Thursday 12 September 2013

'We're on our own' - Joe McAlister (Under the Dome)


Its been a long time since I have written anything on this page, for that I would like to apologise…I could make excuses such as moving the country, having little internet access, and moving house (which is all true). But to be quite honest I hadn’t seen anything new and exciting enough that made me want to pick up a pen and write about it, that is until now.


This week I started to watch the new TV series ‘Under the Dome’, the new TV series airing on Channel 5 based on the Stephen King book of the same name. This show was recommended to me by my cousin, who by the way compared the show to ‘The Simpsons Movie’…you know the part where they all live under a dome? Already not the most appealing of ideas, especially when the premise of it sounds like a social experiment concocted by the people who brought us ‘Big Brother’- not something that appeals to me at all (in fact I can’t imagine anything more painful that a new version of Big Brother). So it wasn’t until my sister called me to say that she really enjoyed it that I got to thinking, maybe this show isn’t so bad. Don’t get me wrong my sister and cousin watch some great shows (most of which are recommended by me), but they would also both freely admit that they would watch some utter crap…but then again so do I, so I though maybe I should give this ‘Under the Dome’ a try…

Unfortunately I was too late to catch the show on TV, so was forced to resort to 5OD for the first two episodes, an excruciatingly painful ordeal as it kept freezing, pausing and streaming. 5OD in my experience just isn’t up to the standard of its main competitors BBC Iplayer and 4OD (I have no experience with ITV as they never air anything I find even remotely interesting). Anyway I struggled through the first two episodes, not that they were a struggle to watch, the episodes themselves were completely gripping, it was 5OD that was the biggest let down. I thoroughly enjoyed the parts of the show that I saw…it is like a social experiment gone wrong, but somehow the show is presented as a fresh idea. With big names like Stephen Spielberg and Stephen King as producers, and familiar faces in the cast the show was built to be a success; usually this translates to appealing to critics (not the average Joe). However, I can safely say this show should appeal to everyone…I would even go as far to say its on a par with ‘Lost’, lets just hope the ending is better!

Actually this would be a prime opportunity to talk about the ending, I should note I haven’t read the book that the series is based on. In the show they have already admitted that the dome has nothing to do with the government, yet some of the characters appear to know what is going on…the mayor and the priest for example. I just hope that this becomes clear as the show goes on, because it needs to continue with these flairs of brilliance to keep an audience engaged. Lets all hope that it doesn’t ruin itself with its ending much like ‘Prison Break’ and ‘Lost’. However for now the show is great, and has an even greater potential, I can’t wait to see where they go with it.

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