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Didn't realise this had (sorta) premiered already! Opening scene with Fogarty and the paramedic almost made me turn it off. Heavy-handed foreshadowing, Harry Potter-esque prophecy about a Chosen One, etc, ugh. Ditto with the Jane Chatwin stuff, not sure if she's supposed to be so wooden so it's more creepy or something, but that + more unnecessary foreshadowing really rubs me the wrong way. In the hands of a better network I might think they were setting up for some awesome expectation-shattering twists in the future, but my hopes are not high here. It quickly started to get better though, I thought it was really well-cast (a little weird having Rick Worthy in there among a bunch of other unknowns because of watching Man in the High Castle so recently, but he's fine). Soundtrack was a little eyerolly at times and overall it felt much more "SyFy" than "HBO" in terms of script and polish, although I did get a laugh at Penny's line about mentally putting dubstep over Quentin's thoughts because they're so boring. I also liked Quentin's line about not dying in the first 10 minutes of the movie when he was thinking about not coming to Alice's seance, fits in well with the often self-aware, almost fourth-wall-breaking dialog of the books. I wouldn't say Penny's a badass but he's definitely less goony, too early to tell whether that will be a good or bad thing, ditto with Quentin being more likeable. I'm not mad at the college -> grad school thing (yet) either, it makes sense and probably works better for TV audiences. I will say that the scenes around the Brakebills grounds seemed more like undergrads than grad students so it may be more of an "in name only" thing, but whatever. I am not particularly fussed about the Julia/toilet wizard thing (yet, we'll see). I can't really say anything about the pacing that hasn't been said in the last two pages, it seems like they were trying to cram way too much in to get viewers hooked. They definitely could have let the material breathe a little more (especially with Quentin's practical magic exam, that was just a flat 0 to 60 and there was no tension or build-up at all), but I have a feeling the network suits had a hand in that. Beast was well done but WTF Fogarty?! Noooo  My expectations were really low because SyFy (apparently they are also going ahead with that Hyperion miniseries too, which I would have *really* rather seen an HBO version of), but while I wouldn't say I think The Magicians has been "great" so far, it's been pretty good and I'm interested in watching more.
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Jan 15, 2016 02:43
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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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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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This episode (while not great) was definitely an improvement, especially the Quentin/Julia confrontation, where Q's character flaws are becoming much more apparent. The niffin bit started out good but then went off the rails in a fairly major way, Alice just couldn't even and... scene. As an aside, I think a lot of the soundtrack cues feel like a 17 year old going "Yeah, this'd be cool" (for this ep, mostly talking about the The xx opener). I generally *like* the music that's annoying me on its own, but the application just feels kind of juvenile and clunky. Contrast that with the Black Keys cover in Belter creole track in the pilot of The Expanse and... yeah. Harrow posted:I think the fact that I loved the books is keeping me from watching this, and hearing about how quickly it's tearing through the first book's plot feels like it's validating my decision. Other people who liked the books: is it worth a shot regardless? I mean, watch it or don't. I personally don't subscribe to the school of thought that an adaptation can retroactively ruin the source material, ymmv I guess.  Bert Roberge posted:Elliot I think is perfectly cast and the show's worth watching just for that. In the books he's about the closest to a good person they have since they're all addicted degenerates who hate themselves. Yeah, I really like the actor doing Elliot. Generally I think it is pretty well cast but I'm not sure how I feel about Julia and at times Alice (who in fairness is also quite good at other times). Pompous Rhombus fucked around with this message at 12:31 on Feb 5, 2016 |
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Feb 5, 2016 12:28
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Noam Chomsky posted:A pretty lovely TV writer I linked in my previous post. Ouch, looking at his Wikipedia page, it appears he hasn't had a show he's written or produced last more than a season since "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman". That explains... a lot, actually.
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Feb 5, 2016 22:27
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This episode, while flawed, is still probably the best so far. I wouldn't say that it's because there are no book expectations to hold against it; the first part is an interesting premise (and if it had been a better show up until now or I knew nothing of the books, would have maybe even begun wondering if the rest of the season would be a mindfuck "is Quentin crazy or not?" arc). They were pretty good about keeping it ambiguous at the start (the bait-and-switch with Elliot was great), but I felt like they maybe played their hand a bit soon. I'd kinda pieced together what was happening as soon as the conversation with Julia, but that may have been because I sat through the "previously on..." part at the beginning, which I don't normally do. The head hedge witch character is pretty awful though. I've never been a fan of the mustache-twirling, chew-the-scenery types, and she really grates on me, especially that ending. I hope she gets killed off soon, but not for the reason the showrunners probably want me to. I wouldn't have minded Quentin being a *little* better at singing, but I guess it fits with him being kind of a goony doofus and that part was overall pretty funny/solid and felt tonally like it could have been in the books. I think I've said something similar about another show-only adaptation they've done... in general, I feel like the showrunners have an OK grasp of the spirit of the books, but there's what appears to be a lack of writing/directorial talent that really hinders the execution. So far it's been mediocre with occasional flashes of "eh, pretty good"-ness. I wish it was better, but it could definitely be worse. Cast Iron Brick posted:It's apparent that this adaptation really doesn't concern itself with anything but the broadest strokes of the books and even then, only when it fits their sexy dubstep Harry Potter for cool kids. Aside from outliers like Alan Moore, how often have you seen authors publicly denounce adaptations of their work? They have absolutely nothing to gain except street cred from diehard fans (which won't pay the bills), and lose out on potential future lucrative deals by getting a reputation as "difficult to work with" and "tried to torpedo the project to score points on Twitter". I make a point of ignoring whatever polite noises authors make about the movie/TV show adaptations of their work; while you sometimes get genuine enthusiasm, they are basically being forced to do it. Pompous Rhombus fucked around with this message at 12:42 on Feb 12, 2016 |
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Feb 12, 2016 12:33
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This was probably my least favourite episode of the series so far, aside from mom getting wrecked. That worked pretty well with the whole horror/"magic is serious business" stuff. The rest of it was cringey "The Magicians: presented by The WB". Tiggum posted:Tasmania is part of Australia. If you've been to Tasmania (I live there), it feels pretty right. Place is conspicuously ancient.
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Feb 26, 2016 11:09
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Zaggitz posted:Hi, is this show good? All I know about it is my favorite tv director works on it. The Magicians: Not Quite a Hate Watch Yet
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Feb 27, 2016 00:40
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Tiggum posted:But the Julia storyline is the only thing worth watching for. lmao
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Mar 4, 2016 10:46
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Next ep promo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0dxbKE9dac Like someone was saying, the show really does do a "  Last ep wasn't bad, I think being Eliot-heavy helped bring it up a bit from the usual mediocrity. Show Penny is also good as usual, that's one of the few changes they've made that I think works better; it helps to have a sympathetic antagonist at Brakebills explicitly call Quentin out on his poo poo, otherwise the viewer would just think he's a Chosen One, which the brilliant showrunners inexplicably decided to *add* to the story. geeves posted:As to the reasons for every change: Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman I know I've asked it already before, but I'm really curious how a serial failure like the main writer for this show continues to get work. (To put the body of his work in context, L&C:TNAoS is by *far* his most successful show...)
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Mar 13, 2016 00:37
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Whoa, a good episode!
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Mar 18, 2016 08:24
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Overdrift posted:Does anyone know who played the librarian from last night's episode? She's really familiar but I can't place her. I kept thinking of the Progressive Insurance lady.
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Mar 23, 2016 08:25
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tbh you are better off reading the books and realising what you're missing out on with the show.
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Dec 22, 2016 23:17
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Nihonniboku posted:I love the books. Yeah, this is the correct opinion. Also, S2 is way better than S1.
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Jun 14, 2017 04:17
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Nihonniboku posted:Maybe. But they've kind of positioned themselves in the show with pretty much being able to do whatever they want now. They also had the cast sing a song from Les Mis last season. I'm not even a fan of Les Mis but I liked that one number better than this ep in its entirety (which wasn't bad, just underwhelming).
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Mar 10, 2018 08:36
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zeal posted:alice This is too good to not get noticed.
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Mar 12, 2018 03:47
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zeal posted:if you've got Netflix go back and watch the very first scene of the pilot: fogg and jane chatwin talking on a bench in NYC. their conversation will make a lot of sense now I recently rewatched S1 and it's nowhere near as bad as I remember. There is still some cringey The CW moments with angsty music and stuff, but it's overall not awful and just gets better. mycomancy posted:Previously, on The Magicians... Fogg's alcoholism makes a LOT more sense after this episode (not that it seemed totally incongrous before, having worked in education myself...).
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Mar 23, 2018 08:20
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I'm not crazy about the Tesla thing and bringing in versions of characters from alternate timelines... the idea of the alternate timelines itself doesn't bug me as it fits with the story they've set up from S1, but when they use it to bring characters back it feels cheap, like there are really no stakes. Penny owns but Penny-23 has cast a real pall over the latter part of the season for me. Rocksicles posted:wait... err... i... Well, it jumped into the guardian lady, who we haven't seen since. Open Source Idiom posted:Fogg siding them makes a lot of sense too -- it's as Alice pointed out last week, Brakebills was always about regulating the use and knowledge of magic, and they were loving pathetic at it. Fogg's previously proven himself beaten down enough to accept whatever scraps get thrown his way (e.g. selling the school to the board of trustees) and the Library is going to let him continue on doing his old job, only in a what he hopes to be a more successful, effective way. I liked the nod to Fogg being an educator by having all of the Library's banal red tape down pat. Alice is clearly being set up to become the frazzled old future-writer later we saw earlier this season, so seems like Fogg doesn't spring her.
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Apr 6, 2018 09:19
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Alhazred posted:Sy Fy is launching a new show about random people in random professions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfR9fdQJsa4 Haha, this is great and very creative.
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Aug 18, 2018 05:11
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