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TV Series

Acrobat said:
I've absolutely LOVED this whole series so far, every episode has been brilliant, but last nights episode was the absolute best yet, and probably the darkest, and most frightening 45 minutes of Star Wars we will ever see.

In A New Hope we were introduced to the HEAVILY 'Nazi' regime inspired Galactic Empire. Stormtroopers, generals in gray or black uniforms, everything big, loud, bleak, massive destructive weapons, fighter pilots - all led and brainwashed by a psychopath hell bent on world/galactic dominance. We saw the Star Destroyers, The Death Star and the mass genocide on a planetary scale - yes A New Hope introduced us to a fantastical, fictional, swash buckling sword and sorcery adventure of good against evil....and the fun, colorful stuff covered up that evil, the Han Solo heroes, beautiful princesses, laser swords - all hiding what was actually in plain sight.....evil, pure unadulterated evil!

Andor is showing us that side. Not an Emperor or Dark wizard sidekick in sight, but the other people employed by the empire, the evil that exists within them now.....Dedra Meera's character could be anyone of Goebbels, Borman, Ribbentorop, Dontiz, Himmler or Goring......intelligent, cunning, ruthless, murderous and mean without remorse......she's an UTTERLY brilliant character written to perfection.

An article I read somewhere sums up what I am trying to say perfectly - "The Galactic Empire Lucas created was always evil. with nothing “normal” about it. It was evil in an exaggerated, unambiguous way, one coded for kids who were watching George Lucas’s largely lighthearted tribute to Flash Gordon serials". Andor's Empire is real. We are seeing it uncovered, laid bare in front of us and its riveting stuff, most of last nights episode actually left me breathless.

My favorite lines in the episode (in an episode full of them):

Cassian: "You think they care what we say? Nobody's Listening".....and it makes a fabulous, foreboding episode title!

Vel: "We’ve chosen a side. We’re fighting against the dark. We’re making something of our lives"

Dedra: “The very worst thing you can do right now is bore me.” - the best line EVER in Star Wars since "The Force is with you young Skywalker, but you are not a Jedi yet!"

Kino: “Never more than twelve.”
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It's brilliant story telling, the minutiae of ordinary life in the empire is so well done.

Filming for series 2 is due to start this month.
 

Prevenger17 said:
Just finished House of the Dragon. I think if it weren't for Game of Thrones already existing and inflicting that brutal last series on us, this would be talked about a lot more feverishly. Fantastic from beginning to end with brilliant performances put in by everyone. 11 blood oaths out of 10
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Yep very well done. Not a patch on 1 - 7 orginals though, and I like this and R.O.P equally,

pretty jarring change of actresses half way though, shocked me when that guy got his head cut off, and i did think there would be more gore besides endless child birth scenes[/ISPOILER
 
Barely watch TV anymore. Saw a bit of Star Trek: Picard because the second season has Q. For my money, in the early seasons Deep Space Nine had the best set of recurring characters a show has ever had. Louise Fletcher, Andrew Robinson, Wallace Shawn, Marc Alaimo - they brought in an absolute murderer's row of acting talent to spice up the early episodes from time to time.

And yet...that formula ultimately sprung from John de Lancie and the popularity of Q. The chemistry between de Lancie and Stewart was always such that it was appointment viewing, and the choice to build upon the "Tapestry" episode was inspired. The results are flawed, but if you want to see how de Lancie can elevate questionable screenwriting and acting, check out his confrontation as Q with a young Guinan.
 

Prevenger17 said:
Just finished House of the Dragon. I think if it weren't for Game of Thrones already existing and inflicting that brutal last series on us, this would be talked about a lot more feverishly. Fantastic from beginning to end with brilliant performances put in by everyone. 11 blood oaths out of 10
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I really liked it though I thought it could have done with a couple of character's having just a touch more humour - nothing over the top but GOT had a nice balance early on.

Main bugbear later on though was the usual lazy cliche when underlining how bad a bad guy is....

Larys Strong being a foot fetishist having a less than crafty tug while leering at the Queen's feet. We get it, he's not very nice but why oh why must sexual quirks or outright deviance be shorthand for someone being cruel, vindictive or amoral. Aegon II can't just be lazy, selfish and entitled - he needs to be a rapist too. It goes back to Meryn Trant in GOT. Again, he can't just be a cruel bullying sycophant but he needs to be shown to be a horrific nonce as well to underline just how bad he is. It just becomes a trope with no impact on the viewers judgement of a character whatsoever.

Sometimes I think it's a way for writers to get scenes shot for their own gratification rather than any kind of character development.
 
Martin Alvito said:
Barely watch TV anymore. Saw a bit of Star Trek: Picard because the second season has Q. For my money, in the early seasons Deep Space Nine had the best set of recurring characters a show has ever had. Louise Fletcher, Andrew Robinson, Wallace Shawn, Marc Alaimo - they brought in an absolute murderer's row of acting talent to spice up the early episodes from time to time.

And yet...that formula ultimately sprung from John de Lancie and the popularity of Q. The chemistry between de Lancie and Stewart was always such that it was appointment viewing, and the choice to build upon the "Tapestry" episode was inspired. The results are flawed, but if you want to see how de Lancie can elevate questionable screenwriting and acting, check out his confrontation as Q with a young Guinan.
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I got around halfway through the second series of Picard and just completely lost interest. Far too much deep-diving around Picard's childhood trauma and writer's seemingly confusing their hackneyed psychotherapy tropes for suitable storytelling material. Part of what TNG got right with Picard was that it mildly poked fun at his pretentious airs - Picard the series seems to idolise and revel in them.

It's a shame because as well as scratching the 'getting the gang back together' itch with established Trek characters and introduced a by and large fairly likeable cast of new characters and decent ideas.
 
Prevenger17 said:
Just finished House of the Dragon. I think if it weren't for Game of Thrones already existing and inflicting that brutal last series on us, this would be talked about a lot more feverishly. Fantastic from beginning to end with brilliant performances put in by everyone. 11 blood oaths out of 10
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Yo buddy.
 
Martin Alvito said:
Barely watch TV anymore. Saw a bit of Star Trek: Picard because the second season has Q. For my money, in the early seasons Deep Space Nine had the best set of recurring characters a show has ever had. Louise Fletcher, Andrew Robinson, Wallace Shawn, Marc Alaimo - they brought in an absolute murderer's row of acting talent to spice up the early episodes from time to time.

And yet...that formula ultimately sprung from John de Lancie and the popularity of Q. The chemistry between de Lancie and Stewart was always such that it was appointment viewing, and the choice to build upon the "Tapestry" episode was inspired. The results are flawed, but if you want to see how de Lancie can elevate questionable screenwriting and acting, check out his confrontation as Q with a young Guinan.
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DS9 really is the greatest of all Trek - so many magnificent episodes and as you say the writing and character development was of an incredibly high standard. The contrast to the current crop of series is frightening, even at its best nowadays it is so inferior it is almost painful to watch. I'd go as far to say that "In the Pale Moonlight" is probably one of the greatest episodes of a TV show ever made, of any genre.

That said, I am not sure how much the popularity of Q was behind that, so much as it was the decision to ignore Roddenberry and bring in personal conflict (or "better writing" as it might be called). The Q we see in "Encounter at Farpoint" and "Hide and Q" is a pretty standard Trek omnipotent being that could have appeared in the original series, but the Q we get from "Q Who" onwards is vastly more interesting a character.
 
ClausThomsen said:
I got around halfway through the second series of Picard and just completely lost interest. Far too much deep-diving around Picard's childhood trauma and writer's seemingly confusing their hackneyed psychotherapy tropes for suitable storytelling material. Part of what TNG got right with Picard was that it mildly poked fun at his pretentious airs - Picard the series seems to idolise and revel in them.

It's a shame because as well as scratching the 'getting the gang back together' itch with established Trek characters and introduced a by and large fairly likeable cast of new characters and decent ideas.
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the sad part about Picard is that there probably was a fantastic series to be made about him as an old man, but this is not it
 

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