Export thread

Where were you when everyone saw the future?

I like the premise of the series: One very unassuming day every single person on the planet suddenly blacks out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds (Hope you weren't on a plane or on the freeway at the time). During the blackout people see glimpses of a shared future. It's like something right out of the Twilight Zone.
The cast is strong and the plot is intriguing. I'll be checking out future episodes and see if it continues to keep my interest. As it appears that the entire plot will revolve around the global blackout it's hard to say if this will be a series with little room to grow. I worry that the show will dissolve into more drama than suspense.

Also: Seth MacFarlane makes an uncredited cameo as an FBI agent. That was quite a surprise seeing him in a dramatic role.

I found parts of the show felt like it was trying too hard to be like Lost (the big crash after the blackout, the flash-forwards, though they're handled VERY differently, etc). A lot of the lines were pretty cliche, to the point that I knew what they were going to say before they said it. And the conclusion that the FBI meeting comes to regarding what the flashforwards are and the scientific theory behind it was kind of solved a little too quickly. BUT, they wanted to get the show going right out of the gate, so it's understandable.

Mind you, having read the book a few years ago, and being one of my favourite sci-fi novels, I'm probably approaching this from a different angle than others. Not in a Watchmen "this is gonna suck!" approach, but in a "huh, how are they going to spin this?" approach.

For example, I KNOW (unless they change it in the show) what caused the blackout/flash forward. And I knew throughout the whole show why John Cho's character was looking distraught for the whole show and wasn't surprised when it was revealed that he saw nothing.

With all that said? The cliffhanger, showing the one guy walking around when everyone else is out? That was NOT part of the book, so colour me intriged. It wasn't an out-of-the-gate amazing premiere, but it shows a lot of potential, so I'm in for at least a few more episodes.

The thing about John Cho's character was in a promo I saw too. I dig it, I thought it sagged a little bit in the second half, but picked up with the Suspect Zero stuff at the end.

You know the FBI website to gather stories will suck compared to several nerd versions out there, which will likely be released well before the government version.

So ... worth getting on iTunes, would you say?

Rob King said:

So ... worth getting on iTunes, would you say?

Click to expand...

Too early to tell... reminds me a bit of The 4400... strong start, then started to ramble... Babylon 5 totally ruined make-it-up-as-you-go shows for me.

The premise leaves me skeptical about the show, especially in how much I can actually care about it all.

I mean, it would be a weird thing to go through, but 2 minutes 17 seconds? That's not really enough time for anything other than everyone in a car to crash. I'd imagine most commercial airlines can even go that long with no one piloting assuming they were just cruising.

The future flash thing is....well... on the hulu preview I saw, the main FBI guy was working on some conspiracy wall and covert ops guys were hunting him. Let me guess, this is him in the future coming dangerusly close to the answer, which he wouldn't even be looking for if he hadn't seen that as his future to start with.


Honestly, outside of the immediate effects of people blacking out for 2 minutes, I don't see where the problem is. Hell, the other side of the world was mostly asleep anyway when it happened so even though it happened worldwide, it wasn't even that bad everywhere.

I guess I'll try and find the rest of the episode (haven't checked hulu yet) and see if it plays out a bit more and adds something that will convince me that there will be more to this than just that one thing, but like I said, I'm skeptical.

Phil, most of the concerns come from things like people being with someone other than their wives/husbands/loved ones in the future or not seeing anything (assuming to be dead) or other things. So far, we've only seen one full flashforward (the FBI agent), but that doesn't mean there aren't others that could be interesting.

Plus, there's the whole mystery of how or why it happened in the first place. And the endless casualties that occured as a result.

I'm iffy about taking the novel and stretching it out to a full TV show, but I do have to say that I'm intriged.

phil said:

I mean, it would be a weird thing to go through, but 2 minutes 17 seconds? That's not really enough time for anything other than everyone in a car to crash. I'd imagine most commercial airlines can even go that long with no one piloting assuming they were just cruising.

Click to expand...

The airplanes yes... the cars... 2 minutes is huge unless you're a flat plain with very few stuff you can crash into. And of course if a plane was landing or taking off they'd be screwed too.

The future flash thing is....well... on the hulu preview I saw, the main FBI guy was working on some conspiracy wall and covert ops guys were hunting him. Let me guess, this is him in the future coming dangerusly close to the answer, which he wouldn't even be looking for if he hadn't seen that as his future to start with.

Click to expand...

What really annoyed me was that he wasn't even trying... he could at least used different colour paper...

Honestly, outside of the immediate effects of people blacking out for 2 minutes, I don't see where the problem is. Hell, the other side of the world was mostly asleep anyway when it happened so even though it happened worldwide, it wasn't even that bad everywhere.

Click to expand...

Dude, more people probably died today in Africa then in 9/11 and yet everyone still went crazy over it... it's all about perception, and if that happened it would make quite an impression.

We watched it. We will watch a few more, but it's way down at the bottom of our list, where Dollhouse was last year (which is now way up on our list).

Oh yeah. This show so wants to be LOST.

I wondered about the passage of time. Lost took about four seasons to go through ~100 days on the island. I recently read that the producers say the show needs at least three seasons to tell its story. So if everything is meant to go down on April 29, 2010 (around the end of the current tv season), things won't be happening in real-time, which will make anyone but the hardcore fans struggle to make sense of the timeline.

I heard they were going to wrap up the vision thing by the end of the first season, so it will be in real time (kind of).

Basically, yeah. The flashforward's date is, I assume, the date of the season finale. Everything is still occurring in real time, with only glimpses of what the future is going to be.

It's interesting because in the book, the flashforward shows the future about 21 years, not seven months. Though, hmm...no, I don't think I'll mention what happens at the end of the book. I have a feeling it's likely to happen in the show at some point.

ThatNickGuy said:

It's interesting because in the book, the flashforward shows the future about 21 years, not seven months. Though, hmm...no, I don't think I'll mention what happens at the end of the book. I have a feeling it's likely to happen in the show at some point.

Click to expand...

As I understand it though, in the book the seen future was much farther divorced from where things end up. I mean, I didn't read it, so I couldn't say for certain, but the fact that Main Character Guy was investigating the phenomenon in his flashforward tells me that the future seen and the future as it will be are much closer to each-other than I thought they would be.

Rob King said:

As I understand it though, in the book the seen future was much farther divorced from where things end up.

Click to expand...

Not...exactly.

The book is worth a read, though not on my list of awesome.

Don't want to get spoilery, but I'll just say that one of the cooler themes in the book how the flash forwards, and the time scale involved, created a really bizarre atmosphere of complete certainty and total uncertainty, and how human beings might react to that.

In the pilot of the show, it seems like they moved everything down to 6 months to eliminate the uncertainty side of things from the book, but also introduced that bit at the end that isn't in the book.

I dunno, it seemed very wannabe-Lost to me in style. I think if they can stop doing that, it has the potential to get good, but every shot where they tried to imitate Lost (and failed) only served to remind me of how they were failing to imitate Lost.

@Li3n;263732][quote=Rob King said:

So ... worth getting on iTunes, would you say?

Click to expand...

Too early to tell... reminds me a bit of The 4400... strong start, then started to ramble... Babylon 5 totally ruined make-it-up-as-you-go shows for me.[/QUOTE]

Except Babylon 5 was outlined in its entirety before JMS started shooting.

Baerdog7;264478][quote=@Li3n;263732][quote=Rob King said:

So ... worth getting on iTunes, would you say?

Click to expand...

Too early to tell... reminds me a bit of The 4400... strong start, then started to ramble... Babylon 5 totally ruined make-it-up-as-you-go shows for me.[/QUOTE]

Except Babylon 5 was outlined in its entirety before JMS started shooting. [/QUOTE]

I think that may be what he's getting at.

TeKeo;264542][quote=Baerdog7;264478][quote=@Li3n;263732][quote=Rob King said:

So ... worth getting on iTunes, would you say?

Click to expand...

Too early to tell... reminds me a bit of The 4400... strong start, then started to ramble... Babylon 5 totally ruined make-it-up-as-you-go shows for me.[/quote]

Except Babylon 5 was outlined in its entirety before JMS started shooting. [/quote]

I think that may be what he's getting at.[/QUOTE]

Gah, dammit. Pardon my obtuse...ness, and please continue with the discussion at hand.

So here is a plot hole that I don't know if it was ever covered in the book or if it will be covered later in the series.

Now that they know the future they have every chance to change it. This change could be something very simple. For example the main character could take the friendship bracelet and slip it onto the opposite wrist. OR the change could be quite dramatic. Such as finding someone who claims they had a vision of the future then shoot them in the head before they get there. The bigger the change you make the more likely you'll effect other futures as well.

That's covered in the book. The main character witnesses their own murder that occurs during their flash forward and tries to do everything in their power to stop it. Not so much a plot hole so much as a typical "change the future" story.

But they all learn the meaning of Christmas and keeping it in their hearts all the year long.

Dave said:

But they all learn the meaning of Christmas and keeping it in their hearts all the year long.

Click to expand...

You are why children fear the unknown space underneath their beds.

Baerdog7;264636][quote=TeKeo;264542][quote=Baerdog7;264478][quote=@Li3n;263732][quote=Rob King said:

So ... worth getting on iTunes, would you say?

Click to expand...

Too early to tell... reminds me a bit of The 4400... strong start, then started to ramble... Babylon 5 totally ruined make-it-up-as-you-go shows for me.[/quote]

Except Babylon 5 was outlined in its entirety before JMS started shooting. [/quote]

I think that may be what he's getting at.[/QUOTE]

Gah, dammit. Pardon my obtuse...ness, and please continue with the discussion at hand.[/QUOTE]

That's okay, we all lose the conversation of the thread once in a while.

"TeKeo said:

Rob King said:

As I understand it though, in the book the seen future was much farther divorced from where things end up.

Click to expand...

Not...exactly.

The book is worth a read, though not on my list of awesome.

Don't want to get spoilery, but I'll just say that one of the cooler themes in the book how the flash forwards, and the time scale involved, created a really bizarre atmosphere of complete certainty and total uncertainty, and how human beings might react to that.

In the pilot of the show, it seems like they moved everything down to 6 months to eliminate the uncertainty side of things from the book, but also introduced that bit at the end that isn't in the book.

Click to expand...

I understand.

I was thinking about this last night though: if it ends up that the future everyone saw was a future that knew about the flashforward, then a lot of people would have very different flashforwards. People would probably try to send messages back in time, or hide things from their past self that they would otherwise have ended seeing themselves doing.

Like, if maincharacterguy ended up screwing himself over by seeing himself drink, when it comes time for the events shown in the flashforward, he might hide his bottle for the required 137 seconds.

Unless he's that far gone that he can't keep the bottle out of his hand that long. :tongue:

TeKeo said:

I dunno, it seemed very wannabe-Lost to me in style. I think if they can stop doing that, it has the potential to get good, but every shot where they tried to imitate Lost (and failed) only served to remind me of how they were failing to imitate Lost.

Click to expand...

This might cause someone to rage, but there's a tragic story behind this, if I understand it correctly. HBO had the rights to FlashForward, but for some reason gave them over to ABC, because ABC wanted another LOST. So: yes. If this show feels very much like LOST, it's because they're trying. And if it ends up sucking all the dicks, then I will weep for the fact that it didn't receive HBO's Midas touch.

Also, I find John Cho difficult to take seriously, so I hope he makes something of this role.

Rob King said:

I was thinking about this last night though: if it ends up that the future everyone saw was a future that knew about the flashforward, then a lot of people would have very different flashforwards. People would probably try to send messages back in time, or hide things from their past self that they would otherwise have ended seeing themselves doing.

Click to expand...

If they have a recursive episode, I will forgive them.

This might cause someone to rage, but there's a tragic story behind this, if I understand it correctly. HBO had the rights to FlashForward, but for some reason gave them over to ABC, because ABC wanted another LOST. So: yes. If this show feels very much like LOST, it's because they're trying. And if it ends up sucking all the dicks, then I will weep for the fact that it didn't receive HBO's Midas touch.

Click to expand...

RRRRAAAAAAAAGGGGEEEEEEE!!!!

No, I knew this already. It really is too bad, but then again I wouldn't want the show that breaks HBO's streak to be a SF show, anyways.

ThatNickGuy said:

That's covered in the book. The main character witnesses their own murder that occurs during their flash forward and tries to do everything in their power to stop it. Not so much a plot hole so much as a typical "change the future" story.

Click to expand...

and according to wikipedia some people that had visions of their lives sucking kill themselves...

Well...that was...another episode.

I feel like there's something really missing from this show to make it good to amazing, but I can't put my finger on it. Again, a lot of the dialogue is REALLY cliche

Ex.: "It's not my future you're worried about. It's yours." There was no need to even have that second sentence. EVERYONE would know what you were talking about.

But at the same time, there's some legitimately great moments in the show, like the kids playing Blackout and the male nurse's speech about having hope. And of course, the big mystery revolving around Suspect Zero. Right now, that's what has me most interested.

ThatNickGuy said:

Well...that was...another episode.

I feel like there's something really missing from this show to make it good to amazing, but I can't put my finger on it. Again, a lot of the dialogue is REALLY cliche

Ex.: "It's not my future you're worried about. It's yours." There was no need to even have that second sentence. EVERYONE would know what you were talking about.

But at the same time, there's some legitimately great moments in the show, like the kids playing Blackout and the male nurse's speech about having hope. And of course, the big mystery revolving around Suspect Zero. Right now, that's what has me most interested.

Click to expand...

Male Nurse is a doctor. Get your gender roles right!

The kids playing blackout was neat. It seemed authentic. That's something kids would do.

Oh man. This thing is quickly edging towards "Heroes" crappiness and away from any potential "Lost awesomeness they want it to be.
John Cho is great, but the stupid lead actor talks like he's in Guiding Light. EVERYTHING. IS. SO. DRAMATIC.

I just saw the first two episodes on Hulu, and some of it pulled me in, while other bits seemed less than impressive.

Originally I had only seen the first 17 minutes in a preview, which was just horrible to me. I skipped that and from then on out things got a little more interesting as they dove deeper into how this affected everyone and who exactly saw what in their flashforward.

Really, it's mostly just John Cho and him not seeing anything that interests me. He's positive it means he'll die and at now we have a date for when that happens. I wonder if they'll say specifically how.

I still have some reservations about it, just because the more I think about it realistically the less dramatic some things become to me. For example, if something bad were going to happen to meat that time, lets say I saw myself getting beaten in my apartment, then I could simply go stay with my parents or even just some friends on april 29h. Just change the setting and you've changed your future.

I guess my main problem with the series right now, is that the main plot points and characters are the ones I'm interested in the least. If main guy is worried about drinking and people coming after him, he should just not be on the case. If Wife is worried about cheating, she should make sure to not interact with British dude.

I'm terrible with names

However, I'm really interested in Sulu solving the mystery of his own murder and (hopefully) preventing it, along with Main guy's sponcer finding out if his daughter is alive or not. Unfortunatly I feel like these might take a back seat and get really little play time, or even be spread across multipul seasons.

But Minority Report already told us that you can't change your future.

klew said:

But Minority Report already told us that you can't change your future.

Click to expand...

It would be interesting ONLY if you could change the future. If you couldn't, it would just be a case of self-fulfilling prophesies.

You try to change your future, but you end up creating events that lead you to your flashforward anyway.

Bingo. It's the Oedipus' father fate scenario. No matter what you do to avoid your fate, it will eventually come true as a result.

Besides, the FBI agent might choose not to work on the case, but he's the only one with any kind of viable lead. I like how the corkboard is slowly expanding to what he saw in his future. I also like how they're being VERY specific about dates, such as the death of Cho's character and when the flashforward is to occur. It really gets you curious to see what will happen on that specific date and I, for one, am hoping they'll do more.

Bingo. It's the Oedipus' father fate scenario. No matter what you do to avoid your fate, it will eventually come true as a result.

Click to expand...

Actually in all the greek myths about fate it was precisely trying to fight it that made it come true ... unless it was about Cassandra, then people would just not believe it.

Basically prophecies where a trap...

klew said:

But Minority Report already told us that you can't change your future.

Click to expand...

What are you talking about, Tom Cruise totally didn't kill that guy