ratcreature | maybe it's one of those things that are different on Marvel's earth?

After watching the first two eps of Marvel Agents of SHIELD I had stopped, because I wasn't impressed and suffered from my embarrassment squick, but since I've seen an increase in more squeeful posts, so I decided to give it another try, but the series keeps tripping my up, like then while watching the third episode...

Did the writers not realize that Malta has actually been part of the EU for a while now? I don't think this is a case like Marvel's fantasy countries like Wakanda that must rearrange either either political of physical geography on Marvel's Earth (or is Marvel's EU different?) At first I wondered why SHIELD was so unwelcome in Malta when it didn't have trouble operating in Europe in the Avengers movie, but then there was that talk where that mining business guy went on about how Malta wasn't interfering into things like the US or the EU, and just... surely it's fairly common knowledge that Malta belongs to the EU, especially since the EU-related news the last years were dominated by financial crisis this, Eurozone trouble that, and Malta has a big banking sector relative to its size and is part of the Eurozone not just the EU.

And even if you didn't know, as soon as you want to write a story and to pick a location that isn't supposed to like too much interference from supranational bodies or big government, you'd do a quick check and pick another island? IDK, maybe Mauritius could have worked...

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I think it's fairly common knowledge among people who are... not TV scriptwriters. Which is to say, yes, your point is entirely valid. It's not as if 10 seconds with google wouldn't have told them the basics.

Along similar lines, I used to have a piece of headcanon that in the Stargate universe, Scotland is not part of the UK and is an independent nation, because I couldn't think of any other good reason why Carson Beckett would have a Scottish flag patch on his uniform instead of a Union Jack.

Maybe SGC flags are like the ones for football teams? Or maybe Carson is a supporter of the Scottish National Party and as a form of statement tore of the UK patch and replaced it?

With the Malta thing, even if they just hadn't mentioned the EU at all, I would have ignored the issue of their Malta being anti-SHIELD, because maybe relationships with SHIELD aren't negotiated/coordinated EU-wide or whatever, and I just wouldn't have thought about it much, because in the end the places are just backdrops in this series, not real presences. But it's like they highlighted it.

Yeah, kind of light on the factuals there.

I'm determined to keep the show my happy place, but there is a lot of racefail going on it, to be sure.

I'm watching for Coulson and May. Mostly May. I'm totally intrigued by her.

Unfortunately the characters haven't yet hooked me, so I'm more easily thrown out of the narrative by such stuff.

I totally get that.

It often takes me a while to warm up to ensembles though, because my inclination is always to identify with a main hero-character best.

Yeah.

In this case, I came in with a pre-constructed love for Coulson, and then I instantly fell in love with Melinda May. I already loved the actress. So there was that.

I hate to admit it, but I really don't care all that much about the cute young things on the team, which must be my age showing.

I guess my analogy must be Leverage, where I didn't care at all about the Team Leader, for once, but adored Parker and Eliot and above all Alec.

The laziness with respect to fact-checking of Hollywood writers is legendary. It's not even poetic license. It's just laziness and the assumption that they are smarter than Middle America. They probably don't know where Malta is, just like they don't know that privates don't salute sergeants or a million other things that don't affect the storyline or the prettiness of the actors, but they can't be arsed to check.

(The amount of work I've done for my stories to place Latveria and come up with place and people names likely for a Balkan nation is more research than they've done for all episodes of AoS put together. I at least opened Google Maps and the CIA Factbook.)

See and here I always assume Latveria to be some extra Baltic State squeezed between Latvia and Lithuania or something... It's in the Balkans in the Marvel universe?

If the ep just hadn't mentioned the EU and merely namedropped "Malta" as some random island state I wouldn't have wondered about how little sense it would make intra-universe for Malta to have a different policy toward SHIELD than other states in Europe. I don't go out wanting to nitpick, but they highlighted it in a way.

Latveria is apparently tucked into the corner around the intersection of Hungary, Romania, and Serbia. It's landlocked and partially surrounded by some other imaginary Marvel country that I don't know about and consequently ignore.

LOL. Marvel squeezes an awful number of extra countries into Europe, considering it's not exactly an uncrowded place to begin with. They should put some of the extras into North America instead -- you have more space to fit them into, especially since it's not used for extra cities like in the DCU... or do you get extra states and additional Canadian provinces instead and only the other continents get additional countries?

We only get extra states when Obama says that there are 57 of them. ;) And Canada makes their own extra provinces for real, they don't need comics.

The DCU should not be used as an example for anything, not when they have to put Metropolis in Delaware, which is too hilarious for words.

Europe, on the other hand, is chock full of countries that already seem pretend because they're tiny and tucked between two larger ones. Andorra, for instance. If it weren't real, Stan Lee would have made it up.

Well, why not Delaware? It doesn't already have a really famous big city everybody would associate with it so it's unlikely any story would miss it if you just split it up between Metropolis and Gotham instead of whatever unremarkable urban east coast sprawl with some boring no-name city is in Delaware for real...

For the same reason you can't have Paris in Andorra, pretty much. It's a size issue, mostly, but also a cultural thing. Delaware is not built for a metropolis, let alone a Metropolis.

I didn't know that about Malta. Still, you'd think if you were writing about it, you'd spend a few minutes reading its Wikipedia page, at least.

I'm willing to let factual errors slide when I'm really enjoying the show, but so far this show is not providing enough squee to make up for all the stupid.

I don't go out intentionally fact-checking superhero stories, but yeah, if you aren't really hooked to a story it is much harder to ignore stuff, especially if it is not nitpicky, specialized knowledge that you just happen to know, but everyday facts. And ok, I guess the EU membership of Malta is slightly more obscure if you are in the US and not actually part of the EU and thus aware whom you share a supranational structure with but still not something that requires any research effort. Even if they just hadn't mentioned the EU at all, I would have ignored the inconsistency of their Malta being anti-SHIELD, because maybe relationships with SHIELD aren't negotiated/coordinated EU-wide or whatever, and I just wouldn't have thought about it much, because in the end the places are just backdrops in this series, not real presences.

You aren't the only one who's had trouble with the show.

siriaeve and I have been going back and forth on the show. Ep 4 was the best yet, but the rest have a "unbetaed rushed fic" feel that, really, has done far more damage to the show--and their writers'--credibility and our enjoyment of what should have been an amazing show.

I'm switching back to NCIS for my Tues, and it's been struggling this season as well. Just...not as much.

However, like Eps 1-3 of the Star Wars movies, the writers must know something, because mainstream and non-hardcore Marvel fans love the show, it's (lack) of depth, and the (highly predictable) twists. I fear that we, sadly, are not the target audience; despite all presumption to the contrary.

I enjoyed the four ep more (haven't seen the fifth yet), even though it was hard on my eye injury squick.

maybe it's one of those things that are different on Marvel's earth?

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