The TV Series discussion thread

I learned my lesson with Discovery, I gave that show every opportunity to win me over, and it failed miserably. I'll see what people have to say about any future Star Trek shows before diving in myself.

Has anyone else seen the trailer for the new Watchmen yet? Hmm…

Originally Posted by Carnifex
I learned my lesson with Discovery, I gave that show every opportunity to win me over, and it failed miserably. I'll see what people have to say about any future Star Trek shows before diving in myself.

You will be happy to know that Discovery and the new show share many of the writing "talent"!

I didn't like Discovery as well. It really wasn't Star Trek for me. Its too dark and dreary and very unlikable cast as well. I think they wanted to "modernise" Star Trek and wanted to be edgy etc but in doing so lost what made Star Trek great in the first place which is about hope and optimism for the the future where we do end up having a "happy ever after". This really need a likeable cast for you to root for. This may sound "cheesy and cringey" but this is one of the reason why I liked the old Star Trek shows.

My main worry for the new show is that, they will take our old characters like Picard, Data, Riker, Troy etc and make them old and miserable gits! If I am betting man, I would say that Riker and Troy are now divorced in the new show and Riker has taken to the bottle or something silly like that!

I watched the entirety of season 3 Stranger Things myself. Some thoughts:



I tried getting into The Expanse as well, but I really didn't care for it.

I may start Dark, though. I hear that's good.

@Ragnaris Your thoughts on S3 of Stranger Things mirror my own almost exactly. There were far too many implausible events/situations.

Dark is really good imo, you should definitely check it out.

Originally Posted by lostforever
You will be happy to know that Discovery and the new show share many of the writing "talent"!

You do not bring glad tidings. I loathe Discovery, and I think they're a bunch of hacks.

Just knowing that Kurtzman is even slightly involved with any Star Trek show will put the kibosh in for me. I'm not sure, but I don't believe I've cared for a single film or show that guy has ever done.

Originally Posted by porcozaur
Managed to finish season 3 of Stranger Things, really pushed myself. Disaster of a season, they destroyed everything, every character. And season 4 looks like more recycling. If s1 was a 9, s2 a ~7, s3 would be a 3 tops.

Also started Deadly Class, only 2 episodes so far, but look really interesting.

I watched S2 and S3 just now and I don't see the reason for all the hate.
The main issue for me is that it has become more actiony/hollywoody but I expected as much.

Maybe having lower expectations helped, but I felt like they were entertaining enough to keep me interested…

Been watching Rook on Starz, an English-style spy series but featuring enhanced humans with unique powers. The protagonist awakens in the midst of a group of fresh corpses in London with no memory of her past. The main plot is the story of how she rediscovers her past, and presumably at some point her mysterious abilities. It's the type of series I'd enjoy binge-watching; hopefully it gets renewed.

Oddly I've read about that show a bit today somewhere.

Unlike multipersonalities rubbish I'm sick and tired of seeing everywhere, Rook is about one person, one entity, one mind, take your pick - sharing 4 bodies. This person is into a certain girl which, let's spot the elephant in the room, makes the main character partially queer as it doesn't spread only in male bodies.

Now this fact, if filmed correctly, may make the show awsome (no, I'm not saying there should be orgies!), but before I risk anything, I'll wait for some actual impressions how they pulled it through after the first season ends.

The Rook novels are amazingly good. I've not seen the television version, and likely won't, but I can verify that the books are well worth checking out, the source material is worthy of study.

Chernobyl 8/10

Very immersive show that started at around 10/10 - and slowly devolved into just very good near the end. But probably one of the best shows I've seen in recent years.

Stranger Things 5/10

Mildly entertaining with some fun moments, but ultimately stupid and rather shallow.

Originally Posted by joxer
It's stop the presses for me - King's Avatar, chinese animation series about competitive mmos (e-sports) that took over the world is getting the live version!
…

First 12 (of planned 40) episodes are now available internationally on the official WeTV site (legal stream, english subtitles included) of which 6 are unlocked and can be enjoyed for free (more will be unlocked over time):
https://wetv.vip/
You'll spot some more chinese shows there, I can vouch only for Detective L, it's fun. And fully unlocked.

The official Tencent YT channel still didn't add King's Avatar live adaptation, but should be soon. If you want to watch it there when it happens, here's the link to the channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQa…lylp_UzvsLCgcw

Viki is also currently empty - the release date there is 31st of july:
https://www.viki.com/tv/35819c-the-k…atar?locale=en

Originally Posted by rjshae
Been watching Rook on Starz, an English-style spy series but featuring enhanced humans with unique powers. The protagonist awakens in the midst of a group of fresh corpses in London with no memory of her past. The main plot is the story of how she rediscovers her past, and presumably at some point her mysterious abilities. It's the type of series I'd enjoy binge-watching; hopefully it gets renewed.

Slowly building my DVR with this show. The next to last episode airs 8/11, at that point I will binge watch. Not really a fan of Myers Twilight stuff but I liked both the book and the movie of The Host. So, I'm hopeful.

Myers was executive producer on the Rook.

Giving The Expanse another shot, now that it's been "saved".

I don't remember where I stopped watching last time. I think somewhere in Season 2.

I'm halfway through S1 now and it's not terribly exciting - but I'm guessing it will improve.

One problem is that I don't really like any of the characters - except perhaps the Thomas Jane guy. Amos seems to be the kind of guy I should like, but he's a little overplayed and lacking in nuance - at least so far.

Here's hoping it will improve - as I'm dying for a quality sci-fi show.

What the hell is it about sci-fi that makes it so rare that it's actually any good?

Ok, movies and shows ARE rarely good - but I mean with sci-fi it's even worse than that.

I'm also watching Swamp Thing - which I find to be amusing. It's cartoonish in just the right way - and it's pretty well done.

Of course, they already cancelled it - so I don't know why I bother.

It won't improve. Instead, it'll remain at the same close to masterpiece level through all three seasons.
That's not material you can appreciate so I suggest you to drop it. The Expanse.

Unlike your reasoning of Swamp Thing watching or not, now you said it's (already?) cancelled, didn't know thanks, I'm thinking of giving it a shot.
As comics fan, especially of nonsuperhero comics like this one is, I'm sick and tired of every possible comic getting unnecessary onscreen adaptation. That is usually watered down or massacred to unrecognizable hollywodized bullshittery. For example I still didn't watch Seuls (Alone) movie that, according to imdb, resulted in such a bland mediocrity there is close to zero probability it'll continue although the comic masterpiece is still ongoing. Here's quote of one review:
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/seuls_2017

The result is a middling Hollywood-style slice of Stephen King-style horror, as featureless and faceless as the assassin haunting the survivors.

Whoever read the comic would say "wtf" on this statement.

Anyhow, if Swamp Thing is cancelled, that can mean two things. Either it's so unbelievably bad or it's adaptation is so faithful it can't lure the long live the shallowness audience into watching it. Hoping for latter, when it ends airing, I'll try to binge it.
Thanks for the cancellation info.

Actually, the reason it was cancelled was due to a misunderstanding related to a tax break. I believe they lost a third of their budget because of it.

But don't let nuances get in the way of joxer-world

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Also, I hate to say it - but I'm starting to get a glimmer of hope for the new Picard Star Trek show.

I know that's a mistake. I mean, we're talking Kurtzman here - though I understand his role has been reduced.

Also, if there's one thing the crowdfunding scene has taught me about "once-greats" - it's that something very often happens to people when they get old, and there's absolutely no reason to expect that they fully understand what was so great about that great thing they were once involved with.

Still, Stewart seems like he's still on top of the character - and if it's true that he's more or less calling the shots when it comes to his development, there's hope.

Not a giant fan of 7of9 (except her body, of course) or Data, personally - but it's certainly nice to see them again.

Netflix's Another Life

Saw one episode last night mainly because it has Katee Sackhoff in it. Unfortunately its terrible, bad acting even from Katee herself The crew members are bunch of crybabies yet they are supposed to be the "elites" earth can muster to save the planet! They whine all the time, they scream all the time and crack under pressure at the first chance they get. Its basically millennial anguish fest in space …

Maybe I got the wrong end of stick and the the show is supposed to be comedy as it has an AI with emotional issues…

Originally Posted by lostforever
Netflix's Another Life

Saw one episode last night mainly because it has Katee Sackhoff in it. Unfortunately its terrible, bad acting even from Katee herself The crew members are bunch of crybabies yet they are supposed to be the "elites" earth can muster to save the planet! They whine all the time, they scream all the time and crack under pressure at the first chance they get. Its basically millennial anguish fest in space …

Maybe I got the wrong end of stick and the the show is supposed to be comedy as it has an AI with emotional issues…

Yes, unfortunately. I have more discipline than you though. I got up to 5 episodes in.

They start tossing around tension in the crew which seemingly comes from nowhere. It just does not make sense. It is chaotic which isn't helped with the brisk pace in the first couple of episodes. I sticked with it hoping they would get their bearings and focus on the mystery but alas. Bummer, I was looking for a good sci-fi show

Finished up with The Boys.

An Amazon Prime story about superheroes commercialized to the max and totally corrupt to boot. As it stands The Boys did what the superman Arc in Batman/Justice league tried to do. In essence, superheroes with no morality are bad…. really bad. Even if the superheroes are supposed to be good guys. The show is funny, thoughtful, violent, gory and weird. Because it goes against all superhero conventions and now I'm kinda thinking this planet might not be in a good place if we did live in a world with superheroes. Yep, the story telling in this series is that good. In this story world the good guys are the normal guys battling the superheroes but Dayummmm, the goods guys just aren't so good.

Did some wiki research and looked into the comic books the series is based on and the show did a fair job following the 4 year history of the books. There were a few major changes from the book, but the mini series was totally coherent. There is still some more story to tell in this TV show. and it does end with a too be continued. But the 8 stories are in total, satisfying enough for year one. If they follow they books they are good for one more year. The series could be stretched to two but I think the quality would suffer.

Interesting note, on The Boys series (2019) Simon Peg plays the dad of the main protagonist. However, The writers of the comic book (2008-2012) based the looks of the main protagonist on Simon Peg.

In summary. I had fun and Man oh Man, them superheroes are jerks. Hey Tina can I hear you sing it . . . . We Don't Need Another Hero.