Topic: The TV Show Thread

@KALofKRYPTON

Although there is some hope, as somebody asked Ewan McGregor about all this at a Birds of Prey PR event last night and he is quoted as saying "The scripts are really, really good. They want to make them better. And they just slid the production to shooting next year. So it's not as dramatic as it sounds. I just got [to the PR event] tonight, and it's like, oh my God look at all this stuff! It's not that dramatic. I think we have the same... we're airing on the same day and all that stuff."

Some might argue that he'd say that regardless, but he's always seemed a fairly no-nonsense, honest kinda celebrity, so I'm willing to believe him more than YouTube rumour-peddlers for now.

Besides, I'm giving Star Wars the benefit of the doubt this week, thanks to that awesome new trailer for The Clone Wars (in which my partner spotted a particular Padawan attending the holo-meeting, a detail I'd completely missed, and so now I'm even more excited than I was).

@RogerRoger
Hopefully it is just a simple delay to tighten things up.

If they're targeting the quality of The Mandalorian, they won't go too awry.

@Arugula I’d like to read what you’re saying but that Bengals logo for your avatar is just killing all your credibility. 😉

@KratosMD Hmmm. I rather liked the first season. With the all but inevitable transing of Susie and some rather disjointed threads in season 2, I did wonder whether it would trope itself into obscurity. Maybe one to pick up on a rainy day.

Falcon and Winter Soldier, WandaVision, and Loki - Official Trailers

@WanderingBullet Looks so good. I’m really amped for the Marvel shows to start coming in. If The Mandalorian is any indicator, then the quality is going to be fantastic.

@LN78 I wrote a fair bit about my impressions of The Mandalorian about a month ago, so I’ll try not to elaborate too much, but I don’t think it was a matter of overzealous exaggerated Star Wars desperation in my case. On the contrary, in the first few episodes I was tepid In my response to the show, but by the end I was hooked. The characters and story arcs started to grow on me and eventually won me over. Yeah, I felt like it dragged a little at times, but things got moving toward the latter half. The main thing is going into with the expectations that it’s a TV show rather than a full length movie and pacing, character development, and production value is going to be a little different. Actually one of my main criticisms of television series in general is the tiresome way things are always dragged out and plots seem to never go anywhere and there’s often not an end in mind. It’s why I lost interest in Stranger Things and The Walking Dead. I think it’s just a commonality of most TV to be that way. (notice I say ‘most’ since Breaking Bad could be an example to the contrary)

I fully expect the Marvel shows to be the same — ie. fans will need to adjust expectations appropriately that these things are multi-episode, multi-season events. Especially WandaVision is going to be a real separation from the status quo and will alienate some fans, I expect.

Edit: as for Jedi: Fallen Order, I’m only part way through, but I’ve been hooked from the first hour on that one. Perhaps it’s blind-sheep fandom there, but I don’t think so. The gameplay is pretty addicting. I think a lot of us have been wanting a Souls-like that is a little more approachable and less hardcore. The game’s not perfect but it scratches a certain itch.

@LN78 Fair enough. Although, just as some of the Star Wars fandom has a tendency to turn a blind eye toward mediocre or poor content, methinks you have reached a point where the opposite is true for you — perhaps no level of quality or excellence will ever be satisfactory due to a preconceived bias and irritation to the countless disappointments in the past? I find that I’m like that with some actors, for example, where I can’t get over my prejudice in seeing them in something in the past, so nothing they ever do impressed me. (An example would be Leonardo DeCaprio for me)

@LN78 I’m with you insomuch as I think there’s and obvious “Star Wars bump” commercially and to a lesser degree critically, just like the “Kojima bump” and the “Nintendo bump.” It’s just the staunchest of critics of the modern SW output have been quite enamored with The Mandelorian. But you’re not the only person I’ve heard express a call to ‘tap the brakes’ on it, just one of the few.

@LN78 The narrative is iterative, I’ll give you that. Perhaps you’ll like the Marvel shows forthcoming, if you can stomach them on top of the series over-saturation at the cinema. WandaVision in particular looks very progressive and different, if you’re longing for something new and innovative in the Marvel Universe. Too bad I’m not a fan of Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch, but maybe the poor and inconsistent accent will fit into the sit-com, avant-garde approach to the series. 😅

@LN78 I've just started it (Bojack Horseman) on dvd as someone recommended it to me. I like the wackiness of it, when do the three kids dressed up to look like an adult come in to it? I take it that they venture into the bar.

So... Did anyone see Doctor Who? 😂😂

I was prepared for some filler given the big reveals last week, but I'm not sure I was quite prepared the killer pathogen attracted to microplastics line 😂

The on the nose environmental line, a few poor characterisations among the jam packed roster, some significant unresolved plot holes topped off with a totally ignored death surpassing even poor old Barb from Stranger Things season 1 - and we have an episode every hit as bad as the orphan planet one.

Not sure if the extra media coverage of the past week has helped the viewing figures or not, but Who can't really survive like this.

@Th3solution Yup, my initial concern about the MCU TV series was the production quality but those scenes in trailers looked pretty good.

@WanderingBullet I think the production quality will be quite good, and you’re right, the trailers do bear that out. Part of my issue with the Netflix attempts at Marvel was the drastic difference in production quality. They seemed definitely more ‘budget’ in that regard. Some people may prefer it, but I typically like my superhero shows to reflect high end production. I just hope they can keep the storylines fresh and congruent with the cinema outings. Like, given reports of some of WandaVision taking place in the 1950’s, I hope it doesn’t come across as ridiculously outlandish. In other words, hopefully not bizarre and progressive just for the sake of being different. The Falcon and Loki shows are more likely to be traditional MCU fare, I would guess.

@Th3solution Honestly, I hope WandaVision is outlandish. They've got a great premiere to do some really interesting stuff with. I've grown increasingly tired of the Marvel formula over the years, and I'd be very happy if they switched it up with this one. Falcon & Winter Soldier I have absolutely no interest in because it seems to just be your typical Marvel fare. I'd say the most interesting Marvel project of the last few years was Legion. Great show that reveled in its weirdness. That's really the kind of show I want comic book adaptations to be. DC seems to be a bit more reliable in that aspect though. Doom Patrol, the Harley Quinn animated show and Watchmen are all great TV shows for example.

@Th3solution I definitely hope Wandavision goes down the weird route. The MCU made awful mistakes when it came to Scarlet Witch because of her powers being derived from the Reality stone. I understand that because of legal thingys they couldn’t make her a mutant but her powers have barely been explained and just seems to be red energy stuff coming out her hands. This should hopefully fix some of the confusion about Scarlet Witch and show off how powerful she is if the whole Vision tv show angle has been created with her reality powers.

@Tjuz I agree. Towards the end of the current MCU run the formula was getting a bit tired to watch. Legion was amazing, quite hard to reccomend to anyone that you don't know of their personal tastes, but definitely a unique take on a Marvel property.

Hi all,
I'm sure Crisis on Infinite Earths is a bit old hat by now but I am wondering if anyone can tell me what shows and films apart from the main arrowverse ones cross over with it. Finally going to watch it in the next few weeks once I've caught up with Batwoman and Black Lightning. I need to catch up on Titans, Doom Patrol and Swamp thing too so if there is any crossover with them, even a tiny picosecond of Brenton thwaites swirling in a red mist then I might as well watch that lot first too....

This is what I think crosses over, if you've seen it then please confirm or deny but without any spoilers! I'll spoiler tag the list:

This is what might cross over

Is there any other show or film (even if it is a tiny cameo) that I'm missing? Please no other details apart from if the reference exists, Just trying to make sure I am up to date on current shows and might be up for rewatching a few films even if they are only relevant in the smallest way.

Thanks, sorry for the long post!

I apologize if this has been discussed earlier, but I don’t feel inclined to pore through the whole thread in search of subject — has anyone been watching The Expanse? I thought I heard it was good, so just wanted to confirm.

In a moment contrary to my nature, I started watching it randomly tonight. My usual approach to TV shows is to sit down, think that I want to watch something, then pull up Netflix, then Disney+, then Amazon Prime, see about 10 shows on each service that I’m interested in, which means 30ish shows, each with an average of 3-4 seasons, about 8-10 episodes per season, so as I calculate the sheer number of entertainment hours in my head (about 1000 hours or so if my ballpark math is correct) and it just overwhelms me and I end up switching it off and playing a video game, or I put on a favorite movie for a rewatch. Well tonight the uncharacteristic spontaneity kicked in and I started The Expanse for no other reason than it was there to be clicked on and it looked like something I should like. Well, after watching 30 min. of it, despite it being eye catchingly lovely to look at from an art direction and visual effects standpoint, it was kinda boring. Very Cyberpunk-esque feeling, but the characters were boring me. I turned it off because I’m tired and I can’t be bothered to try to concentrate to learn new names, places, lore, and plot lines right now, but I’m willing to go back to it if someone gives it a resounding endorsement. Or should I save myself the effort and time and move on to one of the other 29 shows that seemed appealing. 😅

@Th3solution @LN78
Absolutely loved the first season of The Expanse. Best 'proper' sci-fi show since Babylon 5 for my money.

Never got around to watching the rest. I should really.