24, series 2, dvd

bonkey

Sorry if this is something which was discussed before, but did anyone else notice that series 2 has made some massive breaks with the notion that the series was based around "real-time".

I'm only about 6 hours in, but already I've noticed 3 major time-slips and while I still think the idea is a good one, it realy bugs me when they don't stick to it.

The one which really irked me :

At the end of one ep, Jack's daughter and her boyfriend are pulled out of a car, and are face down in the dirt with a cop pointing a gun at them, arresting them.

At the start of the next ep...seconds later...they are sitting in the police car being questioned, with about 3 cop-cars sitting around. How did they get there in what was effectively 0 time (I believe they were the last and first scenes in their respective episodes

In general though, I like the second series so far. It seems somewhat darker than the first.

jc

Dustaz

Bloody pedant


You have to remember that the series was made for TV and not dvd. One likely reason is that the second scene was meant to go a bit later in the next program but for running time reasons, or logcial reasons it had to be shifted back. The rationale being that because there was a week between the two scenes the timeshift wouldnt be (and wasnt) perceived.

Theres plenty of little timeslips within episodes (particularly when people are driving from a to b) but these arent a problem because we accept the passage of time when we are not watching something. Personally i dont find this a major problem because on the whole the programme is executed so well these things dont even register with me.

Remeber, the emphasis is on entertainment not on how to be perfect in real-time.

antwalsh

It's real time, which means 1 hour of the show is 1 hour in real time. After they were being arrested the credits rolled and then at the start of the following episode we get the "previously in 24" stuff. That is all part of the hour. Seems to me to be plenty of time to get them into a car.

mise

its not real time! each episode was representing an hour of "24" time was only bout 50 mins long, so it couldnt really be minute for minute. I think allowances have to be made. I watched the second series on TV and thought it was one of the best programmes ive seen. Of course sometimes the time doesnt quite work out. Its incredibly lucky that everything takes place in LA, and everywhere anyone needs to go is only 15 minutes away. If its annoying u now more than likely other stuff is gonnapiss u off later on too. just watch it and enjoy it

Dustaz

Originally posted by mise
its not real time! each episode was representing an hour of "24" time was only bout 50 mins long

hmm, afair the ad breaks are included in the time. So if its 8:13:00 before the ad break, its 08:18:00 after it. So it is real time.

Its incredibly lucky that everything takes place in LA, and everywhere anyone needs to go is only 15 minutes away.

Um, its not luck, its written that way

antwalsh

Just because they only show 50minutes out of the 60 doesn't mean that it's not real time. Compare it to watching something like Big Brother with their ad breaks. You miss a few minutes but it's still real time.

unkel

Originally posted by mise
its not real time! each episode was representing an hour of "24" time was only bout 50 mins long

err, 42 minutes to be more precise - I feel that doesn't take away from the real time concept. Can't wait for series 3 - hope to have seen it all again by the time RTE has shown about 6 episodes :cool:

ixoy

While RTE aren't quite that bad unkel, I know what ya mean. I remained spoiler free last season but I prolly won't risk it this year. Am so far mostly up todate with Smallville, Alias, and Angel.

bonkey

Originally posted by unkel
err, 42 minutes to be more precis

Yup, and each of those 42-minute eps starts with the clock at :00 (just after the "the following events take place..." bit). During the episode, the ad-breaks had clock skips slightly longer than the ad breaks actually were, and events continued during those clock skips. At the end of the ep, the clock hits :59:59, and rolls over again to 00:00. Thus, there should be no major timelag in between one ep and the next.

In Series 1, I felt they had this down pat. Sure, the drive-times from place to place were a bit short, but I was willing to suspend disbelief and assume that there was no traffic anywhere for some reason, and that the places they were going to were all on one side of town. No problem.

I just think that Series 2 lets that go somewhat.

I've also just thought of something. IIRC, the intro to each ep on series 1 said :

"The following events take place in real-time between X and Y o'clock on the Eve of the California Primary".

Am I mis-remembering that (DVDs on loan) or did they drop the "in real time" bit from series 2. Maybe it was a deliberate decision.....

jc

BANZAI_RUNNER

yes they did drop the "in real time" from the second season, but i guess thats because anyone who had watched the first season would understand the concept , even if the auduence were americans.............:D