Thursday, October 12, 2006

LOST and writer pimpage

Head down, page count. But taking some time for quick commentary and some love thrown at fellow writers.

The Lost season opener was -- and I say this with all love -- soft. I know some people have flipped for it, but it was a combination of a flashback storyline that I think is both magnificently uninteresting, and also makes Jack look passive (and Jack isnt exactly Captain Action in the best of times), barely supporting a bunch of shocking reveals that ... weren't. With the admittedly uneven Heroes consistently scoring with kick-ass episode enders, the bar that Lost itself set in season one has been raised.

(By the way, did you know the meaning of the numbers has actually been revealed in the web ARG? I assume that'll show up in the episodes soon. And by the by the way -- the real-world numbers stations were among my youthful conspiracy obsessions, so I was pleased to see that mythos integrated into the show.)

Contrast the premiere, however, with tonight's muscular second episode. Good flashback story, some nice developments, fine Sawyer character beats, and THAT'S a cliffhanger. Much like the Season One finale, where two hours compressed into one would have left me quivering on the ground, five minutes of this season's premiere grafted onto this second episode would have been a neck-punching opener. With the previews from next week, I am back in.

I was not surprised to see Drew Goddard's name on the episode. Back when I was staffing Global, the bastard came in for lunch and wound up solving a major script issue between two coffee sips. He was the "player to be named later" for pretty much every show runner I know until the Abrams camp nailed him down. One of the younger guys who you know, with deadly certainty, will someday uncomfortably soon be the one hiring you. Watch for any scripts with his name on them. They're guaranteed goodness.

While I'm pimping I will direct you back to Dingo, Mike Nelson's first novel, which he serialized online. Nelson's writing X-isle and Second Wave for BOOM!, both of which are damn fine sequential stories. But I'll tell you, in between treatises on memes and terrorism, I read a hell of a lot of genre fiction, and Nelson's blend of Jack Reacher meets Fables is better than 99% of it. Some publisher smarten the fuck up and buy the thing.

Speaking of publishing, the Brit scifi mag SFX (my favorite) just did something very cool. They ran a "Pulp Idol" competition. They took horror and genre stories in open submission, collected the best fifty and published them in a wee paperback included with the last issue. The quality's surprisingly good, and the spirit of the thing's a blast. Worth hitting up a better magazine shop for it.

And finally, a reminder that the new Doctor Who is worth your time, overall -- TV writers should in particular catch the The Impossible Planet for a neat little "introduce the ensemble" trick. Grant Morrison flipped for that episode and The Satan Pit, which should mean something to you if you're right-thinking. There are a few wonky episodes, but all in all Tennant is the real deal. BBC America is about to start last year's run, so it's a fine time for those of you with cable or DirectTV to catch up.

45 comments:

Ian said...

...is there somewhere online to find Morrison flipping over those episodes? I'd love to see what he has to say.

Unknown said...

I heard it from Waid, after Morrison raved about them at a 52 meeting. Waid and I wound up watching most of tis season over at my place, on BitTorrent ...

... Wow. That previous paragraph makes me sem both geekier and cooler than I actually am. Tough for one idea to accomplish simultaneously.

Anonymous said...

I caught that sequence about The Numbers in the Lost ARG. (I played in it the first week, then forgot about it.)

I'm going to be sumpremely pissed if the explanation for The Numbers in the ARG is genuine, because I've been trying really hard to avoid any kind of spoilers for the show.

As for Doctor Who, the scene where Tennant is hashing out -- practically arguing with himself over -- what the deal is with the captive on the impossible planet is brilliant. And let me just say that the cliffhanger in Army of Ghosts (part one of the season finale, which is coming soon) blew me away. I won't say any more.

Anonymous said...

Hmm. Blogger ate my identity; that was me above, and the preview showed it.

Wasp Jerky said...

I might be wrong, but I think the first three episodes of Lost this season were originally going to be shown in a different order.

Dweeze said...

The opener was still the opener. The change (according to various sites, I obviously have no first hand knowledge) was moving last night's episode from episode three to episode two.

Victor said...

The way that much of Doctor Who's second season goes, I wouldn't be surprised if Morrison had ghost-written it. The odd mix of offbeat historicism and humor veritably screams Doom Patrol.

I think they've already broadcast 'Tooth and Claw', but keep your eyes peeled for 'The Girl In the Fireplace'. It's probably the best episode of the year.

Anonymous said...

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Harvey Jerkwater said...

Lost has transformed from "The Island of Incurious Motherfuckers" into "The Island of Cryptically-Speaking Motherfuckers." Argh.

When Sun shot Deadwood Trixie in the gut, all I could do was hoot. "SEE! That's what happens when you don't answer people's questions!" Circumspect speech maintains mystery, yes, but it's also as irritating as a five-year old with a pair of cymbals. I hope the Losties shoot more of them bastards until they start using proper nouns.

Still a good show, though. My own theory: the secret mastermind of the whole island is Chuck Woolery. He's out to make the Ultimate Love Connection...even if he has to kill a plane full of people to do it. Fuck not with Chuck. He will end you.

Xactiphyn said...

Remember, the numbers are just inputs to the Valenzetti Equation, not outputs. The Lost Experience only explained why the number are important, not what they actually represent.

I watched the first two seasons on DVD just a few months ago. Must say, I found that method far superior than the waiting around a week between episodes. Seems slower, now.

Bottle Rocket Fire Alarm said...

Docotr Who on BBC America? I could swear Sci-Fi is the channel running those.

Anonymous said...

The BBC America website has no references to Doctor Who, so if you want to see season one (Christopher Eccleston), you're stuck with BitTorrent or DVD. Unfortunately, the 5-disc set is roughly twice the price of any other 5-disc TV show set.

Season two (David Tennant), it's currently running on Sci Fi, and I believe that this week's epsiode is "The Girl in the Fireplace", which I'll agree is probably the very best of that season's episodes.

John Seavey said...

BBC America will be running the Eccleston episodes, but I'm not sure when--Sci-Fi declined to pick up re-run rights, meaning that they won't bother showing Season One after a certain point and will just show S2. Again, don't know what that "certain point" is. Keep watching the skis. :)

And, for those and ONLY those who have seen all of season 2, including 'Doomsday', I point to my website:

htttp://fraggmented.blogspot.com

and the entry, "Still Needs No Words." Some may be amused. (An earlier entry, "Needs No Words", is related but non-essential.) (Oh, yes, and as long as you're there, check out "No Wonder He Uses Mind Control", which I am inordinately proud of. And feel free to dig around for "Alternate Ending To V For Vendetta", too, but only if you've read the comic. It makes no sense if you only saw the movie.)

Anonymous said...

I'd never seen Doctor Who (not just this series -- I've never seen anything Who) before last week, but now after "Class Reunion" and "Girl in the Fireplace" (huge Coupling fan) I'm addicted.

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