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

[Snowy]

What we do in the shadows season 5. Fished it out of the seven seas onto a USB stick and watched while on holiday, still one of the funniest shows out there. The cast are all absolutely on fire and the season had some of the funniest episodes I have seen. Beyond highly recommended.

[Mantis]

Ahsoka's been pretty good so far. Definitely up there in among the better spin-off shows we've had so far. The last episode felt like quite a bit of filler and unnecessary fan service, spending twenty minutes or so on fleshing out a character which pretty much has no real personality or development. But overall the show is well plotted, acted and presented. Some of the settings are very nice and the antagonists have been very well cast.

[Solitaire]

Ahsoka's been pretty good so far. Definitely up there in among the better spin-off shows we've had so far. The last episode felt like quite a bit of filler and unnecessary fan service, spending twenty minutes or so on fleshing out a character which pretty much has no real personality or development. But overall the show is well plotted, acted and presented. Some of the settings are very nice and the antagonists have been very well cast.

I have to unfortunately disagree here. I've been holding my tongue, as it were, about how dismally I feel about this show. My daughter and I watch it for laughs, honestly. The "acting" for the first three shows was a whole lot of staring blankly at one another, stilted dialog with way too much time between lines, lots and lots of slow-paced walking (no sense of urgency about anything, really) and that horrifically irritating smarmy half-smile look on the faces of all the ladies. The puzzle-globe thingie would take a child a few moments to figure out, that was sheer torture watching that scene... And the "hyperspace whales" line made me want to throw my shoes at the television - what an astoundingly stupid idea, worst thing I've ever heard of in sci-fi, in any medium, ever.

A redeeming actor in this is Ray Stevenson, RIP, who plays his part with real gravitas and veiled emotions.

[Raid]

Star Wars is not science fiction. It never has been. It uses a few trappings of the genre, sure, but it's a franchise built around magical knights with swords, princesses and charismatic rogues. Star Wars is fantasy.

Honestly I'm loving it. If I'd had a chat with Dave Filoni about what I wanted from this series, I'd pretty much have described what we've had. It's Rebels season 5, and I suppose therein lies the problem. The Purrgil, the "hyperspace whales", are an established part of the franchise now, and have been for a decade, but you have to have seen the kids show for that not to be an issue. I've had 7 years to get past the fact that space whales that can enter hyperspace are a ludicrous premise, and they were featured heavily in the fairly emotional culmination of a series I loved, so I'm probably getting far more out of this than a significant part of the audience will. I can look past the fact that the acting hasn't been particularly strong (although Ahsoka's complete lack of enthusiasm is how Jedi and Jedi-adjacent characters have been portrayed since the 80s) because I've been waiting for this storyline for years.

[Sly Boots]

[Solitaire]

That's fair, Chris, and I totally get it. I'm not the least bit invested in the character, nor much of the lore. And true enough, most of the Jedi depicted over the decades are more stoic than your average swashbuckling character though I would like to see them tease maybe a bit more emotion out of them, instead of constant blank looks? I don't think that's asking too much!

I'll be over in the little Andor section of fandom, anxiously awaiting season 2

[Rusty]

I've also come to realise that light sabre duels are just jank. I'm watching the two protagonists and thinking "just slide the 'blade' down", you'll cut their fingers off, easy.

"Stop spinning" you're showing your back to the enemy.

"Use your force push and pull more" you'll eventually knock them off balance.

[Solitaire]

I've also come to realise that light sabre duels are just jank. I'm watching the two protagonists and thinking "just slide the 'blade' down", you'll cut their fingers off, easy.

"Stop spinning" you're showing your back to the enemy.

"Use your force push and pull more" you'll eventually knock them off balance.

It's all about if the choreography is fun to watch. Nobody in their right minds would fight like any of them do, in any movie or series. Watching a Jedi fight a double-bladed (energized from both ends, not duel-wielding) Sith makes my mind numb - there's no defense against a long staff if trying to duel with a single sword; once the blades clash, the 'staff' is simply twisted in the hands quickly, thus cutting legs off/etc before the single blade can even be moved to attempt another parry.

And you're right, they're constantly spinning which is simply ridiculous.

[Raid]

The canon reason that only force-users fight with lightsabers is that they require a certain amount of force sensitivity to use them safely. I think the insinuation is that there's a certain level of precognition involved in lightsaber fights; opponents are constantly seeing each others movements in advance, and are therefore avoiding them. The reason Palpatine is able to just straight-up murder 3 Jedi Knights in seconds is that he uses the force to manipulate and obfuscate preventing them from anticipating his actions, and they don't even attempt to block his attacks because they're expecting something else.

...or at least that's the reason fans came up with to explain the lack of fight choreography between 60-year-old Ian McDiarmid and 3 background extras that only later were shown to have ever switched on their lightsabers prior.

[Wrathbone]

Just watched the latest episode of Ahsoka.

it struck me that for a show called Ahsoka, it’s so far been much more interested in Sabine.

It's like the producers read this and decided to go for full trolling mode. I'm enjoying it and this was the best episode so far, but there's only been one episode that was actually about Ahsoka. Sabine is the series protagonist. I'd say they named the series Ahsoka simply because she's a more recognisable name than Sabine, except I think that's only marginally true.

On a more positive, if bittersweet note, Ray Stevenson's character is absolutely fascinating and is a large part of what's keeping me watching. He was a hugely talented actor. RIP.

[Alan]

The Walking Dead Daryl Dixon
Someone watched the last of us.

[Raid]

Just watched the latest episode of Ahsoka.

it struck me that for a show called Ahsoka, it’s so far been much more interested in Sabine.

It's like the producers read this and decided to go for full trolling mode. I'm enjoying it and this was the best episode so far, but there's only been one episode that was actually about Ahsoka. Sabine is the series protagonist. I'd say they named the series Ahsoka simply because she's a more recognisable name than Sabine, except I think that's only marginally true.

On a more positive, if bittersweet note, Ray Stevenson's character is absolutely fascinating and is a large part of what's keeping me watching. He was a hugely talented actor. RIP.

I have a vague recollection of Ahsoka originally being announced as an anthology series rather than a single narrative; it might go some way to explaining why some of these episodes have wildly varied tones. This week's was a pretty massive contrast to last's.

It's funny, I've seen some comments about some of the returning animated characters looking like decent cosplay costumes rather than something made for an expensive TV series, and this episode really brought that home. I'm gonna say it - Thrawn looks a bit naff. Perhaps that's to be expected, as a blue-skinned man with glowing red eyes and pitch-black hair was always going to be tough to get looking right, but like a lot of the costuming in this it's surprisingly cheap looking. However the instant he spoke I knew they'd made the right choice in casting the voice actor from Rebels. I'm actually reading Timothy Zahn's new Thrawn book, and I realised early on that I was reading everything Thrawn said in his animated appearance's voice; it's so distinctive, and if they'd had anyone else play him it wouldn't have been right. They've absolutely nailed Ezra too. That shot of he and Sabine hugging accompanied by a few bars of Ezra's theme honestly made me well up a bit.

[Wrathbone]

Thrawn looks a bit naff.

I know what you mean. The performance and the voice are spot on, but his physical presence is a bit... hunchy. Ever since reading the Thrawn trilogy as a teenager, I pictured him as tall and chiseled, never letting his chin droop. I'm nitpicking, but there is something a bit lacklustre about the Thrawn we got compared to the Thrawn I expected.

[Raid]

Thrawn looks a bit naff.

I know what you mean. The performance and the voice are spot on, but his physical presence is a bit... hunchy. Ever since reading the Thrawn trilogy as a teenager, I pictured him as tall and chiseled, never letting his chin droop. I'm nitpicking, but there is something a bit lacklustre about the Thrawn we got compared to the Thrawn I expected.

That's the Thrawn we got in Rebels. The Ahsoka version looks more like an aging despot rather than the confident military officer. It's partially down to the performance, but a lot of it is the makeup and costume. I'm surprised at how low-quality a lot of the costumes look in this, as it hasn't been a problem in the other live-action shows.

[Animalmother]

Castlevania Nocturne
Follow up to the excellent Castlevania from a few years ago. Set a few hundred years later in France during the Revolution. Watched the first couple of episodes and it's fine. Seems to lack the charm of the previous series and the new Belmont isn't a patch on Trevor. The animation is pretty amazing in places I must say. Will keep watching as it might just need a few episodes to get going.