What are you Watching? (August 2023)

Foundation is great. I’m enjoying the hell out of it. Silo was really good too

Seems like it takes a mighty deuce over the classic and everything it was saying, as is tradition for Asimov adaptations. Did you read the books?

Andor is SOOOOO GOOD. Andy Serkis straight up made me cry. (I have the last couple of episodes still to go so no spoilers pls lol)

But the characters, the writing, the acting, the storylines and the theeeeeemmes omg. It's like a dramatic embodiment of Seeing Like a State.

I'm sorry, you're only allowed to say "what the fight? How is it so good???"

But otherwise, yeah - it's a show that really benefits from tight plotting, dedicated performances, an excellent score and some Tony Gilroy & Friends bangers for speeches. I kind of have to stop myself re-watching it (for the millionth time)

The casting is good enough, the writing is great, and second season the directing and editing are also great.

Definitely the best Trek since Next Generation. Infinitely better than the reboot movies, Discovery, and Picard.

It's genuinely funny, it's usually smart, it's optimistic, and most importantly it's episodic, so when bad writing creeps in, it remains isolated to just a few bad episodes (like every other good star trek series).

So far my only critique is that occasionally they go too hard on mindless action/violence, which is just boring.

I wish the show had gotten a better main musical theme. Other than the cool retro sci-fi sound at the end, it's really lame.

I'm still trying to figure out why kirks brother is being shoehorned in. Most of his season one scenes had him just standing there. He was even knocked out 5 minutes into a mission. I love the "holodeck" they use for set extensions, definitely better than any green/blue screen from previous series. At least brother-Kirk is getting more to do in season 2.

I could watch Jess Bush as Nurse Chappel all day.

YES! it's so rare I find anyone else who's seen farscape. only tv show I wish I could see again for the 1st time.

Just finished it recently. Chrichton being completely unhinged the whole show was a blast.

I said this above- when you finish Farscape, check out Blake's 7, because Farscape paid tribute to it a lot.

I watched the whole series recently, it's on YouTube.

I’ve been curious with the show. Is it good?

So worthy!

The Strange New Worlds crossover episode was fantastic.

It really was, and the last season such a pile of shit. I might even have finished it. Like, I get it, we needed to break out, but let's maybe end it there.

Some years ago I had the whole collection on VHS, tells you how long ago that was. Haven't seen it anywhere since, I'll rewatch it if I do.

I'm going through TOS (nearing the end of season 2) and have been wondering whether I should watch the animated series, leaning on skipping it entirely, is it worth watching? I'm all for animation, but tbh a lot of american animation has left me disappointed.

I just started The Expanse and also just learned it got cancelled. I'm hoping by the time i finish it it'll be picked back up.

I really like foundation as it's own thing, separate to the source material. top notch show

I’ve been watching Star Wars Rebels slowly over the last few months. I’m currently part way through season 4 and it’s some of the best Star Wars I’ve watched. Such a great series that I think some people won’t watch because they think it’s a “kid’s show”. I’ll have it done before Ahsoka starts next month and I’m glad I finally watched it.

And Chopper is by far my favourite character.

+1 foundation is good

Show was killed way to soon. It was pretty solid!

I really enjoyed this, was surprised it got lots of hate on it's release. IIRC Fox didn't do it any favors. It and Firefly are pretty much the only shows I've ever cared for on Fox.

Damn you just gave me flashbacks to high school.

That was a great show, really bummed they cancelled it.

It's tight.

Let the wind blow high.... Let the wind blow low. Through the streets in my... Kilt I go. All the lassies.... cry hello. Donald wheres your trouser.

And then the girl starts singing along a bit later

Fuck didn't know anyone can make me cry listening to fucking andy Stewart's donald where's your trousers. Motherf****

Anyway lena headey, summer glau. Show is slow but story is everybit worth it. The best expansion on terminator series.

It's terrifying that this might not be hyperbole...;)

I did this recently with my wife, who'd never seen it. I love the show; I think there's some fluff. It followed a sitcom schedule of 20+ episode seasons for a while and they can't all be great.

Eventually I looked up and pulled out specific episodes to show my wife, because there are the classics. The episode with the Peacock family, Home, I recall.watching Sunday night after the Simpsons at 9 years old and being woefully under prepared mentally and emotionally, and my dad questioning his parentening, but the episode was just wayyy beyond anything the show had done. Haunted me as a kid and I don't recall but I probably ended up taking dad's spot in bed, maybe a penance for him letting me watch.

So would you say S2 of Foundation is worth it? I really liked the first few episodes of S1, but the rest of the season was just okay to me.

Have you seen the Futurama movies? I didn't even know they existed until this year and I'm trying to decide whether I should see the movies before starting the new season.

Orphan Black is one of my favs. Tatiana Maslany puts on an absolute clinic in disappearing into a character. So many times, there will be multiple of her on the screen and you just don't even think about it's the same actress.

I've been enjoying it, but I've also never read the books, so I don't know if that factors in.

How do you like it? I've read the entire book series but haven't gotten into the TV series.

Oh I'm so happy for you! Dark was a fun watch for me.

The crossover with lower decks was such a lightheaded banger. Followed immidiately by a motherfookin consequences of war, dark af episode of a banger. My goodness, can I love it anymore?

Wait, B5 will reboot??

Seasons 3/4 move past the "alien of the week" (though occasionally they have one still) and get into a more episodic season long arc that I think fits a lot better.

If only those effects were a little bit higher quality.

If you end up liking it, definitely also check out the 1970s BBC sci-fi series Blake's 7. Farscape paid tribute to it in many ways, including the 'fugitives on a spacecraft fleeing through the galaxy' element. There's also a later villain, Grayza, who looks remarkably like Servalan, the main villain in Blake's 7.

That said, Blake was far more serious in tone.

Oh man, are you in for a treat, that show improves so much from the end of S1 on after Scorpius shows up.

Season 1 was definitely the highlight of the show. But the later seasons were still pretty entertaining.

Same I watched it on Free trial and it was amazing, slow but good script so far, can't wait for season 2.

Best show I've watched in a very long time. Would also be my recommendation.

I disregarded it because just from reading the description, I thought I knew how it would end. Finally gave it a chance and they dismissed my theory in the first episode 😅

100% recommend the show!

I liked the last episode

From is on MGM+ (I think the first season is free on Prime still?) It's like a more horror version of Lost set in a very small town. Not saying that just because of the lead actor. It's really, really good. I binged it on a free trial for MGM.

No-one's heard of From, because it's absolutely the worst thing to name a show if you want anybody to be able to search for it.

It's from some of the same people who did Lost, I think. Lots of mysteries, many of which would be resolved if anyone just talked to each like normal humans. But it can be good cheapy, creepy fun.

I watched through Lexx (and then re-watched it) in the last couple of years. It's great for something silly that you can switch off to. As long as you don't take it seriously, all the innuendos and low budget scenery become fun and comfy.

Dunno if Lexx is really worth it tbh. The original movies were worth watching just because it was so weird and different.

But if you were on the fence after those, well it doesn't really change. Just season after season of the same sort of plots...if you like that, it's great. If you don't, it's gonna get old really fast.

I rewatched all of Andromeda recently, and after a season and a half is was mostly awful, but it was occasionally entertaining.

I rewatched the first Lexx movie, remembered why I never finished the show the first time around, and moved on to something else.

Any advice for pushing through season 5? I burned out there on my first watch-through last year, and am really struggling to get back into it. So many of the characters I cared about either died or left.

Funny, I just mentioned Blake's 7 in another comment. Regarding Tom Baker, there was a, thankfully, abandoned plan to have him as The Doctor in a literal walk-on in a Blake episode, where Blake and The Doctor say hello to each other in passing. However, there was intended to be a much bigger Who tie-in. The Big Bad at the end of the first season was originally going to be the Daleks.

Frankly, you'll enjoy Foundaton more if you don't read the books first. Otherwise, you'll be sitting there shaking you head wondering why they continuously mangle the core concept of the books so badly, despite characters occasionally directly stating how it works (only for the same episode otherwise showing utter disregard for said statement)

You can always watch season 1 of silo, then read the books. It’s going to be awhile until we get season 2, and season 1 only covers book 1.

The season is so good, but I think the show will struggle like so many more with expanding horizons, I don't want to spoil it for you, but it's basically same problem with walking dead, no matter how many seasons there is always a bigger commonuity than the ones protagonists are in. Something along those lines, we'll see what happens in s2

Agreed on all points.

I can't believe all the praise for s3 of Picard. Are people really so excited to see the TNG actors on the screen that they failed to notice that the writers have them playing entirely different characters from who they used to be?

Honestly, even though the show is named "Picard", I can't see this Patrick Stewart character as the Picard I once knew.

Do you have any idea how bad the writing has to be before The same character played by the same actor seems like an entirely different person?

I mean, even when they fucked up Luke Skywalker in the sequel movies, he still felt like Luke Skywalker.

Hands to heart, citadel didn't impress me much, I think I just expect better from action after john wick and specially extraction.

You will want to watch season 2.5 first: the Book of Boba Fett. It's got a couple pretty silly things but is a fun watch nonetheless.