Tag Archives: Television

The Saga Continues

Salaam!

So it’s out. Been talking about it with friends and following the discourse on twitter and sufficient velocity since I saw it, and have been thinking about it more or less non-stop as well. I knew I wanted to write something pretty much immediately, even if I wasn’t sure what exactly it was. Was kind of averse to doing so because of the entire horrible discourse issue.

But I’ve been a fan of Star Wars since I was a kid, and while recent events haven’t marked the end of that they’ve marked a definite metamorphosis. I’m twenty-six, not exactly old enough to have watched the originals in movies, but my dad showed them to me and my brother when we were pretty young and they’re old favorites. I’m pretty sure I caught all of the prequels in movies and have fond memories of playing Rogue Squadron on Gamecube, reading EU comics and books, following the Tartakovsky animated series in the leadup to episode 3, and more-or-less twenty years of accumulated fandom.

And while that doesn’t make me different than most other western Scifi nerds, it’s still enough that I don’t think I can just turn up the chance to write this article.

So let’s talk about the Mandalorian! Read the rest of this entry

An Offering of Scares

Netflix has been attempting to become a studio as well as a streaming service and have been pushing ever-more netflix-produced content to the fore as well. The quality’s varied wildly, with a few gems of filmmaking and television mixed into an enormous amount of false starts.

Personally, I’ve been on a horror binge lately. I am an absolute coward and used to be terrified of the genre, but a few friends have eased me into it and now I can’t get enough of the stuff. Netflix’s regular trickle of new horror pieces is a great source of new scares, and I find myself revisiting it regularly.

So with that in mind let’s talk about some of Netflix’s horror entries. Korean television drama Kingdom, creature feature The Monster, and Final Destination-esque black comedy Velvet Buzzsaw.

Read the rest of this entry

Benioff, Weiss, and the Illusion of Writing

Nothing in a work of fiction happens because “that’s the character’s personality” or “that’s the way the world works” or “it’s just logical”, it happens because the writer chose for it to happen. The writer’s trick is disguising this. In presenting a story that is seamless enough that the truth is not realized or does not matter. This illusion is verisimilitude and it requires significant investment to maintain.

George RR Martin was a master of it. Ned’s death, the Red Wedding, the ever more racist narrative of Essos all clearly fit in the world. Plot developments might surprise but are clear results of the actions and motivations of the characters. Regardless of what you thought of the content, the events seem to be the clear consequences of actions taken rather than Martin just deciding what was going to happen next.

Benioff and Weiss (Occasionally called D&D) are not. And that gap in their skillset torpedoed the final season of Game of Thrones. It disappointed millions and ruined the reputation of a series previously considered the height of prestige TV.

But for us, that failure is a great learning opportunity. One that’ll involve spoilers, but if that bothers you, consider this your warning. Read the rest of this entry

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