Surface

[Mr. Hockstatter]

This is a new show that I was lucky enough to see about 1,000 commercials for this weekend on the Sci-Fi Channel, though it's actually on a different network, but I guess they're re-airing it on Sci-Fi.  It's about some mysterious sea creatures that are being discovered, and there are three characters (in unrelated stories) that are the focus of the show.  One is a female scientist, the other a little kid, and the third a redneck guy.

Can't say I cared for this one at all.  The creatures are "mysterious" only because they never show a clear camera shot of one.  A big dead one washes up on shore and they show it on the news, so everybody in this fictional world knows what they look like, just not us viewers of the show.  One comes up out of a vent on the floor of the ocean, but it looks like a big air bubble.  Another gets loose in the kids house and zooms around his sister's bathroom, but we don't get to see much of it either.  The female scientist says they're very intelligent, but we're given absolutely no evidence of this in the show.  It just reeks of bad writing.

The characters are rather crummy.  The scientist lady gets kicked off the research team because the project is being handed over to the military (cliche alert), and then she goes on a rant that can only be described as a bitter feminist expressing as much pomposity as it is possible for a human being to express. Oh, the joy of getting to watch that.  The little kid is, well, a little kid.  Actually the most entertaining part of the show, which is pretty sad.  The redneck guy, ugh.  Other than adding a few extra minutes to the show, I can't imagine why they even bothered.

The worst part though is the plot - there wasn't any.  Obviously the thing is going to have a story arc, but that doesn't excuse them from the responsibility of having to put some sort of conflict which reaches a climax and is (or is not) resolved in each episode.  The whole episode seemed like nothing more than a bunch of quick scenes designed to be mysterious (oh look, a giant tooth - cut to next scene.  Oh look, a giant bite mark - cut to next scene), interspersed with various character related stuff, none of which really went anywhere.

Don't think I'll be tuning in to see this anymore.

[trekgeezer]

This is an NBC show and NBC owns USA, SciFi, and Bravo, so their reruns could show up on any of these cable channels (Just like the Battlestar Galactica miniseries showed up on NBC).

I'm giving them slack on this one episode because it's the pilot, and pilots are always laden with character introductions and back stories. The characters a lot of times change within a couple of episodes.

I sort of liked the mystery aspects, but the producers have said on the internet that the creatures will be fully shown early on in the series. It swam sort of like a dolphin or whale but had arms and hands.  I guess the big story will be what are they up to.

I watched the pilot, but doubt I'll keep up with the series due to conflicts. This like a lot of the other genre series this year don't seem to have stories that will keep people interested in the long haul.  I sometimes wish American TV would start doing short series like they do in the UK. I believe a lot of good scifi and horror could be adapted to TV if they did so.

[Flangepart]

And the leader of this alien species...Aquaman!
I told ya he was bitter...

[Mr_Vindictive]

If I'm not mistaken, this show premiered Monday at 8, right?

If so, then I was too busy watching Arrested Development.  Although Surface did sound interesting before reading Mr. Hockstatter's review, I doubt I'll be checking it out anytime soon.

[odinn7]

Skaboi wrote:



> Although Surface did sound interesting before reading Mr.
> Hockstatter's review, I doubt I'll be checking it out anytime
> soon.
 
No! Don't listen to him! Mr. Hockstatter is jsut trying to trick everyone into believeing it's not worth your time. He wants it all to himself!

Seriously, I guess I need to watch more regular TV as I haven't even heard about this show until I read this topic.

[Mr. Hockstatter]

Sometimes stuff just strikes me the wrong way :)  Better watch it yourself and see what you think.  I just didn't get into it.

[ulthar]

If you have watched any appreciable amount of the big three, you can hardly miss the ads for the three 'spooky' shows that seem near copies of each other:

Invasion (ABC)
Threshold (CBS)
Surface (NBC)


I think you could switch the scripts around or send the actors from one set to the other and no one would notice.

[Ash]

Mr. Hockstatter, your original comments sounded VERY similar to the comments on this page
Specifically, the 8th review down.  (it took me all of 30 seconds to notice)

Borrowing a few others' words are we?

Anyway, I saw the second episode and thought it was pretty damn good!
I'll definitely be setting my DVD recorder to tape this show every monday.



Post Edited (09-27-05 13:45)

[odinn7]

Perhaps it's Mr. Hockstatters clone...ever think of that, smarty pants?

[trekgeezer]

So, Ash is now the plagarism checker? I have to admit I occasionally am influenced by others reviews.

[Mr. Hockstatter]

Nope, I wrote those words too.  :)

Check out the last paragraph of Jack's review.



Post Edited (09-27-05 14:50)

[odinn7]

Mr. Hockstatter wrote:

> Nope, I wrote those words too.  :)

Damn! So much for the clone theory...

[Mr. Hockstatter]

One of me is quite enough...or so they tell me.

[Fearless Freep]

Borrowing a few others' words are we?

Check the names and  the user names ad email address.  It's the same guy.

[odinn7]

Fearless Freep wrote:


>  It's the same guy.
>

...yeah...or his clone...