S01.E01: ...And the Liftoff to Saturn

[Meredith Quill]

Quote

SERIES PREMIERE - As an exceptionally brilliant inventor with unlimited resources and unimaginable wealth, the devilishly charming TOM SWIFT (Tian Richards) is a man who many men would kill to be, or be with - a man with the world in the palm of his hand. But that world gets shaken to its core after the shocking disappearance of his father, thrusting Tom into a breathtaking adventure full of mysterious conspiracies and unexplained phenomena. On his whirlwind quest to unravel the truth, Tom finds himself fighting to stay one step ahead of an Illuminati-scale cabal hellbent on stopping him. 

Original airdate 5/31/2022.

 

[Gharlane]

A friend, who is a fan of the original source material, saw this last week. He didn't like it. I believe he described it as being like a "gay black Dynasty" with the Tom Swift label slapped on it and thought the titular character was behaving way over-the-top. 🤷‍♂️

[edhopper]

I got fifteen minutes in and turned it off. Not because of the gay sex, but because non of the characters were the least bit interesting. 

[AnimeMania]

Did the Saturn Space Rocket have a built in Selfie Stick, where were they getting that video of the ship explosion from.
I am so stupid, I was thinking why they were singing the theme song to Baretta at Tom's father's funeral.

[Gharlane]

I didn't  bother to watch because a friend, who is a big Tom Swift fan,  got to see it several weeks ago and said it was like Tom Swift in name only.

6 hours ago, edhopper said:

I got fifteen minutes in and turned it off. Not because of the gay sex, but because non of the characters were the least bit interesting. 

I think my friend described it as a "gay black Dynasty, but without the interesting characters". 

[Lady Calypso]

So, I watched it. I thought it wasn't terrible! I think it has a lot of potential. But, like, most pilots, it was rough in places and shoved a lot into it. I'm sure, as the next few episodes air, things will be spread out more. But I did enjoy it and I will continue.

[Diapason Untuned]

A rough and filled to the brim primere, but I liked it. It has potential.

Seeing Tom and friends going on a fetch quest while dodging the Roadback (I figured this show would involve them) should be fun. 

11 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

Did the Saturn Space Rocket have a built in Selfie Stick, where were they getting that video of the ship explosion from.

Pretty sure the footage was from the telescope in Tom's observatory. 

7 hours ago, Gharlane said:

I didn't  bother to watch because a friend, who is a big Tom Swift fan,  got to see it several weeks ago and said it was like Tom Swift in name only.

People said the same about Nancy Drew and I find that to be an excellent show even as it does its own thing. 

[thuganomics85]

Definitely gave this a go after enjoying the character during his appearance on Nancy Drew.  Did thing it had the typical pilot roughness, but I thought it got better as it went along, and I think the set up of Tom, Isaac, and Zenzi traveling around the country for these capsules from his dad could be fun.  Not sure about the atypical "shady, evil organization pulling the strings" stuff, but maybe it will surprise.

Still think Tian Richards is very charismatic and can carry the show with ease.  Also enjoyed seeing Ashleigh Murray here.  Still bummed that she and Josie got shafted on Riverdale, but it might have been a good thing considering how far that show went off the rails.

Curious to learn more about the Isaac character.

I hope Barclay being compromised is going to be a set-up for him to possibly be destroyed or sacrificed.  Levar Burton's voice deserves to be everywhere!

Too bad it didn't look like one of the capsules went to Horseshoe Bay, because it would have been fun watching Tom and friends reunite with the Drew Crew! 

[Cress]

I liked it, though it was predictable that his father didn't really die. As long as it stays firmly about technology and not ghosts like Nancy Drew, I'll stay with it. I hope the evil conspiracy villains stay interesting but the writers don't get too far down the rabbit hole. Evil conspiracies can bog down some shows like Castle with the murder of Beckett's mom.

[tennisgurl]

I have been interested in this ever since they introduced Tom Swift on Nancy Drew, and while this had quite a lot of the typical pilot awkwardness, I still enjoyed it. There is a lot of potential here, the actors are all solid, I enjoy all of the fun retro future tech, and they seem to be setting up a decent season long arc, bringing in the conspiracy villains from Nancy Drew as a part of an anti-tech cabal, which is a good opponent to a science hero type. I am happy to see Ashleigh Murray, especially after Riverdale did her so dirty. She's probably the lucky one who escaped though, this is already WAY better than the trash fire that is Riverdale. 

Its funny to think of this high tech Saturn exploration stuff happening while, in about a days drive, the Drew Crew are off fighting ghosts and curses up in Maine. Never a dull moment in this universe! I would be happy to see them stop by Horseshoe Bay in time for a crossover at some point this season, Tom's shocked reactions to realizing that magic exists were hilarious in his backdoor pilot. 

I am sure that people will complain that this show is nothing like the original stories, but you could say the same thing about Nancy Drew, which turned out to be a great show even though its very different from its source material, so I don't mind that much. Plus, from what I have heard, some aspects of the books, especially when it comes to people of color, have not...aged well. So I can see why they wanted to just focus on "guy invents cool gadgets to solve crime" for the most part. 

Edited June 4, 2022 by tennisgurl

[peachmangosteen]

I finally got around to watching it and I enjoyed it. It was hard to follow because there are so many characters but that'll get easier as it goes along.