The TV and Streaming Thread: Summer Reruns

[Hurlshort]

11 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power review: Amazon's prequel is kind of a catastrophe

Can it be that bad?

Yeah. After Wheel of Time, I expect very little.

[majestic]

18 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power review: Amazon's prequel is kind of a catastrophe

Can it be that bad?

With Amazon's track record and after The Wheel of Time, do you even have to ask? The trailers sure looked terrible, and I half broke my brain trying to figure out when whatever was depicted is happening in the timeline, only to then notice that it never did, it's just fan fiction because spending a billion dollars on a TV show apparently doesn't buy one the right to all of Tolkien's world building. Baffling, really. I, of course, will be watching the series, but I'm sure confirmation bias will strike again and it will be as terrible as I expect it to be, even if it for some reason ends up being decent (like that second episode of House of the Dragon, that was fine, really).

edit: Ninja'ed by @Hurlshot or @Hurlshort or whatever is going on with his user names, on account of verbosity. Sigh.

Edited August 31, 2022 by majestic

[Zoraptor]

Yep, it most definitely can be that bad*. Though most of the reviews aren't as critical as that one there does seem to be a general theme that it's high on great visuals** but low on everything else.

*think I've said it here before, but its production had an awful reputation here. You can usually find people willing to praise even 'bad' products that were made here- eg Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell- as being 'nice places to work' or 'trying hard' or whatever; but I don't think I've seen anything beyond the most basic 'gave people jobs' type 'praise' for RoP. All the rumours very much suggest that the showrunners thought they weren't just better than Peter Jackson, but better than Tolkien too.

**though from the trailer it looks to me to suffer badly from 'Wheel of Time' syndrome; nice scenery, but everything looks like it's never been lived in.

[goddammit]

Edited August 31, 2022 by Zoraptor

[Sarex]

Someone needs to live inside the skin of those actors to be able to help it any. (wot, haven't watched lotr)

[majestic]

15 minutes ago, majestic said:

(like that second episode of House of the Dragon, that was fine, really)

Since I didn't do a full post, here goes nothing:

The second episode was fine, actually. Matt Smith seemed more like Daemon and less than The Doctor, but I still don't care for Rhaenyra's direction, which still seems to have been "try to look like Emilia Clarke" for no particular reason. The character interactions were much better too, and  the series did not try to one-up Game of Thrones in violence or nudity. The one thing I consistently dislike is the video game background feeling almost all of the scenes have.

The soft-focused CGI backgrounds that are clearly distinct from whatever is in front of the greenscreens don't really work for me, but anyone else's milage may vary (much like with certain CGI animals in a film recently released). A little less grandeur, a little more real props and sets, and this would have looked much better.

Looking forward to the time skip, hopefully Emma D'Arcy will make Rhaenyra her own. Also, hopefully, Rhaenyra will depicted as somewhat faithful to her historical accounts, because that would get a bunch of Dany fanboy's knickers in a bunch.

1 minute ago, Sarex said:

(wot, haven't watched lotr)

No big surprise here, it'll be on the 'air' on Friday, September 2nd.

Edited August 31, 2022 by majestic

[InsaneCommander]

41 minutes ago, majestic said:

spending a billion dollars on a TV

They do that and hire as showrunners two guys that worked only in one project: Star Trek Beyond. And they weren't even in the credits. Ok, it can be that bad.

[Chairchucker]

Apparently Rings of Power is getting overall positive reviews. I'm sure I'll enjoy it somewhat, but I'm one of those strange beasts who doesn't care at all about adherence to source material.

[HoonDing]

The Shannara show was kinda good, in restrospect. Even unironically good, if you compare to what's out now.

Edited September 1, 2022 by HoonDing

[Lexx]

Oh god. Shannara something-something was so bad. Like, I can't even start.

That said, I'm not trusting those reviewers anymore. For all I know it's all just a load of bs. Gotta wait for the opinions of non-critics.

[Zoraptor]

On this HoonDing is 100% correct, even unironically.

Shannara was a clunky low budget (though high for the network) MTV/ SpikeTV show featuring people chosen for looks rather than talent, but it was absolutely fine considering that was always what it was going to be. Same, perhaps more surprisingly, for Sword of Truth- and that's one series where actively avoiding/ changing the source material was a good thing given the source material. Both shows were far more on the, hmm, 'Monkey' or 'Hercules' side of the serious drama scale than the Game of Thrones side too.

A particularly bad experience can retroactively improve ratings for other shows. One might not like vanilla ice cream all that much for dessert but it's at least functional and achieves what it aimed for. Though Shannara and SoT were probably closer to a McDonalds Sundae... Something like WoT though? Durian, brussels sprout, anchovy and soy sauce sorbet with a carolina reaper jus and turnip garnish. Makes anything else more palateable just thinking about it, and the inexperienced chef pontificating about how awesome it is and how much he's improved on and updated the original is just the metaphorical icing on top.

[Amentep]

 

 

[xzar_monty]

23 hours ago, Chairchucker said:

Apparently Rings of Power is getting overall positive reviews. I'm sure I'll enjoy it somewhat, but I'm one of those strange beasts who doesn't care at all about adherence to source material.

The amount of usable source material is so scant here that an awful lot has to be invented no matter what. It seems like it would be a lot easier to just create a world and write good stuff for that world instead of making up stuff for Tolkien's world. But of course there's that world "Tolkien" which spells, at the very least, interest, and, quite possibly, big bucks.

Edited September 2, 2022 by xzar_monty

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

Spoiler

I didn't watch it lmao

 

[Chilloutman]

anyone saw Day Shift from Netflix? I just read some review and it sound like fun B movie

[uuuhhii]

9 minutes ago, Chilloutman said:

anyone saw Day Shift from Netflix? I just read some review and it sound like fun B movie

typical netflix problem

start and middle are great

ending are awful

have to set up sequel and spin off

[Hurlshort]

1 hour ago, Chilloutman said:

anyone saw Day Shift from Netflix? I just read some review and it sound like fun B movie

I enjoyed it. The world building was surprisingly complex for what really was a Vampire B-movie. If you enjoy Snoop Dogg, you will enjoy this. He is the star.

Is this connected to Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter?

[ShadySands]

1 hour ago, Chilloutman said:

anyone saw Day Shift from Netflix? I just read some review and it sound like fun B movie

It is

...

I haven't watched the new LOTR or GOT. I'm not really down for weekly shows anymore and I didn't even bother with the entire last season of GOT. Maybe I'll check them out eventually... same for She-Hulk but I skipped the show before that too.

I've been thinking of all the streaming services I have that I think Disney+ will be next on the chopping block. Whenever my 3 year subscription finally expires unless they renew the Orville and only show it on D+. Also will probably drop HBO which I get through Hulu but since I only watch Johnny Olives on there it's not worth the 10 bucks (they keep trying to raise the price to 15) I pay for it. That'll leave me with Hulu, Nefflix, and Prime (I also don't watch anything on Prime but I have it for the shipping).

Edited September 2, 2022 by ShadySands

[Lexx]

Watched Day Shift a little bit on the side. It's .... ok I guess. Problem is that I get bored fast by movies like that, and it did feel kinda long in the end.

[Raithe]

 

[Zoraptor]

Late to the party but I watched Mr Robot having had it recommended to me. Overall I liked it a lot, but..
 

Spoiler

..its central problem is also its central strength- the unreliable narrator. Which is great in theory, but has practical problems.

So 'Eliot' himself being a subsidiary personality wasn't much of a shock, the combo of him trying to snog his sister and Mr Robot being a subsidiary personality made it likely. It also kind of degraded the stakes, along with swapping over to trying to 'help' e-corp recover. Despite there not really being another 'haha fooled you' type moment the possibility there was going to be... dunno, kind of like waking up and finding a previously dead Bobby Ewing in your shower or the "it was all a dream" ending primary school teachers warn you about. I also found it rather difficult to credit that a conspiracy of the global elite would keep all its money in one bank, even if it wasn't all of each members' money. They did an excellent job making the Dark Army/ Jiang/ White Rose villains, but their ending/ resolution stretched credulity a bit too far.

Not entirely sure how I feel about all the villains being kind of caricatures either. On one hand it makes them memorable as you're unlikely to forget a sociopathic taxidermist or flamboyant used car salesman, on the other... guess it makes it more believable that the whole thing was a simulation. Probably the most important consideration is that whacking said sociopathic taxidermist and the amateur philosopher drug dealer gave the right emotional response when they happened (White Rose's end, was more of a "huh? OK, I guess"

Also, E-corp's logo was Enron's old one! Donald Trump was at the big clandestine meeting! Yeah, so not overly subtle, at times, though I guess that all added to the 'simulation'/ game type feel, which was clearly intended even before the last two episodes. But it went a bit too far into 'cartoony' for me to be completely satisfied.

Far more positives though, with some excellent episodes. It was well written, good dialogue, nice balance of action and the hacks were done with a good balance of realism and entertainment.

 

[majestic]

Rings of Boredom: Going through the motions

I expected to hate this, based on the critique linked earlier, but it is arguably worse. It is boring. Pretty, sort of, but boring. Plus, it looks much closer to The Hobbit in style (particularily the characters) than Lord of the Rings, which is a pretty negative in my book. The dwarves look comical, the elves aren't at all glorious, aloof or any of the other things they're supposed to be (even Liv Tyler was a better elf than the cast of elves here), the humans are just simply there and the Hobbits... why are there even Hobbits in this, other than BECAUSE IT IS A LORD OF THE RINGS SHOW. So far this is what this show is, it is showing us quite clearly, and quite loudly and very often(ly ), that is it has something to do with Lord of the Rings.

Galadriel: Ninjas Die Twice

Well, that one made me facepalm, but it then quickly gave way to the ennui that accompanied the rest of the two episodes. Galadriel is a ninja elf capable of singlehandedly killing a troll where her entire troupe of warriors - presumably at least semi-competent - fail. Following the fight, she faces desertion of a sort. None of them want to keep following her. She's also capable of swimming across half an ocean. Or almost. Certainly is preciously little reason and reasoning in jumping off a ship in the middle of the sea, but this Galadriel is more brawn than brains anyway.

The Dwarves: A tradition

So, well, with Gimli being a mostly comic relief for Lord of the Rings, there's preciously little option than to make them comic relief here too. For a noble dwarv, Durin sure has no table manners and lacks any diplomatic tact, but at least he's a jolly good fellow, which nobody can... I mean, which the series somehow needed. Still, eh, there's only so much of Durin and Elrond doing a stone breaking contest over a perceived slight I can take.

Motions

So, eh, yeah. This tries really hard to check off all the boxes. There's a troll, dwarves are loud and silly and have beards (or not), men are racist against elves, elves are racist against men, there's a romance, it's all... very, very Lord of the Rings, with a touch of The Hobbit insofar as that the characters look like they're straight out of The Hobbit, rather than Lord of the Rings. Which is a detriment, I would say.

To think that I once complained that Liv Tyler isn't very elven.

In closing

Well, I'm not going to talk about the casting choices when it comes to casting minorities. There's a black elf, a black dwarf and a black hobbit so far. The characters at least don't feel entirely like token minorities (unlike Gay and Gay Too, the gay couple from Discovery, whose only defining trait is being a gay couple). We could debate about how there are no black elves in Lord of the Rings, because Tolkien's mythology has a light vs. dark / good vs. evil theme that very literally expresses itself in looks, and that a black elf would quite frankly be spoiled by evil, but that's been co-opted by weirdo white supremacists and whatnot, so nope, not interested.

Other than that, it's fairly meh. Nothing much of interest happens, except something falling from the sky, in a rather literal manner. Oh, and yes, the first two episodes are full of Star Trek: Picard season 2 flowery talk, except it is much more fitting for elves to speak that way than for Q and Picard.

Could have been worse, I guess. Still, not sure why this is a thing, other than Jeff Bezos wanting his own Game of Thrones. Turn it on if you feel like watching two hours of mostly nothing set in Middle Earth. It'll be 50 hours at some point anyway.

Edited September 2, 2022 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

the elves aren't at all glorious, aloof or any of the other things they're supposed to be (even Liv Tyler was a better elf than the cast of elves here)

Now that you mention it, even though Liv Tyler was my least favorite character and casting choice for the original trilogy, she did still fit in much better than the bozos they had in The Hobbit trilogy. I've been pretty cruelly mocking Arwen and how she's used in those movies practically my entire life at this point, I guess I should cool it since it could've been worse.

God willing, I will be watching nothing of The Rings of Power.

Edited September 2, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[Hurlshort]

I watched episode 1 of Rings of Power. I enjoyed it. It is fair to say it is closer to The Hobbit films. But it was still a nice trip to Middle Earth and I thought the acting was well done.

[uuuhhii]

feels like ring of power have too many main character

and 3 of them are very boring elf

 

[HoonDing]

Galadriel already married Celeborn in the First age when she was chilling in Doriath.