I watched the first three episodes of The Sandman during international flights. I generally like Gaiman’s books and I’m aware of the graphic novels, but have never read them, and I knew nothing of the story in advance. I’d probably keep going if we had Netflix at home, but I’m not anxious to see more. Morpheus is an exceedingly dull character. I figure it’s an intentional irony, but he looks and sounds half-asleep most of the time. Most of the characters around him are notably more interesting so the story is not devoid of character, but… I found it a bit of a problem. The show also has an extremely CGI look to it, which is surely unavoidable but nevertheless another distraction.
If you’ve seen the whole show, would you say that it gets significantly better after those initial episodes?
Hard to say if it gets better for your specific concerns. I love Sandman (comics and tv show), but Morpheus is often the least interesting thing about it until pretty late in the comic run, so maybe season 4 if it lasts that long on tv.
The TV show basically has two storylines from the comics in it. Episodes 4 and 5 finish up the plot you’ve seen started. Morpheus is more interesting in the next episode (4). This is probably his most active one. He doesn’t do as much in episode 5 and that’s the one that truly earned early comic Sandman its horror genre marker.
Episode 6 is a breather between the two plot lines. It is two comic issues squished together and they are both cool and much loved issues but are mostly talking about philosophical stuff rather than doing things.
Almost everything after that (7-10) is the second plot line. I think it’s the better plot, much more interesting. The interesting isn’t because of Morpheus himself though as he is almost a side character in someone else’s story. You learn much more about the world and how it operates as well as following a better story in the world.
Then there’s the final episode which is animated and again two comics squished together. Morpheus is barely in either. One is a fun little story and the other seems like it’s an interesting little story but is secretly setting up some major stuff that matters in like 40-50 comic issues.
Episodes 5 and 6 are the highlights of the whole of series 1 (5 is quite grisly, be warned, but 6 is flat-out amazing) and if you don’t like it by the end of 6 then the show’s not for you, which is fine. The unexpected epilogue episode, 11, is also really great.
Eps 1+2 are the worst by far, as they had to get through the story from the comics before it really transformed from the old horror comics Gaiman took over into the more epic cycle of what it becomes. If you’re asking “Does it get better?” I’d say yes, a lot.
And Season 2 could be MUCH better than the whole of Season 1, as the storyline finally gets to the Season of Mists book and that’s more suitable for tv and feels more like the rest of Sandman.
I have no experience with the comics, and would say that the show gets better, but not that much better. I kept watching Sandman waiting for it to get more interesting, and there are some extremely cool things in there (Desire felt pitch-perfect in everything they did, the Corinthian’s effect on the world is suitably horrific), but most of it felt like unfulfilled potential. Some of the moments also fell extremely flat for me, like Dream’s “contest” and the entire diner episode (trying to keep things vague).
I’m definitely in the minority on this one, but I would give it a solid meh.
I’ve been watching The Clone Wars. It’s well-done and very enjoyable, but I have to say I’m disturbed by the underlying implications of the whole war. This is a fake war, initiated by the same person on both sides to further their own ends. Both sides use disposable troops regarded as not-quite human (robots and clones), and even though both types of troops display multiple times that they are capable of individuality, sentience and, above all, suffering, their leaders treat them as disposable and less important that actual humans. The Jedi display a kind of condescending parental affection to the clones, but in both cases the troops are engineered merely for fighting - they have no choice in the matter, and the ‘cause’ behind the war is a sham.
You could argue that this is the case in many historical wars but this is a pretty extreme and depressing version of history in that case, not to mention the fact the war is pointless and almost everyone involved will end up dead by the end of it… and this is a kids cartoon?
I’m overthinking it, and it’s definitely fun, but goodness me the undercurrent makes me sad whenever a droid is sliced in half (they get much less ethical consideration in the show even though we know as viewers that droids are not only probably sentient but also a mostly disliked underclass of servants or slaves). I know I probably shouldn’t expect more, and I suspect the show is smart enough to explore some of these thoughts in upcoming episodes… but when the whole show is built upon such pointless suffering where every individual act of heroism and sacrifice is meaningless and only serves the Emperor’s ambition, that’s tricky to explore. Hmm.
Yeah, kids show… not quite, not always. I mean they began this to fix the plot-chasm between episodes 2 and 3 and to explain Anakin and to make more $$$ from the franchise.
Yes, I agree there. I’m at the end of the first season and I already much prefer this Anakin to the whiny entitled teen we’re presented with in the films. The cartoon Anakin is clearly the same person but managed better (and, frankly, acted better). I wanted to watch mainly to give some emotional weight to Obi Wan’s agonised cry of ‘You were the chosen one!’ I already trust the show to do that far better than the films did.
Watched Dungeons & Dragons: Honor(sic) Among Thieves and it was… surprisingly good.
Not great. But really good. A few laugh-out-loud moments, and a surprisingly touching performance from Pine.
That stated, the best things about the movie are, in order: 1. Michelle Rodriguez 2. Michelle Rodriguez’s arms and shoulders 3. The Paladin 4. The Druid 5. Michelle Rodriguez’s hair
(Other Stuff) 9. I suppose Chris Pine is okay
Good performances by all, a well-crafted story that had a few unexpected twists, and… I don’t know how to describe it, but it felt like a DnD session except that at no point did any of the characters attempt to burn everything down to solve a problem.
Ep5 of Ahsoka just had the best lightsaber fights I think I’ve ever seen in any Star Wars. Finally people with proper sword form giving the sabers some weight.
Dear Disney, please use this as the template for all fights in any future movies, thanks.
(The cinematography was very epic in this ep too).
BEN: I have something here for you. It’s your father’s heavysaber. Yes, this was the weapon of “Bungling” Jed Knight. Not as quick or as convenient as a blaster, it’s an inelegant weapon for an uncivilized age. For over a thousand generations, Jed’s ancestors were the laughing stock of the Old Republic – what with everyone else using blasters.
I would say “…ish”. None of the original actors held a lightsaber as though it was weightless, and most of the movements were longsword or other two-handed as though they had mass that you could use muscle to move.
Then the prequels had them twirling them with two fingers - you could say it was a different generation of technology, but it didn’t look remotely the same.
This ep has characters using real-world stances and drawing their sabers back in order to bring them forward with more momentum, break through a block etc - pointless if there was no weight at all. (They’re clearly lighter than a full steel blade, but there’s follow-through).
…I did not realise that this was my specialist nerd rant topic.
If lightsabers were truly weightless (or nearly), users would hold them out in front of them in one hand for maximum range, and thrust all the time, and move the tip around very slightly to slide past the opponent’s point just like smallsword or the lightest foil.
But they don’t, they make slashes with the whole blade, like a katana (Lucas’s original plan). When your sword weighs nearly nothing, will stop your opponent’s blade so you don’t have to worry it’s too thin to parry with and can cut in any direction 360, nothing anyone has done in any SWars film makes sense. (Except Darth Maul, but Ray Park was on the UK wushu team and I think I sparred against him once. Knocked me to the mat instantly about 10 times. So he gets a pass).
Anyway, Ahsoka wasn’t amazing in eps 1-3, because it looks like ep5 was the whole reason to make it.
Of course it also has space ships flying around like WW2 fighter planes, hand guns that fire “slow light” (with wild inaccuracy), and probably dozens of other things that wouldn’t pass anything more than the most cursory consideration if you stopped to think about it; so I don’t think we should get too worried about whether or not the characters are wielding their lightsabers correctly :)
I think PEW PEW noises are very important in the silent vacuum of space, and am delighted to know that multiple actors ruined multiple takes because they were saying “VOOM VROM” out loud when they had a lightsaber fight.
It is not uncommon for modern performance cars to pump artificial engine sound through the cabin speakers. Why not do this with the weapons and flight systems of an x-wing?
