<![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In - io9 Comments]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In - io9 Comments]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> @humperdinck:
But Humperdink, didn't you catch that Somers was some sort of genius who gave up a promising education to take care of brat sister and become a lousy bartender? can anyone look at her and think "genius?" Cos I look at her and think "vapid."
You make a good point about the sister. I can tell they are edging around her being some sort of CPU whiz (with the whole "you know you can't be on the internet" Hackers B-S from the pilot), maybe they could have her hack into Somers and make Somers develop a personality?

blackeyedgurl

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> Give Jeckyl on BBC a try if you liked the Bionic Woman. There's only one season, but the actress who played the Bionic Woman has a bit part in it.

engtech

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> @blackeyedgurl: I had a SORT OF similar idea, based on the idea that, while the kid sister plotline sucks, the actress who plays the sister is a kajillion times better than Ryan.

I thought:

Have Corvis kill Jaime and mangle the kid sister. They make the kid sister the bionic lead character, who is out to avenge Jaime's death.

A big problem with the writing is that they made the Jaime character deliberately unrealized. Who was she before the accident? Who is she now? They've made Jaime's journey one of self-discovery, which is a good theme, but I just never bought that a woman her age doesn't know who she is yet. She just seemed like dullard bartender with very little promise.

If you want to stick with a self-discovery theme, it works better with a younger character on a journey to adulthood.

humperdinck

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> Yes to more Corvis---she was a more interesting character. But she was way too vampish. And her storyline was badly written, as was the entire show.

The studios want to think that the writers don't matter as much as all the rest of it, but in the end, they have nothing without good writers. Bad stories suck.

Rebellitor

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> I'd say it went wrong with the idea of remaking Bionic Woman...
-Kle.

Klebert L. Hall

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> Honestly?

#1 Kill off Jaimie Somers.
#2 Have her interfaced with Sarah Corvis to repair what is wrong with her
#3 Make the show about the original bionic woman, who seems to be a lot more complicated a character, as opposed to vapid insular Somers who seems to get stupider with each episode.

New show: Somers gets killed trying to save Corvis, Corvis interfaces with her to try to fix herself (as she is prone to do). Corvis ends up with Somers little sister (as she ended up with a need to care for the brat), who it turns out was the one who hacked her brain and made her go all evil. Stupid little sister gets sent to the company and gets to hang out with the guy who makes all the innuendo and works with the computers. He becomes her mentor. Corvis is now not only on the missions that the company sends her on, but is also on a mission to avenge Somers (and can do so with bratty little sisters help). She has to change people's beliefs about her, and all along has to fight the urge withing her to do the wrong thing. It's the kind of hero struggle we love to see, fighting not just externally, but also fighting within ones self to do the right thing, when the wrong thing is easier, and frankly, more fun.

The BSG guys rebirthed the BSG by changing the idea of it, then they tried to redo BW but didn't try to overhaul it. Michelle Ryan SUCKS as an actress, and her supporting cast is much more impressive. Personally I would rather watch a show about a dark, deep interseting and tormented character like Corvis, than a whiny loser like Somers. Honestly can anyone stand her?

This should be a people story, not a special effects extravaganza. Maybe they should take a tip from Joss and try to do more with less.

blackeyedgurl

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> The pilot had too much plot in too little time. One of the joys of the Battlestar reboot was that they had an entire miniseries to set up their universe and introduce their characters - a 3-hour pilot episode, so to speak.

tahl

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> At this point it might not be a bad idea to reboot the reboot: keep the cast (sans Isaiah Washington), but strip things back to basics and maintain some damned thematic focus.

As the episodes kept coming and got progressively worse, I couldn't figure out why our heroine wasn't allowed to use her actual accent, and why the producers decided that Alias-lite was a good idea. My wife and I came up with better ideas for individual episodes and the series at large while watching than the writers and producers appeared to have had over the entire development time of the series.

What an awful, disappointing mess.

Sam

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> Hmm... Cyborg heroine? All she had to do what fight the bad guys with her super strength.

Angryrider

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> Eracman said, "It's Alias with Bionics but not nearly as interesting or well-written".

Thanks for taking my line! It was Alias, but it sucked. And I would have killed the kid sister in the beginning. Slowly. And I kept watching, just to see if it got better. It didn't. The entire thing was lame.

Jeff-Minor

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> It starred a bird from Eastenders.

idoru45

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> Show needed better written characters and a new lead someone a bit more tough and interesting to watch on screen. To be an alias type show you needed characters people wanted to watch every single week. I personally would have gone for a much more tense show with bionics personally.

Kounji

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> Every time she's jumping long distances it's too obvious that it's done with stunt wires. Michelle or her stunt double need to do it more naturally. The secondary storyline of constant babysitting of her sister, who seems plenty old enough to care for herself needs to be changed.

Torchred

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> kill the sister, have the bionics make her sick sometimes...just generally bust up her shit once in a while...get her a real boyfriend that dumps here for not being around...make her a government operative, which will cause her to have to do some 'bad' things that she can feel bad about...basically make her life hell.
that way her bitching and moaning will have a point, the show will be more interesting and any real victory she has in life or in her job will actually have some meaning.
just no "Rambaldi" style bullshit...that was the worst part of Alias...besides Garner.

goldfarb

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> Michelle Ryan is a bodacious bombshell, but for some reason, they generally kept her covered up. A little more skin couldn't have hurt.

GORF

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> The biggest problem for me was how she was such a whiner.
"boo-hoo I've got super powers, wah-wah. Oh noes im such a freak, i look exactly like a normal person, but i'm stronger and faster..."

Iax

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> I thought one of the biggest problems with it was that it couldn't decide on it's format. There was a strange mix of format between 90's style episode-of-the-week and the more serial style that shows like Lost, Heroes and BSG use.

On the one hand, they seemed to assume a status quo that was never set up with the viewer and proceeded to present a monster of the week kind of offering. Then on the other hand, they kept acting like we should care about 'character development' but were so busy throwing up situations that they never got around to showing any.

It may have shared one of the producers from BSG, but I think all that goes to show is who wears the pants in that partnership.

Ryan H

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> We saw the pilot at Comic-Con after having heard so many bad things about it and having had our expectations lowered to the sewer so we actually enjoyed it. But as it continued on week to week I found that Michelle Ryan lacked anything resembling charisma and presence. A better lead - someone interesting and captivating to watch - would have really helped the show find its footing. The only time I found Ms. Ryan not to be bland as tapioca pudding was when she got to speak in her own British accent.

dijou

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> I for one welcome any Sci Fi show that hits the air. Yeah it could have used a writers bionic make-over, or maybe just a super charged totally gross villain to spice up the mood of the production but it was watchable... as long as your doing the laundry or maybe your homework. With all great shows, the writing is king and this lame duck just seemed to repeat the same old formula over and over again without suspense. A lot of the writers working today need to reflect and look back at some examples that really worked. The twilight zone series with its fantastic gotchas were timeless and even some sitcoms kept you coming back again and again. This is an important period for Sci Fi shows and if they mess up this opportunity, then it will be back to the same dumb cop shows again.

Crunchy

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> "It's Alias with Bionics but not nearly as interesting or well-written". That is how I describe the show to anyone that has not seen it. If the show had any hope of surviving, the writer strike probably killed it. I was willing to give it some time but now, with all the time that has passed, I will probably just skip it altogether now.

I don't know what I was expecting from the show but I guess I thought the bionics would be more... well bionic. The premise of bionic body parts seemed like it would be more intriguing than it is and more relevant.

EracMan

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> Change? Not one boring, half-assed, barf-inducing romantic subplot. Not one quipping, maladjusted tech-nerd, or CIA operative, nothing.
Bring back Isaiah Washington-- one of the few plausible actors on the show. Terse beatdowns and existential anguish. Kill the little sister too.
I'm ashamed that I saw the show, but it was background static.

gods-n-clods

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> I live in Vancouver where the show was shot. After the first episode the only thing that kept my wife and I watching was looking for land marks. We'd lost interest in the stories and didn't pay too much attention to them other than to know what part of the downtown Cloverdale area were supposed to be some location in the southern US. At one point New Westminster was Paris!! Such an internationally flavoured city I live in :)

To get to work I have to drive up the small stretch of highway that they used for 'Iowa'..it was too funny, if they'd turned the camera 20 degrees to the right, they'd have the rocky mountains in the background!

Alot of the locations were literally on the other side of the street from where they would be filming smallville.

At anyrate, the writing was ultimately what did it in. Jamie is baby sitting and all of a sudden some terrorists materialize out of know where to have their asses kicked?? What was next?? She battles Bigfoot??

The backstory with Starbuck (or whatever her characters name was on the show) was interesting though.

diverguy

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> @dlomax: yeah, what you said... no fun.

Garrison Dean, Mr. Privilege

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> Where didn't it go wrong. The main problem was that they didn't bother to have fun with it. Doing a dark re-boot with Battlestar worked because its effectively about a genocide and the ensuing exodus. This was about a chick with robot parts, it's inherently silly. They could make it serious, but not moody and dark. Just have her crush tennis balls, jump over buildings and never use that bionic arm of hers. Oh, and I love Katee Sackhoff but they had her acting like a sexed up evil 13 year old.

Garrison Dean, Mr. Privilege

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> One problem was that it wasn't any fun. I mean, she was bionic fer cryin' out loud. That should have led to all kinds of extravagant craziness.
Then there was the flatness of the plot. Modern TV drama is all about long-term interlaced storylines with complex relationships linking them. Bionic should have been 24 with super powers. There should have been much more mystery and intrigue. Many more characters. Unclear motives.
And more explosions.
And maybe a better lead. Lindsay Wagner could have kicked her ass ten ways from Sunday.
But it was mostly the fun. That show was predictable and dull to watch.

dlomax

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> Don't forget the unnecessary kid sister who was written in solely in a stupid attempt to get a few extra teen age boys to watch.
Didn't exactly work, in fact it didn't work at all! It never has worked in any show that's been done in.

Plus Michelle Ryan had all the charisma of Dick Cheney!
Katee Sackhoff should have played the lead.

Greasy Thumb Guzik

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> Where did it to go wrong? Er, with the first episode, I'd say. (The writing! The acting! The unbelievable, uninteresting relationships! I actually couldn't bring myself to watch any more eps, though, so I'm not exactly wildly informed.)

Molly

]]> <![CDATA[Where Did Bionic Woman Go Wrong? Fans Weigh In]]> I only watched a couple of episodes, which were quite dull, and her super strength was annoyingly inconsistent. If the show were ever to come back, I'd ditch the whole "darker and grittier for a post 9/11 world" schtick which we're all tired of and just go with pure escapist action-adventure. I'd get the head writers to sit down and hammer out a writer's bible describing the actual limits of her physical strength, and try to keep it reasonably believable, as opposed to having her just be as strong or as weak as the script requires.

Chris Wren

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