Did you like Code 9?

[Insider]

It was bad on so many levels, writing, acting, cynical recycling of plot devices and filming techniques from Spooks. I heard that a lot of people on the production side now deeply regret their involvement. It's tarnished a few careers.

[Tranquility]

(07-08-2009 01:00 PM)Insider Wrote:  It was bad on so many levels, writing, acting, cynical recycling of plot devices and filming techniques from Spooks. I heard that a lot of people on the production side now deeply regret their involvement. It's tarnished a few careers.

Couldn't have put it better myself. I was cringing badly through the whole of series 1

[Juliet Delta]

God it was just dreadful...the acting well to say wooden it was cringeworthy in all aspects. I am not surprised someone may of got the boot over it...It's a shame when you have a winning formula..why on earth would you want to dilute it or water it down? This was never gonna take off in the same way.

[bertowud]

One of the things I liked about the show was the reintroduction of Jez. He was the kid who broke into Harry's house in I think it was series 2. But with having the shows connected like that, they should have figured out how to handle his age better. He'd be a few years older than portrayed.

[deathbymascara]

I actually quite liked it Haha I mean it obviously wasn't as good as Spooks but I still think that the characters in it were good and most of the storylines too. I like the twist about the traitor at the end and the way you don't know at the end about the bomb.. that had me on the edge of my seat lol.
It reminded me of programmes like survivors and i like that kind of thing. Perhaps because it was affiliated with Spooks people's expectations were too high so they were naturally disappointed.
I was quite disappointed that there was absolutely no mention of any of the Spooks storylines, apart from Jez which I didn't even realise until reading this thread I was expecting something to actually connect it with Spooks otherwise it is not really a proper spinoff in my opinion

[YourFutureMuse]

I have finally caught up and watched it all (I have been watching a ridiculous amount lately - I blame it on the revision I am supposed to be doing lol)
I thought it was actually good. Maybe this was because I was execting it to be bad because of the reviews I had read whereas you guys expected it to be up to normal Spooks caliber which is of course a very big ask
The traitor twist was definitely the best part of it, I neve expected it!
I disliked the ending though - thought it could have been stronger maybe with more answers but I guess the mysterious element of not knowing was good also though.
I am quite glad there was no link to Spooks though because that would have made it less knew and fresh.
(I realise I have repeated most of what you said deathByMascara so this is just my longwinded way of saying I agree )

[bertowud]

Don't get me wrong. I liked the show the same way I liked Hex and Beyond Human. It was good in a cheesy and preposterous way.

Code 9's biggest sin was it just wasn't Spooks and shouldn't have borne that monicker. So as a Spooks spin off it fails.

[YourFutureMuse]

Never seen those shows so cn't really say... but I think it had the pace and action as normal spooks but not as much depth. Just more like stratching the surface, not very thought provoking..

[bertowud]

One of the believability problems I have with Code 9 is that a nuke has gone off in London and people are still raving and everything is business as usual in the rest of England.

The other problem I have is this means Harry's probably dead.

[Chris Ross Leong]

Watching it out of context (I'm originally from the UK but have been living in California now for a long time) I have to say that, prima facie, it wasn't bad at all.

My young son enjoyed it (of course he hasn't seen Spooks at all) so in and of itself it was certainly enjoyable enough and well done enough for the series to continue to the end of its run, and not be cut off at the first couple of episodes, like so many of the lesser series are over here in America.

If pressed, I feel that the premise itself was at fault here - if that weren't the instance, and there were something like a "teen/tween Spooks", with the senior staff still in place (as many of you have suggested), that would have been a different story entirely, and would likely still be running today.

Code 9 just isn't serious drama when compared to its parent series. It just behaves like one, just like a teen child of a heavy hitter might, until s/he learned what that was about. However, that behavior doesn't really stand closer scrutiny, especially when compared to its parent.

Further, since Spooks has always been a plot-oriented (story oriented) enterprise, I feel that the series stands (or fell, in this case) on its central plot premise: in any good sci-fi what-if story, the new world needed to be described in its entirety. This one wasn't - too many gaps, not the least of which was "what's happened to the "real" MI-5? Presumably we're watching the world (London) as it was in Spooks, but years on, and a bomb went off. Okay, but what happened to Harry? and all the rest. Ah well.

Like slasher movies where the kids in them have presumably never watched TV or seen horror movies in their lives, we're expected to believe in their antics, whereas in actual fact all of us know better, including (mostly) the actors who are portraying those dumb kids who don't know what's around the corner, and can't imagine it either.

Plus other similar characteristics, of course, many of which have been mentioned here before, and all which contributed to make it a lightweight show, ultimately, and not the heavy hitter that Spooks continues to be.