24: The Movie, Or How We Will Get LESS 24 Than Usual !
By fred | June 25, 2008
Where in the World in Jack Bauer ??
No really, I’m asking. Do you guys realize that the last time the latest superhero rushed into our little screens to save the world, was in 2007 ? May 21st, 2007, to be precise. That’s a freaking long time, and yet the show isn’t coming back until January 2009 !!
Yeah yeah, writers’ strike, not even only half a season completed, blah blah blah… that doesn’t change the fact that last season was the worst the show ever had, it was really a bad one, and now we have to wait and wait and wait some more before we can see Jack kicking ass again. Thank God, this is why Fox came up with a plan : a movie !
A two-hour movie, prequel to the upcoming seventh season of the show, which will air on Sunday, November 23rd at 8.00 - on Fox obviously.
And recently, Robert Carlyle talked a little with Premiere about this upcoming movie in which he stars, and there’s something wrong! (Read ahead, no spoilers involved!)
See, when asked about the movie, Carlyle confirmed that it was a prequel to upcoming season, but he went ever a bit further than that. Here’s what he said exactly :
Is the movie sticking to the TV show’s real-time format ?
It is. This two hours is two hours in real time and there’ll then be 22 episodes. I don’t know how they connect it to the first of those 22 episodes but it’s literally the third hour…So it will lead straight into the new series ?
Yeah.
Okay, so I have a problem with that. That’s not what I had understood about this movie, I thought we weren’t just getting some 24 sooner than 2009, but we were getting more of it, two extra hours that would be an addition to the full, 24-episode season seven.
In my understanding, the movie was a two-hour prequel that was to took place before Day 7 in the life of Jack Bauer, and should it be right before the season premiere or should there be yet another “time jump” between the two, either way the season was your usual season, made out of 24 episodes !
But now, according to Carlyle that’s not really it. In fact, that’s not it at all, because the movie isn’t actually even a prequel, it’s just the 2 first episodes of the seventh season !! Only they air first, then there’s again months to wait before we get the 22 remaining episodes, starting now with the next, and third, episode. WTF!??
I don’t know, is it possible that somehow Carlyle got things wrong ? That - while being the two hours right before the first episode of the season - the movie is still a prequel, and coming next are still our usual dose of 24 episodes ? Sure, in a way that could make this seventh season 26-hour long, but that’s alright with me : a two-hour movie prequel, and the usual 24-hour season. Makes sense.
But if this whole thing about giving us some Jack Bauer sooner ends up in this, in not making an actual movie but simply airing the two first episode of the season a few months earlier than the rest of the season, I’m gonna be pretty pissed, for sure!
So I’m going with the idea that Carlyle got things wrong, otherwise I’d be pissed. What about you : do you think he got things mixed up too ? Would you be fine with only 22 episodes of 24 in 2009 ??
SPOILER WARNING
Okay, if you don’t want no spoilers, stop reading there. If you don’t care, here’s everything the man said to Premiere, which doesn’t reveal that much but still a little, and a little is enough to get spoiled. You’ve been warned.
Where were you shooting in South Africa ?
We were in the Stellenbosch region, the wine country. It was doubling for jungle in the fictional country of Sangala.Who’s your character in 24 ?
My character’s called Carl Benton who is Jack Bauer’s best buddy and he hasn’t seen him for 10 years or something. Jack’s on his travels and he comes to see Carl and hang out with him and potentially change his life. Maybe…Is the movie sticking to the TV show’s real-time format ?
It is. This two hours is two hours in real time and there’ll then be 22 episodes. I don’t know how they connect it to the first of those 22 episodes but it’s literally the third hour…So it will lead straight into the new series ?
Yeah.Will you be in the series as well ?
We don’t know. I can’t tell you anymore or Jack Bauer’ll come and kill me. And you.
24 Update: Carlyle was drunk, or something. @ TVoholic.com: Full episode reviews of your favorite TV shows & news about television