Good TV (aka, the TV series spamthread), the second series

[Raid]

I probably should have made it clear that I'm still quite enjoying it despite the issues. Most of the major characters are still very likeable, and while the story's clutching at straws somewhat, the writing and production are still reasonably light-hearted and fun. Most episodes are a contrivance to have a karate fight at the end, but the karate fights are still fun to watch and still take place in varied environments that mean they usually don't feel stale. I have noticed that some of the "kids" (some of the actors are almost 30 now) have stunt doubles, when I think they managed without, or at least hid better, during the big school brawl in season 2.

[Animalmother]

Stargate Atlantis
I've been ploughing through Stargate SG1 for a while now and hit season 9. It's basically a comedy show with sci-fi shit going on in the background. The episode where multiple SG1 teams start showing up is great, a room full of Carter's all chatting together
I assumed that Atlantis came after SG1 only to discover both shows ran together from 2004. So started watching Atlantis and it's much the same, which isn't a bad thing.

I'm still amazed that it hasn't been rebooted and there are only a few games based on the series, one of which came out last year. There was a PS2 fps with voice acting by the cast of the show that just got canned before release. There was also a huge fan made game that got a cease and desist a few years ago. Shame.

[Alan]

I think I watch them all every 5 years so so, always a good time! Even though the Ori are garbage its still so watchable! Theres also two TV movies, one finishes the Ori arc and and is just a stand alone (bad) adventure. The game last year was similar to Mimimi games (Desperadoes, Shadow tactics, Shadow Gambit) but apparently a not very good version. Looking forward to it dropping in price or landing in a humble bundle! :p

[Raid]

I think Atlantis suffers from the main characters mostly being a bit rubbish. McKay's great, Sheppard's so-so (though I love Joe Flanigan's performance), but Teyla and Ronan just aren't remotely interesting, and the show relies way too much on McKay to compensate, so it gets a little monotonous. It's still almost as entertaining as SG-1, the writing's just as good, but it never quite hits the same highs because of the lesser cast.

[Animalmother]

Although I'm only about 10 episodes into Atlantis you can see it does seem to rely on McKay for everything be it comic relief or exposition. Yeah Teyla isn't exactly setting the screen on fire with her performance, not sure if it's the actor or just dull writing, she's no Teal'c.

[Wrathbone]

House of the Dragon season 2

What the crap was that?

Season 1 of HotD wasn't entirely thrilling, but it had some measure of promise and quality. And as stupid as it was, even Game of Thrones season 8 was mostly still entertaining on the surface. HotD season 2 is utterly stagnant - a fetid puddle of inaction with the occasional swamp-belch of frivolous dragon excitement. There are four or five episodes where nothing of interest or consequence happens.

I don't think there are any real spoilers here, but just in case:

Spoiler

80% of the season is the same four scenes played over and over with increasing banality:

- Rhaenyra has an argument around the map table at Dragonstone.
- The Greens have an argument around the small council table at King's Landing.
- Daemon farts aimlessly around Harrenhal to no avail having magic-DMT dreams.
- Corlys goes to the docks and does fuck all.

After wasting so much time not advancing the plot in any meaningful way, they then have the gall to churn out a finale that feels not just rushed but incomplete. If they'd put any thought or effort into pacing the season in a reasonable way, there could have been some actual developments at the end. You know, an actual payoff for all the pointless waffle we'd been subjected to.

I'm convinced now that Paddy Considine was the majority of what made season 1 work to any extent.

[eny]

Anything Julia Lewis connected...

I fell down a rabbit hole yesterday after a Tweet mentioned this sketch in relation to Andrea Jenkyns being an idiot for hire....my god this woman is both prolific and a dark comedy genius. I remember watching Nighty Night long ago because a GF loved it, but it never really hit the spot for me. Anyway, one thing and another led me to her series called Camping last night on YT, and it is a masterclass in writing: the undertones, overtones, malignancies, ingrained compensations and faded dreams of middle-class life, set on a farm campsite, birthday holiday, where the owner is Hannibal Lectorish...hilarious.



'Human remains' and 'Hunderby' next on the list.

[Hatredsheart]

Roll on September!

[Sly Boots]

Star Trek: Prodigy

I posted a quick review of the first season of what is ostensibly a kids show a few years back. At the time I said I was hesitant to recommend it to adults because, well, it's obviously aimed at a younger audience and has a lot of the tropes that adults may find irritating. The first half of season 1 maybe needs powering through for anyone not watching with their kids; it has the bog-standard bratty wise-cracking main character and his group of misfit friends, in command of a Federation starship with the only adult aboard being a hologram of Captain Janeway. It's a silly premise, but it's told with so much heart that I think it's impossible for it not to grow on you. The second half of the season is where it picks up.

And then there's season 2. I've seen long-time Trek fans calling season 2 the strongest season of Star Trek ever made, and while I wouldn't go that far (that's SNW season 1), honestly I can see their point. The story (which spans the entire season) is a fantastic time-travel plot that connects directly to season 1. Just about every character in the main cast has more progression than most of the live-action ones ever had, the returning cast of Voyager alumni are brilliant with one actor getting a redemption that they've needed for 20 years, and there's one other returning character that takes on an entertaining new role that I won't spoil.

There's an absolute ton of material here that will mean nothing to the younger audience and is clearly aimed at people that grew up with the 90s stuff. It maybe gets a little over-referency at times, but it's reasonably natural and nowhere near as blatant as Lower Decks where the characters may as well be screaming "HEY, REMEMBER TOM PARIS?!" directly into the screen

This was saved by Netflix (which now has both full seasons), remarkable in itself considering they're usually the ones cancelling everything. I'm not just telling you to watch it in the vain hope that it convinces them to green-light a season 3 (which it sets up, but not as a cliffhanger), but it wouldn't hurt, and you're getting a fun, extremely well-acted and written show out of it at the same time.

I was bed-ridden with Covid yesterday, and remembered you mentioning this... have to say thanks, it helped keep me sane

My biggest takeaway from the first part of season 1 though was... I hope the cat-person gets away

[Raid]

I hope it's not too telling that I had to go and look up which cat-person you're referring to.

[Sly Boots]

Doesn't bode well, that

[Animalmother]

Terminator Zero
Terminator in Tokyo but nowhere as cool as that sounds. It's the best Terminator stuff to come out for some time but that's not exactly a high bar. Great animation and the action is brutal in places. It's all just a little dull story wise and has the obligatory annoying Anime child characters. Worth a watch but ultimately forgettable.

Wednesday
Not sure why I decided to start watching this but I'm really enjoying it. Seen it called "Goth Harry Potter" but it's so much better than that. Jenna Ortega is great as the main character and everyone else struggles to keep up with her. Gomez is no Raul Julia but I think the characters are closer to the original comic. Looking forward to the 2nd season.

[eny]

S6 E1 - The Grand Tour: One for the Road Prime.


Well worth the watch, the grand tour finale. Brilliant.

[Alan]

The Changeling 2023
So far this is excellent! The first episode has more story crammed into it than most 3 hour movies. We're about half way and its still holding up. It has a great look, great mixture of horror with supernatural and fantasy sprinklings. It is however stuck on AppleTV but if you have that its worth a look.


The Expanse
Finally started this and its really good so far. I know I'm way behind the curve but yeah, s'good.

[Animalmother]

The Penguin
The rare gem of a TV show thats just as good if not better than the film. While it's set in The Batman universe it's basically a gritty crime drama about the rise of Oswald Cobblepot. He's a very likeable scumbag and Collin Farrell is utterly unrecognizable under all the makeup. Really looking forward to the next episode.