omfg global frequency wtf

[waider]

So I finally watched the Global Frequency pilot that's been sitting [redacted] and all I can say is, "wow". It is totally awesome; there's only one or two clunky bits (mostly the dialogue concerned with the existence of Global Frequency and its justification, etc.) but the rest of it just rips along. Some good music, some fantastic lines, and I am so thinking of ripping the phone noise out of it and dumping it into my cellphone. Which, aside from being incredibly nerdy, is totally unlike me; as far as I'm concerned generally, a ringing phone should sound like a ringing phone and nothing more. I do recommend you somehow contrive to see this unbroadcast TV show which is, like, totally unavailable on any global interweb thing or anything illegal like that. Honest.

Comments

[ikkyu2.livejournal.com]

My cell phone sounds like a ringing phone, and nothing more. It plays a sound sample of a mechanical ringer ringing. Disappointingly, the sample is named "Old Phone." Worse are the looks I get, ranging from bafflement to alarm to outright why-you-bust-on-my-technophile-groove anger, whenever it goes off in otherwise polite mixed company. One young person heard the sound and obviously failed to recognize it.

Can you say a bit more about Global Frequency? I'd like to have my interest further piqued.

[waider.livejournal.com]

Well, it's based on a concept by Warren Ellis, who has produced some graphic novels of it. Warner Brothers picked it up for what was supposed to be a 5-year, 13-episodes-per-season run; while the totally excellent pilot was being made, Warners had some sort of management shuffle and the new guy basically shitcanned the whole thing.

The storyline is approximately that, due to the failure of various agencies world-wide to talk to each other, a character by the name of Miranda Zero has set up a world-wide network of experts in their given field which she uses to head off disasters before they happen. The hook being that the world-wide network of experts are, effectively, "nobody special" - they just happen to be the best in their field, however esoteric that field might be. The network is connected by multimedia cellphones1 back to Miranda Zero and her hacker/switchboard operator Aleph. Everything's networked at high bandwidth, so at various points you've got full-motion video via cellphone, building schematics being flung up and down the line, etc. The audio hook is, "you're on the Global Frequency", which is what Aleph says to you when she calls you up.

So that's the premise; the pilot plot revolves around a guy who's got an implant in his brain that harnesses his native ability to telekinetically explode lightbulbs and amplifies it by drawing off power from any nearby power source. The implant is rotting, so it's triggering by itself. And a just-fired cop in San Francisco discovers a Global Frequency operative who encountered this first-hand; he picks up the dead operative's phone and... "You're on the Global Frequency".

The look is rather Matrix-inspired, sans the physics-defying activites, since this is the Real World after all. The overall feel was best described, I think, as Mission: Impossible crossed with The X-Files. There is, as I said, a little first-episode clunkiness which I imagine would very quickly disappear given the otherwise excellent quality of the pilot. The director? producer? has said that the series would feature a rolling guest slot - people being dragged into the Global Frequency due to their skills - and the nature of the GF network meant that not only could they retain or discard the guests at will (and obviously based on popularity) but also that none of the major characters were safe, either - after all, the pilot has GF's detective-in-San-Francisco replaced by a completely random passerby; who's to say that can't happen to any other member of the network?

Anyway. Rumour has it that you can "download" the unbroadcast pilot off the "Internet", but obviously I wouldn't know about such things, and the aforementioned producer? director? -type has said, "thank you for your praise, but Naughty! Naughty!" to show that he, too does not condone such illegal distribution of his product (leading, as it has, to massive grassroots support for a TV show that's never been broadcast and the possibility that WB or someone else might yet pick it up before the year is out) If you can lay hands on it, it's worth watching.

[waider.livejournal.com]

Hmm, there was supposed to be a footnote, and I did a strike-through 1 instead of a superscript 1, and forgot the footnote. The footnote is that the phones that Ellis uses in the graphic novels are apparently already old hat, so they had to dolly them up somewhat for the show. This would be technology overtaking scifi, I guess. More detail on Warren Ellis' site, unless it got lost the last time someone scragged his server, and there's also a couple of Global Frequency websites.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

You should obtain the Warren Ellis GNs "Planet Ablaze" and "Detonation Radio". They are excellent reading. The pilot is based on the first issue and it is very, very kickass.