Monday, December 15, 2008

A few thoughts on 24

In preparation for the upcoming season premiere of 24, Starpulse has put together a list entitled 24 Badass Moments of 24, which only features one moment from the disastrous sixth season. I have forgotten some of those moments, but in perusing the list, it reminded me of just how violent a show 24 actually is. I mean, R-movie violent... granted it is spread out over a longer period of time (roughly 108 hours), so it doesn't seem so gruesome.

But I have to say that while I was initially dubious of the prospects of the 24 movie and the reduction of the regular season to just 22 episodes, but now I am ok with it, especially since the movie was sort of badass in and of itself, and helped introduce the principle characters for the upcoming season, and revealed a situation which I think is interesting.

Arguably, the best seasons of 24 have been the ones that ended up being plots where the acts of terrorism, both attempted and perpetrated, were part of a larger goal rather than the means of causing America grievous harm in terms of deaths, injuries and property damage. I am talking about those seasons when, despite the agents involved, the problem truly had American origins and backing, like Season 2's nuclear threat, carried out by Muslim extremists, turning out to be in fact a plot by a number of American oil companies to force the United States into a war with an unnamed Middle Eastern country. From both the movie and the previews, it looks as if this year's season will again be drawing water from that well.

So now I am really looking forward to seeing what surprises the 24 writers have in store for the viewers this year... especially given an extra year to prepare.

*getting ready for the inevitable and crushing disappointment*

4 comments:

Arjan said...

I've only seen random episodes of 24..I don't know if I will be able to start it from the beginning sometime..and if I really wánt to begin or that I might want to skip certain seasons.

Sometimes I wonder how some tv-series manage to make season after season of good tv and other tv-series somehow turn to crap after a bunch of seasons. The news said the actor of the German detective series 'Derrick' had died..they made 201 episodes!! I always enjoyed it when it was on tv..

MC said...

There are definitely seasons to skip... no. 6 comes to mind immediately.

I think with series longevity, if it is a labor of love, then perhaps it has a greater chance of making it.

Anonymous said...

I think it's interesting when I find myself applauding when Jack holds a blade to some evil guy's eye and demands to know where the bomb is but if I were to read about that in the newspaper I would be outraged :)

I guess it comes from knowing that Jack is on the side of good and so you don't question it as much.

I really looking forward to this season though!

MC said...

I just chalk it up to the fictional aspect of the show myself.