The TV and Streaming Thread: Now up for syndication...

[ShadySands]

2 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

Strangely, sometimes I still sorta miss it. Not the anthem/varied images. But snorting awake to that tone.  Or static snow.

That's too funny. Just the other day I was trying to explain to someone how channels used to turn off at night. 

Edited November 24, 2021 by ShadySands

[Zoraptor]

That's our closedown message. To think there's a whole generation of kiwis who haven't seen it.

Great piece of kiwiana, like Huntly's DEKA sign, or the town of Gore.

[Malcador]

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/11/amazon-is-nearing-a-deal-to-make-a-mass-effect-tv-series/

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Just now, Malcador said:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/11/amazon-is-nearing-a-deal-to-make-a-mass-effect-tv-series/

 

I should go.

[Malcador]

The nerd rage at the casting will be great. 

[Gfted1]

I wonder if they will cast 2010 or 2021 Miranda's ass?

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

16 minutes ago, Malcador said:

The nerd rage at the casting will be great. 

Sheploo x Jacob confirmed.

[LadyCrimson]

Is Amazon still doing that LotR series?

I remember when I thought (younger) Ryan Reynolds might make a decent Atton Rand, mostly because of Blade Trinity. He's more famous now, maybe it could still work.

[InsaneCommander]

Reddit AMA with The Wheel of Time's showrunner, Rafe Judkins.

Some interesting info, including:

It would originally have 10 episodes, the first one with 2 hours. So that explains why it was rushed. Also, Amazon wanted it fast paced to keep viewers interested and they say it worked since this has one of their highest completion-rates in history.

When asked why they excluded some things like

Spoiler

Mordeth and Tam's fever dreams

he said: "did we?"

[Gromnir]

25 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

 

It would originally have 10 episodes, the first one with 2 hours. So that explains why it was rushed. Also, Amazon wanted it fast paced to keep viewers interested and they say it worked since this has one of their highest completion-rates in history.

 

am one o' the not completion folks. we got a bit more than sixteen minutes into the first episode before pausing indefinitely.  were a bit cringey. 

will come back at some point after the full season one release and if we get folks we trust saying it were worth the effort. 

HA! Good Fun!

[Zoraptor]

1 hour ago, InsaneCommander said:

When asked why they excluded some things like

  Reveal hidden contents

Mordeth and Tam's fever dreams

he said: "did we?"

Rumours do have there being a lot of flashbacks, and there's a decent amount of independent evidence for there being a lot:

Spoiler

Obvious one being the Aiel War/ Blood Snow since it's shown/ implied in the trailer. There's also casting for Lews Therin and Latra Posae which implies AoL flashbacks, though I think only Lews Therin is officially announced? ep1 X Ray also has some stills of Tam (injured) and Rand in the forest despite that not being in the shown episode, so there is definitely footage for it. Would be pretty understandable if it was shown later though, given its nature.

 

1 hour ago, LadyCrimson said:

Is Amazon still doing that LotR series?

Yep, they finished photography for S1 here about 6 months ago. Expected to drop sometime in February, I think.

[Bartimaeus]

Midnight Mass, episode 6. I can't give this a stronger recommendation if you are at all into...

Spoiler

religious horror

It's a "mere" seven episodes long and it's on Netflix, and it is...uh, really something.

(e): Episode 7.

Spoiler

As horrifying as this series is, it was also beautiful, and that's what really does it for me. Kind of incredible and wonderful that Sharif is the only one...and only MAYBE at that, he did kind of keel over at the end there. I can't imagine what the news stories would look like after this for the rest of the world trying to figure out what in the world happened.

 

Edited November 25, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

Star Dreck, Venal Disease, Season 4, Episode 2.

Current Burnham crying counter is at 1 from last episode's almost cry face at the very end. Should that devolve into actual crying at the start of the second episode, I shan't increase the counter. Opening flashback features Ni'Var (formerly Vulcan) and Gray being seen by Dr. Culber, so we're probably going to advance these two stupid plotlines in this episode.

Well, here goes nothing.

Spoiler

Book is PTSD'ing in his ship, replaying his last moments on Gallifrey over and over. Michael shows up and wants to postpone some important visit (helpful voice over the PA called "Bryce" is dead set against it) to spend more time with Book who all but throws her out.

"I'm here for you, whatever you need." "I need you to go."

Burnham cries inwardly, without tears. Does that count? I'll decide later. The important guest turns out to be Saru. I guess Saru couldn't have waited for Burnham to show up when she's spending time with Book. Burnham very helpfully explains to Saru how Book is feeling, just in case the audience missed his 1000 yard stare, being mean to Michael and rewinding the end of Gallifrey over and over again. You know, because this is made for retards, or children. It's like the Teletubbies, only worse, and I thought that was impossible. Riker Saru refused command of the USS Aries Sojourn to get back to the Discovery. Michael does her tearless crying again.

Stamets and Tilly give a presentation. The anomaly is apparently a binary black hole that's hurtling across space, and it's gravitational waves are what... never mind. Please, get a science advisor. You pay these actors money to show up, money they're by far and large not worth, so just dock their pay. Book shows up to Elrond's ring council and everyone suddenly falls silent, but he's like "Yo, bros, keep goin', Imma just chillin' here and stuff".

What wrong with your faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace? Does anyone of you know if that's supposed to be a Ferengi?

The anomaly is going to enter the Riscot system next, and Michael wants to warn the other systems nearby because an anomaly like this could hurl debris quite some distance. Indeed they could, Michael, but even at relativistic speeds, it would take the debris decades to appear, but hey, the binary black hole already travels faster than light, so why not.

Right, I forgot, the anomaly is five light years in diameter. I'm guessing the Spirit of the Abyss created a new World Ship, because the old one didn't do the trick. Five light years.

President Rill...something wants a show of unity and prepare for civil unrest, because that anomaly threatens us all. Okay, so expanding the size of an anomaily to five light years doesn't treaten anyone except the systems directly in its path. This doesn't threaten "us all" any more than the Romulan sun going nova was threatening to destroy the entire galaxy when Jar Jar Abrams thought that could happen.

Galaxy is a small place these days, really. Sheesh.

Saru and Tilly are walking around Discovery. "Did you get taller?" "No." "Then you might have more swagger." "What?" "That was a compliment!"

Where be my rum at?

Tilly is still traumatized that Commander Whatshisface from last episode died 20 minutes after she got to know him. Gal has left all her loved ones behind and time jumped one millennia (sic!) into the future for no reason other than being able to make season three, but random red shirt really got to her. She even forgot how to act. She looks an awful lot like she wants to be anywhere else.

Saru gets to the bridge and says: Call me Ishmael Saru. Michael is like: How about Mr. Saru?

I'd be turning in my grave right now, but I'm as guilty of this sh*t being on air as any one else.

Commander Shepard has Joker open a shipwide channel to give a heartfelt speech about stopping the Reapers. This would be a bit more moving if the "enemy" here wasn't just a giant negative space wedgie that's randomly struck a planet along its path. Hey, but who knows, maybe the actors and characters all know more about this than they should, and the writers have "helpfully" keyed them in on some secrets to be revealed?

Just imagine he was talking about altering the path of a black hole that threatens something at the ass end of nowhere. How riveting!

So the space wedgie isn't what they thought it would be. They also all look really stupid because apparently the anomaly has a huge accretion cloud (what?) while they explained five minute and the intro sequence ago that the anomaly went undetected because it doesn't have one.

Booker says he'll take the ship into the accretion cloud to get more detailed scans of the anomaly. His ship has less mass than Discovery and is therefore able to get further in before the gravitational pull becomes too problematic, and the ship can change shape to compensate for the torque. Tilly says the science holds with a straight face.

Change shape to compensate for the grativational torque of a five light year diamater black hole while he's actively trying to penetrate the matter swirling around it.

Speaking of science, did you know that Walter White's meth cooking formula can't actually produce 99% pure meth, just roughly 50% pure meth?

Gray's Soong type android body is finished and waiting for Gray's memory transfer, or whatever it is they're planning to do. Any goodwill they had for referencing the Trill Rite of Emergency from Deep Space Nine is pretty much gone now. Oh no, they're actually referencing Star Trek Picard here. The body is made by Guardian Xi, and it will age... and there's some talk about transferring to a synthetic body to escape death, but that never took root because Picard was like a one in a million shot.

Yeah, I know how you feel. Was that paycheck really worth it?

Book is heading into the anomaly and Discovery loses artificial gravity for a couple of seconds, making everyone immediately float halfway up between their chairs and the ceiling of the set in a terribly looking special effect that ends with sparks flying from the walls. The gas based pyrotechnics are also still here. Oh boy, this looks so bad, and it happens again. I can't even explain how utterly stupid this looks when they fly up halway and Dumbledore then shows up to cast Arresto Momentum on them. Putting Book into this stressful a situation was a pretty bad idea, but Stamets is capable of talking some sense into him. Damn, I was hoping this would turn out to be a suicide mission.

Well, maybe it still will, Book's now lost it completely and is seeing his dead nephew. Cue dramatic music. Cue me not giving a rat's ass about any of these characters. Book ends up riding a grativational wave back to Discovery. Like Kite-surfing, the helpul analogy tells me. Tilly and Adira high-five each other. Yeah, we're back to a crew of stupid teenagers.

Tilly tells Culbert that she feels like something is off. Things aren't how they used to. Yeah, Tilly, it used to be that Star Trek was good entertainment, with some really great episodes, some not so great ones, many good ones and the odd terrible one every now and then, at least until Enterprise and the Next Generation movies made a mess of it. But, Tilly, look, ever since 2009, things have become unbearably bad.

And, Tilly, you're a huge part of that (no reference to her body type intended here). Please, tell me that this is you trying to say goodbye because you wanted to be written out of this. Please. Before it gets even worse. Oh, okay. Tilly just wants to sign up for a session with Culbert the Shrink. Sigh. Adira and Gray make the worst pun in Star Trek history. Why do you all suck so much? Adira has a breakdown over Commander Whathisface the Red Shirt from last week. At least Adira has a reason and is like 16 or 17 years old or some nonsense like this. Unlike Tilly, who has no reason to be this unprofessional.

Unprofessional is the name of the game though. Initially Michael wanted to refuse Booker's request to be allowed to fly into the anomaly because he ain't right in the head at this juncture in his life, but Saru convinced her otherwise. Good job, Saru. I thought that might go somewhere with the president dressing her down for taking unecessary risks last episode, but how stupid am I for thinking such a thing.

Episode ends with a meta-pun. Book and Michael talk, giving the show book ends. Get it? Because his name is Booker.

DO YOU UNDERSTANNNNNNNNNNNNNND?

Well, finally, Michael is crying.

I was wrong, the episode doesn't end with Michael and Book having a cry, it ends with Saru staring at the maw of Charybdis, with Tilly coming around to tell him that Discovery was hit hard because even though the ship held it's position relative to the anomaly, it changed direction. What a surprising turn of events, I never expected this to happen after the Citadel Council discussed the threat of the Reapers and Burnham tried to be Commander Shepard. It's almost as if they knew that there'd be more to it than just a flying gravity space wedgie.

CUE DRAMATIC MUSIC and a slow zoom out. DUNN DUNN DUNN!

Bad writing gonna bad.

Burnham cry counter is now one to three. That's one for real, and three time she had an inward sad.

One minor positive thing, this one was less offensive than the last one, but it cranked up the stupid writing and terrible science to eleven, evening it out. Terrible performances by all the actors, except for Abe Sapien, who continues to give it his best even through all the makeup and prosthetics.

Edited November 26, 2021 by majestic

[InsaneCommander]

The Wheel of Time 4:

If not the best episode, at least the best scene so far.

Say whatever you want, but they are doing a good job at

Spoiler

hiding who the Dragon Reborn is. Lan asks Moiraine if Logain is as strong as Egwene. Thom says Mat has all the symptoms of channeling. And Nynaeve heals many people quickly while shining with Saidar.

And this raises the question,

Spoiler

how did Logain see it? Did he actually feel goosebumps or pinpricks (what was the exact description in the books?) like before, with Aes Sedai, but now so much stronger that he could guess her power level? Or did she create some sort of bright weave while Healing with all five powers?

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

DO YOU UNDERSTANNNNNNNNNNNNNND?

Reported for not including the U at the end.

Oh yeah, and more Cowboy Bebop. This occupies the space as not being outright awful but not being nearly as good as the source material. A lot of the dialogue feels like they're doing a pastiche of Marvel movies and I don't like it.

Edited November 26, 2021 by KP Cross Split Attack

[InsaneCommander]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

Terrible performances by all the actors, except for Abe Sapien, who continues to give it his best even through all the makeup and prosthetics.

[Zoraptor]

14 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

The Wheel of Time 4:

If not the best episode, at least the best scene so far.

Say whatever you want, but they are doing a good job at

  Hide contents

hiding who the Dragon Reborn is. Lan asks Moiraine if Logain is as strong as Egwene. Thom says Mat has all the symptoms of channeling. And Nynaeve heals many people quickly while shining with Saidar.

Yeah, that was a pretty good episode. There's still issues with the approach taken but they're far more background niggle level and nitpicking now, and the pacing is just so much better post ep1. Don't think that's quite as much as a cultural phenomenon as that reviewer had it being, but certainly a lot closer than anything before. But then there's one thing that really drags the episode down massively...
 

Spoiler

no Else Grinwell. Who else is Lanfear going to mimic for ten seconds later in the series?

Yeah, there's some decent misdirection going on  with the Dragon's identity, with the 'one of five' and implication one of them was Logain. Thom does make a good case for Mat suffering early onset madness.

Quite a lot of lore/ info dumps too, and they were about as subtle as running through a conversation tree with an RPG's first significant NPC- but I can't think of a better way to get the information out so it may just be a price to be paid for adapting a lore heavy series. It does look like they've moved Owyn's gentling to a far more contemporary position relative to the 15 years previous or whatever in the books so it could easily have been him in the first ep. Channeling seems to take rather too long to actually do anything for my tastes, but then I guess TV is a visual medium and Aes Sedai tai-chi shows what they're doing. Also Logain doesn't really have much of an army judging by the rescue crew, just a couple of dozen extras running through a Bohemian Forest and was... kind of dumb standing around chatting. So, largely background niggle rather than anything massive.

On Nynaeve, if nothing else Loghain would have seen her hair standing on end, given the sheer amount of hair it would be impossible to miss. Doesn't quite explain the 'glows like the sun' or whatever the line was, but I'm happy enough overall to excuse some poetic license.

And in terms of flashbacks, we got one this episode. I wonder if they'll go the route of some other programmes and have flashbacks as cold opens for most episodes.

 

[Malcador]

Anyone watch that Blade Runner Black Lotus show ?

[Lexx]

6 hours ago, majestic said:

One minor positive thing, this one was less offensive than the last one, but it cranked up the stupid writing and terrible science to eleven

Big props to the writing team who always manages to top their last stupid from which we thought it's already as stupid as it gets.

 

I watched ep1 and 2 from Cowboy Bebop and tbh, I like it. Haven't seen the anime in a million years, but I remember a few details here and there. So far I'm not upset about it, even though it feels really cheesy at times.

Edited November 26, 2021 by Lexx

[Gorth]

On 11/25/2021 at 8:37 AM, Gfted1 said:

I wonder if they will cast 2010 or 2021 Miranda's ass?

Watch this space if they cast Yvonne Strahovski (sp?) as Miranda

[Sarex]

WoT episode 4. This is a completely different story in the world of WoT. I understand that some things needed to be done for the sake of the medium, but I disliked where it's gone so far. If I can make myself disassociate the books from the tv show, they I think I could enjoy it. So far it's not going great.

Edited November 26, 2021 by Sarex

[Raithe]

A couple of the potential issues they have with WoT...

Having all "main" character share fairly equal time on screen and on character development so the audience can grow to like any of them - as opposed to making it the Rand show perspective and only having the others come to the forefront 3 years down the road...

Having an actor play a five minute role in one episode, and have them return as a much more significant player 4 seasons later. Not really workable, so characters and their storylines will need to be shifted around if they do want to introduce them in the story.

 

I think this is falling into one of those "inspired by" rather than a literal following. I'm trying to keep in mind it's a tv show, not my books, and that the showrunner has really been engaging with the fan community at large for the last two years to manage expectations and explain why and how changes are being made. Not just slapping you with a wet sock in the face and leaving it at that.

 

[Hurlshort]

8 hours ago, Gorth said:

Watch this space if they cast Yvonne Strahovski (sp?) as Miranda

I would actually really like to see them do that. Unfortunately that would probably be entirely too sensible.

[Malcador]

8 hours ago, Gorth said:

Watch this space if they cast Yvonne Strahovski (sp?) as Miranda

A heavy risk...

Speaking of that, they can cast Ye as Jacob.  Well if he's not in an asylum

Edited November 26, 2021 by Malcador

[Gromnir]

11 hours ago, Gorth said:

Watch this space if they cast Yvonne Strahovski (sp?) as Miranda

kinda like the idea o' casting her as the illusive man.

HA! Good Fun!