Topic: The TV Show Thread

@FuriousMachine It really did go out on a massive high for me, I actually liked pretty much everything about the last episode.

I know Anthony Starr gets a ton of praise, and rightly so, but for me another standout is Chase Crawford (The Deep). How he manages to deliver some of his dialogue whilst completely 'playing it straight' is a delight to watch.... arguing with his octopus girlfriend for instance! Some of his lines have me in stitches, and his straight-edge delivery of them is genuinely really funny. "I say... go woke, get yoked!"

@CJD87 I completely agree! The Deep is the source of so much hilarity because he is such a sad individual and Crawford plays him to perfection!

Thought I'd hive a heads up to Arcane fans eagerly anticipating the physical release: It drops early October and pre-orders have gone live on at least Amazon.com and Zavvi.co.uk; most likely elsewhere as well. Got mine in at Amazon (Zavvi no longer ships to Scandinavia, the bast@rds... wouldn't mind so much if they didn't work hard to secure exclusives that can't be ordered elsewhere... that sucks).

@LN78 You're probably already aware of this, but thought I'd give you a tag just in case

@BearsEatBeets I've been watching stuff on Prime for a couple of months now, so am a bit sick of the adverts now. I'm tempted to cancel my subscription, but having things like having a delivery on a chosen day is handy for me. And there are certain things that I've found trickier to get from stores in my local town.

@FuriousMachine And just in time for season 2!

@JohnnyShoulder I've been paying for my Prime yearly but this the first year since I got it I'm pondering not renewing. The convenience and speed of being able to get almost anything could be tricky to go without though.

@FuriousMachine Added it to my Amazon wishlist a little while ago when I think someone mentioned it on here but it's still showing as currently unavailable on Amazon.co.uk.

Also discovered a complete boxset of Ted Lasso is coming so pleased to see that. Overall a promising sign for physical editions of streaming shows.

@FuriousMachine Much appreciated - I've got the LE steelbook coming from HMV. Very excited.

Season 3 of The Bear took a little while to settle for me but ep 5 Children was a step in the right direction and ep 6 Napkins frikkin killed it… I cried my eyes out!

… and this tune, which has featured heavily in season 3 has just hit me hard. The original from The Beat has a special place in my heart as it featured prominently in one of my fave comedies from my youth - Kingpin but this cover from Eddie Vedder is simply incredible:

Now that it’s all died down around Doctor Who with the new series done, thought I’d go back to the audio plays.

Creatures of Beauty is an utterly miserable story. There’s basically zero levity and I felt crushed throughout most of it, but it’s really very good. Yes, it leans into early 00s grimdark, but it’s a product of its time and stands out as it’s not really gratuitous in any way. It’s also non-linear, with a plot that resolves itself in part 3 of 4 but keeps most of the answers obfuscated until the final part and repeats scenes across the 4 parts. It sounds stupid to talk about aesthetics with an audio play but the sound design, language used and voice work definitely brings to mind an alien planet inspired by Britain in the 1970s. It’s as if someone took the hopelessness of communities during the Thatcher years and applied it to a planet in its final years. Class conflict is also tied to physical appearance, with only the very richest avoiding disfigurement from a polluted atmosphere. Not a nice place in any way.

The 5th Doctor is the perfect character to navigate this planet because he’s just a genuinely nice and affable person. His curiosity is piqued, he leaves the TARDIS, walks about a bit, finds Nyssa and goes away again. Whereas Nyssa, another companion massively improved by Big Finish, witnesses a woman stab herself to death in front of her in one of the most disturbing audio clips I’ve heard and is summarily beaten to a pulp by police officers and arrested for her murder, being subjected to interrogation that is more than a bit forceful. Essentially they change nothing about the fate of the planet but we learn more in each part about what they learn from their time on the planet. By the end of part 3, they leave and that’s it. Until part 4 shows exactly what impact the two of them arriving has on the people of that planet. It’s an interesting one that isn’t afraid to question whether The Doctor has actually made a positive impact at all on the universe since deciding to run about playing the hero.

I’d definitely recommend this one as a story that 100% could never be done on the telly, unless they did Torchwood level adult themes with a spin-off. There’s a torture scene with a guy having his fingers broken one by one that is pretty distressing to listen to, masterful audio design. It’s actually a good one to listen to that shows off the capabilities of audio plays in general!

More people should listen to these if they’re fans of the show though, the first 50 main range are on Apple Music and Spotify and there’s other selected stories on them too.

I have finally gotten around to watching One Punch Man season 2. Absolutely loving it.

Also watched the first episode of the new animated Batman show on Prime. Not sure why the Penguin is female now? but I'll keep watching to see how it goes!

Oh wow, a fellow OPM fan, fancy spotting one!
Didn’t know there were another Batman show, so I’m similarly confused, if for different reasons.

@Malaise The novels were miles better and I consider the second novel in the trilogy one of my all time favourite sci-fi novels. Recommended, if you're a reader, but the series may have spoiled the enjoyment for you

@Yousef- Haha I believe their are a few of us. I love Anime in general.

I've not watched anymore of Batman yet, but we have our nieces staying over and the little one loves Spidey and Friends and some of the characters are gender swapped on it as well. It's puzzling, because it's not as if the Marvel and DC universe is lacking in female characters!

@Malaise Hope you'll enjoy them

@MightyDemon82 This confuses me as well and the only reason I can think of is that the people making these shows feel the need to bring something entirely new to characters who've been portrayed so many times before. Maybe? I don't know. The new Batman animated wasn't my cup of tea, but Lady Penguin worked well, I thought.

Understandable sentiments, that I also relate with, tons of good females, so this is definitely bewildering. I’ll def need to look. My curiosity is piqued.

Just finished watching the Knuckles TV show. Quite possibly the worst TV show I've ever watched. It wasn't even about Knuckles, it's about a random side character from the movies. Not to mention that there was so much padding. You'd think for a season that only has six episodes and were around 30 minutes long each that the story would be more condensed, but nope. Also, the humor was absolutely atrocious. The protagonist is so unfunny. Not even children would find this show funny.

This has to be the most forced TV show ever made. Even though it takes place after the second Sonic movie, it doesn't add anything to the overall story. Absolutely pointless.

Having watched the first season of Slow Horses a couple of months back (& quite enjoying it), we just started season 2. Loving it so far, seems quite the step up from the first season and Oldman, who is always good… might’ve found his best character ever to portray. Sometimes an actor finds the perfect character for their talent at the right time in their career and that is what has happened here. If you like a spot of British espionage, with more that a pinch of grime (not the music genre… just plain old grime), you could do a far sight worse.

Just finished watching season 2 of the Halo TV show. I absolutely loved it! It was so cool to see events from the games but on a larger scale. I never got that sensation while playing the games. The TV show is honestly the best story that's been produced for Halo since Bungie stopped making the games. It's the only thing that's keeping my interest up for the franchise considering Microsoft doesn't care about it anymore.

@LtSarge
Too bad for you they cancelled it

@PegasusActual93 In the article I read, it said that Microsoft was looking for another outlet for the third season. So I'm hopeful it'll continue.

@Malaise Funnily enough I watched Arcane this week also....

Was struggling for a new show, and understood it to be critically acclaimed etc. I have zero frame of reference when it comes to LoL, so essentially went into this series completely devoid of any gaming context...

I really enjoyed it, more than I thought I would. Kind of like a cross between "Frozen" and "Game of Thrones" I guess? The animation was top class, and the plot moved at a decent pace with fairly well-written characters. Ella Purnell, who voices Powder/Jinx, was especially good.

I didn't find it to be the Shakespearian masterpiece that many reviewers claim it to be... but I'll certainly be watching Season 2 as a certainty.

Moved on to "Barry" now - midway through Season 2 and loving it so far. Bill Hader and Henry Winkler are very good in it