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Current TV Boxset Addiction

Started by radiator, 20 November, 2012, 02:23:29 PM

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Smith

Quote from: Rara Avis on 20 January, 2021, 07:36:47 PM
Quote from: Smith on 19 January, 2021, 06:13:29 AM
Quote from: Rara Avis on 19 January, 2021, 05:45:52 AM
I'm watching The Stand too and mostly enjoying it, seems a pretty decent adaptation of the book so far. Don't worry I understand that Trashcan Man makes an appearance in later episodes.

But does it have Liutenant Dan?

No, he resleeved?
You haven't seen the original mini series?

pictsy

Babylon 5  Season 3

Well that was thoroughly enjoyable.  What an excellent cliffhanger.  I'm still in awe with how this series has been going from strength to strength, so it's going to be a curious experience when I get to Season 5 because I remember the show peaking in 4.  I also don't know how I feel about the more goofy parts of the show.  By this point we've had a grail hunter, Jack the Ripper and a man who thinks he's King Arthur.  There is some weird juxtapositioning in this show.

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: pictsy on 20 January, 2021, 08:35:09 PM
Babylon 5  Season 3

Well that was thoroughly enjoyable.  What an excellent cliffhanger.

Amusing historical trivia: due to an oversight in the contract with Channel 4, who were showing B5 in the UK at the time, Channel 4 were unaware that there was supposed to be a two week delay before broadcasting the final two episodes of S3, so UK viewers were the first in the world to see them.

For all the limitations on the SFX, S3 of B5 is some of my favourite TV science fiction. More stuff happens in S4, but S3 is the point where you realise that they're going to upend the status quo, which I don't recall ever feeling with a TV show before this.
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

pictsy

Season 4 definitely benefits from the context of it's previous season, but I think that's largely true of seasons 2 and 3 as well.  When the show first aired I was still pretty young so I just took it for granted.  All except the menace the Shadows presented.  No rewatch has ever recaptured that and I don't think I've got it from any other TV show either.  Nevertheless, the twists and turns of the show are what helped it stick in my mind and why I thoroughly enjoy it.

Tjm86

Season 4 is interesting for the compression forced on the writers by the network.  With the possible looming cancellation two seasons worth of ideas were crammed together.

Personally I think it is stronger for it.  The pacing works better for me, lots going on and a real roller coaster of a ride.

Maybe it would have been more thoroughly explored if they had had the two seasons to wrap up the multiple storylines instead.

Season 5 is an interesting coda but nowhere near what went before.

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: Tjm86 on 21 January, 2021, 08:05:28 AM
Season 4 is interesting for the compression forced on the writers by the network.  With the possible looming cancellation two seasons worth of ideas were crammed together.

Yep. As JMS had it planned, S4 was the Shadow War and S5 was the fight to liberate Earth. I wouldn't have complained if that had been the case — S4 goes at a hell of a pace for most of the season.
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

TordelBack

I think that forced bit of quick footwork works to the success of the series: battles of plucky mortals and dark lords are all very well, but the struggles within humanity are far more interesting and the rapid dismissal of the Shadows shifts the overall emphasis in a way that War of the Ring (S4) then Scouring of the Shire (S5) might not have.

pictsy

Quote from: Tjm86 on 21 January, 2021, 08:05:28 AM
Season 4 is interesting for the compression forced on the writers by the network.  With the possible looming cancellation two seasons worth of ideas were crammed together.

Personally I think it is stronger for it.  The pacing works better for me, lots going on and a real roller coaster of a ride.

Maybe it would have been more thoroughly explored if they had had the two seasons to wrap up the multiple storylines instead.

Season 5 is an interesting coda but nowhere near what went before.

This is why I'm interested in revisiting Season 5.  I don't remember disliking that season or thinking it wasn't up to scratch or anything like that.  I remembered feeling that way about Season 1, but have re-evaluated my opinion on that one.  What I'm hoping for is after all the excitement of Season 4, Season 5 will be a nice winding down of the story.

The Legendary Shark


Every time I re-watch it I consider skipping S5, and every time I'm wrong. Even the widely disliked Byron grows on me a little more every time. S5 is the cherry on top - easy to overlook but a real treat.

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Dandontdare

I really want to rewatch B5 now as I haven't seen it since it was first transmitted - a very quick search seems to indicate that the full box set is unavailable (unless I can find one on ebay) and individual series seem to be about £25-£35 each - yikes.

The Legendary Shark


Maybe your local library? Oh yeah, right. Sorry.

P1R4T3 64Y?

[move]~~~^~~~~~~~[/move]




Rara Avis

Quote from: Smith on 20 January, 2021, 08:04:48 PM
Quote from: Rara Avis on 20 January, 2021, 07:36:47 PM
Quote from: Smith on 19 January, 2021, 06:13:29 AM
Quote from: Rara Avis on 19 January, 2021, 05:45:52 AM
I'm watching The Stand too and mostly enjoying it, seems a pretty decent adaptation of the book so far. Don't worry I understand that Trashcan Man makes an appearance in later episodes.

But does it have Liutenant Dan?

No, he resleeved?
You haven't seen the original mini series?

Clearly not ... I see now it stars a young Lieutenant Dan before he lost his legs in 'Nam.

Link Prime

Quote from: Andrew_J on 18 January, 2021, 07:44:25 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 18 January, 2021, 05:57:12 PM
I will never - NEVER - forgive you lot for not highlighting The Terror sooner.

Binged Season 1 there on the (amusingly named) RTE Player over the weekend.
Fuckin hell, what a show.

Thanks for the heads-up. I didn't realise it was available there.

How did the Player run for you?
I had 9 of the 10 episodes stream without a hitch, but one was very choppy.
Fewer advert interruptions after 10pm too I think.
A definite improvement, but it still needs a lot of work.

I re-watched the entire Ghost Stories for Christmas box-set + a few other linked discs (e.g. 'Crooked House', 'Rare Chills') over the December / January period.

Still amazing.
Personal favorites can change over the years, but this time 'The Stalls of Barchester' and 'Room 13' caught me in just the right mood.

I also purchased a handsome new M.R. James hardback collection and had intended to read it as I watched the series, but was foiled by the time constraints of reality. Maybe next Christmas.

On a related note, the BFI Flipside collection has a promising new disc out right now: Short Sharp Shocks

https://shop.bfi.org.uk/short-sharp-shocks-flipside-41-2-disc-blu-ray.html

All new material for me, but an instant purchase nevertheless.





The Legendary Shark


Quote from: Link Prime on 18 January, 2021, 05:57:12 PM
I will never - NEVER - forgive you lot for not highlighting The Terror sooner.





Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 12 April, 2018, 09:44:53 PM
The Terror. It is 1845 and two Royal Navy ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, are searching for the North West Passage through the Arctic. The weather closes in and both ships become trapped in the ice, forcing both crews to hunker down for the winter - there to face sickness, intense cold and something else. Maybe it's a savage polar bear and maybe it's something else...

It's a bit like Shackleton vs. Shako with a sprinkling of H. P. Lovecraft. At ten episodes, some might think this series drags a bit but I enjoyed it immensely because most of the story concerns the characters and their various interactions.

Well worth watching, says I.




Nobody listens to me :(

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Jim_Campbell

Very late to the party on this one, but What We Do In The Shadows is fantastic.

We're about halfway through S2 (and I'm deleriously happy to learn that S3 is in production) and it's just hilarious. I'm also quietly impressed with the structure as we move through S2, as it pays off a lot of set-up in S1 that managed the very clever trick of not looking like set-up because the set-ups were all very good jokes in their own right.

(Amazon wants you to pay for this, even with Prime, which is slightly baffling because it's free on iPlayer.)
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.