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Out of morbid curiosity I have started watching the new Witcher season.

Everybody feels like they're trying SO HARD to not acknowledge the elephant in the room. Hemsworth isn't a terrible actor but man, they really should've just got a gravelly beefy unknown and thrown him in there. Hell, Put Doug Cockle in a wig.

Credit where credit's due though, Hemsworth has been handling the fight scenes really well. He's striving for Cavill's physicality and not completely failing. His line delivery just feels hollow and distant.
 
I haven't watched it yet and probably won't. Life is too short. But I mean, come on, that show is definitely doomed no matter how good or bad of a job anyone on it actually does. Letting it be known that Cavill was largely leaving because they refused to follow the source material essentially blew a gigantic Cavill-bicep-sized hole in all their goodwill with the fans.

For my part... the show fell off before Cavill left anyway. His last season tells me everything I need to know about why he seemingly quit or elsewise became so insufferable that they decided to go on without him.
 
I think I quit The Witcher after season two. One of the most valuable skills I've gained over the last few years is the ability to let go. I used to feel some amount of guilt if I didn't finish the thing. Now I leave so many things (shows, in particular) in my wake that I can't remember them all. It's on the creators to make something that keeps me engaged. As my favorite meme says,

eb3


The Witcher is an odd one, though. My first experience with the property was The Witcher 3. Having watched the show and read a few of the books, I can tell you The Witcher 3 is head and shoulders better than any other entry in the series. While I'm better at quitting things, I never DNF books. I did with a mid-series Witcher title and haven't looked back.
 
I've mentioned before I do almost all my TV watching while running on the treadmill, and honestly, even though it's objectively NOT VERY GOOD the first few seasons was pretty good for watching while doing a ten minute mile. Bizarrely I think I need to make time for actual good TV cos the best stuff is not great running material. I hate "second screen viewing" so if I'm watching something and not running, I try to give it my whole entire attention, and Witcher really doesn't need that.
 
I'm three eps into Alien Earth and I enjoy it a lot, even for someone that is a self-professed 'not much an alien guy.'
 
I think I'm off Alien: Earth after season one. It's not the popular opinion, but even though I was sort of up again on it during the final episode, the longer I sat with it the more I didn't like it, and the more I thought about the other stuff from the season that irked me. I feel like folks were trying hard, but a lot of decisions made just didn't work for me.

I have been going back and watching an episode or two each week of this animated show on Netflix called Pantheon and I'm really liking that one. The writing is real sharp, and it seems to have a "leave nothing for the sequel" sort of plotting style that I appreciate. Some good voice acting as well.
 
For me I'm sure it helps that I don't even REALLY care about Alien as a franchise. It's fun, but I'm not super attached to it. If there's continuity issues or whatever, I'm nearly positive that I won't even notice.
 
Damien said:
For me I'm sure it helps that I don't even REALLY care about Alien as a franchise. It's fun, but I'm not super attached to it. If there's continuity issues or whatever, I'm nearly positive that I won't even notice.
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It's not continuity issues with the movies at all. There are those, but I couldn't care less. All my issues are taking the show on it's own terms as a standalone.

All of my issues are with the script itself.
 
Damien said:
Spoiler tag that shit and have at. I'm curious.
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*deep breath* You asked for it...


So I'll mention a lot of the other Alien movies here, not because of continuity, like I said, I don't give a shit, but because this show actively sets up shots to remind me of those films, and it should not try do that. It's like watching Star Trek Into Darkness. I've seen Wrath of Kahn, and you, sir, are no Wrath of Kahn.

So from the jump, the series sets out that the show is going to be about human immortality, and that 3 routes are proposed. This is the opening crawl so it seems like it's relevant to the story. Ultimately it isn't. Cyborgs and Synthetics are both in the series, and the main two we're given seem to hate each other to the point Morrow claims to enjoy killing Synths, but there's no actual story given to either of these being routes for immortality. Nor is there any real explanation as to why the two should hate each other beyond they work for rival companies. The idea that we're talking about immortality is basically hand waiving. That idea is never explored. Synthetics with child minds (hybrids) are explored, but not in this context. The Hybrids, by the end of the show, seem more like a science experiment than a means to an end. Human immortality is a non-issue. Why bother bringing it up? Probably because it's part of the plot to Alien Prometheus and this wants to remind me of that (for some unfathomable reason).

Ok, So the opening crawl is basically nonsense but I couldn't know that until the show completed, then we get to the opening scene, which pissed me off and kept pissing me off for the whole series because it keeps being a problem. It is the *worst* exposition delivery I think I've ever seen. Astonishingly bad. Multiple characters do dialog to explain basic Alien universe concepts that either are obvious from context, or could have been seeded better elsewhere, or could simply have been part of the opening crawl. "the world is run by 5 megacorps and the newest is Prodigy headed by Boy Kavalier" That's all you need. It's the only information in this scene that otherwise only exists to remind me of the opening of Alien. But this isn't Alien, it's a much dumber show, and it's reminding me of what I'd rather watch.

Other problems with that scene, the kid asks who *he himself* works for. He signed on for a 60+ yr mission, everyone he knew or loved back home will be dead when he returns, and he's on a ship branded front to back with WY logos and he doesn't know who HIS OWN BOSS IS? WTF? Morrow, the only survivor of the crash, is also in this scene, and that becomes an issue with internal continuity. Later in the same episode he asks one of the troopers where Kavalier is, and the trooper is like "why should I know" and yeah, why the fuck should he? It's a weird question, but it becomes a problem when Morrow finally contacts Yutani and asks "who is Prodigy?". Motherfucker, you KNOW who Prodigy is. You were in the awful exposition scene and you asked one of the troops where their boss was. This gets worse later when they do the flashback episode on the ship and you see there is no way in hell this question makes ANY sense with what caused the crash.

Ok, moving on from that... a lot of the first episode or two is characters doing stuff that makes sense only if they have read the script in advance. Wendy makes a sword to take with her to save her brother. Why? As far as she knows, this is a plane crash. The troopers are clearing the collapsing building like they're looking for hostiles. But again, as far as they know, it's a plane crash into one of their own buildings and they are doing search and rescue. Why are they acting this way except to mimic the landing in Aliens? This actually hurts the feel of this is a horror, or horror adjacent show, because it would be much scarier if they left the big guns behind so they have hands free to carry survivors. Then they become more vulnerable and it becomes more believable that one alien obliterates like 3 teams of troopers. As is the troopers are well armed and just suck balls at their jobs. They would kill for Stormtrooper aim.

There are things Boy Kavalier does here regarding sending the Synths in that also don't work for me, but the plot technically explains some of that eventually given his involvement in the ship crashing. I don't think it's a good explanation at all, but it's there, so fine. Whatever. A good question there is why Kavalier, who has a vague idea of what's coming on the ship, sends everyone in with no equipment to get him the thing the show later tells you he wants all along. His people should be as well equipped as WY, so why don't any of his folks have taser guns? Why doesn't he tell them watch out for big monsters? Well, it's because the show doesn't want the audience to know he's involved in the crash yet. That's the only reason. Otherwise he should at least tell Kursh and give him the gear needed to stun creatures and bring them back (and Kavalier should know that's necessary, because he had an informant on the ship).

The new creatures are gross and weird. That's good. Most of them get one kill in and then are mostly ignored by the show. That's bad. The eyeball alien is clearly intelligent, but we're not going to really do much except give it ominous POV shots. You learn basically nothing about it by the end of the series that you don't know in first episode. There's much bigger questions there, why did WY want these things, did they already know where to find them, and why was it worth a multi-generational project to get them back to Earth specifically instead of to a research station? The show has no interest in telling you. Hell, why does Kavalier want these things? It seems to be just because WY wants them and he's... jealous? Like, for real, what does *he* want to do with them? He doesn't know the eyeball alien that catches his attention is intelligent until later, so why spend all this effort in the first place?

The alien is 100% instantly lethal unless it's 6 inches from a main character. Then it hangs out and waits for someone to scare it away. This happens multiple times in the show and at some point I just wanted to throw things at the screen. The alien kills an entire team of troopers in seconds and then just like, hovers over Morrow's shoulder long enough to be distracted so he can get away. This is another one of those "remember when" scenes. It's shot to remind you of the bit in Alien 3 where the Alien does kissy-face at Ripley. Except it shouldn't remind me of that, because that scene is actually *plot relevant*. That's the scene where Ripley figures out she must be impregnated (because she isn't killed instantly). This scene is just to hit my nostalgia button but serves no other function but to let a character get away for no good reason. This sort of thing seriously happens like 4 or 5 times in the show. It is bonkers.

I have a lot of problems with character motivations in the show. So many that I don't want to really go into them here. Suffice to say a lot of characters seem to have ill defined motivations and often seem to act not out of a need that I as a viewer am aware of, but rather in ways to make 'exciting' stuff happen in the plot. This also leads to weird dropped threads that seem like they're supposed to lead somewhere and don't. Or new threads that come from nowhere. The series even ends on one of these moments. "We rule". Do you? Why? When did you start wanting to "rule" anything? That's a totally new character motivation that is dropped right in the last episode.

Wendy's powers are just absurd. They seemingly have no limits, and nobody knows why she has them or how they work. They basically make it so there's nothing in the series that's even vaguely threatening to her, and that's odd for a show based on a horror franchise where 90% of main characters end up dead, including Ripley. It's weird to just remove all threat from your main character. Give her cool techno powers or let her talk to aliens or have her be a super strong/smart/durable/fast robot but not all three.

I don't think the show has a clear idea of what it's about, what its characters want, or even why it's set in the Alien universe. I think there's probably a fine show about people in robot bodies buried in there, and maybe one good episode about gooey aliens. But those two things do not seem related thematically or plot-wise in the show, so I'm not sure why they're both in there. Pick one.

The title of the show sets up a clear expectation. Every Alien movie has been about "don't let these things get to Earth!". It is a major theme. If even one gets down here it's all over. The show's title is like "To bad, kids, they're getting to Earth". Cool. I would actually LOVE to see the Xeno apocalypse of Earth. That does not seem to be something the show is interested in. The way they leave season 1, it seems like season 2 will start off having to resolve WY sending an invasion to the island. We probably will spend much, if not most of our time still stuck in that location with not much new happening. All the major characters are still alive and kicking, so we'll probably spend at least half the season with it being a social drama about various characters backstabbing each other over their weird motivations.

And... I could probably go on but I've run out of gas.
 
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We've been slowly making our way through Stranger Things the last few months as a family, hoping to time it right for the final season. I think we are halfway through season four so it's gonna work heh. But it's been relatively great seeing it all again. One of my best friends texted me the other night and asked what we were doing so I told her we're watching Stranger Things again, and she finally admitted to me she's never seen it. Loves the 80s, love Goonies, loved Stephen King, but she turned her nose up at it because it's so popular. I told her I get it, I'll never watch Avatar, but convinced her to come over and watch the pilot with us damnit. Heh. So, gonna toast up some eggos and start all over again.
 
Ru1977 said:
We've been slowly making our way through Stranger Things the last few months as a family, hoping to time it right for the final season. I think we are halfway through season four so it's gonna work heh. But it's been relatively great seeing it all again. One of my best friends texted me the other night and asked what we were doing so I told her we're watching Stranger Things again, and she finally admitted to me she's never seen it. Loves the 80s, love Goonies, loved Stephen King, but she turned her nose up at it because it's so popular. I told her I get it, I'll never watch Avatar, but convinced her to come over and watch the pilot with us damnit. Heh. So, gonna toast up some eggos and start all over again.
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Contrary to my gigantic screed up there about Alien: Earth, I've had a mostly good, if uneven, time with Stranger Things and I'm ready to see the ending. I think it probably could have ended after the first season and it would have been fine, and I don't think any of the subsequent seasons are quite as strong on the whole (though they do have some higher high notes here and there). I should probably rewatch it at some point.
 
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