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.
Still want a Zeroid of my own though.
Terrahawks! Stay on this channel! This is an emergency!
Made for an overseas TV company because he was strapped for cash. Still made a splash when it arrived, even when some of the special effects are worse than the 60's glory days, and the craft fair poorly when compared to the Thunderbirds. Still, I enjoyed it myself, mostly. I bought the theme tune on a "7 single! And when I hear 'Zelda' it's Terrahawks I think of, without fail, rather than some computer game (which I have never played). Windsor Davies was a shoo-in to play Sergeant Major Zero, but the best bit was watching the end credits to see if the evil 'Cubes' beat the zeroids at noughts-and-crosses.
The first season of the first series, £5 on Prime.
I’ll be honest, I was expecting this to be retrospectively tropey. Because it’s a highly influential classic.
First two episodes though have been absolute delights of sci-fi and fantasy and that. It’s massively helped by the cast all taking it seriously.
Also? Massive props and nuff respek to whomever remastered this. The picture is super crisp, to the point if I had a visitor swing by and see it on the screen, they’d easily think this is a modern TV series doing a gimmick black and white episode.
In fact whilst I’m at it, massive props and nuff respek to all those involved in the preservation and remastering of old TV shows. You ain’t gonna get rich doing it*, but you’re doing an important job all the same.
I’m greatly enjoying the original run of The Twilight Zone.
As mentioned earlier the transfer and restoration is top notch with crystal clear sound and audio.
But what strikes me most is how well the stories have stayed fresh and pretty relevant. Given its cultural impact and often imitated, let alone spoofed nature, I was expecting it to be clunky and retrospectively tropey.
What really helps is the actors are all giving it their best. Whilst clearly done on a budget, nothing feels cheap nor tawdry.
At a piffling £5 for 36 half hour episodes, this is top notch for quality and value. Go on, fellow Dakkanaut, treat yourself, at least to the first season.
We tried showing my son some twilight zone a few years ago, but he was too young. We’ll have to try again soon, even it’s only the episodes everyone knows.
Not sure if YouTube series count for this, but Behind the Bastards has a timely series of episodes on Vince McMahon. The first one just sets the scene with a history of professional wrestling, and it sounds even crazier than I expected.
On Disney+ in the UK, not the BBC series called Dodger.
This is rather enjoyable overall. Set in Australia, where Dodger has become a Surgeon, only for Fagin to come knocking, threatening to expose his past. Pretty decent comedy period drama.
Crime of the week, but never murder. An afternoon schedule filler of yesteryear which I great enjoy.
Patricia Routledge stars, as does Dominic “Merry’ Monaghan in his first tv role.
It’s a pleasingly gentle crime thriller. Exactly the sort of stuff I’d watch with my grandparents in younger years, though some may find it overly twee.
A different tone and set up from the Brangalina movie. Only two episodes in, but drawn into the relationship and how it's going to unfold as they learn what sort of organization they work for.
So I watched this when it first came out, and if I’m honest I found the episodic nature somewhat off-putting.
I’ve returned to give it a binge during a quiet work week. And it’s working better.
At 10 episodes I think it’s still going to prove overly long, but the main story is fun, and the cast are solid. Just a question of whether the filler is too much.
On Disney+ in the UK, not the BBC series called Dodger.
This is rather enjoyable overall. Set in Australia, where Dodger has become a Surgeon, only for Fagin to come knocking, threatening to expose his past. Pretty decent comedy period drama.
The BBC series is excellent family viewing. My youngest loves it, and very much wants to watch the Disney+ series too. What's your take - suitable for an 11.5 year old?
I’d say so. There is some bloody bits, including a throat slashing, but for me they’re not terribly graphic, and serve as plot devices to show us more surgery and the dynamics of the hospital and settlement.
If you liked Steven Universe, but wondered.... what if it was evil? Then you will enjoy this aggressive little animated musical.
A tale of one person's attempt to reform and save souls that are already in hell, and the bizarre group she gathers to support her.
I like it, i like most of the characters and i like the art style
and i know the whole point of it is it's a musical (featuring voices from broadway no less) but so much singing (some of the songs are well done, some are broadway style lets sing the next bit of the plot so not so much)
The BBC version, starring Joan Hickson as the titular Miss Marple.
For me, the definitive take on these tales, just as David Suchet will always be Hercule Poirot.
Absolutely love it. Not just a heaping spoonful of murder mystery nostalgia, but genuinely well made and engaging.
Joan Hickson is just superb. Utterly indomitable, and the perfect mix of “don’t mind me dear, I’m just a frail old Spinster”, and “I will ruin you, for I have a mind like a steel trap”.
The BBC version, starring Joan Hickson as the titular Miss Marple.
For me, the definitive take on these tales, just as David Suchet will always be Hercule Poirot.
Absolutely love it. Not just a heaping spoonful of murder mystery nostalgia, but genuinely well made and engaging.
Joan Hickson is just superb. Utterly indomitable, and the perfect mix of “don’t mind me dear, I’m just a frail old Spinster”, and “I will ruin you, for I have a mind like a steel trap”.
You seem to be on a bit of a nostalgia binge. I'm looking forward to your take on Pie in the Sky, Dempsey and Makepeace andJaime and the Magic Torch.
I am also of an age where anyone other than Joan Hickson in the role just seems wrong. Julia McKenzie belongs in sitcoms.
AMC has ordered Season 3 of the supernatural anthology series “The Terror.”
The third installment of the series will be based on the novel “The Devil in Silver” by Victor LaValle. AMC has ordered six episodes, with the series slated to debut on AMC and AMC+ in 2025.
The series is officially titled “The Terror: Devil in Silver.” Per the official description the show “tells the story of Pepper – a working class moving man, who through a combination of bad luck and a bad temper, finds himself wrongfully committed to New Hyde Psychiatric Hospital – an institution filled with the people society would rather forget. There, he must contend with patients who work against him, doctors who harbor grim secrets, and perhaps even the very Devil himself. As Pepper navigates a hellscape where nothing is as it seems, he finds that the only path to freedom is to face down the entity which thrives on the suffering within New Hyde’s walls – but doing so may prove that the worst demons of all live inside him.”
Honestly thought this was a one season wonder, but no.
Went up today on Paramount+. Same gorgeous production values, and from my limited experience of the game, the soldiers definitely look the part.
But it’s that lack of experience of the games and the background which makes me a poor source. As a slice of teevee sci-fi, I’d argue it’s probably superior to most. But whether it’s a good adaptation? Not a clue!
Metal Hurlant. Found it randomly on Amazon and the description was bizarre enough for me to have a go, and Rutger Hauer is in the credits. Don't do what I did. Its bad. Like really bad. Like Xena Warrior Princess but with all the charm, and indeed budget, of a dog turd trifle. Mr Hauer may just be doing the terrible expositional narration.
First couple episodes dropped last night. Excellent show in my opinion.
Not well versed in the criminal underground of Japan, but :
Spoiler:
This show, “based on a true book”, seems to be about Japanese society starting to wake up to Yakuza in the early 00’s. First season was all about keeping balance and maintaining peace, to the point of wilful blindness to murders and extortion. Meanwhile the 2nd season has what looks to be the start of a government task force set up to go directly at the Yakuza, head on. But things are looking to get worse before they get better.
4 main characters all linked in some way make each episode fresh and paced differently.
A perfectly serviceable Harry Potter rip-off. The house thing is eye-rolling, but the actual quest holds up. There are some clever nods to Greek myth, even if it is set in America.
Finally, I love the art deco art design of the closing credits. Really cool.
Easy E wrote: I started watching Percy Jackson on D+.
A perfectly serviceable Harry Potter rip-off
Thems fighting words.
Jackson's far better than a mere rip off, and imo has aged far better than Harry Potter to boot! Sure, the Magnus Chase spinoff was a bit awkward in several departments (why did they pick a narrator who makes the hero sound like he's mentally handicapped?) but the main run of books is fun and more intelligent than a generic kid's fantasy series.
The D+ series made some changes to the material but not significantly so. Really the biggest issue is that even by the end of S1 all the leads still feel stiff. Child actors are always a gamble, and while the ones the show has are doing well enough I feel like well enough is rather faint praise. Because the acting is a bit stiff across the board the whimsical fun of the books never quite manages to shine through.
I think I’m aged out the D+ show’s target audience. Which given I’m 43 is hardly a surprise.
But overall I enjoyed it. It’s well put together, decently paced and not cringey in the way teen dramas can be. Certainly I think it’s target age group will find it suitably thrilling.
I’d definitely watch it again, and will tune in to any future seasons.
I made it to episode 3 of season 2 as up until this point there seemed the be enough to keep me going. But before I was half way through this viewing I decided I'd had enough, because the episode had descended into the normal sort of "who gives a crap" pyjama super hero drama
TV that is the dull witted staple of modern day viewing.
What had started out as distinct had very quickly become mundane. Why do producers succumb to this mediocrity?
Watching Batman The Animated Series. Not on DVD, but on Prime, which is bloody typical, isn’t it!
Anyways. Such an amazing series. As I wibbled about before, it’s a near perfect animated adaptation of a comic book. Arguably the best we’ve ever had. And for persons of my vintage, it felt like the medium was maturing with me.
As a kid it was He-Man, Transformers, Galaxy Rangers et al. Proper toy advert cartoons. Simple moral tales where the bad guys are just bad, and the good guys are Very Good.
Then came this. Which had the chutzpah to show some villains as if not exactly sympathetic, but understandable. Like Victor Fries.
Whilst I’m not going to pretend it’s high drama, it was more focussed on the drama and the characters that what I’d seen before. And at the age of 12 when it came out? I was probably just the right age to really appreciate that, giving me an organic progression in my viewing tastes.
And hey, no annoying sidekick pet or robot! The voice acting is superb, showing nuance. And just as the aesthetic of the show gave it a timeless quality, the scripts steering clear of slang and hip terms only adds to that. It sounds like a Radio Drama, which really suits the overall tone.
If you’re all wonky in the head and have somehow managed to never see this? Get it watched. It’s completely kid friendly, without being childish.
warhead01 wrote: Re-watching Battlestar Galactica. I'm in the middle of season 2 right now. It's been a good ride. I really enjoy the cast of this show.
warhead01 wrote: Re-watching Battlestar Galactica. I'm in the middle of season 2 right now. It's been a good ride. I really enjoy the cast of this show.
Original or re-boot?
The reboot from 04'.
I never really got to watch much of the original. We had the first few episodes on tape at one point but other than that I'd only seen a random episode here and there over the years. I recall being unhappy with the character recasting at first but the show was solid. Of course what kid wouldn't have liked og Starbuck. Dirk Benedict played that part and after watching the A-team I wonder if he was just playing himself. I recall being upset that Starbuck was going to be a woman in the "new series", at the time. Honestly thought I like the newer version of Starbuck. I also see both series as their own thing so there isn't a lot of need for comparison. Both shows hit a number of similar beats as one would expect. Weirdly I would give yet another reboot a try even though I am not really one for reboots but even that would hit the "all of this has happened before". So if the writing was decent and to the point it could be worth the trouble.
The Pegasus has just showed up. Not one of my favorite bits of the story. But it's been a few years.
And here comes the rapid loss of quality. Historically, Fox cancelled it at this point, and it was later picked up by SyFy.
I can say it being axed surprised me. What started out as an interesting premise put to interesting stories, has become an interesting premise utterly squandered on deeply uninteresting stories with squalid, cheap-and-unconvincing-even-for-its-era CGI monsters.
I’ll see this season out, but doubt I’ll be back for season 4.
Aash wrote: The live action Avatar: The Last Airbender series has dropped on Netflix.
First episode is good. A lot more grown up than the cartoon and a massive improvement on the live action film.
So far I’ve enjoyed it well enough.
I have rebounded hard from that one. It's... well, it's better than the film, and that's about it. I wouldn't say it's any more mature than the original series either. It's just louder about wanting to be.
... there was a significant shift in creative direction of the series with the third season, with the Fox network desiring it to be a more action-oriented show than thought-provoking...
So as usual, the network is the one that killed the goose that laid the golden egg.
Comedy/romance set in the golden age of piracy. Bored wealthy landowner Stede Bonnet abandons his family to become a pirate. Ends up meeting, sailing with, and falling for Blackbeard. Some surprisingly big names for a pretty niche comedy series (Taika Waititi is great as Blackbeard), the romance side is nicely done, and comedy-wise ranges from slightly awkward to roaring-with-laughter hilarious. It grows on you. Well worth watching.
Not my usual thing lately, but it looked interesting and I ended up watching the whole 8 episodes over a few days. Pretty fun comedy-action-family drama about a somewhat dysfunctional family of shinobi (don't call them ninjas!). They are "retired" but get pulled back into action by a nation altering conspiracy/terror attack and financial constraints. Combat could of been a bit better (its sometimes too fast/busy or dark) and aspects of Japanese culture are so alien to me that I had trouble getting into it at times but it was still enjoyable. I give it a 7/10.
It sets up nicely for a second season and I'll check that one out.
Justice League Unlimited on Netflix - Does American cartooning get better than this? No. No it does not. Wonder Pig alone is worth the price of admission.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned it yet but this is a pretty well done kidnapping/thriller rescue show on AppleTV. It's not amazing but the characters are well done and believable. And it's got Luke Evans
Essentially Luke Evan's sister gets grabbed while working in Colombia. Evan's is a hostage team operator (Delta?) and Evan's sister's husband is on his team. It sounds better than I'm describing and it's so far (only thru part 1) more suspense/drama than action but it's really well done.
Kid_Kyoto wrote: Justice League Unlimited on Netflix - Does American cartooning get better than this? No. No it does not. Wonder Pig alone is worth the price of admission.
How does it compare to Batman the Animated Series though?
Kid_Kyoto wrote: Justice League Unlimited on Netflix - Does American cartooning get better than this? No. No it does not. Wonder Pig alone is worth the price of admission.
How does it compare to Batman the Animated Series though?
Batman the Animated Series is definitely superior, but the Justice League Series was also just a straight up continuation of BAS.
The old DCAU was some of the best stuff in the 90s and early 00s;
-Batman: the Animated Series (and The New Batman Adventures)
-Superman: the Animated Series
-Batman Beyond
-Static Shock
-The Zeta Project
-Justice League
-Justice League Unlimited
All of these are good. Zeta Project is kind of the red-headed step child, but it wasn't so bad as much as it was just different as a spinoff of a spinoff (Batman Beyond). Static Shock is maybe the most kiddy of the bunch but not too kiddy imo.
I never really got into Static Shock. I wasn’t at all familiar with the character, so always assumed it was a “me too!” type thing pretending to be part of the general comic book thing.
The first two seasons of Justice League weren't great, but with JLU they had carde blanche use any DC character, so out of no where you get episodes centered around Hawk and Dove, the 7 Soldiers of Victory, or Jonah Hex.
It doesn't always work, no force on Earth will ever convince me to care about Warlord, but when it works it is gold.
Anyway...
Arrested Development
Why was I not informed of this show sooner? Only seen the pilot but wow.
Dubbed french show on Netflix. Idea that essentially an agreed killer, known as the fury, keeps the peace between several rival crime bosses in Paris. It's ok. It starts out decently strong but descends quickly into silly levels of plot armor till we get to the finally where physics don't exist. Overall it was ok. Not sure I'd watch a second season of it and it obviously set itself up for one.
I made it to episode 3 of season 2 as up until this point there seemed the be enough to keep me going. But before I was half way through this viewing I decided I'd had enough, because the episode had descended into the normal sort of "who gives a crap" pyjama super hero drama
TV that is the dull witted staple of modern day viewing.
What had started out as distinct had very quickly become mundane. Why do producers succumb to this mediocrity?
Just on the new episode.
I know very literal about Halo as a thing. But this series is boring. Spartans are meant to be super soldiers, yet here there’s nothing super about them. I’ve no idea if the story is loyal to the games. But if it is? I’m left wondering why it’s held in such high regard.
I know very literal about Halo as a thing. But this series is boring.
I don't know anything about it either, but loyalty to the source or not, I'll watch anything that's interesting. I decided to give one more episode a go and it truly is a hopeless show.
I've been thinking about this and have come to a personal opinion that a good TV show will blend plot, character, action and filler.
Plot is pretty obvious and there should be a continuous advancement. Character needs to be either development or revelation. Action can be anything which gives us an emotional jolt - it could be explosions or tension, comedy or sadness. And good filler should be scene setting. And a really good show should attempt to blend these so we get multiple strands at the same time.
Halo doesn't blend anything. This is the action sequence, now this is the character sequence, oh dear we haven't moved the plot for 45 minutes so we'll give you a 30 second plot dump. And the filler is just bland filler, totally unnecessary scene setting for a scene that is already set. And what are supposed to be character moments are mostly bad filler too, neither developing nor revealing anything about the characters.
There was a scene in one episode where two characters are looking for an escape from a building where they can hear explosions going on and they stop their escape to have an expositional conversation that doesn't tell us anything about their relationship that we don't already know and was utterly inappropriate for the situation.
I took the chance and watched the first three episodes. I am really enjoying this new version.
Discount Tom Hardy has been a lot better than I'd expected in the role of Blackthorn.
Over all I am enjoying the cast so far.
Can I safely assume that Shogun is not suitable for Kyoto Secunda and her Clone Sister Kyoto Secunda Prime (age 11)?
It is a little graphic. I think so of it would be lost on the young but the flip side is it could scar them for life. I really couldn't say so best preview it yourself first.
I was thinking about the first casual decapitation which is quick and given next to not thought by the sword swinger.
from memory there's 2 or 3 killings in Ep 1 one, on screen, and a small massacre of some guards and hired killers in Ep 2 followed by a battle in Ep 3 .
I'm not a good measuring stick for this sort of thing I grew up watching Conan and Starwars back to back 4 times a week for I'm not sure how many years. Conan was always more frequent than Starwars. If that tells you anything about me.
I waited a long time to jump on this and watch. Wanted enough episodes to binge after all the hype and...
Hot damn.
If you're not an anime or shonen battle fan, this anime will not change your mind but if you already are dear god is this just pure jet fuel. And in contrast to a lot of stuff, it's a series with a lot of serious emotional beats between its humor, very distinct characters many of whom seem to purposefully take anime character stereotypes and spin them off into interesting new directions, and just fantastic action sequences. A complete lack of fear to not only punch its audience in the feels when it will feel the most but punch twice.
It's been a while since I've seen a mainstream battle series where every battle legitimately feels like lives on are on the line.
In a lot of ways the series is an inverse of Naruto, sharing many of the same initial plot beats but going in different directions with all of them to create something that feels really familiar but also very fresh.
Re-watching Stranger Things with my wife, who hasn’t seen it yet. It’s still really good even on a rewatch. Certainly bottled some lightning with this one.
I stopped watching partway through season 3 but aiming to push in through season 4 this time.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Just watching that now, having rewatched the movie last night. Perks of dog sitting for friends that have Netflix.
It’s quite good, isn’t it!
Yeah, i really enjoy it. Trying to not rush through it. I find myself liking every character, aside from the older brother and the stereotypical stoner genius.
Not sure what episode you are on, but Episode 4:
Spoiler:
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting in that dudes vault, but it wasn’t that. Once I saw Hitler’s testicle, I knew things were about to get really crazy.
Trying to watch The Gentlemen. 2 episodes in. some of the acting is very poor. Some times it looks like an actor wont know what to do with their hands for example. Characters just delivering lines much like Game of Thrones. Hell in one scene you can see the yellow tape on the ground , the actors mark. If it was something else I would be surprised.
That said I enjoyed the movie and the primes is fun.
Freddy in the chicken suite doing cocaine was hilarious.
warhead01 wrote: Trying to watch The Gentlemen. 2 episodes in. some of the acting is very poor. Some times it looks like an actor wont know what to do with their hands for example. Characters just delivering lines much like Game of Thrones. Hell in one scene you can see the yellow tape on the ground , the actors mark. If it was something else I would be surprised.
That said I enjoyed the movie and the primes is fun.
Freddy in the chicken suite doing cocaine was hilarious.
I enjoyed it, but also felt it got old fast.
The constant use of :
-"We're in a wild predicament, how are we going to get out of this?!?!"
-Fast Forward : "That was wild! Here's a recap and some quick shots of how we got out of that predicament, with a dash of occasional Deus Ex Machina!" Its probably a great way to save time/money on a set, but they went to that well too many times with that trick, I think.
Funny dialogue and great characters, which is Guy Richie's forte, but it seemed a bit overlong. But I say that about 99% of all streaming shows. Didn't hate it and wouldn't mind a second season down the line. Would've preferred Rockanrolla 2.
warhead01 wrote: Trying to watch The Gentlemen. 2 episodes in. some of the acting is very poor. Some times it looks like an actor wont know what to do with their hands for example. Characters just delivering lines much like Game of Thrones. Hell in one scene you can see the yellow tape on the ground , the actors mark. If it was something else I would be surprised.
That said I enjoyed the movie and the primes is fun.
Freddy in the chicken suite doing cocaine was hilarious.
I enjoyed it, but also felt it got old fast.
The constant use of :
-"We're in a wild predicament, how are we going to get out of this?!?!"
-Fast Forward : "That was wild! Here's a recap and some quick shots of how we got out of that predicament, with a dash of occasional Deus Ex Machina!" Its probably a great way to save time/money on a set, but they went to that well too many times with that trick, I think.
Funny dialogue and great characters, which is Guy Richie's forte, but it seemed a bit overlong. But I say that about 99% of all streaming shows. Didn't hate it and wouldn't mind a second season down the line. Would've preferred Rockanrolla 2.
I don't know if I've seen very much by Guy Richie or not. I really enjoyed the movie Snatch and the Gentleman reminded me of that.
The bit I underlined jumped out at me in ep 3. The fight with the big "Chinese man" character that we didn't really see and the end of the phone call, Why didn't you just say, bla bla bla. Which omits that he just barges in like a bull making animal noises.
I wont say the show isn't at least interesting but it does feel like it was written for children.
I'm not feeling any rush to watch it all as fast as I can.
Automatically Appended Next Post: I had a really good laugh in Episode 6 of the Gentlemen. Spicy Korean Corndogs, pokeballs and licking bricks. Genius.
I had to screen shot the Corndog box it was perfect.
Probably the best gimmick detective TV series of the 00s and 10s by a mile. Fantastic characters. Funny and clever uses of pop culture references only half of which I understood. Great cast and writing.
Yakuza war is starting in earnest now, following the assassination of a respected oyabun (boss or some such) last episode. The various non-yakuza characters all have some great stories too, all caught up in the japanese underworld in some fashion. Big revelation in this weeks episode could take the main bad guy off the board real soon. Judging by the events that this series is loosely based on, this show could be wrapping up in the next 3 episodes.
Debating my next series : The Outsider or Lovecraft Country
Probably the best gimmick detective TV series of the 00s and 10s by a mile. Fantastic characters. Funny and clever uses of pop culture references only half of which I understood. Great cast and writing.
No, of course not. Psyche, as we kind of said in my day.
My wife and I adore Jersey Shore! About once a year we go through it. It's very similar to Trailer Park Boys, you can watch these people making so, so many terrible decisions that it makes you feel better about the ones you've made with your life. A true comfort show.
My only brush with it was when Beavis and Butthead briefly returned in 2010 or so. Instead of music videos, they were ripping on Jersey Shore. A show so dumb, my favourite idiots looked like Aristotle.
At long last, it’s here. Really enjoyed this series the first time around and here we go with a whole new revival series.
Animation is confusing me. Some bits it’s identical to the original. In others, clearly CGI - especially Cyclops’ face. Bit distracting but not a deal breaker.
So I went ahead and watched Halo Season 2 and honestly it wasn't any worse than season 1, but it really wasn't much better either. I did actually enjoy the finale even if they made some very questionable story decisions.
The writing is reminiscent of the Jefferson's, Archie bunker and Sanford and Son. (And maybe a splash of the Simpsons. )
Some of the bits are wildly funny.
Omar being from Somalia leads to a few funny bits. He's taking notes on a laptop for a meeting and is referred to as a techno wizard. He's asked if he used to be in IT in Somalia. The answer is no, he used to be a wizard.
I'm only 3 episodes in so far. I'd seen clips on Youtube and decided to give it a go.
Edited.
No reason to make a new post about this show. Just some final thoughts. Over all it's an ok sitcom not amazing but not really bad either. A few of the bits were very funny but the way the show wraps up any episode is average or less. Mr. Khan usually having to 'pay the piper' for all the trouble he's caused but in under a minute of remaining show.
Mr. Khan is a self centered person who has to constantly be reminded that the other people in his life are important and that he has to do right by them, especially Mrs. Khan.
But in every episode he finds new ways to get himself into some kind of trouble.
If this was all I had available while waiting on a flight or on a long bus trip I wouldn't be mad about it. It's not bad but not binge worthy either.
I don't have any plans to watch any more of this show any time soon.
Picked up Netflix for a month, so indulging in S5.
As I’ve said before, this stands in such stark contrast to the mean spirited, stupid persons vision of smart people, Bug Bang Theory.
This is a very warm hearted show. Sheldon is of course a precocious and challenging kid. But his family love him, and do their best to support him. Annie Potts’ Meemaw is probably my favourite character out the entire cast. She’s a formidable woman, and offers Sheldon a pretty healthy mix of indulgence and boundaries.
Even if you hate Big Bang Theory, give this one a whirl. The difference is night and day.
I no longer have faith in humanity, it's gone. All of it. Everything about that show is just:
Spoiler:
No Thel Vadam.
More of the random Covenant human who not only got it on with Jimmy Rings but now has this cursed Arbiter as their personal simp.
Arbiter doesn't look any different to any other Elite.
Guilty Spark I am 90% sure is Viserys from S1 of GoT.
The Great Schism is just Elites VS Elites.
The Spartan IIIs look garbo.
They couldn't even bother to give the Spartan IIIs Halo weapons just XM7s.
And the Flood... why... just why. It's like they watched The Last of Us and thought "yeah we'll just do that".
I'm so mad about it I've literally lost the ability to feel rage and a deep pit of sadness has opened up instead.
We’re deep in Star Trek TOS 3rd season, and I’m finding a lot of the bad episodes are more watchable than the mediocre episodes. People mock Shatner for his acting choices, but he brings the energy the series needs. It’s more important to be compelling than convincing in this kind of show.
While I was aware of the show I didn't watch it regularly so missed that The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy did an adaptation of God Emperor of Dune. So, uhm, there you go.
Everything is coming to a close in the penultimate episode of this series, which was probably the most intense episode of the series. Really going to miss this show when it concludes next week. Everyone has been great in their roles and its never felt plodding or excessive.
Never was much interested in Japanese media/culture prior to this year(Total War: Shogun series being the mostly solitary exception), but One Piece, House of Ninja, Shogun, and this show have had me consume more Japanese culture in the past 8 months then I've had in the past years.
Having detested the book's writing style, I am pleasantly surprised by the TV show. Turns out the underlying plot is actually interesting, and the shorter format TV series enables them to cut out a lot of the random waffling and exposition that was seriously damaging my calm.
Also, holy crap, Benedict Wong is British... No wonder his accent is excellent
Having detested the book's writing style, I am pleasantly surprised by the TV show. Turns out the underlying plot is actually interesting, and the shorter format TV series enables them to cut out a lot of the random waffling and exposition that was seriously damaging my calm.
Also, holy crap, Benedict Wong is British... No wonder his accent is excellent
I'm not sure if I want to watch this version of the story having watched the Tencent adaptation.
The Netflix version seems to have really changed things from what I have heard. Concepts like the cosmic background radiation flickering being not that any more.
I had been excited to see it until I saw who was involved.
The Netflix version is quite different to the books. They have broken the main book characters out into more individuals to cover a bit more ground for instance. I skimmed through the book so quickly I couldn't identify any other major changes though.
As I disliked the books, it is a definite benefit to me
If you liked the books, maybe avoid as it might just annoy you.
Automatically Appended Next Post: One highlight for me was Eddie Hitler turning up
Watched all episodes of 3 Body Problem, a resounding 'meh'.
The premises is interesting, but the execution is done in a very cack handed way. I've not read the books, so I imagine therenis a lot of important details missing, but the part where the aliens discover Humans can lie was absolutely idiotic.
I think this will be another infamous Netflix hype for season 1, and them gets cancelled or not renewed for a second season.
Also all of the characters are either arrogant, or wet blankets. The lad who had a very comical fate ahead of him was the equivalent of a human doormat, come to think of it, they could have saved some money and just used an actual doormat.
Just finished this. I never played the games, but was certainly aware of them and recognised Sweet Tooth right away.
This was fun. From the get go it's cheap, cheesey, with slightly dodgy CGI, but that's all part of its charm. It doesn't, in any way, take itself seriously, runs with its tackiness and seems to have fun with it.
It reminded me a lot of Ash vs the Evil Dead, short, 30 minute episodes that just get the job done, with similar cheesey humour.
In the future, after some huge internet catastrophe, people live in walled cities, whilst criminals, outlaws etc have to eek an existence outside in the wasteland (although it implies that essentially the rich get to stay inside and the poor get shafted....).
However, the cities need supplies, so they send out Milk Men (so named as they have a short expiration date) in suped up, armed and armoured cars to do delivery runs for them.
Season 1 sets up the premise and introduces many of the game characters, Season 2 looks like it will follow the game more closely, which is a tournament that pits the best Milk Men against each other in a Winner kills all death match tournament.
It's 10, half hour episodes, so very easy to binge in a weekend and I had a lot of fun with it.
Got myself a month of Netflix. So decided to binge Stranger Things.
Seen the series before, but only series by series. Binged, it’s really rather good.
My only complaint is that 1-3? Will is just a drippy little weenie. Season 4 is up next, so maybe he’ll start to serve a purpose then. Been ages since I last watched that one so I don’t actually know.
Finished the last episode of season 2. Pretty wild ride, last few episodes were pretty damn tense.
It took a fair amount of liberties with the book it was based off of, but it was still a fun watch. Doubt there will be a 3rd season, as it seems to have all been brought to a natural, mostly satisfying conclusion.
On the first episode, and they’ve nailed the look of things. No reinvention, no reinterpretation. And it’s feeling about right so far, though having only played Fallout 4 I accept there are going to be more informed opinions than my own out there.
And with the whole shebang up for viewing, that’s today’s entertainment well in hand.
Automatically Appended Next Post: First episode down, and this is so far head and shoulders above Halo, another beloved video game franchise recent adapted for the small screen.
We have interesting characters, some intrigue and all made in a compelling way.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Also?
Not for kids. Soooooo not for kids! Not from E2 onward! Like. At all. Much violence and people going kaboom splat.
A cult classic show I never saw till I binged it over the last month or so. It ran first from 2003-6, then revived in 2013, then again in 2019.
And on balance, it's pretty darn good.
The first episode just ropes you in. We meed the Bluth family rich California property developers where the father gets arrested for embezzlement and maybe "light treason" forcing his wife and grown kids to fend for themselves when their assets are frozen.
It's rapid fire, absurdist and at times brilliant. And great narration by Ron Howard.
There was a jump the shark moment for me (and not the literal shark jumping they get Henry Winkler to do) and that's the Mr F plot line. It introduces Wee Britain, a Chinatown like British neighborhood in California and English spies who seem connected to the whole Light Treason plot. Oscar winner Charlize Theron plays a new love interest with a hidden agenda and... All the set up is for a joke at the expense of the developmentally disabled. There is no Mr F, it stands for Mentally (word for developmentally disabled which we shall not use here) Female. It's not funny, it's cruel, and it sinks like the Queen Mary. After that the show was still good, but never great again.
Your millage may vary of course.
The two Netflix reboot seasons were uneven but, again, at times truly great. Finale, meh, not the worst I've seen.
So uh, watch? If you have 30 hours or so you're not using.
The Fifth Doctor’s second tale, following on from the not very good Castrovalva. Companions at this time are Tegan, Nyssa and unfortunately, Adric.
Poor old Peter Davison. Whilst his time in the role would become a classic, he had a fairly rough start in my opinion. But I guess that’s just part and parcel of regeneration. The actors and writers need time to bed in and figure out how to support each other’s strengths. Which in the case of Colin Baker was “oh god, oh god, just burn it all down”.
The story here really isn’t terribly interesting. But we do get some very impressive special effects, such as one of the Androids casually flipping up its human face like a visor, providing a squizz at the gubbins underneath.
We also get a fairly well choreographed fight scene between two Greek Androids. When one loses, some clever editing allows for a pretty impressive sword through the chest.
The sets are also pretty impressive, if generic. Certainly I suspect they’ll have been recycled from other Dr Who stories and sci-fi serials. Because that happened all the time and helped get the most out of the typically scant budget.
We also have some interesting concepts, which didn’t really get the best outing here. And it does improve as we delve into the third episode, despite Adric’s single minded commitment to being a drippy wet blanket. Even when he’s in awe of the baddies’ technology, he conspires to somehow sound utterly bored by the whole thing.
Of course, this is looking back from some 42 years of intervening TV, so is perhaps too harsh a judgement.
But Adric can still Get In The Bin. Dreadful character. Worse than Clara and Clara is pretty bloody awful.
Superhero highwaywoman family entertainment with her out of Derry Girls. Was slightly put off when I first learned about the super-powers aspect, but needn't have worried. Whole family are absolutely loving it so far (got one episode left to watch). Louisa Harland is amazing. Just slightly sad to see that one of my big-time crushes when younger, Joely Richardson, is now playing the older woman...
It wasn’t anything like I was expecting, but it’s a cracking show right enough.
Dr Who - The Visitation
Davison’s fourth outing, and definitely finding its feet. We’re going back in time to the Great Plague and eventually the Great Fire of London.
Memories wise this one is confusing. It’s one that’s always stuck in my mind. And whilst I was alive at the time? I’d have been maybe 19 months old. Now my memory is surprisingly good, but it’s not that good. But I definitely remember the Android thing from a book in my Primary School a few scant years later. And I remember recalling the serial. So I’ve probably caught a re-run at some point, or a friend had it on video. Which would’ve been a home recording for certain.
We introduced our son to Red Dwarf with the first four episodes. I find a Red Dwarf works best in small batches and can become more tiresome than entertaining after too many episodes in a row.
I’d agree with that. And I think we can argue it shows why, in the age of steaming, writing and directing for the small screen is a different challenge to a couple of decades ago.
Whilst individually most Red Dwarf episodes are bloody good fun, it was of course made and written as a Once A Week Treat. And it still works as that today.
But once binged? You see it is somewhat repetitive.
A very solid serial, with the Cybermen returning to menace the Earth.
Costumes are fantastic, especially for the tiny budget. The acting is also…alright, I guess. I mean this is 80’s Dr Who so whilst above par, it’s not a difficult achievement.
Best of all? Adric’s final appearance. Again and as ever not needling at the actor. But i was glad to see the back of him. Whiny, mopey, ineffectual git.
It was a big thrill, back in the day, to see the return of the cybermen. But Beryl Reid! Come on John, dial it back a bit! Farewell Adric, you weren't worthy of the silent credits.
With Adric and Nyssa gone, it’s Tegan and Turlough accompanying the Fifth Doctor.
What it needed was a third companion. Maybe a big burly bruiser. Or a dolly bird with big norks that screams all the time. Or a big burly bruiser with big norks that screams all the time.
Or….right….how about a really crap Android, the prop of which never properly worked and is always screaming at some malfunction?
Yeah! We’ll call it…..Kameleon. After a song that’s popular with the kids in the hit parade.
Shogun 2024. Just finished episode 10, last episode.
Over all I enjoyed the series. I see it more a s a companion piece to the book and the first mini series. On it's own, if it was an original story, it would still have been very good such as it is.
I only have a few minor gripes. I kinda wish they had kept Lord Yabo's original death poem and the reading of his will.
God I love Time Team. Like, proper adore it. It’s the show which made archaeology (proper, responsible, ethical archaeology. Not silly knees-bent-running-about Indiana Jones archaeology, or antiquarian “if it’s not nailed down, it’s mine now, and come to think of it is nailed down, prise it up, nick it, and the nails too” archaeology) accessible and, for many, exciting.
This is a particularly fun dig, as Modbury is where the Stetson family hailed from, and one of the descendants features.
Just marvellous stuff. And it’s on YouTube, so even more accessible than ever before. Look!
House of the Dragon season 2 will have to be near flawless when it drops later this year to surpass this phenomenal show as the best TV of the year. Best limited series I’ve watched in some time.
Doing the first few seasons from the top, and I love this series.
It’s got a a near perfect internal set of rules for each monster and happening. The only thing I think they change is that a soul sent to Hell can’t then enter Heaven. But at the end of Season 2, we see John Winchester seemingly do just that.
The first three season (where I’m up to) build the lore gradually, and in season 2 we see an interesting X-Files-A-Like show really find its own feet and voice.
Yes there are a couple of duff seasons (notably the Leviathan arc), but even in those are really solid episodes.
I managed to watch Fallout.
I struggled to get through the first episode. I truly hated the vault stuff. The Ghoul cowboy was the character I enjoyed the most. Maximus has potential in the next season and I have no strong feelings one way or the other about Lucy.
Over all it was just OK not fantastic not bad. I knew nothing about fallout, never played probably never will.
Re-watching this, despite being off-put by the ending when I watched it upon release. First half is phenomenal, much like the book, but it gets tedious and weak towards the end.
Doing the first few seasons from the top, and I love this series.
It’s got a a near perfect internal set of rules for each monster and happening. The only thing I think they change is that a soul sent to Hell can’t then enter Heaven. But at the end of Season 2, we see John Winchester seemingly do just that.
The first three season (where I’m up to) build the lore gradually, and in season 2 we see an interesting X-Files-A-Like show really find its own feet and voice.
Yes there are a couple of duff seasons (notably the Leviathan arc), but even in those are really solid episodes.
There are still some good episodes worth watching mixed in the dull seasons. Season 6's The French Mistake is an absolute gem in what I felt was an otherwise meh season (but it has been a while since I've watched Supernatural so my memory may be a bit foggy... ).
Indeed. I’d even argue the sillier episodes allowed the cast and crew to, well I guess “keep it real”, to use a phrase from the late 90’s. It’s always been somewhat camp, even at its most dramatic. So to let everyone embrace the inherently slightly silly side of it seemed welcome.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Indeed. I’d even argue the sillier episodes allowed the cast and crew to, well I guess “keep it real”, to use a phrase from the late 90’s. It’s always been somewhat camp, even at its most dramatic. So to let everyone embrace the inherently slightly silly side of it seemed welcome.
Not a review as such - but really excited about Shardlake, which hit Disney+ today.
Tudor murder-mystery, based on a series of novels by C J Sansom - who sadly died just a few days ago. I love the books, and previews saying that the series does them justice have me very keen to watch ASAP.
First episode down, and this is pretty good! In this episode we see Supes be Supes more than Supes Suped in the Snyderverse.
And I like the concept of Superman being a Dad, with all the troubles and trials that brings. Though exactly how he knocked up Lois without…well….rammifications I don’t know nor care to think about in particular detail.
I know the CW shows often start strong then get daft (at least so I’m told, I’ve not really sat down to properly watch them properly) but how come they can make these pretty interesting, when the DCEU is such awful dreck?
First episode down, and this is pretty good! In this episode we see Supes be Supes more than Supes Suped in the Snyderverse.
And I like the concept of Superman being a Dad, with all the troubles and trials that brings. Though exactly how he knocked up Lois without…well….rammifications I don’t know nor care to think about in particular detail.
I know the CW shows often start strong then get daft (at least so I’m told, I’ve not really sat down to properly watch them properly) but how come they can make these pretty interesting, when the DCEU is such awful dreck?
I saw the first episode a while back and became utterly uninterested in watching the rest. Clingy super-dad, mopey kids, the 'twist' that the non-jock had inherited the powers, the extra-super villain to provide a bit of action to distract you for the fact it's going to be about the kids in school. (Oh look, super-powers as a metaphor for puberty. Again). The sports coach actually threatening the non-powered Kent Jnr for not dobbing in his brother as a physically strong potential star player was especially yuck. 3/10 - would not recommend.
I enjoyed Twin Peaks. I didn't watch it when it as on and only got to see it a for the first time a few years ago.
Deputy Brennan ( Andy ) was a fun character. I enjoyed his character growth going from not a good shot to saving Dale Cooper's life.
I recently found a window sticker that I would like to get for my car. It reads directed by Daven Lynch. I thought at the very least it might help me laugh at stupid drivers and all that weirdness on the road.
I really enjoyed Agent Rosenfield and his gruffness. I like how he and Sheriff Truman came to an understanding over a handful of episodes. It was a little silly but that's the show.
I’m a big fan of American Horror Story, and whilst not exactly the same tone? I can see Twin Peaks’ influence running though that show, particularly the relatively paced out reveals of what’s actually going on.
I guess Twin Peaks is a proper milestone for me as a consumer of TV, because it came about before was really old enough to break out of kids tv to some degree. And so the shows I watched all carried its influence. Yet, watching it now? It still feels fresh and different to anything else.
I had read the Stephen King book that this show is based on shortly before it came out, and was so turned off by how the book faded so fast from something so dark and intense that I never checked out the show. This limited series wasn't terrible at any point, but could've been helped by consolidating a few characters and was probably 2 episodes too long.
Everyone was great, from the cop coming to terms with something unexplainable, the family adjusting to life with their father dead and accused of a brutal child murder, and a gifted individual slowly piecing together the trail left by the shapeshifting monster. It just kind of meandered for 4 episodes before its conclusion. It did have a more satisfying ending than the book, imo.
8/10. Recommend if you like King stuff or whodunits with a supernatural twist.
Lovely daft show. First series with James Brolin is fine, but it wouldn’t really come into its own until Commander Riker took the helm and even the links embraced the camp.
A particular flaw in the first season is the reveals are just “yes it happened”, with…no citation. Just “trust me bro”.
Still fun, and part of my annual rotation, along with stuff like Tales From The Darkside.
Besides the Riker gold, didn’t that series also have the Haunted Mansion Voice guy as the announcer? I remember my wife and I always used to respond to people’s stories of coincidences and such by imitations him: “that’s ….Beyond Belief.” Got just the right reaction to keep us from hearing too many pointless stories.
An oft imitated format, this for me is the best take on it. The guys running the Pawn Shop know their onions, and you get genuinely fascinating items coming up.
For me I think the genius is blending it with elements of the Antique Roadshow/Roadtrip, in that the more interesting and historical items get an expert in for valuation, who give the backstory and that.
The main addition is the price negotiation. Sure most of the show is staged or recreation I’m sure. But the negotiations don’t feel silly, and the prices offered seem pretty fair. Certainly they’re not low balling the customer for the sake of a fat profit.
Why the clips? I’m not terribly interested in conflict driven reality tv, so the whole family politics bit is for me best avoided.
The main addition is the price negotiation. Sure most of the show is staged or recreation I’m sure. But the negotiations don’t feel silly, and the prices offered seem pretty fair. Certainly they’re not low balling the customer for the sake of a fat profit.
Why the clips? I’m not terribly interested in conflict driven reality tv, so the whole family politics bit is for me best avoided.
Yeah, the fact that the owner always hammered home that the store needed to profit off the item* to keep their business running was always appreciated. As someone who works in a small family business, I used to reference this dude to folks when folks whined about prices back when this show was all the rage.
*Unless it was something that the owner wanted badly enough.
The latest season. Two episodes to view on iPlayer now.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Eurovision Song Contest
I managed three songs, then my ears packed up and my eyes dribbled down my cheeks.
I do wish Britain, a country which has given the world so much legendary music, didn’t keep sending utter idiots.
We produced The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Punk, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Queen, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, DAVID SODDING BOWIE, hundreds of magnificent bands which all took turns in reshaping the musical landscape.
It was great fun. My 9 year old daughter’s first full event and she loved it. Graham Norton’s narration adding so much as usual. Fewer out and out weird acts than normal this year I think, but Windows95Man more than made up for quantity with the quality of their weirdness!
A police procedural with a gimmick (his dad is a serial killer, that's the gimmick) in the tradition of classic 00s USA Network.
It's okay.
Like very okay.
I wouldn't say you have to see it, but if you're bored and have nothing better to do? It's well executed. It's just too derivative of other shows like it to really stand out. The way the show plays with mental illness for drama also maybe comes off as a bit insensitive in the modern landscape, and pushes the boundaries a suspension of disbelief when the hero has such out and open psychological episodes that it's hard to believe anyone lets him chase criminals.
Oh, all right, I'll try and post something constructive.
Taskmaster Season 17 in the UK and sadly everything is a little tired. The production is struggling to create interesting challenges and so often the guests are not using the opportunity to play up to the camera and be entertainers first and problem solvers second.
There's still moments of delight with the guests. The two ladies this year are heart warmingly batty, but all three gents are dismally boring.
It's become one of those TV shows I watch because of routine rather than with excitement, which is usually a sign of things drawing to an end.
Oh, all right, I'll try and post something constructive.
Taskmaster Season 17 in the UK and sadly everything is a little tired. The production is struggling to create interesting challenges and so often the guests are not using the opportunity to play up to the camera and be entertainers first and problem solvers second.
There's still moments of delight with the guests. The two ladies this year are heart warmingly batty, but all three gents are dismally boring.
It's become one of those TV shows I watch because of routine rather than with excitement, which is usually a sign of things drawing to an end.
Yeah it is starting to feel a little past it. I just had to google who the male guests were, I couldn't remember! They're all OK, but we're a long way past the likes of Rhod Gilbert, Ed Gamble and so on.
Look, I needn’t say more here. It’s fab, with an amazing cast, sharp script and just the right amount of risqué.
Absolutely.
And I can’t wait to print some STL Custodes with the heads of Dorothy, Sophia, Rose and Blanche. And, for the deep cut, Custodian Terminator Cheech Marin.
Oh, all right, I'll try and post something constructive.
Taskmaster Season 17 in the UK and sadly everything is a little tired. The production is struggling to create interesting challenges and so often the guests are not using the opportunity to play up to the camera and be entertainers first and problem solvers second.
There's still moments of delight with the guests. The two ladies this year are heart warmingly batty, but all three gents are dismally boring.
It's become one of those TV shows I watch because of routine rather than with excitement, which is usually a sign of things drawing to an end.
Yeah it is starting to feel a little past it. I just had to google who the male guests were, I couldn't remember! They're all OK, but we're a long way past the likes of Rhod Gilbert, Ed Gamble and so on.
If you had to Google Steve Pemberton something has gone horribly wrong!
The producers still seem to be stick to the mix of 'current young comics + up and coming + old guard', but I agree we are past the point where the same crop would also be on 8 out of 10 Cats, QI, Mock the Week, The Last Leg and a host of other comedy panel shows - because they are all good at their job. Some of the guests are also savvy to it's tricks (although there's usually someone who's never seen the show even though they've been booked to appear on it), but so far I still enjoy watching it. How long it'll last? Who knows. Greg and Alex might just see out their contract with Channel 4 and call it a day - maybe with a mega Champion of Champions of Champions special to round it off.
I do wish Britain, a country which has given the world so much legendary music, didn’t keep sending utter idiots.
*snip*
Yet Eurovision? Have some stage school tosspot.
Apparently he is a successful and popular singer in the UK. Maybe appeals to the Yoof. But hell yeah, send 'maiden. Eddie would love it on stage.
Oh, all right, I'll try and post something constructive.
Taskmaster Season 17 in the UK and sadly everything is a little tired. The production is struggling to create interesting challenges and so often the guests are not using the opportunity to play up to the camera and be entertainers first and problem solvers second.
There's still moments of delight with the guests. The two ladies this year are heart warmingly batty, but all three gents are dismally boring.
It's become one of those TV shows I watch because of routine rather than with excitement, which is usually a sign of things drawing to an end.
Yeah it is starting to feel a little past it. I just had to google who the male guests were, I couldn't remember! They're all OK, but we're a long way past the likes of Rhod Gilbert, Ed Gamble and so on.
If you had to Google Steve Pemberton something has gone horribly wrong!
The producers still seem to be stick to the mix of 'current young comics + up and coming + old guard', but I agree we are past the point where the same crop would also be on 8 out of 10 Cats, QI, Mock the Week, The Last Leg and a host of other comedy panel shows - because they are all good at their job. Some of the guests are also savvy to it's tricks (although there's usually someone who's never seen the show even though they've been booked to appear on it), but so far I still enjoy watching it. How long it'll last? Who knows. Greg and Alex might just see out their contract with Channel 4 and call it a day - maybe with a mega Champion of Champions of Champions special to round it off.
No no, I know who they all are. I mean that, despite having watched the current series to date, I had to remind myself which male guests were actually taking part on seeing this discussion... Doesn't bode well for them performing memorably, for me at least...
I do wish Britain, a country which has given the world so much legendary music, didn’t keep sending utter idiots.
*snip*
Yet Eurovision? Have some stage school tosspot.
Apparently he is a successful and popular singer in the UK. Maybe appeals to the Yoof. But hell yeah, send 'maiden. Eddie would love it on stage.
I saw a couple of online reports that indicated he was basically groomed and manufactured specifically for the competition. Hence it was all a bit lacking in passion.
Charming TV Movie whodunnit series in the vein of Murder, She Wrote. In which so far as I can tell a junk shop owner married to a police detective keeps finding and solving murders.
If like me you have fond memories of watching this sort of fare at your Granny’s as she filled you with sugar and sandwiches and home baked treats? These are a pleasant way to while away a Saturday morning or afternoon. Perhaps with a cuppa or three and some sweet treats.
Nothing too challenging, but still engaging enough.
If you have watched any of the Sonic films, this is more of the same.
I honestly could have written this thing, and I am hella' glad this was not an actual movie. However, the action scenes have bee kinda fun.
Best part was a Jewish mother beating-up a bunch of bounty hunters with frying pans to protect her shabat candles from going out. Oh, and Bounty Hunter Jack was obviously written for Liam Neeson but they couldn't get him for this thing.
Thanks to the Engakification of Everything I'll be cancelling my $125 Amazon Prime soon. Next day shipping is now next week shipping, and the streaming service has ads. Forget that.
But this... I never played Fallout (have played a video game in years), never learned any of the fluff, but this is really, really good. I can see why the game is so revered.
I've been exclusively watching anime for the past few months.
-Frieren might have the best small-screen animation I've ever seen, particularly the
Spoiler:
clone
battle. It's absurdly good on all levels. I'm completely baffled that no one has mentioned it. The manga is very good as well, but the action scenes in the anime are staggering.
The OST is incredible as well.
-Yagete Kimi ni Naru was excellent.
-Bocchi the Rock was not something I expected to love, but it was so good that I am rewatching it. The cutaway gags are solid and the music is actually good. I wish season 2 would hurry up. Normally I'd go read the manga, but I loathe four koma.
-Girls Band Cry and Jellyfish Can't Swim In The Night have been great through 9 episodes. Didn't expect to love Girls Band Cry because of the 3D aspect, but it's been solid from start to finish and actually has some surprisingly funny moments. The opening is also amazing.
-SasaKoi is an absolutely abysmal adaptation because the budget is nonexistent apparently.
-Steins;gate was decent. I didn't love it because it had too many negative `anime` tropes and nothing about it blew my mind, but it was still decent enough.
Finally getting to watch this, as it’s on NowTV. Yes I did sign up just to watch this show, but will also do House of the Dragon.
Pretty gnarly opening scene.i
Automatically Appended Next Post: Into episode 5/6, and there’s a distinctly Fallout feel to the show. In a positive way.
You can tell this was originally intended to be a feature film, and there’s an amount of filler. But, most of that is character development. Given this may be a viewer’s first exposure to the franchise, I think that’s forgivable.
The most important thing of course is our two lead actors continue to have solid chemistry. And it’s still miles ahead of Fear The Walking Dead.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Ending is a bit meh though.
Finally getting around to watching Supernatural.
It's fun. Not great, but it's entertaining. I like ye olde "monster of the week but still with an overarching plot" season format.
...
And there's 14 seasons. That's my binging sessions for the next year or so...
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Not so much that bit, as the head honcho is clearly completely mad, and thus probably a bit hard of thinking,
But that's par for the course in The Walking Dead universe. The Big Bads are all either lunatics or megalomaniacs (or a mixture of the two). Zombie apocalypses tend to be bad on the population's mental health as a whole
I've been watching a lot of It's always Sunny and other factors. Rome has seemed like some kind of wild Sitcom. I know it's not meant to be taken that way but I also wonder if it was ahead of it's time. Almost wish it had a laugh track not that it needs it.
We really enjoy Rome. Just starting season 2 in a day or two. Wish we'd gotten more.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Not so much that bit, as the head honcho is clearly completely mad, and thus probably a bit hard of thinking,
But that's par for the course in The Walking Dead universe. The Big Bads are all either lunatics or megalomaniacs (or a mixture of the two). Zombie apocalypses tend to be bad on the population's mental health as a whole
I think my main criticism is that whilst the show is perfectly fine? It’s too much of a retread of the last season of the main show.
National Park Zombies were pretty interesting though.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: I think my main criticism is that whilst the show is perfectly fine? It’s too much of a retread of the last season of the main show.
Most definitely. They had pretty much done everything there was to do with that corner of The Walking Dead Universe, which is why moving Daryl Dixon to France was what the franchise needed.
Crispy78 wrote: Not a review as such - but really excited about Shardlake, which hit Disney+ today.
Tudor murder-mystery, based on a series of novels by C J Sansom - who sadly died just a few days ago. I love the books, and previews saying that the series does them justice have me very keen to watch ASAP.
Watched it - it's great. Very close adaptation to the book - biggest change is introducing the 'main' sidekick character early (in the books, Jack Barak does not appear until the second), but it makes more sense editorially. Certainly does the book justice, and I want them to make more. Please watch it!
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: I love Supernatural. Something you may notice as you go through it, is how consistent it keeps its internal lore.
Though be warned, it does have a couple of duff seasons in the middle. They’re still watchable, just…not as good.
I've found that the seasons I hated the most (like the leviathan season) are actually much more watchable when I'm binging. I think it's because 1-3 bad episodes don't take up an entire month of my life but instead less than 3 hours before I'm back to decent content.
On Season 4 now. I like how they brought Dean back and not have it be done and resolved immediately. I wonder what that angel's up to; I very much suspect All Is Not As It Seems with that one.
(No, don't spoil it. But teasing's allowed.)
And interesting throwbacks to Yelloweyes and his plans. I'm sure there's more to come there as well. I hope they can deliver the goods.
So the first 5 seasons were very much a contained arc. They are what the original show runner (Eric Kripke of now The Boys fame) had for what he saw as THE story. He exited as the showrunner after season 5 (stayed on as an EP but I don't think he was much involved after that outside of little stuff) but they overall do a good job of being consistent with the lore and there are a lot of fun new arcs they follow. Some were meh but it was still better tv than 90% of tv you find before the streaming wars really got started.
My nephews are rewatching Duck Tales 2017, and once again it strikes me as the Mystery Inc of the Disney Afternoon IP. Ongoing and more complex storylines, character growth, more mature themes, lots of Easter eggs and homages for the olds, and some big finale episodes to wrap up the various threads.
Also, Donald Duck gets the absolute tar beaten out of him again and again, and it’s still funny.
The big finale. Packed with in-jokes, but not ones that would go over the head of most.
I’m always going to be disappointed this is the last of it, but it’s been an excellent run of one off wonders all the same, and I’d rather it goes before the ideas go.
And as with League of Gentleman, there’s always the chance of a revival special or three in years to come.
An interesting exploration of ecology, which feels like a concept hat has long been long absent from Sci-Fi. The animation is clean, and not too busy, reminded me of Studio Ghibli.
Binged it on Netflix within 3 days, quite easy to do as if isn't mentally taxing. I would most definitely recommend the series to anyone who is s gan of Sci-Fi.
While there is some fun stuff, and I'll continue watching, it doesn't bring much new stuff to the table.
Spoiler:
-Let's have another delve into Frenchie's past again!
-Let's have another delve into The Woman's past again!
-Let's have another possible redemption arc for A-train again!
-Let's have A-train try to make things right with his family again!
-Let's have Homelander delve into his past again!
-Let's have a few scenes of shock value Supe sex again!
-Let's have a racist Supe use the power of media to attack her enemies again!
-Let's have The Deep be a disgusting perv again!
-Let's have Homelander's kid have another plot where he was to choose between Homelander or Butcher!
The introduction of "world's smartest person" Supe kind of falls flat, because all she she does is use the same tactic as Stormfront, and doesn't seem all that smart when you think about it, unless she's playing multiple chess boards to ultimately put the good guys in a position to win.
What I like:
Dialogue is still funny throughout.
Butcher(Karl Urban) owns every scene he's in, as does Homelander(Anthony Starr) They are the best actors in this show.
Talking Black Noir is consistently funny. The first time he does it, I was genuinely shocked.
And though she's a horrible person, I like Ashley most of the time.
If you’ve been watching The Boys up to this point, but not Generation V?
Now is the time to watch Generation V. Then this episode.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Back on Deep Space 9 as “whilst I’m working” background comfort viewing.
Of all the times I’ve sung this show’s praises, there’s something I’ve never really picked up on before. And that’s how well Quark and Odo sell being old adversaries from the get go.
And that I think is an important part of the setting and it feeling pretty real.
I have never seen, watched, or engaged with Critical Role content prior to watching this.
Overall, it was good. My entire family watched it, but this is not for folks under 16-18 range. Normally my wife is not into animation, but she watched and enjoyed it as well.
Like most shows, the first couple episodes starts a bit rough, but improves as you learn more about each character. However, I think there are 1-2 main characters too many. The opening to the second season is an especially stand-out episode that really raises the stakes and sets the tone.
If you’ve been watching The Boys up to this point, but not Generation V?
Now is the time to watch Generation V. Then this episode.
That was indeed a nice tie-in that didn't feel forced.
Though I still take issue with the sub-plots this season that are a distraction from the main characters and the over-arching plot, it was a decent episode.
Why oh why did they only make one season of this but 4 seasons of Titans?
Such a good series all round if a little rushed in places, and I appreciate them not leaving things on too cliff-hangery an ending.
Stargate SG1 is up there with B5 and DS9 on the pinnacle of televised science fiction. I miss that perfect blend of episodic with ongoing story, humor with action and sometimes ethical gravitas, likeable, competent characters who function as adults and coworkers, and compelling world building. And the shows were capable of darkness but knew how to keep things light and fun until just the right moment for the darkness to have impact.
Anyway,
The Critic
After we watched Eraserhead, I wanted to put on something more lighthearted, so we started the Critic. I have fond memories of the show, but wasn’t sure how it would hold up. Well, my son really enjoys it. He doesn’t get all the references, but he picks up on more of them than I thought would still be relevant decades later.
Best of all, the second episode had a joke where Jay wanted to take a woman to see Eraserhead on a first date, which hit way harder for us at the time.
I remember the effects being shockingly good when that was airing. And I remember a bunch of stories set in some future where Earth was fighting against aliens who could surgically alter themselves to look human, with Robert Patrick playing an infiltrator in a good one.
The guy who paints pictures of brick walls with his own poo is properly burned into my memory… influencing the shade of brown by watching what he eats. such an odd show.
Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis are core memories when it comes to the scifi of my youth. Almost even more than The Next Generation/Deep Space Nine/Voyager. It was amazing when we used to have 18+ episodes in a season of a show.
Not sure where the anime thread went so I'll put this here;
Yatagarasu: The Three Legged Raven Does Not Choose its Master
This has gotta be the most understated anime I've seen in years. It's easily overlooked because it initially looks like a cheesy rom-drama with an Imperial setting, but it is not.
This series is a very tightly told and engaging political thriller. The characters are extremely well written in, often in understated ways that don't quite play out until the closing episodes of the series. The plot is tight with a great sense of mystique and how to build twists and turns before executing them. The ability to build suspense is fantastic.
This is the best anime I've seen this year so far by country miles, and anyone who in interested in a mystery series, a good drama, or political intrigues could probably find some enjoyment in it.
The first half of the season wrapped up this week and a second comes before the year ends.
Another thing watching early SG-1 reminded me. There’s nice exposition about which real world culture inspired each “god”. And that’s typically Daniel explaining, and Jack getting clarification. A lovely way to get your audience up to speed without leaving them feeling thick.
Season 9 hit Netflix and if I've seen it before I don't remember it.
Also maybe I need to rewatch the series because I don't remember feeling like the 'heroes' of the story were all kind of getting what they deserved when the 'villain' walked through the door to straighten them out for breaking the law so much. Like, I guess I don't remember seaosn 8 very well. I can't even remember what the climax was but I pick up 9 and it sure feels like the people we're supposed to root for kind of deserve to lose and their triumph is a tragedy?
I’m finding the Boys to be boring and predictable at this point.
The reveal about Butchers CIA friend was a nice touch, though.
The Sympathizer (HBO Max) Episode 1
Robert Downey Jr being an absolute scumbag CIA officer as a supporting character in this dark semi-comedy spy story. Focuses on a North Vietnamese spy who works for a South Vietnamese general, and is assigned to go with him in exile/retreat to America.
The fall of Saigon scene was wild. Street littered with the uniforms and gear of retreating/surrendering South Vietnamese soldiers while a group of refugees make their way to a C-130, which is a particularly harrowing and sad scene. A solid start to what looks to be a unique story on a subject matter that I’m not too familiar with.
I get the sense from a lot of yanks you guys are less impressed with the boys as they have got lazier and just used real world terms and groups (like the protest groups batman/Tekknight - shame they made him a supe - was being forced to give to), but those groups are fairly American, so for the rest of us its still novel.
I think the issue the Boys runs into is that as a show it came along a bit late to the post-modern Superhero party. Watchmen, Worm, The Dark Knight Returns, Kickass, and a whole lot of other superhero media kind of beat them to it.
Which takes a bit of the wind from their sales and leaves the show kind of being that super edgy show that has the subtlety of an M4 Sherman driving through your front door to deliver the point.
I've never been that into it, but the US has probably been more saturated in that kind of media than other places so I imagine there's a higher chance of an American being unimpressed by the show than others.
The Boys is genuinely outrageous and pulls no punches. But as a satire of modern super hero’s and cults of personality? Despite its deliberate excesses, the message gets through.
And I for one do enjoy a bit of the outrageous. The gloriously not-PC but actually PC. The middle ground those desperately determined to invent a culture war will never, ever admit exists.
Episode 2 of The Sympathizer, wherein Robert Downey Jr hilariously plays a completely different character from Episode 1. This time as a racist, but totally not racist chairman of Asian studies at a university who sponsors our main character during his transition to America.
Sandra Oh portrays the very "americanized" Japanese secretary to RDJ's college character and the main characters love interest.
Later in the very same episode, RDJ comes back as the scummy CIA operative from Episode 1. Judging by the thumbnail pictures of this show, I'm assuming RDJ will play every prominent Caucasian character that The Sympathizer will interact with.
I refuse to call it just MAX, as I have an emotional attachment to a similar named channel (Cinemax, particularly late night) that was very... uh.. educational to me in my early teens.
After watching my first Lone Wolf and Cub movie, I stumbled across a 2004 series of the same name. I started watching it and am enjoying it much better.
The film I watched was pretty episodic in nature anyway, so this seems like a better fit. Early in the first season, they covered one of the storylines from the Baby Cart at the River Styx and I think they did a better job of it in the series.
The subs are kind of ropey, as I feel like the translation is lacking some nuance. Technically accurate but not hiving the right essence of some of the details. Plus, I am sure I am not following all the cultural nuances all the time either.
But I have noticed Castle’s willingness to use household objects to biff people with….could he take Eddie and Richie in a fight?
I wasn't a huge fan of any of the Marvel Netflix shows and Jon Bernthal gives off a fake tough guy persona in interviews, but gorram, that man has put on multiple quality performances. I think he's been a scene-stealer in everything he's done.
Just finished the last episode of the season. Season overall was pretty uneven, though I felt it finished strong, setting up what looks to be an apocalyptic 5th and final season.
Its dumb as feth, but I’ll finish this through when the 5th drops in a few years.
Just finished the last episode of the season. Season overall was pretty uneven, though I felt it finished strong, setting up what looks to be an apocalyptic 5th and final season.
Its dumb as feth, but I’ll finish this through when the 5th drops in a few years.
Spoiler:
Mainly to hopefully see Jensen Eckles return
My deepest hope is
Spoiler:
Jensen and Jared having a team up in some fashion, ideally while they play Carry on My Wayward Son.
It doesn't seem so far fetched, Bobby already said 'Idjits".
Very rough season overall, especially after 3. Soldier Boy really left a huge hole in the energy of the story that they were not able to fill with the political intrigue.
Just finished the last episode of the season. Season overall was pretty uneven, though I felt it finished strong, setting up what looks to be an apocalyptic 5th and final season.
Its dumb as feth, but I’ll finish this through when the 5th drops in a few years.
Spoiler:
Mainly to hopefully see Jensen Eckles return
I feel like S4 unfortunately followed the same downward trend of S3's finale, where they just wrote Butcher to do a 180 on what he's always wanted for some reason and took down Soldier Boy instead of doing anything else that could just remove Ryan as collateral. S4 really does feel like filler until the last two episodes, and the worst part is how much of it feels like it's torture porn for Hughie, who is repeatedly kicked around for SA jokes, which is made even worse from how Starlight's SA experience with The Deep in the first season is played straight as the bad thing it is, but Hughie's is played for laughs and cruelly having him suffer without acknowledging it properly in the show. I think the director was quoted as thinking "It's hilarious".
Personally, I'm not giving it any further chances, I'm dropping after this garbage fire of a season.
In other news, I'm glad to hear that the live action Halo show hasn't been renewed for another season and that it's been cancelled. What a waste of time that was.
Grimskul wrote: Personally, I'm not giving it any further chances, I'm dropping after this garbage fire of a season.
I can respect that. I have a few co-workers that checked out after season 3 and just came to me for season 4 summaries during lunch time. I think that’s partly why I kept at it, because it was fun to tell them about it and laugh at it together.
Its a shame its gone down hill, because there are some solid actors in this show.
I got Peacock to watch the Psych Movies. They're fun. if you like Psych.
Also;
Those About to Die
It's no Spartacus: Blood and Sand, and it's no HBO's Rome, but it'll do. A decently fun period piece set in 79 during the end of Vespasian's rule with a little bit of everything. Seeding Roman underbelly schemes. Gladiator games. Political intrigue and schemes. Blood and violence and sexy bits.
It's okay. Parts of the show are quite fun. Others are so-so. The actors are a mixed bag and the plot waffles between too slow and just right.
If you want new Roman themed historical media in your life, this will do.
In other news, I'm glad to hear that the live action Halo show hasn't been renewed for another season and that it's been cancelled. What a waste of time that was.
I’m not surprised. Halo was a very hollow show. As someone unknowledgable about the games, other than they exist? It was on the show to demonstrate what’s so compelling.
Because I’m not one to dump on the opinions of others, I can only assume the show single handedly failed in that endeavour as it was super dull.
Just finished the last episode of the season. Season overall was pretty uneven, though I felt it finished strong, setting up what looks to be an apocalyptic 5th and final season.
Its dumb as feth, but I’ll finish this through when the 5th drops in a few years.
Spoiler:
Mainly to hopefully see Jensen Eckles return
My favorite part of the final was Bobby SInger saying his signature Supernatural lines!
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: I’m not surprised. Halo was a very hollow show. As someone unknowledgable about the games, other than they exist? It was on the show to demonstrate what’s so compelling.
Because I’m not one to dump on the opinions of others, I can only assume the show single handedly failed in that endeavour as it was super dull.
They basically made a bad version of the Expanse instead of a Halo series.
From the top. And still one of the best TV shows in forever. Solid cast, just the right amount of “d’you ‘member” to tie it back to the films and provide motivation for Johnny and Danny’s rivalry.
For me it’s the Loony Tunes of the current era. It follows the most simple premise of two heroic sheep, Wanda and Trico, keeping their flock safe from the depredations of a nasty wolf.
Wanda is the titular karate expert. Trico has a fleece of infinite depth. Many of the episodes are based around a common item that he pulls out and wackiness ensues.
It’s really well done. There is no verbal dialogue. The violence is constant, but in a Wile Coyote way that never feels nasty. The Wolf just gets up and quickly onto the next bit of madness.
The Wolf has flashes of genius and often manages to get several sheep into his mouth, only to be foiled at the last minute by the sheep. There are other woodland creatures that fulfil specific roles.
It sounds a bit like the show with the Bear and the Lemmings fighting over Nutella, or the one about the gecko living in the desert. They are nonstop Looney Tunes violence.
Edit: Grizzly and the Lemmings, and Oscar’s Oasis.
Low budget tv series about lovely soft waggy Labradors. No of course not. It’s a no-budget straight-to-streaming-because-Prime-will-host-any-old- rap series about Zombies.
Seemingly filmed on someone’s tablet. Might be an iPad.
Gonna skip to the first bit of peeps getting ate off Zombies, see if at least the gore is any good/funny, because the rest isn’t showing any promise.
Yeah no. No no no no no no no.
Low budget can be excellent. Troma have founded an entire studio on low budget but worthy silliness.
If you want to watch this, I suggest dipping your tiddler in petrol then playing “how close can I stand next to a fire” instead. That’ll have some genuine tension and amusement.*
*do not actually do that. Just avoid the show. There’s a good Dakkanaut.
Pretty entertaining, but I would say about 2-3 episodes too long.
Most of it is just a McGuffin hunt. However, interesting characters make the journey more interesting, and they do manage to have a solid final episode.
Beacon 23 Just finished the newly released Season 2 on this one, having only just found the show and watched Season 1 a few weeks ago... so that was good timing.
Cool universe building, even with a central conceit that probably doesn't actually make much sense, and a nicely convoluted storyline, if you're into such things. The protagonist is consistently not actually who you think it is...
At it's core, it's an 'evils of AI' story that manages to throw in enough curve balls to keep things interesting.
Finished a binge-run of Fushigi Yuugi. Its about a young student who reads a mysterious book in the library, with her friend, and they get sucked into a fantasy world based on ancient china. In a nutshell they become preistesses who are destined to summon two opposing beast-gods, and they have their own gathering of celestial warriors to defend them.
The main draw is the hilarious comedy that is well adapted from Yu Watase's manga, but as the series goes into it's later episodes it becomes more adult and dark. From Metal Gear to Deep Space Nine - there's some familiar voices in there! I'm pretty that one of them is Spottswoode from Team America...
But be warned, that theme tune might live rent free in one's head after the first few episodes. Oh, and Tasuki might become your favourite character!
Started watching these not realizing it was a Marvel property. It is basically CW-verse not X-men. The X-men and Brotherhood are referenced as disappearing, but it is its own thing. Sentinels are just a FBI/CIA/NSA style government agency and not giant robots.
Anyway, it is not great because of all the quirks of Twenty-Teens serialized TV. However, it is reminding me how great the Mutant metaphor is as a story-telling device for social commentary. It is a great "Blank Canvas" where people can pour in their own lived experiences to help relate to the characters. It can be applied to groups all across the political and social landscapes. That makes the show way more compelling than it would otherwise be.
Started watching these not realizing it was a Marvel property. It is basically CW-verse not X-men. The X-men and Brotherhood are referenced as disappearing, but it is its own thing. Sentinels are just a FBI/CIA/NSA style government agency and not giant robots.
Anyway, it is not great because of all the quirks of Twenty-Teens serialized TV. However, it is reminding me how great the Mutant metaphor is as a story-telling device for social commentary. It is a great "Blank Canvas" where people can pour in their own lived experiences to help relate to the characters. It can be applied to groups all across the political and social landscapes. That makes the show way more compelling than it would otherwise be.
Hmm, you just reminded me of the first Not~X-Men show Mutant X. I wonder if that's streaming anywhere?
All I remember from it was the main villain was basically Andy Warhol, which is a choice I guess.
On episode 2 of HBO Max's "Industry", returning for a 3rd season.
Came for Eric Tao (Ken Leung) and his biting dialogue to his subordinates, almost checked out for the segments focusing on his subordinates, stayed for Kit Harrington's performance as a rich, entitled donkey-cave as he navigates the ups/downs of launching an IPO for his green tech company. The dude showed some range, much more than he could showcase as the sullen Jon Snow in GoT. The battle in the ball pit of his workplace kid playroom was wild.
I'll probably stick around for the season, unless it starts to get excessively bleak or gross, which this episode came very, very close to being.
Now, on to episode 1 of the "Chimp Crazy" mini-series, which looks like an off the chain primate version of Netflix's "Tiger King" (Made by the same people, I think).
Started watching these not realizing it was a Marvel property. It is basically CW-verse not X-men. The X-men and Brotherhood are referenced as disappearing, but it is its own thing. Sentinels are just a FBI/CIA/NSA style government agency and not giant robots.
Anyway, it is not great because of all the quirks of Twenty-Teens serialized TV. However, it is reminding me how great the Mutant metaphor is as a story-telling device for social commentary. It is a great "Blank Canvas" where people can pour in their own lived experiences to help relate to the characters. It can be applied to groups all across the political and social landscapes. That makes the show way more compelling than it would otherwise be.
It's not great, but it's crazy that it's darker than any X-Men film.
There are some bonkers wild folks in this show, but so far not as compelling/guilty pleasure fun as Tiger King.
The scene where a chimp is watching the opening of 2001: A Space Odyssey and getting genuinely hyped was heartwarming and hilarious, but it has a collar and leash around its neck like a dog on a walk, immediately setting the tone for how people treat these animals.
Looking at full grown chimps stuck in cages the size of a Walk-in closet is sad as feth. There is a child-like sweetness to some of them, but gak can go south violently so fast that its hard to have any sympathy* for folks who try to keep them as pets. Its thankfully not shown, but one “owner” had his nose bitten clean off, and he was running a business that let kids interact with chimps at birthday parties even after that event. They do show a juvie chimp randomly grabbing and pulling a toddlers leg, almost pulling the child from the mothers arms in front of a crowd of kids at one of these events.
Never knew that Missouri of all places was like an Old West of exotic animal trading.
This show has me rooting for PETA, so far. Impressive feat.
*And I don’t think this show is trying to garner sympathy, but to show the derangement some of these folks exhibit.
Just finished first series of Only Murders In The Building. Comedy/comedic crime drama, trio of true crime podcast enthusiasts join forces to investigate a murder in their apartment building and publish their investigation as a podcast of their own. Bloody great. It's tense, it's funny, it's cheesy in places, there's some cracking cameos and the main cast (Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez) are awesome. Well worth watching.
Had some free time and decided to watch the final season of Umbrella Academy
Kinda wish i'd kept putting it off, because while there were moments i found interesting and story threads
with potential, by the end when it all wrapped up, i just found myself disliking so much stuff
Spoiler:
I dislike time travel and timeline bs at the best of times in shows and books, given how poorly it tends to be done
but i hold a special hatred for when the handwave solution is "tada, we make it so that
nothing happened right from the start, thus undoing all of the previous storytelling
so yea, think i might rewatch something i know has a good ending to make up for it
Now that’s a show I’ve never sat down to watch. I’m a bit too young for real memories, and I don’t recall seeing it for sale during my mad VHS and DVD phase.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Now that’s a show I’ve never sat down to watch. I’m a bit too young for real memories, and I don’t recall seeing it for sale during my mad VHS and DVD phase.
But highly regarded it is.
It's almost like the BBC didn't like money...... but i suspect the real reason was probably that it would have been complicated to do,
some of the contracts probably didn't have T&C allowing video release (or worse might have meant extra payments), some of the episodes had been misplaced, or all they had was horrible scratchy tape they'd got back from an african country after they'd re-used the master tape for an episode of Blankety Blank, and maybe the audio of one epidode mysteriously ended up swaped with the audio for a random bank holiday special about farming in the lake district
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Now that’s a show I’ve never sat down to watch. I’m a bit too young for real memories, and I don’t recall seeing it for sale during my mad VHS and DVD phase.
But highly regarded it is.
Thanks to a certain Australian TV host I avoided it like the plague for a lot of years, but I was on a huge Dr Who binge about 10 years ago and couldn't pass up the episode with Colin Baker...
...its like the grand daddy of shows like Farscape, Dark Matter and Star Wars: Rebels. If you love Doctor Who and Red Dwarf, you'll probably also love Blake's 7!
After making it through the first episode (deep down I must hate myself) it is now my solemn quest to save people from this crime against television. The better half and I switched to
Our Lady Jane
The first Queen of England, but basically a victim on the long list of dark days in English/British history. Here is her story - with all the historical accuracy of Xena: Warrior Princess. And it's quite a bit of fun. A bit of girl bossing, a bit of magic, independent minded young woman takes on the patriarchy of medieval England. Jane is a bit anachronistic: with a modern viewpoint that clashes with the mores of the times, but that's to place here as the identification figure. If you've enjoyed Renegade Nell you'll probably like this. The only minor niggle (to me) is that Rob Brydon is in it and I'm getting a little weary of his schtick.
A 1970’s tv horror anthology series. And it’s pretty rad! Made at a time when censors wouldn’t allow much in the way of gore, violence and nudity, it relies mostly on atmosphere which is to its benefit.
Gaw Blimey! That bowled me a googly and no mistake! See, the above series wasn’t just that series. But also…
Sixth Sense
A 70’s show about a paranormal investigator/detective.
Thought Amazon were repeating an episode, but no. It’s a completely different TV series tacked on. And it’s alright, I guess. Will give it a proper watch later, now I know it for what it is.
The new movie dropped and I'm rewatching the series. It's okay. Lot of early-00s Anime problems. The show makes use of quite a bit of stock footage and on the whole it's not the most mature Gundam series. But it's good mecha action.
Sadly I can't find the un-Remastered version. The remaster made a few 'changes' that were odd to say the least. The Netflix English dub is also oddly lacking some lines. The audio just cuts out but in a deliberate way that's very odd.
IBO and 00 are still better post-Millennium series imo, but Seed isn't bad. It did character drama pretty well for what it was.
This show is adapted from a true story about an American crime reporter in Japan who thrusts himself into the conflict between the Japanese police and the Yakuza. I didn't know anything about this and hoped for something watchable, and was pleasantly surprised as its really very good. It has a complex and interesting story that is well shot and well acted. Ken Watanabe is as good as expected particularly in the first season as the hard boiled detective who doesn't play by the rules, an archetype quite familiar to western audiences. Rinko Kikuchi starts off as a mere obstacle to the MC and ends up having great character development and a really interesting "slice of life" storyline.
On the negative side, in the second season the stakes rise dramatically and the ending ultimately feels a little forced. I'd tend to believe that much of that was created rather than adapted though I haven't read the book. That said, while not quite "peak TV" quality its still among the best shows I've seen from the post COVID era.
I'm only 8 episodes in right now. I've seen season 2 and 3 already but had never had the chance to see season one before.
I think this is a really fun format for pro wrestling.
Making it TV with TV storylines and some acting. The wrestling is a blast to watch but I really like that they crank it up to 11 by episode 2. It has some problems but what doesn't. One thing that caught my eye is a finishing movie used to get a pin-fall, winning the match, and the commentary was like "we've never seen that before! " except they had the previous episode and done by a different performer. I could be wrong about that but I don't think so.
Survivors of a spaceship accident are stranded on an alien world. They have to survive.
This is all animated and won an Emmy. I just started watching it, and the alien world is lush and full of alien-ness. Very fun animation. They keep the basics simple by design, but there is a lot going on in the ecology. Reminded me of some old, classic early Sci-fi stories, with very interesting and imaginative flora and fauna on display.
It is too early to tell if it will work as a story though.
A classic UK show, where chef Hugh Fearnley-Eats-It-All decamps from the big smoke, to a small holding in Dorset, to live off the land for a year.
It’s part cookery show, part documentary and a wonderful watch. Indeed from an arguable publicity stunt, Hugh became ever more dedicated to that lifestyle, and whilst he now runs a farm, restaurant and what have you? He’s still down the neck of the woods well over a decade later.
A classic UK show, where chef Hugh Fearnley-Eats-It-All decamps from the big smoke, to a small holding in Dorset, to live off the land for a year.
It’s part cookery show, part documentary and a wonderful watch. Indeed from an arguable publicity stunt, Hugh became ever more dedicated to that lifestyle, and whilst he now runs a farm, restaurant and what have you? He’s still down the neck of the woods well over a decade later.
Wait.
25 years later.
Jeebus…..
The other half and I like Hugh and his early River Cottage stuff was a good watch, but I think the restaurant and the 'green gardening & living' school were always the long term plan, and kudos to him for getting Channel 4 to kickstart it for him. The fact that he hasn't sold it on yet is a testament to his integrity and any programme that he presents has a green/sustainable slant. Just goes to show that not every Eton graduate has to be a, well, person of low regard.
Indeed. I feel that, from the off, he was taking it all seriously, and with a genuine interest which may have extended as far as an initial passion.
Granted I’m sure he’s not exactly struggling for money overall, but that he’s stuck to his roots and done campaigning (including getting the EU to ban catch discards!) speaks to his genuine nature about the whole thing.
Really must visit River Cottage HQ at some point. I’ve done Rick Stein’s restaurant decades ago, so about time I did a “big name”.
I ran across Bubblegum Crisis on a 24-hour channel that was streaming them one after the next. I admit, I was hooked and could not stop watching.
Sure, there is a lot of nostalgia in watching them. The voice-acting/dub is terrible. The dialogue is terrible. It is offensive on so many levels and misogynistic, with some annoying stereotype characters.
All that said, there is something about them that still has not been topped. The Boomers are cool. The "city" is cyberpunk. The mecha suits are super fun. The world feels alive and real. I really dug it a lot.
MarkNorfolk wrote: You don’t see the days on end of digging soil, and you will certainly not see the production team that do the bulk of the work. But hey, that’s telly.
I’m not sure it would the be production team. There are plenty of scenes of Hugh getting his hands dirty.
Are the scenes filmed staged? Absolutely. But he did live in the cottage, and wasn’t married at the time. Plus, the plot of land was definitely of a size where one person could manage it, as it’s less than five acres, and four of those are for his livestock.
And he’s back again, in the second season of the revival show.
The first season was, acceptable I guess. Kelsey Grammar was his usual consistently entertaining self, but it was missing Niles, Martin and Eddie. The rest of the cast weren’t exactly dreadful, but it wasn’t the same. Though I think overall preferable to trying to make the new cast directly analogous to the original.
This time everyone is feeling a bit more settled in their role, and the writers seem more confident.
It perhaps inevitably remains somewhat lesser than the original series. But, as tv sitcoms go this is still enjoyable enough, devoid as it is the smugness of drivel like Friends and Big Bang Theory.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Sexy Dancing Intensifies, it’s….
Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected
A series of slightly macabre tales, often of morality.
They’re typically quite inventive, but rarely supernatural. The two seasons (1 & 3) on Prime were satisfying enough.
Whilst still an enjoyable classic, I think it’s fair to say it came second to Batman, The Animated Series at the time, and hasn’t aged anywhere near as well.
Been forever since I watched this, and it’s still pretty bloody good.
Castle is of course a badass, but not in a completely ridiculous way. Whilst he has a shield of narrativium, it’s mostly powered by being ballsy but Not Stupid. When he’s going through the bad guys like butter, it’s with at least a strong sense of realism and the advantage of years of training and experience.
The lack of one-liners, a typical censor pleasing tension breaker is definitely welcome. And I think I rate it above John Wick.
Not usually a fan of fantasy anime these days, even when the cast aren't literally teenagers who've been sucked into a MMORPG, they still feel very gameified (And that's ignoring how much of it is pure nerd-bait).
But I enjoyed this one, it's still a bit gamey here and there, but it felt more like someone had animated a wacky D&D campaign, which works for me. Looking forward to season 2.
8 part true crime drama. And it’s pretty decent, and played straight with drama. Focuses on the murder of a 14 year old girl, and the hunt for the killer.
It’s all very sympathetic, showing our teenage suspects in a neutral light. Given they claimed to be part of the Crips, there was room for “therefore hip-hop am bad”. But the portrayal is just of…kids. Stupid, dumb, listless kids, who’ve somewhat romanticised what they believe gang culture to be. And at no point is their preferred music pointed at as being the driving force.
It is a bit of a slog because of its careful approach, but I’ve really enjoyed it.
It’s aired up to episode 4 in the uk, and whilst I don’t yet really understand what’s going on (ref, plenty of weird) I’m getting my kick out of.
I think I’ll give this a solid binge at the weekend.
It's airing here in the US on FX. I decided to give it a pass, but did notice that one of the characters (Ed Lachlan according to Wikipedia} is being played by Travis Kelce (a.k.a. Mr. Taylor Swift ).
This one is weird in a way that only the best like FLCL or Gurren Lagann can get away with. I picked up the manga last month and burned through every chapter in a week or two. The anime is just top notch in every regard and one of the few times where knowing all the places it has to go has me more excited to see it brought to life.
I also suggest DanDaDan. It's a series very much in the vein of FLCL and Chainsaw Man as a series that indulges in colorfully loveable characters and insane levels of wacky weirdness. As the story goes on though it can hit some crazy emotional points. The manga is very good as well. The best part imo are the MCs though, who have a great romantic arc that feels fairly original since the two MCs are fresh takes on old tropes.
Another interesting anime this season is Orb: On the Movements of the Earth. It's a historical fiction series inspired by the heliocentrism controversies of Western Europe in the late Middle Ages and early modern period and follows an unconventional but well executed plotline that takes seriously themes of rationality and faith. Not sure how many episodes the anime will have. It might cover the first two arcs of the series.
My youtube feed recently has popped up a series which I think is called Gate. It seems to revolve around modern day Japan being invaded through a dimensional rift by a classic fantasy army. I keep meaning to chase it down to see if its actually any good, or if its just bullet porn of what happens if rather crap dragons take on helicopter gunships and fast jets
Flinty wrote: My youtube feed recently has popped up a series which I think is called Gate. It seems to revolve around modern day Japan being invaded through a dimensional rift by a classic fantasy army. I keep meaning to chase it down to see if its actually any good, or if its just bullet porn of what happens if rather crap dragons take on helicopter gunships and fast jets
Gate: Thus So the SDF Fought There has ups and downs.
If you want to see epic battles between fighter jets and dragons? Yeah. No it's most SDF porn, which does have several entertaining scenes nonetheless, but there's never really any moment where any doubt is had that the SDF is going to win and that the fantasy people are utter morons for trying to oppose them. Still some entertainment value but its interspersed with cringier harem anime tropes about 'technically not sixteen' girls and a middle-aged man. So yeah, ups and downs. It's a great concept that became fairly middle of the road in terms of its execution and S2 just isn't as good as S1.
Beyond that, this anime is one of my infamous 'Imperial Japan did nothing wrong' animes. So if you're of a certain mindset or hyper aware of certain issues about Japan and the rest of Asia, the series can be kind of stomach turning to watch for its implications, which the original author is completely unapologetic about, but the anime does slightly tone down. So if that's something that'll upset you you have been warned.
It's a 6 maybe 7 out of 10 anime. Mostly its best parts are in the first 2/3rds of season one where it's just modern military styling all over fantasy armies and bandits for some good popcorn fun before the author's politics and nationalism start worming their way in.
Went and watched the first season of The Old Man, which is about said old man who was cia in the mid 80's, and things that were thought hidden and buried start coming to
light after someone tries to take him out
Overall i rather enjoyed it, jeff bridges and john lithgow as old spies was fun, even if to me it often felt like when he was talking, bridges came across as having something in his mouth (i'm from the south so my first thought was chewing tobacco i'll admit)
While some of the twists were things i could guess at, it had enough going on that i'm looking forward to at some point getting to season 2
Had been looking forward to this one since it was announced, as I'd always heard good things about the manga version.
Unfortunately, despite some pretty disturbing imagery, I'm mostly finding it to be unintentionally (I think) hilarious, which is not what you want from a horror series.
The main problem is, despite all the weird, freaky stuff going on, no one seems even slightly bothered by it, apart from the main girl and her boyfriend that is. Like one episode children are turning into giant snails, but rather than take them to the hospital or something, to figure out what's going on, the school builds them a pen to live in, because that's their life now, they're Snail People. And without the characters taking things seriously, it's hard for me to take the show seriously.
Apparently, it's a very bad adaptation, but unless huge chunks of the story were rewritten, I'm not sure how that could cause the tone to be so off.
It's got on episode to go, let's see if it rallies or remains a complete clown show.
Its about the production of a super hero movie in the midst of "Franchise Fatigue" ("Its a made up disease!" - Studio Exec). Its like "Silicon Valley" but on the set of the shittiest superhero movie. Cast drama, production drama, studio interference, visionary director waffling on the story and budgetary constraints all happening at one time.
At a run time of 30ish minutes an episode, its an easy watch, and there is a lot of "inside baseball" talk and references to dumb events that people fret over, like a bungled high five with a studio bigwig at a comic-con in 2017(I'm not sure what that refers to, but the delivery was pretty funny). There is so much going on in peoples looks/actions and the dialogue that I'll have no problem going back and re-watching to see what I missed.
It also has the actress that played Stormfront in The Boys, so it pretty funny so far to see her in such a tonal shift. She does play hardball with her production staff, so she still has that bite that made her character such a great villain, but not a Nazi this time.
Fresh on Paramount+. A murder mystery set in a United Kingdom where all men are tagged, and have to remain home between 7pm and 7am. Yet a woman is murdered, and it’s believed a man was responsible.
But how can that be, when no man can leave his home without the authorities knowing? And is the timing, a week before a Parliamentary Vote making the curfew permanent a coincidence?
Six episodes long, and so far the first episode is showing real promises. Complexities exposed, different sides presented.
Hopefully it can keep up the nuanced exploration of an interesting social concept.
So far so good. The whole Curfew is more a backdrop than the purpose of the show. And we find out more about the extremes taken in the name of protecting women.
For instance, as well as the 7pm to 7am Curfew on all men (including boys, excluding Police Officers and one assumes ambulance staff etc), episode 2 reveals a heterosexual couple needs government approval to cohabit - regardless of whether they were doing so before the Women’s Safety Act came into force.
This is certainly interesting, and thanks to aforementioned fairly balanced and nuanced storytelling, fairly thought provoking.
If you’re gonna watch it, do so with an open mind and just appreciate the story for what it is, not what you expect it to be.
Hopefully everyone already knows about this one, but Taskmaster on UK channel 4.
5 celebrities (generally comedians or comic actors, but it varies) compete to complete the often-bizarre tasks for the Taskmaster - a wonderfully bossy and capricious Greg Davies. Greg is assisted by little Alex Horne, who is actually the creative genius behind the show. Over the course of each series, the 5 guests are scored for the completion of their tasks, and at the end the winner gets a golden trophy of the Taskmaster's head. Sounds a bit crap, right?
It's incredible. Most of all I love the insight you get on the contestants - I've discovered people who are unexpectedly hilarious, unexpectedly inventive, and unexpectedly useless. And the lengths that contestants go to to win the favour of the Taskmaster are at times astonishing. Josh Widdicombe, for instance, on the task for 'get the Taskmaster the best present for £20', got the Taskmaster's name tattooed on his foot. Some of the best series are those featuring contestants that are actually friends of the Taskmaster - thinking of Rhod Gilbert and Ed Gamble in particular.
It's even made me warm massively towards Rosie Jones (a comedian with cerebral palsy), who is wasted on panel shows like Mock The Week and always just felt like a diversity inclusion. Here, her sense of humour, self-deprecation and downright weirdness get a chance to shine and she is probably my favourite contestant of this series.
Watch it - the UK version at least. I gather it's been sold extensively abroad (sounds like Alex Horne has made a bloody fortune from it) but I suspect that without Greg and Alex it would be a lesser experience.
