Alias Discussion – A Free Agent

I’ve wanted to do a review of Alias for a while now…at first I didn’t really think it was sci-fi, though the longer it runs the less I think that. I finally decided that even if I can’t do a review I do want to put up a discussion forum.

This is one of (in my opinion) the most underrated shows on right now. Serial in nature, if you haven’t seen it you might want to catch up with a synopsis or some kind of explanation. There is a pretty decent “previously on” bit before each ep., but that’s just to help with things you’ll see on that particular night. Explaining the entire history of the show would take FAR too long. the plot of each individual show is good, but the real draw is the huge story arc. Very like farscape. also like farscape is that you’ll likely either be completely hooked and watch it religiously, or not watch at all. And if nothing else, Jennifer Garner is incredibly hot. And if you’re not into female eye candy, there’s always Michael Vartan. (for whom Jennifer Garner just left her husband, something which drops her appeal in my eyes about 90%, considering I just got married.)

13 replies on “Alias Discussion – A Free Agent”

  1. DVD release

    Another good way to catch up is to preorder a copy of the first season on DVD. It ships September 2.

  2. I Tried, I Really Did…
    I tried really hard to get into Alias. I missed the first coupla episodes when it first started up, then I got my Tivo and programmed it in and got the ep that opens with Sidney and Gina Torres in the stadium, watching the secret code disintegrate before their very eyes on the 50 yard line. I didn’t know WHAT the hell was going on, but it sure LOOKED like fun. I gave up after two eps because I wan’t getting it and wanted to get it from the beginning. At the first of 2002 I programmed the TiVo to grab the Alias marathon on ABC Family Channel and started from the beginning.

    Bottom line – nice try, but I am a BIG La Femme Nikita fan from the first two seasons before it started to totally suck, and Sidney can’t hold a candle to Nikita and neither of those two fem eyecandy bozos can even exist in the same spacetime continum as Michael. I am very intrigued by the Garibaldi arc but its like Voyager, they never get where they wanna – nor can they if the show is to continue. In the meantime you’ve got Felicity recruited by the CIA with War of the Roses thrown in. Poor Sidney is just too distracted by boys / parents / boys / parents to give a hoot about the world at large, Garibaldi or not. THAT’S what Nikita was at its best – a descent into a moral madness that threatened to consume civilization itself. Plus, Jurgen was cooler than cool.

    • Re: I Tried, I Really Did…

      Felicity recruited by the CIA

      Oddly enough, this is exactly the phrase the creator of Alias used when pitching it. Personally, I love the show. Not nearly as dark as LFN, but in this case not necessarily a bad thing. One of those where they serve the arc and the story, IMHO better than Farscape did. Which reminds me to set my TiVo to tape Farscape at Midnight, so I can watch all of it. :)

      • Re: I Tried, I Really Did…

        Felicity recruited by the CIA

        The same guy that did Felicity does Alias, I borrowed his words.

  3. great show
    I’ve been following it and it really is very enjoyable. I missed the whole first season, and still it holds a nice appeal. Garner is nice looking (all except her bony face), I’m not into guys so the “sex” appeal of the show isn’t there. The Garibaldi storyline is the coolest thing they’ve done and I hope they get back into it. I think they will because of the most recent storylines with whatshisface in it… (forgot his name). The most ovbious appeal I think is that every episode ends in a cliffhanger, usually some life threatening, to-horrid-to-imagine event that is about to happen. Probably like dating a drama queen.

    Maybe it’s the lack of decent TV out there to watch, but since the X-Files I haven’t seen a serial show this good, though X-Files wasn’t always exactly serial. I’m sure that Alias will go the way of all TV and slowly get more lousy as time goes by. TV writers can’t maintain a show for some reason, and I’m not sure why… I bet the writers aren’t sure why either.

    • Re: great show

      I’ve been following it and it really is very enjoyable. I missed the whole first season, and still it holds a nice appeal. Garner is nice looking (all except her bony face), I’m not into guys so the “sex” appeal of the show isn’t there.

      oddly, I find that the sex appeal of Garner is in the way she carries herself. I completely find my wife to be more attractive (as it should be) but at the same time if someone walked into the room with the same kind of self-posession as Jennifer Garner has I would be instantly riveted to her. Really bad quality in a spy – really good quality in an actress.

      The Garibaldi storyline is the coolest thing they’ve done and I hope they get back into it. I think they will because of the most recent storylines with whatshisface in it… (forgot his name).

      okay, hate to be a nitpicker, but two of you have done it. it’s RIMBALDI. Garibaldi was B5. heh. and to counter the one person, yes they will likely get where they’re going. at one point I thought that they couldn’t do that, but they destroyed sd6 and kept the show up and interesting, so I don’t think rimbaldi’s unraveling means the end of the show. on the other hand, the best thing they could do with this show is pick an end point, run for it, and end on a really awesome finale (planned), leaving an excellent taste in our mouths instead of getting cancelled mid-season on a whim. it’d be nice to look at a show as a serial story rather than just something that you have to drag out forever. I was hoping they’d let them do something like that with Farscape. ah well.

      The most ovbious appeal I think is that every episode ends in a cliffhanger, usually some life threatening, to-horrid-to-imagine event that is about to happen. Probably like dating a drama queen.

      Maybe it’s the lack of decent TV out there to watch, but since the X-Files I haven’t seen a serial show this good, though X-Files wasn’t always exactly serial. I’m sure that Alias will go the way of all TV and slowly get more lousy as time goes by. TV writers can’t maintain a show for some reason, and I’m not sure why… I bet the writers aren’t sure why either.

      I don’t know why either, but I agree with most of these points. like I said, the best thing they can do with this show is plot it out to the end, then go there, and end it. it could end up being one of the classic tv shows we look back on and say “THAT is how you do it”.

      • Re: great show
        lol I copied garabaldi from the first post without even thinking about it… you’re right.

        and I don’t think they need to necessarily actually end the show, but they CAN end the particularly storyline. I like the fact that they did in sd6, it really puts a twist in that I never expected, especially since SD6 was aroundsince day 1. I think if they can draw the Rimbaldi thing to a cool finale and they drop it and go forward with a new storyline, they could continue indefinitely.

    • Re: great show
      My first impression of the show was, obviously, La Femme Nikita. However, over time the show has come to have the flavor of Indiana Jones meets James Bond and through a medical miracle conceive a girl together. I enjoy it quite a lot and I think it’s one of the better pure escapes out there right now – the cliffhangers are exciting enough to keep you interested (even though you know quite well that Sydney’s getting out of it) and the quest is for The Holy Grail, both in spirit and in function (Sloan’s goal is the secret of eternal life). At least the stakes are appropriately high.

      Another significant point: Marshall rocks. Best tech guy in a spy agency since Q (nobody could replace Q).

      Finally, I have to make a small nitpick: It’s “Rambaldi.”

      • Re: great show

        Another significant point: Marshall rocks. Best tech guy in a spy agency since Q (nobody could replace Q).

        Finally, I have to make a small nitpick: It’s “Rambaldi.”

        d’oh…sorry about my misspelling.
        and you’re right…every time I seem Marshall I think “I KNOW this guy…I’ve MET him before…he’s every tech guy I’ve ever worked with squished together into one”. he’s extremely cool.

        • Re: great show

          Another significant point: Marshall rocks. Best tech guy in a spy agency since Q (nobody could replace Q).

          d’oh…sorry about my misspelling.

          No problem, no problem whatsoever. Hey, hi, how’s everyone doing. Glad to see everyone, hope everyone had a good weekend. Um, yeah, the post. No problem. Make one in a minute, everyone tends to post, mine won’t be any longer than normal, I promise. Like my cats. I’ll promise them anything they want. They’re really cu….oh yeah. Hit the post button. Understood. No problem. Thanks again.

          • Re: great show

            No problem, no problem whatsoever. Hey, hi, how’s everyone doing. Glad to see everyone, hope everyone had a good weekend. Um, yeah, the post. No problem. Make one in a minute, everyone tends to post, mine won’t be any longer than normal, I promise. Like my cats. I’ll promise them anything they want. They’re really cu….oh yeah. Hit the post button. Understood. No problem. Thanks again.

            Thanks Marshall.

      • Re: great show

        Another significant point: Marshall rocks. Best tech guy in a spy agency since Q (nobody could replace Q).

        Abso-freakin-lutely! The Marshall guy is great because he’s not your typical TV made tech guy.

      • Re: great show

        Another significant point: Marshall rocks. Best tech guy in a spy agency since Q (nobody could replace Q).

        Did I miss the John DeLancie episode of Alias?

        Sorry, really lousy joke there. Never mind.

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