The Golden Age of TV. So, what are you watching?

[The Other Dave]

Krull was awesome! Incredibly cheesy but awesome, just like all the best ‘80s fantasy movies (remember Beastmaster?).

Dave, how young is your younger again? DC might be a bit intense for him anyway (although otoh if he can handle the wolf thing from NES he ought to be ok - that thing freaked me right out as a kid).

[me_in_japan]

he's just turned 6. I'm never sure how to gauge movies for him in terms of "scary". I mean, he was terrified of the Other Mother in Coraline*, but has also watched Blade, Blade 2, and played through Biohazard 5 and 6, so...I dunno? We tried ep 1 of DC this evening, and it seemed to hold his attention, but he got a bit scared later on. Not sure if that's because he was getting too tired, though, as it was getting late. I'll see how he does with it tomorrow morning in the cold light of day.

*to be fair, she was damn creepy.

[The Other Dave]

Well, there isn’t really anything *more* traumatic than what happens in the first episode (equally, sure, but not more).

[Konrad]

Krull was awesome! Incredibly cheesy but awesome, just like all the best ‘80s fantasy movies (remember Beastmaster?).

I remember, years back, I'm talking with a buddy.
Cliff- "So, what did you do last weekend?"
Me- "Nothing. "Beastmaster" was on, so I watched that."
Cliff- "Man, I hate that movie every time I watch it."
Me- "How many times you watch it, Cliff?"
Cliff-"Oh, 5 or 6."

Says much about my wasted youth.

[The Other Dave]

I've decided to save Stranger Things a bit, so I've started watching Dark, a German science-fictiony psychological thriller-y kind of thing, set in a small town in Germany where it's always cloudy and rains about 2/3 of the time but nobody owns an umbrella so they're always just walking around in the rainy woods at night drenched to the bone. I'm enjoying it, but if you're the kind of person (like me) who has trouble remembering names you'll want to take notes because family relationships are *really* important, and the merest glance at wikipedia will spoil a lot of stuff. Still, good, but dark and rainy.

[Primarch]

I watched the first three episodes of The Mandalorian last night. Despite not being much of a Star Wars fan, I enjoyed it. Pedro Pascal plays the eponymous main character, a feared bounty hunter who never removes his helmet (and given what happened to his character in GoT, who can blame him). Despite looking quite grim and gritty, the show definitely seems aimed at a wider audience. There are lots of tie-ins to the movies, without actually connecting directly to the movies.

The good
- I got a nice Episodes 4-6 vibe from the sets, costumes and props.
- There is some good talent both in front of and behind the camera.
- So far the storyline is quite interesting and starts to add a little depth to the SW universe's most recognizable bounty hunters.

The bad
- At 30 minutes each, the episodes are quite brief and seem to dash through a lot.
- It's a Disney show, not HBO or Netflix. I would have preferred it to be a little more gritty.
- It is hard to get a real feel for what a character is thinking when you never get to see his face.
- Even after all this time, Storm Troopers are still a joke.

Overall, I liked it and will probably keep watching it.

[me_in_japan]

I've heard generally positive things about the Mandalorian (Spev has been talking about it elsewhere). I'm definitely keen to watch it myself, but I'd rather watch it on my telly (as opposed to my pc), so I may wait until March or whenever Disney deigns to let us watch Disney+ here in the distant east.

out of interest, I've actually been watching a lot of Rebels (the cartoon) recently. So far I'm at the start of season 4, and quite enjoyed season 3. Some nice direction and choreography, and it does a good job of fleshing out characters and places. Lots of Mandalorian stuff in there, too, incidentally.

[Balloonacorn]

Better Call Saul

Star Trek Discovery

Rewatching all Star Trek Series in Chronological Order


Krull was great but I haven't seen it in over 30 years

[me_in_japan]

Just a bumperoo, since it’s not like we’ve all stopped watching telly or anything.

Fings I’ve watched recently:

Gotham season 4: much the same as Gotham 1-3. Very good, albeit you have to be willing to accept a bit of comic booky cheesiness/exaggeration.(actually maybe it was S5? I’m kind of losing count a bit.)

The mandalorian - as good as people say it is. Which is very good.

iZombie season 5 (the final one): this is one of my favourite shows of the last few years. I dunno why it’s not better known, tbh. The writing is excellent, the tone is light and easy going while being smart,witty and occasionally dramatic when necessary, and the acting from the main cast is universally spot on. Everybody should be watching this, imho.

The expanse S4: excellent, as expected. Top notch sci fi with interesting themes and a strong cast. This season was a tad durdly, but it kinda felt like it was setting things up for the next season. Still very good, mind you.

Titans season 2: meeeeeh. I want to like this show, I really do, but it’s just not doing it for me. It could be good, or even great, but it suffers so badly from DCU issues (ie the writers don’t have a clear goal or tone in mind, and characters just flail around from scene to scene, doing stuff with no obvious motivation) that it’s hard to justify. I’m going to give season 3 an episode or two to redeem itself, but if it doesn’t sort its shit out quicksmart, Titans is getting dumped.

Next up: Picard, and maybe the man in the high castle. Also, I believe Altered Carbon season 2 is due soon. So much telly, so little time...

[Primarch]

I watched episode 1 of Picard at the weekend. While it does have a clear place in the Trek universe, it is completely unlike anything else they've done, even more so than Discovery. Patrick Stewart seems to have slipped back into the character of Jean-Luc Picard as easily as someone putting on a pair of well worn shoes. The show isn't The Next Generation by a long shot, but there was a strong feeling of nostalgia running through it. There were a few easter eggs in the first episode, some obvious and some less so. I'm looking forward to see where they boldly go with it.