That's More Like It

Now that is what I like out of 24. Sure it was absurd but man it was full of action and a well deserved Silent Clock. Let's kick some ass Jack.

Absurd

That was the most absurd episode of 24 yet. For it to be absurd by 24 standards is saying a lot. I'll still watch but man that was just too over the top.

Heroes and 24

A day after the Steelers win their 6th Super Bowl I get Heroes and 24 on the same time for the first time in almost two years. What a good night of TV.

Silent Clock

I think they've got overusing the silent clock some. I really liked the first two episodes of 24 but the next three of leaving me down some. I'll hold off judgment completely but so far it seems more like season six then season five.

TV Overload

If a Steelers win wasn't enough I get two hours of 24! The first 24 in about 20 months which is just crazy. Man do I love me some Jack Bauer. There are some bittersweet aspects of 24 in my life but outside of the huge layoff and the crap that was season 6 I think 24 is the best roller coaster ride on television. There is definitely room in my life for an hour long ride like 24 every week. Welcome back Jack.

End of a Long Week

I've had a tough week personally. I won't go into it but it is nice that it is over. Not a great start to the year. Weekends are nice but I wouldn't call it relaxing. Between Jack being back and the Steelers playoff game I probably won't relax to much. At least I'll be able to sleep in.

Jack is Back

Well at least he is coming back in January. So are a few regulars, another Robocop alum, and a rumor appears to be true. Good times.

http://www.24trailer.com

Events occur in real time

One thing is for sure, events occur much quicker than I would like, at least it seems that way. Anyway the official 24 TCG website is up. Take some time and go look. There isn't much content right now but that is coming soon. As soon as we have an approved picture I will make sure to post it here.

Letdown

I will fill it in more later on but right now both of the finales were somewhat of a letdown. Actually I really enjoyed Heroes and think it was really good but it was very predictable. Jack and his clan in 24 however, that wasn't very good, at all.

Jack is Lethal

I wrote a few months ago about my top five TCG cards and I left one of them blank. I’m not quite filling in the section now because the cards aren’t approved, nor in fact are they completely done. Either way the card is Jack Bauer, well not a specific Jack Bauer but a gameplay mechanic that was started with the Jack series of cards.

I will get into how 24 TCG plays at a later time. Obviously we aren’t reinventing the wheel so if you’ve played other TCGs then you can play 24 TCG with little effort. To set up what I really love about Jack then I do have to explain a little bit. The basic premise of the game is that you play your characters (CTU or Insurgents) and they have an overall mission to score 24 (obviously) points. A character may attempt a mission and then your opponent may have one of their characters try and stop that character. That is how battling happens. The characters each have a skill rating and a health rating. When a character losses a battle they are wounded, when they get wounds equal to their health rating then they die.

Our game also has keywords, loaded (a gameplay macro) and unloaded (just to hang stuff off) but we call them traits (loaded) and keywords (unloaded). There were a lot of initial discussions about Jack and how we can give him some impact to the game, something that fits the IP but also is appealing the TCG. One day the conversation went a lot like this, I think this is pretty close to how it went.

“So what do we do about Jack?”

“Well one thing about Jack, anyone who walks into a room with Jack Bauer comes out wounded.”

And that was that, it just clicked with everyone. The trait Lethal was born. The name could change but we really hope not. Lethal works pretty simple, you deal an extra wound. When in a mission attempt with someone with the Lethal trait you receive a wound; win, lose, or draw.

In a game where most characters have one or two health the Lethal trait is incredibly powerful and has required a good bit of testing. When Jack (or anyone with Lethal) is one the table you must be very careful. It makes for some fun, fast paced games, which is obviously the goal.

Hopefully I’ll be able to post a card before too long. We have a few work in progress images up coming in Scrye and InQuest, I’ll post links once they are out.

Trevor on the DL

Like everyone in the world I was listed as day to day yesterday. A few of my many symptoms that bother me in completely random intervals decided yesterday was a good day to mess with me. That just caused me to basically do nothing all day except sleep, I felt like a complete loafer. Anyways I'm back at work today trying to figure out which cards should go with Jack Bauer in the Jack Bauer deck. Good times.

Good Pig

He raised a talking pig, got killed by Russell Crowe, invented warp drive, and is Gwen Stacey's dad, oh yeah he is Jack's dad and a fucking terrorist. James Cromwell is all of those things he however is not easy to get images of, fun times.

Just Plain Weird

Tonight's 24 was much more enjoyable than Heroes. Obviously Heroes was setting up the final two episodes and a nice transition from last week's Days of Future Present episode. For 24 it was its usual absurd, over the top show that just rehashes the same plot over and over again. I still really enjoy the hell out of it and season 5 was incredible. Season 6 hasn't been very good however, it is probably their worst offering so far. There have been a few great episodes with a bunch of junk. Tonights was very enjoyable however, it had lots of things I love to watch out of Jack and 24. Heroes was good just a little slow paced for this late in the season. The sucky part of course is only two weeks left for each one, that just sucks ass.

A lot of Heroes

Yesterday evening NBC ran a mini Heroes marathon of the recent episodes before the break. Pretty Bird, The Little One, and I watched the last two, well the little one didn't make it through the last episode, she fell asleep, it was late. I can't say it enough, that show is so good. I'm actually upset that I'm going to miss the episode on Monday. Hopefully we'll be able to catch it at the show but I doubt that we'll be able to catch it. Right now I'm having issues with the number of lines in the house so the TiVo can only catch one show. I gave Heroes priority over 24, it pains me after years of watching Jack save the world but Heroes just takes the cake. With NBC and Fox showing Heroes and 24 online the day after they air I'm not that worried, I'll catch them both.

Paint By Numbers, 24 Style

Tonights episode was pretty enjoyable it was just very transparent, not good writing. Every single turn was so obvious, at least in 24-verse, and that was a little disappointing. Jack is quick on the draw though, sorry Silver Spoons.

Next week presents a problem, Heroes returns and I'm out of town, tough stuff.

I miss Heroes

BSG was pretty damn good, I wish they could write the middle episodes. The finale was good but predictable. I wish we didn't have to wait until like 2065 for new episodes but it will be okay.

Jack smiled which was weird. This season wasn't as good as last year but still good.

I do miss Heroes though :(

Ick

I forgot how completely awful the Kim subplot was during Season 2, I mean ick.

Killin' On

Finally Jack got some killin' on. This has been a slow season in terms of the body count Jack Bauer creates. He made up for it last night with more than a few dead guys. Everyone knows Jack is lethal, you can't enter a room with Jack Bauer and not get hurt.

Only two volume settings

Did you ever notice Jack only has two volume settings, serious whisper or URGENT YELLING!

Jack's Dad

I like Donald Sutherland better but I still really like James Cromwell.

I also knew Jack wouldn't be able to fend off the terrorists without me. He let himself get caught by two bad guy henchmen with their mastermind who is a bad henchmen from RoboCop. I guess Jack has a problem with RoboCop bad guys. Didn't Jack see last season, everyone knew Graem was a bad guy. Jack should get the season on DVD and catch up.