Marvel’s Agent Carter (ABC) (1 Viewer)

[Sean Bryan]

I enjoyed this quite a bit.

Love the Chemistry between Carter and Jarvis.

Some good laughs in there. The Captain America Adventure Hour was great!

The whole Levithan thing and the mute operatives is pretty interesting.

There's only six more, right? 8 episodes total and last night was two down. I do hope they get into what Levithan is in the next episode or two since this is such a short series.

 

[Quentin]

One of my big complaints about ABC shows in generally is that they're all shot more or less the same way, and it's a look that works good for comedies but doesn't translate so well to dramas. Gabriel Beristain ("Magic City", "The Strain")'s cinematography sidesteps that neatly, taking great pains to mimic both the lighting and photography from Joe Johnston's film. It's not always quite so polished as the movie, or many cable efforts, but it's lightyears above the standard network look. Christopher Lennertz composed the music for the one shot, and he's doing the music for the series as well. I love the jazzy feel to the score, and the playfulness of it.

Yes! I'm glad you point this out. It's one of the reasons I STILL have a hard time getting into Agents of SHIELD despite it's improvements. When the show's look reminds me of Charlie's Angels or any other Spelling production, it really bugs me. This show had the right look and feel.


And, thanks to Peggy's relationship with Stark and Jarvis and the strong writing for those three main characters, I'm definitely going to continue enjoying this show.

 

[Quentin]

I also found it funny that they chose to use the power plant location for Roxxon that is the same plant used in Season 1 of Alias (maybe Season 2? I'm having trouble recollecting). They had to know they would be getting Alias comparisons...why force the recall?


I think that plant is over by Manhattan Beach - it's used in a LOT of shows/movies. It looked a little modern for me, but since Stark and Roxxon should be fooling with tech advances, I was ok with it.

 

[Matt Hough]

Add my name to the list of those who enjoyed the premiere episodes quite a bit. The period detail is just excellent, and the cast is already jelling together really well. Top marks!

 

[Ejanss]

Also loved the ditzy voice-over ("Oh no, it's the Nazis!! Save me, Captain America!!) juxtaposed with Carter -- a woman unfairly defined by her relationship with Cap -- kicking the living shit out of a thug and being totally badass on her own.

In fact, not to belabor the point too far, but....anyone who's up on their Golden Age comics, help me out here:
I'm sure he must've had some love interest, but DID the real 40's-comic Captain America ever rescue damsels in distress, like Superman rescuing Lois Lane from the train tracks?

All I know of the wartime pre-Avengers Captain was from the old 60's Marvel Animation toons, and seemed like he was mostly on army/spy missions--like rescuing the Howling Commandos in the first movie--while not giving away "Steve Rogers"'s alter ego.

If anyone needed rescuing from the Nazi death rays in most of the stories, it was usually his boy sidekick Bucky, but I'm guessing the show is trying to depict what comics/radio stories might've been written in the "alternate" movie-Captain universe where Bucky wasn't that character?


( (sigh) Y'see, it's things like this that should warn you early on... )

 

[Patrick Sun]

Lyndsy Fonseca is another great surprise. I've only realy seen her as the Daughter on "How I Met Your Mother" and as Katie in "Kick Ass", both fundamentally passive roles, so I wasn't sure what to expect here. She embues Angie with quickness and vitality, reminding me a of lot of great supporting characters from actual 1940s comedies, and presents a woman who's just as forceful and independent as Peggy in her own way. She may be in the dark as to what Peggy does, but she's no dummy. And there's a screwball element that comes into the show when she's onscreen, which I really enjoyed.

Lyndsy has been working on "Nikita" for the last 3-4 years, much better actress now than she was in "Kick-Ass".

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Nice little piece on the costumes of "Marvel's Agent Carter"

 

[dana martin]

what a fun ride that first two hours was, and not to get into the whole DC/Marvel fanboy debate, but man while DC is trying to launch their franchise, Marvel is going back and padding, and damn well at that, its phase 1 with this gem of a program.


loved that article on the costumes, the attention to detail, and difference in filming and lighting help this show right out of the gate.


Cast is all spot on,


if this gets another run after the next six ep's, I hope they keep it at 8-10 episodes as one long movie



that was one bad assed stapler,

 

[DaveF]

Saw a blurb in the new issue of EW which says Agent Carter "is Alias in 1946." The show sounds very promising to me, and hope it becomes an annual thing.

I don't watch SHIELD and assumed the new show would be of similar disinterest to me.

But is it Alias in 1946? Because that's a show I'd have to try.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

But is it Alias in 1946? Because that's a show I'd have to try.

That's sort of the premise, with dashes of both "Magnum, P.I." and early James Bond thrown in as well. For what it's worth, I think this show is about 20 times better than "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.".

 

[DaveF]

Okey dokey. Gotta see if I can catch a rerun of the pilot.

Because, what I need, is more TV.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

ABC is now re-airing both hours of the season premiere tomorrow night at 8 PM Eastern.

 

[Ejanss]

That's sort of the premise, with dashes of both "Magnum, P.I." and early James Bond thrown in as well. For what it's worth, I think this show is about 20 times better than "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.".

Namely, because computers haven't been invented yet in 1946, so she's not a spunky-independent hacker for the show to revolve around.

 

[DaveF]

ABC is now re-airing both hours of the season premiere tomorrow night at 8 PM Eastern.

Season Pass set.

 

[Robert Crawford]

ABC is now re-airing both hours of the season premiere tomorrow night at 8 PM Eastern.

Yup, my DirecTV receiver auto correct my recording times to reflect both episodes.

 

[David_B_K]

In fact, not to belabor the point too far, but....anyone who's up on their Golden Age comics, help me out here:
I'm sure he must've had some love interest, but DID the real 40's-comic Captain America ever rescue damsels in distress, like Superman rescuing Lois Lane from the train tracks?

All I know of the wartime pre-Avengers Captain was from the old 60's Marvel Animation toons, and seemed like he was mostly on army/spy missions--like rescuing the Howling Commandos in the first movie--while not giving away "Steve Rogers"'s alter ego.

If anyone needed rescuing from the Nazi death rays in most of the stories, it was usually his boy sidekick Bucky, but I'm guessing the show is trying to depict what comics/radio stories might've been written in the "alternate" movie-Captain universe where Bucky wasn't that character?


( (sigh) Y'see, it's things like this that should warn you early on... )

It's been awhile since I've ready any Golden Age comics, but I do not recall any of Cap's adventures being as banal as the fake radio show from Agent Carter. In the ones I read, they did usually involve rescuing Bucky (the boy), or Bucky somehow rescuing Cap, or rescuing a kidnapped scientist, or finding out that someone was a double agent in league with the Nazis, etc. Because the Golden Age comics targeted boys (hence the preponderance of boy sidekicks), I think they kept "yucky" romance to a minimum.


When Marvel brought Cap back in the 60's, they were already running the Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos mag, and they brilliantly decided to team them up with Cap and Bucky in Sgt. Fury # 13. Also at this time, the female agent (Agent 13) that was introduced in the Winter Soldier movie made her debut.


I imagine there must have been a Captain America radio show in the 40's. It is quite possible that it may have been as pathetic as the one they depicted on Agent Carter. Often radio shows and movie serials ignored the plots/characters of the original mags. Or they could have simply been going for a stereotype that never really existed.


A couple of things I caught: people coughed and sneezed in the modern way into the crook of their elbows. I think people would have coughed and sneezed into their hands back then (I still do it that way). Also, I think shows set in the 40's should show more people smoking. Yes, I know it's not cool anymore, but everybody smoked back then. The jerk in the diner would have been a good character to depict smoking, along with some of the agents and bad guys because "smoking is wrong".

 

[Ejanss]

It's been awhile since I've ready any Golden Age comics, but I do not recall any of Cap's adventures being as banal as the fake radio show from Agent Carter. In the ones I read, they did usually involve rescuing Bucky (the boy), or Bucky somehow rescuing Cap, or rescuing a kidnapped scientist, or finding out that someone was a double agent in league with the Nazis, etc. Because the Golden Age comics targeted boys (hence the preponderance of boy sidekicks), I think they kept "yucky" romance to a minimum.


When Marvel brought Cap back in the 60's, they were already running the Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos mag, and they brilliantly decided to team them up with Cap and Bucky in Sgt. Fury # 13. Also at this time, the female agent (Agent 13) that was introduced in the Winter Soldier movie made her debut.


I imagine there must have been a Captain America radio show in the 40's. It is quite possible that it may have been as pathetic as the one they depicted on Agent Carter. Often radio shows and movie serials ignored the plots/characters of the original mags.

Er, no, been into old radio since I was a kid, and none spring to mind:

Most of the non-DC comics--at least, if they weren't nationally syndicated newspaper comic strips like Tarzan, the Phantom or Flash Gordon--didn't register much cultural blip outside of 10-yo. comic readers' sheltered world.

Superman was the superhero of movies, cartoon and radio, and Batman and Shazam got low-tech movie serials in the 40's, but all those nameless Golden Age heroes were pretty well ignored by the grownups, at least until they got their resurrection/retcons by the big 60's companies that had "inherited" their rights from the expired labels. (Like Cap, the Sub-Mariner, the Vision and the Human Torch.)


Point being, we know it's a "chick" show if they're more interested in "Oh, the girl always trips in those chauvinistic 40's/50's movies!" than the actual comic-book canon that us detail-obsessed guys become enraged fan-sticklers over.

Or they could have simply been going for a stereotype that never really existed.

(Oh, heavens, nooooo.... )

 

[Robert Crawford]

That's sort of the premise, with dashes of both "Magnum, P.I." and early James Bond thrown in as well. For what it's worth, I think this show is about 20 times better than "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.".

You got that right! Hayley Atwell is awesome in this role and I hope it leads to better things for her. I just found out she has dual citizenship as her father is American.


Based on those previews, I hope it's true the Howling Commandos make an appearance to help Agent Carter out.

 

[Greg_S_H]

I watched the first hour and am trying to motivate myself to watch the second. I hope I like it better.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I watched the first hour and am trying to motivate myself to watch the second. I hope I like it better.

If that's the case then this show isn't working for you. It can't work for everybody.