OK, so here we are.
For starters, I haven't read everything here and most replies are two years old by now. I'll just see where I can catch up or feel I can reply to as well.
Last night I began watching the new show. I've seen two episodes so far and in all I can say I'm far from disappointed.
Yes, it is fast-paced, it's more violent and there's more adult stuff in the first episode then in the entire run of the original. But this is not bad at all. At least not for a pilot episode.
There was not much I didn't like. I agree with most here on the MacGyverisms: it's too fast, you hardly get time to see what he uses. In 10 seconds or less he makes something out of nothing, while in the original he took his time to look for the things he needed, devise a plan and have it worked out. To me a fast escape in the original series was the pump house in Trail of Tears. Now he makes a parachute in 10 seconds to escape a moving vehicle that explodes. And actually that comes to it with the bad stuff.
When it comes to the characters...
I have no problem with that either. It's a reboot not a sequel and they still have to find their footing. That's why first episodes are always a little difficult. But the show really started with a bang. Then again most shows that starts with a bang run out of steam near the end.
I can see Lucas Till becoming a better MacGyver as the series progresses. George Eads seems to have immediately found his Jack Dalton from the get-go. Patricia Thornton was alright, maybe a little uptight since she apparently has to keep MacGyver and Jack in line. I can dig that but she's nowhere near Pete and really seems to dislike Jack. Pete wasn't so fond of Jack either but I think they eventually got along.
Now Nikki... there was something I really liked to see. A beautiful appearance and apparently setting a season-length storyline in motion. Ever since I persuaded myself that MacGyver and Nikki belonged together, I knew she was his girl. Glad to see that the reboot took on that angle. This is such a missed opportunity in the original. Those who were appalled by the brief shot of MacGyver and Nikki having sex or the handcuffs... it's what people in love do, you know, and we may have no clue how kinky the original Mac was. Don't forget in Deadly Dreams Eric Cross stood in a sex shop looking for Kandi and lured Murphy to a warehouse claiming Kandi was shooting a porn movie. Even if those scenes didn't involve MacGyver, it has been acknowledged and the episode was written by the producer himself. But that aside I'm just saying they appeared to have a very active love life.
Bozer... obvious comic relief but for some reason I think they should've named him Billy Colton.
Riley: no current opinion about her. She's like a female Dexter.
In all I think they made more than a decent start. There was plenty of nods to the original, like the voice-overs, and I have seen a mix of Fire and Ice, The Human Factor and The Wasteland. That they haven't exactly fleshed out MacGyver yet is normal if they start all over again. So MacGyver had a beer at the end of this episode, big deal. The original MacGyver had a sip of wine in The Heist when he was trying to open the vault. There's no need to get preachy about it. Yes, he called Vinnie Jones an sob. Are we going to cry about that? No, I don't think so. The original Mac said 'damn' more than once. I've read here somewhere that Lenkov is watering down the shows by rebooting it. To me he seems to be spicing things up. But, that won't mean he can deliver a better show then the original but what I've seen so far is a damn good one. The more things people hate or get panned, it's usually a lot better than people think. And just like the original probably some things will evolve over the course of the show. Just to name something, I would change his introduction to the original. I would want to hear him say: 'Name's MacGyver,' instead of him introducing himself as: 'I am Angus MacGyver.'
The one thing that cracks me up is when they call him: "Mr. MacGyver." Then I go: 'Nope, wrong guy.' But it's just so funny to hear them say it. What's next? "Goodbye, MacGyver"?
Lastly I want to say something about the episode titles. As I've read here a lot of people don't get the relevance of the episode titles since mostly in the first season the episodes are named to the tools of the SAK. The Rising does sound kinda cool to me and I get the relevance at the end of the episode. While DXS is shutdown they rise again as Phoenix Foundation. This episode however could've also been called: Virus. That's maybe how I would've called it. And maybe I should see if I can rename all the episodes so far.
So again, in all, I liked the first episode very much and I think I'm probably able to like the reboot as well. As much as the original, I don't know yet. My heart is with the original and whenever I write fanfics, I will always keep the original actors in mind and stick to the original as much as possible as I always did.
I think the poison that was used was applied to this knife, passed to the mutton when it was cut and then activated by the wine. - MacGyver. Sometimes you just have to die a little inside to be reborn and rise again as a stronger and wiser version of you. It's better to be a little sad than to be fake content.
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