title says it all. I was more than disappointed in the “Lost” finale (well actually the entire last season); I was furious. I expected, I don’t know, something enjoyable like all the other seasons of the show. That talented cast, those interesting characters, the suspense, the interesting story-telling - all wasted in a the steaming pile of poo that was it’s ending.
I know some Star Wars fans feel the same about aspects of how their fave story was handled, same for LOTR fans & the Rings movies. What was your biggest disappointment in the realm of entertainment, and why?
I’d never actually seen anything else like what followed the first season finale of HEROES; the momentum just stopped.
We spent season one watching Nathan Petrelli (a) work like crazy to become a Congressman and (b) gradually realize he’s the only man who can risk his life to save NYC from an atomic blast in the cliffhanger, just after winning the election. So which way do they go as season two opens? Did he die in a blaze of self-sacrifice, or survive and take office?
Neither. Just drop both, and start from zero.
Of course, that’s just one plotline; it’s not too big a deal so long as you were more invested in the story of DL Hawkins, the superpowered ex-con trying to go straight – except DL died off-screen at some point between season one and season two. But maybe you were more a fan of how Peter was learning and growing during season one? Well, season two opens with him amnesiac, which also happened off-screen. Or maybe you were a fan of Sylar, the serial killer who’s been collecting powers from a string of victims and – just now woke up minus his powers and on another continent.
Speaking of which: you were maybe a fan of watching Hiro Nakamura interact with the other characters in general while struggling to earn his father’s respect in particular? The second season opens with Hiro on another other continent than everyone else; none of 'em in general can communicate with him, sure as his superpowered father in particular is promptly killed off in the premiere. (How promptly? We never even get to see what his power was!) The girl who crafts illusions likewise dies the first time she shows back up; the guy who can negate powers got sick off-screen and left for yet another country; one by one, every bit of momentum came to a halt; drop it all, start from zero.
The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour tv special wasn’t shown in America for years. I couldn’t understand that. They were The Beatles! The most important and greatest group in the history of music. How could anything be that bad that it wouldn’t get shown instantly?
Maybe not the biggest disappointment, but I was a little shocked by The Return of the King. I never read the books and in the months after The Two Towers people were discussing how awesome, terrifying and amazing Shelob would be.
Instead, Shelob is just a giant spider. That’s it. Lame.
Maybe if you were around eight at the time it aired. For those of us that weren’t, it was apparent from the promos it was your typical cheesy variety show special–a relatively common event on broadcast network TV during the 70s.
I’m not sure anything can match the Star Wars prequels. The build-up there was literally decades long, and the originals were probably the most successful entertainment franchise of all time.
ETA: OK, looked it up, 19 years of build up, so not literally decades, but close enough.
Shelob had less to do with the giant spider and more to do with the ever dependent Sam breaking away and becoming a hero of his own right. It is a very significant portion of the book, whether or not the movie portrayed it properly. Shelob herself, was not terribly relevant.
Rocky Horror Picture Show. It’s like blasphemy in my circle to dislike this, and I was so excited when I went to see it in theater for the first time… but I never found it interesting, or entertaining. Even knowing what it represents to so many people who struggle with gender identity, I just… meh.
RHPS is the kind of pop culture event that DEPENDS on surrounding events. The movie’s not very good, as a movie. It’s cheap. It’s silly. It’s anything but profound. The soundtrack, on the other hand, is amazing. I can listen to the soundtrack for days. The thing is, you can’t go to see RHPS and only go to see the movie. If you concentrate on the movie, you’re going to miss the whole experience. I’ve only ever been to an actual midnight showing once, and it was something I’m never going to forget. I’ve seen the movie by itself several times since then (usually because someone else around me is watching it, not because I’ve decided to sit down with the DVD and watch it myself), and the only thing that I bother to pay attention to is the musical numbers.
Well, visually, Shelob IS just a giant spider. Even in the books. Yes, she’s a giant spider with kind of a half-demon soul, but even so, she’s a giant spider. Well, a giant spider with a stinger. That’s kind of unusual on a spider.
Speaking of overhyped movies, the internet couldn’t get enough of “Snakes on a Plane”…
…until it actually came out and no one went to see it past opening night.
I hesitate to call it an “event” but it sure was a fizzle.
I think there were two huge problems with Heroes past season 1 and they’re the same as with the Matrix sequels.
The first is worldbuilding. In season 1 (or the first movie), you’re still exploring who these characters are and what they can do. You can identify with them because you’re put in a position where you’re learning about their powers at the same time they are. So everything they do or say and how they react to things is novel. You can even forgive the character’s mistakes because, hey, what the heck would you have done in that situation? Probably nothing better.
The problem comes when you come back to that world and give us nobody to explore. We as an audience feel disconnected because everything’s old and has been done before. We learn nothing new and the characters just seem to go through the same thing over and over again. We’ve grown, they haven’t.
So here’s the second problem with The Matrix and Heroes and it plays off the first. Gods don’t grow. (or Infinity plus 1 is still infinity.)
What happens when Neo becomes The One? Bender of time and space. Stopper of bullets. Destroyer of the rules of gravity. Able to crush small Agents with a single thought. What happens to him after that? Does any fight matter? Indeed, why is he even fighting at all? He’s The One! He can flick his wrist and send the Agents into the ether.
Same with Heroes. Hiro can stop time and time travel. Peter can learn anybody’s gift. So can Sylar. They can do anything. They are, for all intents and purposes, Gods. So how do you deal with that? Well, the writers aren’t time travellers so there’s no way to change the past and not make them insanely powerful from the get-go. There are only two other ways to go: 1) make it the Peter and Hiro Show where they constantly fight Sylar because he’s the only other person who can compete.
2) Nerf their powers. All of them.
They went with option 2 but Nerfed them in such retarded ways, viewers were turned off.