@ralphdibny I have a feeling that Hayden's return in the Obi-Wan show is gonna be for flashbacks. I mean, they do credit him as playing "Darth Vader" and there's always the possibility that we'll see him suited and booted but taking his helmet off, which would therefore necessitate his involvement, but Anakin technically ceased to be Anakin halfway through Revenge of the Sith. Everything from Order 66 onwards, he's Darth Vader, suit or no suit. There's plenty of gaps in that sequence that they might wanna go back and fill in. Or they're just calling him Vader because that's who he is during the timeframe of the show's core action, regardless of flashback sequences. I'm very interested to see how they handle it (obviously)!
For me personally, there's no escaping the awkwardness of the love story dialogue in Attack of the Clones, but I reckon Hayden does incredibly well with the darker, more tragic scenes (like his ill-fated reunion with Shmi, and his subsequent confession to Padmé). He does have a whole "angsty teen" thing going on, but then he's supposed to be an angsty teen, and one who's had a bizarre upbringing. I won't launch into some massive justification defence here; like I say, I respect you and @Th3solution and anybody else for whom Hayden's performance didn't work. At least you've got The Clone Wars (which I adore anyway; the character is big enough and important enough to need all these different layers)!
Yeah, when you said "I'm not sure how recently you have watched them but there was one guy in the Senate that shouts "Order!" when it gets a bit rowdy" in your previous post, my immediate and internal response was "I watch it twice a year on average, he's talking about Mas Amedda, and I have his action figure somewhere." Now that you've admitted to looking for John Bercow cards on Moonpig, I feel slightly less embarrassed in admitting all of that, so thanks!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@ralphdibny Yeah, I’m treating it like you - just popping in for an episode or two here and there. It’s taken me a while to get through at this rate but I do enjoy the episodes when I take the chance to watch them. I’ll post more impressions if/when I progress through the series.
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I have been watching Series of Unfortunate Events on Netflix. Man, what a sleeper hit! I’m really enjoying it! Of course I’m a fan of the books, having read the 13 book series as a lad. I was always disappointed by the movie and how it barely scratched the surface of the whole book narrative. The quality of the movie was good, it just didn’t quite do the story justice. Seeing that the TV show has 3 seasons has me optimistic that they’ll give time to all the story beats that the original movie skipped over. Neil Patrick Harris is doing an outstanding job as the evil Count Olaf, even better than Jim Carrey I think. He’s clearly taken inspiration from Carrey’s performance but he’s also making the role his own. The script is quick witted, hilarious and self aware, and the cast as a whole is phenomenal. Baby Sunny is the cutest thing ever. I’ve only watched the first 6 episodes so hopefully it holds up.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Just watched episode 7 of Wandavision and well done @TheFrenchiestFry you totally called it. I have no knowledge whatsoever on the character that turned out to be the character you mentioned but I'm cool with that. It's nice not having a clue at where the story might be headed.
@TheFrenchiestFry Wow, between the two of us we’ve basically called the whole show so far! I really enjoyed the reveal though, despite being worried about the twins!
Oh and I’ll also add that Mephisto often appears as a fly in the comics, explaining the zoom on the fly in Agatha’s house
@nessisonett As soon as I heard Agnes talking about how the kids are in the basement I immediately thought of how in the comics the character loved to torture children and invite other people over to their house to stay for the night so I got really really freaking tense watching that scene
@RogerRoger ahhh yeah i never really thought of that. Despite the fact that the most recent films have had flashbacks and prologues (even if they are "force" induced), I still don't associate the technique with Star Wars at all.
You know, I kind of hope they don't remove the helmet in the show. I think if they did that then something may be lost in a chronological viewing of the franchise. The bacta tank scene in Rogue One showed just enough of Vader's body to maintain the mystique and ultimately not diminish the effect of the big reveal in Return of the Jedi. Any more than that may spoil it. Having said that, I would like to see more maskless/suitless scenes but I don't think its good to let the fans dictate the movie. I'd still like to see what they originally had planned for Episode 9 after they made changes due to the reception of The Last Jedi - that is assuming they did and that was the reason.
I should be clear that I do really like the prequels and Christensen's/Anakin's role in them. It's weird, I just think I have conflicting opinions on it sometimes. The "I killed all of them, the women and the children" scene is obviously a highlight. Well not a highlight of his character but it is an effective scene. Also the scene where he shares his naive ideals of leadership quickly followed by his despotic response to seditionists.
haha I wasnt looking specifically for John Bercow cards, i just saw one as I was browsing the Moonpig offerings! As much as I dislike the government, I do find some of the "characters" in it really funny. I don't know why, I guess I just have a dark sense of humour! This is a bit random but when I sort my e-mails in to folders, I have a folder called "Orders" which is for like order confirmations from online stores. Originally this name had nothing to do with Bercow but more recently, whenever I put an e-mail in that folder I shout "Order!" haha
I must admit that I did write a longer more detailed response earlier but Push Square logged me out as I posted it for some reason. I've tried to remember what I said and replicate it but something I've omitted may pop into my mind later!
@ralphdibny Well, there's also the concept of a Force Ghost. Given that Obi-Wan clings to his "Vader killed Anakin" point of view in future, there might be some kind of ghostly explanation for this. The spirit of Anakin could come and visit him, trapped in the Force by Vader's anger?
I'll give Disney some credit; they've handled Vader very well thusfar. Rebels used him very well, as did Rogue One and then... well, I'm not sure what other recent Star Wars media you've consumed, so I'll cut that list of appearances short for now! But I have faith in their ability not to shatter the mystique of the character, and keep Vader separate from Anakin. It's why part of me thinks casting Hayden as "Darth Vader" is a deliberate red herring. He's a needlessly-expensive stuntman if he's just showing up to get suited and booted. Time will tell, I suppose.
Hey, it isn't weird; we just like what we like, right? I'm not the opinion police!
Without wanting to get too political, I do agree that viewing politics through a satirical lens and therefore seeing the individual players as characters... well, it takes the edge off some of the headlines, let's put it that way. To keep things somewhat on-topic, I enjoy looking back on older episodes of things like Have I Got News For You. Hindsight frequently makes it funnier!
Ah, sorry to hear that happened, the whole random logout thing. It's happened to me a few times now, to the point where I'll always copy a reply before posting, just in case.
Thanks for reconstructing! Oh, and I (obviously) love the new avatar, by the way!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
So, the missus and I have tried a good few times over the years to get into The Expanse. We tried when season 1 was first airing and dropped off around halfway through. Then we kept hearing about how great it became and as we’re huge sci-fi fans we kept trying... and kept getting disappointed.
Well, after 5 years and multiple attempts, I think we’ve actually gotten to the point where we are thoroughly enjoying it and we’ll see it through to the end. We just finished episode 10 of season 3 and ‘things’ are really starting to kick into gear... and hopefully some answers will be soon to follow.
As a huge fan of Star Treks’ Next Gen & Deep Space Nine, Babylon 5, Farscape, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica etc. It has had some hard acts to follow but it’s starting to feel like it belongs with those Sci-fi opuses (not actually sure if that is the plural of opus but you get my drift).
I just thought that as ‘gamers’ tend to be into geek-culture, which in turn lends itself generously to sci-fi... if there are people out there that had similar struggles getting into The Expanse and gave up, maybe give it just one more try.
@colonelkilgore I think i got quite near to where you are now before I stopped a couple of months back. Not sure if I just needed a break from it or if it completely gone for me. I think the biggest flaw for me is that there are too many episodes of not much happening. That and the lack of non-humanoid lifeforms, but that might be just a me problem. It's a shame cos it looks superb and is written and acted very well.
Life is more fun when you help people succeed, instead of wishing them to fail.
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.
@JohnnyShoulder yeah I struggle to hang my hat on exactly what was ‘missing’ for me... maybe it didn’t highlight/underline the drama quite enough when big sh** was going down. I do think this was gradually rectified as it progressed through season 2 and especially 3 though.
If, like me you are a Sci-fi fan though, give it another go at some stage as it does go in some very interesting and surprising directions. Also, I wasn’t always a fan of the acting on the show (although from your comment this doesn’t seem to have been an issue for you) but where I am now I’ve found that the majority of the case has really ‘found’ their characters and now ‘cooking with gas’.
Super interested to see where it goes in seasons 4 & 5 (& 6 🤞).
@colonelkilgore@JohnnyShoulder Glad to see I’m not the only one who had trouble getting into The Expanse. I think I made it about halfway through season 1 as well and just couldn’t maintain enough interest. I keep saying I should return to it, but other shows or activities pull me away.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@colonelkilgore I'm a huge Trekkie, and people keep telling me to watch The Expanse. I've been nervous to start it because I've been burned before (abandoned an attempted Babylon 5 recently, and hate the rebooted Battlestar Galactica with a furious passion I usually reserve for true evil) and knew that some folks found it difficult to get attached to. I'm also wary of shows made for streaming, as they tend to use extreme violence and bad language to paper over the cracks in their creativity, although I'll admit that I'm saying that with no knowledge of whether The Expanse does the same.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger so The Expanse was originally a network show (the Sci Fi channel) but due to the budgetary requirements and a small regular audience it got cancelled after a few seasons. Amazon then picked the show up to my knowledge... and as I implied it takes a while to get going (season 1 was a particular struggle).
Babylon 5 has not aged well but that 5 season narrative arc is just beautifully epic. It's sci-fi loosely inspired by Lord of the Rings. Lots of themes, story beats and even some similar place names that are shared between the two. One day I do wanna watch the whole thing through again, though I'm not sure I could deal with 5 seasons of TV that is that old now. Would love it if it were rebooted actually...
... which brings me to your reaction to Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009) 😱 say it isn't so Rog!
@RogerRoger cheers! I love HIGNFY too, I always get the clips recommended to me on youtube. Boris Johnson is always a treat, especially when he hosted it. I of course only mean his HIGNFY appearances, he's not a treat as a politician lol. I like both eras of the show, its probably just as funny or funnier now than when Angus Deayton presented it. That being said, I'd probably like him to come back for an episode or two. It's been some years since his cocaine and hookers "scandal" so I am sure he could pull it off again!
I thought a HIGNFY themed quiz might be a good idea for a push square quiz, like maybe using push square headlines and gaming news. I cant really work out a good way to do it though. It doesn't help that I don't even fully understand one or two of the HIGNFY rounds and the point scoring system haha. Watch this space, or don't watch this space as it will inevitably remain unfilled for a long time or forever.
@colonelkilgore Ah, gotcha. Such streaming rescue missions have corrupted a handful of shows I was otherwise enjoying, so I'll tread carefully. Thanks for the heads-up!
I had nothing against Babylon 5 and found it to be a well-written, well-acted show. I think I just ran out of energy with it, y'know? I actually dropped it right in the middle of a huge storyline crescendo, a couple episodes away from the end of its fourth season. I will go back and finish it someday, but the knowledge that I've then got a bunch of TV movies and spin-off shows to incorporate into its final season was making things feel needlessly complicated. Still, it came in a lovely box.
I've ranted about Battlestar Galactica around here before, at length, and it didn't do me any favours. I get that it's popular and was revelatory for many, but... well, as I said, I'm a Trekkie. I like to believe that the future holds some hope for humanity, and that we're gonna overcome our weaknesses and fulfil our capacity for good. It's why Deep Space Nine is my least-favourite Star Trek, because the immature edgelord Ronald D. Moore was desperate to corrupt Gene Roddenberry's utopian ethos and make everything bleak, brooding, angsty and nihilistic. But they wouldn't let him ruin The Next Generation, so they sent him to work on a spin-off instead, which he then spent seven years complaining about because, despite getting to write such offensive bile as "In the Pale Moonlight", he felt constrained by the pre-established rules of the fictional universe. So he went and found something else to hijack, and the end result is the Battlestar Galactica reboot, a show so bereft of hope and warmth that I found it genuinely depressing to endure as much as I did.
My partner (who'd seen it before) watched it with me, and we made it as far as the two-parter where the other Battlestar shows up. I spent the whole thing squirming. He turned to me afterwards and said "I'm not gonna subject you to any more of this" because he could see that I found it properly harmful.
I'm not naïve about humanity. I've seen it at its worst, up close and personal. That's why Star Trek, good Star Trek, is so important to me. We can always make mistakes, we can always screw things up, but we equally have to want to overcome such shortcomings. I have to believe that we can be better than we are. Otherwise, what's the gosh-darn point?
Sorry. I should've kept that shorter. Please feel free to ignore me!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@ralphdibny I think it's a great idea! Could work; missing words and odd-one-out could be adapted with some Microsoft Paint skills, and then maybe a series of images offering clues about an important headline or game, to represent the first round.
The points are ridiculous on the show, so just give 'em out to people who get things right!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger it is funny how people who find common ground in one area (we seem to have a somewhat similar gaming 'pallette') can be so polar opposite in another area of geekdom.
Deep Space 9 came at just the right time for me as I was a moody teenager when it aired and I was instantly drawn into the dark cloak-and-dagger'ness' of it all. I also loved (something that you will no doubt hate) the introduction of a clandestine side to the Federation in Section 31. And Battlestar, well that probably came around in my mid 20's and I genuinely love it... probably watched the whole thing through 3 or 4 times... probably due another actually 😉.
As I've mentioned before though, likes and dislikes are a very personal thing... and there is no right or wrong answer. I admire your perspective built on hope for humanity and could probably do with a big helping of that myself. I do tend to view things the other way though... nihilism, staring into the abyss and all that, also the 70's is one of my favourite era's for art and entertainment and there is this 'real' dour outlook after the 60's bubble was burst with Watergate and the truths of the Vietnam War...
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