• 12-07-2005, 03:19 PM
    Woochifer
    24 - Day 5! Just saw the DVD prequel ... wow!
    I'm a total 24 junkie. It's probably the only appointment viewing that I have on network prime time nowadays. The DVD set for 24: Season 4 came out yesterday, and I'm in the process of mining through that set. Aside from 5.1 DD and anamorphic widescreen enhancements, the DVD set also has 39 deleted scenes, commentaries, and several new production documentaries. As with the Season 3 DVD set, the big carrot for people who can't get enough of the series is a short "prequel" that bridges the events from the previous season to the upcoming season.

    SPOILER ALERT FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT YET SEEN SEASON 4 OR THE SEASON 5 PREQUEL!





    Last time we saw CTU Agent Jack Bauer, he had just saved L.A. from a terrorist plot, but had to fake his own death to avoid getting killed by either one of the President's henchmen or Chinese intelligence agents.

    The DVD prequel takes place 12 months later and shows Jack now living in Chicago (which looks an awful lot like the southern end of downtown L.A.!) under a new identity. He had to meet up with Chloe (one of three people who know he's still alive) because apparently her computer network had been infiltrated, and one of the items accessed was Jack's morgue record (which at the end of Season 4 was switched with a John Doe). She relays the news onto him that his status might have been compomised, and drives off. As Jack's about to go on the run, a mysterious figure on a motorcycle spots him and a car with some baddies inside tries to ram him. Car chase ensues, but Jack gets away. Prequel ends with a shot of the shadowy figure on the bike.

    Lots of directions that this sequence hints at! Now, it's all about what could possibly happen that would prod Jack out of hiding. I guess we'll find out.

    Just as a side note, it looks like Toyota's sponsoring 24 this season, so presumably all of the CTU agents will be tooling around in Toyotas and Lexuses this season, while the baddies will be driving Hondas, Nissans, Mercedes, and Bimmers. The past two seasons were sponsored by Ford, so you had plenty of good guys in Explorers and Mustangs, with the domestic terrorists driving Chevy Suburbans, and the foreign terrorists typically driving expensive foreign cars. In the prequel, the baddies that got offed by Jack were chasing his Toyota Avalon (how the hell does a "dead" CTU agent with no identity afford one of those?) with a Bimmer. That Teutonic vehicle didn't have a prayer!
  • 12-09-2005, 12:13 PM
    topspeed
    Whoa there!
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Woochifer
    In the prequel, the baddies that got offed by Jack were chasing his Toyota Avalon (how the hell does a "dead" CTU agent with no identity afford one of those?) with a Bimmer. That Teutonic vehicle didn't have a prayer!

    I've watched every episode of every season as well, but are your trying to say that a BMW couldn't catch an Avalon?!? I know the new Toyota motor has some gumption, but the reality is a base 325i could smoke an Avalon in a car chase, and I'm not just saying this because my car happens to have a roundel on the hood. Even with Michael Shumacher at the wheel, that Toyota has no chance.

    OK, I'm done now :D. 24 is a great show and usually has enough twists in the plot to keep Kaiser Sose himself awake at night. I'm not sure I like it more than Lost, which is my current addiction (along with Boston Legal, if only because Shatner is soooo damn funny in that!). Should be a good season! Lord knows we need something good on the tube as the aformentioned shows are the only ones I really deem worth watching.
  • 12-09-2005, 01:01 PM
    dean_martin
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Woochifer
    so presumably all of the CTU agents will be tooling around in Toyotas and Lexuses this season

    hmmm...I thought the plural for Lexus was Lexi.
  • 12-09-2005, 02:11 PM
    Woochifer
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by topspeed
    I've watched every episode of every season as well, but are your trying to say that a BMW couldn't catch an Avalon?!? I know the new Toyota motor has some gumption, but the reality is a base 325i could smoke an Avalon in a car chase, and I'm not just saying this because my car happens to have a roundel on the hood. Even with Michael Shumacher at the wheel, that Toyota has no chance.

    Yeah, but that Bimmer didn't have Jack Bauer behind the wheel (nor the magic of product placement sponsorship)! :D

    I guess this is what we call suspension of disbelief, and believe me that chase scene required plenty of it! I mean, not only was the Avalon getting over on the baddies in the Bimmer, Jack was piloting that Toyota IN REVERSE! Of course, I'm still trying to get past how a guy without an identity can afford an Avalon!

    But, I guess that if 24 can get us to believe that IN ONE DAY Jack Bauer can rescue the Secretary of Defense, prevent a nuke from detonating, torture his girlfriend's estranged husband, get betrayed by a new President (AFTER Air Force One gets shot down), guide a couple of campers around the desert to keep terrorists from seizing the "nuclear football," get into a shootout with anti-Arab neighbors, lead an extraction team into the Chinese embassy and accidentally kill the Consulate, torture the Secretary's son, save L.A. from a nuclear detonation, AND stage his own death at the end of the day ... well, I think Jack can prevail in a car chase using a Toyota Avalon! (At least he wasn't driving like an Echo or Scion Xb)

    This could be an interesting season because well Jack Bauer is supposed to be dead. But, obviously now somebody knows that he's alive, so it will be a great ride trying to figure out who's out to get him and why (from what I understand, that scumbag VP is now officially the Pres, so he's no friend of Jack's).