So just recently I was put on to this new series thanks to New York Comic Con, I did not go to Comic Con like Amni-Flux and NeeNee, but I still watched the live streams. There was one particular panel that I found interesting and it was called “12 Monkeys” now I honestly thought based off the title it had to deal with Kung-fu and maybe Syfy decided to bring in some new aspect to the channel. But I came to find out that this is actually a tv series that just ended it’s first season at the beginning of this year. Watching this panel got me very interested and I decided to check out the show, but I mentioned the show to my friend and she said 12 Monkeys? what like the movie? I guess I am super late to the game because I did not know it was a movie. She told me I should watch the movie first and then watch the show. So what I would like to do is almost kind of like a comparison of the two but also just my opinion on the whole concept.
For anyone who does not know “Twelve Monkeys” the movie was made in 1995 and stars Bruce Willis who plays the convict James Cole and Brad Pitt who plays Jeffery Goines. This movie takes place in the year 2035, after a deadly virus in the year 1996 exterminated the entire human race with only a few humans left on the planet. Doctors have constantly tried to send men back into the past to correct the future, but many attempts have failed giving James Cole the opportunity to redeem himself. Cole finds about a group by the name of “Army of The Twelve Monkeys”. Brad Pitt is amazing in this movie and it takes a big turn when Cole and Goines meet up with each other, when they meet up in an insane asylum, where Goines right off the bat knows Cole isn’t insane or crazy at all.
Supposedly The “Army Of The Twelve Monkeys” are the ones who started the virus, so Cole is constantly trying to find different symbols that connects the dots only to be stubbed for a very interesting cliffhanger at the end of the movie. Watching this movie I honestly loved the concept of traveling back in time trying to change one event just to save the entire world, but what was very interesting to me is just having the idea of a deadly virus that takes control of the world and kills everyone is intriguing after all of the terrorist attacks that have been going on through the last decade and few years. This movie gives off the idea that if someone really wanted to destroy the planet they could, but being able to travel back in time is something that would take years of work.
After watching this movie, I was definitely ready to watch Syfy’s “12 Monkeys” I wanted to see which angle they would take the show from if they would sort of go right after what happened at the end of the movie, or if a new idea but same concept sort of structure. Watching the panel at Comic Con the director said one particular thing that stuck out to me he said that a lot of men in particular didn’t like how Jennifer Goines the daughter of Leland Goines wasn’t a girly girly and she actually had a sadistic kind of goofy personality. The woman who plays Jennifer (Emily Hampshire) said that she loves playing her character and everyone better get ready for more craziness. watching the panel that particular stuck with me because I wanted to see what all the commotion was about.
In the movie and in the Series James Cole travels back in time and he constantly meets a woman by the name of Cassandra Railly, no matter how much he tries not to get involved with her they somehow find each other. Dr. Railly is one of the people who helps to construct and find a way to stop the virus or at least warn people that someone in a higher up position is the cause of the destruction of the world. Until it is too late for her, this show is set in the year 2043 and the virus hits the earth between the years of 2015-2017. This almost made me feel a little uncomfortable at times just because of the year it is now because of how much technology has been invented and what really could be done. Cole is sent back in time to kill Leland Goines who is supposedly the man who created the virus and set it out upon the world. Cole kills Leland but sadly he is wrong and the doctors are wrong Leland was not the one who started the epidemic of the world. Leaving Cole wondering what will it take to change the world.
Throughout this series Cole is occupied by his long term friend Ramse who is also one of my favorite characters, until the end of the season, but even with the plot twist at the end I still enjoyed Ramse’s character change and switch up. Cole is constantly finding it hard to pinpoint who started the virus, finding out a special group of doctors who worked on the virus, but is constantly stuck and bombarded by obstacles that lead him to going back to the present in 2043 without completing the task at hand.
So I have to highlight one of my favorite characters in the show Emily Hampshire also known as Jennifer Goines, she plays the wacked out spaced out daughter of Leland Goines who is so funny, but dope. Her mind moves so different than everyone else and James Cole and Cassandra needs her help to figure out who the 12 Monkeys are. Jennifer forms a crush on Cole, but says something very interesting to Cassandra when they meet, she says “Poor Otter eyes, he thinks hes going to stop the virus” which makes you wonder she must know something Cole doesn’t know. One of my other favorite parts from her is when a dangerous wanted to know how to open the vault to get the virus and Jennifer said “No, I am going to tell you, I did not have sexually relations with that woman, I am like honest Abe I cannot tell a lie”. I think she is amazing character can’t wait to see her in season 2.
Lastly I would just like to speak on both the movie and the tv show, I love that the TV show sort of went on a different angle and used a different concept on how the virus got out, but which is interesting how the movie explained the 12 monkeys and how the Tv show explained the 12 monkeys. In the tv show it appears that the Army of the 12 is much more then just a basic group, but in the movie it seemed more of say a state of mind, a state of mind in being free and tearing down corporations that are trying to harm the people who they see as nothing or merely someone to just be locked away. In the show we see that the Army of the 12 is honestly like a real Army of individuals who we are left with a cliffhanger in the season finale of season 1, so hopefully season 2 we get a big explanation. I honestly love that I started the movie first and then watched the show because I understood everything more as it was happening, and I believe everyone should get into.
Here is the trailer for Season 2
RiceBall 