I gather the network is testing it. Twentysomething “Falconfire” calls it “surprisingly and enjoyably scary” but sees little potential in its supporting cast:
Hey Herc,
I got to watch the first episode on Captain Cooks Extraordinary Atlas today and while decent, it will both never make it honestly and needs some better characters.
Not to spoil too much but its the same old story, girl finds atlas, girl uses atlas to travel to fictional lands, VERY Time Bandits meets Jumanji with a little bit of Spiderwick Chronicles thrown in.
The issues become apparent early on though... the only likeable character in the whole thing is the lead girl Gwen. Her father is ok but her mom is a total "frigid bitch", and I am not sure that they where trying to play it that way or not, and her brother is the typical brainiac know it all brother with glasses... in other words you want to beat him with a stick and give him a swirly.
Shes stalked by a teacher "bad guy" who is a shapeshifter and I hope to GOD will never come back because he was so badly written as well as the typical bad guy come good guy whos looking out for her but wants the atlas... spare me Lost has proved that sometimes these secret organizations NEED to stay secret because otherwise they make you want to blow your brains out.
So why do I not think it will make it? Even if they dumped everyone and let the girl have adventures without worry about having to have a friendly protector with a hidden agenda and all, and certainly if they leave that annoying as hell brother his room where he belongs, I doubt that if a show like "The Middleman" cant make it a show geared more toward adults with a kid friendly premise would never make it.
Its not a show for really young kids despite the main character being somewhere around 10-12, at least not in its form now. For one its scary, surprisingly AND ENJOYABLY scary in fact and I have a great fear that it would be greatly toned down if it where a series since parents are wusses today.
And the first episode was just so slow in getting to the good stuff since it introduced all the characters (who like I said where all annoying for the most part) that in the end that I fear the channel is going to be changed before it even makes it to the first commercial break and certainly before the good stuff comes.
The premise is excellent though, I would love to see Gwen go from world to world having adventures, especially seeing some of the pages in the book and wondering how they would play out, like deaths realm.
Also the CGI is some of the best I have ever seen on TV, though the troll looks a little too much like a baby Clover with a mouth in its stomach. Music as well was some of the best and gave a real feel of a movie despite being a one hour show.
Unfortunately the cast other than the lead girl just sucks and the story is too slow in developing to the POINT of the show, the atlas and its ability to cross to new realms.
Also another one annoyance I had which may be just a really geeky hard to suspend reality thing for me is... WHY ARE ALL THESE PORTALS IN HER TOWN. If Captain Cook (as in James Cook the real life figure) went all over the world to chart these portals and their lands, how is she able to get into them from her little town... it makes no sense especially when they make a effort of showing Cook sailing the high seas then cut to this lowly little town.
The book even describes how to get to these portals and its always in her town despite being written by Cook himself in the case of the initial places. Like i said probably just something I should overlook, but it annoyed me from the beginning.
