03-05-2020, 11:12 PM
Necrobump again. But I'm going to stop saying "sorry about that", because sometimes it's warranted dredging an old thread up from the depths. Anyway, I've watched the new seasons of a couple of my favorite sci-fi shows recently, namely:
THE EXPANSE, SEASON 4
It's still very good. Maybe not as good as the first three, as I got a faint "generic sci-fi show" vibe from it, which I never noticed in earlier seasons. Hard to explain exactly what I mean, but I think it boils down to the script not being as tight. There was a little too much of that old Bad things happen, oh no! How will our plucky heroes escape... ? I.e. Holden et al get stuck in an alien structure, with a tsunami coming, and there's slugs there that make you go blind. But they're all fine in the end. All the while the overall plot hasn't moved an inch. So, eeeeh... hopefully season 5 will be better I guess?
ALTERED CARBON, SEASON 2
This one really pissed me off. First season of AC was awesome. Big budget, very stylish, very atmospheric, great characters. Best looking cyberpunk I've seen since Blade Runner. And then season 2 comes along and it's like... I don't know. A shoestring-budget, fan-made sequel? And replacing Joel Kinnaman with Anthony Mackie is just a bad, bad idea. I'm sure Mackie is a capable actor, but he just doesn't have the same screen presence as Kinnaman. Not to mention that his Takeshi Kovacs feels like a completely different character. What happened to the quippy, wisecracking Kovacs?
I'm getting increasingly disappointed with Netflix. With Altered Carbon they were on to something great, but botched it. The Witcher (which people seem to love for some unfathomable reason) feels like a fantasy show made in the 1990's, completely ignoring the strides made by Game of Thrones. If it weren't for the fact that our kids are heavily into Netflix shows, I would cancel my subscription.
THE EXPANSE, SEASON 4
It's still very good. Maybe not as good as the first three, as I got a faint "generic sci-fi show" vibe from it, which I never noticed in earlier seasons. Hard to explain exactly what I mean, but I think it boils down to the script not being as tight. There was a little too much of that old Bad things happen, oh no! How will our plucky heroes escape... ? I.e. Holden et al get stuck in an alien structure, with a tsunami coming, and there's slugs there that make you go blind. But they're all fine in the end. All the while the overall plot hasn't moved an inch. So, eeeeh... hopefully season 5 will be better I guess?
ALTERED CARBON, SEASON 2
This one really pissed me off. First season of AC was awesome. Big budget, very stylish, very atmospheric, great characters. Best looking cyberpunk I've seen since Blade Runner. And then season 2 comes along and it's like... I don't know. A shoestring-budget, fan-made sequel? And replacing Joel Kinnaman with Anthony Mackie is just a bad, bad idea. I'm sure Mackie is a capable actor, but he just doesn't have the same screen presence as Kinnaman. Not to mention that his Takeshi Kovacs feels like a completely different character. What happened to the quippy, wisecracking Kovacs?
I'm getting increasingly disappointed with Netflix. With Altered Carbon they were on to something great, but botched it. The Witcher (which people seem to love for some unfathomable reason) feels like a fantasy show made in the 1990's, completely ignoring the strides made by Game of Thrones. If it weren't for the fact that our kids are heavily into Netflix shows, I would cancel my subscription.
