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

[Hawki]

The Walking Dead: Season 6 (3/5)

Look up a list of the best to worst Walking Dead seasons, and chances are you'll see season 6 on the bottom. Thus, the question can be asked as to whether I think the season is the worst. To that, I can't say, because I haven't watched beyond season 6, But is season 6 the worst Walking Dead season I've seen? Well, yeah, actually. That said, the reasons I think so aren't reasons I've often seen cited as to why this season is ranked so low, but there may be some overlap. So to that end, I'm going to give my general thoughts on the season in chronological order.

The first episode sets the tone of the season in that it feels very artsy, in that, flashbacks are used with a black/white filter. That's something noticable about season 6 - it may be my imagination, but the season often feels like it's trying to be artsy, and often it feels like it's being artsy for the sake of it. Certainly the first episode's flashback structure doesn't do it any favous. But anyway, first order of business is to get a walker herd away from Alexandria, which means a long, drawn out game of follow the leader. In fairness, this is handled well as far as size and scope goes, conveying just how big a walker herd actually is. Still, things go wrong, including an attack on Alexandria itself by a band called the Wolves. Enjoy them while they last (or not) because they're pretty forgettable. About the best thing that happens is Morgan capturing one of them which prompts a flashback, which is easily the best episode in the season, and also one of the strongest in the series overall. However, it's an episode that stands apart from the rest of the season, and has no real bearing on any of it.

I should also mention that around this time, as the walker follow-the-leader plan goes south, there's been a lot of complaitns about the Glenn fake-out death scene. Now, I knew ahead of time that he didn't die then (because of spoilers, I know I have to wait for season 7 for him to die), but I really don't get why this scene is an issue. I thought it was pretty well done, how the camera tricks you into thinking Glenn is dying, but isn't. Now, it's kinda convoluted that he survives regardless, but meh, I can roll with it.

So, half the herd's back at Alexandria, which means we need a plan to deal with them. It's also at this point that I notice how Gabriel's character has changed. At the end of season 5, he was basically a man out of time - a priest who doesn't know how to survive, and subjects Sasha to psychological abuse. In the time that's passed sicne then (which is days at the most), he's settled into "stone cold guy who's quite at ease with the zombie apocalypse.' A bit of an exageration, but while his character's changed, there's no real depiction of his journey from a to b. Eugene has a similar character arc, but it's an arc that happens during the season rather than between seasons, and it can be observed in various stages.

Anyway, part of the wall collapses (because a church tower collapses, because fate's a *****) and the walkers surge in. Honestly, at this point, I'm left to ask how anyone can really survive this, not to mention that it's hard to get a sense of how many people are actually still alive. Anyway, Rick and co. do the "drench yourself in walker blood to fool them" trick, and this is where things get stupid (or more stupid). You see, the character of Jessie has two sons - one of which hates Rick for killing his dad, the other of which is sufferring PTSD. I actually like this angle, because we actually get to see characters who've had little to worry about up till now suddenly have to deal with the zombie apocalypse. Jessie has a 'thing' with Rick, and thoughts about that aside, I could see potential for her character arc for said reasons. But no. We don't get that. Because as they make their way through the herd, one of the kids stops moving because he sees a zombie kid in the crowd. Okay, fair enough. However, apparently slowing down is enough to get the zombies to notice you and eat you...even though all the characters have stopped as well (you could say he's whimpering, but the characters have already whispered to each other and kept baby Judith quiet as well, so I don't by this). He's killed. Jessie tries to save him, but is eaten as well. Cue artsy cinematography that tries to convey the emotional weight of this and fails. Also other son tries to shoot, Carl gets shot. Characters move on. Zombies are all killed...somehow.

This is the end of the season's first half. Overall, the second half is a bit better, but it's got its own sources of frustration.

So, second half. A bit of time has passed. Carl's alive, but is missing an eye - he has a brief stint of "only kill walkers if you have to," but that goes nowhere. Also, Rick and Michone get it on. Remember Jessie and Rick, and the budding relationship? Well, Jessie is never mentioned again in this season. Now, RickxMichone isn't the worst pairing in the world, but up to this point, when the show's done relationships, it's taken time. This comes out of the blue, is barely discussed after it happens, and is never explored. Thing is, I can understand the rationale for this pairing, but its execution is bothced. Even the RickxJessie thing actually lasted a total of one season via episode count, and they never got to first base. Still, there is one bright spot in this half of the season, and that's Jesus. No, not son of God Jesus, "guy who calls himself Jesus Jesus." We don't see nearly enough of him, but he's enjoyable to have around all the same. Apart from that, there isn't too much to comment on the season here. I like the idea of the Hilltop community and establishing trade, as civilization makes a re-emergence of sorts, but this idea isn't really explored. I like the idea of the Saviours, but we don't actually see that much of them (more on that later). I'm really not fond of Carol's whole "breaking down" thing, but the episode that leads up to it, where she and Maggie have to fight their way out of a prison compound is quite good. Also, contrary to other complaints I've read, the last episode is really solid, how the Saviours stalk Rick and co., only for them to realize just how outnumbered they are. And Negan's entrance...wow. I actually checked the timer - about 10 minutes pass between him getting out of his vehicle and the episode ending with him killing what will be revealed to be Abraham. 10 minutes of near monologue and no music. It's excellently done, and I have no idea how people could complain about it. Like the Morgan flashback episode, it's not enough to save the season, but both stand as bright spots.

So. That's season 6 for you. Apart from some bright spots, basically an exercise in frustration. And yes, I said the same about season 5, but for all its flaws, season 5 at least had a sense of direction. Not as much as season 4, but still, it existed. Season 6, on the other hand, feels like it's spinning its wheels. And also, it feels like it's trying to be smarter than it actually is, what with its directing style and half-heated attempts at character development. Now, the Walking Dead isn't exactly deep or philisophical, but it's always been interested in the human condition, and up to even season 5, has had something to say about it. Season 6 feels like it has things to say, but wants to actually say them in a lot of cases, whereas previous seasons didn't need monolgues to convey their themes. Season 6 pulls this off in one episode (again, the Morgan flashback), but it' the exception rather than the rule.

So, is this season the worst. Dunno. Waiting for season 7 to arrive. But considering that I'd rank the show's seasons as 3>4>1>2>5>6, I hope this isn't the continuation of a downhill slide.

 

[Hawki]

Camp Camp: Season 1 (4/5)

So, you might guess from my avatar that I like Camp Camp. It wasn't a case of saying "I like this show, I'm gonna change my avatar" (I've always changed my avatar to best represent my current dominant mood), but liking the cartoon did help. But avatar aside, how does the show stack up?

Well, it stacks up better than a lot of Rooster Teeth's other output, and that includes Nomad of Nowhere. Now, I like NoN, but they're different shows, with NoN being plot driven, while CC is character driven. There's string continuity, but each episode is fairly self-contained. In other words, it's a comedy, and as a comedy, it had me laughing my arse off. Still, it can have some gravitas when it needs to, most notably in the final episode. I'm actually kidna reminded of Disenchantment in a sense, in that each season has a similar no. of episodes, with the final episode having a tone divergence. Still, while I thought this was okay in Disenchantment, the shift works much better in that since the final episode is the culmination of David's declining self-esteem, and that decline has happened throughout the season, there's far more payoff, whereas Disenchantment is more "shit got real."

So, yeah. Really enjoyed this. Well done RT, you made me laugh again, and after killing RvB, I wasn't sure if that was possible.

 

[Kyrian007]

King's Game (5/10) - I'm trying to work through the backlog on my watchlist of anime. And I went through King's Game over the last couple of weeks. And I'm nearly at a loss on how I feel about it. Generally when all I see online is hate for something, I take up a contrary position just out of pure misanthropy. But this show has a lot of problems. First and foremost... where are the ADULTS. This is even worse than the "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" universe with no parents... there are no adults at all in King's Game. Pacing... terrible. The "stakes" ramp up so fast. The plot of this story is begging for a slow build. A gradual ramping up of the craziness. So the characters left can look back and see just how far they have fallen from where they started. In King's Game that moment is like looking up at the cliff they were pushed off of 2 seconds ago. On the other hand... I see where this could have been really good. The premise is cliche but for a western audience where adolescent games like "truth or dare" or "presidents and assholes" are more common, the eponymous "king's game" is different enough to make it interesting. There is a real attempt at misdirections concerning the nature of their tormentor that keep the mystery going. And best of all, they don't destroy the mystery by EXPLAINING it. I'm still convinced a lot of the hate is from the same people that can't enjoy something unless they have everything explained to them. Sorry, that's a big plus in favor of King's Game... not a negative at all. Still, the execution could have been a lot better. It winds up being about as good as a "bad" horror movie, it just takes longer to sit through. And then I watched

Mikagura School Suite (4/10) - This one I have actually seen the first episode of several times. As long as it has been on the backlog every 6 months or so I decided, "maybe I'll start on this." And then lose interest or find something better to do before I watch more than the first 2 episodes. But I saw it through this time. Its fine, but its entirely generic. Like someone said "make a magic boarding school show" and the writer asked "which one of the other magic boarding school shows should this one be like?" And the answer given was "I don't know, I don't watch that crap... just make it like all the rest, in fact like all the magical girl series and boarding school series in general." It isn't completely terrible, but its not in any way memorable. I had to look up the name just now because I honestly forgot the title. I also watched

Punisher: Season 2 (4/10) - I enjoyed it more than just 4/10, it is a lot of fun. But the ending was so stupid I can't give it anything better. They spent a lot of time trying to develop Frank's character, and then completely drop the ball in the last episode and a half. And I couldn't be happier they did it that way. Now I don't care at all that Netflix is dropping it (I haven't heard that officially yet btw so I don't know one way or the other... but they obviously are dropping it.)

 

[Baffle]

Velvet Buzzsaw: 5/10. Doesn't make sense.
Michael Inside: 6.5/10. A bit depressing.

Edit: I thought this was the movie thread.

 

[Hawki]

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.

 

[Hawki]

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).

 

[Saint of M]

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

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

Star Trek Discovery: Season 1 (3/5)

Oh boy...this show...

I can't really talk about it without acknowledging fan outrage, because no-one hates Star Trek like a Star Wars fan (except maybe a Star Wars fan, but they're busy hating Star Wars right now). And on those complaints, some, I get - the level of technology in Discovery feels far too advanced for its timeframe. Some, I can sympathize - I think the klingons are well fleshed out and actually look alien, but it's hard reconciling their appearance with previous (future?) incarnations. And then there's the absolutely ludicrous arguments. Y'know, that the series is "advocating white genocide because the lead is a black female who's paired with an Asian female, and it's against men because Lorca is a bad guy, and is pushing the transgender agenda by calling a female Michael, while also pushing the gay agenda with Stammets, and some other insipid nonsense that I can't be bothered to repeat here."

So, fine, Discovery is a mixed bag for the fanbase, but as someone who isn't that enamored with Star Trek, what do I think of it? Well, if I had to grade Discovery's quality over the course of its season, it would resemble a bell curve. At the start, we have to deal with some wooden acting, and it doesn't help that Michael...isn't the best character in the world. The season gets better over time, and peaks in the Mirror Universe. Unfortunately, it dips in quality once the ship returns to the Prime Universe. I will say that I do like the characters overall, and how many of them do indeed have a character arc. However, while Michael is...fine, I guess, it doesn't help that the lead character is perhaps the least interesting. I have no problem with her being raised by Sarek, or being Spock's adopted sister, but whether it's down to the actress or the writing, she just feels so wooden in comparison to everyone else.

I'll also say that of all the Star Trek series I've seen, this is perhaps the least "Star Trekky." Not just because of its serialized nature, but because for a show named "Star Trek: Discovery," there isn't much trekking or discovery. I'm pretty fine with this myself - I like how the show tries something new (for Star Trek), and doesn't feel the need to follow convention, but I can understand why people might be put off. But again, I'm reminded of Enterprise. That tried to emulate TOS and TNG and, IMO, fell flat. Hard. But on the other hand, for a season that deals primarily with a war, we don't actually get to see much of that war - "show, don't tell," as the saying goes.

So, yeah. I think Discovery is a pretty mixed bag, one that has great potential if it can iron out its kinks. I will say that as first seasons go it's a far better start than, say, TNG (with its insufferable first season), but as a series as a whole...well, I'd still rank it above Enterprise, but it's not at the level of TOS or TNG. So, mixed start, but it'll be interesting to see where this goes.

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.
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.

 

[Hawki]

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 get why Michael is wooden from an in-universe perspective. That doesn't excuse her lack of character in my eyes.

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.

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.

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.

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

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 get why Michael is wooden from an in-universe perspective. That doesn't excuse her lack of character in my eyes.

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.

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.

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.

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.

 

[Hawki]

I am taking it you haven't been watching season 2 yet?

No.

If/when I do, this thread will hear about it.

Tilly was kidnapped by spores

...well that's a sentence I never thought I'd read. 0_0

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

I am taking it you haven't been watching season 2 yet?

No.

If/when I do, this thread will hear about it.

Tilly was kidnapped by spores

...well that's a sentence I never thought I'd read. 0_0

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 D

 

[Hawki]

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.

 

[EvilRoy]

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.

 

[Xprimentyl]

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.

 

[MrBoBo]

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.

 

[09philj]

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.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

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.

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

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]

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!

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]

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!

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 algorithms