Pittsburghmuggle
I'm starting to think - after three years of watching this show - that this show is catering to the Lowest Common Denominator. I'm not saying the show is bad - it's obviously continued to get ratings to keep being renewed as other scifi shows die after this long - but the emphasis on characters over premise, sticking to trite and overused cliches, etc. I think many who complain about this show are expecting too much out of it. People who are looking for amazing plots aren't really this show's Target Audience.
For instance, their Facebook page throws out silly stuff like "Do you think Alexis and Anne are dead??" Obviously not - as those of us who are tropers know. That would be averting Rule of Drama, and that's a plot no-no. But gathering the masses who get caught up in that is what this show is doing. And that's not really bad.
Edited by 216.99.32.42 "Freedom is not a license for chaos" -Norton Juster's The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics
Cyclopsman
Did anyone else notice, in the series finale, when Tom has been imprisoned by Weaver and that new Lieutenant guy is guarding him (sorry, can't remember his name) that when Jimmmy comes into rescue him he doesn't, you know, use his f'ing gun? i guess it made sense, he wanted the Lieutenant to open the door first, but when he and Tom get into a fight, Jimmy just stands there looking like an idiot and then gets Hal for help. i'm not saying shoot anyone, that would've been stupid, but Jimmy could've pointed his gun at them and said "Stop" or hit him with the butt of the gun, as he had an opportunity to do.
come to think of it, this is the second time Jimmy has shown an ineptness in combat. in Sanctuary Part 1, he didn't shoot at the Mech that attacked, nor did he try to help his friend who had been hit (by getting him somewhere safe.) he just left, retreating into the school, where he was attacked. despite having multiple openings to kill it, he pretty much acted like a damsel in distress until Weaver saved him.
This could all be waved away by saying "he's friggin thirteen. you expect him to do all that?" but Weaver specifically said in the second episode that Jimmy was a great fighter. and honestly, i really wanted to see a kid pull of some badassness, it would really solidify just how bad a state humanity is in when some normal kid could be a badass alien murdering soldier, and it could even set up a few interesting plots later on, specifically involving the harnesses.
i'm betting that censures wouldn't allow having a kid kill anything on screen nor hold someone at gunpoint, but that's just a theory. does anybody know for sure?
...not sure what to put here, really. Hide / Show Replies
After leaving my computer for a few minutes i remembered something else that bothered me pertaining to this particular character. Jimmy seems intertwined with the military in the Second Mass, he was in the room with Weaver and the Lieutenant when he was laying out his plans for an attack on the base in the season finale. this is despite the fact that Jimmy has shown himself to be an inept and undisciplined soldier on multiple occasions (hell, one of the first things he did in the show was fuck up a recon mission by trying to save a dog). i guess this decision could be handwaved by saying that Weaver was not in the greatest state of mind, as his paranoia and actions show, but the fact that we don't see anyone question him on it seems to point to the idea that, yeah, Jimmy has every right to be there. is a he a squad leader or something? is he going to be in charge of the fighters that stay behind when Weaver goes out? all of these questions are seriously beginning to bug me. and now that i think about it, maybe i should take this to the headscratchers page.
...not sure what to put here, really.
I cannot be the only one who thought of slenderman when I saw the new aliens.....
Its pretty obvious why the Mechs are bipedal, the harnessed kids are operating the mechs
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I thought I saw a preview where they showed something that looked like a stereotypical Grey alien inside a mech they had downed. I'm wondering if they had enslaved other races and humanity was just next on their list.
Army of Toy Soldiers
I was already toying with the thought that the six-legged skitterers are not the true aliens, bur rather some biological weapon of theirs. So I second the idea that there's more than one alien race here, and maybe neither of them is the true alien mastermind race.
There was a gray alien in the preview. It's either alien or some mutated kid.
Here's the screenshot:
Also in short descriptions for future episodes you have another aliens mentioned.
http://www.buddytv.com/fallen-skies/season-1/eight-hours-9.aspx
Perhaps the skitters are just the shock troops or gestapo for some yet-unseen race. And the aliens controlling the mechs yet a third race. Although it's apparent to this troper that the mechs are under similar control as the harnessed kids. They seem to have a bit more autonomous control of themselves but nonetheless do the skitters' bidding.
Edited by JonnyB Army of Toy Soldiers
There was also another preview with more scenery of the upcoming episodes and something like gigantic leg(either mechanical or organic) crushing a wall IIRC, but I can't find this preview again unfortunately.
My Name Is Not Durwood is no longer a trope. Is there a trope for this?
- My Name Is Not Durwood: A subtle example - only Pope refers to Margaret as "Maggie."
- This seems to have fallen away by season three - by then Tom and other members of the 2nd Mass call her Maggie as well.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman