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Spielberg's Taken
A few people submitted asking for an open discussion for Spielberg's Taken miniseries that premiered last night on SciFi
last night. I watched it, and I gotta say I dug it, and set Tivo up to snag the rest of it. I wish that they were spacing it out a bit more (in terms of scheduling, not in terms of leaving the Earth's atmosphere ;) What do folks think?
... that means it'll be cancelled soon.
I was absolutely Taken by it.
(cymbal crash)
Thank you, I'll be here all week.
I watched it, and I gotta say I dug it, and set Tivo up to snag the rest of it.
So you'll watch it without commercials, the Sci-Fi Channel will lose money on the show, and in a few months you'll be running a story about how a group of fans are raising money to keep it on the air...incredible.
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
The whole series is a total of 10 - 2 hour events. Now with all respects, how much more space would someone need.
The series revolves around three families spaced out over 50 years of history. From strange lights over Nazi Germany, to modern day. As far as the first airing, it appears as though each family will receive 3 - 2 hours episodes, then a 2 hour finalie where everyone is brought together.
Myself, I was rather appauled by the use of Steven Speilberg so prominently. Each of these episodes was directed by a different director, then Speilberg looked it over and tried to alter it ever so slightly IN THE POST PRODUCTION!. By tagging on a big league name, the further drew people in. That mixed with constant TV commercial marketing.
My ignorance is a perfect shield against your logic.
...that the character dynamics and dialogue seemed cliche. I wouldn't expect a ton of originality from Spielberg, his claim to fame is the lowest common denominator, but this was so slow and predictable, it was a feat to even pay attention.
The casting was adequate, but not spectacular. The special effects were on par with any other TV miniseries. I perhaps just expected more from Spielberg, perhaps he could have thrown some more cash into some eye candy to keep me interested.
The plot itself was reminiscent of an archetypal heaven-hell scenario. Nothing new, but a tried and true storyline if told correctly.
All in all I'd give this maybe 4 stars out of 10, but I'll reserve final judgement until after the miniseries is complete.
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Lessee... they can take any shape. They can convert to energy and just vanish. They are telpathic. They can learn English really, really fast. I mean, what's next? Flying bicycles?
Sure, I guess that these things could be part of the same super technology that allows them to get here in the first place, but I'd think its a lot easier to move faster than light than to establish communications with a totally alien species, much less assume their biology and all that jazz.
Bottom line - too much fantasy is being injected into this science fiction.
And I have yet to hear a remotely reasonable explanation as to why an alien species would expend the enormous amounts of energy it would take to get to the one of the obscure spokes of the galaxy (way away from the interesting concentrated center) and spend even two seconds watching us. Denibian slime worms would more interesting.
our freedom!
If that isn't a sci-fi premise, I don't know what is.
Yes. They will reair episode 1 on the follwing days and times:
SciFi EAST: All time in EST
03-DEC-02 7:00PM
08-DEC-02 11:00AM
14-DEC-02 11:00AM
More complet chart of airings.
Date 7pm 9pm 11pm
02-DEC-02 -- 1 1
03-DEC-02 1 2 2
04-DEC-02 2 3 3
05-DEC-02 3 4 4
06-DEC-02 4 5 5
09-DEC-02 5 6 6
10-DEC-02 6 7 7
11-DEC-02 7 8 8
12-DEC-02 8 9 9
13-DEC-02 9 10 10
Also Note on:
07-DEC-02 and 08-DEC-02 and 14-DEC-02 they will be showing episodes 1-5 in order from 11am to 9pm
on 15-DEC-02 they will show episodes 6-10 in order from 11am to 9pm.
I hope this helps answer the airing question.
After seeing the commercials, I just couldn't bring myself to watch it. Is it just me, or is it true that "the little kid who knows everything" cliche is SO FREAKING OVERUSED by Spielberg (and other) films that it's almost embarrasing to watch??
Once a week, when I see a commercial for a new movie or show where "the little kid knows everything," I can't change the channel fast enough. And I don't tire of these kinds of things easily.
...just my 2 gil.
I have been boycotting the Sci-Fi channel since they dumped Farscape. If Taken gets good reviews, I will just get it on DVD when it comes out.
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They didn't skulk about. They didn't dress up like swimming iguanas or giant tortises.
They explored, and observed (and for Marco and Chris, traded). None of them hid, themselves of their purposes.
wait ... taken was the name of a show ...
Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
I can't help feeling that I was watching a weird mélange of Spielberg's visual sensibilities all in one film.
I also am seeing, what appears to me, to be the beginning of the end for the Sci-Fi channel.
The first clue was canning Farscape. While it may not have been a ratings powerhouse, it was arguably one of the most creative shows on television - and elevated the SciFI genre far beyond it's peers. The show was perceived as the fledgling channel's flagship show and, when combined with it's on-air identity, really got folks pumped-up about the SCIFI brand. I wish more conglomerates understood the power of a franchise beyond it's initial ratings.
The second clue is the channels reaction to John Edwards and it's new-show-to-be "The Dream Team with Annabelle and Michael". These are shows that are cheap to produce, attract a strong female audience - if not skew heavy female - and get ratings. Despite the fact that these shows are only marginally related to "science fiction/fantasy" etc. and are better suited aired on it's USA sister channel - belies the fact that they are polluting what made the Sci-Fi channel so strong to begin with and what gives these shows such strong lead-ins.
The third clue is the new on-air ID and identity spots currently running. I speak from experience here, as I am a broadcast designer who has done some high profile work as well as sit-in on the meetings where the politics of changing something as momentous as a logo are in full-play. First let me say this: The new logo is clunky and horrible and the new spots that I have seen are mostly insipid and mushy. Everyone I know in the Broadcast Design/ID business has for years been in agreement with me when I say "SciFi has the best, most innovative broadcast design on the planet. No contest". The work now looks like it was designed by a committee and not a visionary. What's particularly telling is the new logo. Why on earth change the logo? The old logo is far superior to the ham-fisted hack-job logo they now use. The only thing I can think of, and if anyone has any information on this I'd love to hear it, is that "new management" came in and wanted to put their stamp on everything. The whole "If it ain't broke - I'm gonna fix it anyway 'cause im the new person!" seems pretty strong here.
In conclusion, SCIFI is trading Farscape for John Edwards and in the process losing its soul. Instead of watching a particular show, I would watch "SCIFI" - I don't do that anymore, I pick and choose from a rapidly shrinking pool of shows I want to see. And the shows that do remain could be as easily shown on many other, less distinct, channels. I'm sure "The Dream Team" would do just as well on VH1. So sad to see you go SCIFI, it was fun while it lasted.
1. I hate the logo. The 'A' in taken consists of a human figure with arms and legs out ascending through the sky, illuminated by a burst of backlighting. The lighting is more prominent than the figure, so it looks like the title reads 'TOKEN'.
2. I liked this series better the first time... when it was called "Amazing Stories".
(oh yeah, and 3. ???, 4. Profit.)
... it cured my insomnia.
Who cares who took HIM?
I want to know who took his PRESENTS. I mean, every time the show returned from a commercial break, the "Steven Spielberg Presents Taken" newsflash would pop up.
Poor guy, it being Hannukah and all (okay, YOU try to spell it...).
I mean really. "Field of dreams" is sci fi? "Cape Fear"? "The flintstones"? Give me a fucking break.
"In conclusion, SCIFI is trading Farscape for John Edwards and in the process losing its soul. Instead of watching a particular show, I would watch "SCIFI" - I don't do that anymore, I pick and choose from a rapidly shrinking pool of shows I want to see. And the shows that do remain could be as easily shown on many other, less distinct, channels. I'm sure "The Dream Team" would do just as well on VH1. So sad to see you go SCIFI, it was fun while it lasted."
/.ers consider real Sci Fi doesn't sell to the masses unless its action-packed. Actioned-Packed Sci fi is expensive... too expensive for TV.
Of course it is, this is the nature of all cabel channels. They do really well in the beginning but then they just skew to their audience to get better ratings and settle into a funk of turning out crap.
Every year a cable channel is remaking itself into one thing, something that can make money. Several years ago it was The Learning Channel which no longer teaches anyone anything but is mostly melodrama about emergency rooms, police chases, and weird medical sob stories. Recently they got back to their roots by actually putting something on during prime time that educates about science or history, but I have the history channel now so pffffffft (God how I long for Connections:2).
Last year it was "The new TNN!" and their revamp around Star Trek:TNG, Baywatch, and Wrestling, from a country and western style station (If you weren't enough of a redneck to know before, it used to be the Nashville Network, now its The National Network).
This year its the Sci-Fi channel, and I'm surprised it didn't come before. What most
John Edwards is cheap, and he pulls in ratings.
I don't see this as a death, just the natural order of that evil thing called cable.
If I want sci-fi, I'll tape Adult swim on Saturday night on Cartoon Network (mmmmmmmmm Cowboy Bebop *incessant drooling*)
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