Episode 1423 Talkback: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Premiere

Pants

The new TV series Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has debuted and in this episode we give our thoughts on the premiere. (44:12)

Listen here.

bralinator

As usual, you guys are prompt and timely! I'll be listening to this later tonight. Thanks for your diligence fellas!

Matt

I'm with Murd*, that interrogation bit was ridiculous. Coulson could've easily 'injected' himself & said "ask me anything." Instead, we basically got a "drunken" stiff upper lip guy. And they blackbag her & just leave her van? Why not bring it in & have Fitz Simmons look at it? At least have the area secured so no one could take it (or attack a recovery crew.)

Also, I would imagine neither the NSA or CIA would have their logo all over their vehicles & equipment. Why do these guys?

I found the 2 scientists & Skye to be both annoying & cliche. If I were to watch this show weekly, they'd be my "Hurley & Fez" of this series.

Besides the mystery of Coulson (don't rule out clone), Skye erased her identity; as she hinted to Michael. Whedon stated Coulson won't be in Avengers 2, so potentially no Vision/Coulson reveal.

Either on twitter or the other thread, someone mentioned Coulson's Matrix move (when the van door was thrown). A LMD or android variation makes sense.

I'd like to see C & D level heroes & villains. Chances are, if they had Count Neferious in the series, he'd have a bit part in a movie. They could easily use the same actor. And besides AIM & Hydra, why not the Secret Empire?

At this point, the Avengers "aren't level 7" so there's their out for not having members of the team appear on the show (at least anytime soon.)

Besides Coulson, Agent May easily has become my favorite character on the show.

I'd like this series to have season arches, but a C-plotline that fits into the movies. Maybe occasional references to a McGuffin that leads to Scott Lang becoming Ant-Man or that Cap needs to defeat Winter Soldier. Have the series be part of the foundation of the movies.

If I wind up watching the series, it'll be monthly or in 1/2 seasons. Because of things I'm not overly thrilled with, I'd rather watch in large chunks then small morsels. 2.5-3/5

M

* - I highly disagree with "everyone should follow the rules" notion. Greatness (& evolution) come from breaking rules & molds

JDick

Loved this episode.
It's worth remembering that most of these ensemble shows (and most Joss Whedon shows) take some time for the cast to settle out (for example Troy and Annie on Community aren't the same characters in Season 2 that they were at the start of the show).

I like shows like this and have missed having one since Alias went off the air.

Coulson is such a great character and his unassuming yet competent and confident characterization is really cool. That final scene with the flying car kicked ass.

My guess is also a lot of C and D level characters as anything Marvel believes they can spin out into a movie or other TV show won't show up here.

My only gripe is sort of acclimating to Marvel on a TV budget but that is my problem more than the show's problem.

bamfbamf

Chloe "Bennet" Wang AKA Skye, before she became an actress she tried to be a pop star in China:

http://youtu.be/pNUvqIsYo7k

Her dad's name is Bennet Wang, a Chinese American bond salesman in Chicago:
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/bennet-wang/8/67/774

She had to switch her last name to her dad's first name to make it in "racist" Hollywood.

The_JP

It was ok, nothing blew me away ... I'll watch a few more, but I hope we see other Marvel characters that aren't big enough for the movies ... I am a Marvel guy, but I think Arrow had a better start to it. Nuff saying!!!

Krescan

I guess I'm off or something I couldn't disagree more about Arrow it took me till almost the end of the season to get into it without feeling like a chore to watch.

Loved this show though, going to watch it at least 1 more time before next week.

Chuck_Melville

I thought SHIELD's first episode was okay, but nothing more. But I'm not worried yet, as I always expect the first few episodes of any show to be rough as a series takes a while to find its groove. Good news is that it wasn't really bad in any noticeable way (to me, at least) and did have some fun elements to it. I'm definitely with it for the foreseeable future.

abuddah

It should be noted that the Whedon in question here is Jed, Joss' younger brother. This is not Joss' show, he's quite busy making Avengers 2

LibraryBoy

Wasn't Project Pegasus the place where they were experimenting on the Tesseract in the beginning of the Avengers movie?

Matt

LibraryBoy said:

Wasn't Project Pegasus the place where they were experimenting on the Tesseract in the beginning of the Avengers movie?

Curiosity has finally gotten to me. Here's your answer:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pegasus

M

bralinator

I missed this on Friday, but was reading that the "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." pilot became the highest-rated TV drama premiere in nearly four years. Here's a preview of tomorrow's episode:

http://youtu.be/OphhAZpCu60

Krescan

abuddah said:

It should be noted that the Whedon in question here is Jed, Joss' younger brother. This is not Joss' show, he's quite busy making Avengers 2

Joss directed the Pilot, and he, Jed and Maurissa Tanchaeroen share writing credits.

I'd say he's going to have plenty of input on the show.

John_Steed

I quite enjoyed the pilot. After much consumption of poignant, harsh and brutal shows like Breaking Bad, The Killing, etc... I needed a lighter form of escapism. I had fun with it and am looking forward to more. It probably helps that I'm not too anal about details regarding the history of S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm kind of a noob in that regard anyways.

hauberk

Guys, I think that the 3-card monty sugar packet scene was simply about establishing that she has nimble fingers and pick pocket skills. Seems like this is superior to the closing conflict between Mal and the Operative in Serenity, where Mal just happens to have the right never before mentioned injury to be resistant to a favored combat maneuver of the Operative.

alienal

Nice to listen to (and read here on this forum) the varying opinions about the SHIELD pilot. I haven't been able to find access to the show here at my not-in-the-USA location, so I guess I'll be watching it later. Since that is the case, I didn't mind listening to this episode. It sounds like it's a show that's worth watching and looking out for. Hey, kind of like how Jamie feels and how Murd, some of the time felt: I'm just glad to see a show like this (derived from Marvel Comics) make it on to national television!!

Matt

alienal said:

Nice to listen to (and read here on this forum) the varying opinions about the SHIELD pilot. I haven't been able to find access to the show here at my not-in-the-USA location, so I guess I'll be watching it later. Since that is the case, I didn't mind listening to this episode. It sounds like it's a show that's worth watching and looking out for. Hey, kind of like how Jamie feels and how Murd, some of the time felt: I'm just glad to see a show like this (derived from Marvel Comics) make it on to national television!!

I don't know about that. Everyone can have his/her own opinion about getting something, but I hate settling. I feel like we were expected to like the Catwoman & GL movies because they were non-Superman or Batman movies.

I feel like we were expected to like Heroes & ExtraOrdinary Family because they were superhero shows.

I hate being expected to like an imitation of something when a far superior product was already made.

Maybe I just want my cake & to eat it too.

M

NightRelic

JDick, if you are missing Alias, you need to check out Covert Affairs. I've really been enjoying it the last three seasons and the fourth season has been really intense. I've always thought of it as the successor to Alias.

As for S.H.I.E.L.D., I was really tired when I tried to watch the premiere and fell asleep. Now, a few shows in, I still haven't tried watching it. Maybe there are just too many other shows competing with it right now. I'm thinking I may end up waiting until the end of the season when there's less to choose from. I was really looking forward to it too.