Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - 4x01 - "The Ghost" - Discussion Thread

[YJ1]

LOVED this opener! Yes, Ghost Rider was great but all the other plot lines were remarkable and set up perfectly.

The AIDA plot was surprisingly done well. That completely surprised me. It wasn't cheesy or cheap at all. Mentioning Ultron and genuine concerns but leaving with Fitz on board is just AMAZING. Can't wait for next week.

 

[Broseph44]

Great premiere. Love the storylines being setup. Ghost Rider looks sick. Very excited for this season.

 

[Pokkle]

A good episode.
Nice to see Daisy and the others again.
Ghost Rider was really awesome.

The Ex-Machina plot with Fitz look really good too.

 

[Marvolo]

Ghost rider found the one weakness of the Inhuman who can level a forest with her powers - an empty shelf!

Yeah that was pretty silly.

 

[IAmAsgardian]

Ghost rider found the one weakness of the Inhuman who can level a forest with her powers - an empty shelf!

Yeah, but they did say that she's hurt badly from using her powers all the time.

 

[scarlet-witch]

The AIDA plot was surprisingly done well. That completely surprised me. It wasn't cheesy or cheap at all. Mentioning Ultron and genuine concerns but leaving with Fitz on board is just AMAZING. Can't wait for next week.

I liked the Ultron mention, same with the Sokovia Accords.

I wonder if Daisy will bite it by the end of the season since her powers are taking a toll on her?

 

[Silvermoon]

hah! I have to get up at 4 am for work and usually I'm in bed at 10 so not fun having to stay up longer tonight

I wasn't the only one then (also get up at 4am for work), I ended up staying up and watching it (just decided to take my evening shower earlier so that I could go pretty much straight from the end of the episode to bed. Still feeling it this morning though (to try and keep myself awake I'm - for the first time - actually using the 'standing' feature of my adjustable height desk at work).

Loved the episode though, absolutely loved Ghost Rider and how they introduced him. First with that little tease from Quake's POV from a distance, not quite being able to make out the skull head. Then we got that transformation? Beautiful work. Also, right off the bat, clearly they're going to be taking advantage of the fact that they're in the later timeslot and push the violence a bit more (was not expecting that gory spatter we got in that opening scene).

I was hoping for maybe a little bit more reference to Civil War than just the talk of the Sokovia Accords (was kind of hoping Coulson might mention something about Cap being on the run or something) - but that's just a personal preference, didn't affect my enjoyment of the episode.

Looking forward to where this season takes us

 

[tbg]

Whoever did the effects work on the films should feel embarrassed that a TV show completely destroyed them in representing Ghost Rider.

To be fair, the series benefits from all of the FX that have been developed over the last 9 years. Any programming coded for effects can be adapted to the show for way less than the cost of inventing/creating it.

I guess I am in the minority of fans who were underwhelmed. Granted the opening scene with Daisy was easy on the eyes, but they jumped around way too much. Also, for Radcliffe to go from nothing to AIDA in 6 months? And does she have a Stark tech DD arc reactor under her shirt?

Anyone have theories on what was in the box?

 

[SwiftFox]

Hey, thanks for the heads up!

Anytime! Can't go wrong with free comics!

 

[That9neGuy]

I was thinking it was the ghost of the serial killer or a victim normally associated with Reyes. Since it seems they are giving him the spirit of vengeance.

 

[Nathan]

Definitely liked the look of Ghost Rider and the little bit of action we got. Hope he'll prove popular enough, that we'll get Ghost Rider in his own Netflix Series.

 

[BullMcGiveny]

Maybe I've seen Ghost Rider too long ago but I'm not getting all these 'the TV effects are better' comments.

 

[terry78]

Honestly it looked about as good as the 2007 flick. That's more or less it. The movie sequel made him look a lot more....dirty, I guess.

 

[Nathan]

My first reaction was that people were being hyperbolic again. Every time something new comes out, the old is suddenly a pile of crap. But I compared the two, and actually have to agree. To me, the TV version does look better.

I think the flames are definitely a big improvement.

 

[That9neGuy]

How long til he pees fire?

 

[A R E S]

I would say the flaming skull looks a lot more stylized here than in the movies and the transformation scene was fantastic with the burning flesh. I like the skull from AoS a lot more and the jacket with the white lines looks good too.

 

[darthcoolness3]

Radcliffe invented Ultron 2.0, if Ultron's AI is still alive, this would be bad for the Marvel Cinematic Universe

 

[Nathan]

So, I haven't really followed the production of Season 4 at all. Did they say how much they'd dip into the mythical side of Marvel? The show started beautifully brutal. Would be nice if we could get a bunch of demons, that can actually be slaughtered on screen.

 

[Quasimod0]

I think I actually like the stylized skull from AoS better than the normal movie one.

 

[MbJ]

I don't believe they said how far they'd go but it definitely seems that ghost thing in the box is also supernatural. They mentioned this season they felt more comfortable using magic or demonic stuff now that Doctor Strange is using it.

 

[Nathan]

I think I actually like the stylized skull from AoS better than the normal movie one.

I definitely prefer the AoS Rider over the 2007 Movie one, but I still really like his sequel design. Too bad the Movie was simply trash.

 

[BullMcGiveny]

My first reaction was that people were being hyperbolic again. Every time something new comes out, the old is suddenly a pile of crap. But I compared the two, and actually have to agree. To me, the TV version does look better.

Points for the fire, but points off for the skull, which looks too stylized, like an obvious mask.

And, honestly, it has been 9 years. VFX has advanced, and it has nothing to do with it being Marvel or whatever, Jeph Loeb isn't hard at work coding graphics generation software because Marvel is that committed.

 

[terry78]

If you have like one CG character who's going to be onscreen for maybe a total of two minutes or whatever, then it should look pretty decent.

 

[Nathan]

Points for the fire, but points off for the skull, which looks too stylized, like an obvious mask.

I actually give them a pass for that, because his skull is stylized in the comics. Though in the comics it appears to some sorta helmet, and not the classic human skull on fire.

I'm actually surprised they went with the traditional flaming skull. Giving the actor a stylized skull helmet would have been a way cheaper option, and it would have been true to the comic as well.

 

[ctsketch]

Ghost rider found the one weakness of the Inhuman who can level a forest with her powers - an empty shelf!

In her defense she is weakened. her bones are splitting apart from overusing her powers