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Post by Dex on Jun 30, 2009 23:13:05 GMT
Wow, I was hoping you'd find us here. Glad you did.
Did you check out Shackles? It's pretty darn good.
We've been trying a few things recently to increase awareness of our little network here so hopefully things pick up soon. I've recently started promoting Caydem over at Digg.com. Not even really sure what it is but hopefully it will bring some attention to the network.
He's just one of those personalities that doesn't always work on paper. A lot of times with these characters who tend to "crack wise" when they should be terrified require a charismatic actor to pull it off. I wasn't sure the writing was strong enough on it's own.
I actually had never seen an episode of Firefly until the VBC to TEN transition. I watched the whole season pretty quick ended up writing a minor line into episode four where Pitt refers to Karl as being like Captain Reynolds.
I've got some ideas, but it means downloading some of my old web authoring software and right now I'm trying to focus on writing the final two episodes of the season (they've been kicking my ass for months now) . I've got some pretty elaborate ideas for the VDVD release so that's probably where you'll see those improvements first. But it depends. If I've got some freetime to mess around and I find it's way easier/quicker than I think it'll be I might end up doing it sooner.
Anyway, thanks for the words. I look forward to your views on episode two.
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Post by Tom East on Jul 4, 2009 9:00:29 GMT
I'll get round to reading and reviewing episodes three and four soon, and I'll review 1x02 soon. Quality's amazing.
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Post by Kon El on Jul 6, 2009 20:13:51 GMT
Another great episode. I just noticed you've made some casting changes with the switch. I thought the cast was pretty much perfect before but I love Kristen Stewart as Shelly, and I think Angelica Huston's probably a better fit for Helen too. Not sure about getting rid of Jesse Plemons though. Eric Christian Olsen doesn't really seem as phyiscally intimidating.
When Karl first left the box behind and Tanya explains to Vince what's in it I sort of rolled my eyes thinking how stupid could Karl be to go back there just so they can all get high before they leave but I think you did a good job justifying why sending Ben back would be less risky. And the fact that Karl was actually willing to leave the kit behind shows that he actually isn't a moron. Just a tad unlucky I geuss.
Tanya got a lot more interesting this episode as well. The fact that you've got Megan Fox playing her made me assume she'll play a pretty crucial role in the series but I wasn't really seeing where she fit in until now.
I love Curtis and Helen together. You have a great way of making their arguments both really sad and really funny all at the same time. You'd better not pull a Jericho and kill him off in the season finale!
In fact anytime two people are arguing is pretty interesting stuff. In a lot of shows an argument usually develops into the two characters hating each other for awhile over something small. But most of the time in Caydem they end up coming to some sort of resolution where both characters see and understand the each other a little better. It's refreshing.
I don't know what it is about the mini-van rescue but it felt a little out of place to me. On the other hand it does show an intersting side of Justin. In the Pilot he kind of comes of as just your typical teen who just wants to get laid and thinks he knows more than he really does. But the fact that he doesn't even hesitate before running to help the people in the van says a lot about him.
EDIT: I forgot to mention the big death this episode. I remember watching the Sarah Connor Chronicles episode and thinking they totally ripped you off. They pretty much killed off Brian Austin Green's character in the exact same way you did!
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Post by Dex on Jul 7, 2009 17:42:37 GMT
Another great episode. I just noticed you've made some casting changes with the switch. I thought the cast was pretty much perfect before but I love Kristen Stewart as Shelly, and I think Angelica Huston's probably a better fit for Helen too. Not sure about getting rid of Jesse Plemons though. Eric Christian Olsen doesn't really seem as phyiscally intimidating. Yeah, I'm pretty happy with the current cast. The main reason I got rid of Jesse Plemons is A) I've never actually seen him act so it was really hard for me to visualise him in the role which made it hard to find the character's voice and B) He just looked too young to me. I was always kind of on the fence about using Van Der Beek as Karl just because he's a bit old to be playing a college student and Jesse just kind of made that fact even more obvious. When Karl first left the box behind and Tanya explains to Vince what's in it I sort of rolled my eyes thinking how stupid could Karl be to go back there just so they can all get high before they leave but I think you did a good job justifying why sending Ben back would be less risky. And the fact that Karl was actually willing to leave the kit behind shows that he actually isn't a moron. Just a tad unlucky I geuss. Yeah, I think Karl has a tendency to not really think things through. When he formulates a plan he pretty much only envisions it going right and therefore has no Plan B for when things go wrong. Tanya got a lot more interesting this episode as well. The fact that you've got Megan Fox playing her made me assume she'll play a pretty crucial role in the series but I wasn't really seeing where she fit in until now. Yeah, I've got some pretty good stuff planned for her. I love Curtis and Helen together. You have a great way of making their arguments both really sad and really funny all at the same time. You'd better not pull a Jericho and kill him off in the season finale! Not a chance. I love Curtis. I'm sure he'll die before the series is over but not anytime soon. In fact both him and Helen will get a bit more to do in season two. Of course, who dies when, where and how seems to change for me all the time. I just finished writing an episode where quite a few people die. A lot of them weren't planned and a couple people I had planned on killing make it through the season. So I guess nobody's really safe I don't know what it is about the mini-van rescue but it felt a little out of place to me. On the other hand it does show an intersting side of Justin. In the Pilot he kind of comes of as just your typical teen who just wants to get laid and thinks he knows more than he really does. But the fact that he doesn't even hesitate before running to help the people in the van says a lot about him. Yeah, that was totally just filler material. Which is something I probably do way too much. Basically when I concieved Justin's seasonal arch I was trying to emulate the "one crazy night formula". Basicaly films like "After hours", "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle", and even "Booty Call". Those films where our main character is trying to do something relativley simple that shouldn't take long at all but things just keep going wrong and it turns into an arduos journey full of eccentric characters and horribly unlucky situations. I orignally wanted everyone's story to sort of represent a different genre but it didn't really work out like that. In the end I think it works better this way with Justin's story having a slightly different feel than the rest of the family's. EDIT: I forgot to mention the big death this episode. I remember watching the Sarah Connor Chronicles episode and thinking they totally ripped you off. They pretty much killed off Brian Austin Green's character in the exact same way you did! Yeah, that bugged me a lot. I was to the point where I almost changed it but I eventually came to my senses and realized that even though it's pretty much the same death the context is completely different.
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Post by Dex on Jul 13, 2009 20:16:19 GMT
So part one of episode five is up. While re-reading part two I spotted something that's going to take a while to fix but it should be up soon.
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Post by Kon El on Jul 17, 2009 3:43:47 GMT
Another solid episode. I love the gas station stuff at the beginning. I remember the first time I read episode two thinking Mark and Curtis would be held hostage at the Gas station for the all of episode three and how boring that would be. I love how you get that situation resolved and get them out of there all in the teaser but at the same time they still need gas so it leaves things open for later.
The Guest stars this week felt a bit odd. Neal McDonough and Jessica Biel feel like some pretty big stars to have for just one episode but I can't really see how they fit in with the rest of the series now that they've left Amy. Though it would be kinda cool to see the Military's reaction to all this I think going that route would detract from the family drama aspect of the show which seems to be the heart of things.
I know I've read this episode before but I don't remember Vince being so brutal. Even though I knew it was pretty obvious that at least Karl gets away I didn't expect anybody to get hurt nearly as badly as they were. It makes Vince so much more of a threat than I thought of him as before. He even gave Tanya a good smacking!
Speaking of Tanya. I'm still having trouble seeing why she's around. I'm sure you've got plans for her I'm just not seeing them yet.
Also, I know I said this over at VBC but I absolutely love that Presidential speech montage at the end of the episode. It truly felt like something President would say during this kind of crisis and I honestly got a little teary eyed when Amy finally let the tears flow.
I glanced at episode four and it's not looking familar to me so I'll probably crack into that pretty quickly. Expect another review soon. I'm trying to get caught up now that we've hit the completely new episodes.
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Post by Dex on Jul 20, 2009 22:32:40 GMT
Yeah, the gas station thing was more or less just a cheap cliffhanger for episode two. I wrote these first four episode quite a while ago so I'm not even sure what the original plan was but I think they were supposed to be stuck there for at least half the episode but I really hated that place. It didn't work for me then and them not getting gas ended up working out great for some of the things I had planned for near the end of the season.
I'm not done with them yet but it'll be awhile before we see them again. This is where the Virtual format really kicks ass because I can throw characters like this in early on in the season and then still come back to them later without fear that the actors will be busy with another project. I'm currently mapping out a movie that would follow McCawley and his squad before, after, and during the events of season one. Not sure if it'll happen though. The story's starting to feel pretty big and might end up as part of season two.
Yep, Vince is gonna be hot on Karl's trail for awhile now so I had to establish that him catching them would be a very, very bad thing.
Tanya might not feel all that crucial right now but she plays a pretty big part in many characters' past and futures. It all becomes a bit more clear in episode four.
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Post by Kon El on Jul 28, 2009 23:13:04 GMT
That'd be pretty cool if it does happen. If it doesn't does that mean season two will be less about the family and sort of expand into broader areas?
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Post by Dex on Jul 29, 2009 20:27:05 GMT
Yes and no. The family's always gonna be a key component to the series but my hope is that things will expand into broader areas every season. Season two will deal a lot with society reforming and how that affects the family's relationship.
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Post by Kon El on Aug 3, 2009 16:06:36 GMT
EPISODE FOUR REVIEW
I just realised how far behind I am so I figured I'd make it clear what episode I'm reviewing.
I think this is probably my favorite episode so far despite how little Zombie action there was. This episode was really about the characters and it was interesting as hell to see these characters who had mostly existed in their own little stories finally come together and interact with each other. One of my favorite moments from episode three was that brief little moment that Karl and Sarah shared and this episode was just packed full of those kind of moments.
I don't think I could possibly pick a favorite moment but some of them were Karl and Amy recapping their days in a few sentences (reminded me of Hurley on Lost). Mark always getting close to smoking a cigarrette but never actually lighting it up. Karl and Tanya exchanging smokes. Mark attempting to appologize to Karl and Curtis' little exchange with Karl after. Mrs. McDonough's fearlessness in her desire to stay behind and Mark doing everything he can to convince her otherwise.
And Vince. After last weeks episode where I thought he was the most evil man in the series (and he still is) I'm starting to root for him. In fact the few scenes he's in here really help to establish what a pontential threat he is and even though Karl's my favorite character, I can't help but hope we get to see some kind of final showdown between the two before the season's over.
I'm finally starting to see why Tanya is important now. It feels like we might eventually see an Amy vs Tanya battle or a Sarah vs Tanya battle. I'm pretty sure I know why Sarah hates Tanya but the fact that you haven't made it clear makes me think I'm probably way off.
All in all, this was a great character driven story. It shows you really know these people and fully establishes it as much more than just a TV show about Zombies. Even the one scene that featured Zombies was still there strictly to serve the existing characters.
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