800 replies to this topic

[VGMan]

I know I just posted a few hours ago but I have a technical issue. Anybody know how to get the scriptscanner to work? I think it's because stupid interactual forces it to use internet explorer, which my computer does not like one bit. I really would like to see what scenes were originally from double agent.

Edited by VGMan, Dec 31, 2003 @ 7:56 PM.

[KaveDweller]

Oh, fuzzy ears, ITA. What really annoyed me was when he was talking about lighting during THE KISS. I mean, MV and JG are right. There. Let them talk. I think my favorite S2 commentary might have been Second Double.

I actaully think they didn't WANT to talk about the kiss. When it was being shown they were all, "Yeah, you guys get quiet for THIS scene?" Keep in mind the commentaries were probably recorded in late May/early June. Which was kinda when rumors about a MV/JG romance were heating up. So maybe they were feeling awkward? Especially if some of those rumors were true? I didn't think they discussed the relationship scenes in any of the eps as much as they would have if it were not for those rumors.

I do think JJ talked too much though. I thought everything he said was interesting, I just wanted more from everyone. I wish there was multiple commentaries on every episode. One for the writer/directors comments and one for the casts.

[mahannie57]

WORD, Kavedweller, for me it's kinda distracting to hear both actors and writers and directors all going on at once. It would be much more interesting to have the commentaries separated out so that each side could enjoy the aspects of the episode that they prefer. I, of course, would listen to each commentary, multiple times.

That said, I'm thrilled that they included any commentary at all. I guess a little is better than nothing.

[OLynn]

So what would you all have cut from "The Telling" to make room for the deleted Irina/Sloane scene?

I would cull dialogue where I could and reduce the hockey scene or get rid of it altogether. Michael Vartan plays hockey. Michael Vaughn plays hockey. I get it. I would probably rewrite how Irina appears to Sydney. I have my own ideas although I understand not being able to resist having Irina appear at an arena. I would have taken out the lines where S/V talk about going on vacation again at the club in Sweden. It was redundant, we get it, and it really didn't feel like it belonged in that moment since it followed a line regarding concern about her father. I would have reduced the deleted scene itself. There's a long take with Sloane walking in and Irina asking him where he had been. That would save a few seconds. Finally, as a last resort, I might consider reducing some of the banter between Will and Weiss.

Overall, I didn't think this episode was JJ's best work. It felt hurried to me, and nearly 8 months later, I still don't really understand what in the hell went on with Irina. Just sayin.

Edited by OLynn, Jan 1, 2004 @ 11:47 AM.

[Houdini]

I agree that two commentary tracks would have been great. I understand JJ's enthusiasm and desire to talk since he created these characters and writes a lot of the pivital episodes. I also think he and Ken Olin are pretty damn funny. However it is frustrating when a key acting scene comes on and you don't get to hear the actors discuss it because JJ is going on and on about why he decided to switch the order of the episodes.

That said, after having rented some other DVD's of TV shows that have almost no extras and no commentary tracks I feel blessed that we have what we do.

[ray18125]

I've rewatched "The Telling" like a zillion times. They totally tried to cram too much into it, though. Maybe if JJ had to do it again, he'd have made some different choices -- the whole thing about raiding the warehouse in Zurich and finding the waffle iron, that was just confusing without us understanding that it was Sloane who betrayed Irina, not Irina who betrayed Sloane. Reading the script on DVD, that was supposed to be more apparent.

Anyway, at like 3am this morning I was rewatching it with the scriptscanner and I found something interesting. Usually any changes from the script they show are trivial. Like saying "it's" instead of "it is." But in the rooftop scene between Irina and Sydney there's a noteable omission. What we saw was Irina saying to Syd, "It's you in the prophecy. Not me. Only you can stop him.... I love you." However, in the script, it says,

IRINA
It’s you in the prophecy, Sydney. Not me.
(off Sydney’s momentary interest)
Only you can stop him, Sydney. The greatest power.
(then, with tears)
Good luck, my sweetheart--

She called Sloane "the greatest power"! I think this, as well as the deleted irina/sloane scene would have added some great fodder for last summer's speculation.

[Alias Fanatic]

She called Sloane "the greatest power"! I think this, as well as the deleted irina/sloane scene would have added some great fodder for last summer's speculation.

Or, "The Greatest Power" is referring to Sydney. As in, only the greatest power can stop Sloane and that would be Syd.

I'm going to have to put the discs in my computer now to watch with the script scanner, because I'm apparently missing out on a nice feature.

[alikona727]

Damn. It. I set up the DVD drive on my computer so it will only play DVDs on the pre-installed software instead of using whatever spyware a bunch of DVD manufacturers use. My player says it can play every feature on any DVD, but noooooo. No script scanner for me. And I can't figure out how to change it. Calling WinDVD tech support...

Of course, I discovered this at 35,000 feet today when I wanted to play with the "Phase One" script scanner. I just re-watched the ADT commentary instead. Good times.

Edited by alikona727, Jan 1, 2004 @ 6:14 PM.

[Tex]

I'm going to have to put the discs in my computer now to watch with the script scanner, because I'm apparently missing out on a nice feature.

Yeah, it is a fantastic feature. I only wish that we had the script scanner for all of the eps. By reading the subtext/instruction to actors you really learn what the writers intended for the scene. I love it!

I remember there were several lines/scenes on the script scanner that were not included in the final cut of the finale. Several really offered some interesting insight and made me see the ep in a different light.

[KaveDweller]

Yeah, it is a fantastic feature. I only wish that we had the script scanner for all of the eps. By reading the subtext/instruction to actors you really learn what the writers intended for the scene. I love it!

Oh me too. It is like Carl Lumbly said in his commentary, this show needs subtext-subtitles. The script scanner does that. I have to go read the one for the Telling now. I am apparently missing out. I still don't understand exactly what Irina was doing. And I don't get how her betraying Sloane necessarily makes her good. I thought Sloane had left their alliance in Countdown anyway.

That is why the deleted scene is important. It shows that Sloane had come back and they were still working together in a sense, so that betraying each other is a bigger deal. I am still confused though.

[chocolatefreek]

I loved the "The Telling" commentary. But is it just me or does JJ say "Um" a lot? Some of my favorite parts-
~ KW's comment about how if we get to see Vaughn paly hockey because MV does, we should see Marshall play golf because he does. I think Marshall and Weiss should play golf sometime and Marshall could wear those ugly argyle socks that some people wear.
~MD's comment about girls loving Sark (very true) was shy about their kiss.
~JG's being beat up on her birthday because that's when the fight was filmed.

[Rockyhorror434]

I still don't understand exactly what Irina was doing. And I don't get how her betraying Sloane necessarily makes her good.

I always thought it was because she tried to get all the Rambaldi artifacts together to give to the CIA. You know, so Syd wouldn't be used in Sloane's Master Plan of Rambaldi, hence the prophecy chick speech she gave at the end. But who knows.

[KaveDweller]

But Irina only tried to give the CIA the artifacts to stop Sloane from getting them. And I also wasn't sure if she did that cause she thought she could easily steal them back from Syd later. But it really doesn't matter, I guess. Unless Lena comes back it is a dropped plot point.

But that is something I love about the DVD's, at least for the eps with commentary or deleted scenes. I thought I had speculated all I could from the episodes but now I am finding all these new questions to wonder about.

Plus, I think everyone involved in Alias is hysterical. If I didn't already love all the actors I would after hearing the commentaries. But I have to say, I don't think Jennifer Garner looked like that bad an ice skater. Everyone in the Dark Turn and the Telling commentaries said it was the one thing she sucked at, but she seemed allright to me.

[HockeyChick]

Originally, I think that they wanted her to be really good, a natural, perhaps as good if not better than Vaughn. Believe me, it takes a lot of hard work to be a good skater/hockey player. You can't just step on the ice and be great. It would be just another way that she was trained like Project Christmas to be excellent at something and not even know it until after she tried it. Since JG didn't really know how to skate, there was no way they could fake it. She's good enough as in, when I first learned to skate I ended up on my ass an awful lot and she doesn't, but the lines MV says about "You're better than you should be" don't ring quite as true. Also, the way she holds the stick shows how little she knows. I can't believe MV/TPTB didn't correct her. To be fair, if this was the only thing JG isn't good at, then dayyyyam! She is soooo my girlcrush!

[eshadlow]

I didn't know it would be in there, but after I discovered it last night I was up until 1 am trying to figure out how Double Agent was original supposed to play out. Still haven't figured it out.

I have the original script for Double Agent, and I STILL haven't figured it out...well, kinda. It's got most of the stuff from the version we saw, plus some scenes from Phase One and the deleteed scene with Francie and Syd where they talk about how she had a date with 'Michael from work'. Personally, I love the script for ATY and Q&A the best.

Just adding my love for the Season 2 DVD's. Personally, no commentary ever will go past the ATY one, but ADT comes close! I love when Ken admitted how often they come into the writer's room and go "OK, we need her in lingerie this week!". At least they acknowledge how obvious it is.

In some ways I can understand JJ and Ken's enthusiasm to talk about the technical aspects of the show, especially JJ as it is his baby but Guys! Let. The. Actors. Talk! Believe me, they're interesting to us as well!

I adored the making of The Telling purely for the stuff on the best. girlfight. ever. Adored the fact that JG fell to pieces crying after her last take, and then so did MG.

And yes Merrin. All the girls love Sark. If I was your boyfriend, I would be jealous of you kissing DA too.

Edited because grammer and spelling are good.

Edited by eshadlow, Jan 3, 2004 @ 4:01 AM.

[kbia444]

I just got the season two dvd's for Christmas and I heard that there is a different/additional take of Sydney and Vaughn in "The Telling" that has Sydney being very emotional when she wakes up in Hong Kong. I haven't been able to find it so far though. So if anyone could tell me where to find it or if it is even on the DVD that would be great.

[aurora]

It's at the end of the The Telling commentary track; they show the original and alternate takes.

[WWPrice The Man]

I just watched disc 6 of my S2 DVDs today, and the commentaries for both "Second Double" and "The Telling" are great. Bradley Cooper is hilarious on the SD commentary, especially with all of his wise-ass remarks to everyone else. I also enjoyed hearing some of the behind-the-scenes on Dixon and Will's confrontation in Will's cell. However, I think Terry O'Quinn takes the cake with his comment about SD only missing one crucial element: a "Passage"-style beard on Victor Garber! That was truly priceless. I also thought it was cool to see how much the rest of the cast appreciated his stellar work on the show as Kendall.

"The Telling" was also a great deal of fun to listen to. Ron Rifken couldn't be less like Sloane if he tried! It was very insightful of Kevin and MD to make the comment about how Ron injects Sloane with all of the humanity that's so important to the role. As much as I love hearing JJ and the other writers talk about the technical aspects, I think I'm more interested in the actors (because most of the cast seems to be hilarious, especially KW, GG, CL and BC).

S2 had tons of guest stars, and I'm curious who everyone's favorite and least favorite were. My favorite would probably be Faye Dunaway. I thought she just melted right into the role, and she also seemed to have some good chemistry with Victor Garber. On the flip-side, I think that Christian Slater was my least favorite guest star. For me, he never seemed to mesh with the Alias world in the same way that Faye, Ethan Hawke, and even Richard Lewis did. Who are everyone elses faves and least faves?

[Dubble Bubble]

Hee! I adore my S2 DVDs. I had a horrible wait for them, I ordered them on the 1st (I'm in the UK and I've learned from this experience that pre-ordering is my friend) and the 15th was the first day on amazon's delivery estimate thingummybob and every day from then on was like "ok....they might arrive today! Are they in the post?" No dvds. And finally they came on the 24th and Dad was mean and made me wait till midnight to open them. ;) And for the whole 3 weeks I kept torturing myself by reading this thread because I'm a masochistic twerp like that.

But now I've seen them! And! Hee! So worth the wait. The fact that JG isn't a great ice-skater just makes me love her more. She's v cute. ;)

I love all the commentaries. I thought "Phase One" would be my favorite due to MV and JG but now I'm not sure. Like, "Phase One"'s was hilarious but so were the others, and then "The Telling"'s is really interesting and "Second Double" has so many funny actors (T O'Q!) and. Yeah. Obviously none of them are so wonderful as ATY but hey. They're close and better than nothing.

Am so jealous of everyone with DVD-roms though! I don't have one so I can't use the script scanner. I want to, ASAP. And for S1 I have the Region 1 (yay for multi-region DVD players!) DVD so no script scanner on that one at all. Le sigh. Ah, well, I'll see it some day. I'm giving myself a headache trying to imagine how "phase one" and "double agent" would've worked out WITHOUT my script scanner. I'll let you know how I get on. ;)

[This is my first post, hope I didn't do anything wrong! *prays*]

[cjgurl427]

I also enjoyed hearing some of the behind-the-scenes on Dixon and Will's confrontation in Will's cell.

"That was my lunch!" Hee hee hee. I *heart* CL.

I'd agree that Faye Dunaway really did a good job being the evil bitch. But I'm still completely, utterly confused by that storyline, so it's a little hard to appreciate.

I loved Ethan Hawke in Double Agent - he took what could have been a really "meh" filler role and made it quite interesting. Plus, he's hot. And there were two of him! Whee!

Worst guest star? Blandie, aka Christine Phillips, from Double Agent. How dare you besmirch my first name with such a useless character!? We put up with Sydney's crying because she kicks ass the rest of the time. But you can't have a new character be clueless, cry in the women's bathroom, and shoot down Weiss (in that order) and expect us to like her. Jeebus.

Welcome Dubble Bubble!

ETA: Whoa. I just looked up the actress who plays Blandie on IMDb - Constance Brenneman - and we have the same birthday. JJ has cameras in my room!

Edited by cjgurl427, Jan 3, 2004 @ 8:16 PM.

[ray18125]

Yah, poor Blandie. She's from my town, so my local paper had a big write-up about her prior to the episode. Constance was so hopeful that she'd be a recurring character on the show.

There were some great guest stars during S2. I think my favorites were Richard Lewis and Tracy Middendorf, who played Elsa Kaplan, Christian Slater's wife. During the two episodes she was in, (A Free Agent and End Game) her character played a surprisingly significant role. And her scene with Jack in the jail, where he claims to know what she's like because of Irina? Was awesome. And rewatching those episodes on DVD, I actually really like Christian Slater in his role. For some reason it just worked for me.

Least favorite... I wasn't too fond of David Carradine as the all-knowing guy in Countdown. He just seemed weird.

eta the name of the actress who played Elsa Kaplan... thanks cjgurl!

Edited by ray18125, Jan 4, 2004 @ 10:23 AM.

[cjgurl427]

Oh, completely forgot about Richard Lewis. Dude ROCKED. I think I like his performance even better now that I've heard the ADT commentary. Hee.

Tracy Middendorf, aka Bride of Slater, was also very good. Let's see, who else....
Danny Trejo (Vargas), Yvonne Farrow (Diane Dixon), Olivia d'Abo (Emma Wallace), Rutger Hauer (Anthony Geiger), and Derrick O'Connor (Khasinau).

Someone I just remembered really liking is Austin Tichenor, who played Dr. Nicholas in Salvation. Rather small role, but I just remember thinking he was awesome as this sort of respectably geeky doctor. And there is not one single picture of him on Alias Media that I can link too. Instead there are about 5 zillion shots of Syd and Vaughn sitting next to each other. Damn you, Alias Media, and your S/V bias!

[em-jay]

I wasn't too fond of David Carradine as the all-knowing guy in Countdown. He just seemed weird.

Oh, I totally agree, although I suppose it would have been hard for him to come off realistically in that role. (Sorry, 'realistically' isn't the word I'm looking for, I just can't think of another word to describe 'non-weird').

I'd have to say my favourites were Tracy Middendorf, Yvonne Farrow and Derick O'Connor. I remember right towards the end of the ATY commentary, someone commented on how O'Connor had such a great face for his character, its so true.

[kenyaj]

think my favorites were Richard Lewis

He was one of my favorites too, which surprised me, because when I first heard he was guest starring, I wasn't thrilled about it. But when the episode aired, I thought he was wonderful and perfectly cast. I was watching "Conscious" today, and there was a moment as Dr. Brezel was talking to Syd when David Cronenberg totally reminded me of Richard Lewis' mannerisms during "A Dark Turn."

Also, I had even more love for Richard's performance after listening to the "ADT" commentary, which is my favorite of all the commentaries. Ken, Jeff and Jesse totally brought the funny in that one.

And frankly, Alias Media is doing a service to all of us S/V shippers, so thanks, gertie, if you're lurking around here.

[Alias Fanatic]

Just a general thought as I've been enjoying all of S2. I miss the non-linear storytelling device. That was fun once in a while and granted S3's timeline is presumptively out of whack, I still would like to see the non-linear form here and there.

Also, after "The Getaway" and "Phase One" in particular, I miss the episodes with the false endings. In Getaway, the Ariana Kane story is resolved by Jack and Irina discussing how he escaped at the last minute when Sloane read his e-mail and how it was interesting how Sloane chose Kane, the one person with a reason to blackmail Sloane. Then the Syd-Vaughn story is resolved: back in L.A. Syd gives Vaughn the real gyroscope--always be prepared and they've reached a new level in their relationship. But that's not the end of anything b/c when I expected to see the Alias card signalling the end of the episode I saw Sloane getting a device to override the chip in his neck AND he kills the guy and keeps the $10 million. THEN, he's in the Philippines on a beach meeting EMILY who was alive the whole time. All in all, it was an awesome way to wrap up the episodes' stories as well as an ongoing story arc--the revelations just kept hitting you.

Similarly in "Phase One" the big kiss which I would expect to be the end of the episode (and quite frankly would have been more than enough) is not and we are treated to two more scenes that up the ante even more. Sloane masterminded the whole damn thing and Francie is dead at the hand of her double. And this episode was a wonderful example of starting the story in the middle before going back to the beginning.

In retrospect, these were two damn good episodes in terms of plot and acting, etc. They will stick with me though b/c of the great way they topped themselves storywise. I hope that impending revelations this season will lend themselves to more outstanding storytelling and the creative structure that Alias producers have shown can accompany it.

[MeeshyPeeshy22]

I'm so glad I had lots of free time this Christmas vacation. Season 2 was just so much fun! The cast commentaries rock. I wish they could all come and hang out with me and sit on my couch and do a live commentary during a Season 3 episode.

I got a new computer, and now I can finally download those extended bloopers without it being some psycho Microsoft chat file! Hee hee, they are hilarious. It's nice seeing the usually serious faces of the cast members during the show break. They all have great smiles!

Edited by MeeshyPeeshy22, Jan 4, 2004 @ 7:31 PM.

[SullivanLane]

As I watched the "Alias" Season 2 DVDs, I was amazed at the number of awesome guest stars the producers were able to get, one after the other. Especially after the casting coup of Lena Olin for the season. (Come back, Lena!) Faye Dunaway, Patricia Wettig, Ethan Hawke, Olivia D'Abo, Richard Lewis (which was a strange but ultimately perfect casting choice), Rutger Hauer. I just watched "Endgame" again last night and absolutely loved the casting of Elsa Caplan (Tracy Middendorf). She was great, especially when she was screaming at Jack, "Don't you DARE take away my son! Don't you DARE ...!!!" I wanted to cry along with her.

[LucyMag]

I caught the Alias bug late, starting about halfway through S2, so I am so loving my S1 set.

I have a whole new appreciation for the relationship between Syd & Jack - I had no idea how far they had come. They weren't starting from zero, they were at less than zero. Makes the scene in Breaking Point where Jack's holding her in the helicopter that much better.

Several scenes in the first 10 episodes, with Syd, Francie & Will are especially poignant, knowing what's coming for them. The Thanksgiving where they're all so happy and relatively blissfully ignorant - wow, that's almost tough to watch when you imagine a few years down the road. *sniff*

At least the DVD's are an incentive to keep my annual New Year's resolution to exercise more - I made a rule for myself that I wouldn't watch anymore Alias unless I was on the treadmill. Hell, I may be able to run a marathon by the time S3 comes out.

Edited by LucyMag, Jan 5, 2004 @ 11:00 AM.

[Jen724]

I finally made it to Disc 5 last night and got to see Endgame, complete with the much-discussed extended drawer scene. It was like having a brand-new happy S/V moment. *sniff* One word: love.

[scout27]

Woohoo! I can finally join in the DVD love!
I just had to stop in and say that I FINALLY got my wicked awesome S2 DVD's for Christmas and I'm in love! *sigh*
lol
Being a fairly new fan of Alias, I hadn't seen most of Season 2 so this is like heaven for me! I'm being good and watching it from beginning to end before I allow myself any of the bonus material, but can I just say...WOW!
I love this show!!! I mean seriously...LOVE IT!