TV's Vast Wasteland

[InsaneCommander]

anyone else hyped for The Outer Worlds?

 

Yes. I rarely play first person games, but this will definitely be one of them.

[SonicMage117]

Me too!

 

The Otter Worlds seems like a nice mix of some of my favorite games. The ship/crew aspects really remind me of Kotor and the a.i construct on ship reminds me of Catherine from Soma - Even better

[InsaneCommander]

Catherine from Soma

 

Well, you can play as a dumb character here too. So maybe she will have the same frustration in the end.

[Lexx]

So based on Star Trek DS9, it's a valid solution to give someone amnesia if that person has suicidal tendencies.

[ShadySands]

Suicide is an acceptable and expected option for Klingons and unlike his brother the Candyman had no ties or life outside the Empire.

[Leferd]

Finished The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.  I liked it. Then decided to give Riverdale a shot. 

 

What the hell am I thinking??

[Orogun01]

Finished The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.  I liked it. Then decided to give Riverdale a shot. 

 

What the hell am I thinking??

You're not.

[Blarghagh]

Riverdale is the worst timeline, but goddamn if Lili Reinhart isn't a babe.

[Raithe]

Gizmodo - First photos and voice cast released of Netflix's Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance

 

 

 

Jim Henson once said that he considers The Dark Crystal to be his greatest work. Decades later, a new look at Netflix’s next chapter in his epic saga has arrived—which boasts an incredible voice cast, including Mark Hamill, Nathalie Emmanuel, Anya Taylor Joy, Taron Egerton, and Helena Bodham-Carter—and it feels like the magic of the Mystics has returned.

Netflix has released new images for The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, a 10-episode prequel series set “many years” before the events of The Dark Crystal. According to the plot description, the show is about three young Gelflings (from three of the Gelflings’ seven clans) inspiring a rebellion against the evil emperor Skeksis after learning a terrifying secret about the source of his power. Game of Thrones’ Emmanuel is playing Deet, a member of the cave-dwelling Grottans, Glass’ Taylor Joy plays a noble Vapra named Bree, and Robin Hood’s Egerton is taking on the role of Rian, a Crystal Castle guard from the Stonewood clan. Here are the first images of the three characters.

 

Netflix also announced that Helena Bonham-Carter, Natalie Dormer, Eddie Izzard, Alicia Vikander, Harvey Fierstein, Mark Hamill and Simon Pegg are joining the cast as Gelflings, Skelsis, and Mystics, along with several others. You can read the full list below.

[LittleArmadillo0]

Well this seems interesting. I am looking forward to this. 

[Tale]

Finally caught up on Expanse and finished season 3. Season 4 when?

[Lexx]

I'm guessing end of 2019. So happy Amazon picked up the show. Probably going to rewatch season 3 again sometime in early 2019.

[Volourn]

That photo looks dumb and makes it look like garbage.

[Zoraptor]

Has anyone watched the Jodie whats-her-name Doctor Who? From what I'm reading she has pissed off all the fans of there series and now is leaving.

 

She's now confirmed to be staying for at least one more season.

 

And having seen the full season now she definitely isn't the problem. Oddly enough all the episodes being bad isn't the problem either, because they aren't bad; it would probably be better if they were since at least farting green Mr Blobbys and ELO cover bands* are memorably bad. The entire season was kind of anodyne, and not in a good way. Consistently mediocre, inoffensive (unless you're allergic to teh nazi sjws**) and just kind of there. It's also kind of weird that for all the talk of having a strong independent female Doctor they saddled her with three companions from the outset in case she didn't work. Using some established enemies also would have avoided multiple episodes being exposition central. I watched, but I struggle to think of a single character development or genuinely memorable moment in the entire season. The only episode I'd say I 90% liked was the one with the race and Art Malik, and that felt like a double episode crammed into 50 minutes- whereas most, paradoxically, managed to simultaneously feel like a 30 minute idea crammed into 50 minutes.

 

The fundamental problem is that the writing and plotting is just there most of the time. The ancillary problem is that when the writing/ plotting is more than just there it's almost always there in a mildly negative way- because it's got overly preachy or they're pulling plot magic. This season I got the distinct feeling that the plot and writing existed to drive the moral messages instead, ie they decided on moral messages then wrote literally everything around that. I got that feeling occasionally in previous seasons, but only occasionally- and usually in episodes I'd consider poor but not terrible.

 

They really need to get back to the basics that made the series successful. One well developed companion, less of the overt social commentary and ripped from the headlines stories or at least some subtlety about them, don't be afraid to use the lore and old enemies. Make the dialogue more impactful and less there just to be there and fill time. Give Whittaker a chance to be her Doctor rather than off brand Tennant/ Smith. Beg Moffat to write some standalones and get some style variation in the writing- maybe you won't get Gaiman or Curtis, but at least try getting someone like them. Have the succession plan for Chibnall that there so obviously wasn't for Moffat.

 

*Bugger it, I liked Gods & Monsters, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I'll freely admit that opinion is not in the majority though.

**Why knee jerk anti sjws would watch Who anyway I don't understand. It's always been socjus central, it's obvious anyone triggered by it shouldn't watch.

[SonicMage117]

Indeed. I agree with this and you, looking forward to Star Wars show

[Malcador]

 

 

 

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2018/12/17/an-animated-series-from-the-far-future-yeah-it-isgw-homepage-post-1/

 

‘Angels of Death’, will follow the visceral exploits of a band of Blood Angels Space Marines as they face Mankind’s enemies, death and worse – the dreaded Black Rage. To ensure the story is suitably grimdark, we’ve called upon the talents of some of Black Library’s finest authors. Together, they’re forging an epic tale for the animators to realise.

Sigh.

[Saito Hikari]

I very rarely watch anime, if at all, but I came across one recently (if a Taiwanese puppet show with tons of special effects even counts as anime) that wasn't your typical childish smut.

 

It's called Thunderbolt Fantasy, and the writing and plot seems like it came out of a hilariously fun Chinese DnD campaign. It has a wuxia style plot, but with twists and attention to detail that don't assume that the viewers are morons. The writing is really subtle and nuanced, I've noted that it appears as if all of the major characters in the show are written as if they adhere to the alignment wheel. Like the main character being rather Neutral Good, and the bard sidekick in season 2 is apparently Chaotic Good, and it clearly shows in their conversations and arguments they have. Then there's the one us westerners nickname 'Vape Wizard' who is quite possibly the best example of a Chaotic Neutral character I've ever seen in any fiction.

 

Alas, I can't go into further detail on exactly what makes this show so good as it'd veer right into spoiler territory, but I highly encourage everyone to watch it. At the very least, after the first few episodes introducing the party members of season 1, the show really takes off in its fun factor. The show has a lot of buildup and it pays off in some of the most incredible ways I've ever seen.

 

(There's currently two seasons of about 13 episodes each, with the finale of season 2 airing next week, so one can easily binge through it in an afternoon or two.)

Edited December 19, 2018 by Saito Hikari

[Bartimaeus]

It has a very...different sort of look, if nothing else.

 

Over the Garden Wall. On the recommendation of TrueNeutral, it sadly wasn't to my taste. The protagonists were just so bland and boring that it unfortunately kind of set the tone for the whole show and simply didn't work for me. Felt like a lot of wasted potential - would have liked to seen how this played out with very different protagonists, less comedic antagonists, and a different sort of underlying plot arc (which also didn't really work for me, either).

 

Watched an episode of the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on the recommendation of Leferd above. It was really up and down (that cousin character that just keeps appearing out of nowhere to spell out random solutions to Sabrina has been sooo freaking bad each time he's appeared, and really, I'm not particularly enamored by *any* of the supporting characters so far), but it held my attention long enough I'll probably watch a second episode. I didn't really know much about it going into it, but so far, it hasn't been really what I expected. It's been much more silly in both content and appearance than I would have expected, I guess.

Edited December 18, 2018 by Bartimaeus

[Epaminondas]

This probably belongs in the political thread, but I've been binge watching Designated Survivor for about a week. I'm on episode 16 and it's a fun show, but absolute fantasy that has started to become farce. The entire congress, senate, and supreme court are wiped out in an attack with overwhelming evidence of conspiracy within the government and the Prez wants to start his own 100 first days agenda? Then he takes on gun control? If anyone manages to take out the capitol building during a state of the union address, the scenario depicted in this show would never happen. I mean, House of Cards is a pretty seedy show and sometimes it can strain credulity, but it's pretty much spot on. Hell, some of the things, such as the reporter's fling with congressman Underwood, are all but 'ripped from the headlines.' I've only seen most of the first season of House of Cards, but at least it doesn't devolve into liberal navel gazing non-sense at this point. I'm probably going to finish Designated Survivor. It's only two seasons and if they keep up with shinanigans like this, I know why it didn't get a third.

[Zoraptor]

The reporter's fling with Underwood is straight from the book/ UK TV series that US House of Cards is based on. The first season is fairly faithful to the source material with a few changes like Francis Urquhart and Maddie Storin instead of Frank Underwood and whatever Kate Mara's character was called, and it ends in a slightly different place. Urquhart was a Tory (Conservative) whip loosely during Thatcher's time, so not much scope for the touchy feelies.

 

US HoC is a great example of taking something that was great as limited miniseries/ books and running it into the ground by making it go far too long.

[Epaminondas]

Exactly the way I describe LOST to people. A wonderful 4 (maybe 4.5) season tv series that got milked into 6 seasons.

 

There was an American reporter a couple of years ago who'd made some obscure statements on social media that some folks saw and, what do you know, tracked down all the info and it came out that she had indeed had an affair with a congressman. I think he was a committee chair. People even said that it was right of the tv series. Nope. The other way around. lol House of Cards (at least at first) isn't fantasy. There really are a lot of unseemly and downright corrupt people in Washington. In any government anywhere, really.

[Lexx]

lol they made a remake of Watership Down and it looks horrible...

 

[Blarghagh]

Watched a couple of episodes of The Rookie and it was surprisingly good for a cop show.

[Bartimaeus]

lol they made a remake of Watership Down and it looks horrible...

 

 

A TV show remake of Watership Down that looks like that? Yikes.

[Bartimaeus]

I actually watched an episode of it (there are four). It seemed...a bit dull and mediocre. The environments don't look half-bad, but I really don't care for how the rabbits themselves look (or how they sound, for that matter...kind of forgettable voice-acting). As a big fan of the original movie and book (I read the book first), it's not really terrible, but I definitely don't care for it. Buuut it's not exactly an assault on your senses, either.

 

More The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. I'm still not really sure what to make of this show entirely, but it's been at least interesting enough to keep me watching the next episode. There are times where I kind of have to groan over some of the silly stuff included, but on the whole, it's not half bad. Still feels a bit up and down. I've grown to like the two aunts, Hilda and Zelda (also, I guess Hilda the new Netflix series that is currently featured as my avatar makes a nod to Sabrina, since someone mistakenly calls Hilda "Zelda" at some point in Hilda, and I guess that makes sense since...well, I'd rather not say), so that helps, but I really am not sure about the rest of the supporting cast still.