FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!

[Monochron]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

Disparaging teams for having engineering mentors... which is one of the core concepts of the program.

I'm guessing that over the course of the episode the team will come to realize that "teams who have mentors that are engineers" still have students that are very knowledgeable and receive a great experience. They could even cheesily realize that 'gracious professionalism' requires that they respect another team's way of doing things. Nice and sappy.

I don't think that they will acknowledge that it is core to the program to have engineering mentors though (because they need a rival / enemy for the plot), and that kind of sucks. If they end the storyline by planning to increase their mentor base and recruit engineers, then I will be really impressed.

[ctt956]

Originally Posted by Michael Corsetto

Easy everyone, there's no way this storyline is based in reality, those polo's aren't even blue!

Good point. It's probably not supposed to be that realistic, and it has to fit with the rest of the show. After all, this is not a show about FIRST; it's a show about other things that happened to feature FIRST.

Originally Posted by Sperkowsky

Seems pretty real to me. When was the last time you were at an event and did not seen a team do exactly what they did.

I am just laughing at the irony of them talking about Gracious Professionalism and then judging a team for having an engineer mentor.

QFT!

The reason they put the mentor-built debate in was because they attended a regional and possibly read CD. And what did they hear/read? Student-built vs. mentor-built robot controversy. And they thought, "That could be entertaining on a TV show!" The reason it's on the show is because it happens in FIRST in real life. Though I won't judge too much until I see the whole thing.

Originally Posted by seg9585

...

I was a bit more frustrated at the earlier episodes in which the students and teacher threw around the terms "Omni Wheels" and "Swerve Drive" when clearly referring to and demonstrating Mecanum Drive. Yes, I know the general public won't know the difference but there's an attention to detail in scriptwriting that's obviously missing here. If you're going to technobabble, at least be somewhat accurate!

They did WHAT? Come on, people, do your homework! Is it really that hard to find out what the differences are between omni wheels, mecanum wheels, swerve drive, and mecanum drive?

[ATannahill]

Originally Posted by seg9585

Although I was a little personally offended that they regarded having an aerospace engineer as a coach was a "bad" thing, I will hold my judgement until I see the full episode.

I was a bit more frustrated at the earlier episodes in which the students and teacher threw around the terms "Omni Wheels" and "Swerve Drive" when clearly referring to and demonstrating Mecanum Drive. Yes, I know the general public won't know the difference but there's an attention to detail in scriptwriting that's obviously missing here. If you're going to technobabble, at least be somewhat accurate!

But no one on the show would be able to pronounce mecanum right.

[s_forbes]

It's neat to see FIRST on TV, and actually be called FIRST! Hopefully it will get some kids interested, and they might join a robotics team that they wouldn't have otherwise.

Keep in mind that it's a TV show, and it's made to entertain general audiences and not nerdy robot people like us. After building robots and working on the set of Spare Parts, I give lots of movies/shows a pass when they miss details or have exaggerated plot points. It's art and needs to be engaging, so it's not going to reflect reality 100% accurately.

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by Monochron

I'm guessing that over the course of the episode the team will come to realize that "teams who have mentors that are engineers" still have students that are very knowledgeable and receive a great experience. They could even cheesily realize that 'gracious professionalism' requires that they respect another team's way of doing things. Nice and sappy.

I don't think that they will acknowledge that it is core to the program to have engineering mentors though (because they need a rival / enemy for the plot), and that kind of sucks. If they end the storyline by planning to increase their mentor base and recruit engineers, then I will be really impressed.

Actually I don't see them having the time to spend to make that point. Where I see the story line ending is with the "mentor built" team getting defeated by a rag-tag alliance that includes our hero or at least our hero coming very close to winning. It is a teen drama and that usually includes a good triumphing over evil just when you think all hope is lost.

[Monochron]

Originally Posted by Mr V

Actually I don't see them having the time to spend to make that point. Where I see the story line ending is with the "mentor built" team getting defeated by a rag-tag alliance that includes our hero or at least our hero coming very close to winning. It is a teen drama and that usually includes a good triumphing over evil just when you think all hope is lost.

I'll admit, I haven't seen the show before but it strikes me as the standard family-oriented teen show that always includes a heart warming moment of understanding or growth. A "maybe our enemies aren't so different for us" moment would do the job well. They certainly might end up beating the mentor team. If they really go the direction of having that team legitimately entirely mentor-built then that is going to be really embarrassing.

[Sperkowsky]

Originally Posted by Monochron

I'll admit, I haven't seen the show before but it strikes me as the standard family-oriented teen show that always includes a heart warming moment of understanding or growth. A "maybe our enemies aren't so different for us" moment would do the job well. They certainly might end up beating the mentor team. If they really go the direction of having that team legitimately entirely mentor-built then that is going to be really embarrassing.

Based on what I've seen of the show I feel like it would be perfectly normal if the robot set on fire and someone lost an arm with a Sawzall.

[BotDesigner]

I don't think everyone here is understanding the difference between a documentary and a TV Drama. The stereotypical movie or TV drama about sports involve the hero/heroine's underdog team beating out the "unfairly advantaged" team that has won the whatever level championship for the past whatever amount of years (the general exceptions are plots that follow some misunderstood hero/heroine trying to get onto the sports team, but this is about one of the rarest issues a student could have in FRC considering how desperate many teams are to get students). I guess the producers decided that the easiest way to create the other team's "unfair advantage" (as well as using something that, like it or not, is a real controversy in FRC) was to use the Mentor built controversy. No matter how inaccurate it may be it is a easy way to imply the "unfair advantage" to the audience.

If it was a documentary on the other hand, such a portrayal would be unacceptable. While the movie or drama is just a source of entertainment the documentary's responsibility to portray truth shouldn't allow a serious portrayal of the controversy.

I do agree that it would be best if the episode does end up showing that the team's original understanding of the "mentor built" team ends up being inaccurate.

[AdamHeard]

If the storyline is what the trailer conveys, and was written in by the show that's one thing. I understand TV shows will add drama, etc... Nature of the beast.

However if someone that's on a team or works for FIRST pushed that storyline to the producers that would be pretty disappointing.

[FIRSTonTV]

Another sneak peak was just released!
Here is the link the Emma Dumont article as well there is a sneak peak clip at the end!

http://cartermatt.com/217037/fosters...s-competition/

Quick link to the clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j63v_X0Kq24

All students you see in this show are actually robotics students along with some mentors and volunteers playing key roles!

Friendly reminder this show is NOT a FIRST Documentary but rather a celebration of STEM and showing people who would not otherwise be exposed that they can build cool robots like these in a real competition!

[Pauline Tasci]

Originally Posted by FIRSTonTV

http://cartermatt.com/217037/fosters...s-competition/

Quick link to the clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j63v_X0Kq24

All students you see in this show are actually robotics students along with some mentors and volunteers playing key roles!

Is this where I get to say "Mama I made it on TV?"
Repping that Code Orange uniform in the promo picture!

[bkahl]

Originally Posted by Michael Corsetto

Easy everyone, there's no way this storyline is based in reality, those polo's aren't even blue!

But I think I saw black coveralls?

[s_forbes]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

(...)
However if someone that's on a team or works for FIRST pushed that storyline to the producers that would be pretty disappointing.

I don't think that's likely to be the case... the producers and directors usually have a clear cut direction that they plan to take. The 'experts' and 'robot consultants' help add some realism to the story and make it believable, but they won't have much of an affect on the storyline. They pay writers for that.

[Pauline Tasci]

Originally Posted by s_forbes

I don't think that's likely to be the case... the producers and directors usually have a clear cut direction that they plan to take. The 'experts' and 'robot consultants' help add some realism to the story and make it believable, but they won't have much of an affect on the storyline. They pay writers for that.

Absolutely correct. The FIRST robotics adviser on this series was there to add suggestions, create more realism, bring in teams, and create an environment similar to that of a competition.

Ultimately, the shows writers were writing the script based off of where they wanted the show to go and everything was handed to FIRST when their brand was being used for sign off.

I'd love to go into more detail about the shows inception and creation post Monday's episode, if there is interest.

But for now, I want to thank all the students, mentors, and volunteers for working 3 LONG days of filming. So much went into this small episode from just the several FRC teams point of view!

I also want to thank the amazing cast, crew, and extras of The Fosters for being very supportive and patient with us! They truly did a lot to make the the FIRST-ers feel right in place and many of the extras wanted to learn more about the program!

Hope you all enjoy Monday's episode!

Remember to keep your comments respectful

Thanks!

[Monochron]

Aside from all the drama going on, I would love to know what went into building their team's robot. It's pretty gorgeous. Looks like it would even perform well.