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Post by Martin Stett on Jan 30, 2023 21:44:10 GMT
Any fans of this? The first episode was pretty strong, although I hope the vast, epic scope becomes a bit more focused as we go. All of the worldbuilding is cool and the three heroes all starting their journeys in much the same way is smart, but the narrative is a bit diffuse simply because we have three stories with no direct connections to each other. It's a shame that a show that appears to have genuine ambition and passion behind it wound up getting swallowed up and wound up being a financial failure.
I'm optimistic. I think this has the potential to be one of the all-time great fantasy stories, so long as the narrative tightens up a bit.
(Scroll Keeper is my surprise favorite character of the first episode: I really hope more is done with him as a "reasonable" villain with seductive, honeyed words.)
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Post by ibbi on Jan 30, 2023 21:52:05 GMT
One of my favourite produced things of the last few years and it broke my fucking heart that the killed it. If I recall correctly I didn't love it that much to begin with, but it just got better and better as it went along.
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VERITAS
New Member
Posts: 239
Likes: 131
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Post by VERITAS on Jan 30, 2023 22:43:30 GMT
My sweet summer child. I miss the hell out of it and resented Netflix for being Netflix after cancelling it...
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Post by Martin Stett on Feb 2, 2023 18:46:08 GMT
After three episodes: I'm enjoying this, BUT...
I think that this show is doing a great job of creating a great high fantasy setting, with a very fun world and a terrific good and evil clash based around enjoyable characters that have a lot of personality.
However, it has been three episodes and not a lot has actually happened. The three plotlines have barely touched each other and the heroes seem to be moving at the whim of the plot. There has not been any point at which a character's decision has had any lasting impact on their character growth - the major "event" so far was the murder, and there was nothing Rian could do about that - and everybody seems to be forced along rails to where the plot needs them to be. Brea's poison has had no consequences, her escaping from the Order of Lesser Service has had even fewer, Rian and Deet's misadventures are just killing time until she can actually forward the narrative in some way. This is not at all a major complaint right now, as the characters are so much fun that I'm not minding how by the numbers the whole thing is. This show has style, the characters are consistent, and there have been no breaks into utter stupidity... in other words, this puts all major Hollywood movies (save for perhaps Fury Road) to shame. Director Louis Leterrier is delivering the best work of his career to make this feel completely alive - here's to hoping his Fast and the Furious movie will replace Vin Diesel with a muppet.
My complaints come from a place of admiration: This is a good show. I want it to be great.
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Post by Martin Stett on Feb 3, 2023 20:41:51 GMT
Episode 4: Looks like they decided to get that plot moving, huh? I do think that the final fifteen minutes are WAAAAAY too fast - there should have been at least one previous episode setting up the bounty hunters, and I'd have preferred that the dreamfasting scene not happen *instantly* - let's get to know these people before they irrevocably change the course of their lives, shall we? - but at least the narrative has gotten going. It should have happened an episode earlier and a lot of development that never happens here should have been moved to previous episodes as well, but I can't complain too much. The dark, violent tone is wonderful (very reminiscent of Dark Souls, my favorite video game), the characters are very enjoyable still. The Aughra scenes were very, very funny and I love that she is being made into a key figure in the story. I'm getting the sneaking suspicion that this is all setup for a truly epic season 2 that never happened, though. Apparently this is based on a series of novels, so if the show ends on a cliffhanger, I may check those out.
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Post by Martin Stett on Feb 6, 2023 20:37:55 GMT
Episode 5:
I could nitpick some small elements of writing that could have been a bit better, but screw it. This is titanic filmmaking. High fantasy at its finest.
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Post by Martin Stett on Feb 9, 2023 21:21:48 GMT
Episode 8: Despite some VERY high points, I'm afraid this has settled into the "very good" category, as opposed to the greatness occasionally promised. The plot is a tad too fast to allow the important, world changing events their proper weight (the alliance between Grot and the Ascendancy happens in five minutes in a very slapdash manner, for example ) and the characters are a lot of fun, but not terribly deep (Deet is the good-hearted soul of the team, Celadon is blinded by her hate, Rian has no personality, etc). They can all be summarized in a single sentence and their actions (save for some of Celadon's) haven't had any real impact on the plot. Nothing the heroes do ever has reverberating consequences, as they have a fortunate ability to find allies wherever they go. The action scenes are terrific - can we please please please have more puppet shows so that they can integrate CGI and animatronics and stop motion into a movie so that it all looks like a piece? - and the narrative is swift and enjoyable. And there are moments of greatness, like the dual funeral scene as two opposing groups of people mourn the same figure. This scratches a high fantasy itch that is especially suited to the long-form television format, but even in this format it is VERY hard to reach greatness. I daresay that fantasy adventure is the single most difficult genre to succeed in without major stumbles (even my favorite fantasy stories have elements that don't fully come together). It is also the genre that is the most effective at getting into my heart, in spite of it all. Even if this show is moving forward waaaay too fast and the characters are not developed enough for me to really care that much about their individual struggles, I still appreciate it aiming for something BIG.
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