S01.E04: Pack Mentality

[Neurochick]

Maybe all of them want this to be the new Sharknado, but they didn't tell CBS that.

[Guest]

As much as I like to snark on this show, if they are trying to be the new Sharknado they are not very good at it,  I say this having watched Sharknado 3 Oh Hell No.

[walnutqueen]

Uh-oh.

http://youtu.be/OaYlbsy6wLw

 

That's not a smart bird; THIS is a smart bird :  http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/256557/magpie-steals-joint/    ;-D

[dcinmb]

Hee. At least a magpie getting the munchies doesn't pose much of a threat to us. But a bird being all tactical and using bait to catch fish?

[blackwing]

Saw the book in the store, read the back cover. Unless the jacket is deliberately misleading, in the book, Chloe Tousignant is not a French spy... she is an ecologist. But I guess that's not sexy enough for TV so they had to make her into an accomplished spy. Lol

I wonder if the book features Antarctic Lesbians.

[Guest]

Hee. At least a magpie getting the munchies doesn't pose much of a threat to us. But a bird being all tactical and using bait to catch fish?

 

Speaking about tactical, there was this interview that the show runners did where they said wanted fans to 'fear their Schnauzers' that made me think of something.  My family tells this story about this Schnauzer they had.  It hated the neighbor's German Shepard.  So it would repeatedly sneak into the neighbors yard and taunt this dog and get it to attack and chase him.  After luring (yes luring) the German Shepard to the his own yard, surprise, surprise the Schnauzer would use the Saint Bernard as cover and counter attack.  So I totally bought the terrier setting up tourists. 

 

With that bird, its not just the being able to figure out that it can catch fish with bread; its that it has decided to trade up and forgo starches because it likes protein better.

[walnutqueen]

Hee. At least a magpie getting the munchies doesn't pose much of a threat to us. But a bird being all tactical and using bait to catch fish?

 

That magpie was totally tactical, first enchanting and distracting the stoner with some friendly antics until it was close enough to pounce on that joint.  hee!

[ennui]

As much as I like to snark on this show, if they are trying to be the new Sharknado they are not very good at it,  I say this having watched Sharknado 3 Oh Hell No.

Are Sharknados the high bar, now? I'm sad that people are proud of watching these films.

As for birds, crows and ravens are the smartest. They have their own language and can recognize faces. They can time their activities with traffic lights. And yet this show uses bats. ?

[Guest]

Are Sharknados the high bar, now? I'm sad that people are proud of watching these films.

 

There is nothing wrong with watching TV and movies for different reasons.  The 'Sharknado' trilogy is the high bar for the 'so bad, its good' trope.  Perhaps that's not your thing; but there is nothing wrong with people watching something for pure escapism and laughter and snark and not being ashamed to admit it.  Frankly, I'd admit to watching Sharknado where I'm 100% confident the stupid is deliberate (e.g.

They impaled a shark in a recreation of the 'Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima' photo

) before admitting to watching Zoo where I'm 75% certain the stupid is unintentionally bad writing, directing, editing, and acting.

Edited July 25, 2015 by ParadoxLost

[shapeshifter]

As much as I like to snark on this show, if they are trying to be the new Sharknado they are not very good at it,  I say this having watched Sharknado 3 Oh Hell No.

To be fair, show runners for a network show need to create less-niche and more generally inclusive fare. I think the Zoo folks are doing a good job of appealing to both my Sharknado-loving side and my more generic, procedural-loving side. They are probably weakest in the sci-fi area because, I mean, really, what is a defiant pupil??? I guess maybe the defiant pupil is supposed to be the Sharknado calling card of the show? It tells the viewers: Don't think too hard about this because there is no internally consistant science below the surface.

[ennui]

There is nothing wrong with watching TV and movies for different reasons.  The 'Sharknado' trilogy is the high bar for the 'so bad, its good' trope.  Perhaps that's not your thing; but there is nothing wrong with people watching something for pure escapism and laughter and snark and not being ashamed to admit it.  Frankly, I'd admit to watching Sharknado where I'm 100% confident the stupid is deliberate (e.g.

They impaled a shark in a recreation of the 'Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima' photo

) before admitting to watching Zoo where I'm 75% certain the stupid is unintentionally bad writing, directing, editing, and acting.

I guess I prefer my stupid to be unintentional. For example, I submit the original Blob, with Steve McQueen. It's the innocence that made it fun. I feel like Sharknado(s) try too hard.

 

And then I submit Zoo -- dorky, but earnest.

[Clanstarling]

How are none of these clowns getting shot in the woods by the trigger-happy drunk hunters ?  None of them are wearing bright orange hunting gear.

That's the first thing I thought when they went into the woods.

 

When Nancy found the photo in the Bible, I guessed based on the wide-eyed "A CLUE!" look on her face and dramatic music that Dr Dad, PhD would be in the photo, yet when she showed it to Jackson, she had to ask him who he was.  Oddly, her line seemed to have been dubbed in post.

I totally thought whoever was in the picture would be a Reiden mucky-muck. She's a single note character, hammering away at what I'm afraid is actually going to be the "explanation."

 

WTF?  It's a bat, not a cobra!  Okay, a Kamikaze bat, but still, about as threatening as a mouse...  Unless your antarctic habitat was wired up without circuit breakers or fuses!

The best part of the Antarctica scene was that poorly CGI'd bat staring them down and daring them to come at him. You know, my mind must have checked out, because I totally did not bat an eye that there were bats in Antarctica. (pun semi-intentional)

 

Dammit, why would you go to Antarctica, and just bring the bats over there, instead of having a bunch of poor saps get murdered by a bunch of penguins?  I want killer penguins!  I want March of the Evil Penguins!  Complete with a Morgan Freeman knock-off, narrating the bloodshed and chaos in epic fashion!

Nearly had a spit-take. Thank you. :)

 

So did they just abandon the contents of the exploding coffee pot of killer brain bacteria in the hotel room?

And none of them inhaled or otherwise ingested a single bacterium?

Being a little OCD about germs - that's the first thing I thought.

 

 

It feels odd to defend the show but here you go: Nobody seems to have been willing to listen to Oz sen. and his crackpot theories (except his second wife who's dead and from what we've seen this episode alpha patient zero) but he did force them on his kid. So his kid, who's also in possession of the guy's research material, seems a valuable asset on team stop-the-animapocalypse. Oz jun. makes more sense on the team than paranoid journalist or French intelligence lady.

Except that, when faced with a basic taxonomy that any high school science student could read, he didn't know what it was. That was as ludicrous as the "journalist" who makes her living with words, not understanding the word "scat" in the context used. It's not like the wolves were going to get a jazz ensemble together.

 

Do you know what was really needed this episode? The comedic shenanigans that undoubtedly took place while the team smuggled a bleeding wolf into their hotel room.

I know, right? At least it was a dead wolf - what in the world did they think they were going to do with a LIVE wolf, which was their original intention. I did wonder, how a net gun was going to take the place of a cage, once they got a live wolf back to the car. Seems like if the shady French guy and Ms. Runs from Lions wanted to get a sample, and study it, they might have rented out, oh, someplace private - like a vacation rental or storage facility. They aren't doing a particularly good job of staying beneath the radar.

Edited July 26, 2015 by clanstarling

[shapeshifter]

That was as ludicrous as the "journalist" who makes her living with words, not understanding the word "scat" in the context used. It's not like the wolves were going to get a jazz ensemble together.

Maybe next season? When they're more highly evolved and sitting in at board meetings for Reiden Global?

Do you know what was really needed this episode? The comedic shenanigans that undoubtedly took place while the team smuggled a bleeding wolf into their hotel room.

I know, right? At least it was a dead wolf - what in the world did they think they were going to do with a LIVE wolf, which was their original intention. I did wonder, how a net gun was going to take the place of a cage, once they got a live wolf back to the car.

Wolf in a net on this show would've had lots of comic potential.

[Netfoot]

Wolf in a net on this show would've had lots of comic potential.

 

When they were wolf-hunting, Abe trips over a log and the net-gun goes flying.  Now what would have been awesome is if Abe got up to find... A wolf aiming the net-gun back at him!  Like a kangaroo with a rifle!

 

Wait.  Kangaroo... rifle...  I think I've figured out the script for episode #7!!!

 

Enough with the dogs and cats and bats.  We want exotic!  Wallabies!  Koalas!  Musk-rats with muskets!  A surfeit of skunks, advancing to the rear!  Impalas set to impale!  Hedgehogs by the prickle, firing spines!

[holly4755]

Koalas are dangerous enough already with their sharp fingernails!

About the boiling coffee pot. The whole physics of it has captured my imagination,There is no top on the coffee pit, no reason the liquid could not geyser up out of the top, To explode the pot it would have to be expanding so exponentially, that the room should have been flooded and then the hotel, eventually drowning the world. 

[ratgirlagogo]

 

To explode the pot it would have to be expanding so exponentially, that the room should have been flooded and then the hotel, eventually drowning the world.

Or maybe the coffepot was Pyrex!!

 

http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/pyrex.asp

[raven]

 

The best part of the Antarctica scene was that poorly CGI'd bat staring them down and daring them to come at him.

That was awesome.

 

 

That was as ludicrous as the "journalist" who makes her living with words, not understanding the word "scat" in the context used.

I think it was the French super spy who didn't understand scat.  It was still more unbelievable that she needed an explanation than that there were bats in the Antarctic!  Because this is Zoo, and that is where bats should be.  I did laugh at the scientists full blown panic over that one little bat that hitched a ride to the inside.  OK, he was a tough looking little fellow with a defiant pupil but still. 

 

And a lion tree is real thing.  Then end is nigh is all I'm saying.

[ratgirlagogo]

 

And a lion tree is real thing.

Wow, they are adorable.  I MEAN SCARY.  Ahem.

 

This show is just not showing that many animals, for a show that's supposedly all about attacking animals.

Edited July 26, 2015 by ratgirlagogo

[Bruinsfan]

I did laugh at the scientists full blown panic over that one little bat that hitched a ride to the inside.  OK, he was a tough looking little fellow with a defiant pupil but still.

In real life I cheer at the appearance of bats chowing down on the ever-present cloud of mosquitoes blanketing my hometown, and would only worry if one landed on me and bit me since I'm not eager for happy fun rabies shots. But I'll give the Oasis groupies some credit inasmuch as the bat they were facing looked like it was going to turn into Jerry Dandridge any second.

[JTMacc99]

As for birds, crows and ravens are the smartest. They have their own language and can recognize faces. They can time their activities with traffic lights. And yet this show uses bats. ?

Yes, Crows are awesome. That documentary on them is amazing.  A long time before the TV told me about them, I was sitting in the parking lot of a fast food place. Two or three seagulls were poking at a bag on the ground with very little success.  They eventually flew off.  A crow flew in and started to eyeball the bag. It then bent down, stuck it's head in the bag and pulled out the french fry container.  It quickly scooped up a half dozen and took off right as the seagulls came swarming back to get the other couple the crow missed.  It was great.

 

So I had been thinking that the dolphins were pulling the strings behind the scenes, but maybe it's the crows.  The show will need to save that for about episode 11 or 12 though for the big reveal.

[MissLucas]

Crows are smart so I'm not surprised hive-mind of deviant pupil had to use bats for its various kamikaze missions. A crow would flip you the finger er... feather if you were to order it to fly into a jet-engine or to Antarctica to have its ass freeze off on a solar panel.

[OhioSongbird]

I just watched this ep yesterday and I'm loving the improbability of everything.  Antarctic Lesbians (great name for a band btw!) must be involved or else why?  All I could think when they wanted to let the birds go is  "They'll freeze!"  But I suppose if bats can survive the cold the birds could.

 

I love snarky Mitch, Jackson is yummy (I likes my eye candy), love Abe but the 2 gals....meh.  Chloe is more useful than the reporter...who annoys me as much as she does y'all.

 

Looking forward to tonight.

[Sandman]

So, the bacteria in the coconut water (ssh! It's just like brain juice, we swear!) multiplied so fast that any host organism for those bacteria would essentially boil from the inside in seconds? Neat! Zoopocalypse over!