@graymamba Slattery is the best... well, second best - Madysinn with two Ns and one Y (but not where you think) will always be my favourite. I also liked this show (just finished it), but then I'm the only soul in the world who's liked most of Marvel's output post "Endgame", so that's hardly surprising (I try to stay away from online conversations about Marvel lately, though, as it seems that every time someone says something positive, a slew of others feel compelled to chime in on how terrible everything has been after "Endgame", and I find that very tiresome)
@FuriousMachine I don’t remember her at all actually, though I didn’t think She-Hulk was that bad actually, so maybe I should give it another watch as I remember very little… including this gem you’ve brought to my attention.
@graymamba She was the drunk girl at the magic show who got trapped in a hell dimension - without sobering up I re-watched it not too long ago and there are quite a few problems with it - the finale being a big one - but overall I still found it to be plenty of fun and well worth revisiting. Many excellent moments in there (especially the support group for deep cut Marvel d-list villains from the comics)
I'm a little out-of-sync with the MCU, so while Wonder Man got underway this past week, I finally caught up with Ironheart. Really enjoyed it, wasn't perfect but it got a lot more right than wrong, and its ending was a genuine surprise. Loved the cast and would happily see them all come back someday.
"If I let not knowing anything stop me from doing something, I'd never do everything!"
Finally finished Wonder Man, and that last episode… straight BANGER! We laughed, we cried… my favourite Marvel show (I reserve the right to amend this rating and will use the recency-bias defence if required)!
Tatiana Masley was great in the role but only episode 1&3 and season finale was worth it in She-Hulk; other than that it was a bad show. I highly recommend Agatha All Along though and Ironheart was not half bad either.
Watched Drew Gooden's video on the finale / conspiracies surrounding said finale of Stranger Things. It is funny, cause almost every single thing he said really took me back to the show Supernatural. It was one of the first TV shows outside of Lost that I really got into as a teenager, that wasn't a show I watched with my family or whatever.
It really took over my life, because every episode and every season, seemed like such an intricately woven fabric, with each new insight the creators suggesting you needed to file away somewhere in your brain, and this approach to storytelling breeds really enjoyable communities to be a part of, because you are all trained to pay so much attention, which inspires really creative fans to create elaborate theories, and it is just so fun to be a part of these as they grow in real time.
But the show was clearly a victim of it's own success, it ran far beyond the carefully plotted plan they originally had, and it only became clearer as we got further and further away from that carefully plotted set of opening seasons, that the fans had simply wasted year's of their life agonising over tiny details the people still working on the show either did not remember or simply did not care about any more.
And this is absolutely not a "listen to fans" point, I think almost every show, if it decided it's direction by just listening to the loudest fans online, would all be absolutely worse for it. Fans rarely ever know what they actually want, or truly want what is best for the show, rather what is best for whatever character or storyline or whatever else they had the most self interest in.
But I feel like with Supernatural, and with Stranger Things at least as positioned in Drew Gooden's video, it was never about the fans wanting one thing and the show doing something else. It was about being a part of something that actively invited, and encouraged, close attention and constant theory crafting, the show fuelled itself on the fans doing exactly this. Only for you to wake up one day and realised you put so much of yourself into a fandom, that had already careened off of the rails, and even if you had realised in real time it was starting to come off the track, you were utterly powerless to stop it anyway.
I can't even go back and watch those earlier, better, seasons both because I know where the show ends up, but also because so many of the details in those early seasons I now know are either dropped, contradicted or forgotten about later on, making it feel sorta pointless to pay any attention at all.
And honestly it really changed how I felt about TV shows moving forwards, I wait for almost every high concept show to finish before I start watching them. The first things I tend to Google are reactions to the ending, and check to see if the related Reddit's are full of people posting lengthy gripe threads of all the forgotten or abandoned plotlines, and maybe that is sad, but I feel like you are fundamentally changed as a fan and viewer when you go through this experience once.
I really don't feel like anything after S01 was necessary but here we are. While I didn't laugh much and find half of the characters annoying(especially Gabby&Liz), they still feel familiar and I will continue to watch their shenanigans. Seeing Michael J. Fox was a nice surprise and a nice touch given the real life situation. And wedding was cute too. Another thing is hope my wife looks as good as Wendie Malick when she is in her 70s; I for sure won't look as good as Harrison Ford though...
What a start! I was smiling all throught the episode. Hope it only gets better. I am excited. I love this "love letter to ..." angle in all media so it was enjoyable.
School Spirits last half of season 2 and all of season 3 on paramountplus
Dark Winds Season 3 on netflix
Virgin River season 5 or 6 on netflix
Silverhawks and Thundarr on tubi
So I've sort of been putting off Baldur's Gate 3, not because I don't think I'll love it, but because it looks like a massive commitment.
Well, no putting it off any longer, as it was announced today that HBO and Last of Us co-creator Craig Mazin are developing a TV series dealing with the aftermath of the events of the game.
More info over at Deadline
@FuriousMachine The timing of this announcement is coincidentally meaningful to me since I just finished the game this past week. Really exciting news indeed!
I’ve gushed profusely about the game as I’ve chronicled about my playthrough over the last nine months (!) over on the BG3 thread and elsewhere on these forums, so I’ll try to restrain my full fanboying. But simply put, I think the world and narrative of the game is very conducive to weaving an excellent TV series.
However, much of the charm and identity of the game revolves around player choice, which obviously is negated in a non-interactive TV show. Still, I think the core of the storytelling possibilities is enough to carry the IP into the linear plot setting of TV. The tricky part is definitely how they choose the canon ending from which to launch this show, if they truly want to stick to the plan of it being a direct sequel to game events. Without spoiling anything, there’s huge variance with how the story unfolds and how it ends. Nevertheless, there’s enough common elements to the ending for it to be a jumping off point. I just don’t know if it would be wise to have the show focus on specific BG3 characters since nearly all of the characters’ outcomes are overwhelmingly decided by player choice, with any number of possibilities (even to the point of major characters never being present at all if you don’t come across them).
Regardless of these obstacles, to say I’m incredibly excited would be a massive understatement. Since they are just announcing the idea of the show, I think we have a long wait in front of us though. Years. Maybe 3-4 years. I don’t know how long production for a complex project like this will take, but the good news is that you’ll have plenty of time to play the game beforehand, and I will almost certainly do another playthrough (or two or three) before the show is ready for release.
I also can’t imagine how much of a spark this could be for sales of the game in a couple years when the promotion for the show starts. If it’s anywhere near the effect that TLoU show had on game sales then we are likely to see Larian stock skyrocket.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution I'm just happy that someone is actively trying to make a live-action DnD series. I wouldn't be surprised if they're simply trying to leverage the name recognition the popularity of the game now carries to get a DnD show made, and that is fine by me. I saw over in the comments section of the article (where haters seem to have already written it off, because they felt hurt by the TLoU adaptation, maybe?) that your sentiments about which parts of the game will be canon are shared by many.
Without having played the game, and please remember my spoilerphobia, are there any "safe" choices they could make? I'm thinking more along the lines of being vague AF in their references to events, keeping characters from the game as mentions or glorified cameos, etc?
Because it seems to me that they're not really looking to make "Baldur's Gate 3: The Series" but simply a series set in the same continuity and area; having some of the events from the game serving as jumping off point.
That's how I interpret it, anyway, and would work quite well for me, to be honest
@FuriousMachine Yes I think there are some safe avenues they could take and like you say, maybe that means that a lot of the setting has the game’s lore and characters as references rather than directly involving them. As much as I’d like to see a return to people and events that were prominent in my games’s conclusion, I don’t think that’s a realistic expectation because of the unique pieces that brought me to my particular ending.
I’m not knowledgeable about the D&D universe outside of this game. I never played BG1 or 2, don’t play the table top game, and haven’t tried watching Critical Role, or any of the other ways the franchise has been leveraged in entertainment media. I did watch the Chris Pine movie recently, but that was after I had already started playing BG3. (I thoroughly enjoyed it by the way) So I’m probably not a good judge of whether this HBO show is a good use of the IP.
But I saw in the comments a lot of negativity about the show being “fan fic” and how Mazin was going to ruin it, and it feels a lot like gatekeeping elitism coming from the fanbase. The lightning rod of The Last of Us also doesn’t really help. Some people seem to have it out for the idea simply because it’s Mazin, and now he’s been tainted by the stink of the TLoU2. And even people who liked Part 2 the game, didn’t like season 2 of the show. There seems to be no one on earth besides me who liked both (if comment sections of articles is any barometer). Somehow a game that everyone says was an absolutely horrible flawed narrative was now ruined by a show that took a few liberties. I’m not sure how you “ruin” something that’s already “flawed” but I guess it’s possible. Like taking a bad cut of meat and then burning it? Were you going to eat it anyway? What’s it to you if the meat is overdone if you weren’t going to enjoy it anyway? I don’t understand the hate. “I’m really mad that the TV show changed this part of the game that I already hated.” What? 😅. “I hate the casting choice for this character who I despise from the game.” The internet just doesn’t make sense to me sometimes. It’s fine to not like something, but it’s not normal to dislike it to the point that anything peripherally involved has to have an extra layer of contempt. 🤷🏻♂️
I got off topic a little there, but let me bring it back around and ask, when do you think you’ll get around to BG3? I’d be really interested in your thoughts on the game if and when. 😄
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution Apart from seeing the Pine movie, which indeed was a lot of fun (exactly as these things should be, if you ask me: colourful, fun and a bit silly), I've played many a DnD crpg back in the day, including BG 1 & 2.
I also used to play the tabletop version, back in the 80s and 90s, primarily in the Dragonlance setting, which was (well, is) my favourite. The very first Dragonlance novel was the first novel I read in English when I was 11 or 12 years old, so the setting holds a special place in the nostalgia centre of my brain.
The beauty about DnD, though, is that it has room for so many stories and there really is no need to reference other works other than for a <wink wink> moment: Unlike Star Wars, for example, there is no central story or characters that "everyone" holds sacred (though there are a couple of "famous" characters) so there is no need to worry about messing up canon (if one is a tiny bit clever about it, of course).
Whether HBO is a good fit or not, is a different matter. I boils down to their approach. As I said, I think these kinds of properties are inherently fun and silly and shouldn't shy away from that. And this brings us to the question: What kind of future does it have, with Netflix waiting in the wings with their bloody axes? Anything that isn't a success in the first two weeks of release is considered a flop and axed.
I guess it will come down to how much (and how long) Netflix will let HBO be HBO after the merger.
This is getting long already, but I would like to give a short take on the need for some to bring up their dislike for something at. every. possible. opportunity. I find it just... well, "pathetic" is a good word for it, I guess. Now, if I am posting my thoughts on a game, movie, show or whatever, I'll happily voice any criticisms I may have and not hide it if I disliked it. However, it seems that someone liking something is a trigger for some people. I've seen this quite often with the MCU whenever I've written a positive reaction to something, a few people seem to feel the need to offer their counterpoint. Like "yeah, so that thing you liked? Thought it was important to chime in and let you know how much it actually sucked". It doesn't seem to be happening much around here anymore, though, so that is good. And to be fair, I don't mind having a back and forth with someone who has legitimate criticisms one can discuss (and I might even be persuaded to look at things differently), but "Nah dude, that thing sucks" is not conducive to a good conversation.
So, when will I start BG3? Hard to say, but it is very likely to be my next "big" game after I'm done with "Star Wars: Outlaws", so possibly in a couple of months. Be warned though, I am susceptible to things that make me go "ooh, shiny!", if you know what I mean
@FuriousMachine Well said. I actually had forgotten about the merger and I didn’t even think about the possibility of the ‘Netflix-ification’ of the show. The knee-jerk cancellation and reluctance to spend any money on a show unless it has immediate success is a concern. There’s also a wide range of quality on Netflix, in my experience, and HBO tends to be more consistent. Fingers crossed that the care for the IP is taken and also that the corporate overlords give the creatives the proper slack on the noose.
And I think we align on the ‘dude-bro that sucks’ phenomenon. 😅 Totally agree.
As a tangent to the BG show discussion, I noticed Mazin was involved in the show Mystic Quest. The guy clearly has a love for video games. I’ve been tempted to try MQ before but it has a sort of a lukewarm reception out there. Have you watched that?
And when you get to BG3 (whenever that may be) I’ll be really excited to see how it goes for you. As I mentioned elsewhere, it took me around 9 months to complete, so be warned. But it was a journey well worth it. As someone who enjoys the narrative side of things, I suspect the game will be right up your alley.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution Yeah, I find most of Netflix' output to firmly "mid", but with a couple of exceptions that are so good - particular in animation - that it keeps me wanting to give those that sound interesting a chance. Of course, there are more ways than one to be burnt by Netflix and that is when they axe and bury a show I really enjoyed (Archive 81 still stings). So, yeah, here's hoping that the mutterings from Sarandos about leaving HBO intact are more than empty words. If they get their own budget, their own creative management and decisions instead of being folded into the general Netflix pile, I think we may still get some good shows from there.
I checked Mazin's involvement in Mythic Quest and seems he's only credited as a writer on one episode, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he isn't a big contributor in the writer's room, of course. Regardless of Mazin, I love "Mythic Quest". one of my favourite "workplace comedies", A lot of the people involved with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia are also involved in this, led by Rob McElhenney, so if you like that one, there's a good chance you'll enjoy this, too. It's not as "mean" as "Sunny" and the characters aren't quite so despicable and/or stupid, but there are plenty of douchebags to go around in that MMO company - particularly the head honcho Ian and his massive ego (McElhenney himself), He is a character that means well, though. Well, some of the time As I said, I thought it was awesome. It did taper off quite a bit in the final season, so it wasn't a bad decision to end it, and it ends very satisfactory, I think (in that there is a full on ending to the show).
I warmly recommend you giving it a try if you have Apple TV+
And yeah, I think BG3 is right up my alley, too, which is kind of why I've been pushing it away I'll let you know how I get on with it when I do.
@FuriousMachine I do have Apple TV+. I think it’s on par with HBO Max for the consistency of quality, maybe even surpassing it in my opinion. Those are the two services I’ve been using the most lately. Although I’m dipping into Netflix for an odd show or movie here and there. As you mention the animation content is particularly solid. Surprisingly, my Disney+ hasn’t been used much recently even though it used to be my favorite of the streaming services. It more of a ‘me problem’ rather than a lack of good stuff there though. Not sure why I can’t get myself excited for any of the Star Wars and MCU content.
Anyway, thanks for the Mythic Quest recommendation; I’ll definitely keep it in mind and as with your future BG3 intentions, I’ll return the commitment to let you know when/if I get to it. Also… I’ve never watched Always Sunny… so maybe I need to do that show first? 😬 I’ve heard a lot of praise for it but never tried it. I’m discouraged by the fact it’s 17 seasons / 178 episodes. MQ being only 4 seasons / 41 episodes is much more digestible, especially when you mention how it does actually have a narrative finale — solid endings are attractive to me if I’m going to invest significant time into a show.
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