THE 100's Pilot Episode Would Be Better Called "Space Punks"
Piloting a new television program is no easy task. There are all of these new characters that the audience have never met, and they’re all caught in this drama or comedy or thriller of sorts, all of it for the purposes of creating a loyal following out of thin air. It’s probably enough to drive any network executive crazy, much less the creative folks behind and before the cameras.
To complicate matters, I’ve always argued that Science Fiction shows are even harder right out of the gate. Why? Well, there’s the science aspect added to the situation, and the setting – be it on Earth, in space, shipbound, etc. – is enough to confuse and confound those watching but perhaps not watching close enough. For example, I can remember struggling with some early episodes of BABYLON 5 largely because I thought some of the set design was exceedingly poor; granted, some changes were made in the course of the program’s run, but half-hearted efforts tend to wear thin very quickly in premiere episodes when viewers have all of their critical walls up.
That’s my story with the pilot hour of the CW’s THE 100, a show I honestly passed on watching live on the boob tube when reviews I read likened this new spin on an Earthly holocaust as ‘just another program in the network’s stable’ of young, pretty stars and rock-infused soundtracks. Like so many of you, my viewing schedule is quite full; it takes a lot – and I do mean “a lot” – to earn a spot in my starting line-up, and the weight a less-than-stellar launch can have on momentum is never good. Still, as I’m a die-hard fan of all things SciFi, I knew I’d get around to checking it out on home video; now that I have, I wanted to pen some thoughts for those who follow my pursuits here.
To complicate matters, I’ve always argued that Science Fiction shows are even harder right out of the gate. Why? Well, there’s the science aspect added to the situation, and the setting – be it on Earth, in space, shipbound, etc. – is enough to confuse and confound those watching but perhaps not watching close enough. For example, I can remember struggling with some early episodes of BABYLON 5 largely because I thought some of the set design was exceedingly poor; granted, some changes were made in the course of the program’s run, but half-hearted efforts tend to wear thin very quickly in premiere episodes when viewers have all of their critical walls up.
That’s my story with the pilot hour of the CW’s THE 100, a show I honestly passed on watching live on the boob tube when reviews I read likened this new spin on an Earthly holocaust as ‘just another program in the network’s stable’ of young, pretty stars and rock-infused soundtracks. Like so many of you, my viewing schedule is quite full; it takes a lot – and I do mean “a lot” – to earn a spot in my starting line-up, and the weight a less-than-stellar launch can have on momentum is never good. Still, as I’m a die-hard fan of all things SciFi, I knew I’d get around to checking it out on home video; now that I have, I wanted to pen some thoughts for those who follow my pursuits here.
Eliza Taylor plays THE 100's moral center as the plucky Clarke Griffin, daughter-at-large.
The biggest disadvantage an hour like THE 100 has is the fact that, yes, “it does air on the CW.” For those unaware what that means, let me educate you: their shows tend to be geared far more to today’s youth and/or millennials, those folks with whatever meager amount of disposable income can be shaken loose by desirable iTunes tracks of songs featured in this week’s episode. No doubt, SMALLVILLE put this approach to very good use, giving its young Superman without a cape or costume some radio-friendly rock tunes to experience his upbringing against.
Now – to be frank – that isn’t necessarily a bad thing … because I’d also add that THE 100 greatest strengths is that fact that, yes, it fits relatively effortlessly into the CW’s line-up, meaning to say that it looks, sounds, and acts very much like an hour one would expect paired up against SMALLVILLE, SUPERNATURAL, or whatever else network executives thinks the kids will scarf up these days.
In fact, THE 100 looks so very much like a CW show that I nearly gave up on it after watching one episode. However, I’m writing this much belated review in hopes that you – like I – might give this one another look either on home video or discover in in its current broadcast schedule. Also, let me clarify that I’m writing this after having fully binged the next four episodes of its first season. Why did I do that? Well, because it got so G-O-O-D after that first predictable hour; and – by episode 3 – it got downright D-A-R-K real quick. This isn’t to confess that the program shed the formulaic conventions of episodic TV; rather I like to think that the writers had a story bigger they wanted to tell but couldn’t dispense with embracing the banal (and limiting it to the first two hours) in order to get it out of the way.
For those who’ve completely missed it, THE 100 is based on a series of Young Adult novels. The premise is that – in the near future – our planet will be abandoned as the consequence of a devastating nuclear war; survivors are forced into outer space as remaining nations cull together what efforts they can to establish space station colonies in order to avoid extinction. The problem here (and one that gets avoided in most fiction accounts) is that these stations clearly cannot have access to all the required essentials like food and oxygen as well as health and beauty products; so mankind inevitably will need to return to Earth. But what will he find?
One hundred years later, these spacefarers have no choice but to begin conserving resources when a last ditch option presents itself: why not offload wrongdoers back to Earth? That way, if they don’t survive against the elements, it won’t be such a devastating loss; but if they do survive, then that truth just might pave the way for our race’s return to the world of our birth.
The script as penned by Jason Rothenberg (IMDB reports he developed the property for television) unfortunately is a bit muddled. There’s never really an explanation for why all of these wrongdoers happened to be children; though some of their histories get revealed as the program unfolds in subsequent hours, I found myself questioning the logic of sending a spaceship full of rowdy tweens and teens down to survey the Apocalypse, an idea no doubt co-opted by more than one YA franchise, for the purposes of re-establishing civilization. Whereas Neil Armstrong aptly described his foray into a brave new world with words like “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” THE 100’s resident skank Octavia Blake – played by the fetching Marie Avgeropoulos – commemorates her moment with “We’re back, bitches!”
Now – to be frank – that isn’t necessarily a bad thing … because I’d also add that THE 100 greatest strengths is that fact that, yes, it fits relatively effortlessly into the CW’s line-up, meaning to say that it looks, sounds, and acts very much like an hour one would expect paired up against SMALLVILLE, SUPERNATURAL, or whatever else network executives thinks the kids will scarf up these days.
In fact, THE 100 looks so very much like a CW show that I nearly gave up on it after watching one episode. However, I’m writing this much belated review in hopes that you – like I – might give this one another look either on home video or discover in in its current broadcast schedule. Also, let me clarify that I’m writing this after having fully binged the next four episodes of its first season. Why did I do that? Well, because it got so G-O-O-D after that first predictable hour; and – by episode 3 – it got downright D-A-R-K real quick. This isn’t to confess that the program shed the formulaic conventions of episodic TV; rather I like to think that the writers had a story bigger they wanted to tell but couldn’t dispense with embracing the banal (and limiting it to the first two hours) in order to get it out of the way.
For those who’ve completely missed it, THE 100 is based on a series of Young Adult novels. The premise is that – in the near future – our planet will be abandoned as the consequence of a devastating nuclear war; survivors are forced into outer space as remaining nations cull together what efforts they can to establish space station colonies in order to avoid extinction. The problem here (and one that gets avoided in most fiction accounts) is that these stations clearly cannot have access to all the required essentials like food and oxygen as well as health and beauty products; so mankind inevitably will need to return to Earth. But what will he find?
One hundred years later, these spacefarers have no choice but to begin conserving resources when a last ditch option presents itself: why not offload wrongdoers back to Earth? That way, if they don’t survive against the elements, it won’t be such a devastating loss; but if they do survive, then that truth just might pave the way for our race’s return to the world of our birth.
The script as penned by Jason Rothenberg (IMDB reports he developed the property for television) unfortunately is a bit muddled. There’s never really an explanation for why all of these wrongdoers happened to be children; though some of their histories get revealed as the program unfolds in subsequent hours, I found myself questioning the logic of sending a spaceship full of rowdy tweens and teens down to survey the Apocalypse, an idea no doubt co-opted by more than one YA franchise, for the purposes of re-establishing civilization. Whereas Neil Armstrong aptly described his foray into a brave new world with words like “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” THE 100’s resident skank Octavia Blake – played by the fetching Marie Avgeropoulos – commemorates her moment with “We’re back, bitches!”
When you hear Marie Avgeropolous squeal "We're back, bitches," try very hard not to think "And I'm outta here!"
See? These weren’t kids. Well, yes, they were by their age. But by their behavior? They were … punks … of a sort. The kind of kids you pass at the mall and don’t give a second look because they’re too busy being stuck on themselves or cawing at their friends. They’re loud. They’re obnoxious. They’re … punks … and they’re just not worth the attention.
It was at this point that I felt I’d made a huge mistake giving the show a chance. See, that’s the kind of jet-set prepubescent mentality too often times attached (rightly or wrongly) to much of the CW’s line-up, and it was a moment I felt Judd Apatow would’ve been proud of. Serious drama reveals itself with more nuanced ideas and dialogue; this singular scene set a tone of irreverence or juvenile calamity that’s not my thing, and perhaps I decided rashly that I’d be better served at this point by packing up and selling the DVD set on Ebay. (After all, CW viewers have disposable incomes, no?)
Besides, so very much of THE 100 felt like it was trying too hard to be something that it wasn't.
Unless I miss my guess here, many of these Young Adult inspirations were spun out in the wake of THE HUNGER GAMES's literary and cinematic success, and THE 100 seemed like audiences were being spoon-fed a Katniss Everdeen knock-off complete with know-it-all truthyness and spunky good looks. In that respect, Eliza Taylor fills out (ahem!) nicely, serving as an easy-on-the-eyes series lead named Clarke Griffin. She's not only the program's heart, mind, and soul but also happens to be the space station's doctor's daughter. There's a vested interest from above (Dr. Abigail Griffin is played by the equally filled out Paige Turco) in seeing to the health and safety of these children; and even though these two actresses really don't have one another to play off each other in the conventional sense it's easy to see mother and daughter are cut from the same moral cloth. They're definitely another strength for those watching.
I braved out that first hour. (Well, forty-two minutes, anyway.) There wasn’t much to distinguish itself, and it was only an hour. (Well …) The set production was nice, nothing all that grand. The effects work was solid, but nothing to write home about. The performances? Meh. It was a bunch of overpaid underwear models for all I knew. No one really hit marks that distinguished themselves from one to another. This isn’t to say they aren’t talented; instead I chalk it up to having an awful lot of ground to cover, and in that compression not everyone’s background can be ironed out to each viewer’s approval. Small, worthwhile moments were few and far between, but such is the case in TV broadcast.
It was at this point that I felt I’d made a huge mistake giving the show a chance. See, that’s the kind of jet-set prepubescent mentality too often times attached (rightly or wrongly) to much of the CW’s line-up, and it was a moment I felt Judd Apatow would’ve been proud of. Serious drama reveals itself with more nuanced ideas and dialogue; this singular scene set a tone of irreverence or juvenile calamity that’s not my thing, and perhaps I decided rashly that I’d be better served at this point by packing up and selling the DVD set on Ebay. (After all, CW viewers have disposable incomes, no?)
Besides, so very much of THE 100 felt like it was trying too hard to be something that it wasn't.
Unless I miss my guess here, many of these Young Adult inspirations were spun out in the wake of THE HUNGER GAMES's literary and cinematic success, and THE 100 seemed like audiences were being spoon-fed a Katniss Everdeen knock-off complete with know-it-all truthyness and spunky good looks. In that respect, Eliza Taylor fills out (ahem!) nicely, serving as an easy-on-the-eyes series lead named Clarke Griffin. She's not only the program's heart, mind, and soul but also happens to be the space station's doctor's daughter. There's a vested interest from above (Dr. Abigail Griffin is played by the equally filled out Paige Turco) in seeing to the health and safety of these children; and even though these two actresses really don't have one another to play off each other in the conventional sense it's easy to see mother and daughter are cut from the same moral cloth. They're definitely another strength for those watching.
I braved out that first hour. (Well, forty-two minutes, anyway.) There wasn’t much to distinguish itself, and it was only an hour. (Well …) The set production was nice, nothing all that grand. The effects work was solid, but nothing to write home about. The performances? Meh. It was a bunch of overpaid underwear models for all I knew. No one really hit marks that distinguished themselves from one to another. This isn’t to say they aren’t talented; instead I chalk it up to having an awful lot of ground to cover, and in that compression not everyone’s background can be ironed out to each viewer’s approval. Small, worthwhile moments were few and far between, but such is the case in TV broadcast.
THE 100's cast struggled toward that first hour's finish line ...
At some point near the pilot’s confusion, I started to wonder if this wasn’t what happened when a writer develops two-hour’s-worth of material that gets shot, produced, and/or edited into a more usable timeslot. Certainly, director Bharat Nalluri delivered a capable episode, but the artifice of forced, saccharin narrative overcame moments of authenticity. Think of it as “drama for drama’s sake” because television is first and foremost a business, and THE 100 as constructed felt like a product more than it did a story, an investment of characters who find themselves in a race against time to survive … unless that survival meant surviving the threat of cancellation.
In fact, all of this pilot felt as if it had been deliberately designed to take viewers right to a cliffhanger moment … one so big, bold, and somewhat surprising that it challenged them to tune again next week (or next hour) to find out the fate of one of the lesser characters …
Maybe that’s why I tuned in again (on DVD, anyway). Maybe that’s why I stuck it out. Maybe that’s why I decided to hang with it for another episode or two. As you know now, I’m glad I did, but on the merits of this first hour I’d only give it an average rating – a three out of five stars – for a job done. Not done well. Just ‘done.’
But wait til you hear what happens next …
Link to next episode review: Earth Skills
In fact, all of this pilot felt as if it had been deliberately designed to take viewers right to a cliffhanger moment … one so big, bold, and somewhat surprising that it challenged them to tune again next week (or next hour) to find out the fate of one of the lesser characters …
Maybe that’s why I tuned in again (on DVD, anyway). Maybe that’s why I stuck it out. Maybe that’s why I decided to hang with it for another episode or two. As you know now, I’m glad I did, but on the merits of this first hour I’d only give it an average rating – a three out of five stars – for a job done. Not done well. Just ‘done.’
But wait til you hear what happens next …
Link to next episode review: Earth Skills