Entertainment Discussion Forum

[Veroe]

I agree...up until the point where they made him half-Prophet. I felt that was a bit...hackneyed?

It's one of those situations where you think about it afterward and find out, "Wait, that's terrible!" *Spoiler*

If I remember right, apparently one of the Prophets possessed the woman who would become his mother, then began a relationship with Sisko's father in that body just so he would get her pregnant, then kept her possessed through the pregnancy until she had the child, and then left that poor woman's body. And these are the guys he spends all his time serving? Basically, raped a woman, forced pregnancy on her, defiled her body, then left her with no memory of what happened. Kind of frightening.

Guess they didn't quite think that one through.

You know I hadn't quite saw it that way.
Oh thanks Noon, now I'm gonna get creeped out whenever I watch my DS9 DVDs.

 

[Britwitch]

Okay, this isn't the most pertinent point in the world, but I really don't like the new girl on house-the little Asian girl (think last episode she said she was Korean?). I'm actually very much in favor of putting a non-hot female on the show, just to mix things up. There's certainly a place for females on television who aren't stunningly beautiful without being the designated "ugly" person.

But her line-reading just isn't very good, especially when she's spouting slews of medical terms. Sometimes I don't know what she's said until Hugh Laurie kindly repeats it for me. It's her voice, or her inflection, or something. It doesn't carry very well.

We're not fans either...she just comes across as very very forced *Spoiler*

Even more so when 13 returned. She just looked even worse acting beside her.

Plus, not sure if this is a spoiler per se...but really really really wanted to use the white writing! ;o)

Fingers crossed she perks up as the season progresses

 

[Noon_Shadow]

Another show that I discovered was amazingly good: "Supernatural." I really only discovered it about 3 months ago. Lately, I haven't been able to get enough of it. I'm up to season 6 now. I mention this mostly because I've recently started a thread which I would say is heavily inspired by it, if not blatantly ripping it off.

It was apparently plotted out originally to be 5 seasons. I have to say, that they did a damned good job of filling 5 seasons worth of episodes, managing to keep the story moving without having anything feeling like "filler." The characterization is good and stays consistent, and they really do a good job of keeping their story straight. Partly it's because they heavily rely on the flashback sequences as part of the formula, so it's clear the writers are forced to keep up with everything they've already done...which is part of the brilliance. It's very easy for a show to just ignore things that characters have already done whenever they want, but in this show, almost EVERYTHING ends up being followed up. The "Chekhov's Gun" concept is in play every-freaking where. It works so well that you can't tell the difference between things they've retconned (or at least added more to it later) and ideas that they had planned out from beginning.

I also love the way that they play with the fourth wall. For a long time, they had toyed with it, leaned on it, and then they introduced a character named "Chuck" who utterly shattered it. And they're creative enough that they can keep making jokes about what they're doing, but show enough restraint that it doesn't become tiresome.

 

[Britwitch]

Another show that I discovered was amazingly good: "Supernatural." I really only discovered it about 3 months ago. Lately, I haven't been able to get enough of it. I'm up to season 6 now. I mention this mostly because I've recently started a thread which I would say is heavily inspired by it, if not blatantly ripping it off.

It was apparently plotted out originally to be 5 seasons. I have to say, that they did a damned good job of filling 5 seasons worth of episodes, managing to keep the story moving without having anything feeling like "filler." The characterization is good and stays consistent, and they really do a good job of keeping their story straight. Partly it's because they heavily rely on the flashback sequences as part of the formula, so it's clear the writers are forced to keep up with everything they've already done...which is part of the brilliance. It's very easy for a show to just ignore things that characters have already done whenever they want, but in this show, almost EVERYTHING ends up being followed up. The "Chekhov's Gun" concept is in play every-freaking where. It works so well that you can't tell the difference between things they've retconned (or at least added more to it later) and ideas that they had planned out from beginning.

I also love the way that they play with the fourth wall. For a long time, they had toyed with it, leaned on it, and then they introduced a character named "Chuck" who utterly shattered it. And they're creative enough that they can keep making jokes about what they're doing, but show enough restraint that it doesn't become tiresome.

Am a huge Supernatural fan, have followed it since it started. When I heard they were planning 5 seasons and then continued into a 6th I was worried it might flag but it so didn't! And then when they announced a modified writing team for the 7th, again I was unsure of how it would continue but so far it's been awesome!

Yeah, part of the appeal might be to do with the older of the two brothers...but it's a brilliant show, makes me laugh out loud and jump of my seat in equal measures!

 

[Noon_Shadow]

Am a huge Supernatural fan, have followed it since it started. When I heard they were planning 5 seasons and then continued into a 6th I was worried it might flag but it so didn't! And then when they announced a modified writing team for the 7th, again I was unsure of how it would continue but so far it's been awesome!

Yeah, part of the appeal might be to do with the older of the two brothers...but it's a brilliant show, makes me laugh out loud and jump of my seat in equal measures!

I think it does a great job at appealing to the female fanbase Smirks.

Even I will admit that the two costars are attractive men.

 

[Noon_Shadow]

So I watched Star Trek DS9 "The Visitor" for the first time recently. In the past, when I've come to that episode, I've skipped it. The first time, I was a bit off-put that it was following the story of a relatively minor character in Jake Sisko, and that most of the episode would carried by a on-shot guest star in playing that role. Later, I heard how it was really good, but still never got around to watching it.

In short: It's an excellent hour of television. It's very well executed, it does what it needs to. Sometimes on DS9, they'll end up with an excellent A plot, but they got stuck in the formula of also having a B-plot which sometimes distracted from it. Here, there's just an A-plot, and it's beautiful. One of the best.

Nods.

 

[Britwitch]

House

So glad to see the return of Taub and Chase, if nothing else they take screen time away from my least favourite Doctor. And as always, I love the House/Wilson friendship and the pranks that have returned to pepper the episodes. Honestly, not missing Cuddy all that much either!

Mentalist

Not sure how I feel about the idea that Red John might still be alive. Great to add tension back into the series but I'm still not sure.
That said, when Jane met/killed Red John at the end of last season I couldn't get past it being Bradley Whitford playing the part. I just kept seeing 'Josh' from West Wing and that was it!

Did anyone here ever watch a series called "The Good Guys" with Colin 'son of Tom' Hanks and Bradley Whitford? I think it got cancelled at the end of it's first season but I thought it was excellent, albeit slightly ridiculous, comedy!

 

[Perplexia]

House

So glad to see the return of Taub and Chase, if nothing else they take screen time away from my least favourite Doctor. And as always, I love the House/Wilson friendship and the pranks that have returned to pepper the episodes. Honestly, not missing Cuddy all that much either!

Mentalist

Not sure how I feel about the idea that Red John might still be alive. Great to add tension back into the series but I'm still not sure.
That said, when Jane met/killed Red John at the end of last season I couldn't get past it being Bradley Whitford playing the part. I just kept seeing 'Josh' from West Wing and that was it!

Did anyone here ever watch a series called "The Good Guys" with Colin 'son of Tom' Hanks and Bradley Whitford? I think it got cancelled at the end of it's first season but I thought it was excellent, albeit slightly ridiculous, comedy!

*just stops by to snog Brit

 

[Noon_Shadow]

House

On the topic of House:

I really am glad Taub is back. He's one of my favorites. I kind of dislike that the plot dictated he take several episodes off, that in fact a year passes, so now he just shows up with two kids. I would have loved to see the awkwardness as he had to decide whether to tell one or both of the mothers that he didn't want THAT kid. Or various other drama/awkwardness that might have arisen from it. Furthermore...I have a feeling now that House is right, and one of the kids won't be his. Just seems very typical of the show to do something like that. We'll see!

 

[Veroe]

House

So glad to see the return of Taub and Chase, if nothing else they take screen time away from my least favourite Doctor. And as always, I love the House/Wilson friendship and the pranks that have returned to pepper the episodes. Honestly, not missing Cuddy all that much either!

Mentalist

Not sure how I feel about the idea that Red John might still be alive. Great to add tension back into the series but I'm still not sure.
That said, when Jane met/killed Red John at the end of last season I couldn't get past it being Bradley Whitford playing the part. I just kept seeing 'Josh' from West Wing and that was it!

Did anyone here ever watch a series called "The Good Guys" with Colin 'son of Tom' Hanks and Bradley Whitford? I think it got cancelled at the end of it's first season but I thought it was excellent, albeit slightly ridiculous, comedy!

On the topic of the Mentalists:

I agree that keeping Red John alive may be a misstep. That said in a recent episode I really liked how he convinced the guy who they couldn't catch for being the San Jaoquin Killer to make him a target of Red John's on the news interview. That was clever. They do that and remain that clever about it they may just avoid jumping the shark over Red John this season.

 

[DeevaLicious]

Has anyone been watching the new series on NBC called Grimm? I think it's one of the best shoes out right now. Pretty unique and interesting.

 

[DarkWarrioress]

Has anyone been watching the new series on NBC called Grimm? I think it's one of the best shoes out right now. Pretty unique and interesting.

Love Grimm.

 

[Cheska]

I do not have TV, I catch everything online via Hulu or Netflix.

My shows of choice?

Doctor Who. I have a thing for Doctors.
House M.D. ..no, really.. I do..
Mythbusters.
Good Eats.
Fringe.
Eureka.
Drive in's, diner's, and dives.
MLP. Don't Judge me!!!!

 

[Veroe]

I do not have TV, I catch everything online via Hulu or Netflix.

My shows of choice?

Doctor Who. I have a thing for Doctors.
House M.D. ..no, really.. I do..
Mythbusters.
Good Eats.
Fringe.
Eureka.
Drive in's, diner's, and dives.
MLP. Don't Judge me!!!!

I love Good Eats

So funny and educational.

 

[Seranova]

I do not have TV, I catch everything online via Hulu or Netflix.

My shows of choice?

Doctor Who. I have a thing for Doctors.
House M.D. ..no, really.. I do..
Mythbusters.
Good Eats.
Fringe.
Eureka.
Drive in's, diner's, and dives.
MLP. Don't Judge me!!!!

I heart you.

I'm such a Doctor Who fan, its not even funny. Although, admittedly, while series 5 and 6 have been amazing on the writing side, the season enders have been rather a let down. Huge buildup, only to have the resolutions seem so carelessly put together or too far fetched, even for Who standards.

 

[Britwitch]

Doctor Who rocks




That is all.

 

[Cheska]

I love Good Eats

So funny and educational.

This is the last season they will film, Alton wants to move onto new projects.

I heart you.

I'm such a Doctor Who fan, its not even funny. Although, admittedly, while series 5 and 6 have been amazing on the writing side, the season enders have been rather a let down. Huge buildup, only to have the resolutions seem so carelessly put together or too far fetched, even for Who standards.

I am glad Matt Smith is coming into his own.

Doctor Who rocks

That is all.

I The Doctor.

 

[Ausus_girl13]

I heart you.

I'm such a Doctor Who fan, its not even funny. Although, admittedly, while series 5 and 6 have been amazing on the writing side, the season enders have been rather a let down. Huge buildup, only to have the resolutions seem so carelessly put together or too far fetched, even for Who standards.

Doctor Who rocks




That is all.

This is the last season they will film, Alton wants to move onto new projects.



I am glad Matt Smith is coming into his own.



I The Doctor.

Dies

I love you all.
That is all.

 

[zydrate]

Something tells me I must get on the Dr. Who bandwagon... I've never seen a show... is a loser

 

[Cheska]

Something tells me I must get on the Dr. Who bandwagon... I've never seen a show... is a loser

Get Netflix streaming, see the last few years.. Winning!

 

[Seranova]

Something tells me I must get on the Dr. Who bandwagon... I've never seen a show... is a loser

Get Netflix streaming, see the last few years.. Winning!

I told her this already. She never listens...

 

[zydrate]

I told her this already. She never listens...

I am listening now!! You're a guy so I didn't believe you...now that another female has told me...I am listening....

giggles, running off

 

[Noon_Shadow]

I finally got to see "Game of Thrones." Was excited to hear about the series since I was such a huge fan of the books. I feel the need to share my thoughts about the show here, somewhat.

1) I almost didn't recognize Peter Dinklage. His voice as Tyrion Lannister sounded almost regal, not like I'm used to hearing him. There's limited choices when casting little people, I suppose, but that was brilliant.

2) Wasn't sure about the casting decision for Cat Stark. In the books, I don't think an age is given, but the general sense is that she's in her 30s. The woman they cast for her, I don't know her well, but she's in her 40s, and looks it. Older than I expected for her. Catelyn Stark has 5 kids, yes, but she started young-in this historical period, women generally do start young.

3) I'm actually surprised at how good casting choices they made for several of the kids. There's a lot of difficulties in finding quality child actors-of course, a lot of kids you're used to seeing are too often producers' children, and really not actors. But it's amazing that they got everyone nailed down to generally the right age, and with the look-Sansa Stark is the one where they clearly went older, and it shows-she looks more like 16 than 13-but she has a young looking face and eyes.

4) Okay, I understand you had budget limitations, but you really peeved me off with the way you skipped one of those battle scenes. When Tyrion is leading his Hillmen into battle, it's a very favorite scene of mine in the book. Here he is, a person who was never supposed to see battle, and he's actually shoved into a position of leadership, and he does pretty well at it. It's kind of an awesome moment for him, responding to something he's not trained for simply because it's expected of his position. But on the show, they couldn't show the battle, so they had one of his own men accidentally kick him in the head, knocking him out, and then he's trampled by his own soldiers.

It's some of the same crap that bothered me from Lord of the Rings, but it bothers me even more here. Part of the point of Tyrion's character is that he can't be taken seriously because he's a dwarf, but Martin took him and made him one of the most complicated and interesting characters. The audience is supposed to take him QUITE seriously-since we're not actually apart of the world we're reading about, we CAN take him seriously, even more than his own family does. For some reason, though, it seems like it's necessary to play the short person for comedic value, because that's what we expect, or something. It honestly offends me-as I said, they did the same thing with Gimli from Lord of the Rings, a very serious character in the books who was often the designated comic relief in the films. It's like directors are telling us that we need to just put little people in a circus or something.

5) Feel like I should say something about Sean Bean. He's good in almost any role he plays, really, and getting him onto an HBO series as Ned Stark was a coup. Well played, HBO.

6) I'd like to object about how they over-sexed the story, but honestly, that's very much how the story plays out.

7) That said, as good as it is, I feel reading the book should still be a necessity, and I hope people who had never read the books were encouraged to after watching this series. There's a lot of what makes it a brilliantly written fantasy series that's just missing from the show because there's no real way to capture that like Martin did in his narrative. It must have been really hard for people who hadn't read anything before to identify who's who, for one. And there's a lot of backstory that's relayed thought character reminiscing, including some stuff that's clearly foreshadowing many different things (even things that still haven't happened, as of the fifth book) just by the way it's written. Don't think there was really a way to capture that, but I wish we had a few of Ned Stark's recollections about Robert's Rebellion making their way in.

8) One more serious problem-Cat Stark was a very different character on the show from the way she acted in the book. Two major problems: First, she tries to talk Ned out of leaving to become the King's hand on the show. In the book, she absolutely urged him into it. She's a woman who understand duty and obedience VERY well, and she knew that telling the sitting King, friend or not, "No," would have very serious ramifications. She accepts her role, having limited choices-her husband was chosen for her, she's subservient to her husband, and it's supposed to be a commentary on how things really were in the Middle Ages-women had very limited agency. Along the same lines, she criticizes Robb for leading his armies when she finds his encampment, instead of leaving a man to do it. in the book, she praises him for acting lordly, and being responsible. She actually swells up with pride as she watches him, and she's very careful in the way she gives him advice-not to chide him or make him feel like a child. She's not an overprotective mother, she's married to a Stark, and she knows that winter is coming. That was, again, a very defining moment for her, and they changed it. She's not going to coddle her children-except maybe Bran.

That's it, though. I'm very pleased I got to watch it during my extended break on the holiday weekend.

 

[Hikari]

I've been watching The Walking Dead and Hell on Wheels religiously.

The walking dead really is a television drama that has it all. Never have I ever been addicted to a show this much. It is just consistently good. The moment it's over, you immediately want more.

Hell on wheels is getting good, but it's only just starting. Hope it doesn't let me down.

 

[Noon_Shadow]

A bit late, but I feel like anyone who has Starz needs to be watching Spartacus. Perhaps it's not as stylistically well done as HBO's Rome, but it's a cool show, and there really are some good actors there. Of course, John Hannah isn't there to steal the show anymore, but still.