NBC’s Bionic Woman is more Nanobot Woman, but that doesn’t have the same ring to it. One of the saddest moments of my young life was when Jamie Sommers died on the operating table at the end of a Six Million Dollar Man episode. The Six Million Dollar Man, Steve Austin, was the star of the show, Jamie Sommers was just his girlfriend. In the original story they eventual got back together and had a Bionic Son with both legs and arms replaced and it seemed he had a laser in his bionic eye, or something silly of that nature. Since these are the same people that remade Battlestar Galatica, and used three of the actors from the Sci Fi Channel show to make the first episode, they don’t anyone to remember that there was an original series that featured a Bionic Dog and Jamie doing a lot of slow motion running without the aide of bra. That is not this series. So why, pray tell, are you remaking old shows if you don’t want anyone to compare them? Oh yeah, coming up with something original of your own is just too damned hard. Ok, end of rant.
What is right. This Bionic Woman is dark, as in most of the action takes place at night dark, which suits the Alias story line. It has extremely high production values. This show looks damned good. The action in the fight scenes is great. The car crash the ruins Jamie’s legs and her arm is brilliantly executed. The Batcave looks pretty cool and Wolverine would feel right at home there. Jamie’s replacement parts shimmer for a bit, and then look just like human flesh and bone.
What is wrong. It is a bit baffling as to why the Good Doctor, her boyfriend, didn’t get a scratch in the car crash the t-bone the car he was driving. The Bionics appear to be Nanobots with the ability to rebuilt an entire person from the cells up if they need to-I’m not sure about this whole Superman-like quality. There is also the very real possibility of the fight scenes between the Bionic Women falling into the damned this boring fight scenes between Neo and Agent Smith. We don’t need any more of that kind of crap. I don’t see any reason for a pain-in-the-ass little sister either.
Overall I liked this first episode. There have been a lot of complaints about the East Ender Actress being cast in the role of Jammie Sommers and how Starbuck from Battlestar blew her off the screen as the evil Bionic Woman. I thought she was alright, and I guess Jessica Alba and Jennifer Garner are both busy with real jobs. Otherwise the actors were fine.
The writers may be trying to cram too much back story in here right off the bat, but I understand why they are doing it. They have only four or five episodes to get people interested in this show before is gone and soon forgotten.
Remember the Glory Days when a show like The X-Files or Star Trek:The Next Generation had a couple of seasons to work out the bugs and get it right? No more. CBS canned a reality show, Pirate Masters, and those things cost like, nothing, to make.
This show has been hyped and it looks expensive, so maybe it will be given a chance. Or maybe it will just be one more remake that didn’t make it.
Life
Life is another sleek and well make show with a lot of production value on NBC. The lighting is good. The sets are good. The acting is good. The writing is good. So this show is doomed.
The story goes along the lines of a Cop was framed for a crime he didn’t commit. They release him and give him a lump sum settlement. This is either 5 million dollars, or 50 million according to the rumor mill we see in one of a series of on the street interviews with people associated with case. We learn that our Hero is rich, he has nice cars, a nice home, and his job back as a Detective. He is a Zen Master in his spare time. He has had every bone in his body broken while in prison for eleven years. That was Zen and this Tao.
As with Bionic Woman, there is way too much backstory to digest in the first episode. Why was he framed? How come he shows no physical signs of having been beaten every day for eleven years? Who framed him? And more to the point, who cares? The guy is rich and working a job that could get him killed. This is a classic case of Your-Smarter-Than-The-People-On-TV–we’d all be in Paris sipping lattes and watching the world go by. But that wouldn’t make for very gripping television, would it?
It’s a good show and I’ll watch it while it’s on. I just have little hope that it will be on for all that long.
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Nice blog!!!! Bionic Woman show seems a little too youth oriented as far as the lead character – and is very interesting. There is a great storyline here.