'The Last Ship': Adam Baldwin Just Wants to Do the Navy Proud

Breitbart's Big Hollywood ^ | August 24, 2014 | Kate O'Hare

[Bratch]

Tonight, Sunday, Aug. 24, TNT airs the season-one finale of its post-apocalyptic military drama The Last Ship, which has already received a season-two pick-up.

[...]

Adam Baldwin (Full Metal Jacket, Firefly, Serenity, Independence Day, Chuck) co-stars as Chandler's second in command, XO Mike Slattery. The Illinois native is used to playing military types, and the Navy is apparently happy with how he wears the uniform in The Last Ship and with the show itself.

"They love it," Baldwin tells Breitbart News. "They were thrilled, and the funny thing is, you have a dedicated fan base, and a built-in fan base, from the Navy, because our goal was to portray the Navy as realistically as we could within the scenario and within our Hollywood creation."

Of course, if things aren't done up to Navy snuff, Baldwin and the producers hear about it.

[discostu]

That’s always the problem with the American TV model. Last Ship innately has a finite plot: find the cure, use the cure. That’s really it. Dragging it out will get you into Lost season 3 territory eventually. I suspect season 2 will stink because there’s just no place really interesting to go. But our networks have a really hard time quitting while they’re ahead. If it’s got the ratings for a second season then bye God there will be a second season. We’re kind of starting to learn finite story telling on TV, but even then they want 5 years worth of finite, not 12 episodes.

[jjsheridan5]

The thing that troubles me on this thread is Freepers calling Honor, God, Country 'cheesy'.

Well for me if Honor, God, Country is 'cheesy' then I think this country isn't eating enough cheese!

Now I am sure I went and hurt someone's feelings on the thread, but guess what the old saw is true 'Sometimes the truth hurts'!

But the truth is, and sorry if this hurts, the show itself is very "cheesy". To say this, does not mean that there is anything less than noble about "Honor, God, Country". It simply means that the show is contrived, poorly executed, trite, predictable, and lacking any real tension. It is, for lack of a better phrase, "very cheesy".

One's belief in the values portrayed in the show need not be so tenuous that it requires one to disable any sense of quality. Personally, while I agree wholeheartedly that the country is in dire need of these values, I think these values, by their very nature, prevail over time (although not necessarily on a timescale we approve of), and we don't need to pretend that a bad show is actually "good" in order to help those values take root.

It is great to see the US Navy portrayed positively, and for the show to serve as homage to the values that used to be commonplace, it doesn't negate the fact that the show itself, is an awful pile of dreck.

[Political Junkie Too]

I agree that the plot twist in season 2 will be that good is bad and bad is good.

We can already see that Alfre Woodard's character will be the bad guy, and the "warlords" that she called them will be the good guys.

It's also likely that the troopers who took over the ship are loyal to Woodard, even though the warlord said to have his insiders find out what the ship is doing.

The question still is, can the series survive straying into familiar plot territory? How will a show about a Navy ship fare when the storyline becomes landlocked?

-PJ

[Chgogal]

A very strong Ditto THAT!

Cheesy my Buttola!

[Enterprise]

Probably my favorite scene is when Joker and Animal are jawing at each other when Joker goes out to the field to do some reporting.

[Kartographer]

You know when I knew what was up, when they said that the ‘warlords’ tried to steal the original copy of the Constitution. Not the act of a ‘warlord’, but act of a Patriot trying to protect and defend it.

[Kartographer]

Hub McCann: "Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love... true love never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn't matter if it's true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in." Secondhand Lions (2003)

[tanknetter]

I don’t think the show will stay landlocked per se. I’m guessing that sometime in Season 2 the specialized vaccine production facility is a smoking crater and the Nathan James heads off to find a new place to produce the vaccine.

I’m guessing that Ft. Dietrich got levelled by the “warlords” because thats where the Woodward followers were producing their euthanasia drug.

[never4get]

....Yes she is.... I would have a lot of injuries with a need for treatment if you know what I mean...

[Amity]

I’ve liked him since My Bodyguard.

Guess I’ll have to check this show out.

[Vermont Lt]

Relax. We all get it.

I am sure in the episodes next year they will move on to hating America.

[Political Junkie Too]

Yes, that's part of the peek-a-boo tension of dribbling out a little at a time to introduce the characters before finding out who's on what side. Make first impressions and then shake up those impressions.

Former government staffer living the high life while the warlords are gruff, unshaven, in dirty clothes and living in burned out buildings.

Later, find out that the government is killing people to fuel the power station because it's easier than rebuilding the coal mining industry, and also the petroleum industry to refine the gasoline to run the mining equipment, the labor to mine or refine no longer exists, typical dystopian plots.

This is usually what happens to sequels. The originality of the initial story is gone. It's now same old same old. This one is now straying into Soylent Green territory, but dead people are fuel now, not food.

-PJ

[Eric in the Ozarks]

It was always the “new” ensign...

[Bratch]

[wku man]

Cheesy? Which one...the show or "Honor, God and Country"? I've never watched the show, but Honor, God and Country are words I live by, as do millions of other veterans and service members, as well as first responders. I seriously hope you don't find anything cheesy about that.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho! Honor, God and Country!

[Puppage]

The Last Ship.....Waaaay cheesy.

[wku man]

Okay, my bad. I didn't think you were one to call Honor, God and Country cheesy...it seemed to be out of character.

I've never watched the show. Justified and Longmire are more my speed.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[vpintheak]

That explains why I like it!

[vpintheak]

Come on man! Do you think I would be on FR and find those things cheesy?
Cheesy is the Captain going out and doing missions. The script is a little cheesy. Not a big deal. I really like it, and last nights episode was awesome! Can’t wait for next week and next year!

[Kartographer]

Burning the excess and useless population to make green power. That’s a Greenie’s wet dream.

Wasn’t there a new story about aborted babies being used to fuel a power plant a couple months ago?