On the Jumping of Sharks--What LG15 is Doing Wrong
Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2006 5:36 pm
Enough is enough.
When I first found this site I was interested. This new method of storytelling had so much potential. The cryptic hints of a larger conspiracy were fascinating and the video format made it feel like we were watching it all unfold in real time. I was excited. I became a regular viewer.
But this has gone too far. I can't take it anymore. I registered here just so I could vent. Creators, fire your writing staff and get some guys worth the air they breathe because this drivel is not gonna fly.
This show is awful at introducing new characters. They get no heralds. They get no build-up. We have endless people speculating about the mysterious phantom "cassia" yet we are expected to care about these two who come out of nowhere? Jonas doesn't even have any ties to the canon of the series, he's supposedly a fan like us. Are we supposed to like him? Why does he need to exist? Were the Creators just out of ideas?
All the character's vids in LG15 are exactly the same. Whatever is going on, you can count on everyone to personify stuffed animals and talk about unrelated stuff like it's important. This format was fun and fine. However, it does not fit anymore! Now that the much more serious plot-line has kicked in, the whimsical style of the videos (with their quick editing and careful music choice) is no longer appropriate, in fact it de-emphasizes the gravity of the character's situation. Gonna have heros in peril? there should be something at stake. We need some sort of visual acknowledgment of sense of the danger they are in. Less editing. WAY less Bree-being-cute.
We know Bree can be cute. Her childish antics in the early videos charmed thier way into all of our hearts. However, her situation has since changed drastically and yet the writers are still forcing CUTE BREE down our throats.
The reason why we like Daniel is he's a fully developed character. We've seen his tender side. We've seen his gruff, late-teenage self reliant psudo-apathy. We've seen him whiney and annoyed. We've seen him scared. We've seen he's physically strong AND we've seen how intelligent, resourceful, and brave he can be in a pinch.
Bree has yet to show anything more then her childish side. She has two settings: nervous-panicky and "cute." I can't even begin to imagine she is holding her own in her fights with Daniel. We are told she is, but we don't see it.
Let's see Bree be willful. Lets SEE her put her foot down about something and stick to her guns. Let's see some of that random intellect at work as she thinks up some way to crack the case. Let's get a sense of what she's capible of physically. Lets see her get ANGRY, and not tearful angry, ANGRY angry. Lets see her actually adressing and confronting the issues that have been piled on her, sorting through them and deciding on a course of action.
She's a young person. In the traditional comming-of-age tale, this is where the child in destress finds then strength inside them to confront thier fears and defeat them.
Writers, we already know she's an adorable kitten, but your plot has moved beyond that. It's time to let her be an actual PERSON.
This brings me to The Watchers. A poorly implemented gimmick if ever there was one. We knew before they ran away they were going to be followed, and I am sick to death of waiting for the Watcher to actually DO something besides just stand around. If he's supposed to be the Lurking Evil, then he needs to actually, you know...do some evil. Creators, please please please have him do something to establish that he is an actual threat. Is he supposed to retrieve Bree? He could have done it by now. If Watching is all this Watcher is gonna do then he's a waste of screen-time and the air he breathes.
Forget that pointless new character. Ax Jonas. He's Bree in male form and Bree in his house would just be cutesy antics all day long, while the actual plot grows more and more stale.
The new characters we need to hear from are some of the Adults in the Breeverse. We need Lucy, a Deacon (even if it's not immediately clear he's a deacon), or her Parents. We need someone with story significance WHO's fresh perspective can jump start the action again.
Also, the fact bree and Daniel continue to ignore the way too obvious fact that the tracking devices are inside her stuffed animals, despite the fact that they SUPPOSEDLY check this site and every third comment is "check the stuffed animals" is suspension of disbelief at it's worst.
We need something to HAPPEN. It can be the Watcher actually DOING SOMETHING, preferably something evil. It can be some sort of breakthrough Gemma has about what the nature of the ceremony is. It can be Bree finally being forthcoming about her community and laying out some key information she's been withholding. It can be a call from her parents, telling her to come home (when it's a trap) and Bree vanishes, forcing Daniel to break into Lucy's house again and learn something new. It could even be an accident, prompting Bree to make a trip to the emergency room, where a medical examination provides some information about what the shots and pills were.
Something. Anything.
I am ready to give up on this series. I had such high hopes and they are being dashed by sluggish pacing, predictable plot-twists and wasted potential.
We need some ACTION, STAT.
When I first found this site I was interested. This new method of storytelling had so much potential. The cryptic hints of a larger conspiracy were fascinating and the video format made it feel like we were watching it all unfold in real time. I was excited. I became a regular viewer.
But this has gone too far. I can't take it anymore. I registered here just so I could vent. Creators, fire your writing staff and get some guys worth the air they breathe because this drivel is not gonna fly.
This show is awful at introducing new characters. They get no heralds. They get no build-up. We have endless people speculating about the mysterious phantom "cassia" yet we are expected to care about these two who come out of nowhere? Jonas doesn't even have any ties to the canon of the series, he's supposedly a fan like us. Are we supposed to like him? Why does he need to exist? Were the Creators just out of ideas?
All the character's vids in LG15 are exactly the same. Whatever is going on, you can count on everyone to personify stuffed animals and talk about unrelated stuff like it's important. This format was fun and fine. However, it does not fit anymore! Now that the much more serious plot-line has kicked in, the whimsical style of the videos (with their quick editing and careful music choice) is no longer appropriate, in fact it de-emphasizes the gravity of the character's situation. Gonna have heros in peril? there should be something at stake. We need some sort of visual acknowledgment of sense of the danger they are in. Less editing. WAY less Bree-being-cute.
We know Bree can be cute. Her childish antics in the early videos charmed thier way into all of our hearts. However, her situation has since changed drastically and yet the writers are still forcing CUTE BREE down our throats.
The reason why we like Daniel is he's a fully developed character. We've seen his tender side. We've seen his gruff, late-teenage self reliant psudo-apathy. We've seen him whiney and annoyed. We've seen him scared. We've seen he's physically strong AND we've seen how intelligent, resourceful, and brave he can be in a pinch.
Bree has yet to show anything more then her childish side. She has two settings: nervous-panicky and "cute." I can't even begin to imagine she is holding her own in her fights with Daniel. We are told she is, but we don't see it.
Let's see Bree be willful. Lets SEE her put her foot down about something and stick to her guns. Let's see some of that random intellect at work as she thinks up some way to crack the case. Let's get a sense of what she's capible of physically. Lets see her get ANGRY, and not tearful angry, ANGRY angry. Lets see her actually adressing and confronting the issues that have been piled on her, sorting through them and deciding on a course of action.
She's a young person. In the traditional comming-of-age tale, this is where the child in destress finds then strength inside them to confront thier fears and defeat them.
Writers, we already know she's an adorable kitten, but your plot has moved beyond that. It's time to let her be an actual PERSON.
This brings me to The Watchers. A poorly implemented gimmick if ever there was one. We knew before they ran away they were going to be followed, and I am sick to death of waiting for the Watcher to actually DO something besides just stand around. If he's supposed to be the Lurking Evil, then he needs to actually, you know...do some evil. Creators, please please please have him do something to establish that he is an actual threat. Is he supposed to retrieve Bree? He could have done it by now. If Watching is all this Watcher is gonna do then he's a waste of screen-time and the air he breathes.
Forget that pointless new character. Ax Jonas. He's Bree in male form and Bree in his house would just be cutesy antics all day long, while the actual plot grows more and more stale.
The new characters we need to hear from are some of the Adults in the Breeverse. We need Lucy, a Deacon (even if it's not immediately clear he's a deacon), or her Parents. We need someone with story significance WHO's fresh perspective can jump start the action again.
Also, the fact bree and Daniel continue to ignore the way too obvious fact that the tracking devices are inside her stuffed animals, despite the fact that they SUPPOSEDLY check this site and every third comment is "check the stuffed animals" is suspension of disbelief at it's worst.
We need something to HAPPEN. It can be the Watcher actually DOING SOMETHING, preferably something evil. It can be some sort of breakthrough Gemma has about what the nature of the ceremony is. It can be Bree finally being forthcoming about her community and laying out some key information she's been withholding. It can be a call from her parents, telling her to come home (when it's a trap) and Bree vanishes, forcing Daniel to break into Lucy's house again and learn something new. It could even be an accident, prompting Bree to make a trip to the emergency room, where a medical examination provides some information about what the shots and pills were.
Something. Anything.
I am ready to give up on this series. I had such high hopes and they are being dashed by sluggish pacing, predictable plot-twists and wasted potential.
We need some ACTION, STAT.