Not on the Global Frequency

[andrewducker]

Global Frequency, for those of you not in the know, was a comic written by Warren Ellis  - it used the framework of a semi-secret organisation of specialists, being pulled together when an emergency demanded their particular skills.  It was a nice device which basically allowed Mr Ellis to throw together a wide variety of stories under a single banner.  Each one was produced with a different artist and it was basically an excuse to allow him to work with 12 of his favourite artists over the course of a year.  The stories were generally fun little conspiracy/action/thriller type things, in the usual violent/pessimistic world that Warren tends to inhabit.

It was optioned for TV and a pilot was produced, then Warner Brothers decided not to turn it into a series.  Shame, but it happens all the time.  However, for the first time pretty much ever, the pilot was leaked and, due to the marvel known as bittorrent, spread quickly across the globe.  There are now numerous petitions to get the damn thing made into an actual series.

I, of course, downloaded a copy bloody _ages_ ago.  And then completely failed to watch it - largely because I was expecting my MVP to turn up at any minute, and then I could watch it on TV without going through all that tedious copying to DVD.  However, what with all the to-ing, fro-ing, returning of broken goods, trips to London, etc. I got round to seeing it much later.  About 2 hours ago in fact.

The question on all of your lips is, of course, is it any good?

And the answer is "Kinda."

It's basically the first issue of the comic.  Or at least the last 20 minutes of it is.  The opening stages are tacked onto the comic's plot to give some backstory and introduce the characters a bit more than the comic has space to.  It's pretty clunky, and the additional time gives you time to notice the general lack of substance.  Warren Ellis writes great disposable comics, bursting with ideas and imagery, but ultimately lacking in depth.  It always amused me that The Authority, for instance got all the respect it did, considering it was on about the same level as Independence Day or Armageddeon.  They work _fantastically_ on that level - lots of silliness and imagination, but they're a ten-minute read.  Spread over the course of an hour there's simply not enough there to hold your attention, especially when the bits pasted in to fill in the gaps are ripped off wholesale from the likes of The Matrix, all leather coats and ass-kicking.  Also, the dialogue doesn't have the same punch as the comic does, even when it's the same dialogue.

On the plus side, there are some nice ideas, the special effects aren't bad and the acting, while not actually _good_ doesn't drive you screaming from the room.  Give this show the writers and budget of, say, CSI and you could do great things with it.  Overall I'd say I liked it, but not enough to join the raging fanboys in their letter-writing campaign.

You should all read the comic though :->

Comments

[heron61.livejournal.com]

It always amused me that The Authority, for instance got all the respect it did, considering it was on about the same level as Independence Day or Armageddeon.

Definitely, I was puzzled when I was hired to write background material for the Authority RPG. While I enjoyed that comic, Ellis' run of Stormwatch was possibly the finest political comic I've ever read, while The Authority was a fluffy low dialog action comic.

[andrewducker]

I also thought that Stormwatch was better written. And it was certainly because of that that it sold far less copies. I'm fairly sure that it was at this point that he decided that readers want what he calls "The Explodey" and that attempting to sell comics that didn't have large chunks of that was just futile.

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

Hmm.. would I like it enough to pay attention? I suspect not.

Festival is fucking ace and I will happily Go See It Again.

[andrewducker]

Yay! Having been let down by both Poison_Duck and Hal, I may well take you up on that.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

That's a fair summary, though I think it's more in the 24 mould than CSI. And I thought Miranda Zero and Aleph were spot-on.

[andrewducker]

I thought Miranda Zero and Aleph were both good. Except when MZ went into butt-kicking mode, when it seemed a tad too Matrix-like.

[imaget.livejournal.com]

Forgive me if it is bad form for me to ask this, but would you be willing to mail the pilot to my g-mail account? I'm curious to see if it would work.

[andrewducker]

My email won't send files that big (it's 500MB).

If you have an FTP site with that much space kicking about...

[imaget.livejournal.com]

I could invite you to join gmail...

[andrewducker]

I have a GMail account. Didn't realise I could send 500MB files through it...

What's your account name?

[imaget.livejournal.com]

My email is elliott.s.r@gmail.com, but I just checked the limit is 10MB, how do I go about getting one of those other things you mentioned?

[andrewducker]

I'll sort out a server tonight and let you know how to get it...

[andrewducker]

Alternatively, you'll find it easier (and almost certainly faster) to download it from torrentspy:

http://www.torrentspy.com/search.asp?mode=torrentdetails&id=330381&query=global%20frequency

You'll need a bittorrent client if you don't already have one. I recommend Azureus.

[kurosau.livejournal.com]

I can't say as I agree, especially about Warren's writing. Authority was short and sweet, and what initial 12 issues he did were an intriguing end to the endless amount of Stormwatch that he put out. Plus, I think the show kicked ass on all levels.

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

One of my favourite things about the comic was that apart from Aleph and Miranda Zero, the characters would be different every week.

Kinda sucked that they weren't (apparently) intending to do that with the series.

Nice to see Michelle Forbes in something again. What with my over-powering desire for her since the Bajoran days.

And I loathe the Authority with a burning passion. Yay that someone else doesn't think it is t3h g3n1us.

[andrewducker]

You really do pick the most astounding things to waste your burning passion on. What in particular do you have against The Authority?

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

In general, it's like Angel, the Invisibles or, say, Unbreakable. A lot of hype and everyone raving about how good something is when it isn't even average.

I thought The Authority was a pointlessly overblown generic superhero romp with little to recomend it. I think mostly it annoyed me because it went a long way to try to conceal the mind-numbingly dull genericness when, in fact, it was as generic as a made-for-TV true life drama about an angsty supermodel turned actress with an abusive husband. If I wanted overpowered superheroes, I'd read Miracleman or whateveritis.

[andrewducker]

The writer, to be fair, wasn't trying to hide the fact that it was generic. He said he'd wanted to writea series where the JLA fight "Fu Manchu, Ming the Merciless and God (dressed up as Cthulhu)". He certainly doesn't see it as high art, just another take on fun superhero comics. As that, I think it's a success.

But it's certainly not Miracleman.