Rambaldi--Do we care?

[sheri]

I could not help but notice ( : how all the packaging and promotion of Alias these past couple of years has been Rambaldi-centric. Have the powers-that-be really assumed that THAT was why we were watching the show?

Maybe it's because I've not had my first cup of green tea this morning, but as I was perusing Alias-media, etc. I started getting really irritated about the whole thing. <<me

I don't know about you guys, but I stuck with the show because of the characters....not the huge McGuffin known as Rambaldi.

Anybody a 'Hitch' fan out there? Quickly....think North by Northwest. (Are you thinking? Good.) What is the first thing that comes to mind? Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint on the train spouting innuendo? Their plight on Mt. Rushmore? Or do you immediately think about the underlying secret-spy-mumbo-jumbo plot? What was the plot anyway? Do we care? Heck no! That was just a device to get us involved in these people's lives!

Now how ridiculous would it have been for the studio handling the release of the N/NW DVD to have put it in a tiny filing cabinet -shaped box and promoted it with: "It was all about the microfilm!"? And then include a book highlighting all the plot nuances to top it off! They would have been laughed out of the business.

Did people write Disney and clamor for more Rambaldi? Did I miss something? Is that why they made the plot more and more maze-like as the seasons dragged on? The only people that wrote the PTB, that I was aware of, just vented about how they were ruining the relationships with plot twists that seemed to be done simply for shock value. I don't know of a single soul that said, "OMG, y'all, I like totally LOVE Rambaldi! So genius! Give us more ASAP!"

At the end we were promised that the finale would tie up loose ends as far as Rambaldi was concerned. Were they tied up? Not for me. It all seemed like a bunch of tap dancing leading to nowhere in my opinion.

And now, with the release of the DVD sets, they think we need more Rambaldi. MORE Rambaldi!

[sigh]

Got to have my tea now. I've given myself a headache.

[vaughnbear]

GEEZ Sheri,
Greenpeace called and wants their Soapbox back !!!!

To me Rambaldi was the focal point of the show throughout
the seasons. It just a marketing tool to get people to buy the
product because mostly "DIE HARD" fans will be the ones to
buy the full 5 Season Box Set.

To me all the characters lives came together or apart because of Rambaldi. The beginning of Season 4 was supposed to be a breakaway from Rambaldi but in the end they went right back to it because some of the "DIE HARDS" didn't like the sorted stories being told.

I really think the writers tried to please some of the fans but then others were dissappointed so they tried to please them and in the end couldn't win for nothing.... I wonder if they would have had a full 22 episodes things would have been tied up better than it was for just 17 episodes???

But then again I guess we'll never now (UNLESS THEY DO AN ALIAS MOVIE)... I can see it now Syd & Vaughn on the porch in rockers and Isabelle has taken over Dixon's job sending out her brothers and sisters on missions.... HEY IT COULD HAPPEN...

AND HAVE A NICE DAY.....

[sheri]

K~

Thanks. You've had a calming effect on me.

[sips tea]

Perhaps Rambaldi was the focal point of later subplots/plots, but I have to disagree that Rambaldi was the focal point of the entire show throughout the seasons. Especially not in the beginning. Rambaldi was thrown out there after awhile, but only in regards to artifacts that Syd needed to acquire for SD-6 (and then hand over to the CIA, of course). To me---and maybe I am being way too out there---the initial creative focal point was the concept of "Alias"....pretending to be someone you are not, having to be someone else even when you want so badly to be who you are. That was such a fascinating premise to me. Even JJ himself remarked that this was about a family.....that just happened to be caught up in espionage. He wanted to translate the drama of a Felicity-esque world of a young woman setting out in life into a whole other genre....and exploring how she handled the demands that brought. In my opinion, once the focus was taken off Syd and her relationship with people around her--for the sake of advancing the Rambaldi plot--the show lost its way.

As for the characters lives coming together or apart because of Rambaldi: Sure, the underlying plot did that, but only in a physical sense. Trust, or lack of it, was what really affected the characters as characters.

In other words, while Rambaldi may have BECOME the big gorilla in the room, it never should have (IMHO). Years from now, when we look back on the show, I doubt very seriously if we remember the subtle plot twists about an ancient mystic. We'll remember the characters and their 'moments'. From Syd and Vaughn's first smooch in the rubble of SD-6 to Marshall innocently offering pigs-in-a-blanket to Dixon.

But, like you said, they needed a hook on which to hang the marketing of the big-ol' 5-season set. I just wish it did not have to be 'Milo in the Middle'.

[tossing soap box aside, taking another sip of tea] Cheers!