It's so hard not to say "just you wait" to every (mostly totally fair, IMO) criticism, but JUST YOU WAIT. There, had to say it once.
I agree about the dialogue for new actors being awkward. That has to do, in part I think, with the fact that Whedon's own cadence was a new thing for us all to hear at the time. He does speak awkwardly and not everyone had it in their ear yet. Now, he's had so much influence that it's just how a ton of people speak. He also talks about the fact that they tried a hardcore SoCal dialect in the first few episodes that they quickly decided didn't work, thereby reducing the cheese factor by a good 15%.
I think the intro of new characters is also weirdly way too subtle in the first season. Jenny, the kid who becomes the Anointed One, the FBI guys (never once did I ever remember when they show up at the end that we've seen them once before in the schoolyard) just seem to come out of nowhere.
As for the stakes... there's been a stake in almost every episode; don't know what you're talking about.
It's worth noting that the first season was all shot all at once and with no idea at the outset if there'd be a season two. This had to be pretty limiting as far as keeping the stories contained and complete-able in 13 episodes. The budget was so limited that that entire school interior is all one short hallway. They just keep changing the posters. And our fearless director was used to big budget films, so this was a BIG adjustment (or millions of little adjustments, if you prefer) for him.
Oh, and count me in on the Cordy love and the happy that we have a newbie in the group.
I agree about the dialogue for new actors being awkward. That has to do, in part I think, with the fact that Whedon's own cadence was a new thing for us all to hear at the time. He does speak awkwardly and not everyone had it in their ear yet. Now, he's had so much influence that it's just how a ton of people speak. He also talks about the fact that they tried a hardcore SoCal dialect in the first few episodes that they quickly decided didn't work, thereby reducing the cheese factor by a good 15%.
I think the intro of new characters is also weirdly way too subtle in the first season. Jenny, the kid who becomes the Anointed One, the FBI guys (never once did I ever remember when they show up at the end that we've seen them once before in the schoolyard) just seem to come out of nowhere.
As for the stakes... there's been a stake in almost every episode; don't know what you're talking about.
It's worth noting that the first season was all shot all at once and with no idea at the outset if there'd be a season two. This had to be pretty limiting as far as keeping the stories contained and complete-able in 13 episodes. The budget was so limited that that entire school interior is all one short hallway. They just keep changing the posters. And our fearless director was used to big budget films, so this was a BIG adjustment (or millions of little adjustments, if you prefer) for him.
Oh, and count me in on the Cordy love and the happy that we have a newbie in the group.
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Review: Cabin in the Woods 8/10
Review: Cabin in the Woods 8/10