Current TV, regardless the year

[ashbury]

This isn't TV, exactly, but the episodes on YouTube could fool a person. They date from 2012-17.

"Star Trek Continues"

A quick search on TD doesn't reveal a mention of this fan-fiction on steroids.  Has anyone run across this way back when it came out?  I am just flabbergasted by all aspects of this ode to 1960s SciFi.

[Mike Sixel]

11 hours ago, ashbury said:

This isn't TV, exactly, but the episodes on YouTube could fool a person. They date from 2012-17.

"Star Trek Continues"

A quick search on TD doesn't reveal a mention of this fan-fiction on steroids.  Has anyone run across this way back when it came out?  I am just flabbergasted by all aspects of this ode to 1960s SciFi.

Great, another rabbit hole!

[ashbury]

31 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Great, another rabbit hole!

Only 11 episodes, with some clear closure at the end, plus three "vignettes" probably worth watching first just to get a feel.   So it's not an open-ended commitment.  I knocked it all off in 3 evenings.  Mrs Ash disguised her bemusement as best she could.

It checks many little boxes for longtime fans without ever descending into satire or parody;  neither does it take itself so seriously that it loses its sense of humor where called for;  it's a semi-pro production but never feels like community theater or college skits; it goes beyond even homage, and feels for all the world like a bunch of lost episodes.  It's real.  I loved the J. J. Abrams movie reboot but I think all in all this is finer.  I could imagine people rolling their eyes at this undertaking, for any of several reasons including that 1960s TV wasn't as good as more recent stuff, and I could pick things apart too, but I wouldn't say that any episode is entirely dispensable.  My admiration for it is unreserved - as Sarek might say, my logic is uncertain where this series is concerned.

[Mike Sixel]

While commenting about how dumb everyone was in the last episode of season 2 of Discovery last night, my wife said I was more Vulcan than every character on the show. My son messaged me that he warned me the season ending episodes were the weakest.....

[Mike Sixel]

Moon Knight thoughts (SPOILERS):

It started great, and I mostly tolerated episodes 4 and 5 (there were some really good things, but they largely didn't make me think "great"). But, we did not like the end. This is NOT to say it is bad, we just didn't love the choices.

The post credit scene was too integral to the story not to be in the show. 
Marc and Stephen are not different people. We would have preferred they integrate their personality into one or something, but going back to save a different personality was not a choice we liked at all.
Why were there two hearts, if there are AT LEAST three personalities?
Layla (sp?) just disappeared at the end, like, zero closure (she was the best part of the show all the way).
Ammit showed Harrow what it was, and there was no crises of faith. Sigh. So much potential there.
 

[Musk21]

Did anyone else watch The White Lotus on HBO/HBO Max? It was only 6 episodes...Considered a dark comedy.  Good cast. A little slow, but I liked it!

[TheLeviathan]

On 5/5/2022 at 9:48 AM, Mike Sixel said:

Moon Knight thoughts (SPOILERS):

It started great, and I mostly tolerated episodes 4 and 5 (there were some really good things, but they largely didn't make me think "great"). But, we did not like the end. This is NOT to say it is bad, we just didn't love the choices.

The post credit scene was too integral to the story not to be in the show. 
Marc and Stephen are not different people. We would have preferred they integrate their personality into one or something, but going back to save a different personality was not a choice we liked at all.
Why were there two hearts, if there are AT LEAST three personalities?
Layla (sp?) just disappeared at the end, like, zero closure (she was the best part of the show all the way).
Ammit showed Harrow what it was, and there was no crises of faith. Sigh. So much potential there.
 

Agreed, I liken it to Falcon/WS....there are many parts to like but it didn't come together, especially in the end.

[TheLeviathan]

Picard Season 2 is not just the worst Star Trek season ever, it might be the worst ten episodes of anything I have ever watched.

How do you screw up the Borg and Q with a nonsensical, plodding story?

[Mike Sixel]

1 hour ago, TheLeviathan said:

Picard Season 2 is not just the worst Star Trek season ever, it might be the worst ten episodes of anything I have ever watched.

How do you screw up the Borg and Q with a nonsensical, plodding story?

We've watched S1E1 so far......I think we'll finish Disco then go to the new show. Maybe watch Picard, hard to say.

[Drunk_Goose]

Just to bump this a tad lol. I want to say how great of a show Bosch is and its sequel series Bosch:Legacy.

Great bit of television.

[Musk21]

Switched phone providers recently and got HBO Max for free.  Watching 'Barry' with Bill Hader.  It's pretty good!

Seems to be a lot of good shows on HBO Max that I haven't seen but want to watch like The Wire, The Newsroom, West Wing, Big Love, True Detective, among others. I'm open to suggestions from others who have the channel!

[Drunk_Goose]

6 hours ago, Musk21 said:

Switched phone providers recently and got HBO Max for free.  Watching 'Barry' with Bill Hader.  It's pretty good!

Seems to be a lot of good shows on HBO Max that I haven't seen but want to watch like The Wire, The Newsroom, West Wing, Big Love, True Detective, among others. I'm open to suggestions from others who have the channel!

True Detective first season incredible, second season and three not as good but decent enough.. Another show on there I'd recommend is Snowpiercer. Great show and based on the movie that came out in 2013.

[twinssporto]

On 3/4/2020 at 11:28 AM, Mike Sixel said:

Not a fan of the end of season four on the Expanse. Oh well. Still a good show, but it felt rushed the whole season.

It's funny you wrote that as I told my son something similar after watching season 4.

[TheLeviathan]

3 hours ago, twinssporto said:

It's funny you wrote that as I told my son something similar after watching season 4.

I've gotten into the books lately.  I know this sounds like a high-brow, derivative comment....but the books really are much, much better than the show.  I find the show pretty good, but the pacing and plotting in the books is far superior IMO.

And, for the record, I don't always say that.    For example, the LOTR is WAY better as a movie series.  The Shining too.

[twinssporto]

3 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

I've gotten into the books lately.  I know this sounds like a high-brow, derivative comment....but the books really are much, much better than the show.  I find the show pretty good, but the pacing and plotting in the books is far superior IMO.

And, for the record, I don't always say that.    For example, the LOTR is WAY better as a movie series.  The Shining too.

I typically enjoy the books more but you're correct, there are some shows that are better than the books. Lonesome Dove tv production was just as good as the book. The Stand was pretty decent too.

[a-wan]

The wife and I ran through the new Bosch season. Titus Welliver is great. 

[Craig Arko]

Obi-wan Kenobi.

 

 

[Mike Sixel]

We're getting close to the end of season four of ST Discovery. What a slog.

Their choice not to make the show about hope and rebuilding the Federation seemed a bad choice, that season four validates as bad.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I'm pretty lukewarm on Obi-Wan after two episodes but, as expected, McGregor is killing it in the role. He's so ****ing good as Kenobi.

[TheLeviathan]

4 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I'm pretty lukewarm on Obi-Wan after two episodes but, as expected, McGregor is killing it in the role. He's so ****ing good as Kenobi.

I'm going to get things thrown at me for this....but as I've tried to help give my kids context for Mandalorian, Obi-Wan, Star Wars Rebels, etc.....I have not come away warm and fuzzy about Star Wars.  We've tried several of the movies and I don't blame them for losing interest.  Most of the plots are sorta bad.  They float between boring and listless and meandering and then sprinkle in some action.  I still appreciate them but damned if I didn't have an existential crisis about whether I appreciate them purely as nostalgia or something more.

*ducks*

[Craig Arko]

The bar was raised quite a bit for Obi-wan episode 3.

 

[Musk21]

8 minutes ago, Craig Arko said:

The bar was raised quite a bit for Obi-wan episode 3.

 

I've enjoyed all 3 episodes, but yes, REALLY liked the 3rd episode.  Some of the suspense is obviously lost though knowing that the main characters are all fine in A New Hope.

[nicksaviking]

On 6/1/2022 at 4:48 PM, TheLeviathan said:

I'm going to get things thrown at me for this....but as I've tried to help give my kids context for Mandalorian, Obi-Wan, Star Wars Rebels, etc.....I have not come away warm and fuzzy about Star Wars.  We've tried several of the movies and I don't blame them for losing interest.  Most of the plots are sorta bad.  They float between boring and listless and meandering and then sprinkle in some action.  I still appreciate them but damned if I didn't have an existential crisis about whether I appreciate them purely as nostalgia or something more.

*ducks*

No arguments here. The Mondalorian had some great episodes but it was still way too streaky. There was no direction on Boba Fett and after the success of the MCU with the well thought out plots weaving through multiple movies, how the hell couldn’t Disney craft a simple three movie arc with the sequel trilogy? “We’ll just wing it, Star Wars fans will never notice.”

And still, with all of those complaints, I never got my feathers ruffled as much as the younger generations who first knew the series with the prequel trilogy, because outside of the last 1/3rd of Revenge of the Sith, those films were still the trashiest things Star Wars ever created.

So basically that was two paragraphs saying nothing lived up to the original films and I accepted that it was never going to feel great again about 2 decades ago.

Still watching though.

[Mike Sixel]

On 6/1/2022 at 10:19 AM, Brock Beauchamp said:

I'm pretty lukewarm on Obi-Wan after two episodes but, as expected, McGregor is killing it in the role. He's so ****ing good as Kenobi.

Other than Leia, I doubt I care about any character on that show so far. She's great. It's amazing how bad they are at Star wars, given how good they were at MCU. 

[nicksaviking]

11 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Other than Leia, I doubt I care about any character on that show so far. She's great. It's amazing how bad they are at Star wars, given how good they were at MCU. 

I think the MCU works because they had some pretty decent source material. Credit to them for adapting and altering them as needed of course. But the comics had some pretty fun concepts which work well for a film blueprint.

Forgive me if others have found it different, but I read a couple of Star Wars books in the late 80's early 90's, and even as a kid, I knew what I was reading was inconsistent and pulpy, and not in a fun way. They didn't have any grand ideas like comic books, they were basically just poorly written adventure stories trying to vaguely tie into some loose thread from the films people remembered. Those books were not enjoyable to me. I was also reading Lord of the Flies and Lord of the Rings, so I could tell the difference between quality literature and commercialized pandering.

 

[TheLeviathan]

On 6/6/2022 at 8:50 PM, Mike Sixel said:

Other than Leia, I doubt I care about any character on that show so far. She's great. It's amazing how bad they are at Star wars, given how good they were at MCU. 

MCU fans don't have that 40 year old servitude to adhere to.  They said right off the bat "Nope, we're doing our own thing, come along or don't"

I think Star Wars fans are their own worst enemy.  They demand fealty to ideas/tropes/storytelling that has always held the series back.  They complain if they aren't there, they complain if they're there and nothing is new, and they complain when they get bold, new takes.

The entire recent trilogy of Star Wars is a microcosm of those problems.  Only the Mandalorian has risen above those problems and, surprise, one of the MCU's main guys is behind it.

[PseudoSABR]

On 5/7/2022 at 1:56 PM, TheLeviathan said:

Picard Season 2 is not just the worst Star Trek season ever, it might be the worst ten episodes of anything I have ever watched.

How do you screw up the Borg and Q with a nonsensical, plodding story?

It was bad.  Stop doing the let's go explore what Star Trek characters are like in a random 20th decade.  I thought Picard Season 1 was very good, and it looks the entire TNG cast (except for Wesley Crusher) is coming back for season 3, so I'll tune in.

I've been enjoying Strange New Worlds episodic approach instead the serial drama that gets unsatisfactorily concluded.

[TheLeviathan]

4 hours ago, PseudoSABR said:

It was bad.  Stop doing the let's go explore what Star Trek characters are like in a random 20th decade.  I thought Picard Season 1 was very good, and it looks the entire TNG cast (except for Wesley Crusher) is coming back for season 3, so I'll tune in.

I've been enjoying Strange New Worlds episodic approach instead the serial drama that gets unsatisfactorily concluded.

Part of the problem is that if you use that crew, you get compared to TNG.  And that's a high bar.  Even Season 1, which was good, never felt like it touched what I loved about TNG.  I too will give Season 3 a shot but I'm not coming in with much enthusiasm.

I have to give SNW a shot, I've been meaning too but Picard soured me pretty hard.

[PseudoSABR]

55 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

Part of the problem is that if you use that crew, you get compared to TNG.  And that's a high bar.  Even Season 1, which was good, never felt like it touched what I loved about TNG.  I too will give Season 3 a shot but I'm not coming in with much enthusiasm.

I have to give SNW a shot, I've been meaning too but Picard soured me pretty hard.

The comparisons to TNG will always be there.  I mean I revere TNG, but a lot of it was just bad and campy af.  I feel you, that Picard Season 2 ruined a continued Q narrative is pretty unforgiveable.  Discovery kinda jumped the shark for me too in the last two seasons, when the first few were great.  

SNW is a bit of a throwback, in that nearly all the episodes are self contained.  The tone is a good combination of fun and seriousness. It's kind of nice I can forget about for weeks and just jump right back in.

The simultaneous development of the Star Treks and the Star Wars has just thinned the writing and the production; while I love new content, I want good content; and the need to fill the new streaming services with content is at odds with that.

[Mike Sixel]

Really didn't love season four of Discovery at all. I'm trying to be nice here ...

Hated the end of Obi Wan. Dude has been killing innocent people for a decade, his alignment detector goes from good to evil, and Obi walks away again. At least try to detain him, anything but let him go free again.