Jediphile

Not always. "Empire Strikes Back" did live up to the original. In fact, it was better than the original, and is still considered the best of the Star Wars movies by many fans.

Cold, calculating, ruthless... Would those characteristics describe an ethical person? Droids are "evil" in that they will follow their programming blindly without question, no matter how much evil and suffering they might cause as a consequence, because they do not have a moral compass to guide them in the distinction between good and evil. They are only "good" if they were programmed to be so... and the programming works. Just compare GOTO to HAL in 2001 - the inspiration is fairly obvious to me.

Maybe that's your cue to watch a little less Trek Still, we don't have much choice now that the show is cancelled, do we?

I disagree. To be evil is to be selfish and put your own interest above the well-being of others. Nobody sees it as a goal onto itself to go out and actively harm other people (except psychopaths), unless they're incredibly clich

I voted Mara Jade Because Nihilus would probably lose anyhow, and there are plenty of fanboys (and girls) around here who will vote for both Revan and Bastila Also, I cannot vote for Revan, since only Darth Revan is available. He may have been Darth Revan, but he didn't end up on the dark side of the force...

It's not just you.

I believe the events of the game happen between Season 2 and Season 3. Chase, IIRC, was another excellent field operative for CTU that came in between the seasons. He's probably a relatively recent recruit in the game. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> You're right. Chase Edmunds was Jack's partner in the field *as well* as Kim's boyfriend in season three. He was never introduced until he was suddenly Jack's buddy in season 3. In fact, there was lots of untold stuff between seasons 2 and 3 due to the lost cliffhanger of season 2. I think they placed the game there to remedy that situation. Anyway, for more on Chase, look here at what the official website has to say. I should probably add a spoiler warning to that, since the events described there all take place after the game. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> What game are you talking about? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> This Weird?!? Those are real people. They're acting, but they're still real. I wasn't surprised that McGill's sister was killed - it was pretty obvious that she and her boyfriend would not be allowed to survive a deal with terrorists. That they thought they could come out of it alive just shows they were more stupid that the law (or the plot-writers) allow...

No, I don't even know that one. I was referring to the end of season 2, which was an assassination attempt on Palmer. After the crisis was averted, he passed a cheering crowd, only one of them was female assassins from the very first episode of the show (you know, the girl who jumped from the airplane before she blew it up). Not knowing any of this, Palmer shakes her hand, and shortly after he falls over, his hand all swollen and sickly - the crowds panic, and the bodyguards try vainly to secure the situation as havoc ensues, then fade to black... It seemed clear that the plot was to continue from there. The bad guy, Peter Kingsley, may have been killed, but we saw other men discuss the situation over the phone, and one said, "we have a back-up plan - it begins today" or some such. It seemed very clear, that this was a cliffhanger to be continued the next season, but instead it was just abandoned for some reason.

I don't really care for many of your points but I must say, I do hope ^^^ in particular is omitted from any forthcoming sequel just to spite you all. I've had it up to here* with all your oversized hoods and customisable Jedi paraphernalia. *Forehead. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I agree, the focus should be the story and not on such trivial crap <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yeah... Then we wouldn't get posts that moan about such things either... Or even posts that moan about posts that moan...

I believe the events of the game happen between Season 2 and Season 3. Chase, IIRC, was another excellent field operative for CTU that came in between the seasons. He's probably a relatively recent recruit in the game. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> You're right. Chase Edmunds was Jack's partner in the field *as well* as Kim's boyfriend in season three. He was never introduced until he was suddenly Jack's buddy in season 3. In fact, there was lots of untold stuff between seasons 2 and 3 due to the lost cliffhanger of season 2. I think they placed the game there to remedy that situation. Anyway, for more on Chase, look here at what the official website has to say. I should probably add a spoiler warning to that, since the events described there all take place after the game.

Actually, I think losing Kim would be worse for him. Anyway, I'm going to cast my own vote for Bill Buchanan. Not because I don't like him (though James Morrison was definitely more of a bad... as Colonel McQueen on Space: Above and Beyond), but simply because the bosses have a bad habit of dying on 24 (Mason and Chapelle anyone?)

And the wings. And without... :">

I probably could have thought of more (President Logan or Vice-President Gardner, for example), but I consider the above to be more likely. Bragging rights go to those who get it right (assuming I included the correct main character). I don't consider unknown characters or "crewman number six" (for those who've seen Galaxy Quest) to be relevant, nor the villains, just the major characters on the show.

Yeah, I know how you feel...

Well...

Season one began the fall of 2001. I don't recall if it was before or after 9/11, but obviously many episodes had already been shot by then, and the plot was pretty fixed already. The first season was much more of a personal vendetta and political intrigue plot than the mass attacks on Los Angeles of the subsequent seasons, and the fact that this was all after 9/11 could be a motive for that. Season 2 was also notably harsher in its tone, when you consider how Sayed Ali tortured Kate Warner, how Jack later appeared to have killed Ali's family to extort him, and how Jack actually died at one point. With all the people being killed on the show these days, I'd sort of wish that season 6 was set anywhere else but CTU in Los Angeles...

pc, for reasons stated

Speaking of the show's tone, does anyone think 24's mood has been heavily influenced by the fact that we live in a post-9/11 world? I mean, season one was actually fairly undramatic or harsh compared to some of the stuff we've seen since. The most horrible thing was doubtlessly Teri's death, and that was caused by the fact that it was suddenly decided that the characters would return (it was orignally intended that there would be new characters every year... until Kiefer won an Emmy, that is ) But we've seen some pretty nasty things since then. Jack actually died in season two, and Mason eradiated so much he could have been a christmas tree, if he had lived more than a few hours more. In the third season several people were brutally murdered by the virus, and Jack had to play russian roulette and later amputate Chase's hand. He also brutally murdered Nina out of pure cold vengeance, when she no longer served a purpose to him. But the worst was Jack having to perform an execution on Chapelle, because the terrorists demanded it. Nasty! In the fourth season, we didn't actually see so many horrible deaths among the crew. Then again, most of them were all new, so we were not so attached them them, though I really thought they would kill off Chloe at one poitn. The really grim part was when Jack killed Paul to save the life of a terrorist, so he could extract information from him. Paul was a total innocent in the whole thing, and was wounded in the first place for taking a bullit for Jack. Some gratitude... Now, this is a lot different from the first season, isn't it? I don't think we'd have seen scenes like the deaths of Paul Raines or Chapelle in a pre-9/11 world, but somehow it's okay now that the tone of even tv-shows is much harsher than before. I think 24 is a prime example of that and it is even visible if we compare the first season with all those that followed.

First, the closest you get to the Exile's companions rebuilding the order is actually in the game during Kreia's predictions for the future. Kreia: "You travel with them for so long, yet you do not know them still. Feel them through the Force, feel what they feel, hear their thoughts and know them, as I fought to know you.They were the Lost Jedi, you know. The true Jedi, upon which the future will be built. They simply needed a leader, and a teacher." But Kreia is characteristically vague, and so there is doubt what we can infer from those comments. Second, I think saying that Revan must be stronger because he was further back in history is, well, not a very compelling argument. And even if that was to be considered a valid argument, Luke has access to holocrons all the way back from Ossus, which predates Revan, so he could certainly have learned far more than Revan ever did. Besides, plausibility seems to suggest that argument is flawed. Throughout history knowledge and skill tend to grow and expand, not regress. I see no reason why that isn't just as likely to be true for jedi and sith as for anyone else. On the contrary, their constant war of light vs. dark would rather suggest that they have to continually grow more powerful or else be wiped out by their eternal enemies.

Yeah, like I said, season 3 was slow early on. And you're right that some of the B-plots were a bit weak. I mean, if that's all they were going to do with the Palmer-plot, then they should just have cut it - Palmer had plenty on his plate even so. Didn't really dislike Chase. Didn't really like him either, though - I mean, he liked Kim, didn't he? But the virus bit was top-notch - very dramatic. I guess that's why they've sort of returned to it in the new season... One thing that I really hated in season 4 was how the Araz-family was just casually killed off one by one without serving any particular purpose in the plot. And Behruz (sp?) wasn't so much killed as just forgotten - he was turned over to the terrorists, and then we just never see him again. What, did they kill him or where did he go? The end was indeed a bucket of icewater right in our faces, though. Though it was pretty lame to suggest even for an instant that Jack was dead, when the whole thing was clearly staged, it was still rather shocking to see him being officially dead for all his efforts. Even so, I found the beginning of season 5 even more shocking - even though Dennis Haysbert and Reiko Aylesworth were in there, they still brutally killed Palmer and Michelle in short order. I was particularly shocked by Michelle's abrupt death... That sucked. Never realized how much I really liked that character until that car bomb went off...

So certain are you... Always with you what can not be done...

Well, I guess I'm just going to be really contrary and not care what consensus says Season 3 may have started out slow, but once the virus began breaking out, the plot really picked up and resulted in some episodes I consider to be among the most dramatic on the show. Not sure why, but season 4 wasn't quite as unnerving to me, perhaps because I found the whole nuclear overrride plot a bit stretched. What, they can't manually control their nuclear reactors? Give me a break... I also didn't like that the "trial" of the secretary of defense was just a front for a bigger plot. Yeah, right... Aw, I guess I'll just have to admit that it was difficult seeing Arnold Vasloo as a villain other than the Mummy...

Actually, I agree with that...

Fair warning - you have to watch an entire season at a time. Each season is one continued story all the way through, and though there are recaps at the beginning of each "hour", I don't think they do much to explain the plots, which are frequently rather complex and extensive. The seasons also build heavily on previous events, so it's best to start at the beginning, though I actually counts seasons 2 and 3 as better than the first.