Jack Bauer leapt back into action after a four-year hiatus for '24: Live Another Day,' a revamped version of the original series that ran for eight seasons on Fox.
“打不死的小强”杰克•鲍尔(Jack Bauer)回来了!近日,反恐美剧《24小时:再活一天》(24: Live Another Day)正式开播,这部在福克斯电视台(Fox)播出了八季收官的王牌剧集在时隔四年之后以新剧形式重磅回归。
Back when it debuted in 2001, '24' was a groundbreaking series, with its almost real-time storytelling, multiple threads and split screens. It even became part of the argument that watching television makes us smarter in the book 'Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter.'
《24小时》最早在2001年开播,以接近实时叙事、多条主线同时推进、频繁使用分隔画面的手法掀起了一场电视剧的革命。它甚至出现在了《坏事变好事:大众文化如何让我们变得更聪明》(Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture)一书中讨论看电视是否让人更聪明的相关章节。
Other shows debuting that year included 'Alias,' 'Scrubs' and 'Six Feet Under'-all of which ended years ago.
当年开播的其他美剧《双面女间谍》(Alias)、《实习医生风云》(Scrubs)和《六尺之下》(Six Feet Under)都已在多年前收官。
Kiefer Sutherland has lost none of his gruff charm reprising the role of Jack Bauer-there's almost a nostalgic comfort seeing him take on multiple foes with ease, even strangling a guy with his hands literally tied behind his back. And the show's action-packed formula remains essentially the same, across a condensed, 12-episode arc.
新剧中扮演特工杰克•鲍尔一角的依然是基弗•萨瑟兰(Kiefer Sutherland),他仍然酷劲十足,轻轻松松就以一敌多,甚至在双手被绑身后的情况下都能勒死一个敌人。新剧情节也基本保持了以前的紧凑风格,只是每季集数缩减到了12集。
Yet what has changed is the television landscape. One can argue-and many have-that we are in yet another golden age of television. New York magazine's Matt Zoller Seitz recently wrote about the rise of the bespoke TV series.
不过,如今的电视行业已经与过去大不同。可以说,我们正处在一个全新的电视黄金时代,也的确已经有许多人表达了这样的看法。纽约杂志的影评人赛茨(Matt Zoller Seitz)最近就写到了定制剧的兴起。
The bar for great television is simply higher now, in part thanks to shows like '24' that helped push beyond traditional TV narratives. '24' producers Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa went on to work on 'Homeland,' which in its first season offered up a more nuanced, complex take on terrorism and the U.S.
只不过如今优秀电视剧的标准更高了,从一定程度上是因为《24小时》这样的剧集帮助突破了传统的电视叙事风格。《24小时》的制片人霍华德•戈登(Howard Gordon)和亚历克斯•甘萨(Alex Gansa)之后又参与了《国土安全》(Homeland)的制作。《国土安全》的第一季展示了对恐怖主义和美国的一种更为微妙而复杂的看法。
Since '24' went off the air in 2010, shows including 'True Detective,' 'The Americans,' 'House of Cards' (U.S.), 'Game of Thrones,' 'The Returned' and 'American Horror Story' have hit the airwaves-not to mention shows that started earlier, like 'Breaking Bad' and 'Mad Men.'
自2010年《24小时》最终季播完以来,包括《真探》(True Detective)、《美国谍梦》(The Americans)、《纸牌屋》(House of Cards)、《权力的游戏》(Game of Thrones)、《亡者归来》(The Returned)和《美国恐怖故事》(American Horror Story)在内的电视剧陆续播出,更不用说在那之前开播的电视剧,比如《绝命毒师》(Breaking Bad)和《广告狂人》(Mad Men)。
In its first season of the anthology series, HBO's 'True Detective' showed what a cohesive writing-directing team can accomplish-with the help of Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey, fresh off an Oscar win for 'Dallas Buyers Club.' Writer Nic Pizzolatto and director Cary Fukunaga turned the traditional detective series into a character-driven story with an eerie, Southern backdrop that HBO has mastered over the years ('Treme,' 'True Blood').
HBO的《真探》在第一季中显示出一个具有凝聚力的编导团队在伍迪•哈勒尔森(Woody Harrelson)和马修•麦康纳(Matthew McConaughey)的帮助下,能够实现怎样的成就。麦康纳刚刚凭借《达拉斯买家俱乐部》(Dallas Buyers Club)获得了奥斯卡奖。编剧尼克•皮佐拉托(Nic Pizzolatto)和导演卡里•福永(Cary Fukunaga)将这部传统侦探剧变成了一个由人物推动、以南方为背景的故事,HBO这些年对此已深谙其道――曾播出了《劫后余生》(Treme)和《真爱如血》(True Blood)。
Netflix's 'House of Cards' made Emmy history by becoming the first online video distributor to win an award in a major category last year. And Sundance Channel's 'The Returned,' a French supernatural drama based on a 2004 film, upended the traditional zombie category with its meditative pacing and focus on human connections over bloodthirsty monsters.
Netflix的《纸牌屋》创造了艾美奖的历史,去年成为首个赢得艾美奖主要奖项的网络视频发行商。Sundance Channel的《亡者归来》是一部改编自2004年电影的法国超自然剧集,凭借其引人深思的剧情推进速度和专注于人类关系而非嗜血怪物的主题颠覆了传统僵尸片。
Against this caliber of shows, '24' feels strangely outdated-even next to the '80s backdrop of 'The Americans.' Stilted dialogue that mostly serves to push the action forward, the clock's countdown-which after eight seasons and other copycats, no longer seems so pressing-and the familiar 'trust no one' concept don't stack up to current television (consider scheming Littlefinger of 'Game of Thrones' as an example of complex plotting and motives).
与这一系列剧集相比,《24小时》莫名其妙地让人感觉有些过时,即便是与以上世纪80年代为背景的《美国谍梦》相比也是如此。主要为动作戏做铺垫的僵硬对白、倒计时画面(在用了八季并被其他电视剧跟风效仿后,不再令人心跳加快),而且观众熟悉的“谁都不相信”的桥段与当下的电视剧相比也是小巫见大巫(看看《权力的游戏》中诡计多端的“小手指”(Littlefinger)的复杂阴谋和动机)。
Although entertaining, the new '24' leaves me wishing producer Howard Gordon had stuck to his statement back in 2010: 'Kiefer and I have loved every minute of making '24,' but we all believe that now is the right time to call it a day.'
尽管很精彩,但《24小时:再活一天》让我觉得制片人戈登还不如坚守他2010年说的话:“基弗和我喜欢制作《24小时》的每一分钟,但我们都认为现在是结束的时候了。”
Fox was until recently part of the same company as The Wall Street Journal.
直到最近,福克斯和《华尔街日报》同属一家公司。
Readers, what do you think? Are you still hanging on to every minute of the new '24'?
读者们,您有什么看法?您仍会不错过《24小时:再活一天》的每一分钟吗?