I've watched a bunch of fall/late summer pilots in the last few months, and I haven't been talking about them because I don't think it's right. They aren't released to the general public, and I'd probably get in trouble for talking about them in detail. You know, besides saying Friday Night Lights looks exactly like the movie, Kidnapped looks great and Jeremy Sisto is a big ball of hotness, and Heroes, I'll watch a few times and then may just forget about it. Luckily, with Aquaman it's different. For anyone who wants to, you can go to iTunes and download the pilot for $1.99. I just finished watching it, and as production value and special effects go, it's pretty good. The story started out good, lulled in the middle, and then ended well, with me definitely wanting to watch more episodes. What I just learned though, after writing this entire thing, is that the show wasn't picked up. I don't know if they want to cause a bit of buzz about it and hopefully create some interest or what. I would say, if it sounds like something you'd like, go to iTunes, download it and watch it, giving it some buzz and hopefully at least a season order.
The short of it is that A.C., played by the former Passions star hot Justin Hartely, has some sort of mysterious connection to the sea. He can "hear" the animals talk. More like he can sense what they're feeling, unlike Superfriends when he quacked like a fish. He can also swim as fast as a torpedo, literally. When he was a kid, flying over the Bermuda Triangle with his mother, the plane crashed after being attacked by funnels of water that came up from the sea. In the water, the mom had superhuman strength, got him out, and before she could rescue herself, was dragged to her death by something unknown from the bottom of the ocean. Little A.C. survived, being saved by a school of whales.
Flash to ten years later, the studly A.C. owns his own dive shop, and his step-father, Lou Diamond Phillips, has to bail him out of jail whenever he gets arrested for freeing dolphins or something sea-friendly like that. He has a best friend, who he owns the shop with, Abby, or
Addy, or something like that. She half heartedly believes his whole, talking to the fishes thing, but doesn't think he's completely crazy. She believes him enough that when A.C. gets attacked by some weird sea creature girl thing, called a Siren, he feels like he can tell her. Luckily, when getting attacked, Ving Rhames showed up and told him the truth about his past.
Years ago his parents fled Atlantis, where they were the King and Queen or some high up royalty. There were people there who wanted to kill them, the Sirens one of them, and they thought coming to the surface would allow them to escape. Unfortunately the father was killed in their escape but A.C., whose underwater name is glubglubglub, no wait, it's Oren, which is sexy, and their mother, escaped. Lou Diamond Phillips found them and they fell in love. Ving Rhames was also sent with them, to protect A.C. and his mother. A.C.'s mission in life is to protect the ocean, and the world, from the evil things that come from the sea, like sea urchins.
While all of this is going on, in present day, a Navy fighter pilot, a chick whose name I'm blanking on, was told by her commander officer to fly over a site where they found a man floating in the water. John Doe was found without a boat, and twenty five miles out to see, by Lou Diamond's crew. So they decided to search the area. Not sure if searching the area with a jet going 700 miles an hour is a good idea, but it was a key plot point. While searching, A.C. sees the plane and because he's having a great time swimming, follows it along, going nearly the same speed. She sees that something's under the water, but before she can go take another look, A.C.'s necklace starts to glow and one of those water tunnels comes up and blasts her out of the sky. She ejects, and I guess her seat didn't do what it was supposed to do, throw out the parachute and let her go. Underwater, A.C. rescues her and takes her back to land.
In the hospital, he's there when she wakes up and makes sure she's okay. She knows something happened but he tries to convince her it was all in her imagination, because she was drowning. As he leaves the hospital, his necklace starts glowing again. He follows the glow and realizes it's leading him to the John Doe his step-dad pulled out of the water. Just as he approaches, the guy wakes up and warns him that "they" are coming for him. A.C.'s confused, and suddenly a man in black shows up, with military police and takes John away.
At the military hospital, John is awake and walking around. The man in black holds up a picture and tells the woman he's with that this guy is someone who disappeared, over sixty years ago, in the Bermuda Triangle. Okay, so I get it. When you disappear over the Bermuda Triangle, you actually get sucked down to Atlantis and become one of them. The man in black then goes to the Navy pilot lady, and tells her that he's the one who requested her for the mission. He then takes her into a warehouse full of documents, and says that these are all the people who disappeared, and that he believes they didn't actually die. She's a bit skeptical, but after being pulled through the ocean, she's a believer. Meanwhile, the Siren shows up and kills John Doe, thanking him for leading her to Oren.
Speaking of Oren aka A.C., he tells his best friend that she should close the shop down, and leave for a few days, that an evil Siren is after him because he's the Prince of Atlantis. She sees in his eyes that he truly believes it, so she decides, just in case it's true, to leave for a few days. As they're packing up though, the Siren shows up and stabs her through the stomach. Nadia, the Siren, also knocks A.C. out. When he wakes up he's on his boat, with Ving Rhames, tied up. Ving explains that Nadia is taking them back to Atlantis, so she can kill him in front of everyone.
Now he's pissed, and since water gives him that crazy strength he has, he finds some and drinks it, then able to untie both himself and Ving. When they're untied, they call for Nadia, who's pulling the boat. The necklace she's wearing begins to glow, and that water tunnel comes up. It's raining heavily as she goes onto the boat to see what's up. Ving attacks her, but misses shooting her between the eyes, the Siren's only weak spot. They fight a bit and she stabs him in his legs. Then A.C. shows up and does some major Siren ass kicking. Eventually, he stabs her in the face and she dies.
As the show ends, we see his best friend in the hospital, not dead. Also, we see the man in black holding a picture of what looks like the Navy pilot lady, back in the forties. So we get it that the reason he requested her is that he thinks she's one of Atlantians as well.
All in all, I definitely enjoyed the show and hope it gets picked up. The acting wasn't as bad as you may suspect, and the special effects blew me away. If you can, check it out on iTunes and see it for yourself. If anything, you get to see Justin Hartely without his shirt on for most of it. Hot damn that boy looks good.
