FEEDBACK: FlashForward

Last week I extensively hyped FlashForward, the great new bit of sci-fi telly showing in the UK on FIVE, and across the pond on ABC. So now that the show has finally graced the screens on both sides of the pond, the question everyone has is… Was it any good?

Well I thought it was OK, and like Lost, I think given a bit more time it could become addictive television, but I am just a lowly telly addict, so I was wondering what do the critics think?

Andrew Billen, The Times:

FlashForward speaks to the way we watch television now, fast-forwarding and back, geekishly looking for clues in frozen frames. The bad news is that the writers, who include Robert J. Sawyer on whose novel it is based, have, oh dear, a five-year plan. If one needed evidence they admire Lost a little too much, note the kangaroo bouncing through LA during its mini-apocalypse: it’s a homage to the polar bear racing through the jungle in the very first Lost. My hope, however, is that in this case the soap opera will remain in equilibrium with the sci-fi. So far it does. As Mark’s boss said yesterday, quashing the objections to Mark’s plan of action, it works for me, it works for me.

Click here to read the full review

Brian Viner, The Independent

The opening episode integrated these personal LA stories into a seismic international crisis, and did so with such panache that I had a little flash forward of my own, and saw myself following the series to the end.

Click here to read the full review

Ginia Bellafante, The NY Times

In the years since 9/11, producers have found rich thematic material in the arguments for and against preordination, resulting in series like “The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” “Lost” and now “FlashForward,” which begins in such a spirit of bracing suspense that I am challenged to recall another pilot that lured me so quickly into addiction.

Click here to read the full review

FlashForward opening V Lost opening

I found this clip on TV.com from FlashForward, and after watching it I couldn’t help but think it was very similar to the opening scene from Lost??

Or am I just drawing to many conclusions from the shows connections???

more about “FlashForward : No More Good Days – Cl…“, posted with vodpod

FLASHFORWARD – A beginners Guide

What is this? There is actually a show coming to FIVE that people should actually watch? No it can’t be…

Yet the rumours seem to be true. FIVE is actually going to show something that does not have CSI in its title, and if the show lives up to the buzz coming from across the pond then the imminent end to Lost is not going to be such a shock to the geek-side of my brain.

No, the geek in me will have a new TV show to get excited by because FlashForward is coming, and to help you on the way FIVE have created a handy beginners guide to get the geek in you excited:

from FIVE.TV:

As the Lost finale looms large, gripping new drama Flash Forward, from the same makers, has crossed the Atlantic to Five. Who cares about the awful autumnal wet and windy weather outside – we’ve got glossy, glamorous telly to towel-dry in front of. Life is good again!

So what’s the lowdown?
A mysterious global event causes everyone to blackout simultaneously for two minutes and seventeen seconds exactly. In that time, everyone glimpses their life six months from now. When they wake up, everyone is left reeling, wondering if what they saw will actually happen…

Scary stuff. Were their futures not very bright then?
Some of what they see is not pretty it has to be said, with adultery, alcoholism and murder all featuring among the premonitions. But don’t worry, FBI agent Mark Benford, played by Joseph Fiennes, and his partner Demetri Noh, (American Pie’s John Cho) are determined to get to the bottom of the mystery.

Sounds like a star-studded cast?
It is. Aside from Joseph and John, there’s also This Life and Coupling actor Jack Davenport, Lost’s Dominic Monaghan and Law & Order’s Courtney B Vance. beginner’s guide

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING

AND CLICK HERE FOR MORE FASTFORWARD INFO FROM FIVE

Top 5 Sci-Fi Shows

#5 Star Trek

From the opening credits of this camp space adventure to the end, Star Trek was the science fiction television series that defined all the others.

#4 Battlestar Gallactica

The original was good, but the remake was even better!

#3 Doctor Who

British TV doesn’t have the budgets of the Americans, but the writing is top notch, and its the scripts that make Doctor Who so good!

OK so this isn’t actual show footage but it was so good I had to post it!

#2 Lost

Frustrating, addictive, weird and oh so good!

#1 The X-Files

Not only did the X-Files finally get people watching Fox, it introduced us to Mulder and Scully, the hottest pair of FBI agents ever!

Notes on a LOST Island… all about LaFleur

What a fantastic week on the island, as the whole episode revolved around Sawyer, aka James Ford, aka James LaFleur.

Sawyer is my favourite character on the show because he is a man’s man. He isn’t always thinking about things like Jack, or philosophising like Locke. No Sawyer just does what Sawyer wants or needs to do… but best of all Sawyer gives the show a bit of comic relief with his never ending list of nicknames for people, like the one he created for me using the Sawyer Nickname Generator, Yoda.

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Recap – LaFleur

Tired of reading? Click here for a video recap of this episode.

• The island has finally stopped jumping through time.
• *Flash* three years later we see Sawyer is working for the Dharma Initiative as the head of security, and is now called Jim LaFleur.
• *Flash* back three years again, we see Sawyer and his gang save Amy from a couple of Others. During the kerfuffle, Sawyer and Juliet kill both of the Others, and then bury the bodies. Amy then escorts Sawyer and company back to the Dharma community.
• *Flash* three years later (again) and we see Amy go into labour. The baby though is breached, and the Dharma doctor tells Sawyer they need an obsetrician… good thing that Juliet is around!… Juliet delivers the baby, and it’s a boy!
• *Flash* three years earlier (again) and some Others invade the Dharma community, or rather Richard Alpert does. He tells the camp that they have broken their truce. Horace prepares to fight them, but Sawyer goes out to negotiate. Sawyer convinces Richard not to attack by referencing Locke and the Jughead bomb, and offering the location of the Others he killed earlier.
• Horace happy with Sawyer’s skills of negotiation allows him and his gang to stay on the island another two weeks. Juliet though wants to leave ASAP, but using that special Sawyer magic, convinces her to stay!
• *Flash* three years later, Horace wakes up from a drunken stupor and Sawyer tells him he’s a daddy. Horace reveals he found Paul’s ankh that morning and that he doesn’t think three years is long enough to get over someone. Sawyer disagrees and says he’s gotten over someone in the last three years. He doesn’t say her name, but we assume he means Kate.
• Sawyer goes home from Horace’s house and we see that Juliet and him are playing happy families. The next morning the phone rings, it is Jin with news of him finding Locke and company. Sawyer rushes out and meets them, and who appears last?… Kate!

For more about Sawyer and the love triangle between, him, Kate and Jack watch this weeks Official Lost Podcast by clicking here.

Notes from a LOST Island… it’s all about Locke!

The names of the characters in Lost are important, or so a little bird has told me. This week’s episode; ‘The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham‘, was all about John Locke, and his journey from the time he turned the wheel until he returned to the island. So I thought I would take a look and see if I can discover a bit more about the names of some of the characters in the episode.

First I check the source of all knowledge Wikipedia to see what I can discover from history about John Locke and his alter-ego Jeremy Bentham, and what I discovered was, both Locke and Bentham were English philosophers, which is interesting as the Lost Locke seems to be a deep thinker. But does it clear up any of the mysteries of the island… no not really!

Recap- The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham

• The episode begins with Locke, alive and well, in his suit on the beach with another group of people who were unfortunate enough to crash on the island.
• Flash – we are with Locke as he turns the giant wagon wheel that controls the island. *POOF* he is in Tunisia, where he receives some expert medical attention on his broken leg… and who is in Tunisia with him, Charles Widmore. Charles tells Locke he was exiled from the island by Ben, and then he tells Locke there is a war coming! What I am trying to figure out though is if Widmore is on the side of good or evil?
• After his encounter with Widmore it is time for Locke to do a bit of travelling, accompanied by a driver who CW hooked him up with. Locke’s mission of course is to convince the gang to reunite on the island. First stop Santo Domingo to see Sayid… how did John know he was there? Then off to NYC to see Walt, then back to sunny California to see Kate and Hurley… Sadly though none of them are interested in going back to the island.
• After the stop at the nut-factory to see Hurley, John’s new friend reveals where we have seen him before. Apparently he was the orderly who convinced John to go to Australia after his accident, ultimately this would lead to John crashing on the island.
• Next stop on the Locke road trip, to see Helen, John’s one true love… Sadly she is dead, and while visiting Helen’s grave, John’s driver friend also becomes dead!
• Seeing the driver join the land of the dead, Locke takes off in the car. Soon he crashes though, and who’s hospital is he taken to? Of course Jack’s!
• Having failed to convince Jack to return to the island we next see Locke in some dodgy apartment. He writes his suicide note and strings up some wire… Suddenly who is at the door? Ben, who convinces Locke not to kill himself… and having done so, Ben then kills Locke WTF?
• *FLASH* we are back on the island with the new group who explain that before they crashed there was a flash and some of the people on the plane disappeared.
• There is one familiar face with the new group though. Ben! When the gang realise Locke knows him they ask; “who is that?”… Locke replies; “that is the man who killed me!”

Notes from a LOST Island: the Lost blogs

***A Word of Warning to UK Lost fans***

Most of the weblogs featured here are updated and created by US Lost fans. The United States are currently about 2 weeks ahead of us here in the UK so these blogs may contain spoilers.

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The Lost Blogs:

• Lost.com – plenty here for Lost fans, but the site is a bit littered with ads.
• Lost-TV – The unofficial fan site for the show, and it looks a bit better than Lost.com.
• Lost Media – plenty of Lost videos and Spoilers. The spoilers though are highlighted as being spoilers so you don’t have to read them unless you want to.
• Buddy TV – not a dedicated Lost weblog, but it does have a big Lost section.
• The Tail Section -  a more ‘traditional’ weblog, and probably the best of the lot!