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

[Sly Boots]

Clarkson's Farm, Series 3 Amazon Prime.

He IS a farmer now, this series is a brilliant insight into the life, from start to finish. Best thing Jezza has done EVER.

Yeah, we finished the series last night, great stuff once again.

[eny]

His struggles are authentic....you can tell when he has scripted a scene off camera, but that is more for the fun or the impact of the message e.g. making Lisa do the work while Jezza is involved in "seriuz bizznizzz". Watching it is like watching a memory reel of my farming life, only lambing and balecart missing really, but it is all real, the heartbreak, the joy of starting harvest, the frustration of not completing harvest and the profit spent before you can buy a beer with it at the end of harvest.

He has the cushion of his renown, his "tip of the spear of British Agriculture" spotlight now, and his money, of course, but the whole cast is found in the entire British rural community.

[Lenny Solidus]

Outer Range

I was rather heavily disappointed in Nope, it was everything I always wanted initially, at least from a ranch based sci-fi lead movie right up until it wasn't and went off in a direction I could not follow with a serious outlook. Upon discovering Outer Range just recently, I perhaps have discovered something that will make me forget all of that nonsense and actually deliver on a similar premise in full.

Outer Range so far as of Ep5 is a very slow burn with an extremely eclectic cast some of who I was familiar with and many I was not, Josh Brolin is so suited to filling the boots of a cowboy role by now it must feel like second nature and all those who make up both sides of the Abbot's and the Tillerson's consist of many unknown yet wonderful choices. Brolin's character Royal Abbot however being a main protagonist, well - he's kind of a shithead. We are all rough around the edges, some of us far more than others many trying to keep up appearances as best they can as temptation greed and a distinct lack of morals play their part in making those edges ever rougher.

I am so far beyond intrigued how things are going to play out, a simple border dispute that becomes much more besides. The show is very much a slow poured whisky so far with plenty of avenues it could still yet decide to travel further down and as a long time fan of Will Patton as Wayne Tillerson is the perfect role and just keeps getting better. Sheriff Joy is great and brings a certain aura to proceedings, while Autumn I must say I'm finding pretty damn vexing in general, hopefully her character gains a solid arc here.

Great show so far, even if it can feel a little directionless or introduces things it doesn't go back to often enough in places.

[Raid]

X-Men '97

Possibly the most transparent nostalgia-bait that Disney have ever produced, but still fairly decent. It's a revival of the fondly-remembered 90s X-Men cartoon that ended in 1996, picking up the story where it left off with much of the same voice cast. I tried a few episodes of the original (it's all on Disney+) prior to starting this, and it's borderline unwatchable - I think I'd forgotten just how much kids' TV has improved since we were that age. '97 is clearly written for the original audience rather than a brand new one; there's a little gore and swearing, but I suspect kids would be more put off with it not even attempting to catch them up on the setting. It doesn't attempt to shoehorn in more recent Marvel stuff - there are a bunch of cameos, but they're all from their 90s-era series (who all intermingled at the time), and it's clearly still set in the 90s, with cartridge-based games consoles and, well, every piece of Jubilee's dialogue. But the story's good, and that's probably the most important part. It's probably worth watching, although don't expect it to hit the same highs as one of their prestige series.

[Alan]

The Tourist S2
I prefered S1 but this was still really good. Entertaining in its twists and turns and a good number of laughs. Good show, hope its gets a 3rd season.


Strange New Worlds S2
Yeah so after being disappointed with S1 S2 has been mostly excellent with the one exception of the crossover episode which was as crap as Lower Decks. Actually that's not fair, it was much better than lower decks but still crap ¬_¬ I'm also still not sold on the Gornomorph's but it could be worse, they could have found a way to shoehorn in the borg.

[Wrathbone]

The Acolyte (episodes 1 and 2)

Thoroughly enjoyed it so far! A fun revenge drama, some nice intrigue and exploration of a mostly untapped era of Star Wars that has strong KOTOR vibes (despite KOTOR being nearly 4000 years earlier). It's good to see the Jedi operating outside of a galactic war, just going about their everyday business as itinerant peacekeepers, and Lee Jung-jae is superb as a Jedi master.

Spoiler

I like how they've placed some emphasis on emotion and sentimentality being negative Jedi traits, (which of course is as per the Jedi code) and how Sol seems to be the only Jedi carrying a lot of emotional baggage. With the exception of the padawan, most of the other Jedi are portrayed as almost robotically emotionless. Hopefully it's going to explore how the Jedi's insistence on suppressing those fundamentally human aspects rather than resolving them is what ultimately led to the fall of the Jedi. It's something that was core to the prequels and yet it feels like they only scratched the surface.

[Raid]

I've only watched the first one, I'll get to the second tomorrow, and thought it was a bit underwhelming. I think the first episode of Star Wars shows does tend to be as they usually release the first two together.

Spoiler

The fight at the beginning of the episode just made Carrie Anne Moss' Jedi Knight look like a bit of an idiot, which was a shame as I'd enjoyed her understated performance up until that point. An assailant trying to kill an innocent is *such* an obvious distraction technique, and I can't imagine any other Jedi being suckered into it without also defending themselves (Obi-Wan would have used the first knife to deflect the second, Anakin would have just redirected the first knife into the assassin's neck before she could throw the second or something). She knew the assassin was force-sensitive at that point so it's not like she shouldn't have been expecting it.

And what's with the pronunciation of mechanic? I get that they want to sound a bit more sci-fi fantasy, but just mispronouncing an extremely common word (used in the same context) is a weird way to do it.

I don't remember Nar Shadaar (the smugglers-haven you visit multiple times in the Dark Forces series) ever being mentioned in canon material before which was a nice easter-egg.

I will of course give it the benefit of the doubt given my investment in the setting. I would like to see them do something slightly different given it's the first exposure most people will have to the new era (there are elements from the High Republic era in Jedi Survivor), and I really think they need to differentiate it from the Prequel era.

[Wrathbone]

Regarding the opening scene:

Spoiler

I didn't have a problem with it, even though it was a fairly obvious ploy. Obi-Wan was an exceptional Jedi and Anakin was the Chosen One, so I'd never expect them to fall for something like that, but look at Order 66 and how many Jedi (including masters) were taken down by a bunch of clones with blasters, despite them having (limited) powers of precongnition. I think we've been trained to expect flawless performance from all Jedi because most of the Jedi shown in canon are the extraordinary ones. The average Jedi during the High Republic was probably a C+ or a B compared the A*** Jedi we know like Obi-Wan and Yoda. And, I think crucially, one of the key problems with the Jedi Order was complacency and arrogance, which Acolyte highlights by saying Jedi fear neither laser nor metal. Carrie-Anne Moss' character was likely unconcerned by the attack and simply assumed it was one-sided, hence being duped from a momentary distraction.

As for Nar-Shaddaa, I remember it being quite prominent in the old canon novels, especially as the go-to place to find a slicer. But yeah, I think this is the first time it's been mentioned in the Disney era. Possibly there was a mention in one of the Boba Fett episodes? I can't remember clearly.

[Raid]

Spoiler

Yeah, those are all valid points, but some precognition and spatial awareness are supposed to be standard traits for a trained force user - ok, some are better than others, but she had an assassin that she knew was trying to kill her three or four meters away and she didn't think she needed to keep focus on her? Arrogance would explain it I suppose, but that's almost wilful ignorance. It would be interesting if, in this period, Jedi simply weren't as highly trained as those we see at the end of the Republic era.

I suspect Ord Mantell was mentioned in Boba Fett; it's been mentioned as far back as Empire Strikes Back, and was fairly synonymous with being a destination for lowlifes. We finally actually see it in Bad Batch (I forget whether it featured in the Clone Wars). I don't think Nar Shadaar has ever been spoken of on screen.

[Raid]

I finished Scavenger's Reign today. I think it's my favourite TV of the year so far. I'm interested to hear what others think of it, because it was seemingly something of a flop for Hulu (though it's both sci-fi and adult animation, both things that seem to struggle for mass appeal, so I'm not sure how much to read into that). It's something of a slow-burn initially, but enormously creative and equal parts beautiful and horrifying. I suspect it won't get a second season; it has a hook for one, but it doesn't end on a cliffhanger so it's not a disappointing watch.

[Animalmother]

I've watched about 8 episodes I think and it's really very good. The planet is like something you'd see in Rick & Morty as in literally everything is either trying to kill you or can be used as a tool, there's a huge level of creativity on display. Sometimes it feels like someone trying to explain a weird dream they had. Real shame it didn't do well on Hulu but strangely Netflix seems to be more open to the weird stuff so they might get a crack at a 2nd season.

[Raid]

Netflix are also ruthless when it comes to cancelling shows that aren't performing, which is why I'm not expecting miracles.

[Sly Boots]

Only four episodes in so way behind, but still enjoying it a lot

[Animalmother]

Rick & Morty season 7 on Netflix.
I rewatched season 6 over the past few days and it's genuinely great. 3 episodes into season 7 and I'm already bored with it. Just seems to lack the energy or whatever made the previous 6 seasons so great. It can't just be the departure of Justin Roiland either. Rick's new voice actor is spot on and I can't tell the difference, Morty's isn't so good unfortunately. Maybe it picks up after the third episode?

[Sly Boots]

I don't think I even finished season 6 come to think of it