Miracles and Veritas

POSTED BY: LegalBegal
UPDATED: Saturday, February 8, 2003 15:31
VIEWED: 16254
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LEGALBEGAL

Tuesday, January 28, 2003 4:03 PM

Having watched Miracles and ABC other new show Veritas last night just to give them a shot I must say that I could not find Miracles one redeeming quality in the end the innocent little boy died to save the priest who by all accounts should be dead. The arch bishop of Boston turned away the miracle and the priest joins the brotherhood which has to be the evil organization in all this if the church represents the good. Plus the God is Nowhere thing on the napkin just left a nasty taste in my mouth.

On the upside the special effects where excellent but seemed to be for more flash and shock value than story telling. Oh and the story was not the best it was decent but defiantly not Joss quality. All in all out of five stars miracles gets one.

Veritas the quest while a bit corny and with awful special effect you know the kind you see on the Saturday afternoon syndicated shows was actually fairly good. The only problem with that show is none of the actors are that good. They are all ok or average but not one of them gave that great performance I was waiting for.

Out of five stars Veritas gets three stars and as the actors get better the show will to.

What did you think if you watched either one of these shows?

LOSTANGEL

Tuesday, January 28, 2003 4:15 PM

I agree. Veritas could get better, it needs to find its sea legs. I recognize the mysterious good guy as the head bad guy in the Mummy movies, and the kid wired on caffeine as a minor part in 24. In my opinion, the son took away from the plot. The dialogue wasn't anything to write home about. For someone so smart, when his dad asked him why he didn't stay in his room, he didn't say, "The bad guys were there, I didn't want to get taken, held prisoner, etc." Instead he just whines. Too bad it looks like he's there for the long haul, probably for the teeny-boppers. Truthfully, if I heard that tutor saying "Nico" one more time I would have thrown something. I think it was targeted for someone with a little less years and a little more hormones than myself. (and I have a lot of hormones, thank you)

Miracles was X-Files vatican style. One of the oldest theories in the modern era is that the Church isn't good, it's just a beuocrasy (sp?) intent on protecting its turf, just like any government or big corporation, which the Vatican is (government and big corporation).

Overall, I'd watch, but I'm not hopping on any fansites any time soon.

______________________
Lost Angel

WASH: Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science fiction.
ZOE: We live in a space ship, dear.
WASH: So?

MRGREEN

Tuesday, January 28, 2003 4:45 PM

I didn't catch Miracles, but watched Veritas.

I agree with the comments about lame SFX (that car chase in the begining was just aweful), sub-par acting (that kid pretty muched stank it up), going insane if i hear the name Nico one more time, aweful diaglog writing in general, and that the show has some (if not much) potential to grow.

Given TVs current state of instant blockbuster ratings or bust, I give this show just this half season before it gets axed.

All-in-all, it reminds me of a really poorly done Young Indiana Jones, which I thougth were pretty good.

WTF do execs give shows liek this the go ahead when they could air a higher quality, already developed program ala Firefly. Heck they could have aired a new installment on the Young Indiana Jones series and it would have been better...

Oh well. Back to watching my 11 FF eps.

SABREBLADE

Tuesday, January 28, 2003 6:27 PM

I think the great thing about Miracles and Millennium is that it takes a story that is so dark and goes deeper into that side of it. So that it leaves the audience waiting for a resolution or fantastical ending all the while keeping anticipation active.

The scene with "God Is Now Here" versus "God Is Nowhere" set up the controversy present in society today about faith. It also set up that other guy sitting opposite Skeet Ulrich as a primary villain.

Miracles has a lot of potential simply because in the first episode...he quit. So he is no longer a Vatican lackey, but working for an organization whose purpose it is to debunk Miracles for its own agenda.

The main character is all alone and matched against overwhelming odds and very creepy visions of the future.

_________________________________________________

As for Veritas...

God what a corny show. I wish the son would stop whining, bi+ching and crying. The father is a workaholic jerk who I really didn't see carry the show much less a conversation without me thinking...God you can't act!

Oh, and what was that guy who played the role of the Mummy doing there? Where are you, Brendan Fraser, when we need you.

For a show as corny as Veritas...they need to lighten it up with some laughs. It's just too pathetic to be taken seriously.

OLDGUARD

Tuesday, January 28, 2003 6:44 PM

These two shows just don't do it for me! Sorry, but Veritas just needs a dog named Bandit and a Hindu sidekick!
Miracles? As was said earkier, X-files Vatican style!
Firefly's approach to SciFi is so radically different and well written that you immediatley feel the bond between the characters and the believability of the stories. Neither of these had even the slightest spark!

MILLERNATE

Tuesday, January 28, 2003 7:25 PM

Hello all a lot of the newer people here might not remember me but I've kicked around this board for awhile now and I can usually manage to express myself in a somewhat of an intelligent manner. First Miracles:

Quote:

Legal Begal wrote:

them a shot I must say that I could not find Miracles one redeeming quality in the end the innocent little boy died to save the priest who by all accounts should be dead. The arch bishop of Boston turned away the miracle and the priest joins the brotherhood which has to be the evil organization in all this if the church represents the good. Plus the God is Nowhere thing on the napkin just left a nasty taste in my mouth.

I thought it took a lot of courage to have a genuinely unhappy ending (out of the genre television I've seen, only Stargate SG-1, with their second episode, had a genuinely downer ending this early). Also, why is it that the church must represent the good? Why does either organiztion have to be "evil"? It is possible for 2 opposing groups to be in conflict and for neither to be truly bad (and, in the case of some corporate clashes, for both to be equally evil

). Also, the "God is Nowhere" was not stated as an absolute, rather as an oppose theme to the "Go is Now Here" upcoming tenre of the apocalypse feel.

Quote:

On the upside the special effects where excellent but seemed to be for more flash and shock value than story telling. Oh and the story was not the best it was decent but defiantly not Joss quality.

Well the effects I'm not going to say wheter that was for shock value or not because, in biblical based things there are often signs and portents of upcoming things, which some of the effects could very well have been used for (and in a couple of cases sort of were already). I think the storytelling was similar to Joss in that the more supernatural theme is not completely what the storytelling was about, but rather as the basis to examine a subject (in this case faith and its loss thereof). Is it the best story ever? No, but it is better than most every non-Whedon produced TV fantasy that I've seen (yes, I do feel that its better than Xena and Brimstone, at least judging by the first episode so that analysis could change).

Honestly, given the Firefly fan's reactions to Miracles a large part of me suspects that it comes from the same place that the Dark Angel fans criticisms of Firefly came from, but I'm not going to go in depth to spare everyone's feelings.

Now on to Veritas:

Quote:

Veritas the quest while a bit corny and with awful special effect you know the kind you see on the Saturday afternoon syndicated shows was actually fairly good.

No, sorry but absolutely not. Aside from Vosloo's character the entire thing was cliche planted upon cliche and none of the characters struck true. They also didn't have the budget to do truly effective actions sequences (as the temple scene's editing especially seemed obviously done because they didn't have the budget to pull of what they were attempting). This is not significantly better than the syndicated Adventure Inc., and they have a much larger budget than Adventure Inc.

Out of Five Stars:

Miracles: 3.75 out fo 5 stars (and I saw enough to indicate that it has a good shot at improving)

Veritas: 2 out of 5 stars (with absolutely nothing standing out what so ever)

Nathan
"It looks like a great adventure...That's what it is; that's what it feels like. When I saw the pilot, it was really engaging. It was exciting. It was unusual. It threw me off every now and then. I think people will be grabbed by it." - Ron Glass, on the pilot, during an interview with the Indianapolis Star

LOSTANGEL

Tuesday, January 28, 2003 7:55 PM

I didn't want to sound like a firefly zombie that refuses to see the merit in anything that was not of my favorite show, but I have to admit that the shows fell flat.

Miracles has potential, but can go either way. Veritas, I strangely find myself hoping that it will improve, I guess mainly because I like action and stuff, but it has farther to go. The acting was bad, and I think they focused too much on the son and the son did too much whining for someone of the intelligence level he was supposed to have. Of course I remember having the same type of reservations about Charmed, and now watch that show when I can.

To stick up for my peeps though, I have heard people say that the shows could go somewhere if they improved, which is better than saying they stunk. Of course you have to realize that after you've had filet mignon, meatloaf is a bit hard to swallow.

______________________
Lost Angel

WASH: Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science fiction.
ZOE: We live in a space ship, dear.
WASH: So?

JERRY

Tuesday, January 28, 2003 8:15 PM

I liked Miracles a lot, although it could certainly be accused of being a copy of second-season Millennium. Since I enjoyed that show, I enjoyed this one as well.

Veritas was unimpressive. Hopefully it will improve, but I tend to agree that the cast was lackluster, especially the father and son who are presumably the center of the show.

HAKEN

Tuesday, January 28, 2003 8:48 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by sabreblade:
The scene with "God Is Now Here" versus "God Is Nowhere" set up the controversy present in society today about faith. It also set up that other guy sitting opposite Skeet Ulrich as a primary villain.

I don't think so. Father Alva Keel is not the villain, he's on the same side as Paul Callan, albeit, he acts more as a counterpoint to what Callan sees and expriences. For example, Callan sees 'God Is Now Here', Keel sees 'God Is Nowhere'. Not unlike the complementary opposites of Maulder and Scully where both chracters work as a check and balance for eachother. As Keel said, he and Callan are on parallel paths.

If there is a hint of a villian here, it's the institutionalized church with its secrecy with its puzzling treatment of Callan and his discovery of a potentially real miracle, while at the same time The Church is all too accepting of false ones.

One has to ask, what does The Church want? Or maybe more fittingly, what does it not want?

Between Veritas and Miracles, I'll have to say that Miracles is the better show of the two.

SARAHETC

Tuesday, January 28, 2003 8:50 PM

You're right. Miracles got very Millenium near the end.

I didn't get a chance to see Veritas because of a botched blood donation thingy.

But Miracles, I think, may have potential. Ulrich was very subtle. I think, and for no reason, that they could have done with a lot less exposition because Ulrich was so expressive.

I, personally thought the "now here" "nowhere" thing was really pretty cool. But I will go to great lenghts to suspend my own disbelief. Could be too, cos I was concentrating on Angus Macfayden really hard going "where have I seen you before." Then, my husband and I got it at the same time, "Braveheart!" and maybe that sapped the moment a little.

Soundtrack was groovy in some spots, overbearing in others.

I'll watch again. I've been trying to tell myself for a long time now that something will come along to replace Firefly. To make me forget about Firefly. But it won't. So I lay down arms and light candles. I can't do more at this point. I will do more when I can; I won't do more when I shouldn't.

We have something, all of us, now inside us. We hold that secret chord (to steal shamelessly from Bonibaru and Mr. Wainwright, but only out of respect). Obviously we want to fill the void. Nature abhors a vacuum. But for me and maybe for y'all, it will keep being a little empty spot forever. But at least it will be meaningfully empty.

And now I'm being melodramatic. There's no emoticon for "wistful." Or nostaligc. Or grieving. Really melodramatic. I gotta shut up.

Oh, and that chick, at the end? Not half as pretty as Gina Torres.

Sarah

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