Downtown Khazan: Ice Cold Utopia

[Guy1]

Classic.

[bruceleegreyhulk]

[Beadle]

I like that it's trying to be more topical myself, gives the show a little more bite. Goes along with the production values being pushed in a more interesting and not-BBC-standard kind of direction. I think they are pushing the boat out a bit more which is having more success with me than failure. There were some edits in the second episode that were just... odd...? There was some really cool camera work but some shots just didn't hang together correctly.

Yeah, they’re working the glitches out with the new production values and, as I said, I’m liking that part of it. But I don’t want or need preaching at (even if I agree with the messages), and even if they do want to get some important messages across, I think they could do it with a bit more originality.

And does it need ‘more bite’? If I want biting social commentary, I’m not going to watch Dr Who for it. With that show I just want to be entertained.

Though I do agree that the Trump analogy from this evening was a bit too blunt.

Oh, hell yeah. I mean I may despise the man’s values as much as anybody, but that shit was plastered on with a trowel.

The lecture angle being a complaint is slightly amusing to me as OG Who, as in William Hartnell, was more an educational programme at its inception that developed sci-fi elements as the show went on.

Well, yes. It did. But it’s not what the show has been for the vast majority of its life. That’s a bit like being asked about Blackadder and saying that Edmund is the idiot, Baldric is the smart one and the show struggles with very clunky, hit-and-miss humour. Because that’s what the first series was, but it certainly wasn’t the case from Blackadder 2 onwards.

Sometimes a show shifts and outgrows where it started.

Overall, it feels like Who to me. For context, I am more an old school Who fan than a new school fan and I've been very on and off with the modern stuff over the years. Jodie Whittaker is doing an excellent job being The Doctor and I've enjoyed and been mostly entertained by what I've seen thus far.

I’ve enjoyed both eras in varying degrees (well, except Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy, but I’m sure we’ll disagree on McCoy). Remember, I’m old as balls, so I started watching Dr Who back when Tom Baker was in the role.

i got no problems with the direction of DW. as a black man in the south, "rosa" hit a bit close to home, since my folks experienced some of this kind of racism first hand. and they handled it well.

haven't seen the new ep yet.

Oh, no question they handled it well (I was very impressed with that) and it’s something that deserves attention. I wouldn’t even mind if it were one episode in isolation, but I just don’t think it’s the right forum for a weekly sermon.

[Froggy]

I did like that the episode touched on modern times as well

And I hate Dr Manhattan is a thing still

[Froggy]

Every time Trevor Belmont's not on screen doing cool shit, I found myself asking, "Where's Trevor?"

Then every time the whip moves I remember that was probably a weekend for the animation team.

lol good point, but he was mad entertaining even when he wasn’t doing cool shit. Talking trash lmao

i do think this season isn't flawless, (same can be said for the first season), but i still like this season of castlevania.

didn't expect Isaac and Hector to show up but it was nice to see them.

carmilla got some great character development.

the dynamic between sypha, trevor and alucard was good too.

and this version of dracula might be my favorite one. he was both powerful and vulnerable. a man driven by vengence, grief, and depression.

also, that final fight was great. and if you didn't hum along with their version of "bloody tears", something is wrong with you.

also this little bit:

sypha: stop acting like children! (walks away)

trevor: well, eat shit and die.

alucard: yes, fuck you too.

the banter was great and considering it’s warren Ellis, no surprise. The ending for alucard hit too

I definitely need to catch up on Castlevania.

Anybody think they'll eventually get up to SotN?

They’ve kinda incorporated different games it seems, even bough it has the castlevania 3 basis

[Sharpandpointies]

Getting a bit annoyed with Dr Who now.

I like that it's trying to be more topical myself, gives the show a little more bite.

Overall, it feels like Who to me. For context, I am more an old school Who fan than a new school fan and I've been very on and off with the modern stuff over the years. Jodie Whittaker is doing an excellent job being The Doctor and I've enjoyed and been mostly entertained by what I've seen thus far.

I've been waiting for it to come out on DVD (or Netflix), due to the usual subtitling issues, but having heard about the last episode (SPIDERS) I'll pass. Unless they're totally CGI'd, I couldn't watch it at all.

[Nik Hasta]

Yeah, they’re working the glitches out with the new production values and, as I said, I’m liking that part of it. But I don’t want or need preaching at (even if I agree with the messages), and even if they do want to get some important messages across, I think they could do it with a bit more originality.

And does it need ‘more bite’? If I want biting social commentary, I’m not going to watch Dr Who for it. With that show I just want to be entertained.

Speaking personally, a piece of fiction having something to say only makes it more enjoyable to me. I enjoy harmless fluff but stuff that actually has an intention behind it resonates with me more. Also, it is primarily a show for children who don't know about the sort of things that you and I take for granted. Take the Rosa episode, I like that it is pointing out that racism is a pervasive and dangerous thing that still exists today, kids should be aware of that. The part with Ryan and Yaz talking about their experiences with bigotry in the modern day was nice but it felt a little constructed, I would have liked that to be weaved in a little more neatly but I'd rather they speak bluntly than not speak at all.

Well, yes. It did. But it’s not what the show has been for the vast majority of its life. That’s a bit like being asked about Blackadder and saying that Edmund is the idiot, Baldric is the smart one and the show struggles with very clunky, hit-and-miss humour. Because that’s what the first series was, but it certainly wasn’t the case from Blackadder 2 onwards.

Sometimes a show shifts and outgrows where it started.

My point was less that it should be held to the original flavour inception, as you say the franchise is far beyond that now. But my point was more that it is amusing that the show has come a bit full circle in some respects.

I’ve enjoyed both eras in varying degrees (well, except Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy, but I’m sure we’ll disagree on McCoy). Remember, I’m old as balls, so I started watching Dr Who back when Tom Baker was in the role.

I liked both McCoy and Colin Baker myself. ^_^

My first Doctor was 3 back when the BBC was just rerunning a lot of old Who in the 90s.

Oh, no question they handled it well (I was very impressed with that) and it’s something that deserves attention. I wouldn’t even mind if it were one episode in isolation, but I just don’t think it’s the right forum for a weekly sermon.

I mean, we've had four episodes so far. Two have been run-of-the-mill Doctor Who stuff (01 and 02) Rosa was a historical education episode and had a clear political point to make (though I can't say I think "racism is bad," is not really something that's outside of Doctor Who's wheelhouse as far as messages go. Episode 04 had a Trump analogue which was a bit on the nose satire but didn't make as much of a political point beyond all life being deserving of respect and dignity which again is hardly sermonising when it comes to Doctor Who. Next episode looks to be some kind of horror based thing.

Obviously, you feel how you feel but I do feel you're perhaps overreacting a little; there's one explicitly "political" episode and a satire of Trump in four episodes. It's hardly a weekly thing at this point.

I've been waiting for it to come out on DVD (or Netflix), due to the usual subtitling issues, but having heard about the last episode (SPIDERS) I'll pass. Unless they're totally CGI'd, I couldn't watch it at all.

They are all CGI, albeit pretty good CGI. That episode might well be worth skipping for you.

[Sharpandpointies]

How good is good? Are we talking 'Harry Potter' good? 'Shelob' good? Or better?

Because those ones, they didn't 'bug' me (haha).

[Nik Hasta]

How good is good? Are we talking 'Harry Potter' good? 'Shelob' good? Or better?

Because those ones, they didn't 'bug' me (haha).

Hard to say. There's a lot more of them in quite clear light and I think they move reasonably well. Looking at Shelob I think they felt more convincingly spiders because they are meant to be just big spiders rather than like malevolently intelligent big spiders.

It's kind of a... subjective statement maybe? I think they looked pretty convincing but I don't have arachnophobia so I don't know what triggers it.

[Sharpandpointies]

Hard to say. There's a lot more of them in quite clear light and I think they move reasonably well. Looking at Shelob I think they felt more convincingly spiders because they are meant to be just big spiders rather than like malevolently intelligent big spiders.

It's kind of a... subjective statement maybe? I think they looked pretty convincing but I don't have arachnophobia so I don't know what triggers it.

Maybe I'll pass, just to be sure. Or wait until something pops up on Youtube and watch a tiny bit through squinted eyes to see if it triggers.

It's weird and, as I understand, different for everyone (Wavemaninawe, for example, freaked out at Shelob). For me, it's a combination of 'shape' and 'movement'. Needs both. Bigger and hairier, the more reaction. More movement, more reaction. But if I see a CGI spider sitting on a screen, I start to get the cold sweats...then it starts to move and my brain says 'Not Spider' and I relax, instantly. Happened with Shelob, happened with the HP spiders -- it's fascinating having everyone else in the room making gross-out noises, while I'm sitting there staring at the screen and thinking 'Nothing. Nothing at all! This is incredible!'. Weird. They haven't yet been able to make them move perfectly, I guess. YET.

I see something black moving out of the corner of my eye, I freeze, my brain reviews the movement, and maybe says 'Not spider' and I relax, or says 'Maybe spider' and I need to check, or says 'Definitely spider' and I get some distance THEN check. Insects don't tend to get the same reaction because they don't move at all like spiders do.

Amusingly, Jumping Spiders get little to no reaction from me; I think they're cute, and can even look at close-up photos of them so long as the photo doesn't take me by surprise. 1. They don't move 'right' (they 'scurry' and hop, rather than scuttling...I don't know if that makes sense, but it's how it is). 2. They're really small. 3. (and this is important for the photo part) They have big binocular-style eyes for targeting when they jump on something, so they don't even LOOK quite like spiders do, close up. I still get frissons down the back looking at the photos, but I can appreciate them for being cute. And colourful.

When I lived in a townhouse, I went into the garage one day just after moving, and something BIG and black moved in the corner of my eye. I didn't even look, because the brain was screaming 'that's the right kind of movement, but why is it so gigantic?' I hurried into the house, told my wife. She thought I was exaggerating, went into the garage, came back into the house white as a sheet. "That's the biggest spider I've ever seen, outside of in a pet store!"

So she tore apart the garage while I was at work (she was off that day) and finally found it, put it in a container (*gibbers uncontrollably*, HOW?), and released it into the wild...because she knew if she DIDN'T find it, I would never, ever be able to sleep in that house. Maybe not the best idea for biodiversity; it's possible it was a Wharf Spider (we get them big hereabouts -- no, I don't mean Wolf Spider, they're related but hang around wharves and are quite a bit larger, ugh), but it's equally possible it was something tropical that had hidden in the banana boxes we had. Either way, she says it was about 3/4 the size of a pet-store tarantula. Ugh. That's big. Glad I didn't look.

We haven't heard of plagues of tropical spiders in the area where I used to live, so nothing horrid came of it.

...my wife is awesome, in case I haven't mentioned this recently.

PS - for anyone who thinks it would now be hilarious to post a photo of a spider...1. It's not. 2. It is (or was, probably still is) a ban-able offence to deliberately try to trigger someone's mental health issues. Just sayin', because it has happened before, ha-ha. -_-

[Nik Hasta]

It's very interesting how phobias manifest and suchlike.

On that note, though, you might want to skip the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina that came out on Netflix recently. While it is very good so far, there's a highly unpleasant sequence involving a lot of spiders in the first episode that you might not be okay with.

[Sharpandpointies]

It's very interesting how phobias manifest and suchlike.

I'd find it absolutely fascinating were I not afflicted with one. As it is, 'very interesting' still covers it nicely. ^_^

On that note, though, you might want to skip the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina that came out on Netflix recently. While it is very good so far, there's a highly unpleasant sequence involving a lot of spiders in the first episode that you might not be okay with.

Thank you, sir. I was looking at it and thinking 'Hm', but that seals the 'no-deal'. Appreciate the warning.

[Iron_Twister]

Watched The Night Comes For Us.

...God damn, I cringed a lot in this one.

[Farealmer]

Maybe I'll pass, just to be sure. Or wait until something pops up on Youtube and watch a tiny bit through squinted eyes to see if it triggers.

It's weird and, as I understand, different for everyone (Wavemaninawe, for example, freaked out at Shelob). For me, it's a combination of 'shape' and 'movement'. Needs both. Bigger and hairier, the more reaction. More movement, more reaction. But if I see a CGI spider sitting on a screen, I start to get the cold sweats...then it starts to move and my brain says 'Not Spider' and I relax, instantly. Happened with Shelob, happened with the HP spiders -- it's fascinating having everyone else in the room making gross-out noises, while I'm sitting there staring at the screen and thinking 'Nothing. Nothing at all! This is incredible!'. Weird. They haven't yet been able to make them move perfectly, I guess. YET.

I see something black moving out of the corner of my eye, I freeze, my brain reviews the movement, and maybe says 'Not spider' and I relax, or says 'Maybe spider' and I need to check, or says 'Definitely spider' and I get some distance THEN check. Insects don't tend to get the same reaction because they don't move at all like spiders do.

Amusingly, Jumping Spiders get little to no reaction from me; I think they're cute, and can even look at close-up photos of them so long as the photo doesn't take me by surprise. 1. They don't move 'right' (they 'scurry' and hop, rather than scuttling...I don't know if that makes sense, but it's how it is). 2. They're really small. 3. (and this is important for the photo part) They have big binocular-style eyes for targeting when they jump on something, so they don't even LOOK quite like spiders do, close up. I still get frissons down the back looking at the photos, but I can appreciate them for being cute. And colourful.

I might have to quote this in the future on other places if people ask about my fear of spiders. Perfect description of how I feel about it.

[The Dog]

Ben Cooper brand "Daredevil" costume (totally not a Batman mask painted orange with "DD" emblazoned on the forehead).

And here's more Ben Cooper costume madness.