ALL SCI-FI

Bud Brewster · Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 9:06 pm Post subject: Limitless (2015)

This show is more fun than a three-day weekend in Panama City. With a cheerleader.

Jake McDorman has more charm than two or three guys put together, which is just what this show needs, because it's as playful as a puppy having its way with your favorite shoes. At first I thought it was getting a bit too jokey, but they've managed to tell good stories and keep it light, without being silly.

Jennifer Carpenter as FBI Agent Rebecca Harris is convincing, and I'm sort of glad they didn't cast one of those insanely beautiful women who seem to comprise 51% of Hollywood's population these days. Shows like Flash and Supergirl pack the cast with pretty faces, and I end up having to watch every episode with one eye closed to keep from being blinded by dazzling smiles, sparkling eyes, and poochy lips just beggin' to be kissed.

One thing the series does differently from the movie is the way it presents how intelligent the pills make a person. In the movie, Bradley Cooper was super-duper smart and learned things in seconds (he could learn foreign languages just from hearing them for a few minutes). However, in the series, Jake McDorman is bright enough to solve the crimes each week, but he doesn't dazzle us with his superhuman brilliance the way Cooper's character did.

I think the producers of the series figured out that they had to dial back the genius a bit so they wouldn't have to spend so much time creating cool special effects that demonstrated the amazing things going on in Jake's NZT-enhanced brain.

I was surprised when I learned today that the series is directed buy Neil Burger, who also directed the feature film, Limitless, in 2011. I feel a little better knowing that the man who did such a great job with that remarkable movie is in charge of retooling the concept for television.

I just hope CBS doesn't figure out that I like this show — because if they do, they'll cancel it for sure! Shocked

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

Krel · Guest

I love the show, but I haven't seen the film, although I did recently find the DVD for cheap. But what the show does remind me of was a novel/novella I read back in the 70s, I believe it was by Gordon Dickerson.

In the future you can take a treatment that would either make you the smartest person on the Earth, or a idiot. The main character's Brother tries the treatment, and it doesn't go well. The main character tries the treatment, which is successful, but he is plagued by bad migraine headaches. What he finds out, is that the treatment makes your mind run super efficient, and you can remember everything. You can see the flaw in any plan, any device or machine, and how to improve it. This makes those who survive the treatment in great demand. BUT! What he also discovers is that it doesn't allow you to do is innovate. Although you can see the flaw in anything, and how to improve it, you can't create something new, just build on what is there.

NZT in the show reminds me of this.

David.

Bud Brewster · Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 11:31 pm Post subject:

Be advised that the movie has a few gruesome moments, and it doesn't have the playful charm of the show. There are none of those scenes in which the main character talks to an imaginary "self", or the humorous graphics and funny thought balloons popping up.

As for whether or not NZT promotes innovation, at the beginning of the movie, Bradley Cooper is a writer who has taken an advance from his publisher, but he's suffering from extreme writer's block. After taking the NZT he finishes the book in three days, and his publisher is astounded by it.

The rest of the movie is about how he comes up with amazing new ways to solve problems by connecting knowledge he pulls from things he only glimpsed years ago or overheard in passing.

Once, when he needs to defend himself, he remembers fight scenes from a Kung Fu movie, and his attackers get their butts kicked! Very Happy

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

Krel · Guest

Custer · Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 7:22 am Post subject:

I may need some assistance in arranging a three-day weekend in Panama City, with a cheerleader - purely for comparison purposes, you understand... Embarassed

orzel-w · Galactic Ambassador Joined: 19 Sep 2014 Posts: 1865

Bud Brewster · Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2016 3:23 pm Post subject:

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Limitless has completed its first season and been renewed. I'm really looking forward to it. All the episodes can be downloaded from several sites, if you're into that kind of thing (which I am. Very Happy

)

UPDATE: The series was cancelled . . . dammit. Sad

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

Custer · Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 2:22 pm Post subject:

I've just watched the first two episodes, following the recommendation, and I'm hooked... time for episode three! Very Happy

Custer · Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2016 2:22 pm Post subject:

Jennifer Carpenter was in Dexter of course, looking very cute...

Some of our hero's crime-fighting deductions are a bit reminiscent of the Elementary version of Sherlock Holmes, who manages to be extremely clever without any pills, but it's a pretty engrossing show!

Bud Brewster · Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2016 4:00 pm Post subject:

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Trust me, it gets even better. Very Happy

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

Krel · Guest

Pye-Rate · Starship Navigator Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 598

The scientifically invalid premise and a few other rehashes killed it for me before it aired.
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The road to tomorrow runs through yesterday.

Bud Brewster · Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2016 10:32 pm Post subject:

Pye-Rate · Starship Navigator Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 598

The data on effectiveness, reliability, and safety is limited and inconclusive. In other words, "The boat still has holes in it."
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The road to tomorrow runs through yesterday.

Bud Brewster · Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2016 10:08 am Post subject:

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So, what are you saying, Pye-rate? That we can't make a science fiction series about a new cognitive-enhancing drug until we actually have a real one?

You and I both know that science fiction doesn't work that way.

And that's why I don't understand your objection. What could the fact that "the data on effectiveness, reliability, and safety is limited and inconclusive" possibly have to do with a science fiction series about a new drug that is amazingly effective, reliable, and safe?

And I should point out that if you'd watched the show you'd know that NZT causes death if a certain immunity shot isn't administered periodically. So, the show does take into account the real-world concern that a drug that powerful can be harmful as well as beneficial.

For that reason, your initial statement puzzled me.