[TV, etc.] What are you watching?!

[Rama]

Ahsoka kind of shit itself over the course of the season. Culminating in

Spoiler (hover to show)

zombie stormtroopers

, arguably one of the stupidest things we've been subjected to in new school St*r WarzzZZ thus far.

Also, a "conclusion" that's nothing but setup for a second season. Man...

Kinda agree with all of this. It started out ok but….yeah

[B E C K]

I thought you would love zombies. Anyway, they've already zombified the franchise. May as well stick actual zombies in it.

[Rodent of Unusual Size]

I was gonna watch all those Warsies shows, but after Mando season 2 I made the executive decision to forego the rest. They're doing the same thing with them that they did/are doing with the Marvel shows: create a cheaper but harder to follow continuity requiring watching everything within a certain time frame and in a certain order while keeping track of all that shit that should at its heart be disposable entertainment. At what point did some genius decide that franchise fatigue is best combatted with even more stuff to follow?

[jonhammstein]

Andor is the only one worth a fuck. It stands on its own as a professionally-produced television program.

The rest of it is corporate fan fiction.

[jonhammstein]

Season (series?) finale of Loki was solid. Wish more of the episodes could have been like that. Had one of the most "epic" moments the MCU has seen in a very long time.

It felt weird watching a Marvel thing again and actually caring about the characters and what was happening to them.

[Rodent of Unusual Size]

I liked it, but I didn't really get the ending....likely because I was watching it at 2 this morning when I should have been (as I was for a few minutes here and there) asleep. I'll rewatch it just to be sure I understand what happened and most importantly why. I'll refrain from spoilers, but they really spun their wheels a bunch in this season.

[Rodent of Unusual Size]

Okay, I've done a little reading up, and now I understand it. Basically, they have concluded the series in a novel manner that also clears up the likelihood of Loki's return to the MCU. But the way that they did it really wasted a lot of time...in the end, though, I suppose all recursive stories ultimately are.

[Rama]

Season (series?) finale of Loki was solid. Wish more of the episodes could have been like that. Had one of the most "epic" moments the MCU has seen in a very long time.

It felt weird watching a Marvel thing again and actually caring about the characters and what was happening to them.

Well don’t worry the marvels came out…so you can go back to not giving a shit

[jonhammstein]

Tiny Toons Looniversity came out almost three months ago to such little fanfare that I only found out about it today. And it was even on my radar!

I guess nobody watched it. And I really shouldn't be surprised because the same thing happened with the three seasons of new Animaniacs. Nobody cared.

Is the nostalgia well running dry?

[jonhammstein]

I can admit that the first episode wasn't awful. I'm cautiously optimistic.

[jonhammstein]

https://youtube.com/shorts/6XEOl0hw0RY?si=T1w5FnHzdaSPaUNo

[B E C K]

I can admit that the first episode wasn't awful. I'm cautiously optimistic.

What?  The new Tiny Toons?  I'm heavily biased because the old Tiny Toons was one of my favorite cartoons growing up. I saw a bunch of clips of the reboot/remake/whatever some months back and it's so cheap looking. Even the coloring looks discount, like they couldn't afford the right shades of green and blue for Plucky and Buster. And I think I chuckled, like, twice at all of the clips I saw.  It's not the most offensive thing I've seen by a mile. It's just not that funny.

I'm not sayin' the old show was flawless or a masterpiece or anything. Some of it has not aged well. But I think media for kids isn't allowed to be that type of funny anymore. Like making jokes about butts so big they need two chairs a piece; or kids getting drunk off of one beer; or having a little green duck smashed by the boots of three burly singing men. So instead the characters complaining about everything are the jokes. (I get the irony of me saying that.)

This one clip's joke was how controlling Babs is because she didn't want to live a room full of Sweetie Bird's garbage. And then this same clip turns in to "Ha, ha, Dizzy Devil's a retarded hobosexual" halfway through. Wtf? This isn't funny.  And this was a clip curated by CN and put on their YouTube. You thought this would showcase your show, CN?

Also, most of these VAs literally sound like they're chewing gum. Don't know if it's them, the voice direction, or the equipment they're using but I need to put subtitles on because I don't understand, like, a quarter of the words that come out of their mouths.

[Rodent of Unusual Size]

MOTU: Revolution was unexpectedly awesome. Tighter story, better animation, epic voicing. Watch it.

[jonhammstein]

I thought the final episode was a really good payoff overall, but man, I found a lot of the dialogue throughout to be fucking awful.

I wouldn't be opposed to them coming back to it at some point down the line, though. Going by the epilogue, they clearly have some ideas.

[Rodent of Unusual Size]

I thought the final episode was a really good payoff overall, but man, I found a lot of the dialogue throughout to be fucking awful.

I wouldn't be opposed to them coming back to it at some point down the line, though. Going by the epilogue, they clearly have some ideas.

I agree about the dialogue, but I wasn't expecting Shakespeare or anything...I was looking for dumb fun and found it in spades. There were several particular groaners in there, but my favorite one was the "I laugh at the superior intellect" line...it was so cliche, but the fact they even dared to throw that in there I found to be pretty ballsy.

I'll be honestly surprised if they do another season given the blowback from the previous series...this was better animated with more celebrity voicing, but that's partially why it was only 5 episodes. I'm hoping word of mouth will attract those who were so butt-hurt over Revelation to watch this.

Spoiler (hover to show)

I'm curious if they're thinking of a cross-over license with Universal to get She-Ra in here? Despara is a dead giveaway, but I'd be surprised if they can get the rights to use her alter ego. I'm just glad they didn't push Snake Men....

[jonhammstein]

The thing about Shakespeare is funny to me, because I don't know if you follow Kevin Smith at all, (I only watch his Fatman Beyond podcast with Marc Bernardin) but he has mentioned time and again that all his corporate overlords ever asked of him was to treat the source material with respect, like it's Shakespeare, if you will. Literally in those words. And the way he talks about it, he's totally confident that he nailed the assignment.

And you see it most in the monologuing from Skeletor and Hordak, the waxing poetic and the groan-inducing alliteration. I don't know, did these guys do that a lot in the old show? I don't remember. To be clear, I'm not saying it is Shakespeare, just that I think Smith believes that's what he's accomplished here.

I did like how Hordak snorted derisively at Skeletor at one point, that was a nice touch. And I did genuinely laugh at a couple jokes, I just don't recall what they were at the moment. One of them was one from He-Man towards the end of the fifth episode.

You mentioned the Snake Men, and I did like what they did with Teela in regards to that. I don't know if you ever had any of those mini-comics they used to pack in with the figures, but one of the earliest ones had that green-skinned Teela character, and I'm not sure she was even referred to as Teela at that point, to be honest. But then later when she got her own toy, they mostly kept that same design (albeit with the swapped out skin tone) complete with her cobra hood and scepter.

Also, seeing Rio Blast and Snout Spout animated was pretty sick, even if they were purely visual and inconsequential as actual characters.

And from the way Kevin talks about it, it sounds like Revolution is being very well received. He sounds hopeful that they'll get to do more.

[Rodent of Unusual Size]

To be clear, I'm not saying it is Shakespeare, just that I think Smith believes that's what he's accomplished here.

Smith strikes me as one who just loves the smell of his own poop and as such doesn't believe in the courtesy flush.  So I don't doubt he's proud as can be over it, which explains why he was so butthurt about Revelation being shat over.

I did like how Hordak snorted derisively at Skeletor at one point, that was a nice touch.

I think that was a little Easter egg amongst a ton of little Easter eggs. I saw where someone pointed out the front of a Cadillac in the background of this one scene with Gwildor, and it was the one whose front end came with them to Eternia in the movie. But Keith David fucking killed it in this.

You mentioned the Snake Men, and I did like what they did with Teela in regards to that. I don't know if you ever had any of those mini-comics they used to pack in with the figures, but one of the earliest ones had that green-skinned Teela character, and I'm not sure she was even referred to as Teela at that point, to be honest. But then later when she got her own toy, they mostly kept that same design (albeit with the swapped out skin tone) complete with her cobra hood and scepter.

They call the green version of Teela "the Green Goddess" now, which adds to the ongoing Teela/Goddess/Sorceress conundrum. Basically Teela was both a warrior and goddess in her original concept, so it was great how they reconciled all the aspects of her character.

And from the way Kevin talks about it, it sounds like Revolution is being very well received. He sounds hopeful that they'll get to do more.

Yeah, I read that and was relieved.  Apparently the reason they went with 5 episodes was Netflix's algorithm told them it would do better, and it apparently has. Word is that Revolution has already done better than Revelation and was in Netflix's Top 10 for six days straight. I just hope now that strikes and whatnot are over we can get more content quicker, because the wait was pretty long for this in on top of the normal animation delay.

[B E C K]

I'll have to chell this out then. Let's see if I get filtered on the first episode. Although the prior series or whatever had a decent first episode.

[B E C K]

Sorry, the billo bike story made me laugh. The first episode was probably the weakest. I choose to blame all of the bad dialogue on Smith. Smith was the credited writer for the first and last episode and those are the culprits for the worst of it.

Overall, it was decent. Did it deserve more episodes? I'd say not. Revelations has more episodes and that didn't do shit for it. Revolution told a succinct, tight story and avoids the #1 offense of wasting my time.

+ Snake Teela
+ Evil-lyn
+ Keldor
+ Keith David
+ "What's in the boooox!?

-Andra (still pointless)
-Democracy gud
-Skeletor (didn't feel like a threat)
-Instances of shitty dialogue feeling off for the characters and setting
-Fucking wannabe tags

For fuck's sake, let shit end without teasing the next "thing." Everything's gotta do that shit. The ending would've been a lovely ending at He-Man and Teela's last scene.

[jonhammstein]

I was cringing the entire time during that bike eulogy thing, because it's a story that Kevin frequently tells about his own father! Back when he was a kid, all his friends had BMXs and he mentioned to his parents that he wanted one. So he comes home after school one day to find this fugly homemade bicycle that his dad had cobbled together, and he thanked him for it, but he never rode it because he would have been too embarrassed. Then much later after his old man had passed away, he was reminded of that bike and said that if he could go back he would have ridden it all up and down the streets all over town. And he's getting all teary-eyed while he's talking about it and I'll be honest, it was touching.

But then for him to just repurpose that shit for this dumb cartoon he's working on. Jesus Christ.

[B E C K]

I was cringing the entire time during that bike eulogy thing, because it's a story that Kevin frequently tells about his own father! Back when he was a kid, all his friends had BMXs and he mentioned to his parents that he wanted one. So he comes home after school one day to find this fugly homemade bicycle that his dad had cobbled together, and he thanked him for it, but he never rode it because he would have been too embarrassed. Then much later after his old man had passed away, he was reminded of that bike and said that if he could go back he would have ridden it all up and down the streets all over town. And he's getting all teary-eyed while he's talking about it and I'll be honest, it was touching.

But then for him to just repurpose that shit for this dumb cartoon he's working on. Jesus Christ.

I KNEW it! I fucking knew it had to be something like that. That's part of the reason I laughed. I knew it had to be some weird-ass personal story. It was so jarring and out of place. Like, dude, no one wants your bike story in fucking He-Man. How self-absorbed can you get?

[Rama]

It was Ok...better then the first one, which I didn't think was that bad, and it was enjoyable. So I guess that's a recommend on it. That bike story did come out of left field.

and I guess we aren't even talking about the live action Avatar?

[jonhammstein]

Man, I haven't even watched Netflix's new Avatar thing. To be honest, I was never an Avatar head in the first place. I was always put off by its faux anime trappings. Nothing against it or its fans, though.

And from what I'm hearing, everybody's pretty lukewarm about this new adaptation.

[B E C K]

Haven't watched it.  I've been feasting on all of the critical reviews instead: The costuming is a mixture of being too clean-looking and too cheap-looking; the characters talk too much but still don't say half as much as they did in the original; the people making this show had no understanding of the key themes of the damn story or any character motivations at all; Sokka and Aang overall seem to have okay to meh reception and Zuko's been better received than them; Jun was very well done; Katara, Suki, and Azula were utterly butchered beyond recognition; Bumi and Gran Gran were utter cringe; Daniel Dae Kim was the best actor in the show but his character also has no business getting so much screentime this early.

I have no idea why anyone would want to subject themselves to this show. At least something like One Piece has the excuse of having ten million billion episodes so the live action would be a shorter adaptation and thus more accessible by nature. Live Action Avatar and Book One are nearly the same length so the viewer spends around the same amount of time with the story for inferior content. But whatever, it's been renewed and it's apparently gotten enough eyeballs for Netflix.

And, no, I have no faith the creator's involvement would've fixed anything. Not after how they handled Korra. Those two guys get all of the credit for the OG show when the old show was lightning in a bottle: other people working with those two creators to make an excellent children's show.


I didn't realize joe had never seen it. Or did you see some of it and just didn't like it? I felt like the faux anime thing was far less egregious with this show. I was initially put off myself when I first saw an episode but the execution and episode structure is very much in line with Western cartoons. The bending is at its peak with the OG show, too. Korra, the movie, the comics, the dumb chibi shorts and any other material based on the franchise can all go into the dumpster though.

[jonhammstein]

I just didn't even really give it a chance. I'm sure if I sat down and watched it, I would probably end up liking it.

The original show, I mean. This new thing, not so much.

[Rama]

I watched it just to see what the fuss was about. It was just a whole lot of meh

[B E C K]

I finally managed to watch Over the Garden Wall. I see all the potential in it but wished it could've been moodier and spookier. Instead, someone would have to quip or some shit. I get it, it's a kid's story and needs to have quips and jokes so kids don't get scared. Oh, and I hated Wirt. 

[jonhammstein]

Yeah, I remember that one. I enjoyed it overall, but you're right that it never fully developed/delivered on its premise. Or at least not in the ways I would have liked.

I think I "own" it digitally... somewhere. Or I hope that I still do. I could definitely give it another look come October.

[jonhammstein]

Anybody else catch X-Men '97?

I'm still in shock over how competently plotted it is. Like, it's ACTUALLY fucking good.

[Rama]

Yeah, I saw it and was shocked that it was actually good.