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diedan
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  • 3 weeks later...

The first two episodes of the Ducktales reboot are out...and it's great!  Honestly, in my opinion it's turning out even better than I was hoping it would.  Some of the voices will still take some getting used to, but I'm starting to accept Tennant as Scrooge.  I also really like the changes they made compared to the original show, which is pretty rare for me.  Webby and Mrs. Beakley are much more unique and interesting now, and actually having Donald as part of the main cast adds so much.  I can't wait for more.

 

Edit: Disney has uploaded the premiere to Youtube.

 

 

Edited by Mister Jack
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So, besides Game of Thrones, I've been watching a few other shows.

 

Rick and Morty is one, of course. Although, I've not been feeling the last couple of episodes (2 & 3, as I'm watching on Netflix here). I mean, they're not bad by any means and they have some great moments (Jerry and his mail with the wolf was great "loooooser") but I guess I just miss the ones where they play with or send up other films/genres a bit more.

 

The 100. I've finished everything available for free on Prime, which is seasons 1-3 and I'm tempted to find the others online. However, with the reveal at the end of S3, I'm not super confident with how things will continue.

It even feels very much inspired by Mass Effect 3's ending...

It's certainly a strange beast, without spoiling too much, it's gone from a simple Lord of the Flies-esque concept onto post-apocalypse outpost survival and then something more along the lines of Battlestar Galactica. As I've said before, the writing can be a bit hammy at times, but the actual long-form stuff with the characters is really good and there are some strong setups from episode to episode. I mean, it's got writers who have worked on The Shield and Angel as well as the guy who created the Handmaid's Tale series.

 

So you'll see the characters falling in love, or just dying, or uh... committing mass murder or... all of the above? I think Raven is probably my favourite though. She's gone through so much bad stuff but she gets things done. Plus, the actress is really good.

 

And, finally, Due South which I'd like to write a little about. This seems like one of those "forgotten" TV shows but it's one I absolutely loved as a kid when it first aired. It's still a great show (one of Paul Haggis' early works) and has a real pure charm to it. It's actually a mixture of two elements/tropes that were (still) popular in film and television in the mid to early '90s: fish out of water stories (Doc Hollywood, My Cousin Vinny) and buddy cop stuff (Lethal Weapon, Bad Boys, etc.). Except this isn't the city-dweller adapting to rural ways but a mountie used to the wilderness coming to the rough-and-ready Chicago. However, rather than making these jokes at his expense, his unshakable politeness rarely causes him harm and simply grates on his "buddy", the detective who's lived in Chicago all his life.

 

And I think that's what really appealed to me as a child, this smartly-dressed, super observant, polite, clever, handsome mountie. When the Superman I grew up with was some dude who couldn't act, Benton Fraser was the super hero to me. He was part Superman, part Sherlock Holmes.

 

It also has that weird opening to season three that completely blew my dumb child brain; where Fraser shows up and meets Ray... except it's not the guy he's been working with the past two years, even though absolutely everyone else is acting like nothing has changed and it's perfectly normal. They hadn't recast the part or anything, but the real Ray had gone undercover while the new guy was brought in to keep up appearances.

 

For a while, it's like when Dawn was just "there" in Buffy all of a sudden.

 

Anyway, great show.

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I've a feeling that Rick & Morty has had a change in tone due the creators. I'm kind of liking it but I feel it steps onto ground already covered without really changing anything. Rick is abusive, yet shies from any confrontation he isn't in charge of and that hasn't really changed despite the fact his family are largely resenting him and he knows it. I guess the show is still quite creative, pickle rick sequences were quite different to anything I've seen before for sure. I would like to see a few more riffs on other genres/stories though (but less on the "hey it's a purge planet/mad max planet, like that movie" stuff).

We've a Jerry episode coming up though which should hopefully shake things up a bit.

 

I have been watching Preacher. Properly through Amazon Prime. Did you know Amazon Prime, despite being a paid for service, still has pre-run adverts on it? Well done to them. I am rather enjoying it, and Herr Starr is some top notch stuff.

"Any questions?"
"Do you validate parking?"

 

Series has definitely found its feet and working much better now they're out of Annville and on their mission and got The Grail chasing them (I feel their resolution of Saint of Killers a bit too simple, but I guess a deus ex machina was probably needed since he's intor'd a bit too soon I think).

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Yeah, Preacher has been pretty good. Herr Starr is fantastic, considering Pip Torrens is usually just a "posh Englishman" character actor.

 

It does feel a little "stuck" at the moment with Jesse's search dead-ended, so they're no longer "on the road", and a lot of time being given to the Tulip and Cassidy side stories (or the stuff in Hell) but it's still entertaining overall. It's more of a back and forth between a great episode and an okay episode for the past few.

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How does everyone feel about the new season of Rick and Morty so far?  I'm kind of ambivalent myself.  It has some funny stuff in it for sure, but it feels like the characters are starting to get Flanderized.  Beth is a completely unlikable bitch, but it feels like the writers expect me to sympathize with her over Jerry.  Jerry is a spineless worm, don't get me wrong, but Beth has been doing some really horrible shit to her kids and I can't help but think "Jerry probably wouldn't do/say this."  Rick has crossed over from dickish mad scientist to full blown sociopathic monster.  His one redeeming trait--his love for his family--seems to have almost completely evaporated this season, which I could live with if he didn't always win at everything.  It's very frustrating to see this character with no redeeming qualities never get his comeuppance.  I'm enjoying Morty's development, though.  He's clearly had enough of Rick's bullshit and I bet he's only a few bad days away from completely snapping.

 

I still think there's some decent jokes in there, but Rick is too much of a Mary Sue and the constant shitting on Jerry is starting to go overboard (the bit with the wolf was still hilarious, though).  This most recent episode seems to be pulling back on those problems a little bit, so I hope it keeps going in this direction.

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Man, people sure love to overthink their cartoons. I'm not trying to shit on you specifically Jack, just to be clear, you're just voicing a sentiment I've been seeing a lot online lately. I don't think Rick was ever intended to be this lovable dick everyone made him out to be. He was always a complete asshole with little to no redeeming traits and I fucking love how this season so far can basically be construed as a giant "Fuck you!" to the fan base that views him as some kind of (anti-?) hero. For me, the humor mainly comes from how awful Rick actually is.  I can't help but be reminded of how some people legitimately rooted for Walter White and saw him as a good guy. Like, just no lol.

 

So, to answer your initial question, I'm loving the season so far. I have a feeling I might be in the minority but the Vindicators episode was probably my favorite so far because of everything I said in the previous paragraph. The "Mother... fucker!" when Morty watches the video at the end made me lose my shit so fucking hard.

 

--------------------------

 

On another note, a friend of mine won't shut the fuck up about Twin Peaks lately and he got me pretty curious about the new season, so I figured I should catch up so I can watch it. I've been marathoning the first two seasons the last few days and goddamn, this is one amazing show. I actually watched season 1 a few years ago but lost interest almost as soon as I started season 2. Not even sure why because I can't get enough of it this time around.

 

I'm about halfway through season 2 now and, given what happened in the episode I just watched, I have a feeling I'm about to hit what's considered the low point of the series. Sucks but I'm looking forward to the new season so much that I probably won't have any problems just powering through it.

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I know I'd said I felt something a little off about earlier episodes this season and while I enjoyed the Vindicators 3 episode ("Who's Noob Noob?" killed me), I think you've captured my vague issue with some of it so far.

 

It's actually leaning too heavily on the "Rick is a total jerk" stuff. Sure, it was always there but you're then overlooking a lot of the earlier episodes both in terms of his actual love for Morty as well as the switches in "power" where he's revealed as an idiot and/or needs Summer or Morty's help. I mean, they've gone over those elements before as well so it doesn't need to linger on it, but I don't think it helps to keep it in one gear the whole time and especially not if it's to say to the audience, "you idiots, you're supposed to hate Rick" (I was never "Team Walt" by the way).

 

Of course, this could all be deliberate setup as part of some larger arc (possibly involving "a Morty turning on his Rick") and will pay off but we'll see.

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Yeah I'd like to see the return of the evil Morty. One of Ricks dismissive remarks, which also got touched upon again and refreshed in folks mind in 3.01 is that they're not Ricks original family (nor Mortys), and technically for all we know (especially given some of the discrepancies Bird Person brought in) even the "original" family weren't Ricks original family he just waltzed in to their lives and they're 95% close enough. I guess if you were hanging out with a family you knew damn well weren't "technically" your family and you could hope to one of thousands of realities and continue on with a different but same family you'd be a bit desensitised to it all too.

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