Game of Thrones has been terrific through 1 1/2 seasons - it is a great show. But the 6th, 7th and 8th eps of Season II felt pretty rushed to me - they are trying to cram so much story in there that you don't get to sit and rest a spell with these characters we love and bask in the brilliance of the words, performances and production - HBO is skipping along too fast to dot the "i"s and cross that "t"s in the plot development and it is lessening the enjoyment of the series and overall story. HBO needs to extend the seasons to 12, 14, or even up to 20 episodes per season, starting with season III. The show is a gigantic hit, you can afford it, HBO. At least extend 2 or 3 of the episodes to 2 hours. HBO could easily make feature films to accompany the series and they would be a hit. There are so many characters, so many stories to tell and we the audience are getting short shrift these
days with the television eps. I hate to nitpick, but there have been a few flaws in the last few eps. The scene where Brienne of Tarth puts prisoner Jaime Lannister in the boat we see them walk side-by-side and in two shots the illusion is killed that she is a giant - showing her at nearly the same height as him whereas previously all the movie tricks to frame her in other eps had given the illusion of being a giant. The big battle scene outside Kings Landing in tonight's episode IX fell flat. It looked like 80 people fighting 120 and was strangely lackluster. Lena Headey made up for it with her delicious wickedness as Cersei as she chewed up the scenery again and again with the wonderfully cynical dialogue. HBO is serving us a magnificent 20-course meal and rushing the courses before we even get more than a look at this dish, a taste of that one, a sip of that fine wine before clearing and bringing out the next course.
Let's see if we can parse out the whole story of the new Prometheus film given all the goodies they've given away:
ACT I STONE AGE ART IS FOUND to contain the same star map, "an invitation" to some, and funding is secured to launch an exploratory mission to those coordinates. ENTER ECCENTRIC BILLIONAIRE - based on a combination of Richard Branson and Steve Jobs. This money man is our MALEVOLENT CORPORATE INFLUENCE - infusing the story with greed and avarice and naked lust for power. He runs the ANDROID COMPANY and insures one of his synthetic humans is along to KEEP TABS ON THE HUMANS and report back and to FOLLOW THE ORDERS OF THE BILLIONAIRE first and foremost. Sleep chambers, flashy CGI graphics and skin-tight suits to sex up the story with cooler imagery and younger bodies than in the first Alien.
ACT II A TEMPLE IS FOUND with a HUMAN HEAD STATUE. Turns out HUMANS WERE SEEDED so human life on Earth did not evolve there independently. ANDROID LAUNCHES PROBES into temple and finds "seed" chamber and realizes that there is also a chamber with a ship - a SPACE JOCKEY SHIP from the first Alien film. An INFECTION - either organic to the moon (we are on LV-426) or brought there by an asteroid, the newly-arrived humans or the Space Jockeys themselves infects all life on the moon. The INFECTION AFFECTS SEED PODS and some of them open and WE SEE THE FLANGED EELWORM early Face Hugger and it attacks crew. At least a couple of the CREW GET INFECTED with an EelWorm egg while others battle the infection. MOST OF THE HUMANS DIE, but the corporate witch is one of the last to go and makes sure the android can do his mission (collect data and/or samples) before she is offed.
ACT III SOMETHING WAKES THE SPACE JOCKEYS (android jiggling their controls?) and they attack the humans, communicate with some of them. The android MAKES SURE THE DATA GETS BACK TO THE EVIL ANDROID-BUILDING CORPORATE ASSHOLE ON EARTH (so he, in turn, can make sure the Nostromo in Alien lands on LV-426 and that his android Ash will be assigned to that ship some 99 years later). ANDROID ATTEMPTS TO FLEE WITH SAMPLES and the humans know he must be stopped, hence the RAMMING OF SPACE JOCKEY VEHICLE. Two possible endings: ANDROID SURVIVES and ABDUCTS AND FORCIBLY CRYO-SLEEPS ONE CREWMAN (the heroine) who is infected, for return to Earth ... Or, THEY ALL DIE, the last couple willingly, to keep the organism and disease from getting to Earth - not knowing the ANDROID ALREADY TRANSFERRED THE DATA. [Space Jockeys were in their own form of cryo-sleep or a 2nd ship landed once they were signaled that their ship on site was activated]
Analysis: Prometheus will be a good action film and a good, but not great, prequel to the Alien film series. What will be lacking is the camaraderie among the crew and the working-class disgust with the elite corporatists running things that so infused the first film - they were all in it together unwillingly doing the bidding of the man and sacrificed on the alter of greed and power - with a heroine who overcame the odds to survive. [Update 6.12.12: to quote the Ripley surrogate "We were so wrong" ... the movie is terrible and even worse, the android-head and Ripley surrogate are going to chase down the Space Jockeys in the sequel]
I get to meet a lot of famous people at my job, including many actors. The other day I met Bill Paxton (really nice, unpretentious guy). So so soooooo tempting to say the words: "Why don't you put her in charge!?"
