What TV shows are you watching thread.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Fri Nov 11, 2016 5:45 pm

The Teela thing sounds very like when I tried to watch the '50's Superman TV show and every episode would end with "That 12 inch dildo you're looking for is in your bag Lois" "How did you know where it was?!" "Oh, maybe I used my X-ray vision" style exchanges.

My main memory of He-Man from watching some of the original UK DVD's was pretty much the same as when I revisted Thundercats: Blessed relief that Transformers had Wally Burr breaking the casts' back on Transformers as a lot of the performances were very flat and just sounded like people in booths reading lines.

Out of curiosity, obliviousness to He-Man being Adam aside, how would you say it handles the female characters? With all the debate around Prime's Rib last week on my site and Facebook I've been wondering if other "Boys" franchises of the time were really as bad. Joe (with a varied number of female leads) and Gobots (girl robots with no obvious resistance from kids) are the obvious ones, but He-Man must have had some good crossover appeal to get a female led spinoff...

Brendocon 2.0 · Post by **Brendocon 2.0** » Fri Nov 11, 2016 6:18 pm

inflatable dalek wrote:The Teela thing sounds very like when I tried to watch the '50's Superman TV show and every episode would end with "That 12 inch dildo you're looking for is in your bag Lois" "How did you know where it was?!" "Oh, maybe I used my X-ray vision" style exchanges.

It's one of those things that you're just waiting for the big reveal that she knows he's He-Man and she's just seeing how long he can keep up the paper-thin charade for. But it just never comes. There are six core good guy characters outside of Adam and it's a 50/50 split between those who know and those who must be taking stupid pills.

Out of curiosity, obliviousness to He-Man being Adam aside, how would you say it handles the female characters? With all the debate around Prime's Rib last week on my site and Facebook I've been wondering if other "Boys" franchises of the time were really as bad. Joe (with a varied number of female leads) and Gobots (girl robots with no obvious resistance from kids) are the obvious ones, but He-Man must have had some good crossover appeal to get a female led spinoff...

Well Teela's captain of the kingsguard so basically Adam's bodyguard and nobody really seems to treat this as anything other than perfectly normal. Someone spiteful could probably do some thinkpiece about Adam pretending to be so helpless that he needs a girl to protect him, but it would be a deliberate misreading of the show.

Season 1 started airing about the same time as the first GI Joe mini, so I don't think there was a precedent for what level of effort you could get away with when doing this sort of stuff. So obviously the show had to toe a fine line between flogging toys without being an actual advert, not depicting any violence (He-Man has a bloody great sword but vanquishes most foes by throwing them about a bit), and including a moral of the story in order to justify itself as an educational venture. Providing strong role models for both genders was probably high on the list of things to factor in.

In a weird twist of timing, I'm currently watching this episode and the first three minutes will probably answer your question better than my rambling:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz5VFYHWZXg
(NB there's clearly been a transfer issue from whoever uploaded it and the speed's been ramped up a bit)

You'll spot David Wise as the credited writer on this, as he basically wrote for everything. Still odd whenever Larry DiTillio's name pops up. Apparently some bloke called Stracyzinski (never heard of him) did some eps on season 2/girl-heavy spin-off.

Brendocon 2.0 · Post by **Brendocon 2.0** » Sat Nov 12, 2016 1:42 pm

Massive respect to everyone involved for playing it straight on Man-E-Faces when 90% of the characters are the comic relief.

"Your ability to change your faces will be very useful to me!"
"Oh no it's a monster!" *face changes* "Oh no wait, I know who that is!"

****ing gold. It's like if they dragged out that Punch/Counterpunch scene from Rebirth into a full episode.

Cyberstrike nTo · Post by **Cyberstrike nTo** » Sat Nov 12, 2016 3:07 pm

Supergirl season 2 this show continues to be a pure joy to watch, and I loved season 1 and so far season 2 is even better.

Arrow season 5 is aiming for a more a back-to-basics approach and after a pair of rather weak back-to-back seasons this season seems to be having more fun and finding the balance between humor and ultra grimdark seriousness.

Legends of Tomorrow season 2. This season seems to be trying to work out the problems that season 1 had sadly it's got Damien Darhk and the Reverse Flash as villains and Darhk was a stupid villain for Green Arrow (although he hasn't used his magic powers yet and that is a vast improvement for the character) and the Reverse Flash is back because he's an evil speedster who is also a time traveler.

The Flash season 3. This is probably the weakest of all the CW DCU TV shows (it's still better than the movies IMHO) but season 3 was f***ed over because of Flashpoint they had to use that over-hyped story that no one liked and used it like they did in comics where they made all kind of changes to not only The Flash but also Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow (Diggle's daughter is now his son and The Reverse Flash is back) and the series is screwing up classic Flash villains like Mirror Master and The Top and other villains like Magenta, The Rival, and others seem to be a waste. The big bad is Dr. Alchemy a masked man who is giving characters like Magenta and the Rival their powers because they had them in the Flashpoint timeline and are needed in this timeline for some reason. While it's nice a change of pace for the series not using another evil speedster as the big bad Dr. Alchemy seems more like an underling and doesn't come off as a threat. The constant abuse of time travel and the multiverse stuff has really hurt this show, now it seems to be a bunch of fuller episodes that maybe will come together.

The Crown season 1 Queen Elisabeth II's early years dealing with Chruchill, her father's death, Princess Marget's engagement to a divorced man, and her husband's identity crisis. Overall a pretty good show.

Brendocon 2.0 · Post by **Brendocon 2.0** » Sun Nov 13, 2016 7:54 pm

Turns out there's plenty of moron-level stuff in here after all.

Have had an episode where Eternia's oxygen levels drop to the point that fuel won't burn and He-Man has to act quickly before it gets to the stage where people can't breathe. After needing to have Man-at-Arms explain oxygen to him, obviously.

And the ep I'm currently watching featured He-Man running around a lake so quickly that all the water got sucked up into a spout which then followed him when he rushed off.

I... I just. I mean they're doing physics and science and stuff so that's good but at the same time I want to put my face through a window.

Tetsuro · Post by **Tetsuro** » Sun Nov 13, 2016 9:06 pm

And that still sounds more entertaining than MASK.

MASK is like if Victory never picked up and just kept recycling the same energy-stealing plot all the way to the last episode. Out of the 65 episodes, the number of episodes that don't follow the following formula can be counted with the fingers of one hand;
1) VENOM is somewhere on the planet after some treasure either based on a genuine legend or made up by the writers,
2) Matt Trakker just happens to be in the neighborhood to assemble the team, and
3) They fight. Also Scott and T-Bob probably get in some trouble after Matt tells them to stay put.

I honestly dropped the series after about 30 episodes because I don't think I have ever seen a series this repetitive, only finishing it out of sheer stubborness and hoping it'll get better (it didn't). Season 2 which put the whole formula in the context of a race (which made the usual treasure hunts even more convoluted) at least introduced a little variety, but not much.

I think the only moment I genuinely enjoyed was the first time I saw one of the PSAs from season 2 which had the villains delivering them and showing uncharacteristical concern for each others' wellbeing, which was only funny because of how completely unexpected it was.

Brendocon 2.0 · Post by **Brendocon 2.0** » Mon Nov 14, 2016 9:43 pm

TFWiki really isn't ****ing kidding here...

Brendocon 2.0 · Post by **Brendocon 2.0** » Fri Nov 18, 2016 8:43 pm

Brendocon 2.0 wrote:There are six core good guy characters outside of Adam and it's a 50/50 split between those who know and those who must be taking stupid pills.

Oh no, turns out that one of them isn't a blithering idiot and has always known but just played along anyway.

Which is reassuring.

Season 2's a lot stronger so far. Some actually good stuff in here. A JMS-written Sorceress origin episode which is also a set-up for She-Ra (surprisingly early in the season, too). And a Bob Forward ep (The Rainbow Warrior) which has probably the best Skeletor dialogue so far.

What isn't good though is the DVD packaging for these season sets. What appears to be a normal thick DVD case actually opens up to reveal two horizontal ridges that form a shelf for a stack of individual paper sleeves. It's genuine "you ****ing what mate" stuff.

SOMEBODY ELSE DO A POST NOW TELL ME WHAT TV YOU'RE WATCHING.

Auntie Slag · Post by **Auntie Slag** » Fri Nov 18, 2016 9:44 pm

I'm watching Battlestar Galactica. On the third season. Sometimes I get into it whilst other times it feels like a load of old arse, and when that happens I can't touch it for ages.

Brendocon 2.0 · Post by **Brendocon 2.0** » Fri Nov 18, 2016 9:52 pm

Yeah there's a patch about two thirds of the way through season 3 which is really tough going. It does reward fighting through it though.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Fri Nov 18, 2016 10:43 pm

I'm nearing the end of the Professionals!

The last episode must be either the two of them shagging or just Martin Shaw quiting in the middle of a scene.

Shame Lewis Collins blew his chance to be Bond by (from his own admission) being too much of a dick in the audition. I genuinely think he'd have been great, got the rough edge of a Connery but the charm of a Moore. Not sure how Shaw got the reputation of being The ACTOR out lf the two of them.

[This presumes a Universe where Never Say Never Again didn't happen and the plans for a new Bond in Octopussy weren't dropped so there wouldn't be a novice up against Sean]

I also got to go to the Missing Believed Wiped event in Birmingham last weekend and saw the just recovered episode of the first season of The Avengers.

Pleasingly it was a good fun one as well, and it was great to have more early Steed back (previously there was two and 1/3 episodes left from the first season and only one had Patrick Macnee in. Frustratingly what's left of the first episode ends just before he appears!).

Interestingly missing Avengers isn't like the missing Doctor Who where there's audio recordings and scripts. For this episode there was a TV Times listing, a longer synopsis of dubious origin and some telesnaps only discovered a few years ago.

It was fascinating to compare the recovered episode to the various attempts to reconstruct it, especially with the Big Finish audio version. Which has all the same badic scenes, and each of those scenes has the same A and B start and end points, but how it gets between those points is drastically different.

Amusingly the audio, written from the perspective of "Whst we've got in the synopsis and the telesnaps doesn't quite make sense here so let's come up with what might have filled that gap" actually makes more sense than the TV version does at those points because the script genuinely mucks up rather than lack of detail.

Mind, the TV does improve on a hypnosis scene which on the audio plays as a stock "The hero bravely resists the attempt to get information out of him" moment. In the episode he is hypnotised and tells the complete truth and makes himself sound like a complete bad ass ("Who do you work for?" "I work for no one. They do not exist.").

Hope it gets a DVD release soon.

So...do they still make TV?

StoneCold Skywarp · Post by **StoneCold Skywarp** » Sat Nov 19, 2016 8:05 am

\w/

Westworld. Incredible stuff.

HeavyArms · Post by **HeavyArms** » Sat Nov 19, 2016 11:33 am

I've been watching Luke Cage lately, I liked that they included some references to he's classic look with the prison stuff, like having him wear a silver headband while being experimented on. I would rank it below Daredevil S1 but above Daredevil S2 and Jessica Jones S1.

Heinrad · Post by **Heinrad** » Sat Nov 19, 2016 12:11 pm

Danger Mouse. And am now looking forward to more episodes. C'mon, CBBC! Make more episodes!

Post by **Hound** » Sat Nov 19, 2016 6:28 pm

I've been watching the third Sentai season, Battle Fever J, am going to start watching Kamen Rider X and am thinking about watching something Ultraman.

HeavyArms · Post by **HeavyArms** » Sat Nov 26, 2016 3:48 pm

I've started watching Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey that's narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson on Netflix and I'm enjoying it's mixture of live-action scenes with Neil, the CGI space scenes and the cartoon skits that re-enact history.

Brendocon 2.0 · Post by **Brendocon 2.0** » Sat Nov 26, 2016 4:47 pm

I am currently watching an episode of MotU where some astronauts from Earth have turned up. Apparently they were in the process of trying to blow up an asteroid before it collides with Earth.

I'm sure I've heard that plot somewhere else before... o_0

Post by **Sades** » Mon Nov 28, 2016 3:14 am

Gilmore Girls, AYITL It was my heavily flawed, syrupy, nostalgic everythaaaang for a few hours. Quick thoughts-

The DVR conversation in Winter sounded a bit familiar. <3 Emily. I laughed when the Troubadour chased his sister(?) away. Rory can just go away now, plskthnx. POOR PAUL. Zack looks old AF.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Tue Nov 29, 2016 7:02 am

My mother has been watching it as well. Both times I caught bits the characters seemed to be watching Netflix and going on about how great watching things on Netflix is
I don't know if that's a requirement of being a Netflix show, must be a bugger for Stranger Things to fit it in.

Brendocon 2.0 · Post by **Brendocon 2.0** » Tue Nov 29, 2016 4:06 pm

There's a JMS-written episode of MotU where an alien race come to Eternia and want to know more about "good and evil" so select a representative from each side. But Skeletor doesn't want to do it so uses a device called "the Evilgizer" to make Spikor the most evil being on Eternia.

So what I'm saying is that nobody's immune to churning out shit.

inflatable dalek wrote:I don't know if that's a requirement of being a Netflix show, must be a bugger for Stranger Things to fit it in.

That's why they had the time travel episode.