When I get my iPad 3G I will simply turn off my phone's internet access ... of course this is easy since I am with Verizon and am being denied an iPhone (but, hopefully not for much longer!!) ... If I get an iPhone, then I will feel just a screwed.
Though the TV show FlashForward has taken great liberties with the book it is based on, it would be beyond sacrilege to cross breed it with that good idea gone horribly wrong. Lost.
@branmuffinofethics: Yes, as Obama pointed out last year, the eastern seaboard sure seems to come to grinding halt when it snows... having been in much worse storms in the west and Alaska and still gone to the movies during it, I think it proof that any city over 60,000-80,000 people is extremely over populated.
@Dr Emilio Lizardo: It's called statistics... a class most of us (including myself) avoided in both high school and college.
Truth is, something is off with this whole December from a money standpoint... it seems like something even more than the economy of this past year.
@KSChris: I agree. Sure, as you said, the story was a bit derivative, but that didn't bother me since it was and encapsulation of human history and presents a likely scenario that could play out when and if we go to the stars.
Check out the book, "The Sparrow" by Mary Doria Russell for a great book on what happens when it is the Catholic Church sending missionaries instead a corporation.
I am already tired of this rant against the film because it is like Dances with Wolves or is another white guilt thing... this story played out in real life to some extent with John Smith and the Pilgrims.
The story isn't about white guilt, it is about how one culture can contaminate another... whether it be from missionaries or traders, this type of story IS the history of exploration of Earth... just because it was mostly White Europeans that were usually contaminating the other culture, doesn't mean you can ignore what has historically happened on this planet - OR what could happen on other planets (read "The Sparrow" by Mary Doria Russell for a great Science Fiction take on essentially the same kind of story, but from the perspective that it is the Catholic Church and not a corporation leading the charge.
If you are confused about world history, then I would suggest a reading of Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel".
And, frankly, I think that this talk about white guilt and Dances with Wolves is all misguided... this film is more about our coming climate crisis, humankind's disconnection with its place in nature, and the greed that humans can't seem to shake.
How come io9's coverage of this show completely disregards the novel it was based on? (Said novel, by the way, uses the first high energy proton collision at the LHC as the cause.)
Babylon 5 did a heck of a lot with little CGI budget and were ahead of their time with what they did and the computers they did it with.
Wow, I had forgotten how much DS9 really ruined the Star Trek Universe!
It so definitely can... BUT, would you like to see this movie with the aliens only having a different nose bridge and living Vasquez State Park (A favorite location for the original Star Trek series)?
We don't need Michelle for this... it is because George Lucas couldn't write a story to save his life without the help of more talented people.
Yeah, I'm sure I just offended someone who thought that casting Christian Hayden was a good idea.
Graeme, I think that you've summed up its faults nicely.
To specifically comment on this phrase: "FlashForward is its own worst enemy; it's a show that has an interesting central concept, but has little idea what to do with it, meaning that it tries to be multiple shows at once, contradicts its own mythology" - I think that is the biggest hurdle when adapting a book with a great concept (by the way, I like how they changed the collider from the LHC - didn't want to raise fears with it going online this year??), but without a strong episodic potential. The book FlashForward is ultimately a book about the nature of fate and free will wrapped inside a debate about Physics... none of which the creators of the TV show want to touch because the average person would've tuned out long before now.
So, what they have tried to do is take just the central concept of a book and create a completely different story out of it. Sounds easy, but as all of the little out of context drop-ins of mini-concepts and character actions from the book shows, they have absolutely no idea what to do with this concept or how to build a lasting show out of it.
This show also proves another point about network TV that I have been making of late: Some ideas are much better as a one season "series" with a distinct ending in sight. I know that they are afraid that advertiser wouldn't buy in or that viewers wouldn't bother, but I completely disagree. If you were upfront about it and say that this show will be 22 episodes with a great and satisfying ending, then people will watch - more likely, because many are afraid to make a long term investment in something (especially if they are fearful that everything they get into is going to get canceled). And, if these types of "series" are good and become regular, they would be the best thing for an advertiser to buy into.
@twDarkflame: The hope would be that they DON'T repeat the same stories, but that they freshen up each time... or have to resort to seven Hulks to avoid repeating the same stories... or time travel... or alien suits... or shower scenes so to speak... the one exception: let's kill Superman for real and not bring him back in the new universe.
Mistake #1 - making it for 15 year old girls.
Wow... I thought they were beginning to reach 20 years ago when I stopped reading comic books... more proof as to why they need to reboot the universe every 20 years or so.
I'm not too disappointed... at least we won't have another Superman as Jesus movie to not look forward to.
1. You can't redo The Wratch of Khan.
2. They've created a new future so the do NOT have to rehash/retread old stories for new movies.
I'm with you Adah... I walked away years ago as things just got too convoluted, diluted, and dysfunctional...
I have wished for years that they would reboot the universe every 20 years or so for a new generation of readers (so they won't have to worry about all the inbred backstory) and to freshen it for the older generation of readers (so we can forget about ever knowing the inbred backstory). #spiderman
@Roklimber: Though you have a good point, it is not necessarily correct: there were once giant scorpions on this planet as well as much, much larger dragonflies. Plus, you have to factor in the planet's gravity. #moraeriver
