What are you watching? (TV Discussion)

[Benza]

So man cartoons have really stepped up there game of late.
We just had three new shows premiere over the weekend

GI Joe Renegades
Kind of a GI Joe meets the A team. Double epp premiered on HUB a new network half owned by Hasbro.
The set up is that in this universe Cobra are a mega coporation with shady stuff going on under the surface but widely loved by most people. The Joe team were a squad put together under the pretense of escorting a random inteligence agent (who ends up being scarlet) to Cobra, shit goes bad at the cobra base and it gets explodey. The Joes are now wanted fugitives trying to clear there name.

Not sure I like Cobra Commanders new design (Seems like half way between the old school design and the movie design, but I always thought his classic design with the plain Grey mask was perfect) everyone else looks great though. One thing that kind of shocked me is they killed off Ripcord in the first episode. Animation is pretty good, what you'd expect from an action cartoon these days really. Similar to say Generator Rex or the like. Writing isn't anything exceptional but it's a fun action show.

Transformers Prime
Billed as a new hybrid 3D/2D show, although from the first two episodes it's entirely 3D. It's also supposed to be a continuation of the story from the war for cybertron, but it doesn't really work. Basic intro story for this. Bots have been on earth for a while working in secret with the government. Megatron has been gone for years. Boy meets transformer, slowly gets taken into the fold.
They change it up a bit though, the main kid ends up with Arcee (Motorbike) instead of bumblebee. The bots also seem more reluctant to be with humans and pretty standoffish. It's another show that kills off a main charecter in the first eppisode with Cliff Jumper getting offed about 5 mintues in (Voiced by The Rock) so I guess they couldn't afford him for any more.
This show is kind of mixed. Really like the bots in it, and the main kid is pretty tollerable. But there are two other kids this little geek kid who magically knows how to fix high tech millitary / transformer hybrid pc's with his laptop. And this irritating asian chick who so far seems to serve no fucking point other then to be an irritating bitch that needs to get punched in the face.
Visually it seems like a halfway point between Transformers Animated and the movie designs, although things look a little bland. Animation is decent enough but hopefully it improves as the show goes on.

Haven't gotten a chance to watch young justice yet but I've heard pretty great things about it so far.
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[Nova Prime]

Oh Terriers, no! Don't have cool stuff happen now. Don't make me care about you right when you're about to disappear forever. Damn you.

[Sin Ogaris]

Sons of Anarchy

I knew there was more to the John stuff, and now we know exactly what happened.

And having just finished watching the episode...

****

******* ****, ****, ******* ****... ******************

Such a beautiful poetic finish. Two wronged bikers finally getting their revenge. I don't care what anyone else says that ep was amazing and the best I've seen of SoA. It rounded out the work of three seasons really nicely, and it didn't feel rushed.

Now it's a question of where to from here, we know Hale is going to be a major player again, but what of Jackson; is he truly on the side of the club forever now? Or is the letters from John enough to sway him back? Hell, is Tara even going to show him?

[Crank]

I was literally clapping at the end of SoA, it was awesome.

[Sin Ogaris]

Yeah

[Capoeira]

Best episode of the season, easily. It was the first time since the pilot that it felt like a proper episode of Sons of Anarchy. The tension and sense of foreboding leading up to the climax was as real as I can recall. It reminded me of why I watched this show to begin with. That feeling of uneasiness is something that FX shows do sooo much better than anyone else, so it's about damn time SoA remembered that.

Really clever way of rounding out the season too. Like Sin said, poetic yet so f'ing badass. And those letters appear to be everything I hoped for. I'm STOKED for next season for the repercussions of that alone.

I still think the Ireland experiment Sutter tried this season did not pay off at all. I won't be looking back fondly on any of that. It was a poor season overall, capped off by a brilliant final episode.

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Terriers update; an open letter from the creators:

[Crank]

You know, it never even occured to me that a show like Terriers might get poorer ratings simply because it's audience doesn't watch it 'live' as such. I hope FX takes that into account, though I suppose it still won't help sell advertising.

[Benza]

So I started watching the new Avengers cartoon, 3 epps in.

Holy shit.

The first eppisode was like concentrated fan service. The were throwing more c-grade villians around then I could even name. I'm talking real obscure shit, we had wrecking crew members, grey gargoyle, those 4 monkeys that got super powers, mandrill the magician, whiplash, the leader, absorbing man, crimson dynamo, baron zemo and a whole shitload more that I couldn't even remember how many. As far as everything else goes though animation was slightly above average. Writing was what you'd expect really.

Ironman has been run through the RDJ processor, the guy voicing him does a pretty damm good RDJ impersonation though.

Thor isn't quiet as old englishy as his comic counterpart, defiantly a powerhouse though. Kind of an adorable dork when he's interacting with his love interest though.

Hulk was a damm pleasant surprise though. He's pretty intelligent for the hulk, I'd say somewhere just below planet hulk. I love it that he's going to be an actual character rather then a green wrecking ball.

Giantman/Antman and Wasp didn't really have much development, although it seems that they're not going to go down the Hank beats his wife route wich is a plus.

Cap shows up in the credits but has yet to show up in the show yet, hawkeye had a cameo in the first epp but really hasn't had much other then that.

Overall aside from the fan service first epp was pretty standard. Then I watched the second episode (Was a two part intro)
FUCK DAMM! The second epp was basically entirely fight with no story against Graviatron. The action in this epp puts anything from the ultimate avengers animated films to shame. This is seriously some of the best fights I've seen in a western animated cartoon. There's DBZ level property destruction except in the middle of New York city.

Third epp was a flash back showing ironman before the whole gravitron fight. Some cool fights with the Grim Reaper (Seriously holy shit the Grim Reaper is actually in a cartoon?) but after the second eppisode I'm craving some more threats that require the entire avengers.
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[Capoeira]

[Sin Ogaris]

I just sent an e-mail... 911 words (copy pasted into Word... which puts it at over a page). Granted about a third of it was quotes from myself in here but still I'm pretty happy with it. Once I started writing I just couldn't stop, I had to force myself once I realised if I kept going they'd have to start scrolling down the page and I figured that might be a detriment.

Edit: final ep is up and downloading, 12% done so far. It's going a little slowly though, only 65kb a sec.

[Capoeira]

Awesome. I just sent one thanking them for the show. They got it this far so I thought they deserved a pat on the back for that at least.

I'm going to go mad waiting for the news. Why do I feel so optimistic? High hopes are NOT a good thing at this point. Oh boy. Time to go looking for that final episode...
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Say You Want A Revolution

[Sin Ogaris]

And it's done.

An awesome finish to an awesome show. I especially liked the ending because it felt just like the show itself, it's either all over, or it's just beginning.

Now I just have to pray to the TV gods for another season.

[Crank]

I'm calling it now: left. Then again, the whole baby thing... I dunno.

Let's hope we get a chance to find out.

[Sin Ogaris]

See I was thinking straight and there'd be a time jump. It is only a year after all.

[El Taco]

Been going through my Breaking Bad Season 3 DVD, and decided to to skip to my favourite episode of the Season (and probably of the entire series) the finale, Full Measure. The rest of this post I'll stick in a spoiler box:

[Grom]

[Nova Prime]

Actually Grom, Gilligan's said they're giving carefuly consideration to that because of how it was so widely interpreted with the way the camera swings around and all. And because no-one really wants to believe that it happened.

[sobriquet835]

I just finished watching Spaced on DVD last night.

Damn that show is funny. Awesome stuff.

[El Taco]

(On the topic of the poster above talking about Spaced) This is the weird thing. I love all 3 Edgar Wright films and I enjoy UK comedies, but I have never understood the hype of Spaced. Heaps of people in comedy who I like (Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, South Park boys, even Colin Mochrie from Whose Line) all hype the show, but I never understood it. I own the Australian Special Edition boxset (with all the cool special features) and I watched 5 episodes of Season 1, but still, it just seemed like a 'wacky' UK comedy with random (mainly Sam Raimi films) pop culture references. I think one of the problems is that there have been heaps of shows which have impersonated it's style/humour and my view has been warped, but I've been able to enjoy other 90's shows which have been impersonated since then like Twin Peaks or (as Obs will like) Seinfeld. Is there a particular episode or something that I should watch which will grab my attention or am the only one in the world which doesn't think it's the greatest thing?
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R.I.P Tanya

[sobriquet835]

All I know is I found it funny. Season 2 was slightly better, maybe.

[mattstep]

[Capoeira]

Yeah, I just caught the news a few minutes ago.

Sad outcome but considering it had a fuck-awesome season with a very satisfying conclusion, it's not all bad. That's something that can be rarely said of a cancelled series. Of course I'd have loved to see it tell more stories but I wasn't left wanting so I'm actually kinda ok with it.

R.I.P. Terriers. Good times were had.
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Say You Want A Revolution

[Capoeira]

So the first season of Boardwalk Empire concluded a few days ago. Outstanding season of television and a worthy addition to the HBO library. The events of that final episode should make for a pretty thrilling second season next year. Cannot wait.

Also cannot wait to see more of this guy, Richard Harrow. His character carried such an interesting balance of vulnerability and twisted menace. Whenever he was on screen, I was absolutely riveted by everything about him; his voice, mannerisms and overall presence. Hands down best new character of the year.
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Say You Want A Revolution

[qwas]

I bought 30 Rock season 4 on Wednesday and finished it up today. Such a great show.

[DancesInUnderwear]

So people here watch Community, right? Because the most recent episode was fantastic. Without giving anything away, it managed to be crazy and over-the-top, like the Paintball and Zombie episodes, whilst simultaneously being incredibly down to Earth. I thought it was really well done.
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