gen:lock Gen:LOCK Episode 8 "Identity Crisis" Season 1 (Series?) Finale Discussion

[The1gairon]

3 hours ago, Jman said:

You know what they say, desperation breeds innovation.

Actually it's more like you can only have two.

[OwlChemist81]

This series was a bizarre mixture of low-quality and high-quality, since the CG animation may have been underwhelming but the voice talent was top-dollar, even if somewhat not used to voice acting.

Well, this is interesting. How about the WikiPedia synopsis of the last episode?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gen:Lock

• While preparing for their next skirmish, the gen:LOCK team receives a transmission from Migas, who reveals the Anvil and everyone inside is safe: the late Dr. Weller had figured out Union sympathizers were given a chip that could broadcast a signal to nanotech so that it would not affect them and manufactured a copy for the Vanguard that was put into effect when the Behemoth's nanotech attacked. He then reports that the Union is making another move in Chicago, and needs the gen:LOCK team's help. As the team prepares to leave, Dr. Jha lets Chase know that they're always welcome at RTASA and reassures him that Dr. Weller was proud. The team touches down at a pier in the South Side to draw Nemesis to them: after taking out some Union forces they are horrified to realize Nemesis has been upgraded with flight capabilities and nanotech that can repair any damage. The team uses mindshare to get an edge on Nemesis, but when this does not completely work they decide to all mindshare at once. Chase shows reluctance to do so, questioning what this means for him, but before they can try anything they receive a notification that they are almost at uptime and need to download. Chase chooses to stay in his Holon, exceeding uptime and leaving him unable to return to his body, in order to buy the rest of the group time. Nemesis and Chase continue their fight, but when Nemesis realizes how important the team is to Chase he heads to where their real bodies are in front of the Museum of Science and Industry. Before he can attack them, however, he is ambushed by Miranda and Jodie in their tanks, and Leon (who had earlier learned he was gen:LOCK compatible but too old for the program) using the Holon intended for Sinclair. Chase realizes without the limits of uptime he can mod himself and overclock his Holon without any consequences, and continues his fight with Nemesis, buying enough time for the rest of the team to upload back into their Holons. The entire gen:LOCK team engages in mindshare, using their combined skills to disable Nemesis's nanotech and damage him beyond repair. Before Chase destroys him for good, Nemesis hints that he was a mere copy of the real Chase's brain, and that the Union made many more. With the battle over Leon tries to download back into his body, but because of his age, the download is not entirely successful, leaving him in a coma that they cannot confirm he will ever get out of. Colonel Marin congratulates the team on helping them win the battle and offers them a chance to return to the Anvil. Chase has a talk with Miranda, who sadly remarks that the people they were four years ago died in the Battle of New York, but tells Chase not to be a stranger and that perhaps someday they can try things again. The gen:LOCK team decides to move their base of operations to RTASA, with Migas serving as their chief engineer and liaison to the Vanguard, and Leon moving there to aid in his recovery.
• In a post-credits scene, the real Robert Sinclair is revealed to be alive. His actions and appearance indicate that he may have escaped his captors and is now trying to find a way out of Union-controlled territory disguised as a Union soldier.

Yep, thanks to the fact that the last episode was super-sized, we missed even MORE stuff in scenes cut for TV broadcast, including that post-credits scene. Forget a 2nd season for now. I'd rather Toonami re-airs Season 1 uncut at the back of the block first, expanding Toonami by 15 minutes twice to get all of the first and last episodes in! (The others could probably re-air in a 30-minute timeslot as normal.)

Edited September 23, 2019 by OwlChemist81

[DangerMouse]

4 hours ago, PokeNirvash said:

So, gen:LOCK. It was far from perfect, and many of the complaints I've heard make sense. But I liked it, and if a second season somehow finds its way into production past all that behind-the-scenes drama, I'd watch it. 8/10.

Same here.

[The1gairon]

...

 

So great. Not only did we skip a post-credits scene, but it turns out he's alive!?!?

Why is no one shouting at DeMarco about this!?

[Daos]

15 hours ago, mochi said:

at least in Titmouse's case, their big claim to fame (and their first production) was a G.I. Joe movie they produced using only a handful of animators, 4 voice actors and a tiny tiny budget 

 

There's only one GI Joe movie that matters.

 

[Jman]

20 minutes ago, elfie said:

...

 

So great. Not only did we skip a post-credits scene, but it turns out he's alive!?!?

Why is no one shouting at DeMarco about this!?

Because everyone and their mother knows this show isn’t getting another season.

[Blatch]

4 hours ago, elfie said:

So great. Not only did we skip a post-credits scene, but it turns out he's alive!?!?

Why is no one shouting at DeMarco about this!?

They could still make it up with an "Oopsie" on Pre-Flight. That'd be nice, even if it's not like the stinger is ever going to matter.

[OwlChemist81]

1 hour ago, Blatch said:

They could still make it up with an "Oopsie" on Pre-Flight. That'd be nice, even if it's not like the stinger is ever going to matter.

There is also the outside chance this show gets an uncut re-run on the back end or even a marathon, when no one would be pissed off their favorite show is airing 15 minutes later.

So, they could show all the unaired material then. At least that would be fair. I think his show deserves it, especially its first and last episodes. ESPECIALLY last Saturday's, because right before the commercial break, Chase burned through his uptime, but after the break, he was already back to the battle! What happened there???

Suggestion: Rerun gen:LOCK after Lupin (if Lupin moves to 3) at 3:30 or 4 AM, with 45-minute timeslots for episodes 1 and 8, and show EVERYTHING this time. (Episodes 2-7 would air just as they did during the premiere run). ESPECIALLY if you're serious about producing a 2nd season, Toonami!

Edited September 23, 2019 by OwlChemist81

[Jman]

I think a poem (read by Richard Attenborough, aka John Hammond from Jurassic Park) sums this production up.

 

[OwlChemist81]

I'd say if Final Space can get a 3rd season with the ratings it got on Monday nights this summer/early fall, gen:LOCK has a chance at a 2nd!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Space

[The1gairon]

1 hour ago, OwlChemist81 said:

I'd say if Final Space can get a 3rd season with the ratings it got on Monday nights this summer/early fall, gen:LOCK has a chance at a 2nd!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Space

It will likely be produced under another studio, or under RoosterTeeth with a different name.

[OwlChemist81]

1 hour ago, elfie said:

It will likely be produced under another studio, or under RoosterTeeth with a different name.

Yes indeed. That "Outlier Society" might have something to do with it too.

Here's hoping they get AT&T's big budget to re-hire most of those A-list VAs, but I suppose it will probably be more likely that new characters get replaced by NYAV Post or something like that.

[The1gairon]

38 minutes ago, OwlChemist81 said:

Yes indeed. That "Outlier Society" might have something to do with it too.

Here's hoping they get AT&T's big budget to re-hire most of those A-list VAs, but I suppose it will probably be more likely that new characters get replaced by NYAV Post or something like that.

What really crushes me about the CEO "resigning" is that until now RoosterTeeth was looked up to as the dream success story all fans wanted to aspire to be. "See?? We're fans doing our own actual show without the support of corporations! You can too!"  Now that story has died.

[Jman]

14 hours ago, OwlChemist81 said:

Yes indeed. That "Outlier Society" might have something to do with it too.

Here's hoping they get AT&T's big budget to re-hire most of those A-list VAs, but I suppose it will probably be more likely that new characters get replaced by NYAV Post or something like that.

Fat chance.  Business Daddy is notorious for its penny pinching ways.  This entire upheaval was allegedly caused because gen:Lock went over budget and under delivered.

[OwlChemist81]

Final Space is an excellent example of something else on [as] that did only slightly better in the ratings and carries the same level of star power (for example, Little Cato is played by Steven Yeun, formerly of The Walking Dead, and both contain David Tennant) in the same timeslot on a different night. I'd say if it gets a Season 3 (and Season 2 actually did BETTER on the whole on [as] than Season 1), then gen:LOCK has a pretty good chance at a Season 2, UNLESS the upheaval actually took place DURING gen:LOCK's run on Toonami in response to its underwhelming retention of Dragon Ball Super's viewership. If that's the case, it makes it a lot less likely, but we don't know when it took place. From what I understand, it probably happened a couple of weeks BEFORE gen:LOCK aired on Toonami, which means a decent chance of a Season 2 under CN Studios instead of RT.

[Blatch]

I don't think you can compare Final Space to this show, because that one was always designed for linear TV as opposed to being ported from streaming. And the expectation nowadays is that shows on a streaming service will attract more eyeballs, which plays a role in managing budgets and setting expectations. To Warner, airing such a program on TV was probably a consolation that got them little in return. And maybe the rumors are true and Toonami only played it because it was cheap? I dunno.

Honestly, I've already moved on from this matter, but you don't have to. It's just that gen:LOCK was a bomb and it's probably never coming back, regardless of how the production turmoil would be resolved. I'm more looking forward to whatever series the RT staffers can come up with next... maybe even something with good animation. 😝

[OwlChemist81]

While in theory, what you're saying about streaming vs. linear TV is true, e.g., more convenient, better array of devices, I'd like to see the hard numbers that back up your claims. Aside from Netflix, who notoriously don't release their viewership numbers, I don't think ANY of these streaming services, including the grand-daddy of them all, YouTube, quite match up to their more "traditional" linear TV counterparts for MOST programming.

And while we can analyze this data until we're blue in the face, we're not the ones who actually use it to make programming decisions. For all we know, a show with a 271K 18-49 average and multiple berths in the Top 10 might be good enough for the network to acquiesce to a 2nd season based on revenue from advertisers.

Edited September 28, 2019 by OwlChemist81

[DangerMouse]

On 9/23/2019 at 12:35 AM, OwlChemist81 said:

• In a post-credits scene, the real Robert Sinclair is revealed to be alive. His actions and appearance indicate that he may have escaped his captors and is now trying to find a way out of Union-controlled territory disguised as a Union soldier.

Watched it online, this was a really cool little tease seeing the real Sinclair!

Feel like this, with them showing him trying to make his way out, also shows that they'd probably be ready to show us more about the Union in a next season if it still happens (hopefully).

Edited September 28, 2019 by DangerMouse