The TV Series discussion thread

I plan on reading the final three books of Expanse soon, probably in the next week or two. I've held off for a while, I figure I can hold out a bit longer since the final book is out soon. I'm very curious as to what will not make it to the television version, I'm hopeful for some possible follow-up films after the series concludes, but who knows.
 
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An interesting interview of David S. Goyer (Foundation's writer/adapter) and Kevin Hand (science advisor) by Ars Technica.

How Foundation preserved Asimov’s big ideas while bringing the story to vivid life
Ars chats with showrunner David S. Goyer and science advisor Kevin Hand

When showrunner David S. Goyer took on the monumental task of adapting Isaac Asimov's hugely influential Foundation series of science fiction novels for Apple TV+, he knew it would not be a straightforward matter. As I've written previously, the author himself admitted that he wrote strictly for the printed page, and he always refused invitations to adapt his work for film or TV.

But Asimov was more than happy to let others adapt his work to a new medium, and he was wise enough to expect that there would—and should—be significant departures from the print version. In doing so, Goyer had to strike a balance between respecting Asimov's sweeping visionary ideas without lapsing into slavish reverence and over-pontification. To my mind, he did it beautifully, producing more of a remix than a straight adaptation that is compelling and powerful in its own right.

Another challenge was figuring out how to incorporate science and technology that was reasonably accurate. An astrobiologist and planetary scientist at Jet Propulsion Lab, Kevin Hand had worked with Goyer years before on Krypton, and the two had stayed in touch. So when Goyer needed a scientist with expertise in space, interstellar travel, and planetary dynamics, among other topics, naturally he turned to Hand.

Ars sat down with Goyer and Hand to learn more about the journey to bring this classic work to television.
[…]
 
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I completed my re-watch of Mr. Robot last evening, and came away even more satisfied than I was the first time around. Aye, it's that darn good!

I'm on the last episode of the first series of Mrs. Maisel, and really liking it. Honestly, you could put practically any show into this time period and I'd likely watch it. The references to Bruce, Hope, and Foxx (among others) are really well done and add some historic value to what the show is all about.
 
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LOST Was Weird: A Show No One Wanted To Make | Billiam


I love watching these long (2-3h+) LOST analysis videos. For all it's issues, LOST was still a fantastic rollercoaster ride, with great characters having great moments, and amazing music.

And it was all done as they went along, with little planning overall. It's amazing it came out as good as it did, for how chaotic its production sounds. It's no surprise the lead dude, Damon Lindelof went on to adapt/create the amazing Leftovers. He's really talented.
 
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LOST Was Weird: A Show No One Wanted To Make | Billiam


I love watching these long (2-3h+) LOST analysis videos. For all it's issues, LOST was still a fantastic rollercoaster ride, with great characters having great moments, and amazing music.

And it was all done as they went along, with little planning overall. It's amazing it came out as good as it did, for how chaotic its production sounds. It's no surprise the lead dude, Damon Lindelof went on to adapt/create the amazing Leftovers. He's really talented.

I couldn't get into Lost despite trying several times. It was just too vague for me. Maybe I'll give it another shot someday.

That seems like an interesting documentary though.
 
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I couldn't get into Lost despite trying several times. It was just too vague for me. Maybe I'll give it another shot someday.

A lot of hardcore fans absolutely hated the ending, and disliked the final seasons. I never reached that point. LOST was probably the last tv series I had seen as it was released, one episode a week. And it was so much fun playing the investigation game. It also has some very questionable and cringe plot points, but overall the good very much outweighs the bad.
 
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The only thing that annoyed me about the Lost ending was having the people running the show to blatantly lie about the ending. We were told years before the end that they were not dead, not in a afterlife environment, yadda yadda yadda. Simply do the honour of not lying to your audience, that's all I ask. Other than that I quite enjoyed the show, and even re-watched it a few years ago. I wouldn't have any interest in watching what someone else might think of it though, unless we viewed it together or if I knew them personally.
 
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Just moved the Lost chat here from the movie thread.

I remember being quite engaged by the first season, but then into the second series it seemed very clear to me they were making it up as they went along, and I drifted off.
 
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Just moved the Lost chat here from the movie thread.

I remember being quite engaged by the first season, but then into the second series it seemed very clear to me they were making it up as they went along, and I drifted off.

Exactly the same. I can't maintain interest in a mystery with no solution. Or worse, a mystery where the solution changes from episode to episode.
 
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I saw Lost until the end. It had this feeling of being re-invented season by season, at least to some extent. I enjoyed parts of it, but as a whole it was hard to swallow. Didn't like the end too much but I don't see what else they could have done at this point.
 
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I stalled out partway through the third episode, so that's good to hear. Maybe I'll pick it up again later tonight.

I actually disagree with this. A key part of the Dragon's nature as a character is his growing insanity, which is the mechanism that makes others fear he will break the world again. And his insanity is driven by the taint on the male half of the One Power, which is inherently gender-linked as a foundational element of Jordan's world-building. A reincarnation of the Dragon who did not face the danger of taint-driven madness would be a fundamentally different life thread and wouldn't fit into the cyclical pattern the Wheel is weaving.

I see this, along with the shift from three to four ta'veren, as a misguided attempt to make Egwene's character more special. She doesn't need it. She's a spectacular character as-is, all the more impressive because her achievements aren't done with the wind of Destiny at her back.
More book (and soon to be TV) spoilers
The taint showed up at the 2nd age. This caused Therin and the other men to go nuts and mangle the world, but I don't think it's something that will be there for every Dragon. At the end of the 3rd age, the Dragon didn't break the world. The Dark one made a mess but nothing like the continent mangling at the end of the 2nd age! In fact, he established a big peace treaty!

The One power is the same power that is "turning the wheel" - at least according to legend. Men can use it by grabbing it and wrestling it into doing what they want. Women can use it in the opposite way, by going with the flow (like Eqwene did in the river at the start of the show) and coaxing it into what they want. It's still the same stuff, though. There shouldn't be a problem on that end.

The Dragon is also the same person, reborn in each age. They aren't precisely the same, though. You couldn't figure out who the Dragon was by using an old portrait of Lews Therin, for instance. Can those differences result in a different gender, though? I'm not sure. There was a part of the books where Bridgette was talking about what her lives were like that might speak to that, but I've forgotten too much of it. At any rate, whether it's actually possible or not, I'm really dubious that anyone at the White Tower would know for sure. That means they need to be open to the possibility.
 
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I just finished watching Squid Games. It was way better than I thought it would be. Episode 6 really hit me in the feels!
The only thing I would have changed was the "American VIPs" - that was some pretty bad acting IMO.
 
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Just started watching 'Another Life' series 1 from 2019. Not sure how I managed to miss this one back in the day...First episode was Ok...Ticks the PC boxes though... :(
 
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Just finished season 1 of The Man in the High Castle. That was actually pretty good, looking forward to the next season.
 
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Just started watching 'Another Life' series 1 from 2019. Not sure how I managed to miss this one back in the day…First episode was Ok…Ticks the PC boxes though… :(

The one with Katee Sackhoff? Yeah, that one is mediocre at best. I love SF and am usually pretty forgiving but that wasn't very good IMO. I didn't bother with season 2.
 
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Just finished S1 of Shannara Chronicles. Enjoyed it quite a bit - Ivana Baquero is super hot. Going straight into S2, and I'm going to give reading Sword of Shannara another shot. I tried a couple of times before but put it down, don't remember why.
 
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Just finished season 1 of The Man in the High Castle. That was actually pretty good, looking forward to the next season.
Really enjoyed this show. I even think they did as good as possible with the ending personally.

Unlike Lost rolleyes
 
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I remember the Shannara Chronicles and watched it with my daughter, who was 20 at the time. It felt to me as a show that was made for young adults and she liked it, I thought season 1 was OK, but season 2 wasn't really.

I loved Sword of Shannara when I was a teenager. Some 20 years ago, when my teenage days were long gone, I bought a serie of Shannara books, but I simply could not get into Sword of Shannara and felt that Terry Brooks simply wasn't that good a writer. So, never read a book from him after that.
 
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