Did you see the new episode of Nikita?
Joshua
it out when it's posted on TheWB.com.
cin
"Joshua" <bailey...@gmail.com> wrote
> Ya'll see the new episode of Nikita? Not bad at all. You can watch
> it out when it's posted on TheWB.com.
SPOILERS.
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I tried to watch. I really did. But when I got 2 nights of "This channel
is temporarily unavailable" I took it as a sign.
Still, a friend of mine "borrowed" me a copy, so I have my $0.02 worth.
I didn't hate it as much as I wanted, but I didn't like it as much as I
hoped it would surprise me. If I knew nothing of any of the previous three
LFNs, I might actually not hate it and might give it some play.
With that in mind, I can't begrudge them their opportunity to "play homage"
(or "rip off") their predecessors. The Fonda version did it; LFN did it.
Alias did it.
But could they find any way less heavy-handed to do that right out of the
block? The opening where Nikita is telling us her story is clunky and
awkward and slow. (Do we have to sit through that *every* episode?) And
the
white room scene (now Cement Room) is also awkward and clunky. There's no
brevity, no minimalism, no pacing, and because of that there is little shock
value in it and very little to hook a viewer.
Michael standing there in the prison halls I found peculiar. Isn't he
supposed to be part of an elite covert organization? Yet he stands there in
a prison? Isn't his time better spent *at* the organization? Can't anybody
tranq a person and transport her? Hmm... Why would Division send a team to
Foster Daddy's House instead of bringing him in? House Keeping is a lot
easier in a White Room than in suburbia.
Percy? Is that Perchy-Percy? Sorry, but the guy isn't threatening in the
least and his name does nothing for his persona either. Percy?!?! He's
gonna be 86'd soon, if you ask me.
The lunchroom scene reminded me of the LFN s4 episode with the kids as new
recruits - TTBH. It seemed very high schoolish. Are we supposed to be
afraid of these kids? I realize they're probably there to throw us off for
the twist at the end so we'll suddenly realize how advanced Alex is. But...
meh... "This is spy school." (Did somebody *actually* just say that out
loud?)
Amanda. Where to begin? Amanda may be pretty, but she doesn't have the
menacing aspect to her that Madeline did. (Besides, she's from the O.C.!!!
She's not an elite covert op!!!) Her Lair is awful! The red dress on the
mannequin is so obvious. And the rack of, like, 6 outfits? That's all?
And something about her message seemed insincere or something. I wasn't
buying "vulnerability as a tool" from her. At least when
Maddie said it, it meant something, even if it was only
basically a Feminine Apologetic. But then later on, she's going to head a
team? So... yet again, the Madeline character has to double up. Why? She
has to
shovel the sexist drivel and manage a team? I never liked it when Maddie
had to do both rolls, which is why her new lair in s3(?) is refreshing. But
this Lair is a bad combination of the two. She and Nikita are too thin! I
thought Peta was thin back in the day, but this is ridiculous!
The cemetery scene - laughable. They have her on video and she doesn't
change position in all the time it takes them to assemble a team and get
over there? Bwahahahah! Was anybody watching their screens?
Section Vans got a much needed make-over. I always thought the
Black-VW-Van-O'-Death was
odd. Who drives something like that around unless it's white and your an
Assist-to-Ride company or something? At least these SUVs are more
believable, even
if they're lacking in meaningful opportunities for operatives to stare at or
avoid each other.
Birkoff. Well, excuse my language, but holy frell! Blech! Plwey! He is an
odd mix of both Birkoff and Walter and it is NOT
GOOD. Guess Techies need to look nerdy, hence the glasses, but Birky gets
to be a jerk, too. So, Michael previously uses the term "whore". Percy
says "street trash."
Birky says "You were hot," "Babe," and a couple of other grating terms. Is
that what you get when you use "vulnerability," Amanda? Seems antithesis to
Amanda's original point.
Division. As a name, it's both interesting and
terribly boring at the same time. It's like a company division I once
worked for
that was split off into a new company. Know what they called it?
Newco... as in New Company. *roll eyes*. We find out its devolved into a
mercenary group for, apparently, Big Business. So, I take it that's the
conflict here, right? Division is a Big Business Thug? The old LFN changed
the
predecessor meme from mercenary group to covert government organization.
This is where a lot of the drama came in and really what I related to back
in my young professional days.
So I related to Nikita working for yet trying to
stick it to The System, how much were you going to trade HR for a
paycheck, how much of your conscience do you betray for the greater good,
how much good can one person do in a bad world, when you decided where to
draw the line, how does it get negotiated and renegotiated every time the
clock strikes midnight and a new day starts, how does a group proclaiming to
be doing good start to go bad? So, Division is just another SOTW (or Scum
of the Series - SOTS) with no nuance, no ambiguity, no struggle for the
sense of responsibility to The System, The Group, one's self? Not to
mention that LFN's Nikita rarely had the luxury of thinking she was
doing any sort of good like this U.N.-Rescuer NotNikita does.
Then Perchy plays the "revenge" card. This is like bad fanfiction where the
author is totally ignoring the bones of a story and the hero of your cannon
story is now a teen in the YippySkippy Club falling in love with the
cheerleader for the BamBam Team. LFN was never about
revenge. And then when Perchy stamps his w'ittle feet and says "This is
war." Grrrrr. Scary.
What shall we say about Michael. I actually like Shane West as an actor
(I've only seen him in League of Extraordinary Gentleman and ER, but I like
him). But I thought before this whole thing started, they gotta get Michael
right or
they're not going to get the LFN diehards back, since LFN was Michael's
story as much as it was Nikita's. Sure, they may get a new
audience, but they won't get "us". So far, I don't see anything all that
interesting or complex. LFN's Michael was an enigma from "Good Morning."
Not
so much this guy. I couldn't help thinking that "This is Shane West trying
rilly, rilly hard to play Michael" when I should've been thinking about the
character. (Granted, the expectations are high, so I don't think this is
exactly West's fault). One more point - he's not old enough.
Alex - she, unlike Peta Wilson, actually seems age appropriate. PW always
seemed
older to me than Nikita was supposed to be (at least as a recruit through
s1/s2). It's interesting they picked a masculine/androgynous name for her
to play off the name Nikita. I found Alex to be the most interesting
thing about the show, esp. after the big "twist". But the StupidMoleStory
re-imagined as
intentional-from-the-beginning seems very "24"/been-there to me, if not
would've/could've/should've.
Nikita - Maggie Q is supposed to be a real action hero. I actually bought
that part... except for the waifiness of herself in that bikini and those
heels. She's supposed to be a s4/SMS-Nikita type.
She's been thru the Michael-esque transformation already while her former
recruit-self
is wrapped up in Alex. So essentially they've split Nikita in two. It
could lead to something interesting, but
I fear that will take form in a triangle with Michael. But Nikita must've
started training Alex when Alex was, say, 15 or something? I find it hard
to believe that our Nikita would do that to anybody/an innocent.
So, that's the point, right? This isn't LFN. It's Nikita (... or what I
will now refer to as NN - NotNikita.) Which begs the question -
why didn't they just come up with all new names, new euphemisms, and call it
something completely
different?
As always, I said more than I expected.
cin
J_Bourne
>
> "Joshua" <bailey...@gmail.com> wrote
>> Ya'll see the new episode of Nikita? Not bad at all. You can watch
>> it out when it's posted on TheWB.com.
>
> SPOILERS.
> .
> .
> .
> .
> .
> .
>
> I tried to watch. I really did. But when I got 2 nights of "This channel
> is temporarily unavailable" I took it as a sign.
>
> Still, a friend of mine "borrowed" me a copy, so I have my $0.02 worth.
>
> I didn't hate it as much as I wanted, but I didn't like it as much as I
> hoped it would surprise me. If I knew nothing of any of the previous
> three LFNs, I might actually not hate it and might give it some play.
It can be hard to see the good in something if you are looking to hate
it. I can understand why you would want to hate it as a fan of the USA
series. I too was a big fan of the USA series and posted often back
when this was a busy newsgroup. That being said, I want to like this
incarnation and am looking for and finding the good in it.
>
> With that in mind, I can't begrudge them their opportunity to "play homage"
> (or "rip off") their predecessors. The Fonda version did it; LFN did it.
> Alias did it.
> But could they find any way less heavy-handed to do that right out of the
> block? The opening where Nikita is telling us her story is clunky and
> awkward and slow. (Do we have to sit through that *every* episode?) And the
> white room scene (now Cement Room) is also awkward and clunky. There's no
> brevity, no minimalism, no pacing, and because of that there is little
> shock
> value in it and very little to hook a viewer.
Episode 2 didn't start with "My name is Nikita..." They gave a short
synopsis of what happened in Ep 1 and they moved on. I take the opening
in Ep 1 as just that, paying homage.
>
> Michael standing there in the prison halls I found peculiar. Isn't he
> supposed to be part of an elite covert organization? Yet he stands there in
> a prison? Isn't his time better spent *at* the organization? Can't anybody
> tranq a person and transport her? Hmm... Why would Division send a team
> to Foster Daddy's House instead of bringing him in? House Keeping is a
> lot easier in a White Room than in suburbia.
Perhaps Michael being in the prison was an attempt at originality. I
think they are not to be faulted for doing things slightly different
from the previous versions. Somebody had to see if Alex was potentially
section material. If they had just tranquilized and transported her and
then found out perhaps that she had a flaw that prevented her from
evenstarting training, then they would have had to kill her for nothing.
Division had to send a team to the foster dad's house because Nikita
deliberately told him who she had become and how. They had to kill him.
In effect, she killed him. Pretty cold blooded, and not something
that the Peta version would have done. Then again, Peta's version was
no killer, she was innocent... this Nikita, innocent or not remains to
be seen, but she is definitely a killer. That "cleaner" dude is pretty
serious!!!
>
> Percy? Is that Perchy-Percy? Sorry, but the guy isn't threatening in the
> least and his name does nothing for his persona either. Percy?!?! He's
> gonna be 86'd soon, if you ask me.
>
> The lunchroom scene reminded me of the LFN s4 episode with the kids as new
> recruits - TTBH. It seemed very high schoolish. Are we supposed to be
> afraid of these kids? I realize they're probably there to throw us off for
> the twist at the end so we'll suddenly realize how advanced Alex is. But...
> meh... "This is spy school." (Did somebody *actually* just say that out
> loud?)
>
> Amanda. Where to begin? Amanda may be pretty, but she doesn't have the
> menacing aspect to her that Madeline did. (Besides, she's from the O.C.!!!
> She's not an elite covert op!!!) Her Lair is awful! The red dress on the
> mannequin is so obvious. And the rack of, like, 6 outfits? That's all?
> And something about her message seemed insincere or something. I wasn't
> buying "vulnerability as a tool" from her. At least when
> Maddie said it, it meant something, even if it was only
> basically a Feminine Apologetic. But then later on, she's going to head a
> team? So... yet again, the Madeline character has to double up. Why? She
> has to
> shovel the sexist drivel and manage a team? I never liked it when Maddie
> had to do both rolls, which is why her new lair in s3(?) is refreshing. But
> this Lair is a bad combination of the two. She and Nikita are too thin! I
> thought Peta was thin back in the day, but this is ridiculous!
There was a nice twist involving Amanda in Ep. 2 Madeline and Operations
were developed as characters along the way and we did not fully
understand or appreciate them in the first episode. I'm willing to put
in some time at this point to see where this version leads.
>
> The cemetery scene - laughable. They have her on video and she doesn't
> change position in all the time it takes them to assemble a team and get
> over there? Bwahahahah! Was anybody watching their screens?
>
> Section Vans got a much needed make-over. I always thought the
> Black-VW-Van-O'-Death was
> odd. Who drives something like that around unless it's white and your an
> Assist-to-Ride company or something? At least these SUVs are more
> believable, even
> if they're lacking in meaningful opportunities for operatives to stare
> at or
> avoid each other
Not a criticism, but the original series could have used some funding.
I remember once noticing one of Walter's high tech gadgets was a child's
intel usb microscope spray painted gray. Imagine what LFN could have
done with a bigger budget. I do think that the SUV's are an upgrade.
If you are expecting this show to match Michael then I have respectfully
say go for the remote because this isn't going to work for you:-) If
you expect a character that can be as good or better than most of what
is on today then stick around for a few eps to see what develops.
>
> Alex - she, unlike Peta Wilson, actually seems age appropriate. PW
> always seemed
> older to me than Nikita was supposed to be (at least as a recruit
> through s1/s2). It's interesting they picked a masculine/androgynous
> name for her to play off the name Nikita. I found Alex to be the most
> interesting
> thing about the show, esp. after the big "twist". But the
> StupidMoleStory re-imagined as
> intentional-from-the-beginning seems very "24"/been-there to me, if not
> would've/could've/should've.
>
> Nikita - Maggie Q is supposed to be a real action hero. I actually bought
> that part... except for the waifiness of herself in that bikini and those
> heels. She's supposed to be a s4/SMS-Nikita type.
> She's been thru the Michael-esque transformation already while her
> former recruit-self
> is wrapped up in Alex. So essentially they've split Nikita in two. It
> could lead to something interesting, but
> I fear that will take form in a triangle with Michael. But Nikita must've
> started training Alex when Alex was, say, 15 or something? I find it hard
> to believe that our Nikita would do that to anybody/an innocent.
Maybe Nikita had her reasons.,. good reasons... I like a series that
asks more questions than it answers (LFN did). So far from what I have
seen on message boards, a lot of people have more questions about this
series than answers. Great. That gives us somewhere to go.
>
> So, that's the point, right? This isn't LFN. It's Nikita (... or what I
> will now refer to as NN - NotNikita.) Which begs the question -
> why didn't they just come up with all new names, new euphemisms, and
> call it something completely
> different?
>
> As always, I said more than I expected.
>
> cin
No, it's not LFN, it is Nikita. Why not come up with something totally
different? Well one reason is name recognition. Another would be
because it is an interesting story / franchise. True, it has been done
before. Batman had been done before, both on the big screen and the
small screen but that didn;t mean that the last movie version shouldn't
have been made or given a chance. Batman the character / hero is bigger
than one movie or show. Nikita the character / hero was bigger than one
movei, and hopefully big enough to be showcased in more than one show too.
I'm taking this series as something different from LFN. It is not a
rehash. It's a unique show told from a totally different angle. I'm
not going to put myself in a position where if I loved LFN then I can't
possibly like Nikita. LFN was a long time ago, and judging by the
newsgroup so many of us have moved on.