12 Monkeys (SyFy) -- Season 1 Thread -- Premieres 1/16/15
#26
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Re: 12 Monkeys (SyFy) -- Season 1 Thread -- Premieres 1/16/15
Fyi. There are like 13 re-airs today on SyFy in case you missed it.
#27
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#28
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Re: 12 Monkeys (SyFy) -- Season 1 Thread -- Premieres 1/16/15
I liked it quite a bit. This would be a great companion show to Continuum. Definitely will keep watching.
Amanda Schull is a piece of ass.
Amanda Schull is a piece of ass.
#31
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Re: 12 Monkeys (SyFy) -- Season 1 Thread -- Premieres 1/16/15
Just finished episode 2. Wow, still great. Hopefully episode 3 will be up next Friday OnDemand.
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Re: 12 Monkeys (SyFy) -- Season 1 Thread -- Premieres 1/16/15
Just a warning: It isn't already on demand. The bump on the pilot explicitly stated that episode two would *only* be up for 24 hours, beginning at midnight. So..... if anyone wants to watch the second episode before next Friday, I strongly encourage doing so within the next seven hours.
(Oh, and yes - watched the pilot:, and this was good. It definitely exceeded my expectations dramatically. This, Z Nation, Defiance, Ascension... holy crap, am I actually watching a fair amount of content on that godforsaken "SyFy"?!? And... enjoying them? The world has stopped making sense to me. SyFy, the godawfully named home of the Sharknado trilogy?!?!?!?!?!?!?!)
(Oh, and yes - watched the pilot:, and this was good. It definitely exceeded my expectations dramatically. This, Z Nation, Defiance, Ascension... holy crap, am I actually watching a fair amount of content on that godforsaken "SyFy"?!? And... enjoying them? The world has stopped making sense to me. SyFy, the godawfully named home of the Sharknado trilogy?!?!?!?!?!?!?!)
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#35
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Re: 12 Monkeys (SyFy) -- Season 1 Thread -- Premieres 1/16/15
I thought the pilot was a good start, if packed with a little too much plot and major happenings as an introduction. I guess in the current ratings climate, you can't take too long in developing characters before showing the audience a big reveal. I would have liked to have been shown the doctor's history a little more, especially the decision to drop her current life for Kole. The actress definitely looks capable of carrying a series.
I love the movie, so this wasn't a tough sell for me. I got a better vibe from this pilot than any episode I saw from Helix last year.
I love the movie, so this wasn't a tough sell for me. I got a better vibe from this pilot than any episode I saw from Helix last year.
#36
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: 12 Monkeys (SyFy) -- Season 1 Thread -- Premieres 1/16/15
If you missed the tag at the end, ep 2 is available for free on demand and online(?) for free today only.
I liked it although 1) I'm not sure I like that he's jumping timelines multiple times an ep. Seems pretty easy and at will, and 2) I'm not sure I get the motivation for going back in time, preventing the plague, then cease to ever have existed.
I liked it although 1) I'm not sure I like that he's jumping timelines multiple times an ep. Seems pretty easy and at will, and 2) I'm not sure I get the motivation for going back in time, preventing the plague, then cease to ever have existed.
#37
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: 12 Monkeys (SyFy) -- Season 1 Thread -- Premieres 1/16/15
Never seen the movie, but I really liked this pilot. Had no idea the movie was time travel related, otherwise I would have seen it. Time travel is my favorite plot device.
I'll be tuning in again.
I'll be tuning in again.
#38
Re: 12 Monkeys (SyFy) -- Season 1 Thread -- Premieres 1/16/15
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Re: 12 Monkeys (SyFy) -- Season 1 Thread -- Premieres 1/16/15
#40
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Re: 12 Monkeys (SyFy) -- Season 1 Thread -- Premieres 1/16/15
Agreed, the pilot was good. Surprisingly so actually. I'll stick around to see where it goes.
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Re: 12 Monkeys (SyFy) -- Season 1 Thread -- Premieres 1/16/15
(Oh, and yes - watched the pilot:, and this was good. It definitely exceeded my expectations dramatically. This, Z Nation, Defiance, Ascension... holy crap, am I actually watching a fair amount of content on that godforsaken "SyFy"?!? And... enjoying them? The world has stopped making sense to me. SyFy, the godawfully named home of the Sharknado trilogy?!?!?!?!?!?!?!)
I wasn't as blown away as others here, but I enjoyed it. I thought it didn't feel much like a pilot episode. Not sure why I think that though. It was kind of flat and seemed rushed and almost "too complete" in one episode.
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Re: 12 Monkeys (SyFy) -- Season 1 Thread -- Premieres 1/16/15
I don't, however, see how well they'll be able to keep this going and stretched out.. for ten episodes? Hard enough. For multiple seasons? ... Yeah, not so much.
Cole's only task is acquiring information on the plot in the past. He's got access to the future *and* a fancy 'ol time machine, taking him anywhere in time *and* space. Meaning...? Normal concerns/plot devices of, "Hey, how do we pull this off?!" are rendered null and void. My God, the dude just went into North Korea by accident! In one episode, once knowing *who* his target was, found and "took care of" Goines.
Here's my bet, and I put itbout there almost guaranteeing they'll pull this: Sabotage in the future, with Cole's group infiltrated by a member of the Army of the 12 Monkeys of the future. Hell, I'll even offer *who* it is that'll do it, too! Mr. Fringe hisself, the guy who's "only here because Cole wants you here." (By the by, placing my bet now: The North Korean "accident" was no accident, but intentional sabotage by our saboteur - as are any and all such mistakes+errors.)
Just watch and see if I'm not dead on target there. What the showrunners will prolly do? The time device gets damaged when Cole is on mission in the past, stranding him there for the time being. Suddenly, he receives some audio/video message in some way, "The machine... it was damaged, but not destroyed. We're working on getting it back. In the meantime, however, we have restored *some* functionality - we can open "portals" to send electromagnetic waves back to you, Cole, allowing us to send you these messages and so to give you your 'Mission of the Week.'"
They probably won't even reveal the who responsible for the sabotage immediately, instead having that serve as another plot device/whodunit bit of intrigue. Likewise, it'll be the guy from Fringe all along, mark my words. Then, it'll be all about how can they get Cole back... to the future! Dun-dun-dunnnn! *cue Christopher Lloyd in white coat and DeLoreans saving the day!*
Secondly, what was the point of the 24-hour window for ep 2 onDemand? I checked, sure enough, ep two has been removed from OnDemand. I'm curious, was this possibly all about getting data on the series viewership by SyFy/producers? Meaning, "Here's how many folks not only watched the pilot, but found it enjoyable enough to *keep* watching the series and seek out the second episode?"
I'm assuming that, even though I imagine onDemand content is stored on our providers (Fios, Cox, Comcast, Shaw, Dish, etc.) servers rather than on some NBC/SyFy one, they have access to all that viewer data. Likewise, since next to none of us are Nielsen households, onDemand offers them unique access to total, not estimated, audience numbers. Furthermore, do networks even get access to data on everyone DVRing -does Fios or whomever record and send off totals now for everyone DVRing anything, or might OnDemand be the only means for networks of getting real-world ratings/views?
Seems to me this is the only explanation for "SyFy" (God how I hate even typing that atrocious name) pulling such shenanigans. Why else put it out there, but only for a brief 24-hour window? If it was about stoking the flames of interest in 12 Monkeys, you leave it up the entire week. Doing this otherwise seems only to encourage folks using "illegitimate" means of getting the episode if they missed the window.
#44
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Re: 12 Monkeys (SyFy) -- Season 1 Thread -- Premieres 1/16/15
Yeah, Y actually took to Googling after my last post for upcoming syries from the mynds behynd thys network. It *does* look like there's even more good stuff coming in the pypelyne - much as Y enjoy Game of Thrones (and from the threads Y post on here, obviously the sci-fi genre) Y *hate* anything touted as "ymagine *this popular series*, but in *wherever*!"
So when The Expanse is touted as... "Imagine Game of Thrones in Space" (Literally, every damn article I could find explicitly said precisely that), well... yeah. I was all prepared to hate. A couple of trailers later, however, and it does look extremely intriguing and promising.
Someone at SyFy apparently has a couple of brain cells working in their mynd... and, obviously, that someone must be relatively new to the network. Because, well... Sharknado? 1... 2...! 3?!?
I only wysh to God that same soul had been there when Caprica got shytcanned. God, how I loved what that show could've been. It truly had breathtaking potential. Mixing futuristic sci-fi, space, AI (or rather, I suppose, 'AY') takeovers, *and* extremist cults/theologies to the myx? From the same mynds behynd BSG v2.0, Ronald D. Moore?
Furthermore, SyFy taking an all too lyteral dump directly over a franchise that blessed them with success for several years, Stargate, whether their cancelling SG-1 and Atlantis, or ridiculous interference that was clearly responsible for SG:U's numerous problems.
Add to that all the realyti (hey, are we supposed to replace y's for i's in NBCUniversal's mad, mad world, too?) trash lyke Ghostbusters: Con-men and shister spiritualists. Then, their garbage "movie of the week" that I, in all honesty, cannot conceive how a single human being responsible for can possibly, remotely have any career as a writer... (an aside, but I mean really, how the hell do these people have jobs? It's one thing to be tasked wyth producing "lowest common denominator shytti popcorn z-movies" you've been told to write for, but they suck at their jobs as writers no matter what the film itself might be about... dialogue so atrocious it almost seems to have sprung from North Korea's "English as Millionth Language" idiots who write threats to the US.)
Finally, concern number 1 through ~? If someone at SyFy is truly trying to aright the shyp: It starts and ends with... well, "ship." Meaning: The Sci-Fi Channel. Or if that no longer works...? (and really, in 2015, I totally get that it doesn't. Back when they were a network dedicated to retro-TV reruns, back in the 80's-90's, the connotation as being *the* channel for past science fiction programming was a no-brainer. Like having a The Learning Channel. Or History Channel. Or E! Entertainment. Or Music TeleVision. Or so on and so forth)
Rebrand as "The Final Frontier" network; Supernovae. Quantum. The Unknown. ~: Network Infinity. Imagine. F²: Fantastic and Frightening (Meaning both sci-fi and supernatural/horror genres; also, in abbreviating the name, utilizing a (squared) sign to further the 'nerdy' association.) (By the by, NBC also owns Chiller *plus* recently buying and then immediately destroying FearNet - do the perfectly logical thing and partner them up: Having F¹ (Or, better still, simply returning to the far superior FearNet moniker they bought) for Chiller, F² for Sci-Fi (Showing + a consequence of what SyFy is always going to blend the two genres, whilst the horror-specific network is unlikely to have much/any science-fiction on it.)
There's a crapton of ways to not only rebrand SyFy for the contemporary landscape for all things entertainment, but greatly improving upon an uninspired Sci-Fi Channel/SyFy name. Those I just came up with was all of 30 seconds worth of thinking about ideas - because really, they couldn't do *anything* worse short of naming it the Shytti Network or something.) If anyone there has even an ounce of smarts to *their* name, they'll do away with the SyFy name ASAP.
#45
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Re: 12 Monkeys (SyFy) -- Season 1 Thread -- Premieres 1/16/15
Finally watched it early today, and I am definitely in. It helps that I like the two leads a ton (Aaron Stanford from Nikita, and Amanda Schull from Center Stage and Nikita)
#46
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: 12 Monkeys (SyFy) -- Season 1 Thread -- Premieres 1/16/15
I rarely like anything from the Syfy Channel, but the pilot episode was pretty good so I'm interested to see where they go with this.
I also never saw the movie, so I won't have to worry about comparing the two every episode.
I also never saw the movie, so I won't have to worry about comparing the two every episode.
#47
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Re: 12 Monkeys (SyFy) -- Season 1 Thread -- Premieres 1/16/15
I liked the pilot quite a bit. It benefits from the added sense of urgency you find in these shorter run shows. In a 20+ episode season they would've likely spent the first few episodes just trying to convince Railly that Cole really is from the future. Here we dispense with that within minutes and get the story rolling.
#48
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: 12 Monkeys (SyFy) -- Season 1 Thread -- Premieres 1/16/15
I actually like when they take time to develop the characters and build the story through the first few episodes, but I understand in today's TV landscape its not very practical. You will either lose viewers or won't get support from the network when you try to build an audience that way. Its sort of a catch 22 because you are sacrificing quality over viewership if you take your time, but if you take your time, you may not have any viewers by mid season.
#49
DVD Talk Hero
Re: 12 Monkeys (SyFy) -- Season 1 Thread -- Premieres 1/16/15
I'm just glad that the "12 Monkeys" aren't a red herring like in the movie (AFAIK).
I mean, it was fine for the movie, but it would be lame to recreate that for the show.
I mean, it was fine for the movie, but it would be lame to recreate that for the show.
#50
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Re: 12 Monkeys (SyFy) -- Season 1 Thread -- Premieres 1/16/15
I always thought that the movie was meh. It had some interesting ideas but utterly failed in the execution.