NIKITA: the lastest remake

[hylas]

so, there is a new version of nikita on tv, ive just watched the pilot episode. im pretty much loving it, even if there is room for improvement, as there often is in pilots.

it has to be said, nikita is remarkably unoriginal, even for a remake. aside from resembling the source material, its pretty much "alias" all over again. but for me, thats not a problem at all. not everything has to reinvent the wheel, there is always room for solid, entertaining, meat-and-potatoes genre television. i loved alias in its early seasons, and if nikita manages to pick up, in spirit and quality, where alias left us after season 2, then im sold.

i love maggie q, her icy cool is much more appealing than the somewhat hysterical jennifer garner. most of the cast is chosen well. the one main complaint i have is that the show is a little lacking in the hot guys department. i guess shane west is supposed to fill that role, and hes reasonably hot, but not as hot as bradley cooper or michael vartan in alias, and hes not doing a particularly good job as an actor. he lacks charisma and speaks in this growly voice that makes it hard to take him seriously. i have absolutely no interest in seeing a romance subplot between his character and either of the heroines, if that is where the show is headed. there is minor supporting character tom (cant find the actors name), who is quite cute, although its hard to tell wether hes going to be a recurring charcter or just cannon fodder.

the other complaint i have is that there is a little too much exposition, and the action could be a little tighter and more dynamic. but im hoping that these are just teething troubles. im really complaining too much... im just glad that we have a promising series about an ass-kicking woman. anybody going to follow the series and interested in discussing it here? lets just make sure to lable the spoilers!

 

[Gomaki]

I was able to watch it last night, just by chance. I thought it was really cool. Looks like they had a decent budget and were able to do some cool stuff. The action sequences were pretty well done, I was pretty impressed! But yeah, fairly unoriginal plot.

The lead actress is gorgeous and bad ass. Love that combination.

Gonna check in next week for more!

 

[ILLBFIRE]

Alias is a piece of shit compared next to La Femme Nikita with Peta Wilson..

I'm sorry but Peta Wilson IS Nikita. The new Nikita is to girly for the part.

Shane suxs as well.


I'm going to give it a try but it has big shoes to fill.

 

[aijalon18]

Peta Wilson eventually won me over. But I could not get over her manly face and body. Bridget Fonda was my favorite. I like how Maggie Q is feminine like Fonda. I liked how they decided to take a risk with her ethnicity.

 

[bluedragon4]

LOVED Peta Wilson as Nikita. I refused to watch Alias because they stole from Nikita and I won't watch this one either. I can't imagine they could do it better then it was done with Peta. What a intense show that was. That show really was unbelievable till the very last episode. Never saw anything like it b4 or since. You thought you knew who these people were come to find out they were nothing like they were pretending to be. Some fantastic twists in Le Femme Nikita. I suggest watching those. You can probably get them for a good price online.

 

[hylas]

I refused to watch Alias because they stole from Nikita and I won't watch this one either.

i dont really understand that attitude. i dont know about the previous nikita series (i only saw the movie by luc besson), but i loved alias (at least at the beginning), and thats why im watching this new series... im hoping its going to be just as good! if you liked something, doesnt it make you want to watch similar things?

 

[ILLBFIRE]

LOVED Peta Wilson as Nikita. I refused to watch Alias because they stole from Nikita and I won't watch this one either. I can't imagine they could do it better then it was done with Peta. What a intense show that was. That show really was unbelievable till the very last episode. Never saw anything like it b4 or since. You thought you knew who these people were come to find out they were nothing like they were pretending to be. Some fantastic twists in Le Femme Nikita. I suggest watching those. You can probably get them for a good price online.

Thats why I have yet to see Alias. Right after La Femme Nikita went off the air, Alias showed up like a cheap ripoff.

Last time I checked the series was around $ 70

 

[chatolandia]

I loved both movies for different reasons, the series never caught my interest.

I should check the new one out.

 

[bluedragon4]

i dont really understand that attitude. i dont know about the previous nikita series (i only saw the movie by luc besson), but i loved alias (at least at the beginning), and thats why im watching this new series... im hoping its going to be just as good! if you liked something, doesnt it make you want to watch similar things?

Why would I wanna watch a copy or/and a remake when the original couldn't be any better? You need to see Le Femme Nikita and then u will see what we are all talking about. Amazon had some of the seasons for pretty cheap and all were under $30.00.

 

[hylas]

Why would I wanna watch a copy or/and a remake when the original couldn't be any better?

but you are talking about a remake yourself! nikita originally was a french movie by luc besson. a pretty good one, too.

but my point is that it doesnt really matter. especially since we are not talking about Art with a capital A, but about entertainment, i think originality isnt as important as craft.

but im gonna check out the american tv series. i was under the impression that it wasnt anything special, but you guys are making me curious!

 

[aijalon18]

I personally didnt think the American tv series was all that great especially compared to Alias. The first 3 seasons of Alias are genius. I dont think it's fair to say they ripped off Nikita. The stories were so dissimilar.

The only thing they had in common was a female lead who wore wigs. Sidney Bristow was a brilliant grad student who had all kinds of expertise, and was part of this big prophecy. Nikita was a junkie that was forced to work for this company and wanted to escape. Very few things can be totally original. If we're gonna say Alias copied Nikita, then Nikita copied James Bond.

 

[bluedragon4]

I personally didnt think the American tv series was all that great especially compared to Alias. The first 3 seasons of Alias are genius. I dont think it's fair to say they ripped off Nikita. The stories were so dissimilar.

The only thing they had in common was a female lead who wore wigs. Sidney Bristow was a brilliant grad student who had all kinds of expertise, and was part of this big prophecy. Nikita was a junkie that was forced to work for this company and wanted to escape. Very few things can be totally original. If we're gonna say Alias copied Nikita, then Nikita copied James Bond.

That's a stretch about Bond. Nikita had more twists and turns then that. I don't want to ruin it for any who will watch but she wasn't who she appeared to be in the first few seasons. She had a secret of her own. My sister loved Alias. But Nikita was so dark. She didn't have that grad student/expertise/prophecy thing going on. How is that even entertaining to see someone already at the top like they are so special? USA does show after show like that now. Everyone is so special. Nikita wasn't special. She wasn't anybody, or so we though until the very end when her father was revealed. Nikita gave the feeling that if she died no one would cry for her and she was forced to pull herself up and survive. She was one of many who became the last one standing. I haven't seen Nikita in maybe 10 years? I still have yet to see any show come close and take you on such a mind fuck journey. And yes she is based on the movies but this show went far beyond the movies like Buffy did.

 

[aijalon18]

Yea I shouldnt have said Nikita was just a junkie. But the point I was trying to make is she is worlds away from Jen Garner's Sydney Bristow. I didnt like Nikita at first. The look and style was kind if unusual to me. But it was groundbreaking in a way. It was more like a European show in it's style and subtlety. But I agree all usa networks shows are the same now.

 

[bluedragon4]

At the movies tonight my friend said he saw the new Nikita and liked it. He also has seen the Peta Wilson one. I may give it a chance if I can remember to watch. I guess I can be more open. It's just TV for God sakes, lol.

 

[diamondstar]

Finally got around to watching Nikita yesterday "Had it stored on my DVR since Thursday". Since I never seen the older versions of Nikita, I really enjoyed the pilot episode. However, I hope she doesn't end up in bed with her old flames from the division and stays true to Daniel "At least fall for a civilian, not an agent of the Division". Also, I wished she killed the nerd.

 

[hylas]

just saw the second episode... hm hm hm hm. its nice, but it still needs to tighten up a little, and shane west will have to do a lot better than this. ashton holmes, on the other hand... his role is small so far, and something tells me hes gonna be killed off somewhere down the line... but id totally do him. melinda clarke as super-bitch amanda is also very enjoyable. torture-make-up-artist, why didnt anybody come up with this one for so long?

 

[bluedragon4]

Still didn't see the first episode. I have a feeling it won't last long. It's getting no press. I don't even know what day it's on.

 

[aijalon18]

The are really good elements to it and crappy ones. The Michael and Nikita moments are kinda dumb and it's way far-fetched that nikita and alex are taking on Division. But all the division villains are perfectly casted.

Shane West seems to be doing his best Christian Bale as Batman voice. I never really got into him. I just remember like 3 or 4 years ago there was big talk that either he or Hayden Christensen was gonna come out of the closet. I dont care that much about celebrities being gay/closeted but that was the only thing that made either one of them sort of interesting.

 

[hylas]

shane west was cute in the film adaption of "league of extraordinary gentlemen". not that he did a great job or anything, but that film was so unbelievably crappy, he stood out by simply being blandly handsome.

but im gonna be patient with nikita, simply because i like maggie q a lot. and while some series start with a bang (alias, lost, battlestar galactica), others take some time to find their way. i would have missed some truly great tv like "dollhouse" or "mad men" had i given up after the initial, less-than-perfect episodes.

 

[hylas]

third episode gets off to a rocky start with a journalist played by a distractingly terrible actress, but it quickly improves. a little more screentime for amanda and relatively light on the nikita-michael romance, which is good.