Human Ransom [02.10.07]

[frostbyte72]

Here.


youtube.com/watch?v=vPUAf43vc-Q

[slainte]

Yes. Here. But what?

Hand off/switcharoo/run

[Terryfic]

So this is pretty much the Glenn Rubenstein show now. Funny how a guy who wasn’t officially involved with the show until a couple months ago now pretty much seems to run the show. Or at least the show is looking increasingly like his vision.

I was working on my next LG recap and figured this new vid would help encourage me. It did not. It is sad to see the show trade in things like clever dialogue, realistic characters, a sensible storyline, any sort of real emotional connection with their audience, for shallow ‘coolness’.

[hyemew]

Yeah, there's no real emotion anymore.

[harlequin]

so i guess this is no longer a blog style show...considering all the camera angles.

and How the HELL does some one who is not in the military get a flash bang. not to mention a flash bang going off in an elevator would effectively blind and deafen eveyone inside permenantly, as well as burn everyone inside. That and even bree, daniel, and jonas would be disoriented for a long period of time. (hell, most people even near by would be stunned for a bit)

Those things are powerful, and i know we are supposed to be with the whole suspension of disbelief, but thats just ridiculous.

This is officially my last video until the series ends.

it looks more and more like Opaphid and the old CiW style of video making is becoming the mainstream.

[hyemew]

harlequin said:

so i guess this is no longer a blog style show...considering all the camera angles.

While I do agree with what you say and reallllly dislike this video, I must say the camera angles are still intact. It took me a bit to figure out who was holding the camera when I saw Bree and Jonas hugging, but then you can see it's Danny holding the camera.
But I was wondering, umm so why isn't he brainwashed now? Did they really detox him that quickly? I mean they can't be expected to give him back in his loving the Order state, but it just seems odd... like it wasn't even addressed. Perhaps it will be in the future, but Danny sure seems back to normal really quickly.

Also one problem though is the plane landing, who took that? Did Jonas really go to the airport to film the plane coming in for the heck of it? Mayyybe they picked up Tachyon from there, but she seems to be acting more independent of them so I doubt it. Who knows. I really disliked this episode.

Reading some of the early comments on youtube, it seems like a lot are excited by this video while some think the series has gone way over the top (which it has). There is quite a lot of confusion as, as should be expected, most people have no idea who Tachyon is. Hell I don't even know how she got involved with Bree and stuff. It just seems so odd someone would fly in from (Guam according to lgpedia? wtf?) to... throw a grenade into an elevator with Bree... to help her? Like what? How the heck did Bree get someone following her every move and wanting to help like this all along?

And building on what harle said, here's the most recent comment left on the youtube video:

dogskull (3 minutes ago)
What the fuck! A flash bang would knock you out if it went off in an elevator. I felt one go off before and was over 100 feet away and i was outside the building.

[gemma]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say I thought this video was good. Yes, I am disheartened that LG isn't going to stick to the vlog format, but we have known that for a while now. I wish they would stick to what made them unique in the first place but that's obviously not going to happen, and we have seen that comng.

Yes, there wasn't much emotion in this but I think we are unfortunately going to have to rely on the vlogs that bookend the action sequences to get that. I'm mourning the loss of the vlog as much as everyone else, but if you try not to compare this to the LG of old, this was a pretty good video. The style has evolved, and as a viewer I am going to have to evolve to if I'm going to continue to enjoy this.

[curiousgeorge]

Uhmmm. Well, now we have this....

I have to agree with our illustrious Gemma, it is NOT the same "show" we started watching. Not even close. Is it better or worse? Hmmm. I guess that depends on how you gauge "success". The phorumites loved this, so there you have one major perspective. The ARG and the vlogs had to crash into each other at some point and this is the result. It was pretty obvious to me that Tachyon would be the catalyst for all of this...

As for Glenn's involvement, it is obvious that he is a major playah at this point. Miles and Mesh have been relegated to playing Elevator Extras . Perhaps Glenn was able to bring the much needed cash to the table to keep this thing rolling. The new "Parallax" story arc has started off with a "bang".

Are the vlogs dead at this point? I don't think so, I think that we will see more of these as the story arc evolves. Can they ever recapture the intelligence and charm of the early vids? That remains to be seen, but I am more than a little skeptical... Jess, Yousef, and Jackson have all shown great improvements in their acting abilities as this thing has progressed though and I think Mesh is still capable of producing some solid material for the actors to deliver.

Will we see Tachyon on a vlog ?

I don't think that you can overestimate how much the audience demo has changed from the old vids. The creators are delivering a product that is very popular with it's most vocal fans. For better or worse.

[milowent]

that tackyon music got me pumped - i'm all like - "yeah! bree and tachyon are going to kick some order-ass, ... i think?!!?!!?" -- i had to read the lgpedia entry to figure out what i had just seen, as this is a huge departure from every canon video to date. the idea that the recently brainwashed danny b. could have done the editing of this video is ridiculous (did they actually escape?)

and, what the hell is a flashbang? i guess its a real thing, but not part of my (or bree's) normal life, thankfully.

www.lonelygirl15.com/lgpedia/index.php?title=The_Human_Ransom

EDIT: exalt to frostbye for starting up the thread. i saw last night at the phorum that this video was delayed for "technical reasons."

EDIT 2: haven't seen p monkey and friends recently. it would have been a bit amusing -- in a horryfing way -- if p. monkey was part of the rescue crew.

[Terryfic]

I'd say a flashbang grenade is another sign of a video game journalist writing the series as they are very common in FPS (first person shooters).

This episode felt a lot like CSI:YouTube. I'm sure it will up their viewers, after all CSI:Miami is the most watched show in the world, but it still feels very souless to me. I think this would have worked better as two videos released at the same time. One using the Jonas footage and one use the Tachyon footage.

This video just felt too jumbled and seemed like far too much of an attempt to be 'cool' by forcing the action to come from the post-production instead of the narrative itself. The special effects shouldn’t be the content. Look at Children of Men (which everyone should go watch), it has super long single shot action sequences where the action comes from the actual action going on in the scene and the special effects just supplement it. They are not a substitute for it. And for anyone that is going to say, “But Terry, they don’t have a budget for effects like that”, well it is not like they are adapting a book here or something. They are writing the series, if they want to keep including action sequences despite not having the funds to actually produce them, well, that is their own fault.

Oh, and the Order once again looked like a bumbling bunch of buffoons fit for a saturday morning cartoon and seem in no way like a serious organized threat.

And Hye, there are a number of shots in the video that are clearly from Tachyon's magical I-have-cameras-everywhere perspective and not just from jonas\daniel's camera.

[curiousgeorge]

There are now officially cameras everywhere in the Breeniverse.

Tachyon is one bad-ass bitch. I never thought bowling chicks were haawwt before. Though I am not sure what she actually looks like...If she shot Gemma, that's enough for me.

[milowent]

curiousgeorge said:

Tachyon is one bad-ass bitch. I never thought bowling chicks were haawwt before. Though I am not sure what she actually looks like...If she shot Gemma, that's enough for me.

well, whatever she looks like, looks like there a lot of major Tachy-hardons at the phorum right now.

[annam]

okay, this is the first time i've ever posted anything here, and i've been watching since very close to the beginning. i came here when you guys jumped ship from the first "official" forum, and the new official phorum has never had anything to draw me back ("first!!!!!! lol!!!! jonas is so hotttt!! lol!!! is just not appealing). i almost stopped watching lg when the creators so clumsily announced themselves, but i stuck with it. i had never played args, and i had never had a youtube account, but there was something fun about watching a bunch of wannabe filmmakers and wannabe actors getting together in someone's apartment with cheap cameras to make something really new and exciting. i used to love just coming to this board and seeing the mysteries unravel, because i'm always too stupid to figure stuff out (i could never even guess the end of encyclopedia brown mysteries). there is this sense of all being a part of something really special, and a while ago that just kind of faded away. everyone seems angry all the time, and all i get now when i come over here is a lot of complaining about whatever is going on. if it's the same thing, i hear that there's no action, if it's something new, i hear that they're leaving all the good stuff behind. the series has changed a lot, and i understand the frustration of seeing them do something and knowing it could have gone better. but they're stretching their boundaries, and that's a good thing. i think if you've really grown to hate the whole series, then it's time to just let it go. otherwise, can't we figure out how to suspend disbelief and just enjoy (and participate in!) what is still a really creative project made by people who are not making a million dollars every time they sneeze?

[lesbrent]

A post complaining about criticism makes no sense. Being critical of those who are critical?

I can suspend disbelief and have a lot of fun - it's called the NoHoGirls.

Lonelygirl15 was sooooo 2006.

[flwright]

Hi Annam,

Welcome to Rancor Cove! I hope you still come to visit every once in awhile.

I've never really been into the ARG aspects of LG15. It started with a rejection of the baser aspects of CassieIsWatching and has continued through today. I like a good action story (24), I like weird (Pulp Fiction/Twin Peaks), I like a good mystery (ACDoyle, Agatha Christie), I may still learn to enjoy ARG15.

The Covians still come up with a good insight or two. Terryfic was dead on with his speculation that "Miss Me" Daniel was a computer-generated facsimile. And we don't even have a thread on the latest OPAphid drop or Tachyon-cam shot.

I can still have fun with ActionBree kicking some Order a**, but I still miss OldBree. It's no longer a storybook, its a comic book. Less ee cummings and more James Farr.

FLWright

Funny .....

curiousgeorge said:

Tachyon is one bad-ass bitch. I never thought bowling chicks were haawwt before. Though I am not sure what she actually looks like...If she shot Gemma, that's enough for me.

Note: Tachyon's obviously Katherine McPhee.
and

lesbrent said:

Lonelygirl15 was sooooo 2006.