Wednesday, March 05, 2008

I know Kung Fu!

Any time I finish watching a season of Alias DVDs I reward myself by watching the blooper reel. Last night I finished season 3, and even though I've seen them many times, was still laughing out loud at the bloopers. Season 3 is definitely my favorite blooper reel, mostly because of Vaughn/Michael Vartan who's a total goofball. The part where he's making a funny face and hand gestures while exclaiming "I know Kung Fu!" crackes me up every time. I think we've discussed this before, but I felt like reliving the more humorous side of Alias, so what are your favorite blooper tracks?

36 comments:

Lisa said...

mine by far is when JG walks into the fence in the storage facility with Vaughn! but they are all so great.

SRM said...

haha oh yeah I love that one, from season 2 I think?

Anonymous said...

I also love season 3's bloopers especially the ones related to the north korea episode. Remember when syd/jen lifts up the airplanes steering wheel and it comes off prompting her to say ****? then MV sez, "you can't say that on abc!" Also, same episode, when they're making their way to the market and MV starts jumping up and down on the hillside. Funny stuff.

Page48 said...

I agree with Anon (I remember when I used to be Anon), I like the one where MV says I don't think you can say "shit" on ABC.

JG has a lot more to say in "The Kingdom", so I assume that it won't soon be showing on ABC. Although Jen has now crossed the F-bomb Rubicon, I must say that I hope she stops short of dropping her drawers on screen. There is a degree of modesty that I would like to see Jen maintain throughout her career, because, at the end of the day, she'll always be the icon Sydney Bristow to me.

The bloopers are cute, but I don't watch them very often because, for me , "Alias" is such a special show that I like to keep it as real as possible. Watching the actors crack up and destroy their lines only serves to remind me that it's only actors at work, and that there was really nothing at stake for these guys but a big fat, out-of-control paycheque. I guess I'm just a sick SOB.

BTW, 9 days without a post on LTA has to be a record. It ain't like the old days. I think we have to be willing to zoom out and discuss a wider range of loosely related topics or we may find ourselves dying on the vine here, which would be a shame.

Personally, I find it difficult to keep my comments completely Alias-centric because, let's face the harsh reality, there's no "Alias" news coming across the wire and there may not be, ever again. Very sadly, the days of our contemplating the significance of "The Cardinal" or whether Rachel is good or evil are behind us, but that doesn't mean there's nothing left to blab about.

I've tried lately to broaden the discussion to include JJ-related and Alias-alumni-related topics, but I've failed miserably (reminds me of real life) and the blog has essentially become a conversation between Uncle111 and myself.

I never once even thought about blogging until, in my search for a way to ease the pain of the cancellation of "Alias", I found Girlscout's brilliant LTA. Now, with most regular posters (including our beloved founder GS) long gone, I wonder if we have a future here.

SRM said...

well I'm afraid I'm no help at expanding the blog discussions to include Alias alumni and their new shows since I haven't watched a new series since Lost premiered. :-\ It is quite a feat that we've kept this blog going almost two years after the last eppy of Alias dropped, but of course that makes it hard to keep up regular discussions. If others have ideas on other Alias topics we could do posts on, please let us know. I'm not in regular contact w/ our lovely LTA originator, GS, but I think I can safely say that both she and I would like to keep this going.

And anon - I'm w/ ya, love that little "slip" blooper Jen has on the plane!

Anonymous said...

"Maybe we'll get better reception when we get ti Gi-Li!" HAHA, love that one!

Nice article SRG! I was so happy to see you had posted! Thanks for keeping us alive!

uncle111 said...

Page48-
So,I'm not interesting enough for you?
Maybe I'll just make it a conversation with myself. What do you think Uncle?

uncle111 said...

Uncle111-
I'm up for it. What do you want to talk about?

uncle111 said...

Uncle111-
Oh, I don't know. I kind of hungry. I'll be back after I fix some maccoroni and cheese.

uncle111 said...

Uncle111-
I thought you had a bunch of prongs to retip.

uncle111 said...

Uncle111-
I do. But later,ok?

SRM said...

LOL nice uncle. ;-) Hey guess what I had for dinner...mac and cheese!

Hi GS!!

I also love it when Jack says to Syd "there's something I have to show you" and someone makes a zipper noise hehe...

uncle111 said...

GS-
I like that one too, but I think my favorites are when they start laughing and can't say their lines.

uncle111 said...

SRG,
Sorry, I addressed that to GS because her's was the last ID I read in the post. How ADD am I?
My space bar is sticking on the right side and doesn't space between right handed words. How frustrating is that?

SRM said...

hehe no prob uncle. I love it when Syd's trying to say something serious to Jack (whose back is to the camera) and starts giggling and points at him is like "that was him, that wasn't me!" like a little tattle-tale. :)

Jenny said...

I haven't seen any of the bloppers! Actually I only watched the show when it was on TV but after reading all this I may have to order the DVD's through blockbuster!

SRM said...

Hi Jenny! I highly recommend the DVDs, in addition to the ever-entertaining bloopers they also have commentary for certain episodes and the last DVD in the season always has extra bonus features on how they make the show, which I greatly enjoy.

Page48 said...

"Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" debuts on January 13th. Season Finale in the books on March 3rd (of the same year).

Pardonnez moi, but that's NOT a season. I've been clearing snow off the car every freaking morning since Halloween. THAT's a Season!

I had a poutine for lunch. Poutine is the only reason we haven't booted Quebec off the face of the earth. Even then, it's always tempting.

uncle111 said...

Anybody seen "New Amsterdam" on Fox? I watched the pilot online at Fox.com and thought it was pretty good. Someone told by it is done by Lena Olin's husband. Some of the music is Alias like.

Page48 said...

I watched part of NA. I think they snuck back-to-back eppies in and I caught part of the 2nd. I'm genetically predisposed to not watching cop shows, even if they're spiced up with a bit of sci-fi, so I didn't watch the whole thing.

I saw a blurb on the ratings indicating that the audience dropped considerably for the 2nd episode, which I think is probably typical of any series debut.

The same article also mentioned that ratings for "Lost" were down 20% from the high of the new season. That, I do find shocking because I think this season of "Lost" is way out in front of the previous season in terms of entertainment value.

I notice that "Lost" has become its own lead-in show this year, with an annotated version of the previous week's episode leading into the new episode. Might have been nice if they paid that kind of attention to "Alias".

At the end of the day, it seems that America's one true love is "American Idol" and that situation may be with us until a vaccine can be developed.

Anonymous said...

My husband recently pulled out from the back of the video game cabinet the Alias game. Anyone have this? I remember playing it when we first got it, but the a season started up and it got forgotten. Now that he's playing it again, I've been paying attention to the story. It's actually supposed to take place between episode 2.19 and 2.20 (I think those were the numbers). Syd starts out working udercover as a waitress in a casino owned by Sark. She's wearing the same uniform she wore in the casino episode where Dixon was a high roller and she saw Francie and Charlie on the surveillance camera. We haven't gotten very far but a review mentions Kaplan and "the machine" - a device that Sark and Ana are interested in.

It's definately slower than an episode, but at least it's new material.


And I totally agree about American Idol. When I stop and think about it, I weep for the future of tv.

Page48 said...

I think it's pretty reasonable to weep for the future of TV. That's one reason why I've gone the torrent route to find older shows that I missed the first time around.

Online I found and downloaded all 14 episodes (and subsequent feature film) of "Firefly", Joss Whedon's highly engaging FOX show that was canceled almost right out of the gate back in 2003. Failure to launch, in FF's case can only be blamed on FOX, because all 14 episodes are very entertaining examinations of loyalty, morality, teamwork, survival, conflict, temptation, compromise, etc...

FF is living proof that TV isn't about quality, it's about appealing to the lowest common denominator. It's not about the intelligence of the eyeballs glued to the set, it's about the number of eyeballs glued to the set.

FF braintrust (Whedon and Minear) have worked with some faces familiar to "Alias" fans:
Gina Torres ("Firefly", "Angel")
Edward Atterton ("Firefly")
Glenn Morshower ("Buffy The Vampire Slayer", "Strange World")
Amy Acker ("Angel", "Drive")
Rachel Nichols ("The Inside")

Currently, I'm downloading Rachel Nichols' 2005 show about the FBI, "The Inside", which was also developed by FOX and canceled right out of the gate. Comments on IMDB are generally very favourable regarding this show, so instead of watching the tube to see what lucky girl gets to go home with aging rocker Bret Michaels, I'm going to check out our Rachel's very own show.

BTW, tonite I watched my very first eppie of "Felicity", only because of it's "Alias" lineage. I was hoping to see JG's Hanna Bibb, but, although she was mentioned, she did not appear. The show itself was, dare I say it, boring drivel. With JJ Abrams, it seems to be feast or famine. In this case, famine.

uncle111 said...

Page48-
Funny, I don't even think of NAmasterdam as a cop show. The cop stuff is just the carrier for the real story, the 300-400 year old guy who really kind of longs to die like everyone else.

As for TV's perspective of the audience and programing- never forget that the only reason they go to work and broadcast ANYTHING is to make AS MUCH money as they can. If they have to throw grandma down the toilet to get an extra rating point (which translates into $) they will do it without blinking, call it reality TV and tell you they are just giving the public what it wants.

SRM said...

I haven't watched NA but when I saw a promo for it I instantly thought of Highlander ("there can be only one!"), which was a fav movie of my ex and that's who I'm blaming for my geekiness of knowing about it. :) Anywho...

Bonkers if you want to write an article about the Alias game please feel free! If you still have GS's contact info you could send it to her to post or IM me (info on my profile page) and I'll give you my email. Same goes for anyone else that has article/posting ideas, bring 'em on! :)

Anonymous said...

SRG,
I have a confession. I have no idea how to IM you. :) I used to have GirlScout's email and may still have it somewhere. I'll see if I can find it. Otherwise, I'll find another way to get an article to you.

As for the article - I'll write it up but it may take a week or so. We just started and there's not much to report yet except some inappropriate swearing on our parts when we hit wrong buttons and round house the guy at the bar instead of getting the all-important code from him. But since we're going slow through the game, perhaps I'll write the article as a series.

SRM said...

LOL that's hilarious bonkers! My AOL screenname is geminisrg. :)

Page48 said...

Uncle, the scary thing is that I think that "throwing granny down the toilet" would probably fly. Followed shortly by Celebrity throwing granny down the toilet (for charity of course).

uncle111 said...

I'm still liking New Amsterdam. I really liked Jericho this week. Good stuff!
Can't wait for Burn Notice.
I'm finished Alias S2 while I work here. What a great season. The best cliff hanger of all, except maybe for S4.

Page48 said...

I'm enjoying "Jericho" as well. The networks do their best to dick around with these shows until there is no audience left and then they gleefully shut them down.

My understanding is that "Jericho" has 2 episodes left, and the final eppie on March 25 has 2 endings in the can. One is a cliffhanger to be shown if this year's numbers warrant a return in the fall, and one is a series finale, so that CBS doesn't face a backlash similar to last year's fan protest.

Like so many shows, "Jericho" was subjected to a lengthy hiatus in season one, which couldn't help but suck the momentum out of it. What I find perplexing about this strategy is that, while large numbers of viewers are stranded in their homes by Old Man Winter, their favourite shows are on an extended break.

IMO this is not audience-friendly and makes it difficult for even the really good shows to maintain interest.

uncle111 said...

I just had an idea that sounded fun to me. Let me know if you all would be interested.
How about if we watch the last episode of each season followed by the first episode of the next season, one set each week, and then discuss the episodes and how they fit together. We would be looking at the cliff hangers and seeing how they followed through, or not, the next season, without having to wait months.
Any takers?

BristowVA said...

I like it, great idea Uncle! I'm in. Start with..."Mom?"

uncle111 said...

We need a format for this, probably a special thread for the four weeks it would take,or a new one for each week.
GS or SGR-ALIAS- can you set that up if there is enought interest in it?

SKlaft said...

I'm in, if I am able to get home long enough to log-in.

BTW - there are some pretty interestng thoughts and theories being floated over at "Let's Get LOST." It's a shame that more folks do not visit there, and that it does not pick up momentum like LTA did here.

This, arguably, is the best season of LOST yet. I know many are afraid to get emotionally invested in another Abrams pasta-plate of mysteries with the hurt we sustained with ALIAS, but it really seems to be developing nicely this year. give it a second try, folks. Or if you haven't fallen away from it, be a Let's Get LOST booster!

-R.

Page48 said...

It'll mean clearing 16 months worth of dust off my DVD's, but I'll just think of it as spring cleaning.

I visit the "Lost" blog after each eppie (which I never miss), but I just haven't got the same passion for "Lost" that I had for "Alias", which is not to say that I don't thoroughly enjoy it. I'm in the camp that believes this season of "Lost" is vastly improved over last year's effort. Pity it's going to be such a short season.

Well, I downloaded and watched the first two eppies of Rachel Nichols' 2005 FBI show, "The Inside", and I sadly report that it was cancelled for good reason. Just another cookie-cutter-case-of-the-week crime show. Been there, done that. Sorry, Rachel.

I notice that Rachel will be joining "Alias" friends Abrams, Orci, and Kurtzman in "Star Trek". I'd be shocked if JJ didn't find a way to work in a Greg Grunberg cameo. Unfortunately the Jenny G. "Star Trek" rumours appear to have been nothing more than that.

I notice that a sequel to "Cloverfield" has already been confirmed for 2009. JJ seems to have boundless energy. He still has a new medical drama "Anatomy of Hope" on tap for later this year. Does the world need a new medical drama? You be the judge. I know I can wait.

I watched "Serenity" again on the "Space Channel" last night. Loved it. Sci-fi, space travel, strong characters, humour, and no aliens. Too much fun.

SRM said...

Hey all! I think posting about the season cliffhangers is a great idea, I'll do a new post later today to get it going and you can give me feedback on what you'd like to add or take away from the postings. Robby - thanks for the Lost blog props! I agree I'm enjoying this season very much, am heading over to the blog right now. For others interested, please see:
http://www.letsgetlost2.blogspot.com/

uncle111 said...

Okay- We need to pick a peoriod of time to watch the 2 episodes and then a day to start commenting. For instance, watch the episodes between Monday and Sunday and post comments through the next week, Monday through Sunday, the next 2 episode viewing period- or some variation of this.

Any suggestions or proposed variations?

I think this is going to be a lot of fun.