Alphas- SyFy Original Series

[CaptainChewbacca]

So I don't know if anyone else is watching SyFy (god that name makes me cringe) but they've got a new show out called 'Alphas'. Its sorta a cross between Mutant X and Law & Order, where we have a team of misfits with super-powers solving crimes related to other mutan- I mean Alphas. The first episode seriously underwhelmed me, but I feel like its starting to pick up a bit.

Anyone else watch it?

[avatarxprime]

I checked out the first episode but couldn't get through it, it was just so plodding along. I watching after they had the synesthetic explain how that criminal got killed.

Also, synesthesia does not work that way! Instead of Daredevil style super senses at the cost of 1 of the 5 it would have been better to make it like actual synesthesia with her tasting colors or seeing sounds and stuff like that. That scene where she listens in on her father could have been done with all the voices in the shop appearing in front of her as text and then she mentally picks out those of her father. I did like though that the more powerful individuals like the kid who can process the EM spectrum have more mental issues.

[Gaidin]

Spoiler

Guh...they killed Callum Keith Rennie's character. The bastards...

[Tsyroc]

iTunes had it available for free download so I watched the pilot episode. I won't be going out of my way to watch any more episodes.

While I liked some of the ideas, and the cast was pretty good, it had just enough annoying bits that it skewed low enough on the underwhelming scale that I just don't see it being worth my time. There are too many other good things to watch or read than to bother with this show.

[Skgoa]

While I liked some of the ideas, and the cast was pretty good, it had just enough annoying bits that it skewed low enough on the underwhelming scale that I just don't see it being worth my time. There are too many other good things to watch or read than to bother with this show.

This. I lasted aprox. 20 minutes into the pilot.

[Tsyroc]

While I liked some of the ideas, and the cast was pretty good, it had just enough annoying bits that it skewed low enough on the underwhelming scale that I just don't see it being worth my time. There are too many other good things to watch or read than to bother with this show.

This. I lasted aprox. 20 minutes into the pilot.

If I hadn't have spent a bunch of time downloading I probably would have quit pretty early too. The two female cast members are attractive and their powers are okay, or kind of cool. The doc in charge of the Alphas is a little annoying. The FBI/Cop who can trigger his flight or fight response is a dick, and not in the entertaining sort of way. The guy who can see the EM spectrum is just annoying 75% of the time. Really annoying. Too bad he left Bones to go do this show. The guy who occasionally has perfect aim seemed to have some promise but they really didn't do much with him until the pilot was nearly over.

Oh yeah, "Alphas" as a name is just stupid. Calling people with special mental abilities in the show "Alphas" is even worse. It really reminds me of Mutant X but without all the wire-fu, flashy FX laden powers and X-Men rip off stuff. I thought Mutant X was terrible too but Alphas is probably worse, most because they are come across like they are just trying to do Mutant X, but "toned down" and "more believable".

You know what I would at least give another shot. A show about the two female characters minus most of the government and all of the conspiracy crap. One of them is hot, the other cute and their powers could work pretty well for pulling jobs or something. A better show would just be the hot one and her mental manipulation power. The pilot mentioned her having a lot of nice stuff and a nice rent free apartment all because of her powers.

[Netko]

You know what I would at least give another shot. A show about the two female characters minus most of the government and all of the conspiracy crap. One of them is hot, the other cute and their powers could work pretty well for pulling jobs or something. A better show would just be the hot one and her mental manipulation power. The pilot mentioned her having a lot of nice stuff and a nice rent free apartment all because of her powers.

"Lost Girl"? That's a much better show pretty close to your description, albeit with a more fantasy rather then superhero bent.

[Tsyroc]

"Lost Girl"? That's a much better show pretty close to your description, albeit with a more fantasy rather then superhero bent.

Looks like it would be worth a try. Can't seem to find it on Netflix or Hulu. It has had at least one season so far so that's good.

[Skgoa]

Well, I certainly am going to try to find an episode of that show.

[Skgoa]

Ghetto edit: Lost Girl isn't all that original as well, but I am in the middle of the second episode and its interesting, thus far.

[CaptainChewbacca]

The season is over, and MAN what a finale.

They set up the Big Bad of the series (An immortal genius) and they made us think the Secret War was going to continue.

But then at the last minute, the scientist guy who leads the Alphas decided to secretly make a live broadcast from his closed session with congress, showing the entire world what Alphas are all at once. Its a ballsy game-changer that I didn't see coming, and the next season is sure to be awesome.

[weemadando]

This sounds a LOT like Shadow Unit even down the name "Alphas".

Anyone able to give me a comment on that?

[CaptainChewbacca]

Its a little like that, but I suppose its a 'little like' every franchise thats about a government agency with superpowered/paranormal agents. All the threats on Alphas are human/metahumans, though, no monsters.

[weemadando]

That is sounding a lot like Shadow Unit. Will have to check it out.

[Enigma]

The season is over, and MAN what a finale.

They set up the Big Bad of the series (An immortal genius) and they made us think the Secret War was going to continue.

But then at the last minute, the scientist guy who leads the Alphas decided to secretly make a live broadcast from his closed session with congress, showing the entire world what Alphas are all at once. Its a ballsy game-changer that I didn't see coming, and the next season is sure to be awesome.

At first I didn't think I'd like this series but it really grew on me. I believe I've seen every episode so far this season and I really like it. At first I didn't think it would compare to No Ordinary Family but I am glad I was wrong. NOF sucked like crap compared to Alphas

[Themightytom]

I've been following the show myself. I noted the similarities between Dr. Rosen and professor X, walking emerging Alphas through their powers, acting as their public face... rather than a teacher, Rosen is a psychiatrist, and unlike Xavier, Rosen really DOESN'T have an alpha ability that we know of. I think it's likely at some point however they might write one in for him, which would be a mistake in my opinion. he DOES have a daughter we now find out, which explains his acute interest in and sensitivity to Alphas. I think the fact that he is so indecisive and intellectually detached has led to the regular accusation that he is manipulative, but that he resents the negative connotation of the word.

Gary is an awesome character. he WAS annoying the first few episodes, but once you see what the character, and the actor playing him is doing, you've gotta respect it. I've never seen a character played like that before.

Bill harken's character is a doucche, as a side effect of his Alpha ability, i see his depiction in that regard as utterly consistent.l he's not intentionally an asshole, he just get's short tempered, abrasive and rude because he's constantly juicing up on adrenaline. Of course he comes into conflict regularly with Gary, the least liely to understand that, being the most socially awkward, but the two have generally found a way to get along.

Cameron Hicks is by far the most intriguing Alpha ability. he's kind of a cliche ex marine alcoholic ball player, but it's interesting watching him dsicover just how much he can actually do, when he trusts himself to.

Nina is a realistic interpretation of what would happen if someone could brainwash others temporarily to do what they want, and she is a realistic depiction of how a person would have trouble accepting social conventions that were designed for people who are forced to negotiate behaviorally.

Rachel is not my cup of tea character-wise, but she seems to have a scientific background second only to Doctor Rosen. She's constantly analyzing things in a nearly unbelievable manner, it's one thing to be able to see hear or feel things, but to figure out what they all are?

Brent Spiner as the sonic Alpha was ridiculously bad ass.
The episode where Gary's girlfriend is revealed to be a Red Flag leader was very good. I didn't like her return appearance with the sabretooth knock off.

[Ahriman238]

It's a good show. I'm really glad it got renewed for a second season. So many shows don't even make it that far.

I have however had some trouble getting a handle on Dr. Rosen's character. He clearly feels very deeply for his team and all his former patients, even when they're trying to kill people. And he is clearly torn between his duties as a leader of a team of federal agents and his basic duty to care for his patients. He resists having them trained as agents, becuase he doesn't want them to become jack-booted thugs, even though the lack of training puts them in danger.

Finally, as early as the second episode people were telling him that something was seriously not right at Binghampton, but he never investigates that.

Red Flag is another minor mystery to me. In the pilot, they were criminal Alphas exploiting their abilities for monetary gain, drugs, guns, human trafficking all the major points of the amoral businessman. Later, they're a terrorist group fighting for 'neuro-diversity,' later still a movement of Alphas organizing aginast perceived government oppression. I have no trouble with a group not being monolithic, but it'd be nice to have a sound byte for what the Red Flag is, besides 'the bad guys.'

Rachel doesn't bother me. If you could seperate chemicals by smell, you'd want to learn what all the different things you kept smelling were. Her stereotypical New York Jewish family bothers me a lot more, because they're so stereotypical.

[Themightytom]

See i read his reaction to binghampton as reasonable. When you work with the mentally ill, you always take the perspective that what they percieve as reality, is not always the only perspective. I think he shrugged it off and put his faith in his counterpart at the facility until the evidence became too conclusive to ignore.

You know, like when they were ll detained at Binghampton and the agent threatened to send them to section seven or whatever, from which NONE EVER RETURN.

THAT you can't intellectualize, THAT, is where you can't write off horror stories as the creations of a resistant mentally ill person.

[Enigma]

I liked that their powers are loosely realistic (some can be believable but others simply outrageous) in that they could fit in today's society unlike those in comics. Meta characters in comic books are mostly portrayed as being super powerful and quite divorced from reality. The metas in NOF and Mutant Chronicles would fit better in either the DC or Marvel universe whereas for the large part Alphas don't fit in.

I'm really glad that Alphas got picked up for another season. They're a decent replacement of Eureka.

[CaptainChewbacca]

I think it was established that Rachel was a medical student when her powers 'activated' and that she had been a straight-A student.

Edit: I thought the guy's 'secret payoffs' being autograph fees from baseball conventions was hilarious and completely believable. Its so mundane we never saw it coming even though he was already established as a minor-league pitcher. He even has an agent!

[CaptainChewbacca]

P.S. Gary is also pretty funny. Its neat to see him start to 'grow up', and I wonder if he'll end up getting an apartment. Or, if Bill gets divorced they might move in together.

[Minischoles]

I think the Bill/Gary dynamic is one of the best in the show, especially when they're working together, the episode that focused almost completely on them was one of the best in the season.

I do like it, I was a little on the fence at first but it got a lot stronger as it went on. I like that they show the negative sides of the powers as well, like with the lie detector guy, with Bill basically overwhelming his body at points, Gary and the Red Flag girl being autistic and Nina being completely amoral.

[Ahriman238]

I do like the idea that while having superpowers is fairly awesome, the net effect has generally been to screw up their lives. Cameron is an alcholic also-ran with a divorce and some mild-to-serious self-esteem issues, because his powers have always crapped out when it really mattered ("the greatest flame-out in baseball history.") Bill lost his job because of his powers, and because he wouldn't go back now that he'd found the team, and is afraid of having children in case they're like him. Nina has some serious impulse-control issues, despite being Dr. Rosen's patient for YEARS, and has a lot of guilt over a man she accidently killed. Rachel has a strained relationship with her family, likely didn't finish her medical studies, and can't get a little tounge without sensory-overload.

Gary is... the best representation of classic autism I've ever seen on TV or film. I had zero trouble accepting him as an autistic by his third line of dialogue in the pilot. He's... not exactly like the autistic adults I know, but close enough to be counted a member, most have their individual quirks.

Now I want to see an episode where he forgets what he was doing because he saw a waterfall-wall and had to touch it.

I really like that. I like that their powers have caused them problems, but nobody really wants to be normal, they don't want to give up what makes them special. That reminds me, a lot, of the disabled people i know in RL, especially the learning-disabilities. And I like that they are growing, and learning to cope with their issues over time.

Hell, I think Bill has had the most character growth of anyone this season, with Rosen as a close second.

[Alkaloid]

I think this may be the best new show I've seen this year. It's what heroes would have been if heroes had balls.

I was skeptical going in, cos I was pretty sure that withing a few episodes, Gary would be 'get over his autism because that what interacting with people does to autistic people' and the ever so dull Hicks would be the main character, and was pleasantly surprised when that didn't happen.

Plus I love the way their abilities aren't simple. It's not just 'hur hur Bill is super strong' it's 'Bill activates his over amped fight or flight response, which is awesome but bad for his body and gives him more control over when it is actually set off,' or 'Nina can only push people with minds that have enough 'plasticity.'

And while the government are stupid, they're believably stupid, which is refreshing.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Yeah, they aren't 'stupid', just not aware how seriously outmatched they are.