Comments | trinityvixen: Casting coach

trinityvixen

Casting coach

Oct 14, 2009 17:01

So far this season, Heroes has not been awful. I credit much of this to Robert Knepper and the uber-creepy inclusion of the Carnival. Everything is better with circus freaks. Everything. Of course, this will all change in another few episodes and I'll regret saying this, but I'm even enjoying parts of this season. (My reviews at Pink Raygun for ( Read more... )

bsg, supernatural, feminism, pinkraygun, liberal rants, star trek, heroes, meta

Comments 10

viridian October 14 2009, 21:06:04 UTC

So, I've just started watching S3, and I have to wonder how the conversation at the writers' table went when they decided to keep Ali Larter around.

"Y'know, Niki's story is pretty effing pointless. Let's kill her."
"Okay, but we've got Ali Larter contracted for like three more seasons."
"Shit, uhhh, evil twin?"
"... we already did that."
"Fuck. How about triplets?"
"Eh, whatever. Can she still screw Adrian Pasdar?"
"I don't see why not."
"Awesome. Next!"

trinityvixen October 14 2009, 21:28:20 UTC

I had no problem with writing a brand new character for Ali Larter. There are instances of this sort of thing in comics, and after all where would we be without the evil twin? The problem became that the show forgot that Nikki had a twin, and that if there are several girls running around with Ali Larter's face, there needs to be an explanation for why two of them went to one family, while the others were spread far and wide. (And if they were engineered, as seems to be the case, how come the creators didn't get pissed when Jessica was killed by her "father"?)

Point is, they set up an evil twin narrative for Ali Larter, then decided to expand it and thought that no one would notice that they threw all the other history over. The fact that they tried to just make Nikki have even more names on her brain--"Gina" that one time--just shows how badly they had no idea what to do with her.

However, it's all moot since despite the fact that Tracy is now floundering just as badly, and they still don't have any plan for her. You would have ( ... )

viridian October 14 2009, 21:30:34 UTC

But two of them didn't go to one family, did they? I got the impression that "Jessica" was just Niki's own way of coping. She didn't ever actually have a twin - she was just bugfuck crazy.

trinityvixen October 14 2009, 21:35:28 UTC

That's the thing--she did actually exist. There's a tombstone for her when she died as a little girl, and the father who was responsible admits to it and says he felt guilty. Jessica in Nikki's head was based on one who existed. They've just forgotten that she did.

Thread 6

saturn_shumba October 15 2009, 13:19:51 UTC

I need to catch up on your reviews--that's how I "watch" the show without really watching it. The news on Sci-Fi Wire about the show also keep me up to date (with the girl on girl kiss and the fact someone's going to die).

I really think Quinto needs to jump this ship. I've felt that for a long while, especially after the Star Trek film. Fucking Chris Pine is scheduled to star in blockbuster political action thrillers and Quinto is stuck on this show. He needs to move to the silver screen, permanently. So here's to hoping he dies.

I really liked what you said about race as well--and this is a problem for all network shows, I think. Lost's diverse cast has also taken a hit as the show goes on--although I don't know if they're doing as bad as Heroes. They still have the Hispanic and Asian characters from Season One (unfortunately they didn't make much of their black characters) and those characters are well rounded and important to the whole wonky Lost storyline. My faith in Heroes diversity is especially low seeing as most of ( ... )

trinityvixen October 15 2009, 15:38:22 UTC

I really think Quinto needs to jump this ship. I've felt that for a long while, especially after the Star Trek film. Fucking Chris Pine is scheduled to star in blockbuster political action thrillers and Quinto is stuck on this show. He needs to move to the silver screen, permanently. So here's to hoping he dies.

I understand that when Zachary Quinto first came on, it was his first big gig with such a high level of exposure (the show was huge, and by that point finding out who Sylar was was a Big. Deal.). So he really threw himself into the part. Several volumes later, he's just sloughed off a lot. He's still got the talent--as Star Trek proved--but I think he's bored and getting lazy. It does not help that the material being written for him is sub-par (if I wanted to be kind about it). The last episode was probably the worst bit I've seen from him in forever. His "traumatized" acting was, as I said in my review, right out of a high school production of Macbeth (with him trying to be Lady Macbeth, no less ( ... )

saturn_shumba October 15 2009, 16:49:59 UTC

I can't believe I forgot Sayid. I'm a dork.

And I agree with what you said about Pasdar as well--it would be a shame if he was the character that got killed. Also, it would create a huge dent in their cast of pretty men.

I forgot to say that the Prison Break guy is pretty mesmerizing; I watched the first part of the first episode and was captivated by him, but once our regulars showed up I walked away.

trinityvixen October 15 2009, 20:44:09 UTC

Yeah, Robert Knepper is all sorts of amazing. What I've been noticing is that he manages menacing without the over-the-top insanity of villains past (and minus a lot of melodrama). This is funny because T-Bag (his character on Prison Break) was pretty much the poster child for WTF!? when it came to both being and playing over the top.

And I had the same reaction you did. "Oh, this could be cool...no, wait, my bad, Peter just showed up and I'd like to leave, plz."