TFARCHIVE FORUMS

I sat in front of Channel 4 last night and watched a documentary on Lego, which was interesting. Like a lot of businesses these days, beyond the smiles and brand values is a very controlled environment, full of 'hubs' and a methodology to shape the way you think and behave, something the native Danish find sinister as, like a lot of these sort of work practises, it discourages anyone from questioning the order of things, as it can halt your career, see you demoted or even fired (the few staff that were interviewed were watching what they were saying). This behaviour also made the documentary a bit pointless, as so much was off limits. A lot of this seems to have been because it was made fairly recently. It would have been better for the makers to have asked for full access and broadcast a year later, as the main reason the film-makers couldn't go anywhere was to protect products Lego were developing. The main thrust of the documentary was left to two narrative threads of a guy applying for a job as a set designer and a fella setting up a magazine for adult fans, which whilst interesting, were very much a side show. I was struck by how smart not revealing things up front is these days, as it generates interest in your product. In much the same way my beloved Private Eye has kept sales strong by not giving away its content online for free.

I followed that up with Humans, which looks to be a decent if slightly unimaginative lecture on the development of artificial intelligence and what it means to be human. A bit like anything by Asimov, The Terminator and Artificial Intelligence have done in the past, to varying degrees of success. The best part of the show (for my money) focuses on a harassed family and how they interact with their new synthetic home help. I particularly like the teenage daughter whose given up on school as she doesn't see the point in anything now machines are doing all the work...

Woo! Made it through Season 4 of The Clone Wars. Really good show so far... couple of dud episodes here and there (boring to me, anyways) but it's been a really enjoyable ride. Never cared for Asajj Ventress until the last few episodes of this season - now she's quite a bit more likable. Still thoroughly enjoying Anakin, and Obi-Wan has grown on me quite a bit too. And at least now my wife can stand Ahsoka, which she really didn't like in the early seasons. Only Seasons 5 & 6 to go, then I will probably try to catch Season 1 of Rebels on YouTube.

Been watching the Firat Season of Futurama myself and looking through the web trying to get a collection of Vincent Price Movies and Shows together. I also watched a Muppets DVD with guest stars Mark Hamil amongst others. My gpd seeing Mark so young is strange but he was very good. Even better when thry got Luke Skywalker into a Pigs in Space sketch.

Back on to Chuck, with season 3.

Generally far too snobby to watch TV but Brendocon recommended Danger 5 and was quite correct in pinpointing it as the pinnacle of the human race.

Denyer wrote:Had Buffy S1 on as background noise during the week; in retrospect it really jumps around in tone and there aren't many vampires in it...

Looks really cheap too. Season 1 is a teen show that just happens to have a few weird things happening in the background for most of it. Watched back there's an insane jump in quality almost at random midway through the second series.

Skyquake87 wrote:Not sure Sansa Stark knows what she's letting herself in for though...

Sansa Stark is probably the stupidest character in all of fiction. "Oh, I'll tell the obviously evil bitch who clearly hates me and everyone else my dad's plan, that'll pan out fine. Oh ****, better spend three years mooning around the city hoping someone sorts this shit out for me, then."

Sades wrote:I think having a kid has softened me up a bit.

Concur. Not watched the TV show but every time Rhaegar's mentioned I freak out, and the end of Dogville is still haunting me.

Woohoo! Made it through all of 6 seasons of The Clone Wars.

Good show, all around. There were some slow, boring episodes, but overall the quality was good and the story lines were enjoyable. The mid-season abrupt ending episodes were semi-appropriate too. It's a shame the season didn't get a chance to run it's course, though - it would have been nice to revisit some of the emotional impacts on Anakin before heading into ROTS.

I've decided Marvel can't be totally terrible at TV shows and given Agent Carter a whirl, reasoning that it can't be any worse than Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. And two episodes in, I'm enjoying it. Mainly because its not trying too hard and knows what its about. The '40s setting is well realised and Hayley Atwell is great. So good, if you don't mind a bit of mindless fluff. Good to see her in Ant-Man as well, which is decent fun times.

Avengers Assemble on Netflix.

Skyquake87 wrote:I've decided Marvel can't be totally terrible at TV shows and given Agent Carter a whirl, reasoning that it can't be any worse than Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. And two episodes in, I'm enjoying it. Mainly because its not trying too hard and knows what its about. The '40s setting is well realised and Hayley Atwell is great. So good, if you don't mind a bit of mindless fluff. Good to see her in Ant-Man as well, which is decent fun times.

Good to hear, I keep meaning to check that one out as the idea is fun and I adore Atwell. Not just because she's lovely, but because she always comes across as insanely enthusiastic about Carter and Marvel in general (I also adore the fact she stayed part of the Big Finish rep company longer than she needed to after she started getting big Hollywood roles).

Yesterday's episode of Knight Rider had James Cromwell (or "Jamie" as he was then) working for a villain named "Shatner". Which was odd as I don't think I've ever heard that named used for another fictional character, and as he didn't seem to have a first name you had the delightfully surreal experience of Zephram Cochrane-- and everyone else in the episode-- snarling "SHATNER!" over and over as if it's the filthiest word known to man.

I just finished watching Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger and it was awesome and now I've started watching Kamen Rider Agito

After a break from watching DVDs in the morning I finally finished Chuck season 3, now I moving on to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for a bit.

Hound wrote:Kamen Rider Agito

I want to go back to Gokaiger, it was more fun/funny and lighthearted and there was less hinting at kids being killed by space aliens...

They're not space aliens. They are "Unidentified Lifeforms". I think they are supposed to be similar to the Gurongi from KR Kuuga. Ancient beings who kill people. Not sure though as I'm not very far into Agito yet.

It is weird how these older shows are so much more serious and dramatic than the current stuff that is much more over the top and showy.

I enjoy both but I can see how the OTT style would be more fun.

Hound wrote:They're not space aliens. They are "Unidentified Lifeforms"

They could be Evil Alien Robots.

I have no idea what you too are talking about. It sounds exotic though. Like star fruit. Or lychees.

Lychees are noms if you can get them fresh enough. Get the red ones. Just peel them and eat them. Don't eat the pit, though.

Starfruit is the tool of the devil however. Don't eat starfruit.

Was gifted the entirety of Dragon Ball GT. Its.... Decent, some stuffs good some stuff is awful.

Thanks to the film The Man From Uncle is finally getting a proper DVD release in the UK, and one that seems to be selling surprisingly well (it made number 2 in the TV chart at work, I can't recall the last time a vintage show did that).

It's been years since I've seen any of this show, and I don't think BBC2 ever repeated the black and white episodes (though two of them were actually filmed in colour and had new footage shot to become the first films, though I've seen them I didn't really remember any of the plot and if nothing else a lot of David McCallum must have been added to the first episode to expand his thirty second cameo).

Based on the first few episodes, this is huge fun. The plots are mostly straight spy stuff with a slight surrealistic touch (people in diving suits walking around a corn field, Robert Culp doing The Spy Who Loved Me on a budget) but it's enlivened by a fantastic performance from Robert Vaughn. The man is just effortlessly cool and makes every line and raised eyebrow ridiculously entertaining.

I'm only just past the first episode where McCallum has been written into properly beyond "Hey, that extra in the pilot is cool... shove him in every episode!" moments, so it's harder to judge him. His complete lack of a Russian accent (sounding more like someone has unexpectedly shove a finger into him bum) makes Patrick Stewart's French accent as Picard seem convincing though.

And look, it's our old friend!

https://twitter.com/InflatableDalek/sta ... 5003758592

I'd always assumed the scope and other additional bits were real accessories to the Walther that Takara had just nicked in the same way they "Borrowed" all those copyrighted car designs. I hadn't realised the add-ons were created especially for the show (and didn't work). Stealing design elements from another fictional Universe to make their own toys... Were Takara the first third party manufactures?

I was also amused to read the gun used to get fan mail. Who'd give a personality to a Walther P38?

What's annoying about the packaging is that it tells you which episodes are on which discs, but not which special features are. So I'm not sure what of the many created for the American release have been carried over (though the first disc does have the colour version of the first episode where the show's called "Solo").

I've been on a little bit of an English TV kick, as I'm just sort of burnt out in general.

Watched Rev., and I enjoyed it for the most part. Started going off the rails by the end, but the bits that work are the ones where he's trying to be godly and being stymied by practical and ecumenical concerns. I rather like Adam, as he strikes a balance one rarely sees in television clergy, mid-way between pious windbag and hypocritical letch. He's not perfect, and he has his crises of faith, but he's genuinely trying to be good.

Just finished Life on Mars, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The ending was a bit predictable, but it managed to keep up the ambiguity that made the show work in the face of it, and that was quite nice. Did seem odd that they kept trying to continue with the "How far is Hunt prepared to go?" thing when it's fairly obvious in every episode that the answer is "Pretty f*cking far". I found episode 7 of series 2 especially funny, given Sam's surprise and disgust over Hunt taking bribes and favors, despite his having done worse in the Warren episode of series 1.

Most recent thing I watched in bulk was Mobile Fighter G Gundam, after getting the full series in two box sets the other week.

A little heavy on the whole burning justice and power of friendship/love clichés, but fun in it's way. I mean you have to love any series that has a character who practices German Ninjutsu and treats it completely seriously. Still can't believe how ridiculous (read as stereotypical/possibly racist) a number of the Gundam designs were though.