Topic: The Unoffical TV Show Mega Thread

@RR529 Hah, MedaBots. Haven't heard that name in a long time. Alongside Big Bad Beetleborgs (which capitalized on the Power Rangers boom), MedaBots was definitely one of those second-tier knock-offs that unfortunately didn't receive the popularity their creators sought. I could barely remember Beetleborgs until you mentioned MedaBots, which aired around the same year as Beetleborgs in Singapore.

I think I only watched these shows at all back then because I'd watch anything that was aired on Kids Central (the aforementioned Singapore kids channel), so I got a hodgepodge of shows from different networks, ranging from the A-listers like Rugrats and The Powerpuff Girls to the B-listers above like Beetleborgs and Little Bear. Thankfully, I would acquire cable channels as I got older and got introduced to the Big Three of animated networks: Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Cartoon Network (Disney Channel was my go-to network though).

But for what it's worth, these 2nd tier shows do still carry a sense of nostalgia with them, to a more interesting time when Fox Kids had a Digimon movie. lmao

The latest episode of The Orville has one of the best space battles I've ever seen, palpable tension and big emotions. The Orville, what are you doing to me? 😭

Finished off Ms. Marvel last night.

I didn't go in particularly expecting anything with it, but I ended up enjoying myself in the end. I actually really enjoyed the moments with her & her family/friends (sure, it's a bit cringe, but much like Turning Red I think that's a bit intentional & think it had a similar vibe). I do think they tried biting off more than they could chew narratively, they should have either focused on her coming to grips with her powers while avoiding/dealing with the DoDC OR focused on the origin of her powers/family & the Djinn, but not both. I'm still not sure exactly why Kamran got powers after his mother died sealing the rift.

I know there was some controversy with how they changed her powers (& origin) from the comics, though as I'm not coming to it from that angle it didn't bother me.

It's kinda complicated.

Back then, when Fox still owned the rights to the X-Men, Marvel got sick of it and killed them off in the comics and changed their focus to a different kind of mutants simply known as... "The Inhumans" (cue dramatic music). The Inhumans, while being around since 1965, were going to replace Th X-Men in terms of tackling similar stories of prejudice. This is basically what they did anyway with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. when Fox still had control of the mutants. Ms. Marvel was introduced shortly after the X-Men were killed off, I think (or some time around that), even though she's always been intended to be a mutant (said co-creator of Ms. Marvel, Sana Amanat).

"Here's a really important thing that people do not know – when we were thinking about the character of Kamala back, back, back in the day in 2012, 2013, when [G.] Willow [Wilson, comic book writer] and myself were ideating, we originally wanted to make her a mutant. That was the whole intention, to be able to do that.”

So no, the change isn't that controversial to begin with. She's just becoming what she's always meant to be now that the mutants have returned home to Marvel.

As a comic reader who never bothered with Ms. Marvel comics, I didn't watch the show not because of such a change that matters little to me (even though I think it's a shame Inhumans fans will probably never gonna get a decent adaptation from now on), but because the show looked like it targeted a much younger demographic than me. It's fine that it's basically Marvel's Lizzie McGuire, but I've outgrown such shows, unfortunately. I've kinda outgrown Marvel too, in fact. Always been more of a Spider-Man fan than a Marvel fan. Read every single one of Spidey's comics; didn't bother with the Avengers or the other titles.

Tekkaman Blade II - 90's anime OVA miniseries that I first watched uploaded onto YouTube nearly a decade ago. Found out it had been remastered & released on Blu-Ray so here we are.

Focuses on a group of "Tekkaman" (pretty much people who can transform into mecha like superheroes) who fight to protect humanity from alien invaders (whom humanity copped the Tekkaman tech from).

I believe it's a sequel to an older series (being a II and all), though that doesn't seem to be too integral to the story (it focuses on a new generation of heroes being trained to take the reigns), and it's an absolute blast. It has a cool visual style/aesthetic, great action, and mixes the mecha/superhero theme with a sort of fighter pilot/Top Gun vibe that really gelled with me. The main female lead can be perhaps a bit whiny (at least when it comes to the prominent romance subplot), but overall I can't find much to fault with it (even at such a short length I think it managed to land the ending pretty well).

This makes me happy

Forgot to mention, but I watched Man VS Bee last weekend. It was actually pretty amusing, and definitely had some Mr. Bean energy in spots even though he wasn't specifically playing that character. I think my favorite scene may have been when he was fiddling with his pants in front of the police officer.

@Kermit1, I know Cars gets dumped on a lot, but I am weirdly really excited for Cars: on the Road as well. The announcements of Monsters at Work & Baymax! haven't affected me the same way, but I might be sure to watch this one.

The Orville had its third season finale this week and I loved it.
It might have been a bit unorthodox for a finale though. There were no big battles or conflicts, but rather a lot of character development of its main cast, interspersed with a ton of humor. It might even have been the funniest episode yet.

The Orville has become my favorite TV show since Star Trek DS9 and I'd be very disappointed if it doesn't get renewed for season 4. Hope we get some good news soon.

Just finished up Maken-Ki season 2.

It completely ditched (what little) narrative elements the first season had, and just absolutely indulges in ridiculous fan service scenarios (in one episode for example, a neglected cat transforms all the girls in the school into cat girls, while in another a sentient perverted teddy bear spies on & gropes them at any opportunity). Apparently the studio knew they weren't going to be getting a season 3, so they just went absolutely wild with the stuff.

The only reason to watch this would be if you're interested in fan service (which at points borders on outright lewd content, especially that OVA episode), and to give it credit they don't cut corners in the animation/detail paid to it (I think practically every other fan service show I've ever seen pales in comparison to the effort this one puts in to that aspect).

I've started watching The Office... Geez the first season is a little rough, growing pains but fun growing pains.

@Kermit1 Yeah. I mostly expect 80% of successful TV series to have a shoddy and mediocre first season: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Supernatural, The X-Files, The Simpsons, Seinfeld, South Park, and even Breaking Bad's first season was kinda meh compared to the rest.

I've kinda accepted the first season's growing pains syndrome. It's mostly the writers figuring things out until they nail the formula in the 2nd or 3rd season (or in The Simpsons' case, the 4th).

@Maxenmus I accept the growing pains too. But it can be fun to see how the show changes for the better or worse,

shows Im busy with this year currently on Netflix

Stargate SG-1 Moving on to Season 3
Manifest . just added it to My List on Netflix
Naruto. watching the last episode of Season 2 then moving on to Season 3
Walking Dead Season 10. still have the last half to watch
Umbrella Academy. slowly sort of watching it. Only watched the first episode last year then got bored

I Am Groot started streaming today on Disney+ and it's really cute.
5 shorts, 5 minutes each but gorgeously animated.
Good for a quick laugh.

Watched the series finale to TrollsTopia. I was not expecting the series to end the way it did, holy cow, I got emotional. I was expecting the show to set up something for the upcoming Trolls 3. The final episode is about King Trollex (from Trolls World Tour) doing a Troll Exchange Program where a troll travels away to learn about techno troll culture. It's revealed that DJ Suki was the the one who qualified for it. The hardest part was seeing Poppy say good bye to DJ. Then all the characters just sing a bittersweet rendition of the show's them song. Still the episode ended beautifully IMO.

Here's hoping DreamWorks has something great planned for the third movie, not much is known other than it being officially confirmed for November 2023. I'm going to miss this show. The two Trolls TV shows really expanded on the worlds and characters the two movies created.

@Mioaionios Thanks for reminding me, I wanted to watch these I Am Groot shorts, and glad to hear something good about it. Think I'm going to give them a watch this weekend.

Yeah, I binged through all the I am Groot shorts myself tonight, and they were pretty cute with quite a few humorous moments. Some of the shots looked kinda wonky, but there were quite a few beautifully realized moments as well.

My only big gripe is that there weren't more of them! Hopefully it's a huge success & they make more.

Also finished off the final season of the Man in the High Castle last night. Really gripping show all the way through IMO, though they definitely make a few bold decisions, especially in that final season that I could see being off putting to mainstream audiences (even a bit disappointing to me).

Really interesting show, & I'd definitely be interested in seeing spinoffs focusing on other parts of the world (which we didn't really see outside of a few Berlin trips), even if they didn't have the unique hook of the dual Imperial Japanese/Nazi Germany rule.

She-Hulk's first episode dropped today and it's pretty meh.
Hope it gets better in the weeks to come but I have a feeling this is going to be the third MCU show, after What If and Hawkeye, that doesn't work for me.

@Rambler Ah memories, I use to watch Monkey Dust as a kid and thinking I was so mature for watching it. I always liked the The Paedofinder General and Omar the useless terrorists skits.

I've just started watching Abbott Elementary, it's bloody brilliant. It reminds me alot of Parks & Recs where instead of portraying people as whacky sitcom idiots it instead portrays them as caring and capable who have to deftly deal with stupid obstacles.