Current TV Boxset Addiction

[pictsy]

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.

[Doomlord66]

Loving 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.

[Funt Solo]

Would 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.)

[Hawkmumbler]

I 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.

[pictsy]

I 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.

[Jim_Campbell]

Outside of that, well it gets more complicated

Seriously?! I think I suffered a minor aneurysm halfway though the first paragraph...

[Hawkmumbler]

Outside 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.

[Hawkmumbler]

Keeping the Universal Century wagon rolling (sorry folks, this shits too good) with a first time viewing of Gundam ZZ.

Can see why this was considered the black sheep of the series for years, the hard swerve from the devastating finale of Zeta to the light shenanigans of ZZ would have been jarring with only a two week buffer between shows.
That being said, ZZ IS very funny and endearing and the high bar of animation direction carries over from show to show. 35 years on and ZZ still LOOKS the bomb, excited to work through this one.

[Jim_Campbell]

Well, it turned out not to be an addiction.

Boston Legal turned up on Disney+ and, having not watched it since it originally aired in the mid-00s but remembering enjoying it, we thought we'd give it a go.

The stuff I remembered liking? Great performances from Spader and Shatner (and pretty much everyone else, especially notably Candice Bergen)? Check. Sharp, witty script? Check. Willingess to grapple with some uncomfortable issues through some terrific courtroom scenes? Check.

But...

But... my God, it's sexist. Every man in it, literally every one, is a creep. One might handwave that away claiming it's a critique of how high-powered law firms really are, except that the show positively revels in the male character's casual sexism, inappropriate behaviour, and frequent belittling of women.

On top of that, every single woman is hot*. The camera leers at their tightly-beskirted legs or their backsides as they wander in/out/across shot. Are we supposed to think that makes it OK when they're propositioned multiple times per episode?

I stuck with it for the first season because, as I said, the good stuff is really good... but season two is, if anything, even worse, so I bailed a couple of episodes in.

*OK, not Betty White as secretary to Alan Shore (Spader). But she's in that role because Shore literally admitted that he was incapable of not making unwanted sexual advances to his previous (young, attractive) secretary. The company's solution? Give him a secretary he doesn't want to bang. Even so, White spends more time making waspish remarks about the hot women's appearance than taking the men to task for their universally inappropriate behaviour.

[The Legendary Shark]

I do so love Boston Legal, despite its flaws. The last time I watched it was maybe five or six years ago and I remember thinking then that it was like the secret love child of Crown Court and The Benny Hill Show. The shenanigans surrounding the Victorian steam-powered orgasm machine spring to mind (more often than is probably healthy, to be frank). 

It's one of those shows I can forgive a lot because of all the reasons Jim mentions, it's an old friend to me, warts and all. The Shatner/Bergen/Spader dynamic is delightful, Mark Valley getting teased as a Ken doll is kinda cool and I will always be indebted to the much-missed Rene Auberjonois, whose character in this show taught me the word "fungible." Then there is Rhona Mitra, with whom I am eternally and hopelessly in love.

[lincnash]

Looks like FALLOUT is released today.
Going by the trailers, I'm looking forward to see if Amazon/Prime does The Dead Man justice and happy to see him appear on the small screen.     

[lincnash]

FALLOUT

Two episodes in and it's really grabbed me, having never played any of the games. Looking forward to watching the rest of the series.

[Barrington Boots]

I watched the first episode last night, it nails the aesthetic of the games perfectly - the look, the atmosphere, all spot on. Really looking forward to seeing the rest.

[Dandontdare]

i don't know the games, but the trailer looks fun

[The Legendary Shark]

I'm 19 years late to the party but I just finished Rome. Blimey, it's a bit good innit?