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


Raithe

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It's pretty much a miracle that Andor turned out the way it did. I have no idea how the hell that could happen, considering the quality of everything else Star Wars.

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"only when you no-life you can exist forever, because what does not live cannot die."

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3 Body Problem being good isn't that much of a surprise. The parts of Game of Thrones B&W did as an adaptation of the books was excellent. While the ending does tend to retroactively stink up the series as a whole the praise they got for the adaptation part was justified. Since 3 Body Problem is also an adaptation it ought to be closer to GoT S1-4 quality than GoT S8.

Plus, no Star Wars films on the horizon any more that they want to rush off to.

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DC League of Super-Pets. My son was glued to the screen like never before and my wife and I really enjoyed it as well.

On 3/25/2024 at 12:59 AM, Lexx said:

It's pretty much a miracle that Andor turned out the way it did. I have no idea how the hell that could happen, considering the quality of everything else Star Wars.

I'm kinda curious to check it out but also not. I know that doesn't make any sense.

Free games updated 3/4/21

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Watched 1st episode of Netflix's 3 Body Problem.

I didn't hate it. I didn't like it overmuch, either. More specifically it didn't catch my interest enough to care.  Much more typical current US series style/methods, which I'm no longer very fond of. It's not that it's bad per se, it's just boring. At least that Chinese version was above average interesting visually for a while and started out intriguing, even if it became over extended re: run time to sell more adspace or whatever. 😛

Maybe it becomes more interesting in a few episodes. Probably won't watch more to find out.

“Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.” – Alan Watts
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3 Body Problem

Watched all 8 episodes. I think it's well adapted, even though they changed the characters, ending up with very different protagonists in most cases. Dumbing down the story is understandable since they would want to make a show for a wider audience. My biggest problem is that the events in the present time don't really look like a global problem since, except for the last episodes, almost everything happens in London and of the 8 or so protagonists, 6 know each other and 5 are a part of a group that studied together.

 

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Watched the first two Fallout episodes. As a big fan of the game series all the way back to its roots in 2008 and having played all of Fallout 3, 4, Shelter and 76* I am fairly pleased so far. Definitely looking forward to watching the rest of the episodes, and that is not as common as I'd like.

TLDR: 1st episode is disjointed (it's a Prime TV show, after all), 2nd is a lot better. Probably comes about as close to capturing the mass market fallouts as anything could, and has some encouraging signs of 1/2/NV too.
 

Spoiler

To be fair to the first episode it's almost entirely scene setting for those who don't know the setting already, but it's kind of slow, very long, and definitely disjointed due to the number of POV and set up. As above, the PoV thing was a major issue with Wheel of Time and Rings Of Power and is pretty obviously some sort of, uh, Prime Directive, shall we say. 2nd episode is far better due to most of the POVs having rapidly coalesced, even if it all feels a bit convenient. The Vault Dwellers are all naive morons, BoS are Richard Craniums, there's a dog, dozens of visual throwbacks to the games etc. The BoS being awful is probably the best sign so far, portrayed initially as if they're F3/4 'nice guys' but practically seem far closer to the F1/2 type sanctimonious quasi religious dongs- as they should be since it's west coast.

The protag is basically running through the Fallout 3 opening so far complete with Vault attack and "have you seen my dad, middle aged guy?" to everyone she meets (albeit with photo, so not as dumb as in F3). Ben Linus is a scientist on the run from (I think, only mentioned once so far) the Enclave with his dog and with bounty hunters chasing him. It is also, of course, rather cartoony (especially Walton Goggins' ghoul, not exactly out of place given it is Fallout though) and much like WoT/ RoP has a few dodgy looking sfx but has the right feeling scale, good costuming, good set designs (or LED projections?) etc which is an improvement on both. Dialogue and direction is fine to excellent, again a significant improvement, and given the limitations of it being the first episodes.

Overall, I am actually looking forward to the next six episodes. Not really due to the plot at least so far, but still...

*I feel vaguely dirty typing that, but feel vaguely compelled after the number of "played all the games: 3,4 and 76!/ Captured Bethesda's genius!" that I have read.

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15 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

*I feel vaguely dirty typing that, but feel vaguely compelled after the number of "played all the games: 3,4 and 76!/ Captured Bethesda's genius!" that I have read.

For what it's worth, it did raise my hackles 👍

Civilization, in fact, grows more and more maudlin and hysterical; especially under democracy it tends to degenerate into a mere combat of crazes; the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary. - H.L. Mencken

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Nothing important, but since HBO is now MAX, I noticed they had some of those true-crime shows I liked from whatever channels they were ages ago.

So I'm working my way through some seasons of Homicide Hunter/Lt. Joe Kenda. I remember liking a couple seasons of that, and there's a lot more seasons. They use a persistent actor to play young Joe Kenda during re-enactments. Sometimes it's rather cheesey, sometimes less so, the music is always way over-dramatic, but they're shortish and Mr. Kenda himself has this dry delivery and occasional sense of humor I find watchable. Just one of those good for casual viewing while eating/exercising shows (which seems to be almost the only time I watch video media anymore).

There was also apparently a semi-recent Forensic Files 2, which I didn't know existed. I loved the old original one from the late 90's, back before such shows were quite so cheesy/over-dramatic. It was probably mostly what got me on that whole kick in the first place (well that and CSI...). FF 2 isn't as good but it's still better than most modern shows. The first few episodes the new narrator (Bill Camp) was totally overboard and I thought "oh no" but they must have told him to take it down several notches and became at least tolerable. The original Forensic Files narrator (Peter Thomas) had the most awesome voice for such, but he passed.

 

Edited by LadyCrimson
“Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.” – Alan Watts
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Finished the Fallout TV show. TLDR: not as good as the Amazon Marketing Blitz™ has it being, but still pretty good and gets a fairly strong recommendation from me. Mostly consistent with the games too- some issues with Fallout 1 especially, unsurprisingly it's less consistent with the west coast Fallouts than east coast given it's set near LA.

I'll use nested spoilers for the big stuff

Spoiler

Since it's probably of most general interest here, the differences/ inconsistencies I noticed vs the games were obviously Shady Sands' location. Far too close to LA. Oddly enough it seems that V13 and V15 are still in the same place though, since there's a map of all the vaults' locations in the last episode. Having lots of Vaults- either four, or two depending on how you measure it- in and around LA is a bit of a problem for Fallout 1 since the Master was searching for Vaults and their entrances aren't exactly hidden. Could maybe get away with Vault 4 being useless due to plot reasons, but V33's entrance is just kind of sitting there, obvious. A lot of people have said that there's an inconsistency with FNV- also includes last episode spoilers below- too over when...

Spoiler

...Shady Sands got nuked but there clearly isn't really ('fall of NCR 2277' in show --> 'mushroom cloud' implies it happened after 2277, so not necessarily incompatible, just a bit clumsy). Also the last scene very heavily implies New Vegas as a location next season (it's literally a 100% recognisable distance shot of NV), and Mr House is in the episode earlier in a flashback. Not looking quite as Walt Disney/ Andrew Ryan as in the game, but recognisable even without the name tag. Pretty clearly fans from that, I'd say.

I'd say about as consistent as could reasonably be expected. Other things to note: no supermutants (well, maybe one, and not the cameo in The Enclave- which is mentioned twice and shown once in flashback, its status is unclear), no deathclaws except a skull right at the end. Doesn't really miss them.

Plot wise, it probably does a decent job of subverting expectations in the non late season GoT sense. Brotherhood are far more BIS/ Obsidian type than Bethesda, ie knobs, the main framing plot is superficially F3's find your/ their dad but resolves a lot better (and certainly better than the execrable original F3 ending which made ME3's look like The American's or MASH finale by comparison) though I have some questions about its practicalities too. As always with Prime/ Amazon, far too many PoVs- 6, I think, including one character's flashbacks- mess with the pacing. There are some unanswered questions..

Spoiler

..like how Mordaver survived so long or how Hank nuked Shady Sands that aren't explained. Also half of LA lighting up because of cold fusion seems a bit... overdone, even if it is game/ comic book logic plus Maximus surviving given it isn't touchy feely Bethesda BoS. Also obviously needs resolution in other areas like the 2077 flashbacks of Cooper and his family.

While a lot of people have called it 'woke' it isn't really. Or at least isn't in the same way Doctor Who isn't- both have always been progressive. Lucy probably is a Mary Sue in the less perjorative sense since she would fit perfectly for a speech/ charisma build in a game, but comparisons to Rey from Star Wars are a mile off. Does tend to look like she's constantly retouching her makeup though...

Otherwise, acting is good scripting is believable, the world building is excellent and the sets are generally great. Maybe some evidence of budget issues not having any laser/ plasma weapons, supermuties or deathclaws? Light years ahead of WoT/ RoP in those regards anyway, and in directing. The only big theme criticisms/ concerns I have at this point are..

Spoiler

..whether it's a good idea making Vault-Tec the big bad and how that's going to hold up long term. I'm not sure the flashback/ framing in 2077 will work and was one of the major contributors to the pacing issues.

Overall and as in the TLDR I'd give it a fairly strong recommendation. Far from perfect, but as good as I reasonably expected it to be.

 

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On 3/24/2024 at 11:59 PM, Lexx said:

It's pretty much a miracle that Andor turned out the way it did. I have no idea how the hell that could happen, considering the quality of everything else Star Wars.

Yes, easily the best of their live action series, although their animated series were decent at times.

"It has just been discovered that research causes cancer in rats."

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Hubby: (who has never played any Fallout) "Ppl keep telling me it's good, were you going to/do you want to watch it (together)"  (asks several times, eg he's impatient and I keep forgetting)
Me: "Ok, ok, I'll try it." - (I've played 1.5 games/know of the older games and a lot of memes but I'm not a Fallout deep lore person)

...we also did 2 episodes. I kind of liked it. Kept my attention, mostly, anyway.  I liked the short prologue bit almost better then the rest, perhaps, but the rest was fine/felt as Fallout as a TV show probably could. The episodes felt a little long and maybe a little laborious but not in an annoying way/it's fine. There's nitpicking I'd do re: world and situation buildup (not main plot, I mean loose thread type stuff). Doesn't really hurt the show I guess, it just left me scratching my head about some background things, here and there, especially the 1st episode.  :lol:

...dog is cute. Of course it is.
...anyway, it's ok for Prime. Music,costumes, and camerwork/scene settings were nice. Not an instant binge-watch for me (but not much is anymore) but it's decent for what it is/I can understand general praise. I might finish it if I remember. I told hubby it's fine if he wants to finish it without me. 😛

 

Edited by LadyCrimson
“Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.” – Alan Watts
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My friend roped me into watching Rebel Moon 2. He knows damn well that I hate Zack Snyder, but I made him watch Things, and this is my penance. I deserved this, no one should ever be made to watch Things.

Anyway, here's my review of RM2: 200w.gif?cid=6c09b952wqboddbz248q6brdk5g

I'm already looking forward to the Snyder apologists telling me about how the 7 hour long director's cut is going to make this pile of $#!+ make some sort of sense.:wowey:

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49 minutes ago, Keyrock said:

My friend roped me into watching Rebel Moon 2. He knows damn well that I hate Zack Snyder, but I made him watch Things, and this is my penance. I deserved this, no one should ever be made to watch Things.

Anyway, here's my review of RM2: 200w.gif?cid=6c09b952wqboddbz248q6brdk5g

I'm already looking forward to the Snyder apologists telling me about how the 7 hour long director's cut is going to make this pile of $#!+ make some sort of sense.:wowey:

 

impressive how much snyder fail upward for decade

what happened to that horrible zombie movie universe netflix also wasted money on

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Binge watched my way through half of Shogun over the weekend.

Interesting some of the changes they've made, and the actors are putting a lot of heart and soul into it all. I'm enjoying it for what it is, and trying to not let my book reading spoil it.

"Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."

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19 minutes ago, Raithe said:

Binge watched my way through half of Shogun over the weekend.

Interesting some of the changes they've made, and the actors are putting a lot of heart and soul into it all. I'm enjoying it for what it is, and trying to not let my book reading spoil it.

 

the whole lazy name change thing is a little distracting

it is not difficult to insert any oc into actual sekigahara background

why make such weird tiny and irrelevant change

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Posted (edited)

Hm, after wrapping up the first season of Fallout I'm not completely sure how to take it.  It looks good, it's got good actors, not sure quite how I feel over some of the changes / adaptions they've made  with the lore.  I'm probably going to end up watching season 2 just to see what Walter Goggins does with the Ghoul.

 

Edit: Also for the random interest : https://www.ign.com/articles/the-big-fallout-interview-todd-howard-and-jonathan-nolan-answer-our-burning-questions-about-season-1

Edited by Raithe

"Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."

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