The TV and Streaming thread Series 3

[LadyCrimson]

1 hour ago, Lexx said:

Just the popular stuff on Netflix.

Btw. "Erased" was very good. Watched it twice even. It is drawn in a more realistic style with none of the usual anime tropes. Really wish there would be more like that.

I checked the wiki and it turns out Erased was released *after* Life is Strange. I'm pretty sure that game served as inspiration.

Erased is based on a manga (like many animes are) which began in 2012, so I think it pre-dates Life is Strange.  I've had both the anime and the live-action series in my Netflix watchlist for ages.  Just one of the many shows I haven't gotten around to watching.

Tried Cobra Kai.  The first episode was amusing with all the film references/comedy.  The next two were much less amusing and I'm already bored of the macho posturing (even humorous) and rehashed highschool bully stuff. I do like the blonde lead tho - I don't remember his name - but it's weird because Ralph M. is sort of terrible.  I mean he was never a great actor but it worked playing an awkward kid in those movies. In this series he's ... I dunno, I'm finding him almost unwatchable.  It really was Mr. Miyagi that made the original film (the sequels were ok but not great) so watchable, imo. 

[Lexx]

Then that means Life is Strange probably took inspiration from it. In any case, Erased was a great watch and I want more of such quality.

[Raithe]

https://io9.gizmodo.com/it-is-a-good-day-to-be-a-babylon-5-loving-hbo-max-subsc-1846136572

Quote

But before you start thanking the Centauri gods, this most likely isn’t the perfectly remastered Babylon 5 of your dreams. The series is its original 4:3 ratio, and not 16:9, even though the show was filmed for widescreen and released on DVD in widescreen. On the plus side, however, the show doesn’t look like crap anymore (as it did on those DVDs).

According to Engagdet, Warner Bros. actually scanned the original film negatives for all the live-action footage, so they’re finally in real HD. All the CG shots and effects have been algorithmically upscaled so they’re in HD as well, and the whole shebang has been cleaned up and color-corrected. You can see the massive improvement for yourself:

Edited January 27, 2021 by Raithe

[Amentep]

I'd imagine they'd actually have to re-do (rather than upscale) the effects shots to transition to 16:9.  Still good news.  Would re-buy a complete series set if they put it out on physical media with these.

[majestic]

  

7 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

(e): @majestic This Ami episode...

  Hide contents

...was much better than the other one. Seeing Tuxedo Mask summarily get the crap beat out of him after appearing was hilarious (and Usagi using self-hatred to defeat the illusions was...an interesting and great writing choice), and it was just a better episode overall vs. the earlier Ami-focused episode.

 

Yes, exactly. This was such a great choice to not have Tuxedo Kamen come out of nowhere and defeat the illusions for the girls. They had to deal with it themselves, and they both do it in a way that perfectly fits their character. Usagi is just being Usagi and Ami initially tried to run away from the problem, but when cornered and pushed, figures out that something's wrong and knows that her friends would never betray her like that.

This is one of the things that I was initially talking about in the way too long post earlier before I deleted half of it. It is similar to the main spoiler-hidden plot point about Sailor Moon S insofar as you know that in the end Ami isn't going to attack the others. You don't need to subvert expectations here. There's no need for Arya to do what Jon was supposed to do all along just because it's unexpected, or to be ridiculous about it like the the writers of Westworld who actually reshot certain episodes of season 2 because someone on reddit figured out the plot twist for the season too early (and as someone who has watched season 2 of Westworld and didn't like it, I would argue they reshot the episodes much to the detriment of the show's quality).

I'll spoiler-tag the discussion of the themes present in S. I don't think it's too spoilerish because these things are obvious themes after the first handful of episodes, but look at your own peril (the second spoiler in the spoiler tag is an actual spoiler for the end of Sailor Moon S).

Spoiler

 

The Outer Senshi, and by that I mean mostly Uranus and Neptune are older and much more mature than the Inner Senshi, and they have accepted their lot in life in a way the others haven't. Therefore they serve as a perfect counterpart for the Inner Senshi who are still coming to terms with being teenagers, having their own problems and being thrust into situations that they realistically don't have any business being in.

They act as role models and cautionary tales - showing the girls ways they can cope with their situation (Makoto especially in how Haruka has accepted being who and what she is, in what's probably one of the best episodes of Sailor Moon) or how far you can go with grim determination, but are also a cautionary warning to not forget to be human when they decide to try to brutally murder a twelve year old girl whose only crime (at the time) was to be born*. Naturally this also leads to a good deal of conflict, i.e. the pragmatism of Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune versus the complete idealism of Princess Serenity / Sailor Moon.

Spoiler

* Well, born as the Soldier of Ruin, Sailor Saturn, who only has one job: To destroy the world so it can be reborn. What's one life against billions? In an actually interesting subversion, Sailor Saturn, saved by Sailor Moon, actually does end up destroying the world. Just not Earth. She blows up the dimension of the eldritch horror that comes to make Earth his new home.

 

 

 

Edited January 27, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

9 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Also, Kaine, I have a friend on Steam that uses literally your exact avatar, has a drinking problem, is incredibly cynical, and is disappointed by everything. His name even starts with a K - it's very weird and disconcerting. He hates anime (although I think he watched and enjoyed Death Note), though, so you can't be the same people.

Or can we??????????

.....we can't, because my Steam profile is private and my avatar is The Monarch.

Re artstyle: while I don't usually place a huge emphasis on it (heavy 3d cgi is the exception, I can't tolerate it much), it's understandable that it is a big factor for people. It is at least half the show when you think about it and can tank an otherwise decent show.

[Zoraptor]

Hillary and Chelsea Clinton to make TV series focused on Kurdish women militia.

I had some difficulty deciding where to put this. World Politics? Funny Things thread? Anime thread? One thing is for sure, it will be a measured, respectful and balanced examination of the YPJ and not a cringey masturbatory embarrassment of neoliberal self justification that is unintentionally hilarious and somehow less nuanced than Call of Duty's take on the issue.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Didn't Bill help get Abdullah Öcalan imprisoned? If so this is more than a little shameless.

[Zoraptor]

Yep.

And Hillary herself was far more keen to support the whacky islamist militants in eastern Syria that were palatable to Turkey than the YPG/J up until she stepped down as SoS, with the support for the Kurds all coming under Kerry's aegis. Most of the those whacky islamists, of course, defected to ISIS in 2013-4 and ended up being fought by the Kurds and the US. Those that didn't defect developed a penchant for lobbing chlorine at Kurdish enclaves, after conventional attacks had failed. Somewhat suspect those little details will be omitted though.

[Malcador]

Well, hopefully they make good bank on it.

[majestic]

Well, since I'm really bad at following my own advice I of course started with Sailor moon SuperS. Like I posted before, I remembered the season being noticably worse than Sailor Moon S, and having some creepy sexual abuse subtext. My memory of that was clearly dead wrong.

This isn't simply subtext, it's an allegory so thinly veiled that one might argue it has no business being in a kid's show, even if kids will simply take it for what it appears to be, i.e. bad guys being bad and trying to find this season's MacGuffin.

The other part, well, that's still up for debate, but Sailor Moon SuperS tried something that ended up not working too well: Pressing the soft-reboot button and going back to how it was during the first season. It's more comedic (not that R and S weren't, mind, but they were different from the first season), has more of a focus on Chibi-Usa (ugh, way to go making me dislike her again, writers), who while a nice character in moderation, lacks something compelling as a focal point, and ramped Usagi's somewhat less ridiculous antics of the previous seaons back up.

From what I've read, the manga at this point did nothing of the sort, Naoko Takeuchi simply let Sailor Moon naturally "grow up" with its audience without losing what made is special in the first place, similar to what J.K. Rowling did with Harry Potter. 

Here's an example:

Spoiler

 

In the second episode Mamoru-Chan is away for a day and Usagi calls all her friends to talk about how much she misses him, then she cries on the table in the Crown cafeteria while the other girls are making fun of her for being ridiculous about a single day.

Later that night Usagi talks endlessly with Makoto on the phone, afterwards Mamoru calls her to complain that her line's been busy all the time. Usagi is flustered, blushes and happily rolls around in bed because Mamoru called. Yay?

It's fun, it's sweet in a way and yes, it's definitely something season one Usagi would do. It's also something a 14 year old would do, right? So it makes sense?

No. Not any more. Usagi over the course of the show died one, was resurrected, got her memories back, successfully fought eldritch horrors, deadly phantoms and evil energy beings three times and finally learned to stand up for herself and her beliefs (in a confrontation with Sailor Uranus) in the last season. SuperS Usagi is still a klutz and not the brightest candle on the cake. Sure. But making a scene like that because Mamoru hasn't called for a day? Nah.

It's even worse because the other joke in the episode is really good. Motoki's girlfriend is back from Africa and things aren't working too well. Minako and Usagi immediately jump up, make sure the cat's don't to anything silly like biting them and declare that they're going to fix their relationship. That was such a perfect scene it made me smile for a while.

 

And here's an example of the creepy stuff they added:
 

Spoiler

 

During a solar eclipse the Dead Moon Circus appears. Their goal is to find Pegasus, who in Sailor Moon is not just a winged horse, but a winged unicorn that hides in beautiful dreams and can only manifest itself in the real world for a few seconds. They want to grab the old stallion for fun, profit and a bit of world domination.

During the introduction, Chibi-Usa dreams of Pegasus. She finds him in a clearing of a crystal wood that appeared out of nowhere. She sees him and immediately blushes. So yeah, Chibi-Usa is... let's say fond of a horse. Pegasus interacts a bit with Chibi-Usa and tells her that she must keep their meeting a secret.

I'm not imagining this, am I? This is grade A creepy right off the bat, right? 

Anyway, everyone goes to watch a total solar eclipse where Usagi once again proves that she's really a numpty. During the eclipse the Dead Moon Circus appears, Usagi for some reason even notices it, but decides to ignore it and leave like everyone else after the eclipse is over. Meanwhile, inside the Circus, the new bad guy instructs a trio of weirdos who look like they came from a different anime show altogether to look for Pegasus inside beautiful dreams.

So Pegasus is hiding in Chibi-Usa. Well, why not.

Tiger's Eye, who looks like Haer'Dalis with orange hair (given the air time, it's more like Haer'Dalis looks like Tiger's Eye with brown hair, but lets not dwell on minutiae) gets the first job: Unazuki Furuhata, Motoki's sister, who appeared twice before, in an episode of R and S. She's a really nice girl and it's someone familiar, but not too familiar. They stare a bit at her picture and he declares that girls like her are easy targets.

He stalks her/follows her onto a bus where he steals Unazuki's wallet. Later, when she's looking for it, he shows up and gives it back. My, what a nice guy, huh? Tiger's Eye to the rescue. Unazuki is happy to have her wallet back and Mr. Creep tells her that this is too beautiful and fated a happenstance to waste, so they take a walk. The moment they're out of eye and earshot of people he stops and reveals himself as a creepy elf with orange hair.

He summons a board usually used by knife throwers behind Unazuki, then chains her to it. Lastly he makes a dream mirror appear, a mirror hovering in front of Unazuki's chest with which Tiger's Eye can look into her dreams.

Sailor Moon appears because she heard her scream, but he keeps her busy with a new type of monster and creeps towards Unazuki and penetrates the mirror with his head, causing Unazuki to howl in pain and Tiger's Eye to squeak with glee.

 

 

Edited January 28, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

I've actually seen that clip of Usagi after she's called Mamoru, only it was with the original S4 English voice actress (who is hilarious but also a terrible fit for Usagi), and I have to say, I get the feeling that season 4 might be difficult for me.

Sounds, uh, sounds kind of weird. Actually, um...wait a second, I think I've seen a clip from the weird pegasus plot, now that you mention it...and I can't link it because it was actually kind of horrifying. ...So what're your thoughts of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars?

Edited January 28, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Yeah season 4 sounds like it could be unpleasant.

I'm not very far in Sailor Moon (currently watching the episode where they go to the shrine) and it occurred to me the enemies/monsters aren't particularly memorable. There's the queen and the blonde guy but they mostly do the same thing every episode and I don't feel like I know much about them. I'm still feeling it but I wish the fights were more memorable like Stand battles.

[Bartimaeus]

5 minutes ago, KaineParker said:

Yeah season 4 sounds like it could be unpleasant.

I'm not very far in Sailor Moon (currently watching the episode where they go to the shrine) and it occurred to me the enemies/monsters aren't particularly memorable. There's the queen and the blonde guy but they mostly do the same thing every episode and I don't feel like I know much about them. I'm still feeling it but I wish the fights were more memorable like Stand battles.

One thing I noticed early on is that Sailor Moon just *slaughters* all of the minor women villains (and there are a lot of them), literally disintegrates them by the dozens, but tends to fall to pieces against the mid-level male villains. That finally started change halfway through season 2. I'm usually not that into the battles to be honest - it's probably usually my least favorite part of the show (although they occasionally have some very fun and silly concepts that make for good ones, but I can't think of any particularly good ones early on into the show). It doesn't help that the low level minions do often look like they were literally randomly generated.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

18 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

One thing I noticed early on is that Sailor Moon just *slaughters* all of the minor women villains (and there are a lot of them), literally disintegrates them by the dozens, but tends to fall to pieces against the mid-level male villains. That finally started change halfway through season 2. I'm usually not that into the battles to be honest - it's probably usually my least favorite part of the show (although they occasionally have some very fun and silly concepts that make for good ones, but I can't think of any particularly good ones early on into the show). It doesn't help that the low level minions do often look like they were literally randomly generated.

Yeah, right now it seems one (or more) of the guardians just uses their named attack after being bullied and Tuxedo Mask shows up. Given how funny the energy harvesting schemes are it's pretty disappointing. That Umino guy has been more memorable than any monster besides the one using the pets tbh.

[uuuhhii]

just finished kipo and the age of wonderbeasts s03

production seems a little rushed

for a show start and finish 3 season in a year it might be inevitable

didn't have to wait a year for 6 episode season is nice

watch through whole season are pretty easy and relaxing

didn't sleep for more than 5 hours for 2 day

didn't expect anxiety fear and panic make one so energetic to watch more stuff

[majestic]

9 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

 ...So what're your thoughts of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars?

I remember it being better, but a bit rehashy, if that makes sense. Sailor Moon SuperS fought with dropping ratings for a bit and for the final season they replaced a good deal of the creative team, wrote Chibi-Usa out (although something Chibi came back in too) and made a season that tried to go back to where the show was during Sailor Moon S. It worked out all right, I guess.

You can just skip Sailor Moon SuperS. I'd argue that it would be okay to give it a chance (the show gets better animations, and the design of everything isn't bad), the first two episodes are good showcases of what will be going on, and if you don't like what you see you can just drop them and go directly to Sailor Stars. The loose coupling of SuperS to the Manga storyline means that you probably won't miss much, if anything at all.

What I am not certain of is how binge watching affects the overall impression of Sailor Stars being something of a S remake in order to recapture old fans/fix ratings. Sailor Stars, like SuperS, aired in '98 back here almost a full year after the end of S. I liked watching SuperS then more than I do it now also simply because it was more Sailor Moon (and because I much younger and the rape allegory was nowhere near as clear for me back then than it is now). It was a year in between, there were new episodes, life was good again, all that. Much of the contrast between S and SuperS is lost when you wait a year. It's pretty noticable if you just put in the next disc - or in your case, click play on the next file.

So, I'm not sure if Sailor Stars being something of a remake of S, where the show tried to recapture its past audience that dwindled away a bit with SuperS, is detrimental to the enjoyment of the season when binged. It was not with a year of waiting in between, but it might be with no pause. But given the rate I'm running through the content I'll know soon enough.

Of course there are also the fans who argue that SuperS is peak Sailor Moon and not nearly as bad as people make it out to be (also "bad" in context of Sailor Moon means something different, I mean, you've said that yourself - one or two not so great episodes out of almost 100 is so good that you can't possibly keep it up indefinitely), so take my complaining with a grain of salt or two.

The "worst" part of SuperS is that it has moments narrated by Chibi-Usa. I mean it makes sense to try and tell a story through her eyes if you want to go back to a younger audience, but her character was never strong enough for that. One could give credit for trying something different, I guess. I... don't really. Heh.

Edited January 28, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

I already have it, so I'll at least try it for sure, . Sailor Stars is the only thing I don't have currently. Actually, that brings up something else...when's the best time to watch the movies? I just finished R, so I'm wondering if I should watch R: The Movie right after (by the way, that moment about how Ami interrupts their final moments to talk about eating cakes happens in at least the new English dub - which didn't surprise me, as it's my understanding the new dub stays pretty true to the original Japanese). I'm watching at a slower pace than you, so maybe by the time I get to SuperS, I won't have too much of a problem with it (...although I'll still probably be weirded out by some of the more...questionable writing decisions).

My feelings about Chibi-Usa are pretty complicated at this point. There were times where she was more like an...early Rei-like character (expressive and headstrong, but also clever and witty!), times where she's like...the worst parts of Usagi (paralyzed with fear, crying, screaming, being generally unreasonable...), and times where she was more like Ami (kind of cold/flat and analytical). I'm not sure if it was intentional to have her display so many different traits as a result of spending time with the Sailor Guardians or what. I would not mind her returning as a supporting character like she often was (though hopefully a little more mature and consistent), but I don't particularly want to see her be the main character for entire episodes at a time again.

[majestic]

3 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

I already have it, so I'll at least try it for sure, . Sailor Stars is the only thing I don't have currently. Actually, that brings up something else...when's the best time to watch the movies?

I've seen them only once and they were aired after Sailor Stars finished its run, so it's hard to say. The safest bet would be after their respective seasons. IIRC they're all just standalone episodes and have only a tenuous connection to the story arcs of the show at the best of times. I think the only thing in the movies that sticks in the show - and I'm not going to put this in spoilers because with only two cats on the show how could it be any different - is Luna's and Artemis' romance. Which is a wee bit thin for three hours of animation, but hey, erm... yeah.

edit:

However, I just looked at the German Sailor Moon Wiki (which seems to be in much better shape than the English one) the R movie does play after the R final episode even if it heavily references the Doom Tree arc while the S movie should probably be viewed before the final six episodes of S, and the SuperS movie... is set in a completely separate continuity (explained in spoilers because spoilers).

Spoiler

Sailor Pluto shows up in the SuperS movie, but she sacrificed herself, or more specifically, her physical body at the end of Sailor Moon S to save Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus. She casts Time Stop to allow them to escape an explosion and is then punished for her transgression. She also shows up in the Sailor Moon S movie, so the movie has to be set before she decided to break her oath, but even there the continuity barely makes any sense. 

 

Edited January 28, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

So they replaced the blonde villain with a dude who looks like he was in a metal band and his first act was to teach a girl how to play tennis evily. This show is something else man.

[Bartimaeus]

15 minutes ago, KaineParker said:

So they replaced the blonde villain with a dude who looks like he was in a metal band and his first act was to teach a girl how to play tennis evily. This show is something else man.

Haha, doesn't Usagi turn into like a giant tennis ball or something insane in that one?

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Just now, Bartimaeus said:

Haha, doesn't Usagi turn into like a giant tennis ball or something insane in that one?

Yes. 

[Malcador]

Sailor Moon is a little bit weirder than I remember.

[Bartimaeus]

5 minutes ago, KaineParker said:

Yes. 

Also featuring some truly classic fighting techniques, Mario Bros. patent pending...

 

[Malcador]

If only Usagi was in Prometheus.