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Question about opening scenes of each episode

posted 14 years ago by tresestrellas
5 replies | jump to latest

I'm about halfway through season 1 - I've just finished watching episode 12, "Something of Value", where 3 thieves try to steal the tanker. I'm just saying this because I would prefer not to hear spoilers for any episodes beyond this one. (Thanks.)

In the opener to each episode, you see a scientist working with a beaker of liquid, presumably holding the virus. Then he drops it, but it's not clear whether that was by accident or on purpose. I'm leaning toward the latter - he looks kind of evil, if you ask me. :) Then you see him traveling to Moscow, where he collapses, and I guess we're supposed to infer that he dies? Then there's a montage of planes taking off, and passports being stamped in various worldwide cities.

What are opinions on this? Was it an accident? With all the planes and traveling, etc, maybe they're just trying to show it spreading via international travel?

[–] lisamj1973 13 years ago

Yeah, I think it is supposed to be an accident, though in a later episode someone vaguely mentions something about the communists causing it,, presumably the Chinese since you see several Chinese looking men in the opening, but I'm not sure. In the new series it is a Western-created disease but I haven't finished the first series yet either so I don't know if they explain it in the original. I personally lean towards accident. I mean, why purposely create a virus that will kill you and all of humanity, unless you are a total psychopath? I lean towards the idea of someone dropping the vial by accident and it spreading through travel inadvertently.

[–] Mousuke 13 years ago

I think it was an accident that it got out when it did, but it was probably being developed as a weapon so the intention to release it would have been there. I am too young to have any memory of what it was like during the cold ar, but presumably the threat of biological/ germ warfare was there along with nuclear.

Lovers in League Against Satan

[–] fredgarv79 12 years ago

just think, this guy couldn't just do a simple thing and hang on to that bloody beaker! what they didn't show,(but was in the original VHS release) was that his beautiful chinese lab assistant had just bent over to pick up her pencil and this scientist took his eyes off the beaker and dropped it. so the entire human race was wiped out because this guy was lonely

(they ended up cutting this out because it was just too "benny hill")

[–] mark6785 12 years ago

lol , i'd love to see that

[–] Darth_Ferior 12 years ago

As a matter of fact, the film Rise of the Planet of the Apes ended exactly the same way, with some guy falling ill in an airport, with flights going out to every country in the world