I have been watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and it has had a couple of really fun episodes, but so far I feel that it falls short of it s promise. I like Ming Na and Clark Gregg a lot but the rest of the cast still feel like stock characters to me. Hopefully future episodes will continue to deepen their back stories. The last episode finally shed some light on how Agent Coulson survived his death from The Avengers. I was expecting an answer involving LMD's, but they simply say that he was dead and Nick Fury used extreme measures to revive him. They even showed a quick shot of Coulson being operated on, brain exposed, saying, "Let me die, Let me die...." Hmmmm - Let Me Die... LMD... maybe those Life Model Decoys are part of the answer after all!
I'm DVR-ing Agents of SHIELD. Originally, I was going to bail on NCIS and watch the show. But at crunch time, when push came to shove, I stayed with NCIS. The more reviews I read about SHIELD, I wonder why the show is on the air. Just to keep the brand going until The Avengers 2? Kind of disappointing that it has no connection at all to the film universe except Phil. Not even a "token" hero or appearance - save Nick Fury.
ReplyDeleteStill, I like Phil. He's good people. But that's a lot of weight to put on his shoulders to carry the show.
The SHIELD television show should take a page from the DC show Arrow which is the superior adaptation of a comic book. On Arrow so many minor DC characters have turned up it's mind-boggling. When Ollie's mom needed a lawyer, they hired Jean Loring. Brother Blood is a recurring villain and they recently added Professor Ivo during the flashback scenes. They have introduced other heroes like Huntress, Black Canary, Bronze Tiger and Flash. It gets better every week, unlike the Agents of SHIELD which chooses to ignore the roots of the concept.
ReplyDelete@Ross: I also assumed that Coulson would be a L.M.D., though I didn't catch the parallel with "Let me die". I've assumed since the Avengers movie that the current crop of Marvel productions draw on the "Ultimates" continuity more than pre-2000 continuity. I don't read any of those titles, so I was kind of perturbed at seeing Jasper Sitwell as a bald, sober middle-aged man instead of a gung-ho cadet with a blond crew cut.
ReplyDeleteSo, Scorch isn't Sunfire and Michael Peterson isn't Luke Cage (or even the supporting character from "Slapstick"). Centipede isn't Hydra and I'm guessing that the Clairvoyant will not turn out to be Mentallo. And heaven knows, The Bus certainly isn't a Helicarrier, although that's the most plausible alteration to all of this.
If the show referenced heavy from the comics history, people would complain it couldn't do original stories. I'm loving the show, and I'm glad everytime we see a new character or group, it's often not the obvious first guess. Coulson is a super likeable character and the rest of the gang is growing on me. Didn't catch the LMD/Let Me Die, but if that was done purposely then they're that much more clever.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Stew I'm loving the show. I went into it with the knowledge that it was going to be a sort of secret agent with gadget type of show and that's what we got. I didn't ever expect nor do I, that A or even B list heroes and villains show up. You reserve those guys for the movies.
ReplyDeleteAnd this I think is where the problem lies. Everyone who went and saw the movies but doesn't read the comics to know that SHIELD is normally just a team of non-sups trying to save the world like a police force with covert ops are the ones that feel the show has missed the boat. And in this they would be wrong.
Would I like to see a super or major villain show up in an episode yes. But that to me would be like a season finale type of thing, or a lead-in to whatever movie is coming out next, not as an every week sort of thing. For example I was hoping that the Thor follow up episode would have had an appearance of some of the Asguardians we have met, not necessarily Thor but somebody, or even Darcy Lewis as the actress is know for her role on TV's 2 Broke Girls.
When it comes to arrow, yes they have show some staples of characters from the DC lineup, but most are either involved with arrow already as part of his existing rogues gallery, or are C listers at best. Also they don't have any of them with the powers or even origins from anything close to the comics. It was even stated that Flash will not be getting his powers on screen as a last minute change to keep with the no superpower rule they setup. Most of the villains just use tools and gadgets to get what would be considered their superpower. Example Black Canary used sonic discs, and Vertigo used a mind altering drug.
That looks so much like it really could be a cover for The Brave and the Bold, circa 1970.
ReplyDeleteThat's because most of it was!
ReplyDelete