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General Chat => Film & TV => Topic started by: radiator on 20 November, 2012, 02:23:29 PM

Title: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 20 November, 2012, 02:23:29 PM
Doesn't quite fit the remit of the 'Last Movie Watched' thread, so here's a new one where you can bang on about the TV show that you're currently gripped by.

I just had to express my praise for Breaking Bad, which I've got bang up to date with over the last month or so, which has entailed many nights marathoning episodes into the wee small hours.

Finally watched the latest episode of series 5 last night, and what can I say but - Wow. It's almost cliche to say now, but what a piece of work this series is - just an incredible achievement. I'm consistently in awe of the writing, how the writers gradually build a house of cards, then just when you think it's all going to come crashing down, they somehow keep stacking it up to reach heights you never imagined. It feels as if it was all meticulously planned out years in advance (which I know it can't have been) and, unlike so many other great shows - it doesn't get bogged down by occasional poor story choices, or boring subplots, or inconsistent character scripting. Every episode is more absorbing than the last. While everyone will tell you "The Wire/Game of Thrones/Boardwalk Empire is great, but you have to watch twenty episodes of it before it gets good", Breaking Bad really get's it's hooks into you from the opening shot - in fact the pilot episode is like a self-contained movie.

So you have to forgive the occasionally far-fetched plot, and the regular deus ex-ish get-outs, but it's totally forgivable in a show as entertaining as this one. The episode involving a train is a damn sight more entertaining and exciting and beautifully realised than most similarly themed big budget movies. And what a cast...(!).

Can't recommend it highly enough!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: golledge100 on 20 November, 2012, 04:56:05 PM
I concur!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 20 November, 2012, 04:57:36 PM
I'm hearing good things about Justified, anyone recommend?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: COMMANDO FORCES on 20 November, 2012, 04:59:11 PM
I thoroughly enjoyed that series and he's the coolest cop ever!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JamesC on 20 November, 2012, 05:06:46 PM
It's been a while since I've really gotten into anything but I've had a hankering just lately to pick up the boxsets of The Equalizer.
I haven't seen it since I used to watch it on telly when I was about 10 but I really liked it and am curious to re-visit. Great theme tune too!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 20 November, 2012, 05:09:49 PM
Totally agree about 'Breaking Bad' Radiator, I absorbed Seasons 1-4 in the same number of weeks.
One of the best shows ever, ever made.
No sign of Season 5 on DVD yet though...where on earth did you get that from?  ;)

I'll throw 'Sons of Anarchy' into the box-set arena...I've gorged on Seasons 1-4, and would reckon its as addictive as Umpty Candy!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: SmallBlueThing on 20 November, 2012, 05:54:16 PM
Who needs dvd boxsets when you have back to back endless Mock The Weeks, Would I Lie To Yous and HIGNFYs on Dave? Mind you, they do shove the odd night of Gavin and Stacy or Red Dwarf to push me to Radio 4 Extra, so...

SBT
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: michael kennedy on 20 November, 2012, 06:20:26 PM
i know what you mean SBT but when theres a series that needs to be permantly on your shelf, you just gotta buy it.

heroes series one

luther series one and two
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 20 November, 2012, 07:04:13 PM
I avoided Caprica for two years because it seemed to embody everything bad about BSG, but got caught up in the last week or so and was pleasantly surprised to find that it actually does embody everything bad about BSG.  It's essentially a sci-fi series aimed at - or possibly just written by - 13 year old boys, about a sexy schoolgirl robot and virtual reality where kids have loads of sex and play Grand Theft Auto while discussing what is really reality, maaaan.  There's also some stuff about the Space Godfather and monothistic religion being totally heavy "because", and some 911 references.
It is horseshit of the worst kind, because it comes so damn near to being a good show but blows it in favor of wallowing in cliches beloved of dyed-in-the-wool sci-fi nerds, like using the word "frac" as an analogue of "fuck", yet everything else isn't an analogue, it's just the regular world transposed to another time and place, including sports stadiums, talk shows, digital broadcasting, the internet, mobile phones, licence plates on cars, the meaning of the word "Trojan" and so on, and of course, the whole series is also ultimately about [spoiler]a man making an anatomically correct sex robot of his dead 15 year old daughter[/spoiler].  As one does.
Also been watching The Flash, which is lowbrow hokum.  The production design pulls in one direction (the superhero costume and Shirley Walker's score are straight from the Burton-era Batman films) and the script pulls in another (most stories veer between camp, melodrama, and camp melodrama), but it's an impressive failure even if it doesn't know what audience it's aiming at.  None of it would stand up to a second viewing, I'm thinking.

Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 20 November, 2012, 05:54:16 PM
Who needs dvd boxsets when you have back to back endless Mock The Weeks, Would I Lie To Yous and HIGNFYs on Dave?

(http://assets.diylol.com/hfs/082/c86/cb4/resized/fry-can-t-tell-meme-generator-can-t-tell-if-sarcastic-or-genuine-2376da.jpg)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dark Jimbo on 20 November, 2012, 07:42:54 PM
Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 20 November, 2012, 05:54:16 PM
Who needs dvd boxsets when you have back to back endless Mock The Weeks, Would I Lie To Yous and HIGNFYs on Dave?

Because those are comedy panel shows, which isn't really the same as getting involved in a good drama.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 20 November, 2012, 10:51:35 PM
Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 20 November, 2012, 05:54:16 PM
Who needs dvd boxsets when you have back to back endless Mock The Weeks, Would I Lie To Yous and HIGNFYs on Dave? Mind you, they do shove the odd night of Gavin and Stacy or Red Dwarf to push me to Radio 4 Extra, so...

The comedy panel show format is the devil's work, but I still watch some of them depending who's on. There's nothing inherently more worthwhile about something just because it's a drama - Hollyoaks is (technically) a drama. I've just started Breaking Bad on netflix, and I'd agree that it's more immediately accessible than the holy trinity of The Sopranos/The Wire/Mad Men, but I'm not sure that won't work against it in the long run.

This Is England shits in the hat of everything else mentioned here.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Ancient Otter on 20 November, 2012, 11:04:31 PM
Got Spartacus: Vengence for my birthday recently and before that, Miami Vice Season 1....
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 21 November, 2012, 12:33:26 AM
Quote from: radiator on 20 November, 2012, 02:23:29 PMWhile everyone will tell you "The Wire/Game of Thrones/Boardwalk Empire is great, but you have to watch twenty episodes of it before it gets good",
You mentioned this about not getting into The Wire a few weeks ago. It got me thinking about it and I decided to watch the first episode again to see if I agreed. I didn't: as far as I'm concerned, if you weren't gripped by the end of that I wouldn't see any point in persevering. Incidentally, the first episode of Boardwalk Empire bored me rigid so I've never bothered with any more. Anyway, the following weekend I watched the rest of the first series and I'm now halfway through the third series again. Should be finished them all by the end of the month, although I might slow down if the fifth is as irritating as I remember it being.

This is just a bit of a sidetrack thought as my real current boxset of choice is Buffy. It's not much of an addiction though. The odd episode with dinner one evening during the week and maybe a couple on a Sunday afternoon if I'm hungover and feeling sorry for myself. I finished the third series a couple of weeks ago and am on a temporary hiatus until I can get hold of the fourth for under a fiver.

I've also heard good things about Justified but haven't gotten round to trying it. Started watching the new series of The Killing the other night but got bored twenty minutes into the first episode and switched it off.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Enigmatic Dr X on 21 November, 2012, 07:48:33 AM
Is Breaking Bad the one about a chemistry teacher who makes drugs?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 21 November, 2012, 08:05:28 AM
This Is England was indeed fantastic. Looking forward to the new series.

Which reminds me: I really need to watch Misfits.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: SmallBlueThing on 21 November, 2012, 08:39:13 AM
I agree, but was merely being facetious and questioning where anyone gets the time to watch this stuff. In between work, cooking, eating, reading comics and books and listening to the radio, ive not had time to even put on a dvd that wasnt expressly to keep the kids quiet, in months.

Oh, except last night, but im sworn to secrecy on that one!

I cant get into american drama, genre or otherwise- the last show i followed for any length of time was The X Files, and even that i gave up on after a few years. Frasier, maybe? I saw that through to the end.

There's still a Primeval series four episode ive not watched, despite my love for that show- and i know that when the new Canadian PRIMEVAL: NEW WORLD debuts on dvd i'll buy the set, watch two or three and then let it slide, however good or bad it is. Probably bad.

Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Sopranos, Spartacus, American Horror Story, Supernatural, Grimm, Smallville, Battlestar Galactica, Arrow... all have precisely zero interest for me, im sorry to say. (cont)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: SmallBlueThing on 21 November, 2012, 08:42:17 AM
(cont) and the only drama-ish things i watch on a regular basis- and which i would possibly seek out if pushed- are YOUNG DRACULA and WOLFBLOOD on kids' tv. If only because when they're broadcast im still awake! And they're good, too.

Otherwise, it's all about the aforementioned DAVE repeats, Im a Celebrity and Embarassing Bodies in our house!

SBT
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 21 November, 2012, 08:45:57 AM
So you don't watch TV series and don't have any to recommend, but still feel compelled to post (at great length) in this thread for some reason.

And you don't have TIME to watch them you say?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: SmallBlueThing on 21 November, 2012, 08:51:42 AM
Ha! I texted that while on my way to work, on the bus. Or should i have been using the time to downstream my technoload of new episodes of Stargate?

SBT
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 21 November, 2012, 08:54:12 AM
Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 21 November, 2012, 07:48:33 AM
Is Breaking Bad the one about a chemistry teacher who makes drugs?

Yes. It really is superb, but some bits require a strong stomach (I know some people who gave up after the bit involving the bath as it was a bit to gruesome).

Personally, I found aspects of the first two series (hospital scenes) very upsetting and hard to watch, IMO that particular part of the plot works best as a catalyst to kick things off and needn't have been lingered on quite so much.

Oh, forgot to mention the music (both the original soundtrack and the licensed tracks) all of which is amazing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: James Stacey on 21 November, 2012, 09:43:14 AM
Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 21 November, 2012, 08:51:42 AM
Or should i have been using the time to downstream my technoload of new episodes of Stargate?
If only they were still making Stargate, yes you should.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Charlie boy on 24 November, 2012, 03:44:28 AM
Twin Peaks and Carnivale are two great series to watch. Sons of Anarchy is the only show going at the moment that has me buy the boxsets once they're available. I did like The Sopranos but don't think I'd ever watch it from start to finish again. I remember watching The Sopranos and getting a tad annoyed how in a later series, a brief argument shown in one episode of an earlier series would be mentioned and I'd be scratching my head trying to remember it. Sons of Anarchy doesn't have that problem, it keeps it all running along nicely. Oh, and The Munsters boxsets are more than entertaining.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 24 November, 2012, 07:20:39 AM
The only bit of Sons of Anarchy I've seen is someone doing a ludicrously awful Irish accent. Must admit, it put me off a little.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 24 November, 2012, 09:19:32 AM
Quote from: radiator on 24 November, 2012, 07:20:39 AM
The only bit of Sons of Anarchy I've seen is someone doing a ludicrously awful Irish accent. Must admit, it put me off a little.

Listen here fellah, don' youh daare pass up the feckin oppertuuunity to watch dis bleedin geniuos bit o telly just cause dey spend halfa season tree in oireland.

Dere are few bettar tings ye could watch rite now- gie it a shot from season wan.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: DaveGYNWA on 24 November, 2012, 09:45:58 AM
Quote from: radiator on 24 November, 2012, 07:20:39 AM
The only bit of Sons of Anarchy I've seen is someone doing a ludicrously awful Irish accent. Must admit, it put me off a little.

It's put me off it totally - I hate hearing american versions of an Irish accent in shows/films. Case in point: Burn Notice....first episode. Fiona's accent. Switched off straight away. Left it for a year, and then someone mentioned that the accent was dropped from episode 2 onwards, so I watched again. And love the show (but I still cringe when the opening titles are playing...."Where am I?"..."Miami, to be sure to be sure"....I may have modified the words, but that's the effect it has in my head)

I just can't get into Sons of Anarchy because of it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: golledge100 on 24 November, 2012, 09:55:21 AM
QuoteNo sign of Season 5 on DVD yet though...where on earth did you get that from? 



Season 5 of breaking bad is available on Netflix. This makes up for its 5.99 monthly subscription alone!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Steve Green on 24 November, 2012, 10:35:53 AM
Although it's only half a season annoyingly.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 24 November, 2012, 10:54:05 AM
Quote from: golledge100 on 24 November, 2012, 09:55:21 AM
Season 5 of breaking bad is available on Netflix. This makes up for its 5.99 monthly subscription alone!

I'm on the month free trial of netflix at the moment and I can only get seasons 1-3, does the choice widen with a real subscription? The defining appeal of box sets, for me, isn't what you watch so much as how you choose to watch it. I watched three or four episodes of The Wire a week, and the regularity of that made it an enjoyable part of my daily life; while I watched most of The Pacific in a single day, because I was snowed in during the Christmas holidays, and it felt much more slight and disjointed than Band of Brothers, which I watched weekly on TV.

Radiator's use of the word 'addiction' in this thread's title is interesting. I'd been quite happily watching an episode of Breaking Bad most days so far, then I had a couple of shit days at work and managed to power through most of season 2 on Friday. Watching Jessie and his girlfriend sink into heroin addiction made me aware that I was using the show in exactly way as he was using the junk- to get out of my own head and shut out the real world. I'm ridiculously straight edge - I don't even drink - but I've been using all kinds of fiction to get out of my tree for most of my life.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Steve Green on 24 November, 2012, 11:10:26 AM
I didn't realise that the trial restricted what you can see. I expect it's to stop people just using the trial to watch a couple of seasons of something specific.

There is a difference between the US and UK netflix - although if you access through a VPN you can access the US Netflix content even if you registered outside the US.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 24 November, 2012, 11:22:43 AM
Quote from: Steve Green on 24 November, 2012, 11:10:26 AM
There is a difference between the US and UK netflix - although if you access through a VPN you can access the US Netflix content even if you registered outside the US.

Cheers!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Charlie boy on 24 November, 2012, 12:36:43 PM
Quote from: radiator on 24 November, 2012, 07:20:39 AM
The only bit of Sons of Anarchy I've seen is someone doing a ludicrously awful Irish accent. Must admit, it put me off a little.
You should give it a go, mate. As has been pointed out- you've got a good 2 1/2 series before they go to Ireland and by then you'll be well in to it. Series 4 was then fantastic and I'm hoping 5 airs over here soon.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 28 November, 2012, 08:50:51 PM
I'm watching series 1 of Misfits.

So does it take a while to get good, or am I just not getting it?

Doesn't really seem anything special so far - script and acting is quite poor. Seems to have childish, outdated sweary/rude phrases in place of actual humour, a bit like The Inbetweeners.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pauljholden on 28 November, 2012, 09:13:10 PM
I'm currently watching community, available from netlfix via Canada (I use the proxy service unblock-us.

Hard to say what it's like, kind of friends meets spaced. Very warm with great central characters.

Also watching Better Off Ted, us comedy about a company that clearly supplies crazy scientist equipment to bond villains and/or dr doom (it's not really about that, but that's e background...)

(Oh, and the wife is glued to Once Upon a Time, a TV show that shares a LOT of DNA with the comic "fables" - the big difference is fable is about the original Grimm fairy tales, whereas Once Upon a Time the fairy tales are all Disney's version of the same (which makes it weirdly unwatchable for me...))
-pi

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 28 November, 2012, 09:28:52 PM
Quote from: pauljholden on 28 November, 2012, 09:13:10 PM
Also watching Better Off Ted, us comedy about a company that clearly supplies crazy scientist equipment to bond villains and/or dr doom (it's not really about that, but that's e background...)

Excellent show. Cancelled before its time. Portia di Rossi is fantastic as the crazy boss
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: michael kennedy on 29 November, 2012, 09:03:14 AM
community is the freaking best thing iv'e seen in ages, had to get the boxsets after viva dropped it and it went to sony.

the first season was finding its feet but the two after that are some of the best bits of comedy iv'e seen from the US.

definitley worth a youtube search particularily anything with [spoiler]senor chang or paintball[/spoiler] played by ken jeong

i spoilered it in case it ruins someones watching of said show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Van Dom on 29 November, 2012, 09:36:37 AM
I just ran through the first series of Revenge on Netflix. Really didnt expect to like it when I stuck on the pilot episode,  as its not my usual kind of thing (rich folk backstabbing each other in Dynasty-style shenanigans) and in fact I thought Id be switching it off after 5 minutes. But the lead, Emily Van Camp, really captivated me and kept me on board. She's awesome. And her character is great. Starts off as a simple "get revenge for past wrongs on baddie of the week " type thing before picking up steam and getting really complex and convoluted. The other lead, the dorky, socially awkward billionaire who goes around paying people to be his friend also turns out to be a really cool character. Good show, if you can get into it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 29 November, 2012, 09:56:07 AM
Community is wonderful, but it can be hard getting people to give it a chance as the first half/third of series one isn't that great. My girlfriend didn't warm to it at all, but I know she'd love it if she just persevered for a few more episodes! I sung it's praises to a few friends, but they never got past the pilot. I think it all really clicks into place during the first Halloween episode, I'd be tempted to suggest people start there.

"I am Batman!" *applies lipbalm*
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 29 November, 2012, 10:04:37 AM
Quote'm currently watching community, available from netlfix via Canada (I use the proxy service unblock-us.

Hard to say what it's like, kind of friends meets spaced. Very warm with great central characters.

Oh, and PJ - if you haven't already seen it (and if you can get it on Netflix) I'd highly recommend Modern Family, a tremendous, slick family sitcom. It doesn't quite scale the dizzying heights of some of Community's more ingenious writing, but unlike Community it manages the trick of being genuinely likable and funny while being incredibly broad and accessible.

Only the first two series though, it really took a dramatic nosedive as of series three...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pauljholden on 29 November, 2012, 10:33:48 AM
Quote from: radiator on 29 November, 2012, 09:56:07 AM
Community is wonderful, but it can be hard getting people to give it a chance as the first half/third of series one isn't that great. My girlfriend didn't warm to it at all, but I know she'd love it if she just persevered for a few more episodes! I sung it's praises to a few friends, but they never got past the pilot. I think it all really clicks into place during the first Halloween episode, I'd be tempted to suggest people start there.

"I am Batman!" *applies lipbalm*

Weirdly, I started seeing bits of episodes from series 3, I think - caught them on telly after seeing recommendations (ironically, after Dan Harmon had been fired). But, as much as I enjoyed them, I couldn't get into them - everything was locked in place but I didn't quiet connect. BUT I loved the pilot and the first season (I started watching from ep1, season1, and I'm on ep3 season 2).

-pj
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: James Stacey on 29 November, 2012, 01:28:08 PM
Community is the best comedy thats been on TV in years. As such its been hit with the shitty stick till almost dead. There is still hope for six seasons and a movie.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 29 November, 2012, 01:46:52 PM
I thought season three was a bit patchy, but had some real standout episodes.

I can see it going down the shitter now that Harmon and Chase have left though. The fact they've truncated, then delayed season 4 is worrying.

Anyone notice that Pierce's adopted brother is played by Gustavo Fring form Breaking Bad?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pauljholden on 29 November, 2012, 02:30:31 PM
SPOILERS! (THough, he is also plays the genii/magic mirror in Once Upon a Time - he MAY be the US equivalent of Alan Dale... (who is also in Once Upon a Time, but not, afaik, Community))

-pj
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 29 November, 2012, 02:39:09 PM
Quote from: radiator on 29 November, 2012, 09:56:07 AM
Community is wonderful, but it can be hard getting people to give it a chance as the first half/third of series one isn't that great. My girlfriend didn't warm to it at all, but I know she'd love it if she just persevered for a few more episodes!
As a wise man once said:
Quote from: radiator on 22 October, 2012, 10:36:22 AM
The Wire. Gave up after the pilot. Yeah, so apparently it's AMAZING, you just need to get through the first series - after that you'll be hooked.

Strangely enough, I never seem to find myself with enough spare time to want to sit and watch hour after hour of boring television in the hope it eventually gets interesting.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 29 November, 2012, 02:54:54 PM
What's your point? I can understand why my friends haven't given it a chance - in fact I was a bit touch and go with it at first because it initially seems like it's going to be like Scrubs or something - that's exactly why I'd consider recommending people start midway through the series, or by recommending specific episodes.

Having said that, there is difference in that Community is a sitcom, which is by it's nature light, snappy and fast paced, each episode lasting only 22 minutes. It's a totally different kettle of fish to getting into a heavy drama series like The Wire or Boardwalk Empire, which demand your full attention, must be watched in chronolgical order and can require a bit of psyching up to get into the mood. Sometimes watching one of these big cult series feels like a nagging assignment you have got to do.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ChickenStu on 01 February, 2013, 04:17:13 PM
Coming off Breaking Bad. Wow.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 01 February, 2013, 04:23:21 PM
The Big Bang Theory series 5. Oh lawds!  :lol:
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 01 February, 2013, 04:47:36 PM
I don't know how anyone can tolerate The Big Bang Theory.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hoagy on 01 February, 2013, 04:51:20 PM
Criminal Minds s1-7 coming up and Extras.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 01 February, 2013, 04:56:03 PM
Quote from: radiator on 01 February, 2013, 04:47:36 PM
I don't know how anyone can tolerate The Big Bang Theory.
I dunno, guess it's a generation thing. Maybe. Everyone I know loves it, and being a bit of a Physics nut I tend to get the jokes.  :-\
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 01 February, 2013, 05:17:14 PM
I am very nearly done with 'Lexx'. Just about 6 episodes left.

I've been consistently entertained. This show is BRILLIANT fun! I'd been expecting the fourth season to be a stinker, having been warned by folks that it was 'weak' and 'as low as bad TV gets', but I've been pleasantly surprised.

This is actually a show I can see myself going back to and re-watching sooner rather than later.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 01 February, 2013, 06:05:29 PM
QuoteI dunno, guess it's a generation thing.

Think it's more of a taste thing - I'm probably younger than you are.

Something about it just rubs me the wrong way - the bits I've seen have been desperately unfunny.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 01 February, 2013, 07:22:13 PM
Quote from: radiator on 01 February, 2013, 06:05:29 PM
QuoteI dunno, guess it's a generation thing.

Think it's more of a taste thing - I'm probably younger than you are.

Something about it just rubs me the wrong way - the bits I've seen have been desperately unfunny.
I'm 17 so that may be a bit of a stretch. :lol:
Fair does and all, not like I like you any less for it, there's many comedys I hate. ANYTHING with Ricky Gervais for a start. >:(
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pauljholden on 01 February, 2013, 08:22:37 PM
Currently watching the west wing, which I loved when I saw it first and burning through episodes is a lot of fun, but there's some interesting takeaways from it:
If you're not American then you're likely to be a very stereotypical representative of your country.
You see a lot of relationships blossom but precious few ever seem to go anywhere.
I get the sense that sorkin is less interested in the lives of his characters than he is in manipulating the audience and getting to his idealised world.

That said, I do love it.

Wondering whether is should start watching house of cards BEFORE I start watching house of cards or not (the new us netflix version)

-pj
(Ps I live netflix and unblock-us...)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 02 February, 2013, 02:42:20 PM
Quote from: radiator on 01 February, 2013, 06:05:29 PM
Something about it just rubs me the wrong way - the bits I've seen have been desperately unfunny.

When I first saw it I found myself wincing inside, what with playing on the stereo-typical geek thing, etc. ("They make us look bad", I thought. Not that I'm much of a geek - I have geek interests, but probably lack the intellect.)

I've watched it since then.... and it just clicked. I find it a funny and warm programme. And I'll admit to getting a bit of a thrill seeing *that* prop in the time machine episode.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 26 February, 2013, 11:18:59 AM
Through the magic of Lovefilm I've been soaking up Battlestar Galactica for the first time over the past couple of weeks. At the start I remember telling a mate that I wasn't really that into it and then realising I'd watched the whole mini-series and the first half dozen regular episodes in two or three days! After hearing so much about it, I think it took me a while to get past the standard tv scif-fi crappy acting and just let the story carry me forward. It was the episode where Starbuck interrogates the Cylon that finally hooked me. I really like that a large part of the series is the old "What is this thing called love, captain?" taken to extremes and allowed to develop in unexpected ways.

Anyway, finished the second series last night and really looking forward to seeing where it's going next.

PS So far, [spoiler]Boomer [/spoiler]is the hottest Cylon.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 26 February, 2013, 11:34:16 AM
My second anf third Shojo Kakumei Utena boxsets arrived on friday. God, this series is just so WIERD I freaking love it. Some of the philosophy is out there extreme (Incestues abuse, rape, psychological torture etc) but are handled with extreme levity and mixed in with some real WTF moments that never seem to detract from the strong mixture of surreal humour and black comedy. A very fun series but not for everyone. Also, Roses. Roses everywhere.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JamesC on 26 February, 2013, 11:47:50 AM
Quote from: The Cosh on 26 February, 2013, 11:18:59 AM
Through the magic of Lovefilm I've been soaking up Battlestar Galactica for the first time over the past couple of weeks. At the start I remember telling a mate that I wasn't really that into it and then realising I'd watched the whole mini-series and the first half dozen regular episodes in two or three days! After hearing so much about it, I think it took me a while to get past the standard tv scif-fi crappy acting and just let the story carry me forward. It was the episode where Starbuck interrogates the Cylon that finally hooked me. I really like that a large part of the series is the old "What is this thing called love, captain?" taken to extremes and allowed to develop in unexpected ways.

Anyway, finished the second series last night and really looking forward to seeing where it's going next.

PS So far, [spoiler]Boomer [/spoiler]is the hottest Cylon.

I've just started watching BSG on Lovefilm too and am also really enjoying it.
When it first came out i saw a couple of mid-season episodes and thought it just seemed like 'West Wing in space' with all the talking and politics - I was expecting action!
Watching it from the beginning though, I'm finding it really gripping.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 26 February, 2013, 12:14:28 PM
Quote from: radiator on 01 February, 2013, 06:05:29 PM
QuoteI dunno, guess it's a generation thing.

Think it's more of a taste thing - I'm probably younger than you are.

Something about it just rubs me the wrong way - the bits I've seen have been desperately unfunny.

BBT is one of the most uneven shows I've watched, and since the wife is a big fan I've seen most of it by now.  When it gets it right, it can be extremely funny and quite sweet, when it gets it wrong it's unwatchable, becoming Two-and-a-Half-Men with Stephen Hawking impressions.  Its biggest hurdle is that the original lead character (Leonard) is very dull, and its breakout discovery (Sheldon) can completely dominate it to the point of boring repetition, despite Jim Parsons' cracking performance.  It works best when it works as an ensemble, with everyone contributing a little bit of their well-honed schtick, rather than when it focuses on one character and the narrowness of the characterisation becomes apparent.  I think they've cottoned on to this as the seasons march on, and the large supporting cast has become the highlight for me, Leonard's and Sheldon's mothers in particular being a hoot.

What has struck me as the thing has gone on is there is a refreshing moral line played out over the long term: unpleasant throwaway gags early on come back to haunt the characters in interesting ways. 

It's also hard for me to see it as painting a negative nerd stereotype (to a greater degree than that required of the themed paticipants of any sit-com) when most of the characters have a terrific social life, exciting careers and a string of gorgeous partners. 

One thing that I do not understand: how do they get away with the unbelievably racist depiction of India and Indians in the show? 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JamesC on 26 February, 2013, 12:34:19 PM
I've never seen an episode of BBT that I didn't find funny, although some more than others. It suffered when the actress that plays Penny broke her arm and wasn't in a few episodes - she's a great character and is really the glue that holds everything together.
I find it a very warm programme it very really gets a laugh out of 'bullying' humour (in stark contrast to Ricky Gervais).
As for the 'racist' depiction of India - well cultural stereotyping doesn't always equal racism. Loads of things are stereotyped in BBT - for example Jewish people and the Bible belt.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 26 February, 2013, 02:12:13 PM
Quote from: JamesC on 26 February, 2013, 12:34:19 PM
As for the 'racist' depiction of India - well cultural stereotyping doesn't always equal racism. Loads of things are stereotyped in BBT - for example Jewish people and the Bible belt.

Didn't mean to drag the thread in the direction of a discussion of racism, but there is a difference between poking fun at powerful cultural groupings within the host nation, and a sole foreign character whose home country and its cultures are presented as universally laughable. Not that it isn't often funny, and indeed lampshaded by Raj himself, but it's frequently at an Alf Garnett level, except that there's no indication that the perpetrators are anything other than witty and knowledgeable. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 26 February, 2013, 03:57:19 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 26 February, 2013, 12:14:28 PMIt's also hard for me to see it as painting a negative nerd stereotype (to a greater degree than that required of the themed paticipants of any sit-com)

My take on this criticism about BBT has always been this: they aren't awful people because they're nerds, they're awful people because they are in a Chuck Lorre sitcom.  You would have to take a pretty narrow reading of it to come away thinking it was anti-nerd, as pretty much anyone in any walk of life who gets screen time comes off pretty badly.
The best example for me is Penny's ex-jock, ex-bully boyfriend, whose low intelligence is mocked by the main characters in a pretty merciless and arseholeish way as the "nerds" close ranks on him - he's moved on from the idiot high school cliche he was and even reaches out to share his love of comic books with the characters, trying to explain why Archie comics have moved on from what they were only to be rebuffed by the cast and ridiculed as they continue to thumb through their DC back issues - it's a surprisingly layered moment of insight to the characters and the show itself that highlights that a lot of it's crowd-pleasing moments come from the kind of thoughtless cruelty that is later used as joke fodder, but could equally be construed as karmic balance, with someone's downfall coming not because the world is an inherently cruel place but because these people deserve it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: sheldipez on 26 February, 2013, 04:47:41 PM
Quote from: The Cosh on 26 February, 2013, 11:18:59 AM
Through the magic of Lovefilm I've been soaking up Battlestar Galactica for the first time over the past couple of weeks. At the start I remember telling a mate that I wasn't really that into it and then realising I'd watched the whole mini-series and the first half dozen regular episodes in two or three days! After hearing so much about it, I think it took me a while to get past the standard tv scif-fi crappy acting and just let the story carry me forward. It was the episode where Starbuck interrogates the Cylon that finally hooked me. I really like that a large part of the series is the old "What is this thing called love, captain?" taken to extremes and allowed to develop in unexpected ways.

Anyway, finished the second series last night and really looking forward to seeing where it's going next.

PS So far, [spoiler]Boomer [/spoiler]is the hottest Cylon.

The wife and I are about to finish up season 2 of Battlestar, I love the show when it focuses on the space politics and military friction but can't get away with a lot of the [OTT] relationship centred episodes, I mean Starbuck knew that freedom fighter bloke on Caprica for all of five minutes yet the show goes on like they were together for a long time, now I don't know if it's me but I need more than a day or two to get that attached to someone (my wife thought the same). Lee Adama seems to fall in love with someone else every half dozen episodes that I fully expect him to be bunked up with the President by series finale. But besides that one aspect the writing has been more consistantly great than any other TV show I care to think of and the SFX are so good that it ages every other sci-fi show a great deal!

Big Bang Theory is the worst sitcom I've ever seen, Coach  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coach_%28TV_series%29)being the second worst.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 26 February, 2013, 04:53:44 PM
You have clearly never seen Rob or Hank.

I envy you.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 26 February, 2013, 05:05:35 PM
Quote from: sheldipez on 26 February, 2013, 04:47:41 PM
The wife and I are about to finish up season 2 of Battlestar, I love the show when it focuses on the space politics and military friction but can't get away with a lot of the [OTT] relationship centred episodes, I mean Starbuck knew that freedom fighter bloke on Caprica for all of five minutes yet the show goes on like they were together for a long time, now I don't know if it's me but I need more than a day or two to get that attached to someone (my wife thought the same).

You know, it's SO GREAT to see some deserved criticism of the new BSG.

I sat through the whole thing for the first tiem a few months back, and thought it was great. I really, REALLY had to be persuaded, because I have a deep-seated loathing of the old series. But the lure of that same general premise writ large and treated with some intelligent writing was what finally won me over.

But, I gotta say, there are some points in that series where the writing is REALLY not very good, and some aspects of it come off as being poorly handled, in my opinion. Liek I say, I still think it's a great show, but it isn't perfect by any means.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 26 February, 2013, 05:06:56 PM
Quote from: Professor J Bear on 26 February, 2013, 03:57:19 PM...someone's downfall coming not because the world is an inherently cruel place but because these people deserve it.

I agree, and I do think that's a lot of the show's appeal.  Pretty much all of the characters are jerks pretending to be nice people, and to give the writers credit their tribulations are usually a direct response to their own arseholery, and they seldom get away with the kind of vileness that Friends folk exhibited for a decade seemingly without consequence.  When the characters do manage to behave with decency, they tend to be rewarded.  It's a simple formula, but pleasant enough to watch played out over the long term.

I did enjoy the one where Leonard's old school bully showed up, and [spoiler]appeared to repent and be forgiven, only to wake up in the morning and continue on his shitty way[/spoiler]. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JamesC on 26 February, 2013, 05:11:34 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 26 February, 2013, 05:06:56 PM
Quote from: Professor J Bear on 26 February, 2013, 03:57:19 PM...someone's downfall coming not because the world is an inherently cruel place but because these people deserve it.

I agree, and I do think that's a lot of the show's appeal.  Pretty much all of the characters are jerks pretending to be nice people,

But I don't think they're pretending I think they're just damaged.
Penny is afraid of commitment so she fucks Leonard around a bit. She's not pretending to be nice, she's just a bit crap.
Same with Wolowitz - he's so desperate to be a stud, not because he loves women so much but because he needs to be validated as a man.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 26 February, 2013, 05:19:14 PM
Quote from: JamesC on 26 February, 2013, 05:11:34 PM
But I don't think they're pretending I think they're just damaged.

While I suspect we may be over-analysing this just a smidgeon, I'm not sure being damaged actually excludes jerkishness and pretense. It may well be an underlying cause (although find me someone who isn't damaged in some way), but (for example) I'm not sure Leonard's having a psychopathic mother is actually an excuse for his self-centered manipulations.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 26 February, 2013, 06:22:54 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 26 February, 2013, 05:19:14 PMWhile I suspect we may be over-analysing this just a smidgeon

You ought to check out Chuck Lorre's other big sitcom Two and a Half Men and then try and say there is no subtext whatsoever to the character played by Charlie Sheen replacement Ashton Kutcher: big-knobbed, so handsome he turns straight men gay, billionaire, smarter than everyone in the room, women can't love him because he's too rich and handsome, and so on.  There's been nearly two seasons of it now, and I'm still waiting for this to pay off as something other than a big name star with a veto on the final script.  I can understand wanting to keep his teen girl/gay men fanbase happy, but it would be nice to see him display some depth.

Watched Our Friends In The North for the first time, and while a pleasingly political take on the usual BBC social drama, I'm not sure if I agree with some of the thematic inferences such as the equivalence drawn between the collapse of the power of the working-class unions and the rise of yob culture, or the bafflingly apolitical finale that offers neither comment on the time nor context for events, looking as it does like any other episode and presenting no resolution or insight to this stage of the characters' lives.  It's oddly stagey in places, too, and heavily reliant upon the viewer taking the idea of Tories as bad people at face value - and while I have no problem with anything that takes a pop at the Tories, I'm not sure I want my political views mirrored back at me, I want them challenged.  There's a storyline where common-as-muck Tosker gets ideas above himself and becomes a musician, a businessman, a freemason, a rich landowner and so on, but there's no real attempt to explore this example of someone taking advantage of a free market as an insight to how the Conservatives appropriated the working class vote, or even to explore the role of red top journalism beyond that it was a hotbed of sneering scum, which again is not something I have bother believing and is exactly why something which presents this point of view should go out of its way to challenge or explore it as the prevailing notion.
It's certainly a very good show and well made and performed - the odd accent aside - but also a frustrating series in not really separating itself as a narrative from the politics of its characters.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dark Jimbo on 26 February, 2013, 06:34:15 PM
Quote from: sheldipez on 26 February, 2013, 04:47:41 PM
I love [BSG]... but can't get away with a lot of the [OTT] relationship centred episodes, I mean Starbuck knew that freedom fighter bloke on Caprica for all of five minutes yet the show goes on like they were together for a long time, now I don't know if it's me but I need more than a day or two to get that attached to someone (my wife thought the same). Lee Adama seems to fall in love with someone else every half dozen episodes that I fully expect him to be bunked up with the President by series finale.

That can be readily explained in the context of the show if you're so inclined - these people are suffering PTSD, after all. You may take a long time to form attachments, but if 99% of mankind was wiped out at a stroke tomorrow and you'd survived by the skin of your teeth, managing to throw your lot in with the only other survivors of the holocaust; and the killers of humanity were relentlessly pursuing your band of survivors intending to finish the job, and so you knew that literally any day might be your last; would you not throw caution to the wind and jump into any chance of a relationshop going? I know I would.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 26 February, 2013, 06:40:47 PM
But then why abandon established relationships as Starbuck does so often?  I long ago decided that the intent was to make the character unlikable by any means necessary, even if it made no sense.

For me, the remake loses points for not having a creepy monkey-dog thing, and an ending that just makes you think "Ron Moore should have put off writing that until he worked out his issues with his mates on Star Trek: Voyager."
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: sheldipez on 26 February, 2013, 06:42:23 PM
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 26 February, 2013, 06:34:15 PM
Quote from: sheldipez on 26 February, 2013, 04:47:41 PM
I love [BSG]... but can't get away with a lot of the [OTT] relationship centred episodes, I mean Starbuck knew that freedom fighter bloke on Caprica for all of five minutes yet the show goes on like they were together for a long time, now I don't know if it's me but I need more than a day or two to get that attached to someone (my wife thought the same). Lee Adama seems to fall in love with someone else every half dozen episodes that I fully expect him to be bunked up with the President by series finale.

That can be readily explained in the context of the show if you're so inclined - these people are suffering PTSD, after all. You may take a long time to form attachments, but if 99% of mankind was wiped out at a stroke tomorrow and you'd survived by the skin of your teeth, managing to throw your lot in with the only other survivors of the holocaust; and the killers of humanity were relentlessly pursuing your band of survivors intending to finish the job, and so you knew that literally any day might be your last; would you not throw caution to the wind and jump into any chance of a relationshop going? I know I would.

Nope, after realising that the cylons now looked like humans I wouldn't trust anyone , the early episodes had a real "The Thing" vibe with emphasis on the doctor doing testing through hundreds of sample vials, that plot line has since been forgotton with neither Adama or the President ever mentioning how that was going and every body seems to have pretty much reverted to screwing each other.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 27 February, 2013, 12:31:36 AM
Quote from: Professor J Bear on 26 February, 2013, 06:40:47 PM
But then why abandon established relationships as Starbuck does so often?  I long ago decided that the intent was to make the character unlikable by any means necessary, even if it made no sense.
NB Probably unnecessary spoiler tags as at least two other people are currently watching the series.

Maybe just to show that she's as unstable and unreliable emotionally as she is assured and clinical in combat? The idea of someone brilliant in their specialist field but intent on driving people away is hardly novel. Then there's the historical abuse which was briefly alluded to but which hasn't yet been revisited. I have a theory about Starbuck's new-found need for love anyway. One which I could easily validate through Google or which anyone who's seen the whole thing could easily prove or disprove but I'm happy to wait and see.

Viewers of BSG through Lovefilm should be aware that the final episode of the second series appears to be a heavily edited version of the original, which was an extended finale: based on the length quoted on iTunes there's about 25 minutes missing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 27 February, 2013, 12:43:15 AM
Quote from: The Cosh on 27 February, 2013, 12:31:36 AM
Viewers of BSG through Lovefilm should be aware that the final episode of the second series appears to be a heavily edited version of the original, which was an extended finale: based on the length quoted on iTunes there's about 25 minutes missing.
In fact: http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Lay_Down_Your_Burdens,_Part_II

"According to Ron Moore's podcast, although the SciFi Channel was willing to air this episode as a 90-minute special, there also exists an 60-minute version for international distribution. In some markets outside of the United States, viewers might only see the 1 hour version of the episode, which Moore regards as "almost incomprehensible". Many plot threads, such as the entire Cally/Tyrol subplot, were completely removed for the one hour version. However, it appears that most non-American television stations also show the full version."
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 27 February, 2013, 01:12:46 PM
Not sure which version I'll have on my DVD box sets but if it's the loner one, I'm happy to let you borrow it.


Just finished DOLLHOUSE which was very good and had the added benefit of only running to 25 or so episodes.  (It gets too much like doing homework when you know you have 100 episodes of something to watch before getting to the finale).

Dushku is a pleasantly hot but suprisingly blank lead - even when she's not meant to be blank. I put this down to the hotness part of her brain overpowering the acting part.  And the improbably named Tamhoh Penniket is nothing short of abysmal throughout - almost unwatcheable. The supporting cast are equally cute and clunky. But by golly it's dense stuff with enjoyable individual epiosdes, a couple of great season arcs and the sort of smart savvy writing you expect from a Joss Whedon production.

The penultimate and last episode each looked like a season squashed down to one hour (and within that there are sub plots that looked like they might also have spawned half a dozen episodes).  I know this was probably as a result of it being cancelled (and thank goodness they tied up most of the loose ends) but I'd have been tempted to just rewrite the last 5 episodes entirely rather than condensing a seven year plan.



Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dr Feeley Good on 27 February, 2013, 01:23:45 PM
I've only recently started watching the shield, just started the second series. ..I know there were seven series and I was wondering if it runs out of steam !! Really enjoying it at the moment
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 27 February, 2013, 03:00:27 PM
It slows down a bit around the robbery thing, but stick with it and there's some cracking stuff in the latter seasons, particularly Glenn Close and Forest Whittaker's turns as antagonists to the team - the latter turning in such a mad performance that his character was transplanted whole into an episode of Family Guy.

Been watching CSI seasons steadily for the last couple of years as a fallback distraction for when I'm working on something and don't have any current tv to bung on, and while I cannot bring myself to say it is good, it is still well-made nonsense that's got its schtick down pat pretty early to the point that despite being conservative in its outlook it still manages to take the odd pop at itself and play around with its own formulaic plots now and then, a particular high point being Fur And Loathing (in Las Vegas), a murder mystery based within the furry community.  Seeing as I watch them in order, I eventually had to start watching the spin-off CSI: Miami, which despite recently being the first of the franchises to be cancelled is arguably the best of the three because it hinges entirely on a committed central performance from David Caruso as a hysterically deadpan Mary Sue version of the gruff tv cop that makes the show largely bulletproof in a way LV and NY aren't in their playing things super-straight (though both have recently introduced their own Mary Sue leads in Sela Ward and Ted Danson).  The earliest episodes (especially the originating backdoor pilot) give Caruso some range and elbow room and he's clearly aiming for nuance and potential backstory, but about a dozen episodes in and he's twigged that he needs to go full-on Judge Dredd with the one-liners, silly voice and sunglasses to match what surrounds him, particularly Khandie Alexander's utterly dreadful turn as the show's regular coroner (I saw Treme before I saw CSI: Miami so her acting in the latter was a genuine shock).  All the same, it's a bit of a surprise that this wooden performance that everyone's been taking the piss out of for years has actually been cannily-calculated artifice.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 27 February, 2013, 03:10:40 PM
Quote from: The Cosh on 27 February, 2013, 12:31:36 AM
I have a theory about Starbuck's new-found need for love anyway. One which I could easily validate through Google or which anyone who's seen the whole thing could easily prove or disprove but I'm happy to wait and see.

Without spoiling things, there remained several unanswered questions about Starbuck, which I found quite frustrating. However, I am in the minority in that I actually liked the conclusion to BSG!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 04 March, 2013, 12:34:26 PM
Finally made a start on Mad Men. It's pretty good stuff, but I can't quite shake the feeling that its a bit pleased with itself and style over substance - or 'period (drama) porn'. A bit too much fetishising of the (admittedly sumptuous) set dressing, and indulging in "isn't the past CRAZY? Things were DIFFERENT then!" nods to the audience, a bit too little plot.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 06 March, 2013, 11:45:53 AM
Episode 27 of Shojo Kakumei Utena last night...did one of the main characters just give birth to King Ghidorah? :lol:
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 06 March, 2013, 12:13:25 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 27 February, 2013, 01:12:46 PM
Quote from: The Cosh on 27 February, 2013, 12:31:36 AM
Viewers of BSG through Lovefilm should be aware that the final episode of the second series appears to be a heavily edited version of the original extended finale.
Not sure which version I'll have on my DVD box sets but if it's the loner one, I'm happy to let you borrow it.
Thanks Tips. I managed to source an alternative copy and was fairly taken aback at the number of important plot beats cut out of the first version I saw.

Watched the first four episodes of the third series last night. Other than an excess of manly hugging I reckon this is the best yet.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 06 March, 2013, 05:46:32 PM
Quote from: radiator on 04 March, 2013, 12:34:26 PM
Finally made a start on Mad Men. It's pretty good stuff, but I can't quite shake the feeling that its a bit pleased with itself and style over substance - or 'period (drama) porn'. A bit too much fetishising of the (admittedly sumptuous) set dressing, and indulging in "isn't the past CRAZY? Things were DIFFERENT then!" nods to the audience, a bit too little plot.

Plot isn't really Mad Men's thing; folk get married and divorced and have babies, but the show's more interested in psychological realism than any of that. The period setting's an interesting hook to hold the viewers' interest while the show and the characters are bedding in, but I sometimes wonder why they bothered, since the motivations and neuroses of the characters are so universal and timeless.

I think that it might be easier for the audience to accept the way characters' actions are constrained by their personal relationships and personal histories if there's also the additional distance provided by the context of a time with different social mores - nobody likes to be told that they're a prisoner of the limitations imposed upon them by their friends, their intimate relationships, and by the fears, wants and needs of their five year old selves.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 06 March, 2013, 05:59:27 PM
I actually find it quite refreshing that the most dramatic thing to happen eleven eps in is that one character had a heart attack, as most dramas - especially US series which have to fill dozens of episodes a season - usually fairly quickly descend into increasingly cliched and unrealistic narrative twists, such as the 'character A is pregnant, but doesn't know if the father is character B or C' - an especially lazy plot device that pretty much every series or sitcom eventually wheels out as soon as they start to run out of ideas and is a particular pet hate of mine!

Enjoying it very much, but I do wonder how it will sustain itself for four more seasons...

My Game of Thrones Season 2 Blu Rays arrived the other day, so planning a complete marathon of all episodes to date ahead of the Season 3 premiere later this month. Hopefully I'll like s2 a bit more this time round as i was a bit disappointed by it when it originally ran last year.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Judge Olde on 10 March, 2013, 12:40:02 PM
Quote from: radiator on 06 March, 2013, 05:59:27 PM
My Game of Thrones Season 2 Blu Rays arrived the other day, so planning a complete marathon of all episodes to date ahead of the Season 3 premiere later this month. Hopefully I'll like s2 a bit more this time round as i was a bit disappointed by it when it originally ran last year.

I felt the same way, gave me the nudge I needed to start reading the books.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 10 March, 2013, 02:11:01 PM
I think I was disappointed precisely because I was reading the book as I was watching the series, so I noticed every single change they had made, often for the worse.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 10 March, 2013, 08:47:14 PM
Whitechapel, which I sought out on the assumption it was the prequel series to Ripper Street as I recalled hearing about it years ago, but it's actually a modern-day riff on the Jack the Ripper murders rather than a period drama, and appeared on another channel entirely.  It is a dreadful, braindead offering of a show where characters actually come right out and state their motivations in words like they've started reading the scene descriptions in the script rather than say the awful, awful words, and to be honest I can't blame them.  I won't lie, as utterly awful as this was, I am genuinely intrigued by the plot for the sequel series which sounds identical to an episode of Lois And Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman, but with clones of the Krays on the rampage rather than a clone of Al Capone, and another in the plus column is no Teri Hatcher.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 10 March, 2013, 10:33:06 PM
Finally started on HOMELAND.  It was good but it "ain't all that". Maybe there was too much hype or I've seen too much in the adverts.  I'll give it another couple of episodes and hope it perks up.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richmond Clements on 10 March, 2013, 11:56:55 PM
Just finished season one of Breaking Bad. I am assured by all that it gets better than this, but I sure as hell cannot see how!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JOE SOAP on 11 March, 2013, 12:07:03 AM
Quote from: Richmond Clements on 10 March, 2013, 11:56:55 PM
Just finished season one of Breaking Bad. I am assured by all that it gets better than this, but I sure as hell cannot see how!


Heh, heh.


Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 11 March, 2013, 08:15:40 AM
Still not seen Breaking Bad... :-[
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 11 March, 2013, 10:17:26 AM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 11 March, 2013, 08:15:40 AM
Still not seen Breaking Bad... :-[

Just watch it. Seriously.

I've been hassling a friend to do the same - he always says "Oh, I don't have the time". No. Once you've seen the first episode, you will make time!  :D
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 13 March, 2013, 01:08:38 PM
Just wrapped up my Utena marathon with the feature film, which although doesn't quite reach the godly levels of great character writing and whittey scripting teamed with symbolism aplenty as seen in the series, was still fun. I was so impressed with Nozomi's boxsets also that i checked there site....and noticed they had released the entire run of The Dirty Pair. I'll be buying these soon for sure.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 13 March, 2013, 01:18:50 PM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 11 March, 2013, 08:15:40 AM
Still not seen Breaking Bad... :-[

You're wasting your life, man.  What if you got hit by a bus tomorrow?  It would all have been for nothing.

Nearly at the end of Season 3 now, finding some episodes genuinely unbearable in their tension.  Actually woke my daughter up the other night shouting "Walt for feck's sake shut up!" at the telly (the fly episode).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 13 March, 2013, 01:21:31 PM
Quote from: radiator on 11 March, 2013, 10:17:26 AM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 11 March, 2013, 08:15:40 AM
Still not seen Breaking Bad... :-[

Just watch it. Seriously.

I've been hassling a friend to do the same - he always says "Oh, I don't have the time". No. Once you've seen the first episode, you will make time!  :D

I literally don't know anyone that hasnt seen it by now (including my parents for Gruds sake).
Was late for a meeting 2 weeks ago...my boss texted me 'Pollos'!  :D
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 13 March, 2013, 01:37:57 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 13 March, 2013, 01:21:31 PM
Was late for a meeting 2 weeks ago...my boss texted me 'Pollos'!  :D

:lol:
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Satanist on 13 March, 2013, 10:11:42 PM
With BB I just couldnt get into it. I watched the first ep and didnt really know what it was. Was it a drama, a comedy or both? Over two years I tried and on the 3rd attempt got passed the first ep and then, well, I watched the lot over 2 months  :lol:
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 18 March, 2013, 06:39:26 PM
Firefly on Lovefilm. Sneaking it into my lunchtimes when I'm working from home. 

which is much more fun than doing this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co_DNpTMKXk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co_DNpTMKXk)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 19 March, 2013, 12:28:25 AM
End of Mad Men season 2 was awesome, but what's the deal with season 3? Why does it look so weird/cheap all of a sudden? Seem to be getting that horrible 'soap opera effect'/sped up/harsh video look to the visuals...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ChickenStu on 19 March, 2013, 12:59:53 AM
Quote from: radiator on 11 March, 2013, 10:17:26 AMI've been hassling a friend to do the same - he always says "Oh, I don't have the time". No. Once you've seen the first episode, you will make time!  :D

LOL!!! I've got a mate of mine addicted to it now! I lent him my set and said "watch this" and he can't get enough! Great show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 21 March, 2013, 11:58:43 PM
I've been watching season 1 of HBO's 'Girls'. I really wasn't convinced at first, but a few eps in it has won me round somewhat.

There's a smugness about it that is a bit grating, and a willingness to allow the characters to be downright unlikable which is either bold or foolish, I can't quite decide. The tone also sometimes feels uneven, flitting between relatively naturalistic and wildly ott cringe comedy situations. But yeah, overall a thumbs up.

You lot would probably hate it, though.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 23 March, 2013, 11:43:14 PM
Finally been catching up on Breaking Bad and while it's a great show, I can't really get a handle on Walt, Skylar is a bitch, and I want to clear a day from my schedule and spend it kicking Jesse in the throat.  Some of the plot turns seem a bit arbitrary (like Walt sacking his assistant to placate Jesse) compared to the meticulous planning evidenced elsewhere, but it hasn't quite derailed the show for me.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 24 March, 2013, 03:39:21 AM
I've been gradually working my way though The Clone wars Blu-Ray set.

I was reticent about getting it on Blu-Ray as I figured one wouldn't tell the difference with animation as you would with live action. However on seeing the first three series box set going (relatively) cheap at CEX a couple of months back I thought, why not? Turns out it really does look better!

Anyway, enjoyable all round, I'd say. I just started Series 2 and so far it's been great. (Clunky expositiony dialogue aside.) Surprisingly dark in places considering it was supposedly aimed, at least partly, at the kiddies. Not that I'm complaining. And Aayla Secura! Where'd you put your Jedi robe you saucy minx?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: moly on 24 March, 2013, 07:46:35 AM
Just watch game of thrones series 1 really good with some great surprises now for series 2
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 24 March, 2013, 10:22:07 AM
Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 23 March, 2013, 11:43:14 PM
Finally been catching up on Breaking Bad and while it's a great show, I can't really get a handle on Walt ... Some of the plot turns seem a bit arbitrary ... but it hasn't quite derailed the show for me.

Walt was always like that. Even when he was cleaning armadillo crap from alloy wheels he was doing whatever he had to do to make money. His being a teacher helped me understand that Walt wasn't magically transformed into a cunt - even the good ones have something nasty in reserve and a lot of built-up resentment. The whole reason he was in that situation was because [spoiler]he fucked a friend and someone he loved[/spoiler], and that's what I took away from the character; the dedicated teacher who dotes on his disabled kid is also a nasty piece of work, all at the same time, and there's no contradiction between being one and the other - other than the way everyone is encouraged to perceive them.

I'm with you on the plot twists, which put eighties US TV soaps to shame; you just have to let it slide.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 26 March, 2013, 12:10:29 AM
If Wikipedia is to be trusted - and I see no reason it isn't - then season 3 was actually made up on the fly while 1 and 2 were planned out from the start, which would explain why even I picked up on the sudden random twists when my bread and butter is shite dramas where someone goes OMG at who's been sleeping with who this week.  Swear to God, if you plonk me down in front of an episode of Dallas and an episode of Suits, I can actually tell you which is which as if they don't just blur together.

Kudos to Bryan Cranston, though, I never thought he had that kind of glowering charisma in him from his stumblebum act in Malcolm in the Middle, and it's always good to see some of the old-school anime VO artists make good.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 27 March, 2013, 07:22:09 PM
QuoteSkylar is a bitch

In what way? Never really understood why so many people hate her - perhaps because she's always the one threatening to spoil all the 'fun'?

She struck me as a very likable, strong character, and vital to the show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 27 March, 2013, 07:57:32 PM
I could point to smoking while pregnant just to get back at her husband for imagined slights, or shagging her boss regardless of what this would do to her family, but in context her initial demands for full disclosure from Walt make no sense unless you accept that she is an arsehole.  The viewer as an omniscient observer knows Walt is up top no good, but all Skylar knows within the story is that he wants some space after being diagnosed with a terminal illness.  Especially in the fourth season where the carwash subplot comes in and she is not as estranged from Walt so you can view her actions without the "she wants to spoil the fun" angle as a factor, every contribution she makes to this plot paints her as obsessively controlling and her common response to failing to win arguments or get her way is to go off in a huff.
Ultimately, she works to pull her family apart for no discernible reason other than spite, while murderous, poisonous Walt's horrible actions are to keep his family together even if he's no longer a part of it.  Walt thus elicits sympathy despite what he does, Skylar not so much.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 27 March, 2013, 08:00:57 PM
All of that sounds sort of exactly like the way some people might react in real life.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: shaolin_monkey on 28 March, 2013, 12:18:46 PM
I started watching the back catalogue of Arrested Development last night.  I gave up after four episodes.  It just was not funny, and every single one of the characters was incredibly irritating.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 28 March, 2013, 12:26:50 PM
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 28 March, 2013, 12:18:46 PM
I started watching the back catalogue of Arrested Development last night.  I gave up after four episodes.  It just was not funny, and every single one of the characters was incredibly irritating.

You are dead to me.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 28 March, 2013, 12:37:10 PM
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 28 March, 2013, 12:18:46 PM
I started watching the back catalogue of Arrested Development last night.  I gave up after four episodes.  It just was not funny, and every single one of the characters was incredibly irritating.

(Joe Mantegna voice) "You're not a pet, and you're not a friend. You're nothing to me."
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 28 March, 2013, 01:12:24 PM
I love Arrested Development, but humor is a subjective experience so it's always best to adopt a live and let live approach to discussions of it lest you turn into the equivalent of one of those moronic "female comedians are not funny" cunts.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 28 March, 2013, 01:18:23 PM
Arrested Development is one of those shows - like Community - where there are certain lines of dialogue or recurring gags that are so intricately crafted and clever that it makes my head spin.

I don't know how anyone could find the legend that is Gob Bluth unlikable.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: shaolin_monkey on 28 March, 2013, 01:20:44 PM
So you think I should persevere with it?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 28 March, 2013, 02:52:16 PM
To be honest if the first four eps didn't grab you it's probably just not for you - I was hooked from the pilot.

Out of interest, what other comedy series do you like?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: shaolin_monkey on 28 March, 2013, 03:00:09 PM
Oh, the usual - Red Dwarf, IT Crowd, Father Ted, That kind of stuff.  I can't think of many US comedies I enjoy, except maybe My Name is Earl, but I find that hit and miss.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 29 March, 2013, 11:57:28 PM
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 28 March, 2013, 03:00:09 PM
Oh, the usual - Red Dwarf, IT Crowd, Father Ted, That kind of stuff.  I can't think of many US comedies I enjoy, except maybe My Name is Earl, but I find that hit and miss.

Nothing is funnier than US series Curb Your Enthusiasm IMO, but I completely agree with Prof a few posts back; comedy is completely subjective.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Daveycandlish on 30 March, 2013, 07:23:00 AM
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 28 March, 2013, 01:20:44 PM
So you think I should persevere with it?
Nah, you've given it a good go - if you don't like it after four episodes you are right to give up.
I watched Plebs the other night and lasted ten minutes before I turned it off - that was enough for me!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ChickenStu on 03 April, 2013, 06:45:13 PM
I don't know why, but after rewatching the original V and the inferior (but not terrible) V: The Final Battle I'm currently halfway through the 19 episode "original series" that came after those in 1985.

All I can say is "OH. FUCKING. DEAR".

I'll stick with it till the end out of sheer bloody mindedness - but there's not even a parallel dimension where this shit is good...  :(
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: shaolin_monkey on 03 April, 2013, 06:57:14 PM
Quote from: Daveycandlish on 30 March, 2013, 07:23:00 AM
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 28 March, 2013, 01:20:44 PM
So you think I should persevere with it?
Nah, you've given it a good go - if you don't like it after four episodes you are right to give up.


Hmm, I'm actually finding it quite addictive.  I'm up to episode 12 now.

I still don't like it though!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 03 April, 2013, 07:05:38 PM
Why are you watching it if you don't like it?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 03 April, 2013, 07:09:28 PM
Quote from: radiator on 03 April, 2013, 07:05:38 PM
Why are you watching it if you don't like it?
Masochism?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 03 April, 2013, 08:44:32 PM
Only quitters stop watching something because it is terrible.  I remember I gave Clone Wars at least a full season after it became unbearable before I actually stopped watching it - I'm a trooper, me.

Anyway, because it is vaguely relevant to the conversation about watching something even if you think it's terrible, I started watching Space Precinct halfway through an episode of Walking Dead - specifically that episode where Egg and a pirate were going ARR at each other in a room - and I just finished watching the entirety of SP and while it is not good, the scale of the modelwork gives it a lot of charm that a similar show made today with CGI wouldn't have, and the really terrible dialog and acting works remarkably well if read as deliberate parody so I am going to go ahead and say without irony or sarcasm that although Ted Shackelford is no Bruce Boxleitner, Space Precinct is better than Babylon 5.  The effects work on the creatures is occasionally impressive and throws up how reliant US sci-fi is on cgi that something like SP couldn't be made too readily these days as a lot of on-set SFX rather than post-production work would be required, which is a shame as there's a real weight and depth to some of the shots that you just can't get with CGI, and the overhead views of the city at night as viewed through the clouds is still particularly impressive and ambitious even today.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: shaolin_monkey on 03 April, 2013, 10:06:41 PM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 03 April, 2013, 07:09:28 PM
Quote from: radiator on 03 April, 2013, 07:05:38 PM
Why are you watching it if you don't like it?
Masochism?

I think I'm just loathe to admit its growing on me. I have chuckled quietly on a couple of occasions.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 03 April, 2013, 10:29:04 PM
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 03 April, 2013, 10:06:41 PM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 03 April, 2013, 07:09:28 PM
Quote from: radiator on 03 April, 2013, 07:05:38 PM
Why are you watching it if you don't like it?
Masochism?

I think I'm just loathe to admit its growing on me. I have chuckled quietly on a couple of occasions.
I can get you some cream for that. ;)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 05 April, 2013, 02:33:47 PM
15 new episodes of Arrested Development to be released simultaneously on Netflix on 26 May! woohoo!

http://www.nme.com/filmandtv/news/arrested-development-return-date-confirmed-by-net/305438 (http://www.nme.com/filmandtv/news/arrested-development-return-date-confirmed-by-net/305438)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Spikes on 08 April, 2013, 07:06:44 PM
(http://i.imgur.com/RNMHCI9.jpg)

Been after these for absolutely ages, but was always put off by the high prices they went for. But recently somebody had them listed on E-Bay for what amounted to £11.00 each. Thank you very much.  :thumbsup:

Three series - twelve discs in total. Thats my viewing sorted out for a good while.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 08 April, 2013, 08:38:37 PM
Quote from: Judge Jack on 08 April, 2013, 07:06:44 PM
(http://i.imgur.com/RNMHCI9.jpg)

Been after these for absolutely ages, but was always put off by the high prices they went for. But recently somebody had them listed on E-Bay for what amounted to £11.00 each. Thank you very much.  :thumbsup:

Three series - twelve discs in total. Thats my viewing sorted out for a good while.
Top stuff! :D
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 09 April, 2013, 08:04:48 PM
Quote from: Judge Jack on 08 April, 2013, 07:06:44 PM
(http://i.imgur.com/RNMHCI9.jpg)

Been after these for absolutely ages, but was always put off by the high prices they went for. But recently somebody had them listed on E-Bay for what amounted to £11.00 each. Thank you very much.  :thumbsup:

Three series - twelve discs in total. Thats my viewing sorted out for a good while.

I've never seen a single minute of this JJ, despite hearing so much about it.
Give us a review when you're finished!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 09 April, 2013, 08:14:31 PM
I've been watching the complete run of 'Alias' starring Jennifer Garner...

WHYYYYYY??? It's TERRIBLE! The writing on this show is SOOOOOO CRAAAAAP!!! Somebody shoot me! PLEASE!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 09 April, 2013, 08:29:12 PM
Quote from: HdE on 09 April, 2013, 08:14:31 PM
I've been watching the complete run of 'Alias' starring Jennifer Garner...

WHYYYYYY??? It's TERRIBLE! The writing on this show is SOOOOOO CRAAAAAP!!! Somebody shoot me! PLEASE!

BANG!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 09 April, 2013, 08:32:01 PM
Working our way through Mad Men season 4 now, picked up seasons 1-5 for £50, well worth it.

It goes without saying really, but it really deserves its reputation. Excellent TV, Don Draper is such a compelling character.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 09 April, 2013, 08:39:38 PM
Quote from: radiator on 09 April, 2013, 08:32:01 PM
Working our way through Mad Men season 4 now, picked up seasons 1-5 for £50, well worth it.

It goes without saying really, but it really deserves its reputation. Excellent TV, Don Draper is such a compelling character.

Better book the morning off work and get cramming Radiator, season 6 starting tomorrow night...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 09 April, 2013, 10:10:34 PM
Ah, if I time it right we'll have season 5 wrapped up just in time to be able to watch all of season 6 back to back.

I think these really involved shows that have a huge casts of characters work so much better watched that way instead of watching week to week.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Spikes on 10 April, 2013, 12:21:18 AM
Quote from: Link Prime on 09 April, 2013, 08:04:48 PM
I've never seen a single minute of this JJ, despite hearing so much about it.
Give us a review when you're finished!

No probs!
Personally, i love it. But then im a sucker for owt post-Apocalyptic. And my home town gets a couple of mentions - which seemed a big deal at the time!

For those that havent seen it before, itll probably seem tame, or slow going by today standards, but it has much to recommend it (and of course the BBC re-made the series a few years ago - which got cancelled after the 2nd series), but there's plenty of clips/full episodes of the original run posted up on You-Tube that you can check out, Rich.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 10 April, 2013, 09:18:50 AM
Quote from: HdE on 09 April, 2013, 08:14:31 PM
I've been watching the complete run of 'Alias' starring Jennifer Garner...

WHYYYYYY??? It's TERRIBLE! The writing on this show is SOOOOOO CRAAAAAP!!! Somebody shoot me! PLEASE!

I can never tell when you young things are being sarcastic.  This is a joke, right? First couple of seasons I've seen have been aces.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 10 April, 2013, 07:50:55 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 10 April, 2013, 09:18:50 AM
Quote from: HdE on 09 April, 2013, 08:14:31 PM
I've been watching the complete run of 'Alias' starring Jennifer Garner...

WHYYYYYY??? It's TERRIBLE! The writing on this show is SOOOOOO CRAAAAAP!!! Somebody shoot me! PLEASE!

I can never tell when you young things are being sarcastic.  This is a joke, right? First couple of seasons I've seen have been aces.

Working STRICTLY within my caveat of 'if other people are enjoying it, all's well and good', I'll ennumerate the reasons I'm really not liking this show:

ALL of the leads are dreadful. Jennifer Garner is prone to some hideous over-acting. Victor Garber seems to be stuck at one default setting all the time. Michael Vartan is lumbered with the unenviable and unwinnable task of making Garner's love interest look like anything but a complete drip. And the soap-opera tone of the filler stuff that fits in around the plot (and there's a LOT of it) really services all concerned poorly, in my opinion. Awww... Sydney's flatmate just got engaged, but here fella is playing about on the side? I DON'T CARE! SHOW ME MORE SPIES AND ASS KICKING, DAMMIT!

There are some enjoyable moments, true - but for me they all seem to be buried in among the dross. It's almost as if the writers don't know when they're onto a good thing, and when they DO, they really hammer it into the ground.

I mean, Kevin Weismann's techie guy is genuinely brilliant, although his character becomes nauseatingly over-written later on. Must he stumble over himself unfailingly on his every single appearance? He's gone from being one fo the highlights of the show for me to a genuine irritation now.

And for every genuinely sharp and neatly written bit of dialogue, there are a dozen clunk-tastic wads of heavy exposition that grate in the extreme. There are some exchanges between Garner and Vartan, or Garner and Garber (try saying that fast ten times in a row!) that play so appallingly I've actually groaned audibly a few times.

I'm persevering with it just because there's a decent story idea in there, and I want to see it through. It waxes and wanes, and I won't pretend that I'm not being entertained, but... it all feels a bit average to me, and it's not something I think I'll come back to watch again. It's competently staged, sure... but this isn't a well written show, as far as I'm concerned. Not even close.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ChickenStu on 10 April, 2013, 09:19:48 PM
Never EVER watch the 1985 series of V. Just don't, OK?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 10 April, 2013, 11:59:12 PM
I solemnly promise you, ChickenStu... I will not.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ChickenStu on 11 April, 2013, 03:40:20 PM
Quote from: HdE on 10 April, 2013, 11:59:12 PM
I solemnly promise you, ChickenStu... I will not.

Don't ever watch Galactica 1980 either. You'd never survive the experience. There's just something about that show that makes people consider suicide...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 12 April, 2013, 06:14:50 PM
Quote from: ChickenStu on 11 April, 2013, 03:40:20 PM

Don't ever watch Galactica 1980 either. You'd never survive the experience. There's just something about that show that makes people consider suicide...

Saw an episode once. Collapsed in hysterics. Put me of the new BSG for a good long while, I can tell you!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ChickenStu on 13 April, 2013, 12:49:58 AM
Quote from: HdE on 12 April, 2013, 06:14:50 PMPut me of the new BSG for a good long while, I can tell you!

Lol. Yeah, I was a fan of the newer one. Got it all on DVD. The only criticism I really have about it is that it went on a good half season too long. The first part of the last season was largely superflous. I reckon they could've chucked out a lot of that bollocks, made it shorter and just did the compelling story of the second half.

Otherwise, fuck me that was some TV show!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 13 April, 2013, 12:50:21 AM
Those dreadful old 1980s sci-fi shows weren't all bad: I liked the synth score on V: The Series, and the opening episode where the little girl goes off to die in a cave and the snakes all gather around her corpse while "she's changing... BUT INTO WHAT?" and a green light pulses and creeptastic music plays was a commendable attempt on the makers' part at shitting the audience up the same way that lizard baby crawling out of a lady's womb under its own power did in the miniseries, but sadly there was just too much outright shite in the series as it tried too hard to be sci-fi rather than a drama about Nazis in control of America.

If you want old-school sci-fi, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is pure cheesy gold.  I still rewatch the odd episode when I want to turn my brain off - I watched the theatrical cut of the pilot a week or so back, and watch Space Vampire every Halloween.  Planet of the Slave Girls is wonderfully camp and has Jack Palance as a cult leader and terrorist with a harem of barely-legal tottie creating more onscreen ham than live coverage of a swine flu bonfire, but Ardala Returns is amazing: the plot is that a space princess has robot doubles made of Buck so they can bang her from both ends, but Buck thinks sad thoughts while they copy his mind so the robots will be depressed all the time and not want to have sex or fights, meanwhile, one of his robot doubles - who is, naturally, also wired with a nuclear bomb - is walking around with Buck's mates on Earth saying things like "ERR-OR! Incorrect response to query!" out loud within earshot of everyone around him and no-one bats an eyelid - and yet the most ludicrous thing about it?  The idea that any character played by Pamela Hensley in a bikini would have trouble getting a shag.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ChickenStu on 13 April, 2013, 01:10:49 AM
Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 13 April, 2013, 12:50:21 AM
Those dreadful old 1980s sci-fi shows weren't all bad: I liked the synth score on V: The Series, and the opening episode where the little girl goes off to die in a cave and the snakes all gather around her corpse while "she's changing... BUT INTO WHAT?" and a green light pulses and creeptastic music plays was a commendable attempt on the makers' part at shitting the audience up the same way that lizard baby crawling out of a lady's womb under its own power did in the miniseries, but sadly there was just too much outright shite in the series as it tried too hard to be sci-fi rather than a drama about Nazis in control of America.

TOTALLY AGREED.

Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 13 April, 2013, 12:50:21 AMIf you want old-school sci-fi, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is pure cheesy gold. 

Oh you and I are SO going to be friends...  :)


Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 13 April, 2013, 12:50:21 AMI still rewatch the odd episode when I want to turn my brain off - I watched the theatrical cut of the pilot a week or so back, and watch Space Vampire every Halloween.  Planet of the Slave Girls is wonderfully camp and has Jack Palance as a cult leader and terrorist with a harem of barely-legal tottie creating more onscreen ham than live coverage of a swine flu bonfire, but Ardala Returns is amazing: the plot is that a space princess has robot doubles made of Buck so they can bang her from both ends, but Buck thinks sad thoughts while they copy his mind so the robots will be depressed all the time and not want to have sex or fights, meanwhile, one of his robot doubles - who is, naturally, also wired with a nuclear bomb - is walking around with Buck's mates on Earth saying things like "ERR-OR! Incorrect response to query!" out loud within earshot of everyone around him and no-one bats an eyelid - and yet the most ludicrous thing about it?  The idea that any character played by Pamela Hensley in a bikini would have trouble getting a shag.

I used to love that show as a kid. REALLY love it. I've flirted with buying the DVD set a few times but for some reason have never had the guts to do it. I remember one magical saturday when I had the most horrendous hangover (don't drink now btw) an old channel called Bravo did a WHOLE DAY of Buck Rogers. It was absolute fucking HEAVEN and MIRACULOUSY it made my hangover go away (although a great big bacon and sausage baguette - greasy as fuck - played a big part).

I'm getting it. That's all there is to it, I'm fucking getting it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Beaky Smoochies on 13 April, 2013, 03:06:52 AM
Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 13 April, 2013, 12:50:21 AM
Those dreadful old 1980s sci-fi shows weren't all bad: I liked the synth score on V: The Series, and the opening episode where the little girl goes off to die in a cave and the snakes all gather around her corpse while "she's changing... BUT INTO WHAT?" and a green light pulses and creeptastic music plays was a commendable attempt on the makers' part at shitting the audience up the same way that lizard baby crawling out of a lady's womb under its own power did in the miniseries, but sadly there was just too much outright shite in the series as it tried too hard to be sci-fi rather than a drama about Nazis in control of America.

Pretty much spot-on as to why V was largely a one-off deal for me, or should have been anyway; it was a social-political allegory exploring how the typical Americana community would react in varying ways in the event of a totalitarian takeover, it didn't even begin as an alien invasion drama, the villains were 100% human fascists, but NBC thought it needed more pizazz and suggested making them aliens... an inspired suggestion as it turned out, as that first scene when Marc Singer rips off the Visitor's face mask and you get a good look at what really  lurks underneath remains one of the very best scenes of modern sci-fi drama.  That first mini-series ends perfectly; all the principal characters have chosen sides in the new regime (whether it be co-operation or resistance), and although the humans have won the first skirmish the war continues, there was nothing more to say after that... it was never about defeating the alien invasion and liberating Earth, it was always a character piece about how people react to fascism and whether they accept or rebel against it!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Daveycandlish on 13 April, 2013, 07:48:12 AM
Yeah but if we had left it there you would never have had Michael Ironside turn up. And he's great.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ChickenStu on 13 April, 2013, 03:11:54 PM
Quote from: Daveycandlish on 13 April, 2013, 07:48:12 AM
Yeah but if we had left it there you would never have had Michael Ironside turn up. And he's great.

I've met him you know... in fact... a few years ago he probably would've made an awesome Judge Dredd!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 13 April, 2013, 04:42:44 PM
Caught the last 9 episodes of Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated, and for a show whose central conceit is the secular pursuit of truth at all costs, that was one batshit crazy series finale.  If you know Scooby Doo only as a cultural phenomenon - I couldn't really stand any of the other versions of the show but this one - you grasp the core idea: kids investigate seemingly supernatural goings-on and always find a logical explanation which may or may not be a bit silly, yet Mystery Inc creates an overarcing cause for it all in the form of an elder god manipulating the kids and their adversaries across time.  By the end the show is revealed not just as a prequel to the original Scooby Doo series from the 1960s, but also as a meta-origin for all the other versions of Scooby Doo, and we find this out when Harlan Ellison shows up, though not before the show crosses over with Twin Peaks and also makes it clear Velma really was gay in the original series, which she realises only when her would-be girlfriend is murdered in the penultimate episode - no, really.
It didn't always make sense and was not subtle, but it ends with what is easily one of the all-time great series finales. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: auxlen on 13 April, 2013, 05:28:42 PM
I cannot recommend highly enough Callan the colour years starring edward woodward. 70's drama at its understated best.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 13 April, 2013, 07:30:10 PM
Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 13 April, 2013, 04:42:44 PM
Caught the last 9 episodes of Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated, and for a show whose central conceit is the secular pursuit of truth at all costs, that was one batshit crazy series finale.  If you know Scooby Doo only as a cultural phenomenon - I couldn't really stand any of the other versions of the show but this one - you grasp the core idea: kids investigate seemingly supernatural goings-on and always find a logical explanation which may or may not be a bit silly, yet Mystery Inc creates an overarcing cause for it all in the form of an elder god manipulating the kids and their adversaries across time.  By the end the show is revealed not just as a prequel to the original Scooby Doo series from the 1960s, but also as a meta-origin for all the other versions of Scooby Doo, and we find this out when Harlan Ellison shows up, though not before the show crosses over with Twin Peaks and also makes it clear Velma really was gay in the original series, which she realises only when her would-be girlfriend is murdered in the penultimate episode - no, really.
It didn't always make sense and was not subtle, but it ends with what is easily one of the all-time great series finales.
OK, I need to watch this now.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Spikes on 13 April, 2013, 08:04:21 PM
Quote from: auxlen on 13 April, 2013, 05:28:42 PM
I cannot recommend highly enough Callan the colour years starring edward woodward. 70's drama at its understated best.

Ive given some thought to buying this set. From Network, isnt it?
And while were talking of the great Mr Woodward, im hoping somebody will eventually get round to releasing this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_(TV_series)) as a complete box set.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: smilersaltash on 14 April, 2013, 12:25:22 AM
Quote from: ChickenStu on 10 April, 2013, 09:19:48 PM
Never EVER watch the 1985 series of V. Just don't, OK?

I remember watching this as alternative to the 1984 Olympics, and had high viewing figures. Was groundbreaking tv at the time.
Tried to watch it when the series was repeated on Syfy recently, but found it had not stood the test of time, and was in fact shite.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Beaky Smoochies on 14 April, 2013, 03:44:56 AM
I too watched it that week of the Olympics, although I disagree that it's what you said it was, was it the sequel mini-series you were watching, V: The Final Battle, in which case I would partly agree with your assessment, it's clearly inferior to the original eponymous two-part mini-series, which remains for me one of the very best sci-fi allegorical dramas of recent years (flaws notwithstanding).  V's creator/writer/director Kenneth Johnson left the sequel mini-series early in it's development (after mapping out the basic story outline) because Warner Bros were being overly tight with the budget and wouldn't give Johnson the money to do it right... hence why he walked rather than make a compromised version! 

And I agree about Michael Ironside being a real highlight of The Final Battle, but it's still a pity that Kenneth Johnson didn't get the requisite budget to remain on his creation, it clearly would have been better than how it turned out (which is still pretty good), and more akin in style and tone to the original mini-series - darker and more somber - but that still doesn't detract from just how good a piece of sci-fi drama the two-part original was and still is.

Lastly, if you want a great new series, grab the Season One box set of Person of Interest, hands down the best thing on telly right now... and proof you don't need either bloody violence, excessive profanity, or overt sexual content to pull off a first-rate drama.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ChickenStu on 14 April, 2013, 11:07:00 AM
Guys, in 2008 Kenneth Johnson wrote a novel called V: The Second Generation which was set 20 years after the original mini-series. It ignores the events of V: The Final Battle and V: The Series and picks up on a cliffhanger from the end of the original mini-series where the resistance send a distress call into outer space to another alien race who are enemies of the visitors. In the book... help arrives.

It may be jarring to anyone who was a fan of V: The Final Battle and V: The Series cause not only are those events completely ignored (Kenneth Johnson has never even watched them), but characters who died in those (Harmony, Robert Maxwell, Martin) are walking around alive and well in the book as if nothing ever happened. No star child bollocks, no Ham Tyler, no red dust... no nothing.

If you can get past that, it's a pretty good read. It's definitely one for the fans though.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 14 April, 2013, 06:52:26 PM
Helped a friend move yesterday and noticed she had Game of Thrones season 1, so I've borrowed that to find out what everyone's so giddy about.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 14 April, 2013, 08:08:16 PM
I'm sort of moderately interested in Game Of Thrones... just not a fan of the HBO 'bewbs wiv everyfing' modus operandi. I might give it a peek when there's more of it available on DVD.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 15 April, 2013, 01:49:47 PM
Now watching The Big O season 1.
(http://moarpowah.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/thbigo.jpg)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 15 April, 2013, 01:55:55 PM
QuoteI'm sort of moderately interested in Game Of Thrones... just not a fan of the HBO 'bewbs wiv everyfing' modus operandi. I might give it a peek when there's more of it available on DVD.

Tbh I find the more lurid/titilating elements a bit annoying. Just remember that the boobs/incest/genital mutilation etc etc are there to get the attention of the average punter, and there is so much more to the show than that.

What I love is the grand scale, the world-building (it's so intricate and crafted that just one small corner of Westeros would be the entire setting in another fantasy saga), the intrigue and the shocking twists.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Charlie boy on 15 April, 2013, 05:50:14 PM
I'm one of the few other people to have never seen Game of Thrones. I used to really want to see it because I was still working in a bookstore when the first series started and one or two people I worked with were talking about it and every day you'd have loads of lads who you'd usually look at and think "They think all books are stupid" coming in and asking what order to purchase them in. The reason why I sort of lost interest in seeing it (I'm still a little curious about it but it's so far in now and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything by not watching it, having never seen it) is down to noticing it was being shown on Freeview's PickTV when it was 3 or 4 episodes in to the first series so I felt I'd somewhat missed that boat.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 15 April, 2013, 06:28:05 PM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 15 April, 2013, 01:49:47 PM
Now watching The Big O season 1.

When you get to the end of season 1, don't watch season 2.  That way you can always believe it might be good, rather than knowing for a certainty that it was horseshit.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 15 April, 2013, 08:09:20 PM
Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 15 April, 2013, 06:28:05 PM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 15 April, 2013, 01:49:47 PM
Now watching The Big O season 1.

When you get to the end of season 1, don't watch season 2.  That way you can always believe it might be good, rather than knowing for a certainty that it was horseshit.
Yeah, I hear it's a sequel best left alone. Just watched the 4th episode and already this might be a strong contender for best TV series i've watched in a good while. Really encapsulates everything I loved about old school animation before everything was either trying to be Naruto or Spongebob dependent on which side of the other pond you are on.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 15 April, 2013, 08:22:37 PM
Quote from: radiator on 15 April, 2013, 01:55:55 PM

Tbh I find the more lurid/titilating elements a bit annoying. Just remember that the boobs/incest/genital mutilation etc etc are there to get the attention of the average punter, and there is so much more to the show than that.

Colour me average then because I love those.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 15 April, 2013, 08:26:20 PM
The Big O is pure class, and I'll not countenance any talk of season 2 being crap. Just because it isn't.

[/internet dogma.]

Seriously - I LOVE The Big O! It's jam packed with style and character, and it's a helluva lot of fun.

DO NOT skip season 2. You may find it very difficult to get hold of if you don't already have it, is the only drawback. I can appreciate that not everybody likes the way it continues (or, indeed, concludes) but I was thoroughly entertained all the way.

If only there were more TV shows that were this much fun.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 15 April, 2013, 11:26:42 PM
Season 2 is superfluous (especially if you've seen [spoiler]the Truman Show and/or The Matrix[/spoiler]), needlessly convoluted, and only exists not because the makers thought it was necessary to the story (they cut the original 26 episode story down to 13 after the show's poor reception in Japan), but because American tv bods wanted more episodes after the show's surprise success in the west.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 16 April, 2013, 05:49:50 PM
Talking about classic anime and current TV box set addictions, here's an upcoming release that fits into both categories nicely indeed. And I just pre-ordered it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 16 April, 2013, 09:57:57 PM
Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 15 April, 2013, 11:26:42 PM
Season 2 is superfluous (especially if you've seen [spoiler]the Truman Show and/or The Matrix[/spoiler]), needlessly convoluted, [snip]

I disagree with you on all counts there. Principally because if a first time viewer were to leave off at season 1 episode 13, it really doesn't offer a satisfying ending. Season 2 builds ta conclusion, whatever you might think of it. Personally, I love it. But, y'know, each to their own.


As for Cowboy Bebop - what a great show! I'm suddenly reminded that I need to go back and re-watch it. Really pleased to see this getting another release.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 16 April, 2013, 11:11:04 PM
Quote from: HdE on 16 April, 2013, 09:57:57 PMI disagree with you on all counts there. Principally because if a first time viewer were to leave off at season 1 episode 13, it really doesn't offer a satisfying ending.

Depends how much you value closure over consistency.  Not much point in having a definite ending if it's an ending to a different show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: smilersaltash on 16 April, 2013, 11:35:35 PM
I'm still waiting for Twin Peaks to be properly finished off.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 16 April, 2013, 11:42:12 PM
Wasn't there a rumour recently that Twin Peaks is returning?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: smilersaltash on 16 April, 2013, 11:57:44 PM
I heard that rumour too, but don't know if it was anything more than that.

I am going to borrow Game of Thrones Season 1 tomorrow as my interest has been piqued. General concensus in work was that it is like a soft porn film, so thought I would take the plunge.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 17 April, 2013, 12:49:59 AM
Quote from: radiator on 16 April, 2013, 11:42:12 PM
Wasn't there a rumour recently that Twin Peaks is returning?

You missed it - the Red Room appeared in and was a major plot element in the final story arc of Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated.  There was an entire episode set within it, but the short version of the story is that the events of the Mystery Incorporated series are wiped from time itself and become a prequel to the original 1960s Scooby Doo series, every other Scooby Doo continuity, other Hanna Barbera cartoon shows such as Blue Falcon and Moby Dick, and Twin Peaks.

(http://24.media.tumblr.com/8f190580b9487414ddd0dfa52035ff94/tumblr_mkfd28bIAP1qgn31to1_500.png)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JOE SOAP on 17 April, 2013, 01:35:39 AM
Quote from: radiator on 16 April, 2013, 11:42:12 PM
Wasn't there a rumour recently that Twin Peaks is returning?


According to Jennifer Lynch and Mark Frost it was never a 'thing'.


Story-wise, next year will mark the significant '25 years' since Cooper first entered The Black Lodge.


(http://assets1.lookatme.ru/assets/community_image-image/f7/3a/3383/community_image-image.35470a71-3e27-4f4a-8dfc-073bbf7636b0.jpg)

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ChickenStu on 17 April, 2013, 10:40:37 AM
Yep. I could handle some new Twin Peaks!  :)

Do you know, I was 12 when I first watched that show and I got REALLY into it. Weird for a kid that age innit?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 17 April, 2013, 10:42:47 AM
You know, there are many great show's I've watched. But Twin Peaks isn't one of them. I should probably fix that.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 17 April, 2013, 11:54:17 AM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 17 April, 2013, 10:42:47 AM
You know, there are many great show's I've watched. But Twin Peaks isn't one of them.

I agree, but I DID watch it. Pretentious bunch of pants then, pretentious bunch of pants now.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Charlie boy on 17 April, 2013, 12:58:38 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 17 April, 2013, 11:54:17 AM
I agree, but I DID watch it. Pretentious bunch of pants then, pretentious bunch of pants now.
We share a birthday Mr Dare and I tend to agree with most of your posts, but that is like a slap in my face!
As for Twin Peaks 3, it'll never happen. Lynch says he ended it the way he did believing he would be given a 3rd run on demand and he would be able to tie everything up and finish it properly. When that didn't happen, he was well pissed. When his Mulholland Drive series fell apart, he swore never to work on a TV show again. When Frost said he would do Twin Peaks series 3, Lynch complained openly about it and put Frost off in doing so. Apparently, he did attend a meeting with TV folk recently to discuss Twin Peaks series 3- only to say they had left it far too long and it won't happen.
In the book Lynch on Lynch, he says [spoiler]an entry was found in Laura's journal about Cooper being in the Black Lodge and they got him out of there; it's just Lynch never filmed it happening[/spoiler].
Don't forget there were rumours years back of an X Files/Twin Peaks crossover (would Duchovny be Mulder or Denise in that?) and Lynch said it was insulting to suggest Mulder and Scully could sort everything that happened there in a small number of episodes. Lynch still gets annoyed when its suggested shows like X Files and Lost were made possible thanks to Twin Peaks. It looks to be something of an illegitimate father to much of the TV that followed.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: sheldipez on 17 April, 2013, 01:14:10 PM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 17 April, 2013, 10:42:47 AM
You know, there are many great show's I've watched. But Twin Peaks isn't one of them. I should probably fix that.

I watched the Pilot and didn't watch any more, I was expecting more of the weird I've heard about but it just came across as an extended soap-drama movie. Maybe it takes a few episodes for the good stuff to kick in but the pilot was enough. Generally if you don't hook me with the pilot you've lost me.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 17 April, 2013, 04:51:34 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 17 April, 2013, 11:54:17 AM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 17 April, 2013, 10:42:47 AM
You know, there are many great show's I've watched. But Twin Peaks isn't one of them.

I agree, but I DID watch it. Pretentious bunch of pants then, pretentious bunch of pants now.
Dude, my favourite films of all time are Videodrome, Forbidden Zone, The Big Lebowski, and Zardoz. I live off pretention. :lol:
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 18 April, 2013, 09:59:04 PM
Brimstone, or as I like to call it: Awkward Rapey Satanic Detective Show
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 18 April, 2013, 10:07:54 PM
Quote from: El Pops on 18 April, 2013, 09:59:04 PM
Brimstone, or as I like to call it: Awkward Rapey Satanic Detective Show

They remade this several years later and renamed it Raper, only someone made a typo.  Then they took out the rapes, so in the end it worked out okay.

Brian Glover is always watchable, though, and apparantly a top bloke in real life.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 18 April, 2013, 10:23:15 PM
Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 18 April, 2013, 10:07:54 PM
Brian Glover is always watchable, though, and apparantly a top bloke in real life.

I think you mean 'John', Pro. I've never seen such slack wok in my life, Casper (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Glover).

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 19 April, 2013, 12:19:44 AM
I did, actually - but Brian Glover is also always watchable.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 21 April, 2013, 10:39:41 PM
Finished The Big O. Season 2 an' all. Over all, a masterclass in animation and a truely mind blowing good series. The conclusion to season 2 was conffusing yes, but only in the sense I felt it was going somewhere. Although I very much doub't it's currently on the cards a third (and final) season would be more than welcome.

Gonna start watching Gunsmith Cats next. Or maybe Baccano. I can't deciede.
(http://tesam.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/gunsmith-cats.jpg)(http://blog.pucp.edu.pe/media/497/20070617-bacanno0703.jpg)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 22 April, 2013, 10:15:44 AM
I know Walking Dead has its own thread, but that seems to be focused on Season 3 and so I'm avoiding that to avoid spoilers as I've currently finally got around to watching season 2 thanks to my LoveFilm list. Last night I watched episode 7 and the big barn opening. Have to say I'm really enjoying it and the ending to that episode, though on one level quite poorly written so as to rather labour the point it was making about the group and its shifting dynamics, has certainly left me hankering for more.

As I recall, possibly incorrectly, Season 2 came in for a hard time? Is that right? Its far from perfect, but to date its been pretty good. At times out and out scary (the under the cars bit in particular) and seems to be handling the soap opera, human dilemma stuff really well. Each week seems to set up some new conflict or other, but no plot line seems to be left hanging for too long to outstay its welcome. In each episode since they've arrived at the farm there does seem to be one or two too many hand wringing, meaningful conversations on the poach, or the like, but never so much as it gets dull.

I think they handle the balance with the human transformation the post apocalypse world throws up and reminding us its also a zombie horror show, which sometimes will involve putting various tools and weapons through the heads of our living dead hosts in suitably gory fashion.

The bits of the comic I've read (and I've tried a couple of times) have left me cold (Kirkman really isn't such a great writer is he) but the telly show strikes me as much more entertaining and generally better put together.

Out of interest, if beefs with this season do exist, what were they?

On another note (and going back to the beginning of this thread, my wife has had Breaking Bad recommended to her and so it looks like we'll be watching that soon (she's marked it as a priority watch on our list), which I'm looking forward to after hearing such good thing about it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: michael kennedy on 22 April, 2013, 10:52:29 AM
it was was double the episodes of the first season and also a somewhat slowburner but it pays off in the end.



Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 03 May, 2013, 09:36:21 PM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 21 April, 2013, 10:39:41 PM
Finished The Big O. Season 2 an' all. Over all, a masterclass in animation and a truely mind blowing good series. The conclusion to season 2 was conffusing yes, but only in the sense I felt it was going somewhere. Although I very much doub't it's currently on the cards a third (and final) season would be more than welcome.

Alas, a third season will never happen. Too bad, I say.

But now that you've seen the whole shebang, I'd say it's worth going back for a rewatch at some point. That ending is kind of mind boggling in terms of how much it throws at you, literally tying everything up within the last minute or so of the entore series. However, if you're the sort fo viewer who's inclined to go back and puzzle it out, all becomes clear.

Love that show!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 04 May, 2013, 12:10:00 AM
With you on The Walking Dead. I never got the crit of season 2 and am eagerly awaiting 3 when it gets on Channel 5.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 04 May, 2013, 06:43:13 AM
Just finished the second season and it was fun all the way through. The only problem I had with it and I felt that this was particularly the case in the second half, was the way each episode seemed to MAKE. ITS. POINT. a little to... well pointedly. Its not a subtle show and each episode seemed to be about something and rather labour that point. Almost like a set of vignettes exploring what would happen in the zombie apocalypse to the survivors. which just happened to have central characters and plot moving things forward. This was especially the case in the '12 Angry Men' (not the actual title) what do do with Randall episode. What could have been a real series highlight, turned into a rather one toned piece. This was somewhat underlined by Dale's fate, as if the only thing had to be dealt with and then the everything to do with it mopped up and put away.

The last episode also seemed to function as merely to set up the next series and again unsubtly underscore a new dynamic for the group, that will function for that series. Kinda like the impression I've always had of the bits of the comic I read. Mind love the way they dealt with the Zombies conveniently turning up on mass to move the plot on from time to time. That was a very nice touch.

Still, for all that apparent griping it was always a compelling and exciting story and zombies have never looked so scary and most the characters are really well realised as well.

Really looking forward to the next season.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: shaolin_monkey on 06 May, 2013, 02:19:47 AM
So I just somehow watched all 63 episodes of Arrested Development.  After my initial tirade I found myself getting sucked into it. By the last episode I was pretty sad it had come to an end. Some of it really made me laugh out loud. I loved the [spoiler]Yellow Submarine[/spoiler] pisstake, and how Gobs [spoiler]illusions backfired all the time[/spoiler]. Also, the various [spoiler] cameos were great, particularly Ben Stiller's rival magician[/spoiler].

So now I need to find another box set to get obsessed with.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 06 May, 2013, 09:42:15 AM
If you haven't seen it already, try Community.

It takes a while to find its voice, but when it shifts into gear it becomes the greatest, most ambitious and defiantly weird sitcom since Arrested Development.

Also Freaks and Geeks is essential viewing if you haven't seen that.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 11 May, 2013, 08:06:05 PM
Just watch this. Really, it's stonking good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMXgHfHxKVM
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 12 May, 2013, 12:12:37 PM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 11 May, 2013, 08:06:05 PM
Just watch this. Really, it's stonking good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMXgHfHxKVM

Grud help me, but apparently I just cannot get into Anime.  I tried the first episode of this, and from the title sequence setting my teeth on edge to the awful character designs and ludicrously overwrought climax, I hated it.  Architectural backgrounds are nice, but you couldn't force me to watch another episode. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 12 May, 2013, 12:31:27 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 12 May, 2013, 12:12:37 PM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 11 May, 2013, 08:06:05 PM
Just watch this. Really, it's stonking good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMXgHfHxKVM

Grud help me, but apparently I just cannot get into Anime.  I tried the first episode of this, and from the title sequence setting my teeth on edge to the awful character designs and ludicrously overwrought climax, I hated it.  Architectural backgrounds are nice, but you couldn't force me to watch another episode.
Anime is very much a median I find is marmite to say the least. Chances are if you like one (Cowboy Bebop not withstanding as it's universaly loved) you'll find a number of others to your taste. Like you I see a number of people who just dislike the general asthetic feel to it. At time's even I dislike the large eye's and other issues, but Attack on Titan is far from the worst offender (i'm looking at you One Piece!), but look to stuff like Cowboy Bebop, Baccano, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Big O for some more western like animated style's, these are the one's generaly most well recieved in the west.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 12 May, 2013, 12:40:57 PM
Alright world, I'm going to makeyou  a deal:  I will watch Cowboy Bebop.  And if I don't like I will stop trying to watch Anime, and accept that it's not for me, and we'll say no more about it. 

Everyone's been nagging me about Cowboy Bebop for so long now that it seems like a suitable test.
Title: Re: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: sheldipez on 12 May, 2013, 01:26:09 PM
I tend to be of the opinion that ghost in the Shell stand alone complex is anime for people that don't like anime. Great Sci fi show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 12 May, 2013, 02:31:15 PM
The thing to remember about anime is that it's a huge myth that it has the respect of live action or "serious" drama in its native Japan when it's at best seen as a harmless distraction, but otherwise is for kids and nerds no matter what us western fans claim otherwise.  While trying to introduce others to its charms, it's worth remembering that this task is no different than trying to get a regular joe into Babylon 5 or Star Trek.

Also toys: the product placement in anime is often shameless and jarring even for its original audience, but for those in the west not realising they're watching a scene whose only purpose is to promote an action figure and which serves no narrative purpose, I imagine it is utterly baffling.

If I was trying to get non-nerds into anime, I'd start with Samurai Champloo (anachronistic mix of hip-hop soundtrack, over-the-top characters and period setting), Samurai 7 (Seven Samurai relocated to an abandoned mining asteroid in the far future that has regressed to fuedalism), or aforementioned Cowboy Bebop, but I'd avoid the pretentious Evengelion like the plague, if only because the constant re-releases make it abundantly clear that two decades after it finished the damn thing is still a work in progress.  If you like to watch your 'toons with little 'uns, I'd say the original Mobile Suit Gundam is a good bet, as it mixes a little bit of everything in there, with influences from Lucas to Heinlein, or Sherlock Hound, which wasn't really for me but went down a storm with my younger relatives.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 12 May, 2013, 11:10:54 PM
Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 12 May, 2013, 02:31:15 PMIf you like to watch your 'toons with little 'uns, I'd say the original Mobile Suit Gundam is a good bet...

Isn't there a risk it might Cyberleader2000ify them?  Although admittedly my enforced viewings of ST:TOS hasn't James. T. Beared them (yet).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: James Stacey on 13 May, 2013, 06:53:25 AM
Quote from: radiator on 06 May, 2013, 09:42:15 AM
If you haven't seen it already, try Community.

It takes a while to find its voice, but when it shifts into gear it becomes the greatest, most ambitious and defiantly weird sitcom since Arrested Development.

Everybody should take Radiators advice. He is wise.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 13 May, 2013, 01:30:26 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 12 May, 2013, 11:10:54 PMIsn't there a risk it might Cyberleader2000ify them?

The original MSG is actually the most straightforward of all the giant robot 'toons I've seen, and being made before videogame logic started seeping into anime storytelling means that even its daftest conceits like the nebulous "Newtype" plot arc - where it's suggested humanity's move into space has triggered some sort of evolutionary jump in the species - just comes off as a slight riff on The Force in the background of episodes.  It is very much a show that - if characters weren't killed off in the latter portion of the series - would have been on kids' telly when we were younger and remembered fondly, and I can't see it damaging younger viewers or giving them a hankering for giant robots and/or anime.  The robot stuff is really just functional animation at best, and the old-fashioned storytelling means it doesn't really have any appeal to fans of illogical and incestuous modern anime as anything other than the starting point of later dreadful series like G Gundam or Gundam Seed: Destiny.
So no, between the slower pace, logical story progression/setup and emphasis on character over mecha porn, I don't think it could Cyberleader2000ify your nippers, which is good because he's a treasure and making more would only dilute the charm.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 13 May, 2013, 01:50:08 PM
Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 13 May, 2013, 01:30:26 PMI don't think it could Cyberleader2000ify your nippers, which is good because he's a treasure and making more would only dilute the charm.

And cause rampant inflation on eBay.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 13 May, 2013, 02:22:45 PM
Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 13 May, 2013, 01:30:26 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 12 May, 2013, 11:10:54 PMIsn't there a risk it might Cyberleader2000ify them?

The original MSG is actually the most straightforward of all the giant robot 'toons I've seen, and being made before videogame logic started seeping into anime storytelling means that even its daftest conceits like the nebulous "Newtype" plot arc - where it's suggested humanity's move into space has triggered some sort of evolutionary jump in the species - just comes off as a slight riff on The Force in the background of episodes.  It is very much a show that - if characters weren't killed off in the latter portion of the series - would have been on kids' telly when we were younger and remembered fondly, and I can't see it damaging younger viewers or giving them a hankering for giant robots and/or anime.  The robot stuff is really just functional animation at best, and the old-fashioned storytelling means it doesn't really have any appeal to fans of illogical and incestuous modern anime as anything other than the starting point of later dreadful series like G Gundam or Gundam Seed: Destiny.
So no, between the slower pace, logical story progression/setup and emphasis on character over mecha porn, I don't think it could Cyberleader2000ify your nippers, which is good because he's a treasure and making more would only dilute the charm.
No mention of Gundam Wing or Endless Waltz? As far as I'm concerned they are the best material turned out by the metaseries. Saying that I can't fault your logic that MSG is the most "straightforward" of them all.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 13 May, 2013, 04:39:04 PM
For me, Gundam Wing wandered off the reservation towards the end with arbitrary double-crosses, random plot twists and a bad case of "I am not going to kill you for the moment" that undermined any dramatic tension and reduced characters like Wufei and Trowa to cyphers.  Before that it just wasn't very well structured and relied entirely on its audience's familiarity with anime tropes rather than actual storytelling - a problem that later carried over into the visually-impressive but ultimately hollow 00.
Mobile Suit Gundam, Victory and War In The Pocket are the best the series have to offer, but I have a soft spot for the steampunk stylings of Turn-A, and the full-on kiddie-adventuring of Gundam X.  If you have the self control to watch only the first six episodes of Destiny and then never watch any more, you'll probably think that's pretty good, too.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 13 May, 2013, 07:02:05 PM
Yeah, the original Gundam show is pretty straightforward and inoffensive. I've never been able to get along with Wing, though.

And, to Tordelback, I say this:

DEFINITELY give Cowboy Bebop a look. It's one of the more accessible shows out there, features some great action scenes, and packs a wallop in the finale.

Whoever suggested Samurai Seven is also on the right track. That's an awesome show - and also largely devoid of the big-eyed character designs that switch off most anti-anime types.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ChickenStu on 24 May, 2013, 02:38:19 PM
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman - Season One

I'm actually really digging this!  :) Just ordered the second season from Amazon!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ThryllSeekyr on 24 May, 2013, 07:06:58 PM
I just received the complete Monkey box set dvds in the mail after ordering them Ebay and have started watching them.

Born from a egg on a mountain top....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2huJqFsFDE

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 24 May, 2013, 08:00:29 PM
Aw, maaaan... I'm quite jealous now! Monkey is pure, unadulterated fun!

I sometimes think we could use more shows like that on TV. Everything is so overwrought and serious these days.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 25 May, 2013, 09:02:23 AM
Quote from: ChickenStu on 24 May, 2013, 02:38:19 PM
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman - Season One

I'm actually really digging this!  :) Just ordered the second season from Amazon!

I'll confess to not having seen it since it was on the Beeb, but it was pretty much perfect viewing for a Saturday tea-time.

Cheers

Jim
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 25 May, 2013, 03:05:01 PM
Quote from: ThryllSeekyr on 24 May, 2013, 07:06:58 PM
I just received the complete Monkey box set dvds in the mail after ordering them Ebay and have started watching them.

Born from a egg on a mountain top....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2huJqFsFDE

Monkey is pure class, I used to watch it avidly when it was first on telly in 1979.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 25 May, 2013, 03:51:04 PM
Quote from: ChickenStu on 24 May, 2013, 02:38:19 PM
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman - Season One

I'm actually really digging this!  :) Just ordered the second season from Amazon!

THE HAIR!  THE CLOTHES!  FAX MACHINES!  COMPUTER HACKING EPISODES!
But it's brilliant to see Superman being played as Superman instead of a moping teenager or a closeted gay man, Dean Cain largely playing the role as a stuffy older brother rather than as everyone's dad.  It's interesting to see the show's take that Superman is just a role played by Clark Kent rather than the other way around, and Lex Luthor as the dark side of the American dream is a fantastic foil that harks back to the idea of Superman as a social crusader later revived by Grant Morrison in the comics to less interesting effect.  Owes a heck of a lot to the Superboy tv show, all the same.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ChickenStu on 25 May, 2013, 09:16:25 PM
Dean Cain was pretty good. Interesting tidbit: Dean Cain is actually one quarter Japanese (his birth name was Dean Tanaka). His ethnic heritage explains his exotic features. It was a big factor in him getting cast as Superman because he didn't look like a typical, square jawed American. Producers thought his unusual, yet striking visage made him more believable as an alien.

So there's your bit of useless trivia for today!  :D
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 25 May, 2013, 10:05:49 PM
I already knew that and demand a different bit of trivia.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 26 May, 2013, 02:06:24 AM
Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 25 May, 2013, 10:05:49 PM
I already knew that and demand a different bit of trivia.

I got yer back, Bear.

Weezie Simonson, Jon Bogdanov, Mike Carlin and some other comics guys (but not friend-of-the-forum and major influence on the series John Byrne) all have non-speaking roles in one 1st Season episode. 

The Superboy rights situation meant Smallville characters like Lana Lang appeared under different names in the earlier seasons, but when rights reverted later in the run they were replaced by their 'proper' comics versions.

And I only just got the pun in the title. 

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 26 May, 2013, 11:22:48 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 26 May, 2013, 02:06:24 AM
And I only just got the pun in the title.

:-*
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 26 May, 2013, 11:31:48 AM
Lois & Clark = Lewis & Clark

I know, I'm a moron.  I even had a (horrible) job doing the maps for a Lewis & Clark Expedition project once.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 26 May, 2013, 11:33:34 AM
Ah - I've just had to Google 'Lewis & Clark', so I would never have got that!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ChickenStu on 26 May, 2013, 02:57:14 PM
Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 25 May, 2013, 10:05:49 PM
I already knew that and demand a different bit of trivia.

OK. I got this for ya: The show was the first live action incarnation of the character that was based on John Byrne's Superman: The Man Of Steel post crisis 1986 comic book reboot. This is why Lex Luthor was a multi billionaire businessman, and why Clark Kent's human Dad Jonathan Kent was still alive.

Those things confused the shit out of older viewers who weren't aware it had been restarted in 86.

It was also the first time we saw the characters Cat Grant and Metallo on screen in live action Superman.  :geek:
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 27 May, 2013, 05:08:55 PM
Lois & Clark aired during my pubescent years, so my only lasting memory of it was that I was always very happy with the amount of eye candy on view from main stars Teri Hatcher & Tracey Scoggins, to guest stars like Jessica Collins, Denise Richards, and even MILFs (now GILFs) like Racquel Welch & Michelle Philipps.

I'd say the casting director enjoyed his tenure on that show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Sideshow Bob on 27 May, 2013, 10:32:12 PM
I remember watching that myself,  and thoroughly 'enjoying' it...

And I would say that most lads everywhere, enjoyed that particular Casting Directors' tenure on the show.................Mmnnnn ......Teri Hatcher.....Wow....
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 27 May, 2013, 10:40:13 PM
We've just watched the first two eps of the Netflix Arrested Development, and its doing absolutely nothing for me.

Dense and head-spinningly fast-paced, with hardly a joke in sight. Oh dear.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Buttonman on 27 May, 2013, 11:02:46 PM
I'm enjoying the Arrested Development reboot! - seen 9 of 15 episodes today and I'd say it was up to standard - which is a good thing!

Lots of it is self reverential with 'I blued myself', 'I made a huge mistake' and 'Mister F' all geting an airing but there is still some development with Ron Howard getting a bigger role as is Isla Fisher - yum yum!

I appreciate it's not all laugh out loud funny but the Tobias and Gob episodes were near classics - and that's only on the first viewing.

Have you seen the show before Radiator? You're always going to get hop ons, as they say.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 27 May, 2013, 11:23:49 PM
Ill play along and answer your question even though it seems deliberately constructed to let you use your 'hop ons' quote. Yes, big fan - especially seasons 1&2 - 3 was a little patchy, but at least it had, y'know, jokes in it.

I'll watch another episode or two, but if it doesn't drastically improve - and I very much suspect it won't - i'll be shelving it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 28 May, 2013, 02:35:32 PM
Watched the first two episodes of Arrested Development last evening and while it's not bad, it's not as funny as the original series so far. I'll watch a few more today and see how they go.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pauljholden on 28 May, 2013, 02:53:52 PM
Just finished watching the entire new series of Arrested Development. Felt slow to start, like it was a little rusty, but by the end of it it's like you've watched Doc Manhattan's clock inspired Martian building being formed around you - it's kind of amazing.

I can see why they didn't want reviewers to judge it on the first few episodes, much of the gags are set up but don't play off for as many as 10 episodes later (and there's loads which is upended and looped back and changes entirely by the end of the entire run)

I read somewhere that the writer was pitching this as a series AND a movie - rather than a series with the hope for a movie. The last episode feels like the lead in to a whodunnit movie, the clues - I'm sure - are littered around the entire series.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: shaolin_monkey on 28 May, 2013, 04:08:29 PM
I watched maybe 6-7 episodes of AD last night, and my overall feeling was they were relying too much on the farcical nature of the interweaving story threads for the comedy, rather than the witty interchanges of yore.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 28 May, 2013, 04:13:37 PM
Currently watching The Two Ronnies series 2. Love me some Ronnies. Loving Done to Death. :lol:
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 28 June, 2013, 12:31:47 AM
Couldn't really call it an addiction, but I've finally gotten around to watching the TV adaptation of Alan Garner's The Owl Service, which I bought a mere four years ago (http://forums.2000adonline.com/index.php?topic=24015.0).

It's all over the place really. The plummy, staginess of it is to be expected given its vintage but there are bigger problems with the pacing. Simultaneously stretching some things out too long and repetitively while leaving other plot strands underplayed to such a degree as to be incomprehensible until the voiceover intro of the next episode. The book is certainly enigmatic but at least explains enough of the circumstance to leave you baffled by what you're told rather than what you're not. Most frustratingly, every so often, it manages to hit something exactly right: an image, an effectively freaky sequence or just a scene that really allows the characters to express themselves or their relationships.

Shamefully, I fear it's Gillian Hills as Alison that keeps me watching. She's like a sixties Karen Gillan with better hair. Don't worry though, I checked and she was a good bit older than her character at the time.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JOE SOAP on 28 June, 2013, 12:36:41 AM


Quote from: The Cosh on 28 June, 2013, 12:31:47 AM
Couldn't really call it an addiction, but I've finally gotten around to watching the TV adaptation of Alan Garner's The Owl Service


They knew how to do title-sequences back then: The Owl Service (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyst2klpy08&list=PLA1B785C1382C45F1)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 28 June, 2013, 03:21:06 PM
LOONEY TUNES!

Roadrunner (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWTRPThy7tk) is the greatest cartoon ever made. I'll brook no arguments on that.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ThryllSeekyr on 28 June, 2013, 05:06:53 PM
About a month ago, I got the full series one of  Kindred the Embraced (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kindred:_The_Embraced). It's only on two DVD discs, but it's the full series. It's about modern day Vampires and their masquerade. Described as a cross between the God-Father & Melrose Place.

Based on the table-top Role-Playing-Game called  Vampire the Masquerade (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire:_The_Masquerade) and  Vampire the Masquerade : Bloodlines. Unfortunitely, the television series is only pale imitation of what game is.

I started watching this when I got them and fell asleep before the first DVD disc was finished.

I will try again later.

I still have the rest of the Monkey complete boxed set to watch and now I have the Red Dwarf complete boxed set. As well, Red Dwarf: Back to Earth and Red Dwarf: Series X.

Choices, choices. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire:_The_Masquerade_%E2%80%93_BloodlinesThe)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 08 August, 2013, 08:52:35 PM
We're watching Freaks and Geeks again. What kind of colossal, short-sighted, miserable arsehole do you have to be to cancel a show as nigh-on perfect as F&G? It's just astoundingly good, and every single episode stands up to repeated viewings.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JOE SOAP on 08 August, 2013, 09:20:52 PM
Quote from: radiator on 08 August, 2013, 08:52:35 PM
We're watching Freaks and Geeks again. What kind of colossal, short-sighted, miserable arsehole do you have to be to cancel a show as nigh-on perfect as F&G? It's just astoundingly good, and every single episode stands up to repeated viewings.


I know, it's mad. They broadcast the whole series in Ireland the same time NBC didn't bother.  At least we did something right. Maybe they should've given us Firefly. The follow-up, Undeclared, isn't too bad either.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Enigmatic Dr X on 08 August, 2013, 11:31:28 PM
Oh so slowly working through Breaking Bad. Just finished Series 2, episode 10. The one where we meet Gus.

I know, I know, I'm behind.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richmond Clements on 09 August, 2013, 07:57:42 AM
Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 08 August, 2013, 11:31:28 PM
Oh so slowly working through Breaking Bad. Just finished Series 2, episode 10. The one where we meet Gus.

I know, I know, I'm behind.

I've just finished season 3. It's bloody well great.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 09 August, 2013, 12:09:06 PM
Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 08 August, 2013, 11:31:28 PM
Oh so slowly working through Breaking Bad. Just finished Series 2, episode 10. The one where we meet Gus.

I know, I know, I'm behind.

Not a bit of it in the Taylor house hold we're still waiting on Episode 7 series 1!

Loving it so far.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Spikes on 10 August, 2013, 10:23:18 PM
Finished watching the complete Survivors (http://www.survivorstvseries.com/index2.htm) last night.
Thats been three boxsets with four disc's apiece, and its all made for a great bit of viewing the last couple of months - highly recommended.

(Been after the boxsets (http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/132420/Survivors-Complete-Series-1-Box-Set/Product.html?searchstring=survivor+series&searchsource=0&searchtype=r2alldvd&urlrefer=search&strefer=r2alldvd&searchfilters=s%7bsurvivor+series%7d%2bc%7b57%7d%2b), for an age - these particular sets was pricey upon release - over ten years ago, and remained that way.
But managed to snag 'em recently as bargains).

Ive never seen the full run of episodes, so a lot was fresh.
But i'd also caught many before, either on those old BBC video's, online, and showing my age here - from when they was originally broadcast.

Generally, all three seasons are pretty darn good. The third series maybe dips slightly (and with civilisation starting to become re-established, the original concept of the series is effectively over), but still standout episodes abound.
If you can find 'em cheap enough, then treat yourself - a slightly newer, and cheaper BBC boxset is available, if your so inclined.


Now to dust off my other bargain purchase, thats been patiently waiting in the wings....

(http://i.imgur.com/C9LjHFL.jpg)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Greg M. on 10 August, 2013, 10:38:38 PM
'Survivors' is absolutely brilliant - whilst the first series is probably the most lauded, particularly when it comes to episodes like 'Law and Order', 2 and 3 also have some real highlights. Talfryn Thomas as Tom Price in series 1 is superb - about as far a cry from 'Dad's Army's Cheesman as you could get - though you almost wish [spoiler]they'd kept him alive longer after his terrible deed. "He did worse things" indeed.[/spoiler] Part of my abiding fondness for the series comes from the fact that I am named (in real life) after one of the principle characters, Ian McCulloch's delightfully taciturn Greg Preston. Apprently McCulloch had plans in place for a fourth series [spoiler](not featuring Preston, for obvious reasons)[/spoiler], though they never manifested.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: shaolin_monkey on 21 August, 2013, 10:12:50 AM
Oh god, Battlestar Galactica is SOOOOO GOOOOOD.  It's my new crack cocaine of TV.  I can't believe I didn't watch this first time around.  Thank goodness for Netflix - I have all 76 episodes to hand including the mini-series that kicks it all off.

I've been watching it for about a week, and I'm getting through a minimum of 2 episodes a night. 

The most disconcerting thing for me is thinking 'damn, Starbuck is hot!', when previously Starbuck was a male lead played by Dirk Benedict.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 21 August, 2013, 10:33:42 AM
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 21 August, 2013, 10:12:50 AM
Oh god, Battlestar Galactica is SOOOOO GOOOOOD.  It's my new crack cocaine of TV.  I can't believe I didn't watch this first time around.  Thank goodness for Netflix - I have all 76 episodes to hand including the mini-series that kicks it all off.

Just be aware that there are some lows to go with those highs Shaolin, but overall its a fine bit of genre TV.

Season 3's Exodus Part 2 is still probably one of my favorite hours of television. Ever.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 21 August, 2013, 10:36:05 AM

Glad you enjoy Battlestar Galactica, hope you like Mr Tigh? He get better in later seasons...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ChickenStu on 21 August, 2013, 08:16:19 PM
Recently re-watched all five seasons of Quantum Leap. First three seasons are ace. Season four had some nice moments but you could see it was running out of steam. Sadly, season five completely jumped the shark/nuked the fridge/whatever it is they say these days, and overall was a steaming pile. And that very last episode... ugh.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: sheldipez on 21 August, 2013, 08:19:56 PM
Quote from: ChickenStu on 21 August, 2013, 08:16:19 PM
And that very last episode... ugh.

I liked it!  :o I thought it was a fitting end for the show (not for Dr. Beckett!) :-X

I would have watched any of the rumoured spin-offs they were developing -the one where it was his daughter picking up his work then jumping after him sounded well worth a few hours of anyone's time.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 22 August, 2013, 12:18:18 PM
I was watching Enterprise with Tiny Tips last night and explaining to him how much good will Scott Bakula carried through to his role as Archer as a result of those first 3 seasons of Quantum Leap.

And while not strictly "box set" (it's being shown nightly on Pick TV, we are really enjoying Star Trek: Enterprise.  I'd only ever seen the start of Season 1, the second half of Season 3 and Season 4 before. (and really liked the later episodes - mostly). 

Currently I think we are just into Season 2 and really enjoying it. They don't do much with some of the characters (Hoshi and Travis) but Archer get's by on Bakula's likeability, Trip is a classic of home-spun good ole boy wisdom, Reed the stuffy Brit is good for a laugh, Doctor Phlox could have his own show but the stand out for me is T'Pol - easy on the eye plus a study in exemplary eyebrow acting and innuendo played completely straight. 

It works best when it breaks format ("A night in sickbay" and "The catwalk" both being enjoyable bottle (almost) shows. This probably a good sign that the Star Trek "boldy going" format was actually dead long before this show was greenlit. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 22 August, 2013, 01:20:02 PM
Say what you like about that show, but at least the Borg were an actual menace again and not just emo robots like in Voyager.
For me, Enterprise was at its best in season three when it went for broke and stopped pretending it wasn't Galaxy Quest, though season 4 had a few great moments, like the evil universe episodes, and that episode where the captain had a fistfight with Robocop inside a city that is also a UFO that is also a death ray that is also on Mars, which is sort of undercut as a fun concept when the very next thing that happens is a dead baby, but still - full marks for trying.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 22 August, 2013, 02:18:18 PM
Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 22 August, 2013, 01:20:02 PM
like the evil universe episodes

They were great.
The change to the title sequence was inspired.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 22 August, 2013, 02:46:01 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 22 August, 2013, 02:18:18 PMThe change to the title sequence was inspired by an alternate-reality episode of Buffy that did the same thing several years earlier.

FTFY.

As I say, Enterprise was at its best when it stopped pretending it was reinventing the wheel and got over itself - exemplified by the time halfway through season three when someone on the writing staff said "fuck yeah, I'm gonna interrupt this season-long genocide story and do a cowboy episode."  A few episodes later when the ship encountered suicide-bombing space-Muslims I recall thinking it must be awesome to have a job where they pay you to be drunk.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 22 August, 2013, 02:57:22 PM
Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 22 August, 2013, 02:46:01 PM
A few episodes later when the ship encountered suicide-bombing space-Muslims I recall thinking it must be awesome to have a job where they pay you to be drunk.

Yer all kindsa nuts Prof, but in a good way.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 22 August, 2013, 02:59:24 PM
Hey, look me in the eye and tell me "Spock is a lady with massive boobs and the captain is Sam Beckett" wasn't a production meeting that started with a nose full of charlie and ended with high fives.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 22 August, 2013, 03:24:15 PM
Good point!  :D
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 22 August, 2013, 11:29:21 PM
Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 22 August, 2013, 02:59:24 PM
Hey, look me in the eye and tell me "Spock is a lady with massive boobs and the captain is Sam Beckett" wasn't a production meeting that started with a nose full of charlie and ended with high fives.

Where in Grud's name is the LIKE button?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: shaolin_monkey on 23 August, 2013, 07:56:00 AM
Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 22 August, 2013, 02:59:24 PM
Hey, look me in the eye and tell me "Spock is a lady with massive boobs and the captain is Sam Beckett" wasn't a production meeting that started with a nose full of charlie and ended with high fives.

Did you notice those massive boobs suddenly deflated in later seasons?!?  Highly illogical.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 23 August, 2013, 08:47:42 AM
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 23 August, 2013, 07:56:00 AM
Did you notice those massive boobs suddenly deflated in later seasons?!?  Highly illogical.

Pon farr is a complex cycle.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: shaolin_monkey on 23 August, 2013, 10:10:27 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 23 August, 2013, 08:47:42 AM
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 23 August, 2013, 07:56:00 AM
Did you notice those massive boobs suddenly deflated in later seasons?!?  Highly illogical.

Pon farr is a complex cycle.

Yes, and clearly involves silicon, or the sudden lack thereof.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 23 August, 2013, 10:17:23 AM
I genuinely never noticed. She did change from that very tight grey brown outfit into a fetching set of coloured catsuits. Maybe they just emphasised other aspects.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 23 August, 2013, 10:19:58 AM

Funny that no-one notice she got different haircut in Season 3.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 23 August, 2013, 11:36:08 AM
she had hair?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 23 August, 2013, 11:37:06 AM
She was a she???
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 24 August, 2013, 07:56:33 PM
I watched that Twenty Twelve. Yes, no, absolutely. Good stuff, very clever, good characters. So that's all good. The bullshit they come out with on this show is both impressive and hilarious. Some great performances, but the delightful Olivia Colman acts circles around everyone.

I just got back my The Prisoner box set, after it having circulated amongst my friends for over three years now. I'll definitely be watching all of that again. I've already watched Do Not Forsake me, Oh My Darling, and it's still stunning. No one speaks a word for the first half hour, there's not even any incidental music for the first ten minutes. If a TV show these days tried something that audacious, the internet would probably cream itself.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 01 September, 2013, 05:45:46 PM
Still watching Attack on Titan. Fucking amazing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 01 September, 2013, 08:03:43 PM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 01 September, 2013, 05:45:46 PM
Still watching Attack on Titan. Fucking amazing.

Go on...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 01 September, 2013, 08:17:54 PM
Quote from: HdE on 01 September, 2013, 08:03:43 PM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 01 September, 2013, 05:45:46 PM
Still watching Attack on Titan. Fucking amazing.

Go on...
Imagine Mad Max if the apocalypse had occured in the Dark Ages, and the reason for us not knowing any history of that time was due to fucking Giants mindlessly eating 99% of humanity. The remainders where forced to lock themselfs in Skeletors locker (I JOKE!) and rapidly advance militery technology. The result is an alternative history saga that's prity much Japans (to use and obvious comparison) Slaine or Defoe. It moves at a frantic pace but has a well rounded cast and very fluid animations. I highly reccomend it if you haven't given it a shot yet.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 01 September, 2013, 08:33:02 PM

BOARD
WALK
EMPIRE
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 02 September, 2013, 01:33:44 AM
The first seasons of Wentworth and King Of The Hill.
Wentworth is a prequel/reboot of Prisoner (Cell Block H), and for those not versed in Antipodean telly of late, let me assure you it is quite representative, being trashy, hysterical and like something you accidentally picked up on your telly after it was struck by lightning and now only receives television from another reality, possibly one where tv is commissioned exclusively by - and for - drag queens.  It's full of effin and jeffin, boobies and lezzing-up, which is a pity as it's that kind of misery porn that older viewers love to watch, especially fans of the original, but for those of us who don't mind fit women licking each other onscreen and superfluous scenes set in kinky nightclubs, this is compelling trash.  Only the final episode to watch now and SUM BITCH GON DIE.
King of the Hill I watched first time around (or near as dammit) for a few episodes, but it wasn't Beavis and Butthead or Simpsons or South Park, so I wandered away from it and only really watched it again for the last season, possibly accidentally as I had resolved to stop watching Family Guy and its spin-offs but still wanted cartoon sitcoms in my life, and I am quite glad I gave it a miss at the time because clearly younger me didn't appreciate how good it could be at times and now I have 13 seasons to catch up on.  Fair enough the final season I watched was nowhere near as sharp as the first season episodes I'm currently enjoying, but even allowing for a Simpsons-style drop in quality that means some potentially fine viewing ahead, at least one episode of which involves Hank becoming a pimp.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: shaolin_monkey on 02 September, 2013, 10:34:13 AM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 01 September, 2013, 08:17:54 PM
Quote from: HdE on 01 September, 2013, 08:03:43 PM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 01 September, 2013, 05:45:46 PM
Still watching Attack on Titan. Fucking amazing.

Go on...
Imagine Mad Max if the apocalypse had occured in the Dark Ages, and the reason for us not knowing any history of that time was due to fucking Giants mindlessly eating 99% of humanity. The remainders where forced to lock themselfs in Skeletors locker (I JOKE!) and rapidly advance militery technology. The result is an alternative history saga that's prity much Japans (to use and obvious comparison) Slaine or Defoe. It moves at a frantic pace but has a well rounded cast and very fluid animations. I highly reccomend it if you haven't given it a shot yet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Titan

Sounds interesting!!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 02 September, 2013, 12:32:28 PM
Still trekking with ENTERPRISE; recent highlights being Trip butting in on the morals of a three gender alien race (not a typical ending!) and a cracking Borg episode.  There was also a fantastically cheesey flashback epiosde where Archer reminesces about the early days of the warp ship programme which hopes to be like "The Right Stuff" but fails because Keith Carradine plays the other Captain as if he's Zap Brannigan.  If you don't have that image in your head, it's almost impossible to enjoy the episode.

And I've started sneaking in SMALLVILLE season 9 in an attempt to finally finish the bugger. By Grud, it's hard work. The only good point of last season, Jimmy Olsen (Sean Ashmore?), isn't in it any more. 

So it's down to the fact I really, really fancy Erica Durance as Lois Lane to keep me going. Really. Fortunately the rest of the aucience and the producers are with me on this given the disgraceful way they treat her character. Is her continued objectification taking a sly dig at me? I'm not sure, keep dressing her up so I can form an opinion. 

By now, Smallville really is set in an alternate reality where everybody speaks in snappy semi-cryptic one-liners, can kick ass in a fight and real world processes (travel, getting jobs, access to high security buildings, hacking complex security systems, everything, in fact) do not exist because a character just needs to have an idea to do something and then magically, it happens.  Did the writers take inspiration from INCEPTION and THE MATRIX but were so charlied up they missed the bit about them being constructed worlds?

And it features the wettest Zod you could imagine.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: sheldipez on 02 September, 2013, 12:37:51 PM
I watched the first four seasons of Smallville, really enjoyed it for the most part (it was a bit ridiculous the amount of different times the writer's had to 1) de-power Clark or 2) mind wipe or change character personailites to fit the stories - it would have been better if the show was 10-15 episode seasons to get rid of some filler) but just didn't continue watching it after the season four finale.

I wouldn't mind getting back to it but it wasn't on Netflix the last time I checked  :'(
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 02 September, 2013, 12:44:17 PM
It's been hard going since Season 4 tbh (and you could argue a point for Season 1!) but I'm going to see it through to the bitter end!

(I have them on DVD and the last two seasons on blu-ray. Tellingly, Seasons 9 and 10 have been sitting unopened for nearly two years).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: sheldipez on 02 September, 2013, 12:48:08 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 02 September, 2013, 12:44:17 PM
It's been hard going since Season 4 tbh (and you could argue a point for Season 1!) but I'm going to see it through to the bitter end!

(I have them on DVD and the last two seasons on blu-ray. Tellingly, Seasons 9 and 10 have been sitting unopened for nearly two years).

Then straight onto Season 11 (http://www.comicvine.com/smallville-season-eleven/4050-48550/)?  :D
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 02 September, 2013, 01:01:10 PM
Quote from: sheldipez on 02 September, 2013, 12:48:08 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 02 September, 2013, 12:44:17 PM
It's been hard going since Season 4 tbh (and you could argue a point for Season 1!) but I'm going to see it through to the bitter end!

(I have them on DVD and the last two seasons on blu-ray. Tellingly, Seasons 9 and 10 have been sitting unopened for nearly two years).

Then straight onto Season 11 (http://www.comicvine.com/smallville-season-eleven/4050-48550/)?  :D


SPOLIERS PLEASE! It looks like, from what's on those comic covers, that Clark turns out to be Superman!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: sheldipez on 02 September, 2013, 01:04:05 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 02 September, 2013, 01:01:10 PM
Quote from: sheldipez on 02 September, 2013, 12:48:08 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 02 September, 2013, 12:44:17 PM
It's been hard going since Season 4 tbh (and you could argue a point for Season 1!) but I'm going to see it through to the bitter end!

(I have them on DVD and the last two seasons on blu-ray. Tellingly, Seasons 9 and 10 have been sitting unopened for nearly two years).

Then straight onto Season 11 (http://www.comicvine.com/smallville-season-eleven/4050-48550/)?  :D


SPOLIERS PLEASE! It looks like, from what's on those comic covers, that Clark turns out to be Superman!

A plot twist M. Night Shyamalan would be proud of! I guess only the budget (i.e. imagination of artists) could depict Season 11 when Clark finally becomes [spoiler]Super[/spoiler]man.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 04 September, 2013, 12:39:41 PM
Season 9 of Smallville episode RABID.  It's a zombie outbreak episode.  Everything about it - especially the resolution - is almost enough to make me quit watching. 

Oh and while the physical effects remain pretty good as is when they sue CGI for bullet time/super speed stuff, Smallville must have some of the worst CGI effects for things like plane and train crashes that I have ever seen.

(I quite liked the next episode though - some much more fun character stuff)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 04 September, 2013, 05:21:36 PM

Godammit! They made me fall in love with Billie Kent (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6S158_5vLc) and led me to think I know exactly where her story is going - she was as charming as a shit in her audition for her big break in Hollywood (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnV3YQeSoNs) - and then they go and [spoiler]slaughter before my adoring eyes[/spoiler] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uiqhfBFBx8). Why, I oughta ...

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 04 September, 2013, 05:26:33 PM
I've been doggedly persevering with 'Alias'. For which I deserve a medal... and have been somewhat rewarded.

Seasons 3 and 4 of this show are guff. utter guff. There's loads of dull-witted plotting and some atrociously leaden writing. Thankfully, season 5 - which I had to be cajoled into watching - has seen the show blossom into ACTUAL entertainment.

I still have the uncomfortable feeling that I got from 'Lost', where the writers are basically making big chunks of this up as they go along, and there are some plot elements that feel like they're not ultimately going to go anywhere. But at least the pace has picked up. Elodie Bouchez and Rachel Nichols certainly make the show a good deal more watchable. For me, at least. ;)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 04 September, 2013, 10:09:05 PM
The Starlost, a Harlan Ellison-created sci-fi series from the 1970s about a man, a woman, and a life-sized cardboard cutout of Kier Dullea wandering around an ark ship 800 years in the future visiting "bio domes" that contain various cultures and trying to figure out how to steer the now-crewless ship away from a collision with a star despite being Amish types who can barely read English and keep thinking things like lightbulbs and carpets are devil magic.  Reminds me of Blake's 7 but with lower production values, less action, and either the greatest or worstest mustache in television history.  It is not great, to be honest, and I can see why Ellison took his name off this one, but it reminds me of those daffy mid-80s kids' dramas and distracts me nicely.

Also Flash Gordon, the 2007 tv series that everyone hated.  It is not that terrible, it's just really cheap and the name Flash Gordon does it more harm than good as it'd make a fine low-budget tv series if it was called anything else and people stopped saying they wanted to see terrible model rockets in it or dudes in fake wings or something.  It's not brain science by a long shot, but about a dozen episodes in and it's created a consistent mythology for itself to the point that it's developed an overall arc story that does - as I recall - actually go somewhere and then resolves itself for the not-really-a-cliffhanger finale.  It's a fun show, but its greatest objective problems are the name and the fact that it is accessible and inoffensive when most sci-fi tries very, very hard to be alienating, cliquey and exclusive.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JOE SOAP on 04 September, 2013, 10:23:23 PM
Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 04 September, 2013, 10:09:05 PM
It is not great, to be honest, and I can see why Ellison took his name off this one

Any projects that are shit he takes his name off but any that are good he sues to have his name put on (The Terminator). He's a card.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 04 September, 2013, 10:33:46 PM
I keep trying to watch season 4 of Community, but I just can't get through it. 10 minutes into an episode my attention just starts to wander. I don't know how much of my apathy towards it is just my prejudice though.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 04 September, 2013, 11:57:44 PM
Quote from: HdE on 04 September, 2013, 05:26:33 PM
I've been doggedly persevering with 'Alias'. For which I deserve a medal... and have been somewhat rewarded.

Seasons 3 and 4 of this show are guff. utter guff. There's loads of dull-witted plotting and some atrociously leaden writing. Thankfully, season 5 - which I had to be cajoled into watching - has seen the show blossom into ACTUAL entertainment.

We stalled about half way through Season 2. It was aces but somehow it just dropped off the watch list.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 05 September, 2013, 03:20:11 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 04 September, 2013, 11:57:44 PM
We stalled about half way through Season 2. It was aces but somehow it just dropped off the watch list.

I think one of the show's biggess problems is that it's badly weighed down with filler and takes an age to ever get anywhere. Ironically, it's around the mid-point of season 2 that things start to pick up.

There's fun to be had with Alias. It's just that there's nowhere near five season' worth of it. How a show like this gets that kind of run, while Firefly gets canned after 13 episodes... egh.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Spikes on 05 September, 2013, 04:48:17 PM
Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 04 September, 2013, 10:09:05 PM
The Starlost, a Harlan Ellison-created sci-fi series from the 1970s about a man, a woman, and a life-sized cardboard cutout of Kier Dullea wandering around an ark ship 800 years in the future visiting "bio domes" that contain various cultures and trying to figure out how to steer the now-crewless ship away from a collision with a star despite being Amish types who can barely read English and keep thinking things like lightbulbs and carpets are devil magic.  Reminds me of Blake's 7 but with lower production values, less action, and either the greatest or worstest mustache in television history.  It is not great, to be honest, and I can see why Ellison took his name off this one, but it reminds me of those daffy mid-80s kids' dramas and distracts me nicely.

Never come across this before - as far as i can recall. But checking it out on YouTube, it does look to be utter tosh. But gloriously so! Keen to watch some more, now.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 12 September, 2013, 05:22:28 PM
Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 04 September, 2013, 10:09:05 PM
The Starlost, a Harlan Ellison-created sci-fi series from the 1970s about a man, a woman, and a life-sized cardboard cutout of Kier Dullea wandering around an ark ship 800 years in the future visiting "bio domes" that contain various cultures and trying to figure out how to steer the now-crewless ship away from a collision with a star despite being Amish types who can barely read English and keep thinking things like lightbulbs and carpets are devil magic.  Reminds me of Blake's 7 but with lower production values, less action, and either the greatest or worstest mustache in television history.  It is not great, to be honest, and I can see why Ellison took his name off this one, but it reminds me of those daffy mid-80s kids' dramas and distracts me nicely.

I remember Starlost. They used the same ship model (Valley Forge) as in the Bruce Dern film Silent Running.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: shaolin_monkey on 12 September, 2013, 06:36:47 PM
Quote from: von Boom on 12 September, 2013, 05:22:28 PM
Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 04 September, 2013, 10:09:05 PM
The Starlost, a Harlan Ellison-created sci-fi series from the 1970s about a man, a woman, and a life-sized cardboard cutout of Kier Dullea wandering around an ark ship 800 years in the future visiting "bio domes" that contain various cultures and trying to figure out how to steer the now-crewless ship away from a collision with a star despite being Amish types who can barely read English and keep thinking things like lightbulbs and carpets are devil magic.  Reminds me of Blake's 7 but with lower production values, less action, and either the greatest or worstest mustache in television history.  It is not great, to be honest, and I can see why Ellison took his name off this one, but it reminds me of those daffy mid-80s kids' dramas and distracts me nicely.

I remember Starlost. They used the same ship model (Valley Forge) as in the Bruce Dern film Silent Running.


I don't mean to derail, but Last Exit to Nowhere are discontinuing their Valley Forge design, and are selling the remaining stock at a reduced price:

http://www.lastexittonowhere.com/shop/product/valley-forge-slim-fit-t-shirt/
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 18 September, 2013, 07:53:00 PM
Starsky and Hutch - complete horseshit, and I can't help myself but watch it.  It's like two grown men making a tv show for their kids so they won't have to watch those awful cop shows currently on tv with all their drug taking and "eff this" and bare ladies everywhere.  The soundtrack is fantastic, though, and I can see why it's been the go-to for three generations of pornographers whenever a young woman (or man, or combination thereof) needs one or more orifice filled onscreen by obliging handymen.  I remember people giving off when the remake movie was shot as a comedy, but based on this, I am not sure how they expected anything else.
Exo Squad is the tops.  A hand-drawn animated toy advertisement from the early 90s - at least I assume there were toys somewhere in the mix given the bright and colourful designs for the characters and technology on display - and though the animation lacks the sophistication of Asian counterparts then or now, the storyline makes up for it, being a serial narrative (rather than episodic standalone stories) set across several years of interplanetary war between humanity and its genetically-engineered slave race the Neo Sapiens, created to terraform Mars before a failed uprising aimed at their emancipation left them hated, brutalised and openly treated like shit even 50 years later.  Right from the off, humanity has it coming, and sure enough their oppressed slaves oblige with a war of genocide that sees Earth, Mars and Venus conquered, millions of humans too frail to work as slaves fired into the sun, and the Earth fleet destroyed - and rather than this being the rallying point for the main characters, things just keep getting worse.  It's like there was a mid-80s Marvel comic based on a toy line and someone went ahead and animated it in its entirety - gruesome, unjust and final deaths of characters included.  It's great fun, and even though I know it's an unfinished story (cancelled in the third season), I can't stop watching.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 18 September, 2013, 08:13:57 PM
I'm working my way through the Planet of the Apes box-set at the moment. (The original movies.)

I just finished Beneath the Planet of the Apes last night. A good, slightly strange, sequel. And what a strange [spoiler]downbeat[/spoiler] ending!* Not to mention that rather odd voice-over.


I find the acting style a little cheesy and expositiony in these films, but they're still highly enjoyable. I was particularly struck by the slow pace of the first film when compared to many modern films. Or even the sequel for that matter.

Incidentally, this is not my first time watching these films. I've seen them all at some point. It's been a little while since I've watched them all though, and I only bought the box-set relatively recently.

*Don't highlight the spoiler bit bellow if you haven't seen the ending of Beneath the Planet of the Apes. I know that should go without saying, I just want  you to know it's a big spoiler.

I've often wondered, and I'm still not clear, if [spoiler]Taylor's triggering of the Doomsday Bomb at the end was accidental (i.e he falls and his arm happens to be stretched out) , or if he just thought 'drokk it' (or words to that effect) and intentionally triggered it making himself the biggest multi-murderer of all time. (Although he probably saw it as a blessing on the human race considering the state they were in.) By the expression on his face and the way he falls, it could be either way.[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Greg M. on 18 September, 2013, 08:42:49 PM
One of the most nihilistic films ever made. As for what Taylor does, I think it's on purpose. I've always felt sorry for Nova in that film - she gets treated appallingly from start to finish.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richmond Clements on 18 September, 2013, 08:45:45 PM
Quote from: Greg M. on 18 September, 2013, 08:42:49 PM
One of the most nihilistic films ever made. As for what Taylor does, I think it's on purpose. I've always felt sorry for Nova in that film - she gets treated appallingly from start to finish.

Indeed. There's stuff that they would never get away with now: like in the first film with Taylor laughing at the American flag.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 18 September, 2013, 10:20:26 PM
Quote from: Greg M. on 18 September, 2013, 08:42:49 PM
One of the most nihilistic films ever made. As for what Taylor does, I think it's on purpose.

I think you're probably right. One of the things that struck me in the first film in particular is that, despite being the hero of the story, he isn't a particularly nice chap. This goading of one of the other astronauts at the start for example. And what he states to his mates when confronted by the primitive humans "If they're all like this, we could be running the whole planet in a year." (Or words to that effect.) Not so different from the apes he despises later then.

Not that he is just like that. He does show a moral centre too, as is clear in his little speech in the 'captain's log' at the start, and his whole reason for leaving earth in the first place - despair with humanity.

QuoteI've always felt sorry for Nova in that film - she gets treated appallingly from start to finish.

Yes, [spoiler]although it's largely under the control of others. Not that that makes her any less mistreated. There is something rather uncomfortable in the way Brent attacks her, under the mutant control though, kissing and hurting her at the same time. You sort of get the impression he isn't just being controlled as if by remote, but that the mutants are amplifying his own base desires, if that makes sense. Not that I'm suggesting he would ever willingly act in that way.[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 18 September, 2013, 11:17:23 PM


It's Spaceballs cause the mess!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD516OENN7s (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD516OENN7s)

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richmond Clements on 23 September, 2013, 08:14:41 PM
If you have not already, do yourself a favour an read the novel of PotA. It is incredible.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 23 September, 2013, 08:56:01 PM
I've read it and it's not all that, but the framing device/ending was the one Tim Burton should have gone for in his remake, rather than that shit he filmed.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richmond Clements on 23 September, 2013, 08:59:47 PM
Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 23 September, 2013, 08:56:01 PM
I've read it and it's not all that, but the framing device/ending was the one Tim Burton should have gone for in his remake, rather than that shit he filmed.

Agree on the Burton comment, but the book is bloody awesome.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 24 September, 2013, 03:45:47 AM
By PotA novel, do you mean the original novel Monkey Planet that the films are based on? Or a novelisation of the film?

I've read Monkey Planet. It wasn't bad, and the differences with the film were curious. (The Ape* society is pretty modern, contemporary with 20th Century Earth. I like the idea of handholds used to cross busy streets.)

Ultimately this is one of the few instances where I prefer the film to the book though.

*Not monkey!
Title: Re:
Post by: radiator on 25 September, 2013, 10:09:17 AM
Having heard good things about it, we decided to give the Netflix original series Orange is the New Black a go last night, and devoured the first two eps in one go. Fantastic stuff!

The premise (based on a book of a true story) is a middle class urbanite finds herself in women's prison when her wild past catches up with her. Much fish out of water calamity ensues as she comes to terms with her surroundings and begins to bond with her fellow inmates. Janeway(?) from Voyager(?) plays the terrifying Russian prison cook, and she's amazing, as is American Pie's Jason Biggs.

Highly recommended.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 25 September, 2013, 10:55:49 AM
Just learned Attack on Titan is going to conclude this saterday. I knew the end was nigh but jesus. :o
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 25 September, 2013, 12:39:13 PM
I'm into Season 10 of SMALLVILLE and I'm not ashamed to admit I am actually enjoying it again. It no longer feels like doing homework. The start to Season 9 was dire but I even warmed to Wet Zod by the end.

They finally seemed to have remembered that "Hey, this is a show about how Clark makes the decision to become Superman". 

All the Clark and Lois stuff is great - I think there's some great chemistry between Tom Welling and Erica Durance despite Tom's limited range. The constant tortuous betrayals and character twisty turns seem to have taken a back seat to (there are still some) and we have lighter "Lois gets in a stupid predicament and Supes saves her" plots. But importantly, despite the producers still fetishising the endlessly perky Erica Durance, Lois saves Supes just as often.

"Homecoming" (episode 200) was a particular standout with Braniac 5 (James Marsters) doing "A Christmas Carol"/"It's a Wonderful Life" on a doubtful Kal-El. I just didn't want to leave the "future" segment but when we did, the pay-off in the barn was beautiful.

And Darkseid is the baddie - I'll admit to having read very little with him in it so I'm open to their interpretation.  And I do hope the clone Lex grows into Michael Rosenbaum.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: LorcanQ on 25 September, 2013, 09:57:05 PM
finally got box sets of season 4 and 5(part 1) of breaking bad (dont like streaming it online tbh).... YESSSSSS. just got my wisdom teeth out aswell so im gonna eat this shit up  :D
Title: Re:
Post by: radiator on 03 October, 2013, 11:04:23 AM
We have just one episode to go now of Orange is the New Black, and it just gets better. Really, really great stuff - shocking, moving, smart, and often laugh out loud funny. It's so clever how it introduces characters as fairly broad stereotypes, then through fascinating flashbacks reveals how human they are. I really hope season 2 maintains the quality.

Has anyone seen Weeds, which is by the same writer? I've heard good things about it, and it's on Netflix... May have to give it a go.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: GrinningChimera on 05 October, 2013, 09:38:34 PM
Finally caught up with season 3 of Boardwalk Empire. I was worried that the show wouldn't be the same without [spoiler]Jimmy[/spoiler], but this is definetly my favourite season yet. The bit where [spoiler]Richard went all Taxi Driver and killed everyone[/spoiler] was epic. I actually found myself yelling at the tv. Actually that probably happens more than it should...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 05 October, 2013, 10:25:02 PM
Quote from: GrinningChimera on 05 October, 2013, 09:38:34 PM
Finally caught up with season 3 of Boardwalk Empire. I was worried that the show wouldn't be the same without [spoiler]Jimmy[/spoiler], but this is definitely my favourite season yet. The bit where [spoiler]Richard went all Taxi Driver and killed everyone[/spoiler] was epic. I actually found myself yelling at the tv. Actually that probably happens more than it should...

What about the bit where Gyp Rosetti started a fight WITH GOD? That was so brilliantly in character, and a variation upon (and escalation of) a scene that had been played out so many times during the series - and I suppose it's as good an explanation of how his story worked out as the subtle unpeeling of the psychology of the character which went on as the series progressed. That ability to use a single narrative to reveal different psychological aspects of multiple characters is what I think makes Boardwalk Empire so special.

Richard Harrow's smooth, impassive face and the tortured, ugly chaos it conceals are the perfect metaphor for what the series reveals about the characters and America itself.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ThryllSeekyr on 06 October, 2013, 06:28:18 PM
I've been eyeing the Blu-Rae or DVD of Monty Python's Flying Circus Complete Boxed Set on Ebay (http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313.TR10.TRC0.A0.Xmonty+python+flying+circus+complete+boxed+set%3A+blu-rae&_nkw=monty+python+flying+circus+complete+boxed+set%3A+blu-rae&_sacat=0&_from=R40), but won't I won't be spending that much money yet.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ThryllSeekyr on 06 October, 2013, 06:34:24 PM
It's much cheaper here (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/MONTY-PYTHONS-FLYING-CIRCUS-COMPLETE-SET-NEW-SEALED-/150477010052?pt=AU_DVDsBlurayDiscs&hash=item230920f484), but I'm still not spending that much money just yet.

Besides, I just spent thirty dollars on Warhammer: 40k's Space-Hulk on Steam.

Anyway, can anybody find out if the Complete Monty Python Boxed Set is available on Blu-Rae, because I can't find any.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: GrinningChimera on 08 October, 2013, 07:46:13 AM
Got Walking Dead season 3 on the weekend on dvd. It's labour weekend over here on the 26th-28th so I'm gonna throw a Walking Dead marathon and watch all 3 seasons back to back. I told somone at work this and got a funny look as if to say it's not normal or something!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dragonfly on 08 October, 2013, 09:33:08 AM
Quote from: ThryllSeekyr on 06 October, 2013, 06:34:24 PM
It's much cheaper here (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/MONTY-PYTHONS-FLYING-CIRCUS-COMPLETE-SET-NEW-SEALED-/150477010052?pt=AU_DVDsBlurayDiscs&hash=item230920f484), but I'm still not spending that much money just yet.

Besides, I just spent thirty dollars on Warhammer: 40k's Space-Hulk on Steam.

Anyway, can anybody find out if the Complete Monty Python Boxed Set is available on Blu-Rae, because I can't find any.

I don't believe the Monty Python TV series has ever been released on Blu-Ray but I think two of the films have, those two being The Holy Grail and The Life Of Brian. If anyone knows any different then I would love to be corrected!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 12 October, 2013, 11:35:36 PM
So it looks like I'm giving Breaking Bad a second chance. First time round I got bored halfway through the second series. I think I'm just past that point now.

It's a decent programme but I do find myself wondering what I'm missing about it that everyone seems to find so amazing. Does it suddenly get much better at some point?

And when does Skylar become a bitch? So far she's the least cuntish character in the whole show.
Title: Re:
Post by: radiator on 12 October, 2013, 11:47:28 PM
Personally I was grabbed from the very first episode, though it took friends of mine til the end of s2/beginning of s3 to get hooked. I never understood all the apparent hate towards Skyler either - I think she's a great character and actress, and fulfills a vital role in the series.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 12 October, 2013, 11:50:35 PM
Quote from: The Cosh on 12 October, 2013, 11:35:36 PM
So it looks like I'm giving Breaking Bad a second chance. First time round I got bored halfway through the second series. I think I'm just past that point now. It's a decent programme but I do find myself wondering what I'm missing about it that everyone seems to find so amazing. Does it suddenly get much better at some point? And when does Skylar become a bitch? So far she's the least cuntish character in the whole show.

Stick with it; there's great stuff in there, alongside an awful lot of padding. Skylar isn't a bitch, but it's fairly obvious there was no character arc mapped out for her and that none of the writers can think of anything interesting for her to do - so she just ends up moaning a lot and trying to spoil the boys' fun.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richmond Clements on 12 October, 2013, 11:56:19 PM
QuoteI never understood all the apparent hate towards Skyler either - I think she's a great character and actress, and fulfills a vital role in the series.

I think she's a great character, but I think the hating comes from the simple fact that she's a woman in the boy's club. Marie also suffers from the same - call it what it is - misogyny.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 13 October, 2013, 01:04:32 AM
My problem with Skylar was that she smoked while pregnant just to get back at her husband's slights, which at that point were largely unconfirmed suspicions based on the fact that a recently diagnosed cancer patient wanted a bit of time to themselves - a dick move that for me cast a shadow over her actions to the very end of the show.  That she wanted to spoil "the fun" had nothing to do with my appraisal, though obviously I can't speak for others.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JOE SOAP on 13 October, 2013, 01:32:13 AM
Quote from: Richmond Clements on 12 October, 2013, 11:56:19 PM
call it what it is - misogyny.

I get the impression most of the Skyler hate (http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/archive/segment/why-do-people-hate-breaking-bads-skyler-white/521cf66b78c90a630c000163) is coming from the female demographic but maybe that's just the misogynist in me.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proteus4 on 13 October, 2013, 04:12:12 AM
Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 13 October, 2013, 01:04:32 AM
My problem with Skylar was that she smoked while pregnant just to get back at her husband's slights, which at that point were largely unconfirmed suspicions based on the fact that a recently diagnosed cancer patient wanted a bit of time to themselves - a dick move that for me cast a shadow over her actions to the very end of the show.  That she wanted to spoil "the fun" had nothing to do with my appraisal, though obviously I can't speak for others.

I didn't read it like that. What I took from it was that she was under a tremendous amount of pressure and that she snapped for a short period of time.  She maybe wanted to do something that was entirely selfish because that was what Walter was doing, or she may have resented the fact that she was pregnant with his baby and maybe even resented the baby at that point. She only smoked what looked like a handful of fags and only when she was at her lowest ebb. I don't think she did it to get back at Walter, I think she did it coz she was exhausted, sad, lonely and terrified.

I found Skylar to be a strong determined and flawed character, brilliantly acted and totally tragic. The whole Skylar is a bitch thing was just awful dickheads and trolls as far as I'm concerned. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ThryllSeekyr on 13 October, 2013, 09:21:53 AM
Quote from: The Cosh on 12 October, 2013, 11:35:36 PM
So it looks like I'm giving Breaking Bad a second chance. First time round I got bored halfway through the second series. I think I'm just past that point now.


I watch this sometimes on the FX channel and wonder if he's really the dad from the well known sit-com Malcom in the Middle?

He's still very hard to take seriously if that's the case.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 13 October, 2013, 09:28:02 AM
Studio Trigger have a new series, Kill La Kill. Like it's sister, Gurren Lagann, its utter fucking shite that the entire internet seems to be convinced is amazing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 13 October, 2013, 04:38:04 PM
Quote from: Proteus4 on 13 October, 2013, 04:12:12 AMI found Skylar to be a strong determined and flawed character, brilliantly acted and totally tragic. The whole Skylar is a bitch thing was just awful dickheads and trolls as far as I'm concerned.

I found Gus Fring to be a strong family man with an admirable work ethic.  Clearly those criticising him are racists.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 13 October, 2013, 05:03:22 PM
Quote from: The Cosh on 12 October, 2013, 11:35:36 PM
It's a decent programme but I do find myself wondering what I'm missing about it that everyone seems to find so amazing.

It is a really good TV Show, I just think large portions of the internet forget that's all it is, a TV show.

Also, I thought the fact that the main players were all a shower of despicable hallions was what made Breaking Bad so compelling.

I found them all very interesting, but I'll be damned  if I actually liked any of them.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Steve Green on 13 October, 2013, 05:40:37 PM
It's much more interesting to root for someone you don't (or didn't) particularly like.

A fair few of the characters went through points where I wanted to see them succeed more because of who they were interacting with - and having Walt cross various lines to either protect Jesse or his family kept me rooting for him until the end, even though he'd long been a monster.

It was just that there were worse monsters around him.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proteus4 on 13 October, 2013, 09:43:27 PM
Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 13 October, 2013, 04:38:04 PM
Quote from: Proteus4 on 13 October, 2013, 04:12:12 AMI found Skylar to be a strong determined and flawed character, brilliantly acted and totally tragic. The whole Skylar is a bitch thing was just awful dickheads and trolls as far as I'm concerned.

I found Gus Fring to be a strong family man with an admirable work ethic.  Clearly those criticising him are racists.

quite right.

Joking aside, it's interesting that we have strong opinions on Skylar smoking (and a lot of people gave off about skylar for smoking at the time too) when we miss the fact that Walter is a total scumbag drug dealer who turns everything he touches to shit.  Skylar's actions were no where near as wicked as Walt's.

peace
Dave
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richmond Clements on 13 October, 2013, 09:48:49 PM
Quote from: Proteus4 on 13 October, 2013, 09:43:27 PM
Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 13 October, 2013, 04:38:04 PM
Quote from: Proteus4 on 13 October, 2013, 04:12:12 AMI found Skylar to be a strong determined and flawed character, brilliantly acted and totally tragic. The whole Skylar is a bitch thing was just awful dickheads and trolls as far as I'm concerned.

I found Gus Fring to be a strong family man with an admirable work ethic.  Clearly those criticising him are racists.

quite right.

Joking aside, it's interesting that we have strong opinions on Skylar smoking (and a lot of people gave off about skylar for smoking at the time too) when we miss the fact that Walter is a total scumbag drug dealer who turns everything he touches to shit.  Skylar's actions were no where near as wicked as Walt's.

peace
Dave

Yeah, I would sometimes find myself thinking "why are you being a bitch, Skylar?" ... and then I'd remember what a horrible bastard her husband was being to her...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JOE SOAP on 13 October, 2013, 09:54:17 PM

You bunch of misogynists can't even spell her name right- it's Skyler (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyler_White).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 13 October, 2013, 11:28:59 PM
Quote from: Proteus4 on 13 October, 2013, 09:43:27 PM
Joking aside, it's interesting that we have strong opinions on Skylar smoking (and a lot of people gave off about skylar for smoking at the time too) when we miss the fact that Walter is a total scumbag drug dealer who turns everything he touches to shit.  Skylar's actions were no where near as wicked as Walt's.

No-one is defending Walt because his actions are unquestionably reprehensible.  Skyler, on the other hand, has lots of people suggesting it's fine to give a fetus a birth defect or two if you're feeling stressed out a bit.  I do not agree.  Nor do I agree that someone's gender, ethnicity or status as a disabled person excludes them from objective criticism.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proteus4 on 13 October, 2013, 11:41:08 PM
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 13 October, 2013, 09:54:17 PM

You bunch of misogynists can't even spell her name right- it's Skyler (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyler_White).

no no no. Its Skylar.  and Waltar.  and Jessa!

Jeepers. learn to spell, mate.  :D

Dave
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 14 October, 2013, 12:43:29 AM
Quote from: Proteus4 on 13 October, 2013, 11:41:08 PM
Deve

FTFY.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 15 October, 2013, 07:53:10 PM
I watched that Netflix Original Prison Drama, Orange is the New Black.

Overall it's very satisfying, but the show's Achille's Heel is the protagonist. At first she comes across as an immature, thoughtless, unsympathetic narcissist, but as the show progresses, it becomes more obvious that that's what the writers were aiming for. My main problem with her was that she seemed to base her personality and decisions on with whomever she last had a conversation, it seems like a bit of a crutch.

Where the show shines is the rich and varied supporting cast, there's sleazy screws, guards whose good intentions make them incompetent, and inmates from all walks of life. Unhinged crazies, religious fanatics and flakey hippy-dippy former pot farmers and looming over them all Kate "Janeway" Mulgrew as the russian battleaxe who runs the kitchen and ostensibly, the prison. The power dynamics between her and her wardens is where this show really shines, and Mulgrew shows some serious acting chops. That woman could give ye a look that would make yer shite freeze while simultaneously making yer bowels void themselves.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 15 October, 2013, 08:12:56 PM
Mulgrew and Schilling were also in the short-lived shagging doctors soap Mercy together, fact fans.  It wasn't very good, as I recall, but Mulgrew was.  She was also on good form in the Black Donnelys, which can be found in bargain bins for about three quid and is basically what the makers of Peaky Blinders were aiming for when they made their car-crash of a series, though BD didn't have Sam Neil's epic Bayelfaaaaaast accent which is - no bullshit - the only reason I am still watching Peaky Blinders.

"EYE do not trost any of YOUZ, YEW most awall ORN mi trost - AND IT WILL TAK SOME IRONING!"
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 15 October, 2013, 08:26:02 PM
Sam Neil, born in Omagh, canny do a Norn Irish accent? That's shackin, so it is.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Spikes on 16 October, 2013, 04:37:40 PM
Still happily ploughing through my 'Allo 'Allo Secret Army boxset.

(Though rather annoying available copies of the sequel, and future watching fun - Kessler are proving to be so darn expensive  >:(

Grand stuff, but boy the RAF chaps need a slap. No wonder they keep getting caught, or have to be killed by the [spoiler]resistance.[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 16 October, 2013, 05:39:37 PM
Quote from: Mister Pops on 15 October, 2013, 07:53:10 PM
I watched that Netflix Original Prison Drama, Orange is the New Black.

Overall it's very satisfying, but the show's Achille's Heel is the protagonist. At first she comes across as an immature, thoughtless, unsympathetic narcissist, but as the show progresses, it becomes more obvious that that's what the writers were aiming for. My main problem with her was that she seemed to base her personality and decisions on with whomever she last had a conversation, it seems like a bit of a crutch.

Where the show shines is the rich and varied supporting cast, there's sleazy screws, guards whose good intentions make them incompetent, and inmates from all walks of life. Unhinged crazies, religious fanatics and flakey hippy-dippy former pot farmers and looming over them all Kate "Janeway" Mulgrew as the russian battleaxe who runs the kitchen and ostensibly, the prison. The power dynamics between her and her wardens is where this show really shines, and Mulgrew shows some serious acting chops. That woman could give ye a look that would make yer shite freeze while simultaneously making yer bowels void themselves.

Broadly agree - Schilling is a very good actress - and let's face it a bit of a knockout - but I do think Piper is the weakest character on the show, followed closely by Alex Vause. The show's creator has actually admitted that she used the character of Piper as a 'trojan horse' in order to sell the show to networks.

Quote"In a lot of ways Piper was my Trojan Horse. You're not going to go into a network and sell a show on really fascinating tales of black women, and Latina women, and old women and criminals. But if you take this white girl, this sort of fish out of water, and you follow her in, you can then expand your world and tell all of those other stories. But it's a hard sell to just go in and try to sell those stories initially. The girl next door, the cool blonde, is a very easy access point, and it's relatable for a lot of audiences and a lot of networks looking for a certain demographic. It's useful."

http://www.npr.org/2013/08/13/211639989/orange-creator-jenji-kohan-piper-was-my-trojan-horse (http://www.npr.org/2013/08/13/211639989/orange-creator-jenji-kohan-piper-was-my-trojan-horse)

The stars of the show for me were the other inmates - the 'Miss Claudette' arc was especially moving and, ultimately, [spoiler]heartbreaking[/spoiler]. I loved how characters were introduced almost as caricatures (the crazy one, the religious lunatic, the terrifying Russian chef etc), but then fleshed out and humanised in a very satisfying way as the season progressed. I adored the supporting cast - there's some truly incredible acting talent on this show - some future superstars in there for sure. I'm hoping season 2 will go further in this direction and away from the soapy/far-fetched 'lesbian love triangle' aspect.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JamesC on 19 October, 2013, 06:17:03 PM
I've been watching lots of Star Trek TNG. Season five is currently airing on SyFy and this is the first time I've seen any of these since they were first on BBC 2.
My favourite character is Ensign Ro - she's believably competent and has a hard edge that most of the characters lack. She also has a certain amount of vulnerability - she's very well portrayed by the actress.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 19 October, 2013, 07:13:28 PM
TNG seasons 5 to 7 is why I love it.

Still some real stinkers in there but it's what cemented the geek in me.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 21 October, 2013, 06:30:36 PM
Quote from: Mister Pops on 15 October, 2013, 08:26:02 PM
Sam Neil, born in Omagh, canny do a Norn Irish accent? That's shackin, so it is.

He was originally deported to Australia, his accents are that criminal.

Homeland, which is basically 24 without the invincible Jack Bauer at the center of things, although it is just as daft, lacking in sympathetic characters and prone to dedicating far too much screen time to the misadventures of children of the main cast as 24 was.  I caught up with the first four episodes of the current (third) season and it's changed tack a bit from previous seasons to be a bit Chaos Day-Dredd-ish with the normally monolithic CIA element reduced to a shadow of its former self in the wake of a large-scale terrorist atrocity, but the first four eps make a good mini-arc with a decent twist at the end to disguise some glaringly obvious plot deficiencies and what seems essentially to be some sort of running theme about ladies with daddy issues that I am not entirely sure would be present if we were watching a show focused more on male protagonists.  Still, it's worth a punt if you haven't already.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 21 October, 2013, 09:29:44 PM
Well, I've made it to the end of the second series of Breaking Bad and, on the way, found a couple of characters to unequivocally root for. Sadly, Walt's already killed one of them but it looks like Saul will be in it for the long haul. His cheerful crookedness is a welcome respite from the anguished shouting elsewhere.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 21 October, 2013, 09:56:54 PM
Stephen Fry on Out There. A very heart warming and often shocking look at how homosexuality is viewed in western and 3rd world nations. Say what you will about Fry as an intellectual, he has hit the nail on the head here. As an open Bisexual whose currently in a relationship with another guy, I can honestly say ive been the victem of a lot of nasty cooment and a bit of physical vioence (nothing I couldnt fight back against naturaly) and doggedly support the LGBT community in its war against stereotyping and misconception,which is exactly what Fry goes out to do in these two episodes. He challenges the bigoted beliefs and ill informed opinions masquerading as facts held by politicians and the public alike.

Then I go and read this piece of shit article. It gets even worse in the comments section.
http://digitaljournal.com/article/360276#tab=comments&sc=0
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 21 October, 2013, 10:22:01 PM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 21 October, 2013, 09:56:54 PMIt gets even worse in the comments section.

The internet in a nutshell.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 21 October, 2013, 10:33:15 PM
Well, They look to have gone and deleted all the comments. How surprising. ::)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 21 October, 2013, 10:51:50 PM
Those comments must really have been something if the people who published an article that describes corrective rape as "propaganda" thought they went too far.  I liked the way the article presents facts, too "there weren't that many people killed for being gay" being a favorite, alongside "he was only fined for being gay".  I also like how the writer describes wanting to murder gay people as being little more than a lack of common sense.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 23 October, 2013, 12:56:13 PM
In other news...

I made it to the end of SMALLVILLE.

I made it to the end of SMALLVILLE.

All TEN Seasons.  It didn't end quite the way I wanted it to (or how most sensible people would have written it) but we still got to see just enough of Tom Welling in the suit (and nice happy endings shown for most characters) to leave me with a big grin on my face. And it was great to see Aaron Ashmore - just about the best thing in Season 8 (and Season 7?) back briefly.

I'd be interested to know if there was some legal reason we didn't get a proper full length body shot of Tom in the suit? Or was it just that they couldn't go to the expense of designing a new Supes suit and/or couldn't face the internet frothing that would follow?



Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 23 October, 2013, 01:04:15 PM
Quote from: Professor Vundabar K Werewolf on 21 October, 2013, 10:51:50 PM
Those comments must really have been something if the people who published an article that describes corrective rape as "propaganda" thought they went too far.

I think its quite the reverse. Many where anti-homophobic comments, which where then undercut (and subsequently deleted) by this "journalist".
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 27 October, 2013, 06:34:57 PM
I'm one episode from finishing season 2 of Breaking Bad, and I've been pleasantly surprised by this show.

Having seen people in my life ruin themselves with drug use, I was sincerely concerned that this show would glamourise the drug scene, and as such, I really had to have my arm twisted to sit down and watch the show. But the depiction of the low down, scummy, horrible existence drug abuse leads to is very credible indeed.

It's also a great show. I'm not sure as yet why it's won such wide acclaim, as I don't really see anything mind-blowing there. But it's very well acted, and I like the aspect of it where you can see trouble coming sometimes way ahead fo the characters.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 27 October, 2013, 07:03:18 PM
Quote from: HdE on 27 October, 2013, 06:34:57 PM
I'm one episode from finishing season 2 of Breaking Bad

I'm finally about to start watching the second half of the final season. I may be gone for some time.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: COMMANDO FORCES on 27 October, 2013, 07:06:11 PM
I started season 5 last night but I've already had the ending ruined while reading some comments about the end of Dexter on a 'Dexter' Facebook page, unbelievable!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 27 October, 2013, 07:12:44 PM
To be fair, if you were going to come across spoilers anywhere, it'd be on a fan page where people were discussing the show - I learned that the hard way when someone told me that [spoiler]Clark Kent becomes Superman[/spoiler] at the end of Smallville.  If it's any help, though, the ending of Dexter is utterly leftfield and has no precedent in anything leading up to that point, so knowing the destination won't really ruin the journey in this case.


Moderator edit for spoilers
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: COMMANDO FORCES on 27 October, 2013, 07:17:05 PM
The current talk is of Breaking Bad and that is what I'm on about and the ending of that was talked about on the Dexter page.
I wouldn't ever look for stuff on what I'm actually still watching.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 27 October, 2013, 08:39:25 PM

SPOILER FREE! I promise to tread lightly. Season 5, episode nine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Money_%28Breaking_Bad%29). The trademark teaser flash-forward - revealing graffiti, hilarious neighbour reaction, and all that they imply - was a welcome and reassuring touch.

Walt's obsessive and pernickety discussion of air freshener placement at the car wash reminds you that the loser science teacher you met in episode one of the first season and the guy who has murdered half the supporting cast are the same person, and that the aspects of Walt's personality which meant he picked on Gale until he could fire him and saw him chasing that fly all over Fring's lab are symptomatic of the tragic flaw (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamartia) that both got him where he is and that will be his undoing.

Jessie's acting entirely within the established pattern of his behaviour too; doomed to repeat the same cycle of cleaning himself up, getting his shit together, and then self destructing because his guilt and self hatred mean he can't bear to see himself happy. The stoned Star Trek conversation was priceless.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JudgeE1M1RT on 28 October, 2013, 11:58:32 AM
Started watching Breaking Bad yesterday.

And now I'm on the third episode of season 2.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proteus4 on 29 October, 2013, 01:05:17 AM
Quote from: JudgeE1M1RT on 28 October, 2013, 11:58:32 AM
Started watching Breaking Bad yesterday.

And now I'm on the third episode of season 2.

it should come with a health warning - dont start watching this if you have other things you need to do!  :D

Dave
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: GrinningChimera on 29 October, 2013, 01:54:50 AM
I've just begun my Walking Dead marathon. About 3 episodes into season 1 so far. After spending the weekend watching blu-rays (Alien Saga - The Last Stand - Sherlock Seasons 1 + 2 - Silent Hill 2 : can you say no life?) it's suddenly very noticeable how much better blu-ray is than DVD. The whole of the first episode was almost unwatchable just because of the sheer drop in picture quality. I'm getting used to it now though, but it has made me reconsider re-buying everything again on blu-ray.

The last episode of Sherlock season 2 was some of the best T.V I've seen in ages. From the opening with the "clockwork orange music" (I'm sure it's got a real name but that's what I know it as/from) to the ending which had me YELLING at the TV. [spoiler]I really hope that Moriarty is alive.[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 29 October, 2013, 11:37:46 AM
Quote from: JudgeE1M1RT on 28 October, 2013, 11:58:32 AM
Started watching Breaking Bad yesterday.

And now I'm on the third episode of season 2.

Yeah it'll do that. We recently bought season 1 for some friends of ours, and two days after they received it they were asking around if anyone had season 2 they could borrow!

Quotedont start watching this if you have other things you need to do!

Several people I know are almost pathologically against watching Breaking Bad - partly because everyone droning on about it the whole time has actually put them off, and partly because they 'don't have time'. Thing is, what I always say to this is when you're hooked, you'll make time!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 14 November, 2013, 07:45:55 PM
Nope, can't do it.

Still can't make it through a single episode of Community season 4 without my head sinking solemnly into my hands. It's almost utterly devoid of the sharpness, charm and wit that defined it for those first three seasons. As much as I try to go in with an open mind, the standard of jokes are exactly the kind of thing you'd expect from lowest-common denominator gash like The Big Bang Theory - just dressed up as a single camera sitcom.

I'm genuinely baffled how anyone who claims to be a fan of the show could defend it on any level. Even the excellent cast can't elevate such lame material. There's even one point - where Annie screams "I HATE REFERENCE HUMOUR!" - that feels like almost like a very ill-advised swipe at the previous seasons.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 14 November, 2013, 08:02:23 PM
Every time I watched an episode of that season I was surprised by Troy and Brita's relationship. Every time. That's how memorable it was.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 14 November, 2013, 08:18:27 PM
It really makes you realise that, while some episodes in those first three seasons were stronger than others (season one certainly takes a good long while to really find its feet), I actually don't think there's a single weak or downright unfunny joke in all 70-odd episodes, so it's really jarring and weirdly repulsive watching season 4 and seeing jokes crash and burn left right and centre. It just feels so wrong!

They Britta'd it.

It reminds me of Modern Family. While it was never a serious contender for 'greatest sitcom of all time', I thought the first two seasons were surprisingly strong - a little derivative, but warm, authentic and genuinely funny. And then it just completely went off a cliff between seasons two and three, and no one seemed to notice. I even checked to see if there'd been any major staff or writing team changes, but it just looks like they won a few awards and got complacent. Even Friends had four or five decent series before they got lazy and started phoning it in.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 14 November, 2013, 08:39:48 PM
Just watched episode 4, and the Germans from the foosball episode are brought back... so loads of unfunny, borderline-offensive WWII jokes can be made at their expense. Oh deary me.

And Jeff keeps openly referring to the study group as his 'family' and talking about his feelings....!!!!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 14 November, 2013, 08:47:28 PM
Yeah, and Jeff's heartfelt and inspirational speeches seem to be genuinely heartfelt and inspirational. It's all wrong.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 14 November, 2013, 09:00:10 PM
The stuff with Jeff's Dad was especially awful - all that careful buildup squandered so thoughtlessly. Apparently Dan Harmon had always wanted Bill Murray to play the role, which would have been insanely good - I feel like Murray's comedic style would have really gelled with the show's sensibilities. Guess that'll never happen now.

Funny how the new show-runners tried to make the show more accessible and the characters more likable, and ended up doing the exact opposite. All these dated anti-German jokes. Sheesh.

All the pop-culture reference stuff seems really forced too. In the old series, they used that stuff to tell real, emotional stories about the relationships and group dynamics in interesting ways. So far this series it all feels really shoehorned-in and awkward.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 14 November, 2013, 11:26:19 PM
I was going to pitch in that I didn't find much particularly objectionable about season 4 and a lot of objections may have been influenced by people's opinions on the departure of Dan Harmon, but then I remember Chang this season.  And that I didn't bother watching the rest of this season.
To be fair, though, German jokes are relevant among the under-40s because they (Germans) have become synonymous with dance culture, mid-80s synth-pop references and being villains in action films thanks to a generation of popular entertainment eating its own arsehole with references to the trends followed in the youth of those making it.  Basically Family Guy is to blame.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 14 November, 2013, 11:45:19 PM
Nah, I've watched a fair few eps now and I can say with some confidence that season 4 is pretty much tortuous. It's not the worst thing I've ever seen - you can tell they're at least trying, and a couple of moments even raised a smile - but it's a monumental cliff-dive in quality, and made me cringe more than it did laugh. I read a review on amazon that said there were less good jokes in the entire season than in one episode of the Harmon era, and I'd have to agree. It's like an awkward, clumsy cover-version. They hang entire episodes on comedic conceits that would have been throwaway jokes in previous seasons. And they've really neutered Jeff - no wonder McHale was the one to pull the strings to get Harmon back on board for s5. At least the setup of the series is kind of fluid so they'll be able to write around and retcon a lot of this dross.

Quote(Germans) have become synonymous with dance culture, mid-80s synth-pop references and being villains in action films thanks to a generation of popular entertainment eating its own arsehole with references to the trends followed in the youth of those making it

But jokes about WWII? In 2013? Really? I don't want to draw too much attention to that one aspect, but it seemed very distasteful and unCommunity-like to me.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 15 November, 2013, 12:23:14 PM
Quote from: radiator on 14 November, 2013, 11:45:19 PM
But jokes about WWII? In 2013? Really? I don't want to draw too much attention to that one aspect, but it seemed very distasteful and unCommunity-like to me.

And it's not Alf Garnett/David Brent/Alan Partridge? You are meant to laugh at the person making the jokes not the jokes?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 15 November, 2013, 05:27:14 PM
Yeah Season 4 is a mess, with this exception of a funny episode written by Jim Rash and the brilliant Matt Lucas it just tries too hard and squanders a lot of good build-up. The finale was ridiculous, the forced puppet-episode was awful and the awkward attempt to "normalise" Abed with a cringy romance plot was heartbreakingly off-message. Can't wait for its return with Harmon etc - although will miss Donald Glover.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 15 November, 2013, 05:50:59 PM
Everything I've seen of it so far just felt totally, totally 'off'. The big, apparently network-mandated emotional moments felt totally OTT and unearned. Despite what those moronic execs think, Community has always been a show with a big heart, it just did those moments with a bit more humour and subtlety, or subverted them to not let things get too saccharine.

What's very odd is it seems like they deliberately changed the character of Jeff to make him more 'appealing' to a wider audience, then they go and do loads of pandering, fan-service heavy episodes like the cringeworthy Inspector Spacetime convention one that would only be of interest to long-time fans. Feels like a lot of hands pulling in different directions behind the scenes.

Agree about Lucas - it's a shame he didn't get to appear in a better episode. And Rash too, who is always great. I haven't got to his episode yet, but might just skip ahead to that one and have done with it.

Anyway, just started watching Season 1 of Parks and Recreation.

It's pretty good - I like it. Very good cast. Nothing amazing so far, but I've heard it gets better as it goes.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: SmallBlueThing on 17 November, 2013, 11:28:31 AM
Ages ago I bought the complete 1959-1964 run of The Twilight Zone, off an ebay seller. They've been sitting on the shelf ever since unwatched, other than showing the kids 'The Howling Man' and 'The After-Hours' a couple of Halloweens ago.

This week, I received in the post a couple of early Gold Key Twilight Zone comics- and to my surprise, they were excellent. The Gold Key house format still somewhat puts me off, but the stories were fun and clever, and neither shat on the legacy of the great tv show. Inspired by this, I began to dip into the tv episodes for the first time in a decade, wondering if they were still as good as I remembered. Last night I watched 'An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge' (Civil War soldier escapes a hanging and makes his way home- famously the "last" TZ and the only one they bought in from outside, not producing themselves), 'The Invaders' (In a farmhouse out in the sticks an old woman fights a battle against action-figure-sized robot aliens who land in their tiny flying saucer) and 'Mr Dingle, The Strong' (in which Burgess Meredith is a weakling vacuum cleaner salesman suddenly given the power of a superman by the Best Alien On TV Ever).

Did I worry they wouldn't stand up? Nah, not at all- TZ is the single greatest television show in history. It helped that two of the above episodes mentioned I'd never seen- having somehow missed them during Channel Four's late-night repeats during the early to mid eighties. But Mr Dingle still reduced me to tears- mirth and nostalgia equally. Burgess Meredith, you were as close as this planet ever got to a god walking upon it. Next up: 'Time Enough At Last'.

SBT
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JOE SOAP on 17 November, 2013, 11:48:58 AM
Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 17 November, 2013, 11:28:31 AM
TZ is the single greatest television show in history.


Aye; the variety of stuff is incredible and so many to re-visit in the box-set. I have fond memories of the Channel 4 repeats and ones that stick out are Walking Distance (a weary businessman returns to his childhood town), A Hundred Yards Over the Rim (man from the 1900's wanders into the future and finds medicine for his sick son) , The Lonely (a murderer on a prison-planet falls in love with a female robot), Miniature (A loner (Robert Duvall) falls in love with a doll in a dollhouse) and many, many more. I like the 80's re-boot as well.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 17 November, 2013, 02:58:02 PM
It's hard to overstate how great so much of Twilight Zone really was - even in some of its later guises, but especially in the 60's run.  I often find I'm disappointed in so much modern SF/genre TV just because they seem to spread the same number of ideas over an entire season (or several) as TZ managed in an hour, or they just drop the ball in terms of message or resolution in favour of character-focused rmelodrama in a way that TZ seldom did.  Mind you, I feel the same way about SF novels versus short stories. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 18 November, 2013, 10:26:15 AM
The remastered Blu-ray editions of the 60's Twilight Zone released a coupla years ago are some of my my prized discs.
There were so many episodes I'd never seen before, not to mention the high re-watch factor.
Rod Serling...ye were a God among men.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 18 November, 2013, 12:00:12 PM
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 17 November, 2013, 11:48:58 AM
A Hundred Yards Over the Rim (man from the 1900's wanders into the future and finds medicine for his sick son)

Wasn't there a future shock ripped off inspired by that? Except it was a modern traveller who finds a some 19th c pioneers - I remember them calling coke a s'strange nectar' - he gives them some antibiotics (which he just happened to have on him)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Spikes on 18 November, 2013, 04:17:53 PM
Indeed. I fancy it was drawn by Redondo, but ive not got my progs at hand...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 18 November, 2013, 04:33:13 PM
Picked up the complete Dollhouse in my local Blockbuster's 'so long and thanks for all the fish' sale.

I had been warned that the opening of this series was weak. But, my goodness, that felt unusually vapid.

I have faith that Whedon will turn it around, though.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 18 November, 2013, 04:35:06 PM
Rod Serling's life story is worth a gander, if you can.  I like how he used to go wandering in one of his old jobs, having daydreams for fantasy stories trying to sort out how he'd write them and make the plots work in his head much to the despair of his co-workers - US servicemen deployed in "The Death Squad", a notoriously high-casualty platoon whose fatality rate once reached a record low of 50 percent.  His adventuring came to an end when he took an arrow to the knee - no, really.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Ancient Otter on 18 November, 2013, 11:13:39 PM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 18 November, 2013, 04:35:06 PM
Rod Serling's life story is worth a gander, if you can.  I like how he used to go wandering in one of his old jobs, having daydreams for fantasy stories trying to sort out how he'd write them and make the plots work in his head much to the despair of his co-workers - US servicemen deployed in "The Death Squad", a notoriously high-casualty platoon whose fatality rate once reached a record low of 50 percent.  His adventuring came to an end when he took an arrow to the knee - no, really.

Thanks for the tip - I had a flick through Wikipedia and was amazed he even lived long enough after the war to create The Twilight Zone.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JOE SOAP on 18 November, 2013, 11:46:01 PM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 18 November, 2013, 04:35:06 PM
Rod Serling's life story is worth a gander, if you can.  I like how he used to go wandering in one of his old jobs, having daydreams for fantasy stories trying to sort out how he'd write them and make the plots work in his head much to the despair of his co-workers - US servicemen deployed in "The Death Squad", a notoriously high-casualty platoon whose fatality rate once reached a record low of 50 percent.  His adventuring came to an end when he took an arrow to the knee - no, really.


It's worth watching the feature documentary: Submitted for your approval (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kZcHylU2t8).

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 19 November, 2013, 08:46:35 AM
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 18 November, 2013, 11:46:01 PMIt's worth watching the feature documentary: Submitted for your approval.

Fascinating (if overworked) stuff, that.  Interesting to see the very same external constraints and pressures that shaped and elevated Star Trek and 2000AD at work in Sterling's career - a need to slip the good stuff under the radar of the commercial and morality police by using allegory. And robots. 

I had no idea that Sterling wrote Requiem for a Heavyweight -  never seen his Jack Palance original (although the clips here make it look ace), but I love the Anthony Quinn/Mickey Rooney movie version.

And such cool interviewees in there!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 20 November, 2013, 12:55:40 PM
Due to the fact it clashed with Downton Abbey (Mrs. Primes fav show) over the past few months, I hadn't seen any of 'Love / Hate' season 4.
Got the box-set there at the weekend, and gorged on all 6 episodes.

For me, bringing the perspective of the Gardai into play was a brilliant idea, and really made for a more satisfying show.
Didn't hurt that the excellent Brian F. O'Byrne was chewing scenery like it was the top of a Bic pen.

The seemingly insurmountable forces stacking up against Nidge's gang had a decent pay-off, and I was very happy to hear the series has been renewed for another year.

Ireland's answer to The Wire? Not quite- but it's getting there.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 20 November, 2013, 01:18:37 PM
Just watched an episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks where Huey Morgan through a strop and nearly took out Phil Jupitus's eye out with a mug. The guy knows his music, but he seriously can not take a joke.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 20 November, 2013, 01:25:50 PM
Yeah I saw that, what was the deal there?

I think he was getting agitated at Rizzle Kicks which is fair enough but he definitely comes off worse than them!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 20 November, 2013, 01:48:08 PM
He claims to have become a bit embittered by how formulaic the series has got. I mean, I still enjoy it immensely, but it sure hasn't changed much in years. Still, no excuse to let a game get to you and get all uppity.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ThryllSeekyr on 20 November, 2013, 02:53:44 PM
Quote from: HdE on 18 November, 2013, 04:33:13 PM
Picked up the complete Dollhouse in my local Blockbuster's 'so long and thanks for all the fish' sale.

I had been warned that the opening of this series was weak. But, my goodness, that felt unusually vapid.

I have faith that Whedon will turn it around, though.

I see what you did there  ::)

I think you made a pun, when you mentioned Faith. As in the other Slayer character from the third or fourth season of Buffy the Vampire-Slayer.

I was wondering if you did that on purpose.

She's in Dollhouse as well.

Though I never got into that show or Firefly

I follow that actress on twitter.

Who ever she is.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bobblehead on 20 November, 2013, 03:40:46 PM

Just bought Breaking Bad Season 1 to see what all the fuss is about. Only watched 3 episodes in and im loving it already,will watch a couple more tonight. I agree with people who say its well acted,well written and tragic/funny at the same time.

Also watching Bates Motel on catch-up,watched episodes 4-9 last week and the ex-missus is coming round tonight to watch the finale and some more Breaking Bad with me.
 
My daughter Amelia is currently watching Scooby Doo and Chip n' Dale cartoons. These are 'amazing' and Scooby Doo is 'scary'. We watched the whole 2 seasons of Mystery Incorporated together (about 52 episodes), i was quite impressed,it was funny and clever at times with knowing winks for the grown ups about certain films (Hellraiser and Terminator) and jokes about the old shows (Flim-Flam is doing 20years for theft atm and Scrappy Doo- 'we dont talk about him')
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 21 November, 2013, 08:22:50 PM
While trying to decide whether Breaking Bad 3 or Buffy 5 is more deserving of my attention, I find myself halfway through I, Claudius.

Bloody Hell, it's good. While I vaguley remember it being on tv when I was a kid, I don't think I've ever sat down to watch it as an adult. I can imagine the odd modern person being put off by the staginess and some of the shrill screaming but it don't bother me guv. Amongst the obvious amusement at seeing young versions of bigger names (Captain Picard with hair!), it's particularly fascinating to see that Brian Blessed was once a real  actor.

Also interesting that, while both the history itself and the talk centres around the male stars, it's Sian Phillips' Livia who rules here. Some nicely arch dialogue in places which would probably just be replaced with the sex being alluded to. Plenty more bloody action to look forward to with Nero and Caligula just coming of age.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Ghost MacRoth on 21 November, 2013, 08:29:01 PM
Quote from: Bobblehead on 20 November, 2013, 03:40:46 PM

Just bought Breaking Bad Season 1 to see what all the fuss is about. Only watched 3 episodes in and im loving it already,will watch a couple more tonight. I agree with people who say its well acted,well written and tragic/funny at the same time.

Just watched the end of season 5, damn I envy you having it all new and unseen before you! Excellent series, brilliant cast, cracking scripts. Loved every minute of it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 21 November, 2013, 08:35:27 PM
Quote from: Bobblehead on 20 November, 2013, 03:40:46 PMWe watched the whole 2 seasons of Mystery Incorporated together (about 52 episodes), i was quite impressed,it was funny and clever at times with knowing winks for the grown ups about certain films (Hellraiser and Terminator) and jokes about the old shows (Flim-Flam is doing 20years for theft atm and Scrappy Doo- 'we dont talk about him')

I was more impressed that they got a gay Velma in there without it being the punchline to a joke, and that the series became a prequel for every other version of Scooby Doo ever by doing a crossover with Twin Peaks.  The clever way it utilises Christianity (specifically Catholicism) as a force for good throughout the gang's meta-arc of a quest for secular truth is both commendable and virtually unique in sci-fi outside the odd episode of the Twilight Zone, too - "all things can be forgiven" still gets me right here.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 21 November, 2013, 11:07:47 PM
Quote from: The Cosh on 21 November, 2013, 08:22:50 PMI find myself halfway through I, Claudius.

Bloody Hell, it's good.

It really is, I watch it every couple of years and I'm always bowled over.  I fantasise about a future version where all the performances are retained but the exterior sets replaced with expansive and seamless CGI, and the big set-piece spectacles of the books are inserted.  This is a perfect version where all that works, obviously, and not the one we'd actually get, which would be awful.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Greg M. on 22 November, 2013, 03:52:17 PM
I do love I, Claudius. It took me a couple of goes to get through the lengthy first episode, but once Ian Ogilvy (one of my favourite actors ever) had popped up, I had my in-roads and was hooked. After that, it just got better and better. It goes without saying that John Hurt, clearly in the midst of one of the purplest patches of any actor's career, probably steals the show during his reign as Caligula. The interplay between he and Jacobi is fantastic - I was amazed they got away with broadcasting his most infamous moment.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Charlie boy on 22 November, 2013, 04:07:06 PM
I'm going to start buying The Shield boxsets; never watched it but I've heard it goes great once Kurt Sutter is promoted as the man in charge. Anybody here actually watch it when it was on channel5 a few years back?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 22 November, 2013, 04:20:24 PM
Quote from: Greg M. on 22 November, 2013, 03:52:17 PM... I was amazed they got away with broadcasting his most infamous moment.

Yeah, even from the vantage point of 2013 it's as shocking a piece of telly as there's ever been.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 23 November, 2013, 05:24:00 PM
I am currently watching all Star Trek ToS for the first time.

Although I am led to believe the show was a pioneer in terms of equality attitudes it still suffers from being a product of it's time.  It is still very chauvinistic.  It does appear to be trying nonetheless and it's chauvinism isn't as bad as some modern media equivalents and it at least has an excuse of being the aforementioned product of it's time.  That aside, it's quality is better than what I had been led to believe through many a Star Trek cliche.  It's not good quality though.  It's fun watching Shatner actually developing his terrible over acting he is renowned for over time.  The pauses in his sentences are slowly but surely getting longer and longer. 

There are some nice ideas being presented (and often repeated several times over) that could be fleshed out and modernised.  This has me thinking about the rebooted Battlestar Galactica which I loved watching.  When I have finished with ToS I may go onto the original Battlestar Galactica - avoiding Galactica 1980.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 23 November, 2013, 06:45:07 PM
Roddenberry deliberately reined-in the overt gender and racial equality of the show because when he tried to make it too blatant (in the original pilot The Cage), the network passed on the show, citing among other things that the ship's first officer was a woman and this meant that whenever the captain was off having adventures in the course of any hypothetical series that she'd be in charge of the ship and everyone on it.  Paradoxically, they also complained that the green lady slave type was offensive, so eventually the series settled on a middle ground of just having women - and non-Caucasians - around but never going into details, while individual scriptwriters could choose to go forward from that as they saw fit.
For the most part, just being present and visible in the background was a huge leap forward for equality in the era as the Enterprise was a defacto military ship and miniskirts or not the female crew-members were serving military officers.  Just take a look at other sci-fi of the era like Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Land of the Giants or Lost In Space and how they portrayed women - if at all.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 23 November, 2013, 07:21:05 PM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 23 November, 2013, 06:45:07 PM
Roddenberry deliberately reined-in the overt gender and racial equality of the show because when he tried to make it too blatant (in the original pilot The Cage), the network passed on the show, citing among other things that the ship's first officer was a woman and this meant that whenever the captain was off having adventures in the course of any hypothetical series that she'd be in charge of the ship and everyone on it.  Paradoxically, they also complained that the green lady slave type was offensive, so eventually the series settled on a middle ground of just having women - and non-Caucasians - around but never going into details, while individual scriptwriters could choose to go forward from that as they saw fit.
For the most part, just being present and visible in the background was a huge leap forward for equality in the era as the Enterprise was a defacto military ship and miniskirts or not the female crew-members were serving military officers.  Just take a look at other sci-fi of the era like Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Land of the Giants or Lost In Space and how they portrayed women - if at all.

Hence "product of it's time", "It does appear to be trying" and "isn't as bad as some modern media equivalents".
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 23 November, 2013, 07:28:06 PM
Now you leave Battlestar Galactica alone - for all we know there maybe just wasn't a whole lot of tv shows about sex robots and we really needed another one.

And there's really no need to be defensive, I was joining the debate rather than derailing it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 23 November, 2013, 07:49:31 PM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 23 November, 2013, 07:28:06 PM
Now you leave Battlestar Galactica alone - for all we know there maybe just wasn't a whole lot of tv shows about sex robots and we really needed another one.

I don't understand what you mean here.  You're going to have to explain this one for me, please.

Quote
And there's really no need to be defensive, I was joining the debate rather than derailing it.

Fine. Join the debate, there's really no need to be defensive about my replies :)

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dr Feeley Good on 23 November, 2013, 08:27:18 PM
Quote from: Charlie boy on 22 November, 2013, 04:07:06 PM
I'm going to start buying The Shield boxsets; never watched it but I've heard it goes great once Kurt Sutter is promoted as the man in charge. Anybody here actually watch it when it was on channel5 a few years back?
first couple of series are great, dips a bit then goes really good again when Forrest Whittaker comes into it
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 25 November, 2013, 03:53:23 PM
After a hectic weekend, I'm now three episodes into Dollhouse and I really don;t care for it so far.

Weakly written, limp episodic fluff. Well, okay the second episode had a bit more muscle to it, but so far, this is pretty lame. Not actually sure if I can be bothered to stick it out and see if the stories I hear about it improving dramatically are true. This show just feels completely vacant.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 25 November, 2013, 04:07:25 PM
Dollhouse has been recommended to me countless times and I still haven't managed to muster up enough enthusiasm to give it a go.  The concept just doesn't excite me enough.  I find it a bit off putting, to be honest.

Although when I get recommendations they usually turn out to be worthwhile, eg.  Battlestar Galactica (reboot), Game of Thrones and the absolutely fantastic The Wire.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: SmallBlueThing on 26 November, 2013, 02:36:00 PM
I'm literally choking on my biscuits at the suggestion that Shatner was "crap" in Trek! That's a muddleheaded piece of nonsense spread by terrible stand up comedians back in the nineties,and endlessly copied and repeated by office bores trying to appear cool and funny in front of the latest sexy temp. Shatner's Kirk is an incredible creation- undeniably the most famous hero in a'll of science fiction, and utterly believable from start to his end. Shatner is a great actor anyway- check out 'nightmare at 20000 feet' for more of this. What always makes me laugh about trekkers who have a go at Shatner, is that they then claim Patrick Stewart is "a good actor". Let me make this very clear: he is not. But he very very much thinks he is.

SBT
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 26 November, 2013, 03:00:49 PM
Kirk is rightly an icon, but I think what I found most grating about NuTrek is that Chris Pine doesn't have that smarmy, sleazy porn-star charm that Shatner does.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAvRBDQqSmY
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 26 November, 2013, 03:38:36 PM
I can't say I'm overly impressed by Star Trek ToS.  Some episodes are enjoyable, some a laughable and some a just plain awful.  So far, at the end of series 2, I can say that it's better than what I expected but not by a great deal.  Still, I take that as a win and who knows, I may even develop a bizarre fondness for it.

With all that in mind I still think it is better than the New Star Trek films.  By lightyears.  OK, I've only seen the first New Trek, but I'm led to believe that the second is worse (which I'm happy to accept without viewing it for myself... it's probably wall to wall lens flare).  Karl Urban does a pretty good job as Dr McCoy, I'll grant him that, but he's Dredd.  Of course he doesn't suck.  I can't say I was impressed with anyone else, not even Simon Pegg.  Back to the point.  ToS = better than Star Trek Reboot.

Due to ToS' repetitive nature in terms of story themes I am still enjoying considering the potential of a Star Trek series reboot ala BSG.  Of course much of it's tone would need to be less dark than BSG.  I like the representation of the Klingons and the way they are presented in ToS is very different from the Films and spin offs.  Expanding the original Klingon concept would be interesting.  I do end up bustling with loads of ideas and if I had both the time and talent I'd write a reboot fan fiction or something.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 26 November, 2013, 04:48:52 PM
Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 26 November, 2013, 02:36:00 PMShatner's Kirk is an incredible creation- undeniably the most famous hero in a'll of science fiction, and utterly believable from start to his end. ... they then claim Patrick Stewart is "a good actor". Let me make this very clear: he is not.

While completely agreeing with you that Shatner is superb, almost ridiculously so in ToS, I just can't agree about Stewart: he does precisely what he needs to do as in actor in TNG, which is to appear to believe utterly in and treat the ridiculous tosh around him completely seriously, to the stage where it becomes a plot point to have his character want his scientific/diplomatic/humanitarian/military mission to be run professionally, and not as an interstellar daycare centre.  I think his performance is every bit as good as Shatner's in filling and developing the role his character plays.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Recrewt on 26 November, 2013, 05:15:07 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 26 November, 2013, 03:38:36 PM
I can't say I'm overly impressed by Star Trek ToS.  Some episodes are enjoyable, some a laughable and some a just plain awful.

When I saw that you were watching Star Trek ToS, this is what I immediately thought.  I bloomin well love ToS and have to say your comments about Shatner are absurd - the man is a legend that has never been equalled in the captain's chair.  But, it is very up and down with episodes ranging from pretty poor to the best stuff I have ever seen. 

Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 26 November, 2013, 02:36:00 PM
What always makes me laugh about trekkers who have a go at Shatner, is that they then claim Patrick Stewart is "a good actor". Let me make this very clear: he is not. But he very very much thinks he is.

Well, as we all know Shatner has a bit of love/hate relationship with Trekkies/Trekkers/Whatever They Call Themselves so a lot of the 'flak' I think relates to this.  He calls them weird freaks and they say Patrick is better.  I dont mind Patrick Stewart - he's the second best captain Trek has ever had.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 26 November, 2013, 05:21:08 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 26 November, 2013, 04:48:52 PM
Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 26 November, 2013, 02:36:00 PMShatner's Kirk is an incredible creation- undeniably the most famous hero in a'll of science fiction, and utterly believable from start to his end. ... they then claim Patrick Stewart is "a good actor". Let me make this very clear: he is not.

While completely agreeing with you that Shatner is superb, almost ridiculously so in ToS, I just can't agree about Stewart: he does precisely what he needs to do as in actor in TNG, which is to appear to believe utterly in and treat the ridiculous tosh around him completely seriously, to the stage where it becomes a plot point to have his character want his scientific/diplomatic/humanitarian/military mission to be run professionally, and not as an interstellar daycare centre.  I think his performance is every bit as good as Shatner's in filling and developing the role his character plays.

Stewart even does a good job of the completely-out-of-character Picard served up in most of the Next Gen films. He's aces. Brilliant also in EXTRAS.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Daveycandlish on 26 November, 2013, 05:37:29 PM
I must admit the only Trek boxset I have is the 70s animated series where Shatners acting ticks are even more pronounced! Still love it though
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 26 November, 2013, 05:38:16 PM
I haven't seen Shatner in much outside of Star Trek.  Nevertheless, it is my observation that as the series go past he is overacting more and more.  I'm aware that it has been exaggerated in popular culture because it's not as bad as I was expecting (so far) but it's still bad. 

I have no nostalgia for ToS nor do I have any emotional investment in it.  I have no beef with Shatner, either.  Just calling it how I see it.... sorry about that :)

Moving on:

I enjoy Patrick Stewart's performances and I did enjoy his Piccard.  My favourite Trek captain is Avery Brooks' Ben Sisko.  His character actually developed over the years from a traumatised commander to a mystic warrior demi-god.  Even then, I probably wouldn't defend my choice to the hilt - don't really care enough.

In case anyone is wondering, I'm not a trekkie or trekker.  There might be a science fiction franchise out there that I would claw anyone's eyes out for criticising.  I won't say what it is because I suspect the temptation might prove too great for some of you boys ;)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Ancient Otter on 27 November, 2013, 12:02:55 AM
Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 26 November, 2013, 02:36:00 PM
I'm literally choking on my biscuits at the suggestion that Shatner was "crap" in Trek! That's a muddleheaded piece of nonsense spread by terrible stand up comedians back in the nineties,and endlessly copied and repeated by office bores trying to appear cool and funny in front of the latest sexy temp. Shatner's Kirk is an incredible creation- undeniably the most famous hero in a'll of science fiction, and utterly believable from start to his end. Shatner is a great actor anyway- check out 'nightmare at 20000 feet' for more of this. What always makes me laugh about trekkers who have a go at Shatner, is that they then claim Patrick Stewart is "a good actor". Let me make this very clear: he is not. But he very very much thinks he is.

SBT

Starring in over 60 pieces by the Royal Shakespeare Company means nothing to you? You are one tough critic SBT.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 27 November, 2013, 07:40:06 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 26 November, 2013, 05:21:08 PMBrilliant also in EXTRAS.

"But it's too late.  I've seen everything."

One of several guaranteed methods of de-angrying the wife is to deliver one of the Extras soliloquies in my best Stewart.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 27 November, 2013, 11:25:10 AM
Quote from: Charlie boy on 22 November, 2013, 04:07:06 PM
I'm going to start buying The Shield boxsets; never watched it but I've heard it goes great once Kurt Sutter is promoted as the man in charge. Anybody here actually watch it when it was on channel5 a few years back?

I am rewatching the Shield in its entirety for something like the 3rd time?

It's a great show with great performances and a photography style that really suits it. It's a little over the top (ok a lot over the top) but it's a fun, dark and satisfying show with an ambitious way of telling stories. Effectively tells one story from beginning to end, nothing ever goes away forever. Worth watching just for Forest Whitaker
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 30 November, 2013, 07:16:36 PM
Finally made it to the end of Community Season 4. It improves slightly towards the end of the 13 episodes, but it's instantly forgettable stuff and, unlike seasons 1-3 which I must have watched through 4+ times now, I'll never watch any of it again. Every so often they have a germ of something interesting, but it's weird how off everything still is - even down to how the actors deliver lines - the rhythm of the show is just missing entirely. And of course, it's about 95% less funny than it used to be, and the 'antics' feel incredibly forced - sometimes to a toe-curling degree.

On the plus side, the quality bar has been lowered by such an absurd degree that there's no way the imminent season 5 can possibly disappoint...

Roll on January.

On another related note, I've finally converted some of my friends onto the show, who now love it as much as I do, and it's been a delight watching the old episodes with them. Maybe I can now get my gf to give it another chance.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 30 November, 2013, 07:28:46 PM
I seem to be constantly Community-converting folk, it's amazing how relatively popular it is how few people have actually seen it!

With regards to four as I said to someone t'other day - now that we know there's probably definitely going to be a good season 5 it just makes that mess look like a bump on the road rather than what it looked like when it aired. Which was a monstrosity of epic proportions. Phheewww.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 30 November, 2013, 08:10:10 PM
I've always found it tricky to get others hooked because the first series - especially the first five or six episodes - don't really represent what the show becomes as it grows and evolves, and the writers get more confident. It certainly didn't click with me until the Modern Warfare episode, and it took me a long time to really warm to the characters. People tend to have very short attention spans these days and tend to judge stuff very quickly - I know that people I have recommended it to in the past didn't make it past the pilot. Their loss.

I pressed the DVD into my friend's hand a couple of week's ago, and gave them a big spiel about it, saying not to judge it too harshly early on, and to maybe even skip ahead to specific episodes, but I needn't have bothered as it turns out they loved it straight away!

I do think it's going to be one of those shows that, like Arrested Development, only gets a big following after its ended. It's staggering how it is almost completely unknown in the UK.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 30 November, 2013, 11:02:24 PM
I polished off the fifth and final season of the original Twilight Zone and there were some great episodes like Nightmare at 20 000 Feet and Number 12 Looks Just Like You, but my favorite was probably The Self-Improvement Of Salvadore Ross, which has some moments of sinister genius like the main character getting younger and younger as he travels from his penthouse apartment to his car, and the black cruelty of the final twist is just fantastic.  There's the odd turd, though, like the nonsensical Come Wander With Me, which I will charitably suggest is about a guy trapped inside a song, A Short Drink From A Certain Fountain, Sounds And Silences, and Black Leather Jackets, but the sexism and racism of isolated episodes like The Encounter and From Agnes With Love aside, it's otherwise a solid season with some standout imagery like the giant fear monster balloon and Robby T. Robot with a pimp cane dissing a 'ho.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 30 November, 2013, 11:39:02 PM
Honestly I remember watching Community for the first time and not being sold on the first... maybe two or three episodes. But I have a completists mentality about this kind of thing and someone I really trust on these matters had told me it was worth it so that pulled me right through, but even before the paintball one I thought "now this is weird" but Harmon's penchant for sappiness without context threw me right off at the start.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 01 December, 2013, 12:28:07 AM
Speaking of completest mentalities I have been seriously considering ditching my attempt to watch the original series Star Trek from start to finish.  I don't know how much more of it I can take but I feel obliged to persevere.  I must carry on  and get to the   end.  I can't let it      beat me.  I           just can't.  Don't you                               understand? Ican'tletit     win!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 01 December, 2013, 12:57:11 AM
I did that last December/January - bought the whole thing for my Trekkie other half and it was, yeah, tough going but some of it is marvellous. Hard to do in one sitting, will break it into season chunks in future!

I've bought her (she doesn't read this board he says hopefully) the original movies for this Crimbo. Much more manageable (and cheaper)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 01 December, 2013, 01:15:35 AM
I'm not the biggest fan anyway, but I don't think something like Star Trek was ever designed to be watched in quick succession like that so it's bound to suffer as a result. Watching the odd episode when it pops up on telly is definitely the way forward.

As for Community, I guess it's destined to be one of those programmes like Seinfeld or Arrested Development or whatever. Beloved of TV critics everywhere and a few lone souls but generally ignored or just never seen. Sorry.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 01 December, 2013, 12:43:09 PM
I've been watching one or two a day so it's spread out a little bit and I've seen 61 episodes so far.  It really depends on the quality of the next 19 episodes as to whether I can manage to get to the end or not.  The children of the corn episode "And the children shall lead" (from which the clip Professor Bear posted appears) really did my head in.  It was just so tiresome and annoying.

I'll probably have to admit that I'm not a big TV fan anyway.  I don't have a television feed and scheduled programming has been mostly devoid in my life for around 5 years now.  Box set viewing is how I view TV programmes now. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 01 December, 2013, 01:12:01 PM
Quote from: The Cosh on 01 December, 2013, 01:15:35 AM
I'm not the biggest fan anyway, but I don't think something like Star Trek was ever designed to be watched in quick succession like that so it's bound to suffer as a result. Watching the odd episode when it pops up on telly is definitely the way forward.

We've been watching TOS an episode a week-or-so since the spring, usually with The Boy and usually out of order, and sometimes mixed in with TNG episodes, and I thought it stood up very well indeed in that essentially televisual format.  Still manages to be thought-provoking on occasion, and frequently very exciting.  I find myself mesmerised by how successful the make-up and costumes are, and surprised how much I care about the crew's OTT emotions.  Most importantly, it's a future I actively want to live in: there aren't many of those.  They really do a hell of a lot with very little.

Mind you, Pictsy, if you're having problems with the first and/or second seasons you're as well to jump before you get to the third - there is some good stuff in there, but also some terrible repetitive clunkers.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 01 December, 2013, 01:41:58 PM
Already into the third series.  I'm on "Spectre of the Gun" which is proving so far to be a bit silly.  The previous episode wasn't too bad either, although seeing Dr Pulaski appear in ToS a second time was distracting.

I remember watching an episode of Star Trek many years ago that I enjoyed to a degree.  I haven't seen that one this time around yet.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 01 December, 2013, 02:00:06 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 01 December, 2013, 01:41:58 PM... seeing Dr Pulaski appear in ToS a second time was distracting.

You'd think Lwaxana Troi (aka Number One, Nurse/Dr. Chapel, the Computer) and Sarek of Vulcan (aka Romulan Commander, Klingon Captain of the IKS Amar) would have prepared you!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 01 December, 2013, 04:35:10 PM
Not really as I was aware those two featured in the series.  I had no idea about Dr Pulaski and she looks quite different in ToS than TNG.  That haircut in TNG did her no favours whatsoever.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 01 December, 2013, 11:06:18 PM
Finished my viewing of I, Claudius. The second half isn't quite as good as the first but John Hurt is indeed great as Caligula and it's fairly obvious why they (or Graves) elected to spend so much time on him. The final section covering Claudius' own rule is a nice coda which maybe drags on slightly too long and features another historic casting coup in Christopher Biggins' Nero. Marvellous.

Over the past couple of nights I've watched almost all of the second series of Game of Thrones in a distracted sort of way. I'm sure I've missed all sorts of things but , knowing the books reasonably well, it's been nice to have it on in the background and dip in and out of paying attention. Think I'll manage the climactic battle before bed.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 09 December, 2013, 02:21:41 PM
After watching Frasier (which is absolutely great) I went back and started watching Cheers, I'm up to the series 6 now, when Saavik shows up. Kirsty Alley is absolutely fantastic, her comedy chops have been a revelation. She's much more likeable than Diane Chambers too, although (especially in her later years), I think we weren't supposed to like Diane much, and the whole Sam and Diane thing became completely insufferable very quickly.

Another aspect that impressed me was how Kelsey Grammar had Dr. Frasier Crane down pat immediately. Whether you watch his first appearance in Cheers, or the last episode of Frasier, it is absolutely the same character, a bit older maybe, but without any tweaking. He hit the ground running with that character.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 09 December, 2013, 03:21:31 PM
Teen Wolf season 3.  The first season was surprisingly good for a po-faced update of a notoriously rubbish campfest from the 1980s whose only redeeming quality was that Michael J Fox had a habit of choosing scripts at random, but season 2 was all over the shop with arbitrary plot elements coming into play and the show displayed signs of becoming less horror and more superhero-y, reminding me a lot of Japanese kids' series Kamen Rider Blade.  I say this without judgement, either, but the show also became amazingly gay, as if another show lingered on the undressed female form the way this show lingers on its topless male cast, it'd be called out as sexist tripe rather quickly.
Season 3 is a straight superhero show, complete with a blind kung-fu werewolf martial arts master, twin werewolves who combine into a single more powerful werewolf, psychics, druids, serial killers, evil sorcerers, a baddie made of insects - oh, and being a werewolf is also like being a Highlander now, because there can be only one and once one werewolf kills another they absorb their werewolf powers, which is one of the lesser-known parts of werewolf mythology established in the famous sequel to the Wolf Man made in 1943 where Claude Rains Licked cream off a dude's shaved chest for three minutes.  It all makes perfect sense for a comedy about a basketball-playing werewolf, really - oh, except he doesn't play basketball anymore, he plays lacrosse, which is basically girls' hockey.
Still, it's pretty enjoyable hokum if you don't mind illogic and a jenga tower approach to the script, owing considerably more than it wants to admit to the kids' show romp that was Big Wolf On Campus, though admittedly with considerably less of the self-awareness that show possessed, with at least one scene so far in which someone talks another person out of ghost-influenced suicide using The Power Of Love - it's two dudes expressing their love, naturally, and this comes less than ten minutes after two other dudes are making out on-camera in a motel room.
Utter nonsense as a whole, but I enjoyed it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 09 December, 2013, 03:31:50 PM
I did the Cheers and Frasier thing not too long ago.  Cheers surprised me.  It wasn't half as bad as I remembered and actually maintained an average at best quality throughout.  Conversely Woody Harrelson wasn't half as good as I remember.  I must have had an inflated notion of his characters comedic value.  The Frasier character is certainly a highlight.

Frasier, the TV show is one of my favourite sitcoms.  It has it's faults, but the essential quality that makes it so good is how often it makes me laugh.  Cheers didn't really make me laugh that often and the characters were mostly annoying on the whole.  Frasier is just quality and I thoroughly enjoy it on repeat viewings (minus a small handful of episodes I find difficult to watch).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 09 December, 2013, 05:22:41 PM
Quote from: Mister Pops on 09 December, 2013, 02:21:41 PM
Another aspect that impressed me was how Kelsey Grammar had Dr. Frasier Crane down pat immediately. Whether you watch his first appearance in Cheers, or the last episode of Frasier, it is absolutely the same character, a bit older maybe, but without any tweaking. He hit the ground running with that character.

The younger, thinner, hairier Frasier also bears more of a resemblance to Niles. We love a bit of Frasier up our end. Even though you can see plenty of the gags coming a mile away, it's so delightfully and expertly done. Charming.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Daveycandlish on 09 December, 2013, 05:30:19 PM
First three and the final season of Frasier are some of the finest comedy shows to come out of the US in years
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 10 December, 2013, 10:46:55 AM
Started watching League of Gentlemen on Netflix - bloody brilliant stuff. My housemates are perplexed by how dark it all is, how it blends the prosaic world of a small, rundown town in the moors with a surreal carnival of insane characters and incredibly creepy ideas. What's all this shouting? We'll have no trouble here!

Other times I be mostly watching the Shield from start to finish when I work from home. Up to Forest Whittaker, genius character.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Ancient Otter on 10 December, 2013, 11:16:28 AM
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 10 December, 2013, 10:46:55 AM
Started watching League of Gentlemen on Netflix - bloody brilliant stuff. My housemates are perplexed by how dark it all is, how it blends the prosaic world of a small, rundown town in the moors with a surreal carnival of insane characters and incredibly creepy ideas. What's all this shouting? We'll have no trouble here!

Having a horror portmanteau for a Christmas special was a great idea.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 10 December, 2013, 11:38:42 AM
The BBFC have recently released some long forgotten horror gems on DVD / BD, and I jumped at the chance to pick up 'Dead of Night', primarily for the oft mentioned but little seen 'The Exorcism'.
The box-set only includes 3 episodes, the others apparently deleted from the BBC archives and lost forever.
The other two episodes 'Return Flight' and 'A Woman Sobbing' are perfectly alright if unremarkable, but the main draw of this disc- 'The Exorcism' lives up to the hype.
Hard to believe an hour of television that's over 40 years old would resonate so strongly today.
I'm very much a horror aficionado, and it takes a lot to creep me out.
The final scene featuring [spoiler]the open mouthed starved-to-death corpse of the supernatural force[/spoiler] is genuinely shocking.
'The Exorcism' is also set at Christmas, making this a must buy for any fan of the BBCs 'Ghost Stories for Christmas'.

Recommended.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 10 December, 2013, 11:43:01 AM
Stuck on episode 13, series 3 of Star Trek ToS.  The title of the episode "Elaan of Troyius" just fills me with dread.  So whilst I work up the courage to watch it I have started on TNG.  Instantly I can see the improvement in quality across the board.  I'm not a fan of the first series of TNG but compared to ToS it is ambrosia.  I don't think I'll ever be a fan of ToS, but I have finally given it a chance.  ToS is better than I expected (at least to begin with), but it doesn't float my boat.  Giving me a greater appreciation for TNG and a revived interest in it is a good thing, though - as I had got tired of TNG from watching it too many times. 

I hope I can finish ToS... maybe if I get really drunk over Christmas.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 10 December, 2013, 12:32:00 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 10 December, 2013, 11:43:01 AM
Stuck on episode 13, series 3 of Star Trek ToS.  The title of the episode "Elaan of Troyius" just fills me with dread. 

Is that the one with a bit of dialogue along the lines of:

"What is this Human word 'Spanking' that you refer to?"

How could you not love that?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 10 December, 2013, 01:27:00 PM
I haven't actually watched it yet.  You're just scaring me off even more ;)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 10 December, 2013, 01:33:16 PM
Quick! Stop this before Richmond see's!

Well I started to watch Breaking Bad, at last. Five episodes into season one and it's very good indeed. I find Walter to be one of the more empathetic anti hero's of recent years.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Recrewt on 10 December, 2013, 01:34:44 PM
I can remember watching Star Trek ToS on TV as a small child so it is impossible for me to be unbiased about it.  That said, when I watched it again recently I thought it stood up pretty well.  As with any sci-fi series, there is good and bad.

(http://b2b.cbsimg.net/blogs/insp_spocks_brain.png)


As for TNG, well it's generally accepted that the first couple of series were patchy but it does get good after that. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 10 December, 2013, 01:36:21 PM
Elaan of Troyus is not a great episode, in fairness, and any enjoyment probably depends on your threshold for 1950s ideas about women.  The worst of it is, without the non-pun of the various names it wouldn't be half so irritating.  Didn't stop Next Generation making several episodes with the same plot, mind.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dark Jimbo on 10 December, 2013, 02:12:34 PM
I've now reached series 6 of Steptoe and Son. Previously I'd only seen whatever random episodes BBC2 would show to plug a gap in schedules, which is usually the colour 70's episodes, so virtually everything thus far has been new to me. To be honest, I prefer the early 60's epidoes, if anything - it hadn't had time to lapse into catchphrase and formula and it's much darker stuff.

It's so perfectly pitched and observed. Returning to the kitchen sink gloom of a British sitcom feels like coming home after watching various squeaky, glossy US series - I definately prefer my comedy laced with a bit o' darkness, and Steptoe can be as black as it gets. The pilot episode perfectly encapsulates this - having spent the episode making plans to leave his hated dad and the life he loathes, Harold has a moment of clarity towards the end and breaks down in tears as the sad truth dawns that it's already far too late to change his fate, and he's doomed to end his days alone and bitter in the horrible little scrapyard, committed to a failing buisness in a dying industry. It's uncomfortable viewing, and the audience are completely silent for the last ten minutes. And there's no last-minute punchline to undercut the tension - Albert gently shepherds him back inside for a cup of tea, thereby confirming Harold's doom once and for all, and the credits roll. Bleak as you like - and yet this is the pilot for a sitcom!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Devons Daddy on 10 December, 2013, 02:56:57 PM
I own all the star trek episodes!!
But I cannot bring myself to get past season 1 of enterprise.
Damn that is bad.

Currently watching boardwalk empire, in marathon sessions.

Will be repurchasing BSG in digital format this 25th!! Hi def with hall the extras me thinks!! Webisodes commentary and so forth.
Now that's an addiction worthy of feeding
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 10 December, 2013, 03:45:07 PM
I forgot to mention the absolute worst thing about Cheers.

NOBODY ON THAT SHOW CAN PULL A FUCKING DECENT PINT!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 10 December, 2013, 09:35:59 PM
Quote from: Devons Daddy on 10 December, 2013, 02:56:57 PM
I own all the star trek episodes!!
But I cannot bring myself to get past season 1 of enterprise.
Damn that is bad.

Never seen all of Season 1 either but the end of Season 2, Season 3 & 4 are great stuff. Really.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Devons Daddy on 12 December, 2013, 02:54:45 PM
Enterprise is better after season 1?? Ok I try then It failed for me it was neither Star Trek past or future and the captain was to well known for my liking.
I give it a go then.
If I can find a working DVD player somewhere in the house.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: GrinningChimera on 14 December, 2013, 07:25:16 AM
Adventure Time

Just watched the first episode of season 1. The theme music is annoying. In saying that I complain to my girlfriend about the intro music to Sherlock too. Maybe I just have too high expectations when it comes to intro music. Still not sure if I really "get" the show yet. I was expecting something similar to The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack. With all of the bright colours and crazyness going on, I'd imagine this would be crazy with some kind of natural sensory enhancement. What does everyone else think of this show?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 14 December, 2013, 09:22:31 AM
Hm I love the intro to Adventure Time.

It's Adventure Time! That's all I want from it.


It's good with some kind of sensory enhancement, I can confirm (but will deny everything if pressed)

About to take a break from the Shield for the last season of Luther
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 16 December, 2013, 01:51:50 PM
OK I have ditched Star Trek TOS.  I can't watch every episode.

I have watched the entire first series of Star Trek TNG, though and it is soooooo much better.  I am now onto the second series which is already showing improvements. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 16 December, 2013, 02:38:37 PM
Quote from: Mister Pops on 10 December, 2013, 03:45:07 PM
NOBODY ON THAT SHOW CAN PULL A FUCKING DECENT PINT!

It's America: no one knows what a decent pint is.

Cheers

Jim
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 16 December, 2013, 03:01:45 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 16 December, 2013, 02:38:37 PM
Quote from: Mister Pops on 10 December, 2013, 03:45:07 PM
NOBODY ON THAT SHOW CAN PULL A FUCKING DECENT PINT!

It's America: no one knows what a decent pint is.


Yeah they all drink it cold, the fiends.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 16 December, 2013, 03:07:03 PM
Quote from: CrazyFoxMachine on 16 December, 2013, 03:01:45 PM
Yeah they all drink it cold, the fiends.

Less the temperature than the fact it tends to be piss-weak and they serve a short pint, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pint_glass) IMO.

Cheers

Jim
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 16 December, 2013, 03:15:24 PM
Plus, classically, American beer is a little like making a love in a canoe (http://youtu.be/m_WRFJwGsbY?t=1m1s)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 16 December, 2013, 03:17:22 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 16 December, 2013, 03:07:03 PM

Less the temperature than the fact it tends to be piss-weak and they serve a short pint, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pint_glass) IMO.


One more reason why the UK & Eire will always be the best spots for a pint.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mikey on 16 December, 2013, 03:24:45 PM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 10 December, 2013, 01:33:16 PM
Well I started to watch Breaking Bad, at last. Five episodes into season one and it's very good indeed. I find Walter to be one of the more empathetic anti hero's of recent years.

The Emporer has no clothes.

I was looking forward to Breaking Bad as I'd heard a lot of people saying how much they liked it and it had an inteteresting premise. So I watched it. Turns out my view, which is the correct one of course, is that is was way over hyped and it just didn't live up to the praise it garnered.

My main problem with it was that it went on for too long for what it actually was - I reckon there's a good two or two and a half series when you get rid of the shite. My second problem was that I really didn't like the Whites (apart from Junior) at all, partly because I did not believe them as characters. Plus some of the plot points seemed to require what I saw as pretty massive, massive intuitive leaps to keep the ball rolling, which leads me to my next point: it came across in many occasions as being willfully written into a corner so they could show just how clever they were in getting out of it. As long as you could swallow the leap of logic sometimes needed, for which you had no hope of guessing or marveling at in hindsight as it still didn't make sense. Walter had a tendency to Talk Like A Scientist Does and mumble his thought process in that bumbling way usually reserved for people in white coats with big glasses and mad hair. Plus, in case you hadn't got it already, you can tell he's a nerd because he has a calculator watch and wears y-fronts. Like a big nerd. And if he was worried and/or thinking he opened his mouth. If he wasn't it was closed. Jesse had his moments, [spoiler]including a girlfriend in the fridge one,[/spoiler] but I couldn't bring myslef to care. And Skylar? A hateful trout! First of all, she's worried about the kids, she just wants to be with her kids, HER KIDS GODDAMN IT! But then is happy to ship them off for as long as it takes to mooch about in search of character. [spoiler]Plus why in the name of suffering fuck did Hank not scoop Walter when he was standing in his garage having bloody confessed?[/spoiler] The whole thing couldn't decide if it was gritty or funny either.  Plus: WHAT WAS THE POINT IN THE FUCKIN CAR WASH?

And that's just for starters...

M.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 16 December, 2013, 05:39:12 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 16 December, 2013, 01:51:50 PM
OK I have ditched Star Trek TOS.  I can't watch every episode.

I have watched the entire first series of Star Trek TNG, though and it is soooooo much better.  I am now onto the second series which is already showing improvements.

Blimey! It takes 2 to 3 series to find it's feet does TNG.  But then is great*. So I reckon you are in for a treat.

* Your mileage may vary depending on how much you like Brent Spiner.  I think he's great. Yes, even in that one with the bloody masks. Oh and there's a Scottish Ghost episode that is possibly the worse thing I've ever seen. (And I watched ALL of  Smallville),
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 16 December, 2013, 05:56:25 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 16 December, 2013, 05:39:12 PMOh and there's a Scottish Ghost episode that is possibly the worse thing I've ever seen.

Ha, Sub Rosa - that one is craptacular: zombie shortbread-tin grandmothers and the alien ghosties that love them.  Poor Gates McFadden, one of her few 'solo' episodes and it is atrocious.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 16 December, 2013, 07:54:29 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 16 December, 2013, 05:39:12 PM
Blimey! It takes 2 to 3 series to find it's feet does TNG.  But then is great*. So I reckon you are in for a treat.

* Your mileage may vary depending on how much you like Brent Spiner.  I think he's great. Yes, even in that one with the bloody masks. Oh and there's a Scottish Ghost episode that is possibly the worse thing I've ever seen. (And I watched ALL of  Smallville),

I have seen most of TNG countless times.  Actually to the point where I got sick and tired of it.  After watching ToS I find TNG watch-able again which is a marvellous thing.  I always think things really start taking off when they get rid of those thin coloured lines on the top part of their uniform.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 17 December, 2013, 10:53:07 AM
Quote from: Mikey on 16 December, 2013, 03:24:45 PM
[ [spoiler]Plus why in the name of suffering fuck did Hank not scoop Walter when he was standing in his garage having bloody confessed?[/spoiler] The whole thing couldn't decide if it was gritty or funny either.  Plus: WHAT WAS THE POINT IN THE FUCKIN CAR WASH?

And that's just for starters...

M.

The Car Wash was [spoiler]to launder money, which they did successfully. And Hank didn't because of a lack of solid evidence (Walt had covered his tracks) and the extremely poor light it would shine on him either way - to bring him in without solid evidence and a means of exonerating himself from suspicion, he'd be thrown in jail or at the very least, fired for his association.
[/spoiler]

However I do think the hype surrounding Breaking Bad reached a bit of a critical mass and as much as I enjoyed it, it was perhaps exaggerated. I prefered The Sopranos if I'm honest. And both shows are gritty and funny at the same time...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 17 December, 2013, 11:36:46 AM
Well damnit I've got something I really want to mention but I'm afraid as soon as I do I'll not be able to come back to the thread for fear of spoilers. Anyway I'll be brave and here goes. Last night we watched the end Breaking Bad's 3rd season. Oh my giddy Aunt was that a cliff-hanger or what!

Now we're lucky. We watching it via Lovefilm and so while we will have to wait a wee bit for Season 4 to kick off again, maybe a couple of Doctor Whos will arrive  first etc etc I can't even begin to imagine how folk who watched this in real time coped. You'd have had to wait, what 9 months before it was back. That is just cruel.

Wow its good though.

So now I can never come back to this thread for fear of spoilers, or do you all promise to play nice?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 17 December, 2013, 12:55:03 PM
Well, we'll play nice with the spoiler tags. On your own head be it if you look underneath!

Mikey has watched all of Breaking Bad btw so do not look lest ye pay the price.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Devons Daddy on 17 December, 2013, 02:02:45 PM
Breaking bad  :o
Amongst the greatest tv ever seen!

Ranks alongside the wire and sapranos in terms of yank tv.
With some scream at the tv moments. For sheer Nooooooooo cliffhanger endings.

Star Trek for me DS9 was excellent.
Pure Sci if western frontier town.

Own both may begin an overdose after christmas
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 17 December, 2013, 04:26:09 PM
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 17 December, 2013, 12:55:03 PM
Mikey has watched all of Breaking Bad btw so do not look lest ye pay the price.

Yeah I realised that a wee bit earlier and ran like the wind up the thread!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mikey on 17 December, 2013, 05:00:17 PM
I liked some bits of Breaking Bad, but gruddammit they were too few and far between. SPOILERS COMING COLIN!

Quote from: Theblazeuk on 17 December, 2013, 10:53:07 AM
The Car Wash was [spoiler]to launder money, which they did successfully. And Hank didn't because of a lack of solid evidence (Walt had covered his tracks) and the extremely poor light it would shine on him either way - to bring him in without solid evidence and a means of exonerating himself from suspicion, he'd be thrown in jail or at the very least, fired for his association.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Yes, I know it was to launder money. I just thought it was stupid and having a lock up full of cash you couldn't launder quick enough was stupid too! Plus about Hank: unless things are different in the US, an officer of the law (never mind being a credible witness) like Frank would have a 'reasonable suspicion' that an offence had been committed if someone 'fessed up to it and could use that as grounds to arrest him. Once he's arrested then you can start questioning him about his link to the notebook, look into his financial affairs etc. And the fact that Frank was DEA only strengthens my point[/spoiler] Frank was one of the few good characters.

QuoteRanks alongside the wire and sapranos in terms of yank tv.
With some scream at the tv moments. For sheer Nooooooooo cliffhanger endings.

Your mouth is full of crazy talk DD! There is NO WAY it can be mentioned in the same breath as those two series! There was some awful acting in The Wire at times, but at least there was plot and character to get you through it. Sopranos was bob on, apart from [spoiler]poor Vito having to dance unconvincingly in a gay fetish bar  :lol:[/spoiler]

M.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 26 December, 2013, 03:16:34 PM
Recently I've been alternating between the first serieses of Justified and Lexx, both of which are a lot of fun.

Justified stars Timothy Olyphant playing basically the same character as in Deadwood, transposed to contemporary Kentucky. This first series doesn't have any single over-arching plotline, favouring the loosely bubbling strands mixed in with murder of the week favoured by early seasons of The Shield. Coincidentally, one of those strands is good ol' Cletus van Damme himself, playing a figure from our man's past.

I'd seen quite a bit of Lexx before, but mostly later series and late at night so going back to the start has been enlightening. The first series is made up of four 90 minute tv movie installments. This has its pros and its cons. On the plus side, each episode gets plenty of space to explore its plot in full; on the other hand, this often leads to needless, overextended scenes and annoying repetition of effects sequences.

Boiling it down to its "core concept", Lexx has a lot in common with the likes of Blake's 7 and Farscape but it seems to me that it piles in a lot more genuine science fictional elements as well as a far broader streak of black humour. Probably what distinguishes it most from other tv sci-fi, what I enjoy most about it - and is just as likely to turn others off - is the unrepentant daftness it contains.

I'd previously thought Lexx's more overt sexxual content was maybe due to it being a German co-production and, therefore, having a more open-minded, European outlook. There's definitely an element of that and of taking the piss out of our expectations of gender roles. However, plenty of it is just plain pervy.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Ancient Otter on 27 December, 2013, 07:02:53 PM
Quote from: The Cosh on 26 December, 2013, 03:16:34 PM
Recently I've been alternating between the first serieses of Justified and Lexx, both of which are a lot of fun.

Is Lexx the show with loads of puppet work aliens or I am confusing it with another show?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Daveycandlish on 27 December, 2013, 08:15:28 PM
Quote from: Ancient Otter on 27 December, 2013, 07:02:53 PM

Is Lexx the show with loads of puppet work aliens or I am confusing it with another show?

Nah, that's Farscape surely?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 27 December, 2013, 09:10:11 PM
Quote from: Daveycandlish on 27 December, 2013, 08:15:28 PM
Quote from: Ancient Otter on 27 December, 2013, 07:02:53 PM

Is Lexx the show with loads of puppet work aliens or I am confusing it with another show?

Nah, that's Farscape surely?

Jim Henson's company leant a hand to make that show, several in fact.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 27 December, 2013, 09:20:11 PM
Quote from: Mister Pops on 27 December, 2013, 09:10:11 PM
Jim Henson's company leant a hand to make that show, several in fact.

Waka-waka-waka! 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 07 January, 2014, 02:21:08 PM
Chuck.

I decided to give this a try on Netflix and I'm hooked. There's some serious geek charm to this show. I can't believe I've missed this until now. Even the missus has been sucked in.

Just finish the episode where the guys dress as Shai'Hulud for Halloween. As a Dune fan this show will always be tops with me now.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 07 January, 2014, 02:33:41 PM
I'm still watching Star Trek TNG.  I am on the fifth series now.  Thing picked up with pretty much back to back classic episode in series three, the jump in quality was amazing.  There is no going back to TOS, now, it'll be total pants in comparison.  Watched a number of episodes of TNG over the hols with my eldest brother and made light of the Star Fleet's need to normalise everyone and everything.

I have also started watching the Trigun anime for a job I am currently working on.  It's not at all what I was expecting.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 11 January, 2014, 02:43:30 PM
Quote from: The Cosh on 26 December, 2013, 03:16:34 PM


I'd seen quite a bit of Lexx before, but mostly later series and late at night so going back to the start has been enlightening. The first series is made up of four 90 minute tv movie installments. This has its pros and its cons. On the plus side, each episode gets plenty of space to explore its plot in full; on the other hand, this often leads to needless, overextended scenes and annoying repetition of effects sequences.

Boiling it down to its "core concept", Lexx has a lot in common with the likes of Blake's 7 and Farscape but it seems to me that it piles in a lot more genuine science fictional elements as well as a far broader streak of black humour. Probably what distinguishes it most from other tv sci-fi, what I enjoy most about it - and is just as likely to turn others off - is the unrepentant daftness it contains.

I sat through the entire series late in 2012. Loads of fun!

I think it's one of those shows where you have to just accept the silliness of it. Even the sexual humour sort of falls into that and becomes a part of it, for me.

Whichever way you slice it, the show is certainly unique. I remember picking up the box set for cheap and expecting some stupid, trashy fun. I was surprised at how much I found myself genuinely enjoying it when watching it all end to end.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 13 January, 2014, 10:23:59 AM
Quote from: von Boom on 07 January, 2014, 02:21:08 PM
Chuck.

I decided to give this a try on Netflix and I'm hooked. There's some serious geek charm to this show. I can't believe I've missed this until now. Even the missus has been sucked in.

Just finish the episode where the guys dress as Shai'Hulud for Halloween. As a Dune fan this show will always be tops with me now.

Got through the first two episodes on Friday - think I'll be loading it up next time I work from home too. Not least for Sarah.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bobblehead on 13 January, 2014, 10:42:49 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 07 January, 2014, 02:33:41 PM
I have also started watching the Trigun anime for a job I am currently working on.  It's not at all what I was expecting.

  Is that good or bad? :)
I really enjoyed what ive watched of the anime so far,just waiting for my mate to buy the rest of the series so i can borrow it ;)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 13 January, 2014, 11:21:28 AM
Oh it's a good thing.  The series is very fun.  Although, from my cursory knowledge before having watched any episodes I really thought it was going to be more serious than it is.  I don't really need to watch more than what I have for this job, but I'm going to as I have really got into it now.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 13 January, 2014, 11:35:44 AM
Just finished Season 2 of Game of Thrones.  Cor, that was a bit good.  I may have missed something while gawping open-mouthed at the magnificently disparate locations and budget-devouring battle-scenes, but do we get some sort of a reprise of the sacking of Winterfell at the start of Season 3? 'Cos while I've read the books the missus hasn't, and I don't want to be mansplaining if I don't have to.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 13 January, 2014, 11:52:18 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 13 January, 2014, 11:35:44 AM
but do we get some sort of a reprise of the sacking of Winterfell at the start of Season 3? 'Cos while I've read the books the missus hasn't, and I don't want to be mansplaining if I don't have to.

Not as such — I haven't quite got that far in the books, but the 'Who burned Winterfell and what the fuck is happening to Theon?' is running plot through Season 3, although the reveal is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it throwaway.

The bit of Season 3 is pretty unflinching, BTW, to the extent that I'd give some sort of gentle warning to those of a sensitive disposition...

We're about to start our pre-Season 4 re-watch of Season 3, because... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZY43QSx3Fk&feature=youtu.be)

Cheers

Jim
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 13 January, 2014, 11:59:39 AM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 13 January, 2014, 11:52:18 AM...the 'Who burned Winterfell and what the fuck is happening to Theon?' is running plot through Season 3, although the reveal is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it throwaway.

Perfect, I'll keep my white male privilege to myself so.  I've greatly enjoyed watching my better half puzzling everything out and falling for the usual characters, but if I offer one more helpful gloss on proceedings I think I'll have to take the black myself.

Making a run at Season 3 later this week, and looking forward to it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 13 January, 2014, 12:25:55 PM
I would love to be able to sit through a TV show without having to mansplain, particular when it's such straightforward things as what just happened on TV that she missed because she can't keep off bloody facebook.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 13 January, 2014, 12:38:56 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 13 January, 2014, 11:35:44 AM
...mansplaining...

Quote from: Theblazeuk on 13 January, 2014, 12:25:55 PM
...mansplain...

This phrase really makes me cringe.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 13 January, 2014, 12:44:01 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 13 January, 2014, 12:38:56 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 13 January, 2014, 11:35:44 AM
...mansplaining...

Quote from: Theblazeuk on 13 January, 2014, 12:25:55 PM
...mansplain...

This phrase really makes me cringe.

:D  It is truly ghastly, isn't it?  I was using it in the most pejorative sense (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Mansplain) possible, honest! [/mansplain]

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 13 January, 2014, 12:53:33 PM
I ended a friendship over 'mansplaining'.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 13 January, 2014, 01:02:38 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 13 January, 2014, 12:53:33 PM
I ended a friendship over 'mansplaining'.

I don't doubt it, the practice is endemic, even if the portmanteau is ugly.  I'm a frequent offender myself, but while I feel it's probably more a general part of my being a relentless bore than anything targeted, I am working on it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 13 January, 2014, 01:04:44 PM
I've never heard of it. Looking at the definition I don't think I have much need for it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 13 January, 2014, 01:23:23 PM
To be clear, it was the portmanteau (that is a fantastic word) that started the argument that prompted me into parting ways with her.  Although, perhaps ironically, she was 'mansplaining' at me considerably at the end of the argument.

I don't like the phrase 'man flu' either.

Also, good for you, Hawkmonger :D
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 13 January, 2014, 01:30:08 PM
Manflu is bollocks*, it's a common cold and it is easily killed with hot whiskey.

*That might be a poor choice of words.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 13 January, 2014, 01:52:55 PM
I know we've discussed this here before*, but the misappropriation of manflu is driving me crazy.  The other day my wife's boss phoned to say he wouldn't be in 'cos he had manflu.  What the wife (and I) heard was: "I have a mild cold and/or hangover but am pretending it's a serious illness because I'm male".  Now I know that's not what he meant, he meant he had a bad cold, but feck's sake what a stupid use of language.



*Although probably not in the Boxset thread...  :-\
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 13 January, 2014, 02:58:16 PM
Yeah they are hideous words.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 13 January, 2014, 04:39:47 PM
I'm on the last episode of series 5 of ST:TNG.  This series has been slightly more clunky than the the previous two stellar series', with a few more episodes to groan at.  Nevertheless, there are still a good number of excellent episodes to make up for it.

Also half way through Trigun and keen to carry on watching it now I have my internet connection back.  The slow development of the show is really interesting and there is a well devised mystery to it that compels me to keep on watching.  The animation is well done and very apt for the tone.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Greg M. on 13 January, 2014, 07:01:22 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 13 January, 2014, 04:39:47 PM
I'm on the last episode of series 5 of ST:TNG.  This series has been slightly more clunky than the the previous two stellar series', with a few more episodes to groan at.  Nevertheless, there are still a good number of excellent episodes to make up for it.

Probably my favourite season of the lot - hard to argue with 'The Inner Light', 'Darmok', 'Silicon Avatar' or 'I, Borg'. It even has that rarest of things - a good Wesley Crusher episode in the form of 'The First Duty'.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 13 January, 2014, 07:30:22 PM
Inner Light and Darmok are fantastic stuff. Picard (and ergo TNG) at his best.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 13 January, 2014, 08:10:58 PM
I certainly agree.  There is also Imaginary Friend, Hero Worship, Cost of Living and even Ethics get's a groan as Crusher rides her high horse once again.  Looking ahead there are a few more groan inducing episodes to come in the next two series'.  Still, looking ahead I am reminded of what great episodes there are to come that I have never quite tired of watching.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Greg M. on 13 January, 2014, 08:22:37 PM
'Ethics' has that great Riker moment though, where he suggests Alexander is the one Worf should be asking to help him with his suicide. And I quite like 'Hero Worship', simply because the kid does an excellent Data. But yes, 'Cost of Living' is one of the worst episodes ever - it's Season 1 bad.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 13 January, 2014, 10:13:40 PM
Is "Ethics" the one where they take Worf's spine out because he's Professor X now, stick it in a fish tank, then wave christmas lights at it until everything is better?  That was the first episode of TNG I ever gave my full undivided attention (rather than reading or doing homework while it was on) and it did my head in.

Also for my sins I have been watching season 1 Voyager lately - not as bad as I remember - in fact a lot better than some TNG - but its strengths were sadly sidelined later.  Picardo is very good, though - his early version of the Doctor cleverly subverts expectations of a Trek show by being little more than what everyone says he is, particularly when he tries to explain to Kes(/the audience) that he's incapable of picking a name for himself because he's just a fucking machine.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 13 January, 2014, 10:18:36 PM
Unless I'm mistaken it's the also one where Worf turns out to have a hitherto unmentioned secondary backup brain.  Presumably in dangerous situations his primary brain separates and heads off on its own.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 14 January, 2014, 10:44:06 AM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 13 January, 2014, 10:13:40 PM
Also for my sins I have been watching season 1 Voyager lately - not as bad as I remember...

I thought the same when I rewatched all of Voyager last year.  It still has my least favourite cast of characters (of the Trek I enjoy watching), but early Doctor was a definite highlight.  I think his development was better than Data as he wasn't fawning over "being human" and was quite happy to develop his identity as a hologram.  Nevertheless, we still have to put up with Tom Paris, Harry Kim, Nelix and that awful Irish Theme Pub holodeck programme. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 14 January, 2014, 10:59:10 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 14 January, 2014, 10:44:06 AM
that awful Irish Theme Pub holodeck programme.

So, tis a praablam with Fairhaven ye have, is it?
Nathin ta do wi' the fact Species 8472 were turned from the most pramisin new Trek villain to Tribble level threat within wan season?

Away with ye.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 14 January, 2014, 11:10:40 AM
Quote from: Link Prime on 14 January, 2014, 10:59:10 AM
Nathin ta do wi' the fact Species 8472 were turned from the most pramisin new Trek villain to Tribble level threat within wan season?

I dunno, the ability to perfectly duplicate the entire of Starfleet Command from half a galaxy away, down to the speech patterns of the Academy groundskeeper, seems pretty powerful to me.  Or unbelievably moronic, hard to say.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 14 January, 2014, 11:25:51 AM
For me, it was the moment the Shark Jumped.

Out of the bleedin' Alpha Quadrant.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 14 January, 2014, 12:52:19 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 14 January, 2014, 10:59:10 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 14 January, 2014, 10:44:06 AM
that awful Irish Theme Pub holodeck programme.

So, tis a praablam with Fairhaven ye have, is it?
Nathin ta do wi' the fact Species 8472 were turned from the most pramisin new Trek villain to Tribble level threat within wan season?

Away with ye.

lol
Actually Species 8472 never bothered me a great deal.  They were set up as a promising new villain, didn't really deliver and that's about it. 

Fairhaven was nausea inducing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 14 January, 2014, 01:07:18 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 14 January, 2014, 12:52:19 PM

Fairhaven was nausea inducing.

That it was.
And imagine having to sit through it if you were Irish?  :)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 14 January, 2014, 04:06:55 PM
I didn't mind the Fairhaven stuff as it was explicitly an idealised panto version of Ireland within the fictional context of Voyager's own universe, and acknowledged as such by the characters.  At the time I thought it a lot less insulting than the likes of braindead shit like Ballykissangel or those Eastenders episodes, though it also has a lot more validity than something like 2000ad's own Emerald Isle.

Voyager was at least an equal opportunity-offender, too, as it's take on 1930s Paris, Nazi-occupied rural France, and even mid-90s America were pretty unrealistic versions of the real thing.  "Freakasauraus" my oul hole!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 17 January, 2014, 09:39:17 AM
I'm about halfway through the first series of 'The Killing', and it's... actually pretty pedestrian.

It's quite atmospheric, though. I just don't get much sense of why it's so highly regarded at the moment. I keep waiting for an earth-shattering twist or reveal, and it's been a bit dull in that area so far.

Although, I AM in danger of developing a thing for middle-aged Danish women in chunky-knit sweaters. With sleuthy abilities. (A very specific thing, you understand.)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jo-L on 17 January, 2014, 12:25:01 PM
I'm in the middle of watching "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia".  For the third time.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 19 January, 2014, 07:05:45 AM
You know how I said 'The Killing' was a bit pedestrian?

Yeekers, was I wrong! The last few episodes have REALLY ramped things up!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 19 January, 2014, 09:44:39 AM
In the middle of Game of Thrones Season 3, thoroughly enjoying watching the missus' expectations being repeatedly confounded, but even more so when she predicts things correctly: she was spot on with [spoiler]Daeny's trick with Valyrian and the Unsullied at Astapor[/spoiler].  And the [spoiler]Red Wedding[/spoiler] approaches, undetected.  Almost makes me wish I hadn't read the books.

A Song of Ice and Fire is a great fun read, but it isn't exactly unique - why is there nothing else on telly with the scale of ambition and success of realisation as Game of Thrones?  it's schlocky nonsense to be sure, but there are some really great performances (how good is Diana Rigg, never mind Lena Headey, Peter Dinklage, Nikolai Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams...) and the location work alone poops on anything else out there.  Even the CGI on the dragons and set-extensions is extraordinary.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 20 January, 2014, 10:31:19 AM
Red Wedding was fun to watch with the uninitiated. Especially when they [spoiler]killed the wolf. Last shot of Caetlyn getting her throat slit was genius and put such a quiet end to all the shrieking in my room - my wife is a yeller.[/spoiler]

Just finished Fringe off - second time through for me, first time for the Mrs. She loved it though she had trouble accepting that time travel works by whatever means they say it works, as its not real. Think I enjoyed this even more the second time around as well actually especially Observer-world, though the cracks in the concepts were quite blatant on second viewing. Authoritarian occupying force is terrible at actually monitoring or policing anyone who is actually opposed to it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 21 January, 2014, 12:53:49 AM
Currently working my way through the second series of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Very good stuff, although there are gaps in the thread of some stories where a bit of explanation wouldn't go amis, although some of that could just be me missing stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 21 January, 2014, 10:11:50 AM
I liked a lot of what was set up by the end....Always fond of some [spoiler]ambitious time travel and the idea of an allied AI. Wish the showrunners would sketch out a plot so I could have some closure.[/spoiler]

Dont think those spoilers are too much if you're in season 2. One ridiculous thing about the whole show was John's attraction to Summer Glau. Yes she's pretty but she's a robotic killing machine! Ew.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 21 January, 2014, 12:24:20 PM
Rewatching The Sopranos - currently mid-way through season three and approaching 'Pine Barrens', one of the single greatest episodes of anything ever.

Still amazing, and made all the more poignant by the recent passing of James Gandolfini - it really is the performance of a lifetime. HOW is it possible to make a character so monstrous, magnetic, charming, vulnerable, completely lovable and utterly repellent all at the same time? I really should get round to seeing Enough Said.

If I had to criticise the show I'd say there's a tad too much flowery therapist-speak/psychobabble, and (if this isn't a bit too Daily Mail of me) I suspect that real-life gangsters and career criminals wouldn't be as multi-layered, nuanced or interesting as the characters presented in the show.

Armand Assante is also awesome and coldly menacing as the loathsome Richie Aprile. See, ol' Judge Rico can act when he isn't hamming it up!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 21 January, 2014, 01:30:07 PM
The Sopranos is my favourite tv show of all time, okay so for a few episodes at the start of Season 6 we were all a little worried as it lost its way but by the end it was firmly back on form.

My chronology gets a bit wonky but it stands out for me as the first truly great long form tv show of the current American generation. Its the start of the time we (by which I mean there seemed to be a general understanding and or perception) stopped thinking that British TV was the best and the American channels started doing telly that was better than not just our telly, but better than film. So many great characters, Carmela, Livia, Paulie, Christopher, Silvio and so many more. For all that its Tony's show and Gandolfini is just gigantic in the role. The fact that its Tony's show makes the ending oh so clear to me too, but I digress.

The only possible thing that could rock it from its mantel as best telly show ever and Tony Soprano as best performance and or character in telly ever is the fact that I've just finished season 4 of Breaking Bad and that show and Bryan Cranston / Walter White are, much to my amazement fighting for both top slots... mind I prefer Mike as a character, much as I loved Paulie the most in The Sopranos.

I think once I finish BB (first disk of season five on the way) I might try to persuade my wife to try it again so I can compare the two.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 21 January, 2014, 01:38:41 PM
QuoteMy chronology gets a bit wonky but it stands out for me as the first truly great long form tv show of the current American generation.

Funny you should mention it. I'm actually trying to get hold of this:

(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/415tvHPirML._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_SX342_SY445_CR,0,0,342,445_SH20_OU02_.jpg)

but ideally want the audiobook version but can't find it for a reasonable price.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 21 January, 2014, 01:40:56 PM
One alarming thing about watching Sopranos now is that it started 15(!!!) years ago, and already looks incredibly dated (as in things like fashion, tech and whatnot, not the show itself), especially the early seasons...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 21 January, 2014, 02:54:08 PM
The Martian Chronicles, which starts out okay, hits its stride when people start going native and being haunted by a ghost race reduced to the equivalent of mountain men, but then tails off into a muddled and absolutist view of the politics of colonialism, finally nailing the coffin lid shut on its potential by having [spoiler]Darren McGavin dressed as a cowboy having a stagecoach chase shootout and then having Rock Hudson's family commit collective suicide and end the human race, which is thematically appropriate given the notions of cyclical history and parallels between humanity and native Martians explored, but also noticeably at odds with the writer and director's intent.[/spoiler]
While not terrible, the music is deeply intrusive and inappropriate - but what the hell, it's not like this mother hasn't dated appallingly already.  I liked some of the ideas on display - like the human and the Martian speaking but knowing who was in the planet's past and who was in its future - but a lot of it has been appropriated in the intervening years and often implemented better, so I think enjoyment of the material here may be down to how much you're willing to indulge something that's clearly of its time in attitude and execution.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 25 January, 2014, 02:20:53 PM
Not long finished the third series of Breaking Bad. A definite improvement on the previous one. The dramatic reduction in scenes of Walt whining coupled with increased focus on some of the other characters like Skylar and Hank has worked wonders. In particular, the decision to make the latter not a total bellend any more (well, he's still a bellend, just not so much of a comedy bellend) was a good one. It made the jump back to Walt and Jesse for the last couple of episodes fresh and gripping in a way that I've rarely found it.

Now back to the second series of Justified for some fun.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 25 January, 2014, 02:22:56 PM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 21 January, 2014, 02:54:08 PM
The Martian Chronicles, which starts out okay, hits its stride when people start going native and being haunted by a ghost race ... so I think enjoyment of the material here may be down to how much you're willing to indulge something that's clearly of its time in attitude and execution.
I have vague memories of seeing bits of this on tv in the early 80s. May give it a whirl.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 07 February, 2014, 03:07:58 PM
The Following is a show about a cult obssessed with Edgar Allen Poe and a serial killer. Or goths as they're known 'round our way.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 07 February, 2014, 03:40:12 PM
The Following is entertainingly daft.  At one point a baddie ties Kevin Bacon up - like you'd expect Adam West to be in the old Batman show - then uses magnets to make his heart stop, all the while going "BWAH-HA-HA-HA!" so it's very silly even before you remember that it is a television show that has Kevin Bacon in it.
Title: Re: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 07 February, 2014, 04:12:31 PM
Been watching a few eps of Rick and Morty. Pretty good stuff, like a more unhinged Futurama. It's no Community, but is watchable enough.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 07 February, 2014, 05:40:54 PM
I'm really into Rick and Morty - bafflingly mad and probably the most inspired thing I've seen on TV in an age.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 07 February, 2014, 05:43:32 PM
Is it ANYTHING to do with BttF? From what i've seen of it, very little. :lol:
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: GrinningChimera on 10 February, 2014, 07:14:45 AM
I'm looking at adding Jericho to my collection. But I thought I'd get an opinion first. Has anyone here seen it? What did you think? I'm a huge apocalyptic fiction geek and it sounds right up my alley. Although the short episode run for season 2 is a little off putting. Worth my time? Or should I get the Malcolm In The Middle box set instead? (I know it's not the same. But watching it now that we have Walter White might make it even more funny than I remember)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 10 February, 2014, 11:27:34 AM
Jericho, like so many of these things, starts off a bit rocky and bogged down in soap operadom, but finds its feet in short order and is bloody brilliant by the time they axe it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 10 February, 2014, 01:29:46 PM
Just ordered season 2 of game of Thrones now the price has come down somewhat - can't wait!

And I'm gonna have to check out Rick & Morty, it looks like as lot of fun.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 10 February, 2014, 02:29:32 PM
Quote from: GrinningChimera on 10 February, 2014, 07:14:45 AM
I'm looking at adding Jericho to my collection. But I thought I'd get an opinion first. Has anyone here seen it? What did you think? I'm a huge apocalyptic fiction geek and it sounds right up my alley. Although the short episode run for season 2 is a little off putting. Worth my time?

It's not a classic, but is it is diverting enough if all you want is a post-apocalyptic soap about rednecks, though I admit the appearance of the truly terrible Revolution on our screens right now may give Jericho a sheen and charm it didn't have at the time.  The show was cancelled but renewed thanks to decent dvd sales, so in a truncated season 2 the producers took the chance to wrap up the season 1 plots and made the series one of the rare cancelled sci-fi shows that didn't screw its audience on the final stretch.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HOO-HAA on 10 February, 2014, 03:32:20 PM
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 10 February, 2014, 11:27:34 AM
Jericho, like so many of these things, starts off a bit rocky and bogged down in soap operadom, but finds its feet in short order and is bloody brilliant by the time they axe it.

Yep, Jericho was great.

I'm chain-watching two very different shows at the moment: Danish noir, The Bridge, and Australian sci-fi classic, Farscape!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 10 February, 2014, 05:05:39 PM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 10 February, 2014, 02:29:32 PM
the appearance of the truly terrible Revolution on our screens right now may give Jericho a sheen and charm it didn't have at the time. 

I'd never even heard of Revolution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_%28TV_series%29#Season_1) before, Pro - it sounds like utter pish!

Title: Re: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 11 February, 2014, 10:03:49 AM
Everyone seems to be raving about HBO's True Detective at the moment. We watched the first episode last night, and it's ok but really bleak. A bit hard to get invested. Might continue, might not.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 11 February, 2014, 11:31:11 AM
Started watching Luther from the beginning the other night. Only saw one episode of season 3 before now. 4 episodes into season 1 and I can only say it's the mutt's nut's. A blooming amazing series all round.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dark Jimbo on 11 February, 2014, 01:24:32 PM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 11 February, 2014, 11:31:11 AM
Started watching Luther from the beginning the other night. Only saw one episode of season 3 before now. 4 episodes into season 1 and I can only say it's the mutt's nut's. A blooming amazing series all round.

Series 1 had the best cliffhanger I think I've ever seen. Never been so anxious to know what happened next. Series 2 really suffered in comparison, if only because the first series was so good.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 12 February, 2014, 02:33:49 AM
Just finished off a few episodes of season 2 of 'The Killing'.

Brilliant! While the first season smacked a little too much of manufactured tension, and aggravated me a little with all the twists (to the point where characters on screen started complaining about it!) this second season is top notch. Being exactly half the length of the first season, there's a need to pack more into each episode, which the writers have accomplished without making things feel rushed.

Thomas Buch is now one of my favourite characters in anything. I couldn't tell you why. He just has this likeable quality about him.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 13 February, 2014, 10:36:33 PM
Well that was a fecking phenomenal conclusion to season one of Luther! Oh my lawds I haven't been so exhilarated by an ending in years, so much so that I've instantly gone out and bought season 2.  :D
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HOO-HAA on 13 February, 2014, 10:54:35 PM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 13 February, 2014, 10:36:33 PM
Well that was a fecking phenomenal conclusion to season one of Luther! Oh my lawds I haven't been so exhilarated by an ending in years, so much so that I've instantly gone out and bought season 2.  :D

Luther's wonderful. Each season's a winner. Enjoy!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 13 February, 2014, 10:59:58 PM
I am really struggling with the last 2 eps. The vigilante guy doesnt do it for me.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Magnetica on 15 February, 2014, 03:08:48 PM
I decided it was time I finally finished off Lost...I could n't bear not knowing what was going on. I know I could have just read it on Wikipedia...but that's not the same. All I had to do was stop watching re-runs of Star Trek on Pick TV and fast forward through the non Liverpool games on MOTD!

So I have recently watched season 3,4,5 and 6 back to back. I know the series has its detractors but I thought it was great. I really liked the non-linear story telling techniques (I could start going on about ABC Warriors but will restrain myself) and how all the characters interacted. I also really liked the fact that something that happened way back in an earlier series has significance later - it did seem to me that the writers had a definite plan all along. I think watching it at the rate of 8 or so episodes a week really helped - I have seen criticism that a plot thread would be left dangling for 5 or 6 episodes..well for me that was only a couple of days so it did n't matter.

The non-linear story telling really came to the fore when something was shown to have happened to a character and at first you thought you had missed something only for it to be explained later. Have to say the first couple of times I fast forwarded through the previous episode to see if I had missed something; once you got used to it it was great.

The other really stand out aspect of it was the huge and fantastic ensemble cast. I am hard pressed to think of anything else that has so many memorable characters. A bit like The Wire, it was intentionally hard to tell who the good guys were and who the bad guys were. Indeed by the end I was even rooting for Ben.

As to the ending and the explanation of the island. At first I was left feeling a lot was left unexplained, but a trawl through the Net showed this actually was n't the case and that most things did get explained...you just had to be paying enough attention.

I think overall it was one of the best series ever. I certainly didn't think I would have said that when it first started- I think at the time Buffy and Angel had just finished and Enterprise wasn't quite filling the hole left by TNG and DS9.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HOO-HAA on 16 February, 2014, 08:02:42 PM
Just wrapped on The Bridge Season 2. A good run, for sure, but not up to the very high standard of the first season, I felt.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 17 February, 2014, 05:58:05 PM
Picked up Fringe at Christmas.  Currently on season 3.  Enjoying it much more in a compressed form.  Some of the one liners are absolute class.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 26 February, 2014, 10:01:37 PM
Just finished Breaking Bad and while there seems like point just simply nodding my head in dumb agreement with all the superlatives that get thrown at it - here I am nodding my head in dumb agreement with all the superlatives that get thrown at it.

I think the best thing I can say is its as good as, probably better than The Sopranos. From me there is literally no better compliment I can pay in TV terms at least.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 26 February, 2014, 11:59:13 PM
I am about to conclude my Star Trek TNG binge with only the last (double) episode of series 7 left to watch (possibly next week as I'm off to spend time with my partner for the next five days).  It has been a great journey and it is certainly superior to ToS in every regard.  Especially the wonderful third and fourth series.  My partner has started watching TNG from the beginning recently as well.

Once this has been concluded I am going to move on to Star Trek DS9.  DS9 is my favourite of the bunch and I have been looking forward to watching it again for a while now.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 27 February, 2014, 01:19:22 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 26 February, 2014, 11:59:13 PM
I am about to conclude my Star Trek TNG binge with only the last (double) episode of series 7 left to watch (possibly next week as I'm off to spend time with my partner for the next five days).  It has been a great journey and it is certainly superior to ToS in every regard.  Especially the wonderful third and fourth series.  My partner has started watching TNG from the beginning recently as well.

Once this has been concluded I am going to move on to Star Trek DS9.  DS9 is my favourite of the bunch and I have been looking forward to watching it again for a while now.

That last time-hopping double parter is one of my favourites.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 27 February, 2014, 01:25:22 AM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 27 February, 2014, 01:19:22 AM
That last time-hopping double parter is one of my favourites.

Yeah, it's magnificent.  The gentle concluding scene is basically as good as these things get.

Shame they fecked it all up just a few months later.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 27 February, 2014, 01:38:26 AM
For fans of TNG and the original series/movies.  Objectively, that's a pretty impressive twofer.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: amines2058 on 27 February, 2014, 06:23:34 AM
Just started Series 3 following a speed viewing of S1 & S2 of The Walking Dead am enjoying a lot, even if it is not playing out quite like I thought it would be. It is a lot more personal and intimate tale of survival and I like it for that.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Magnetica on 27 February, 2014, 10:30:18 PM
TNG has to be my favourite show of all time and Q Who my favourite episode anything ever.

DS9 eventually comes pretty close. It starts off a bit slow in my opinion - with mostly unconnected stories in the first season. At that point I was thinking it would not be able to maintain the interest - given the station can't go anywhere. Then it developed a really interesting political world around it and a large set of recurring characters to complement the main cast. From that point on it was just so good. Unlike TNG it managed to maintain the quality all the way through - the final 6 episodes (or so) with [spoiler]the Dominion war[/spoiler] were just great.

Both series had great last episodes as well.

That the last season of TNG was probably not as good as what went before does not detract from my overall opinion of it. I find I can pretty much endlessly re-watch it and still love it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 12 March, 2014, 05:04:09 PM
After giving up towards the end of season 4, I decided the availability on Netflix of the sixth and final season of The Clone Wars was worth checking out for old times' sake, and it's a frustrating and schizophrenic season that opens strongly with several episodes dedicated to malfunctioning clones and then shifts to a multi-part story about banking loans (really), a multi-part Jar-Jar Binks story based on the racist parts of Temple Of Doom (really really), and then winds down with a pretty good one-off episode about Yoda coming to terms with old age and the ultimate failure of the Jedi in becoming pawns of an evil they refuse to see, slightly undermined as a one-off by being - for some reason - a rambling three-parter, though it's commendable that it actually adds to the original films in terms of Yoda's character.  The banking episodes have some great set-pieces, but these just seem out of place in a supremely dull story where one of the shocking plot twists is that the bad guys raise interest rates - I swear, I am not making that up - while the Temple of Doom episodes I just wished would end sooner as they are actually painful to watch.
The production side of things occasionally borders on spectacular, especially in the opening episode's series of lengthy one-take action scenes, but Tim Curry's take on Darth Sidious (necessary because of the passing of the original voice actor) is maybe a bit too panto-level in places even if his evil laugh makes me crack up every time I hear it and I would not begrudge its inclusion in anything.

It feels on occasion like they're trying too hard to line things up with the movies, but I suppose that's inevitable when they've done such good stuff here that it now has to be ratified to the fixed points of the film storylines.  When it ends on an uplifting down beat, it does really feel like an ending to all that's gone before, and despite the tail-end of the series being such a let-down overall compared to some of the stronger earlier episodes, I would've liked to see more of this version of the Star Wars universe freed from the constrictions of film continuity.  Despite our differences, I'll miss you, Clone Wars.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 12 March, 2014, 05:34:26 PM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 12 March, 2014, 05:04:09 PM
I decided the availability on Netflix of the sixth and final season of The Clone Wars was worth checking out for old times' sake, and it's a frustrating and schizophrenic season that opens strongly with several episodes dedicated to malfunctioning clones and then shifts to a multi-part story about banking loans ... (these) episodes have some great set-pieces, but these just seem out of place in a supremely dull story where one of the shocking plot twists is that the bad guys raise interest rates - I swear, I am not making that up

The screen crawl of Phantom Menace concerns the minutia of federal policy regarding trade and taxation, after all. Like all sixties idealists, George turned out to be a solipsistic narcissist who considered acquiring as much personal property as possible to be the ultimate guarantee of the freedom and individuality which he fetishized in his best early work. Happened to the best of them (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ZqK97av7I3s#t=6).

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: sheldipez on 12 March, 2014, 05:39:15 PM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 12 March, 2014, 05:04:09 PM
it's a frustrating and schizophrenic season

That's every season of Clone Wars!  :lol: And the reason I gave in, it would go from really great to utterly abysmal "I don't think I can sit through this, even if its only 20 minutes long" levels. Though now the whole thing is on Netflix I think I may have to finish it off. There's no way I'm sitting through more Jar Jar or Amidala centered episodes though!

Quote from: Professor Bear on 12 March, 2014, 05:04:09 PM
necessary because of the passing of the original voice actor

I feel dumb that despite Army of Darkness and Seinfeld being two of my favorite things, I never knew that Elaine's boss and the wiseman were the same person! Never mind that he went on to Clone Wars. I don't know, stick a beard on someone and he's a different person, maybe there is something behind the Clark Kent glasses thing after all.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 12 March, 2014, 09:04:27 PM
ooh new From Dusk Till Dawn TV series start on Netflix tonight, weekly episode every Wednesday.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: sheldipez on 13 March, 2014, 01:36:24 PM
Quote from: Goaty on 12 March, 2014, 09:04:27 PM
ooh new From Dusk Till Dawn TV series start on Netflix tonight, weekly episode every Wednesday.

I was interested in this until I heard it was just an expanded remake of the first movie, Rodriguez has been saying it's going to take half of the season to get to the bar.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 23 March, 2014, 09:08:25 PM
Started the fourth series of Breaking Bad after a bit of a break. Interesting to see Marie getting some of the more sympathetic development afforded to Hank in the previous series.

Far more entertaining, however, is Fishing with John. Here's the first episode, Montauk with Jim Jarmusch (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVa8rj1mm7A), in its entirety. It seems there are only six, so I'm saving the double-length finale - Thailand with Dennis Hopper - for the next time I'm feeling a bit low.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 23 March, 2014, 09:21:58 PM
Rewatching Buffy from the start, for the first time since, well, the first time.  Its style of elaborately overwritten quippery is pretty hard to get back into, Boreanaz urgently needs some acting lessons and someone should buy the ELT guy some new bulbs, but Gellar makes for an astonishingly effective lead: she carries the opening episodes single handed as Head, Brenden and Hannigan stumble through their dialogue looking vaguely panicky.  Very enjoyable, and hits the ground running, which I suppose is what having a bit of a flop of a movie under your belt does for you.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 08 April, 2014, 12:45:51 AM
..And just finished Season 1.  The completely-forgotten-by-me anti-climactic reveal of Audrey II aside, that was a wonderful dozen episodes.  It was really fascinating watching the cast find their feet, with the noted exception of Gellar who was absolutely perfect from the first minute: what a piece of casting.  By season's end Giles, Cordelia, Willow and Joyce are compelling characters, and even Xander is getting there.  Only Borenaz's Angel continues to be a big ineffectual lemon.

The wheels do come off a bit in the muddled finale, which tries to do too much without really developing any one thread enough, and suffers from ghastly music mixed with cringey use of the main theme, but there are still some fantastic elements: when the much-heralded Annointed finally comes for Buffy, there is none of the usual farce of misdirection - Buffy knows who he is straight off, takes his hand and goes with him in a hugely classy piece of authorial restraint.

As you might notice, I am massively taken by the Buffy character: far from being a blunt instrument of butt-kicking, Buffy actually arrives at most of the solutions to the season's mysteries herself, cutting through Giles' and Willow's reams of exposition with a decisive plan or a critical observation, which is something I think I associated with her much later on in the series (In fact, almost everything starts much earlier on than I remembered it: Cordy's rapprochement, Ms. Calendar's arrival, Luke's slaying). 

Why is there nothing like this on telly today? Or am I missing it?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 08 April, 2014, 07:44:55 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 23 March, 2014, 09:21:58 PM
Rewatching Buffy from the start, for the first time since, well, the first time...And just finished Season 1. 
My own (re)watch has been stalled at the end of season 4 for a few months, so I heartily approve of this project. First time around it was season 2 before I got on the Buffy bus. There is a pretty big jump in the overall assurance of the production between 1 & 2 , but 1 is still a massively endearing and entertaining watch.

Much like Moses Tannenbaum, I was surprised how little Jenny Calendar is actually in the show.
Quote from: TordelBack on 08 April, 2014, 12:45:51 AM
As you might notice, I am massively taken by the Buffy character...In fact, almost everything starts much earlier on than I remembered it: Cordy's rapprochement, Ms. Calendar's arrival, Luke's slaying
Me too. One thing that's really neat about watching it with hindsight is picking up the little bits of foreshadowing sprinkled around every now and then.

For my part, I started watching True Detective last night and had to stop after three episodes so I might actually get up this morning. Bloody hell, it's gripping stuff. I think it's what drugs might be like if drugs were really addictive and awareness of the limited supply would have you torn between the twin desires to gorge yourself on the lot in one go or eke it out as long as possible in the hope of finding more.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: shaolin_monkey on 08 April, 2014, 09:21:27 AM
I watched all of the first season of American Horror Story recently.  Not bad - a couple of nice twists and turns such as [spoiler]when the daughter died, but we didn't realise until a couple of episodes later[/spoiler].  Also, Connie Britton eh?  Phwoar, eh?  Phwoar! Say no MORE!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 09 April, 2014, 10:51:29 AM
Buffy the character is the one I like the least by the end of the show. Season 4 is where she starts to turn...

Angel is terrible throughout Buffy apart from when he's hamming it up as Angelus. His own show would eventually be suprisingly good largely due to his supporting cast and the final season's creativity.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 09 April, 2014, 12:40:19 PM
I have accidentally started watching CASTLE which is a very comfortable* cop show starring Nathan Fillion.

I'm only 5 episodes in but the the last one A CHILL RUNS THROUGH HER VEINS was a genuine cracker of a tale with some really good twisty turny bits built into it and some top notch emoting all round.  The quippery is kept to believable levels.

The only slightly challenging bit is that the opening shot of the episode is normally a beautifully lit and framed shot of a corpse, often in an unusual setting.  There after it's standard cop/mismatched partners/will they or won't they type stuff. 

But none the worse for it. Certainly a lighter way to end the evening with an interesting mystery than CSI.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: amines2058 on 09 April, 2014, 12:53:15 PM
Just started watching the new Hawaii Five-0 from series 1 as I missed it first time around. A few episodes in and it looks quite enjoyable. Anyone else watched / watching, and is it worth sticking with?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: GrinningChimera on 20 April, 2014, 04:44:58 AM
Starting Breaking Bad again. Classic stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 20 April, 2014, 06:54:24 PM
Friends loaned me the first series of Game Of Thrones recently, which I watched over the last few days.

Yyyyeeeaahhh... I don't think I'll bother with the rest of it.

I'm actually left with this frustrating feeling that other people are seeing something in this show that I'm not. There's a lot to admire - some great acting and scenery, genius opening sequence, credible sense of scale to the whole story, Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey (le drool)... but for me, the negatives outweigh all that stuff.

What's the point of all the sex and nudity? Really? Or the seemingly mandatory once-per-episode use of the c-word (which, even as a fan of creative profanity, I find utterly vulgar and disgusting)?

I wouldn't say I thought it was 'bad'. I just didn't find it particularly edifying.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 21 April, 2014, 02:47:08 PM
Quote from: amines2058 on 09 April, 2014, 12:53:15 PM
Just started watching the new Hawaii Five-0 from series 1 as I missed it first time around. A few episodes in and it looks quite enjoyable. Anyone else watched / watching, and is it worth sticking with?

I love Hawaii 5-0!  It's pretty great if you like your tv dumb-but-fun, though the lead male (McGarret) remains dull throughout all four seasons so far, and there's a female character introduced at one point who you think might end up being an interesting addition to the team because she isn't immediately paired-off with a male character, until it becomes clear that she's only there because the actress the producers wanted was busy on another show that may or may not have been getting cancelled, and rather than just give the current (better) actress a job, they had her keeping the other actress' seat warm for 16 episodes and she's unceremoniously written-out in something like 7 seconds when the other actress is finally freed up to become the male lead's equally-dull girlfriend.
Danno is great, though, as he's played by the utterly ludicrous Scott Caan ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC9phoBfIXo ), whose career spans acting, modelling, hip-hop production, photography, curing autism with the power of surfing, and touring Hawaiian chat shows telling the people of Hawaii that their island is a shithole - and all of this was before it even dawned on me that his dad is James Caan, which I only twigged when he turned up on H50 as a character who asked if it was okay if he could show up now and then to say how disappointed he was with how Danno was running his life, which for JC must have been a bit like when Sean Connery got paid to do movies where he played golf.  The main baddies for the first few seasons are Crying Freeman/The Crow, and Spike from Buffy being a Northern Irish terrorist with a Scottish accent, and don't even get me started on the show's hilarious approach to product placement, with characters regularly stopping the plot to set up a Microsoft Surface and use it at length, though the writers do occasionally integrate product placement seamlessly and organically into the occasional episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQYwFND7rHE
Also there is an episode about Japanese internment during WW2, which ends with - I shit you not - an elderly Japanese internee apologising to one of his racist guards for thinking he might have been involved in wrongdoing when in fact all he did was participate in the cover-up the robbery and murder of an innocent man for seventy years, which means that the guard was one of the true heroes of WW2.

Gloriously stupid television.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Enigmatic Dr X on 21 April, 2014, 03:02:52 PM
Quote from: HdE on 20 April, 2014, 06:54:24 PM
Friends loaned me the first series of Game Of Thrones recently, which I watched over the last few days.

Yyyyeeeaahhh... I don't think I'll bother with the rest of it.

I'm actually left with this frustrating feeling that other people are seeing something in this show that I'm not. There's a lot to admire - some great acting and scenery, genius opening sequence, credible sense of scale to the whole story, Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey (le drool)... but for me, the negatives outweigh all that stuff.

What's the point of all the sex and nudity? Really? Or the seemingly mandatory once-per-episode use of the c-word (which, even as a fan of creative profanity, I find utterly vulgar and disgusting)?

I wouldn't say I thought it was 'bad'. I just didn't find it particularly edifying.


I utterly, TOTALLY, agree.

This stuff is aimed at me. I have, however, never watched the whole of the first episode. I have tried maybe six or seven times, usually when someone expresses incredulity that I don't watch it. And every time, after 30 or 40 minutes, I think: "This is rubbish."

For what it's worth, I'm Scottish and happen to think Braveheart is the worst film I've ever seen. In the cinema, I turned to the wife about an hour in and asked if she wanted to leave. "No," she said. "It's got a couple of hours left and everyone says this is great. It's got to get better."

It didn't.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 21 April, 2014, 03:54:42 PM
Quote from: HdE on 20 April, 2014, 06:54:24 PM
What's the point of all the sex and nudity? Really?

Because it's very consciously trying to establish itself as a different kind of fantasy? You never have the sense in hundreds of pages of Lord of the Rings that Aragorn ever had to drop his kecks behind a bush for a shit while out in the wilds; GoT is meant to be much more grounded in an, umm, earthier pseudo-medieval setting. Otherwise, it's just one more High Fantasy Tolkein knock-off.

QuoteOr the seemingly mandatory once-per-episode use of the c-word (which, even as a fan of creative profanity, I find utterly vulgar and disgusting)?

Ahh. A several of GoT's best lines deploy the c-word to splendid effect. Minorly-spoiler-ish links, concealed to protect delicate eyes from profanity:

[spoiler]"There's no cure for being a c*nt." (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13CSWRyaAgA)

"Why are the gods such vicious c*nts?" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upqpS9TTc2c)

"Lots of c*nts." (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ItKF3xyci8)[/spoiler]

Edit to add: why aren't those fucking spoiler tags working...?

That first one is one my favourite lines from any TV show, ever.

Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 21 April, 2014, 03:02:52 PM
This stuff is aimed at me. I have, however, never watched the whole of the first episode. I have tried maybe six or seven times, usually when someone expresses incredulity that I don't watch it. And every time, after 30 or 40 minutes, I think: "This is rubbish."

The first episode is hard work. It throws something crazy like twenty-odd named, speaking characters and half a dozen significant locations at you and then expects you to keep all that straight in your head while it engages in some really ambitious world-building. Anyone who's ever asked me if it's worth watching has got the same answer: stick with it to the end of episode one, but if you get to the end of episode two and you don't want to watch episode three, don't bother going any further.

Cheers

Jim
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 21 April, 2014, 04:41:50 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 21 April, 2014, 03:54:42 PM
Quote from: HdE on 20 April, 2014, 06:54:24 PM
What's the point of all the sex and nudity? Really?

Because it's very consciously trying to establish itself as a different kind of fantasy? You never have the sense in hundreds of pages of Lord of the Rings that Aragorn ever had to drop his kecks behind a bush for a shit while out in the wilds; GoT is meant to be much more grounded in an, umm, earthier pseudo-medieval setting. Otherwise, it's just one more High Fantasy Tolkein knock-off.


Now, see, this is the thing - I can see the merits of adding a measure of this sort of thing to make things feel more credible. But I personally don't like my fantasy to be too realistic. Certainly not if it means the end result is something like GoT.

My bigger beef with all the exposed flesh and grunty-groany is just that it does nothing in my view to build a world or imbue a certain atmosphere - it just feels gratuitous. Season one had at least one scene which really felt to me like the writers said "urrm... this bit's boring. Here! Let's have a naked guy dash on screen so we can wake everyone up with a little full frontal nudity!"

I don't think the show's rubbish by any stretch. But it does feel pointlessly 'adult' in the worst sense. If I could see more story relevance to the stuff I find objectionable (and, I'll admit, in a couple of cases, it's there) I'd not have such a big problem with it.

End of the day, this show just isn't for me. Not rubbish. Just not for me.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 21 April, 2014, 04:46:45 PM
Quote from: HdE on 21 April, 2014, 04:41:50 PM
But I personally don't like my fantasy to be too realistic.

I totally get that. I had the same thing with Deadwood. I love Westerns, but the effort to make a more 'adult' Western seemed strained and in the process managed to eliminate whatever it is about Westerns that I love...

Cheers

Jim
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 21 April, 2014, 04:52:59 PM
I had no knowledge of the books and watched the first 4 or so episodes of GoT with a sense of mild amusement, considering it all to be utterly disposable trash TV.

But then around the end of episode 4 'Cripples, Bastards and Broken Things' something just clicked and I was utterly engrossed, and have been ever since. Though it should be noted, even as an avid watcher I ended season 1 still a little confused as to exactly who was who - there are a lot of grizzled men with long hair and beards to keep track of - but the more research you put in, the more you get out of it. It's the perfect example of a show to watch with a companion podcast so you can dissect it afterwards - I listen to a couple and it greatly enriches each episode.

Being deadly serious, though Jim makes a good point, I consider all the sex and nudity stuff as a red herring - it's what got the show noticed and is there primarily to ensnare the casual punter. In all honesty I rather wish they'd tone it down a little as it can often go a bit too far and distract from what makes the show fascinating - the sense of scale, the wonderful characters, the intrigue and incredible world-building.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 21 April, 2014, 05:03:26 PM
Quote from: HdE on 21 April, 2014, 04:41:50 PM
My bigger beef with all the exposed flesh and grunty-groany is just that it does nothing in my view to build a world or imbue a certain atmosphere - it just feels gratuitous ... I don't think the show's rubbish by any stretch. But it does feel pointlessly 'adult' in the worst sense.

I just watched all of True Detective, which was fantastic, but it does offer evidence of some obvious HBO box ticking. I'm pretty sure there's a network document out there which explains to show runners that their narrative can be as decompressed and their themes can be as esoteric as they please, just as long as a pretty girl gets her tits out every ninety minutes.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 21 April, 2014, 07:55:28 PM
There's no doubt that teh bewbs and gratuitous humpage are there in large part to attract and hold a certain kind of target viewer's attention, at least as much as to establish any earthy realism, hence the much-lampooned 'sexposition' that makes up much of Seasons 1 and 2.  I'd read the books before watching, and while being impressed by Season 1's enormous ambition I found the attempts at titillation quite off-putting and took my sweet time in catching up with Seasons 2 and 3, which I eventually found more to my taste - although I still tend to groan when everyone commences dropping their kecks.

Incidentally, I understand anyone who says they don't like either the books or the TV series: I honestly thought I was completely done with fantasy novels before reading Game of Thrones, and in fact struggled to get past the first few chapters, before I began to find it compelling.  I could just as easily have found myself on the other side of the fence.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 21 April, 2014, 10:02:55 PM
Great discussion, guys.

I think what comes out of this most for me is that, sure those HBO trappings of south-of-bellybutton adventuring and potty language may grab attention, but they're also just as likely to repulse.

I'm reminded of my sole experience with the show 'Homeland', which is one that family and friends have nagged me to investigate. It's never going to happen, because the only episode I saw was the one where Damian Lewis bundled Clare Danes into the back of her car for a quickie. Utterly bloody horrible, tawdry stuff to behold, in my opinion.

Where GoT is concerned, I find myself thinking 'guys, I see what you're trying to do, but I'd rather you tried a different method, please.' It kind of says something that I felt FATIGUED by the content by the end of season one. I'm kind of curious to know where it goes, but not enough to commit hours to viewing it.

And Jim - your point about Deadwood is excellent. I never saw any of it, but I can appreciate how the execution of something that sits squarely in a certain genre could be off-putting to fans of that genre.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Enigmatic Dr X on 21 April, 2014, 10:32:37 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 21 April, 2014, 03:54:42 PM

Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 21 April, 2014, 03:02:52 PM
This stuff is aimed at me. I have, however, never watched the whole of the first episode. I have tried maybe six or seven times, usually when someone expresses incredulity that I don't watch it. And every time, after 30 or 40 minutes, I think: "This is rubbish."

The first episode is hard work. It throws something crazy like twenty-odd named, speaking characters and half a dozen significant locations at you and then expects you to keep all that straight in your head while it engages in some really ambitious world-building. Anyone who's ever asked me if it's worth watching has got the same answer: stick with it to the end of episode one, but if you get to the end of episode two and you don't want to watch episode three, don't bother going any further.


Oh, go on then. It's downloadable on Sky so I'll stick them on my box and give it another go.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 21 April, 2014, 11:33:37 PM
Quote from: radiator on 21 April, 2014, 04:52:59 PM
Being deadly serious, though Jim makes a good point, I consider all the sex and nudity stuff as a red herring - it's what got the show noticed and is there primarily to ensnare the casual punter. In all honesty I rather wish they'd tone it down a little as it can often go a bit too far and distract from what makes the show fascinating - the sense of scale, the wonderful characters, the intrigue and incredible world-building.

Fair play to Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen), who threatened to quit if they didn't tone down her gratuitous nude scenes - they did.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 22 April, 2014, 10:26:19 AM
Deadwood was amazing. It was the Wire of the West. Everything was so dirty in that town and a showdown at noon rarely solved anything.

Too much sexposition in GoT I agree but sadly I think that is part of its appeal to a wider audience.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 22 April, 2014, 04:45:51 PM
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 22 April, 2014, 10:26:19 AM
Deadwood was amazing. It was the Wire of the West. Everything was so dirty in that town and a showdown at noon rarely solved anything.

This. I lluuuuuuurrrvve Deadwood. It is as deep as the sea - I find something new in it every time I watch it - people harp on about dying being a big deal in GoT and it is but the deaths of characters in Deadwood still haunt me to this day. :'(
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dark Jimbo on 22 April, 2014, 04:52:44 PM
Quote from: CrazyFoxMachine on 22 April, 2014, 04:45:51 PM
This. I lluuuuuuurrrvve Deadwood. It is as deep as the sea - I find something new in it every time I watch it - people harp on about dying being a big deal in GoT and it is but the deaths of characters in Deadwood still haunt me to this day. :'(

I don't feel nearly as attached to Deadwood as some, but the tragic story of Reverend Smith remains one of the most affecting things I've ever seen...  :'( It's like the last episode of Band of Brothers, I just can't watch without shedding a manly tear or two.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 22 April, 2014, 04:55:40 PM
And every one of us heard a gnarled Ian McShane snarl "Cocksucker" at least once just now.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 22 April, 2014, 08:04:18 PM
Deadwood did something amazing in making the mythical appallingly ugly, and then finding real beauty in all that ugliness. Anytime I'm made to feel a prude for disliking some specific bit of profanity or finding some sex-thing unnecessarily exploitative I remind myself that I love every minute of Deadwood.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 22 April, 2014, 08:28:24 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 22 April, 2014, 08:04:18 PM
Deadwood did something amazing in making the mythical appallingly ugly, and then finding real beauty in all that ugliness. Anytime I'm made to feel a prude for disliking some specific bit of profanity or finding some sex-thing unnecessarily exploitative I remind myself that I love every minute of Deadwood.

Beautifully, beautifully said. It's such a shame that Milch's incomprehensible John From Cincinnati & horse-deathtacular Luck didn't capture the same magic. Although the latter has some very strong scenes - Dustin Hoffman versus Mike Gambon both in full powerful Al Swearengen mode is quite stunning. Frustratingly HBO passed on his next project 'The Money' which was going to feature the brilliant Brendan Gleeson as a mighty patriach and cynical media mogul set in modern New York. Sigh. We'll always have Deadwood though...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 22 April, 2014, 08:49:18 PM
Deadwood was so masterpiece! I agree about those deaths left long in your memory. Great casting to be honest.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 22 April, 2014, 08:59:12 PM
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 22 April, 2014, 04:52:44 PM
the tragic story of Reverend Smith remains one of the most affecting things I've ever seen...  :'( It's like the last episode of Band of Brothers, I just can't watch without shedding a manly tear or two.

Agreed, a hard watch.
I only 'discovered' Deadwood a few years ago, and gorged on the lot in a few weeks.
TV has rarely been better.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 22 April, 2014, 09:42:45 PM
Farscape... back on Pick TV from last night :)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 28 April, 2014, 01:17:44 AM
Now settled in to Season 3 of our Buffy rewatch.  I actually can't get over how good this show is, or how fast it moves - both in terms of pacing within episodes (which almost never sag) and in terms of how relentlessly new characters and situations are introduced, developed and even discarded.  Wherever I noticed weaknesses earlier on, these have been thoroughly addressed - even Boreanaz' Angel, the great wooden lemon of the first season, has passed through his far more entertaining but ultimately terribly hammy evil incarnation in Season 2 to become an interesting well-acted character, and his previously rather unconvincing relationship with Buffy now feels genuine. 

Most fascinating is the time spent establishing the rich and quite touching central family group of Buffy, Giles and Joyce: all the broader, flashier relationship stuff is anchored by this core. 

Probably the most consistently satisfying re-watch of a long-running genre show that I've yet undertaken: at no point is there any sense of dutifully slogging on to get to the 'good stuff' - it's all good stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 28 April, 2014, 07:37:06 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 28 April, 2014, 01:17:44 AM
Now settled in to Season 3 of our Buffy rewatch.  I actually can't get over how good this show is, or how fast it moves - both in terms of pacing within episodes (which almost never sag) and in terms of how relentlessly new characters and situations are introduced, developed and even discarded.

Oddly enough, we're currently doing the same (albeit only mid-way through Season 2) with much the same feeling — it really is that good, and it depresses me that:

1) There are people who still refuse to watch Buffy on the basis of what they think the series is going to be like

2) Eleven years since its cancellation, it's still so singularly good.

Cheers

Jim
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: 8-Ball on 28 April, 2014, 12:51:40 PM
BtVS was (and still is) the best TV show... ever. I wasn't a big fan to begin with when BBC2 were showing it but I took a gamble and bought the season one box set on VHS at the end of 1999. That was me hooked.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 28 April, 2014, 02:16:33 PM

Generation War - BBC2

The story of five German friends in the years from 1941 to 1945: five young women and men whose friendship was meant to last their whole lives.

Berlin, the summer of 1941. Wilhelm, Friedhelm, Charlotte, Viktor and Greta meet to say their farewells. Little do they know how war will change them.


I miss 1st Part of 3-Parts series of it last Saturday and lucky to catch it on iPlayer, what a great opening episode, looking forward to watch next 2 episodes.

Also it subtitled as it filmed in Germans.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 28 April, 2014, 03:22:43 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 28 April, 2014, 07:37:06 AM
Buffy ...Eleven years since its cancellation,

so that means 17 years since it began - holy crap, where does the time go?

.......in my day, this was all fields
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 28 April, 2014, 04:05:19 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 28 April, 2014, 03:22:43 PM
.......in my day, this was all cemeteries

FYP

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 28 April, 2014, 04:38:01 PM
Okay so I'm currently just starting on The Wire. Now to be fair to it its reputation is such that to match it would be a challenge and I'm only three episodes in BUT... well it was coming... its good, very good... but its not anywhere near Breaking Bad or The Sopranos so far for me.

The issue I have is the core of the story isn't massively interesting, or rather original. I've seen a gazillion tales of how grim and gritty it is being a bizzy in downtown... wherever, be it Baltimore in this case, or New York, or LA - all over it would seem. How hard bitten the cops are, how damaged their live and corrupted the system etc etc. The Police side of things really isn't doing anything new. The characters seem born out of cliche... on that side of the coin. Now given the experience of the writers I have no reason to suspect its not accurate, but as drama its hardly original now, or back in 2002 when it started.

The gangs side is far more compelling and refreshing and those elements I enjoy much more. On the whole though I'm a little underwhelmed.

Is it a victim of my expectations? Will it get better? Am I just being daft?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 28 April, 2014, 04:44:55 PM
yep you being daft, it getting better into the Wire series, thought Series 2 was the best of all. You would like follow more characters on it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 28 April, 2014, 05:12:42 PM
Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 28 April, 2014, 04:38:01 PM
Is it a victim of my expectations?

Undoubtedly - I know a lot of people who have attempted and given up on The Wire in the first or second season because it didn't tick the right boxes for them personally - just because something is critically acclaimed doesn't mean you'll love it, after all! It's not the same as Sopranos or Breaking Bad no - it's slightly less bombastic than both of those - being quite a dense character thing that requires a lot of serious watching. I'm trying to remember what made me stick with it - as I remember being bewildered by it completely to start with. Something happens further along in Season 1 that really flipped me out - and I was hooked right after that.

A lot of my favourite ever TV series are growers - and they alone convince me as they run along and The Wire has unfortunately been choked by reputation. I imagine getting into it now you feel like you're being poked by a big stick every five minutes going "YOU SHOULD BE LOVING THIS - WHY AREN'T YOU?!". I say no - don't give up on it yet perhaps as it definitely gets more absorbing the further you go - but at the same time don't feel you have to love it! That'll make you bitter for spending the time with it - ! I thought the first season of Breaking Bad was terribly uneven for example - strong start, strong finish - soggy boring middle that I was really confused about "THEY'RE ALL RAVING ABOUT THIS?!" I thought - !

I know this chap - who recently failed to watch The Deer Hunter. He went on Facebook and said "hey - I've sat through an hour of this shit and they've done nothing - I'm giving up" :S
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 28 April, 2014, 05:13:37 PM
Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 28 April, 2014, 04:38:01 PM
Okay so I'm currently just starting on The Wire ... Is it a victim of my expectations? Will it get better? Am I just being daft?

Yes, yes, and no. I found series 2 a chore, and The Wire is more like The Sopranos than Breaking Bad, in that it's really more about enjoying the characters (and eventually some very big thematic resonances) than some meticulously worked out macro-plot being fed to you in small, carefully rationed pieces at intervals determined by season breaks and Nielson sweep weeks. Plot ain't its strong suit, and sometimes it feels like they're making it up as they go along, but there's some genuinely fantastic stuff in there if you're prepared to take the show on its own terms.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 28 April, 2014, 05:23:13 PM
The only issue with The Wire is that you must put aside the expectations drilled into you by decades of unceasing, wall to wall convention. That is what I really enjoyed.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 28 April, 2014, 05:25:46 PM
the thing I liked about the Wire is the way it told similar (and often interlinked) stories but each series had a different focus - the first was the cops, subsequent series focus on the Mayor's office, the unions and the press.

I'm anticipating a similar over-hyping reaction when I finally get around to Breaking Bad.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 28 April, 2014, 07:51:27 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 28 April, 2014, 05:25:46 PM
the thing I liked about the Wire is the way it told similar (and often interlinked) stories but each series had a different focus - the first was the cops, subsequent series focus on the Mayor's office, the unions and the press

Like those hobby magazines they used to advertise on telly every January, it builds week by week into a comprehensive inventory of all human society's ills - it just takes its time getting there.

The Buffy discussion has made me realise how much that show has influenced all telly, even the likes of Breaking Bad and Boardwalk Empire. Once you catch onto what Whedon is doing structurally - a different villain every season, and each episode forming part of a larger narrative which runs over that season, building to a huge series-spanning arc - it's addictive, and anything without that dynamic feels as tedious and desultory as free form jazz. Any show that doesn't tease you and indulge you with tasty morsels of continuity cake in the manner pioneered by Buffy now just feels like its being deliberately difficult.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 28 April, 2014, 09:15:59 PM
Wow - thanks for the thoughts all. Was expecting a reaction, but more the getting run out of town, pitchfork and burning torches type!

Seriously though I did some careful reading before diving in (my wife and I had a long discussion about what to got for next after finishing Breaking Bad - worried whatever it was would suffer post BB withdrawal comparisons... which it might also be suffering from) and it was the dense characteristation that most intrigued us and that, at least in half I'm not finding yet. As I say the cops to this point aren't offering me much new. At the same time I'm finding it okay to follow (might be me missing stuff of course!) and have only had one "Hold on who was that" moment with my wife asking last night who McNulty was being warned about at the end of episode three and that wasn't even I tricky one I think my wife was just dead tired!

Still early days and the series structure (different focus each season) really appeals to me.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 28 April, 2014, 09:46:59 PM
Quote from: sauchie on 28 April, 2014, 07:51:27 PMAny show that doesn't tease you and indulge you with tasty morsels of continuity cake in the manner pioneered by Buffy now just feels like its being deliberately difficult.

There's an interesting phenomenon with the better episodic shows of that style  - if you're reasonably confident of the thought that's going into something you can start to stitch together ingredients to make your own 'continiuity cake' which, if the show is really working, complements the intentional one.  The example that highlighted this for me was a Season 2 (or maybe very start of Season 3) Buffy episode where Xander remarks, after a spot of fill-in slaying, "it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye". 

Now this is a common throwaway phrase, and I really can't believe it was part of anything intentional at the time, but in a show where most incidental little mysteries and apparent non-sequitors come back to haunt the cast many episodes down the line ("get back before dawn", for example), or where background characters - virtual extras - maybe have a single line or a reaction shot every other episode for 2 or 3 seasons before suddenly moving centre stage (Jonathan, say), it's hard not to weave these details together.  And maybe Whedon, retrospectively, really does draw on this innocent remark when he introduces his Firefly refugees to Sunnydale 4 or 5 years later.

Long-winded way of saying: it's not just a simple case of a show having a larger structure drip-fed through nested layers of pace, it's where this process is subtle, reliable and challenging enough to allow the viewer to do their own world-building around it without regular disappointments.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Magnetica on 28 April, 2014, 11:41:40 PM
For me the Wire is all about the characters. There are just so many of them and the lines between what is "good" and "bad" are so blurred.

Personal favourites are Omar and Avon. Oh and Clay Davis (just for his catch phrase).

Really loved it..must get round to watching it again a some point

The other thing is who is [spoiler]the actual protagonist? That would be Jimmy McNulty right? Well how can that be when he pretty much doesn't appear in season two at all (except maybe for 5 mins in the first episode.)[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 29 April, 2014, 12:34:44 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 28 April, 2014, 09:46:59 PMThe example that highlighted this for me was a Season 2 (or maybe very start of Season 3) Buffy episode where Xander remarks, after a spot of fill-in slaying, "it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye".
See also: Willow's comment about her evil doppelganger "looking a bit gay." Or is that a definitely deliberate one?

Quote from: sauchie on 28 April, 2014, 05:13:37 PM
Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 28 April, 2014, 04:38:01 PM
Okay so I'm currently just starting on The Wire ... Is it a victim of my expectations? Will it get better? Am I just being daft?
Yes, yes, and no. I found series 2 a chore, and The Wire is more like The Sopranos than Breaking Bad, in that it's really more about enjoying the characters (and eventually some very big thematic resonances) than some meticulously worked out macro-plot being fed to you in small, carefully rationed pieces.
Most of what he said apart from the bit about series 2, which popped through my letterbox along with the Prog on a Saturday morning and I'd watched the whole lot by Sunday evening.

I certainly remember thinking the cop characters were nothing new for the first couple of episodes but they did grow on me and you've already picked up on the dealers being more interesting than them. This is a big part of the point of the programme for me: it's trying to draw a picture of the world in which this happens and maybe suggest reasons people become involved on all sides and why it doesn't change. As others have said, the ramshackle, investigative plot is just a way of allowing them to poke into different corners.

In the end, there's nothing you can do if it's not for you and your point about the weight of expectations may be right. I have the inverse relationship with Breaking Bad and The Wire to your own.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 29 April, 2014, 07:10:37 AM
Quote from: Magnetica on 28 April, 2014, 11:41:40 PM
For me the Wire is all about the characters. There are just so many of them and the lines between what is "good" and "bad" are so blurred. Personal favourites are Omar and Avon. Oh and Clay Davis (just for his catch phrase)

I'm sure if they'd been planning the whole thing out like a proper show Clay Davis would have popped up at regular intervals throughout the series to do his catchphrase, like Woody Woodpecker. It is fucking brilliant, though, and his fantastic performance [spoiler]during the climactic trial[/spoiler] proves he ain't a one trick pony.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Daveycandlish on 06 May, 2014, 10:16:27 AM
80s tv show TRIPODS.
Okay so there's some dodgy acting and very 80s effects and the tripods don't appear half as much as you want them to but this is bloody good. I never actually saw the second series when it was broadcast (probably because the early teen me wanted more effects than the first series had given me so I gave up on it) but I'm hooked now (and not because it features lots of young men in shorts dancing in a club called The Pink Parrot!) - I really wish they had made the third and final series. I'll just have to buy the books instead.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Ancient Otter on 06 May, 2014, 10:34:21 PM
Quote from: Magnetica on 28 April, 2014, 11:41:40 PM

The other thing is who is [spoiler]the actual protagonist? That would be Jimmy McNulty right? Well how can that be when he pretty much doesn't appear in season two at all (except maybe for 5 mins in the first episode.)[/spoiler]


Not sure I'd agree with you on that, [spoiler]I think you are underestimating his role in that season[/spoiler]

Season 2 was the series I started with The Wire so I'm pretty fond of that one, coming home after working evening shifts and turning on TG4 (the Irish language channel of the national broadcaster who have great taste in picking up US programs that the main Irish channels should - Oz, Carnivale, Breaking Bad...)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 07 May, 2014, 10:07:59 AM
The BBC really dropped the ball in how it broadcasted the Wire. Every episode one after the other each week at different times on different channels with no repeats, at one point with several episodes in one week. Like they were burning through it as fast as possible and if you missed one you'd be bang out of luck.

Given that it only started broadcasting it as the 5th series was underway you'd have thought they'd have a more planned approach. However I doubt any converts were made to the Wire by its run on the BBC.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dark Jimbo on 07 May, 2014, 12:22:44 PM
Funnily enough, Blaze, my one and only attempt at watching The Wire was via the BBC broadcasts. Maybe it contributed to the utter apathy I felt at what was supposed to be such an 'event' series. I don't think I watched a single pair of episodes in sequence due to the crazy way it was scheduled, and I couldn't even tell you what series the ones I did watch were from. None of the characters made an impression, none of the storylines registered, not a single thing about it got my attention.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 07 May, 2014, 12:37:35 PM
It really works better on a slow burn.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dark Jimbo on 07 May, 2014, 12:41:47 PM
Yeah, I don't blame the series itself. Always meant to give it another shot one day.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 08 May, 2014, 01:13:18 PM
Just started watching MODERN FAMILY - an american sit-com about life in a modern family. 

There's a traditional husband and wife and 2.2 kids as one strand but also some less than traditional couples and offspring. It's done in "Office" style i.e. people speaking directly to an unseen interviewer at points but also able to cast some great glances to camera during otherwise normal scenes.

I must say, I like it. There are some great characters, some fantastically crafted gags (that aren't always obviously "set-up/punchline" or sarcastic quippery).

Some issues - everybody is very pleasantly well off and the mums are all stay at home and often "let the dads win" to keep the peace. What is this, 1970?

But other than that, I find it very smart slice of (unattainable) life comedy.

And I'm totally in love with one of the cast members. Not Sofia Vergara (who, to quote "looks like she fell off a mud flap") but the marvellous Cam. The thought of his Lion King still makes me laugh.

Right, you can all slate me now because it's so boring and traditional and not in the slightest bit edgy.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 08 May, 2014, 01:48:16 PM
You can only be truly poor in America if your family is involved in crime, substance abuse, or if you are in possession of a different skin colour. Or at least that's what the TV tells me. Otherwise you can afford a massive apartment with a terrace in the middle of New York on the salary of a waitress and a chef.


Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 08 May, 2014, 02:21:07 PM
It's not just an American thing, British tv is very middle class-centric, too.
Having said that, I think Modern Family has an in-built excuse because of the reality/documentary conceit, as the show-within-a-show is following a "normalised" family unit rather than one in extreme circumstances (such as poverty), though there's plenty of US shows about poor people, like 2 Broke Girls, Devious Maids (which technically qualifies even if there are rich people in it), Mom or the Fosters.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 08 May, 2014, 02:22:56 PM
Modern Family has become our teatime sitcom now Tips, I wrote it off quite early on but it won me over and now I'm really enjoying it. Some great moments and performances in that show.

I decided on a whim to figure out where I left off 24 and pick it up again, so I've just jumped back in towards the end of season 6. I'd stopped because I got a bit burnt out on it and wasn't feeling it anymore, but coming back fresh the hooks are right back in. I just love it, and mainly because it's ludicrous. Guaranteed I'll gasp at something insane at about the 58mins mark in every single episode. It's mental but brilliant, brilliant tv.
Title: Re: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 08 May, 2014, 03:55:50 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 08 May, 2014, 01:13:18 PM
Just started watching MODERN FAMILY - an american sit-com about life in a modern family. 

There's a traditional husband and wife and 2.2 kids as one strand but also some less than traditional couples and offspring. It's done in "Office" style i.e. people speaking directly to an unseen interviewer at points but also able to cast some great glances to camera during otherwise normal scenes.

I must say, I like it. There are some great characters, some fantastically crafted gags (that aren't always obviously "set-up/punchline" or sarcastic quippery).

Some issues - everybody is very pleasantly well off and the mums are all stay at home and often "let the dads win" to keep the peace. What is this, 1970?

But other than that, I find it very smart slice of (unattainable) life comedy.

And I'm totally in love with one of the cast members. Not Sofia Vergara (who, to quote "looks like she fell off a mud flap") but the marvellous Cam. The thought of his Lion King still makes me laugh.

Right, you can all slate me now because it's so boring and traditional and not in the slightest bit edgy.

Not at all, I've mentioned many times on this thread about my love for Modern Family. A genuinely funny family sitcom with broad appeal is a rare thing.

Be warned though, it (IMO) completely goes off a cliff after season 2. Every episode from 3.1 onwards almost entirely lacks the charm and wit of what came before. Even my girlfriend, who held on longer than me, have up on it midway through season 4.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 08 May, 2014, 05:02:48 PM
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 08 May, 2014, 01:48:16 PM
You can only be truly poor in America if your family is involved in crime, substance abuse, or if you are in possession of a different skin colour. Or at least that's what the TV tells me. Otherwise you can afford a massive apartment with a terrace in the middle of New York on the salary of a waitress and a chef.

It was a rent controlled (http://my.telegraph.co.uk/expat/sophiepitman/10151459/the-myth-of-nyc-rent-control/) apartment, and Monica had to pretend her Grandma (the official tenant) was still living there to hold onto the lease - they did a whole episode about it, so it wasn't just a yuppie fantasy. The conspicuous wealth of characters in US film and TV fascinated me as a kid; all those John Hughes teenagers living in two-storey clapboard mansions making unmetered calls on the phones they had in their rooms and holidaying in The Islands. Roseanne was the only exception.

I just assume that's because very few of the US nationals who manage to get their work on screen come from a working class * background or have any experience of that form of existence. That's largely true of successful UK screenwriters too, they just feel more guilty about their privilege than their counterparts in the aspirational US, and so inflict wretchedly clichéd portrayals of what they imagine working class people and their lives are probably like upon viewers.


* that term's a synonym for bum or trailer trash in the context of the US - almost anyone with a job figures themselves as middle class
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 08 May, 2014, 07:07:15 PM
It's not just film and tv - yank comics in recent years seem to have migrated focus from the slums of NYC to the beaches of Los Angeles.  I think I noticed it first with Runaways - a comic whose cast never seemed to encounter poor people and who always lived in lush mansions despite the premise of the book being that they were homeless kids "making it on their own" or something.  The in-house art preference seems to have changed at Marvel to reflect this, too - switching from scratchy, gritty realism to bold, slightly abstract manga styles.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 08 May, 2014, 07:24:25 PM
Quote from: sauchie on 08 May, 2014, 05:02:48 PM...they did a whole episode about it, so it wasn't just a yuppie fantasy.

Similarly the Simpsons, supposedly eternally teetering on the brink of poverty, appear to live in a detached house with a vast garden, basement, attic, garage and four bedrooms. But again this became the subject of an episode, with Frank Grimes as the incredulous observer. 

At least Lois and Hal from Malcolm in the Middle had a shit lawn and had to get by with two bedrooms. 

The bit that always got me was Ferris bitching about getting a kickass computer with a modem and a synthesiser instead of a car like his sister.  Boo-drokkin'-hoo, Bueller,
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 08 May, 2014, 10:45:14 PM
Also British stuff clearly does it better. The doctor's place is the definition of a box room and even Sherlock has to lodge at someone's house.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 09 May, 2014, 04:53:52 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 08 May, 2014, 07:24:25 PM
The bit that always got me was Ferris bitching about getting a kickass computer with a modem and a synthesiser instead of a car like his sister.  Boo-drokkin'-hoo, Bueller

I always took the modem and computer line to be a reference to Broderick's character in War Games. Which I suppose could mean Ferris's sister got her car as compensation for her nasty experience of sexual predation by a much older member of staff at Summer camp (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=HFK_i5r1WJk#t=39).

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Batman's Superior Cousin on 14 May, 2014, 09:28:16 PM
At any one time, my TV schedule would comprise of either of the following: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Boardwalk Empire, Doctor Who, Endeavour, Game of Thrones, The Blacklist, True Detective and Utopia.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: IronGraham on 14 May, 2014, 09:57:06 PM
For me my current habbit is mad men
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 15 May, 2014, 08:03:23 AM
Been watching Adventure Tim. Shame on me for not getting into it sooner! What a bloody fun series!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 15 May, 2014, 09:23:21 AM
Powered  through all of Young Justice. Not a bad replacement for the DCAU of old at all. Shame it was cancelled and nowt has replaced it really
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: SmallBlueThing on 15 May, 2014, 09:45:48 AM
Rupaul's Drag Race, via Netflix.

Steamrollered through seasons five, four and one- now going through season two. Glorious.

SBT
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 20 May, 2014, 12:48:13 PM
Still continuing with MODERN FAMILY and CASTLE. Both on Season 2.

Modern Family continues to charm and delight and provide big laughs. 

Castle is even more formulaic than previously - not to say the individual stories don't have good twists etc. but it's all a bit predictable. Sadly, they've ditched the bit I liked most - the beutiful lit corpse at the start of the show. But in it's defence, it has had a great Firefly gag and Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) said she reads comics. A nice light nightcap of a programme.

Both shows also give me a feeling of "where have I seen them before?" about nearly every cast member - and, with the obvious exceptions of Nathan Fillion and Ed O'Neill, I can't work out where.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 20 May, 2014, 01:58:38 PM
Off the top of me head, Beckett was the voice of Talia Al Ghul in the Arkham games, and was the lady at the end of Quantum of Solace that Bond told to leave the room.  Castle's mum was Greg's mum in Dharma and Greg, Castle's daughter does squeaky voices for one of those dreadful Disney cartoons about fairies with giant heads and very little clothing, the hispanic detective guy was in the Shield and Generation Kill, Captain MK1 did voice work on Gargoyles and Spawn, Captain MK2 was Sisko's missus in Deep Space 9, and Castle was in some shite space cowboy thing for nerds that didn't last a full season.  The murderers/suspects are 99 percent of the time played by actors from other tv shows that you will recognise, but probably not care enough to Google.

I like Castle and it really does stop trying in later seasons, but it still has its moments, like the shameless/pointless rip-off of Kirk's birth from the first Trek reboot movie that makes no sense at all, an episode with a time traveler, and a mystery at a sci-fi convention where the murder weapon is a phaser set to kill instead of stun, and which guest-stars lots of Trek alumni.  Also Mr Worf is Beckett's psychiatrist for some reason.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 20 May, 2014, 02:44:07 PM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 20 May, 2014, 01:58:38 PM
Captain MK2 was Sisko's missus in Deep Space 9

She was President Denis Haysbert's evil wife in 24, too...

Cheers

Jim
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Satanist on 20 May, 2014, 03:16:14 PM
My missus loves Castel (the man and the show) but the only episode Ive seen was the Time travel one. Its the best bit of crap telly Ive seen in years.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 20 May, 2014, 05:01:06 PM

Her name's Beverley, and she used to get Larry Sanders (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4hMC-YOuCQ)'s ointment for him.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 22 May, 2014, 06:37:29 PM
Well I could google it as well but where is the fun in that?

Pleasures our children will never know #247: Leaving the pub not knowing the answer to an argument.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Ghost MacRoth on 22 May, 2014, 06:49:25 PM
Vikings

Violent, gritty, well shot, well acted, beautiful design, and most importantly characters that engage my interest (regarding their fate).  Done 2 seasons now, and impatient for more!!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 22 May, 2014, 09:39:55 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 22 May, 2014, 06:37:29 PM
Well I could google it as well but where is the fun in that?

Pleasures our children will never know #247: Leaving the pub not knowing the answer to an argument.

So true.  Since I got one of those newfangled smarties-phone things I now point-blank refuse to google things I should know/remember (as opposed to things I definitely don't know).   A day or two of racking my feeble brain has to be better than a few seconds of typing on that miniscule screen, surely?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 23 May, 2014, 10:46:52 PM
Person of Interest - started off slow but I'm really enjoying the adventures of the Punisher and Oracle.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 23 May, 2014, 10:59:20 PM
Started on Kolchak The Night Stalker, which has quite the reputation to uphold.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 24 May, 2014, 10:31:46 AM
Quote from: Ghost MacRoth on 22 May, 2014, 06:49:25 PM
Vikings

Violent, gritty, well shot, well acted, beautiful design, and most importantly characters that engage my interest (regarding their fate).  Done 2 seasons now, and impatient for more!!

I loved season 1.
RTE began broadcasting it a few months back, and after 3 episodes I ventured west to plunder the DVD instead of waiting.
Eagerly awaiting season 2, and beyond.
The historical events it's loosely based on promise much to come.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: 8-Ball on 24 May, 2014, 01:34:02 PM
Parks And Recreation. I am in the middle of season five. I know people like 'em but I've have had my fill of those (now tedious) blood n' boobs cable shows where everyone acts like a dick to one another. I get enough of that in real life (more the dickishness and less the boobs or blood) so Parks & Rec is good solid escapism. :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 24 May, 2014, 02:40:20 PM
It's Buffy 5 round my manor. While there were certainly episodesof earlier series which I hadn't seen, this is getting into territory I know very little about. While it retains the same sense of fun and works hard to address the characters' changing situations, I've always thought the Buffy and Spike romance was a really stupid development and far too much time is spent building that up.

The good still far outweighs the bad.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 24 May, 2014, 06:55:55 PM
You're ahead of me! We're racing towards the finish of Buffy Season 4 in our house, eagerly devouring it as every episode is better than the last.  I'd always though Season 4 was a bit unfocused following the loss of the shared school setting (swinging between College, Giles' place and Xander's basement), but in fact it all works brilliantly, with some great character bits and really clever foreshadowing that is definitely intentional this time.  Also, refreshingly Angel-lite
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 24 May, 2014, 11:45:35 PM
Season 1 of Game of Thrones.
Having no plans with friends I've watched four episodes tody and about to watch more. Unfortunately, having read the book and the fact is pretty faithful means most of the story is already known to me, but it's a good watch just the same.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proteus4 on 25 May, 2014, 04:39:17 AM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 23 May, 2014, 10:59:20 PM
Started on Kolchak The Night Stalker, which has quite the reputation to uphold.

oh - I loved that show.  It used to be on late nights when i was in my early teens and i recorded all of them and watched them over and over again.  I'm gonna have to buy it on DVD now that you've reminded me of it.

Dave
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 25 May, 2014, 07:05:42 AM
Well in my continuing adventures of 'The Wire' I've been increasingly getting into it and enjoying it. Last night we watched episode 11 (still season 1) and the tension and eventual heart stopping cliffhanger at the end of an attempted sting in a Baltimore back alley left me aware just how much I'm invested in the characters - even the less interesting 'cop' side of things.

I hereby retract my initial reservations... mind its no Breaking Bad... yet.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 25 May, 2014, 07:56:17 AM
Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 25 May, 2014, 07:05:42 AM
Well in my continuing adventures of 'The Wire' I've been increasingly getting into it and enjoying it. Last night we watched episode 11 (still season 1) and the tension and eventual heart stopping cliffhanger at the end of an attempted sting in a Baltimore back alley left me aware just how much I'm invested in the characters - even the less interesting 'cop' side of things.

I hereby retract my initial reservations... mind its no Breaking Bad... yet.

:D :D :D

Quote from: CrazyFoxMachine on 28 April, 2014, 05:12:42 PM
I'm trying to remember what made me stick with it - as I remember being bewildered by it completely to start with. Something happens further along in Season 1 that really flipped me out - and I was hooked right after that.

This was indeed that.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 05 June, 2014, 12:45:47 PM
Found THE THICK OF IT on Lovefilm  I've seen plenty of episodes but never sat down in order.  First three an absolute treat!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 05 June, 2014, 01:14:46 PM
"No, he's useless. He's absolutely useless. He's as useless as a marzipan dildo."
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 05 June, 2014, 06:25:53 PM
My favourite Tuckerism: (KNOCK KNOCK)  "come the fuck in or fuck the fuck off" - which I've used many times since!
Title: Re: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richmond Clements on 06 June, 2014, 02:42:51 PM
"What is this? Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Cunt?"
Title: Re: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 06 June, 2014, 03:03:38 PM
(http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lis28tPGEW1qgj9g6o1_500.jpg)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: GrinningChimera on 09 June, 2014, 10:46:47 PM
Watching The Comic Strip Presents..... remembering Rik Mayall in my own little way. Classic stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 13 June, 2014, 10:15:07 PM
Orange Is the New Black season 2 on Netflix.

Much like season 1, this is extraordinarily good TV - witty, sharp and often moving writing, top-notch production values and one of the most talented casts of unknowns* I've ever seen in anything - every character infused with real humanity and vulnerability. My main complaint with the first run - too much time dedicated to the main character's slightly far-fetched and tedious lesbian love triangle plot - seems to have been addressed - Piper works best as a window through which we get to know all of the other characters.

If you've dismissed this series as being 'girly' then think again - you're seriously missing out.

*Plus the guy from American Pie and Janeway from Star Trek.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 13 June, 2014, 11:07:03 PM
I'm not enjoying season 2 really.

Person of Interest is however getting much much more interesting, AI finally steps forward into the narrative and the superhero/vigilantes are getting more and more knowingly OTT.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: GrinningChimera on 14 June, 2014, 06:47:42 AM
Hannibal.

Watch the first 2 episodes today. Will get round to watching the rest of season 1 tomorrow hopefully. Enjoying it so far. I was ready for some pretty shocking stuff which I'm still waiting on, but I've heard it gets more brutal as the season goes on so I will wait and see.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: IronGraham on 14 June, 2014, 06:57:59 PM
Just started true detective
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 20 June, 2014, 02:42:48 AM
Well, I just wrapped up 'Elfen Lied', which had been sat on my little stack of anime for way too long.

I'd kind of gotten anime'd out, which, in spite of my being a lifelong fan of the stuff, does happen every few years or so. But I'd heard enough praise for the show to dig it out.

Cannot stress this enough - I REALLY think it's the sort of show a lot of the regulars on this board would enjoy.

It kind of works in spite of itself at times - the voice acting is a little hard to take (LOTS of breathy-voiced, saccharine-sweet girls in this) and there are some real clangers in the script at times. As in 'oh my god did this actually get past an editor' clangers.

BUT...

What makes the show work is that it actually deals with some weighty stuff, has pretty appealing characters, a set up that feels fresh, and - let's not sugar coat this - it's GNARLY AS ALL GET OUT. I felt genuinely unsettled by the first episode, which contains probably more bloody violence in 20 minutes than I saw in all the anime I watched last year.

Inventive stuff, played out with great conviction and suitable gravitas. And the final episode was pretty much perfect. Recommended.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 20 June, 2014, 08:34:03 AM
Onto the last few episodes of Angel Season 1 here, as a side-project of the Buffy rewatch, and despite never having thought that highly of the spin-off show, it has really grown on me.  By the latter third of the season Boreanaz has finally squeezed some personality into Angel, and the writers have found some interesting things for him to say.  An increasingly leathery Cordelia isn't as sharply funny as she was (although still fun), and the intensely (intentionally) annoying Wesley has had some of the more jagged edges filed off.  Most tellingly every time Buffy appears as a Very Special Guest Star I wish she would piss off home, which is quite an achievement given my affection for the character and general lack of interest in her BFF.

I'm most impressed by the way the show has changed over 20-odd episodes, surviving the unfortunate loss of Doyle, reining back the use of Detective Kate, and establishing its own tone.  It certainly didn't hit the ground running the way Buffy did, but its tribulations have been interesting and the results more so.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 20 June, 2014, 08:42:30 AM
Oh Angel will get better by Season 2. Oh lucky you for first time to watch Season 3 and 4, that was great!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 20 June, 2014, 09:50:59 AM
Who would win in a fight? Cavemen or Astronauts?

It's SMILE TIME :)

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 20 June, 2014, 08:34:30 PM
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 20 June, 2014, 09:50:59 AM
Who would win in a fight? Cavemen or Astronauts?

It's SMILE TIME :)

Never seen it. I had given up on Angel by that time, but it's definitely one of the episodes I'm most looking forward to watching - the designs look great.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 20 June, 2014, 09:26:04 PM
I think you're in for a genuine treat if you haven't seen much of Angel, TB.
A very slickly produced show.
Season 3, my personal favourite, had an almost dizzying arc, with the status quo constantly shifting in unexpected and thoroughly entertaining ways.
Boreanaz was superb throughout the five years, inspiring impressionable young-ish Squaxx to style their hair in ever unfeasible manners, and broodily wear long black coats, even in the summer. Cough.

It's Wesley's character that received the most satisfying development however, literally stealing the scenes by the end.
I never put together an official top-ten TV shows in my head, but this would certainly merit consideration.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 20 June, 2014, 10:57:27 PM
Even the Conner guff gets good with Jasmine's "Heaven on Earth" storyline. Lot of painful stuff leading up to that though.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 20 June, 2014, 11:05:22 PM

I only really enjoyed the first season of Angel. Once Cordelia was suddenly psychic and they started popping out to mediaeval fantasy land I thought it lost whatever charm the initial premise offered.



Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 20 June, 2014, 11:18:19 PM
Quote from: Islamic State of Iraq and Sauchie on 20 June, 2014, 11:05:22 PM

I only really enjoyed the first season of Angel. Once Cordelia was suddenly psychic and they started popping out to mediaeval fantasy land I thought it lost whatever charm the initial premise offered.

The trip to Pylea only lasted a few episodes Sauchie- you shoulda stuck it out.

Plus; [spoiler]Cordelia takes a back seat in Seasons 4+5, eventually killed off. Probably cause Carpenter was tooting more Hoover than Keith Richards at the time. [/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 20 June, 2014, 11:40:34 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 20 June, 2014, 11:18:19 PM
The trip to Pylea only lasted a few episodes Sauchie- you shoulda stuck it out. Plus; [spoiler]Cordelia takes a back seat in Seasons 4+5, eventually killed off. Probably cause Carpenter was tooting more Hoover than Keith Richards at the time. [/spoiler]

I might have, but I think Channel Four stopped buying it around that point. Pretty much every show I watched in the late nineties or early 21st century eventually disappeared behind Rupert Murdoch's pay wall.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 20 June, 2014, 11:49:02 PM
Quote from: Islamic State of Iraq and Sauchie on 20 June, 2014, 11:40:34 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 20 June, 2014, 11:18:19 PM
The trip to Pylea only lasted a few episodes Sauchie- you shoulda stuck it out. Plus; [spoiler]Cordelia takes a back seat in Seasons 4+5, eventually killed off. Probably cause Carpenter was tooting more Hoover than Keith Richards at the time. [/spoiler]

I might have, but I think Channel Four stopped buying it around that point.

Same thing happened to me. I was struggling a bit with Fred and Pylea and all that, and then I had to chase it around and get friends with Sky to tape it and I just lost the motivation.  When I did dip back in there was mopey teen Conner and I just never connected with it again.

Which is all to the good now!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 22 June, 2014, 02:43:22 PM
As my Buffywatch reaches completely uncharted waters, I've been dreading watching the musical episode for the first time. Having no soul, I loathe musicals almost as much as I hate those stupid robots from off of Silent Running and I can't really say its fan favourite status helped ease my nerves.

Anyway, turns out I was wrong and Joss Whedon is an actual genius.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 22 June, 2014, 02:55:41 PM
Quote from: The Cosh on 22 June, 2014, 02:43:22 PM
Anyway, turns out I was wrong and Joss Whedon is an actual genius.

That episode transcends television itself.  My mate's first child was born the night it first aired here, and I subsequently berated him for missing it (the episode, not the birth) and knew I was right to do so.

However:

Quote from: The Cosh on 22 June, 2014, 02:43:22 PM...almost as much as I hate those stupid robots from off of Silent Running...

That's an automatic fail on the Voight-Kampff.  Stay away from my tortoise.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 22 June, 2014, 03:38:35 PM
Not a Buffy fan. But I DID see that episode.

"It doesn't mean a thing if it ain't got that.... ow."

Genius!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 22 June, 2014, 03:47:35 PM
Not only are the tunes catchy, funny, and well-performed (and thus works well as a standalone piece of musical theatre), but the episode represents the culmination of at least half-a-dozen character arcs and several long running sub-plots, and kicks off a whole new phase of the series - and it does it all satisfyingly and memorably, and delivers a gobsmacker of a twist.  It really is an extraordinary achievement, possibly the single most accomplished 45 minutes of television ever made.  And it really, really shouldn't have worked at all.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 22 June, 2014, 04:09:14 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 22 June, 2014, 02:55:41 PM
That's an automatic fail on the Voight-Kampff.  Stay away from my tortoise.

He's not helping, Tordel. Why isn't he helping...?

Cheers

Jim
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 22 June, 2014, 11:58:12 PM

I've watched it twice now. Quite extraordinary, and TB nails it there.

It starts out making you think it's just a gimmicky joke episode then takes a whole load of important plot strands and cuts the Gordian Knot of finding time to let them all play out without skimping on the impact of any of them in a fun, inventive way which is both totally unexpected and completely in keeping with the spirit of the show in general and this episode.

Plus the songs are funny: "I can bring whole cities to ruin/
And still have time to get a soft shoe in..."

I texted a pal about my discovery and he responded: "There's moments in it when I completely forget that I'm supposed to actively loathe adult orientated rock at all times. Also, Tara's quite the chanter." I had to agree.

Where does Giles solo gig in Restless sit on the foreshadowing wallchart?
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 22 June, 2014, 04:09:14 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 22 June, 2014, 02:55:41 PM
That's an automatic fail on the Voight-Kampff.  Stay away from my tortoise.
He's not helping, Tordel. Why isn't he helping...?
Arf. As a child I once had a tortoise called Arnold who ran away.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: GrinningChimera on 28 June, 2014, 06:34:56 AM
Just finished the first season of Hannibal. Gripping stuff. Waiting for the next season to come to blu-ray is going to be a killer.

Highly recommended to any budding serial killers out there
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 15 July, 2014, 10:53:59 AM
Series three of Falling Skies out now and second House of Cards... on DVD.

Have just finished the first series of The Following, tempted to follow up the second.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 15 July, 2014, 11:50:37 AM
True Blood, season 5.  There's too much overt fantasy stuff and the strongest material concerns human characters and dramas, the fairy nonsense doing nothing but padding out the running time with stuff 1990s Power Rangers would think twice about, but if you don't mind that, it's decent bit of camp fluff - for all its gore, bumming and swearing - even if some characters and plotlines strain one's capacity to sit in front of the tv and not set fire to it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 15 July, 2014, 10:37:46 PM
From Dusk 'Til Dawn
The series, that is, not the film.

I recently started the trial run of Netflix. I went on there looking for Almost Human (it's on Amazon Prime but missing episodes 2 and 3 for some reason) and came across this instead.

Interesting. [spoiler]Particularly how close to the storyline of the film it is. Almost as if the film were a Reader's Digest version of the series story. I'm some ways this makes it feel rather padded, but I wonder if I'd get that impression if I'd never seen the film?

Also interesting that they basically went with the snake person idea which is Salma Hayek morphed into in the film as the main form for the vamps. (All the other vampires in the film are of the more traditional variety.)
It took 4 or 5 episodes to reach the Titty Twister club. But boy is that scene grim when they do.


[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: SmallBlueThing on 15 July, 2014, 10:53:16 PM
From Dusk Til Dawn was a weekly must-see in the Small Blue House. Very much looking forward to series two.

SBT
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 21 July, 2014, 05:30:40 PM
Quote from: The Cosh on 24 May, 2014, 02:40:20 PM
It's Buffy 5 round my manor. While there were certainly episodes of earlier series which I hadn't seen, this is getting into territory I know very little about. While it retains the same sense of fun and works hard to address the characters' changing situations, I've always thought the Buffy and Spike romance was a really stupid development and far too much time is spent building that up.
As it turned out, I'd seen far more of the fifth season then I remembered but there were some big gaps. In fairness, the way the Buffy Spike relationship plays out in the second half of the series is a bit better and becomes genuinely interesting at the start of the next series. On the one hand I still find all Spike's doe-eyed mooning hard to take and can't shake the feeling that it's playing to over-earnest writers of slash fiction (as opposed to over-earnest, po-faced internet commenters.) On the other, how on Earth could I have forgotten the existence of the Buffybot?

Overall, the quality remains high with some of my favourite crass laughs - Anya's plans for the two Xanders, Buffybot's Terminator style HUD - and probably the most affecting moments. I remember when I originally saw The Body, it was halfway through before I realised that part of what was making it so unsettling was the lack of incidental music or, in some cases, sound.

It's an interesting ending too, for the tiny little shift in Giles as much as the main event. One where we obviously know it isn't final and are intrigued to find out how it will be resolved but also for how the creators try to contextualise it. I'm not usually one to be interested in commentaries or behind the scenes gubbins but Whedon's observations about this being originally conceived as a potential capstone for the whole series and then repurposed in this way are pretty interesting.


Quote from: TordelBack on 20 June, 2014, 08:34:03 AM
Onto the last few episodes of Angel Season 1 here, as a side-project of the Buffy rewatch, and despite never having thought that highly of the spin-off show, it has really grown on me...I'm most impressed by the way the show has changed over 20-odd episodes, surviving the unfortunate loss of Doyle, reining back the use of Detective Kate, and establishing its own tone.  It certainly didn't hit the ground running the way Buffy did, but its tribulations have been interesting and the results more so.
Like the Megazine before it, I refused to have any truck with Angel when it was initially released then ended up getting and watching the whole lot a few years ago and really enjoying the majority of it. You're right about the way it changes over the course of the first series, ending up in a completely different place, with a completely different supporting cast to what you initially expect. The first two series are great, the Connor thing is something a dreary retread of Dawn, but it finds its feet again in the latter days.

TL;DR Buffy is great. Cosh takes it too seriously.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 04 August, 2014, 09:58:30 PM
Finally getting round to watching the last series of Breaking Bad. I really didn't think it could get any more ridiculous after the end of the fourth but Jesus Christ! It keeps me watching, but I just can't seem to balance the dramatic side with the ludicrous A Team [spoiler]giant magnets and train robbery[/spoiler] stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Devons Daddy on 05 August, 2014, 11:23:19 AM
just began on RAY DONOVAN
damn season 1 is good,
with its slightly hidden yet blatantly obvious characters of certain hollywood actors,

a decent ride of total nonsense and reality tv style actoin, of a group of disturbed family member mixed up in the holllywood scene,
good stuff.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Devons Daddy on 05 August, 2014, 11:27:13 AM
True Detective

just saw this via the wonderful world of ITUNES
damn,that was incredible entertainment.

worthy of a fist full of groats. story,acting,cinematography,editing, it had me in the first 6 minutes then the need to sleep over the weekend ebbed away.

that has got be sweeping the board at the awards this year.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proteus4 on 06 August, 2014, 06:00:16 AM
Just finished seasons one and two of House of Cards (US) and i loved it.  Season 1 was a bit ropey in places and the politics felt very dumbed down, but the acting and plot were great.  I remember the first series of the british one all those many moons ago and the - at that time - very shocking ending.  It was a clever trick to [spoiler]hold that over for the end of the first episode of season 2[/spoiler] as it completely grabbed you and pulled you into the show again.

Has anyone else been watching falling skies?  I havent started season 4 yet, and while i think it's only a fair to middling show, im quite looking forward to it.
Dave:)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 08 August, 2014, 12:48:32 AM
Notes from last week.
Faced with the choice of the last series of Breaking Bad or delving straight into the sixth of Buffy, it was a no-brainer: Sunnydale for the win. This is the one series I knew almost nothing about, having only ever seen two or three episodes before (did it move to Sky or something?) and the first thing that struck me was how bleak a lot of it is. Having gone about as far as they could with the escalation of bigger bads, the decision to flip that round - making the apparent nemesises so mundane - and letting the main focus be on coping with life plays a big part in that. Having the villains be human and without so much as a grandiose scheme between them, just the most venal of motives, makes some of what happens later hit harder: Warren killing his ex is more shocking than any vampire attack.

The first third of the series, with Buffy trying to come to terms with what's happened, is great. The dynamic between her and Spike which I was complaining about before really does make sense here. I still found the whole bringing the house down scene laughable rather than comic, butyou can't have everything. The quality peaks with the previously fawned upon Once More with Feeling and its immediate aftermath. Conversely ,the episodes which follow, centring on Willow's addiction to magic, are some of the ropiest they've ever done. It's important for the ongoing storyline and it's one subject I can't remember them ever having touched on before (hmmm: Riley's inverted shooting gallery, maybe) but it's really not done very well.

Things improve again coming into the home straight, just in time for the wheels to fall off everything in our happy troupe's lives. Love saves the day but a different flavour. I'm looking forward to watching the last series so much that I'm even thinking about buying some of the comics too.

The addition of Dawn to the cast is an interesting way of revisiting some of the teen angst of the early days from a quite different perspective.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Devons Daddy on 08 August, 2014, 07:36:11 AM
House of cards, YES!!
He does it justice does Kevin.....

The original was amongst the British clAssics.
The yank version is a perfect rendition of both the important scenes and a modern twist updated
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 28 August, 2014, 10:32:40 PM
So enjoying the 100 TV series on E4.

It's does got latest Battlestar Galactica vibe about it... (I know some actors from it on it!)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 28 August, 2014, 11:20:42 PM
Started on channel 4's Utopia today. Ever wanted to see a 2000AD serial in television format? This is it. Only one episode in, so i'm not gonna give a full opinion yet. But it's good. Very good.




Oh, and did Bolt get royalties for that FutureQuake cameo?! :lol:
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Fungus on 29 August, 2014, 12:36:31 AM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 28 August, 2014, 11:20:42 PM
Started on channel 4's Utopia today. Ever wanted to see a 2000AD serial in television format? This is it. Only one episode in, so i'm not gonna give a full opinion yet. But it's good. Very good.

Which series, 1 or 2? Both start with incredibly promising episodes.
Followed by some ultra-violence to shock.
And I didn't make the end of either  :(
Tried both series twice - just in case.

Mind you baling out is becoming pretty common. That WAS The Honourable Woman about anyway?  :|
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 29 August, 2014, 06:45:12 AM
Quote from: Fungus on 29 August, 2014, 12:36:31 AM
What WAS The Honourable Woman about anyway?

It was about four or five episodes too long.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 29 August, 2014, 07:03:38 AM
Quote from: Fungus on 29 August, 2014, 12:36:31 AM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 28 August, 2014, 11:20:42 PM
Started on channel 4's Utopia today. Ever wanted to see a 2000AD serial in television format? This is it. Only one episode in, so i'm not gonna give a full opinion yet. But it's good. Very good.

Which series, 1 or 2? Both start with incredibly promising episodes.
Followed by some ultra-violence to shock.
And I didn't make the end of either  :(
Tried both series twice - just in case.

Mind you baling out is becoming pretty common. That WAS The Honourable Woman about anyway?  :|
Series 1. Uktra-violence i'm fine with so long as it isn't at the expense of a story.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Devons Daddy on 01 September, 2014, 03:35:49 AM
House of cards (yank version) outstanding just watched season 2
Yes losing the original path now of course but still outstanding stuff.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 01 September, 2014, 06:07:08 AM
Finished The Wire Season 2 and it is as good as people say. Absolutely loving the series. Glad they've sorted the whole 'Getting the band back together' thing boxed off as that was just about the only downside to this season. Brilliant stuff, even if the cop element is increasingly a sideshow.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 01 September, 2014, 11:21:06 AM
Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 01 September, 2014, 06:07:08 AM
Finished The Wire Season 2 and it is as good as people say. Absolutely loving the series.

You still have Season 3 to watch for the first time.
How I envy you.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 01 September, 2014, 12:38:56 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 01 September, 2014, 11:21:06 AM
You still have Season 3 to watch for the first time.
How I envy you.

Yeah I'm quite excited about it. My guess is and this is just speculation so please don't confirm or deny anything - we're in for a clash between Omar and Stringer, depending on where he's at Barksdale might get in the mix too.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 01 September, 2014, 12:40:15 PM
Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 01 September, 2014, 12:38:56 PM
Yeah I'm quite excited about it. My guess is and this is just speculation so please don't confirm or deny anything - we're in for a clash between Omar and Stringer, depending on where he's at Barksdale might get in the mix too.

OOOh so you in for a big ride for Season 3 ;)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 02 September, 2014, 11:14:13 PM
Quote from: The Cosh on 04 August, 2014, 09:58:30 PM
Finally getting round to watching the last series of Breaking Bad. I really didn't think it could get any more ridiculous after the end of the fourth but Jesus Christ! It keeps me watching, but I just can't seem to balance the dramatic side with the ludicrous A Team stuff.
Made it to the end at last. I've probably been overly critical of some aspects of this programme so I better say that the second half of the last series is by far the best it's been and almost reaches the heights some of the more overheated fans make for it. The work put in to doing something with the likes of Hank and Skylar really paid off towards the end.

The finale itself kind of encapsulated the show for me: annoying callback to the start of the series, some genuinely dramatic bits and one final credulity-stretching Macguyvering.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 04 September, 2014, 12:39:50 PM
EXTANT on Lovefilm.

Primarily because Halle Berry is one of my laminates but it's a great opening episode even if it seems like "SOLARIS meets AI the TV series".
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Devons Daddy on 04 September, 2014, 02:44:35 PM
Due to the overwhelming vote of WOW and positive comments i just downloaded BUFFY
the singing episode.

about to sit and watch it now,
I like/d buffy and simply did not catch this show at the time and have yet to catch up on this particlar season.
so ITUNES now has my groats.

hoping to join you all in its celebration in an hour
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 04 September, 2014, 02:58:40 PM
Quote from: Devons Daddy on 04 September, 2014, 02:44:35 PM
Due to the overwhelming vote of WOW and positive comments i just downloaded BUFFY
the singing episode.

I don't think you're seeing it in its ideal context — one of the reasons it's such a great episode (apart from coming up with a logical, story-consistent rationale for the whole musical shtick and then doing it really well) is that's a really important episode within the context of all the ongoing story/character arcs of that season. Without that, I suspect it's really just going to be a bunch of songs.

Cheers

Jim
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 04 September, 2014, 04:41:24 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 01 September, 2014, 11:21:06 AM
Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 01 September, 2014, 06:07:08 AM
Finished The Wire Season 2 and it is as good as people say. Absolutely loving the series.

You still have Season 3 to watch for the first time.
How I envy you.

Indeed
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Enigmatic Dr X on 04 September, 2014, 07:25:51 PM
The Wire lasted 15 minutes in our house. I don't have time to waste on "getting through the first season" of a programme. Sorry.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 04 September, 2014, 08:33:36 PM
Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 04 September, 2014, 07:25:51 PM
The Wire lasted 15 minutes in our house. I don't have time to waste on "getting through the first season" of a programme. Sorry.

Maybe give Farscape & Buffy a miss so!  ;)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Enigmatic Dr X on 04 September, 2014, 08:36:49 PM
I did.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rude as HECK on 04 September, 2014, 09:08:11 PM
Been binging on Seinfeld recently. Hell of a sitcom.  A few too many filler episodes, but sometimes the plots are so vapid you barely notice them, so you sort of just pass over 'em.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 04 September, 2014, 10:18:25 PM
Just about to finish rewatching Only Fools and Horses. So much funny.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 05 September, 2014, 01:51:35 AM
Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 04 September, 2014, 07:25:51 PM
The Wire lasted 15 minutes in our house. I don't have time to waste on "getting through the first season" of a programme. Sorry.
Fair enough, but I usually give it a whole episode.

This Judge Dredd is a lot of pish. He didn't even investigate that crime which was shown in graphic detail on the first page.

Yes he did. In fact that formed the plot of the whole story.

Who has time to turn pages?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 05 September, 2014, 06:43:05 AM
Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 04 September, 2014, 07:25:51 PM
The Wire lasted 15 minutes in our house

The episodes are usually longer than that - did you have it on fast forward by mistake? That'll be why you didn't enjoy it.


Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Devons Daddy on 05 September, 2014, 11:52:05 AM
BUFFY GREAT!!

shall get the  full season now, as i recognise it has far more depth.
was good bright colourful subplots of a deeper nature brought to closure or torn open.

was good use of my time to enjoy.


Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 12 September, 2014, 05:20:06 PM
After finishing off the John Lithgow series of Dexter, I don't think I'll be looking back in again.

Now it's on to Utopia proper, which 3 episodes in is rather special. Nice to see Faisal from Four Lions again. It's nice to hear all those lovely accents on screen - shame Smiley didn't stick around.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 30 September, 2014, 02:45:48 PM
On any other show but Star Trek Voyager, the producer sleeping with an actress whose character came to dominate the show she only joined in its fourth season would have been seen as a conflict of interest, or at the very least a HR lecture waiting to happen, but luckily for all concerned, any potential Voyager had to move Trek forwards had already been quashed and it had outed itself as an old-fashioned and conservative-to-a-fault show, so no-one really gave two fucks about some barely-watched tv show about robots and lasers pushing yet another watered-down version of Spock to prominence in an attempt to appeal to nerds, lurching her around onscreen in an utterly ridiculous glittering catsuit that would have looked stupid in an episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century as she declared people's emotions illogical/inefficient - though it really is hilarious how blatantly Seven of Nine comes to overshadow everything to the point that the rest of the cast look like troopers for putting up with being reduced to guest-stars in their own show for the rest of its run.  Even funnier is trying to imagine someone with a straight face telling a meeting of tv network executives that what their show needed to take from the Borg was a big-breasted Mr Data impersonator, and not a horde of unstoppable robot space zombies who'd just starred in the most successful Star Trek movie of all time.
There are a couple of good episodes in the season 3-4 run I've caught in the last few weeks, particularly that one where we find out that Janeway is stalked by the actual honest-to-goodness Grim Reaper, but there are far more stinkers, especially that space-rape episode with - obviously - Seven of Nine discovering that even in the 24th century, suppressed memories are a confidence trick invented by the psychiatric industry, and that women aren't bothered by finding out they've been molested until Social Justice Warriors convince them to kick up a fuss.  Thanks for giving the Trek mythology that, Voyager.

Also Star Trek Continues, a Kickstarter-funded fan production based on the original series featuring a damn-near perfect Kirk from prolific anime voice-over artist Vic Mignogna, although bizarrely his voice is the weakest link in the chain.  Apart from that, his mannerisms and delivery are classic Shatner and the rest of the cast vary between good and Not So Good, with the odd bit of stunt casting of Trek fans like Erin Grey, that bloke who played Apollo on the Battlestar Galactica remake, the son of the bloke who played Scotty in the original Trek series (here playing Scotty, naturally), and computer voices provided by Mr Worf and Counselor Troi from Star Trek: the Next Generation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G-ziTBAkbQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mOpmIFTxkE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJf2ovQtI6w
The worst of the three episodes produced so far is Lolani, but even in its failure it's magnificent, because it's still a perfect reproduction of the failure of Trek at its most preachy and thus has nostalgia value.  It's a talky episode about the responsibility not to interfere in the ways of other cultures and the evils of slavery that not only dispels the ludicrous after-the-fact justification of later shows like Enterprise for the existence of slaves in Trek's supposed utopian future by suggesting that slave women willingly give themselves into bonded servitude, but it has Lou Ferrigno playing an Orion slave-master - yes, that's right, Lou Fucking Ferrigno in green body paint - and if that's not enough for you, then dammit, you're made of stone.
The best episode is far and away Fairest Of Them All, a direct sequel to the original Mirror Universe story that sees the (Evil) Spock in a power struggle with (Evil) Kirk for control of the (Ambivalent) Enterprise, complete with ham-fisted Kirk/Spock fight scenes filmed in Dutch Angles, and is pretty much perfect except for maybe one or two effects shots being too good, especially that wide-angle shot of the Enterprise shuttle bay near the end.
Yes, it is exactly the kind of thing they invented the term "fan wank" for, but when it's better than the fan wank being produced by the people who actually make Star Trek tv shows and movies, why worry?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 30 September, 2014, 03:19:15 PM
Another eloquent review, oh ursine one.

I had no idea that Jeri Ryan was bonking the producer, but it does explain an awful lot. I'll have to check out that other one - sounds like my kinda fanwank.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 30 September, 2014, 05:34:23 PM
Quote from: Bear McBear on 30 September, 2014, 02:45:48 PM
Star Trek Continues, a Kickstarter-funded fan production based on the original series ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G-ziTBAkbQ

That really is uncanny, and getting Seth McFarlane to play Scotty is quite a coup.


Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 30 September, 2014, 06:08:34 PM
Star Trek Continues is amazing. So easy to slip into the fantasy that you're watching a Season 4 that you somehow missed.  As the Bear says, even its shortcomings just enhance the illusion. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Grugz on 30 September, 2014, 06:22:06 PM
walking dead...again and series 4 gets on demand tomorrow so while the kids at school I can zombie away to my hearts content...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 30 September, 2014, 10:41:27 PM
COMMUNITY

Was this ever shown on normal telly? It's brilliant stuff playing too and subverting tropes in equal measure with fantastically bonkers, utterly flawed but still just about likeable characters, some genius gags and enough smart one liners to last you a lifetime.

Just finished season 3. Have crush on[spoiler] Dean Pelton[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 01 October, 2014, 01:00:12 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 30 September, 2014, 10:41:27 PM
COMMUNITY

Was this ever shown on normal telly?
Yeah. It's one of those programmes like Curb Your Enthusiasm that Guardian reviewers and the very occasional real person who actually watched it go bonkers about.

Never seen an episode myself. Doubt I ever will.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 01 October, 2014, 04:16:40 PM
I looked up Star Trek continues on the strength of Bear's review and he is pretty much spot on. Compared to every other fan made Star Trek I also glanced at STC was actually watchable.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 01 October, 2014, 04:19:32 PM
And the people making it have actually gone to a lot of trouble to make it look and sound and be acted and edited like Star Trek original series episodes. Again all of the other fan things seem to be doing something that just happens to use Star Trek uniforms and spaceships.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 01 October, 2014, 05:02:08 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 01 October, 2014, 04:19:32 PM
And the people making it have actually gone to a lot of trouble to make it look and sound and be acted and edited like Star Trek original series episodes.

Right down to the way certain scenes end in a way you can tell where the add break would have been in the original transmission. That's not just because of the technical aspects of the way the scene is edited and scored, but also the way the narrative has been constructed.


Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 01 October, 2014, 06:39:11 PM
Accidentally posted twice.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Satanist on 01 October, 2014, 07:04:10 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 01 October, 2014, 06:39:11 PM
Accidentally posted twice.

Was this ever shown on normal telly?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 03 October, 2014, 11:13:44 PM
Season 4 of Community and it seems to have become very normal. A poor halloween episode, a poor let's laugh at nerds at a convention episode and a completely devoid of luaghs "comedy Germans" episode.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 03 October, 2014, 11:26:56 PM
Yep, season 4 of Community is the pits. Not sure if you're aware Tips, but this was the season made without the involvement of Dan Harmon, and boy it shows. Though a certain section of fans seem to think it was alright (some even try to claim it's not much worse than season 3) I tend to recommend that people just skip over it entirely - it's pretty embarrassing for all concerned and is for me just not the same show as what came before.

Season 5, while I wouldn't call it an unqualified triumph, is a vast improvement.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: SmallBlueThing on 04 October, 2014, 11:32:56 AM
I have an abiding love for the original Star Trek, and have really enjoyed James Hawley's Star Trek: New Voyages/ Phase II... but Star Trek Continues, based on the ten minutes Ive just watched, is on a whole other level. If I can find something for the kids to do this afternoon that doesn't involve me, I will be having a bit of a marathon. Cheers for the heads up. Wow.

SBT
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Daveycandlish on 04 October, 2014, 11:41:39 AM
Star Trek Continues is by far and away the best new Trek you are going to find on YouTube.

I've just bought Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) in the NetworkDVD sale so will be having a marathon of that this weekend.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 04 October, 2014, 11:56:23 AM
Quote from: Daveycandlish on 04 October, 2014, 11:41:39 AM
I've just bought Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) in the NetworkDVD sale so will be having a marathon of that this weekend.

Classic original or misguided Vic'n'Bob remake?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Daveycandlish on 04 October, 2014, 03:34:14 PM
I enjoyed the remake (mainly because of Foxy Emilia as Jeannie) but this weekend it's Mike Pratt and Ken Cope's wig all the way
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 20 October, 2014, 04:32:26 PM
Rather enjoyed misguided Vic N Bob remake.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 20 October, 2014, 05:02:50 PM
Just finished 'The Wire' season 3 well now that was fun. I'm not sure it was quite as good as season 2, but then Omar wasn't quite as fantastic as he was in that. It certainly had some quite phenomenal episodes that for me would rank as highly as any in the other two great TV shows (Breaking Bad and The Sopranos) episodes 9 and 12 in particular. The rest had some really wonderful moments but overall for the longest time it felt like it was peddling too many things... which I guess is why episode 12 was such a relevant, it did manage to bring everything to an end very nicely indeed, quite brilliant.

The big letdown for me was the... well events of episode 11, if you've seen it you know. While I loved the balcony conversation and all weight that carried I felt the big ending had been coming for a while and therefore lost a lot of impact. Shame.

Still this is still up there with the afore mentioned big 2 quite breath-taking telly.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 21 October, 2014, 03:05:35 AM
I'm about halfway through the original Captain Harlock.

Oh my, it's deliciously bonkers. Continuity gaffes all over the place, big, big things in the show (like Captain Harlock being a pirate) just being the way they are 'just coz'... and some incredibly wonky, totally fantastic and implausible logic... but by god is it fun!

Much can be forgiven on grounds of the show's age. Originally airing in Japan in 1978, it still has a lot of the identifying hallmarks of anime as we know it in the west. It doesn't shy away from showing us death and conflict on different levels. And, for all the dated animation techniques, it's still a visually inventive show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ThryllSeekyr on 21 October, 2014, 01:29:27 PM
Still thinking about getting the Monty Python Flying Circus....perhaps one day!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Skullmo on 21 October, 2014, 01:36:49 PM
Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 20 October, 2014, 05:02:50 PM
Just finished 'The Wire' season 3 well now that was fun. I'm not sure it was quite as good as season 2, but then Omar wasn't quite as fantastic as he was in that. It certainly had some quite phenomenal episodes that for me would rank as highly as any in the other two great TV shows (Breaking Bad and The Sopranos) episodes 9 and 12 in particular. The rest had some really wonderful moments but overall for the longest time it felt like it was peddling too many things... which I guess is why episode 12 was such a relevant, it did manage to bring everything to an end very nicely indeed, quite brilliant.

The big letdown for me was the... well events of episode 11, if you've seen it you know. While I loved the balcony conversation and all weight that carried I felt the big ending had been coming for a while and therefore lost a lot of impact. Shame.

Still this is still up there with the afore mentioned big 2 quite breath-taking telly.

I loved Season 3, I even enjoyed that big ending.

Season 4 is my favourite though!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 03 November, 2014, 01:29:46 PM
I have recently been watching The X-Files and the original Battlestar Galactica.

The X-Files is pretty solid television.  Perhaps laughable in places, not to the extent that it distracts from a pretty well crafted formula.  Even though the show is enjoyable I am finding it difficult to binge on.  Maybe because I watched far too many episodes back to back when I had the flu.  I will be dipping back into this show in the interim between now and the next time I see my partner - we will be watching the new BSG hopefully in its entirety if it goes down well.

With the thought of that in mind I also started giving the original BSG a go.  Actually better than I was expecting and certainly a more enjoyable experience than that I had with Star Trek TOS(s).  It is still a little corny with a degree of insufferable sci-fi optimism that was common of the era.  It certainly has made me appreciate the rebooted version a lot more.  I may not get to the end of the series, but it's compelling enough to watch an episode a day at the moment.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 03 November, 2014, 01:40:44 PM
I enjoy the X-Files most as a non-linear experience. In contrast to most shows, I prefer monster-of-the-week to ongoing mythology.

Wish it was on Netflix UK.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 03 November, 2014, 01:50:07 PM
I remember loving the ongoing mythology when it originally aired.  It was the most enigmatic thing I had ever seen on television at the time.  This is actually my first viewing of the show as a fully-fledged card-carrying adult and I was surprised how monster-of-the-week it is.  I am appreciating it in different ways than I did the first time around.

Watching this show and the first episode of the Constantine show has got me recently thinking more about Buffy the Vampire Slayer - which is my all time favourite monster-of-the-week show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 03 November, 2014, 02:10:33 PM
Sherlock, just finished Season 1.  Oh I don't know about this at all.  Obviously the two leads are impressive, but are the characters they portray actually any good?  After years of trying to persuade my Holmes-purist wife that we should watch this, I'm starting to feel a bit of a chump.  The season finale was fun simply because of the rapid succession of half-familiar puzzles, but at the same time, it was deeply silly. I suppose what annoys me, apart from inconsistent characterisation of Holmes himself (which could be intentional, I suppose, 'mercurial' covers many ills) and the slightly-unbelievable-as-an-army-doctor Watson, are the gaping plot holes... a Holmes mystery should be watertight, full of the outlandish and grossly improbable, but by the man's famous dictum never impossible - which these frequently are. 

I'll persevere for a bit longer.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 03 November, 2014, 02:22:48 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 03 November, 2014, 01:50:07 PM
I remember loving the ongoing mythology when it originally aired.  It was the most enigmatic thing I had ever seen on television at the time.

Yeah I loved it too, though I was far too young to get it until it was well underway and the movie came out. I think this was part of the flaw of the mythology for me; by the time I could engage with it, I already had some suspicions that the conspiracies, secrets and more would ultimately fail to satisfy.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 03 November, 2014, 02:43:09 PM
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 03 November, 2014, 02:22:48 PM
Yeah I loved it too, though I was far too young to get it until it was well underway and the movie came out. I think this was part of the flaw of the mythology for me; by the time I could engage with it, I already had some suspicions that the conspiracies, secrets and more would ultimately fail to satisfy.

Yeah, I have been wondering about that.  The conspiracy and motives have already been spoilt for me (I haven't seen the movie in its entirety and my viewing was sporadic at best around the time it came out) it is a disappointment.  Thinking back, though, I think I enjoyed the mystery more.  These shadowy and mysterious people doing shady things for unclear purposes and ends was really compelling for me.  There was paranoia, uncertainty, subterfuge and distrust that lingered uncomfortably in the background - it was great.  Getting all the answers, in this case, could do nothing but disappoint as the compelling aspect is the frustration of not knowing the answers but, like Fox Molder, continuously pursuing it every week - mostly in the form of monster-of-the-week.  Given that I haven't seen all of the X-Files episodes and those I did watch I saw a long time ago I can't really say how well the show actually achieved this.  Nevertheless, from a nostalgic perspective this is what the show represented for me.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 03 November, 2014, 04:14:55 PM
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 03 November, 2014, 02:22:48 PM...I was far too young to get it until it was well underway and the movie came out.

Stop, you're killing me.

Coming at it from the perspective of being old enough at the time to know better, I too found the 'mythos' episodes the most compelling, and often resented what I thought of as filler.  Now, on the rare occasions that I have cause to think about X-Files, it's the better monster-of-the-weeks that really stand out as retrospective favourites.  Although I still have residual affection for the CSM and Krycek. 

Pictsy is absolutely right - knowing the solution to the big mysteries could never have been as satisfying as the search for truth.  But it still would have been nice if the answers were even vaguely interesting.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 03 November, 2014, 08:21:57 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 03 November, 2014, 01:29:46 PMWith the thought of that in mind I also started giving the original BSG a go.  Actually better than I was expecting and certainly a more enjoyable experience than that I had with Star Trek TOS(s).  It is still a little corny with a degree of insufferable sci-fi optimism that was common of the era.  It certainly has made me appreciate the rebooted version a lot more.

For me, the opposite was true - watching the new BSG made me appreciate the original a lot more, if only for being more ambitious, more forward-thinking, and less socially conservative than the remake (the original's Greek influence extended to a gay reading of the Starbuck/Apollo relationship, while the remake manages only to make a minor and unimportant character bisexual, but even then only manages to do so in a spin-off web series).

A good bridge between the two would be the underrated Space: Above and Beyond, which alongside Firefly was heavily stripmined for the BSG remake.  It's a straight-faced space war series about a squadron of fighter pilots based on a carrier craft, made by X-Files writers Glen Morgan and James Wong (Fox Mulder even does a cameo).  It had the misfortune to run afoul of the (then) small world of sci-fi critics and fandom by getting into a feud with journalists who'd run a hatchet job on an early pirate print of the pilot, and as a result the show couldn't get a break even when it produced objectively classic episodes like Who Monitors the Birds, Sugar Dirt, or The Angriest Angel (the latter was remade beat-for-beat in the BSG episode Scar).  While not cheap-looking, it does show its age, but it's worth a gander.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Batman's Superior Cousin on 03 November, 2014, 09:02:59 PM
Obsessively Watch

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Doctor Who
Game of Thrones
House of Cards

Occasionally Watch

Bojack Horseman
Criminal Minds
Falling Skies - Finishing next year
Have I Got News For You
Peaky Blinders
Star Wars Rebels
True Detective
Yonderland

Planning to Watch

Agent Carter
Daredevil
Galavant
Lilyhammer

Abandoned

American Horror Story
Continuum
Defiance
Homeland
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The Blacklist
The Mentalist

Have a Healthy Interest In

Person of Interest
The legend of Korra

Ended

Boardwalk Empire
Utopia
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 03 November, 2014, 09:05:33 PM
Quote from: Allah Akbark on 03 November, 2014, 08:21:57 PM
For me, the opposite was true - watching the new BSG made me appreciate the original a lot more, if only for being more ambitious, more forward-thinking, and less socially conservative than the remake (the original's Greek influence extended to a gay reading of the Starbuck/Apollo relationship, while the remake manages only to make a minor and unimportant character bisexual, but even then only manages to do so in a spin-off web series).

We're probably going to disagree massively on this point.  I haven't completed the series but I haven't become aware of any reading of a gay relationship between Starbuck and Apollo and saying 'reading' suggests that it's never explicitly stated.  The remake makes other reference to non-hetero sexualities not only Gaeta (who I would argue is not a minor character and certainly not unimportant having many significant story lines including [spoiler]the attempted coup[/spoiler]) but also, for example, Admiral Helena Cain.  The show that is more open about sexuality would be the less socially conservative and that would be the remake.

I think the remake is certainly more ambitious, taking a beloved product and making such a drastic re-imagining but also adding weight with social, political, metaphysical and moral issues.  The original is barely equalling that ambition.  Although I was surprised to see Apollo's wife get killed in the original series I am not seeing anything as daring as a secret court dispensing people out of an airlock, yet.  Who knows, maybe things take a turn for the dark mid-season.

How watching the original is making me appreciate the remake more is seeing just which elements they took from the original show and what they did with them.  It's nice to see those elements in the original.  For instance I have just started watching the episode with the prisoners.  It's interesting to watch how that was originally dealt with it.  I think it's entirely appropriate how the remake built upon that foundation and really ran with the concept of convicts in the colonial fleet.

My bias towards the remake of BSG is always going to be fuelled by passion as I regard it as one of the finest Science Fiction shows I have ever seen.  There is only one show I would certainly say is better (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) and maybe a handful I would consider better, but it really was an amazing breath of fresh air watching it.

I don't know whether I saw any Space: Above and Beyond.  I would certainly seek that one out and give it a go.  I always like Sci-Fi recommendations ;)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 03 November, 2014, 09:29:36 PM

I just took a long toke on season 6 of Mad Men, where brylcreem and seersucker give way to love beads and cheesecloth. Highlights were the insane episode where they all lock themselves in the office over a weekend, get wrecked on uppers, and the show turns into The Prisoner; the droll device of having a soap within the show *, resulting in the gift of three Megans on screen at the same time **; and the psychological Hiroshima of Don's pitch to Hershey's (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxMef0hYIWw).

I had to watch that last scene through my fingers.



* a show which takes flack for being too soapy

** evil blonde Megan with Mia Farrow's haircut rocks
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 03 November, 2014, 10:48:51 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 03 November, 2014, 09:05:33 PMWe're probably going to disagree massively on this point.

Indeed we are, but when Starbuck tells Apollo he's jealous of Apollo's new wife, I'm afraid there's really no turning the Gay Subtext Train around and going back to the closet station.
Also don't watch Galactica 1980.  I enjoy it but I'm not blind or deaf - it's complete horseshit.  The final episode is great, though, and belongs in season 1 as the finale.

You cite Stand Alone Complex so I salute you, but shall see your anime reference and raise you one Super Dimensional Fortress Macross (redubbed in the west as Robotech), in which the titular giant starship searches for Earth while infiltrated by enemies made to look human, one of whom has a baby with a flight chief on the starship.  There's a love triangle between the daring space pilot main character, a sensible lady on the bridge whose job is supposedly important even though all she does is answer the phone and state the obvious (to the gruff and experienced Admiral who was close to retirement before the events of the series occurred), and a flighty, immature younger woman - the triangle is seemingly resolved after the show jumps ahead 18 months halfway through and everyone on the starship has relocated to a desolate planet they call Earth.  The pilot character ends up with the sensible lady from the bridge, all the fighters on the starship look like planes, and the ace fighter pilot character shockingly dies halfway through the series.

It reminds me of something, but I can't recall what that might be. :-\
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 03 November, 2014, 11:07:39 PM
Quote from: Allah Akbark on 03 November, 2014, 10:48:51 PM
Indeed we are, but when Starbuck tells Apollo he's jealous of Apollo's new wife, I'm afraid there's really no turning the Gay Subtext Train around and going back to the closet station.
Also don't watch Galactica 1980.  I enjoy it but I'm not blind or deaf - it's complete horseshit.  The final episode is great, though, and belongs in season 1 as the finale.

It's not explicit enough for me.  When Starbuck says he is jealous I - in all honesty - took it to mean jealous of the love and commitment, not jealousy to Apollo's wife.  With Starbucks rampant womanising as well I am finding a gay subtext to be dubious and this to be a clear case of the difference between implication and inference.  Believe me, I'd love it if there was any 70's sci-fi show that challenges sexual 'norms'. 

Oh and I'm steering well clear of Galactica 1980.  I was exposed to it as a child and it left me with the impression that all of BSG was utter shite to be avoided like the plague.  It even took a bit of convincing to get me to watch the remake.

Quote from: Allah Akbark on 03 November, 2014, 10:48:51 PM
You cite Stand Alone Complex so I salute you, but shall see your anime reference and raise you one Super Dimensional Fortress Macross (redubbed in the west as Robotech), in which the titular giant starship searches for Earth while infiltrated by enemies made to look human, one of whom has a baby with a flight chief on the starship.  There's a love triangle between the daring space pilot main character, a sensible lady on the bridge whose job is supposedly important even though all she does is answer the phone and state the obvious (to the gruff and experienced Admiral who was close to retirement before the events of the series occurred), and a flighty, immature younger woman - the triangle is seemingly resolved after the show jumps ahead 18 months halfway through and everyone on the starship has relocated to a desolate planet they call Earth.  The pilot character ends up with the sensible lady from the bridge, all the fighters on the starship look like planes, and the ace fighter pilot character shockingly dies halfway through the series.

It reminds me of something, but I can't recall what that might be. :-\

I see what you did there ;)

Not seen that anime.  There's a massive list of anime shows that are on my 'need to watch list'.  I get hassled most for not having seen Cowboy Beebop.  Neon Genesis Evangelion is the one that I'm most curious about.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 04 November, 2014, 03:28:12 AM
For the love of God, Pictsy, see if you can watch one or to episodes fo Evangelion before you commit to watching the whole thing. I think it's appallingly over-rated, and more than bit crap. But it seems to endear itself to a lot of folks, so clearly I'm just on one side of the fence there.

Cowboy Bebop, on the other hand, is really essential viewing. You may find, as I did, that you watch it through and think 'huh, what's all the fuss about?'

But it leaves a deep groove. And when you get to the final episode, there will be tears. Oh, lawdy, will there ever be tears.

Incidentally, Stand Alone Complex is THE anime everyone should see before they die. Or, at least, before Dreamworks screw it up with a horribly butchered and mis-cast summer movie version of it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 04 November, 2014, 09:16:44 AM
I enjoy NGE. It's not great but it certainly has it's charm. Cowboy Bebop is essential viewing though. Just a superb piece of television.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 04 November, 2014, 09:19:31 AM
The magic mushrooms episode slays me every time!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 04 November, 2014, 10:12:41 AM
To be fair any scene with Ed and Ein in is pure magic. Like the Alien inspired episode with the monsterous mould growing in the refrigerator (which made a guest appearence in Space Dandy, BTW).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 04 November, 2014, 10:59:13 AM
Quote from: Allah Akbark on 03 November, 2014, 08:21:57 PM

...
For me, the opposite was true - watching the new BSG made me appreciate the original a lot more, if only for being more ambitious, more forward-thinking, and less socially conservative than the remake....

...A good bridge between the two would be the underrated Space: Above and Beyond...

I'm with Pictsy RE: the new BSG. In many ways its like the world of the Big Meg to me; female judges are not even a thing, for example. Gaeta is not a minor character in my book either, rather he was one of my favourite parts of the main cast throughout the whole series and [spoiler]made his betrayal in the coup [/spoiler]e ven more tragic. Whatever conservatism is expressed in BSG (and there's a lot) I felt as a reaction against the sheer horror and paranoia of their situation, and the fundamentalist viewpoints that arise around it. And in BSG remake, it's not just a wink and a nudge subtext a la the original.


Regarding Space: Above and Beyond - I loved that show so much. As a kid it looked incredible. The worldbuilding was immense too... the abused and exploited clone soldiers replacing the synthetics who had rebelled and sided with the unknown and terrifying alien force... the synthetics who spoke in machine code... And a very ambiguous 'good guys' who were responsible for the prejudices and seeds of their own destruction, at least in so much as the bigwigs in the corporations and the military had created both the AIs and covered up a blundering first contact.

Should remake this whilst they're trawling the back catalogue...

There's a show that needs a remake. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ThryllSeekyr on 04 November, 2014, 11:01:29 AM
Quote from: Batman's Superior Cousin on 03 November, 2014, 09:02:59 PM
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The original cartoon series from early nineties!

The only version of that cartoon worth watching!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ThryllSeekyr on 04 November, 2014, 11:19:15 AM
Quote from: Allah Akbark on 03 November, 2014, 08:21:57 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 03 November, 2014, 01:29:46 PMWith the thought of that in mind I also started giving the original BSG a go.  Actually better than I was expecting and certainly a more enjoyable experience than that I had with Star Trek TOS(s).  It is still a little corny with a degree of insufferable sci-fi optimism that was common of the era.  It certainly has made me appreciate the rebooted version a lot more.

For me, the opposite was true - watching the new BSG made me appreciate the original a lot more, if only for being more ambitious, more forward-thinking, and less socially conservative than the remake (the original's Greek influence extended to a gay reading of the Starbuck/Apollo relationship, while the remake manages only to make a minor and unimportant character bisexual, but even then only manages to do so in a spin-off web series).


Who agrees that original Starbuck is much prettier (Maybe a TS, considering he was the Face of the A-team!) and would have made a better female than his current replacement in the latest series.

Quote from: Allah Akbark on 03 November, 2014, 08:21:57 PM

A good bridge between the two would be the underrated Space: Above and Beyond, which alongside Firefly was heavily stripmined for the BSG remake.  It's a straight-faced space war series about a squadron of fighter pilots based on a carrier craft, made by X-Files writers Glen Morgan and James Wong (Fox Mulder even does a cameo).  It had the misfortune to run afoul of the (then) small world of sci-fi critics and fandom by getting into a feud with journalists who'd run a hatchet job on an early pirate print of the pilot, and as a result the show couldn't get a break even when it produced objectively classic episodes like Who Monitors the Birds, Sugar Dirt, or The Angriest Angel (the latter was remade beat-for-beat in the BSG episode Scar).  While not cheap-looking, it does show its age, but it's worth a gander.

Space Above And Beyond...I enjoyed this series a lot, but wasn't impressed with the climatic last episode.

This  one is favourite (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0FpPUZO144). You-tube used to have the full episode, but that was all I could find.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 04 November, 2014, 01:06:21 PM
I tried watching the late eighties/early nineties cartoon of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  I can't say it has aged well and it certainly does look like a glorified toy ad - which it was.  I had the same problem with the nineties X-Men cartoon and Spiderman.

Oddly, out a sense of playful nostalgia, I rewatched the first two series of Thomas the Tank Engine a couple of months ago (loved it as a tot) and it holds up really well.

One day I'll give Batman: The Animated Series a go.  Despite not thinking a great deal of it as a kid (but obviously always loving when Harley Quinn appeared) I am curious how well it does twenty years or so on.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Satanist on 04 November, 2014, 01:45:25 PM
Batman The Animated Series is great. Just watched loads with the kids and it hold up really well. My favourite episode so far is about an ordinary bloke who cuts up the Joker on his way home. Funny and scary.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 04 November, 2014, 01:49:02 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 03 November, 2014, 11:07:39 PMIt's not explicit enough for me.

THEIR LOVE IS REAL YOU HEARTLESS DEVIL.

Quote from: pictsy on 03 November, 2014, 11:07:39 PMThere's a massive list of anime shows that are on my 'need to watch list'.  I get hassled most for not having seen Cowboy Beebop.  Neon Genesis Evangelion is the one that I'm most curious about.

"you haven't seen Cowboy Bebop?  I don't believe you!" etc.
Bebop is quite good, actually.  It takes an episode or three to warm up, but then it's really good, emulating a kind of stylised 1970s action movie vibe, but it remains very, very Japanese.
Neon Genesis Evangelion is a series that was at best okay, but took itself too seriously and isn't really the gold standard of its genre that it's held up as being.  They did their best with what they had, but the storytelling is often frustrating, hinting at things or skirting around themes without ever really exploring them or the historical and mythological parallels it attempts to draw, so it doesn't really surprise me that it's cropped up in a discussion about the BSG remake.  The shadow it casts across anime that followed it is disproportionate to the show's quality, which is probably why they keep "remaking" it every couple of years by adding new scenes to the original episodes and then telling you that this time it's definitely the way they would have done it back in the day if they had the budget and the time, so if you haven't seen it already, I don't envy your having to make sense of it now: do you start with the original series, or the reinvented movies, or the other reinvented movies?  You might end up missing something whatever way you do it, but then you might also end up watching a version of the show that's full of non-canonical scenes and plot arcs.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 04 November, 2014, 02:04:26 PM
This year I was introduced to a few anime series.  Hellsing, Hellsing Ultimate and Elfen Lied.  I actually enjoyed them all.  My most proud moment was managing to track down the Patlabor tv show (and also the OVAs).  I loved the first two films and I was so curious about these characters.  The show was not what I was expecting, but I loved it anyway. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 04 November, 2014, 02:45:44 PM
Quote from: Satanist on 04 November, 2014, 01:45:25 PM
Batman The Animated Series is great. Just watched loads with the kids and it hold up really well. My favourite episode so far is about an ordinary bloke who cuts up the Joker on his way home. Funny and scary.

My favourite Joker story ever.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 04 November, 2014, 10:16:33 PM
Quote from: Satanist on 04 November, 2014, 01:45:25 PM
Batman The Animated Series is great. Just watched loads with the kids and it hold up really well. My favourite episode so far is about an ordinary bloke who cuts up the Joker on his way home. Funny and scary.

Yeah - it's a genuinely timeless classic. Better than any of the live action versions.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: shaolin_monkey on 05 November, 2014, 01:22:33 AM
Lillyhammer on Netflix! Very funny - New York mobster turns stoolie on goes into hiding in Norway. Very funny!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richmond Clements on 05 November, 2014, 08:53:21 AM
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 05 November, 2014, 01:22:33 AM
Lillyhammer on Netflix! Very funny - New York mobster turns stoolie on goes into hiding in Norway. Very funny!

Nobody can say "What the fuck?" quite like Little Steven.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: auxlen on 08 November, 2014, 05:22:47 PM
Lillyhammer is decent. The locals are funnier than the star. I love the way its subtitled too.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 09 November, 2014, 12:31:10 AM
Sherlock Season 2.  Not sure I can last the remaining 3 episodes, TBH, but the missus is keen.  The Irene Adler episode was a simply appalling mess and not a little worrying in its attitudes; the Final Problem episode appeared to have an overwrought Doctor Who finale tacked on for an ending, right down to the music; the Baskervilles one was very enjoyable silliness, but the solution was painfully obvious almost from the start.  I like the programme when it's being funny, sometimes when it's explicitly playing with Holmes-fans' expectations, and not at all when it's being serious.  It's a bit of a shambles of a thing really, but it does have an odd charm. 

The Fall, on the other hand, is really rather good.  Not wanting to trespass on Thryllseekyr's turf, but not only is Gillian Anderson excellent, she's also spellbindingly lovely in this.  This one I'll see through.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 09 November, 2014, 09:10:05 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 09 November, 2014, 12:31:10 AM
The Fall, on the other hand, is really rather good.  Not wanting to trespass on Thryllseekyr's turf, but not only is Gillian Anderson excellent, she's also spellbindingly lovely in this.

Agree completely *, and that's part of the clever thing the show is doing. You're certainly not the only one to think that, and it's going to [spoiler]lead you to some uncomfortable places before the show is done[/spoiler]. I've just started The Missing (http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04n9p9c/the-missing-1-eden), which looks like it will fill the gap until the second series of The Fall nicely, even if it is a bit more formulaic.



* including the bit about Sherlock
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 09 November, 2014, 07:51:18 PM
Finally chewed thrugh the last few episodes of Dollhouse last night.

I was primed and ready to hate this show with a vengeance. I mean, my hate is certainly legitimised by the sheer number of episodes in season one which are PROPERLY RUBBISH. Given that I have a deep, abiding dislike of Eliza Dushku as an actress as well, its safe to say that I was sold this show on the strength of its premise.

So, imagine my suprise when pretty much everything in season two coalesced into a genuinely smart, intelligently played bit of sci-fi. The characters are what kept me interested enough to suffer through the duff stuff, and I was pleased to see the show came to a definite ending in spite of cancellation. And not just a 'quick, we're cancelled, wrap everything up and see if we can spin a few comics or nevels out of the loose ends' type of ending - a really satisfying, comprehensive one. The sort of ending that makes me think I need to watch the show again sometime.

I will admit, I felt genuinely terrible for [spoiler]poor ol' Topher[/spoiler] in the end. He didn't get the resolution I wanted for him...  :'(
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 09 November, 2014, 10:35:15 PM
Considering it's just Joe 90 with hookers, Dollhouse didn't really have to do much to be better than its premise would lead you to expect, though it still took 2 seasons to get there.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Fungus on 10 November, 2014, 06:56:25 AM
It's a common complaint - and I'm nothing if not common - but the *nothing* ending of The Fall left a bad taste in the mouth. I can't even remember how it ended in series 1, just that it built nicely, then... just stopped. You can argue that expectations are being cleverly subverted, but it felt very unsatisfying.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 10 November, 2014, 08:15:32 AM
Dollhouse was notoriously interfered with by the suits throughout season one. Apparently they just wanted the wacky-one-off resets to continue rather than any kind of plot.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 10 November, 2014, 01:37:57 PM
Yay for the TV execs.

I would have thought that it should be clear to anyone with half a bran cell who actually sat down to watch the early episodes what a TERRIBLE idea for a TV show that would be. That episode with the baacking singers? Risible.

I think what's tragic about the way the show was handled was that, probably about a third of the way into season 2, important story stuff kicks in, everything moves up a few gears, and you can't help but sit back and think 'They should have got to this so much quicker!'

Its amazing what the developments past the halfway mark do to punt everything into touch. The characters become more interesting, the show's premise is captialised upon in rich fashion... it really starts to lean on its own internally developed mythos.

And then it ends. Just like that. 

Way to go, Fox.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 10 November, 2014, 02:22:59 PM
House of Cards II, the Memsabib haranged long and hard for this and its worth it, OD'ing on four episodes a night: Kevin and Robin are a the deadly duo, with Kevin's dark asides and quick glances to camera more telling that any amount of grandstanding or speachifying. Will be sad to see this end, but I can guess where he's aiming.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 10 November, 2014, 04:37:44 PM
Well. I did it. I started watching Game of Thrones. Two episodes in and i'm hookd.
Title: Re: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 10 November, 2014, 10:40:56 PM
Assuming you haven't already read the books, Game of Thrones is a bit like Breaking Bad - you've got NO idea what you're getting into, and just how crazy its going to get as it goes on!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 12 November, 2014, 12:52:20 AM
Just finished off season 3 of HBO's Girls. I have a bit of a love/hate thing with this show. On the one hand there's a precociousness about writer/star Lena Dunham than can be a bit hard to take (both on and off-screen - I admire her while also finding her a bit annoying), the show can feel formless and a little self-indulgent, and there's a commitment to making the characters authentically flawed that perpetually teeters on the brink of making them completely irredeemable arseholes..... but overall I still kinda like it.

Season 3 was imo a huge improvement over the rather bleak season 2 (which I could take or leave), and it gets bonus points from me for guest-starring the mighty Richard E Grant. Also, Adam Driver is the real deal - it's no wonder he's destined for star(wars)dom.
Title: Re: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 12 November, 2014, 09:23:22 AM
Quote from: radiator on 10 November, 2014, 10:40:56 PM
Assuming you haven't already read the books, Game of Thrones is a bit like Breaking Bad - you've got NO idea what you're getting into, and just how crazy its going to get as it goes on!
Watched episodes 3 through 5 last night. Crawled to bed at 2 in the morning a little light headed (I blame the Lancaster Bomber) but god this is some great television. It's been a long time since I saw a series that can make three hours fly by without me noticing.

One slight question though, and thats HOW CAN TYRION LANNISTER BE SO DAMN GOOD? Seriously, hats off to Martin and Dinkledge. Between them they've made quite possibly the most likeable and original character in literature right now. Every wcene he's in Dinkledge own's the role. Particularly loved how he coped with being kidnaped by Lady Stark. Sheer indifference.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 12 November, 2014, 07:09:13 PM
Coincidentally, I'm rewatching the entire series from the beginning right now, currently on s01e07.

It's simply astounding how much careful foreshadowing there is early on that only really becomes obvious on a rewatch, with the knowledge of later events, and the world-building is incredibly effective and economical. Right from the off they're laying the groundwork for minor characters - and even entire factions and locations - that only become significant later on in the story. Never twigged that things like [spoiler]Mance Rayder[/spoiler], [spoiler]the Greyjoy Rebellion[/spoiler] and [spoiler]Dorne[/spoiler] are regularly referenced way back in season 1!

QuoteOne slight question though, and thats HOW CAN TYRION LANNISTER BE SO DAMN GOOD?

An instant all-time classic TV character, and the undisputed star of the show. However, while you're being introduced to many excellent characters early on, you're going to be meeting a lot more of them as the show goes on, any one of whom could be the lead in a lesser series. For example, one of the show's most charismatic figures was only introduced in season 4!

My personal favourite is still Syrio Forell. How can such a minor character be so memorable?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 12 November, 2014, 07:23:49 PM
Quote from: radiator on 12 November, 2014, 07:09:13 PM
Right from the off they're laying the groundwork for minor characters - and even entire factions and locations - that only become significant later on in the story. Never twigged that things like [spoiler]Mance Rayder[/spoiler], [spoiler]the Greyjoy Rebellion[/spoiler] and [spoiler]Dorne[/spoiler] are regularly referenced way back in season 1!


Martin does this really well in the books too, by the time you reach the last chapter of the first book, you're aware of a great many, seemingly inconsequential people, places and things. As the pages unfold you begin to realise these aren't just throwaways to make the world seem bigger, they've been playing the Game all along and are a big part of a MASSIVE world. A massive world described in overly tedious detail.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 12 November, 2014, 07:53:46 PM
QuoteAs the pages unfold you begin to realise these aren't just throwaways to make the world seem bigger, they've been playing the Game all along and are a big part of a MASSIVE world.

Precisely. Apparently Martin professes to 'write from his head' - ie just write and see where the characters take the story, not making extensive notes etc, but I find it hard to believe that all of the story beats weren't painstakingly laid out years in advance - plot-wise it's like a swiss watch.

Martin has this reputation for 'trolling' his readers which, having now seen every episode of the TV show and read most of the books - I think is unfounded. He's not some hack writer throwing nasty twists and unexpected deaths ([spoiler]of which there aren't nearly as many as some people make out[/spoiler]) in for the sake of it. Though admittedly some of the nastier twists really sting at the time, they always make complete sense within the narrative, and in hindsight were inevitable. I never feel 'tricked' - I just kick myself for not seeing it coming.

Without an encyclopaedic knowledge of the books, I don't know how much foreshadowing is verbatim, but there are definitely things invented for the TV show that help to speed things along - like giving Theon an arc in season 1.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 14 November, 2014, 04:58:44 PM
So, first season of Game of Thrones completed and what a belly full that was. And it still only felt like the first act. So many memoriable characters (Bronn turned out to be a firm favourite. I hope he sticks around, he's given me probably one of my new favourite quotes) and some truely shocking moments ([spoiler]Ned Stark getting the chop. Jesus christ[/spoiler]) has solidified this as my new most anticipated show. Hurry up Now TV! Get the second season online!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 14 November, 2014, 05:28:01 PM
I'm still trundling along at a slow pace with the original Battlestar Gallactica.  There have been so OK episodes but it's starting to get a little tiresome.  I think I can see the appeal, however.  It does seem to identify things like social issues even if fails to engage beyond a superficial level with them.  It's a rare thing even then.  Mostly I am finding it a flavour of silly that isn't entirely to my taste.  I don't know whether I'll watch all the episodes.  It is definitely interesting to see the source material for some of the concepts and stories that appeared in the remake.

Maybe if I interspersed it more with episodes of X-Files - which I inexplicably stopped watching.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 14 November, 2014, 05:29:19 PM
Glad to hear it. Did you know about [spoiler]Ned[/spoiler] in advance? Hard to believe anyone in the Western world doesn't now know about that, and [spoiler]the dragons[/spoiler] by now.

Personally I found season 2, while still great, to be a bit of a bump in the road, but seasons 3 and 4 are both magnificent.

Bronn is easily one of the best characters, but expect to grow to like certain characters you've already met a lot more as the series goes on.....  :-X

For me the standout moment of season 1 was probably this bit:

QuoteKevan Lannister: "The great hairy one insisted he must have two battleaxes. Heavy black steel, double-sided".

Tyrion: (nonchalantly sipping wine) "Shagga likes axes".
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 14 November, 2014, 05:33:39 PM
Quote from: radiator on 14 November, 2014, 05:29:19 PM
Personally I found season 2, while still great, to be a bit of a bump in the road, but seasons 3 and 4 are both magnificent.

That's encouraging - I loved season one, but sort of trailed off halfway through season 2. I still intend to finish it, but I'm glad it picks up a bit.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 14 November, 2014, 05:38:43 PM
Oh heck yeah. To be honest the [spoiler]Dragons[/spoiler] came as a bit of a dissapointment, if in execution only as I felt the CGI was somewhat lacking. I am however familier with how the look in later seasons so i'll over look it.

Bronn clicked with me due to his witty exchange with Lysa Arryn.

Arryn: "You don't fight with honour!"

Bronn: "No...But he did 'Looks down at the whole where sirEgen fell'"

Coass writing that. Oh, but I assume this character is [spoiler]The Mountain [/spoiler]? I assumed that was going somewhere as we never actualy saw him get arrested. Either him or [spoiler]Jorah Mormont[/spoiler] whom i've already grown to like as a character.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 14 November, 2014, 05:54:25 PM
Quotebut I'm glad it picks up a bit.

That's putting it mildly  :lol:

I found season 2 to suffer a bit from 'difficult second album' syndrome. It founders a bit in the absence of a single main storyline/protagonist and feels a bit messy and unfocused as a result. It also (and this is just me being biased as I was reading it at the time) imo totally fluffs some of the standout moments of the book - I won't go into details but certain plot changes they made make the actions of certain characters make no sense at all (for example [spoiler]Jon[/spoiler] coming across like a total buffoon throughout).

They also totally neglect certain key characters to devote more screen-time to fan-favourite characters like Danaerys (who has very little to actually do in the narrative at this point) eg Stannis, Davos and Melisandre - very important characters in the overall story who are totally shortchanged in the adaptation. They're just not very well established or characterised, and my girlfriend (who I use as a litmus test for the 'average viewer') still has to be reminded who they are every single time they appear. The romantic subplot for a certain character (greatly embellished from the novels) also takes up a lot of screentime and is quite tedious.

Not to put anyone off - it's still great TV, just be aware that it really gets back into full steam towards the end of season 2 (and it's well worth persevering to witness the incredible penultimate episode)...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 15 November, 2014, 11:03:59 AM
Only four episodes into Breaking bad but it's had some great stuff already. The chemistry lesson/flirting intercut with disposing of the mess of the body and the whole thing with Crazy 8 in the cellar being particualrly top notch telly.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 15 November, 2014, 11:26:57 AM
Just finished a leisurely, indulgent rewatch of Firefly capped off with Serenity.  Truly remarkable, one of the most finely-crafted genre TV shows ever produced.  It finds its feet instantly (in the intended viewing order, that is), establishes a believable ship-as-a-home thing immediately, is (almost) consistently good throughout its 14 episodes and film, and effortlessly delivers great character moments without dipping too far into schmaltz. Every bit as good as its evangelists would have you believe.

I was very impressed this time by how well the movie ties into the series, allowing for a few summarising tweaks and the slightly-off Shepherd Book, I remember finding it more jarring at the time.  What I almost couldn't believe is the absence of Reavers from the TV series - in my memory they had been a regular presence, but in reality its just a single brief chase, a booby-trap and one disturbed survivor of an attack, all the rest is purely from characters' conversation.  Amazing.

I still can't decide whether losing the vast further potential of the characters and setting that is evident in every episode is worth the fact that what we did get remains fresh and near-perfect, and was never diluted or stretched out to the point of boredom.  It's a toughie.

A treasure of a line from near the end:

Wash: [talking about River] Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science-fiction.
Zoe: You live on a spaceship, dear.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 15 November, 2014, 01:12:31 PM
I personally felt the evangelists oversold Firefly.  I thought it was OK, but no where near as good as I heard.  Which unfortunately means I feel it's over-rated.  If it weren't for being exposed to fandom before viewing I'd have probably thought it was... OK.  Hmmm.  Well, it's enjoyable enough.  Doesn't spark for me in any great way.  Good characters, nice idea.  I think it was the stories that failed to engage me, though.  I can only remember three episodes and two of them I do not remember fondly.  The infiltration one was pretty good.

The way they dealt with reavers in the series was really good and there is a lot in the show that was a set up for further series.  It's easy to see that this was the start of something and I think it doesn't entirely measure up because of the promise of what was to come that never materialised.  Serenity is good and entertaining but really serves to just put a cap on a story that wasn't given much of chance.

I wasn't as annoyed that Firefly got cancelled as much as I was that Stargate Universe did.  That show certainly didn't hit the floor running and had many faults but towards the end it's quality was improving exponentially.  Can't bring myself to watch the final episode, though.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 15 November, 2014, 01:20:06 PM
Half way through Firefly myself. I'm trying not to rush through it since there is so little to enjoy. I think the time is right for an animated Firefly series so we can continue the adventures in the 'Verse. I swear by my pretty floral bonnet...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 15 November, 2014, 01:52:43 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 15 November, 2014, 01:12:31 PMI can only remember three episodes and two of them I do not remember fondly. 

Funny you should say that, because I was surprised how poorly I remembered individual episodes (with the exceptions of Our Mrs. Reynolds, Objects in Space and the series-best Jaynestown*) - the character stuff, incidents, settings, yes, but I had only a vague idea of how they fitted into an episode structure, and I'd watched it through at least three times before (admittedly some time ago). 

That's one thing that I find to be so successful about it - rather than my enjoyment depending on lurching between episodic plots of varying quality (in the way something like ST:TNG does, where I'm sometimes forcing myself to watch episodes that I know are going to be unforgiveably bad) the core of the crew and their home is what makes the show: individual plots are often just ways to showcase their attitudes, or reactions to new characters (Saffron, Niska, Jubal Early etc). 

There are a few slightly duff plots (I've no idea how the crew escape from their missile-laden pursuers in 'The Message', for example, and the tinfoil-brothel episode makes very little sense), but even those are so chock-full of interesting character interactions that it's sort-of irrelevant.  So yes, perhaps in terms of episode plotting there are shortcomings (and let's face it, the pseudo-SF setting is pretty nonsensical), but as a roman-fleuve** focusing on the fortunes of a group of complex and engaging characters as they explore their world, it's a rare complete success (for me).   

Conversely, this means that if you don't fall for the characters and their witty banter littered with makey-uppy language, you may well be disappointed.


*An episode not spoiled one iota by revelations that Adam Baldwin is actually Jayne in real life
**See what I did there?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 15 November, 2014, 03:55:50 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 15 November, 2014, 01:12:31 PMI wasn't as annoyed that Firefly got cancelled as much as I was that Stargate Universe did.  That show certainly didn't hit the floor running and had many faults but towards the end it's quality was improving exponentially.

The only way was up?

My favorite episode of SGU was the one where they encounter a time loop, and the viewer knows it's a time loop because not only have they seen time loop episodes of tv shows before, but time loop episodes happened at least once (sometimes more) a season in the two previous Stargate shows, as did alternate reality episodes (the penultimate episode of Stargate Atlantis - the show that directly precedes Stargate Universe - was an alternate reality episode and didn't even bother with a framing or bookend sequence set in the "regular" Stargate universe because alternate reality episodes were so commonplace) and also bog-standard time travel or paradox episodes - yet the entire cast of SGU have to sit around a big table and discuss at length what this conundrum they've encountered could possibly be.
Better than that, when the scientist - the smartest man in the room (that is in a spaceship) - suggests that it might be a time loop or an alternate reality, the cast are all like "that's just science fiction stuff", despite the fact that they were having the conversation on a spaceship and would have been briefed about the possibility of encountering such phenomenon because of the 15 years of documented encounters with alternate realities and time loops by people with whom the cast were communicating on a regular basis.
I can vaguely understand the idea of making characters genre-blind in order to avoid breaking suspension of disbelief necessary to the fiction, but in what was technically the sixteenth year of a franchise based on stripmining other sci-fi properties for ideas and then not only hanging a lantern on doing so, but making at least four episodes whose entire premise was pointing out that someone psychically linked to a character couldn't get work as a scriptwriter because all the ideas he presented (gleaned from the adventures of the cast of the show) were deemed too unoriginal by the tv executives who were making the show in which the story was currently being told, you kind of have to admire the sheer chutzpah of thinking people would go along with it almost as much as you have to admire the producers then blaming the show's complete failure on fans who had nothing to do with its production.

Even among a series with episodes where characters encounter alternate versions of their lives where cast members play different versions of themselves that then turns out to be a delusion or a dream state (also a yearly occurrence in SG1 and SGA), that episode is a truly magnificent example of the kind of joyless stupidity that killed a once-invincible franchise.


For added Firefly linkage, SGU was an attempt to copy the success of Battlestar Galactica, which was written, produced, and SFX-ed by people who'd previously been heavily-involved in the making of Firefly.  Serenity even appears in the background of a shot in the BSG pilot.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 15 November, 2014, 04:08:59 PM
Quote from: Allah Akbark on 15 November, 2014, 03:55:50 PM...yet the entire cast of SGU have to sit around a big table and discuss at length what this conundrum they've encountered could possibly be.
Better than that, when the scientist - the smartest man in the room (that is in a spaceship) - suggests that it might be a time loop or an alternate reality, the cast are all like "that's just science fiction stuff", despite the fact that they were having the conversation on a spaceship and would have been briefed about the possibility of encountering such phenomenon because of the 15 years of documented encounters with alternate realities and time loops by people with whom the cast were communicating on a regular basis.

Contrast this with SG1, where the genre-savvy cast remark on a regular basis how their current adventure resembles Alien, Star Wars or The Simpsons.  Or BtVS, where everyone immediately identifies Warren's oddly-behaving girlfriend as a robot, despite it being only the second robot they encountered.  It undermines the seriousness of the situation (something SGU took very, err, seriously), but also makes the characters much more believable, and relatable, as our contemporaries. 

(As an aside, I've often wondered what it must have been like for the San Francisco characters in STIV:TVH to encounter Kirk, Spock and the IKD Bounty, coming as they do from a world where there was no Star Trek).

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 15 November, 2014, 04:15:46 PM
I so loved STU! Wish Syfu will film few more episodes to finished off the show. There was Season 3 scripts online and thought that was perfect finish off as it was just 6 episodes scripts.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 15 November, 2014, 08:47:26 PM
Sorry Allah Akbark, I lost track of what you were criticising.  I'm under the impression you aren't a Stargate fan.  I can understand, I didn't like it during it's original showing. 

I watched SG1 almost all the way through a few years ago and actually reappraised my opinion.  I really like SG1s self-referential awareness about what kind of show it was.  It actually works well in its favour.  The characters are surprisingly entertaining and likeable.  It loses pace towards the end, though.

SGA, for me, was a mess and I gave up on it long before getting to the end.

SGU almost didn't catch my attention.  My first impression was "this is a Battlestar Gallactica rip-off".  Except it isn't.   There are similarities, certainly, but this was a different take on the space-opera survival genre.  It also takes Stargate in a new direction with a degree of disassociation with the previous entries in the franchise.  It actually struggled to set itself apart from SG1, SGA and Battlestar Galactica story wise and had some poor casting choices.  Robert Carlyle carries a lot of the show himself allowing some other actors to start shining - notably Jamil Walker Smith in his role of Master Sgt. Greer.  By the end of the second series I was entirely engaged, invested and entertained.  It seemed a little bit like a trial by fire but for my money the show was going to come out the other side as something fantastic.  Then it got cancelled.  I was very disappointed.

Firefly, on the other hand, was cancelled before I watched it.  I had actually seen the film first (and enjoyed it) before finding out about Firefly.  I heard it was fantastic, amazing and it's cancellation was the biggest crime against television ever.  I just didn't see it.  It obviously didn't deserve to get cancelled based on quality.  It's quality was consistent and it had a very capable cast and crew.  The consistency is perhaps the problems, it achieved it's potential.  It hit the ground running, kept pace (mostly) then ended (kind of abruptly).  If there was a second series it would have been more of the same quality.  SGU faltered at it's start but I think it became a better program.  I certainly enjoyed it more than Firefly in the end as it engaged more with what I am interested in seeing in a sci-fi TV show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 15 November, 2014, 09:48:48 PM
Pretty sure I'm on the record as a Stargate fan, and I even thought several Atlantis episodes were objectively great even if there wasn't half enough of Robert Picardo smoking cigars and being an asshole in that show for my liking.  Also kudos for their great Tealc/Ronan episode where people just act confused that the two identical characters don't get along, fully aware that they are living in fanfiction that for some reason the producers have chosen to film.

I suspect we'll simply have to agree to disagree on how much SGU sucked or not.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 15 November, 2014, 10:04:14 PM
Quote from: Allah Akbark on 15 November, 2014, 09:48:48 PM
Pretty sure I'm on the record as a Stargate fan...

My mistake then. 

Quote from: Allah Akbark on 15 November, 2014, 09:48:48 PM
I suspect we'll simply have to agree to disagree on how much SGU sucked or not.

Given our differing opinions on BSG and the remake it's hardly surprising to me that we differ in opinion about SGU.  At least we are being consistent ;)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 15 November, 2014, 10:07:10 PM
Gonna have to side with the dog in a fez on this one: SG-U is objectively terrible. Or, at least, the first half of Season 1 is — I genuinely couldn't be arsed to pick up after the mid-season break, so piss-poor were the initial episodes. The previous SG series weren't great television, but at least they were engaging and fun. SG-U just sacrificed everything that was enjoyable about the previous contributions to the franchise on the altar of its utterly misguided attempt to reinvent itself as new-era BSG. Which, for the record, was also shit.

Cheers

Jim
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 15 November, 2014, 10:40:38 PM
Well yes, I can understand animosity to the start of SGU if you can't get past the BSG remake comparison and hated the BSG remake anyway.

I wouldn't be able to agree that the first half of the first season of SG-U is 'objectively terrible'.  Subjectively, yeah, but objectively, no.  This just tempts a debate/argument of the Cartesian nature of quality.  I doubt anyone wants that.

Anyway, to be a SGU cheerleader a little more, for anyone who doesn't dislike the BSG remake and can get past similarities I would certainly recommend watching both series of SGU.  Also fans of Robert Carlyle - who does provides an excellent performance from the outset.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 16 November, 2014, 05:02:14 AM
I'm recently picked up the first series of Ashes to Ashes on DVD and I'm working my way through that. Not as good as the later series, maybe, but still pretty good.

I also recently noticed that the third series of American Horror Story is on Netflix. I'm only a couple of episodes in so far but it's interesting, rather warped stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 16 November, 2014, 06:28:04 PM
SGU starts as a series with a good idea that clumsily muddles along the SG universe and is a bit dire overall, before turning into a more standalone affair that has some great moments and was well worth the watch. Mainly once they stop trying to juggle SG1 campness with some actual weird consequences.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 20 November, 2014, 01:21:36 PM
I solved a mild conundrum last night.

About four or five years ago, a bloke at work recommended a little heard of TV show called Breaking Bad. I think it was on council telly at the time.  I tuned in to one episode and despite not knowing exactly what was going on, thought it was very good and resolved to watch more.

I tuned in the next week but it was no longer in the schedules. I cursed the schedulers (d their constant need to move programmes between timeslots in case anybody actually gets into the habit of watching a show!) and then forgot about it.

Fast forward to 2013 and everybody and their dog is talking about how brilliant it is and I feel left out.

Last night, I see Season 1 Episode 7 - it's the episode I saw all of those years ago.  And it's the end of season episode.  Which explains why I never found another episode to watch.

So I apologise to the schedulers that I cursed. (But you still shouldn't have sold it on to Sky or whoever).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 20 November, 2014, 01:36:11 PM
The Thick of It.  Only ever caught the odd episode, but last night just finished Season 2 on Netflix.  We were really enjoying the intense 20 minute chunks, and initially resented the shift to hour-long Christmas specials, but bloody hell by the end we were on the edge of our seats - fantastic telly, somehow convoluted in both plot and language, and yet deadly simple at the same time.  My poor wife, a communications type by trade, has identified herself completely with Joanna Scanlon's Terri and her 'oh god that's just my life' wails make the whole thing so much funnier.  For me.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 20 November, 2014, 01:42:02 PM
One of the few comedies that actualy got in in universe term jnto the Oxford Dictionary.

Oh, and obligatory Capaldi is shit hot as Tucker post.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 20 November, 2014, 01:44:58 PM
You finally met Malcolm Tucker!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dark Jimbo on 20 November, 2014, 01:56:26 PM
Currently watching an episode a night of Sapphire and Steel. So glad my mum was enlightened enough to show me the infamous 'railway station' story when I was just the right age (7 or 8, I think). I mean, obviously it shared the living sh*t out of me but stayed with me ever since, in a profound way that only stuff watched in those formative years can.

The programme may be older than I am but the effects work holds up remarkably well for the most part (excepting that not-too-great third story). The character interplay is great and Joanna Lumley is gorgeous, o'course. Must check out those audio adventures one of these days.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 20 November, 2014, 03:08:19 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 20 November, 2014, 01:21:36 PM
So I apologise to the schedulers that I cursed. (But you still shouldn't have sold it on to Sky or whoever).

Your beef is with AMC


Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 20 November, 2014, 03:16:54 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 20 November, 2014, 01:36:11 PM
The Thick of It.  Only ever caught the odd episode, but last night just finished Season 2 on Netflix.  We were really enjoying the intense 20 minute chunks, and initially resented the shift to hour-long Christmas specials, but bloody hell by the end we were on the edge of our seats - fantastic telly, somehow convoluted in both plot and language, and yet deadly simple at the same time.  My poor wife, a communications type by trade, has identified herself completely with Joanna Scanlon's Terri and her 'oh god that's just my life' wails make the whole thing so much funnier.  For me.

'In the Loop' takes the whole circus to Washington and has a wonderful Tucker rant that I won't spoil here.
I've mostly been watching House of Cards series II which ends well  :D and have started Penny Dreadful _ no Dredd yet and also a lot more grownup and thoughtful than I was lead to believe.

Also have True Detective lined up, that comes highly recommended so fingers crossed.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 20 November, 2014, 04:27:10 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 20 November, 2014, 01:36:11 PM
The Thick of It.  Only ever caught the odd episode, but last night just finished Season 2 on Netflix.  We were really enjoying the intense 20 minute chunks, and initially resented the shift to hour-long Christmas specials, but bloody hell by the end we were on the edge of our seats - fantastic telly, somehow convoluted in both plot and language, and yet deadly simple at the same time.  My poor wife, a communications type by trade, has identified herself completely with Joanna Scanlon's Terri and her 'oh god that's just my life' wails make the whole thing so much funnier.  For me.

It takes no prisoners between series either. It just jumps straight in and leaves you to join the dots.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 20 November, 2014, 04:36:42 PM
Though I adore pretty much everything Armando Ianucci has done, I could never get into The Thick of It/In The Loop/Veep for the simple reason that I find the machinations of party politics incredibly dull as a subject matter. It's why I don't really like any kind of political satire, or even something like House of Cards - I just don't care about that world or the kind of people that populate it.

It just leaves me totally cold apart for the inventive Capaldi swearing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 20 November, 2014, 10:26:19 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 15 November, 2014, 01:52:43 PM
Just finished a leisurely, indulgent rewatch of Firefly capped off with Serenity.  Truly remarkable, one of the most finely-crafted genre TV shows ever produced. 
... [lots of stuff about how great Firefly is] ...
Conversely, this means that if you don't fall for the characters and their witty banter littered with makey-uppy language, you may well be disappointed.
I'm afraid this is me. I detest the theme tune and physically cringe every time someone mentions "the 'Verse." I don't dislike the series but I'm firmly with Pictsy block in terms of reputation vastly overshadowing actual impact. Personally, I think the cast is just a little too big so that giving everyone on the ship a little time to shine ends up meaning there is no core to focus on which didn't work for me. I also think the lack of a real bad egg in the basket hamstrings it in a way. I realise Jayne is supposed to fill that role but he ends up just being a lovable buffoon rather than Avon. Or more Andrew than Warren if you prefer.

Quote from: TordelBack on 15 November, 2014, 11:26:57 AM...What I almost couldn't believe is the absence of Reavers from the TV series - in my memory they had been a regular presence, but in reality its just a single brief chase, a booby-trap and one disturbed survivor of an attack, all the rest is purely from characters' conversation.  Amazing. ...
There's pleasure tinged with sadness round my way as I only have two episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer left to watch. I had seen most of the final series before but, rather like these Reavers, I  had remembered Captain Reynolds' Caleb as being a constant presence whereas, in real life, he's only in the last few episodes. Then again, I'd also remembered it as being Jonathan who ends up joining the gang when it's actually Andrew.

Again, this has been a series where a long time is spent picking over the fallout from the previous before concentrating on the new. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

There have been a couple of very good episodes. The Willow/Warren bodyswap, for example, manages to have decent laughs, character development and a real edge about the horrendous, self-imposed guilt of moving on from loss. Some interesting redefining of the roles and relationships between the characters too: Giles in particular. However, an awful lot of time is spent with Buffy going on about getting ready for  the war that's coming and very little time actually showing this. With the caveats that average Buffy is still better than most things and I'm looking forward to the big finale but it seems like it's going out on maybe its weakest year.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 20 November, 2014, 11:13:46 PM
Quote from: The Cosh on 20 November, 2014, 10:26:19 PM
I'm firmly with Pictsy block

I love the idea of having a block named after me in MC1.  Would be so awesome :D

BtvS is a show I find something extra to appreciate every time I watch it.  I've only watched it in it's entirety twice and saw a good number of the original showings with some impressively well defined characters.... including the women.  Caleb was certainly a highlight and definitely more memorable than Captain Reynolds.  Not necessarily a fair comparison as Caleb was so good at being villainous and Nathan Fillion is so convincing in the role.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 21 November, 2014, 07:12:32 AM
Our own Buffy/Angel combo re-watch has stalled at the end of the excellent Season 6, as we try to get through Angel Season 3 to catch up and get back in sync.  Not that there's anything wrong with Angel, we just keep getting distracted into watching other things, and time is limited.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 21 November, 2014, 08:58:17 AM
Nobody can be bothered with Conner.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 21 November, 2014, 09:15:30 AM
Quote from: The Cosh on 21 November, 2014, 08:58:17 AM
Nobody can be bothered with Conner.

I have attention-span problems with the whole Pylea-Fredcentric-Conner period.  There's a lot of good stuff in there, but so far the pre-Pylea parts of Season 2 overshadow what we seem to have been watching for months now. Having finally established Angel as an interesting character in his own right (not an easy task), he seems to move into a background role for too long.  Billy, the The Shining episode, with its leaden 'all men harbour a primordial misogyny' thesis sitting uncomfortably with Fred's nominative-deterministic Scooby Doo antics, nearly made me give up entirely. Hence the Firefly and Thick of It diversions.

It's still perfectly good telly, but not uncoincidentally, this is where I stopped watching regularly when it was broadcast. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 21 November, 2014, 11:41:19 AM
Worth everything to get through to the last season. I hated Conner and the Beast bit, though there are a couple of episodes in there. Wesley's transition to the guy he was pretending to be in his first appearance on Angel is the highlight.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 10 December, 2014, 11:08:09 AM
Just finished The Detectorists, by and starring a loveable McKenzie Crook.  Okay, so I'm squarely in the target audience, but I thought this was a charmingly gentle sitcom of a type you don't really see any more, well researched and pleasingly complete.  I like that it highlighted the intellectual lives of men in 'menial' jobs, something I see all the time on construction sites, where you're just as likely to have a grand chat about the War of the Spanish Succession or Stegosauruses with the guy who keeps the tarmac warm as you are with supposed educated bastions of culture like architects and planners.  Not a drop of nastiness in it either. Possibly some of the supporting cast were too broadly stereotyped, and maybe him off Horrible Histories took me out of it rather too often as I was expecting to see him in a toga in the next scene, but the core five or six characters were great. With a bit of trimming of subplots it'd make a brilliant stage play.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ming on 10 December, 2014, 01:38:55 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 10 December, 2014, 11:08:09 AM
Just finished The Detectorists...

I knew you'd like this.  I loved it to bits - apparently M. Crook is a real-life detectorist and used his own kit during filming, which he had to turn off to prevent him getting distracted and eager to dig about all the time.  Anyway, for me, that one of the best comedies for quite some time; nicely understated and the lack of a bloody laughter track was very welcome.  Looking forward to more!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dark Jimbo on 10 December, 2014, 02:47:47 PM
Quote from: ming on 10 December, 2014, 01:38:55 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 10 December, 2014, 11:08:09 AM
Just finished The Detectorists...

I knew you'd like this... that was one of the best comedies for quite some time; nicely understated and the lack of a bloody laughter track was very welcome.  Looking forward to more!

It really was superb. After episode 1 I thought 'That was a good bit of fun. I'll try to remember to catch the next one.' By episode 6 I'd come to enjoy the little world so much I actually had a lump in my throat when it ended. A nice gentle comedy that didn't see 'gentle' as a dirty word but something to be embraced.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 11 December, 2014, 07:28:48 AM
And how great was that final shot! Pure class.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dark Jimbo on 11 December, 2014, 02:04:40 PM
Been confirmed for a second series next year, too (although that could have been a perfect place to end it!)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 11 December, 2014, 07:30:47 PM
Missed out on Detectorists but I'm sure I'll catch it at some point as I've heard it's grand. Subject matter wise it's one of those things that's so close to home it doesn't really provoke interest. As much as I'd love to spend my evening thinking about my day job...

Gentle comedywise I can't recommend Puppy Love on BBC4 any higher - from Joanna Scanlan & Vicky Pepperdine wot did the gloriously deadpan 'Getting On' (some episodes of which were directed by Capaldi!) it's a a great bit of seriously addictive character comedy and has had me hooting.

Just finished Dagvaktin ('Day Shift') as well - a very brilliant, very brutal and dry comedy drama from Iceland that revolves around a tremendously well-observed odious prick called Georg played by Reykjavik's former mayor (!) and perennial god Jon Gnarr.

(http://justpic.info/images2/71bb/dv.jpg)

If you're looking for some great telly and want something very different I can't recommend it higher but it's not easy to come by. They screened the first series called 'Naeturvaktin' (Night Shift) on the BBC a few years ago and so you can sometimes find it - but it's an arse to find subtitled so I just bought the Icelandic DVD (as they are also Region 2) which has bumpy but solid English subs.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dark Jimbo on 11 December, 2014, 08:58:47 PM
Quote from: CrazyFoxMachine on 11 December, 2014, 07:30:47 PM
Just finished Dagvaktin ('Day Shift') as well - a very brilliant, very brutal and dry comedy drama from Iceland that revolves around a tremendously well-observed odious prick called Georg played by Reykjavik's former mayor (!) and perennial god Jon Gnarr.

(http://justpic.info/images2/71bb/dv.jpg)

If you're looking for some great telly and want something very different I can't recommend it higher but it's not easy to come by. They screened the first series called 'Naeturvaktin' (Night Shift) on the BBC a few years ago and so you can sometimes find it - but it's an arse to find subtitled so I just bought the Icelandic DVD (as they are also Region 2) which has bumpy but solid English subs.

Was it you that I chatted about the Night Shift with at Inverness airport while we waited for the bus to Hi-Ex a few years back? You remain to this day the only other person I know who's seen it. Having spent more years than I'd have liked working in a petrol station at that point I did more than once expierience the same sort of thing as you mentioned with Detectorists.

Always meant to seek out the rest of the series but last time I looked there wasn't a region 2 DVD - and I just looked it up on Amazon! Christ! £35! No thanks. Where did you find the Icelandic one, O...?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 11 December, 2014, 10:50:44 PM
A lot of patience and eBay - but yes you'll not find them for cheaper than £20 a series - It's hugely worth it though!

Blimey I was just thinking about Inverness the other day - seems like forever ago!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 13 December, 2014, 09:00:26 PM
Lois and Clark: the New Adventures of Superman season 2.

Both better and worse than I remember, it's pretty darn nineties all up in here in terms of clothes and hairstyles, but for some reason it really, really reminds me of Gotham, with dudes in period suits, unconvincing sets, dated characters and scenarios... I could absolutely see these shows being set in the same fictional universe, and given that Man of Steel is a cinema franchise and Gotham is a tv franchise and never the twain shall meet (there's some creative and marketing synergy for you), there's no real reason to assume otherwise.
It's all good clean fun, but the biggest problem - like the previous season - is that Lois is just such an asshole I cannot for the life of me see what the attraction is, certainly not when there are smarter, kinder and warmer women who share the screen with Clark and if anything only serve to highlight what a charmless shrew Lois really is.  I could understand if Clark thought she was work but eventually found her assholery to be some sort of defensive mechanism that hid a much better person, but that's not the case - he's in love with her from the start, and she constantly betrays that she's small-minded, jealous, greedy, selfish and hateful at her core, so their relationship is ultimately baffling.
I love how Superman - rather than some awe-inspiring demigod - is seen by the citizens of Metropolis as just some dude they see around town who's vaguely famous, like that man in New York who plays guitar in his underpants.  There's a bit where some guy slips in the snow and Superman flies down from the sky and helps him stand up and they guy is like "Oh, Superman.  (pause)  Thanks." and then they chat about Christmas.  I like this idea that Superman isn't terrifying, that his name isn't an imperialist statement of intent and just a goofy affectation, that he wears tights and underpants and a Dracula cape and that people are a hair's breath away from calling him out on it and telling him he looks stupid, and then some guy does that anyway and Superman rebuts with "my mom made this costume for me" and the guy just looks like a dick for saying it.
The scripts are all over the place and the production budget sometimes struggles with the odd bit of overambition - like Superman chasing a runaway fuel truck - but it works in the same way that the virtual reality of a professional wrestling storyline works, in that it quickly establishes the immediacy of any given scenario of panto suspense and rolls with it, adhering to its own internal logic and playing things out without breaking your concentration, and for a superhero tv show with a low budget I don't think you can really ask for much more.  Shakespeare it is not, but it has considerable charm that is magnified by how dated it occasionally looks.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 15 December, 2014, 10:14:35 AM
I always thought Margot Kidder's Lois was the best characterisation, alongside the sublme Dini/Timm-verse of course.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 15 December, 2014, 01:51:48 PM
Teri Hatcher was awful. Pretty but awful.  One of those cases where they don't bother writing a plausible romance because everybody knows they are meant to love each other.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 15 December, 2014, 02:13:14 PM
I'd say that's fair.  There's never anything onscreen that justifies Clark's interest in Lois beyond the name of the show itself, but the sad thing is that the then-current comics that were being stripmined for ideas - the Byrne/Jurgens/Wolman years that created the dystopian Krypton, businessman Lex Luthor, studly Clark Kent, etc - created a pretty good Lois whose assholery and competitiveness stemmed from a childhood as a transient army brat, so there was an in-built rationale for her defensiveness and lack of roots or long-term friendships that didn't preclude her being a decent person, but L&C instead makes her a middle class kid who's just tired of not getting her way and blames other people constantly for her own failings - she is just a horrible human being, and that's before you even get to Hatcher's unconvincing delivery.

If I remember right, the dreadful Smallville appropriated the army-brat version of Lois and she was one of the few good things about that show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 15 December, 2014, 02:24:12 PM
I hated Lois in Smallville. All the brat, none of the resourcefulness or integrity. The made-for-tv Chloe character was the Lois stand-in and a much nicer, funnier and interesting person than her cousin from Metropolis. When Lois appeared they really started scraping the barrel and completely disconnected from the idea that Clark from Smallville would eventually be Superman a la comics.


Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 15 December, 2014, 02:36:26 PM
While it would have been great if she stopped using cultural references from before she was even born, the Smallville version of Lois was the only castmember who was an active instigator of events rather than just waiting around for things to happen like Clark and the gang did.  She espoused a moral and social responsibility that had until her introduction been absent from the series, whose cast - with the exception of villains - were entirely reactive - worse, through awful characters like Clark's dad, the show was espousing the kind of discredited and dangerous know-your-role parochialism that was antithetical to the core concepts of Superman.  When Lois came along, obnoxious as she was, she pushed a truly dreadful character into being something better.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 15 December, 2014, 05:24:58 PM
It was Lois and Jimmy Olsen that helped me through many a bad episode of Smallville. Often the best things in it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 15 December, 2014, 08:02:58 PM
You mean Henry Olsen.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 16 December, 2014, 01:11:20 PM
Quote from: Allah Akbark on 15 December, 2014, 02:36:26 PM
While it would have been great if she stopped using cultural references from before she was even born, the Smallville version of Lois was the only castmember who was an active instigator of events rather than just waiting around for things to happen like Clark and the gang did.  She espoused a moral and social responsibility that had until her introduction been absent from the series, whose cast - with the exception of villains - were entirely reactive - worse, through awful characters like Clark's dad, the show was espousing the kind of discredited and dangerous know-your-role parochialism that was antithetical to the core concepts of Superman.  When Lois came along, obnoxious as she was, she pushed a truly dreadful character into being something better.

You clearly watched more Smallville than me :)

You know who was really good in Lois & Clark? Ma and Pa Kent. Though I didn't dislike the Hazzard lad as Clark's dad, thought he did a better job than Martin Sheen. Don't really remember much 'know your role' beyond the whole tired 'farm is going under' theme.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 16 December, 2014, 01:19:30 PM
Quote from: Allah Akbark on 15 December, 2014, 08:02:58 PM
You mean Henry Olsen.

I was trying to avoid [spoiler]a spoiler[/spoiler].
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 16 December, 2014, 01:53:55 PM
It's been literally years since it's been on TV.

Quote from: Theblazeuk on 16 December, 2014, 01:11:20 PM
Don't really remember much 'know your role' beyond the whole tired 'farm is going under' theme.

Clark is constantly told by his dad to keep his head down, never reveal himself, and never help others.  When Clark (accidentally) helps others, his dad always says something along the lines of "I know you saved those people, son, BUT--"
Selfless altruism is seen as weakness by Clark's dad, and when you factor in his instinctive dislike of Lex Luther even when the show's writers have gone to great lengths to make it clear he isn't evil, Clark's dad just looks like someone warning his son off hanging around with someone because of who their dad is, the end result of which is that after years of Clark lying to Lex (who is often motivated by altruism and friendship, and often comes a cropper because of Clark's lies and omissions), Lex is corrupted by the only other moral influence in his life - his evil and eventually-barmy father - and slides into corruption, all because Clark is an ineffective hero, a coward, and a terrible friend.
By elevating Johnathan Kent - whose character is indistinguishable from that of a domineering homophobic bully - to being a yardstick of outstanding morality rather than an example of everything that's wrong with America, Smallville's main character takes over a decade to become Superman, and even then he is both forced into the role, and is so thoroughly ashamed of it that Superman doesn't even appear onscreen.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 16 December, 2014, 03:20:08 PM
Fair point if I think a slightly stronger interpretation than I remember :) Homophobic though? And on a side note, Lex Luthor was the best thing about that show. Almost as good as when he played the Flash on JLU (and then played the Flash playing Lex Luthor, which was a great episode).

Though I still think nothing beats Sheen-Kent making Clark cry because he rescued a bus of schoolchildren. At least Smallville Kent just told him to be careful and worried alot.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 16 December, 2014, 09:10:25 PM
While you guys are watching credible drama about a guy who wears his underpants over his tights, I'm watching Japanese cartoons.

...

Wait. That wasn't NEARLY as clever a smart-ass comment as I thought it would be. Oh, well...

After hearing good things about the manga series it's based on, I picked up the DVD of the BTOOOM! anime. Flippin' HECK, this is good stuff!

It's one of those shows that starts of with a simple - you could even say silly - premise, but adds layers as it goes. Basically, a bunch of people arrive on an island where they're charged with killing each other to escape. Their only weapons are tiny bombs called BIMs, which appear to be unique to each 'player' and have ther own specific effects. Each of the island's new inhabitants also has a crystal implanted in their left hand which functions as a radar, and must be taken as a trophy once they've been killed. All of the above bears an uncanny resemblance to a hit video game in the 'real' world called BTOOOM!, which several of the characters on the island are aware of to one degree or another.

What makes it interesting is that NONE of the players are there by choice, and all of them seem to have been 'voted in' by somebody with a grudge against them. The real guts of the story lies in these backstories as they unfold, and the enmities and alliances that are formed on the island. I won't lie - it reminds me at times of the TV show 'Lost' in terms of its execution... but so for it's been much more satisfying and it's a hell of a lot gnarlier!   

I'm about halfway through, and it's a short series at 12 episodes. I've been trating myself to a couple of episodes every night when I'm done with work, and it's real 'can't wait to watch it' stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 16 December, 2014, 10:00:35 PM
Well just finished The Wire season 4 and SHEEEE-TEH that's some hard stuff completely gutted that [spoiler]Bodie[/spoiler] cops it and the fate of the kids was as depressing as I assume it was realistic.

While I still tink Season 2 might edge it I completely can't wait for Season 5 and much as I'd like to see Marlo get some compence I have no idea if that's the sort show this is, or the kinda ending they think is in anyway right.Which is why its so damned good!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 19 December, 2014, 10:07:14 AM
I've been collecting classic Dr Who for a while as I've not seen most of these since the first time around when I was a  kid.

Finally got to watch The War Games last night - this was before my time and I've never seen it before. I knew the basic story as it was Troughton's last, but was surprised by how good it was. many of the old b/w eps are distinctly ropey but this was quality - and a 10 parter too!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 22 December, 2014, 02:53:46 PM
War Games in great. The Troughton era is all round solid and has my favourite double act in 2nd and Jamie. Great times.

I re-watched Rememberance of the Daleks the other day and it's still a seriously awesome series. Thinking I should listen to some of the stories set atter it by Big Finish featuring Davros.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 22 December, 2014, 09:04:55 PM
I have been watching copious amounts of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.  It's of reasonable quality that succeeds in making me laugh with it's own charm.  It can be a bit hit and miss, with a couple of series being less than funny.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 26 December, 2014, 07:36:12 PM
Avatar: The Legend of Korra concluded this week with quite simply one of the greatest finales I've ever seen in a TV show. From beginning to end it's been one of the most entertaining, innovative, and groundbreaking family shows around, and no where better is this shown than in the final moments of the show, which show's the culmination of 4 seasons of wonderful character development.

Saddened that this is (almost) the last we'll see of this truly wonderful universe, at least in the TV department, as it's been a constant companion through out my life from a child to a (kinda) adult. I'll miss it. But at least, now, I have the excuse to watch it all from the beginning again. Watch me, i'm pressing play on the first disc of Last Air Bender. And I might be gone some time...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 29 December, 2014, 10:19:19 AM
Earth. Air. Fire. Water.

Long ago...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Noisybast on 29 December, 2014, 10:47:50 AM
I've just marathoned the full run (to date) of Archer, and followed it up with season one of American Horror Story. A fine way to end a lurgy-filled Christmas break.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 02 January, 2015, 08:53:11 PM
Ooh Stargate: Universe finally on Netflix UK! That is one of finest Sci-Fi TV series.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rog69 on 02 January, 2015, 11:46:40 PM
The Wife and I finally started watching Game of Thrones over the Christmas break, we just polished off season 1 tonight only to find that the rest of it it has now gone off the Sky on demand service. Bugger.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 03 January, 2015, 02:09:17 AM
I'm currently burning my way through PSYCHO PASS, an anime so awesome it requires its title being typed in ALL CAPS.

Quite how this hasn't attained Ghost in the Shell levels of notoriety, I do not understand. It's brutal, it's brilliant and it's quite properly smart. I've got just four episodes left, and I'm actually in fear for some of these characters.

Please have a happy ending, please have a happy ending,  please have a happy ending...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 03 January, 2015, 06:05:58 PM
Prepare to be disappointing. It doesn't end well. :lol:
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 04 January, 2015, 01:53:12 AM
I think the bigger issue is, with a second season broadcasting in Japan and a movie to come, it doesn't end *yet*.

Things ain't looking good for my favourite character in the show, though. Finishing it off tomorrow night. I'm going to be on pins and needles just like I was with Black Lagoon...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 04 January, 2015, 05:27:08 PM
You can rest easy with Black Lagoon. We've had 1 chapter in 3 years. Theirs nothing left to adapt. :lol:
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 05 January, 2015, 06:23:13 AM
Heh! You have no idea how much I was expecting Revy to cop it in the series finale of that show. As the golden anime rule goes: If the manga ain't finished, nobody's safe!

Anyhoo, I'm still two episodes away from the finale of Psycho Pass season one. But I continued my current anime kick with a few episodes of Attack on Titan.

Not sure what I think of it so far. It's different, certainly, but the last couple of episodes weren't exacly what I'd call 'good'. I'm currently a bit mystified as to the popularity of it. But we'll see how it develops.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 05 January, 2015, 09:28:30 AM
Honestly i'd be surprised if Black Lagoon ever gets continued at this point. The 9th volume came out here 2 years ago and the 14th is due anytime now, but it contains the chapters published to date. Last on (Wild Red Card part 11 I believe) was published monthly back in 2013. Sad thing if Hiroe isn't as well known as his creation, so theirs not been any coverage on what he's actually been doing in this time. Which is gutting because I looove Black Lagoon in all it's cheesy over the top glory.

I'm an unashamed fan of Attack on Titan. I acknowledge it as a great series, if an imperfect one. Take [spoiler]Marco's death[/spoiler] for example. It was considered a huge catalyst for a number of the characters actions to join the survey corps, but it all felt a little forced because the viewers where never given any reason to care for him until the flashbacks. I won't hear a word against the animation though. As far as TV animated series go, AoT is one of the best this decade.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 05 January, 2015, 05:18:42 PM
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT

I'd dipped my toes in before and hadn't enjoyed it but with regular viewings, I've really enjoyed this. 

Noticed a strange change in physical appearances (and quality of jokes) between Seasons 3 and 4 and looked it up on Wiki only to find out 7 years had passed.  No wonder George Michael looks so different.

I don't like the episodes dedicated to one character but some of the running gags are still inspired.

Will Arnett is just fantastic in it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 05 January, 2015, 07:21:38 PM
I thought that final netflix-only season was very cleverly done - all one story but told and retold through different characters POV
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 05 January, 2015, 09:50:14 PM
Yes, I can see that it's clever (about four episodes in) but it's just not as funny (some individual brillint gags aside).  Lindsey's episode was terrible and half of the one where Michael meets Ron Howard was awful (but half, great!)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 07 January, 2015, 02:25:28 AM
Just to come back to Hawkmonger's comments:

Finished Psycho Pass yesterday and had no problems with the ending. GREAT stuff, and I was pleased to see the show didn't shy away from killing a few characters off along the way. One death in particular made me gulp down a few manly tears. I absolutely cannot wait to see the rest of it - even if poor sales over here mean I may have to wait for Funimation to put it out as an R1 DVD.

Attack on Titan, I'm about halfway through now. It's a visually stunning series, if a little too reliant on panned static shots for my liking. I feel like it faltered a bit after a strong start, but I'm pleased to see that my assumption of it being just a zombie show with a twist has been thoroughly disproved. 

Biggest complaint? The dub is of inconsistent quality. We've got Christopher Sabat turning in an amazing performance as a secondary character, and Bryce Papenbrook being unsufferably awful as Eren. I'm also finding myself increasingly irritated by Josh Grelle as Armin. These guys are so much better than the performances they bring to this show. And I've already spotted one instance of an old dear with the voice of a 20 year old. Gnng!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 07 January, 2015, 07:22:55 PM
In between fixing the tumble dryer, posting the last of the churstmas presents and sorting out our broadband cintract I have watched  DIE ANOTHER DAY and AVATAR.

Both better than I remember but still full of flaws.

AVATAR definitely benefits from being seen on a biggish screen in high def in glorious 3D as it's such an unashamed visual feast. The dialogue doesn't do much to explain why being a Navi is so wonderful but the script assumes the lushness of Pandora will just suck you in. Is it five years old? Special effects still look utterly flawless.

There aren't many things that would get worse when you add Rosamund Pike and Halle Berry but DIE ANOTHER DAY is one of them. It's not there fault as such. DAD is rattling along quite nicely as a serviceable "Bond goes rogue" movie until Halle arrives to utter terrible innuendo to Brosnan as he holds in his gut. Thereafter it becomes a massive sack of shit with zero surprises and a complete lack of wit. I have warmed slightly to the showdown on an exploding plane but still don't see why, when you build a villain as such a credible physical threat, you then emasculate him in a power rangers outfit.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Spikes on 11 January, 2015, 02:03:36 PM
Finally making good headway through my reading, and watching pile.
Which has me now dusting off, and viewing The Omega Factor complete series set, from 1979.

Now, I have no real recollection of this series at all (I suspect it was on past my bedtime, then) but after reading about it in my copy of the Ten Years of Terror book, ive been meaning to track this down for some time.

It's typically intense stuff, and all played incredibly seriously, from the tail-end of the 70's, and comes across like a slightly flared trouser-ed  version of the X-Files, except minus all the alien stuff. Or looking at stuff that was contemporary to it at the time, then Sapphire and Steel-ish. Kinda...

Main lead, James Hazeldine is on fine form, and eminently watchable.
Big Finish are currently producing new audio drama's for this show, so it would seem to be having a bit of a revival.

A curious beast - and a half forgotten 70's curio, this, but recommended.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 11 January, 2015, 06:17:32 PM
So only one episode of The Wire to go. So the question I ask you is do I watch it tonight after the kids are in bad, or save it and read my latest comics haul which I got from my LCS yesterday but only read a few of last evening as... well you guessed it... we watched The Wire...

... what to do what to do...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 11 January, 2015, 07:30:31 PM
Get it over with.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 11 January, 2015, 10:04:23 PM
Well I did and...

hit and miss I guess is the only way to describe it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 12 January, 2015, 08:44:41 AM
Halfway through Season 2 of Breaking Bad. 

It continues to entertain but the tone veers wildly between episodes.  The grim "reality" of Jesse stuck with a poor child in a junkie's pad in PeekaBoo sort of sits with the black comedy of  Danny Trejo [spoiler] 's severed head on an exploding tortoise[/spoiler] but then in comes unashamed light relief in the shape of Saul Goodman.  I'm sure this initial impression is wrong but it's still good stuff.


THE OFFICE (USA) - OK, shoot me. I'll admit to liking this more than the UK version. We only have the finale to watch and it continues to make me laugh out loud (the most important compliment that matters for a comedy) and has fantastic performances throughout. Sure it's sacharrine at times but it usually does it shouting through a loud hailer.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 12 January, 2015, 08:58:45 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 12 January, 2015, 08:44:41 AM
It continues to entertain but the tone veers wildly between episodes.  The grim "reality" of Jesse stuck with a poor child in a junkie's pad in PeekaBoo sort of sits with the black comedy of  Danny Trejo [spoiler] 's severed head on an exploding tortoise[/spoiler] but then in comes unashamed light relief in the shape of Saul Goodman.  I'm sure this initial impression is wrong but it's still good stuff.

No, I think that's spot on.  The drastic changes in tone, and [NOT REALLY A SPOILER] [spoiler]the increasingly improbable twists[/spoiler], are what made it so enjoyable for me - had it played everything straight it would have been unbearable, as it is there is just enough fantasy and silliness added to the grim situations to make it obviously an entertainment (albeit a compelling one), rather than something to be endured.  I like some slapstick with my partially dissolved corpses.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 12 January, 2015, 09:51:25 AM
Well there we go finally finished The Wire and have to say over all I loved it, brilliant stuff. Not sure if its quite up there with Breaking Bad and The Sopranos but damned close if not.

The end was a little disappointing, never has 1 and 1/2 hrs of telly dragged pasted so many possible endings and yet felt so rushed. It did its job, but in wrapping up so much seemed to compromise so much. Many of the individual character endings seemed a bit trite and simple and this was a case were I definitely think leaving somethings a little more open would have been a benefit. As it stands those little snap shots concluding the stories of everyone who survived the series, just too many. Some worked, some didn't and even if the ending for the character seemed appropriate and nice [spoiler](I'm happy for Bubble) [/spoiler] the actually shot was as cheesy as hell.

Aside from that the main story seemed to twist itself almost to breaking point to try top wrap things up. After a series that had felt so grounded this was such a shame and too much stuff was doubtful, or slightly out of character to enable them to get to the end of the story. I dread the idea of watching it again as under the closer scrutiny of a second viewing I don't think it will hold up. My wife plans to do just that tonight, I will steadfastly be ignoring the telly so my threadbare ability to accept the way it wrapped up remains intact!

I guess that's the price you pay for weaving such a rich tapestry.

Still when viewed as whole an absolute triumph of a series. There's a bit of me still thinks Season 2 was the best?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 12 January, 2015, 12:23:03 PM
I hear what you're saying, but they're damned if they do, damned if they don't - the makes of the Sopranos were pilloried for their ending because it just stopped without resolving any of the hanging plots. The writer said this was to emphasis that it wasn't a single story they were telling but a "soap opera" of life in a gangster family, and this life goes on after the series ends.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 12 January, 2015, 12:47:57 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 12 January, 2015, 12:23:03 PM
I hear what you're saying, but they're damned if they do, damned if they don't - the makes of the Sopranos were pilloried for their ending because it just stopped without resolving any of the hanging plots. The writer said this was to emphasis that it wasn't a single story they were telling but a "soap opera" of life in a gangster family, and this life goes on after the series ends.

Yeah but I loved the ending to The Sopranos - which might explain my views here!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 12 January, 2015, 02:01:02 PM
me too!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 12 January, 2015, 04:35:34 PM
Twas alright. Nothing beats the ending of The Shield....
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 12 January, 2015, 05:02:09 PM
QuoteI hear what you're saying, but they're damned if they do, damned if they don't - the makes of the Sopranos were pilloried for their ending because it just stopped without resolving any of the hanging plots.

The fate of certain characters were left ambiguous, but I certainly felt it resolved everything to a satisfactory level.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 12 January, 2015, 06:15:08 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 12 January, 2015, 08:58:45 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 12 January, 2015, 08:44:41 AM
It continues to entertain but the tone veers wildly between episodes.  The grim "reality" of Jesse stuck with a poor child in a junkie's pad in PeekaBoo sort of sits with the black comedy of  Danny Trejo [spoiler] 's severed head on an exploding tortoise[/spoiler] but then in comes unashamed light relief in the shape of Saul Goodman.  I'm sure this initial impression is wrong but it's still good stuff.
No, I think that's spot on.  The drastic changes in tone, and [NOT REALLY A SPOILER] [spoiler]the increasingly improbable twists[/spoiler], are what made it so enjoyable for me - had it played everything straight it would have been unbearable, as it is there is just enough fantasy and silliness added to the grim situations to make it obviously an entertainment (albeit a compelling one), rather than something to be endured.  I like some slapstick with my partially dissolved corpses.
Conversely, this was one of the things I found really hard to stomach about the series. I'm all for black humour used to undercut the more serious side of something, but I found the abrupt switches to broad comedy and the seeming inability to mix the different tones very jarring.

Then there's the ludicrous MacGyver stuff which initially comes out of desperation and entertaining, innovative ways to get things done but which gets stupider and stupider as it progresses and, again, does nothing but ruin the dramatic aspect of the programme.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 13 January, 2015, 08:54:16 AM
So far, Saul looks like he belongs in another show entirely.  But then again, I am thankful for the break.

I suppose you don't bat an eyelid when an episodic TV show like Star Trek does a serious angsty epiosde followed by a comedy episode followed by a scary episode so why the difference here?

PS: Was very satisfied with the finale of The Office. All "i"s dotted and all "t"s crossed. Very clever doing the 1 year later jump as it meant that everything didn't feel crammed into a short time frame.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 13 January, 2015, 09:06:48 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 13 January, 2015, 08:54:16 AM
So far, Saul looks like he belongs in another show entirely.  But then again, I am thankful for the break.

I get what The Cosh is saying, but I'm not sure I'd have binge-watched the alternative series he describes.  I did struggle with the tonal flip-flops in the early seasons, coupled with the realisation that the plot was being made up on the fly, but once I was properly involved with Walt and Jesse I came to depend on these aspects as a release from the tension.  The silliness (as opposed to black humour) of S'all Good Man and the rest made Albuquerque into a fantasy setting, rather than an attempt at reality, and that allowed the character's journeys to be genuinely bleak, despite involving unlikely contraptions, magic drugs and feats of derring-do.  The core human stories remained dramatic, with the rest of the production providing the necessary laughs. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 13 January, 2015, 10:10:20 AM
I've not thought this through properly so fully expect to be shot down in flames but what the heck, spouting nonsense has never stopped me before.

I sometimes struggle with people not liking changes in tone in a show and or comic etc. I get people wanting to set a tone and or mood for a piece of fiction as it provides stability and a more comfortable or consistent viewing experience (or for that matter consistently uncomfortable depending on the tone set!). That is however not to say its realistic. My experience is life doesn't have a tone or consistent mood. It flip flaps, you can be in the most miserable circumstance and still met 'characters' that have a completely different mind set or situations that force a different mood in the same conditions. I engage with different situations and moods, or tones, all the time within the same mundane working day. To me having this curious lack of consistency is refreshing like real life.

In particular it works in Breaking Bad which is very much a show about a man moving between different worlds and the tensions that creates. There is no better shift in tone that the move between Walter White and Heisenberg. Often this very shift, or more accurately the man caught half way between the being the two people is the source of some of the best humor and tension in the show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Fungus on 13 January, 2015, 11:37:33 AM
BB remains the only show I've ever 'binged' on, and I just know that I wouldn't have been able to wade through many hours of tense - at times very grim - drama. Come to think of it, I doubt my disbelief would have been suspended for long if no-one ever cracked a joke. Better invoke Saul.

And Shakespeare punctured his tragedies with comedy, he knew what he was doing. The impact of both is heightened?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 19 January, 2015, 10:23:00 PM
Is there a record for the longest gap between a comment and a specific reply? Brought on by my Polish colleague and his fiancee having watched the first four series in 8 days...
Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 13 January, 2015, 10:10:20 AM
I sometimes struggle with people not liking changes in tone in a show and or comic etc. I get people wanting to set a tone and or mood for a piece of fiction as it provides stability and a more comfortable or consistent viewing experience (or for that matter consistently uncomfortable depending on the tone set!).
I get what you're saying and, of course something like Judge Dredd or, more recently, Low Life is enjoyable and successful at least partly because it is able to move between different tones. However, within that framework, one story tends to stick to a particular  register.

Quote from: TordelBack on 13 January, 2015, 09:06:48 AM
I get what The Cosh is saying, but I'm not sure I'd have binge-watched the alternative series he describes.  ...The silliness (as opposed to black humour) of S'all Good Man and the rest made Albuquerque into a fantasy setting, rather than an attempt at reality, and that allowed the character's journeys to be genuinely bleak, despite involving unlikely contraptions, magic drugs and feats of derring-do.
I certainly hadn't thought of it in those terms.

You all make some good points and it's clear I'm in a small minority here and the problem must be me, not you or Walt. Interesting that a couple of you have said that you wouldn't have binged on my version of the show, as it wasn't something I could ever watch more than one or two of at a time. I'm just going to accept that it wasn't for me, write a last bit of guff here and try my best not to start whinging again the next time somebody mentions how great it is.

I'm not sure what the root of my antipathy is. Maybe the programme was sold to me on the basis of the dramatic elements so I was surprised by the other stuff. To use the example mentioned, I felt the dissolved bath was enough comic relief in itself. Adding the Last of the Summer Wine style house viewing panto was just overegging the pudding.

Quote from: Tiplodocus on 13 January, 2015, 08:54:16 AM
So far, Saul looks like he belongs in another show entirely.  But then again, I am thankful for the break.
For the record, Saul and his unabashed villainy amongst all the hand-wringing was one of the things I unequivocally liked.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 19 January, 2015, 10:26:55 PM
As for me, I've started watching Farscape, even though it's got muppets in. I think I've seen the first three series before but never made it to the end for some reason.

Half a dozen episodes in and it's starting to open up some of the backstories. However, I've been doing that kind of half-watching while you're doing something else and then you realise at the end of the episode that you've a vague idea of what happened but not the specifics.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 20 January, 2015, 08:23:26 AM
Well its not an addiction yet but since it was lent to me by my boss our next endeavour is The West Wing. Watched the first episode and while it certainly had some nice moments all I can say is I do hope it gets better! After all the praise I've heard of it I suspect it will?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ming on 20 January, 2015, 09:04:46 AM
Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 20 January, 2015, 08:23:26 AM
Well its not an addiction yet but since it was lent to me by my boss our next endeavour is The West Wing. Watched the first episode and while it certainly had some nice moments all I can say is I do hope it gets better! After all the praise I've heard of it I suspect it will?

I always get that confused with Veep.  Which I love.

We just watched The Worricker Trilogy (Page Eight, Turks & Caicos, Salting the Battlefield).  The second installment felt a bit forced but overall this was really enjoyable and seeing Bill Nighy in a main role was something of a revelation.  Worth looking out for.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 20 January, 2015, 11:01:56 PM
The man in the high castle.

On lovefilm/amazon prime instant video as one of seven pilots for shows that you can vote to be made.

I have no idea if it's a good adaption of Philip K Dick's "What if the nazis won the war?" tale but it was rather good even if I can't see them doing a light relief episode.

Watch it and vote so I can get addicted.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 21 January, 2015, 01:11:32 PM
In between my Last Airbender foray I've been rewatching some IT Crowd and I had completely forgoten just how funny it is.

"Ha! Well prepare to put mustard on those words as you eat them, with a side order of humble pie, baked in this oven of shame, set at gas mark egg on your face!"
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 22 January, 2015, 09:05:19 PM
IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA.
Tiny Tips has started watching this. Despite some good laughs in the first few episodes,  I don't think that I will be sticking with it. The performances are good but everybody, EVERYBODY  is a complete arsehole. There's a mean streak running through it as well (same as Family Guy). Not for me.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Zenith 666 on 22 January, 2015, 09:36:41 PM
Seen six seasons and while it has some gold moments that mean streak just gets worse so you'll get no enjoyment from it Tips.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 23 January, 2015, 01:10:13 PM
Toast of London

Has its moments, though a pale imitation of Darkplace/Boosh/etc. Mind you just thinking about some of the Mighty Boosh moments makes me snigger.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richmond Clements on 30 January, 2015, 09:02:28 AM
I'm in the middle of BUffy season 5 on my rewatch. While there is stuff I didn't like: [spoiler]Riley should have died at the end of season 4, because there's nothing for him to do here and his leaving was too contrived.[/spoiler]

BUT:

The latest episode was The Body. Man that is some powerful and moving television.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 30 January, 2015, 09:19:09 AM
Quote from: Richmond Clements on 30 January, 2015, 09:02:28 AM
The latest episode was The Body. Man that is some powerful and moving television.

We've paused our Buffy re-watch at the end of Season 5 to watch a chunk of the Angel box set, but the Great Buffy Re-watch has fairly conclusively proved to me that the "It's All Downhill After Season 3" crowd are just plain wrong.

Cheers

Jim
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richmond Clements on 30 January, 2015, 09:42:05 AM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 30 January, 2015, 09:19:09 AM
Quote from: Richmond Clements on 30 January, 2015, 09:02:28 AM
The latest episode was The Body. Man that is some powerful and moving television.

We've paused our Buffy re-watch at the end of Season 5 to watch a chunk of the Angel box set, but the Great Buffy Re-watch has fairly conclusively proved to me that the "It's All Downhill After Season 3" crowd are just plain wrong.

Cheers

Jim

Yup. Apart from the spoilered complaint, it's been great. Glory is a proper scary threat, and they do an excellent job of giving everyone something to do (which is harder than you think when writing team based storylines).
I'm thinking of chasing down some Angel myself...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 30 January, 2015, 09:53:15 AM
Loved Buffy so better rewatch it on Netflix and loved Angel much better, so dark.

Like how they changed Wesley from geek into badass.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 05 February, 2015, 03:28:14 PM
All 5 seasons of Community just in Netflix, hadn't seen it yet, and some of you rating it good.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Satanist on 05 February, 2015, 04:14:36 PM
Quote from: Goaty on 05 February, 2015, 03:28:14 PM
All 5 seasons of Community just in Netflix, hadn't seen it yet, and some of you rating it good.

Watch first 3 series, forget the rest.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 05 February, 2015, 05:01:44 PM
Quote from: Richmond Clements on 30 January, 2015, 09:02:28 AMThe latest episode was The Body. Man that is some powerful and moving television.

Staggering piece of work. They do things in that episode that I've never seen done anywhere else, and even thinking about it chills my blood.  Never was disposable teen entertainment so utterly real.

Meanwhile, having finally completed Angel Season 3,, we resumed the Buffy rewatch at Season 7, which I don't have particularly fond memories of. Wrong again - it's absolutely brilliant, we wolfed down 8 episodes in 4 nights. What a show, such clever balancing of the cast as we hurtle towards the end.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 05 February, 2015, 05:37:11 PM
It's interesting to note that critical reaction towards Buffy cooled when she couldn't afford college and had to get a shitty job and didn't have any plan what to do with the rest of her life - in other words when the show became a reflection of the young adulthood of the vast majority of its audience rather than the young adulthood of its professional critics.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 05 February, 2015, 05:39:06 PM
I sometimes wonder if the major problem with Buffy's later seasons is that after the Mayor, no bad guy really shines. Adam, Glory, the First - they're all meh (though I love Glory being a god and bitchy her little coterie of monks and the whole Ben thing stumbled for me) and the Trio are comic relief really, good comic relief but not like the Master, Angelus or the wonder that was The Mayor.

Well that and Spike-romance.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richmond Clements on 05 February, 2015, 05:42:36 PM
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 05 February, 2015, 05:39:06 PM
I sometimes wonder if the major problem with Buffy's later seasons is that after the Mayor, no bad guy really shines. Adam, Glory, the First - they're all meh (though I love Glory being a god and bitchy her little coterie of monks and the whole Ben thing stumbled for me) and the Trio are comic relief really, good comic relief but not like the Master, Angelus or the wonder that was The Mayor.

Well that and Spike-romance.

Yeah, the 'need' for a Big Bad is something that these shows (and I'm pretty sure Buffy started it!) suffer from. But I disagree about Glory - having just finished that season, she's totally great. It was nice to have a villain that Buffy genuinely couldn't beat by just hitting her hard, until they [spoiler]figured out a way she could beat her by hitting her hard, that is...[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 05 February, 2015, 06:57:32 PM
Quote from: Richmond Clements on 05 February, 2015, 05:42:36 PM
t was nice to have a villain that Buffy genuinely couldn't beat by just hitting her hard, until they [spoiler]figured out a way she could beat her by hitting her hard, that is...[/spoiler]

Don't knock it, Richmond - Mark Millar has made a career out of that plot.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 05 February, 2015, 07:27:08 PM
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 05 February, 2015, 05:39:06 PM
...the Trio are comic relief really...

But the Trio aren't the Big Bad of Season 6 - they're just a brilliant piece of misdirection. More generally the real demons post-Glory are all personal ones, and no harm there.

But yeah, the Mayor (and Faith) was an impossible act to follow. The First (and Caleb) are pretty damn scary, but much like Glory's obsequious minions, the silly ur-vampires undermine the thing a tad.

It's ridiculous how much we've enjoyed rewatching Buffy (and Angel). Definitely got more out of it a dozen years later.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 12 February, 2015, 09:04:08 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 20 January, 2015, 11:01:56 PM
The man in the high castle.
...
Watch it and vote so I can get addicted.
I watched this for you last night. It was alright but all setup. I suppose that's the point of a pilot.

It's been ages since I read the book so I can't comment on how good an adaptation it is either. I guess they have a ready-made twist for the start of series 2 or 3: a bunch of Germans wake up to find the Allies have won the war.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 12 February, 2015, 12:19:33 PM
FARGO.

I missed this when it was on Channel 4 last year but it popped up on Netflix.  I thoroughly enjoyed it -some quality visual story telling going on (compare the amount of dialogue in this compared to something like your average episode of Silent Witness).

Really liked most of the performances - the only one that didn't quite work for me was Martin Freeman - except when he became an "alpha" - that brought him out of the performance we normally see from him.

Ultimately wasn't too keen on the whole digression into what happened to the money from the original movie. Almost felt like it should have been a standalone story.

Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob) was a great character.  I actually imagined him speaking some of his dialogue Joker style because more often than not, he seemed to be doing things for the lulz. And, with his brazen-ness, it looked like he almost WANTED to get caught.

Conicidentally, it's the third thing I've seen this week that has a "You are either butcher or cattle!" theme running through it; Walking Dead Season 5 start with the hunters and Jupiter Ascending.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Fungus on 12 February, 2015, 05:11:14 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 12 February, 2015, 12:19:33 PM
FARGO.
the only one that didn't quite work for me was Martin Freeman

Yep, fine terrestrial telly and that bloke from The Office tended to disrupt his scenes. Does the same in Sherlock (whose stapler is still missing).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 20 February, 2015, 05:43:49 PM
Tiny Tips has started watching ALIAS. (Probably more Jennifer Garner than is good for a fourteen/fifteen year old). So I've watched the odd episode with him and remembered how great the first couple of seasons are.

Funny to see that the van in the "Die Hard" episode belongs to McTiernan Refrigeration.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richmond Clements on 21 February, 2015, 09:49:49 AM
Three episodes in and Better Call Saul just keeps getting better.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richmond Clements on 24 February, 2015, 10:06:24 AM
On a Breaking Bad rewatch. Just watched the first episode of season 2 and amazingly,[spoiler] this is when Walt makes the ricin![/spoiler]This is, what, two seasons before we [spoiler]meet Lydia[/spoiler]... man that's some forward planning...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ming on 24 February, 2015, 12:45:25 PM
Quote from: Richmond Clements on 21 February, 2015, 09:49:49 AM
Three episodes in and Better Call Saul just keeps getting better.

Right there with you on that one.  Just watched the third episode last night and it's excellent; familiar but distinct enough to stand firmly on its own two feet.

Pass the cucumber water, will you?

:)


Also currently enjoying: Uncle.  Second season is a couple of episodes in and continues to tickle my funny bone.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 25 February, 2015, 10:12:43 PM
Quote from: Satanist on 05 February, 2015, 04:14:36 PM
Quote from: Goaty on 05 February, 2015, 03:28:14 PM
All 5 seasons of Community just in Netflix, hadn't seen it yet, and some of you rating it good.

Watch first 3 series, forget the rest. Skip season 4. Watch season 5.

QuoteOn a Breaking Bad rewatch. Just watched the first episode of season 2 and amazingly, [spoiler]this is when Walt makes the ricin![/spoiler]This is, what, two seasons before we [spoiler]meet Lydia[/spoiler]... man that's some forward planning...

I think even the writers would freely admit that it was more 'leaving a dangling plot thread hanging then resolving it on the fly' than forward planning.

I've watched a bit of Saul. It's OK, but nowhere near as addictive or gripping as Breaking Bad so far.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 26 February, 2015, 09:10:09 AM
Quote from: radiator on 25 February, 2015, 10:12:43 PM
QuoteOn a Breaking Bad rewatch. Just watched the first episode of season 2 and amazingly, [spoiler]this is when Walt makes the ricin![/spoiler]This is, what, two seasons before we [spoiler]meet Lydia[/spoiler]... man that's some forward planning...

I think even the writers would freely admit that it was more 'leaving a dangling plot thread hanging then resolving it on the fly' than forward planning.


Watching the interviews on the DVDs I watched BB from I was very surprised, assuming all this was very intricately put together, that even the bit with the big gun at the start of season 5 was thrown in with no knowledge of exactly how it would be used/resolved. The final use of said being determined during the course of the filming as episodes were finally written.

Either way you look at things, be it incredible foresight, or very neat tidying up as seems more likely. they did it very very well!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Fungus on 26 February, 2015, 03:58:49 PM
Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 26 February, 2015, 09:10:09 AM
Either way you look at things, be it incredible foresight, or very neat tidying up as seems more likely. they did it very very well!

Well yes, but the thing about the ricin and guns is, you can imagine everyone in BB coming to a sticky end. Factoring in some poison (for a chemist) and gun action while tying up a drug-based crime drama doesn't sound like a huge stretch, more a head-start when writing the finish? Pleasinlgy neat, but not Earth-shattering.

If a leprechaun riding a zebra had been through the car-wash in episode 5 season 2, winked at camera, then proven to be pivotal to the whole series, then, well, bravo. Spoiler: [spoiler]that didn't happen[/spoiler].
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 27 February, 2015, 04:26:03 PM
Picked up on The Walking Dead.

I watched the first season some time back but because I was very familiar with the comics and I found the series relentlessly grim (during a low part of my life) I stopped.

All 5 seasons (so far) popped up on Sky on demand so I plunged back in and have found it brilliant. I had to watch all the seasons before they took it off by 1st of March.

It's still grim but by God it's wonderful. Just finished season 5 episode 8 when [spoiler]Beth gets killed by the cop Dawn at the hospital.[/spoiler] Man, that almost made me cry! 6 foot 4 inch, 15 stone man nearly weeping at the television.

That's some good stuff right there in my opinion.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Magnetica on 28 February, 2015, 10:52:24 AM
Just been watching Stargate SG1 seasons 9 and 10. It has taken me a number of years to do this since Channel 4 stopped showing it and as far as I know they never showed these final two seasons.

So did the show suffer when Mitchell replaced O'Neill? No not at all in my opinion.

I thought the concept of the Ori was great, but overall I think they could have made far more of it. I kept waiting for the big battle to come and it really never did [spoiler](apart from a bit of a shoot out at the end of season 9 / start of season 10 with some Ori mother ships.)[/spoiler]

Season 10 became really just a quest to [spoiler]find a technobabble way to beat the Ori. [/spoiler]I was expecting the last few episodes to focus on the war with the Ori's followers (a bit like the final 6 episodes of DS9 focussed on the war with the Dominion - and even that suffered from big battle taking place off screen syndrome) but[spoiler] it just didn't happen.[/spoiler]

Then it was wrapped up in the spin off movie The Ark of Truth which [spoiler]was again a quest to find a technobabble way to get the Ori's followers to stop believing which then had to re-introduce a previous foe (The Replicators) so that it could last the running time.[/spoiler]

I'm not saying it was bad, just that it could have been so much better and was in my opinion a bit of a wasted opportunity.

As to SG1 overall - yes I liked it, but for me it was always secondary to Star Trek (especially TNG and DS9). It was remarkable consistent in quality  - always about 6-7 out of ten in my opinion*. For me it never hit the heights that Trek did (e.g. Q Who, Best of Both Worlds, Dominion war) but there was never a really terrible episode either.


* the fantastic episode "200" apart.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 28 February, 2015, 03:31:21 PM
Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 20 January, 2015, 08:23:26 AM
Well its not an addiction yet but since it was lent to me by my boss our next endeavour is The West Wing. Watched the first episode and while it certainly had some nice moments all I can say is I do hope it gets better! After all the praise I've heard of it I suspect it will?

Quite egoistical to quote yourself but wanted to say having finished Season one, all 22 episodes it certainly does. At times its a bit cute, a little idealised (though it does try to balance this) and the music is God awful but its a bloomin' trimpuh and very funny at times. Beautifully drawn characters who always seem to be pulled back from being over earnst and too polished. Great stuff.

That cliffhanger though my gosh that would have been cruel in real time! Need to get hold of season 2 asap!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Magnetica on 28 February, 2015, 03:56:17 PM
Yes the West Wing was one of my favourites. Definitely worth persevering with in my opinion, even if at times I didn't necessarily follow all the political goings on.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 03 March, 2015, 04:06:18 PM
Caught up with the Walking Dead now after doing 3 and a half seasons in 3 weeks.

Sucks being on 1 episode a week now.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 03 March, 2015, 04:35:50 PM
Well, that's the Buffy rewatch finished after more than a year of high-quality fun.  The final season was a very different beast than I had remembered, with a lot more going on and Caleb and the Scythe and all that stuff tucked into just 4 episodes at the end (in my memory, that was at least half the season).  I felt the writing slumped badly in the penultimate two episodes, with a lot of dutiful pairings and sparkle-free speeches, but it rallied marvelously for the (somewhat rushed) finale.  There's a lot of stuff I still don't understand, such as why any of the Slayerette stuff was necessary if Spike was just going to zap the baddies anyway, how the ubervamps became vulnerable to ordinary folk with swords, what 'Joyce's' message to Dawn was actually about, why the First just apparently slunk off at the end, and why Kennedy doesn't appear to be on the getaway bus but Willow isn't fussed.  Maybe I'll have to watch it again!  That said, the completeness of the tale in the end was impressive: involving Faith so thoroughly, and using the full rogues' gallery of the Master, the Mayor, Adam, Glory etc. as the faces of the First made for a very satisfying last outing.

While I'll never forgive Whedon for needlessly killing Wash Anya, at least I knew it was coming and so savoured my time with her.  Why Emma Caulfield didn't go on to world-dominating stardom is a mystery to me, she's been just luminous in this since her first scene, frequently overshadowing the also-excellent SMG.

The thing that really clicked for me this time through was Buffy and Spike's relationship, which by the end seemed genuinely plausible and complex, and actually gave both characters a very welcome depth.

Onwards with the rest of Angel!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 03 March, 2015, 04:39:57 PM
Quote from: Tordelback on 03 March, 2015, 04:35:50 PM
Onwards with the rest of Angel!

With the unexpected (but not unwanted) return of Spike for season 5!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 03 March, 2015, 04:53:04 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 03 March, 2015, 04:39:57 PM
Quote from: Tordelback on 03 March, 2015, 04:35:50 PM
Onwards with the rest of Angel!

With the unexpected (but not unwanted) return of Spike for season 5!

Don't remind me!  If ever a character's story was fully told by the time he went out on a blaze of glory, it was Spike's.  Still, now I've warmed to Angel in general maybe I won't mind his reappearance so much this time. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 05 March, 2015, 12:06:32 AM
Quote from: Tordelback on 03 March, 2015, 04:35:50 PM
The thing that really clicked for me this time through was Buffy and Spike's relationship, which by the end seemed genuinely plausible and complex, and actually gave both characters a very welcome depth.
If the old insomnia's playing up you can try and track back through this thread for my changing thoughts on that. I didn't like it at all at first, but it gradually makes sense in parts although ultimate does seem partly about setting him up for the ultimate sacrifice. I was also surprised about the relatively small role of Caleb in it.

Despite a relatively weak last series and as much as I love The Wire and whatnot, there's never going to be a better series than Buffy, is there?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 05 March, 2015, 12:14:30 AM
Any fans of Parks and Recreation?

The last season has been perfect, absolutely spot on.

I shall miss Ron Swanson.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 05 March, 2015, 12:47:37 AM
Quote from: The Cosh on 05 March, 2015, 12:06:32 AM
If the old insomnia's playing up you can try and track back through this thread for my changing thoughts on that. I didn't like it at all at first, but it gradually makes sense in parts although ultimate does seem partly about setting him up for the ultimate sacrifice. I was also surprised about the relatively small role of Caleb in it.

Staying awake is tonight's issue - the crew I'm working with have been on nights for 6 months now (originally slated for 3-4 weeks) and they have understandably lost the will to live, and as a result sort of ineffectually fiddle with things in an unfocused effort to get fired, leaving me at a loose end for far too long in the wee hours. So I did go back and read The Cosh's Buffy comments. Most of which I agree with entirely. 

One thing that slightly bugged me was my failure to bond with the Slayerettes at all, Kennedy excepted. I was mainly interested in how soon each of them might die, even and maybe especially the lovely Felicia Day. A rare misstep from a series that handles ensemble so well.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Famous Mortimer on 05 March, 2015, 06:41:00 AM
Quote from: King Pops on 05 March, 2015, 12:14:30 AM
Any fans of Parks and Recreation?

The last season has been perfect, absolutely spot on.

I shall miss Ron Swanson.
I abandoned it somewhere during the previous season - my feeling was that the arcs for all the main characters had ended, in some cases long ago, so we were now just watching them all turn into lovely cuddly people, despite that not being why we found them funny in the first place. And the more she was on screen, the less funny Retta was; and Billy Eichner sucked too.

Bear in mind I've not watched this for ages, so I might be way off.

But most importantly, RIP writer/producer/occasional star Harris Wittels. One of the funniest people ever.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 05 March, 2015, 07:53:21 AM
Parks and Rec creeps nearer the top of my to watch list with every growing day and the snippets I see around are genuinely hilarious. Generally I find sitcoms from the other side of the pond all to go-happy and ineffective at making me laugh. In recent years i've found both the US The Office and Brooklyn 99 to be utterly delightful and hope this beckons in a new era of comedy that is less US centric.

I wont touch Big Bang Theory or How I Met Your Mother with a barge pole though.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Famous Mortimer on 05 March, 2015, 09:35:19 AM
As long as you ignore the last season of "How I Met Your Mother", and are prepared for some stretches where you hate one or more of the main characters, you'll probably have a good time with it. "The Big Bang Theory" I hated too, until it was on every day when I got home from work and I learned to love it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 06 March, 2015, 12:53:51 PM
I just never found it my cup of tea.

Though not television persay, 88Films have just launched a line for trashy Italian horror movies to be released on BD. Pretty excited to have nasties like Night Train Murders and Anthropopagus in HD. :lol:
Title: Re: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 06 March, 2015, 02:49:38 PM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 05 March, 2015, 07:53:21 AM
Parks and Rec creeps nearer the top of my to watch list with every growing day and the snippets I see around are genuinely hilarious. Generally I find sitcoms from the other side of the pond all to go-happy and ineffective at making me laugh. In recent years i've found both the US The Office and Brooklyn 99 to be utterly delightful and hope this beckons in a new era of comedy that is less US centric.

I wont touch Big Bang Theory or How I Met Your Mother with a barge pole though.

Check out Community and Arrested Development for ground-breaking US comedy populated by misanthropic characters. Id also tentatively recommend seasons one and two of Modern Family - broad as hell and inoffensive but very well done, something you could watch with the whole family and not want to claw your own eyes out.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 06 March, 2015, 03:27:09 PM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 05 March, 2015, 07:53:21 AM
I wont touch Big Bang Theory or How I Met Your Mother with a barge pole though.

I would avoid HIMYM. It shows promise early on and the supporting cast are OK, but you soon realise that Ted Mosby is a terrible, awful human being who is impossible to root for. Quite possibly the worst character in the history of television. The perfect storm of crap writing and a terrible casting choice for the leading man.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Famous Mortimer on 06 March, 2015, 03:52:21 PM
Quote from: King Pops on 06 March, 2015, 03:27:09 PM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 05 March, 2015, 07:53:21 AM
I wont touch Big Bang Theory or How I Met Your Mother with a barge pole though.

I would avoid HIMYM. It shows promise early on and the supporting cast are OK, but you soon realise that Ted Mosby is a terrible, awful human being who is impossible to root for. Quite possibly the worst character in the history of television. The perfect storm of crap writing and a terrible casting choice for the leading man.
I'll give you worst leading man - there's whatsername on "True Blood" for genuine worst TV character of all time.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 06 March, 2015, 06:35:41 PM
I really can't stand to watch The Big Bang Theory for more than 30 seconds - I find it gratingly, desperately unfunny and think it's take on 'geek culture' (if there is such a thing) is very trite and inauthentic. Not offensive or anything, just weirdly antiquated - like nerd culture viewed through the eyes of an out of touch TV executive who thinks 'nerd' = 'brainy scientist'.

Horses for courses though - I like the early seasons of Friends and I can totally understand why someone might find that show every bit as contrived and banal as I find BBT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKS3MGriZcs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKS3MGriZcs)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 06 March, 2015, 06:42:22 PM
Instead of just saying "every single character on Suits is the worst character on tv", I'll raise you Sela Ward's eternally shot in soft-focus character on the latter seasons of CSI New York.  She was introduced smiling while standing over a violently murdered child and things go downhill from there - at one point she solves a mystery by refusing to believe that one human being would help another.
Tim Allen's character from Last Man Standing is pretty repugnant, too, thanks to his constantly attacking straw man liberal arguments and announcing that his middle eastern neighbors shouldn't have security cameras to protect themselves from attacks because it's them who do the attacking.  Initially, his character wasn't quite so bad, but at some point he started being portrayed as always being right in his prejudices, with the first major warning sign for me coming when one of his daughters complained about being "beaten up by liberal kids at school" because her mum was employed by an oil company and oil companies do fracking, which was 100 percent safe, naturally.  All that Galaxy Quest goodwill is really starting to run out.
Title: Re: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 06 March, 2015, 07:19:55 PM
Quote from: radiator on 06 March, 2015, 02:49:38 PM

Check out Community and Arrested Development for ground-breaking US comedy populated by misanthropic characters. Id also tentatively recommend seasons one and two of Modern Family - broad as hell and inoffensive but very well done, something you could watch with the whole family and not want to claw your own eyes out.

I second all of these.  Arrested Development possibly the one I liked least (especially the born again episodes) but they all have really good stuff in them. And Season 4(?) of Community has entirely laugh free episodes (the Germans). Only ever saw those first two of Modern Family and much as I loved the characters, the warnings about later seasons have put me off.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 06 March, 2015, 08:16:20 PM
Season 4 of Community is unwatchable. Even as a completist I refuse to tarnish my DVD shelf with it.

The problem for me with ModFam is that the first two seasons felt like they had a ring of truth about them - the plots of each episode are largely based on stories the writers would share about their own families and it shows. But after season 2 they seemed to run out of stories so reverted back to very contrived sit-commy premises and cheap stunts. Previously-lovable characters also devolve into irritating caricatures alarmingly quickly, especially Claire, Cameron and Gloria. Perhaps it's a bit harsh, but imo most of the kid actors seem to get simultaneously weaker at acting and less charming as they age too. Post season 2 it has it's moments, (mostly involving Ty Burrell) but I can largely take it or leave it and would rather just rewatch the older episodes.

Give it a go though, you might enjoy it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 06 March, 2015, 08:17:51 PM
Ty is excellent. Took me ages to recognise him as Asshole Steve from Dawn of the (sprinting) Dead.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 06 March, 2015, 08:20:39 PM
He's a fantastic comic actor. Also similarly distracting playing serious in the 2008 Incredible Hulk movie.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 06 March, 2015, 08:57:53 PM
Quote from: Tordelback on 03 March, 2015, 04:53:04 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 03 March, 2015, 04:39:57 PM
Quote from: Tordelback on 03 March, 2015, 04:35:50 PM
Onwards with the rest of Angel!

With the unexpected (but not unwanted) return of Spike for season 5!

Don't remind me!  If ever a character's story was fully told by the time he went out on a blaze of glory, it was Spike's.  Still, now I've warmed to Angel in general maybe I won't mind his reappearance so much this time.

astronauts  or cavemen?  Smile Time!

spike earned his resurrection
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 06 March, 2015, 10:25:45 PM
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 06 March, 2015, 08:57:53 PM
astronauts  or cavemen?  Smile Time!

spike earned his resurrection

Never seen any of that. Looking forward to it, although now Better Call Saul has me in its claws.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 12 March, 2015, 04:40:11 PM
Finally got round to starting on Parks & Recreation on Netflix, which is exactly as good as I knew it would be. Really lovely show - sweet without being saccharine, and very funny too. I'd heard from several people that season 1 wasn't very good and to skip ahead, but s1 was enjoyable enough. The only character I don't like is Mark, though I gather that he leaves quite early on and didn't even return for the finale, so I think it's safe to say I'm not alone on that.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 12 March, 2015, 09:23:25 PM
Bates' Motel Series 2

I'm not sure I'd say this is an addiction, but it's rather enjoyable. The actors playing the main roles are all rather good in their depiction of these extremely flawed yet empathetic characters.

I was thinking of dropping Netflix. It's a good deal but I just wasn't watching it much! Then this came along. I liked the last one and this seems as good, so far.

I wish they'd get a move on bringing across the latest American Horror Story though. Still Daredevil will be here soon...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 12 March, 2015, 10:10:42 PM
The Borgias.  The only real question, a few episodes into Season 2, is why I am still bothering.  Pitiful smell-the-fart acting, comedy casting (Ser Jorah Mormont as Savonarola?), and a rigorous formula of 1 Graphic Torture/Execution per episode + 2 Scenes (minimum) of boobs and bum per episode +1 floppy willy every 2 episodes + 1 fanny per 4 episodes (yes, I counted - had to pass the time somehow). 

The combo of European actors who struggle (but not very hard) with English lines and American actors who speak only in protracted monotones only adds to the (intentional) torture, and the staggeringly bad visual continuity between shots takes away what considerable pleasure can be derived from the costumes, sets, locations and digital backdrops.  And I would be very happy if the exposition could be elevated from people continually describing everything as if their listener was from, say, another century:  "How goes the war with our enemies the French?", or "It is a letter from His Holiness Alexander VI, the current Pope", and so forth (I exaggerate, but not much).

The best bit is the most innovative 'Previously on...' sequence, which maps 'current' events onto some religious festival or theme.  So, an Italian voice intones something like: "Easter 1492: Christ is Risen [clip of Rodrigo Borgia being elected Pope]".  It's actually what keeps me zipping on to the next episode, just to see what they've come up with this week.

But yet, I keep watching.  And for all of the above reasons. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 12 March, 2015, 10:19:03 PM
And of course I stuff it up by getting the name wrong: it's Borgia I'm watching, not Jeremy Irons vehicle The Borgias.  And before anyone accuses me of being snitty about the historical accuracy or lack thereof, I don't care about that stuff at all, which in this case is a very good thing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 12 March, 2015, 11:25:43 PM
If you don't care about that sort of thing, give DaVinci's Demons a go.  Sometimes it's hard to tell if it's serious or taking the piss and there's a bit in America that seems to go on forever, but generally it's good fun and very well made.  I'm not sure if my favorite bit is the Pope's evil double snapping children's necks while laughing in her dad and sister's face, beating his henchmen while naked, or that time DaVinci's gang fight Islamophobic Dracula.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 13 March, 2015, 12:18:29 AM
That does sound fun, I've been meaning to track it down, if only to pay respect to our own Michaelvk. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 13 March, 2015, 12:21:06 PM
A couple of episodes behind in the current series of Deadwood with Pirates (aka Black Sails) but thoroughly enjoying it. Season 1 was waaay to leisurely in its pacing and really only gets anywhere near interesting around Ep4/5 but starts to promise greatness in the back half of the series.

Season 2, however, has kept a much tighter focus on Toby Stephens' compelling and utterly ruthless Flint, nominally the 'hero' only because everyone else is an even bigger shit than he is, much to the series' benefit and I'm enjoying it enormously.

Cheers

Jim
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 13 March, 2015, 01:20:02 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 13 March, 2015, 12:21:06 PM
A couple of episodes behind in the current series of Deadwood with Pirates (aka Black Sails) but thoroughly enjoying it.


Living, it would seem, in a box these days and have never heard of this. I should have heard of this as I loves me me pirates. Thanks for the heads up another in the all too long list of things I must get around to.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richmond Clements on 13 March, 2015, 01:32:08 PM
Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 13 March, 2015, 01:20:02 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 13 March, 2015, 12:21:06 PM
A couple of episodes behind in the current series of Deadwood with Pirates (aka Black Sails) but thoroughly enjoying it.


Living, it would seem, in a box these days and have never heard of this. I should have heard of this as I loves me me pirates. Thanks for the heads up another in the all too long list of things I must get around to.

I was just about to say the same thing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 13 March, 2015, 01:52:03 PM
Is it a LOVEFILM only type deal?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 13 March, 2015, 02:03:10 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 13 March, 2015, 01:52:03 PM
Is it a LOVEFILM only type deal?

Free to stream on Amazon Prime...

Cheers

Jim
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 13 March, 2015, 02:18:47 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 13 March, 2015, 02:03:10 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 13 March, 2015, 01:52:03 PM
Is it a LOVEFILM only type deal?

Free to stream on Amazon Prime...

Cheers

Jim
Yoinks!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Famous Mortimer on 13 March, 2015, 04:43:58 PM
I tried the first three episodes of "Black Sails" and despite having read several books about the era beforehand ("Villains of All Nations" is amazing), it bored me to tears. It tried too hard, I think. But I might dip back in.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 14 March, 2015, 11:06:14 PM
At long last Now TV has updated with Game of Thrones seasons 2 through 4. If I should vanish over the next few weeks, theirs tour explanation. I've died of joy.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 16 March, 2015, 06:38:29 PM
Just finished the first two series of 'Hannibal' - not sure if I'm interested in watching the third. There were some nice touches (like the 'demonic' manifestation of Hannibal); Mads Mikkelsen is properly good and Gillian Anderson just gets sexier every day but it got sillier and sillier as the story progressed. Hannibal puts so much time into his 'work' it beggars belief. The guy fastened to the tree in the car park - I mean, come on; Hannibal wouldd have needed a week, a truck and a JCB to set that up for a start. Still, enjoyable enough in a 'this is impossible but diverting' kind of way.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 17 March, 2015, 04:36:27 PM
We've been watching The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - the new Netflix-produced comedy series created by Tina Fey.

It's a light and breezy sitcom about a woman who has spent half her life underground in an Apocalypse cult bunker trying to make her way in New York City following her liberation, and if that sounds like a lot to take in, it's all covered - and all the main characters are introduced - in the first five minutes of episode one(!).

While it's unlikely to trouble my list of all time favourite sitcoms it's really good stuff - the writing is clever, the pace is ludicrously fast, the tone endearingly bonkers and the lead, Ellie Kemper, is absolutely adorable. The theme tune, which riffs on Autotune the News - is an insanely catchy instant classic.

Strong recommend.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 17 March, 2015, 06:24:36 PM
Yeah, I've watched the first few episodes of Kimmy Schmidt too. I didn't think I'd like it but turns out I do - Carol Kane (from Scrooged) in particular is good fun. I find myself losing interest as it meanders through overfamiliar  'making it in NYC' territory, but then we get some more of the bunker flashbacks and I'm on board again. It 'goodhearted oddball' pitch reminds me a lot of Elf, which is no bad thing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 17 March, 2015, 06:26:59 PM
QuoteCarol Kane (from Scrooged)

Ah! Thought it was her, but assumed it wasn't as she barely looks any different to how she did in a film from 30-odd years ago...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 17 March, 2015, 09:02:23 PM
I've only seen the first episode so far but yeah I'm inclined to agree with both of you on this - pleasant but not outstanding, a premise and a cast strong enough to demand attention.

I also recommend the slightly more goofball Last Man on Earth from the minds behind Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, The Lego Movie etc which falls into the 'quirky but heartwarming' category.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 17 March, 2015, 09:04:43 PM
Yes, LMoE is definitely on my radar, will definitely be checking it out.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 19 March, 2015, 11:09:59 PM
Tiny Tips decided to start watching Alias. We got stuck about half way through Season 2 so it has been good fun catching up. It packs more into one episode than you get in most movies.

Tiny Tips thought that a good mark of the writing and characterisation was that he would quite happikly watch a spin off show of at least three of the supporting cast; an eighties set Young Jack Bristow super spy show; a Marshall Makes It gadget fest and a Will Tipping investigates.

Me, I was just wondering if there was a single more attractive woman on the planet (MMrs Tips aside) than Jennifer Garner and then Lena Olin turns up. Obligatory comic fan sexism aside, both are brilliant.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 24 March, 2015, 08:13:16 AM
The Bridge Season 1, on Netflix. So silly, so stylish, so much fun. The contrast between Kim Bodnia's completely believable Martin Rohde and Sofia Helin's completely unbelievable Commander Data Saga Noren is just a joy to watch. In fact the casting is the real star here - almost everyone on the screen is distinctive, memorable, and interesting, from junkies to receptionists. I also get the amusing feeling that there are huge jokes about respective pronunciation flying over my head, but I enjoy the characters' reactions to same, and all it does is enhance the feeling of observing a specific complex unfamiliar world, or maybe two.

It's all a bit broad, they do like to bash you over the head with the bleedin' obvious until you scream mercy, and I'm a bit disappointed that it isn't a finite story (a third series is in production), but it most definitely fills the aching gap between episodes of Better Call Saul.

Incidentally the gorgeous Sofia Helin was 39 when she made this. I must not be living right, she'd pass for my daughter, although very fortunately she isn't.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 24 March, 2015, 08:46:01 AM
My wife really got into her Scandicrime and adored The Bridge. I think in her pantheon its ranks even higher than The Killing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Fungus on 24 March, 2015, 08:56:00 AM
The Bridge is certainly my favourite Scandi show, followed by Borgen, then The Killling (which I dropped then forced myself to complete on iPlayer, so plodding and stretchy did the plot become. Gave up on series 2 early on). There's a lot of fun in The Bridge and very glad more is on the way.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 24 March, 2015, 12:49:24 PM
Ah, but season 2 of The Killing is the best of the three! Nicholas Bro really adds a lot to it - proving that (apologies in advance) YOU CAN DO IT IF YOU THOMAS BUCH IT!

Totally agree that the first arc was over-long. It got to a point where every time the finger of suspicion pointed directly at somebody, you knew it couldn't possibly be that simple, just because they overused the red herrings and rug pulls.

That said, and while season 3 actually regresses to that a little, I did find the whole shebang very entertaining. It's well acted and really atmospheric throughout. I can see myself digging it out again soon for a re-watch.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dark Jimbo on 24 March, 2015, 01:00:32 PM
Hmm... maybe I'l return to The Killing and give it the benefit of the doubt, then. I only watched the first series and ended up pretty peed off with it for all the reasons given. There were some really good bits but the constant one-step-forward-two-steps-back nature of the series had undermined an awful lot of my goodwill by the (eventual) end.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hoagy on 24 March, 2015, 07:46:14 PM
So glad you are all talking The Killing! I am investing important time into the American version. The first " Killing takes two seasons to uncover the murderer and as with above posters it is trudging and lumbersome but it the end I found it holds in the memory well. I could tap dance around it and it was still ploughing on through a certain thread when I returned to give it my full attention. I did enjoy all the torturous events in it's plots and the endurance of the characters. And when my attention was better spent elsewhere I let them drift off as I did doing our own thing to return again in the moments of jump on crisis points. (Saul Goodman. Sorry.) It's all good man(, I mean).

Now on the final episode of the 3rd series and this season could be the Aliens to Alien it goes that mental, with all sorts of plots bursts and arcs both comfortable revisitations to tried and tested street urchin villainy, with only the police top brass being the impediment in the mix this time; rather than the Wire-like wider spread infractions embellishing the story from the first story arc.

Stiff and clogged in some places, it still has me hooked.

Better Call Saul? Now that's some damn fine tv.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 24 March, 2015, 11:38:04 PM
Never seen the US version fo the show. I gather it departs pretty dramatically from the Scandinavian one.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hoagy on 25 March, 2015, 12:30:01 AM
From what I slept through of the Scandinavian one and woke up to, it does.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: SmallBlueThing on 28 March, 2015, 07:53:30 AM
Last night we decided to give the first episode of 'The Last Ship' a go. Has anyone else seen this?  And can anyone reassure me that it's not as straight -up obvious as it seems and that there are some twists to stop it becoming the most predictable formulaic show US TV has put out since the eighties?

It's beautiful to look at,  apparently very expensive, and the first ep rattled along at a good old pace...  but my grud,  it was by the book! 

Mysterious us navy mission to the arctic is cover for some scientists trying to find a cure for a virus that is spreading across the world.  By the time they are allowed to break radio silence,  80% of the world's population is dead and the ship must find fuel and supplies while developing a cure and outwitting the Russians. Manly man captain,  manly man second in command, lesbian bridge officer,  spunky Brit scientist and her untrustworthy Brit assistant (who is most likely a double agent)- sheeeesh.

Fun though.

SBT
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: DaveGYNWA on 28 March, 2015, 08:53:07 AM
Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 28 March, 2015, 07:53:30 AM
Last night we decided to give the first episode of 'The Last Ship' a go. Has anyone else seen this?  And can anyone reassure me that it's not as straight -up obvious as it seems and that there are some twists to stop it becoming the most predictable formulaic show US TV has put out since the eighties?

It's beautiful to look at,  apparently very expensive, and the first ep rattled along at a good old pace...  but my grud,  it was by the book! 

Mysterious us navy mission to the arctic is cover for some scientists trying to find a cure for a virus that is spreading across the world.  By the time they are allowed to break radio silence,  80% of the world's population is dead and the ship must find fuel and supplies while developing a cure and outwitting the Russians. Manly man captain,  manly man second in command, lesbian bridge officer,  spunky Brit scientist and her untrustworthy Brit assistant (who is most likely a double agent)- sheeeesh.

Fun though.

SBT

Without giving much away, you've guessed a few things right. I'll be honest and say I gave up on it after the second episode because my cheese intolerance kicked in - but then once the series was finished its run I decided to binge watch from the start again and it actually does kick in a few episodes later. It's still got the cheese, but there is some action later on that allows you to overcome that.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 28 March, 2015, 09:32:50 AM
Quote from: DaveGYNWA on 28 March, 2015, 08:53:07 AM
Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 28 March, 2015, 07:53:30 AM
Last night we decided to give the first episode of 'The Last Ship' a go. Has anyone else seen this?  And can anyone reassure me that it's not as straight -up obvious as it seems and that there are some twists to stop it becoming the most predictable formulaic show US TV has put out since the eighties?

It's beautiful to look at,  apparently very expensive, and the first ep rattled along at a good old pace...  but my grud,  it was by the book! 

Mysterious us navy mission to the arctic is cover for some scientists trying to find a cure for a virus that is spreading across the world.  By the time they are allowed to break radio silence,  80% of the world's population is dead and the ship must find fuel and supplies while developing a cure and outwitting the Russians. Manly man captain,  manly man second in command, lesbian bridge officer,  spunky Brit scientist and her untrustworthy Brit assistant (who is most likely a double agent)- sheeeesh.

Fun though.

SBT

Without giving much away, you've guessed a few things right. I'll be honest and say I gave up on it after the second episode because my cheese intolerance kicked in - but then once the series was finished its run I decided to binge watch from the start again and it actually does kick in a few episodes later. It's still got the cheese, but there is some action later on that allows you to overcome that.

I'd second that.   I managed the full season which is more than I could say for some of the stuff that has been about lately.  Not worth paying for, but reasonable brain candy.  Surprisingly enough it looks like it might get a second season.  I'm tempted to give the book a look.  Looks like it's in the same vein as The Gold Crew or Trinity's Child.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: SmallBlueThing on 28 March, 2015, 11:15:54 AM
Thanks guys,  I think we'll continue with it then.  Though I reckon it may well become the very definition of "guilty pleasure"!

SBT
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 02 April, 2015, 04:32:42 PM
Have I mentioned the fact that we started watching 3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN (on Netflix I think).

It's really funny (so far - only half way through Season 1). John Lithgow is just absolutely powering the show and grabbing laughs where none should exist. Inspired casting.

(We started showing it to Tiny Teen Tips just to show him what a baby Joseph Gordon Levitt looked like)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Daveycandlish on 02 April, 2015, 05:04:27 PM
Astonishingly, 3rd Rock never stops being funny all th e way through the six seasons. Most comedies fall off after a couple of years but it kept going strong before finishing with a definite end. Great stuff. You can catch it on Channel 4 at breakfast time too.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 02 April, 2015, 07:44:31 PM
3rd Rock is sheer brilliance. Lithgow is a very talented actor and deserves much more respect than he gets.

A few years ago there was a rumour that an adaptation of Isaac Asimov's The Caves of Steel was to be filmed. I truly thought that Lithgow and Levitt should be cast as R. Daneel Olivaw and Elijah Baley respectively (or the reverse for that matter) since they worked so well together.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 10 April, 2015, 08:36:13 AM
Seeing as the manga has been on hiatus for a year and will probably be so for a while yet, I started watching the )apparently very faithful) 2011 adaptation of HunterXHunter. A half dozen episodes in and it's showing great promise.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 11 April, 2015, 09:26:02 PM
Not been watching Game of Thrones anywhere near fast enough as I would like. A heavy work load, dive related work, and education can be attributed to that meaning I VALUE MY SLEEP!

That being said, the cliffhanger to S.2 Ep.7 might just be one of the darkest, most mean spirited things i've ever seen. I was genuinely sickened physically at the site of....well, I shant spoil it. But damn, I hope Theon suffers horribly for what he has done. Oh so much rage for just one character you wouldn't believe.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 12 April, 2015, 08:48:46 AM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 11 April, 2015, 09:26:02 PM
But damn, I hope Theon suffers horribly for what he has done.

Guys... shall I tell him, or will you?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: IAMTHESYSTEM on 12 April, 2015, 11:17:52 AM
He won't be pointing [spoiler]percy at the porcelain [/spoiler]any more. Can't get sky Atlantic so will have to wait till the DVD of series 5 appears.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 13 April, 2015, 11:36:49 PM
Oy OYOYOY! Nay spoiler, ta!

Anyway, S.2 episode 8 took a little a little of the bite out of Theons actions but then I realized, 'those where still two kids he burnt alive'. So yeah, I hope Boltons bastard son give's him a proper good hiding.

Also, fuck Geoffrey. He just an inbred arse hole, CERCI'S the really megalomaniac we need to be worrying about.
Title: Re: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 15 April, 2015, 07:32:51 PM
Said it in the other thread, but Theon - despite being a colossal screw-up, is one of my favourite characters in the whole series. He is Game of Throne's analogue for Gollum, and just as complex and interesting. Perfectly cast and played in the show wonderfully by Alfie Allen, who gives him a touch more dimension than he has on the page (usually the reverse is true and character nuances are lost due to the nature of adapting the book to TV).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 15 April, 2015, 10:26:30 PM
Well S.2 EP.9 "Blackwater" might just be one of the best bit's of TV i've seen in the longest time. Bloody fantastic stuff!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 15 April, 2015, 11:24:22 PM
Oh man, you have no idea what's in store in seasons 3 and 4...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richmond Clements on 16 April, 2015, 08:52:56 AM
Quote from: radiator on 15 April, 2015, 11:24:22 PM
Oh man, you have no idea what's in store in seasons 3 and 4...

Heh... I was thinking the same thing...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 16 April, 2015, 01:59:23 PM
Must get back into GoT - I loved season 1, but drifted off a few episodes into season 2 as there didn't seem to be much happening and I lost track of the huge cast. Reckon I'll restart season 2 and plough through as I understand it picks up after a slowish start.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Daveycandlish on 18 April, 2015, 07:16:30 PM
Holy boxset!

Decided to treat myself to the collected series of 1960s Batman starring Adam West and Burt Ward

As cheesy and as brilliant as I remember it  :D
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Batman's Superior Cousin on 19 April, 2015, 03:06:10 PM
My current TV Programmes that I watch

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Better Call Saul
Daredevil
Doctor Who
Falling Skies (Season 5)
Game of Thrones
House of Cards
Star Wars Rebels
The Jinx: The Life & Deaths of Robert Durst
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JudgeOiNK! on 21 April, 2015, 10:46:48 PM
This is my current fix.  Just over 70 hours, currently about halfway through the third season (of four) and you know what?  I'm loving every minute of it!

(http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k389/TheOinkBlog/KR2000AD_zps2emswvsu.jpg)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ThryllSeekyr on 22 April, 2015, 07:25:47 AM
Quote from: JudgeOiNK! on 21 April, 2015, 10:46:48 PM
This is my current fix.  Just over 70 hours, currently about halfway through the third season (of four) and you know what?  I'm loving every minute of it!

(http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k389/TheOinkBlog/KR2000AD_zps2emswvsu.jpg)

Beautiful....should be in the shape of a Tranzam (Is that the correct spelling for that old 80's Sports car?)

Right now, I have been watching this show I that's been around since late 2011. A teen soap called.....

Slide (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slide_(TV_series))

Interesting.... because it has a good looking cast line up (just check out three of the female leads....


(https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRcfsK6u4OXApOOpp59VmmWS_uO0Q8cMhhcPUz6hTE2jnXyQkuW)

One of them looks like Xena, the other Rodsie Cotton the one with pink hair Judge Hershey.

And it's set in Brisbane, (A place I go to very often, being closest city to Ipswich!) and some times the Valley (Fortitude Valley!) and the very first episode (Not the actual first episode of the series, by my own guess!) I saw nearly two hours earlier was set at Gold Coast (By the looks!)

Bloody rich folk.....

It also has Ben Oxenbould who was  the character lead in  Fatty-Finn (https://www.google.com.au/search?q=fatty+finnn&rls=com.microsoft:en-AU:IE-Address&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7NCHC_en-GBAU631&gfe_rd=cr&ei=aDw3VbfFIMLu8weCjoHIAw&gws_rd=ssl)

A well known Aussie comic book icon.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 22 April, 2015, 12:02:08 PM
Quote from: JudgeOiNK! on 21 April, 2015, 10:46:48 PM
This is my current fix.  Just over 70 hours, currently about halfway through the third season (of four) and you know what?  I'm loving every minute of it!

(http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k389/TheOinkBlog/KR2000AD_zps2emswvsu.jpg)

The recent reboot series is a must-watch once you're done.*  I often couldn't believe some of the criticisms aimed at it, like people were expecting the new BSG from a show about a talking car driven by a fashion model who investigated surfing crimes, and who on one occasion fights an evil double of the talking car that is so evil it's a darker shade of black than the good car, and is also a transformer with gatling guns for hands and the voice of Optimus Prime [spoiler]and they STILL beat it by using Turbo Boost.
[/spoiler]
As long as you know what you're getting into, it's a hoot.



* Ignore Knight Rider 2000 and Team Knight Rider, they're bloody awful even by Knight Rider standards.  TKR especially manages to be awful even without having David Hasselhoff in it, that's how bad it is.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JudgeOiNK! on 22 April, 2015, 02:25:38 PM
The pilot movie for the sequel series in 2008 I really enjoyed, it set it all up really well and had loads of hidden references (Mike puts on a leather jacket on top of his red shirt just as he meets KITT for the first time, which is what The Hoff wore in his pilot etc), but for the series NBC gave it to Executive Producer Gary Scott Thompson, creator of the first Fast & the Furious, and you could tell.  I really didn't like it.

Loads of pointless extra characters (it's meant to be "one man can make a difference") and KITT was now a Transformer.  There were glimpses of hope towards the end after the awful KARR episode but by then it was too late.  Those final few they had the right dynamic between Michael and KITT but it'd already been cancelled I think.

Such a shame as it was so full of potential in the movie!  And Val Kilmer had great delivery with KITT's new dry sense of humour.

Yeah I completely agree about KR2000 and TKR.  KR2000 was okay in places but felt like fan-fiction rather than a sequel, and TKR had one good episode with Duke and The Beast out on their own which felt like the original series, but other than that it was terrible.

I actually liked Knightrider 2010.  You ever seen it?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 22 April, 2015, 07:36:55 PM
Sadly no, but a Google reveals it is Knight Rider in a post-apocalyptic setting (made in 1994, you say?), so yeah, I'll be having some of that.*

I know what you mean about the show shifting to a different dynamic after the KARR stuff cleared the decks of some of the extraneous characters**, but I liked the larger cast episodes, because they underlined that it was a deliberately silly show.  Try watching one of the earlier episodes, then watching an episode of the spectacularly awful CSI: Cyber - which has a near-identical cast of characters - and you'll see what I mean.





* It also sounds a bit like Highwayman.
** like Sydney Poitier(no, not that one)'s womanising surfing FBI agent who is introduced in quite the sleazy fashion and then promptly disappears behind a desk for ten episodes before being written out.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JudgeOiNK! on 22 April, 2015, 08:50:06 PM
The show runner came out and said audiences are more sophisticated and need a larger cast and won't settle for one man in a car, which is why he changed so much of the already-successful pilot.  Uh, yes they would, and that's what they wanted - one man and his car.  Such a shame as I think Justin Bruening was great as a new Michael Knight.

Before you watch KR 2010 just go in knowing it's NOT Michael and KITT and you should have a blast.  It's a completely new riff on the whole idea.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 22 April, 2015, 10:06:36 PM
To be entirely fair, TV hasn't really done shows carried on the back of a single actor for quite some time.  Apart from maybe Scott Caan in Hawaii Five-0.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JudgeOiNK! on 22 April, 2015, 10:26:55 PM
Now I do love H50 but I feel there's a good ensemble there.  Especially love the 'car'guments as they're called by the writers between Steve and Danno!  Did prefer it when it was the four main characters before all these additional ones they've added though, as much as I do love Grover in it.

The thing with KR was always that KITT felt like an actual character and so he was never on his own, story-wise if not actor-wise, but yeah the only other show I can think of in recent times that's gone season-to-season with basically the one main character (and support) would probably be 24.  But hey that worked!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 22 April, 2015, 11:08:55 PM
But McGarritt's girlfriend was such a great addition to the H50 cast!

Fair point about 24, but I think it only accidentally became all about Bauer when they'd eventually genocided the entire backing cast.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 23 April, 2015, 12:52:33 PM
Just finish the final episode of The 100 Season 2 on E4 last Tuesday, that was great season as glad I still watch it from Season 1; [spoiler]so many deaths! [/spoiler] With tribes of Sky People, Grounders and Mount People! Brilliant!

Can't wait for Season 3 next year! You could watch Season 1 on Netflix.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mabs on 02 May, 2015, 11:38:10 AM
Gomorrah Season 1: Absolutely bloody fantastic! The story is set in Naples, and concerns the notorious Comorro or mafia. We have a young foot soldier, Ciro has a dreams of becoming a boss, all the while playing a dangerous game. Genny the son of the mafia boss who seems afraid to follow in his fathers footsteps (his transformation is amazing). But the real tragedy is seeing how their criminal activities affects the whole community, from the poor to the very rich. There are moments of genuine shock, and twists. For example, the last episode with its closing scenes had me scraping my jaws off the ground. It's one of the best series finalé ever. If you're a fan of such shows as Breaking Bad, Sopranos et al, do not miss this series.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 02 May, 2015, 02:32:37 PM
Because I got nagged by my old man, I picked up the first season of Agents of Shield in Tescos for him.

Sat and watched the first half dozen of these and... nope. Not feeling it.

It seems to be at its best when the show is moving its ongoing story elements forward. But there's an alarming propensity for filler and by-the-numbers TV plotting going on here. The acting is pretty dreadful right across the board, Clark Gregg aside, and I'm left struggling to work out who the show is actually for.

I mean, on the one hand, the show has some really grating, juvenile presentation. The music is over-the-top, and the fight scenes are pretty hammy. On the other, we have a few mild sex references and - oh yeah, an episode with my personal number one turn off - eyeball related violence. That appears to actually be developing into a plot point, with [spoiler]Hydra agents having eye implants[/spoiler] so it' an instant drop for me. I just can't watch a show that makes me want to literally physically throw up due to its content.

Really disappointing.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: auxlen on 02 May, 2015, 05:24:03 PM
Not so much an addiction but an 80s nostalgia trip. bought a load of 80s dvds.

Fall Guy: hasn't. aged well, but some laughs. my Mrs loved Lee majors and his truck but even she agreed it's not that good.

A team. Seasons 1-4 absolute heaven.

magnum PI: surprisingly good.

Chips: some good banter but again not so good.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 03 May, 2015, 10:48:40 PM
Just finished watching the Daredevil series and quite surprised not to see more chat about it anywhere.

Overall, I thought it was a pretty good stab at rehabilitating the character after a duff movie outing, but it's a real game of two halves. The first half dozen or so rattle along at a terrific pace and are a lot of fun but then we get five episodes of Matt sitting around picking his scabs while nobody talks to each other and hints are dropped of future plot strands. Which gets a bit wearing.

Some decent fight scenes for telly and I assume plenty references for the nerds: I'm no expert on Daredevil but I did smile when one of the first hoods he batters turned out to be Turk.

The biggest problem, for me, was Kingpin (not that anyone ever calls him that.) It's obviously a deliberate decision to play the villain in a different and distinctive manner so, on those terms, it's probably the best performance in the series. Unfortunately, I found it totally aggravating. I'm not sure I ever understood what his nefarious plan was either.

"This city needs me." "I am here to save my city."  Et cetera. Give it a rest lads and bring back Bullseye.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Famous Mortimer on 04 May, 2015, 05:24:54 PM
Quote from: HdE on 02 May, 2015, 02:32:37 PM
Because I got nagged by my old man, I picked up the first season of Agents of Shield in Tescos for him.

Sat and watched the first half dozen of these and... nope. Not feeling it.
I ditched it halfway through season 1 and haven't regretted it. There was the much-vaunted Thor tie-in episode, which had them...cleaning up after the events of the movie. Such a cheat.

Anyway, I've been watching

Highlander: The Series
I'm quite surprised at how much I'm enjoying this. It's not quite as formulaic as I remember from the first time round, Adrian Paul is a great leading man and it's vastly superior to (similar-ish vintage) Hercules and Xena, which were miserable slogs to get through, most of the time.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richmond Clements on 04 May, 2015, 06:35:30 PM
QuoteGive it a rest lads and bring back Bullseye.

Buttonman will be along with that photo shortly...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Enigmatic Dr X on 04 May, 2015, 06:50:47 PM
Is Extant any good?

Downloaded the lot on Sky.

Also: 12 Monkeys is much, much, better than it has any right to be, and is the first TV programme since old school Who to even attempt to handle time travel properly. Which is does, and well.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 04 May, 2015, 07:03:53 PM
Quote from: Richmond Clements on 04 May, 2015, 06:35:30 PM
QuoteGive it a rest lads and bring back Bullseye.
Buttonman will be along with that photo shortly...
ActuaLOL.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 04 May, 2015, 11:19:12 PM
Quote from: The Cosh on 03 May, 2015, 10:48:40 PM
Just finished watching the Daredevil series and quite surprised not to see more chat about it anywhere.

Overall, I thought it was a pretty good stab at rehabilitating the character after a duff movie outing, but it's a real game of two halves. The first half dozen or so rattle along at a terrific pace and are a lot of fun but then we get five episodes of Matt sitting around picking his scabs while nobody talks to each other and hints are dropped of future plot strands. Which gets a bit wearing.

Some decent fight scenes for telly and I assume plenty references for the nerds: I'm no expert on Daredevil but I did smile when one of the first hoods he batters turned out to be Turk.

The biggest problem, for me, was Kingpin (not that anyone ever calls him that.) It's obviously a deliberate decision to play the villain in a different and distinctive manner so, on those terms, it's probably the best performance in the series. Unfortunately, I found it totally aggravating. I'm not sure I ever understood what his nefarious plan was either.

"This city needs me." "I am here to save my city."  Et cetera. Give it a rest lads and bring back Bullseye.

Agree with this. While it was at first refreshing to see a hero who isn't back on his feet two minutes after been beaten to within an inch of his life, it actually meant fuck all happened for about four episodes.

I thought his final costume was too fussy and the climactic fight with Kingpin was anti.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 05 May, 2015, 03:55:00 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 04 May, 2015, 11:19:12 PM

I thought his final costume was too fussy...


Yeah, too many straps and rivets and bolts. Looked like something from a DC show. Nowhere near as cool as his Ninja Cowl and Matt Black Trakkies.

I think the series suffered from being released all at once. It was designed to be binged on. If you chose to ration it out, it suffered from a drop in pace, just before the last act, which was just a wee bit too neat. Interesting take on Kingpin.

I think the first half of the series stands out because it is quite possibly the best live action origin story ever. Through a series of flashbacks which culminate to [spoiler]Stick's[/spoiler] appearance, I got to understand who Matt was and what he could do.

This show just had the same problem all Movie Origin Stories have: What do you do once you've established the hero? This show didn't have the budget to show a massive gas/lazer attack from the top of a skyscraper.

I think Foggy might be my favourite character in the MCU.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 05 May, 2015, 04:11:53 AM
Quote from: King Pops on 05 May, 2015, 03:55:00 AM

I think the series suffered from being released all at once...


Too slow for the edit:

If they had released this show 1 week at a time, the entire internet would be ablaze after the end of the  second episode.

The problem I found, was that it was difficult to talk about with work colleagues. some had binged it all, some had binged a large portion, but most had just watched snywhere between 2 and 6 episodes.

The "watercooler moments" were lost.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 05 May, 2015, 02:11:13 PM
Possibly because I watched this in pieces rather than at once with the last 2 episodes as one sitting but I enjoyed it and felt it was a fine ending, not reaching the heights of the series but with enough threads hanging and enough closed off to do justice. I like the costume too, more than the generic 'man in the mask' look. And Fisk fight was good enough for me.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 10 May, 2015, 04:20:57 AM
W1A

This is like a British version of Community, except it's David Tennant in the role of Abed, making a documentary about his quirky friends, but instead of being set in in bizarre, surreal Community College, it's presented in the even weirder environs of the BBC.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 11 May, 2015, 06:30:27 PM
I've just discovered that my cable subscription entitles me to free use of that Simpsons World App/service - basically I can stream every single episode of The Simpsons, any time I want. Amazing.

So it looks like I'm about to embark on an epic binge-watch of the show's glory days (seasons 2-10). Despite having seen these episodes so many times, it occurs to me that I've probably never seen them either in decent quality, or uncut - ISTR, though I wasn't aware at the time, that the eps that used to run on terrestrial TV and Sky had a lot of the edgier material cut out of them for pre-watershed broadcast.

I'd also be interested to check out some of the more popular recent episodes. It seems like the hardcore fans say "Actually, it's got really good again" every time a new season airs. I don't believe them of course, but maybe it's time to put that to the test.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 11 May, 2015, 06:41:26 PM
I still watch the Simpsons, and if I'm being honest, while not actually dreadful, it's at best middling and inoffensive comedy with the odd good-to-great joke.  I think what would have helped it immensely at some point in the last 10 years was if it shifted focus from Homer's being an epic dumbass every week onto other characters like Marge or Lisa, much as the show did in its early years when it shifted focus away from weekly episodes about Bart being an asshole.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 11 May, 2015, 06:59:28 PM
I find it hard to believe The Simpsons ever got objectively bad - I'm sure the newer episodes have very funny bits and they seem to have a lot of fans that still love the show - but for me personally, I love those old episodes so much that I just find it very hard to watch the modern ones. I think certain fans have such an attachment to these characters as they were in their prime that here just seems to be something intrinsically wrong about, for instance, retconning the timeline so that Homer and Marge met in the 90s.

I also flinch a little when I see those desperate attempts the show occasionally makes to be relevant and down with the kids, like Lisa Simpson singing a Kesha song, a Family Guy crossover, the Simpsons doing the Harlem Shake, or a whole episode built around an extended Lady Gaga cameo. Feels like the kind of shameless populist bandwagon-jumping that the original show used to viciously rip the piss out of.

Those early seasons though - just wow. Some of the greatest comedy writing/performance ever. There's gags that still make me howl with laughter twenty years later, having heard them dozens of times.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 13 May, 2015, 05:37:37 PM
I have been watching a lot of Bleach lately.  Hadn't seen it before and I was enjoying it.  Unfortunately I am currently two thirds of the way through one of the animes filler arcs and those things are too often tiresome.  This one isn't as bad as the Naruto filler arcs, but it does drag.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 13 May, 2015, 06:41:19 PM
Naruto made me stop watching anime entirely.  I just couldn't face it anymore - luckily, Avatar: Legend of Korra.
You really should.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 13 May, 2015, 07:02:31 PM
Korra isn't anime. It's American property, produced by a Korean animation studio.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JamesC on 13 May, 2015, 07:09:42 PM
I've been watching loads and loads of Person of Interest lately.
I really like it because it strikes a good balance between 80s action shows like The A Team and MacGyver with their 'baddie of the week' structure and simple three act stories and more modern thriller TV shows with drawn out arcs.
It's easy watching, it's not confusing and all the characters are likeable for different reasons. Plus there are loads of cool action bits where baddies get a good pasting from Jim Caveziel
Definitely recommended and excellent as a teatime, undemanding alternative to the One Show and rubbishy soap operas.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 13 May, 2015, 07:43:25 PM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 13 May, 2015, 07:02:31 PM
Korra isn't anime. It's American property, produced by a Korean animation studio.

So it's anime, then.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 13 May, 2015, 07:47:02 PM
Loved Person of Interest, very interesting to watch.

And Jim Caveziel does not kill bad men, just shoot lots of legs!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JOE SOAP on 13 May, 2015, 08:06:03 PM
Quote from: Bearshark on 05 May, 2015, 03:55:00 AM
Yeah, too many straps and rivets and bolts. Looked like something from a DC show. Nowhere near as cool as his Ninja Cowl and Matt Black Trakkies.

I think the series suffered from being released all at once. It was designed to be binged on. If you chose to ration it out, it suffered from a drop in pace, just before the last act, which was just a wee bit too neat. Interesting take on Kingpin.

I think the first half of the series stands out because it is quite possibly the best live action origin story ever. Through a series of flashbacks which culminate to [spoiler]Stick's[/spoiler] appearance, I got to understand who Matt was and what he could do.

This show just had the same problem all Movie Origin Stories have: What do you do once you've established the hero? This show didn't have the budget to show a massive gas/lazer attack from the top of a skyscraper.

The binge is not an issue for me, it's more that it felt 3-4 hours too long, which can be an issue with shows intended for syndication that require at least 13 episodes per season.

I'd assumed that the fledgling profession side of Murdock & Co. would be used more to build different cases and an evidence picture against Kingpin as the season progressed, with the failure of that not working being the reason that pushes Murdock into going all Daredevil on him at the end, but they opted more for rambling secondary character moping instead to fill in the time which made some characters feel a little superfluous. Otherwise it's the best of Marvel TV and the best of Marvel villainy. It also handled the mystical elements really well for a "realistic" series - now all it needs is Spider-Man & Doctor Strange.

The red-suit didn't bother me.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 13 May, 2015, 08:16:51 PM
Quote from: Lesbian Seagull on 13 May, 2015, 06:41:19 PM
Naruto made me stop watching anime entirely.  I just couldn't face it anymore - luckily, Avatar: Legend of Korra.
You really should.

I just stopped watching the series because of the filler crud.  I went and read fan translations of the Manga and was very pleased I did.  I catch up every now and again and I still enjoy the story.

I have seen numerous anime since I gave up on the Naruto anime.  In the last year I have seen Elfen Leid, both Hellsings, the most recent Guyver and started watching a weird one called Fooly Cooly.

Never been enticed by Avatar.  I keep getting hassle to watch things like Cowboy Beebop and Kill la Kill.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 13 May, 2015, 09:11:39 PM
Kill La Kill reminds me of Excel Saga, in that it is enjoyable if you like anime characters screaming their genre awareness at each other for twenty minutes, but largely seems made for anime nerds.  Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Neon Genesis Evangelion - I'll go out on a limb and say you've been hassled to watch one or more of those, but personally, I found lighter-going shovelware like Gundam Seed and Samurai 7 more fun.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 13 May, 2015, 10:00:14 PM
Well GitS SAC is something I bought when the boxsets were first released.  I'm a massive GitS fan, although I have been very hesitant in watching the latest addition.

Neon Genesis Evangelion is one I don't actually get hassled about and have encountered more hate than love for.  I started watching it, but couldn't get into it at the time.  I think it may have been off the back of a Patlabor marathon (after I managed to find all the anime) and I was perhaps tired of more giant robot action.

Samurai Champloo is one I have had recommended, but once I'm done with Bleach my next anime series will probably be Cowboy Bebop.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 13 May, 2015, 10:02:11 PM
Quote from: Lesbian Seagull on 13 May, 2015, 07:43:25 PM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 13 May, 2015, 07:02:31 PM
Korra isn't anime. It's American property, produced by a Korean animation studio.

So it's anime, then.
No.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 14 May, 2015, 12:09:45 AM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 13 May, 2015, 10:02:11 PM
It's American property, produced by a Korean animation studio.

See, you've just described Powerpuff Girls Z (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eznOQk3j3vo), Supernatural (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4tc8Do5wQA), Big O season 2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnaQZgZaOkg), and many more.  Don't get hung up on labels.  If you do I will refer to it as Japanimation and I shan't stop doing so.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 14 May, 2015, 12:45:41 AM
I actually agree with Hawkmonger.  Nevertheless I have come to terms with the alternative point of view and I can even understand where it is coming from.  Defining genres is pretty arbitrary and for me Anime is about more than style.  This comes from the reasons I love it.  I have enjoyed American cartoons (outsourced to Korea or not), but I like them for different reasons.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: M.I.K. on 14 May, 2015, 02:17:47 AM
*Brings up the original series of Mysterious Cities of Gold, Dogtanian, and Around The World With Willy Fog, just to confuse matters...*


*...and Ulysses 31...*
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 14 May, 2015, 08:43:56 AM
Big O season 2 is an interesting one, as the first run was met with mediocre reactions from the Japanese audience but was critically lauded by Western fans. And rightly so, it's a fucking amazing show. So naturally a second series aimed more towards the western fan base was a given and economy's had to be made, such as shifting the production team.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 14 May, 2015, 10:55:28 AM
Cowboy Bebop will send you to Samurai Champloo and all will be well in the world.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 14 May, 2015, 11:54:50 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 14 May, 2015, 12:45:41 AMDefining genres is pretty arbitrary

In the current world of multimedia cross-pollination, I can only agree, but as a caveat would exclude those who for some reason pronounce it "monga" on purpose.  Those people are the devil.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 14 May, 2015, 03:24:19 PM
Quote from: Lesbian Seagull on 14 May, 2015, 11:54:50 AM
...as a caveat would exclude those who for some reason pronounce it "monga" on purpose.  Those people are the devil.

This we are in complete agreement on.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dark Jimbo on 14 May, 2015, 07:45:08 PM
Quote from: M.I.K. on 14 May, 2015, 02:17:47 AM
*Brings up the original series of Mysterious Cities of Gold, Dogtanian, and Around The World With Willy Fog...*

*...and Ulysses 31...*

*Sheds nostalgic tear for lost childhood and departs to watch old cartoon theme tunes on Youtube*
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 14 May, 2015, 08:33:35 PM
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 14 May, 2015, 07:45:08 PM
*Sheds nostalgic tear for lost childhood and departs to watch old cartoon theme tunes on Youtube*

Huh, I never realised we are the same age.

Those were some fun theme tunes.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dark Jimbo on 14 May, 2015, 09:40:46 PM
Yep - recently turned the wrong side of 30.

Cities of Gold, especially, is a cracker. The cartoon itself went completely over my head at that age, but the tune stayed with me - along with Phillip Schofield introducing it from the Broom Cupboard with Ed the Duck and Gordon the Gopher!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 14 May, 2015, 10:31:07 PM
Cities of Gold doesn't seem especially familiar.  There may have been something on the other side that I watched.  I do remember Schofield, Gordon the Gopher and Ed the Duck.  I still have an Ed the Duck calender mug from 1992.

Speaking of awesome cartoon theme tunes, let us not forget Trap Door. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 15 May, 2015, 12:00:39 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 13 May, 2015, 10:00:14 PM
Well GitS SAC is something I bought when the boxsets were first released.  I'm a massive GitS fan, although I have been very hesitant in watching the latest addition.

As you should be.

Being an equally big GITS fan, I bought the first two episodes of Ghost In The Shell: Arise earlier this year. The first episode is one of the worst written single episodes of ANYTHING I've ever witnessed, and does little to convince that the new direction of the show, basically giving us 'Section 9: The Early Years' is in any way a good idea.

I was actually so horrified at how crappy it was that I very nearly just didn't bother with the second episode. When I did, I was pleasantly surprised. Most of what the first episode did wrong, the second bypassed completely, and it had a much more appreciably GITS-y feel. However, it's still stymied by some pretty glaring faults. Action scenes literally happen out of nowhere. And there are some woefully ill-explained developments.

If you have to be paying rapt, unblinking attention to your entertainment, and look things up on wikipedia or spend hours scratching your head afterwards just to make sense of it, that's a bad thing.

So, check it out, sure... but go into it forewarned.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 15 May, 2015, 12:02:57 PM
Quote from: HdE on 15 May, 2015, 12:00:39 AM
As you should be.

Being an equally big GITS fan, I bought the first two episodes of Ghost In The Shell: Arise earlier this year. The first episode is one of the worst written single episodes of ANYTHING I've ever witnessed, and does little to convince that the new direction of the show, basically giving us 'Section 9: The Early Years' is in any way a good idea.

I was actually so horrified at how crappy it was that I very nearly just didn't bother with the second episode. When I did, I was pleasantly surprised. Most of what the first episode did wrong, the second bypassed completely, and it had a much more appreciably GITS-y feel. However, it's still stymied by some pretty glaring faults. Action scenes literally happen out of nowhere. And there are some woefully ill-explained developments.

If you have to be paying rapt, unblinking attention to your entertainment, and look things up on wikipedia or spend hours scratching your head afterwards just to make sense of it, that's a bad thing.

So, check it out, sure... but go into it forewarned.

Unfortunately this is all why I am hesitant.  I was first sceptical about it when I heard the premiss.  I'm not sure it works knowing too much the Majors past given that she is such an intentionally enigmatic character.  How SAC dealt with it was fantastic, especially in the second series.  I also heard that Motoko was made excessively vulnerable in the first part of Arise.  She certainly has vulnerability within the rest of the franchise but it was offset by how incredibly capable she is.  I would rather see her capability as a reaction to her childhood trauma and a necessity in dealing with a full prosthetic body at such a young age.

Then I think that Arise is probably going to be better than that inevitably disappointing live action film they're making.  Right?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 16 May, 2015, 10:14:19 PM
I'm thinking of getting stuck into DS9 again, but I'm torn on whether or not I slog through the early seasons, or just skip to when Mister Worf shows up.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 16 May, 2015, 10:18:28 PM
Quote from: Bearshark on 16 May, 2015, 10:14:19 PM
I'm thinking of getting stuck into DS9 again, but I'm torn on whether or not I slog through the early seasons, or just skip to when Mister Worf shows up.

ha! Yep thoughts I am only one on that, but there some good episodes on 2nd half of Season 2.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 17 May, 2015, 01:56:47 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 15 May, 2015, 12:02:57 PM

Unfortunately this is all why I am hesitant.  I was first sceptical about it when I heard the premiss.  I'm not sure it works knowing too much the Majors past given that she is such an intentionally enigmatic character.  How SAC dealt with it was fantastic, especially in the second series.  I also heard that Motoko was made excessively vulnerable in the first part of Arise.  She certainly has vulnerability within the rest of the franchise but it was offset by how incredibly capable she is.  I would rather see her capability as a reaction to her childhood trauma and a necessity in dealing with a full prosthetic body at such a young age.


This is part of the problem for me. I think Arise is guilty of humanizing Kusanagi a little too much.

The best way to go into it is maybe to approach it as a 'what if..?' kind of deal. That's easy to do as it's billed as a prequel to the '95 movie. It's certainly not in continuity with SAC, overwriting the origin that gave Kusanagi, as well as her first meeting with Saito (a real highlight of SAC - the line 'You're MINE now, you son of a bitch!' still makes me flinch!)

What cripples it for me is that the first episode follows a kind of mystery-thriller path, and it botches things badly. It DOES make use of some of the unique aspects of GITS, but fumbles the mystery / whodunnit aspect by having the central conundrum unravelled by the worst means possible. Instead of Kusanagi puzzling things out and revealing the truth with actual detective work, it gets parcelled out to us bite size by incidental characters who literally (in one case at least) simply walk in from stage right and start blabbing it all. 

It's not terrible, though. Arise has some good stuff. Like I say, episode 2 is much better, and actually has some pretty gnarly moments. The new voice actress for Kusanagi is great, as is the new Logicoma. And it does look pretty damned gorgeous on blu-ray.

Just... proceed with caution. You REALLY have to forgive a lot and treat it as its own animal going in.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 19 May, 2015, 10:39:08 AM
Enjoyed Arise, and agree the second episode was way better than the first. Still to see 3&4 because although they're on Netflix I'm holding off for the blu-ray and can't find anything about a release.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 20 May, 2015, 11:08:31 PM
Well into Season 3 of ALIAS and still enjoying it as it becomes more contorted.

Highlight so far has been a cracking episode called Facade which starts out as an M:I style caper with Rick Gervaise being the mark.  By the end of the episode the stakes have escalated beyond recognition. It's not only a great ensemble piece where everybody gets something significant to do but also a great standalone episode for the most part until they pull out a reference that ties together earlier story threads and ups the stakes even higher.   Fantastic stuff.

Jennifer Garner is mesmerising but I also love Victor Garber as Jack. Especially since discovering he starred in the 1973 movie of Godspell.

(http://www11.pic-upload.de/12.12.14/ui3c3m62gbbm.jpg)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ThryllSeekyr on 21 May, 2015, 03:50:34 AM
I was going to try and dig up a photo of that Garber fellow, as the original, original, original.....

Superman with a fro!

Was going to share it on the movie thread about that new film he's in now!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 01 June, 2015, 08:09:04 PM
I am still not enjoying watching IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA but Tiny Tips watches it so I see the odd episode.

But...

"That is such a turn-off. I'm losing my cock ring here" had me laughing very long and hard.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 02 June, 2015, 10:14:25 PM
Quote from: Keef Monkey on 19 May, 2015, 10:39:08 AM
Enjoyed Arise, and agree the second episode was way better than the first. Still to see 3&4 because although they're on Netflix I'm holding off for the blu-ray and can't find anything about a release.

Missed this before.

As a general rule of thumb, we get dubbed anime after everybody else. Arise is being handled by Funimation in the States, and the 3rd and 4th OVA haven't even surfaced over there yet.

News has broken of Arise being aired on TV in Japan, so I expect we'll see home video releases of the next two episodes around then. Japan are also getting a 5th OVA, which hasn't been confirmed as yet for Western distribution. There's also going to be a movie, which seems to further the delusion that this version of GITS is anywhere near as good as Stand Alone Complex. :p

As critical as I am of this stab at the franchise, I'd really like to be able to get my hands on the rest of Arise without paying for a ridiculously priced Japanese BD.

Also, about that second episode - did anyone else take a while to twig what was going on with Motoko's bike when she has her freeway encounter with Batou?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 05 June, 2015, 12:17:45 AM
Fell into a re watch of Band of Brothers.
Crossroads. Bastogne and Breaking Point.

That's some quality television right there with some genius visual storytelling.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 06 June, 2015, 11:51:21 PM
And skipped back to Day of Days episode today seeing as it was D-Day. Great stuff. I would not do any of what they did. You would really have to go me in an Independence Day situation before I lifted  a gun.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 22 June, 2015, 03:18:36 PM
Currently hurteling towards the finale of GoT season 4. Bloody hell, wasn't expecting [spoiler]Oberyn[/spoiler] to snuff it, and in quite such an awful manner.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 22 June, 2015, 10:15:16 PM
NBC Cancels "Hannibal" After Three Seasons
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 13 July, 2015, 04:59:03 PM
Spent this weekend getting through most of the first season of VEEP. Not quite as hilarious as I'd come to hope but still very good. The characters are a bit US-comedy-staples, but there are always a couple of great gags per episode - my favourite was the list of nicknames that her staffers have to google to find out what the bloggers are saying about her.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 13 July, 2015, 06:15:05 PM
We just polished off season 3 of Orange is the New Black on Netflix.

It's such a fantastic show with one of - if not the - best ensemble cast on TV - all the more amazing considering how many of them were complete unknowns when the show began. The last (feature-length) episode was pure joy.

If I had to nitpick, I'd say the ostensible lead characters (Piper and Alex) are now kind of redundant and uninteresting, and that the writers are also in danger of smoothing off all of the nastier characters rough edges and making former 'bad guys' a bit too cuddly.

Another potential issue is that they've now examined pretty much every single tertiary character in detail - something that the finale seems to acknowledge, hinting that they're set to introduce a huge new influx of characters for season 4.

I'm also not a huge fan of the more far-fetched/soapier elements of the show - the ongoing baby drama etc. For me the real strength of the show has always been in its self-contained character studies (with attending flashbacks) that shed light on side characters and show us how they ended up in Litchfield.

I always assumed that this would be a show that would struggle to maintain momentum after its fantastic first season, and I'm delighted to be proven wrong.

Big Boo FTW.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 13 July, 2015, 06:59:59 PM
Finished my Band Of Brothers re watch. Choked up during Why We Fight and Points.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richmond Clements on 13 July, 2015, 07:03:18 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 13 July, 2015, 06:59:59 PM
Finished my Band Of Brothers re watch. Choked up during Why We Fight and Points.

Why We Fight is possibly the greatest single episode of any television show ever.
Title: Re: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: W. R. Logan on 13 July, 2015, 09:08:33 PM
I can stay stiff upper lipped through all of BoB but Major Winters final quote gets me every time.
http://youtu.be/iWkRPs0smnE


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richmond Clements on 14 July, 2015, 01:42:45 PM
Quote from: W. R. Logan on 13 July, 2015, 09:08:33 PM
I can stay stiff upper lipped through all of BoB but Major Winters final quote gets me every time.
http://youtu.be/iWkRPs0smnE


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm not clicking on that. I'll just start crying in the pub.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richmond Clements on 14 July, 2015, 05:29:22 PM
Being off work long term sick has pros and cons. Pros - I have been watching a lot of online tv... Firefly rewatch was as beautiful as ever.
Under the Dome... my self hate kept me going. It is objectively BAD television. Characters constantly act in inconsistent ways, never telling each other the crazy things they saw... then I read it is written by the Lost team... Horrible show. You can see Dean Norris screaming 'I WAS IN BREAKING BAD!' from behind his eyes as he delivers each leaden line... but grud help me, I could not stop watching...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: DaveGYNWA on 15 July, 2015, 08:02:30 AM
Quote from: Richmond Clements on 14 July, 2015, 05:29:22 PM
Under the Dome... my self hate kept me going. It is objectively BAD television. Characters constantly act in inconsistent ways, never telling each other the crazy things they saw... then I read it is written by the Lost team... Horrible show. You can see Dean Norris screaming 'I WAS IN BREAKING BAD!' from behind his eyes as he delivers each leaden line... but grud help me, I could not stop watching...

We were browsing the channels the other night and this was on. After looking at the info, the first thing I thought was "how the hell did this get to season 3?" I think we gave up on it after 2 episodes of the first series for the reasons you state.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Famous Mortimer on 17 July, 2015, 09:57:11 AM
Quote from: Richmond Clements on 14 July, 2015, 05:29:22 PM
Being off work long term sick has pros and cons. Pros - I have been watching a lot of online tv... Firefly rewatch was as beautiful as ever.
Under the Dome... my self hate kept me going. It is objectively BAD television. Characters constantly act in inconsistent ways, never telling each other the crazy things they saw... then I read it is written by the Lost team... Horrible show. You can see Dean Norris screaming 'I WAS IN BREAKING BAD!' from behind his eyes as he delivers each leaden line... but grud help me, I could not stop watching...
I remember partway through season 1, Steven King defended the show in public, saying it was a different version of his book but still great, etc etc. The thing that always struck me is, if the original book had had the same plot as the show, it'd have been a complete disaster.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 17 July, 2015, 11:07:45 AM
You've heard of must-watch tv, Under the Dome is hate-watch tv.  The season 2 cliffhanger is hilariously bad on every conceivable level, and yet the season 3 opener somehow manages to double-down.
The only good thing to come out of it has been that if you're a BKV fan, he seems to be working like a carthorse making new comics rather than spend any more time on UtD.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 23 July, 2015, 06:25:09 PM
Dragon Ball Super is turning out to be remarkably fun. Helps that it's scripted by Toriyama and is deliberatly diverging from the majority of Dragon Ball Z and instead trying to capture the silly action series aisthetic of Dragon Ball. Still no sign of Jaco the Galactic Patrolman yet though....
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 24 July, 2015, 01:39:29 AM
Every time I see Hawkmonger's tag next the 'last post' icon in this thread, part of me hopes he's watching anime! :p

And, oddly enough, so am I. The weekend approaches, and with it, the next dose of Gundam OO. Bloody hell - THAT'S how you do a giant robot TV show!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 24 July, 2015, 09:46:31 AM
Heh, i've started watching anime again as a form of background static while I clean or draw. Watched quite a bit in recent weeks but never really bothered to keep the tread updated.

Anyway, Free! Iwatobi Swim Club was fun, a sports series about five young swimmers trying to make it in the professional competative swimming world. Very light weight viewing, mainly episodic and very well animated. Just a fun little series that didn't command and require much thought or attention, but as someone who swam competitively in high school it was a fun romp all the same. 

Jojos Bizarre Adventure Part 3 Stardust Crusaders wrapped up it's second (and last) season in fine form wih the four part epic DIO'S WORLD story arc. Beautifully animated and very, very true to the original material (of which it's no secret i'm as big a fan you can get). Also, steam roller. (http://youtu.be/XRTIwDbmVzM)

I tried getting into Overlord, thinking it would be a fun fantasy romp, but turned out it was just another dreary "Player stuck in virtual MMO" type series (yes, thats a genre now). At least the main character was kinda fun, in that he was a completely unlikeable bellend and made no attempts to better himself because he's self aware to the point he knows he's the villein. Not really reccomended but at least it has a kick arse opening.

Other things i've just kind of half watched include World Trigger, Food Wars!, and a re-viewing of Shojo Kakumei Utena. All enjoyable in their own way (Utena is a masterpiece, who am I kidding) but Ushio & Tora and DBS are the only NEW series i'm currently watching...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 25 July, 2015, 03:29:29 AM
Gawd yeah - Japan is really doing the 'real people stuck in high stakes video game' schtick to death. I get a lot of amusement from seeing all the back and forth over Sword Art Online. But it's also kind of depressing. I mean, if people would focus on Log Horizon, which is properly decent, as opposed to harping on about SAO, maybe there'd be a bit more focus on quality shows over such dreadfully inconsistent pap.

I'm currently too strapped for cash to indulge my Japanese cartoon habit, but I'm pumped about Legend of the Galactic Heroes getting licensed Stateside. I can see that being a show some of the board regulars here would enjoy. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 25 July, 2015, 10:41:43 AM
Sense8 on Netflix. Can't decide whether it was the worst thing I've seen in ages, or the best - either way it was a huge amount of fun. So much of it is gimmicky, hammy and predictable, but then it does things with all those flaws that are unlike anything I've ever seen, and almost impossible to believe you're watching on 'television'.

It's all such stilted rubbish, with hardly a single line you could believe a human being uttering, woefully uneven pacing...but: the Nairobi car chase, the cringe-inducing (or was it?) 4 Non Blondes singalong and the Bollywood dance number, the polysexual mental orgy, the lab breakout, the uplifting nature of Lito's story arc, the neat inversion of Wolfgang's... Somehow in its dog's dinner of cliches it manages to be something utterly unique, and quite gorgeous.

Feck it I don't know what to think, but I do know I'll be watching the next season, even just to ponder logistics that must make Game of Thrones seem like a production of Waiting for Godot.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 25 July, 2015, 02:12:24 PM
I loved the four non blondes bit.

But then again I like that song a lot.

And kudos to them for sticking a entire cheesy Bollywood style musical number into an episode.

A bit of.cheese can be good fun sometimes.

I can understand some people really cringeing at these sequences though, which makes me admire the production team's audacity in including them.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 25 July, 2015, 02:26:31 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 25 July, 2015, 02:12:24 PM
I loved the four non blondes bit.

So did I. No, wait, I hated it. No, no, I loved it. Or did I? Lawks, I'm confused.

You put you finger on it, there Mardroid: audacity. It's just plain audacious, and it's great to live at a time where such productions are possible and accessible.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Satanist on 05 August, 2015, 01:00:52 PM
Mr Robot - started off well and has just got better, it'll have to fuck up the ending bigtime to spoil my enjoyment. Imagine Breaking Bad crossed with Fight Club and you're about there.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Satanist on 10 August, 2015, 02:42:39 PM
Watched the whole first season of Rick and Morty over the weekend and it may just be my new favourite thing. Dark, cynical, sweary and yet at times quite touching.

means nothing to anyone I know so I'm sticking it here...

"I'M MR MEESEEKS LOOK AT ME"
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 10 August, 2015, 03:15:50 PM
We finished all 5 seasons of ALIAS. Overall a thumbs up but seasons 1 and 2 were the best. You can see it and M:I influencing each other in some kind of bizarre time loop.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: DaveGYNWA on 10 August, 2015, 04:16:47 PM
Got around to watching Sons of Anarchy - had put it off for ages as I know that the third season is going to do my head in (bad Irish accents) so slowly working our way up to that. The accents on the couple of Irish characters in season 1 didn't annoy me at all - season 2 and we've got some dodgy accents creeping in (one of them from a character from the first season too....so it's regressing)

Fingers crossed I don't throw something at the tele in about 11 episodes time.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Skullmo on 16 August, 2015, 11:06:54 PM
Quote from: DaveGYNWA on 10 August, 2015, 04:16:47 PM
Got around to watching Sons of Anarchy - had put it off for ages as I know that the third season is going to do my head in (bad Irish accents) so slowly working our way up to that. The accents on the couple of Irish characters in season 1 didn't annoy me at all - season 2 and we've got some dodgy accents creeping in (one of them from a character from the first season too....so it's regressing)

Fingers crossed I don't throw something at the tele in about 11 episodes time.

There are some great bits in that series
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 17 August, 2015, 12:58:14 PM
Watched the pilot for a thing called INTELLIGENCE last night on Lovefilm. Josh Holloway stars (and produces I think). It looks like Chuck but without any jokes. Or Castle but without any jokes or any charisma in the leads.  I don't think I shall be watching any mor ethan the 43 minutes of my life it has already taken.  Not actively bad, just 100% box ticking exercise in a buddy TV series with really flat action sequences.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 17 August, 2015, 08:33:26 PM
That rings a bell. If I recall correctly it got almost instantly cancelled.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 17 August, 2015, 09:51:16 PM
That was one of my background shows while I worked, and memorably bad it was, too.  One of the original CSI castmembers left CSI to be on it - she's on Under The Dome now, so I'm increasingly convinced she picks bad shows deliberately.
If you want to see another show that's Chuck, only not Chuck, try Jake 2.0 if it comes up on the telly box thing.  It was Chuck before Chuck was Chuck - light-hearted and 20something friendly - only without being wilfully stupid or quite as dependent on hateful caricature.  It's not a classic or owt, but it did have an enjoyably daffy throwback premise of a CIA dogsbody accidentally turned into a Six Million Dollar Man, and had the original Six Million Dollar Man (Lee Majors) in it for an extended cameo and a bit where the character runs and it goes into slow motion and a noise goes wowowowowowow, which is really all you need in a show.

Been rewatching Street Hawk, which I only half-remember from when I was a nipper.  It's got that slightly different pacing of older tv shows from when they were about five minutes longer than they are now, and along with the music score and how shitty Los Angeles looks without lens flares and the streets all cleaned up before the film crew gets there, there's an aesthetic quality to things I really like even if the plots often aren't great and the production design - including Street Hawk itself - isn't very inventive or memorable.
Crap, but in a fun way.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 21 August, 2015, 05:58:06 PM
Quote from: Scolaighe Ó'Bear on 17 August, 2015, 09:51:16 PM
Been rewatching Street Hawk, which I only half-remember from when I was a nipper.  ..... there's an aesthetic quality to things I really like even if the plots often aren't great and the production design - including Street Hawk itself - isn't very inventive or memorable.
Crap, but in a fun way.

That's from the time in the early eighties when we had an insane number of shows like that.  Air wolf, A Team, Manimal, Automan, Blue Thunder ...   All predictable mind candy.  Watched Airwolf a while ago.  Made it through the first season and half of the second.  Decided that the (allegedly) dodgy third and fourth season weren't worth the risk.  Blue Thunder was a poor second to it and not a patch on the film. 

In a similar vein I'm on a slog through the X Files.  Currently on season 2 which if I remember was about the highlight before it completely lost the plot (or rather tied the mythology in so many knots you didn't have a clue what was going on).  Kind of weird, especially with Duchovny currently on Aquarius looking a hell of a lot older. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 27 August, 2015, 09:22:06 PM
CATASTROPHE just turned up on Love Film. I suspect it was on C4 previously. Kookie sit com fave Sharon Horgan and the quite edible Rob Delaney in mismatched couple expecting baby and wedding high jinks. Painfully observed but really funny.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 27 August, 2015, 09:28:45 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 27 August, 2015, 09:22:06 PM
CATASTROPHE just turned up on Love Film. I suspect it was on C4 previously. Kookie sit com fave Sharon Horgan and the quite edible Rob Delaney in mismatched couple expecting baby and wedding high jinks. Painfully observed but really funny.

Indeed, highly recommended. It will lull you into thinking it's just another comfy 'mismatched couple' sitcom, then throw in  a jaw-dropping gag about abortion or something.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 27 August, 2015, 09:58:32 PM
Still working my way through The West Wing. Now I know people rave about the end of Season 1 and start of Season 2, but man that last episode of Season 4 was quite something, really quite something.

It really is an incredibly good show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richmond Clements on 28 August, 2015, 09:52:50 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 27 August, 2015, 09:22:06 PM
CATASTROPHE just turned up on Love Film. I suspect it was on C4 previously. Kookie sit com fave Sharon Horgan and the quite edible Rob Delaney in mismatched couple expecting baby and wedding high jinks. Painfully observed but really funny.

Ah cool. They were the guests on this weeks Richard Herring podcast. This will mAke the show easier to track down.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 28 August, 2015, 08:26:14 PM
Just finish watch final episode of Season 3 of Person of Interest on Channel 5, oh wow that was brilliant season! Don't know what to expect in Season 4, would be interesting to see what new way they will do it. As I know I am one of few who watch it from Series 1 on C5. Worth it to check first two series on Netflix. It very familiar to PSU in Mega-City 1.
Title: Re: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 17 September, 2015, 06:59:11 AM
Rick and Morty.

As a huge fan of Community and Dan Harmon, I watched the first few eps of R&M when it debuted last year, but while I enjoyed it, it didn't quite grab me enough to persevere. Decided to give it another try the other day and devoured almost the entire first season in one sitting. Now on to season 2.

It's magnificent. As a high concept sci fi comedy cartoon, its very reminiscent of Futurama at its peak, and much like Community, it has me both howling with laughter and marvelling at how clever it is.

Highly, highly recommended.
Title: Re: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 17 September, 2015, 08:50:12 AM
Quote from: radiator on 17 September, 2015, 06:59:11 AM

It's magnificent. As a high concept sci fi comedy cartoon, its very reminiscent of Futurama at its peak, and much like Community, it has me both howling with laughter and marvelling at how clever it is.

Highly, highly recommended.

Seconded. Utterly phenomenal TV - each episode is a whirlwind of creative fury and boundless madness that's completely irresistible. I cannot think of a single show like it apart from the halcyon days of Futurama perhaps. I can't reccommend it higher.

(https://media0.giphy.com/media/l41lMVHP4uOK1it5m/200.gif)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Satanist on 17 September, 2015, 09:14:45 AM
Wubba Lubba Dub Dub BITCHES!

Watched "The Bastard Executioner" last night. Its an alright intro and I'll stick with it to see where it goes.

Sutter did the Shield which was great and Sons of Anarchy which was pish and actually got worse so it could go either way.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 17 September, 2015, 09:51:33 AM
A colleague foisted his much loved Rome box sets on me a few months ago. It's taken me a while to get through the first series but it's fairly enjoyable. I found both the odd couple PoV characters a bit irritating but the big hitters were all pretty good, particularly Ciaran Hinds' Caesar.

Having developed a taste for all things Roman I then moved onto the utterly ludicrous Spartacus: Blood and Sand. This is very, very silly indeed. Taking its lead from 300 but far more fun, it manages to make a stylistic virtue of its CGI blood and ropey backgrounds. Legs are hacked, throats sliced, John Hannah is slimy and there are more tits on display than you can shake a gladius at.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 17 September, 2015, 10:53:44 AM
Quote from: The Cosh on 17 September, 2015, 09:51:33 AM
A colleague foisted his much loved Rome box sets on me a few months ago. It's taken me a while to get through the first series but it's fairly enjoyable. I found both the odd couple PoV characters a bit irritating but the big hitters were all pretty good, particularly Ciaran Hinds' Caesar.

I bloody love Rome, its jammed packed with silliness and nonsense (not as much as Spartacus: Blood and Sand, as I'm led to believe, hence I've avoided that), but does a really good job of presenting the history in a fun, relatively accurate (as far as I know) way. Though if you don't like Titus Pullo (Ray Stevenson as one of the odd couple POV characters) you are dead to me, you hear, dead to me.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 17 September, 2015, 11:31:31 AM
Thirteenth! Thirteenth!  Yeah, Rome is all kinds of stupid fun, but Spartacus is even more stupid, and thus logically even more fun.  It has its own daft pronoun-free dialect, elevates blood and gore to some kind of inoffensive expressionist art form, and fearlessly brings the mirkin back into fashion.  The first two series (original and prequel) are especially great.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 17 September, 2015, 01:37:00 PM
I loved James Purefoy as the 'cock of the north' Mark Anthony.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 17 September, 2015, 01:41:51 PM
Great scene!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBCqAU4HB5o (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBCqAU4HB5o)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 17 September, 2015, 03:56:54 PM
Rome was fun once they got the obligatory HBO nakedness and violence toned down and got on with the story, Spartacus: Blood and Sand was just badly done nonsense, not bad enough to be fun or funny but po-faced enough in a 300 way to make it a laughing stock.

Those nice peeps at Lovefilm have finally sent me the first disc of Treme: series 4. Nice.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 17 September, 2015, 05:09:06 PM
Ah no Huffster,  Spartacus was brilliant: definitely bad enough to be funny, but it also completely and unashamedly embraced its sweaty nipple histrionics and endlessly exaggerated aesthetic, resulting in marvelous painterly setpieces and gripping melodramatic payoffs. Just bats enough to be great.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 17 September, 2015, 05:39:48 PM
I'm fighting with Tordelblock on this one - Hannah's finest hour!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: SIP on 17 September, 2015, 06:53:59 PM
Yeah, another fan of Spartacus here too, though the first two series far surpassed the last two in my opinion.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richmond Clements on 21 September, 2015, 03:02:59 PM
Have had Revolution on as I work the past while... it's very very silly, isn't it? I have thought there's a drinking game in taking a shot everytime someone has a gun held to them and then a character off screen saves them - it happens at least twice an episode.
Much like Dean Norris in Under the Dome, you can see the scream from behind Giancarlo Esposito's eyes as he thinks 'I was in Breaking Bad!'

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 21 September, 2015, 07:26:08 PM
Quote from: Satanist on 17 September, 2015, 09:14:45 AM
Wubba Lubba Dub Dub BITCHES!

Is what I have been mostly watching and entirely loving.

Poor Morty... and poor Rick, I guess.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: auxlen on 28 September, 2015, 05:23:00 PM
Just restarted Breaking bad and I'm struggling with the last season because i hate Todd so much. Dead eyed prick. (or potato Matt damon)

Currently re-watched all of red dwarf. even enjoyed the previously hated (by me ) series 9.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 28 September, 2015, 09:15:38 PM
Quote from: auxlen on 28 September, 2015, 05:23:00 PM
Just restarted Breaking bad and I'm struggling with the last season because i hate Todd so much. Dead eyed prick. (or potato Matt damon)


I quite liked calling him Meth Damon.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 28 September, 2015, 09:54:43 PM
Quote from: auxlen on 28 September, 2015, 05:23:00 PM
Just restarted Breaking bad and I'm struggling with the last season because i hate Todd so much.

Woah yeah, he is a vile creation alright. Even though he's meant to be exactly that, he's still hard to watch for multiple episodes. Frankly I just wanted him to die right after the train heist.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: auxlen on 29 September, 2015, 04:29:36 PM
Although the scene where they cut up the bike then...


but yeah...he's just vile.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 29 September, 2015, 05:08:36 PM
Been catching up on Rick and Morty and can't add anymore superlatives than have already been gushed upon the series. Utterly hilarious.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Satanist on 29 September, 2015, 06:26:10 PM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 29 September, 2015, 05:08:36 PM
Been catching up on Rick and Morty and can't add anymore superlatives than have already been gushed upon the series. Utterly hilarious.

I'm still here and still selling real fake doors  :lol:
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 29 September, 2015, 06:44:46 PM
"I'm 'Ants-in-my-eyes' Johnson! And everything is black, I still can't feel a thing and I hope our prices aren't too low!"
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 30 September, 2015, 06:21:10 PM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 29 September, 2015, 06:44:46 PM
"I'm 'Ants-in-my-eyes' Johnson! And everything is black, I still can't feel a thing and I hope our prices aren't too low!"

:D Best one :D

(https://33.media.tumblr.com/ce2a5b973416e1860f1031e9ff5c25bc/tumblr_n6glw9kBdr1r60b55o3_500.gif)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 01 October, 2015, 01:00:42 PM
American Horror Story: Freak Show (Season 4) and The Flash: Season 1 will coming to Netflix on October 6
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 01 October, 2015, 01:36:44 PM
HOUSE OF CARDS (with Kevin Spacey) is a bit good.

We also started watching BOSCH on Lovefilm. It looks like a good police procedural with added swearing, nakedness and gore.  The dialogue veers between seemingly authentic cop mumble speak to cliched "He's not worth it!". So a bit like a Michael Connelly book then.  Connelly, coincidentally, plays poker (as himself) with Nathan Fillion in Castle.

Oh and we watched the first episode of TRANSPARENT because it has the magnicient Jeffery Tambor in it.  We classified it as TBFTL.*



* Tits, Bum, Fannies; The Lot.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: auxlen on 01 October, 2015, 04:15:03 PM
Just binge watched Ray Donovan on Amazon. a Very odd series with some truly disturbing scenes and a lot of dark secrets worming themselves out of cans. (Jon Voight is truly disgusting)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2249007/ (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2249007/)

Loved it tho.
They are making me purchase season 2 on DVD. bastards.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 08 October, 2015, 08:01:16 PM
Finally finish complete seasons of Dexter as only watched first season on TV long time ago! What a crappest ending!!

Dexter does went down after season 4. :(
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 10 October, 2015, 11:17:50 PM
Over the Garden Wall

Weird, fun stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Citi-Def_Joe on 11 October, 2015, 10:21:25 AM
A bit late to the party but  really enjoyed the first series of  Rick & Morty, perfect little sub 30 min episodes of silly slightly weird fun
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ThryllSeekyr on 11 October, 2015, 12:22:32 PM
Must get the box set of Monty-Python's-Flying-Circus.. the entire collected series. I sure it's still available to buy first hand. 

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Devons Daddy on 22 October, 2015, 05:18:03 AM
just about to complete, Battle Star Galactica (not the original team)
first time is was a WOW , second time its an AMAZING WOW :o
almost halfway through the final season now,

stands up well, and will likely age with grace due to it dirty ,realistic flawed characters and at times impactful questions it raises leaving the viewer with the question,

ok lets not consider the final episode, i know, but I can live with it.
but still an incredibly good show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 11 January, 2016, 01:25:48 AM
Netflix's controversial new series Making a Murderer.

I'll save you some time.

This zeitgeisty docu-series actually made me a bit angry - It's like Errol Morris' The Thin Blue Line or the HBO Paradise Lost trilogy, except that in this case [spoiler]the guy the doc is trying to exonerate blatantly did it.[/spoiler]

Watch those aforementioned docs instead - they're far more compelling and don't feel so dishonest.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: richerthanyou on 11 January, 2016, 04:32:13 AM
I went back and watched the first followed directly by the final season of Breaking Bad. I must have watched the whole thing 4 times through already, and the show is just as exciting still. I must remember to build myself a meth empire one of these days...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 21 January, 2016, 11:33:41 AM
Man in the High Castle. It's bloody fantastic stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 21 January, 2016, 12:40:19 PM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 21 January, 2016, 11:33:41 AM
Man in the High Castle. It's bloody fantastic stuff.
Positively glacial but in a good way. Rufus Sewell is superb.


HOUSE
I think we are somewhere in Season 3 - a great half dozen episode arc where House gets singled out for treatment by a superb, softly spoken David Morse appears to have come to a bit of a damp squib ending [SPOILER] (Cop gives up when even Cuddy closes ranks, House is in Rehab but sill on his pills?) [/SPOILER] but Hugh Laurie was absolutely on fire as his addiction amplified his ass-hattedness. 

The episodes are often best when you have a good patient rather than a good mystery; so we've had some crackers with Joel Grey, John Laroquette, an angry twenty something couple and a big, big fella in a pretty convincing fat suit (the chap from Herschell's farm that Shane [SPOILER]did the dirty on[/SPOILER]  in The Walking Dead). 

I also laughed like a drain when House's secret stash of Vicadin was in his Lupus (whatever that is) Reference book and he says "But it's never Lupus" (this has become a running joke in the Tips' Household).
Anyway, cracking stuff. And we haven't even got to Olivia Wilde yet.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Satanist on 21 January, 2016, 01:46:33 PM
Quote from: radiator on 11 January, 2016, 01:25:48 AM
Netflix's controversial new series Making a Murderer.

I just finished this and really don't know what to think. I feel that the young guy Brendan was just a bit thick and that Avery would have to be a complete and utter nutcase to murder a random with millions of USD just a few months away. The docs obviously biased but the whole things just odd but then that's people for you.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 01 February, 2016, 11:23:35 AM
Fargo Season 1 - what I just watch? that was great enjoyable and Billy Bob Thornton's character  :o And nice to know one link to that film Fargo

Fargo Season 2 - Never expect it better and so brutal! [spoiler]too many killings! [/spoiler]

Jessica Jones - Finally watch it, very enjoyable and [spoiler]final battle got me big grin [/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 01 February, 2016, 11:32:26 AM
Penny Dreadful - series two: Mad, glad and dangerous to know, ignore the plot holes and Count Arthur Strong's sidekick's underacting and go with the flow. Loverly to look at too and the usual overly used quick cuts sparely used mostly replaced by long panning shots. Bliss.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 01 February, 2016, 03:18:48 PM
Doing Scrubs again. Not watching the awful 10th season when I get to it though.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 01 February, 2016, 04:25:57 PM
Now in the final season (7) of West Wing and while sure its not been perfect, while sure its had its ups and down and yeah its a rose tinted view of the US of As. I accept it was never going to be The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, or The Wire BUT BUT BUT by God I'm going to miss it when its gone.

Absolutely brilliant telly and at its best right up there with the aforementioned triumvirate of telly quality.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 01 February, 2016, 05:27:22 PM
Quote from: Satanist on 21 January, 2016, 01:46:33 PM
Quote from: radiator on 11 January, 2016, 01:25:48 AM
Netflix's controversial new series Making a Murderer.

I just finished this and really don't know what to think. I feel that the young guy Brendan was just a bit thick and that Avery would have to be a complete and utter nutcase to murder a random with millions of USD just a few months away. The docs obviously biased but the whole things just odd but then that's people for you.

The doc is really unbalanced, for instance choosing to [spoiler]leave out some incredibly damning trial evidence against Avery and glossing over a vague animal cruelty charge as some kind of innocent childhood jape (when in reality the sick fuck deliberately doused his pet cat in petrol and threw it in a bonfire).[/spoiler] When I read about it all I stopped watching the series to be honest - it felt like it was way too skewed.

My personal opinion on it was that [spoiler]Avery almost certainly did it, but the cops bent the rules to ensure a conviction - and I also believe that that kind of thing goes on all the time. Not because of some grand conspiracy (like the rather far-fetched picture the doc tries to paint), but because of an 'ends justify the means' kind of attitude.[/spoiler] And yeah, maybe that does need a little light shone on it (and obviously even the guilty deserve a fair trial), but don't try to muddy the waters by making out like its a tale of a noble man wrongfully convicted.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 07 February, 2016, 09:53:08 PM
Well just seen it (the last of The West Wing) and damn that's some fine, fine telly. It might not be quite up there with the very, very best, but damnit its so very, very close and really if you've not seen it I can't recommend it highly enough, well assuming you've all already seen Breaking Bad, The Wire and The Sopranos that is.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 08 February, 2016, 12:39:55 AM
I watched the first series* of Peakey Blinders on Netflix this week. I remember seeing it advertised when it came out, but never got round to watching it until now.

I found it very enjoyable. The subject matter 'family based gangster drama' isn't exactly original, but setting it in post - Great War Birmingham and the whole cinematic depiction, (very British, but with a flavour of Western to my mind, despite not being set in the U.S. or in the old West time period, although not that long after being 1919) and that lovely moody Sound Track (not of that period, but it fits so well) really provides something new and unique. As does the fact these lads (and the ladies in their own way, one who had to run 'the business' while the lads were away fighting, the other affected by IRA terrorism, a whole different but equally real war) are damaged war veterans.

The main characters are very likeable, flawed and very human. The most dislikeable character, ironically is the Northern Irish cop sent to bring back the stash of guns stolen at the start. But he is meant to be dislikeable, and is a great character in his own right.

I look forward to seeing the next series, although I suspect Ill have to wait a while if I have the patience to wait for it to appear on Netflix.


* I did a brief bit of internet research when I finished the series and was surprised they've done two series and there's a third coming out.It doesn't seem that long since the first series came out.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Satanist on 08 February, 2016, 11:32:24 AM
Anyone seen The Flash? My kids love it and I've heard good things so was wondering if its worth catching but don't want to waste 20 odd hours if its pish.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 08 February, 2016, 05:22:56 PM
Wife and I are big fans of The Flash, so I'd recommend it. Took a few episodes to click but it's fantastic fun, and a more bright and colorful take on superhero telly/films than you generally get these days.

Not sure if you watch Arrow but it does cross over with that on occasion but generally not in a way that you'd need to see both (although we do watch and enjoy both).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 08 February, 2016, 05:43:47 PM
Currently marathoning The Venture Bros. I have nothing to say other than this.

It's fucking brilliant. "They hit me with a truck".  :lol:


Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 08 February, 2016, 06:04:12 PM
How to get a car like a boss.

(https://media2.giphy.com/media/5qImcZqa5jg1a/giphy.gif)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 08 February, 2016, 06:41:55 PM
The Flash is at least as good as any other teen drama on tv, but it's probably better if you come to it cold so you don't wince at some of the truly terrible winks to DC continuity - although not knowing DC continuity also makes a lot of the "clever" dialogue utterly meaningless.  IE: a character who - in DC comic books - is a villainess with ice-based powers talks about her dead boyfriend who - again, in the comics - is a fire-based hero, describes an actual conversation with him in which he described them both as "like fire and ice", which, if you don't what they're alluding to, just makes him sound like an asshole, while if you do know what they're alluding to, it just sounds like awful dialogue.

I'd argue about Flash being independent from Arrow, though.  At one point there are concurrent storylines, and characters start talking about characters from the other show like the audience knows exactly what they're on about, even though they tend to exposit like crazy at any other time.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 08 February, 2016, 07:01:13 PM
Well I did watch Flash season 1 on Netflix; odd I find many episodes repeatable of hero meet the new villain with new power and lost. And at end learn and beat them. At most every episodes??
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 08 February, 2016, 07:10:36 PM
Flash is very episodic, it's true.  I love how part of the formula is that he has a room full of boffins talking to him while he fights super-powered villains, and Flash is always losing until the boffins come up with a clever plan Flash could never conceive of on his own, and it's always the exact same plan: they tell Flash to use his super-speed.  Sometimes they shake things up by having Flash use his speed in the early bit of the episode, only it turns out he's not fast enough, so he thinks maybe he's not cut out to be the Flash for about twenty minutes, but then he learns to run faster and decides that he can be Flash after all - for at least the next four episodes.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Magnetica on 08 February, 2016, 07:55:12 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 08 February, 2016, 12:39:55 AM
I watched the first series* of Peakey Blinders on Netflix this week. I remember seeing it advertised when it came out, but never got round to watching it until now.

I found it very enjoyable. The subject matter 'family based gangster drama' isn't exactly original, but setting it in post - Great War Birmingham and the whole cinematic depiction, (very British, but with a flavour of Western to my mind, despite not being set in the U.S. or in the old West time period, although not that long after being 1919) and that lovely moody Sound Track (not of that period, but it fits so well) really provides something new and unique. As does the fact these lads (and the ladies in their own way, one who had to run 'the business' while the lads were away fighting, the other affected by IRA terrorism, a whole different but equally real war) are damaged war veterans.

The main characters are very likeable, flawed and very human. The most dislikeable character, ironically is the Northern Irish cop sent to bring back the stash of guns stolen at the start. But he is meant to be dislikeable, and is a great character in his own right.

I look forward to seeing the next series, although I suspect Ill have to wait a while if I have the patience to wait for it to appear on Netflix.


* I did a brief bit of internet research when I finished the series and was surprised they've done two series and there's a third coming out.It doesn't seem that long since the first series came out.


Same for me - missed it first time round, watched in about a week on Netflix. Really enjoyed it and am keen to see the next one.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: blackmocco on 09 February, 2016, 04:48:41 PM
Rewatching Hannibal from the start. If anything, it's more bizarre than first time around. If you haven't watched it, and fuck knows no-one else did, I'd say give it a go. It's so utterly macabre and unique (in a way that will either grab you or repel you) that it's worth me plugging it on here again. Don't let the fact it was on US network TV put you off. This is as intelligent, graphic and disturbing as anything on grown-up people's cable. Very interesting to watch it alongside the cinema incarnations as well and find it all fits together beautifully, despite a completely different cast.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Modern Panther on 09 February, 2016, 05:35:05 PM
After watching the first episode of Hannibal, I was a bit worried that it would turn into a crime-of-the-week drama, with odd couple investigators, one of whom happens to enjoy eating folk.  But it turned out to be this intelligent, well written show.  Madds Mikkelsen is a far more sophisticated Lector than any of the actors before him.

Then the last season went batshit crazy and I found myself watching close ups of snails whilst listening to opera and worrying about the nature of reality.  Still, it was a fantastic bit of television whilst it lasted.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 09 February, 2016, 05:56:27 PM
Quote from: Satanist on 08 February, 2016, 11:32:24 AM
Anyone seen The Flash? My kids love it and I've heard good things so was wondering if its worth catching but don't want to waste 20 odd hours if its pish.

Pish.
hateful pish at that, really pishfilled pish, a pile o pish, IMHO of course.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: blackmocco on 09 February, 2016, 06:12:27 PM
Quote from: Modern Panther on 09 February, 2016, 05:35:05 PM
After watching the first episode of Hannibal, I was a bit worried that it would turn into a crime-of-the-week drama, with odd couple investigators, one of whom happens to enjoy eating folk.  But it turned out to be this intelligent, well written show.  Madds Mikkelsen is a far more sophisticated Lector than any of the actors before him.

Then the last season went batshit crazy and I found myself watching close ups of snails whilst listening to opera and worrying about the nature of reality.  Still, it was a fantastic bit of television whilst it lasted.

I'd drank the Kool Aid by that point. Haha! I loved season three for the same reasons I loved Mad Max: Fury Road. The visuals were as much a part of the storytelling as any part of the written script and for that reason, I found myself engrossed in what was happening, even if, yeah, much of it was pretty out there. It all pulled itself back together nicely for the Red Dragon arc, I thought.

In truth, I'd probably watch Mikkelsen read the phone book. His take on Lecter was all cold reptilian menace. It's what he's not showing you in his performance that's most chilling.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 10 February, 2016, 10:29:34 AM
getting to the end of Penny Dreadful this week highly entertaining, some nice twists and the visuals are sensual, the odd clanger (not that kind) but overall great fun.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 10 February, 2016, 11:01:06 AM
Quote from: Proudhuff on 10 February, 2016, 10:29:34 AM
getting to the end of Penny Dreadful this week highly entertaining, some nice twists and the visuals are sensual, the odd clanger (not that kind) but overall great fun.

Bailed on Season 2 after about four episodes. After some interminable episode about prancing around on the moors, I think.

On the other hand, we're now catching up on Season 2 of Fargo — five episodes in, and it's great.

Cheers

Jim
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Satanist on 10 February, 2016, 11:12:30 AM
I loved the 3rd season of Hannibal. Arty Farty yes but I thought there must be room on TV for at least one over the top self indulgent show, then it got cancelled. And yes Mads is simply incredible in this.

Fargos another odd show in that I didn't want to watch it as how could it live up to the Coens original. Loved the first season then worried about the second but thought that was great as well. So many great characters.

Think I'm gonna blast a few eps of Flash this weekend then see if I can figure out how PH really felt about it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 01 March, 2016, 04:14:54 AM
Death Note on Netflix

I've seen part of this before, but I think it was in movie form. A lot is familiar, though, so I have it in mind they must have combined episodes and made 2 films out of them but my memory is hazy. I do remember liking it to start with back then, then my mind drifting and missing a bit, which means I probably fell asleep. Maybe I was overtired.

I decided to give it another go in this form on Netflix, and I'm really enjoying it! A very interesting dark premise, and very cleverly written.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: amines2058 on 01 March, 2016, 07:18:59 AM
Quote from: Satanist on 10 February, 2016, 11:12:30 AM
I loved the 3rd season of Hannibal. Arty Farty yes but I thought there must be room on TV for at least one over the top self indulgent show, then it got cancelled. And yes Mads is simply incredible in this.

Fargos another odd show in that I didn't want to watch it as how could it live up to the Coens original. Loved the first season then worried about the second but thought that was great as well. So many great characters.

Think I'm gonna blast a few eps of Flash this weekend then see if I can figure out how PH really felt about it.

This is my current addiction, have blitzed series 1 and 10 episodes of series 2 in the past 3 weeks and am loving this. Realise now that I will need to do the same with The Arrow due to the number of crossovers that occur. Of course I will then also need to watch Legends of Tomorrow for the very same reason!! Lucky me!!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 01 March, 2016, 12:25:33 PM
Still manfully ploughing through HOUSE but it's getting harder going despite some good changes in the set-up.

I think the problem is that Hugh Laurie is so good at being a complete ass-hat that it really makes it tough to watch in concentrated doses.  He seems to be deliberately antagonistic to every one around him (rather than just being unknowingly brusque). 

It's a while (35 years!) since I've read any of the source material but was Holmes ever deliberately such a dick to those around him?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 09 March, 2016, 09:23:43 PM
Still on Venture Bros. And gaining ground, but my god the comedy on this series is ON POINT!

Sasquatch IS something I haven't seen before! (http://youtu.be/KrZnLUWJnq0)

:lol: :lol: :lol:
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ThryllSeekyr on 14 March, 2016, 01:59:47 PM
I know I shouldn't have, given my current commitments to funnelling my finances towards house hold stuff. I brought the extended editions of the The Hobbit Trilogy on Blue-Rae & I'll guess, I'll watch them some time within the next week.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 27 March, 2016, 06:45:43 PM
Only on Venture Bros. can you have psuedo-Superman flying around saving one minute and a closet peadophile the next. Utterly brilliant, biting satire.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: richerthanyou on 28 March, 2016, 08:18:27 PM
Doctor Who - The First (rebooted) Series

Since I never watched it on the TV and always told myself I would catch up with it on bluray, after seeing the first series on sale on bluray I kind of had to buy it :D

Loving it so far. Just like the Doctor Who I remember as a child (re-runs mind you, I'm not that old)

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 29 March, 2016, 02:40:03 PM
Plowing through Community. Didn't like it at first but now it's really grown on me. The D&D episode in season 2 was probably the swing point into "Ok I love this now".
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 29 March, 2016, 03:31:11 PM
had the flat to myself over bank holiday so I've been binge-watching Daredevil on netflix - saw 2nd half of season 1 and first 3 eps of season 2 (with a short break to watch Capt America: Winter Soldier).

I think the thing that DD has in common with Jessica Jones which made these first seasons work so well is top-notch villains - both David Tennant as Kilgrave and Vincent D'Onofrio as the Kingpinn were oputstanding.

I'm hoping a proper villain emerges in season 2 as so far it's just Punisher and some generic gangs.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 30 March, 2016, 09:08:20 AM
That guy who does Punnisher is pretty good though, isn't he?

I have mixed feelings about Elektra though. Looks the part, but something felt a bit off. Still, she's growing on me.

Plodding my way through Series 2 at the moment at a slower rate than I did the previous. ( I think I must have seen most of Series 1 during a break or over the weekend, so I'm seeing this piecemeal (2 or 3 episodes a time) in the evening after work.)

I'm enjoying it though.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: shaolin_monkey on 31 March, 2016, 07:45:46 AM
Season two of Daredevil was just fantastic. Some of the best TV I've ever seen. I normally dislike Marvel stuff too, so I was really surprised at how good it was.

Jessica Jones was eminently watchable too, and yeah, it was great seeing Tennant get his teeth into that role. Again, so much better than those interminable films (Deadpool being an exception - thoroughly enjoyed that).

I've been ploughing my way through The Man in the High Castle recently. I read the book many moons ago, so can only barely remember it. They've padded the hell out of it from what I recall of the book, but it's still enjoyable, in a very grim, dark way.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Devons Daddy on 11 April, 2016, 01:29:56 AM
BLACK SAILS

dam we more need tv like this,
PIRATES, nudity,PIRATES, great script, PIRATES,great acting,PIRATES,more nudity,PIRATES,great characters,PIRATES great sets,PIRATES,lots of violence, PIRATES, did i mention its about PIRATES.
the last episode of season 3
one of those get up and clap moments.

on STARZ network, and iTunes truly worthy of your hard earned credits and groats.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 16 April, 2016, 06:11:29 PM
Peaky Blinders series 2.

A great series. [spoiler]I think they overdid with the repeated female abuse though.[/spoiler]

Mr. Solomons of Camden Town is a great character.

Considering how many of these series have come out they're way behind on Netflix. Wish they'd get their skates on.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 16 April, 2016, 07:40:06 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 16 April, 2016, 06:11:29 PMA great series. [spoiler]I think they overdid with the repeated female abuse though.[/spoiler]

I liked season 1, but I gave up on Peaky Blinders after the end of the first episode of series two precisely because of [spoiler]the writers' gleeful trips to Rape Town for plots.[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Devons Daddy on 20 April, 2016, 10:00:18 AM
Peaky Blinders very very good!
just completed S1 and S2
some great moments overall, worthy of our time.

Rewatching Deep Space Nine,
have to say, its holding up quite well,
on S3 now,
has all the elements I enjoy in a good sci fi but not too campy soap manner.
works for me.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 23 April, 2016, 11:39:04 PM
Z-Nation on Netflix. Not so much an addiction, but entertaining, nonetheless. I mentally rolled my eyes* what with The Walking Dead series. Tonally this is quite different though. Much more humorous for one thing. Some of the acting, particularly in the early episodes was a bit dodgy (it has a bit of  b-movie feel. Not that that's a bad thing.), but overall it's rather fun, and even touching in places.

*Is that possible?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 24 April, 2016, 06:42:45 PM
American Crime Story: The People V OJ Simpson - a dramatised retelling of the OJ Simpson murder trial.

This is surprisingly great. It was pitched to me as a sort of trashy 'guilty pleasure' kind of show, but I think that's doing it down somewhat - though its a little sensationalist and has some hammy moments, it's a hugely entertaining and well-made show, and in a cast of huge names doing great work - Cuba Gooding Jr, David Schwimmer, John Travolta et al, it's the relatively unknown actors that make a big impression - in particular the two leads playing the prosecution team are fantastic.

The story itself is just fascinating whichever angle you come at it from. Seeing how this crack team of lawyers set about winning an unwinnable case is absolutely gripping, and in a wider sense the case signifies a kind of ground zero of rolling 24 hour news coverage and the point where pop culture shifted to new heights of celebrity obsession, as well as packing a serious early 90s nostalgia punch.

Burned through the first six episodes last night. Really good stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 18 May, 2016, 09:18:18 PM
Soooo, i've just watched the first...erm, 3 I think. Episodes of the new Powerpuff Girls reboot (i'm sure as hell now it isn't a continuation because ooohhh boy) and i'm going to have to write up a long post about this later, but a forewarning to Tordelback should his daughter get him to watch it. It's awful. Like, insultingly bad.

Remember all the satirical humour and character development in the original series, all the cool monster designs and up beat but not belittling family friendly tone? All gone, now all we have is a post Smosh internet meme shite storm. Urgh.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 20 May, 2016, 10:31:57 AM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 18 May, 2016, 09:18:18 PM
Soooo, i've just watched the first...erm, 3 I think. Episodes of the new Powerpuff Girls reboot (i'm sure as hell now it isn't a continuation because ooohhh boy) and i'm going to have to write up a long post about this later, but a forewarning to Tordelback should his daughter get him to watch it. It's awful. Like, insultingly bad.

Remember all the satirical humour and character development in the original series, all the cool monster designs and up beat but not belittling family friendly tone? All gone, now all we have is a post Smosh internet meme shite storm. Urgh.

You'll be reassured to know that my daughter hates it.  'Where are the real Powerpuff Girls?' was her muted reaction to the first episode, she watched a second one and refuses to watch more.  And this is a girl who can watch four very distinct iterations of Scooby Doo in a row without complaint. What a shame, we were really looking forward to this.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Satanist on 20 May, 2016, 02:00:32 PM
Does anyone watch The Last Man on Earth? It's a comedy about a complete arsehole who's the last survivor of a plague that killed humanity. Or is he?

Lots of nice pop culture references as he travels America in a Winnebago stealing everything that isn't nailed down including a Sarcophagus, T-Rex skull, the Rug from the Oval office and as much porn as he can lay his hands on. Once he gets it all home and realising he doesn't know plumbing he just shits in the swimming pool. That's the first ep.

Imagine a comedy-cringe inducing Y the Last Man and you're about there.

Just finished the second series and I think it's brilliant.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 20 May, 2016, 03:51:55 PM
I really enjoyed this, but it did get a bit exhausting by just how much of a douchebag he was. His "wife" was the best thing in it - the overly talky honeymoon sex in S.1 was hilarious. I think I missed the last few episodes of series 2 - did the astronaut brother (and his worm friends) ever get back to Earth?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Satanist on 20 May, 2016, 05:02:03 PM
"did the astronaut brother (and his worm friends) ever get back to Earth?"

The answer is [spoiler]yes he gets back and they meet up and thats when it gets even better[/spoiler].

Seriously the second series is great.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 21 May, 2016, 03:40:01 PM
Watching IZombie on Netflix at the moment. (Well, not right this minute, but I'm sure you get what I mean.) Now on series 2.

I wasn't too sure when I saw it advertised. "Yet another Zombie series?" I thought. And the cute main character made me wonder if it would be another Twilight/Vampire Diairis type thing except with zombies instead of vampires.

It turns out its more of a quirky detective series with plenty of comedy and a bit of supernatural thrown in. Not unlike the premise of Chew* actually. And most of the characters are very likeable and amusing  including the bad guys.

And that actress who plays Peyton might be one of the sexiest women I've seen.

*I haven't read much of that, although I did read the first issue, I think.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 21 May, 2016, 03:57:43 PM
It's a fun show, iZombie. I'm still on the first season, and I really enjoyed how it threw you in at the deep end at the start. It sometimes doesn't seem to make the best use of the clever situations it sets up in any given episode, but as a light-hearted police procedural with cute characters and a touch of supernatural mystery it works well. Some nice dialogue too, and Mardroid is spot on comparing it to Chew rather than iZombie itself.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 21 May, 2016, 05:47:25 PM
I confess I've never read any of the iZombie comics, while I have read a bit of Chew. So that's why.

I wasn't even aware of the comics before I saw it although I guessed it  was based on a comic when I saw that interesting  way of framing each  chapter in the episode with a comic frame and shifting to live action. So to speak.

In hindsight, it rang a bell, so I've likely seen it mentioned and just never followed up.

I see it's a vertigo series...

So I'm guessing they're not much alike?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 28 May, 2016, 04:46:30 PM
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Season 1.

It's about a milk shake, a meatball and a box of fries...wierd shit happens. It's also awesome.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rately on 08 June, 2016, 12:47:51 PM
Rewatch of The Shield.

Can remember being absolutely blown away by the pilot when it originally aired on Channel 5, and the subsequent frustration of the stop-start airing by Channel 5. Was a brilliant series, though, and can't wait to watch it in one sustained burst.

Cletus Van Damme, be damned!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 08 June, 2016, 01:33:55 PM
Crossbones - short-lived attempt to do a mainstream version of Black Sails, but without the tits, swearing, gore, or basically any of the juvenile trappings that people really tune into cable shows for.  John Malkovich portrays the scheming Blackbeard as he builds a secret nation of pirates in the Caribbean while the town's new doctor secretly plots Blackbeard's undoing on behalf of The King.  Lots of double-crosses and backstabbing ensue, with Malkovich clearly being told not to play things as panto but deciding from the off that he knows better - and who am I to argue with scenery-chewing of this caliber?
Only 9 episodes long, I recall the first couple of episodes suffering for their similarities to the aforementioned Black Sails, but once it goes its own way, it's an entertainingly daft romp.

Also the second season of Chuck Lorre's Mom, in which Hollywood continues its bizarre inability to come to terms with poverty in modern America as the show follows the inherently rotten scum-of-the-Earth poor people who scam their way through debt, illegitimate children, teenage pregnancies and addiction - basically, the things that don't happen to the rich people in Lorre's other sitcom works like Big Bang Theory, although it's intriguing to see the stark difference between how situations resolve across different works from the same creative mind: a teenage pregnancy, for instance, in Two and Half Men is resolved when the middle class mother can't bear to be parted from her new child and decides not to give it up for adoption, but in Mom, the same story resolves with the poor kid deciding that she can never be good enough for the child and giving it up to a rich couple to raise better than she could.
More sociologically fascinating than funny, but then that's Chuck Lorre for you.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 08 June, 2016, 01:47:22 PM
Finally getting around to Legend of Korra, which I bounced off several times. Korra never wins me over like Aang & co did and the set-up is inherently less dramatic than Fire Nation war - but Republic City's jazz age, elemental steampunk world is beautiful. The fights are wonderful once more and the characters have grown on me in time, and now that the first (and only originally planned) series has wound up I'm hungry for more. Great weekend material and I hope kids get something of its calibre again soon, as I'd put Avatar up with Batman TAS (and the general DCAU) as the classics of all-ages animation.

Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 28 May, 2016, 04:46:30 PM
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Season 1.

Number one in the hood, G. (definitely not all ages)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 09 June, 2016, 02:36:10 AM
I've been watching the third series of Bates' Motel on Netflix.

It's really interesting, gripping stuff. I liked the first two series and this one didn't disappoint. Yet, anyway.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 09 June, 2016, 12:36:24 PM
Just consumed three seasons of LUTHER.

Why had I missed this magnificent piece of batshit bonkers telly before.  He gives collateral damage a bad name!

Oh and finally finished HOUSE.  I right enjoyed that pretty much all the way through to it's  happy-as-you-are-gonna-get ending. 

The formula and DDX team was shaken up often enough to keep it interesting.  Park in the last season was hilarious; especially watching her friendship with Chase develop. (Not often you see a genuine friendship develop on telly, normally people are presented as best buds even though you think "what? why?"). 

I do wonder what (off screen) contractual obligations kept Cuddy from attending the memorial service though.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 09 June, 2016, 04:30:05 PM
On a Ken Burns binge at the moment.

Just watched his miniseries on Prohibition (I'm realising that I'm kind of fascinated by 1920s New York - what a time and place to be alive...) and am slowly working my way through The National Parks: America's Best Idea. I visited Yosemite last year and am taking a trip to Yellowstone this summer. I had no idea about the history behind the parks, or how much of a struggle it was to establish protect them.

Wonderful, wonderful stuff. Burns is kind of America's David Attenborough, isn't he? A national treasure.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 09 June, 2016, 04:43:17 PM
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 08 June, 2016, 01:47:22 PM
Finally getting around to Legend of Korra, which I bounced off several times. Korra never wins me over like Aang & co did and the set-up is inherently less dramatic than Fire Nation war - but Republic City's jazz age, elemental steampunk world is beautiful. The fights are wonderful once more and the characters have grown on me in time, and now that the first (and only originally planned) series has wound up I'm hungry for more. Great weekend material and I hope kids get something of its calibre again soon, as I'd put Avatar up with Batman TAS (and the general DCAU) as the classics of all-ages animation.

Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 28 May, 2016, 04:46:30 PM
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Season 1.

Number one in the hood, G. (definitely not all ages)
The Avatar TLA and Korra team have been working on a Voltron reboot, due out on Netflix in the upcoming weeks.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 09 June, 2016, 05:58:35 PM
That Voltron reboot was the subject of a rather positive article over on Anime News Network.

Fun fact - Rhys Darby is doing voice work for the series. YES! MURRAY HEWITT IN A GIANT ROBOT LION!

That's interesting, isn't it?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 16 June, 2016, 01:14:49 AM
The Detectorists

Discovered this on Netflix. Toby jone is in it, 'nuff said.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 16 June, 2016, 06:42:34 AM
Quote from: Mister Pops on 16 June, 2016, 01:14:49 AM
The Detectorists

Discovered this on Netflix. Toby jone is in it, 'nuff said.

The first season is simply perfect. Warm, funny, strangely uplifting (for a show about treasure hunting vandals).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 16 June, 2016, 02:33:45 PM
Quote from: Tordelback on 16 June, 2016, 06:42:34 AM
Quote from: Mister Pops on 16 June, 2016, 01:14:49 AM
The Detectorists

Discovered this on Netflix. Toby jone is in it, 'nuff said.

The first season is simply perfect. Warm, funny, strangely uplifting (for a show about treasure hunting vandals).

Well said TB.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ming on 16 June, 2016, 05:17:24 PM
Detectorists is one of the best things ever.

The start of this clip is one of my favourite moments; so silly but just so.... right.  Never fails to bring a stupid smile to my face.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hFadNEITqY
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 16 June, 2016, 07:17:34 PM
One of the funniest bits in The Detectorists was the first time Simon speaks.  :lol: I laughed so hard I had to rewind to catch the stuff I missed. I can't seem to find a clip of it though.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trent on 16 June, 2016, 08:28:03 PM
Detectorists - best comedy (and so much more) in ages. Bought the boxset for each of my brothers for Christmas, seemed the best kindness I could think of.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 19 June, 2016, 01:53:18 PM
Just Started GAME OF THRONES.

Yes, I'm six years late to the party.

First episode is a bit slow but does a reasonable job of setting up lots of characters and their relationships - some of them actually seem likeable. 
(cf with the new Beeb historical boobs thing Versailles - which won't be getting anoher watch).

Only another 49 to go in this box set - then onto Season 6!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 19 June, 2016, 01:58:05 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 19 June, 2016, 01:53:18 PM
Just Started GAME OF THRONES.

Yes, I'm six years late to the party.

First episode is a bit slow but does a reasonable job of setting up lots of characters and their relationships - some of them actually seem likeable. 
(cf with the new Beeb historical boobs thing Versailles - which won't be getting anoher watch).

Only another 49 to go in this box set - then onto Season 6!
Look forward to seeing you in the gutter with the rest of us soon, Tips!

And don't worry, you'll hate everyone pretty soon.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Satanist on 20 June, 2016, 06:01:43 PM
I'm about half way through the first series of Silicon Valley and it appears to be quite humerous. A show about a bunch of nerds trying to make it rich from some music app they've come up with. Better than it sounds.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 20 June, 2016, 06:49:28 PM
We've been devouring the new documentary series OJ Simpson: Made in America, which makes for an excellent companion piece the equally brilliant dramatisation The People Vs OJ Simpson, which we watched earlier in the year.

Frankly, the doc doesn't even question whether or not he did it, it's more about the wider context of the case, and how he got away with it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: futureimperfect on 27 June, 2016, 11:33:51 AM
Orphan Black

While out and about I spotted a twin pack of series 1 and 2 for a price so cheap I couldn't pass it up. I knew nothing about it beforehand other than reading the words science fiction and clones on the box. Well we managed to devour the two series over the course of the week and then picked up number three which ate through the weekend! Suffice to say we were both very impressed. Some of the shots with the lead actress playing up to four different people in the same scene is a joy to watch. And there are a lot of laugh out loud moments too. If anyone hasn't seen it yet for whatever reason, go out and give it a try. I think there is enough of everything to keep most people happy. Great couples viewing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 27 June, 2016, 06:50:43 PM
I think that's on. Netflix. It didnt really appeal when I read the description but maybe I'll give it a go.

I finally started watching Agent Carter. I say 'started', I'm five episodes in already. While they lay some stuff on a bit heavy and there's some stuff that's a bit predictable, overall I'd say it's very good.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 28 June, 2016, 12:08:47 PM
GAME OF THRONES

Up to Episode 7.  Am worried for Sean Bean.

Also thinking about how the casting call for this must have gone.

"We are doing a fantasy, historical drama."
"Sounds interesting, I'm in".
"Good. Do you have any porn film experience?"
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 28 June, 2016, 12:43:30 PM
half way through latest Peaky Blinkers... loving it!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 28 June, 2016, 02:16:08 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 28 June, 2016, 12:08:47 PM
GAME OF THRONES

Up to Episode 7.  Am worried for Sean Bean

Nah he'll be fine - Sean Bean NEVER dies in anything ...  :-\
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 28 June, 2016, 02:24:43 PM
Yep, I can guarantee you haven't seen the last of Ned's disapproving scowl.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 29 June, 2016, 01:18:20 PM
Bloodline

As watch both seasons on Netflix, first season was brilliant but there no needs for 2nd season, as this is example of why it better as one-off season.

‎Ben Mendelsohn is one to watch!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 29 June, 2016, 01:19:54 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 28 June, 2016, 02:16:08 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 28 June, 2016, 12:08:47 PM
GAME OF THRONES

Up to Episode 7.  Am worried for Sean Bean

Nah he'll be fine - Sean Bean NEVER dies in anything ...  :-\

Spoiler shirley  ;)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 29 June, 2016, 01:49:48 PM
There maybe another Jock coming but my lips are sealed  :-X... so still in double figures!

Pity about the GRennie droid... I wanted my Rain Dogs co-signed. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 29 June, 2016, 05:01:46 PM
Quote from: Proudhuff on 29 June, 2016, 01:49:48 PM
There maybe another Jock coming but my lips are sealed  :-X... so still in double figures!

Pity about the GRennie droid... I wanted my Rain Dogs co-signed.

Jock on another box set?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 30 June, 2016, 09:42:16 AM
Quote from: Goaty on 29 June, 2016, 05:01:46 PM
Quote from: Proudhuff on 29 June, 2016, 01:49:48 PM
There maybe another Jock coming but my lips are sealed  :-X... so still in double figures!

Pity about the GRennie droid... I wanted my Rain Dogs co-signed.

Jock on another box set?

Doh! wrong thread appollies all round!  :-[
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 30 June, 2016, 10:30:04 AM
Why can't any thread stay on topic here?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 30 June, 2016, 12:13:43 PM
What a surprise, all Star Trek series included original series and animated series is now on Netflix UK!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 30 June, 2016, 01:20:16 PM
Fantastic! Are these the dreadful 'remastered SFX' versions? Oh who cares, this is just great news.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JamesC on 30 June, 2016, 02:49:16 PM
That's good news.
Now I can watch some TNG episodes from pre-First Contact - before the Queen came along and ruined everything! ;)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 30 June, 2016, 05:01:16 PM
Quote from: Tordelback on 30 June, 2016, 01:20:16 PM
Fantastic! Are these the dreadful 'remastered SFX' versions? Oh who cares, this is just great news.

That is good news.  Have I the patience to watch Voyager all the way through?

I had Season 1 with the remastered SFX. I personally thought they were pretty good. They just looked like phenomenally good sixties effects as opposed to noughties effects pasted on top.  (cf - Jabba from Star Wars special edition).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 30 June, 2016, 07:21:22 PM
Ah don't mind me, I just don't see the point of farting about with SFX - it was what it was. But I have been flicking indecisively around for an hour now, unable to decide in which order to sample this bounty...! Just an amazing thing to have at your fingertips.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 30 June, 2016, 07:24:38 PM
Welp, I have NEVER watched any classic Trek. Or very much at all for that matter, must fix that now.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 30 June, 2016, 08:16:24 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 30 June, 2016, 07:24:38 PM
Welp, I have NEVER watched any classic Trek. Or very much at all for that matter, must fix that now.

So very, very young...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 30 June, 2016, 08:44:49 PM
Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 30 June, 2016, 08:16:24 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 30 June, 2016, 07:24:38 PM
Welp, I have NEVER watched any classic Trek. Or very much at all for that matter, must fix that now.

So very, very young...
I was always more in the Doctor Who and Gundam crowd. :lol:
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 30 June, 2016, 09:02:33 PM
When I was your age Gundam was a dwarf I played in the new game Dungeons and Dragons...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 30 June, 2016, 09:20:09 PM
Heh, in way's Gundam is not unlike Trek. Multiple stories in a congruent timeline, excellent stuff.

Oh, and i've never played a game of D&D in my life either!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 01 July, 2016, 07:42:46 AM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 30 June, 2016, 09:20:09 PM
Oh, and i've never played a game of D&D in my life either!

You should come round our gaff.  I'll have my 6 year old school you in the ways of the Heisenberg compensator and the bill-guisarme.  Benefits of a classical education.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 01 July, 2016, 10:46:06 AM
It would be my honour, Senior Tordels! It's somewhat telling my only experience in D&D law is THAT movie and the cartoon series (a favourite of mine as a child)!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 01 July, 2016, 10:53:14 AM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 01 July, 2016, 10:46:06 AM
It would be my honour, Senior Tordels! It's somewhat telling my only experience in D&D law is THAT movie and the cartoon series (a favourite of mine as a child)!
Justice is in the eye of the beholder.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 01 July, 2016, 12:17:15 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 01 July, 2016, 10:46:06 AM
...my only experience in D&D law is THAT movie and the cartoon series (a favourite of mine as a child)!

I have no idea what you're talking about. Both sound like interesting projects, what a shame neither ever came to pass.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 01 July, 2016, 03:11:25 PM
They made a tabletop RPG based on the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon series?  How delightfully novel!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: M.I.K. on 01 July, 2016, 05:50:36 PM
That cartoon was ahead of its time, featuring as it did the first brony.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 01 July, 2016, 08:39:39 PM
Sod the impossible choice demanded by All Star Trek At Once, I've just discovered there's 7 seasons of  Gilmore Girls on Netflix. That's a lot of Lauren Graham, the all time sexiest Hawaiian.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: sheridan on 01 July, 2016, 10:35:56 PM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 01 July, 2016, 03:11:25 PM
They made a tabletop RPG based on the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon series?  How delightfully novel!
Actually, they did do one - an RPG based on a cartoon inspired by the original D&D RPG.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 11 July, 2016, 02:24:17 PM
Marco Polo.

Really good, but really filthy in places! Kind for to be expected in these Netflix series but it really is gratuitous sometimes.

There was a real shocking violent  moment too where I kind of think they went too far in [spoiler]depicting some rather nasty violence to a child. I could see what they were threatening and figured he was ust messing and wouldn't go there and, ouch, dear me, he did it. I guess they wanted to portray the Cricket Chancellor as irredeemably evil. I actually think they did the character a disservice, taking that route.[/spoiler]

Apart from that, it's a really interesting beautifully shot series with interesting complex characters. And lots of naked ladies...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 13 July, 2016, 04:02:19 PM
Season 2 of Fargo is now on Netflix. It's brilliant and dark!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 13 July, 2016, 05:54:39 PM
Quote from: Goaty on 13 July, 2016, 04:02:19 PM
Season 2 of Fargo is now on Netflix. It's brilliant and dark!

Yup. Season 2 of Fargo is fantastic. Genuinely brilliant characters mired in brutality and strangeness. It made me think oddly of Twin Peaks, although more brutal and a little less strange.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trent on 13 July, 2016, 10:04:11 PM
Loved both series of Fargo.
Just finished Billions - good fun and Damian Lewis is getting better with each series he moves from (Band of Brothers, Life, Homeland and now this).
Started on 11.22.63 this evening- James Franco is always watchable and I love the cars from the period. Very obviously Stephen King fare, looking forward to see how it plays out over the next few nights.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 14 July, 2016, 09:40:40 AM
Still have 11.22.63 sitting to watch, really liked the book so hopefully they've done a good job of it.

Recently binged through season 1 of Mr Robot and now completely hooked, new episodes start tonight!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 14 July, 2016, 01:41:22 PM
I'm currently watching the last handful of episodes of an anime series called 'Oh! Edo Rocket' - and it's absolutely NUTS!

The plot revolves around a kid in Edo era Japan whose passion in life is making fireworks, an illegal act under the emperor's edicts as it constitutes a frivolous and wasteful use of resources. The thing is, he's out to build the biggest rocket in history in hopes of sending a new girl in town back home to the moon (because she's an alien - I DID say this show was nuts.)

The real stroke of genius here is that everybody in the show is very much aware that they're characters in a cartoon, which leads to some of them referring to each other by the names of their voice actors, checking animation notes and scripts to see what happens next, and answering questions like 'what are you doing here?' with responses like 'because this scene doesn't make sense without me'. And despite being set in Edo era Japan, everyone's free to use subway trains, mobile phones, Youtube and computers whenever the need arises. There's also an episode where the main cast are all transformed into cats. Singing cats. And a local official who suddenly starts speaking like Elvis when he feels threatened.

If it wasn't for the fact that somebody had made this up, I'd say you couldn't make it up. It's friggin' INSPIRED!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 14 July, 2016, 03:39:47 PM
I have a mighty need all of a sudden! I'm adding that to my To Watch pile!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 15 July, 2016, 10:16:14 AM
Quote from: Keef Monkey on 14 July, 2016, 09:40:40 AM
Still have 11.22.63 sitting to watch, really liked the book so hopefully they've done a good job of it.

Definitely worth a look.
Franco oozes honest charm, and its beautifully shot.
Not a huge commitment with only 8 episodes.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trent on 15 July, 2016, 10:44:30 AM
Only caveat with 11.22..63 is that it is unmistakeably Stephen King material. People are allowed long monologues that feel lifted from the book so while the tension and action elements are well done (and quite visceral) the pace slows regularly for Kingsian ramblings which is not to everyone's taste in this age of fast editing. Personally I love it, haven't read the book but this feels very faithful if you know what I mean.
And James Franco is excellent as ever. Hugely underrated talent.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 17 July, 2016, 09:48:50 PM
Better Call Saul. Been enjoying season 1 well enough, good stuff. Just watched episode 6 'Five -O' and now its as good as Breaking Bad.

Mike always was my favourite character.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 18 July, 2016, 01:54:40 AM
Am I the only person who have up on Breaking Bad? Never made it beyond Season 2. No characters or situations I could like or relate to... I'm sure there is more to it then that because I do watch films with bad people in them but this just didn't click.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rately on 18 July, 2016, 10:05:51 AM
Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 17 July, 2016, 09:48:50 PM
Better Call Saul. Been enjoying season 1 well enough, good stuff. Just watched episode 6 'Five -O' and now its as good as Breaking Bad.

Mike always was my favourite character.

I am a massive fan of Breaking bad, so good to hear that it's of a similar standard. Been meaning to watch this for ages, and i think my trepidation, and the reason it keeps getting put down my list, is the fact i'm afraid it won't live up to the same standards as the original series.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 18 July, 2016, 10:12:43 AM
I'm probably in the minority here, but personally I've been enjoyed Saul even more than Breaking Bad. It's fantastic!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 18 July, 2016, 10:18:23 AM
Stranger Things on Netflix is really good, at least 4 episodes in. It's caught our attention in a way that Preacher et al have kind of struggled to do.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 18 July, 2016, 03:50:15 PM
Quote from: Keef Monkey on 18 July, 2016, 10:12:43 AM
I'm probably in the minority here, but personally I've been enjoyed Saul even more than Breaking Bad. It's fantastic!

I love Breaking Bad, but there's a lot to be said for the confident relaxed pacing of BCS, and the less cartoonish characterisations. The complexity and sheer monstrousness of Chuck is as terrifying as any Gus Fring. Like everyone else, i think Mike is just magnificent, but for me Slippin' Jimmy takes the prize: what a complete character.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 18 July, 2016, 07:16:36 PM
Since discovering I'd accidentally paid for a whole year Amazon Prime back in February, I've been trying to get my money's worth. I've watched Preacher up to date (review on that thread: https://forums.2000adonline.com/index.php?topic=39623.msg922679#msg922679 (https://forums.2000adonline.com/index.php?topic=39623.msg922679#msg922679))

I've also been watching Lucifer and man in the High castle.

I don't know what top say about Lucifer. They've taken a dark and complex graphic novel full of theology and metaphysics and turned it into a mismatched-buddy-cop comedy.  :o As far as such things go, it's not bad, and every now and then they seem to remember what their source materiel is and we get Mazikeen being a bit evil or a threatening angel showing up, but it's a pretty piss-poor adaptation of one of my favourite series.

Man in the High Castle on the other hand has been fantastic. I've devoured all 10 episodes in a week and want more now! I don't think I ever read the book, so I was a bit confused about some of it. [spoiler]I couldn't understand why the trade minister seemed so intent on helping Juliana when he clearly know who she was, and why he has her necklace, when she left it for Frank to find. And then that revelation in the last 5 minutes of the final episode - WOW - is that the first time he's done that or has he been dimension hopping all along? Was he in love with a Juliana counterpart in 'our' world? Is he the Man in the High Castle? I guess these are all things I'll have to wait for season 2 to answer.[/spoiler]

It's a brilliant production, visually arresting and all the casting seems spot on. Love it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Satanist on 20 July, 2016, 10:21:46 AM
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 18 July, 2016, 10:18:23 AM
Stranger Things on Netflix is really good, at least 4 episodes in. It's caught our attention in a way that Preacher et al have kind of struggled to do.

We watched 5 eps of this last night and will prob finish it tonight. Its that good. I'd sum it up as Speilberg makes a Stephen King show in the 80's.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 20 July, 2016, 10:54:56 AM
Just finished it last night. Devastated as we've got nothing more to watch and it was thoroughly enjoyable...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trent on 20 July, 2016, 12:30:45 PM
Finished 11.22.63. Really good, what I like was how King thought of the idea 40 years ago but as with much of his work the whole initial hook turns out to be a shaggy dog story that comes down to a poem read at the end with the overarching message of accept and make the best of what you have.
Typically bittersweet ending with James Franco making a much better everyman than the miscast Christopher Walken in the otherwise excellent Dead Zone (normally love the guy). The whole essence of the lead characters were that they were thoroughly decent blokes in extraordinary circumstances and Franco caught that and a joie de vivre perfectly.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 20 July, 2016, 08:06:40 PM
Have been poorly so bunged all ten episodes of THE PACIFIC  over the last two and a bit days.

Despite similar production team it's completely different in tone and style to Band Of Brothers; really goes out of it's way to show up the brutality of this theatre of war and the impact it has on minds and at home (issues only skirted around in BOB). The Okinawa episode (9, I think) being the stand out for me - I don't  think I've seen historical events so accurately and grusomely rendered. Well worth ten hours of your time (but be warned it has soapy elements and even... women).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Satanist on 21 July, 2016, 11:08:05 AM
Well I finished Stranger Things last night and loved it. Great wee series which I may just watch again with the kids.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Magnetica on 22 July, 2016, 11:37:53 PM
Better Call Saul versus Breaking Bad. For me it's no contest - got to be BB.

The problem I have with BCS, and it may well just be me, is we know how it ends up and more to the point what doesn't happen i.e. Jimmy doesn't end up with Kim and given the amount of time spent on that, for me it's a problem. We also know he doesn't end up as a hot shot lawyer at a big firm, so when he gets the job at Kim's firm we know it must all end, just not how.

Having said all that, I still watch it and enjoy it.

(On the other hand, I never had a problem with the Strontium Dog stories set before Johnny's death, but I guess that just shows what a great writer John Wagner is.)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 23 July, 2016, 12:17:28 AM
The Wrong Mans on Netflix.

Don't let the name put you off. And don't let the fact it co-stars James Corden* put you off. I haven't finished the first series yet (although I'm just about to watch episode 5) but so far I have found this a very amusing , twisty turny series. Essentially it follows the concept of a guy finding himself in the wrong place at the wrong time and trying to extricate himself and [spoiler]later do the right thing[/spoiler], along with his annoying if well meaning mate. Served with plenty of black (and yes some silly) humour I think it's really worth your time. Unless you really hate James Corden that much*. He does pretty much play his usual type of character, but I think it works here.

* I actually don't have a problem with the guy myself. In fact I rather like him, but from comments I've read elsewhere, I get the impression, many don't like him. Or maybe it was just a couple of vocal people.     
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 28 July, 2016, 10:54:31 AM
The Chris Gethard Show - available in its entirety on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/user/chrisgeth/playlists) from its cable access beginnings to its Wayne's World-style shift to a regular network - is a chat show for non-conformists described as "sad" and "the epitome of hipster bullshit" by it's own host, an improv comedian with occasionally-apparent anxiety issues.
I'm not a fan of chat shows, but this is surprisingly good fun.  The raw earlier episodes from the days when the show was little more than something you'd expect to see run up by teenagers in a local technical college have a rough charm, but the "official" episodes from the Fusion network are reminiscent of The Graham Norton Show, or what that would be like if there weren't any mean jokes and the host wasn't smug and judgmental about the public.
If you work at your computer, try putting it on in the background for a while.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 28 July, 2016, 12:21:21 PM
FARGO Season 2 on Netflix.

Enjoying this and the episode that looks like it is shaping up to be Assault on Precinct 13 is one of teh best bits of telly I've seen in a long time; full of brilliant tension, great dialogue, cracking character bits and unexpected plot twists and turns.

And this followed by a great Miller's Crossing referencing scene in the next episode (it *must* have been deliberate choice to use Danny Boy on the soundtrack).

It's deliberately larger in scale than other Fargos; instead of one little crime/mistake spiralling out of control, this one has two plots feeding off each other and getting bigger and better.

The casting and performances are all great including an aged Ted Danson.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 28 July, 2016, 12:27:34 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 28 July, 2016, 12:21:21 PM
FARGO Season 2 on Netflix.

Enjoying this and the episode that looks like it is shaping up to be Assault on Precinct 13 is one of teh best bits of telly I've seen in a long time; full of brilliant tension, great dialogue, cracking character bits and unexpected plot twists and turns.

Yes. All of this. Quite brilliant... just fantastic television from start to finish.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 28 July, 2016, 01:32:12 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 28 July, 2016, 12:27:34 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 28 July, 2016, 12:21:21 PM
FARGO Season 2 on Netflix.

Enjoying this and the episode that looks like it is shaping up to be Assault on Precinct 13 is one of teh best bits of telly I've seen in a long time; full of brilliant tension, great dialogue, cracking character bits and unexpected plot twists and turns.

Yes. All of this. Quite brilliant... just fantastic television from start to finish.

Oh nice, UK Netflix? I only caught a little of season 1 but have been meaning to get around to it. Have heard nothing but strong praise for season 2.

EDIT: (Just had a look for meself, and it is indeed UK Netflix)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 28 July, 2016, 05:11:02 PM
Stranger Things.

I was almost a bit predisposed not to like this, as I suspected that it would be another Super 8 - ie a mediocre story dressed up in early 80s Amblin clothing, laser-targeted to pander to the nostalgia of people like me.

And while there's arguably still an element of that (is there anything about the story that demands it be a 1980s period piece other than aesthetics?), it's a far more accomplished piece of work.

In fact the period detail and presentation are so eerily convincing that I actually find the very modern pacing and editing a little jarring in context. The music too - while totally great - feels very much like a modern take on 80s synth, not a convincing simulacrum of it.

Really great performances all round, and an appealing cast of characters that grab the attention, even if the story and many of the specific plot beats feel a little over-familiar.

I'm only up to episode 4 so far, and the only place its put a foot wrong is the [spoiler]fake dead body[/spoiler]. I'm hoping there's going to be an explanation for it, because otherwise it comes across as more than a little silly and contrived.

But all in all - Holy shit, Netflix continue to smash it out of the park with their original programming. It's just hit after hit, and I heard somewhere recently that they are aiming to drop a brand new series every week of the year... HBO must be shitting themselves.

Oh, and that sound you can hear is Hollywood desperately banging on the door of the Duffer Brothers.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 28 July, 2016, 05:25:07 PM
Quote from: radiator on 28 July, 2016, 05:11:02 PM
is there anything about the story that demands it be a 1980s period piece other than aesthetics?

Maybe just a timeline that connects with MK Ultra and cold war espionage. But that's hardly a necessity.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 28 July, 2016, 05:59:16 PM
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 28 July, 2016, 05:25:07 PM
Quote from: radiator on 28 July, 2016, 05:11:02 PM
is there anything about the story that demands it be a 1980s period piece other than aesthetics?

Maybe just a timeline that connects with MK Ultra and cold war espionage. But that's hardly a necessity.

You could argue that a buncha preteens running around unsupervised would hardly happen in this day and age. They don't have mobile phones and the internet, or videogames (hence the DnD), it might be harder to make the kids beleivable if it had a modern setting, since they would constantly have to make popculture references and talk about memes and GET OFF MY DARN LAWN! With the internet [spoiler]Wills disapearance[/spoiler] would have gone viral and brought a load of weirdos down on the town. All in all I don't think it's 80s for the sake of it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 28 July, 2016, 06:09:17 PM
It's kind of a pet hate of mine* - period setting in a work of fiction for no real reason other than novelty, to hit the retro/nostalgia button, or to lend a sense of authenticity.

I'll give Stranger Things the benefit of the doubt because it's done so well, though.

*I think I've moaned about this before, but I also find excessive, really on-the-nose period detail a bit annoying/distracting too - like when a movie or TV show is set in the 1980s, and within the first thirty seconds they wheel out every single 80s cliche they can think of to really smash the audience over the head - Thatcher on the TV talking about the Falklands and/or Miner's Strike, Culture Club on the radio and someone playing with a Rubik's Cube etc etc.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 28 July, 2016, 07:33:51 PM
The Living and the Dead

They're showing it weekly, but I crammed the whole lot on BBC iPlayer.

Spooky rural drama in Victorian setting with strange but cleverly done [spoiler]timey-wimey[/spoiler] stuff. From the same guys as Life on Mars apparently. And it really is spooky in places.

There's more to it than that. [spoiler]It uses these toys to explore the nature of grief and loss and hard choices.[/spoiler] And starring that chap from Merlin and a very pretty freckly actress playing his wife.

It's really good.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 29 July, 2016, 09:18:58 AM
Binged the end of FARGO.

That was brilliant. And a while slew of references to other Coen brothers movies too (I'd spotted a few in the incidental music but the Miller's Crossing, Raising Arizona and No Country For Old Men bits were great to twig).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 29 July, 2016, 06:12:33 PM
Polished off the last four episodes of Stranger Things last night, and while it was overall a wonderful piece of television (some contrived and awkward plotting aside), it didn't quite stick the landing for me. [spoiler]Essentially, I wanted/expected a much more conclusive ending. It very much felt like it was building up to a conclusive ending, then had some very tacked-on feeling dangling plot threads for season 2. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was always intended as a miniseries, tbh.[/spoiler]

In particular, it felt like a major let-down/cop out [spoiler]to have the whole season building up to a few key events (Jonathan and Nancy's romance, the lovely foundation of a brand new Byers family unit and the rescue of Will) only to utterly confound them all at the last second.[/spoiler]

While I pretty much loved the show - the cast, the style, the writing, the music... I don't really want to see a continuation of it, if that makes sense? It almost feels like it might be another Heroes - a great first season that should have been a one-off miniseries.

Or maybe I'll be wrong, and season 2 will be just as amazing?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Satanist on 05 August, 2016, 11:00:53 AM
Just watched the latest ep of Mr Robot last night - that was one dark episode. It was great!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 05 August, 2016, 12:18:10 PM
Quote from: Satanist on 05 August, 2016, 11:00:53 AM
Just watched the latest ep of Mr Robot last night - that was one dark episode. It was great!

Agreed, it was brilliant this week!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Enigmatic Dr X on 05 August, 2016, 06:59:02 PM
Oooh.

We have two rules in our house:

1) Unless someone makes an impassioned plea, no watching a show until you know it's been renewed to at least two seasons.

2) Only two shows can be being watched at any time. As we've just polished off American Horror Story and Blacklist (with Preacher being followed under rule one), we are about to embark on a double barrel of Mr Robot and Stranger Things.

I am enthused by this thread.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 08 September, 2016, 10:22:33 PM
I've been rewatching THE X-FILES and man, i'm hit by just how well it all holds up, really looking forward to finally seeing how the new series compares.

That being said...THE RAIN KING. That one episode everyone else loves except me. Because its fucking shit.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 08 September, 2016, 10:40:20 PM
On way home after lovely break in Florence with missus. One thing I like about aboard is see their collection of Netflix! I just finally see final series of Penny Dreadful, how brilliant was that!

Again it is what The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen should be! (After see first two series in France last year) All casting was perfect, but not sure about this last series villain [spoiler]Don't ask which one![/spoiler]

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 08 September, 2016, 10:47:07 PM
Quote from: Goaty on 08 September, 2016, 10:40:20 PMhow brilliant was that!

I have to go with 'not brilliant at all'. I bailed on the series after some interminable fucking episode about dancing around on the moors. I'll admit, there were occasional flashes of brilliance, but they were much too few, with far too much unutterable toss between them.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 08 September, 2016, 11:10:57 PM
Well I liked it
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 14 September, 2016, 03:04:23 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 29 July, 2016, 09:18:58 AM
Binged the end of FARGO.

That was brilliant. And a while slew of references to other Coen brothers movies too (I'd spotted a few in the incidental music but the Miller's Crossing, Raising Arizona and No Country For Old Men bits were great to twig).

Did that last week myself - absolutely brilliant stuff. Luke Wilson was great and (shockingly) so was Kirsten Dunst, though I did want to slap her so many times.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 18 September, 2016, 09:24:24 PM
'Watching a few episodes of GREAT DANGAIOH'

Well this is pretty bad, but the mecha action is nice, hope nothing happens to make it wo-

'Gets to the episode that reveals 3/4 of the '87 cast died ALIEN3 style post OVA'

FUCK. THIS. SHIIIIITE!!!!!!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 19 September, 2016, 11:09:35 AM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 18 September, 2016, 09:24:24 PM
'Watching a few episodes of GREAT DANGAIOH'

Well this is pretty bad, but the mecha action is nice, hope nothing happens to make it wo-

'Gets to the episode that reveals 3/4 of the '87 cast died ALIEN3 style post OVA'

FUCK. THIS. SHIIIIITE!!!!!!

'Watches another half an episode'

No, seriously, fuck off with this shit, now it's just straight lifting from Alien3 and Resurection, what with Miya being a clone of the original from the OVA's, which apparently took place 40 years ago now.

What an absolute piss take, i'm out. And do you know what the most frustrating part is? The original series left any follow up with the strong option of a clean slate after a huge tragedy in the finale of episode 3, placing the 4 leads in a new situation without Dangaioh to fall back on, and the four components int a wreck like condition.

Great Dangaioh has done nothing to follow up on the potential the (all too short) original had, and is instead a monumental dogs dinner.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 19 September, 2016, 11:17:02 AM
I swear to Grud you're just making this stuff up now.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 19 September, 2016, 11:18:27 AM
Quote from: Tordelback on 19 September, 2016, 11:17:02 AM
I swear to Grud you're just making this stuff up now.
I so wish I was, I so bloody wish I was.

Seriously though, DANGAIOH mini series, GREAT! Go watch that gloriously cheesy 80's action fest!

GREAT DANGAIOH is anything but great. Hmph.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 19 September, 2016, 12:49:55 PM
Well, after that shite, I needed a pallet cleanser. A personal favorite, finally bought in HD...
(https://www.anbient.com/files/styles/poster/public/img/kidou-keisatsu-patlabor-ova/poster-12792.jpg?itok=h4YxB8us)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: dweezil2 on 19 September, 2016, 04:08:37 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 28 July, 2016, 12:21:21 PM
FARGO Season 2 on Netflix.

Enjoying this and the episode that looks like it is shaping up to be Assault on Precinct 13 is one of teh best bits of telly I've seen in a long time; full of brilliant tension, great dialogue, cracking character bits and unexpected plot twists and turns.

And this followed by a great Miller's Crossing referencing scene in the next episode (it *must* have been deliberate choice to use Danny Boy on the soundtrack).

It's deliberately larger in scale than other Fargos; instead of one little crime/mistake spiralling out of control, this one has two plots feeding off each other and getting bigger and better.

The casting and performances are all great including an aged Ted Danson.


Bloody hell!

A bit good is Fargoisn't it?

Pleasantly surprised by Kirsten Dunst's performance!

She's as gleefully psychotic as the bad guys!

Superb writing and the performances are faultless!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: YakuzaFingerChop on 26 September, 2016, 09:35:50 PM
I also just finished Fargo year 2 and loved it. Very different from the first but in every way just as good. The ending for me was perfect. Can't wait for the next season.

I'm stuck on what to watch next. Mr Robot or American Horror Story. I know bugger all about either but they are both on sale at the moment so that's my choices. I like science fiction and horror equally so I'm really asking what is better value.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tony Angelino on 26 September, 2016, 09:42:47 PM
I've loved both seasons of Fargo.

I think the ending to the penultimate episode of season 2 was maybe going a bit far but loved it overall.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 27 September, 2016, 10:53:06 AM
Happy Valley series 1. Hebden Bridge is my dream town and the place we want to live as soon as possible. So it's been very interesting to see the Calder Valley in a slightly different light :) Gripping, well acted stuff; reminded me a little of Fargo in its set-up of a kidnapping orchestrated by a small, bitter man but much darker and harder.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Apestrife on 27 September, 2016, 04:30:25 PM
Watched Twin Peaks s 1-2 in one weekend, the movie + extras on the Monday after.

Had a good time doing so.

Wasn't sure of the tone at first. Felt a bit uneven, but the mix of absurdity, campy fun and weird horror really grew on me.

Besides figuring out the meaning of things (what they mean to me, since that seems to be the intention of Lynch's story telling) I also enjoyed catching how influential the show has been.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 27 September, 2016, 06:56:46 PM
Blacklist series 3(?) now seriously bananas, but loving it
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 27 September, 2016, 09:13:25 PM
Quote from: Apestrife on 27 September, 2016, 04:30:25 PM
Watched Twin Peaks s 1-2 in one weekend, the movie + extras on the Monday after.

Had a good time doing so.


Really tempted to do this before the new stuff comes out (that's still happening right?) but I worry if it'll hold up. That show meant so much to me as a kid.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: PsychoGoatee on 28 September, 2016, 02:38:22 AM
Quote from: Apestrife on 27 September, 2016, 04:30:25 PM
Watched Twin Peaks s 1-2 in one weekend, the movie + extras on the Monday after.

Had a good time doing so.

Wasn't sure of the tone at first. Felt a bit uneven, but the mix of absurdity, campy fun and weird horror really grew on me.

Besides figuring out the meaning of things (what they mean to me, since that seems to be the intention of Lynch's story telling) I also enjoyed catching how influential the show has been.

Glad you enjoyed it! I'm a big fan, been rewatching that recently too. Can't wait for the new Twin Peaks series hitting next year! Are you a Lynch fan in general? If you haven't seen them I highly recommend Blue Velvet and Lost Highway for starters.

I just started digging on Murder, She Wrote. That show is great, way better paced and more clever than a lot of other 80s whodunnit shows. Magnum P.I. is also more entertaining than expected.

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 27 September, 2016, 09:13:25 PM

Really tempted to do this before the new stuff comes out (that's still happening right?) but I worry if it'll hold up. That show meant so much to me as a kid.

Oh yeah it's happening, it's all been filmed already. They released a huge list of the entire cast too, majority of the original cast is back, plus Naomi Watts, Laura Dern, and others.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JOE SOAP on 28 September, 2016, 03:09:55 AM
Quote from: Apestrife on 27 September, 2016, 04:30:25 PMBesides figuring out the meaning of things (what they mean to me, since that seems to be the intention of Lynch's story telling) I also enjoyed catching how influential the show has been.

Lynch's episodes are the best but he only directed 6 of the 30 in both seasons and his often neglected co-creator Mark Frost wrote 18 (most of the good and important ones) while also doing a lot of the producing when Lynch was off for the majority of Season 2, only returning to direct the last episode. A small group of directors covered most of Season 2: Tim Hunter - who co-wrote an early Judge Dredd screenplay with James Crumley - directed the best of the rest, including the episode with [spoiler]Leland's death in the cell.[/spoiler]

Afterwards they parted ways. Mark Frost didn't work on Fire Walk With Me since he preferred a direct Season 2 sequel rather than a prequel/sequel mash-up but Lynch wanted to do the Laura Palmer story.


However, the new seasons will all be written by Frost and directed by Lynch.




Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Michael Knight on 09 October, 2016, 12:29:01 AM
Confession! I've never seen Twin Peaks! Need to address this and see what the fuss all about.  :)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tony Angelino on 09 October, 2016, 12:39:14 AM

I just started digging on Murder, She Wrote. That show is great, way better paced and more clever than a lot of other 80s whodunnit shows. Magnum P.I. is also more entertaining than expected.

[/quote]

Magnum P.I. was a great show for about 5-6 seasons. It was very funny at times. Sadly it did run out of steam toward the end of its run. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 10 October, 2016, 02:15:46 PM
Well as I believe was disused elsewhere regarding Crusher Joe, i've recently started re-watching the Original Dirty Pair saga, spanning a 26 episode TV series, 8 OVA's and 3 movies. The result is a delightfully, quirky and self contained episodic space adventure series of the right temperament and pacing for dip watching. What holds the series together over it's episodic nature are our titular leads, Kei and Yuri, and the nicely tight nit cast (surprisingly small for a series of it's size) of supporting characters which kept me merrily watching the whole time. I'm not going to pretend the franchise is any high water marker for sci-fi writing, it's a simple government agents with unfortunate reputations (1/3 of the duo's gigs end in planetary destruction...never their fault, i'm sure!) going about their day jobs and trying to shirk down time off their boss every few episodes. It is, however, utterly harmless silly and thoroughly entertaining as well as often surprisingly beautiful despite budget restraints. A very much recommended viewing.
(http://38.media.tumblr.com/3b5494766d17a933f8a31011fdd77b05/tumblr_mr6ym9N3Xm1qeumowo1_500.gif)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 10 October, 2016, 05:57:31 PM
We've been watching Master of None - a sitcom created by Aziz Ansari and various Parks and Rec alumni - on Netflix. It's a really funny, gentle and sweet-natured show. Well worth checking out.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Magnetica on 12 October, 2016, 12:26:17 AM
Quote from: Michael Knight on 09 October, 2016, 12:29:01 AM
Confession! I've never seen Twin Peaks! Need to address this and see what the fuss all about.  :)

I've never seen it either.

Apart from about ten minutes.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 14 October, 2016, 05:49:55 AM
I recently bought the Gold Box of Twin Peaks for quite a easonable price.

I've some of it on the telly, but never the whole thing all the way through.

I haven't got very far yet. I found the 90 minute pilot* dragged a bit, but the other episodes I've viewed have been fine.

It's... very odd, isn't it? In this case, I find that an asset, though.

One thing, I find particularly interesting is that while the underlying subject matter, and certain events go to a particularly dark place, it somehow managed to be rather lighthearted and rather funny, in places.

*There's actually two versions of the pilot. I went with the original release. I'm in no rush to watch the international version after having recently seen the original, but I'm sure I'll  get arround to it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tony Angelino on 14 October, 2016, 04:32:10 PM
I only ever watched Twin Peaks when it was first shown. I absolutely loved the pilot episode. Thought it was really different from anything else on TV at the time. For me it didn't reach that height again and I thought some episodes were a bit silly.

One bit of silliness I remember was an episode where one of the deputies stands on a bit of wood (or similar), it hits him in the face and then he just walks back and forth in a stunned manner. The scene just went on and on. I don't know whether the episode was running short or whether the makers thought it was really funny but it was one of those jumping the shark moments for me.   
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 14 October, 2016, 07:23:57 PM
Okay turns out we'd finished Better Call Sol series one, we just hadn't realsied. Which is kinda weird. Cos we get it on our Lovefilm thingie I'd not been paying attention and assumed it was like 12 or so episodes so we waited for the next disk and nowt shown up. Looking back i can kinda see how where it ended was kinda an ending, but it clearly lacked impact.

Weird.

Anyway now watching Walking Dead Season three and like the comic compelling fluff nonsense. I know it diveats from the comics but I kinda hope they kill off Lori at the same point as I'm finding her pretty annoying.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tony Angelino on 14 October, 2016, 10:38:54 PM
The season one finale of Better Call Saul wasn't great. They would have been better off finishing off with the previous episode.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: auxlen on 15 October, 2016, 03:53:21 PM
I bought the Mrs a load of 80s box sets and magnum PI was great, the ateam was great...chips was not bad...the fall guy was a bit of a let down
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tony Angelino on 15 October, 2016, 05:05:27 PM
In my opinion the best overall 70's show was The Rockford Files. Still stands up well today with good stories and characters and kept it up throughout its run. Worth looking out for.

With the 80's I probably would go for Magnum PI although as I said in an earlier post I thought there was a big dip in quality in the last 2-3 seasons.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: auxlen on 15 October, 2016, 05:06:54 PM
I think the professionals stands up ok (apart from the obsession with 'birds') but it's shady and miserable...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 15 October, 2016, 05:40:23 PM
Funny, i've been marathoning The Sweeney for awhile now and just got through Season 4, the finale. It as a hole stand up very well, of course some of the attitudes have dated badly, but if you treat Regan and Carter as extensions of that grand British tradition of unlikable bastards there's a great deal to enjoy, a hell of a lot actually.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: auxlen on 15 October, 2016, 06:19:55 PM
EXACTLY!...the profs is very much the same....
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 15 October, 2016, 06:50:27 PM
Quote from: auxlen on 15 October, 2016, 05:06:54 PM
I think the professionals stands up ok (apart from the obsession with 'birds') but it's shady and miserable...
Agreed. I'll watch the odd episode if I'm passing ITV4 at the rigt time and the stories & scripts are generally solid.

Shady miserablism was its strength !
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Apestrife on 16 October, 2016, 07:48:15 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 27 September, 2016, 09:13:25 PM
Really tempted to do this before the new stuff comes out (that's still happening right?) but I worry if it'll hold up. That show meant so much to me as a kid.

I'm willing to bet it will. Outside some of the special effects, and some of the more cheesy music perhaps :)

Quote from: PsychoGoatee on 28 September, 2016, 02:38:22 AM
Glad you enjoyed it! I'm a big fan, been rewatching that recently too. Can't wait for the new Twin Peaks series hitting next year! Are you a Lynch fan in general? If you haven't seen them I highly recommend Blue Velvet and Lost Highway for starters.

I'm also looking forward to that one. Really hope it does it's own thing.

Also seen Eraser head, Blue velvet, Lost highway, Mulholland Drive and Inland empire. Mulholland Drive being my favorite, but I also really enjoyed Eraser head and Blue velvet. Planning on watching Lost highway again soon. Wasn't my fav. when I saw at first, but I'd really like to see the scene where the old guy asks him to call home, to hear the old guy answer the phone. Amazing stuff.

Quote from: Mardroid on 14 October, 2016, 05:49:55 AMOne thing, I find particularly interesting is that while the underlying subject matter, and certain events go to a particularly dark place, it somehow managed to be rather lighthearted and rather funny, in places.

Probably much thanks to it being a bit of a soap opera.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Apestrife on 16 October, 2016, 08:00:40 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 14 October, 2016, 07:23:57 PM
Okay turns out we'd finished Better Call Sol series one, we just hadn't realsied. Which is kinda weird. Cos we get it on our Lovefilm thingie I'd not been paying attention and assumed it was like 12 or so episodes so we waited for the next disk and nowt shown up. Looking back i can kinda see how where it ended was kinda an ending, but it clearly lacked impact.

To me Better call Saul's first season is a bit like Breaking Bad's first one. Not bad at all, but best seen together with the second. Each season also seem to bleed into the other even more than before. Season premiers beginning beginning straight off where the last season ended.

Really like that it's a different beast than Breaking bad. A good change up.

My only grip is that I feel it relies a bit too much on Breaking bad at times. Would'v liked a bit more organic arc for some of the characters. The reveal of [spoiler]Tuco[/spoiler] more or less relies on that I know who he is, and similarly [spoiler]Mike's[/spoiler] story arc. Still great. I like that it doesn't feel the need to be as dramatic as BB.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 17 October, 2016, 08:34:07 PM
Recently binged Belfast set serial killer drama THE FALL starring Gillian Anderson.

Goodness it likes to go at it's own glacial pace but still manages to be very tense. Not sure if Anderson's performance and  delivery drives the pace or vice versa.

Some great reversals of serial killer expectations, seemingly full family stuff pays off ten episodes later, a fantastic supporting characters that broaden your interest and make the whole thing better (like The Simpsons supporting cast) (and well cast; Richard Coyle as an ER Doctor was particularly good).

And is it just me or are the women well written. (Though there can be some ogling).

I reckon you could do worse than spend 12 hours in Love film and IPlayer catching up with this. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 27 October, 2016, 05:45:38 PM
The latest season of Black Mirror arriving on Netflix finally spurred me to go back and watch the episodes I had missed of season 2, before delving in to the brand new episodes. Thoughts:

White Bear
I thought this one was just fine, though a bit far fetched and heavy handed. The best part of the episode (as is often the case with BM) was the mid-credits stings.

The Waldo Moment
Genuinely unsettling. You don't need to be a genius to see the parallels between the events of this episode and what is happening right now with Trump. In many ways the events portrayed are actually a lot more tame than what is happening right now. One of the strongest episodes yet. Chilling.

White Christmas
Somewhat of a mixed bag, but stronger overall than I'd been led to believe. The first and third stories were stronger by far than the middle section, and the ending was superb. Deliciously bleak.

The National Anthem
I'd actually already seen this one, but decided to rewatch. I remember the reception to this one being a bit mixed, but I think it's unequivocally great. Ballsy, uncomfortable and darkly hilarious. An amazing mission statement for the series as a whole.

Nosedive
Another fantastic one, and a great 'opener' for season 3. As with a few other BM eps, it dances right on the line of being a little bit too literal and heavy handed, but it works. Amazingly well put together on (what I assume) is a fairly limited budget. Bryce Dallas Howard gives an amazing performance. Adorable and heartbreaking.

San Junipero
Another very, very strong episode, and something a little different from the usual BM milieu. Excellent performances from the two leads - I believe the actress that plays Kelly has a role in Star Wars Episode 8. Good - she's incredibly talented and charismatic. The other actress I'd seen in things before (Halt & Catch Fire) and I think she's great too.

Overall, I've been fairly blown away by a series that I'd neglected (probably due to hearing mixed things about). This series is also a treasure trove for Game of Thrones fans, who get to see Maester Luwin, Osha, Edmure Tully and Talisa Stark again!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 14 November, 2016, 07:11:12 PM
You know, Ultraman (1966) has a lot to offer for fans of a certain classic Doctor Who vintage. The 39 episode series see's the SSSP fight of Japanese variations of many of the Hartnell era aliens, only with giant men in rubber suits wrestling at the end of each episode. Formulaic, maybe, but also tremendous fun. But nowhere  is streaming Ultra Q, the series prototype!
(http://66.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lktdd4U4Ww1qzr8nao1_500.gif)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tony Angelino on 14 November, 2016, 09:11:29 PM
I've been watching Planet Earth 2 on BBC.

I haven't seen the first series though so I'm not really sure what's going on.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 15 November, 2016, 01:21:31 AM
Genuinely gutted that I can't watch Planet Earth II right now, being in the US. I don't think it's available here until January. Would be the perfect thing to watch right now to take my mind off all the craziness.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 15 November, 2016, 08:17:12 AM
I think the discovery of this parallel earth is very exciting news, and kudos to Attenborough and the BBC for being the first to document it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 15 November, 2016, 10:54:59 AM
Quote from: radiator on 27 October, 2016, 05:45:38 PM
The latest season of Black Mirror arriving on Netflix finally spurred me to go back and watch the episodes I had missed of season 2, before delving in to the brand new episodes. Thoughts:


Did you skip Ep2 & 3 of season 3? I thought 'Shut up and Dance' was classically dark, though my least favourite so far. 'Playtest' was very interesting as I had spent the afternoon prior to watching in my work's gadget room, showing off VR technology and testing out new kit. Still beyond that slightly eerie link it was a bit slow to work up to the real horror available in the concept, and sort of rushed rapidly through all the best bits.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 20 November, 2016, 08:05:53 PM
So what do I do when i'm bored stiff packing? Catalog all my BD's/DVD's (http://www.blu-ray.com/community/collection.php?u=348027&categoryid=7) online. Oh aren't I exciting...

This isn't everything, mind. Still have a lot of stuff to add.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 21 November, 2016, 02:52:01 AM
I don't think I'd call it an addiction, but I've been watching the anime Cowboy Bebop for the first time on Netflix and quite enjoying it.

Essentially science fiction about bounty hunters with strong Western imagery, so it has a lot in common with a certain 2000AD property, but it is very different too.

It's kinda cheesy in places. The characters sometimes seem a bit over the top in , quite funny in places.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 21 November, 2016, 10:12:47 AM
That soundtrack, that style. See you later Space Cowboy....
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 15 December, 2016, 02:58:50 AM
Currently watching The Expanse on Netflix. Good stuff so far.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 15 December, 2016, 09:25:41 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 21 November, 2016, 02:52:01 AM
I don't think I'd call it an addiction, but I've been watching the anime Cowboy Bebop...

It's kinda cheesy in places. The characters sometimes seem a bit over the top in , quite funny in places.

That's anime of that period for you, though. Stick it out - it is indeed very funny in places (Mushroom Samba always brings a smile to my face) and the show does some really interesting things later on. It has one HELL of an ending, too. Prepare to be made emotional mincemeat out of.

Any Shinichiro Watanabe stuff is usually a good bet if you want some solid to outstanding anime. The guy has a pretty solid grasp of storytelling. Kids on the Slope in particular is outstanding.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bolt-01 on 16 December, 2016, 09:57:15 AM
I've begun a re-watch of Westworld. So very, very good.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 16 December, 2016, 01:25:36 PM
Hawks - Samurai Champloo, or Cowboy Bebop?

I'm torn. (And yet to see Kids on the Slope but its on my list now)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 16 December, 2016, 02:48:28 PM
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 16 December, 2016, 01:25:36 PM
Hawks - Samurai Champloo, or Cowboy Bebop?

I'm torn. (And yet to see Kids on the Slope but its on my list now)
Bebop IMHO, but don't write off Champloo. Or Kids on the Slope. Or Space Dandy.

All of these are classics, but Cowboy Bebop is just st on a whole other level.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 16 December, 2016, 03:59:20 PM
Haven't caught Space Dandy either...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 17 December, 2016, 02:01:29 PM
Just noticed that season 2 of Man in The High Castle is out on Amazon Prime - must be sure to watch all of these before my year's sub  expires in Feb as I doubt I'll be renewing it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 17 December, 2016, 03:40:56 PM
Ooh, tidy!  That's my cooking watching sorted for the next couple of weeks then!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 18 December, 2016, 01:52:33 AM
I finished the Expanse today not even realising it was.the last episode. I do hope they renew it, as they can't end it like that!*

*Okay, they can, as Dark Skies and various other programmes illustrate. But they shouldn't....
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 18 December, 2016, 12:53:38 PM
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 16 December, 2016, 01:25:36 PM
I'm torn. (And yet to see Kids on the Slope but its on my list now)

Punt Kids on the Slope up your 'to view' list ahead of Samurai Champloo, would be my advice. And if yu can get hold f it on Blu Ray, even better (the DVDs have that horrible PAL speed-up mutilation that makes voices sound tinny and garbled in places.)

The show's the perfect answer to any of these idiotic complaints that anime is all massive eyes and   needlessly weird stuff. For those not in the know and curious, it's about an unlikely friendship that develops between two young men based on an appreciation of jazz music in 1960s Japan. That may not sound especially thrilling, but the story that unfolds is engrossing stuff. The ending is absolutely fantastic as well!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 19 December, 2016, 11:48:33 AM
Champloo and Bebop are the ones I've seen, Kids on the Slope is acquired and in the ever expanding to-watch list ;) Probably be my first non-ghibli anime that doesn't have at least one sword fight tho
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 19 December, 2016, 01:12:38 PM
Well, it DOES have an awesome jazz duel at one point. That's almost as good, right?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 21 December, 2016, 01:59:57 PM
Still working my way through the Ultra series, coming towards the conclusion of Ultraseven. As I said in another thread, works tyering right now, so it's nice to have some brainless but hugely entertaining tokusatsu on the go. Also, MYTHOOOOS!!!
(https://media.giphy.com/media/eB2FIM8UsIgqk/giphy.gif)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: soggy on 22 December, 2016, 06:53:16 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 18 December, 2016, 01:52:33 AM
I finished the Expanse today not even realising it was.the last episode. I do hope they renew it, as they can't end it like that!*

*Okay, they can, as Dark Skies and various other programmes illustrate. But they shouldn't....

You can rest easy, they released a trailer for season 2 (of the Expanse not Dark skies) a week ago.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 23 December, 2016, 03:16:06 AM
Great! Thanks!

I recently watched the box set of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. I enjoyed that a lot. It's rather different from the original stories written by Douglas Adams (although it borrowed some plot points) but not in a bad way.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 30 December, 2016, 06:51:15 PM
Im hooked on The Walking Dead these days.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 30 December, 2016, 10:22:41 PM
Quote from: Smith on 30 December, 2016, 06:51:15 PM
Im hooked on The Walking Dead these days.

Yeah I'm working my way through Walking Dead (just finished Season 4 tonight in fact) and its a show with massive ups and downs. At times its infuriating and at time great - its rarely if ever Sopranos/The Wire/ Breaking Bad / The West Wing great but it has its moments when they come. Some of the internal logic, use of zombies and what not, just to drive plot, story and character gets a bit grating at times and it can be distracting. Like the comic its not as smart as I think it wants to be. But its often edge of the seat entertaining and has enough about the characters to keep you involved.

The second half of season four, after the big schenganians in episode eight [spoiler]when the group are split up [/spoiler] has been by far the best of the show up to this point, with some great stories and fantastic work with the characters. I'm particularly fond of 'The Grove'. I think normally its better in these smaller moments as the bigger stuff sometimes doesn't work as well and looses sense in its desire to create tension and move things along. I was also a big fan of the stuff in Season 2 on the farm.

Reckon I'll be sticking with it for now as over all while its no classic, as I've said its entertaining enough and like the comic does a fantastic job of being a compelling page turner.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 31 December, 2016, 02:36:34 AM
Travelers on Netflix.

I've been watching a lot of this these last couple of days. Partly due to the fact I've cancelled my Netflix subscription and I think this is my last month, and partly cos it's pretty interesting.

A group of five people from the future (one group of many cells) have their minds sent back to people in the 21st century who are a out to die. (Essentially they overwrite the person's memory with their own consciousness, and prevent the death.) They continue in that person's life and come together for various missions to help prevent worldwide destruction of humanity.

It's not entirely original in premise, but as a whole it's pretty interesting, and the characters are likeable.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 31 December, 2016, 06:50:37 AM
@Colin That,and those are some incredible headshots. :)
Im currently working my way thru  season 3.The farm had its moments,but it ran for longer then it should have IMO.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Spikes on 31 December, 2016, 02:32:27 PM
Finally, Breaking Bad.

Just about to start the 3rd season...


Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 31 December, 2016, 03:53:46 PM
Quote from: Spikes on 31 December, 2016, 02:32:27 PM
Finally, Breaking Bad.

Just about to start the 3rd season...


Hope your enjoying it as much as everyone says you will and you've managed to stay spoiler free.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: SIP on 31 December, 2016, 04:03:45 PM
I miss breaking bad.   :(
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Spikes on 02 January, 2017, 02:36:37 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 31 December, 2016, 03:53:46 PM
Quote from: Spikes on 31 December, 2016, 02:32:27 PM
Finally, Breaking Bad.

Just about to start the 3rd season...


Hope your enjoying it as much as everyone says you will and you've managed to stay spoiler free.

It is most grand Colin, and I'm mightily enjoying it .

I caught a few early episodes when Spike(?) on Freeview did the complete rerun, so knew it was all good, man.
And for a series that had everyone talking, I'm pretty much spoiler free. So, each episode watched leaves me guessing as to what will happen next...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 12 January, 2017, 05:52:13 PM
Quote from: SIP on 31 December, 2016, 04:03:45 PM
I miss breaking bad.   :(

Funnily enough, we caught an odd season 2 episode of Breaking Bad on TV while on holiday over Christmas (AMC were doing a marathon of every episode back to back), and subsequently rewatched the entire series from there over the next couple of weeks. We then immediately followed it up Better Call Saul - a show that we had given a try back when it first started, but didn't initially grab us in the same way. Needless to say, we're now halfway through season 2 and loving it.

It's certainly a different beast to Breaking Bad. It's nowhere near as propulsive and gripping, but has a charm and tone all of its own once you get into it - it's much more of a slower burn, I'm tempted to say more 'mature' in it's storytelling than BB. It's a beautifully crafted and filmed show, so assured and stylish, with a fantastic score, and Bob Odenkirk is just phenomenal in it - giving real dimension and nuance to what was previously a larger than life caricature. You root so hard for him to succeed, even though you know he's ultimately doomed to a desperate, squalid fate. The rest of the cast, both returning and brand new - are also uniformly amazing - I love them all. Chuck especially is such an interesting character who shares a fascinating dynamic with Jimmy. All the Mike stuff is also just superb, again imbuing an already likable character with real gravitas.

So for those of you who loved BB but have yet to dive in to BCS - or like me couldn't initially get into it - give it a shot - it really is something special, and actually gives me confidence that if Vince Gilligan wanted, he could build his own little Breaking Bad universe that could support multiple different shows, all with their own flavour and tone.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 12 January, 2017, 06:16:20 PM
I second that.Season 1 was a bit slow,but season 2 was a lot better.  :)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 12 January, 2017, 06:29:34 PM
I found the first two to three episodes of season one a little hard to get a handle on, but it clicked as soon as I settled into the groove of the show and the character relationships.

As I say, it takes a little mental readjustment coming from Breaking Bad, which is so balls to the wall literally from the first episode, but BCS isn't going for that same tone. I think its a bit like Mad Men - some people will love the slow burn and interpersonal drama, others will say its 'boring' or that 'nothing happens'. The actual plot of Saul season 1, on the face of it, certainly sounds quite dull, but for me it's the characters and dialogue that make it. So many great little character quirks and callbacks, setups and pay-offs. Quality writing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 13 January, 2017, 09:38:14 AM
Yeah, absolutely love BCS. I liked Breaking Bad quite a lot, but I think I get that much more absorbed watching Saul. There's something about the supreme confidence the writers obviously have in their character work, where they're comfortable enough to really take their time and let the characters live and breathe, that just sucks me right in every time. Agree with what you're saying about its percieved slowness too, I've had that conversation with colleagues, where they've complained that nothing happened in the latest episode when I felt like a great deal had gone on.

I forget all the details of the episode but one that comes to mind starts with a flashback of Saul having dinner with Chuck and his wife. I remember being absolutely blown away by that episode and thinking it was one of the best hours of telly in recent memory, then hearing people complain that nothing went on in it.

It might not have been action-packed in the sense that there weren't drug deals or shootings, but in a show that's all about character development and the way characters engage with and interact with each other that IS the action and that episode was packed to the brim with it.

Fantastic show, looking forward to more.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: SuperSurfer on 13 January, 2017, 12:49:04 PM
I never watch any series as I usually don't have the time.

Over the Xmas break I binge watched Walking Dead. Had only previously seen a short part of one episode. Still hooked (because I have a gap in work). Am in middle of season 3. I get some of the criticisms you guys made many years ago.

Fashionably late to the party.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 13 January, 2017, 01:36:15 PM
Quote from: SuperSurfer on 13 January, 2017, 12:49:04 PM
I never watch any series as I usually don't have the time.

Over the Xmas break I binge watched Walking Dead. Had only previously seen a short part of one episode. Still hooked (because I have a gap in work). Am in middle of season 3. I get some of the criticisms you guys made many years ago.

Fashionably late to the party.
Same situation here,as mentioned before.  :)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 17 January, 2017, 10:34:30 AM
If anyone one want a distraction from the misery of the inauguration of president satsuma this Friday, fear none, VOLTRON season 2 debuts on Netflix and to say i'm hyped is kind of an understatement.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 17 January, 2017, 07:05:21 PM
Decided to take advantage of my Amazon Prime subscription to watch the 100.  Something I'd seen around about but never really thought it worth shelling out on.  Bit of an odd beast that tries to be a YA version of Mad Max before morphing into a Matrix knock off.  Very high body count and some morally ambiguous choices from some of the main protagonists.  Just reaching the end of season 3 which brings it pretty much up to date.  Something to watch whilst waiting for something better to come along really.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 24 January, 2017, 12:29:51 PM
Currently working my way through JESSICA JONES.

Caveat - I know nothing about the comic character.

Overall it's a thumbs up but Krysten Ritter is annoyingly limited... she does fine for most of it (surly and annoying with little bits of sly black humour creeping in) but when she has to do a big emotional episode (like the one where she goes off the rails and comes up with the brainless maximum security prison plan) she just doesn't cut the mustard. Especially when playing against Tennant.

Goodness, there's a lot of collateral damage - and gore aplenty. Some of it, like the excessive insistence on sexy scenes early on seems deliberately put there to say "Kapow! Comics aren't just for kids!".

The action while reasonably well handled suffers from the fact that Hollywood tends to have ALL characters be as strong as Jessica i.e. in any standard Hollywood fight scene people are knocked across rooms, flung easily through windows and people can make improbable jumps and survice. Any one of the dwarves from The Hobbit could have easily had her in a fight.

And one definite criticism from bingeing it so quickly; it looks cheap.  Very little in the way of flashy effects, action revolves around the same three or four locations, plot also feels pretty low level and personal without much scale or sense of bigger picture. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 24 January, 2017, 02:05:39 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 24 January, 2017, 12:29:51 PM
And one definite criticism from bingeing it so quickly; it looks cheap.  Very little in the way of flashy effects, action revolves around the same three or four locations, plot also feels pretty low level and personal without much scale or sense of bigger picture.

See this is why I liked it - it felt like real superheroing, unlike say Agents of Shield which just has to have bigger and more cataclysmic events season on season - I liked that JJ was so low-key, but I wouldn't say cheap.

Spotting the overabundance of prominent red & white EXIT signs in Netflix shows has also become something of an obsession of mine - JJ was the first time I noticed it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 25 January, 2017, 07:35:28 AM
I'll take back some of that "cheap" accusation. These last couple of episodes have featured new locations, daylight, explosions, near fire effects and a rather pleasing "punch each other through walls" set to. Maybe it was a blip like those Four episodes Daredevil spent lying on the couch recovering from his wounds.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 25 January, 2017, 09:04:04 AM
Current TV catch-up is The Expanse, which turns out (five episodes in, at least) to be really rather good. Quite hard-sciencey, in terms of space travel, although they don't beat you over the head with explanations (however, this has left me slightly bemused the apparent randomness with which gravity appears to come and go on spaceships).

But, much intrigue, decent production values... I'm enjoying it a lot.

(Caveat: I haven't read any of the books on which this is based. Any good?)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 25 January, 2017, 09:26:00 AM
Starting Fringe,seems promising so far.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 25 January, 2017, 11:28:24 AM
The original Planet of the Apes TV series... its really rather good.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 25 January, 2017, 02:01:38 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 25 January, 2017, 09:04:04 AM
Current TV catch-up is The Expanse, which turns out (five episodes in, at least) to be really rather good. Quite hard-sciencey, in terms of space travel, although they don't beat you over the head with explanations (however, this has left me slightly bemused the apparent randomness with which gravity appears to come and go on spaceships).

But, much intrigue, decent production values... I'm enjoying it a lot.


I think they're actually using magnetic boots on space-craft, although I could be wrong.

Yes, I enjoyed The Expanse a lot.

Currently watching Taboo. I'm enjoying it a lot. I'm quite partial to period dramas anyway, but one of this nature in this time period feels quite novel.

I say "of this nature", because there are plenty set in this kind of time period, but they usually involve posh ladies in plunging neck lines or salt of the earth blokes with flintlock rifles fighting the dastardly French, or sail-ship action shenanigans. Not that I have anything against those. Something based in London dealing with a will, crime, politics and a bit of supernatural thrown in (or is it all in his insane mind?) is welcome.

The incest stuff seems to be a bit needless - put there for a bit of sexy shock value - but the rest, I like.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 25 January, 2017, 02:07:15 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 25 January, 2017, 02:01:38 PM

I think they're actually using magnetic boots on space-craft, although I could be wrong.

I get that bit. Unsecured stuff appears to float free at times, and not at others, sometimes in the same scene without any (obvious) clue as to why.

QuoteThe incest stuff seems to be a bit needless - put there for a bit of sexy shock value - but the rest, I like.

It is called 'Taboo'...!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 25 January, 2017, 02:23:05 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 25 January, 2017, 02:07:15 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 25 January, 2017, 02:01:38 PM

I think they're actually using magnetic boots on space-craft, although I could be wrong.

I get that bit. Unsecured stuff appears to float free at times, and not at others, sometimes in the same scene without any (obvious) clue as to why.

Gotcha. Concerning gravity, I remember a bit where the fella with the hat watches a bird flying outside the window, wondering why the wings were flapping so slowly to keep it airborne... then it hit me that the asteroid gravity was low, so that was all the bird needed to stay up. But considering the way everyone walks, the lower gravity isn't really reflected.

I can understand why, I guess. It's a character drama so that's what they want to focus on, and having guys bouncing or wobbling about might take people out of the moment, and also cost more in special effects, etc, but it did feel a little inconsistent. This didn't really bother me though.

Quote
QuoteThe incest stuff seems to be a bit needless - put there for a bit of sexy shock value - but the rest, I like.

It is called 'Taboo'...!

Yeah, this did occur to me, but considering the rest of the stuff going on, it doesn't really seem needed. The word could equally apply to the nature of Delain with his strange religion* and particularly vicious streak when he fights,[spoiler] literally biting a chunk out of one guy.[/spoiler]

Come to think of it, the whole character seems rather taboo in the sense of his being out of place in that society. Of course the people he is up against ([spoiler]certain characters in the East India company in particular) are probably less moral in their own way. Hypocrisy is rife... which makes this all the more interesting.[/spoiler]What is taboo? Hmmm.

*To the less open minded people of the time period, anyway.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 25 January, 2017, 03:32:30 PM
I believe in the Expanse sometimes the ships are under acceleration and so not everything floats around everywhere. Other times of course they don't want to blow all of their budget on a floating screw.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 25 January, 2017, 07:44:18 PM
So few weeks ago I start to watch Sons of Anarchy on Netflix as never see it before, enjoy it so far, now on Season 5, but tonight with cameo of Walton Goggins...  :o
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 26 January, 2017, 09:58:34 AM
Quote from: Goaty on 25 January, 2017, 07:44:18 PM
So few weeks ago I start to watch Sons of Anarchy on Netflix as never see it before, enjoy it so far, now on Season 5, but tonight with cameo of Walton Goggins...  :o

Love Sons of Anarchy, and Walton Goggins was great in it!

Stuck for what to watch one night a couple of weeks ago the wife and I threw on the first episode of Battlestar Galactica for a bit of a reminisce. It immediately got the hooks back in and every other show we were interested in has been put on the back-burner so that every evening after tea we can watch more.

Can't say I've ever had a show grip me all over again on a second time around like this, but we're absolutely loving our Battlestar evenings! Was always a special show to us (Bea came down the aisle to 'The Shape of Things To Come' from the soundtrack and my best man led everyone in an 'And so say we all!' session during the ceremony - good memories!) so it feels really nice that it's become our evening couple time once again.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 26 January, 2017, 10:06:54 AM
You big nerds :) (So saw we Awww)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 26 January, 2017, 01:42:05 PM
Re: Jessica Jones

I knew nothing about Jessica Jones either before I watched it and I thought it was fantastic.
There is something annoying about Krysten Ritter's face but I was really impressed with her work here.

It's been a few months since I watched it but I thought Ritter played the character as emotionally damaged and unable to trust people after what happened to her.
She was a mess before she met Kilgrave and he did her no favours in that department. Jones hides herself away from the world which might explain the limited locations as well as real world constraints however it's no Arrow. Jones has been emotionally compromised and she's confused as hell but is still trying to figure it out. I thought she was a character who wants to do good but is always fighting that impulse inside herself. It made her very believable and human. I didn't think it looked cheap at all. Grimy and gritty yes but it suited the character and her story. It is a character show not an ensemble show so I thought it did a good job of showing a female and anti-hero perspective.

At least Jessica has special powers that explain why a 90-120lb woman can beat the tar out of a man or several men twice her size.

By the way if you're not a fan of gratuitous sex scenes, please be warned there is a particularly bad one in Luke Cage.

I've just finished watching The OA .. I'm not sure I would recommend it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 26 January, 2017, 05:35:55 PM
Made it to the end of JJ and to be fair it looks like they spent money on the last few episodes. Don't get me wrong, I thought Ritter did Ok mostly, I just don't think she delivered in a couple of the big episodes.

Luke Cage or The Expanse next.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 26 January, 2017, 06:03:53 PM
The Complete All Creatures Great and Small. 70s telly at its absolute best, by gum.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bolt-01 on 27 January, 2017, 01:31:58 PM
LUKE CAGE is a real slow burn of a show. I think that the cast were excellent throughout and the music was just incredible. I think that the show has some atrocious pacing issues and whole episodes would strut on by with the feeling of nothing happening.

That being said I'm glad it got a second series.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 27 January, 2017, 03:30:22 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 26 January, 2017, 06:03:53 PM
The Complete All Creatures Great and Small. 70s telly at its absolute best, by gum.

I'm halfway through series three at the moment. Absolutely one of my most favourite series ever.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 27 January, 2017, 03:49:03 PM
There's a coincidence - I'm on series 3 as well, just watching Tristan squirming under Siegfried's ire due to rumours about him setting up his own practice. Brilliant characters brought to life by brilliant actors, fantastic Yorkshire scenery and bloody good writing.

I haven't seen this since it was first broadcast and I'm loving every minute of it, my older self far more appreciative than the younger me, who thought anything without spaceships and monsters in it was crap. A proper classic and a good way to while away these days when there's not much work for me.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 27 January, 2017, 06:38:00 PM
The missus is a big fan, as is my mother (my youngest brother was actually going to be called Tristan, but we persuaded her to Peter (Davison) as a wedgie-reducing compromise), so I've been through the whole series a number of times... It's brilliant telly. Especially enjoy James Grout's boozy Granville and the gorgeous Lynda Bellingham's Helen.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 28 January, 2017, 12:05:41 PM
Granville has to be one of the best characters in the series. Grout portrayed him perfectly. I must admit I'm a bit partial to Carol Drinkwater myself.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: HdE on 28 January, 2017, 07:05:31 PM
I've been ploughing through anime this week in preparation for putting together more Youtube videos. Figured it was time to finally check out Space Dandy. By god, that's a crazy show!

I'm having loads of fun with it. It's basically an episodic affair where a pompadoured space lecher and his sidekicks - a robot vacuum cleaner and an alien who is most definitely NOT a cat - embark on wild and wacky adventures.

I won't lie - it's not all great. In fact, the show takes a few turns into downright abstract territory at times that I'm not sure are 100% suited to its broader premise. But it's a LOT of fun watching what the directors of each episode and Studio Bones cook up.

So far, I've seen a musical episode, a groundhog day episode that cleverly didn't reveal that was what it was going to be until a good way into the plot, a story with enormous spacefaring eels, and another one with sentient plants.

Oh yeah - and all the main characters died at the end of episode 1. Then came back for episode 2 with nary a hint they'd snuffed it previously.

Mad. My favourite episode so far has been 'Even Vaccuum Cleaners Fall in Love, Baby.' Need I say more?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 28 January, 2017, 07:13:05 PM
All hail the Space Dandy! Such a pity it got axed, for awhile it was the best thing on TV, anywhere in the world. Utterly mad in the best way.
(https://rosesturnblog.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/dandy-butt-dancing.gif)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 29 January, 2017, 11:05:32 PM
Enjoy the debut episode of Season 4 of Agents of SHIELD tonight,

thought that [spoiler]Ghost Rider[/spoiler] was well done, enjoy that! And nice promise start of [spoiler]Life Model Decoy[/spoiler].
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 02 February, 2017, 01:46:19 PM
Currently catching up on the latter half of Vikings season 4 (RTE are churning them out at two a week).

It's still a very entertaining show, but the episode 'Crossings' delved a little too close to fantasy territory for my liking, having [spoiler]Odin[/spoiler] himself appear to each of [spoiler]Ragnar's sons[/spoiler], confirming his death.
Despite being billed as an historical drama, the inaccuracies and embellishments never seemed to bother me.
Visions could be explained by meditative or drug induced states, The Seer could be just a deformed old man, ravens could just happen to appear outside your window etc.

But this was something very different- the actual apparition of an [spoiler]Asgardian God[/spoiler], interacting with several cast members.
Quite strange, following on from a conversation that Ragnar and Ecbert had a short time beforehand regarding the nature of religion itself, hinting that atheism is the cold hard truth for both men.
Only a handful of episodes left this season (maybe for good?), so naturally I'll continue to the finish.

By the way- I've yet to spot celebrity 'extra' JazusB.Christ!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 04 February, 2017, 02:29:28 PM
Starting something of a Nigel Kneale-a-thon. Being such a huge fan of Quatermass i'm surprised at myself it took so long to get around to both The Stone Tapes (currently viewing) and Beasts (lined up an episode a day this week).

The Stone Tapes is giving me a degree of Ghostwatch flashbacks, in the best kind of way, all be it from a different narrative perspective. And excellent pseudo-ghost story.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Spikes on 05 February, 2017, 08:50:24 PM
Excellent. Pretty much everything Nigel Kneale wrote was aces.

Never seen The Year of the Sex Olympics. The BFI DVD release for that was pretty pricey, and then quickly went OOP.

Need to maybe bite the bullet for that at some point.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 06 February, 2017, 09:41:32 AM
Didn't he pen a screen play for the most controversial of 1984 addaptations from waaaay back when? He certainly was a talented and versatile writer, even if by all accounts he was a right miserable sod.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Greg M. on 06 February, 2017, 11:11:56 AM
Quote from: Spikes on 05 February, 2017, 08:50:24 PM
Pretty much everything Nigel Kneale wrote was aces.

Apart from Kinvig. Which is remarkably terrible.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 06 February, 2017, 12:40:40 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 04 February, 2017, 02:29:28 PM
Starting something of a Nigel Kneale-a-thon. Being such a huge fan of Quatermass i'm surprised at myself it took so long to get around to both The Stone Tapes (currently viewing) and Beasts (lined up an episode a day this week).

The Stone Tapes is giving me a degree of Ghostwatch flashbacks, in the best kind of way, all be it from a different narrative perspective. And excellent pseudo-ghost story.

There was a great binaural radio adaptation of the Stone Tapes for the beeb a couple of halloweens ago. That and The Ring. Bloody good stuff!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 17 February, 2017, 10:44:08 PM
The Return of Ultraman (AKA Ultraman Jack) took me a little longer to get theough than Seven but was an excellent run of monster of the week fair once again, this time actually attemtping to thread together a running narrative (the first appearences of Yapool in particular), bringing Seven into the main continuity and bringing Ultraman and Zoffy in for the finale. Good, light, entertining fluff. Now onto Ace, which i'm told is when the series starts to get REALLY good.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Toni Scandella on 17 February, 2017, 11:20:04 PM
Twin Peaks, again, in preparation for Season 3.
Just have the final episode to go, then the movie... Season 2 always seems like it is going to be a chore but to be honest I love it all, except maybe James and Evelyn.

And Tojamura. Tojamura is bad.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 18 February, 2017, 10:15:02 AM
Quote from: Toni Scandella on 17 February, 2017, 11:20:04 PM
Twin Peaks, again, in preparation for Season 3.
Just have the final episode to go, then the movie... Season 2 always seems like it is going to be a chore but to be honest I love it all, except maybe James and Evelyn.

And Tojamura. Tojamura is bad.

Yeah I must get to this before diving into any new stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JLC on 20 February, 2017, 10:33:48 AM
Quote from: Toni Scandella on 17 February, 2017, 11:20:04 PM
Twin Peaks, again, in preparation for Season 3.
Just have the final episode to go, then the movie... Season 2 always seems like it is going to be a chore but to be honest I love it all, except maybe James and Evelyn.
I'm halfway through S2. Haven't watched it in years.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 20 February, 2017, 12:12:12 PM
Binge watching Red Dwarf. :)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 21 February, 2017, 06:23:59 PM
Quote from: Smith on 20 February, 2017, 12:12:12 PM
Binge watching Red Dwarf. :)

(http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/motorstorm/images/e/e3/Arnold_rimmer_salute_gif.gif/revision/latest?cb=20140714143245)

Just re-watched the fantastic Naeturvaktin/The Night Shift which I can't recommend highly enough. My father caught it on BBC4's Iceland season back in 2010 and forced me to watch it. I did and thought it was utterly grand - a nice slice of Icelandic culture and excellent character comedy about a listless med-school dropout, a sweet-natured manchild and a monstrously complicated communist control-freak (the latter played by later mayor of Reykjavik Jon Gnarr) working the night shift in a petrol station. The show took on a new significance when milady Geoffery went on a work exchange to Iceland in the summer of 2012 and became obsessed with the place. She bought back the DVD of this as well as its two follow-up series (The Day Shift & The Prison Shift) and tie-in movie (which topped the film charts for weeks in Iceland beating international films). It starts as a fairly straight situational sort of thing but in its second series leers into abstract and very dark waters approaching something more like the glorious Julia Davis would come out with. TO ICELAND!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 28 February, 2017, 02:09:34 PM
Kryten: He aint heavy,sir.Hes my brother.
I missed that the first time around.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bolt-01 on 03 March, 2017, 01:51:58 PM
I've been rewatching Deadwood again (Third time, this time with my two youngest) and as Grud is my witness this is the funting finest piece of television ever recorded.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 03 March, 2017, 02:28:32 PM
Quote from: Bolt-01 on 03 March, 2017, 01:51:58 PM
I've been rewatching Deadwood again (Third time, this time with my two youngest) and as Grud is my witness this is the funting finest piece of television ever recorded.

QFT.

I other hand am watching ST: Voyager with my two, which will never be given such a justified accolade. 

But...

To my utter amazement not only do the kids love it, but it's actually not bad, and we're almost at the end of Season 2. 

Despite the entirety of the first two seasons being either space-anomaly-is-really-living-creature (and the crew are amazed every single time) or everything-depends-upon-the-Doctor-but-he's-developed-a-new-amusing-quirk (it's possible I've already blocked out the Chakotay-is-an-Indian-in-Space ones all over again), it does succeed in creating a sustained sense of being lost and alone far from home, and also of genuine exploration, which is a lot closer to TOS than than I had previously appreciated.  The ship is also much prettier than I gave her credit for, even if the interior decor is appallingly dull.

Biggest surprise is that I quite like Janeway and B'Elanna this time around, which I never really did, and when they give Harry something to do he's not so bad either.  Tom Paris and Chakotay are as pitifully boring and planklike as they always were. Paris' sole interesting moment is unfortunately in Harry's alternate present where he's still a drunken ex-con, but bam, back to Paris Prime by the end of episode and snoozeville.

I'm now rather dreading Saline-of-Norks replacing Kes: that Jennifer Lein is very easy on the eye (and ear), for all that the character is a hopeless waste of a good concept.

What next I wonder, a favourable reappraisal of Enterprise?  Or even Nemesis (nah, that's not ever going to happen).  Watching Sir Pat doing publicity for Logan I was struck by how very much I would like to see a proper final movie for TNG, a film subseries that suffered from the fact that TNG already had the perfect finale on TV.  But there must be a place for a last rumble for that best of all crews before everyone is dead: just say that new Data-body thing has an ageing algorithm and get cracking.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 03 March, 2017, 02:33:21 PM
Quote from: Bolt-01 on 03 March, 2017, 01:51:58 PM
I've been rewatching Deadwood again (Third time, this time with my two youngest) and as Grud is my witness this is the funting finest piece of television ever recorded.

:D Oh yes :D

Deadwood is still my favourite live action TV drama eeevvver.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bolt-01 on 03 March, 2017, 02:48:17 PM
Plot spoilers because there will always be someone who's never seen it:

[spoiler]We've just watch S1Ep04, where Wild Bill takes his last breath, and Tom was completely shocked. When the episode closed on Seth's eyes filling with rage-filled tears Tom was clamouring to watch Ep05 to hopefully see the wrath of the angriest man on the planet. So well written.[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JLC on 03 March, 2017, 02:50:19 PM
Doctor Who, watching it from the beginning!  :o
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 03 March, 2017, 02:54:44 PM
Quote from: Bolt-01 on 03 March, 2017, 02:48:17 PM
Plot spoilers because there will always be someone who's never seen it:

[spoiler]We've just watch S1Ep04, where Wild Bill takes his last breath, and Tom was completely shocked. When the episode closed on Seth's eyes filling with rage-filled tears Tom was clamouring to watch Ep05 to hopefully see the wrath of the angriest man on the planet. So well written.[/spoiler]

I've said it too often before, but Deadwood is what Shakespeare would have written for TV. Almost every line is poetry, every character both angel and monster, every subplot an epic in its own right.  There never was such a show.  So naturally it was killed off in its prime.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: DaveGYNWA on 03 March, 2017, 03:30:15 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 03 March, 2017, 02:54:44 PM
I've said it too often before, but Deadwood is what Shakespeare would have written for TV. Almost every line is poetry, every character both angel and monster, every subplot an epic in its own right.  There never was such a show.  So naturally it was killed off in its prime.

Deadwood is a work of art - loved it, and so wish it could have continued in either a 4th series or the oft-rumoured TV movies.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 03 March, 2017, 04:49:12 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 03 March, 2017, 02:28:32 PMI'm now rather dreading Saline-of-Norks replacing Kes: that Jennifer Lein is very easy on the eye (and ear), for all that the character is a hopeless waste of a good concept.

I found Kes more interesting second time around by dint of her not being terribly sexed-up relative to other female characters in Trek played by attractive actors, and the long game the writers tried to play with writing her out of the series (everything leading up to Year Of Hell before her part in that storyline was rewritten for Jeri Ryan) was probably the last time the writing room made any effort before I gave up entirely somewhere in season 5.

RE an Enterprise reappraisal: do it.  I hated Enterprise when it first aired, but became a late convert after for some reason rewatching the third season years ago and finding it to be great fun.  I've come to the conclusion that the two risk-free seasons that came before exhausted my Trek goodwill and blinded me to some objectively great sci-fi telly.  The fourth season continues an upward trajectory, though the final episode notoriously made the preceding episode - which ends with a dead baby and a crying Vulcan - look like a better series finale.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 03 March, 2017, 07:12:14 PM
Enterprise is my favourite Trek series - humans blundering around with a ridiculously fragile, under-powered, poorly-armed and barely shielded prototype starship with only their wits and best intentions to rely on. To me, Enterprise portrays the ideals of Star Trek better than any other series.

Voyager has its moments but, unfortunately, too few of them. Year of Hell, however, is one of my favourite Trek episodes of all time and Jennifer Lien is absolutely on fire in Warlord.

Oh, and Deadwood's a masterpiece also - as soon as you stop expecting Tinker to turn up at any moment trying to sell Lovejoy a kettle.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 03 March, 2017, 07:52:09 PM
I dread ever doing a re-watch of Voyager as I may be disappointed. I really enjoyed it at the time, but I am painfully aware of it's many flaws especially:
Quote from: TordelBack on 03 March, 2017, 02:28:32 PM.... space-anomaly-is-really-living-creature (and the crew are amazed every single time) or everything-depends-upon-the-Doctor-but-he's-developed-a-new-amusing-quirk (it's possible I've already blocked out the Chakotay-is-an-Indian-in-Space ones all over again)
,... and ... 
Quote from: TordelBack on 03 March, 2017, 02:28:32 PMTom Paris and Chakotay are as pitifully boring and planklike as they always were. Paris' sole interesting moment is unfortunately in Harry's alternate present where he's still a drunken ex-con, but bam, back to Paris Prime by the end of episode and snoozeville.
The only one I really hated at the time was Chakotay - the way he went from violent revolutionary to starfleet asshat in an instant, and the cod-spiritual native american BS.

The finale, unlike Enterprise, was fantastic. They got them home (they had to) with some cool time-travel gubbins thrown in, rather like the TNG finale (which is one of the few episode I re-watch quite often, the other being the original 2 part borg story)

If memory serves, the point where I lost faith in Voyager was the episode set entirely in Paris' 1950s pulp-sci fi holodeck program, when I decided they'd finally run out of ideas.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 03 March, 2017, 07:58:17 PM
Eurgh, and that terrible "Irish" town as well. Awful. At least the TNG holodeck episodes gave us Moriarty.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 03 March, 2017, 08:02:41 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 03 March, 2017, 07:58:17 PM
Eurgh, and that terrible "Irish" town as well. Awful. At least the TNG holodeck episodes gave us Moriarty.

Oh god, I think I'd blocked the Irish town from my memory

Damn You!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 03 March, 2017, 08:11:27 PM
Heh, sorry. There were a couple of worthy holodeck episodes, though; the one where Seska set a trap for Tuvok in his Maquis simulation and the Flash Gordon skit with Janeway in that costume...

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 03 March, 2017, 08:26:16 PM
Don't forget the comedy Holodeck episode where the Doctor makes himself a family and then one of his friends changes it so he's forced to watch his daughter die.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 03 March, 2017, 08:38:22 PM
These are all reasons why I stand by my decision to remember it as being good and NEVER WATCH IT AGAIN!

Besides, considering I've never watched Deadwood, Breaking Bad or 75% of Game of Thrones, I've got more than enough to catch up on!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 03 March, 2017, 08:43:03 PM
This is Trek's biggest weakness, I think. The Doctor having a holographic family was a great idea and had potential for ongiong storylines but lasted only one episode. Could have been a major plank in the "rights for holograms" narrative, for example.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 03 March, 2017, 08:45:52 PM
You've never watched Breaking Bad? You lucky lad - you're in for a real treat!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 03 March, 2017, 08:48:26 PM
I stuck three and a half episodes of Deadwood. I really, truly don't get it. Doubly confusing, because I bloody love westerns in almost all their varied incarnations.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 03 March, 2017, 09:09:21 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 03 March, 2017, 08:45:52 PM
You've never watched Breaking Bad? You lucky lad - you're in for a real treat!

I have the first 4 seasons on DVD - but as soon as I own something and I know I can watch it anytime, current stuff pushes it off my agenda and I never get round to it.

I taped American Beauty on VCR on it's TV debut - the format subsequently became obsolete and I've still never seen that movie!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 03 March, 2017, 09:16:26 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 03 March, 2017, 09:09:21 PM
I taped American Beauty on VCR on it's TV debut - the format subsequently became obsolete and I've still never seen that movie!

Turned it off after 20 minutes. Another one I didn't get.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 03 March, 2017, 09:20:09 PM
I don't know whether to be jealous or smug... AB's a classic.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: DrRocka on 04 March, 2017, 01:07:45 AM
Just finished watching The Good Place - really great fun. Kinda My Name Is Earl meets Old Harry's Game.
A woman wakes up in an office to be informed by a friendly Ted Danson that she's dead, and has arrived in The Good Place. It's a happy utopia, with her soul mate and excessively lovely neighbours all being wonderful
To one another. Trouble is, she knows she's not supposed to be there, having been less than wonderful in her life.
As the series goes on, bad things start to happen to The Good Place - does she 'fess up, and risk being sent to The Bad Place?
It rattles along at a hundred miles an hour, and refreshingly doesn't hold back developments til season finales etc- there are twists (and great laughs) in every episode.
Give it a try, I really enjoyed it. Last episode is a corker.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 04 March, 2017, 02:45:34 AM
An angler dies and wakes up in a beautiful countryside next to a sparkling river. After a moment, an angel appears with an armful of wonderful fishing gear, which he gives to the Angler.
"For me?"
"Yes," says the Angel, gesturing towards the river, "this is your spot."
Beaming, the Angler casts his fly upon the sparkling waters and in less than a minute hooks a magnificent trout. He puts it in his keep net and casts again, very soon hooking an even more magnificent fish. He quickly hooks another half-dozen similarly magnificent fish and then begins to pack up his fishing gear.
"What's wrong?" asks the Angel.
"Oh nothing," says the Angler,"nothing at all - this place is literally perfect! I just thought I'd try another spot along the river."
"Oh no," said the Angel. "This is your spot."
"Oh Hell," says the Angler.
"Yes," says the Angel.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: DrRocka on 04 March, 2017, 10:06:40 AM
Took me 13 episodes to figure that out, Sharkie
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 04 March, 2017, 10:09:54 AM
Speaking of hugely popular shows that you just can't twig with, Westworld. 2 episodes in and just NOT feeling it at all.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 04 March, 2017, 10:14:15 AM
Quote from: DrRocka on 04 March, 2017, 10:06:40 AM
Took me 13 episodes to figure that out, Sharkie
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brimstone_(TV_series))

Brimstone (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brimstone_(TV_series)) got me in a similar fashion!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: sheridan on 04 March, 2017, 03:33:09 PM
Quote from: DrRocka on 04 March, 2017, 10:06:40 AM
Took me 13 episodes to figure that out, Sharkie
Maybe it's because I've been reading Future Shocks since I was eight years old, but I got that on the second line of your description as well.  Though having read bits of stories from said age but with incomplete runs of progs at the time (so I knew how they ended up before reading the beginning of many of them) that wouldn't put me off watching it at some point.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: sheridan on 04 March, 2017, 04:45:56 PM
Quote from: JLC on 03 March, 2017, 02:50:19 PM
Doctor Who, watching it from the beginning!  :o
I did that a few years ago (for the fiftieth anniversary) - just managed to get up to date by the anniversary!  How far have you gotten so far?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 04 March, 2017, 05:59:55 PM
Just started a rerun of B5 from the start.  Always a little bugged that the DVD soundtrack for the pilot is different to the VHS release.  Never did get why.

The early episodes are interesting standalone with subtle crumbs being lain out.  It's interesting how some of the topics still resonate.  The growth of the Home Guard and isolationism.  I think the biggest laugh though has to be the CRT displays everywhere.  Set a couple of hundred years in the future and twenty odd years later behind the times on the tech front!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 05 March, 2017, 04:07:10 PM
Do you mean this one?

https://youtu.be/lNaqxREbzy4


Quote from: Dandontdare on 03 March, 2017, 08:02:41 PM
Oh god, I think I'd blocked the Irish town from my memory

Damn You!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JLC on 05 March, 2017, 05:16:58 PM
Quote from: sheridan on 04 March, 2017, 04:45:56 PM
Quote from: JLC on 03 March, 2017, 02:50:19 PM
Doctor Who, watching it from the beginning!  :o
I did that a few years ago (for the fiftieth anniversary) - just managed to get up to date by the anniversary!  How far have you gotten so far?
Just finished The Space Museum
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 07 March, 2017, 04:09:24 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 03 March, 2017, 07:52:09 PM
If memory serves, the point where I lost faith in Voyager was the episode set entirely in Paris' 1950s pulp-sci fi holodeck program, when I decided they'd finally run out of ideas.

As someone who barely watched any Voyager, those were my favourites.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 07 March, 2017, 04:30:00 PM
There was a lot of holodeck episodes. ::)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 07 March, 2017, 04:46:12 PM
Still not as bad as Enterprise. The entire series was a holodeck episode in the end.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tony Angelino on 07 March, 2017, 05:29:56 PM
If you have the Discovery Wild channel then I'm sure no one needs reminded that it is Big Cat week.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 07 March, 2017, 05:59:30 PM
Quote from: von Boom on 07 March, 2017, 04:46:12 PM
Still not as bad as Enterprise. The entire series was a holodeck episode in the end.

I've seen that mentioned before. I always just read it that the last episode was a holodeck recreation. Everything else was for reals.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 07 March, 2017, 06:11:34 PM
Yes, just the last episode was set in the TNG Enterprise's holodeck and, even then, was presented as a recreation of actual events.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 07 March, 2017, 06:14:37 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 07 March, 2017, 05:59:30 PM
Quote from: von Boom on 07 March, 2017, 04:46:12 PM
Still not as bad as Enterprise. The entire series was a holodeck episode in the end.

I've seen that mentioned before. I always just read it that the last episode was a holodeck recreation. Everything else was for reals.

It still felt like a whopping let down in the end. Well, it did for me anyhow...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 07 March, 2017, 06:27:44 PM
Yeah, that last episode was a bit pants with an old, fat Riker trying to look young and slim, holding his belly in and walking around as if unsure of his bowels. The rest of Enterprise, to me, though, was mostly tip-top.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 07 March, 2017, 06:30:21 PM
Well,Enterprise is a bit better then fans give it credit for,
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 07 March, 2017, 06:40:02 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 07 March, 2017, 06:27:44 PM
Yeah, that last episode was a bit pants with an old, fat Riker trying to look young and slim, holding his belly in and walking around as if unsure of his bowels. The rest of Enterprise, to me, though, was mostly tip-top.

Exactly. If they had used anyone else than Riker I think it would have worked better, but Riker is just sad enough to have wasted his time watching that much holodeck while munching Romulan crisps. That's what gives the impression that the entire series was just holodeck.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 07 March, 2017, 07:20:22 PM
 PEAKY BLINDERS. Bit like Taboo in that it's... er .. .  Probably less than historically accurate but who cares because it's stylish as.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 12 March, 2017, 11:00:19 PM
Quote from: DrRocka on 04 March, 2017, 01:07:45 AM
Just finished watching The Good Place - really great fun. Kinda My Name Is Earl meets Old Harry's Game.
A woman wakes up in an office to be informed by a friendly Ted Danson that she's dead, and has arrived in The Good Place. It's a happy utopia, with her soul mate and excessively lovely neighbours all being wonderful
To one another. Trouble is, she knows she's not supposed to be there, having been less than wonderful in her life.
As the series goes on, bad things start to happen to The Good Place - does she 'fess up, and risk being sent to The Bad Place?
It rattles along at a hundred miles an hour, and refreshingly doesn't hold back developments til season finales etc- there are twists (and great laughs) in every episode.
Give it a try, I really enjoyed it. Last episode is a corker.

Took your advice and Pirate Bayed this - not brilliant and not dire but enjoyed it well enough. Ted Danson is, as always, great value and the rest of the cast do solid, good work. Some lovely ideas and snappy dialogue at work. This is never going to be a classic but, in my humble, is well worth a watch. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 12 March, 2017, 11:05:11 PM
Blasted Hellish double post, sorry.

(https://torrentproject.se/th_D1353D51AA45A9402BC69A39DF60D3D6BCCABF74_0.jpg)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 14 March, 2017, 08:14:31 PM
My Kneale-athon continued (with some delay) with The Stone Tapes (1972) which was very much my cup of tea. Early 70's Who aesthetic, sci-fi and horror molding in a modern take of a ghost story. Yeah so what if the budget caused the final reveal to be a bit pants, the build up of suspense, intrigue and mystery as well as some rather tidy scares made for a solid made for TV feature.

Also, the DVD I picked up from 101 contained Ghostwatch (1992), another under appreciated made for TV movie that really needs more love.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Enigmatic Dr X on 14 March, 2017, 09:40:57 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 12 March, 2017, 11:00:19 PM
Quote from: DrRocka on 04 March, 2017, 01:07:45 AM
Just finished watching The Good Place - really great fun. Kinda My Name Is Earl meets Old Harry's Game.
A woman wakes up in an office to be informed by a friendly Ted Danson that she's dead, and has arrived in The Good Place. It's a happy utopia, with her soul mate and excessively lovely neighbours all being wonderful
To one another. Trouble is, she knows she's not supposed to be there, having been less than wonderful in her life.
As the series goes on, bad things start to happen to The Good Place - does she 'fess up, and risk being sent to The Bad Place?
It rattles along at a hundred miles an hour, and refreshingly doesn't hold back developments til season finales etc- there are twists (and great laughs) in every episode.
Give it a try, I really enjoyed it. Last episode is a corker.

Took your advice and Pirate Bayed this - not brilliant and not dire but enjoyed it well enough. Ted Danson is, as always, great value and the rest of the cast do solid, good work. Some lovely ideas and snappy dialogue at work. This is never going to be a classic but, in my humble, is well worth a watch. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

Not a joke: what genre is this? Is it a comedy, or a drama, or a mix?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 14 March, 2017, 10:24:23 PM
Comedy with a bit of afterlife drama thrown in.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Enigmatic Dr X on 14 March, 2017, 11:34:59 PM
Hmm. Think I might track it down. Sounds my cup of Earl Grey.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 15 March, 2017, 08:46:03 AM
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is now on Netflix! So 20 films to catch up!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 15 March, 2017, 09:13:07 AM
Quote from: Goaty on 15 March, 2017, 08:46:03 AM
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is now on Netflix! So 20 films to catch up!
Ooh OOOHH the new reboot series?!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 15 March, 2017, 09:27:15 AM
What's the opposite of addiction?

Watched the first two episodes of Fargo and I don't think I can be arsed with any more. Billy-Bob Thornton is great. I could watch a whole series of him driving around smalltown America being an absolute dick to people. Unfortunately, Martin Freeman is no William H Macy and both his character and the policewoman are too clearly pale copies of the ones from the original film.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 15 March, 2017, 09:55:21 AM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 15 March, 2017, 09:13:07 AM
Quote from: Goaty on 15 March, 2017, 08:46:03 AM
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is now on Netflix! So 20 films to catch up!
Ooh OOOHH the new reboot series?!

No, this one from 1999.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 15 March, 2017, 09:56:20 AM
Quote from: I, Cosh on 15 March, 2017, 09:27:15 AM
What's the opposite of addiction?

Watched the first two episodes of Fargo and I don't think I can be arsed with any more. Billy-Bob Thornton is great. I could watch a whole series of him driving around smalltown America being an absolute dick to people. Unfortunately, Martin Freeman is no William H Macy and both his character and the policewoman are too clearly pale copies of the ones from the original film.

Can understand first two episodes not that good, but stay on long and it amazing and even series 2!!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: sheldipez on 15 March, 2017, 09:57:11 AM
Quote from: I, Cosh on 15 March, 2017, 09:27:15 AM
What's the opposite of addiction?

Watched the first two episodes of Fargo and I don't think I can be arsed with any more. Billy-Bob Thornton is great. I could watch a whole series of him driving around smalltown America being an absolute dick to people. Unfortunately, Martin Freeman is no William H Macy and both his character and the policewoman are too clearly pale copies of the ones from the original film.

I only watched the first episode and thought much the same, Billy-Bob really is great but I wasn't a fan of the rest of the supporting cast so didnt bother with the next episode.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 15 March, 2017, 10:42:26 AM
Quote from: sheldipez on 15 March, 2017, 09:57:11 AM
Quote from: I, Cosh on 15 March, 2017, 09:27:15 AM
What's the opposite of addiction?

Watched the first two episodes of Fargo and I don't think I can be arsed with any more. Billy-Bob Thornton is great. I could watch a whole series of him driving around smalltown America being an absolute dick to people. Unfortunately, Martin Freeman is no William H Macy and both his character and the policewoman are too clearly pale copies of the ones from the original film.

I only watched the first episode and thought much the same, Billy-Bob really is great but I wasn't a fan of the rest of the supporting cast so didnt bother with the next episode.

Definitely worth sticking with, and not a huge commitment with only 10 episodes.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 15 March, 2017, 12:26:25 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 14 March, 2017, 08:14:31 PM
Also, the DVD I picked up from 101 contained Ghostwatch (1992), another under appreciated made for TV movie that really needs more love.

hah - wouldn't call it a classic (it's got Mike bloody Reid in it FFS) but I remember all the hoo-hah when that was first broadcast as thousands of outraged viewers rang to complain that they had been scared under false pretences!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 15 March, 2017, 12:47:00 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 15 March, 2017, 12:26:25 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 14 March, 2017, 08:14:31 PM
Also, the DVD I picked up from 101 contained Ghostwatch (1992), another under appreciated made for TV movie that really needs more love.

hah - wouldn't call it a classic (it's got Mike bloody Reid in it FFS) but I remember all the hoo-hah when that was first broadcast as thousands of outraged viewers rang to complain that they had been scared under false pretences!
To be fair, it does have some of the most effective subliminal scares. The titular ghost, Pipes, appears throughout the movie, never in a jump scare but just out the corner of your eye, or in a crowd, or reflected in a mirror. It's actually quite unsettling once you see he's there.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 15 March, 2017, 01:12:12 PM
LG and I just finished the fourth series of the Golden Girls. Despite being full of 80s TV pop culture references, being principally about privileged Miami pensioners and awash with inoffensive pastel colours this has aged brilliantly. The characters are strong, the morals are high (dealing with everything from addiction and homelessness all the way through to astonishingly mature debates of LGBT issues) and all four leads are astoundingly quick, making even the most obvious joke shine. I started watching the first series years ago due it being Mitch Hurwitz's first TV work and I thought it would be shite but honestly it has properly grown on me.

Then to find out there's a Golden Girls cafe opened up in New York.... hmmm (https://www.facebook.com/ruelaruecafe/)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 15 March, 2017, 01:51:01 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 15 March, 2017, 12:47:00 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 15 March, 2017, 12:26:25 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 14 March, 2017, 08:14:31 PM
Also, the DVD I picked up from 101 contained Ghostwatch (1992), another under appreciated made for TV movie that really needs more love.

hah - wouldn't call it a classic (it's got Mike bloody Reid in it FFS) but I remember all the hoo-hah when that was first broadcast as thousands of outraged viewers rang to complain that they had been scared under false pretences!
To be fair, it does have some of the most effective subliminal scares. The titular ghost, Pipes, appears throughout the movie, never in a jump scare but just out the corner of your eye, or in a crowd, or reflected in a mirror. It's actually quite unsettling once you see he's there.

I watched this when originally broadcast with a friend who was over for a sleepover, I must have been 10 years old and sat down to it very much believing it to be real. Really can't stress enough how much of an impact it had and just how much it scared the hell out of me. Thinking back I think it was the pacing that really sold it, haven't seen it since (apart from clips here and there) but I seem to recall it really eased you into the big scares, lots of the usual tv ghost hunt 'oh we think we can see something in this frame, let's watch that back' kind of moments where we were making fun of it and being skeptical, before it actually started throwing out the real supernatural craziness.

I think it helped that at that age we really, really WANTED it to be real, so even when it all got over the top we just went with it. One of the most intense tv memories I'll ever have, because as a tv parlour trick it can't ever really be repeated (and given the response they probably wouldn't dare to try).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 15 March, 2017, 02:42:01 PM
Quote from: CrazyFoxMachine on 15 March, 2017, 01:12:12 PM
LG and I just finished the fourth series of the Golden Girls. Despite being full of 80s TV pop culture references, being principally about privileged Miami pensioners and awash with inoffensive pastel colours this has aged brilliantly. The characters are strong, the morals are high (dealing with everything from addiction and homelessness all the way through to astonishingly mature debates of LGBT issues) and all four leads are astoundingly quick, making even the most obvious joke shine. I started watching the first series years ago due it being Mitch Hurwitz's first TV work and I thought it would be shite but honestly it has properly grown on me.

Then to find out there's a Golden Girls cafe opened up in New York.... hmmm (https://www.facebook.com/ruelaruecafe/)

You could always get this monstrosity tattooed across your back like one dedicated fan did:
(http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd359/anaconda888/mtrushmore_120210_m_zpslk9y6wvt.jpg)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 15 March, 2017, 10:29:16 PM
(https://d12edgf4lwbh8j.cloudfront.net/photo/image/Dorothy_doesnt_approve_.gif)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rately on 18 March, 2017, 10:44:32 AM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 15 March, 2017, 02:42:01 PM
Quote from: CrazyFoxMachine on 15 March, 2017, 01:12:12 PM
LG and I just finished the fourth series of the Golden Girls. Despite being full of 80s TV pop culture references, being principally about privileged Miami pensioners and awash with inoffensive pastel colours this has aged brilliantly. The characters are strong, the morals are high (dealing with everything from addiction and homelessness all the way through to astonishingly mature debates of LGBT issues) and all four leads are astoundingly quick, making even the most obvious joke shine. I started watching the first series years ago due it being Mitch Hurwitz's first TV work and I thought it would be shite but honestly it has properly grown on me.

Then to find out there's a Golden Girls cafe opened up in New York.... hmmm (https://www.facebook.com/ruelaruecafe/)

You could always get this monstrosity tattooed across your back like one dedicated fan did:
(http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd359/anaconda888/mtrushmore_120210_m_zpslk9y6wvt.jpg)

Christ Almighty!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 18 March, 2017, 09:24:01 PM
Ive been having trouble charging my phone (connection issues with the lead which is one of those usb C jobs, hence I can't just swap leads) so I ordered a new lead on Amazon and since I needed the lead very quickly, decided to go for next day delivery.

Turns out the price of next day delivery isn't much less than the monthly subscription to Prime so....

I noticed Preacher was on there so I've been watching that these last couple of days.

I'm enjoying it a lot. I read the first collection at the library, and interesting premise aside, never really took to it. I think I prefer this a lot more. A couple of characters who came across as rather nasty in the comic are more three dimensional, and it's quite funny in places* on a very dark way. And Jesse is more believable as a preacher who lost his way, than in the comic, where he just seemed to wear the collar and that was it.

*That multiple angel massacre was the craziest thing. [spoiler]Loads died... yet technically only three...[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 18 March, 2017, 11:22:10 PM
Yeah, the motel fight was a thing of genius!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 19 March, 2017, 12:23:29 AM
Westworld. Four hours of television stretched out to fill ten episodes. The only marvel here is that they found a way to make malfunctioning cowboy robots duller than Methodist day trips to Penge. Even a million boobies couldn't rescue it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 19 March, 2017, 08:59:04 AM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 19 March, 2017, 12:23:29 AM
Westworld. Four hours of television stretched out to fill ten episodes. The only marvel here is that they found a way to make malfunctioning cowboy robots duller than Methodist day trips to Penge. Even a million boobies couldn't rescue it.
Glad i'm not the only one who founded it bloated and underwhelming.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 19 March, 2017, 06:10:24 PM
I'm finally up to date on ..

Vikings, [spoiler]Is Ragnar dead? Where why weren't his remains in the pit?[/spoiler]. The next season looks to be pretty interesting what with [spoiler]his sons all vying for the top spot and the inevitable Lagertha -vs - King Harald showdown[/spoiler]

The Flash [spoiler]Will Barry ever manage to out run anyone on this show? He's the fastest man alive and yet every villian is faster than him and now even Wally has surpassed him. Everyone keeps paying for his mistakes - now Jay is stuck in the speedforce. Most likeable character this season has been Grodd[/spoiler]

Arrow [spoiler]Oliver Queen you have failed this show but at least this season is about the Green Arrow and not Felicity[/spoiler]

Van Helsing. An interesting new take on a vampire apocalypse. The production is so so but the story is pretty good. I don't understand why the vampires have to make those noises - it's not atmospheric or realistic but I have liked it so far.

Finally started on Peaky Blinders and I realise now what all the fuss is about. Only watched the first season and the only thing I don't like is the singing. Every time she sings I get majorly irritated.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tony Angelino on 19 March, 2017, 09:58:22 PM
I think the actor who plays the Flash is too young. I'd rather have had the guy who played Zoom do it. Still looks like the Flash but just appears that bit older. I think it was Zoom anyway as I started to lose track of all the different speedsters. Harrison Wells steals that show though.

Legends of Tomorrow is my favourite of the DC shows. Its very funny at times and it even looks as if they have great fun making it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 20 March, 2017, 10:14:59 AM
Quote from: Rara Avis on 19 March, 2017, 06:10:24 PM
Vikings, [spoiler]Is Ragnar dead? Where why weren't his remains in the pit?[/spoiler].

He's dead.
A good deal of time had passed, his remains were likely covered up by mud.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 21 March, 2017, 06:04:27 PM
Quote from: Tony Angelino on 19 March, 2017, 09:58:22 PM
Legends of Tomorrow is my favourite of the DC shows. Its very funny at times and it even looks as if they have great fun making it.

Yeah - this is head and shoulders above most other TV superhero stuff because of strong characters, likeable actors and completely ludicrous scenarios. A recent episode where Stein launches into the Banana Boat Song in the NASA control room and Heat Wave sheepishly joins in was spellbinding.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 22 March, 2017, 01:40:06 PM
Quote from: CrazyFoxMachine on 21 March, 2017, 06:04:27 PM
Quote from: Tony Angelino on 19 March, 2017, 09:58:22 PM
Legends of Tomorrow is my favourite of the DC shows. Its very funny at times and it even looks as if they have great fun making it.

Yeah - this is head and shoulders above most other TV superhero stuff because of strong characters, likeable actors and completely ludicrous scenarios. A recent episode where Stein launches into the Banana Boat Song in the NASA control room and Heat Wave sheepishly joins in was spellbinding.

Avoiding spoilers, does this fit into the viewing order of the DC shows anywhere or is it completely standalone? We've been (very slowly) working through their shows in the order the episodes were broadcast (we're just about at the point Supergirl started up) and wondering if we should be incorporating this too! or if we should just treat it as a separate show!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tony Angelino on 22 March, 2017, 05:59:13 PM
Virtually all the characters have made their debuts in other shows so its not standalone in that respect.

There is also a crossover episode with the other three shows in season 2 of Legends.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 22 March, 2017, 07:22:30 PM
How old is The Flash supposed to be?

[spoiler]I thought Harrison Wells was Zoom?[/spoiler]

I have watched the first season of LoG and I liked it. I'll try catch up when I have time. Anyone watching Supergirl?

Re: Ragnar ..... oh well

Quote from: Tony Angelino on 19 March, 2017, 09:58:22 PM
I think the actor who plays the Flash is too young. I'd rather have had the guy who played Zoom do it. Still looks like the Flash but just appears that bit older. I think it was Zoom anyway as I started to lose track of all the different speedsters. Harrison Wells steals that show though.

Legends of Tomorrow is my favourite of the DC shows. Its very funny at times and it even looks as if they have great fun making it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tony Angelino on 22 March, 2017, 07:28:06 PM
I don't know how old Flash is supposed to be but the actor just looks too young in my opinion.

Unless I'm getting mixed up Zoom and the Reverse Flash are two different speedsters in the TV show (but were the same character in the comic). Zoom is all in black on TV while Reverse Flash has the familiar yellow and red outfit. I don't think that's a spoiler.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 22 March, 2017, 07:35:10 PM
No you're right, they are two different people on the show.

[spoiler]Zoom is Hunter Zolomon and Reverse Flash is Eobard Thawne who pretended to be Harrison Wells[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 23 March, 2017, 10:05:15 AM
What's the visual equivalent of a page-turner? Watche the first four episodes of The Expanse the other night without pausing for breath. There's not really anything new to it but the mashup of interplanetary political machinations, hardboiled detective pastiche and space adventure all come together to make the whole thing a lot of fun.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 23 March, 2017, 11:00:02 AM
Quote from: I, Cosh on 23 March, 2017, 10:05:15 AM
What's the visual equivalent of a page-turner? Watche the first four episodes of The Expanse the other night without pausing for breath.

It's very good. We've caught up with Season 2 and now have to wait a rather agonising week between episodes. Gah!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 23 March, 2017, 11:25:09 AM
Oh boy did I love The Expanse. Still waiting on season 2 to appear on Netflix, wife and I are both absolutely hooked.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 23 March, 2017, 02:44:12 PM
 :D Really glad this is catching on - it's one of my favourite series from recent years and was so (HIPSTERLY) ahead of the curve that the silence that initially seemed to greet it was deafening. Every new episode is a joy - going to try to obtain the Region 1 blu-ray...

(http://images4.static-bluray.com/movies/covers/147695_front.jpg)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 23 March, 2017, 03:20:34 PM
Quote from: Keef Monkey on 23 March, 2017, 11:25:09 AM
Oh boy did I love The Expanse. Still waiting on season 2 to appear on Netflix, wife and I are both absolutely hooked.

Same. I may have to take matters into my own hands if they don't step up the pace.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 23 March, 2017, 03:33:13 PM
The Man in the High Castle. Just started Season Two. I dunno, it's an odd one, this. Some lovely performances and a hauntingly good opening credits sequence but I don't know why I'm sticking with it. Like a lit firework that's just sitting there I don't know whether it's going to erupt or not - it seems to be always on the verge of amazing but never seems to actually do much.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 23 March, 2017, 04:20:16 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 23 March, 2017, 03:33:13 PM
The Man in the High Castle. Just started Season Two. I dunno, it's an odd one, this. Some lovely performances and a hauntingly good opening credits sequence but I don't know why I'm sticking with it. Like a lit firework that's just sitting there I don't know whether it's going to erupt or not - it seems to be always on the verge of amazing but never seems to actually do much.

I tried to watch the first season last year, but only got a couple of episodes in before giving up. I'd read the book and the series just didn't live up to it I thought.

I've been watching SS-GB which has a similar feel, but works better for me for some reason.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 23 March, 2017, 07:36:54 PM
I started watching The Wonder Years.Its why more mature then I expected.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 23 March, 2017, 08:03:43 PM
Maybe I'll give the book a go, VB, as it seems like a jolly good idea.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 23 March, 2017, 08:52:06 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 23 March, 2017, 03:33:13 PM
The Man in the High Castle. Just started Season Two. I dunno, it's an odd one, this. Some lovely performances and a hauntingly good opening credits sequence but I don't know why I'm sticking with it. Like a lit firework that's just sitting there I don't know whether it's going to erupt or not - it seems to be always on the verge of amazing but never seems to actually do much.

Know what you mean - I enjoyed the first season, but never finished the second. I gave up when I realised that I'd skipped 5 episodes ahead (my flatmate was watching too and I'd just clicked "continue watching") and it took me about 20 minutes to notice ("huh? When did Hitler die") it seemd like very little had happeened and I just couldn't be arsed watching those 5 hours to get me back to that point. I intended to watch the finale but my Amazon sub ran out before I got around to it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 23 March, 2017, 09:00:31 PM
I loved Season 1 of The Man in the High Castle. I will definitely be catching up on this when I have time.
I'll probably have to watch S1 again because I have a terrible memory.

I suppose we've all wonder what would have happened if the Axis had won the war. There's so much back story to be filled in here though which I hope Season 2 will address. How did the Nazi party come to dominant America so completely and so quickly? What's happening in Britain?

Great performance bu Rufus Sewell as well.

Dan - spoilers dude!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Daveycandlish on 23 March, 2017, 09:37:49 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 23 March, 2017, 08:03:43 PM
Maybe I'll give the book a go, VB, as it seems like a jolly good idea.

Don't. It's pish.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 24 March, 2017, 09:34:01 AM
I was watching Man In The High Castle for a bit, think I got through half of the first season. I just sort of...stopped, without ever making a choice to do so. It's not bad and I'm pretty sure I was enjoying it, but I was never feeling that pull to stick an episode on, and with so much good tv out there I guess that was enough reason for it to slip from rotation.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 24 March, 2017, 09:57:02 AM
Quote from: Daveycandlish on 23 March, 2017, 09:37:49 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 23 March, 2017, 08:03:43 PM
Maybe I'll give the book a go, VB, as it seems like a jolly good idea.

Don't. It's pish.

Do its great. If you like PKD.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 24 March, 2017, 09:59:31 AM
I've given up on Mr Robot, about four episodes in and its well, meh, to use last century speak.
I get the feeling it will drag on and on as 24 or Homeland did, and CBA with that.

Any watched the 12 Monkeys series?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 24 March, 2017, 10:02:52 AM
Quote from: Proudhuff on 24 March, 2017, 09:59:31 AM
Any watched the 12 Monkeys series?

Only season one so far.
Very enjoyable, veering somewhere between inspired genius and groan inducing cliché.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: sheldipez on 24 March, 2017, 10:48:33 AM
Quote from: Proudhuff on 24 March, 2017, 09:59:31 AM
I've given up on Mr Robot, about four episodes in and its well, meh, to use last century speak.
I get the feeling it will drag on and on as 24 or Homeland did, and CBA with that.

Any watched the 12 Monkeys series?

The wife and I got about the same amount in to Mr Robot and neither of us was interested in what was happening, too much choice out there these days to stick with something you're not feeling (and after Lost regret if I like to stop when I CBA, something I wish I did with Lost!)

This week I've been hammering Death Note anime (a few episodes from finishing - thoroughly recommended!) and Jessica Jones; been watching this with the wife, I've seen both Daredevil and Luke Cage and prefer both over Marvel's movie offerings (outside of Guardians) so thought I may as well tick Jones off the list, its good but not great. Excellent cast but the story hasn't got me gripped and I think we have four episodes left. Probably move onto Iron Fist after this; have heard bad things so not looking forward to it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bolt-01 on 24 March, 2017, 11:28:13 AM
We've only seen the first two episodes of Iron fist so far. I'm not hoping for great things, but so far each of the Netflix Marvel shows has delivered some great moments.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 24 March, 2017, 11:31:46 AM
Quote from: Bolt-01 on 24 March, 2017, 11:28:13 AM
We've only seen the first two episodes of Iron fist so far. I'm not hoping for great things, but so far each of the Netflix Marvel shows has delivered some great moments.

We've only watched the first episode so far... it seems to be looking for an identity in a way that the previous Netflix offerings didn't, but I don't get the hate. Perfectly enjoyable, at this point.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 24 March, 2017, 01:19:13 PM
About halfway through Iron Fist at the moment.
Perfectly competent television so far, but as a fan of kung fu films I probably have a bias towards kung fu stories that have kung fu in them - it seems to me that a show about a kung fu master who is so good at kung fu that it is basically a superpower could probably have a bit more kung fu in it, if only to make up for the charisma vacuum that is the lead character.  Don't get me wrong, I've often thought that the central problems with Way Of The Dragon were that it had a clearly defined protagonist and not enough scenes of people sitting in offices talking, and the makers of IF seem to agree with that assessment so far.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 24 March, 2017, 01:19:33 PM
I genuinely can't work out why leaving the character (largely) as he is in the comic, child of wealthy white US business family learns mystical martial arts in fantasy city, is somehow more racist than insisting that only people of [unspecified] east asian descent should be cast as Kung Fu superheroes. Nobody seemed bothered that Luke Cage wasn't cast as Irish American, and the man owns a bar in NYC.   

I honestly do believe actively aiming for diversity in casting is important, and is often very successful, but this is misinformed nonsense. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 24 March, 2017, 02:06:10 PM
I don't really agree with the argument, but it centers around cultural appropriation (taking the kungfu) and lack of representation (so few asian protagonists). Which from a distance I can see having something to it, even if I think it ignores any kind of context and the counter-argument you outline below.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 24 March, 2017, 02:09:09 PM
Finished the last episode of the second series of The Man in the High Castle. Okay, that was a cracking episode but I have no idea why I seem to have liked the series so much. It featured the most petulant resistance guy ever, a man who spends most of his time passive-aggressively whingeing at the people he's putting in danger and being the worst spy ever by just standing there staring at people/things he shouldn't be looking at; a Japanese trade minister who spends the majority of his time sticking his lip out and meaningless people/things in a deeply meaningful way and a Nazi officer who spends the majority of his time being a deeply unsettling suburban family man and staring at people and things with dead eyes that might be hiding thoughts on whether to open fire or not. That's before we even get anywhere near the unexplained parallel timeline flitting and films.

But, y'know what? I'm really looking forward to Season 3.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 24 March, 2017, 02:11:37 PM
*a Japanese trade minister who spends the majority of his time sticking his lip out and staring at  meaningless people/things in a deeply meaningful way*
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 24 March, 2017, 04:01:02 PM
Going through the Walking Dead again but this time with the missus.
She is loving it.
Just approaching the end of season 2.
The missus is insisting on a minimum of 2 episodes per night, more often than not 3.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 24 March, 2017, 11:31:14 PM
Complete change of pace - just starting S01E03 of Ash vs. Evil Dead. How is it so far?

Groovy!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Michael Knight on 25 March, 2017, 10:24:55 PM
MATTOFTHESPURS I loved series 2 of the walking dead. Little house on the prairie meets dawn of the dead vibe to it. Seriously though I'm finding season 7 heavy going so far. Any episode with Negan is rather boring I find.Really hope the next series picks up as I'm actually enjoying Fear the Walking Dead more nowadays.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: moly on 26 March, 2017, 09:13:13 AM
legion binged watched the first 7 yesterday, what a fantastic series definetly have to pay attention and can be a bit weird but looking forward to the next one
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 26 March, 2017, 10:47:05 AM
I just started Fear the Walking Dead this very night! (Well technically I started it a couple of years back when they showed the first episode for free.* I enjoyed it, but as the rest of the series required paying, I just saw that one.) I'm four episodes in, now.

So far: Pretty good.


* I think it was just some promotional deal advertising another channel, which youd have to pay for later to see the rest of the series, or maybe it was a freebie on pay for view. I forget.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 26 March, 2017, 12:18:07 PM
A couple of episodes off the pace with the fourth and final series of Black Sails, which is rattling along at a fair old clip and building a very definite sense that Things Will Not End Well for most of these characters. The first half of Season One was a real slog, but I'm glad I persevered, because it's been pretty damn good ever since.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 26 March, 2017, 04:31:18 PM
Little Witch Academia is the most recent series from Studio Trigger, the comapny formerly known as Gainax and responsible for the majority of Gurren Lagann and Kill La Kill.

LWA is a tonely shift from the raunchy high comedy action sagas of the later two to a charming, slower paced series with often bat shit crazy moments. Visually beautiful and a heck of a lot of fun, mostly episodic too boot, LWA is just a joy from beginning to end.

Highly recommended.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 26 March, 2017, 06:31:25 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 26 March, 2017, 04:31:18 PM
Little Witch Academia is [...]

Remarkable. It looks like English but I barely understood a single word of that.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 26 March, 2017, 06:46:53 PM
Finished both series of Ash vs. Evil Dead - it's gloriously silly and ludicrously gory with Bruce Campbell reprising his most famous role effortlessly, Lucy Lawless just drifting through the series like a well-run schooner and Lee Majors popping up as Ash's degenerate dad. A thoroughly enjoyable romp all fans of the films should enjoy.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 26 March, 2017, 07:03:44 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 26 March, 2017, 06:31:25 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 26 March, 2017, 04:31:18 PM
Little Witch Academia is [...]

Remarkable. It looks like English but I barely understood a single word of that.
Anime in a nutshell.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 26 March, 2017, 07:04:30 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 26 March, 2017, 06:46:53 PM
Finished both series of Ash vs. Evil Dead - it's gloriously silly and ludicrously gory with Bruce Campbell reprising his most famous role effortlessly, Lucy Lawless just drifting through the series like a well-run schooner and Lee Majors popping up as Ash's degenerate dad. A thoroughly enjoyable romp all fans of the films should enjoy.
Need to catch up, I loved Season 1 and freaking adore Evil Dead in all it's iterations.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 26 March, 2017, 09:56:27 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 26 March, 2017, 06:46:53 PM
A thoroughly enjoyable romp all fans of the films should enjoy.

Yeah totally agree with this both series are a riot. Really gory, really stupid, really fun. GOOD SHIT.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Satanist on 27 March, 2017, 10:13:29 AM
Regards Ash vs Evil Dead there's a scene in the second season I have no idea how they got away with. The scene in the morgue, you know the one. I literally had tears of laughter watching that in disbelief.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 27 March, 2017, 02:14:29 PM
Quote from: Satanist on 27 March, 2017, 10:13:29 AM
Regards Ash vs Evil Dead there's a scene in the second season I have no idea how they got away with. The scene in the morgue, you know the one. I literally had tears of laughter watching that in disbelief.

Yeah, we were falling off the sofa watching that, absolutely howling. Amazing stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 27 March, 2017, 03:43:19 PM
Yeah that was a level of creative outrageous slapstick gore I haven't felt since watching Braindead years ago - genuinely mindblowing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 28 March, 2017, 08:32:44 AM
Quote from: Michael Knight on 25 March, 2017, 10:24:55 PM
MATTOFTHESPURS I loved series 2 of the walking dead. Little house on the prairie meets dawn of the dead vibe to it. Seriously though I'm finding season 7 heavy going so far. Any episode with Negan is rather boring I find.Really hope the next series picks up as I'm actually enjoying Fear the Walking Dead more nowadays.

I only watched the first episode of 'Fear The Walking Dead' and I wasn't impressed although I realise the first episode of any series is not an indication of how good or bad it will be.
I've just bought seasons 1 and 2 of FTWD of blu ray and we will watch them after TWD.
Mid way through season 3 of TWD at the moment (2nd go through for me, first for the missus) and we are both enjoying it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dark Jimbo on 28 March, 2017, 10:44:12 AM
Quote from: Mattofthespurs on 28 March, 2017, 08:32:44 AM]
I only watched the first episode of 'Fear The Walking Dead' and I wasn't impressed although I realise the first episode of any series is not an indication of how good or bad it will be.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first series of FTWD, but I thought the first episode was one of the single worst things I'd ever seen on a TV screen - dull, uninvolving, really unlikeable/uninteresting characters, just... Ugh. It's amazing how rapidly it improves from there.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 28 March, 2017, 11:21:20 AM
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 28 March, 2017, 10:44:12 AM
Quote from: Mattofthespurs on 28 March, 2017, 08:32:44 AM]
I only watched the first episode of 'Fear The Walking Dead' and I wasn't impressed although I realise the first episode of any series is not an indication of how good or bad it will be.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first series of FTWD, but I thought the first episode was one of the single worst things I'd ever seen on a TV screen - dull, uninvolving, really unlikeable/uninteresting characters, just... Ugh. It's amazing how rapidly it improves from there.

Ah, good to hear.
Yeah, I was deeply unimpressed with the first episode and with so much good stuff to watch I really hate wasting my time on crap.
I look forward to watching it all this time.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 30 March, 2017, 12:32:49 PM
Fargo, Season One.



Superb.



That is all.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 30 March, 2017, 12:58:57 PM
Still not sure which one I preferred, season 2 or season 1. Very different stories and S1 slightly suffers from being a familiarish story.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 30 March, 2017, 01:11:52 PM
Looks like I'm for a treat when I get to Season Two, then - can't wait! I liked the similarities between the film and S1 - they were like little echoes, resonances or homages and were just few enough in number to be treats rather than attempts at duplication. I loved just about everything about it, from each and every superbly cast actor to the pair of hitmen from Fargo's drummy theme tune. Just splendid from start to finish.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 30 March, 2017, 04:35:13 PM
Oh yah. I just mean it's hard to compare the two.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 30 March, 2017, 05:05:09 PM
Well gosh, that sounds just super!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 01 April, 2017, 12:44:12 PM
Well I finally got around to watching Kneale's Beasts anthology. Intended to watch one episode a day but ended up watching all 6 (plus the pilot) episodes in a day. Utterly gripping little one off plays, not a dud among them and watching Inside N0. 9 on TV right now I have to wonder if Shearsmith is a fan.

I guess in chronological order, the pilot Murrain was a delightful little supernatural tale, somewhere between Witchfinder General and The Wicker Man, with a lovely little bit of poetic justice in the final scene. Onto the series itself, Baby actually felt like a sister piece to Murrain, and was a damn good haunting come witchy thriller with a genuinely nasty twist at the end. 10 year old me would have been traumatized for life!

Buddyboy was arguably the one I liked the least, but it's premise was mad enough to keep me invested anyway, [spoiler]not often you'll see a play about a millionaire haunted by an empty dolphin pool.[/spoiler]. The Dummy is the crowning gem of the series, and one of the finest satires i've ever seen. That Kneale really didn't like hammer studios, did he?!

Special Offer and What Big Eye's are both highly competent mysteries, with some wonderful casting in both (Patrick Magee's barmy Lychanthrop researcher in WBE's is particularly brilliant). Both pale in comparison however to the brilliance that was During Barty's Party, which rivals anything by Hitchcock in terms of it's tense atmosphere and subtle scares, trimmed back cast and use of sets. If not for The Dummy, it would be the best of any given anthology series.

If you haven't already, I highly recommend picking up the DVD before it goes OOP, it's absolutely brilliant!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 03 April, 2017, 01:57:39 AM
I started watching The Man in the High Castle this weekend. I'm 5 episodes in already* and theres plenty more to go, although from a story-arc point of view it feels like episode five was the start of a new series.

It's really enjoyable stuff! Having just seen a series on BBC2 concerning a world where the Germans one the war, I was a little reluctant to see this... but it turns out to be rather different.

Likeable characters. Nice plot twists. I reckon I've sussed out the source of that film footage already, but it will be fun to see if I'm right.

*I disgust myself sometimes, but putting off cliff-hanger resolutions it's not my strong point.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 12 April, 2017, 09:37:32 AM
Season 3 of Better Call Saul is here. :)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 14 April, 2017, 12:07:50 PM
Watching Peep Show on Netflix.
Had forgotten just how funny it is.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 14 April, 2017, 12:08:46 PM
Quote from: Smith on 12 April, 2017, 09:37:32 AM
Season 3 of Better Call Saul is here. :)

I'm so slow. We started season two the other night. First episode was absolute gold.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 14 April, 2017, 12:58:27 PM
Quote from: Mattofthespurs on 14 April, 2017, 12:07:50 PM
Watching Peep Show on Netflix.
Had forgotten just how funny it is.
yeah I recently ploughed through the entire run on my phone at lunchtimes - one of the funniest sitcoms ever.

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 14 April, 2017, 12:08:46 PM
Quote from: Smith on 12 April, 2017, 09:37:32 AM
Season 3 of Better Call Saul is here. :)

I'm so slow. We started season two the other night. First episode was absolute gold.

You think that's slow? I've got the first 4 seasons of Breaking Bad on DVD, haven't watched a minute. And I've got several seasons of Game of Thrones to catch up on.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 14 April, 2017, 01:23:17 PM
Breaking Bad is probably my favourite show of all time.
Absolutely adore it.
Got the first season of Better Call Saul on blu but only watched the first episode so far.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Satanist on 14 April, 2017, 01:30:04 PM
I like Breaking Bad but its quite possibly the most over-rated series ever. I think I like Better call Saul more.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 14 April, 2017, 02:35:51 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 14 April, 2017, 12:08:46 PM
Quote from: Smith on 12 April, 2017, 09:37:32 AM
Season 3 of Better Call Saul is here. :)

I'm so slow. We started season two the other night. First episode was absolute gold.
Granted,I had the unfair advantage of starting earlier.  :P
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 17 April, 2017, 02:17:40 PM
Ultraman Ace see's my Ultraphon clock it's 250's episode, and I cant lie, I didn't enjoy this one as much as I had hopped. The desiscion to carry over the Yapool story line from Jack was ambitious and indeed Yapool and Ace Killer have become Ace's iconic enemies, but the overall arc of the series felt bloated with filler.

Onwards and upwards, however, as the sixth and final title in the original Ultra saga is a real classic, Taro!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: auxlen on 17 April, 2017, 05:13:57 PM
Enjoying Hap and Leonard...good banter....
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 18 April, 2017, 10:32:59 AM
Watched all three seasons of Silicon Valley over the weekend.

Some incredibly funny one liners including my new favourite phase:

"You're bringing piss to a shit fight"

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Supreme Pizza Of The DPRK on 18 April, 2017, 11:22:26 PM
Just had a Walking Dead marathon with my flatmate who has never seen them. It was nice to watch em all again. Rick is a lot more annoying this time around though.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 20 April, 2017, 11:11:48 AM
Quote from: auxlen on 17 April, 2017, 05:13:57 PM
Enjoying Hap and Leonard...good banter....

I binged on the Hap & Leonard books last summer, and it was a godsend when I discovered the series on Amazon. Most of the way through S2 now and whilst I struggled with the casting at first it has grown on me and love the way they are weaving together elements of different stories into the major plotlines. I keep forgetting it's supposed to be set in the 80s though, just assume everyone hasn't got a mobile because they're poor...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 20 April, 2017, 11:43:58 AM
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 20 April, 2017, 11:11:48 AM
Quote from: auxlen on 17 April, 2017, 05:13:57 PM
Enjoying Hap and Leonard...good banter....

I binged on the Hap & Leonard books last summer, and it was a godsend when I discovered the series on Amazon. Most of the way through S2 now and whilst I struggled with the casting at first it has grown on me and love the way they are weaving together elements of different stories into the major plotlines. I keep forgetting it's supposed to be set in the 80s though, just assume everyone hasn't got a mobile because they're poor...

Hold on a minute, are we talking about a TV version of Joe Lansdale's Hap & Leonard?  Only just yesterday read and enjoyed my first one of the stories, interested to see how it translates.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 20 April, 2017, 12:29:10 PM
Yes sir, that's what we're talking about. First season is Savage Season and I think they just finished off Mucho Mojo, and they're weaving elements from other books into different stories as you don't get the benefit of Hap's exposition.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bolt-01 on 20 April, 2017, 02:22:56 PM
Sweet Jovus- I've read 'Mucho Mojo'- and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'll have to take a look at this!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 20 April, 2017, 04:04:47 PM
Finally working up the courage to tackle the large mountain of Japanese cartoons eating my spare room, and Here and There, Now and Then is a 13-part OVA best described as an "anti-romp", taking the basic template of the stranger in a strange land fantasy trope and adding torture and rape until all joy and hope is gone from this well-served genre.  To be fair, the show does likely go down this grim and angsty path just to differentiate itself from a flood of similar shows and OVAs, as the Japanese churn stuff like this out all the time to the point I genuinely don't know where to start in offering alternative interpretations of the same material - though the tv version of Vision of Escaflowne remains a great example two decades after it was first released, all the more surprising in that it predates NaTHaT by nearly half a decade, such is the gulf in quality between the two.
I liked the limited palette of colours used to realise post-ocean Earth, and the fully cel-based animation of the late 90s before CGI started to become unavoidable in animu gives things a retro charm at odds with the material, but there's no getting away from the fact that this isn't an old-fashioned adventure, it's just cheap and often nasty.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 20 April, 2017, 10:15:24 PM
13 Reasons Why

The buzzy new Netflix show. I caught the first episode and strongly disliked it. I just couldn't get a handle on the tone they were going for, and my initial reaction was that they were treating some very serious subjects in an astoundingly irresponsible, flippant way - for example glamourising teen suicide as a kind of kooky, quirky way to get revenge on others. Won't be watching any more.

Happy Valley

Watched the first episode and quite liked it - kind of like if Shane Meadows remade Fargo.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 20 April, 2017, 10:31:23 PM
Nearly half way through Iron Fist. It's okay, nothing great but still better than Arrow or The Flash. Still, for a guy who spent 15 years training under masters, Danny seems to spend an awful lot of time getting punched in the mush and hitting the same people repeatedly until they eventually fall down.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 21 April, 2017, 01:29:10 AM
Quote from: radiator on 20 April, 2017, 10:15:24 PM
13 Reasons Why

The buzzy new Netflix show. I caught the first episode and strongly disliked it. I just couldn't get a handle on the tone they were going for, and my initial reaction was that they were treating some very serious subjects in an astoundingly irresponsible, flippant way - for example glamourising teen suicide as a kind of kooky, quirky way to get revenge on others. Won't be watching any more.

Same. Tonally it was a disaster - but it's not really "for us" I'd argue - it's helping a shit-ton of teenagers open up about stuff apparently (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13_Reasons_Why#cite_note-29) the world over so that's something I suppose. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 21 April, 2017, 11:21:43 AM
My wife binge watched the whole thing yesterday. I found it a bit iffy (walked in at the end) given that it does sort of imply that suicide will allow people to have an impact on other's after their death and make them question their behaviour, which I'm not sure is particularly... idk, helpful? It's not helped by standard American teen casting I think or the tone-deaf portrayal of supposed poverty as pretty sweet suburbia. Not sure why it takes HBO or Breaking Bad to show any actual grime and grit to people's lives.


QuoteHappy Valley

Watched the first episode and quite liked it - kind of like if Shane Meadows remade Fargo.

Really, really enjoyed this and not just because it takes place in my future-dream-home of the Calde.r valley.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 21 April, 2017, 12:05:53 PM
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 21 April, 2017, 11:21:43 AMthat it does sort of imply that suicide will allow people to have an impact on other's after their death and make them question their behaviour, which I'm not sure is particularly... idk, helpful? It's not helped by standard American teen casting I think or the tone-deaf portrayal of supposed poverty as pretty sweet suburbia.

No, I totally absolutely agree - again it does that thing that barely any alienated teen would actually identify with by casting a load of athletically fit clean-skinned beautiful kids. However despite (and possibly because of) the well-worn tropes and sledgehammer-walnut style problem solving it's out in the world and having suicide, teen rape and those sorts of things being looked at and talked about which on the very very bare face of it can't be utterly contemptible. I'M TRYING SO HARD TO BE CONSTRUCTIVE ABOUT THIS. I DON'T KNOW WHY. I ONLY WATCHED IT BECAUSE THE GUY WHO DIRECTED THE STATION AGENT DID IT. HE'S GOT A VERY INCONSISTENT OUTPUT. HE DID THAT FILM WITH ADAM SANDLER AS A MAGIC COBBLER. YET HE ALSO WON TWO OSCARS FOR SPOTLIGHT. WTF MAN.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 21 April, 2017, 01:31:21 PM
Go watch the Glee episodes about suicide or that one where they exploit the IRL death of one of the cast and then go back to 13 reasons.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 22 April, 2017, 01:04:02 AM
Quote from: Mardroid on 03 April, 2017, 01:57:39 AM
It's really enjoyable stuff! Having just seen a series on BBC2 concerning a world where the Germans one the war,

...or "won the war" even. Dear me, I'm cringing inside. I think I typed that on my phone... that's my excuse.

Anyway, yeah, I watched the rest of The Man in the High Castle (well the 2 series on Amazon) and thoroughly enjoyed it.

My last watch was Vikings. I was reluctant to watch that when it first came out (partly due to the silly modern haircuts of certain characters) but it turned out to be very enjoyable.

It's not perfect, but it's fun and even thought provoking. I like the blend of history with fantasy. Not so keen on the depiction of Christians as cowardly twats, but to be fair, they're not really real Christians as I know them.

I watched all four series on Amazon, and I look forward to series 5. [spoiler]And a brave thing they did in series 4...[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 22 April, 2017, 10:25:02 PM
Finished Iron Fist and found it a bit "meh," not a patch on Daredevil, Luke Cage, Agent Carter or the rest but still better than most of the DC stuff.

Anyway, after certain viewers of this parish whose opinions I respect mentioned it, I've just finished the first series of Detectorists. ("Where's the Finds Table?" "We couldn't find it.") This is more like it! Really, really enjoyable television and I'm looking forward to downloading Series 2 to see whether Bishop's invisible dogs ever reappear and if the lads ever find their treasure trove... Brilliant!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 22 April, 2017, 11:01:02 PM
Detectorists is fantastic.

I'm about to renew my Netflix and am looking forwrd to Luke Cage and Agent Cater - has there been any talkof new Daredevil orJessica Jones?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 22 April, 2017, 11:07:49 PM
Upcoming Marvel TV Shows. (http://www.cinemablend.com/television/1556579/upcoming-marvel-tv-shows-the-full-list-of-whats-ahead)

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 24 April, 2017, 07:18:50 PM
"Brethrens, we are gathered here in the bosom of Jesus to say goodbye to this to this mouse, killed before its time.

"We have given it cheese and bread for its journey to heaven, or at least if it goes to hell it'll have cheese on toast.

"Dust to dust, for richer or for poorer, in sickness or in health, may the force be with you, because you're worth it. Amen and out."

One of the funniest tv moments I've ever seen! Five points if you can name the series and another five for the name of the character who spoke those words.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 24 April, 2017, 08:54:05 PM
Quote from: CrazyFoxMachine on 21 April, 2017, 01:29:10 AM
Quote from: radiator on 20 April, 2017, 10:15:24 PM
13 Reasons Why

The buzzy new Netflix show. I caught the first episode and strongly disliked it. I just couldn't get a handle on the tone they were going for, and my initial reaction was that they were treating some very serious subjects in an astoundingly irresponsible, flippant way - for example glamourising teen suicide as a kind of kooky, quirky way to get revenge on others. Won't be watching any more.

Same. Tonally it was a disaster - but it's not really "for us" I'd argue - it's helping a shit-ton of teenagers open up about stuff apparently (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13_Reasons_Why#cite_note-29) the world over so that's something I suppose.

If it's helping people then fair enough I guess. I also totally agree with everything Blaze says. Apparently  the writers were given a list of 'don'ts' by various specialists relating to teen suicide (don't glamourise or portray suicide as a 'release' or way to 'get back' at people, don't explicitly show the act itself) and chose to completely ignore all the notes... They've also been strongly criticised for not even attempting to address or touch on what is the bigger of mental health.

I think the thing that got my back up was that it seemed to be treating a very serious issue in this really preposterous, even cutesy way - 'I'm leaving my suicide note on an old cassette tape - so vintage #suicide'. Nothing read remotely real or relatable about it.

Finished Happy Valley - it's a good show, though the first half of the first season's plot is so similar to that of Fargo beat for beat that it's borderline a ripoff, and as a whole it inevitably gets more soapy and far-fetched as it goes.

I also think the main villain character is really badly miscast. He's a decent actor, but he looks more like a 90s boyband member than a hardened criminal - he lacks the menace a character like that needs to have. Kept imagining what someone like Stephen Graham would have done with the role.

QuoteReally, really enjoyed this and not just because it takes place in my future-dream-home of the Calde.r valley.

Watching the show made you want to move there?!?!?!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 24 April, 2017, 10:59:49 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 24 April, 2017, 07:18:50 PM
"Dust to dust, for richer or for poorer, in sickness or in health, may the force be with you, because you're worth it. Amen and out."

One of the funniest tv moments I've ever seen! Five points if you can name the series and another five for the name of the character who spoke those words.

Outnumbered's Karen of course, and yes, one of the greatest comedy sequences in TV history.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 24 April, 2017, 11:05:17 PM
The full ten points to Tordels! (Karen seems to get all the best lines - like when her grandmother tells her that women can be any shape they like she says, "even a hexagon?") Brilliant show - can't believe I missed it when it first came out.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tony Angelino on 25 April, 2017, 05:07:14 PM
Still trying to finish off the second season of Better Call Saul. Bob Odenkirk is probably better when playing a supporting character. When he's the main event his acting style gets a bit tired and samey.

That said I wasn't a fan of Breaking Bad. It was okay but nothing to rave about. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 26 April, 2017, 02:48:39 AM
Ironfist

I've read a few negative views concerning this, but I'm enjoying it a lot. The first 2-3 episodes were a bit slow moving, so I can see how that might be a pain for those watching it weekly (or even one episode a day for that matter) but the fact they're all available on Netflix provides the (possibly unhealthy) binging option.

So far, I like it a lot.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 26 April, 2017, 11:32:28 AM
Quote from: Tony Angelino on 25 April, 2017, 05:07:14 PM
Still trying to finish off the second season of Better Call Saul. Bob Odenkirk is probably better when playing a supporting character. When he's the main event his acting style gets a bit tired and samey.

Aside from the fact that his failure to grow or change is a big part of the show, Jimmy is still part of an ensemble cast that recognises this problem: monstrous Chuck and wonderful Mike are every bit as important,  with Kim and Howard not far off. Having his future alter-ego in the title might focus attention on Odenkirk, but within any given episode he's frequently not center stage long enough to get boring.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tony Angelino on 26 April, 2017, 06:53:20 PM
Better not call Saul I think. A brilliant first season with the exception of the final episode which was rubbish (put that on the DVD cover).

I think its just that I know exactly what Jimmy/Saul is going to do in every scene, even down to his hand movements.

Favourite character on the show for me is actually Howard. The actor is perfect in that role.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 26 April, 2017, 07:06:24 PM
I've started on 12 Monkeys[/]. I don't like the lead actor playing Cole, he's just too generic and bland for my tastes, but everyone else is pretty much spot on. I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would because, well, the film was superb. The series doesn't try to copy the film's style, which is good, and the story's engaging and different enough, with plenty of little time-travel shenanigans. 7.5/10.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 27 April, 2017, 06:51:13 AM
Quote from: Tony Angelino on 26 April, 2017, 06:53:20 PM
Better not call Saul I think. A brilliant first season with the exception of the final episode which was rubbish (put that on the DVD cover).

I think its just that I know exactly what Jimmy/Saul is going to do in every scene, even down to his hand movements.

Favourite character on the show for me is actually Howard. The actor is perfect in that role.

I just started watching this yesterday and am 6 episodes in so far.
Much more understated than Breaking Bad but I still like it alot.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 27 April, 2017, 09:36:09 AM
I think that understated approach might be why it's grabbed me so much more than Breaking Bad did. That show was great, but there's something so very, very absorbing about BCS, I find myself really soaking it in in a way that I didn't quite with BB. Love it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 27 April, 2017, 09:59:22 AM
Yes, I think that's how I feel as well. BB was great in its own way, as is BCS. To me, BCS is the story of a man trying to do things the right way, the way his beloved brother does, but being forever foiled by his own nature. By the time we get to BB, Saul's already given in to doing things in the way he's good at but in BCS we're watching him struggle to find his path. I find that fascinating, even though we know the outcome. If anyone hasn't seen BB, I think watching BCS first would make both series more enjoyable.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tony Angelino on 27 April, 2017, 05:44:55 PM
Does anyone think with BCS that there should be more scenes set in the present?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 27 April, 2017, 06:46:40 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 27 April, 2017, 09:59:22 AM
...the way his beloved brother does..

His vile hateful envious vindictive conceited manipulative utter shit of a beloved brother, that is. For my money Chuck is one of the greatest TV baddies ever created. Boo, hiss!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 27 April, 2017, 06:56:59 PM
Heh, hear, hear! Even after [spoiler] the revelation that it's Chuck who's been torpedoing his chances at the law firm all those years and not the smarmy git[/spoiler] he still loves the bugger. That is so human.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 27 April, 2017, 07:47:45 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 01 April, 2017, 12:44:12 PM
Well I finally got around to watching Kneale's Beasts anthology. Intended to watch one episode a day but ended up watching all 6 (plus the pilot) episodes in a day. Utterly gripping little one off plays, not a dud among them and watching Inside N0. 9 on TV right now I have to wonder if Shearsmith is a fan.

I guess in chronological order, the pilot Murrain was a delightful little supernatural tale, somewhere between Witchfinder General and The Wicker Man, with a lovely little bit of poetic justice in the final scene. Onto the series itself, Baby actually felt like a sister piece to Murrain, and was a damn good haunting come witchy thriller with a genuinely nasty twist at the end. 10 year old me would have been traumatized for life!

Buddyboy was arguably the one I liked the least, but it's premise was mad enough to keep me invested anyway, [spoiler]not often you'll see a play about a millionaire haunted by an empty dolphin pool.[/spoiler]. The Dummy is the crowning gem of the series, and one of the finest satires i've ever seen. That Kneale really didn't like hammer studios, did he?!

Special Offer and What Big Eye's are both highly competent mysteries, with some wonderful casting in both (Patrick Magee's barmy Lychanthrop researcher in WBE's is particularly brilliant). Both pale in comparison however to the brilliance that was During Barty's Party, which rivals anything by Hitchcock in terms of it's tense atmosphere and subtle scares, trimmed back cast and use of sets. If not for The Dummy, it would be the best of any given anthology series.

If you haven't already, I highly recommend picking up the DVD before it goes OOP, it's absolutely brilliant!

I bought this based on your recommendation and it's a mixed bag. Not watched all of them yet, but they do suffer all the faults of 70s British telly - low budgets and a fair bit of overacting. However, if you like Hammer House of Horror or Tales of the Unexpected, you'd get a kick out of these.

Baby was pretty dire - lots of frantic telegraphing of imminent doom and a final reveal that was just a rather silly rubber monster. I quite liked Buddyboy for the bizarre premise and the performances (I love watching posh, Rada-trained British thesps trying to do working class thugs!).

The dummy was good - how do you get around your monsters looking like a guy in a rubber suit? Write a story about a horror actor in a possessed rubber monster suit! Genius! I'd totally agree with your comments on Special Offer and What Big Eye's. The rest are yet to come, but overall these weren't as good as I'd been expecting - certainly no Quatermass
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 27 April, 2017, 07:51:00 PM
I seem to have a vague memory of these - was there one about rats in the walls starring Elaine Stritch?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 27 April, 2017, 08:12:49 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 27 April, 2017, 07:51:00 PM
I seem to have a vague memory of these - was there one about rats in the walls starring Elaine Stritch?
Thats the last episode, and one of the best, has some very unique plot devices and a genuinly nasty final moment.

I contest that the series is no collection masterpieces (but I do adore The Dummy, such a mad little serial), but certainly deserves more recognition than it's current pedigree permits it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 27 April, 2017, 08:17:37 PM
I remember being terrified by the rats one and the Dummy - I'll have to keep an eye out for these. I looked on some torrent sites and it's there but has no seeds.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 27 April, 2017, 08:21:42 PM
Aaaargh - just realised I cut and pasted some of your titles including a rogue apostrophe. Oh, the shame!  :-[
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 27 April, 2017, 08:23:40 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 27 April, 2017, 08:21:42 PM
Aaaargh - just realised I cut and pasted some of your titles including a rogue apostrophe. Oh, the shame!  :-[
Lesson of the day, never copy and paste from a dude with dyslexia!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 01 May, 2017, 10:07:12 AM
Iron Fist on Netflix.

I've seen a lot of criticisms concerning this series, but I enjoyed it. I think it helps that I binge these shows though, as I can see how watching certain episodes on a weekly basis could really drag.

[spoiler]That twist at the end of the series concerning Colleen Wing seemed a bit out of nowhere though. Had they planned that deal with the character from the start, or did they just think "oh this would be an interesting twist..." later? I just found it a bit difficult to believe considering how we are introduced to the character.[/spoiler]

I look forward to seeing these characters team up in Defenders!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: PsychoGoatee on 08 May, 2017, 10:29:38 PM
Just watched Spaced for the second time over the past couple days, so damn good! Been a good decade or more since I first watched it. Give Nick Frost every role, he's so damn good, make him the next Doctor. Everybody is great on that.

Any comedies in the ballpark of as creative/clever/great as that in the past fifteen years? It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is the next best I can think of. I've heard Black Books is good, haven't checked that out yet.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: PsychoGoatee on 09 May, 2017, 12:23:37 AM
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, can't forget that one.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 09 May, 2017, 06:45:11 PM
It's Always Sunny is in a league of it's own.

Have you watched Parks and Rec? Nathan for One? Letterkenny?

Quote from: PsychoGoatee on 08 May, 2017, 10:29:38 PM

Any comedies in the ballpark of as creative/clever/great as that in the past fifteen years? It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is the next best I can think of. I've heard Black Books is good, haven't checked that out yet.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 09 May, 2017, 06:51:04 PM
Quote from: PsychoGoatee on 08 May, 2017, 10:29:38 PM
Just watched Spaced for the second time over the past couple days, so damn good! Been a good decade or more since I first watched it. Give Nick Frost every role, he's so damn good, make him the next Doctor. Everybody is great on that.

Any comedies in the ballpark of as creative/clever/great as that in the past fifteen years? It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is the next best I can think of. I've heard Black Books is good, haven't checked that out yet.

I adore Spaced - it's been a while since I watched the whole thing, but I often put the "night out clubbing" epsidode on. That almost wordless second half encapsulates PERFECTLYa night out clubbing with mates (including the guy who bullied you into it 'cos you didn't really fancy it). And it's the only sitcom which acknowledges the pain of Johnny Apha's death.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: PsychoGoatee on 10 May, 2017, 05:51:39 AM
I shall check those shows out, heard good things about Parks and Rec. And definitely, gotta love the 2000AD representation on Spaced, Tim Bisley etc.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 10 May, 2017, 08:04:45 PM
Just checking .. have you watched Curb Your Enthuiasm?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 10 May, 2017, 09:46:54 PM
Star Wars Rebels, season 2.

Very enjoyable, but I binged too much at once. I need more self discipline to pace myself. Heh.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: sheridan on 10 May, 2017, 10:55:04 PM
Quote from: PsychoGoatee on 08 May, 2017, 10:29:38 PM
Just watched Spaced for the second time over the past couple days, so damn good! Been a good decade or more since I first watched it. Give Nick Frost every role, he's so damn good, make him the next Doctor. Everybody is great on that.

Any comedies in the ballpark of as creative/clever/great as that in the past fifteen years? It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is the next best I can think of. I've heard Black Books is good, haven't checked that out yet.


I live around the corner from the Spaced house (and not too far from the Shaun of the Dead house as well).


Main claim to (reflected) fame though is that the Territorial Army ground where they filmed the Robot Wars episode is behind my house.  Can't see into the parade ground due to high walls and trees, but we can hear the cadet forces doing drills.  The ground is supposedly vacated by the T.A. but they're still drilling on the parade ground.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: PsychoGoatee on 10 May, 2017, 11:01:08 PM
That's very very cool, small world.  :D


(^yep I've seen some Curb Your Enthusiasm, funny stuff)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 10 May, 2017, 11:54:01 PM
Quote from: PsychoGoatee on 08 May, 2017, 10:29:38 PM
Any comedies in the ballpark of as creative/clever/great as that in the past fifteen years?

COMMUNITY is the closest thing you'll find to an American version of Spaced, and as a geek-centric sitcom, puts The Big Bang Theory to shame. There's a reason that pretty much everyone involved with it, both on and off-screen, have gone on to enormous success since it went off the air.

It's a show that starts out very pedestrian, then gets crazier and crazier as it finds its groove. Some people (myself included) don't initially click with the early episodes of season 1, so I tend to recommend people skip the first few episodes and start with the episodes that show it's more creative, Spaced-like genre-bending side like 'Introduction to Statistics' (s01e07), 'Contemporary American Poultry' (s01e21) and 'Modern Warfare' (s01e23).

Season 2 is just absolutely phenomenal from start to finish - one of my favourite seasons of a TV show ever.

I would also highly recommend Rick & Morty and Silicon Valley.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: PsychoGoatee on 11 May, 2017, 12:40:16 AM
Oddly enough I was looking more for British TV comedies, I'm more versed on the US ones. But yep I've seen some Community, that GI Joe parody episode was solid too. But any recommendations are always good thanks, and there's always Canada too.  :D Australia has Review, I loved the American remake of that, and Danger 5 which is great. I will put giving Community a more complete watch on my list though!

Not to say I won't watch a subtitled comedy series, I am fan of Japan.  :cool:
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Supreme Pizza Of The DPRK on 11 May, 2017, 07:44:55 AM
Preacher.

Haven't read the comics. So coming to it zero expectations I am very happy so far. Only up to the 4th episode but I'm loving the way the story is developing. Can't wait to finish these off and the release of season 2.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 11 May, 2017, 10:27:04 AM
Green Wing was pretty good and has more of Mark Heap in a differently massively eccentric role.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 11 May, 2017, 11:20:10 AM
Quote from: radiator on 10 May, 2017, 11:54:01 PM
Quote from: PsychoGoatee on 08 May, 2017, 10:29:38 PM
Any comedies in the ballpark of as creative/clever/great as that in the past fifteen years?

COMMUNITY is the closest thing you'll find to an American version of Spaced, and as a geek-centric sitcom, puts The Big Bang Theory to shame. There's a reason that pretty much everyone involved with it, both on and off-screen, have gone on to enormous success since it went off the air.

I would also highly recommend Rick & Morty and Silicon Valley.

I second this completely - Community is excellent television. Rick and Morty is beyond creative - it reaches into existentially-troubling levels of creativity. I haven't watched Silicon Valley but based on the strength of radiator's TV judgement usually I'm game!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 11 May, 2017, 12:52:14 PM
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 11 May, 2017, 10:27:04 AM
Green Wing was pretty good and has more of Mark Heap in a differently massively eccentric role.

Pretty good, pretty good.

Surely you mean one of the all time great comedies?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 11 May, 2017, 04:52:42 PM
Quote from: CrazyFoxMachine on 11 May, 2017, 11:20:10 AM
Quote from: radiator on 10 May, 2017, 11:54:01 PM
Quote from: PsychoGoatee on 08 May, 2017, 10:29:38 PM
Any comedies in the ballpark of as creative/clever/great as that in the past fifteen years?

COMMUNITY is the closest thing you'll find to an American version of Spaced, and as a geek-centric sitcom, puts The Big Bang Theory to shame. There's a reason that pretty much everyone involved with it, both on and off-screen, have gone on to enormous success since it went off the air.

I would also highly recommend Rick & Morty and Silicon Valley.

I second this completely - Community is excellent television. Rick and Morty is beyond creative - it reaches into existentially-troubling levels of creativity. I haven't watched Silicon Valley but based on the strength of radiator's TV judgement usually I'm game!

We binged the first three seasons of Silicon Valley over the course of a week and are now enjoying season 4. It's really, really good. A great core cast of characters that arrive fully formed from the very first episode (the obvious early MVP is Erlich, but Jared eclipsed him as my favourite over time), and it's much more plot-driven than I expected. It may sound like a weird comparison, but it's almost a bit like Breaking Bad, in that the gang are always miraculously getting out of one scrape, but in the process sow the seeds for the next crisis. The tech industry satire is also really on point, and it feels like it'll be one of those shows that is looked back on as really having tapped into the zeitgeist of the era in which it was made. Really good telly.

I also second the recommendations for Parks and Rec - it's a really tremendous show, and gets better as it goes on (especially once they they shift focus from 'isn't Leslie Knope pathetic?' to 'Leslie Knope is actually awesome' and ditch the deadweight Mark character).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Pyroxian on 11 May, 2017, 05:18:31 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 10 May, 2017, 09:46:54 PM
Star Wars Rebels, season 2.

Very enjoyable, but I binged too much at once. I need more self discipline to pace myself. Heh.

Agree, but at the end of S2, I had to know what happened next, so started binging on S3 :D

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 11 May, 2017, 05:19:55 PM
Twilight of the Apprentice ranks up as the very best of season finales i've seen in years, it's astonishingly unrelenting.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 11 May, 2017, 07:12:01 PM
I have a soft spot for Archer, which can be truly hilarious - like when Archer shoots an alligator in the head with an arrow. Also, I'm in love with Lana, despite her huge man-hands and the fact that she's animated...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 11 May, 2017, 09:36:39 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 11 May, 2017, 05:19:55 PM
Twilight of the Apprentice ranks up as the very best of season finales i've seen in years, it's astonishingly unrelenting.

Yeah Rebels really upped the game with that - I've said before how I never really got onboard with Clone Wars (due to my adoration for the Genndy Tartakovsky 2D series) but Rebels has a solid cast and some great setpieces. Also the genuine feeling of walking on unknown ground - Thrawn was captivating in S3 and I was genuinely taken aback by the Fulcrum business. Really good telly.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 12 May, 2017, 04:30:16 PM
Agreed but Martin Starr as Guilfoyle is the star of the show for me.

This has to be one of the funniest scenes I've seen in a long time.

Probably NSFW

https://youtu.be/4pLbcLrquio (https://youtu.be/4pLbcLrquio)



Quote from: radiator on 11 May, 2017, 04:52:42 PM
We binged the first three seasons of Silicon Valley over the course of a week and are now enjoying season 4. It's really, really good. A great core cast of characters that arrive fully formed from the very first episode (the obvious early MVP is Erlich, but Jared eclipsed him as my favourite over time), and it's much more plot-driven than I expected. It may sound like a weird comparison, but it's almost a bit like Breaking Bad, in that the gang are always miraculously getting out of one scrape, but in the process sow the seeds for the next crisis. The tech industry satire is also really on point, and it feels like it'll be one of those shows that is looked back on as really having tapped into the zeitgeist of the era in which it was made. Really good telly.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 12 May, 2017, 05:25:43 PM
I knew Rebels S3 was out on broadcast TV, but it hasn't hit the disks yet*, surely?

And yeah, the finale was great. [spoiler]Maul, and Vader? Wow. I had mixed feelings about bringing back Maul, but I kinda like how they're using him here. I think he needs to be killed off pretty soon though.[/spoiler]

After the good reviews on here, I started watching Breaking Bad recently, and I'm 6 episodes in already. (I had intended to watch one or two episodes then move on to something else, and come back to it, pacing myself with a bit of variety, but as usual I got carried away.)

Yep. Good stuff. To think I'm routing for Crystal Meth dealers. What's wrong with me? A victim of good writing, and sympathetic characterisation, that's what.  :lol:  I like that despite the somewhat grim material (actually partly due to the grim material) there is plenty of humour to be had, albeit partly of the jet black variety, which I like. (Maybe I need help.) [spoiler]I predicted that thing with the bath tub, by the way, but it still worked really well. Or bad, depending on how you look at it. Don't watch, if you're eating a big bowl of stew, or thick soup. (I wasn't.)[/spoiler]

Still haven't worked out where 'Saul' fits in, (Walter being the name of the protagonist) but I'm sure that will become clear.

*I do watch streamed telly, but I'm still partial to the Blu-ray/DVD. Particularly as I can't get Rebels on Netflix. Heh.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 12 May, 2017, 06:16:51 PM
You'll know Saul when you meet him :)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 12 May, 2017, 09:49:19 PM
Just started Breaking Bad: Season 3 tonight (only seven years behind) - solid start and directed by the OMNISCIENTLY GLORIOUS Cranston. Noice.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: moly on 13 May, 2017, 02:24:33 PM
Just signed up to Netflix any recommendations ?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: PsychoGoatee on 13 May, 2017, 09:48:24 PM
Quote from: moly on 13 May, 2017, 02:24:33 PM
Just signed up to Netflix any recommendations ?

Stranger Things, Daredevil, Wet Hot American Summer, Luther, Dexter, Death Note, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Star Trek The Next Generation, Breaking Bad, Jessica Jones, though netflix selection varies a bit by region/country.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: moly on 14 May, 2017, 07:47:34 AM
Cheers pyschogoatee
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 14 May, 2017, 10:52:43 AM
The Expanse!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 14 May, 2017, 11:01:56 AM
Quote from: CrazyFoxMachine on 14 May, 2017, 10:52:43 AM
The Expanse!

^^THIS!!!^^
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 14 May, 2017, 11:31:05 AM
Quote from: CrazyFoxMachine on 14 May, 2017, 10:52:43 AM
The Expanse!

It's great. Season 2 ends with a real "What?! Wait! No! WTF?!"

Can't wait for S3.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: moly on 14 May, 2017, 11:37:57 AM
Added the expanse to my watch list
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 14 May, 2017, 06:56:45 PM
Miami Vice.And despite what the rest of the internet says,I think it holds up pretty well.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 14 May, 2017, 08:05:54 PM
I've been enjoying the Macgyver reboot a great deal more than I should probably admit.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 14 May, 2017, 09:05:11 PM
My patience for the Expanse S2 on Netflix has just broken. If you won't give it to me via your service...

Also - Rick & Morty
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 14 May, 2017, 09:20:56 PM
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 12 May, 2017, 06:16:51 PM
You'll know Saul when you meet him :)

I.... see what you mean! I didn't realise he didn't appear until well into season 2. (Actually I didn't realise I was well into season 2 until recently, due to Netflix's style of slapping the next episode up right away.)

I just had a rather slow episode with Walter sorting out the rot in his house, but overall it's pretty good.

And I recognised that  young lady from Jessica Jones, even with the fringe, and without the semi-permanent scowl. Nice to see her doing something rather different (much as I like JJ).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 18 May, 2017, 07:32:31 PM
Master of None season 2 on Netflix.

It's a little unfocused and self-indulgent, and more gently amusing than laugh out loud funny, but a pleasant watch nonetheless. Good stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 18 May, 2017, 08:45:20 PM
I've been trying to find where I posted about my love for Star Wars: Rebels but can't so I'll just say here that I've just finished Season Three and found it Awesome. Jim, you were right, Episode 19 was fooking brilliant!

I've also treated myself to most of Clone Wars[/] as well (just Season Six to track down), and this too is superb. I think I prefer these series to most of the actual films - but then I'm weird when it comes to Star Wars, with my favourites being Episodes II and III. (Then V, IV, I, VI, R1 (which dropped like a stone the more times I watched it) and VII, in that order.)

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Supreme Pizza Of The DPRK on 19 May, 2017, 06:19:53 AM
Just started on Twin Peaks. Never seen it before but with the new series coming soon I thought it would be a good move to get up to date with it. 

Also watching American Horror Story : Hotel which isn't feeling as good as the other series so far (though it's hard to take something seriously when you stick Lady Gaga in it...shes even credited under her stage name ffs). Saying that the previous series, Freak Show, took some getting used to so maybe I will warm to it yet.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 21 May, 2017, 03:04:51 PM
KAMEN RIDER AMAZON

Whilst deciding to take a break from the Ultraverse and still wanting to keep the Tokusatsu train running, I decided to venture across to the Toeiverse with the shortest Kamen Rider series, Amazon. It's a spin on the Tarzan mythos, young child orphaned in the rain forest, taken in by locals/ apes, inherits great power etc etc, what sets this one apart from the rest of the series however is it's tone. Though clearly still marketed at kids the gore factor is ramped up to eleven here as our hero slashes, hacks, bites and decapitates his enemies to death. I mean...
(https://68.media.tumblr.com/b13574f4c0b243883c4b3ae6586ddea8/tumblr_mjve7sWadb1rbhnqko1_500.gif)

...Look at this shit!...
(http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/030/396/572.gif)


...How did they get away with this?...
(https://33.media.tumblr.com/25f27e3dde0171458a8eda63311d14d2/tumblr_nmdfz5jLBF1s48ed7o10_250.gif)

...Well, they didn't, and the fact the cult leader villeins modus opperendi involved ritual sacrifice and cannibalism saw the show quickly wrapped up in the wake of a mass out cry from parents and disillusioned viewers alike, this coming just two months off of the back of the 5th anniversary series X. Which is a real shame, because Amazon is a real curio and a strong entry in the Tokusatsu library, with striking Gothic visuals (when not gushing neon paint goo everywhere), a compelling character arc, NO annoying side characters (a rarity in these kinds of shows) and a kick ass 70's soundtrack. There are by far worse 24 episodes of celluloid out there.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 21 May, 2017, 03:16:28 PM
If you havent,you might want to check out Kamen Rided Ryuki.Its the only KR I watched.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: PsychoGoatee on 21 May, 2017, 04:23:23 PM
That looks vicious! I'm going to check out that new Amazons show they did recently. My fav Kamen Rider shows are Faiz (555), OOO, and Black, and I love that "The First" movie reboot thingy.

I'm excited for the new Twin Peaks also
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 21 May, 2017, 05:05:04 PM
Faiz is awesome!  Alongside the epilepsy-inducing Dekaranger, it was what got me into toku, as all I ask of my Saturday morning children's programming is that at least one of the regular characters has their face torn off and eaten onscreen, and Faiz provides.
Blade is a really good entry into the KR franchise, too, but for me the shows never topped the inventive energy of Kabuto, or the the Bildungsroman tone of Hibiki that made it so peculiarly and unmistakably Japanese.

The Garo franchise is also worth a look, as it's put together by several Kamen Rider regulars.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 21 May, 2017, 07:13:52 PM
I should get around to other KR shows;if I ever finish the current backlog of series and movies.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: PsychoGoatee on 22 May, 2017, 09:18:16 AM
Dekaranger is fun for sure, Gokaiger too, been meaning to check out Garo. And any of the various KR or tokusatsu shows in general I haven't seen.

Loved the Twin Peaks revival tonight by the way, it's like a mix of the style of all of David Lynch's dark noir stuff so far. Really intense and cool.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 22 May, 2017, 10:25:12 AM
So Im really the only one who watched Ryuki?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 22 May, 2017, 08:55:47 PM
Just started on the 2015 CGI version of Thunderbirds Are Go and I'm suitably impressed. I have a few niggles, such as no dad and a sexy female spy but, other than that, it's everything the film wasn't.

The Thunderbirds themselves look really cool and have been redesigned just enough to look modern whilst holding on to the original spirit of the things.

What really impresses me, though, is that some of the scenes (like when the Thunderbirds land at a disaster site) look like models. What I mean is, they look almost exactly like the original series. It's hard to describe properly but it's like the water around Tracy Island: in the original series, you could tell by the size of the ripples that the island was a (bloody fantastic) model and the makers of this series have gone for exactly the same effect - instead of scaling the ripples to make the island look like a real island, they've used outsized ripples to make it look like a (bloody fantastic) model. Likewise, the countryside is rendered to look like a model of countryside (like on a model railway) instead of the real thing. They must do something similar with camera angles and focal lengths, reproducing the look of models shot through big cameras rather than scaling the virtual cameras to fit the models. The results are often pleasing to the eye and occasionally stunning.

Loving this show so far!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 22 May, 2017, 09:10:57 PM
The characters in Thunderbirds are CGI, but the rest is physical model work bolstered with CGI effects.  If you fancy checking out a modern marionette show, Thunderbolt Fantasy is amazing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 22 May, 2017, 09:24:40 PM
Aha! That explains why the models look like models - I'd assumed it was all CGI and I'm kinda impressed that it isn't. There's just something about a physical model that can't be beat and I'm glad they still have a place.

I'll definitely check out Thunderbolt Fantasy, thanks for the heads up on that. (Remember the film Strings? I loved that!)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 22 May, 2017, 10:15:21 PM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 22 May, 2017, 09:10:57 PM
The characters in Thunderbirds are CGI, but the rest is physical model work bolstered with CGI effects.  If you fancy checking out a modern marionette show, Thunderbolt Fantasy is amazing.
Thunderbolt Fantasy is freaking nuts, I love it!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 23 May, 2017, 01:51:56 AM
Just saw the lase episode of Breaking Bad: Season 4.

Great stuff!

AWOOGA AWOOGA! ETC! DO NOT LOOK A SPOILER IF YOU HAVEN'T SEE UP TO END OF SEASON 4.
[spoiler]But did Walt really do that to the little boy? Okay it's not as bad as ricin, but...Interesting, if dark twist though, but I can't help thinking that's a level of evil beyond him. Okay, he probably knew that the Lilly of the Valley berry poisoning could be counteracted, but that's a major chance he took, and an awful thing to do, if awfully clever too from a manipulation standpoint. ( I'm kind of ashamed to think that.) Sure, he has killed by this stage, but usually in self defence, not that I'm advocating murder.

That bit last season where he stood by while Jesse's girlfriend choked to death was too far, even if she had threatened to expose him earlier.

She did go on to develop superpowers in another life, so I guess it wasn't all bad for her. Still carried over her addictive tendencies mind, but I guess scotch might be a step up from heroin-meth cocktail injections. :lol:

I know he will do anything for his family, but even so...[/spoiler]

The way that ended, I thought it might be the last, (and that might not be a bad place to end it) but then Netflix put me on episode one of Season 5.

Enjoying this a lot, and I look forward to Better Call Saul later...

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 24 May, 2017, 05:54:50 AM
Thanks to this thread;I started watching Kamen Rider Agito.I should have started with Kuuga,but I couldnt find it.
Unrelated,if I find the time,I would really like to rewatch Justified soon.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Supreme Pizza Of The DPRK on 24 May, 2017, 07:01:02 AM
Quote from: Mardroid on 23 May, 2017, 01:51:56 AM
The way that ended, I thought it might be the last, (and that might not be a bad place to end it)

But then you wouldn't get the best episode of the show :D

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 27 May, 2017, 02:03:58 AM
Quote from: Supreme Pizza Of The DPRK on 24 May, 2017, 07:01:02 AM
Quote from: Mardroid on 23 May, 2017, 01:51:56 AM
The way that ended, I thought it might be the last, (and that might not be a bad place to end it)

But then you wouldn't get the best episode of the show :D

Would that be the last episode of series 5? Saw it last night and yes, that's how to end the series! I actually looked online to see if there was a series 6, (hoping there wasn't as I think that ending hits the mark) and came across several articles about... fake announcements of series 6.  :lol:

Watching Better Call Saul now. Pretty good so far, and amusing to see some familiar faces crop up. [spoiler]The black and white bit at the start puzzled me a bit as I thought (due to the lack of colour) it was a past sequence. Then the penny dropped.... Saul, at the end of Breaking Bad in his new life. Or lack of it. (Oh right, so that's the reason for the lack of colour I guess?) The one bit that's not a prequel - nice. Interesting to see how different and similar Saul is. Even Tucco seems to be a bit less psycho. Marginally.[/spoiler]

Also just noticed that there's a third season of Teen Wolf on Netflix. This doesn't really qualify as an addiction as... well, I'm not all that taken. It's not BAD bad, and I quite enjoyed the last two series. The tired tropes are getting on my nerves a bit. I'll see where it goes, but I've been spoilt by some quality telly, recently.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 28 May, 2017, 07:43:28 AM
Just finishing off The Thick of It.
Had heard of it but never got around to watching it but noticed it was on Netflix so I gave it a go.
Loved it. So funny and the best use of swearing ever.
I would have loved it if Capaldi had played Doctor Who as Malcolm Tucker.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 28 May, 2017, 12:56:01 PM
indeed - I have been known to use "come the fuck in, or fuck the fuck off" once or twice
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 28 May, 2017, 06:49:35 PM
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/b1/7d/c2/b17dc2ed15de6cdc6e8dbff05820b7d0.jpg)

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 29 May, 2017, 02:46:11 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 28 May, 2017, 06:49:35 PM
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/b1/7d/c2/b17dc2ed15de6cdc6e8dbff05820b7d0.jpg)

:lol:
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Supreme Pizza Of The DPRK on 30 May, 2017, 10:16:34 AM
Just watched Luther for the first time ever. Up to S1.3 now. Liking it so far. Massive Attack for the opening music put me in a good frame of mind straight away. Looking forward to catching up with all the seasons.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 30 May, 2017, 12:29:15 PM
The law of diminishing returns applies, but it's always watchable.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 05 June, 2017, 03:25:41 PM
American Gods

This is fantastic and certainly breeches so many TV boundaries with lots of nudity including erect penises. Swear words aplenty too but more than that it's a brilliant realisation of a very good book.
Only 2 episodes in but I am loving this.
Like Twin Peaks but with cock and fanny.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 05 June, 2017, 09:40:06 PM
Quote from: Mattofthespurs on 05 June, 2017, 03:25:41 PM
American Gods...lots of nudity including erect penises...

When I think of a TV adaptation of a Neil Gaiman novel these are the first things that pop into my mind. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 05 June, 2017, 10:38:58 PM
I'm also reasonably certainly that Cock and Fanny were the two detective characters he created for Spawn.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 05 June, 2017, 10:43:58 PM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 05 June, 2017, 10:38:58 PM
I'm also reasonably certainly that Cock and Fanny were the two detective characters he created for Spawn.

Are you sure that wasn't Garth Ennis?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 05 June, 2017, 10:52:44 PM
No, you're thinking of Cockshaft and Ballbag from the Punisher.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 06 June, 2017, 12:25:53 PM
Quote from: Mattofthespurs on 05 June, 2017, 03:25:41 PM
American Gods

This is fantastic and certainly breeches so many TV boundaries with lots of nudity including erect penises. Swear words aplenty too but more than that it's a brilliant realisation of a very good book.
Only 2 episodes in but I am loving this.
Like Twin Peaks but with cock and fanny.

Only seen the first episode (TBF;TL) but I think I'll be watching it on my own because Mrs. Tips has an aversion to extreme gore.  I thought we'd get away with it in the Viking segment (the porcupine victim being almost goreless) but then the Odinisation of the crew happened then the full on hack and slash and then she was tutting through the remainder of the show.

But I loved it!

I think I've read a short story (in the Trigger Warning collection) but other than that, this is all new to me. So looking forward to more.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 10 June, 2017, 09:41:10 AM
American Gods is uneven but compelling - some of it is really remarkable but you can feel the source material being padded. [spoiler]The episode where they basically re-told the death of his wife and added nothing felt so profoundly like treading water that I (for want of a better word) lost faith in it a little -
but the one after that was very strong. I think it's better when its moving forward[/spoiler] and there are enough very DIFFERENT sequences to make it worth watch. I mean that Djinn sequence... who has seen ANYTHING else like that on telly. Crikey.

Anyhow - Lady Geoffery and I are perpetually working through a big backlog of DVD/Blu-Ray purchases and we've just started on a massive Peep Show boxset. I was holding off on buying any of it until it had finished for definite and I don't regret it. That first series is tonally fairly different from the others - quite gritty even. Brilliant TV though it's easy to see why it went on so long after that - it's a shock to see Mitchell & Webb so young indeed LG posited that she was 13 when it was on TV and wasn't allowed to watch it :O Looking forward to wading through the rest of it over the next few weeks!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Supreme Pizza Of The DPRK on 11 June, 2017, 04:45:12 AM
Mr Robot.

Good background t.v. I'm finding it hard to care about the characters but the tech stuff is fun to watch.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 11 June, 2017, 07:42:11 AM
Quote from: CrazyFoxMachine on 10 June, 2017, 09:41:10 AM


Anyhow - Lady Geoffery and I are perpetually working through a big backlog of DVD/Blu-Ray purchases and we've just started on a massive Peep Show boxset. I was holding off on buying any of it until it had finished for definite and I don't regret it. That first series is tonally fairly different from the others - quite gritty even. Brilliant TV though it's easy to see why it went on so long after that - it's a shock to see Mitchell & Webb so young indeed LG posited that she was 13 when it was on TV and wasn't allowed to watch it :O Looking forward to wading through the rest of it over the next few weeks!

I did all 9 (?) seasons of Peep Show recently as it was on Amazon Prime or Netflix (can't remember which one).
Loved it. Had only seen 1 or 2 episodes before. And you're right, it was very dark at times.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Michael Knight on 20 June, 2017, 06:54:38 PM
Watching Glen A. Larsons 'The Highway Man' starring Sam 'Flash Gordon' Jones via an unofficial Dvd boxset I managed to track down.
Have to say I'm enjoying it as much as when I a kid watching it with my late beloved Dad. Pure Nostalgia. The show was an interesting mix of Knightrider, Airwolf and Mad Max I kid you not.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 20 June, 2017, 07:23:41 PM
Quote from: Mattofthespurs on 11 June, 2017, 07:42:11 AM
Quote from: CrazyFoxMachine on 10 June, 2017, 09:41:10 AM


Anyhow - Lady Geoffery and I are perpetually working through a big backlog of DVD/Blu-Ray purchases and we've just started on a massive Peep Show boxset. I was holding off on buying any of it until it had finished for definite and I don't regret it. That first series is tonally fairly different from the others - quite gritty even. Brilliant TV though it's easy to see why it went on so long after that - it's a shock to see Mitchell & Webb so young indeed LG posited that she was 13 when it was on TV and wasn't allowed to watch it :O Looking forward to wading through the rest of it over the next few weeks!

I did all 9 (?) seasons of Peep Show recently as it was on Amazon Prime or Netflix (can't remember which one).

It's all up for free on the All4 app - I did the whole run of Peep Show on my phone over a long series of lunch hours  - likewise Green Wing (as good as I remembered), Fresh Meat and Uncle (these two had completely passed me by, but were very entertaining despite disappointing endings for both); Fleabag (sheer filthy genius) and a whole heap of episode ones that made me want to grind my face off.

Ironically, my actual box sets still gather dust - there WILL be a time when I watch Breaking Bad and catch up with Game of Thrones. But I can do that any time...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 20 June, 2017, 07:45:52 PM
I love season 1 of Peep Show - to me it's the darkest and most uncomfortably close to the bone (the one where Mark has a nervous breakdown is an especially bleak watch), but if I'm recommending the show to people (especially Americans) I tend to recommend people skip it and start with season 2 which is much more accessible.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 30 June, 2017, 01:05:05 PM
Aloha Chaps!

I am loving American Gods but I think after only (!!!) eight episodes it's finished for the first season. I will be looking forward to it's return.

Anyone watching The Handmaid's Tale? This is some amazing tv right here, anyone else spot Margaret Atwood's cameo in the second episode? Absolutely loving this, Elizabeth Moss is amazing as Offred / June.

Also finally got around to watching both season of Gomorra. I had been warned it was one of the bext tv shows of recent times and it definitely lived up to the hype. [spoiler]How does Ciro keep getting away with it?[/spoiler]

I finally got around to watching Taboo as well. Holy moly that Tom Hardy can act. He is a delight to the senses.

If you're not watching The Leftovers then you should be. This is seriously one of the best, if not *the* best tv show on at the moment. They have just finished the 3rd and what some are saying is the last season. It's weird and wonderful. Get on this buzz now.

Also watched but did not love The Young Pope. Jude Law is amazing in it but it just didn't grab me.

Anyway GoT back in the next few weeks ... get extremely f**king hype!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 08 July, 2017, 05:35:29 PM
I started Dead Like Me.Im really digging it so far.
Finished Kamen Rider Agito.It was great,I have to say.If I had to nitpick,the middle part gets a bit slow and the final battle is a bit anti-climatic.But that appears to be a constant for early 2000 KR shows,so what can you do?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 09 July, 2017, 01:10:35 PM
Quote from: Smith on 08 July, 2017, 05:35:29 PM
Finished Kamen Rider Agito.It was great,I have to say.If I had to nitpick,the middle part gets a bit slow and the final battle is a bit anti-climatic.But that appears to be a constant for early 2000 KR shows,so what can you do?

You hit it. Kuuga, Agito, Ryuki, Fiez and Blade all suffer from the same sluggish second and third acts, it's like following Ishinomori's death the series just needed that 5 year period to get their heads around where to go and the constant shift in head directors and supervisors didn't help. Getting Hidinori Ishida on for Hibiki turned the franchise around and produced 10 years of solid material from Hibiki all the way through to Gaime.

Kabuto is particular stands up really well, and screw what everyone says, Keiva and W are awesome.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 09 July, 2017, 03:28:19 PM
I went majestically from watching the grimdarkly flat "Fearless" on ITV (directed by Dredd's Pete Travis) to watching Charlie Brooker's glorious first "A Touch of Cloth" which still functions five years on as a magically stoopid antidote to those sorts of relentlessly unfun primetime British crime dramas. Worth a look to those who've never heard of it!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 09 July, 2017, 06:10:05 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 09 July, 2017, 01:10:35 PM
Quote from: Smith on 08 July, 2017, 05:35:29 PM
Finished Kamen Rider Agito.It was great,I have to say.If I had to nitpick,the middle part gets a bit slow and the final battle is a bit anti-climatic.But that appears to be a constant for early 2000 KR shows,so what can you do?

You hit it. Kuuga, Agito, Ryuki, Fiez and Blade all suffer from the same sluggish second and third acts, it's like following Ishinomori's death the series just needed that 5 year period to get their heads around where to go and the constant shift in head directors and supervisors didn't help. Getting Hidinori Ishida on for Hibiki turned the franchise around and produced 10 years of solid material from Hibiki all the way through to Gaime.

Kabuto is particular stands up really well, and screw what everyone says, Keiva and W are awesome.
Im going to have to rewatch the Agito/Ryuki crossover now.And working backwards Kuuga is next.If I manage to find it.Meanwhile...Ultraman Ginga.Which seems kinda childish.Yes,kids are the intended audience,I know.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 10 July, 2017, 09:45:22 AM
I really am not enjoying American Gods. It's just... boring me. That saxophone keeps playing and it's become so noticeable it's almost a comedic sting for me now whenever it rises over another interminable scene.

Shame as I thought it had a lot of promise at first. I've been happy to accept the differences from the book* but it's a bit boring and messy where it deviates and not interesting enough when it sticks. Could of course watch Ian McShane indefinitely.

*I don't think focusing on Laura helps the story at all and I think it suffers for the removal of Mr Town etc  - the 'men in black' who were in vogue in the late 90s/early 2000s and acted as principal antagonists for Shadow. The trippy clockwork orange clowns don't quite cut it. Also [spoiler]the big CGI tree[/spoiler] attacking Shadow was naff and pointless.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 10 July, 2017, 12:41:09 PM
American Gods began very well for me (having not read the book) but seemed to fizzle out over the last two or three episodes.

Fargo Season 3, on the other hand, I found to be just as excellent as the previous series - remarkably consistent quality.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 10 July, 2017, 02:06:21 PM
Quote from: Smith on 09 July, 2017, 06:10:05 PMIm going to have to rewatch the Agito/Ryuki crossover now.And working backwards Kuuga is next.If I manage to find it.

Toku is well-served via fansubbing sites who often do a better job subtitling than Western publishers do - but for the love of God don't go near their forums.  If fansubber torrents aren't being seeded, you can usually find old KR shows on Youtube, downloadable through a Firefox plugin if you want to put them on a media player rather than streaming them.

I'm not sold on a lot of the post-Ishinomori KRs, as they often get a bit ropey the more they shift from drama to comedy to appeal to younger audiences, becoming all but indistinguishable from Super Sentai when the properties finally begin to crossover.
Den O was where the franchise started to become less griim and more light-hearted, so it's the Marmite show of that era, but stick with it as it gets surprisingly dark towards the end, a trick tried by some of the shows that came after it to varying degrees of success.  W is where things start to get really silly, but it's also the first KR to continue the Showa-era timeline that supposedly ended with Agito, so might be of some interest to you.  I gave up on Drive, Gaim, 000, and Wizard, but Decade and Fourze were ace, even if Fourze was really, really kiddified and Decade was both truncated and ends on a cliffhanger.  Kiva has a good hook (it's two separate KR shows taking place 20 years apart), Hibiki has a good heart (draws heavily on shounen drama), but Kabuto (a Kamen Rider with super-speed) is probably my fave - I'm still waiting for The Flash to do half the cool stuff Kabuto managed to do in its first six episodes, and Souji Tendou proves that a series lead doesn't have to be likeable to be compelling (and the opening episode does a great fake-out with Kagami, the POV character, making you think he's going to be the lead rather than the insufferably arrogant jackass who eventually dons the KR armor).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 10 July, 2017, 03:19:07 PM
Well,so far fansubs have been the only way.But oddly enough I cant find Kuuga(I got this thing about starting at the beginning;of sort),best I got were 25 episodes.Im going to have to do some more digging.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 10 July, 2017, 05:43:20 PM
I think I got Kuuga from Jatoku, Dailymotion, or Youtube.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 11 July, 2017, 09:08:59 PM
GLOW on Netflix - 1980s-set comedy drama about female wrestling starring Alison Brie (Community) and Marc Maron, from the makers of Orange is the New Black.

As with OITNB, it's a little goofy but extremely watchable and very well-made. Good stuff!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 11 July, 2017, 09:50:05 PM
Quote from: radiator on 11 July, 2017, 09:08:59 PM
GLOW on Netflix - 1980s-set comedy drama about female wrestling starring Alison Brie (Community) and Marc Maron, from the makers of Orange is the New Black.

As with OITNB, it's a little goofy but extremely watchable and very well-made. Good stuff!

Seconded for this. Sharp script, Brie's frustrated actor character is great and the 80s tone is spot on. Only seen the pilot so far but a strong start - surprising also to see the acting debut of Kate Nash of all people!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 13 July, 2017, 07:26:36 AM
It gets better as it goes. We just finished the last ep and trust me - it'll leave a huge smile on your face. My girlfriend was literally whooping and cheering.

What a cast - everyone in it is great, but Maron steals the show - perfect casting.

Another smash from Netflix.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 13 July, 2017, 09:24:39 AM
GLOW is great! The first show in a long time where Bea and I have burned through a couple of episodes a night. Have no previous experience of Mark Maron or Alison Brie, but they're absolutely brilliant in it, and the rest of the cast do a great job too. Witty and funny, but can hit you right in the emotions at times. Characters I liked immediately I went onto love, and even characters I was worried would grate over a season I ended up pretty attached to.

Glad I caught it because I almost didn't - Bea had decided it would be the show she watches when I'm out at band practice, because she assumed I'd have no interest in it. One night band practice got cancelled so I got home just as she was sticking the pilot on and was absolutely hooked, so a lucky catch!

It seems to have awoken our childhood love of wrestling too, just after we watched the last episode we took a free trial of WWE Network, threw on an old Royal Rumble and were whooping at the TV cheering on our old favourites like kids again. Felt good.   

Had no idea initially that it was a true story, but there's a doc on Netflix about the original tv show, which I'm not keen to watch yet in case it spoils any of the show's arcs.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CalHab on 13 July, 2017, 12:09:37 PM
Perhaps an unusual one, but I've been enjoying Midnight Diner, a Japanese Netflix production based on a manga series about the customers of the eponymous cafe. Each episode focuses on a different customer and is themed around the food they order. It's got a very gentle pace, some nice humour and makes for very relaxing viewing. It has also taught me a couple of new recipes.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 13 July, 2017, 04:20:26 PM
Castlevania- because when I think of Catlevania I think about bestiality jokes,kicks in the nuts and organized religion being evil.Whole thing ends up being a reminder that:
-Netflix plonkers dont know what pacing is.
-Ellis has some traumas from Catholic school
-And there will never be a good video game adaptation.
So just don't bother.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 13 July, 2017, 04:32:36 PM
Quote from: Smith on 13 July, 2017, 04:20:26 PM
Castlevania- because when I think of Catlevania I think about bestiality jokes,kicks in the nuts and organized religion being evil.Whole thing ends up being a reminder that:
-Netflix plonkers dont know what pacing is.
-Ellis has some traumas from Catholic school
-And there will never be a good video game adaptation.
So just don't bother.

Made by Adi Shankar apparently, his incredibly poor animated Dredd series didn't bode too well for this.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 13 July, 2017, 05:43:34 PM
Quote from: Keef Monkey on 13 July, 2017, 09:24:39 AM
GLOW is great! The first show in a long time where Bea and I have burned through a couple of episodes a night. Have no previous experience of Mark Maron or Alison Brie, but they're absolutely brilliant in it, and the rest of the cast do a great job too. Witty and funny, but can hit you right in the emotions at times. Characters I liked immediately I went onto love, and even characters I was worried would grate over a season I ended up pretty attached to.

Believe it or not, Maron has no previous acting experience other than playing himself in his own comedy series for a few years. I was already predisposed to like him as I'm a huge fan of his WTF podcast - I've found him grating in the past, but he seems to have mellowed a lot in recent years as he's found success in his career. His recent hatchet-burying interview with Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon was especially heartwarming.

Alison Brie is amazing - I don't know if you've seen Mad Men, but you may or may not recognise her as Pete Campbell's wife Trudy, and she also played Annie in Community. GLOW is one step closer to getting my girlfriend to finally give Community another chance - I've been going on about how great the Community cast was for years, and she now loves half the cast members from their subsequent projects (Donald Glover in Atlanta, Gillian Jacobs in Love and now Brie in GLOW).

QuoteIt seems to have awoken our childhood love of wrestling too, just after we watched the last episode we took a free trial of WWE Network, threw on an old Royal Rumble and were whooping at the TV cheering on our old favourites like kids again. Felt good. It seems to have awoken our childhood love of wrestling too, just after we watched the last episode we took a free trial of WWE Network, threw on an old Royal Rumble and were whooping at the TV cheering on our old favourites like kids again. Felt good.

I've never liked wrestling, but even I appreciated how respectful the show is of the form. It felt like the writers and actors had really done their research, and it never felt like they were mocking or belittling it.


QuoteHad no idea initially that it was a true story, but there's a doc on Netflix about the original tv show, which I'm not keen to watch yet in case it spoils any of the show's arcs.

I'm assuming that the premise of GLOW will be 'based on a true story' in the same way that OITNB is - ie that they take the basic premise of real events, but then quickly spin it off into 100% fiction from there.

If I had to nitpick, something that slightly bugged me was that, for a period piece, the characters seemed to have very modern attitudes and speak in a very modern parlance at times - using words like 'fanboy' and 'fangirl' (which I personally never heard used before maybe 2005). Also, there was quite a bit of characters being very pop culture aware, making geeky references to stuff in a way that, to my mind, wasn't really very common until the late nineties. It kind of broke the illusion of the period setting a bit, which they had put a lot of work into elsewhere in the production. There were a fair few examples of this, and I couldn't tell if the writers did this deliberately or not.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 13 July, 2017, 11:32:46 PM
Quote from: radiator on 13 July, 2017, 05:43:34 PM
If I had to nitpick, something that slightly bugged me was that, for a period piece, the characters seemed to have very modern attitudes and speak in a very modern parlance at times - using words like 'fanboy' and 'fangirl' (which I personally never heard used before maybe 2005).

Although I'm certain it wasn't as common in the 1980's as it is now the term fanboy did exist then at least - and it's got a really interesting ironic origin story as detailed here:

http://gizmodo.com/5540818/the-fascinating-origin-of-the-word-fanboy

Also - all power to anything convincing people to watch Community - it's still the holy grail of late 00's/early 10's American comedy for me.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 14 July, 2017, 12:31:51 AM
Black Mirror

I caught part of the first and second series when it was on mainstream TV, and enjoyed it. I finally watched the rest (actually I watched it all from the beginning) on Netflix.

Great stuff, but boy does it go to dark places.... (Okay that's the point, it's a black mirror...)

The third Netflix based series appears to be a co-production with Americans as there are entire episodes set in the US or with just American characters, but it doesn't lose it's UK based episodes and actors, which is nice. I don't think any of the episodes were bad. (The one concerning the American lady going to be maid of honour grated a bit at first, (mostly the banality and falseness of the characters, but then that was intentional) but then it improved a lot during the road trip stuff.

[spoiler]I think only one episode had a happy ending (although the afore mentioned maid of hour episode sort of ended on a high in a strange way.)[/spoiler]* [spoiler]and that one actually made me feel like crying in places, albeit not in a bad way. I bet you'll know the one I mean if you've seen series 3. [/spoiler]

A lot of the stories wouldn't be out of place as future shocks. They're also thought provoking when you consider that we're not all that far off from the worlds that are conveyed.

*[spoiler]Sure it involved two characters cursing at each other in prison, but it showed them in a state of liberation now that near everything had been stripped away. Ironically they're at there most free while they're locked up.[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 14 July, 2017, 06:12:25 PM
Quote from: CrazyFoxMachine on 13 July, 2017, 11:32:46 PM
Quote from: radiator on 13 July, 2017, 05:43:34 PM
If I had to nitpick, something that slightly bugged me was that, for a period piece, the characters seemed to have very modern attitudes and speak in a very modern parlance at times - using words like 'fanboy' and 'fangirl' (which I personally never heard used before maybe 2005).

Although I'm certain it wasn't as common in the 1980's as it is now the term fanboy did exist then at least

Maybe, but as I say it was the whole way certain parts of dialogue was written - it just seemed to me to have a very modern sensibility about it - much more 2017 than 1985. For example characters quoting specific lines or moments from films etc like they're in a Kevin Smith movie - it just doesn't really ring true as something that happened in a pre ubiquitous home video, pre-internet world. These characters would have been born in the 1950s and 1960s, but seemed at times to be scripted more like Millennials. As I say, not sure whether this was a deliberate concession to modern audiences or not.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 14 July, 2017, 07:33:53 PM
Ain't seen it so can't speak to specifics, or indeed adults of the period, but I know my group of friends in 1985 spent a very great deal of time quoting film and TV at each other. This was the era of Ghosbusters, the Terminator, Conan and Beverly Hills Cop, Blackadder, Yes Minister and Spitting Image. You couldn't shut us up - I know, because many tried.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 14 July, 2017, 08:19:27 PM
Same.
I suspect the reason pop-cultural awareness seems a modern invention (despite being a prevalent practice in the comedies of the early talky era) is a combination of elements: mainly because "contemporary" references date almost immediately and often are removed from later airings or printings of vintage material, but another factor is that tv and movie sponsors for decades would surgically remove not just mentions of competitors' products, but mentions of entire industries with which they were competing.
Rod Serling talked at length about the influence of such creative censors not just in interviews, but even did an episode of the Twilight Zone (The Bard) which heavily referenced the extent of such micromanagement, as by then entire scripts for shows were falling by the wayside because sponsor interference in content made them unfilmable, stating that characters couldn't ford a river in a show if Chevy was the sponsor.

A good counterpoint to all this would be to read some of those early Amazing Spider-Mans - as far back as the 60s the characters were referencing pop culture elements that are all but forgotten now, although Spidey shouting at protesters while quoting Ayn Rand never gets old.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 14 July, 2017, 08:29:06 PM
Which of us fiftysomethings weren't shouting things like, "no, no - not the comfy chair" at each other or commenting on the expected presence of the Spanish Inquisition as far back as our school days?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dark Jimbo on 14 July, 2017, 08:48:25 PM
The Victorians were all quoting the Fast Shows and Little Britains of the day. Who now realises that 'off to see a man about a dog' is originally a line from an 1866 stage-play, for instance? Loads of our daily idioms and turns of phrase are obsolete cultural references!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 14 July, 2017, 08:48:37 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 14 July, 2017, 08:29:06 PM
Which of us fiftysomethings weren't shouting things like, "no, no - not the comfy chair" at each other or commenting on the expected presence of the Spanish Inquisition as far back as our school days?

Forty-somethings were doing the same with The Young Ones and Black Adder. We've always liked a good cultural reference. I suspect sixty-somethings were all going "A pint?! That's nearly a whole armful!"
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 14 July, 2017, 09:17:45 PM
I'm walking backwards for Christmas, across the Irish Sea...

It was probably/possibly easier to quote and get cultural references in the olden days (of my yoof) due to fewer sources.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 15 July, 2017, 10:44:50 AM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 14 July, 2017, 08:48:37 PM
I suspect sixty-somethings were all going "A pint?! That's nearly a whole armful!"

It goes on my Out Of Office message whenever I donate.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 15 July, 2017, 02:00:11 PM
I'm always surprised by how clearly I remember those shows or movies, when you would only ever see them once, or twice if you were lucky- Watching old dr who DVDs I find I remember them almost scene-by-scene from a single viewing 40 years ago. I think we are evolving to not bother remembering anything any more as we can just google it
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 15 July, 2017, 02:37:32 PM
Mmmm, I'm always fascinated by how we seemed to be able to regurgitate entire Young Ones or Spitting Image sketches in the playground the very next day. I say 'seemed' in full confession of the power of nostlagia to deceive.

However, one particularly impressive mate (now an accountant) used to recite Humphrey Applebey obfustications after one viewing, to often gobsmacked audiences.

Meanwhile, Line of Duty Season 2: cracking opening episode, so much going on! Although we did share a cynical chuckle about the eas with which an ICU window could be pushed fully open: memories of a stifling delivery room aren't easily fooled!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 15 July, 2017, 05:53:59 PM
Hmmm, that's a good point, Tordels. We used to be the same. These days, however, I'm sometimes totally blank as to a film I watched only hours ago.

Perhaps humanity's collective consciousness is getting too full...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 30 July, 2017, 10:15:34 AM
I finished Dead like Me,and it was disappointing.It starts off great,but the more it lasts,the worst it got.
Started Space Battleship Yamato 2199.So far its promising.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dark Jimbo on 30 July, 2017, 10:35:25 AM
Quote from: Smith on 30 July, 2017, 10:15:34 AM
I finished Dead like Me,and it was disappointing.It starts off great,but the more it lasts,the worst it got.

Is that the BBC3 drama? Yeah, the central conciet is fascinating - the idea that after a zombie holocaust, the undead could get better, regaining their intellect and personalities and then having to deal with the fallout of their actions as they try to live alongside those whose brains they tried to eat. The programne didn't seem to know quite how best to capitalise on the concept though, and it gets increasingly soap-opera as it goes on - more interested in boyfriend/girlfriend dynamics than living/undead. It was a BBC3 show, after all, I suppose!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 30 July, 2017, 11:20:57 AM
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Like_Me (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Like_Me)
I meant this one.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 30 July, 2017, 12:35:13 PM
Quote from: Smith on 30 July, 2017, 10:15:34 AM

Started Space Battleship Yamato 2199.So far its promising.

Ah, the old Starblazers as was.  Takes me back.  Saturday mornings on AFN in Kaiserslautern! 

Never did get round to seeing how it finished though.  <sigh>
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 30 July, 2017, 01:02:02 PM
Cleverman

A modern day (actually possibly near future) Australian fantasy drama. It follows the idea of the unlikely person getting the superpowers (the new Cleverman, after his uncle died) , but does something very interesting with it. And while the 'Cleverman' of the title is undoubtedly a central character, he is not the only one. In fact large chunks of the episode deal with other characters, equally, if not more.

It also deals a lot with prejudism, with mainstream humanity dealing with another species of people (referred to as 'hairies' for obvious reason. They're also super strong and their nails grow into sharp claws, but without the hair and a proper manicure they look just like us). So it has some similarity to a lot of dramas out there (not least a british series not so long ago, except the minorities were aliens who looked exactly like us.) but it also borrows a lot from Aboriginal mythology.

The sum of it's parts, with that Australian flavour, actually produces something rather original. It goes to some rather odd places [spoiler](I never quite worked out what the deal was with the ancient aboriginal spirit possessing that young woman, except to open one of the main character's* mind to his abilities. But it was interesting.) And why would an angry spirit of a hairy child posess another hairy child and hurt them,
rather than attack the person they see responsible?[/spoiler] and there were one or two places where the plot jumps ahead, and I felt a bit like I'd missed an episode in between episodes.

It wasn't hard to work out over all though.

A very interesting series. Just 6 episodes long, like most UK series, so it's not too padded. I think many of you will like it.

The whole thing is on BBC I-Player now.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JLC on 31 July, 2017, 05:44:41 PM
Robin of Sherwood.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 31 July, 2017, 05:50:57 PM
Quote from: JLC on 31 July, 2017, 05:44:41 PM
Robin of Sherwood.

Always surprised and delighted by how well this stands up to modern re-watching, although I find my tolerance for Sean Connery (originally low) and Clannad's incidental music (originally high) have swapped rankings completely. If I hear 'together, we...' drowning out the dialogue one more time...

The commentaries on the DVDs are absolutely priceless.  "Oh look, it's that golf course again!  I had a lovely snooze under that bush by the 18th!" etc.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 31 July, 2017, 06:04:12 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 31 July, 2017, 05:50:57 PM
Quote from: JLC on 31 July, 2017, 05:44:41 PM
Robin of Sherwood.

Always surprised and delighted by how well this stands up to modern re-watching, although I find my tolerance for SeanJason Connery (originally low) and Clannad's incidental music (originally high) have swapped rankings completely. If I hear 'together, we...' drowning out the dialogue one more time...

The commentaries on the DVDs are absolutely priceless.  "Oh look, it's that golf course again!  I had a lovely snooze under that bush by the 18th!" etc.

It's a while since I've seen these. Not sure I ever watched them all. I remember The Hounds of Lucifer story scaring me as a kid.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 31 July, 2017, 06:05:15 PM
Please ignore. Accidental double post.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 31 July, 2017, 06:23:37 PM
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin. Excellent stuff, but then I didn't get where I am today by watching shite...

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 31 July, 2017, 07:04:31 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 31 July, 2017, 06:04:12 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 31 July, 2017, 05:50:57 PM
Quote from: JLC on 31 July, 2017, 05:44:41 PM
Robin of Sherwood.

Always surprised and delighted by how well this stands up to modern re-watching, although I find my tolerance for SeanJason Connery (originally low) and Clannad's incidental music (originally high) have swapped rankings completely. If I hear 'together, we...' drowning out the dialogue one more time...

The commentaries on the DVDs are absolutely priceless.  "Oh look, it's that golf course again!  I had a lovely snooze under that bush by the 18th!" etc.

It's a while since I've seen these. Not sure I ever watched them all. I remember The Hounds of Lucifer story scaring me as a kid.

Well worth revisiting - Hounds of Lucifer is the one everyone remembers, but there's plenty in that vein. 

And obviously I meant Jason Connery, not hish old man.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 01 August, 2017, 10:00:12 AM
That takes me back, I remember loving that show as a kid. I do recall being a bit put out when he was recast (unless I'm thinking of another show)? I think I was maybe too young at the time to understand that was a thing that sometimes happens, and it weirded me out greatly.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Krakajac on 01 August, 2017, 10:18:40 AM
Also a fan of the Robin TV series.

I'm probably in the minority, but I love the film 'Robin and Marian' (Connery and Hepburn).  My favourite representation of the Robin legend.  Made a real impression on me as a lad.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 01 August, 2017, 10:20:54 AM
All I remember from that film is Connery's abortive arse-scratch.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 01 August, 2017, 12:08:30 PM
Quote from: Krakajac on 01 August, 2017, 10:18:40 AM
I'm probably in the minority, but I love the film 'Robin and Marian' (Connery and Hepburn).  My favourite representation of the Robin legend.  Made a real impression on me as a lad.

Oh yep, totally supplanted my childhood vision of Robin Hood, at least until Michael Praed started flicking his hair about.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 01 August, 2017, 07:20:44 PM
Every episode of Stargate SG-1
General Hammond: No,you cant go on that suicidal mission.
Others: But sir...
General Hammond: Okay,okay,but just this once.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 01 August, 2017, 07:45:49 PM
Sky have recently posted the complete SG1 series on their boxset collection.  Slowly working through series 1.  Stands up recently well so long as the 'drizzly vancouver woodland' planet of the week is discounted.  The planet of the week format works okay and they haven't managed to bog themselves down in insanely complex back stories or arcs yet.  Considering what else is around at the moment ....
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JLC on 02 August, 2017, 10:26:06 PM
Quote from: Krakajac on 01 August, 2017, 10:18:40 AM
Also a fan of the Robin TV series.

I'm probably in the minority, but I love the film 'Robin and Marian' (Connery and Hepburn).  My favourite representation of the Robin legend.  Made a real impression on me as a lad.
Wonderful film
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 09 August, 2017, 03:05:55 PM
Season 1 of Stargate was a bit rough,but pretty average.It will get better,and the it will get worst,but when we get to that...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 09 August, 2017, 04:55:58 PM
Rick and Morty season 3.

Man oh man - the latest episode - 'Pickle Rick' - is one of the finest twenty minutes of TV I've seen in a long time. Each episode is packed so full of ideas that when they finish, your brain is reeling and you feel as if you've just watched a two hour movie.

If you're not watching it, you really should be.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 09 August, 2017, 06:12:01 PM
Quote from: Tjm86 on 01 August, 2017, 07:45:49 PMThe planet of the week format works okay and they haven't managed to bog themselves down in insanely complex back stories or arcs yet.

As I recall, SG1 always had okay but not spectacular ratings when new eps premiered, and by the time the network had enough episodes in the bag to sell elsewhere, they didn't actually have to make any more, so the show's success overseas was irrelevant.  The show was more or less on the verge of cancellation the entire time it was being made, even when it was being made by a different channel, which was why the producers kept the mythology pretty light for years, and why the season finales were rarely cliffhangers - no-one could be sure if they were coming back the following year.  Supposedly, McGyver only said yes to his last two seasons because he didn't think they were going to happen.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 10 August, 2017, 03:12:31 PM
Into The Badlands - the second season of this post-apocalyptic kung-fu series is better than it sounds as a concept.  Nick Frost shows up as the Piggsy character as they're still pretending this is based on Journey To The West, but the truth is that the show's producers used to make Smallville and it's most likely just their penchant for archetypes and simplistic dynastic-based power struggles showing through than an attempt at cultural appropriation of a famous Eastern storytelling cycle.  The wirework is pretty good, though often too outrageous to take entirely seriously, while some characters are pointless but take up screen time anyway.  Good fun all the same, even if the magic monks stuff gets old real fast.

Rick and Morty - first season of Community alum Dan Harmon's Doctor Who rip-off that owes a lot to animated shows like ATHF and Bob's Burgers in animation style, pacing, and arc construction.  It's very hit and miss, and doesn't nail the mix of emo/sci-fi that something like Bravest Warriors or Bee And Puppycat does, as while an uneven tone is fine for episodic television, it kills any emotional investment in characters, which the writers seem to acknowledge as the season draws to a close.  A good laugh, tho, and probably the show you want to watch if you think Adventure Time is "too mainstream" to be cool now, you hipster jerk you.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 29 August, 2017, 10:55:45 PM
Is 1st series of Preacher good to watch? As it for £10 on iTunes.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Enigmatic Dr X on 29 August, 2017, 10:59:38 PM
Quote from: Goaty on 29 August, 2017, 10:55:45 PM
Is 1st series of Preacher good to watch? As it for £10 on iTunes.

Take Amazon Prime for a month at £9 (or get a trial, if they do one) and watch both the first and second series?

I liked both. A lot.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 30 August, 2017, 09:20:45 AM
Kamen Rider Kuuga is done.Still a pretty repetative middle part,and by that I mean the last 40 episodes.Different forms are a nice touch.
Also done with Tru Calling.Still the same as I remember it.Canceled too early. :(
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 04 September, 2017, 08:30:50 PM
One of those shows I feel will be lost on fellow UK viewers, but Kolchak the Night Stalker is genuinely a wonderful little series. Half way through it's 20 episode run and it's influence on Nu-Who and The X-Files is evident.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 04 September, 2017, 08:47:42 PM
I'm watching that at the moment, and 1970s Chicago is as much a part of the show as Kolchak himself - it's almost like the world we live in, but unmistakably not.
I'd suggest checking out the dreadful early 2000s remake starring Stuart "I have never been in anything good not even accidentally" Townsend purely for morbid curiosity: its only value as a brand was with people already heavily into sci-fi/geek culture, but this was before the geeks won the culture wars and assimilated the mainstream, so it never got the attention or care necessary to appeal beyond the converted and was almost instantly forgotten.  Although it does feature the earliest instance that I can recall of that gimmick where the character's thoughts are realised onscreen with words and images (because the character is a reporter, so he sees things as headlines and photos) - later made popular by the movie and tv show versions of Limitless before being run into the ground by the BBC's increasingly irritating Sherlock.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 05 September, 2017, 10:03:26 AM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 04 September, 2017, 08:47:42 PM
I'm watching that at the moment, and 1970s Chicago is as much a part of the show as Kolchak himself - it's almost like the world we live in, but unmistakably not.
So very, very much true. The show runners really tried to make the extra effort to get the most out of the suburban environment, everything from the sleazy cinema and massage parlours stalked by Jack the Ripper to a shining new hospital housing it's own Eldritch Abomination. Really fantastic stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 06 September, 2017, 08:28:07 AM
Just finished Season 1 of OZARK.

That was great. Jason Bateman's thinking face gives very little away, letting you interpret his reactions and emotions just from how long it takes him to harumph  and the actions of others around him.

And there's plenty of great examples of "enter the scene as late as you can and leave it as early as possible" in the writing and direction.

Great supporting cast and some good rug pulled from under you moments.

I didn't spot the thing with the title card until about five episodes in so now want to rewatch  those episodes to spot the little icons.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 06 September, 2017, 08:53:21 AM
That actually sounds interesting.Im going to have to check it out.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 14 September, 2017, 05:42:25 AM
Finished season 1 of Ozark.Between keeping the family together and hiding money in the walls,this does bring Arrested Development to mind.
Breaking Bad inspiration is also obvious,but thats not a bad thing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 15 September, 2017, 12:01:21 PM
Recently finished new series of Gotham. Largely pretty good. It felt more like 2 or 3 series than one though.

I'm also watching Falling Skies on Netflix. I remember when it was first advertised, although I never watched any back then. All of a sudden there appear to be several series! Has it really been that long?

Anyway, very enjoyable. Generally decent characters, although one or two irritate me. I love the alien designs, particularly the skitters. The Mechs are cool, too, giving a minor The Tripods/War of the Worlds feel*.

*Albeit these are bi-pods, much smaller and easier to kill. They're a very cool design though.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 15 September, 2017, 02:54:08 PM
Late to the show, I know, but just finished all 8 episodes of Stranger Things on Netflix.
Man, this was a fun show. I grew up, like most of us I guess, in the 80's and the soundtrack and all the 'easter eggs' were fun along with a very strong cast.
Looking forward to season 2.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 18 September, 2017, 05:28:46 PM
Now that season 2 is on Netflix, all I want to watch every night is The Expanse, forever and ever.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 22 September, 2017, 06:44:48 PM
Nearing the end of season 2 of Gargoyles,and its still as great as the first time I watched it.But the world tour arc lasted way too long.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 30 September, 2017, 05:57:49 AM
After a long while,I started season 5 of Doctor Who.Im not feeling it so far,I must say.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 01 October, 2017, 01:50:09 PM
So I wrapped up Kolchak The Night Stalker some time ago, and for what it is, it's cult statues is very much justified. Episodic horror ballads, with some solid to superb stories (The Energy Eater in particular is superb sci-fi) with McGavern giving us one of Horrors most charismatic leads. Really, very highly recommended.

Speaking of Doctor Who, felt compelled to give Season 7 (1970) a rewatch, half way through The Silurians and you know what? This might be the perfect Who season.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Greg M. on 01 October, 2017, 02:13:32 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 01 October, 2017, 01:50:09 PM
Speaking of Doctor Who, felt compelled to give Season 7 (1970) a rewatch, half way through The Silurians and you know what? This might be the perfect Who season.

Let's see what you make of Ambassadors of Death this time around. I've had heated debates about this one - a friend of mine absolutely loves it, but I just can't get on with at all. Great bits, but overall, a somewhat incoherent mess.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 02 October, 2017, 11:15:00 AM
Quote from: Greg M. on 01 October, 2017, 02:13:32 PM
Let's see what you make of Ambassadors of Death this time around. I've had heated debates about this one - a friend of mine absolutely loves it, but I just can't get on with at all. Great bits, but overall, a somewhat incoherent mess.
I'm really rather found of Ambassadors of Death, as a lesser, kinda-sorta remake of The Quatermass Experiment it at least has a lot of good going for it. Inferno appears to be the true dividing point for many Who fans, which is a shame as I utterly adore it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Greg M. on 02 October, 2017, 02:16:21 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 02 October, 2017, 11:15:00 AM
Inferno appears to be the true dividing point for many Who fans, which is a shame as I utterly adore it.

Intrigued by the idea of Inferno as divisive - I'd always thought it was universally acclaimed. Personally, I love it - it's one of the few long stories that doesn't feel padded, and the parallel universe stuff creates an atmosphere of impending doom that's hard to beat.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 02 October, 2017, 03:35:31 PM
Quote from: Greg M. on 02 October, 2017, 02:16:21 PM
Intrigued by the idea of Inferno as divisive - I'd always thought it was universally acclaimed.

It is pretty widely acclaimed, to my utter bafflement. It's fucking terrible. It's glacially paced and the plot makes almost no sense  — why is there a gas that turns people into hairy nutters? What bearing does it have on the actual plot? Why bother introducing a subplot about some man from the ministry only to kill him off in a car crash?

No, sorry. It's rubbish.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Greg M. on 02 October, 2017, 05:46:17 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 02 October, 2017, 03:35:31 PM
It's glacially paced and the plot makes almost no sense  — why is there a gas that turns people into hairy nutters? What bearing does it have on the actual plot? Why bother introducing a subplot about some man from the ministry only to kill him off in a car crash?

Sir Keith isn't killed in our universe - he survives the car accident with minor injuries and helps shut down the Inferno Project at the end. As for Stahlman's ooze and its creation of the Primords - you're right that it's never really explained exactly what it is and why it does what it does, but I tend to simply accept it as another menacing aspect of an already destructive project. (Of course, the behind-the-scenes reason for the addition of the Primords is because it was felt the story lacked monsters, and that they'd help fill out the 7 episodes. I think it worked, but clearly you'd disagree.)

As for why the story's so well-regarded, you've got a novel concept for Dr. Who (first time the series ever dealt with parallel universes), it's well-directed, and the bleak atmosphere is well-sustained. Most importantly though, the performances are largely top notch: Nicholas Courtney and Caroline John in particular excel in portraying their parallel universe counterparts.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 02 October, 2017, 06:10:12 PM
Thumbs up from me for Inferno and the whole series/season.
One of my favourites.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 03 October, 2017, 05:31:57 PM
The Deuce on HBO. Just watched the feature-length pilot last night - it's the new series by the creator of The Wire (which I shamefully still have not seen).

Wow. Recommended.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 03 October, 2017, 07:47:36 PM
Quote from: radiator on 03 October, 2017, 05:31:57 PM
The Deuce on HBO. Just watched the feature-length pilot last night - it's the new series by the creator of The Wire (which I shamefully still have not seen).

Wow. Recommended.

Double this - only seen the pilot as well so far and it's pure David Simon magic. People are calling it a "return to form" but honestly everything he's done is gold for me. This is his first proper period piece and it's rich with detail, strong with character with a solid focus. GLORIOUS.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 03 October, 2017, 09:56:02 PM
Just starting a Twin Peaks re-watch ahead of tracking down the new stuff. Only watched the Pilot to date but that's some damned fine telly right there.

Its still got it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 05 October, 2017, 01:57:22 AM
Quote from: CrazyFoxMachine on 03 October, 2017, 07:47:36 PM
Quote from: radiator on 03 October, 2017, 05:31:57 PM
The Deuce on HBO. Just watched the feature-length pilot last night - it's the new series by the creator of The Wire (which I shamefully still have not seen).

Wow. Recommended.

Double this - only seen the pilot as well so far and it's pure David Simon magic. People are calling it a "return to form" but honestly everything he's done is gold for me. This is his first proper period piece and it's rich with detail, strong with character with a solid focus. GLORIOUS.

It's really great - we watched episode 2 last night.

I hadn't seen anything by David Simon before, and was worried from what I'd heard that his stuff might be a little heavy and dry, but that's not the case at all. Instantly memorable, compelling characters and a really fascinating location and period. It's far from relentlessly grim, and I love the little humanising character beats like the cops ordering illicit Chinese food for the prostitutes.

Maggie Gylenhaal gonna win some awards I think.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 09 October, 2017, 05:29:27 AM
I'm just 3 episodes into The Expanse, season 2. So far it's enjoyable stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 09 October, 2017, 09:29:27 AM
G.L.O.W. really tickling my fancy at the moment.  Nice punchy episodes at 30 minutes each, truly great performance from Marc Maron as a failing B Movie director, and some great supporting casting in Sydelle Noel, Britney Young, Kate Nash(!) and pretty much everyone else. Rather less keen on Alison Brie's Ruth, who is every bit as annoyingly wet as she's supposed to be... great acting, but hard to watch. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 09 October, 2017, 05:26:43 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 09 October, 2017, 09:29:27 AM
G.L.O.W. really tickling my fancy at the moment.  Nice punchy episodes at 30 minutes each, truly great performance from Marc Maron as a failing B Movie director, and some great supporting casting in Sydelle Noel, Britney Young, Kate Nash(!) and pretty much everyone else. Rather less keen on Alison Brie's Ruth, who is every bit as annoyingly wet as she's supposed to be... great acting, but hard to watch.

Loved that show. Can't wait for season 2.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 09 October, 2017, 07:22:36 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 09 October, 2017, 09:29:27 AM
G.L.O.W. really tickling my fancy at the moment.

With you there - great characters and solidly realized. Brie is definitely a grower - the heel in most senses of the word thus far. Halfway through here :)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 10 October, 2017, 06:37:03 PM
Researching Season 1 of Game of Thrones. More shaggi g and less big onscreen battles but the main realisation is how much character motivation and ambition I missed. It's all laid out.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 10 October, 2017, 06:48:50 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 10 October, 2017, 06:37:03 PM
Researching Season 1 of Game of Thrones. More shaggi g and less big onscreen battles but the main realisation is how much character motivation and ambition I missed. It's all laid out.

I love how much stuff you pick up on with the supporting characters on a re-watch. As a non-reader of the books (circa S1, at least) it took the re-watch to realise that Jeor Mormon was Jorah's father and that the sword he later gives Jon is rightfully Jorah's... something that doesn't pay off until S7, [spoiler]when Jon tries to give it back. [/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 11 October, 2017, 12:21:56 AM
Quote from: CrazyFoxMachine on 03 October, 2017, 07:47:36 PM
Quote from: radiator on 03 October, 2017, 05:31:57 PM
The Deuce on HBO. Just watched the feature-length pilot last night - it's the new series by the creator of The Wire (which I shamefully still have not seen).

Wow. Recommended.

Double this

Me Two.

Seems to be a crazy amount of top class TV out there vying for my limited attention, but they had me at HBO / David Simon.
A perfectly realised microcosm of 70's sleaze, with a genuine heart of gold.

Franco is magnetic. Gyllenhaal is stunning.
Seemingly out of nowhere this is currently the best thing I'm watching. AAA recommendation.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 11 October, 2017, 02:24:43 AM
Yep, I only heard about it's existence when the trailer played in front of Game of Thrones.

Completely hooked - we're up to date now and have to wait til Sunday for the next ep...! It's phenomenally good.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 13 October, 2017, 03:39:03 PM
Yeah, sorry Jim, but Greg M. is right, rewatching Inferno not only do I still feel it holds up but I like it even more, everything you highlighted is addressed, "glacially paced" is just unfair personal preference because SO much happens in the 7 episodes presented....God, it's just DAMN GOOD classic Who IMHO.

Also, staying with family this weekend. Apparently my sisters show of choice right now Powerpuff Girls....not, not THAT one, we don't talk about that one, the original. And it's damn good all ages cartooning. Really good. And the answer is Buttercup.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 13 October, 2017, 05:20:06 PM
Always Buttercup.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 13 October, 2017, 05:24:20 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 13 October, 2017, 03:39:03 PM
Yeah, sorry Jim, but Greg M. is right

Ahem. I think you'll note that I specifically said that the story is well-regarded and acknowledged that I am very much an outlier with my "steaming pile of old shite" opinion. I'm not trying to convince anyone of my rightness, I'm just utterly baffled that otherwise nominally-sane people consider it a classic.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 13 October, 2017, 05:58:01 PM
And thats all fair enough, and neither was I trying to decry that point of view, however a lot of the stuff you brought up against the serial doesn't really hold up under scrutiny I felt after my rewatch.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 22 October, 2017, 11:18:44 PM
The Sopranos.

Third time round for me, it's one I return to every few years, and it just gets better with age. Greatest TV show of all time? It's certainly in the running. Every actor, every performance. Every single scene packed with nuance and keenly observed human behaviour. So ahead of it's time it's a miracle it ever got off the ground in the media landscape it emerged in. Just flawless.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 23 October, 2017, 06:23:12 AM
Quote from: radiator on 22 October, 2017, 11:18:44 PM
The Sopranos.

Third time round for me, it's one I return to every few years, and it just gets better with age. Greatest TV show of all time? It's certainly in the running. Every actor, every performance. Every single scene packed with nuance and keenly observed human behaviour. So ahead of it's time it's a miracle it ever got off the ground in the media landscape it emerged in. Just flawless.

Arh I love that show. Really is about time I did a re-watch...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Satanist on 02 November, 2017, 11:45:26 AM
Just finished season 2 of Stranger Things and its a worthy sequel that the whole family thoroughly enjoyed.

And yeah the Deuce is currently my favourite show too.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: moly on 04 November, 2017, 08:14:13 AM
Stranger things 2 loved the second series really good and great cast of characters
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 04 November, 2017, 11:21:10 AM
The Tripods

Nabbed the entire series box set for a song, been meaning to watch it for quiet some time. It has all the hallmarks of BBC sci-fi of the period (at least it doesn't have the naff zero gravity shots of Star Cops!) both good and ill, but what stands out throughout the first season is just how...bleak, it all is. And though the 2nd series did away with this largely in exchange for high camp (those white jump suits! Good lord!) it still ends on a true shocker that is made all the more harrowing for no true third season.

An over looked gem? Certainly, but lower your expectations for season 2. ;)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Greg M. on 04 November, 2017, 11:38:21 AM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 04 November, 2017, 11:21:10 AM
The Tripods

I think the first series starts very well and ends very well, but flags in the middle - all that hanging about at the Chateau Ricordeau gets a bit tiresome. Highpoints for me: the episode in Paris, and that weird bit in the woods with the crazies who've constructed a kind of rustic Tripod idol. Lowpoints: the guy playing Henry can't act.

Haven't seen series 2 in an age, but I indeed remember it being mad and extremely camp. It is a shame they never got a third series though, to cap it all off (and kill Henry.)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 19 November, 2017, 10:02:51 PM
You know there's times when watching Twin Peaks that I catch myself wondering whether its holds up. I mean while I still love it, is that just because what it meant to me growing up? Cos of just how far ahead of its time it was back in the day.

Then you watch Episode 2.7... the one when we find out who killed Laura Palmer and you realise no, the reason you love it is because at its best its probably the best television ever made.

... Now lets see how the tricky middle period fares these days...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Satanist on 21 November, 2017, 09:39:44 AM
Well I blasted through The Punisher over the weekend and thought it could have been a couple less episodes with the story it told but apart from that it was great.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 21 November, 2017, 10:36:37 AM
Up to Season 4 on Game Of Thrones rewatch [spoiler]and Jophrey has just come a cropper.
Obviously I know it's Olena Tyrell now but the clues were all there on screen. [/spoiler]

So many quotable lines... you could make a Guide To Life (either good or bad) by editing them together.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 21 November, 2017, 03:55:10 PM
Oh and watching MOTHERLAND on Iplayer. Lots of well observed stuff about how parents interact regarding their  offspring and cope with demands.

Be warned, these are for the most part priveleged people who shouldn't really be complaining and the lead character is reprehensible. They do call it out (eventually) but she is thoroughly unlikable and self-serving.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 22 November, 2017, 12:19:30 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 21 November, 2017, 03:55:10 PM
Oh and watching MOTHERLAND on Iplayer. Lots of well observed stuff about how parents interact regarding their  offspring and cope with demands.

Be warned, these are for the most part priveleged people who shouldn't really be complaining and the lead character is reprehensible. They do call it out (eventually) but she is thoroughly unlikable and self-serving.

I watched the pilot of this but haven't caught up with the series yet - I found the main character annoying, and we really don't need another sitcom about stressed middle-class parents, but Diane Morgan was good, she supplied the only real laughs
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Steve Green on 22 November, 2017, 08:13:39 PM
Back, the post-Peep Show Mitchell and Webb series.

Weirdly never really got into Peep Show, but this is great.

The funniest bits are the sweariest or pay-offs so don't really translate to trailers.

Well worth a watch.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 25 November, 2017, 09:36:04 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 19 November, 2017, 10:02:51 PM
You know there's times when watching Twin Peaks that I catch myself wondering whether its holds up. I mean while I still love it, is that just because what it meant to me growing up? Cos of just how far ahead of its time it was back in the day.

Then you watch Episode 2.7... the one when we find out who killed Laura Palmer and you realise no, the reason you love it is because at its best its probably the best television ever made.

... Now lets see how the tricky middle period fares these days...

And I forgot we have the almost (almost) as brilliant episode 2.9 before the percieved slump. Damn its easy to remember why this show had such an impact on me and inspired so much to come...

... so I think the slump starts here...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 27 November, 2017, 08:19:47 PM
Quote from: Steve Green on 22 November, 2017, 08:13:39 PM
Back, the post-Peep Show Mitchell and Webb series.


Yeah this was quite good - strong supporting cast (the evergreen McGivern nearly runs off with the entire show in the dog kidnap episode) and surprisingly dark. Thought a lot of the constant music cues were quite jarringly OTT like Murray Gold's on Who but yeah - needed more attention than what it got for sure.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 28 November, 2017, 06:44:23 PM
So I barely made it to the end of episode 1 of LOVE. It's an Apatow originating show with a sweary Gillian Jacobs but I struggled to find much else to laugh at or recommend it other than the bloke's pedantry denying him a three-way. Is it worth persevering with?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 28 November, 2017, 08:36:07 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 28 November, 2017, 06:44:23 PM
So I barely made it to the end of episode 1 of LOVE. It's an Apatow originating show with a sweary Gillian Jacobs but I struggled to find much else to laugh at or recommend it other than the bloke's pedantry denying him a three-way. Is it worth persevering with?

I quite like it, though it's not for everyone.

The MVP of the whole show is undoubtedly Bernie - the Australian housemate played by Claudia O Doherty. So maybe stick with it at least until you get to an episode heavily featuring her. IIRC there's an episode early on where she goes out on a date with the main character which is good fun.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: maryanddavid on 28 November, 2017, 11:02:21 PM
Just watched the first two episodes of Sinner on Netflix, very enjoyable.
I like a show where I have no idea of where its going but grounded in reality with no real supernatural element to explain away the mystery. While I love Fantasy and Sci Fi books the telly adaptations tend to leave a bit cold, the latest example being American Gods.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 29 November, 2017, 09:46:52 AM
Not so much an addiction, but with it being half an hour long we've been squeezing an episode of Catastrophe in between other shows and really enjoying it. Just started season 3 last night so will be running out of it fairly soon!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 29 November, 2017, 09:53:23 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 28 November, 2017, 06:44:23 PM
the bloke's pedantry denying him a three-way. Is it worth persevering with?

Well there's an important detail missing from that description!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 30 November, 2017, 09:08:07 AM
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 29 November, 2017, 09:53:23 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 28 November, 2017, 06:44:23 PM
the bloke's pedantry denying him a three-way. Is it worth persevering with?

Well there's an important detail missing from that description!

Naw, live and let live. That's our motto in these parts.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 30 November, 2017, 01:53:47 PM
The more holes that get filled, the better.  Anything else is semantics.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 5 is a helpful reminder why I originally gave up watching at the end of season 4.  Some inspired setups (I certainly wasn't aware I needed a Darth Maul/army of Boba Fetts team-up in my life) are pissed away in a quagmire of lazy storytelling, terrible characters and risible dialogue.  Most stories this season outstay their welcome, particularly a comedy Droids arc that felt like it lasted a thousand years, while Maul - a character I didn't even like in The Phantom Menace, a movie in which he is widely regarded as probably the best thing in it - feels like he's been defanged and turned into yet another panto villain to the point that his sudden death in Rebels now seems like an overdue mercy killing.  One thing the Prequels - and Clone Wars - also did well was not acknowledge that Palpatine and Sidious were one and the same - I mean, we all knew, but the movies and show retained an admirable sense of a period in the mythos where Sidious' identity wasn't known, but here he just hops on a spaceship and goes off to get his hands dirty, and it just feels lazy and cheap.
The visuals are a step up, though.  I thought it was just that they'd revamped the original 3d models as the show went along - Coruscant especially looks amazing - but even new locales look fantastic.  It's almost as if the care and attention that wasn't brought to bear in the scripts were redirected elsewhere in the production.
Quite a frustrating season, all told.  I'm not sure if I actually enjoyed it or not.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: SIP on 30 November, 2017, 10:33:01 PM
I loved Clone Wars. All of ot. There are always occasional bad episodes, absolutely.....but on the whole I thought it was an excellent show right up to its abrupt end.

Rebels on the hand I think is largely terrible. The Darth Maul ending (I thought they developed him very well in Clone wars) put the nails in the coffin for me, when I was already admittedly struggling. Not sure I'll ever bother wasting my time on the final season.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 03 December, 2017, 10:40:01 PM
While its an actual box set we got my son The Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 1 and while we've only just started it and we're still on disk 1 - Bugs Bunny its clearly demonstrates that while the animated feature film have developed to quite magnificent levels in recent years, by far transcending what has gone before. When it comes to the shorter form, and I'm including TV cartoons here there was a golden age and it was around 50-70 years ago.

These shorts are just timeless, my kids love them as much as I did as a kid. My wife and I still love them as much as we did when we where kids.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 04 December, 2017, 12:35:08 AM
Just finished Season 2 of PEAKY BLINDERS.

It's fookin' great!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 12 December, 2017, 05:56:28 PM
How have I not watched Black Mirror before!

Man, this is top stuff.

It's better, in my opinion, than Inside No 9, which is my fave TV prog from the last 10 years.

Ok, the first episode is a pretty hard watch (of season 1) but the next one was my fave until I saw the Christmas special which is possibly my favourite bit of TV in the last 10 years ever.

I have yet to watch season 3 and I'm glad season 4 starts on the 29th of Dec. Awesome. Just awesome.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 12 December, 2017, 09:03:51 PM
Godless. Excellent.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 14 December, 2017, 10:00:44 PM
Mindhunter. Very good indeed and Holt McCallany would make a great MC1 sector house chief.

(http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Holt+McCallany+T+Saban+Films+Present+LAFF+syNqJ_5L969l.jpg)

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Satanist on 15 December, 2017, 12:09:45 PM
Anyone watching Happy! based on the Grant Morrison comic? 2 eps so far and I'm really enjoying it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 15 December, 2017, 12:18:38 PM
Thanks for the shout, forgot that was happening.

Mindhunter was good, worth watching for older cynical agent alone. Not quite sure what the 'story' was but was entertaining the whole way through.

Finished off the Punisher myself, s'alright though more of a black ops/spookshow than One Man War on Crime but in keeping with some of the Ennis stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 15 December, 2017, 08:41:31 PM
I'm nearly finished with Community for the second time.  It's pretty good, but still not my favourite US sitcom which is still Frasier.

Before that I watched what there was of The Good Place to see and that was pretty cool.  I liked the direction it took and Ted Danson is enjoyable to watch in it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 16 December, 2017, 12:15:36 AM
Having got up to date with The Good Place and drokking loved every single thing about it (inveterate masturbator and eternally frustrated coke fiend Mindy being one of the greatest characters ever committed to the small screen), we have turned to Crazy Ex-Girlfriend by way of a methadone programme. Great stuff so far.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 19 December, 2017, 05:53:43 PM
Quote(inveterate masturbator

I just read that as 'invertebrate masturbator' which is just... wrong...

Dark.

The recent German series on Netflix, I mean, not my comment above. The default is British dubbing, which I changed back to German and switched on the subtitles.  (I prefer to watch foreign language stuff that way. I want to hear the original language, even though I don't understand it, and I don't have an issue with subtitles.)

While I found the shere amount of characters a bit daunting, it's not that difficult to follow, and it's really interesting mind-bending telly. Highly recommended.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 26 December, 2017, 08:54:03 PM
Merry Xmas!

As got iTunes gift card so not sure which three series to pick,

The Wire
The Sopranos
Boardwalk Empire.

As watch first two once on TV many years ago and loved it!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 26 December, 2017, 09:44:21 PM
Quote from: Goaty on 26 December, 2017, 08:54:03 PM
Merry Xmas!

As got iTunes gift card so not sure which three series to pick,

The Wire
The Sopranos
Boardwalk Empire.

As watch first two once on TV many years ago and loved it!

Not watched Broadwalk Empire, but can't got wrong with either of the first two!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 28 December, 2017, 04:24:31 PM
I've not watched it in a few years so I've dug out Black Adder. Such a great series.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Magnetica on 04 January, 2018, 01:44:19 PM
Game of Thrones.

I know I am late to the party and wasn't going to bother.

Well that would have been a mistake.

My wife and I are currently devouring the box set of seasons 1 to 7 and are up to mid season 4 ([spoiler]Tyrion's trial with Javier Pena out of Narcos about to fight for him)[/spoiler].

What is great about it is the huge ensemble cast and not knowing who to root for. Basically there are no nailed on goodies and baddies - everyone is doing what they are doing for a reason ( in their view anyway.) well apart from [spoiler]Joffrey and Ramsay Snow anyway and possibly Cersei.[/spoiler]

That all means it is impossible to guess what is going to happen (spoilers not withstanding) as it's not a case of knowing the good guys will win, as it's not clear who the good guys are [spoiler] well may Jon Snow is, but I guess he isn't going to end up as the King at the end.[/spoiler]

And please guys and gals - no spoilers in replies. Thanks.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 04 January, 2018, 02:24:02 PM
I was late to this as well and absolutely loved it for the reasons you mention - and the humour. My favourite line has got to be [spoiler]"The Dwarf lives until we find a cock merchant!"[/spoiler]

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 04 January, 2018, 02:41:48 PM
How strange that Black Adder and GoT should get mentioned in consecutive posts here, barely a day after I noticed that there was an unannounced Black Adder/GoT crossover...

(https://i.imgur.com/fZCrWS3.jpg)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 04 January, 2018, 02:53:55 PM
"You have a woman's purse, My Lord Snow! I'll wager that purse has never been used in a fierce blizzard as a sack for capturing white walkers!"

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: lewism109 on 04 January, 2018, 04:55:38 PM
I just finished watching all nine seasons of CSI: NY and enjoyed every minute. Probably my favourite out of the CSI series. Now I am now watching ARROW and One Punch Man, the latter is very funny.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 08 January, 2018, 04:13:23 PM
THE GOOD PLACE. It puts me in a good place. Danson is awesome and they've taken time to make Kirsten Bell's character likeable even though flawed. The half-Supermodel/half-giraffe that plays Tahani plays it a bit broader than the other three but I'm warming to her.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 08 January, 2018, 05:13:14 PM
The Good Place is unusual in that it starts great but just gets better as it goes along.  Watching it weekly now as it resumes after the Christmas break,  and the feeling of 'what the hell is going to happen now?!?' after every episode is delicious. Every character is delightful, and every time any of the supporting appear feels like a treat ("Yay,  it's Derek! "or similar is a regular cheer from our sofa).

All TV should be gloriously crafted 20-minute chunks like this. Or at the least have characters occasionally compose raps about Kierkegaard.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 08 January, 2018, 05:14:45 PM
Only about 11 episodes in but have been giggling at the guest stars from "the bad place.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 08 January, 2018, 07:54:53 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 25 November, 2017, 09:36:04 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 19 November, 2017, 10:02:51 PM
You know there's times when watching Twin Peaks that I catch myself wondering whether its holds up. I mean while I still love it, is that just because what it meant to me growing up? Cos of just how far ahead of its time it was back in the day.

Then you watch Episode 2.7... the one when we find out who killed Laura Palmer and you realise no, the reason you love it is because at its best its probably the best television ever made.

... Now lets see how the tricky middle period fares these days...

And I forgot we have the almost (almost) as brilliant episode 2.9 before the percieved slump. Damn its easy to remember why this show had such an impact on me and inspired so much to come...

... so I think the slump starts here...

Double self quote - oh the ego. Anyway I've finished Twin Peaks and yes the slump hits pretty hard and quick. After the resolution of the Laura Palmer storyline the show does really flounder. It seemed to hook onto the fact it had such a good ensemble cast of characters and therefore throw as many storyline at them as it felt where needed and see what stuck. Alas very little did and it led to some pretty poor story ideas.

Still I'm happy to report it redemned itself when it started to regain its focus and started to trim things down and the Windom Earle storyline takes hold, returning the series to mythology of the Black Lodge. The final episode is brilliant, quite brilliant. Its a shame that it didn't find a new direction, or limit itself prior to the sticky middle phase of season 2.

Still onwards and upwards, and I've got a movie I'm very much looking forward to seeing...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 11 January, 2018, 11:09:05 PM
Amazon Prime are screening The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel for free this weekend to celebrate its Golden Globe wins, and it's well worth checking out if your area is covered by the offer.
It's a period drama set in 1958 about a Jewish housewife who falls into stand up comedy when her husband leaves her and their two children for his teenage secretary.  Some contrivance in its opening episode - available to view for free on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_dGfLxHv1o) - but improves greatly as it goes, with some neat cameos from Jane Lynch and Wallace Shawn along the way.  Some glaring anachronism and an impossibly young cast for the covered material, but otherwise a highly enjoyable series.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 11 January, 2018, 11:52:15 PM
Just reached end of Season 1 of The Good Place.

[spoiler]That is exactly how you do a twist. Utterly logical and makes perfect sense and It's all there right in front of you the whole time![/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 12 January, 2018, 07:54:42 AM
Sopranos.
Yeah, yeah, I'm a bit behind.
Just finished season 1 and have ordered the blu ray complete series.
It's gold.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: DaveGYNWA on 12 January, 2018, 09:39:19 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 11 January, 2018, 11:52:15 PM
Just reached end of Season 1 of The Good Place.

[spoiler]That is exactly how you do a twist. Utterly logical and makes perfect sense and It's all there right in front of you the whole time![/spoiler]

Totally agree -[spoiler] twist comes out of nowhere and then you think 'How the f*** did I miss that?"[/spoiler]

Each episode being 20 minutes long really helps - you can binge it (if you're not up to date) and not feel like you've wasted 5 or 6 hours of time :D

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 15 January, 2018, 11:04:54 PM
THE GOOD PLACE is really how LOST should have played out.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 16 January, 2018, 01:04:47 PM
I'm liking how many of you are also watching The Good Place.  I found that thoroughly enjoyable and am looking forward to seeing the third season.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 16 January, 2018, 01:07:18 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 16 January, 2018, 01:04:47 PM
...am looking forward to seeing the third season.

I mean the rest of the second season.  I forget that US TV stops showing seasons over the holiday period.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 18 January, 2018, 09:23:53 PM
The Marvelous Mrs Maisel.

Heard a lot of good things, and it really lives up to the hype. Real comfort food TV. The cast are all great, but the lead is astonishingly good - such an assured, sparky performance from a relatively unknown actor.

One peculiar thing about it though is that while the show itself looks like it cost an absolute fortune - the costumes, sets and props are Mad Men-level immaculate, the title card and credits look almost laughably low-rent, like they are placeholders or something. Not that it really matters I suppose.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: darnmarr on 20 January, 2018, 08:42:22 PM
Quote from: radiator on 18 January, 2018, 09:23:53 PM
The Marvelous Mrs Maisel.
... while the show itself looks like it cost an absolute fortune - the costumes, sets and props are Mad Men-level immaculate, the title card and credits look almost laughably low-rent, like they are placeholders or something.
I love this show also. RE your point-- I'm not sure but, my own take on the simplistic title and credits was that they themselves were 'period' or 'retro'; simple graphics reflecting the look from a simpler age of 60's TV shows. I could be wrong , mind you.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 22 January, 2018, 06:37:21 AM
Star Wars: Rebels - Season 3

A nice continuation of the series.

[spoiler] An interesting showdown between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul which I'm sure irritated a lot of fans for not being the big epic fight these things often are. I actually thought it was a good brave decision however to do something different. Much as I liked the fact they did more with Maul's character in the spin-off cartoons, I often felt that his resurrection undermined Obi-Wan's victory in The Phantom Menace. Well, this rectified this, and managed to be kind of sad and poignant too.[/spoiler]

Oh and a couple of geek thrills: [spoiler]Grand Admiral Thrawn and the Tie Defender! I had quite a bit of fun piloting that ship and the Tie Advanced* in the Tie Fighter PC game a couple of decades back. I seem to remember a craft similar to the Advanced appeared in Season One, although it wasn't quite the same as the game version. The Defender design looked like it was replicated pretty much exactly from the game.[/spoiler]

*[spoiler]Not to be confused with Vader's ship, which is also a Tie Advanced of a slightly different model number.[/spoiler]

[/geek-mode]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 22 January, 2018, 08:28:08 PM
All the geeky fanboy complaints I saw about Obi Wan/Maul seemed to center on Ezra's presence ruining things, or at least diluting the finale they never got in Clone Wars.

Missions - available to view for free on Amazon Prime - is a low budget French take on the "we're going to Mars" subgenre of tv sci-fi, but not as dull as National Geographic's Mars, probably as it has an actual story: an international coalition led by a white billionaire* set out to be the first humans on Mars, but an accident before launch kills the ship's psychologist, and by the time they get ready to land on the planet they find that the Americans have pulled a nuclear drive out of their arses and made planetfall two weeks earlier.  The Yanks are apparently all dead and their last act was to record a message begging not to be rescued as it's far too dangerous, then the mysterious deaths begin to happen, the malfunctions, and the ship becomes trapped on the surface without fuel or power.  That's episode one, it's only twenty minutes long, and you've got nine to go.
The story is entertaining, the effects and production surprisingly good for something whose episodes reputedly have one ten thousandth of the budget of Star Trek Discovery, and it looks a bit like a new Dr Who episode, only better because it has naked French ladies in it.  Well worth a watch if you like old-school tv sci-fi.


* Because as everyone knows, only white billionaires can take us into space.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 25 January, 2018, 09:38:28 AM
You've just sold me incredibly hard on Missions, sounds absolutely positively my cup of tea. It'll be next on my watchlist now (I've got a couple of episodes of the first Clone Wars season to watch and then I'll be squeezing something else in before hitting season 2).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 25 January, 2018, 12:20:40 PM
Series one of Black Mirror is okay,outside of the first episode,which is terrible tbh.But now I got all those David Cameron memes. ;-)

Last man standing is the best sitcom I saw in a while.So far,done with season 1.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 25 January, 2018, 01:00:35 PM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 22 January, 2018, 08:28:08 PMit has naked French ladies in it.

Quote from: Keef Monkey on 25 January, 2018, 09:38:28 AMYou've just sold me incredibly hard on Missions
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 26 January, 2018, 02:49:44 PM
Altered Carbon is coming to Netflix! yah! loved the books.

Also starting into PKDs Man in the High Castle on Amazon and most recent Vikings ....

Totally recommend Minhunter too

cheers Jim!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 28 January, 2018, 03:37:12 PM
I watched Gravity Falls not long ago.  Pretty good kids show and a surprise from Disney.  I don't think it is what I would traditionally have assumed were 'Disney values'.  Nevertheless, it was of a consistent quality.

Rick and Morty...  I finally caught up with series 3 and then rewatched the first two.  It was still good, but maybe not as good.  I don't get why Pickle Rick became a thing.  The episode was fine, but it wasn't the best.  The standout episode for me was probably "The Ricklantis Mixup" with the focus on the Citadel.

Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex.  I just really like watching this and it's been long enough since the last time I watched it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 30 January, 2018, 09:39:36 AM
I've read quite a bit of positive stuff concerning Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. I've yet to see any of it, but I'd like to sometime.

I quite liked the first animated film of Ghost in the Shell. I found the sequel rather pretentious and boring however. I'm curious what the series will be like with its episodic format.

At the moment, aside from Star Trel Discovery (which has its own thread) I'm watching A Korean Odyssey and I've just started Black Lightning. Im only 2 or 3episodes into the former. It's a curious mix of supernatural horror and romantic comedy. Some of the ghost stuff is genuinely creepy featuring as it has, so far, the classic grey faced crawling girl with hair over her face* and possessed freaky looking dolls. On the fantasy side it borrows elements from the Chinese tale Journey to the West too. The outcome is certainly quirky and rather original (to me anyway). I think I rather like it, but i do find it rather corny and the humour a bit too OTT at times, but I'll stick with it for now. I seem to prefer the spooky mysterious stuff to Sun Wu Kong (Monkey) driving off ghostbuster style ghosts by punching the ground in a melodramatic way. [spoiler] I hope the main character shakes off the whole damsel in distress thing soon. She seems to alternate between self sufficiency and victim rather too much, but it's still early yet.[\spoiler]

Black Lightning: I enjoyed the first episode (although it's a bit cliche) but it's early days yet.




*Obviously a homage to Japanese horror like The Ring films. [spoiler]Here it ends up subverted for a bit of comedy as the initial spectre is actually rather scary.... "oh no! Ehy do you have your hair like that!" Says the terrified main character as the ghost bears down on her....then in the next scene she has the ghost girl sitting in a chair with her hair in pigtails with bright pink ribbons .  :lol: [/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 30 January, 2018, 04:08:48 PM
I had a look at Black Lightning, but the Valley girl daughter was doing my head in... talk about entitled  :-X
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 30 January, 2018, 05:10:34 PM
Two episodes in and I'm pretty sure Black Lightning is utter trash.
Like other CW shows, it struggles to differentiate between diversity and exploitation, with some offensively bad stereotypes existing alongside offensively dated storytelling choices - but as with other CW shows, once you just accept them as the exploitative LCD horseshit they are, you'll enjoy them much more.  The name Greg Berlanti in the credits also gives me hope that while it's exploitative, it remains possible that it might correct its mistakes as it goes.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Batman's Superior Cousin on 30 January, 2018, 05:39:30 PM
Currently Watching

Hunted (Season Three) on Channel 4
Lethal Weapon (Season Two) on ITV 1
Wartime Crime (miniseries) on Yesterday

Currently Looking Forward to

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Season Five) on Channel 4
American Crime Story (Season Two) on BBC 2
Endeavour (Season Five) on ITV 1
The X-Files (Season Eleven) on Channel 5
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Batman's Superior Cousin on 30 January, 2018, 07:31:50 PM
Forgot to add Star Trek Discovery (Season One) on Netflix
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 30 January, 2018, 09:42:50 PM
Watching SyFy's horror series Channel Zero. I think I prefer this to American Horror Story by about a 1000X though the budget is probably smaller by that factor. By no means without flaws, the ideas and the sense of unreality throughout more than make up for the missteps in continuity and logic at times. Season 1, 'Candle Cove', felt like two good ideas for a season mixed poorly into one by the final 'reveal' but the journey was slow, scratchy and sinister. Stepping further away from the original idea of a kid's show that everyone of a certain age in a certain place remembers but never aired (other than on static that said kids watched whilst parents marvelled at their imagination) was a mistake in my book.

Season 2, 'No End House', is so far (50% of way in) more akin to American Horror Story in its conceit of a mysterious 'haunted house' that leads through the Scary Door, but it's an interesting idea and again delivering a decently spooky sense of struggling through a broken reality.

Hadn't really heard much about the series so figure it hasn't done well, but I'd recommend it. Like I say, beats the #1 'Horror show' in my books.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 03 February, 2018, 11:17:56 PM
Dark/Dunkel.  Four episodes into this German Netflix series - three of them in a single sitting - and I am utterly obsessed.  The Killing meets Lost meets Edge of Darkness meets Stranger Things, but not really like any of them.  Hope it continues to be this good,  and has an actual resolution,  but so far,  as episodic mystery/supernatural/pastoral noir TV it is as gripping as anything I've ever watched.

Damn, it's good.

(Although it does leave me wondering about how the police actually operate in Germany - some very odd things going on). 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 04 February, 2018, 01:48:31 PM
Well another fine season finale for THE GOOD PLACE (Or me anyway). Very pleasantly surprised with how they find new directions for this show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 04 February, 2018, 08:04:36 PM
The Good Place

Love it and [spoiler]didn't expect that twist, the best twist in long time![/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 05 February, 2018, 12:26:44 PM
My GAME OF THRONES rewatch has reached the end of Season 6. I know Battle of the Bastards gets all the plaudits but the resolution of the High Sparrow/FAITH Militant storyline was also a cracking but of suspense led television that didn't forget to include character moments.

I also particularly liked the parallels of the faceless men asking Arya to renounce everything in the same way High Sparrow was asking Marjorie and Loris and Cersei to renounce everything.

And little Lyra Mormont is brilliant.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 09 February, 2018, 05:54:56 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 03 February, 2018, 11:17:56 PM
Dark/Dunkel.  Four episodes into this German Netflix series - three of them in a single sitting - and I am utterly obsessed.  The Killing meets Lost meets Edge of Darkness meets Stranger Things, but not really like any of them.  Hope it continues to be this good,  and has an actual resolution,  but so far,  as episodic mystery/supernatural/pastoral noir TV it is as gripping as anything I've ever watched.

Damn, it's good.

(Although it does leave me wondering about how the police actually operate in Germany - some very odd things going on).

Finished this last night,  absolutely terrific SF telly, Twin Peaks played completely straight.   Self-contained enough to be satisfying in 10 episodes, but crying out for a second season all the same.  Woke my missus at 3am to tell her that I just realised where the Stranger got the Caesium, and she didn't mind... It's that good a nested mystery. Unreservedly recommended,  although one scene of adult-on-child violence may not be for the squeamish.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 11 February, 2018, 10:01:13 PM
Godless. Fucking Godless, man!

I'll admit I'm a sucker for a western, but this may actually be my favourite western since Unforgiven. So much stuff I could go on about, but... just bloody watch it. Some people might tell you the pacing is slow, but they're wrong: the pacing is JUST PERFECT.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 14 February, 2018, 06:29:29 PM
The Good Place.

Not even through season 1 yet but I love it so much already.

I would describe it as the charm and wit of Parks and Rec meets the high concept insanity of Rick and Morty.

Forking great.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 14 February, 2018, 06:32:51 PM
 Not even through the Season 1 of The Good Place! You lucky man! :) :) :)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JamesC on 14 February, 2018, 06:51:10 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 11 February, 2018, 10:01:13 PM
Godless. Fucking Godless, man!

I'll admit I'm a sucker for a western, but this may actually be my favourite western since Unforgiven. So much stuff I could go on about, but... just bloody watch it. Some people might tell you the pacing is slow, but they're wrong: the pacing is JUST PERFECT.


I just came on here to say "watch Godless". So yeah, follow this advice, it's very good.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 14 February, 2018, 07:08:32 PM
Quote from: JamesC on 14 February, 2018, 06:51:10 PM

"watch Godless"


Watched it.

Loved it.

Recommend it.

The Good Place too.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 14 February, 2018, 07:11:40 PM
FARGO season 3 just completed. Brilliant stuff. Dean's accent wavers but his performance(s) were spot on. As were Carrie Coon and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. And David Thewliss is a brilliantly repulsive villain in every physical to and ideology spouted.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 14 February, 2018, 07:27:23 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 14 February, 2018, 07:11:40 PM
FARGO season 3 just completed. Brilliant stuff. Dean's accent wavers but his performance(s) were spot on. As were Carrie Coon and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. And David Thewliss is a brilliantly repulsive villain in every physical to and ideology spouted.

I'll second this recommendation. I loved it. Very happy to learn that they haven't ruled out a Season 4.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 14 February, 2018, 07:37:40 PM
Dean = Ewan.

Ducking autocorrect!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 14 February, 2018, 07:51:25 PM
Quote from: JamesC on 14 February, 2018, 06:51:10 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 11 February, 2018, 10:01:13 PM
Godless. Fucking Godless, man!

I'll admit I'm a sucker for a western, but this may actually be my favourite western since Unforgiven. So much stuff I could go on about, but... just bloody watch it. Some people might tell you the pacing is slow, but they're wrong: the pacing is JUST PERFECT.


I just came on here to say "watch Godless". So yeah, follow this advice, it's very good.

Took Jim's advice,  just one episode in and very enjoyable. I did feel Serenity could have landed at any point in the first half hour and I wouldn't have blinked,  but that's hardly a complaint.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 14 February, 2018, 08:13:37 PM
Never heard of Godless until now - added to the list.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 14 February, 2018, 10:08:01 PM
Quote from: radiator on 14 February, 2018, 08:13:37 PM
Never heard of Godless until now - added to the list.

Likewise.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 14 February, 2018, 10:24:43 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 14 February, 2018, 07:51:25 PM
I did feel Serenity could have landed at any point in the first half hour and I wouldn't have blinked,  but that's hardly a complaint.

Pretty sure it's the music. Made me think wistfully of Firefly every time.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 15 February, 2018, 01:36:07 AM
Two episodes in. Lots to love but especially the Ahab vibe from Frank (surely a nod to Once Upon A Time In The West) Griffin. And Sherriff Bill is a fabulous character!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ming on 15 February, 2018, 08:07:31 AM
Yeah, Godless is great fun (and I do love a slow burn).  There's some basis in fact for the town-populated-solely-by-women-after-menfolk-all-killed-in-the-mine thing - somewhere in Utah, where it lasted a couple of years, I think.

We've just started a Firefly re-watch :lol:
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 15 February, 2018, 08:30:00 AM
Quote from: radiator on 14 February, 2018, 06:29:29 PM
The Good Place.

Not even through season 1 yet but I love it so much already.

I would describe it as the charm and wit of Parks and Rec meets the high concept insanity of Rick and Morty.

Forking great.

Loving this too, only a few episodes into season 1 but every time we've got a spare 20 minutes it goes on, which is the slot Parks & Rec, 30 Rock and Brooklyn 99 usually occupy for us. Easy to digest and fabulously more-ish. Everyone in it is fantastic too.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Daveycandlish on 15 February, 2018, 09:43:15 AM
Wife bought me the Hammer House of Horror tv series box set from the 80s.
The one with the hitcher in the rain has stayed with me for decades.
She's a canny lass,  really.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CalHab on 15 February, 2018, 11:51:34 AM
Three episodes into Altered Carbon and it's enjoyable so far. I read the book a few years ago and would probably be totally confused if I hadn't. My wife gave up after the first episode.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Greg M. on 15 February, 2018, 11:52:23 AM
Quote from: Daveycandlish on 15 February, 2018, 09:43:15 AM
Wife bought me the Hammer House of Horror tv series box set from the 80s.

'Children of the Full Moon' was one of my favourites - my father had described it vividly to me as a child (I was werewolf-obsessed) and when I finally saw it, it turned out to be just as good as he'd made it sound. (Normally, my dad's versions were superior to the actual thing.) 'Guardian of the Abyss' is a good one too, with the mighty Paul Darrow hamming it up royally.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 15 February, 2018, 11:59:24 AM
Quote from: Daveycandlish on 15 February, 2018, 09:43:15 AM
Wife bought me the Hammer House of Horror tv series box set from the 80s.
The one with the hitcher in the rain has stayed with me for decades.
She's a canny lass,  really.

the plastic mac in the phonebox was the bit that stayed with me for some reason....  ;)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: James Stacey on 15 February, 2018, 12:59:57 PM
Godless is incredible. Watch Godless.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 15 February, 2018, 05:11:21 PM
Quote from: Keef Monkey on 15 February, 2018, 08:30:00 AM
Quote from: radiator on 14 February, 2018, 06:29:29 PM
The Good Place.

Not even through season 1 yet but I love it so much already.

I would describe it as the charm and wit of Parks and Rec meets the high concept insanity of Rick and Morty.

Forking great.

Loving this too, only a few episodes into season 1 but every time we've got a spare 20 minutes it goes on, which is the slot Parks & Rec, 30 Rock and Brooklyn 99 usually occupy for us. Easy to digest and fabulously more-ish. Everyone in it is fantastic too.

Yeah, the cast are all wonderful. Kristen Bell is hilarious and Ted Danson seems to be having a great time, but the standout is probably the actress who plays Janet, who basically steals every scene she's in.

Was surprised (and a little skeptical) to see Jameela Jamil who I vaguely remember as hosting T4 back in the day, but she's absolutely amazing in it too. Apparently she'd never acted before landing the role which is insane.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 16 February, 2018, 12:21:42 PM

The Good Place.
, but the standout is probably the actress who plays Janet, who basically steals every scene she's in.


Not an actress!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: IndigoPrime on 16 February, 2018, 04:19:00 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 14 February, 2018, 07:27:23 PMI'll second this recommendation. I loved it. Very happy to learn that they haven't ruled out a Season 4.
Although equally good to note it's a case of "only if the bloke who did the first three wants to and feels he has as sufficiently good idea".
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 16 February, 2018, 05:32:51 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 16 February, 2018, 12:21:42 PM

The Good Place.
, but the standout is probably the actress who plays Janet, who basically steals every scene she's in.

That honour surely goes to Derek.

I love that I think of Good and Bad Janets as entirely different people*. D'Arcy Carden does great work on Twitter too. 

E.g. https://mobile.twitter.com/DarcyCarden/status/963557836448874496

*not people.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: DaveGYNWA on 18 February, 2018, 10:00:09 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 16 February, 2018, 05:32:51 PM
That honour surely goes to Derek.

Well, I for one can no longer listen to wind chimes any more...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 19 February, 2018, 08:57:12 AM
Quote from: CalHab on 15 February, 2018, 11:51:34 AM
Three episodes into Altered Carbon and it's enjoyable so far. I read the book a few years ago and would probably be totally confused if I hadn't. My wife gave up after the first episode.

I saw the first episode of this. I liked the sci-for ideas, the tech and there's an interesting plot. That being said, I wasn't that taken by it. (I think it's something about the  unlikability of the main characters, and lot of cliche in the plot points and performances.)

I wasn't going to give up after just one episode though, and I'm encouraged you're  3 episodes in and liking it.

I continue to watch Black Lightning which (with some reservations) I quite like. And a Korean Odyssey, which is kinda cute and amusing (and I the ghosts are still fairly creepy and unsettling) but I'm finding the romantic plot rather repetitive and tiresome. It's not bad, but I think they could have done so much more with the premise, and toughened up the main female character, who still seems to spend most episodes as a damsel I'm distress. Maybe they'll do that in future, I'll stick with it for now.

[spoiler]There was some amusing macabre humour last episode with the zombie girl dropping her eyeball. Someone else picked it up for her, before realising what it actually was. [/spoiler] Heh heh....
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 19 February, 2018, 10:48:59 AM
Altered Carbon was alright, not sure how much someone who hadn't read the books will enjoy - lots of gaps papered over by my recall of the novel I think (though can't be sure). Takeshi Kovacs is a bit pants throughout as he mainly acts as a punching/stabbing/shooting/torture bag. And I doubt the Envoy/revolutionary past thing translated well, certainly a big weak point for me in the series. But violent and fun in a cyberpunk way for the most part
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 19 February, 2018, 12:03:44 PM
It took 3 or 4 episodes for Altered Carbon to really get its hooks in for me, but I've been blitzing through it ever since and really loving it.

I've never read the novels and the show does do a bit of a messy job of establishing a lot of things, it's about 7 episodes before you get I got a solid chunk of backstory and actually figured out what the whole envoy thing was all about and what the motivations of the different factions were and that kind of thing. All the sort of stuff that would ideally be laid out in the first episode I guess, but the style and swagger of the whole thing carried me through until I was properly engrossed.

It probably helps that I unashamedly love all things cyberpunk, it's just an aesthetic that pushes my happiness buttons really hard, and this has really clicked with me.

It also has one of the coolest, most badass uses of White Zombie I've seen, and the fact that in a show that I've heard people call a rip-off of Blade Runner, they've straight up used a track written about Blade Runner showed a nice bit of self-awareness that it knows exactly how heavily it wears its inspirations and is fine with that.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 20 February, 2018, 08:03:09 PM
AGENT CARTER has popped up on Netflix.

One episode in and it looks jolly good fun.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 20 February, 2018, 08:16:17 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 20 February, 2018, 08:03:09 PM
AGENT CARTER has popped up on Netflix.

One episode in and it looks jolly good fun.

Fantastic! I've been dying to watch this,  after only catching irregular snippets before.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 20 February, 2018, 08:48:11 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 20 February, 2018, 08:03:09 PM
AGENT CARTER has popped up on Netflix.

One episode in and it looks jolly good fun.

First series is excellent, second not quite so excellent but still very entertaining. Damn shame it got cancelled, because I'd have watched a third season like a shot.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 21 February, 2018, 08:37:30 AM
It's on Amazon Prime not Netflix. Sorry.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 21 February, 2018, 10:12:05 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 21 February, 2018, 08:37:30 AM
It's on Amazon Prime not Netflix. Sorry.

And there I was lamenting your extinction
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Satanist on 21 February, 2018, 02:08:08 PM
Thanks to all who shouted out on The Good Place. Its just what I needed and has been thoroughly binged. Where's season 3 then?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bolt-01 on 21 February, 2018, 02:23:52 PM
Another here who's just watched all of ALTERED CARBON. Thoroughly enjoyed it but i wonder if those without any knowledge of the book would be confused?

I must admit that I read the book a good while ago so I cannot say as to how much it was adjusted to suit the change to the visual medium (and I've just discovered there are more books so I'll be getting hold of them as and when...) and seeing as there are more books then I reckon its a safe bet we'll see a second season.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 22 February, 2018, 10:15:37 AM
The other books aren't as good as Altered Carbon but are enjoyable enough. They get a bit more space opera than straight cyberpunk, but it's cool.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 22 February, 2018, 10:28:43 AM
Up to the penultimate episode of Godless now, what a treat this is.  I'm not generally fussed about horses IRL (too much mucking-out as a boy, I suspect), but I have been blown away by the lavish and inventive ways they are filmed in this show: I feel I could watch Roy (and Frank) wrangle and ride them all day long. There are slo-mo sequences of spray-drenched river crossings the like of which I have never seen, herds being driven at the gallop, skyline silhouettes, and just plain ordinary grazing groups that grip me more than all the herd scenes in all the Jurassic Parks.  Boundless thanks to all those who recommended this, it's been like rediscovering  Champion the Wonder Horse, but with added implacable violence.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 22 February, 2018, 11:54:55 AM
I too am enjoying Godless, three episodes in. The horse fancying hasn't kicked in yet but now I'm forewarned.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 22 February, 2018, 05:13:03 PM
Finally got around to starting season 2 of Stranger Things.

ISTR this being quite well-received, but to me, 5 episodes in, I've got to say that so far it seems a little meandering and directionless and doesn't have the same sense of momentum that season 1 did. The writers seem to be contriving quite a lot of stuff for characters to do, eg all the flashback scenes with Hopper and Eleven - did we really need 25-30 minutes of screen time to show us what we could easily have put together ourselves from the establishing scene?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 22 February, 2018, 06:17:23 PM
Quote from: radiator on 22 February, 2018, 05:13:03 PMThe writers seem to be contriving quite a lot of stuff for characters to do, eg all the flashback scenes with Hopper and Eleven - did we really need 25-30 minutes of screen time to show us what we could easily have put together ourselves from the establishing scene?

I liked Season 2 a lot (not least for the wall-to-wall anachronistic Invisibles references), but this is an alarmingly good point.  I suppose the answer is that Hopper and Ele didn't really have any kind of relationship in Season 1, so for their conflict to have weight, we needed to see them growing together, rather than just take it as read. But there did seem to be an awful lot of domestic flashbacks.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 22 February, 2018, 07:13:52 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 22 February, 2018, 06:17:23 PM
Quote from: radiator on 22 February, 2018, 05:13:03 PMThe writers seem to be contriving quite a lot of stuff for characters to do, eg all the flashback scenes with Hopper and Eleven - did we really need 25-30 minutes of screen time to show us what we could easily have put together ourselves from the establishing scene?

I liked Season 2 a lot (not least for the wall-to-wall anachronistic Invisibles references), but this is an alarmingly good point.  I suppose the answer is that Hopper and Ele didn't really have any kind of relationship in Season 1, so for their conflict to have weight, we needed to see them growing together, rather than just take it as read. But there did seem to be an awful lot of domestic flashbacks.

As far as I remember, season 1 ended with Hopper leaving food for Eleven in the forest, so I didn't think the reveal of them living together in a cabin seemed like a stretch, or something that needed any explanation. It seemed like a perfectly logical progression given that a year has passed. I was a little dumbfounded that we then see everything laid out in multiple extended flashbacks when at a push a single line of dialogue would suffice. As nice as the scenes were in and of themselves, it feels a lot like wheel spinning.

I had some problems with the plotting of season 1, but it had a great sense of momentum that carried it through and helped me overlook those issues. Season 2 feels really fragmented so far - a bit like season 2 of Game of Thrones in some ways - and so those same faults (clunky plotting, awkward acting, slow pacing) are standing out a lot more.

I'm also finding Winona Ryder's character a bit of a 'Piper from Orange is the New Black' - ie ostensibly the lead (and the top billed actress) who is fast becoming dead weight.

I guess I'm not seeing much so far to dissuade me from the notion that Stranger Things should have been a self-contained miniseries.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 22 February, 2018, 08:15:31 PM
Quote from: radiator on 22 February, 2018, 07:13:52 PM
I guess I'm not seeing much so far to dissuade me from the notion that Stranger Things should have been a self-contained miniseries.

Which it was, really: it has an entirely satisfying conclusion, with no loose ends to speak of (apart from Barb).  There was no need for subsequent seasons, but I see it as an entertaining bonus to get to spend more time with the characters, or in Will's case, any time.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 22 February, 2018, 11:44:07 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 22 February, 2018, 08:15:31 PM
Quote from: radiator on 22 February, 2018, 07:13:52 PM
I guess I'm not seeing much so far to dissuade me from the notion that Stranger Things should have been a self-contained miniseries.

Which it was, really: it has an entirely satisfying conclusion, with no loose ends to speak of (apart from Barb).  There was no need for subsequent seasons, but I see it as an entertaining bonus to get to spend more time with the characters, or in Will's case, any time.

I said so at the time it aired, but I am 100% convinced that the first season was conceived and pitched as a standalone series with a definitive ending. As you say, it comes to a pretty satisfying conclusion, and what dangling threads there are seem like they were tagged on at the last minute.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 23 February, 2018, 11:02:33 AM
I was disappointed when they announced a second season, because even the dangling threads just felt like the kind of dangling threads you get at the end of any standalone eighties horror film. I didn't feel any need to see them resolved (in fact they're arguably more effective left alone), and I'd enjoyed the first season so much that I just wanted it to stand on its own. I thought at the time that maybe an anthology series might be a more interesting way of keeping the brand going, and I think I might even have heard that was the idea at one point. Those S1 characters must have just proved way too popular to move on from I suppose.

All of that being said, I did really enjoy season 2. Not as much as the first, but I can't say I felt it was a worse in any significant way, just a bit less of a fresh surprise. There's some great stuff in it (Hooper and Eleven carried the whole thing for me, and the fact that the school bully looks like Rab Florence kept giving me a chuckle) and some lovely soundtrack moments. I hadn't heard 'Runaway' by Bon Jovi since childhood so that was a joy, and I really liked when at one point they acknowledged how much of a debt the score owes to John Carpenter by just plain using John Carpenter score (it was Bank Robbery from EFNY if I remember correctly).

So I liked it, but also agree with a lot of the criticisms I've heard of it. Can't say I'd be clamoring for a season 3, would be nice if great things could just be left to be great cool things that happened instead of being dragged out.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 23 February, 2018, 05:14:10 PM
The episode where [spoiler]Eleven joins a gang[/spoiler] is just plain weird, and not helped by some really painfully ropey acting by the girl that plays [spoiler]Eight[/spoiler]. Ouch!

Overall I thought it was a very patchy season. The various plot threads and characters being so dispersed gave it a very loose, disconnected feeling, and it didn't have the same feeling of stakes that season 1 did. In some ways it felt a lot smaller and less urgent.

It also beats me why you'd choose to introduce a host of new characters to a series that arguably already has far too many of them. [spoiler]Bob [/spoiler]in particular was a totally useless character. I kept expecting some sort of twist relating to him, but nope -[spoiler] he's just there as cannon fodder[/spoiler] to artificially raise the stakes, and - I suppose - give Joyce something (anything) to do other than endlessly screaming about "my son!".

As for where it goes from here, it's hard to imagine much they can do with this premise and these characters in this setting other than yet more wheel spinning.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JOE SOAP on 23 February, 2018, 08:41:20 PM
Quote from: radiator on 22 February, 2018, 11:44:07 PM
I said so at the time it aired, but I am 100% convinced that the first season was conceived and pitched as a standalone series with a definitive ending. As you say, it comes to a pretty satisfying conclusion, and what dangling threads there are seem like they were tagged on at the last minute.

It's both: since ST was basically conceived as an IT clone – and this being serial TV – it has the built-in open-endedness of being continued, if successful, but also works as a stand-alone without the need to shoot a wrap-up season if the reception happened to turn out less than great. I can see them leaving the cliff-hanger in anyway because it's another 80s throwback.

This is the final page of the original pitch/bible when the series was called Montauk:

(https://i.imgur.com/TfBBAlo.png)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 23 February, 2018, 08:52:43 PM
Been resisting the urge for months but finally gave in - just started another re-watch of Babylon 5.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Greg M. on 23 February, 2018, 09:59:01 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 23 February, 2018, 08:52:43 PM
Been resisting the urge for months but finally gave in - just started another re-watch of Babylon 5.

I just did from the middle of Season 3 to just after the end of the Shadow War - I only intended to watch Messages from Earth, but I got caught up in it all again. (I did Z'ha'dum twice in a row, once with the commentary.) That stretch really is the show's imperial phase.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 23 February, 2018, 10:10:33 PM
I keep expecting the first few episodes to be rubbish but they're not. Knowing what's to come is half the pleasure. I really hope they don't re-boot it. Updating the effects shots might work, like they did with ST:TOS, but it really doesn't need such faffing about. I still think it's the closest thing to a perfect sci-fi show that I've ever seen, or am ever likely to see.

Looking forward to being moved by Londo and G'Kar again!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Greg M. on 23 February, 2018, 10:18:03 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 23 February, 2018, 10:10:33 PM
I keep expecting the first few episodes to be rubbish but they're not. Knowing what's to come is half the pleasure.

The start and the end (especially the end) of Season 1 are largely all right - it's the middle of the season when it starts to get a bit gruelling. The episodes clustered around the exemplary Signs and Portents are the weakest.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 23 February, 2018, 10:28:13 PM
I can agree with that - I still think it has a higher "hit rate" than any other show, though - including all the Star Treks.

My least favourite episode is Grey 17 is Missing, but even this has its moments.

The show is so well written - I quote it often in RL. One of my favourites is, "what do you want, you moon-faced assassin of joy?" Classic!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 24 February, 2018, 09:56:50 AM
I'd go with that.  There are probably only about 4 or 5 episodes in the entire series that I don't tend to bother with.  Grey 17, as you say.  The episode with the kid who needs the operation but his parents are 'religious fanatics' is another.  Season 5 is probably the weakest but mainly because they got screwed around in season 4 and were convinced that they needed to wrap it up. 

Never really saw Legend of the Rangers but Crusade had its moments as well.  The movies tend to be a little hit and miss though.  My biggest bug bear on the DVD release has always been that they remastered the music for the pilot from the VHS release.  Maybe its nostalgia but I always felt it worked better.  (Bit like Legend which doesn't really work for me without the Tangerine Dream soundtrack).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Greg M. on 24 February, 2018, 11:36:55 AM
I quite like Grey 17 - the Robert Englund bits are fairly rubbish, but the b-plot with Marcus and Neroon is great. The one episode I've always had problems with is A Spider in the Web from Season 2 - it sets up something that goes absolutely nowhere (well, maybe to Divided Loyalties if you squint) and Sheridan's characterisation seems a bit off.

For the record, I think the first couple of episodes of Season 5 are great, as is the second half - the big problem is the interminable telepath colony story from the front half of the season. Would have been a brilliant story for Ivanova (Byron as Marcus substitute, chance to really get into her latent telepathic abilities, plus she'd have been captain at the time) but for Lyta, it just doesn't work in the same way.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 24 February, 2018, 12:29:07 PM
I quite like the episode with the child needing an operation because it speaks to my personal opinions on faith and reason and the dangers and limitations of both. But that's just me :)

I agree that the S5 telepath story is a bit of a dead fish as it is but was maybe a set-up for the Telepath War story that never happened. It probably doesn't work so well because of the cock-up of Season 4's forced wrap-up - although this did give us one of my favourite episodes, The Deconstruction of Falling Stars.

I can't really bring A Spider in the Web to mind but a quick Google jogged my memory a bit. I generally ascribe B5 stories that don't seem to go anywhere as the results of Shadow influence in which the Shadows themselves have no specific interest or involvement. "It was the Shadows" is always a good excuse!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 24 February, 2018, 02:09:51 PM
Quote from: Tjm86 on 24 February, 2018, 09:56:50 AMNever really saw Legend of the Rangers

Literally the first video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWtuKm6C1Sw) that comes up when you do a Google or Youtube search for "Legend Of The Rangers."
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 24 February, 2018, 02:50:21 PM
You know, that was a little vague.  I meant, I've never seen it.  Aware of it.  Thought about it a few times.  Not that easy to track down a DVD copy.  I think it was only included with the box set in the end.  Since it only ever got to the pilot stage I've wondered if it was worth the effort.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Greg M. on 24 February, 2018, 03:00:06 PM
I quite liked Legend of the Rangers - certainly more than most of the other 'movies', though it's been ages since I've watched it. The introduction of new baddies The Hand promised to restore some of the 'dark, ominous, ultra-powerful alien threat' vibe that was lost after the end of the Shadow War. Shame it never went anywhere.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 24 February, 2018, 04:09:18 PM
Okay, might be worth a gander then.  Thanks for that.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 26 February, 2018, 06:47:43 PM
Is Walking Dead Season 8 any good? Or should I just wait a year or two for it to turn up on Amazon? Hard to believe Season 7 was the same programme as Season 4's The Grove.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 28 February, 2018, 10:09:00 PM
So breezed through Season 1 of AGENT CARTER at a very pleasant lick. Cracking stuff with the tone being spot on for mixing drama, suspense, action, comedy and references to topics of the day. Charming leads in Hayley Atwell and James "I'll never play a binman" D'Arcy.

Season Two is moving even more briskly along; it's like ROCKETEER: The TV series.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 28 February, 2018, 10:09:43 PM
Oh and Dominic Cooper is a hoot!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 01 March, 2018, 07:57:46 PM
Plowed through Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

Some pleasantly dark stuff (both body horror and mundane horror of war and murder), a cool system of magic, awesome fight scenes, and an interesting central concept more than conquered Anime shouting syndrome (mainly from Ed, really). Great series and first anime I've watched all the way through that wasn't a Ghibli movie in a long, long time.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 01 March, 2018, 10:29:55 PM
Binge watched season four of The 100 and it gets a bit silly, and that's by this show's standards.
Luckily, its ridiculousness is by now is a force unto itself to the point I never even noticed the transition from YA dystopian sci-fi to feudalist fantasy happening somewhere in seasons 2 and 3 until it was a done deal, but now it's basically Game Of Thrones if that was made for T4 instead of HBO, complete with Hollyoaks actors, a number of bottle blonde women in tight tank tops that seems somewhat unlikely for a post-apocalyptic Earth, and a cast of characters that are essentially children who fuck at the drop of a hat and stab each other on a regular basis with knives as well as their winky.  You can see the reversals of fortune coming a mile off, but at some point the writers just start taking the piss, with episodes ending with the A story having loads of characters barely escape horrible deaths via some last-minute deal with the devil and then they all but look into the screen and say "I SURE HOPE NOTHING HAPPENS TO THAT THING WE JUST PROMISED TO GIVE TO THAT ARMY OF CANNIBALS" and then it cuts to the B story where aforesaid thing is being smashed with a hammer, shot with arrows, set on fire, or exploded.
Now I am probably making this sound like utter nonsense, but in its defense it absolutely is and there's no point looking for deeper meaning or complex story arcs that play out across the season, as this is brain-dead telly for when you want to turn your head off for an hour, but it rattles along at a good pace and the inevitable race against the clock at the end of the season is well tense, and actually delivers on the early episodes' promise from doom-mongering characters that Something Badder Than Anything We've Seen Before™ is on the way: for once, boy is it ever.
If we still lived in a world where people had guilty pleasures - like if we were actually ashamed to be watching cartoons for children about magic ponies despite being grown fucking men - then this would be one of mine, but I genuinely enjoyed this utter, utter hokum far more than I did Star Trek Discovery.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 02 March, 2018, 07:34:16 AM
That perfectly sums up my experience with The 100.  Disengage brain and just enjoy.  Each season seems to have one more threat that will wipe all of them out and season 4's was just downright bonkers (wouldn't all of those reactors have been destroyed in the original war?).  As you say, worth a binge watch and better than a lot of garbage that fold are raving about.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 05 March, 2018, 02:13:40 PM
Godless - wow, that was one of best TV western series in long time, so brutal and enjoyable. Jeff Daniels always brilliant in any of his roles and think this is one of his best roles.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 05 March, 2018, 06:45:49 PM
Quote from: Goaty on 05 March, 2018, 02:13:40 PM
Godless - wow, that was one of best TV western series in long time, so brutal and enjoyable. Jeff Daniels always brilliant in any of his roles and think this is one of his best roles.

Hard to believe it [spoiler]had a largely happy ending, unless you were in any way associated with Blackdom. I was expecting pretty much everyone to die, but I wasn't sorry when they didn't. [/spoiler] Just fabulous stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Goaty on 07 March, 2018, 06:04:50 PM
Re-watching first season of Netflix's Jessica Jones. That was really so great! So powerful evil villain! So 2nd season would start tomorrow, don't know how it would better than that!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 07 March, 2018, 08:44:46 PM
Marvellous Mrs Maisle
Thematically and stylistically about as far as you can get from GODLESS but just as good. A real nice break from cop, law and medical drama, it's chatting the journey of a 50s housewife breaking into stand-up comedy. The dialogue zings, the leads are fantastic And, do I believe my eyes?, Kevin Pollack is actually good in a supporting role.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 07 March, 2018, 10:13:58 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 07 March, 2018, 08:44:46 PM
Marvellous Mrs Maisle
Thematically and stylistically about as far as you can get from GODLESS but just as good. A real nice break from cop, law and medical drama, it's chatting the journey of a 50s housewife breaking into stand-up comedy. The dialogue zings, the leads are fantastic And, do I believe my eyes?, Kevin Pollack is actually good in a supporting role.

There's a wonderful scene that takes place about half way through the series in which Midge announces her new job at the department store, and her father Abe's resulting reaction of disbelief. It's done in a fairly low-key way, but there's something about that scene, and Abe's increasingly exasperated utterances of 'OK!' as Midge shoots down each and every concern he has (and the perfect comedic timing with which he keeps leaving, then re-entering, the room to voice another) that made us laugh like drains and rewatch the entire scene over again multiple times. It's got to the point now that we often quote his delivery of 'OK!' during everyday conversation.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 08 March, 2018, 08:57:34 AM
He is brilliant. About the only reason I didn't  call him out is that Tony Shalhoub often is.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: DrRocka on 08 March, 2018, 05:02:53 PM
Another big +1 for Godless over here, just finished the last episode.
Blimey! Best western since Open Range. Absolutely fantastic. Wanna watch it all over again now, but Jessica Jones season 2 beckons....
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 29 March, 2018, 02:41:08 PM
Jessica Jones season 2 - thank fuck that's over, and I say that as someone who has happily sat through every Netflix Marvel show so far, even Iron Fist and The Punisher.  "You have a criticism of Jessica Jones but you did not voice this criticism in relation to another show with a male lead so you must be motivated by sexism" is a common observation I see made in defense of this snooze marathon and I can't be bothered addressing it because if you watch a show where an objectively unlikeable character has a voiceover where they say gritty lines like "whoever said you can have your cake and eat it never had a cake that could kill you" and you think the only criticisms center on the presence or not of one or other set of genitalia, then you're an eedjit and I have even less time for you than I have for this load of turgid, boring, derivative wank.
About the only good thing about the show I can think to say is that I am genuinely uncertain if the lead is a bad actor or not because I can't in good conscience argue that anyone else could have made something out of the one-note wangst of the scripts that often border on parody.

The Last Ship season 4 or was it season 5?  I dunno - the one where Robocop is an evil plant scientist with an imaginary son.  Unusually for something with Michael Bay's name on it, this is utter horseshite, though it does at least remember this season that this show with the word "ship" in the title features a ship, and so has some actual naval warfare in it to break up the monotony of the mandated weekly game of Soldiers that passes for an action scene in most episodes, and to be fair the navel stuff is pretty engagingly staged and performed despite some glaringly obvious CGI.  I am on the fence about the use of coincidence in the scripts, because you are asked to swallow some absolute whoppers across ten episodes, including at least two separate instances of the fate of the world hinging on someone running into somebody they know completely out of the blue, and I'm definately not sure about the plot line about the lady wanting revenge on the captain because his dick sent her crazy.
Complete toss, though not as much of a slog as Jessica Jones was.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 29 March, 2018, 03:06:16 PM
"objectively unlikeable character" is another observation that I've seen, and it's equally bollocks. I find JJ very likeable, I love her dry gallows humour and no-bullshit attitude, so it's subjective at best. Only just started season 2, so I'll withold judgement (although 15 mins in I thought "hell, this is just retreading old ground - the junkie neighbour, spying on Luke, beating up stroppy clients" .... and then I realised I was watching S1:1 again  :-\
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Pyroxian on 29 March, 2018, 03:15:07 PM
I enjoyed S2 of JJ - watched it over the course of two days. I don't find JJ unlikeable, but there are characters in that series I prefer (Patsy, Hogarth). I loved the way that S2 just completely interweaves multiple characters stories and I'm really looking forward to what S3 will bring ([spoiler]Hellcat![/spoiler])
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 29 March, 2018, 03:57:17 PM
The Last Ship jumped the shark a loooong time ago.  It started out as a vaguely interesting, albeit commonly used, plague story.  Since the start though it has gone from scatty to outright garbage.  It's one of those mysteries that crap like this keeps getting renewed yet Firefly didn't even last a single full series.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 29 March, 2018, 07:22:43 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 29 March, 2018, 03:06:16 PM"objectively unlikeable character" is another observation that I've seen, and it's equally bollocks.

This is literally the point of her character.
It's even stated as outright fact in one of the show's many ham-fisted moments by JJ's own mother when she draws direct comparisons between JJ pre and post-Killgrave trauma - JJ's personality is not a result of PTSD (she is shown to be just as big an arsehole in the flashback episode), she's made herself deliberately unlikable to keep people away, which in turn feeds her self-loathing because it makes her as big an arsehole as her mum.
This is all basic amdram stuff, and quite frnakly it strikes me as a little... sexist that a female character isn't allowed to be unlikable but a male character is.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 29 March, 2018, 10:25:47 PM
I get the feeling that most people who say it tend to mean "I find her unlikeable" rather than "she's a character who, in the context of the narrative, pushes people away by deliberately being unlikeable", but I take your point. Hundreds of lead characters are unlikeable, and deliberately so, but that doesn't affect whether the show is any good - and you're right, in a male lead it's never commented on.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 29 March, 2018, 10:38:57 PM
Hmmmm.  Currently working our way through Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and the lead there must be the most unlikeable central character since Anakin Skywalker.  In the episode we watched tonight, a truly skin-crawling minor character (Trent) re-appears, and acts exactly like a male version of Rachel Bloom's vile Rebecca, and everybody reacts to him pretty much as they react to her.  I think Jessica Jones is largely unlikeable too (haven't watched Season 2), but I think its's just as intentional, and worthy of comment. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 29 March, 2018, 11:20:05 PM
I just finished off JJS2 and I enjoyed that far, far more than the first season. Or any of what I saw in Defenders. I guess just because she was less of a complete brat - less hypocritical in her 'no bullshit' attitude when previously she was really all kinds of bullshit herself. So glad that we saw a little Hellcat after all that though.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JOE SOAP on 29 March, 2018, 11:30:49 PM
There's unlikeable coupled with unwatchable and unlikeable yet compelling – or at least entertaining.

The film Nightcrawler has a much noted, unlikeable and completely unchangeable character, but he's utterly compelling throughout. Margot Robbie as Tonya Harding is unlikeable. It's not a negative selling point of I, Tonya, but rather a plus.

One of the most apparent criticisms of Blade Runner –both current and past– is that Harrison Ford's Rick Deckard is too unlikeable a character to care for or be interested in.

If you find a character's both unlikeable and unwatchable then as the Prof. implies, maybe it's just bad or repulsive characterisation, or it's just a boring story.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 29 March, 2018, 11:46:23 PM
I do think that neither series of JJ has had a particularly great storyline. It's the other side of binge watching, where you mainly carry on watching because it's all there rather than because you need to watch that next episode. Mind you that said Killgrave remains the best villain in any Marvel TV/Cinematic property.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JOE SOAP on 29 March, 2018, 11:52:47 PM


13 episodes is twice as long as the Marvel shows should be.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 30 March, 2018, 08:11:01 AM
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 29 March, 2018, 11:46:23 PM
I do think that neither series of JJ has had a particularly great storyline. It's the other side of binge watching, where you mainly carry on watching because it's all there rather than because you need to watch that next episode. Mind you that said Killgrave remains the best villain in any Marvel TV/Cinematic property.

I think you might be right, although I think Daredevil's kingpin might be a contender but in a Gerry different way.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 30 March, 2018, 10:02:58 AM
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 29 March, 2018, 11:52:47 PM


13 episodes is twice as long as the Marvel shows should be.

I've found this to be my main criticism of each one I've watched, it's just too long a season for things not to sag in places. Currently a few episodes into The Punisher and really enjoying it though, while still anticipating that inevitable slump somewhere around the corner.

I find JJ very likeable, and I thought they did a really good job of framing why she behaves the way she does, without necessarily banging you over the head with it. The characterization is there in the glimpses you get of her previous life and in her relationships with people from before she adopted the distancing tactic. I actually found the hints at what her life would have been if she hadn't been through what she did was one of the strongest aspects of the show and really made me feel for her.

So I like her!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 30 March, 2018, 12:50:39 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 30 March, 2018, 08:11:01 AM
Gerry different way

Still the best Rogue Trooper writer.


Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 30 March, 2018, 01:05:11 PM
Conan, aka Conan The Adventurer, the 1997-98 tv series made off the back of Hercules and Xena's success in bringing shoestring fantasy knockabouts to a higher level of tv prominence than they deserved.  I'd heard this was terrible, and it is, with really bad CGI, an evil sorcerer who seems to have been spliced in from elsewhere to provide bookends for the A story ala 7 Zark 7 from Battle of the Planets, poor action staging, and a limited range of shooting locations that really becomes apparent when they use CGI desert backgrounds instead of just shooting at a beach behind a sand dune or something.  They don't even rent out quarries to shoot stuff, so that tells you the kind of budget we're talking about here - at one point they even have an establishing shot that looks like it was rendered in whatever the 1990s equivalent of Sketchup was, and we're talking about an establishing shot of a cottage: they literally couldn't afford a stock shot of a house.
Ralf Moeller is a very bad actor, but somehow he is also a very good Conan - the way he lumbers around delivering simplistic codas in mangled English is often hilarious to behold, and that bit in the opening credits where he does a jump into a river that looks like a crash text mannequin being tossed off a building is a great way to start every single episode, but somehow he just looks and acts the part and is exactly what I would expect Conan to be like, even if he's maybe a little long in the tooth.  Jason Momoa was a terrible Conan, but a better actor than Moeller, so there's probably some kind of lesson in here somewhere about finding your level of bullshit and sticking to it.  The rest of the cast are just plain terrible, including possibly the worst version of Red Sonia ever committed to film, and yes, I have seen the 1980s Red Sonia film.
Aptly for a show that shares its title with a children's cartoon, Conan has a sort of quest arc to vanquish an evil wizard, as well as a magic sword that at one point he holds aloft to be struck by lightning ala He-Man, and most episodes revolve around a really cliched tv plot (transporting a spoiled bride-to-be, defending a newborn child who is The Chosen One, an imposter ruining the hero's good name, etc) rather than plundering REH's Conan lore, which is just baffling as this is a property that surely comes with a built-in rationale for plundering the many Conan prose stories?
I'd say don't bother with this, but I actively sought it out because of morbid curiosity, so... meh.  Watch it or don't, but it's the opinion of this veteran shitty tv show watcher and enjoyer-er that this is devoid of any objective merit apart from Moeller's performance as Conan.  Might be good if you watch tv while doing other things, I guess.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JOE SOAP on 30 March, 2018, 04:11:03 PM

You left out the most interesting trivia.

(https://i.imgur.com/uyyavz1.png)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 30 March, 2018, 04:58:18 PM
Quote from: Frank on 30 March, 2018, 12:50:39 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 30 March, 2018, 08:11:01 AM
Gerry different way

Still the best Rogue Trooper writer.

Ha!

I missed that. And I'm glad I did for that gloriously puntastic gag!

I'm not being sarcastic, that really tickled my sense of humour.

Thanks.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JOE SOAP on 30 March, 2018, 05:28:22 PM
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 30 March, 2018, 04:11:03 PM

You left out the most interesting trivia.

(https://i.imgur.com/uyyavz1.png)


(https://scontent.fdub4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/29594436_1946221235708215_7936743482883596377_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=1b749a63e0ee087a64da6953ba966aa4&oe=5B692A4D)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Steve Green on 30 March, 2018, 05:36:15 PM
We should have a battle of the giant dead heads with Rich and Sky Captain's Larry Olivier.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 10 April, 2018, 08:16:33 PM
I finished Star Trek Discovery not too long ago.  I wasn't really expecting anything from it, but I had some people suggest I watch it to see what I think.  I was pleasantly surprised.  Although it is ropey and stupid in parts, it actually turned out to be entertaining as its own thing.  I am most pleased that they actually decided to do something different, even if it's not the non-star fleet oriented Star Trek story I long for.  It also looked great and I even ended up liking the Klingon redesign.

I'm looking forward to seeing if they can improve on what they've already got.  They did rap up a number of the more interesting elements of the show before the season finished, so it's hard to tell what might be in store.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: 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.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 16 April, 2018, 01:33:38 PM
5 Episodes in one go? Yes, The Terror is at the very least enjoyable and entertaining. Been a long while since me and the wife could sit through the same TV outside of the Daily Show and in this case, we binged a whole bunch.

Given that the crew of the Terror are stuck in one, horrible, crap place for over a year... the real horror isn't the thing hunting them. It's just how **** an existence that would be!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 16 April, 2018, 03:38:36 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 12 April, 2018, 09:44:53 PM
The Terror. ...

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, the book's at least 200 pages too long so it sounds like a faithful adaptation! There was some good stuff in there though, so maybe I'll give it a whirl at some point.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Enigmatic Dr X on 17 April, 2018, 12:05:05 AM
On the flip side, I've given up on Homeland, again.

Made it through seven or eight episodes of season one but, by Christ, nothing bloody happens. How this is still going is a mystery to me. Even if it improves ten-fold, it'd be coming from such a low bar that I can't be arsed with the time investment.

Also been enjoying Altered Carbon immensely.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 23 April, 2018, 11:49:14 PM
THE CITY AND THE CITY
Based on some China Meiville book or other, starring David Morrissey and available on iPlayer. It has something to say about how we are conditioned to ignore parts of the world in which we live but other than that the first episode didn't really grab me, everybody speaks in exposition and a couple of the supporting performances really grate  so I doubt I will be watching further.

More like THE SHITTY AND THE SHITTY.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 24 April, 2018, 05:50:22 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 23 April, 2018, 11:49:14 PM
THE CITY AND THE CITY
Based on some China Meiville book or other, starring David Morrissey and available on iPlayer. It has something to say about how we are conditioned to ignore parts of the world in which we live but other than that the first episode didn't really grab me, everybody speaks in exposition and a couple of the supporting performances really grate  so I doubt I will be watching further.

More like THE SHITTY AND THE SHITTY.

Of all of Mieville's books, this is the one that did almost nothing for me, although I know it's well-regarded.  I'm not suggesting that Embassytown or Pedidio Street Station would be easy (or cheap) things to film*, but without having seen it, it does seem a pity that this was the one they adapted.



*Although saying that, the BBC did a decent job of tackling The City of Gold & Lead back in 1985....
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 24 April, 2018, 10:07:18 AM
I really liked City & The City, but don't feel like the tv show (3 episodes in) did a good job of realising the concept. Which would be pretty bloody hard all round I reckon. But it's alright I think, don't find anything grating personally.


Kraken would've been the obvious choice to me though you'd have to be careful to not go all 90s Neverwhere.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: sheridan on 24 April, 2018, 12:11:04 PM
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 30 March, 2018, 04:11:03 PM

You left out the most interesting trivia.

(https://i.imgur.com/uyyavz1.png)

(https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_small/8/85763/2784804-burt1.jpg)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 24 April, 2018, 01:06:56 PM
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 24 April, 2018, 10:07:18 AM
Kraken would've been the obvious choice to me though you'd have to be careful to not go all 90s Neverwhere.

That would have been a serious risk alright.  I'm sure there's a PC Grant/Rivers of London series in pre-production out there somewhere too.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 24 April, 2018, 01:51:20 PM
Slowly working my way through Lost in Space.  Not sure yet but it's keeping me going so can't be all bad.  Started picking at Z Nation now that it is on Netflix.  It does seem to have the humour pitched about right so I'll give it that.  Otherwise it's pretty standard fare so I think one to dip in and out of depending on what else is on. 

I think I'm at the point where I'm trying to figure out why I'm still watching Designated Survivor.  It was always pushing it a bit in terms of credibility, what with a different 'crisis' every week to contend with.  Now though?  It has the same terrifyingly addictive quality as Britain's Got No Talent.  You know you're killing brain cells but you can't help yourself.  Mind you, it's still better than Eastenders (AKA the Samaritans Promotional Video).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bolt-01 on 24 April, 2018, 03:25:34 PM
Westworld is back.

I'm just at halfway in godless, too.

It's a grand time to be a fan of the Cowboy!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 24 April, 2018, 04:18:21 PM
Quote from: Tjm86 on 24 April, 2018, 01:51:20 PM
Slowly working my way through Lost in Space.  Not sure yet but it's keeping me going so can't be all bad.  Started picking at Z Nation now that it is on Netflix.  It does seem to have the humour pitched about right so I'll give it that.  Otherwise it's pretty standard fare so I think one to dip in and out of depending on what else is on. 

I think I'm at the point where I'm trying to figure out why I'm still watching Designated Survivor.  It was always pushing it a bit in terms of credibility, what with a different 'crisis' every week to contend with.  Now though?  It has the same terrifyingly addictive quality as Britain's Got No Talent.  You know you're killing brain cells but you can't help yourself.  Mind you, it's still better than Eastenders (AKA the Samaritans Promotional Video).

I really like Z Nation. It's the humour (and occasional craziness) which really sets it appart from the super serious Walking Dead. Not to knock the latter, as there's place for both shows and I like what I saw of the latter, although I am waaaay behind. (I'm on Netflix, not Amazon, although I'll probably return there at some point).

I've been watching a lot of Riverdale lately, and I appear to be up-to-date. I put it off as I thought 'another US show with cheerleaders and jocks in highschool.... and it is all that, but it's also so much more. It does get a bit cheesy on occasion (I wanted to bury my head during the Ronnie confirmation scene when she duets with that pussy cat girl.)but it's mostly very enjoyable stuff... and pretty dark in places. Not that it has to be dark to be enjoyable, but it's both, and there  is a bit of comedy too, which is a good thing in my opinion.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Pyroxian on 24 April, 2018, 04:49:49 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 24 April, 2018, 04:18:21 PM
I've been watching a lot of Riverdale lately, and I appear to be up-to-date. I put it off as I thought 'another US show with cheerleaders and jocks in highschool.... and it is all that, but it's also so much more. It does get a bit cheesy on occasion (I wanted to bury my head during the Ronnie confirmation scene when she duets with that pussy cat girl.)but it's mostly very enjoyable stuff... and pretty dark in places. Not that it has to be dark to be enjoyable, but it's both, and there  is a bit of comedy too, which is a good thing in my opinion.

I'm about 6 episodes into Season 2 of Riverdale now, and agree with the above, although I don't mind the cheese :)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 24 April, 2018, 04:58:03 PM
I got myself a cheap 2nd hand laptop just before Easter as watching computer telly was always a pain - phone's too small, sitting at my PC is uncomfortable, or had to wait till my flatmate didn't need either the big telly and his laptop. Now that I can watch in bed any time I have been massively bingeing on Netflix so I can finally weigh in on some of these.

In the last couple of weeks I've watched:

The Good Place (seasons one and two) - absolutely fantastic, although season 2 ended quite abruptly - felt like there was another episode coming. I wish I hadn't spoiled the big twists in season 1, but still enjoyed it immensely (now, where can I get myself a Janet?)

Rick'n'Morty, (3 seasons) - preaching to the converted here,  I don't need to tell you how good this is (I work with a guy who's just had a big Rick'n'Morty tattoo on his calf - weird)

Big Mouth, (1 season) Another adult 'toon about kids going through puberty accompanied by their own imaginary 'hormone monster' who give (usually bad) advice about pubes, masturbation, porn and self esteem. As one of the monsters says at the very end: "Okay, when you say it out loud, it sounds like kiddie porn, but maybe we could get away with it if it's animated?"

Star Trek Discovery,  Very enjoyable if you gloss over some gaping plot improbabilities. Still not sure quite what happened at the end - [spoiler]they went from blowing up Q'onos top all parting ways and ending the war, but I'm a bit hazy on the whys and hows.[/spoiler] Nice tee-up for S:2

Luke Cage, Iron Fist and the second season of Jessica Jones - I do like these Marvel series, even if they are a bit slow - there's about 9 episodes of plot stretched over 15 episodes and padded out with musical cameos and drawn out soft-porn sex scenes. I'm enjoying Iron Fist more than I expected, and Jessica Jones less - without a great villain like Killgrave,, the 2nd season is just a lot of unlikable characters arguing and lying to each other. We discussed 'unlikability' before - while JJ deliberately tries to make herself unlikable to push people away, I really do like her, it's all her friends I hate - Trish is such a spoiled whiner, and I don't think we're supposed to like Evil Lawyer lady. Speaking of which, how come every superhero in NY ends up meeting the same nurse and hiring the same lawyer? Watching 3 of these concurrently you do notice that the arcs follow very similar narratives - eg the mid season bit where [spoiler]the big baddie (cottonmouth/Harold) gets surprisingly killed by their closest family (Maria/Ward) who then become much eviller than they used to be.[/spoiler] Looking forward to Defenders and several more hours of enjoyable tosh.

Bojack Horseman (3 seasons out of 4 - trying to slow down to make it last now) - another awesome 'toon - I need more of these (tried a few eps of F is for Family, but it's vanilla shite compared to the others)

also watched about 20 episodes of Dr Who, Deadpool and several comedy specials.

On my watch-list is Altered carbon and Stranger Things - any other recommendations?

What I have learned from my Netflixothon -
-it is better to have a few series on the go and watch no more than none or two episodes of each per day - when I did the whole of S1 of Good place plus about 6 Dr Whos in one day, I ended up having disturbing dreams about Janet vs the Daleks
- I I hate that big banner ad
- if you're on a multi-person family contract, other people can watch as you and f*ck up your preferences - as I mentioned before, Netflix thinks I'm into Nazis!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Pyroxian on 24 April, 2018, 05:07:18 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 24 April, 2018, 04:58:03 PM
On my watch-list is Altered carbon and Stranger Things - any other recommendations?

The Expanse
Lost in Space
Black Lightning
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 24 April, 2018, 05:28:10 PM
Quote from: Pyroxian on 24 April, 2018, 05:07:18 PM
The Expanse
Lost in Space

Both of these. If you missed all the love for Godless a few pages back, stick that on the list, too.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 24 April, 2018, 07:35:53 PM
If you are baffled why you're still watching Designated Survivor - AKA Madame Secretary for (even bigger) idiots -  give For The People a go.  It is an appallingly bad legal procedural whose utter lack of originality and terrible scripting often make it indistinguishable from parody.

Black Lightning - as mentioned before, utter horseshit.  It follows the standard DC superhero show template of a superhero motivated by a story engine like guilt or revenge to do good things rather than actual altruism, but everyone around them says they're a good person anyway, and when they go out punching poor people and the mentally ill in the face, there's a scientist shouting at them over their bluetooth headset with helpful advice that would never occur to them like using their special power on the bad man until he falls over.
"Use your speed, Barry."
"Use your heat vision, Cara."
"Use your arrows, Oliver."
"Use your black lightning, Jefferson." and so on.
But I like it for some reason.  I can't really explain why, as it doesn't do anything you haven't seen before and better, but if I had to guess, the shameless, often witless recycling of over-familiar tropes typical of all the CW superhero shows feels indistinguishable from blaxploitation, even though the show runners have said they wanted to avoid doing that kind of thing.

Legends Of Tomorrow - show don't give a fuck.  Seems to be rocketing towards a sweet spot where the laziness of the writers is successfully obscured by the show's lack of tonal consistency or any kind of quality control.
One plot thread involves the characters watching the Lord of the Rings and spotting that the actor John Noble (who voices the series' main villain) sounds exactly like the series' main villain, so they travel back in time to New Zealand in 1999 to bamboozle him into reading lines off a script that the goodies will use to trick the baddy's subordinate into thinking is actually their boss giving them instructions after Ant-Man shrinks down and flies into the baddy's ear and plays the lines through a loudspeaker.  Another episode sees them trying to steal Elvis' guitar, which has been cursed by one of the baddies posing as the ghost of Elvis' dead brother (no, really) to raise the dead whenever it's played (no they don't explain how he practices songs, shut up), which will cause a zombie ghost apocalypse in Memphis ("ironically named after the Egyptian city of the dead!") before Elvis can invent rock and roll, which means that the Confederate states will win the war or something - it gets a bit silly, I don't mind telling you, and that's before Julius Caesar and Blackbeard team up in the wild west to kung fu fight Jonah Hex.
It is very, very stupid, but on occasion it is entertaining, especially the time loop episode where they figure things out by talking about how other, better shows resolved the same problem, and they even name-drop the actual Trek episodes which did the same thing.  Like I say: the show don't give a fuck.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 25 April, 2018, 07:15:53 AM
Rewatching The Good Life.it seems a bit dated now,but also kinda timeless.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 25 April, 2018, 02:43:58 PM
Really quite enjoying Santa Clarita Diet, and pleased to see that my long-standing crush on Drew Barrymore hasn't abated. Sheriff Bullock rather steals the show with some outstanding gurning and grinning, and the plot zips along in a thoroughly un-modern way.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JamesC on 25 April, 2018, 03:01:16 PM
Yeah I really enjoyed Santa Clarita Diet - a nice easy watch.

I've started watching I Zombie. Only a few episodes in but it's a likeable show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Molch-R on 25 April, 2018, 03:12:22 PM
Yep, Santa Clarita Diet has been a real treat, easily filling the gap left by The Good Place. Also just finished The Alienist, which I thought was a great adaptation of the novel.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 25 April, 2018, 04:06:22 PM
Quote from: Smith on 25 April, 2018, 07:15:53 AM
Rewatching The Good Life.it seems a bit dated now,but also kinda timeless.

Love The Good Life.

Takes me back.

Sort of enjoyed the first episode of True Horror on Channel 4.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 25 April, 2018, 04:16:44 PM
Quote from: Smith on 25 April, 2018, 07:15:53 AM
Rewatching The Good Life.it seems a bit dated now,but also kinda timeless.

Love The Good Life.

Every time I watch it I want to chuck it all in and start digging up the front garden. That would really annoy the city though since all I have is pavement.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 25 April, 2018, 04:20:56 PM
Oh Bliss! I've just found the second series of Hap and Leonard, and there's a third!!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 25 April, 2018, 04:42:41 PM
Deeply enjoyed all of Hap & Leonard though there's a small change in the third series that I don't like but won't even spoiler tag, but would love to discuss when you've watched it as I can't fathom the reason behind it.

I finally decided to watch Westworld and four episodes in, I'm enjoying it. Didn't really understand how you could make the premise into a TV show and I still think the logistics get massively handwaved away (how often does 'the park' reset? Clearly it's not every day. How long is a guest's visit? What happens... and so on...), but it's a fun exploration of that old question of man's inhumanity to (artificial) man, consciousness and free will. Far bloodier than I ever expected.

Also finished The Terror and boy, that was a well made show. All changes for the better beyond what happens to Lady Silence.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: abelardsnazz on 02 May, 2018, 12:18:34 PM
Outlander. Loving this following a friend's recommendation. Nearly finished series one, it's great how it tells a compelling story against the historical backdrop. Special mention for Tobias Menzies for playing such a hateful bad guy without camping it up.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: moly on 02 May, 2018, 01:58:09 PM
Watching happy on Netflix enjoying it so far, gruesome funny and a bit nuts, might have to get the graphic novel it's based on
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 02 May, 2018, 02:04:54 PM
Lost in Space is still engaging the kids halfway in, but I have to say that I'm finding way too much fiat in the plot - the [spoiler]fuel-eels[/spoiler] were a silly but entirely serviceable plot device, given that the J2 had crashed in sub-glacial water.  Now we find that they have also i[spoiler]nfected all the other Jupiters, despite there being no indication of their being anywhere near water and/or glaciers, and drained all of their reserve tanks, despite their having no observable need to access these in order to escape, say, crushing ice formations[/spoiler]. 

And who made all these [spoiler]convenient treeless tracks through the forests between the various Jupiters[/spoiler]?

And how come [spoiler]Don's whiskey bottles survived the unpowered re-entry and landing of a fragment of the Resolute[/spoiler]?

Etc etc.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 02 May, 2018, 02:27:56 PM
The inside of Jupiters are made of indestructible but very bouncy rubber, that's why Don survives [spoiler]one falling off a cliff [/spoiler]and another one [spoiler]exploding[/spoiler] even though we don't see how in the show.
But kudos to the writers for taking someone's advice that "it doesn't matter if the fuel problem is resolved in a batshit way" as literally as it was possible to do so.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 02 May, 2018, 03:49:08 PM
Krypton - yet another Superman prequel series, and of the many interesting and unique versions of Superman's Old Country that we've seen over the decades - from the THX 118-inspired clinical dystopia of the John Byrne reboot or the goofy primary-coloured Soviet Union of the post-Jurgens era - this is far and away the most singly dull and uninteresting take I've seen, mixing YA tropes of the moment with some of the most corny characters and dialogue I've seen on telly for a while.
What it most reminds me of are the Mongo portions of the super low-budget Flash Gordon tv series from the early 2000s, only where that had an awareness of its own campness that could make a viewing bearable to those of an indulgent mood, Krypton is too earnest for that, just not earnest in any way that lends proceedings any more gravy-tass.  What's truly baffling is why the format is so familiar to anyone like me who's watched more than a few low-budget sci-fi shows about a space theocracy melodrama that plays out against the same few sets - do they have a watering hole set?  LOL of course they have a watering hole set - and the same few stock CGI shots of a space city and a stock cast of characters who grew up within a couple of miles of each other and yet have a vast array of accents and come from a startling array of races for a society of caste-based isolationists currently governed by a dictatorship derived from religious nationalism.  It clearly cost money to make this, and yet it doesn't have a single original idea in its head.
We're fast approaching a point where tv shows can rival the production standards of movies, but this show is a masterclass in how that means absolutely nothing without a writers' room or showrunner with a clear vision of what they want to achieve beyond filling 42 minutes on a weekly basis.

Might be worth a watch if you like stuff to be on in the background while you do other things.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 02 May, 2018, 04:18:14 PM
Quote from: moly on 02 May, 2018, 01:58:09 PM
Watching happy on Netflix enjoying it so far, gruesome funny and a bit nuts, might have to get the graphic novel it's based on

Just two episodes into that so far (last weekend ) and that's my take on it too! I didnt know it was based on a graphic novel, but I'm not surprised. Really liking it so far.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 02 May, 2018, 06:39:28 PM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 02 May, 2018, 02:27:56 PM
taking someone's advice that "it doesn't matter if the fuel problem is resolved in a batshit way" as literally as it was possible to do so.

:lol:

Thank you.

Personally I enjoyed it in a, well there's sod all else on worth watching right now kind of way.  There are some interesting ideas there, if just poorly developed and threaded.  It's probably worth remembering that very little TV Sci Fi starts well, or even improves as it goes along.  Be interesting to see whether Netflix do decide to keep going with it or not.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 02 May, 2018, 10:11:21 PM
Quote from: abelardsnazz on 02 May, 2018, 12:18:34 PM
Outlander. Loving this following a friend's recommendation. Nearly finished series one, it's great how it tells a compelling story against the historical backdrop. Special mention for Tobias Menzies for playing such a hateful bad guy without camping it up.

The narration was a deal breaker for me. Does it stop after episode 1?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: abelardsnazz on 03 May, 2018, 12:32:21 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 02 May, 2018, 10:11:21 PM
Quote from: abelardsnazz on 02 May, 2018, 12:18:34 PM
Outlander. Loving this following a friend's recommendation. Nearly finished series one, it's great how it tells a compelling story against the historical backdrop. Special mention for Tobias Menzies for playing such a hateful bad guy without camping it up.

The narration was a deal breaker for me. Does it stop after episode 1?

No, it continues. I haven't read the books so don't know if they are written from Claire's point of view. Could be a lift from there if so.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 18 May, 2018, 06:48:15 PM
Everyone should watch Over the Garden Wall on Netflix. I bought the DVD of this years ago but it's America-region only, so have not been able to share my love for this weird animation of woodsy horror and whimsy. It's really good stuff and has some great voice work too.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 18 May, 2018, 09:21:34 PM
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 18 May, 2018, 06:48:15 PM
Everyone should watch Over the Garden Wall on Netflix.

Footnote: if you read the comics, I'm not the Jim Campbell that works on this.

Additional footnote: except for the OTGW comics I did work on. Happy to have cleared that up.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 04 June, 2018, 06:02:05 PM
Rampaging through The Sopranos after hearing they're having a go at making a prequel film.

I remember it being good, not having watched the series in a decade or more, and I'm pleased to report that, in this instance at least, my memory hasn't steered me wrong. Superb television packed with compelling characters, engaging story lines and laugh out loud humour.

So who am I, Barry Norman? Go see the f*ckin' thing for yourself an' make your own f*ckin' mind up. I ain't your goddam mother, for Christ's sake. And fetch me some of that ziti, you fat f*cking c*cksucker.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 04 June, 2018, 06:16:43 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 04 June, 2018, 06:02:05 PM
Rampaging through The Sopranos after hearing they're having a go at making a prequel film.

I remember it being good, not having watched the series in a decade or more, and I'm pleased to report that, in this instance at least, my memory hasn't steered me wrong. Superb television packed with compelling characters, engaging story lines and laugh out loud humour.

So who am I, Barry Norman? Go see the f*ckin' thing for yourself an' make your own f*ckin' mind up. I ain't your goddam mother, for Christ's sake. And fetch me some of that ziti, you fat f*cking c*cksucker.

Jeez. Kiss your dog with that mouth?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 04 June, 2018, 06:38:17 PM


Nah, just yo' mother...

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 04 June, 2018, 07:14:17 PM
Black Books.
I had a horrible realisation that I grew up to be Bernard Black.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 04 June, 2018, 08:32:01 PM
Danish post-apoc wotsit, The Rain.  Not doing it for me I'm afraid. Everyone is so utterly stupid, even for TV survivors, the chronology doesn't make any sense (how have these most of these morons survived for 6 days, never mind 6 years?), the transmission of the disease seems inconsistent ([spoiler]from stepping in a puddle, but not from brushing through grass/undergrowth?[/spoiler]), urban quarantine zones that are maintained by one handful of blokes in a single hummer...  I dunno. Some good performances, some impressive enough sets, but I don't know if I can handle much more unless it ups its game when we reach Sweden.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 04 June, 2018, 09:05:39 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 04 June, 2018, 06:38:17 PM


Nah, just yo' mother...

What about my father?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 04 June, 2018, 09:29:46 PM


You ain't got no father - you was assembled in the crater of Mount Vesuvius from da bodyparts of clipped wise guys.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 05 June, 2018, 02:06:33 PM
That would explain a lot.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 10 June, 2018, 06:03:11 AM
(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR4-Y0jy3jbSAmzyK_Aua1AIxCHPzsCmZnVyrHGfW_NgveXF_13)
Sharpe
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 10 June, 2018, 12:04:57 PM
Love Sharpe! Top notch stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 10 June, 2018, 12:30:06 PM
"You expect them to fight for a rag on a pole?"

"You do, Richard. You do."

Love Sharpe - going to have to watch it again myself, now.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 10 June, 2018, 04:26:29 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 10 June, 2018, 12:30:06 PM
"You expect them to fight for a rag on a pole?"

"You do, Richard. You do."

Love Sharpe - going to have to watch it again myself, now.

Cox was wonderful as Major Hogan.

That's it. Time to start the series over again.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 10 June, 2018, 05:09:02 PM
After watching the first series of Supergirl recently* and seeing [spoiler]a certain red suited bloke literally cross over[/spoiler] I decided to catch up on other series in the DC television multiverse. **

I have Amazon Prime on trial at the moment. I intended to start with The Flash, but it doesn't seem available there. (I did see a couple of the first episodes a while back, but wasn't all that taken by it,[spoiler] but the main character seemed likeable enough in his crossover episode on Supergirl, [/spoiler] so I figured I'd give it another chance. Well I will later, anyway.)

I decided to watch Arrow instead. Considering it's made by the same people, it's darker than Supergirl and less comedic, although both shows do drift into both territories on occasion. (And both have a cute blonde girl who generates much of the comedy, albeit in different ways.)  I think they wanted to create something gritty and realistic with Arrow, [spoiler] although they do move from that in series 2 by introducing a whole bunch of people with superstrength and the genesis of The Flash[/spoiler]. With Supergirl it seems they wanted to stay truer to the comics... with a bit of Ally McBeal thrown in. (I don't just mean the actress, but the whole tone of the show, although ironically it's actually less surreal than Ally sometimes was. Kryptonians, electric people and cybernetic suits don't equal a dancing cartoon baby in surreality).

Two series in, I've enjoyed Arrow a lot, although Oliver [spoiler]bedding every attractive woman he meets (bar the cute IT girl) is a tad ridiculous, including moving from sister to sister then possibly back again.[/spoiler] They seem to be plundering the Batman villains somewhat***, although to be fair, I don't know know how much crossover there is with the villains in the comics.

So far so good. And considering events in series 2, [spoiler]it worked out well seeing this before The Flash.[/spoiler] I look forward to series 3.

I then decided to dip back into the Marvel cinematic universe with the first two episodes of Cloak and Dagger.

Again, very different from the DC shows, and even the Marvel shows I've seen before. It's closest to the Netflix Marvel shows than anything, but only comparatively speaking. Tonally, it reminds me of certain independent movies, although it's difficult to explain why. It's early days yet, but I like it so far. The young leads are interesting, and the show seems to have something interesting to say about life. And Death. And light and dark, but I guess that's a given.

I can't say I recognised the city as New Orleans as it looks very different to the city in Preacher series 2, but no doubt there are districts.

* A really enjoyable amusing series. A bit corny in places but all the main characters are interesting and the lead is adorable.

** In DC's case 'TV multiverse' seems more accurate than 'DC cinematic universe' since the DC film-verse is separate from the telly-verses, and there seem to be at least 3 DC telly-verses so far, if we include Smallville. Apparently there is cross-over though.

*** Amusingly, considering a certain throwaway quip in Supergirl, Batman himself might actually exist in her universe rather than the Arrowverse, although he might exist in both.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 10 June, 2018, 05:11:44 PM
Binged the whole first season of Cobra Kai in one day.Great stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 10 June, 2018, 06:36:09 PM
Quote from: von Boom on 10 June, 2018, 04:26:29 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 10 June, 2018, 12:30:06 PM
"You expect them to fight for a rag on a pole?"

"You do, Richard. You do."

Love Sharpe - going to have to watch it again myself, now.

Cox was wonderful as Major Hogan.

That's it. Time to start the series over again.

And then there's Pete Postlethwaite burstin' for his scratchin's - just in case further persuasion is required!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 10 June, 2018, 06:53:17 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 10 June, 2018, 05:09:02 PM
After watching the first series of Supergirl recently
....

I then decided to dip back into the Marvel cinematic universe with the first two episodes of Cloak and Dagger.

Supergirl is definitely brain candy but enjoyable enough.  My wife and daughter are quite into it, I tend to dip.  Flash was enjoyable enough the first series but I think I might have binged a bit too much and haven't been able to get back to it.  Might have to give it another shot.

The start of Cloak and Dagger was certainly interesting.  The standard origin story but then again they've tweaked it from the comics nicely.  Arguably enough there to warrant a follow up when the next episode comes around.

I have to be honest, I gave up on Preacher a while back.  Really couldn't get on with it.  Perhaps it's because I enjoyed the original so much and it doesn't seem to have the same quality.  Don't really know ...  Again, perhaps I should give it once last stab, particularly now that a lot of the stuff that I have been watching has wrapped up for a while.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 11 June, 2018, 11:27:33 AM
Flash is good, has loads of nods to DC easter eggs. You need a break though as every problem can be solved by RUN FASTER WALLY (and Wally is an idiot, likeable but an idiot. Stop messing with time Wally!)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 11 June, 2018, 12:29:50 PM
What gets me is that Wally actually needs a room full of super scientists to tell him to use his own Flash powers.  I sometimes wonder if there was maybe an early episode that I missed where he turns up to a fight with a gun or something and everyone is like "no Wally there's a better way to do this" so their shouting in his ear for the rest of the series makes sense.  As it is, he just looks like a moron.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 11 June, 2018, 01:46:12 PM
Revealed that I grew up in the 90s. The Flash is obviously Barry Allen, not Wally West :P
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 11 June, 2018, 02:24:51 PM
LOL shows how little I care about these characters that I didn't even notice.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: IndigoPrime on 11 June, 2018, 04:27:44 PM
Quote from: moly on 02 May, 2018, 01:58:09 PM
Watching happy on Netflix enjoying it so far, gruesome funny and a bit nuts, might have to get the graphic novel it's based on
I'm a bit surprised there's no more love for Happy! on here. We just finished it, and it was refreshingly bonkers, like a mix of Crank and [spoiler]Toy Story[/spoiler]. Really great performances, and despite the first episode or two being a touch formulaic, it really opened up. The last three episodes in particular were some astonishingly good TV.

(As for the trade, I was thinking of grabbing it, until I realised how thin it was. Subsequently delving into things, much of the characterisation in the TV show is absent – it's much more basic in nature. One of those rare occasions, then, where the TV show properly takes the original and runs with it – almost the opposite of Lucifer.)

Elsewhere, is anyone here watching Legion? And are you getting a bit... tired of it? We loved S01, but S02 feels a bit like a show that's constantly yelling LOOK HOW CLEVER I AM. And although I love Noah Hawley's work, Legion is so horribly humourless (unlike Fargo) and knowing that it's starting to become a trudge.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 11 June, 2018, 10:21:26 PM
I really enjoyed Happy!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Crom on 14 July, 2018, 11:10:14 PM
Currently taking a brief break from Stella to watch early episodes of Casualty and Silent Witness.

Also re-watching Luke Cage season 1 and The Defenders before going into LC season two.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 20 July, 2018, 05:45:37 PM

Counterpart. Can't say much about the plot without spoiling this but it's a kind of Cold War spy drama with a science fiction twist. J.K. Simmons stars and is even more fabulous than usual. Very good indeed and one of the best things I've watched in ages.

Legion, Season 2. Batshit insane but in a sublime way. Well worth watching and contains a sequence based on Plato's allegory of the cave which blew me away. Fantastic!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 21 July, 2018, 12:57:15 AM
Coincidentally, I just finished watching Legion Season 1. [spoiler]I see they seem to have departed somewhat from the comic idea of a man suffering from DID, where each personality has a separate power(s). (I confess, I haven't actually read the comics, but that's how he is described, when I googled it.) I mean, there kind of are other personalities, (two if one includes his rational 'British' self turning up to advice him, when he is trapped) but the idea is used in a different, but quite clever way, and doesn't seem to relate to his power set. [/spoiler]

One of the most surreal series I've seen, but in a good way.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 21 July, 2018, 09:46:12 AM
I've been really enjoying NO OFFENCE; a police procedural set in Manchistoh which is saved from the more mach posturings of cop shows by having three very different,  likeable but flawed female leads and having a great fun supporting cast (but is ludicrous in all different ways). Rather than facing a super villain, the cops are unlucky in many ways which means the initial investigation gets drawn out.

Spoiled slightly as we get to episode 6 or 7 where there is a plot development/twist which takes it into super clever serial killer territory.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 21 July, 2018, 12:56:52 PM
Delving into Le Foret (The Forest) on Netflix... so far, so Dark.  In fact, the first episode shares so many parallel sequences and elements with that terrifically ambitious series that it's actually a bit weird to watch, but ensures it scores proxy goodwill by association. Maybe there are only so many ways to do small-town possible-supernatural missing-kids-in-the-woods TV? 

However, if the law enforcement efforts in Dark's Winden were... unusual, those in Montfaucon (apparently somewhere in the Ardennes) are straight out of the Inspector Closeau operating manual: urgent, earnest but bafflingly incompetent. In fact there's just a general lack of logic to everything that happens: just because something is in another language doesn't make it intelligent, as similar nonsensical guff in The Rain reminded me.  And if anyone can explain what the two lads were meant to be doing with those metal detectors in the woods I'd like to hear it. 

Still, I'll give it another episode and see if it delivers at all on its initial, borrowed, promise.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 23 July, 2018, 08:07:08 PM
Ben 10 Ultimate Alien is actually a lot better then people gave it credit for.And the entire    animated industry missed Dwayne McDuffy.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 29 July, 2018, 09:59:38 PM
Sacred Games, a Netflix original made in India following a copper who gets a phone call from a long-missing and notorious crime kingpin who alludes to connections to the copper's dad, and a terror event happening in 25 days that will wipe Mumbai off the face of the Earth.  The Wire it is not, the dialogue is sometimes gash (in both the English dub and the Hindi-subtitled versions), and it ends halfway through the story just as things as getting good (I thought I had two episodes to go, but it turned out it was just three trailers for the show appended to the episode list - thanx, Netflix), but on balance I have to say I enjoyed it a lot thanks to the setting, the blood an guts, likable but flawed characters, and a couple of shock deaths.
If this was made in the UK, it would fetishise a lot of the elements that make it stand out, particularly the array of religious identities on display, the open corruption, the shocking poverty and deprivation of many areas - there's a bit where a character stows away on a train and travels for a full day out into the Indian heartlands and the backdrop isn't even commented upon despite looking like something Western film-makers might seek out to film a post-apocalyptic movie in and around, but here it's just where people live.
Anyway, worth a gander.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 30 July, 2018, 02:08:20 PM
Final Space on Netflix was a lot of fun - 10 part scifi cartoon, which ended up with plenty of dangling threads suggesting a second series. Is it worth watching? Tribor says, yes it is!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 30 July, 2018, 02:41:34 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 21 July, 2018, 12:56:52 PMMaybe there are only so many ways to do small-town possible-supernatural missing-kids-in-the-woods TV?

Has The Kettering Incident been shown anywhere yet?  It won't win any awards for originality, but it commendably keeps its supernatural elements at arm's length from start to finish, and at the time I found it to be a good take on the genre you describe.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 30 July, 2018, 03:04:32 PM
Sounds good!  Finished Le Foret. In the end it passed the time in an okay fashion, but ultimately avoided the fantasy elements it hinted at, so that it just ended up laughably unrealistic.  Do lawyers not exist in France? 

I almost feel they changed direction away from the supernatural at some point during production - for example, I find it hard to believe that the spiral motif carved on rocks in the Bois du Fays (possible derivation: Wood of the Fairies) and painted by lost kids and crazed woodsmen was[spoiler] originally meant to derive from a random image on a kid's t-shirt[/spoiler].  There were also elements (a whole missing girl!) that weren't resolved at all, suggesting a last-minute change of plans.  Earned a few marks back for spending half an episode dealing with the fallout from its events, rather than just ending when the case did.

Stil, I'll stick with hope for a second series of Dark, I think.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 30 July, 2018, 03:30:07 PM
I'm watching Santa Clarita Diet at the moment.

It's cute, yet kinda nasty at times.* Dark, yet quirky and kinda breezy.**

And it's very funny. The three main characters are great, and likeable despite what they do...

I haven't seen it all yet, but so far it's a great ride.

*Some of that gore and explicit human flesh munching. Actually rather disturbing.

** Not quite the word I'm looking for, but if you've seen it, I think you'll get what I mean.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 30 July, 2018, 03:34:56 PM
Yep, Santa Clarita Diet was superb.  Great performances from everybody, and as you say, no-one is remotely unlikeable - in so far as a show can be about [spoiler]gorily murdering and eating people, talking severed heads and ambulatory tumours[/spoiler], and still be 'gentle', this one is.  Can't wait for more.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 01 August, 2018, 11:40:02 PM
Westworld season 2 - apparently there's a season 3 to come, and no spoilers but I foresee some hurdles to that.
I dunno what everyone's complaining about, this was good stuff - fluffed some of the delivery here and there, but there are solid twists to be had and the only confusing timeline is the one this show is set in: it's already the future where robots exist when Ed Harris' character is a young man, but by the time the show catches up with itself, people should be living in space and whatnot.  Maybe they are, I dunno.
Anyway, I liked that this went over the area on the Venn diagram where solipsism and sci-fi meet as I have always been fascinated with the idea of a synthetic mind whose entire life experience is recorded and how it might differentiate between what was a memory and what was its current experience of reality - obviously it would have foreknowledge of events and judge what was past experience, but its still ripe ground for storytelling with a little license taken here and there, which the show does.
I enjoyed this.  Can't ask more of a tv show, really.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 02 August, 2018, 12:21:53 PM
The Kingdom is Lars Von Triers danish two season tv series. Based in The Kingdom hospital, built on an ancient bleach works itself built on a burial ground, the series follows the proceedures of the doctors and hospital crew as they go about there job. The series is 3 parts Holby City, 1 part The Shining and bloody good stuff it is too if, as per Von Triers reputation, among the most dower and grim material ever put to screen. The entire series is filmed in a brown hue, and the lines between the surreal and the hyperreal are blured in a way that makes the whole thing feel like a waking nightmare, the Season 2 episde Gigantica in particular see's Udo Kier as a patient with a medical condition to horrifying you'd think it was part of the shows supernatural subplot, but apparently not. A great watch, but a tough one, best enjoyed one episode a week with a lot of self love to recover from the experience, but a series that will irrevocably change you once it's done.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dark Jimbo on 02 August, 2018, 12:38:02 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 02 August, 2018, 12:21:53 PM
The Kingdom is Lars Von Triers danish two season tv series.

I quite enjoyed the Stephen King-adapted US remake (at least initially, it started to ramble a bit as it went on and the tone was all over the place) and always meant to check out the original...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 02 August, 2018, 12:50:50 PM
By 'eck that Kingdom sounds right up my street, in fact, I've the feeling I've watched some of it before n late night TV somewhere.  When was it made, and where would one find such a thing, Master Mumbler?

Currently watching La Mante (The Mantis) on Netflix, a maternal riff on Hannibal Lector, very stylishly shot, and with some nice bits of misdirection.  Three episodes in and the titular performance feels a little forced, but everything else is enjoyable. I love how les flics in these things work out of these ghastly dark warrens of  windowless corridors inhabited by handcuffed suspects being shoved around, but there are gloriously modern airy prison complexes and entire chateaux rigged up with ultra-security for indiovidual special witnesses.  If nothing else it rockets through its plot - there's enough going on in the first episode for a whole series.  J'accuse the Commissioner.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JOE SOAP on 02 August, 2018, 01:11:34 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 02 August, 2018, 12:50:50 PM
By 'eck that Kingdom sounds right up my street, in fact, I've the feeling I've watched some of it before n late night TV somewhere.  When was it made, and where would one find such a thing, Master Mumbler?

It was shown in the cinemas and on d'telly in the 90s.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryw5vGQjOWM&list=PLu0zNOEc6tI0n3fdpYcE1RCKrgjHqGfcM
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 02 August, 2018, 01:52:40 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 02 August, 2018, 12:50:50 PM
By 'eck that Kingdom sounds right up my street, in fact, I've the feeling I've watched some of it before n late night TV somewhere.  When was it made, and where would one find such a thing, Master Mumbler?

Edited episodes I believe where shown in the UK in Channel 4 around 1999, after the second series concluded and the unfortunate deaths of several cast members, Second Sight have a superb boxset of the original, unedited Danish episodes, containing both Seasons, out right now and though quiet pricey online are available for about £12 in HMV and Fopp right now if you have access to one, worth every penny.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 02 August, 2018, 02:06:46 PM
Cheers lads, knew it sounded familiar.   I've loved Danish telly drama since the heady days of Island Cop, so I think I'll track that down.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 02 August, 2018, 02:28:24 PM
Glad to help El Tordels, hope you get as much out of the fabulous hell vision as i did, I can't say i've half as much experience in Danish television as yourself does, beyond Von Triers only TV outing my only exposure to the terrestrial viewing of the great white north are The Killing, Borgen and The Bridge.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JOE SOAP on 02 August, 2018, 02:40:22 PM
How about an early 90s Finnish Lord of The Rings?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_5pwxCkWzY&list=PL5PqKfc7SM1INBa2j8euneNZvTNAKf3E9
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 02 August, 2018, 02:48:53 PM
Ah yes, the other (and better) Hobbit movie.

Sock puppet Smaug is a mood.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JOE SOAP on 02 August, 2018, 03:09:21 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 02 August, 2018, 02:48:53 PM
Ah yes, the other (and better) Hobbit movie.

Sock puppet Smaug is a mood.

That'd be the Russian Hobbit (as told by Max Normal).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7Sab9LgUxg

The Finnish one is an adaptation of LOTR called The Hobbits.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 07 August, 2018, 05:27:20 PM
looking for new stuff on Netflix I came across the TV series of From Dusk till Dawn - is this any good or will it just piss on one of my favourite movies?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 07 August, 2018, 06:02:05 PM
Finished La Mante in short order. Unfortunately we rumbled the identity and motive of the killer several episodes before the hero did, so a lot of shouting at the screen ensued, but it holds its course and wraps up very nicely.  Elements that seemed implausible or tonally out of place along the way turn out to be lies and in-story misdirection, which rewards the viewer for noticing them, and is a solid way of doing these mystery things.  It also has a commendable lack of focus on the killings themselves, preferring to focus on motives and secrets instead of out-and-out gore.

There's an aspect of gender politics that I can't really specify for fear of spoiling everything, and how its handled seems old-fashioned and uncomfortable, and perhaps represents the series' one big flaw (aside from really lazy translation in the subtitles: "c'est normal" does not automatically mean "it's normal") - but if you think you might fancy a Silence of the Lambs re-do where Hannibal is a French mother, I'd recommend it. 

The French justice system remains devoid of lawyers, however, or any concern for building a solid case: perhaps everyone is working towards a shoot-out.

Started Hraunið (The Lava Field), a post-banking crash Icelandic murder mystery.  Very funny so far, and some gorgeous people for both the missus and I to appreciate.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 07 August, 2018, 07:43:13 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 07 August, 2018, 05:27:20 PM
looking for new stuff on Netflix I came across the TV series of From Dusk till Dawn - is this any good or will it just piss on one of my favourite movies?

Little bit from column A, little bit from column B.
It blows its load almost immediately by revealing the vampires in the first episode, introduces a lot of mythology that contradicts the movies - most notably in changing the nature of the vampires and introducing other supernatural elements - and at least one character that popped their clogs in the movie survives into the second season (the first season follows the rough plot of the first movie).  It's pretty much standard tv fantasy fare (like you'd have seen on the Sci-Fi Channel circa 2000-2010 before they got all fancy hifalutin ideas about taking themselves super seriously) apart from the enjoyably OTT delivery which includes the occasional oddball performance.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 07 August, 2018, 09:18:58 PM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 07 August, 2018, 07:43:13 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 07 August, 2018, 05:27:20 PM
looking for new stuff on Netflix I came across the TV series of From Dusk till Dawn - is this any good or will it just piss on one of my favourite movies?

Little bit from column A, little bit from column B.
It blows its load almost immediately by revealing the vampires in the first episode, introduces a lot of mythology that contradicts the movies - most notably in changing the nature of the vampires and introducing other supernatural elements - and at least one character that popped their clogs in the movie survives into the second season (the first season follows the rough plot of the first movie).  It's pretty much standard tv fantasy fare (like you'd have seen on the Sci-Fi Channel circa 2000-2010 before they got all fancy hifalutin ideas about taking themselves super seriously) apart from the enjoyably OTT delivery which includes the occasional oddball performance.

I did like the series,  but what I loved about the film was that the start is played out as a straight robbery/murder/kidnap cop drama with no supernatural stuff at all, right up until they enter the Titty Twister place, when things get crazy big time. So if you were flipping channels and chanced on it, or you were watching the film with no synopsis, you could get nicely surprised.

The series doesn't do that, so maybe it's best viewed by those who've watched the film. The supernatural is there pretty early on.
Unfortunately, since the first series pretty much follows the structure of the film, there is a strong sense of padding, as you wait for things to happen, that you've seen before. That being said, characters are fleshed out a lot more in the series. Without spoiling too much,  this [spoiler]includes the vampires who have their own Clan Cold War thing going on.[/spoiler] It's as much a character drama as a mad ride, and it still gets pretty mad.

[spoiler]If you ever wished they'd done more with Salma Hayek's character after her very memorable entrance in the film, you may be pleasantly surprised. Or not. It's gets very strange.[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 08 August, 2018, 12:16:33 PM
Hmm .. don't like the sound of an entire series being mined from the plot of the movie. I look at so many of these Netflix SF series and think that they sound like a great movie synopsis but can't be arsed watching that idea stretched over 13 hours.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 10 August, 2018, 01:42:01 PM
Patlabor specifically the 'Early Days' OVAs, 8 episodes of pure dystopian police procedural mecha joy. Patlabor (along with the far more cynical Votoms) are something of the ginger step childs of the mecha genre, over shadowed by the vast franchises of Gundam and Macross, and the one shot wonders like Escaflowne and Evangelion, yet are quiet lucrative and fan favourite serials in there own rights. Following the daily police work of Tokyos metropolitan force in the not too distant future 'cough'2002'cough' as the Labor pilots unravel as conspiracy of corporate corruption, terrorism and political espionage. Highly recommended for fans of Hondo City Justice or just Mecha head alike.

(http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbsnusW0Bv1qdc388o1_500.gif)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 10 August, 2018, 06:09:53 PM
!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 10 August, 2018, 08:15:12 PM
Mam! Mam!  Hawkmumbler's making up words again!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 11 August, 2018, 01:44:44 AM
I talk about giant robots once every 6 months and Tordels loses his mind!

'Has Getter Robo Armageddon lined up soon, ya'll better be afraid'
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: GrudgeJohnDeed on 11 August, 2018, 01:51:34 AM
I remember the Patlabor trailers at the beginning of any anime VHS that put out by Manga, I thought those trailers were pretty darn cool. I never got round to watching any though, I might track some down!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 11 August, 2018, 11:19:58 AM
Oohhh yeah, those where the Mamoru Oshi movies, a different continuity to the OVAs and TV Series. Cracking stuff though, both of them!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: GrudgeJohnDeed on 11 August, 2018, 11:58:21 PM
Did you buy it on disc? I've been wondering if Crunchyroll is worth a look, I think its like a Netflix for Anime.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 12 August, 2018, 12:28:46 AM
You can pick the Early Days OVAs up on DVD and Bluray, and the TV series on DVD. The movies have a few editions on DVD but all are OOP.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 12 August, 2018, 10:27:03 AM
I've got a double DVD set of two Patlabor movies that I've actually been hankering to revisit sometime soon. I found them a little hard to follow in places (maybe they assume a bit of knowledge about the series, or I just didn't concentrate hard enough!) but I remember them being very cool. There's something about an enormous robot who also has an enormous to-scale Magnum in his hand that fires bullets the size of buses that's impossible not to love.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 13 August, 2018, 08:28:42 PM
Network (https://networkonair.com/) recently (OK about 18 months ago, thats how long my too watch pile is) had a sale on, and I nabbed both boxsets covering all three seasons of Robin of Sherwood and so far, it's a bloody good romp. Props have to be given to try and expand the mythos into mystical territories and the relatively high production values must have made it quiet the treat at the time. Good stuff so far as I close out Season 1.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 14 August, 2018, 04:48:57 PM
I've been working my way through Fear the Walking Dead on Amazon Prime at the moment. I'm well into series 3 now, and most of it has been pretty good. I'm way behind in The Walking Dead, so can only compare to the first three or four series, but, while I like it, I think I might prefer this.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 14 August, 2018, 05:20:40 PM
I've certainly had more consistent fun with Fear (Seasons 2 and 3) than most things in the later seasons of the main show. That still has cracking episodes but they are few and far between.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 14 August, 2018, 05:26:11 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 13 August, 2018, 08:28:42 PM
Network (https://networkonair.com/) recently (OK about 18 months ago, thats how long my too watch pile is) had a sale on, and I nabbed both boxsets covering all three seasons of Robin of Sherwood and so far, it's a bloody good romp. Props have to be given to try and expand the mythos into mystical territories and the relatively high production values must have made it quiet the treat at the time. Good stuff so far as I close out Season 1.

Man, that's one of those shows that immediately takes me back to doing my homework in front of the telly on a Saturday evening. It should have ended after season 2 when Michael Praed left - he is replaced by James Bond Jr in season 3 but it never quite reaches the heights of those first 2 seasons.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 14 August, 2018, 07:57:10 PM
Inclined to disagree there, DDD. While Connery himself is much (even?) weaker than Praed as the lead, the later episodes are really strong, and the concept of the Hooded Man as a role, not an individual, is too good to dismiss.

Hawkie, if you haven't already you must listen to the commentary tracks, especially Season 1. They're up there with the Conan the Barbarian commentaries for sheer entertainment, and the sensation of sitting in a pub snug with the crew is palpable. You'll never look at golf courses the same way again.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 14 August, 2018, 08:09:49 PM
Always meant to pick up this series on Blu-ray, but never seen it going cheap enough.
Still though, seems there's a forthcoming re-release in October.
Yours to pre-order for only 8 million nicker on Zavvi;

https://m.zavvi.com/blu-ray/robin-of-sherwood-the-complete-series/11849580.html
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 17 August, 2018, 11:28:09 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 14 August, 2018, 07:57:10 PM
Hawkie, if you haven't already you must listen to the commentary tracks, especially Season 1. They're up there with the Conan the Barbarian commentaries for sheer entertainment, and the sensation of sitting in a pub snug with the crew is palpable. You'll never look at golf courses the same way again.
Ooohh, I love me a funny commentary, will give them a listen one wet sunday morning.

Wrapped up Season 1, it's a lovely little series, well worth the investment and being shot on film has really given Network (the masters of Cult British TV on bluray, if folks haven't already invest in their Quatermass remaster, one of the very best blu-rays of the last decade) something to work with, it all looks so very vibrant and colourful, if the 2018 Robin Hood movie is half this entertaining it'll be a right romp.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 17 August, 2018, 05:06:30 PM
I wouldn't bet on that, despite the Divine Minchin* being involved. 

Didn't cop that this was a new release of RoS - hopefully they include the DVD commentaries (and extras).  The missus and I both loved that series at the time of broadcast, and we regularly re-watch it the DVDs.  It's sometimes hard to remember, aside from the 6th Doctor, The Tripods and V this was it for broadcast TV SF/fantasy in 1984.

We still play Dragon Warriors with my kids, the British RPG not-remotely-loosely inspired by it (it has an Assassin character class which is basically Nasir, right down to the white-washing and the fact that the example character in the book is called, errr, Nasir) simply because the spooky, grimy atmosphere still works so well.




*Daughter was in cut-down production of his Matilda musical last week, and despite by belted out by 50 Tallaght tweens, it was still lyrically mesmerising.  The man is a bonafide genius. But Friar Tuck...?  I dunno.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 18 August, 2018, 11:31:54 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 17 August, 2018, 05:06:30 PM
I wouldn't bet on that, despite the Divine Minchin* being involved. 

Didn't cop that this was a new release of RoS - hopefully they include the DVD commentaries (and extras).  The missus and I both loved that series at the time of broadcast, and we regularly re-watch it the DVDs.  It's sometimes hard to remember, aside from the 6th Doctor, The Tripods and V this was it for broadcast TV SF/fantasy in 1984.
All of which I own! Don't know what that says about my antiquated tastes but my god despite slim pickings where the options available good ones. I'm trying to recall a post-apocalytpic series i think ran from the late 80's into the 90's, or maybe it was just reruns, about a holy knights order. I think Lewis Collins might have starred in it...hhmm....
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Greg M. on 18 August, 2018, 11:53:31 AM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 18 August, 2018, 11:31:54 AM
I'm trying to recall a post-apocalytpic series i think ran from the late 80's into the 90's, or maybe it was just reruns, about a holy knights order.

Sounds like Knights of God:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_God (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_God)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 18 August, 2018, 11:59:08 AM
Quote from: Greg M. on 18 August, 2018, 11:53:31 AM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 18 August, 2018, 11:31:54 AM
I'm trying to recall a post-apocalytpic series i think ran from the late 80's into the 90's, or maybe it was just reruns, about a holy knights order.

Sounds like Knights of God:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_God (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_God)
Thats the one! Was good fun that, if I recall correctly, grim viewing for a 5 year old. And it was Gareth Thomas I was thinking of, obviously of Blakes 7 fame.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 18 August, 2018, 12:50:58 PM
Yeah, long live the Knights of God!  I know it had a conclusion, but always felt like it was only getting started, and rather hampered by its unexciting Songs-of-Praise title.  Patrick Troughton's last work too, wasn't it?  It's not available anywhere, is it?

KoG always reminded me of another post-apocalyptic quasi-Arthurian thing, a short series of kids' novels, where Winchester was (again) the capital of England, and machine guns held the balance of power.  I can see the armoured lad on the cover, but not the title!

Told the missus about the Robin of Sherwood Blu-Ray, and it's already been ordered!  A geeky wife is a joy forever.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 18 August, 2018, 01:48:28 PM
Alas no, looking into it KoG is one of the more prominent titles tied up in the legal battle between ITV and Sky over the rights to former TVS titles. It's unlikely to see a home video release anytime soon.

And good on Mrs. Tordels! More love for RoS can only be good (and maybe get the 2006-2009 series 2 and 3 on blu-ray, pretty please BBC/Network?)....
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 22 August, 2018, 10:20:18 PM
TOAST OF LONDON seems quite funny on the evidence of first three episodes.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 23 August, 2018, 08:07:21 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 22 August, 2018, 10:20:18 PM
TOAST OF LONDON seems quite funny on the evidence of first three episodes.

I love Toast. I cannot hear the question "can you hear me" without replying "yes I can fucking hear you Clem Fandango"

But Holy Shitsnacks, Archer s.9 has dropped on Netflix.
Wait.. I had something for this ... something about it not being as good after season 4 ... nope, it's gone.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 23 August, 2018, 10:57:40 AM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 23 August, 2018, 08:07:21 AM
But Holy Shitsnacks, Archer s.9 has dropped on Netflix.
Wait.. I had something for this ... something about it not being as good after season 4 ... nope, it's gone.
Who drinks a pint of Grappa?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 23 August, 2018, 11:11:33 AM
Latecomer to Toast too, but now one of my (many) favourite Arthur Mathews things, and definitely Matt Berry's finest hour.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 23 August, 2018, 01:38:54 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 23 August, 2018, 10:57:40 AM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 23 August, 2018, 08:07:21 AM
But Holy Shitsnacks, Archer s.9 has dropped on Netflix.
Wait.. I had something for this ... something about it not being as good after season 4 ... nope, it's gone.
Who drinks a pint of Grappa?

I actually heard one of my office colleagues say "ouch, my earballs" once during the fire alarm test :lol:
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 24 August, 2018, 10:21:29 AM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 08 August, 2018, 12:16:33 PM
Hmm .. don't like the sound of an entire series being mined from the plot of the movie. I look at so many of these Netflix SF series and think that they sound like a great movie synopsis but can't be arsed watching that idea stretched over 13 hours.

Fargo & Westworld stand as two examples of where this actually works out pretty damn well.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: IndigoPrime on 24 August, 2018, 10:33:40 AM
I approached Fargo in a very sceptical fashion. Within a few episodes, I was hooked, eagerly wanting to know what would happen next. It's a relentlessly imaginative and twisty series, which echoes the original movie, but does new things in a brilliant and yet authentic (to the movie world) way. I only wish I'd enjoyed Noah Hawley's work on Legion to the same degree. (Season two was so horribly terribly slow and dull, even if it frequently looked gorgeous.)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 24 August, 2018, 05:08:15 PM
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 24 August, 2018, 10:21:29 AM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 08 August, 2018, 12:16:33 PM
Hmm .. don't like the sound of an entire series being mined from the plot of the movie. I look at so many of these Netflix SF series and think that they sound like a great movie synopsis but can't be arsed watching that idea stretched over 13 hours.

Fargo & Westworld stand as two examples of where this actually works out pretty damn well.

I thought Fargo was different characters and a new, but similar, story, set in the same place - I'm talking about an entire season that just re-tells very slowly the plot of the original movie. From what I remember of the Westworld movie, there was barely enough plot for 90 minutes!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 27 August, 2018, 11:02:18 PM
Just finished Glacé (ridiculously translated to 'The Frozen Dead', which has almost nothing to do with the plot, but I suppose the direct translation was out of bounds...) on Netflix. It's good twisty fun, an elaborate plot by an imprisoned cop-turned-serial-killer playing out over the Christmas period in the Pyrennees, but it seems to stop about 3 minutes too early - a very neat and catastrophic conclusion seemed imminent, but I vaguely suspect they erred on the side of keeping it open for a possible second season (although it does have a resolution).  Anyway, some terrific casting, with Charles Berling playing a detective who's having one seriously crappy Christmas and looks it, and Pascal Greggory as his nicely underplayed nemesis. 

But beware: the title music is one of those ghastly children's choir versions of 'Hurt'.  Use the 'skip intro' button, we did.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 29 August, 2018, 10:15:31 AM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 24 August, 2018, 05:08:15 PM
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 24 August, 2018, 10:21:29 AM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 08 August, 2018, 12:16:33 PM
Hmm .. don't like the sound of an entire series being mined from the plot of the movie. I look at so many of these Netflix SF series and think that they sound like a great movie synopsis but can't be arsed watching that idea stretched over 13 hours.

Fargo & Westworld stand as two examples of where this actually works out pretty damn well.

I thought Fargo was different characters and a new, but similar, story, set in the same place - I'm talking about an entire season that just re-tells very slowly the plot of the original movie. From what I remember of the Westworld movie, there was barely enough plot for 90 minutes!

The first season of Fargo is different (larger cast, different outcomes) but is largely the same as the movie, with Martin Freeman taking on the William H Macy role. The second season leaves that original basis behind though.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 14 September, 2018, 11:23:01 PM
Yay, new season of Bojack Horseman jut dropped on Netflix - Had to force myself to stop tonight after 4 episodes on the trot. Love this show, a brilliant satire on the Holywoo scene.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 15 September, 2018, 02:46:56 PM
I finally bought the last two series of Ashes to Ashes on DVD. I saw them on broadcast (most anyway. I might have missed the odd episode here or there). It's been long enough the episodes mostly seem fresh to me.

It took a bit of hunting to track them down at a decent price, suggesting there aren't that many out there. It surprises me as I thought they were pretty successful. Okay, there were only three series (not including the predecessor Life on Mars) but I thought that was the creation team's decision.

Anyway, I've been working my way through series 2 and it's pretty good and is finding its own separate identity from LoM. The idea of a second coma victim in that world is an interesting one, (or is he just part of the dream too? [spoiler]Judging by the 'present day' prologue scene at the start of the first episode of series 2, no, he isn't. [/spoiler])and another cop as well. I don't know if the writers had the explanation of the 70/80s world at this stage that we got in series 3, but there are clues that fit.

Big spoilers for the final explanation of that world given in series 3. Don't look if you haven't seen that series, unless you're not fussed:

[spoiler]I was very intrigued in episode 1 of series 2, when Drake has been kidnapped and is screaming in panic on the radio, on hearing her voice, Chris's first impulse isn't to lift the radio, but to nervously pick up the phone and hold it to his ear. That could just be Chris being his signature doofus self (a not entirely fair assessment of the character. He's more intelligent than he often seems), but it makes me wonder if it's also a clue to his (and the others) origin in that world. I.e. maybe he went through a similar thing to Tyler and Drake when he first came there, hearing voices from the present day world through phones etc. He's forgotten at this stage being in that world far longer (and technically dead) but maybe the voice out of nowhere triggered a memory.[/spoiler]

Great telly!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 18 September, 2018, 10:29:51 PM
Binged the final stretch of Adventure Time, and for a mythology-lite show, it sure did rely on a lot of canon knowledge, particularly about Betty and Steve/Ice King.  Callbacks are to be expected in the final episode, I suppose, as was the inevitable allegorical exploration of the end of childhood, though a great deal seems to happen offscreen and we are just assured that everyone "lived their lives" after the show ended.  No, don't mind those episodes set in a future wasteland where humans returned to Ooo and then went extinct shortly after killing off the Candy People, but yes, those are now cemented as canon, and your favorite characters die badly - but they do so offscreen, and it's offset by Marcy and P-Bubs finally gaying up onscreen so it all balances out in the end.
An interesting wrap-up and probably better than a fair few season finales I've seen over the years.  One day, I will actually sate my curiosity and go find out what actual kids make of this show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 20 September, 2018, 11:14:05 AM
So much catching up to do in the land of Oo.

I've been watching Castle Rock, it's pretty good. Definitely the best Stephen King TV series since Nightmares & Dreamscapes.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 20 September, 2018, 12:23:18 PM
Finally got round to watching the last few episodes of the fourth and final series 12 Monkeys — a series that's always been much better than it had any right to be.

The whole thing wraps up in a suitably twisty-turny timey-wimey fashion and whilst I'm happy that it got to a satisfactory conclusion rather than getting cancelled on a cliffhanger (yes, Dark Matter, I'm looking at you) I find I'm going to really miss it.

Seasons 1-3 are currently on Amazon Prime if you feel like catching up...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 20 September, 2018, 02:09:12 PM
For once I wasn't too fussed about getting cliffhangered in a series finale because Dark Matter kind of lost me somewhere, despite a promising start.
Don't get me wrong, I loved that DS9 flipped from an episodic sci-fi show recycling old Star Trek episodes to a show about how gnarly war is and how that single arc could come to dominate everything else, but that was - HOLY SHIT - 20 years ago now and it's really about time space operas bought themselves a new idea.

Not quite a box set, but I did binge the first few episodes of Mayans MC, a spin-off from Sons Of Anarchy about the Sons' sister club whose operations straddle the US/Mexico border, and it continues SOA's unironic toxic masculinity schtick really well, including one of the most hilariously bad theme tunes I've ever heard (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEv-xVjyJ_o).  There's probably some guilty liberal articles to be written about the only Latino-centric show on a major US network being about drug-dealing rapist criminal scum, but before that ruins it for everyone, the show is worth a gander for those who like good bad television.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 20 September, 2018, 02:19:05 PM
The Tomorrow People (1970-79)

Been working my way through this slice of 70's children's daftness all year, in between other stuff. Unlike Who of the era, which is some of the best Tv sci-fi ever committed to screen, TTP is best enjoyed with all sensibilities switched off and purely enjoyed through the eyes of your 7 year old self. Had I watched the entirety of the run at that age, rather than the fragmented VHS releases I was exposed to regularly, I may have been more fond of it. I adore the sincerity of it all, it's daft and naff and cheesy but very enjoyable, but not essential by any stretch. Doomwatch it is not. But fun.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 20 September, 2018, 05:32:40 PM
Ozark.

Not really convinced so far - plays very much like a wannabe Breaking Bad (which we just finished rewatching), but without the deft balance that made that show work. Even at it's most far-fetched, the solid writing and acting in BB anchored it and made sure it never quite went off the rails. In Ozark, there's barely any buildup or tension-building - it just suddenly veers into high drama during the first episode before you've even really got to know the characters, and the characters react to the extraordinary circumstances in a too casual a way for me to find it remotely believable or get me invested.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 20 September, 2018, 05:54:42 PM
I gave up on Ozark pretty rapidly. On paper, it could be alot of fun. In practice... meh.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 20 September, 2018, 08:07:47 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 20 September, 2018, 02:19:05 PM
The Tomorrow People (1970-79)

Been working my way through this slice of 70's children's daftness all year, in between other stuff. Unlike Who of the era, which is some of the best Tv sci-fi ever committed to screen, TTP is best enjoyed with all sensibilities switched off and purely enjoyed through the eyes of your 7 year old self. Had I watched the entirety of the run at that age, rather than the fragmented VHS releases I was exposed to regularly, I may have been more fond of it. I adore the sincerity of it all, it's daft and naff and cheesy but very enjoyable, but not essential by any stretch. Doomwatch it is not. But fun.

An absolute favourite of mine as a kid - the opening credits and music still give me a frisson, and the one with the red and green badges that made everyone fight each other really disturbed me back then. We used to hook our thumbs into our belts and "jaunt" around the playground (make sound effect, run quickly somewhere else and make sound effect again  :lol:)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 07 October, 2018, 08:21:19 PM
Liked season 2 of Ozark,finished Ultimate Alien and now starting Doctor Who from the beginning.Its not as bad as I expected it,but its a bit of a chore thanks to its structure.
Also,First is kind of a dick.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 09 October, 2018, 04:24:01 PM
So finished Luke Cage and really enjoyed it, took a bit of getting used to having the guy from SoA looking and sounding and acting the same, but in a different world, but hey hoping there's a second series for Luke.

Also binged on Man in the High Castle series 3, not quite at the end yet but its fun in a timey-wimey way, and that The Sopranos thing of rooting for a psycho bad guy always adds a twist.

Hey Jim, 13 Monkeys did tie up nicely, and the guy from that turned up on FearTWD which was weird for me
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 09 October, 2018, 05:07:31 PM
Quote from: Proudhuff on 09 October, 2018, 04:24:01 PM
So finished Luke Cage and really enjoyed it, took a bit of getting used to having the guy from SoA looking and sounding and acting the same, but in a different world, but hey hoping there's a second series for Luke.

there are two series already.

Ominous news for Rick'n'Morty fans - good job I'd just done a rewatch as season 1 has already dropped off Netflix:
https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1027174/Rick-and-Morty-season-4-news-cancelled-Netflix-drop-show-Adult-Swim (https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1027174/Rick-and-Morty-season-4-news-cancelled-Netflix-drop-show-Adult-Swim)
(apologies for linking to the Express)

Currently watching the 2nd season of Big Mouth - they'd never get this on a mainstream network! Also, season 3 of The Good Place - I don't think this really has the legs to keep going indefinitely as it's feeling a bit stretched. Maya Rudolph is great as The Judge however.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 11 October, 2018, 12:41:50 PM
sorry, that was the second, I meant another series  :-[
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 11 October, 2018, 01:47:43 PM
weirdly, the first 2 seasons of Rick'n'Morty seems to have now reappeared on Netflix - guess they must have paid those overdue royalties!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 11 October, 2018, 04:28:11 PM
Late to the party (as usual) but thoroughly enjoying Mindhunter

I read the book it was based on in the 90's (and still have it somewhere) but this is a class TV series. As you would expect when David Fincher is involved.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 11 October, 2018, 06:41:43 PM
Recently finished Lost in Space series. It was pretty good!

Also watched the first episodes of The Man in the High Castle, series 3 and I'm enjoying that a lot.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 16 October, 2018, 04:08:39 PM
Haunting of Hill House on Netflix is rather good. Was very skeptical but by jove, it's got its fair share of creepy bits and tells its story in an interesting manner.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Steve Green on 16 October, 2018, 11:31:08 PM
Working my way through 60 odd episodes of the BBC episodes of the Goodies.

The early stuff is a bit hit and miss, but fascinating from a historical perspective, even when it gets a bit uncomfortable.

What stood out is how regularly things pop up that remind me of other stuff.

There's the music master's organ/artillery combo, similar to the Pandemonium in Nemesis, the Mirth Police in Goodies Rule OK, destroying anything that might give pleasure *waves at Judge Cal*, even the impersonating puppets is very Shaun of the Dead.

I jumped ahead a few years to Goodies Rule OK - (The one with the giant Dougal) I've no idea what the budget was but with the props and miniatures, or it being kept in-house at the BBC, it's pretty astonishing to see that spent on a comedy programme.

With it being a 70s programme there's also pretty much a Rolf Harris mention/appearance every other episode... even back to back Cyril Smith and Stuart Hall... plus doses of Savile.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 17 October, 2018, 06:02:17 AM

I think The Goodies is rather under-appreciated. Just watched the one about the lighthouse recently and enjoyed it. To me, it's almost on a par with Monty Python for most of the time and occasionally even superior.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Steve Green on 17 October, 2018, 09:46:16 AM
There are some great gags in there, especially from Graeme Garden.

Some of the early stuff seems to drift off towards the end in particular, but yeah I'd say under-rated.

It's weird that it gets labelled as kid's stuff - was shown about 7:30pm, but a lot of the jokes aimed at adults in the same way 40s Warner Bros cartoons might have been.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Greg M. on 17 October, 2018, 10:08:37 AM
I've been making my way through The Goodies collection too, though not chronologically - just dipping in at random points. Recent highlight was the Pythonesque 'Pollution' from Series 2 - positively post-apocalyptic at times, with some images that, given a different spin, could have been nightmarish. Graeme with his glasses shattered after Concorde flies overhead is like something from Threads.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 17 October, 2018, 10:27:47 AM

I seem to remember John Cleese making a guest appearance as a genie and shouting "kids' show!" before being banished back into his lamp. Whereas Python was more "adult" (or possibly cerebral), The Goodies seemed to have a wider appeal, much like The Simpsons I think.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Greg M. on 17 October, 2018, 11:20:17 AM
It's definitely a lot broader than Python, though The Goodies can have a sharp satirical edge at times - check out the spectacularly near-the-knuckle 'South Africa'. Like Python, it can be quite hit-and-miss, but it's probably more ambitious – what Cleese and co. achieve via Terry Gilliam animation inserts, The Goodies do as a massive-scale live-action set-pieces. (The bit where they deal with the animated JCBs in 'The New Office' is a great example.) It's an insanely visually inventive show, and it doesn't always come off, but when it does, it produces unforgettable images, like a cartoon come to life.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Steve Green on 17 October, 2018, 01:50:11 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 17 October, 2018, 10:27:47 AM

I seem to remember John Cleese making a guest appearance as a genie and shouting "kids' show!" before being banished back into his lamp. Whereas Python was more "adult" (or possibly cerebral), The Goodies seemed to have a wider appeal, much like The Simpsons I think.

Yeah, that was in the Goodies and the Beanstalk - the Simpsons isn't a bad example, especially where the initial setup takes a real detour.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 17 October, 2018, 04:15:58 PM
On Netflix recently we've caught up on:

* Luke Cage S2 - Bored us to tears, yet to finish. I like slow burners with things to say, but this is just weak.
* Iron Fist S2 - Very good indeed with an amazing final episode season 3 set-up -- only for the series to then be canceled. :(
* Altered Carbon - Muscly future noir. A bit nasty in places. The writers sure strip-mined the 'sleeve' concept, so not sure what's left for season 2 to explore. Overall, very good.
* Glow - Finally got around to watching both seasons, really enjoyable with a great ensemble.
* Designated Survivor - We used this as background noise for a couple of weeks. Absolute pap, and at that level only because of Kiefer Sutherland's understated performance.

Looking forward to bingeing the new Daredevil this weekend!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 17 October, 2018, 05:30:53 PM
what? No Iron Fist 3? Well, that's a bummer. Daredevil gets a new season and he's [spoiler] supposed to be dead![/spoiler] Of the 4 interlinked series, I liked DD the least, he's such a mopey character. Luke cage 2 wasn't as good as the first but I still enjoyed it - being very used to Moss Side patios, American Jamaicans sound weird!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 17 October, 2018, 06:29:51 PM
I looked 'rassclaat' up on the internet, and the meaning is very rude.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 17 October, 2018, 06:57:22 PM
Quote from: wedgeski on 17 October, 2018, 04:15:58 PM
* Iron Fist S2 - Very good indeed with an amazing final episode season 3 set-up -- only for the series to then be canceled. :(

I believe the wording of the cancellation announcement strongly suggests that the characters/plot lines will carry over into the remaining Netflix Marvel shows. I haven't been paying attention too closely because I haven't watched Iron Fist S2 yet.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 17 October, 2018, 08:01:12 PM
I found Luke Cage and Iron Fist's sophomore seasons to suffer from the same problem: they took the major tropes and themes of fun, outrageous genres originating outside the honky cultural monopoly (blaxploitation, kung fu) and saddled them with white television's embarrassment with genre fiction for which it overcompensates with po-facedness and violent excess.
A lot of Luke Cage just transplants its parent genre's nastiness and fetishism of the debasement of minorities and ditches everything positive.  Likewise with Iron Fist, which also just sort of meanders through some really dated superhero story tropes about stealing superpowers and being worthy, which would have simply been disappointing on its own terms if not for the fact that this iteration of the powers-stealing plot has been lifted wholesale from the cutscenes of the PS1 videogame Wu-Tang: Taste The Pain, and the fact that they don't acknowledge this in an age where lampshade-hanging is a Freudian compulsion in every single writing room in North America just shows how desperate they are to be taken seriously.
These shows were equally boring and unoriginal - though special mention goes to Luke Cage's terrible fight direction - but Iron Fist's utterly stupid ending probably takes the biscuit for no other reason than making me happy this show is dead.

And can we talk about how overlong these dumbass superhero shows are?  Better Call Saul only gets 10 episodes a season, FFS.  These superhero shows are at least 3 episodes too long - especially if you're playing Luke Cage's dad.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 17 October, 2018, 08:46:07 PM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 17 October, 2018, 08:01:12 PM
And can we talk about how overlong these dumbass superhero shows are?  Better Call Saul only gets 10 episodes a season, FFS. 

It's a sign of being utterly spoiled with great telly,  but the missus and I look at the prospect of several loooong seasons of backlog of these superhero shows and just retreat to something more focused like the aforementioned BCS (near-perfect jewels, each to be savoured), or Inside No. 9, just 6 lovely little slices a year.

Worse,  if something can cover the ground in just 30 minutes, we're all over it - The Good Place or Santa Clarita Diet, yum-yum,  I'll take two please.   But 39 hours of Daredevil, tying into 100 hours of other stuff, cheeses just no.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 25 October, 2018, 10:22:34 AM
Finished off Season 2 of Glow, which remained great fun but seemed to shift tone a little oddly right at the end, with an overly-neat wrap-up that somehow avoided the grimmer subplots (Bash's [spoiler]reaction to the AIDS death of his unrequited love, for example[/spoiler]) . Felt a bit like the end of Almost Famous,  where all the conflict evaporates on a coach ride. There was also a veritable avalanche of bare boobs in the last two episodes,  it almost seemed like some kind of collective dare. Not that I'm complaining, you understand. 

In the light of what felt like a slightly forced conclusion,  I'm a bit surprised to hear that it had been renewed for a third season.  But also delighted!

Season highlight was the episode that was actually a full episode of the show-within-the-show - although the climactic wedding bout was hard to beat!

Also finished Finnish nonsense thriller Deadwind, a cop show so dumb that we twigged the killer in the first (of 12 episodes) and then spent the rest wondering why female lead Karrpi never exhibited a single bruise or cut despite repeatedly being beaten bloody about the head in every other episode, while her male partner Nurmi sported a giant scab from being hit just the once. Just how dumb can be summarised by the killer [spoiler]having an unlocked room plastered with stalker-pics of the victim adjacent to a room the cops intensively searched with corpse-dogs etc on his own say-so[/spoiler].   Still, all the leads were engaging,  and it was fun watching them leave a trail of corpses across Helsinki and surrounds that nobody seemed that bothered about.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Apestrife on 28 October, 2018, 10:00:19 AM
Finished Better Call Saul S1-4 the other night. To sum it up. I really like Jimmy and Kim. Kim especially. She's such a great character. And I probably like the series better than Breaking bad. To which it serves as a brilliant continuation in the form of sequel and prequel. S4:s ending had me laughing so much, and then the second later feeling all sad for one of the characters. Brilliant story telling.

Watching Sacred games on Netflix now. 3 eps in. Big mystery tv taking place in 80s and present time India, jumping back and forth between a gangster becoming a god (in his own words) and a cop trying to solve a big big myster (something taking place in 25 days). I quite enjoy it so far. One thing I really like is how different India feels. Like the movie City of God (albeight Brazil), much of it really feels new to me. Even having seen docus and stuff from either countries the stories takes place in. The word I'm looking for is probably "fresh". Pretty sure I'll watch the whole season.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: moly on 28 October, 2018, 10:34:32 AM
chilling adventure of Sabrina really enjoying this so far feels more like a lite version of Salem rather than the original Sabrina series
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 28 October, 2018, 10:56:03 AM
Yep,  it's quite fun (so far) - although there's some clunky dialogue of the "as you know, but I'm going to explain it in detail anyway..." variety, and it's not at all good at being scary. Sabrina and her outrageous eyebrows took some time to warm to,  but both the aunts are great, Michelle Gomez remains excellent value, and Cousin Ambrose is terrific - and welcome proof that the Chiwetel Ejiofor cloning programme has been successful.  I did raise a bushy eyebrow of my own at the some of the (partial) nudity from a character that's supposed to be 15, but maybe that's just how things are in teen dramas these days.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: moly on 28 October, 2018, 11:04:16 AM
Yeah thought the partial nudity was totally unnecessary, also think the British actors steal every scene
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 28 October, 2018, 12:15:50 PM
I have been watching the latest Daredevil series. Matt getting angsty is getting a bit old hat, but it's been pretty good so far. I have some reservations at how different [spoiler]Bullseye[/spoiler] is from the comics, (although Dex is an interesting character in his own right). [spoiler]That fight scene with Dex going into full bulls-eye mode where every mundane item suddenly becomes a potential lethal projectile, in Daredevil's costume was brilliant, though.[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 28 October, 2018, 03:09:29 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 28 October, 2018, 10:56:03 AMI did raise a bushy eyebrow of my own at the some of the (partial) nudity from a character that's supposed to be 15, but maybe that's just how things are in teen dramas these days.

No, that was pretty weird even by teen drama standards, as such shows usually have nebulously 20something actors playing characters who are ill-defined "teenagers" because, you know, Laws and that, but this goes out of its way to establish characters as underage.  I thought it might be going somewhere in exploring a lack of hang-ups about sex in the Wiccan philosophy, but if anything the onscreen witches and warlocks seem to fetishise sex even more than their arch-enemies The Catholics do, so it's clearly deliberate, either to titillate or for the ick factor.
I assume you haven't got all the way through just yet, but there's more dodgy sexual stuff coming up, including Sabrina being invited to join an onscreen orgy, and a few references to child sex abuse.

It's a shame, really, as the gore is nothing too drastic and it's the sexual content that generally lets things down for me.  The rest of the show is enjoyably atmospheric even if it rarely seems to capitalise on some great set-up (Sabrina's trip through Limbo and Harvey's gaming himself up to shoot someone seem like they could have been a lot more intense), but it's a great counterpoint to American Horror Story: Apocalypse, which is the first AHS series since the first one that I've managed to watch for longer than four episodes, and it is fucking terrible so far despite covering much the same ground as Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.  Are they all this bad?  They're all on Netflix so I guess I'll find out.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 02 November, 2018, 08:38:28 PM
I came all the way back to ask how you are getting on with this? I quit after season 5, I just couldn't take it anymore ..

Quote from: Mardroid on 10 June, 2018, 05:09:02 PM
I decided to watch Arrow instead. Considering it's made by the same people, it's darker than Supergirl and less comedic, although both shows do drift into both territories on occasion.

Two series in, I've enjoyed Arrow a lot
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 03 November, 2018, 02:00:10 AM
Quote from: Rara Avis on 02 November, 2018, 08:38:28 PM
I came all the way back to ask how you are getting on with this? I quit after season 5, I just couldn't take it anymore ..

Quote from: Mardroid on 10 June, 2018, 05:09:02 PM
I decided to watch Arrow instead. Considering it's made by the same people, it's darker than Supergirl and less comedic, although both shows do drift into both territories on occasion.

Two series in, I've enjoyed Arrow a lot

I've basically got as far as one can on Amazon Prime without paying extra (so I think that is Series 5). I largely on on all right although it got a bit silly in places. I seem to have a higher tolerance for stuff, though, and enjoy stuff other people seem to review badly, so you can't read too much into my opinions.

Just finished the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix, which I largely enjoyed. I'll admit to being a bit uncomfortable with it, having grown up in a Christian household. These aren't your fantasy type Wiccan witches but seem to be fully fledged Satanists with the blasphemy stuff that entails. (To be fair, it's a real horror take on the idea, and the comic is just as bad in that regard, and the blasphemic stuff is from the POV of specific individuals, not some kind of preachy 'alternate' agenda.) That being said I still enjoyed it a lot. It was interesting recognising British actresses, including 'Missy' from Doctor Who and the receptionist character from The Office, in a very endearing role.

Currently watching Ash Vs Evil Dead Season 3. As silly and amusing (and sometimes a bit scary, but not all that much) as ever. A lot of fun... but there are a couple of scenes that are just wrong.... :lol:
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 03 November, 2018, 07:37:20 AM
I really enjoyed the first few seasons of Arrow but when he show became more about his personal relationships than him I lost interest. I never read the Arrow comics but his relationship with Black Canary is a huge part of his story but the tv show has rewritten that to the detriment of his overall story arc (imo). In Season 1 he fights crime and is pretty tech savvy himself but by season 5 he can barely boil a kettle without the assistance of his team, one member in particular. It's such a shame because I really liked that actor but as the show went on it became more about his assistant and what she is capable of than him. They had an opportunity to restart completely after the [spoiler]Adrian Chase[/spoiler] season but didn't go with it. I just couldn't take it anymore. It's interesting though than Marc Guggenheim who is the producer is the writer for X-Men Gold which I am really enjoying. So I know he's capable of writing good stuff; I just don't know why he's not doing that for Arrow.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 03 November, 2018, 07:58:29 AM
First 2 seasons of Arrow are good,then it went downhill and I have up.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 03 November, 2018, 10:41:43 AM
The 1958 serial of Quatermass and the Pit is on iPlayer at the moment. It's a bit squiffy around the edges, but it's still a damn fine story.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Andy Lambert on 03 November, 2018, 10:59:03 AM
Heaven help me, but I'm doing Doctor Who - all existing episodes, from the beginning, in order. I did this once before... took me a few months. First three stories done, only a few more to go.... 😳
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 03 November, 2018, 12:31:03 PM
Quote from: Andy Lambert on 03 November, 2018, 10:59:03 AM
Heaven help me, but I'm doing Doctor Who - all existing episodes, from the beginning, in order. I did this once before... took me a few months. First three stories done, only a few more to go.... 😳
Mee too.Im around Marco Polo.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 03 November, 2018, 01:02:41 PM
are these available online anywhere (legally, preferably)? I've got most of the available DVDs, but there's bound to be ones I've not watched since the 70s.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Andy Lambert on 03 November, 2018, 06:41:59 PM
Marco Polo will be my next one too - or rather the very edited version as an extra on another dvd.

As for where to watch old episodes, it's a long shot but YouTube might be worth a try... I'm sure I saw stories like Revenge Of The Cybermen and Destiny Of The Daleks available on there...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 03 November, 2018, 08:33:04 PM
Ohhh good luck with that you two. I watched all the DVDs (that were then available) about 10 or so years ago, but that wasn't in any order other than that which they turned up from my DVD rental service (who remembers them they were fun!) so it'd be fascinating to do a proper study about how the services developed over time.

How many of this missing ones have now been animated. I saw a clip of 'Power of the Daleks' (I think it was, heavens knows where and why???) the other day and have to say they didn't look a patch on The Invasion when that came out.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 03 November, 2018, 10:09:38 PM
Quote from: Andy Lambert on 03 November, 2018, 06:41:59 PM
As for where to watch old episodes, it's a long shot but YouTube might be worth a try... I'm sure I saw stories like Revenge Of The Cybermen and Destiny Of The Daleks available on there...

Got them. I've amassed a good collection mainly via CEX stores - they must have a deal with the distributors as multiple copies of the same title appear periodically - I've made a habit of popping in whenever I pass one over the last few years and have built up quite a collection, all between £6 - £12.

Current tally*, by Doctor is:

1   9
2   4
3   17
4   19
5   12
6   8
7   3

always looking for ways to fill in the gaps



*the nerd in me really wanted to make a bar chart but the guy on his sixth pale ale couldn't be arsed. Jeez, I got off my arse to count 'em didn't I?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 03 November, 2018, 10:13:16 PM
CEX is a second hand joint only, surely? My local is little more than a glorified thief, offering over expensive prices for damaged stock.

I've fast approaching a complete run myself, just 31 left to go!

Colin, The Invasion was rather better than recent animations. I do wish the beeb had stuck to their partnership with Cosgrave Hall.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 03 November, 2018, 10:29:21 PM
It's not quite Cash Converters, and I reckon quite a few of the games and consoles may well have been sitting under someone else's telly recently, but I find it unlikely that they get four copies of a William Hartnell Dr Who DVD at the same time (as do all local branches)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 04 November, 2018, 01:07:00 AM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 03 November, 2018, 10:13:16 PM
CEX is a second hand joint only, surely? My local is little more than a glorified thief, offering over expensive prices for damaged stock.

To be fair to CEX and their staff, they have little control over whether or not junkies drop things while they get them from the house they've just burgled to the nearest CEX store.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 05 November, 2018, 03:09:18 AM
I've got a couple of blu-rays from CEX which skipped, both bought within a short period of time. It makes me wonder if they test the stock that comes in.

I did get a tablet from them once at a very good deal. I suspect they might not have known what they had, however, as other electrical goods tend to be way overpriced there.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 18 November, 2018, 09:52:40 PM
Fuck me. How good is Daredevil S3...?!

[spoiler]It's VERY good.[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Paul faplad Finch on 18 November, 2018, 10:40:13 PM
I don't really do bingeing or boxset viewing; even dropped in one shows like netflix stuff I tend to ration out to one or two eps a week, a la trad viewing schedules. It's the old man in me,

That being said I'm hearing so much good word of mouth about Daredevil S3 I'm considering making an exception. Seems like no-one has a bad thing to say about it. Certainly from the one episode I've watched so far it looks like a return to form after a somewhat lacklustre S2.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bolt-01 on 19 November, 2018, 10:50:05 AM
DD S3 was seriously good. So much better than I expected. The whole Netflix MCU seems to be going  out with a bang, as Iron Fist S2 was a remarkable upturn after the lacklustre S1 and had a few genuine OMG moments IMO.

Think a lot of the credit for DDS3 should go to Cox & D'Onofrio. They play so well off each other.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 19 November, 2018, 11:35:24 AM
LoGH Die Neue These.As far as remakes go,its good enough.Not a big fan of GiTS-like character design,however.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 19 November, 2018, 10:10:22 PM
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power will probably be more noted for the furore in which overgrown man-babies who did nothing to raise the profile of the franchise or enable the rebooting of the property in the 30-odd years since the original ended still felt they were entitled to complain loudly on the internet that the female concept artist hadn't drawn the lead characters with big enough tits, because while I enjoyed it while it lasted, it doesn't really have much meat on it and is a bit forgettable.
On the subject of She-Ra's tits redesign, Adora in this is like 12 or 13, with She-Ra being a scaled-up version of Adora, so the reason she looks like she does is to make it apparent that She-Ra is a child, hence the lack of sexualisation.  I feel this bit of context tells you everything you need to know about certain internet jerks.  She-Ra's talking horse is also a communist who has named himself for "The SWIFT WIND of revolution", which I am sure will be taken in good humor by those who have despised the show since before they even saw a single frame of it.

The Horde are living beings now - they used to be legions of robots captained by evil monsters, which sidestepped any awkward morality issues, but now they're all kids with names and distinct personalities drawn from the tribes of conquered peoples and forced into military service where they commit atrocities and are in turn killed by those people who dare to fight back.
Another change from the original is that whereas She-Ra used to travel the world as a vagabond teaching people to reach out to their enemies in the name of friendship, now the golden-haired living incarnation of a sun goddess seeks to teach everyone how to be violent guerrillas inflicting lightning raids upon their enemies so that She-Ra can form an alliance of "princesses" who rule through a mix of birthright and magical destiny manifest through superpowers granted by their staying in one specific area and keeping their bloodlines pure enough to utilise the power in the soil.  Um.
I also get a weird vibe from the credits sequence, as the lyrics sound suspiciously like the first draft of something that would be chanted at meetings of a right wing youth organisation before an incoming political officer decided to dispense with any pretense and just put in all the overt stuff about crushing the untermensch.  "We are on the verge of greatness, we must seize our destiny and be strong" - that kind of thing.
Anyway, I think it might be a bit early to call this as some kind of standard-bearer for the cause of SJW cultural Marxism, but it's also very generic and has changed genres from science fantasy to magical girl anime not a million miles away from something like Winx or Glitter Force. The animation is relatively crude but does the job (I certainly prefer it to the cheap and ugly CGI on Star Wars: Resistance), the voice cast is mostly okay but as usual for Netflix animation is stuffed with Aussie accents - the sooner we go to war with Australia the better - and I wish it was a lot better than it is, but it's merely "okay".
I suspect 8-13 year old girls may get more out of this than I did, as will people who don't like queer coding, because buddy, there is zero coding in this: lesbian couples just lez up onscreen, a male character tries to seduce a male guard to escape prison, the lead character rides around on a talking unicorn that flies using the power of rainbows, the main villainess even sleeps on the bed of the protagonist curled up like a frigging cat.  It's a real mystery why all those 30-40 year old single dudes on the internet dislike this.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 19 November, 2018, 10:24:37 PM
I have no idea what satire even IS these days. I may just check myself into a nursing home and content myself with going "tsk" at the Today programme and failing to finish even the cryptic crossword in the Daily Telegraph.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 19 November, 2018, 10:57:00 PM
My takeaway is that you read the Telegraph.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 21 November, 2018, 12:47:12 PM
Onto series two of The Sinner... good stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 21 November, 2018, 03:15:04 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 18 November, 2018, 09:52:40 PM
Fuck me. How good is Daredevil S3...?!

[spoiler]It's VERY good.[/spoiler]

Just watched the finale last night - excellent stuff, what an improvement on S.2.

These Netflix marvels stand or fall on the quality of the villains - you can throw any number of ninjas at a show, but it won't have the same impact as a great scenery-chewing character actor. D'Onofrio was perfect as the Kingpin. Luke cage never really managed a great villain (though I quite liked Bushmaster in the latest), and Jessica Jones S.2 was sorely lacking David Tennant's presence. Iron Fist suffered from the "oh look, more ninjas" problem.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 22 November, 2018, 07:18:41 PM
Remind me again why I thought it was a good idea to watch THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE while alone  in an old creaky cottage?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 22 November, 2018, 09:03:08 PM

Atmosphere?

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 23 November, 2018, 09:08:11 PM
Getting plenty of that. Three noisy cats aren't helping either.

I know these days a long take isn't always a long take but episode 6 (Two Storms) has some ridiculously good long takes in it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 26 November, 2018, 09:36:17 AM
Currently re-watching Star Trek Discovery after the Blu-Ray purchase. I love almost everything about this show. Even its mid-season spore-jump into [spoiler]the mirror universe[/spoiler], something which, before it aired, I swore to my wife I would hate for them to do, won me over with its procedural treatment of what the ship and its crew would need to do to survive in that circumstance.

This is to say nothing about the [spoiler]Ash Tyler[/spoiler] and [spoiler]Lorca[/spoiler] sub-plots, and the amazing contortions they performed in order to hide them, both on and off-screen. Perfect casting across the board, as well (almost; I couldn't get on with Michelle Yeoh's Georgio, although she was much better as [spoiler]the Emperor[/spoiler]).

Jolly well done to all involved. Can't wait for S2.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 26 November, 2018, 07:51:14 PM

DD-S3. For me, the best Marvel series to date.

'Nuff said.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 01 December, 2018, 10:03:45 PM

Up to Ep 3 of The Haunting of Hill House and finding it as dull as ditchwater so far. However, I'll give it a couple more episodes just in case there's something cool lurking under the surface.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 01 December, 2018, 11:14:35 PM
Belatedly catching up with The Terror. Five episodes in... this is very good stuff. It's actually been making me think a lot of Brink, in as much it has humans in an environment implacably hostile to human occupation and there's a very real question about how much is actual supernatural horror and how much is about these people just going mad.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 03 December, 2018, 10:40:49 AM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 01 December, 2018, 10:03:45 PM

Up to Ep 3 of The Haunting of Hill House and finding it as dull as ditchwater so far. However, I'll give it a couple more episodes just in case there's something cool lurking under the surface.
Have you spotted any of the hidden apparitions in background shots?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bolt-01 on 03 December, 2018, 11:44:32 AM
Watched all of Hill House over the last week and really enjoyed it. I'm hoping that it stays as a 'done in one' story and stays away from a second series.

Some beautiful storytelling and superb casting.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 03 December, 2018, 12:13:26 PM
I have stuck with it and I'm glad I did. Last ep for tonight, after work. Seems to me this is one of those rare series that will get better on a second viewing - where I can look out for all those background spooks I seem to have missed, for a start!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 03 December, 2018, 04:45:37 PM
Didn't spot any hidden ghosts until about episode 9 so want to go back and look for more.

As I said on Facebook, I am now disappointed when there is a ghostly sound in the house and it IS NOT a ghost. Not that it ever was.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 04 December, 2018, 03:15:26 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 01 December, 2018, 10:03:45 PM

Up to Ep 3 of The Haunting of Hill House and finding it as dull as ditchwater so far. However, I'll give it a couple more episodes just in case there's something cool lurking under the surface.


Don't do it! It gets worse not better, I stuck with it on a recommendation, and the resolution is crap, the how and especially the why behind the house isn't resolved, and the family stuff is pure Whovian  'love will save us'

A complete was of a great set too...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 04 December, 2018, 03:33:01 PM

Yeah, last episode was dismal. It kinda hooked me with the floaty walking stick guy but then ended up letting me down. Still fancy watching it again sometime just to make sure but my hopes have crumbled somewhat.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 04 December, 2018, 03:35:34 PM
Thanks for the heads-up there chaps, I had almost persuaded the missus that HHH would be next on our list.  Think you've saved us the bother.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 04 December, 2018, 03:41:31 PM

To be fair, I liked the structure of it and some folk do seem to love it. Don't let my subjective opinion sway you too much. It is dull, though...

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 04 December, 2018, 03:50:23 PM
Think Trouty liked it too, but if you and the Huffster give it the fins-down that's enough reasonable-doubt for me to move on to some dodgy foreign crime thriller instead...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 04 December, 2018, 09:00:05 PM
I really liked the resolution for the family. Sure it left a couple of questions unanswered but for me, it tied up nicely. [spoiler]Plus there's still always the chance they never got out and are all trapped in a fantasy in the red room.[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 05 December, 2018, 03:28:35 PM
See? no fecking answers, handwavey timeywimey stuff. There are so many plot holes, tropes,  missed opportunities, things thrown in and then not addressed/explained or even spoken about, its infuriating to a pedant.

On the other hand a great friend of mine loves it and waxes lyrical and the family stuff...

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 05 December, 2018, 03:58:23 PM
Quote from: Proudhuff on 05 December, 2018, 03:28:35 PM
See? no fecking answers, handwavey timeywimey stuff. There are so many plot holes, tropes,  missed opportunities, things thrown in and then not addressed/explained or even spoken about, its infuriating to a pedant.

On the other hand a great friend of mine loves it and waxes lyrical and the family stuff...

But it's a ghost story! A solid science based explaination would totally miss the point. Much like explaining jokes kills them. Explaining ghosts with anything other than "And the butler was trapped crying for help all along and people still hear his cries to this day" would kill it
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 05 December, 2018, 04:26:16 PM
The Butler did it!  :o now I understand...

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 05 December, 2018, 04:48:16 PM
Why is it always the butler, but somehow it's never Lupus?

Now y'all have me intrigued again with yer reasoned arguments and flourishes of sophistry. We're finishing up Better Call Saul* tonight, so m-a-y-b-e....



*Now firmly my favourite Netflix thing ever, better by some margin than Breaking Bad.  I'm enthralled by the depth to which I have cared about each and every character, with no obvious division between those whose fates I already know and the new ones.  Even hideous pricks like Howard have their hooks deep in me. Astounding work.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 05 December, 2018, 08:16:47 PM
I liked the fact they were aware that it was never lupus even to the extent that House hid his drugs in a book on lupus.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 06 December, 2018, 05:34:14 PM
Okay, I've just started one of those 30 day trials with Amazon Prime (to get free delivery on some Christmas shopping!) - any top tips for stuff I should binge through before it expires?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 06 December, 2018, 08:08:35 PM
Marellous Miss Maisel is great and not much else like it on tv.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 08 December, 2018, 03:52:44 PM
Agents of Shield goes from trash in its early first season to gold and continues to deliver decent levels of comic booky thrillpower from thereon.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 09 December, 2018, 06:42:24 AM
Finished Rome.Now thats great tv.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 09 December, 2018, 07:01:01 AM
Quote from: Smith on 09 December, 2018, 06:42:24 AM
Finished Rome.Now thats great tv.

Man I love Rome. Such glorious nonsense.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 09 December, 2018, 11:00:22 AM
Rome is one of very few modern series* I watch over and over,  usually in a double bill with I, Clavdivs. This way I can mentally smush the brilliance of the latter's plot, acting and dialogue together with the visual scope and production values of the former to make two perfect shows. Thirteenth!

Just slid into the 3rd season of Rick and Morty and it's now comfortably my favourite modern cartoon (I think I can move the first decade of The Simpsons to the 'classic' category now,  right?), pushing Archer aside.  It's given up some of its anarchic freshness in favour of wonderfully rich continuity,  but for now that's a very successful trade.


*Deadwood,  Firefly, Black Books, Father Ted and Buffy.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 19 December, 2018, 10:11:18 PM
Finally finished Sabrina, bar the Christmas special, after a fairly leisurely watch. After a tonally uneven start it definitely settles down about halfway through, and takes its finger off the reset button to good effect.  The finale was particularly enjoyable, with at least one surprise resolution and plenty of enjoyable new threads setting a-dangling.

Its biggest strength is the supporting cast,  especially Miranda Otto, Chance Perdomo, Tati Gabrielle and the wonderful Lucy Davis, all of whom light up any scene they're in. There's a lot of borrowing from Gaiman here,  but as a master of supernatural bricolage himself that's only fitting.

Surprisingly good.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 20 December, 2018, 10:34:45 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 09 December, 2018, 11:00:22 AM
Just slid into the 3rd season of Rick and Morty and it's now comfortably my favourite modern cartoon (I think I can move the first decade of The Simpsons to the 'classic' category now,  right?), pushing Archer aside.  It's given up some of its anarchic freshness in favour of wonderfully rich continuity,  but for now that's a very successful trade.

Netfilx is pretty good for mature cartoons - Final Space is a lot of scifi fun, Big Mouth is hilariously filthy and Bojack Horseman is pure unadulterated genius. Just avoid "F is for Family" - it's crap.

Currently trying to cram as much Buffy and Angel as I can into my Amazon Prime 30 day trial period! I haven't watched much Buffy since it was on and I'd almost forgotten how good it was - there are two distinct trilogies separated by one bad season - the fun trilogy of monster-of the week stories, the stupid 'cyborg vs Mission Impossible' 4th season, and then the 'dark' trilogy where relationships break down and everything gets a bit grim.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 20 December, 2018, 01:13:33 PM

I've never watched Buffy but, from what I hear, that is a mistake I need to rectify. (I remember enjoying the few episodes of "Angel" I saw way back in the day - is that worth revisiting, d'ya think?)

I've just finished seasons six and seven of Homeland, which I nearly gave up on because it was getting a bit samey. I felt S6 took the narrative in an interesting direction but S7 returned, frustratingly, to a more traditional narrative. Claire Dane's character carries the series for me - she's an absolute nightmare of a character, manipulative and annoying, but very empathetic for all that. She's essentially a single mum with mental health problems and a good counterbalace to to character of the president, a divorcee with a dead son and (arguably) mental health problems and the awful flaws both characters display are precisely what make them so good at their respective jobs.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 20 December, 2018, 06:18:21 PM
I missed a while season of Venture Bros.Im getting to that.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 20 December, 2018, 06:26:56 PM
Just finished Season 3 of The Man in the High Castle. This is everyone that likes some alternative history where the Axis powers won the Second World War.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 22 December, 2018, 10:19:47 PM
Nightflyers is - shockingly for a Syfy show - derivative shite based on a bunch of different things and filtered through whatever sci-fi show is currently popular and/or achievable on a SyFy budget, which mostly manifests as a bunch of plot beats and reveals cribbed from Westworld.  Craftily billed as a George RR Martin adaptation, they're sure to append talking heads interviews with him at the end of each episode to ram the notion of his involvement home despite his being under exclusive contract to HBO - the series is based on a 1987 straight-to-video b-movie adaptation of one of GRR's 1970s short stories that was made to cash in on Aliens rather than the original story or any new input from the man himself.
Anyhoo, it's all pretty bad, and the best way to describe it would be "if someone took all the stuff in Event Horizon that was interesting and made it... not."  Occasionally it looks shockingly cheap, but sometimes, if you squint a bit at it, it almost looks like they had some money to spend (just not on new ideas), and around the halfway mark you might start thinking "if they spend the whole series getting there and then just pull some rehashed Solaris shit on us with the aliens right at the end I will lose my fucking shit entirely" in which case you should probably stop watching.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 24 December, 2018, 11:59:37 AM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 20 December, 2018, 01:13:33 PM

I've never watched Buffy but, from what I hear, that is a mistake I need to rectify. (I remember enjoying the few episodes of "Angel" I saw way back in the day - is that worth revisiting, d'ya think?)
/quote]

Angel's final season is the best part of the whole Whedon-verse. But generally Buffy is more consistent than Angel. I reckon both are good anyway, just you can't really avoid the duff parts if you want to get the full flavour of the brilliant parts. That include a kind and benevolent and hungry god, a woman hollowed out by an elder thing, an episode with evil muppets, and .... damn I might just start rewatching them both again.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 24 December, 2018, 12:46:20 PM
Been working my way through the US version of The Office on Amazon Prime.
Never got past the first few episodes before because it always seemed a crap version of the original but I'm up to season 6 now and enjoying it a lot.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 24 December, 2018, 04:48:52 PM
Angel is kinda like the American version of Torchwood.Actually Torchwood is a British version of Angel.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 27 December, 2018, 04:58:58 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 13 August, 2018, 08:28:42 PM
Network (https://networkonair.com/) recently (OK about 18 months ago, thats how long my too watch pile is) had a sale on, and I nabbed both boxsets covering all three seasons of Robin of Sherwood and so far, it's a bloody good romp. Props have to be given to try and expand the mythos into mystical territories and the relatively high production values must have made it quiet the treat at the time. Good stuff so far as I close out Season 1.

As promised, Santy brought my better half RoS Seasons 1&2 on Blu-Ray. Damn, it's a beautiful upgrade to an already-lovely looking series. Proper treatment for a classic.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JayzusB.Christ on 28 December, 2018, 06:39:47 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 27 December, 2018, 04:58:58 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 13 August, 2018, 08:28:42 PM
Network (https://networkonair.com/) recently (OK about 18 months ago, thats how long my too watch pile is) had a sale on, and I nabbed both boxsets covering all three seasons of Robin of Sherwood and so far, it's a bloody good romp. Props have to be given to try and expand the mythos into mystical territories and the relatively high production values must have made it quiet the treat at the time. Good stuff so far as I close out Season 1.

As promised, Santy brought my better half RoS Seasons 1&2 on Blu-Ray. Damn, it's a beautiful upgrade to an already-lovely looking series. Proper treatment for a classic.

I loved it as a kid.  There was something hauntingly beautiful about the merging of pagan mythology and the Robin Hood story, especially with Clannad to provide the atmospheric music.  Also quite brave for a kids' show in the 80s to fly in the face of Christianity like that, and also lay on the ultraviolence so heavily.

Sadly things take a turn for the worse with the second Robin. Wish they'd gone with Neil Morrissey, back then the absolute image of Michael Praed, instead of the gimmicky choice of Sean Connery's wee lad.

The Costner film was a very poor rip-off, and that last revamp on telly was awful.  (Also lovely to notice that RoS's Little John is GoT's Greatjohn.)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 08 January, 2019, 03:56:01 PM
Worked my way through JACK RYAN on Amazon. It's a solid enough procedural type thing that gets the spirit of the Clancy books I remember reading 25 years ago (I.e. sometimes, it is basically a manual) and at other times, skips on that trademark detail and nerd stuff.  Equally it sometimes gets confused over understanding the motives of the baddie or just have him twirl a figurative moustache.

Krazinsky, as my 5th Ryan*, is great, I thought. Particularly making the boy scout aspect believable. And I like the way Greer is slightly less avuncular than normal.

Some of the action  set pieces are also pretty good for telly.

*And I think we'll be on the 6th Mrs. Ryan.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 08 January, 2019, 11:04:11 PM
Bodyguard.

Had heard good things about this, but I thought it started out with a fairly preposterous opening, and just got more silly from there. Lost my attention after the first episode.

Girlfriend liked it, though.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JOE SOAP on 08 January, 2019, 11:15:41 PM
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 28 December, 2018, 06:39:47 PM
Sadly things take a turn for the worse with the second Robin. Wish they'd gone with Neil Morrissey, back then the absolute image of Michael Praed, instead of the gimmicky choice of Sean Connery's wee lad.

My favourite Hood is the big lad himself playing the old and knackered version in Robin & Marian (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVh5NiHBMto).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: rogue69 on 08 January, 2019, 11:33:22 PM
Recently found a interesting Japanese series on Amazon Prime AMAZON RIDERS  part of the Kamen Riders range.

Thousands of people were experimental subjects in the "Amazon Project" aimed to grow artificial life forms into humanoids. They are now starting to change & are looking for human based protein to eat, so the extermination squad has to track them down & kill them with the aid of 2 special amazons.

It's subtitled & the simplest way to describe the costumes & the action is a grown up version of the Power Rangers
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 09 January, 2019, 11:47:10 AM
Quote from: rogue69 on 08 January, 2019, 11:33:22 PM
the simplest way to describe the costumes & the action is a grown up version of the Power Rangers

If you want a grown up version of power rangers, try Sexy Rangers  - 5 teen girls who use their pai (breast) energy to defeat giant robots and aliens - they must then recharge their pai by going to the beach in bikinis - the more men ogle them, the more pai they accrue.

note - this is NOT a recommendation - I've not actually watched it but recently discovered it's existence on Amazon prime!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 09 January, 2019, 05:33:32 PM
I think you have a different definition of "grown up" than I do.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dark Jimbo on 09 January, 2019, 05:34:44 PM
 :lol:
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 13 January, 2019, 03:05:44 PM
Been awhile since I found a show so in my wheel house I ended up binging the whole series in one sitting. But thats exactly what happened with AMC The Terror about the disastrous Franklin expedition to the North Pole and the fates that became the unfortunate, misguided explorers.

Oh, and theirs a demonic Polar Bear.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 13 January, 2019, 03:15:38 PM
Seconded for The Terror. It's very, very good.

In places, it's like Lord of the Flies with grown-ups, in others it makes me think of nothing so much as Brink, in as much you spend a lot of time watching human beings in an environment implacably hostile to them and wondering whether there really is a supernatural horror stalking them, or whether they're just all going mad.

After a couple of episodes, literally all they have to do is pan the camera across a snowscape accompanied by a slightly ominous key change in the score and the audience are practically shitting themselves.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 15 January, 2019, 05:28:43 PM
Blitzed my way through the whole of Titans  at the weekend - really enjoyed it. Very violent but adapts the main storylines of the comics well. Saddled somewhat by the inclusion of two of DC's sillier superheroes, Hawk & Dove, but as long as they don't spend much time in costume, they're not so bad. Glorious cameo from [spoiler]Doom Patrol a few episodes in (I understand they're getting their own spin off). No sign of Cyborg yet, but there's a post-credits teaser after the final ep showing Superboy busting Krypto out of a lab in Metropolis.[/spoiler]

The final episode featuring an [spoiler]imaginary scenario of Dick Grayson having to take down an out-of-control Batman was good fun -Badass Bruce![/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 15 January, 2019, 05:38:01 PM
wasn't too sure about Teen Titans, ( or should that be Pai-tans?  :-[), they all look so cherubic in the promo art, meantime for us grumpy old Bar Stewards, The Punisher is back on Friday series II with more dark, existentialist angst and extreme violence https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80117498 (https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80117498)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 15 January, 2019, 05:43:27 PM
I started Titans last night and watched a few episodes. Yes, very enjoyable, although a bit over-the-top with the violence maybe. [spoiler]Robin's got some major anger management issues, eh?[/spoiler]

It kinda works for the dark and edgy world they're portraying, though.

That bird couple were Hawk and Dove, were they? The names are familiar, but I don't know the characters.

After watching the first series of Guardians of Tomorrow very recently, I thought maybe these were another version of Hawkman and Hawgirl, without the Egyptian trappings and, well, proper wings. Hawk and Dove make more sense.

Oh and that spooky girl's other self is actually a bit unsettling! Or I'm just a big girl's blouse.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 15 January, 2019, 08:08:39 PM
The Deuce season 2.

Man, this show is so, so amazing. Along with GLOW and Marvelous Mrs Maisel this is probably my favourite show on TV right now. Crazy how overlooked it is. I feel like if it were on Netflix instead of HBO it'd be getting a lot more buzz.

Season 2 so far has been far less heavy and more 'fun' (for want of a better word) than season 1 was. The lives of the characters and their various plot threads feel far more interlinked now, and I'm even starting to like some of the pimp characters, especially Larry, whose storyline takes a really surprising turn this season, and it's really satisfying to see the power balance shifting (however slightly) in favour of the female characters.

Apparently it's been renewed for a third and final season, though I was relieved to find that the creators always intended for three and done, so it's great that we'll end up with a really great, complete, short run of a truly wonderful show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 16 January, 2019, 11:20:52 AM
Quote from: radiator on 15 January, 2019, 08:08:39 PM
The Deuce season 2.

By far the best TV show of 2018, script and performances are so good I'd rate it in the same league as The Wire and The Sopranos.

I've read there'll be another time jump in season 3 to the early 80's, should be a treat.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 16 January, 2019, 06:32:01 PM
It's weird - these days big budget vfx are so ubiquitous they've largely lost their ability to make an impression on me, and it's shows like The Deuce and Mrs Maisel, with their real life actual location shooting, incredible costumes and set dressing that really provide that wow factor I'm missing in blockbuster movies. It's insane how much attention to detail they pack into every little throwaway scene. In The Deuce you can almost smell the cigarette smoke.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Radbacker on 17 January, 2019, 07:03:03 AM
Titans recently which wasn't too bad but seemed to only be half a season the way it ended.
Been binging on Season 2 of Runaways, very good episode 6 or 7 being a particular standout though there are still another 6 episodes to go and I'm not sure where they are going to go with it now.  I remember reading the comics when they first came out but the storyline seems quite different in the series compared to the comics but the characters all seem pretty spot on as far as the actual Runaways go, the parents are no where near as evil and bad as they were in the comics infact said they are quite sympathetic in most cases (except Wilders mum she's just an outright bitch).  Definitely worth a watch.

Cu Radbacker
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Pyroxian on 17 January, 2019, 10:00:57 AM
Yes, I like what they've done with Runaways.

6 episodes into Titans, and enjoying it so far.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: oshii on 17 January, 2019, 03:08:35 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 13 January, 2019, 03:05:44 PM
Been awhile since I found a show so in my wheel house I ended up binging the whole series in one sitting. But thats exactly what happened with AMC The Terror

Where did you see it - is it only on BT?  I loved the book.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 21 January, 2019, 08:42:53 PM
Another vote for DAREDEVIL Season 3. After S2, I'd sworn off Marvel telly for a while (too much, too samey) so missed Ironfist, Defenders, Punisher and possibly second seasons of Jessica Jones and Luke Cage (if those exist).

But this is good stuff. I think it's the supporting character stuff. Fisks motivations are less confused this time and that suits a relentlessly focussed performance from D'Onforio.

And with Bullseye, the conflicted Fed, a good turn from Karen, Joanne Whalley's Nun (there's a phrase I've dreamt about), it all adds up to lots of people in compelling tricky situations.

Foggy is (more accurately, the actor) still a waste of space though.

I don't know enough of the comics to be offended/upset/have nerd rage about Bullseye's origin or the Nun thing but both work within the context of the show I'm watching.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 22 January, 2019, 04:23:30 PM
I watched all of Travellers in the last few weeks. I really enjoyed what seems to have been a fairly under-the-radar SF show. It's like Bodysnatchers from The Future, but they're good guys. Loved the timey-wimey things and the factional warfare as the timeines change, and quite enjoyed all the main cast as well. It never really reaches heights, but it never sinks low. Since the whole conceit is a literal Deus Ex Machina, I think it struggles with a main plotline - and certainly ends a bit abruptly on something of a loose thread. Still, worth a watch, and I wish they'd leaned more into the horrifically dark concepts they touch on in the first series.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 22 January, 2019, 11:42:23 PM
Barry

It was... alright/watchable enough. Great performance by Bill Hader, but I don't really think it lives up to all the awards recognition it got, and the premise of the series (hitman moves to LA to become an actor) seems a little hack, and kinda like a throwback to the 'relatable hitmen/bumbling gangsters' subgenre of every single indie movie from the mid-late 90s.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 23 January, 2019, 11:41:12 PM
Yay! THE GOOD PLACE is back.

"But you aren't allowed to pick anyone truly evil. So no serial killers, no dictators, nobody that managed a boy band..."
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 24 January, 2019, 12:33:13 AM

Rick and Morty. Superb.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 24 January, 2019, 10:53:32 AM
I enjoy Rick and Morty, but the number of fans who don't understand that Rick is a horrible, horrible person whose genius is only matched by his capacity for self-destruction (and the damage he causes to anyone around him) is a little tragic. Lots of people think he's something to emulate, and ironically (because of course) such people often think they're the only ones who really get R&M. Basically a meme on Reddit to say you like R&M and you are an intellectual.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 24 January, 2019, 11:27:30 AM

I don't think any of the characters in R&M are particularly likeable or worthy of emulation, which is one of the reasons I enjoy it so much - that and the wonderfully imaginative essence of the thing.

In other news, I've never watched The Walking Dead but saw the Seasons 1 to 7 box set in a pawn shop for thirty quid and took a punt. I feel a zombiefest coming on... (Also found the complete It Ain't Half Hot, Mum for silly cheap so snaffled that, too. Woo-hoo!)

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 24 January, 2019, 12:07:31 PM
I'm glad I encountered Rick and Morty before I encountered Rick and Morty fandom, because if it was the other way around I don't think I'd have bothered with the show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pauljholden on 24 January, 2019, 12:18:05 PM
Recommend the PATRIOT. SUPERB writing. CIA spy attempts to deliver money to Iran to stop the development of nuclear weapons, but first he has to take on the identity of guy who needs a job at a manufacturer, and it all goes wrong from there.

I's like what-if Jason bourne/James Bond but every single action has consequences that actually play out. And if the CIA was almost utterly incompetent at the most basic things even if the agent is practically superhuman.

(the agent who likes to relieve the ongoing and relentless pressure of work by writing and performing folk songs that are both ignored by everyone around him but actually confess every single thing he does in work)

It's brilliant and on amazon prime.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 24 January, 2019, 04:32:40 PM
Not usually a fan of spy thrillers, but your description intrigues me! may add this to my (already too long) watchlist.

As for Rick'n'Morty it is beyond weird seeing both voices coming out of one man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rngjaMKN-t4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rngjaMKN-t4)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 25 January, 2019, 01:31:56 PM
Steven Universe

Yes it's for kids but so what? It's bloody lovely. Imaginative, funny and exploring the complex and often painful emotional range of life in the sweetest, least patronising and most constructive way you could possibly conceive of. And yes that involves giant spaceships shaped like fists, as well as toxic relationships and the damage of secrets and the need to communicate, all in the backdrop of a millenia-spanning war by a group of misfit rebels and their hybrid charge against a rigid alien society that seeks to exploit the Earth for its resources.

I didn't watch for a long time despite knowing it fell in the Adventure Time venn diagram, but boy. So lovely.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 25 January, 2019, 01:33:35 PM
Steven Universe is the positive and wholesome content children and adults need right now. I adore it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 25 January, 2019, 02:22:57 PM
I want to stress though, it's not just because it's positive and wholesome. It's positive and wholesome whilst still acknowledging and talking about the messy and deeply wounding parts of life. Hell, one long-running sub-plot is about PTSD and how sometimes you just can't help people right now, but if you don't give up then maybe one day you can reach them.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 26 January, 2019, 09:20:16 PM

The Punisher, Season Two - The Enpunchening. Nearly thirteen hours of dysfunctional psychopaths knocking lumps out of each other, shooty shootouts, the application of blunt and heavy implements to tender regions and more blood than exists in the whole of New York State.

I enjoyed the Hell out of it!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 27 January, 2019, 11:23:27 PM
Got up to Bullseye in Daredevil S2 and ok, properly hooked again where before I was just interested. The FBI and Fisk is driving me nuts though. "We've got him under 24 hour surveillance apart from those big stretches with his lawyers and yo a guy literally got out of prison and ended up mysteriously dead in a newspaper office but who cares and boy, we won't bkther putting a camera in his bedroom. But yes we've got him under eye every second no chance he's playing us."
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 27 January, 2019, 11:44:51 PM
It becomes less implausible later when we find out just how deep Fisk's reach goes. And I am so dense - without the name and the costume it took me ages to twig that he was Bullseye - even when he started throwing office supplies around with deadly accuracy!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Enigmatic Dr X on 28 January, 2019, 08:06:01 AM
Anyone else suffer from an over-supply of telly? Oh to have three channels...

I'm like a telly magpie, flitting from one shiny thing to the next.

- Daredevil: watched first ten minutes
- Ozark: two episodes
- Safe: six
- You: two
- Preacher: to end of season 2
- Mr Robot: two episodes
- Lost in space: three

... and so on. That excludes the stuff we have decided NOT to watch (eg Better Call Saul, which I gave up on when my wife actually painted a wall I could watch dry... the real thing is more entertaining).

All are good but there's always something else and new, and so we pretend we'll go back to it.

In fact, I have started watching more films because that way I know I will get to the end.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 28 January, 2019, 09:20:46 AM
I'm with you.

A lot of the genre telly is no more than average at best. I can't afford 13 hrs on "Meh!?".

Dinosaurs and spaceships and superhero outfits were such rare sightings when I was young, I would watch any old shite. But now, you get dinosaurs in mineral water adverts.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 28 January, 2019, 12:15:09 PM

I don't have a tv, so all I watch are dvds and whatever my mates download for me. It's so much better than having the chattering cyclops squawking away in the corner all day and night, filling my ears with piffle and my heart with hoover bag overflow.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 28 January, 2019, 04:40:32 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 27 January, 2019, 11:44:51 PM
It becomes less implausible later when we find out just how deep Fisk's reach goes. And I am so dense - without the name and the costume it took me ages to twig that he was Bullseye - even when he started throwing office supplies around with deadly accuracy!

Literally just got to that point, yes.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 28 January, 2019, 06:40:36 PM
American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace, the snappily-titled follow up to The People Vs OJ Simpson from a few years ago. We actually watched episode one of this about a year ago, and then binged the rest a year later when it showed up on Netflix.

Like that series, it's essentially extremely well-produced trash TV - unashamedly exploitative and soapy, but also very entertaining, and much better than first appearances would suggest.

It's not really in the same league as the previous season - the OJ story murder trial is so much meatier a subject that a single TV series covering every aspect of it felt really satisfying, whereas the subject this time round honestly feels a bit stretched and padded over the course of an entire season. It also doesn't feel anywhere near as focused - there's an attempt to tie the story into a broader narrative about the persecution of gay men, but imo it's a bit too wide-ranging and as a topic doesn't really have all that much to do with the actual murder itself. We get a lot of backstory for most of the principal characters, and while it's all very well done, some of it does feel a little superfluous.

The Versace side of the story (which thankfully gets relatively little screen time) is far less interesting than the story of cut-rate Talented Mr Ripley figure Andrew Cunanan, and for reasons that never really became clear to me, the season plays out in reverse chronological order, Memento style. I'm guessing the writers had a reason for doing this, but to me it felt like a pointless gimmick, and as far as I'm concerned the series would have been much better if it just played out chronologically.

You also get the impression that the writers are taking a ton of liberties with the material - unlike the OJ trial, one of the most widely covered and documented media events in history, the actions and motives of Cunanan, as he killed himself shortly after his murder spree, remain largely shrouded in mystery - even his immediate family had no inkling. There are dozens of scenes in the show that can only have been purely fictionalised, as there would be no way anyone living would have witnessed them. We said some variation of "but how would they know that happened?" to each other a lot while watching.

Still, a decent watch. Next series is covering Katrina.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 29 January, 2019, 06:34:29 PM
The Americans.

Watched the first two episodes on Amazon Prime last night and was really impressed. Each of the episodes pack in a movies worth of plot, and the pacing and escalating sense of unease and tension really hooked me in. Great use of music too. And I've heard it just gets better from here on out. Good stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 31 January, 2019, 12:32:37 AM
Watched another 3 eps of The Americans last night and all I have to say is this show is really, really good. Bit of a hidden gem as far as I'm concerned. Every episode is like a mini movie, and unlike a lot of TV shows it moves at such a pace and trusts the audience to keep up, so it never feels like they're wasting your time.

I love how the plots are sometimes based around historical events - for example episode 4 revolves around the attempted assassination of Reagan and the Soviet attempt to steal the plans for what is obviously the Star Wars defence system, it's really gripping stuff. It's also nicely synced up as I just recently finished watching that exhaustive CNN doc series about the Cold War, which worked as a great primer.

For those who've never heard of it, I'll give you the pitch: its set in early 1980s Washington DC, where a married couple running a successful travel agency are in fact deep cover Soviet spies, having lived in the US for almost 20 years. They are married and have two children together (as part of their cover story) and the peculiar dynamic between them becomes really interesting as the story starts to unfold. It has some of the most intense, clever, borderline ludicrous (in a good way) twisty turny plotting I've seen in a show since Breaking Bad.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 08 February, 2019, 08:27:23 PM
Sorry to keep harping on about it - but The Americans really is an outstanding series. It's a bit too early to say as I'm only on season 3 so far, but it's seriously looking like it's going to join Breaking Bad and Sopranos on the 'best TV shows evar' list.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 08 February, 2019, 08:46:13 PM
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/97/6d/12/976d12453c98b20dde7dca85a7298983.jpg)

I know Im way too late to the party,but Downton Abbey.Which is easy to get hooked on.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 16 February, 2019, 04:26:53 PM
Just crashed my way thro American Gods and totally enjoyed it... season two in March  :D :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 16 February, 2019, 05:07:22 PM
I too am a tv magpipe .. picking up and dropping shows seemingly at whim ..

Started watching Star Trek : Discovery and really wanted to but do not like it. Michael is a one dimension Mary Sue who keeps failing up, no one follows orders, the new Klingons are dreadful and that MF'ing [spoiler]spore drive[/spoiler]

Watched Sabrina and Mary Sue strikes again, very surprised a pair of centuries old witches can't keep a handle on one teenage witch. And [spoiler]no talking Salem?? what in the name of the Dark Lord is going on here?[/spoiler]

Also started to watch Mars on Netflix which is a weird documentary / sci-fi series mashup. I don't think I'll be finishing that one.

Watched the Ted Bundy Tapes .. I must see if there's a thread about this on here somewhere. Enjoyed it but hated the way they glossed over the crimes to feed into Bundy myth ..

Also watched 'Abducted in Plain Sight', if you like shouting 'what the f**k?' at your monitor check this out. As someone else said .. you know this is messed up when the [spoiler]aliens[/spoiler] aren't even the weirdest part.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 16 February, 2019, 06:04:53 PM
Too early to be an addiction yet, but I've seen three episodes of Kingdom, and it's very enjoyable. Upper class Koreans had very flamboyant hats back then, didn't they? 😁

I also just started The Umbrella academy. Just one episode in, but I liked it. It's sort of a superhero thing, with a future plot point that could have been nicked from Heroes (although it probably wasn't) but it has some pretty weird stuff mixed in and it all works. Too early to tell how this will be, but it has a promising start.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 16 February, 2019, 09:03:54 PM
Any thoughts on Cloak and Dagger. While I don't normally do superhero telly for whatever reason this one intrigues me - well cos I loved them back in the day I guess - and I see Season 2 has started so I was wondering what thoughts folks had on Season one if any (see some quite positive things about the first couple of episodes).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 16 February, 2019, 11:43:53 PM
Cloak and Dagger is probably best enjoyed if you don't "do" much US teen telly, but if you do, its formulaic characters and tropes might stand out because of the lack of actual Cloak and Dagger appearances across the season.  Like the Runaways adaptation, it's more of a generic teen thriller with the Marvel licence bolted on.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 17 February, 2019, 01:13:12 PM

^^^^^ this,  standard us glossy teeen thing with a wee bit of SH powers added.

I'm similar to the above magpies, have tried and failed to continue half a dozen titles that I feel I should like but feel disconnected from,   Netflix fatigue.  desperately waiting on other to return
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 17 February, 2019, 03:48:40 PM
I liked Cloak and Dagger and felt the tone and presentation was actually rather different from what I associate most US teen stuff to be. Granted, I'm probably  out of touch there. And I seem to like most things so my recommendations might not be worthwhile.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dr Feeley Good on 17 February, 2019, 05:31:06 PM
Watching Das Boot on sky at the moment, 4 episodes in and it's the best series I've watched in ages....
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 17 February, 2019, 05:44:33 PM
Is that a reboot?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 17 February, 2019, 06:03:29 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 17 February, 2019, 05:44:33 PM
Is that a reboot?

(http://www.quickmeme.com/img/a4/a48492968c82bb520e3ebac6adc54fcef7a37979f0df2934dee9e2f9c60472b7.jpg)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 17 February, 2019, 08:05:28 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 17 February, 2019, 05:44:33 PM
Is that a reboot?

Nah, that's on the other foot ...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dr Feeley Good on 18 February, 2019, 09:36:30 AM
No, different sub and crew
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 22 February, 2019, 05:07:49 PM
Polished off the final episode of The Americans last night. 75 episodes done in under 4 weeks. Jesus, I need help. Though the show is perfectly bingeable, I almost wish I'd been watching it during its original airing so I could have really savoured each season and episode - burning through so much content so fast feels a little much, you know? Feel like my time with the show was so fleeting.

Anyway, amazing, amazing show - up there with the all time greats for me. And I loved the ending - without giving anything away, it doesn't go the way I was expecting (which I was really relieved about).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 22 February, 2019, 06:01:06 PM
Finally got around to Mad Men.

I love it but it depresses the shit out of me in equal measures.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 22 February, 2019, 07:53:54 PM
Just wondering what is it about Mad Men that you find depressing? There are sad parts, and there's a low key sense of existential angst and ennui I guess, but I never really found it sad or depressing to watch.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 24 February, 2019, 08:43:07 PM

The Umbrella Academy. Absolutely loving this! Intriguing story, compelling characters, arresting style and wonderful soundtrack. Well worth your time.



Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 24 February, 2019, 08:52:10 PM
Quote from: radiator on 22 February, 2019, 07:53:54 PM
Just wondering what is it about Mad Men that you find depressing? There are sad parts, and there's a low key sense of existential angst and ennui I guess, but I never really found it sad or depressing to watch.


I'm not sure to be honest. I love the programme but everytime I watch it I feel quite down after it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 26 February, 2019, 07:56:04 PM
Is it because everyone is so limited?

My favourite scene (well) was from when they had the picnic and when they were finished they just threw the rubbish everywhere and left. It was so shocking but people used to do that!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 06 March, 2019, 06:45:02 PM
Am loving THE AMERICANS.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 06 March, 2019, 07:06:40 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 06 March, 2019, 06:45:02 PM
Am loving THE AMERICANS.

Me too - just finished Season Two.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 06 March, 2019, 08:47:51 PM
Yes! More people need to watch this show!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 06 March, 2019, 09:05:53 PM
Another thing I loved about The Americans is that they don't overplay the period setting. So many shows and movies set in a specific time period really wallow in all of the aesthetics and little pop culture references (Stranger Things is the worst example of this) whereas The Americans keeps it somewhat lowkey for the most part. I also really loved the music - both the score and the use of licensed tracks. Much like GLOW - another great 80s set show, they tend to avoid big obvious tracks and often go for slightly deeper cuts.

I loved the recurring use of Fleetwood Mac. They don't do it often, but when they do, you know shits about to go down.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 06 March, 2019, 09:07:19 PM
Fleabag

Wow! This is fantastic. Laugh out loud with a really, really dark heart.

I binged on the seven episodes available today and now the Missus is watching it.

Pretty darn brilliant.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 06 March, 2019, 09:22:45 PM
Fleabag is great
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 06 March, 2019, 09:39:45 PM
Aw, for a minute I thought you meant they'd dropped the whole of season 2 on BBC3, but sadly not, going to have to wait. Episode one was so good. The double bill with Partridge may almost get me watching network telly again at preset broadcast times - naaah, catch-up's still easier.

How quickly lifelong habits change: my folks still can't get their head around TVOD ("but how do you know what time it's on?"  ::)) but I've totally got out of the habit of checking TV schedules, the idea almost seems quaint.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 06 March, 2019, 10:05:33 PM
I've been streaming only for 5 years. Watching 'live' TV feels so jarring to me now - I don't know how anyone can stand it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 07 March, 2019, 07:59:41 AM
Watched the first episode of the new Partridge series.

Tbh I wasn't impressed.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Pyroxian on 07 March, 2019, 10:27:10 AM
Quote from: Mattofthespurs on 07 March, 2019, 07:59:41 AM
Watched the first episode of the new Partridge series.

Tbh I wasn't impressed.

I thought the second one was better.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 07 March, 2019, 11:13:11 AM
Yes, the first was a little subdued, but the second one was far better
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 07 March, 2019, 11:33:21 AM
I'll give the 2nd episode a go then.

Interesting to see that according to some sources the audience dropped off by a 3rd for the 2nd episode.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JamesC on 07 March, 2019, 11:39:33 AM
The second episode was definitely better.
I think the character has strayed a little too far from reality. At his best he was only a slight nudge down the sliding scale from Richard Madely. Now he keeps doing exagerated funny voices when he's supposedly delivering serious links.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 08 March, 2019, 04:54:57 PM
After Life. This is Ricky Gervais' new TV series.


Now, I'm a big fan of Gervais. Like 90% of what he does but this misses the mark quite a bit.


Having said that I've only watched the first 4 episodes and am expecting him  [spoiler]to become a reformed character who finds a new lease of life after feeling suicidal following the death of his Wife of 25 years from cancer.[/spoiler]


The problem I have with it is basically it's Gervais on Twitter. He digs all the usual stuff and swears a lot [spoiler]the word cunt is used quite a bit. At first it's mildly amusing in schoolboy fashion (and not a patch on the way it's used in Fleabag[/spoiler] but the main problem I have it's the way it's been filmed.


Each episode features certain scenes, which you just know where filmed together. So, a scene with a postman. A scene with his therapist. A scene in the office. A scene with his drug dealer...and so on and so on. No problem with this as such (saves money after all) but generally they are deposited into each episode in the same order and so it just seems like Gervais (being Gervais, not Tony his character) doing the same thing every single episode ([spoiler]and then saying the word cunt a lot or getting other characters to say the word instead)[/spoiler]

Also, he's a prick. ([spoiler]Which, as I have explained, I expect to change...Except I might not be around long enough to witness it as there are far better things on TV to be watching than this[/spoiler]


Would be interested to hear other views.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 08 March, 2019, 05:40:09 PM
Not seen this but the more of Gervais I see, the more I think the 'prick' persona is more than a comic character. He can be incredibly funny, but I imagine he's the sort of person I would really dislike if I had to spend any time with him.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 08 March, 2019, 05:52:22 PM
To be fair the interviews I have seen with him where he is 'normal' he genuinely seems like a decent bloke but nowadays his stance is simply 'out to shock'.

Now I don't know about you but I use the word [spoiler]cunt[/spoiler] on an almost daily basis. Probably because I go to football matches and support Spurs.


So it's not exactly shocking anymore. I also use the word in self reference quite a lot. (I am, it's true).


As this is the last bastion of swears perhaps we could come up with something else?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 08 March, 2019, 10:05:47 PM
Got no problem with the c word, I'm very difficult to shock or offend, but I base a lot of my opinion on the plethora of interviews that Gervais, Merchant and Pilkington have given over the years. They openly talk of Gervais being a "bully" - someone who will do an annoying thing in your face until you react, or mercilessly take the piss out of one of the group, but it's okay because it's funny. I've known many people like that, funny as fuck in the pub when their spotlight is turned on someone else, and thus very well known and popular, but it's shitty to have to grin and bear it when you're on the thick end of the bantz.

I love the Office, Extras, his series of tour DVDs (hated Derek), so I consider myself a fan - that sort of character does generate good comedy, but I reckon I'd not get on with him in real life*.


*see also John Cleese
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 09 March, 2019, 08:20:27 AM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 08 March, 2019, 10:05:47 PM
Got no problem with the c word, I'm very difficult to shock or offend, but I base a lot of my opinion on the plethora of interviews that Gervais, Merchant and Pilkington have given over the years. They openly talk of Gervais being a "bully" - someone who will do an annoying thing in your face until you react, or mercilessly take the piss out of one of the group, but it's okay because it's funny. I've known many people like that, funny as fuck in the pub when their spotlight is turned on someone else, and thus very well known and popular, but it's shitty to have to grin and bear it when you're on the thick end of the bantz.


[spoiler]Which is exactly what he does to his Wife in the series. The first time it's mildly amusing but by the 3rd or 4th time I just sat there thinking 'prick'.[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 09 March, 2019, 05:51:16 PM
I think The Office is the only good thing he's ever done.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 09 March, 2019, 06:43:18 PM

I think Extras was very good as well.

I'd love to see him do something with Peter Kay.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 09 March, 2019, 08:47:35 PM
Extras had its moments (the Patrick Stewart episode, mostly) but I found it largely self indulgent and cringey in all the wrong ways.

His stand ups I always found painfully unfunny.

The longer his career goes on, the more clear to me it is that The Office was a fluke.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 09 March, 2019, 08:58:58 PM

"All their clothes had rotted off..."

"...but it was too late, I'd already seen everything."

Classic!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 09 March, 2019, 10:40:08 PM
Doom Patrol Episode 4... You saw that, right? I didn't imagine that...?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rately on 13 March, 2019, 01:30:28 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 09 March, 2019, 10:40:08 PM
Doom Patrol Episode 4... You saw that, right? I didn't imagine that...?

There's a Doom Patrol TV show??  :o

Please tell me it is watchable!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 13 March, 2019, 05:38:25 PM
yup, currently only available on the DCU channel so I've not seen it yet, but for a teaser, watch episode 4 of Titans on Netflix
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 13 March, 2019, 06:49:14 PM
Currently working my way through Brave Police J Decker, the 1994 entry in Takaras Brave series of super mecha shows. Delightfully entertaining and blissfully self aware without coming at the expense of characters or genre tropes, J Decker has rightly earned is resurgence in popularity.
(https://66.media.tumblr.com/e7bd6801f514c8dd0acaf06419a6df1d/tumblr_myt5vpyS6p1rm8z9ao1_500.gif)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rately on 13 March, 2019, 08:47:21 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 13 March, 2019, 05:38:25 PM
yup, currently only available on the DCU channel so I've not seen it yet, but for a teaser, watch episode 4 of Titans on Netflix

Fantastic!

Thanks for the info.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 14 March, 2019, 03:53:33 PM
Agents of Shield.

It's alright.  A bit of fun. Marvel TV version of Scooby Doo.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 14 March, 2019, 06:34:17 PM
That reminds me, I found an Inhumans series the other week, buried deep in the lower reaches of Freeview on Pick TV - these are the comic version rather than the Agents of Shield portrayal - Maximus has taken over Attilan and Black Bolt is stranded on Earth, the rest of the Royal family are spread across America looking for him. That's about as far as I got as Pick TV is one of the channels that my dodgy aerial can't cope with and the constant pixellated freezes made the rest unwatchable. Seemed rather lightweight in tone with none of the grimness of other modern TV supes.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 17 March, 2019, 01:59:44 AM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 09 March, 2019, 10:40:08 PM
Doom Patrol Episode 4... You saw that, right? I didn't imagine that...?

Yeah.......Yeah.......

Aye......


Yeah......

I like this show.


Thanks for bringing it to my attention Jim.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 17 March, 2019, 01:13:07 PM

Dark Matter. Just finished Season One and enjoyed it quite a lot. Half a dozen people come out of suspended animation aboard a drifting starship with no memory of who they are or why they are there. Cue lots of paranoia, fragments of recovered memories and plenty of shooty goodness. It kinda' puts me in mind of a cross between The Expanse and Farscape.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 18 March, 2019, 05:37:17 PM

The Americans, S03E09 - the old lady and her pills... Wow. Just brilliant.

This show started off good and is steadily getting better.


Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 18 March, 2019, 06:57:23 PM
Oof, that was a brutal one. It isn't an extremely graphic show for the most part, but somehow includes some of the gnarliest, most stomach-turning sequences I've ever seen in a TV show.

I'll also mention 'the suitcase' as a particularly unwatchable bit, and another sequence I think from season 6 I'll just refer to as 'the fire axe'....  :o
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 18 March, 2019, 07:01:34 PM
Oh, and the 'home dentistry' scene. Jeez... Incredible use of editing and audio in that one.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 18 March, 2019, 07:26:52 PM

That South African necklace...

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 18 March, 2019, 07:53:00 PM
QuoteThat South African necklace...

It just clicked what you were referring to. I'd actually forgotten about that! Wowzers.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 18 March, 2019, 07:58:26 PM
The scene in the episode preceding that with Fleetwood Mac's 'The Chain' is amazing. I think I rewatched it about three times.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 18 March, 2019, 08:27:29 PM

One of the best things I've watched in ages - easily on a par with The Sopranos, The Shield and Breaking Bad for me.


Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 18 March, 2019, 10:02:14 PM
Currently rewatching the entirety of Game of Thrones.

What's really apparent rewatching all these years later is that season 1 is lightning in a bottle - a pretty much perfect adaptation of the novel where (certain budget limitations aside) they just nail every scene of every episode - and that the show as a whole never really delivered on the promise of those opening 10 episodes. I think most people acknowledge that the shows quality has declined somewhat in recent years, but imo even by season 2, episode 1 it's already starting to get somewhat patchy in terms of plotting, dialogue and performances.

There are certain sequences that are truly exceptional - I just rewatched the Hound v Beric Dondarrion trial by combat which is absolutely incredible, and the Jaime/Brienne bathhouse scene is as good as anything the show has ever done - but certain scenes and plotlines really drag on a rewatch - namely most of the Robb Stark stuff, Danaerys' entire season 2 plotline and pretty much every scene involving Shae, who is just really not a good actor, and she really bogs down almost everything to do with Tyrion until the end of season 4.

There's also a certain irreverence and immaturity to the show from season 2 onward. It's like every single scene has to have something repulsive either happening or being discussed and to really wallow in it. And the show has always had that rep, but if you actually go back, season 1 really isn't like that. There's some gross stuff, yes, but it's far more restrained and frankly takes itself a bit more seriously than what came later.

On a more positive note, I'm even more impressed with the visual design and especially the costuming than I was originally - it's truly phenomenal. Right from the very start, it's clear that they have put so much thought into having instantly recognisable looks and suits of armour for each of the main factions, and they just nail it, from the modest blue uniforms of the Ironborn to the derpy leather caps of the weasly Freys.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 18 March, 2019, 10:07:00 PM

Damn it - now you've got me craving a re-watch...

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 18 March, 2019, 10:53:14 PM
Oh, another absolutely amazing bit is the end of season 3 episode 4 where Dany takes command of the Unsullied. Could not ask for that to have been executed better.

Emilia Clarke isn't the best actress in the world, but I don't think she's as bad as people make out - she's great in that scene. I kinda wish the show had portrayed her more similarly to how she is in the books where she feigns naivety and uses her enemies preconceptions of her gender to her advantage a lot more - show Dany often comes across as very one note.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 21 March, 2019, 08:16:48 PM

This Titans is a bit good. Just seen the two Robins episode and loved it. Also enjoyed Black Lightning - which has more beautiful women per square inch than any other show.


Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 25 March, 2019, 11:53:02 PM
Welp, dipped my toe back into the extended Transformers mythology with VICTORY. It's silly, it's daft, it's well animated. It can only be an anime from the far off year of 1990.

(https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/758/189/d7f.gif)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 26 March, 2019, 09:38:24 AM
Quote from: radiator on 18 March, 2019, 10:53:14 PM
Emilia Clarke isn't the best actress in the world, but I don't think she's as bad as people make out - she's great in that scene. I kinda wish the show had portrayed her more similarly to how she is in the books where she feigns naivety and uses her enemies preconceptions of her gender to her advantage a lot more - show Dany often comes across as very one note.
She's a woman in a lead role and will therefore be 'made out' to be awful no matter what her talents, but she's especially spectacular when she shifts into Dothraki or Valyrian.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 29 March, 2019, 12:44:25 AM
Continue to enjoy SEASON 2 of THE EXPANSE and just finished Season 1 of THE AMERICANS. Both excellent telly.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: athorist on 07 April, 2019, 04:15:06 PM
Rewatching Farscape on prime video, because it's less hassle than getting my DVDs out. Still great, a few of the CGI shots haven't aged well (but not bad for about 20 years old)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 07 April, 2019, 05:39:27 PM
yeah, just saw that this has been added to Prime - its on my (too long) watchlist. It really went off the boil in later seasons, but I can't wait to rewatch the early ones (ah, Chiana *sigh*)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 09 April, 2019, 11:05:48 PM
So farewell to FLEABAG. Not seen it? I suggest you inge both series in two nights straight. Awesomely written and acted, funny, brilliantly observed and more than a little heart breaking.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CalHab on 10 April, 2019, 11:49:56 AM
Sabrina is back for another series. For a cheesy and often poorly acted series, it still seems to be remarkably entertaining.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trooper McFad on 14 April, 2019, 09:34:55 PM
For those that like the Zombie genre I've just finished "Black Summer" on Netflix and it was pretty good and frustrating at the same time (everyone in the world should know how to kill a Zombie/undead even at the start of the apocalypse!!) Would watch a 2nd series if they get the go ahead.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 16 April, 2019, 11:46:41 PM
End of Season 2 of THE AMERICANS has a genius reveal for the central mystery which turns relationships on their head and ups the stakes for next season. A fantastic bit of writing in a great series.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 17 April, 2019, 02:13:11 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 16 April, 2019, 11:46:41 PM
End of Season 2 of THE AMERICANS has a genius reveal for the central mystery which turns relationships on their head and ups the stakes for next season. A fantastic bit of writing in a great series.

I know exactly what you mean, and yep.....
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 18 April, 2019, 08:06:54 PM
For anyone curious about (or actively watching) The Americans, this short video essay gives a really good overview of the series and what makes it so compelling.

It's mildly spoilery regarding the general premise and themes of the show, but doesn't go into any particular plot specifics. I personally don't think it would spoil much if anything about the experience of watching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgF8S7eTjxE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgF8S7eTjxE)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 01 May, 2019, 05:27:06 PM
I've been working my way through Seinfeld on Amazon - got an e-mail saying licence runs out on 30th April so binged the final 6 episodes last night, even though the last 2 were after midnight. Oddly seasons 4 & 5 are still available (the best IMO) but the rest have now gone.

Who would have thought you could craft 180 funny shows out of such irredeemably horrible, shallow and selfish characters? I would tell you all I know about spongeworthy antidentites, Festivus, Jimmy-legs, toe-thumbs and urban sombreros, yada yada yada, but I can't, it's in the vault.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 01 May, 2019, 10:20:04 PM
Yet somehow, I like them a 1000 times more than the similar characters in Always Sunny. Which I just can't watch.

George has to be one of the best and most believable comedy characters ever created.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 02 May, 2019, 12:21:57 AM
I know what you mean - I watched the first half a dozen of those and it didn't grab me - yet it's a hit show, so what do we know?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 02 May, 2019, 01:04:05 AM
I watched about two seasons of Always Sunny years back, and I liked it, but after that many episodes I just thought 'Ok, I get it'.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 04 May, 2019, 11:09:02 AM
Keeping the Takara super mech train running by devouring King of Braves GaoGaiGar. It's a hell of a lot of fun and really does feel like the finale to the entire saga, concluding arcs from previous Brave series and upping the stakes. It's also brilliantly animated. Such fun.

(https://66.media.tumblr.com/f0a60c89824c837c532de16517955f1f/tumblr_ojmo586Scm1rjxyrgo1_400.gif)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 06 May, 2019, 10:11:49 AM
We've been slowly rewatching through Seinfeld too and are on Season 4, it's been great to just stick an episode on when we've got a spare 20mins. Still reliably brilliant, the other night we got to The Contest, which is such a fantastically written sitcom episode.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 07 May, 2019, 02:10:36 AM
Watched the second series of the Tick. So much fun. When Lady Justice calls your name, will you send her to the answer machine? Or will you hit the green phone icon of destiny, and spring two fisted on to the path of heroism!?

Love the opening credits, love the supporting stars, love every bit of this almost as much as I love the Tick cartoon.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 07 May, 2019, 11:28:54 AM
Is that the Peter Serafinowitz one? Cool, enjoyed the first series. Did you know that there was another live action Tick series which you can find on Amazon Prime? Very different take, but it has it's charms.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 07 May, 2019, 11:48:59 AM
Yes indeed - and yes, I did know. Starring Joe from Family Guy no less! Who is a great Tick, but from what I saw of that series as a youngling it was a little ahead of its time in what was actually achievable for 'superheroes'. After the glorious silliness of the cartoon show, the superhero banter at a diner (SuperNightHawks) fell a little short.

Season 2 is *great*.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 07 May, 2019, 07:45:11 PM
I enjoyed The Tick a lot. Both live action incarnations. (I haven't seen all of the cartoon, but I remember enjoying that too.)

I tend to be cynical of remakes of I liked the original, but the Serafonwitz works very well. I miss a couple of the characters from the more sitcommy previous version though. But there are others, that are good.

Latest series I've been watching: I binged both series of Cobra Kai recently. While I find some of the acting a bit cheesy, (or maybe it's more an 'acting style thing. It feels rather eighties, albeit being set in the present day) I really do like it. Like how it's as much about Danny's previous nemesis Johnny Lawrence as Danny himself, if not more so. I really like how it fleshes out the character more, and the new kid characters are okay.

I never thought I'd see an episode about guys who were former bullies and come very close to tears. In a good way. Great stuff.

Very much looking forward to Season 3.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 08 May, 2019, 04:58:21 PM
Yes, no Batmanuel/Die Fledermaus, American Maid or The Living Doll (I imagine he might make an appearance though... You can't beat me, I'm made of tinier men! Maybe he was just a cartoon thing).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 16 May, 2019, 12:12:55 AM
BARRY with Bill Hader as a hitman in Hollywood is excellent!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 16 May, 2019, 01:35:18 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 16 May, 2019, 12:12:55 AM
BARRY with Bill Hader as a hitman in Hollywood is excellent!

Yep - mentioned this a few pages back. Season 2 is even better.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 16 May, 2019, 11:15:22 AM
A couple of things stand out for me; the fantastic cast of supporting characters (Henry Winkler is having a ball, it would seem) and the economy of the story telling. Within about two minutes of the first episode you've learnt about Barry, his job and his emotional mental state. Within five minutes you have the basic story premise laid out for you. And then they start building on that.

Plus so far the action has all been clear, laid out and essential to moving the story forward.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 16 May, 2019, 05:35:13 PM
The cast are all excellent - Bill Hader, as well as being incredibly funny has serious dramatic chops. The actress who plays Sally is amazing - I gather she doesn't have a lot of screen credits but is a big deal serious stage actress, and it shows. Winkler is great, and Stephen Root is brilliant as ever.

But the clear standout is the guy who plays Hank - never seen him in anything before, but he's one of the most naturally funny performers and characters I've seen in recent years. Almsot everything he says is instantly quotable.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 16 May, 2019, 05:36:27 PM
There's an episode midway through season 2 (directed by Hader himself) that is essentially a single location short film that plays out in real time. It's outstandingly good.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Apestrife on 25 May, 2019, 05:23:33 PM
True detective season 3. Was alright. Wish it had more family stuff. Would'v made the ending more interesting I think.  Not seen season 2, good?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 25 May, 2019, 06:12:36 PM

Quote from: Jim_Campbell
link=topic=37461.msg1002620#msg1002620
date=1552171208

Doom Patrol Episode 4... You saw that, right? I
didn't imagine that...?

Just got to it - a disembodied blue horse's head with a spike in it, chewing gum of knowing, and assassins made out of dead skin and letters that were never sent (amongst other insanities).

This is one gloriously mad show and I f*cking Love It!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 25 May, 2019, 09:51:54 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 25 May, 2019, 06:12:36 PM
This is one gloriously mad show and I f*cking Love It!

Yeah... it's as mad as a sack of badgers, but brilliant. The fact they don't put a credit in there for Grant Morrison strikes a slightly sour note for me, but I never thought I'd see the day when a TV show threw this much of G-Moz's Doom Patrol at the screen.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 25 May, 2019, 10:54:57 PM

I've never read the comics so I don't know what to expect - but this is a Good Thing as it's all new to me. I find most of the DC stuff pretty bland, with one or two notable exceptions, but this is utterly superb so far.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 26 May, 2019, 11:13:25 AM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 25 May, 2019, 10:54:57 PM
I've never read the comics so I don't know what to expect - but this is a Good Thing as it's all new to me. I find most of the DC stuff pretty bland, with one or two notable exceptions, but this is utterly superb so far.

It's basically a smash-and-grab raid on the Morrison/Case Doom Patrol run, which is also brilliant. The 'Underground' episode, for example, is pretty much a straight lift of the same issue from the comic.

It's fair to say that Case isn't the greatest artist who ever lived, but at the same time he drew the overwhelming majority of Morrison's forty-odd issues and I can imagine many artists looking at just one of Mozza's scripts and throwing the pages out of the window with a cry of "How the fuck am I supposed to draw any of that?"

One of my favourite runs of any comic, ever.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 26 May, 2019, 12:50:35 PM
I watched the first two series of The OA recently.

Very interesting and very weird. The second series works particularly well in being rather different from the first, yet continuing the story well.

Good characters. Endearing lead actress. And kinda nuts. [spoiler]Those freaky moves... amusing or kinda scary, with all those faces and hissing, etc? A bit of both?

It's interesting that the second series introduced the idea that the movements can be replicated with machines, meaning that extra-dimensional travellers need not find a new gang of five every time they want to hop -(although, I'd have thought constructing automatons every time could be just as difficult in it's own way. Once you've done it, you need not do so again, I guess, should you learn to select your destination).

I always thought there was a spiritual aspect to using the five however. How do robots leave their home doors open? Yes, that last question just shows how weird this show is.[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rately on 29 May, 2019, 04:18:37 PM
Quote from: radiator on 16 May, 2019, 05:35:13 PM
The cast are all excellent - Bill Hader, as well as being incredibly funny has serious dramatic chops. The actress who plays Sally is amazing - I gather she doesn't have a lot of screen credits but is a big deal serious stage actress, and it shows. Winkler is great, and Stephen Root is brilliant as ever.

But the clear standout is the guy who plays Hank - never seen him in anything before, but he's one of the most naturally funny performers and characters I've seen in recent years. Almsot everything he says is instantly quotable.

Henry Winkler and Stephen Root? I'm in!!!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 07 June, 2019, 12:09:37 PM
For all history buffs and people out there watch Chernobyl.  This is great 5 part mini-series on the what and how of the nuclear disaster. This was the bullet or the event that started the fall of Soviet Union.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Pyroxian on 07 June, 2019, 02:02:58 PM
Quote from: broodblik on 07 June, 2019, 12:09:37 PM
For all history buffs and people out there watch Chernobyl.  This is great 5 part mini-series on the what and how of the nuclear disaster. This was the bullet or the event that started the fall of Soviet Union.

Yes, it's amazing. There's also an accompanying podcast (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUeHPCYtWYQ , but also available from other podcast places)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 07 June, 2019, 08:26:46 PM
Quote from: broodblik on 07 June, 2019, 12:09:37 PM
For all history buffs and people out there watch Chernobyl.  This is great 5 part mini-series on the what and how of the nuclear disaster. This was the bullet or the event that started the fall of Soviet Union.

The highest-rated TV show* of all time, no less. I was sceptical of the hype, but John Wagner recommended it as the best TV show he's ever seen, which can't be ignored.

I'm struck by how closely Soviet-era Ukraine resembles eighties Scotland and can't help thinking this is exactly the kind of show the BBC was making back then, before bosses became dazzled by the idea of selling glossy melodrama to the global middle class.


* On IMDB (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7366338/)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 08 June, 2019, 02:25:05 PM
Mars. Okay, 375% too much Elon Musk (there's no safe dosage), and some of the perils were ludicrously contrived (lower a camera and a torch into that bottomless cavern before you try an actual person), but what a neat little gem of a thing that was. There were real groans frpm the kids when the mission was cancelled, and an actual cheer went up in our living room when those [spoiler]wriggly wotsits appeared on Marta's microscope[/spoiler] - that's how much the family was into it by the end. Ulifting and educational - now get on with it, people!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bolt-01 on 10 June, 2019, 04:34:14 PM
Over the last two nights we've watched 'When they see us' on Netflix. We knew nothing of the story so went in largely blind.

The first of the four episodes is absolutely awful to watch - and I think that is deliberate. The treatment of the children involved in this story is horrific. Very few of the adult cast come out of this well.

The story as a whole is gripping and on the main it is superbly acted. Well worth watching.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: karlos on 10 June, 2019, 10:15:04 PM
The 70s kids show Shadows is currently showing on Talking Pictures channel daily at 5pm.

As all anthologies go, the quality varies but overall it's a great little show and drips atmosphere.

And surely it was an influence on misty?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: IndigoPrime on 11 June, 2019, 02:01:14 PM
Has Russian Doll already been mentioned on this thread? It starts off a bit Groundhog Day, but veers into some pretty messed-up places. Really smart stuff, and I suspect the general way it works would appeal to fans of 2000 AD Time Twisters and the like.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 11 June, 2019, 02:02:43 PM
I really loved Russian Doll - in fact, I might give it a rewatch to spot all those subtly changing details, which I never do so soon after watching something.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Apestrife on 11 June, 2019, 07:02:25 PM
Cowboy Bebop. Utterly brilliant. Feels like I got "You're going to carry that weight" tattooed on my soul.

And with that happy pill of a series finished watching, now I'm on to continue watching Chernobyl. Watched the first ep. As amazing as it was terrifying. Which was alot.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 15 June, 2019, 04:03:46 PM
Watched the Russian Doll series on Netflix recently.

I wasn't keen on the first episode,.although the Groundhog Day type scenario was intriguing, so I decided to stick with it.

I'm glad I did. It's a bit of a slow burner* but it got very interesting. And the characters I found annoying grew on me.

Watching Jessica Jones. Season 3 now. Only 2 episodes in, but it's okay so far.

Also watching What they do in the Shadows TV series on BBC iPlayer, where they're releasing 2 episodes a time.Quite good, and pretty amusing. Kind of more of the same, when compared to the film but not in a bad way. By 'same' I mean similar humour, not repeating storyline and jokes. Lovers of the film [spoiler]might get a kick out of episode 7 especially.
[/spoiler]
*If I'd watched it weekly, I'm not sure I'd have stuck with it, but it worked well binged.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Apestrife on 17 June, 2019, 08:46:54 PM
Finished Chernobyl this weekend. In short, amazing. For me it's up there with The Wire and Generation kill when it comes to HBO.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 18 June, 2019, 05:51:45 PM
I've just discovered Star Trek Continues (https://www.startrekcontinues.com/episodes.html), and it's really rather good - far superior to Discovery. I've only downloaded the first six episodes so far but have already seen some smile-inducing guest stars such as ex-Who Colin Baker and the awesome Lou Ferrigno (playing an Orion slaver - painted green again!), as well as Marina Sirtis and Michael Dorn lending their voices to computers.

Absolutely worth watching!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 18 June, 2019, 08:49:06 PM
It was certainly curious to watch but thinking on, I couldn't figure why I'd want to watch something made today with fifty year old production values. The novelty wore thin pretty quick for me.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 19 June, 2019, 07:56:15 AM
Finally got around to watching the first four episode of the first series of Killing Eve.

It's rather good.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 20 June, 2019, 10:41:55 PM
I'm actually really enjoying Russell T Davies' YEARS AND YEARS on iPlayer.

I didn't get on with it at first but the complex characters, wild ambition and great performances (even Tovey) have won me over.

That and dialogue like; "He's the sort of person that gets really happy when they find a big crisp!".
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 21 June, 2019, 01:51:54 AM
Just watched A Touch of Cloth (3 episodes; 2012-2014), which I'd been unaware of until Amazoon stuck it in front of my face a few days ago.  It's like every British crime drama meets Police Squad.  Hilarious.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 23 June, 2019, 07:28:14 PM
Currently watching Legion series 2.

It's kinda nuts. I... think I like it. I'm happy with a bit of surrealism but this pushes the boundaries although it is more understandable as it goes on. Mostly.

I have yet to reach the end and they haven't yet explained the [spoiler]egg hatched abomination or the minotaur* or why those ANDROID LADIES HAVE MOUSTACHES! Or what's with that bloke wearing the basket on his head most of the time.[/spoiler]

*Is it just another type of mutant?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 24 June, 2019, 07:19:34 PM

Just finished Star Trek Continues and, I have to admit, the last episode left me with a fanboy grin and a tear in my eye.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: abelardsnazz on 24 June, 2019, 08:28:10 PM
Started Too Old to Die Young, as I'm a fan of Nicolas Winding Refn's films. I suspect this will be as divisive, as an hour into the first episode, there have been several scenes of not much happening, with flickering neon in the background and a synth soundtrack. I understand fully those who will view this as pretentious claptrap, however I'm already mesmerised and plan to watch the whole thing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 06 July, 2019, 12:45:36 AM
So happy to see Stranger Things back - blasted through the first five and I'm enjoying it immensely
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 07 July, 2019, 03:54:52 AM
Black Spot* - a French series (2 on Netflix at the moment) about cops in a small remote  town very close to a huge forest. Much of the episodes involve solving a murder. But there's a bit of supernatural shenanigans afoot too.

Enjoying it a lot. Highly recommended. Series 1 completed, and working my way through 2 now.


* The original name in French is Zone Blanche ... 'Blanche' actually meaning 'white', but I can sort of see why they decided to go with 'black' for the translation. Kinda wish they hadn't though.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 07 July, 2019, 09:44:10 AM
Translations of French series/film titles are almost universally awful. Mind you, most do seem to involve murders in towns in/near large forests with are-they-aren't-they supernatural elements, so maybe it's a feature of the genre.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 07 July, 2019, 10:10:23 AM
"White zone" doesn't mean anything in English. "Black spot" does. Translation sometimes needs to be idiomatic, not just literal changing of each word in isolation.

You can all still feel free to get annoyed about Engrenages/Spiral though, as that really is a pointless change.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 07 July, 2019, 12:43:52 PM
As I'm sure I've noted before on this very thread, French Silence-of-the-Lambs rip Glacé was translated as The Frozen Dead, an awful title that does it few favours since the idiom employed has little to do with the original title or content (hint: few if any of the corpses are actually frozen, but many of the characters are emotionally distant and cannot move on), and a lot of unavoidable associations with zombies.  But then a direct translation might have been legally difficult.  Maybe I should let it go.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 08 July, 2019, 01:52:34 AM
Quote from: I, Cosh on 07 July, 2019, 10:10:23 AM
"White zone" doesn't mean anything in English. "Black spot" does. Translation sometimes needs to be idiomatic, not just literal changing of each word in isolation.

I understand that. I guess 'white zone' still makes some sense to me as it make me think of white noise, and mobile phones and other electrical goods tend not to work well I'm the area.

I also tend to associate 'black spot' with the area being inherently evil, or at least bad, something which could be arguable considering the proportionally high murder rate, but the forest gives as well as takes, protects as well as kills. Black spot can also mean a troubled area too, and yes, it is that. [spoiler]A lot of the evil perpetuated in the series isn't done by supernatural beings but by people. Like Life on Mars Black Spot is very much a police procedural with people committing crimes with the supernatural stuff largely being only marginally involved, although a couple of times it has aided in resolving crimes. It does becomes more prevalent in series 2.  When the supernatural does hurt or kill someone, it is largely retaliatory in nature.[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Krakajac on 08 July, 2019, 07:52:59 AM
I've just finished watching both seasons of 'Dark' on NETFLIX - a German 'time-travel shenanigans' series. 

I've had a quick look through previous pages of this thread, but couldn't find any reviews - there's probably one in there somewhere?

I avoided the dodgy English dub - and watched it with the original German audio and English sub-titles.

It's not perfect - but it damn near held my interest for all 18 episodes of Seasons 1 and 2.  Apparently there's a third season in the works.

It's beautifully filmed as well.  Having lived my entire life in Australia/NZ, I always enjoy seeing euro-fashion/design, etc.  It also has a cracking sound-track.

Hopefully it will see a release on bluray at some point (not sure if that happens with NETFLIX releases or not).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 08 July, 2019, 10:18:09 AM
Only seen the first season of Dark, which ends so perfectly as to not require any further but very glad it happened, and that was absolutely brilliant. One of those shows where you feel the urge to get out a notebook and start drawing up genealogies to shorten the inevitable "Wait, isn't he yer man's grandson? Or is it the other way round?" conversations.

Itching to get stuck into season 2 when time permits...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 08 July, 2019, 10:39:40 AM
Pff.
You're not allowed to complain about dubs until you've been an anime fan.  If you watched anything in the 1990s and 2000s, the 60-90 second title sequences that often encapsulated the ethos of an entire season's worth of storytelling through a mix of sweeping scores and proprietary animation sequences full of thematic allusions and allegorical lyrics were replaced in the Western tv dubs with a 30 second guitar riff going DUN DUN DUN DUN DUNDUNDUN DUN DUN DUN while someone repeatedly shouted the name of the show over a montage of notable punches and explosions from the series.

Thankfully, those days of drastically altering content are long over and now if you will excuse me I'm off to watch the new Netflix cut of Neon Genesis Evangelion...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Krakajac on 08 July, 2019, 12:41:25 PM
Wait until you get to Season 2, TordelBack - your notebook is going to get a real working out. :)

Found myself hitting the PAUSE button on the remote more than once trying to figure out who-was-who in my mind! :)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 08 July, 2019, 12:45:24 PM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 08 July, 2019, 10:39:40 AM
Thankfully, those days of drastically altering content are long over and now if you will excuse me I'm off to watch the new Netflix cut of Neon Genesis Evangelion...

You say that, but the new dub is actually EXCELLENT.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 08 July, 2019, 01:03:04 PM
As an elitist animu snob I only watch subtitled versions so that I can better appreciate the creator's original vision.  So far, the subtitles seem to be telling me that Hideaki Anno intended that gay people don't exist, and that the words "leftist" and "terrorist" are synonyms.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 08 July, 2019, 01:06:02 PM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 08 July, 2019, 01:03:04 PM
As an elitist animu snob I only watch subtitled versions so that I can better appreciate the creator's original vision.  So far, the subtitles seem to be telling me that Hideaki Anno intended that gay people don't exist, and that the words "leftist" and "terrorist" are synonyms.

Ah yeah that queer erasure is fucking gross but the actors do there best with the icky script. I tend to be a sub snob too but the OG Evangelion dub was my first anime experience 15 years ago so it's a strange exception to me (along with Cowboy Bebop and Black Lagoon, two A* dubs).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 08 July, 2019, 01:08:04 PM
I enjoyed Dark season 1, and looked forward to the second... but now it's here I'm delaying watching as I can't remember all that happened, and I know it will be extra confusing as a result. I watched the 'story so far' trailer on Netflix... and it didn't help much.

I should probably just rewatch season 1, I guess. Likely I'll enjoy it well enough if I do it's just the thought of slogging through episodes I've already seen.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: moly on 08 July, 2019, 06:38:40 PM
Dark season 2 was just as good as season 1 great series and can't wait for season 3
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 09 July, 2019, 06:13:16 PM
Quote from: Funt Solo on 21 June, 2019, 01:51:54 AM
Just watched A Touch of Cloth (3 episodes; 2012-2014), which I'd been unaware of until Amazoon stuck it in front of my face a few days ago.  It's like every British crime drama meets Police Squad.  Hilarious.

I love this show - still amazed that it got made.

Charlie Brooker at his absolute silliest.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 09 July, 2019, 08:03:05 PM
Are you sure this is on Amazon? Can't find it - unless you mean DVD rather than streaming?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 09 July, 2019, 10:08:02 PM
Isn't Funt in America?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: zombemybabynow on 10 July, 2019, 06:35:20 AM
Started watching (sky) year of the rabbit   
Matt berry as Victorian drunk detective
Quite funny, very sweary
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 10 July, 2019, 11:47:13 AM
Quote from: zombemybabynow on 10 July, 2019, 06:35:20 AM
Started watching (sky) year of the rabbit   
Matt berry as Victorian drunk detective
Quite funny, very sweary

"You have the right to remain....blah blah blah, lock the twat up."
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: MacabreMagpie on 11 July, 2019, 10:11:52 AM
Started 'Killing Eve' this week. Only at the end of season 1 but I can see why lots of my friends (particularly the ones into 'Hannibal') have been raving about it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: zombemybabynow on 12 July, 2019, 05:39:53 PM
Was trying to watch the new Legion [marvel] season 3 on sky
Definately jumped the shark - have given up halfway through episode 2
Season 1 was f@@@ed-up genius, season 2 [spoiler]had the fella from concords dancing in an ice cube nuff said[/spoiler]  season 3  - care?

DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUULLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: zombemybabynow on 12 July, 2019, 05:46:32 PM
though, they've just added [channel 4's ] Derry Girls to netflix - love it
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: zombemybabynow on 13 July, 2019, 04:50:18 PM
Almost Human for the umpteenth time - rocks
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 13 July, 2019, 08:51:09 PM
Quote from: zombemybabynow on 12 July, 2019, 05:46:32 PM
though, they've just added [channel 4's ] Derry Girls to netflix - love it

Quote from: zombemybabynow on 13 July, 2019, 04:50:18 PM
Almost Human for the umpteenth time - rocks

Two shows that I missed at the time and regretted it! Cheers!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 14 July, 2019, 12:13:10 PM
Stranger Things 3 - good, and then it wasn't, and then it was excruciating.  The comedy Russian stuff was too tonally dissonant and a lot of the final episodes were cringe-inducingly clunky, especially one really unconvincing redemption arc.  A lot of characters sipping on dumdum juice made this quite disappointing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Apestrife on 02 August, 2019, 09:17:17 AM
Too Old To Die Young I more or less love everything Nicholas Winding Refn, but this wasn't for me. I'm very fascinated by the visuals, every light source is like magic neon, but I couldn't get into it.

As you can see by the trailer it has amazing visuals https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0KO8My-90g

Basically about a corrupt cop in a LA infested by dark and seedy people. Made me think of a slo mo crash between Ridley Scott's The councelor and Refn's Only God Forgives. It goes for the art house dream like state of both and their ridicule of elegans, but a much much slower phase. It's probably the slowest story I've seen. Every episode reminded me of the last episode of Twin Peaks: The return, but without any of that which preceded it. It doesn't feel earned.

Will probably give it another go someday. See if I can't get into it. But right now I much rather watch The councelor (the Director's cut) or Only God Forgives.

But if someone likes Refn's later movies and/or twin peaks I think there could be a good chance Too old to die young could be worth a look. Or if someone just wants to see something complete different.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 02 August, 2019, 10:53:59 AM

Lexx. I've only ever seen a handful of episodes and fragments of episodes of this, back when it was on Old Telly. It's completely bonkers and looks like it was shot by cavemen, in a cave, to be watched in a cave by nerds captured by cavemen. Not sure if I've got the patience, or the stomach, to get through the whole thing.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 05 August, 2019, 08:05:55 PM
Finally finishing up What We Do In The Shadows and it's incredibly funny, so glad too hear a second season has already been confirmed.

BAT!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 06 August, 2019, 11:57:33 AM
Russian Doll. Maybe a bit heavy on The Good Place accents, but more than sustained by a magnificent central performance and constant ferreting-out and discussion of of 'clues' by this particular audience.

Stranger Things 3. Lost its original mojo somewhere along the way, but this more slapstick version is still very entertaining - although mayne the go-nowhere Terminator subplot was a riff too far. Again the real value is in watching the spectacular cast - whatever casting director plucked those kids out of the lineup is a bona-fide genius, they never disappoint.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 07 August, 2019, 03:33:21 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 20 June, 2019, 10:41:55 PM
I'm actually really enjoying Russell T Davies' YEARS AND YEARS on iPlayer.

I didn't get on with it at first but the complex characters, wild ambition and great performances (even Tovey) have won me over.

That and dialogue like; "He's the sort of person that gets really happy when they find a big crisp!".

Just got round to it and really enjoyed it.

If I was trying to discourage members of this forum from giving it a go, I'd describe it as a little like the bits of Third World War when Eve got back to the UK, but it's a little like the bits of Third World War when Eve got back to the UK.

Or maybe a prequel to V For Vendetta. 'Complex characters' is right; there were a few times when I caught myself thinking 'but I thought I was supposed to like him', then realised that's because the drama was doing its job, rather than a mistake.

It's the boiling frog metaphor as Sunday night telly, but Mr T would have reached more of the audience that needs to see this story with an ITV series that skipped straight to white Mancs in Belsen, rather than checklist casting and middle-class drama.

But Viv Rook's a great villain and I liked it when everything it went all Cold Lazarus (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx5U8o7PJZ4) at the end. Inordinately pleased with myself for clocking that the house is a metaphor for England (https://youtu.be/T1O_Ob0MJvM) and that the family name is Lyons. There are four of them.

Watch on iPlayer (https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m000539g/years-and-years)

Watch on HBO (https://www.hbo.com/video/years-and-years/seasons/season-1/episodes/episode-5/videos/s1-ep-5-preview)



Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 08 August, 2019, 10:22:58 AM
As a Star Wars fan I'm having a good chuckle at the twitter outrage over the Benioff & Weiss Netflix deal. It's nice to see the exact same childish entitlement and couch-sourced expertise brought to bear on someone other than successive iterations of Lucasfilm.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dark Jimbo on 08 August, 2019, 10:34:45 AM
Quote from: Frank on 07 August, 2019, 03:33:21 PM
Inordinately pleased with myself for clocking that the house is a metaphor for England (https://youtu.be/T1O_Ob0MJvM) and that the family name is Lyons. There are four of them.

D'oh! Of course...!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 16 August, 2019, 12:55:23 AM
GLOW season 3.

It doesn't quite have the momentum of seasons 1 and 2, but it's still totally charming. I think we have two episodes left, and while it's a little hard to see where the story can go from here, I'm crossing my fingers that Netflix don't cancel it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 16 August, 2019, 10:45:06 PM
Black Summer.  Urrrrrghhh.  Lots to really like in how it depicts utter chaos through multiple viewpoints and random deaths of characters, especially in the opening episodes and spectacular finale. The feckless and very ordinary survivors are unusually believable too ([spoiler]an episode that follows a beardy nobody as he just runs away, repeatedly, is particularly good[/spoiler]) .  However, the individual plotlets that provide structure for the mayhem are almost uniformly stupid and uninspired: [spoiler]cars hunting down other cars for petrol through a suburban landscape packed to the rafters with neatly parked cars, a ridiculously convoluted heist on an improbable gang lair/club, murderous (cannibal?) kids hanging around a school for some reason, zombies that can't open or break doors or windows, multiple groups of armed survivors converging on the stadium at exactly the same time[/spoiler]... a teensy bit more thought would have better supported what at times felt original and genuinely terrifying. 

Still, well worth a watch, if you still have any residual interest in zombie apocalypses.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 17 August, 2019, 04:35:08 PM
Yes, agree. Black Summer wasn't all that. Despite some good set pieces all those cries of "It's The Walking Dead, done right" seemed way off to me.

I did like the random deaths element from the earlier episodes though. Oh, here's a character... Oh, nope, they are dead.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 17 August, 2019, 04:40:03 PM
Binged Year of the Rabbit the other day and it's pretty funny, but not quiet up to Toast of London levels.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 18 August, 2019, 07:24:41 AM
Fear the Walking Dead season 4

I've been watching this on Amazon Prime. Still some way to go, but it's all been pretty good. Kudos for structuring this in such a different way to the past series. And the new characters* are great. [spoiler]Killing off one of the main characters relatively early on gave me mixed feelings, yet it's working. And he still remains a somewhat major character considering the structure of the show jumping between 'then' and 'now'.[/spoiler] Interestingly I find myself routing for the new characters more than the old, except perhaps in the [spoiler]then[/spoiler] segment of the programme. [spoiler]The old brigade have turned into vengeful gits, in the Now segment although that's understandable considering what they've been through. But I understand that's wholly intentional.[/spoiler]

It's all very interesting, anyway. [spoiler]I do feel like there's a whole series worth of events in between series 3 and even the chronologically earlier 'stadium' part of this series, but that may not be a bad thing. We are fed a bit of what happened, in small chunks.[/spoiler]

I'm way behind in the main series, incidentally. Much as I like it, I don't feel all that driven to catch up, although I may rectify that at some point.

*New to this spin-off, anyway, since technically one of them was in the first series of The Walking Dead, I believe.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 20 August, 2019, 04:16:34 PM
Gotham seasons 4 and 5 - a cyclical IP showcase that never rises above the level of juvenile schlock in which all the characters act arbitrarily, switching motivations and personalities on a dime in what I think a lot of people who like this show probably defend as in keeping with some grand plan to show Gotham is a city that breeds unpredictable crazies but is in fact just lazy writing that never rises above camp melodrama.  We saw just this kind of thing for 10 seasons of Smallville, a series predicated on blue-balling its primary audience but which could never quite grasp the concept of the tease and always ended up introducing supervillains - and even superheroes - on the basis that as long as Superman never shows up it's still technically a prequel to Superman, so you have the Riddler showing up, Penguin, Ass Al the Ghoul, etc, and when Batman finally does show up, it's... actually kind of embarrassing, but also kind of makes perfect sense.
The last time any of these characters see Bruce Wayne is when he was dressed in body armor, driving around in a bulletproof black car fighting crime and using using sonar devices to attract bats to attack criminals, and on the night that he returns from years abroad studying martial arts, everyone going "who the heck could this man in body armor driving around in a bulletproof car using bats to attack criminals be?" might have the average person going ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME, SHOW? but this ignores that the show's actual job is to establish that James Gordon is utterly useless in the face of these villains and can never, ever figure out that Bruce Wayne is Batman, so job done I guess.  Only took five years, but they established without a shadow of doubt that the protagonist of their show is completely shit.
Mostly it's gash, though it threatens to get good around the start of season 5 when it goes all post-apocalyptic with an adaptation of No Man's Land, but it quickly loses focus on that and goes back to the usual grind of everyone backstabbing each other and Jim Gordon never seeing it coming, even when he expressly tells other characters onscreen that someone is definately going to stab them in the back.  They could have done a parallel with what happened with Puerto Rico being left to fend for itself and thereby rehabilitate one of Batman comics' most notoriously dumb arcs, but they didn't, which is probably a paradigm for the show: could easily have been good, but wasn't.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 20 August, 2019, 04:55:10 PM
I watched 10 minutes of one episode of Gotham, and I couldn't believe the below-amateur levels of scripting, production, and acting on display.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 25 August, 2019, 07:12:08 PM

(https://i.imgur.com/qcaGIar.png?2)


Trust me to choose a night when it's too hot to sleep without the windows wide open ...


Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 25 August, 2019, 07:39:14 PM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 20 August, 2019, 04:16:34 PM
Gotham seasons 4 and 5

I lost interest towards the end of season 3, but picked up again halfway through 4 and thought it was okay

Quoteall the characters act arbitrarily, switching motivations and personalities on a dime

I only really noticed this with Lee - she seemed to flip-flop from episode to episode, depending on the needs of a particular scene - no coherent characterisation at all

QuoteJames Gordon is utterly useless in the face of these villains and can never, ever figure out that Bruce Wayne is Batman

Oh he knows. I think that rooftop scene with Alfred heavilly implies that he knows exactly who this new "friend" is. In all Batman comics, unless it's a specific part of the story, I've always assumed that Gordon has worked out who Batman is and just goes along with the pretence, and I think a lot of writers hint at it subtly.

The best thing about Gotham is the plausible backstories for many of the villains, especially the Penguin who was the best thing about the show by far
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 28 August, 2019, 06:57:00 PM
Gotham was always incredibly naff. Dark, edgy fodder for people who grew up on scene and Death Note and thing Charles Manson is some kind of god.

Anyway I watched the dark, incredibly not naff, but edgy as all hell Deadwood Season 2 and oh my goodness, this show is SUBLIME. That final scene with And almost echoes 'The For Watch' from a 15 years earlier, and I'm not ready for the third and final season.

Oh wait theres the movie now too WAAAAAAYYYYYY!  :D :D
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 28 August, 2019, 08:17:22 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 25 August, 2019, 07:39:14 PM
QuoteJames Gordon is utterly useless in the face of these villains and can never, ever figure out that Bruce Wayne is Batman

Oh he knows. I think that rooftop scene with Alfred heavilly implies that he knows exactly who this new "friend" is.

Lots of writers in the comics give winks to the idea that Gordon knows who Batman really is - the seeds of it are sown in Year One, though H*ck knows if that's canon this week - but similarly, in many other stories we see that Gordon does not and cannot know who Batman is.  Batman: RIP and its follow-up issues pretty much come right out and state that because Gordon's role is as a perennial straight man across multiple media and their respective depictions of Batman, he understands that Batman is a malleable fiction played by multiple characters (that are sometimes Bruce Wayne) and that it doesn't matter who he is.

Having said that, it is utterly impossible for James Gordon in the television series Gotham not to know Batman and Bruce Wayne are one and the same, except for the minor mitigating factor that we've just sat through five years of programming dedicated to establishing that he is completely shit.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 28 August, 2019, 09:18:07 PM

Grinding through Season Four of Sons of Anarchy. This must be the worst MC on the planet. Simple jobs? Screwed up. Hits? Wrong victim. Alliances? Invitations to betrayal. Lies to protect the Club? Acidic. Secrets to protect other members? Ticking bombs. Relationships? Doomed. Waiting for it to get better? Probably pointless. If this was a comedy it'd be brilliant. As it is, I'm not sure I'll be bothering with S5 - or even finishing S4.

Sons of Arsery, more like.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rately on 30 August, 2019, 07:51:39 AM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 28 August, 2019, 09:18:07 PM

Grinding through Season Four of Sons of Anarchy. This must be the worst MC on the planet. Simple jobs? Screwed up. Hits? Wrong victim. Alliances? Invitations to betrayal. Lies to protect the Club? Acidic. Secrets to protect other members? Ticking bombs. Relationships? Doomed. Waiting for it to get better? Probably pointless. If this was a comedy it'd be brilliant. As it is, I'm not sure I'll be bothering with S5 - or even finishing S4.

Sons of Arsery, more like.

I really tried to stay with Sons Of Anarchy, but when they travelled to Ireland I was finally given good reason to give up on it.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Apestrife on 07 September, 2019, 08:01:40 AM
Sharp objects Outmost surprised how much I liked this murder mystery starring Amy Adams. She plays the reporter Camille who (--who has a big trunk of trauma and problems) goes home to her hometown Wind gap to cover murders of young girls. A place drowned out in self annihilation.

After a while, bit like Twin peaks, the murder mystery loosens it's grip of the story structure and things becomes more a slowburn descent into the personal hells of Wind gap. Where anyone can become an advocate of horror at any time. But it's not all dark, there's also alot of dark humour and the smallest of light shines fantastically bright.

So good I even watched the recap before each episode. Amy Adams is fantstic (Really FANTASTIC). The ending had me applauding. Can't wait to watch it again :)

Teaser https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgljcMqPG98
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 07 September, 2019, 03:38:18 PM
The Twilight Zone - more like The Twi-SHITE Zone.
So bad I often couldn't believe it, certainly not when the reviews were generally positive.
There is one unquestionably good bit in the entire series and it comes in the last minutes of the final episode when they recreate the setting of the final scene of the very first TZ episode from 1962, but they immediately fuck it in the ass with a horrendous CGI mannequin and a muddied message about the show itself, which turns the entire final episode into a meditation on the fact that not only do the people who are making the television series The Twilight Zone in the year 2019 not even remotely understand the original show*, but they also don't know the difference between "an ironic twist of fate" and a callback, which is probably a great paradigm for a show that has literally nothing going for it except brand recognition and the success of another show in the same genre - Black Mirror - to leech off.  Hey - as a gameplan for the network, it worked out great with Star Trek Discovery.
Oh yeah, Black Mirror's shadow is cast long and deep across Twilight Zone.  The Twilight Zone could easily have differentiated itself from BM's reactionary conservatism, but instead it tries to replicate it and fails.
I will give the show this much: I was genuinely surprised by how bad it is, and perhaps it can be argued that a show that can genuinely surprise you in this day and age can't really be all bad.

* I have a strong suspicion they either only know TZ by reputation, or they're painstaking making a show for people who only know TZ by reputation.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 08 September, 2019, 11:38:59 PM
Just finished Season 4 of the sublime THE AMERICANS.

Outwardly, the pace has slowed; much less in the way of capers and heist action. But what has replaced it is brilliant character stuff focusing on family and trust and faith and, as ever, identity.

Matthew Rhys and Noah Emerich are superb; Kerry Russell is even growing on me but Frank Langella just sits dishing out gravitas like he's carved of the stuff.

Three things I really like:
- the thematicly perfect perpetual winter they inhabit
- the fact they will kill and write out key (favourite) characters
- sticking to the proper languages again as befits the idea of identity.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: karlos on 11 September, 2019, 11:52:47 AM
Surely I can't be the only cat on here who's watching Carnival Row?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 11 September, 2019, 11:57:34 AM
Quote from: karlos on 11 September, 2019, 11:52:47 AM
Surely I can't be the only cat on here who's watching Carnival Row?

Reviews were fairly terrible, and Orlando Bloom has the acting ability of a plank, but after a sluggish couple of opening episodes it's building up a bit of momentum. I'm quite enjoying it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: karlos on 11 September, 2019, 12:37:32 PM
I'm slightly surprised that reviews have been so harsh, but I can see why - it's a great looking show (one of the very best I've seen), good cast (Orlando seems to be trying to channel Sean Pertwee at times), and cracking premise - but the overall plot is hard going and cliché-filled.

Well worth sticking with, though, and I have a feeling the second season will be much better.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 11 September, 2019, 12:59:23 PM
So far I am enjoying the show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Theblazeuk on 13 September, 2019, 02:51:04 PM
I thought the Twilight Zone was poor and disappointing but not the worst thing in the world. Kind of liked the Comedian episode and the Timetravel Camera was fine until the last moments where it all got a little too symbolic but still, thought it was good. Shame they wasted the Terror at 20000ft episode.


Mind you I've stalled midway through so... clearly not so good.

Rewatching Gravity Falls. Boy this was great.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 13 September, 2019, 03:23:51 PM
I've not seen the Twilight Zone reboot/continuation/meta narrative wank fest and i'm extremely reluctant to do so, i'm such a big fan of the original series, and I even have considerable time for the 90's sequel run though it rarely holds a candle, that i'm almost certain from what i'be heard it'll just make me angry.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 13 September, 2019, 04:47:20 PM
The Blue Scorpion episode is as good as the latest TZ gets.  Check that out and if it doesn't float your boat, best avoid the rest of it.
The final episode's desperation is possibly pretty funny if you remember that old Future Shock about the guy who looks like Rod Serling.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 14 September, 2019, 05:12:22 PM
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance

I never really cared for the movie - I can barely remember anything about it, honestly - but put this on on a whim, and it is absolutely incredible. I blew through four episodes in one sitting and had to force myself to switch it off so I could go to bed. Much darker and more Games of Thronesy than I would have thought. God knows why Netflix thought it was good business sense to spend what looks like an absolute fortune and assemble such a huge amount of talent, from voice cast* to art department to music to writing, for a prequel to a flop kids movie that is too scary for kids from 30 years ago, but I'm so glad they did. This is something really special.

*and WHAT a voice cast it is. Seriously, you will not believe who they got for this. But for me it's an unrecognisable Simon Pegg that steals the show as the Skeksis Chamberlain.

Also caught the first episode of the third and final season of The Deuce, which is still one of the very best series currently running. The story picks up following another five year time jump to 1985, with the AIDS crisis in full swing. This is going to be a rough watch.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Woolly on 16 September, 2019, 10:31:43 PM
Just finished 'Undone' on Amazon.
8 parts, half-hour episodes, rotoscoped animation that at times looks like Lee Carter's artwork come alive.

Don't want to say any more, just give it a watch   :thumbsup::thumbsup:
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 18 September, 2019, 09:29:27 PM

Legion, Season 3. After an unusually bland start, this does get back up to speed and I bloody loved it. This has to be one of the most imaginative programs I've ever seen - I loved the time-demons, and seeing Oliver again, this time [spoiler]living in a window box and finishing up challenging the Big Bad Wolf to a rap battle[/spoiler], was a real joy.  The only problem is that I can't get "He said, 'Captain?' I said, 'What?'" out of my head.

Excellent telly!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 22 September, 2019, 10:59:32 AM
Wu Assassin on Netflix. Very enjoyable show
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 22 September, 2019, 02:56:52 PM
Dark Shadows on Amazon Prime

That's the original 60s show, I'm referring to.

I never watched it before now, aside from parts of episodes which would have been from later series, being in colour.

I struggled a bit with the first episode. I've stuck with it, though, and found it a lot easier going.

It's kinda silly.
Some of the acting is a bit dodgy.
Characters repeat themselves way too much. It's as if the creators back then didn't trust how much the audience would understand and felt the need to spoon feed and hammer the points home.
They needed to cut down, or even cut out Victoria Winters quasi-omniscient* introductions.
Some of the tropes are rather obvious, and predictable, but maybe they wasn't back when the show was created. (I doubt it, though, even then.)

From that list you probably think I dislike it, but you'd be wrong. I'm intrigued to see where it's going, and it is generally enjoyable, sometimes for the right reasons, sometimes possibly wrong. The amount of times characters fluff their lines is extraordinary! I think maybe the budget was so low, they couldn't afford to do another take and figured, meh... Interestingly it does bring a bit of (probably) unintentional realism to the world since, in the real world we stammer and say the wrong thing all the time.

As for the obvious tropes, mentioned above, they do twist them a bit, to make them interesting.

I've got to the bit where a young girl in period costume has turned up. [spoiler]I think it's kind of obvious she is the spirit of Barnabus Collins's younger sister, but we'll see.[/spoiler]

Liking it so far, some boring repetitive gubbins aside. There's a massive amount of episodes to get through, though! I wonder if I'll manage it!

* That's not quite the word I'm looking for. I mean the version of her who introduces each episode seems to know more than the version taking part in events. I don't actually have an issue with this in itself. I just find her speeches a bit obvious and boring and find myself thinking: I get it! Things seem peaceful, but they're not and the shadows hide menace! Get on with the episode already!

I do like her character in the show though. She seems to be one of the more intelligent sensible characters. [spoiler] I've got a feeling old Barney is gonna attempt to replace his current 'Do it yourself Josette'** with her, and due to her love of history, she might actually turn out to be more amenable. Not perhaps to becoming Josette (I think she's too strong for that) but I think she might get turned into a vampire.[/spoiler]

** [spoiler]One of the sillier , but interesting bits of the story. I thought maybe the young lady was actually a reincarnation of Barnabus's old love and he was trying to reignite her old memories, but now I figure he just fancies her and she bears some physical resemblance to Josette, and he just wants to force her to take on the persona. Creepy. Silly. But an interesting watch, bar all the repetition.[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 22 September, 2019, 03:07:22 PM
Wait....is all of Dark Shadows on Netflix?! All 1000+ episodes? Damn son, I have a 20 episode boxset covering Barnabas Collins introduction and first story arc, but i've wanted to see more for the longest time. Perfect background noise for the studio.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 23 September, 2019, 06:25:04 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 22 September, 2019, 03:07:22 PM
Wait....is all of Dark Shadows on Netflix?! All 1000+ episodes? Damn son, I have a 20 episode boxset covering Barnabas Collins introduction and first story arc, but i've wanted to see more for the longest time. Perfect background noise for the studio.
I don't think so Hawk. There are 26 seasons on Amazon Prime. That's what I'm working through.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 04 October, 2019, 12:02:43 AM
American Horror Story 1984 has me lying on my back while it tickles my belly.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 04 October, 2019, 12:18:43 AM
So I'm on Season 5 of the Americans and just got to a total wtf moment where they take [spoiler]Paige[/spoiler] to meet [spoiler]Gabriel[/spoiler]. Like, how much will that change things? Wow!

Anyway, me and Mrs Tips counted 12 different plot/relationship threads running through the last two episodes. (Not every thread referenced in every episode but at least ten). And half a dozen tied together at least thematically even if they don't connect directly via plot tissue.

It struck me just how much long form story has come on and television in general from the  "A plot and B plot And everything resets at end of episode". When you come across series like that (e.g. The Mentallist), they just seem almost childish now.

No real point to make other than, it's fucking great, isn't it?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 04 October, 2019, 04:47:16 AM
QuoteIt struck me just how much long form story has come on and television in general from the  "A plot and B plot And everything resets at end of episode". When you come across series like that (e.g. The Mentallist), they just seem almost childish now.

Agreed. I have been streaming-only for over five years now and when I happen to catch the odd bit of broadcast TV, it feels like a bizarre relic from another era - both the format and the content of the shows themselves.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 04 October, 2019, 08:36:15 AM
I suppose some Soap Opera writers will be saying "We're over here. Thanks for catching up with us".

But you know, their shows don't tend to have set piece action, heists, dragons, epic battles as well.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 04 October, 2019, 08:03:56 PM
The soap opera I'm watching has a vampire and ghosts.

They're kind of silly sods though, but I'm finding it mostly enjoyable.

I saw a camera  pop into shot the other day.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 07 October, 2019, 01:01:31 PM
State of the Union
Late to the party here but just caught up with this short form "comedy" from Nick Hornby* and Stephen Frears on iplayer. It's in ten ten minute episodes so eminently bingeable in a couple of sittings.

I know there are some Rosamund Pike fans on the board so you'll be glad to know that it's basically 100 minutes of her in conversation with the lazily charming and charismatic Chris O'Dowd.

Each episode is them waiting to attend marriage guidance and seemingly making more progress in the pub than in the sessions. 

The conversation veers off on many odd tangents on the way to discussing the place of love in a relationshop and what may or may not derail it.

The casting is [spoiler]a bit of a giveaway as to the outcome; of course you are rooting for the pair to reconcile. Look at them! Charming, attractive people with forgivable flaws. (Though one act of forgiveness, or rather forgetting, takes a bit of a leap.[/spoiler]

I put comedy in quotes above because this isn't just a gag fest - it does ask some questions and also has both of the leads - and it's a testament to the performances that by the end, they are drawing many more laughs out of the terrible situation.

* I appreciate he is a trigger warning for lots of you.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 11 October, 2019, 01:03:11 PM

Bishvila Giborim Afim (When Heroes Fly). 10 part Israeli drama about four ex-IDF special forces soldiers who discover that someone they thought was dead may still be alive in South America. So, off they go a-looking and get involved in some nefarious doings along the way. Not your usual shoot 'em up fare but engaging, compelling and very well put together.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 12 October, 2019, 05:52:01 PM
Not a box set but The Horror Channel has just started showing Space 1999 from the beginning. I stumbles across is half way through the first episode and loved it. Damn is there a Sci-fi telly show that's as well designed as this, with as good a music? Doubt it. Second episode had some really nice camera direction type things which I loved.

Not seen this for years and now regret that, its on series record.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 12 October, 2019, 05:53:34 PM
Aye Space 1999 is a gem that really stands up to scrutiny all these years later.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 13 October, 2019, 04:14:13 AM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 12 October, 2019, 05:53:34 PM
Aye Space 1999 is a gem that really stands up to scrutiny all these years later.

I assume you mean its entertainment value holds up to scrutiny because its premise never did.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 13 October, 2019, 12:58:51 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 12 October, 2019, 05:52:01 PM
Space 1999 ... is there a Sci-fi telly show . with as good a music? .

Agreed .. those strings going into the explosive theme tune were amazing - although I used to listen with my eyes closed because I didn't like that spoilerific 'this week' montage
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 13 October, 2019, 02:43:28 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 13 October, 2019, 12:58:51 PM

...I used to listen with my eyes closed because I didn't like that spoilerific 'this week' montage.


Heh, me too!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 14 October, 2019, 04:22:30 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 13 October, 2019, 02:43:28 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 13 October, 2019, 12:58:51 PM

...I used to listen with my eyes closed because I didn't like that spoilerific 'this week' montage.


Heh, me too!



I've never seen Space 1999 but that did remind me of how Battlestar episodes used to start, with a fast cut montage of everything that's about to happen in the episode. I used to cover my eyes there!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 14 October, 2019, 07:01:52 PM

I used to imagine that this moment might coincide with a Day of the Triffids type blinding flash in the sky - so that only Sci-Fi fans survived :D

I was a weird kid.

Yeah. I know. The weird never went away.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 14 October, 2019, 11:18:41 PM
Currently about halfway through S1 of the complete box set of Stargate: SG-1.

As I remembered it is, for the most part, tremendous fun. Its efforts to prove it's not sexist due to the inclusion of Samantha Carter are oddly really quite sexist on a regular basis, which makes some of the episodes quite a lot less fun than they might have been, and it seems strange now to think of a science fiction series stretching its budget over twenty-two forty minute episodes when almost no one attempts even half that nowadays...

But, for all that, really not a bad way to kill forty minutes every other night or so at the end of the evening. A shame that the franchise fizzled out so ignominiously with the dull and murky "Universe" but it's nice to go back the bright and sparky beginning.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 15 October, 2019, 07:49:27 AM
I picked up SPACE1999 season 1 on blu-ray a couple of years back and really enjoyed it. Some cracking episodes, some very dark with an amazing roster of British thesis guest starring. None of the science makes much sense but who cares. Still too feart to look out Season 2 though.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 15 October, 2019, 10:02:37 AM
Coinkadinktly I watched my first episode of Space 1999 in about 40 years on the Horror channel last night. It was good, if horrendously slow, but I had appatently completely forgotten what a big part of my life it once was - for example, I'd forgotten that my Lego spaceships were almost always flown by Commander Koenig and Alan Carter and much of my building effort went into reproducing the Eagle aesthetic and functionality. Hard to beat the look of that tech, really.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 15 October, 2019, 11:07:49 AM
Fist of the North Star has been on circulation for the last few days. Hey, it's that time of year, it's cold and I don't wanna go out at night so i'm binging some good old fashioned anime schlock.

(https://media1.giphy.com/media/etynRm3E4z7sQ/giphy.gif)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 15 October, 2019, 11:20:35 AM
The English language version of Hokuto is better than the Japanese version.  Fight me.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JamesC on 15 October, 2019, 01:05:32 PM
I've been watching lots of Quantum Leap which is currently being repeated on Forces TV (which I stumbled upon by accident. I'd never heard of Forces TV).
I'm really enjoying it - it's really fun, good natured and easy to watch. Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell are both just as likeable as I remember.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 15 October, 2019, 01:16:34 PM
Wait till you get to the Magnum PI episode...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 15 October, 2019, 07:57:45 PM
Sadly, that never got made, which is a damn shame.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 17 October, 2019, 03:19:46 PM
I ploughed through Season 1 of Castle Rock over the past fortnight.

Initial impressions weren't too positive, but it really took off in the last few episodes (7 and 9 were particularly excellent).
Then we got to the final 30 minutes of the last episode and JJ (and I'm arbitrarily blaming JJ here) pulled a JJ and it turns out the penultimate (and best) episode was [spoiler]seemingly all a lie[/spoiler].
I can't do this anymore, JJ. I just can't.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 17 October, 2019, 03:59:18 PM
Possibly of interest to JJA watchers, "Solving The Mystery Of JJ Abrams (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Rg_rMKOPnA)" tries to figure out where the last Star Wars movie is going by reverse-engineering the only project JJA has ever seen through from start to finish, and it's amusing to note that some of its conclusions were independently reached by the likes of Red Letter Media as jokes, particularly the use of time travel/alternate timelines/dreams to sidestep the problem of not being to do exactly what he wants in the confines of known lore.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 18 October, 2019, 10:24:46 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 12 October, 2019, 05:52:01 PM
Not a box set but The Horror Channel has just started showing Space 1999 from the beginning. I stumbles across is half way through the first episode and loved it. Damn is there a Sci-fi telly show that's as well designed as this, with as good a music? Doubt it. Second episode had some really nice camera direction type things which I loved.

Not seen this for years and now regret that, its on series record.

I watch the Horror Channels "Sci-Fi zone" every night to unwind after work. I love the mix of classic Trek and obscure dated shows. My First exposure to Space:1999 was through MST3k.

Tonight's episode had Julian Glover(Grand Maester Pycelle/Walter Donovan) in silver hot pants.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 21 October, 2019, 05:27:16 PM

Black Summer. Yet another I-know-let's-throw-a-disparate-group-of-people-together-and-chuck-a-load-of-zombies-at-them pap. Black Summer? Slack Bummer, more like.

At least I've got The OA Season 2 cued up and ready to go. If it's as good as S1 was, I'll be happy.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 30 October, 2019, 05:12:17 PM
Just watched the final episode of The Deuce.

What a fantastic (and sorely underrated) show that was. This last season has been a real gut punch, and unexpectedly moving in surprising ways. I'll miss it a lot, and recommend everyone to check it out.

The bittersweet final scene, of [spoiler]an aged-up Vincent solemnly walking around 2019 Times Square was kind of staggering, and seeing all the long dead cast of characters for the last time (some of whom we haven't seen since back in season 1)[/spoiler] was an very audacious and unexpected way to end it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 30 October, 2019, 05:30:51 PM
Quote from: radiator on 30 October, 2019, 05:12:17 PM
Just watched the final episode of The Deuce.

What a fantastic (and sorely underrated) show that was. This last season has been a real gut punch, and unexpectedly moving in surprising ways. I'll miss it a lot, and recommend everyone to check it out.

The bittersweet final scene, of [spoiler]an aged-up Vincent solemnly walking around 2019 Times Square was kind of staggering, and seeing all the long dead cast of characters for the last time (some of whom we haven't seen since back in season 1)[/spoiler] was an very audacious and unexpected way to end it.

I'm only up to the end of season two, but I agree it's fantastic. There's just too much stuff out there for anything that isn't big, splashy and easy to cut through anymore.

There was a really narrow window where anything unusually good would cut through and gain a wide audience, which we now call the Golden Age of TV, but that's been over for a while.

That's only going to get worse now most people are going to have to choose between dozens of subscription services, which inevitably leads to the weird tribalism you saw between X-box and Playstation fans, as consumers feel the need to invest personal capital in their decisions.


Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Apestrife on 30 October, 2019, 06:05:55 PM
Had no idea The deuce had ended! Saw the first season and quite liked it. Will start watching two and three soon then :)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 30 October, 2019, 06:54:54 PM
Quote from: Frank on 30 October, 2019, 05:30:51 PM
Quote from: radiator on 30 October, 2019, 05:12:17 PM
Just watched the final episode of The Deuce.

What a fantastic (and sorely underrated) show that was. This last season has been a real gut punch, and unexpectedly moving in surprising ways. I'll miss it a lot, and recommend everyone to check it out.

The bittersweet final scene, of [spoiler]an aged-up Vincent solemnly walking around 2019 Times Square was kind of staggering, and seeing all the long dead cast of characters for the last time (some of whom we haven't seen since back in season 1)[/spoiler] was an very audacious and unexpected way to end it.

I'm only up to the end of season two, but I agree it's fantastic. There's just too much stuff out there for anything that isn't big, splashy and easy to cut through anymore.

There was a really narrow window where anything unusually good would cut through and gain a wide audience, which we now call the Golden Age of TV, but that's been over for a while.

Yeah, it's a bit sad. The Americans is another one that kind of passed a lot of people by, despite - imo - being every bit as good (and more importantly as consistently good) as other high end drama series that routinely get a lot more attention lavished on them.

Thankfully in the case of The Deuce, the creators claim that three seasons was always the plan, so it's not like it was cut short, and judging by the jaw-dropping production values HBO didn't slash their budget either. It's definitely a show I look forward to doing a complete rewatch of in the future.

QuoteHad no idea The deuce had ended! Saw the first season and quite liked it. Will start watching two and three soon then

Season 1 was very good, but imo seasons 2 and 3 were an order of magnitude better.

I remember Season 1 being very bleak and a tough watch at times, whereas season 2 is a lot more vibrant and entertaining - even uplifting at times - and it's where I really started to love a lot of the characters.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 30 October, 2019, 08:32:28 PM
There's a thing for me with THE AMERICANS where getting familiar with the rythym of the show doesn't get boring, like with many other shows, but actually enhances my enjoyment.

That and getting used to the Russian naming conventions.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 30 October, 2019, 09:05:33 PM
It seems like in this new streaming age, you get a lot of shows that get crazy hyped for a couple of seasons then completely fizzle out and are forgotten very quickly after that*. The real mark of quality is a show that stays great from start to finish, and thats a really short list of shows I could name off the top of my head.

*Isn't it literally Netflix's business model to consistently hype new shows for a season or two to drive new subs, then promptly cancel everything?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 30 October, 2019, 09:10:38 PM
Quote from: radiator on 30 October, 2019, 09:05:33 PM
*Isn't it literally Netflix's business model to consistently hype new shows for a season or two to drive new subs, then promptly cancel everything?

Yeah, their metrics tell them there's no greater value (in terms of subscriber numbers) in having more than two seasons of material behind most thumbnails, so it's only phenomena like Game Of Thrones that get a chance to build their audience over multiple seasons.


Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 30 October, 2019, 09:53:26 PM
Quote from: Frank on 30 October, 2019, 09:10:38 PM
Quote from: radiator on 30 October, 2019, 09:05:33 PM
*Isn't it literally Netflix's business model to consistently hype new shows for a season or two to drive new subs, then promptly cancel everything?

Yeah, their metrics tell them there's no greater value (in terms of subscriber numbers) in having more than two seasons of material behind most thumbnails, so it's only phenomena like Game Of Thrones that get a chance to build their audience over multiple seasons.

Seems like a very short term kind of strategy, surely the wiser longer term goal should be to build up a huge library of enduring legacy shows that can build a massive audience over time? In terms of evergreen long form premium drama series, they're not even close to competing with HBO as far as I can tell, and the way they just dump these hugely expensive series with little to no fanfare or marketing just seems like insanity to me.

Netflix's almost religious adherence to the almighty algorithm gets on my tits a bit - it's very obnoxious for instance that they don't allow the user to disable those irritating autoplaying trailers because their data apparently tells them it drives people to watch more stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 30 October, 2019, 10:23:02 PM

With so many new services trying to take a share of Netflix's monopoly, everyone's just in a race to amass enough new eyeballs to be the last one left when the smoke clears.

From the way Apple and Disney are behaving, it's new titles that drive that growth.

Everyone's announcing new shows that (suspiciously) all seem to cost $15 million per episode*, whether that's Jason Momoa in a CG fantasy show or Jennifer Aniston in a remake of This Time With Alan Partridge (https://youtu.be/eA7D4_qU9jo).


* The budget Game Of Thrones tapped out on ...


Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 30 October, 2019, 10:51:57 PM
It's weird that people think Disney+ represents a mortal threat to Netflix, when the Disney+ library is (presumably) going to be limited to broadly family friendly material, and that's surely going to affect the type of content they can offer and the kind of customer base they can attract? It doesn't really seem to offer much for, for want of a better word, grown ups.

I'm sure it'll do well, but I'm not so sure Disney+ is the no-brainer proposition that people seem to think it is. I know they can bundle it with Hulu, but Hulu's been around for ages and it also hasn't really been able to compete with Netflix in terms of original content.

it'll be interesting to see how it all shakes out.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 31 October, 2019, 01:00:09 AM
Quote from: radiator on 30 October, 2019, 10:51:57 PMDisney+ ... doesn't really seem to offer much for, for want of a better word, grown ups.

Yeah, pffft, who needs the Marvel Universe? Comics are for kids!



The 2-3 season model has big cost implications - actors may be keen to be hired for little money on an unknown property, but if it's a hit and they're on a 3 season contract, then suddenly you've got a large ensemble cast (of agents) demanding a million bucks an episode to renew, so season 4 will cost a helluva lot more to make without making any more revenue.

Ironically this leads to a more British approach whereby shows end while they are still good, rather than jumping the shark or running out of ideas like most US shows, and that's not a bad thing. Is anyone enjoying S:4 of The Good Place as much as the first?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 31 October, 2019, 08:05:04 AM
Cor, a Bot on a specialist forum in 2019.

How quaint, can we keep it?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 31 October, 2019, 10:24:20 AM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 31 October, 2019, 08:05:04 AM
Cor, a Bot on a specialist forum in 2019.

How quaint, can we keep it?

Huh?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 31 October, 2019, 10:38:03 AM
You missed a bot, walls of links and text to some malware ridden hellscape no doubt. Got deleted by the looks of it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 31 October, 2019, 04:36:36 PM
QuoteThe 2-3 season model has big cost implications - actors may be keen to be hired for little money on an unknown property, but if it's a hit and they're on a 3 season contract, then suddenly you've got a large ensemble cast (of agents) demanding a million bucks an episode to renew, so season 4 will cost a helluva lot more to make without making any more revenue.

That's true, and something I hadn't thought of. There's this assumption that actors are very well paid, but as I understand it even the casts of successful shows like Game of Thrones only start to make big money once the show is a proven smash and they can renegotiate their contracts for later seasons. I saw an interview with the guy who played Robb Stark where he said he earned like £50k total for the role over the three seasons he was in it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 31 October, 2019, 04:43:45 PM
QuoteYeah, pffft, who needs the Marvel Universe? Comics are for kids!

MCU and Star Wars stuff is (by and large) all-ages. It's also constrained by having to fit into an existing continuity. What I'm saying is that they won't be able to make older-skewing original shows along the lines of Mad Men, Breaking Bad or even Stranger Things, so in that sense I don't see them as direct competition to Netflix.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 31 October, 2019, 05:52:11 PM

Fight Club, Starship Troopers, Juno, Sexy Beast, The Royal Tennenbaums, 28 Days Later, Aliens, 12 Years A Slave, Predator, 127 Hours, Die Hard, Ravenous, O' Brother, Where Art Thou? Face/Off, Three Billboards, The Hills Have Eyes (remake), Ed Wood, Man On Fire, Black Swan, The Sixth Sense, Birdman, and Apocalypto are all Disney Princesses, now.

Disney's telly back catalogue includes The Politician, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, The Shield, The Simpsons, Sons Of Anarchy, 24, Family Guy, Arrested Development, Feud, Justified, The X-Files, How I Met Your Mother, Prison Break, My Name Is Earl, Modern Family, This Is Us, Buffy, Archer, American Horror Story, Fargo, Malcolm In The Middle, Atlanta, and The Americans.


Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 31 October, 2019, 08:22:14 PM
But Disney+ specifically is all family friendly content, no?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JOE SOAP on 31 October, 2019, 08:25:02 PM
Quote from: radiator on 31 October, 2019, 08:22:14 PM
But Disney+ specifically is all family friendly content, no?

The non-family oriented content will be on HULU, which Disney fully own, and is part of a Disney+ US package deal.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/6/20757626/disney-plus-espn-hulu-bundle-price-date-streaming-service
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 31 October, 2019, 08:44:12 PM
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 31 October, 2019, 08:25:02 PM
Quote from: radiator on 31 October, 2019, 08:22:14 PM
But Disney+ specifically is all family friendly content, no?

The non-family oriented content will be on HULU, which Disney fully own, and is part of a Disney+ US package deal.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/6/20757626/disney-plus-espn-hulu-bundle-price-date-streaming-service

Yeah, they're doing a Sky, aren't they. Get the dads with the footie and the kids with the cartoons.


Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 04 November, 2019, 01:32:14 AM
I've really been enjoying Mortimer & Whitehouse Gone Fishing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 04 November, 2019, 02:17:01 PM
War of the Worlds - no, not that BBC one that actually tries, this is the French one with Gabriel Byrne (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh7W0U65gh8) in some English scenes so they can sell it internationally.
A miniseries that answers none of the questions it poses and which ends on a cliffhanger kind of sums up the contempt this has for its audience, but this is basically that issue of Animal Man where Miami was invaded by those red robots that look like they came out of an old movie serial, and Animal Man just looks at them clattering about and falling over because they're rubbish, and it eventually becomes clear that Miami has been absolutely devastated by a completely unrelated event (that year's line-wide DC Comics crossover, Invasion) which has crippled the world and the robots are just this half-assed attempt by an aging supervillain at attracting the attention of a passing superhero so that he can fight them in one last hurrah.  Someone working with dated ideas and technology is the exact setup of this dreadful series: world crippled by aliens, then shit robots crawl around the wreckage being useless.  They aren't tripods, they look like those clumsy all-terrain dog robots that people keep posting videos of on Twitter of the robots falling over if they step on a match or something.
Please don't be fooled into thinking what I have described is accidentally entertaining or interesting to watch because this isn't really a robotpocalypse show, as about 70% of the running time is dedicated to people sitting in an unlit living room talking French at each other, and buddy if I wanted that I'd get stuck into that Kieslowski trilogy I got sitting by the blu-ray for at least three friggin weeks now.
I would argue this isn't even an adaptation of War of the Worlds, because it shares absolutely nothing with that work beyond a meteor shower at the start, and all the ideas seem to be a mish-mash of really bad but cheap to film scenes from terrible invasion movies like Battle: Los Angeles - yes, they actually lift stuff from that movie.  Why that movie?  There are literally dozens of better alien invasion movies of which you could do a shoestring budget rip-off and they choose actually you know what I am done talking about this turkey.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 05 November, 2019, 01:42:31 PM
Mindhunter

Watched the first 2 episodes ages ago and really enjoyed it and so this week I have re-started the series. It is top quality imo.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 05 November, 2019, 02:22:34 PM
I watched the first three Mindhunters and loved it. But it's not the sort of thing to watch just before going to bed. Which is the only time I get to watch stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 05 November, 2019, 04:12:10 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 05 November, 2019, 02:22:34 PM
I watched the first three Mindhunters and loved it. But it's not the sort of thing to watch just before going to bed. Which is the only time I get to watch stuff.

I watched 6 episodes today (slow, wet, dank day (weatherwise)) and I have to say I need something light and fluffy tonight to lift my spirits. This stuff is pretty dark.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rately on 06 November, 2019, 02:32:00 PM
Quote from: Mattofthespurs on 05 November, 2019, 04:12:10 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 05 November, 2019, 02:22:34 PM
I watched the first three Mindhunters and loved it. But it's not the sort of thing to watch just before going to bed. Which is the only time I get to watch stuff.

I watched 6 episodes today (slow, wet, dank day (weatherwise)) and I have to say I need something light and fluffy tonight to lift my spirits. This stuff is pretty dark.

The Good Place will sort you out!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 06 November, 2019, 05:43:53 PM
Quote from: Rately on 06 November, 2019, 02:32:00 PM
Quote from: Mattofthespurs on 05 November, 2019, 04:12:10 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 05 November, 2019, 02:22:34 PM
I watched the first three Mindhunters and loved it. But it's not the sort of thing to watch just before going to bed. Which is the only time I get to watch stuff.

I watched 6 episodes today (slow, wet, dank day (weatherwise)) and I have to say I need something light and fluffy tonight to lift my spirits. This stuff is pretty dark.

The Good Place will sort you out!

I'm still watching, but I think the Good Place is getting a bit tired - the original premise was so original and fun, but they've wrung just about as much out of it as they can I reckon.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 06 November, 2019, 06:04:04 PM
Yeah, I kind of burned out on The Good Place somewhere in the middle of season 2. Seems like one of those shows that maybe would have been a perfect miniseries rather than an ongoing (well, 4 seasons).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rately on 07 November, 2019, 10:09:22 AM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 06 November, 2019, 05:43:53 PM
Quote from: Rately on 06 November, 2019, 02:32:00 PM
Quote from: Mattofthespurs on 05 November, 2019, 04:12:10 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 05 November, 2019, 02:22:34 PM
I watched the first three Mindhunters and loved it. But it's not the sort of thing to watch just before going to bed. Which is the only time I get to watch stuff.

I watched 6 episodes today (slow, wet, dank day (weatherwise)) and I have to say I need something light and fluffy tonight to lift my spirits. This stuff is pretty dark.

The Good Place will sort you out!

I'm still watching, but I think the Good Place is getting a bit tired - the original premise was so original and fun, but they've wrung just about as much out of it as they can I reckon.

I still enjoy it, and I can understand the idea of shortening it, as the first season and a bit are pitch perfect.

Now, while not as good as the early seasons, it is still a go-to for me, and one of the few shows that I watch as the episodes are released.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 07 November, 2019, 12:02:14 PM
We enjoyed the first season of The Good Place but soon tired of the format after that.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dark Jimbo on 07 November, 2019, 12:09:25 PM
Yeah, Good Place was superb, but two series was enough. The quality of S3 was surprisingly good, but it felt more contrived and tired with each episode. I've watched the first episode of S4 and just have no enthusiasm or energy for more, even though it's supposedly the final series.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 09 November, 2019, 09:20:38 PM
For All Mankind - for those who know how torrenting works signed up to Apple TV, Ron Moore's new show is now releasing three episodes a week.  It's another alternate history show, this time based on the premise that the Soviets beat the US to the Moon.  I do like that the writers are having none of the "one human race" nonsense and that everyone in the space programme is spurred on by jingoism or the tantrums of president Nixon, and it's nice to see a speculative sci-fi about the space programme that doesn't hinge on humanity being pushed forward thanks to the generosity of a white billionaire rather than collective endeavour.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Frank on 10 November, 2019, 12:07:42 AM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 09 November, 2019, 09:20:38 PM
For All Mankind - for those who know how torrenting works signed up to Apple TV, Ron Moore's new show is now releasing three episodes a week.  It's another alternate history show, this time based on the premise that the Soviets beat the US to the Moon.  I do like that the writers are having none of the "one human race" nonsense and that everyone in the space programme is spurred on by jingoism or the tantrums of president Nixon, and it's nice to see a speculative sci-fi about the space programme that doesn't hinge on humanity being pushed forward thanks to the generosity of a white billionaire rather than collective endeavour.

I went for The Morning Show, so if someone wants to take one for the team and suffer through The Jason Momoa Show we could crowdsource a review of Apple's service in toto.

The Morning Show is a lightly comedic drama about a ludicrously frivolous topic that, given the cast it's been blessed with*, would probably work better as all-out comedy.

It's insanely meta - what they've done is hire a bunch of folk who've worked on telly to make a show about folk who work on telly, which is about telly**

The result is a show that feels like any mid-range US drama (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0251328/?ref_=ttfc_fc_wr2) you've seen in the last twenty years, rather than establishing a visual and narrative sensibility of its own or offering any surprises.

It's a reminder that if you stick a washing machine motor in a Ferrari it's just a washing machine that won't get your clothes clean and is too big to fit in your kitchen.


* The show has a reputed budget of $15 million per episode, which, if true, must all have gone on the salaries. The whole thing plays out on ordinary-looking sets and there's one effects shot, which wouldn't have looked out of place on Buffy, 20 years ago. All new shows claim to cost $15 million per episode, probably because that's what Game Of Thrones cost.

** Maybe that's because this is the first time they've made a telly show that isn't on telly and the people who hired them to make a show that isn't on telly want it to seem as much like a show that's on telly as possible. There's some insanely self-referential stuff about how when people hold a device in their hand that can bring them the entire world all telly can offer them is entertainment, which reads like a plea of self-justification from the programme-makers to their phone-maker employers
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 11 November, 2019, 12:04:08 PM
So sadly we made it to the end of THE AMERICANS. I really enoyed it through all six seasons. Thought they kept the stakes high and interesting and building each season.
And with good solid character arcs that didn't seem to flip-flop their positions from week to week. 

Felt very tense during the scenes of flight and a bit sad during the confrontation in the garage and then a gut punch when the train leaves the border control station which were pretty good feels and an indicator of how the characters get under your skin.

Was everything tied up neatly? No, not everything - in fact some of the ambiguity was very deliberate and all the better for it.

But main threads all got satisfactory closure for me as a viewer if not for some of the poor characters.

Just brilliantly written and realised telly.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 11 November, 2019, 01:16:23 PM
I enjoyed The Americans but I would have ended it [spoiler]where the family integrated into the American society rather than getting split up.[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 11 November, 2019, 06:29:53 PM
I really admired how restrained the ending to The Americans was, as it [spoiler]didn't end with the explosive fireworks Breaking Bad 'everybody dies' climax I was half expecting, and the resolution was much more concerned with character and personal cost than spectacle or body count.[/spoiler]

QuoteI enjoyed The Americans but I would have ended it...

I disagree - the theme of the whole show was [spoiler]identity - having the family split at the end, with Philip and Elizabeth relegated to a 'home' they no longer recognise - seems a perfectly poignant and logical endpoint. It also allowed them to get out of the show alive, which lets be honest we all wanted them to, and yet still have to pay an unimaginable cost for everything they have done.[/spoiler]

We ended up watching four or five episodes of the Reese Witherspoon/Jennifer Aniston/Steve Carrell drama seriesThe Morning Show on Apple TV+ yesterday - a sort of Network for the #metoo era. It's not a show I'd have chosen myself, but my girlfriend wanted to watch it. I didn't like it at all at the start, but must admit I got somewhat involved as it went on. If there is a problem with the show, it's that the writing is very heavyhanded and on the nose at times, and it's honestly really hard to get invested in the overall stakes, because who really gives a shit about the mainstream, squeaky floor studio news format anymore? It seems like a relic from a different era to me. The show is at it's most interesting when it lays bare the artificiality of everything, but other times it seems to want the audience to genuinely care about the news show and the plight of its pompous characters. It's a weird one.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 17 November, 2019, 05:04:58 PM

Several months ago I bought a box set of the first seven seasons of The Walking Dead for silly cheap from a pawn shop. It's been sat there ever since, giggling at me, because I don't really enjoy zombie stories. I've been regretting buying it.

In a moment of weakness, however, I started watching the thing and have properly enjoyed it. Great characters and absorbing stories with quite a few outstanding episodes (such as the one with the two little blond girls, and the one with Darrel in the cell).

Now I have to get the rest of it. Bloody zombies.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 17 November, 2019, 07:54:33 PM
Yeah, that Season 4 episode ("The Grove") is some of the best television I've ever seen and has stayed with me. Sadly, that was peak Walking Dead got me, nothing matched it since.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 17 November, 2019, 08:38:58 PM

Maybe it's because I've binged the whole thing in a couple of weeks after expecting to can it in season one but it just got better for me. That Negan dude is an awesome villain and it's clear the actor playing him is having enormous fun ("Little pigs, little pigs, let me in,). It has its faults - flashbacks at the start of episodes have had me thinking I'd skipped ahead, or back, from time to time and Rick's trapped animal expression got old quick - but I can forgive them because, overall, it's all just so damned freaky deaky!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 21 November, 2019, 10:05:25 AM
Okay I'm 3 epsiodes in to The Umbrella Academy and I'm pleasantly surprised - turns out that what I mistook for a crap graphic novel was actually just the storyboard for a pretty good TV show!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 21 November, 2019, 11:02:38 AM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 21 November, 2019, 10:05:25 AM
Okay I'm 3 epsiodes in to The Umbrella Academy and I'm pleasantly surprised - turns out that what I mistook for a crap graphic novel was actually just the storyboard for a pretty good TV show!

Though my opinion of the series will always be tainted by the fact Way was a prick to folks at Thought Bubble a few years back, i must admit to being a bit intrigued by the Netflix series success.

Doubt he'll be making any more comics anyway, what with MCR making their comeback.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 21 November, 2019, 02:57:53 PM
It's a shame to read that about Way - I thought Umbrella Academy was brilliant, comic and TV show both.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 24 November, 2019, 05:17:28 AM
Been watching a little show called The Simpsons via Disney+.

While having every classic episode at my fingertips is amazing, I was planning on watching a bit beyond my usual cut-off of season 10 and giving the more modern episodes a chance - perhaps modern era Simpsons is due a reappraisal? But no, the drop in quality once you get into season 11 is just as jarring as I remember it being at the time. Sample season 11 joke:

The Simpsons are in Holllywood. Someone says "Look, it's Ellen Degeneres and Anne Heche!"

Ellen Degeneres and Anne Heche, holding hands on a swingset: "We're lesbians!"

That's it. That's the 'joke'.

It's toe-curlingly bad, it's just like they stopped even trying. Every episode feels more like a very rough first draft (more often like a loose idea for an episode) rather than a finished script. And it apparently got even worse after this?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 25 November, 2019, 02:41:37 PM
I want more Man in the High Castle!!! Binged over the weekend and NEED more....
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 25 November, 2019, 07:25:43 PM
Quote from: Proudhuff on 25 November, 2019, 02:41:37 PM
I want more Man in the High Castle!!! Binged over the weekend and NEED more....

I just recently watched that series too. I think it ended on a good place, but I liked that a lot. Or could perhaps have used more material before reaching this place. Some stuff felt rather rushed, but it was good.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 25 November, 2019, 09:47:18 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 25 November, 2019, 07:25:43 PM
Quote from: Proudhuff on 25 November, 2019, 02:41:37 PM
I want more Man in the High Castle!!! Binged over the weekend and NEED more....

I just recently watched that series too. I think it ended on a good place, but I liked that a lot. Or could perhaps have used more material before reaching this place. Some stuff felt rather rushed, but it was good.

Rushed? Season one just seemed to take soooo long to advance the story, I couldn't be arsed with season 2. They were clearly in it for the long haul, and I can appreciate the modern appetite for epic box sets, but I just wanted them to bloody get on with it. Everyone's CV must have included "good at thoughtful brooding and meaningful silences". Did it pick up the pace explanation-wise in later seasons?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 25 November, 2019, 11:06:40 PM
Quicksand.  Swedish rich-kid school-shooting thing on Netflix.  It's very nicely made and performed, rigidly adhering to the sole perspective of Maya, the only surviving suspect (to the point that we never get to see some key events, because Maya didn't, or learn some players' motivations, because Maya didn't).  In fact, the only time we get any alternative view on proceedings is through a phone video shown in court, which is then pretty jarring. 

Unfortunately, the climax is a truncated trial sequence, handled in quite a superficial way, leaving you wondering why the lawyers haven't done any homework. I appreciate that this is more of psychological drama than a courtroom one, but when it's the event that all 8 episodes build towards I'd have liked more meat in that bit. 

Still, it's definitely worth a look, although while noting that the central violence itself is not graphic, there is a horrid perfunctory rape in a later episode that I found pretty upsetting viewing, despite not being played in any way for titillation.

Currently watching Season 1 The Crown, which even my firey republican heart has to admit is a fascinating take on a subject I usually care nothing for, anchored by some spectacular performances from Clare Foy, Jared Harris and John Lithgow, excellent supporting turns from Victoria Hamilton and Ben Miles and some actually-not-bad gurning from Matt Smith.

It is however desperately uneven, with some great episodes (the Treetops and Coronation ones) sandwiched by cringey dross (the one about the Great Smog of 1952 is particularly terrible, the inclusion of both Churchill and Matt Smith making one wonder if one has switched over to Dr Who instead).  Edward VIII and Churchill make for wonderful panto villains, and Vanessa Kirby's Princess Margaret is quite alarmingly gorgeous, if you like that sort of thing, which I didn't know I did.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 26 November, 2019, 01:08:38 AM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 25 November, 2019, 09:47:18 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 25 November, 2019, 07:25:43 PM
Quote from: Proudhuff on 25 November, 2019, 02:41:37 PM
I want more Man in the High Castle!!! Binged over the weekend and NEED more....

I just recently watched that series too. I think it ended on a good place, but I liked that a lot. Or could perhaps have used more material before reaching this place. Some stuff felt rather rushed, but it was good.

Rushed? Season one just seemed to take soooo long to advance the story, I couldn't be arsed with season 2. They were clearly in it for the long haul, and I can appreciate the modern appetite for epic box sets, but I just wanted them to bloody get on with it. Everyone's CV must have included "good at thoughtful brooding and meaningful silences". Did it pick up the pace explanation-wise in later seasons?

It's pretty slow paced through most of the seasons but you get explanations from season 2 onwards. (Actually it starts in 1). I didn't mind, the slow pace too much but then I binged most of them on Amazon Prime. Much of the explanations concerning what happens is covered in the series in between and they didn't seem that slow coming, but it's as much a character drama as a sci fi mystery.

The last season is generally pretty fast-paced. Understandable as I'm sure they were aware that would be the last and they had limited episodes to fit it all in, but I actually feel a bit more time would have been nicer.

Some things are left ambiguous ([spoiler]the last scene itself is a bit of a head-scratcher, subject to interpretation -not in a bad way, in my opinions[/spoiler]) but you get answers where the main story is concerned.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 26 November, 2019, 10:58:44 AM
Yeah, that last series finale rushed along at breakneck pace, with a lot of 'WTF,...But, but'  moments.
But compared to recent, deadly dull and boring TWD its a breath of fresh air!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 26 November, 2019, 01:39:25 PM
The Man in the High Castle is a great show and I just need some extra time to binge the last season
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 26 November, 2019, 08:05:17 PM

Looking forward to MitHC too. In the meantime, I'm really enjoying Pennyworth so far. It's like 1860 has crashed into 1960, which has bounced off 2060, trickled into its own pocket universe without touching the sides and landed on some charismatic berk pretending to be Michael Caine.

It puts me in mind of some of the tv from my youth, impossibly English Englishmen being all brave and noble in an impossibly English England. Like The New Avengers or that one with Roger Moore and Toby Curtains, all funny and dark and weird. And fair play to it for that.

Yeah, I'm proper enjoying this.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 05 December, 2019, 11:18:32 PM

Children of the Stones. 7 part children's tv mini-series from 1977 about a scientist (Gareth Thomas) and his son who turn up in an English village which is hard by a circle of ancient standing stones. Paranormal shenanigans and general eerieness accompanied by weird and screechy choral music ensue.

It's really good, like The Wicker Man for younglings - no wonder people of my generation grew up weird...

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: karlos on 25 December, 2019, 12:30:05 PM
The Witcher is pretty great.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 25 December, 2019, 12:33:39 PM
Also start watching The Witcher and yes it is good.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: karlos on 29 December, 2019, 01:47:43 PM
So, it's a good night from season 1 of The Witcher, which is stonking and [spoiler]only just really getting going [/spoiler, as well finishing up The Mandalorian, which has just been a great space western and huge fun all around.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 29 December, 2019, 03:10:53 PM
I'm really struggling to see what fuss is about THE WITCHER. So far it seems like one of my more boring D&D campaigns from 1980.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Apestrife on 29 December, 2019, 09:38:18 PM
With Better Call Saul Season 5 out in February (teaser https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMNlyBmReKY) I went through all of Breaking Bad, the movie El Camino and the four seasons of Better Call Saul. Can't wait. Hope it's as heartbreaking as season 4  :'(
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 29 December, 2019, 09:40:59 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 29 December, 2019, 03:10:53 PM
I'm really struggling to see what fuss is about THE WITCHER. So far it seems like one of my more boring D&D campaigns from 1980.

Slogging through it slowly, but this is very much my feeling so far.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 30 December, 2019, 12:31:28 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 29 December, 2019, 03:10:53 PM
I'm really struggling to see what fuss is about THE WITCHER. So far it seems like one of my more boring D&D campaigns from 1980.
Perfect summary. I keep hearing that it gets better by episode 4 but I'm not seeing how.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 30 December, 2019, 03:34:26 AM

I accidentally acquired the original Polish version of the Witcher, dubbed by an enthusiastic fan. It was like insects were living in my eyes.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: shaolin_monkey on 30 December, 2019, 10:42:35 AM
I stuck with it to the end and very much enjoyed it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 30 December, 2019, 04:33:52 PM
I've been enjoying The Witcher series, but then I read all the books in a frenzy over the first half of 2019. So, I'm sure my love of the written material is having an effect on how I take the screen version.

The books are odd fish - the first one or two take up a series of short stories (often riffing on existing mythology), with characters such as Yennefer and Dandelion (Jaskier in the original Polish) cropping up here and there. By the time we get novels, the writer seems to lose interest in Geralt doing any actual witchering, and he becomes a frustrated warrior, swept up in the tide of greater events. By the time the plot spirals to a conclusion some books later we're left to either accept a terrible tragedy or grasp desperately at an alternative ending that's not quite so dire.

It's probably not clear, but I love the books - mainly because the writing is wonderful and is imbued with a lot of humour.

I'm up to about episode #5 of the TV series. I'm a bit bemused that they felt the need to structure it so oddly (although the books are certainly structured oddly), and add in a lengthy backstory for Yennefer that reduces her mysterious past to something more set in stone. Also: I don't know that the books ever had the part where Jaskier/Dandelion meets Geralt: instead opting for the approach of presenting an odd couple mid-stream. They seem much fonder of one another in the books, despite also getting on each other's nerves.

Nobody mention the games! The author thought they'd flop and took a lump sum for the rights: oops!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 30 December, 2019, 10:16:17 PM
‪Just sat through Episode 3 of The Witcher. I'm done. This really is Hercules/Xena with a bigger budget and pretensions of not being shit. Definitely Not One For Me.‬
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: shaolin_monkey on 31 December, 2019, 12:55:05 AM
It has been a holiday season of box sets for me - The Expanse, The Witcher, Mr Robot, Watchmen, His Dark Materials, something bounty hunter related, etc.

All of them were excellent, although of the currently available stuff The Expanse came tops. Of the not so currently available, that other thing trumped them all.


Not sure what to watch next though.  Any suggestions?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 31 December, 2019, 01:31:37 AM
Lost In Space season 2 on Netflix - overall I enjoyed it more than the second season of Star Trek Discovery, but like the second dose of STD it never quite manages to achieve a balance between grimdark post-Lost mystery box nonsense, cluttered visual design, and resolving plot arcs with cheesy shit that anyone with an ounce of cynicism would denounce immediately as sheer laziness on the part of the writers at best, and a calculated insult to the audience's intelligence at worst.  Nitpicking Dr Smith's plot arcs alone would take forever, but the concept of identity theft on a spaceship where everyone has met everyone else is just the start of a daffy, unfocused journey for the character that never goes anywhere.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 31 December, 2019, 07:20:31 AM
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 31 December, 2019, 12:55:05 AM
All of them were excellent, although of the currently available stuff The Expanse came tops.

Up to the third episode of The Expanse S4 and so far it's been really, really good.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 31 December, 2019, 09:03:22 AM
Since Amazon taken over The Expanse its quality has not diminished. Season 4 is as previous seasons excellent.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 31 December, 2019, 06:54:50 PM
Just finished The Witcher.

I enjoyed that a lot. Ended a bit too soon, but I'd imagine there'll be as second series.

Still watching Dark Shadows. So silly, yet enjoyable and addictive.

That blond actress's cockney wench routine with the really dodgy accent during the Victorian arc is very amusing.* Actually she seems a good comedy actress generally considering the other characters she's played too. (They even did a psychic dream sequence where her 1960s character kicking about with puppets  for no apparent reason.) I think maybe they should have taught her more than the one song, mind you.

[spoiler]Oh, and how often had Angelique been recycled by now? (I do like the character though.)
[/spoiler]

There's weird cult stuff going on now, and Barnabus is [spoiler]back to being a bad 'un.[/spoiler] He still keeps fluffing his lines and Maggie Evans tripped up on her way to answering the door, and covered it well, not reacting one bit. It's amazing how much they just allowed in without reshooting.

*More accurately, [spoiler], she is a prim and proper churchy type who has been possessed by the ghost of a cockney wench who was killed by a werewolf. She got possessed by being waved over by the magic hand of an evil century old Hungarian aristocrat. Yes, that's the actual story. Oh and she got the ghosts psychic powers too.[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 01 January, 2020, 03:08:48 AM
WITCHER is shit.

Oh and Happy New Year.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 03 January, 2020, 02:02:59 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 01 January, 2020, 03:08:48 AM
WITCHER is shit.
:thumbsup:
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 03 January, 2020, 05:35:27 PM
Picked up a mega-cheap (actual, physical) boxset of The Pacific while doing my pre-Christmas shopping and started watching it with The Boy this week.  I'm a big fan of Band of Brothers, but had never had the right channels or scheduling to see this, and bloody hell, it's strong stuff. The first episode in particular was masterful in the way it created a sense of directionless bewilderment as the various Marine companies marched to and fro through the jungle, wondering what was going on, punctuated by occasional terrifying night fights. Judging by this entry, Jon Bernthal has an almost Sean Bean quality to his career.

Knowing very little about the Pacific theatre (e.g. I had no idea Guadalcanal was in the Solomon Islands), it's even proving vaguely educational, especially when you watch the framing interviews.  About halfway now, looking forward to the rest. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 05 January, 2020, 05:03:38 PM
Pacific theatre WWII is quite fascinating. I read an account of the US assault on Tarawa Atoll (which they needed for an air base), where the Japanese were robustly dug-in: it was a horror show. The marine landing craft were too deep draft to cross the reef and many got stuck out on the water. The preliminary air and naval bombardment of the small island of Betio didn't knock out the Japanese bunkers, so they were able to have a turkey shoot with the struggling invaders.

The marines lost 1009 dead, 2101 wounded over four days of fierce fighting. The Japanese defenders were mostly wiped out (4690 dead, 17 captured). 129 Korean indentured laborers also survived the battle.   

The (human) cost of these operations partly led to the decision to use the atomic bomb.

---

Reader's Digest Illustrated Story of World War II (1969)
Atlas of the Second World War (1974)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 05 January, 2020, 06:36:10 PM
The Pacific was great but just seemed more "written" than Band Of Brothers if that makes sense.

What are the best books about the Pacific campaign? Has Beevor got near it yet?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 05 January, 2020, 06:52:17 PM
I think the difference between Pacific and BofB is that the former was an amalgamation of the direct experiences of two individuals whereas BofB was based on historian work.  BofB tends to be more episodic and shifts attention around the unit whereas Pacific follows two or three individuals more closely.

IIRC one of the main foci (the writer who spent time in the loonie bin, can't remember his name) had gone to see the musical South Pacific and had walked out in disgust complaining that it bore no resemblance to the campaign at all.

Would dearly love  it if someone could work up the guts to do something similar on Battle of Britain or better yet the bomber campaign.  The old "how the US saved the world" does get a little boring after a while.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 07 January, 2020, 11:56:55 AM
I've just 'inherited' BofB (with hundreds of add ons) and Pacific box set, these along with the series six of Vikings, should see me through my ironing for the next wee while.

Interesting series on The Normans on BBC 4 just now
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 08 January, 2020, 08:07:39 AM
Justice League (the animated series). Its even better now then when I watched it the first time.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 12 January, 2020, 11:07:26 PM
The Witcher. Only two episodes in and oh deer lard it really is that bad: disjointed and dissonant in every conceivable way, tonally, structurally, musically, visually, linguistically. I love it, it's every schlocky fantasy decalogy I've ever hunted down in secondhand shops and libraries, devoured one after the other over a summer and then forgotten essentially everything about it 1 month on. How great is it that this sort of rubbish is a big budget TV show.  Such sport these endtimes offer.

Probably my favourite TV thing of the moment.

Tad Williams must be crying himself to sleep, though.  First Shannara and now this!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trooper McFad on 13 January, 2020, 01:08:07 PM
Quote from: Smith on 08 January, 2020, 08:07:39 AM
Justice League (the animated series). Its even better now then when I watched it the first time.

I loved the animated DC stuff JL, Batman & Batman of the future- helped that my kids were dropped down in front of the telly when it was on so good excuse that I was "watching" the kids.

My boxer addiction just now is The Man in the High Castle - started just before Xmas and only got 4 to go. Really enjoying it.
Then it's on to Teen Titans 2 😃
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 16 January, 2020, 09:47:45 AM
Enjoying Season 2 of JACK RYAN so far (four episodes in). John Krasinski akes for a convincing boy scout and plays well against an abrasive Jim Greer (Wendell Pierce).

It's not quite as procedural as I'd like and they fluff the ambush taken from CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER and there's an unstoppable, relentless and resourceful assassin who stretches credulity but it's handsomely mounted engaging stuff and even lesser characters get a bit of time to breath.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 26 January, 2020, 12:36:07 PM

After loving the film, had a go at What We Do in the Shadows and did not find it wanting. Some genuine laugh-out-loud moments. The episode with the cursed hat was excellent.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JamesC on 29 January, 2020, 03:18:23 PM
After finishing an entire re-watch of Next Generation, then my first ever watch of Enterprise and Deep Space Nine I'm now starting Voyager.
I'm only a few episodes in and I'm quite enjoying it. I watched a bit of Voyager when it was first broadcast as it was easy to dip in and out of. It does seem very Trek-lite though.
The characters are pretty lame so far but I remmeber them getting more interesting as time goes on.
I like Janeway, Chakotay is a big prick, Kim is a boring twat, Paris is a lame wananbe bad-boy with no charisma and Tuvok is really good and looks like he shares my opinions on the rest of them. The least said about the Godzuki/Scrappy Doo esque Neelix, the better.
To be honest I want to get through the first few seasons quickly because I'm waiting for Seven of Nine to turn up.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 29 January, 2020, 04:18:52 PM
I'm enjoying the October Faction, enjoyed the comics, which are a bit darker, but still great fun.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Greg M. on 29 January, 2020, 04:20:53 PM
Quote from: JamesC on 29 January, 2020, 03:18:23 PM
I remmeber them getting more interesting as time goes on.

Memory, as they say, cheats.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 29 January, 2020, 04:32:14 PM
Quote from: JamesC on 29 January, 2020, 03:18:23 PM
After finishing an entire re-watch of Next Generation, then my first ever watch of Enterprise and Deep Space Nine I'm now starting Voyager.

Did a rewatch of Voyager a few years ago, surprised by how much good stuff there is in there. Neelix and Tom improve, Harry never really does. And pneumatic and all as Seven is, for me the earlier seasons are stronger for her absence: it's not just that costume she's shoehorned into.

Currently working our way through DS9 - I'd formerly dismissed Season 2 as neither one thing nor t'other, but it's turning out to be rather brilliant throughout.

In between that, we're on True Detective Season 2 which pulls off amazing feat of miss-casting every major role, which is a shame when Season 1 was all about miraculously good performances. I can just about accept Taylor Kitsch's constipated vet if I imagine he's continually repressing his experiences on Barsoom, but the rest.... oh dear. And 6 episodes in I'very given up hope of any Lovecraftian vibes in this one.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 29 January, 2020, 05:00:30 PM
Quote from: JamesC on 29 January, 2020, 03:18:23 PM
I like Janeway, Chakotay is a big prick, Kim is a boring twat, Paris is a lame wananbe bad-boy with no charisma and Tuvok is really good and looks like he shares my opinions on the rest of them.

I cannot fault this analysis
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 30 January, 2020, 05:24:03 AM
Just finished up a rewatch of The Sopranos. Must have seen the whole thing 5 or 6 times now, and I feel that its a series I'll probably rewatch every couple of years for the rest of my life. 'Masterpiece' doesn't really do it justice, does it? The fact that it now serves as a wonderful time capsule for all things early 2000s only adds to the appeal, and that there are 2 references to Trump in the finale is so perfect its almost like it was planned.

It's insane to think that this started airing 20+years ago, and how it managed to succeed in such a totally different - pre streaming/binge-watching - media landscape, as its so dense with continuity and subtle callbacks to previous episodes. I can't fathom what it must have been like trying to follow it week to week, year to year. Even at the time, I remember loving what I'd seen of the show, but making a decision to wait until such a time that I could watch the entire thing at my leisure to really experience it 'properly'.

Its really hard to comprehend just how influential this show was - it's basically the template for almost every non-procedural adult-oriented drama series of the modern era. I was really struck this time round of how Mad Men is really just a variation on the same theme, and how Don Draper is strikingly similar to Tony Soprano in so many ways. Like Mad men, it's one of those shows that is perfectly possible to enjoy on a completely straight, surface level, but that you get a little more out of on a deeper, thematic level with each subsequent rewatch.

It honestly never occurred to me that the ending was controversial, or even intended to be provocative, as for me it's one of those shows, again like Mad Men, where the plot is just a vehicle for the characters and themes, so it doesn't bother me at all that it ends on a somewhat ambiguous note.

Having said all that, I did for the first time notice a few slightly 'off' episodes this time round, such as the episode revolving around Columbus day, which seemed a little stiff and didactic, and there's also a slightly odd episode towards the end where Tony suddenly becomes a compulsive gambling addict, which seems a little out of character.

I know a lot of people find the dream sequences boring, but I think they're a great addition to the show, and probably one of the best on-screen depictions of dream logic I've seen, however the weird episode towards the end when Tony is in a coma and most of the episode is him living a weird alternate life as a travelling salesman continues to test my patience. We actually fast-forwarded a lot of that stuff this time as it's a bit tedious and imo doesn't really add much.

But man, what a show. Every single character adds something valuable, and each and every one of them gets to have at least a few incredible moments. Pine Barrens - the episode where Christopher and Paulie get lost in the woods while failing to kill a Russian mobster - remains possibly my favourite episode - a perfect little mini-movie of an episode.

Also just finished watching the Killer Inside: Aaron Hernandez doc on Netflix - I'm pretty sure I must have been living under a rock for the last few years, because I had literally never heard of this guy until just now. What a bizarre, almost unbelievable story.

And finally, just started on another Netflix documentary - Cheer - about a squad of college cheerleaders. Charming stuff so far, really like it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 30 January, 2020, 06:25:03 AM
Yeah Sopranos was the best thing on telly after Twin Peaks by a country mile at the time. Its hard to imagine now the landscape that something soooo good was made had so little else of comparible quality. Even say West Wing was a very different type of show.

I watched it week to week on Channel 4 (as I recall, remember when Channel 4 was a bastion of quality and creative tv!?!) and to be honest that's just the normal at the time. I only had a couple of friends who watched it but I don't think we're discussed and analyised anything on telly as much. Week to week between us finding themes and ideas as they show developed.

I've not watched it again for some time but have all but season 6 on DVD - the first two season in what is now stupidly big ass boxes, boy they hadn't worked out DVD boxes in the eary 2000s! I think I worry that it won't hold up now I've watch The Wire and other modern shows. But Twin Peaks held up so must get to that and I think I will soon.

I did watch The Pine Barrens again a couple of years ago as it happens as yes its the single best episode of telly every (weelllll aside from about 5 episodes of the aforementioned Twin Peaks I can think of) and it remained a complete delight.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 30 January, 2020, 06:46:03 AM

Every time the staticy HBO intro comes on, I still expect it to lead straight on to The Sopranos' title sequence.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Gary James on 30 January, 2020, 05:49:30 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 30 January, 2020, 06:46:03 AM

Every time the staticy HBO intro comes on, I still expect it to lead straight on to The Sopranos' title sequence.

This is how you can guess someone's age - the show they most associate with the HBO intro. :D For me it would be Oz, so make of that what you will...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rately on 31 January, 2020, 09:41:19 AM
Quote from: Gary James on 30 January, 2020, 05:49:30 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 30 January, 2020, 06:46:03 AM

Every time the staticy HBO intro comes on, I still expect it to lead straight on to The Sopranos' title sequence.

This is how you can guess someone's age - the show they most associate with the HBO intro. :D For me it would be Oz, so make of that what you will...

Yes, same here.

Many a bleary eyed Friday from having sat up all hours to watch Oz on Channel 4.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Gary James on 31 January, 2020, 09:57:22 AM
Their scheduling of Oz wasn't nearly as bad as their handling of Babylon 5. And they had the temerity to put classic cartoons (Ulysses 31, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors...) on first thing in the morning - before The Big Breakfast for sure, and possibly before the repeat of Countdown - so people would be sleep-deprived for much of the week.

Recording shows on video to watch later simply wouldn't have been the same.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rately on 31 January, 2020, 10:00:07 AM
Quote from: Gary James on 31 January, 2020, 09:57:22 AM
Their scheduling of Oz wasn't nearly as bad as their handling of Babylon 5. And they had the temerity to put classic cartoons (Ulysses 31, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors...) on first thing in the morning - before The Big Breakfast for sure, and possibly before the repeat of Countdown - so people would be sleep-deprived for much of the week.

Recording shows on video to watch later simply wouldn't have been the same.

Aye, not good for days in work!

Sure their scheduling of The Sopranos was awful as well, at least for the early series. If I remember correctly, the time slot changed from week to week. Staggering to think that they had such brilliant TV, and shunted it into late spots.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Gary James on 31 January, 2020, 10:10:10 AM
Quote from: Rately on 31 January, 2020, 10:00:07 AM
Staggering to think that they had such brilliant TV, and shunted it into late spots.

Or dropped shows halfway through the run, only for it to turn up on Sky. Or changed days when something was actually shown, irrespective of what the schedules said.

At least by that point the stupid on-screen triangle had disappeared.

Not ragging on C4 here speccifically (ITV is arguably worse, not least when it comes to remembering their own history). Between BritBox and All4 we should, finally, get a chance to revisit all the bonkers 80s scheduling. I recall a thing from the late 80s which had zombies in it, and if they stick that up somewhere I'll praise them enthusiastically.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 31 January, 2020, 10:12:45 AM
HBO static intro always makes me think of Oz also.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 31 January, 2020, 11:23:42 AM

I've never seen Oz, don't know anything about it - from what you all say, though, seems like it's worth a watch. Time to DuckDuckGo it, methinks!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rately on 31 January, 2020, 11:38:03 AM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 31 January, 2020, 11:23:42 AM

I've never seen Oz, don't know anything about it - from what you all say, though, seems like it's worth a watch. Time to DuckDuckGo it, methinks!

Not for the faint hearted, but definitely worth a watch as it has some amazing performances and writing. Hell of a cast, too.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 31 January, 2020, 11:53:36 AM
Quote from: Rately on 31 January, 2020, 11:38:03 AM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 31 January, 2020, 11:23:42 AM

I've never seen Oz, don't know anything about it - from what you all say, though, seems like it's worth a watch. Time to DuckDuckGo it, methinks!

Not for the faint hearted, but definitely worth a watch as it has some amazing performances and writing. Hell of a cast, too.

THIS.

Oz was the first show to say 'I don't care if you're one of the main stars, you're getting killed/bummed in the gob.'

Pretty much setting the template for The Wire, Game of Thrones etc etc.

I rewatched it all last year and it still holds up.


Is the final Good Place today.  I've really enjoyed it but this last season hasn't been very funny.  I guess because it is more interested in driving the plot forward.  Looking forward to watching it tonight.



Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Gary James on 31 January, 2020, 05:24:57 PM
Quote from: Rately on 31 January, 2020, 11:38:03 AM
Not for the faint hearted, but definitely worth a watch as it has some amazing performances and writing. Hell of a cast, too.

Quote from: repoman on 31 January, 2020, 11:53:36 AM
I rewatched it all last year and it still holds up.

It is one of the half-dozen shows which, at the end of HBO's existence, will be mentioned in glowing terms, justifying its existence. It is that good. There are many, many people you ought to recognize in the cast, not least of whom is a certain newspaper editor in the Spider-Man films. If you enjoyed Lost, or really anything in the last twenty years, you will see someone you enjoy watching.

Have to add that it is extremely brutal, completely merciless with its characters, and utterly compelling - set it aside for a day you aren't expected someplace anytime soon.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 31 January, 2020, 05:45:37 PM

Okay, I'm sold - it's on The List!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 31 January, 2020, 08:15:45 PM
I'd like to rewatch Oz - it doesn't get the staticy intro gong from me (always Sopranos) as I rarely saw the start, but it was the show I'd watch sporadically when I got in from the pub. I remember watching several in a row and thinking "okay, I've got a handle on the main characters, so.. OMG HE JUST GOT SHIVVED!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 31 January, 2020, 11:10:08 PM
Woohoo Bojack's back! Made myself stop after two episodes to eke out this final run.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 01 February, 2020, 01:31:20 AM

A friend gave me Catastrophe, which is about a couple who get pregnant after a six night stand and decide to get married. I have long been in love with Sharon Horgan (just about the perfect woman) and so I'd love this programme even if it wasn't so damn good. Then, in episode two, there is Carrie Fisher - which was great but sad.

Also enjoying Motherland, which is also great but for different reasons.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 01 February, 2020, 03:50:14 PM
Quote from: repoman on 31 January, 2020, 11:53:36 AM

...you're getting killed/bummed in the gob...

I'm still trying to work out EXACTLY how this works.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 01 February, 2020, 04:13:48 PM
I believe the youngsters call this "ass to mouth", and it even has its own Wikipedia page that I shan't link to because the forum rules on filth are not entirely clear where encyclopedic/educational material is concerned.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 01 February, 2020, 06:37:15 PM

"Educational."

...Riight...

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 06 February, 2020, 10:21:19 PM
MINDHUNTER on Netflix continues to be all round excellent. Grim but not without humour and Tench and Holden are an excellent double act.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 06 February, 2020, 11:15:49 PM
I wouldn't get too attached - i think it just got cancelled.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dark Jimbo on 07 February, 2020, 08:09:54 AM
Quote from: radiator on 06 February, 2020, 11:15:49 PM
I wouldn't get too attached - i think it just got cancelled.

'' On indefinite hold' rather than cancelled.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 11 February, 2020, 04:52:29 PM
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 07 February, 2020, 08:09:54 AM
Quote from: radiator on 06 February, 2020, 11:15:49 PM
I wouldn't get too attached - i think it just got cancelled.

'' On indefinite hold' rather than cancelled.

There's oceans of mindless drivel out there, nonstop crud, and something like this comes along and its put on hold FFS! WHY?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 11 February, 2020, 04:54:36 PM
On a different note, I've been enjoying October Faction, there's a bit too much High School soap opera for me but its and enjoyable romp...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 11 February, 2020, 10:49:03 PM
MCMillions - HBO documentary about the McDonalds Monopoly promotion scam.

It is.... nowhere near as interesting as the people making the documentary seem to think it is.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: karlos on 12 February, 2020, 12:46:35 PM
Altered Carbon season 2 trailer has just popped up online, ahead of it's February 22nd release date on Netflix.

I honestly loved the first season - apart from a very wonky final 2 episodes - and this looks fantastic.

(I'm presuming everyone has seen season 1!)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 12 February, 2020, 06:13:55 PM
Blakes 7 (no apostrophe), which I finally decided to get around to polishing off after the recent passing of Paul Darrow, who's holding the whole thing together when Gareth Thomas buggers off in season 3.  I like that Avon and Blake both become rebel figureheads for the same reason (they realise that either they or the Federation must die) but Avon is a more interesting character because he's ultimately just out for number one, and unsurprisingly that's what kills him when he just can't bring himself to trust that Blake isn't.
The "oh vicar, what are you doing here?" comedy of errors finale is unjustly revered, IMO, as despite accommodating a little unpacking if one is wont to do so (was Blake's final ruse to draw out Servilan?), it's a standard episode of the week potboiler about the crew being stranded that just happens to pay off on what would usually be fake-out moments by not being renewed for another series, but even so, the deaths of the main characters are remarkably bloodless, especially compared to Blake's kiss-off.

All the running around power plants and quarries made me wistful for days when alien planets weren't required to have a splurge of CGI noise going on, though some of the in-camera effects are distractingly dreadful.  Its casting decisions are surprisingly diverse for something made in the middle class tv era of late 1970s Brittin, but it still manages to let the side down now and then by being very of its time in some of the dialogue.  There's some tonal dissonance between the camp look of things and the grim plots, though overall I enjoyed it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 12 February, 2020, 06:30:31 PM
I've never decided whether Darrow was good actor playing a character prone to hammy, overblown enunciation, or just not a very good actor, but as a kid I thought he was terrible.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Greg M. on 12 February, 2020, 06:37:27 PM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 12 February, 2020, 06:13:55 PM
  Its casting decisions are surprisingly diverse for something made in the middle class tv era of late 1970s Brittin, but it still manages to let the side down now and then by being very of its time in some of the dialogue.

Been watching the Ben Steed episodes, have you?

Quote from: Professor Bear on 12 February, 2020, 06:13:55 PM
There's some tonal dissonance between the camp look of things and the grim plots, though overall I enjoyed it.

That's surely part of what makes the series so good though - that collision of camp and bleak. Case in point, the much-derided 'Stardrive', which is relentlessly silly and then pulls out one of the darkest and most brilliant episode endings of the series. I actually do agree about 'Blake' though - I've said this before (possibly here, possibly elsewhere, I forget) and been profoundly disagreed with, but I never watch it and think "Oh, Avon's dead." I'd have been more than fine with the proposed Series 5 patterned around 'Gold'.

As for Darrow - it's very interesting to watch him evolve over the course of the series. It's very noticeable if you watch them back to back - he's much more controlled in Series 1 & 2, and for the early part of 3 he's adapting to being the lead. But series 4 is a totally different performance - Heavy Metal Shakespeare Avon - with everything exaggerated to the nth degree, and no bit of scenery left unchewed. There's a fan theory that Avon's started to go mad in between 3 and 4, and is a complete nut by 'Gold'.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Gary James on 12 February, 2020, 09:41:19 PM
Quote from: karlos on 12 February, 2020, 12:46:35 PM
(I'm presuming everyone has seen season 1!)
It is on The List. How soon I get around to it, however...

I need more hours in the day.

Quote from: Professor Bear on 12 February, 2020, 06:13:55 PM
...Avon is a more interesting character because he's ultimately just out for number one, and unsurprisingly that's what kills him when he just can't bring himself to trust that Blake isn't.
That character decision is about twenty years ahead of its time - he would have been viewed as completely heroic and noble when compared with some mid-90s characters. It was jarring to have the entire show thrown away for a shock ending at the time, and it still - even after so many shows have attempted similar "twists" - works magnificently.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 12 February, 2020, 10:00:25 PM
Made it to the end of THE GOOD PLACE which finished pretty much perfectly. Sure Seasons 3 and 4 struggled to match the first two but it was a brill show with fantastic cast.

I wasn't crying at Chidi and Eleanor's last scene. I wasn't.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 12 February, 2020, 10:22:24 PM
Well now I'm all Amazoned up I can do this without having to put DVDs into a thing and to celebrate I've just finishing watching the first season of The Tick.

It was great. While it wasn't quite as madcap as I remember the comics being (I've not read them in a long time and alas sold by full Edlund set many years ago) it really got the tone pretty damn well. Fantastic fun.

Alas I've learnt that it only gets another season, mind I'll savour that.

Out of interest can anyone tell me is the 90s cartoon any good. There's a few complete sets of that for an okay price and I seem to recall the little bits I'd seen were pretty good?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Gary James on 12 February, 2020, 10:32:52 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 12 February, 2020, 10:22:24 PM
Out of interest can anyone tell me is the 90s cartoon any good. There's a few complete sets of that for an okay price and I seem to recall the little bits I'd seen were pretty good?
It has its moments, but there's a lot of filler in there as well. Best watched in short bursts rather than in one marathon session - after the fourth or fifth episode in a row I started to get restless. If you can ration yourself to one episode a week it works far, far better than it should.

Look around for the complete DVD set before you buy - I picked mine up for eight quid, so they're still out there in reasonable numbers.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: sheridan on 17 February, 2020, 12:53:45 PM
Quote from: Gary James on 12 February, 2020, 09:41:19 PM
It was jarring to have the entire show thrown away for a shock ending at the time, and it still - even after so many shows have attempted similar "twists" - works magnificently.

Not sure I follow you on that one - if it hadn't had that shock ending then there still wouldn't have been any further series.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Gary James on 17 February, 2020, 01:32:07 PM
Quote from: sheridan on 17 February, 2020, 12:53:45 PM
Not sure I follow you on that one - if it hadn't had that shock ending then there still wouldn't have been any further series.
The perils of typing quickly without checking what I'm writing...

The series - arriving at it "fresh" in the 90s reruns - was a surprise in many regards. and the mature themes which peppered the episodes made it stand out despite looking rather threadbare in places. That final episode packed a far greater punch, therefore, due to its complete lack of dangling hooks being set up. Now, Farscape (poor, dear, lamented Farscape) tried something similar with its final episode, and had... Well, it wasn't as much of a gut-wrenching moment.

That the producers knew, in setting up the finale of Blakes 7, that there was no prospect of return to the small screen, they did something which would be unthinkable these days - there was no hope, after seeing the episode, that any novel, or comic strip (the Marvel monthly and the annuals), or whatever else1 could possibly follow it without addressing what happened.

Could it have continued (in another medium) throughout the eighties? Possibly, but only as a diluted and pale imitation of the original. As much as I love the show, and believe that to the perfect ending (in keeping with the nihilistic statements peppered throughout the narrative to that point) it, alas, make anything coming after it feel completely redundant.

And, for the record, there isn't a single instance I can think of where a show has succeeded in topping it. Alias chickened out, The Lone Gunmen didn't even get to go out in style in their own show, Farscape weaseled out in its problematic mini-series, and everything else (the Buffyverse, in particular) seems to anticipate continuation in other media2.

Blakes 7 is special, therefore, in having the balls to do what (at least a few) producers probably dream of being allowed to.

(and yes, I probably need a decent editor sitting beside me with a ruler, to whack me every so often when I'm unclear on things)

1. I still haven't got round to the audio adventures, and I'm apprehensive about how well they could tackle the events from the episode - I would rather have the Bolivian Army Ending as canon than any possibly pointless continuation for the sake of it.
2. Nope. Not reading the reboot. I get why they did it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. When a character is killed, there ought to be repercussions, and any reboot (however soft) always brings back dead characters without so much as a "they've been in the shower for the past year" nonsense.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 18 February, 2020, 08:35:35 PM
Locke and Key

I enjoyed that a lot. Pretty faithful to the comics without being slavish to them. A good thing as I've read all the comics (aside from a one shot, I think) so the changes means not everything was spoiled.

Don't look at this until you've seen the end of the series, or just don't mind:
[spoiler]Kind of proud of myself for guessing a certain twist, which wasn't in the comics. Then there was yet another related twist which I never saw coming. Part of me wishes they'd stuck with a certain key being a gender changer like the comics, rather than what this version did,but then those twists wouldn't have occurred.[/spoiler]

I have a special love of the comics, so I wouldn't say I prefer this, but they're both good.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 18 February, 2020, 09:05:45 PM

I'm working my way through The West Wing for the first time in God knows. It's completely delusional statist propaganda fan w*nk poppycock, of course, but it's damned fine telly.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 18 February, 2020, 10:55:25 PM
West Wing is just Madam Secretary for blokes.  Change my mind.

The BBC Dracula.  I think people described this as "classic Moffat" and it was meant either as cynicism or flattery depending on where you fell down on the whole love/hate thing, but I think it also represents a paradigm for modern storytelling in that it's the same old stories we've been telling since the 19th century, just with arbitrary twists thrown in and maybe someone is a different race or gender now, but apart from that, nothing is objectively interesting and the best we can hope for is that what we're watching is well-made and doesn't annoy us trying to be self-aware.
My problem with this was that it was a bit too obviously pleased with itself in quite a few places, and the last episode was pretty shit - Dracula crossed time and the world itself just to find someone who was a shallow nihilist?  Well anyway, I've seen worse.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 18 February, 2020, 11:56:33 PM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 18 February, 2020, 10:55:25 PM
My problem with this was that it was a bit too obviously pleased with itself in quite a few places...

Classic Moffat
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JamesC on 19 February, 2020, 06:01:00 AM
BBC Dracula was classic Moffat in the way that a steaming pile of dog excrement is classic Fido.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 20 February, 2020, 08:09:51 AM
Miracle Workers s2.  The first series started poorly but got good.  S2 so far is excellent.  I've laughed out loud a lot.  Has the guy who played Harry Potter in it.

Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet.  US comedy with Mac from Always Sunny.  Set in a software dev company who are making an MMO.  Not hugely funny but quite watchable.

Trying to get into Deadwood but it is already a struggle.  Not hugely feeling it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 02 March, 2020, 06:57:00 AM
Dragon Prince. Its an okay fantasy series.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: karlos on 16 March, 2020, 09:03:51 AM
Altered Carbon S2

Feels seriously paired down from the bonkers first season, but it's still very solid stuff, even if, at the half way point, not much has happened.  [spoiler]And Poe's back![/spoiler]

Also, the anime spin-off film, Resleeved, is out this week as well!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 16 March, 2020, 09:57:52 AM
On Netflix, currently strolling through Sabrina, which is very good but still weirdly not something I immediately feel the need to finish, and Lost in Space S2. I really like the latter. It's gorgeous, for a start. Then there's the old-school action-adventure, calamity-of-the-week vibe ... a nice throw-back in this age of unending TV meta-plots. And the feels are genuine (I'm thinking of E5 'Run' in particular). I feel it will run its course by the end of S3, but since they know they only have one more season, I'm hoping it'll make a good case for shorter, twice-as-bright-half-as-long TV.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 16 March, 2020, 01:16:27 PM
Black Sails

Finally got around to this and thank goodness the good souls of this formum said you have to stick with it as it gets better as the first 4 or so episodes felt so by the numbers. It was as if the writers had gone through a check list of quality drama architypes. Luckily everyone was so charismatic, even if at times the performances weren't perfect that it flow along.

By the end it was still showing distinct signs of being a bit daft, but by heck it was compelling at the same time. From popular opiniion it gets better from here which is an exciting prospect.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 16 March, 2020, 01:41:05 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 16 March, 2020, 01:16:27 PM
By the end it was still showing distinct signs of being a bit daft, but by heck it was compelling at the same time. From popular opiniion it gets better from here which is an exciting prospect.

It's great all the way through, but S2 is superb.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 16 March, 2020, 07:07:16 PM
This thread will be getting a lot of views for recommendations now.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 19 March, 2020, 06:18:00 PM

Too Old to Die Young. An LA cop becomes an assassin. I can't decide whether this is awesome or shite. It's full of long tracking shots of nothing much, scenes of people doing ordinary things like sleeping or getting dressed or thinking, lingering shots of women in underwear and so on - interspersed with bloody violence. Still, I'm up to episode six(of ten), so it must be doing something right...

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 19 March, 2020, 07:27:35 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 19 March, 2020, 06:18:00 PM

Too Old to Die Young. An LA cop becomes an assassin. I can't decide whether this is awesome or shite. It's full of long tracking shots of nothing much, scenes of people doing ordinary things like sleeping or getting dressed or thinking, lingering shots of women in underwear and so on - interspersed with bloody violence. Still, I'm up to episode six(of ten), so it must be doing something right...

Entertaining exploitation is how I described it, which is generally what Refn is good at.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Radbacker on 20 March, 2020, 02:44:17 AM
West World season 3 has just started if you have a way to watch it.  I really liked the first 2 seasons and the s3 opener is a good one.  They've called it a soft reboot as we are now out of the park (though preview for ep2 looks like we may be heading back to the park for some of the characters).

CU Radbacker
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: karlos on 20 March, 2020, 12:19:28 PM
Altered Carbon: Reseleeved

This came out last night and is an anime style prequel [spoiler](I think – some say it's set before season 1, some say after season 1 – I've not checked again[/spoiler]).

I know some have trouble with the "PS4-esque cel shaded" animation style, but, apart from the occasional stiffness of the figures, I found it very nice to look at.

Also, the action scenes are very well done and the overall design is mostly impressive.

Beyond that, the plot is a plod which is a shame, and makes it's 74 minute or so run time seem longer.

(BTW, I watched the english dub - there's a choice of Japanese or English language.  I went with English purely because [spoiler]Chris Conner, who plays Poe, voices a similar character[/spoiler], but bloody hell, the dialogue and most of the voice acting is seriously sub-par.  No idea if the Japanese dub fares any better).

If you're a fan, there are some nice nods to the first two seasons of the show, but I still can't
recommend this as anything more than a reasonably entertaining little sidequest.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 30 March, 2020, 01:55:27 PM
Season 2 of Missions appeared on Shudder and I just binged through it in a couple of days. It's very easy to burn through, being 22 minute episodes, I found the first season went by similarly quickly! Still really enjoying it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 04 April, 2020, 01:51:33 PM
Lucifer. I enjoyed the comic book it's based on so I decided to give it a try. At its core it's a pretty bog-standard American police procedural, however, Tom Ellis is just so damned charming and the storylines revolving around Lucifer and hell are quite interesting so it's keeping me engaged. It might not be to everyone's tastes, but it's certainly better than I thought it would be.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 04 April, 2020, 04:37:48 PM
Lucifer is often a bit too obviously desperate to seem edgy, but to be fair to it, the producers decided before it started to send as big a Fuck You to the pearl-clutching brigade who tried to get the show's advertisers to pull their funding, so Ellis' performance becomes set in stone as OTT at an early point and changing tack later would just be too much of a tonal shift (although they do attempt it in the Netflix-produced 4th season when they didn't have to worry about weekly ratings).

I did laugh when he showed up in [spoiler]Crisis On Infinite Earths[/spoiler], too.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 04 April, 2020, 06:47:25 PM
Finally watching Bojak Horseman, just started Season 5 and as messed up as the road to it was, i'm glad Season 4 ended on a positive note.

Now, how are our cast of absolute bastards going to ruin it for one another, eh?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 05 April, 2020, 05:32:20 PM
Lucifer was quite disappointing.  There's a good story in there somewhere but the show has problems.

The woman in it seems to flit between angry at Lucifer and being outrageously loyal to him in a way I've not seen since The Blacklist (which is terrible). 

The main actor hams it up far too much.  And every episode basically involves him doing the same thing.  Getting caught up in a theory and accusing people wildly before being proven wrong.  He also rarely does any devil stuff.

His brother is the more interesting character.

Currently watching Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Watchmen (not bad but first two eps were a slog) and about to get started on the new series of Better Call Saul.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 05 April, 2020, 05:56:14 PM
Quote from: repoman on 05 April, 2020, 05:32:20 PM
Lucifer was quite disappointing.  There's a good story in there somewhere but the show has problems.

I'll keep that in mind. I'm only four episodes in.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 10 April, 2020, 10:58:06 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 12 February, 2020, 10:22:24 PM
Well now I'm all Amazoned up I can do this without having to put DVDs into a thing and to celebrate I've just finishing watching the first season of The Tick.

It was great. While it wasn't quite as madcap as I remember the comics being (I've not read them in a long time and alas sold by full Edlund set many years ago) it really got the tone pretty damn well. Fantastic fun.

Well watched the second season and it continued to be just this. Fantastic fun. Its not brilliant or anything but it keeps the fun quirky and brisk and it works really well. Shame we didn't get more.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 17 April, 2020, 12:27:36 AM
Well I right enjoyed the first episode of DEVS by Alex Garland. It's on iPlayer. It's main premise isn't the mystery, just a jumping off point so interested to see where it goes.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 17 April, 2020, 01:41:43 AM
Been bingeing Netflix's The Crown. Just started on season 3.

It's a bit bombastic in tone at times, almost certainly overly heightened dramatically, and some of the dialogue and staging is a little heavyhanded at times, but so far it's been surprisingly excellent and a really nice slice of  comfort viewing in very stressful times - the televisual equivalent of a really rich mug of hot chocolate.

The cast is pretty much incredible from top to bottom, and I'm actually learning quite a bit about 20th century British history - to my shame I'd never even heard of things like the Aberfan disaster or the crazy killer London fog incident.

It's also kind of astonishing to see what is ostensibly a British TV drama production (not really, but you know what I mean) made on such a lavish, blockbuster-level budget and realised on an almost unimaginably vast scale. There's obviously a lot of greenscreen and digital trickery going on, but it's done in a very restrained way and doesn't look nearly as obnoxious and plasticy as it does in the vast majority of modern movies.

Hugely impressive.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 19 April, 2020, 10:30:02 PM
Just watched Season 2, episode 5 of Black Sails . I'd noticed it was the lowest rated episode on IMDB of the series and was really curious as to why. And for most of the episode I thought I knew why, some of the motivations seemed a little off and unclear, convenient and a little contrieved. Then there was a magnificent reveal that utterly blindsided me, but washed away in an instant those reservations. Just brilliant.

Alas, of course, the reason that this episode is the lowest rated is that some folks allow their prejudices rule over their appreciation of great storytelling.

This series has finally risen above the level of fantastic, tightly plotted, ultra violent soap into drama of the highest standard and as with all great reveals I now want to go back and rewatch the earlier episodes with the knowledge I now have. Some bits now make so much more sense...

... mind they do need to stop those bloody silly 'three episode' wounds. They still do my head in!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 19 April, 2020, 11:21:08 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 19 April, 2020, 10:30:02 PM
This series has finally risen above the level of fantastic, tightly plotted, ultra violent soap into drama of the highest standard and as with all great reveals I now want to go back and rewatch the earlier episodes with the knowledge I now have. Some bits now make so much more sense...

I loved Black Sails. Seasons 3 and 4 are great, but S2 is probably my favourite. It benefits from keeping focus on Stephens' steely Captain Flint, while all around people are double-crossing and back-stabbing each other. It builds to a brilliant finale, too.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 25 April, 2020, 06:05:08 PM
Men in Black: The Series. Very funny and often better than any of the films. I would love to see this series revived.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Apestrife on 25 April, 2020, 06:35:50 PM
Watched Little drummer girl. Visually fantastic with really good performances from the actors, but the story lost me halfway through. Didn't grab me as much as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy did. Still worth a watch.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 25 April, 2020, 11:50:42 PM
Good Omens. Enjoyed it. Lovely central performances, but ultimately too drawn-out and a with a sickly sweet tone that blunts the mildly sharper edges of the book. I suppose it suffers from the same basic problem as all Pratchett adaptations, in that the best stuff from the books never really seems to work on screen, and you're left with more nostalgia than anything. Its also Gaimany to the bitter Tori Amos end, but that's okay, if you like that sort of thing. Not bad.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 26 April, 2020, 12:14:13 AM
What We Do In The Shadows is back for a second season and still great.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 26 April, 2020, 01:02:28 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 25 April, 2020, 11:50:42 PM
Good Omens. Enjoyed it. Lovely central performances, but ultimately too drawn-out and a with a sickly sweet tone that blunts the mildly sharper edges of the book. I suppose it suffers from the same basic problem as all Pratchett adaptations, in that the best stuff from the books never really seems to work on screen, and you're left with more nostalgia than anything. Its also Gaimany to the bitter Tori Amos end, but that's okay, if you like that sort of thing. Not bad.
Michael Sheen and David Tennant were what kept me going until the end. I would love to see them in a series of their own, but I know that's never going to happen.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 26 April, 2020, 01:18:32 AM
Quote from: repoman on 26 April, 2020, 12:14:13 AM
What We Do In The Shadows is back for a second season and still great.

Get in! I devoured the first series in a week and need more.

BAT!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 26 April, 2020, 10:28:54 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 19 April, 2020, 11:21:08 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 19 April, 2020, 10:30:02 PM
This series has finally risen above the level of fantastic, tightly plotted, ultra violent soap into drama of the highest standard and as with all great reveals I now want to go back and rewatch the earlier episodes with the knowledge I now have. Some bits now make so much more sense...

I loved Black Sails. Seasons 3 and 4 are great, but S2 is probably my favourite. It benefits from keeping focus on Stephens' steely Captain Flint, while all around people are double-crossing and back-stabbing each other. It builds to a brilliant finale, too.

Well not seen Seasons 3 or 4 yet, but just finished Season 2 of Black Sails tonight and my gosh its compelling veiwing. Its no The Wire, Twin Peaks or Sopranos but its as entertaining as all hell.

While the final episode is a blast, literally, serveral times, its the second to last episode that sets up the explosive finale that is some of the best telly I've seen. The shock moment, well the most shocking just guns you down and I just did not see it coming. I'm going to have a break on this and watch a few other bits on my rapidly expanding watch list, but it will be through force of will alone that I don't just dive into Season 3 immediately.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: karlos on 27 April, 2020, 12:42:13 PM
Just been told Gangs of London is well worth a watch.

Gareth "The Raid" Evans directed 2 of the 9 epiosdes.

Expect violence.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 27 April, 2020, 05:43:01 PM
Swamp Thing on Amazon Prime

I've been interested in this for a while, but kept putting it off for some reason.

I've watched several episodes now, and overall found it pretty good. It's really more Abi Arcane's story than Swampy's (or rather it's his story through her) but that's not a bad thing. It's  much more horror based than superhero, which is in keeping with the comics.

I understand they cancelled after the first series. It's to soon to judge if that's a good or bad thing (if the series completes the story satisfactorily maybe that is good?) but judging by my enjoyment so far, more would be welcome.

One negative thing: people say 'f@ck' too much.

I'm Not Okay With Thison Netflix

The premise has been done before, lots of times, and there are plenty of cliches, but it is done well here. The characters are really great, and the story is endearing and rather funny in places. There was a bit at the end which [spoiler]rather shocked me[/spoiler], but that's not a bad thing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 27 April, 2020, 11:00:16 PM
I liked Swamp Thing, too, and I'm very sorry it won't get continued. Let's hope that producer Mark Verheiden finds more success with his next TV horror series (https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/hellraiser-series-hbo-1234591107/) than Swamp Thing, or the equally ill-fated Constantine (which I also quite liked).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 27 April, 2020, 11:43:38 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 27 April, 2020, 05:43:01 PMI understand they cancelled after the first series. It's to soon to judge if that's a good or bad thing (if the series completes the story satisfactorily maybe that is good?)

They actually cancelled it before the first season finished, as they couldn't afford to keep making it after drastically overestimating how much of the cost would be written off by the state in which it was being filmed, but all things considered, it wraps up pretty well.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 28 April, 2020, 11:18:54 PM
KILLING EVE is pretty good. I'm on Season 1.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 29 April, 2020, 02:08:16 AM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 27 April, 2020, 11:00:16 PM
I liked Swamp Thing, too, and I'm very sorry it won't get continued. Let's hope that producer Mark Verheiden finds more success with his next TV horror series (https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/hellraiser-series-hbo-1234591107/) than Swamp Thing, or the equally ill-fated Constantine (which I also quite liked).

I finished the series yesterday and I think it all pretty much held up well, although [spoiler]I thought the Blue Devil stuff was somewhat superfluous. I wonder if they were testing the waters for a spin-off.[/spoiler] A follow up would have definitely been welcome, but it didn't end in a bad place.

I'm now watching Ozark. Pretty good so far. I tend to gravitate towards sci-fi, horror, fantasy and supernatural (arguably the last could be in the previous genres) stuff so this is a nice change.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 29 April, 2020, 11:47:41 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 28 April, 2020, 11:18:54 PM
KILLING EVE is pretty good. I'm on Season 1.

I still need to start s2 but heard it was kind of disappointing.  Will get onto it soon though.

I've nearly finished my rewatch of Always Sunny now.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 29 April, 2020, 01:07:28 PM
Quote from: repoman on 29 April, 2020, 11:47:41 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 28 April, 2020, 11:18:54 PM
KILLING EVE is pretty good. I'm on Season 1.

I still need to start s2 but heard it was kind of disappointing.  Will get onto it soon though.


Mrs YNWA loved series 2 - isn't quite so keen on the start of 3 however.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Apestrife on 03 May, 2020, 08:33:09 AM
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Having a great time watching this. Initially a bit unsure of it's 3D animation, but it quickly won me over with it's fun and interesting adventures, occasionally with a dark edge to them.

I'm finding it quite interesting that the stories are not shown in a chronological order, and the different ways they'v made great use of it.

Very much looking forward to the finale tomorrow on May the 4th  :)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: sheridan on 03 May, 2020, 10:57:17 AM
Quote from: radiator on 17 April, 2020, 01:41:43 AM
Been bingeing Netflix's The Crown. Just started on season 3.

It's a bit bombastic in tone at times, almost certainly overly heightened dramatically, and some of the dialogue and staging is a little heavyhanded at times, but so far it's been surprisingly excellent and a really nice slice of  comfort viewing in very stressful times - the televisual equivalent of a really rich mug of hot chocolate.

The cast is pretty much incredible from top to bottom, and I'm actually learning quite a bit about 20th century British history - to my shame I'd never even heard of things like the Aberfan disaster or the crazy killer London fog incident.
Is Aberfan the Welsh mining village?
A friend of mine worked on The Crown - she's a seamstress - it's amazing to think how many people put work in to every TV production, particularly the period pieces, or anything which requires bespoke furniture, clothing and other craftworks.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: moly on 03 May, 2020, 12:07:00 PM
Finally got Disney plus, mainly for the mandolarian, only on episode 2 but not feeling it yet, does it get better
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 03 May, 2020, 02:05:13 PM
Quote from: moly on 03 May, 2020, 12:07:00 PM
Finally got Disney plus, mainly for the mandolarian, only on episode 2 but not feeling it yet, does it get better

I'd say so.  I wasn't feeling it after the first two eps but by 4 or 5 in I was liking it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 10 May, 2020, 11:06:21 PM
Rick and Morty fans should check out Solar Opposites as it is by the same guy and pretty similar.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 11 May, 2020, 12:08:21 AM
Into the Night. Very silly end-of-the-world nonsense which was billed as an adaptation of Dukaj's enigmatic The Old Axolotl, but is actually a non-supernatural cross between Lost and The Langoliers.

It features deeply-improbable sex symbol Laurent Capelluto, who diligent Netflixers will remember as Siriani from Black Spot/Zone Blanche, and the captivating gamine Pauline Etienne as they circle a dying earth keeping ahead of a lethal sunrise and deal with the traditional cast of mobsters, muslims, murderers, millenials and moms that make up any random gang of survivors these days.

At 6 episodes it races along from one predictable wholy illogical crisis to another and I really enjoyed it when I wasn't thinking about it at all. This Belgian stuff must be growing on me.

Bosch on the other hand... it's such old-fashioned TV that it's downright weird. Having got used to the astonishing casting of things like Better Call Saul or Fargo, it's a shock to find oneself watching a series populated entirely by the usual suspects of US TV (half the cast of ER for a start) barely any one of whom is really believable in their role.

Titus WellIver himself is a fine lead, but the Bosch character is such a godawful basket of clichés. No-one is bad, but they all clearly know they're in a cop show, every bit as obviously as the cast of Brooklyn 99.- it's not something I've seen in a 'serious' show for a long while.

Not that I'm objecting to this kind of nostalgic comfort food at this time, it's perfectly good fun. Just odd.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 14 May, 2020, 09:17:03 AM
currently working through the latest series of Better Call Saul.  One episode left (hence me not posting in the BCS thread).  I love this show so much and it is odd because the pace is so slow and not much of any consequence happens in any given episode.  But it's just so brilliant.

I feel like they need to wrap it up before one of the older actors dies though.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 14 May, 2020, 05:03:51 PM
Fargo

I'm on the second series now. Anthology crime drama with black humour, and curious American accents that sound rather different to others I've heard. (They remind me  of Canadian accents in the way they pronounce certain words, although likely Canadians or Americans reading this will be shaking their heads on horror at my ignorance. Seriously though, listen to how they pronounce 'ou' sounds!) The first two series have been really good. Highly recommended if you'd like to watch a crime series with a difference, or just good telly.

Seeing Kirsten Dunst's character  is making me feel old though. I still remember her as the doll-girl vampire from Interview With the Vampire and Mary-Jane from the Raimi Spider-Man films.

Previous to this, I've been binging a couple of comedy series.

Arrested Development
I've found it very amusing in places, but I'm finding it a bit irritating now. I'm on the last series and decided to give it a bit of a break, but I'll likely go back to it soon, to see I it improves.

Still Game
Scottish sitcom about a couple of old codgers and their mates in a Glasgow suburb. It goes from very funny to sad and poignant and it all mostly works. I understand it's been around for a few years but I only started watching it recently.

Thoroughly enjoyed most of it. Last of the Summer Wine, it certainly isn't! (Not to knock the latter, just saying it's very different, aside from 'old boys getting up to shenanigans' premise.) I also learned a couple of new phrases I wasn't really acquainted with before, South-eastern Sassenach that I am.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 14 May, 2020, 06:06:22 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 14 May, 2020, 05:03:51 PM
Fargo
I'm on the second series now.

Us too, and thoroughly enjoying it. As I was musing upthread, the casting in these things is just spectacularly good.

Fake Matt Damon (Jesse Plemons) in particular is terrific, a man so gormlessly oblivious he's actually pretty hateful (or that could be the Todd-hangover speaking). The chemistry (of desperation) between him and Dunst is so good that I just this minute wondered if there was a real-life history there, and lo and behold wikipedia tells me they're engaged.

Patrick Wilson as the younger incarnation of Keith Carradine's Lou Solverson is magnificently heroic, and if you haven't got to [spoiler]Bruce Campbell[/spoiler] as Ronald Reagan yet, it's a little bit of a triumph.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 16 May, 2020, 05:00:11 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 14 May, 2020, 06:06:22 PM
Patrick Wilson as the younger incarnation of Keith Carradine's Lou Solverson is magnificently heroic, and if you haven't got to [spoiler]Bruce Campbell[/spoiler] as Ronald Reagan yet, it's a little bit of a triumph.

Ha, yes I'm on season 3 now, which is also very good. Concerning Reagan's casting: [spoiler]Campbell's got one of those voices that I recognise straight away, so on hearing his voice-over before he appeared, and seeing REAGAN in the subtitles, I thought to myself "Reagan sounds a lot like Bruce Campbell". And there he was, with a bit of rouge portraying Reagan very well. Heh.[/spoiler]

There was a later scene where [spoiler]Mrs. Solverson dreams of the future, and we see the original actors of Molly and Lou from series one in happier times. I found myself tearing up a bit. I think I'm turning into a big girl's blouse in my old age.[/spoiler]

Anyway series 3 is proving quite different (which fits with 1 &2 also being very different but there is less character linkage here, unless I'm missing something) but so far also very good. [spoiler]Ewan Macgregor puts in a great performance as two characters! Curiously I didn't even recognise the curly haired brother as also him until the second episode, but the funny looking one I recognised straight away![/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: auxlen on 16 May, 2020, 04:32:25 PM
Enjoying Schitt's Creek and Kims Convenience on Netflix...both Canadian 'sitcoms'.

David in Schitt's is such a great character as is MR KIM in the latter.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 18 May, 2020, 12:13:21 PM
Fargo is fab.  I liked all three seasons of it.

I've started rewatching Community.  I know it tails off hard later on but it is great at first.

My brother recommends a cartoon thing called Mr. Pickles which I'm going to start this week I think.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 18 May, 2020, 01:07:33 PM
Just finished a leisurely rewatch of Frasier... well, I say 'rewatch', we didn't watch it religiously when it was originally running so quite a lot of this was actually new to us. I think I may have been fairly resistant to watching originally due to not caring much for Cheers at all.

What a remarkable achievement — 11x 24-episode seasons and I can't recall an actual duff episode in the whole thing. At it's worst it's gently amusing and at its best, it's genuinely hilarious but capable of pivoting to something quite touching without missing a beat.

It hits the ground running — there's remarkably little reworking of the formula in the early seasons and the mileage is evident from the fact that the series doesn't mess with the fundamentals for the entire run. Starting off funny, Frasier matures like [insert Miles-appropriate cheese/wine simile here] until, in the latter seasons, the character work is so finely-tuned that it can raise a laugh from a raised eyebrow or even what someone doesn't say.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Greg M. on 18 May, 2020, 01:43:12 PM
Frasier is one of my favourite US tv shows, and there's certainly no season without highlights, though 10 is definitely the least strong - some of that's down to the death of show co-creator David Angell in the 911 attacks. But it absolutely rallies with the final season, when its best writer, Joe Keenan, returns and pens the Patrick Stewart episode. Even at its weakest, Frasier is pleasant tv, and you still feel you're hanging out with some people you're very fond of. Something simple, like Grammer's amazing enunciation, can be a joy - watch out for any time he says the word 'nude'. But at its best - stuff like The Matchmaker, The Impossible Dream, Out With Dad, Moon Dance, The Ski Lodge or The Candidate - you've got episodes that can go toe to toe with the best any sitcom's ever offered.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 20 May, 2020, 10:21:20 PM
Black Sails Season 3 keeps up the thrilling work of Season 2. It probably doesn't quite have the standout moments of Season 2 but its consistently great, compelling nonsense. It reminds me so much of the wonderful Rome in being great big, gloriously plotted historical meladrama. Its as big as the stories of the real folks this tale is based so loosely on.

Have to say often the big flash bang whoop final episodes normally don't quite live up to the one's that create the final push to those grande finales, as with Season 2. Here though by gosh the climatic action pieces are quite fantastically framed so that the gritty glossy violence is all the more impactful.

Just wonderful telly and I'm back to force of will to watch some other stuff ahead of diving into Season 4.

Oh and they got rid of the 3 episode wounds - wayhey and replaced them with 2 episode wounds BBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOO!  Its the only down side to this show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bolt-01 on 21 May, 2020, 10:57:40 AM
I've just discovered that Ash vs the Evil Dead is on Netflix - I'll be adding that to my watch list!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 21 May, 2020, 11:51:17 AM
FRASIER... I was recently toying with idea of using a FRASIER script at our local am dram club. On the page, they read incredibly dull and dry which is a testament to the performances and the writer's knowing how valuable those performances are!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 21 May, 2020, 12:14:29 PM
Quote from: Bolt-01 on 21 May, 2020, 10:57:40 AM
I've just discovered that Ash vs the Evil Dead is on Netflix - I'll be adding that to my watch list!

The second series of that was one of the very best seasons of anything ever.

Oddly though I've still not watched the third.  I did one episode and wasn't feeling it.  I need to sort that out.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 21 May, 2020, 02:20:30 PM
Brooklyn Nine Nine. I was hesitant about this because I couldn't fathom how a US show would handle a murder a week and be funny. Fortunately, it's not really about murder and the crimes they seem to concentrate on are mainly non-violent. Not laugh out loud funny, but fairly humorous all the same.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 21 May, 2020, 02:44:12 PM
Bojack The Horseman on Netflix - a show in which everyone is trying to be a nihilist for one reason or other, except the universe in which the show takes place is not random enough for that because every bad decision a character makes comes back on them.  This is a common combination of tropes to be found in most adult animated sitcoms, but where BH differs is in its refusal to reward its characters for good behavior, so self-improvement is something they undertake not for karmic reward but because they are unhappy all of the time, and the rewards - if any - are a long time coming.
It starts out as a standard crude adult cartoon, not without laughs for the first season or so before it starts to really take off, but once it does, it's amazing tv - and if for some reason Nina Simone's Stars (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEhrdU3euM8) doesn't already move you, there's a running theme in the show's final seasons that will make the song stick with you forever.

Solar Opposites - the Rick & Morty man's other animated sitcom.  Heavily influenced by Invader Zim and The Neighbors, it's mostly a greatest hits compilation of R&M, but more traditional in its structure and ambition.  Not great, and the crudity makes it feel like an amateur animation you stumbled across on Youtube, but if you liked Rick & Morty this might fill a hole between episodes.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 22 May, 2020, 06:12:16 PM
Godless

I found this rather slow paced at the start, but it turned out to be rather good.

There was a [spoiler]character death at the end which rather shocked me. Not so much the fact they were killed off, but just how quickly and easily it happened. I expected that if that character died at all, it would be in a heroic way tracking several of the enemy work them, particularly as he had s couple of heroic moments earlier, but it wasn't to be. [/spoiler] I didn't much like that but kudos for [spoiler]subverting my expectations[/spoiler].

If you like a slow burn Western is recommend this.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 22 May, 2020, 09:27:58 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 22 May, 2020, 06:12:16 PM
Godless

I found this rather slow paced at the start, but it turned out to be rather good.


As I said many, many pages back, this is maybe my favourite western this side of Unforgiven. I think I need to re-watch, TBH.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 23 May, 2020, 11:21:39 AM
I've been rewatching The Clone Wars.  I prefer Rebels.

It's definitely better than the prequel movies.  The first I watched it I viewed in between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith and it was shocking to see a decent characterisation of Anakin descend into petulant entitled whining in the last of those terrible films.  The early seasons of the show, however, have a lot of stupid in them and are kinda ropey.  Pretty much all the stories I found tiresome are in the first three seasons.  It does get better, especially towards the end.  Although I am now approaching the new seasons that I haven't seen before.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 24 May, 2020, 03:12:01 PM
The new season 7 on Disney+ is great.

Without spoiling too much, the last episodes run during the same time period as Revenge of the Sith and are highly recommended viewing. The soundtrack during those episodes is excellent moody synthetic stuff- more akin to Bladerunner than Star Wars, but it works very well in context.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 24 May, 2020, 04:34:12 PM
I have seen the first two episodes of season 7 now and the thing I noticed most was the visual quality improving.  The episodes were ok.  A little silly, but I don't mind it being a little silly.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bad City Blue on 25 May, 2020, 04:01:46 PM
BANSHEE now on Sky Atlantic to download

Fantastically violent series. Comparable to Spartacus for good story, blood, sex and swearing

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 25 May, 2020, 04:08:42 PM
Two episodes in to WHITE LINES on Netflix and quite enjoying. Never been to Ibiza but did have some right good times in Manchester in the 80s and 90s and this nails some of that. There's a simple central mystery that everybody seems invested in (But not in an overwrought, convoluted Harlan Coben way) and some dark humour and good performances.

Plus I've stood at the very bar in the spaghetti western saloon in Almeria where the series opens.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Apestrife on 25 May, 2020, 06:07:24 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 24 May, 2020, 04:34:12 PM
I have seen the first two episodes of season 7 now and the thing I noticed most was the visual quality improving.  The episodes were ok.  A little silly, but I don't mind it being a little silly.

Should be mentioned. The middle arc s07e5-8 isnt everyones' favorite. Dont let it put you off from watching episodes 9 - 12.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 28 May, 2020, 09:29:25 PM
Quote from: Greg M. on 18 May, 2020, 01:43:12 PM
Frasier is one of my favourite US tv shows, and there's certainly no season without highlights, though 10 is definitely the least strong - some of that's down to the death of show co-creator David Angell in the 911 attacks. But it absolutely rallies with the final season, when its best writer, Joe Keenan, returns and pens the Patrick Stewart episode. Even at its weakest, Frasier is pleasant tv, and you still feel you're hanging out with some people you're very fond of. Something simple, like Grammer's amazing enunciation, can be a joy - watch out for any time he says the word 'nude'. But at its best - stuff like The Matchmaker, The Impossible Dream, Out With Dad, Moon Dance, The Ski Lodge or The Candidate - you've got episodes that can go toe to toe with the best any sitcom's ever offered.

Frasier is very good and the central cast is just phenomenally good - and its apparently really popular with the generation who weren't even born when it was on, which I find odd and strangely charming.

I can only imagine how hard it must be to balance the writing of characters like Frasier and Niles, who could so easily come off as obnoxious and unlikable and somehow make them not only bearable but lovable.

Recently watched a bit of Killing Eve. I really enjoyed the initial couple of episodes and it's a really well put together and well cast show, but I immediately wondered how they would be able to keep the central premise going without the show getting very silly and contrived.... and the answer is that it does get very silly and contrived very quickly so I ended up tuning out quite quickly. It reminded me a bit of Ozark in how its a show that seems way more interested in creating shocking watercooler moments than creating a believable, relatable world or interesting characters.

The character of Vilanelle just doesn't work for me either - you can tell she's intended to be this sassy antihero you're apparently supposed to root for, but I just found her exploits quite tiresome and her quips fairly eye-roll inducing after a while. Great antiheroes generally have a bit of complexity and ambiguity to them so that even when they do something abhorrent we can feel conflicted about it - it's much harder to relate to a character that is completely single-minded and cartoonishly amoral.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 29 May, 2020, 09:15:49 AM
Quote from: Apestrife on 25 May, 2020, 06:07:24 PM
Should be mentioned. The middle arc s07e5-8 isnt everyones' favorite. Dont let it put you off from watching episodes 9 - 12.

The middle arc was fine.  I enjoyed it as much as the first arc.  It was nice to see Ahsoka in that sort of situation.  She is really shinning as a character in this season :)

I don't know what I'm going to watch when I finish Clone Wars.  I was thinking of rewatching Buff the Vampire Slayer as I have found copies of the proper 3:4 original episodes.

Frasier is my favourite US sitcom.  Mainly for Niles' character arc and Roz and Daphne, who are excellent.  The sitcom does come across as anti-intellectual and conservative especially in the early seasons, but there are other readings to be had with it as well.  All in all I can always find great amounts of entertainment every time I rewatch it.  I think it concludes nicely as well.  I'm left disappointed it has finished but in a place where I can move onto the next thing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 29 May, 2020, 02:36:27 PM
Well I just finished the last season of Clone Wars.  It was a pretty good season overall, but does peak wonderful at the end with some very effective atmosphere and sound.  It was great to see more of Ahsoka and she is definitely one of my favourite characters from the franchise.

As a series I still think that Clone Wars isn't as good as Rebels.  I would say that at their peaks they are on equal footing, but Rebels is more consistently entertaining and CW has a number of poor episodes and arcs.  I think both shows are going to join the ranks of shows I rewatch often, but I'll probably not watch CW quite as much as Rebels.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trooper McFad on 29 May, 2020, 04:01:39 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 29 May, 2020, 09:15:49 AM
Quote from: Apestrife on 25 May, 2020, 06:07:24 PM
Should be mentioned. The middle arc s07e5-8 isnt everyones' favorite. Dont let it put you off from watching episodes 9 - 12.

The middle arc was fine.  I enjoyed it as much as the first arc.  It was nice to see Ahsoka in that sort of situation.  She is really shinning as a character in this season :)

I don't know what I'm going to watch when I finish Clone Wars.  I was thinking of rewatching Buff the Vampire Slayer as I have found copies of the proper 3:4 original episodes.

Frasier is my favourite US sitcom.  Mainly for Niles' character arc and Roz and Daphne, who are excellent.  The sitcom does come across as anti-intellectual and conservative especially in the early seasons, but there are other readings to be had with it as well.  All in all I can always find great amounts of entertainment every time I rewatch it.  I think it concludes nicely as well.  I'm left disappointed it has finished but in a place where I can move onto the next thing.

I too am watching CW from the beginning as I stopped after my kids grew up and stopped watching & and now I can watch in piece 😂 (only up to season 4 and with there being 20+episodes each season I've still got a bit too go).
You're right Pictsy it has its highs and lows. I know I shouldn't but I've had to stop myself from shouting at Anikin & the rest of the Jedi council for not sensing the Dark side in the Chancellor every time they meet😣
It's good to know the "rebel's" is also decent as that's what I'll do next.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 29 May, 2020, 04:46:17 PM
One of my biggest complaints is a problem they inherited from the films.  R2D2 and C3PO.  Specifically R2D2.  I keep asking, "hey, Kenobi... why don't you remember R2D2, eh?  Droid was a significant part of your life to remember.  No need to lie to Luke about (even though you are totally a liar, Kenobi), so why don't you remember, eh?"  IIRC there might have been something about the droids getting their memories wiped in RotS, but did they do Kenobi's as well?  It's a really minor thing, but it grates on my nerves.
[spoiler]
Something I do like about CW is it does present the Jedi Order as awful.  They are essentially a police force and cult that indoctrinates children.  I would have actually liked them to explore the idea that the Jedi aren't a force for good a lot more, but the fact that it does become a prominent theme is satisfying.  I also like the Sith stuff.  It essentially ditches the "there are only ever two" when there are basically five Sith running around trying to stab each other in the back.  Hmmm, evil people stabbing each other in the back for a chance at power?  Why does that sound familiar?[/spoiler]

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trooper McFad on 29 May, 2020, 08:16:23 PM
Picksy you're right what you say regarding the Jedi and sometimes wish order 66 was shouted out before they send another division of clones to their "glorious" death.
I do sometimes route for the separatists wanting to destroy the Republic - it would have saved the Rebels (who no doubt were mostly separatists anyway) a lot of lives.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 29 May, 2020, 11:00:24 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 29 May, 2020, 04:46:17 PM
I keep asking, "hey, Kenobi... why don't you remember R2D2, eh? 

My take is that he does remember R2.  But think of how he encounters him: there's an Imperial Star Destroyer in orbit blowing stuff up - and suddenly here's Luke, injured, apparently lured to his desert hideaway by what looks a hell of a lot like Anakin's old astromech. What's going on? Wasn't that droid left with Bail Organa?  Is this some trick or trap of Vader's or his Master's, have they found Luke at last? So he plays dumb: "Hello there!  Come here my little friend, don't be afraid...".

Even when he wakens Luke, sees Threepio and realises the situation, he doesn't know what the droids know (he thinks: surely Bail would have had their memories wiped?) and he certainly doesn't want them telling Luke the truth - he has a pack of lies to deliver if he's going to set the last hope of the Jedi on the necessary path. He imagines Luke learning that this was his mother's droid, her gift to his father, present through all the key events of their lives: nothing's going to stop him getting that information out of R2. So Obi-Wan carries on with the pretence. 

And after all, he never did own Artoo, or any other property at all really, so his story's true, from a certain point of view.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 30 May, 2020, 10:07:55 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 29 May, 2020, 11:00:24 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 29 May, 2020, 04:46:17 PM
I keep asking, "hey, Kenobi... why don't you remember R2D2, eh? 

My take is that he does remember R2.  But think of how he encounters him: there's an Imperial Star Destroyer in orbit blowing stuff up - and suddenly here's Luke, injured, apparently lured to his desert hideaway by what looks a hell of a lot like Anakin's old astromech. What's going on? Wasn't that droid left with Bail Organa?  Is this some trick or trap of Vader's or his Master's, have they found Luke at last? So he plays dumb: "Hello there!  Come here my little friend, don't be afraid...".

Even when he wakens Luke, sees Threepio and realises the situation, he doesn't know what the droids know (he thinks: surely Bail would have had their memories wiped?) and he certainly doesn't want them telling Luke the truth - he has a pack of lies to deliver if he's going to set the last hope of the Jedi on the necessary path. He imagines Luke learning that this was his mother's droid, her gift to his father, present through all the key events of their lives: nothing's going to stop him getting that information out of R2. So Obi-Wan carries on with the pretence. 

And after all, he never did own Artoo, or any other property at all really, so his story's true, from a certain point of view.

I am sorry, but I don't find that take compelling.  I don't think that the deception is necessary and I think the confusion in the first film is definitely played as genuine... well, I know it is because a lot of this stuff wasn't thought up then.  In fact, a lot of the seeds for the future of Star Wars lore and CW are sown when Kenobi willing reveals information in his initial talk with Luke.

Of course it's fine if it doesn't bother you and you are happy to head cannon it away.  The droid thing is largely a representation of a problem with Star Wars in general.  It's got a lot of unnecessary or poorly dealt with contrivances.  R2D2 and C3PO did not need to be in the prequel movies and by extension, the Clone Wars.  I mean, I think the prequels existed so Lucas could sell more toys and he clearly had little interest in writing something good.  So some nice new shiny toys of those old characters... that'll be cool, right?  We'll have a child slave (who happens to be Luke's Dad) create C3PO and R2D2 can be his Mum's droid.  It's like poetry.  It rhymes.  Ugh, it's just stupid and forced into the narrative in a terrible way, like so much trash in those films.

I seemed to go off on one for a bit there.  Sorry about that.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 30 May, 2020, 10:39:34 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 30 May, 2020, 10:07:55 AM
  I mean, I think the prequels existed so Lucas could sell more toys and he clearly had little interest in writing something good.

Don't agree with this at all - whatever happened afterwards, the Lucas that created TPM was very serious about making something new and good. That he saw that articulated through technical advancement, brilliant visuals, melodramatic themes and a bit of political commentary rather than sharp dialogue, engaging characters and cohesive plot is (partly) why TPM has such a poor reputation.  But putting in beloved iconic child-friendly characters (alongside childlike new ones) is about creating a continuity of identity and appeal for audiences more than it is a cynical toy commercial.

Not that there's anything wrong with making that sweet sweet merch,  it's the penetration of toys and imagery into homes that made Star Wars the phenomenon it was, and Lucas into a billionaire filmmaker unencumbered by studio oversight (for better or worse).  Star Wars has always been a multi-media project, since before the first one even came out, and Lucas knew that.

Tl; dr: Lucas was very serious and thoughtful about making TPM good.

Quote
We'll have a child slave (who happens to be Luke's Dad) create C3PO and R2D2 can be his Mum's droid.  It's like poetry.  It rhymes.  Ugh, it's just stupid and forced into the narrative in a terrible way, like so much trash in those films.

Can't argue with any of that,  it was a mistake pure and simple - but my head-canon can only work with what it's given!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 30 May, 2020, 11:17:38 AM
I really don't know which one of us giving Lucas too much credit.  If he was serious and thoughtful about making TPM good then he failed hard.

I'm just left with the impression of a man that is less concerned with what would work best creatively over what would sell better.  Also, the most vivid thing I remember about 1999 was the toys.  There were so many toys.  There were too many toys.  So many toys.

Anyway, it doesn't matter.  We don't know the motivations of the man.  I know I don't respect him as a creative and I think he is very wrong about a lot of things.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 30 May, 2020, 11:33:26 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 30 May, 2020, 11:17:38 AM
I'm just left with the impression of a man that is less concerned with what would work best creatively over what would sell better. 

If Lucas had been focused solely on churning it out for minimum effort maximum profit,  he'd have given us something that looked like Rogue One, or The Mandalorian: bounty hunters, trenchcoats, stormtroopers.  Familiar, safe, hard-edged, cool.

But instead he went for a shiny art-deco world of emotionless monks, racing cars, political lobby groups and frog people. And then came back to it again 10 years later for The Clone Wars.  That alone shows he had a vision that went beyond selling more copies of Artoo and Threepio. That you don't think that vision translated into a good film is perfectly valid and widely-supported view,  but it doesn't mean it wasn't there.

Quote.  We don't know the motivations of the man. 

Counsel of despair,  that. We can observe his actions and listen to his words and draw conclusions about his motivations,  same as we do with every other human.


Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 30 May, 2020, 12:50:13 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 30 May, 2020, 11:33:26 AM
If Lucas had been focused solely on churning it out for minimum effort maximum profit,  he'd have given us something that looked like Rogue One, or The Mandalorian: bounty hunters, trenchcoats, stormtroopers.  Familiar, safe, hard-edged, cool.

I have just spent an hour re-reading your post and trying to address it, but I've come to the conclusion I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about here.  This makes no sense to me.  I'm not even sure we are in the same conversation any more.  I don't see the connection between your inference of what I wrote and what I wrote.  I don't see how having those elements in those films and revisiting an intellectual property preclude cynical motivations.  I am unable to continue with this discussion because I'm completely at a loss.

I know your an intelligent guy, so there is probably some sort of miscommunication here.  I'm going to just assume that I have failed to clarify my position because I really don't see how you are making these (from my perspective) erroneous connections.

My apologies if this comes across as mean spirited.  I have a tendency to sound like an arsehole without knowing it (and I clearly have the feeling that I might sound like an arsehole right now).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 30 May, 2020, 01:31:25 PM
And my apologies if I'm being obtuse or coming across as unnecessarily contrary - I interpreted your view as being that in the late '90s Lucas was uninterested in creating something worthwhile and his real agenda was selling toys (which I don't deny was a big part of the plan).  If I misread that,  I doubly apologise: I was enjoying the discussion.

Strain your eyes and your credulity no further,  but if you can stand a bit more..

My response was to theorise that if Lucas was only interested in putting something out that cashed in on the brand and sold merch, he'd have given us something that looked and felt like Star Wars and SF did in the '90s: grim cyberpunk and bounty hunters. Not a little kid's adventures with racing cars and biplanes in the last days of the ancienne regime. Not a meticulously designed environment of chrome and colour that barely resembled the 'lived in' down-at-heel WWII universe that was his brand's identity.

And in doing so,  I believe he revealed his genuine desire to use the freedom and technology at his disposal to create a film he could be proud of. That this didn't really work - for many reasons and in many ways - doesn't take away from his creativity and,  I believe,  sincerity as a filmmaker.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Apestrife on 30 May, 2020, 01:46:47 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 29 May, 2020, 04:46:17 PM
One of my biggest complaints is a problem they inherited from the films.  R2D2 and C3PO.  Specifically R2D2.  I keep asking, "hey, Kenobi... why don't you remember R2D2, eh?  Droid was a significant part of your life to remember.  No need to lie to Luke about (even though you are totally a liar, Kenobi), so why don't you remember, eh?"

I always figured he's spent 20 years in the desert training to become a force ghost in order to pit Luke against his father. At this point in the story R2D2 is but a letter pigeon to him. I've never gotten the feeling that he cared much for the droids in the movies or CW series either. That was Anakin's thing, before he became Vader. To most others in SW droids seem to be things, not people.

Luke also tells him R2D2 says belongs to him, to which he replies he doesn't remember ever doing. I think he's also being coy about things. To me that's a bit like when he tells Luke that Darth Vader murdered and betrayed Anakin. Which according to Obiwan was true "From a certain point of view", and not something he needed Luke to know at the time they met.

The Jedis never struck me as having problems lying (mind tricks ftw) or spin the truth. Yoda is a prime example. He's wise, but he's not always to be trusted is he? In CW he's keeping the force ghost reveal (in S06E13) from the others, and in Ep5 he acts in a similar manner to Obiwan when meeting Luke.

But that's my take.

Btw. Did you like the ending of SW:CW with [spoiler]Vader finding Ashoka's lightsaber? To me that felt like it was the last part of Anakin dying in him. Powerful image of him disappearing in the reflection of a dead and forgotten clone trooper's helmet.[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 30 May, 2020, 02:44:51 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 30 May, 2020, 01:31:25 PM
And my apologies if I'm being obtuse or coming across as unnecessarily contrary - I interpreted your view as being that in the late '90s Lucas was uninterested in creating something worthwhile and his real agenda was selling toys (which I don't deny was a big part of the plan).  If I misread that,  I doubly apologise: I was enjoying the discussion.

This might be a bit exaggerated.  I'd be kind and say that Lucas may have viewed Star Wars as more of a product than as a creative endeavour (not to the exclusion of it being a creative endeavour).  That, in my view, Lucas' motivations were the creation of merchandisable product that can trade off a known and safe commodity (that being the Star Wars name).  Around this point they were realising new books and interest around Star Wars was growing as those that were kids that saw it were growing up with the delicious disposable income and a wider cultural catering to what may be referred to as "geek culture".  The special editions were a big success, so I don't think it unreasonable to think that a person could be motivated to ride that success further.  I do not think that Lucas had no interest in the creative side of things, because I know that is utterly false.  We know he was very hands on.  I just think he views creativity as a commodity and perhaps that he wishes to exploit that commodity.  (I really don't know whether any of that makes sense, I feel like I'm rambling because I want to do this quickly).
Quote
Strain your eyes and your credulity no further,  but if you can stand a bit more..

My response was to theorise that if Lucas was only interested in putting something out that cashed in on the brand and sold merch, he'd have given us something that looked and felt like Star Wars and SF did in the '90s: grim cyberpunk and bounty hunters. Not a little kid's adventures with racing cars and biplanes in the last days of the ancienne regime. Not a meticulously designed environment of chrome and colour that barely resembled the 'lived in' down-at-heel WWII universe that was his brand's identity.

And in doing so,  I believe he revealed his genuine desire to use the freedom and technology at his disposal to create a film he could be proud of. That this didn't really work - for many reasons and in many ways - doesn't take away from his creativity and,  I believe,  sincerity as a filmmaker.

I don't think that a cash in necessitates a motivation to give us a product like you describe.  That was certainly a cash-in method that was and is very popular.  It's not the only way of doing it.  I'll concede this much, Lucas certainly did and probably does wish to be involved in something different.  Rather than chasing the last big thing he'd be after creating the next big thing (which is admittedly less cynical than many Holywood producers... I'll give him that much as well).  That could also explain why he didn't go for entirely familiar visuals.  From what I can gather from interviews I have seen with him from that time and after, he felt that Star Wars was always "just a kids a movie" (this is phrase I despise, but I'm not getting into that can of worms).  I know that the 90's did have a lot of murk and grit, but the decade was chock full of bright and vibrant colours as well, especially with children's media (this thing about colour is in part intended by me as a metaphor for other creative aspects like tone or action).  Honestly, I think the decisions that were made for the content of the film are consistent with commodification of the time.  In many ways, TPM might be viewed as the culmination of the "commercials disguised as cartoons" business practice that started in the 80s.

In essence, I don't think that the creative choices of TPM preclude a cynical motivation in the creation from the guy in charge.  I actually see it as the opposite, that it is a demonstration.  I would like to make clear that I do think that there were people who worked on all three films that were not cynically motivated and that had genuine care and consideration that the final creation be the best it possible can with the best creative decisions being made.  I think that is very evident and is about the only thing I appreciate about that train wreck of a trilogy.  I just don't think that Lucas can be counted amongst them.  His writing is awful and we know from his own admission at the time that he had no plan for all three movies.  That is cynical enough.  He knows he is intending on making three films and he doesn't consider how those three films connect to one another and what the over arcing story is going to be.  He half-arsed the scripts, including TPM which only stands up in comparison with worse garbage.  Actually, whilst I'm at it, this is a complaint I have with the latest trilogy.  Except it's worse, because they saw what a dumpster-fire Lucas made of things by doing the exact same thing.

Fair enough if you don't see his motivations the same as I do, but I hope you understand how I can see them as cynical.

Quote from: Apestrife on 30 May, 2020, 01:46:47 PM
I always figured he's spent 20 years in the desert training to become a force ghost in order to pit Luke against his father. At this point in the story R2D2 is but a letter pigeon to him. I've never gotten the feeling that he cared much for the droids in the movies or CW series either. That was Anakin's thing, before he became Vader. To most others in SW droids seem to be things, not people.

Luke also tells him R2D2 says belongs to him, to which he replies he doesn't remember ever doing. I think he's also being coy about things. To me that's a bit like when he tells Luke that Darth Vader murdered and betrayed Anakin. Which according to Obiwan was true "From a certain point of view", and not something he needed Luke to know at the time they met.

The Jedis never struck me as having problems lying (mind tricks ftw) or spin the truth. Yoda is a prime example. He's wise, but he's not always to be trusted is he? In CW he's keeping the force ghost reveal (in S06E13) from the others, and in Ep5 he acts in a similar manner to Obiwan when meeting Luke.

But that's my take.

Fair enough.  I personally don't want to have to do mental acrobatics to make story elements fit together when there was no need to create the dissonance in the first place.  The droid thing, for me, is the eye of the storm of the problems I have the prequel setting.
Quote
Btw. Did you like the ending of SW:CW with [spoiler]Vader finding Ashoka's lightsaber? To me that felt like it was the last part of Anakin dying in him. Powerful image of him disappearing in the reflection of a dead and forgotten clone trooper's helmet.[/spoiler]
Yes!  I did.  Very much so.  It was very good.  The move away from the John Williamson score for something more evocative with the consider composition and pace was refreshing and appreciated.  My big take away from the final season was that it gave the show a better ending and Ahsoka is truly awesome.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Apestrife on 30 May, 2020, 03:43:00 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 30 May, 2020, 02:44:51 PM
Fair enough.  I personally don't want to have to do mental acrobatics to make story elements fit together when there was no need to create the dissonance in the first place.  The droid thing, for me, is the eye of the storm of the problems I have the prequel setting.
Quote

I wouldn't call it gymnastics. Obiwan never owned R2D2 and plays it coy in A new hope. Just like Yoda does in Empire strikes back. Both in order to use Luke against Vader in Return of the Jedi.

Been my interpretation ever since I first watched ep 4-6.

Quote from: pictsy on 30 May, 2020, 02:44:51 PM
Yes!  I did.  Very much so.  It was very good.  The move away from the John Williamson score for something more evocative with the consider composition and pace was refreshing and appreciated.  My big take away from the final season was that it gave the show a better ending and Ahsoka is truly awesome.

Good to hear :)

I love the ending. To me it's the ending to Star Wars. Very fitting ending since I watch them in release order 4-6, 1-3 and then CW. I found Ashoka's dilemma over her friendship with Anakin to be very interesting, as did her friendship and loyalty to the clone troopers. Felt like she was one of few Jedi who really cared for them. The music in the [spoiler]funeral scene[/spoiler] wrecks me every time I listen to it. I really like the Blade Runner-esque feel to it :)

https://youtu.be/MJrEkTEkE4Q

Yeah, I think season 6:s original ending did more to setting up Yoda for the original trilogy. To me it seemed like the whole force ghost reveal shook him up. Figures dedicating himself as a Jedi on being able to let go of things, and then to learn that death isn't the end.

I've yet to watch SW: Rebels, but I plan to. Does it have a good amount of [spoiler]Ashoka, Maul and Rex[/spoiler]?  :)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 30 May, 2020, 05:23:40 PM
Quote from: Apestrife on 30 May, 2020, 03:43:00 PM
I wouldn't call it gymnastics. Obiwan never owned R2D2 and plays it coy in A new hope. Just like Yoda does in Empire strikes back. Both in order to use Luke against Vader in Return of the Jedi.

What I mean by mental gymnastics is having interpretations outside the text of media to reconcile the various retcons and inconsistencies between the trilogies.  Essentially, it's not in the text of the films or shows, it's us, the viewer, that has to make the reconciliation.  I prefer to not do that.  It's like having a scab I can pick at.

This may have come from reading the novelisations of the original trilogy and the book that would have potentially been the sequel to "episode 4" giving me some additional insight into where the direction of Star Wars was going back in the late seventies and early eighties.  I really like the idea that Vader is a guy who killed Luke's father, Leia is a Princess Luke helped rescue and not his sister and the suggestion (from the original Solo trilogy of books iirc) that the Clone Wars was something to do with the Mandalorians.

I've never really been that big a fan of the Star Wars films anyway.  I always loved the setting.  I think I was just disappointed that the prequels failed to expand things in a way I found enjoyable.  CW does get that going at points and certainly in the later seasons.  Rebels, Rogue One, Solo, The Mandalorian... these things definitely satisfy me.  I guess I have become a Star Wars fan, just not of the main movies.

That all said, I don't mind any interpretations that make the Jedi look like space arseholes. 

Quote
I've yet to watch SW: Rebels, but I plan to. Does it have a good amount of [spoiler]Ashoka, Maul and Rex[/spoiler]?  :)

They all appear and have good roles.  [spoiler]I'd say that Maul's stuff is very satisfying and I thoroughly enjoyed the conclusion to his story for a few different reasons.[/spoiler]

Oh, and given that I mentioned it, those Solo books were really fun to read.  The novelisations and Splinter of the Minds Eye were largely badly written and laughable, but the Solo books were good space opera adventure romps.  If that's your cup of tea, I recommend them highly.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 31 May, 2020, 02:16:41 AM
Obi Wan doesn't remember owning R2 for the same reason he was staggering around the desert screaming before he came across Luke and the lads - he'd spent the last 20 years drunk off his ass.  Circa 1976, you don't cast Alec Guinness accidentally.

And I agree Lucas was taking a risk with TPM and the general approach of going down the prequel route, as he'd already played it safe with Shadows Of The Empire, which was a really big deal at the time and proved that demand was not only high for sequels to the original trilogy, but that Lucas had given some thought to how a project would go forward without having to pay what Harrison Ford would have cost around the mid-90s.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 31 May, 2020, 11:01:39 AM
I started Buffy the Vampire Slayer yesterday.  First episode is ropey.  I always find it a rough start with this series, but I also now know that it will get better and more entertaining.  Having access to the SD versions is nice as well.  The last couple of times I watched it, it was the widescreen version and it is obvious that it wasn't intended to be in widescreen (with the exception of Once More, With Feeling).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 31 May, 2020, 04:28:23 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 30 May, 2020, 10:07:55 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 29 May, 2020, 11:00:24 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 29 May, 2020, 04:46:17 PM
I keep asking, "hey, Kenobi... why don't you remember R2D2, eh? 

My take is that he does remember R2.  But think of how he encounters him: there's an Imperial Star Destroyer in orbit blowing stuff up - and suddenly here's Luke, injured, apparently lured to his desert hideaway by what looks a hell of a lot like Anakin's old astromech. What's going on? ...
And after all, he never did own Artoo, or any other property at all really, so his story's true, from a certain point of view.

I am sorry, but I don't find that take compelling. 

Knew there was a discussion about this somwhere and don't worry I got this. Me and the boy child have just started to watch New Hope (Star Wars proper as I like to call it) in our rewatch and I paid particular attention to this bit - in fact much to the boys annoyance I watched it twice.

Anyway Ben says this line while looking, quite pointedly, at R2. So I'm able to project the fact that he's just controlling the message. As Tordelback points out there's a lot going on. Ben recognises R2, R2 has been jibberjabbering and Ben needs time to work out what's happening and what Luke does or doesn't need to know at this point. So the line is directed at R2 though obliquely, basically saying - Shout the chuff up - don't way anything else and follow my lead - This buys him the time to work out what Luke does or doesn't need to know and what to be a liar, liar pants on fire about.

I'm happy with that reading and I'm out of here in case some one uses sense and logic to discredit it...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 31 May, 2020, 05:35:39 PM
I like to call that film Star Wars.  The episode 4 and A New Hope thing never really settled with me.  I grew up calling it Star Wars and it still feels weird not calling it Star Wars.  Unfortunately it can get confusing now, calling it Star Wars.  So I feel weird talking about it.

Err, I also have a take on Kenobi's deception being entirely unnecessary and ultimate ended with disastrous consequences for Luke and his friends.  Or how Luke's attachment to Kenobi and initiation to the force is silly given the short length of time they actually knew each other.  Or how it's really weird that they ended up ret-conning things to have Leia kiss her brother and be tortured by her father.  Or how Han Solo negs her.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 31 May, 2020, 05:56:53 PM
Luke knows who "Old Ben" is when he first sees Leia's message, so clearly he knows Ben very well if he can see through the intricate cover story and disguise that Obi-Wan has been utilising all the years he's been on Tattoine in order to suss out that when Leia says "Obi Wan Kenobi", she actually means "Ben Kenobi".

Obviously, a lot of the connective strands have been established retroactively in the movies, cartoons, novels, games, etc, but taking A New Hope in isolation, we discover that Ben knew Luke's dad - apparently quite well - and he's living a stone's throw from Luke's house, and of all the people on the planet, Luke knows who Ben is.  Plus the droids important to the outcome of the struggle between space fascism and space communism wash up at the door of the son of a Jedi knight who was central to the events that shaped the existing galactic order?  Even if Star Wars The Movie was as far as this franchise ever went, Lucas was already painting a picture of a very small galaxy.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Apestrife on 31 May, 2020, 09:32:52 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 30 May, 2020, 05:23:40 PM
What I mean by mental gymnastics is having interpretations outside the text of media to reconcile the various retcons and inconsistencies between the trilogies.

I came up with said interpretation of Obi binging the Special editions of ep 4-6 on VHS at the age of 10. Still holds true to me after watching the Prequels as well as the CW series. Never read the books outside one or two single issues of SW comics by dark horse.

But enough of that. --Hope you enjoy the SW you like as much as I do  ;)

Quote from: pictsy on 30 May, 2020, 05:23:40 PMThat all said, I don't mind any interpretations that make the Jedi look like space arseholes.

I'm all for it hehe. Why like SW:CW so much. I always liked to think of Anakin as someone who remained a slave both as a kid, Jedi and Sith (up till he saves his son Luke). I feel similarly for the clone troopers. Especially Rex. Really liked his arc. Must rewatch the Umbara episodes soon.

Quote from: pictsy on 30 May, 2020, 05:23:40 PM
They all appear and have good roles.  [spoiler]I'd say that Maul's stuff is very satisfying and I thoroughly enjoyed the conclusion to his story for a few different reasons. [/spoiler]

Thanks. Nice to hear. I'll make sure to at least watch those episodes then. Then I might watch the rest :)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 31 May, 2020, 10:05:45 PM
"I don't recall ever owning a droid"

So In I Wan worked with a droid for a couple of years some twenty years ago. I can't remember the names of actual humans I worked with 10 years sgo for over five years.

And I slept with some of them.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 31 May, 2020, 10:06:40 PM
(The Last bit is a joke)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 01 June, 2020, 08:19:02 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 31 May, 2020, 11:01:39 AM
I started Buffy the Vampire Slayer yesterday.  First episode is ropey.  I always find it a rough start with this series, but I also now know that it will get better and more entertaining.  Having access to the SD versions is nice as well.  The last couple of times I watched it, it was the widescreen version and it is obvious that it wasn't intended to be in widescreen (with the exception of Once More, With Feeling).

I did a Buffy rewatch last year, first time since it'd been on telly, and it really is a wonderful body of work. Almost went off the rails with the Adam storyline, but pulled it back. Although I followed it just as avidly at the time, I never got through my Angel rewatch - turned out that all the good stuff I thought was spread over several seasons was all contained in S:1-2, and I found I really didn't care to revisit the later storylines.

Quote from: pictsy on 31 May, 2020, 05:35:39 PM
I like to call that film Star Wars.  The episode 4 and A New Hope thing never really settled with me.  I grew up calling it Star Wars and it still feels weird not calling it Star Wars.  Unfortunately it can get confusing now, calling it Star Wars.  So I feel weird talking about it.

We should start a movement/support group. I refuse to call it A New Hope. It's called Star Wars, I distinctly remember that being on the posters at the time.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 01 June, 2020, 09:11:12 AM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 01 June, 2020, 08:19:02 AM
I did a Buffy rewatch last year, first time since it'd been on telly, and it really is a wonderful body of work. Almost went off the rails with the Adam storyline, but pulled it back. Although I followed it just as avidly at the time, I never got through my Angel rewatch - turned out that all the good stuff I thought was spread over several seasons was all contained in S:1-2, and I found I really didn't care to revisit the later storylines.

I've rewatched it every 1 or 2 years for the last ten years.  The Adam season is weak and is definitely the hump of the series.  It does have my favourite season finale, though.  It's like after enduring it all I get a special little treat as a reward.
I've watched Angel all the way through once and tried again another two times.  I find it gets tedious pretty quickly.  The Jasmine story arc is just awful and I have no desire to ever watch Angel again.  It sucks (geddit?).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 01 June, 2020, 12:35:28 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 30 May, 2020, 11:17:38 AM
I really don't know which one of us giving Lucas too much credit.  If he was serious and thoughtful about making TPM good then he failed hard.

I'm just left with the impression of a man that is less concerned with what would work best creatively over what would sell better.  Also, the most vivid thing I remember about 1999 was the toys.  There were so many toys.  There were too many toys.  So many toys.

Anyway, it doesn't matter.  We don't know the motivations of the man.  I know I don't respect him as a creative and I think he is very wrong about a lot of things.
Failure is not a always a result of bad motivations. It is possible to be serious and thoughtful and still fail.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JamesC on 01 June, 2020, 12:40:48 PM
Just like the Jedi.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 01 June, 2020, 01:08:36 PM
Quote from: wedgeski on 01 June, 2020, 12:35:28 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 30 May, 2020, 11:17:38 AM
I really don't know which one of us giving Lucas too much credit.  If he was serious and thoughtful about making TPM good then he failed hard.

I'm just left with the impression of a man that is less concerned with what would work best creatively over what would sell better.  Also, the most vivid thing I remember about 1999 was the toys.  There were so many toys.  There were too many toys.  So many toys.

Anyway, it doesn't matter.  We don't know the motivations of the man.  I know I don't respect him as a creative and I think he is very wrong about a lot of things.
Failure is not a always a result of bad motivations. It is possible to be serious and thoughtful and still fail.

I seem to have left you with entirely the wrong impression.  It was not my intention to convey the notion that it is not possible to be serious and thoughtful and still fail.  Largely the opposite.  My position was that if Tordel was correct about Lucas' intentions then Lucas failed.  Nor was I suggesting that failure is a result of... well, I'm not sure I called them bad motivations... cynical, sure.

I hope that clarifies things :)

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 01 June, 2020, 02:20:03 PM
I've always felt that the problems with the prequels was that Lucas tried to make an entire movie in post production. He was so enthusiastic about using the new fangled CGI he neglected the rest, and didn't delegate enough.

In preproduction, he needed to polish his script more. He should have built more complete sets instead of hanging up some green drapes.

This had a knock on effect to the shoot, where actors had to wrangle awkward dialogue while having very little to physically interact with. It seems like Lucas just wanted dialogue shots in the can as quickly as possible, which must have been challenging for the cast, it certainly looks that way because some very fine actors gave dodgy performances.

So when Lucas finally got to the bit he wanted to do the most, with all the shiney spaceships and sumptuous CGI sets, it was too late. It doesn't matter how cool the stuff projected on the green screen looks, because the actual important stuff, the characters and what they're saying, is just flat soap opera style shot/reverse shot scenes. There might be a cool vista of Coruscant out the window, but our characters are just sitting on a sofa. They might be walking through a huge impressive Jedi Temple, but their movements are slightly off because the actors weren't sure how big a space they had to move about in, again the shot is a bit flat. In a real set, a director can work out interesting angles blocking by walking around making two "L" shapes with his fingers and thumbs, but Lucas was just pointing a camera at some people in front of a green screen.

Any scene that wasn't action was flat and boring with some background CGI noise thrown in. Then the action scenes tended to be all CGI noise.

All of this is not to say CGI is bad. I think Lucas accelerated the advance of cinema CGI by over a decade. I remember before the prequels, directors would tout how many scenes/minutes of their movies contained CGI effects. After Clone Wars, that seemed to be a redundant boast. I think the Lucas' problem was he was so preoccupied with making things look real in CGI, he forgot to make those things tell a good story.

I'm not a prequels hater, but I'm in no hurry to watch them again.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 01 June, 2020, 02:37:19 PM
Quote from: Mister Pops on 01 June, 2020, 02:20:03 PM
I've always felt that the problems with the prequels was that Lucas tried to make an entire movie in post production.

There are plenty of articles online about the extensive use of practical effects over CGI in the prequels — here's just one. (https://makezine.com/2015/10/07/the-surprising-practical-effects-of-the-star-wars-prequels/)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 01 June, 2020, 02:40:52 PM
Quote from: Mister Pops on 01 June, 2020, 02:20:03 PMHe should have built more complete sets instead of hanging up some green drapes.

This had a knock on effect to the shoot, where actors had to wrangle awkward dialogue while having very little to physically interact with.

This really wasn't the case until Attack of the Clones*,when Lucas started shooting entirely in digital - almost all the sets in TPM are built (and almost all the spaceships and other vehicles both full-size and scale models, despite the hype), where they weren't actual locations (Mos Espa and the Theed Palace, for example). Generally Lucas only extended sets digitally - everything around the characters to head-height was there (apocryphally he had to rebuild several sets to accommodate Liam Neeson's height).

Other than battle-droids, Sebulba and many of the Gungans all the CGI characters were performed in costume on set.  This would change for Attack of the Clones, where he famously refused to have a single Clone costume built (there were full-size maquettes, but supposedly they were never used on set).

None of this takes away from Mister Pop's central points though - Lucas was reportedly a woeful Director on set, shooting endless takes with little constructive guidance, preferring to assemble scenes in post-production out of a line here and a line there, in the process sucking whatever life there was in the performances right out into space.

As regards the dialogue, I know my main reaction on my first viewing (which I loved, but still...) was "15 years to write a script, and it's this...!?!".  But I don't think he was particularly interested in dialogue - it seems like he was still imagining the staid delivery of clichés in the Republic serials that he was trying to recapture (other evidence: his choice of very dodgy Yellow-Peril style baddies).

I remain yours, a Phantom Menace apologist.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 06 June, 2020, 10:41:32 PM
Well bugger me Black Sails Season 4 gets off to a blindin' start!

Shame its the last one. I'll be back soon for advise to about what to watch next - have it narrowed down I think - but til then I'll enjoy this while it lasts.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 07 June, 2020, 01:30:24 AM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 06 June, 2020, 10:41:32 PM
Well bugger me Black Sails Season 4 gets off to a blindin' start!

It does. I miss Black Sails, and I'm sorry it's finished, but I'm also glad — as you'll see — that they decided that they'd reached the end and not to do three more pointless seasons before the network cancelled them on a cliffhanger.

It's four seasons of properly brilliant TV and I'm so glad I was leaned on to stick with it through the first half of S1 which is, frankly, a bit of a slog.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 09 June, 2020, 01:27:30 PM
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season One is finished.  I always forget how quickly this show gets good.  Aside from a somewhat clunky, but appreciable finale, the last lot of episodes are interesting, with great ideas and setting the tone of what is to come.  It's the shortest of all Seasons, but it definitely has value.

Season Two is always a joy because... well... Spike.  I like him.  He's a good villain and a good anti-hero.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 09 June, 2020, 01:44:09 PM
Space Force.  I'm not a massive fan of Steve Carell, but here he has terrific chemistry with John Malkovitch, whose own performance is so mumbly-good that I actually forget he isn't really a despairing space scientist. I also enjoyed the parodic triumvirate of Shumer, Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez, and the convoluted chimp spacewalk sequence. Gently entertaining, if very predictable, rather than laugh-out-loud, but sometimes that's enough.

Amused to see that this is being accused of glorifying the US military, because with the exception of one helicopter pilot, every single military character is an incompetent gung-ho moron, and every goal and project a risible disaster. Although TBF as it goes along I do begin to see the argument for the actual Space Force...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Radbacker on 10 June, 2020, 03:21:43 AM
Agree with Space Force watching an episode a night and really enjoying it, was the war games one last night.  Also greatly enjoying Snow Piercer series l, wasn't sure if it would be different enough to the great movie that came out a few years ago but it is plus Jennifer Connley 😘 unusual for a Netflix show it's getting an episode each week so if you want to binge your going to need to wait till it's all dropped.

CU Radbacker
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Citi-Def_Joe on 10 June, 2020, 05:02:05 PM
Said the same thing about Space Force last night to my wife. We have been enjoying an episode a night and while its not  "binge the whole series in a weekend" its kind of subtle and gentle and Carrell and Malkovich are so great together.

Have also been watching Titans series 2, while i wish it wouldnt jump back and forth quite so much i do like it and of all the DC TV shows this is the one I have stuck with
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 11 June, 2020, 04:03:42 PM
Sopranos. Man,I forgot how good it was.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 11 June, 2020, 05:54:23 PM
I could never get into The Sopranos.  It just failed to hook me.  Many of these bespoke programmes had that effect.  Ended up getting bored with the likes of Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 15 June, 2020, 01:54:00 PM
Black Sails

On series 3 already, and really enjoying it, although I wish there was a bit less swearing. I found my mental eyes rolling a bit [spoiler]when three of the attractive female lead characters turn out to be bi-sexual and have lesbian romps. I understand that modern programmes want to show more representation, but have you noticed that it's usually women portrayed as gay or bi? Rarely the men? And when you get three at once I wonder if it's less about representation, and more about male titillation and a touch of female objectification.

But suddenly there was a twist when it turned out one of the male lead characters had a homosexual relationship in his past too, so fair does I guess. (He appeared to be having affairs with both the man and his wife. With both aware and blessing it. The rascals.)

The male gay stuff was tastefully done with nothing explicit though, while the lesbian stuff was full on steamy so I think my point about titillation and objectification still stands. On the other hand the female leads are strong character also, so that does even things out a bit.[/spoiler]

It's a lot more political than you'd usually expect a drama about pirates to be, and in the first series they were mostly in their homebase on Nassau, but there's plenty of ship stuff later. And the politics is interesting.

Overall a really good watch. The main characters are interesting and complex, even the full on murderers. The characters do bad things but you can empathise somewhat, and the point -these are men/women not just monsters is valid. The authorities back in England at the time are hardly paragons of virtue, leading these people to turn to piracy in the first place. I think most here would like this programme. (Actually I think it was comments on here that recommended it to me in the first place, so likely I'm likely late on-ship as it were.)

Before Black Sails I binged Once Upon a Time. I'd put it off previously as I was worried it would be corny and twee. I wasn't entirely wrong there, but that's not ALL it is. It plays with some of the corny stuff to comedic effect but certain evil characters who ham it up in places end up showing quite a bit of complexity, and goodie goodie characters do questionable things. Very funny in places, quite dark in others (not out of place for something based on fairy tales) and a bit silly as well (not always a bad thing). And yes, sometimes corny, but it subverts certain tropes too.

It's not perfect by any means but I found it enjoyable, if somewhat of a guilty pleasure. The final resolution to the last series didn't particularly work for me, but overall a good if somewhat meandering watch.

Oh and it's got a somewhat complex pirate character in it too, although Hook is a bit cheesier than the characters from Black Sails.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 15 June, 2020, 01:57:59 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 15 June, 2020, 01:54:00 PM
Black Sails

I've got two to go - so avoid my next post here!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 15 June, 2020, 02:07:13 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 15 June, 2020, 01:57:59 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 15 June, 2020, 01:54:00 PM
Black Sails

I've got two to go - so avoid my next post here!

Thanks for the heads up, will do! I'm guessing you're enjoying it too, if you made it they far?

I forgot to say in my post above, I really like the title sequence music and that beautiful weird imagery too. I rarely skip over it, even when binging.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 17 June, 2020, 07:03:42 AM
Quote from: Mardroid on 15 June, 2020, 02:07:13 PM

Thanks for the heads up, will do! I'm guessing you're enjoying it too, if you made it they far?


Well your damned right there and a big thank you to the folks on this board who not only encouraged me to watch it, but to stick through it during the first season which just isn't as strong.

Black Sails lands the ending quite fantastically. I have to admit coming into the final episode I was lost as to how it would do it, but it does... kinda.

One thing that annoyed me, aside from the 3 episode wounds - don't look at the spoiler Mardroid - is the way[spoiler] the Spanish are sweep under the carpet[/spoiler] - I assumed I'd missed something and read around after watching the last episode, but haven't yet seen a decent explaination. Still small potatoes because of course this was about the fate of the characters and it handles that really quite superbly.

What struck me is how this is built like Brink... no work with me. I mean its far more meladramatic and its scale - on the surface at least - is so much bigger (Black Sails that is) and Black Sails grabs you by the scruff of the neck and drags you along at such incredible pace that you can't catch breathe to notice the plot issues, where as Brink is so much more grounded and delicately paced.

No what did strike me is how much both are very clearly built so that story is essentially constructed on a series of conversations between two people. Conversations that develop plot and reveal character and move things on. Both do this very overtly. In Black Sails those 'chats' are always very pointed and bound by illustration and pointed tales, the point they make is clear and underlined by dramatic glares and gritted teeth. They both might do it so differently, but they both also do it so very well.

As Jim said below that they drew the line after 4 seasons was so right. All the characters where in place to move into the sequel that's cashed in by some Robbie Louie Stevens or some such.

Fantastical telly.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 17 June, 2020, 07:11:05 AM
I enjoyed Black Sails as well it was a fantastic TV show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 18 June, 2020, 10:02:00 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 09 June, 2020, 01:27:30 PM
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season One is finished.  I always forget how quickly this show gets good.  Aside from a somewhat clunky, but appreciable finale, the last lot of episodes are interesting, with great ideas and setting the tone of what is to come.  It's the shortest of all Seasons, but it definitely has value.

Season Two is always a joy because... well... Spike.  I like him.  He's a good villain and a good anti-hero.

BTVS was great television but it does lose its way a bit later on when it gets a bit too miserable and they put in that insufferable younger sister.  It never gets bad though.

I met Spike once, he was a great chap.

Are you going to watch Angel too?  And if so, are you going to alternate because they do reference each other.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 18 June, 2020, 12:20:21 PM
Quote from: repoman on 18 June, 2020, 10:02:00 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 09 June, 2020, 01:27:30 PM
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season One is finished.  I always forget how quickly this show gets good.  Aside from a somewhat clunky, but appreciable finale, the last lot of episodes are interesting, with great ideas and setting the tone of what is to come.  It's the shortest of all Seasons, but it definitely has value.

Season Two is always a joy because... well... Spike.  I like him.  He's a good villain and a good anti-hero.

BTVS was great television but it does lose its way a bit later on when it gets a bit too miserable and they put in that insufferable younger sister.  It never gets bad though.

I met Spike once, he was a great chap.

Are you going to watch Angel too?  And if so, are you going to alternate because they do reference each other.

Dawn is initially insufferable, I agree.  Season 5 could do without her screeching all over it.  Nevertheless, Glory is a fantastic villain so I think it balances out.  There is the "GetOutGetOutGetOut" scene that always sets my teeth on edge.

I'm not doing Angel as well.  It's never as good a show and I find Season 3 unwatchable.  There are things to like about it, but overall it is painful to watch.  I'll have to be in a very curious and masochistic mood to rewatch Angel again.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 18 June, 2020, 07:22:44 PM
I only ever saw S1 of Buffy and none of Angel.

Wondering if it would be worth the effort or if I stick with more modern fare like Black Sails.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 18 June, 2020, 07:52:40 PM
I really enjoyed Buffy when it was first on, but I haven't ever re-watched it. I have no idea if modern me would like it as much, or if it was of the moment.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 18 June, 2020, 07:59:34 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 18 June, 2020, 07:22:44 PM
I only ever saw S1 of Buffy and none of Angel.

Wondering if it would be worth the effort or if I stick with more modern fare like Black Sails.

It depends on your tolerance for bad remasters.  The Buffy remaster looks bad.  I hunted down copies of the original, classic 3:4 version that appeared on tele (I generally prefer shows that were made in that ratio to be viewed in that ratio anyway). 

It gets hailed as being quite progressive, but you have to take that like you would viewing Star Trek TOS in 2020.  It's progressive for the time and even then it still has many problematic moments.  You'd also have to be able to tolerate the dialogue.  They use a lot of dorky Whedonisms.

If you were to try it I'd suggest watching the first two seasons to see if you like it.  I'd say it's pretty safe to assume that if you don't enjoy it by the end of season 2 you are not likely going to enjoy the rest of it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 18 June, 2020, 08:07:21 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 18 June, 2020, 07:22:44 PM
I only ever saw S1 of Buffy and none of Angel.

Wondering if it would be worth the effort or if I stick with more modern fare like Black Sails.

I was always curious when it came out because the film itself was one of those curiosities of the early 90's with Donald Sutherland in the starring role.  The whole title screamed 'no, we're not taking ourselves seriously' and it just worked.

Always felt that the telly series lost some of that charm and then crawled up its own posterior.  First couple of series were okay.  If you find it streaming somewhere then I'd say there were far worse things you could spend your time on.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 19 June, 2020, 10:19:33 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 18 June, 2020, 12:20:21 PM

Dawn is initially insufferable, I agree.  Season 5 could do without her screeching all over it.  Nevertheless, Glory is a fantastic villain so I think it balances out.  There is the "GetOutGetOutGetOut" scene that always sets my teeth on edge.

I'm not doing Angel as well.  It's never as good a show and I find Season 3 unwatchable.  There are things to like about it, but overall it is painful to watch.  I'll have to be in a very curious and masochistic mood to rewatch Angel again.

So, oddly I really had no time for Buffy initially and avoided all of it while my girlfriend (now wife) was watching it.  But I caught a bit of Angel s4 and loved the idea of the villain (Jasmine) and that made me watch Buffy/Angel from the start. 

The last series of Angel was a struggle as they completely wasted Spike.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 19 June, 2020, 06:26:40 PM
Quote from: repoman on 19 June, 2020, 10:19:33 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 18 June, 2020, 12:20:21 PM

Dawn is initially insufferable, I agree.  Season 5 could do without her screeching all over it.  Nevertheless, Glory is a fantastic villain so I think it balances out.  There is the "GetOutGetOutGetOut" scene that always sets my teeth on edge.

I'm not doing Angel as well.  It's never as good a show and I find Season 3 unwatchable.  There are things to like about it, but overall it is painful to watch.  I'll have to be in a very curious and masochistic mood to rewatch Angel again.

So, oddly I really had no time for Buffy initially and avoided all of it while my girlfriend (now wife) was watching it.  But I caught a bit of Angel s4 and loved the idea of the villain (Jasmine) and that made me watch Buffy/Angel from the start. 

The last series of Angel was a struggle as they completely wasted Spike.

Oh you are right, Jasmine was Season 4.  That's the season I found unbearable.  Season 3 must be so boring I just don't remember it.  I agree that they wasted Spike in the last Season and the last time I watched it I wasn't as impressed as the first. 

I did try to alternate between episodes of Buffy and Angel once, but ended up ditching Angel.  That might have been the last time I tried watching it start to finish.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 19 June, 2020, 06:37:37 PM
I had some good memories of Angel till it went off the rails, and I gave it a try following my happy nostalgic Buffy-slog. Turns out though that the good stuff I remembered was all in 1 & 2, rather than over several seasons as I thought (They are long seasons though). Drifted off after s.2 and never mustered the will to resume
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 19 June, 2020, 06:49:23 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 25 May, 2020, 04:08:42 PM
Two episodes in to WHITE LINES on Netflix and quite enjoying. Never been to Ibiza but did have some right good times in Manchester in the 80s and 90s and this nails some of that. There's a simple central mystery that everybody seems invested in (But not in an overwrought, convoluted Harlan Coben way) and some dark humour and good performances.

So made it to the end of this and it wasn't really worth it. There's something in there about dealing with grief and putting people on pedestals  but the humour is mostly lacking, every character turns out to be a dick and you'll know who did it.

I'll forego my usual review, even though it would sooo fit and instead quote from the Grandmaster Flash and   Melle  Mel...

White Lines. Don't do it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Anthony Garnon on 19 June, 2020, 08:09:25 PM
I really enjoyed watching Angel season 3 weekly way back when (2002?).

Wesley's transformation that series definitely makes it  worth the watch.

I'd even strongly defend season 4 (which most fans agree is the show's weakest)

I'm rewatching both Buffy/Angel atm, with my Mrs seeing it for the first time. She wasn't keen on Buffy s1, thought s2 was just OK... and then Jenny... well, spoiler.

At that moment she said it became a proper adult drama, and now she loves it.

Angel s1 was watched back to back with Buffy s4, but I synced it up so the crossover episodes 'met' as best as possible.

We're about to start Buffy s5/Angel s2. She doesn't know Buffy returns for two more seasons after this... as I'm trying to trick her this is the end... and then surprise her that Buffy returns (literally) when Angel finds out the same news in his own series!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 19 June, 2020, 09:12:58 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 19 June, 2020, 06:37:37 PM
I had some good memories of Angel till it went off the rails, and I gave it a try following my happy nostalgic Buffy-slog. Turns out though that the good stuff I remembered was all in 1 & 2, rather than over several seasons as I thought (They are long seasons though). Drifted off after s.2 and never mustered the will to resume

I can't disagree with this, it seems reasonable enough.  The episodes I think most fondly of are probably in those two seasons as well.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 23 June, 2020, 10:05:04 AM
I had no idea s4 was badly thought of among Angel fans.  I thought Jasmine was a really good baddie.  The idea that people would be completely under her spell just by looking at her was really creepy.

But Angel had the same problem Buffy had.  His kid.  When that guy turned up and was sulking and messing everything up, that was rubbish.

I thought s5 was way worse but again mainly because of them wasting Spike by making him a ghost.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 23 June, 2020, 09:27:13 PM
Well I went for modern. Sorry Buffy.

Season 1 of Black Sails started - already looks like it will scratch my GOT itch. A prequel to Treasure Island with added shagging and fights? Genius.

And also remembered I still has S3 and S4 of THE EXPANSE to watch. Damn, it's great stuff. Puts the recent Star Trek output to shame. Just watched S3E2 with a spectacularly tense ship to ship combat with the impact of high G manoeuvres adding to the drama.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 24 June, 2020, 09:44:52 AM
The Expanse is an absolute joy. It's the kind of space opera I love to read (although, ironically, I hadn't found my way to the books before the TV series started), but which hasn't found its way to film or TV until recent years. Long may that trend continue (Apple previewed next year's Foundation series yesterday and it looks fantastic).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 24 June, 2020, 10:24:15 PM
Quote from: wedgeski on 24 June, 2020, 09:44:52 AM
(Apple previewed next year's Foundation series yesterday and it looks fantastic).

I didn't know this was going to be a thing, so I checked it out.  I don't like the look of it.  Looks like it's lacking the charm from the books that I loved so much.  Think I'll give it a miss.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 25 June, 2020, 12:20:57 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 24 June, 2020, 10:24:15 PM
Quote from: wedgeski on 24 June, 2020, 09:44:52 AM
(Apple previewed next year's Foundation series yesterday and it looks fantastic).

I didn't know this was going to be a thing, so I checked it out.  I don't like the look of it.  Looks like it's lacking the charm from the books that I loved so much.  Think I'll give it a miss.
It's been about 40 years since I read Foundation et. al. and I don't recall so many guns.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 25 June, 2020, 10:16:29 AM
Quote from: von Boom on 25 June, 2020, 12:20:57 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 24 June, 2020, 10:24:15 PM
Quote from: wedgeski on 24 June, 2020, 09:44:52 AM
(Apple previewed next year's Foundation series yesterday and it looks fantastic).

I didn't know this was going to be a thing, so I checked it out.  I don't like the look of it.  Looks like it's lacking the charm from the books that I loved so much.  Think I'll give it a miss.
It's been about 40 years since I read Foundation et. al. and I don't recall so many guns.

Yeah, that was a red flag for me.  It seems like they are selling it as a bespoke sci-fi action series.  There are plenty of them already that I haven't watched.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 29 June, 2020, 10:46:28 AM
Rewatched all of Community.  Enjoyed most of it.

Started something called Future Man.  Four eps in and it is brilliant. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 29 June, 2020, 06:44:46 PM
I watched the 4 series of The Magicians on Amazon Prime recently. (There's a fifth final series on the way.)

I almost  didn't continue after the [spoiler]rape[/spoiler] of one of the characters. I know that including stuff that happens in real life in fiction can be a good thing in making it relatable etc, but [spoiler]I'd rather rape not be included, especially not so explicitly, although it could have been a lot worse.[/spoiler]

There was a lot of other good stuff though so I persevered, and I'm glad I did. It's quite an odd-ball fantasy series, extremely quirky, sometimes a bit silly, but I enjoyed it a lot. It plays with certain fantasy tropes and does other things with them. The characters are mostly all very three dimensional. It's sometimes a bit vulgar and nasty for the sake of it, but  it can be quite sweet and poignant too.

It can go to a very dark place, but can be very funny as well. And they occasionally break  into song too, which you might hate. I find it amusing and audacious , partly due to the embarrassment factor.

[spoiler]I'm slightly embarrassed to say, that an occurrence in the last episode of series 4 brought a tear to my eye.[/spoiler]

It's not perfect at all but I enjoyed it a lot. I found this far preferable to that other 'young wizards at college series' on Netflix, The Order (although kudos for making a gang of werewolves protagonists in that one). I don't dislike the Order, but it just feels a bit shallow compared to the Magicians. The tone is very different despite them playing with the same toys, although both can be funny.

Currently watching Doom Patrol on Starz.* My feelings have been a bit mixed on this: it goes to a pretty crazy place - occasionally too nuts for my liking, but overall, I like it so far. There's too much swearing though.

As way of example of the crazy stuff: [spoiler] the main professor character and the entire town get swallowed up by a strange extradimensional vortex thing created by the main villain Mr. Nobody. (This was preceded by a donkey farting a message in green smoke.) Crazy Jane followed the professor into the vortex to save him.

Later on she was puked up by the donkey.

Oh and what's with the preaching cricket character? It's like Jiminy crossed dimensions and went crazy.
[/spoiler]

*I'm dropping Disney+ for this. Now that the Star Wars stuff has finished (and the fact I've seen most of the Marvel stuff already) it doestnt seem worth keeping. When they have series 2 of the Mandalorian and that new Red Witch and robot bloke** series I'll likely resubscribe, but I think I'll be wasting my money keeping it permanently.

**And after thing that, his name pops into my head 'Vision'. I'm gonna leave it as it amuses me.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 29 June, 2020, 09:59:59 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 29 June, 2020, 06:44:46 PM
As way of example of the crazy stuff

Have you read the Morrison/Case DP run? That's not snark, it's just that, for me, the TV series does a remarkable job of capturing the quite deranged tone of the comic. It's not exactly there, but it's closer than anything I ever expected to see on TV.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 29 June, 2020, 11:27:52 PM
Elsewhere in our new TV landscape... is anyone else watching the Snowpiercer TV series on Netflix...? I'll confess to being entirety unfamiliar with either the film or the original comic, but I'm really enjoying this. Also, Jennifer Connolly. :-)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Radbacker on 30 June, 2020, 04:18:45 AM
Speaking of Doom Patrol series 2 has just starred and the fist episode is a goody though a catch up would have been nice as I'd forgotten how the last series ended (was too long ago and too many other series in between for my old man brain to remember); no more narrator for spoiler reasons but still looks like it will be suitably bonkers.  I might have to pull out my GN of the Morrison run see how it differs.
Snow Piercer is pretty good and quite different to the movie which is also on Netflix in Oz at least and worth a watch.
Also been enjoying Stargirl, not rally familiar with with the JSA but it's pretty entertaining and I would say currently the best of the Bertalini DC stuff on TV at the moment though the titular character can be a bit annoying I think she is supposed to, some very ambitious FX especially the opening episode.

CU Radbacker 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 30 June, 2020, 06:29:52 AM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 29 June, 2020, 11:27:52 PM
Elsewhere in our new TV landscape... is anyone else watching the Snowpiercer TV series on Netflix...? I'll confess to being entirety unfamiliar with either the film or the original comic, but I'm really enjoying this. Also, Jennifer Connolly. :-)

I was wondering about this as I saw the film recently and its quite fantastic. I'm curious as to what the film adds, or does it just extend and expand?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Modern Panther on 30 June, 2020, 09:23:50 AM
Snowpiercer the TV show initially looks like its going down the same track (a pun!) as the film, then smartly going off the rails (another one!). Whereas the movies a lot of action, the series is a political murder mystery. The casting in the first episode is very clever.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 30 June, 2020, 02:37:29 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 29 June, 2020, 09:59:59 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 29 June, 2020, 06:44:46 PM
As way of example of the crazy stuff

Have you read the Morrison/Case DP run? That's not snark, it's just that, for me, the TV series does a remarkable job of capturing the quite deranged tone of the comic. It's not exactly there, but it's closer than anything I ever expected to see on TV.

No that's okay- I think I have read some of it, and I don't think I was over keen.

Concerning the TV series, I've seen more episodes since my post above, and I'm really enjoying it now, oddness included. I agree that it is very much a comic book film in capturing the same amount of weirdness and OT stuff you'd expect from the comics and making it work.

Spoilers:
[spoiler]A sentient talking street? I thought it would turn out to be some kind of reality or mind altering trick from Doctor Nobody, but no, it is exactly what it appears to be. I'm not complaining, mind, I found it worked and I enjoyed that episode a lot!

Oh and two words: Admiral Whiskers. Loved it! (Although I found Robot Man's OTT shouting irritating, but he had a valid reason, in the end.) [/spoiler]

And in all that weirdness and hits of darkness it can be quite sweet too.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 30 June, 2020, 02:43:19 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 30 June, 2020, 02:37:29 PM
And in all that weirdness and hits of darkness it can be quite sweet too.

In that respect, it very much nails the Morrison/Case run which remains some of my favourite comics ever.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 30 June, 2020, 03:06:38 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 30 June, 2020, 02:43:19 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 30 June, 2020, 02:37:29 PM
And in all that weirdness and hits of darkness it can be quite sweet too.

In that respect, it very much nails the Morrison/Case run which remains some of my favourite comics ever.

I think it might be worthwhile my taking another look and reassessing it.

Oh and sorry for my typo:
"Hits of darkness" = "bits of darkness".

Actually, I guess 'hits' really works too.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 02 July, 2020, 02:23:25 PM
Finished Season 2 of Buff the Vampire Slayer.

It certainly improves on it's foundation and is given the benefit of twice as many episodes to flesh things out.  It does take a while to really get going.  There are some good single episodes, but I'm unsure how stand out they are.  Xander's love spell episode is one I enjoy but does have a rapey subtext that is even lampshaded in the episode.  I Only Have Eyes For You is another I like, but really overlooks the aspect of sexual abuse of a minor.  Despite that, the biggest disappointment of that episode is I don't think it's clear enough that school is surrounded by a swarm of bees (what bees had to do with anything, I don't know.  Maybe it's a Candyman reference).  Spike is great, Angel sucks (geddit?).

Personally, I think the turning point of the show is when [spoiler]Angel loses his soul[/spoiler].  It changes the stakes and ups the personal drama.  Nevertheless, the bit I look forward to is when [spoiler]Xander and Cordellia get together[/spoiler].  It gives Cordellia more relevance to the show and actually provides some the more amusing dialogue.

Next up, Faith and the Mayor.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Anthony Garnon on 03 July, 2020, 08:42:26 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 02 July, 2020, 02:23:25 PM
Finished Season 2 of Buff the Vampire Slayer.

It certainly improves on it's foundation and is given the benefit of twice as many episodes to flesh things out.  It does take a while to really get going.  There are some good single episodes, but I'm unsure how stand out they are.  Xander's love spell episode is one I enjoy but does have a rapey subtext that is even lampshaded in the episode.  I Only Have Eyes For You is another I like, but really overlooks the aspect of sexual abuse of a minor.  Despite that, the biggest disappointment of that episode is I don't think it's clear enough that school is surrounded by a swarm of bees (what bees had to do with anything, I don't know.  Maybe it's a Candyman reference).  Spike is great, Angel sucks (geddit?).

Personally, I think the turning point of the show is when [spoiler]Angel loses his soul[/spoiler].  It changes the stakes and ups the personal drama.  Nevertheless, the bit I look forward to is when [spoiler]Xander and Cordellia get together[/spoiler].  It gives Cordellia more relevance to the show and actually provides some the more amusing dialogue.

Next up, Faith and the Mayor.

Definitely. It clicks into place as a proper drama (as opposed to something a little campy, throwaway fun) with the episode Passion, and that final scene. For me, anyway.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 03 July, 2020, 10:34:36 AM
I started on Season 3.  I like starting this Season as its opening episode is one of, if not the strongest opening episodes.  It's heavy handed in its moral and metaphor, but it's got the right balance of what makes the show enjoyable and provides a convincing route back to the status quo.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 03 July, 2020, 08:21:21 PM
Now I have finished the second episode of Season 3 and it is in stark contrast to the first as being one of the worst episodes of the series... I also realise that I seem to repress this episode every time after watching, but it does make me angry.  It wholly undermines the message of it's previous episode and the finale of the previous season turning Willow, Xanda and Joyce into vile people.  It also ends with the message that Buffy was totally wrong [spoiler]to run away[/spoiler] and she owes a big apology to everyone, especially her mother, who behaved and continued to behave like a bitch.  I'm with Buffy all the way in this episode, [spoiler]except her contrition at the end[/spoiler].  Frankly the fact that at the end of the last season [spoiler]Buffy was wanted by the police for murder and theoretically assaulting a police officer, she was a fugitive and on the run in the last episode.  Her returning to Sunnydale is a massive risk and could have wound up with her being incarcerated for a crime she didn't commit.  Her friends know this, her mother (who told her not to return to the house) knew this.  Joyce tells Buffy she made mistakes and Buffy should make allowances, but also that Buffy made mistakes (which I found debatable) and she should live with the consequences.[/spoiler]  There is soooo much wrong with this episode that silly zombies can't even save it.  The only decent thing is Giles, who is just happy Buffy is back and understands she needs time and understanding to settle back in.  This is also the point when [spoiler]Willow starts heading towards the dark side.  This is clearly the beginning of her arc as a Big Bad[/spoiler].

So umm, yeah, this episode pissed me off so much I decided to jump on a forum and vent my frustrations.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 03 July, 2020, 10:39:50 PM
I'm almost ashamed to admit that I've been watching Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps again. It's low and crass but it never tries to be anything other than that.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 03 July, 2020, 11:08:45 PM
Quote from: von Boom on 03 July, 2020, 10:39:50 PM
I'm almost ashamed to admit that I've been watching Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps again. It's low and crass but it never tries to be anything other than that.

I remember watching that.  It was pretty dumb and particularly funny, but I watched multiple episodes.  I've seen a lot worse.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 04 July, 2020, 11:44:40 AM
Watched the first couple of episodes of Netflix's new "Warrior Nun" series. I'm not familiar with the (pretty dodgy-sounding) original comic series, but the show plays kind of like Buffy on steroids... if Faith had been the main character. So far, not bad at all.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 04 July, 2020, 11:52:31 AM
I only watched the first episode but must agree with Jim not bad at all.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 04 July, 2020, 01:09:03 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 04 July, 2020, 11:44:40 AM
Watched the first couple of episodes of Netflix's new "Warrior Nun" series. I'm not familiar with the (pretty dodgy-sounding) original comic series, but the show plays kind of like Buffy on steroids... if Faith had been the main character. So far, not bad at all.

Evil Faith or Reformed Faith?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 04 July, 2020, 01:48:50 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 04 July, 2020, 01:09:03 PM
Evil Faith or Reformed Faith?

The main character's a bit wild-child-y, that's all.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 05 July, 2020, 10:33:32 PM
The Orville

I know it's been out for a while now, but I never saw it until recently. Now I'm near the end of the second series.

I wonder a bit how they got away with this, because it pretty much is Star Trek (particularly TNG onwards) in all but name with a bit more humour and little bit naughtier. And no, it's not because they both involve the crew of an exploratory starship. The uniforms are similar, the theme tune and background stuff is similar, and many of the plots and kinds of story are similar. It's even got quite a few of those TNG type onboard soap operish episodes!

That's not to say I'm not enjoying it. It does make me wonder if I should revaluate TNG as I wasn't keen on that series overall at the time, but I do mostly like this. It is a bit cheesy, sometimes (as was Trek) and some episodes aren't that great, (to be expected) but it's really pretty good.

I'm also watching Castle Rock on Starzplay. I found the first series rather slow going but overall, I enjoyed it. I was a bit worried it would be a mash up of Stephen King stories, but, whilst there are plenty of references, and a suggestion that some stories are part of the history of the town[spoiler]in this case, The Shining, Needful Things, Shawshank Redemption and maybe a bit of The Body[/spoiler] the majority of the characters are new. Essentially it's a way of telling  Stephen King TYPE stories in the Maine town(s) he invented, but it's mostly new.

In series 2, one of Kings main characters does become the chief protagonist, but she is dealt with in a different way to the novel [spoiler]Misery. Anne Wilkes talks in the same twee speech patterns as the novel original, and she is clearly treading a thin line of insanity, but here she is a young single mother fighting to protect her daughter, rather than the psychotic older woman of the original novel and film. That being said, I can see how this series version could become the other, despite this not really being a prequel.[/spoiler]

I like how the town of [spoiler] Jerusalem's Lot [/spoiler] is a major setting for series 2. In fact this series borrows more from the novel [spoiler]Salem's Lot and the related short stories[/spoiler] than it does [spoiler]Misery[/spoiler]. I also see a couple of ideas that could be borrowed from [spoiler]Desperation and/or The Regulators and The Tommyknockers.[/spoiler]

Like the first series, the majority of characters are new (and the one who isn't is a new spin). I've still a few episodes to go, but so far I'm really liking it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bolt-01 on 06 July, 2020, 11:00:28 AM
Ooh, I'd forgotten all about Castle Rock. Looks like I'll be adding that to my list for once of the current shows ends. Cheers.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 06 July, 2020, 11:14:44 AM
We've exhausted our Netflix backlog, so we've switched over to Prime, and started with Jack Ryan, having completed season 1 over the weekend. Light spoilers below, but nothing you won't get from the first episode.

Can't deny it, we really enjoyed this. It's a reboot, of course, of the CIA's most notorious boy scout, but it's hitting all the right notes, with undeniable influence from the likes of Zero Dark Thirty. They've adjusted the backstory (I think; my knowledge of this character is pulled entirely from the film sequence) so that he was actually deployed before getting injured, which goes some way to explain why he gets flown by private jet to CIA black sites instead of the people who should actually be doing that.

Of course the terrorists are ISIS (or at least some offshoot), and the attempt to humanise the resident sheikh couldn't even be called half-hearted, but his wife and children, and their struggles, bring a dimension I've never seen to a trope which is as tired these days as villainous Russkies were in 80's action flicks.

The cast is great, it looks fantastic, it's often sphinter-clenchingly tense, and the action is spectacular. We expected little, and got more than we bargained for. We've already skated straight into season 2. Recommended.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 06 July, 2020, 11:40:50 AM
Quote from: wedgeski on 06 July, 2020, 11:14:44 AM
They've adjusted the backstory (I think; my knowledge of this character is pulled entirely from the film sequence) so that he was actually deployed before getting injured, ...

Having read Clancy since HFRO came out in the 80's I've always found adaptations a bit of a mixed bag.  ultimately Clancy's work is definitely 'brain candy' and over the years became more jingoistic  [or "how American Military Technology Keeps The World Safe From Tyranny".  Ironically he included an airline attack on the American Political establishment long before 9/11, something that I think was flagged to him at the time.

The core elements of Ryan as a character are there: finance experience, military experience and injury, medical 'wife'.  In line with the ageism that seems to be a key feature of modern television and film production he is now not that long out of college and on the fast track rather than long in the tooth and grafting his way along.

Jim Greer is also radically changed as a character.  Rather than an Admiral in the twilight of his career he is now the archetypal maverick operative.  Oh, and his religion is now a significant factor.

Some of the changes make sense.  Others seem to be focused on ticking boxes.  Overall personally I found that it worked about as well as the books: disengage brain, sit back, enjoy the ride ...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 06 July, 2020, 11:46:08 AM
Quote from: Tjm86 on 06 July, 2020, 11:40:50 AM
Some of the changes make sense.  Others seem to be focused on ticking boxes.  Overall personally I found that it worked about as well as the books: disengage brain, sit back, enjoy the ride ...
The Hunt for Red October is the only book of his I've read, and I did that purely because I love the film so much. Alec Baldwin is still has the best depiction of Ryan, IMO: hard-edged, uncompromising, having total belief in his own rightness. I assume it's true to the character as he evolved in the books, and I see some of that in the TV series as well.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 06 July, 2020, 11:46:41 AM
Double-post alert.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 13 July, 2020, 12:45:57 PM
Mr Mercedes on Starzplay.

I was a bit reluctant to watch this as I've read the novel and sequels, because I mostly know what happens and I tend to worry how these adaptations will measure up.

I needn't have worried where season 1 is concerned. While there are small changes (to be expected) it's pretty faithful to the novel. The characters while a little different to now I imagined are close enough to work. And being spoiled for certain plot points didn't ruin the journey. I liked it a lot.

I'm curious what route they'll take in season 2 as the second novel in this series [spoiler]mostly focuses on different characters in a different place before joining Hodges and Holly later in the novel. I suspect this one will be more of a departure, but we'll see.[/spoiler]

I also wonder if they'll incorporate the [spoiler]supernatural elements from the third book*[/spoiler], or just keep it a straight detective story.

*[spoiler]Actually the supernatural stuff is introduced in the second book, but that's mainly a tease of things to come in the third book. The events of book 2 are not supernatural at all. [/spoiler]

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 16 July, 2020, 01:31:48 PM
Finally half working my way through Season 2 of WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS.

Still probably the funniest show in years, now with added Mark Hamill.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 16 July, 2020, 02:52:06 PM
Kolchak The Night Stalker - I love this daffy old series, mildly obsessed as I am with urban America circa the 1970s, and seeing Chicago up close like this as I have another rewatch is a treat.  The monster-of-the-week formula works best when we don't see the often-terrible creature work and the threat remains offscreen or filmed in the first person, but the lizard monster rampaging around the mining colony on Janus VI secret laboratory is simultaneously laughable and fantastic, having the ability to smash through any wall at any moment and murder everyone in the room, yet also for some reason appearing out of thin air in these incredibly long, empty tunnels.  Great fun.

Condor - tv series remake of Six Days Of The Condor (most probably know its movie adaptation Three Days of the Condor), and while it covers the same ground as the likes of Jack Ryan, it has more focus on character and less explodey setpieces, making it feel a lot more like a conventional tv viewing experience.  Its politics are also a lot less laughably propagandist than Jack Ryan's, the central character arc of the series focusing on how the protagonist knows full well he's been played into supporting CIA lawbreaking but doing it anyway because he doesn't have any better ideas, which is a pretty accurate paradigm of the hostage politics that comprises Western democracy.  To be fair, the denouement hinges on the character accepting that constantly choosing the least worst option available is just managing the decline, but things still wrap up a bit too neatly for my tastes.

Titans - laughably juvenile adaptation of the DC superhero comic, but I swing wildly between loving its goofy excesses and hating its clunky and often-embarrassing dialogue and plotting.  There's a bit where Dick Grayson (the former Robin The Boy Wonder) hallucinates Bruce Wayne following him around saying what Dick refuses to, but then Dick goes into a strip club and Bruce is onstage dancing with the strippers and I was really confused as to what the subtext was, because the whole thing had been played completely straight-faced until the point it became about incest, and then the actor - Iain Glen - starts dancing the fucking Batusi and he looks just like Adam West in close-up - don't get me wrong, this is clearly all fantastic stuff under normal circumstances, but it is diminished because of the show in which it appears, which is, well... shite.
The cast are mostly good, and Dick Grayson is perfectly cast even if his character and dialogue are gash, the actors who play Hawk, Donna Troy and Raven are similarly spot-on, but the others veer wildly between acceptable (Gar/Connor/Jason Todd) to terrible (Kori/Doctor Light/Rose).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 16 July, 2020, 03:08:43 PM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 16 July, 2020, 02:52:06 PM
Kolchak The Night Stalker - I love this daffy old series, mildly obsessed as I am with urban America circa the 1970s, and seeing Chicago up close like this as I have another rewatch is a treat.  The monster-of-the-week formula works best when we don't see the often-terrible creature work and the threat remains offscreen or filmed in the first person, but the lizard monster rampaging around the mining colony on Janus VI secret laboratory is simultaneously laughable and fantastic, having the ability to smash through any wall at any moment and murder everyone in the room, yet also for some reason appearing out of thin air in these incredibly long, empty tunnels.  Great fun.

The best Kolchak episodes are the ones that just go all the way into eldritichian, mythic abominations. Energy eating native american bear spirits, geometrically summoned elder beings accidentally invoked through architecture, invisible extraterrestrials using earth as a galactic pit stop, or a Jewish guardian demon protecting the Hebrew quarter of run down Chicago.

The show never quiet reached the heights of the first pilot movie, but it's an entertaining urban wyrd serial with one of the great 70's lead performance by McGavin. I really gotta give it a rewatch soon too.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Robin Low on 16 July, 2020, 06:56:09 PM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 16 July, 2020, 02:52:06 PM
Kolchak The Night Stalker - I love this daffy old series, mildly obsessed as I am with urban America circa the 1970s, and seeing Chicago up close like this as I have another rewatch is a treat.  The monster-of-the-week formula works best when we don't see the often-terrible creature work and the threat remains offscreen or filmed in the first person, but the lizard monster rampaging around the mining colony on Janus VI secret laboratory is simultaneously laughable and fantastic, having the ability to smash through any wall at any moment and murder everyone in the room, yet also for some reason appearing out of thin air in these incredibly long, empty tunnels.  Great fun.

It is a rather wonderful little series. I particularly like the office scenes and the relationships between Kolchak and his colleagues. I've never seen the first film, though, and I need to remedy that.


QuoteTitans - laughably juvenile adaptation of the DC superhero comic, but I swing wildly between loving its goofy excesses and hating its clunky and often-embarrassing dialogue and plotting.  There's a bit where Dick Grayson (the former Robin The Boy Wonder) hallucinates Bruce Wayne following him around saying what Dick refuses to, but then Dick goes into a strip club and Bruce is onstage dancing with the strippers and I was really confused as to what the subtext was, because the whole thing had been played completely straight-faced until the point it became about incest, and then the actor - Iain Glen - starts dancing the fucking Batusi and he looks just like Adam West in close-up - don't get me wrong, this is clearly all fantastic stuff under normal circumstances, but it is diminished because of the show in which it appears, which is, well... shite.
The cast are mostly good, and Dick Grayson is perfectly cast even if his character and dialogue are gash, the actors who play Hawk, Donna Troy and Raven are similarly spot-on, but the others veer wildly between acceptable (Gar/Connor/Jason Todd) to terrible (Kori/Doctor Light/Rose).

On the whole I've loved these two series and there have been some episodes I've thought were fantastic. I was, however, frustrated by the big dramatic scene in the final episode, which was monstrously clunky and unconvincing. It was as though they blew the action budget on one especially entertaining action scene in an earlier episode, [spoiler]the scene in old man Luther's place with Connor and Krypto[/spoiler]: anyone who didn't enjoy that is an arse.

Regards,
Robin
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 16 July, 2020, 10:18:27 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 16 July, 2020, 01:31:48 PM
Finally half working my way through Season 2 of WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS.

Still probably the funniest show in years, now with added Mark Hamill.

I've just finished that, it's superb. "What kind of goat sorcery is this?"

As an office-drone, I loved Colin Robinson's promotion - I swear I've worked with energy vampires. And I didn't recognise Hamill at all until the pool-queue gag! "BAT" still makes me smile every time.


Quote from: Robin Low on 16 July, 2020, 06:56:09 PM
QuoteTitans - laughably juvenile adaptation of the DC superhero comic, but I swing wildly between loving its goofy excesses and hating its clunky and often-embarrassing dialogue and plotting.  There's a bit where Dick Grayson (the former Robin The Boy Wonder) hallucinates Bruce Wayne following him around saying what Dick refuses to, but then Dick goes into a strip club and Bruce is onstage dancing with the strippers and I was really confused as to what the subtext was, because the whole thing had been played completely straight-faced until the point it became about incest, and then the actor - Iain Glen - starts dancing the fucking Batusi and he looks just like Adam West in close-up - don't get me wrong, this is clearly all fantastic stuff under normal circumstances, but it is diminished because of the show in which it appears, which is, well... shite.
The cast are mostly good, and Dick Grayson is perfectly cast even if his character and dialogue are gash, the actors who play Hawk, Donna Troy and Raven are similarly spot-on, but the others veer wildly between acceptable (Gar/Connor/Jason Todd) to terrible (Kori/Doctor Light/Rose).

On the whole I've loved these two series and there have been some episodes I've thought were fantastic. I was, however, frustrated by the big dramatic scene in the final episode, which was monstrously clunky and unconvincing. It was as though they blew the action budget on one especially entertaining action scene in an earlier episode, [spoiler]the scene in old man Luther's place with Connor and Krypto[/spoiler]: anyone who didn't enjoy that is an arse.

Regards,
Robin

The imaginary Batman one was my favourite episode! It does get a bit cringingly emo at times, and that finale was weak - [spoiler]Donna Troy deserved better than that[/spoiler] - but there was a whole heap of stuff to enjoy, like [spoiler]Conor's stroll through Metropolis and Hank having to get his suit back after a bender. [/spoiler]. Season 1 was stronger IMO
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 16 July, 2020, 11:57:49 PM
All of MRS. AMERICA is available on the iPlayer at the moment. Only two episodes in but it's great cast taking us on a very entertaining stroll through the Women's Lib movement and their struggle for the Equal Rights Amendment in 70s America.

And Phwoar! It's got some total babes in the cast!



What? What did I say? Is that not allowed now?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 17 July, 2020, 07:38:07 AM
Picking our way, largely at random, through the bewildering range of fare offered by our newly-expanded range of subscription services,* we tried The Order on Netflix. I've stuck with it for about half-a-dozen episodes because of the engagingly schlocky concept: young working class man gets into posh university with the aim of infiltrating The Order, a secret society of magicians whose leader is responsible for the death of his mother, only to discover that they're at war with a rival sect of werewolves.

The effects are decent enough, and there are some familiar faces in the supporting cast (Matt Frewer, Jewel Staite) but I doubt I'm going to make to the end of S1 simply because every single character is a complete arsehole. Every last one is as irritating as all fuck, to the extent that I have to believe that this is some deliberate choice by the writers, but whatever they're trying to achieve with that choice makes watching each episode a chore.

*Worked out that if we cancelled our barely-used cable TV package then we could upgrade to Virgin's top-tier broadband and save about £20 a month, even when adding the cost of Netflix, Disney+ and BritBox subs on top of my existing Prime Video account.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 17 July, 2020, 09:49:48 AM
TBH Netflix tends to be my cooking / washing up go to so I tend to plug for brain candy.  Stumbled across the rather curious "Scorpion" starring Robert Patrick.  Sort of a near-diverse A-team style series that seems somehow to have survived into a 2nd series.  Apparently based on the life of a real Walter O'brien who seems a little Walter Mitty-ish.

It's predictable, formulaic, occasionally narcissistic but watchable in a 'disengage brain and just go along for the ride without stretching yourself' kind of way.  The old tropes about intelligence versus emotion trotted out.  Lots of awkward 'humour'.  Plenty of cobbling together solutions from anything lying around.  All it misses to more closely emulate our go-to saturday night fare of choice is running gun battles with thousands of rounds flying around and hitting nothing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 20 July, 2020, 11:05:10 AM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 16 July, 2020, 02:52:06 PM
Kolchak The Night Stalker - I love this daffy old series, mildly obsessed as I am with urban America circa the 1970s, and seeing Chicago up close like this as I have another rewatch is a treat.  The monster-of-the-week formula works best when we don't see the often-terrible creature work and the threat remains offscreen or filmed in the first person, but the lizard monster rampaging around the mining colony on Janus VI secret laboratory is simultaneously laughable and fantastic, having the ability to smash through any wall at any moment and murder everyone in the room, yet also for some reason appearing out of thin air in these incredibly long, empty tunnels.  Great fun.


Nothing as comforting as 70's / early 80's genre TV.
In the past 12 months I've consumed full DVD series of Night Gallery, Thriller, Armchair Thriller, Scorpion Tales, Shadows of Fear and Hammer House of Horror.

Always on the lookout for stuff like this, so will give Kolchak a try.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 20 July, 2020, 01:40:18 PM
I just cancelled my subscription to Starzplay after finishing Mr Mercedes, only to find that the first 3 episodes of series 2 of Doom Patrol are now up! I guess they'll add these on a weekly basis so I think I'll be renewing the subscription again soon. (I still have to early August before the current runs out.)

Anyway, I enjoyed Mr Mercedes a lot. I already covered series 1 in a previous post. The second and third series harvest plenty of material from the second and third novels in the Finders Keepers series, but not in that order. I.e series 2 is primarily based on book 3 and series 3 is based mainly on book 2. They deviate much more from the novels in the last 2 series, but this isn't a bad thing. There was a whole plot in book 3 that was kind of set up in the second series but didn't really go anywhere. They may come back to that in a future series however.

The first 3 episodes of Doom Patrol series 2 were enjoyable and suitably mad. The new character introduced at the end of series 1 is quite endearing, rather twee and potentially very dangerous- an interesting combination.

I'm also a few episodes into Deadly Class. I think I may have read some of the comics this is based on. So far I'm quite enjoying it, although it's a bit silly in places.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 21 July, 2020, 03:08:34 PM
Finished Future Man which started brilliantly and ended up being okay by the end.  Worth it overall.

Currently working through The Tick which is alright too. 

Rewatching The IT Crowd yet again.  Timeless stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 21 July, 2020, 06:44:27 PM
Quote from: repoman on 21 July, 2020, 03:08:34 PM

Rewatching The IT Crowd yet again.  Timeless stuff.
But have you tried turning it off and on?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 21 July, 2020, 06:56:51 PM
Quote from: repoman on 21 July, 2020, 03:08:34 PM
Rewatching The IT Crowd yet again.  Timeless stuff.

Oh goddamn these electric sex pants!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Radbacker on 23 July, 2020, 04:46:31 AM
Watching an episode a night of the Brave New World Series, I remember as a youngun we were supposed to read the original novel for year 11 English lit class but I bugged out and never read it (qt the time I was a Fantasy nerd and not really into sci-fi especially something from the 30's!!!), so I have a question for those that have read it - was it full of sex like the newer TV series because if so my teen self missed out.  I have no doubt the series has been modernised quite a bit from the original (a controlling AI probably didn't feature in the original or if it did Aldis really was way ahead of the curve) but it is quite interesting and certainly well acted, as he world is also very well realised and you can see a decent amount of money up on the screen, I'm enjoying it quite a bit but was wondering what book lovers think of it compared to the original novel, also is the original novel still worth a read (I'm not big into classic sci-fi the oldest novel I read wAs Tiger Tiger by Alfred Bester but I did really enjoy it as I could see the ideas some of my favourite modern authors stole from it).

CU Radbacker
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 23 July, 2020, 08:10:22 AM
There's a new version of Brave New World out? Ooh, I'll seek that out.

It's been many many years since I read the book, but it's certainly worth a read - the final paragraph  is beautifully haunting, one of my favourite conclusions to a book ever. I don't remember much graphic descriptions of sex, but it's made clear that casual hook-ups are commonplace.

For themed background listening while reading, try Soma Holiday by G.O.L. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5rOt2BijN4)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 25 July, 2020, 12:06:30 PM
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season Three

The graduation series.  This marks the end of the high school aspect of the show.  I'd like to say this is where the show finally finds its feet, but I don't think that's quite true.  It is more solid than the previous seasons and it does wrap itself up pretty neatly.  There are some good one off stories and a decent arc.  I think Faith's fall from grace should perhaps have happened earlier, but this is still an episodic program and not a serialised one, so I could be wrong about that.  Nevertheless, it's great.

Then I watched the first episode of Season Four.  Oh dear.  Season Four is my least favourite.  The college setting is weak, the attempts to keep the gang together are largely contrived, the story arc for the season is dorky and the new characters and main villain are lame.  Spike does return and there are still some good episodes like "Hush" to look forward to.  Nevertheless, that opening episode just exudes all the problems the season has as a whole.  Despite getting why it was done thematically, Buffy getting beat down by a chump nobody vampire after taking out a full fledged demon mayor gives mental whiplash.  The whole episode feels like the writers trying reassure the audience that yes, a lot of things will be different but it'll be okay cos it's still the Buffy you love.  And that what might be what stunts the season.  Sure, Season Five has annoying kid sister Dawn, but it does make more of the effort to start moving Buffy away from that school setting (plus a load of other great things that make it better than Season Four).  I'm getting ahead of myself.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 26 July, 2020, 09:37:41 AM
Just finished s2 of The Tick.  Gutted to find out it has been cancelled.  We live in a golden age of TV but the problem is that really good shows just get cancelled for seemingly no reason.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 26 July, 2020, 10:35:06 AM
Quote from: repoman on 26 July, 2020, 09:37:41 AM
Just finished s2 of The Tick.  Gutted to find out it has been cancelled.  We live in a golden age of TV but the problem is that really good shows just get cancelled for seemingly no reason.

Yeah this was a fun show. When we say no reason you gotta figure its not getting the viewing figures?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 30 July, 2020, 03:58:07 PM
True.

No reason for it to get bad viewing figures though!

Working through S3 of Ash vs. Evil Dead.  S2 was perfect but I've put off S3 this whole time.

Watched a thing on Netflix called The Speed Cubers.  An oddly heartwarming documentary about people who can solve Rubik's Cubes in 5 seconds.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: SmallBlueThing(Reborn) on 30 July, 2020, 04:48:15 PM
Swamp Thing, on dvd. The recent show, not the old one with Dick Durock.
Hmm, well, they are trying at least. Swampy still looks ridiculous- a man in a green rubber suit- despite the cg enhancements, and the structure seems to have fallen into a repetitive format of

Something supernatural happens in the swamp involving yokels
Swampy notices
Abby comes out into the swamp to meet Swampy. He gives her a clue.
She goes home and investigates.
She goes back to the swamp.
Swampy solves it.
Repeat.

Plus, the cast have all decided to mumble throughout.

I'm not overly enjoying it, but will persevere.

SBT
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Add
Post by: Mardroid on 30 July, 2020, 05:34:01 PM
Quote from: repoman on 30 July, 2020, 03:58:07 PM
True.

No reason for it to get bad viewing figures though!


There seem to be a number of things which are enjoyed by the majority of people who watch them yet just don't get that many people watching them for whatever reason. (Good example would be a certain film about a certain Lawman and his psychic partner... what was it called again? 😉 Okay, that was a film, and it actually did pretty well in the U.K., but I'm sure you get what I mean.)

I seem to remember The Tick being widely advertised. I wonder if the zany goofiness of the costumes etc, put some viewers off, who were hoping for something more dark and gritty, like the Netflix Marvel stuff available at the time? A shame. I'm wish people would take more chances, but I'm probably guilty of that too, albeit with other genres.

Quote
Working through S3 of Ash vs. Evil Dead.  S2 was perfect but I've put off S3 this whole time.

Series 3 is pretty good too! I have these on blu-ray. Shame they didn't continue. Another example of a well liked series that didn't continue, although I think that was partly the home it initially found. I think it should have been placed on Netflix or Amazon Prime, but instead it was on Spike in the States and Virgin Media over here (which you could only get if you had Virgin cable I think). It did find its way to Netflix a good while later, but it's the initial viewing figures they take notice of! It was a long time before it hit British Netflix, and last I checked we're  still waiting for 3!

I recently watched The Haunting of Hill House series on Netflix. After watching episode 1, I wasn't sure I'd continue. While I do like horror, I'm a big girl's blouse/big boy's shirt* where ghost story films are concerned. (Embarrassing memories now of a lady friend laughing at me jumping when we watched that Conjuring movie about the demon nun job a couple of years back.) And there were quite a few jump scares in this series.

It was a a couple of days before I watched episode 2, and then I was pretty much hooked. Such a good drama. Scary, but also sad and poignant. I'm not sure I quite buy the actions of a certain character [spoiler]I understand she is highly sensitive and the house was driving her crazy, and that lying 20s sauce-pot turned up and whispered poison in her ear, but I got the impression she was too strong and clever to go THAT route. Even one of the other ghostly denizens warned her "That one lies!"[/spoiler]

But overall it was very enjoyable stuff.[spoiler]I loved the twist concerning the Bent Necked lady. One of the creepiest ghosts which caused the most jump scares for me. I started off scared, then angry (on someone's behalf) then pity and sadness when I realised what was going on. Quite an emotional trip. [/spoiler] I hope they don't take too long to produce the second series, which I understand concerns another haunted house. Makes sense as this story is wrapped up satisfactorily.

*Thought I'd give the option. Don't want to seem sexist.😁
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 30 July, 2020, 07:36:01 PM
By the end of it, I was kinda disappointed that ghosts don't exist. And that there is no chance of one jumping out on me when I go into our darkened cellar.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 31 July, 2020, 05:39:38 PM
I think they very well may exist. I could tell you a couple of things people I've known have encountered but I guess that's for another thread.

They weren't as chatty as the characters in this programme for sure.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Add
Post by: repoman on 01 August, 2020, 01:56:29 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 30 July, 2020, 05:34:01 PM

Series 3 is pretty good too! I have these on blu-ray. Shame they didn't continue. Another example of a well liked series that didn't continue, although I think that was partly the home it initially found. I think it should have been placed on Netflix or Amazon Prime, but instead it was on Spike in the States and Virgin Media over here (which you could only get if you had Virgin cable I think). It did find its way to Netflix a good while later, but it's the initial viewing figures they take notice of! It was a long time before it hit British Netflix, and last I checked we're  still waiting for 3!

I'm half way through it and it's so much fun.  That battle with the toddler in episode 5.  Jesus christ!

having just finished rewatching The IT Crowd, I've gone back to Black Books.

Once Ash vs. Evil Dead s3 is done, it'll be Umbrella Academy s2 after.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: sheridan on 01 August, 2020, 06:26:26 PM
Quote from: Radbacker on 23 July, 2020, 04:46:31 AM
Watching an episode a night of the Brave New World Series, I remember as a youngun we were supposed to read the original novel for year 11 English lit class but I bugged out and never read it (qt the time I was a Fantasy nerd and not really into sci-fi especially something from the 30's!!!), so I have a question for those that have read it - was it full of sex like the newer TV series because if so my teen self missed out.  I have no doubt the series has been modernised quite a bit from the original (a controlling AI probably didn't feature in the original or if it did Aldis really was way ahead of the curve) but it is quite interesting and certainly well acted, as he world is also very well realised and you can see a decent amount of money up on the screen, I'm enjoying it quite a bit but was wondering what book lovers think of it compared to the original novel, also is the original novel still worth a read (I'm not big into classic sci-fi the oldest novel I read wAs Tiger Tiger by Alfred Bester but I did really enjoy it as I could see the ideas some of my favourite modern authors stole from it).

CU Radbacker


Aldous Huxley rather than Brian Aldiss. 


I've not seen the series but the book does feature sex as worldbuilding (and was banned in 1967 India as 'pornography').
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Apestrife on 02 August, 2020, 01:23:44 PM
LEGION More or less binged s1-3. The constant wierdness, song numbers and montages almost got to me towards the end. Wish I had the time to watch it like the first time around, an episode now and then. Bit of an overload. That said. Still fun with some imaginative concepts which still feels fresh. Aubrey Plaza is scary and scary amazing.

Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqEvPpaaXbs
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Keef Monkey on 03 August, 2020, 10:30:15 AM
I know what you mean about the weirdness becoming a bit overpowering with Legion, it never quite started to grate on me although I often felt like it might. All said and done I look back on the show with incredible fondness, because as bonkers as it might have been I can't think of another show that's anything like it and I've come to really value that these days. I put it up there with Mr Robot in that regard, where even if it doesn't always quite work it's still doing something you don't get anywhere else and that's a pretty special thing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Radbacker on 07 August, 2020, 05:19:31 AM
Umbrella Academy season 2 on Netflix, I really liked season 1 but season 2 is even more fun.  Strongly recommend it if you like your supes

CU Radbacker
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 07 August, 2020, 09:18:19 AM
I'm halfway through that - It is better than the first season, it seems to hang together a bit more coherently rather then jumping about so much. It also works so much better as a TV series than a comic - I bought the first trade and was completely underwhelmed by the comic version, but this is a lot of fun. I love the MiB/X-files/Vector 13 type guy and Aiden Gallagher does a great job of portraying a 58 year old teenager. Ellen Page's fivehead is a bit distracting though.

The music choices are usually good, the only one that dropped like a clanger was "Golden Brown" over Diego and Lila's love scene. *cringe*

I'd also started Futureman, but I've had to pause that one as my brain can't follow two time-travel-to-the-sixties shows at the same time.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: PsychoGoatee on 08 August, 2020, 12:45:44 AM
I'm on Cheers season 7, it rules. The rise of Frasier Crane.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 08 August, 2020, 03:14:54 PM
Quote from: PsychoGoatee on 08 August, 2020, 12:45:44 AM
I'm on Cheers season 7, it rules. The rise of Frasier Crane.

Cliff is low-key the best character.  :)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 08 August, 2020, 10:59:58 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 07 August, 2020, 09:18:19 AM
I'm halfway through that - It is better than the first season, it seems to hang together a bit more coherently rather then jumping about so much. It also works so much better as a TV series than a comic - I bought the first trade and was completely underwhelmed by the comic version, but this is a lot of fun. I love the MiB/X-files/Vector 13 type guy and Aiden Gallagher does a great job of portraying a 58 year old teenager. Ellen Page's fivehead is a bit distracting though.

The music choices are usually good, the only one that dropped like a clanger was "Golden Brown" over Diego and Lila's love scene. *cringe*

Your thoughts are the same thoughts I had, note for note. I bought the first trade on the back of the first series and was surprised to find that the series had clearly surpassed the source material.

The opening scene of Season #2 (http://"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukKQMFbEEAU") is more entertaining than a juggling unicorn at the Intergalactic Festival of Fun who's trying out her new flaming mini-Trump clones routine.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rately on 10 August, 2020, 09:40:30 AM
Last Chance U - Season 5.

Underdog Junior College American Footballers documentary that follows their struggles, triumphs, but mostly struggles with family, fitness and themselves.

Heart-breaking one moment, has you fist pumping like an eejit the next as you pray and hope that everything works out for the best for the kids.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 11 August, 2020, 04:35:18 PM
The Rain

Pretty good post apocalyptic drama concerning a killer virus 😆 on Netflix. They just put the final series up recently.

Overall pretty good although the teenage angst of one of the major characters got on my nerves a bit. I thought the [spoiler]flower thing[/spoiler] was a bit of of nowhere.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 11 August, 2020, 05:53:47 PM
Finishing Season 4 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  I don't have much more to say than what I did going in.  It has weak antagonists, a weak arc, lack of identity in a post-high school world (and lampshading it), but a few very good episodes.  Ultimately the problem with Season 4 is everything to do with The Initiative.  It's not like it's a bad premise, but it takes too long to establish it as a viable threat and by that time the focus switches to Adam with little time to flesh him out as a character.  Riley is also worse than Dawn.  Not more annoying, just a worse character.  He lacks charisma and I don't think that's the actors fault, I think it lies in the writing.

Nevertheless, it's still enjoyable.  Hush, Superstar and the faith double parter are all highlights, but the thing that shines through most for me is the season finale.  It is my favourite finale without a doubt.  I rarely sees decent depictions of dreams, but this episode has always impressed me.  I also rate this episode highly despite the antagonist being problematic and somewhat confusing.  I can't help but put that to one side and enjoy the well done dreamy visuals and narrative.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JOE SOAP on 13 August, 2020, 09:08:00 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 16 July, 2020, 03:08:43 PMThe best Kolchak episodes are the ones that just go all the way into eldritichian, mythic abominations.

The show never quiet reached the heights of the first pilot movie


I prefer the sequel film The Night Strangler – which is more or less the same story as the first, only better, and more imaginative. The hidden history of Seattle's very own Undercity, complete with full streets and buildings from the previous century (the Bradbury building gets a big cameo), only adds to the sleazy brilliance of Kolchak's American underworld.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 13 August, 2020, 10:21:30 PM
Primal

Well once you get over the fact that this mixes cavemen and dinosaurs this is a fantastic animated treat... well by and large. By episode 4 I was kinda sick of cool, beautifully and brutally realised hyper-violence stacked on cool, beautifully and brutally realised hyper-violence. Even when its between caveman, dinosaur combo and:

Giant carnivore dinos
Mammoths (I'm over it, I'm over it)
Giant water snakes
Raptors
Vampire man ape bat thingies
Gorilla gladitors

But episode 5 when our historically inaccurate but effortless charming odd couple are relaxing by an oasis perfectly defined the genius of the dialogue free characterisation and I was all ready and up for it when the gratitous man-ape shredding action started again ... and that ending... wow. I believe there's more on the way which I'm very pleased about as there's no way it could end like that, however savage the world of Primal.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 14 August, 2020, 09:50:04 AM
A couple of Netflix updates: Cursed was reasonably fun, with a good lead character and one or two exceptional set pieces, but overall it felt a bit shoddy. A good script supervisor to make sure the series had some coherence wouldn't have gone amiss.

Umbrella Academy S2 has struck a chord with me this time around. I love its often surreal humour. I appreciate how it has rereshed a somewhat tired [spoiler]time travel[/spoiler] schtick, and I'm really enjoying the cast.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 14 August, 2020, 01:33:34 PM
I've nearly finished Umbrella Academy s2 and yeah it's fantastic.  Enjoying it more than the first season.

The kid who plays Five is some actor.

Just finished rewatching Spaced.  Still good.  Felt dated and off at first but by the end of the second series I was sad it was over.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 14 August, 2020, 02:44:06 PM
Quote from: repoman on 14 August, 2020, 01:33:34 PM
I've nearly finished Umbrella Academy s2 and yeah it's fantastic.  Enjoying it more than the first season.

The kid who plays Five is some actor.

Just finished rewatching Spaced.  Still good.  Felt dated and off at first but by the end of the second series I was sad it was over.
I have two episodes of Spaced left myself. Yeah, it's still good.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 14 August, 2020, 03:11:17 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 11 August, 2020, 05:53:47 PM
Finishing Season 4 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I agree. Season 4 of Buffy is like 90s 2000ad - not as good as the fast-paced glory days of the Golden Age, and whilst you can see what they're trying to do, and there are some nuggets of gold scattered throughout, the thing as a whole doesn't quite work. And then they regrouped, got more ambitious, went a little darker and things got better for the remaining seasons. On your recommendation I went back and watched the S4 finale and it really is very good - the different lighting and camera techniques make every dream-scene different. I followed it up with Once More with Feeling from S.6- I know some fans hate this one, but I think it's a masterpiece (unlike 2000ad, in which I cannot stand stories written as songs!)

Quote from: repoman on 14 August, 2020, 01:33:34 PM
I've nearly finished Umbrella Academy s2 and yeah it's fantastic. ...
Just finished rewatching Spaced. 

Finished it myself the other night and it really is good - the plot ties up very nicely and there's a wonderful set-up for S.3

And I think Spaced is my favourite Sitcom ever - I can watch the nightclub episode a hundred times. How can you not love a show that references the death of Johnny Alpha?


I'm halfway through Staged on the BBC iPlayer - I'd heard of this and thought it was just David Tenant & Michael Sheen chatting and improvising, but it's actually a very funny scripted series of short episodes - excellent guest star in episode 3!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 14 August, 2020, 04:43:37 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 14 August, 2020, 03:11:17 PM
On your recommendation I went back and watched the S4 finale and it really is very good - the different lighting and camera techniques make every dream-scene different.

That's cool :)  I agree that the presentation really adds to selling what they were going for.

Quote
I followed it up with Once More with Feeling from S.6- I know some fans hate this one, but I think it's a masterpiece (unlike 2000ad, in which I cannot stand stories written as songs!)

That is a good episode, very well executed.  I also agree with the sentiment against written as songs comics.  The only one where it kinda works (but it still a chore) is an issue of Alan Grant's run on Demon and that's only because Etrigan speaks in rhyme all the time.

I have just started Season 5 and I forgot that this one doesn't get started as strongly as I thought it did.  It has a terrible opener with the Dracula episode, then there's the episode that introduces Dawn.  The third episode is one I enjoy.  I'm now concerned it's going to take a while for Riley to finally disappear, plank of wood character that he is.  Maybe it's the same episode that Dawn becomes her most shrill.  Rip that plaster off all in one go.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 14 August, 2020, 07:50:32 PM
Riley does take a while to disappear but I don't find Dawn nearly as annoying as many do - at least no more than her character is supposed to be. Did you notice the teaser from dream-Tara to Buffy in restless? "Be back before Dawn"


According to the trivia bit on Amazon, Whedon was aware that s4 hadn't quite worked, and instead of ending on beating the big bad, he wrote restless to consolidate where the characters were at and then move on.

I did like the way they dropped Dawn in and just didn't explain it for ages. There's a petition to cast Macauley Culkin in the Home Alone reboot with no other character acknowledging that he's a 39 year old man
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 14 August, 2020, 11:03:22 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 14 August, 2020, 07:50:32 PM
Riley does take a while to disappear but I don't find Dawn nearly as annoying as many do - at least no more than her character is supposed to be.

The problem is largely that they did write Dawn to be annoying through a lot of S5.  It gets toned down in S6 and S7.  S6 sister bonding in the finale is a really good moment for the series.  She ends up becoming a much better character.  Initially however they made her annoying and that's a problem.  They should have showed tension between her and Buffy for sure, but made her relatable from the start.  Her intro episode utterly fails to do this and she gives a very negative first impression.  It all culminates, for me, with the scene in which she screeches "get out, get out, get out".  That's not going to make anyone get attached to the character.

Quote
Did you notice the teaser from dream-Tara to Buffy in restless? "Be back before Dawn"

Yeah, I did.
There is also foreshadowing in the first part of the Faith two parter in S4.  "So much to do before little sis gets here."

Speaking of Tara, I forgot to mention in my comments about S4 about how much I like the character.  She's a fave of mine.  I am bitter towards Joss Whedon for doing her character wrong by fridging her and doing the actor a disservice of not having a main cast credit because he wanted to do his "give them a credit then kill them thing".... again. 

That aside, Tara is so very likeable and comes across as being very sensible and sensitive. 

Now I'm thinking of it, I think they missed the opportunity of having a Spike and Tara lead episode.  I think their personalities would clash in interesting ways.

QuoteI did like the way they dropped Dawn in and just didn't explain it for ages.

I think there is a lot going for the character regardless of my complaints.  I think that the overall conflict she brings to the show raises it's standards much higher.  I think Dawn's interactions with Spike and the way that relationship develops (especially with the iffy moment in S7) is really endearing.  The episodes that follows The Body when she tries to [spoiler]resurrect her Mum[/spoiler] is a highlight of the season.

Riley, on the other hand, was a wasted effort that they either couldn't make work or couldn't be bothered to make work.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 14 August, 2020, 11:43:34 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 14 August, 2020, 11:03:22 PMInitially however they made her annoying and that's a problem.  They should have showed tension between her and Buffy for sure, but made her relatable from the start.  Her intro episode utterly fails to do this and she gives a very negative first impression.  It all culminates, for me, with the scene in which she screeches "get out, get out, get out".  That's not going to make anyone get attached to the character.

Gotta disagree there - the most important thing they had to establish at the start was that DAWN HAD ALWAYS BEEN THERE. She doesn't need to be relatable, or give a good impression as a person, she's the annoying little sister that's always been there and sisters have huge overblown fights all the time.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 15 August, 2020, 03:05:44 AM
And yeah, okay I'll give a pass if it's Etrigan
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 15 August, 2020, 02:19:58 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 14 August, 2020, 11:43:34 PM
Gotta disagree there - the most important thing they had to establish at the start was that DAWN HAD ALWAYS BEEN THERE. She doesn't need to be relatable, or give a good impression as a person, she's the annoying little sister that's always been there and sisters have huge overblown fights all the time.

Umm, don't mean to be antagonistic by saying this, but I think you have read something else into what I wrote other than what I'm aware of being there.  Establishing that Dawn has always been there is not in conflict with my thoughts about the failures of Dawn's initial characterisation, as far as I can tell.

The reason I think she does need to be relatable - as in, the audience can relate to the character in opposition to being put off by the character - is because of the arc of Season 5 and how important first impressions are.  A bad first impression is not a good thing and Dawn does make a bad first impression.  Going through the Season, caring about Dawn is important for the audiences investment as it's the major narrative and thematic element and they started off on the wrong foot.

Having the conflict between Dawn and Buffy can be done without annoying the audience. I do need to like Dawn, because I need to care about whether she lives or dies.  Season 5 would have been better if I cared about Dawn and I don't care about Dawn in Season 5 because she is an annoying brat from the outset.

I don't know whether any of this clarifies my thoughts on Dawn's character and the approach taken by the writers.  I do actually agree that having her just appear and be a bit of mystery was a very good idea.

I don't know what the most important thing to be established is, really.  Never given it much thought.  I just feel they made a mistake in how they wrote Dawn and they could have done better.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 26 August, 2020, 08:34:06 AM
watched the first two eps of Stargirl - I've always had a soft spot for the JSA and the less-cool retro end of the DC Universe, and this was completely hokey but good fun
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 26 August, 2020, 08:40:16 AM
I also enjoyed Stargirl so far (watched about 7 episodes). I still find the American way of doing these superhero stuff very frustrating, with the so called hero never listens to advice and they are always right
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 26 August, 2020, 12:09:05 PM
Just finished DARK on Netflix, all very timey-wimey, and loads of hand waving, but tied together well at the end
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 27 August, 2020, 04:29:44 PM
Quote from: broodblik on 26 August, 2020, 08:40:16 AM
I also enjoyed Stargirl so far (watched about 7 episodes). I still find the American way of doing these superhero stuff very frustrating, with the so called hero never listens to advice and they are always right

I quite liked the show's willingness to embrace the authoritarianism of the superhero concept, especially by making their lead character so arrogant and explicitly powered by her belief that she has a right to the power she pretty much just steals - this combined with the American flag symbolism and blonde-haired blue-eyed lead creates some interesting commentary on how contemporary US conservatism (and the show's politics are very conservative) is indistinguishable from fascism.  I also liked that the villains have a pro-left agenda which involves brainwashing the public into believing that recycling and green energy were necessary, but I wasn't quite so keen on the show's bizarre portrayal of Latinos as keeping their child a hostage to her own shame after she becomes the victim of child pornography - I mean, I get they're upset that someone saw their daughter's boobs, but they put the lives of the entire family on hold afterwards, and everyone has to just sit in the house and stew and blame the daughter for it all.  It's quite a bizarrely OTT portrayal of a minority group.

You know who'd make a good lead in a dystopian 1970s drama about post-Brexit Britain?  Edward Woodward would - and he did - in the BBC's 1990, or "1984 plus six" as it's described on the dvd box.  They weren't great at taglines back then.
Okay, it wasn't mean to be a commentary on post-Brexit Britain when it was made, but here we are.  Time has caught up with this one rather badly, obviously, as the dated technology makes the 'constant surveillance' of a security state (socialist, naturally) seem a bit quaint in comparison to the living nightmare of constant digital recording of our every movement, desire and thought that we knowingly embrace through social media, but the flipside is that it makes the occasional win the resistance achieve seem possible rather than a deluded fantasy that the British public could ever save itself from itself.
It's quaint by today's standards, the excesses of the state seeming so very toothless compared to what we actually know they get up to IRL, but the show is not without charm in its talky, plodding way.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 04 September, 2020, 01:00:29 PM
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Five

Now I am done with this season I can review it a bit better.  Might as well start off with it's biggest problem, Dawn.  I take back what I said about the actor.  Her performance is very grating at times.  There is this nasal screech that sets my teeth on edge.  Also, I don't think she was written well when it mattered.  Her introduction isn't as clever as I remember it being.  It is resolved a few episodes after her introduction.  I thought it is more mid-season, but I think it's the fifth episode and the second episode where Dawn gets any real screen time.  After my discussion with Dandontdare about this aspect, it actually disappointed me how little was done with it.  The main character moments have her written as selfish, entitled and stupid.  Very little that is interesting is done with the character and I don't buy from the actions of the characters on screen that she is loved and cared for. 

When Dawn is just a side character, she is much better.  In fact, she is what she should have been all the time.  It's the closest I got to seeing what I was being told (literally, with words) about the character, but there wasn't much of it.  Overall, for such an essential character she is thankfully not a dominating presence.

About half the season is given over to getting rid of Riley.  It is bad.  It was hard not to make this my least favourite part of the season.  Riley was wasted and they clearly just gave up on him.  His departure was really flaccid and I was in no way invested.

Also, the opening episode is possibly the worst.  The Dracula thing is stupid and ruins the immersion for me.

That all said, this season is awesome.  Spike gets some good development.  Tara starts becoming a character and one of my favourites.  They manage to stop Xander being entirely irrelevant.  We start getting more hints of Willows decent into evil (I really don't know whether they planned that far ahead, though).  And Glory is glorious.  Probably my favourite villain.  The stakes are raised to a suitable level and it is executed masterfully.  Whatever mistakes this season makes it is redeemed by it's overall story arc and villain.  The show also starts finding a good direction post highschool.  The ending is satisfying, if not the best.

This season also started balancing the one shot episodes and the overall arc a lot better.  It maybe the best balanced season out of them all in that regards, but I need to finish the last two seasons to be sure.

Anyway, I had a blast and thoroughly enjoyed Season 5.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 04 September, 2020, 01:52:16 PM
The problem with Dawn is that she feels entirely inauthentic because she's literally created out of nothing, she's entirely dislikable and for most of her run in the show she's a liability.

I'm watching Danger 5 which is AMAZING.  And just started AP Bio s3 which is also very good.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 04 September, 2020, 08:03:16 PM
Quote from: repoman on 04 September, 2020, 01:52:16 PM
The problem with Dawn is that she feels entirely inauthentic because she's literally created out of nothing, she's entirely dislikable and for most of her run in the show she's a liability.

I never remember Dawn being a problem in the last two seasons and so far through season 6 the character is much improved.  I think they managed to find a place for her and give her a personality once the key stuff is done with.  I remember her being more capable and competent in the final season, but I may be remembering that wrong.  At the very least, she has stopped annoying me.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 04 September, 2020, 11:04:14 PM
High Score on Netflix. If you've ever spent hours pumping coins into video game machines you should give this one a look.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 04 September, 2020, 11:37:00 PM
The great Stargate SG-1 reaches Season 6, aka The Season No One Wanted To Be In.

Michael Shanks has nicked off (I mean, Daniel Jackson has 'ascended', obviously) and been replaced with Corin Nemec's Jonas Quinn, whose entire USP appears to be being bland and smiley.

If my memory of the rumour mill at the time bears up, Richard Dean Anderson had to be talked out of quitting the show having (not unreasonably, TBH) decided that he didn't want to spend forty weeks of the year freezing his arse off in a quarry in Canada while pyrotechnics go off around him.

Unfortunately, the show's solution is to contrive reasons to sideline or incapacitate Jack O'Neill and for him to then spend entire episodes griping from the sidelines like a kid who doesn't want to be on class. On the few occasions he gets the full attention of the hare at I've, he's a grade-A shithead.its kinda sad to watch this show limp on like this...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 05 September, 2020, 07:51:32 AM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 04 September, 2020, 11:37:00 PM
the full attention of the hare at I've

I edited that post and I still have no idea what the original words were intended to be before autocorrect got done with them!

In happier news, a friend bought us the complete Sapphire & Steel DVD which I haven't seen since it originally aired. We're only a couple of episodes in, but it's holding up really well so far and is pleasingly creepy.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 07 September, 2020, 09:19:45 AM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 04 September, 2020, 11:37:00 PM
The great Stargate SG-1 reaches Season 6, aka The Season No One Wanted To Be In.

Michael Shanks has nicked off (I mean, Daniel Jackson has 'ascended', obviously) and been replaced with Corin Nemec's Jonas Quinn, whose entire USP appears to be being bland and smiley.

If my memory of the rumour mill at the time bears up, Richard Dean Anderson had to be talked out of quitting the show having (not unreasonably, TBH) decided that he didn't want to spend forty weeks of the year freezing his arse off in a quarry in Canada while pyrotechnics go off around him.

Unfortunately, the show's solution is to contrive reasons to sideline or incapacitate Jack O'Neill and for him to then spend entire episodes griping from the sidelines like a kid who doesn't want to be on class. On the few occasions he gets the full attention of the hare at I've, he's a grade-A shithead.its kinda sad to watch this show limp on like this...
We just reached S6 in our latest re-watch as well (hit series link on Sky sometime last Autumn and decided we should probably work through them). I thought they did a reasonable job with re-introducing Quinn, although, as you say, he has to save the whole team from certain death *at least once* before O'Neill considers him part of the team.

Honestly I don't ever remember the show "limping on". It always had strong episodes, right up until the end. But, it has been a few years since we watched them all like this, and the number of bland filler eps is certainly on the increase...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Radbacker on 09 September, 2020, 04:06:22 AM
Anyone out there watching Lovecraft Country?
Watched episode 4 last night and quite enjoying it, I like that each episode seems to be a bit of a mini movie and be its own genre.  Eps 1 & 2 were right lovecraftian horror, ep 3 is a ghost story and ep 4 is an Indian Jones like adventure.  Interesting overarching storyline but you can basically be watch each episode in isolation to the others and enjoy it.
The Boys are back in town too With a nice 3 episode arc to start the season, I do like how they are going a different direction to the comic too, Homelander is exceptionally creeped and crazy and I actually thought the new Stormfront character wasn't going to be too abominable but they course corrected me by episode 3 she is a right c$&nt 😂

CU Radbacker
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 09 September, 2020, 04:04:46 PM
Yep, turns out that even I was not immune to the serpentine charms of Cobra Kai.

Just over halfway through Season 1 and having an absolute blast.
In the days when colossal corporations can't even shunt out a decent Star Wars flick it is simply unbelievable that this sequel to a beloved but frankly mediocre 80's film franchise works so well, 3.5 decades later.
Macchio and the younger cast members are uniformly excellent, but it's Zabka who is stealing the show - the perfect balance of no-nonsense masculinity and deep rooted vulnerability, which can be switched on and off by the subtle squint of his eyes.

I know this started out as some kind of premium YouTube series, but it is legit the most enjoyable show I've seen so far on Netflix.
Don't just take the algorithms word for it - highly recommended.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 09 September, 2020, 05:29:03 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 09 September, 2020, 04:04:46 PM
Yep, turns out that even I was not immune to the serpentine charms of Cobra Kai.

Just over halfway through Season 1 and having an absolute blast.
In the days when colossal corporations can't even shunt out a decent Star Wars flick it is simply unbelievable that this sequel to a beloved but frankly mediocre 80's film franchise works so well, 3.5 decades later.
Macchio and the younger cast members are uniformly excellent, but it's Zabka who is stealing the show - the perfect balance of no-nonsense masculinity and deep rooted vulnerability, which can be switched on and off by the subtle squint of his eyes.

I know this started out as some kind of premium YouTube series, but it is legit the most enjoyable show I've seen so far on Netflix.
Don't just take the algorithms word for it - highly recommended.
I'm about half-way myself. It's pretty damned great.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 10 September, 2020, 10:28:38 AM
EuroBuffy,  errr sorry, I mean Warrior Nun. Verrrry slooow (a mere 8 episodes felt like 80), with Babylon 5-era-CGI monsters,  but some strong action setpieces and nice if implausible heel turns, ending on a frustrating mid-fight cliffhanger.  It blessedly drops a very irritating internal monologue VO halfway through, and things generally pick up after that.

Almost none of the real-world aspects make any sense at all, and there's a worrying historical assumption that the Reconquista of Iberia was an unalloyed good, but to be honest the big draw for us was the gorgeous, and I mean gorgeous, sun-drenched Spanish location work. Felt like being on that holiday that never was.

We'll probably be back for Season 2, and if you fancy the sound of Po-Faced-Buffy-but-Giles-is-a-Priest-and-Sunnydale-is-Actually-Sunny it's worth a look. Never read the comic mind,  so YMMV.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 10 September, 2020, 11:42:58 AM
Just finished the first series of Hannah (Amazon Prime Video).

I haven't seen the film from which (I believe) it derives but I remembered that it was generally well-reviewed so we gave this a go.

By turns slightly Bourne-Identity-ish bleak euro-thriller and teen coming-of-age drama, it really wasn't bad.I think the coming-of-age stuff might be a bit slow and/or irritating for some but it's kinda... necessary to illustrate the life that Hannah hasn't had.

Set against that, the thriller bit is pretty good with some excellent set pieces. Joel Kinnamon, who I've bashed a bit for being pretty wooden in Altered Carbon, is really good in this, and Esme Creed-Miles as the eponymous Hannah is startlingly convincing as a wide-eyed innocent who can turn slightly-super-powered killer in the blink of an eye.

Although the location work isn't as spectacular as, say, Warrior Nun (per TB's post above) it uses a range of European locations well and, as with Warrior Nun, it's nice not to see the same LA backlots over and over again.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 10 September, 2020, 01:00:02 PM
Sounds like it's on the list.

Interesting about the European locations. For ages I kept hearing about how modern Bond was more difficult to make since no-one was excited simply by the foreign travel anymore, but we've found we watch plenty of Netflix/Amazon things at least in part because the settings are (a) fresh and (b) real. About the only thing that frustrates me in our current DS9 re-watch is the same fecking TMZ locations over and over (and over) again.

This started for me with Sense8, where the dazzling globetrotting was an explicit selling-point,  but it's extended into Scandi and Belgian(!) dramas, and now it's something I actively look for when choosing a new series.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Radbacker on 11 September, 2020, 01:12:33 PM
I blasted through both seasons of Cobra Kai I one weekend and I don't usually binge shows I like to make em last but it was just too morish.  Never been a big fan of the Karate Kid movies but had seen them enough times for this to work, very impressed with how I couldn't decide who to go for in the tourney at the end of first season.
If you like a bit of Ridley Scott I suggest Raised by Wolves, absolutely glorious looking and interesting story to boot, 3 episodes have dropped to get you into it and I think I have the forth to watch tonight. 

CU Radbacker 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Apestrife on 13 September, 2020, 06:26:24 PM
Halfway through Lindelof's Watchmen. Must say, quite good thus far. I especially enjoy how nutty Veidt is. I also enjoy Angela's Sister Night, especially how intense her eyes are. Cool character. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 20 September, 2020, 04:21:09 PM
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 6

This season is a total mess.  Much like Season 4, it lacks focus.  There are heavy themes in this Season, not entirely well.

The season starts off very strong.  Buffy seems to be suffering from depression, but that just kinda fades away and becomes a somewhat confusing toxic and codependent relationship with Spike that culminates in a much criticised sexual assault scene.  It's not even the only rapey part of the season.  There are heavy handed themes of addiction.  Did I mention this is the comedy season?  The tone is all over the place.  I like the idea of the heaviest season having a strong comedy element, but they don't compliment each other here.

I really enjoy the end of the season as well.  I like that we have red herring villains and the real villain is one of the gang.  Willow's magic use in the series thus far necessitated her turning evil.  It was a very good idea and realisation of the character that was being shaped.  Nevertheless, I don't like the build up to it or the inciting incident.  I hate that Tara had to die for it to happen.  It's not just because Tara is one of my favourite characters, which is something I have felt after multiple viewing, but rather because it is so cheap.

I think it would be better if this was simply the culmination of Willow's addiction.  The inciting incident need not be such a large event but the inevitable outcome of a path of destruction.  I think the ending would work even better and have more weight to it and little would had to change.

So it is a mess.  I still really enjoy it.  Tara certainly comes more into her own.  There are fun moments.  The writers discover that they can write Dawn well without her being annoying (she only has one episode of classic irritation).  I like Buffy at the Double Meat Burger. 

The trio are actually disturbing watching it now.  If it were made a number of years later and they'd be swearing blind that Warren murdering his ex was about ethics in games journalism.  In hindsight, they aren't the joke villains that they initially were.

I'm now getting close to finishing the series.  Starting think about it as a whole, which seasons I prefer over others and most important of all... what to watch next.  I am considering rewatching Columbo for the first time.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 20 September, 2020, 05:44:05 PM
Cobra Kai - wanted to hold off judgment until I'd watched all of it, and now I can say I thoroughly enjoyed it, even with its glaring story flaws and deficiencies in the acting and fight training departments.
It both reboots and sequel-itises the original movies, even though we had the perfectly flawless The Next Karate Kid (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX1bhMAp2ws) to do that for us already, but instead of desperately trying to pretend that it isn't stripmining fan theories while simultaneously raiding the wastebins of the original writers' rooms like Star Wars has been doing since The Force Awakens, Cobra Kai actually embraces the long-running fan theory that Johnny Lawrence was the hero of the original Karate Kid movie, and instead of reworking his character as a misunderstood soul, they roll with the portrayal they already had to work with and keep him as a lunk-headed asshole who needed to learn compassion and humility.  I've seen some suggest he's been "rehabilitated" or something just because Ralph Macchio's Danny is played like a sleazeball, but Johnny is frozen in time and remains an emotionally-immature, sexist, racist, politically-incorrect jerk, and that's why you're never really sure if he'll do the right thing when the time comes, and why even though the actor isn't the most gifted of thespians, his indecision still creates a lot of dramatic tension.
A bit too much of the drama comes from misunderstandings for my liking, and it eventually feels like Danny and Johnny should be past their animosity several times over by the time it all finishes up in this endless fight in a school, but overall, a really enjoyable little show while it lasted.  Here's hoping the promised third season actually appears before we all die in whatever apocalypse happens between now and the end of the year.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 21 September, 2020, 11:39:51 AM
I loved it.  I really like KK1, but I'm a really big fan of KK3.  More so because my mate and I both liked it and over the years it became 'our' film to quote and rewatch.

Cobra Kai stayed faithful to the source material but had it's own humour and attitude.  That's all you can ask really.  A bit like Ash vs. Evil Dead.

Unfortunately that friend died this year, so Cobra Kai s3 is going to be bittersweet but I'll watch it the way we watched the other two seasons:  in one sitting with a ridiculous amount of sweets and crisps.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 27 September, 2020, 11:25:24 PM
I caught up on the last two series of Game of Thrones recently.

I largely enjoyed them both.  Had some issues with certain things that occurred in the last series but I think part of those were due to cramming everything into six episodes. [spoiler]I think what they did with Daenerys in the latter half of the series was rather unbelievable. At least in that short period of time, which again may come to time factor.[/spoiler] That being said the individual episodes seemed particularly long, with certain scenes stretched out with nothing much happening probably to build tension. I didn't get particularly bored but maybe they could have built up more story in those bits...

In the end, I didn't find the last series as bad as many fans seem to, but I think it could have been so much more. I look forward to George R R Martin's final novels, to read his version of events. Assuming they get finished, which isn't at all certain. (I think one is almost done, at least.)

Just started Orphan Black on Netflix. Only a couple episodes in, but what a good series it is! I like the main actress, but her accent sounded more Aussie or Kiwi than English. Which is kind of how Americans and Canadians sound when they attempt a British accent. Maybe she was going for mid-Atlantic accent? I suppose as an English woman who has spent most of her life in North America* she'd have picked up a twang if her accent didn't shift altogether. Maybe that's what she was going for. [spoiler]And as she plays several characters, that's not the only accent she puts on![/spoiler]

Anyway, slightly dodgy accents aside, it's really good so far.


*Im not clear if it's USA or Canada. The programme is Canadian, apparently, but not sure of the setting.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 28 September, 2020, 05:00:45 PM
I must be one of the few people who didn't get into Game of Thrones.  I could never get past the Red Wedding due to being really bored.  I like the setting and love fantasy in general and I should have adored this show, but it just didn't grab me.

I also read the books and they grabbed me even less.  I rarely regret reading a book, but I did with most of them. 

Now I'm reconciled with the fact I am not a fan I don't feel the need to try and watch the series again.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 28 September, 2020, 05:22:15 PM
Currently simul-watching Lovecraft Country (really, really great after a slightly dodgy start) and The Boys S2 (loving every second, although the gore is at the limit of what I can stomach).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 09 October, 2020, 10:37:02 PM
Started on The Expanse this week. I'm 4 episodes in and well I'm sold. This is great stuff and really looking forward to delving further into this.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 10 October, 2020, 12:18:43 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 28 September, 2020, 05:00:45 PM
I must be one of the few people who didn't get into Game of Thrones.  I could never get past the Red Wedding due to being really bored.  I like the setting and love fantasy in general and I should have adored this show, but it just didn't grab me.

I also read the books and they grabbed me even less.  I rarely regret reading a book, but I did with most of them. 

Now I'm reconciled with the fact I am not a fan I don't feel the need to try and watch the series again.
You aren't alone. I managed to get through the first four episodes but gave up after that. As for the books, the first one was quite good but they dropped off after that. I won't be bothering with the rest.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 10 October, 2020, 10:51:15 AM
Quote from: von Boom on 10 October, 2020, 12:18:43 AM
As for the books, the first one was quite good but they dropped off after that. I won't be bothering with the rest.

Definitely diminishing returns there — I found the last two or three a real chore to slog through, to the extent that I have literally no interest in reading the concluding book(s) when/if they eventually materialise.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 10 October, 2020, 11:09:41 AM
I have enjoyed the books in general, being sometimes partial to long over-detailed fantasy stuff,  whereas I never really warmed to the TV series - beyond being gobsmacked to see what TV could do technically with scale and with fantasy, and enamoured of some of the performances (Dinklage, Flynn, Dance, Rigg etc). I haven't seen it all yet, but I probably will at some point.

I am looking forward to the next book,  but I found that Martin's big Targaryen history volume they brought out a while back was unreadable.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Apestrife on 11 October, 2020, 08:19:58 AM
I'm 1/6 into Clone Wars on Disney +, watching it in chronological order

https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-the-clone-wars-chronological-episodeorder

Damn good stuff. I think it nails both the space opera feel of episodes 4 - 6 as well as the world building aspect of episodes 1 - 3. It also has the modular aspect of both those film trilogies. It can be watched stand alone as well as working really well in conjuction with both trilogy. I'd also like to mention that each episode works well "stand alone", even if you catch one in the middle of a 3-4 episode story ark. There's a beginning and ending to each of them. And on a side note, Jar-Jar never bothered much in episode 1. But he didn't make me laugh: In Clone Wars he has. But he's not the central character of the show, there are a bunch of them. And for me the eye of the storm is Ashooka. A young Jedi padawan which I think not sports the boy scout qualities of Luke Skywalker and -at times - pain/doubt of Anakin, but even a bit of the weariness of Obi Wan. The clone troopers are also good bunch. They're all the same, but the tiny details really stands out. They all live to die in battle, but also know that they are seen as expendable. Good men, but not much better than droids. But you feel each of them try to find something making it worth while. Be it a nick name, or hair cut. Something small to make a clone soldier feel a sense of self, or just having something to cling on to.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 11 October, 2020, 08:49:12 AM
100% agree Apestrife. There's some hokey episodes and arcs, but for sheer volume of non-stop SW fun (and depth) there's little that matches Clone Wars.

(Although I always have to note that the vocal part of  online fandom absolutely hated it, and 'that mouthy Mary Sue' Ahsoka, and Dave Filoni, and Lucas' involvement, for almost all of its run. Plus ça change).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 11 October, 2020, 03:34:15 PM
To be entirely fair, Ahsoka was just as lame as all the other characters in Clone Wars' theatrical pilot, but didn't have decades of audience investment to entice viewers to sand down her rough edges in their head canon in the way they inevitably would with Anakin or Obi-Wan.  The best (and worst) thing about Clone Wars was seeing these dull characters get turned into something better to the point that when Ahsoka walks away from the Jedi I didn't really buy it, but assumed I missed something important along the way.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 11 October, 2020, 04:54:14 PM
I like Ahsoka.  She develops into one of the best Star Wars characters.  I like she left the Jedi, because the Jedi are dipshits.

I found that Clone Wars want not consistent in its quality, starting off extremely ropey and almost laughably bad in places, but developing into a much better realised show.  I still maintain that Rebels is the better show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 11 October, 2020, 06:03:47 PM
Rebels is a great show, no question - but for some reason it didn't hold my attention quite the way TCW did. Hera, Kanan, Chopper and the Ghost appealed to me, the other characters not quite so much. And the reworking of the old EU origins of things like Wedge and the B-Wings felt like they didn't quite have the heft they needed as replacements. But still, mighty fun, and Rex, Ahsoka and Vader were all great additions as it went along.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 11 October, 2020, 07:34:38 PM
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 7

I have just finished this and I'd like to post some thoughts on the series overall at some point.

Like all other seasons of Buffy, this Season has some problems.  I'm not going to bother writing about them because I think this is the best Season.  It might not have the most memorable episodes (though it does have some imo), but it is the most consistent and complete Season.  It also ends the show really well.  I think this is why I've kept coming back to Buffy year after year.  It really is nice when a show can finish when it is at its best.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 11 October, 2020, 08:11:05 PM
I've come to the conclusion that people just don't like it when a series ends. I've read loads of people be really sniffy about S7, but it wasn't cancelled — it ends on its own terms, and with Buffy breaking the patriarchal hold of the Watchers over the role of the Slayer.

There's stuff in there I don't like, but overall it's true to itself and delivers a decent resolution to the themes the series has been grappling with over its run. It's a worthy finale to a series that is almost always good, intermittently excellent, and very rarely genuinely bad.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 11 October, 2020, 09:52:07 PM
Yep,  the end of Buffy is as good as these things ever get. But they shouldn't have killed the wonderful Anya, and conversely they shouldn't have subsequently resurrected the equally wonderful Spike in Angel.  Other than that, spot on.

(see also: Wash)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 12 October, 2020, 09:20:37 AM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 11 October, 2020, 08:11:05 PM
There's stuff in there I don't like, but overall it's true to itself and delivers a decent resolution to the themes the series has been grappling with over its run. It's a worthy finale to a series that is almost always good, intermittently excellent, and very rarely genuinely bad.

Very much my feelings.

Quote from: TordelBack on 11 October, 2020, 09:52:07 PM
Yep,  the end of Buffy is as good as these things ever get. But they shouldn't have killed the wonderful Anya, and conversely they shouldn't have subsequently resurrected the equally wonderful Spike in Angel.  Other than that, spot on.

(see also: Wash)

I was always somewhat annoyed that Anya died, but on this viewing I found I didn't like her character as much so I am more conflicted on the matter.  It does come across as a bit cheap, like they wanted to kill off a main character but didn't want the ending to be too much of a downer and decided that Anya was the most expendable character.  It also sort of works for the character who was telling everyone throughout the season that they were going to die.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 12 October, 2020, 09:31:07 AM
Half way through S2 of The Boys.  Really liking it but it is soooo stressful.  Homelander makes me so nervous.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 12 October, 2020, 09:52:31 AM
Quote from: repoman on 12 October, 2020, 09:31:07 AM
Half way through S2 of The Boys.  Really liking it but it is soooo stressful.  Homelander makes me so nervous.
We watched the final episode last week. A bit of a stunner, this series, IMHO.

[spoiler]Stormfront: "People love what I have to say, they just hate the word Nazi."[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 12 October, 2020, 12:18:59 PM
Motoring through Hap & Leonard on Amazon at the mo. Tonally very uneven, and the characters seem to shift about significantly between series, but Purefoy and Williams are never less than loveable as the dynamic duo. The first run fancies itself as a Coen Bros flick (no bad thing), the second becomes an astonishingly grim serial killer show, and so far the third is firmly in X-Files small-town-madness territory. But I'm still sorry there isn't any more. To the books!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 12 October, 2020, 02:23:45 PM
Just watched the first episode of Star Trek Lower Decks.

I'm on board with this (geddit?).  Interested to see where they go with it.  Made me chuckle a couple of times, that's a good sign.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 12 October, 2020, 08:23:04 PM
I just found The Armando Iannucci Shows on the Channel 4 website.

It's still amazing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 12 October, 2020, 09:46:41 PM
The very first episode of Armando Ianucci show is without doubt one of the funniest things I have ever seen. I didn't... er... have the same opinion of the others.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 12 October, 2020, 09:50:09 PM
Oh and onto BLACK SAILS Season 2... three episodes in and it's an ultra violent, hyper sexualized game of poker and but you don't know which Pirate has the winning hand or even whether aces are high or low. I'm Loving it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 12 October, 2020, 09:54:48 PM
Black Sails S2 is some of my all-time favourite TV. Double-crossing and bastardry all round, but it keeps the focus tighter on Toby Stephens' steely Captain Flint than S1 and is much improved for it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 12 October, 2020, 10:11:10 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 12 October, 2020, 09:54:48 PM
Black Sails S2 is some of my all-time favourite TV. Double-crossing and bastardry all round, but it keeps the focus tighter on Toby Stephens' steely Captain Flint than S1 and is much improved for it.

Yep Season 2 has one of my all time fav episodes. There's a reveal that just helps lots of things drop into place and really sets up the rest of the series in many ways. Its great stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 12 October, 2020, 10:34:57 PM
Yeah Episode 2 was a corker.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 15 October, 2020, 11:45:40 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 12 October, 2020, 10:11:10 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 12 October, 2020, 09:54:48 PM
Black Sails S2 is some of my all-time favourite TV. Double-crossing and bastardry all round, but it keeps the focus tighter on Toby Stephens' steely Captain Flint than S1 and is much improved for it.

Yep Season 2 has one of my all time fav episodes. There's a reveal that just helps lots of things drop into place and really sets up the rest of the series in many ways. Its great stuff.

Well I never saw THAT coming. Fantastic twist. Unexpected but utterly logical!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 16 October, 2020, 06:15:39 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 15 October, 2020, 11:45:40 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 12 October, 2020, 10:11:10 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 12 October, 2020, 09:54:48 PM
Black Sails S2 is some of my all-time favourite TV. Double-crossing and bastardry all round, but it keeps the focus tighter on Toby Stephens' steely Captain Flint than S1 and is much improved for it.

Yep Season 2 has one of my all time fav episodes. There's a reveal that just helps lots of things drop into place and really sets up the rest of the series in many ways. Its great stuff.

Well I never saw THAT coming. Fantastic twist. Unexpected but utterly logical!

That's the one (I assume)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 18 October, 2020, 10:29:14 PM
Anyway I've just finished the first season of The Expanse and it was pretty good. Pretty good indeed. It does have occasion to be a little 'challenge of the week' particularly were the (ex)crew of the Cant are concerned. But it hangs together, has a really sense of building to something and I'm very excited to see if it does that common trick of getting markedly better in Season 2. In which case this is going to be a blast.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 26 October, 2020, 03:36:47 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 12 October, 2020, 12:18:59 PM
Motoring through Hap & Leonard on Amazon at the mo.

Oh dear. The last season has one of the poorest resolutions of anything I've ever watched. Made no internal sense, and looked awful.  Shameful way to end three enjoyable seasons of telly. Avoid.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 26 October, 2020, 07:39:39 PM

Zipping through Clone Wars myself, thanks to this thread. This is only my second time and the first watching them all in a block. Just started S5 and I'm enjoying it enormously - it's great fun and I love the switches of focus from episode to episode.

I imagine Old Ben, sitting in his hovel on Tattooine thinking about all this past adventure, and I wonder if there are any stories about Old Ben in the canon? Any True Fans help me? Did he just sit there, watching Luke like some creepy old uncle, or did the peacekeeper in him ever take over? Tattoine's a planet, it probably has other spaceports, other towns, nests and hives, maybe even a city or two. Did something so bad ever happen that Obi Wan just had to do something - maybe in disguise like some dusty Jedi Batman? Did he ever fall in love? Maybe even have children? Would love to see Mandalorianesque series about that, with Ewan reprising the role...

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Greg M. on 26 October, 2020, 08:11:01 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 26 October, 2020, 07:39:39 PM
Would love to see Mandalorianesque series about that, with Ewan reprising the role...
Well, he's going to be Middle-Aged Ben, and who knows if they'll manage to fit all you'd like to see into what will apparently be 6 hour-long episodes, but filming starts next year...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 26 October, 2020, 08:28:30 PM

Sh*t - I'd better start writing it, then...

Er, Ben (Ewan) and a loyal butler (old clone, Clancy Brown) live in a hovel. Ben's gone all creepy uncle, the Skywalkers ended up having to tell him to stop hanging around and to piss off, so Ben got a bit bent. The training Yoda gave him didn't go well, either, and Ben accidentally bound the spirit of a dead Jedi to the material plane. So he never tried again. Then, something happens...

A long time ago,
In a galaxy far, far away,
On a planet that's dry,
And out of the way...

Where was my coat, again...?

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 27 October, 2020, 07:22:38 PM
After watching Lower Decks and enjoying it I decided to revisit Discovery.

On a second viewing of the first season I like it a whole lot more.  It is a really strong opening season of Star Trek so far.  I'll reserve a little judgement for when I'm finished as I remember the climax of the season being very weak, but so far it's not the mixed bag I remember.  I'm really happy about this as I'm always pleased to get more Star Trek I like.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 27 October, 2020, 10:35:13 PM
Season 2 of Black Sails finishes in fine fashion. Pyrotechnics and pirates on the gallows. You can't go wrong. I can't believe I'm typing this but I'm glad they toned down the shagging and nudity in the second half of the season. It was distracting.

Watch this show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 28 October, 2020, 06:22:27 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 27 October, 2020, 10:35:13 PM
Season 2 of Black Sails finishes in fine fashion. Pyrotechnics and pirates on the gallows. You can't go wrong. I can't believe I'm typing this but I'm glad they toned down the shagging and nudity in the second half of the season. It was distracting.

Watch this show.

Yes do that its very good indeed.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Barrington Boots on 28 October, 2020, 10:53:17 AM
Started watching Dragons Dogma on Netflix and it's just dreadful. I gave it a few episodes to see if it picked up, but there's hardly anything to recommend it: the voice acting is stilted and slow and the animation seems to have been done on a computer, but badly, meaning everyone moves in a slightly weird way somewhat reminiscent of a PS2 cutscene and the dragon, griffin etc look pretty dire. Avoid!

Will add my love for Black Sails, I think season 2 is it's peak but it's mainly great throughout.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 28 October, 2020, 03:05:17 PM
Black Sails had always been on my horizon, but thought it might just be a half ersed Capt Jack Sparra, is it more than this?

Currently enjoying The Alienist, no not the GRennie droid's one, th eone on the telly, it reminds me of Penny Dreddful bu without the visual flare and Billie Piper's jubilees.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 28 October, 2020, 03:18:55 PM
Quote from: Proudhuff on 28 October, 2020, 03:05:17 PM
Black Sails had always been on my horizon, but thought it might just be a half ersed Capt Jack Sparra, is it more than this?

The first half of S1 is a bit of a slog, but it quite suddenly hits its stride and doesn't really let up after that. It's more like Deadwood with pirates than Pirates of the Caribbean.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 28 October, 2020, 03:23:20 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 28 October, 2020, 03:18:55 PM
It's more like Deadwood with pirates

That's a great elevator pitch! I'm in

Cheers
Jim
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bolt-01 on 29 October, 2020, 08:48:52 AM
Sweet Jovus Jim, I wasn't interested before but now...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 01 November, 2020, 09:52:36 AM
I have now finished the first season of Discovery and I think the whole thing has improved immensely with a second viewing.  I liked the show the first time I watched it, but this time round I felt I could appreciate all the things the show does well.  I am glad to rewatch it before going into the second season, which I haven't seen yet.

I think my initial hesitance towards the program comes from the media landscape it is in and the legacy it came from.  This show leans much more heavily towards the bespoke sci-fi serialisation, like The Expanse and I don't think it thrives in the comparison.  Also it ditches the Star Trek formula by having it so heavily serialised and having an actual main character that we focus on throughout.  On its own merits it is nonetheless very good and is very much a good direction to take the franchise in. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Michael Knight on 01 November, 2020, 02:15:21 PM
Enjoy Season 2. The episode in the second season revolving around Captain Pike and away team beaming down to a Planet to investigate a settlement reminded me of old School Trek at its best. I cant wait for thePike spin off series.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 01 November, 2020, 08:01:50 PM
Quote from: Michael Knight on 01 November, 2020, 02:15:21 PM
Enjoy Season 2. The episode in the second season revolving around Captain Pike and away team beaming down to a Planet to investigate a settlement reminded me of old School Trek at its best. I cant wait for thePike spin off series.

I hope I do, thank you and I'm looking forward to the Pike spin off series just for more Trek.  :)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: shaolin_monkey on 02 November, 2020, 12:03:30 AM
Truth Seekers on Amazon Prime, with Nick Frost and Simon Pegg - chained it this weekend.

Quite good fun - spooky in places. Keeps you guessing!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 02 November, 2020, 09:20:40 AM
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 02 November, 2020, 12:03:30 AM
Truth Seekers on Amazon Prime, with Nick Frost and Simon Pegg - chained it this weekend.

Not a lot of Simon Pegg, who seems to be channelling Martin Jarvis, in the couple of episodes we've watched so far but, yes, great fun. Has that same knack of the Cornetto movies to really lean into the tone of whatever genre it's gently taking the piss out of.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 02 November, 2020, 10:45:40 AM
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 02 November, 2020, 12:03:30 AM
Truth Seekers on Amazon Prime, with Nick Frost and Simon Pegg - chained it this weekend.

Quite good fun - spooky in places. Keeps you guessing!

Excellent timing, just finished both the sublime Fleabag and Spaced, and looking for something amusing, and something in the Pegg/Frost line.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 02 November, 2020, 07:20:20 PM
Late to the party as usual, but I'm half a dozen episodes into Altered Carbon and really enjoying it. Took me  while to suss who's who (especially as they all have different faces in the flashbacks). I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not Nathan-Fillion is good in the lead role, as are all of them really (took me ages to remember where I'd seen his sister - it was Agents of Shield). The world feels very well fleshed out, with bits like the family party where Grandma turns up in the body of a biker gangster really add depth to the backstory. Surprising amount of gore and nudity, but I'm fine with that
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Radbacker on 05 November, 2020, 03:18:19 AM
Why haven't I watched Ash vs The Evil Dead before?
Just started it on Netflix 4 episodes in and it's great, lots of splatter and very like a direct continuation of Evil Dead 2.
It's groovy

CU Radbacker
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 08 November, 2020, 07:11:57 PM

Dipping back into Star Trek, watched a few random Voyagers before returning to my favourite Trek of all, Enterprise. I always approach this series with trepidation because - what if it's not as good as I remember? After all, we've had the Kelvin timeline, Discovery and Picard since then. I needn't have worried.

S04E13 - United confirms it. Archer pulls together squabbling species to combat a mutual threat - the first glimmer of the Federation to come, and the spirit behind it.

And that's what I think modern Trek lacks - that spirit of building something great and noble and worthwhile out of disparate peoples. Modern Trek seems to be more about defending that spirit, with TOS and the rest more about expanding it. And that's why I think I like Trek better than Wars, which (to me) is more about maintaining the status quo. And it's the story of the struggle to build the future that only Enterprise has that makes it my favourite.

Maybe modern Trek does show us the error of our ways, shows how we're too busy defending what we got to worry about the future. Maybe we need to slice a few more Andorian antennae off for ourselves, metaphorically speaking of course.

Yeah, it's been a long road. And light years still to go.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 08 November, 2020, 08:00:43 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 08 November, 2020, 07:11:57 PM
...that only Enterprise has that makes it my favourite.

I suppose it has to be somebody's favourite. ;)

I am now half way through Discovery Season Two and I think I'm decided that it is already more engaging than the first season.  The mystery is being presented well and at a good pace and the interpersonal drama is actually quite engaging.  It's starting to develop into more of an ensemble show, which I think I might prefer.  I'm definitely enjoying it and hope the second half of the season keeps the quality.

I was considering watching Picard once I was finished with Season Two, but I am pretty much decided now.  After many, many years since I watched the entirety of it I have chosen to return to Babylon 5.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 08 November, 2020, 08:09:30 PM

Ah now - Babylon 5. I watched In the Beginning again just the other night (surely the best made-for-tv-sci-fi-movie of all time) followed by a few random episodes. Yeah, now you mention it...

Truth points to itself.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 09 November, 2020, 12:30:56 AM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 08 November, 2020, 07:11:57 PM

Dipping back into Star Trek, watched a few random Voyagers before returning to my favourite Trek of all, Enterprise. I always approach this series with trepidation because - what if it's not as good as I remember? After all, we've had the Kelvin timeline, Discovery and Picard since then. I needn't have worried.

S04E13 - United confirms it. Archer pulls together squabbling species to combat a mutual threat - the first glimmer of the Federation to come, and the spirit behind it.

And that's what I think modern Trek lacks - that spirit of building something great and noble and worthwhile out of disparate peoples. Modern Trek seems to be more about defending that spirit, with TOS and the rest more about expanding it. And that's why I think I like Trek better than Wars, which (to me) is more about maintaining the status quo. And it's the story of the struggle to build the future that only Enterprise has that makes it my favourite.

Maybe modern Trek does show us the error of our ways, shows how we're too busy defending what we got to worry about the future. Maybe we need to slice a few more Andorian antennae off for ourselves, metaphorically speaking of course.

Yeah, it's been a long road. And light years still to go.
I thought Enterprise was very good until the finale. That sort of ruined the series for me.

I haven't enjoyed modern Trek since the Federation has turned into a stagnating mess. Rather than being a growing and evolving community of species working towards a better future for all we have a group of loosely allied groups each looking for a way to get ahead of the rest. This sort of idea makes baby Gene Roddenberry cry.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 09 November, 2020, 09:30:12 AM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 08 November, 2020, 08:09:30 PM

Ah now - Babylon 5. I watched In the Beginning again just the other night (surely the best made-for-tv-sci-fi-movie of all time) followed by a few random episodes. Yeah, now you mention it...

Truth points to itself.
I am overdue for a Babylon 5 rewatch as well. Slightly nervous. Modern space opera is light years ahead, but I'm hoping the Londo and G'Kar double-act still reigns supreme to carry me through the show's deficiencies.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bolt-01 on 09 November, 2020, 10:17:15 AM
I introduced Nano-Bolt (then 15) to B5 over a long summer holiday. She is now 19 and has watched the show through 3 times. The growth and change in the characters of both Londo and G'Kar are fundamental to the success of the show. Though I still cannot stand the Marcus character.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 09 November, 2020, 01:11:08 PM
Quote from: wedgeski on 09 November, 2020, 09:30:12 AM
I am overdue for a Babylon 5 rewatch as well. Slightly nervous. Modern space opera is light years ahead, but I'm hoping the Londo and G'Kar double-act still reigns supreme to carry me through the show's deficiencies.

Ah, restarted with S1 recently and it has actually aged well (okay not the graphics but compared to the likes of Blakes 7 ...).  What strikes me is how pertinent some of the themes around racism, isolationism and so on still resonate so strongly.  When you think that this was back in the 90's and yet years later we are not just dealing with the same issues but someone has put them on performance enhancing drugs!   :o
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 10 November, 2020, 09:14:09 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 02 November, 2020, 09:20:40 AM
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 02 November, 2020, 12:03:30 AM
Truth Seekers on Amazon Prime, with Nick Frost and Simon Pegg - chained it this weekend.

Not a lot of Simon Pegg, who seems to be channelling Martin Jarvis, in the couple of episodes we've watched so far but, yes, great fun. Has that same knack of the Cornetto movies to really lean into the tone of whatever genre it's gently taking the piss out of.

Two thumbs up for Truth Seekers here. An enjoyable mash-up of X-Files, The Dectorists, Spaced and Rentaghost (if not quite reaching the highest heights of any of those) with a truly superb cast and gentle scares undercut by chuckles. I've said it before, but Nick Frost is one of the most underrated actors out there. The embodiment of warmth on screen.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 10 November, 2020, 09:46:16 PM

Ok, I cain't stands it no longer - B5 S01E01 watched and settling in for the long haul. Amazing how it still grips the attention right from the get go.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 10 November, 2020, 10:35:18 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 10 November, 2020, 09:46:16 PM

Ok, I cain't stands it no longer - B5 S01E01 watched and settling in for the long haul. Amazing how it still grips the attention right from the get go.

I will probably start watching B5 this Sunday, so you'll have a head start on me.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 10 November, 2020, 11:06:37 PM
I need to find my B5 discs to join in.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Greg M. on 11 November, 2020, 05:58:21 AM
Bah, it's not a proper B5 rewatch unless you start with The Gathering!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 11 November, 2020, 06:03:53 AM
The question is though, when do you watch "In the Beginning"?

It's interesting to watch it right from the word go rather than further on down the line (so to speak).

One thing that has always bothered me with the DVD release of "The Gathering" is the music.  The original VHS release had a different soundtrack that I always felt worked better.  Would be nice to see it again to see if recollection still holds up.

Anyway, currently at "Voice in the Wilderness" ...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Greg M. on 11 November, 2020, 07:13:05 AM
Quote from: Tjm86 on 11 November, 2020, 06:03:53 AM
The question is though, when do you watch "In the Beginning"?
I wouldn't start a new viewer off with it - it blows a lot of secrets. But obviously once you've watched the whole series, it doesn't really matter - I always do it after season 4, when it was made. But where exactly do you watch Thirdspace? Is it before Atonement? In between scenes in Atonement? Before the epilogue in Moments of Transition?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 11 November, 2020, 07:25:30 AM

It usually works this way for me; at a loose end I go rooting through my media library and fasten upon In the Beginning because I just love it. Then I force myself to watch The Gathering, which is never as bad as I seem to remember. Heartened, I then get stuck in proper and have a little weep at the end.

Then comes the inevitable question, Crusade?

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Greg M. on 11 November, 2020, 07:33:07 AM
I did Crusade last time - in JMS's suggested order, rather than broadcast order - and then stalled out two episodes before the end.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 11 November, 2020, 07:48:38 AM
Quote from: Tjm86 on 11 November, 2020, 06:03:53 AM
One thing that has always bothered me with the DVD release of "The Gathering" is the music.  The original VHS release had a different soundtrack that I always felt worked better. 

Hard agree! First watched The Gathering on a rental VHS in a cruddy bedsit on a portable telly,  and the clanky metallic Copeland soundtrack was the most memorable thing about it.  When I went back to the same video shop for a re-watch some years later,  it was gone in favour of the 'TV Movie' version (although the new cut itself was superior). Presume there's an Ultimate Collectors Version out there that includes both?

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 11 November, 2020, 09:40:41 AM
I'll be starting with The Gathering because it's the beginning of the show.

As for In The Beginning, it'll be after Season 4 as suggested.

This is how I watched it the previous time I did it start to end.  Which was a long while ago.  There's so much I don't remember.  It is kind of exciting.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Greg M. on 11 November, 2020, 11:06:08 AM
I feel like I'm being lured back into the grand B5 rewatch now, but I'll probably hold off 'cos I've watched the middle of Season 3 - the best season - a few times too many.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 11 November, 2020, 02:32:03 PM
I was prepared to  watch a couple of the TV Watchman series then rant rage and boycott the lot...

Totally enjoying it... Sorry Mr Moore
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: hippynumber1 on 12 November, 2020, 01:03:08 PM
I bought the Sopranos blu ray box set years ago, never seen an episode, and finally got round to starting it a couple of weeks back. I got to the end of Season 4 last night.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 12 November, 2020, 02:33:08 PM
Quote from: hippynumber1 on 12 November, 2020, 01:03:08 PM
I bought the Sopranos blu ray box set years ago, never seen an episode, and finally got round to starting it a couple of weeks back. I got to the end of Season 4 last night.

Pretenders to the throne come and go...but it's still the king of TV drama.

You have some great episodes to come, but I never got over the loss of one of the shows greatest characters (Ralphie) at the end of Season 4.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rately on 12 November, 2020, 03:48:59 PM
Sopranos really is the best bit of TV. Characters, writing, the dark humour and the fact that on every re-watch you nearly always spot something new, whether it is a subtle joke in background, or an off-hand comment by a character that has consequences later on, usually deadly ones.

Right, that is another re-watch to the list!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 12 November, 2020, 04:54:08 PM
Quote from: Rately on 12 November, 2020, 03:48:59 PM
the fact that on every re-watch you nearly always spot something new, whether it is a subtle joke in background, or an off-hand comment by a character that has consequences later on, usually deadly ones.


Noticed that too, practically every time I have re-watched an episode.

The Sopranos also has that rare 'viewer magnetism' that I can attribute to very few films or TV shows.
You are compelled to watch it, even if you chance upon it on Sky Atlantic at 2am on a Tuesday night.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 12 November, 2020, 05:22:59 PM
Yeah I fully intend to dom a rewatch of The Sopranos soon. In my triumvirate of the four great TV shows of all time and after Twin Peaks probably the one that means most to me. Tony is such a beautifully realised monster. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rately on 13 November, 2020, 10:45:00 AM
Quote from: Link Prime on 12 November, 2020, 04:54:08 PM
Quote from: Rately on 12 November, 2020, 03:48:59 PM
the fact that on every re-watch you nearly always spot something new, whether it is a subtle joke in background, or an off-hand comment by a character that has consequences later on, usually deadly ones.


Noticed that too, practically every time I have re-watched an episode.

The Sopranos also has that rare 'viewer magnetism' that I can attribute to very few films or TV shows.
You are compelled to watch it, even if you chance upon it on Sky Atlantic at 2am on a Tuesday night.

Compelled indeed.

How they made it, whatever alchemy they bottled for all those fantastic hours of TV, it just amazes me. They took a premise that should have been one note and tiresome and instead made something that could have you on edge of your seat, laughing like an eejit, recoiling in horror and rooting for terrible people, all in the same episode.

I don't think I've ever laughed as hard at anythings as the Pine Barrens episode, especially the garbled phone translation by Paulie to Christopher.

'You're not gonna believe this. He killed sixteen Czechoslovakians. The guy was an interior decorator.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rately on 13 November, 2020, 10:51:31 AM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 12 November, 2020, 05:22:59 PM
Yeah I fully intend to dom a rewatch of The Sopranos soon. In my triumvirate of the four great TV shows of all time and after Twin Peaks probably the one that means most to me. Tony is such a beautifully realised monster.

That performance by James Gandolfini is just absolutely the best acting I've seen.

A monster, surely, but whatever it says about me, i just wanted him to be happy, despite all the horrible, terrible things that he done.

It's a shame that the actress who played his Mother passed away, because i think that the scenes they had together were fantastic, and whatever was planned, would have surely been unforgettable.

I hope David Chase captures that same magic for the prequel movie, but i fear the perfection of the show, and the hours they had to develop and the characters, will leave it looking like a pale imitation.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 14 November, 2020, 07:52:03 PM
I have just finished Discovery Season Two and had an absolute blast.  I'm sold on this show now.  Disliking very little about it.  The ending of the season seems to be setting up something I've been desperate for from Trek since Voyager ended.  [spoiler]A significant time jump.  It would be nice to see some TNG/DS9 era races make a return and now I'm on board with the new look Klingons, I'm curious what they might do for make-up.  There is so much potential in moving the franchise forward like TNG did.[/spoiler]  As far as I'm concerned they have a good creative team working on this show and Discovery is fantastic addition for this modern age. 

Going into this I was not expecting to be won over so much.  I had seen the first season before, but I realise I let my hang-ups about Star Trek cloud my judgement.  I was wrong about this show, even though I did like it.  All that knee-jerking I did with my first watch through was gone and I realised how good the show is.  The second season is just better.  There is so much for me to gush over, I won't bother.  I will say that I love the reimagining of Enterprise's bridge.  It is now my favourite bridge design.

Anyway, I have reached the end.  That means tomorrow I start on a new journey.  I will return to the dawn of the third age of mankind with The Gathering.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 14 November, 2020, 09:02:57 PM

Just started B5 Season 3. It gets more relevant every time I watch it - and it still has the capacity to move me and inspire me.

Magnificent.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 15 November, 2020, 01:27:23 PM
So ye finally talked me into't, ye scurvy dogs. We've started into Black Sails at long last*. I know from reports here and elsewhere that it's supposed to improve quickly, but shiver me timbers didn't the mandatory tit-fest of 2010s fantasy telly get very old very fast! I like a naked lady as much as the next perv, but I have a strong inclination to hit the fast forward button as soon as the undressing starts in these things...

Other than that, it's very promising. Coming to it this late, the cast feels like a missing link between every other genre show, uniting Robin of Sherwood, Lost in Space, Agents of SHIELD, The Flash, Umbrella Academy... It's quite distracting!


* Partly because it turns out that the only B5 we have access to are some ropey VHSs.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 15 November, 2020, 01:37:46 PM
Yeah I've said before and will say again it gets better and while it improves across the first series. The second though takes things to a whole superior level and good as it remains - all better than the first series - is probably the shows peak. By the end there's barely an exposed breast in sight, unless its being chopped by a cutlass and it also pays off all the Treasure Island stuff really nicely.

So much so I went back and read it again after years with the boy.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dark Jimbo on 15 November, 2020, 02:22:12 PM
Must give Black Sails another try. I watched the first episode and thought it was borderline terrible - but then everyone says it gets much better.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 15 November, 2020, 02:33:06 PM
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 15 November, 2020, 02:22:12 PM
Must give Black Sails another try. I watched the first episode and thought it was borderline terrible - but then everyone says it gets much better.

There's an episode just past the midway point in S1 where I suddenly went "Oh, yeah, this is the stuff..." and from there onwards, it's fantastic.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 15 November, 2020, 08:37:52 PM
So it starts with tense political thriller.  It is the best of the 90's as well.  Babylon 5 The Gathering was fun... ish.  There is some ropey acting from the cast that end up getting dropped for the series proper.  It's a nice set up and I enjoy the world building they cram in.  A lot of thought and love clearly went into this from the outset.  It's going to be a fun ride.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 15 November, 2020, 08:48:25 PM

"The only human to ever survive combat with a Minbari cruiser is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else."

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 16 November, 2020, 04:05:15 AM
Ted Lasso on Apple TV+.

Exceptional slice of light comedy drama that unexpectedly hits you right in the feels. It does that thing where you have this gang of very archetypal characters that border on cartoonish and one-dimensional, but slowly reveals unexpected depth and warmth to them. It's nominally about football, but you don't need to be a footie fan to enjoy it in the same way you don't need to be a fan of government works departments to enjoy Parks and Rec.

An absolute winner. I believe the second and third seasons are already in production, and I couldn't be happier.

Highest of recommends, and the perfect antidote to the state of the world right now.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 16 November, 2020, 11:29:59 AM
I'm currently just watching Taskmaster which I'd ignored until last month.  I'm up to series 7 which is a bit ridiculous.  Oh and I'm watching Mr. Pickles but it's starting to get a bit much.

I need to get into some proper telly though.  I've got options:  Moonbase 8, Fargo s4, Doom Patrol, Monsterland, Succession.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 16 November, 2020, 11:33:32 AM
Quote from: repoman on 16 November, 2020, 11:29:59 AM
I'm currently just watching Taskmaster which I'd ignored until last month.  I'm up to series 7 which is a bit ridiculous.

Such a great, great show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 16 November, 2020, 12:01:01 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 15 November, 2020, 01:27:23 PM

...it turns out that the only B5 we have access to are some ropey VHSs.



Sent you a PM, Tordels. I've had... an idea...

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 16 November, 2020, 04:30:19 PM
I love Taskmaster.

Recently binged The Haunting of Bly Manor.

Its gentler than The Haunting of Hill House, and there are far less jump scares. Actually I found it less scary altogether. This isn't a bad thing though. Its very much a character story and it's genuinely creepy in places. Some bits were predictable, but that's not a bad thing. Overall, loved it. English people smile say 'maths' not 'math' thought. Obviously American script writer.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 16 November, 2020, 06:15:29 PM
I too binged the whole of Taskmaster during the first lockdown - don't miss the Champion of Champions mini-series too. The new series reminds me how frustrating it was like having to wait a week for every episode, but it's got a great lineup.

If you're tempted to try the shortlived US version, don't. It was cut to a half hour (including ads of course,so about 22), Reggie Watts was too nice as the TM, the 'celebs' were too happy and earnest, and Alex Horne just looked like he wished he was elsewhere. The UK version is something of a cult hit in the US, but the current season was picked up by the CW network and then cancelled after just one episode's disastrous ratings. The problem with both I guess is not knowing any of the celebs.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: shaolin_monkey on 16 November, 2020, 06:17:57 PM
The Queens Gambit on Netflix - surprisingly good! Watched it all over the last week or so. It made chess, a game I can play but just don't have the patience for, surprisingly engaging. Very stylish, a great cast, and quite a gripping tale of the alcohol and drug abuse of a young woman who, on paper, shouldn't come across as likeable as she does.

Based on a book apparently, the character of which is based on an amalgam of chess players in the 60s.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 16 November, 2020, 06:38:33 PM
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 16 November, 2020, 06:17:57 PM
The Queens Gambit on Netflix - ...

Based on a book apparently, the character of which is based on an amalgam of chess players in the 60s.

By Walter Tevis, also the author of the book The Hustler was adapted from. It's good stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 20 November, 2020, 11:04:13 AM
Queen's Gambit, Netflix. We were gripped by this. I hope it isn't spoilery to say that it is so nice to see a female-led show where *none* of the major supporting characters are predatory and/or abusive cardboard cut-outs. It's an uncommon relief to see a complex character who is loved and enabled by those around her instead of used and thrown away. I kept expecting the other shoe to drop, but it never did. Great stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 20 November, 2020, 11:16:43 AM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 15 November, 2020, 02:33:06 PM
There's an episode just past the midway point in S1 where I suddenly went "Oh, yeah, this is the stuff..." and from there onwards, it's fantastic.

I believe we reached that point last night.
Me: "Last episode of Queen's Gambit next, so? ".
Wife: "Fuck, no! More pirates!".

(Which is not to run down QG: it's absolutely brilliant. But lacks topgallants). 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 20 November, 2020, 01:08:30 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 20 November, 2020, 11:16:43 AM
(Which is not to run down QG: it's absolutely brilliant. But lacks topgallants).
Which is the poorer for it. Every show would be better with topgallants.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 25 November, 2020, 09:58:30 PM

That's B5 done. Excellent, as usual.

Crusade? Nah.

I've decided on Spartacus instead. Another mythic tale with its own unique style and the added bonus of Lucy Lawless in the buff. I think I'm going to make this one of my staple periodic indulgences.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Radbacker on 26 November, 2020, 03:45:08 AM
Finally getting around to the Man in the High Castle, slight problem is I do like it but been busy at work and when I start to watch it about 9.30 and night I keep falling asleep!!!! It's annoying the shit out of me as I am enjoying what I'm watching but having problems getting through a whole episode without dozing off :( :(
Oh and heads up to anyone with Amazon Prime though if you are a fan you'd probably know this The Expanse is back in a couple of weeks!!!

CU Radbacker
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 26 November, 2020, 08:42:12 AM
I gave up on that as I found it way too slow - got to the end of the first season and expected the plot to be much further advanced; couldn't work up the energy to tackle season 2
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 26 November, 2020, 09:09:25 AM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 25 November, 2020, 09:58:30 PM

That's B5 done. Excellent, as usual.


I'm still on Season 1.  It's very good and given I know it gets better I'm excited for the middle seasons.  The initial episodes stories were pretty weak, but the characterisations were excellent.  When it starts kicking in with the overarching plot the stories start improving as well.
Not especially liking Sinclair, though.  Not much of an issue, considering...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 26 November, 2020, 09:27:41 AM
Quote from: Radbacker on 26 November, 2020, 03:45:08 AM
... if you are a fan you'd probably know this The Expanse is back in a couple of weeks!!!

I'm working my way through The Expanse and while its fun I do find it massively variable. There are moments and whole episodes that are GREAT and then others that are quite poor. I've just got to the end of Season 2 and the last two episodes really exemplify that.

The whole reveal of what Sadavir was up to was masterful. Especially as I was a bit befuddled by his earlier, apparent character about turn. All fooled me and so felt utterly plausible he fooled everyone else. Really good and that whole second to last episode was superb. I think I audiably gasped with the hitcherhiker on the Rossie moment right at the end.

The final episode though was a bit of a letdown. Particularly some horrible action cliche with Bobbie - which okay I guess was playing to the way it regularly gives nods to its influences. And why of why was her final entrance to save the day in slow mo - ouch. And the whole forced Holden trapped 'alien' about to do bad things bit. At the same time the 'explosion' of the research vessal on its way to Venus was fantastic. Its all these moments of contradicting quality that bug me and stop the series being absolutely fantastic.

That said the main leads are all fantastic - especially Amos who is rapidly turning into one of my fav telly characters ever, up there with Pullo in Rome and the whole lived in sci-fi vibe is nice and it does a great job of balancing its numerous tones, so flipping between political intrigue, action adventure and sci-fi mind boggle really well so I'm defo sticking with it. Just wish it would reach it potential.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 26 November, 2020, 10:15:00 AM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 26 November, 2020, 09:27:41 AM
especially Amos who is rapidly turning into one of my fav telly characters ever

You're in for a treat in S3. :-)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 27 November, 2020, 10:45:14 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 15 November, 2020, 01:37:46 PM
By the end there's barely an exposed breast in sight...

Charles Vane still takes his top off st every opportunity though?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: PsychoGoatee on 28 November, 2020, 10:11:08 PM
Quote from: Rately on 13 November, 2020, 10:51:31 AM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 12 November, 2020, 05:22:59 PM
Yeah I fully intend to dom a rewatch of The Sopranos soon. In my triumvirate of the four great TV shows of all time and after Twin Peaks probably the one that means most to me. Tony is such a beautifully realised monster.

That performance by James Gandolfini is just absolutely the best acting I've seen.

A monster, surely, but whatever it says about me, i just wanted him to be happy, despite all the horrible, terrible things that he done.

It's a shame that the actress who played his Mother passed away, because i think that the scenes they had together were fantastic, and whatever was planned, would have surely been unforgettable.

I hope David Chase captures that same magic for the prequel movie, but i fear the perfection of the show, and the hours they had to develop and the characters, will leave it looking like a pale imitation.

Love The Sopranos, that was a rewatch for me this year too. Hadn't seen it since the first airing. Incredible incredible stuff all around.

Also seconding the love for Twin Peaks, and Lynch in general.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 09 December, 2020, 09:54:46 AM
I have come to the end of Babylon 5 Season 1.  It's been awesome.  The show doesn't entirely hit the ground running, but nearly does.  The first few episodes have somewhat lacklustre plots, but that is certainly mitigated by the excellent characterisations.  It is wonderful to see fully fleshed out characters right from the start and they are performed wonderfully.

Once the season settles in the good plots start coming as well.  The sentiments are very Star Trek, but probably more nuanced than TNG for instance.  It even has that weird dissonance of moral superiority coming from a military institution that Star Trek, but more so.  One thing I don't understand is why there isn't an Earth ambassador.  I don't think it is even appropriate for a military commander to be in charge of what is supposedly a diplomatic outpost.  Unlike with Star Trek, however, it doesn't jar too badly.  B5 is already going places with the role of the military in Season 1, but it still seems strange that Earth doesn't have an ambassador.

Anyway, I'm not going to go any further with the minor failings of the show because were it succeeds it does so wonderfully well.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 09 December, 2020, 01:47:54 PM
Started Succession which after three episodes seems to be very good.

Watched all of Taskmaster from s1 to what's currently airing.  That led me to go back to Man Down which I bailed on after s1 (because of Rik dying).  It was good but kind of had that Simpsons/Family Guy thing happening where he's so dysfunctional, it becomes impossible to buy into. 

Gave Moonbase 8 a go but it's not the one.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 10 December, 2020, 11:34:54 AM
Well, ye weren't wrong.  Finished Season 2 of Black Sails last night, and it's right up there with the great seasons of TV (it's at least Simpsons Season 4 level).

The last three episodes in particular were completely gripping. The sheer pace of character deaths, reversals, alliances, betrayals feels like they're working to a per-episode quota (not unlike Billy Bones' accents), but somehow it holds together and never seems to forget the overall story or any dangling thread. And the FX work is really quite extraordinary in the Charlestown sequence.

It also put me firmly in my place, as I may have remarked more than once early on "an entire town of horny sailors, and the only same-sex relationships are between women".

Definitely worth sticking with it through the ropey soft-porn beginnings.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 10 December, 2020, 12:31:48 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 10 December, 2020, 11:34:54 AM
Definitely worth sticking with it through the ropey soft-porn beginnings.

Don't bury the lead, Tordel.

In related Toby Stephens swagger news, I watched the 1st episode of the Netflix Lost in Space series the other evening - not bad at all.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 10 December, 2020, 12:41:34 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 10 December, 2020, 12:31:48 PM
In related Toby Stephens swagger news, I watched the 1st episode of the Netflix Lost in Space series the other evening - not bad at all.

Intermittently annoying, but generally worth the time to watch, IMO. Overall, I've enjoyed both seasons to date, and I'm looking forward to the third and final one whenever it surfaces next year.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 10 December, 2020, 12:55:09 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 10 December, 2020, 12:41:34 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 10 December, 2020, 12:31:48 PM
In related Toby Stephens swagger news, I watched the 1st episode of the Netflix Lost in Space series the other evening - not bad at all.

Intermittently annoying, but generally worth the time to watch, IMO. Overall, I've enjoyed both seasons to date, and I'm looking forward to the third and final one whenever it surfaces next year.

Good to hear.
Been looking for something easy going to stick on before bed - this looks like it'll do nicely.

Added bonus: Parker Posey.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 10 December, 2020, 03:52:26 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 10 December, 2020, 11:34:54 AM
Black Sails

And the FX work is really quite extraordinary in the Charlestown sequence.

They get better in Season 3. The ship's develop a bit more weight and actually feel part of the environment. There's a storm sequence in episode 2 of season 3 where it looks for all the world like they just filmed the studly Tom Hopper atop a mast being dragged through an ocean
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bolt-01 on 10 December, 2020, 03:55:19 PM
I've got the last episode of season 1 to watch. I'm enjoying it already but really looking forward to it getting better.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 10 December, 2020, 07:32:23 PM
Last night I watched the first two episodes of a Sword'n'Sorcery series called The Letter to the King. I was left reeling at the originality and imagination of it's creators, it's just brimming with never-seen-before plot points and amazing narrative set up.

It centres around the adopted son of a brusque but kindly knight who wants the evidently useless lad to become a knight. However, get this - it turns out he has A DESTINY and hears spooky whispery voices all the time! Meanwhile a nasty prince is collecting magic powers and reuniting the Evil Ethnic Tribes against the noble caucasian kingdoms. If that isn't original enough, in Ep.2, after being framed for murder and going on the run to deliver the eponymous Letter to the King, he is joined by the incognito daughter of a local noble who is running away to avoid a marriage. They are pursued by the sinister Red Riders (who massacre the goodly Grey Riders); and by his his former teen schoolmates, who are a diverse mix of Geek, Lothario, Bully and Girl.

Seriously, there's not an original idea anywhere in this mess (except perhaps a clever take on secure mail), but it's well made and well acted, so it passes the time. Omid Djalili hams it up as a nasty knight, and Andy Serkis is amusing as a greedy nobleman.

It only popped up because I just finished The Witcher, which was infinitely superior in every respect (only I can't get that bloody song out of my head now)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 18 December, 2020, 09:30:56 AM
Finally started The Expanse this week (taking a break between Black Sails S2 and S3), after somehow bouncing off the first episode when it came out first. Have managed to avoid learning anything about it over these past years, so after a few episodes it's really very exciting. It's the most Bab-Fivey thing I've seen in many a day.

Also just finished Parks & Rec S2, which has grown into its premise and characters wonderfully, but now seems intent on becoming deeply soft and in danger of being renamed 'I Love Leslie'. Hope it regains some of its earlier bite as we go into S3, because it's a lot of fun.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 18 December, 2020, 10:01:38 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 18 December, 2020, 09:30:56 AM
It's the most Bab-Fivey thing I've seen in many a day.

It is. I've been describing it to people as "Babylon 5 without the alien races" since S1. Like B5, there's a definite sense of direction, too, rather than a story-of-the-week format with only very occasional upsets to the status quo.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 18 December, 2020, 10:21:46 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 18 December, 2020, 09:30:56 AM
Also just finished Parks & Rec S2, which has grown into its premise and characters wonderfully, but now seems intent on becoming deeply soft and in danger of being renamed 'I Love Leslie'. Hope it regains some of its earlier bite as we go into S3, because it's a lot of fun.

It doesn't get better.  It's still fun at the end to a degree but never hits the heights of s2.

Chris Pratt's character goes fully ridiculous.  Like so stupid that they couldn't possibly function in real life at all.  Like Greg Davies' character in Man Down, Peter Griffin or Inspector Gadget but worse.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 19 December, 2020, 09:45:42 AM
Quote from: repoman on 18 December, 2020, 10:21:46 AM
Chris Pratt's character goes fully ridiculous.  Like so stupid that they couldn't possibly function in real life at all.  Like Greg Davies' character in Man Down, Peter Griffin or Inspector Gadget but worse.

This is something that really annoys me in a lot of shows. Start off with a character who isn't all that bright and then they just ramp it up to 11 to the point it's unbelievable.

Quirky and kooky characters too. Nick in NEW GIRL started off as relatable with his occasional rants against the machine and determination to do things his way but by the end was someone that looked in need of help to function. But Jess was meant to find this loveable? Schmidt all the way!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 19 December, 2020, 09:48:11 AM
In other news... finally clambered on board with TASKMASTER. BUT there's no way I am going to watch 50 episodes.

So what are your top ten?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Radbacker on 20 December, 2020, 01:22:52 AM
Just about finished Alice in Borderland on the Netflix, very cool Japanese series that does some very interesting things about episode 3.  Worth a watch if you like Battle Royale and it's ilk.  Based on a manga that has also been turned into an OVA but I haven't read the manga or seen the OVA but I might seek it out when we I'm done with season 1.
Only watched the 1st episode of the Expanse season 5 so far, I'm going to take this slowly to make it last.

CU Radbacker
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 20 December, 2020, 06:51:17 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 19 December, 2020, 09:48:11 AM
In other news... finally clambered on board with TASKMASTER. BUT there's no way I am going to watch 50 episodes.

So what are your top ten?

I do wonder. once you start you might not want to stop. I guess the thing with Taskmaster is how well the contestants work for you. So pick one series where you like a few and go with it.

That said one of the great erotic moments on TV is Series 5 episode 5 and you could do worse than trying that.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 20 December, 2020, 10:53:30 AM
Ah, is it the same contestants every series... I didn't realise that.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 20 December, 2020, 12:05:16 PM
pick one episode from each series to see everybody, then go back to the people you like
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 20 December, 2020, 12:26:00 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 20 December, 2020, 10:53:30 AM
Ah, is it the same contestants every series... I didn't realise that.

No sorry - its a fresh set per series, but within a series they remain the same (Greg and Alex are consistant (and very funny) hosts.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 22 December, 2020, 10:36:12 AM
Finished s1 of Succession.

Really great stuff there from HBO.  Can't wait to get into s2.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 23 December, 2020, 10:05:52 PM
Well The Expanse Season 3 episode 5 certainly steps things up a notch! Best episode yet.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 23 December, 2020, 11:04:27 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 23 December, 2020, 10:05:52 PM
Well The Expanse Season 3 episode 5 certainly steps things up a notch! Best episode yet.

We've just this minute finished Season 1 - you mean to say it gets better?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 23 December, 2020, 11:11:17 PM
Well for me yes. I've found it pretty uneven if I'm honest but when it has its moments it sure has its moments!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 23 December, 2020, 11:33:17 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 23 December, 2020, 10:05:52 PM
Well The Expanse Season 3 episode 5 certainly steps things up a notch! Best episode yet.

You haven't even reached my favourite bit in this season yet...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 24 December, 2020, 12:45:22 AM
Only watched the first episode so far, but Ragnarök on Netflix is intriguing - it's kinda like a scandi-noir Stranger Things, but with Norse Gods, a light dab of David Lynch and a heavy eco-message. Shy teen returns with his mum to his home village which has become a Company Town populated by eccentrics, and the glaciers are melting. Weird destiny shit ensues.

I'm not making any predictions, but it often seems to unexpectedly rain around this kid, and he gets all twitchy when he picks up his dad's old hammer .. just sayin'

The American dub didn't seem too bad based on a quick sample, but I always prefer the original sound with subtitles, more moody. Lots about it is predictable - we're not left in much doubt who the baddies are by the end of episode one - but it eschews the sentimental predictability an American show would have - there's one particularly brutal shock in this episode that really made me gasp. Oh, and the school kids all look about 25.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 24 December, 2020, 12:55:56 AM
And having re-read my oh-so-sarcastic thoughts on A letter for the King, I've got to admit it grew on me. Baddies were redeemed, friends became traitors, plot threads for a more interesting second season were left dangling. It may be groaning under the weight of sword'n'sorcery tropes, but I ended up enjoying it quite a lot.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 24 December, 2020, 07:36:17 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 24 December, 2020, 12:55:56 AM
And having re-read my oh-so-sarcastic thoughts on A letter for the King, I've got to admit it grew on me.

I might give that more of a try, then. I switched it off about half way through the second episode.

I've been laughing like a drain through the first two episodes of Crashing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 25 December, 2020, 10:17:25 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 23 December, 2020, 11:33:17 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 23 December, 2020, 10:05:52 PM
Well The Expanse Season 3 episode 5 certainly steps things up a notch! Best episode yet.

You haven't even reached my favourite bit in this season yet...

Is that "I am that man."

That's the "I'm the man who knocks." of this show!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 26 December, 2020, 12:10:07 AM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 25 December, 2020, 10:17:25 PM
Is that "I am that man."

Oh, yes. :-)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 26 December, 2020, 02:04:27 AM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 26 December, 2020, 12:10:07 AM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 25 December, 2020, 10:17:25 PM
Is that "I am that man."

Oh, yes. :-)

Point of order; Amos is "that guy".
Best characterisation bolied down to one line since Garak said "especially the lies"
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 29 December, 2020, 12:52:22 PM
Bridgerton. Somewhat to my surprise, very enjoyable. Its candyfloss visuals and modern soundtrack quickly establish it as a fantasy with only the loosest of nods to the social mores around the Regency court of Queen Charlotte, which means you can forget about any unpleasant real-world social or political context and just focus on the pretty people and their complicated if trivial woes. This is a bubble universe, with no more relation to its supposed historical setting than the average King Arthur* and this defuses a lot of the criticism I'd usually have for this kind of aristocratic pseudo-period thingie.

Going in ignorant of the books, I expected a big-budget Netflix Austen (and I really do dislike Austen) with requisite T&A, but it's far closer to a Baz Luhrmann Shakespearean comedy crossed with Gossip Girl (or if I'm being generous, Dangerous Liaisons), the titillation largely of the tight-breeches variety.

In a large cast Nicola Coughlan, of Derry Girls fame, is the standout, somehow still completely convincing as a teenager at 33. Polly Walker, of Rome and pretty much everything else, also does a fun turn as her mother.

Worth a go at least.


*Usually dressed as the 15th C, but 'set' an entire millennium earlier
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 29 December, 2020, 03:50:47 PM
Also enjoying the fluff that is Bridgerton. The elephant in the room would be the decision to cast black people alongside whites as part of the ruling elite of the Regency era. I'm not that up on my English history, but I'm fairly sure that this is a modern casting decision with little bearing on the historical reality. Except that Queen Charlotte may have been mixed race, and is cast here as black.

Looking at online reactions, I've been disappointed that most discussions shy away from, well, actual discussion. On the one hand, there are the sputtering "but the Duke of Hastings wasn't black" and on the other a lot of "you don't think black people existed in the 1800s?"

The show does some interesting things with this: at first it seems that it's colour-blind - and has just cast people purely on a talent basis with no regard to their racial identity. But then they also play with our expectations - presenting a character in the first episode who is foreshadowed as being something shocking - but the shock isn't her race, but her beauty. It's a meta-statement, which begs a bit of debate (not least about why the viewer might be so laser-focused on everyone's race).

A few episodes in, the characters suddenly become aware of their race, where prior to this it's been played as if the world is (as I said) colour-blind. But out of the blue (sic), they're creating a narrative in which they've been allowed in to the aristocracy due to the influence of the black queen Charlotte. Now we're definitely in alt-history territory - but this is a love story, so that's quickly shelved in favor of more bodice-ripping yarnery.

It's by turns infuriatingly fluffy and terribly compelling.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 29 December, 2020, 04:59:39 PM
My wife has read all of the Bridgerton books so we've been watching it. As much as I want to ignore it, it does suck you in and I find myself enjoying it, which has my wife constantly smirking at me smugly. Since my wife has read the books I can say, according to her, that they've done an amazing job bringing the books to life.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 29 December, 2020, 05:27:58 PM
Quote from: Funt Solo on 29 December, 2020, 03:50:47 PM
. Now we're definitely in alt-history territory - but this is a love story, so that's quickly shelved in favor of more bodice-ripping yarnery.

The clues that this wasn't in any way historical, alt or otherwise, might have been the complete absence of a single horse poo, the perfectly lit interiors, the 1920s costuming and the fact that they are playing Maroon 5 and Rhianna at their formal balls. And that was just the first episode.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 29 December, 2020, 06:54:58 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 29 December, 2020, 05:27:58 PM
Quote from: Funt Solo on 29 December, 2020, 03:50:47 PM
. Now we're definitely in alt-history territory - but this is a love story, so that's quickly shelved in favor of more bodice-ripping yarnery.

The clues that this wasn't in any way historical, alt or otherwise, might have been the complete absence of a single horse poo, the perfectly lit interiors, the 1920s costuming and the fact that they are playing Maroon 5 and Rhianna at their formal balls. And that was just the first episode.

Right, but it would be odd to talk about the show without referencing the (pseudo) historical angle - given the (pseudo) Regency setting and the inclusion of a (pseudo) Queen Charlotte. What are the correct word combinations for referencing something that is period-draped but not accurately period-draped? Like that silly film about jousting starring the now-deceased blonde heart-throb of the time that mostly consisted of splintering lances, and also avoided horse poop (to a rockin' modern soundtrack).

A later episode of Bridgerton does include a Rue de Merde scene, in order that someone can be shown how the other half live and be warned against their folly.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 29 December, 2020, 07:05:55 PM
Speaking of alternate history, made it to the end of Season 3 of BLACK SAILS. There's plenty upthread about how good it is but the switching of one character allegiance and an unexpected character death both particularly hit the mark here.

What's also funny is that Mrs Tips stopped watching after S1 because of the gratuitous nudity and shagging but I'd been telling her how little there was in later seasons. Naturally she walks in twice this series; once while Eleanor Guthrie is seductively stripping off and then later when Max is involved in some lesbian action. I had no defence.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 29 December, 2020, 08:06:50 PM
Quote from: Funt Solo on 29 December, 2020, 06:54:58 PM
What are the correct word combinations for referencing something that is period-draped but not accurately period-draped?

Very good question! I just call them "fantasy" and have done with it, but as that includes both Star Wars and Braveheart it may be a bit broad for our purpose. "Period Fantasy", maybe?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 29 December, 2020, 08:08:23 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 29 December, 2020, 07:05:55 PM
Naturally she walks in twice this series; once while Eleanor Guthrie is seductively stripping off and then later when Max is involved in some lesbian action. I had no defence.

Should have just held your hands up. Unless that would have revealed additional problems
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 29 December, 2020, 08:24:52 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 29 December, 2020, 08:06:50 PM
Quote from: Funt Solo on 29 December, 2020, 06:54:58 PM
What are the correct word combinations for referencing something that is period-draped but not accurately period-draped?

Very good question! I just call them "fantasy" and have done with it, but as that includes both Star Wars and Braveheart it may be a bit broad for our purpose. "Period Fantasy", maybe?

I like "period fantasy"* - let's push it. To the lexicon we go! (In tights, probably.)


*Although I never fantasize about periods.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 30 December, 2020, 06:29:29 PM
Star Wars would be science fantasy,by that metric.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 30 December, 2020, 07:17:33 PM
Quote from: Funt Solo on 29 December, 2020, 08:24:52 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 29 December, 2020, 08:06:50 PM
Quote from: Funt Solo on 29 December, 2020, 06:54:58 PM
What are the correct word combinations for referencing something that is period-draped but not accurately period-draped?

Very good question! I just call them "fantasy" and have done with it, but as that includes both Star Wars and Braveheart it may be a bit broad for our purpose. "Period Fantasy", maybe?

I like "period fantasy"* - let's push it. To the lexicon we go! (In tights, probably.)


If it's set in Britain, surely "Full Stop Fantasy" would be more appropriate?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 30 December, 2020, 08:48:24 PM
Quote from: Smith on 30 December, 2020, 06:29:29 PM
Star Wars would be science fantasy,by that metric.

"Space fantasy" is how it was described by Roy Thomas* on the first page of the first Marvel comic, and that's how I've always thought of and enjoyed, it since. There's no science involved, but there is space.

*or Archie Goodwin, or whoever was re-editing the reprint for Marvel UK.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 30 December, 2020, 08:57:16 PM
EDIT: It was actually that there cover, or the Weekly version (which had the same tagline).

(https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/xlUAAOSwOfdf12Gr/s-l400.jpg)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 30 December, 2020, 09:36:15 PM
A lot of science fiction doesn't involve science.  Hard Sci-Fi is the sub-genre that is most associated with a need for depicting science.

Star Wars is of another sub-genre of science fiction known as space opera.  It's a pretty old sci-fi sub-genre.  It includes other notable works like Flash Gordan.  Y'know, the film Lucas wanted to do and decided on making Star Wars when it came to nothing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 31 December, 2020, 03:50:11 AM
Not really adding much to the discussion, but the board's been invoking this for a couple of days now, so...

Gordon's Alive? (https://youtu.be/P2xS-AxKk0k)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 31 December, 2020, 05:42:16 PM
Babylon 5 Season 2

I think this season the show does get a little better but this is where it really starts settling into the overall story arc.  I really wish I could feel that sense of disquiet about the Shadows as when I first watched this show on its original broadcast.

My biggest complaint is the militaristic reverence the show has and I'm really curious whether that tone will shift when certain story line elements occur.

The characters are all still great, but G'Kar and Londo really stood out in Season 2.  Londo is especially interesting at being both repulsive and extremely likable.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 31 December, 2020, 08:08:29 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 30 December, 2020, 09:36:15 PM
A lot of science fiction doesn't involve science.  Hard Sci-Fi is the sub-genre that is most associated with a need for depicting science.

Star Wars is of another sub-genre of science fiction known as space opera.  It's a pretty old sci-fi sub-genre.  It includes other notable works like Flash Gordan.  Y'know, the film Lucas wanted to do and decided on making Star Wars when it came to nothing.

Made me think of the The Expanse (either the book or tv series), in that it takes great pains to invoke hard sci-fi, with its ship physics but then does that thing with the ring, which allows it to also be space opera.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 01 January, 2021, 12:57:57 AM
Quote from: Funt Solo on 31 December, 2020, 08:08:29 PM
Made me think of the The Expanse (either the book or tv series), in that it takes great pains to invoke hard sci-fi, with its ship physics but then does that thing with the ring, which allows it to also be space opera.

From what I've seen of The Expanse I'd say it is a space opera, but I've only watched the first two seasons of the TV show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: shaolin_monkey on 03 January, 2021, 07:41:06 PM
This holiday season I chained all three seasons of Ozark.

:o

I think I've traumatised myself. So tense, but could not step away. So many people making so many poor decisions. The last ten seconds of season 3 was just mind-blowing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 03 January, 2021, 08:11:09 PM

American Horror Story. Something of a rediscovery for me. I remember watching the first season and being mildly intrigued to discover that the second season would use the same actors in different roles. Then I forgot all about it until a friend gave me several seasons of the thing for Christmas.

I've just started season four (Freak Show), and I'm enjoying it a lot. I'm finding that a large part of my enjoyment is coming from the same actors in different roles schtick - stand out so far are Lily Rabe stepping expertly from sex-crazed Sister Mary Eunice McKee to flower-child swamp witch Misty Day, Frances Conroy finding different ways to be dotty, Angela Basset apparently ageing backwards, and all the rest. And, bloody Hell, isn't Jessica Lange just snecking awesome?

Anyway, I have to stop typing now because Michael Chicklis just turned up with... Good heavens...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 05 January, 2021, 01:50:34 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 03 January, 2021, 08:11:09 PM

American Horror Story. Something of a rediscovery for me. I remember watching the first season and being mildly intrigued to discover that the second season would use the same actors in different roles. Then I forgot all about it until a friend gave me several seasons of the thing for Christmas.

I've just started season four (Freak Show), and I'm enjoying it a lot. I'm finding that a large part of my enjoyment is coming from the same actors in different roles schtick - stand out so far are Lily Rabe stepping expertly from sex-crazed Sister Mary Eunice McKee to flower-child swamp witch Misty Day, Frances Conroy finding different ways to be dotty, Angela Basset apparently ageing backwards, and all the rest. And, bloody Hell, isn't Jessica Lange just snecking awesome?

Anyway, I have to stop typing now because Michael Chicklis just turned up with... Good heavens...

One interesting thing I found about American Horror Story is that, not only do the same actors play different characters each season but in later seasons [spoiler]there is a bit of cross-over where characters from previous seasons turn up. Meaning you end up with two characters played by the same actor in the same season. Although not usually in the same scenes. Confused? Heh.[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 05 January, 2021, 02:42:02 PM

Looking forward to that! I also see that season ten is due out this year, with that lad from Home Alone.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 06 January, 2021, 11:57:57 PM
Just hinged Season 1 of STAGED on the iPlayer. Marvellous laugh out loud stuff. Even the self-aware changing titles work brilliantly.

When was the first recorded instance of an actor or celeb playing an exaggerated, idiotic, vain version of themselves?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 10 January, 2021, 10:23:23 PM
Well Season 3 of The Expanse is when it turns from being a decnt Sci-fi show, but with significent issues into a telly show of exceptional quality. I don't think its quite The Wire/Soparanos/Twin Peaks good yet but its just rocketed up to Black Sails good.

The switch in story lines half way through the season basically means you get two mini-series in one. The first quite fantastically wrapping up the storylines from the first 2 season. The last two episodes of which are television gold. The second half is even better with a story that's owes much to 2001: A Space Odyssey and has one of the great episodes of tv when the ship stop moving and their crews devestated. But then the next epsiode is even better... and the final one... well it tops that maybe. Its brilliant stuff and then the (Star) gates are opened and the series finds a potential to travel even further.

I can't wait to see what happens in Season 4 and then its only season 5 and for the first time since The Sopranos I'll be waiting for this stuff to come along. That doesn't seem to happen any more and so if the show keeps up the quality I can't wait!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 10 January, 2021, 11:08:29 PM
Just past the halfway mark in S5 of The Expanse, now. It's really good. Can't say much else for fear of spoilers, but I'm enjoying the hell out of it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 10 January, 2021, 11:19:57 PM
I lost track of The Expanse when finishing up season 2.  There was all that crap about the future of the series being uncertain and I wasn't keen to get into another situation that I had with Stargate Universe.  I know it wasn't the greatest thing, but SGU had a lot of promise and had the potential to be an all time classic, but was shot dead before it had it's chance.  The Expanse was shaping up to be even better, so you can imagine how I didn't want to go through that again.

After a while, I just forgot about it, but you guys are making me consider returning to it as I loved the first two seasons.  I have to finish Babylon 5 first.  That, by the way, is shaping up to a lot more amazing than I remembered.  Watching it right now is really weird.  As Trump has been attempting his coup in the US I've been watching the parallel cautionary tale play out in B5. My reality is warping.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 10 January, 2021, 11:31:43 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 10 January, 2021, 11:19:57 PM
My reality is warping.

Jumping, surely.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 11 January, 2021, 08:57:15 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 10 January, 2021, 11:31:43 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 10 January, 2021, 11:19:57 PM
My reality is warping.

Jumping, surely.

:)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 11 January, 2021, 10:18:41 AM

At least it isn't trumping.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 11 January, 2021, 02:00:16 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 11 January, 2021, 10:18:41 AM

At least it isn't trumping.

Indeed.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 11 January, 2021, 02:29:31 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 10 January, 2021, 11:19:57 PM
I lost track of The Expanse when finishing up season 2.  There was all that crap about the future of the series being uncertain and I wasn't keen to get into another situation that I had with Stargate Universe.
I hear you. It's a chewy one, but in the end even if Expanse had finished after S3, I would much rather have enjoyed all those hours of awesome sci-fi than denied myself on the risk that I might not see an ending.

In fact S3 would have been a perfectly acceptable spot for Expanse to finish. Major story arcs enjoy closure all the time in that show. It's a good model for creating epic, long-form, episodic TV that doesn't leave the audience hanging on fundamentals should it suffer an untimely demise.

All that said, Expanse is hugely admired, performs great, and is now on Amazon. I don't see it going anywhere. :)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 11 January, 2021, 03:51:29 PM
Watching the new series of the new Sabrina thing on Netflix.

It's an odd show because it veers from being good to then being annoying to the point where I hate it a lot.  The 'horror' stuff is generally pretty good and has a bit of a Buffy feel to it.  Plus Michelle Gomez is superb in everything.

But it also indulges in a lot of social commentary which is fine but adds nothing to the story and it indulges in tedious musical numbers like once an episode. 

It's one of those shows where I can enjoy it and then I can just sigh and say 'oh fk off' a minute later.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 11 January, 2021, 07:12:40 PM
I think I missed the Raised with Wolves chat but I went back a bit to see what others thought but couldn't find it.

I didn't like it, I thought it was all over the shop. Ridley Scott just seems to be recycling his old ideas into rather shoddy new material. This is how I imagined he pitched it: [spoiler]OK so it's like Terminator but from Terminator 2 but IT'S A WOMAN and she fucks an Alien but like from Prometheus and they have a baby but like on another planet and she fly[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: 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.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 18 January, 2021, 06:07:49 PM
The second season is completely different but still a great story.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: 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.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Radbacker on 19 January, 2021, 03:05:26 AM
Up to episode 5 of The Stand on Amazon.  Been a long time since I read the book (one of my favourite King novels) and I don't remember much about the the original mini series but this seems pretty good so far, decently acted and some rather horrifying effects for old Captain Tripps.  I do like how they have mixed up the timelines so it's not all end of the world apocalypse for the first few episodes and we get some as we are introduced to each character.  I honestly haven't read the book since I was a teen and due to a lot of living between then and now I can't remember but the all but they seem to be missing a pretty major character what was the Trash Can Mans name? 
Maybe a bit depressing for some as well what with watching a series about a pandemic that wipes out 99% of the population in current times but it does make it all the more relatable.

American Gods is back too, first couple of eps are slow but it's still good even if it has gone a fair bit off book.  Looks like Mr World has been recast as Ms World which is a shame as Crispin Glover was very creepy as Mr World.'

CU Radbacker
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: 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.

I've just finished S2 of American Gods - [spoiler]was very sad to see the demise of Mad Sweeney, wonder if he'll make a return at some point or if he's really gone?[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: 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?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 19 January, 2021, 10:48:53 AM
Can't be arsed seraching for the screengrab, but when King tweeted that the current pandemic was really nothing like the Stand, one irate fan replied "have you even read the fucking book?"
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 19 January, 2021, 12:16:15 PM
Quote from: broodblik on 18 January, 2021, 06:07:49 PM
The second season is completely different but still a great story.

Cheers BB, had a look at a few previews for that last night - looks completely different as you say, but I will no doubt check it out.
Could anything top the cast, setting and plot from season 1 though?
Been a long, long time since I was so instantly taken with a TV show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 19 January, 2021, 12:22:09 PM
If I had to choose season 1 will be the winner but that does not take anything away from season 2.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 19 January, 2021, 12:28:15 PM
Quote from: broodblik on 19 January, 2021, 12:22:09 PM
If I had to choose season 1 will be the winner but that does not take anything away from season 2.

Noted!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bad City Blue on 19 January, 2021, 04:03:14 PM
I've braved teh first episode of The Watch, supposedly "inspired by" the Terry Pratchett bookd (and official, as they bought the rights)

ALmost universally hated, I quite liked episode one, but the simple fact is it is not improved in ANY WAY by using bastardisations of Pratchett characters. Would have been better as a generic show without the license.

See how it goes
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 19 January, 2021, 08:45:41 PM
Quote from: Bad City Blue on 19 January, 2021, 04:03:14 PM
I've braved teh first episode of The Watch, supposedly "inspired by" the Terry Pratchett bookd (and official, as they bought the rights)

ALmost universally hated, I quite liked episode one, but the simple fact is it is not improved in ANY WAY by using bastardisations of Pratchett characters. Would have been better as a generic show without the license.

See how it goes

I didn't know this show existed and now I do I feel life is just that little bit worse. 

Thank goodness I'm still rewatching Babylon 5.  Season 3 finale coming up tomorrow.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 20 January, 2021, 02:11:58 PM
Started Season 4 of Black Sails. Episode 1 would have taken an entire season of Walking Dead (when it was at it's worst).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 20 January, 2021, 02:16:53 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 20 January, 2021, 02:11:58 PM
Started Season 4 of Black Sails. Episode 1 would have taken an entire season of Walking Dead (when it was at it's worst).

Yeah. They'd decided ahead of time that this would be the last series, so it rattles along at a fair old clip and I don't think it's a spoiler to say that they stick the landing (for me, at least).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 20 January, 2021, 02:20:05 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 20 January, 2021, 02:16:53 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 20 January, 2021, 02:11:58 PM
Started Season 4 of Black Sails. Episode 1 would have taken an entire season of Walking Dead (when it was at it's worst).

Yeah. They'd decided ahead of time that this would be the last series, so it rattles along at a fair old clip and I don't think it's a spoiler to say that they stick the landing (for me, at least).

True for me as well. I enjoyed every season of Black Sails. No unnecessary pondering around
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 20 January, 2021, 02:23:17 PM
Started The Expanse. People have been shilling it to me for years but I was always like "Yeah,SyFy channel..."
Promising so far.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 20 January, 2021, 02:31:54 PM
Quote from: Smith on 20 January, 2021, 02:23:17 PM
Started The Expanse. People have been shilling it to me for years but I was always like "Yeah,SyFy channel..."
Promising so far.

I liked it from the start, but it's fair to say that S1 is the slowest season by far. There's a lot of very necessary world-building going on, which I enjoyed but which some people seem to have found off-putting.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 20 January, 2021, 02:45:50 PM

World building is, perhaps unsuprisingly, often the aspect I enjoy the most and I think The Expanse makes a particularly good job of it.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: 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?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 20 January, 2021, 07:45:20 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 19 January, 2021, 10:48:53 AM
Can't be arsed seraching for the screengrab, but when King tweeted that the current pandemic was really nothing like the Stand, one irate fan replied "have you even read the fucking book?"

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ESxE8oJX0AMXwGs.jpg)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: 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?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 20 January, 2021, 08:35:09 PM
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.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 20 January, 2021, 09:06:34 PM
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.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 20 January, 2021, 11:47:24 PM
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.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: 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.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 21 January, 2021, 08:59:01 AM
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.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 21 January, 2021, 10:05:46 AM
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.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 21 January, 2021, 10:24:36 AM
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.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 21 January, 2021, 10:33:12 AM

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.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 21 January, 2021, 12:09:04 PM
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.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 21 January, 2021, 12:13:25 PM

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

P1R4T3 64Y?

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 21 January, 2021, 06:08:26 PM
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.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 27 January, 2021, 10:19:15 AM
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.




Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 27 January, 2021, 12:16:02 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.





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 :(

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 27 January, 2021, 12:20:10 PM
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.)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 27 January, 2021, 01:21:57 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 27 January, 2021, 12:16:02 PM
Nobody listens to me :(

The Shark who cried Tuunbaq.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 27 January, 2021, 01:47:19 PM
Finished Season 2 of Icelandic celebration of small-town misery Trapped. Maybe not quite as strong as the wonderfully claustrophobic snowbound Season 1, due to a corporate/political plot that seems to have been simplified a bit in favour of an avalanche of grisly family secrets, but it makes up for it with some top-level beloved character murder.

Main attractions are monolithic detective Andri, a sort of Dirty Frank on a heavy chlorprozamine regime, and a superbly believable cast that never ever smile, except to signal their death by the end of that episode. Terrific lockdown fare with dramatic chilly backgrounds - cheer up, you could be living in Siglufjörður.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 27 January, 2021, 02:45:38 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 27 January, 2021, 12:20:10 PM

...What We Do In The Shadows is fantastic.



It sure is - at least as good as the film, which is quite rare. I love the Cursed Hat - it [spoiler]chasing after the car in the background[/spoiler] made me laugh so hard I had to pause it.

Top telly!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Andrew_J on 27 January, 2021, 03:48:07 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 27 January, 2021, 10:19:15 AM
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.

RTE Player is surprisingly smooth on this occasion. I'm broadcasting it from the phone app via Chromecast to the tv and have had no problems. No ads at all either, I've realised.
Interesting, when I use the Player app on built into the tv there are ads. Go figure.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 27 January, 2021, 04:40:44 PM
Quote from: Andrew_J on 27 January, 2021, 03:48:07 PM
RTE Player is surprisingly smooth on this occasion.

This is a sentence that has never before been thought, let alone written. End times, I tells ya.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 31 January, 2021, 07:13:42 PM
I watched two first episodes last night; THE SERPENT on iPlayer and IT'S A SIN on All4.

IAS by Russell T Davies was a riot from start to finish so I will definitely be back for more even though the tragedy is already baked in. RTD has a great knack for instantly likeable but flawed characters and this is coupled with great leads.

THE SERPENT? More like THE SHITPENT. Did they deliberately make it so slow to match the pacing of TV in the decade it was set? Jenna Coleman's nose is hypnotic. Sirely a special effect. If it's a 3 parter, I may stick with it. But any longer and I won't be bothered.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 31 January, 2021, 07:38:26 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 31 January, 2021, 07:13:42 PM
I watched two first episodes last night; THE SERPENT on iPlayer and IT'S A SIN on All4.

IAS by Russell T Davies was a riot from start to finish so I will definitely be back for more even though the tragedy is already baked in. RTD has a great knack for instantly likeable but flawed characters and this is coupled with great leads.

This one is an absolute heartbreaker but 11/10 tv.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ming on 01 February, 2021, 11:31:57 AM
Following numerous recommendations here, we've been getting stuck into Black Sails recently (now half-way through Season 2).  For reasons that are very much in-your-face, the missus and I have started calling it by a different name, though:

Tits Ahoy!
With the Occasional Cock.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 02 February, 2021, 10:09:51 AM
Dipped back into some Inside No. 9 as comfort food to forestall a looming grump, and in the twisting ways of the internet this somehow led me on to Sheridan Smith's Wiki entry. And there I discovered that there's no mention of 12 Days of Christine* outside of the bald listing in her filmography table. I was expecting several nominations, maybe a even a win or two. Like fair enough, she was good as Cilla, but that episode, and her performance, is one of the great short pieces of modern telly - but her stint narrating Bear Grylls gets more coverage. Is this one of those Mandela Effect* things?     

Elsewhere, and in a vaguely similar vein, we've been enjoying Daisy Haggard's Back to Life. It suffers slightly from the habitual British comedy tic of situating its struggling protagonists in an insulating milieu of unexamined middle-class affluence (see also: Fleabag, Outnumbered), but it walks an entertaining line between suburban dark comedy and sort-of murder mystery. I have to ask though, does the English prison system really just chuck lifers out cold without any kind of preceding furlough/acclimatisation period? It seems like a plan guaranteed to lead to sitcom premises.

Entirely different is the fizzy confection of Call My Agent, which is a much gentler cross between Extras and Thick Of It, complete with a perfect French clone of Roger Allam, the magnificently-named (and coiffured) Thibault Charles Marie Septime de Montalembert (of The Tunnel fame). Some lovely rapid-fire French hiding behind the subtitles, homeschoolers take note.

Also did a few episodes of Summer of Rockets, which is a handsome and lusciously-cast late-50s-set period piece, but am distracted by a score which perpetually seems to imply a looming crisis which never arrives (possibly a musical Cold War subtext), and the fact that I expect Toby Stephen's mild-mannered hearing-aid manufacturer to explode into over-muscled piratical violence at any moment.


*I didn't actually watch the episode again at this time. C'mon, I'm trying to cheer myself up here, not reduce myself to racking sobs.
** Why do I find that term borderline offensive?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bolt-01 on 02 February, 2021, 10:40:02 AM
I've just finished The Right Stuff on the Disney+ and found it to be a really well made show. I've not read the source book or even seen the earlier film, so can't compare but it has revived my interest in reading about the early days of manned space flight.

I'm also half-way through The Good Lord Bird on Sky - I'm not sure what I was expecting this to be, but it almost feels like a Coen brothers tale. Ethan Hawke steals every scene he is in which is unfortunately to the detriment of the storytelling.

Still working through Star Trek: Discovery, now in the second half of season 2. Very silly show that wants to be serious but to me the plot is just letting it down. Lots of fun though.

My highlight is Black Sails - into the second half of season three and just the most glorious storytelling. Even Jack Rackham is on top form.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 02 February, 2021, 10:41:52 AM
Quote from: Bolt-01 on 02 February, 2021, 10:40:02 AM
I've just finished The Right Stuff on the Disney+ and found it to be a really well made show. I've not read the source book or even seen the earlier film, so can't compare but it has revived my interest in reading about the early days of manned space flight.

I enjoyed the show but the movie is better
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 02 February, 2021, 10:56:31 AM
Quote from: broodblik on 02 February, 2021, 10:41:52 AM
Quote from: Bolt-01 on 02 February, 2021, 10:40:02 AM
I've just finished The Right Stuff on the Disney+ and found it to be a really well made show. I've not read the source book or even seen the earlier film, so can't compare but it has revived my interest in reading about the early days of manned space flight.

I enjoyed the show but the movie is better

Agreed, although I think they work well as companion pieces, emphasising different aspects.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 02 February, 2021, 11:03:36 AM
The show felt more like a drama with the space flights more in the background. But yes it is a good companion to the movie
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bolt-01 on 02 February, 2021, 11:28:30 AM
Darn it! Need to watch the film now.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 02 February, 2021, 12:43:49 PM

Just started Black Sails on the advice of this thread. I'm struggling to engage with it at the moment but I believe it improves so I'll stick with it.

It's a long time since I read Treasure Island so I might dig out a copy and re-read that before I crack on.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: ming on 02 February, 2021, 12:57:18 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 02 February, 2021, 12:43:49 PM

Just started Black Sails on the advice of this thread. I'm struggling to engage with it at the moment but I believe it improves so I'll stick with it.

Just start shouting Tits Ahoy! every time a pair hoves into view - makes for quite a jolly (roger) viewing experience.  Just finished season two and the pace of this show is breathtaking - really enjoying it, so thanks for all the recommendations of this!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 02 February, 2021, 01:15:52 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 02 February, 2021, 12:43:49 PM
It's a long time since I read Treasure Island so I might dig out a copy and re-read that before I crack on.

Do!  It's surprisingly great.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 02 February, 2021, 01:33:34 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 02 February, 2021, 01:15:52 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 02 February, 2021, 12:43:49 PM
It's a long time since I read Treasure Island so I might dig out a copy and re-read that before I crack on.

Do!  It's surprisingly great.

I read it to the boy child (8 at the time) and aside from the language making it a little tricky to read out loud we both enjoyed it a lot. The version we read had a glossary which was very useful!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 02 February, 2021, 04:43:22 PM
Quote from: Bolt-01 on 02 February, 2021, 11:28:30 AM
Darn it! Need to watch the film now.

It's fab. RIGHT STUFF followed by FIRST MAN followed by APOLLO 13. There is a grand night in.

Then listen to Race for Space by Public Service Broadcasting.

But don't read anything about what really happened in the Challenger disaster.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 02 February, 2021, 05:53:28 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 02 February, 2021, 04:43:22 PM
Quote from: Bolt-01 on 02 February, 2021, 11:28:30 AM
Darn it! Need to watch the film now.

It's fab. RIGHT STUFF followed by FIRST MAN followed by APOLLO 13. There is a grand night in.

Then listen to Race for Space by Public Service Broadcasting.

But don't read anything about what really happened in the Challenger disaster.

I endorse every word of this post. Have done Item 1 twice now, it's a sublime trilogy.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 02 February, 2021, 06:19:11 PM

You could add Apollo 18 for a suitably creepy finale before bed.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 02 February, 2021, 07:20:55 PM
I'd throw in "From the Earth to the Moon"  the Tom Hanks produced series about the Apollo program from HBO.  Some cracking episodes.  My personal favourite is "Spider" that details the development of the Lunar Lander.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 02 February, 2021, 07:34:18 PM

Up to the fifth episode of the first series of Black Sails now and it's finally started pulling me in. Thanks, hivemind!

(I didn't know whether to chuckle or frown when I spotted in the credits, "MELISSA HAIDEN..........as Distressed Whore," so decided to frown on the outside and chuckle way down in the darkest recesses of my lizard brain while the rest of me tuts at it.)

Think I'll read the book after the series.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 02 February, 2021, 07:34:24 PM

Up to the fifth episode of the first series of Black Sails now and it's finally started pulling me in. Thanks, hivemind!

(I didn't know whether to chuckle or frown when I spotted in the credits, "MELISSA HAIDEN..........as Distressed Whore," so decided to frown on the outside and chuckle way down in the darkest recesses of my lizard brain while the rest of me tuts at it.)

Think I'll read the book after the series.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 04 February, 2021, 04:37:38 PM
Watching French horror series Marianne on Netflix this week, and am about halfway through the 1st  (and presumably only) season.

There is a lot to like here - wonderful moments of inventive horror and a basically solid, if familiar, premise.

What's doing me head in are the main cast - lead actress Victoire du Bois is immensely - immensely - unlikable.
I get that may have something to do with the "damaged cliche" character she's portraying, but I dunno.

Most of the supporting cast are equally crap, to the point where I now find myself rooting for the titular demon bride.

With a slightly harder edge, more even tone and better casting choices this could have been better than The Haunting of Hill House.

C'est La Vie.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 05 February, 2021, 07:58:26 PM
Dunno who here is enjoying WandaVision (I suppose it depends on your tolerance for over-engineered corporate smugness masquerading as creativity (my own threshold is alarmingly high)), but this week (Episode 5) they tried the meta-gag to beat all meta-gags.

It'd be entirely appropriate if a retro-sitcom-themed show jumped the shark, but I'm hoping this trick works. It's been an enjoyable weekly event (my daughter in particular loves it) and an interesting way to create an epilogue to Endgame and indeed what I assume is a bridge between the MCU's Phases 3 and 4.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 06 February, 2021, 02:00:26 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 05 February, 2021, 07:58:26 PM
Dunno who here is enjoying WandaVision (I suppose it depends on your tolerance for over-engineered corporate smugness masquerading as creativity (my own threshold is alarmingly high)), but this week (Episode 5) they tried the meta-gag to beat all meta-gags.

It'd be entirely appropriate if a retro-sitcom-themed show jumped the shark, but I'm hoping this trick works. It's been an enjoyable weekly event (my daughter in particular loves it) and an interesting way to create an epilogue to Endgame and indeed what I assume is a bridge between the MCU's Phases 3 and 4.

Loving WandaVision, and just saw the latest episode.

If you haven't seen the episode, don't check my spoiler (unless you don't mind, obviously):[spoiler]Considering what happened at the end of the episode, will Wanda be the catalyst for bridging a couple of Marvel cinematic universes? I thought that character might turn up but not *that* version! Brilliant![/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 06 February, 2021, 10:17:26 PM
And that's me at the end of BLACK SAILS. What a satisfying end to it all.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 06 February, 2021, 11:29:59 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 06 February, 2021, 10:17:26 PM
And that's me at the end of BLACK SAILS. What a satisfying end to it all.

Yep. I really thought they stuck the landing on this one, which is one of the reasons why I rate this in recent(ish) TV series. Four or five iffy episodes right at the start aside, this is one of my favourite series in the last ten years by a comfortable margin.

(Also, one of the best theme tunes/title sequences outside of Game of Thrones I can think of...)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 07 February, 2021, 12:01:11 AM
Toby Stephens was just magnificent throughout but the last couple of episodes in particular. The final stand off between him and Silver was packed with solid character driven motivation and both outcomes utterly logical and not at all contrived.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trooper McFad on 07 February, 2021, 05:58:28 PM
I know this has been out for a while with 6 seasons dit decided to give it ago.
3 seasons in and really enjoying it so far. Only issue going further is how many more Viking on Viking battles can the Viking "nation" take and still be able to raid foreign lands?
I'm glad there's a final season so hopefully the ones I've still to watch follow a strong story.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 07 February, 2021, 06:03:40 PM
I lost interest during season 4, see if you can guess why.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 07 February, 2021, 06:47:16 PM
Green Hornet is from the same blokes that made the Batman show, but is meant to be serious - even though it has the same rasping soundtrack and narrator on top of a ludicrous premise, as well as some very familiar-looking shots - that play almost every week - of the dynamic duo's super-vehicle thundering out of its hidden cave while the theme tune plays.  Unlike Batman, most episodes are done-in-one, though, and involve murder or blackmail.  It's shocking how it took watching this to twig how much the Batman series was a riff on 1940s/1950s movie serials, and... uhhhhh, this actually kinda works just fine?  I mean, it's dated pretty drastically and none of the plots are rocket science, but if you want to turn off your brain and just watch images flicker on the tv, this is fine.

Disenchantment - Matt Groenig's other other animated show.  Never quite finds its feet in terms of tone, which becomes all too obvious during the second season when it drops the episodic sitcom angle and becomes a serial throttled by the usual "looming threat" arcs and mysteries-upon-mysteries backstory revelations that just aren't interesting enough to justify hijacking the entire show.  Leaving it to the third season to address the lead character's sexual orientation and then dodging the bullet with an [spoiler]"all a dream"[/spoiler] cop-out is kinda chickenshit, too, but overall it has its moments.  It just isn't a patch on Futurama, but is easily as good as - and probably even better than - The Simpsons






episodes that they currently make.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 08 February, 2021, 09:26:46 AM
Quote from: Mister Pops on 07 February, 2021, 06:03:40 PM
I lost interest during season 4, see if you can guess why.

The introduction of JayzusB.Christ to the cast of extras?
Yeah, I hear ye.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trooper McFad on 08 February, 2021, 10:23:44 AM
Quote from: Link Prime on 08 February, 2021, 09:26:46 AM
Quote from: Mister Pops on 07 February, 2021, 06:03:40 PM
I lost interest during season 4, see if you can guess why.

The introduction of JayzusB.Christ to the cast of extras?
Yeah, I hear ye.

Ooh no that's me just finished season 3 and was gonna start 4 this week. Question to those who pushed through 4 is it like most long running series with a slow character building/no I've runout of ideas at the moment season but then kicks on for the final seasons?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 08 February, 2021, 12:07:17 PM
Quote from: Trooper McFad on 08 February, 2021, 10:23:44 AM
Quote from: Link Prime on 08 February, 2021, 09:26:46 AM
Quote from: Mister Pops on 07 February, 2021, 06:03:40 PM
I lost interest during season 4, see if you can guess why.

The introduction of JayzusB.Christ to the cast of extras?
Yeah, I hear ye.

Ooh no that's me just finished season 3 and was gonna start 4 this week. Question to those who pushed through 4 is it like most long running series with a slow character building/no I've runout of ideas at the moment season but then kicks on for the final seasons?

Sorry Trooper, that was just a Forum in "joke".

What Senor Pops is referring to is a very significant status quo change in season 4.

For what it's worth, I am still watching and enjoying the show - just have to catch up on the final couple of episodes from Season 6 now.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 08 February, 2021, 01:34:35 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 08 February, 2021, 12:07:17 PM
Quote from: Trooper McFad on 08 February, 2021, 10:23:44 AM
Quote from: Link Prime on 08 February, 2021, 09:26:46 AM
Quote from: Mister Pops on 07 February, 2021, 06:03:40 PM
I lost interest during season 4, see if you can guess why.

The introduction of JayzusB.Christ to the cast of extras?
Yeah, I hear ye.

Ooh no that's me just finished season 3 and was gonna start 4 this week. Question to those who pushed through 4 is it like most long running series with a slow character building/no I've runout of ideas at the moment season but then kicks on for the final seasons?

Sorry Trooper, that was just a Forum in "joke".

What Senor Pops is referring to is a very significant status quo change in season 4.

No, you had it right the first time Link, the striking good looks of Jayzus lurking in the background had me too twitterpated to follow the plot.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 09 February, 2021, 10:41:38 PM
I never got by the first episode of Bridgerton despite liking the lavish fantasy setting, colour blind casting and handsome if unlikable leads.

So I picked up on A SUITABLE BOY which looks like it will engage me more. Again visually a delight if a lot of stereotypical imagery. I like the initial promise of more weighty issues (though the results of the partition sem all rather PG rated "troubles") being covered behind a Romeo and Juliet start. It doesn't seem particularly poetic or lyrical though... not sure why I had it in my head it would be. But I'll persevere with this.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bolt-01 on 11 February, 2021, 01:12:40 PM
Currently watching:

Raised By Wolves - seen only the first episode. Not sure what to make of it.
Star Trek Discovery - Season 2 ep 11 - bonkers but fun. Capt Pike is superbly charismatic.
The Haunting of Bly Manor - finished this last night and while I enjoyed the show I think the last episode was a colossal let-down.
Black Sails - Season 3 ep09 - good lord this is good telly. Topgallants indeed!
The Expanse - Season 1 ep02 - I didn't realise till I started this that I'd read some books by Corey. I reckon they are part of this universe so I look forward to recognising things at some point.

Trying to work through these 1 episode at a time for each - makes for some variable time gaps between episodes. Need to pick a new show to introduce to rotation now. I'm thinking of the Wire, keep some variety.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 11 February, 2021, 01:20:40 PM

I really must watch The Wire as I'm given to understand that it's rather good.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 11 February, 2021, 01:33:40 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 11 February, 2021, 01:20:40 PM

I really must watch The Wire as I'm given to understand that it's rather good.

Yep its quite superb.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 11 February, 2021, 01:44:23 PM
Finished season 1 of Expanse. It raises so many questions. I hope they get answered.

Back to The Americans. Seriously unappreciated show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 11 February, 2021, 02:06:03 PM
The Americans where are great series just did not like the ending
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Professor Bear on 11 February, 2021, 02:26:36 PM
The Wire is okay, but it's no Walker: Texas Ranger - no idea why I started watching this, probably because people were so publicly annoyed at Chuck Norris for being a douchebag at the Capitol Riot, but it didn't worry me none as he's long been problematic because of his extreme Christian fundamentalist views, but even those are part of the bizarre Chuck Norris package: karate champion, musician, fiction and non-fiction writer, occasional televangelist, pro-cop, anti-government - I mean, clearly I am describing the lead character from a series of pulp novels about a truck driver that fights vampires in post-apocalyptic America, and if he was left wing it would just sort of ruin it.  It just would.
Anyway, this show is a complete load of bollocks, but it does have lots of explosions and someone usually fights a bear every 12 episodes or so.  Around the third season, it just starts doing stuff about ghosts, with Billy Drago cosplaying as a Native American witchdocter raised from the dead to kill white people, or Chuck Norris pulling double duty as the ghost of a cowboy out to stop modern day crooks finding his cursed gold, and then Chuck fights a bear but they achieve mutual respect and team up to fight Bigfoot, who is actually a cyborg - that probably sounds a lot sillier than it actually is in the show, because you see the cyborg is actually a crook that Walker has been pursuing for years after he murdered Walker's sheriff friend who was one day from retirement, and Walker shot the plane the crook escaped in out of the sky with his handgun, but it was lost in the mountains and years later, Walker discovers that the crook didn't die in the plane crash because he welded parts of the plane to himself to replace the missing parts of his head and body, and now he wanders the mountains looking for victims to dismember using the proportionate speed and strength of a light aircraft - so you see, when you break it down, it's no different than something you'd see in The Wire.
I also just realised that long before he makes his first appearance and when characters ominously hear Bigfoot off in the distance, he's not growling, he's making plane engine noises.  When one episode starts with a mid-air shootout between hot air balloons, it barely registers as unusual.  Needless to say, this show is very silly.

Buuuuuuuuuuuuut...

It is still significantly better than Walker - the 2021 reboot of the above, reinvented as an ensemble drama about a cop's 16 year-old daughter and her boring-as-fuck daddy issues, because that is naturally what you do when you have to reinvent a show about a lone wolf karate cowboy supercop.  Everything bad about the original is bad in the remake, too, only it's 2021 so there's no excuse for it.  I mean, it's a fucking cop show in 2021 - shot in and around the Texas border with Mexico - and yet it has nothing to say about institutionalised racism to the point that one character gets a visit from ICE and our supposed moral touchstone character doesn't even bat an eyelid, because This Is Fine.  Three episodes in, no-one has fought a bear or a ghost, and I am beginning to suspect that the show's producers think they're too good for that sort of thing.
I expected better from one half of the lead actors of Supernatural and/or The CW.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 11 February, 2021, 02:38:51 PM

Heh, that's Post of the Week right there!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 11 February, 2021, 06:09:56 PM
Quote from: Professor Bear on 11 February, 2021, 02:26:36 PM
Walker: Texas Ranger - no idea why I started watching this, probably because people were so publicly annoyed at Chuck Norris for being a douchebag at the Capitol Riot, but it didn't worry me none as he's long been problematic because of his extreme Christian fundamentalist views, but even those are part of the bizarre Chuck Norris package: karate champion, musician, fiction and non-fiction writer, occasional televangelist, pro-cop, anti-government - I mean, clearly I am describing the lead character from a series of pulp novels about a truck driver that fights vampires in post-apocalyptic America, and if he was left wing it would just sort of ruin it.  It just would.
Anyway, this show is a complete load of bollocks, but it does have lots of explosions and someone usually fights a bear every 12 episodes or so.  Around the third season, it just starts doing stuff about ghosts, with Billy Drago cosplaying as a Native American witchdocter raised from the dead to kill white people, or Chuck Norris pulling double duty as the ghost of a cowboy out to stop modern day crooks finding his cursed gold, and then Chuck fights a bear but they achieve mutual respect and team up to fight Bigfoot, who is actually a cyborg - that probably sounds a lot sillier than it actually is in the show, because you see the cyborg is actually a crook that Walker has been pursuing for years after he murdered Walker's sheriff friend who was one day from retirement, and Walker shot the plane the crook escaped in out of the sky with his handgun, but it was lost in the mountains and years later, Walker discovers that the crook didn't die in the plane crash because he welded parts of the plane to himself to replace the missing parts of his head and body, and now he wanders the mountains looking for victims to dismember using the proportionate speed and strength of a light aircraft - so you see, when you break it down, it's no different than something you'd see in The Wire.
I also just realised that long before he makes his first appearance and when characters ominously hear Bigfoot off in the distance, he's not growling, he's making plane engine noises.  When one episode starts with a mid-air shootout between hot air balloons, it barely registers as unusual.  Needless to say, this show is very silly.

Also has one of the greatest moments in tv history:

https://youtu.be/ebOKo96HfEM (https://youtu.be/ebOKo96HfEM)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 12 February, 2021, 06:15:57 AM
The best way I see a remake like Walker or even something like Magnum is to "forget" the original and watch the "remake" for what it is. I see it as characters that have the same name as a classic series. Judge teh show on your enjoyment not what the classic done.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 12 February, 2021, 02:11:47 PM
Babylon 5 Season Four

This season is the first that hasn't exceeded it's predecessor.  I must be more used to long form storytelling tv shows, because the pacing in the season is way too fast.  Wasn't expecting to say that!  There's still good stuff here but I think it is not a well crafted season.  I wonder what it would have been like if they knew they had a fifth season to work with when making this one.

Surprisingly, the President Clark stuff didn't have much parallel with what we've seen recently in US politics.  I think something the real life events have demonstrated is there are severe foundational problems with the US system of governance.  In contrast, Babylon 5 presents it as an issue of individuals and not systems.  The show is heavily militaristic and has a unnerving "might is right" attitude to conflict.  From season 1 I thought the military running B5 didn't make sense.  The shows politics and philosophy end up just being naive and underdeveloped, failing to tackle many issues with any kind of nuance or grace.  This is probably because it's not the core of the show, it's just set dressing.  The core of the show is an epic messianic space saga, which it achieves very effectively.

So season 4 shows the wrinkles in the show and is clearly rushed.  The experience so far is still top quality and I continue to thoroughly enjoy watching the show.  Overall, it is still beating my expectations for this long overdue rewatch.  I've come to appreciate it a lot more than I did before.

Only Season 5 to go.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 12 February, 2021, 04:50:54 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 12 February, 2021, 02:11:47 PM
Babylon 5 Season Four

This season is the first that hasn't exceeded it's predecessor.  I must be more used to long form storytelling tv shows, because the pacing in the season is way too fast.  Wasn't expecting to say that!  There's still good stuff here but I think it is not a well crafted season.  I wonder what it would have been like if they knew they had a fifth season to work with when making this one.

Surprisingly, the President Clark stuff didn't have much parallel with what we've seen recently in US politics.  I think something the real life events have demonstrated is there are severe foundational problems with the US system of governance.  In contrast, Babylon 5 presents it as an issue of individuals and not systems.
It's diminished for you, because of this? That's interesting to me.

I agree S3 is superior. S4 does suffer heavily because of its forced pace--such a huge shame. I never really enjoyed the culmination of the Shadows vs. Vorlons arc, either, which didn't live up to the promise of the earlier seasons. All that being said, when it's good, it's as good as ever.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 12 February, 2021, 06:22:33 PM
Quote from: wedgeski on 12 February, 2021, 04:50:54 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 12 February, 2021, 02:11:47 PM
Babylon 5 Season Four

This season is the first that hasn't exceeded it's predecessor.  I must be more used to long form storytelling tv shows, because the pacing in the season is way too fast.  Wasn't expecting to say that!  There's still good stuff here but I think it is not a well crafted season.  I wonder what it would have been like if they knew they had a fifth season to work with when making this one.

Surprisingly, the President Clark stuff didn't have much parallel with what we've seen recently in US politics.  I think something the real life events have demonstrated is there are severe foundational problems with the US system of governance.  In contrast, Babylon 5 presents it as an issue of individuals and not systems.
It's diminished for you, because of this? That's interesting to me.

I'm not sure what you are asking me here.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 13 February, 2021, 02:36:30 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 12 February, 2021, 06:22:33 PM
Quote from: wedgeski on 12 February, 2021, 04:50:54 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 12 February, 2021, 02:11:47 PM
Babylon 5 Season Four

This season is the first that hasn't exceeded it's predecessor.  I must be more used to long form storytelling tv shows, because the pacing in the season is way too fast.  Wasn't expecting to say that!  There's still good stuff here but I think it is not a well crafted season.  I wonder what it would have been like if they knew they had a fifth season to work with when making this one.

Surprisingly, the President Clark stuff didn't have much parallel with what we've seen recently in US politics.  I think something the real life events have demonstrated is there are severe foundational problems with the US system of governance.  In contrast, Babylon 5 presents it as an issue of individuals and not systems.
It's diminished for you, because of this? That's interesting to me.

I'm not sure what you are asking me here.
"In contrast, Babylon 5 presents it as an issue of individuals and not systems."

I read this as a complaint, but that might not have been your intent.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 13 February, 2021, 07:38:55 PM
WandaVision - eventually crawled out of its own bottom to stop being parody but it feels like all these Marvel things now.  Hard to care about but easy enough to watch.  I'll see it out to the end.

Superstore - supermarket based US sitcom.  Not great but okay if you need an easy comedy to dual screen to.

I can't wait for more Succession.  That was the last thing that was really essential for me.

Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 11 February, 2021, 01:20:40 PM

I really must watch The Wire as I'm given to understand that it's rather good.


It never gets bad but it gets kind of worse as it goes along.  Series 1 is great.  I liked series 2 a lot.  3 was a bit too much about politics.  4 and 5 change the focus and while it was still interesting, it didn't feel like the same show and I found it hard to care about most of the characters.

Deffo worth watching though.  If only for the rarity value of a good Idris Elba performance.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 14 February, 2021, 06:55:40 AM
The Investigation - great scandi procedural crime about the death of journalist Kim Wall.

Available on RTE player.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 14 February, 2021, 09:25:08 AM
Quote from: wedgeski on 13 February, 2021, 02:36:30 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 12 February, 2021, 06:22:33 PM
Quote from: wedgeski on 12 February, 2021, 04:50:54 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 12 February, 2021, 02:11:47 PM
Babylon 5 Season Four

This season is the first that hasn't exceeded it's predecessor.  I must be more used to long form storytelling tv shows, because the pacing in the season is way too fast.  Wasn't expecting to say that!  There's still good stuff here but I think it is not a well crafted season.  I wonder what it would have been like if they knew they had a fifth season to work with when making this one.

Surprisingly, the President Clark stuff didn't have much parallel with what we've seen recently in US politics.  I think something the real life events have demonstrated is there are severe foundational problems with the US system of governance.  In contrast, Babylon 5 presents it as an issue of individuals and not systems.
It's diminished for you, because of this? That's interesting to me.

I'm not sure what you are asking me here.
"In contrast, Babylon 5 presents it as an issue of individuals and not systems."

I read this as a complaint, but that might not have been your intent.

It was a criticism, sure.  The program deals with themes that centre around systemic issues, like the rise of authoritarianism, but treats them as if they are only issues with individuals.  The idea being that there isn't anything wrong with a system that allows for abuse by powerful individuals, it's a problem with those individuals.  B5 is hardcore pro-the-system, presenting the US governmental system as being a panicle of human achievement, to not only dominate Earth, but beyond the stars (I've just started season 5).

Although I noticed this point and I don't think it goes in Babylon 5's favour, I don't think the show has diminished for me because of it.  As I went on to say;
Quote
The shows politics and philosophy end up just being naive and underdeveloped, failing to tackle many issues with any kind of nuance or grace.  This is probably because it's not the core of the show, it's just set dressing.  The core of the show is an epic messianic space saga, which it achieves very effectively.

What did diminish it for me was the let-down that Season 4 ended up being.  That is offset by what a fantastic surprise the previous seasons were, especially 1 and 2 (which may be my favourites).  In many ways, this rewatch has elevated my opinion of B5.

Whilst I'm still talking about this, there is something else I noticed.  The quality of acting seems to be on two extremes in Season 4.  The main cast is still mostly great, but the bit parts are acted terribly.... especially the leader of the Mars Resistance, that was an awful performance.  I think they blew their acting budget on the improved special effects, which look great in this season.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Andrew_J on 14 February, 2021, 07:00:39 PM
Currently enjoying The Witcher on Netflix. I came to it through listening to the soundtrack while I'm working. The music is excellent, and Joey Batey's performance as a bard is brilliant and hilarious at the same time.

[spoiler]It took four episodes before I realised the three threads are not concurrent - is that even a spoiler?[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 14 February, 2021, 07:11:28 PM
Not really a spoiler. From what I recall though, it was pointless telling the narrative in that fashion.  No new thoughts about what you'd seen when you realised it all. Just [spoiler]"Oh, it was out of sequence."[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bolt-01 on 14 February, 2021, 07:21:35 PM
ooh the Witcher. Not seen that yet, or Lost in Space...

I'm already watching Discovery and The Expanse, so I'll save LIS for when one of those is absent from my watchlist - reckon I'll give the Witcher a go.

Ta
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 14 February, 2021, 08:30:26 PM
Quote from: repoman on 13 February, 2021, 07:38:55 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 11 February, 2021, 01:20:40 PM
I really must watch The Wire as I'm given to understand that it's rather good.
It never gets bad but it gets kind of worse as it goes along.  Series 1 is great.  I liked series 2 a lot.  3 was a bit too much about politics.  4 and 5 change the focus and while it was still interesting, it didn't feel like the same show and I found it hard to care about most of the characters.

I was similarly left-fielded by The Wire, because it's a show that gives you what you need, and not what you want - and I watched a video essay that outlined for me that it's perhaps not even something I'm in a position to understand well, compared to someone who's living close to the kind of lives that are being depicted. It's a story about Baltimore (of even America, or even capitalism), and not about the people you meet in the first series.

Anyway: I appreciated the depth even if I wasn't really aware of it on first viewing.

The Wire - Why Every Season Matters (https://youtu.be/AgJKaOO6wQ0)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 14 February, 2021, 08:39:49 PM
Alternatively, it's a show about Omar.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 14 February, 2021, 09:21:10 PM
Omar is an excellent character.  I thoroughly enjoyed The Wire start to end.  The weakest Season for me is 2, but it's all relative and it's still great.  Haven't seen it in years.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 15 February, 2021, 05:04:18 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 05 February, 2021, 07:58:26 PM
Dunno who here is enjoying WandaVision (I suppose it depends on your tolerance for over-engineered corporate smugness masquerading as creativity (my own threshold is alarmingly high)), but this week (Episode 5) they tried the meta-gag to beat all meta-gags.

It'd be entirely appropriate if a retro-sitcom-themed show jumped the shark, but I'm hoping this trick works. It's been an enjoyable weekly event (my daughter in particular loves it) and an interesting way to create an epilogue to Endgame and indeed what I assume is a bridge between the MCU's Phases 3 and 4.

I had to hold off for a while to gear up for it, but I just dove in and am really enjoying it. I don't know if it helps that I've only watched about two thirds of the MCU movies, so I'm not entirely au fait with who everyone is.

I'm thinking of it as a reverse jump-the-shark series. Most series have a normality, and the shark-jumping is when they abandon their reality because they've run out of ideas. With this show, the central conceit is that there are enormous cracks in the presented reality, so it's normal for it to be toyed with. It's shark-ception.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bolt-01 on 15 February, 2021, 09:29:16 AM
With WandaVision the main thing my that my lot have picked up on is that this is apparently the foundation story for where they go next with the MCU. The next wave of content, film wise, all come along after the TV shows that are running.

So, for me the most telling thing here is where is Wanda getting the power from? She is not this powerful (in the MCU) so what other sources of power are there available to her? Infinity Stones? possibly, but I think the in-show ads have hinted at other things - especially the one in episode 06 (at time of writing).

I'm wondering if we are seeing the first instances of a character that could be termed as supernatural, seeing as Wanda is also going to be appearing in the next Dr Strange film. [spoiler]Mephisto?[/spoiler]

Either way, I'm very much enjoying the show and loved the sit-com setting.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 21 February, 2021, 10:55:14 PM
In the past I would usually stick to one series, watching it through, then move on to the next.

I've been alternating between these series however. I'm enjoying the experience.

Ratched on Netflix.  This is a TV series about the wicked* controlling head Nurse Mildred Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest when she first comes to the sanitarium in 1947. I'm enjoying it a lot. It's disturbingly dark in places but has moments of poignancy, mystery and lots of machination. Ratched is played by Sarah Paulson. (I remember her as Merlin the ghost girl from American Gothic - remember that weird show? Paulson's appeared on a lot since then, including several series of American Horror Story.)

Paulson is great in the role. I thought they might go down the cliched route of portraying her as a good person and showing her moral decline, and while there is an element of that, she shows great ruthlessness from the start.  She's got her reasons though, and she is certainly a complex character, and it's fun to see her machinations. In one episode she [spoiler]organises a horrific murder -which doesn't go to plan, but also shows great sympathy for other characters.[/

The supporting cast are very good too. I don't think we've met any of those characters yet (one plus of setting this so far before One Flew... ) so that gets rid of any worries, of "I know how they end up" that may be an issue for prequels. (It's rarely an issue for me, as it's all about the journey, for me, but I know many are bothered by that sort of thing. There's a doctor character who struck me as a pretty awful man,[spoiler] performing lobotomies willy-hilly (and awful hot cold bath treatment, in this case to cure two lesbians of their 'deviancy'. An awful, ambitious, cowardly little fellow. And seeing some of his back-story was incredibly disturbing.

And then last episode, he made me almost feel like I had something in my eye with his tearful "I think I actually helped someone!",  moment, after apparently successfully treating a MPD patient with great empathy. And it didn't come across out of character. [/spoiler]. That's range for you.

Paranormal on Netflix. Another period piece, this time set in 1970s Cairo. It's a foreign language series mostly performed (if that's the correct term) in Arabic. I'm enjoying this a lot. The filmography is very dismal (in a good way) considering this is set in such a hot country. I like the melancholic cynical lead character a lot, and the supporting cast are good. If I had any criticism, it would be that I find some of the paranormal stuff a bit on the nose. I don't mind some straight supernatural elements, but I wouldn't mind some things being a bit more ambiguous. I appreciate the X Files already did that, though.  Oh there's a creepy little girl in it too, and spooky children always hit the right chill factor with me, and I like that we aren't sure what her motivations are.

Vikings - final series on Amazon Prime:  Enjoyable series so far. Kudos for continuing the quality after [spoiler]killing off Ragnar Lothbrock. (Name is misspelt as it has Norse characters).[/spoiler]

Ripper Street on Amazon Prime: I've only seen one episode of this Victorian police drama, but I enjoyed that a lot. It went to a pretty nasty place some might find disturbing, but it's kinda in the title, isn't it?

The next two I can't really help seeing piecemeal since they're released weekly (although American Gods missed a week for the last episode, apparently due to American Super Bowl and Starz schedule. (It premiers in Starz in the US the day before apparently, then on Amazon Prime the next day.)

WandaVision on Disney+:  I won't say much about this, except I'm enjoying it a lot and, concerning last episodes end: "A-HA HA HA HAAA!" Also don't switch off during the over-long end-credits for this episode as there's a little mid-credits bit. You might want to ffwd though.

American Gods (latest series) on Amazon Prime: Its a little slow with the main series thread, but it's enjoyable enough. Glad they're doing more with Bilquis than Gaiman did.

It occurs to me, all but the latter two are period pieces.

*In the literal sense of the word. I don't use that word to mean 'good'.  Actually that was something that occurred when I was at secondary school, decades back. Do the kids still do this? I think they say 'sick' now instead.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Mardroid on 21 February, 2021, 11:02:34 PM
Tell a lie: Paranormal is apparently set in the sixties not seventies. (I'm unable to edit the above post.) I was sure I saw a 70s year at the start of the first episode.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JayzusB.Christ on 22 February, 2021, 02:57:15 PM
Speaking of the 70s, I've been watching old episodes of Tales of the Unexpected on Youtube - not exactly a boxset, I know, but cheaper.  Some are great, some aren't, but I hadn't realised at the time what an impressive cast it had.  Joan Collins, Derek Jacobi, Brian Blessed, Cyril Cusack, and John freaking Gielgud. And, er, Toyah, and Makepeace from Dempsey and Makepeace.

Also, I'd forgotten that the early ones were presented by Roald Dahl himself, looking and sounding just as creepy and sinister as one of his characters.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Woolly on 22 February, 2021, 03:30:29 PM
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 22 February, 2021, 02:57:15 PM
Speaking of the 70s, I've been watching old episodes of Tales of the Unexpected on Youtube - not exactly a boxset, I know, but cheaper.  Some are great, some aren't, but I hadn't realised at the time what an impressive cast it had.  Joan Collins, Derek Jacobi, Brian Blessed, Cyril Cusack, and John freaking Gielgud. And, er, Toyah, and Makepeace from Dempsey and Makepeace.

Also, I'd forgotten that the early ones were presented by Roald Dahl himself, looking and sounding just as creepy and sinister as one of his characters.

It was my Mums birthday at the end of January (78!) and she loves horror and stuff, so I got her the complete DVD set of all the episodes. Honestly, there's not much that lives up to the very first episode (and even that was ripped off in Four Rooms!)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Woolly on 22 February, 2021, 03:31:42 PM
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 22 February, 2021, 02:57:15 PM
Brian Blessed...

I can't watch that episode without thinking of Alan Partridge...  ;)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JayzusB.Christ on 22 February, 2021, 09:36:32 PM
Quote from: Woolly on 22 February, 2021, 03:30:29 PMHonestly, there's not much that lives up to the very first episode (and even that was ripped off in Four Rooms!)
]

Bugger.  I was just about to get stuck into it when I realised I'd listened to it as a short story in audiobook form a couple of weeks ago, which was what started me looking for TotU on Youtube.  Might watch it anyway, despite knowing the twist at the end.

Quote from: Woolly on 22 February, 2021, 03:31:42 PM
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 22 February, 2021, 02:57:15 PM
Brian Blessed...

I can't watch that episode without thinking of Alan Partridge...  ;)

Bugger again,   I'm very well-versed in the life and times of Partridge but I'm not getting the reference.  Help me out, man!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 01 March, 2021, 12:22:58 PM
Last night I made it though the first 20 minutes of the first episode of 'Another Life' on Netflix before bailing.

Quite possibly the worst Sci-fi show I have ever seen, and I've been watching this shite for 4 decades.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 01 March, 2021, 12:39:15 PM
Start watching WandaVision. Did struggle through the first episode not sure I have the energy to continue this.  My first try at the Disney+ Marvel stuff, so the next show at least has a very low bar.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 01 March, 2021, 12:51:02 PM
Quote from: broodblik on 01 March, 2021, 12:39:15 PM
Start watching WandaVision. Did struggle through the first episode not sure I have the energy to continue this.  My first try at the Disney+ Marvel stuff, so the next show at least has a very low bar.
We've loved this. 4:3, widescreen, black and white, colour, shot in front of an audience, all kinds of absurdity. It comes inside a shiny plastic MCU frame, and as the mysteries are resolved it has become less interesting, but overall, quality telly.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 01 March, 2021, 12:56:42 PM
I am always prepared to watch a second episode, does it get better? Will Red Bull help to get the necessary energy levels?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 01 March, 2021, 05:26:54 PM
Quote from: broodblik on 01 March, 2021, 12:56:42 PM
I am always prepared to watch a second episode, does it get better? Will Red Bull help to get the necessary energy levels?
If you didn't like the first episode, no amount of caffeine will turn you on to the rest. :)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 01 March, 2021, 05:49:10 PM
++MINI-SPOILERS AHOY!++

WandaVision certainly changes over time. There are hints in episode #1 that not all is quite right with their perfect world, and it's not a sitcom of the era each episode as much as the first couple suggest. We move gradually more and more into the realm of what's really happening, even though there's still that bubble of inside::outside going on.

I *thought* I was going to hate it, because it looked cheesy like nachos (https://youtu.be/wuYZT0BXpao), but I've found it quite compelling, and something I look forward to each Friday.

It reminds me quite a lot of an old Sapphire and Steel where there's some invisible barrier in the middle of a field.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Woolly on 03 March, 2021, 03:52:50 PM
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 22 February, 2021, 09:36:32 PM
Quote from: Woolly on 22 February, 2021, 03:31:42 PM
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 22 February, 2021, 02:57:15 PM
Brian Blessed...

I can't watch that episode without thinking of Alan Partridge...  ;)

Bugger again,   I'm very well-versed in the life and times of Partridge but I'm not getting the reference.  Help me out, man!

[spoiler]'..you could hit someone over the head with it, and eat the evidence..'[/spoiler] ;)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 03 March, 2021, 04:53:36 PM
I'm sticking with Wandavision but it's so smug and slick.  I know it's trying to be interesting but it's like EA making an 'indie' game or Bon Jovi trying to be punk.  It doesn't help that it seems to rely on you knowing the comics and it's really annoying for doing the post-credit thing too.   But it's not boring and it's quite short.  So it's low effort at least.

My current sitcom binge is Superstore which is on Netflix now and has a bunch of seasons.  It's just Brooklyn 99/Parks and Rec/Community/30 Rock:  Supermarket Edition but it's enjoyable for now.  I expect it to tail off like most US comedies.

Still enjoying The Flight Attendant.  I'm making slow progress with it but it is good.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 03 March, 2021, 07:53:54 PM
Quote from: repoman on 03 March, 2021, 04:53:36 PM
I'm sticking with Wandavision but it's so smug and slick.  I know it's trying to be interesting but it's like EA making an 'indie' game or Bon Jovi trying to be punk.
Wot?

QuoteIt doesn't help that it seems to rely on you knowing the comics
It doesn't. I don't.

Quoteand it's really annoying for doing the post-credit thing too.
Agreed! Especially since the credits are so loooooong.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 03 March, 2021, 07:58:29 PM
I've set myself up for massive disappointment yet again by starting Firefly over. No matter how many times I put the discs in, I can never find the sooper-sekret season 2 easter egg.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 03 March, 2021, 08:01:21 PM
Quote from: von Boom on 03 March, 2021, 07:58:29 PM
I've set myself up for massive disappointment yet again by starting Firefly over. No matter how many times I put the discs in, I can never find the sooper-sekret season 2 easter egg.
Yup, I can only do that to myself so many times. :(
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 03 March, 2021, 09:54:09 PM
Quote from: von Boom on 03 March, 2021, 07:58:29 PM
I've set myself up for massive disappointment yet again by starting Firefly over. No matter how many times I put the discs in, I can never find the sooper-sekret season 2 easter egg.

Just started watching this with the Boy. I thought his Expanse-jaded eyes would reject its early-2000s cowboy stylings, but no, he fell for it right from the off. Haven't seen him as enthusiastic about anything I've pushed on him since Dredd.


*As an aside, it's hard to watch this without a unpleasant gloss of Whedon revelations. It's not really spoiling my enjoyment, but it is making me think about what I'm watching.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 03 March, 2021, 11:54:57 PM
I never quite saw the fuss over Firefly.  I had caught Serenity by accident and heard all this hype about this amazing sci-fi show that was unfairly cancelled and it was the best thing ever etc. etc.

Then I watched it.

This was before I was better at managing my expectations.

Speaking of managing expectations, B5 Season 5 is turning out to be... bad.  I'm approaching the end of it and I'll be glad when it's done.  I'll possibly have some things to write about when I can reflect on the series in its entirety, but Season 5 is the worst of the Seasons and by a large margin.  It's almost like different people were involved in making it.  Londo and G'kar are the highlights and remain good, but I'm not entirely convinced by G'kar's character development.  I dunno, it's just so sloppy.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 04 March, 2021, 01:36:50 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 03 March, 2021, 11:54:57 PM
Speaking of managing expectations, B5 Season 5 is turning out to be... bad.  I'm approaching the end of it and I'll be glad when it's done.  I'll possibly have some things to write about when I can reflect on the series in its entirety, but Season 5 is the worst of the Seasons and by a large margin.  It's almost like different people were involved in making it.

It's hardly surprising.  Season 5 was an afterthought when the powers that be decided not to cancel at the end of Season 4 after all.  The original story arc was supposed to be 5 years long (IIRC) but when it looked like season 4 was definitely going to be it everything was slammed together.

The the reprieve ...  I can just imagine the creative team's response .."Are you kidding me ???? Are you F******* KIDDING ME !!!!!!!????????!!!!!!!"

What I would say is that if you don't enjoy season 5 that much then you might want to consider whether you really want to chance Crusade ...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 04 March, 2021, 01:39:11 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 03 March, 2021, 09:54:09 PM
*As an aside, it's hard to watch this without a unpleasant gloss of Whedon revelations. It's not really spoiling my enjoyment, but it is making me think about what I'm watching.
Yes, it does take a bit of the gloss off, but I haven't heard any reactions from the Firefly cast or crew about Whedon's behaviour.*

*Not to say there aren't issues occurring on that show as well, I just haven't come across them. Yet.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 04 March, 2021, 02:16:22 PM
Quote from: Tjm86 on 04 March, 2021, 01:36:50 PM

It's hardly surprising.  Season 5 was an afterthought when the powers that be decided not to cancel at the end of Season 4 after all.  The original story arc was supposed to be 5 years long (IIRC) but when it looked like season 4 was definitely going to be it everything was slammed together.

The the reprieve ...  I can just imagine the creative team's response .."Are you kidding me ???? Are you F******* KIDDING ME !!!!!!!????????!!!!!!!"

Even knowing this going into the season and having no adverse memories from the last time I watched it, I was still surprised in the drop in quality and it's not just the clear lack of ideas.  There was stuff left over from Season 4 that could be tied up, and they kinda did in Season 5.  Where S4 was rushed S5 is just sloppy.

Quote
What I would say is that if you don't enjoy season 5 that much then you might want to consider whether you really want to chance Crusade ...

I don't think I had any intention of watching Crusade.  I remember it being awful.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Woolly on 04 March, 2021, 03:40:49 PM
Quote from: repoman on 03 March, 2021, 04:53:36 PM
I'm sticking with Wandavision but it's so smug and slick.  I know it's trying to be interesting but it's like EA making an 'indie' game or Bon Jovi trying to be punk.  It doesn't help that it seems to rely on you knowing the comics and it's really annoying for doing the post-credit thing too.   But it's not boring and it's quite short.  So it's low effort at least.

I must say that I'm finding WandaVision to be among some of the best telly I've watched in recent years. I really didn't have a clue what to expect at the start, and I'm not familiar with the comics, but to watch a series that has clearly been properly planned out beforehand is absolute bliss these days!
It's lovingly created journey through american sitcom history has been a joy to behold, and Elizabeth Olsen deserves some kind of award for her part. To be able to play the same character in multiple iterations so convincingly is quite jaw-dropping to watch.

Ok, it's revelations aren't quite as clever as it thinks they are, but that's missing the point. The Marvel output is more about having a great journey than reaching a great conclusion (the illusion of change, and all that) and this is delivering in spades!

Last episode tomorrow - can't wait! :)

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bolt-01 on 04 March, 2021, 03:44:37 PM
I made the mistake of persevering with 'Raised By Wolves'...

Sweet Jovus it was awful.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 04 March, 2021, 03:53:06 PM
Quote from: Bolt-01 on 04 March, 2021, 03:44:37 PM
I made the mistake of persevering with 'Raised By Wolves'...

Sweet Jovus it was awful.

Starts off... sort of interesting, or holding out the promise of becoming interesting, but proceeds to become both less interesting, and make less and less sense, until you get to the last couple of episodes which I sat through out of nothing more than bloody-mindedness and... yeah. Awful.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bolt-01 on 04 March, 2021, 04:04:19 PM
Yeah, I'm enduring that while at the same time trying to ration out the last episodes of Black sails (only 2 more to go as of today) and really enjoying the Expanse (S2 ep01), Discovery (S3 ep05) and The Witch (Ep08).

My youngest keeps urging me to watch Sons of Anarchy next, but it is seven seasons...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 05 March, 2021, 12:46:07 PM
Quote from: Bolt-01 on 04 March, 2021, 04:04:19 PM
My youngest keeps urging me to watch Sons of Anarchy next, but it is seven seasons...

It's fairly addictive Bolt.
In the days before streaming / stable broadband in rural Ireland I used to buy the Blu-ray box-sets every year. They never lasted a full weekend.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 05 March, 2021, 06:15:45 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 04 March, 2021, 03:53:06 PM
Quote from: Bolt-01 on 04 March, 2021, 03:44:37 PM
I made the mistake of persevering with 'Raised By Wolves'...

Sweet Jovus it was awful.

Starts off... sort of interesting, or holding out the promise of becoming interesting, but proceeds to become both less interesting, and make less and less sense, until you get to the last couple of episodes which I sat through out of nothing more than bloody-mindedness and... yeah. Awful.

So glad to hear you say this - I thought it was just dreadful - really all over the shop.

Ridley Scott has completely run out of ideas - he's just plagiarising his older works over and over again.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 05 March, 2021, 07:44:50 PM
We lasted until somewhere early in Episode 4, and just sort of gave up. An interesting premise, good work from the two initial leads, but just all over the place. You could imagine Abnett making something good out of this setup, but alas.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 05 March, 2021, 07:50:06 PM
ah .. so it's not the semi-autobiographical comedy by Caitlin Moran that we're discussing?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 06 March, 2021, 12:32:45 AM
That's what I was wondering.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JayzusB.Christ on 06 March, 2021, 10:36:06 AM
Quote from: Woolly on 03 March, 2021, 03:52:50 PM
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 22 February, 2021, 09:36:32 PM
Quote from: Woolly on 22 February, 2021, 03:31:42 PM
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 22 February, 2021, 02:57:15 PM
Brian Blessed...

I can't watch that episode without thinking of Alan Partridge...  ;)

Bugger again,   I'm very well-versed in the life and times of Partridge but I'm not getting the reference.  Help me out, man!

[spoiler]'..you could hit someone over the head with it, and eat the evidence..'[/spoiler] ;)

If you'll forgive me:  A-HAAA! I'm with you now.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: sheridan on 06 March, 2021, 05:13:06 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 01 March, 2021, 12:22:58 PM
Last night I made it though the first 20 minutes of the first episode of 'Another Life' on Netflix before bailing.

Quite possibly the worst Sci-fi show I have ever seen, and I've been watching this shite for 4 decades.


Why's that then?  Poor acting?  Bad dialogue?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 06 March, 2021, 07:42:03 PM
Babylon 5

I'm finished.  It has problems.  Even though the ending is messy and sloppy, I think there would have been problems with the show paying off what it promised.  Those first three seasons were an excellent build up, but I don't think the conclusion would ever have been satisfactory if there wasn't the mess of cancellation/not cancellation.  This is probably most emblematic with the telepath plot.  Honestly, that plot thread was all over the place from the start.  It never really became a coherent thing and when they tried wrapping up it utterly failed to do anything.

At some point the show started avoiding, to its detriment, having anything to say.  A situation was created for the show that oozed social commentary and the dangers in the rise of fascism, nationalism and racism and it does nothing with it.  Ultimately it's stance ended up being that it can be justifiable for the military to be complicit in crimes against humanity because of honour and duty.  What a load of horseshit.

Overall, that's the problem with the show.  It promises so much and doesn't deliver.  It asks tough questions but doesn't like that they are tough.  It has intrigue and then naively shoves it aside with silliness.  Season 5 is a microcosm of the problems with the show at large and it all became much more apparent when I was shown, at length, what those problems were.  There's just a lot of weird choices, threads that go nowhere and ideas that are left dangling in the wind.

It's a shame really.  I think it's still worth a watch, but it isn't going to be entering my regular rotation.  It'll be something for when I'm in the mood for it, like the Battlestar Gallactica remake and Stargate Universe.

Those first three Seasons are still good, though.  There is some stellar acting and great characters.  It's a mixed bag.  I was going to make the obvious comparisons to DS9, but that's unfair.  DS9 is easily the better show and B5 has enough problems without me hitting it whilst its down.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 07 March, 2021, 12:36:53 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 06 March, 2021, 07:42:03 PM
Ultimately it's stance ended up being that it can be justifiable for the military to be complicit in crimes against humanity because of honour and duty.  What a load of horseshit.
I admit it's been a few years since I watched the full run, but I can't fathom coming out of B5 with that takeaway.

QuoteThose first three Seasons are still good, though.  There is some stellar acting and great characters.  It's a mixed bag.  I was going to make the obvious comparisons to DS9, but that's unfair.  DS9 is easily the better show and B5 has enough problems without me hitting it whilst its down.
This is in danger of turning into an episode of Spaced :), but... I remember B5 riveting me to the TV in ways that DS9 didn't. DS9 excelled in standalone episodes, but its ongoing arc was comparitively amateurish. I wouldn't put Sisko's feeble Chosen One trope up against the Londo/G'Kar arc, the Dominion War against the Shadow War, or 'What You Leave Behind' against 'Sleeping in Light'. It's just no contest.

DS9 wins in so many other departments, I'm not surprised it's better standing the test of time. Better dialogue, better sets, great modelwork and CG that doesn't look like it was rendered at 320x240. So many amazing episodes that if you fall into one it's likely to be really good. But in terms of high-stakes story-telling, B5 wins for me, hands-down. It did greater work with much less money, and paved the way for everything we're enjoying now in terms of long-form storytelling.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 07 March, 2021, 01:25:49 PM
Quote from: wedgeski on 07 March, 2021, 12:36:53 PM
I admit it's been a few years since I watched the full run, but I can't fathom coming out of B5 with that takeaway.

It's a Season 5 thing, but there are hints of it in other Seasons, particularly 4.

I'll disagree with the ongoing arc thing as well.  B5 fumbles nearly all it's arcs in a bad way.  It sets up some stuff better than DS9, sure, but it fails much harder than DS9 at resolving it.  The Emissary arc just is better than any arc in B5.  The Dominion War suffers from rushing to it's conclusion, but it's not on the scale of how crap the end of the Shadow War is.  DS9 is just more coherent and it's character arcs are generally more satisfying. 

If B5 had lived up to it's promise I would have agreed with you, but Season 4 is a rushed mess and Season 5 is sloppy and badly written.  Whether we put it down to circumstance or whatever, we have a final product and it just doesn't deliver.  In many ways, what Season 5 of B5 showed me is that the whole series is mired in production issues that required the story to be patchworked and repaired to accommodate changes in real-life situations.  Actors having issues, leaving the show, the cancellation thing.  It's all right there from the pilot onwards. 

This is pretty disappointing for me.  By the end of Season 3 I thought I may have re-evaluate my opinion on the comparison.  Season 4 affirmed my original opinion.  Season 5 had the unfortunate effect of making re-evaluate my opinion of B5 as a whole and I saw the gaping cracks.

Like I said, I didn't really want to do the comparison.  It isn't fair to B5.  I still like B5 and I don't regret watching it.  I'm glad I did rewatch it because I got to discover what worked for the show and what didn't.  B5 is great in concept.  There is a good foundation there for a real wonderful and epic space opera and there are three very excellent seasons.

I don't know what I'm going to watch next.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 07 March, 2021, 02:45:21 PM
Queen's Gambit is rather good.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 07 March, 2021, 05:13:17 PM
Struggling with The Expanse Season 4. There's been moments, but there have also been moments when its been pretty bad. The moustache twirling villian, the stand off between Inners and Belters in the settlement, Bobbie's arc hasn't been great and boundaries on cliche. Only half way through so plenty of time for it to pick up, but man this has been a come down after Season 3!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 07 March, 2021, 05:52:57 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 07 March, 2021, 05:13:17 PM
Struggling with The Expanse Season 4. There's been moments, but there have also been moments when its been pretty bad. The moustache twirling villian, the stand off between Inners and Belters in the settlement, Bobbie's arc hasn't been great and boundaries on cliche. Only half way through so plenty of time for it to pick up, but man this has been a come down after Season 3!

Oh dear.  I was considering The Expanse for a future watch, but I'm not sure I'll be ready for another late season slog.  I've only seen the first two seasons of the show.

I decided, rather hastily, to start rewatching Stargate Universe.  I'm halfway through the first episode and I'm already remembering the good and bad of this show.  Hopefully this'll be fun and maybe I've got over it's untimely cancellation.  Whatever happens, I know Robert Carlyle will steal the show (he already has, to be honest).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trooper McFad on 07 March, 2021, 10:35:59 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 07 March, 2021, 05:52:57 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 07 March, 2021, 05:13:17 PM
Struggling with The Expanse Season 4. There's been moments, but there have also been moments when its been pretty bad. The moustache twirling villian, the stand off between Inners and Belters in the settlement, Bobbie's arc hasn't been great and boundaries on cliche. Only half way through so plenty of time for it to pick up, but man this has been a come down after Season 3!

Oh dear.  I was considering The Expanse for a future watch, but I'm not sure I'll be ready for another late season slog.  I've only seen the first two seasons of the show.

I decided, rather hastily, to start rewatching Stargate Universe.  I'm halfway through the first episode and I'm already remembering the good and bad of this show.  Hopefully this'll be fun and maybe I've got over it's untimely cancellation.  Whatever happens, I know Robert Carlyle will steal the show (he already has, to be honest).
I'm 2 episodes from the end of season 5 and yes it has its up & down episodes and cliche characters but overall I've enjoyed the last 4 weeks of binge watching 5 seasons. I don't know if it will all end in the last 2 episodes but I would give season 6 a shot as there still seems a lot to tie up.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 07 March, 2021, 11:53:26 PM
Quote from: Trooper McFad on 07 March, 2021, 10:35:59 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 07 March, 2021, 05:52:57 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 07 March, 2021, 05:13:17 PM
Struggling with The Expanse Season 4. There's been moments, but there have also been moments when its been pretty bad. The moustache twirling villian, the stand off between Inners and Belters in the settlement, Bobbie's arc hasn't been great and boundaries on cliche. Only half way through so plenty of time for it to pick up, but man this has been a come down after Season 3!

Oh dear.  I was considering The Expanse for a future watch, but I'm not sure I'll be ready for another late season slog.  I've only seen the first two seasons of the show.

I decided, rather hastily, to start rewatching Stargate Universe.  I'm halfway through the first episode and I'm already remembering the good and bad of this show.  Hopefully this'll be fun and maybe I've got over it's untimely cancellation.  Whatever happens, I know Robert Carlyle will steal the show (he already has, to be honest).
I'm 2 episodes from the end of season 5 and yes it has its up & down episodes and cliche characters but overall I've enjoyed the last 4 weeks of binge watching 5 seasons. I don't know if it will all end in the last 2 episodes but I would give season 6 a shot as there still seems a lot to tie up.

OK, I'll keep watching people reviews on the show and won't dismiss it too hastily.

I finished the first episode(s) of Stargate Universe.  This is going to be an interesting rewatch as I remembering this show.  One uncomfortable thing about the early episodes is the pathetic backstabbing and childish micro politics of the characters.  I really don't know whether the writers intended them to be largely pathetic sacks of shit, but that's what we got.  It has an uncomfortable resonance with real life experiences.  Robert Carlyle is being positioned as an antagonist, but we're mostly getting this from how he is treated by other characters.  He is just universally disliked and we don't really see why.  So it makes other characters like Young come across as vindictive as well as incompetent.

So this time through I'm going into this that these are extremely flawed characters and it's a commentary on the attitudes from it's predecessor programs, especially towards the military.  I'm curious how far that reading will carry me.  Really I'm looking forward to the sci-fi goodness, cos this show certainly has it's share of that.

Once I'm done I can be disappointed that the show doesn't really have a proper end and get angry about it's cancellation again.  Good times.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 08 March, 2021, 10:32:54 AM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 07 March, 2021, 05:13:17 PM
Struggling with The Expanse Season 4. There's been moments, but there have also been moments when its been pretty bad. The moustache twirling villian, the stand off between Inners and Belters in the settlement, Bobbie's arc hasn't been great and boundaries on cliche. Only half way through so plenty of time for it to pick up, but man this has been a come down after Season 3!

The whole thing feels a bit like a side quest but there is enough to keep me going.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bolt-01 on 08 March, 2021, 11:04:29 AM
Black Sails finale.

Well, I expected 'some' of that, but that was a fantastic finale. What a great show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 08 March, 2021, 11:36:44 AM
Quote from: sheridan on 06 March, 2021, 05:13:06 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 01 March, 2021, 12:22:58 PM
Last night I made it though the first 20 minutes of the first episode of 'Another Life' on Netflix before bailing.

Quite possibly the worst Sci-fi show I have ever seen, and I've been watching this shite for 4 decades.


Why's that then?  Poor acting?  Bad dialogue?

Well, yeah - fer starters.
The rushed and asinine opening 15 minutes resulted in Starbuck and a dozen pouting Big Brother contestants being tasked with an interstellar mission to go talk to some aliens.
I tapped out before getting much further. Just. Awful.

The cinematography had a certain cheapness about it too, not something I've seen on other Netflix produced shows.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 08 March, 2021, 02:45:26 PM
I'm watching this new Superman thing.  I'm not enjoying it much but not hating it either.  I'm watching an episode and if it does well enough, I'll go onto the next.

Positives:  well, it's Superman and I quite like Superman (aside from anything since Superman 3).

Negatives:

Supes is no Reeve/Cavill.

Lois just isn't right.  I'm not looking to bodyshame anyone but she's aggressively thin.  Her face is so thin that her eyes don't really fit on it.  It's just a bit off-putting.  She hasn't got the heart or stubborness of Margot Kidder's Lois either.

They've got two sons in high school which means that CW get to do their whole teen drama thing.

One of the sons is a whiny emo kid.  He's hard to watch.  But thankfully he's not become entirely show ruining yet.  I'm sure he will be though.

Other son is more likeable.  That helps the show a bit.

They've invented a character called Captain Luther who isn't a relation to Lex.  He's just a guy.  That part of the story is the most interesting bit though as it seems to involve an evil Superman.  They're always going to bring in an evil Superman in these things I guess.

Hasn't resorted to 'bad guy of the week' Smallville shenanigans yet.

Two episodes in (I'm up to date).  I'll give it one more and will decide then if I want to continue.  I don't see me making it to the end of the series but will try to be open-minded.

 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 08 March, 2021, 08:09:24 PM
Quote from: Bolt-01 on 08 March, 2021, 11:04:29 AM
Black Sails finale.

Well, I expected 'some' of that, but that was a fantastic finale. What a great show.

Brought a tear to my glass eye, it did.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 08 March, 2021, 08:38:38 PM
Quote from: Bolt-01 on 08 March, 2021, 11:04:29 AM
Black Sails finale.

Well, I expected 'some' of that, but that was a fantastic finale. What a great show.

So nice to get a series that not only actually ends, instead of getting unceremoniously cancelled, but which sticks the landing as well. I definitely feel a re-watch coming on, with all the appreciative comments it's been getting the last few months.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 09 March, 2021, 02:57:07 AM
Black Sails is a show that I can highly recommend to anyone who has not seen it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 09 March, 2021, 06:16:49 AM
Quote from: broodblik on 09 March, 2021, 02:57:07 AM
Black Sails is a show that I can highly recommend to anyone who has not seen it.

Yeah just need not stick with it. The firsat 4 or 5 episodes aren't great, but once it gets into its stride it has some incredible moments. Its not quite Twin Peaks, Sopranos, The Wire good but its damned close.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 09 March, 2021, 09:40:56 AM
I spent much of the last week watching IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA which I initially intended to pace myself over, but quickly found it to be like crack.

Now if you'll excuse me, i'll be sipping a delicious and subtly zesty WOLF COLA(cm).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 10 March, 2021, 06:52:55 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 09 March, 2021, 09:40:56 AM
I spent much of the last week watching IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA which I initially intended to pace myself over, but quickly found it to be like crack.

Now if you'll excuse me, i'll be sipping a delicious and subtly zesty WOLF COLA(cm).

WOLF COLA IS PISS!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 10 March, 2021, 07:39:29 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 09 March, 2021, 09:40:56 AM
I spent much of the last week watching IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA which I initially intended to pace myself over, but quickly found it to be like crack.


(https://i.redd.it/jt7rwebxhxsy.jpg)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 11 March, 2021, 07:11:17 AM
Best (anti) sitcom we have right now.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 11 March, 2021, 09:07:56 AM
We finally got around to the closing season of Orange is the New Black and it was so good I felt I should apologise to the program for waiting so long (over a year). Enough changes to the formula to keep it fresh, the usual astonishing performances from a massive cast, deep cuts into the stinkiest layers of US corporatism, and more than its fair share of things in my eye. Really, really great.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 11 March, 2021, 12:17:37 PM
Just completed a full Archer rewatch (love that show), at the same time as watching season 10 of Bob's Burgers, which was bit disconcerting, voice-wise. I kept excepting Bob to tell Tina to eat a bag of dicks.

Also watched Tribes of Europa - German-made post-apocalyptic humbug. All the usual tropes and character-arcs are there, but these things always feel a bit fresher and different when they're not American. Ended rather abruptly after 6 episodes, but clearly primed for a 2nd season.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Barrington Boots on 11 March, 2021, 02:14:26 PM
After rediscovering a load of (mainly horrible) early 90s anime that I used to be into, I've just started watching Cowboy Bebop, what must be the most recommended-to-me-anime-series of all time, and it is excellent. I should have watched this sooner. Curse my reactionary spirit!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 11 March, 2021, 10:01:42 PM
Quote from: Barrington Boots on 11 March, 2021, 02:14:26 PM
After rediscovering a load of (mainly horrible) early 90s anime that I used to be into, I've just started watching Cowboy Bebop, what must be the most recommended-to-me-anime-series of all time, and it is excellent. I should have watched this sooner. Curse my reactionary spirit!

I must be the only person in the world who doesn't gush over Cowboy Bebop.  I didn't even finish watching the series.  Had one or two episodes to go, but just couldn't be bothered.  It wasn't bad but I really do not get what the fuss is about and I don't think I ever will.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 11 March, 2021, 11:35:38 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 08 March, 2021, 08:38:38 PM
Quote from: Bolt-01 on 08 March, 2021, 11:04:29 AM
Black Sails finale.

Well, I expected 'some' of that, but that was a fantastic finale. What a great show.

So nice to get a series that not only actually ends, instead of getting unceremoniously cancelled, but which sticks the landing as well. I definitely feel a re-watch coming on, with all the appreciative comments it's been getting the last few months.

So I loved that it ended so we'll but would also pay good money to see what TREASURE ISLAND would look like from the same team and cast.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Sean SD on 12 March, 2021, 02:59:55 AM
Quote from: Barrington Boots on 11 March, 2021, 02:14:26 PM
After rediscovering a load of (mainly horrible) early 90s anime that I used to be into, I've just started watching Cowboy Bebop, what must be the most recommended-to-me-anime-series of all time, and it is excellent. I should have watched this sooner. Curse my reactionary spirit!

what anime do you recommend? Never really watched any. Not sure if Speed Racer from the 70s counts lol
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 12 March, 2021, 06:10:45 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 11 March, 2021, 11:35:38 PM
So I loved that it ended so we'll but would also pay good money to see what TREASURE ISLAND would look like from the same team and cast.

Yeah I read Treasure Island with the boy chils after watch Black Sails (the boy didn't watch Black Sails, only I did that!) as I was curious and hadn't read it or watched a version of it for many, many years. Its a rollocking read and I would love to see what the creative team of Black Sails would do with it. Mind might need to wait a while if we're going to use the same cast!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Bolt-01 on 12 March, 2021, 08:36:55 AM
I'm half way through Treasure Island right now and absolutely loving it. The 'feel' of the work is so similar. The Black Sails team really did a great job.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Barrington Boots on 12 March, 2021, 09:04:08 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 11 March, 2021, 10:01:42 PMI must be the only person in the world who doesn't gush over Cowboy Bebop.  I didn't even finish watching the series.  Had one or two episodes to go, but just couldn't be bothered.  It wasn't bad but I really do not get what the fuss is about and I don't think I ever will.

That's a shame. I'm less than halfway in, but I'm finding it very good. Episodes are easy enough to watch as self contained chunks(and importanty, short enough to fit in during a lunchbreak or before work) but there's slow burning themes, characters are interesting and not stereotypes and the low-fi Scifi setting really works for me - it's touching that Space Western kind of vibe I so enjoyed in Firefly, Mandalorian etc. Also, Strontium Dog
It being so highly recommended by so any sources also gives me the confidence it'll complete it's story arcs and wrap up neatly rather than botch it (Battlestar Galactica) or just sort of finish midway (Deadwood) as I find myself reluctant to invest in a series that does that now.

Quote from: Sean SD on 12 March, 2021, 02:59:55 AM
what anime do you recommend? Never really watched any. Not sure if Speed Racer from the 70s counts lol

Not sure I'm best placed to answer this as my main anime phase was in the early 2000's with the first wave of 'Manga' as it was incorrectly dubbed then for the Western market. Stuff like Angel Cop, Crying Freeman, Cyber City Oedo 808, Fist of the North Star, AD Police etc - I had it all (on VHS!)

I've been rewatching these this year and although in most cases the animation is great they're bad. I believe they were selected for the West due to their lurid natures and they feature appalling voice dubs and extremely problematic plots with deep veins of misogyny and / or racism, insane violence, racism, sexual assault and so on. I couldn't reallty recommend any of them. They're not without merit (most contain some excellent stuff both visually and conceptually) but they've aged very, very badly.

One I have an enduring love for is Ninja Scroll but that is an uncomfortable watch at times as the female lead exists essentially to get assaulted and then die so the main character can have a justified rampage. The Japanese audio version is superior if you can watch with subtitles and I believe is on Youtube.

A lot of anime I see about now seems to be high-school themed where a student is angsty because they're a ghost / monster / have to fight ghosts or monsters etc but I've not dug too deep into the modern stuff. There may be other boarders who can suggest something better!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 12 March, 2021, 09:36:44 AM
Oh, I really dig the aesthetic of problematic 80's anime.

Y'know recommending Anime is hard.  There is so much that is easily available now.  It covers a wide spectrum of genres, over a long period of time and for a diverse set of demographics.

One of my favourites is Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.  The 1995 film is also one of my top 10 favourite films.  imo that does set the bar pretty high.

Honestly, I think if you want to watch some Anime without having seen any before, your best bet is to do some research.  Look up some lists of recommended Anime and find something that sounds interesting to you.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 12 March, 2021, 10:43:30 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 07 March, 2021, 05:13:17 PM
Struggling with The Expanse Season 4. There's been moments, but there have also been moments when its been pretty bad. The moustache twirling villian, the stand off between Inners and Belters in the settlement, Bobbie's arc hasn't been great and boundaries on cliche. Only half way through so plenty of time for it to pick up, but man this has been a come down after Season 3!

Okay it doesn't get any better. I real let down after the heights of Season 3 which did so much. It all felt like no one really knew what to do with any of it and all the storylines felt tangental or forced.

I wasn't at all convinced by Bobbie's turning to crime and the finding something to do, god that was terrible.

The political rumblings that was Avasarala wasn't given the space to be anything other than dull cliche that really didn't feel like it had any importance or consequence, even though it was for the prize of being the Inners leader.

The Rosi crews story of NuEarth and the frontier town invaded by the awful mustache twirling villain just didn't know what to do with itself either. It felt padded and contrieved. We'll make everyone go blind, now we'll have killer slugs... oh we've filled two episodes  now let's move back to not really developing the whole protomolecule thing, end Miller's bit but make it all feel a bit pointless and tacked on.

The best bit could have been the stuff with Drummer and Ashford - which I assume was to set up Season 5 - that felt squeezed to the corners and we won't know how good it was until we get to see more of Mario and hopefully he becomes more than just "Why? Well because I'm evil of course..."

Such a shame.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Sean SD on 13 March, 2021, 10:43:33 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 12 March, 2021, 09:36:44 AM
Honestly, I think if you want to watch some Anime without having seen any before, your best bet is to do some research.  Look up some lists of recommended Anime and find something that sounds interesting to you.

Sounds like a plan. Thanks  :)

I think if anything my fave genres to try in Anime would be futuristic stuff and lone warrior/quest/space western type material
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 13 March, 2021, 04:47:20 PM
Finished The Flight Attendant.

It was good overall.  Michelle Gomez was, as expected, the highlight.

I'm giving Superman and Lois this episode (3) to either be good or I bail forever.  It's typical CW trash at the moment.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 13 March, 2021, 05:54:27 PM
I'm still enjoying Stargate Universe.  I am trying very hard to figure out whether some of the good stuff was done by accident or not.  I don't know whether they are highlighting that Colonel Young is an incompetent who is out of his depth or not.  It is said often they are the wrong people and Young's heart isn't in his assignment in the least, but we don't see the character wrestle with it.  So I don't know whether the writers intended him to be as awful as he is.

The teen drama, love triangle bullshit is the weakest aspect of the show.  All the characters involved start off poorly written and annoying.  Eli is an entitled nerd prick.  Lt. Scott is a gormless and horny prick.  Chloe is the hot senators daughter who is hot.  Thankfully I know these characters start to improve as things go on.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 14 March, 2021, 01:27:06 PM
Wandavision: Made it 3 episodes before tapping out. Smug, self satisfied toss.

The Terror: Second time watching the first season as it's now on Iplayer. Basically the perfect way to to TV horror.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 14 March, 2021, 02:45:51 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 14 March, 2021, 01:27:06 PM
Wandavision: Made it 3 episodes before tapping out. Smug, self satisfied toss.

The Terror: Second time watching the first season as it's now on Iplayer. Basically the perfect way to to TV horror.

Could only manage 1 episode of Wandavision. The Terror was awesome and try to watch the second season as well very different but still great.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 14 March, 2021, 03:49:19 PM
I hear good stuff about The Terror.

I'm wary of TV horror.  Been let down so many times by things like The Strain and Helix.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 14 March, 2021, 03:59:44 PM
Quote from: repoman on 14 March, 2021, 03:49:19 PM
I hear good stuff about The Terror.

I'm wary of TV horror.  Been let down so many times by things like The Strain and Helix.

It's not really horror, IMO. There are some horror-ish elements, but the show quickly develops an atmosphere of all-consuming, creeping dread that pervades everything. The focus of the show itself is squarely on the characters and their efforts to survive in a supremely hostile environment with little to no hope of salvation. There's a rather Brink-like subtext, in as much as you spend a good chunk of the series wondering whether the 'external' horror elements exist at all, or whether these poor bastards are just going mad.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 14 March, 2021, 04:15:38 PM
[spoiler]"Doctor Goodsir conducted a prolonged study of the tinned food. Some where spoiled, some where just bones and rocks, and all potentially edible tins have been poisoned by the lead solder being improperly applied. Mr Goldner appears to have done his work on the cheap."[/spoiler]

"I'd like to run that man through."

I already knew about this particular aspect of the real world Franklin expedition, but watching it play out over the 10 episodes as everyone slowly poisoned themselves without their knowing....it's absolutely horrific.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 19 March, 2021, 01:06:28 PM
Nobody else watching Pacific Rim: The Black on Netflix?

I'll confess I skipped the second movie, so I have no idea whether any of that feeds through into this anime-style animated series, but it doesn't seem to matter because I'm not confused by anything, although I'm only a couple of episodes in. The animation is decent, and the kaiju designs are great. Only 30min per episode, so it doesn't outstay its welcome.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 19 March, 2021, 01:12:24 PM
Oh it's absolutely a solid, almost Saturday matinee watch. The kaiju monster of the week tradition propagated for decades through Ultraman seems to really have taken off in the west over the last few years, almost as a counter balance to the over long, saturated prestige TV market.

Pacific Rim Black is great, people should check it out for some fun action pomp.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 19 March, 2021, 11:06:56 PM
BAND OF BROTHERS rewatch and I'm nearly at he end
"Why we fight" is a brilliant but very hard watch.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 19 March, 2021, 11:22:41 PM
I'm still working through SG:U.

The teen stuff has been on hiatus as the micro-politics of the show took centre stage.  I managed to get past the very uncomfortably pro-military, anti-civilian, anti-democracy episode.  I am still unsure what the writers intended.  Young is awful, they show knows he's awful but it's treated like it's ok because he's military.  So it's got this gross might is right mindset.

Right after this are two of the most memorable episodes for me.  An enigmatic alien planet and character development for Dr Rush.  The latter is just for Robert Carlyle to demonstrate that he owns the show and makes it far better than it would otherwise be.  Chloe is starting to become a more interesting character at this point as well.

I know there is another hump to get over with an invasion, but there's a lot about late season 1 and season 2 as a whole that I don't remember.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 20 March, 2021, 07:14:48 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 19 March, 2021, 11:06:56 PM
BAND OF BROTHERS rewatch and I'm nearly at he end
"Why we fight" is a brilliant but very hard watch.

Impossibly hard. The eldest has been doing the Holocaust in school (interestingly they covered genocides as a topic, rather than treating it as a WWII event, which was a welcome new tack for me), and I was tempted to stick that episode on for him - but in the end I just couldn't find the heart. It's harrowing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 20 March, 2021, 05:09:39 PM
One Punch Man Season One

More like One Joke Man.  Maybe that's harsh, but it stopped being amusing pretty quickly.  I didn't like the homophobia in it either.

Aside from that it was ok.  Decent animation and good music.  I don't think the story is going anywhere interesting and it's a very weak satire, so I'll leave it at just Season One.  It's a shame, because I would have loved a more critical, harsh and funny take down of shonen anime/manga.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 20 March, 2021, 05:51:01 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 20 March, 2021, 05:09:39 PM
One Punch Man Season One
It's a shame, because I would have loved a more critical, harsh and funny take down of shonen anime/manga.

You might want to check out CHAINSAW MAN when the anime drops later this year. Its and absolutely genius piss take of both American and Japanese comic tropes.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 21 March, 2021, 06:23:24 AM
Quote from: Sean SD on 12 March, 2021, 02:59:55 AM
Quote from: Barrington Boots on 11 March, 2021, 02:14:26 PM
After rediscovering a load of (mainly horrible) early 90s anime that I used to be into, I've just started watching Cowboy Bebop, what must be the most recommended-to-me-anime-series of all time, and it is excellent. I should have watched this sooner. Curse my reactionary spirit!

what anime do you recommend? Never really watched any. Not sure if Speed Racer from the 70s counts lol

JoJos Bizarre Adventure.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 06 April, 2021, 09:45:40 PM

The Goodies Rule O.K. (?) I have all the Goodies episodes and hardly ever play them - and watching this special has me asking myself why. This 50 minute episode is simply stuffed with surreal ideas from an infectious dance that cripples the economy, to shop dummies staging a coup, to a ban on entertainment enforced by Mediaeval-style masked enforcers (who burn footballs and guitars and even (shockingly) club a baby in a pram for making his mother smile), to a rebellion by famous entertainers who have somehow got their voices mixed up which leads to Sooty becoming Prime Minister. It's bonkers - utterly, gloriously, hilariously bonkers.

I'd put the best episodes of The Goodies alongside the best episodes of Monty Python any day of the week. It should be as beloved as Python, in my not-so-humble opinion, but has, criminally, been "cast aside like a half-chewed liberty bodice."

Wonderful.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 07 April, 2021, 11:27:04 PM
Good call there, Sharky. The Goodies remain my high-water mark for unforced silliness, and I've greatly enjoyed the subsequent work of each and every one of those lovely men
Even the owl-botherer.

Upright. A biased review from me,  because I unashamedly love Tim Minchin and all his works, but this is a neat little mini-series on Sky.  It's a funny and engaging two-hander road movie with shades of Priscilla and Wilderpeople, and while it suffers a bit from Minchin's tendency towards schmaltz that does make some of the grimmer undercurrents more palatable.

Milly Allock plays a rather improbable 13, but she delivers foul epithets with range and gusto, and has a great on-screen rapport with Tim. (By contrast there's a strange lack of agency in some of the other female characters (the sister-in-law and a middle-aged fan, for examples, seem to exist solely as plot devices)).

Tim gives himself a good few opportunities to play piano in character, and it's all great.  I hope this has done as well for him as it seems to have, he deserves every success.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 10 April, 2021, 08:39:02 PM

I, Claudius. Still magnificent after all these years. So many outstanding performances it's impossible to pick out a favourite. So many outstanding scenes it's impossible to pick out a favourite. John Hurt's Caligula is utterly terrifying, Patrick Stewart's Serjanus and Siân Phillips' Livia are chilling and Derek Jacobi's Clau-Clau-Claudius is sublime.

Brian Blessed's "Is there anyone in Rome who hasn't slept with my daughter!?" scene is both hilarious and horrible at the same time and his portrayal of Emperor Augustus' death is virtually perfect.

A true high water mark in television history - little else comes close.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 10 April, 2021, 08:45:41 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 10 April, 2021, 08:39:02 PM
I, Claudius. Still magnificent after all these years...
A true high water mark in television history - little else comes close.

No word of a lie.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 13 April, 2021, 10:38:29 PM

Just finished Season Three of Black Sails and shiver-me-timbers it's good. It's a proper rip-roaring adventure serial and I'm bloody loving it. Haven't had as much fun since the Saturday morning Flashing Blades and Robinson Crusoes of yesteryear.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Barrington Boots on 15 April, 2021, 01:28:41 PM
Quote from: Barrington Boots on 11 March, 2021, 02:14:26 PM
After rediscovering a load of (mainly horrible) early 90s anime that I used to be into, I've just started watching Cowboy Bebop, what must be the most recommended-to-me-anime-series of all time, and it is excellent. I should have watched this sooner. Curse my reactionary spirit!

I've finally wrapped up watching this. Overall I don't think the series is as good as it's hyped to be or as good as I thought it was on the post I made above, but it was very good although the ending seemed to come out of nowhere a bit. The soundtrack, whilst mainly not to my liking, was superb throughout.

The final line of "You're gonna carry that weight" is one I've been turning over in my head a bit. I know it's from a Beatles song, but here I think can be interpreted in a couple of different ways: as a warning, that you have to carry the weight of your actions and decisions with you at all times, or as a positive, that despite the weight of such things you'll manage to carry it, ie. it won't be so heavy as to be immovable and you can keep going on your journey through life. I wasn't expecting to come away from what was a fairly lighthearted series feeling so introspective, so it's got that over Angel Cop for starters.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 19 April, 2021, 11:01:05 PM
Thanks to the extreme generosity of a certain mythical Selachimorph, I've finally been able to slot Babylon 5 into the current family viewing rotation. Oh it's good to be back.

Some thoughts: the transition from the reworked version of the pilot (The Gathering) to the first proper episode (Midnight on the Firing Line) is jarring mainly because of the massive improvement across the board. I think this was my first time through the newer version,  and while I definitely miss the Copeland clanging and clanking, there's seems to be a lot more to enjoy on this cut: more foreshadowing for a start. The only character whose later absence I regret is Dr Kyle, Johnny Sekka's performance being so different to everyone else's that I think he could have been a great addition. Ivanova on the other hand is immediately a big step up from Takashima.

It's remarkable how accomplished that first proper episode is. In my memory, B5 took a while to find its Season 1 feet, but with the absence of Lennier and Franklin, it's really all there at the start.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 19 April, 2021, 11:04:43 PM
Yeah, it does really hit the ground running.  The first three seasons are top quality.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 20 April, 2021, 10:53:08 AM
I finished watching SG:U.  It was a show with whole heaps of promise to it.  It utilises the lore of the franchise really well in places, but at other times it's a hindrance.  Especially the pro-military thing, which I don't think works as well with this premise.  I would have liked to see them explore ideas and concepts that they set.  The ethics around using the communication stones, for one.

I also don't like that it is made beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are supposed to be empathising and supporting the incompetent leader, Colonel Young.  He's the Captain Janeway of the SG franchise.  There are places where it is clear that different writers handle different episodes because characterisation fluctuates, so we are left with all these threads left hanging in the air and never addressed.

So it was a clumsy show, but some of the ideas they did explore were done really well.  Robert Carlyle is fantastic in this show.  The rest of the cast are a mixed bag.

It was cut short too soon and had so much potential.  A third season would have shown whether it could stand shoulder to shoulder with the best TV sci-fi or whether it had used up all the inspiration they had for the concept.  We'll never know.  For what it is, I'd say it's very good.

I'm now rewatching SG1
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 20 April, 2021, 01:01:18 PM
Stargate is one of those franchises that left me cold. I quite enjoyed the original movie, but never really managed to get interested in the first season of the TV show, then watched in bemusement as spin off after spin off appeared, of which I am totally ignorant.

I did see Christopher Judge interviewed at a sci-fi con once though, and he was a really funny guy. (I didn't know who Kratos was either!)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 20 April, 2021, 01:49:01 PM
I didn't really get into SG1 to begin with either.  I'm not sure what spurred me on to give it another go, but I ended up appreciating it for what it is.  Silly and dumb.

I couldn't watch all of Atlantis.  It just wasn't particularly entertaining.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CalHab on 20 April, 2021, 02:27:34 PM
I'm back to watching Midnight Diner on Netflix. It's an endearing Japanese show that focusses on a single customer of a late-night cafe each episode, and framed around their favourite dish. There are recurring characters, but they often act as a Greek chorus on the episode's subject. The stories are all empathetic with the characters. Highly recommended.

It also sometimes includes cooking tips, which I like.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Radbacker on 21 April, 2021, 04:15:23 AM
Watching The Irregulars on Netflix.  Doing an episode a night and must say quite into it by episode 3.  I like the structure with each episode being it's own thing but having an overall story gradually being revealed makes it feel like old school TV rather than the usual binge TV we get on Netflix and Amazon.  Is a different take on the Holmes story (episode 3 and we still haven't even met Sherlock), the young actors are all pretty good.  Belle thought it may have been based on a comic but it doesn't seem so as I can't find information any where.  I'd recommend you give it a look if your into Holmesian stories or just like a good mystery with a touch of horror.

CU Radbacker
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 21 April, 2021, 10:29:09 AM
Quote from: Radbacker on 21 April, 2021, 04:15:23 AM
Watching The Irregulars on Netflix. 

Tried Dr. Wholmes. Did not like.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 21 April, 2021, 03:23:45 PM
It's not too bad if you can put your sense of disbelief on hold. I eventually twigged that this was colour-blind casting rather than an attempt to portray Victorian London as more multi-cultural than it was (the tip off was the Earl of Westminster - I can see how there may be black faces on the streets, but I'm pretty sure the upper aristocracy were white), but it was a little confusing plot-wise at first, as much of the plot revolves around the parentage of the 'sisters', only one of whom is Chinese.  What did rankle though was a bunch of street orphans living in a cellar who leave 20+ candles burning all night and have a large barrel of beer sitting in their hovel.

Interest faded after about 5 episodes, but I may pick it up again.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 21 April, 2021, 10:01:09 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 21 April, 2021, 03:23:45 PM
What did rankle though was a bunch of street orphans living in a cellar who leave 20+ candles burning all night ...

That alone was enough to do me in. No problem with the general style, modern folk and contemporary foibles in an historic-fantasy setting can be fun, I've just seen plenty of this specific one done better between the RDJr Holmes and Enola Holmes, and when it has no interest in its own premise (the infinite candles, the comfy clubhouse, the indeterminate age but clearly adult cast, these are quite obviously not the 'urchins' that the Baker Street Irregular brand implies) nor have I.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 24 April, 2021, 05:10:36 AM
Enjoying Shadow and Bone - high quality fantasy.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 24 April, 2021, 05:36:46 AM
That is on my to watch list after I finished Falcon and Winter Soldier. Falcon/Winter soldier is much better attempt than Disney's first attempt via WandaVision (could only struggle trough one episode)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 24 April, 2021, 06:48:03 AM
General satisfaction with Falcon & Winter Soldier here, although it seems likely that a significant subplot was excised from the middle for Covid-fatigue reasons (and others just sort of fizzled), leaving the antagonists' motivations a bit unfocused. The prospect of this show didn't excite me much going in, I find Bucky incredibly dull despite holding Winter Soldier to be the pinnacle of the MCU, but the action was really terrific and the cast fun, and if this kind of exploration of the fall-out from major events is where Disney is taking its streaming offerings, it's welcome to continue.

Crucially it delivered on its promise of personal development for (all) its characters, and if its corporate-woke-dividend messaging was crude and direct rather than subtle or metaphorical, well good.

Although for the life of me I can't understand why the end-credits title wasn't [spoiler]Captain America and Bucky[/spoiler]. It was right there.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 24 April, 2021, 10:04:17 AM
Yes, Bucky is dull and his flat voice makes him a boring "super" hero.  Still enjoying the show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 24 April, 2021, 03:23:16 PM
Masterchef Australia has restarted.  It's the best.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 25 April, 2021, 07:42:30 PM
Your Honor. Bryan Cranston stars as a schoolteacher judge whose life spirals out of control when he crosses a line. Rather good, so far.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 26 April, 2021, 05:09:23 AM
Your Honor is a good show. As you watch it you will keep asking yourself the same question how stupid can each of these characters be by doing some silly stuff to escalate the problem
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Enigmatic Dr X on 26 April, 2021, 08:39:56 AM
Quote from: broodblik on 26 April, 2021, 05:09:23 AM
Your Honor is a good show. As you watch it you will keep asking yourself the same question how stupid can each of these characters be by doing some silly stuff to escalate the problem

Gave up on Your Honour after I spent the first episode shouting at the telly.

"Stop the car you twat!"
"Take your inhaler before calling you idiot!"
"Go to the police. It was an accident!"
"Why are you risking your life, career and jail time?"

The premise is so incredible it made my thoughts hide in a cupboard until it went away.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 26 April, 2021, 10:44:32 AM
Dr X if any off these things that you mentioned did happen we would not have a show and you could not SCREAM at the boxy thing looking back at you.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: MacabreMagpie on 26 April, 2021, 11:30:20 AM
I've been diving into a few shows that I've heard raved about for years, these past months and they've all been blinders.

Fargo - not seen season 4 yet but loved the first three. Some extremely memorable characters.
Russian Doll - good fun sci-fi, reminded me a bit of Vonnegut
Mindhunter - not finished yet but good stuff
Marianne - only just started this but holy shit, even with it having a lot of ideas I've seen elsewhere, this is one hell of a creepy show. I'm deliberately avoiding watching this one before bed...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Radbacker on 27 April, 2021, 06:13:26 AM
Despite its YA trappings (late teen protagonist, love triangle etc) I am enjoying Shadow and Bone quite a bit.  I like the Tsarist setting rather than Anglo, seemingly good acting and quite good to look at, and think Netflix are getting pretty good at these Fantasy gigs. 
On a similar note I am eagerly awaiting Wheel of Time from Amazon as it is one of my favourite Fantasy series that definitely needs a bit of money thrown at it to make a good adaptation and certainly needs to be a series as there is no way it would be possible as movies (unless they wanted to make a 7 or 8 movie octology?)

CU Radbacker
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Enigmatic Dr X on 28 April, 2021, 08:56:28 AM
Quote from: broodblik on 26 April, 2021, 10:44:32 AM
Dr X if any off these things that you mentioned did happen we would not have a show and you could not SCREAM at the boxy thing looking back at you.

So I am to suspend disbelief to such an extent? Nah. If the production team can't be arsed sorting these issues, I can't be arsed watching. There is plenty of other stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 28 April, 2021, 05:48:16 PM
Quote from: Radbacker on 27 April, 2021, 06:13:26 AM
On a similar note I am eagerly awaiting Wheel of Time from Amazon as it is one of my favourite Fantasy series that definitely needs a bit of money thrown at it to make a good adaptation and certainly needs to be a series as there is no way it would be possible as movies (unless they wanted to make a 7 or 8 movie octology?)

CU Radbacker

Hopefully this will be the new Game of Thrones but actually stay decent for the duration. Pretty excited about this as well.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Radbacker on 30 April, 2021, 03:17:55 AM
Well at least the book series is actually finished so they have that to pull from, and the middle slog from the series (book 6 and 7) can be condensed down quite easily considering those two books only seem to cover about 4 weeks book time,  I'm very hopeful for the show.  Can't wait for the first preview the teasers released so far have been good (they just released a Lan for teaser a couple of days ago and hope really a true teaser (5 seconds long!!) it's looking good).  I really hope the show does well, I'm rereading the books in perpetration

CU Radbacker
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 30 April, 2021, 01:31:38 PM
Started Season 5 of THE EXPANSE. I immediately and simultaneously love and loathe the idea of splitting everyone up and the very showy long special effects tracking shots. But still one of my favourite things on streaming and it still makes me shed a tear for modern Star Trek.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 30 April, 2021, 06:40:58 PM
Quote from: Radbacker on 30 April, 2021, 03:17:55 AM
Well at least the book series is actually finished so they have that to pull from, and the middle slog from the series (book 6 and 7) can be condensed down quite easily considering those two books only seem to cover about 4 weeks book time,  I'm very hopeful for the show.  Can't wait for the first preview the teasers released so far have been good (they just released a Lan for teaser a couple of days ago and hope really a true teaser (5 seconds long!!) it's looking good).  I really hope the show does well, I'm rereading the books in perpetration

CU Radbacker

I hadn't realised there were more trailers out there. It's been a while since I've read the books and have no intention to re-read at this point so I don't recall the exact events of each book. I'm really looking forward to seeing the Aiel (but I guess that will be S3 with just one guy in S1 or S2) and Trollocs , the braid tugging and just everything really. Thought Brandon Sanderson did a noble job of finishing the series book wise.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trooper McFad on 07 May, 2021, 11:41:06 PM
Just landed on Netflix is Jupiter Rising
Watched the 1st 2 tonight and although not blown away it showed enough to keep me hooked. Only 8 episodes so I'll power through the rest and give a view after that.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trooper McFad on 08 May, 2021, 08:29:26 PM
Quote from: Trooper McFad on 07 May, 2021, 11:41:06 PM
Just landed on Netflix is Jupiter Rising
Watched the 1st 2 tonight and although not blown away it showed enough to keep me hooked. Only 8 episodes so I'll power through the rest and give a view after that.

😖 I'm a muppet it's Jupiter's Legacy
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CalHab on 10 May, 2021, 02:34:36 PM
I watched the first episode of Jupiter's Legacy and the script and acting just put me right off. It is so, so wooden. I had a lot of problems with Falcon & Winter Soldier, but it was leagues ahead of this. I don't usually give up after a single episode, but I am with this.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 10 May, 2021, 05:28:41 PM
Judgement is still out for me on Jupiter's Legacy. First episode was not impressed with and I also felt the acting felt forced rather than spontaneous. Will at least watch another one.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Radbacker on 11 May, 2021, 03:59:20 AM
I'm enjoying Jupiters Legacy (though I keep calling it Jupiters Children for some reason). The acting could be a bit better but by episode 3 it's caught my attention, it's nothing we haven't read before but not been done ✔️ n a story before.  M

CU Radbacker
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 11 May, 2021, 09:02:08 AM
We haven't hit Jupiter's yet. We did recently finish the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (v. good final season, unafraid to stamp an actual ending on the whole sory, which I appreciated) and Shadow and Bone, which had everything it needed to be good but ultimately landed flat with us. There comes a point in YA fiction where casting teenagers as embittered crime lords stretches verisimilitude to breaking point (unless you're Bugsy Malone, that is).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 11 May, 2021, 09:45:59 AM
I finished the first season of SG1 and am part way through the second.  I was actually surprised how many threads were established so early on.

There is this interesting conflict in tone with the show.  There is a strong anti-authoritarian text in the writing that, given it's about a military unit, does come across as slightly anti-military.  It also, because it's about a military unit, supports the myth in media that surrounds the military.  I remembered it being a lot more pro-military than it actually is.  This makes SGU all the more weird for me.

Anyway, I almost made it seem like the show is clever.  It's not.  It's pretty dumb.  You have to suspend you disbelief really hard and abruptly as a few elements (like people not from Earth speaking their own language and not English) are just thrown away for the sake of the format.  It never entirely goes away, but I guess once you're on board it doesn't matter.

So the show is dumb, but it's also fun.  It's silly sci-fi and it's not entirely doing it with a straight face either.  The highlights are some of the single episode non-arc stories.  It's all kinda what I remember it being.  I don't know whether I'll watch the entirety of the show as I remember it getting really bad at the end.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 11 May, 2021, 09:48:16 AM
Once it [spoiler]bounces the Goa'ould as the main villains[/spoiler], it starts simply writing to formula, but new cast members keep it fresh. We recently finished a complete re-watch and the final seasons (and TV movies) are better than I remembered.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 11 May, 2021, 10:25:27 AM
Mare of Easttown. Best cop thing I've watched in ages, a very contemporary smalltown Cagney & Lacey, without Cagney. Helps that its long episodes are being doled out weekly, there's a lot of misery to digest.

(As a complete aside, even after all these years I remain astonished at the scale of houses depicted in US TV, even where the characters are specifically established as working-class poor barely surviving).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 16 May, 2021, 07:39:43 PM
Intergalactic. Nu-Who does Blakes-7 with unnecessary swearing. I've seen worse, will watch more as it comes out. Nothing here that would out of place in tea-time telly except for an f-word thrown in every 5 minutes. You have to wonder.

Video technical peeps, what is the deal with the style of lighting and/or recording medium that makes current UK SF shows look exactly like Casualty? A lot of love and time has obviously gone into the sets and backdrops here, but the way they're filmed/lit somehow transforms them into, well, sets.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 16 May, 2021, 07:45:30 PM
Breaking Bad

I'm like 10 years late to this one and as such have absolutely nothing to add that hasn't been said already.
Yeah. Great show. Except for Season 5, man I don't know what it was (besides the massive downgrade in antagonist quality) that just made it all a bit meh, especially coming off of the anxiety inducing Season 4, the finale of which has shot its way into my favourite episodes list.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 16 May, 2021, 11:27:43 PM
I think that the first two seasons of Breaking Bad were the strongest.  Seasons 3 and 4 just dragged on for me, so Season 5 ended up being a relief.  Mainly because it just ended it all conclusively.  It was a good show that I'll probably never watch a second time.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 17 May, 2021, 03:26:22 AM
Love the first 22 seconds of "Wormhole X-Treme - Behind The Scenes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGfq_uncUUQ)", from episode 100 of SG1.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 17 May, 2021, 08:57:27 AM
Quote from: Funt Solo on 17 May, 2021, 03:26:22 AM
Love the first 22 seconds of "Wormhole X-Treme - Behind The Scenes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGfq_uncUUQ)", from episode 100 of SG1.

Yeah :)

I do like this about SG1.  That they'd poke fun at themselves.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 17 May, 2021, 10:26:29 AM

IIrc, that episode was based on a real conspiracy theory that SG:1 was made to cover up the fact that the Air Force had real star gates - so anyone trying to blow the whistle could be easily dismissed as a sci-fi addled loon.

I can feel a rewatch coming on myself - I actually still have all the discs from that fortnightly magazine. In fact, I might rip 'em all to my external hd and then give 'em away to a good home. Take a while, though...

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 17 May, 2021, 12:17:09 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 11 May, 2021, 10:25:27 AM

(As a complete aside, even after all these years I remain astonished at the scale of houses depicted in US TV, even where the characters are specifically established as working-class poor barely surviving).

This ^^^
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: TordelBack on 31 May, 2021, 10:32:40 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 11 May, 2021, 10:25:27 AM
Mare of Easttown. Best cop thing I've watched in ages, a very contemporary smalltown Cagney & Lacey, without Cagney. Helps that its long episodes are being doled out weekly, there's a lot of misery to digest.

Finished this this evening, and just to update: it was completely satisfying. Maybe a bit too long a running time, and very understated by the standards of massacre/bloodbath that are de rigeur for cop drama these days, but that time is so well spent developing the minutiae of the community setting,  and you do get one good shock and a really solid twist. Like I say, it's just complete in every respect.

Really hope they do more of this, both Winslet and the entire cast are superb.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Radbacker on 08 June, 2021, 03:52:51 AM
Sweet Tooth on the Netflix.
Based on a comic I haven't read so can't judge it as an adaptation but on its own pretty good.  Like a lot of Netflix shows it looks good and is acted pretty well.  I'm not sure if the comic has the same concept behind it or it's been updated due to Covid-19 but very timely comment on pandemics and what some people will do to survive, up to episode 3 and there is a pretty disturbing scene in there at a survivors day party when someone starts showing symptoms of the sickness.
I love Sweet Tooth and the child actor that plays him is great but also interested in the other stories that are playing out.  Recommend you give it a watch you'll know after 2 eps if you want to keep going.

CU Radbacker
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 08 June, 2021, 04:31:30 PM
Went through all three seasons of Loudermilk.  It's a fairly dark comedy series about addiction.  Really enjoyed it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 08 June, 2021, 05:03:59 PM
Quote from: Radbacker on 08 June, 2021, 03:52:51 AM
Sweet Tooth on the Netflix.
Based on a comic I haven't read so can't judge it as an adaptation but on its own pretty good. 

For those that haven't I can highly recommend the comics - though I imagine the floppies are going for silly money now - they are superb.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: radiator on 08 June, 2021, 08:40:27 PM
Quote from: Proudhuff on 17 May, 2021, 12:17:09 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 11 May, 2021, 10:25:27 AM

(As a complete aside, even after all these years I remain astonished at the scale of houses depicted in US TV, even where the characters are specifically established as working-class poor barely surviving).

This ^^^

As someone who lives here, I still find it weird that you can be considered poor/working class and still own a huge house that has acres of land and multiple vehicles (including cartoonishly huge pickup trucks & RVs and even boats).

I imagine debt has a lot to do with it, but still.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CalHab on 10 June, 2021, 09:54:00 AM
Loki. MCU meets Doctor Who with an entertaining, but exposition heavy, first episode. Hiddlestone and Wilson have good chemistry and have the best lines. Hopefully Wunmi Mosaku features more in the later episodes, she was great in Lovecraft Country.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 21 June, 2021, 07:27:43 PM
Black Summer - this started off really strongly, I thought, with some fascinating structural choices in terms of the storytelling. There's an odd leap mid-season, though, where the experience level and cohesiveness of the protagonists seems to go up an order of magnitude - I had to go and check Wikipedia to see if I'd somehow missed an episode - or even an entire season.

Imperfect, but a shambling, moaning, brain-munching gem of the zombie apocalypse genre.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 22 June, 2021, 08:51:46 AM
I also started watching Loki but it still feels too much talking and not enough of actually something happening.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 22 June, 2021, 09:43:59 AM
I ducked out of the entire MCU after Endgame. I've had my fill, its fine, and for the most part have been dragging myself through the last half dozen movies just to reach that point. Didn't even bother with either of the Ant-Man movies. I tried to give Wandavision the benefit of the doubt, it at least seemed to be trying to come at this whole tired genre from a somewhat fresh angle but only made it through three episodes before the whole show shat the bed and went back to Disney witty-farcicalness. Loki will be another miss.

I'm probably just getting old and jaded but the constant omnipresence of these properties in our collective daily lives for what is now the larger portion of my life has really soured me to the MCU and just Disney in general.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 22 June, 2021, 08:31:12 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 22 June, 2021, 09:43:59 AM
I ducked out of the entire MCU after Endgame. I've had my fill, its fine, and for the most part have been dragging myself through the last half dozen movies just to reach that point. Didn't even bother with either of the Ant-Man movies. I tried to give Wandavision the benefit of the doubt, it at least seemed to be trying to come at this whole tired genre from a somewhat fresh angle but only made it through three episodes before the whole show shat the bed and went back to Disney witty-farcicalness. Loki will be another miss.

I'm probably just getting old and jaded but the constant omnipresence of these properties in our collective daily lives for what is now the larger portion of my life has really soured me to the MCU and just Disney in general.

I have similar sentiments and it was pretty much Endgame that did for me as well.  I might watch a movie here or there maybe, but at this point it's exhausting and they are just pumping out so much more of it now.  Thankfully there is stuff I know I like that I can rewatch.

Like SG1.  My rewatch of that is going good.  I'm into season 4 and thoroughly enjoying it.  I like it's goofy approach.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 23 June, 2021, 10:31:38 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 22 June, 2021, 08:31:12 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 22 June, 2021, 09:43:59 AM
I ducked out of the entire MCU after Endgame. I've had my fill, its fine, and for the most part have been dragging myself through the last half dozen movies just to reach that point. Didn't even bother with either of the Ant-Man movies. I tried to give Wandavision the benefit of the doubt, it at least seemed to be trying to come at this whole tired genre from a somewhat fresh angle but only made it through three episodes before the whole show shat the bed and went back to Disney witty-farcicalness. Loki will be another miss.

I'm probably just getting old and jaded but the constant omnipresence of these properties in our collective daily lives for what is now the larger portion of my life has really soured me to the MCU and just Disney in general.

I have similar sentiments and it was pretty much Endgame that did for me as well.  I might watch a movie here or there maybe, but at this point it's exhausting and they are just pumping out so much more of it now.  Thankfully there is stuff I know I like that I can rewatch.


Similar for me, and that goes for Star Wars too.
Currently happy to see True Detective series 3 now available free, series back on form after a disappointing 2nd series.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 24 June, 2021, 12:26:51 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 22 June, 2021, 09:43:59 AM
I ducked out of the entire MCU after Endgame.

We all did, didn't we?

Endgame itself was nowhere near as good as Infinity War, but a nice exit point nevertheless.

I peruse the geek news sites occasionally and see the likes of Loki advertised.
A perfect example of an MCU character that had a meaningful and complete arc, shocking death, then cheap resurrection for a Disney Plus series.


Quote from: Proudhuff on 23 June, 2021, 10:31:38 AM
Currently happy to see True Detective series 3 now available free, series back on form after a disappointing 2nd series.

A great return to form with excellent lead performances.
One of my absolute favorite lines of dialogue too; "You're looking good, Purple. Who's the old man with ya?"




Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 24 June, 2021, 01:03:24 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 24 June, 2021, 12:26:51 PM
A perfect example of an MCU character that had a meaningful and complete arc, shocking death, then cheap resurrection for a Disney Plus series.

If you'd been watching it, you'd know he hasn't been resurrected.

Also, this is Marvel — not staying dead is perfectly in keeping with the comics!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 24 June, 2021, 01:44:56 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 24 June, 2021, 01:03:24 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 24 June, 2021, 12:26:51 PM
A perfect example of an MCU character that had a meaningful and complete arc, shocking death, then cheap resurrection for a Disney Plus series.

If you'd been watching it, you'd know he hasn't been resurrected.

Also, this is Marvel — not staying dead is perfectly in keeping with the comics!

Bang on - an alternate timeline version is even cheaper than a cheap resurrection!

Loki's story was over the moment he had a change of heart and came back to rescue the Asgardian civilians at the end of Ragnarok.
He could have died in battle seconds later, and it wouldn't have mattered. The few scenes he was in after that moment were just onion gravy.

Not trying to disparage post-Endgame enjoyment of the MCU for those still into it, just that it's past it's sell-by date for me personally, even if I had any interest in any of the forthcoming tie-ins.


Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 25 June, 2021, 09:37:59 PM
Quote from: Funt Solo on 21 June, 2021, 07:27:43 PM
Black Summer - this started off really strongly, I thought, with some fascinating structural choices in terms of the storytelling. There's an odd leap mid-season, though, where the experience level and cohesiveness of the protagonists seems to go up an order of magnitude - I had to go and check Wikipedia to see if I'd somehow missed an episode - or even an entire season.

Imperfect, but a shambling, moaning, brain-munching gem of the zombie apocalypse genre.

So I'm 2 episodes into Season 2 and wondering why the are bothering with non-linear story telling as so far it hasn't shed any new lights on events we've previously seen.

But more worryingly, I'm wondering if they are actually going to give the characters character. So far the only way to tell them apart is the clothes and the guns. They don't have personalities. At any given moment any of them could say murder a child or shag an aardvark and I have not a clue if that's in character for them.

But in terms of capturing the kinetic terror of a fast Zombie Apocolypse where you can't trust anyone, it's doing well.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 26 June, 2021, 02:53:12 PM
and Bosch season 7 is now up and running!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 26 June, 2021, 07:34:23 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 25 June, 2021, 09:37:59 PM
Quote from: Funt Solo on 21 June, 2021, 07:27:43 PM
Black Summer - this started off really strongly, I thought, with some fascinating structural choices in terms of the storytelling. There's an odd leap mid-season, though, where the experience level and cohesiveness of the protagonists seems to go up an order of magnitude - I had to go and check Wikipedia to see if I'd somehow missed an episode - or even an entire season.

Imperfect, but a shambling, moaning, brain-munching gem of the zombie apocalypse genre.

So I'm 2 episodes into Season 2 and wondering why the are bothering with non-linear story telling as so far it hasn't shed any new lights on events we've previously seen.

But more worryingly, I'm wondering if they are actually going to give the characters character. So far the only way to tell them apart is the clothes and the guns. They don't have personalities. At any given moment any of them could say murder a child or shag an aardvark and I have not a clue if that's in character for them.

But in terms of capturing the kinetic terror of a fast Zombie Apocolypse where you can't trust anyone, it's doing well.

I don't disagree with your summation, but playing Devil's Advocate - I wonder if the lack of characterization beats plays well into the feeling of what it would be like to be embroiled in a situation where your best hope is a complete stranger, whose motivations and character are as alien to you as the threat you're suddenly faced with. Having said that, it's a reasoning that works well for season #1 - not so much for a second season, where the established characters should know each other.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 28 June, 2021, 07:02:51 PM
So part of my problem with Black Summer is yhat I can remember fuck all about S1. Only 3 episodes in, when she takes her hat off, did I think "Oh, it's the lass that was looking for her daughter!"

That could be me (I am old and my knees are weak) or that the characters barely get anything, e.g. dialogue,  to distinguish them as all they seem to do is run away, run away!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Woolly on 30 June, 2021, 09:41:43 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 24 June, 2021, 01:03:24 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 24 June, 2021, 12:26:51 PM
A perfect example of an MCU character that had a meaningful and complete arc, shocking death, then cheap resurrection for a Disney Plus series.

If you'd been watching it, you'd know he hasn't been resurrected.

Also, this is Marvel — not staying dead is perfectly in keeping with the comics!

S'right. I totally get the Marvel burn-out, but the TV stuff has so far been brilliant IMO. There's loads I'd like to discuss about Loki, but it would all be too spoilery!

Seriously though, it's all very much worth a watch  :)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 02 July, 2021, 02:26:57 PM

Hap and Leonard season two - best thing I've watched in ages. Despite it's dark storyline it's just full of light and warmth. Wonderful stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 05 July, 2021, 09:04:06 PM

Just started Farscape again. Not seen it for a while but still loving it. I've ripped all my disks to ext-hd so they're up for grabs if anyone wants them - all seasons plus The Peacekeeper Wars, but no cases or inserts, just the disks in a dvd pouch. Free to a good home, just pay some or all the postage if you can.

Be doing the same with the X Files next if anyone fancies those. Let you know when it's done.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Anthony Garnon on 05 July, 2021, 11:03:52 PM
 If the offer still stands, I'll pay the postage and take the discs. Just let me know either way. Missed most of the show when it first aired.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 06 July, 2021, 12:29:00 AM

Sure, Anthony, just PM me your details and I'll sort it out.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 12 July, 2021, 05:33:09 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 16 May, 2021, 07:45:30 PM
Breaking Bad

I'm like 10 years late to this one and as such have absolutely nothing to add that hasn't been said already.
Yeah. Great show. Except for Season 5, man I don't know what it was (besides the massive downgrade in antagonist quality) that just made it all a bit meh, especially coming off of the anxiety inducing Season 4, the finale of which has shot its way into my favourite episodes list.

This!

S5 was pretty bad and yeah they went from fighting the cartel to just going up against meth-head rednecks.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 12 July, 2021, 05:45:14 PM

No PM from Anthony, so if anyone else fancies those Farscape dvds just drop me a line.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Anthony Garnon on 12 July, 2021, 08:11:30 PM
Apologies, I just messaged!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 13 July, 2021, 07:29:01 AM

No probs, Anthony - pm me your address and I'll post 'em off.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Anthony Garnon on 13 July, 2021, 01:23:43 PM
Thank you!

Details sent.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 17 July, 2021, 10:51:42 AM
ULTRAMAN TRIGGER

The latest addition to the long running TsuPro saga debut last week, with the second episode dropping this morning and so far its an incredibly fun send up to the 90's era of occult story lines and Lovecraftian influence. The joyous approach to camp that permeates Toku is the perfect antidote to the dry, almost embarrassed tone of recent corporate cape movies.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Barrington Boots on 26 July, 2021, 02:23:56 PM
Masters of the Universe: Revelation

Not sure how much to discuss this even with spoiler tags without whacking this under one big spoiler.

I didn't like this at all at first, but went back and watched the last three episodes and it did get better. The animation is in places is pretty poor (by modern standards - it's way better than the original cartoon). Character design is excellent with some characters looking a lot better than their classic counterparts, although the new character is a bit generic. Plotwise, without going into detail, I didn't enjoy this as a new direction to go in. I'd have much rather had a reboot in the manner of the (excellent) She-Ra series than a continuation that tries to be both heavily nostaligic and more modern and dark at the same time.

I think some stories don't need to be updated: I don't need to see, say, adult Ash and Pikachu struggling with climate change and habitat destruction as they continue their adventures through a midlife crisis, and I don't need to see [spoiler]Orko all old and sad and dying like RotJ Yoda (and I really hate Orko). I don't think it's a setting that needs character deaths or gritty-ing up[/spoiler].

As ever with the internet and it's toxic fandoms, the hate this is getting online is totally over the top. Tbh this was so depressingly predictable I do wonder if think Netflix / Kevin Smith did it on purpose.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 26 July, 2021, 03:46:28 PM
American Vandal - a true crime mockumentary series. Other than saying that, you should go in cold.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 26 July, 2021, 11:13:36 PM
So made it to end of S2 of Black Summer. Ultimately I didn't think it was worth it. There are a couple of bravura "long take" set pieces (one in particular in the finale) but very little in the way of character. I need a bit more to hang onto than technical cleverness.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 11 August, 2021, 12:29:26 AM
Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 21 November, 2012, 07:48:33 AM
Is Breaking Bad the one about a chemistry teacher who makes drugs?

Yes. Despite some brilliant episodes, me and Mrs Tips really struggled with it and gave up after s2
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 20 August, 2021, 08:52:10 PM
Ted Lasso - surprisingly likeable.  That said, I thought it went too far with the Christmas episode.  Absolutely full of saccharine sappiness at the expense of any comedy.  I'm hoping this week's episode remembers to be funny.

It was so bad that it reminded me of the time that I saw an advert for Gavin and Stacey and it mostly seemed to be people just saying normal shit to each other like 'are you alright, nan?' without any jokes.

Rewatching Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - much better than the last three films but I have to admit season 2 has massively lost its way.  I've got 5 or 6 episodes left.

Miracle Workers - surprisingly brilliant Daniel Harry-Potter comedy vehicle.  They're up to season 3 and each season is entirely different but somehow the gags keep landing.  That said, this is the weakest season so far but it's good and very digestible at just 20 mins per episode.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 20 August, 2021, 11:05:49 PM
Quote from: repoman on 20 August, 2021, 08:52:10 PM
Rewatching Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - much better than the last three films but I have to admit season 2 has massively lost its way.  I've got 5 or 6 episodes left.

I seem to remember really liking the back half of S2, so maybe stick with it. That said, I think it ends in a cliff-hanger-y way, and being very disappointed that it got cancelled.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 21 August, 2021, 08:43:40 PM

The X-Files, Season 11. Self-indulgent piffle from start to finish. Just awful.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Radbacker on 23 August, 2021, 03:18:18 AM
Been watching The Girl from Nowhere on Netflix with the missus.  A Thai show sort of anthology in that each episode is it's own story but the titular Girl From Nowhere is in each one, she is named Nanno which is Thai for Karma and most episodes revolve around her appearing at a new school and teaching students, teachers or generally bad bullying types a lesson I n Karma (som na na as my missus sAys, you get what you deserve).  Some very good episodes in its two seasons but some are quite confused in what they are trying to say.  Good if you like something different from your usual western shows.

CU Radbacker
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 23 August, 2021, 03:28:11 AM

The Royle Family. Is this really over 20 years old? It's still wonderful, shifting effortlessly between comedy and pathos with such well-drawn characters. Also a kind of time capsule, capturing a time just before the world went mad. I'd love to know how the family are getting on now; how they're dealing with the tragic loss of Denise since Caroline Aherne left us too soon, whether everyone still calls Baby David Baby David and how deeply that irritates him, and how Jim's getting on with Netflix. Can't see him being a GoT fan - "Dragons my arse! Even if they did exist there wouldn't be enough fire in 'em to compete with you bloody lot leaving my bloody immersion on!"

A classic show with much still to say, for me on a par with the likes of Steptoe and Son.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 24 August, 2021, 11:59:06 AM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 21 August, 2021, 08:43:40 PM

The X-Files, Season 11. Self-indulgent piffle from start to finish. Just awful.

Gawd, how could they get it so wrong?

Still enjoyed the bonkers sushi bar episode, and Mulder's sigh of resignation when he had to use his reading specs.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 28 August, 2021, 01:27:18 PM
So after about 10 episodes, season 10 of THE WALKING DEAD has a brilliant conclusion to the Whisper War. Beta's rampage through Alexandria is cut short suprisingly and brilliantly by Judith. Alpha meets a fitting end having gone toe to toe with Daryl , dying in the arms of her daughter Lydia but without reconciliation.

Except that doesn't happen, the two of them get up and walk it off like Halloween bogeymen and now I've got another dozen episodes to plough through... i swear, it's like doing homework sometimes.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 31 August, 2021, 04:02:50 PM
A few episodes in, and Brand New Cherry Flavour on Netflix is quite weird and quite good.
I believe its the same creative team behind the various Channel Zero series, so if you liked that, give it a spin.

As an aside - There are now more Ted Bundy documentaries streaming than there were individual victims.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 01 September, 2021, 04:26:29 PM
Physical

Bit of an odd premise.  Ex-hippie couple where he wants to get into politics and she wants to do aerobics to combat her overeating.

It sounds terrible but is oddly compelling and enjoyable.  Well worth a look if you fancy something a little different.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 18 September, 2021, 03:56:52 PM
Theres something kinda funny to me about Marvels 'What If...?' having the same level of animation competency as 2003's Scream of the Shalka.

Anyway other than finding Captain Carter incredibly on brand for me (insert Futurama snu-snu reference here) this has mostly been sub-par so far but as my partner is digging it I'll play along for now.

Also rewatched THE TERROR for a third time at work and it sill owns, probably the best horror show of the last decade.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 20 September, 2021, 09:34:58 PM

Blackadder. Again. Wonderful stuff (apart from the 'specials,' of course) - and that final scene got me again. Again.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 21 September, 2021, 06:22:58 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 20 September, 2021, 09:34:58 PM

Blackadder. Again. Wonderful stuff (apart from the 'specials,' of course) - and that final scene got me again. Again.

The specials have merit.  Especially the 'he gave it all to the man with axe, oh' line.

My absolute favourite episode is The Black Seal, final episode of series 1.  It's so good.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 27 September, 2021, 12:23:34 PM
Anyone else watching Mike Flanagan's new series, Midnight Mass on Netflix?

I devoured the first four episodes last night like a ravenous ancient vampire getting it's first taste of human blood in 2000 years.

Very slow burn and a bit ponderous, which I am sure will discourage some viewers, but this kinda stuff is right up my street, even if I have predicted pretty much every single twist thus far and have a fair idea how the finale will play out.
But it's the journey that matters, not the destination.

Some fine acting from the principal cast, Hamish Linklater in particular, and Kate Siegel is as mesmerizingly beautiful as ever.

It's a 9/10 so far, and I predict it'll stick the landing tonight.



Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 27 September, 2021, 12:27:11 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 21 August, 2021, 08:43:40 PM

The X-Files, Season 11. Self-indulgent piffle from start to finish. Just awful.

yes, but did you like it?  ;)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 27 September, 2021, 12:34:50 PM
In a strange timey-wimey thing, I'm now back to waiting for favourites to appear weekly: Gone Fishin', Virgil, QI, Gardener's World and even Gogglebox...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 27 September, 2021, 02:09:50 PM
ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING (via Starz on Disney) is jolly good even if it is mainly sustained by a trio of fabulous central characters and performances. It's been a while since Steve Martin was this good. Worth seeking out.

In contrast, the Beebs much vaunted submarine murder mystery VIGIL is not. When it focuses on it's USP i.e. the claustrophobic nature of the sub and the higher stakes, it fares ok.  But the actual investigation is being headed by two unlikeable leads with a completely unbelievable relationship and isn't a good example of how you unpeel the onion layers of a mystery in a locked location. 

(Actually saw THE MOUSETRAP  back when it was in your recently... Surely the best template for such things)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 27 September, 2021, 03:35:30 PM
Finished Kevin Can F**k Himself which is a smart show where initially it is shot like a shitty US sitcom right down to the canned laughter but soon turns into a sort of dark drama whenever Kevin isn't in a scene.

It's quite clever, and it knows it's quite clever, but it's not a prick about it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 30 September, 2021, 01:46:10 PM
I hate the fact SW: Visions is being handled by some of the best anime studios in business today which means, in spite of my ambivalence towards SW as a whole, I'll probably check it out eventually.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Radbacker on 01 October, 2021, 06:25:45 AM
The Squid Game on Netflix,  another one of this murder game show type series (Alice in Boarderland) this time from Korea.  Very bloody good, interesting premise (500 or so desperate down on their look do people are invited to a mysterious game to win big money, the game consists still of playing children's games such as red light green light but with deadly consequences) but it's the characters that keep you coming back, these types of shows usually thrive on the sadistic games that are played and the blood and guts and this has plenty of that but it's how much you end up investing in the characters that make it rise above others in its genre:  the last couple of episodes are absolutely devestating and the 5th game had me jumping and sitting on the edge of my seat.  Watch it if you can but give it more than 1 episode before you judge it starts with a bang but takes about 3 or so episodes before it rally grabs you.

CU Radbacker
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 08 October, 2021, 07:53:26 PM
Binged both seasons of STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS over the last few days. Cor, was not expecting to be as smitten as I am. I'm neither particularly a Trekkie, though I retain a strong respect for the franchise and really must commit to watching at least one iteration in its entirety, nor adult animation as a very hit and miss movement.

But gosh, ST:LD is not only incredibly, delightfully daft and at times side achingly funny, but unexpectedly endearing, well written, and just an all around blast.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 08 October, 2021, 08:49:55 PM
I thoroughly enjoyed the first season of Lower Decks (haven't seen the second).  I'm quite happy with the direction new Trek TV is going at the moment and this animation was a surprise at what a good Trek show it is, let alone just a good show in general.  IMO the franchise is made richer for its presence. 

But what do I know, I hate TOS.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trooper McFad on 08 October, 2021, 09:02:27 PM
Quote from: Radbacker on 01 October, 2021, 06:25:45 AM
The Squid Game on Netflix,  another one of this murder game show type series (Alice in Boarderland) this time from Korea.  Very bloody good, interesting premise (500 or so desperate down on their look do people are invited to a mysterious game to win big money, the game consists still of playing children's games such as red light green light but with deadly consequences) but it's the characters that keep you coming back, these types of shows usually thrive on the sadistic games that are played and the blood and guts and this has plenty of that but it's how much you end up investing in the characters that make it rise above others in its genre:  the last couple of episodes are absolutely devestating and the 5th game had me jumping and sitting on the edge of my seat.  Watch it if you can but give it more than 1 episode before you judge it starts with a bang but takes about 3 or so episodes before it rally grabs you.

CU Radbacker
I totally agree and really enjoyed this (it's the 2nd Korean series I have gotten into. The other being the medieval Zombie saga - I think it's called Kingdom)
I was surprised at the ending and how they may or may not do a 2nd season??
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 09 October, 2021, 10:43:26 AM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 08 October, 2021, 07:53:26 PM
But gosh, ST:LD is not only incredibly, delightfully daft and at times side achingly funny, but unexpectedly endearing, well written, and just an all around blast.
Couldn't agree more! This week's was particularly brilliant.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 09 October, 2021, 11:17:20 AM
I'm mildly baffled by folks being outraged at all the sexual content when Gene Rodenberry was a massive horndog who wanted orgies in Trek since TOS.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 09 October, 2021, 12:13:53 PM
I don't deny that Roddenberry was a horndog but Star Trek's sexiness served a purpose. The network killjoys were too busy measuring Uhuru's skirt to notice all the boundary pushing social commentary and social justice advocacy. Nowadays you're practically required to push boundaries and decry social injustice if you don't want Twitter crawling up your arse*. Now I haven't watched lower Decks because NuTrek just isn't for me, but I assume it's just being sexy for the sake of it. Which I'm fine with because I'm just sexy for the sake of it too.

*Although Twitter will crawl up your arse for any asinine reason. Resistance is futile
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Enigmatic Dr X on 20 October, 2021, 05:05:39 PM
YOU

Burned through the first eight episodes of the new season on Netflix over the last few nights, will watch the last two tonight.

Some of the black comedy is laugh out loud funny. I really recommend it. It's got a lot of rude-ish bits, characters you can't wait to see get their murderous come-uppance, and the darkest couples therapy sessions.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 21 October, 2021, 12:04:10 PM
Since the entire world was watching Squid Game this week I decided to give it a go too.

Very enjoyable overall, but the twist was a bit predictable.

I liked the Saw vibe, and highly recommend watching this fan edit of the end scene featuring "Hello Zepp" music, inter-cut flashbacks and a more pessimistic denouement; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hCjSl9jrx4

Obviously I don't highly recommend it it you haven't watched the series yet and intend on doing so.


Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 28 October, 2021, 12:27:09 PM
There's some good comfort telly on at the Been moment.

Stephen Merchant has been all over the place publicising OUTLAWS. It is pretty by the numbers at times (well, mostly) but there are laughs to be had and some great performances from an absolutely top notch cast.

The D-reamy Prof Brian Cox also has UNIVERSE available on iPlayer. Forget the very slow cod philosophy voice over and revel in the glorious earth landscapes and CG space stuff. I did keep thinking "Those images of a blue dwarf could really do with the Enterprise flying very slowly by them".

Not on the Beeb but SEX EDUCATION on Netflix is surprisingly funny. There's a school as a metaphor for Britain in an undefined (deliberately so) time period and everybody is having more sex than you but as you would expect it's actually about communication and relationships. Otis at the moment is a likeable but flawed lead... Just hope his flaws don't keep getting bigger. Cracking soundtrack to most episodes too. Plus I know it gets attention in this Parish so I should mention Gillian Anderson is in it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 28 October, 2021, 01:50:10 PM
I'll be starting series 3 of Succession soon.  It's basically the best thing on TV.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 28 October, 2021, 06:41:37 PM
Quote from: repoman on 28 October, 2021, 01:50:10 PM
I'll be starting series 3 of Succession soon.  It's basically the best thing on TV.

The make up job they need to do on Brian Cox between Universe and this is incredible.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 29 October, 2021, 01:33:47 AM

Stargirl. I should have disliked this because it's full of duff - but I really enjoyed it.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 29 October, 2021, 09:54:49 AM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 29 October, 2021, 01:33:47 AM

Stargirl. I should have disliked this because it's full of duff - but I really enjoyed it.

It is irredeemably and unquestionably terrible, but I too can't stop watching. All the teens are such self-absorbed dicks and the resolutions would be so simple if they ever just fucking talked to each other, but the villains are quite fun. I liked the obsessively proud murder-parents best.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 29 October, 2021, 10:02:52 AM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 29 October, 2021, 09:54:49 AM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 29 October, 2021, 01:33:47 AM

Stargirl. I should have disliked this because it's full of duff - but I really enjoyed it.

It is irredeemably and unquestionably terrible, but I too can't stop watching. All the teens are such self-absorbed dicks and the resolutions would be so simple if they ever just fucking talked to each other, but the villains are quite fun. I liked the obsessively proud murder-parents best.

It looks like this is the trend with all shows that feature teenagers; disrespect, indiscipline, we know better.  But yes I also enjoy it better than the other drivel CW is putting out there
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 03 November, 2021, 11:02:52 AM
I'm rewatching House of Fools.  It's a lot of fun.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 03 November, 2021, 12:09:34 PM
Quote from: broodblik on 29 October, 2021, 10:02:52 AM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 29 October, 2021, 09:54:49 AM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 29 October, 2021, 01:33:47 AM

Stargirl. I should have disliked this because it's full of duff - but I really enjoyed it.

It is irredeemably and unquestionably terrible, but I too can't stop watching. All the teens are such self-absorbed dicks and the resolutions would be so simple if they ever just fucking talked to each other, but the villains are quite fun. I liked the obsessively proud murder-parents best.

It looks like this is the trend with all shows that feature teenagers; disrespect, indiscipline, we know better.  But yes I also enjoy it better than the other drivel CW is putting out there

Our Grandson loves watching SAM AND CAT. They are TERRIBLE human beings.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 03 November, 2021, 03:13:19 PM
Halfway through Season 2 of Locke & Key.
It's an improvement, acting-wise at least, on the first very uneven season, but still not clicking with me.
It just all seems a bit too convenient, for lack of a better word that I can't be bothered Googling.

I really love the comic series, and do enjoy seeing certain elements play out on screen, such as the 'Giant' spider and Head Key, but can't see myself ever re-watching it.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: repoman on 08 November, 2021, 10:40:05 AM
New Dexter then.

I thought it was going to be dark and rugged because of the setting but it felt a bit twee, like Resident Alien.

I don't think it's going to be the one.

Also [spoiler]I'll be amazed if his son isn't some sort of whiney emo liability kid for the whole series.[/spoiler]

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 09 November, 2021, 08:48:30 PM
I have just finished watching the entirety of Stargate SG-1.

It's got issues, but it's main story arc blunders along nicely to wrap up with a very satisfying conclusion.  And then it carried on for two more seasons and just abruptly ended.  Do I watch the TV movies that finish off the story with the incredibly boring Ori?

I think SG1 is a great test of ones ability to suspend disbelief.  It is so utterly ridiculous.  Almost everything.  Start to finish.  Idiotic.  Not great sci-fi, barely any good ideas done well, a real problem with escalating the stakes, deus ex machinas every other episode etc. etc.  Still, I had a blast watching it.  It is irreverent and silly and mostly fails when it tries to be serious.  It's best when it uses meta humour and there are times it's clear it's self aware enough.

Nevertheless, when they try and go serious they make bad decisions, one of which led to a character being written out for a cheap "we want to show the stakes are real" death.  It's really bad, it's really dumb, it's really unnecessary and I feel sorry for the actress who essentially got fired for it to happen.  They thought they weren't being cheap by doing it and it does make me question how self-aware they were of the show.

They also seem to resent their audience as there are numerous digs at sci-fi fans throughout.

I could go on.  This show has so many terribly quirks.  It's a train wreck.  But it's a fun train wreck.  That metaphor doesn't quite work.  I wouldn't recommend any watch this show and I understand why any given person would hate it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 10 November, 2021, 09:15:22 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 09 November, 2021, 08:48:30 PM
I have just finished watching the entirety of Stargate SG-1.

It's got issues, but it's main story arc blunders along nicely to wrap up with a very satisfying conclusion.  And then it carried on for two more seasons and just abruptly ended.  Do I watch the TV movies that finish off the story with the incredibly boring Ori?

I think SG1 is a great test of ones ability to suspend disbelief.  It is so utterly ridiculous.  Almost everything.  Start to finish.  Idiotic.  Not great sci-fi, barely any good ideas done well, a real problem with escalating the stakes, deus ex machinas every other episode etc. etc.  Still, I had a blast watching it.  It is irreverent and silly and mostly fails when it tries to be serious.  It's best when it uses meta humour and there are times it's clear it's self aware enough.

Nevertheless, when they try and go serious they make bad decisions, one of which led to a character being written out for a cheap "we want to show the stakes are real" death.  It's really bad, it's really dumb, it's really unnecessary and I feel sorry for the actress who essentially got fired for it to happen.  They thought they weren't being cheap by doing it and it does make me question how self-aware they were of the show.

They also seem to resent their audience as there are numerous digs at sci-fi fans throughout.

I could go on.  This show has so many terribly quirks.  It's a train wreck.  But it's a fun train wreck.  That metaphor doesn't quite work.  I wouldn't recommend any watch this show and I understand why any given person would hate it.
So you like it? But you hate it? It's crap? But it's good? Got it. :) The show checks off the list of tropes just like any episodic sci-fi of its time (time travel, body swap, virtual reality, etc.), but I disagree that SG-1 has a dearth of good ideas.

I assume you're talking about [spoiler]Janet Fraiser's[/spoiler] death? What are your problems with it? Why was it cheap and dumb? It's a well-written two-parter with a few interesting things to say about the media's relationship with the military. It's beautifully played and always seemed to me a fitting end for that character.

With regards to the TV movies, 'Arc of Truth' is awful, but it does wrap that storyline. It's not worth your time. 'Continuum' is much better, with a strong connection to the original Goa'ould arc and a great sense of fun. Highly recommended.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 10 November, 2021, 09:21:09 AM
Rewatching Deep Space 9. It really is the best Star Trek series.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 10 November, 2021, 09:54:27 AM
I've been dipping in and out of DS9 and TNG lately. Find I'm skipping most of the major character episodes (too slow and schmaltzy) and focussing on the weirder one-offs - 'something bizarre goes wrong and nearly kills everybody' type of stories.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 10 November, 2021, 10:18:05 AM
Quote from: wedgeski on 10 November, 2021, 09:15:22 AM
So you like it? But you hate it? It's crap? But it's good? Got it. :) The show checks off the list of tropes just like any episodic sci-fi of its time (time travel, body swap, virtual reality, etc.), but I disagree that SG-1 has a dearth of good ideas.

I assume you're talking about [spoiler]Janet Fraiser's[/spoiler] death? What are your problems with it? Why was it cheap and dumb? It's a well-written two-parter with a few interesting things to say about the media's relationship with the military. It's beautifully played and always seemed to me a fitting end for that character.

They killed the character off to kill a character off.  That's cheap, regardless.  I don't understand the decision to do so.  They wanted to establish that death is a real threat after many characters have been revived from the dead and some cases multiple times.  This is after Daniel's ascension!  That ship had sailed.  And by picking a secondary character, we're still assured that nothing is going to happen to the main characters.  Their plot armour remains intact throughout.  Maybe the worst part is is that they just dump on the actor that she's out of a job for this as well.  The real life aspect is what aggravates me the most about it.  The episodes themselves are fine and the cast put in a good job, but it was cheap.  The show would have benefited from her remaining and it does suffer in her absence.  Especially when they finally replace the character in the last two seasons.... who then subsequently disappears for the majority of Season 10... oh god this show is an utter fucking mess.

What makes SG1 enjoyable for me to watch is the characters.  Even in the last two seasons, because the story does get a lot worse there.  Also not taking it in anyway seriously.  It's more fun to look as the show as one big joke because then all it's messy problems just become part of that joke.

Anyway, I have to restrain myself writing too much about the show because I keep going off on tangents about one thing or another and I've wasted an hour writing and deleting what I've written!  I'll leave it at; It's a stupid mess that I enjoyed watching.

Quote from: Smith on 10 November, 2021, 09:21:09 AM
Rewatching Deep Space 9. It really is the best Star Trek series.

Yes it is.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 10 November, 2021, 12:01:46 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 10 November, 2021, 09:54:27 AM
I've been dipping in and out of DS9 and TNG lately. Find I'm skipping most of the major character episodes (too slow and schmaltzy) and focussing on the weirder one-offs - 'something bizarre goes wrong and nearly kills everybody' type of stories.
You are literally doing it completely wrong. 🤣
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 10 November, 2021, 12:47:28 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 09 November, 2021, 08:48:30 PM
I have just finished watching the entirety of Stargate SG-1.

It's best when it uses meta humour and there are times it's clear it's self aware enough.


Aye, the episode where O'neil and T'ealc get stuck in recurring time loop is a cracker.  Love the scene where they play golf through the stargate ...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 10 November, 2021, 01:27:25 PM
Quote from: Tjm86 on 10 November, 2021, 12:47:28 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 09 November, 2021, 08:48:30 PM
I have just finished watching the entirety of Stargate SG-1.

It's best when it uses meta humour and there are times it's clear it's self aware enough.


Aye, the episode where O'neil and T'ealc get stuck in recurring time loop is a cracker.  Love the scene where they play golf through the stargate ...

Yeah, that episode is the sort of fun I like that the show does.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Radbacker on 11 November, 2021, 03:02:21 AM
New season of Bigmouth on the Flix, laugh my arse off but if this show doesn't make you uncomfortable there's something wrong with you.

CU Radbacker
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 16 November, 2021, 02:18:16 PM
I'm doing Lower Decks.  Up to the third episode of season 2.  Very enjoyable.  I'm also watching Hellsing and Blood+... apparently I still feel the need to get my anime on and Vampires called to me.  I am going to watch Hellsing Ultimate right after Hellsing because why not.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 16 November, 2021, 06:39:49 PM
Quote from: Smith on 10 November, 2021, 12:01:46 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 10 November, 2021, 09:54:27 AM
I've been dipping in and out of DS9 and TNG lately. Find I'm skipping most of the major character episodes (too slow and schmaltzy) and focussing on the weirder one-offs - 'something bizarre goes wrong and nearly kills everybody' type of stories.
You are literally doing it completely wrong. 🤣

How so?

Quote from: Radbacker on 11 November, 2021, 03:02:21 AM
New season of Bigmouth on the Flix, laugh my arse off but if this show doesn't make you uncomfortable there's something wrong with you.

CU Radbacker

I liked the bit right at the end of S:1 where the hormone monsters are discussing making it into a TV show and someone says nobody would make a show about children and sex, so Maury says "I mean, maybe if it's animated, we could get away with it"
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 17 November, 2021, 01:47:06 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 03 November, 2021, 03:13:19 PM
Halfway through Season 2 of Locke & Key.
It's an improvement, acting-wise at least, on the first very uneven season, but still not clicking with me.
It just all seems a bit too convenient, for lack of a better word that I can't be bothered Googling.

I really love the comic series, and do enjoy seeing certain elements play out on screen, such as the 'Giant' spider and Head Key, but can't see myself ever re-watching it.

Liked the 1st series here, was keen to see the 2nd, what a let down!  again the marketing people have had a look at the demographics and decided who/what kind of characters we'll be watching... if I wanted to watch this amount of loud obnoxious youth I'd go to the back of a LRT bus at four oclock.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 19 November, 2021, 01:29:56 PM
Ahha, oh man. I knew the Netflix live action remake of COWBOY BEBOP was going to be, at best, a well intentioned, lukewarm redo but I wasn't anticipating such levels of thudding mediocrity.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: von Boom on 19 November, 2021, 02:12:11 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 19 November, 2021, 01:29:56 PM
Ahha, oh man. I knew the Netflix live action remake of COWBOY BEBOP was going to be, at best, a well intentioned, lukewarm redo but I wasn't anticipating such levels of thudding mediocrity.
Isn't that Netflix's raison d'etre?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 20 November, 2021, 12:34:04 PM

If, like me, you've ever lain awake at night fretting over how Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) might look if Quentin Tarantino ever got his hands on it then fret no more and throw your eyeballs at the undiluted arseomeness that is Marvel's Hit-Monkey.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 20 November, 2021, 02:31:06 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 20 November, 2021, 12:34:04 PM

If, like me, you've ever lain awake at night fretting over how Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) might look if Quentin Tarantino ever got his hands on it then fret no more and throw your eyeballs at the undiluted arseomeness that is Marvel's Hit-Monkey.

But avoid Vic and Bob's version
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Smith on 21 November, 2021, 07:36:19 AM
@Dandontdare Story and characters are the reason to watch,not the whatever anomaly of the week they are investigating. At least for me.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 25 November, 2021, 01:30:46 PM
Enjoying Irvine Welsh's CRIME, had to sign up to Britbox (grrr!) but got six months free up front with a cancellation anytime... its basically Rebus in Trainspotting mode, no bad thing!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 25 November, 2021, 01:42:13 PM
Quote from: Smith on 21 November, 2021, 07:36:19 AM
@Dandontdare Story and characters are the reason to watch,not the whatever anomaly of the week they are investigating. At least for me.

But when you already know the stories and characters backwards,  a weird disease or transporter accident is much more fun than endless episodes showing Worf bonding with his son, Bajoran religious politics or the Misery of the O'Briens.

Just watched S:3 of What We Do in the Shadows - still fun in parts, but a definite dip in quality. The best jokes are recycled from previous series. The last two episodes were good though as we see the "end" for one of the characters....
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 25 November, 2021, 07:51:18 PM
I finished Lower Decks.  It was still fun, but I think it could easily go off the rails.

I started Discovery Season 3 and I'm really enjoying it.  I like the setting change, the mystery and some new character dynamics.  I'm about half way through and I'm really engaged.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 07 December, 2021, 10:19:57 AM
Finished Discovery Season 3 and I loved it.  I like this direction and I hope they can do it justice going forward.

Also, Aeon Flux.  Esoteric, metaphor heavy Aeon Flux.  I really dig it's style.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 12 December, 2021, 06:43:15 PM

I've been putting off watching Hill Street Blues for a while now because I haven't seen it since it was first aired on UK tv and was afraid it wouldn't live up to the fond memories I have of it. However, I've just got to season 3 (of 7) and I'm happy - nay, overjoyed - to report that I'm falling in love with it all over again. The only thing I find annoying about it is that every week Captain Furillo's ex-wife, Fay, turns up with some bullsh*t complaint and expects him to drop everything in order to deal with it. Which he generally does - with a smile on his face.

Apart from that, it's excellent telly with good stories and compelling characters. Next time you're shopping for something to watch you could do a lot worse. Keep an eye open for it and hey - let's be careful out there...

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 12 December, 2021, 09:19:15 PM
I sat through all of Season 1 of Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous and, a few minor niggles about how shit the dinosaurs were at eating kids aside, I really enjoyed it. Some great tension and action set pieces, some nuanced characters (really!) and gorgeous Dino renderings made me wish it was live action. Better than at least three of the five movies. 

(I'm a fan of the original, natch, and controversially rank III above the others mainly because I love it being a pure chase movie).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 12 December, 2021, 09:20:04 PM
 You can all crucify me now.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Pyroxian on 13 December, 2021, 12:39:10 AM
I've watched all 4 seasons of Camp Cretaceous and really enjoyed them - the kids can be annoying at times, but that's because they're kids, and I'm (mostly) an adult.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 13 December, 2021, 10:08:47 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 12 December, 2021, 09:19:15 PM
(I'm a fan of the original, natch, and controversially rank III above the others mainly because I love it being a pure chase movie).

I probably rate 3 over 2.  Just somewhat more fun.  The original is the best and it's a fine movie, but the best things about it are the effects and especially the music.  That score makes that film.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 06 January, 2022, 11:40:04 PM
I've thoroughly enjoyed the new BBC (and partners) production of AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS starring David Tennant (quite brilliant as Fogg), Ibrahim Koma as Passepartout (starting out looking like a romantic cad) and Leonie Benesch as a Journalist who is more than just along for the ride.

The Daily Mail is probably saying it's woke, liberal nonsense but I thought it was a great way to adapt and update and make a more inclusive version of a classic story that has a lot of old fashioned ideas in it. The changes, to me anyway, didn't seem forced but fitted naturally into a modern telling.

It's all good stuff and episodes in Hong Kong and the Wild West are particularly fun.  No spoilers but it doesn't end in quite the way they seemed to have been building to either.

And they even set up the sequel for our three adventurers.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 06 January, 2022, 11:46:34 PM
Quote from: Pyroxian on 13 December, 2021, 12:39:10 AM
I've watched all 4 seasons of Camp Cretaceous and really enjoyed them - the kids can be annoying at times, but that's because they're kids, and I'm (mostly) an adult.

Season 4 is probably my least favourite so far but though it's still bonkers fun, it lacks a map and sense of geography the others had. And not enough adults get eaten so far...

Plus surely the technology to run those biomes is worth more than dinosaur making technology?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 07 January, 2022, 07:47:00 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 06 January, 2022, 11:46:34 PM
Quote from: Pyroxian on 13 December, 2021, 12:39:10 AM
I've watched all 4 seasons of Camp Cretaceous and really enjoyed them - the kids can be annoying at times, but that's because they're kids, and I'm (mostly) an adult.

Season 4 is probably my least favourite so far but though it's still bonkers fun, it lacks a map and sense of geography the others had. And not enough adults get eaten so far...

Plus surely the technology to run those biomes is worth more than dinosaur making technology?

(https://cdn.jwz.org/images/scaled/768/2015/tumblr_niwt5knkdl1qfe9fvo1_1280.jpg)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 07 January, 2022, 08:05:03 AM
Sauron makes a very compelling arguement. I mean you could probably not just cure cancer, you could wipe out malaria, stop famine all of which would be super... but dinosaurs are SOOOOO cool and lets face it will probably wipe of people anyway so you might as well skip to the end.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Barrington Boots on 07 January, 2022, 09:09:11 AM
Best Sauron panel ever and that's no small feat.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 07 January, 2022, 10:35:34 AM
Quote from: I, Cosh on 07 January, 2022, 07:47:00 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 06 January, 2022, 11:46:34 PM
Quote from: Pyroxian on 13 December, 2021, 12:39:10 AM
I've watched all 4 seasons of Camp Cretaceous and really enjoyed them - the kids can be annoying at times, but that's because they're kids, and I'm (mostly) an adult.

Season 4 is probably my least favourite so far but though it's still bonkers fun, it lacks a map and sense of geography the others had. And not enough adults get eaten so far...

Plus surely the technology to run those biomes is worth more than dinosaur making technology?

(https://cdn.jwz.org/images/scaled/768/2015/tumblr_niwt5knkdl1qfe9fvo1_1280.jpg)

Genuine 😂😂😂😂
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 09 January, 2022, 10:14:28 AM

Dopesick. Dramatisation of the greed-fuelled bonkersness leading to the opioid disaster in the U.S. with excellent performances from Michael Keaton and Rosario Dawson (and everyone else). Don't watch if you believe Big Pharma is on your side!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 10 January, 2022, 08:51:08 PM

Around the World in 80 Days. Absolutely wonderful, the best adaptation I've seen by a country mile (and fingers crossed they follow up that final hint with the same finesse...)

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 10 January, 2022, 09:05:33 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 10 January, 2022, 08:51:08 PM

Around the World in 80 Days. Absolutely wonderful, the best adaptation I've seen by a country mile (and fingers crossed they follow up that final hint with the same finesse...)

Yeah we all really enjoyed it. It's a very loose adaption but all the better for it
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 13 January, 2022, 12:00:33 AM
Detectorists on iPlayer.

It's really rather good.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 14 January, 2022, 12:01:32 PM
Been meaning to check that out, rather adoring the annual Worzel Gummidge specials from the same team. Just delightful, calming television drenched in folklore.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richmond Clements on 14 January, 2022, 01:25:31 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 13 January, 2022, 12:00:33 AM
Detectorists on iPlayer.

It's really rather good.

It is perfect.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 14 January, 2022, 02:43:25 PM
Quote from: Richmond Clements on 14 January, 2022, 01:25:31 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 13 January, 2022, 12:00:33 AM
Detectorists on iPlayer.

It's really rather good.

It is perfect.

Yes.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 15 January, 2022, 01:49:43 PM
I cannot recommend Station Eleven highly enough.

https://youtu.be/RaAG-SwEa7k (https://youtu.be/RaAG-SwEa7k)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 15 January, 2022, 03:12:01 PM
Not to be confused with Shed 17 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=462KBuAhncU)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 15 January, 2022, 03:29:12 PM
I have to verify my age to watch that ... a quick google search tells me it's something to do with Thomas the Tank Engine?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: hippynumber1 on 15 January, 2022, 05:04:05 PM
Thoroughly enjoying "Charlie Jade" from way back in 2005.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 16 January, 2022, 04:04:24 PM
Well, finally got round to watching the second series of Whedon's Dollhouse.  Actually, both seasons back to back which worked reasonably well.

It's not hideous, to be sure.  There are plenty of good ideas packed in.  Tudyk hams it up big style as a psycho in the few episodes he is in.

One nice thing is that the writing on the wall clearly gave the creative team the heads up to wrap things up.  The net result being that there is a conclusion of sorts.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 20 January, 2022, 01:17:37 AM
Mare of Easttown

In which the lovely Kate Winslett shrugs off the Galbrush paradox and plays the kind of awful, alcoholic, self-destructive detective role that's normally reserved for middle aged men. As for plot, it's the kind of small-town murder mystery that could have easily been used for a season of Fargo. The kind of plot when whodunnit is less important than why-does-this-character-suspect-that-character-dunnit.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Radbacker on 22 January, 2022, 01:03:52 AM
Up to episode 4 of Peacemaker, rather enjoyable if you like James Gunns style.  Lots of lol moments but also has a fair bit of heart.  John Cenna is great in it and the rest of the cast are great too with Vigilante a stand out especially in episode 4.
Also has one of the greatest opening credits ever 😁

CU Radbacker
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 22 January, 2022, 01:53:53 PM
Enjoying Warrior at the moment. It's a sort of kung fu Peaky Blinders gang series seemingly spun out of the backstory of the Mr Wu episode of Deadwood. The lead, Andrew Koji, does a great line in smug condescension and the fight scenes (guaranteed at least one decent one per episode) are the best I've seen on a tv show.

Over the past few months we've also dabbled in:

Designated Survivor is basically 24 but now Jack's too old to run around himself. It starts out quite fun but the conspiracy elements quickly go from absurd to totally absurd and there's always that tension between the liberal wish fulfillment politicking storylines and the desire to the see the bad guys get unambiguously stomped. Infuritatingly, we've only watched the first series because my partner - who wanted to start it in the first place - got fed up with it while I'm still secretly dying to know how the thriller part plays out.

House of Paper/Money Heist/Whatever it's called there. Spanish series about a lengthy robbery going right, then wrong, then maybe right again. Lots of changing relationships, slowly evolving backstories and double-crosses where virtually everyone is some kind of dickhead or hijo de puta. Good idea and a soupcon of commentary on Spain's particularly difficult experience of the recent austerity years. The evolution of one character from mild-mannered academic mastermind to Spanish Ethan Hunt stretches things a bit but never mind.

There's a natural break after the second Netflix series. Doubt we'll go back for the rest but up to here it was pretty good fun.

About a million years late to the party: the first series of Stranger Things. I'm sure this one has been discussed at length here. A very well put together homage to eighties pop culture which manages to go beyond the trap of simply being a set of references and tell its own story within that setting. Obviously, the number one thing they picked up on and got absolutely right was making the central characters exactly the right kind of slightly dorky, slightly awkward, competely average (in a good way) and natural kids.

And, of course, Christmas was the time when we briefly resubscribe to Sky and watch Chernobyl again. Astonishingly powerful tv.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 29 January, 2022, 04:57:30 PM
Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Was surprised how much I enjoyed this.  I got tired of comedy shows a while ago because of how mean-spirited they mostly seemed to be.  This one is actually a lot more sweet and adorable.  I like most of the characters, I didn't get bored and I actually laughed.  Out loud.  More than once.  I think it resolves its conflicts in the right amount of time and the series as whole wrapped up nicely.  It even acknowledges the systemic and institutional problems of the police force without tired apologist nonsense about bad apples and isolated cases.  It's not a great social commentary, but it was a breath of fresh air that it got as much right as it did.  Really glad I watched it, it's going to go into the pool of TV shows I rewatch.  My favourite character is Rosa.

Adventure Time

Love this cartoon.  Maybe this time around I'll finally watch the final episode.  I like how it builds upon itself to create a rich world and story.  My favourite character is Marceline the Vampire Queen.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 30 January, 2022, 06:25:49 PM

Just been through The Sopranos again and loved it (again). I still love the ending and think it comes just at the right time, before things get too repetitive. Great stuff.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 30 January, 2022, 06:33:57 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 30 January, 2022, 06:25:49 PM

Just been through The Sopranos again and loved it (again). I still love the ending and think it comes just at the right time, before things get too repetitive. Great stuff.

Really must do a rematch. I adore that show and think the end is pretty much perfect.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 30 January, 2022, 08:06:45 PM

Agreed.

(I wonder if the guy in the fisherman's cap in the Final Scene was Robert Patrick's character, the sporting goods store owner who got shafted...? I've never looked it up because I really don't want to know - but it felt cool to notice that it might be.)

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Radbacker on 05 February, 2022, 03:05:21 AM
All of us are Dead

Fuck the Koreans are really knocking it out of the park when it comes to genre stuff.  Another top effort up there with Squid Games, best Zombie show I've seen in years like a long form Train to Busan (which gets a name check episode two I thin it was, just as I turned to my missus to say this could really be set in the same universe as TTB the characters bring up the movie when discussing Zombies 😆) and a wonderful mid season twist the differentiate it from common Zombie outbreaks [spoiler]the virus is learning and suddenly intelligent Zombies[/spoiler].  Nice long episodes too so plenty of time for the show to breathe and build character so as they start being offed you really feel free it.  Only half way through but have read that the series sticks the landing too.  On Netflix if ya got it

CU Radbacker
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trooper McFad on 05 February, 2022, 10:45:20 AM
Quote from: Radbacker on 05 February, 2022, 03:05:21 AM
All of us are Dead

Fuck the Koreans are really knocking it out of the park when it comes to genre stuff.  Another top effort up there with Squid Games, best Zombie show I've seen in years like a long form Train to Busan (which gets a name check episode two I thin it was, just as I turned to my missus to say this could really be set in the same universe as TTB the characters bring up the movie when discussing Zombies 😆) and a wonderful mid season twist the differentiate it from common Zombie outbreaks [spoiler]the virus is learning and suddenly intelligent Zombies[/spoiler].  Nice long episodes too so plenty of time for the show to breathe and build character so as they start being offed you really feel free it.  Only half way through but have read that the series sticks the landing too.  On Netflix if ya got it

CU Radbacker

Good stuff I'll give it a go - as well as Squid game I really liked Kingdom which is a medieval take on the Zombie genre (hopefully they will have a 3rd season of this)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 11 February, 2022, 02:43:47 PM
Been watching I, CLADIUS over the last week after years of meaning to do so and...yeah, bit good innit?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 11 February, 2022, 05:23:25 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 11 February, 2022, 02:43:47 PM
Been watching I, CLADIUS over the last week after years of meaning to do so and...yeah, bit good innit?

One of the best t.v. shows ever.

~~~

The Tourist. A man has a car accident in the Australian Outback and, on awakening in hospital, has amnesia. A fairly standard set-up but an engrossing six episode series with more than a touch of Fargo about it. Recommended.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 11 February, 2022, 07:47:23 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 11 February, 2022, 02:43:47 PM
Been watching I, CLADIUS over the last week after years of meaning to do so and...yeah, bit good innit?

Yes. It's brilliant, and everyone is brilliant in it. Frankly, it's worth it just to remind yourself that there was a time when Brian Blessed was prepared to actually act and, it turns out, he was quite good at it.

(Even I wasn't old enough to watch it when it aired, but I saw it, at my parents' insistence, when it got re-shown in the 80s. One of those bits of landmark TV that you kind of felt no one but the BBC would have made at the time. See also: Edge of Darkness, Boys from the Blackstuff, maybe Black Adder(?). I miss that BBC.)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richard on 11 February, 2022, 09:39:32 PM
Strangely, Patrick Stewart looks exactly the same.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 11 February, 2022, 10:38:09 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 11 February, 2022, 05:23:25 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 11 February, 2022, 02:43:47 PM
Been watching I, CLADIUS over the last week after years of meaning to do so and...yeah, bit good innit?

One of the best t.v. shows ever.

I remember being allowed to stay up past my bedtime to watch this as it was 'educational' and being totally freaked out by a bloody-mouthed John Hurt
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 11 February, 2022, 10:42:36 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 11 February, 2022, 10:38:09 PM
I remember being allowed to stay up past my bedtime to watch this as it was 'educational' and being totally freaked out by a bloody-mouthed John Hurt

GOD, YES.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 14 February, 2022, 01:33:41 PM
I finished Adventure Time, including the finale for the first time.  Really punched me hard in the feels.  Absolutely loved how it wrapped up and I love the show as a whole.  There is a reason it is in my rotation, after all.

I'm now going to start on The Expanse from the beginning.  I only got as far as Season Two, so I've a lot of catching up.  Have they concluded the series yet?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: broodblik on 14 February, 2022, 01:47:58 PM
Yes the series has been cancelled with a few possibilities still kept open - especially the last season
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: wedgeski on 14 February, 2022, 02:59:27 PM
Quote from: broodblik on 14 February, 2022, 01:47:58 PM
Yes the series has been cancelled with a few possibilities still kept open - especially the last season
I think it would be fairer to say it has finished, rather than been cancelled. :)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 14 February, 2022, 03:36:09 PM
Quote from: wedgeski on 14 February, 2022, 02:59:27 PM
I think it would be fairer to say it has finished, rather than been cancelled. :)

Yeah — the end of S5 was intended as the conclusion to the series.* There are a few sub-plotty hooks they could hang a spin-off or a continuation on, but the main plot wraps up pretty conclusively.


*I haven't read the books but, as I understand, this is a logical place to finish, since the books take a significant jump forward in time after ones the TV series is based on.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 14 February, 2022, 03:51:36 PM
That all sounds good.  I do like watching a series after it has been finished.  I have lost interest in so many TV shows due to having to wait for the next season.  The Expanse being one of these.  I only considered giving it a second go because of comments about the show made here :)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CalHab on 14 February, 2022, 03:52:39 PM
Quote from: Rara Avis on 15 January, 2022, 01:49:43 PM
I cannot recommend Station Eleven highly enough.

https://youtu.be/RaAG-SwEa7k (https://youtu.be/RaAG-SwEa7k)

I hadn't realised this was out. I remember enjoying the novel back in the before-times, when pandemics were something I read about in fiction.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 14 February, 2022, 05:46:37 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 14 February, 2022, 03:51:36 PM
That all sounds good.  I do like watching a series after it has been finished.  I have lost interest in so many TV shows due to having to wait for the next season.  The Expanse being one of these.  I only considered giving it a second go because of comments about the show made here :)

You have to hit a sweet spot in regards to number of episodes though... Anything more than 50 and it sometimes feels like doing homework no matter how good the show.

THE EXPANSE and BLACK SAILS fit nicely into my criteria.

(Though the "tits ahoy" mentality and rapes in seasons 1 and 2 of Black Sails means I caveat any recommendations.)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 14 February, 2022, 06:10:19 PM
I think I'm generally okay with number of episodes.  I only watch an hour at most (usually 40 minutes) of a show per day with very rare exceptions.  I find it easier to digest a show doing it this way than when I'd binge.  It's also nice not to think about what I'd like to watch for a long time.  When I get near to the end of a series I usually know what I fancy watching next.  Plus I've got my rotation of shows I rewatch.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 21 February, 2022, 06:35:14 PM
Quote from: Apestrife on 13 September, 2020, 06:26:24 PM
Halfway through Lindelof's Watchmen. Must say, quite good thus far. I especially enjoy how nutty Veidt is. I also enjoy Angela's Sister Night, especially how intense her eyes are. Cool character.

So I'm late to the party here but I finally got round to this. I thought it was great from beginning to end. Took me a while to get my head around Jeremy irons performance but in the end, it worked for me. I really like the idea that the "race war" is as dangerous today as the nuclear arms race was in the eighties. Loved most of the twists and turns (and nope, I never guessed the big one) and how it all tied together. Regina King and Lou Gosett Jr absolutely fab.

If I was to nitpick? It actually felt a bit more "could stand on it's own" in the early episodes despite the call backs to the comic but by the end, I reckon a casual viewer would be lost. It's so ingrained in me though that it's hard to know for sure. I might tie Mrs Tips to a chair and get her thoughts.

Ps: made the mistake of looking for some reviews online. It's amazing how many people confuse "themes of racism" with "it's anti-white!".
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 21 February, 2022, 06:37:25 PM
Oh and so glad we got a depiction of the squid. Just epic stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 22 February, 2022, 10:08:01 AM
A colleague mentioned to me yesterday that Netflix are gonna pull all of their Marvel shows.
I didn't believe her, casue hey - Netflix produced the fuckin things, right?

Anyway, yes it's true, and all those series that I thought I could watch at my leisure due to the small 'N' in the top corner of the onscreen thumbnail are now on borrowed time.
My planned sequential watch has been abandoned - going straight to Defenders + Daredevil season 3.
Will leave it there.
(I've only previously watched Daredevil 1 + 2, Jessica Jones 1 and Luke Cage 1).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CalHab on 22 February, 2022, 11:31:17 AM
Is that a licensing issue? Is Disney+ taking them on, now that they're incorporating characters from Daredevil in the MCU?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 22 February, 2022, 11:42:23 AM
Quote from: Link Prime on 22 February, 2022, 10:08:01 AM
(I've only previously watched Daredevil 1 + 2, Jessica Jones 1 and Luke Cage 1).

If you have enough time left to work through some of your un-watched stuff...

Punisher S1 is really good, but S2 is garbage (IMO). Daredevil S3 is fantastic. Iron Fist S2 is a big step up from S1 (although that's not saying much). I liked Luke Cage S2 a lot, but I'd skip S2 of Jessica Jones, which doesn't really hang together. S3 of JJ wraps everything up quite nicely, though.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 22 February, 2022, 12:02:11 PM
Quote from: CalHab on 22 February, 2022, 11:31:17 AM
Is that a licensing issue? Is Disney+ taking them on, now that they're incorporating characters from Daredevil in the MCU?

I was hoping this might happen. I have DD on my Netflix list - hadn't got to it yet and now seeing its going on 28/02 won't have time to. Shame.

Not sure it is moving as Netflix do seem to retire content - not sure why don't understand how the model for this type of thing works - but was disappointed to see they had removed the Twin Peaks series - though do they just license materials in some cases???
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 22 February, 2022, 12:21:25 PM

I'm not into football at all but found the first two seasons of Ted Lasso to be quite charming.

I also enjoyed Succession, which is about a family of corporate assholes sticking it to other corporate assholes, and each other, while dealing with the problems of even more corporate assholes sticking it to them. Also: Brian Cox.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 22 February, 2022, 03:38:13 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 22 February, 2022, 11:42:23 AM
Quote from: Link Prime on 22 February, 2022, 10:08:01 AM
(I've only previously watched Daredevil 1 + 2, Jessica Jones 1 and Luke Cage 1).

If you have enough time left to work through some of your un-watched stuff...


I have less than a week to mainline as much as I can!
Noted regarding Punisher season 1, Jim.

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 22 February, 2022, 12:02:11 PM
I was hoping this might happen.

A cruel typo, or typical Scouse mean-streak shining through?  :lol:

Up until yesterday afternoon, as I understood it, anything with a Netflix logo on it was safe as houses.

The Marvel shows could just be the exception though - it probably remains the case that the majority of their self produced content will remain accessible indefinitely.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 22 February, 2022, 03:50:53 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 22 February, 2022, 12:21:25 PM
I also enjoyed Succession, which is about a family of corporate assholes sticking it to other corporate assholes, and each other, while dealing with the problems of even more corporate assholes sticking it to them. Also: Brian Cox.

Love oor Brian but this was like so many series now, nobody but nobody to root for, just ( mostly young) nasty people doing horrible things to each other... gave up.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 22 February, 2022, 04:21:18 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 22 February, 2022, 12:02:11 PM

Not sure it is moving as Netflix do seem to retire content - not sure why don't understand how the model for this type of thing works - but was disappointed to see they had removed the Twin Peaks series - though do they just license materials in some cases???

Decided to re-watch the Hunger Games movies recently - Netflix has the first three of four films, but bafflingly, not the last one. What's that all about? - it's not even a standalone film, it's the second half of a 2-part finale.(Fortunately it's free to watch if you have Amazon Prime)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 22 February, 2022, 04:56:51 PM
Weird Netflix thing for me was, leading up to Jackass Forever I felt the urge to rewatch the first 3 (well, 4.) movies which where listed on Letterboxd as being available on Netflix UK. Jackass 3.5 was but not the others. Annoying.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 22 February, 2022, 06:34:16 PM
Quote from: Proudhuff on 22 February, 2022, 03:50:53 PM


Love oor Brian but this was like so many series now, nobody but nobody to root for, just ( mostly young) nasty people doing horrible things to each other... gave up.


Oh, absolutely. There's not one sympathetic character in the whole ensemble, not even the goofy and naive cousin. The only thing left is to empathise with people ruined by money and power and root for the whole lot of them being brought down. Except for Brian, of course, who plays Daddy Monsterf*cker to perfection.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 24 February, 2022, 03:11:49 PM
I know, but empathising with Capt Bob is the last thing I want to do... But Briaza is superb in the role.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 24 February, 2022, 06:19:48 PM
Funny how Netflix seems to squirt out a dozen original cartoons a year but F is For family is the only good one out of the bunch and i've never seen anyone talking about it. Five seasons, didn't outlive its welcome at all. Great show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 24 February, 2022, 06:27:37 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 24 February, 2022, 06:19:48 PM
Funny how Netflix seems to squirt out a dozen original cartoons a year but F is For family is the only good one out of the bunch and i've never seen anyone talking about it. Five seasons, didn't outlive its welcome at all. Great show.

Your mouth is full of wrong! Archer, Big Mouth, Final Space, South Park and Bojack Horseman are fantastic. I gave up on F is for Family after a few episodes - just seemed like a boring outdated family sitcom. F is for Fuckingshite more like
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 24 February, 2022, 06:29:30 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 24 February, 2022, 06:27:37 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 24 February, 2022, 06:19:48 PM
Funny how Netflix seems to squirt out a dozen original cartoons a year but F is For family is the only good one out of the bunch and i've never seen anyone talking about it. Five seasons, didn't outlive its welcome at all. Great show.

Your mouth is full of wrong! Archer, Big Mouth, Final Space, South Park and Bojack Horseman are fantastic. I gave up on F is for Family after a few episodes - just seemed like a boring outdated family sitcom. F is for Fuckingshite more like

Wait, since when was SOUTH PARK on Netflix?! I retract my statement and add a single asterisk.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 24 February, 2022, 11:02:19 PM
If you want cartoon fun on Netflix, I've just had three goes through Charlie Brooker's new interactive cartoon/game, Cat Burglar. It's a (brilliantly executed) Tex Avery style cat v dog battle with rapid fire quiz questions that pop up - get them right and the cat wins, get them wrong or take too long and he is flattened by the anvil or electrocuted. Barring a few link-scenes, there are hundreds of permutations. The gags and set-pieces are authentically insane and very funny.

More here:https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/feb/21/charlie-brooker-interview-black-mirror-cat-burglar (https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/feb/21/charlie-brooker-interview-black-mirror-cat-burglar)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 25 February, 2022, 09:26:04 AM
Finished the first season of The Expanse and started the second.  The first flows very nicely into the second.  It's still very engaging.  There are mysteries set up, most get resolved but some don't and I think it hit the right balance for that.  The world is introduced in a compelling but not overly expository way and I find the array of characters interesting.  I don't know why I like Miller, he's an arsehole, but I do.  The quality is pretty high.  Well paced episodes in a well paced season.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 03 March, 2022, 08:53:15 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 22 February, 2022, 12:02:11 PM
Quote from: CalHab on 22 February, 2022, 11:31:17 AM
Is that a licensing issue? Is Disney+ taking them on, now that they're incorporating characters from Daredevil in the MCU?

I was hoping this might happen. I have DD on my Netflix list - hadn't got to it yet and now seeing its going on 28/02 won't have time to. Shame.


So the news is out there that Daredevil and the rest are coming to Disney+. From March 16th in US and then rolling out in other areas after that.

https://bleedingcool.com/tv/daredevil-not-an-easy-fit-in-spider-man-pg-world-charlie-cox/ (https://bleedingcool.com/tv/daredevil-not-an-easy-fit-in-spider-man-pg-world-charlie-cox/)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 03 March, 2022, 10:30:39 PM

Station Eleven, from a recommendation on this thread.

Wow. Just... wow.



Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 09 March, 2022, 02:17:14 PM
The Expanse Season 2

I don't think this season was quite as strong as the first one and I think the series as a whole is probably going to suffer from starting at such a high watermark.  I still enjoyed it.  I like Bobbie and her arc for the season.

I got twenty minutes into first episode of season 3 and I have alarm bells going off.  Firstly, I don't like redemption fake outs and bad guy frames someone else for their crime trope.  I don't like any media doing this and I don't find it satisfying entertainment.  It is just frustrating.  Secondly, I'm concerned that the focus is going to start shifting more heavily towards interpersonal drama.  There were degrees of that throughout what I've seen so far, but in the first twenty minutes of this episode it was noticeably more condensed.  I hope it's an aberration because I find myself instantly less enthused for watching more.  I don't think I've had that after committing to two seasons of a programme and thoroughly enjoying them.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CalHab on 09 March, 2022, 03:05:06 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 03 March, 2022, 10:30:39 PM

Station Eleven, from a recommendation on this thread.

Wow. Just... wow.

Oooh. I enjoyed the book. I think I'm going to hunt down the tv series now.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 10 March, 2022, 11:29:57 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 09 March, 2022, 02:17:14 PM
I like Bobbie and her arc for the season.

Right from her introduction she remained my favourite character in the series.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 10 March, 2022, 09:01:15 PM
I feel more confident carrying on with The Expanse after watching the third seasons second episode.  I am also resigned to accepting there is going to be plenty of dumb stuff in this series... not that there was much dumb in the second episode.  It was largely engaging and entertaining.  It also felt like the story moved forward.  I think that the transition between seasons this time was just poorly done and the two didn't flow adequately into one another.  Like there was half an episode missing or something.

I'm hoping we're back on track now.  I like most of the new directions taken in this episode even if I'm unsure about the new character.  I am hoping that this season has significant character development for Amos.  It always seems like he should be experiencing some sort of growth and he kind of just keeps reverting to a status quo.  If he doesn't learn empathy and compassion by the end of the series then they'd best have done something absolutely amazing with character for me not to be disappointed.

That said, I have been enjoying Alex's development.  The character is increasingly coming into his own and I wouldn't mind seeing it all culminating in him leading the group.  Because Jim sucks and Naomi is going in a different direction.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 10 March, 2022, 10:36:24 PM

Peacemaker follows on from the last Suicide Squad film and, from the Armstrong and Milleresque opening to the after-credits sequences, is great fun throughout.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 12 March, 2022, 08:18:41 PM
I assume Invincible has already come up in this thread if not another.

Be prepared for the final episode; it's something else.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 12 March, 2022, 09:56:56 PM
I never actually watched the show, having read the comics several times over. Maybe I should fix that.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 22 March, 2022, 02:00:06 PM
The Expanse Season 3

It ended up being okay.  It's a little jarring how it has a conclusion in the middle of the season and then has a time jump and new story to finish off the rest of the season.  Overall it ended up being entertaining and there was still plenty to like.  Camina is my favourite character of this season.  I'm kinda waiting on Amos to develop one way or another as a character.  He keeps getting paired with moral compasses but not a lot really progresses and he still remains frustratingly static.  His brand of apathetic nihilism is boring by this point and I don't see the point in him being a character if little is done with him.

So yeah, as the seasons go on the flaws of the show become more apparent and it will always live in the shadow of a really excellent first season.  It's still good, though and I think it's probably harsh to knock it for not meeting the potential I think it had at the beginning.  I'm just happy to still be enjoying it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 27 March, 2022, 08:40:27 PM

Kingdom (of silly hats). A 16th Century Korean prince (in a silly hat) has to contend with political conspirators (in silly hats), who wish to place a pretender queen (in a spectacularly silly hat) on the throne and kill him. However, the prince encounters a plague that turns people into zombies (and knocks off their silly hats) and so strives to save his kingdom so that everyone can wear their silly hats in peace.

I'm not usually a fan of the zombie genre, with or without silly hats, but this is really very good indeed.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: judgeurko on 27 March, 2022, 08:54:02 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 27 March, 2022, 08:40:27 PM

Kingdom (of silly hats). A 16th Century Korean prince (in a silly hat) has to contend with political conspirators (in silly hats), who wish to place a pretender queen (in a spectacularly silly hat) on the throne and kill him. However, the prince encounters a plague that turns people into zombies (and knocks off their silly hats) and so strives to save his kingdom so that everyone can wear their silly hats in peace.

I'm not usually a fan of the zombie genre, with or without silly hats, but this is really very good indeed.
The hats aren't silly they are accurate to the time period check your prejudice.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 27 March, 2022, 09:25:35 PM

Well, pardon me all over the place.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 27 March, 2022, 10:25:09 PM
Just finished the first season of Arcane — I have literally zero knowledge of the game(s) but the animated series has been fantastic. I'm delighted to learn that Netflix has greenlit a second series.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 31 March, 2022, 07:52:18 PM
The Expanse Season 4

Ugh, no.  Not fun nor interesting.  Very boring, dull and predictable.  This all dragged out far too long with too many cliches.  I did think at one point "maybe they'll do something with Amos" but by the end they hit the big reset button for him.  The whole season could have excised the guff and filled about four episodes.  Maybe five if you want some incredibly boring election narrative.  At this point I think less of the previous Seasons.  What I thought was a set up for something insightful and interesting has ended up kind of trite and obvious.  I groaned all the way through it.

Not sure if anything they do after this could possible be redeemable.  One thing I do know is this show isn't finding itself into my regular viewing circulation solely because I really don't want to have to go through Season 4 ever again.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 31 March, 2022, 08:41:04 PM
Regarding The Expanse - and from the perspective of reading the books only - I'd say the high water mark of the narrative is the [SPOILERS AHOY] bombardment of Earth (in book 2 of 9). It's not that nothing happens after that point, but that there's a bit of enemy-shuffling, a bit of Eastenders, then a jump forward in time - and the momentum fizzles.

Still kept me engaged enough to read the entire book series, but there are highs and lows. Unlike the work of, say, Iain M. Banks, I don't know if I'll ever re-read these.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 31 March, 2022, 09:05:58 PM
Quote from: Funt Solo on 31 March, 2022, 08:41:04 PM
Regarding The Expanse - and from the perspective of reading the books only - I'd say the high water mark of the narrative is the [SPOILERS AHOY] bombardment of Earth (in book 2 of 9). It's not that nothing happens after that point, but that there's a bit of enemy-shuffling, a bit of Eastenders, then a jump forward in time - and the momentum fizzles.

Still kept me engaged enough to read the entire book series, but there are highs and lows. Unlike the work of, say, Iain M. Banks, I don't know if I'll ever re-read these.

That seems to track.  I had to look up a book synopsis to understand what point in the series that is.  The TV show, for me, peaked with the first season.  The Second season where the bombardment happens is pretty good as well, but it's diminishing returns from there on out.  Apparently Season 4 adapts the forth book of the series.  I'm guessing it's the Eastenders portion.

I really should finish The Culture series.  I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books.  However, I was thinking after finishing Lord of the Rings I'd start reading a shit-ton of Michael Moorcock.  Now I don't know what to think.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 02 April, 2022, 11:07:13 PM
Just started on DD - its move to Disney+ spurred me on after thinking I'd missed it on Netflix and being pretty disappointed. SOoooo anyway 4 episodes in and its pretty good. I'd getting tired of grimdark BUT if you are to have grimdark you can have grimdark on DD. I mean no one does angsty self loathing like DD and the series is working nicely for me. Taking its time. Letting things build well.

Yeah optimistic and with the things you hear about how good Season 3 is so far its looking like it might be a pleasure getting there.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 08 April, 2022, 09:58:11 PM
And the upside of finally testing positive* is I've felt pretty crap today and haven't been up to much of anything and so have indulged myself and watched the final four episodes of Season one of Daredevil today. And it was pretty good. I mean the grimdark leaves it tonally bland - but as said there is no better platform for that and I seem to do fine with it in the comics (although the Waid run which does play with this is my second fav DD run) and some of the dialogue is so goddamn earnst as to be boarding on rancid cliche at times.

This is tempered by some good performances (I worry that I'm the only person who thinks they've done a good job with Foggy), dramatic setting and pacing that really works, its steady, it builds rather than darts and I like the way they've scattered 'origin' of various characters throughout. The action is solid if a little hyper-realised, again given the material you have to forgive that.

Overall the first 12 episodes really work and in my weaken state it was getting better and better as it built to the conclusion. I was genuinely shocked by a couple of key moments and this was all good stuff ... and then... well then...

Damn that final episode rather blindsided the whole thing. Firstly the pacing, they way they rattled to the end was in utter contrast to the previous episodes and really jarred. The [spoiler]fall of the Kingpin[/spoiler] Wilson Fisk just burst out so quickly it really didn't work for me at all. The music on the scene with all the arrests (think it harks back to The Untouchables - am I remembering that right?) was so poorly used. Its just rolled from one cliche to the next and stank the place up.

Then that film climatic conflicit - I mean I guess they had to have it but it was just so ... overblown. I must admit I really don't like the costume / body armour thing (though I did like all the cute Easter Eggs the popped into Melvin Potters workshop) and maybe that soured things for me. It really felt like a typical superhero movie at that point,... which it is of course, but had seemed to be trying to avoid lots of that.

I wonder did they not know they were going to get a second season and so had to bolt to the line? I might have to read up.

Anyway overall this was great fun and I'm in for the next two seasons. Just hope they don't go quite so 'crank it up to 11' on the season finales to come!




*Household all doing fine is the most important thing and since the first postive in the house 5 days ago that counts as a blessing!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: RookieNerd on 26 April, 2022, 12:47:15 AM
SG1 never saw all the episodes on the small screen. Finally picked up the entire 10 seasons for about £18 this year. Cheap low budget sets/costumes, but what offsets all the cheap visuals is the competent acting and the interesting stories. B5 and BSG with Breaking Bad are my top three fave Boxsets though.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trooper McFad on 26 April, 2022, 08:13:15 AM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 08 April, 2022, 09:58:11 PM
And the upside of finally testing positive* is I've felt pretty crap today and haven't been up to much of anything and so have indulged myself and watched the final four episodes of Season one of Daredevil today. And it was pretty good. I mean the grimdark leaves it tonally bland - but as said there is no better platform for that and I seem to do fine with it in the comics (although the Waid run which does play with this is my second fav DD run) and some of the dialogue is so goddamn earnst as to be boarding on rancid cliche at times.

This is tempered by some good performances (I worry that I'm the only person who thinks they've done a good job with Foggy), dramatic setting and pacing that really works, its steady, it builds rather than darts and I like the way they've scattered 'origin' of various characters throughout. The action is solid if a little hyper-realised, again given the material you have to forgive that.

Overall the first 12 episodes really work and in my weaken state it was getting better and better as it built to the conclusion. I was genuinely shocked by a couple of key moments and this was all good stuff ... and then... well then...

Damn that final episode rather blindsided the whole thing. Firstly the pacing, they way they rattled to the end was in utter contrast to the previous episodes and really jarred. The [spoiler]fall of the Kingpin[/spoiler] Wilson Fisk just burst out so quickly it really didn't work for me at all. The music on the scene with all the arrests (think it harks back to The Untouchables - am I remembering that right?) was so poorly used. Its just rolled from one cliche to the next and stank the place up.

Then that film climatic conflicit - I mean I guess they had to have it but it was just so ... overblown. I must admit I really don't like the costume / body armour thing (though I did like all the cute Easter Eggs the popped into Melvin Potters workshop) and maybe that soured things for me. It really felt like a typical superhero movie at that point,... which it is of course, but had seemed to be trying to avoid lots of that.

I wonder did they not know they were going to get a second season and so had to bolt to the line? I might have to read up.

Anyway overall this was great fun and I'm in for the next two seasons. Just hope they don't go quite so 'crank it up to 11' on the season finales to come!




*Household all doing fine is the most important thing and since the first postive in the house 5 days ago that counts as a blessing!

For me Daredevil was the best of the "Netflix" Marvel followed by Punisher/Luke Cage and then the rest on a level pegging. I like the crossovers when they appear and your right about Foggy. But the best character I loved was Kingpin and glad they used the same actor in Disney's Hawkeye. Glad to see that they are all under one banner (but surprised as I felt the Netflix ones were a step up in violence)

Glad the Family are holding up well
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 04 May, 2022, 01:05:12 PM
 May streaming calendar below!

May 1
NETFLIX
42
3 Ninjas: Kick Back
40-Love
A River Runs Through It
Are You the One?: Season 6
Blippi Wonders: Season 1
Corpse Bride
Crazy, Stupid, Love.
Den of Thieves
Dirty Harry
Empire State
Forrest Gump
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
Hello, My Name Is Doris
Jackass: The Movie
Jackass 2.5
Jackass 3.5
John Q
Menace II Society
Once Upon a Time in America
Rambo
Rambo: Last Blood
Road to Perdition
Seven Years in Tibet
Soul Surfer
Summerland
The Gentlemen
The Lake House
U.S. Marshals (1998)
War of the Worlds
When Harry Met Sally
You've Got Mail




PRIME VIDEO
Independence Day (1996)
Tombstone (1993)
Open Range (2003)
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)
The Guardian (2006)
Office Space (1999)
Enemy Of The State (1998)
Taken (2008)
Dude, Where's My Car? (2000)
Hitman (2007)
Red Tails (2012)
Sideways (2021)
Tooth Fairy 2 (2012)
Courage Under Fire (1996)
Pearl Harbor (2001)
Fat Albert (2004)
Lucky Number Slevin (2006)
The Angriest Man In Brooklyn (2014)
Tangerine (2015)
Europa Report (2013)
Blackfish (2013)
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)
Fargo (1996)
Valley Girl (1983)
The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999)
Platoon (1986)
The Woods (2006)
Bad Influence (1990)
The Namesake (2007)
Crank (2006)
Mamma Mia! (2008)
Shrek (2001)
Shrek 2 (2004)
Battleship (2012)
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (2008)
Don't Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood (1996)
Field Of Dreams (1989)
Road To Perdition (2002)
Eye For An Eye (1996)
Zero Dark Thirty (2013)
A League Of Their Own (1992)
The Ugly Truth (2009)
Blue Clues S1 (1999)

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 05 May, 2022, 11:03:15 AM

Wow, that's a marathon!

I've just binged Love, Death and Robots and really enjoyed it overall. The worst part was that my mind kept wandering to imagine a 2000AD series with a similar format. Say thirteen ~20 minute episodes, five of them Dredd (broken up to maybe episodes 1, 2, 7, 12 and 13, telling either one big story or five self-contained ones), then maybe three episodes of Rogue Trooper or Strontium Dog, the last five episodes could be a two part M.A.C.H. 1 or Visible Man and a couple of Future Shocks. Maybe all with a short post-credits Word from Tharg sequence. And of course the seasons would be called Progs and the episodes would be called Thrills. Anyhoo, Love, Death and Robots is cool and I liked it a lot.

Moon Knight. I enjoyed the Hell of of this.

House of Cards (US). Can't really be compared to the UK original, except in superficial ways, but this is nevertheless a good series in it's own right. I know it stars the A$$h0le Formerly Known as Kevin Spacey (who, a$$h0le or not, puts in a good turn) but it also stars Robin Wright, who is awesome, and many other top-notch people. An enjoyable political thriller, political correctness notwithstanding.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 10 May, 2022, 06:03:09 PM

Halfway through season 2 of Raised by Wolves and I'm beginning to wonder if it's all part of the Alien universe...

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 11 May, 2022, 01:40:09 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 10 May, 2022, 06:03:09 PM

Halfway through season 2 of Raised by Wolves and I'm beginning to wonder if it's all part of the Alien universe...

Heard so much dissing of this I avoided it, worth a watch?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 11 May, 2022, 01:55:13 PM
Quote from: Proudhuff on 11 May, 2022, 01:40:09 PM
Heard so much dissing of this I avoided it, worth a watch?

The first series really, really wasn't. It started out oddly fascinating and pleasingly different, visually, from most mainstream US SF, but the story just meanders around, making progressively less and less sense, until you get to the final episode and just ask yourself "Why the fuck did I sit through all that?"
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 11 May, 2022, 02:41:44 PM
Quote from: Proudhuff on 11 May, 2022, 01:40:09 PM

Heard so much dissing of this I avoided it, worth a watch?


Well, I'm enjoying it somewhat but it's not something I'd recommend strongly.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 11 May, 2022, 04:37:40 PM
Damned by faint ( and not so faint) praise, will continue to avoid.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 11 May, 2022, 05:42:42 PM
I've been watching One Piece.

I watched the first three arcs many years ago, but didn't really remember whether I liked any of it or not.  I thought I'd give it another go.  There is a lot to get through, however and I'm not even at the point where I dropped out.  I'm not sure I'll make it to the end because I am getting suspicious that it's horribly over-rated.  I'm thinking I may end up watching more than I did last time, but eventually I'll just get tired of it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 11 May, 2022, 11:16:50 PM
Working our way through SEINFELD on Netflix still. Has there been a better comic creation than George Costanza? Kramer is a bit of a Mary Sue but brilliantly played.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CalHab on 13 May, 2022, 03:39:42 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 11 May, 2022, 11:16:50 PM
Has there been a better comic creation than George Costanza?

Frank Costanza.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 15 May, 2022, 02:19:49 PM
Hehe! Good point. I have "hilariously" started Mrs Tips in the style of Frank.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 20 May, 2022, 04:55:34 PM

Halo. I nearly didn't bother with this because I don't do computer games (well, maybe Mahjongg and Patience from time to time) but I'm glad I gave it a go. The story and characters were all okay, not brilliant but engaging enough to while away the rainsoaked hours of a weekend off, and the effects were top notch. Not bad at all.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 21 May, 2022, 10:31:38 PM
Daredevil Season 2 well its a good job I've heard such good things about Season 3 as getting there is beginning to feel a bit of a trial (no pun and all that). 7 episodes in and no tonal variance at all, not surprisingly I suppose - but why is there no window cleaners in Hell's Kitchen? Or cleaning products - well except in the appointments of posh baddies! Anyway while its got a lot of great new ideas (from the comics) to play with its turning into a lumbing cliche factory and its really beginning to bug me.

I'm going to get to Season 3,  but man its a lot harder work than the first 12 episodes of Season 1 made it seem like it was going to be!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 22 May, 2022, 09:16:21 AM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 21 May, 2022, 10:31:38 PM
I'm going to get to Season 3,  but man its a lot harder work than the first 12 episodes of Season 1 made it seem like it was going to be!

I didn't care for S2 at all. The main problem, ISTR, is that Matt is such a whiny little twat for most of it. That, plus the lack of Fisk, made it a real slog. S3 is really good, though.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: CalHab on 24 May, 2022, 02:11:53 PM
I heard a rumour Disney+ is going to continue the series with the same cast?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 24 May, 2022, 02:38:44 PM
Quote from: CalHab on 24 May, 2022, 02:11:53 PM
I heard a rumour Disney+ is going to continue the series with the same cast?

The latest I've heard about this from that ever reliable source (ahem) Bleeding Cool

https://bleedingcool.com/tv/daredevil-disney-reportedly-taps-corman-ord-to-write-new-series/ (https://bleedingcool.com/tv/daredevil-disney-reportedly-taps-corman-ord-to-write-new-series/)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 24 May, 2022, 10:49:14 PM
Quote from: CalHab on 24 May, 2022, 02:11:53 PM
I heard a rumour Disney+ is going to continue the series with the same cast?

It's long been rumbling that Disney liked Daredevil best out of all the Netflix offerings, and the [spoiler]Charlie Cox cameo in No Way Home[/spoiler] seems to confirm that. I wouldn't be surprised to [spoiler]see him pop up in the She-Hulk series[/spoiler] and with [spoiler]Fisk's suspiciously inconclusive off-camera 'death' in the Hawkeye series,[/spoiler] it would seem that there are a lot of pieces in place for an 'official' MCU version... to the extent that they've put a LOT of otherwise unnecessary work in if that wasn't the plan.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trooper McFad on 25 May, 2022, 09:40:46 PM
A short and sharp box set addiction love death & robots on Netflix.

This is the 3rd season and I have enjoyed all 3. Yes there are some better than others and some really good ones.

It is what future shocks could have been if we had Tooth TV.

P.S. my favourite in this run is Mason's Rats
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 01 June, 2022, 09:49:58 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 21 May, 2022, 10:31:38 PM
Daredevil Season 2 well its a good job I've heard such good things about Season 3 as getting there is beginning to feel a bit of a trial (no pun and all that). 7 episodes in and no tonal variance at all, not surprisingly I suppose - but why is there no window cleaners in Hell's Kitchen? Or cleaning products - well except in the appointments of posh baddies! Anyway while its got a lot of great new ideas (from the comics) to play with its turning into a lumbing cliche factory and its really beginning to bug me.

I'm going to get to Season 3,  but man its a lot harder work than the first 12 episodes of Season 1 made it seem like it was going to be!

And if I thought the finale of Season 1 was bad boy oh boy. I mean there was the odd moment in the second half of Season 2 when I thought it might start to pull it back and improve and everytime that happened if throw itself once again into over overwrought nonsense. Karen's tale got even more implusible. The Punisher became even more unlikable while those around him seem to find ways to like him (well Karen, buit she was the only one around him). Foggy got even more pointless. The Hand grasped even tighter to cliche etc etc. Matt got even more whiny and annoying. It always found new fresh ways to get silly and terrible.

THEN in the finale when The Punisher shows up for... reasons... he does that nod to DD - at that point I giggled. They managed to top that even more with "See you around Red" - fuck me sideways that was SO BAD... it was caps lock Bad,.

Season 3 better be bloody good after that!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 01 June, 2022, 11:07:35 PM

Another thumbs up for Love, Death, and Robots Season 3. Superb telly from the Hilarious Night of the mini Dead to the Thoroughly Lovecraftian In Vaulted Halls Entombed to the Unashamedly Weird Jibaro, every episode has something to offer.

Rebellion - take note!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 10 June, 2022, 02:10:12 PM

Episode One of Ms. Marvel was very cool, full of energy and humour. Looking forward to the rest of it!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 11 June, 2022, 12:32:11 AM
Peacemaker

I blow hot and cold on James Gunn, I liked this. There's a lot of silliness which is mostly taken seriously like a Sam Raimi production, instead of being lampshaded like in Guardians of the Galaxy.

It's a spinoff from the 2nd Suicide Squad movie which is also called the Suicide Squad and I don't understand the difference.

John Cena will eventually win an oscar.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 17 June, 2022, 09:10:13 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 10 June, 2022, 02:10:12 PM

Episode One of Ms. Marvel was very cool, full of energy and humour. Looking forward to the rest of it!

Yeah, two episodes in and this is genuinely great television. The family dynamic is particularly well written (and performed); what could have been monstrous caricatures are nuanced. Plus doesn't look or sound like any other Marvel stuff.

I bet it has been really well received on Comic Book fan sites across the world. ;o)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 18 June, 2022, 12:52:35 AM
One of the things I enjoy most about The Boys is Homelander's fake smile. Technically every on screen smile is fake, but Anthony Starr really sells the fakeness. Proper rictus grin. And Karl Urban is his nemisis.

He'd make a great Judge Death.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 18 June, 2022, 07:07:18 AM
Quote from: Mister Pops on 18 June, 2022, 12:52:35 AM

One of the things I enjoy most about The Boys is Homelander's fake smile. Technically every on screen smile is fake, but Anthony Starr really sells the fakeness. Proper rictus grin.


Couldn't agree more. Starr's entire performance is great. I love the way he manages to get across Homelander trying to hide his ignorance or petulance behind a facade of powerful perfection. The odd little tick or stifled childish outburst in such a powerful character is chilling, creating the impression of an atom bomb on a hair-trigger.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 18 June, 2022, 07:22:47 PM
Quote from: Mister Pops on 11 June, 2022, 12:32:11 AM
It's a spinoff from the 2nd Suicide Squad movie which is also called the Suicide Squad and I don't understand the difference.

Are you a fan of the pitch meetings? This one really helps to break down the differences between the two:

https://youtu.be/G74et7XEz2M
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 18 June, 2022, 07:26:39 PM
Next episode of The Boys is the Herogasm episode.

Excited and dreading it in equal measure.

Exited because it was such a shocking moment in the books but dreading it because God only knows what will happen in it.

[spoiler]I wonder if they will stay true to the comics and Hughie will get Black Noir's finger up the bum?[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 19 June, 2022, 09:39:38 PM

Derry Girls, Season Three. Wonderful, superb, excellent, cracker.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 20 June, 2022, 01:53:48 AM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 19 June, 2022, 09:39:38 PM

Derry Girls, Season Three. Wonderful, superb, excellent, cracker.

As someone who grew up in the Derry Girls EU, the phrase you're lookin' is "Pure belter hai"
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 20 June, 2022, 06:59:08 AM

:-D

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 01 July, 2022, 02:51:53 PM
Still watching One Piece.  I don't know why.  I have got to the point I stopped watching last time I tried getting through it, so I'm around a quarter of the way through the whole thing.  My second viewing has been a detriment to my opinion on the series.  I really don't understand why this series is as popular as it is and I've only carried on watching in the hopes that it would become clear as time goes on.

I don't think the show is entirely without merit.  I actually enjoyed watching the East Blue stuff again.  Nevertheless, it's not funny and just keeps repeating the bad jokes it has.  It can look ugly as sin more often than it should.  It is full of battle manga tropes.  It's not all that inventive.  It drags things out too long... etc. etc.  Frankly, regardless of how things go from here on out and how far I can manage to get through the series, I'm not going to ever think it deserves its popularity.  It's pretty mediocre.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: PsychoGoatee on 09 July, 2022, 06:47:38 AM
I love One Piece myself, but everybody clicks with different stuff. Has a pretty unique vibe and style. I do find in the second half (say after ep 400 or 500) the pacing of the adaptation slowed down too much, so I switched to reading the manga.

Lately I've been enjoying Doom Patrol, pretty charming and also intense. Just a well done comic serial show.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 14 July, 2022, 12:47:54 PM

Night Sky. J. K. Simmons and Sissy Spacek star as a retired couple with a 20 year old secret - hidden under their garden shed is a portal to another planet. That's the set up, I'll leave it for you to discover the rest. Excellent little show. Recommended.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 15 July, 2022, 07:16:51 PM

The Night Manager. Tom Hiddleston (with the help of Olivia Colman) gets his Bond on as a hotel night manager who falls into the world of international espionage to go up against arms dealer Hugh Laurie in full Bond villain mode in this adaptation of a novel by John Le Carré. Nice, tight little thriller - well worth a watch if you like this kind of thing, which I do.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 17 July, 2022, 05:28:12 AM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 15 July, 2022, 07:16:51 PM

The Night Manager. Tom Hiddleston (with the help of Olivia Colman) gets his Bond on as a hotel night manager who falls into the world of international espionage to go up against arms dealer Hugh Laurie in full Bond villain mode in this adaptation of a novel by John Le Carré. Nice, tight little thriller - well worth a watch if you like this kind of thing, which I do.

Saw that closer to when it first came out, and remember liking it a lot.

---

Just finished watching the final episode of Ms Marvel - pretty good (although I was also dismantling a Lego pirate ship, so it was backdrop thrills).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 17 July, 2022, 08:03:08 PM

Undone. One of those traced-over live action animation (rotoscoped) series. Alma has a car accident and finds herself jumping randomly through time. Her dead father (Bob Odenkirk) shows up to help her control her powers, which she uses to try and make her own and her family's life perfect by fixing the mistakes of the past. But, how can any life be perfect? No matter how much she puts right, there's always something else that can be fixed... Funny and thought provoking and well worth your time.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 25 July, 2022, 10:01:05 PM
THE BOYS season 3 was pretty damned good. Never spotted any filler. Finale had a less than impressive smack down (Homelander strangely underpowered) but that aside, satisfied and set things up for what could be a good fourth (and final?) season.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 25 July, 2022, 10:02:58 PM
Oh and finished Seinfeld which was also great with a fabulous conclusion (even if the last couple of episodes weren't as funny as usual).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 25 July, 2022, 11:03:38 PM
Currently working our way through Slow Horses on AppleTV+. It's pretty great, TBH. Fantastic cast, particularly Gary Oldman's spectacularly sleazy Jackson Lamb, but the performances are all good and it seems unfair to start picking actors out. (OK, maybe Kirsten Scott Thomas' icy deputy head of MI5...)

There's a nasty, twisty plot that stays just the right side of cynically believable, whilst the whole thing is stylishly shot, but resolutely unglamorous.

The basic conceit (focussing on MI5's worst of the worst, a collection of fuck-ups shuffled off to the dilapidated environs of Slough House, a few miles across London from the shiny HQ of MI5) makes a pleasing change from the usual slick, competent types that populate these kinds of thrillers... and you quickly realise that even the smug bastards of MI5 proper are really only there because they're better at covering their arses than the losers.

Oh, and an original theme tune performed by Mick Jagger, no less.

We haven't finished this series yet, but I believe a second is in the works, which I'll be very happy to watch.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 27 July, 2022, 11:42:42 AM
The Lazarus Project, has some fun timey-wimey handwaving, and a few outragous technobabble sprouts, but is a fun ride.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 31 July, 2022, 10:14:43 PM
So many shows I'm meant to be watching. Not checked out Obi Wan yet, Season 3 of DD awaiting BUT got sidelined by checking out Paper Girls on Amazon Prime - big fan of the comic when it was coming out. So two episodes in and its REALLY good.

Its takes a clumsy 25 minutes or so to put all the pieces in place but after that its just flown by. The high concept is one thing. Four paper girls, of the title, thrown into the far future, well 2019 from 1988 when accidently getting caught in some future conflicit.

Forget that though its the interactions between the four leads AND one of the leads and her future self that make this utterly brilliant telly. Check it out... and not just cos the more popular this show gets the more my back issues go up in value. No rather so you can explain to folks that NO actually the comics came out BEFORE Stranger Things was a thing so it isn't a copy - got it (I've never watched Stranger Things - yes,yes its on the list, so don't know?)... oh and cos its bloody good!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 02 August, 2022, 10:17:54 PM
5 episodes in and Paper Girls is must watch TV just fantastic. Watch it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 03 August, 2022, 09:01:39 AM

Yep, it is quite good.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Radbacker on 03 August, 2022, 09:28:00 AM
Another yes for Paper Girls, after slow first half of ep 1 it's great, watched Ep 3 and 4 last night and my st say hello unexpected [spoiler]MECH[/spoiler] at the end has cemented it for me.  May not be available for nexpected for fans of the comic though.  Wouldn't really say it is like Stranger Things though but it does have a great and believable child cast which is what made season 1 of Stranger Things so great.

CU Radbacker
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 03 August, 2022, 12:55:40 PM
Still ploughing through One Piece.  Things picked up with Enies Lobby arc, but it looks like it might drag towards the conclusion.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 04 August, 2022, 02:37:56 PM
No love for Skypia? My favourite arc.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 04 August, 2022, 08:50:16 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 04 August, 2022, 02:37:56 PM
No love for Skypia? My favourite arc.

Unfortunately that's my real low point.  Skypia and Arabasta were both tedious for me, but Skypia (being the latter arc) is when I really started questioning if I should carry on doing this.

What has saved the show for me is largely Franky.  He's been delightful.  Franky and Chopper are the best.
It also focusing on finding a place for Robin in the crew is nice because I think she's yet to develop a personality at this point in the story and has pretty just been tagging along.
I am getting the impression that this is where the overarching storyline is really starting to get developed and I certainly needed that if I'm going to slog through the rest of this.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 05 August, 2022, 08:20:57 PM

The Sandman. Some interesting - and often inspired - casting choices plus interesting adaptions are making this very enjoyable for me. The only downside is that I've binged too much in one day so only have two episodes left to watch tomorrow (or none, if I stay up too late - which means I'll miss out on some of my own dream time...).

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 05 August, 2022, 08:46:55 PM
Paper Girls

The last episode was a little disappointing as so much is crammed in, weirdly as it still leaves us hangin' so threre didn't feel the need to end were it did. The hectic pace means that there was little time for what made the first 7 episodes SO good, the character interactions.

Still I can forgive that, if we get more as this was top class telly for the vast majority of its 8 episode run.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 05 August, 2022, 09:15:26 PM
Just about to start Sandman. I'm genuinely nervous about seeing the perfect graphic novel 'adapted'.

But I pledge this ahead of the experience: If I hate it, I'll simply stop watching, safe in the knowledge that the books remain as good.

Nah, I'll probly just watch the rest and bitch about it. *sigh*
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 05 August, 2022, 10:12:29 PM
First thoughts: Happy fanboy - Of course there had to be some big liberties taken with the details, but they've "got it" overall.

So, that's where I'll be for the next 2-3 hours
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 05 August, 2022, 11:57:03 PM
Okay, three episodes in and calling it a night.

Still enjoying it overall but Jenna Coleman is just as fucking annoying in this as she was in Dr Who. I had enough trouble getting my head around Keanu as John Constantine, but this is too much.

Hoping we'll see far less of her from here on, still optimistic.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: DrRocka on 06 August, 2022, 12:21:09 AM
SANDMANUp to the last episode now, loving every minute. Surprised at how faithful it is to the comics*, and how certain changes have enhanced the plot.
They obviously have some rights issues regarding use of DC characters that are licensed elsewhere, but hell, the comics were never about superheroes anyway, were they?
Like 2012's DREDD, I was just hoping not to be disappointed. Instead, I'm genuinely thrilled.
Season 2 asap, PLEASE!


*if you see skin colour or sexuality before you see the actual character in question, the problem is'nt really with the casting, matey....
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 06 August, 2022, 10:18:10 AM

Quote from: Dandontdare on 05 August, 2022, 11:57:03 PM

...Jenna Coleman...


Yes. I have no problem with a female in the role, but Coleman just isn't seedy enough. I initially found Lucifer to be a bit off as well, but the actor did start to grow on me. A bit.

Apart from those two little niggles, a cracking stab at the source material.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 06 August, 2022, 11:18:36 PM
Hard pass on THE SANDMAN for me. First episode was a long, 50 minute boiling pot of Gaimanisms that when taken in as a 22 page comic strip can be tolerable spills over into an orgy of smug back patting.

Very much not my thing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 06 August, 2022, 11:26:01 PM
Black Bird on apple TV just wrapped up.

I kept getting Taron Egerton mixed up with current Spider-Man, but the real star of this show is yer man who plays Larry. A real despicable skin-crawling creepy performance. Makes every other on-screen incel look charming. "His whole vibe makes me itchy"
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 07 August, 2022, 05:29:04 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 06 August, 2022, 11:18:36 PM
Hard pass on THE SANDMAN for me...an orgy of smug back patting.

Very much not my thing.

Shame you didn't enjoy it. I very much did; I don't watch spooky ghosty shows normally so this all seemed quite fresh to me. Quite looking forward to much more.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: moly on 08 August, 2022, 08:25:03 PM
Just finished sandman, thought it was one of the most enjoyable series that Netflix have done, and special mention to episode 6
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 08 August, 2022, 09:14:10 PM
Quote from: Mister Pops on 06 August, 2022, 11:26:01 PM

Black Bird


Thanks for putting me on to this. A really good little show - and quite moving to see Ray Liotta one last time.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: RookieNerd on 09 August, 2022, 04:22:50 PM
Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 21 November, 2012, 07:48:33 AM
Is Breaking Bad the one about a chemistry teacher who makes drugs?

Not really into crime drama, but that show was/is EPIC.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 12 August, 2022, 06:46:15 PM

Just started season three of For all Mankind. This is one of my favourite shows of modern times (stemming from the premise "what if the U.S.S.R. got to the Moon first?"). If you haven't seen it, have a go!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 13 August, 2022, 08:16:45 PM

Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 12 August, 2022, 06:46:15 PM

Just started season three of For all Mankind.


And now I've finished it. Tip top telly!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Timothy on 17 August, 2022, 12:00:07 PM
Quote from: moly on 08 August, 2022, 08:25:03 PM
Just finished sandman, thought it was one of the most enjoyable series that Netflix have done, and special mention to episode 6

Episode 6 was just sublime.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 17 August, 2022, 03:18:34 PM
BETTER CALL SAUL

Binged the entirety in a few weeks ahead of the finale, kind of incredible it grew to complete eclipse Breaking Bad in scope and nuance to the point BB now just feels like the weird in universe side quest to BCS.
Top telly.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 17 August, 2022, 05:34:52 PM
Watched a show on Netflix called Alice in Borderland based on a manga of the same name. While it had some 'Oh commmme oonnnn really...' moments it was a pretty good 'page turner' with great characters. I think they are churning out more and look forward to seeing that when it lands...

... now this is made all the more important as it now means that girl child* is able to recommend shows to me that I will like... their getting big!

*who I will note hasn't stuck to the deal I'd try Alice in Borderland if she tried Paper Girls (i think she'll love it) - so she might make good recommendations but is full of dishonour and shame...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 17 August, 2022, 05:42:34 PM
2022 can't get any weirder than seeing Colin praise anything manga/anime adjacent.

Are we in the dark timeline?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 17 August, 2022, 05:52:18 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 17 August, 2022, 05:42:34 PM
2022 can't get any weirder than seeing Colin praise anything manga/anime adjacent.

Are we in the dark timeline?

To be fair I'm not anti Manga I love a number of the classic, Barefoot Jen, Onward to Our Noble Death etc just don't got on with all of it and bizzarely struggled with Shogun Jump which was (is?) insanely good value and I won't to love more. Just don't have time to expose myself to enough to find the bits I'd like.

My daughter has made it her life's aim to change this, though some show about Volley Ball bounced off me!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 17 August, 2022, 05:53:57 PM
Middle aged dads watching Haikyuu!, we truly are in the dark timeline.

(I actually really like Haikyuu! so this is a plus.)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 19 August, 2022, 10:07:55 AM
Endtimes more like!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 19 August, 2022, 07:30:48 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 17 August, 2022, 05:52:18 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 17 August, 2022, 05:42:34 PM
2022 can't get any weirder than seeing Colin praise anything manga/anime adjacent.

Are we in the dark timeline?

To be fair I'm not anti Manga I love a number of the classic, Barefoot Jen, Onward to Our Noble Death etc just don't got on with all of it and bizzarely struggled with Shogun Jump which was (is?) insanely good value and I won't to love more. Just don't have time to expose myself to enough to find the bits I'd like.

My daughter has made it her life's aim to change this, though some show about Volley Ball bounced off me!

My niece (one of six) once told me as a teenager that she was now into comics, and I thought YES, I've managed to convert at least one of them; but then she took me to her room to show me her collection and it was all princess/schoolgirl manga. So disappointed, 'cos I know nothing about that. I've given up on that generation and need to start working on the great-nephews and great-nieces that are starting to appear.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 19 August, 2022, 08:43:01 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 19 August, 2022, 07:30:48 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 17 August, 2022, 05:52:18 PM
...she took me to her room to show me her collection and it was all princess/schoolgirl manga...

"And that, your honour, ends the case for the defence."
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 21 August, 2022, 06:08:09 PM
Ohhh so I'm meant to watch Defenders before going into DD Season 3 am I am... that's annoying. I think I'll make do with episode summaries.

Find it a little straight that the first episode felt so dependent on another show. I mean sure make me want to know more, that's fine - but a bit of dialogue here and there wouldn't have made it feel so necessary.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richmond Clements on 28 August, 2022, 03:28:29 PM
Halfway through Strange New Worlds. It's... okay I guess. The cast are great and giving it their all, but it just feels like I'm watching an RPG session.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 28 August, 2022, 04:14:28 PM
I'm still chugging along with One Piece.  Thriller Bark has mostly been boring so far.  The sexual assault "jokes" are very uncomfortable, too, as the obvious rapist Absalom is played entirely for laughs.  Gross.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 28 August, 2022, 04:18:27 PM
After the reviews here I was very much looking forward to DD Season 3 and have to say early episodes disappointed. A watered down, yet still overblown Born Again. Took until episode 4 to have a decent episode. They have messed with Bullseye, or at least Bullseye as I know him something rotten, and it did that superhero origin thing, in that all traits shown must be dramatically shown in a few key life moments... but it is a superhero trope and this is a superhero show so it gets a pass. It was all done rather well though and so Episode 4 has restored some hope in the series... we'll see...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 28 August, 2022, 05:13:27 PM
Quote from: Richmond Clements on 28 August, 2022, 03:28:29 PM
... but it just feels like I'm watching an RPG session.

Heh, wait 'til you see episode 8
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 30 August, 2022, 04:23:47 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 28 August, 2022, 04:18:27 PM
After the reviews here I was very much looking forward to DD Season 3 and have to say early episodes disappointed. A watered down, yet still overblown Born Again. Took until episode 4 to have a decent episode. They have messed with Bullseye, or at least Bullseye as I know him something rotten, and it did that superhero origin thing, in that all traits shown must be dramatically shown in a few key life moments... but it is a superhero trope and this is a superhero show so it gets a pass. It was all done rather well though and so Episode 4 has restored some hope in the series... we'll see...

So turns out it was episode 5 I enjoyed not 4 BUT it continued the quality from there, well up to episode 9 at least which I've just finished. If it keeps this up to the end I'll be happy enough.

I like the way its taking elements from Born Again and mixed it up with other stuff - they don't seem to create Ann Nocenti and Lee Weeks final arc as much of the show should - based on the 'Thanks' bit of the credit AND throw in some of their own stuff for good measure. Its pretty good.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richmond Clements on 30 August, 2022, 05:36:58 PM
Quote from: Mister Pops on 28 August, 2022, 05:13:27 PM
Quote from: Richmond Clements on 28 August, 2022, 03:28:29 PM
... but it just feels like I'm watching an RPG session.

Heh, wait 'til you see episode 8

I just have... yeeesss... they're all clearly having fun here, but man...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 01 September, 2022, 01:35:11 AM
Add another vote for PEACEMAKER (there are two or three up thread). Obviously nothing will be as funny as the "bag of dicks" line from THE SUICIDE SQUAD but some of the banter in this comes close. (Relatively) low key bonkers fun with great performances all round.

I like the fact that John Cena seems to lean into how ridiculous he seems (unlike say The Rock or Vin Diesel who tend to idolise themselves these days).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 02 September, 2022, 10:58:08 PM
Are goddamnit Daredevil really is the show that can't stick (no pun) the landing.

Season 1 was pretty great but the last episode was rushed poppycock. Didn't take too much away, but was a shame.

Season 2 was rubbish and still managed to have a bad ending even in relation to that.

Season 3 started rubbish got really good in the middle and utterly dropped the ball in the last episode that stretched even the ability to suspend disbelief beyond that which is naturally required. As ugly in its neatness and all in all was rubbish.

Shame as the show has potential. We'll see what Season 4 brings I guess...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 14 September, 2022, 10:13:03 PM
I saw that folks rated Godless here as I set about watching it, but you didn't get close to the praise it deserves. I saw a trailer for it and this wasn't the show I wanted, it didn't twist things in the way I was expecting, it wasn't as different and out there as I'd hoped going in. Instead it played so delicately with the cliches of the west the first episode made you fear it would be washed away in. No it might not have been the story the trailer had made me want. It just might be the western I've always wanted however.

Using six episodes to lay the ground work and establish character wonderfully, luxuriously and with dusty western honesty isn't slow pacing (not accused of here, folks were referencing comments elsewhere) it was pure brilliant storytelling. It allowed the last episode to be probably the greatest western set piece I have ever seen. From the moment Whitey [spoiler]is brutally killed[/spoiler] and it hurts so much, you know you are in for quite something and boy does it delivery emotionally, visually and viserally. That final epsiode is one of my favourite telly things ever.

Left so raw at the end the swirling music and fades into skyline that echo back to the cliche the first episode threatened, are welcomed and embraced. You've seen enough hardship, you want that happy ending, even if you are tantilisingly denied it completely.

I mentioned how Daredevil utterly fumbled its ending. Godless entirely shows how it should be done.

What a brilliant western. My favourite western ever, well that will need a rewatch of some of my favourite films but given the time and space it had to play with, well it just might be. The way it escaped the cliche the first episode teased, while lavishing in every western trope was quite something.

An absolute masterpiece.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 14 September, 2022, 10:16:46 PM
Oh and while I don't want any more why the hell hasn't someone given us a Maggie spin-off series I will never fathom. One of the great western heroes and screams out to be used again.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 14 September, 2022, 10:22:43 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 14 September, 2022, 10:13:03 PM
What a brilliant western. My favourite western ever, well that will need a rewatch of some of my favourite films but given the time and space it had to play with, well it just might be.

ISTR saying that it was probably my favourite western since 'Unforgiven', which is about as high praise as I can give it. Yes, Godless is fantastic.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 15 September, 2022, 12:22:22 AM
Yeah, GODLESS was good.

Not really a western but I'm two episodes in to WESTWORLD Season 1 and I am loving it. I like how it's just dived in with the big themes of identity and sentience and not (and Hopkins even says as much) just the titillating but we'll worn fun of a theme park breaking down.

Plus, you know, trying to guess who might be androids. So far, I'm failing miserably and have fallen for various switches.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 19 September, 2022, 08:39:08 PM

Just got to Episode Three of The Old Man. It's your pretty standard ex-CIA-guy-finds-himself-in-deep-sh*t story but well done. And it stars Jeff Goddam Bridges and John Goddam Lithgow, so it's all kinds of cool.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 19 September, 2022, 10:01:07 PM
Currently in the early stages of re-watching House.

It's honestly quire remarkable—the plot is essentially identical every single episode but, somehow, Hugh Laurie is mesmerisingly good every single time.

Great TV.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 19 September, 2022, 10:16:24 PM
I feel similarly about Bosch - I don't see how it could work without Titus Welliver doing the grizzle.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 26 September, 2022, 04:38:53 PM
Was kinda bored the other day and decided to finally give PARKS AND RECS a shot, but switched it off pretty quickly. It suffers from a lot of the same problems most contemporary US comedy has of being at once a shallow attempt at being relatable and teeth achingly saccharine while also just being really, really boring.
One for the 'how did this become some kind of cultural touchstone' cabinet.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 26 September, 2022, 06:04:56 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 26 September, 2022, 04:38:53 PM
Was kinda bored the other day and decided to finally give PARKS AND RECS a shot, but switched it off pretty quickly. It suffers from a lot of the same problems most contemporary US comedy has of being at once a shallow attempt at being relatable and teeth achingly saccharine while also just being really, really boring.
One for the 'how did this become some kind of cultural touchstone' cabinet.

I've never sat down for that one, but it looks like it's probably the American Office 2.0, and the American Office is dire - especially when it stretches out beyond the remit of the original.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 26 September, 2022, 07:00:23 PM
Glad I'm not alone in disliking US Office. Truly woeful.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 26 September, 2022, 07:33:52 PM

The Last days of Ptolemy Grey. Samuel L. Jackson plays an old man with dementia who gets a limited second chance due to an experimental drug and... Well, I had you at Samuel L. Jackson, didn't I?

Also, Severed is quite good. It's about people who agree to have their memories split between work and home. Sounds good, yeah? You walk into work and then seem to walk straight out again with no memory of what you've been doing for the last eight hours. Oh, but consider the other you - the one who leaves work and then seems to go straight back in again with no memory of what happened in between. I fear it's going to go all Lost on me, though. Will give the second series a chance if and when it comes out because I enjoyed this first one.



Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: paddykafka on 30 September, 2022, 03:11:55 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 26 September, 2022, 07:33:52 PM

You walk into work and then seem to walk straight out again with no memory of what you've been doing for the last eight hours.

When I consider some of the horrible workplaces I've had to endure over the years, and the absolutely irredeemably evil, rotten-to-the-core, bullying bastards I've had to deal with therein, I have to say, I would take that option in a heartbeat!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 03 October, 2022, 09:43:14 PM
Actually watched a good comedy this week, as apparently season 3 of WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS dropped ages ago and no fucker told me. Its still pretty remarkable, with the penultimate episode of the season being probably the most I've laughed at anything in months.
Apparently season 4 just got finished airing in the states, can't wait for that to be uploaded to Iplayer.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 03 October, 2022, 11:18:29 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 03 October, 2022, 09:43:14 PM
Apparently season 4 just got finished airing in the states, can't wait for that to be uploaded to Iplayer.

It's very, very good. :-)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 04 October, 2022, 10:29:11 AM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 03 October, 2022, 11:18:29 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 03 October, 2022, 09:43:14 PM

Apparently season 4 just got finished airing in the states, can't wait for that to be uploaded to Iplayer.


It's very, very good. :-)


Indeed it is - the djinn character was great.

Also involving Taika Waititi, Our Flag Means Death isn't half bad, either. It's a comedy about an English gentleman who gives it all up to become a pirate.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 04 October, 2022, 03:54:34 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 03 October, 2022, 11:18:29 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 03 October, 2022, 09:43:14 PM
Apparently season 4 just got finished airing in the states, can't wait for that to be uploaded to Iplayer.

It's very, very good. :-)

I thought the 3rd season was rather disappointing as there was a lot of reheating/repetition of gags from 1&2. Fingers crossed for 4 though as I do love this show.

BAT!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 17 October, 2022, 12:10:29 AM
Back on Sandman after a break and the Diner based episode 24/7. Cracking stuff. I remember first seeing Thewliss in Mike Leigh's NAKED far too long ago and he is just superb in this.  So happy when The Sandman turns up... The whole lies vs. dreams thing gives an uplifting beat in an otherwise depressing view of humanity. And his final act in the episode is also a testament to how Thewliss made an interesting "villain".
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Mind of Wolfie Smith on 17 October, 2022, 04:31:19 PM
cunk on britain.
it's truly terrifying.
more please!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 17 October, 2022, 06:52:24 PM

Interview with the Vampire (https://epguides.com/InterviewwiththeVampire/) is holding my interest.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 06 November, 2022, 02:10:29 PM
Adam Curtis once again out did himself with TRAUMAZONE: RUSSIA 1985 - 1999, chronicling with silent narration through thousands of kilometers of archive footage the bloodied path the former soviet union carved through the world during the early years of its death spiral.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pauljholden on 08 November, 2022, 01:44:09 PM
Currently Watching:
DISNEY+
The Old Man (aka Jason Bourne is very very old now) which is quite good. (on Disney+)
Andor - others have mentioned it - a high budget blakes seven...

NETFLIX
Exception, a CGI Anime, about far future where a ship heading to mankinds new home 3d prints a crew (using genetic materials and stored memory) to get the place ready for when mankind finally arrives in a 100 years (humans can't stand faster than light travel, so this way they send data and dna). But one of the humans is misprinted, and it's pretty good actually. I'm not fond of the character designs or the lighting but I'm here for the hard scifi element.

Midnight Club (bunch of very sick kids spend their remaining days in a spooky sanitarium which has more going on than you think). Pretty solid. Enjo9ying it.

Cabinet of Curiosities, onle seen ep 1 but it's great (love me an anthology show)

Prime Video:
Devil's Hour - don't want to spoil it, but ostensibly it's a crime show about some kind of serial killer - but I've been describing it as a british version of True Detective Series 1. [spoiler]It's got a time traveller twist to it but it's shot and played like a fairly straight british crime drama[/spoiler] I thought it was great...

BBC iPlayer
SAS Rogue Heroes -= enormous fun, with moments where you think hmm this is actually all pretty awful (which the characters aslo breifly reflect on) before the enormous fun starts again. Heard is dismissivly described as Dad-Rock/Clarkson esque, to me it's like British WWII war movie meets James Gunn Suicide Squad. Really enjoyed it and I'm now about halfway through the book it was based on.



And that's my current telly diet...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Richmond Clements on 08 November, 2022, 03:05:21 PM
Quote from: The Mind of Wolfie Smith on 17 October, 2022, 04:31:19 PM
cunk on britain.
it's truly terrifying.
more please!

The follow-up series, Cunk on Earth, arrived on the iPlayer a couple of weeks back. It is magnificent.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 08 November, 2022, 06:26:16 PM
Quote from: Richmond Clements on 08 November, 2022, 03:05:21 PM
Quote from: The Mind of Wolfie Smith on 17 October, 2022, 04:31:19 PM
cunk on britain.
it's truly terrifying.
more please!

The follow-up series, Cunk on Earth, arrived on the iPlayer a couple of weeks back. It is magnificent.

Yes, yes it is. I was so sad when i found out it was only 5 episodes!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: JohnW on 16 November, 2022, 07:09:00 PM
Just stumbled across Documentary Now! and it's making me wish I watched more documentaries just so I'd better appreciate the parody. I can only speak for the present series, and I wasn't uniformly blown away, but the two instalments where I was familiar with the sources were marvellous. These were a take on Werner Herzog's work and a Welsh version of When We Were Kings. They're almost beyond funny, in that their commitment to tone and style is so convincing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 17 November, 2022, 04:56:10 PM

Thanks for the heads-up - I just binged all four seasons and mostly loved it. A few didn't gel with me, most of them were pretty solid, and one or two just sublime.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 07 December, 2022, 02:03:09 PM
I have got past the halfway mark with One Piece.  I have carried on into the time-skip and overall, I'm still not impressed.  Thriller Bark and Summit Wars were incredibly tedious with the exception of Impel Down which I actually enjoyed.  I'm nearly done with Fishman Island and... it's pretty bad.  I think I have managed to become numb to how low quality the story telling and how truly dreadful the one note and repetitive jokes are... or do I mean characters?  Hmm, it's hard to tell given that many of character are only jokes.  Speaking of which, Sanji is the worst and I hate him with a passion.

If I carry on at the rate I'm going, I won't be done until the end of next year.  I really need to reconsider what I'm doing with my time.  Watching it has kind of just become a habit at this point.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 07 December, 2022, 07:43:16 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/96RYk5db.jpg)

New season - not quite the same without Jessica Walters, but it's still... wait .. I had something for this...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 07 December, 2022, 09:53:09 PM

Oooh, I love me some Archer. To the top of the list this goes!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 08 December, 2022, 02:25:35 PM
Was the unraveled mystery of 1899 worth the 8 episode investment?

Maybe for those who were punching air after watching the final episode of Lost.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dark Jimbo on 08 December, 2022, 02:38:09 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 08 December, 2022, 02:25:35 PM
Was the unravelled mystery of 1899 worth the 8 episode investment?

Maybe for those who were punching air after watching the final episode of Lost.

I couldn't even make it to the end of Episode 2!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 09 December, 2022, 01:47:28 PM
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 08 December, 2022, 02:38:09 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 08 December, 2022, 02:25:35 PM
Was the unravelled mystery of 1899 worth the 8 episode investment?

Maybe for those who were punching air after watching the final episode of Lost.

I couldn't even make it to the end of Episode 2!


They are[spoiler] caught in a giant video game[/spoiler]....more or less. not worth the wait.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 09 December, 2022, 01:49:57 PM
Currently enjoying Wednesday, even with it stupidly young cast. Most of whom revel in crashing their stereotypes (good thing)
The 'stoner joke went over my head at first!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 09 December, 2022, 03:35:43 PM
Quote from: Proudhuff on 09 December, 2022, 01:47:28 PM
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 08 December, 2022, 02:38:09 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 08 December, 2022, 02:25:35 PM
Was the unravelled mystery of 1899 worth the 8 episode investment?

Maybe for those who were punching air after watching the final episode of Lost.

I couldn't even make it to the end of Episode 2!


They are[spoiler] caught in a giant video game[/spoiler]....more or less. not worth the wait.


That would be instantly rejected a too cliched for a Future Shock!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 09 December, 2022, 03:59:00 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 09 December, 2022, 03:35:43 PM
Quote from: Proudhuff on 09 December, 2022, 01:47:28 PM
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 08 December, 2022, 02:38:09 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 08 December, 2022, 02:25:35 PM
Was the unravelled mystery of 1899 worth the 8 episode investment?

Maybe for those who were punching air after watching the final episode of Lost.

I couldn't even make it to the end of Episode 2!


They are[spoiler] caught in a giant video game[/spoiler]....more or less. not worth the wait.


That would be instantly rejected a too cliched for a Future Shock!
Turns out the producers wholesale ripped off (https://www.popbuzz.com/tv-film/news/1899-black-silence-comic-plagiarism-copy-netflix/) an independent comic book into the bargain. Pretty grim stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 09 December, 2022, 04:02:44 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 09 December, 2022, 03:35:43 PM
Quote from: Proudhuff on 09 December, 2022, 01:47:28 PM
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 08 December, 2022, 02:38:09 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 08 December, 2022, 02:25:35 PM
Was the unravelled mystery of 1899 worth the 8 episode investment?

Maybe for those who were punching air after watching the final episode of Lost.

I couldn't even make it to the end of Episode 2!


They are[spoiler] caught in a giant video game[/spoiler]....more or less. not worth the wait.


That would be instantly rejected a too cliched for a Future Shock!

The thought genuinely crossed my mind too.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 15 December, 2022, 10:17:31 PM
Surprised no one has referenced The English yet. BBC TV 6 part western and quite superb.

Anchored on two fantastic central performances from Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer, but elevated by numerous performances and relatively brief appearances that surround it. Its both meladramatic and hyper-visualised and grounded and earthy at the same time. Its plot heavy and character driven and frankly better than Godless if you like your westerns, and I thought Godless was bloody great. I can't recommend it highly enough.

The only misstep is all that bloody lens flare... that aside pretty much the perfect modern western.

Oh and ignore the first like 5 minutes - that's not the series that seems to set it out as and does go near the rancid cliche that suggests it might fall into... and its only 5 minutes, if that, before you get to the good stuff!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 16 December, 2022, 09:52:59 AM
Yeah - utterly fantastic stuff The English.

Spencer's almost monosyllabic performance is spot on... And when he does go verbal it's with good reason and has real emotional weight.

The reveal of "the villain/driving force" is also really well done. Like all good twists it's surprising yet logical. And is it also a metaphor for what happened to America?

I was going to say America has rarely looked so gorgeous but it was filmed in Spain.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 16 December, 2022, 10:01:24 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 16 December, 2022, 09:52:59 AM
I was going to say America has rarely looked so gorgeous but it was filmed in Spain.

Truly living up to the grand tradition of all the best Westerns being filmed in Almeria.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 16 December, 2022, 02:00:07 PM
Yeah, I've been to that bit. It's great!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 17 December, 2022, 03:49:49 PM
on a Western front, I'm sure I'm fully alone with watching Longmire all the way the sixth series...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 18 December, 2022, 10:31:47 AM
Interesting comment - what do you mean what happened to America?

I'm not up on American history but I understand that the Pilgrims left Europe to go to the US because they were religious fundamentalists and wanted to force their way of life onto everyone else (who weren't having it) so they set off to found a new Godlier country elsewhere.

As more people arrived to exploit the continents natural resources they found the Native tribes to be an inconvenience and committed several genocides in order to secure the land for themselves. They convinced themselves that since they were racially, culturally and religiously superior to the indigenous peoples that this was Gods plan and the fact they successed was proof of his approval.

Hasn't America always been this way?


Quote from: Tiplodocus on 16 December, 2022, 09:52:59 AM
The reveal of "the villain/driving force" is also really well done. Like all good twists it's surprising yet logical. And is it also a metaphor for what happened to America?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 18 December, 2022, 12:37:06 PM
Well without getting too much into spoilers, it became like that after the Europeans arrived [spoiler]making their lusts and wants the cause of the disease that destroys everything even the good/innocent settlers[/spoiler]. But I was only spitballing. I often think I should have paid more attention to the interpretation side of my English lessons.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 18 December, 2022, 03:30:44 PM
Ah ok I get you now. Actually as far as I know [spoiler] syphilis existed in the New World in a milder form which became mutated when introduced to Europeans who brought it back with them. There is an analogy there for White Europeans who took what the Natives had and made it worse, corrupted everything they came into contact with etc [/spoiler]

I loved The English, would absolutely recommend but I would disagree with the person who said it was better than Godless.

I'm also blown way by Season 2 of The White Lotus <chefs kiss>

Shining Girls is not bad either ...

Also watched Under the Banner of Heaven .. it was ok .. bit formulaic. Great book though.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 07 January, 2023, 11:48:05 PM
I have been enjoying Slow Horses

Gary Oldman* is in it.....I think. S'Gary Oldman, who can be sure?

*Who is, ironically, younger than Gary Numan
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 08 January, 2023, 06:49:22 PM
TOKYO VICE on iPlayer. Stylish and sexy tale of a reporter getting mixed up with Yakuza and Tokyo cops. Fantastic cast, nicely tense when it needs to be but with some laughs also. I count 15 people with the word "producer" in the titles. One of them is Michael Mann (who also directs the first episode)

One other curiosity is the class structure in Japan. It's the sort of thing you only normally see in Agatha Christie stuff here (where the servants are ignored).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rately on 10 January, 2023, 01:21:13 PM
Mr Inbetween - slow, slow burn Aussie crime drama with a dose of comedy as a Hitman negotiates the underworld and caring for his Daughter and Terminally ill brother, with Nicholas Cassim putting in an absolutely stunning performance as a man ravaged by MND. Three seasons and done, and going out on a high.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 13 January, 2023, 02:48:38 PM

Billed as an anthology of darkly comic feminist fables based on the short story collection by Cecelia Ahern, I enjoyed Roar very much. Also, if you like your comedy sci-fi with lashings of Rebecca Front and a lovely big blob of Hugh Laurie then you can do worse than throw your eyeballs at Avenue 5.

(Loved Mr. Inbetween*, thanks for the heads up.)


*It's also worth tracking down the 2005 film The Magician, upon which this series is based.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 20 January, 2023, 09:29:38 AM
Fargo Season 4.

Halfway through an unexpected W03 2023 binge- it's just amazing.
How has Hawley managed to retain such a high standard over the years?

Unexpected chops on Rock, another Olyphant fan favourite character in Deafy and some scene stealing from Schwartzman and Huston.
Watched the episode last night wherein Josto chews Odis out and dismisses him, only for his retreat to be hindered by the door knocking tick - I don't think I've laughed so loud in over 5 years.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rately on 23 January, 2023, 01:59:19 PM
Fargo is incredible.

The Alien TV series just intrigue me so much, because Hawley is a genius at character and grim comedy.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Rara Avis on 25 January, 2023, 07:57:04 AM
Yellowstone.

I'm really not sure what the hype is about.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Proudhuff on 23 February, 2023, 03:10:07 PM
Requiem, nothing to do with Mrs Mill's laddie but a spooky goings on in a Welsh village, enjoyable hookum.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 24 February, 2023, 10:54:19 AM
The recently announced new series of Picard with most of the next gen crew caught my attention.

So I had two choices; ignore the panned first 2 series and jump straight through the Gates McFadden to Series 3 or take the completionist nerd option of starting from the top.
Was never really an option.

Halfway through series one and holy shit is it a chore.
On paper it reads like a fanboy wet dream - The Borg - Data - B-4 - Hugh - Icheb - Milf Seven - Han Solo style new Captain - Yer man from Mr. Mercedes as the baddie, onscreen it's just lifeless. Lifeless. As empty a husk as The Artifact itself.

I've made it this far - with assistance from a few shots of Kanar I may make it to the promised land of Worf reluctantly wielding a Bat'leth once more and a camera zoom-in on Geordi's contact lenses.
For now the pain must continue. Qapla'
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 24 February, 2023, 11:01:52 PM
I failed to muster enthusiasm for Picard.  I've been enjoying Disco and Lower Decks.  I haven't seen Prodigy or Strange New Worlds.

I am currently watching TNG... actually into the final season.  It has been my palette cleanser after watching too much One Piece.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 25 February, 2023, 04:03:38 PM
Well I got pulled into Lockwood & Co. by all the 2000ad chat and I'm pretty pleased I did. It was a fun, frolic and sassy romp elevated above the norm by some great characters and performances. Particularly by Ruby Stokes as the magnificent Lucy Carlyle - everything a Doctor Who 'companion' should be but haven't been for so long. I mean she's clearly a lot more than a companion in this, but also serves that role as well as being one of my favourite telly characters for quite some time.

Well worth a watch.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Spikes on 25 February, 2023, 06:25:37 PM
Star Trek The Next Generation. Watched the complete boxset over the Christmas/New Year period. The episodes look and sound aces on bluray. A joy to revisit all told.

Swiftly followed by The Wire. A first time watch for me, so I'm very late to the party, but what a fantastic show and a uniformly excellent cast.
Again this looks aces on bluray, and you'd be forgiven for thinking it was shot only yesterday. The use of payphones and then the novelty of early mobile phones reminds you of its age.

On a kinda related note; Homicide: Life on the Streets has been recommended. Worth tracking down? 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 17 March, 2023, 09:49:03 AM
Quote from: Spikes on 25 February, 2023, 06:25:37 PMSwiftly followed by The Wire. A first time watch for me, so I'm very late to the party, but what a fantastic show and a uniformly excellent cast.
Again this looks aces on bluray, and you'd be forgiven for thinking it was shot only yesterday. The use of payphones and then the novelty of early mobile phones reminds you of its age.   

Such a great show, in my triumvate (of every increasing numbers regardless of the meaning of the word) of the very best tv shows ever. Wonderful.

BUT I'm not here to talk about that, rather something that I strongly suspect won't make that list. I've started to watch Snowpiecer first two episodes are pretty good. What struck me is the addition of the murder mystery with a detective as the pov character is how this is on the surface so similar to Ian Edginton and D'Israeli's Leviathon. A super large vehicle trapping folks in to create a massively class consious, desperate society.

We'll see how the show develops and I think its going for a more political thriller vibe rather than the turns of the 2000ad thrill but it crossover really struck me.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trooper McFad on 17 March, 2023, 10:23:29 AM
I've enjoyed all the seasons so far and particularly like the Mr Willard character and the actor playing him who you won't meet for a wee while yet.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 17 March, 2023, 11:31:21 AM
Quote from: Spikes on 25 February, 2023, 06:25:37 PMStar Trek The Next Generation. Watched the complete boxset over the Christmas/New Year period. The episodes look and sound aces on bluray. A joy to revisit all told.

Currently revisiting DS9 on Netflix — I think this is the first time I've watched it since the series originally aired in the UK on Sky. I know how the storyline develops, but I'm pleasantly surprised by how good the early episodes actually are.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 17 March, 2023, 07:05:09 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 17 March, 2023, 11:31:21 AMCurrently revisiting DS9 on Netflix — I think this is the first time I've watched it since the series originally aired in the UK on Sky. I know how the storyline develops, but I'm pleasantly surprised by how good the early episodes actually are.

I'm also revisiting DS9 again.  I finished TNG and it's hard not to move onto DS9 after that.  DS9 really does start pretty strong.  I think some may forget that because it gets better.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 17 March, 2023, 10:53:40 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 17 March, 2023, 07:05:09 PMI'm also revisiting DS9 again.  I finished TNG and it's hard not to move onto DS9 after that.  DS9 really does start pretty strong.  I think some may forget that because it gets better.

I remember being pretty ambivalent towards it at the start, which is why I've been so pleasantly surprised by how good the early episodes are. Perhaps I was in full-on "Bah! It's just a Star Trek rip-off of Babylon 5" mode... I dunno.

Anyway, yes, it holds up really well. With hindsight, there's a lot of stuff in this first season that pays off handsomely in later episodes. Thoroughly recommended to anyone who hasn't watched it in a while...!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 19 March, 2023, 07:48:51 PM
Over lock down I watched all of DS9 in order for the first time. I tried keeping track during its original airing, but between missing the odd episode, and I think it moved from BBC to C4 midway (or vice versa)? I kept losing the threads and losing interest. Anyway, it was like a show made for on demand/DVD box-set viewing before on demand/DVD box-set was a thing.Even though it's permanently on re-runs on some channel or other, it not like the other 90s Trek, where you can just dip in and enjoy a self-contained episode. Although, some of the best episodes are the self contained ones. But when you binge the whole thing... My heart says Next Gen is the best, but in my head I know DS9 is the best Trek. My only real criticism is the space Jesus stuff. Prophets heavy episodes can be a bit of a chore. Less space Jesus, more Garak. Also Michael Dorn is one of the funniest actors ever on television.

Also:
(https://preview.redd.it/wecutt56gkoa1.jpg?width=553&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=cd24c5ed319ca559cc44c4e62ebcb301a0ac576f)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 19 March, 2023, 08:18:40 PM

Although Enterprise is my favourite 'original' Trek, DS9 gives it a damn good run for its money. If it wasn't for the Space Jesus elements I think it might have become my favourite.

(I've just had a horrible thought - I hope a deified Sisko doesn't turn up riding a glowing cloud and throwing thunderbolts about to provide a Sisko ex machina ending to the latest Picard. *shudders*)

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 20 March, 2023, 12:04:46 AM
My big criticism with DS9 is I think it fumbled in wrapping up the Dominion War stuff.  They were constantly on the back foot and when the Breen join the fun it looks like disaster and then poof, they win, yay.  Plus there is all the Dukat and Winn stuff which creeps me out.

I'm not going to say I dislike Season 7, however, as I love loads of episodes and I have a crush on Ezri Dax still to this day.

It's no way near as bad as how B5 fumbles it's ending with it's stinking garbage of a last season (I know they thought the show was going to get cancelled and rushed through season 4, but still).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 20 March, 2023, 03:08:29 AM
Quote from: Rara Avis on 25 January, 2023, 07:57:04 AMYellowstone.

I'm really not sure what the hype is about.

I *think* it's a macho, white supremacist's wet dream. Tough-talking, no-nonsense, John Wayne types rule over an idyllic land that they must protect from the evil ... wait for it ... Native Americans. It's not subtle.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 20 March, 2023, 07:07:10 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 20 March, 2023, 12:04:46 AM...B5 fumbles it's ending with it's stinking garbage of a last season.

It's weird, but every time I watch B5 I think this way going in to Season Five but soon find myself wondering why. It has some great episodes like The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father and The fall of Centauri Prime, amongst others, and I'm always glad I watched it. Weird.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 20 March, 2023, 08:40:17 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 20 March, 2023, 12:04:46 AMIt's no way near as bad as how B5 fumbles it's ending with it's stinking garbage of a last season (I know they thought the show was going to get cancelled and rushed through season 4, but still).

That was down to the studio.  B5 was always on the verge of being cancelled and it looked like season 5 was going to be the last one.  Essentially two seasons worth of material got rolled into one which is why it was so crammed. 

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view) the ratings gave it a reprieve but it left them with a problem.  They had finished the story they originally planned to tell.

Hence Season 5 being such a mess.  Granted there were some good episodes (Gaiman's "Day of the Dead" episode for instance).  Overall though it was a disappointment.  Much like Crusade which didn't even manage a full season.

It's best to view the first four seasons as the core with season 5 as something that could quite cheerfully be missed.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: I, Cosh on 20 March, 2023, 09:01:19 AM
Funnily enough, I started to watch DS9 on Netflix about a year ago and I'm now almost three quarters of the way through the first series!

I'd only ever seen the pilot before and it's been pretty good. I was surprised how quickly and well they leaned into the same kind of life during wartime, resistance vs collaboration grey areas which Battlestar Galactica did.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 20 March, 2023, 09:23:37 AM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 20 March, 2023, 07:07:10 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 20 March, 2023, 12:04:46 AM...B5 fumbles it's ending with it's stinking garbage of a last season.

It's weird, but every time I watch B5 I think this way going in to Season Five but soon find myself wondering why. It has some great episodes like The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father and The fall of Centauri Prime, amongst others, and I'm always glad I watched it. Weird.



You're right, that is weird.  Don't worry, I won't hold it against you.  ;)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 20 March, 2023, 09:34:08 AM
Funny thing about B5 is even if I disregard Season 5 and pretend it doesn't exist, the show still badly fumbles it's ending.

It does actually bother me a little because I think the first three seasons are great.  The build in tension is wonderful and it just got better and better.  But I can really tell Season 4 was rushed and Season 5 is a mess.  There was a story to be told and they were on track to tell it and then they got derailed.  I can't help but think of what could have been. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 21 March, 2023, 12:56:54 PM
Quote from: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 19 March, 2023, 07:48:51 PMBut when you binge the whole thing... My heart says Next Gen is the best

The Pops is belligerent. Adversarial.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 24 March, 2023, 10:05:02 AM
Casually working my way through ARCHER.

It's chucklesome a lot of the time but occasionally quite annoying, and i'm not 100% sold on why it's got quite such a reputation and has achieved the longevity it has.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 26 March, 2023, 09:17:17 PM
Fate has thrown Jam and Jerusalem in front of my eyeballs and it's great British telly. Some great performances and properly laugh-out-loud moments. The scene where David Mitchell's doctor is confronted by his old schoolteacher, magnificently played by Miriam Margolyes, who attends his surgery for a scheduled smear test, is sublime. I remember enjoying it when I first watched it in 2006 but I don't remember it being this good.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trooper McFad on 01 April, 2023, 08:17:12 AM
shadow & Bone I watched the 1st season ages ago and then they dropped season 2 so had to watch both back to back just to remind me.

I enjoyed it but wouldn't put it in my top 10!

The thing that I would take from it is that there is a "small" flavour of Dante running through it! If anyone else has bothered with this I'd be interested if they tasted those flavours (they are small but it was always in the back of my mind)
Maybe I'm just grasping thin air in hope that if something like this can make it to the screen then Dante will one day make the leap?

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 01 April, 2023, 08:51:59 AM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 24 March, 2023, 10:05:02 AMCasually working my way through ARCHER.

It's chucklesome a lot of the time but occasionally quite annoying, and i'm not 100% sold on why it's got quite such a reputation and has achieved the longevity it has.

Welp, I finished all of ARCHER in like 10 days, so I guess it won me over.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 01 April, 2023, 10:26:33 AM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 01 April, 2023, 08:51:59 AM...I guess it won me over.

I had something for this...

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: moly on 02 April, 2023, 10:22:19 AM
Shadow & bone I found it enjoyable but light, carnival row is so much better
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 10 April, 2023, 05:55:39 PM

Resident Alien. Charming and funny, I am enjoying this even though I am a stupid human.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 10 April, 2023, 06:46:48 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 10 April, 2023, 05:55:39 PMResident Alien. Charming and funny, I am enjoying this even though I am a stupid human.



If you've not read the conic I can't recommend it highly enough.

If you have hail it loudly.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 10 April, 2023, 07:23:47 PM

I haven't, but I'll see if I can track it down - thanks for the tip!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trooper McFad on 24 April, 2023, 11:56:38 AM
Florida Man on Netflix a nice little caper with enough funny moments to keep me watching through this mini series. Although left open for a 2nd season I don't know if it would get any better.

But season 1 is worth a watch
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trooper McFad on 26 April, 2023, 03:53:41 PM
Firefly been wanting to find out what all the fuss was about when it keeps getting referred to favourably before being cancelled after 1 Season.

I can see why people were upset as I've really enjoyed this and it would have been good to see how they would have developed the crew as it went on.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 26 April, 2023, 05:49:54 PM

As I'm sure you know, they just about wrap it up with the film Serenity, which is also quite good.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trooper McFad on 26 April, 2023, 07:01:23 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 26 April, 2023, 05:49:54 PMAs I'm sure you know, they just about wrap it up with the film Serenity, which is also quite good.



Thanks I'll look out for that and give it a watch
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Barrington Boots on 27 April, 2023, 10:04:08 AM
Firefly is great and getting more Firefly was cool at the time but in retrospect I'm not really a fan of Serenity: it does wrap up River and Simon's plot but skips over practically all the others (Book & Inara are sidelined and the blue hands plot dropped altogether).

Glad you're enjoying it McFad. The bit where Mal boots that dude into the engine is amazing and sets the tone so well.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trooper McFad on 27 April, 2023, 11:10:45 AM
Quote from: Barrington Boots on 27 April, 2023, 10:04:08 AMGlad you're enjoying it McFad. The bit where Mal boots that dude into the engine is amazing and sets the tone so well.

Yep enjoyed that
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 10 May, 2023, 05:50:46 PM

In 2017, a US network called Crackle (who?) began showing Snatch, a t.v. series loosely based on the 2000 film by that Guy Ritchie heap of coke. I just Rufus Hound this thing last bullfight and, against all my expectations, I'm just about to start Ep 5 and finding it not half bad at all. If you like that kind of thing, and I do, then this is very much that kind of thing. It's a rollicking right royal Cockney barrel o' gangster monkeys an' no mistake. And it's got Rupert Grint, Marc Warren and Juliet Aubrey in it. Cushty.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 11 May, 2023, 12:32:26 PM

Finished Snatch, both seasons. It seems to be trying to do the same thing as Fargo and not making a terrible job of it. It's not on the same level as Fargo but it's in the same building - and includes a certain Simon Spurrier on the writing team.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: GoGilesGo on 11 May, 2023, 12:49:22 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 11 May, 2023, 12:32:26 PMIt's not on the same level as Fargo

very few things are. Fargo is probably the show that most exceeded my expectations over the last two decades.

When I heard the rumours I was adamant I would avoid it. 'Come on, the movie was perfect, why the need to build on that?' I eventually caved after the 100th recommendation from friends and was immediately hooked. Each series is very special in its own way and pays off with oblique references both to the original source and the previous seasons. 
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 11 May, 2023, 12:51:48 PM
Welcome to Wrexham - I mean its bubble gum TV but really, really well done for that and as a footie fan as cynical as the next about the take over its utterly engaging and I'm bought into the project on all levels and can't wait for the happy ending to next season!

It also is quite brave in having a comedic tone as default but flipping to different episode styles and tone as it goes along. So the hooligan episode was really strong and felt like a real bolt out the sky making it really hard hitting.

Absolutely bolted through it at a rate of knots well worth checking out if you have any interest in football, or just humanity at its loveliest and sweariest.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 11 May, 2023, 01:29:53 PM

I'm not a footie fan at all, it holds no interest for me, but I too enjoyed Welcome to Wrexham for its style and human content. I actually began watching it because of some idle surfing one day when I chanced upon the fact that the Wrexham goalkeeper and I share the same name. So I began watching to have a butcher's at this "other me." But he wasn't in it. Not even a mention. Narcissistic disappointments aside, though, it was very good telly.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 11 May, 2023, 01:36:28 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 11 May, 2023, 01:29:53 PMI'm not a footie fan at all, it holds no interest for me, but I too enjoyed Welcome to Wrexham for its style and human content. I actually began watching it because of some idle surfing one day when I chanced upon the fact that the Wrexham goalkeeper and I share the same name. So I began watching to have a butcher's at this "other me." But he wasn't in it. Not even a mention. Narcissistic disappointments aside, though, it was very good telly.



Yeah like the best sports comics the sport is just setting and dressing to some fantastic human tales.

To be honest the sporting outcome was perfect (not for the fans at the time!) In a Rocky type way.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Barrington Boots on 11 May, 2023, 03:27:10 PM
They bought the league!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 11 May, 2023, 03:34:55 PM

I don't know if there'll be a second season; I hope so.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trooper McFad on 11 May, 2023, 04:13:42 PM
Yes they did buy the league but who doesn't nowadays

I believe there's a 2nd season but I don't know when it will be released.

I'm assuming it's helping in the funding (not directly from Disney but the exposure they are getting. I can see them getting close to the playoffs next season once they splash the cash but will have to clear at least half the squad to do so.

I did enjoy the 1st season as a like lower league stuff rather than the top end Premier. I'd rather go and watch local amateur teams than the over paid super stars falling at the slightest touch
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 11 May, 2023, 04:16:14 PM

The only sport I ever really engaged with was Rugby League. Not many cissies in those teams and the fans were a delight.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trooper McFad on 11 May, 2023, 04:45:22 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 11 May, 2023, 04:16:14 PMThe only sport I ever really engaged with was Rugby League. Not many cissies in those teams and the fans were a delight.



My wife is a big Aussie rules fan (from when it was on the telly in the 80s) and she got an AFL subscription from the kids so I watch some of the games with her and there's no holding back in that - some crunching collisions 🤕
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Barrington Boots on 11 May, 2023, 04:59:50 PM
My hometown team is / was in the same league as Wrexham. For them not to win the league the year of the first series, given the resources they had available, was staggeringly inept. They improved this year!
I have to confess, watching people rave about them off this documentary has been a little grating. They're still seen as these plucky underdogs of English football but this year they hoovered up all the talent from other clubs by offering wages other teams couuldn't match and Manchester City'd the whole thing. It's not really the romantic story that its being sold as.

That gripe aside, their fans are fantastic. Anyone who supports a crap team knows that anyone else who is passionate about a crap team has been through all the highs and lows (mostly lows) as you and can sympathise with it. My side had to run a GoFundMe to pay our staffs Christmas wages after our owner shamefully didn't, and received a lot of support and donations from Wrexham, including a lot from abroad: the series has given them a ton of support in the US and I think that's a major moneyspinner for them. They'd been out of the league for a long time and deserve success, I hope they have a great year next season.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 11 May, 2023, 05:08:12 PM
I can well imagine that view Barrington Boots - I'm really intrigued who do you support?

Its like the reimagining of Blackburn as the pluckly underdogs in 94/5. History is rewriting itself and anyone watching football at the time knows they had the most disposible income and bought the league. I imagine its much the same for Wrexham - still makes for good telly.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 11 May, 2023, 10:53:15 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 11 May, 2023, 05:08:12 PMIts like the reimagining of Blackburn as the pluckly underdogs in 94/5.

careful now
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Barrington Boots on 12 May, 2023, 08:46:58 AM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 11 May, 2023, 05:08:12 PMI can well imagine that view Barrington Boots - I'm really intrigued who do you support?

Southend United. I don't get to many games now that I live in the Midlands but my Dad still has his season ticket and I sometimes go along with him. We're an absolute basket case of a club, there's a good chance we'll be wound up this year.

Re-reading my bitter post about Wrexham, the NL is a horrible league (we've only been in it two years and we're desperate to get out) and the documentary is a really nice bit of work that does make you root for the fans and owners. I stand by my point about the manufactured romance, but I guess this is a literal rags to riches story and I genuinely wish them every success.

To avoid derailing the thread, I've been watching Physical 100 on Netflix. I'm not really into reality shows - my wife wanted to watch this, I think after a suggestion that it had a lot of ripped physiques - but this is compelling viewing, despite it's psuedo-Squid Games aesthetic, terrible editing and insistence on replaying some events four times in quick succession. There's something really nice about how respectful and supportive the bulk of the athletes are towards each other: there's none of the forced melodrama, showboating or snide behaviour I've seen in Western programmes like this and there's even a couple of selfless acts of self-sacrifice late in the team element where athletes put themselves into games they cannot hope to win to allow their teammates to have a better chance to advance. An engaging watch.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 16 May, 2023, 05:25:31 PM

At a dozen half-hour episodes, Back to Life (created by and starring the wonderful Daisy Haggard) had me engrossed from start to finish. Haggard (yum!) plays Miri, who returns home after 18 years in prison only to find that moving on isn't as easy as she'd like it to be. I don't think it could really be described as a dark comedy - but perhaps as a gray comedy.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: GoGilesGo on 17 May, 2023, 11:25:37 AM
Amongst a lot of very good TV on offer at the moment, the absolute best show is Poker Face.

A weekly anthology (and I know everyone on this forum loves a weekly anthology) that follows  a working stiff who has a preternatural ability to recognise bullshit. Nobody can get a lie past her.

She's on the run across the US so cannot stay long in any one place, and all of the crimes she stumbles across (and solves) are shown to the viewer in the first act. So the structure is a perfect fusion of two of my all time favourite shows, The Fugitive and Columbo.

Broadcast on Peacock in the US & Stan in Oz. Delighted to see it's coming to the UK next week:

https://www.empireonline.com/tv/news/rian-johnson-poker-face-coming-to-sky-in-uk/
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 17 June, 2023, 06:45:57 PM

I've just finished Ep 2 of the Chinese offering, Three-Body, and it's damn good so far. It's a hard sci-fi thriller at the moment, with a rather deep philosophical conundrum at its core - which is presented in Episode Two with aplomb. There are thirty episodes in this season, so I've still got a long way to go, and it is taking its time, but in a good way. All I can report so far is that it's a fascinating start.

Now shoo... I need to watch Ep 3.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 24 June, 2023, 08:40:56 PM
DOOMWATCH

Unapologetically loving this deeply of its time 70's pop-modern sci-fi scareganda.
Perhaps recalled contemporaneously as a sort of Who-adjacent production but taken on it's own merits absolutely stands the test of time, even with only roughly half of the episodes produced remaining in the archives the oddly prescient vision of Pedler and co. shines through.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 28 July, 2023, 05:18:57 PM
Ironically Hawkie, I've been on a bit of a retro Beeb kick of late too.  Last two seasons of Blakes 7.  Back in the day I only ever actually saw the first two seasons before being shipped off to boarding school so I always wondered what happened after season 2.  Never actually saw the last season so how the series ended has always been the stuff of 'legend' as it were.

Have to say that in a bizarre sort of way the last two seasons do stack up remarkably well.  Don't get me wrong, there are some moments when you really wonder what the writers were thinking and it feels like Darrow decided towards the end of the series that the only way to survive was to give it more ham than a pig-farm ...

It's all there ... wobbly sets, dodgy fx, dialogue strong enough to sort out the most intractable iPod headphone problem ... Yet it works ... just.  Or at least it is more tolerable than, say, the second series of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

Then there is the finale.  The return of Blake.  Avon's distrust.  Death after death after death (... what Vila!!!!! nooooooh!!!!).  That final scene ...

It's fair to say that Blakes 7 even at its best was always imperfect.  The Terry Nation scripts were certainly the best, the Chris Boucher scripts tolerable ... others ... we'll stop there.

All things considered it has dated reasonably well.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 30 July, 2023, 08:18:35 AM
Blakes 7 stands up better than most because you can very much tell that everyone's tongues where firmly in their cheeks, even the deadly serious episodes like Weapon and indeed, Blake, feel like a pantomime of pulp science fiction. You can easily forgive budgetary restraints of genre TV from the UK at the time that wasn't made by the Andersons because the Beeb directors actively stated they hated science fiction and enforced its production on the budget of a ham sandwich, the fact the majority of genuine gems from that era stand up as well as they do is testament to how much fun they clearly where to work on, and that shows.

Continuing across to ITV/ATV, I picked up the blu-ray of THE OWL SERVICE before it vanished into the ether (RIP Network, nobody was giving vintage TV the time of day you folks where) and it's a tremendous piece of folk wyrd television, like so many of the best Ghost Stories for Christmas or some of the more esoteric Play for Today entries the horror is left the imagination and some genuinely great sound design and landscape photography does the rest.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 02 August, 2023, 06:44:09 AM
I'm gutted to hear that Network has folded.  All the arguments about streaming ignore the fact that actually a lot of what is on offer is absolute dross.  It's amazing how much of old studio output is sat in vaults without being pushed out.  Yet a lot of the time the same low-budget modern stuff is plastered across 'channels'.

That Owl Service set looks like it's well worth the time of day.  Added to Crimbo wish-list for now.

I think you're right about how the cast approached Blakes 7, Hawkie.  There's definitely a feeling of enjoyment there.

... and naturally this has all led into revisiting Doctor Who (classic).  Given that Blakes 7 was the impetus here it seemed natural to dig into the Tom Baker era stuff.  Like most folks this is my preferred era, being my introduction to the character.  Quite often though some of the best stuff does seem to hark from this time.

Currently working through the 'gothic' phase with the likes of Brain of Morbius, one that definitely shows signs of the 'ham sandwich' approach.  I must admit to a tendency though to view Condo as a sort of 'Igor' type in the vein of Terry Pratchett.  Baker spends a lot of time mugging and the whole production seems to be limited to about three sets.

So it is impressive how well it all works.  Pretty much every horror movie trope is in play, from the lightning storms and gloomy castle setting to the mad scientist and his henchman.  Throw in a monster and a cult.  Regular perils and sudden escapes.  It rattles along well.

What is even more impressive is that this was based on a script that Nation was singularly unimpressed with and wanted no involvement with.  The pseudonym Robin Bland that is credited with the writing is a result of his demand not to be credited after changes were made.  A pity really is the finished product works quite well.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Party-Pom-pom on 03 August, 2023, 11:07:33 AM
Aww no very sad to hear Network as folded,used to look forward to their summer and winter sales and picked up some good niche stuff from them
I recommend Beasts,Quatermass and the intruder for thoses looking for a hit of 70's,80's wierdness and Big bread winner hog for a slice of hardboiled,nasty late 60s u.k gangster action
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 08 August, 2023, 02:33:57 PM
Yes, just in the process of packing up for a move now far too long in the making, and counting the number of Network releases really is a daunting testament to how, besides Mill Creek stateside and MAYBE the BFI no one has put as much time and expenditure into preserving cult TV.
It is a pity then I never took the opportunity to nab a few things that now seem lost to the thereafter. Never did manage to get around to picking up those remastered blu-rays of The Professionals, UFO or The Prisoner. Even a bunch of DVD sets I ended up going without now sell for crazy money, wished I'd got onto The Sandbaggers before a mate down the pub sold it to me as the best kind of Brit spy thriller come beuorocratic Kafkaesque nightmare just a few weeks back.
And of course the big concern is now who's going to take up the mantel, if anyone? Tjm is quite right in his assertions for all the bumbling over one another to support this streaming service and that, it does precious little to keep archive materials intact or present them as available for posterity.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 11 August, 2023, 07:06:59 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 08 August, 2023, 02:33:57 PM...wished I'd got onto The Sandbaggers before a mate down the pub sold it to me as the best kind of Brit spy thriller come beuorocratic Kafkaesque nightmare just a few weeks back.


I would've been about 12 when this aired, so it'd be too booooring for me to watch when comics were better. I'm nearly through Series 2 right now and it is very good - not much shooty bang-bang and rather too much of serious people engaged in serious telephone conversations or reading serious files with serious expressions on their faces but, yeah, I'm enjoying it a lot. Thanks for the recommendation, Hawkie!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 15 August, 2023, 12:58:15 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 30 July, 2023, 08:18:35 AMRIP Network, nobody was giving vintage TV the time of day you folks where

Shite news.

I was looking for a copy of the recent Network DVD release of Tales of Unease, seems impossible to get hold of.

The entire series has been uploaded to Youtube however, so I binged the lot over two nights.
Episode quality ranges from decent to superb.

On the other side of the scales, both myself and the missus have tapped out after the 1st episode of season 3 of The Witcher. Boring, poorly written nonsense.


Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 05 September, 2023, 06:16:56 PM
been working my way through star trek the next generation for the first time. wrapped up season 1 and it really is as rough around the edges as it gets, code of honour might just be the 3/4 of and hour that genre television ever was blighted with, and angel one gives it a run for its money, yet there are also some real gems in there. loved encounter at fairpoint parts 1 and 2, hide and q, conspiracy and the neutral zone.
eager to see more, but can easily see why this wasn't going down well at the time, glad to know it does indeed get its act together by season 3.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 05 September, 2023, 06:58:41 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 05 September, 2023, 06:16:56 PMBeen working my way through Star Trek The Next Generation for the first time. wrapped up season 1 and it really is as rough around the edges as it gets, Code of Honour might just be the absolute worst 3/4 of an hour that genre television has ever been blighted with, and Angel One gives it a run for its money, yet there are also some real gems in here. Loved Encounter at Fairpoint parts 1 &2, Hide and Q, Conspiracy and The Neutral Zone.
Eager to see more, but can easily see why this wasn't going down well at the time, glad to know it does indeed get its act together by season 3.

OK, here's that same post typed on a keyboard that actually seems to be working.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 05 September, 2023, 07:06:50 PM
Probably the daftest thing when re-watching season 1 of TNG is the reverence, fanfare and slow-motion with which they do the saucer separation. The Klingons be like "lets mull some blood wine - the Enterprise won't be done separating for another half hour".
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 06 September, 2023, 12:14:13 AM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 05 September, 2023, 06:58:41 PMOK, here's that same post typed on a keyboard that actually seems to be working.

Show off.

Quote from: Funt Solo [R] on 05 September, 2023, 07:06:50 PMProbably the daftest thing when re-watching season 1 of TNG is the reverence, fanfare and slow-motion with which they do the saucer separation. The Klingons be like "lets mull some blood wine - the Enterprise won't be done separating for another half hour".

I'll see your daft saucer separation and raise you "Fully Functional", or the episode when they visit Planet of the Tit-Tapes, Wesley is put on trial for violating a shrubbery and Picard's response is "Tough shit Bev". Or every scene with Worf.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 06 September, 2023, 05:31:19 AM
(https://i.imgflip.com/3spp3a.jpg)

Quote from: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 06 September, 2023, 12:14:13 AMWesley is put on trial for violating a shrubbery and Picard's response is "Tough shit Bev".

No wonder she [SPOILERS] kept the existence of his son a secret until he was old enough to be a sassy rogue.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 06 September, 2023, 06:11:24 PM
Wesley is an annoying twat but honestly not as bad as I was lead to believe.

Maybe as a lifelong Who fan, Adric and his shit have inoculated me to this sort of thing.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 06 September, 2023, 06:37:05 PM

I suppose one could view Wesley as Star Trek being at the forefront of inclusionism by eschewing ageism on the bridge of Starfleet's flagship. Or one could view the character as tv execs shamelessly pandering to a younger audience.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 06 September, 2023, 07:00:59 PM
Wesley wasn't my favorite character, certainly, but venturing even further off-topic, I really took against Neelix:

(https://imagez.tmz.com/image/2f/1by1/2019/08/13/2fe6ce60df6843758e203c001efbf885_xl.jpg)


I don't think there's much rhyme or reason to it, but probably everyone has a "oh fuck, it's a [character I despise] episode" thang with Star Trek. Nature of the beast. Also, his nose is an arse-crack. Oddly, there's no character in TOS that provoked that sort of reaction.

Phlox is a King Cnut as well. Maybe I just don't like smiling people.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 06 September, 2023, 09:09:00 PM
There's an X-Men character called Forgetmenot, whose mutation makes everyone forget he x-ists unless they're looking right at him. Professor X has to leave notes and pictures all over the gaff so Logan doesn't just stab him or whatever.

Anyway, at least Neelix has a character to dislike. I think it's the noncey vibes he gives off.

Much worse is Janeway's XO...the...Inuit? Or something?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 06 September, 2023, 10:36:01 PM
Quote from: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 06 September, 2023, 09:09:00 PMMuch worse is Janeway's XO...the...Inuit? Or something?

I had to look it up - Chakotay. Of more relevance, I realized I had completely forgotten the character - I thought you were perhaps referring to Tuvok (who was also fairly boring, but memorably). Anyway - thank fuck for the holographic Doctor - I'm not sure I could've gotten through it all without him. And Reg.

What is the nature of your Trekkie emergency?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 06 September, 2023, 10:59:17 PM
Quote from: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 06 September, 2023, 09:09:00 PMThere's an X-Men character called Forgetmenot, whose mutation makes everyone forget he x-ists unless they're looking right at him.

AKA: "What if Glyph from Halo Jones was an X-man..."
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Dandontdare on 06 September, 2023, 11:49:50 PM
Quote from: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 06 September, 2023, 12:14:13 AMI'll see your daft saucer separation and raise you "Fully Functional", or the episode when they visit Planet of the Tit-Tapes, Wesley is put on trial for violating a shrubbery and Picard's response is "Tough shit Bev". Or every scene with Worf.


You forgot the Scottish ghost fucker
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 07 September, 2023, 02:31:28 AM

There's nothing so bad as Voyager's cheery Oirish holo-village.

*shudder*
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 07 September, 2023, 09:44:11 AM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 06 September, 2023, 11:49:50 PM
Quote from: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 06 September, 2023, 12:14:13 AMI'll see your daft saucer separation and raise you "Fully Functional", or the episode when they visit Planet of the Tit-Tapes, Wesley is put on trial for violating a shrubbery and Picard's response is "Tough shit Bev". Or every scene with Worf.


You forgot the Scottish ghost fucker

That was in the last season when they should've known better. I was talking about the weird and wobbly first season, which in retrospect is a bit endearing and kitsch.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 07 September, 2023, 09:54:43 AM
Sweet Tooth on Netflix. Almost at the end of Season 1 Its so steadfastly okay, just okay, nothing special and it should be given how good the comic it is based on is. Has given me a real hankering to read the comics again.

That said its not a chore, last couple of episodes have been a lot better (just finished 7 and that was very good) and so happy to carry on with it.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Pyroxian on 07 September, 2023, 10:09:07 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 07 September, 2023, 02:31:28 AMThere's nothing so bad as Voyager's cheery Oirish holo-village.


The Next Gen episode where they have to transport a bunch of Irish colonists comes pretty close though...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 07 September, 2023, 10:26:52 PM
Quote from: Pyroxian on 07 September, 2023, 10:09:07 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 07 September, 2023, 02:31:28 AMThere's nothing so bad as Voyager's cheery Oirish holo-village.
The Next Gen episode where they have to transport a bunch of Irish colonists comes pretty close though...

See also: French & Saunders deconstruct Titanic (https://www.instagram.com/reel/CFEhhnEATyW/).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: moly on 06 October, 2023, 08:39:11 PM
Watched the last episode of season 2 of wheel of time what a fantastic episode 70 minutes of none stop action
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 06 October, 2023, 11:36:00 PM
Quote from: moly on 06 October, 2023, 08:39:11 PMWatched the last episode of season 2 of wheel of time what a fantastic episode 70 minutes of none stop action

I'm afraid I bailed on this after Ep3 of the second season. I wasn't a fan of the first season, but lots of people said "stick with it, it gets better"... and it genuinely did but not to the point where I actually gave any kind of a shit about any of the characters. Three episodes into S2 and I'd just had enough. Honestly — I'm happy that people are enjoying it, but it's not for me.

Does it help if you've read the books...? I dunno, but this is now on my "Yeah... no" pile, along with House of the Dragon, which I'm pretty sure I won't be watching whenever the second series turns up.

(Maybe I've just become jaded with the glut of genre TV, because I thought the season finale of Ahsoka was... "Ehh" and I haven't even summoned the energy to look at 'The Boys' spin-off, 'Gen-V'.)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 25 October, 2023, 06:23:22 AM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 07 September, 2023, 09:54:43 AMSweet Tooth on Netflix. Almost at the end of Season 1 Its so steadfastly okay, just okay, nothing special and it should be given how good the comic it is based on is. Has given me a real hankering to read the comics again.

That said its not a chore, last couple of episodes have been a lot better (just finished 7 and that was very good) and so happy to carry on with it.

And to be fair it gets better and better as it goes on. Not to say it gets great at any time but it certainly  gets past steadfastly okay. By the last three episodes of the second season, while sliding into a couple of well worn cliches are pretty excellent.

So yeah Sweet Tooth nowhere near as good as the comic but pretty good and worth sticking with.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 08 November, 2023, 12:15:40 PM

Midnight Mass is a bit of a slow burner but I enjoyed it - a new priest arrives in a small island fishing community, whereupon supernatural shenanigans begin.

Bodies, an excellent sci-fi drama - four London police detectives discover the body of a naked dead man in the same alley but at four different points in time.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 08 November, 2023, 03:05:57 PM
I finished Guyver yesterday - the tv series not the ova series.  The manga is on my list to read.  It's silly fun that I still enjoy.

Started Neon Genesis Evangelion today.  I've seen the first two episodes before - but at the time I wasn't in the mood for anime, so I didn't get any further.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 08 November, 2023, 03:24:14 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 08 November, 2023, 03:05:57 PMStarted Neon Genesis Evangelion today.  I've seen the first two episodes before - but at the time I wasn't in the mood for anime, so I didn't get any further.

I wish I could prime you for what you're about to see.

Anno provides.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 09 November, 2023, 07:41:04 AM
Have we not discussed Fall of the House of Usher here? Could have sworn that I'd seen it mentioned but maybe it was on that there Facebook?

Anyway watched this over the last week or so and its pretty damned good. Mike Flanagan - the creator of the piece - seems to be a pretty big deal, but this is the first thing of theirs I'm aware of, having seen it and its very good, I'll be watching the rest of their stuff as time allows.

FotHoU (too lazy to type all that out everytime!) is, as the title suggests, based on the Edgar Allen Poe story, but much more than that its like a anthology of Poe's works modernised and brought forward in an 8 part series. There's the stuff I know The Raven, Pit and the Pendulum etc all there front and centre but apparently for Poe fans so much more. It doesn't matter either way - if you know his works or not - the show weaves his stories into a single narrative in compelling style.

Its a true horror. Its full of suspense, tension, intrigue and magical mystery, it leans into gore type stuff at times but not to much to detract from the really scarey stuff. And its the horror of terrible, self obsessed people in power that is most present.

As it deals with themes of being unable to escape death (death, death, death on so many levels), but having choices as to how you can choose to live your life and react to opportunity it deals with so much more. After a first episode that set up the players the remaining episodes have a format that you can predict. This however isn't a weakness its not the what happens, its the how it happens, how events, both past and present unfold. The viewer knows the fates of all involved, but its how this is unravelled and the things you learn and think about on the way that make it great. Its Columbo with a supernatural herald of Death instead of Peter Falk!

Anyway if you are looking for a decent horror, with truly horrific characters that remain entirely compelling despite how much you dislike them then give this a whirl as its really very good.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 20 November, 2023, 08:14:05 PM

Comrade Detective (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comrade_Detective). "An American buddy cop series created by Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka. The show follows the premise of popular US action/cop-buddy films and television shows from the 1980s and presents the episodes as a fictional lost Romanian television show commissioned by the Communist Party to promote a communist worldview during the Cold War. Every episode was filmed in Romania using local actors and then dubbed into English as part of the effect.[1] It was released on Amazon Prime Video on August 4, 2017."

I've only seen the first episode so far but it's weird enough to make me want to watch the rest of it. Stand out lines so far include, "You think this was an inside job?" "Of course not! There are no corrupt cops in Romania!" and, the Police Chief on the death of a cop, "Crime is not in a Romanian's nature - that's why we're so overwhelmed!" Crazy good stuff.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 21 November, 2023, 09:09:05 AM
I am nearing the end of Neon Genesis Evangelion.  I'll be watching the last two episodes today.

One thing I was aware of before going in is there was dissatisfaction about the ending of the series.  My curiosity is at it's peak with this now.  I have a feeling of what kind of mood and resolution the series should have to appropriately cap it off and I think it's probably the 'unpopular' ending.

If I'm satisfied with the original ending I don't think I'll watch the revision(s?).  I'll find out today.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Barrington Boots on 21 November, 2023, 09:48:26 AM
Comrade Detective is great!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 22 November, 2023, 06:21:19 PM

I've just spent an hour immersed in the wonderful world of Fargo as Season Five kicks off with a jolly good episode. Just popped in to say that before passing on to the second episode and then a week of champing at the bit.

I want it Now, dammit!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trooper McFad on 22 November, 2023, 06:36:28 PM
Batman- animated just landed on Netflix. 65 episodes of the best Batman franchise.

Loved it back in the day when I was a "big bairn" now I'm an "Auld big bairn" and the first few are still decent for what it is. Let's see what I think when I've binged them in a couple of weeks
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Barrington Boots on 23 November, 2023, 09:29:22 AM
Been enjoying Blue Eye Samurai on Netflix. Its enraged tons of gammons / incels as well which has only sweetened it for me.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 23 November, 2023, 10:02:24 AM
Okay.  Neon Genesis Evangelion.  I thought the ending was fine.  Stuck to the core themes of the series and resolved them.  There is certainly plenty to appreciate with the series as a whole.  The animation is top tier stuff - it looks great.  It's interesting and ambitious.  Nevertheless, I found it hard work.  I was not entertained for the most part, I didn't connect with the characters and it hasn't left much of an impression on me.  Plus there were certain things that rubbed me up the wrong way.

I can see why it has critical acclaim, I can see why some people might not like the ending, I can see why someone would hate the show in it's entirety.  I'm pretty ambivalent towards it.  I don't regret watching it, but I don't think it's likely I'll give it a second viewing.

I've now started watching Dirty Pair.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 13 December, 2023, 10:11:05 PM
Love a bit of animation Batman. Possibly the most consistent and entertaining telling of the Batman myth.

Late to the party but really loving GHOSTS  on Player. smartly written, well performed by a great ensemble cast with a good fag rate. Laughs are good, feels almost better
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tiplodocus on 13 December, 2023, 10:12:09 PM
Oh, yeah, I am back, bitches.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: rogue69 on 15 December, 2023, 11:28:57 PM
Toxic Crusaders the animated series on Amazon Prime. Typical late 80's cheesey cartoon series where they take a 18 rated film series, Toxic Avenger, & make a cartoon from it daft fun as the toxic Crusaders try to save Tromville from Dr. Killemoff and his Radiation Rangers from the planet Smogula. something to watch when you want something silly to watch
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 17 December, 2023, 02:07:12 PM
Adam Curtis' THE TRAP, probably the one documentary of his (besides last years Traumazone) I've only seen the once.

Recently been deep in the study of R.D. Laings bibliography, and the itch occurred to revisit The Trap, much of the first episode of which was committed to Laings radical extra-political, humanist psychoanalytics in the context of mid-late century cultural malaise.
Remains arguably Curtis' most damning work.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jade Falcon on 03 January, 2024, 10:39:17 PM
I picked up a cheap DVD boxset of Poirot in a charity shop.  It's funny how many then up and coming stars you spot in a series like that, so far Peter Capaldi ,Damien Lewis among others.  Some of the earlier stories were a bit short and 'find your feet', but still, its better than most of the newer stuff.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 06 January, 2024, 08:25:04 AM
BBCs GHOSTS

Taken a brief distraction from my TNG marathon to watch this delightfully fun sitcom which I got hooked on while staying with my folks over the festive season.
A lot of fun.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 06 January, 2024, 03:50:04 PM
I watched all of the original Macross and started watching the original Gundam.

I see why Neon Genesis Evangelion exists the way it does a little better (not that I really needed context for those aspects).

I did not like Macross and Gundam.  They are both pretty toxic, frustrating and boring shows.  I gave up on Gundam when it looked like the show was going to be bold and explore the stress and trauma being inflicted on the child soldier main character.  But it didn't.  He gets slapped about by an adult and insulted by a friend and that fixes everything.  The concept of what is 'selfish' that is presented by the show is gross.  It was at that point I realised I was having a very unenjoyable time and I just gave up on it.

Nevertheless, I enjoy other media that has problems.  The kicker is I found them to both be very dull.  The only interesting things happening are the bad things and it just didn't make for a fun time.

It's a shame.  I'm still interested in exploring the franchises but I don't know what point in the series' to move to for something I have a better chance of getting into.  And I'm tired of watching stuff I haven't been enjoying to take the chance on something new again.

But I do like Neon Genesis Evangelion a little more, now.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Link Prime on 09 January, 2024, 04:29:56 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 22 November, 2023, 06:21:19 PMI've just spent an hour immersed in the wonderful world of Fargo as Season Five kicks off with a jolly good episode. Just popped in to say that before passing on to the second episode and then a week of champing at the bit.

I want it Now, dammit!



Another success for Hawley + team. Rare to get a 100% hit rate after 5 seasons.

Random thought every time he's on screen: Jon Hamm for Dredd?

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Trooper McFad on 06 February, 2024, 08:41:14 AM
Started "ECHO" it's more violent than some of the Disney Marvel, a bit more on the level of the Netflix Marvel which I enjoyed more.

I'm my view the saving grace is when Fisk is on screen. Vincent D'Onofrio is a fantastic Fisk and just fills the screen

Overall it fills some down time but won't need to do a rewatch
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 06 February, 2024, 10:43:32 AM
I've been watching the X-Files.  I'm into season 3.
It's a real mixed bag and for the most part has aged incredibly badly.
That said I haven't got sick of watching it (yet) and there are a few good episodes sprinkled throughout.

What I find most fun is the over-arching storyline clearly had absolutely no direction or purpose.  I'm not sure if they thought that trying to be enigmatic would provide cover for them just winging it.

Another thing that is interesting is just how little agency the leads have in these stories - particularly the monster-of-the-week episodes.  Things just happen around them and they often don't actually achieve anything.  It was awful in the first season, especially.  They'd show up, Moulder would have all the answers, things happened around them, then they'd leave (Moulder is in arsehole as well).  I think the better episodes are the ones that have them being active and accomplishing things.

If I manage to get to the end of the show I'd probably find it an interesting experience, but not one I'd likely repeat.  I don't have strong nostalgia for the show and it's got a lot of problems I'm not sure I'd be willing to tolerate again.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: rogue69 on 06 February, 2024, 10:59:06 AM
Just started watching Delicious in Dungeon a fun anime about a team of adventurers who to save money decide to eat the monster they kill
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 06 February, 2024, 11:17:02 AM
Quote from: rogue69 on 06 February, 2024, 10:59:06 AMJust started watching Delicious in Dungeon a fun anime about a team of adventurers who to save money decide to eat the monster they kill

Oh this is delightful! I honestly have little patience for high fantasy as a whole and D&D has never been on my radar, but give me a somewhat-slice-of-life series about four bumkins trying to work out how to find nutrition in living armour and I'm down.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 06 February, 2024, 12:24:53 PM
Quote from: rogue69 on 06 February, 2024, 10:59:06 AM...to save money decide to eat the monster they kill

Did this in my latest Runequest game.  Scorpion-person jerky is apparently the most delicious thing ever.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: karlos on 06 February, 2024, 01:08:35 PM
The Musketeers (BBC) - it's on iPlayer and is still massively enjoyable.

Faithful to the books, yet not at times, this was unfairly ignored, I always thought.

A recent Xmas binge of the whole lot (3 series, 30 episodes in total) flew by.  Huge fun.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Barrington Boots on 06 February, 2024, 02:05:23 PM
I thought that series would have been improved hugely by the cast employing 'Allo 'Allo style French accents throughout.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: karlos on 06 February, 2024, 02:49:06 PM
I loved the fact the show was absolutely rammed with Northern actors and their accents.

For King and country, cock!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 08 February, 2024, 02:44:35 PM

The new True Detective continues to enthral. The acidic chemistry between the two leads is delicious, and Kali Reis is more than a match for Jodie Foster in full-on hard-ass mode. Chuck in the supernatural overtones and this show is pushing all the best buttons for me.

I've also just discovered Hightown, which is a classy and dense crime thriller thing with some engaging characters. Just about to start in on S01E05 but so far it's fairly compelling.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 21 February, 2024, 07:39:05 PM
I gave up on the X-Files.
The programme has problems, for sure.  It's also pretty dated.  The conspiracy stuff hits different today than it did in the 90's and not for the better.  It's conceits can be incredibly contrived.  Nevertheless I persevered.  Then I realised I was persevering rather than looking forward to watching the next episode, so I started watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine again and I've been having a more enjoyable.

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: lordmockingbird on 21 February, 2024, 09:24:31 PM
I know what you mean. Went through that recently. We tried to start a few seasons in. But all the mystic indian dream sequences were not a welcome start.

I'd like to try more but there always seems to be something else to watch
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 21 February, 2024, 10:23:35 PM
I can't remember when I gave up on (Colonel Kovert's) The X-Files - but at some point I realized that they weren't going to have a serious arc. I think I got out of Lost even earlier, for the same reasons. I don't like the US television format of "just keep drip-feeding the audience until the audience realize they're being duped and the ratings drop".

That's why The Wire was so special.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Doomlord66 on 22 February, 2024, 11:16:11 PM
Anyone else watched From yet? Some weird goings on there but interesting premis.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: edgeworthy on 23 February, 2024, 02:38:43 AM
Been watching Rome .... "THIRTEEN!!!"
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 23 February, 2024, 02:49:11 AM
Quote from: edgeworthy on 23 February, 2024, 02:38:43 AMBeen watching Rome .... "THIRTEEN!!!"

Top holovid, that. Brutal and compelling.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Colin YNWA on 23 February, 2024, 07:05:23 AM
Love that show. Pullo, as played by the late, great Ray Stevenson, is one of the great telly characters.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 23 February, 2024, 07:51:31 AM
TRUE DETECTIVES

Found the season 1 bluray going for crazy cheap in Fopp so decided to finally see what all the hubbub is about. You would have thought the promise of a southern gothic neo-noir engorged in the philosophical pessimism of one Thomas Ligotti (among our greatest living writers) would have placed this higher on my priority/urgency list, but I'm weary of prestige dramas offering much and delivering little. It has been known to happen, after all.

Suffice to say my concerns where not only dispelled, but ejected with prejudice onto the tarmac and promptly pulverised.
The show is, not to put too fine a point on it, I bit fuckin' good 'innit?
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Doomlord66 on 13 March, 2024, 08:06:18 PM
Anyone else watching Constellation on apple? Its a bit of a mindf##k
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Definitely Not Mister Pops on 13 March, 2024, 08:23:28 PM
Quote from: Doomlord66 on 13 March, 2024, 08:06:18 PMAnyone else watching Constellation on apple? Its a bit of a mindf##k

You want a mindfuck? Try regarding Nebulae on a Kumquat!
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 13 March, 2024, 08:47:37 PM

Yeah, I'm enjoying Constellation but I have the horrible feeling that it might go all Lost on me. Just finished that Richie guy's The Gentlemen and quite enjoyed it (would Theo James make a good Bond?), and I'm also loving the new iteration of Shōgun and the sumptuous world of The Regime. What with The Bad Batch, Krapopolis, Halo, Resident Alien and The Completely made-up Adventures of Dick Turpin, I'm rather spoiled for choice at the moment.

And only five months to wait until the next Umbrella Academy!

Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Angry Vince on 16 March, 2024, 06:08:05 PM
Loving the new series of Shogun - amazing sets, great writing and more Toranaga-focused. When the episodes drop, I watch them in the evening with my son. (Don't tell him that I watch them earlier in the day and then tag them as unwatched.)
Struggling to get through Masters of the Air. Great aerial scenes, but it took me 4-5 episodes to work out who anyone was.
Rewatched Game of Thrones with the wife, final season is not as disappointing as I remember it (or the hype). Were people just pissed that Dani turned evil and John didn't become king? Oops spoilers...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 16 March, 2024, 06:28:53 PM
Quote from: Angry Vince on 16 March, 2024, 06:08:05 PMWere people just pissed that Dani turned evil and John didn't become king? Oops spoilers...

Basically, yes. (At least that's what the vast majority of the whining I saw online was about.)

I had several issues with that final season, but those specific things weren't amongst them.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 16 March, 2024, 06:57:15 PM
My GoT cod-psychology theory is that you could've ended that season almost any way at all, and the audience reaction would've been similar. Folk were just upset that it was ending. (I wasn't as invested once GRRM wasn't the author.)

There were Dani worshippers that couldn't handle the "my favorite is a baddy now" aspect, for sure.

Baking close relatives into pies and serving them to your enemy seemed a little convoluted, as assassinations go. I think that was a strong sign that George wasn't in the writers' room anymore. He, having gained access to all the pies he could ever want, doesn't see the need, or has lost the ability, to finish his opus. We're left with this odd, mixed-media saga.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Tjm86 on 16 March, 2024, 07:01:16 PM
With Jim on this one.  Not read the original source material beyond the first book which I found boring as hell (and this is speaking as someone currently working through the Oxford History of England!)

That said, this aspect of the storyline really didn't gel.  I'm not sure what the writers were thinking at this point. Making sense of the multiple story arcs didn't figure though.

It was up there with Lost as a series that ran out of steam.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 16 March, 2024, 07:13:06 PM
Tyrion: 'Is faced with a supernatural force he knows is capable of raising the dead.'

Tyrion: Everyone! Lets hide in the crypts!

-

In my personal estimations GoT fell off way before anyone was willing to acknowledge it, Seasons 1 through 4 are all excellent but you can basically time the entropy of the shows shelf life in direct correlation to how cold Tywin and Oberyns bodies got.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 16 March, 2024, 07:31:14 PM
I don't think I even got through season 2 of GoT.  It's a bit of a blob in my memory.  I might have got into season 3.  I don't know... it just couldn't hold my interest.

I did read the main five books of SoIaF.  I really wish I hadn't.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: edgeworthy on 17 March, 2024, 03:13:16 AM
Unlike so many shows Rome does not suffer from "Hero Helmet Phobia". (Although Hero is a subjective concept in this case)

Game of Thrones was diabolical on that. (Admittedly Rome had the advantage of their helmets being designed to provide maximum vision and hearing, while still providing more protection than contemporaries)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: GoGilesGo on 17 March, 2024, 08:39:43 AM
This is the best analysis I have read explaining why GoT tell off a cliff

Seasons 1-5 employed sociological storytelling then (coincidence that the source material dried up?) the writing became more psychological.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/observations/the-real-reason-fans-hate-the-last-season-of-game-of-thrones/ (https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/observations/the-real-reason-fans-hate-the-last-season-of-game-of-thrones/)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Angry Vince on 17 March, 2024, 05:51:55 PM
Quote from: GoGilesGo on 17 March, 2024, 08:39:43 AMThis is the best analysis I have read explaining why GoT tell off a cliff

Seasons 1-5 employed sociological storytelling then (coincidence that the source material dried up?) the writing became more psychological.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/observations/the-real-reason-fans-hate-the-last-season-of-game-of-thrones/ (https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/observations/the-real-reason-fans-hate-the-last-season-of-game-of-thrones/)


Well, shit, she's not wrong.

Also, apparently there is no point in going back in time and killing baby Hitler. There's my weekend plans ruined.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jade Falcon on 18 March, 2024, 03:03:09 AM
There's also the fact that people blame the showrunners, when in fact Martin hasn't written a book in the series since before the first episode of the series aired.  Frankly that's inexcusable and he should be one of the targets to blame.  No one would want him to do the apparent James Patterson level of writing, but taking more than 10 years is just taking the mickey.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 18 March, 2024, 04:00:37 AM
He's not beholden to write a book, is the thing. Neil Gaiman probably put it best when he said (with a little more context) "George R.R. Martin is not your bitch", in this blogpost (https://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/05/entitlement-issues.html).
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 24 March, 2024, 02:21:51 PM
MOBILE SUIT ZETA GUNDAM

Nigh on impossible to condense such a dense 51 episode saga down into a few concise words but here we go.

It's good. Very good. Perfect? Not quite. But very goddamn good. You will believe a space opera can make you well up.

The child supporting duo could get jettisoned into the sun though, faaaack off.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 25 March, 2024, 02:18:09 PM
I tried watching the first Gundam series after having a miserable time watching the first Macros series.  I did not enjoy it at all and just stopped.

I don't know what the other series are like, but I have certainly been put off for a while.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 25 March, 2024, 03:10:16 PM
If the original MSG didn't gel with you, just forego anything else in the UC. No matter what decade, look or medium, it's all under the same general philosophical umbrella.
That being said if SDFM didn't work for you either it's tough to recommend any other entry under the Gundam banner, and maybe the 'Real Robo' genre just isn't for you. It's a pity but we can't all like the same stuff, and a 50 odd episode show commitment when you're just not feeling the vibe is nothing short of a folly.

Aura Battler Dunbine might be worth a shout, it's certainly an atypical entry in the pantheon but one of the very best and is pretty much entirely self contained.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 25 March, 2024, 06:35:20 PM
Neon Genesis Evangelion was fun.  I like it a lot more after watching those two shows.  Made more sense.

I didn't get on with SDFM because I couldn't stand the characters.  I didn't get on with MSG because I couldn't stand the characters and the show was promoting some really shitty attitudes - I actually read about what goes on later in the series and it was definitely not going to get better in that regard.

I always assumed other series had different characters, or different portrayals and perhaps explored different ideas and attitudes.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Doomlord66 on 25 March, 2024, 11:07:11 PM
Quote from: Angry Vince on 16 March, 2024, 06:08:05 PMLoving the new series of Shogun - amazing sets, great writing and more Toranaga-focused.

I'm looking forward to watching this after I've finished The Gentlemen. I fondly remember watching the 1970's Shogun series with Richard Chamberlain as a youngster. I picked up the dvd boxset of this a couple of years ago for a nostalgia trip but never got round to watching it. Now I'm torn with what to do, whether to rewatch the original first then the new one or just watch the new one. Would it spoil my enjoyment of the new one? Would the extra wait be agony or knowing there is a new spoil the enjoyment of the original?

I agree with the post about Masters of the Air, it is difficult to follow at first with all the characters we're introduced to but as the episodes go on, we lose a lot and I think this was the point to show how many losses were suffered and all flight crew were at risk.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Funt Solo on 26 March, 2024, 02:22:46 AM
Quote from: Doomlord66 on 25 March, 2024, 11:07:11 PMWould it spoil my enjoyment of the new one?

I can say I'm glad I didn't re-watch the Chamberlain Shogun prior to catching this new series, because I've forgotten the vast majority of the plot (beyond "white man in feudal Japan doesn't go swimmingly"), and so it's all beautifully fresh.

(Just finished The Gentlemen, which was good enough that I watched the entire series, but tonally all over the place.)
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 26 March, 2024, 09:24:52 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 25 March, 2024, 06:35:20 PMI always assumed other series had different characters, or different portrayals and perhaps explored different ideas and attitudes.

It's...belaboured and complicated.
Basically the Universal Century is the 'prime' timeline. MSG, Zeta, ZZ and Chars Counterattack are basically one long story spread across a decade in universe and the cast is in constant flux.
0080: War in the Pocket, Gundam F91, 0083: Stardust Memory, Victory Gundam, 08th MS Team, Gundam Unicorn, Gundam Narrative and Gundam Hathaway (as well as the IGLOO series of event films) are all within the UC also but with different casts, though overlap does occur. Some of these are better than other but 08TH MS Team is genuinely fantastic and entirely self contained so maybe give that a shot if you're really interested? It's only 14 episodes long too.

Outside of that, well it gets more complicated (ESPECIALLY with Turn A Gundam and Reconguista in G, both of which take place within their own time lines but reference events of the UC...it gets weird, I'll leave it there).

Of all the alternative timeline entries I'd absolutely recommend the most recent, Witch from Mercury. It's super short at only 24 episodes across 2 seasons, super fun and charming and just...a lovely time really.


Oh and ah, one more thing.

Avoid Gundam Wing like the fucking plague.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: pictsy on 27 March, 2024, 06:20:10 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 26 March, 2024, 09:24:52 PM
Quote from: pictsy on 25 March, 2024, 06:35:20 PMI always assumed other series had different characters, or different portrayals and perhaps explored different ideas and attitudes.

It's...belaboured and complicated.
Basically the Universal Century is the 'prime' timeline. MSG, Zeta, ZZ and Chars Counterattack are basically one long story spread across a decade in universe and the cast is in constant flux.
0080: War in the Pocket, Gundam F91, 0083: Stardust Memory, Victory Gundam, 08th MS Team, Gundam Unicorn, Gundam Narrative and Gundam Hathaway (as well as the IGLOO series of event films) are all within the UC also but with different casts, though overlap does occur. Some of these are better than other but 08TH MS Team is genuinely fantastic and entirely self contained so maybe give that a shot if you're really interested? It's only 14 episodes long too.

Outside of that, well it gets more complicated (ESPECIALLY with Turn A Gundam and Reconguista in G, both of which take place within their own time lines but reference events of the UC...it gets weird, I'll leave it there).

Of all the alternative timeline entries I'd absolutely recommend the most recent, Witch from Mercury. It's super short at only 24 episodes across 2 seasons, super fun and charming and just...a lovely time really.


Oh and ah, one more thing.

Avoid Gundam Wing like the fucking plague.

Thanks for the recommendations.  Next time I'm in the mood for some anime I'll give them a shot.
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 27 March, 2024, 08:25:45 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 26 March, 2024, 09:24:52 PMOutside of that, well it gets more complicated

Seriously?! I think I suffered a minor aneurysm halfway though the first paragraph...
Title: Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 27 March, 2024, 08:34:48 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 27 March, 2024, 08:25:45 PM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 26 March, 2024, 09:24:52 PMOutside of that, well it gets more complicated

Seriously?! I think I suffered a minor aneurysm halfway though the first paragraph...

Welcome to the wicky-wicky wild world of mecha shows, Jim.

Don't get me started on VOTOMS.