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I'm five episodes in on Wonder Man, and I'm struggling a little. It's undeniably well crafted, but it's cringey train wreck after cringey train wreck, and that's just not a story style that I particularly enjoy.
Not sure why I was expecting any different from the trailer, to be honest though...
Trevor is as delightful as expected, but beyond that this one's just not for me.
i found myself in much the same boat, though i did decide to finish the season given the episodes aren't particularly long.
I imagine if i'd been a theater kid, or was more of a movie/production buff it would have went over better, but ah well
insaniak wrote: I'm five episodes in on Wonder Man, and I'm struggling a little. It's undeniably well crafted, but it's cringey train wreck after cringey train wreck, and that's just not a story style that I particularly enjoy.
Not sure why I was expecting any different from the trailer, to be honest though...
Trevor is as delightful as expected, but beyond that this one's just not for me.
Same here. The 30-minute episodes are a plus since it doesn't feel like such a slog to just watch an episode when I get the chance. It's not really pulling me in, though. Trevor is brilliant but even that's wearing thin now and it kind of feels like it's meandering along, not really sure what it's trying to be. It's sort of a character piece, but Trevor is more interesting than the main character, and they took a whole episode out to do the Doorman tangent, which takes away from that too.
The self-referential Hollywood stuff is also starting to get on my nerves a bit, though I think this may just be modern writing now. Seems like everything has to be constantly pushed front-and-centre rather than relying on something a bit more subtle.
I finished it an appreciate that they were trying to do something different with this one. It's like they took some of the jokes from She-Hulk and decided that they were too close to home and to do something very different. This one is very meta- Hollywood rather than Meta-Comics industry. We are reaching the end of the Superhero period when you start seeing the big guys making movies like this and She-Hulk themselves.
That said, the buddy chemistry worked really well in this one. Beyond that there is not much to see. I appreciated the quieter and lower stakes.
Spoiler:
Did ayone else see a sub-text between ICE and the Dept of Damage Control? That was almost political there Disney! Better be careful!
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Kid_Kyoto wrote: I just hope all of Doomsday is stop motion Mego Theater style action figures.
Due to the innate nature of the Multiverse, somewhere it actually is just that.
"By this point I'm convinced 100% that every single race in the 40k universe have somehow tapped into the ork ability to just have their tech work because they think it should."
insaniak wrote: So I got halfway through the episode with the entertainment writer, and I just couldn't.
It's well made. It's an interesting switch up from the usual superhero fare. But it's just painful to watch.
Same here. I literally have 30 minutes of it to watch and I just can't drag myself through it. It's a weird show. There's nothing obviously wrong with it. The acting's good. The individual episode plots are fine, if a little scattershot in terms of pacing (I'm getting a bit tired of this approach of suddenly dropping flashback episodes in the middle of a season and killing any momentum the show had, not that there was much momentum here to begin with). If I had to point to one problem, maybe it just hasn't made me care enough about it. I'm not really sure what the show wants to be. It's kind of a character study but doesn't have much depth to Simon's character - not helped by an entire episode being a flashback with none of the main characters in it. It's got a bit of the meta-breaking Hollywood joke thing going on, but that's hardly a world most people are familiar with so a lot it falls flat. She-Hulk did the fourth wall break meta commentary, but that somehow felt better because at least everyone was in on the joke. This feels like a show partially written for Hollywood insiders.
insaniak wrote: So I got halfway through the episode with the entertainment writer, and I just couldn't.
It's well made. It's an interesting switch up from the usual superhero fare. But it's just painful to watch.
Same here. I literally have 30 minutes of it to watch and I just can't drag myself through it. It's a weird show. There's nothing obviously wrong with it. The acting's good. The individual episode plots are fine, if a little scattershot in terms of pacing (I'm getting a bit tired of this approach of suddenly dropping flashback episodes in the middle of a season and killing any momentum the show had, not that there was much momentum here to begin with). If I had to point to one problem, maybe it just hasn't made me care enough about it. I'm not really sure what the show wants to be. It's kind of a character study but doesn't have much depth to Simon's character - not helped by an entire episode being a flashback with none of the main characters in it. It's got a bit of the meta-breaking Hollywood joke thing going on, but that's hardly a world most people are familiar with so a lot it falls flat. She-Hulk did the fourth wall break meta commentary, but that somehow felt better because at least everyone was in on the joke. This feels like a show partially written for Hollywood insiders.
I just don't get it.
Its just a story set within the Marvel Universe.
Just a look at a bit of Simon Williams life atm.
I'd like to see the actual WM movie they were making throughout the show....
Wonder why they couldn't make him like the comic book character.
BorderCountess wrote: Just because you're doing something right doesn't necessarily mean you know what you're doing...
"Vulkan: There will be no Rad or Phosphex in my legion. We shall fight wars humanely. Some things should be left in the dark age." "Ferrus: Oh cool, when are you going to stop burning people to death?" "Vulkan: I do not understand the question."
– A conversation between the X and XVIII Primarchs
insaniak wrote: So I got halfway through the episode with the entertainment writer, and I just couldn't.
It's well made. It's an interesting switch up from the usual superhero fare. But it's just painful to watch.
Same here. I literally have 30 minutes of it to watch and I just can't drag myself through it. It's a weird show. There's nothing obviously wrong with it. The acting's good. The individual episode plots are fine, if a little scattershot in terms of pacing (I'm getting a bit tired of this approach of suddenly dropping flashback episodes in the middle of a season and killing any momentum the show had, not that there was much momentum here to begin with). If I had to point to one problem, maybe it just hasn't made me care enough about it. I'm not really sure what the show wants to be. It's kind of a character study but doesn't have much depth to Simon's character - not helped by an entire episode being a flashback with none of the main characters in it. It's got a bit of the meta-breaking Hollywood joke thing going on, but that's hardly a world most people are familiar with so a lot it falls flat. She-Hulk did the fourth wall break meta commentary, but that somehow felt better because at least everyone was in on the joke. This feels like a show partially written for Hollywood insiders.
I just don't get it.
Its just a story set within the Marvel Universe.
Just a look at a bit of Simon Williams life atm.
I'd like to see the actual WM movie they were making throughout the show....
insaniak wrote: So I got halfway through the episode with the entertainment writer, and I just couldn't.
It's well made. It's an interesting switch up from the usual superhero fare. But it's just painful to watch.
Same here. I literally have 30 minutes of it to watch and I just can't drag myself through it. It's a weird show. There's nothing obviously wrong with it. The acting's good. The individual episode plots are fine, if a little scattershot in terms of pacing (I'm getting a bit tired of this approach of suddenly dropping flashback episodes in the middle of a season and killing any momentum the show had, not that there was much momentum here to begin with). If I had to point to one problem, maybe it just hasn't made me care enough about it. I'm not really sure what the show wants to be. It's kind of a character study but doesn't have much depth to Simon's character - not helped by an entire episode being a flashback with none of the main characters in it. It's got a bit of the meta-breaking Hollywood joke thing going on, but that's hardly a world most people are familiar with so a lot it falls flat. She-Hulk did the fourth wall break meta commentary, but that somehow felt better because at least everyone was in on the joke. This feels like a show partially written for Hollywood insiders.
I just don't get it.
Its just a story set within the Marvel Universe.
Just a look at a bit of Simon Williams life atm.
I'd like to see the actual WM movie they were making throughout the show....
OK, so like this dude named Shaun and/or Shang Chi is like really, really awesome at Kung Fu, you might even call him like the Master of Kung of Fu. But his dad is like a total dick and stuff and there's a cool fight on a bus and an even cooler fight on a scaffolding in Macau (Macau is a seriously unreal place, it should be in more movies) and then there's like this magic Chinese Brigadoon village and they fight like a demon or a dragon or something and then Karaoke!
Now I remember why I forgot this film. Besides Covid and seeing it on a 6" screen on a flight. It's like half a great movie and half CGI whatever. Once they hit the magic village not even Sir Ben Kingsley can help things.
Shang Chi can return, or not, I really don't even care. Katy and Wong however steal the show.
Agreed but what audiences really want, no...demand, is more Wong and Madisynn.
Absolutely. Get Katy and Trevor Slattery in there, too, and we have a smash hit.
It could be the new My Dinner with Andre!
Just Trevor Slattery sitting down with another MCU bit player each week. Wong, Madisynn, the guy from Ant Man, the nerd girl from Thor, Ned from Spider Man...
I absolutely hated the She-Hulk show and didn't even finish watching it. Madisynn was the only character that I really remember or would even be remotely interested in seeing more from.
Ah a Marvel film which is basically Trevor, he doesn't have to punch anyone in the Marvel superhero way (honestly when I get superpowers I am still going to do all the mean strikes in unarmed combat, no heroic punching or throwing people for me).
My favourite Marvel fight scenes remain the Moon knight ones where you see them start and then you see the aftermath. So much better than seeing all the tiresome punching.
[DCM]
Chief Deputy Sub Assistant Trainee Squig Handling Intern
There’s definitely room for different approaches to fisticuffs and conflict resolution.
I can see Trevor Slattery in a rehabilitation via acting lessons in prison role. Help low tier villains work through whatever trauma turned them to crime.
And yeah, the Moonknight approach can work. But you need to avoid the audience feeling cheated. Here, I’d refer to early season Game of Thrones, where we really didn’t see a lot of battles.
Of course, that sort of battle is expensive to film. Even with CGI filling in (which I’m not against), you still need extras, and greater fight choreography. You’d also need a master at arms type coach to ensure the background doesn’t just look like a LARP fight.
So not criticising GOT for that. Budget is budget, and we ultimately got the gist. It also kind of worked, as it left the Lannisters and Jaime in particular somewhat baffled at Rob’s ongoing success. The discussions after the fact enhanced that feeling.
But sooner or later, just as we eventually saw in Moonknight? You gotta show as well as tell.
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Lathe Biosas wrote: Wonder why they couldn't make him like the comic book character.
He actually is quite a bit like the comic book character. Wonder Man really hasn't ever worked in the comics as his dude in a costume fighting evil outside of being a supporting character in the Avengers lineup and even there his most interesting bit is that he's friends with Beast when he's been on the team.
Simon's successful comic runs have mostly been about exploring imposter syndrome and finding success when he's not actually good at the road laid out for him. He inherited a company he didn't know how to run and was given super powers without really being a fighter and kind of relies while trying to fake it all that what he's good at is pretending to be someone he's not. Most of his successful comic appearances has been as an actor with super powers who can do his own stunts and stuff like that if needed he can save the day but really only because he happened to be in the area shooting a scene.
Lathe Biosas wrote: Wonder why they couldn't make him like the comic book character.
He actually is quite a bit like the comic book character. Wonder Man really hasn't ever worked in the comics as his dude in a costume fighting evil outside of being a supporting character in the Avengers lineup and even there his most interesting bit is that he's friends with Beast when he's been on the team.
Simon's successful comic runs have mostly been about exploring imposter syndrome and finding success when he's not actually good at the road laid out for him. He inherited a company he didn't know how to run and was given super powers without really being a fighter and kind of relies while trying to fake it all that what he's good at is pretending to be someone he's not. Most of his successful comic appearances has been as an actor with super powers who can do his own stunts and stuff like that if needed he can save the day but really only because he happened to be in the area shooting a scene.
I was thinking of his Avengers West Coast comics I used to read as a kid. These two versions have radically different personalities.
I understand that they sometimes change things, like "wife and kids Hawkeye." But the characters still feel the same. Even when they gave us Nick Fury, Jr. In the MCU, he still acted like his old man did in the comics.
But that's just my opinion, I'm still waiting for an appearance from Mt favorite teleporting anti-terrorist super spy: James Bourne (aka Solo).
BorderCountess wrote: Just because you're doing something right doesn't necessarily mean you know what you're doing...
"Vulkan: There will be no Rad or Phosphex in my legion. We shall fight wars humanely. Some things should be left in the dark age." "Ferrus: Oh cool, when are you going to stop burning people to death?" "Vulkan: I do not understand the question."
– A conversation between the X and XVIII Primarchs
Oh, your interpretation of the character absolutely exists. He's been long enough running that there's tons of different takes, in no small part because he's never been an A lister so authors get to try and reinvent him pretty often. That era definitely plays up more of an "in the spotlight" movie star era.
I'm mostly just saying that his origins are more rooted in a character struggling to find where he fits and his niche is often in choosing to focus on his personal life over saving the world. A man with powers who really isn't a fighter. I think the show captures that element pretty well and leaves him in a place where they could do a season where stardom has gone a bit more to his head.
I think one of the reasons I enjoyed Wonder Man so much is because the whole show is basically a ‘basketball issue’ (where your favorite superheroes play basketball for a day) that allows for more exploration of character and setting with lower stakes. It’s the part of every TNG episode where they perform a play or hold a concert. Sometimes it’s just nice to hang with these people in their world when the world isn’t ending.
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
