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Disney Plus why do you not have a Treehouse of Horror play list?

Why must I hunt through 35 seasons?

Crispy78 wrote:
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.

It's a good a good batch of contestants for this series, so a return to form after the previous run.

MarkNorfolk wrote:

Crispy78 wrote:
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.

The UK version is the original and the best, Greg Davies is a legend. But I've watched the NZ one too, and it's also worth a look.

 aku-chan wrote:
Uzumaki

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.

A few things. First of all, the first episode basically ate the entire series budget, got the director I believe fired, and the rest was done on a shoestring.

More importantly though, I think it helps to understand why Junji Ito's work is so hard to translate. His stories are often about recreating that monster in the closet or under the bed style fear and the manga format is a big part of why it works. In manga, you as a the reader are forced to open the closet door or look under the bed and a lot of his stories are about making you question whether you want to turn the page and see what horrors lie beyond. In animation, the director forces you onward. There's a sense of time that grounds you in reality that gets lost in manga, similar to how "talking is a free action" feels completely natural in comics but leads to bizarre moments where characters spend minutes explaining a single punch.

I think Chainsaw Man's anime will forever suffer similar problems. The manga is so good because of how the panels guide your eye and it constantly plays with the medium to convey its message. There's a scene towards the end of the first major section of the series (probably 2-3 seasons from now, I will try to explain this without plot spoilers) that people are going to hype to no end that I don't think is going to hit nearly as hard. Basically, a character is ordered to do something that enables another character's horrific actions to put the weight of those actions on that character. The genius bit of it all is how its framed so the reader feels that same responsibility. It's made clear that by turning the page, you as the reader are responsible for what happens next and I don't think that will hit nearly as hard in animation.

 LunarSol wrote:

 aku-chan wrote:
Uzumaki

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.

A few things. First of all, the first episode basically ate the entire series budget, got the director I believe fired, and the rest was done on a shoestring.

More importantly though, I think it helps to understand why Junji Ito's work is so hard to translate. His stories are often about recreating that monster in the closet or under the bed style fear and the manga format is a big part of why it works. In manga, you as a the reader are forced to open the closet door or look under the bed and a lot of his stories are about making you question whether you want to turn the page and see what horrors lie beyond. In animation, the director forces you onward. There's a sense of time that grounds you in reality that gets lost in manga, similar to how "talking is a free action" feels completely natural in comics but leads to bizarre moments where characters spend minutes explaining a single punch.

I think Chainsaw Man's anime will forever suffer similar problems. The manga is so good because of how the panels guide your eye and it constantly plays with the medium to convey its message. There's a scene towards the end of the first major section of the series (probably 2-3 seasons from now, I will try to explain this without plot spoilers) that people are going to hype to no end that I don't think is going to hit nearly as hard. Basically, a character is ordered to do something that enables another character's horrific actions to put the weight of those actions on that character. The genius bit of it all is how its framed so the reader feels that same responsibility. It's made clear that by turning the page, you as the reader are responsible for what happens next and I don't think that will hit nearly as hard in animation.

Yeah, I've had other people explain to me that it really should never have been adapted, even without the production problems, it just wouldn't work as an anime.
Unfortunately I'm not a manga person (I just don't enjoy it as a medium), so having a go at the original isn't an option either.

The Sweeney

1970’s UK cop drama, and a pretty hard edged trailblazer.

And y’know, it still holds up. Horribly outdated in some of the stuff it portrays, but what stands out to me is that Regan and Carter don’t always get their man, which adds to its veracity.

Where it’s outdated, it’s not provocative, just a product of its time with casual racism and sexism. Though not in the language used, which is something.

The Legend of Vox Machina

Yeah this is pretty good. Season 3 dropped. My family all enjoyed it very much.

Pretty decent pacing, character interactions, and flow. It doesn't feel like an RPG campaign, just a episodic show with an overall storyline to follow. Often times things adapted from RPG campaigns FEEL like it.

It is funny to me that what happens in 30-45 minutes of TV time would take 12 hours of RPG time! LOL.

Hysteria

We're 3 episodes in on this and it's really good so far. It's set in the late 80s. Essentially a kid goes missing, someone paints a pentagram on his garage door and people start to freak out about satanism (as was the wont back then). A couple of nerd kids who have a band have an idea to use it to get people to come to their show. Hijinks and other more intense things ensue. The build up of crazy in a small town is impressive. Overall it's really good so far. It's only 8 episodes at this point so we'll see how it sticks the landing but between Bruce Campbell, Anna Camp, and Julie Bowen to achor the adult actors and some really good kiddos it's well done. It's also weird to see a restrained Bruce Campbell. I know he CAN act. I'm just not used to him actually doing it.

That sounds intriguing. Where might one watch that?

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
That sounds intriguing. Where might one watch that?

Peacock is what I'm watching it on. Says Sling if you have a subscription.

Guess I’ll have to wait for that one then.

Black Books

A truly superior British sitcom. Just absolute perfection.

Eerie, Indiana

Short lived but fondly remembered kids’ horror show. Falls somewhere between Goosbumps and The Twilight Zone, with a dose of X-Files.

Don’t think I’ve seen it since it first aired in the UK in the early 90’s, but happy to report my fond memories aren’t just nostalgic.

The 'foreverware' episode has been stuck in my mind ever since it first aired here.

Will people in the future get it now tupperware is gone?

Well they won't be as well preserved. It is the Tupperware door noise that will stay with me

Quite a few episodes in, and I’m surprised at just how mature this is, as it’s proper Coming of Age parables.

Perhaps that why it had such a short run. Indeed, a cursory google suggests NBC weren’t sure how to market a kids show written more for adults.

Anyways apparently it’s on Amazon FreeVee in the US. We in the UK will need to track down a DVD copy.

But it’s well worth seeking out, and has honestly aged pretty well for a now 32 year old show.

Obi-wan Kenobi

Apart from a slow first episode, I thoroughly enjoyed this and didn't think it was anywhere near as bad as the Internet said it was.

Was it a story that needed to be told? Absolutely not, but it was a solid bit of entertainment.

Dragon Ball Daima

I was skeptical like a lot of people but I must concede.

It's good. Lots of throwback to classic Dragon Ball adventures.

 aku-chan wrote:
Obi-wan Kenobi

Apart from a slow first episode, I thoroughly enjoyed this and didn't think it was anywhere near as bad as the Internet said it was.

Was it a story that needed to be told? Absolutely not, but it was a solid bit of entertainment.

I think this highlights something we all forget, that the disparity of views is massive, and Disney viewing figures suggest the bulk of the audience has zero interaction with people in different social sphere. I found mind boggling to see stuff like kid under cloak and a host of other stuff. But it was enjoyed by many many people. Its interesting that we seem so siloed now we rarely interact with people with radically differing views.

Kid Under Cloak was silly. But….hand wavey space magic powerful effect on the weak mind, for me, gives enough wiggle room.

The important thing is that fight at the end. Which is superb. Not just excellent stage swordplay, but actual farting around with Force Powers.

The_Real_Chris wrote:

 aku-chan wrote:
Obi-wan Kenobi

Apart from a slow first episode, I thoroughly enjoyed this and didn't think it was anywhere near as bad as the Internet said it was.

Was it a story that needed to be told? Absolutely not, but it was a solid bit of entertainment.

I think this highlights something we all forget, that the disparity of views is massive, and Disney viewing figures suggest the bulk of the audience has zero interaction with people in different social sphere. I found mind boggling to see stuff like kid under cloak and a host of other stuff. But it was enjoyed by many many people. Its interesting that we seem so siloed now we rarely interact with people with radically differing views.

The show did definitely contain some pretty dodgy material, just not enough to spoil my enjoyment of it.

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Kid Under Cloak was silly. But….hand wavey space magic powerful effect on the weak mind, for me, gives enough wiggle room.

The important thing is that fight at the end. Which is superb. Not just excellent stage swordplay, but actual farting around with Force Powers.

You don't even need to include the Force to rationalise Kid Under Cloak.
It's a stupid idea and they realise that, but they're running out of time and it's the best thing they can think of, they're just hoping in the chaos and confusion they can get close-ish to their ship before someone notices.

The interesting one will be how Andor lands for me (I'm watching it next).
I liked Rogue One but to me Star Wars is Space Wizards with Laser Swords.

I really loved Andor, as it actually sets out why the Empire is to be feared, and why the Space Wizards with Laser Swords need to be deployed. Its properly good story telling with characters who have understandable and consistent motivations. Very limited "oh I guess that happens now". Very satisfying watch.

Andor is definitely top notch stuff.

More a thriller than sci-fi.

Andor cheats though - because you could slap any setting over it and it works. A vaguely Leninist rebellion against authoritarian/fascist government. As many have said it is potentially only superficially star wars. Remains to be seen if there is enough of a market of people like me, compared to the space wizards market, to make that style of story viable.

The_Real_Chris wrote:
Andor cheats though - because you could slap any setting over it and it works. A vaguely Leninist rebellion against authoritarian/fascist government. As many have said it is potentially only superficially star wars. Remains to be seen if there is enough of a market of people like me, compared to the space wizards market, to make that style of story viable.

But that’s the purpose of a setting isn’t it? To provide a backdrop a gains which interesting stories can be told.

Jedi are not the entirety of the Star Wars setting, and given the beating they have been getting at the hands of Ashoka and The Acolyte, they probably need a bit of a rest until someone can sort out an actually appealing story for them.

Ashoka and the Acolyte were fine. They weren't GOOD but they were fine. More Ashoka than Acolyte admittedly simply because the characters/actors were simply better in Ashoka.

Andor really was top notch and star wars to me is also space wizards with laser swords.

Andor shines a light on the “little people”, and why The Empire eventually lost.

It wasn’t a group of space wizards that did them in, it was Regular Joes who stood up against Tyranny. Particularly in Return of the Jedi, Luke largely served as a distraction, getting Vader away from the ground attack.

Though he was central in getting the Ewoks onside.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The Simpsons, S35

It’s still alright. But of all the accent controversies, you think they’d bother to get Willie and Maisie’s accents right.

Wait. Maisie is voiced by Karen Gillan. Doing a rubbish Scottish accent.

Well now I’m just confused.

<Mcbane> That's the joke </end Mcbane>

Paris Has Fallen

A TV spin off of the “Has Fallen” movie series.

As with the movies, the action is fairly grounded if of course still dramatic. And it’s proving pretty entertaining so far.

Please let me know when they get to Ottawa Has Fallen.