Comments on: Missed Chance

By: Mary Cole

Mary Cole — Mon, 21 May 2007 09:06:57 +0000

The latest episode of Dr Who, which aired this weekend in the UK was entitled ‘42′ and was a real time adventure of a freight spacecraft which had been set on a collision course with a star (42 minutes until impact). It was great! It amused me that the real time format had been adopted for Dr Who, because when you wrote this post suggesting a real time episode of 24 which focussed on a completely mundane hour, I can remember thinking at the time that the equivalent episode for Dr Who would be funny. I mean there must be days when he’s not saving the universe! Dr Who mends the sonic screwdriver, Dr Who goes to the supermarket and so on.

By: Anon

Anon — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 15:05:56 +0000

In the first couple of episodes, Jack and the good bad terrorist were able to trivially find parking in Downtown LA, AS WAS the bad bad terrorists (parked in a litte side street out of the view of most Los Angelenos). I was unable to get over this for the rest of the episode, which must have softened me up for the

By: Clifford

Clifford — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 01:53:53 +0000

Aaron F:- Iâ€™ve not really watched House, but I can see how that would workâ€¦. excellent!

Blake Stacey: I must remember to use that as a solution to a mechanics problem in one of my lectures!!

Supernova:- I suppose those often tedious holodeck adventures were episodes where there obviously was not enough to do on the ship.

-cvj

By: Supernova

Supernova — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 01:24:58 +0000

Aaron: hilarious! I always think that about Star Trek too. “This week: the starship Enterprise discovers an idyllic civilization where everything is exactly what it seems!”

By: spyder

spyder — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 22:02:51 +0000

Interesting that Blake Stacey links "Walker" with "Bauer." Prior to 24, Walker Texas Ranger was the lead in most incidents of violence per 48 minutes of episode time. Now, thanks to the stunt folks and writers aided by a director who just loves spending the dollars on action stunts, 24 is the new master of our 21st century Clockwork Orange droogies doing a bit of the old ultra. Personally, i can't stand the show.

By: Blake Stacey

Blake Stacey — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 19:03:19 +0000

You know that brain-teaser problem about the airplane on the conveyor belt?

A plane is standing on a runway that can move (some sort of band conveyer). The plane moves in one direction, while the conveyer moves in the opposite direction. This conveyer has a control system that tracks the plane speed and tunes the speed of the conveyer to be exactly the same (but in the opposite direction). Can the plane take off?

Last night, my friends were arguing about this. Will it take off? Wonâ€™t it take off? Letâ€™s apply our mechanical engineering expertise and draw a free-body diagram. . . .

â€œThe plane takes off,â€ I said.

â€œAre we sure that the no-slip condition applies? . . .â€

â€œThe plane takes off,â€ I said again, some minutes later.

â€œSo this part of the wheel moves with velocity v . . .â€

â€œThe plane takes off,â€ I bellowed, â€œbecause Chuck Norris is pushing and Jack Bauer is at the controls.â€

By: Aaron F.

Aaron F. — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 18:18:30 +0000

LOL! I was just thinking that about House. Wouldn't it be awesome to have a gag episode that ended halfway into the show? Foreman: We removed her appendix. House: And? Foreman: She's fine. No complications, no relapse. Completely stable. We sent her home an hour ago. House: ... Chase: ... Cameron: ... Foreman: ... House: Huh. Cameron: ... House: I guess you were right, then. Chase: Anybody up for Chinese food? p.s. I can't bring myself to watch 24. Every time I turn it on, Jack Bauer is breaking someone's fingers.

By: Clifford

Clifford — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 16:42:40 +0000

Really? How so?

-cvj

By: alfons

alfons — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 16:23:25 +0000

22:05 Jack Bauer goes and stands with the fridge door open trying to decide what to eat and drink next. He finds only a beer, some mouldy cheese, and half an old lime.

Ulysses!

By: Doug Natelson

Doug Natelson — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 15:42:21 +0000

As a person who likes this show as a guilty pleasure, I can tell you the answer to:
As a non-24-watcher, I wonder how Jack does it.
Because he’s Jack Bauer, that’s why! Come on - this guy can come back from cardiac arrest to kicking badguy butt in the space of an hour. The real suspension of disbelief problem comes from his ability to drive across LA in 10 minutes.

By: Los Angeles | Missed Chance

Los Angeles | Missed Chance — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 07:45:00 +0000

[...] More:Clifford View blog reactions Los Angeles Newsvine:Los Angeles January 19th,2007+Freshness [...]

By: Jude

Jude — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 07:15:33 +0000

I don’t watch 24 because I have a low suspense threshold. My ex-husband calls me about 45 minutes into every episode during the last commercial break because he gets stressed out by it and needs to talk to someone (his wife works nights). My plan is to watch all of the seasons in one long marathon some day after it’s cancelled.

I love this post. A friend pointed out that he often wonders when Jack goes to the bathroom–maybe it’s when they’re showing a bad guy on screen. I worked until midnight the other night at my online job, the cat awakened me at 5 a.m., I got up at 6 a.m., drove to a school to substitute teach, drove home, supervised my son’s Destination Imagination group for two hours, drove to my teaching job, taught until 9 p.m., arrived home at 9:30, and went to bed at 11 p.m. I seldom have a day that long with that little sleep, and I was tired. As a non-24-watcher, I wonder how Jack does it.