Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Alpha Powers: new and used

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Alpha Powers: new and used

    As it's the dog days of summer and there's not much going on, I figured I'd see if anyone else has considered what sort of (realistic) new alpha abilities might work in this show, or creative ways in which current abilities could be used or altered. Maybe we can come up with something about which Shakespeare never wrote.

    Examples:

    Rachel can increase the sensitivity of one of her senses at the expense of sensitivity of her other senses. Much like Daredevil (Marvel Comics), with her hearing Rachel could turn herself into a "bat", using her hyper-hearing for a echolocation type of effect, allowing her to move around in low light conditions or perhaps even in complete darkness.

    Bill's ability has to this point only manifested itself as an increase in strength and durability. It doesn't seem to last overly long and then he's done for at least as long as he was hyped up, perhaps longer. Why does this "endocrinal fight or flight response" only manifest itself only as "fight" and not as "flight"? Why not have that adrenaline rush affect his speed in place of strength? I'm not talking comic book superhero speed, just something which suddenly puts him close to being a track star (or maybe a bit faster?) or increases his reaction speed. This would be different from the ability which Hicks possesses in that Hicks can process movement and react accordingly, while Bill would actually be moving faster. Active vs reactive.


    regards,
    G.

    EDIT: it gets pointed out later in the thread that Bill has moved at an increased rate of speed in the episode "Never Let Me Go".
    Last edited by Gollumpus; 02 September 2011, 08:39 AM.
    Go for Marty...

    #2
    Flight or Fight does not work that way. Flight or Fight is that your body prepares for sudden action. be that fighting or fleeing. it wears off because you can't sustain such a high level of activity for long. if he wanted to run, he could just invoke it and sprint faster and longer than anyone

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by thekillman View Post
      Flight or Fight does not work that way. Flight or Fight is that your body prepares for sudden action. be that fighting or fleeing. it wears off because you can't sustain such a high level of activity for long. if he wanted to run, he could just invoke it and sprint faster and longer than anyone
      And therefore my point of "all fight and no flight".

      We have never seen Bill do more than grimace, become stronger and then collapse, often at an inopportune time. I can not recall any instance where he can move faster. Perhaps this is because the writers haven't found a way to incorporate the speed aspect into an episode, or the producers have found it to be cheaper to do strength effects rather than speed effects.

      regards,
      G.
      Go for Marty...

      Comment


        #4
        he invokes it at will, when he wants to fight. given the side-effects, i'd say speed is not useful.

        Comment


          #5
          Actually, I have seen Bill use his Alpha power to run at "super" speed. In the episode, "Never Let Me Go", after his car broke down while he and Hicks were going after Rachel and the woman, Bill used his Alpha power to catch up to Rachel, who was pushed out of the car.
          sigpic

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by thekillman View Post
            he invokes it at will, when he wants to fight. given the side-effects, i'd say speed is not useful.
            Well, what if he needed to get to the end of the block in under 10 seconds? What use would it be to become strong unless there was a speed component as well?

            RoK, I don't recall Bill moving fast in "Never Let Me Go", but I'll give it a look see. If so, good catch.

            regards,
            G.
            Go for Marty...

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by RoK View Post
              Actually, I have seen Bill use his Alpha power to run at "super" speed. In the episode, "Never Let Me Go", after his car broke down while he and Hicks were going after Rachel and the woman, Bill used his Alpha power to catch up to Rachel, who was pushed out of the car.
              I just looked at the episode. Good memory, cuz I'd forgotten all about Bill running at some sort of hyper level.

              I wonder if the running component is less taxing on his system than the fighting aspect? Bill would have had to have been running for a longer period of time than when he normally ramps up his strength. And he didn't seem particularly worn out (ie. he was about to collapse from the effects of running and the alpha boost).

              regards,
              G.
              Go for Marty...

              Comment


                #8
                Apparently what's different about Bill is that he's able to "amp up" at will-something the rest of us seemingly can't.
                I wonder if this would cause health problems down the road for him, such as adrenal fatigue?
                Does he have to make sure he keeps doing this at a minimum for the sake of his health?

                Comment


                  #9
                  Interesting idea. So far, we have seen him rev up and then collapse after what seems to be a variable amount of time, or, we have seen him do "minor" feats of strength (push a car or lift a soda pop machine) and not seem all that phased after the fact.

                  I've never quite been able to figure out just how long he is able to keep his ability active before it shuts down. I was starting to think that he could vary the intensity of the activation based upon just how soon he did drop. Examples: in the pilot he revs up and within a few minutes he collapses (just in time to let the suspect escape). In "Never Let Me Go", he appears to run for what would have to be several miles in pursuit of a car and doesn't seem all that phased when he reaches Rachel.

                  regards,
                  G.
                  Go for Marty...

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Other effects for Bill may be difficult to have in a TV show. The further its shown, the more it may look like only a special effect.

                    He could have increased speed, but how do you show that without slowing everything else down or showing just Bill sped up and leaving everything else in normal time frame.
                    Similarly, Bill could be in a rough neighborhood but amped up, and kid could break a baseball bat over Bill's back and Bill wouldn't notice. He could be shot by a gun and someone tell him later he was shot because he was too amped up to notice getting shot.
                    Eventually they have to do a show where Bill goes off the adrenaline deep end for the episode.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      How they did it in "Never Let Me Go" was to have him ramp up and take off (nothing too special at that point), and later in the sequence Rachel, looking into a rear view mirror and using her enhanced vision, saw Bill running behind the car in which she was riding (and perhaps gaining on it).

                      Originally posted by ZeroPoint View Post
                      Eventually they have to do a show where Bill goes off the adrenaline deep end for the episode.
                      Interesting idea. I can see this being used in an episode.

                      regards,
                      G.
                      Go for Marty...

                      Comment


                        #12
                        I know I'm resurrecting a year long dead thread, but didn't want to make a new thread with a similar title.

                        With the recent ability improvement in the team, I thought this would be a good place to go over speculation on ability changes, and which are definitely possible but likely won't ever be seen.

                        Bill Harken : I really doubt his "Fight or Flight" response will ever come up "Flight" so he'd run away in a manic way, but that's the way its stated. I still think at some point he has to be put in juggernaut mode.

                        Anyone care to add?

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by ZeroPoint View Post
                          Bill Harken : I really doubt his "Fight or Flight" response will ever come up "Flight" so he'd run away in a manic way, but that's the way its stated. I still think at some point he has to be put in juggernaut mode.
                          I had similar thoughts to yours, and then RoK pointed out the following (in this very thread) :


                          Originally posted by RoK View Post
                          Actually, I have seen Bill use his Alpha power to run at "super" speed. In the episode, "Never Let Me Go", after his car broke down while he and Hicks were going after Rachel and the woman, Bill used his Alpha power to catch up to Rachel, who was pushed out of the car.

                          I suppose it's something which the writing staff have not considered very often.

                          regards,
                          G.
                          Go for Marty...

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Originally posted by Gollumpus View Post
                            I had similar thoughts to yours, and then RoK pointed out the following (in this very thread) :

                            I suppose it's something which the writing staff have not considered very often.

                            regards,
                            G.
                            I disagree. That was still a fight response. He was running after someone trying to catch up.

                            It'd be a flight response if he was trying to avoid. I suppose a funny way to put it is someone in a beat-up pickup is trying to run down Bill but can't because Bill is faster than the pickup.

                            Comment

                            Working...
                            X