Topic: The TV Show Thread

@ralphdibny Armie Hammer's like, "but can I eat people though?"

@zupertramp haha maybe not that 😂

@ralphdibny It’s an interesting thought experiment. I definitely think that society is becoming much more accepting of previous fringe lifestyles due to social media normalizing some previously hidden behaviors. Ironically, it has also created more non-acceptance too because of the way social media coerces those who consume it. It’s a weird dichotomy that we live in.

I think of our society as being closer to The Hunger Games whereby certain subsections of society (the wealthy and famous in particular) have their own normalized behavior and others (the proletariat and the have-nots) have a different concept of normal. In the HG movies the schism is exaggerated with the ridiculous fashions, eating habits, and watching minors kill each other for entertainment, but I think if someone like me lived a day in the life of Tom Cruise or Jay-Z then my head would probably explode.

Wow... how did we get here?! 😂 Sorry for the tangent. (Although I guess at least Game of Thrones is a TV show 😛)

@Th3solution I think your first paragraph hit the nail on the head! I value diversity and freedom but unfortunately it's an all or nothing situation, nobody should be more important or get special treatment because of who they are. Seeing the value in everyone and everything unfortunately makes me unpopular with everyone and everything 😅

Well both GoT and HG are going to have some basis in the authors perception of reality for sure seeing as they were both written in modern times. A lot of the best fantasy and sci fi uses a warped version of real life as the basis of its setting. It's a cleverly used familiarity and a veil for real world issues. I guess whatever the fiction draws upon for inspiration will resonate differently and more effectively with those who have an interest in that aspect of reality. Then again, some of its a load of old tosh!

@ralphdibny I definitely hear what your saying. And I don’t think your philosophy is an unpopular as you suspect. Libertarianism seems to be growing in popularity lately. But I see what your saying, in that many people will claim to advocate for fairness, open-mindedness, and individualism, and then simultaneously are intolerant of opposing viewpoints or lifestyles. So when someone is truly open and accepting, they tend to just get on everyone’s bad side.

Anyway, it’s a really interesting discussion that fascinates me, but I feel I’ve wandered far off the trail and into the weeds here, so back to TV show discussion 😅 ....

I saw that WandaVision dropped a couple episodes already and I’m extremely excited to give them a try later this weekend. Anyone watched them yet and have a [spoiler free] critique?

@Th3solution I’m so tempted to watch Wandavision but I don’t know if it would be better waiting to binge it or not! Besides, I’m on the second most recent seasons of the Arrowverse which is both extremely worrying and rather impressive 😅

@Th3solution fair enough! I would like to distance myself from libertarianism though I think...they advocate the non wearing of masks or at least, it seems they do because they advocate the freedom of choice. I definitely think we should all be wearing masks in enclosed public spaces. I generally don't support any one political ideology, because it normally comes with a load of extra baggage that I completely disagree with.

Anyway....on wandavision. It's probably the new MCU show that I'm looking forward to the most because the Vision is my favourite character. Not least because Paul Bettany is my favourite actor. I think falcon and winter soldier should be good too as it features the return of Daniel Bruhl and George's st Pierre as Zemo and Batroc the Leaper respectively. Between them and red skull and Arnim Zola, captain America had a pretty impressive rogues gallery!

I'm going to use a game pass perk to get a month of Disney plus at the end of January so that should take me through to almost the end of Wandavision. I think the last episode airs on march 5th (which is a bit annoying that it's slightly outside the month!)

Weird that it's only half hour episodes though

@ralphdibny I agree completely and I think we’re on the same wavelength there. 😄

As far as WandaVision, I’ve kept away from detailed information, so only have the trailer as a reference point, but it does seem like a sit-com style with a twist, so the 30 min run time might be because of that. It does make me suspicious that it will have enough time to really get traction on any one storyline with the time constraints.

@nessisonett The Arrowverse is so large that it might be a nice change of pace to have short limited episodes to just watch off and on with the Marvel shows.

Those are my thoughts exactly!

@Th3solution @ralphdibny I think I heard somewhere that the episodes get longer as it goes on, as the sitcom style gets pushed further!

@nessisonett That’s good to know. This may crash and burn, but the gotta give credit to Marvel / Disney for at least trying something creative and different. I do appreciate it when a large franchise takes a chance, even if I end up not liking the final product.

@nessisonett oh right, yeah that's exactly how I think it should go tbh. Start off with a sitcom runtime and then expand up to an hour as the show becomes less of a sitcom (if it does become less of a sitcom)

I watched the first two episodes of WandaVision and really enjoyed them! They’re both essentially half-hour sitcom episodes with a strange sometimes Lynchian sinisterness to them. I’m glad they’ve gone in a totally different direction but I guess there are enough episodes left for it to devolve into a big-budget action movie with explosions 😂

@nessisonett

I’m very jealous! I’m currently going through a couples’ Marvel tug-of-war, as the missus wants to watch it weekly and I’m massively insistent that we save it and watch all 9 eps on a binge when they’re all available... though it is testing every fibre of my geek-strength.

@colonelkilgore I really wasn’t sure whether to save it or not but honestly, there was nothing on tonight at all!

@nessisonett we’re still deep into Cobra Kai but when that’s done it’s gonna get even tougher to resist. The rumours of Charlie Cox’s Daredevil appearing in Spider-Man 3 might just divert our attention to a rewatch of Daredevil seasons 1-3 though, until Wanda-Vision is done.

@nessisonett just watched them. I’m hoping it keeps on going with this theme of nice on the outside, with something disturbing right underneath the surface. It’s so refreshing compared to everything else in the MCU!

@RogerRoger Was about to revisit a selection of MCU movies in preparation for WandaVision just in case. Whittled it down to something like 10 essentials... which is still a lot of movie watching to do.

So I did get a chance to watch Disney+’s new show — what many have inadvertently coined “Juan Division”, (which I can’t decide if that sounds more like a drama based on a mathematics teacher in Mexico, or a Sci-Fi show about a guy who can clone himself...)
But the actual show — WandaVision was extremely enjoyable. It’s very retro, of course, but the sit-com humor is excellently done, and it’s just pure fun. I’m not sure what the long term plans are here, because I feel like these two episodes are just a warm up for a more sophisticated narrative thread, but I don’t know. I’m very excited to find out.

Elizabeth Olsen previously had been one of my least favorite actresses in the MCU and I’ve always been annoyed at her painfully poor attempts at a Slavic accent. But it was nice in WandaVision to see her ditch all efforts at trying to sound foreign and just embrace her American accent. For this show it works, and she and Bettany’s chemistry has never been quite this adorable in the movies.

For those who haven’t seen the first episodes yet, I hope I’m not overselling it. It’s definitely different, and if you go in expecting a Marvel movie experience you’ll be pretty disappointed actually. Think more Bewtiched than Avengers: End Game. But for pure charm and mindless amusement it hits a home run (so far).

I've only watched the first episode of WandaVision so far but I unlike others here I found it pretty cringeworthy. I knew it was going to be bizarre going in but not sure what it's go for, is it actually supposed to be a comedy? I certainly appreciate taking creative risks and this is definitely a departure from the usual. I'm going to stick with it mostly out of pure curiosity at this point and no tv programme is ever at it's best in it's first episode.