News:

Welcome to our site!

Main Menu

TV Series Thread

Started by PickelledEggs, August 26, 2014, 06:28:36 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Mr.Obvious

Does anyone like American horror story?
I've seen a few of the seasonal opening episodes and it could never entice me to watch further.
It's never scary. It's poorly acted. Really poorly acted. The stories often seem absolutely ridiculous.
Or is that somehow the thing? Is there some meta self-mockery element I'm missing here? How does this show have like 7 or so seasons?
"If we have to go down, we go down together!"
- Your mum, last night, requesting 69.

Atheist Mantis does not pray.

LoriPinkAngel

I watched 2 seasons. Both of them were completely weird and nonsensical. Yet, I still watched them to the end because I'm one of those people who has to see how things turn out no matter how bad.

Munch

#707
I've seen the first series. It's true, it's not scary, just strange, often nonsensical plots you just wait to see resolved. The one upside was developing an appreciation for Dylan McDermott, and just how at the age he was in the series it's amazing how good he looked.

If a series can't satisfy my horror jollies at least it can satisfy my eye candy jollies.
'Political correctness is fascism pretending to be manners' - George Carlin

Hydra009

#708
There was a scene in The Witcher that really impressed me and I haven't really been able to put it into words until now.

An army marches through a forest and an enemy mage places her hands on the ground.  Magically, mushrooms sprout amongst the army and soldiers tread headlessly upon them, spilling out toxic fumes.  In seconds, most of the company is dead or dying, falling over with white foam leaking from their mouths.

This magical attack really impressed me with its sheer cleverness and effeciency.  It was a brilliant move because it negated the army's main strength - armor and numbers - which offer zero protection against poison gas.  It also exploited the army's standard tactics - marching in dense columns and marching over vegetatation without knowing or caring what they're stepping on.  Nor can the army realistically fight back against the mushrooms even if they were aware of the threat.

Mages often cast flashy and extremely costly spells - lightning or fireballs or meteor storms.  And that's always struck me as comically foolish overkill, like using a sledgehammer on a nest of ants.  And of course, a mage that runs out of mana is a dead mage.  Truly talented mages don't waste their energy on flashy, gimmicky spells - they use the tools that are just right for the job and no more.  And man, that mushroom spell was a nearly perfect example of that.

And more generally, there's something exceedingly satisfying about applying just enough force in just the right place to accomplish a task.  That's true talent right there.

SGOS

Quote from: Mr.Obvious on January 14, 2020, 02:50:44 PM
Does anyone like American horror story?
I watched part of Freak Show, but lost interest.  I only bothered because the first one I saw, Asylum, was something I enjoyed.  I never bothered after Freak Show.

Sal1981

Watched 1½ episodes of BBCs production of Dracula on Netflix. It's pretty good, and they seems to do narrative arcs instead of the whole Hollyweird approach to vampyres.

Munch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI54dTWPYhM&t=333s

probably not many here who grew up as children in the 80s, but as someone who did, this here presents both an interesting outlook, and worrying stance on this kind of presentation.
Growing up in the 80s and 90s, I was privy to a lot of strong role model cartoons, things like he-man, transformers, batman, superman, teenage mutant turtles, voltron, ghostbusters, gargoyles, many of which were shows with strong male role models. And being a kid who didn't have many real life strong male role models (dad was a drunk who didn't spent time with us, grandfather lived in london and died when I was 8, older brother didn't really play much with me), for me looking to strong male role models in other forms of media was what helped me have a positive outlook on men as much as mums influence gave me a positive outlook on women.

I did like shows aimed at girls too growing up, rainbow bright, my little pony, care bears, strawberry shortcake, she-ra, I watched both  shows aimed at boys and girls back then, which I think reflects now how I can like anything from a gorey horror movie to a sappy love story.

Basically, I grew up having the ideals of both strong male and female traits from people and concepts. As I said for me it had to come from other sources, but I feel it helped me appreciate strong male roles in society when seeing heroes I enjoyed being in those roles, the same as female role models.

So looking at this today, the video, in summery, is a tear down of this bullshit remark of thundercats. In the original, the concept was these powerful warriors who fought against the evil mummra and his forces lead by liono, the strong, brave leader of the thundercats along with other character strong in their own right.

The argument is often been made that strong role models in the 80s and 90s were aimed at boys while the softer roles were aimed at girls. While I agree there were more male role models in stronger roles back then, there were still strong female characters too. I was a huge fan of buffy the vampire slayer and xena warrior princess.

today, there are cartoons which now focus on strong female leads, which is great, I'm down for that. I've a fan of wonder woman, like say loved buffy the vampire slayer, xena and she-ra, so having cartoons for kids with focused on stronger female leads is great, I have watched episodes of my little pony and impressed how they updated it, and now they've remade she-ra, which is fine, again, I'm all for making shows showing strong female characters in a variety of roles action and everyday life.

The issue here however, is seeing what they did with thundercats roar, the remake of the series (its second remake actually). I saw interviews about the show maker, and the guy himself has come out and said his intent for this show, was to make it as a purposely mean spirited parody of the original show, because he hated his older brother growing up, who was a big fan of thundercats, so 30 years later his way of getting back at him, was to remake the show and do so by emasculating the main characters, showing male leads like liono are incompetent and stupid, and incapable of handling anything on there own, needing others to clear up any problems he's faced with.

This to me is kind of insulting, and a little scary. Given all I said, I grew up like say having ideals of strong male role models from these shows. and i'm now down for having shows that present strong female role models for young people like she-ra or my little pony remakes. But unlike back in the 80s, it seems okay to broadcast a cartoon that makes little boys feel like their stupid and incompetent, and that being brave and strong is not a positive trait for boys. This is what this remake is teaching children. And for me, I don't want my nephews seeing shit like this and getting negative thoughts about themselves because of how they are born.

Thats what this message sends to me. In the past, sending a message to little girls that they should all be demur and meek and dainty is now thrown down on, which is good because thats all little girls were given back then, and yet now they have different sources of role models to take away from. So why can't little boys be given the same level of understanding, that is okay to be strong and brave and lead people, like the older cartoons did, instead networks think its okay to send the message now that little boys are stupid and incompetent, its the same bullshit of, like in the past, only sending the message that little girls should only be one way.

Yeah, its a lot to unpack, just going off my own experiences growing up, concerns today for what children are being shaped by, and just begging the question why is this acceptable?
'Political correctness is fascism pretending to be manners' - George Carlin

Hydra009

#712
Quote from: Munch on January 18, 2020, 10:12:17 PMprobably not many here who grew up as children in the 80s
*waves*  And I have the DOS games and used ecto cooler containers to prove it!

QuoteGrowing up in the 80s and 90s, I was privy to a lot of strong role model cartoons, things like he-man, transformers, batman, superman, teenage mutant turtles, voltron, ghostbusters, gargoyles, many of which were shows with strong male role models.
Same.

QuoteThe argument is often been made that strong role models in the 80s and 90s were aimed at boys while the softer roles were aimed at girls. While I agree there were more male role models in stronger roles back then, there were still strong female characters too. I was a huge fan of buffy the vampire slayer and xena warrior princess.
Imo, while there were lots and lots of male role model characters in the 80s, the 90s exploded with both female role models and ensemble groups with both men and women in equal status.

I just revisited Battletech and Exosquad and they both had women operating alongside men and at equal capacity as men - both heroic and villainous - and I remember how at the time, that seemed like a completely normal thing, not taken as a political statement or "controversial" or anything like that.  It simply wasn't that big a deal.  Man, I miss those days.

Munch

I loved X-Men the animated series, same deal, a group of strong male and female characters and often having episodes focused on them as individuals so it was just the thing as it should be. Storm was one of my fav characters from the show along with wolverine and beast.
'Political correctness is fascism pretending to be manners' - George Carlin

Hydra009

Quote from: Munch on January 18, 2020, 10:52:33 PM
I loved X-Men the animated series, same deal, a group of strong male and female characters and often having episodes focused on them as individuals so it was just the thing as it should be. Storm was one of my fav characters from the show along with wolverine and beast.


She was quite the powerhouse on the field.  Ironically, her private life is very sad and miserable at times.  That struggle really helped make her compelling.  The good ol' strength-weakness combo that Marvel prides itself on.

SGOS

Finally getting around to watching Gotham.  I know, I know; Did I just crawl out from under a rock?  Well kind of.  That out of the way, I've really enjoyed the first two disks.  I'm not hot on cop shows, but throw in a little film nor and I'm going to get hooked.  I just ordered the whole series at Amazon.

The other stuff I like is that Batman is my favorite DC character, and while he doesn't appear in Gotham, there is a lot of back story that I was deprived of as a child as a result of my parent's prudish attitude toward violent comic books.  Penguin plays a big part so far, and I've always been fascinated by him, even though in the old Adam West series, he was far too silly to have much appeal.  The DC Universe doesn't give him any play, but I'm starting to understand some of his appeal in Gotham.  I also like that Gotham doesn't seem to slow down.  Around every corner there is always an "Oh no!  What now?" thing that keeps me glued.  There are characters in Gotham that I never knew existed before.  I don't know if they are part of the original Batman mythology or not, but I like how movies evolve the myths.  Who knew zombies could run 50 years ago?  Now everyone knows zombies can run and are really fast.  Vampires can be warded off with a cross, holy water, and garlic?  Well that's not always true anymore either.  Great fun so far.  Thumbs up!

LoriPinkAngel

Watching a Breaking Bad marathon for the 1000th time.  It is one of the shows I watch every time it is on.  It never gets old to me.

SGOS

Quote from: LoriPinkAngel on January 26, 2020, 12:59:56 PM
Watching a Breaking Bad marathon for the 1000th time.  It is one of the shows I watch every time it is on.  It never gets old to me.
I bought the series.  I watch it at least once a year, sometimes twice.  Either Breaking Bad or Dexter is the best TV series I've ever seen.  I lean toward Breaking Bad most of the time, but it's a hard call.

SGOS

Countdown is a fun horror movie just out on disk.  It was a fun watch.  Besides the tension and jump scares, there are parts that made me laugh.
7/10

trdsf

Quote from: Hydra009 on January 19, 2020, 09:57:34 PM
The good ol' strength-weakness combo that Marvel prides itself on.
Well, until they overdid it and just about every character became such a walking pile of angst and neuroses that there was no good reason to think any of them should be alive outside of an institution, much less still be on the side of goodness and light.

The 80s and 90s Marvel comics left a really sour taste in my mouth.  They used to have a deft touch with making supers human and relatable rather than godlike and remote -- who doesn't understand Peter Parker putting up with an asshole for a boss, for example?

Then everyone had to be gritty, miserable and put-upon one way or another... and ended up being remote and no longer relatable.
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan