The TV and Streaming Thread: Summer Re-reruns (it's always summer somewhere)

[Sarex]

So the fourth season of the umbrella academy will be the last. Did not expect that, thought they would milk it for all its got.

Edited February 2, 2023 by Sarex

[uuuhhii]

last of us s01e03

feels like watching a good low budget movie

would watch 20 episode of this kind of survivor of apocalypse story with each episode follow different group of people

[LadyCrimson]

Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile via Netflix - family movie, cgi singing crocodile, live action otherwise, Javier Bardem (he's not the crocodile)

The 10 minute opening was great, baby Lyle was adorable, I could watch that bit repeatedly. It's not really similar to it/wasn't comical, but that singing frog cartoon came to mind a couple times. The rest becomes a kid/family musical movie that is passable but nothing special. Young lonely teen+parents, + adult Lyle + some mean neighbor shenanigans. There's also a CGI cat. Anyway, Javier's performance as a singing magician was great/fun. Maybe 15 minutes too long for a "kids movie" with one of those overlong memories flashback montage sequences.

[bugarup]

Finished 1899. It ended just as it got interesting. On the other hand, do I trust creators of Dark to make good science fiction with believable humans? No, I do not, so maybe it's for the best to mourn the might-have-been-great possibility than witness wtf-was-this. 

I probably just have to watch "The Expanse" already. And look for some series that progress plausibly and has "Well, that does make sense" ending. 

[BruceVC]

37 minutes ago, bugarup said:

Finished 1899. It ended just as it got interesting. On the other hand, do I trust creators of Dark to make good science fiction with believable humans? No, I do not, so maybe it's for the best to mourn the might-have-been-great possibility than witness wtf-was-this. 

I probably just have to watch "The Expanse" already. And look for some series that progress plausibly and has "Well, that does make sense" ending. 

But the ending, wow. You never would have predicted that 

I know the official statement is no season 2 but hopefully that changes?

[Zoraptor]

The ending is fairly easily predictable in the general sense and is near exactly the same as at least one other series* though presumably as it is for a different in universe reason.

The funny thing about Netflix and its algorithm is that it almost certainly thinks my favourite stuff is like Squid Game or Bridgerton or something because I watched them over a short period; but I wouldn't actually pay a cent for either. Even though I didn't think 1899 quite worked as intended I'd still pay to watch it not quite work but with a decent amount of ambition- but The Algorithm would have counted me as one of the people who didn't complete it because I took more than a month to watch.

*

Spoiler

The US version of 'Life on Mars' had them as astronauts on a trip to Mars with their brains kept busy in a simulation while in suspended animation.

 

[Malcador]

Been watching an old animated show called Delta State on Youtube, remember skimming past this on Teletoon.  First fully rotoscoped TV show, apparently.  Nothing amazing and they cut it off before resolving anything but was interesting enough.  Watching it I can't stop thinking one could make a nice P&C adventure game with this, given the powers the 4 protagonists have.

[Hurlshort]

I dig it.

[uuuhhii]

On 2/7/2023 at 12:07 AM, Hurlshort said:

I dig it.

fake commercial are the best for years

still rewatch that neurotology video every few month

Edited February 8, 2023 by uuuhhii

[LadyCrimson]

^ Yeah I saw most of those SNL clips. Most were pretty good. I haven't watched any SNL in ages, I only recognize one face in that troupe now, lol.

Last of Us eps 4 started as more filler in the sense of a lot of slow relationship building. It was good tho and for those that like more direct momentum there's some of that too. I was hoping the Ellie dynamic was being done in part to make some stuff more impactful and I think that's working. By the end of the episode I was liking her more, like I did in the game.

I am wondering tho, in all these post-apoc shows, how long *does* auto gas stay viable enough to actually work to make a car go vroom? Everything I've read indicates maybe a few months to a few years depending on various factors, and all these shows, even if they have a toss away line about the topic, having people siphoning/using gas 5, 10, 20+ years later. >.>

Edited February 6, 2023 by LadyCrimson

[Hurlshort]

2 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

^ Yeah I saw most of those SNL clips. Most were pretty good. I haven't watched any SNL in ages, I only recognize one face in that troupe now, lol.

It's pretty much a new cast this year. Kenan Thompson is the exception. I can't believe he has been there for 20 years! I wonder if he takes over when Lorne retires...

[Hiro Protagonist]

Legend of Vox Machina Season 2 finished. Can't wait for Season 3.

[LadyCrimson]

The Last of Us, episode 5:

...that was the best one yet. Had everything. The pacing of this show, episode to episode, is on point. The supporting actors are (mostly) fantastic. Thumbs way up.

[Raithe]

 

[Lexx]

Imagine someone makes a tv show based on a video game and it is actually good. That's The Last of Us. Really hate having to wait a week between each episode. Probably would sit through the whole night if I were able to.

[majestic]

The first five minutes of Star Trek: Picard Season 3 are about as dumb as the rest of the series was. What a grand opening. This is fantastic.

Spoiler

A group of Predators show up to hunt Beverly Crusher who went from being a Doctor to a seasoned combat veteran in the past 25 years, and the predators are too stupid to hit her point blank with a rapid fire pulse laser cannon.

 

[Sarex]

We need to organize an intervention for you majestic.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 minute ago, Sarex said:

We need to organize an intervention for you majestic.

We should replace every episode of nutrek with Peter Watkins' 6 hour film La Commune (Paris, 1871).

[Lexx]

You mean to tell me that after the terrible STD, and the terrible s1 and s2 of Picard, the new s3 is also bad?! This can't be true!

Funny, the only nutrek that I kind of enjoy is the lower decks. I'm probably having way different expectations for it, which is why I'm fine with lots of the stuff they do. On the other hand, the lower decks also has a lot less stupid stuff in the first place.

Edited February 16, 2023 by Lexx

[majestic]

Personal highlight of the episode: Random captain of a ship telling Picard that he basically does not like him because he's always galavanting off on some irresponsible adventure or two.

[Zoraptor]

Somewhat related, I watched Witcher Blood Origin recently. Mainly related because I very much suspected before starting that I would... have some issues with it.

However I actually ended up really enjoying it! Nice to have a pleasant surprise for once.
 

Spoiler

No, gentle reader, not really. It was, perhaps, the most stereotypically Netflix series I have ever watched. Meticulous concern for making sure every conceivable minority is represented; storyline, verisimilitude and pretty much everything else not so much. Still at least better than Wheel of Time. Not a high bar that.

My particular favourites plotting wise, and there are a lot of oddities to chose from: "don't worry, I'll keep her within the shadow of my blade". Not even two seconds later wanders off through a portal with 'her' nowhere close; once through the portal she is never closer than about twenty meters away inevitably leading to Shenanigans. Nice one Eredin, you're not just an intergalactic space nazi, you're an abject moron too. Then there's Michelle Yeoh 'betraying' everyone. No reason for her no keep any of her companions in the dark except... then the audience would know it was fake. Awful, lazy plotting, find a better way to do that or don't do it at all.

Kindest thing I can say about the themes and scripting is that some bits were maybe OK. Mostly they were the deadly combo of maudlin, sanctimonious and preachy though*. SFX was Xena/ Hercules++, actual locations and costuming was mostly fine, except the elf city. Pity, since that was the main location. The acting was also, mostly, OK considering what they had to work with, which was a trite and erratic script with 1d characterisation. On that subject it did try pretty hard to add depth to the bad guys, it was just... really, really bad at it. So, the poor princess murders her brother because she's going to be married off, Lenny Henry is discriminated against because he's poor, and Eredin is gay with a poor(ish) lover. At least Lenny Henry looked like he was trying to make something out of it and came closest to succeeding.

Verisimilitude was really, really bad. Not quite WoT bad, but not far off at all. Nothing happened as you might imagine it could. The scale was off massively; the battles were Xena/ Hercules size, for a continent spanning empire. I bet the initial party of soldiers wished they'd brought more than one archer or ten men or, well, shot their intended target instead of her sister, twice. And, of course, they were being recalled to Xintrea for the big meeting, but it was blatantly obvious that even if they'd agreed they could never have got back in time. Plus just killing the rulers and declaring yourself empress over three warring kingdoms is not exactly believable either. The only plot logic was that things happened because without them the plot doesn't happen.

Then, after four pretty mediocre hours you don't even get the interesting bit, ie the conjunction of the spheres. le grand Sigh, as the french would say.

Not a good advert for post Cavill Witcher. At all.

*good lord, if I hear that Black Rose song again I'd seriously consider putting a power drill through my eardrum.

 

[LadyCrimson]

On 2/13/2023 at 3:40 AM, Lexx said:

Imagine someone makes a tv show based on a video game and it is actually good. That's The Last of Us. Really hate having to wait a week between each episode. Probably would sit through the whole night if I were able to.

I'd definitely watch it in one fell swoop. Which was my original plan, to let finish before watching more, but then when I see a "REACTION TO NEW EPISODE" thumbnail in my YT algorithm, I go "oh, a new one's out now?" and run to turn on HBO. I haven't felt very impatient tho, weirdly enough. Maybe because the episode-ends typically aren't mega-cliffhangers? They're almost self-contained in a way, so far, albeit with plot threads/goals weaved throughout.

Edited February 17, 2023 by LadyCrimson

[ShadySands]

Finished Strange New Worlds. My complaints from before are still the same but I still enjoyed it enough to finish it, which was the biggest surprise since I dropped Picard during the first season and Discover after the second.. but that was pretty much just a hate watch at that point. I'd compare SNW to the first season of Enterprise, not great and different but just familiar enough, if that makes any kind of sense.

[bugarup]

Watched first two seasons of "The Killing" which was based on Danish "Forbrydelsen" which is one of my favourite TV, so yeah, I should have known and can't blame it on anything but myself. Like, what was I expecting really. 

[Zoraptor]

The US version of The Killing is actually not bad at all, it's just nowhere near as good as the Danish original. The US version definitely needs to be watched first (and they're different enough that it doesn't really spoil the original).