7th Station ~TV, movies, games~

[esm]

At that stage in my summer vacation where I spend my evenings and weekends watching Netflix (so that I don't get consumed by work).

Finally got to see the third season of Orange is the New Black. Piper is so boring I'm glad they're focusing less and less on her. Like that "business" she started in this season was really dumb.

Watched all of Freaks and Geeks in about three days. Such an amazing show.

Also all caught up on Pretty Little Liars. Wtf, why am I still watching this show?

[Nayoko-Kihara]

Probably better than the movie's going to be.

[esm]

I've been watching Grey's Anatomy. I just started season 3, and I can't stand Meredith Grey anymore, but I'll keep watching a bit more.

[Nayoko-Kihara]

Did anyone here watch the first episode of "The Bastard Executioner"? I've been on the edge about watching it, and I'm wondering if it's worth the time.

[Celedam]

I'm watching Blake's 7 again. It's been 15+ years since I last watched any of it, and I've never watched all of it straight through.

The same cheap sets and cheesy effects as classic Doctor Who, but with some excellent and often surprisingly mature writing. And of course I love Avon, a fellow INTP.

[resop2]

I have started to re-watch the anime "Red Garden". It's about four girls who go to an elite academy on the northern end of Roosevelt Island. (There is no such academy on the real Roosevelt Island.) One morning the four of them wake up feeling like death warmed over. By the end of the day they find out that no irony was involved.

[Celedam]

I saw The Martian today, with friends. It is excellent.

It's very faithful to the book, albeit somewhat streamlined for time, as most adaptations must be. But perhaps more importantly, it's very smart. It's not dumbed-down at all for a mainstream audience. Plot developments are presented quickly and efficiently, with little exposition or explanation, and the audience is expected to have more than an 8th-grade understanding of math and science in order to keep up. In fact, the movie is even more "show, don't tell" than the book.

Spoilers follow for those who've read the book and wonder what has been changed…

Spoiler: show

The first nine months or so — up to the Hermes' slingshot around Earth to head back to Mars — are taken almost straight from the book. After that is when things get streamlined. There is a "seven months later" jump to the preparations for the road trip to the Ares IV site, and Watney doesn't lose communications with NASA before the trip, so he doesn't lose NASA's help with overland navigation, so he never gets lost or rolls the rover like he does in the book. Altogether, the trip is presented as a rather uneventful montage. It's disappointing, but I can see why it was done.

Also, they changed one of the main running gags from "'70s sitcoms" to "disco music". If you've read the book, you know what I mean. It gives the movie a nifty soundtrack, though.

Anyhow, I hope the movie does well and maybe, possibly, perhaps inspires more interest in manned exploration of space.

[Zunu]

That disco music thing was probably the most annoying aspect of the movie. Especially after Guardians of the Galaxy, I feel like going to the 70s music trough has been done too many times.

Also, considering how faithful their rendition of "zero G" aka microgravity and orbital dynamics were, it was a bit glaring that they completely disregarded Mars's only having 38% Earth gravity in terms of how Watney moved and got around.

I wholeheartedly recommend it though. They totally captured that clever quippy comeraderie of geniuses in their element that infused the book. The spirit of joy and the spirit of danger. It's destined to be a classic.

Spoiler: show

And no "crewmember goes crazy/turns evil/turns into a monster/gets a lethal alien virus" crap that ruined a lot of promising looking films in prior years. I'm looking at you, Sunshine.

[Celedam]

From another thread…

Between the time I asked the question and you responded, I fell asleep while watching a RedLetterMedia video and wound up having a dream where Maisie Williams was speaking in Mr. Plinkett's voice and so, before waking I concluded wow, she is a REALLY butch lesbian these days.

Speaking of RedLetterMedia, here's their reaction to the latest Star Wars trailer…

[Nayoko-Kihara]

Read an article in TV Guide today about a show called "Riverdale" being developed for The CW, based on the "Archie" comics. Except..

Spoiler: show

Archie "got hot", the show is being equated to some weird semi-combination of "Twin Peaks" and "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" in tone, and they're planning an episode that takes inspiration from "The Virgin Suicides".

Not really sure what to think about that.