rone

Negativity and hope, locked in an eternal struggle featuring titty twisters.

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the peripheral rone 10/22 '22

I'm having a tough time enjoying the first two episodes on their own merits.  The departures from the book seem to grate me more than, say, the first season of American Gods (of which i was reminded by the intro sequence, same feel, except for the bit they lifted from The Expanse's intro).

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10/22 '22 12 Comments
Just watched 1 & 2 with Mrs. Waider; we're both quite enjoying it so far. Wifey is particularly taken with the look of the thing. It's been long enough since I read the book that I'm just occasionally wondering what's been changed or left out.

Amusingly, I'd pictured Wilf as an actor I can't quite identify - someone who looks a bit like 90's Quentin Tarantino, but isn't; there's a specific actor I have in my head but can't place him. And this isn't to say "but of course a major character is a white man" - it's more to do with whatever sort of character this actor got stereotypically cast as. I wish I could figure out who exactly it is.
Waider
I envisioned Wilf as looking, well, more weaselly, perhaps more like the actor portraying Daniel. In my mind, Lev's hair should be thinning.
rone
Ha, amusingly https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4878612/mediaviewer/rm555156736 which features the actor portraying Daniel does look a lot what I expected Wilf to look like. Still not the right actor - when facing the camera his face is too long.

I've started rereading the book because I basically couldn't help myself.
Waider
I have eated the book and started in on Agency.

In re: the differences, I think the book takes a bit of time to get to the fact that the future is, like, _the future_. Given that it's a HUGE HOOK I can see why they pulled that right back into the start of the TV series.

I'm also now wondering if that means they'll try to fit the whole book into "Season 1", and keep "Season 2" for Agency? I would like that, if only because it'd preclude this going the way of American Gods.

(I am _so_ disappointed that that ground to a halt.)
Waider
I think they could've spent the first episode as a sort of slow-burn intro to mimic the book's pacing a little, but maybe it would've made a poor pilot.

Changing Wilf from a dodgy PR liar to an assertive fixer still strikes me as off.

AG was such a clusterfuck (and i was into the departures from the book in that case).
rone
Fair call: wild is definitely more of a loser in the book.
Waider
I’m not familiar with either the book or show. Should I be?
Anne Mollo
There are some who say it's the best book Gibson's written. I don't know about that, but I certainly enjoyed it.
Waider
I'd say Agency (its sort-of sequel) is better, but it's quite good. The book does start off a bit slow and maybe confusing. It's near-and-not-so-near scifi.
rone
I read all of William Gibson's novels so I'm biased, but there were a lot of interesting drone and telepresence aspects of The Peripheral. Wheelie Boy was one of the most delightful parts, where a character's presence is largely facilitated by a toy that is an iPad-on-a-stick.
Chris Herdt
iPad-on-a-stick-which-is-a-Segway. It's actually mildly compelling idea that I'd expect to be able to buy on Ali Express or some such.
Waider
You can! https://www.doublerobotics.com/

My department briefly considered buying one for me when I started working remotely in 2015. We couldn't figure out how I would operate the elevators though.
Chris Herdt
 

idiot box rone 7/5 '22

If you have CBS All Access^W^W^WParamount Plus, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is everything you liked about old Star Trek plus all the coolness of the newer Treks.

If you have Showtime, The Man Who Fell to Earth is fantastic.  Chiwetel Ejiofor deserves all the awards.

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7/5 '22 12 Comments
>>>"Chiwetel Ejiofor deserves all the awards"

I've always really liked him.
Matt Lichtenwalner
I've been enjoying Strange New Worlds, too! They keep things just shallow and goofy enough.
Anne Mollo
Also, the captain's pompadour, which the actor has totally committed to, makes me laugh every time. I love it.
Anne Mollo
But I will say, these series "seasons" with only TEN EPISODES are for the birds.
Anne Mollo
This is something that seems to be a trend. I'm assuming it's because they're trying to get out 'seasons' faster to keep up with binge watchers.

But yeah, it's been really sticking in my craw, too. It feels like you're just getting started when it's time to wait for the next season.
Matt Lichtenwalner
I think of 10 episodes as being some kind of complete mini-series. Not stuff that's obviously going to be renewed.
Anne Mollo
Completely agree.
Matt Lichtenwalner
Agreed. Maybe we're spoiled from the 23-episodes era of the past, but it feels more like a movie being wrung out into a short series with filler sometimes. Are these half hour or an hour? I'm guessing an hour. One would hope.
Karen Kuhl
After the super heavy-handedness of "ST Discovery," we've been thoroughly enjoying how "Strange New Worlds" just takes its diversity as a given and incorporates it seamlessly into its story, scenes, and dialogue, without hammering the message home.

Robbb's getting more of the fanservice than I do, but I find that fun as well when I pick up references and in-jokes.

Also, TBH, a lot of TV for me goes in one ear and out the other. I can't remember the particulars of stuff I've seen, almost nothing at all. I joke that my favorite part of any show is its sweet, sweet "previously on" in the beginning. So for myself in particular, I'm very much enjoying how "SNW" is pretty much individual standalone stories every week. Yes, there are character arcs (and we haven't seen the last 3 episodes since we were out of town) and I imagine the show will basically end up being all about Pike and his premonition of death and stuff, but it's nowhere near the complexity that I had a hard time following with "Discovery."

I don't see that we have "The Man Who Fell to Earth" on our cable package right now, but on your rec here I'll put it on my list to watch for when it may come around.
Michele Grant
This is making me very happy. As a long time ST fan, I found Discovery to be overwhelming and am glad there are other options.
Karen Kuhl
Oh, The Old Man is also stellar. It definitely has a lot of twists, and every actor involved is amazing.
rone
Oh good! It’s on my list but I haven’t watched it yet.
Anne Mollo