Discuss and Rate the Last Thing You Watched (non-movies)
- Thread starter Hawki
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I just binged The Mandalorian again, in preparation for season 2 dropping in two weeks. It’s still damn, damn good. The planet of the week format worked, Cara Dune is a great character and I want more of her.
Loved it, give me more
Loved it, give me more
Scully in season 8 I find weird, though. Such a 180 degree turnaround just because she's trying to fill Mulder's shoes in his absence. It's she who comes up with the crazy answers now. I just don't find it believable after she's been rebutting Mulder with weak scientific explanations for seven years.
I watched the first episode of Chop: Britain's Top Woodworker. The series uses the established format of Making Stuff + Weekly Elimination, and it was pretty fun to watch. I could see this inspiring people to try woodworking as a hobby.
Unfortunately the next episode has been pulled from the schedules as it turns out one of the contestants might have Nazi tattoos on his face. Although to be fair he does seem like a nice guy.
Unfortunately the next episode has been pulled from the schedules as it turns out one of the contestants might have Nazi tattoos on his face. Although to be fair he does seem like a nice guy.
Actually given the amount of direct, confirmable things she has been exposed to in that show, for her to continue to be skeptical felt more out of character. I mean I remember being REALLY annoyed with how blatant they were with keeping her the token "skeptic", in the movie they did. Where they are at the end, laying in the snow, and the fucking alien ship literally flies up in front of them, clearly visible. Mulder looks up, sees it, and tells Scully to look....and...she just refuses to do so. Which pissed me off on 2 levels. 1. Because fucking come on, it's RIGHT THERE! Look up!! 2. It's another example of how hollywood equates skeptic with "stubborn refusal to believe things". I mean it's clearly framed that she's just refusing to look at the evidence in front of her because....reasons. But that's not skepticism. That's obstinate denial, refusing to see what is in front of you. A skeptic is happy to believe in something as being real...when given credible evidence it exists. A skeptic is NOT someone that just flatly refuses to believe something that contradicts their world view, even when given evidence. That's what non-skeptics do.
I just found her explanations laughable at times. They really made me laugh out loud sometimes. Yes, it became ridiculous. I kept asking myself why Mulder didn't take a camera with him anywhere in his search for the truth about aliens, but I realized she STILL would have told him the pictures were fake.
Still feels strange, though, even after season seven. Like Scully telling Doggett in the first few minutes of "Patience" (the man bat episode) that perhaps it wasn't a man who killed the victim or her telling him in the beginning of "Salvage" that the car was stopped by a person.
I would expect Mulder to come to those answers so fast, but not someone like Scully. She'd first try to come up with five different other explanations. Because that's who the writers made her over nearly seven years.
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Eh, again, given the extreme insanity of that show, and how many truly bizarre, and supernatural events she was there, first hand to witness, after 7 years, I don't find her shift that extreme. Leading up to it, her stubbornness felt more unrealistic to me. But you have to remember, they set up her character to be the foil to Mulder's "I want to believe" trope of the Misunderstood Hero. So she had to scoff at everything, so she could then be proven wrong for the audience, to further make Mulder's batshit theories seem more plausible in this reality.
I kind of stopped watching around....shit I don't even recall, the show didn't hold my interest for too long to be honest, but I recall being at least somewhat pleased with her considering alternate theories, given the world she lived in. Her "skepticism" bordered on pathological denial to me.
Walking Dead (season... I don’t know. Can’t keep up.)
I no longer watch this week to week. I just wait for the whole season to drop. Apparently this season was a bit warped as there was a new series of the Walking Dead that had to be delayed due to COVID... I didn’t realise til after I watched the season so I don’t think it mattered.
Anyway, just as good as Negan’s war. And the Governor... which is to say 6 to 7/10. God, there are some Teflon characters that end up being more important than their personality belies. Their trying their best without many of the main characters they used to rely on but... it’s the same problem. Repeated dips into personality flaws that is very reminiscent of Bojack Houseman...and become tiresome
I no longer watch this week to week. I just wait for the whole season to drop. Apparently this season was a bit warped as there was a new series of the Walking Dead that had to be delayed due to COVID... I didn’t realise til after I watched the season so I don’t think it mattered.
Anyway, just as good as Negan’s war. And the Governor... which is to say 6 to 7/10. God, there are some Teflon characters that end up being more important than their personality belies. Their trying their best without many of the main characters they used to rely on but... it’s the same problem. Repeated dips into personality flaws that is very reminiscent of Bojack Houseman...and become tiresome
First 2 episodes of She Wolf of London
And the last 2 episodes I'm likely to watch. Meh. Had promise, but didn't do anything with anything.
And the last 2 episodes I'm likely to watch. Meh. Had promise, but didn't do anything with anything.
I never watched X-Files beyond just into season 6. And its one of my favorite Television series ever. It just got unwatchable around then. Right as Carter took Darrin Morgan over to Millennium and then Harsh Realm. X-Files was at its absolute best when it was episodic. Anthology. Monster of the Week. Their story arcs were the least interesting part of the show, and the move to emphasize that destroyed the show.
Something I finally watched recently...
The Orville (seasons 1 and 2)
I'm enjoying The Orville. Its hitting a part of me that misses Star Trek that hasn't been really satisfied since TNG. Plus, added humor. I'm enjoying it. Much more than I enjoyed
The Boys (season 3)
Well, I've lost interest in The Boys. Its looking more and more like TV shows really don't have much of a chance to hold my attention past 1 or 2 seasons (or if they are really good like the X-Files 4 or 5.) With me it happened with Ozark, Breaking Bad, A Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, Supernatural (years and years ago,) Lost, Man in the High Castle, and probably a dozen or so others and now... The Boys. I like the worldbuilding there, I just don't care about what happens to any of the characters anymore.
Its rare for me to watch a show and really care from premiere to finale. Last one to do that... maybe Orphan Black. Just figures, usually my favorites are canceled before their time. Like Firefly or Carnivale.
The two things that annoyed me about that show the whole way:
* I like Nathan's girlfriend more than I like the show's idea for the "real" romantic interest. The show never did come up with a worse indictment against the girlfriend other than she's controlling and oblivious, but even then she's trying not to be and genuinely cares for Nathan. I thought she'd be a part of the bigger conspiracy against Nathan, but not even that.
* The whole artificial scarcity and pointless physical limitations for the "dead" characters don't make any sense. Obviously within a capitalist system you're going to find a way to establish a class structure, but the show's doesn't have any logic. It's all just a big conceit.
Formula 1: Drive To Survive Amazing/10
Having only recently (2 years or so) gotten into Formula 1 Racing, my dad, a long-time fan, encouraged me to watch this Netflix series, and wow, if you only knew. On the outside looking in, non-racing sports enthusiasts likely see just a bunch of cars driving in the same pattern for hundreds of miles, the trailing drivers having basically no chance of “winning,” but this documentary series really opens your eyes to the underlying drama, passion, money and purpose behind each race and each driver's motivation.
Formula 1 has only 20 seats every year making them very coveted positions, so the competition is steep and ruthless. The 20 seats are divided among 10 teams, two drivers per, and the documentary makes it clear in the first episode: “your teammate is your worst enemy.” I liken it to a team being the parents and the drivers are siblings vying against each other for parental approval which, by the very nature of the sport, can't really be shared, i.e.: a team may win, but one of their drivers must lose, and with enough losses, the team looks to replace weaker drivers. You’ve got veteran drivers trying to stay relevant, young drivers trying to prove their worth (often to their detriment given their lack of experience,) and when those worlds collide (literally and figuratively,) tensions ride high and makes for some exciting racing!
Having only recently (2 years or so) gotten into Formula 1 Racing, my dad, a long-time fan, encouraged me to watch this Netflix series, and wow, if you only knew. On the outside looking in, non-racing sports enthusiasts likely see just a bunch of cars driving in the same pattern for hundreds of miles, the trailing drivers having basically no chance of “winning,” but this documentary series really opens your eyes to the underlying drama, passion, money and purpose behind each race and each driver's motivation.
Formula 1 has only 20 seats every year making them very coveted positions, so the competition is steep and ruthless. The 20 seats are divided among 10 teams, two drivers per, and the documentary makes it clear in the first episode: “your teammate is your worst enemy.” I liken it to a team being the parents and the drivers are siblings vying against each other for parental approval which, by the very nature of the sport, can't really be shared, i.e.: a team may win, but one of their drivers must lose, and with enough losses, the team looks to replace weaker drivers. You’ve got veteran drivers trying to stay relevant, young drivers trying to prove their worth (often to their detriment given their lack of experience,) and when those worlds collide (literally and figuratively,) tensions ride high and makes for some exciting racing!
Got recommended these by YT a few days ago, and I've found them very interesting to watch.
I wouldn't even call myself like a "lover" of the Breakfast Club, but the analysis of the characters by an actual therapist is pretty fascinating.
I wouldn't even call myself like a "lover" of the Breakfast Club, but the analysis of the characters by an actual therapist is pretty fascinating.
I’m a watch those later, but did they skip Claire for any particular reason?
No he just hasn't done her video yet. He actually makes several points in Bender's video about his behavior, but says "I'm going to discuss this in Claire's video, since it's more about her than Bender." So he is planning on doing it, just busy I guess. The order that I posted them is in the order that he published them, so I suggest starting from the top and going down, as he does reference the previous videos a few times.
Stargate: Infinity (3/5)
Be honest, how many of you even knew this series existed? Come on. Fess up.
Snark aside, SGI is kind of an oddity in Stargate fandom in that it isn't so much that people pretend it doesn't exist, but rather don't even seem to care that it exists. And I don't quite get why. I mean, it's obscure, but any wiki/wikia check would confirm its existence. That said, I'm going to review this in two ways - as its own thing, and an entry in the Stargate franchise.
As its own cartoon, it's...okay. It's a cartoon designed for kids, but not obnoxiously so. I mean, the good guys are good, the bad guys are bad, and pretty much every episode has some kind of lesson of the week. I'll grant that the lesson isn't really harped on (see season 1 of MLP for an example of that), but in a way, that almost makes it more obnoxious. The characters are archtypes - nothing special, but nothing grating either. The plot starts off with episode-to-episode continuity, but quickly becomes mostly an episode of the week type of show with passing references to the overall plot. And it's a plot that doesn't even really feel justified. Like, okay, the team can't get back to Earth because their gate codes have been locked out due to Stargate Command thinking that Bonner is a traitor. Okay, sure. Why not go to a world that's already in contact with Earth (by this point, there'd be a lot) and get a message through like that? What's more, the team actually stumbles across an officer who brings the info back in the season, but in the last episode, where they get back to Earth (albeit temporarily), little's changed. The plot has to contort itself to maintain the status quo with a vague "don't abandon the mission" vibe. Except by this point, we know that Draga isn't an Ancient, even though the show wants us to forget what's already been established and gah! That's not even getting into the language barrier. Yes, sometimes aliens speak English, sometimes they don't, and it's really at the whims of the plot as to when that occurs.
It's weird. SGI feels like some kind of in-between cartoon. Like, not quite in the realm of 90s "kewl!" stuff (even if there's elements of that, down to character design, and the fact that every episode they ride through a stargate on rad vehicles), but not quite in the time period where cartoons started having deeper, more over-arching stories. Honestly, there's little to reccomend, but not really any one particular thing to dissuade someone from watching it.
Right. That said, how does it fare as a Stargate franchise entry? Well, TBH, it doesn't really fit. It's easily the least Stargatey Stargate thing I've seen. And that includes Stargate: Universe. Because while we can debate the 'essence' of the Stargate franchise, SGI barely has any of it. Apart from the existence of the titular stargate, and refences to Stargate Command, you'd barely know this is a Stargate show. Stargate's generally kept at least one foot in the real world, but SGI doesn't even have that. It has multi-coloured soldiers wearing shiny armour firing wrist lasers at aliens. Oh yes, aliens. Lots and lots of aliens. Something that distinguished Stargate (well, at least SG-1 and Atlantis) was that the paradigm was that there aren't actually that many alien races, rather, multiple human cultures. SGI has an alien of the week format. I suppose all these aliens were curiously absent during the timeframe of SG-1. Even the tlak'khan are basically alien goa'uld (down to their staves, aircraft, and tactics), but again, aren't actually goa'uld. Thing is, the tlak'khan are arguablly interesting conceptually (whereas the goa'uld take reference from Egyptian mythology, the tlak'khan take reference from Mesoamerican cultures), but it's a completely different feel. It's the window dressing of the goa'uld, but without anything that made them interesting.
And I get why this is done - no-one's actually killed, and it's more child friendly to shoot at aliens rather than humans. But if we're going by the 'spirit' of Stargate, then, yeah. SGI sticks out. It's frankly easy to see why it isn't considered canon, even though there isn't that much that outright contradicts prior lore.
So, SGI. Overall? It's fine. It's okay. It's my second least favourite Stargate show, but it has some entertainment value to it.
Be honest, how many of you even knew this series existed? Come on. Fess up.
Snark aside, SGI is kind of an oddity in Stargate fandom in that it isn't so much that people pretend it doesn't exist, but rather don't even seem to care that it exists. And I don't quite get why. I mean, it's obscure, but any wiki/wikia check would confirm its existence. That said, I'm going to review this in two ways - as its own thing, and an entry in the Stargate franchise.
As its own cartoon, it's...okay. It's a cartoon designed for kids, but not obnoxiously so. I mean, the good guys are good, the bad guys are bad, and pretty much every episode has some kind of lesson of the week. I'll grant that the lesson isn't really harped on (see season 1 of MLP for an example of that), but in a way, that almost makes it more obnoxious. The characters are archtypes - nothing special, but nothing grating either. The plot starts off with episode-to-episode continuity, but quickly becomes mostly an episode of the week type of show with passing references to the overall plot. And it's a plot that doesn't even really feel justified. Like, okay, the team can't get back to Earth because their gate codes have been locked out due to Stargate Command thinking that Bonner is a traitor. Okay, sure. Why not go to a world that's already in contact with Earth (by this point, there'd be a lot) and get a message through like that? What's more, the team actually stumbles across an officer who brings the info back in the season, but in the last episode, where they get back to Earth (albeit temporarily), little's changed. The plot has to contort itself to maintain the status quo with a vague "don't abandon the mission" vibe. Except by this point, we know that Draga isn't an Ancient, even though the show wants us to forget what's already been established and gah! That's not even getting into the language barrier. Yes, sometimes aliens speak English, sometimes they don't, and it's really at the whims of the plot as to when that occurs.
It's weird. SGI feels like some kind of in-between cartoon. Like, not quite in the realm of 90s "kewl!" stuff (even if there's elements of that, down to character design, and the fact that every episode they ride through a stargate on rad vehicles), but not quite in the time period where cartoons started having deeper, more over-arching stories. Honestly, there's little to reccomend, but not really any one particular thing to dissuade someone from watching it.
Right. That said, how does it fare as a Stargate franchise entry? Well, TBH, it doesn't really fit. It's easily the least Stargatey Stargate thing I've seen. And that includes Stargate: Universe. Because while we can debate the 'essence' of the Stargate franchise, SGI barely has any of it. Apart from the existence of the titular stargate, and refences to Stargate Command, you'd barely know this is a Stargate show. Stargate's generally kept at least one foot in the real world, but SGI doesn't even have that. It has multi-coloured soldiers wearing shiny armour firing wrist lasers at aliens. Oh yes, aliens. Lots and lots of aliens. Something that distinguished Stargate (well, at least SG-1 and Atlantis) was that the paradigm was that there aren't actually that many alien races, rather, multiple human cultures. SGI has an alien of the week format. I suppose all these aliens were curiously absent during the timeframe of SG-1. Even the tlak'khan are basically alien goa'uld (down to their staves, aircraft, and tactics), but again, aren't actually goa'uld. Thing is, the tlak'khan are arguablly interesting conceptually (whereas the goa'uld take reference from Egyptian mythology, the tlak'khan take reference from Mesoamerican cultures), but it's a completely different feel. It's the window dressing of the goa'uld, but without anything that made them interesting.
And I get why this is done - no-one's actually killed, and it's more child friendly to shoot at aliens rather than humans. But if we're going by the 'spirit' of Stargate, then, yeah. SGI sticks out. It's frankly easy to see why it isn't considered canon, even though there isn't that much that outright contradicts prior lore.
So, SGI. Overall? It's fine. It's okay. It's my second least favourite Stargate show, but it has some entertainment value to it.