My nephew asked me if he should tape it and I never heard of it until about 10 minutes prior to it ending in my time zone.
What’s it about? What happened in episode one? Is it good or a real stinker? (I’ll bet it’s funny, but not in any way the producers intended.)
So give with the spoilers, and don’t forget to use the spoiler tags, like this, okay?
–SSgtBaloo
(Hee-wack! I just checked in preview, and I do remember how to do the spoiler tags! Yee. Haw.)
Well, science magazines are panning it for being ridiculous, but that didn’t stop the five or six late-nineties asteroid thrillers, did it? :smack:
I haven’t watched a TV movie in many a year, but I couldn’t help wanting to see how they were going to destroy California. They skimped on the special effects in this one (except for the GGB falling into the bay) so I assume most of the real money shots will be in part 2.
The script is AWFUL. Every stock character you can imagine is there:
the scientist who Knows What’s Going On But Can’t Get Anyone To Listen To Her.
the government guy who Doesn’t Take The Scientist Seriously, then Feels Bad When Millions of People Die.
the scientist’s colleague who Doesn’t Take Her Seriously Either, But Then Gets On Board After She Saves His Life.
the government guy’s grown son who Knows His Father Is A Lying Dick.
the estranged father and daughter who Go On A Camping Trip To Try To Connect, Thereby Being Right In The Thick Of Things.
the father is a Busy Guy Who Doesn’t Pay Enough Attention To His Daughter.
the daughter is a Spoiled Whiny Bitch Who Has To Learn To Grow Up Quick.
the governor’s assistant whose Husband Doesn’t Like Her Working.
And so on…
The only two characters who came off well were the governor of California, well-acted by the Canadian (ha!) actress Rebecca Jenkins (hey, I remember her when she sang backup for Jane Siberry!), and the President of the United States, played by Beau Bridges. They’re both good actors and bring a little depth to the characters. Not much, since they don’t have much to work with, but a little.
Kim Delaney (the scientist) is a decent actress, but she doesn’t have much to work with either. Poor Fred Ward has the thankless role as the Lying Dick, and he’s just taking home the paycheck.
I have a soft spot for full-on disaster movies (I can’t wait for The Day After Tomorrow!) and I remember fondly my days of childhood when big-deal TV movies were events the entire nation would watch. You’d have a hard time finding anyone who didn’t watch things like Roots or The Day After. Unfortunately, this mini-series isn’t on that kind of level.
Still, I’ll Tivo the 2nd part so I can fast-forward through the commercials, and watch Los Angeles fall into the ocean.
(nothing against LA, just that it’ll look cool)
I’ll give the show credit – the parts I saw were so stupefyingly bad I couldn’t turn it off.
As for the plot of Part I, it’s pretty easy to summarize.
Big earthquakes start destroying cities.
Geologist predicts more, bigger eathquakes will come. No one believes her.
More, bigger earthquakes come.
Geologist predicts the REALLY big earthquake is still to come.
Okay, you’re about up to speed on the plot.