(no subject)

[mrph]

"Does anybody else have an underpants situation...?"

Well, ok, Bonekickers didn't entirely win me over - but a line like that is enough to persuade me that I should probably watch next week's episode anyway. :)

I'm not quite sure what it's trying to be. Time Team-ish. Yep. But then mix in some right-wing religious crazies, a touch of Tomb Raider and a few extras from Highlander. Hmm.

Now, I'm not an archaeologist - and I'm not going to fuss too much over procedural errors if the show is generally fun. But if people are going to wind up dead (and some of them do) then I'm curious as to how the characters explain this away. Based on this episode, it seems that they go to the pub.

Well, ok, fair enough. But this isn't Doctor Who and it isn't Life on Mars. They aren't police and they don't have psychic paper. If they're going to end up getting people killed - in self-defence, of course - shouldn't someone be asking questions...? Are they reporting it or concealing it? I can accept that the 'regulars' might have had similar situations before the show started... but the new recruit? Shouldn't she be a little... concerned... about this?

Lara Croft never has these problems. Normally that's because she's hundreds of miles from civilisation, not messing about in the hidden chambers under somebody's outhouse, though...

Comments

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

The Time Team are perfect archaeologists compared to this lot, though.

I would have been very happy if it had been along the lines of Tomb Raider (not good films but fun), Indy or the Da Vinci Code but I just kept cringing...

[livingarmchair.livejournal.com]

Pretty poor stuff - I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be comedy, but in between yawning and doing the washing up, I laughed at some of the awful dialogue and the sudden swing to Indiana Jones style acrobatics at the end. They really did overload on the cliches as well, and was Hugh Bonnevile or whatever he's called trying to be the bumpkin off Time Team? Life on Mars was a pastiche of 70s cop shows. Bonekickers seemed to want to be a 1970s show.

Too derivative, IMHO. No real hook - just a by the numbers hour long drama show. TV by committee: "Hey, how about a show about archaeologists who solve riddles a bit like a time team meets Quincy thing" - we have the newcomer who has to impress the boss, the boss with a "past" to confront, and blah... the two blokes with swords were dreadful as well - espcially funny was their first scene together where they basically mouthed off huge chunks of exposition. Bits nicked from here and there, etc.

[mrph.livejournal.com]

I'm not quite that unimpressed, but... yeah. All of that, to varying degrees.

The newcomer I can accept, if only as an intro device for the audience. The boss with a "past" - a bit clumsy. Secret passages and very twitchy about mum, oh dear...

Life on Mars hooked me at least partly via clever use of soundtrack and sheer 'wtf?' weirdness - plus the Gene Hunt effect - this didn't have any of that.

I'll give it a couple more chances, in case it's hiding something that'll make me reconsider, but it wasn't a terribly strong start, was it?

[ragnvaeig.livejournal.com]

The Time Team are perfect archaeologists compared to this lot, though.

Oh, my various gods, you have to be kidding. O.o

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

At least they record stuff before they yank it out of the ground.

[blooddoll3.livejournal.com]

it was very funny - i traded texts with my brother through it all... will have to show you some of his comments :)

[mimmimmim.livejournal.com]

I thought it was the worst TV programme I have seen in a very long time. I'd rather watch nu-Who, and that's saying something.

A random selection of things that annoyed me:
Archaeologists looking up historical documents. None of the archaeologists I know touch papery stuff, that's the province of historians/ancient literature specialists.

The ridiculous chamber and everything that went on in it beneath the dovecot.

An archaeologist owning a house on Bear Flat. probably not of interest to non-Bathonians, but homes up there go for around half a mil and none of the archaeologists I know could afford one. When I lived (rented) up there there definitely weren't any secret tunnels. The latter would be more plausible in a ground-floor flat in central Bath, because the Georgians built over the top of the old city so there's all sorts of stuff below ground in the centre.

Those are just some of the irritationd. I won't be watching again.