World of Warcraft: Dragonflight - Legacies (4/5)
Don't have much to say about this - animated mini-series in the same vein for WoW that's been done since Mists. Might just be me getting older, but there was a tendency here to make even the most simple dialogue sound epic, mainly through musical cues and whatnot. But, decent look into the history of the dracthyr and whatnot. I'm really not sure about the Neltharion reveal, that his dive into madness due to the Old Gods was spurned by desparation, in a bid to defeat Razageth. It arguably makes him more sympathetic, but if so, I think that's more of a revelation for Wrathion and such.
...and I bet 90% of you have no idea what those terms are. Peh, scrubs.
Danny Phantom: Season 1 (3/5)
As far as I can tell, Danny Phantom (hence referred to as DP) is one of the more higher regarded Nickelodean shows. Large no. of entries on FFN, Danny himself commonly appears in ancilliary media, and there seems to be a large fanbase that endures to this day. Having watched season 1, I really don't get why this is the case.
That's not to say it's bad, but at the end of the day, the cartoon's really just bog-average. And I don't think that's an age thing talking, it's an analysis-thing talking. The characters are...fine, if archtypical. The action is decent. The plot...okay, I'll get to that later, but I still left wondering what the hub-bub is about. If I had to describe this show in one sentence, it would be "Spider-Man mixed with Ghostbusters" (replace spider sense with ghost sense, use terminology and iconography straight from Ghostbusters), and you have a description of DP. So why is this so hyped?
Anyway, I'm going to delve into plot elements - I'm doing this because I've seen this show praised for plot continuity in a time (2000s) where that was comparatively rare). And while I agree that it was rare back then (arguably it still is), I feel this statement is overblown. So on that note:
-The series gives its origin story in its intro sequence, but never actually has an origin story episode itself. This isn't really bad per se, but the problem is that unless I missed something...well, the entire schtick is that Danny gets zapped by a device his parents want to use to view "the Ghost Zone," said parents believing that the device doesn't work, yet the entire premise is that because it's active, ghosts can come through into the real world, and the device is on most of the time. So first, why isn't it shut down, and second, how does it escape his parents notice when said device is in the lab where they reguarly work?
-On the subject of the ghosts themselves, the rules are never really clear on what they are, or how they function. Sometimes the ghosts appear to be native entities to the Ghost Zone, other times they're the spirits of deceased people. Now, in fairness, these aren't mutually exclusive origins, but the series never really lays down what the rules are except in certain circumstances. For instance, a ghost, Danny or otherwise, may be hit through numerous walls, phasing, but then arbitrarily impact another object. I know I'm likely wondering too much about the mechanics of this series, but over time, little inconsistencies can build up to big ones.
-More on the subject of continuity, maybe there's payoff later on, but season 1 has winks to continuity, but almost all of it is entirely stand-alone. Which is fine, at the end of the day, but there's shifts in the status quo that are never really addressed. Some of them don't matter (e.g. Danny seems to become more skilled as time goes on, but there's not really any kind of payoff), others are more drastic. At the start, Danny's ghost-hunting parents are mocked for hunting ghosts, despite the fact that there's no way any rational person could miss the fights occurring in the city. Then, along the way, people just seem to accept that ghosts are real, and a fact of everyday life. Which, okay, sure, plot progression, but there's no real mea culpa from anyone. For instance, Danny's sister, Jazz, makes it a thing from ep. 1 that she detests her parents for ghost-hunting, seeing it as silly, but then ghosts are accepted as real and this...doesn't really go anywhere. Jazz is hinted to maybe be getting into the whole thing in one episode, but it's never brought up again. Similarly, Jazz discovers Danny's secret, but has to pretend that she doesn't know because she wants him to come clean when he's comfortable in doing so (which I'll give credit, that's a fairly unique touch), but this still doesn't change that much. Sometimes, after Jazz finds out, she's well aware of Danny's secret, at other times, it's a non-issue.
I guess the short version is that DP's stance on continuity bugs me because the continuity is there, but it's never really followed through on, at least not in ways pertaining to character development or status quo. For the villains, this isn't as bad, as their actions stem from past defeats many times, but in terms of actual character? Yeah. Not so much. I could draw attention to the 'thing' between Danny and Sam, but the "will they, won't they" state of their relationship is the same at the end of the season as it is at the start.
So, yeah. Show's average. I'll give credit to the writing, in that it never became condescending, and I chuckled a few times, but still, average. And while I think age may play a lot in my gripes with it, I don't think that's the be-all and end-all. Maybe it gets better later on, and some setups are fully delivered upon in seasons 2/3, but I'm in no rush to find out.
