The TV and Streaming thread Series 3

[Malcador]

4 hours ago, majestic said:

 

The God Empress of Mankind

[Hurlshort]

Watchong Ava, which is a pretty entertaining addition to the La Femme Nikita. But it bother me that she is doing a lot of cardio in the movie, but also a heavy smoker. I mean, I guess it is supposed to be her nod to her issues with addiction in the movie, but the fact is cardio is an addiction in itself, and any committed runner is not going to diminish their lung capacity with all the science out there today.

[Amentep]

 

[Gromnir]

1 hour ago, Amentep said:

stuff

time travel. why did it have to be time travel? am accepting whatever ridicule is directed at us as you got our admission to being a smidge intrigued by loki, but why did it have to be time travel?

HA! Good Fun!

[Lexx]

Latest Mandalorian episode was completely unrealistic. It had stormtroopers that would actually hit targets. Must be a first, I think.

[Zoraptor]

I can only second how much better alt universe Discovery episodes are. It's all very Panto like with the overacting, scenery chewing, telegraphed plot points* and it really does look like everyone is having a great time when normally they look either kind of terrified or like aliens being told to act like humans having only read about humans in a book. Most of the things that are annoying in the normal universe are kind of endearing in the mirror one.

Weird though, after spending 2 minutes talking about preferred pronouns in the previous (or 2 back, I forget) ep I could have sworn they completely ignored said preferred pronouns entirely this episode. If you're going to make a big deal of them to show how inclusive you are you need to actually use them consistently across episodes, otherwise it really is just virtue signalling for the sake of it.

*you know, I think I may have picked up a very subtle hint or two that Security Lady andor Captain Tilly may be thinking Georgiou has gone soft...

[InsaneCommander]

First image of a heron mark blade from The Wheel of Time tv show:

https://twitter.com/i/events/1334568912319483906

Showrunner Rafe Judkins also answers some questions in the link above. Each sword will have its own design and even Egwene's dagger, that is not that important, had at least 20 meetings about it.

Edited December 13, 2020 by InsaneCommander

[majestic]

Finished the first season of Sailor Moon.

Hm. Way, way back when I first started watching this anime I thought it was the beginning of the second season that I watched. I knew I missed some episodes, and I do have very vivid recollections of the Tree Aliens that were filler content for the first part of the second season. Ah, the old wonders and joys of regular TV. After rewatching the first season I'm not that sure any more. I think I might have actually started with the end of the first season.

By end I mean roughly around the time Sailor Venus showed up. I don't think it matters all too much. I am perfectly certain that I missed the episodes from before Rei joined the team. Funny that, because before Sailor Moon I used to watch Attack No. 1, which I'm not sure ever got a US release. There I also missed the first few episodes, which kind of went into a rerun at the same time, with me noting the similarities between Rei and Midori's initial disposition towards Usagi and Kozue (or Bunny and Mila, in our dubs). I only found out later that Attack No. 1 was actually from the late sixties. *shrug*

As I've said in an earlier post already, the show has lost nothing of its appeal for me, which I am really happy to be able to write, and now that I'm a good deal older there's no one waiting back at school to tease me for liking shōjo anime (Attack No. 1 was like the original non-magical girl shōjo anime, even if her specialty attacks toe that line at some point, in the end she's just a volleyball player. And I don't even like volleyball. Hated having to play it in PE).

Although there wasn't much teasing for Sailor Moon anyway. By the time it aired I was well into vocational training (specialized senior high school if you will, sort of, talked about this prior in one of the poltical threads) and it was a nerd point of pride to not only watch anime but Sailor Moon in particular. Which is kind of hilarious in hindsight because Sailor Moon turned out to be a show that gained mainstream popularity somewhere down the line. 

At least we get to say that we watched it before it was cool. If... I would still care about silliness like that.

The one thing that is still weird after all that time is how almost everyone has latin names, with the exception of Artemis (who later has a daughter called Diana, to make it more weird) and the in-universe origin of Serenity (because that's Selene and the confusion probably comes from the lack of L and R sounds in Japanese). Because serenitas is also latin, but Selene's latin counterpart is Luna, which already is one of the cats, so yeah...

Uhm, where was I? Oh, yeah. Looking forward to starting season 2 soonish.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

26 minutes ago, majestic said:

At least we get to say that we watched it before it was cool. If... I would still care about silliness like that.

The real achievement is watching something after it stopped being cool.

[Bartimaeus]

5 hours ago, majestic said:

Finished the first season of Sailor Moon.

Hm. Way, way back when I first started watching this anime I thought it was the beginning of the second season that I watched. I knew I missed some episodes, and I do have very vivid recollections of the Tree Aliens that were filler content for the first part of the second season. Ah, the old wonders and joys of regular TV. After rewatching the first season I'm not that sure any more. I think I might have actually started with the end of the first season.

By end I mean roughly around the time Sailor Venus showed up. I don't think it matters all too much. I am perfectly certain that I missed the episodes from before Rei joined the team. Funny that, because before Sailor Moon I used to watch Attack No. 1, which I'm not sure ever got a US release. There I also missed the first few episodes, which kind of went into a rerun at the same time, with me noting the similarities between Rei and Midori's initial disposition towards Usagi and Kozue (or Bunny and Mila, in our dubs). I only found out later that Attack No. 1 was actually from the late sixties. *shrug*

As I've said in an earlier post already, the show has lost nothing of its appeal for me, which I am really happy to be able to write, and now that I'm a good deal older there's no one waiting back at school to tease me for liking shōjo anime (Attack No. 1 was like the original non-magical girl shōjo anime, even if her specialty attacks toe that line at some point, in the end she's just a volleyball player. And I don't even like volleyball. Hated having to play it in PE).

Although there wasn't much teasing for Sailor Moon anyway. By the time it aired I was well into vocational training (specialized senior high school if you will, sort of, talked about this prior in one of the poltical threads) and it was a nerd point of pride to not only watch anime but Sailor Moon in particular. Which is kind of hilarious in hindsight because Sailor Moon turned out to be a show that gained mainstream popularity somewhere down the line. 

At least we get to say that we watched it before it was cool. If... I would still care about silliness like that.

The one thing that is still weird after all that time is how almost everyone has latin names, with the exception of Artemis (who later has a daughter called Diana, to make it more weird) and the in-universe origin of Serenity (because that's Selene and the confusion probably comes from the lack of L and R sounds in Japanese). Because serenitas is also latin, but Selene's latin counterpart is Luna, which already is one of the cats, so yeah...

Uhm, where was I? Oh, yeah. Looking forward to starting season 2 soonish.

It is a great show. I'm on a little bit of a hiatus with season 2 - not for any particular reason except I've been too busy to really sit down and watch it. IIRC, I was around episode 20, and I don't yet particularly dislike Chibi-Usa (though I don't find her as likable as virtually everyone else in the main cast...yet, and it doesn't help that her appearance has put Mamoru in an uncomfortable/not particularly fun position as well). Will get back to it soon enough. (e): Although I did finally see an episode I didn't particularly care for - it was like episode 16 of the second season, one that was highly Ami-focused. It was such a weirdly awkward episode with all sorts of off-timing for lines and shots that it kind of felt like an alien made it instead of whoever's normally directing/writing these episodes...but things were right back to normal in the next few episodes, so I didn't get too overly fussed about it (and also, watching about 50 episodes of a show like this with no even just mediocre episodes until I'm about 50 in is an amazing feat, and probably a better record than any other show I've watched).

Also, yeah, the Roman god names/character allegories are kind of funny, especially as loose as they are - started noticing that weird connection and was surprised to see that even Mamoru had a counterpart as Endymion.

Edited December 14, 2020 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

7 hours ago, KaineParker said:

The real achievement is watching something after it stopped being cool.

Time to rewatch Game of Thrones then.

[Gorth]

15 minutes ago, majestic said:

Time to rewatch Game of Thrones then.

I've yet to watch a single episode

[Raithe]

21 hours ago, InsaneCommander said:

First image of a heron mark blade from The Wheel of Time tv show:

https://twitter.com/i/events/1334568912319483906

Showrunner Rafe Judkins also answers some questions in the link above. Each sword will have its own design and even Egwene's dagger, that is not that important, had at least 20 meetings about it.

One thing that has been mentioned is that they aren't actually going to try to do a "book a season" type of story arc. Since it's a little unrealistic to try for 14 seasons, there is going to be some mashup and re-ordering of plot-lines and sub-plots for the tv adaption.

So no "Eye of the World" season, or "Dragon Reborn" season. Just "Wheel of Time"...

[Malcador]

20 hours ago, KaineParker said:

The real achievement is watching something after it stopped being cool.

I hear this show "The Sopranos" is good, will have to watch it

[Hurlshort]

1 hour ago, Malcador said:

I hear this show "The Sopranos" is good, will have to watch it

The Sopranos never stopped being cool.

You need to start watching Kevin Spacey stuff to meet the criteria.

[Gromnir]

15 minutes ago, Hurlshot said:

The Sopranos never stopped being cool.

You need to start watching Kevin Spacey stuff to meet the criteria.

jj abrams is our best example o' the inevitable fail which nevertheless has us viewing way past the point where is reasonable to do so. ask us why we watched the last season of alias? can't give you a good answer. we never bothered to watch lost past the first episode, but am understanding the last seasons were a slog. 

HA! Good Fun!

[majestic]

10 hours ago, Gromnir said:

we never bothered to watch lost past the first episode, but am understanding the last seasons were a slog. 

We boardies here argued about the ending before (I think it is fine given the subject matter and not entirely unexpected) but the one thing that was so disappointing about the last few seasons of Lost was that instead of wrapping up plotlines they kept introducing new ones, and none of them were properly answered.

Like with everything else people on the internet made a list of open questions and someone tried to defend Lost and answered them all. It had like a thousand items on them, and from what I remember half of them were answered with The island is magic. Now I don't mind magic as an answer per se. Magic is a sufficient explanation when dealing with the supernatural after all, but not if it's painfully obvious that they just got Lost (killer "pun" huh?) in their own kudzuesque plot and simply failed to come up with a decent idea of why things were happening or what they meant.

Chris Carter was jealous, I bet. To be fair to him though, Two Fathers / One Son would have been a really nice ending for the X-Files' myth arc, but from what I've read Fox wasn't entirely interested in quitting their cash cow while it was still going strong.

[Raithe]

12 hours ago, Gromnir said:

jj abrams is our best example o' the inevitable fail which nevertheless has us viewing way past the point where is reasonable to do so. ask us why we watched the last season of alias? can't give you a good answer. we never bothered to watch lost past the first episode, but am understanding the last seasons were a slog. 

HA! Good Fun!

The last season of Alias was kind of worth it for the Arvin Sloane and Jack Bristow moment.

Actually thinking about it, Sloan's journey over the whole series  of villain, redemption, ally, protective father turned villain once again in loss (with a touch of obsession) made one of the more interesting and well done character arcs in tv land.

Edited December 15, 2020 by Raithe

[Raithe]

I'm not sure quite how I feel on this...

Although so far it's only sources and talk, not a definitive announcement.

Exclusive: Firefly Reboot Coming To Disney+ (giantfreakinrobot.com)

Disney acquired the rights to Firefly in their acquisition of Fox back in 2019. There was no immediate move to do anything with the property, but something has changed.  That something is the end of movie theaters.

Movie theaters are done. The biggest chain in the world will likely shutter permanently next month and the others are likely to follow suit. As a result Disney’s focus is shifting away from movies and towards producing programming for streaming platforms. Their investor presentation last week demonstrated this with a strong focus on Disney+ programming.  To feed the streaming beast Disney needs more and more TV programming. Specifically, they’d like to have something that’s a draw besides Star Wars and Marvel. One of their plans to up the variety of content on their streaming platform is Firefly.

 

[Lexx]

Uh. Not really excited, I dunno. Truth told, I moved on from Firefly for years now.

[Hurlshort]

As I've seen bandied about, Mandalorian kinda fits that space western niche that Firefly was so unique in. Ah, who am I kidding? If they brought back Mal and Jane I'd be happy as a clam. 

[ShadySands]

Also from the rumors and innuendo side of things (and giantfreakingrobot), supposedly CBS is trying to put STD and and Picard on Netflix. I know STD is already on Netflix outside the US but not sure about Picard.

Quote

We have exclusively learned that CBS is working on bringing its new Star Trek shows to Netflix in the United States. Currently the company has four new Trek series running on its streaming network CBS All-Access: Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Lower Decks and Short Treks.  All four have struggled to find an audience and while some might blame the quality of the shows, my sources at CBS tell me they think the big problem is getting the word out about CBS All-Access.

They’ve tried to raise awareness in the past, by broadcasting some Star Trek: Discovery episodes on CBS network proper, but it didn’t work. The show only scored a 0.2 rating when it aired on network television. So now, according to my source, CBS is considering bringing some of its streaming Star Trek programming to Netflix instead.

I dunno, as has been said many times, I think Discovery's biggest problem is that it has Star Trek in the name (and pretty much nowhere else) and I think Picard's biggest problem is that it's made by the same people that made Discovery.

[Zoraptor]

Picard is on Prime outside the US, pretty sure everywhere.

1 hour ago, Hurlshot said:

As I've seen bandied about, Mandalorian kinda fits that space western niche that Firefly was so unique in. Ah, who am I kidding? If they brought back Mal and Jane I'd be happy as a clam. 

Jane is unlikely barring a recast- can't have the guy who coined 'gamergate' on the payroll. It's doubtful Fillion will be in either given he's got a successful network show already. Even Whedon is pretty unlikely in the current climate, though he'd probably be available. On the more positive side Tim Minear had a deal with Fox that presumably rolled over to Disney, and he wrote most of the best episodes. Plenty of Blake's 7 episodes he can crib more ideas from too.

So probably a reboot with none/ few of the original cast. To be frank Firefly is really not playing to Disney's strengths, but then again it wasn't playing to Fox's strengths either.

[Hurlshort]

57 minutes ago, Zoraptor said:

Picard is on Prime outside the US, pretty sure everywhere.

Jane is unlikely barring a recast- can't have the guy who coined 'gamergate' on the payroll. It's doubtful Fillion will be in either given he's got a successful network show already. Even Whedon is pretty unlikely in the current climate, though he'd probably be available. On the more positive side Tim Minear had a deal with Fox that presumably rolled over to Disney, and he wrote most of the best episodes. Plenty of Blake's 7 episodes he can crib more ideas from too.

So probably a reboot with none/ few of the original cast. To be frank Firefly is really not playing to Disney's strengths, but then again it wasn't playing to Fox's strengths either.

I think some people overestimate the cultural impact of GamerGate.

[Raithe]

3 minutes ago, Hurlshot said:

I think some people overestimate the cultural impact of GamerGate.

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

And it's Disney+, so as the article mentions if it was true, they'd be toning down if not removing the character of Inara.

Fillion has always said he would love to go back if he got the opportunity, but timing is an issue. But from the sounds of it, it would very much be a reboot in a completely new cast and shift in writing style. Not a picking up where it left, or bringing the old crew back together.

Then again, it's still in that rumour and sources stage, so I'll take it all with a grain of salt.