Discuss and Rate the Last Thing You Watched (non-movies)
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Camp Camp: Season 2 (3/5)
Those of you who saw my review for season 1 will be aware that I've ranked season 2 lower than season 1. I'm left to wonder if this is a case of familiarity breeding contempt, where a show doesn't decline in quality per se, but loses the impact it once did - basically why I no longer watch MLP for instance. That said, there are a few key differences here. Looking back between seasons, I feel season 2 has more stand-out episodes (granted, it could be that it's because they're fresher in my head), but season 1 has the better overall arc. That's not to say that season 2 is without its own arc, but season 1 has a more pronounced one. So a question you could ask is what makes a better season - the arc, or individual episodes? I dunno, but whatever the case, season 2 feels like the lesser of the two in my mind.
I could leave it at that, but instead, I'll elaborate. There's a potential role reversal going on between seasons, and I don't know if it's intentional or not. Basically, the arc of season 1 can be defined as David and Max's life philosophies constantly butting heads to where this comes to a head in the final episode. Here, David comes to a point of self-realization about the nature of the world (or at least, his world), but refuses to compromise his principles, which leads Max and the others to give him a bit of a helping hand. Watching this, I got the sense of watching not only a season finale, but also a series finale. But no, season 2 goes on, and Max is still abrasive...this isn't bad per se, but still, it's noticable. And speaking of Max, the arc of the season arguably revolves around conveying just how little his parents care about him, but while that does come to a head in the season finale, the arc, such as it is, is less noticable prior to this point. The actual role reversal that occurs here is Max finally breaking down and showing vulnerability, which leads to Dave and Gwen stepping in. So, on one hand, we get a nice symmetry, but on the other, one side of the symmetry is executed better than the other.
I should also give props to the season for continuing to develop the side characters, though season 1 did this as well. It's also the point where I can say we've finally got evidence of NikkixMax as a ship, but then, people will ship anything and anyone. I'm only bringing this up because it's a ship that's apparently really popular, even though I'd say that there's far more evidence for NeilxNikki. I dunno. Maybe it's after watching two seasons of Voltron and being exposed to every fanship under the sun, but whatever.
So, yeah. Enjoyable season, but not as strong as the first.
Those of you who saw my review for season 1 will be aware that I've ranked season 2 lower than season 1. I'm left to wonder if this is a case of familiarity breeding contempt, where a show doesn't decline in quality per se, but loses the impact it once did - basically why I no longer watch MLP for instance. That said, there are a few key differences here. Looking back between seasons, I feel season 2 has more stand-out episodes (granted, it could be that it's because they're fresher in my head), but season 1 has the better overall arc. That's not to say that season 2 is without its own arc, but season 1 has a more pronounced one. So a question you could ask is what makes a better season - the arc, or individual episodes? I dunno, but whatever the case, season 2 feels like the lesser of the two in my mind.
I could leave it at that, but instead, I'll elaborate. There's a potential role reversal going on between seasons, and I don't know if it's intentional or not. Basically, the arc of season 1 can be defined as David and Max's life philosophies constantly butting heads to where this comes to a head in the final episode. Here, David comes to a point of self-realization about the nature of the world (or at least, his world), but refuses to compromise his principles, which leads Max and the others to give him a bit of a helping hand. Watching this, I got the sense of watching not only a season finale, but also a series finale. But no, season 2 goes on, and Max is still abrasive...this isn't bad per se, but still, it's noticable. And speaking of Max, the arc of the season arguably revolves around conveying just how little his parents care about him, but while that does come to a head in the season finale, the arc, such as it is, is less noticable prior to this point. The actual role reversal that occurs here is Max finally breaking down and showing vulnerability, which leads to Dave and Gwen stepping in. So, on one hand, we get a nice symmetry, but on the other, one side of the symmetry is executed better than the other.
I should also give props to the season for continuing to develop the side characters, though season 1 did this as well. It's also the point where I can say we've finally got evidence of NikkixMax as a ship, but then, people will ship anything and anyone. I'm only bringing this up because it's a ship that's apparently really popular, even though I'd say that there's far more evidence for NeilxNikki. I dunno. Maybe it's after watching two seasons of Voltron and being exposed to every fanship under the sun, but whatever.
So, yeah. Enjoyable season, but not as strong as the first.
Camp Camp Holiday Specials (3/5)
I'm counting these as being separate from season 2. I don't know how they went in airing order (e.g. how close they aired to the season 2 finale), but whatever the case, they stand alone at least narratively. Ergo, I felt it best to review them separately.
So, first episode is Night of the Living Ill, where a flu spreads throughout the campers, and they need to get to Spooky Island to find medicine (since Dave and Gwen are sick, they can't drive into town). The flu spreads quickly, and every time snot lands on a kid, they join the ranks of the "living ill," a.k.a. zombies without the whole devouring flesh thing. It's actually left up to interpretation as to whether the flu is actually making the kids act this way, or whether they're just basically larping. My first inclination was to go with the latter, but as things went on, I began to wonder if it might be the former. I mean, this show can get pretty crazy, so a flu that turns kids into not!zombies isn't that far out there when you think about it.
Also, Jasper returns, going beyond any reasonable doubt that he's a ghost. I'm actually unsure about this as a concept - I get the sense that the writers have something planned for Jasper that they're going to draw out, and I don't know whether that's good. I mean, this show can get pretty crazy, but this is explicit depictions of supernatural stuff, whereas everything else so far has kept at least one foot in reality. Basically, think of the difference between something like the Simpsons and Futurama - both use similar comedy, but one is far more fantastical, whereas in Simpsons, the fantastical is generally limited to the Halloween episodes. Time will tell I guess. Still, of the two episodes, I like this one more - it's insane fun, and insane fun can be, well, fun.
The second special is a not!Christmas episode. As in, this is a summer camp, but a snowstorm hits the camp and Nikki talks David into pretending it actually is Christmas. Both in-universe and out of universe, this creates a conflict within the episode, and it's the latter that's noticable. Basically, the episode is trying to be both a Christmas special, and a parody of Christmas specials. So while there's individual moments that work (the most notable being Nikki's Christmas song, and Max/Neil taking the shit out of it), the episode as a whole? Not so much. It also arguably undermines the season 2 finale, given that Dave goes out of his way to give the kids presents, when him getting Max a pizza at the end of season 2 was more an exceptional act for exceptional circumstances.
So, enjoyed them, but nothing too special. Dunno if I'll move onto season 3, as I'll need to subscribe to Rooster Teeth to get additional seasons. And right now, Camp Camp and Nomad of Nowhere are really the only entries in their repitoire I'm interested in (though I could try X-Ray and Vav).
I'm counting these as being separate from season 2. I don't know how they went in airing order (e.g. how close they aired to the season 2 finale), but whatever the case, they stand alone at least narratively. Ergo, I felt it best to review them separately.
So, first episode is Night of the Living Ill, where a flu spreads throughout the campers, and they need to get to Spooky Island to find medicine (since Dave and Gwen are sick, they can't drive into town). The flu spreads quickly, and every time snot lands on a kid, they join the ranks of the "living ill," a.k.a. zombies without the whole devouring flesh thing. It's actually left up to interpretation as to whether the flu is actually making the kids act this way, or whether they're just basically larping. My first inclination was to go with the latter, but as things went on, I began to wonder if it might be the former. I mean, this show can get pretty crazy, so a flu that turns kids into not!zombies isn't that far out there when you think about it.
Also, Jasper returns, going beyond any reasonable doubt that he's a ghost. I'm actually unsure about this as a concept - I get the sense that the writers have something planned for Jasper that they're going to draw out, and I don't know whether that's good. I mean, this show can get pretty crazy, but this is explicit depictions of supernatural stuff, whereas everything else so far has kept at least one foot in reality. Basically, think of the difference between something like the Simpsons and Futurama - both use similar comedy, but one is far more fantastical, whereas in Simpsons, the fantastical is generally limited to the Halloween episodes. Time will tell I guess. Still, of the two episodes, I like this one more - it's insane fun, and insane fun can be, well, fun.
The second special is a not!Christmas episode. As in, this is a summer camp, but a snowstorm hits the camp and Nikki talks David into pretending it actually is Christmas. Both in-universe and out of universe, this creates a conflict within the episode, and it's the latter that's noticable. Basically, the episode is trying to be both a Christmas special, and a parody of Christmas specials. So while there's individual moments that work (the most notable being Nikki's Christmas song, and Max/Neil taking the shit out of it), the episode as a whole? Not so much. It also arguably undermines the season 2 finale, given that Dave goes out of his way to give the kids presents, when him getting Max a pizza at the end of season 2 was more an exceptional act for exceptional circumstances.
So, enjoyed them, but nothing too special. Dunno if I'll move onto season 3, as I'll need to subscribe to Rooster Teeth to get additional seasons. And right now, Camp Camp and Nomad of Nowhere are really the only entries in their repitoire I'm interested in (though I could try X-Ray and Vav).
Animal Rescue SOS:
A documentary that follows an animal rehibilitaion center in Britton that specializes in getting local wildlife back in the wild. Its perfect for all ages, and look at the baby Badgers! Just look at them!
They have to deal with all manner of situations, ranging from cutting a fox cub free from getting its head stuck in a pipe, to a deer that fell into a swiming pool, to an adult fox that made itself at home in the cat bed. Two seasons, on Netflix, have fun
A documentary that follows an animal rehibilitaion center in Britton that specializes in getting local wildlife back in the wild. Its perfect for all ages, and look at the baby Badgers! Just look at them!
They have to deal with all manner of situations, ranging from cutting a fox cub free from getting its head stuck in a pipe, to a deer that fell into a swiming pool, to an adult fox that made itself at home in the cat bed. Two seasons, on Netflix, have fun
Star Trek has had a running theme for a long time going into Klingon mixing species with other alien species, when you look at Worf's family being part human and Torres from Voyager who was also part Human, this has been somewhat an ongoing theme. Then, when you think about the Kilingon's war catchphrase of "Remain Klingon" this also alludes to trying to ensure racial purity.Hawki said:
In Star Trek Discovery's first season, they already showed the Klingon's messing with their genetics via the whole Ash/Voq merger. We already know they have the technology to do this at that time, which means how many other "mutants" did they create? In addition, they now have expanded upon this in season 2 now with the fact that Voq/Ash fathered a child during this procedure, so that child would carry DNA from both. They also started having Klingon's grow their hair out again and you can see even Ash Tyler's appearance shifting to that more of the Klingon's in the original series, even though he is outwardly human. The offspring of the merger Human Klingon's could have appearances anywhere in between that of humans or Klingon's, so this appears to be tying this together.
The technology issue reminds me of the original series when Pike, in his deteriorated state went to go live with the Aliens who allowed him to be able to live out his fantasies had mentioned that he had withheld classified information from Kirk. It isn't that the enterprise was not technologically advanced, it is that some things had since been outlawed and classified due to being considered dangerous. During the first season, this was shown repeatedly with the Mycelial network, as first they realized they were harming the Tardigrade, Stamets then broke the law and injected himself with tardigrade DNA to be able to navigate the network, then Stamets almost died from doing jumps as it took a terrible toll on his health, also he later realized the mirror universe Stamets had been destroying the Mycelial Network in addition to the damage he was doing to the point it was having to be regrown. This now has been expanded upon further in season 2 now showing they were killing the network in addition to the network itself being sentient, which again would be a violation of the law for them to continue to use it at the expense of a sentient being. Thus this technology would necessarily be outlawed in the future and classified to prevent anyone else from recreating the experiment.
Michael is supposed to be "wooden" being raised by Vulcan's they are expected to suppress any emotion and come across that way, although she does allow herself to display more emotion as the show progresses, part of which is explained by her upbringing and her desire to be Vulcan and being forced to attend starfleet and mix with humans against her will by deception of Sarek. She spent her entire life trying to not be human, not feel emotion to impress Sarek and only now does she seem to be warming up slowly to emotion over time of serving with humans, not unlike Spock, she seems to share the same struggles that Spock did with emotion. I see that she was playing the character well, if you take it as coming across as "wooden" as that was exactly her intent.
I have to disagree that Discovery isn't doing a ton of discovering, in that it has done an abundance of that within the Mycelial Network, sentient plants on Pahvo, the mirror universe, the Klingon home world, and who can forget the discovery of the Ancient Klingon Beacon of Kahless that started the war. OF course the war changed how a science vessel is used, but that is to be expected when they had to utilize the mirror universe in order to prevent the extinction of the Federation. Now that the war is over though, they can hopefully return to discovering, and it appears they are in season 2, even though they continue to break the rules to do so. It makes sense though since all of this will be classified at a later time regardless.
I get why Michael is wooden from an in-universe perspective. That doesn't excuse her lack of character in my eyes.Lil devils x said:
We've had various vulcan characters in the TV series, and all of them have been either foils to the main protagonist (e.g. Spock) or background characters (e.g. Tuvok). Spock works great as a character, but if he was the lead, if he was without Kirk or Bones to interact with, I doubt he'd be as well liked. Michael technically gets characters to bounce off of, but I find myself warming to those characters (e.g. Lorca and Tilly) a lot more.
That's pulling a big "technically."
Past Star Trek series had the ships visiting various planets, meeting new civilizations, going where no-one has gone before, etc. However, the mycelial network is explored from the ship. The mirror universe is an accident, and they have to focus on getting home and shutting down the Empire's own spore device - no time to marvel or take science notes. They're dispatched to the klingon homeworld on a mission of destruction, not discovery. Even the plant thing, IIRC, was part of the broader war effort.
Basically, past Star Trek series had ships doing discovering as the goal. Whatever Discovery 'discovers,' the discovery itself is the means to what will theoretically amount to a violent end.
I am taking it you haven't been watching season 2 yet? Michael has been very emotional in season 2 as she has developed bonds with her shipmates, and being worried about her brother, in addition to coming to better terms with her emotions. Tilly was kidnapped by spores and taken offship into the mycelial network, albeit not for long as there really isn't much to show there except a crapton of spores and the war is over so now they will be able to explore more. season 1 was the introduction to all of these things they now will be able to explore further. Michael was supposed to be shown to be rigid and to warm up over time, although still trying to keep a bit of herself reserved and I believe she is doing a great job of doing so.Hawki said:
When you compare Discovery to previous Star Treks, they are already spending the same amount of time on and off ship, actually far more off ship time when you look at Next Generation or Voyager and just as much time in conflict with other alien life forms, actually maybe even a bit less when you look at Next generation. Fighting with other aliens as always a core part of any Star Trek series. Things not going as planned and often ending violently is all a part of every Star Trek in existence as that is part of the lessons being taught here. They come in peace but are not always met with peace. Sure they make many alliances and friends, but enemies as well even when they try to do everything possible to prevent that from happening. The Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, Borg and many other species from previous Star Treks were anything but friendly. "Discovering" does not necessarily mean discovering non hostile entities. It would be out of character for any Star Trek to leave any of that out. Compared to previous Star Treks though, they seem to have so much more action and material packed into every episode it can be difficult to keep up if you walk out of the room or miss an episode you would completely lose track of what is going on. The way Discovery has running story lines is more like the Borg Fan collective in that it is an ongoing story you have to keep up with rather than random loosely collected episodes that can be viewed out of order. Much of the Original Series and even much of the Next Generation, many of the episodes were separate stories that really could be watched in any order. The storylines in discovery are the opposite of that, you have to watch them in order or it won't make sense. You would be completely lost wondering how Hugh came back, why Ash is a Klingon and Georgiou is alive and mean.
LOL! It is far more complicated than that.. the spores are not only sentient, they are highly intelligent, work together and can construct anything.. even spore transporters! This may change how you view fungi forever. X DHawki said:
The Newsroom: Season 1 (3/5)
While this is a bit of an exagerration, there's a crisis of identity in The Newsroom. And it can be expressed via the first episode as a microcosm of that crisis.
Chances are if you haven't seen the show, you may have seen clips of it. The season opens in a college forum where, after keeping mum on various topics, Will McAvoy lets out a tirade about how America isn't the greatest country in the world, dismantling the myth via statistics, and pointing out that arguments like "freedom" can't be used when "freedom" is shared by many countries. It's good, powerful, intelligent stuff...
...and the rest of the episode barely deals with it. I mean, the fallout of it is referenced, but it's not really used as that much of an onus for the plot, nor the characters. After 5-10 minutes of such discussion, the episode pivots into character drama, already setting up stuff like broken relationships and a love triangle (which becomes a love square by the end of the season). So while none of this is bad, there's basically two halves of the show going on, neither of which feel that congruent. Every so often, Will McAvoy will be a mouthpiece for the writers and tear down political hypocricies (in all but one case at best, this means grilling Republicans, mainly the Tea Party), but for the remaining 90% of the time, it's focusing on the character stuff.
And I guess that's fair...I mean, I went through Parks & Rec not too long ago. I can enjoy character drama in local government, I can enjoy it in cable news as well. However, P&R knew exactly what it was, and stuck with it. The Newsroom? Not so much. And while I'm all for tearing down the Republican Party in this day and age (though granted, I'm not an American, so I don't have that much of a horse in the race), I can't deny that the show is focusing its poltiical side almost exclusively on one party. Which is what it's entitled to do however, but it doesn't make for engaging storytelling. If you want an example of this, look at House of Cards. The Democrat Party is shown to be pretty rotten (mainly thanks to Frank Underwood), but it isn't portraying the Republicans as saints either - we just see less of their internal workings. Suffice to say, yes, i like HoC more, in part because the character and political aspects are better interwoven, while here, they feel separate. Again, media is fair to pick any side it wants, but it's hard for me to separate mcAvoy from the writers themselves.
Also, another matter - this isn't the show's fault, but it already feels dated. Season 1 was aired in 2012, and it depicts events ranging from 2010 to 2011. That's nearly a decade, and already, the stuff feels antiquated in this day and age. Yes, I remember when the Tea Party was a "thing." I remember Fukushima, and the death of Osama Bin Laden. But when I look at the current poltiical landscape in the US, when I look at the demonization of the media by Trump, when I consider how the US seems more divided than it was in the early 2010s, stuff like The Newsroom seems quaint. I think when we look back at this period of time, there'd be great potential for a show like this, navigating the political and social landscape from 2016 onwards. Alas, this isn't that show. It's too recent to feel like historical fiction, yet too far away from the present to feel relevant. And even as a character drama, there's frankly better options out there.
While this is a bit of an exagerration, there's a crisis of identity in The Newsroom. And it can be expressed via the first episode as a microcosm of that crisis.
Chances are if you haven't seen the show, you may have seen clips of it. The season opens in a college forum where, after keeping mum on various topics, Will McAvoy lets out a tirade about how America isn't the greatest country in the world, dismantling the myth via statistics, and pointing out that arguments like "freedom" can't be used when "freedom" is shared by many countries. It's good, powerful, intelligent stuff...
...and the rest of the episode barely deals with it. I mean, the fallout of it is referenced, but it's not really used as that much of an onus for the plot, nor the characters. After 5-10 minutes of such discussion, the episode pivots into character drama, already setting up stuff like broken relationships and a love triangle (which becomes a love square by the end of the season). So while none of this is bad, there's basically two halves of the show going on, neither of which feel that congruent. Every so often, Will McAvoy will be a mouthpiece for the writers and tear down political hypocricies (in all but one case at best, this means grilling Republicans, mainly the Tea Party), but for the remaining 90% of the time, it's focusing on the character stuff.
And I guess that's fair...I mean, I went through Parks & Rec not too long ago. I can enjoy character drama in local government, I can enjoy it in cable news as well. However, P&R knew exactly what it was, and stuck with it. The Newsroom? Not so much. And while I'm all for tearing down the Republican Party in this day and age (though granted, I'm not an American, so I don't have that much of a horse in the race), I can't deny that the show is focusing its poltiical side almost exclusively on one party. Which is what it's entitled to do however, but it doesn't make for engaging storytelling. If you want an example of this, look at House of Cards. The Democrat Party is shown to be pretty rotten (mainly thanks to Frank Underwood), but it isn't portraying the Republicans as saints either - we just see less of their internal workings. Suffice to say, yes, i like HoC more, in part because the character and political aspects are better interwoven, while here, they feel separate. Again, media is fair to pick any side it wants, but it's hard for me to separate mcAvoy from the writers themselves.
Also, another matter - this isn't the show's fault, but it already feels dated. Season 1 was aired in 2012, and it depicts events ranging from 2010 to 2011. That's nearly a decade, and already, the stuff feels antiquated in this day and age. Yes, I remember when the Tea Party was a "thing." I remember Fukushima, and the death of Osama Bin Laden. But when I look at the current poltiical landscape in the US, when I look at the demonization of the media by Trump, when I consider how the US seems more divided than it was in the early 2010s, stuff like The Newsroom seems quaint. I think when we look back at this period of time, there'd be great potential for a show like this, navigating the political and social landscape from 2016 onwards. Alas, this isn't that show. It's too recent to feel like historical fiction, yet too far away from the present to feel relevant. And even as a character drama, there's frankly better options out there.
Basically finished watching an LP of Magical Knight Rayearth. Its surprisingly entertaining for a piece of late 90s anime crap, mostly because the game has a serious case of "the translators were losing their minds due to the obscene extent of text in the game" and so includes a number of ridiculous lines throughout the game. There are three main characters, and as you play the game each of the three has a different line for every examinable object on the map, and produces voiced diary entries for most plot events. Over time you can tell that the people running the text went absolutely nuts as lines like "all alone, just me and my chapped hand" and a book titled "1001 tantric poses" start to pop up. Without exaggeration you could easily fill a novel with the amount of text in game, so even with these peppered throughout you could completely miss many of them. On top of all that, they even lost a chunk of source code when bringing the game over, and had to bang it together from scratch resulting in some seriously weird crap popping up at times, and bringing in a host of bizarre bugs.
The LPers did a good job, and brought in some funny stuff like an authentic early LP camcorder pointed at a CRT episode, and neat sprites of themselves to occupy the screen during a number of the many long black loading screens in the game.
The LPers did a good job, and brought in some funny stuff like an authentic early LP camcorder pointed at a CRT episode, and neat sprites of themselves to occupy the screen during a number of the many long black loading screens in the game.
Blark and Son I?m probably late to the party as I?m wont to be, but wow? what an? Interesting show?
It?s a show that makes light of the struggles surrounding the bond (or lack thereof) between an overly/compulsively protective and doting father and his Internet-dependent son during the son?s awkward, formative years. I?d say it toes the line between dark comedy and cartoonish slapstick, but in a given 7-9 minutes episode, it?s clear it has a foot firm in each camp and another in everything in between. For the father, think ?Homer Simpson, Peter Griffin, Randy Marsh and the drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacekt had a love child,? and the son is basically ?every 12 to 14 year old born within the past decade.?
It reminds me of some elements of South Park in that underneath the overt absurdities, there are austere themes; for all the comical nonsense, it?s a smart show that deals with heavy content in a farcical way. It?s produced with traditional silicon puppets that are semi-real, grotesque caricatures (the neighbor kid is straight nightmare fuel) which lends the show a niche-y feel, but it?s done really well; you can tell it?s a labor of love and attention to detail that simultaneously manages to not take itself too seriously.
All in all, I really like it; it makes me belly laugh and that?s hard to do. The episodes are short, so they?re easily digestible and don?t over stay their welcome. Highly recommended.
It?s a show that makes light of the struggles surrounding the bond (or lack thereof) between an overly/compulsively protective and doting father and his Internet-dependent son during the son?s awkward, formative years. I?d say it toes the line between dark comedy and cartoonish slapstick, but in a given 7-9 minutes episode, it?s clear it has a foot firm in each camp and another in everything in between. For the father, think ?Homer Simpson, Peter Griffin, Randy Marsh and the drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacekt had a love child,? and the son is basically ?every 12 to 14 year old born within the past decade.?
It reminds me of some elements of South Park in that underneath the overt absurdities, there are austere themes; for all the comical nonsense, it?s a smart show that deals with heavy content in a farcical way. It?s produced with traditional silicon puppets that are semi-real, grotesque caricatures (the neighbor kid is straight nightmare fuel) which lends the show a niche-y feel, but it?s done really well; you can tell it?s a labor of love and attention to detail that simultaneously manages to not take itself too seriously.
All in all, I really like it; it makes me belly laugh and that?s hard to do. The episodes are short, so they?re easily digestible and don?t over stay their welcome. Highly recommended.
Star Trek Voyager: Dark Frontiers
At this point the show was well into it's "The Seven Of Nine Show" once the news writers took over. It was never especially a great show to begin with, it manages to not understand what made the Borg, The Borg, turning them into villains of the week than the omnipotent no reasoning beings of "Q Who".
The plot is like something from bad fan fiction. Ripping off Return Of The Jedi, only without a sense or states of a satisfying conclusion.
The Borg blurt out lines constantly rather than just doing things. The Borg Queen (who wasn't good to begin with) turns them into just another alien race.
The basic Federation ethos goes out the window. Remember when Voyager in the early seasons was attacked constantly because they wouldn't share technology as it would influence the region?
Well, now Janeway is cheerfully going after the Borg to steal whatever technology she can get. Essentially doing the exact same thing the Kazon were doing in season 1-3.
The show has lost any sense of logic and just turned into a very poor soap opera flashing around Seven of Nine whenever humanly possible, along with the Borg until they are cheapened to "another villain, than focusing on quality writing like DS9.
It's pretty bad, but good turn-your-brain-off Star Trek when you just want to lay in a bed and waste 40 minutes.
At this point the show was well into it's "The Seven Of Nine Show" once the news writers took over. It was never especially a great show to begin with, it manages to not understand what made the Borg, The Borg, turning them into villains of the week than the omnipotent no reasoning beings of "Q Who".
The plot is like something from bad fan fiction. Ripping off Return Of The Jedi, only without a sense or states of a satisfying conclusion.
The Borg blurt out lines constantly rather than just doing things. The Borg Queen (who wasn't good to begin with) turns them into just another alien race.
The basic Federation ethos goes out the window. Remember when Voyager in the early seasons was attacked constantly because they wouldn't share technology as it would influence the region?
Well, now Janeway is cheerfully going after the Borg to steal whatever technology she can get. Essentially doing the exact same thing the Kazon were doing in season 1-3.
The show has lost any sense of logic and just turned into a very poor soap opera flashing around Seven of Nine whenever humanly possible, along with the Borg until they are cheapened to "another villain, than focusing on quality writing like DS9.
It's pretty bad, but good turn-your-brain-off Star Trek when you just want to lay in a bed and waste 40 minutes.
I've watched all of The League of Gentlemen again. Twenty years after it's initial broadcast, it remains a brilliant work of dark comedy, a tour de force of unsettling and surreal humour. The premise of the show is that somewhere in northern England lies the town of Royston Vasey, a remote and somewhat economically depressed town populated by a colourful selection of strange characters. Edward and Tubbs are a married couple who run a "local shop for local people" and kidnap, torture, and murder outsiders. The toad obsessed Harvey and Val Denton subject their nephew and houseguest Benjamin to a strange and humiliating selection of rules and chores. The unfortunate and occasionally incompetent vet Mr Chinnery inadvertently kills his patients. The aggressive job centre employee Pauline treats her charges with appalling contempt. Something is very wrong with the butcher's sausages. The possibly supernatural circus ringmaster Papa Lazarou kidnaps a series of women with the intention of making them his wives. The show is formatted as a series of sketches, but there is an overarching plot across each series and the show as a whole. To add to the weirdness, almost every major part is played by the same three actors, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith, and Mark Gatiss, who also wrote the show (along with Jeremy Dyson), and they're thoroughly fantastic in or out of drag. If you're a fan of the darker side of comedy, The League of Gentlemen is an absolute must see.
Gogglebox - Uhh...so this is basically Lets Plays, but for television instead of videogames. And rather inclusive, of all things. Modern entertainment and it's tangential manifestations. Can't say it's any good for the brain though. Felt like the toll of a heavy night of drinking. But at least heavy drinking with some charming folk alleviating a little loneliness.
That's looks really interesting! Never heard of it before, reminds me a bit like the 90s political satire, Spitting Image with those style of puppets. It's going on the list now, thanks for bringing this curiosity to light!Xprimentyl said:
Awesome! Hope you enjoy them as much as I did. It starts off a little ?PG? tame, but around episode 3, they loosen the reins, and it gets really funny. You gotta let me know what you think!Neurotic Void Melody said:That's looks really interesting! Never heard of it before, reminds me a bit like the 90s political satire, Spitting Image with those style of puppets. It's going on the list now, thanks for bringing this curiosity to light!
definitely yeah, I don't see it being able to disappoint as quirky offbeat stuff appeals on many levels even if it's not succeeding at everything. the only thing is am hopelessly co-dependant with viewing entertainment and much prefer watching with others, so it's a matter of whenever's the next time am able to convince a local fool or homeless person to share in the sordid activity of laughter at a new thing. still have yet to see the equalizer also, as the sequel was in stock, but not the original, so have lent that to someone who has already seen the first so it's being put to good use. may have to order online, but the people in the shop are nicer to waffle nonsense to than emotionless interweb algorithmsXprimentyl said:
The Walking Dead: Season 7 (3/5)
At this point in time, the seasons of TWD can be pretty much divided in two. On one hand, you have the good/great seasons. On the other, you have the average seasons. That would be fine, if not for how the average seasons are seasons 5-7. Not a good sign for a TV series when it has a good period and then a...not so good period.
Still, of those average seasons, season 7 is probably the "best okay" one of the lot. Certainly it's a step up from seasons 5 and 6, though it's far from flawless. A lot of that has to do with Negan, who's an absolute blast to watch. He kind of reminds me of the Governor, in that they're both villains that can be described as "dynamic," but there's still differences between them. With the Governor, you got that there was some humanity in him, somewhere, and that it might re-emerge under the right circumstances. With Negan, not so much. He's an asshole, and unlike the Governor, revels in the terrible things he does.
Problem is, we don't actually see that much of Negan, and when we don't, a lot of the season feels meandering at best, or pretentious at worst. It also feels like a full circle that doesn't feel that full. Like, towards the start, Negan strips Alexandria of all its weapons. By the end of the season, Alexandria's recovered a new batch of weapons. Like, you can point to how by the seasons' end, Alexandria, the Hilltop, and the Kingdom are all in alliance against the Saviours, but apart from that, you might as well just cut to Alexandria saying "fuck off" and pointing their guns over the wall, and you'd have a pretty similar season ending. Doesn't help that there's numerous opportunities for someone to just shoot Negan, excuses from the producers aside.
So the season is...okay. Not good, not bad, just okay. Whatever the case though, the show's been losing steam for awhile (least of what I've watched), and introducing a great villain can't solve that if he's underutilized, and your plot goes round in circles.
At this point in time, the seasons of TWD can be pretty much divided in two. On one hand, you have the good/great seasons. On the other, you have the average seasons. That would be fine, if not for how the average seasons are seasons 5-7. Not a good sign for a TV series when it has a good period and then a...not so good period.
Still, of those average seasons, season 7 is probably the "best okay" one of the lot. Certainly it's a step up from seasons 5 and 6, though it's far from flawless. A lot of that has to do with Negan, who's an absolute blast to watch. He kind of reminds me of the Governor, in that they're both villains that can be described as "dynamic," but there's still differences between them. With the Governor, you got that there was some humanity in him, somewhere, and that it might re-emerge under the right circumstances. With Negan, not so much. He's an asshole, and unlike the Governor, revels in the terrible things he does.
Problem is, we don't actually see that much of Negan, and when we don't, a lot of the season feels meandering at best, or pretentious at worst. It also feels like a full circle that doesn't feel that full. Like, towards the start, Negan strips Alexandria of all its weapons. By the end of the season, Alexandria's recovered a new batch of weapons. Like, you can point to how by the seasons' end, Alexandria, the Hilltop, and the Kingdom are all in alliance against the Saviours, but apart from that, you might as well just cut to Alexandria saying "fuck off" and pointing their guns over the wall, and you'd have a pretty similar season ending. Doesn't help that there's numerous opportunities for someone to just shoot Negan, excuses from the producers aside.
So the season is...okay. Not good, not bad, just okay. Whatever the case though, the show's been losing steam for awhile (least of what I've watched), and introducing a great villain can't solve that if he's underutilized, and your plot goes round in circles.
The Dragon Prince Season 2. Some good stuff there but much of the season feels like it's hanging around in one place when they could be moving forward, though what they did with the downtime was good enough I didn't mind so much. As long as it doesn't pull a dark tower and have entire seasons where they make no forward progress at all for the sake of flashbacks or a little town in the middle of nowhere. At least they finally reached Xadia at the end of the season.
Archer Danger Island. A fun romp but not as well done as Dreamland. While this show has done a pretty good job of staving off Seasonal Rot by repeatedly changing things up, I'm kinda glad the next season is gonna be the last. And an Alien Parody at that, from the looks of the end scene. I don't know if I'm happy or sad that Barry shows up as a Luftwaffe pilot who acts as a good foil to archer, only to get killed in a single episode.
Keep trying to get back into Black Mirror and the bleakness of the show just makes it hard to sit through, let alone try to binge watch. It's good, it's really good, but damn if I don't just want to drink myself to death everytime I finish an episode.
Just started Love, Death and Robots. Watched and liked the first episode/film. Looking forward to seeing more.
Archer Danger Island. A fun romp but not as well done as Dreamland. While this show has done a pretty good job of staving off Seasonal Rot by repeatedly changing things up, I'm kinda glad the next season is gonna be the last. And an Alien Parody at that, from the looks of the end scene. I don't know if I'm happy or sad that Barry shows up as a Luftwaffe pilot who acts as a good foil to archer, only to get killed in a single episode.
Keep trying to get back into Black Mirror and the bleakness of the show just makes it hard to sit through, let alone try to binge watch. It's good, it's really good, but damn if I don't just want to drink myself to death everytime I finish an episode.
Just started Love, Death and Robots. Watched and liked the first episode/film. Looking forward to seeing more.
LegalEagle
Fun vids; to quote: ?an attorney destroys your favorite childhood movies by showing you how illegal everything is.? For example, here in The Dark Knight, since Bruce Wayne is masterfully trained in the martial arts, though they are intentionally nonlethal, his assaults could be considered assault with deadly force. Anyway, I knew the Joker would get the book thrown at him, but got DAMN, Batman?!?
Fun vids; to quote: ?an attorney destroys your favorite childhood movies by showing you how illegal everything is.? For example, here in The Dark Knight, since Bruce Wayne is masterfully trained in the martial arts, though they are intentionally nonlethal, his assaults could be considered assault with deadly force. Anyway, I knew the Joker would get the book thrown at him, but got DAMN, Batman?!?
Joker gets 35 life sentences PLUS 12,000 years in jail. But Batman? 60 million years. MILLION. The 30,000,000 counts of computer trespassing and wire-tapping when he turned everyone in Gotham?s cell phone into a microphone really added up; no wonder Lucius was freaked out when he saw what Batman had done.