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 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Doing a bit of SG-1 again.

I’m still stunned at just how good its first season was. Yes there’s utter guff in there. It’s 90’s sci-fi, of course there’s guff.

But there is so, so much world building off the back of the movie. And in that world building, seeds sown which might take entire seasons to properly flower.

It also sets up the dynamic I’ve previously praised, where all four members of the team have their own special area, but with some crossover.

For instance?

O’Neill, Carter and Teal’c are born soldiers.

Teal’c and Jackson are the history and language guys.

Jackson and Carter are the science peeps.

And some of the best episodes across its 10 year run are when The Main Expert isn’t present or is messed up, forcing their Natural Buddy to step up.

I bloody love this show. And I always will.

It's just a shame what happened to Tealc after he left the SGC. He apparently floated around as a mercenary for a bit until working for the League of Shadows.

Such a shame the last I saw of him was being arrested by the GCPD.

Cobblers. He went back in time and became the Greek God of War, bumped off all the others, then the Titans, went north, had a kid, lost his wife, got grief from the Norse Pantheon and had to give all of them a kicking as well.

For those who liked the 2010's The Librarians series...

Bought seasons 1 & 2 of Ash vs Evil Dead.

I totally forgot that Starz made television shows that weren't Spartacus or other "historical" dramas.

Teaser for season 8 of everybody's favorite TV show...

Doctor Who S2 E2.

Ncuti continues to be ridiculously charming and charismatic.

And the story is pretty good fun too. Silly and hokey, but this is Doctor Who, and I’d say this is one of the better episodes.

But, having just re-read Pterry’s Moving Pictures I’m seeing similarities here. Not a rip off, or a knock off. Just a bit of shared DNA in a good way.

I am belatedly catching up on Cobra Kai cause I never saw the last season.

I just want to say, I'm on season 4, and I am completely invested in how committed the All Valley tournament committee is to arguing about the stupidest gak XD. Who takes their karate mats seriously? These guys! And I love it! I'd watch an entire episode just about these people and their banal arguments over stupid stuff lol

 LordofHats wrote:
I am belatedly catching up on Cobra Kai cause I never saw the last season.

I just want to say, I'm on season 4, and I am completely invested in how committed the All Valley tournament committee is to arguing about the stupidest gak XD. Who takes their karate mats seriously? These guys! And I love it! I'd watch an entire episode just about these people and their banal arguments over stupid stuff lol

I just can not handle shows like that anymore, because I LIVE those types of banal shows every..... fething..... day.

Will Cobra Kai tie into the new movie with Ralph Maccio and Jackie Chan?

I believe so, yes. Whether there’ll be cameos, no idea. But so far as I’m aware it’s all canon.

Is anyone else put off by the trailer for the new Karate Kid feeling so serious and reverent?

I'm just sad that Hillary Swank hasn't been mentioned, remember The Next Karate Kid?

 Lathe Biosas wrote:
I'm just sad that Hillary Swank hasn't been mentioned, remember The Next Karate Kid?

I enjoyed that movie, but I’m a huge Michael Ironsides fan.

Does she just have too full of a career to be in these movies, or was she never invited?

Considering every single other person from the films has come back even if it's for a cameo it's got to be her choice. Maybe she said no from Day 1 because they don't really mention or refer to her in any way.

Regular Show

I bloody love this show. It’s just superb.

1883

I haven't seen Yellowstone, but having grown up with generous doses of John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, every now and then I feel like catching something with cowboys in it... and figured I might as well go in chronological order just for LOLs.

Didn't know much about this series going in, so had no specific expectations... but I'm halfway through and it's really, really good. Grim as hell... but wonderfully written and engaging despite a relatively slow pace, enough 'wins' in there to not make the grimness overwhelming, and with a bunch of characters who are not at all perfect, but manage to remain likeable (at least so far).

After a slew of super-heavy, 'everything's terrible' streaming westerns, this is fantastic.


Edit - also, Sam Elliott is fething superb.

1883 is imo the best of the Yellowstone stable.

Yellowstone itself isn't terrible but you have to be ready and willing to watch a show about horrible people being horrible in one big trainwreck (and know that what other people say about Yellowstone will probably forever change your opinions of their personal character...). 1923 isn't bad, but honestly 1923 season 1 is really like half a season of a show stretched out into a full season and season 2 is the same and idk. 1923 just isn't very satisfying because it's just more of the original show but with a much more boring trainwreck to enjoy.

But 1883 is great.

Sounds like I started in the right place, then... I hadn't been as interested in the others, so may just skip them.

Edit - So, finished just now. That was ... a lot.

Stayed excellent, though, aside from finding out right at the end that


Sam Elliott, though. Might just be the sort of stuff I usually watch, but these days he seems to be mostly used as the hardbitten old guy who wanders in, says some hardbitten old guy things and exits stage left. His character in this got to cover a lot of ground, and the dude can act.

Now I think I need to go find something more cheerful to watch for a while...

One of my associates was aghast that I never watched DragonBall Z and loaned me a veritable stack of DVDs, of what I assume is the entire run of the series.

Is any of this worth watching?

 Lathe Biosas wrote:
One of my associates was aghast that I never watched DragonBall Z and loaned me a veritable stack of DVDs, of what I assume is the entire run of the series.

Is any of this worth watching?

Just watch the Dragonball Z Abridged series on YouTube. The first few episodes are a bit rough, but by the time they get to Namek the series has hit its stride and continues a hot streak until the end of the Cell Saga that exceeds the quality of the actual Dragonball Z anime. It tells the same story, but succinctly and with jokes, and cuts out a tremendous amount of filler while actually increasing the emotional impact of many story arcs.

For its time it was groundbreaking and still has some fantastic fights throughout; its just kind of miserably paced for the modern day, which is a problem that even the Kai edit doesn't really solve.

If you want to know what the hype is really about, I'd recommend the manga these days. It holds up a lot better than the show and keeps the drama and action pretty well intact. It's also easier to appreciate the "pre-Z" era of the story, which has some great storytelling, character and world building that kind of took a back seat when Z shifted to focusing on tackling a single major villain.

My memory of Dragonball Z was an awful, awful of lot of nothing happening, then a single punch or kick at the end of the episode.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
My memory of Dragonball Z was an awful, awful of lot of nothing happening, then a single punch or kick at the end of the episode.

Your memory is mistaken. At the end of the episode would be three or four kicks, animated at two frames each, over and over again for about 5 seconds.

You guys aren't really selling me on watching this.

I’ve never really been much of an Anime fan.

I don’t decry it, or pretend my opinion is an authority.

Give it a whirl, just because it’s not up my street, doesn’t mean it can’t be your cup of tea.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I’ve never really been much of an Anime fan.

I don’t decry it, or pretend my opinion is an authority.

Give it a whirl, just because it’s not up my street, doesn’t mean it can’t be your cup of tea.

Most of the anime I've watched (about 88%) is either screwball comedy or features giant fighting robots... sometimes both.

Are there any better seasons or episodes to watch?

 Lathe Biosas wrote:
You guys aren't really selling me on watching this.

MDG hates Dragonball Z. There’s a whole back and forth in the mini movie review thread. He hates it irrationally the same way he won’t try Lower Decks. Which is fair enough, and even the kind of whimsical grudge against a subgenre I can get behind—but don’t mistake that for the universal opinion.

The manga is a great suggestion. It’s not full of filler like the anime, and the artwork is much more consistent.

I still stand by DBZ Abridged as an excellent way to enjoy Dragonball Z. It’s a lot of fun and very quotable.


Like any long running series, it’s going to look daunting to get into you til you find a good starting place. The manga is great from the beginning (when Goku is a child) or from the Z period (when Goku is an adult with one child). Abridged is good once you get past a couple episodes (which are still funny). For the anime, I’d suggest starting with one of the TV movies, which are generally self contained stories that play out similarly to whatever was happening in the main series when they were made.

I bloody don’t hate it!

I greatly enjoyed the lesser known, knock-off live action movie version.

I just don’t see the appeal, based on what I’ve seen of Dragonball Z, and its whole “very little happens for a long time, then quite a lot happens in a very short time” shtick.

If others enjoy it? All power to them. It’s just not for me.

You may be thinking of my General “I just don’t get it” take on most, but not all anime.

Eeeeee. Another season ofLove Death and Robots! May 15th apparently. I just drifted over the trailer on YouTube.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I bloody don’t hate it!

I greatly enjoyed the lesser known, knock-off live action movie version.

I just don’t see the appeal, based on what I’ve seen of Dragonball Z, and its whole “very little happens for a long time, then quite a lot happens in a very short time” shtick.

If others enjoy it? All power to them. It’s just not for me.

You may be thinking of my General “I just don’t get it” take on most, but not all anime.

Which Live Action DragonBall movies? The Interwebs mention 2 of them...