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The creators have even joked about the show being a sequel to a non-existent one called 'No Need For Greg'. The in medias res feel is actually pretty common with a certain generation of shows, DuckTales and Rick and Morty come to mind. The Venture Bros as an older example, too, older seasoned adventures who've been doing this for way too long contrasted with young and less experienced (and less jaded) kids.
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Sep 13, 2022 06:05
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E: ^^^ I never had any problem following the basic premise of any of those shows though. For example Venture Brothers has insanely deep lore that you learn organically over time but even in the first couple episodes I never found myself wondering why Brock was there or if Hank and Dean were related to Dr Venture.Ghost Leviathan posted:Yeah, the beginning is pretty rough in general. That said, the whole series almost is basically an exercise in slowly filling in backstory, as it's new to Steven, and sometimes other characters. Was quite the experience watching at the time and putting the pieces together, a shocking amount of stuff is foreshadowed from incredibly early on. I agree and in general I enjoy that aspect of the show. My problem is that a lot of stuff is kept secret that literally everybody in the show (including Steven) knows. For example the fact that Steven was living with his dad in his van up until a few months before Gem Glow was a super important fact that explains a lot of the Gem's behavior, but this isn't explained until they get to that short where baby Steven writes the opening theme. The dynamic between him, his dad, and the Gems changes a LOT depending on if he's been living with the gems for a decade vs only 2 months. I don't have a problem with ambiguity or discovering the world as the protagonist does (for example, we don't need to know about the Diamonds, homeworld or Amethyst's backstory right away) but I should at least grasp the basic premise of the show as understood by the protagonist at the end of the first few episodes. E: Didn't realize we had a new watcher so I spoilered some stuff. readingatwork fucked around with this message at 06:39 on Sep 13, 2022 |
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Sep 13, 2022 06:19
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Careful on spoilers there given we're responding to a new watcher. They haven't even had the 'gems are from another planet' reveal yet.
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Sep 13, 2022 06:36
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Venture Bros. is helped that it's a distinct genre parody of a very specific show, there's not a lot for people to question because for a lot of those kinds of shows, there was never actually any origin story or development. The audience can just accept "this is just how things are" for a while before the writers have to start filling in poo poo on their own. Having to establish that kind of thing from scratch without using the framing of an existing structure is a bit more challenging.
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Sep 13, 2022 06:38
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There's like multiple levels of in media res, I feel. New Ducktales starts sort of in media res, but you immediately pick up on the dynamics of the show in the first five or so minutes (here's Donald, he's raising his nephews, he lives on a boat because he's Donald Duck, he's unemployed because he's Donald Duck, his uncle is mind-bogglingly rich.) Steven Universe meanwhile just throws you in headfirst and takes it's sweet time establishing how...any of the show works.
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Sep 13, 2022 06:59
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Steven Universe is meant to be from Steven's perspective, not just in the literal "Steven is our window to the world" sense, but in terms of his curiosity and understanding. He's a young child when the show starts and doesn't think his life is all that unusual, so we get episodes about things a young child in a beach town would be interested in - games, music, summer fun, the cool superhero team he wants to be on. If he's not curious about something, the show's lens doesn't focus on it. Part of the show's arc is him maturing into a deeper curiosity about the world, but it does wonders for the texture and richness of the show's world that it isn't presented as a breathless infodump. Instead it puts you in Steven's shoes and asks you to empathise with him. That empathy makes the conflicts and mysteries on the border of Steven's perception more intriguing, I think. I know some people find him annoying in the early episodes, but like, he's a kid. You gotta try to relate and not just ask your hero's journey protagonist to be immediately hypercompetent.
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Sep 13, 2022 07:03
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Let us know how that goes as you watch, Larryb, it's always neat to hear how these experiences go in new viewers.
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Sep 13, 2022 07:39
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Steven Universe as a show is sometimes a bit hamstringed by one of it's main rules that Steven himself almost always has to be present in person unless it's a flashback or story being told by another character Similarly some of the celebrity stunt casting choices for characters ends up backfiring hard especially for poor Opal and Sugilite, they got really lucky that Estelle remained highly available for Garnet for the most part(and that probably influenced Garnet's whole "cool and quiet woman of few words" personality a lot more than anyone working on the show would probably ever want to openly admit)
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Sep 13, 2022 08:02
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drrockso20 posted:Steven Universe as a show is sometimes a bit hamstringed by one of it's main rules that Steven himself almost always has to be present in person unless it's a flashback or story being told by another character I have a feeling from her con appearences that Estelle mostly just enjoyed playing the role, so was willing to give up more of her time to contribute lines. She has a cute anecdote where early on she did sometimes get a little jealous of the other actors, but then saw the final episodes, realised how much dialog there was and was like "You know what... it's fine... I'm fine with a mostly quiet role..."
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Sep 13, 2022 08:21
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BioEnchanted posted:I have a feeling from her con appearences that Estelle mostly just enjoyed playing the role, so was willing to give up more of her time to contribute lines. She has a cute anecdote where early on she did sometimes get a little jealous of the other actors, but then saw the final episodes, realised how much dialog there was and was like "You know what... it's fine... I'm fine with a mostly quiet role..." Exactly what I mean they got lucky they got someone who was attached to the role
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Sep 13, 2022 08:30
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MikeJF posted:Careful on spoilers there given we're responding to a new watcher. They haven't even had the 'gems are from another planet' reveal yet. I’ve never cared about spoilers to be honest so go nuts
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Sep 13, 2022 12:15
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Wait till you see the world map, then.
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Sep 13, 2022 12:36
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So to that end, how long does it take to get more or less the full backstory for SU? Or is it something that spans the course of the entire series?
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Sep 13, 2022 12:47
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Larryb posted:So to that end, how long does it take to get more or less the full backstory for SU? Or is it something that spans the course of the entire series? There are backstory reveals up till the end The gist of it is the previous generation messed everything up.
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Sep 13, 2022 12:53
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The general idea of Steven himself's life and and circumstances and the basics of the last decade or two you'll know by the end of season one, although that'll have more detail added over the course of the entire show with various 'Greg tells Steven stories about his mother' episodes and stuff. The big Plot Stuff and revelations about poo poo That Went Down will last for the entire show, understanding that becomes one of the kind of core premises of the show.
MikeJF fucked around with this message at 13:00 on Sep 13, 2022 |
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Sep 13, 2022 12:58
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Good enough for me, thanks When I’m done, is the second series Future worth a watch as well?
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Sep 13, 2022 13:06
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Larryb posted:Good enough for me, thanks Just decide that once you're there. It's more of the same.
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Sep 13, 2022 13:42
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sU is about Steven figuring out the world and how to deal with stuff that's been thrust upon him. Future is more about Steven figuring himself out following the events of SU, how that affects his friend group, etc.
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Sep 13, 2022 13:58
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The movie is canon to the series as well correct (taking place between the final season of the original and the start of Future)? Also out of curiosity has Rebecca Sugar done anything else particularly significant since SU ended (I believe she was involved with Adventure Time in some capacity as well)? Larryb fucked around with this message at 14:37 on Sep 13, 2022 |
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Sep 13, 2022 14:26
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Larryb posted:Also out of curiosity has Rebecca Sugar done anything else particularly significant since SU ended (I believe she was involved with Adventure Time in some capacity as well)? She wrote a Christmas song for an episode of Amphibia and shared two original songs in a charity livestream, but otherwise I haven't seen anything. In a lot of the post-Steven interviews she talked about wanting a break.
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Sep 13, 2022 14:56
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Not to mention all the SU stuff finished up mid-2020 and things slowing down around then did tend to happen for a lot of people for reasons.
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Sep 13, 2022 15:14
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MikeJF posted:Not to mention all the SU stuff finished up mid-2020 and things slowing down around then did tend to happen for a lot of people for reasons. Good point On another note, Hilda Season 3 is still happening at some point right? I haven’t heard much about it since the initial announcement a little while back
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Sep 13, 2022 15:20
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Word is season 3 is still coming, but I still have no idea what it'll be like after the movie disrupted the status quo so much.Funky Valentine posted:New Ducktales starts sort of in media res, but you immediately pick up on the dynamics of the show in the first five or so minutes (here's Donald, he's raising his nephews, he lives on a boat because he's Donald Duck, he's unemployed because he's Donald Duck, his uncle is mind-bogglingly rich.) I don't think that really counts as in media res, since the whole first episode is about introducing Uncle Scrooge and the scenario where the nephews are living with him. The characters have preexisting dynamics with eachother, but it's not like their lives are just a regular routine that jump into and have to figure out from context. Larryb posted:So to that end, how long does it take to get more or less the full backstory for SU? Or is it something that spans the course of the entire series? Generally the turning point where people say their understanding of the show shifts is episodes 25 and 26, but there's still a lot that the show reveals later. I keep on thinking of and comparing Adventure Time to it, since while Steven Universe takes its time, there is something there that it delivers, while Adventure Time makes a big deal of never really telling you anything directly and just presenting big weird things that the characters have zero reaction or concern over.
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Sep 13, 2022 16:21
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Speaking of Hilda, are the original graphic novels worth checking out or does the show/movie already cover them pretty thoroughly (apparently there was an actual novel released at some point as well)?
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Sep 13, 2022 16:26
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SlothfulCobra posted:I don't think that really counts as in media res, since the whole first episode is about introducing Uncle Scrooge and the scenario where the nephews are living with him. The characters have preexisting dynamics with eachother, but it's not like their lives are just a regular routine that jump into and have to figure out from context. They're clearly talking about the Disney+ order that starts with Webby and Nephews going to Funso's Fun Zone.
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Sep 13, 2022 16:28
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SlothfulCobra posted:I keep on thinking of and comparing Adventure Time to it, since while Steven Universe takes its time, there is something there that it delivers, while Adventure Time makes a big deal of never really telling you anything directly and just presenting big weird things that the characters have zero reaction or concern over. Well Adventure Time wasn't planned to have an arc and it just kinda appeared when the audience reacted well to arclike stuff and the introduction of backstories, while Steven Universe was broadly planned out from the start.
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Sep 13, 2022 16:31
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Larryb posted:Speaking of Hilda, are the original graphic novels worth checking out or does the show/movie already cover them pretty thoroughly (apparently there was an actual novel released at some point as well)? The books are absolutely worth checking out. Wonderful stuff. While the events in the books were adapted into the show, there are also significant differences (for starters, Alfur, Frieda, and David have much, much smaller roles in the comic than in the show).
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Sep 13, 2022 16:41
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Mister Beeg posted:The books are absolutely worth checking out. Wonderful stuff. I’ve heard that Hilda’s mom comes off as somewhat abusive in the non-comic novelization though. Is there any truth to that and if so how bad is it?
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Sep 13, 2022 16:47
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Hilda is more confrontational to her mom in the book, but saying she's abusive is a bit too far IMO.
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Sep 13, 2022 18:36
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Mister Beeg posted:Hilda is more confrontational to her mom in the book, but saying she's abusive is a bit too far IMO. Ah ok, that makes more sense given Johanna’s characterization in the show. That aside, how is the Hilda novel? Is it basically just a retelling of the show/comics? Larryb fucked around with this message at 18:42 on Sep 13, 2022 |
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Sep 13, 2022 18:39
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AT tended to do arcs in "chunks". So the Lich/Finn got the first one, then you got one with Marceline, then one with PB, etc. SU was much more organic and while episodes focused on or revolved around others, it was largely about Steven.
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Sep 13, 2022 18:54
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Speaking of DuckTales: https://twitter.com/catsuka/status/1569436073901854720?s=20&t=XsKgALfmbG7BNjoWASpZkQ
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Sep 13, 2022 19:11
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Larryb posted:I will admit that sounds like a unique way of handling things at least but I also can understand how that might put some people off there s alot of mystery boxes, that finally get opened but not really pay off. its a cute show and I since you dont have to wait month between episodes its not as frustrating. And honestly there are episodes that have real pathos for the characters involved. like the people at the donut shop etc.
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Sep 13, 2022 19:22
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I'm mostly looking forward to Dead End: Paranormal Park getting it's second season next month. I enjoyed the first season.
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Sep 13, 2022 21:42
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https://twitter.com/DisneyTVANews/status/1569799058600132609 A few other shows will be shown off at the event as well: https://www.animationmagazine.net/2022/09/nycc-disney-tv-plans-koala-man-premiere-sneak-peeks-at-muppets-mayhem-paloni-show-more/ Larryb fucked around with this message at 22:51 on Sep 13, 2022 |
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Sep 13, 2022 22:49
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Owl House returns on October 15th: https://www.tvguide.com/news/the-owl-house-exclusive-premiere-date-revealed-for-first-44-minute-finale-special/
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Sep 14, 2022 17:31
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Ghost Leviathan posted:The creators have even joked about the show being a sequel to a non-existent one called 'No Need For Greg'. The in medias res feel is actually pretty common with a certain generation of shows, DuckTales and Rick and Morty come to mind. The Venture Bros as an older example, too, older seasoned adventures who've been doing this for way too long contrasted with young and less experienced (and less jaded) kids. Then who is the Ryoko of "No Need for Greg"?
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Sep 14, 2022 21:35
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Amethyst is the Ryoko of Everything. Just a ball of chaos.
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Sep 14, 2022 21:47
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It's absolutely Rose Quartz.
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Sep 14, 2022 21:52
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Rand Brittain posted:It's absolutely Rose Quartz. Good point, Amethyst is more Rioh-Ohki
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Sep 14, 2022 22:15
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