![]() “Dipper Scott doesn’t have Crohn’s disease he doesn’t have any limitations,” Jacob Thomsen says of his avatar, not explaining how Crohn’s disease affects his singing and perhaps forgetting that the avatar is 100 percent copying his own movement. Unless we are all avatars in a simulation, no generation has had a digital avatar superstar, and I’d bet that no generation ever will. “I would love to be the next generation’s digital superstar,” Samaera, who performs as “Misty Rose,” tells us. My sense is that these are talented singers who’d fit on any singing competition, from The Voice to America’s Got Talent, so when they’re forced to try to explain why this show makes sense for them, it ends up being more comedy than drama. I don’t want to belittle anyone’s experience or insecurities or judgment that they’ve faced, but I do know that Alter Ego does an exceptionally bad job of helping us understand why this is necessary. Why exactly are the contestants’ appearances being concealed? “For the first time in their lives, they will be judged solely on their talent,” host Rosci Diaz says. So what, then, is the purpose of the avatar? I don’t like the idea of someone’s physical appearance being used as a big reveal, but that’s what we’re left with. There’s very little mystery about personality or background. They also talk to the judges, who hear their actual voices and parts of their stories. Even if the faces were to become fully expressive, the show still doesn’t make any sense.ĭasharra Bridges, whose alter ego is named Queen Dynamite, performs in a motion capture suit on Fox’s Alter Ego (Photo by Greg Gayne/FOX)īefore the contestants sing, they’re introduced to us in a standard bio package, which means we know who they are and what they look like, so there is no mystery for viewers. Update: The version that aired on TV looks even shittier than it did on the screener I watched, and the characters’ mouths just flap open and closed, just as they did not in a public preview that also had barely-moving faces. The episodes Fox provided to TV critics said that “some elements” including “visual effects” “are not final,” so it’s possible the avatars’ mouths will have a full range of motion by the time it airs on TV. While the contestants have a camera in their face, presumably to capture facial expressions, the alter ego’s face barely moves.) What the digital characters can’t do is move their mouths, but that shouldn’t be much of a limitation in a singing competition. Here, they do rather basic animations, like shoot out sparks, catch on fire, and hover above the stage. The masks and costumes are works of art, but they’re often bulky and limit the celebrities somewhat in terms of their performance, whereas the digital avatars can theoretically do anything. What might have saved Alter Ego is if had just been The Masked Singer: Avatar Edition, with celebrities appearing via digital constructs instead of in masks. And that technology was a swivel chair, which was used by a show called The Voice back in 2011. Yes, technology finally made it possible to have a reality competition that’s focused on singer’s voices, not their appearances. Digital characters, cartoonish animated humanoids with purple skin and funky hair, materialize on the actual stage, allowing the singer to hide their appearance. The replicants- I Can See Your Voice, The Masked Dancer, and Game of Talents-didn’t have the novelty, nor any of the charms.įox’s newest version of the format is Alter Ego (Fox, Wednesdays at 9), and it is an even bigger failure.Īlter Ego hides its singers-who are not celebrities, just regular people-by having them perform in motion capture suits. But besides being playable at home and often genuinely surprising, the magic of The Masked Singer came from how different and new it was. I understand the impulse to try to duplicate that success, especially at time when it’s harder than ever to draw viewers to watch a broadcast show live. Alter Ego is, by my count, Fox’s fifth attempt to replicate The Masked Singer’s success as a play-at-home, performance-focused guessing game that hides the performers from the show’s own judges and viewers.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |