Just re-watched this one, too. I just read people's comments on another bboard just a few days ago and tried to keep an eye on what they had pointed out (which was also pointed out here) while I watched.
First off, when I first watched Premiere, I thought it
was two hours long. There was so much information crammed into this single hour pilot ep that I figured I had been watching it for quite a bit longer!
Perception is everything, I guess.
This time around, I was still impressed with how much information I got, and how far the story was pushed in that single hour (50 minutes, actually). So much happened to John, and he had learned and done so much that it's still hard to believe that Rock, Prowsie and all managed to get it done. So YEAH for them!
I had no problem identifying with John... after all, he was the
only Human in the show... and later on, Aeryn. I'm actually glad that they didn't spend more time establishing John's life on Earth in Premiere. If I'd seen that, I'd have
less in common with John, so I'd have been spending more time finding someone else to identify with, instead of focusing on this guy as the central character. It's important that each "Human TV viewer" can see John as themselves. That way, we're drawn in to the story... we have a stake in the outcome.
Of all the six earliest eps, I think Premiere was the strongest.