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Marvel's Runaways.
I came across this the other day scrolling through my D+.
I vaguely remember hearing this was on Hulu a few years ago. I didn't have Hulu at the time & forgot all about it.....
And comics wise? All I know about it is it's some teen team with a girl who has a pet raptor.

So, knowing nothing about the series or its source?
I've found Season 1 pretty entertaining as far as Marvel tv/D+ entries go.

I'm sure if I were a fan of the comics I'd find some fault with how they translated it to the screen. But I'm not, so whatever they changed is ok with me.

Fashionably late to the party.

The Last of Us.

Haven’t played the games. Know virtually nothing about it before watching. But this is a really, really solid show.

Our two leads of course have charisma for days. And it’s overall just really entertaining. Elements and influences from its genre, not least The Walking Dead. But it feels a wee bit more grounded, like the motivations of hero and villain are more character and not caricature.

Sadly only at Dad’s where I’m watching it tonight, but will definitely be getting it once I’m home.

I just watched the latest episode of South Park featuring a Warhammer 40k game. I have some notes.

Stan's Adepta Sororitas codex shows inaccurate cover artwork. It can't be an old codex because he is using modern units like the Triumph of Saint Katherine.

Tolkien has a Raven Guard codex. There is no such thing, and never has been. He could have the Raven Guard codex supplement but he would still need a Space Marines codex for the unit stats he is quoting.

Stan has at least three Repentia Superior models, all standing close together. The main purpose of this unit is to buff Sisters Repentia, so it makes no sense to have this many, nor to keep them together if he did.

Tolkien has an unpainted Primaris biker model. For the sake of a single model he is going to lose 10 easy points at the end of the game because he does not have a fully battle ready army.

Stan rolls to hit Tolkien's Stormhawk Interceptor with his Retributor Squad but does not roll to wound as he should. His weapons are only strength four (see below) versus toughness seven, so this makes a significant difference.

Stan manages to land five hits on the Stormhawk Interceptor. He only appears to have five (or fewer?) models in the unit, and they are clearly not within rapid fire range. The Stormhawk has a -1 to be hit thanks to its Airborne rule so the chance of landing five hits with five shots is a mere 1/32.

Tolkien rolls 3+ armour saves for his Stormhawk Interceptor, suggesting that Stan's attack had AP 0. This means that Stan equipped his Retributer squad entirely with regular boltguns. It makes no tactical sense to bring Retributors with no heavy weapons.

Whist Randy is ranting Tolkien picks up a Repentia Superior model. This model is part of Stan's army so it is poor etiquette for Tolkien to handle it without permission.

After Randy talks for approximately 40 seconds Stan mentions having a 6+ invulnerable save due to Celestine's 'Saintly Blessings' aura. We should still be in Stan's shooting phase, so why is he making saves?

Many hours of play later, Stan moves some Penitent Engines. These short range units are still in his deployment zone accomplishing nothing, and shuffling each of them a couple of inches forward at this stage is pointless.

Stan then claims that he is in the 'psyker phase', by which he presumably means the 'psyCHIC phase'. In any case, why is he repositioning his models in the psychic phase?

Stan says that he has five psyker units, but The Adepta Sororitas have no models with the PSYKER keyword. Also, five psykers is far more than all but a handful of specialist armies would have.

I can only hope that someone was fired for those rather obvious blunders.

 Bilge Rat wrote:

I can only hope that someone was fired for those rather obvious blunders.

Get a change.org petition going, I'll sign.

So, Gremlins is getting a HBO Max animated series. And here’s the trailer.




I’m…oddly not hype.

I bloody love the two films. They’re great little Horror Comedies, and have aged pretty well, the sequel which is so 80’s it hurts surprisingly so. And I’d have much preferred another movie or live action series.

This is however clearly aimed at a younger market, and being 42, nearly 43 it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, let alone myself, a kids cartoon feels of limited appeal. Indeed it’s the sort of self observation which largely renders my opinion pointless. I might as well complain Insert Hip Hop Record Here isn’t exactly Punk Music, and lacks that sound I love. They’re two different things, and one not being the other doesn’t make that one inherently crap (unless you’re 50 Cent, in which case you are crap. You big goon you).

Upside? If this does well, and demonstrates there is a market for Gremlins still? Perhaps a movie will follow. And given how standards and Pearl Clutching has changed since the 80’s, not a lot would need to be toned down, if anything. Even the old lady being comically murdered? Yeah I was surprisingly old when I found out she was meant to have been killed, so it wasn’t exactly graphic,

Space Precinct

Cropped up on BritBox, figured I’d give it a whirl.

It’s a good deal better than I recall from when wee me first saw it. Makeup and prosthetics are pretty solid. Effects are really good for its age and budget, only really falling down with explosions, as it’s clear it’s a miniature or model being detonated. But that’s about as far as we need to suspend our disbelief.

Give it a watch if you get the chance.

Deadwood

Decided to rewatch this old western show.

And I found it was very boring once you get past the masterclass performances of most of the actors.

I don't remember it being like that but really. Especially after all the build-up leading to the first big death in the show, you'd think the series would be set to run wild on its plot but it doesn't.

Across 3 seasons and a movie, very much of nothing much actually happens in this series. The vast majority of the screen time is spent on actors chewing characterization like pros to the effect of a plot that just never really goes anywhere.

It's not bad really. The acting and the characters are all great and compelling with many scenes to show just how good they area.

But that's all there really is in this show.

Even after rewatching the series all the way through, I couldn't for the life of me tell you what actually happens in it except lots of swearing, lots of vulgar people in a vulgar place, and and that's it.

Agent Carter

Starting Agent Carter on D+, Jazz Age superhero spy stuff with Captain America's girlfriend and Iron Man's dad, and the Vision's voice. I think I'm gonna like it.

Carter sharing a NY apartment with a Murphy bed that she has to share with a girl who works night shifts alone is worth the price of admission. The most realistic bit of NY real estate I've seen on TV.

Not nearly enough people smoking though.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Bilge Rat wrote:
I just watched the latest episode of South Park featuring a Warhammer 40k game. I have some notes.

Stan's Adepta Sororitas codex shows inaccurate cover artwork. It can't be an old codex because he is using modern units like the Triumph of Saint Katherine.

Tolkien has a Raven Guard codex. There is no such thing, and never has been. He could have the Raven Guard codex supplement but he would still need a Space Marines codex for the unit stats he is quoting.

Stan has at least three Repentia Superior models, all standing close together. The main purpose of this unit is to buff Sisters Repentia, so it makes no sense to have this many, nor to keep them together if he did.

Tolkien has an unpainted Primaris biker model. For the sake of a single model he is going to lose 10 easy points at the end of the game because he does not have a fully battle ready army.

Stan rolls to hit Tolkien's Stormhawk Interceptor with his Retributor Squad but does not roll to wound as he should. His weapons are only strength four (see below) versus toughness seven, so this makes a significant difference.

Stan manages to land five hits on the Stormhawk Interceptor. He only appears to have five (or fewer?) models in the unit, and they are clearly not within rapid fire range. The Stormhawk has a -1 to be hit thanks to its Airborne rule so the chance of landing five hits with five shots is a mere 1/32.

Tolkien rolls 3+ armour saves for his Stormhawk Interceptor, suggesting that Stan's attack had AP 0. This means that Stan equipped his Retributer squad entirely with regular boltguns. It makes no tactical sense to bring Retributors with no heavy weapons.

Whist Randy is ranting Tolkien picks up a Repentia Superior model. This model is part of Stan's army so it is poor etiquette for Tolkien to handle it without permission.

After Randy talks for approximately 40 seconds Stan mentions having a 6+ invulnerable save due to Celestine's 'Saintly Blessings' aura. We should still be in Stan's shooting phase, so why is he making saves?

Many hours of play later, Stan moves some Penitent Engines. These short range units are still in his deployment zone accomplishing nothing, and shuffling each of them a couple of inches forward at this stage is pointless.

Stan then claims that he is in the 'psyker phase', by which he presumably means the 'psyCHIC phase'. In any case, why is he repositioning his models in the psychic phase?

Stan says that he has five psyker units, but The Adepta Sororitas have no models with the PSYKER keyword. Also, five psykers is far more than all but a handful of specialist armies would have.

I can only hope that someone was fired for those rather obvious blunders.

"Uh, yeah, well, whenever you notice something like that... a wizard did it."

South Park is obviously set in a parallel universe where 9th edition took a different turn.

I really liked Season1 of Agent Carter (With the exception of the Howling Commandoes episode) but Season 2 suffered from trying to tie into Agents of Shield at the time. Not bad per se, but just not as good either.

Just finished watching Mr. Inbetween.
I enjoyed it. Ray is an interesting character and he's put through an emotional wringer as the show goes on. His expressions tell quite a story.
He doesn't like his job, being a hit man, but he does it and is good at it. I enjoyed that he ends up with jobs he finds very distasteful and he knows how bad they are . He's a very human character. His friends surprised me at first Gaz seems like a puts but turns out to be far ore competent that I suspected and he even saves the day in one episode which was very cool.
It also shows the complicated if convoluted world of crime and how many different relationships there are in that world.
Oh, and Ray also tried to be a good father to his daughter, he struggles but he keeps trying to be a good dad to her, his own having been a pos to him.
It's worth the ride I think. I enjoyed it quite a bit and the last scene at the end of the series, the sick smile on Rays face just before the credits roll. Worth it.

More new Beavis and Butthead tomorrow on Paramount+. Far from everyone’s cup of tea, but I adore it.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
More new Beavis and Butthead tomorrow on Paramount+. Far from everyone’s cup of tea, but I adore it.

I think Ep 19 - The Dangerous game, was my favorite episode this season.

Still not up in the U.K. :(

I need my Moronathon, dammit!

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Still not up in the U.K. :(

I need my Moronathon, dammit!

Keep an eye out for it. I was wrong it's Ep 21. It's brilliant. I really want to spoil it for you it's that good.

What did you think of the one where they were trapped in a box for a week?

Loved it!

Luther

Many of my friends and family will tell you I'm not a fan of British crime dramas. They just all seem to be about middle aged men in dirty raincoats, wringing their hands about the mess their personal life is in (entirely of their own creation) and at some point a murder gets accidentally solved.

So it was very much against usual taste that I entirely voluntarily started watching Luther, a show featuring one of the most famous dirty raincoats, on BBC iPlayer some 4 years after the show finished.

It was even more surprising that I loved nearly every minute of it.

I think because the show twists your typical crime drama into something more over the top, more twisted it sets itself apart from the humdrum. Additionally the audience is shown early in season 1 that no character is untouchable and you can't assume the motives of others are what they appear, allowing the show to keep the tension levels up.

Elba's Luther, and his complicated relationship with Ruth Wilson's Alice, echoing a Holmes and Moriarty pattern, is the meat of much of the show, but for me the real stars are the grotesque villains that come and go every few episodes. Bordering on comic book, London would be a warzone if their body counts were even vaguely accurate. As with many shows and movies though, it's the quality of the opposition that ultimately sets the ceiling, and this is where Luther sets itself apart.

Back on The Last of Us, having bought it.

How good is Ellie as a character and actress?

Bella Ramsey of course impressed in Game of Thrones. But as with many very young actors and actresses, that could’ve been a One And Done bit of brilliance.

But here she is again, exuding the same ridiculous charisma we saw in GoT, and Catherine Called Birdie.

Here’s hoping for a full and fulfilling career for her, because she’s great!

Currently watching the 4th and last season of HBO's Succession.

Didn't care for this show when it first started because nearly everyone is an donkey-cave out for themselves and I didn't know who I was supposed to root for. But then I learned that you really aren't supposed to root for them. One character was sympathetic because he was a newcomer to the family business, but even he has been corrupted in his own awkward way. Just watch them betray each other and treat each other terribly.

Its definitely a show that has run its course and is thankfully ending. After a genuinely shocking death of a central character, a good portion of what made the show great is now gone. Now it's back to what made the initial half of the first season so awesome.

Still got a few more episodes left and I'm going to stick it out.

I give this show 3.5 of 5 stars. Hopefully they can give us a satisfying ending.

That sounds like a tough watch. I have trouble sitting through a Jerry Springer episode—three seasons with an entire cast of unlikeable characters sounds aggravating.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
That sounds like a tough watch. I have trouble sitting through a Jerry Springer episode—three seasons with an entire cast of unlikeable characters sounds aggravating.

Dialogue is pretty funny though. Brian Cox goes full throttle.

They are unlikeable, but there are times where I root for them or feel sorry for some of them when they are at their lowest moments.

Over all I give it a higher rating than that, though the third season wasn't particularly good. The fourth season is back up to quality. I feel it's a show that needs to be watched as it came out, you certainly couldn't binge watch it. You need savour the consequences of each episode's exchanges.

The love for the show has been in their interactions, which are all complex. The father with the grown children, the daughter and her ambitious husband, that same husband with the naive nephew, the younger son with the lady executive. One of my favourite relationships is between the daughter and the youngest son, of all the people they seem to have the least trouble being open and caring (in a competitive sibling fashion) with each other.

Because there is no simplistic narrative of good and bad guy, it's the deeply human part of these troubled people that compels the watching. Yes they're all horrible, but this isn't anything like a Jerry Springer show where we're supposed to pantomime boo hiss the losers on stage.

Plus "Are you asking if you can blackmail me?" had me rolling with laughter. In this show, when the comedy is good it is really good.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
That sounds like a tough watch. I have trouble sitting through a Jerry Springer episode—three seasons with an entire cast of unlikeable characters sounds aggravating.

Me too. I just want this phase of "Peak TV" to end. I am tired of watching terrible people do terrible things to each other.
If I wanted to see that, I would just wake up and look outside, interact with my community, and go to work.....

Oh, I guess I know why this type of TV show does not appeal to me at all.

I think we’re on the same page. I worked retail for years when I was younger, and lost my appetite for crappy people being crappy to each other.

 Easy E wrote:
I just want this phase of "Peak TV" to end. I am tired of watching terrible people do terrible things to each other.

Although I don't feel like I've been watching much TV since the lockdowns, so I'm probably not as sick of it as you, I can definitely agree. I haven't finished (and probably won't) the last part of Ozark jut because its constant tension/drama. There's always some new threat on the horizon. That can only last so long before it just feels... draining.

I have to use Ted Lasso clips on youtube as a palette cleanse after a few of these shows out there.

Though I don't think the "terrible things/people" subgenre is going away any time soon. People love them some drama!

But what separates Succession from alot of shows is that it is hilarious at times, which makes it much better then another show on HBOmax called Industry, which is straight up just office/financial/family drama start to finish with little to no humor and about to get a 3rd(or 4th?) season that hopefully is the last (in my opinion).

Masters of Horrors: S2
This is not as strong as season one, and they clearly toned down the nudity and sex. I see is at as a downgrade of S1 but I have not finished all of S2 yet, I am about half-way through. It feels like this season is not as finished or polished as S1. Needs some more work in editing and the writer's room to really make them hit.

John Carpenter's S1 entry was stellar, but S2 is not. Tobe Hooper's S2 entry is much better, and perhaps my favorite one so far.


Lovecraft Country

I started this on TUBI and have been very interested in where this is going. The through line from episodes 1-4 is tentative at best.

However, the characters are cracking, the setting is cracking, the acting is cracking, and the subtext..... so juicy and delicious.

Warning:
If the idea of Critical Race Theory sets you off, please avoid this at all costs. The show is basically built on the idea of contrasting the bad things in our history with HPL horror, and to be honest; it is not clear which the show thinks is worse. I am finding it fascinating.

Star Trek TNG

We needed something to watch following Babylon 5. TNG might have been a mistake. My son kept complaining about how boring it is, so we showed him Best of Both Worlds pt 1 just before bedtime. He’ll have to wait two whole days for pt 2.

Up to S9 of SG-1.

This really is quite the Masterclass in introducing new main cast members to a long running show about as seamlessly as possible.

Mitchel and Vala both enjoy early focus, which allows the new team dynamic to grow fairly organically.

I Am Not Okay With This (Netflix)

OK I watched this ONLY because Sophia Lillis was cute as the druid in the D&D movie. I am not proud of this fact but I bring it up in the interest of full disclosure.

Syd is a high school girl struggling with her father's suicide, her family's poverty, her best friend getting boobs before she did, bisexuality, oh and dawning psychic abilities that let her trash rooms and wreck stuff.

Slow, sloooow, sloooooooow build to a conclusion that was supposed to lead into season 2 but oppsie, cancelled.

Not bad per se, but not really worth seeking out. Obviously a season 2 would help.

Based on a B&W indie comic which is free with my Kindle subscription so might check that out.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Star Trek TNG

We needed something to watch following Babylon 5. TNG might have been a mistake. My son kept complaining about how boring it is, so we showed him Best of Both Worlds pt 1 just before bedtime. He’ll have to wait two whole days for pt 2.

He's luckier than we were waiting a whole summer!

Been watching historical TV Burp on YouTube.

It’s a sorely missed show. But I understand why Mr Harry moved on.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Up to S9 of SG-1.

This really is quite the Masterclass in introducing new main cast members to a long running show about as seamlessly as possible.

Mitchel and Vala both enjoy early focus, which allows the new team dynamic to grow fairly organically.

Well if anything the cast doesn't change rapidly enough. Anyone familiar with military posting and promotion systems would be baffled how they stay in post so long.

Which leads to one of the greatest duffleblog headlines.
https://www.duffelblog.com/p/captain-america-moved-to-staff-position