Spin off showcase

[Guest MSandt]

So how could Season 3 have more effectively dealt with this plot?  Well, what do we have?  We've got this virus that can wipe out whole villages, that even the usually level-headed Frank Black fears enough to move his family to safety, and we come back to find that it killed, what?  74 people in the Northwest?

Exactly! Wasn't Catherine listening to a radio which announced that the number of victims was at least 500? I understand the reason why the virus burned out since it killed too quickly to spread further but 70 is just unrealistic. And there were emergency calls in many languages in Frank's visions of 'transmission over' (tv static) indicating that the virus had spread fast and wide. And what about Jordan's nightmare? Was her vision just half-truth?

[voidprime]

Well maybe we feel different about that because I started to watch Millennium during its second season (Beware of the Dog was the first episode I saw) so I got used to the idea of it being about biblical prophecies & such. I didn't see the first season untill I got those dvds from you (thanks again) and although every episode was professional quality when it comes to acting, maturity & such it still seemed to be going nowhere. 'Lamentation' was actually the first episode which actually opened new dimensions instead of just offering a new weekly serial killer (and if I had wanted that I'd have watched Profiler since at least it had a background story unlike Millennium's first season). So after finishing watching the first season on DVD I started with the second season and boy I had a happy grin on my face when I started watching episodes such as 'The Beginning and the End' & 'Beware of the Dog' - It honestly felt as if the show had just woken up from a coma.

And as for third season - back to coma.

An interesting POV on the show I haven't heard.  I liked season 1, but I have to say season 2 had it beat and season 3 had some of the elements from season 2 (no matter how much Chris Carter wanted to distance himself from the Morgan-Wong season 2).

Be Seeing You,

David Blackwell

[Guest LauraKrycek]

Maybe season 3 was actually all in Frank's head.  I just read a short story where in the beginning, a man is about to be hung from the side of a bridge.  He starts to suffocate, but the rope breaks, he falls into the water, struggles to remove the rope, etc.  The whole story is him running away from his captors and back far away to his house, where he finally meets his wife.  But as he hugs her, he feels a sharp pain in the back of his neck.  The whole thing was in his head, and the pain was that of his neck breaking as he reached the end of the rope.  Maybe season 3 all took place while Frank and Jordan lay there on the floor of the cabin, the world all falling in at their feet.

[voidprime]

Maybe season 3 was actually all in Frank's head.  I just read a short story where in the beginning, a man is about to be hung from the side of a bridge.  He starts to suffocate, but the rope breaks, he falls into the water, struggles to remove the rope, etc.  The whole story is him running away from his captors and back far away to his house, where he finally meets his wife.  But as he hugs her, he feels a sharp pain in the back of his neck.  The whole thing was in his head, and the pain was that of his neck breaking as he reached the end of the rope.  Maybe season 3 all took place while Frank and Jordan lay there on the floor of the cabin, the world all falling in at their feet.

Sorry, that is a big cop out and I like soem of season 3 because some of the mythology from season 2 did go over into season 3.   The opening episode of season 3 just was a writer's mistake on scaling back too far on how many people were actually killed.

Be Seeing You,

David Blackwell

[Guest LauraKrycek]

Sorry, that is a big cop out and I like soem of season 3 because some of the mythology from season 2 did go over into season 3.   The opening episode of season 3 just was a writer's mistake on scaling back too far on how many people were actually killed.

Hey, better than the true explanation that season 3 just sucked.  Forgive me for trying to put a creative spin on plain old suckiness.

[The Old Man]

Ooohhh, now your gonna get it - Se7en's on his way...!

[Guest LauraKrycek]

Ooohhh, now your gonna get it - Se7en's on his way...!

LOL  Uh oh!  Best be watching out!  

[Guest se7en]

.....Season 3 hardly needs creative spin for me.  i felt that even the weakest eps of S3 were better than the silliness put out M&W post owls/roosters.     This situation is certainly not uncommon for television shows. here are just a very few things that i distincly remember regards MM-(i am actually contemplating doing a subchapter on this in TIWWA:A.F.M.G.) :

      SEASON-1 FANS WERE CONTINUALLY INFURIATED BY THE PRESS FOR CALLING MM JUST " SERIAL KILLER OF THE WEEK",OR "WELL PRODUCED SNUFF".   Fans of S1 just did not see why,or HOW, others were NOT seeing what they were seeing in regards elements of S1

       S2: die hard fans of S1 abandon MM in LITERAL-"DROVES"-(as the ratings pointed out)-because they HATED  the new direction of the show. there were many cries of: YOU'VE RUINED "MY" SHOW!!-WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH "MY" SHOW!

       S3: some die hard fans of S2 abandon the show,while,oddly enough,S1 lover started returning to the show-(again as evidenced by the ratings)-throughout all the beginning of S3 there were,again,many cries of: YOU'VE RUINED "MY" SHOW!-WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH "MY" SHOW!  

          ...I've had the luxery of almost 3-years doing the MM-DVD-PROJECT and now nearing 1-year of doing TIWWA. during all this i've had encounters with hundreds of fans virtually around the globe and one thing stands out-(and i realize this may not be a grand relelation)-"OVERWHELMINGLY",a fan's favorite season is tied into when they started watching it. people have admited to me that when they started wtching S2 they did not have a desire to get into S1 because of the things they have read about either online or in the press,and to this day i still hear and read the infamous: "SERIAL KILLER OF THE WEEK FORMAT" and the "WELL PRODUCED SNUFF" COMMENT. and it still shocks me that some people still really beleive this to be so. -(for my part i found S1 to be extremely multilayered and multi-dimensional;there was something really funky and daring happening just under the surface of these eps that was almost subconsciously building up the viewer towards the watershed happenings in LAMENTATION/P.P.T.D.). it required a lot from the viewer,as a certain other show on HBO does as well.

      S2-was,in it's own way f***ing brilliant through owls/roosters as it opened up the character of frank,and for all those S1 fanatics who fled they missed out on something special. there seems to be this misconception that i despise S2 of millennium. nothing could be further from the truth. the simple fact of the matter is that most of S2 was one helluva ride until,for me,it veered into the "camp-"mode".

       S3-was powerfull for me because of where i was at the time. frank basicly being at his most vulnerable and desperate state with trying to protect what remains of his family,namely JORDON,and expose what was obviously a dangerous and unstable cult. more than any other season,in my view,we see frank's life through his eyes,especially the introduction of narration in certain episodes  as well as the stroke of genius to have frank's hair gradually go white and using less and less makeup,to show that the fight,the battle.was wearing on him  not only internal but external as well,and yet,"as a person" he was never stronger,fiercer and with more pure "resolve"than in S3.      ...it just clicked with me in such a major way and some "may" be surprised just how many fans treasure S3.-(at this point,and i certainly don't pretend to understand why,i'm getting almost as many "S3" orders as "full-run" orders. for the previous,almost 2-years,it was the exact opposite,it was "getting almost as many 'S2' orders as 'full-run' orders".)  i will admit that one great trend that has been happening is pleasing me to no end: more customers are emailing me these days saying how they never realised how good S3 is. i always ask "WHY" they never realised S3 was great but the answers were too varied to give me a real clear reason why. but,hey......that's okay.

             

          ...i enjoy,and am "gratefull",for each of MM's 3-seasons. they were all each thier own different journey through frank's life,through his eyes. and i love and treasure "most" of the varied themes that each season had to offer;really there were perhaps 2-main threads and storylines that continued throughout all 3-seasons.

                  ...i must admit now,though,that S1 and S3 are virtually in a tie now for fav. season. i just love them both sooo f***ing much it's hard to even describe. so i won't

             ...sorry,no angry outburst from se7en-(THIS time!   )

              From se7en-(A.K.A. "the old man:the sequel")

[Guest A Stranger]

Just some comments on Seven's post...

I started watching from the beginning. If I had to pick a favorite, seaon one would probably be it. So I fit in with Seven's conclusion about why each person pick each season as a favorite. I love the subtly of it. It was so serious and it felt very important. So when a manifestation of evil appered is felt extreme and enormous like in "Lammenation". But It did get to the point, about mid-season where it was clearly seperated by "serial killer of the week" and "supenatural/phrophetic" and I just couldn't wait for "Broken World" to get over so I could get to the real stuff like "Maranatha" so I think I was craving what M&W were to bring in season two.

I don't think season two is the best not becuase I didn't like were it went but I didn't like were it went as much. I liked what they were doing, which was really a much more literal intepreatation of season one. Gone was the hinting and guess work. That's good and bad. There's no way "The Curse of Frank Black" would have worked in season one. And the goes for a lot of the really great creative stuff in season two. I think M&W saw their new position as a creative liscence to stretch the show as far they could. And boy did they. So I don't hold as much hostility towards the almost over the top lengths of season two as you do, Seven because I think it was an amazing ride. I think they built up the year to the point where it had no choice to run it's coarse, thus ending the world.  

As for season three, it was kind of a let down from the beginning. I remember seeing the previews for the premiere in which Frank says "the group killed my wife" and remember anticipating an explanation as to why this happened? Becuase by the end of "The Time is Now" I did not hold the Group responsible for her death, as a viewer. The Group was evil but they made no reference or hint that it was the Group's virus or responsibilty. So it was off to really rocky start for me. My only probable with season three, lies here. With only a finite amount of episodes I cherish them all and becuase of all the producer firing and hiring a good hunk of this season just seems kind of sloppy to me. It was jumping all over the place from Amazing ("TEOTWAKI") to horendous ("Human Essence"). But as the serious progressed it started to work out the kinks and proved to be very worthy in every regard. Especially for the Frank and Peter encounters which were very few but extremely intense and rewarding. They just had so much history together that there was so much underlying their arguments.

So afte this long and rambing post, I conlcude... I should have started another thread on this subject.

[Guest amnesic]

in the UK, we waited years to see season 3. unfortunetly it was due to premiere around sept 11 2001 and as the first ep involved blowing a plane up it was shelved in favour of through a glass, darkly. now i prefer that ep to the original season 3 premiere, but everything just felt off-kilter after that.