Edward Mulhare, Stuffed and Mounted
Saw the 12th episode of Knight Rider 2008 last night, and am fairly well impressed.
This episode seems to be the kickoff for the 'relaunch' -- a change in direction based on budget, dodgy ratings, and an exceedingly poor critical reception of the series. Unfortunately, despite being oddly fond of its flagrant Velveeta and manic pacing, I'm inclined to think that the chances don't look good for a second season or for any further development of the franchise. As far as my thoughts for this new direction...
Some people just gotta die. In this matter, Torres and Rivai were the clear winners -- much as I was vaguely fond of both of them, I think they did damage to the series by existing in the first place, even beyond the matter of having a rampaging herd of a cast. Rivai was cute but superfluous and Torres makes a good illustration for 'too many cooks spoil the soup'. In addition, they both serve as connections to the Mandatory Tiresome Government Conspiracy, which I'm growing rather tired of. I've no doubt we'll see a bit more of that in future, but at least it'll be coming in from outside as opposed to the "backstabby service with a smile" of the story to date.
And the other... Well, Graiman needed to die too. He bears a striking resemblance to my first grandboss, and on that account I was quite attached to him. I'd even go so far as to say that I probably wouldn't have got quite as caught as I did if it weren't for him. Unfortunately, he was also the last expendable character (Billy and Zoe are a BG2-pair and would leave the cast without a Technician; Sarah is the female lead and, fanboy fantasies aside, is required for continued viability). It also appears that offing him and passing the various Industries / Foundation funds to Sarah gives her the definitive leader role. Thus far, she's been the female lead and hence mandatory, but she doesn't fit well in the role of the Technician (insufficient nerd factor) or the Field Agent (spot already taken). With some subtle changes, though, she should make rather a reasonable Leader -- hence, Charles had to bite it. Sad times -- but on the other hand, I'm inclined to think his messages from beyond the grave this episode were sufficient consolation. Particularly his last speech, containing as it did a very high dog-whistle factor as well as a line (which the fanboys seem to have missed!) that about brought me to tears.
And... Yellow scanner! Yellow! Scanner! (just smile and nod, people.) Karr lives. Admittedly in flaming chunky bits at the moment, but then again he's spent most of his existence that way, so he'd best be used to it. I could have done to see him as the sole focus of an episode, but under the circumstances I'm fair well pleased. Fanboy opinion on this point is surprisingly negative -- evidently KARR was given no character development (aside from the interesting motivation they laid out for him caring two bits about his brother), was an important character who was splodied in under two minutes (because Knight Rider evil twins are known for their permanent and definite killability, o'course), and indicates vile heresy from the Sacred Canon by likely not having been dug out of a certain California beach (about which, on balance, I care exactly none about).
On that point, it seems that TOS fans have pretty much gone off the deep end. The moderate ones seem to think it would be a good idea to fish up a Trans Am from somewhere and waste one of the five remaining episodes on a heartwarming father-son crimefighting spree. The less moderate ones seem to think that the tales of a 56-year-old young loner and his 27-year-old car with an 83-year-old voice would be just the thing to capture the 18-25 bracket. Frankly? I'd be just as pleased to never see any of the original cast set foot on the set of KR08. Even though this series is billed as a continuation of the original, tacking the two together enough to allow TOS characters to appear more than briefly (or in some cases, at all) would likely do damage to both shows. Personally, I figure that as long as TOS references are kept relatively non-specific, I can keep my vision of Long and '2K on a beach somewhere sipping margaritas by day and producing slash-fic by night.
I'm not sure what to think about the viability of a second season. Ratings are still weak so far, and the series is getting fairly well trashed by reviewers and fans. On the other hand, compared to the suckage that is the rest of what NBC seems to have lately, it might be close enough to the top to save. Chewing my fingernails...
This episode seems to be the kickoff for the 'relaunch' -- a change in direction based on budget, dodgy ratings, and an exceedingly poor critical reception of the series. Unfortunately, despite being oddly fond of its flagrant Velveeta and manic pacing, I'm inclined to think that the chances don't look good for a second season or for any further development of the franchise. As far as my thoughts for this new direction...
Some people just gotta die. In this matter, Torres and Rivai were the clear winners -- much as I was vaguely fond of both of them, I think they did damage to the series by existing in the first place, even beyond the matter of having a rampaging herd of a cast. Rivai was cute but superfluous and Torres makes a good illustration for 'too many cooks spoil the soup'. In addition, they both serve as connections to the Mandatory Tiresome Government Conspiracy, which I'm growing rather tired of. I've no doubt we'll see a bit more of that in future, but at least it'll be coming in from outside as opposed to the "backstabby service with a smile" of the story to date.
And the other... Well, Graiman needed to die too. He bears a striking resemblance to my first grandboss, and on that account I was quite attached to him. I'd even go so far as to say that I probably wouldn't have got quite as caught as I did if it weren't for him. Unfortunately, he was also the last expendable character (Billy and Zoe are a BG2-pair and would leave the cast without a Technician; Sarah is the female lead and, fanboy fantasies aside, is required for continued viability). It also appears that offing him and passing the various Industries / Foundation funds to Sarah gives her the definitive leader role. Thus far, she's been the female lead and hence mandatory, but she doesn't fit well in the role of the Technician (insufficient nerd factor) or the Field Agent (spot already taken). With some subtle changes, though, she should make rather a reasonable Leader -- hence, Charles had to bite it. Sad times -- but on the other hand, I'm inclined to think his messages from beyond the grave this episode were sufficient consolation. Particularly his last speech, containing as it did a very high dog-whistle factor as well as a line (which the fanboys seem to have missed!) that about brought me to tears.
And... Yellow scanner! Yellow! Scanner! (just smile and nod, people.) Karr lives. Admittedly in flaming chunky bits at the moment, but then again he's spent most of his existence that way, so he'd best be used to it. I could have done to see him as the sole focus of an episode, but under the circumstances I'm fair well pleased. Fanboy opinion on this point is surprisingly negative -- evidently KARR was given no character development (aside from the interesting motivation they laid out for him caring two bits about his brother), was an important character who was splodied in under two minutes (because Knight Rider evil twins are known for their permanent and definite killability, o'course), and indicates vile heresy from the Sacred Canon by likely not having been dug out of a certain California beach (about which, on balance, I care exactly none about).
On that point, it seems that TOS fans have pretty much gone off the deep end. The moderate ones seem to think it would be a good idea to fish up a Trans Am from somewhere and waste one of the five remaining episodes on a heartwarming father-son crimefighting spree. The less moderate ones seem to think that the tales of a 56-year-old young loner and his 27-year-old car with an 83-year-old voice would be just the thing to capture the 18-25 bracket. Frankly? I'd be just as pleased to never see any of the original cast set foot on the set of KR08. Even though this series is billed as a continuation of the original, tacking the two together enough to allow TOS characters to appear more than briefly (or in some cases, at all) would likely do damage to both shows. Personally, I figure that as long as TOS references are kept relatively non-specific, I can keep my vision of Long and '2K on a beach somewhere sipping margaritas by day and producing slash-fic by night.
I'm not sure what to think about the viability of a second season. Ratings are still weak so far, and the series is getting fairly well trashed by reviewers and fans. On the other hand, compared to the suckage that is the rest of what NBC seems to have lately, it might be close enough to the top to save. Chewing my fingernails...