 soldiers, Logan and Lydecker start talking, and the Manticore buddy sees a gun, and dives for it, but Lydecker saw that move, and kills him with his gun (and also because he needed to get rid of anyone knowing that Logan is the head Streaming Freedom fighter).

Ben's twin learns of Max's attempts to escape, Max convinces him to help her (running interference among the X7s - younger, but stronger versions of the X5s - who are guarding Manticore's perimeter). Once Ben's Twin and Max meet up with Joshua, and they work on cutting through the bars, Ben's twins gets the bright idea to ask for Joshua's help, and he just goes to the bars and rips the whole set of bars out of the window, much to Max's chagrin.

Once outside, Ben's twin and Joshua make it look like Joshua has escaped and Ben's twin is chasing him down in front of the X7s, but they are creating a diversion for Max to escape, but she winds up having to kick some butt on her way to escaping.

Unknow to Manticore has infected Max with a virus with anyone she comes into contact with. Max makes her way to Logan's place, kisses him, and winds up infecting him with the virus, and Ben's twin shows up (he was in on the bigger plan to help Max escape so she's lead Manticore to the Streaming Freedom's head guy), Max and Ben's twin fight, but he tells her that only Manticore has the anti-viral antidote for Logan. Logan's other lady freedom fighter shows up, and Max has her keep a watch on Ben's twin, but as soon as Max leaves for Manticore, he quickly disarms the lady freedom fighter, and just leaves (for Manticore). Logan gets worse by the minute. Time is of the essence.

Nana Visitor's character gets the test results of Max's, looks them over, is pleased with them, and kills the person who brought the test results to her (to stop any info leaks), and then makes a call to someone and speaks in French, telling them that Max is the one with the special genes or genetic makeup).

Max makes it back to Manticore, causes all sorts of havoc, releases the "ani-men" including Joshua. Logan has broadcasted the whereabout of Manticore, so Nana Visitor's character orders the place to be burnt to the ground, but doesn't realize that Max has let out all of the inmates. Max find her, and demands the antidote, and is led to the room with the antidote, another soldier appears, and Nana actually takes a bullet meant for Max, and them Max takes care of the soldier. Max goes to Nana and wonders why she'd take a bullet for Max, and Nana's last words were something like "find Sandman" the creator of the "ani-men" and Joshua.

Manticore is exploding all around, and all of the X5s/X7s and ani-men are running for the hills. Max finds her way back to Logan's apartment, has the lady freedom fighter inject the antidote, and Logan recovers after some time. Max and Logan agree that they can't be intimate for the time being due to her viral infection (thus squashing the romance angle on this show for now), but will need to find "Sandman" to get to the bottom of her genetic roots, and viral infection, while knowing that there's now a bunch of X5s/X7s and Ani-men running amok in the northeast section of the US.

I think that's about all there was to the show on Friday. Like I said, they packed a tons of stuff in it.

well i can't find the episode on the net, if anyone know where to find it, please let me know

You're kidding, right?

actually no, i'm not. I dont have access to alt newsgroups. edonkey doesnt have a full copy, couldnt find it on morpheus, aimster and bearshare won't connect.

Well, Patman asked if you were kidding because in the post directly above yours he gave the synopsis you were asking for.

And if I may elaborate on his synopsis (as usual, great job Patman ) I'll add this:

Lydecker told Logan to duck when he was fighting with the guy from Manticore (the guy who's eye he plucked out last season to get access to the labs inside Manticore), but Logan didn't, so he got winged by a bullet. This led to a blood trail left by Logan, so when the Manticore clean up crew arrived after realizing the doublecross by Lydecker, they realized that it must be Logan's blood (educated guess). They took a sample of it for genetic testing, and after that they no longer needed Max's cooperation to get to Logan - they had a plan that didn't involve making Max talk. This plan is a retrovirus they implanted in Max - apparently infecting her with a laser into her eye. The virus is specifically targeted to Logan's dna, which they had just acquired.

So they sent Alec (Ben's twin) to help Max escape, knowing that Max would go straight to Logan and probably kiss him. The virus is spread through contact, especially intimate contact like kissing. And of course Max and Logan kissed upon her arriving, so Logan was infected (and the virus spread very quickly).

Alec was going to bring Max and Logan back to get the antidote at Manticore, but instead Max fights him, disarms him, and has Logan hold a gun on him while she broadcast Logan's Eyes Only message revealing Manticore that had had satellite problems earlier. Then Max went back to Manticore to free her brothers and sisters and the ani-men, because she knew they'd trap everyone and burn the place down. She succeeded, and was shot at by a guard, but the evil white haired woman (can't remember her name) took the bullet, and told Max to find the Sandman. Joshua had said Sandman was his father (and the X-5's father, too).

So Max got the anti-virus, and got it back to Logan in time. The female freedom fighter administered it. He recovered, but now Max doesn't want to go near him for fear that she'll reinfect him. He said they'd find a way to fix it. And I'm sure they will...eventually (even though Max was told there is no cure).

Now I've been rooting for Logan and Max to be together since the first ep - what chemistry! no wonder the actors are involved in real life, I think even engaged. But keeping two people apart that you want to be together is often a formula for success with shows - people love to watch all that sexual tension. But letting them get together - sometimes that spark that you love to see is missing after (moonlighting, anyone?). So for now I think the writers came up with a really good solution, but I do want them to end up together.

Great episode - and I'm totally excited about this new season!

Couple more things I forgot - Zach had been kept alive at Manticore (he kept blinking) to harvest organs for any x-5's who needed them. If you remember the season ending, he shot himself in the head to provide a heart for Max, who's heart was damaged too much to bring her back after she was shot by her x-7 doppleganger.

As to whether Alec is good or not - apparently he was sent to help Max escape by Manticore themselves so that Max could infect Logan, but when he had the opportunity to kill Logan (after Logan dropped the gun due to incapacitation by the virus) he didn't. Well, he was going to, but hesitated, then the female freedom fighter made him stop, but he disarmed her easily. Instead of killing them both at that point, though, he said "I was just going to put him out of his misery" or something to that effect, then left. But earlier his "help" with lying about the copulation and supposedly not reporting Max when he found her escape route could just have been ruses to make Max trust him. He could have reported her but been told to make her think he was helping her. We weren't really told the whole story. His "prison inside ring" to get supplies smuggled back and forth could have also been part of a ruse. But due to the fact that he let Logan live when he could easily have killed him like Manticore wanted...my guess is that he's on the fence, but could be good if given the right opportunties.

Thanks, WarriorPrincess for filling the details. (And where did I misplace my rolleyes smiley for Venusian...)

I think Alec has a true mercenary's heart. He's do what's in his best interest, and with aloofness to spare.

How can Zach still be "alive" after blowing his brains out? Sheesh! This guy is to goin down in TV history as the much resurrected character if they keep this up.

The writers probably did learn from the mistakes of Cheers/Moonlighting/etc on getting the 2 lead characters together too fast without disregarding "real life" timing of attraction and acting upon it.

Patman - I'm guessing that if they didn't get Zach transfered before the place was blown up, he's BBQ. But, if they feel the need to reuse the character, they'll bring him back. I'm thinking they should let him go. I think the same about Alec. He's out for number 1.

Thanks for the summaries Patman and WarriorPrincess. I missed the first half of the premiere and was a little confused as to the events of the second half. Now they all make sense!

well i didnt want to read the summary if i could find the episode online...i'd rather watch it, but thanks for the summaries

First you ask for a summary, and then you want to see the entire show, hmmm...now I know why I was confused about Venusian's request...forgot mindreading 101.

first i wanted the summary, then das pointed out that the show is probably on teh net, then i thought that'd be a better solution, but since i cant find it, I appreciate your summary