About two weeks ago, my sister and I
had the opportunity to attend an advanced screening of the pilot for
the new fall show Sleepy Hollow. I found out about it through a tv
website that I visit regularly, and jumped at the chance since it is
one of the shows I've been interested in.
For those of you not familiar with the show, here is the official synopsis from the press release. “From co-creators/executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (the "Star Trek" and "Transformers" franchises, "Fringe") comes the adventure thriller SLEEPY HOLLOW. In this modern-day retelling of Washington Irving's classic, ICHABOD CRANE (Tom Mison, "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen") is resurrected and pulled two and a half centuries through time to find that the world is on the brink of destruction and that he is humanity's last hope, forcing him to team up with a contemporary police officer (Nicole Beharie, "Shame," "American Violet") to unravel a mystery that dates back to the founding fathers.”
When we got to the theater where they were having the screening, we got vouchers for a free popcorn and soda/water. We decided not to use them, though, because the lines were pretty long and it was going to start in about 20 or so minutes. This theater had the unique feature that you could pick your seat when you got your ticket. As convenient as this may seem, it was a little annoying for us because by the time we were able to pick our seats enough people had come in ahead of us to take all the “good” seats, meaning that we were stuck down in the front section even though when we got to the theater there were still non-reclining seats available. Ah, well, that's life. From our vantage point the picture was a little distorted, but it wasn't so bad as to be completely distracting.
Before they showed the pilot, they showed two featurettes. The first was about the director, which I had previously seen online, and the second was about filming the period bits of the pilot. Apparently, they filmed the entire battle section of the pilot in one day, which is really impressive considering all that they had to do. Also, Tom Mison's mom always likes it whenever he does period stuff. It's the first question she asks him when she hears he has a new project, so he was glad to make her happy with Sleepy Hollow.
I don't want to give away too much of the episode, so I'm going to try and just give some overall impressions about it below.
While it does start in the Revolutionary War-era, it moved rather quickly to our time period. I had thought that there would be more story set-up at the beginning than there was, but I understand why they decided to do it that way. They did a very good job of setting up the plot – such as why Ichabod is here now and what he needs to do. Nicole Beharie's character (Lieutenant Abbie Mills) is given good set-up as well, giving her an important part to contribute to the plot, and not necessarily just Ichabod's modern/female sidekick. Near the end of the episode, she has to make an important decision pertaining to her future with the department. I had forgotten that John Cho had been cast in the pilot, so it was a pleasant surprise to see him. His character takes an interesting twist that I didn't really see coming. Ichabod didn't really flip out over it suddenly being 250 years later from when he last knew it to be, but it is dealt with (sometimes a little humorously). However, it is entirely likely that he's internalizing it some (due to all that's going on) and it may be dealt with more down the road.
There were some good “from another time” jokes, as well as the no-head thing for the Headless Horseman. I really liked one of the effects used when the Headless Horseman beheaded a person. It was very unique and kinda cool. They utilized the flashbacks well, and I think that it's something they will use going forward. I did have few nit-picky issues with some law-enforcement things that happened, but that's mostly because I have the experiences to know they wouldn't do that in real life. (I know, I know, suspension of disbelief...)
Overall, Megan and I really enjoyed the pilot. It was something we had already been looking forward to, and this already cemented it. We will definitely be watching it when the show premieres.
Before I go, I will leave you with one last tidbit – someone uses a shotgun and AR-15 to spectacular effect.
Don't forget to tune in to the pilot of Sleepy Hollow on FOX Monday, September 16th 10pm Eastern/9pm Central after Bones!
For those of you not familiar with the show, here is the official synopsis from the press release. “From co-creators/executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (the "Star Trek" and "Transformers" franchises, "Fringe") comes the adventure thriller SLEEPY HOLLOW. In this modern-day retelling of Washington Irving's classic, ICHABOD CRANE (Tom Mison, "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen") is resurrected and pulled two and a half centuries through time to find that the world is on the brink of destruction and that he is humanity's last hope, forcing him to team up with a contemporary police officer (Nicole Beharie, "Shame," "American Violet") to unravel a mystery that dates back to the founding fathers.”
When we got to the theater where they were having the screening, we got vouchers for a free popcorn and soda/water. We decided not to use them, though, because the lines were pretty long and it was going to start in about 20 or so minutes. This theater had the unique feature that you could pick your seat when you got your ticket. As convenient as this may seem, it was a little annoying for us because by the time we were able to pick our seats enough people had come in ahead of us to take all the “good” seats, meaning that we were stuck down in the front section even though when we got to the theater there were still non-reclining seats available. Ah, well, that's life. From our vantage point the picture was a little distorted, but it wasn't so bad as to be completely distracting.
Before they showed the pilot, they showed two featurettes. The first was about the director, which I had previously seen online, and the second was about filming the period bits of the pilot. Apparently, they filmed the entire battle section of the pilot in one day, which is really impressive considering all that they had to do. Also, Tom Mison's mom always likes it whenever he does period stuff. It's the first question she asks him when she hears he has a new project, so he was glad to make her happy with Sleepy Hollow.
I don't want to give away too much of the episode, so I'm going to try and just give some overall impressions about it below.
While it does start in the Revolutionary War-era, it moved rather quickly to our time period. I had thought that there would be more story set-up at the beginning than there was, but I understand why they decided to do it that way. They did a very good job of setting up the plot – such as why Ichabod is here now and what he needs to do. Nicole Beharie's character (Lieutenant Abbie Mills) is given good set-up as well, giving her an important part to contribute to the plot, and not necessarily just Ichabod's modern/female sidekick. Near the end of the episode, she has to make an important decision pertaining to her future with the department. I had forgotten that John Cho had been cast in the pilot, so it was a pleasant surprise to see him. His character takes an interesting twist that I didn't really see coming. Ichabod didn't really flip out over it suddenly being 250 years later from when he last knew it to be, but it is dealt with (sometimes a little humorously). However, it is entirely likely that he's internalizing it some (due to all that's going on) and it may be dealt with more down the road.
There were some good “from another time” jokes, as well as the no-head thing for the Headless Horseman. I really liked one of the effects used when the Headless Horseman beheaded a person. It was very unique and kinda cool. They utilized the flashbacks well, and I think that it's something they will use going forward. I did have few nit-picky issues with some law-enforcement things that happened, but that's mostly because I have the experiences to know they wouldn't do that in real life. (I know, I know, suspension of disbelief...)
Overall, Megan and I really enjoyed the pilot. It was something we had already been looking forward to, and this already cemented it. We will definitely be watching it when the show premieres.
Before I go, I will leave you with one last tidbit – someone uses a shotgun and AR-15 to spectacular effect.
Don't forget to tune in to the pilot of Sleepy Hollow on FOX Monday, September 16th 10pm Eastern/9pm Central after Bones!
I can't wait to see this show! I'm so relieved someone I "know" likes it. I didn't even know John Cho was in it, haha.
ReplyDeleteI am definitely exited about this show.
DeleteI know - when we saw his name in the credits at the beginning, we just turn to each other and went "Yes!"