Discuss and Rate the Last Thing You Watched (non-movies)

[thebobmaster]

I like Rosario Dawson and when it comes to Star Wars and Marvel these days I just take them as they come- I need others to prove to me at this point that it's worth it. So when I was reading about what this thing was it said "it's a sequel to Rebels." And I looked that up and it was like "Rebels is a sequel to Clone Wars." And I looked that up and it was like "Clone Wars is a cartoon for children with like 100 episodes" and I was like lol no.

Describing Clone Wars as "a cartoon for children" is highly dismissive. I'm not faulting you for not wanting to go through the work to watch the stuff leading up to Ahsoka, mind you. It's one of the big issues I have with Marvel and Star Wars these days, the prerequisite watching. Just correcting the record.

 

[SilentPony]

So I finished Ahsoka. Its...weird. Its 8 episodes long, and they didn't have a story. Nothing actually happened. Like scenes happened, sure. Characters said words and went to locations. But there was no over arching story.
I get its a continuation of Rebels, and Rosario Dawson is great as Ahsoka. Actually all the actors were great, props all around. Loved Hayden coming back, and some truly great scenes of live action Clone War shenanigans.
But like nothing happened here that couldn't be just summed up in the opening scroll of Dave Filoni's film.
Also Thrawn, for being such a supposed genius is kinda stupid and gets outsmarted all the time. Like sure he returns to the known Galaxy in the end, but we know nothing comes of that because we know 5 years later during the events of the sequel trilogy none of his Dark Sisters or Zombie Troopers are mentioned.
That's the inherent problem with prequel stories when the sequels have already established none of it matters, everyone was an idiot loser the whole time, and Palpatine was playing like 800-D chess and had foreseen literally everything.
And the fact this ends on a cliff hanger with no season 2 even greenlite, let alone in production means we're gonna wait a good 5 years before seeing what happens, and then another few years to see the movie.
So I look forward to seeing how Thrawn doesn't effect anything in 2032.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

So The Continental: From the World of John Wick doesn't have any John Wicks in it. That's fine. I don't expect The Continental: From the World of John Wick to have any John Wick in it. Make it about John Wick's friend. Fuck it. Make it about John Wick's friend when he wasn't John Wick's friend. Fuck it, make it about John Wick's friend's brother. Actually fuck that too, make it about John Wick's friend's brother's wife. And John Wick's friend's brother's wife's friends. Make it about everybody. And everything. Make it about Vietnam, and racism, and gentrification, and the woe of immigration, and throw in a family melodrama, and a gay melo, and a good cop vs bad cop melo (they're also fucking), and give everybody a monologue about the tragedy of who they are and what's wrong with the world.

The good? Episode two is 7 minutes shorter than the previous one. That's 169 minutes total so far. The Godfather is only six minutes longer than that. And to think that in near-Godfather runtime The Continental: From the World of John Wick has essentially wrapped up the first act of its thin revenge plot. What a waste of time. Count me out of the upcoming explosive non-event of a finale.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Also Thrawn, for being such a supposed genius is kinda stupid and gets outsmarted all the time.

I am curious as to when they will ever actually get him right. It's been a long while since I read Heir to the Empire, but I remember practically rooting for Thrawn with how capable he was. In the end, he was defeated by circumstances beyond his control. In Disney's Star Wars, he's always portrayed excellently, but he never quite comes off as a genius.

I think it has a lot to do with there basically being no escalation in conflict. Thrawn evolved from commanding a trio of ships to whole fleets and was waging war on a galactic level. There's a lot more opportunity there to show off your tactical genius. In Rebels and Ahsoka, he commands paltry forces and faces like, 5 people at a time. And well, I guess they just don't have good enough writers.

 

[Summerstorm]

So i haven't (directly) watched "One Piece: The xxx Netflix attempt to desperately syphon subscriptions from somewhere" but i had running some "Reactors" on the side while playing games:

Any you know what. This seems... "good". The Project just has "something" resonating in my cynical, bored husk. I mean, it does have LOADS of problems, inconsistencies, sometimes looks cheap. But it feels somehow earnest. It embraces the silly, the cartoony elements as well as the shonen-drama and extreme personalities.

Now i watched the One Piece anime for a bit a million years ago, but like most long-term shonen series i just can't watch a goddamn thousand episodes to get somewhere. Now if it is correctly compressed without losing it's soul it might work for me.

Like many such series (Like for example Naruto, Dragonball Z, Bleach, Yu Yu Hakusho, or such) the basic IDEA is often pretty good... but it's so boring, simple, repetitive, cheaply made and frankly mostly uncool (until it ramps up for a scene or so).
But now in a compressed live action show, which takes the premise and worldbuilding, and keeps the manga design elements and colorful feel, this just would either crash and burn, or if handled with passion and earnest simple seems to work.

Just some things i really loved:
The guy playing Buggy being pretty much a better 300% better Joker than Jared Leto and switching from menacing to fun in an instance.
Luffy charisma-ing his way through the story without any worry by just being empathic and positive.
Having the most grim and intimidating Character sometimes wear a silly dog/bear cap as part of his costume near his introduction.
Colorful and weird sidecharacters (Zeff, random karate sharkmen, Captain Morgan, Goddamn Dracule Mihawk... just the name, unchanged, no apologies: Audience, here is the guy, also: hey, do you want a masked fat chef with wolverine-hair, a phantom-of-the-opera mask and cat ears tag team fighting along a hissing boyish catgirl against a 3-katana fighter inside a colonial mansion: We got you)
Mixed silly with fucking grim backstories (Sanji & Zeff's stranding)
Zeff carrying a bandolier filled with spices into battle (for emergency cooking-related incidents)
Helmeppo's terrible hair...
Sometimes genuinely good action scenes (We even have a nice "longer one-Take panning shot" or a nice "in-action rotation shot")

Well sometimes they are also bad. And the acting is mixed. (I didn't like Nami's actress, or direction, for most of the time, but she got a few great scenes in too.)
So overall i am relieved to see that even now sometimes a bunch of netflix-money does something better than expected on a project that i didn't even think about, and when i finally heard about, didn't think could work.

 

[Xprimentyl]

The Changeling (S1, Ep1-7) Apple TV+: Huh? / Great

A man in New York woos the love of his life, just in time for him to discover she's moving to Brazil to experience "life," and not sure when she might return. She does eventually, and they wed and have a child together. Soon after, the wife begins to experience ostensibly postpartum symptoms, but is adamant that their child is not theirs. Then "strange" things start to happen...

This one started out with really strong promise, but 7 episodes in, it just feels like it's simply winding itself up with convolution and intrigue for convolution and intrigue's sake. I'm not really sure what's happening right now as I've been given too many threads to follow. And what's worse, it does that thing where it jumps back and forth between the present and the past constantly. I really hate when episodic shows leave you on a "present" cliffhanger, then the next episode spends the whole time telling a concurrent or past story of other related events. Episode 5 was the last one from the present; 6 and 7 are "'events weeks in the past" and an "hour-long retrospective by a tertiary character" respectively. It's infuriating.

I'll finish the season, and come back with my judgement.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Ahsoka finale was indeed, overall, a letdown.

Really the only qualm I have with this show is the writing. It is just never as good as it needs to be. The writing wasn't nearly as atrocious as previous D+ shows (Kenobi enters the chat), but it's also just nothing to write home about. Which is really disappointing, because I think every other element of the show is done really well. Gorgeous sets, great effects, even good casting.

 

[Piscian]

I am curious as to when they will ever actually get him right. It's been a long while since I read Heir to the Empire, but I remember practically rooting for Thrawn with how capable he was. In the end, he was defeated by circumstances beyond his control. In Disney's Star Wars, he's always portrayed excellently, but he never quite comes off as a genius.

I think it has a lot to do with there basically being no escalation in conflict. Thrawn evolved from commanding a trio of ships to whole fleets and was waging war on a galactic level. There's a lot more opportunity there to show off your tactical genius. In Rebels and Ahsoka, he commands paltry forces and faces like, 5 people at a time. And well, I guess they just don't have good enough writers.

There's certainly nothing about Thrawn (in Asoka) that screams "HES A THREAT TO THE GALAXY". Just seems like a capable admiral. They kept hinting at whatever the cargo is that he's bringing back must be something important. I wish they'd at least given me something nerdy to get excited about. The show clearly "wants" viewers to get excited, but nothing about it got me there.

 

[Chimpzy]

There's certainly nothing about Thrawn (in Asoka) that screams "HES A THREAT TO THE GALAXY". Just seems like a capable admiral. They kept hinting at whatever the cargo is that he's bringing back must be something important. I wish they'd at least given me something nerdy to get excited about. The show clearly "wants" viewers to get excited, but nothing about it got me there.

It's imo too concerned with setup to provide any really excitement. That's why the only good payoff happens in episode 5 (of 8), as fanservicey as it was. All the others just fizzled, seemingly brushed over in favor of getting back to setting shit up. Or just never happened (assuming they ever will, with Ray Stevenson's passing), held back for the next seasons or movie or whatever.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

The Changeling (S1, Ep1-7) Apple TV+: Huh? / Great

A man in New York woos the love of his life, just in time for him to discover she's moving to Brazil to experience "life," and not sure when she might return. She does eventually, and they wed and have a child together. Soon after, the wife begins to experience ostensibly postpartum symptoms, but is adamant that their child is not theirs. Then "strange" things start to happen...

This one started out with really strong promise, but 7 episodes in, it just feels like it's simply winding itself up with convolution and intrigue for convolution and intrigue's sake. I'm not really sure what's happening right now as I've been given too many threads to follow. And what's worse, it does that thing where it jumps back and forth between the present and the past constantly. I really hate when episodic shows leave you on a "present" cliffhanger, then the next episode spends the whole time telling a concurrent or past story of other related events. Episode 5 was the last one from the present; 6 and 7 are "'events weeks in the past" and an "hour-long retrospective by a tertiary character" respectively. It's infuriating.

I'll finish the season, and come back with my judgement.

Yep- accurate to the source material

 

[Piscian]

It's imo too concerned with setup to provide any really excitement. That's why the only good payoff happens in episode 5 (of 8), as fanservicey as it was. All the others just fizzled, seemingly brushed over in favor of getting back to setting shit up. Or just never happened (assuming they ever will, with Ray Stevenson's passing), held back for the next seasons or movie or whatever.

I forgot about that. There was tease for Balon at the end of the last episode, but with Stevensons passing that's out unless they recast. What a clusterfuck.

Man I kinda just want to cancel my Disney subscription to save myself the temptation of watching any of their shows.

 

[SilentPony]

I am curious as to when they will ever actually get him right. It's been a long while since I read Heir to the Empire, but I remember practically rooting for Thrawn with how capable he was. In the end, he was defeated by circumstances beyond his control. In Disney's Star Wars, he's always portrayed excellently, but he never quite comes off as a genius.

I think it has a lot to do with there basically being no escalation in conflict. Thrawn evolved from commanding a trio of ships to whole fleets and was waging war on a galactic level. There's a lot more opportunity there to show off your tactical genius. In Rebels and Ahsoka, he commands paltry forces and faces like, 5 people at a time. And well, I guess they just don't have good enough writers.

The problem is the sequel trilogy basically ruined everything. With the knowledge Palpatine is not only alive, but planned the entire Rebellion and the Battle of Endor and purposefully faked his death, and is going to re-corrupt the Jedi, Luke is a failure, Leia is a failure, Han is a failure and everything was for nothing, its really hard to tell a story about some great threat. Because we know Thrawn fails because he's not part of the sequels that take place only a few years after Ahsoka. So its not like another great decades long civil war is coming.
Heir to the Empire was written accepting Palpatine was dead and the OG trio were actual heroes instead of the loser fuckups the sequels show them to be. The sequels just ruined the idea of Star Wars for anyone but Rey going forward.

 

[Piscian]

The problem is the sequel trilogy basically ruined everything. With the knowledge Palpatine is not only alive, but planned the entire Rebellion and the Battle of Endor and purposefully faked his death, and is going to re-corrupt the Jedi, Luke is a failure, Leia is a failure, Han is a failure and everything was for nothing, its really hard to tell a story about some great threat. Because we know Thrawn fails because he's not part of the sequels that take place only a few years after Ahsoka. So its not like another great decades long civil war is coming.
Heir to the Empire was written accepting Palpatine was dead and the OG trio were actual heroes instead of the loser fuckups the sequels show them to be. The sequels just ruined the idea of Star Wars for anyone but Rey going forward.

 

[BrawlMan]

Yu Yu Hakusho,

YYH only had four seasons and a definitive ending. The anime had a much better ending than its original manga. Now I do admit the four season was basically a weaker version of the dark tournament, but it's not as bad as some people make it out to be. At least they bothered to end it, and the ending itself had a sense of finality and completion. Pretty heartwarming too.

 

[BrawlMan]

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[Summerstorm]

YYH only had four seasons and a definitive ending. The anime had a much better ending than its original manga. Now I do admit the four season was basically a weaker version of the dark tournament, but it's not as bad as some people make it out to be. At least they bothered to end it, and the ending itself had a sense of finality and completion. Pretty heartwarming too.

Huh. Ah really "only" 112 Episodes. So 4 Seasons. Hm, felt like more... (Seems i have been talking our of my ass there) well, has been over 20 years. But yeah i haven't finished it all, stoppped somewhere in a tournament, or after it... well, i know tha main guy doesn't win it, right? Man i am getting old. I think longest anime series i watched was Rurouni Kenshin (I think 2 full seasons, 56 Episodes and a movie?) And maybe Inuyasha. (No idea how much i watched from that, but no way i have seen it all)

Eh, but my point stands: If you have a nice story to tell: fine, If you can continue on a new stage with a new goal or so: great... but don't let it run into eternity. (I am a bit hypocritical though, for example i watched all of Star Trek: Next generation (178 Episodes) and never felt about that this way. But that for example often is not really about the crew and their "goals/dreams etc." but more about the discovery and interesting things to see from a modern human perspective)

Other series which started good for me, but just derailed into season after season of weird stuff or evermounting threats were Supernatural or Buffy, for example on a non-anime side. (Not that they even in later episodes didn't have great stories, great television or cool stuff.)

 

[Bob_McMillan]

There's certainly nothing about Thrawn (in Asoka) that screams "HES A THREAT TO THE GALAXY". Just seems like a capable admiral. They kept hinting at whatever the cargo is that he's bringing back must be something important. I wish they'd at least given me something nerdy to get excited about. The show clearly "wants" viewers to get excited, but nothing about it got me there.

I assume the coffins are nightsisters. Or nightsister zombies. Or super duper nightsister zombies.

Which again, disappointing. Thrawn should be a threat not because he has some superweapon, but because he is big brained. Even when he had access to cloning tech in the books, that was just to put him on equal footing with the New Republic. Thrawn is an enemy that is defeated by the galaxy uniting together. Which feels like the direction they're going with, seeing as they keep pushing the idea that the New Republic is held together by spit and prayers. And I think it could really work, if not for...

The problem is the sequel trilogy basically ruined everything.

Yep. Who the fuck cares if they defeat Thrawn, if that buys just like a two decades of "peace". I was hoping with this "new galaxy" business, they were going to introduce the idea of extra-galactic threats that Thrawn was always about: he aligns with the Empire because he believes ruling with an iron fist protects the galaxy from horrors from beyond the Outer Rim. But that doesn't seem to be the case at all.

Isn't it weird how moving to a whole new galaxy was so understated in the show? Like fuck, might as well have stranded Thrawn in some uncharted planet in-galaxy for all we care. Shit's exactly the same as the old galaxy.

 

[SilentPony]

Yep. Who the fuck cares if they defeat Thrawn, if that buys just like a two decades of "peace". I was hoping with this "new galaxy" business, they were going to introduce the idea of extra-galactic threats that Thrawn was always about: he aligns with the Empire because he believes ruling with an iron fist protects the galaxy from horrors from beyond the Outer Rim. But that doesn't seem to be the case at all.

Isn't it weird how moving to a whole new galaxy was so understated in the show? Like fuck, might as well have stranded Thrawn in some uncharted planet in-galaxy for all we care. Shit's exactly the same as the old galaxy.

The new galaxy part was 10000% wasted. Oh so its a new galaxy, operating on the same laws of physics and still have the Force and Jedi and the Dark Side and the Night Sisters.
So...functionally the exact same galaxy. There was no reason for it to be on another galaxy. Should have just been a lost planet beyond the rim.

 

[BrawlMan]

tournament, or after it... well, i know tha main guy doesn't win it, right?

Yusuke didn't win the demon world tournament, but one of Raizen's pals did. Thankfully, he share the same view as Big R did. He laid down the law and demons can no longer intentionally harm humans nor cause mischief. They would have to learn and integrate with humans at some point.

Other series which started good for me, but just derailed into season after season of weird stuff or evermounting threats were Supernatural or Buffy, for example on a non-anime side. (Not that they even in later episodes didn't have great stories, great television or cool stuff.)

Glad I never got into those. If you saw my anime library, you'll notice that most of my anime collection are either movies, ovas, or shows that usually only go up to 26 episodes. Those tend to have the better run times without being too fast or too slow. Usually.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

Twisted Metal - 7/10

This is like the perfect show to watch when coming home from a long day with some food you picked up and just wanna put something on that you know is solid without searching forever, it's light, breezy, funny enough, action-y enough, and not too much thinking required. Anthony Mackie is the most charismatic I've ever seen him, I never found him more than just "fine" in any other role honestly and I didn't get how he kept getting work. Stephanie Beatriz is great as Quiet and I always liked her in Brooklyn Nine-Nine. And Will Arnett is great as the voice of Sweet Tooth. The guy playing Agent Stone is just villain-y enough to root against but root for just a little bit because you want him competent enough.

This show also is another sub-genre I invented while discussing with my wife (with whom I'm watching) last night- the "Raised By Wolves" genre. That was a show that I loved but seemingly only I did because, like the Changeling, it's a collection of cool stuff, dumb stuff, and weird stuff, and proudly leans into its dorky sci-fi trappings. Foundation and See are in this genre. When I'm asked "would you recommend to watch this show" I cannot say yes or no, I have to know the person and ask them some preliminary questions. Like recommending medication or something. These shows are not.. well, good, per se, but they're fun to watch, especially with somebody. They're a good bonkers time and they're short (The Changeling is only going to be 8 episodes I believe).

Raised by Wolves was so... uh... wacky I guess, and sorta crazy and insane as well. I very much don't think it was actually good but I cannot say I was ever really bored but it was mainly entertaining/interesting in a train wreck kinda way. It was so odd of a show that they didn't even finish the CGI/backdrops because there was clear as day straight up green screen in the final of episode of season 1 at least (I haven't checked if they made more seasons). With Foundation, I didn't even get through the first episode and was kinda bored for the 1st 20 mins or so and bounced off of it that fast. I'll probably give Changeling a look see.

The Continental: From the World of John Wick

The Continental: From the World of John Wick doesn't have John Wick in it. It has Winston Scott instead, John Wick's friend/mentor, now played by a younger actor who looks and sounds nothing like Ian McShane (who even does?). I guess if you're going to phone in a prequel it's easier to cast young Winston than it is to reinvent John Wick without Keanu.

The Continental: From the World of John Wick is a lot like Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman's Butler (I'm assuming; I haven't seen Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman's Butler). Want to cash in on some hibernating IP real quick? Hack out a boilerplate origin story and slap trademark names on them. There's nothing intrinsically "John Wick" about The Continental: From the World of John Wick beyond a few names and props and one location, any more than there's anything authentically Batman about Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman's Butler.

The Continental: From the World of John Wick has an incredibly thin premise - a criminal rips off a gangster and his estranged brother is brought in to track him down - yet somehow can barely find the time in all of the first episode's 88 minutes to squeeze in a paltry two action scenes, one of them a lackluster version of the stairway fight we've already seen in five different movies (counting Atomic Blonde), the other a car chase that keeps strobing and cutting to black every 3 seconds because they didn't have the skill, the time, the money or the care to edit a thrilling, coherent sequence. I'm assuming most of the money went to Mel Gibson (probably knocked all his scenes in an afternoon) and enough needle drops to furnish 7 seasons of Mad Men.

The good? I guess the guy playing Winston is alright. They wisely didn't write him as another John Wick and kept his character in check, so he's all about talking his way in and out of trouble. Gibson's enjoyable but again, barely in it. Rest of the acting is kinda subpar. Nice to see Zed['s dead] though.

I couldn't even finish the 1st episode. It felt like it was trying to still be John Wick with that stairway action scene and that kinda got me disinterested the most because I was hoping it would kinda just be it's own thing but in the world of John Wick instead of just being John Wick-lite or John Wick "straight to DVD". I was kinda hoping the Continental show would be about a character like Lance Reddick's concierge dealing with all the assassins and having to juggle all that like in that one episode of It's Always Sunny where Charlie has to juggle everything to pass the health inspection.