Anyone else watch MI-5?

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2003-08-04 01:27pm

It's a great show! It doesn't insult my intelligence, the acting and writing are strong, and it's though provokingly poingnant. You have to pay attention to understand it (what a concept), and it's powerful and smart programming.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-08-04 01:50pm

Show made by the BBC about MI5 agents defending the realm?

It's SPOOKS, bloody renaming of decent shows.

About time you got it, last episode of season 2 is on next week here and I got season 1 on DVD a few weeks back plus the soundtrack.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2003-08-04 01:56pm

thats 2 British law shows to the the airwaves in as many months. I missed it, but if it is half as good as Keen Eddie, i'll watch it. when is it on?

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-08-04 02:00pm

Here's the official site anyway:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/spooks/

I hear season 2 will be shown straight after the 6 episode season 1. Watch out for Giles from Buffy in one of the later eps.

TrailerParkJawa · Post by **TrailerParkJawa** » 2003-08-04 02:17pm

I didnt see it, but my dad just got back from a business trip to England. He said its pretty popular there. I will try and catch an episode.

Post by **NecronLord** » 2003-08-04 03:37pm

This appears to be it. It's spooks renamed, which makes sense for a US market, as in the US, if it were called spooks, you'd expect it to be about the CIA/NSA etc.US site.

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2003-08-04 03:59pm

Spooks is t3h r0x0r. SHIT it's on in 2 minutes!

Runs

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2003-08-04 03:59pm

I don't think Keen Eddie is produced in Britian.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2003-08-04 04:03pm

Col. Crackpot wrote:thats 2 British law shows to the the airwaves in as many months. I missed it, but if it is half as good as Keen Eddie, i'll watch it. when is it on?

It's not really a law show. It almost never deals with the law, from what I've seen, and focuses far more on the characters themselves.

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2003-08-04 05:32pm

Spooks was amazing tonight, i really felt gutted for Tom and Mariella.

But at least that guy got garotted, colombian druglord scumbag that he was.

Post by **Dalton** » 2003-08-04 05:36pm

I thought spooks was an insulting term for blacks here in America? *shrug* MI5 is a cooler name anyway.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2003-08-04 07:49pm

Dalton wrote:I thought spooks was an insulting term for blacks here in America? *shrug* MI5 is a cooler name anyway.

"Spooks" is an informal name for members of the intelligence service who operate under aliases. When they're done, no one ever sees or hears from them again, and in fact no one has seen or heard of them before they show up to do an operation. Thus, they are named "spooks" because they can appear and disappear at will.

What do you guys think of MI5's sense of justice? They regularly assassinate and murder their enemies (although, admittedly, their enemies on the show are truly evil people), they aren't above breaking the law, and its pretty clear they're willing to sacrifice some people for the betterment of many. Is this right?

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-08-04 07:59pm

Wasn't there some hand-frying incident on the show? Apparently that was real

Post by **weemadando** » 2003-08-04 08:35pm

phongn wrote:Wasn't there some hand-frying incident on the show? Apparently that was real :shock:

Well, its happened before, but IIRC it was the Irish, not an anti-immigration group that did it. No-one ever accused the Irish of being uncreative.

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2003-08-04 08:38pm

Master of Ossus wrote: What do you guys think of MI5's sense of justice? They regularly assassinate and murder their enemies (although, admittedly, their enemies on the show are truly evil people), they aren't above breaking the law, and its pretty clear they're willing to sacrifice some people for the betterment of many. Is this right?

Yeah.

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2003-08-04 08:53pm

Flagrant violation of due process isn't 'right' but it may be 'necessary'.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2003-08-04 11:14pm

phongn wrote:Wasn't there some hand-frying incident on the show? Apparently that was real

They did do that on the show, and while I can't definitively say that it's been done in real life, it wouldn't surprise me, unfortunately.

TrailerParkJawa · Post by **TrailerParkJawa** » 2003-08-05 01:07am

Dalton wrote:I thought spooks was an insulting term for blacks here in America? *shrug* MI5 is a cooler name anyway.

It's an older term. Spook applies to both uses. Although, I dont know anyone that uses the term to apply to black. I think it went out of favor before I was born.

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2003-08-05 02:39am

Yeah, I caught it on the other night. I might be hooked. I reserve judgment until I watch another one or two episodes thought.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-08-05 11:17am

It must be noted that MI5 officially do NOT carry out assassinations (I read their site, am thinking of a career with them or the MoD).

Though they can utilise spec-ops like the SAS if it suits them.

Spooks does concern itself with the people more than other shows (don't expect James Bond as they say) much like Ultraviolet did, but it also tackles problems that are real threats today, the second season has an episode dealing with a mosque in Birmingham training kids to be suicide bombers. That ep stars a certain Dr. Bashir, but it's just as conmtroversial as the deep fat frying episode (you'd be amazed how much heat the BBC took over that and didn't flinch).

My fave episode of the second season is the VX incident though...

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-08-05 01:28pm

weemadando wrote:
phongn wrote:Wasn't there some hand-frying incident on the show? Apparently that was real
Well, its happened before, but IIRC it was the Irish, not an anti-immigration group that did it. No-one ever accused the Irish of being uncreative.

On another board someone mentioned that it was real, but the woman survived. The ones who did the deed were killed as a professional courtesy by a group not normally friendly to the Brits (at least according to Mr. Slade)

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2003-08-05 01:36pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:
My fave episode of the second season is the VX incident though...

That episode was great...it was like a crossover with 28 days later.

One nitpick i have about that though, if he shot the guy, wouldn't it puncture the glass?

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-08-05 01:58pm

Rye wrote:
Admiral Valdemar wrote:
My fave episode of the second season is the VX incident though...
That episode was great...it was like a crossover with 28 days later.

One nitpick i have about that though, if he shot the guy, wouldn't it puncture the glass?

Depends what the glass is made of (that sounds stupid unless you re-read it).

But no spoilers, please.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2003-08-05 02:13pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:It must be noted that MI5 officially do NOT carry out assassinations (I read their site, am thinking of a career with them or the MoD).

Though they can utilise spec-ops like the SAS if it suits them.

MI5 and the CIA don't officially kill people, but in all honesty they take people out.

Spooks does concern itself with the people more than other shows (don't expect James Bond as they say) much like Ultraviolet did, but it also tackles problems that are real threats today, the second season has an episode dealing with a mosque in Birmingham training kids to be suicide bombers. That ep stars a certain Dr. Bashir, but it's just as conmtroversial as the deep fat frying episode (you'd be amazed how much heat the BBC took over that and didn't flinch).

I haven't seen that episode, yet, as I live in the states. Is there any chance that amazon.com.uk will send me a copy of "Spooks," even though I live in the US (and I'll pay the shipping cost) or do I really have to wait for the American release?

I think it's great that the BBC is willing to take heat for its shows. What do you think FOX would have done if it had something controversial on the air?

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-08-05 02:19pm

Master of Ossus wrote:MI5 and the CIA don't officially kill people, but in all honesty they take people out.

Really, MI5 don't do it due to their job anyway, they monitor potential threats, they're not the Thought-Police though.

I haven't seen that episode, yet, as I live in the states. Is there any chance that amazon.com.uk will send me a copy of "Spooks," even though I live in the US (and I'll pay the shipping cost) or do I really have to wait for the American release?

I think it's great that the BBC is willing to take heat for its shows. What do you think FOX would have done if it had something controversial on the air?

Amazon.co.uk has the series on DVD and VHS, it's a 3 disc DVD boxset for around £22.49. It's Region 0 so it'll work on any DVD player, but it's in PAL (Perfection At Last) and not the US television format NTSC (Never Twice the Same Colour) so a SCART will help.

There is a soundtrack which has 10 tracks from series 1 and 2 and a book coming out soon too (think the 24 companion book).