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Shooting Blanks posted:Penny I think they also generally got right lurksion fucked around with this message at 07:10 on Jan 27, 2016 |
# ? Jan 27, 2016 07:06 |
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# ? May 13, 2024 06:45 |
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At its heart The Magicians is a pretty depressing book and a big part of that is finding out that magic is not just waving a wand and saying a few words, but a tough and gruelling process. So far the series just seems like a generic low budget fantasy show with pretty people, all the flavour is gone.
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# ? Jan 27, 2016 08:30 |
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Shooting Blanks posted:Eh, I think they kind of nailed Eliot's character - his mannerisms weren't what I expected, but they got the aloofness down pat. Penny I think they also generally got right. Everyone else - bleh. The Expanse is pretty good, and gives me hope they won't completely drop the ball on Hyperion. The Magicians, not so much. Will keep watching but this episode was a pretty solid 4/10.
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# ? Jan 27, 2016 08:58 |
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Team Darkside is really killing it. Level 50 girl is a total bad rear end.
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# ? Jan 27, 2016 09:01 |
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Oasx posted:At its heart The Magicians is a pretty depressing book and a big part of that is finding out that magic is not just waving a wand and saying a few words, but a tough and gruelling process. So far the series just seems like a generic low budget fantasy show with pretty people, all the flavour is gone. And apart of that I think they are diminishing the depressed main character angle, which is the pillar of the first book (and how magic isn't going to fix his psychological problems). .
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# ? Jan 27, 2016 09:34 |
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Rocksicles posted:Team Darkside is really killing it. Level 50 girl is a total bad rear end. Level 50 girl terrified the living poo poo out of me because she looks EXACTLY like an ex of mine. I actually went to the IMDB page to make sure it wasn't her.
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# ? Jan 27, 2016 09:51 |
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Pompous Rhombus posted:The Expanse is pretty good, and gives me hope they won't completely drop the ball on Hyperion. Pretty good? The Expanse is shaping up to being one of the greatest scifi shows ever.
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# ? Jan 27, 2016 13:16 |
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gohmak posted:Pretty good? The Expanse is shaping up to being one of the greatest scifi shows ever. I think it is decent so far, but it is only barely interesting enough for me to keep watching, but it is certainly good to have a solid science fiction show on tv.
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# ? Jan 27, 2016 14:04 |
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So far there are no likeable characters in this show, everyone is a piece of poo poo. I guess thats the point maybe?
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# ? Jan 27, 2016 17:39 |
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Pwnstar posted:So far there are no likeable characters in this show, everyone is a piece of poo poo. I guess thats the point maybe? That would be keeping the spirit of the books. Actually there is one likable character in the books who isn't in the show.
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# ? Jan 27, 2016 17:51 |
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geeves posted:That would be keeping the spirit of the books. Actually there is one likable character in the books who isn't in the show. Yeah, where the gently caress is Josh And who the gently caress is this new "Katie" person they replaced him with??
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# ? Jan 27, 2016 23:52 |
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Hedrigall posted:Yeah, where the gently caress is Josh And what are they going to do with Penny? The Beast didn't kill Amanda, so why would we think The Beast would bite off Penny's hands?
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# ? Jan 28, 2016 06:09 |
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Oasx posted:I really hated the first episode because of pacing issues and stupid story changes, this one was a little better but i think it is pretty clear that The Magicians is never going to be a good show. STAC Goat posted:I like the basic idea, I'm glad they glossed past "orientation" and right into the stories for both characters, it just could have been handled better. gohmak posted:Pretty good? The Expanse is shaping up to being one of the greatest scifi shows ever. Pwnstar posted:So far there are no likeable characters in this show, everyone is a piece of poo poo. I guess thats the point maybe? Some other thoughts:
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# ? Jan 28, 2016 17:01 |
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I'm waiting for this show to start getting better. It did have a few good moments such as the Beast scene but the rest of it has so many weaknesses.
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# ? Jan 28, 2016 18:17 |
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Tiggum posted:My suggestion would be to cut most of episode one and just introduce us at the point where the protagonist is already at magic school. I honestly don't think you'd have a harder time following this starting at episode two than at episode one. This episode was just so much easier to follow and actually introduced characters and plot elements in ways that worked, whereas episode one just jumps from one thing to another so fast you don't know what's important or how anything relates to anything else. I think if they had like thrown the whole seance/beast attack storyline in before Julia's party then it would have worked fine. Have the attack happen and Q freaking out that he's going to get expelled, have Julia's boyfriend call about the party and guilt him into going, then have him encounter Julia, find out she remembers, and try to talk her into giving it up. Not only would it have established a longer timeline and made his stay at the school feel longer but it also would have sort of justified him being kind of a dick friend and not really dealing with Julia being a mess because he was too preoccupied with his own guilt about calling the beast, the horror of it, and his fear he was getting expelled. Q saying "You don't want to go there, you don't know what horrible poo poo happens there, I'm going to get kicked out anyway because I hosed up and people got hurt" would have played better than "school's hard and I might flunk out, so just forget it." Then you end the first episode with Q barely staying in school and Julia starting down her independent study path. That might have required a 90 minute pilot or something but it probably would have been smoother. But whatever. What's done is done. Pilots are rarely flawless.
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# ? Jan 28, 2016 19:05 |
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Tiggum posted:Meh. It's no Farscape or Lexx. It's OK, but I'm not particularly invested in any of the characters or the story at this stage. That was pretty much what I said to a friend who keeps touting it as the best SF show ever. Plus you know, BSG, B5, DS9.
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# ? Jan 28, 2016 19:11 |
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After watching the second episode I think I'm down for giving this show some rope. You just have to decide to not consider it an adaptation of the books, but as its own thing. It really feels like an adaptation in name only, the very general broad strokes are the same, the characters are mostly the same, but all the plot points are mixed up/changed so it's basically an entire different story. I'm still kind of hoping for a reveal that this is an earlier iteration of Jane's timeline fuckery, that would redeem everything IMO
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# ? Jan 28, 2016 19:27 |
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Man, I couldn't even stand Farscape or BSG. Different strokes I guess.
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# ? Jan 28, 2016 19:27 |
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Lexx, lmao, okay buddy. STAC Goat posted:But whatever. What's done is done. Pilots are rarely flawless. Not SF, but if you want an example of a great pilot, Eastbound & Down nails it as far as establishing characters/expectations by showing and not telling, as well as being funny as hell to boot.
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# ? Jan 28, 2016 21:27 |
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So I was travelling for work and listening to some old Bob Edwards podcasts, as you do, and had the one with Lev Grossman right after Magician's Land came out and Bob asked him about the tv deal and he was like, "Fox bought the rights and they had a fantastic script, then it went nowhere and they reverted to me. Then Syfy got them and they had an ok script...so now we're casting. I'm listed as 'creative consultant' so it pretty much means they can listen then ignore me." It's a great interview though, he talks a lot about the themes of the book (though they are fairly explicit) and the show really seems to be almost in the face of them.
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# ? Jan 28, 2016 22:12 |
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Danger posted:So I was travelling for work and listening to some old Bob Edwards podcasts, as you do, and had the one with Lev Grossman right after Magician's Land came out and Bob asked him about the tv deal and he was like, "Fox bought the rights and they had a fantastic script, then it went nowhere and they reverted to me. Then Syfy got them and they had an ok script...so now we're casting. I'm listed as 'creative consultant' so it pretty much means they can listen then ignore me." I guess that would explain why things such as the tone and themes for the TV series feel off.
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# ? Jan 28, 2016 22:31 |
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odiv posted:Man, I couldn't even stand Farscape or BSG. Different strokes I guess. BSG had a good 1.5 seasons. The Expanse better. gohmak fucked around with this message at 00:45 on Jan 29, 2016 |
# ? Jan 29, 2016 00:42 |
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The third episode airs tonight. I'm hoping that they get better with the pacing. I'm rather glad we haven't yet seen Fillory. Although I dislike the collusion of the Dean and Jane. It makes Quentin too much into ~*~The Chosen One~*~ and I really, really miss Josh. Katie seems like the moody female replacement for him purely to show Penny's body (not complaining about that part) and to make sure we know he's sensitive and heterosexual. Penny's sexcapades make Elliott look even more gay. And they need to give Elliott and Margot/Janet some character development besides "ha ha ha we're bitchy!" I wonder if they'll head to Brakebills South in this episode. There's no way they aren't going to show that, it's one of the most famous parts of the books. Mouse Dresser fucked around with this message at 02:00 on Feb 2, 2016 |
# ? Feb 1, 2016 22:31 |
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Heads, up, you've got a pretty big spoiler outside of tags there.
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# ? Feb 1, 2016 22:33 |
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Mouse Dresser posted:The third episode airs tonight. I'm hoping that they get better with the pacing. The episode titles are on Wikipedia and the 7th (out of 11) is about Mayakovsky, so that's when Brakebills South will happen probably. I've been kind of down on these first two episodes but I could see it picking up if they can get the pacing issues under control after this.
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# ? Feb 1, 2016 22:34 |
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i hope they show foxes banging
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# ? Feb 2, 2016 00:02 |
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dangerdoom volvo posted:i hope they show foxes banging I feel like the next-day response on Fox would be worth it
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# ? Feb 2, 2016 00:03 |
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dangerdoom volvo posted:i hope they show foxes banging They'll probably show them sniffing the Alice fox will have glasses and a bow so we know it's a girl/her and then slowly pan over to a snow drift while soft music plays.
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# ? Feb 2, 2016 02:02 |
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Did... Did they make Elliott straight?
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# ? Feb 2, 2016 03:38 |
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Kind of rearranging story bits here.Cast Iron Brick posted:Did... Did they make Elliott straight? No, last week he mentioned that if Quentin got kicked out and mind erased he'd find him and seduce him to give him something to remember at least.
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# ? Feb 2, 2016 03:38 |
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Oh, okay. This episode seems far better paced than before. I'm curious who's going to get interdimensional travel since Penny is psychic now. E: so that's how. While I have more confidence from this episode, the choice to make everyone pretty and put together makes a lot of the beats not land as well. Julia not being a burnout junky and instead just kind of being handed her hedgewitchdom makes her plea to Quentin seem really flat. Sure there was talk of turning tricks for spells, but everyone in the safe house was wearing designer suits and tops. It feels like every angle of this thing was taken in name only. Cast Iron Brick fucked around with this message at 04:10 on Feb 2, 2016 |
# ? Feb 2, 2016 03:45 |
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The bits with Charlie were pretty decent, it is the first time that the show has shown glimpses of what makes the book good. Too bad that the rest of it is so bland, nothing feels special or important, it is just pretty people going to school.
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# ? Feb 2, 2016 11:49 |
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Cast Iron Brick posted:
Well, they did show Julia doing a spell at the ATM that suddenly dispenses a lot of money. So that explains the designer clothes. The lead hedgewitch going from the hoodie and jeans look to the over the top runway gear makes me so angry, and I don't know why. Can't ANYONE in this show just look like a regular loving person? I don't mind Penny's getups, and Quentin looks fairly average. Elliott having the outfits makes sense, and I guess Margot/Janet makes sense, too. But loving hell, can we get even some of the background extras in jeans and t-shirts? Katie's outfits bother me the most. LOOK SHE'S SEXY AND EDGY!
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# ? Feb 3, 2016 01:37 |
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Yeah but she was head bitch in New York, for starters.
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# ? Feb 3, 2016 02:37 |
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Mouse Dresser posted:Well, they did show Julia doing a spell at the ATM that suddenly dispenses a lot of money. So that explains the designer clothes. Well, they actually have this scene in the books, but it's used thematically in a very different place to much better effect. Come to think of it, this statement is also my description of the entire show so far.
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# ? Feb 3, 2016 03:25 |
All critical analysis or whatever aside, Elliott is awesome and Penny and Quentin's interactions are hilarious. Maybe it's just because my expectations were rock bottom at the outset, but I'm really enjoying this show. If I'd read the books, I imagine that I'd be less forgiving. This is the first fantasy adaptation I've watched where I haven't read the source material first! It's a weird feeling. CainsDescendant fucked around with this message at 06:25 on Feb 3, 2016 |
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# ? Feb 3, 2016 05:55 |
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CainsDescendant posted:All critical analysis or whatever aside, Elliott is awesome and Penny and Quentin's interactions are hilarious. Maybe it's just because my expectations were rock bottom at the outset, but I'm really enjoying this show. I'm a fan of the books, warts and all, and I'm enjoying the show because my expectations are also very low and I watch it knowing that it will only generally resemble the books with many details reorganized to work on TV, which I totally understand. I'm entertained enough to keep watching it and as the show goes on I think they are getting better at showing how hard and dangerous real magic can be, which was most obvious in tonight's episode. I think the casting of Quentin, Eliot and Penny are great but not really sold on the ladies. Julia is ok but I find the actress looks more sleepy than sad in all the scenes where she is on the verge of tears (which is often the way they've written her) and Alice is just not a good fit. The perfect Margo/Janet to me is Lizzy Caplan in Mean Girls but they really haven't had enough for Margo to do so far to figure out how this version of the character should be played. el oso fucked around with this message at 06:39 on Feb 3, 2016 |
# ? Feb 3, 2016 06:37 |
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I liked the Emily Greenstreet scene and the flashback to Charlie. I wish they had made her more deformed looking, like a Picasso rendered in real life, a real Cronenberg horrorshow. It was cool to see Charlie go up in blue flames, but a pity the special effects budget is so low that they couldn't make him look like that all the time. Niffins are supposed to be made of blue fire, constantly floating, and they're smaller than their original bodies, like a person at 3/4ths scale. Also, naked, which I suppose they wouldn't be able to show on TV. It bothers me that the TV writers made up a "Niffin Box" that can so easily bind them. They're supposed to be as powerful as minor gods--the best you can do is try to run. I agree with the other criticisms posters in this thread have made. I really love the books. They're a lot like a fantasy version of The Venture Brothers in the sense that they focus on how people fail to achieve happiness even with superpowers and how fairy tales are horrifying if you actually had to live in one. This TV show seems to be ignoring what made the books so clever and insightful, in favor of giving us some generic fantasy show with attractive young people acting edgy. I 75% hate this show. But since it's supposed to be adapting my favorite fantasy novels, I'll keep watching it to see the other glimpses of book-accurate cool moments interspersed between the poo poo they keep making up out of whole cloth.
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# ? Feb 3, 2016 21:51 |
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I have zero problem with the off brand magicians all having fancy clothes. Like, if a bunch of people were being taught magic and questionable morals than I would completely expect their first act to be stealing money from ATMs. And if I was some power tripping magician trying to build a gang I'd probably seek out pretty people with their poo poo together over a bunch of losers in sweats and flip flops. Seems to make sense for people who are focused on power and personal gain over all else. And Julia looks plenty strung out to me. I'm glad that they're not overdoing it and making her full on junkie. She looks exhausted and ragged like she's spending every waking minute playing with magic and neglecting everything including sleep. That's playing better for me than if she was itching or some silly junkie hint. I was actually struck during that Julia/Quentin scene that Julia looked SO much worse than she did back at the start of the show. And then lying to her boyfriend in a way that seems harmless enough but its probably the next step towards abusing magic and betraying people sold for me. My only major complaint at the moment is I don't like Quentin at all, and that's kind of a problem since he's the main character. His constant condescending dismissal of Julia is a huge part of that, but I guess at least he kind of realized he was a dick later. But it also doesn't help that he seems to be the only person on the show who I'm not convinced can do magic.
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# ? Feb 3, 2016 22:26 |
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# ? May 13, 2024 06:45 |
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dangerdoom volvo posted:i hope they show foxes banging Having read 2 of the books (and hating the second) this is my chief hope for the show. Actually I haven't minded it so far, but it also hasn't yet devolved into my alternate title for the books - Jersey Shore: Hogwarts Edition.
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# ? Feb 3, 2016 22:52 |