The TV and Streaming thread Series 3

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Maybe it'll be good if they give it the Mandalorian and/or jettison the Whedon style, but it seems that everything that dude touches is boring and cringe. 

[Zoraptor]

40 minutes ago, Hurlshot said:

I think some people overestimate the cultural impact of GamerGate.

Given the choice between bringing back Baldwin and having lots of bluechecks on twitter start losing their minds or not bringing back Baldwin the choice is pretty obvious, especially on Disney+.

[Amentep]

51 minutes ago, Raithe said:

Well apparently rumours have it that WB is carrying out an investigation into Whedon for workplace activities, make of that what you will.

Whedon was part of the investigation related to Ray Fisher's allegations about the activities of Whedon (and Johns and Berg) related to the filming of Justice League after Zach Snyder left.  WB recently said that they completed their investigation and took remedial action.  In a movie that no one is sure is coincidental, Whedon stepped down off of the show he created for HBO Max (a division of WB) called THE NEVERS, citing exhaustion.  This was the only investigation I was aware of, although Whedon revealed obliquely some bad behavior after his wife split from him and made accusations against him, IIRC, so I suppose its possible there's more than one investigation going on into his activities.

[Zoraptor]

I'd suspect Whedon is seen as too tarnished now. To be honest he was probably lucky there was a lot less social media when the situation with Charisma Carpenter's pregnancy occurred back in Angel S4 as it did not, as the marketers say, have 'great optics' whatever really happened.

[Zoraptor]

Expanse S5- no explicit spoilers but better safe than sorry since there's some implicit ones.

Spoiler

Gotta be honest, the pacing feels badly off and I'd have to question the appropriateness of the 'The Boys' style release schedule. Too many people in too many different places makes progression feel absolutely glacial- and everything feels like set up instead of having any weight in its own right. Then, instead of getting pay off from the last ten seconds of ep3 which does have some progression you have to wait a week for the next ep to drop...

Judging it as glacial may turn out to be unfair in the long run and it may be a fine interwoven tapestry requiring a lot of foundation setting, but you can only judge on what they give you.

 

[Lexx]

I would feel a lot better about it if they would release either 2 or 3 episodes per week. But nope, gotta stretch it out as long as possible for more subscription months..

[Hurlshort]

10 hours ago, Lexx said:

I would feel a lot better about it if they would release either 2 or 3 episodes per week. But nope, gotta stretch it out as long as possible for more subscription months..

It seems strange that Amazon would need to use that model. I would assume the vast majority of Prime members are in it for much more than the limited content they create. I mean, the free shipping alone tends to cover the costs for myself.

I do get that it allows them to generate buzz about a show over a longer window of time. 

[LadyCrimson]

Tried to watch that War of the Worlds series (3 episodes or so) - the one with Gabriel Byrne, not the BBC one.  Most of the reviews had it right, imo, where it feels more like Walking Dead "group drama" style vs. actual War of the Worlds.  It's not terrible or anything and on its own merits may not be a bad sci-fi post-apoc show, but it's not what I was wanting/expecting from something called War of the Worlds. 

Edited December 16, 2020 by LadyCrimson

[InsaneCommander]

13 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

Expanse S5- no explicit spoilers but better safe than sorry since there's some implicit ones.

  Hide contents

Gotta be honest, the pacing feels badly off and I'd have to question the appropriateness of the 'The Boys' style release schedule. Too many people in too many different places makes progression feel absolutely glacial- and everything feels like set up instead of having any weight in its own right. Then, instead of getting pay off from the last ten seconds of ep3 which does have some progression you have to wait a week for the next ep to drop...

Judging it as glacial may turn out to be unfair in the long run and it may be a fine interwoven tapestry requiring a lot of foundation setting, but you can only judge on what they give you.

 

Again, no explicit spoilers, but I'll play it safe too.

Spoiler

As the end of episode 3 approached I  was wondering if we would get that development. But it seemed there wasn't enough time for it, so I was getting disappointed. But they did it, right in the very last seconds.

 

[Lexx]

Well, I hated how episode 3 ended. The whole thing was serious captain obvious level stuff already, so this ending to me just felt like ... I don't know ... I find it not satisfying I guess.

And now I'll have to wait a week to have it continue. Bleh. Big problem is that I can't just stop watching it now and wait till february, because seeing spoilers will be inevitable for me.

Edited December 16, 2020 by Lexx

[Zoraptor]

Expanse S5 spoilers-- explicit plot points present this time.
 

Spoiler

 

Yep, ultimately I think the biggest inherent problem was that it came across as very tropey and predictable, with the slow plot and release schedule secondary. And while subverting expectations may have got a bad reputation after certain events from last year that was not because of the theory of it, it was because it was an excuse for incoherent plotting and shock for the sake of it. Some trope subversion is a good thing.

In the earth plot you had the moustache twirling villain(s), the Cassandra telling truths no one would believe, the dumb obnoxious leader, a (more or less) badmiral who ended up playing politics instead of doing his job, and all the narrowly missed opportunities to avoid it.

On Mars you had another badmiral plus Lieutenant Babbage (who's lost her copper ringlets from Hannibal) who are as (in)competent as the plot requires.

Naomi went after her son, and the results were not in the least bit surprising, nor was the obvious set up for another trope to come.

The Tycho plot was mostly fine. A bit contrived and tropey too (damsel in distress, last second rescue etc) but at least it was something that felt like it couldn't be described with a couple of lines of expository dialogue. And they managed to get Chad Coleman back for it, though at some point they really need to get Jared Harris too, if only to kill Dawes off. While it may be unavoidable his absence is getting silly.

Amos' plot was fine too, though again, tropey as anything- and it's difficult to see how it plays into the bigger picture. While it's nice to get some background it would be the obvious thing to cut to improve pacing.

In retrospect they may have been better starting with the asteroid hitting. I usually dislike that sort of approach as it too has got well overused but at least then you can mentally sequester the predictability of it.

 

 

[InsaneCommander]

On 12/16/2020 at 5:09 PM, Zoraptor said:

Expanse S5 spoilers-- explicit plot points present this time.
 

  Hide contents

 

Yep, ultimately I think the biggest inherent problem was that it came across as very tropey and predictable, with the slow plot and release schedule secondary. And while subverting expectations may have got a bad reputation after certain events from last year that was not because of the theory of it, it was because it was an excuse for incoherent plotting and shock for the sake of it. Some trope subversion is a good thing.

In the earth plot you had the moustache twirling villain(s), the Cassandra telling truths no one would believe, the dumb obnoxious leader, a (more or less) badmiral who ended up playing politics instead of doing his job, and all the narrowly missed opportunities to avoid it.

On Mars you had another badmiral plus Lieutenant Babbage (who's lost her copper ringlets from Hannibal) who are as (in)competent as the plot requires.

Naomi went after her son, and the results were not in the least bit surprising, nor was the obvious set up for another trope to come.

The Tycho plot was mostly fine. A bit contrived and tropey too (damsel in distress, last second rescue etc) but at least it was something that felt like it couldn't be described with a couple of lines of expository dialogue. And they managed to get Chad Coleman back for it, though at some point they really need to get Jared Harris too, if only to kill Dawes off. While it may be unavoidable his absence is getting silly.

Amos' plot was fine too, though again, tropey as anything- and it's difficult to see how it plays into the bigger picture. While it's nice to get some background it would be the obvious thing to cut to improve pacing.

In retrospect they may have been better starting with the asteroid hitting. I usually dislike that sort of approach as it too has got well overused but at least then you can mentally sequester the predictability of it.

 

 

Well,

Spoilers bellow
 

Spoiler

 

At least Amos' scenes are fun. But the Earth Admiral was bad. He knew there was a pretty good chance Avasarala was right. It was worth risking his career.

I don't know if I mentioned it here, but I expected they would start with the asteroid and then do a "x days earlier".

 

 

Edited December 18, 2020 by InsaneCommander

[Zoraptor]

Expanse S5 spoilers
 

Spoiler

 

The only problem with Amos' (or, I guess, Timothy's now) plot is that it doesn't seem to have any bearing on the main plot, and obviously that may be a premature criticism. While Amos is the only main character we have basically no explicit background on he's also the one whose background can most easily be inferred from his character. Otherwise yeah that plot line is fine, and it's always nice to see Frankie Faison outside of The Wire or Banshee.

I suspect I'd be complaining about how the asteroid was handled whichever way they went, to be fair. But yeah, overall/ in retrospect I think the 'flashback' approach would have been better and I'd have had the Admiral retask the early warning system, but too late. Which itself is a cliché but ... the fundamental problem is that the asteroid has to hit for the plot to happen and I'd more than suspected it was going to hit before the trailer more or less confirmed it. If I could wave my hands and change the plot I'd probably go with leaving Inaros' plot a mystery to the audience at the end of S4. Then things like Alex and Bobbie looking for stealthed missiles provide a bit of a red herring, but can still be tied back to the main plot once the asteroid hits.

 

 

[Lexx]

So, the Mandalorian ...

I'm confused, what is the time period the show is set in? They just introduced a young Skywalker or did Luke have a son or something that I never heard about?

[Sarex]

Archer season 11. Either the show is back to form, or I was really bored... Either way really like what they done with it.

[Gfted1]

52 minutes ago, Lexx said:

So, the Mandalorian ...

 

  Hide contents

I'm confused, what is the time period the show is set in? They just introduced a young Skywalker or did Luke have a son or something that I never heard about?

 

According to Wiki; "Beginning five years after the events of Return of the Jedi (1983) and the fall of the Empire...".

[kirottu]

The Mandalorian

Spoiler

"One X-wing."

"Great. Now were saved." *sarcastically* 

   

[Lexx]

The Mandalorian s2 felt kinda short to me (was it shorter than s1??) but except for the stormtroopers being a complete joke again, it was a pretty good experience, imo. Felt a bit like s1 was just an experiment and with S2 they realized what they got here.

Also..

 

Is there some behind the scenes magic that makes the daraksaber not work anymore if you don't "win it in combat" or is that just some religious bs that you have to "win the darksaber in combat"?

God, I hate these religious fanatics with their bs logic that only causes problems down the line.

Edited December 19, 2020 by Lexx

[majestic]

I'm pretty sure that's just religious BS. The Darksaber is just a lightsaber that looks a bit weird.

[Hurlshort]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

I'm pretty sure that's just religious BS. The Darksaber is just a lightsaber that looks a bit weird.

He probably ordered the collectors edition of KotOR Online and got the CE crystal.

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Hurlshot said:

He probably ordered the collectors edition of KotOR Online and got the CE crystal.

If only the CE had come with a white/black crystal. It was yellow/black and really useless with it's +4 endurance...

edit:

Crystal so bad it not even listed in the list of CE goodies. Heh.

Edited December 19, 2020 by majestic

[Gfted1]

The Mandalorian S2 finale. That was the best Star Wars that Ive seen in years.

[majestic]

46 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:

The Mandalorian S2 finale. That was the best Star Wars that Ive seen in years.

I find myself agreeing, but that doesn't mean much. It's easy to pass a bar when someone put the bar six feet under.

Edited December 20, 2020 by majestic

[Sarex]

For me personally the Clone Wars shorts are the best Star War material in video form by far.

[Zoraptor]

So, that was the season finale of Discovery. Randomly. Guess it was mostly OK as an episode, as always the alt universe bits were a lot more fun than the real universe ones, and the 'cameo' might be a bit polarising, to some.

Otherwise, that was a really random stop point for the main plot- presumably due to covid, but it does just stop abruptly. I presume Georgiou is off to a spin off show now but Discovery will miss her being snarky a fair bit given how tepid and inoffensive the rest of the characters are. The one positive I'll unreservedly give to this season is that it has done more much needed fleshing out of minor characters. The other big positive is that it's been a lot more self aware about its flaws and weaknesses; not an unreserved positive because it would be better if it actually addressed those flaws a bit better rather than just acknowledging that they're there. But, they're doing a decent job of leaving it ambiguous whether Admiral Beard/ Starfleet already knows what the story is with the Kiev/ Burn or not, and had some of the Significant Looks in the alt universe actually end up being Insignificant Looks instead which is more nuanced than it has been. OTOH, the episode plots are still bullet points far too often strung together incoherently and inconsistently and they are still awful at conveying any sort of real emotion, though at least thsi episode's dose of over long schmaltz was for a major character. Somewhat relevant to that, I did rather like that they brought back Aeryom (?) in the alt universe (minus cyborg suit), only to near immediately and unceremoniously kill her off again...

Overall- not bad enough for me to drop it, but certainly not enough improvement there to get any sort of recommendation.

Edited December 21, 2020 by Zoraptor