The TV and Streaming Thread: That's Entertainment!

[LadyCrimson]

Hellbound - Netflix - first half of the episodes

Hm. I knew one of the main lead actors was replaced because of an illegal drug use scandal/case. The replacement actor is doing an ok job but has much less intense charisma so it's not quite the same. Outside of that - the show has become more talky in the conspiracy/political-power aspirations type ways, in the way S. Korea likes to do, with too many characters/factions perhaps. So it starts out interesting, gets boring, becomes interesting, gets boring, repeat. It's not bad, but not as weirdly compelling as the 1st season. I also hear it ends on another sort of cliffhanger, which is a gamble.

Sidenote: the problem with Netflix "originals" is that even if they greenlight more, it's often 2-4 years between any seasons. I'd guess partly because by  the time they greenlight, it takes a while to get all involved schedules to align to work again, among other things. Whatever their methods, it often kills any momentum.

[LadyCrimson]

I watched this in syndication in the late 70's every day after school and I loved it. Maybe that explains a few things.
 

 

[Sarex]

On 10/31/2024 at 4:27 PM, Sarex said:

It does stop focusing on that and it gets a little better overall through season 1. Say that the show overall is very mid.

@LadyCrimson nvm, I confused it with the Resident Alien.

[Amentep]

Old thread -

 

Also - 

 

[uuuhhii]

 

laughed at that dang at the end

truly a netflix documentary

 

[Gfted1]

 

[LadyCrimson]

I was confused for a minute. Game? Show? What?
Oh, anthology 15 episode series ... based on games? The games tie-in does nothing for me, depends on the stories. Hm.
Has some big names doing some of the VA.

 

[Amentep]

6 hours ago, Gfted1 said:

 

Looks fun. 

[uuuhhii]

arcane season 2 feel like they wanted to make 3 season with time length of 1

not sure how the last 3 episode will hold up

Edited November 18 by uuuhhii

[Sarex]

37 minutes ago, uuuhhii said:

not sure how the last 3 episode will hold up

That's my worry too... I don't know if they will able to wrap it up in a satisfying way. It'll probably be open ended and it will tease some characters in the next show.

[BruceVC]

I just started  watching Shogun, its excellent. I have never really been that interested in  Asian shows and movies outside of movies like the The Last Samurai which I enjoyed

But Shogun captures  historical  Japanese culture in such an interesting way, really worthwhile series 

And then From, this has become my favourite supernatural\horror series of all time. You havent experienced true supernatural\horror entertainment until you have watched this series

It is like nothing I have ever seen and its HIGHLY recommended 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_(TV_series)

Here is the trailer 

 

 

 

 

 

[LadyCrimson]

^ I saw the first season of From (thru MGM sub). It was pretty decent. Meant to watch more, but by the time the 2nd season came out, I ... didn't feel like it. Maybe one day.

=======

Subbed to Paramount+, because of Matlock. I suspect after that I'll cancel it, although it will be a while (Matlock is at 6 episodes, I think it's supposed to be 18, and it ... was renewed for a 2nd already...). Anyway, because of that, over the weekend I tried:

The Stand - ok, that 90's mini-series was sometimes cheesy and a few bad miscasts, but Gary Sinise and Ray Walston were highlights. Maybe this newer one will be better. I watched one episode and turned it off. I think it's even worse, including the casting.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - heard this was the best of the nuTrek. I like the actors for Pike and Uhura. I thought the first episode was horrible. What is this with Spock and T'Pring, is this alternate history. I say that because in Amok Time he kept staring intently at that picture of T'Pring as a child, as if he'd never seen her as an adult. Well, I guess we can hypothesize background for new stories...but it felt soul-icky for some reason. I don't like the Spock actor in this one either. And Pike with foreknowledge, ok.

I fell asleep in the 2nd episode and woke up to maybe the 6th episode with Spock kissing Nurse Chapel on the bridge, filling the screen, wtf. Ok, no context, back to episode 2. I did like 2nd episode a lot better, it felt more adventure Star Trek-y. I get the feeling I'll like it when they're doing space/meet ppl on planets story bits, and dislike most of the interpersonal relationship/chr. stuff.

But everything feels kind of ... stiff and unnatural. Maybe it's the dialogue. Maybe it's (most of ) the actors. Maybe it's all the shiny fancy tech of the ship vs. the ToS Enterprise period. I get it, needs updating, but it's a little over-much, akin to those movies. Maybe I've just forgotten what anything but the ToS pacing is like. Well, it's shortish, I suppose I can power through the rest.

Edit: and no, I won't be watching any of the other nuTrek. The idea of following Pike's adventures, pre-James Kirk,  was at least interesting on paper.

Edited November 19 by LadyCrimson

[Amentep]

Pike with foreknowledge came from Discovery's 2nd season.

I think they wanted to establish T'pring was an adult. Chapel was shown to have feelings for Spock in TOS/TAS and I guess they're using these past stories to establish that.

I enjoy the series, but just as TNG, DS9, VOY, AND ENT was a departure from TOS/TAS, so too is DIS, SNW, PIC a new departure. Lower Decks, despite being a comedy cartoon, probably feels the most like earlier shows somehow.

...in other realms, Roddenberry archives has produced a CGI/deepfake thingamabob -

 

[ShadySands]

I'm looking forward to AI giving me 10 more seasons of DS9

[LadyCrimson]

7 hours ago, Amentep said:

..in other realms, Roddenberry archives has produced a CGI/deepfake thingamabob -

I just saw that. The uncanny valley is fairly limited, but peeks thru here and there ofc.

Still, I liked it. I don't "get" any of the nuTrek references but the last bit of the two of them together was still nice. It always felt a bit sad that those two iconic characters didn't get to grow old together, so to speak. Never liked what they did re: Kirk's death/s. Wasn't the worst or anything, it just wasn't satisfying.

[LadyCrimson]

7 hours ago, Amentep said:

TOS/TAS

Btw, what does TAS stand for.

[Bartimaeus]

16 minutes ago, LadyCrimson said:

Btw, what does TAS stand for.

The old animated series from the 1970s, presumably, which I just remembered I've actually seen a few episodes of.

[LadyCrimson]

6 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

The old animated series from the 1970s, presumably, which I just remembered I've actually seen a few episodes of.

Oh, doh, that makes sense. I loved that animated series - not as much as ToS, but it was fun, I have it on DVD.
It's mentioned so infrequently tho (well, in my limited experience) so I just never think about using letter ID for it, heh.

I have heard that about Lower Decks, but when I looked at it briefly the other day, I don't think I could get into it. Not my style at all.

Edited November 20 by LadyCrimson

[majestic]

Watching nuTrek brainwashed me into thoroughly enjoying my current Voyager rewatch. Man, I can't even remember why I complained about it so much. Janeway's bipolar disorder, Chakotay being a racist stereotype the writers never knew what to do with, all of that seems so... irrelevant next to them having some depths as characters. I wonder what's next? Maybe I should check out Enterprise. Next to the cardboard stereotype checkboxes of nuTrek even the token black guy from Enterprise might look like an actual character.

[uuuhhii]

first episode of dune prophecy

doesn't look like the most budget burning scifi show

most character are not impressive or likable

at least not boring yet

[Sarex]

Guess that's it for Arcane. Sad to see it go as the second season was much better and seemed to be heading in the right direction. I guess they wrapped up the story, but it still left me kind of unsatisfied. If I can use one word to describe the show... "cool" would be it I guess.

Now we wait for the next animated series from Riot that is going to be lower budget, although that doesn't have to mean much when you considered they burned through 250m on this show. There is also a live action show coming, but I cannot see how it could be good.

[uuuhhii]

last 3 episode of arcane certainly rely more on vibe than specific

6 hour really isn't enough for all the plot point

[Malcador]

Finally got around to watching Edgerunners , better than my usual 10 year delay from watching shows that were trending.  Was enjoyable, nothing amazing, good fanservice interesting how many locations they used straight from the game.  Rebecca sure was annoying, rest of characters were decent enough.

Adam Smasher's response "Who the **** are you?" to the antagonist giving him orders was the most memorable part.

[LadyCrimson]

The Madness, Netflix

--first episode, 7.5/10
--all 8 episodes, 6.5/10

That first kinda hooks you, not a bad suspense/fugitive/whoreallydunnit starter. The rest was still decent, with some good moments, but felt like it went on too long with too many fits and starts of the whodunnit, of the mystery/danger, or not the right methods/choices for drawing out the story etc. But one of the better netflix produced offerings, perhaps.

[majestic]

Mr Bates vs The Post Office

A four part drama series based on the British Post Office / Horizon Scandal, with the delightful Toby Jones in the lead role of Alan Bates. Normally I do not really watch these types of dramatic re-enactions of real life cases or situations, but this one's well worth the watch. Arnim Zola would feel right at home at the British Post Office.

In case you're unaware, here's a fun little summary by the BBC.

Quote

More than 900 sub-postmasters were prosecuted for stealing because of incorrect information from the Horizon computer system. It has been called the UK's most widespread miscarriage of justice. The Post Office itself took many cases to court*, prosecuting 700 people between 1999 and 2015. Another 283 cases were brought by other bodies, including the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

Some lost their jobs, businesses and homes; they were left financially ruined. Some were convicted and sent to prison. Some died while waiting for justice. Others killed themselves. Many victims felt they were on their own, yet hundreds of others were enduring similar experiences.

Nothing like losing your livelihood and going to prison over accounting software problems both the Post Office and its creator Fujitsu were aware of as early as 1999. Horizon had a whole host of errors and technical problems, including (but not limited to) duplicating transactions, repeating transactions during software freezes, an inability to synchronize with the servers in case of disconnects and a way for Fujitsu administrators to remotely change ledger balances without leaving an audit trail.

The people involved are lucky that they're British, I guess. Elsewhere they might have gotten "DENY, DEPOSE, DEFEND"ed already.

*The British Post Office has the right to conduct criminal investigations and to prosecute.