Yes I certainly enjoyed that. I think the 'team of experts' working together gave the show a CSI vibe, and theres no denying that the whole alien angle evokes a lot of X-files, foruntately the better, creepier elements.

The cast were likeable, and for once they dont seem to be desperate to rush into any will-they-wont-they Mulder/Scully relationship every similar genre show seems to be obligated to include.

Actually i just realised the show has a similar feeling to a show from a few years back, Odyssey 5, not sure if anyone watched that, however this felt more self asured. Hopefully Threshold will last a bit longer than O5 however!

Have these 2 episodes at home. Will have to give them a look when I get home .

I really enjoyed this too, echoing many of Wobag's thoughts about it. The cast were all very good. Nice to see Brent Spiner in a regular role, hammy, but not too much so. I like the way they're going with the insidious alien plot, and having three Red Team members affected adds a nice bit of tension to the group.

It was very atmospheric at times, and the dreamscape, with the 'Trees Made of Glass' was very stylish.

Though I enjoyed it in general, I found I had problems with suspension of disbelief throughout -- too many things felt wrong[1], too much bad science[2], telegraphed shocks[3], Caffrey/Cavennaugh couple too obvious, the composition of the "red team", their skills/knowledge, how they was utilised, their amazing ability to jump to conclusions based on virtually zero evidence, North Korea not only being the only other nation to detect the event but also dispatching a sub to the US north-eastcoast, etc.

Maybe I'm just getting (even more) cynical in my old age, I've reacted to House in pretty much the same way -- I enjoy the show but can do little but fault-find with it.

A lot of the problems I see in Threshold are common to the genre, and to TV serials in general. I'm not sure why they seem to grate more here than in other shows. Perhaps, to some extent, it's a consequence of the trend for increased realism in genre shows that has developed over the last few years -- SF is a lot more mature now than it was 20 years ago, and both creators & audiences more sophisticated, perhaps I'm just get annoyed by "mistakes" being made that shouldn't these days.

All in all, I enjoyed it, and will probably watch the rest (1x03 should be out by now), but so far suspension of disbelief has been more of a problem here than elsewhere.

[1] E.g. the oh-so-subtle "recruitment" of the red team members by teams of MIBs in public.
[2] Where to start? The "when we translate the spiral fractal into a genetic representation we get a triple helix" huh? and so? Or the concept of the object being in 4D -- which was only used to explain it looking pretty & changing shape, and then ignored a couple of sentences later when it was said that the object was too small to hold any aliens. That last part of course deserves a WTF all of its own!
[3] E.g. corpses moving, guy behind the fridge door, etc

---

by Callum
[3] E.g. corpses moving, guy behind the fridge door, etc

---

The guy behind the fridge door made me jump out of skin, lol! I'm a big fraidy-cat though

I really enjoyed this show. If there are mistakes, so what, ever show has them, and it's easier to not notice them in a show of this genre, as i tend not to get all the sciencey-far fetched stuff anywho!

I'll definitely be carrying on with this one.

---

by Callum
[1] E.g. the oh-so-subtle "recruitment" of the red team members by teams of MIBs in public.

---

Actually what occurred to me was that this was a total lift from Argmageddon, when Nasa 'recruits' Bruce Willis' characters choice of experts...

Right down to one being fond of casinos, and wasnt there a sequence when one of them goes to get drunk in a bar?


(Edited by Wobag 24/09/2005 21:33)

---

by Wobag

Actually what occurred to me was that this was a total lift from Argmageddon, when Nasa 'recruits' Bruce Willis' characters choice of experts...

Right down to one being font of casinos, and wasnt there a sequence when one of them goes to get drunk in a bar?

---

I've seen Armageddon a begillion times and that never occurred to me!! I'm so slow

And yes, there is a bit in Armageddon where one goes to a bar to get away from it from what i can remember.

Just out of curiosity, how do people think these people would be recruited in "real-life"? There must be some sort of plan for these situations... it would be stupid not to have them

---

Threshold 1x03
Cavennaugh: How did you reach that estimate?
Caffrey: I'm using the Paris Hilton sex tape as my distribution model

---

Heh

---

by lil_miss
Just out of curiosity, how do people think these people would be recruited in "real-life"? There must be some sort of plan for these situations.

---

There will be plans for a great many such situations, most of which will be significantly more probable than an alien encounter -- an airborne hemorrhagic fever outbreak, significant national insurgency or revolution, CBRN terrorism, major natural disasters.

Major factors affecting how well the plan deals with the reality will include probability, predictability, preparedness, and public impact -- if the US can botch a plan for handling a cat 4 hurricane hitting NOLA, how do we imagine a plan for handling an event less-probable, less-predictable, less-prepared for, and with (potentially) greater public impact, will stand up?

As for how to "recruit" your experts in real life? Quickly and discretely. They should already have some contact with the appropriate govt agencies, partly to ensure that they can work well with the govt bodies concerned, and partly to afford cover for their absence. They needn't of course know that they on the NSC's "red team" for an alien encounter but rather they're (say) an advisor to the CDC in case of a disease outbreak, or to the NSA on cryptology, or to NASA/JPL for a shuttle accident, or whatever. At some point you have an excercise in which you fly off your civvie molecular biologist to Atlanta to study an Ebola outbreak in the Central Republic Of Where The Hell as a test run, and in the event of alien invasion as far as his friends/family/work are concerned it's another such exercise, or it's an actual shuttle accident, or it's a conference on cryptology, or whatever.

Once they're away for a few days under an acceptable cover it's much easier to stretch it out -- most disappearances will be noticed within 24 hours (in general) and virually all within 72, but if you can legitimately take them away for 3 days without suspicion being arroused then all you do is say they're (for example) on temporary secondment to the CDC for the next few weeks. Don't make a fuss about it, certainly don't just vanish people!

Of course, as well as ensuring a good cover explaining why they're away you should chuck in some concealment -- both so that people don't notice they've gone (if aliens land the day one of your experts is due to go off on three weeks holiday then that'll do nicely) and to stop the cover being penetrated ("I'm sorry you flew all the way down to Atlanta, but although he is working for the CDC he's actually in our Seattle office rather than here" ). One extra level before the cover gets challenged.

None of this is perfect, and this is pretty quick & dirty (you do need pretty good plans & contingencies for anything remotely complex), but pretty much anything beats MIBs in suburbans grabbing people in public!

Just watched this on Sky One, and I'm impressed to say the least.

The scenes on the boat really freaked me out. Wasn't happy with the corpse "coming back to life" that was a definite hands over face momemt. Not quite as scary as the whole guy behind the fridge door thing. I knew it was coming and I knew it was gonna be him, but my god I nearly pooped!!!

I'd say that William Mapother has totally found his niche, what with the Gunneson character and Ethan Rom in Lost. He's one creepy dude!!

I'm definitely gonna be tuning in next week.

Hope nobody was counting on this getting renewed

They don't know a good show if they get their faces pushed straight into it

Jeez have they never heard of giving something a chance??? I really like this show. What a set of bleeps

It's the way of it, these days. Of course, computer games don't get cancelled... yet.

On the subject of long lost series', can anyone remember what that one about a group of astronauts who see the earth destroyed, and then get sent back in time to prevent it, was called?

---

by The_Host
It's the way of it, these days. Of course, computer games don't get cancelled... yet.

On the subject of long lost series', can anyone remember what that one about a group of astronauts who see the earth destroyed, and then get sent back in time to prevent it, was called?

---

Actually, computer games do get cancelled. The difference is with those, they get cancelled before you have a chance to see them and get into it, which is slightly less annoying.

Recent games cancellations include the fps based on the Stargate Franchise And some games never get cancelled however they never see the day of light either (Duke Nukem Forever?) We might see game cancellations when they are actually released soon with all the online features and stuff and the requirements that the huge online multiplayer games take (and cost). So they might scrap a games online service if too little people actually want to subscribe.

---

by The_Host
On the subject of long lost series', can anyone remember what that one about a group of astronauts who see the earth destroyed, and then get sent back in time to prevent it, was called?

---

Odyssey 5.
Gets repeated on the Sci Fi channel semi-randomly.

---

by Maffrew
(quotes)

Actually, computer games do get cancelled. The difference is with those, they get cancelled before you have a chance to see them and get into it, which is slightly less annoying.

---

That's slightly different, though. I daresay a lot of programmes never get beyond the pilot stage, for that matter, and we don't miss them either (I seem to recall some vehicle for Alyson Hannigan, or she was going to be in a vehicle for some other actress), but then there are shows that make it through one series, and you start to invest emotional capital (Mmmkay?) in the characters, only for the channel to decide the ratings didn't justify another run. I'm grateful that I can manage to live without 'X-Men Legends 2', so far

---

by Callum
(quotes)
Odyssey 5.
Gets repeated on the Sci Fi channel semi-randomly.

---

That scarcely even rings a bell, so no surprise that it didn't return, but now I can look it up on IMDB. 'Space; Above And Beyond' and 'Earth; Final Conflict' are two other shows that did slightly better, at least...

---

by The_Host
I seem to recall some vehicle for Alyson Hannigan, or she was going to be in a vehicle for some other actress

---

"How I met your mother"
I think BBC are showing it next year; the reviews I read of it have been, shall we say, mixed.