Hype level = building replica MCRN uniforn and rifle.
This show is not a shit Syfy cringefest. It is to Syfy what Vikings is to History channel. It is the best space opera tv show I've seen, and I think many agree with me.
It's not exactly A++ GoT/Sopranos tier, but it was worth buying the season pass and some merch and a $180 airsoft gun so I can mod it same as the original prop...
So far I'm liking The Magicians a lot. I think it was smart to age them up to Grad School so there should be less "hey this is just a Harry Potter ripoff" reactions.
Watched the first 2 episodes of Baskets. Written and produced in combination between Louis C.K., Zach Galifianakis and Jonathan Krisel. It seems to lie between the comedy of Louis CK and Galifianakis. I'm not really a fan of the latter however I do really enjoy Louis CK's humour and story telling.
I'll give the show a few more episodes because there have been some funny characters and moments.
X-Files Pretty fucking amazing as a fan of the original X-files TV show. Both actors and writers are completely into the tongue in cheek perspective of the new series. Episodes have been so funny.
I'd agree with you on Baskets. Definitely is hitting a middle ground between the two. A lot of the production values on the show distinctly remind me of his show Louie as well. However I enjoy both parties' humor so the show is hitting with me quite a bit.
I was actually worried that it was going to try and be more of a dark comedy. Galafanakis did an indie movie called Visioneers right before he was in the Hangover and it was fucking awful. Comparatively Louie is also fairly melancholy so I was thinking that it was gonna be a repeat. But it seems like they just barely straddle that line.
Started re-watching The Next Generation, man forgot how much of a stiffy I had for this show.
I'm on the fence about The Expanse. I loved the book but it had some long dragging bits to it. not sure how the show will combat that stuff and get to the god bits. That and the space people designs, interested about how they will pull that off.
The show, at least as far as I have heard from book readers, covers the first 70% of Leviathan Wakes. They mention how the show changes the pace a bit on scenes with the main crew, and has them interacting more, with personal conflicts that come up vs exposition or something I guess (I should get the audio books sometime).
Pretty-much everyone agrees that those changes make the show better, and I never felt bored or like the show was dragging. At worst one could say that there was the occasional superfluous scene that could have theoretically been trimmed, but it's always fun or intriguing regardless. So i found the pacing was great: some reviews found it a bit slow, expecting to have massive space battles every episode I guess.
I love slow burn shows, so for me The Expanse feels like a damn roller coaster through the Solar System. But in the best way.
Oh and as for spacers having different physiologies, it's mentioned and sometimes pointed out with a real lanky character, some have some funky bone protrusions. But mostly they try and show the immediate effects and focus less on the physical stature of the Belters. For example, they bring an OPA spy to earth to essentially torture the dude since he can't hack 1G well. He definitely looks like a scrawny fella.
I've only watched the first episode, the dialogue levels vary in clarity, most of the Ceres dialogue from Tom Jane is mumbled.
I don't get the zero g sex scene other than showing of some low budget visual effects, was the entire ship experiencing zero g. The ice breaking and cutting off the dudes arm seemed to be a very rushed scene. I still don't know why Tom Jane's character is mad at all the lanky guys.
The Chrisjen Avasarala character has a weird aesthetic, production really wanted to force the perspective that this person is of Indian heritage in flashing lights. Women don't just casually wear a sari, not even in India unless you're a poor villager or live in as slum and only own one piece of clothing. Then visiting the UN blacksite in that wardrobe made the scene laughable.
I don't know why Hollywood keep hiring the actor that plays Avasarala's husband, he has always been the Pakistani restaurateur from Seinfeld.
I guess I'll have to watch more of it to get into it. Maybe the Mars perspective will be interesting.
Wow it got so much better. However. A lot of the time dialogue is delivered in a flaccid fashion or maybe it's the directing or just the way the dialogue is written. These scenes become less common the more I watch.
So far my favourite character is Naomi, Tom Jane finally stopped mumbling and I still can't stand the Canterbury XO, he barely seems to be acting. The visual effects of the ships and stations is pretty great.
Even Holden gets decent in time. I can agree the delivery isnt the standout of the show, early on I diddn't really care about Holden when Naomi and Alex were so cool. But they build up well and have a good dynamic: the whole Cant crew is great when they keep their heads.
Ok I watched to episode 4, 1 episode a day and today I ended up watching the rest of the entire show.
It's great in the absence of any sci-fi shows for the past few years. I finally enjoyed Miller's character as his world fell apart around him and he decided to become a badass. Thomas Jane also displayed his ability to act well enough for the character written.
I knew it, the Martians are awesome.
The "evil plan" in the final 2 episodes was pretty clear as soon as we found Julie Mau to be dead (at least the physical, unless Miller has gone crazy (more likely).
I like that the show tries to look forward with future technologies with touch interfaces everywhere however it's not nearly as imaginative or forward thinking as 60s Star Trek, however it does try harder than most shows set in the future.
I've been wanting to watch the Expanse, but I want to read the books first. So instead, I watched the first season of Dark Matter, another scifi show, on Netflix. The premise of the show was interesting; Six people waking up from stasis pods without any memories of who they were or how they got there.
Finishing the season though, I've decided that the show was pretty much meh. I saw that it's been renewed for a second season, but to be honest, I'm not sure if I'll bother to watch it.
Yeah I kinda feel the same. I enjoyed it but it was definitely one of those Canadian produced Scifi shows. Its just nice to see more we're-on-a-space-ship-and-we're-doing-shit scifi shows again. Liked it a bit more than Killjoys. I'd say Killjoys is a bit more thematically similar to the Expanse albeit a lot less serious.
Those first few episodes are pretty...less than okay.
How so? They set up an absurdist tone between our two protagonists with their dialogue and the in media res start. They then instill a sense of menace, present the idea of the "unknown" and the "beast," and then spin through a series of episodes each furthering these ideas in different ways while simultaneously paying homage to old animated features/styles.
Those first few episodes are pretty...less than okay.
How so? They set up an absurdist tone between our two protagonists with their dialogue and the in media res start. They then instill a sense of menace, present the idea of the "unknown" and the "beast," and then spin through a series of episodes each furthering these ideas in different ways while simultaneously paying homage to old animated features/styles.
Yeah, seriously. It starts off with a talking bird. Ok, I guess this is the kind of universe with birds that can talk. Immediately Wirt says that's impossible, they don't have the brain for it. Ok, I guess the main character expects it to be a universe where birds can't talk. Furthermore, the bird continues talking to him the whole time!
Really? the first episode was fine(hearing Christopher Lloyd was really fun), but that school house episode was pretty bad. I get that it's a nod to classic children's literature, but I would probably watch more Star vs. the Forces of Evil before I would watch that episode again.
No idea what was going on with the tavern, but the only good bit of that episode was getting fred for the next episode and the end bit(won't say spoilers).
Star vs. the Forces of Evil is a bad show; I've been tricked into watching it twice and it is now my gold standard for bad shows. I'm sorry if the point wasn't clear.
Didn't make the connection to the Canterbury Tales, although the last time I read it was in high school. Maybe you could make them the next mini book club.
But seriously, was anyone entertained by those episodes? "Potatoes and Molasses" alone made me wanted to turn it off. Is the second half just super strong?
That third episode with the school is really, really twee. Neat, but maaaaan that feeling was palpable. Frogs on the Riverboat may be my favorite episode and any episode with a prominent guest star is great too. (Christopher Lloyd, Tim Curry, John Cleese).
But seriously, was anyone entertained by those episodes? "Potatoes and Molasses" alone made me wanted to turn it off. Is the second half just super strong?
The show sets up intrigue then resolves it. I wouldn't say the second half is better, just follows the natural arc of conflict.
Episodes are 10 minutes. If you didn't already like it, the show's probably not for you.
Comments
Hype level = building replica MCRN uniforn and rifle.
This show is not a shit Syfy cringefest. It is to Syfy what Vikings is to History channel. It is the best space opera tv show I've seen, and I think many agree with me.
It's not exactly A++ GoT/Sopranos tier, but it was worth buying the season pass and some merch and a $180 airsoft gun so I can mod it same as the original prop...
I'll give the show a few more episodes because there have been some funny characters and moments.
X-Files
Pretty fucking amazing as a fan of the original X-files TV show. Both actors and writers are completely into the tongue in cheek perspective of the new series. Episodes have been so funny.
I was actually worried that it was going to try and be more of a dark comedy. Galafanakis did an indie movie called Visioneers right before he was in the Hangover and it was fucking awful. Comparatively Louie is also fairly melancholy so I was thinking that it was gonna be a repeat. But it seems like they just barely straddle that line.
I'm on the fence about The Expanse. I loved the book but it had some long dragging bits to it. not sure how the show will combat that stuff and get to the god bits. That and the space people designs, interested about how they will pull that off.
Pretty-much everyone agrees that those changes make the show better, and I never felt bored or like the show was dragging. At worst one could say that there was the occasional superfluous scene that could have theoretically been trimmed, but it's always fun or intriguing regardless. So i found the pacing was great: some reviews found it a bit slow, expecting to have massive space battles every episode I guess.
I love slow burn shows, so for me The Expanse feels like a damn roller coaster through the Solar System. But in the best way.
Oh and as for spacers having different physiologies, it's mentioned and sometimes pointed out with a real lanky character, some have some funky bone protrusions. But mostly they try and show the immediate effects and focus less on the physical stature of the Belters. For example, they bring an OPA spy to earth to essentially torture the dude since he can't hack 1G well. He definitely looks like a scrawny fella.
I don't get the zero g sex scene other than showing of some low budget visual effects, was the entire ship experiencing zero g.
The ice breaking and cutting off the dudes arm seemed to be a very rushed scene.
I still don't know why Tom Jane's character is mad at all the lanky guys.
The Chrisjen Avasarala character has a weird aesthetic, production really wanted to force the perspective that this person is of Indian heritage in flashing lights. Women don't just casually wear a sari, not even in India unless you're a poor villager or live in as slum and only own one piece of clothing. Then visiting the UN blacksite in that wardrobe made the scene laughable.
I don't know why Hollywood keep hiring the actor that plays Avasarala's husband, he has always been the Pakistani restaurateur from Seinfeld.
I guess I'll have to watch more of it to get into it. Maybe the Mars perspective will be interesting.
However.
A lot of the time dialogue is delivered in a flaccid fashion or maybe it's the directing or just the way the dialogue is written. These scenes become less common the more I watch.
So far my favourite character is Naomi, Tom Jane finally stopped mumbling and I still can't stand the Canterbury XO, he barely seems to be acting. The visual effects of the ships and stations is pretty great.
It's great in the absence of any sci-fi shows for the past few years.
I finally enjoyed Miller's character as his world fell apart around him and he decided to become a badass. Thomas Jane also displayed his ability to act well enough for the character written.
I knew it, the Martians are awesome.
The "evil plan" in the final 2 episodes was pretty clear as soon as we found Julie Mau to be dead (at least the physical, unless Miller has gone crazy (more likely).
I like that the show tries to look forward with future technologies with touch interfaces everywhere however it's not nearly as imaginative or forward thinking as 60s Star Trek, however it does try harder than most shows set in the future.
I look forward to the next season.
Finishing the season though, I've decided that the show was pretty much meh. I saw that it's been renewed for a second season, but to be honest, I'm not sure if I'll bother to watch it.
Anyone else see this and have similar thoughts?
Those first few episodes are pretty...less than okay.
Hooked.
No idea what was going on with the tavern, but the only good bit of that episode was getting fred for the next episode and the end bit(won't say spoilers).
Didn't make the connection to the Canterbury Tales, although the last time I read it was in high school. Maybe you could make them the next mini book club.
But seriously, was anyone entertained by those episodes? "Potatoes and Molasses" alone made me wanted to turn it off. Is the second half just super strong?
"You'll be back, eventually."
Episodes are 10 minutes. If you didn't already like it, the show's probably not for you.