Just finished the 3rd season of The Orville. If the first two were a take on TNG, this was DS9. The final episode also gave us a better explanation for the Prime Directive than we ever got from Star Trek.
The original film is of course a masterpiece of silly nonsense with a steel rod of genuine wit supporting the whole thing.
This show isn’t allowed to suck….but so far it’s seeming rather fun. Plus, Ginger Gonzaga stars, and we just had a scene of her being rather athletic in her undies. Not quite Jamie Lee Curtis in the hotel room, but it’s only the first episode and I will absolutely take it.
Automatically Appended Next Post: It’s….perfectly alright! Kind of reminds me of Bones, even though the shows have very different themes. Maybe with a dash of Santa Clarita Diet
I say give it a whirl. At the very least, it’s completely inoffensive Easy Viewing. Something you can binge or enjoy an episode of here and there.
Don’t care. Got to see Ginger Gonzaga in her undies being athletic.
I can now die a happy man.
Well. In due course. Just in case anyone was worried/hopeful.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
BobtheInquisitor wrote: Just finished the 3rd season of The Orville. If the first two were a take on TNG, this was DS9. The final episode also gave us a better explanation for the Prime Directive than we ever got from Star Trek.
I couldn’t stomach the first two episodes. The knob behind it is just…….so bloody smug. The sort to sniff his own farts and declare every blast on the Bum Trumpet a glorious overture.
Also, he’s a lazy arsed hack who’s only done “This Other Show…..BUT WITH SWEARING! All me own work, guv”.
Been house sitting for Sis so no PC so binged D+ like a madman
Rebels
Watching it back to back our heroes come off as galaxy class murder hobo's, still solid and sets up a lot of the telly shows, also Mandorlions have been moved to the stupid bracket of antagonists along with Daleks and Klingons, and suspect Dave may have watched the end of 2001 on a mix of herbs for the World between, 8/10
Only Murders in the Building
Even re-watching the twisty turny tale is a fun ride and sweary Ms Gomez is the best version 8/10
Xmen cartoon
Have seen bits and bots of it as a result of in the way back when we still had Saturday Cartoons, but never in order, its really quite good 7/10
On YouTube, Pete Holmes has a series called Ex-Men about Professor X firing the more useless X-Men that is a delight to watch. (But let me warn you that the Jean Grey episode is not safe for work.)
A very Stephen King-esque TV show. A town that lures people in and doesn’t let them out. Scary enough in its own right, but there are also nocturnal monsters that stalk the town. The monsters appear as regular, smiling humans who (so far) walk at a leisurely pace towards their prey. They are also intelligent enough to verbally mess with the heads of their chosen prey, calling from outside to let them in. Once they get up close, they go full monster.
A very Stephen King-esque TV show. A town that lures people in and doesn’t let them out. Scary enough in its own right, but there are also nocturnal monsters that stalk the town. The monsters appear as regular, smiling humans who (so far) walk at a leisurely pace towards their prey. They are also intelligent enough to verbally mess with the heads of their chosen prey, calling from outside to let them in. Once they get up close, they go full monster.
On the 3rd episode and I’m intrigued.
I'm patiently waiting to see if this one gets a second season, the final episode dropped a ton of questions but not much in the way of answers.
aku-chan wrote: I'm patiently waiting to see if this one gets a second season, the final episode dropped a ton of questions but not much in the way of answers.
2nd season dropped in April 2023, according to wikipedia.
Apparently a 3rd season in development, but probably delayed due to writers strike.
Not sure what the UK equivalent to that is, if there is one.
I’m using a firestick to watch it, myself.
Back to the show :
For me, its another one of those shows where I don’t skip the title theme song/credits (much like Sopranos, True Detective, Narcos and a few others where it never gets old)
Spoiler:
At episode 5, and I’m really digging it.
I’m really happy for Harold Perrineau as a main lead. He had such charisma in Hbo’s Oz and I always wanted to see more of him. Now, years later he’s heading up a fairly unique show that I’m enjoying.
aku-chan wrote: I'm patiently waiting to see if this one gets a second season, the final episode dropped a ton of questions but not much in the way of answers.
2nd season dropped in April 2023, according to wikipedia.
Apparently a 3rd season in development, but probably delayed due to writers strike.
It's ironic that around the same time that True Lies gets a barely tepid serial reboot that Netflix should release a show that captures the spirit of the film almost perfectly and in place of one of the worst acting performances I've seen in recent years from whoever plays the new Harry Tasker, has the actual Arnie in his first ever series.
The twist this time around is that rather than the husband keeping the family in the dark about his real job, both he and his daughter are working for the CIA, but neither of them knows the other is an agent. Shortly after his retirement (of course) Schwarzenegger's Luke Brunner is called into action one last time, his history uniquely qualifying him to revisit an old cover and infiltrate a terrorist organisation to extract a compromised agent. Little does he know that he's heading off to rescue his daughter Emma (Monica Barbaro,Top Gun: Maverick .)
It's difficult to believe they didn't know what they what they were making, up to and including a Tom Arnold cameo. We're a few tweaks and a Jamie Lee Curtis away from it really being a legacy sequel, but it doesn't matter when it largely hits the mark. It does end on a bit of a cliffhanger though, which with Netflix's current track record is brave, but if the possibility of a slightly unresolved ending doesn't unduly phase you, there's plenty to enjoy.
Yikes. The first several episodes felt like the writing had gone down hill quite a bit but true to form there was a two part episode and it was solid every episode after than was solid till the end.
The story arch was resolved and a new story set into motion. I enjoyed the twists along the way. I didn't care for the idea that the plot was built on but it was done well. seeing Red hit some really hard time was actually very fun. When the story knows what it is actually about and gets down to business it's quite fun.
ah, almost forgot, what I didn't like this season. The "culture war" junk in the story. One dumb bit of story was that was agent Navabi is getting paid less than another agent (agent Mojtabai) and she was butt hurt about that. He mad like 16% more than her. I don't believe this works because they both work for the FBI and I cannot imagine that being correct based on Military or government pay scales. I can only imagine the FBI would be very similar. If she was actually paid less that would be because she isn't actually FBI but a foreign agent who was invited to work for the FBI task force. And agent Mojtabai goes to accounting and decided they should give a percentage of his pay the the other agent Navabi because he feels she should be paid more. First, Accounting? Paper pay checks? Not direct deposit? super weird and could he even legally give his pay over like that? Again super weird. for as much as I enjoy this show some of the things writers rooms put in seem like they literally didn't even try to figure out if that was even a thing because reasons? I know the show is fiction but it calls on lots of real world stuff like no knock warrants and stuff that falls under homeland security and the patriot act. The next bit jumped out t me when it was said. Agent Mojtabai said he was something like half Muslim. Muslim is not a ethnicity, the character is clearly of middle eastern decent and that should have been said in stead or just removed. There was probably more that I am not remembering but it does seem like they just felt they had to stick it in and try to make it important when it was just filler and filler dialog. As far as gender roles this show is for the most part strong female leads doing a good job. every character, most of the time, (Cooper is more like a Dad than a boss) even has character traits that the show plays up how they run down bad guys and all that stuff. So did they really need to stich this silliness in or was it just the current buzz, so they stuck it in. We may never know. I feel like it detracts from the characters who I do enjoy playing their parts in the story. That's it rant over. Worth a watch I look forward to season 5 when ever I have the time.
Netflix semi-interactive animation. It’s glorious if you like zany wackiness and superhero/computer game/fantasy role play tropes. There was plenty in this to keep me entertained while my daughter was kept amused by the base level flashy action and cute characters. The viewer basically gets to choose the order in which the string of quite short mini episodes play out by choosing points on a map.
Stephen Fry plays…well…Stephen Fry, in a gentle British comedy about a Solicitor in a quiet, picturesque East Anglian village.
This is most definitely Easy Watching. Stephen Fry displays his easy charm in a non-too-challenging-role.
Decent TV to have in the background.
I'll see your Kingdom and raise you a Father Brown, proper Sunday evening telly stuck with odd mid-week mid afternoon slots despite being way better than the Hendy Bucksmatch Sherlock shirt show
An Honest Liar
James Randi is most likely one of the best doer's of the thinking of modern times, kind of lucky he used his "powers" for good to expose lying, cheats and barstewards, sadly folks seem willing to forgot as butt bags like Uri Geller and Popoff seemed to thrive despite being utterly debunked.
Tis documentry looks like it was made towards the end of his outstanding lifetime as he was looking rather frail but as sharp as ever, and the tinfoil bit of my head still thinks the hassle with his other half was influenced by donks without the brains or balls to come at the man himself
If you haven't got Prime there are numerous Youtubes of the man, if you aren't familiar with him give it a whirl
Worth noting James Randi was himself a stage magician - he just never pretended it wasn’t all tricks and sleight of hand type stuff.
I think my favourite exposure is the guy who suddenly couldn’t “psychically turn a page” because the packing foam Randi used was “interfering with his powers which are totally real”
Indeed, it was somewhat worrying that supposedly learned types could be fooled by tricks straight out of a kids magic book, the page moving chap possessing the awesome superpower of blowing, I mean really....
Once Upon A Time
Avoided it at the time as it seemed somewhat errr influenced by the Fables comic book, but giving it a whirl on the has purty ladies basis with Snow and Red being highly distracting, the show is schlock of the highest order but an easy watch with little thinking needed
Finished the first season of "FROM", the show I mentioned previously.
If you love mystery boxes, this is the show for you. The mystery boxes have mystery boxes it seems.
The concept is super cool, I just think there are too many characters. A tighter narrative focus could've made this excellent. Acting is cringey/corny at times, but I'm still interested.
I'll give the second season a shot, but I'll need some mysteries solved before I get too deep.
nels1031 wrote: Finished the first season of "FROM", the show I mentioned previously.
If you love mystery boxes, this is the show for you. The mystery boxes have mystery boxes it seems.
The concept is super cool, I just think there are too many characters. A tighter narrative focus could've made this excellent. Acting is cringey/corny at times, but I'm still interested.
I'll give the second season a shot, but I'll need some mysteries solved before I get too deep.
Yeah, I'm about 5 episodes into season 2 and while I'm still enjoying it, I'm starting to get suspicious that the writers may not actually know where they're going with this one.
Hopefully, I'll be proved wrong soon.
A tv series latter day sequel to probably the last VHS I ever ordered from Britannia Music Club.
In an unusual but not unwelcome move, Disney+ have put all 8 episodes up at the same time.
Now….8 51 minute episodes as a sequel to a 91 minute low budget Brit Flick is worrying me as….excessive. And time will tell.
First episode however isn’t mucking about. Straight in reuniting us with our protagonists. And it’s already demonstrating the same warmth as its preceding movie.
Will it outstay its welcome? Entirely possible, but I hope not.
Had briefly watched the first few episodes years ago and it was pretty good, but life got in the way and I forgot about it.
It features Anthony Star (currently doing an excellent job portraying Homelander in Amazon's The Boys) as a thief who was recently released from prison. He's on the run from whoever he ripped off, and trying to reunite with his former girlfriend and accomplice. Problem is, his girlfriend has remade her life seemingly, and a "job opportunity" falls on the lap of Anthony Star's character which would put the pair back in close proximity.
Show received pretty good reviews upon its release, so I'm looking forward to diving in.
The last season is best viewed as another season of a show of very decent TV in the same style of Banshee, that just happens to have some very familiar characters in it (that it features a time jump helps with this.)
I very much enjoyed Eliza Dushku in it for a variety of reasons, and it does tie up a few loose ends as well as telling a few new stories, but as a whole the series doesn't need it to feel complete.
It’s happened again! No U.K. broadcaster confirmed for Dead City.
This is intolerable. The one good thing of the modern era, entertainment on demand, replaced with the one bad thing from the 90’s, the UK getting stiffed on US TV shows.
The Black List season 5.
I'm almost to the half way point, up to EP 9 so far.
The writing has been much better this season seems to me. The know what they want to do and are doing it. EP 8 ends with a bloody farewell as Tom goes out in a blaze of glory. I didn't think I would like Tom as a character very much in season one but he had a good run I'd say. He dies in the best way possible I might say.
EP 9.
Elizabeth ends up with a few unwanted house guests in her cabin out in the middle of nowhere in an ice storm and yep they turn out to be a band of killers for the mob. it does not end well for them. I liked this episode, Liz is a bit of a savage. They shouldn't have killed her dog. Her battle with the bad guys was almost to ne sided because she had apparently enough prep time, like bat man.
I should preface this by saying that even the worst Black Mirror episode is still better than most of the crap churned out to fill the schedules, so this is more a case of comparing it to its own standards. Fundamentally the show is still worth watching.
But, by its own standards, this isn't a good season. It has good episodes, but these don't really help elevate it to some of the previous heights.
Of the 5 episodes, the general consensus seems to be Joan Is Awful is the better one. This is certainly the most familiar in a season where we depart frequently from the established patterns. This episode ticks all the boxes around technology and the cautious application we've come to expect, with hefty doses of black humour.
Personally, I found Loch Henry , an examination into the relatively recent explosion of interest in true crime media, and Demon 79, a 1970s retro episode that may have cause a world shortage in beige during production the most entertaining. Loch Henry especially, stayed with me for several days for reasons I can't fully explain.
Mazey Day is a largely forgettable episode with nothing new or interesting to say, but is entertaining enough in the moment.
Which just leaves us the turd in this particular punch bowl, Beyond The Sea. It opens promisingly enough, with a genuinely distressing home invasion scene dropping breadcrumbs that hint at a really meaty story. Sadly, any of the myriad of interesting directions we might take at that point are discarded in favour of an utterly predictable sequence of events, culminating in an ending that I'm still trying to figure out where the groundwork was laid for, even if it is suitably bleak.
I've seen it suggested that the episodes should be watched on the opposite order for an approximate upward trajectory in quality. I'd largely agree, but get Beyond The Sea over with first.
White House Plumbers Want to relive the farce of the Watergate scandal from the perspective of the criminals?
I'm a sucker for Woody Harrelson at the best of times. Only two episodes in and there's a wonderful balance of subterfuge and satire. As with all political crimes, contemporary to many countries in the west but particularly the English speaking ones; it's not the crime, it's the coverup.
Really don't know about this one.
I still enjoy watching it, but the fact the this season is mostly self contained story-wise, with minimal progress on the overall plot, beyond adding more mysteries and more characters, is deeply annoying and does kinda suggest the writers don't have a clue either.
Not sure I'd watch a third season without learning if it cleared up a few mysteries first.
A childhood favourite. Got 10 “volumes” on Prime. And it still holds up pretty well. But then, I guess that’s what we get when J Michael Straczynski is involved!
I finished the season but seemed it seemed like parts of the larger pot were missing. I discovered I had somehow missed three episodes. Silly me. Having gone back and watched what I missed it all cam together. I had thought something was off but expected some kind of weird ending explaining everything thing I had missed, like a tying up the loose ends story format. No, it was me being a bone head.
Over all not bad the writing was decent all the way through as far as this show goes. I enjoyed the treasure hunt episode. It's fun when the story is fun and no lives are on the line it looks like everyone has a good time and that's nice. I liked how much they used Aram this season he's really a good character and it's nice when he gets a chance to stand out. There's been a lot of character development with him.
Demba was very conflicted this season that dude carries a lot of weight on his back.
But I have enjoyed him interacting with other characters much like Raymond will and the mixed reactions is usually very funny.
another cliffhanger ending as well.
I'm looking forward to the next season when I find the time for it.
These are pretty cool. More of an educational than adventure show, though of course young Henry Jones Jr still gets into scrapes and tough spots. And of course meets a frankly unfeasible number of historical characters along the way.
It doesn’t pull its punches on social issues either, which is nice.
The Blacklist season 7. A few good episodes and a few steeped in the culture war that were not so good. The culture war stuff is usually a drag as far as the writing goes. When they get back to what the show is about they do a bang up job. This season had a game of clue and another Dr. Mindbender type character as well as a story tied to Agent Ressler past. Oh, and some more character development for Aram, he's a likeable guy and it's nice to see him out of the office being more of a field agent and finding his footing. The final episode was filmed at some point during the pandemic and used animation and live footage they had shot to wrap up the episode. Not wonderful but at least they got to finish the season. Not the best season by a long shot but there were some fun episodes.
The couture war stuff this go around was about gun manufactures selling cheap pistols to straw purchasers but apparently not doing anything illegal but also knowingly turning a blind eye. It was a waste of time, Red could have just capped Ceo at any point. and he does but they threw away a whole episode on this trash concept. Oh, honorable mention Agent Park. She's violent and too smart for her own good but a good addition to the cast so far. And, Glen" jelly bean " Carter and the truck. Glen is a nut. He's like a daemon that works at the dmv.
Old Duck Tales is a classic. The first few episodes were rough, but the show soon found its stride. My son loves it.
New Duck Tales is almost as good as Scooby Doo: Mystery Inc because it has a lot of the same energy. A lot. There are overarching storylines, the foremost of which is the mystery of the boys’ mother. The first few episodes of this series were also rough, but it also found its stride. My son loves it.
The characters are all familiar yet different. The boys each have distinct personalities. Webby and Mrs Beakky have been changed the most, but make sense as the series progresses. Unfortunately, it feels like the studio hired “real” actors instead of voice actors for some of the cast.
The ITV version, originally airing 1984-1986. With music by Clannad.
This is….wonderful. Whilst I don’t really recall seeing it as a wean, it is from my era.
Being shot on locations, it’s held up remarkably well, with really only the quality of the actual film tipping the nod to its vintage.
It also turned out highly influential, as the Geographically Challenged “Robin Hood Prince of Thieves” lifted a lot from it. Such as a Saracen character, and indeed the “Robin Hooding” of the target, where Robin’s arrow splits his opponents.
Whilst I do have this on DVD, it’s now also on BritBox, so if you fancy watching it (and you really really should), there’s your legit method.
However….this is only the Second Best take on the legend of Robin Hood. And indeed by happy erm…happenstance? Also only the Second Best take on the legend of Robin Hood on BritBox.
Because as any Brit of a certain undisclosed vintage will attest? The top spot will always, always belong to Maid Marian and Her Merry Men.
I really wanted to like Arnold Schwarzenegger's Netflix comedy.
I did not.
They don't speak Spanish in Guyana.
Which one? There is, in fact, a spanish guyana, which is nowadays part of Venezuela - long story short, settling that region was extremely difficult due to conditions on the ground, so in the end the various powers just took possession of a strip of land on the coast and progressed inwards along rivers and other bodies of water, and that's why you have a spanish, a french, a british, a dutch and a portuguese guyana right next to each other. British Guyana is named Guyana, Dutch Guyana became Suriname, French Guyana is an overseas Departement of France, Portuguese Guyana is now part of Brazil, and Spanish Guyana is now part of Venezuela, and retains the name Guyana Region
Stargate SG-1 By giving in to the endless crushing suffering that is separated streaming services, I have gotten around to watching Stargate.
It's such fun and it's a great show to stick on while I'm doing some hobby or having food.
SG-1 and to some degree Atlantis really don’t get the credit they deserve.
Like any Sci-Fi they of course have some super ropey, if not outright awful episodes, especially in early seasons? But the good massively outweighs the bad.
It has the benefit of being 90s SciFi so every few episodes I'm like "Hey, they were on Star Trek". And then of course Christopher Judge went on to voice Kratos, something that only became apparent to me during the episode where we meet Tea'lcs son.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: SG-1 and to some degree Atlantis really don’t get the credit they deserve.
Like any Sci-Fi they of course have some super ropey, if not outright awful episodes, especially in early seasons? But the good massively outweighs the bad.
Something that imho works in SG-1's favour is that ever so often, they have some sort of 'chamber play' episode where they something vastly different, like doing bodyhorror/psycho-horror, solving a criminal case or doing deep introspection into a character or culture (of course for budget reasons mostly, as these episodes cost barely anything). Also, SG-1 did very good multi-season arcs and recurring characters unafraid of it ever going anywhere, which led to pretty well executed concepts in the long run, like the Tok'Ra, the Asgard or the various iterations of the replicators. Their faible for last-minute deus-ex-machina solutions to episode problems gets a bit repetitive after a while, but overall a very solid series.
Yes Venezuela has a Guyana district (and claims 1/3 or more of the English-speaking Cooperative Republic of Guyana) the show makes it clear they're in Guyana the country not the district of Venezuela. And they fly out of Georgetown.
But that's far from the most egregious bit of geography and politics in the show, just the first one that struck me.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Gert wrote: Stargate SG-1 By giving in to the endless crushing suffering that is separated streaming services, I have gotten around to watching Stargate.
It's such fun and it's a great show to stick on while I'm doing some hobby or having food.
Ah, see that's the fun part. Either you can download it from Sky Max on a Sky Box, or you pay for Amazon Prime, then pay for the MGM addon for Amazon Prime. Very very annoying.
Just finished up the entire Neon Genesis Evangelion series and movies except for the Netflix.
I hadn't seen this in several years and thought it was longer. over all I found it ok but disappointing. I read people occasionally saying it's life changing but I don't agree with that. Interesting concepts but it never really gets where I think it should have because it's such a short amount of time and the characters are mostly children with no more life experience or growth. Which to me deflates the attempted meaning of the ending.
I don't hate it I just don't feel like it delivered.
I feel like Legion did a better job as I see a slight similarity.
I'm reasonably sure this was never broadcast in the UK at the time, or, if so, was on a paywalled service that wasn't anywhere near as common as it is now.
Either way, I was interested to see this available on demand, and downloaded the first season.
Firstly, I want to take a little time out to discuss the intros to each episode by McFarlane himself. In what I can only describe as a love child of Stan Lee and the Crypt Keeper, Seth monologues some cheesy dialogue with all the earnestness and lack of self awareness of a first year film student. I can't say it ruins the show, but my God it doesn't fill the viewer with confidence as to what is to come.
Thankfully, the meat of the show demonstrates an uptick in quality. The whole affair feels very nineties, but the animation looks good, the voice cast (led by Keith David as Spawn, which is inspired) do an admirable job with what they're working with.
It feels in many ways like the aim was to create an 18 rated Batman: The Animated Series, and while it falls short of matching what is perhaps still the yardstick for animated superhero shows, it does enough right, and is suitably lightweight in terms of commitment at 3 x 6ep seasons, to be worth a watch.
Good news everyone! They’ve not tried to reinvent the wheel!
This is a continuation of the original. Kind of Quantum Leap: The Next Generation, rather than The New Adventures of Sam Beckett.
Everything we enjoyed about the original is here. The overall plot remains the same. Ziggy is still Ziggy (though I do miss the squeals!). But, there are some underlying “meanwhile, back at the camp” type mysteries unfolding. And happy to report those seem rooted in the existing lore of the series. I say seem, as I’m only 5 episodes deep. Whilst I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve seen so far, there is still room for disappointment and dropping of the ball.
It’s pleasing to see a reinvention of this ilk. And the cast are really likeable. Even if the original was never really your bag, this is at the very, very least a confident, competent, enjoyable show.
It’s up on Paramount+ in the UK, and I say definitely give it a whirl.
Though….that being said? Outside of bingeing during a Free Trial, this isn’t compelling enough to sign up to P+ on its own. But if you’ve done so for Star Trek and Beavis and Butthead, like I did, this is plenty good enough secondary fare.
10 episodes - 10,000 people live in an underground silo but history is repressed (for reasons) so nobody really knows how long they have been underground or why they are there. They live in a well ordered society but if anybody asks to "go outside" or commits a heinous crime they are obliged to go outside the bunker and clean the sensors that show the toxic, dangerous world outside, whilst the rest of the silo watches. None of them last more than a few minutes but for some reason, they always clean.....
I actually really enjoyed this, great performances all round, interesting set design / costumes and enough mystery to keep me interested. There is a big conspiracy theory and I guessed right on a few things but not all.
I haven't read the books though and apparently there were quite a few changes but overall it seems to have been well received by those that have read them.
Near the end of The Blacklist season 8.
They killed off Glen Carter. The actor died ( Clark Middleton) . Glen was one of the best characters. They gave his passing a whole episode and it was good fun, they handled it very well. The replaced Glen with his mother and she is a blast. I really like the mannerism that are so much like Glen. It really feels like she could be his mother. That's one of the things I like about this show characters who are related displaying traits of their relations. Body language. it adds a lot to the scene and the story. I like it when actors act instead of walk to spot and say their lines.
The Big Bad in this season is a real monster and it's believable.
Small gripes about the usual stuff but throwing that out it's been good. A few more episodes to watch still.
I'm reasonably sure this was never broadcast in the UK at the time, or, if so, was on a paywalled service that wasn't anywhere near as common as it is now.
Either way, I was interested to see this available on demand, and downloaded the first season.
Firstly, I want to take a little time out to discuss the intros to each episode by McFarlane himself. In what I can only describe as a love child of Stan Lee and the Crypt Keeper, Seth monologues some cheesy dialogue with all the earnestness and lack of self awareness of a first year film student. I can't say it ruins the show, but my God it doesn't fill the viewer with confidence as to what is to come.
Thankfully, the meat of the show demonstrates an uptick in quality. The whole affair feels very nineties, but the animation looks good, the voice cast (led by Keith David as Spawn, which is inspired) do an admirable job with what they're working with.
It feels in many ways like the aim was to create an 18 rated Batman: The Animated Series, and while it falls short of matching what is perhaps still the yardstick for animated superhero shows, it does enough right, and is suitably lightweight in terms of commitment at 3 x 6ep seasons, to be worth a watch.
Actually it was on late night Fox Kids. I distinctly remember watching it when i was 12 or 13 and being amused at the voice of Goliath swearing and murdering like a trooper.
I'm reasonably sure this was never broadcast in the UK at the time, or, if so, was on a paywalled service that wasn't anywhere near as common as it is now.
Either way, I was interested to see this available on demand, and downloaded the first season.
Firstly, I want to take a little time out to discuss the intros to each episode by McFarlane himself. In what I can only describe as a love child of Stan Lee and the Crypt Keeper, Seth monologues some cheesy dialogue with all the earnestness and lack of self awareness of a first year film student. I can't say it ruins the show, but my God it doesn't fill the viewer with confidence as to what is to come.
Thankfully, the meat of the show demonstrates an uptick in quality. The whole affair feels very nineties, but the animation looks good, the voice cast (led by Keith David as Spawn, which is inspired) do an admirable job with what they're working with.
It feels in many ways like the aim was to create an 18 rated Batman: The Animated Series, and while it falls short of matching what is perhaps still the yardstick for animated superhero shows, it does enough right, and is suitably lightweight in terms of commitment at 3 x 6ep seasons, to be worth a watch.
Actually it was on late night Fox Kids. I distinctly remember watching it when i was 12 or 13 and being amused at the voice of Goliath swearing and murdering like a trooper.
It was for sure HBO. They tried a lot of adult animation programing for a few years.
It might've switched stations after it did its initial run, but it started on HBO.
One of my wife’s and my hobbies is cake decorating, so we’ve been watching a lot of cake shows.
Nailed it.
This is the best one. This is legitimately good television.
Is It Cake?
This is like one of those YouTube videos that auto plays when you try to scroll past it on Facebook. Compelling in the mold of an old Nickelodeon game show, but definitely not for everyone.
Sugar Rush
You ever want to watch an anodyne show because you’re sure everyone involved secretly hates each other? This is that show.
Cupcake Wars
This is Sugar Rush if everyone was just over it. Still, worth it for that one contestant who used mayonnaise instead of buttercream—on purpose!—and then ranted about the judges not appreciating his daring when eliminated.
My daughter went through a massive is it cake? Binge they are undeniably talented in a very specific way. There is also Baking Impossible where they need to bake cakes to float and do various were engineering challenges
Finished The blacklist season 8.
They built up agent Keen to take over for Redington and killed her off because the actress was planning to leave the show.
Ultimately a waste of time. The episodes were good some of the gimmicks were a lot of fun.
Just sad about the way this happened because it reminded me of Twin Peaks. A show that could have rant for 20 seasons because there was no conclusion. Two more seasons and it's over.
I'm not mad she wanted to leave and all that it just makes all the work they put in, I don't know maybe they should have done it sooner and moved on already.
I'm more sad about Jelly bean carter having been written off as died because the actor passed away. That dude was amazing.
Flinty wrote: My daughter went through a massive is it cake? Binge they are undeniably talented in a very specific way. There is also Baking Impossible where they need to bake cakes to float and do various were engineering challenges
Oh, I’m going to have to check that one out. Is Baking Impossible on a free service?
None of these new baking shows hold a candle to Duff's old show.
My family are also "baking enthusiasts" so I have seen them all, possibly twice. There are also tons of knock-off baking shows all over the Free-TV streaming universe, and most of them suck.
warhead01 wrote: Finished The blacklist season 8.
They built up agent Keen to take over for Redington and killed her off because the actress was planning to leave the show.
Ultimately a waste of time. The episodes were good some of the gimmicks were a lot of fun.
Just sad about the way this happened because it reminded me of Twin Peaks. A show that could have rant for 20 seasons because there was no conclusion. Two more seasons and it's over.
I'm not mad she wanted to leave and all that it just makes all the work they put in, I don't know maybe they should have done it sooner and moved on already.
I'm more sad about Jelly bean carter having been written off as died because the actor passed away. That dude was amazing.
Hi, future Blacklist here. You can probably stop watching me now. You may want to keep watching out of curiosity, and that's fine, but it's only fair to warn you that the dynamics that the character of Elizabeth brought to the show only really reveal themselves in their absence.
Easy E wrote: None of these new baking shows hold a candle to Duff's old show.
My family are also "baking enthusiasts" so I have seen them all, possibly twice. There are also tons of knock-off baking shows all over the Free-TV streaming universe, and most of them suck.
Which one is Duff’s old show?
And yeah, most of them are crap. My wife has been looking for something to fill the hole left by Nailed It and Man About Cake (a YouTube instructional series). I tend to read or doomscroll while she watches, or even work on miniatures.
warhead01 wrote: Finished The blacklist season 8.
They built up agent Keen to take over for Redington and killed her off because the actress was planning to leave the show.
Ultimately a waste of time. The episodes were good some of the gimmicks were a lot of fun.
Just sad about the way this happened because it reminded me of Twin Peaks. A show that could have rant for 20 seasons because there was no conclusion. Two more seasons and it's over.
I'm not mad she wanted to leave and all that it just makes all the work they put in, I don't know maybe they should have done it sooner and moved on already.
I'm more sad about Jelly bean carter having been written off as died because the actor passed away. That dude was amazing.
Hi, future Blacklist here. You can probably stop watching me now. You may want to keep watching out of curiosity, and that's fine, but it's only fair to warn you that the dynamics that the character of Elizabeth brought to the show only really reveal themselves in their absence.
Thanks for the heads up.
You're probably right. I found the subreddit and got the impression it as very down hill after season 8. I'll probably wait a while before I see the last two I haven't read anything good about them.
It was fun while it lasted so there's that.
Easy E wrote: None of these new baking shows hold a candle to Duff's old show.
My family are also "baking enthusiasts" so I have seen them all, possibly twice. There are also tons of knock-off baking shows all over the Free-TV streaming universe, and most of them suck.
Which one is Duff’s old show?
And yeah, most of them are crap. My wife has been looking for something to fill the hole left by Nailed It and Man About Cake (a YouTube instructional series). I tend to read or doomscroll while she watches, or even work on miniatures.
Ace of Cakes IIRC
Might seem dated now, as it was one of the first cake shows. It is not a competition and more of a "slice of life" style show.
My favourite Marvel TV series so far.
While there were a couple meh episodes (Party Thor was a bit too silly compared to the rest, and Starlord T'Challa felt like bad fan fiction), overall it was really good and hopefully they still make that second season.
I really like this short show. Just one of those things that becomes special to a person I guess.
FLCL introduced me to the Pillows. I really enjoy that band even though I don't understand a word of it mostly. I figure the music more or less tells one what they need to know even if you don't speak the language.
FLCL Alternative - 2018
First, too much time has passed and the magic just isn't there in the same way.
It's mostly just filler and nostalgia farming.
I will say what I like about it is getting more Haruko and more about her wants and character. She's emotional in a way she wasn't in FLCL and that's actually interesting. Not character growth but showing more layers of her character and her frustration with not getting her way.
Watching FLCL Progressive next and waiting for the next two installments which may be other this year or next.
Super late to this party, as this was of course contemporaneous to Martin Freeman Looking Exasperated But This Time He’s Looking Exasperated In Bendyditch Custartsplatch`s Flat.
Johnny Lee Miller stars as Holmes, with Lucy Liu as sidekick Joan Watson.
And to be honest? This is far more enjoyable than Sherlock. That’s not to say Sherlock Am Bad, just that this is more my jam.
Season 2 went up on Amazon Prime this morning. As a big ol’ fan of Gaiman and Pratchett, I’ll admit to nervousness here, as sadly one half of that partnership is no longer with us.
Gaiman has assured he and Pterry had discussed a follow up book. And this is based on their chats and notes and what have you. But the nervousness remains.
But, Episode 1? So far, so genuinely good. I mean, it’s Tennant and Sheen so we can hardly go terribly far wrong. Hell, season 1 involved the woeful Jack “you can tell his Mum and Dad worked in the industry” Whitehall and somehow wasn’t ruined by his talentless, one note presence.
A modern retelling of Sweeney Todd, transposed to modern New York. Apparently based off a successful stage play.
This is good. Very very good!
Hmm, I totally dismissed this when it came up in my recommended viewing - nowhere did it sound like it was a Sweeney Todd retelling. Might give this a watch....
Super late to this party, as this was of course contemporaneous to Martin Freeman Looking Exasperated But This Time He’s Looking Exasperated In Bendyditch Custartsplatch`s Flat.
Johnny Lee Miller stars as Holmes, with Lucy Liu as sidekick Joan Watson.
And to be honest? This is far more enjoyable than Sherlock. That’s not to say Sherlock Am Bad, just that this is more my jam.
Currently enjoying Elementary myself. Up to Season 4 so far and barely a foot wrong. Vinnie Jones is that bare foot. (Why? Why do they do it? Can't they see? Don't they understand?)
Overall you can notice Pterry’s sad absence here and there. But it remains pretty brilliant all the same. And it rather obviously lines us up for a third season.
This I feel is where it really starred to find its feet. Murder House was a decent enough start, and I don’t feel Asylum quite rose to the occasion. But Coven was for me where it defined itself properly.
Straight in with the supernatural, bringing it front and centre. And as such the writers and cast got to play around a bit more.
However I’ve only watched it a couple of times before. And I don’t know why!
If you’ve not partaken of AHS before, I think I’d say Murder House first, then this one.
Only part way though but I'm really enjoying this, despite crime dramas not usually being my cup of tea, it's probably down to all the gratuitous violence (Apparently, watching two men absolutely pummel the stuffing out of each other during a gruelling, slog-fest of a punch-up, is my thing now).
I bailed out quite early in season 2, but I quite liked season 1 as a stand-alone thing.
Was mentioned a little while ago...
FROM Is it too much for me to hope that the creators actually have a plan for the ending and they aren't making it up on the fly? If this is going somewhere then I'll keep watching, but it's also another one of those shows where if the next season doesn't get made then I shan't cry about it.
One little thing I do like is that on occasion the writers are not treating the audience like idiots. There's a plot point involving O- blood type and the characters don't waste out time over explaining the implications. Similarly the trolley problem is mentioned as a throw away remark and again there is no unnecessary dialogue to explain it. You either get it or it's not important enough to derail the script. That's writing that's respectful of the audience, which is only remarkable due to the very low bar that has been set by modern mass media.
Of all the videogame franchises you'd pick for TV dramatisation, I'm not sure many would have picked a near 30 year old, post Apoc racing game as a front runner, yet here we are.
Even more surprising is how it is so much better than it has a right to be.
Make no mistake, it knows what it is and leans into it. On the spectrum of post apocalyptic television it's much closer to something like Will Forte's Last Man On Earth than it is The Walking Dead, but with the added lunacy of heavily armed and armoured vehicles hurtling around a near empty North American road network.
There's no point in me explaining the background or the plot, because it's an utterly generic post apocalyptic wasteland and an utterly generic "retrieve macguffin against the clock" storyline.
What makes this is the stellar casting, packed full of names and faces you'll recognise, as well as one voice, and a judicious use of what I suspect was a relatively small budget, ensuring you feel like you've got a dose of action, even when, in reality, they save nearly all of the FX budget for the big showdown at the end.
All that, and it's done and dusted in 10 30 minute episodes, ensuring there's little slack in the momentum (although there is one EP in the middle which feels a little out of place, even if it does do some necessary work story wise.)
It ends perfectly positioned for an absolutely bonkers second season too, so watch it so that happens!
Was mentioned a little while ago...
FROM Is it too much for me to hope that the creators actually have a plan for the ending and they aren't making it up on the fly? If this is going somewhere then I'll keep watching, but it's also another one of those shows where if the next season doesn't get made then I shan't cry about it.
Yeah, didn't dive into season 2 yet and waiting to see how word of mouth turns out for season 3, which I believe was in production before everyone in Hollywood went on strike.
Spoiler:
I got the suspicion that they are making it up as they go. Would love to be proven wrong, though.
Was perhaps a little old for it when this originally aired, but remember it being decent fun. And to be fair, it is.
But man is it showing its era. Almost-Anime “me toooooooo” styling, including lots of pointless posturing and spinning of weapons. I my advanced years I find that a wee bit cringe inducing, but I reckon even modern kids would get the required kick out of it.
Story wise there’s more of a continuity to it than the original, and isn’t afraid to have its own canon.
Probably worth a watch, if only out of curiosity. You may love it, you may loathe it. But I don’t think you’d be entirely unentertained by it.
Overall you can notice Pterry’s sad absence here and there. But it remains pretty brilliant all the same. And it rather obviously lines us up for a third season.
Working through this myself just now. Enjoyably madcap amd messrs Sheen and Tennant ham it up marvellously
Nice crossover with CMOT Dibbler on the Laudenum bottle in episode 3
Selena Gomez! Martin Short! Steve Martin! Meryl Streep!!!
And we’re back in the Arconia for another tale of whodunnit, howdunnit and whydunnit, as one of my favourite fairly low key shows returns for its third season.
The cast are solid, the script is good, the performances walk that thin comedic line, being just serious enough for the more farcical bits to feel real and human.
Another one which whilst maybe not of universal appeal, I have no hesitation in recommending for you to check out for yourself. Whilst I make no guarantee the next will find it to taste, I don’t think anyone would say it’s a bad show.
Selena Gomez! Martin Short! Steve Martin! Meryl Streep!!!
And we’re back in the Arconia for another tale of whodunnit, howdunnit and whydunnit, as one of my favourite fairly low key shows returns for its third season.
The cast are solid, the script is good, the performances walk that thin comedic line, being just serious enough for the more farcical bits to feel real and human.
Another one which whilst maybe not of universal appeal, I have no hesitation in recommending for you to check out for yourself. Whilst I make no guarantee the next will find it to taste, I don’t think anyone would say it’s a bad show.
Big thumbs for OMitB. It's a great show - looking forward to today's episode.
Cult is probably the hardest to watch. Narratively it’s a bit of a slog, and features little to no supernatural stuff. As such, it kind of sticks out a bit.
However, Apocalypse is the goods. This is when it really plays around with its own lore, tying into Murder House, Coven and Hotel in varying amounts.
At just 10 episodes it’s one of the shorter seasons, but that helps it feel more focussed and it goes along at a solid pace.
The downside is you probably do need to have seen Murder House and Hotel. Whilst that’s a lot of extra episodes to get yourself grounded, they’re both solid seasons in their own right.
Peacemaker Very silly, but a much better series than I expected it to be. Not sure if they're planning to make any more (This season was pretty self contained) but I'd watch it if they did.
Venture Bros:- Radiant is the blood of the baboon heart Was planning on a full series rewatch before tackling this, but I'm barely making a dent in my backlog as it is!
Anyways, as feature length episodes go, All this, and Gargantura Two! was better, but this was still pretty good. It wrapped up most of the loose plot threads, and provided more evidence that Jonas Snr. was a total scumbag (Not that any more was needed at this point).
I passed on WWDITS for a while, I enjoyed season 1 and 2, just hadn't gotten back to it until this week. Over all I had a good time. Laz and Collin was a lot of fun for both seasons.
The return of Simon the devious saw fun too. I didn't expect that.
This is a fun early-2000’s Sci Fi series that feels like a syndicated 90’s series. It’s episodic, but with building storylines like Stargate SG1 or Buffy, and has pretty much the same tone and feel of those series. The series is free on Tubi, but the episodes are all out of order due to Sci Fi channel trying to kill the series; we use a wiki episode guide to watch in order.
The series continues from the end of the third movie, with the graboid El Blanco protected by the endangered species act and everyone in Perfection living alongside the monster. Burt Gummer again carries the franchise on his back, but the series gives a good range of eccentric characters that bounce off him and each other.
Monsters of the week include shriekers, assblasters, graboids, and eventually other monsters introduced by mad scientist Christopher Lloyd. The special effects are great when they use assets from the movie franchise, but some of the cgi is really bad. There are a lot of recognizable Sci Fi character actors in the series, including Dean Norris, B5’s Richard Biggs, DS9’s Armin Shimmerman, Michael Rooker, and such. It’s fun.
Lack of audience or canned laughter is off putting. And to be honest, it’s really not up to much. I’ll see it out so it’s done, but I can’t imagine I’ll ever rewatch it.
One I’ve watched now and again in sporadic binges. Decent police procedural. Less Poe faced that NCIS and CSI, giving it a more human feel. It does dip into silly now and again. And as I’m on S4 of 12, I’m open to it getting more silly as I crash through.
But hey, it’s a fun, warm hearted show. Also I totally have a thing for Dr Temperance Brennan.
My wife binged the whole not too long ago, and I dipped in and out. It is silly but enjoyable. The end of season joke episodes were fun. I also like how one minute they're "this is a human being and a victim, so let's show some respect" to "let's strip the flesh from the skeleton - into the acid bath!"
It does highlight that David Boreanaz's acting ranges all the way from from detached, damaged vampire to detached, damaged FBI agent.
My only complaint is that Brennan's personality sometime veered (like Sheldon Cooper) into cruelty, to the point where her emotional detachment wasn't really an excuse.
Dunno about your take on Boreanaz there. Whilst unlike to exactly worry the Oscars, he does have range as Booth.
I particularly enjoy his and Bones’ blatant attempts to not get together. It’s beyond “oh they’re just so clueless” and more “they’re actively resisting it”.
Four season of “Rude Bits”, ridiculous violence, pseudo Latin but anglicised language, gorgeous visuals solid performances and just crowd pleasing nonsense.
By no means is it historically accurate, but I reckon if Ancient Rome had teevee? This is exactly the sort of show they’d make.
Four season of “Rude Bits”, ridiculous violence, pseudo Latin but anglicised language, gorgeous visuals solid performances and just crowd pleasing nonsense.
By no means is it historically accurate, but I reckon if Ancient Rome had teevee? This is exactly the sort of show they’d make.
Wonderfully glorious nonsense.
I liked the first season, but I just couldn't get into it after Andy Whitfield died(Spartacus). Nothing against the dude that replaced him, or anyone else on the cast (Crixus was awesome, as was Doctore/Oenomaus) but it just didn't slap the same. I did watch the Gods of Arena prequel mini-series, but by the time it ended, Andy had died and I had moved on to other stuff. Always surprised me that it went on for as long as it did.
Yeah Season1 and Gods of the Arena are great, but it falls off afterwards a bit.
I do love how "We shall have words" means I will have to kill you though. Makes me smile when I hear it. Reminds me a bit of "Bless your heart" in the South.
Subsequent viewings of Seasons 1 and Gods of the Arena also convince me that John Hannah is just freaking fun to watch in his role.
Batiatus, as acted and written, is simultaneously a despicable villain, but I found I just couldn't stop wanting to see him pull off whatever it was he was trying to pull off. He was encouragable!
Without Hannah and Whitfeld, the show just lost a lot of its charisma.
A US anti-terrorist strike force / government sanctioned assassination team. Superb performances all around with no less than 8 magnificently well written, strong female characters in lead and support. I very much enjoyed this.
Was highly sceptical when Netflix announced this (They couldn't manage a decent adaptation of Cowboy Bebop and they're going to tackle something as cartoony as One Piece?), so they really surprised me by actually doing a pretty good job on this.
Don't agree with many of the changes made and it felt rather rushed in places, but you can tell that they've put a lot of effort into capturing the style and spirit of the source material.
Would certainly be interested in a second season, but considering just how increasingly special effects heavy the show would become from now on, I don't know if that's going to happen.
Ottoman : Mehmed v. Vlad mini-series (Netflix). 2022
Semi-documentary/Semi-drama movie.
#1. Charles Dance narrates the documentary/exposition parts. Sold!
#2. The actress that plays Mara Branković is an absolute smokeshow and they put her prominently in the thumbnails/previews. Sold!
#3. Feels very much slanted in favor of the Turks, particularly when portraying Mehmed the Conqueror.
#4. Probably sensationalized for the sake of drama, or historical corners were cut to make way for some compelling narrative.
As the History of Byzantium podcast moves ponderously to the Fall of Constantinople, I find myself more interested in Ottoman/Turk history. Probably better, more nuanced sources of info then this series, but it wasn't the worst few hours I've ever spent watching/listening while I painted some mini's with Netflix on. Gave me History Channel vibes, before they went full "It was Aliens!"
Loved season 1 but this didn't do much for me.
Really felt Terry Pratchett's absence and just not interested in the direction they're taking the show now.
Police mockumentary, sending up the Scottish Police force. Narrator’s script is spot on, perfectly aping the usual tone and nonsense of such shows.
The officers followed are all good fun, and the comedy mostly comes from the mundanity of their jobs, and their quirky camaraderie. Certainly it’s not just “incompetent coppers lololololol”
It’s up on iPlayer, so easy enough to watch if you fancy giving it a whirl.
Would you say Farscape is a show you could watch comfortably with a tween? We are thinking of watching it, but worry it might have too many adult situations to watch with our son.
Tween? is that like 11? Probably. The first two seasons I can't say they are very "shocking" but I may not be the best judge. You might want to do a preview to be sure. It is quite a lot of fun and it has some interesting moral perspectives here and there.
Yeah, 11. He handled SG1 and Babylon 5 fine. It’s just that my wife and I caught part of an episode once and the muppet alien was dressed like a dominatrix and trying to seduce the human. So, we were wondering how common that kind of thing was.
BobtheInquisitor wrote: Yeah, 11. He handled SG1 and Babylon 5 fine. It’s just that my wife and I caught part of an episode once and the muppet alien was dressed like a dominatrix and trying to seduce the human. So, we were wondering how common that kind of thing was.
I don't see it as any worse that SG1 or B5. There's some "seductive tension/ situations" every now and then like you describe but we're not really talking nudity or anything really graphic. Those situations are usually weird because aliens and humans and stuff lost in translation. There might be something inappropriate in season two but it's more that you know what's going on and less that you really see anything but it gets awkward with a third just hanging out and bitching. I think it was intended to be humorous, the situation is kinda funny. You may wait a year, I don't know. There is a brand new DVD blue ray set that's out or out soon I've read.
The Muppet thing was part of a bit in a wacky brain washing interrogation episode, "Wont get fooled again", I think was the tittle.
I am not even sure what the show is rated. Hope this was helpful.
Not sure it actually counts as a movie(once its released in its totality) or TV but here we go:
First episode of Pariah Nexus on Warhammer TV. Surprisingly solid.
Kicks off some time after the 40K 9th edition trailer ended. A few observations:
Spoiler:
Things didn’t go well for the Imperial forces from the trailer, but our main charcter was the last woman standing. Would’ve liked to have seen how all the Ultramarines died, or if they just “tactically withdrew” after the battle. Plenty of UM corpses seen about though, so probably went out to the last. Edit: Looks like the opening title sequence shows the last stand, now that I rewatched it.
Pretty sure the Cadian woman is a figure of the Sister of Battle’s imagination. Just a constant downer and doesn’t fight, unlike the 3 other Cadians we see in the episode. Doesn’t even carry a weapon, nor look to find one. Calling it that its the Sisters doubt, given visual form in her own head. Edit: But also looks like the woman from the 9th edition trailer, now that I think about it. Might just be a soldier broken by defeat/horror.
The UM sergeant went out like a boss. Almost killed that Deathmark! The terrain definitely suited a sniper over a big dude with a sword and pistol.
Necrons were terrifying, both in the lab and in the battlefield. I had always imagined that a Necron gun disintegrates the target though. This one just seems to burn them internally or something. I don’t know enough about the different Necron weapons to be honest.
I appreciated how those last 2-3 Cadians went down fighting, trying to win. At least towards the end. The “Wait!” seemed out of place with a guy who was just trying to go down fighting.
Ooooh! Some sort of zombie, created by the Necron scientist. Would be cool to see those on the tabletop.
A good showing of the Sisters’ battle prowess when swarmed. Her bolter put in some work, putting everything down in one shot as it should but didn’t go too gorey.
I’m sure a trained eye can see spotty CGI, but I thought everything looked excellent. Looking forward to more.
I know nothing about the manga. I know nothing about the anime (other than it has around 60,000 episodes).
But I kept hearing good word of mouth, so figured what the hell? I'll give it a go. At least see if the first episode grabbed me.
In the end, the only reason why I didn't watch all 8 episodes in a row is because I started late in the evening and had to go to bed. Finished the remaining 4 the next day.
Once Piece is a breath of fresh air. A genuine and earnest attempt at proper storytelling without any cynical deconstruction, no attempts at winking at the audience, and no self-referential humour that attempts to paint the characters as being above it all or in on the joke (Marvel, take note!). It also tells a fantastic story that moves at a tremendous pace, gives us great character moments and tons of character development, with clear motivations and desires for everyone (Star Wars, take note!). It's a fully realised world that doesn't explain everything to its audience - just enough of a hook to get the story going and then the characters take it away. I like that it's not our world, yet there are still lots of recognisable (and downright anachronistic) things. Plus they have intercontinental communication via telepathic slugs with build-in rotary-dial phone mechanisms, and this is never explained!
If Ahsoka was One Piece, everything from the start of the first episode to Ahsoka going off the edge of the cliff in episode 4 would have been the one whole episode. Maybe 2. That's how little happens in those terribly paced/written D+ pieces of garbage.
It's just so nice to have a show where the world isn't serious, but the people in it are taking what they're doing seriously. They're all supremely confident people (over-confident in a lot of cases), but they're also not invincible and get their assess handed to them as much as they win. They learn from their mistakes as much as they do their victories. They strive. They fail. They have flaws.
Luffey isn't a joke character. When he gets serious, he really gets serious, and the actor playing him does a simply fantastic job of pulling it off. I mean, the character should be annoying, but he wins you over.
Zoro is the silent bad-ass sword-wielding bounty hunter, but he's not all powerful. He has doubts, he reluctantly lets people in, and he's not infallible.
Nami isn't a girlboss who deals with everyone by being a bitch, is better at everything instantly, and she's not constantly belittling and one-upping "the boys". She has flaws, vulnerabilities and has to ask for help. Even more amazingly, she's a red-headed girl that stayed a red-headed girl in a western adaptation. Hell, the fact that she's still even a girl is a miracle given this is a Netflix adaptation. Guess that's what you get when the guy who invented the whole thing retains creative control, sticks to the source material, and doesn't let modern Hollywood executives stick their noses in where they don't belong. If only the Witcher had done that...
There are other characters besides the main three, such as Sanji who's introduced quite late and is an absolute riot, and the larger-than-life bad guys (Buggy the Pirate Clown is a standout). It even does flashbacks correctly, something that a lot of shows waste too much time on, and absolutely nails the tone and emotion (Sanji's backstory is amazing).
As someone who generally dislikes anime, I was wary going into this one, but I was very impressed. Everyone should give this a go.
I bit the bullet for AppleTV so you don't have to!
So, is Apple TV worth it?
Entry 1; Invasion
This series is maybe worth it. Depends I guess.
For me, this series is an exercise in frustration and intrigue that takes too damn long to pay off. Leading to more frustation. I still watched it though so there's that.
Not your standard alien invasion series. It takes a few notes from Arrival imo, focusing far more on the people than the aliens. Or even the invasion. Don't expect Falling skyes out of this show it's not an action series. It can be neat seeing a very character focused invasion movie that isn't told from the POV of anyone who knows what's going on and involves an ensemble of characters from different walks of life trying to sort things out.
It's mostly about the characters, but the annoying part is that it's all about the characters.
And the characters become annoying. I liked nearly all of them at the start of the show. There was a badass mom struggling to save her kids. A badass kids struggling to save other kids. Cool soldier guy. Awesome Japanese NASA girl.
The show had a fine and dandy cast, until they all became (nearly all of them) annoying little gaks who spend all their time bitching and stop being the engaging go-getters they were at the start of the series. The series also has the worst of child actors (the little girl character only exists to scream) and the best (the British kids have one of the better plotlines).
And season 2 doesn't make it better. Virtually every character's annoying habits from the end of S1 become their primary traits at the start of S2. And they added a banally obvious Elon Musk stand-in because that's what all TV needs.
If you like character-driven drama and are not easily annoyed by a very slow (very slow) plot, this might be for you.
It's better than the War of the World's adaptation with the comically unthreatening robot dogs and bad plot.
Apple TV is absolutely worth it, but not on a monthly "just leave it running" way.
Highlights include:
Ted Lasso,
Shrinking,
Prehistoric Planet,
The Morning Show.
I haven't dabbled with the stuff like Invasion, Silo and Foundation yet, as they present a little "harder" than I typically like my Sci-Fi, but I've got 6 months free, so I expect I'll get around to it.
Gotta agree on all counts with HBMC, regarding One Piece.
I have a co-worker who knew I had just resubbed to Netflix for a short while (mainly for Shane Gillis comedy special, which was awesome and to check out spooky season offerings) and told me to check it out. He knows the last and only anime I’ve ever watched was Ninja Scroll and I have no intetest in manga/anime.
I’ll give it a one episode try, I told him.
Before I knew it, I was on the 3rd episode and invested in the characters.
I hope this sends a message to all the creative folks out there. Maintain control of your work.
I tried out one piece as well off the back of HBMC’s effusive review. First episode was entertaining. The characters are currently genuinely likeable. The total lack of cynicism in the lead contributes to a nice experience. Not everything needs to be gritty and depressing with flawed and treacherous characters everywhere.
Nice to see live-action One Piece going down well with non-anime people, I thought it was good, but put that mostly down to already being a fan of the source material.
I'd love to see a second season, but I worry that as the show gets increasingly fantastical it's just going to get too expensive.
I haven't dabbled with the stuff like Invasion, Silo and Foundation yet, as they present a little "harder" than I typically like my Sci-Fi, but I've got 6 months free, so I expect I'll get around to it.
Don't know about the other shows, but I'm not a fan of Foundation.
As a generic sci-fi show it would've been OK, good even.
As an adaptation of Asimov's work, it was an atrocity.
So if you don't much care for the latter you'll probably be fine.
And as someone who has read/watched the One Piece manga and anime over the years...
Wow it actually isn't bad.
Especially after the fiascos with the FMA and Bleach live-action adaptations, I figured One Piece was just doomed because how but damn.
It's not terrible. It's actually good while still being an essentially faithful adaptation. In live action. Even the costuming, as ridiculous as it is, doesn't look bad. They even made live-action Zoro with three swords look borderline not absurd...
How many orphans were sacrificed to make this happen? Academically speaking.
One that I’ve heard of, but don’t think I’ve ever watched.
And it’s kind of Quantum Leap, but helping spirits move on than fixing the lives of the living.
Basic premise is Jennifer Love-Hewitt is able to see and interact with spirits. Her job in each episode is to riddle out what’s keeping them here, and bring about suitable closure. That allows the spirit to move on to whatever lies after.
It’s kind of sweet natured. Though I’m only on the second episode, so there’s plenty of time for it to properly delve into its own lore. And I’m enjoying it well enough.
We’re still in the first season, but we’ll almost certainly stick with it to the end. The show is weird, but fun. It feels like the writers are still struggling to figure out Zhaan and D’argo 10 episodes in, but Crichton, Aeryn Sun and Pilot are all great, with Rygel as the show’s A-hole we love to hate. Knowing a bit about the franchise, I’m waiting for the bad guy named Scorpius (or something like that) to show up so the show will finally gel.
Unfortunately the DVD’s look all compressed and funky on the TV, so we’ve been watching on Tubi, home of the aggravating advertisements. We had the same issue with the TNG DVDs and had to adjust the image settings all the time and still ended up with an imperfect image. But man, if we have to hear that “Jitterbug” car commercial every ad break, we might have to…
We’re still in the first season, but we’ll almost certainly stick with it to the end. The show is weird, but fun. It feels like the writers are still struggling to figure out Zhaan and D’argo 10 episodes in, but Crichton, Aeryn Sun and Pilot are all great, with Rygel as the show’s A-hole we love to hate. Knowing a bit about the franchise, I’m waiting for the bad guy named Scorpius (or something like that) to show up so the show will finally gel.
Farscape is interesting, mostly because its trying different things.
Personally I think it goes hard off the rails as it goes along* (and characterizations get real muddy), but its worth watching. Just... keep a notepad handy for later seasons.
*
Spoiler:
Particularly when they actually make it to Earth. The 9/11 consequences angle goes real weird, especially given that the primary studio and set dressing is Australian
Farscape is one of those shows I just can’t get into. I like what I’ve seen of it, but I find plugging through a whole season kind of exhausting.
Automatically Appended Next Post: I am now getting hacked off by the Walking Dead spin off shows.
In this age of streaming, I can’t legitimately watch Tales Of, Dead City or Daryl Dixon in the UK. Which is frankly, pathetic.
This is how it was in the 90’s, where we’d get shows months or even years after the US airing. Then came streaming and all seemed fixed. Until it wasn’t.
I don’t want to pirate. Ever. And thanks to working from home I’m dubious about VPN.
I couldn't get into the walking dead I watched most of season one and quit, as much as I enjoy Zombies this wasn't for me.
Just watched the new FLCL Grunge. all three episodes of it. Meh. The idea of telling a story from three different pov in a limited amount of time was fine but over all this was not very good.
One more "new season' of three episodes in the pipe later this year or next month. In the end the real fooly cooly will be the friends we made along the way. Feels like nostalgia farming more than anything else. They ripped dialog directly from the original and turned some of it into catchphrases. It feels like chat GPT wrote this and they just ran with it.
Everything after the original series has been a bit of a let down...except for the Pillows. Their music is still fantastic.
This is a good quality product, brevity of the episodes aside.
Spoiler:
The use of the Salamander as one of the main characters is a wise choice. If this ever gets mass market distribution somehow, so far he’s a good character to ease into for normies getting into 40K lore.
Him telling the extent of his injuries to the bewildered children was genuinely heartwarming.
As was his recognition that his appearance is…offputting.
Confirmed that the guardswoman is a figment of the SoB characters imagination. She seems very much shellshocked.
No Necron perspectives this episode, which is a bummer.
The Salamander “reading” the battlefield was a cool sequence.
SO... I grew up with Doctor Who, mostly Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker's run, saw a little of Davison, and then drifted away from TV for a while and completely missed Doctor's 6 and 7.
Got my hands on Season 24 (7th Doctor) while fleshing out my bluray collection and... Now I understand why so many people think Doctor Who is a kid's show.
McCoy seems great, from the little I've seen so far... but the rest of this mess... Oh my.
On a positive note, I will add my voice to the chorus uplifting One Piece. I'm a selective anime fan, have had nothing to do with the Manga, so went into this one knowing nothing about it other than that people seemed to like it... and loved every minute of it.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: His early stories tend to be quite poor, sadly. But his good ones? Best. Doctor. Ever.
Agreed. Capaldi comes in a close second, but he's definitely taking his cues from the Seventh Doctor.
Woo. Capaldi Who is actually why I stopped. Late Smith wore me down, but the Capaldi era broke me completely.
Its more the writers than the actor, but I can give all that a miss without a second thought.
Several very cool lines from solid characters that really developed over 4 seasons.
I think about what I don't like in current year, shows and movies and my big gripe is language. As in modern expressions aligned with how we behave and speak now where it clearly does not fit. Farscape is, almost, a master class of setting appropriate speech.
There are rules and nothing is explain directly but implied enough that the viewer easily picks up on the meanings. I love this about the show. While John is full of pop culture references he brought with him it all comes together nicely. Yelling in Klingon or TV references no one around him understands is loads of fun.
The last several episodes in season 4 are so much fun and over the top. The cliffhanger ending was so maddening when it happened I for one was so happy that we got the peacekeeper wars to finish the series off.
Binged the two series of Lupin on Friday night. Absolutely excellent French show based on the books by Maurice Leblanc. Lovely cinematography and a nice mixture of serious overtones and good comedy.
@Bobtheinquisitor: Farscape is a show I have a great fondness for without having watched many episodes at all. Some day I will though. It's got it all though: puppets, and interesting takes on sci-fi.
I bloody love Frasier. And so I am cautiously hype for this. ...
I love Frasier. To me it's one of the big three 90s sitcoms (and thus peak sitcoms): Friends, Frasier, Seinfeld. These three I can watch endlessly on repeat.
However, I don't believe that re-dos 20 years later are required or can work. But that's just me.
I'm watching the live action one piece show, because a friend said everybody has to watch it. I never watched One Piece (except for the odd episode), I never developed any fondness for it. I watch this thing now and after an initial feeling of "why am I watching these people play dress-up in front of ugly greenscreens in an all too clear digital look?" I eventually got beat into submission after a few hours and am somewhat willing to go along. I'm intrigued by some of the designs of things and vaguely remember having seen them in pictures. Now I'm on episode #8 and I guess I have to take a break before doing the last episode.
I know that these are a part of the show, but I hate flashbacks to things which happened in somebody's childhood and this is why they behave like they do. It's such basic, annoying storytelling, and despite all the "show, don't tell", these feel like they needlessly stretch things out. It very much is a tv show way of telling things rather than a film way of conveying information. I don't know, it's not for me. I feel that there is as much of a point to these live action adaptations as to Disney doing all their films with 'live action' CGI things now instead of cartoon things.
I think Frasier could work in the modern day, as we’ve an awful lot more for him to struggle with socially.
Apparently, Frasier’s son is also in it, and it’s set in Boston on a University Campus.
If I’m perfectly honest? I do kind of expect it to suck. Because I’ll be craving Frasier as it was, not Frasier as it could be. But. I am absolutely open to it being glorious once again.
It could work if they stick with the original ethos which was never to be afraid of being too obscure or niche with the humour, part of the success was the mix of high brow and low brow jokes, the latter serving to highlight the pomposity of the characters. But even the simple jokes worked because of the characterisations. What was one silly one - the Cranes in Maine have got your living brain.
warhead01 wrote: Highlander: the series.
Season one episode two.
Richie is asking direction from a nerd coming out of a Game Works shop store.
The pilot episode was a little rough but episode two seems more smooth.
Does not hit its stride until Season 2, and then the last Season barely even has the Highlander in it!
I do remember the first season being very rough compared to the rest. I haven't watched this show in a few years now, it was on youtube for a while.
Over all I remember it being fairly good with a few very funny stories here and there.
I think I do remember him taking a back seat every few episodes near the end.
Something I watch every year or so. I’ve probably posted about it in this thread previously.
Jared Harris, Cieran Hinds, Tobias Menzies (the latter two Julius Caesar and Brutus from HBO’s Rome, where I became fans of both) lead this period piece survival horror mini-series. Its a slow burn, but still feels dense and never feels ponderous. Fantastic music, costumes and set design. Well acted start to finish from the beginning’s determination and optimism to the conclusions madness and desperation.
I don’t feel like they do TV like this very often. Shame that the 2nd season didn’t slap as hard as this one.
What a peculiar show. Essentially a bunch of TV movies, covering the events of the source novels.
The acting is typically well above par, but the battle scenes are rarely more than a skirmish due to budgetary constraints.
But by gum the show just works. With Richard Sharpe being raised up in the ranks having saved Wellington’s life, there’s a peculiarly British enjoyment of a “mere pleb” outshining, outperforming and outsmarting his self-appointed betters, the Commissioned Officers.
They do work best viewed in order however, as it’s a rolling timeline. But if you can find a DVD Boxed set, this is well worth your time.
What a peculiar show. Essentially a bunch of TV movies, covering the events of the source novels.
The acting is typically well above par, but the battle scenes are rarely more than a skirmish due to budgetary constraints.
But by gum the show just works. With Richard Sharpe being raised up in the ranks having saved Wellington’s life, there’s a peculiarly British enjoyment of a “mere pleb” outshining, outperforming and outsmarting his self-appointed betters, the Commissioned Officers.
They do work best viewed in order however, as it’s a rolling timeline. But if you can find a DVD Boxed set, this is well worth your time.
Oh yes, I very much agree with the "by gum the show just works" sentiment. I got them all on DVD (except for the very last one), but I got Sharpe's Challenge as a separate DVD, and that has some of the funniest, most wholesome DVD commentary (by Daragh O'Malley and Sean Bean) I'd ever come across.
What a peculiar show. Essentially a bunch of TV movies, covering the events of the source novels.
The acting is typically well above par, but the battle scenes are rarely more than a skirmish due to budgetary constraints.
But by gum the show just works. With Richard Sharpe being raised up in the ranks having saved Wellington’s life, there’s a peculiarly British enjoyment of a “mere pleb” outshining, outperforming and outsmarting his self-appointed betters, the Commissioned Officers.
They do work best viewed in order however, as it’s a rolling timeline. But if you can find a DVD Boxed set, this is well worth your time.
One of the things I liked was the general chaos on the battlefield - with people just falling down almost randomly. Which was pretty realistic - you had noise, smoke, poor situational awareness and people just dropping at different times as they caught bullets, fainted, tripped over, etc. Hence the efforts to train people to stick together so when you got to where you were going you had enough people to shoot enough inaccurate fire at the hopefully in that location enemy and charge.
Though Sharpes speed loading technique was pants and unnecessary...
Song of the Bandits (Korean: 도적: 칼의 소리) on Netflix (Literal translation – Thief: Sound of the Sword).
Korean drama set in the Japanese occupation of Korea and war with China. Surprisingly engaging as a story, with great music and interesting characters in what would make a great RPG setting (think oriental wild west).
Just as bloody, vulgar and graphic as its parent show, but a bit more cringe dialogue. And a main character with a weird superpower, dead set on becoming the first black woman to join The Seven. First episode had a bit of a horror movie vibe, as its made clear that not everything is as it seems. One episode in, and there may be something interesting here, but not sure if I have it in me. I'm so checked out on superheroes that I might only watch it for the shock value that it aims for.
Spoiler:
First episode has Clancy Brown getting killed by the poster boy of the college who then offs himself, some sort of shady happenings underneath the façade of a superhero college, and general "Hollywood college" debauchery.
One of the best things to grace the small screen is back for its 5th and sadly final, barring a forthcoming Christmas Special, series.
Written and brought to screen by the Horrible Histories crew, this is a wonderful house-share type sitcom.
Seems it released on 6 October, and is available in its entirety on iPlayer.
If you’ve not watched the series before, I highly recommend it.
Automatically Appended Next Post: The Reckoning
This….is a difficult programme to watch, because it’s a semi-dramatised biopic of Jimmy Savile.
Because Dakka is family friendly, I won’t go into too much detail.
Suffice to say for all my childhood and *quick mental calculation* most of my adult life, Jimmy Savile absolutely was a National Treasure. A man who did magnificent things for charity, hosted many popular programmes.
Then, not long after he passed away and a lot of pomp and circumstance involved in his funeral?
His true nature was revealed. The sort of nature where even one such as I with all the parental instinct of a rock, makes me want to get the chainsaws out, only the blades on the chain have somehow been replaced with hammers, and still works.
British Dakkanauts can’t help but know. Everyone else can do a quick Google at their own, genuine, peril.
Steve Coogan portrays Savile. And what could’ve been tawdry is definitely played as sinister, but subtlety so. It doesn’t glamourise his life. It doesn’t seek to defend or downplay his many, many crimes.
If anything, this is kind of a “warts and all” confessional by the BBC, who at the time absolutely could’ve done more to put a stop to his crimes. It not only shows Savile as a manipulator, but The Powers That Be being all too ready to turn a blind eye.
This is not east watching. At all. It’s creepy. It’s sinister. But as someone who grew up during Savile’s arguable heyday (yes, even I sent a letter in to Jim’ll Fix It) I’d argue it’s compulsory viewing, despite the underlying horror.
Fraiser and Frederick are good value, acting as decent enough foils.
However…..Niles’ son, who is so forgettable I couldn’t even tell you his name is just a knock-off Sheldon. So far his “wacky fun antics” have sucked all the energy out of the scene.
Having recently started watching the original series, this is missing the instant cast chemistry outside of the father and son dynamic.
But I’m willing to give it a chance. It certainly wouldn’t be the first sitcom that took a bit to bed in.
Had my date over, and we managed to binge the whole season. Not as bad as it sounds as it was just 6 or so episodes.
As with its predecessors, there’s a real mix here in terms of tone, and I love it. But then I’ve always been a sucker for short form horror in particular. Be it “double feature” TV episodes or Amicus Portmanteau type flicks, I find it a rich ground for original storytelling.
Indeed to support that claim, I’d point out few such episodes or segments could be stretched to a full movie. At least, not effectively. So the existence of this shorter form serves as a different lens for the genre to treat us with.
I really must get Tales from the Darkside and Twilight Zone on disc or digital soon. Because whilst the noise to signal ratio can be dodgy, when it’s good? It’s heavenly.
Just about to start Highlander the series season two.
Season one was actually better than I had remembered. It was rough until mid season. One really big dual then them move the show to France. There are loads of immortals in Europe as it turns out. I enjoy that while there is continuity you could just enjoy some of these casually as a one off.
If you ever write a script with kid characters, watching this show. Then promptly do none of that. Dear god the kids in this show are so obnoxiously stupid. I don't care if it's realistic or whatever. I shouldn't want to punch kids this hard but these kids just consistently make exceedingly dumb choices and the parents turn a complete blind eye to how not on board with the program the kids are.
Decent hate watch. Lots of the drama is driven by people keeping secrets for no clear reason and then making a blatantly terrible decision.
It was meant to show us how society fell. And then promptly….didn’t. Seriously, end of one episode is their street being made into a safe-zone with the arrival of the army.
Next episode it’s all gotten much worse, and said safe-zone is barely holding out.
Such a disappoint. They Voyager of Walking Dead, complete with moronic characters who never learn a bloody thing.
Automatically Appended Next Post: The Further Adventures of Frasier Crane E3
Not its real name but it’ll do.
Starting to find its feet a bit now. Niles’ son has been dialled down considerably, which is one of my major criticisms of the first two episodes dealt with.
Hopefully it’ll continue to find its form, because Frasier was a great show, and I don’t want it’s reputation tarnished by this latter day sequel.
Slickly made, amazing set pieces and gun battles in the streets, and absolutely none of the charm of the first one.
Too clean, and too by the numbers. An enjoyable watch, but pretty mediocre fare. They should have restricted the budget more to get the best out of the whole team.
Me are! Because this month, I finally remembered to buy Batman The Animated Series.
Those who’ve had the privilege will know this is a most excellent bit of animation. Released in 1992 it continued to carry the torch lit by the Burton movies in feel and aesthetic, and eventually gave the world Harley Quinn.
But as someone who was of the right age, at the right time? This show was truly mind blowing. Having grown up with He-Man, Transformers and such, this was like cartoons were growing up with me.
Everything about it is just perfect. The art style, the moodiness, Gotham’s oddly timeless aesthetic. And talk about a voice cast. Not only did it give us Mark Hamill’s defining Joker, but Kevin Conroy’s first and thankfully faaaar from last stint as Batman.
It beat X-Men to the punch, and for my money remained the superior show, despite such stiff competition.
Heck, I’m fairly certain its success paved the way for the plethora of animated DC movies we continue to genuinely enjoy to this day. Certainly it serves to show “good writes, good cast = solid entertainment” is a formula that works.
Enjoyed this one, it was a pretty decent follow up to the Rebels series, and they mostly did a good job making live action versions of the characters (Sabine was a bit off until the final episode though).
Hopefully, this will encourage me to get a bit more caught up with these Star Wars shows.
One of the best things to grace the small screen is back for its 5th and sadly final, barring a forthcoming Christmas Special, series.
Written and brought to screen by the Horrible Histories crew, this is a wonderful house-share type sitcom.
Seems it released on 6 October, and is available in its entirety on iPlayer.
If you’ve not watched the series before, I highly recommend it.
CBS will be airing this (as Ghosts UK) in the US starting on November 16th. I guess there's a bright side to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes after all... .
Season 2 of Highlander the series. finished.
Thought the ending was strange because I thought it was a mini movie off to the side of the seasons. I thought it was also referenced prior to the death of Horton earlier in the season.
My wife and I stayed up until 4am binge watching 1899. Fantastic little series, such a shame it got cancelled. Same folks who did Dark which it meant it had the steadily more insane twists and turns but fun ride.
Got to say I think this will be divisive. But for me? Trey and Matt are back to their subtle satirical balanced best.
Skewering both extremes of the entirely made up Culture Wars, this is pretty bloody funny.
I thought it was decent, pretty good, not quite great. The most entertaining thing has been reading about Disney and their execs stomping their feet and temper tantruming about it.
I'm given to understand that Mike Flanagan's golden handcuffs deal with Netflix had expired, and we'll be seeing his next projects on Amazon.
So has he left a steaming turd on NF's doormat on the way out?
Thankfully, no. In fact I'd go as far as to say this is almost certainly my favourite of his shows so far, perhaps only Hill House giving it a run for it's money.
Drawing heavily on the works of Poe as a whole, I'm no aficionado and I'm certain there's many, many references and inspirations I missed, the show follows the Usher family, the phenomenally wealthy owners of a pharmaceutical company and purveyors of one of the most successful opiate painkillers on the planet. The show opens as the law appears to have finally caught up with the Ushers and their underhanded dealings, as the US government finally brings the company to court to make the family answer for allegedly concealing information about the dangers of opiates (one doesn't have to look too hard for a real world comparison here.)
Simultaneously, a far more sinister force decides to call time on other secrets in the family history, and the show broadly follows the fate of each family member as we simultaneously witness the events that brought us to this point in flashback.
This is precisely the sort of spooky show that works so well at this time of year, Halloween aside, as the nights draw in and the weather gets worse (unless you're a resident of upside down land.)
My only reservation is that there are occasionally some pretty strong elements of gore, and thanks to the solid atmosphere the occasional jump scare can hit that little harder than they do in lesser works, so its probably not suitable for younger viewers or those who don't like horror (despite the majority of it being spooky rather than horrific.)
For everyone else there's very little not to recommend you at least try the first episode and see if it grabs you.
One of my favourite classic Who tales, with new framing scenes featuring the 7th Doctor and Ace.
Coming from the last season of the classic era, this is kind of bittersweet viewing for me. Whilst the 7th’s beginnings weren’t auspicious, he definitely found his feet, only to end up cancelled by a hostile director general who just wanted the show done.
And this genuinely terrified me as a kid, because the Haemovores are a terrifying design well realised for the era and the budget.
The plot is solid, and even the acting is above par for the series.
Definitely one of the ones to watch from the McCoy era. WW2! (like The Empty Child? Watch this!) Companion back story! (like Father's Day? Watch this!). Cheesy vampire women! And... guest staring Nicholas Parsons!
Work has stopped my from diving into the Whoniverse (now that it is now an actual thing!). I can see my self dipping in to various stories on a regular basis!
It’s definitely one of the stories which embraced its 70’s heyday (horror undertones) history (thin pastiche of Bletchley Park, with added Viking Zombies), whilst also more or less laying the path for what would follow all those years later (Ace is no shrinking violet, or the type to “thcweam and thcweam and thcweam until I’m thick”)
It’s just really, really solid. With, as Ace would say, a wicked ending!
Poor Bonnie. She got a raw deal. Coming in at JNT's peak 'show-biz' era didn't help either. Mel got redeemed in the Big Finish stories and the TV version should get a heartwarming portrayal. (for some reason I always thought Mel came from the future rather than contempary Earth).
I’d argue Mel got short shrift. Not sure about Bonnie Langford as she’s far, far too stage school for my tastes.
But hey, along came Ace, and “those cans of Nitro-9 you’re not carrying”, which promptly absolved Dr Who of so, so many sins.
Automatically Appended Next Post: And that’s it done. Really nice framing segments as well, giving us some details on Ace’s departure from the TARDIS. Always a pleasure to see Ace and the Professor together.
Yep. Ace is certainly a top 10, probably top 5 companion. Sophie only suffering (as a lot do) from the tradition of casting a mid-twenties woman as a teenager, but she did it better than most. After Bonnie/Mel she was a much more appealing and relatable character, and is a good example of how the show was moving towards the sort of stories about companions that RTD and co would be telling 16+ years later.
No I don’t care for your opinion. This was a massive part of my identity as a Teen, and continues to be so today.
It’s delightfully, intentionally crude and stupid. To see two utter, utter idiots of few if any redeeming features blunder their way through life cheers my heart.
Over all it was a good rise that season. They did a few things that I found interesting and a few things that annoyed me.
I liked the flash backs with the other immortal characters even ones deceased in the shows running timeline. Xavier St. Cloud turns up in Arabia in a flash back, for example. Sadly his story arch was concluded a season or two before but when they introduced him in a flash back before Macleod didn't seem to know him. That would have been the second time they hand met based on season 3.
I liked that they had met earlier but wish it had been brought up previously. But then even the writers probably didn't know they had already met. It's a little funny.
Adding a throw away line like , Don't I know you or haven't we met before would have covered that gap well enough for me.
I also like that this opened the door for adventures with other deceased Immortals in throw away episodes. Fun stories to enjoy that don't really detract from a main story.
I also like Duncan failing at relationships. It does help show that he is really just some guy still trying to figure out everything just like everyone else.
What a terrific cartoon. Not only the starting point of modern DC Aminated fare, but a cartoon which to my then Young mind, challenged what kids TV could be.
Having grown up on bright and colourful 80’s stuff? This was dark and moody. And yes, even pretty mature.
This was a bold move, particularly as its contemporaries such as X-Men retained a very colourful palette.
Now I’ll admit the actual animation, at least in this first episode is a bit rougher than I remember, but it’s still strong for its day. Indeed, given it’s done in a muted palette, heavy on shadows it’s still easy to tell who’s who, what’s what, and which guy just got a knuckle sandwich or a strategic, probably medical, kick to the head.
That it kicked off with Man-Bat, who at the time was a “who” more than a who’s who? That was super bold.
Very much the sort of show I’d love to get modern kids’ first reactions to. Because I think it’s aged like a fine wine. One of those shows both instantly timeless, but also was so ahead of its time.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Oh, and its sense of humour is great.
Robin suggests once they’ve looked for The Joker, they go home, have Christmas Dinner, and watch “It’s a Wonderful Life”
To which Batman replies “you know, I’ve never seen that. I could never get past the title”.
Though pretty sure this boxed set has the episodes out of airing order.
Set on a future earth, where following a plague which reduced mankind to around 2,000,000 people, we also lose our sight.
Jason Momoa is our lead, and it’s, well I guess interesting. He’s the leader of a tribe and adoptive father of twins who can see. Except, having sight is considered Heresy, so there’s Witch Hunters on their trail.
He’s just met the children’s sighted father who lives in hiding. Father tells him “there’s a box like, over there, which contains knowledge. Retrieve it and give that to the kids when they’re 12 summers old”. Reading ahead on Wikipedia, and apparently that box contains books.
Not a Power Rangers fan, the idea of a Japanese show where they edit out all the Japanese people never really appealed to me.
But I do enjoy Linkara's History of the Power Rangers videos and I was looking for something mindless.
This is the first streaming-only season, 10 episodes, lots of call backs to older shows (it is itself a sequel to Dino Fury and a bit hard to jump in) but fun.
And mindless.
Won't watch again but good for washing dishes and folding laundry.
You’re reminding me how much Inused to live that series. May have to see if the family is interested in that after DS9.
Speaking of DS9, we finally got to the introduction of the Defiant and the Dominion in Season 3. My son had been asking “when Dominion” since before we started watching, so it feels like we’re finally getting to the good stuff. (He wanted to see the Star Trek ancient big bad, in the vein of the Shadows or Goa’uld.)
Then we got an episode with Quark *and* Klingons. What a treat!
First time I saw On Leather Wings - the Animated Batman pilot episode - I was blown away. It captures the atmosphere of 1940s films & weekly serials and blends it with modern 1990s action horror. Given that it was aimed at a young audience, it had exceptional production values and puts the big screen outings to shame.
It’s definitely one of those shows that had no reason to be anywhere as near good as it was.
Kids Saturday Morning? Check!
There to sell toys? Check!
Yet, they chose not to simply phone it in.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Time
BBC Drama series, examining life in Prison.
Series 1 follows Sean Bean’s character, locked up for killing a cyclist whilst drink driving.
Series 2 follows Jodie Whitaker’s character, locked up for apparently fiddling her electric (basically a form a theft). Also Bella Ramsey and Tamara Lawrence.
Written by Jimmy McGoven, whom you might know from his work on Cracker.
These are kind of bleak, but without overly dramatising. The acting however is absolutely top notch.
Forgot about this thread, but just what I was looking for!
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off
This ended up not being what I wanted, but so much better than I hoped for. They did so much to give this entire cast so many great moments. Loved the comic, really enjoyed but was slightly let down by the movie, adore the game but the show is probably where I really found myself loving the whole world.
SamusDrake wrote: First time I saw On Leather Wings - the Animated Batman pilot episode - I was blown away. It captures the atmosphere of 1940s films & weekly serials and blends it with modern 1990s action horror. Given that it was aimed at a young audience, it had exceptional production values and puts the big screen outings to shame.
Well... sometimes it (and Justice League) are not aimed a young audience.
Particularly for an American Saturday morning Fox Kids show. There's a lot of innuendo, racy moments and even sometimes _blood_.
Its a weird aberration for the time and place.
Bafflingly good compared to most of what's come afterwards, though.
This is the TV show of the Godzilla/Kong movies centering on Monarch, the shady organisation responsible for identifying/destroying MUTOs. There's a lot of timey-wimey flashbacks to Monarch's origins in the 1950's up to present day after the Godzilla incidents. I have to say I am enjoying this way more than I thought I would. The flashbacks work, the special effects are good (especially for TV) and the casting is great. Only 3 episodes in but it is better than I thought it would be.
Dr Who (classic episodes)
Classic Dr Who is now up on i-player. Annoyingly, not every episode but there are some classics on there. I'm currently just working through all of the Daleks episodes but will go back. It's surprisingly dark compared to modern Dr Who. So many deaths, and the Daleks hold up pretty well. The special effects and acting aren't great but the storylines (almost all written by Terry Nation so far) do hold up well. Post Apocalyptic London was actually very well done in Dalek Invasion of Earth.
Heard a lot of bad about this one and didn't jump on it, but its.... totally fine? Not sure what all the hate was about (though I have my suspicions...). Overall good setup for a version of Rondo given the world building of the original. A little more action and less philosophy but plenty to build on going forward.
Now, as ever, I’ve not read the source material, so I can’t comment if this is a good translation.
But I’d say it is a perfectly decent bit of SciFi. Production values are solid, acting is solid.
Mostly posting to let folk know this exists, and maybe elicit a response from a fellow viewer who has read the book, who might be able to give a better and more inherently informed opinion.
Now, as ever, I’ve not read the source material, so I can’t comment if this is a good translation.
But I’d say it is a perfectly decent bit of SciFi. Production values are solid, acting is solid.
Mostly posting to let folk know this exists, and maybe elicit a response from a fellow viewer who has read the book, who might be able to give a better and more inherently informed opinion.
I binged this show when season 2 wrapped up earlier this year and I think it's some of the best sci fi I've seen in quite a while. Lee Pace is absolutely killer as Emperor Cleon, really makes me feel like Marvel wasted a great talent playing a 2-bit villain like Ronan. The story is definitely not conventionally told with how... er... generational it is, for lack of a better word, but I think that's part of the charm. The clone dynasty alone is just such a fascinating idea, and I think the show does a great job exploring it.
I haven't read the books, but from what I understand the show is only loosely inspired by Asimov's work. He apparently never finished this series, and the show is drastically different. Some book lovers hate it for that reason, and maybe if I'd read them I'd feel the same way, but I think the show is genuinely great even if it's not what you'd expect after reading the source material.
Been looking forward to this one, unfortunately it turned out to be disappointingly average.
It being rather slow and plot-holely didn't matter too much, but the cop-out ending kinda ruined it in my opinion.
Still hoping they do a 20th Century Boys series at some point though.
I have been watching Season 1 (of 5) of this early TV war show. S1-4 is B&W and S5 is in COLOR! I love it and have fond memories of watching it with my Dad on a UHF channel. I love it so much, that I even made a wargame version of it for fun.
Therefore, I can not give it an impartial review. It is all free on Youtube if you want to watch. Each episode is about 45 minutes.
I have been watching Season 1 (of 5) of this early TV war show. S1-4 is B&W and S5 is in COLOR! I love it and have fond memories of watching it with my Dad on a UHF channel. I love it so much, that I even made a wargame version of it for fun.
Therefore, I can not give it an impartial review. It is all free on Youtube if you want to watch. Each episode is about 45 minutes.
You can also see it on the Heroes & Icons cable channel at 10pm and 11pm every Saturday (along with Black Sheep Squadron, Tour of Duty, The Rat Patrol and 12 O'clock High).
Ep 6 Money no object.
4 Immortals in an episode seems to be the formula for Duncan to get wacky. While looking for a very old car and being obstructed by an stubborn mechanic Duncan 'becomes' a famous film director and goes on a rant about perfection and the pain of being a genius. He then proceeds to befriend the mechanic who rushes off to have a look at his books to help this passionate director.
I love this because it's absurd. I wish this worked in the real world.
6 ep. in, this season isn't the best of them but it does have it's moments.
Easy E wrote: Have you watched the Clue rip-off with Fitzcairn?
Edit: Also, Tour of Duty..... that was solid show IIRC>
At this point I'm not sure. I'll have to go back and have a look at episode names unless it's later in season 5 or in season 6.
Fitzcairn is a really fun character to have around. I do remember a clue episode but I haven't seen it yet again this go round.
Monday night, BBC2, Only connect and University Challenge At 19 and 23 seasons respectively. Mr Amol Rajan has developed into an endearing replacement for Paxman (edit) and Mrs Coren Mitchell is the wisecracking, brainy, scrummy-mummy we all have the hots for.
Monday night is blissful TV.
(edited as my tongue in cheek criticism was made without being aware of Jeremy Paxman's condition)
Easy E wrote: Have you watched the Clue rip-off with Fitzcairn?
Edit: Also, Tour of Duty..... that was solid show IIRC>
At this point I'm not sure. I'll have to go back and have a look at episode names unless it's later in season 5 or in season 6.
Fitzcairn is a really fun character to have around. I do remember a clue episode but I haven't seen it yet again this go round.
Someone "murders" Fitzcairn and they have to figure out "who done it" set in the 1920s. Perhaps one of the more amusing episodes, and highlights a challenge that Immortals face.
Easy E wrote: Have you watched the Clue rip-off with Fitzcairn?
Edit: Also, Tour of Duty..... that was solid show IIRC>
At this point I'm not sure. I'll have to go back and have a look at episode names unless it's later in season 5 or in season 6.
Fitzcairn is a really fun character to have around. I do remember a clue episode but I haven't seen it yet again this go round.
Someone "murders" Fitzcairn and they have to figure out "who done it" set in the 1920s. Perhaps one of the more amusing episodes, and highlights a challenge that Immortals face.
Yes I recall that one. It's in season 5. I don't remember a tour of duty episode unless you're referring to Joe's back story.
Ex-Pat British school teacher foils armed robbery in Spanish supermarket to protect her daughter. She manages to single handedly disarm and despatch one of the robbers with a cake tester...One of the robbers recognises her and the other escapes. So, who is Erin Carter?
This starts off well, bit of mystery and action. Also has a good cast (Douglas Henshall, Denise Gough (Andor), Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica)) but does become stupidly predictable, a bit silly, and some of the acting leaves a lot to be desired.
However, it did keep me engaged until the end but completely failed to land the ending (in my opinion).
It felt like if the team behind Eastenders had made the Equalizer movies......
The original Gordon Ramsay vehicle. Before he went over the US and made an absolute fortune.
The format is of course the same. Chef Ramsay does what he can to turn around the fortunes of ailing restaurants. Not just addressing the food, but often the staff.
Where this stands apart from its US incarnation is the editing and production. The drama is largely gone. No dramatic string music, no fairly contrived/staged feeling scenes.
Ramsay comes. He sees. He kicks some arses. And interestingly, he criticises fairly. For instance, a menu may be fine - but needs to be cooked fresher or just tarted up a bit. But he absolutely takes no crap. And doesn’t give a fig about the ego of anyone.
Sadly it didn’t run for terribly long. But what’s here is solid.
Highlander the series season 5
Just finished season 5 Not a good ending this go round. I had forgotten how they got rid of Richie. Real shame about that. The writing really went down hill the dialog was poor at the end and going into season 6 to conclude that story arch. It feels like someone was just tired of the show and just trying to get it over with, unlike the season finals from the previous seasons which were a air bit better. Could be because they only had 18 episodes instead of the previous 22. Who knows.
Just starting season 6 up to ep 2 so far. It's a bit of a drag.
A horror mini-series from Mike Flanagan (Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass) that very loosely takes from Edgar Allen Poe stories/themes and combines them into a modern retelling of a family falling with a quickness. Its like if the family from Succession was hunted by some sort of demon who killed them in slightly ironic ways.
There are about 3 different timelines happening per episode, but its never distracting and they all matter and come together, which can be a rarity when this trope is used. Being a long time fan of Poe’s work, I liked all of the references and its wild seeing actors from previous Flanagan works playing characters wildly different than their previous character.
With no slight intended toward Andrew Lincoln, there aren’t many shows which lose their lead and not only amble along, but get a second wind.
Sure, it had its moments and seasons where it dragged like a Seal’s ringpiece? But its last two, two and a half seasons it redoubled its efforts to decent effect.
Rick’s departure is definitely the turning point. It allowed the other characters and the actors behind them to up their game, and we wound up with a greater variety of takes and viewpoints. The semi-redemption of Negan was particularly well done.
I remain frustrated the later spinoffs are yet to be legally found in the UK. Because I love me a bit of zombie action.
But, with Walking Dead, and for me Fear The not existing? It’s time for a new show to binge.
American Gods
Now this is a show I think I watched the whole of the first season of before, but never followed up on.
And I’m not sure why, because it’s really enjoyable.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: I tried that one, and watched some of the first season. But whilst I’ve nothing particularly bad to say about it? It never really grabbed me.
The second season with the reveal of the Lazarus Project run by people from 2076 is a good hook IMHO.
A TV series that's half and half Die Hard and The Hangover? I'm not sure this is for everyone, I wasn't even sure it was for me, but it's fast-moving enough that it doesn't really give you chance to consider how bloody stupid it really is.
An "elite" team of multi agency government operatives prevent the detonation of a nuke on US soil (Vegas to be precise) and celebrate by getting on the outside of enough drugs and alcohol to keep Keith Richards going for a week, and in some cases inside of each other. A phone call from their boss telling them that their mission isn't as complete as they thought instigates the adventure proper, with our heroes trying to save the world while out of their collective trees (or in the case of C Thomas Howell's Haggerty, simply unconscious for 3 episodes.)
If I wasn't a little hard up for new stuff at the moment, I'd have honestly passed this over, but I'm ultimately glad I didn't. It's stupid, purile and derivative, but it's also entertaining and features a heel turn I didn't see coming.
Not one to fall over yourselves to prioritise, but equally if you're in need of something to fill a gap over Christmas, you can do far worse. But that is conditional on your tolerance for the occasional fart or dick joke.
Easy E wrote: Honestly, just skip Season 6 and go to Highlander: The Raven.
I'm not sure if I really want to or not but I'll look for some clips on youtube and see.
Did a little reading up on the end of Season 5 and it looks like they thought that was it and wanted to go out with a shocking ending. By which I mean Richie's death.
It also explains a lot about how bad season 6 was, they were looking for a spinoff and trying to see which of the side characters or new characters would be a good fit.
Incredibly lame.
I partly want to watch Highlander 4 now. I've only seen it once.
I'm just now starting Forever Knight. One episode in and it's not exactly bad but not exactly good either so I'm not in a rush to see it all right away.
A TV series that's half and half Die Hard and The Hangover? I'm not sure this is for everyone, I wasn't even sure it was for me, but it's fast-moving enough that it doesn't really give you chance to consider how bloody stupid it really is.
??
It gives you this chance about every 10 minutes at the least.
Pretty wild ride. Been a longtime fan of Mike Flanagan since the understated Absentia(2011) and this is one of his better works. It did get kind of repetitive with the Ushers offspring getting killed, but the final one was pretty sad but also hopeful.
On to his previous Horror Anthology “Midnight Club”.
The new adaptation from Disney, and dear god is it a huge improvement over the film attempt from a decade or so ago. The first episode is pretty basic set up. Nice and clean fun. Probably well suited for the younger target audience the books themselves aimed at but well done enough a parent won't be bored.
I have nostalgia for the series so I'm eager to see how it all goes. The actor playing Percy and Grover are... not bad. Not bad at all but definitely a bit 'that'll do.' Hoping they find some stride but it's always a challenge with child actors.
Yeah I rather enjoyed that. Most definitely for the Teen/Young Adult* market, but still plenty enough in there to hold my attention.
Reacher
Rewatching season 1 before piling into season 2.
A pretty effective series. Our lead is fantastic, and the action is nicely restrained, to the point it feels fairly realistic, even though I suspect it’s still a bit silly in the eyes of someone who actually knows how to fight.
Dubbed show on Netflix. Randomly people start turning into monsters. But not the same type of monster but unique monsters. I'm only on episode 5 I think but it really is well done.
A few months ago I complained how Ahsoka wasted the potential of a "whole other galaxy" as a setting, instead providing a yawningly boring, generic, "pedestrian" concept of an alien world...
Scavenger's Reign proves that budgets don't need to buy creativity and imagination. A story of colonists marooned on a habitable but pretty hostile planet is a beautiful example of extremely imaginative world building. This is what you feel "alien" should mean when used to describe an exoplanet's biology and ecosystems. Hardly very scientific, but, boy, is it creative and otherworldly! Recommended.
Does exactly what it says on the tin. An end of daily programming bedtime story on CBeebies, the BBC’s channel for pre-schoolers.
Not only is it something to plonk tinies down in front of? But it has something of a reputation for the Mums. But why I hear you politely enquire in triplicate?
Well. Tonight’s for example, was presented by Jason Momoa. Who’s following in the footsteps of Tom Hardy (at least twice!), Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth. All in Full Dad/Friendly Uncle Mode.
Other genuine celebrities to read include Sir Derek Jacobi, Johnny Depp, Sir Elton John, Mel Gibson, Hugh Jackman, David Tennant and dozens upon dozens of others.
A simple show so well regarded, they come to you.
Just good, wholesome fun. With more than a bit of eye candy for the knackered Mum at the end of the child related day.
Not gonna lie, I shed a tear or two in the closing scenes. Wonderful show, now all done and dusted. And rounded off in a just about perfect way.
I've been watching this on CBS and have really been enjoying the show and comparing the OG characters with the US characters. With the network airing two episodes a week, we're already up to episodes 3 and 4 of Series 2. Here's hoping we get to see most if not all of the episodes.
A 1994 spin-off for the small screen. Discovered it on Prime last night whilst looking for Robocop 2.
Notable for the violence being massively toned down. Whilst guns are involved, it’s a bit A-Team in that few people actually get shot, and even when that does happen it’s “just off screen”.
But, and here’s the important part? The satire remains. Every episode so far is framed with the news report, setting up the scenario and then providing a recap. It might be a bit too on the nose for some, and certainly subtlety seems to have gone through the same window as Clarence Boddicker. But it is there. And Robocop without the satire is. Well. Robocop 3.
I’m genuinely and entirely unironically enjoying this. No worse than par for the course Saturday Afternoon TV Programming, and it’s not taking a big old steaming dump on the source material.
Try and find the marvel cartoon series of Robocop as well.
It was part of their "Action pack" line-up - spidey, Hulk, etc and robocop.
Part marvel cartoon series of the time, part cringeworthy C*O*P*S ripoff (so even more cringe than COPS). Badguy voices done by the VA of Marvel (same VA for Doc Octopus did Robocop characters as well. That nasal "fnarr, see" tone).
Watched the season premiere of La Brea last night. While the SFX aren't up to Jurassic Park quality, they're better than some of the B movies out there.
Eeeeeeeeeeh! It’s back! And it’s like I’m a pimply little Herbert once again!
Happy to say they’ve not fiddled with the format so far. But as the first episode of the revived series, the Gladiators themselves are yet to establish themselves as booable. They are however in frankly incredible shape.
Very odd to have a father and son announce team though. I’d expected a male and female team, because….that’s just what we’re used to.
Importantly? It’s still fun! And remains ideal Saturday Tea Time entertainment.
Automatically Appended Next Post: OK that was genuinely exhilirating, particularly the men’s Eliminator.
The only new game in the first episode was rather fun. Basically the contenders play at the same time, and need to get to the centre to hit the button, go back to the perimeter and do it again. But each has a Gladiator marking them.
Animated series about a Samurai's quest for revenge against the 4 white men in Japan that wronged them. One of them might well be their father, the reason the Samurai has blue eyes, something abhorred and vilified in 17th Century Japan.
This is written by the writers of Logan and Bladerunner 2049 and it shows. It's beautifully written. The animation, which is a mix of 3d animation which is then repainted to look 2d and mocap is absolutely gorgeous. The voice acting is fantastic (Kenneth Branagh and George Takei in particular stand out).
This is Season 1 and it does end with the set up for Season 2, and it better get made because this was one of the best things I've watched in ages, animated or live action.
It's as good (if not better IMHO) as Arcane so if you liked that you'll like this. BUt even if you didn't, watch it because it's just great.
I've seen one review of this which was discussing the issue of making bad-ass but characterless female heroes (I know, low hanging fruit these days). The enthusiasm the critic had for this show has persuaded me I need to get Netflix to watch this, if only for a month.
Announce Team need a bit of work, as the younger one felt a bit forced. But, it is the first episode so we can probably put that down to overall nerves.
Do they still have the game where the Gladiator shoot tennis balls out of a cannon at the contestants. Meanwhile, the competitor tries to scramble through cover and find one-shot weapons to fire back at a target?
I've been watching Highlander the raven. Not the best show but not all that bad either. Fits the highlander format well enough. Episode 12 was funny. They brought in Joe Dawson from the series and true to form end up in a sloppy 5 way stand off with pistols drawn and of course the bad guy is more or less allowed to leave because of good guy bickering.
It seemed like a train wreck right out of a rpg.
And after that they all move to France. a mid season location switch. So far Amanda has only taken maybe 4 or 5 heads in 16 of 22 episodes.
It's nice to see the Highlander "universe" expanded on but over all I can't see that this show really has any direction. Leads me to wonder if they had no idea they were only getting one season or who knows what. I like this show enough to whish they had made a few more spinoffs following other immortals.
Just because they could have and it might have been fun.
I'm only 2 episodes in but this has Ian McDiarmid as a Pre-Roman Celtic King, and Hugo Speer (Musketeers) is one of the romans. Similar production quality to the last season of musketeers. Decent shot at showing a caricature of the Roman war machine.
I'm interested to see if the rest of the 1rst season holds my attention.
I also miss that Lucy got lost in the switch to France. Lucy was one of my favorite characters.
She looked really familiar but I haven't looked up who she is. Was she in Twin Peaks? Lura's Mother? That's who she reminds me of.
I really prefer the Paris setting as a back drop. There's something about it that just works better than when they are suppose to be state side. I like the big set pieces that we already know from Highlander the series. Just a good looking location.
side not, that's the way I like my battlefields set up. Hate balanced terrain. I really like the idea that my armies are fighting somewhere other than a table top.
Episode 17 was a tad comical, Amanda's ex husband ... A goofy Duncan showing up would have been brutally funny, taking care of her light work. Missed opportunity but not really.
I don’t know if this is the right place to vent, but I gotta vent.
We’re watching DS9 via Prime, and before every episode we have to sit through a minute(s)-long ad for some show on Paramount Plus. One show is a drama about gay men in the 1950’s. One show is a drama about a boat crew doing shady boat stuff. One is a dramedy about airplane medics. One is a horror drama about child-abducting nuns. One for a western about a black sheriff that isn’t funny. All of these ads are annoying and the dramas pretentious as feth. I have never hated a streaming service more—which is saying something!—than I hate Paramount Plus for this tedious parade of ads targeted at the kind of people who wouldn’t be caught dead watching 90’s Trek.
Why don’t they show Lower Decks or Strange New Worlds or TOS or TNG ads? What the hell is Paramount Plus even playing at? Why so much contempt for their bread and butter customers?
Automatically Appended Next Post: I forgot to mention they all have that same slow-hum/sudden-violin-sting soundtrack that gets on everyone’s nerves.
I guess advertising Trek on a Trek show is preaching to the choir, so they’re trying to tempt the casual viewer to their other (somewhat limited) fare.
Mind you, YouTube was bad for that. Maybe still is, as I’m a sucker and went for Premium.
Would be sat sitting there on the coach home, listening to my usual Punk-Britpop eras, and every ad, I swear “here, have some Hip-Hop. Or maybe Dubstep! Try some Dullard Braggart of an MC telling you how super he is”
All valid genres, but at no point like anything I listen to.
Oh ALGORITHMO! We are your humble servants. Why do you treat us so?
Someone once said the algorithm for Facebook shows customers things they hate because outrage feeds engagement. But the Facebook algorithm merely holds the beer for the YouTube algorithm.
Fortunately, YT ads are easy to skip on a phone. Unfortunately, any time we want to watch a YouTube video on the TV, we end up watching the same length of time in unskippable ads. For products we’d never buy featuring music we detest.
I’m not nostalgic for a particular video store. But I’ll tell you what I do miss?
3 for 2 rentals. Because you’d always have two Easy Picks. Typically those just off Premiere Rotation (or whatever you call it, I trust you catch my drift) and have fancied seeing, but didn’t want to pay the premium.
But that third pick? That was the spin of the side, the roll of the deck, the shuffle of wheel. Speaking purely for myself? The Cover Ruled All. Basically pick the film with the raddest looking cover art/montage and go for it.
Most often times, it was utter, utter tripe. No, not Internet ‘I no like, therefore awful’ tripe. Actual honest to goodness crap script, wooden acting, nicked effects and confused editing tripe. The real deal of crap films.
But the flip side? Sometimes. Just sometimes? You struck gold, and something you’d never heard of but greatly enjoyed, even if it’s actually a bit gak.
Just run a script blocker. That'll break subtitles on some streaming services (hulu), but I haven't sen an ad in years because the moment the ad tries to run the blocker blocks it. Some ad blockers still work in blocking video steaming ads, but as we've seen with Youtube (and Hulu) they're trying to stop this but they're focused on commonly used ad blockers which still load the ads but just don't display them.
A scrip blocker stops the ad from running at any point, like it's not there at all. They'll get around to trying to ban that too but then we'll just move onto something else because that's life now. We're in a mortal battle for our time and attention against fething ads.
The last few episodes were probably the best of the series. I've only seen this show just the one time now but I will watch it again in a few months. It was quite a ride but I think 22 episodes gives the viewer a fair bit to watch and think over. More than an 8 ep run for sure.
One of the strongest episodes was a bout the immortal living as a priest and how that came to be. He was willing to die because his convictions were that strong. A nice spin on Darius from Highlander the Series. He was clearly meant to b the same type of character/ supporting character.
And then the last episode.
I had partially expected Nick to become Immortal but also thought there was a strong chance he wouldn't be one, given the way the show worked. Another reason for a rewatch later is to look for any hints or Easter eggs.
He had been poisoned and was going to die but I don't know if that would have "turned him" of if he would have just dies. One of the key factors is a violent death. What I kinda liked was how angry about being immortal he was. He seemed to have lost all of his moral high ground. A second season would have at least been interesting.
I can't see any real reason to not have more of these spin offs aside from viewer burnout.
A Gerry Anderson puppet show from when I was a tiny wee snivellin’ lirrul Grot.
It’s still good fun, but through adult eyes it quickly becomes apparent Dr “Tiger” Ninestein is an utter utter utter utter utter utter utter utter utter Male Chicken.
Racist. Disparaging to Hiro and the Zeroids. Also throws a strop when Sgt Mjr Zero beats him at his favourite computer game, greatly exceeding Tiger’s long standing high score.
Heh. I went through a phase of listening to Two Steps From Hell a lot, and suddenly noticed their stuff on adverts, and even one of the UEFA European cups
they are undeniably talented in a very specific way. There is also Baking Impossible where they need to bake cakes to float and do various were engineering challenges
Thanks for the heads up.
