Scorpion (CBS) US Pace [ Spoilers ]

_Kaiser_ · 18-12-2014 9:40pm

syklops wrote: »

You guys must be watching a different program to me.

I think the "issue" might be that this show is a bit of a throw-back to an earlier era (as are recent shows like The Last Ship and The Flash for example). Shows that forgo the "gritty ultra-realistic" stories and characters of the HBO generation in favour of a great focus on simple entertainment and a "feel good factor" that were common in shows like this 30 years ago.

Think back to shows like Knight Rider or The A-Team... The Wire they were not, but they were very successful and fondly remembered today because they offered an hour of easy, disposable viewing that you could just watch, enjoy and move on.

It's a bit like people who go and see an Arnie film or a Michael Bay movie and then complain that it's about as deep as a kids play pool... but that's also missing the point - these films aren't supposed to be taken too seriously or over-analysed. They are what they are.. fun, loud, action and effects heavy mindless nonsense

Personally I welcome a return to such TV. While shows like The Wire, The West Wing, Battlestar Galactica and other "gritty, real" examples have their place and I enjoy them too... there's nothing wrong with just switching your brain off and enjoying the ride sometimes too!

Guy:Incognito · 19-12-2014 12:16am

jmcc wrote: »

Very Walter Mittyish back story on O'Brien. That NASA hacking story does not stack up. He claims to have done it when 13 years old but that would put it at around 1988. The computer that he was using was apparently an ordinary retail job (Amstrad 464, I think) rather than a PC. That would have required an RS232 interface and external modem.

He claimed to have hacked NASA to get drawings (schematics) of the Shuttle so that he could print them out on for his bedroom wall. Schematics are generally CAD files and the file format is typically linked to the CAD software in use. Big flaw right there for anyone who knows anything about design work. Now here's the killer: the size of the CAD files.

The telephone connectivity in 1980s Ireland was patchy at best. The modems at the time would have been 300 Baud, 1200/75 Baud or for the really fast and expensive ones, 2400 Baud. (There were some "fast" ones that did 9600 Baud but they were rare.) Even with compression and a clean line, it would take up to an hour to download a few hundred kilobyte file. And even in the 1990s, going into the US on a dial-up line was not very reliable. The bandwidth would often fluctuate and disconnects were common and the phone bills were painful.

The other aspect of printing was that laser printers were quite rare and expensive devices in the 1980s. The most common printers were dot matrix printers. While they were available, they were often the same price, (or more) as the computer.

That scene with the special forces team raiding the house - it is a copy of the opening of that 1990s movie "Hackers".

Interestingly, there were hacks on NASA (and other) servers in the late 1980s. Cliff Stoll wrote about tracking one group in The Cuckoo's Egg. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cuckoo%27s_Egg ). The hacks were executed via Packet Switched Network access rather than ordinary dial-up. O'Brien was not one of this group. The real history is far more fascinating.

The one thing that is really false about the whole series is its treatment of genius. The more intelligent a person is, the harder they try to appear "normal". It is the people who really are not geniuses who try so very hard to be different.

Regards...jmcc

If that was the only inconsistency in his story he'd be doing well. I was googling a while back and after a couple of minutes came across loads that I stuck in a thread n the Kilkenny forum that was about him.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140924/14422128627/another-story-fake-brilliant-inventor-is-scorpion-walter-obrien-real-computer-security-genius.shtml

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20141004/07211128727/mythical-almost-certainly-made-up-legend-walter-obrien-continues-to-grow.shtml

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20141018/06582528871/scorpion-walter-obrien-finally-sorta-barely-responds-to-inconsistencies-his-many-claims.shtml

https://twitter.com/AsherLangton/timelines/514456527118143488

jmcc · 19-12-2014 11:20pm

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

If that was the only inconsistency in his story he'd be doing well. I was googling a while back and after a couple of minutes came across loads that I stuck in a thread n the Kilkenny forum that was about him.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140924/14422128627/another-story-fake-brilliant-inventor-is-scorpion-walter-obrien-real-computer-security-genius.shtml

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20141004/07211128727/mythical-almost-certainly-made-up-legend-walter-obrien-continues-to-grow.shtml

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20141018/06582528871/scorpion-walter-obrien-finally-sorta-barely-responds-to-inconsistencies-his-many-claims.shtml

https://twitter.com/AsherLangton/timelines/514456527118143488

Yep. His back story has been shredded. The thing about hacking and systems security is that there are many wannabes who like the idea of being an elite hacker but that actually involves a Hell of a lot of work and expertise. And Law Enforcement tends to be extremely wary of using any hackers they catch as anything more than a confidential informant or bait in an ongoing investigation.

I watched the Late Late Show interview where Tubridy "interviewed" O'Brien and O'Brien's body language was all wrong. He was talking around issues rather than answering questions. Tubridy can't interview people properly and of course RTE is going to show the series in the New Year. It was very much an RTE puff piece interview.

This is an article by Cliff Stoll on dealing with the hack:
http://pdf.textfiles.com/academics/wilyhacker.pdf

It is worth reading.

Regards...jmcc

squonk · 20-12-2014 9:08pm

I do think we have to take the back story with a pinch of salt. I don't know anything about O'Brien and, for this show I'm not sure I need to either. I've a feeling it's based on his life in much the same way you could say that BSG or Star Trek are based on the ISS. The ISS is up there performing a function but the shows are a highly fantasised progression of that fact.

I hated the pilot. I posted here after it aired saying as much and predicting the shows early demise. Since then however it's improved in leaps and bounds. The characters are getting better developed each week and they fit the gimmicks into the show rather than place them at the center. As said earlier, its a nice 42 minutes of escapism and entertainment. The last episode I watched was about a boy caught in a well and was, quite simply, some of the most gripping, moving and entertaining episodes of any new show this season. I want the show to stick around now. It's worked its way into my list if shows I look forward to each week.

22-12-2014 2:44am

Honestly I couldn't care less if O'Brien's entire history was a fabrication. It doesn't lessen my enjoyment of the show and while I can understand how some people don't like it at the same time I think that it's hard to dislike a show whose sole purpose is simply to entertain. Scorpion isn't trying to be adult and edge, it has no interest in being the next Game of Thrones but rather it simply wants to entertain and that's actually a rare quality in a show. Scorpion can cover some adult themes and issues without ever resorting to gratuitous violence or sex as many "adult" shows do and that's a nice change of pace.

Tristram · 22-12-2014 3:12pm

Watched the first two episodes and thought it was fairly mindless with some terrible casting. Will give it a bit more time to see how it progresses.

syklops · 07-01-2015 1:39am

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

I think the "issue" might be that this show is a bit of a throw-back to an earlier era (as are recent shows like The Last Ship and The Flash for example). Shows that forgo the "gritty ultra-realistic" stories and characters of the HBO generation in favour of a great focus on simple entertainment and a "feel good factor" that were common in shows like this 30 years ago.

Think back to shows like Knight Rider or The A-Team... The Wire they were not, but they were very successful and fondly remembered today because they offered an hour of easy, disposable viewing that you could just watch, enjoy and move on.

It's a bit like people who go and see an Arnie film or a Michael Bay movie and then complain that it's about as deep as a kids play pool... but that's also missing the point - these films aren't supposed to be taken too seriously or over-analysed. They are what they are.. fun, loud, action and effects heavy mindless nonsense

Personally I welcome a return to such TV. While shows like The Wire, The West Wing, Battlestar Galactica and other "gritty, real" examples have their place and I enjoy them too... there's nothing wrong with just switching your brain off and enjoying the ride sometimes too!

Its not a case of me not enjoying it because i was expecting Ullyses. I didn't enjoy it because its a load of ****e. Incidentally, I'm watching the Last Ship at the moment and I'm loving it. I am absolutely able to leave my brain at home when watching some light drama, but it needs to make a bit of sense. Some of my favourite movies are as you put it as deep as a paddling pool.

However, there is something about this show which my system rejected faster than bad shrimp.

bpb101 · 07-01-2015 2:09am

good ep this week , i think they should have made Ralph 12 maybe 13 so in a few years they could bring him in to be more of the team when he hits 15/16.
Love page in the show , but i cant see what she contributes. Anybody explain to be why she there she pr, but dosent really do much

squonk · 07-01-2015 9:36am

Paige is there to do what they tell you at the start, to translate the team into something the rest of the world can understand and vice versa. She's Walter's connection to normality and prevents him going off the deep end at times. I like why she's there and I like how she's played by Catherine McPhee. I'm not particularly interested in the ex husband plot but even that seems to be going somewhere.

bpb101 · 07-01-2015 4:49pm

squonk wrote: »

Paige is there to do what they tell you at the start, to translate the team into something the rest of the world can understand and vice versa. She's Walter's connection to normality and prevents him going off the deep end at times. I like why she's there and I like how she's played by Catherine McPhee. I'm not particularly interested in the ex husband plot but even that seems to be going somewhere.

i know her job description , but i cant really see her make any impact on her designed role. It very much looks like that Walter just wanted to give her a job. Dont like the ex husbands role , expect the reason id say he is there is that they want to hold off page and walter getting together. Take any show where its clear the 2 main people will end up together, they cant let it happen on day one as the build up , the tension , the waiting is all lost on the audiences. Most shows its 3-5 seasons before it happens eg bones,castle,tbbt and in each one of these there needs to be somthing or someone who gets in the way.

12-01-2015 7:09pm

Been renewed for a second series.

JP Liz V1 · 20-01-2015 11:46pm

It starts on RTE 2 on Thursday 29th January at 8pm

20-01-2015 11:52pm

Anyone who follows the show should be aware that two episodes aired this week.

bpb101 · 21-01-2015 12:10am

Deleted User wrote: »

Anyone who follows the show should be aware that two episodes aired this week.

And both very good ones too
They had one on Sunday night as to get people to watch the show as it aired After one of the biggest football match of the year

squonk · 21-01-2015 9:49am

Ah that makes sense. I was wondering if the cousins had forgotten to send me last week's one or something.

George White · 31-01-2015 8:52pm

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Yes

Watched this because of the unique portrayal of Kilkenny and Enniscorthy. Gardaí with guns. But who gives a ****e? It's TV. And they all seem to speak in Scots accents, but then again it's TV! And they apparently filmed on the same Disney ranch where Darby O'Gill was mostly filmed on...

Mc Love · 01-02-2015 3:11pm

It's light-hearted entertainment, I like it

bpb101 · 01-02-2015 4:27pm

Mc Love wrote: »

It's light-hearted entertainment, I like it

i would have liked to have seen a more unknown back story in the characters
walter -sister sick
page -nothing
gallow - daughter died from some disease

nothing too big or unknown to the characters they are just hiding some of the info.I cant see too much of a cliff hanger at the end of the season , expect maybe walter and page getting together , but really thats cbs only card to play. Love the show , but i think they have to trow in some unknown that even the characters dont know about.

bnt · 27-02-2015 2:59pm

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

I think the "issue" might be that this show is a bit of a throw-back to an earlier era (as are recent shows like The Last Ship and The Flash for example). Shows that forgo the "gritty ultra-realistic" stories and characters of the HBO generation in favour of a great focus on simple entertainment and a "feel good factor" that were common in shows like this 30 years ago.

It could use a bit more MacGyver too, I think, in the simplicity of some of the solutions he found. The Scorpion guys get too complicated for their own good.

(Spoiler Alert) In a recent episode, the one with the kid trapped under rocks on the beach: they managed to get a conduit open to the kid quickly, which is how they got the phone to him. Then they flew in a heavy, complicated blood oxygenation machine, Walter went down with it to insert needles in to the kid's arms, almost getting them both killed in the process.

But ... why not simply drop a tube down the pipe they already had, so the kid could breath through that? Even if the top of the pipe was going to be underwater at high tide, they could just raise the tube higher. Or a SCUBA tank? Either way, he could breath while divers worked to free him. :rolleyes:

Agent Coulson · 27-02-2015 4:57pm

It could also do with an overall season arc.

Thought it does make a change for a show like this not to have one.

bpb101 · 27-02-2015 5:07pm

bnt wrote: »

But ... why not simply drop a tube down the pipe they already had, so the kid could breath through that? Even if the top of the pipe was going to be underwater at high tide, they could just raise the tube higher. Or a SCUBA tank? Either way, he could breath while divers worked to free him. :rolleyes:

that would have been the simplest thing.
However they couldnt use a scuba thank because the air is pressurized and he has a collapsed lung

27-02-2015 5:09pm

I think that the ongoing story arc for the series is the way in which the characters are slowly changing how they view the world. Granted it's pretty stock stuff but it's nice to see how the cases they work and the people they meet colour how they see the world around them, there's a real risk that Scorpion could be a show about a bunch of elitist assholes and at the start it kind of was.

bpb101 · 10-03-2015 9:24pm

Well , Big Episode last night . Happy and toby had a "moment"
Walter muttered to page , he wanted to bring her to dinner

And the biggest news is Walter dosen't know the full story with baghdad

Good episode i thought. I think happy and toby thing will go cold until the end of the season and pick back up in the last 2 episode of the season

Thoughts??

Mr E · 14-04-2015 7:15pm

43 minutes of pure quality. Thrilling stuff... Network TV at its finest.

bpb101 · 14-04-2015 7:52pm

great episode last night
how many more left this season

Mr E · 14-04-2015 9:37pm

Looks like next week is the finale.

http://epguides.com/scorpion/

squonk · 15-04-2015 9:45am

Aw! I thought this week's episode felt like a season finalé. It's turned into such a great show though. The start was so ropey but now they deliver every single week. I really enjoy the show these days. It's nice to see a kind of old-fashioned entertainment-driven show. They remind me as the A-Team for the Teenies. I missed shows like this so it's nice to see one created for a contemporary audience.

Agent Coulson · 15-04-2015 4:55pm

This is just a fun show..I've been trying to place Toby all series and I only just got that he was Finch in the American Pie films.

Mr E · 15-04-2015 5:21pm

Sh*t break.

_Kaiser_ · 16-04-2015 7:41am

squonk wrote: »

Aw! I thought this week's episode felt like a season finalé. It's turned into such a great show though. The start was so ropey but now they deliver every single week. I really enjoy the show these days. It's nice to see a kind of old-fashioned entertainment-driven show. They remind me as the A-Team for the Teenies. I missed shows like this so it's nice to see one created for a contemporary audience.

Yea it's a definite throwback to an era when TV shows like this were just meant to be entertaining for 45 mins, not be over-analysed, picked apart and critiqued for not being "dark/real/gritty" enough.

Those shows have their place too but it's nice to have these back - The Last Ship is another one (and back in a few weeks as well I think), and The Flash is just fantastic TV

mafaa · 10-06-2015 5:38pm

Scorpion Season 2 will premiere on Sept 21, 2015

Preset No.3 · 21-09-2015 10:00pm

Season 2 starts tonight

Agent Coulson · 22-09-2015 2:02pm

A fun opening episode and continued the fun from last season.

Also Alana de la Garza

Mr E · 23-09-2015 8:28am

Really great fun.

Also Alana de la Garza

George White · 23-09-2015 9:25am

People on the net asking, "Why do Irish characters sound American?"
Thus me texting them, "you've never been to Dublin. Half of the young adult population talk like Valley girls and boys."

squonk · 23-09-2015 1:50pm

Good opener for sure but the whole Baloon riding thing was a bit OTT. That being said, the pilot was completely OTT last year so I'm hoping things tone down a small bit otherwise.

_Kaiser_ · 10-10-2015 4:36pm

Still a very watchable show this year.. Nice to see Bellick finally get that Warden's job this week :P

Mr E · 29-11-2015 11:16pm

This is such a great show this year. Every episode seems to cram in action, drama, humour and tension in perfect proportions.

To use an obvious pun, the last episode had a horrible sting in the tail. It could have been heavy handed, but it was very tastefully done. It will be interesting to see how/if Walter bounces back.

syklops · 29-11-2015 11:26pm

George White wrote: »

People on the net asking, "Why do Irish characters sound American?"
Thus me texting them, "you've never been to Dublin. Half of the young adult population talk like Valley girls and boys."

Fridays Late late toy show was a good example of this.

bpb101 · 30-11-2015 1:17am

Mr E wrote: »

This is such a great show this year. Every episode seems to cram in action, drama, humour and tension in perfect proportions.

To use an obvious pun, the last episode had a horrible sting in the tail. It could have been heavy handed, but it was very tastefully done. It will be interesting to see how/if Walter bounces back.

glad she gone, Didnt like her

bnt · 19-03-2016 9:53am

I'm still enjoying this, but they seem to have dropped the façade of scientific accuracy, and that takes me out of the story when they make basic errors. I'm not talking super-geeky stuff either, but basic things like the fact that water expands as it freezes from liquid to ice. In a cracked dam wall that's already under severe stress from the water pressure, that would be a Very Bad Thing. :eek:

pl4ichjgy17zwd · 04-05-2016 10:33pm

I enjoyed this season even more than the first. Glad it's coming back for a third.

Also Starring LeVar Burton · 25-07-2016 8:43pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0dv3aeJ0dA

Mr E · 04-10-2016 9:00pm

Good start to the new season. The fighting and lovesick Walt were annoying but the story was decent.

JP Liz V1 · 04-10-2016 9:58pm

Is actor Elyes Gabel (Walter) and Kat McPhee (Paige) still a couple off screen?

bpb101 · 24-10-2016 9:59pm

"*Sentinels*

CBS Buys Spy Drama ‘Sentinels’ From Trio Of ‘Scorpion’ Producers

---Quote---
CBS has put in development Sentinels, a drama from the Scorpion trio of supervising producer Rob Pearlstein and executive producers Nick Santora, who created the show, and Nicholas Wootton. CBS Television Studios, which is behind the CBS series, is the studio.

Written and executive produced by Pearlstein, Sentinels share the sensibility of Scorpion as a light, action procedural. It centers on the world’s worst news team who’s actually a cover for a secret government program that has highly trained spies masquerading as hapless reporters. They use their unfettered access all over the globe to take on harrowing missions and preserve world peace. Wootton and Santora also executive produce.
---End Quote---
http://deadline.com/2016/10/cbs-buys-spy-drama-sentinels-scorpion-producers-nick-santora-nicholas-wootton-1201840845/"

bnt · 13-11-2016 7:03pm

I'm still watching this at local pace on ITV2, and while the quality is variable, I thought the most recent episode was particularly good. This was the episode in which Ralph's autistic friend goes missing, with some bizarre consequences. The plot is a bit of a red herring in some ways.

The bad guys only wanted their tablet back, and weren't necessarily going to harm the kid; he was more in more danger from his own erratic behaviour, as it turned out.

Some interesting revelations at the end, too.

bpb101 · 13-11-2016 8:56pm

bnt wrote: »

I'm still watching this at local pace on ITV2, and while the quality is variable, I thought the most recent episode was particularly good. This was the episode in which Ralph's autistic friend goes missing, with some bizarre consequences. The plot is a bit of a red herring in some ways.
The bad guys only wanted their tablet back, and weren't necessarily going to harm the kid; he was more in more danger from his own erratic behaviour, as it turned out.
Some interesting revelations at the end, too.

make about 3 weeks ago. Its us pace, so its presume people are up to date about 2 days max after the episode has aired

They be off in the emerald isle tomorrow.

Mr E · 16-11-2016 10:23pm

Pretty cringey Oirish episode this week. Bad accents, dodgy Cork car regs, soda bread and LA weather.

Clareman · 18-11-2016 10:44pm

Mr E wrote: »

Pretty cringey Oirish episode this week. Bad accents, dodgy Cork car regs, soda bread and LA weather.

Heat wave turns the lake into CO2 and there's a left hand drive hi-ace owned by a plumber.

Scorpion (CBS) US Pace [** Spoilers **]

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Scorpion (CBS) US Pace [ Spoilers ]