The TV and Streaming Thread: US Writers/Actors Strike Edition

[Malcador]

An old show came to mind, Earth Final Conflict. Shamelessly filmed in Toronto, started off ok, but wow did it go off rails. Anyone else, ever watch that?

[ShadySands]

Yep, I used to watch that all the time.

[Zoraptor]

Looked it up on that font of all knowledge wikipedia and have no recollection of having watched it. Which would be odd given the amount of extremely average scifi I've watched over the years.

Speaking of which, I watched two more episodes of Discovery without any major gripes. Also without any major reasons for praise except for the lack of negatives. They're both rather contrived, but meh, so's Darmok or The Inner Light if you want them to be. No doubt some will hate the time travel though, and that did have one glaring omission..

Spoiler

..go back to Lorca era so we can see the much lamented and missed, uh, Arian? I can't even remember her name, and the only reason I remember her dying was because it was done so badly. If you were going back then you'd certainly be hoping for Isaacs or Yeoh, if not both. I do remember them saying they were hoping to get Captain Malfoy back for an episode, I'd presume it was this one.

 

[Raithe]

6 hours ago, Malcador said:

An old show came to mind, Earth Final Conflict. Shamelessly filmed in Toronto, started off ok, but wow did it go off rails. Anyone else, ever watch that?

It had a whole slew of faces in it that turn up constantly in the sci-fi industry that I still end up thinking I first recognise them from Earth Final Conflict.

As I recall, wasn't that based on another of Gene Roddenberry's ideas? It was along the lines of they took his notes and his widow guided the start up of the project based off them..

[Amentep]

It was based on a Roddenberry pitch in the 70s called Battleground Earth.  CBS (IIRC) liked the pitch, but Roddenberry was in the UK filming Spectre so wasn't able to immediately work something out; by the time he came back Paramount was gearing up for Star Trek Phase II and the whole thing got dropped until it was retooled to be Earth: Final Conflict in the mid 90s.

I rewatched the whole thing not long ago.  It gets really messy with all the cast changes and the resultant directional changes.  It also didn't help that - unlike Roddenberry's original pitch - the series was initially unclear about which side (human resistance or alien benefactors(?)) were the baddies.

In other news:

 

 

[Sarex]

The new Beverly Hills Cop. I have to say that it wasn't bad at all. Fits right in to the series and Wesley Snipes is still a great actor.

[Gfted1]

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F I loved it. I mean, check your brain at the door, its an homage to the 80's action movie to a "T" (including unnecessarily destructive car chases) and it leans into that motif in a good way. Nice seeing the old gang again too.  

[Lexx]

Watched it as well. Thought it was okish, but probably will never see again. Then again, was never that big on the Beverly Hills Cop movies anyways.

[LadyCrimson]

The new Beverly Hills Cop, too.

Although only about half. I fell asleep. That first half tho - well, it was certainly trying to follow the formula, and in that I think it half-succeeded. Certainly brings nostalgia. But I wasn't loving it - may not finish it. I can still watch the old film today and love it, and to me that's better than seeing something that's new, yet not new. Just me tho. What I saw of AxelF seemed light, homage-filled and entertaining enough, for what it is/supposed to be - not saying I disliked it, I chuckled a few times that first half. I just don't really see the point. Series should have ended with the 2nd one, anyway.  *grumpy old and is bored of everything, fart* 

Edited July 6 by LadyCrimson

[Hurlshort]

Axel F definitely basked in the pool of reminiscence. It was good if you loved the originals, which I do. Balky was there chewing the scenery. Paul Reiser was fantastic. The weird thing was Eddie Murphy looks like 40 and the rest of the cast looks ancient. He did make a joke about that though. Don't pay attention to the plot and just enjoy the 80's cheese. 

Kevin Bacon was a bit of a dud, which was surprising. Also Judge Reinhold was off, but I think he was trying to channel the old character and it just didn't come off well. Billy Rosewood was like a kid in the originals, but that looked weird from a 67-year old actor. Overall it was silly fun.

I'd say this was the weakest of Eddie's comeback tour, but it is still a heck of a lot better than no Eddie at all. I'd rate it like this:

1. Dolomite

2. Coming to America 2

3. SNL episode

4. Beverly Hill Cop 4

I don't know where to put Candy Cane Lane. It was fine for the holidays.

[Lexx]

Dolemite Is My Name was just crazy. That movie brought his name back on my radar instantly. Hadn't thought of him in like a million years before that.

[LadyCrimson]

To be honest, after Another 48 Hours (which wasn't as good as the first, ofc), I think the only thing I've seen of E. Murphy's that I liked since then (besides "DONKEY!") was Tower Heist (2011). Coming to America2 was ok but eh. But yeah, from that perspective what I saw of BHC/AxelF was one of the better things from him in forever.

Doolittle, Nutty Professor, Daddy Day Care etc - no thank you. I haven't seen Dolemite. After Daddy Day Care I stopped paying him any attention outside of "DONKEY!"

 

[uuuhhii]

house of the dragoon s02e04

didn't expect they make dragoon feel horrifying again

impressive

[Maedhros]

Yeah it was a breath of fresh air after what has to be one of the most outright boring episodes of GoT/HotD history.

[Malcador]

Season 2 of Earth Final Conflict, half of the fun is trying to catch what parts of Toronto were being used.  The show's writing is great where Zo'or will announce something and Sandoval will helpfully explain Zo'or's ulterior motives

[HoonDing]

That guy who plays the rebel leader in season 1 appears in basically every 90s show of note.

[Gfted1]

The Beekeeper

Meh, it was fine I guess, High Table (The Beekeepers) / John Wick (unstoppable killing machine) ripoff notwithstanding. I appreciate his attention to detail to merely wound the good guys while killing the bag guys.  

[LadyCrimson]

Relying on childhood memory watches again: (the first few seasons I probably saw in syndication, I was a bit too young for 1st run etc )

[Amentep]

I'm about to start a re-watch of 6 million dollar man.  have watched 2 of the original 3 TV movies.  Should watch the third this weekend, then start the series the week after that baring the unexpected.

Loved Emergency! as a kid.  One of the local channels re-runs it, so I'll sometimes catch an episode here and there.

[Malcador]

Earth Final Conflict season 3 is a slog. Renee is an annoying character, and the acting seems worse.  Watching this makes me very nostalgic for 2000 or so as I see the filming locations in Toronto though.

[Amentep]

For Earth: Final Conflict - They have a real tough time integrating Renee into the series and they struggle a good bit off and on with Liam too at this point.

Also I think because of the cast changes, they sort of forget what their characters goals are, which leads to a lot of back-and-forth character development and some confusing swerves.

EDIT: New Trailer:

 

[BruceVC]

On 7/14/2024 at 3:48 AM, Gfted1 said:

The Beekeeper

Meh, it was fine I guess, High Table (The Beekeepers) / John Wick (unstoppable killing machine) ripoff notwithstanding. I appreciate his attention to detail to merely wound the good guys while killing the bag guys.  

I watched Beekeeper last week, I like Statham movies but they almost all the same. 

One man takes on an army due to  being  angry or betrayed about something and he is able to dodge bullets and kill dozens of people 

But he couldnt kill the FBI in this case because they the  good guys so the wounding was expected 

I also laughed at the female Beekeeper with a cannon in  the truck, great strategy to destroy an entire garage and create mass carnage in a public space, that wont draw attention to the highly secretive Beekeeper program  

 

 

[Malcador]

13 hours ago, Amentep said:

For Earth: Final Conflict - They have a real tough time integrating Renee into the series and they struggle a good bit off and on with Liam too at this point.

Also I think because of the cast changes, they sort of forget what their characters goals are, which leads to a lot of back-and-forth character development and some confusing swerves.

Yeah, getting rid of Lily was a poor choice (Augur's reaction where he rages out to her reported death but fails to lift the chair always cracks me up).  The whole Resistance idea seems absent from this season as it seems to be a lot of Taelon internal politics.   Still haven't shaked the trope of Zo'or and Sandoval talking in public about how the thing they're looking or talking about is a front for a more devious scheme.

Ah well, I will suffer on through this.

[majestic]

The Acolyte season one finale:

I saw Darth Plagueis, and I CLAPPED. Then I saw Master Yoda and CLAPPED EVEN HARDER!

Spoiler

Osha, to no one's surprise, falls to the dark side and kills Master Sol, leaving the entire Jedi main cast of the season dead. The resolution of the main plotline was telegraphed episodes ago, and Osha and Mae even switched clothes so it would be painfully obvious, Mae clad in Osha's beige overalls and Osha wearing Mae's black Sith Acolyte apparel. Qimir turns out to be the fallen padawan of Master Lying Sack of Whatsherface.

The series thus sets up a sequel season and a reboot within just one episode. If nothing else, that's a ballsy move in case Disney decides to make a season two, which seems very unlikely at the moment. The reception was (rightfully, although the idiot hate parade dislikes The Acolyte for all the wrong reasons) lukewarm, as it was mostly boring and could have easily been a feature length film instead of eight episodes.

What resonates the most is, once more, the squandered potential: the idea that the Jedi are an order of decadent and arrogant hyprocrites lying to the senate and trying to weasel out of governmental oversight, thus preparing their eventually downfall at the hands of Palpatine, is a pretty good one for a series. A sliver of creativity? What a novel thing for Disney's Star Wars. Alas, what we actually got with The Acolyte is a rote Fallen Padawan story that would have best been told in standalone film, or better yet, not at all.

The other problems I complained about after watching the pilot episode never changed, of course. The shots remained flat, the characters are by far and large boring and as flat as the shots, and none of the action sequences meant anything*. That it was still better than The Mandalorian season three just shows how garbage The Mandalorian was.

*

Spoiler

The finale having an egregious one where Qimir and Sol fight each other to a standstill for no reason, as it is painfully clear that Osha will kill him, she even prophesied it ten minutes ago. There's no gravity to a low stakes scene like that. The choreography was okay, which is what the entire series probably was. Very "okay" - as in just not bad enough to be garbage, but also not worthwhile.

 

Edited July 17 by majestic

[Sarex]

Exploding Kittens. Actually pretty great, was pleasantly surprised.

Edited July 17 by Sarex