The TV and Streaming Thread: Pilot Week

[Lexx]

Well, that's pretty much why I haven't watched season 3 yet. I just lost motivation to keep going with it.

[Chairchucker]

I just watched episode one of The Lazarus Project. To caveat: I love time loops and I will watch anything and everything if it contains a time loop, including some dumb Hallmark movie called the 12 Dates of Christmas which I maintain was good because it had a time loop even if there are a bunch of things obviously wrong with it, like being a very predictable Hallmark movie.

 

With that caveat out of the way, The Lazarus Project seems very good so far. The time loop mechanism, while not explicitly laid out exactly how it works, is not the mystery it is in some time loop media, but there's still a degree of mystery as to when it will kick in, and what the flow on effects will be. Has shot up to number 2 on my personal list of 2022's best shows, just behind Moon Knight and in front of Obi Wan Kenobi. (It's entirely possible and even likely that Obi Wan will drop further, because Ms Marvel seems to be heating up, and Only Murders in the Building season 2 is about to start. I'm not certain I see either of them overtaking The Lazarus Project, though, unless that takes a steep dive after episode 1.)

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Peaky Blinders s6: The End of Peaky Blinders (until the movie)

It's good, but it doesn't work as a send off (hence the upcoming movie). Helen McCrory's absence is keenly felt throughout and while the show is less without her, it's still much better than most shows. I can't really say anything else without spoilers.

[ShadySands]

Dr Strangé - The weirdest episode of Grey's Anatomy that I've ever seen.

I laughed at the Raimi-ness of it but it was not good but I didn't mind it, other than the stupidity of it all. Wife hated it and actually thought it was scary.

[Bartimaeus]

Dark, season 2, episode 6: somebody who's already watched the show please make this make sense to me.

Spoiler

End of episode 5, Adam tells 2019!Jonas a big fat lie: the black hole that the Travellers have allows one to circumvent the time travel rules, which will allow Jonas to stop his father from killing himself, thus preventing Mikkel from going back in time, thus preventing Jonas from ever being born...and thus seemingly unravelling time altogether, or so it would seem. Except that the black hole works the same as the other one and the time machine, which I knew from the moment he and Martha kissed on the beach: from the very first episode of season 1, Jonas had already gone back in time and caused all of this to happen by telling his father that he was going to kill himself (thus causing his father to realize that he had to kill himself). That goes hand in hand with Tannhaus mentioning some episodes ago that time travel and the future intersecting with the past messes everything up and causes the origin point of information to be lost. All of that is fine and dandy, really.

Now...what doesn't make sense to me, and is a pretty explicit example of what I mean when I say that I value understanding characters more than understanding the story, is why Jonas goes along with all of this. Jonas is explaining to his father what happens so that the thing Jonas most in the entire world does not want to happen and which he has been extremely upset about since the very beginning of the show (his father killing himself), and in walks Sandra who tells him "sacrifices have to be made, and Adam is evil, so don't prevent your father from killing himself". Jonas has never met Sandra before, there is no reason for him to even believe her over Adam; this is the same Jonas who has been petulantly whining and yelling at anything and at anyone getting in the way of him preventing his father from killing himself along with all the other bad things that have happened since the first episode. In those thirty seconds that it takes Sandra to walk in and just tell him not to change anything while explaining so precious little as to why or what even separates her from from Adam (I'm really starting to suspect that Adam and Sandra are pretending to be opposed to each other but are actually completely in cahoots), Jonas' entire perspective flips and he's not only okay with letting his dad die, he's actively helping with it? Like...I know why the narrative has to be this way, I get it, but the trick with good character storytelling is making sure that the characters and what they feel, think, and do and all that is believable and makes sense, and it's been moments like this (though this one has been bigger than the rest) in this season where I become the question mark man...

...because while I may understand why things have to happen this way from the perspective of the narrative, I have often not understood why things happen the way they do from the perspective of the characters. It's really straining my ability to just go along with the narrative, and that really wasn't too much of a problem in the first season for me.

 

Edited June 29, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[Zoraptor]

Narrative having to be that way at least makes sense when it's time travel. In the end (or the beginning? :philosoraptor:) once you've got time travel involved you have the principle that things have to happen a certain way. Well, with a few caveats.

On the specific issue, IIRC there is an implied reason for why she was convincing though I don't think it was ever stated explicitly. I don't think it's anything you've missed though, I think it's revealed later. Very much IIRC though, since I watched Dark in 2020.

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, Zoraptor said:

Narrative having to be that way at least makes sense when it's time travel. In the end (or the beginning? :philosoraptor:) once you've got time travel involved you have the principle that things have to happen a certain way. Well, with a few caveats.

On the specific issue, IIRC there is an implied reason for why she was convincing though I don't think it was ever stated explicitly. I don't think it's anything you've missed though, I think it's revealed later. Very much IIRC though, since I watched Dark in 2020.

I guess that's what I don't like about this season. The first one kept the viewer in the loop on what the main characters were learning as the show went along, whereas in this one I only have a much vaguer grasp on what's happening with everyone because they've decided that the secret of the big mystery plot is more important than the character writing.

Also, I just realized I called Claudia "Sandra", whoops. Same thing, .

[Chairchucker]

Baymax!, while only being about 40 minutes total in length, (like, 7ish minute episodes?) is quite charming and heartwarming. I liked it, and if you've got Disney+, heck, may as well try out the first episode.

[InsaneCommander]

I found the end hilarious, with their speculation about Darth Plagueis for future seasons/shows.

[Hiro Protagonist]

Obi-Wan Kenobi. I found the series a waste of time. The whole Reva going after Luke could be edited out and if it was, the episode would have flowed better. It made no sense.

Disney lightsabers are so weak. Reva should have had a hole in her chest like Qui-Gon did to the door in Ep I.

The only good thing was the last episode with Obi-Wan visiting Leia and Luke at the end for me. That was it.

A lot of people rave about Vader vs Obi-Wan fight but we already had that with Ep III. It was just a remake. No story or character progression. They need to fix the issue of constantly putting the main character as a side character who tags along in their own adventure. 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Umbrella Academy s3. Much better than s2 in most ways, nice to see more of Reginald and get an idea of why he adopted the kids in the first place.

[Sarex]

1 hour ago, KP wants Blue Velvet said:

Umbrella Academy s3. Much better than s2 in most ways, nice to see more of Reginald and get an idea of why he adopted the kids in the first place.

I do dislike those cliffhanger endings, but that's the direction they chose to take with each season so can't fault them too much there.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

4 hours ago, Sarex said:

I do dislike those cliffhanger endings, but that's the direction they chose to take with each season so can't fault them too much there.

I'm not fond of them either, but this season finale was much less of one than the previous seasons. At least on terms of if this was the series finale it would work.

[Sarex]

2 minutes ago, KP wants Blue Velvet said:

I'm not fond of them either, but this season finale was much less of one than the previous seasons. At least on terms of if this was the series finale it would work.

I think the series finale is going to be

Spoiler

them impregnating their mothers.

That came out so wrong, but I'm going to leave it.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

27 minutes ago, Sarex said:

I think the series finale is going to be

  Reveal hidden contents

them impregnating their mothers.

That came out so wrong, but I'm going to leave it.

 

Honestly I don't know, I don't think that mystery is going to be the series finale but....spoilers ahoy for the season 3 finale

I think Reginald used his alien space magic dust to impregnate their mothers for the purposes of project oblivion, which required seven people with powers. In the time-line/universe they're currently in he didn't have to do that because he's pretty much got the timeline/universe that he was aiming for. I think he's aware of what happened and how it did, and I think that s4 will be about dopplegangers or something. I honestly don't know though.

[Sarex]

28 minutes ago, KP wants Blue Velvet said:

Spoiler

I think Reginald used his alien space magic dust to impregnate their mothers for the purposes of project oblivion, which required seven people with powers. In the time-line/universe they're currently in he didn't have to do that because he's pretty much got the timeline/universe that he was aiming for. I think he's aware of what happened and how it did, and I think that s4 will be about dopplegangers or something. I honestly don't know though.

Spoiler

I think they were the space magic dust, as you can see similar stuff coming out of them when they were being drained.

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

3 minutes ago, Sarex said:

  Reveal hidden contents

I think they were the space magic dust, as you can see similar stuff coming out of them when they were being drained.

 

Yeah they are. I think Reggie sprayed their moms with it, so in a way he is their real dad.

[Amentep]

 

[Gromnir]

11 minutes ago, Amentep said:

has been a couple months since we mentioned how much we loathe time travel as a plot device. do for laughs? ok. otherwise? is a few instances in which we overcame our dislike o' time travel, but am dubious a stranger things knockoff is gonna make us reassess.

HA! Good Fun!

[Amentep]

The comic PAPER GIRLS started a year before Stranger Things.

[Zoraptor]

Strange New Worlds ep9. Get the feeling there were a few similarities to another scifi franchise here, though they're pretty subtle so I'm not sure which one or how many people will notice.
 

Spoiler

OK, it's ripped from Alien/s right down to notNewt being the sole survivor. At least it's done pretty well. You do have to suspend rather a lot of disbelief with regards to narrative driven stupidity again, but that is faithful to source material that tried to handle xenomorphs with harsh language and had doofuses doing things like having a break outside their shuttle instead of keeping it sealed. I'll give them somewhat of a pass too as they established beforehand that all the really obvious things like "just run away, maybe?" wouldn't work, but you'd at least think if you thought there was any possibility at all of any sort of novel infection that you'd use the- working, since Chapel used it- force field to isolate the Space Jockey. You can't though, as then the plot doesn't happen.

Who knows, maybe they'll go the whole hog and La'an and notNewt are infected and will crash into a prison world next season or something, though they've already done the infected hero leaping off great height thing from Alien^3. Which leads to..

..I can't help but think that the deaths were done that way as a direct response to that much derided tear jerker death in Discovery S2. Introduce two disposable characters who die to zero emotional response and lull you into a false sense of security, then actually kill off someone important. Cue maudlin speechifying etc, but it's so much more palatable when the character referenced has some, well, established character- and it has influence on another's decisions. Shame it's Hammar though, he was one of the more interesting crew and I never even learned how to spell his name correctly.

So yeah, another decent episode that isn't close to a classic but also doesn't stink the place up as it would have had in the prior live action nuTreks.

Only one episode to go and there's only been one turkey so far. I never thought that would have been the case when I started.

[Gromnir]

29 minutes ago, Amentep said:

The comic PAPER GIRLS started a year before Stranger Things.

*eye roll*

so? does it get made now w/o the success o' stranger things? is it meant to appeal to a different audience or the same? compare the audience anticipated audience o' comic paper girls v. tv stranger things. coincidence? think not.

if Gromnir wants to make a knockoff o' _________, is not gonna be hard to find some ip with similar characteristics which nevertheless avoids copyright problems. predates, particular from a different media, is not exorcising the knockoff label in any meaningful way. sure, the paper girls comic weren't a knockoff, but the show most certain is.

HA! Good Fun!

 

[Zoraptor]

And Orville ep5- one of the better [currentyear] [currentissue] episodes I've seen, certainly handled better than the previous one did its issue..
 

Spoiler

..possibly because it was, essentially, all the episode was about rather than having the fakenews stuff as window dressing to a bigger plot. The Moclan attitude to gender was also clearly an issue that was going to be dealt with eventually given it was set up long ago. At points it got somewhat over schmaltzy for my tastes- You'll Never Walk Alone, not exactly subtle- and the solution to getting the Moclan not to throw a wobbly was... trite, and rather manufactured. If they were fundamentally OK with a sex change reversal but couldn't formally allow it due to tradition and law I could see them tacitly accepting it wholesale as fair accompli as they did; but all the indications are that they fundamentally aren't OK with it on the whole. And if they fundamentally aren't OK with it they would want something to show people being punished, not the equivalent of a nod and a wink.

So you'd realistically expect them to want at minimum the command crew sacked and Isaac banned, and they probably would have got it. As Admiral Wossname said, it'd still be incompetence even if they didn't know, and they did use notFed equipment etc. Plus I doubt Isaac is a licensed doctor... Overall though those are quibbles more than a genuine problem, and obviously couldn't happen narratively.

So yeah, pretty good episode. Long too, but didn't feel it which is always a good sign.

And from a nz perspective funny that I can instantly recognise Rena Owen's voice whatever make up she's in.

 

[Amentep]

8 hours ago, Gromnir said:

so?

I thought it worth pointing out.  The adaption may/may not be good, but I enjoyed the comic.

[Gromnir]

52 minutes ago, Amentep said:

 I enjoyed the comic.

well that has value. double-edged sword though, eh? the more it is faithful to comic, the less it is original and so you get nothing new. hews too much from source and then what value were there is using the comic save to convince a handful o' folks it ain't a knockoff 'causes it predates what it is attempting to replicate? 

imagine somebody does a beowulf tv show which is extreme popular. next thing you know, there is a bunch o' knockoffs... is a siegfried, arthur, hercules and a gilgamesh tv show and a half dozen other similar offerings. source material predating or post dating beowulf would not convince you the other shows is any less knockoffs.

no doubt you will convince self there is a difference. isn't. what makes the difference is you like the source material in the case o' paper girls (time travel? *groan*) and is looking forward to what is a clear attempt to glomp onto and generate similar appeal as stranger things. is a knockoff... which don't preclude your anticipation. doesn't even prevent paper girls from being better than stranger things. 

HA! Good Fun!