Deutsche VersionAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D Checklist
Tomorrow, Agents of Shield[^1] will start. It’s a TV show set in the Avengers movie universe, focusing on somewhat more minor heroes. The promotional material has focused on showing action sequences and explosions. The images were of various people all looking strong and grim. In many ways, it sounds like you could skip it. Except for one thing: It’s the new TV series by Joss Whedon, the genius behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Dollhouse and, oh yeah, the Avengers movie.
[^1]: I am definitely not going to do all that punctuation stuff unless I’m getting paid for it.
So there’s a question: Is this a generic action thing, or is this the next in the series of awesome things by Joss? To make up my mind, I’ve made a standard Whedon checklist that I’m going to fill as soon as the pilot is available on iTunes. Beware: This includes spoilers for all the shows mentioned above.
Does Agents of Shield have…?
- A group of people that don’t get along initially, but grow to become a family? (as seen in Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse to a lesser extent, Avengers)
- A scene where it looks like a tiny girl is in danger, but in reality she’s the one in control of the whole situation and the most dangerous thing all around? (the mission statement of Buffy, but also very notable in Avengers where Natasha pulls it off twice)
- A “oner”, meaning a very long shot where the camera moves to a space without cutting? (as seen in Buffy, Angel, Dollhouse, Firefly… basically everywhere. Avengers has its prime example in the middle of the fight in New York)
- An episode where information is conveyed through music? (the musical episode in Buffy and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog are the most obvious examples, but don’t forget “The Hero of Canton” from Firefly)
- Beloved minor characters who die? (Buffy does it a lot. Angel does it a lot. Firefly does it surprisingly often. Dollhouse does it. Dr. Horrible does it. Avengers does it, although the victim there gets resurrected for this TV show)
- Characters in so much pain and angst that they can barely walk? (All of them)
- Pop culture references? (For some reason they’re missing in Firefly; the rest has more than enough of them)
- Actors from previous Joss Whedon works? (Avengers kind of averted that, but Cobie Smolders was at least a friend, and Clark Gregg got roped into appearing into Joss’s version of Much Ado About Nothing after Avengers was done).
- A great sense of humor? (All of them)
- Horrible things happening to people in love? (Avengers is still lacking that one. Be very afraid for Pepper in Avengers 2)
There are probably a few others that I missed.
Written on September 23rd, 2013 at 06:31 pm
