Flashforward compared to Lost? To broad? Not The Same Feeling

[JacobsLather]

Originally Posted by MilesSmiles

When you disassemble LOST, it's just a series of classic gimmicks itself.

Hmm. I think that assessment calls for a little more explanation.

[MilesSmiles]

Gimmicks = the stuff that lures you back and keeps your interest

i.e. cliffhangers, not telling us stuff we want to know right away, followable characters. Basically, anything that makes you want to come back again

[JacobsLather]

Originally Posted by MilesSmiles

Gimmicks = the stuff that lures you back and keeps your interest

i.e. cliffhangers, not telling us stuff we want to know right away, followable characters. Basically, anything that makes you want to come back again

Fair enough. I call it good storytelling, but I see your point.

[DharmaWorkMan]

Originally Posted by MilesSmiles

Gimmicks = the stuff that lures you back and keeps your interest

i.e. cliffhangers, not telling us stuff we want to know right away, followable characters. Basically, anything that makes you want to come back again

wait? Isn't that the brilliance of any story, novel/ book? After each chapter it keeps you wanting more. I don't think you can lower the value or mistankingly portray a shows story as gimmicks. I think the writing of LOST is like a really good book not a gimmick.

[Anfield Fox]

I really liked it. Well at least after the first 10-15 minutes which were awful (who the hell picked that music? was so out of place).

I don't know why people are comparing it to Lost and saying it's not as good as Lost. Of course it isn't! Lost is the greatest thing ever filmed. Every shot, every scene, every word. Flashforward isn't Lost but it's something to watch, it has a good concept, a decent cast and hopefully lots of twists and cliffhangers.

My only worry is how it will continue. The "event" is 6 months in the future. In the book it's 21 years. Yes 21 years would have been way to long but 6 months will probably mean we'll reach April 29th at the end of this season. Then what? How does this show continue for 5 years? Will they have another flashforward event every season? Won't that get old? Will they show the same event from the perspective of other people with a new cast? Won't that get old too? I'm very curious as to how they will keep this show going. Maybe the big season 3 cliffhanger will be "it's a flashback!"

Then again i had the same thought after i watched the Lost pilot (which i was blown away by on 9/22/04). Little could i have guessed about hatches and other people on the island, time traveling bunnies and rafts, flashforwards and tail section survivors and so on. Hopefully these writers are half as good as Damon and Carlton and have looked ahead beyond this first event.

[jbryan1984]

I think its to early to criticize it. That being said, I highly doubt any show will ever hook me like Lost but there are still good shows that will come and go. I thought Flashforward was OK, I will continue to watch (its not like anything better is on). I like the cliffhanger they left on, it is interesting. And like someone else said, thank God its not another cop series!

[steph4136]

Well I fully enjoyed it. Lost is ending next year, if this show picks up, it'll be nice to have something halfway decent to watch.

In all actuality, I did enjoy the pilot. I thought it was exciting, left a decent hook at the end with suspect zero, I'm looking forward to how things unfold to the date of the visions, the character development, etc.

Do I think it's as badass as Lost? No. Lost is a show on its own level and number one in my heart, but that doesn't mean there's not room for a new show in there.

[GOBernardGO]

Originally Posted by mattepntr

I posted my review on the OT thread, but I'll copy it here too....

"I don't want to harsh anybody's mellow, but the pilot just kind of left me thinking "meh".

First thing, this probably should have been 2 hours instead of one. It felt incredibly rushed.
It felt very much like a T.V. show, where "Lost" feels much more like a feature film. There was too much fast cutting to generate excitement, and every scene is bathed in frenetic music, telling you to "be excited! be excited!!" To me, when shows or movies do that, it always feels like insecurity.
And the characters feel rather.... unbelievable. An FBI counter-terrorism guy married to a surgeon? His cocky swaggery partner playing all this false machismo. The cute babysitter making out with her boyfriend on the job. How come there aren't any Joe Blow characters? Didn't they have interesting flash forwards? The telephone lineman guy seemed to be the most interesting (with an intriguing flash forward) but he was a minor character.
And they all seemed to figure out what happened and connected the dots really fast.

It's alright. It feels like an average TV show. Maybe it gets better as it goes on. It's an interesting idea, and the special effects were nice. But the pilot kind of reminded me of "CSI: Twilight Zone".

I agree with pretty much everything everything here.....especially the bolded part. The entire show felt way too rushed, and figuring things out the same day as the phenomenom was a little ridiculous....

overall I really liked it though.....I hope they slow it down a little from here on out



also, for a split second at the beginning of the show I thought it was Richard playing Penny's husband! I was like, why haven't I heard about this??

[acslater1969]

To be honest, I watched the first episode or two of Lost when it first aired and I wasn't to impressed. The only reason that I started watching lost again was that I lost my sattelite service about a year ago and my buddy suggested that I get Lost on netflix and give it another chance. Obviously I am now a fan or I wouldn't be here.

That said, of course this one pilot episode of FlashForward doesn't live up to 5 fantastic seasons of lost. I really don't see how we can compare the two until we have at least seen a full season of the show (unless of course the show rapidly deteriorates in the next few episodes, then you should feel free to trash away.)

[arta]

If you go to youtube now and search "flashforwards webcast" you'll see 10 vids ABC just put up showing the writers talking about the show. They seem really confident that they have a 5 year plan, even to the point where they know why the perceived end game occurs when it does in the series and what happens.

David Goyer does a lot of action scifi movies and seems to handle it well, his weak point is sometimes going overboard with melodramatic dialogue for his characters. All I know of Brannon Braga is that he's written for several long running shows, including 24and Star Trek: TNG, so hopefully that's a good sign.

In effect, I don't know if they have enough story for 5 years and have it planned out, but they swear they do. What I'm worried about is if they can have their characters interesting (not sappy or lame) when the plot is in the background. Lost had interesting characters you liked to watch when they were planting gardens and trekking to find firewood and water.